A TRYING DAY

As in trying to get things accomplished.

- returned Becket Post Cane (which Peg was presented with last year as the town's oldest resident) to Town Hall before it got mixed in with all the medical stuff and deposited at the Cystic Fibrosis depot or whatever it is

- mailed box full of Collie-related objects (stuffed collie, needlework collie, collie Xmas tree ornament etc) to collie woman in NY state

- attacked 99% of books with Terri. She embossed and I decided which pile: Berkshire Place or library or fuck knows. We have 11 banana boxes full. All that's left now are Peg's vintage personal ones (about 100) and the radio & TV ones (30).

- Bonnie cancelled Link to Life; Sirius SX or FX of whatever the hell it is radio; Nationa Geographic Magazine; Mayo Clinic Bulletin; about 15 others; got the DISH Satellite people to come back and reposition the dish they put in last March IN THE ROSE BED, thank you, and to remove the two dead ones attached to the house; got the internet moved to the normal house phone line and the second phone line cancelled; wrote and signed cheques for staff and house tax ($1450.00). More. Can't remember.

- Threw out dead boxes of cereal which I believe must date from Odd (making them year old)

- Got pile for Goodwill for Terri to drop off: hangers; shower stool; nasty florist vases; nasty stuffed animals from Price Chopper Peg couldn't resist; crappy baskets and so on

- Spoke with 2 more newspapers. LA Times obit today. Incredible tribute by James Lileks in his column for MN Star Tribune. Am still wiping tears. Boston Globe tomorrow I think.

-Answered 15 out of 189 new emails. 

- met with Real Estate agent. Have decided am not as crazy for her as I'd thought. She can't market without pics and can;t take pics until I clear 60% of this stuff. I know that. Tax plan at the Town Hall states the value of the property at $450,000. She said that was way out of line, I agreed. She said there were NO comps in the area, this was a one off. I agreed. She said she thinks we should market it in the $750,000 range. I said she was way off base. She said I needed to be realistic, that this is "Becket" (meaning not high end area). I said I didn't want to hear the phrase "but this is Becket" ever again if we were going to get along. So. Who knows. In the meantime, I am putting the word out amongst friends and neighbors that the place is for sale for $1.2 million and see what happens. You never know. And Id save the agent's fee (6% over here).

I don't like people telling me I can't do something. I have proved many of them wrong before, yes? Genworth, for example? Plus I can still hear a friend telling me last year that the NY Times would never do Peg's obit, she's "not famous enough". 

So. The worst that can happen is that the place doesn't sell and I drop the price. 

Meanwhile, no one is allowed in the house without bringing a cardboard box. We're on a roll here.

That said, I had a meltdown about an hour ago. I read all the obits for the first time. Was putting it off.  Now I know it's all real: she's really gone. And the enormity of the task at hand here suddenly hit home. 98 years worth of stuff. That I figure will take me another 98 to clear.

Tomorrow brings Louise from Williamstown for the entire day to talk me through Craigs List and getting stuff shipped in containers to England. Peg's friend Laurie from Ohio due end of next week to help. Jennifer this weekend, plus Jacqueline and Paul for New Jersey. Offers pour in. I am lucky to know so many truly lovely people on both sides of the pond.

And now, for my entree tonight: half a salami sandwich from lunch with a bite out of it and curly sides because I set it in the fridge uncovered. After I call my hero James Lileks in MN to sort out my arrival there with Peg's ashes--dribbled with the last bit of Odd--later this month.