July 15, 2023: Rain
Work hard, play hard. I can’t imagine living a life any other way. I get antsy around those who don’t think similarly. Days like this, where it rains and rains and rains – are not an excuse for me to do less. Rather, they are an excuse to be inside. So I opted to work in the hotel. On the way there, I heard NPR’s Scott Simon interview with a 90 year old writer. The person Scott was interviewing was writing a book entitle Tabula Rosa, a memoir. I was very impressed by the writerly attitude of this then unknown to me person. And an antidote stuck with me. The |
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interviewee spoke of working in a biology lab at age 16. He was instructed to drown fruit flies. He remarked that he has since thought that when he gets to heaven that he’ll face judgement by the animals he killed. I just caught the last part of the interview, so I did not know who the interviewee was. Later, I learned that it was John McPhee. THE John McPhee who is considered the father of literary journalism. THE John McPhee who wrote Coming into the Country. THE John McPhee, who I discovered when I shook his hand, that he had very small hands. Now in his 90’, McPhee says he’s still writing, but not every day. Now he is a role model for me. I’m glad that he’s writing memoirs – this rounds out his wonderful writing career. Saturdays, Pete, Bill, and I used to salvage books at the local recycling center. Now Bill is again the head salvager. Pete and I will continue to salvage books that are dropped off at the Historic Eagle Hotel. This morning I met up with Bill there – it was a quiet, and peaceful morning inside. I didn’t have to deal with the ear splitting sound of the baler, just the outside cityscape sounds. Bill put urethane on our new sandwich board sign, and he picked out books for this week’s distribution. As he was taking off, Pam (a volunteer) came in with her granddaughter Kyra, and together they cleaned books. Me, I re-boxed the children’s books. After a bit, Pete and Robert showed up and began putting together the shelves we got from Car Quest, when it was across the street. Bea showed up next – she picked out books for Wolfe eyewear. Then Pat walked in the door. We had three board members opt to put in computer appearances. Come 2:00 p.m. we had our July board meeting. This went well, although I was antsy – I wanted to get the books that were on the floor on the shelves. It did occur to me that everyone present is very invested in this project, almost as much as I am. And so much so, that at times the conversations become very impassioned. I continued to work after everyone left, stocking the new shelves. Why not? It was still raining. |
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