Sunday, June 21, 2026

     I am sitting I my living room recliner for hours watching more soccer with the tall man, the roommate, the poet, and the dog lover. And I realize what I am feeling is happiness. They are here with me on my birthday. Later the poet and the dog lover produce a carrot birthday cake.

    In the background is the work sounds of two men who are doing all the minor house repairs accumulated during the last year.  Clear the roof gutters, open up the frozen basement door, replace the heater filter, fix the leaky outdoor faucet, seal the cracked bathroom sky light against the rain, stabilize the raised potato patch bed, move a water drain from away from the house, identify the strange grinding sound near the roof.  Have I forgotten anything?

     My life seems so easy now with the house running smoothly. I love this time when there nothing is on the list to be repaired. I know it won’t last.  It is the nature of house to break apart.

    After soccer and conversations, my talented, hard working roommate and I watch the last episode of CLARKSON’S FARM while we eating carrot cake. Later I continue reading LAND, a novel by Maggie O’Farrell. A classical story of the Irish people through the centuries. Somehow peace and joy have overcome the prevailing corruption and fear, at least for one day.