Early Afternoon, Sunday, June 2, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire
Madison Summer Almanac
Hi, everyone. It’s a sunny early summer day in my corner of Carroll County, New Hampshire. Currently, the temperature is 80°F (27°C) under sunny conditions. With humidity at 29% and the wind blowing from the southwest at 4 MPH (6 Km/H), the heat index is a sultry 88°F (31°C). The forecast for today calls for sunny skies and a high of 85°F (30°C). Tonight, the skies should be mostly clear. The low will be 51°F (10°C).
If you’re wondering why I’m posting this entry later than usual, I woke up twice this morning…again. First – according to my Amazon Fire tablet’s clock – at 5:28 AM. I fell asleep again, albeit with some tossing and turning involved. I woke up for the second time at 9:25 AM…and since it’s Sunday, I’ve tried to go slow and easy – on “weekend mode,” if you will.
Weekend Update, Part the First: How I Spent My Saturday
After writing yesterday’s blog post, I went to Market Basket with my friend Marc to buy some badly needed groceries. I try hard to make my food purchases last – sometimes to ridiculous extremes that do more harm than good – so I’m not a burden to anyone, and I try to get as much stuff online as I can, but I still must go to either Hannaford or Market Basket to restock, especially the foodstuffs I run out of quickly, such as milk, bread, cereal, snacks or fruit juice.
I wanted to avoid another trip to the store for a while, so I loaded up my cart with $300 worth of groceries, including some things that always slipped my mind before – like frozen burgers, barbecue sauce, and spices – but this time I remembered.
Thankfully, the hard-won experience with food shopping I acquired when my mom got sick in 2010 paid off, and I left Market Basket with almost every item I needed. (The sole exception? A canister of Tang orange drink mix. I wanted one but couldn’t find it. I knew Marc had other things to do, so I didn’t try looking harder than I already had. Besides, I’d bought orange juice and lemonade already – I’m a big believer in Vitamin C – so I didn’t need the Tang that much.
Once I returned to my abode and stored my provisions, I flipped the switch to “weekend mode.” Part of me didn’t want to; it’s June already, and my self-imposed publication deadline for Reunion: Coda isn’t that far away. (It’s still set for late July/early August.) But even though I’m eager to finish the novel, I’m only human. I’m – admittedly – tired, and I no longer can bounce back from long – and sometimes frustrating – writing sessions the way I could back in college or even 1998.
So, I didn’t do much of anything except hang out online and play several rounds of Solitaire (Klondike and Spider). I also browsed through a few of my books, including David Halberstam’s last work, The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War, and listened to classical music on my Amazon Music app.
I briefly considered playing Regiments (my Cold War-turns-hot real-time tactical wargame) or one of my “nudie” adult novel games, but I wasn’t in the mood for either. Maybe I’ll feel differently later today. We’ll see what develops.
A Certain Point of View, Too 
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