This weekend was spent away on work for the first time since Mark died. It's been two months, and the decision to travel came down to two things: 1) At some point, I'd have to get on a plane again. The longer I put it off, the harder it was going to be; and (pragmatically); 2) we already had one contractor on this project, we would have to find ( Read more... )

Here is the link to the scholarship fund in Mark's name. Please let them know if you have a donation item, or a donation. :)

The Welsh dragon has a second leg. :)

I've gotten very good at rearranging furniture. I keep doing it. Eventually, it will come to rest. I hope.

Thanks to MD and Amy T for weeding -- especially the ton of peppercress which I've always thought of as a noxious weed (as does everyone else I know) but apparently, like dandelion, it can be eaten!  ( Read more... )

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Among the many things that janetl assisted with while visiting was helping me acquire A New Thing To Do.  She is a master (imo) of counted cross stitch and has done many magnificent and amusing pieces. So she assisted me with starting from a five million year old kit that Mark had given me (after deciding that almost everything about the kit was rubbish ( Read more... )

I've survived my first full day at work (I'm considering leaving at 4:00 full) and so did Kai, although he was gloomy by the time I got home.  The dog walker came by at noon and called me after to provide a precis of their time together, which was a nice thing to do.  Kai would be less stiff if he got up and moved more often, rather than plunking ( Read more... )

It amuses me greatly to say that I am keeping all of Mark's marbles. His balls. And of course, his clown noses.

Today was a difficult day. Some time was spent helping scarlettina prep for her family visit, which was good. Also time was spent putting some of Mark's books into boxes for a donation to The Film School Library -- a worthy cause -- and one I'm very happy to support. Difficult nonetheless. Also boxed up some of his collection of plays, and a some boxes of ( Read more... )

Many things, some more disgusting than others, were cleaned out of the fridge. Way too many had been in there for over a month. It took several hours, but hurrah for a clean, and much emptier, fridge.

The emotional roller coaster of, "Can I eat that?" "OK, well, can I eat THAT?" and later, "Well, how about that? Surely you won't throw out that?"  ( Read more... )

My goal is simple: to survive six months. There is a statistically high rate of "excess mortality" in widows and widowers in the first six months after the death of their spouse.  It begins to curve down after six months until, after a year, a widow/widower is back at the normal survival rate for all single persons ( Read more... )