Speaking for Sarah

No
hot
water
this morning.
Took a shower at
the gym. How sophisticated.

Last Sunday I made my volleyball debut for the season. A lot of other people were out for the first time too--we greeted each other like newly stirring hibernating bears. Some people bring their families and it was fun to notice that the kids were all a few inches taller. It was a beautiful warm day, perfect for volleyball, and I played until the net came down with the sunset.

I taped up my still-vulnerable pinky--or, rather, one of the guys did, with tape that he had in his knapsack left over from high school football circa 1988 (!). That was kind of odd but, I guess, historic. (I had made sure to buy tape at the drugstore that morning but then neglected to bring it with me.)

The only mishap of the day was when someone bonked me in the face with the volleyball. It wasn't so much my face I was worried about as the very expensive newish glasses with progressive lenses. I promptly took them off and played the rest of the afternoon squinting. I think that I have to get contacts, finally. Or a pair of spares that do not have designer frames or progressive lenses.

What else? I read, practically in one day, a beautifully written novel called The Ha-Ha, by Dave King. The narrator is a Vietnam vet whose head injury sustained in the war has rendered him unable to talk or read, although he is active and functioning in other ways. The story is about how his life opens up when his high school girlfriend asks him to take care of her nine-year-old son while she is in a drug rehab facility. Also about his memories of the past, before and after the war and his injury. It all felt very true and very real. Highly recommended.

Why
keep
buying
shoes if I
have no place for them?
Perhaps my apartment will grow.




(See this and this.)

okay, here I am, just under the wire. Shakespeare's Sonnet #19. I have been teaching these (although not this one--I thought I'd pick a relatively unfamiliar one to post here).



DEVOURING Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s jaws,
And burn the long-liv’d phoenix in her blood;
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,
And do whate’er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:
O! carve not with thy hours my love’s fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;
Him in thy course untainted do allow
For beauty’s pattern to succeeding men.
Yet, do thy worst, old Time: despite thy wrong,
My love shall in my verse ever live young.

Don't seem to have much to say lately. Should I even bother posting? I have been enjoying keeping up with what other people are writing, which makes me want to contribute something.

So: Things are good, mostly. I am happy to have the days lasting into the evenings now that we are on daylight savings time. Happy to be on spring break from the teaching job although my daytime job continues as usual. Tomorrow is Passover and I will see my family. On Sunday, if the weather is fine, I will tape up my pinky and play volleyball for the first time this season. I am back to doing yoga twice a week, which makes me feel both calm and hopeful.

Thanks, dear readers, for all the empathic comments on my last post and the birthday wishes. I do feel encouraged to keep up with the blog.

So, from Brooklyn, here is my news.

Tonight I had dinner with my older sister, whose birthday is tomorrow. We are 11 years apart in age but our birthdays are only a week apart so we often celebrate together. We had dinner at a restaurant not far from where I live that we both enjoy, one that has been there, we found out tonight, for 33 years. One of the pioneers of the exposed brick, bustling, modernish and unfussy variety but with exquisitely prepared fresh food. Also, if you are on their mailing list, you get a card in the mail around your birthday inviting you to have a free meal. We both had cards but we used mine since it was closer to expiring. When we spoke during the week to make plans, my sister said, "Maybe we'll get our favorite waittress, the one who called us, what was it, 'honey lovies,' last time." I said I couldn't remember if it was "honey lovies" or "sweetie honeys" but I also hoped that we would have her.

We did see her, and she greeted us expressively, but, alas, we were not seated in her station. It was a lovely meal anyway.

Walking back from the subway to my apartment at around 10, it felt like daytime even thought it was night. People are out more because it is warm, finally. I saw and greeted two people I know from around the neighborhood, one of whom teaches the yoga class I like to go to on Saturdays and which I went to today. I told her how much I had enjoyed the class and she told me how nice I looked.