Journal of a Sabbatical

December 11, 1999

windy day

Today's Reading: Autumn from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake

High wind warnings. Gusts that rattle the windows and force us to cancel our walk. The walking buddies Christmas party goes on as scheduled only without the walk. Rita serves a lunch of her trademark grilled cheese sandwiches and salad. No espresso though - everybody wants tea. Claire made a chocolate pie for dessert. It's so rich I can't eat much of it.

We exchange gifts. The rule is they have to be under $5. I give each of them a juice glass with a bird painted on it: a different bird for each person. They would have been way more expensive than the $5 but I got them at Oldies Marketplace, a kind of permanent flea market in Newburyport. Priscilla, the yard-saler, heartily approves of my shopping prowess. The loot I come home with: a wave toy with surfing penguins, a jar of Harry and David cherry jam, an address book/journal/pencil set in a nice floral print, a very funny snowman ornament with an upturned carrot nose, rosy cheeks, and skinny stick arms. I can't stop playing with the surfing penguins.

There are purple finches, black-capped chickadees, goldfinches, and a downy woodpecker at Rita's neighbor's feeders when I leave. They seem to be hunkered down against the wind too.

I've been reading the day's entries from Thoreau's journal aloud to Nancy every night. We got a little behind since she's been sick with bronchitis. I'd cut back to only one entry per day instead of all the ones from whatever year. So I promised I'd catch up tonight live and in person. We had a wonderful evening of reading Thoreau to see how cold it was this week in 18whatever, how many redpolls he saw, how many times he saw the river otter, how much snow there was.... and so on. We get a big kick out of comparing Concord then to where we are now.