A Day Off

Took the day off today to run some errands.

Sent Shaula and Matthew off to school. She threatened to bite his head off. He, to scratch her nose off. Just yesterday, Matthew and Shaula were hugging each other after Shaula's return from her weekend sleepover at the cousins'. Good to see that things are back to normal.

The tires, the dealer told me, are worn and unsafe for wet weather. They also replaced the front wiper blades.

Doctor Lum told me to rest for several weeks to let my left calf and achilles tendon heal. There might be some tiny tears. Exactly as I expected. Betty ran solo today. So much for the Sun Run, maybe.

The sun was shining on this first day of Spring. 13C. A neat thing, our sun, vastly underrated by our daily consciousness. My watch finally made sense today. The smiling Sun peeked out from the crescent aperture of the AM/PM subdial to match the view outside the windshield. I heard the cawing of crows and two unidentified bird calls through the open car windows.

Finished Eudora Welty's The Optimist's Daughter. I can sympathize with the divisive opinions. The book doesn't get rolling until 60% of the way in. There is indeed no plot. Reminds me a little bit of Joyce's The Dead: after the inital tumult and hubbub, we are left to contemplate. I liked it, but would not recommend it without reservation. One Pulizter down, lots more to read.

Started Chico Buarque's Budapest this afternoon.