A Lapse of days

Elaine, one of my JCC friends, joined me for lunch at the local Japanese restaurant. Though I have been watching the lbs increase every day when I weigh myself, I had the soba noodles; Elaine had a bento box, which looked great. I am wearing one of the pairs of earrings my granddaughter Laura made for me.

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry to have missed a few days—Wed. Thurs. Fri. I think. The trouble is that I cant recall what happened if I don't write it down, and I saw how useful an accurate record could be when I described my Dec. visit to Dr. Moyle. Nothing so important happened in these last few days. The big event of Friday was going out to lunch with Elaine. Then some reading and lots of rest. Merwin and I drove to Sea Cliff beach in the late afternoon and walked a bit. The weather was gorgeous. Our crocuses are in bloom, and the daffodils are not far behind. I am waiting for the many tulips Merwin planted in the fall. And we seem to have a volunteer pussy willow, which is in a state of delightful fuzziness. A day or so ago Merwin pointed out the first robin of the season, hopping about in our back yard. Is this a returnee? Where is his less colorful mate, I wonder. No sighting of fish in our pond so far.

On Wed. Sylvia stopped by for a brief visit; she had been making a site visit for one of the social work interns she is teaching. It's always a pleasure to see her, of course, but I felt bad that I had nothing prepared for dinner to offer her. Instead of a meal, I gave her Sonia's apple compote.

On Thursday, Merwin went to the tax person and completed that work quickly. He had of course spent hours and hours getting receipts together.

These last few days I struggled a bit with The Complete Works of Thomas Middleton, a interlibrary loan book that Laury got for me. What a disappointing book. First it is the heaviest book I think I have ever borrowed from a library. Second, its design is poor, with tiny tiny font size and faint lettering used on occasion to make a point. Third, the explanatory notes are in a separate book. And this book won the MLA best book of the year prize! The editor of Macbeth, who is the editor and originator of the whole idea, decided that since the Folio's punctuation could not have represented that of Middleton he would leave the text without punctuation. (Yes, the Shakespeare play is in the collected works of Middleton, as is Measure for Measure, because the editor believes them to be partly by Middleton, even admittedly a small part.) For some reason, though he rejects the Folio's punctuation, he decided to stagger lines, a feature George Steevens introduced in 1793! How would that be any part of what Middleton did in the early seventeenth century?

Merwin is going to enlarge some pages so I can read it more easily. I am concerned only to see if any of omissions and revisions creep into performances since the book was published. I doubt it, but I feel it's incumbent upon me to find out. I have begun writing the Macbeth chapter, and that is a good feeling.

We heard from Barry Kraft with the program for his Measure for Measure at Ashland. It was a great success. He, Laury and I had several discussions about the play when we were editing it and he was preparing for be the dramaturg for it. What wonderful collaborations.

We also heard from Mariko. The roads to Tokyo are closed but she managed to get a flight from her community to Tokyo to get on her plane for the US on 1 April.

Nothing else new: much itching, much attendant fatigue caused more by anti-histamines, I think, than by the blood condition.

Thinking of you all with loving thoughts,
Bernice