Kicks, Poetics, Books, the Baker, & He Cooks a Somewhat Productive Weekend

On Friday, they came. I tried them on to walk around the house and determined I needed to return them. They felt like orthopedic shoes. I bagged them up to mail back to Saucony. Yesterday morning, however, after a day of writing, I took them out and said, "At least try them for a run."

I did. They were great. Yes, I have really skinny ankles designed to hold up my Ripley body. I'm accustomed to running as if I'm Mr. Potato Head. It's how I'm built.

It was cold, but I went far and it felt great. So great, that I returned home to make eggs for the boys (they sleep in) and then head back to my home office (well, bedroom). I'm getting used to this space and love the view outside the window. I've also filled two notebooks full of notes I've taken from ZOOM meetings the past several weeks.

I have a writing project way over due, and a special presentation coming this week, so I am spending the weekend chiseling away at them. What does The Crossover, Monster, Solo, Fresh Ink, and Long Way Down have in common with William Shakespeare? Well, they'll be featured in an upcoming book chapter that I've been chiseling away at every chance I get (not featured is Dear Martin and Dear Justice, because both of them are loaned to others - I need them back to finish this writing!).

I also spent a couple of hours writing one of my Crandall poems (which I'll share later in the week) - one that comes from the Magic Box workshop that I'll be modeling for the Red Mountain Writing Project in Birmingham, Alabama. I have the ten things I pulled out of the box, including new knowledge like the state flower (camellia), the state bird (northern flicker), and several Albaaamaha words (from the original people of the state).

It's coming together and I hope to gift it to their site.

I also improvised Alice's special cake, because I didn't have any chocolate chips. I only had peanut butter chips. I think it would be better with chocolate cake (but I only had yellow - we haven't tried it yet, but will soon). I was thinking that it might have a nice, rich peanut butter flavor that would be great with ice cream.

UPDATE: Tried the cake. Wusah! Will be doing that again.

I'm awaiting verdicts, as I delivered pieces to my neighbor and to Leo who was building a bigger bar for Pam (adhering to the 6 ft rule, of course)

Today is likely to be more of the same. I need to get ready for Monday and Tuesday graduate courses (this is the last week for my guiding of them - next week they present to their peers). I need to read the chapters I assigned and to finalize last-minute instruction.

But, for the most part, I need to spend today writing, because I have two writing commitments following that are somewhat big and need pacing, organization, creativity, and vision. Nothing like finishing one project by procrastinating with bigger projects - that's the cycle (and so on, and so on)

And it's actually good to have Edem and Chitunga home. Edem is chattier than Chitunga, but both of them are equally clean and divide and conquer different chores that I can't keep up with. Edem also said today he's willing to give painting the house a try. In all seriousness, this would be extremely helpful as I'm locked behind my laptop all the time and never can get to the larger projects that exist in my head.

The other large project I want to attempt is to enlarge the fire pit as a space this summer. I know the garden is going to expand, but I'm thinking about blowing out the area where we burn shit and drink beers (it's something I inherited as a Son of a Butch).

Meanwhile, I keep monitoring the nation. None of us knows what is going to happen, but we do know that social distancing is the greatest weapon we have to save lives. The medical field and research world is not shy about sharing the realities and numbers, but we choose otherwise. We shall see.