A surprising day

I constantly plead to have my work schedule be three days in a row rather than one on, one off, which is my usual lot. I frequently get so knackered in by working, that I spend the next day recovering till deep into the afternoon. If I work every other day, then I am always either working or recovering. Not ideal! I had thought this was a sign of my advancing age, but the youth of the day (at least those of them who are my co-workers) say it is the same for them. This was a comfort. As I said, I plead for three in a row, but it never seems to happen. This week, I had my week planned out, with nearly every hour dedicated to something. Some of the hours were dedicated to recovering, of course. On one of my recovery days, my aunt called to schedule a trip to the sewing store. I had been recovering all morning, and was trying to swing into aliveness. As we talked, I was looking at the upcoming work schedule so I could find a suitable day, and was horror struck. “O my God,” I said. “Is today the 27th?” She said it was. “I have to be at work in an hour!” I said a bad word, hung up the phone, and flung myself into action. I had copied my schedule onto the calendar, but had put five weeks down instead of the actual four for the last schedule, and so hadn’t realized the new schedule had started. For once, I had gotten my preferred schedule and hadn’t even noticed. This turned out to be a great boon. Usually, if I am working that evening, I stare at the clock all morning and brood about the coming evening’s work. Actually, I love my job (most of the time), but none the less, I brood. Today, unaware that I was going to be working, I neglected my brooding, and had a very pleasant recovery morning, alternately reading and house cleaning. So, now the house was clean, and I had a day off later in the week. I even managed to get to work on time. Hurrah!

The next day, I visited my friend Suzanne and recovered at her house. She lived in Japan for years, and her house filled with beautiful Asian things, as well as interesting and delightful treasures from the rest of the world. Here is a model Samurai warrior which she gave to her husband for Christmas. He (the Samurai, not her husband,) seems to have a part missing, as they haven’t been able to assemble him completely, but he is impressive none the less. Suzanne has bravely left her Christmas decorations up, as she isn’t tired of them yet. I am too wimpy to do this. I am sorrowful every time I take them down, but I succumb to peer pressure. Query to self: Why?
As Suzanne lives across the water, we had to cross one of Seattle’s floating bridges and I took the above picture of the afternoon sky over the lake. It looked much more impressive in real life.