I awoke today at 3:30 AM, when the skies opened up and it poured. This must be what it is like to live in the tropics with 360 inches of rainfall per year. I try to resume sleep but can only think of my Mom. I toss and turn, and finally sleep. I wake up just finishing a dream about my mother and some party that we were attending. I think that it was a celebration of her being home again. She was back to her old energy and I could not get her to slow down or rest. That is definitely my mother!
I decided to write her a letter to tell her about my dream, and email it as an attachment to my close friend, Judy, who is doing all of the work that I should be doing for Mom in Fairfield.
It continues to pour. I bought and brought 2 of those compact, cheapy plastic rain ponchos at Ocean State Job Lot (OSJL). Today is the day to open one. I open the package to find that it is built more like an extra long windbreaker; over the head, long sleeves, and with a hood. It will serve my purpose well. I get my backpack on, and hike the poncho over my head, I get it over my backpack, then I grab up all of my computer gear to my chest and wriggle the plastic on down in front. I have my OSJL umbrella and I am ready for the elements. As I walk out the door, Dario has just come back from biking down to breakfast. It is 7:40 AM or so, and he tells me that there is no breakfast. The door to the cafeteria was closed. So I turn on my heels back into the room, grab a bran granola bar (out of the box that I bought here) and my last little box of raisins to eat for breakfast. I have a bottle of water in the Library to drink.
I go to the Library. Although I am supposed to be there at 7:30, I am usually 20 minutes late. Since breakfast now starts at 7:30, you know where my priority lies. I am always at the Library at 8 AM, which will sound shocking to most of my ECSU Smith Library colleagues. So I get there and it is still pouring, I manage to open the first door and put my computer down. I stand outside under the overhang and munch my on-the-go breakfast. Here is one library in which I will never eat; way too many critters to invade the library and wreak havoc in this locale.
So I am early today, and because of the weather I expect to see no one until the rain subsides. I fire up my laptop as well as the two in the Library and read my Gmail. Hey! I’m early and I’m taking advantage of it. My friend, Judy, has sent me an email saying, maybe you should write your Mom a letter. The cosmos must be aligned! I write and tell her that I have just written one and I attach it for her to print out and give to Mom. Sweet! Thank you Judy! Esp. for all you have done and will do. God bless you, amen.
As predicted the morning was slow. I am more and more comfortable with the collections and what it is that I should be doing. Actually, I should be doing more cataloging. But I find the hunt for articles in JSTOR, BioOne and Academic Search Premier too attractive. Mostly I look for freebie PDF of articles on Opuntia (Giant Prickly Pear Cactus). There is a researcher here working on these.
It’s noon, and I am definitely ready to eat lunch. I walk to the cafeteria, and sit on the deck with Eduardo and Dario. They are facing out to the ocean, I’m facing them. We talk and laugh and one little girl is standing at the railing looking down. Eduardo points and there is a seal. I wonder if it is Stinky. Say, don’t I know you? Weren’t you at the Red Mangrove Inn for lunch the other day? Ha! Now I know the local animals by name.
In the afternoon, I lock up the Library for a few minutes while I go to la tienda to buy milk and a cold drink. The shelves are slowly being depleted. I remember Dennis told me that a freighter was headed here from Ecuador but it had too much cargo and it started to list. The Captain in his infinite wisdom, decided to off load weight into the ocean in order to continue to sail. I wonder how much of what there was onboard was coming to Puerto Ayora, probably all of it. I wonder what’s at the bottom of the ocean now…
Anyway, I look on the shelf for a box of milk, I see the name brand that I bought before and haul it down along with a box of what I think is peach juice. I buy a cold Coca-cola in a glass bottle, too, and drink it on the spot. I remember that I had an early rising and this jolt will (hopefully) pick me up. Now I will have milk for my cereal tonight.
The day goes by, the 5:30 to 7 PM emailing frenzy is over, and I lock the library for the end of the day. It is almost dark, but I can see well enough to take the path back to the dorm. I drop my stuff, and off to the kitchen/lounge I go. There are three volunteers in the kitchen cooking up a storm. I walk in find a bowl, dump the cereal (Frosted Flakes, yuck!) and raisins. I cut the spout out of my boxed milk and start to pour it out. It is all curdled looking and very thick. I smell it and it smells fine. I look again at the box and find that I have purchase crema, not leche. Heavens! It’s like drinking a cholesterol heart attack! At home I am a skim milk drinker. Here, there is no such thing, but cream? OMG. What a mistake, and a new lesson learned. Read the darn label!!
I wash my bowl out in the sink, and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth. One fluid movement of eat and get ready for bed.
I am reading Stephen Fry’s Moab is my Washpot. An autobiography. I loved him as Jeeves, so this should be a fun read.
And off to bed.
