The Poland travelogue is still in work, sigh. That's largely because I was occupied this week with doing some massive de-cluttering. See, I was hosting this month's story swap and, if nothing else, I needed the space in the living room for folding chairs and so on. And it's also much easier to dust and vacuum and so on if there isn't stuff everywhere. It wasn't like I was magically going to find places for everything - or find time to go through everything, for that matter. But I did manage to move boxes of books and various crafts projects into the den and stick the box of shame in the bedroom and so on.
Other than that (and cleaning the bathroom and kitchen), hosting the swap was pretty low stress. I had a half-dozen people show up, including one who hadn't bothered to RSVP and who came late, leading to a surprising knock at the door well into the evening. I told my new Chelm story, but I'm not happy with it yet. I need to get it working within the next month, since I want to tell it at the Jewish Folk Arts Festival. (I also decided that I want to tell Prince Rooster there,, so I need to work on that as well. I think I will do it at Tellebration at Jane's the night before.) My personal highlight of the evening was Ralph running through Soldier Jack, which I've heard him tell before. But he does it so well and I never mind hearing a story over again. There was also a new guy, Gabriel. He was quite amusing, actually, and he has some material that, while lacking structure now, I think will eventually make good personal stories.
By the way, the major downside of hosting a swap is that people bring junk food and leave it. I nibbled far more than I should have on potato chips today, sigh. I also had some of my own leftovers, as I'd made a half-gallon of mulled cider. Nice and simple with cloves and cinnamon and dried cranberries and full of autumnal spirit. I strained it into a pitcher and can reheat it, so I don't mind having some left.
Today was spend, in part, recluttering. I moved some books (the ones to sell) back into the living room. The box of shame is also back in pride of place. Well, not quite pride, but you know what I mean. But my bigger accomplishment of the day was buying shoes. I found some light-colored (bone, maybe?) pumps that are more or less exactly what I needed. A bit pricier than I would have preferred, but they are Rangoni, wich is a brand I've had good success with in the past.
Finally, I don't usually write about television, but I want to mention something about The Amazing Race. The Cho brothers are just awesome. I've liked them ever since the moment in Hanoi when they said they just needed to stand a few moments at John McCain's flight suit and think about it, instead of just racing off. Their maneuvering on tonight's episode to let the Kentucky couple get the fast forward showed incredible class. I admit I was also happy that Peter and Sarah got eliminated, as they were getting fairly annoying. Now, if only Rob and Kimberley ("it's mosque, not mask" "whatever") would get knocked out ...
Copyright 2006 Miriam H. Nadel