20140905 Cabbage phew; Friday, September 5, 2015 contains two parts of a letter to Tom

20140905 Cabbage phew; Friday, September 5, 2015, 11:23 PM  I am out on my first walk of the day--yup, at almost 11:30 at night.  Earlier, I was working on making sauerkraut, and that was exhausting and then it was very windy and raining. 

            I went to bed at 10:34 PM and at 11:15, I was still wide awake and bored out of my gourd, so I got back up and got dressed and am taking a walk.

Graham got a summons from GPP courts because he did do the things he was required to do for his probation.  He did not see his probation officer over the summer, he did not take his alcohol class, and he did not do his community service.  He is required to appear in court on October 15 to explain why he should held in contempt of criminal court.

            It's very quiet tonight, except for the loud crickets, especially considering how loud the wind was earlier.  It's cool and humid (it was in the 89s earlier!) and cloudy, with the moon shining through the clouds. 

            The sidewalks are littered with downed branches, some of which are difficult to see in the dark.  Others, like a huge one I skirted back there, a re difficult to miss.  Glad I wasn't under that one when it came down.

            I move out into the street, which better lit than the very dark sidewalks, and there hasn't been an6y traffic. 

            I put my shorts on in the dark and didn't bother with underwear, which I almost never do, and for some reason, it feels itchy that way.  Of course, I am always itchier at night.  (Itching is one of the things that contributes to my insomnia.  Reason unknown to me.)

            A car comes and I have to go back to the sidewalk.  I've decided to walk around the block.  The same car goes back the other way.  Then it turns around and comes back this way again.  It stops just ahead of me. 

            Makes me nervous, and I hope I don't have to run for it.  But it's a woman carrying a huge purse and she walks past me on the other side of the street.  Now there are sirens and I am still looking behind me for the person who drove by 3 times—maybe she was checking me out nervously.  The sirens make me nervous.

            I walk down the middle of the alley.  I can see all around me, but then again, anyone could see me. 

            Now I smell smoke. 

            I don’t know what I am so nervous about; I walk here all the time.

            But when I get home, I am going inside and locking the door.

            This one walk will have to be enough for tonight.  It's almost tomorrow anyway.

            *            *            *            * EJ end journal

            *            *            *            * SLT start letter to Tom

            Friday, September 5, 2014, 11:41 PM Dear Tom,

            I am out walking because I went to bed at 10;30, couldn't sleep, gt up at 11:155 PM and decided to go for a walk because I hadn't been able to walk all day.  So here I am, out walking in the dark.  When you eat, just eat, when you paint, just paint and when you write, just write --I mean when you walk, just walk.  Except I am walking and writing at the same time and twice since I started, huge brilliant flashes of light (lightning?) lit up the sky and the same moment, the power in the neighborhood flickered on and off like something from a horror movie.  Yikes!  I think it is starting to rain.  There are branches down all over the sidewalk from the wind earlier, and then it was still, but I hear it picking up again, I think.

            I hear a train whistle, must be a low ceiling.

            OK, I'm going back in, more later.

            I walked about 22 and a half minutes, not very fast because of the darkness, the wet and bumpy sidewalks and the downed branches, and also the hour of the night.

            Saturday September 6, 2014, 5:45 PM  I am out walking, just a short walk.  Keith came home made a phone call to a tree service and left again almost immediately.  That was a long time ago.  Because I am out walking, I writing on the Psion, so the letter will be out of order unless I rearrange it first.

            Meanwhile, I see a man with a helmet, and I ask him if he's from NIMO--I said that, then said, I mean DTE.  Detroit Edison, not Niagara Mohawk.  He was cute and had a foreign accent.  He said someone else on our block also called to say his wife wears a CPAP and didn't get any sleep last night.  He said I need to call so that they can prioritize my needs because of my medical condition.  I imagine if I call, I will be on hold all day.

            What I did, since I didn't sleep last, almost not at all, and the sleep I did get was really bad, Keith shaking me every time I stopped breathing.  I DO have a medical condition but I guess telling the triage guy isn't enough; no I have to call and wait on hold.  

            He had a clipboard of names addresses of other people who have issues.  I am thinking I might go stay at Rolandale tonight--blow up the air mattress and sleep there.  I will have pack up as if for a trip.

            I was making fun of Keith's addictions, but my addictions are just as fatal.  I am addicted to food and my weight interferes with my sleep and just about everything else.  I am primarily addicted to sugar, which I almost never eat any more, including not eating fruit or white flour/refined grains, which turn to sugar in the body. 

            A lot of people have generators running--must be nice.  We have a generator, if it still works, that I bought years ago for camping, to run my computer when I was working on a novel while camping.  But it's just about big enough to run one light bulb and a small simple computer.  It certainly can't run a stove or fridge or air conditioner. 

            The triage guy said at least 24 hours, but whether he meant 24 hours from when it went out or 24 hours fro now, I'm not sure.  When I get home, I am going to pack up my sorrows--I mean pack up some stuff to mac and cheese for K and go over R'dale and do that, unless he's at home and objects

            I see the triage guy.  I want to corral him and tell him he could call for me.  Maybe he has an in somehow.  Some husband called, wish my husband called, but he's been pretty busy.

            Sunday, September 7, 2014, 10:21 AM, R'dale  I did call DTE yesterday, but it didn't do any good.  The first time I called I just got menus etc and it hung up on me, the second time I got an unsympathetic annoying person who merely said she couldn't help me and that should go stay at a motel.  I wonder how those other people got on the triage list.

            At bedtime, there was still no power, so we packed up and stayed at Rolandale.  There are some advantages to having two houses, one of them being, that if one has power and the other doesn't, and you need power to sleep, you have somewhere to go.

            I'm going to download this now, and maybe I will stop writing.  The sun is shining and it's cool and autumnal feeling outside.

            Hope thing are looking up on your end.

            Love, Mary  XOX

            *            *            *            *  ELT end letter Tom