T.

We leave in two days! When Melinda bemoaned

the fact that I'll not be at work for a month, I told her

that I'm not really going on a vacation, I'm going

on a month-long writer's residency.

"Oh! REALLY?"

(For a moment she believed me.) 

"And T, how did you get this residency?" 

My answer: match.com.

Truth be told, when I wrote "must know how

to use punctuation" in my match.com profile

four years ago, I wasn't joking. And when I received

a response that contained not only accurate

and appropriate punctuation, including bulleted points!

And correct spelling! I was smitten.

The rest is history.

Residency in County Mayo here I come.

I went into Daniel Smith (Artists Supplies) yesterday

and as usual, felt as if someone was going to run up

to me and declare "imposter! This woman is a poet,

not an artist!" I admit to being very intimidated

by the tubes of paint, etc. I was in search of a small

vat of Yes Paste, a bone folder, an exacto knife, some

paper. A very helpful young man came to my aid,

and in under five minutes I learned a heck of a lot

about a)adhesives and b)paper weights. And the best

part was that he completely took me seriously! Yay!

Bringing it all with me, along with odd scraps of paper

and an envelope of stamps/postdates from 1959-60

which I bought at a garage sale for a quarter.

Not sure exactly what will come of it, but the thought

of a month without the frantic schedule I currently keep

is quite delicious, and hopefully will inspire not only

some new writing but a few other projects as well.

Stay tuned.