Sunday, June 11, 2000

3:53 a.m. Really late at night, and really tired in the bargain. I've decided to post a gorgeous photo just to make myself feel a little better by proximity. Drinking up the rich raspberry sweetness of this bed of red, and pink, and white.

This is a typical sight in this part of the world, if such lushness could ever be considered to be typical. When I first visited here, it was the throwaway beauty at the front of a gated enclave such as this that always stopped my heart. The amazing thing to me is that this bed did not take a lot of work.

Anyone can have it. Begonias are cheap, they grow from a cutting, and they don't require much fertilizer or pruning or attention. They just plump when you look at them. Houseplants gone wild when there's no killer frost to strike them down.

I've had an extremely busy day today. There must have been four days jammed into one and I'm just finishing up the last of the days here. There was a shopping day (an antique desk lamp for Igor to match his antique (or just merely old) desk and self); there were two, maybe three office days. I've started the filing and there have been conference calls and more filing.

There has also been some time to sit in the sun and some time for cheese. Some time for a nap and some time for email. And where is all this extra time coming from, you might ask? I can tell you -- it's coming from the TV.

The TV has not been turned on in quite a few days. The TV Guide is unwrinkled and uncurled. That particular black hole in a plastic box has not been sucking hours out of the day and I think I hardly miss it. I wanted to see the new Survivor show, but I keep missing it because we've been out on the town every Wednesday night.

Other than that -- what in the world would I watch TV for? I get the news from the web, and oh my lordy -- from real people. Entertainment? Books, movies, web, real people. Odd. I remember days when I spent 11 hours, except for commercials, in front of the TV. Is this computer monitor that different? Feels like it is.

Feels like I can almost reach out and touch those begonias. Or someone. "Do the name Ruby Begonia ring a bell?" There's an indelible line of poetry if you ever wanted to hear one. It probably comes from radio.

What a pressing question. As pressing as "Who is John Galt?"

And I've never heard the answer to either one.