1) More purging and rearranging in the cellar has underscored what I already knew: most of what I have down there is papers, shoeboxes and plastic tubs full of papers. And a good 80% of it can be shredded. That can be my penance during the summer.
1a) In a small cardboard stationery box, among sheets of not-quite-used-up Avery labels, I found a sheaf of Christmas card envelopes — not all with the cards inside — that I received in 2003, my first Christmas in this house. Among the delights (a pencilled note from Younger Nephew Who Must Not Be Tagged), some poignant reminders that we can’t know the future. One former colleague and her husband wrote full of hope for the future; that marriage ended in divorce. I found an envelope from a dear friend who died much too young; I wish the card had been there, too. Reminders that we need to celebrate every day.
2) Apparently today is Laurence Olivier’s birthday, so what a great to watch his Hamlet.
3) True spring weather today: clear, cool, green. The rhododendrons are blooming in the back of the house. At ye Instytytte they were always the sign that Commencement, and therefore Reunions, was unavoidably around the corner. Now, they convey merely beauty without excitement or anxiety.