All posts by David Todd

letters, Writing

One Project: The Words Are Done

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This is how I’m storing the letters—at least for now. Not sure if I should find a more permanent container.

A week ago I wrote a post about the two projects I was working on. I’m pleased to report that I finished one of those on Saturday.

But I need to qualify that. I finished the words part of the project. And I did a small amount of proofreading on Sunday, so I guess I should say Sunday was my completion day. I’d better explain.

The project was the book of letters during our years in Saudi Arabia, 1981-83. As I explained before, we didn’t have a phone in our apartment, had limited access to the office phone for personal calls (expensive and inconvenient), so we wrote letters home. Our parents, grandparents, and others kept most of them, and now we have them. In addition, we have some that were written to us from home. We must have brought those back with us when we were repatriated.

Here are the little darlings, collated in their box.

The collection, as it currently stands, is 191 items. I say “items” instead of letters, and “currently stands” because the collection includes a few things that aren’t letters, such as envelopes of receipts from some of our travels. Also, we have a number of empty envelopes in our files, addressed to a parent. The letters themselves were removed and are presumed lost. Or are they around the house somewhere?

This project actually began somewhere arounds 2008, I think it was. I gathered all the Saudi letters together, collated them, and began to transcribe them to a Word document. As I did, I left the letters out of the envelopes and put them opened flat in a folder, thinking that was a better way to preserve them. Later, as I studied how letter collections were gathered and preserved, I realized they should be left in the envelopes. So a few years later I returned them to the envelopes.

The Kuwait letters book served as the prototype for the other collections I’ve put together.

Or did I? Problem is, I remember finding the folder and seeing the letters laid flat and the envelopes on top, but I don’t actually remember ever putting them in the envelopes. Did I do it? I don’t have a list of which letters I transcribed, and the computer file is long gone from various computer upgrades. It makes me wonder if that folder is still there, buried beneath a pile of other things, waiting for me to do my work.

No matter right now. Today I have set aside some time to look for that folder and see if there are other letters to collate and transcribe. I don’t think there are, but we’ll see.

This was a fun, if often tedious project. The document I’ve created is over 109,000 words and spans 190 8.5×11 pages. It includes a four page Introduction, a list of the letters, and a list of correspondents. The only words that are missing are those that will go on the Copyright page. Well, that, and whatever captions I add to pictures once I get them added to the book.

Yes, I intend to publish it. It’s just for family, a way to preserve some of our history. But I’ll publish it as a paperback to Amazon, print off a few copies for family, then un-publish it. It will remain on my Amazon author’s bookshelf, ready to be re-published should some family want more copies (such as my grandchildren when they are older).

So the next step is to generously illustrate the book with photos. I plan on using some time in the afternoons over the next couple of weeks to go through the mountain of photos we have, select 50 or so good ones (maybe more), scan them, load them into the book. Then all that’s left is converting the Word file into the correct size pages for publishing, moving the photos to the right place, adding captions, make a suitable cover, and publish it.

And I did it with this collection as well, though it had only a handful of illustrations.

No, that’s not a quick and easy task. But I’ve already done that once with the letters from our years in Kuwait, so I sort of know the drill. Moving photos into place is actually kind of easy. The final sizing and positioning takes some care, but it’s quite doable.

That’s my afternoon job over the next couple of weeks.

My morning job? The will be picking up again A Walk Through Holy Week, Volume 2, and doing the next round of edits. I’m not really sure how long that will take me. Could be a week, could be two. I’ll also have to decide if I need another round of edits before moving on to publishing tasks.

I felt a great weight fall from my shoulders on Saturday when I typed the last words in the Saudi letters book. It’s good to see it reach this milestone.

Health

Healing—A Little More

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Yes, the healing is coming. If you are a new reader and want to know something of the physical trials I’ve been going through, this post will tell you what I expected to happen, this post will tell you something about the curve ball that came, and this post will give you some idea of where I was a week or so ago. I won’t call it a thrilling path I’ve been walking on. Maybe interesting, or truly a trial is a better description.

Since my post last Friday, the healing in my right leg has accelerated. By yesterday morning, I felt no pain in my leg at all—except the ongoing pain in my right knee that was way before my July 15 freak  home accident. I went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday. He was pleased with my healing, crediting it to a combo of the steroid shot, and staying off it as much as I could to allow natural healing to take place. I suspect he’s right.

So yesterday I stopped by our Wal-Mart pharmacy on the way home to pick up a couple of prescriptions. I was feeling so good I decided I would go in without my walker. I had just told the doctor I was still using the walker when out and about, and he said that was a good idea until I could sense complete healing had arrived. But I wanted to give it a try. I made it in fine, had almost no wait, and so was back to where I parked in a handicapped area with the minimum possible steps in the minimum possible time. But, in fact my leg hurt a little by the time I got to the car. So, I guess I do need the walker a while longer.

But the healing in my right leg is on the right trajectory. I suspect that in a week I’ll be ready to tell the heart surgeon that I’m ready for the valve replacement.

Alas, for my left shoulder, hurt in a different freak home accident around July 18 or 19, there is less healing. I have no improvement in strength, no lessening of pain when moving it, no increase in the activities I can do. While we are waiting on the results of the MRI on Monday, he’s pretty sure surgery will be required. But that injury is not holding up my heart surgery. I’ll get through the heart hospitalization and recuperation, including whatever rehab I’ll have, then see about my shoulder probably sometime in 2025.

That’s the health news. Hopefully I’ll have writing news in the next couple of posts.

 

Bible study, self-publishing, Short Stories, Writing

Working Two Projects

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While I’m laid up with accidents, I’m doing my best to get some writing work done. But when I say, “laid up,” I don’t mean lying flat on a bed doing nothing. I’m able to get around with a walker, to drive, attend church, pick up meds at the pharmacy. A couple of weeks ago I did a little yard work, and learned I wasn’t really ready for that. It probably set back my healing for a week.

But there are two things I enjoy doing that are easily done without putting weight on my feet: reading and writing.

I’ve done a fair amount of reading. For my morning devotional time, I read two prayers in Prayer That Avail Much. I’m a third of the way through this book, and mostly enjoying it. For enjoyment, I’m reading two books that are writing related. One is The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals by Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of the famous British poet. I’m not sure I’m really enjoying this one. I’ll write more about this in a future book review. The third book I’m reading is Vol. 3 of The Letters of Virginia Woolf.  I’m enjoying this one a little more, and will surely write a review of it.

As to writing, I’m working on two projects. One is A Walk Through Holy Week, Vol. 2. I finished this one about two weeks ago. I let it sit a while, then came back and did one editorial review of it. My plans are to let it sit for a week, then do one more editorial pass. I’m hoping at that time to call it “Done” and start publishing tasks. However, it’s possible I’ll still have areas in the book that will need more attention.

The other writing project is the book of letters from our years in Saudi Arabia. This book consists of handwritten letters transcribed into print. To those I added an Introduction and a little commentary along the way. That makes the words part of the book done and ready for proofreading. On Saturday and Sunday just passed, I proofread 57 of the book’s 186 pages. I’ll finish it this week. Then I have to find photos to illustrate it. After that will come publishing tasks and having a few copies made for family members. I hope to have that done when the family gathers for Thanksgiving.

So this is keeping me busy. I have other books lined up when these are done. And I have other writing projects waiting when these two are finished.

I might learn to like this life as a semi-invalid.

Health

Healing? Maybe A Little

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The first hematoma, before gravity pulled the blood down all the way down my forearm.

I wrote a post on July 8 about my upcoming heart surgery. At that time I thought it would probably be on July 22. Alas, as I posted on July 18, I injured my leg while lifting a heavy object at home. My surgeon didn’t want me dealing with two traumas at once. At first he put the surgery off to July 29, then, when I had little if any healing happening, but it off indefinitely, with us to touch base every two or three weeks. We did that early this week, and agreed I’m still not healed enough to set a surgery date.

The second hematoma, before gravity had its say on were the blood would go.

But actually, I have another trauma from another freak home accident. I reinjured my left shoulder on (I think) July 18. I reached my arms up to make a big stretch, and something big popped in my upper arm or shoulder. I both felt and heard the pop. This was the same shoulder that I injured when walking Nuisance, my son-in-law’s big dog. It never quite healed, even going through physical therapy. But, anyway, this pop happened. That day, while having blood drawn to recheck some enzymes that were high after my first accident, the guy that drew my blood put a tourniquet right over the place where the pop was. Iin a few days, my whole upper arm was one big subdural hematoma the kept growing for days.

For that second injury, and for the first, I went to an orthopedic doctor. He took some more x-rays, gave me a steroid shot in the groin, told me to take it easy, and not start the exercises the people at the orthopedic ER gave me. And come back in 2 to 3 weeks. His thoughts are that I have a badly torn rotator cuff, whereas the urgent care doc thought it was a torn deltoid muscle. Whatever it is, a second subdural hematoma had appeared (still growing), and I have almost no use of my left arm. Provided I can get it on a keyboard I can type, but have almost no range of motion, no strength. When my arm is still there’s no pain, but try to move it more than a couple of inches….

We are now in that period. I go to see him on 8/22. Meanwhile my regular doctor ordered an MRI of my left shoulder, currently scheduled for 8/26. Hopefully that will give some answers. I suspect an MRI of my right hip/leg/groin is also in my future.

As is my heart valve replacement surgery. Sometime. I suspect the earliest it can be is Sept 30. I say that because I am experiencing a little healing in my leg. The pain is not so intense. And I can now get my leg in positions where there’s no pain while at rest. I can cross my legs, with either one on top, and not have pain in my groin or thigh. The day is coming, I believe, when the healing will be enough for me to lie flat on a bed or stand fully upright without the pain coming. I’m not quite there yet, but that day is coming.

If there’s any good news through all of this, I’ve lost 12 pounds in just 24 days. I attribute it to being unable to easily access snacks in the house, or buy some at the grocery store. That puts me within 13 pounds of my target weight. Also, that puts my total loss from my peak weight (in 2006) of 102 pounds.

Danny Tompkins Short Stories, Short Stories

The Theory Behind the Danny Tompkins Stories

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I had one more Danny Tompkins story to tell. Will this be the last.

My last post told about the latest of my Danny Tompkins stories. But I’m not sure I ever did a post explaining the full series and what my goals are for it. I think, with posting story #7, the series is done. But I thought that after #6, and years later I got the idea for the new story. So I guess I should say maybe it’s done, or maybe it isn’t.

The first story in the series is “Mom’s Letter”. I wrote this back around 2006. A fellow writer told me about a short story writing contest and encouraged me to enter. The word limit was rather short. My critique partners said the story wasn’t well enough developed, and I didn’t submit it. Later, when not governed by a specific word count, I expanded the story. Critique partners now liked it, and I waited for an opportunity to do something with it.

“Mom’s Letter” started it all.

Then came the beginning of 2011. That’s when I made the decision to self-publish. What to self-publish first? I had a history book almost done, but not quite. I still had a couple of months to go before it would be ready. But I remembered I had “Mom’s Letter” ready to go. And so I published it on Feb 13, 2011.

“Mom’s Letter” tells the story of Danny Tompkins, a 13-year-old boy who, on the last day of his first year at scout camp, learns that his mother has entered the hospital for the last time. Danny has the drive home from camp to ponder what life will be like without Mom. The story then fast forwards to the future, the Daniel, the adult Danny has become, finds a letter his mom wrote him during that week at camp, and remembers what it was like in those days.

This story took mw much further into the Danny Tompkins world that I expected to go.

That was all I figured on doing with Danny. But, as my writing continued, I realized I could make a series out of that, with the goal being to help teens who have experienced a loss to recover from the loss. And as I thought about it, the stories started rolling. “Too Old To Play” covered the wake and funeral. “Kicking Stones” was about going back to school. “Saturday Haircuts, Tuesday Funeral” told the story of how his dad dealt with his grief and that of his children. “What Kept Her Alive” told the story of his mother’s illness and suffering. And “Growing Up Too Fast” covered the struggles Danny had navigating his teen years.

The specific circumstances of Danny’s life meant he missed a lot of the typical stuff a teenager goes through.

As I say, I thought that the series was done at that point. I figured I had covered about all the things that a teen had to deal with. I hoped also that the memories of the adult Daniel showing how he got through the times would help a teen is similar situations. What more would I have to talk about?

If you read my last post, you know how “To Laugh Again” covered the return to normal after the period of mourning. That story came to me quite a while after I completed the rest of stories.

So, that’s where the series is. You can get an idea of it at this link. I hope some of you will take a look at it.

Danny Tompkins Short Stories, memories, Short Stories

New Story Published: To Laugh Again

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I had one more Danny Tompkins story to tell. Will this be the last.

Some time ago, such as in July 2018, the idea came to me for another story in the Danny Tompkins short story series. At least that’s the earliest I have about it on paper. I thought I was done with the series at six stories and then cobbling them together into a short book.

But the idea sat there from mid-2018 until November 2023. Having just finished two fairly major writing projects, I looked for something to fill in a couple of weeks until I was ready to start the next. This came to mind, so I hog-tied it and whipped it out in a week or so, either November or December 2023.

In January I ran the first few pages past my writing critique group, the Scribblers & Scribes. It was obvious from that that the story wasn’t working, wasn’t as clear as I wanted it to be. At another meeting I ran a few more pages by them with the same results. In between other writing, I pulled this story out a few times and made some fairly major changes. I sent it out to the critique group via e-mail and received some comments in return. It seemed that I had the right structure as the comments I received were about smaller things, such as better wording here and a little more detail there.

Last week, while waiting on my Bible study project to simmer a little, I brought Danny’s latest story out and made those final polishes based on comments or what seemed best to me. On Sunday last, I declared it done, or as done as I could make it. Here’s a link to it on Amazon.

I had some trouble writing the book description for the listing on Amazon. Here’s what I came up with.

Daniel Tompkins received word that his sister died, which triggers memories of a day, more than fifty years before, after his mother’s death. He faced a dilemma back then, a dilemma that stressed him out. The memory of what he went through as a 13-year-old helped him deal with his grief now.

So on Monday, after a routine dentist appointment, I got to work on publishing tasks. It all went surprisingly well, including making a simple cover, one that fits in with the rest of the series. Less than three hours after I uploaded it, it went live.

After that, I received some last minute critiques from my critique group (but I had sent it out to them kind of last minute), I made some edits—twice—and uploaded a revised version three times, the last time Wednesday evening. I received one even later critique that I started going through last night. I don’t know yet whether this will result in one last round of edits.

It feels good to get this done and published. I just wish I had better artistic skills and could make a better cover.

Bible study, book reviews, Christianity

Book Review: Two Books About The Apostles

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Two books covering the same subject in different ways.

Among the books we have in our house are those that belonged to my late mother-in-law, Esther Cheney Barnes. She didn’t have a huge library, maybe 150 books or so. They have been in boxes the last ten years, I looked at them a couple of times, but didn’t want to mess with them.

Over the last six months, Lynda has been going through her mom’s books, sorting into keepers, reads and discards, duplicates of ones we might already have, and get rid ofs without reading. Two small books among those covered the same subject: the lives of the apostles. One was The Master’s Men: Character Sketches of the Disciples, by William Barclay. The other is Thirteen Men Who Changed the World, by H.S. Vigeveno. Both books are short, under 160 paperback pages. That was perfect, I thought, for taking on our last trip.

The two books, while covering the same subject, handle the source material very different. Barclay’s book is essentially a topical Bible study. He looks at what we know about each apostle from the gospels and Acts. Besides the Twelve, he includes a write up about Nathaniel and James son of Alpheus. But he does not include Paul the apostle. After giving the Biblical record, Barclay give information contained in early church records. When he does this, Barclay is careful to separate legend from info biblical accounts.

Vigeveno’s book reads more like creative non-fiction than a Bible study. He takes the same tact as Barclay, first presenting what we know from the Bible than adding what we know from legend. But Vigeveno tends to accept the legends as truth and incudes legendary information in the character sketches. He writes well, and the book is engaging, but Vigeveno’s book is a little less reliable than Barclay’s is.

1959 and 1958 were the dates of publication of the two books. The paperback books I read were from 1973 and 1980. So I think it’s fair to say those of you reading this review are unlikely to run across either of them. If you do, should you read them? I say yes. They are both entertaining short reads about a biblical topic.

But are they keepers? In my mind no. I don’t ever see myself reading them again. So off to the sale/donation pile they go.

Bible study, Danny Tompkins Short Stories, expatriate life, Short Stories

July Progress, August Goals

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This was a strange month. I expected to undergo open-heart surgery on July 22, but it was postponed when I injured my leg. Still waiting on that to heal so the surgery can be rescheduled. But the leg injury has hurt my movements and kept me from working at my writing as much as I’d hoped. Nevertheless, I did have accomplishments.

  • Blog twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. Got this done, with the help of scheduled posts.
  • Make as much progress as possible on Volume 2 of A Walk Through Holy Week. It would be nice to have the first draft done before July 22. Completed the first draft on July 27!
  • Attend one writing group meeting. The two other meetings are cancelled due to venue problems during the summer. Did this. The other two meetings stayed cancelled
  • Complete the Introduction and occasional commentary of the Saudi letters book. I got the Introduction done in the last few days. The commentary is started but not yet done.
  • Possibly complete and publish a short story I’ve been working on, the next in the Danny Tompkins series. I worked on this some more, so that it’s more or less done. Some comments from my critique group are not yet fully addressed.

Setting goals going forward is difficult, because I don’t know how my healing will go—not only with my leg but with a new shoulder/arm injury. I might have heart surgery late in the month, or, more likely, it will slip into September. So how do I plan for writing tasks with such uncertainty?

  • Blog twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. I may use scheduled posts again.
  • I’m not making a goal of attending any writers meetings, partly from not knowing how my surgery and illnesses will lay me up, and partly because one meeting may be cancelled due to lack of a venue.
  • Complete two editorial passes through A Walk Through Holy Week, Vol 2. I should be able to get this done even with uncertainty of schedule.
  • Figure out any final changes to the latest Danny Tompkins story, then finish and publish it.
  • Complete the commentary between letters. If I can get that done, begin selection of photos and insert them in the book.
  • And, one more for good measure: Make a start at outlining Vol 3 of A Walk Through Holy Week.

That’s enough. I’ll be lucky to get this much done.

Health

First Day for Two Miles

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Dateline: 8 July 2024, 06:10 a.m., for posting on 29 July 2024

Saw eight deer the morning of this post. They are regular visitors this time of year.

This morning the temperature was lower, in the upper 60s instead of the upper 70s. The remnants of Hurricane Beryl will hit us later today and tomorrow. The relative coolness is nice.

The first thing I see when I reach the street from the driveway are,,,two deer, one a buck that looks full grown, not forty feet from me. They came out from behind my first row of my blackberries bushes, making me wonder if they’ve been eating them. We stared at each other as I kept walking to them, then they quickly dashed off.

Up the hill I went, to the next road and then the next, where I saw a group of four deer dash across the road and into the woods. I turned right and went up the next hill, a gentle one, from which I could see the dam and the large lake it impounds. Over the hill just a little way to the loop at the first side road. Off to my right was yet one more deer. Around the loop, a short turnout on another side road, and then retrace my steps. This leg is mostly downhill, but gradual.

I continued on, in the other direction from out street, up another fairly gentle slope. A third of a mile in this other direction is another loop, downhill then uphill. Once again retrace my steps, turn at the right place and I’m home.

A week ago, in preparation for my surgery, I resumed walking. I’ve never totally quit walking, but last year, when I experienced angina every time I walked uphill (and it’s impossible to walk near our house without going uphill), I had to cut back on frequency, distance, and exertion. Then, during our two trips, regular walking was difficult to achieve due to the fullness of activities and responsibilities.

But I figured I’d better do something to improve my muscle tone and stamina pre-surgery. I began with one mile on Monday and increased the distance a tenth of two every day until I went 1.8 miles on Saturday. The goal today was 2 miles, which would then be the distance for the rest of my prep period. And I made the 2 miles, pushing myself to do so with a good time.

By the time you read this, I will have had my surgery. Hopefully I’ll still be alive and kicking, with a new, properly configured valve in place and working well. With a new physical life ahead of me, and a heart that is still strong.

books, miscellaneous, reading

Reading In the Woods

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Dateline Friday, 5 July 2024

The view from my woodland reading chair. Our house is to the left. Well in the distance is where the sound of the limb falling came from.

A few years back, we bought the unbuilt lot next to us, on the uphill side of our house. We got it for a good price and, based on current prices for lots in Bella Vista, it’s perhaps the most profitable investment we’ve ever made.

I’ve done some improvements on this lot, cutting down dead trees, cutting underbrush, clearing leaves from the edges to allow some grass to get a start. We have our compost pile on the lot (actually had it there before we bought it) and a well-worn path from the garage to the pile.

The woods directly in front of me. I’m keeping this are free of new trees and brush, though there are enough mature trees around it that the shade canopy is complete.

Along that path is my reading place. I don’t go out there to read often. Usually, I take my noon reading break in our sunroom. But it isn’t airconditioned, and this time of year it’s really too hot to read in. So on these days, I either read in the basement or out in the woods. I think I’ve gone to the woods most days this week (see the dateline), usually right around noon.

Isn’t it hot then, you ask? Yes, probably around 92°. But it’s shady. The oaks cover the path. I have a chair out at a level spot. A cut log set on end serves as a small table, leveled up with a wedge piece from a tree felling, to set my phone and cup of coffee on. By 1:00 p.m., the sun will have moved around further south and higher, and gaps in the canopy caused by the death of a couple of oaks due to a blight maybe three years ago. At that point I’ll have to move my chair or go inside.

Another view from my reading chair, looking more to the south and past our lot. Sunshine occasionally finds its way to the ground here.

Today I followed this procedure, but the temperature was a little cooler than recently due to rain yesterday evening. It was 92° with a nice breeze. In the shade of the oaks, I felt quite cool. I had a book and a magazine (an old one) with me. I decided to read the mag and try to get through it. Since it was from 2009, many of the articles were dated and not worth reading. Despite the distractions of woodland reading, I was able to read all I wanted in the hour and put it in the recycling bin afterwards.

What distractions, you ask? Just the sights and sounds of the woodland. And yes, even though our house is well within sight, when I’m sitting on our lot I’m in the woodlands. But most of the sounds are of human civilization. Take today. At first it seemed dead quiet, except for the sound the wind was making with the leaves. Then I heard a car door close, then another. Soon, I heard a lawnmower start and start to move. It sounded like it was coming from down the street at one of the two new houses. Then I could faintly hear a voice; probably one of the mowers.

Before the mower sound came, I watched a small lizard play near the edge of the driveway. A butterfly came by but didn’t stay. A fly somehow got in my coffee, but I fished it out and went right on drinking. I heard a mosquito near ear and swept it away. A vehicle made its way up the steep road across the hollow, somewhat faintly, around a thousand feet away or a little more. In winter, when the oaks are devoid of leaves, we can hear vehicle much clearer.

As the mowing continued, a vehicle came up the hill and passed by me, most likely without seeing me in the shadows. The view from the road into the woods is partly obscured by the first row of trees, some underbrush, and my blackberry vines. I looked back down the hill, into the woods. A bird flew silently across the lot thirty feet away from me.

Then I heard a crashing sound. Shifting my gaze to the north, I saw leaves and branches moving in the direction of the crash. It seems a branch fell from a tree behind our backyard. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go down there and see if I have new deadfall just off the property.

I continued reading in this distracted state. The magazine, the monthly publication of our Rural Electrical Cooperative, had a good article on one woman’s historic preservation work in Arkansas. That was quite interesting. Another article covered things that the State Legislature would be dealing with in the session about to start. But I kept looking up from the mag to see what was going on around me. I heard the sound of a squirrel but didn’t see it.

I looked around for WTBD—work to be done. Some underbrush needed more cutting. Leaves need to be pushed back a few feet more from the house, to widen the grass strip that’s coming up naturally there. Three trees, 6 to 8 inches diameter, fell near the south border of the lot. Someday, perhaps, I’ll saw them up and put them on one of my brush piles.

The sun was moving around to the point where I would soon lose my shade, then thin clouds partly obscured the sun. I decided I’d read all in the mag that was important, laid it on my log table, and took up my coffee. Perhaps you think it strange to take hot coffee out to woods to drink on a hot day, but I like the taste, and in the woods it’s not too hot to drink.

But my time was soon up. I:00 p.m. neared, and lunch beckoned me. The sights and sounds of the woods faded as I traversed the rocky path the 50 feet to the garage. Possibly I’ll return to my reading spot tomorrow for another hour with another mag or a book, and once again read distractedly but enjoyably. Cooler weather and the sunroom are not far away. Any place to read is a good place.