I've been kind of quiet the past couple days because I've been kind of BUSY the past couple days... Last Thursday would have been Tom's and my 32nd wedding anniversary. I didn't go into it in as bad emotional shape as I did my birthday a couple weeks ago, but the day started out rather introspective and reminising. Then I got a call from the credit union who was about to pay the 6 months property tax and the difference made her panic. I knew Tom's elderly and blind exemptions were coming off as of April 1, but I did. not. expect. that jump (from $330 to $1744). That changed the whole emotional content of the day, believe me. I'm not eligible for the elderly exemption until next year, so I've got a year of having to pay full weight on the property taxes. But the good news is I could and DID pay it. And I can pay it for the rest of the year. When Mom died ten days after Tom, I thought her timing was pretty bad... Well, it turned out that it saved my posterior. But, quite honestly, I'm feeling...a bit shaky and less "safe" financially. Friday was a lovely day which started out with a three hour lunch with a couple really great friends at an interesting new grill and pub with a lot of character. The food is really good and reasonably priced, too. They reminded me I needed to get to the Portsmouth Farmers' Market or to the Meadow's Mirth farm stand and start picking up my produce for my CSA share, which I'm sharing with them. Then at the Press Room session everything went just really really well, despite one of the stronger voices being in Utah and Idaho until August. Had a good talk with a friend I don't often get a chance to talk to, and, after the session got off to a somewhat slow start (too nice a day outside and too many gigs), another good strong singer whom we haven't seen for awhile came in and sang until we wrapped. A group of young guys came in and sat over by the stairs. They looked like they might be a ZZ Top cover band, but when I sang "The Man Who Waters the Workers' Beer" they got really excited. So I went over and talked to them and told them the history of the session, etc. Turns out they were one of the opening acts upstairs and described their music as "Appalachian/Blues/Punk"...but we welcome just about everyone to our Anglo-Celtic trad session. I invited them to join us and two ran upstairs for their instruments...and Adam came down with a tiny banjo and his bandmate with a standup bass. They sang a Woody Guthrie union song, which, of course, led me to doing a couple union songs... We had a great time. Adam wanted me to join them later onstage to sing "The Man Who Waters the Workers' Beer" but I had promised a friend that I'd catch the last 45 minutes of her Greek gig at Café Nostimo. What a great night! Then on Saturday I went to the Farmers' Market and Josh told me that actually I still had a credit left from last season. I'm eating free this week (and probably mostly free for some time). Took the scenic route on the way home and ended up sitting for awhile at a lovely little pocket park on the Lamprey River in Newmarket, NH -- overlooking Chick's Weir. And I talked to the mallards who seemed to enjoy the conversation. The backs of the mills are now so gentrified and cleaned up. Back in 1981 I worked at Newmarket Press and their loading dock was just up the river from where I was sitting. What a difference! Had a huge amount of stuff on my list on Sunday, everything from laundry and making my homemade Italian dressing (and another batch of blue cheese dressing) to reading and critiquing all the writing for Monday's memoir writers group. Yesterday the fellow came to pay me for the huge anvil in the cellar as well as the forge and the smaller anvils and a few tools. I really should have taken pictures... He got it out of the cellar, around the corner of the house, and up the slope to the driveway level on a sled -- pretty slick. Then, while winching it up to the truck bed, it slid off the sled. I called a neighbor with a little tractor but he was on his way to the airport. HE called another neighbor who came up and they got it into the truck. So I got to meet a neighbor I had only waved to. (He refused payment or even a beer for helping out; said, "That's what neighbors do...help each other out.") So now I have some more space in the cellar and some space filled in the bank account. Got the check deposited this morning and got aluminum foil at the store which I seem to keep forgetting. Got some other preliminary and peripheral tasks accomplished, too, but my primary focus is taking the old composting toilet apart and scrubbing down the subflooring in anticipation of my handyman coming at 7:30 tomorrow morning to do the bathroom floor. He might have to bring the boxes of slate upstairs by himself; not sure if I'll get to it. I DID bring up the replacement gray slate tiles to substitute for the red ones in the mix in the boxes. Of course the weather today decided to be in the mid-90s (F)... and all I'd REALLY like to do is take a nap! Well, I've got it partially apart, and I just grabbed the screwdrivers and flashlight so I have to go and attack the rest of it. Linn
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