River Brown

I don’t know any educators who get to only write for fun, but I do get worried when my writing life is filled with prompts for pragmatic things, for work and writing project.  And now, between rain storms it is sunny in California.

I have a new “chair” – actually a saddle stool, hoping that I can sit more ergonomically at my writing desk.  It is very much like a Western saddle I used to use on horses, except that it is cushioned and swivels.  The amount of sitting in small plastic chairs I do testing students and the amount of sitting I did recently for projects drove me to investigate alternative chairs.  Something is up with my hips now that my feet are functioning again.

I also got a wood kneeling type chair though Amazon which is currently in a pile in the open box.  The bolts and the drills in the wood pieces don’t match so, try as I might, I would begin to get one part together and another section fell apart.  I felt like a kid challenged by TinkerToys.  And, of course, now I get to wait for a “technician” to email me.  “What seems to be the issue?” a nice phone person asked when I called on my lunch hour.  “Well, the drills are too big for the bolts, so the bolts don’t screw in. They fall out.”

For this I need a technician?

It is lovely that the days are getting longer.  I can see shapes out in the garden and the sky is still blue grey at almost 6 pm.  I took a walk around the square of 4 city blocks and admired new blossoms in front yards and how things look when the sun comes out.  May as well enjoy it because day after tomorrow the winter rains come back.

I have a good book going now, getting into Anthony Doerr’s collection of short stories.  The first, the title story, “The Shell Collector,” was weird but kept me reading.  I like the way he writes, so I don’t have to love the story.  It is good for my mind to be back into a book, rather than spinning out about my profession, house needs, etc.

Now, I haven’t found a central thread, or a really kicky idea to organize this post around.  But I have moved my fingers, done some description, let words go where they will and followed along.  It feels good to write as an exercise, just as it feels good to walk for exercise.  Getting back to my desk daily.