Insanity. It's as if the world is insane, and the weather too. Sunday it was sunny and hot - 16 degrees or more - all Toronto out in t-shirts. Today, cold grey sleet.
And of course, the news, which is hard, unbearable, to watch or listen to.
But here, I put my head down and got on with it. My eyes are computered out, my bum is stuck to this chair, and I've gained 5 pounds, but I just got this draft of the manuscript out to a group of beta readers. It's a 64,000 word compilation that emerged in four months and has obsessed its author. Enough. I have to clean up the mess upstairs and fill the fridge and actually go outside and move my poor body. Until the next round of edits, and submitting, and submitting again. And then the next book.
What a life. And through all this, a family crisis or two, weathered and done. For now.
Paul Kelman's obituary was just in the Star; we were friends in Grade 13 and toured together in 1970, our first professional show. A great loss. Another dear friend's cancer, I've learned, has recurred.
But there's happy news too. The character Philippe in Loose Woman, an assistant at L'Arche whose actual name is Philippe, got in touch recently after 42 years and sent a picture. He was a darling then and it sounds like he still is. Hope to visit him in France. Tomorrow, the marvellous John Sugden, aka Sugdoon - we lived in a communal house in 1972 - is coming for lunch here with Nancy White - we toured together that year - and Annie. Old friends. We're old. Friends from long ago mean that much more.
I came down this morning to a spectacle in the garden. Two male cardinals, for some reason, were dive-bombing the yard, soaring one after the other up and down and through, in constant coordinated motion, just like the jets of the air show. Why would two males be doing this? Later I saw a female perched discreetly in a bush pecking at some berries, with a male keeping guard nearby. Could it have been a struggle for dominance and territory? Or, I thought, maybe they're gay, enjoying each other's company and showing off.
In any case, something so glad, so free, so peaceful, was a welcome sight. Soon - I'm hanging onto this thought - there'll be life here too.
Such good news about your manuscript, Beth. I raise my glass to you!
ReplyDeleteWell, as you know, this is just the first stage of a very long process ... but at least it's out of the house, for now. Looking forward to your book.
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