Success!

I’m doin’ it! I’m rebuilding scene three. It ain’t brilliant but it doesn’t have to be; the dresses are the brilliant part of the show. But now the script is feeling verysatisfactory. I’m extremely pleased.

I was also very pleased by my morning. I had to renew my car insurance, get pet food, go to the pet grooming store and to the automotive shop and for me, to do something new means I will be mute. It’s impossible for me to talk but now, after two years of having this problem, I feel no embarrassment or shame and I’ve become extremely good at a charades form of sign language.

Today, in the insurance store, I was prepared with all my documentation and a letter and she took everything from me and scanned it all and then, when she spoke to me, I lit up. She had a strong, beautiful, lilting, sexy, wonderful Irish accent and I made a fairly loud mmmmmm sound like “yum” when something smells good, and gestured from my mouth twice and then again, kissing my fingers first. And she said, “You like my accent?”

Exactly!

I was thrilled to be able to communicate something fairly abstract so successfully and to be able to be more than a nodding grunting head. And every interaction was the same:  I was mute and the clerks were warm, welcoming and supremely kind. When I pulled away from the automotive store, the last place, the woman was so sweet I pulled over and had a wee weep.

Later, at Drumbeg, we met four people as we walked Sheba and there I can talk well because I’m with Beth and Sheba and in the prettiest park you will ever see.

In the evening, Beth went to dinner and a book launch with Patsy and I baked a dessert for Sunday night with barely enough pastry. Alone again, I realized I have conflicting feelings about Beth’s impending departure; one the one hand I will be glad to be alone again, on the other I will miss her company.

I’ve had an escort for three weeks, venturing out far more and far more comfortably. She leaves Monday and then Allan and Larry come. 

•

Elly, the local Welcome Wagon lady wrote to me and all her other contacts asking for help with her four thousand square foot garden in exchange for cuttings and seeds. I’ve written to ask about bringing Sheba; I’d keen to help her.

•

Alan and Larry have confirmed their intention to visit. This will be a quick turn-around at Pinecone Park & Spa— a spa with even new “rainy day” amenities: A very high-end croquet set, a jigsaw puzzle, two decks of cards and a crib board.