Sylvia's Journal

I have been working as if I were on fast train speeding towards completion. Axel had to shake me out of my trance and drag me outside for a walk. That was a good idea. It is amazing how fast a day goes by when you are on such a fast track one rail train. This is the third day in a row. I decided to stay home today so I could stay on this one track. In Cambridge that would not be possible. One week from now I will be packing my suitcase for Afghanistan. It signifies a hard stop for many things that I am trying to get off my plate; stuff I cannot postpone, things that have been patiently waiting for my attention since October but now the patience is gone.

As a result I am totally attached to my computer for 9 to 10 hours a day. I realize how risky that is. The possibility of a computer crash is the scariest thing I can imagine. So from time to time I send myself an email with the file I am working on attached. Just in case my faithful but old computer collapses, which it does in minor ways from time to time; luckily nothing that a re-boot cannot solve. So far, all has been well.

The intense work shows up in my dreams as Word document files that come to life in ways I cannot remember but faintly feel, the way I imagine one could feel synaptic connections in the brain; small recognizable bits that travel hither and dither along old and new paths, line up in columns or justified paragraphs. There is more but I lose it if I don’t write it down immediately upon waking.

Axel and I walked to the library and back. We refused a ride offered very nicely by a tired and worn Woody who has just completed two weeks at the Boston Flower Show. We explained that this was our constitutional, a health thing, and an important distraction.

When we came home the house smelled great. Jim had made a Curry Fish Chowder, a wonderful combination of the best of India and New England. We could eat fish because Sita is in London. She won’t be able to smell the fish and so we take advantage of her absence. The only thing that is good about her being away.

Tessa is coming home tomorrow for a short Easter visit with Steve and the new puppy Chicha. Both girls will be coming back from Londons, Tessa from the Ontario one and Sita from the real London. By Friday night our little family will be complete again, like we were last summer and over Christmas. This is another reason why I am trying to get as much work off my plate as possible. It would be hard to have to work when everyone is hanging out in the living room within earshot of my office. I can be pretty disciplined but that would be a bit of a challenge.