[continued from entry of January 23]
When I stay with G.&S., my temporary home is the small room that usually serves as G.'s work area. A teeny space, crowded with books and boxes and cat-related tchotchkes and a rocking chair and a small table or two and a strange photo of a guy with a goat (what is up with that?) and a desk with a computer/more books/photos/piles of mail, blahblahblah. Toss me and my bags into the mix, there's not much room to do anything but crawl onto the bed. Which is basically what I do if I'm in there and not changing clothes: lay down and read, or lay down and crank up laptop (to enjoy wifi), or lay down and snooze. Limited options, but perfect for those looking to escape real life.
And. It's not only my temporary home, they let me make a complete mess of that little room while I'm there (and say nothing about it). Which is what I did for my three-day visit: made a mess, a kind of mess I don't create in my own bedroom, where the bed gets made every day and shirts/pants go on a clothes tree. I moved in, changed duds, turned the bed into my own personal lounging pit, settling into a relaxed, semi-slovenly, routineless routine. For three days. And the less productive I became, the happier I got. And the happier I got, the happier G.&S. seemed to get.
If I could figure out how to (a) re-create the essence of that amazing situation and make it permanent and then (b) figure out how to generate a pile of money doing it, I would be set for the rest of what passes for my little life.
After Christmas dinner: I found the book, amused the cats, chatted with G.&S., tossed myself into bed, read, passed out. Woke up in the early a.m., could feel I wouldn't get back to sleep immediately. Cranked up the laptop, enjoyed joy-inducing wifi fun. Drifted back to sleep, didn't come to until around 10 -- the latest I've slept in months. And months. Since Madrid.
Wandered out of bedroom in black thermals, suffering from a major case of pillow hair. Found G.&S. up, eating, carrying on their morning quietly to allow pillow-haired guest to sleep. Ate breakfast, lounged about, ate more. Entertained cats, talked with G.&S. Ate more. At some point pulled on real clothes, did a field trip with G.&S. to the Museum of Fine Arts. Was prepared to pay the bloated entrance fee, but the sweet woman behind the ticket counter realized I was with museum members, pointed out they were entitled to bring a guest free. Lucky for her she was behind the counter or I might have thrown myself at her feet in a show of gratitude sure to embarrass everyone.
Hadn't been at the MFA in a while. A few years at least. Saw the two resident Hopper paintings. Saw the new photography room. Watched people, enjoyed wandering with G.&S., enjoyed tasteful Christmas light displays. Ran into someone I hadn't seen in years, a good person. Would not have recognized her if G.&S. hadn't greeted her, saying her name. She recognized me, said hello, we exchanged hey-how-ya-doin's, I was glad I hadn't had to fish around for her name or fake knowing it or avoid the whole issue by not using her name during the encounter. Got museum'ed out, we bolted. Drove over to Central Square in Cambridge, an area that used to be infested with Indian Restaurants (to the point that it was rumored a central underground kitchen prepared all the food, sending it to individual eateries by pneumatic tubes). The restaurant I jonesed for was no longer there, we wound up at a joint G.&S. hadn't been to before, found ourselves being subjected to a good-cop/bad-cop routine by the wait staff, one waiter clearly uninterested in exerting himself in any way to help us, a second waiter going out of his way to treat us with kindness, the two trading off, providing a strange, slightly surreal dining experience.
Back to the flat, S. turning on Law and Order SVU, the program turning out to be soapily overwrought. After a while I bailed, escaping to my cozy hideaway to read about spending a third of a year in Rome eating excellent Italian chow (a use of four months I could definitely get behind).
[this entry in progress]
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February sunlight, northern Vermont:
España, te echo de menos
rws 7:59 PM [+]
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