House Rules

Especially in Mississippi it was necessary to impose house rules against bigotry and offensive language. Also I don't suffer stupid people lightly. I read late last night, plowing through the Atwood, taking breaks thinking about stage productions I'd been involved in. A large number. I've done things I can't believe now. I never did a Tempest, but I can imagine doing it. Supposed to warm up and be fine weather for a week, which is good, saving wood, and in the last firing, I made a large mac-and-cheese casserole, with bacon bits and chopped hot pickled peppers, which I look forward to eating for several meals. Simple pleasures. I think I'll blow the Thanksgiving budget on a bottle of wine and sushi, maybe an avocado. I make a mean stuffing, corn bread and sausage, but I think of it as a main dish. Stuffing, when it's not stuffed, is dressing, on the side. I sometimes make this with oysters. Sounds good. I have to get to town again soon because the rule, at this time of year, is to take every opportunity. Snow always flies between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm set on my reading, which is a big deal for me, and I have months of food squirreled away. I think I could, starting tomorrow, survive. I have a shovel and some seed. A digging stick, at any rate, and soil I've improved with worm casings and shit. Repaired a couple of books today, had the lovely small binding press out on the table and re-cased an old Tacitus, re-glued a couple of broken paper-backs. Made a couple of small note- books; listened to the radio for a while, until overwhelmed by the politic. I don't even use notebooks anymore, but I like making them. I have several packages of binder board, off cuts, from the last serious binding project I ever did. Twenty-six copies plus two proofs, signed copies from a dead poet. I actually took the binder-board to a serious shop, so that the cut would be exactly perpendicular.