A post in which there is lots to do

I woke up this morning after a night of very vivid dreaming with an inspiration for a short story.  I rarely  have an inspiration to write fiction, although one of the main reasons for doing this blog was to get into the discipline of writing every day and get the ole brain cells limbered up to do just that.  Of the several inspirations I've had to do some writing, two of them came from dreams.  Kind of made me think about the composition of Kubla Khan (although I wouldn't presume to put myself in the same league with Mr. Coleridge).  I had images seared into my mind that I wanted to preserve before the proverbial doorbell rang.  I got ready for work and headed out, turning off the CD player en route to better preserve things in my head, and began to assemble the story elements into some kind of narrative.

By the time I got to work, I had worked out how the story should start (the end was pretty obvious to me), and was excited to start.  I had really kind of intended just to make some notes, but since our computers were down again this morning, I just opened up Word and did some writing.  On the one hand, it's really cool that this happened, but on the other hand, I can't help but think that if I'm waiting on lightning to strike it's very unlikely that I'll ever be a real writer.  The interesting thing about this idea was that the world of the story appeared in the dream, but given the central premise, I started to flesh out this world in my mind.  It has depth and reason now.  I always wondered how writers did that.  Once I had the central premise, it was like building onto a house, and big chunks of this world seemed to fall into place as logical extensions.  I haven't had that happen before.

When the computers came up, I got to work, and did what I needed to do (fortunately the month was closed already).  I wasn't terrifically productive today though.  It was like part of my brain was left in that other world that is being born.

My first box from Noisy Rabbit came today.  There was a LOT of stuff in there!  I'm so glad I did this.  I don't like everything in the box (Granny Smith apples - yergh), but that's part of the fun.  I'm really excited about getting in the kitchen and playing this weekend.  This box will allows the Chopped-style cooking that I enjoy so much these days.  For $17.50 I received: several pounds of potatoes, a cantaloupe, 5 granny smith apples, a big bag of spinach, a head of bib lettuce, 5 bell peppers, 4 zucchini, 2 lemons, a bag of great big carrots, and 4 large cucumbers.  There had to be at least $25 worth of produce, plus it was delivered to the office.  Super!

Since I mowed yesterday, I HAD to go get Mother's Day cards today if they are to have any hope of arriving on time.  So I went to Dollar Tree.  I guess that sounds cheap.  But I send multiple cards, and I don't guess its the price of the cards that matters, really.  The number of cards has decreased through the years though, sadly.  Granny and BB are gone now.  I decided not to send one to Cindy this year.  I'm just really done with her.  But I bought the others.  I could have gotten reasonably, but I picked up a few other things while I was there.  I didn't really buy anything frivolous though, except for three boxes of cookies which I absolutely do not need.  After that, it was off to Publix to buy fill-in groceries.  I was out of milk.  I was tickled to see that they had the big purple garlic today, so I bought two heads.  I love that stuff and wish they could get it year-round. 

I got home, unloaded all the stuff, and put all the produce away (my fridge is packed - did I mention that the box was full?)  I made a taco salad with the last (finally) of the taco filling in the fridge and turned on 'Waiting for God' while I ate.  I relaxed for a while, and had just moseyed into the kitchen to do the dishes when I realized that the whole reason for going to get the cards tonight was because I had to get them in the mail.  Hello!

So I did the cards that had to be mailed, drove to the downtown post office, and mailed them.  Hopefully they will be delivered on Saturday.  As is my habit, I sent a card this year to my mother's friend Phyllis.  I haven't seen Phyllis for several years, but she and my mom used to be really close.  She was kind to me when I was a confused teen-ager still trying to figure out who I was, and accepted me into her home and her life without question at a time when I wasn't feeling that acceptance from my own father.  She also was really supportive of my mom and a great friend to her for years.  Even though I'm certainly not a teen-ager any more, I have never forgotten her kindness.  Since her relationship with her son is somewhat tumultuous, I always make sure she gets a Mother's Day card from me - even all these years later.  I was reflecting tonight on the power of kindness, and the hope that something I do will bear fruit.  It reminds me that I should try to do nice things for people even if it doesn't seem that they appreciate them at the time. 

The weather has (finally) turned off warm, hopefully for good now, and the ride to the post office with the windows down was so nice that it felt more like a pleasure and less like an errand.  I got home, got ready for bed, and talked to Gary on the phone for a bit.  He's had a rough week, and sadly his day off has been nixed, which kills our plans, but we're talking about taking a long weekend on Memorial Day and maybe doing something fun then.  He's such a nice guy, and I'm enjoying getting to know him.