LISTENING in Postcards 4

Listening is all important. No one asked me what I was going to do today, but I can be found at the sewing machine. I’d tell you that if you asked. Most days I manage an hour or so there. I confess, endlessly sewing leaves is very boring. Even freehand it is a very boring thing. And physically it is hard work dragging the beyond king sized quilt through the small throat of the machine. If I had no end date on my life, I would go get a long arm machine.

I did ask George what he was planning to do today. “Bake bread,” he replied. “Order groceries, get gas at Costco, do a load of laundry, and go play in space,” he told me smiling. I smiled back.

Keeping up with other lives, Bobbie is in New York City opening a new show. “Very successful,” she tells me. Daughter Margot got a promotion which makes her full time with bennies, and Granddaughter Zoe got mostly A’s with one B this latest report card. Sometimes I think the spoken word passes right over my head. Often these days, I can’t even find the word I want. Then I wake and I understood what is happening and find the lost word too. I’m somewhat reassured that some of the things happening around me are getting through.

• Himself: CBS Sunday morning and all of the above.
• Myself: Scribbling and sewing.
• Reading: Henderson’s People. The Clinton/Penny book is out on Tuesday.
• Watching: CNN’s the Windsor’s, and To Catch a Smuggler.
• Photo: Mine. 2009. Roberta and Marion.
• Weather: Cold but sunny.
• Gratitude’s: That I have the strength to pull that quilt through my machine.