Post 33/2023. I’ve been doing little jobs around the house. Carted off three boxes of books to Fables Books in downtown Goshen. Reshelving the keepers. Organizing storage in the garage. The latter is what I dilly dallied on this afternoon. Pottering, puttering, playing are a few words to describe the process, but none are quite right.

I believe I’ve been a tad bit creative in using materials on hand to organize the space. Some might call it penny-pinching; I call it being thoughtfully thrifty, economical, inventive. a relying on a smattering of old hand tools. Satisfying is the word that sums up today’s effort.

The word “satisfying” applies equally to the book I just finished by Peter Tremayne: Penance of the Damned (Minotaur Books, New York, 2016.) It’s a library book. (We once had a goodly number of Tremayne’s books but took them to Black River Books in South Haven, Michigan.) This one is set in Ireland, AD 671. It deals with the religious (Ancient, Celtic and Roman) and political conundrums of the day. The main character in all the books is Sister Fidelma of Cashel, an advocate of the law courts of Seventh-century Ireland.

It takes me a while to get vested in these books, but once the first chapters have passed, I’m into the drama of the good and the bad. It’s amazing how the structures of the day are well-served by law and Fidelma presses that reality to satisfying conclusions. Timeless and timely.

Today started with a walk to Cabin Coffee for breakfast, shopping for a few groceries on the way home, pottering around the garage, then a spell watching the football game between the Irish of Notre Dame and the Tigers of Tennessee State University. Tennessee played well in the first quarter but were held in check by Notre Dame after that. Score: Notre Dame 56; TSU 3. It was a pleasure to see the two coaches take extra time at the end to exchange words and hugs.

Happy to be back walking greater distances this week. Five miles today.

Happy pottering.

-John