Hooray for Paul Mescal

It was great to hear from Steve and to arrange for his visit, tomorrow—and not have to warn him about my speech. I just realized yesterday that I don’t do that anymore. And Dr. Dorscheid, with whom I spoke yesterday, noticed how well I was speaking and conjectured that the move to the island has had a very positive effect on both my physical and my mental health.

•

I have a courtyard that’s about five by six meters that’s made of concrete pavers. The pavers are in rows and there’s a one and a half-inch gap between each one on all four sides. I reckon I have a hundred and sixty meters of gap that I weed. And it’s not mindless weeding! I leave the Daisies and other flowers. Bend, pull, rise, dump; hour after hour. But it’s done.

And I edged the front lawn. I’ve done a bazillion things in the yard this year that I’ve never done before because I have no major project this year demanding all my time.

•

Slugs! Pooey! Little tiny ones. They ate all my Sweet Pea and Basil seedlings. I’m going to buy some Basil plants to grow.

•

I’m still hanging in with Normal People, and last night there was a scene wherein one of our protagonists, Connell (actor Paul Mescal), breaks down whilst talking with a therapist and it was one of the most moving and credible scenes of despair I have ever seen in a movie. The young Mr. Mescal is a genius actor.

I read online this morning that last month the BBC broadcast two additional episodes that show Connell and Maryanne some forty years on. Normal People broke records for the number of viewers on BBC3. It is the most-watched show in the channel’s history.

•

It’s a beauty of a day. I got up at five am, ate a quick breakfast and got to work. By eight, I’d washed the porch floor, cleaned the bar-b-que grills, vacuumed the entire house and done a load of laundry and hung it on the line. 

Next is mowing the part of the yard I have not landscaped. I want to cut down all the weeds so that they can’t go to seed and spread into my lawn. Then I’ take Her Highness for a nice long warm summer walk.