"Michael Row the Boat Ashore"

If, say, one unexpectedly loses ones internet connection for a longish period of time (four days thus far), and one is waiting to go on to the next song of the day until this song has been blogged upon. . . well, there are lots more interesting songs to be stuck on for days on end. And yes, in the past I have written out my blogs longhand, and typed them in when I again had access, but I'm not doing that this time. It's too exhausting to be reminded of how I can't even Google Natalie Wood's film career, when it suits me, or check for mandolin lessons, or receive email, or pay my bills online. At some point later this coming week, all our ISP problems will be solved, theoretically, but until then, the public library is my main source of internet access. A less than ideal situation.

So Michael has been rowing that crazy boat ashore for a while, and now I can say that he's ashore, dammit. Stay there. No more rowing.

It's a bit embarassing how much I access the internet, not just for my email, but for all sorts of small things throughout the day. It is still mostly email, and I don't surf the web aimlessly, ever, but nonetheless. . . I am missing it tremendously. I'm also trying to use my downtime wisely. We cancelled our cable television at the same time, which I miss less, but it is still missed (Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show' most of all). We've played some games, I've read with my daughter more than usual. Tomorrow she and I have a sewing date in the morning up in my studio. This afternoon I'm going to felt some crocheted work for the first time. All these things do indeed happen when the internet is happily buzzing along at our house, but I feel more conscious of them now, in a good way. I also have at least two days off work, beginning tomorrow, and it's not a bad thing to have this unusual occurence coincide with the lack of email. I am breathing more deeply, by choice, paying a different kind of attention to my internal landscape and outside surroundings, as I do not blog daily about them.

So stay tuned, all my gentle readers. I will return when I can, with more happy tunes. This is the 'Folk Favorites' section (as of 'Scarlet Ribbons'), we'll see what treasures it brings.