Today I woke up to wave goodbye to Olivia who was Uber-Tesla-ing it to the Deep Ellum bus to get to Houston. We stood on the veranda at Sarah’s house and marvelled at a squirrel that was running at speed up the tallest tree and as the branches got thinner it didn’t slow down. At the top, it took an almighty leap onto the next tree and disappeared into the leaves. Fidgety, furry, friendly, funny fellows they are, how can you not love them?
With Olivia gone and Sarah gone, I set about being in the house for a day that included the wonder of domesticity, emptying the dishwasher and refilling it and hopefully pressing the right buttons for the cleaning action. Breakfast unrushed, tea under no pressure to be swigged, shower in the afternoon instead of right away, the luxury of not having to be somewhere. Still, there’s loads to do when you’ve had 32 straight days in the studio at 12–14 hours a day.
I sometimes wonder if you get more done the less time you have and today was a prime example of that. By the time Sarah got home at sixish, I’d managed lunch and two emails. Usually, in a day I can solve mathematical equations, reinvent the wheel and decipher ancient Klingon, but today’s lack of Qapla’ was more about gloriously not having to do anything, I can do that tomorrow, but then doing it tomorrow is always the problem when you have nothing pressing to do – as if I don’t.
Sarah cooked and I heated up leftovers. I did prepare more sprouts and stole some of her beetroot. I separated the leftovers into exact piles, guessing exactly the halfway spot between the potatoes. I cleared the plate and Sarah put the other in the fridge cling-filmed, another word they don’t say in the USA.
Sarah and I got talking about music and of course that takes hours, inspiration, motivation, creativity, luck, success, cash flow, work ethic and Blind Faith. I ordered a couple of sixties reissues from Germany, Bo Grumpus (1968), yes, really, and The Bonniwell Music Machine (1968). It seems like 1968 has been on my musical agenda for the last few days. It’s interesting seeing what happened in that year, all that music, whatever happened to The Millennium?
Music today has been Dolly Parton – Just Because I’m a Woman (1968), her second album. The second side starts with The Bridge, a suicide song that she wrote and sang at 22. The album has a captivating narrative and her voice is as amazing as ever.