#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

In My Lane

But until that day comes you keep your eyes focused on that painted black line on the bottom of your lane and you do what you must: You swim on.

~ From “The Swimmers,” by Julie Otsuka

First thing, pool. I swim my mile. Decide to walk later after being at my desk. I work on poems, revision, from notes taken in a recent workshop. Made some progress. House is quiet. Frank still away. In the end, my walk turns into a trip to Home Depot and the Mall in the late afternoon. I want to replace the glass topped round table for the garden that blew over and shattered last summer (that I wrote a poem about). Locally, two hardware stores don’t have one. I find what I’m looking for at Home Depot, very pleased. Garden weather soon. I’ve been there a bit, cleaning out the sand box for the Special One, and raking. Then to the Mall to return some clothes I bought for my daughter for her birthday. I splurge on jeans for myself. On the way I listen to the New York Times podcast, a review of the new novel by Julie Otsuka, The Swimmers, which I think I will read. Or, listen to, on Audible. I also recently appreciated the review on NPR by Maureen Corrigan whose reviews I always trust:

The Swimmers is a slim brilliant novel about the value and beauty of mundane routines that shape our days and identities; or, maybe it's a novel about the cracks that, inevitably, will one day appear to undermine our own bodies and minds. . .

Soon enough I will be swimming again in Farm Pond.