The to-do list remains as big as ever. I chipped away at it over the last three days, but didn’t get as far as I wanted to.

I fixed a bookshelf that was overloaded. It seems that bookshelves are always built cheap. Fully load the shelf and it begins to sag. I discovered this only after loading a few of them and, after a few years, seeing them sagging. I unloaded several and put additional supports where the front bar attaches to the shelf. This generally is enough. However, I recently noticed one shelf sagging again despite having been fixed. I unloaded it last weekend, took it to the garage, and put weight on it to straighten it. Yesterday I tried an experimental method to strengthen it. Tomorrow I’ll put it back in place. One item checked off.

I did some reading in magazines and in a book. I think I finished three mags and put them in the recycling box. I’ve made a lot of progress on this and my mag basket is no longer overflowing.

In yardwork I had weeding of the rock yard (progress made) and moving an old wood pile from the backyard into the woods (progress made). I have lots more to do, but I’m pleased, at this point in the season, with where the yardwork stands.

I did other typical weekend chores, including checkbook, budgeting, filing (well, a little). On decluttering I mainly consolidated things. I found an underused plastic bin, combined the contents of the two, thus freeing one bin. I used that to put our old letters and cards in. I need to go through them some day, but at least they are all in one place now.

Which brings me to my writing career. My novel-in-progress, The Teachings, has been languishing for a month and a half while I expended writing and research energy on other things. Last weekend I read-through a print-out of it (close to 100 pages double-spaced, making edits along the way. I found that I barely remembered where I had left off and where I planned to go.

So around Tuesday I went back to reading for research in the 66 a.d. Jewish War. I re-read a chapter dealing with where I left off in the narrative. Then I went on to the next chapter. Josephus included a couple of dates in his account. When I checked that against my timeline I discovered I have events taking place in the wrong season of the year. So I have to work on getting that right.

Yesterday, after a 2.4 mile walk on one of our new trails in Bella Vista, I took Josephus, my manuscript, a mug of coffee, and some paper out on the deck. The temperature was about 69, a nice breeze made it quite pleasant on our eastward-facing deck. I began to write what my next few scenes will be. My two main characters, Adam ben Zechariah and his son Augustus, are moving from place to place in Israel, each hoping to see the other but just missing each other.

After less than an hour’s work, I had the next five scenes identified. These will be fairly easy to write.

But first I have to fix the timeline. For that I have to go back to Doctor Luke’s Assistant again and see what month and year I left off in. I know I was at the right time at the end of DLA. I hope to start on that tonight, and to have the five scenes written by the end of the week.