* * *

January 23, 2021

 

Today is Carol's birthday; it has been very relaxing so far, and presently she is taking a nap before heading over to Kim and Paul's for supper. You are making baked beans and sauerkraut for the bratwurst sausages, etc. – Once home yesterday, you did not work on more chapters.

 

1459. In Chapter Forty-One, Diplomat begins research on a nearly invisible Alien Presence. I need to drastically change this aspect of the book or drop it altogether because of the Soki. 

 

Diplomat believes she has a heartansoulanmind just as Richard the writer believes he has a heartansoulanmind. Stop here for the time being. Post this material. – Ms. Havisham

 

2222. This is an interesting new theme. Diplomat feels she has a heartansoulanmind, but she doesn't realize that I am the writer. Existentially, $ she is caught up in the environment she has grown up in. She does not want to accept that she is a character in a book, not of her own making. – Really, she is not that much different than me. – How odd is this? I know I am in a greater setting that is not of my own making. I didn't ask to be in this life, but science brought me along. At an earlier time, I would have probably died, being about two pounds with born. My first real decision was joining the church when I did not have my heartansoul in it, only my mind, into it. I have Chapter Forty-Two in hand, but I am not complete with it. 

 

Diplomat has created a 'conditional' soul for herself by her heartanmind. She is no different than Ship in his artificial intelligence (mind), but he created his heart and then his soul; at least, he is hopeful of having a soul. We need to parallel this with Diplomat and with Richard, the writer who now accepts he really has a soul because he 'understands' that G-D is real. Who is to say, after all, G-D is G-D. Thus all things/situations are possible (though not probable)? Post. – Ms. Havisham

 

2241. Unbelievable. What a twist. What haunting thoughts.

 

* * *

 * * *

January 22, 2021

 

You are waiting for Carol at Kroger's on North State after stopping at Hallmark for two funny cards for her birthday tomorrow. Next Tuesday you are having an early dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Steve and Karen Gardner, one of your old longtime friends (Class of 1960) from Westerville at Emerson Junior High. I am looking forward to helping you with your 'haunting' story of a lifetime. I like the title, The Gravedigger's Tale. You are no Doc Martin of British TV fame but some of your eccentric ways were forged before the grave digging. I will be the narrator of the Background (of the story) and the Afterword with as few words as reasonable in each section. – Ms. Havisham

 

1548. Thank you, Ms. Havisham. This may be an interesting story after all – nonfiction to fiction to nonfiction. I am hoping I can put a final word within the story about 6 January 2021. 

 

We can do that in the Epilogue, an update with your thoughts, as you look at your headstone in late January and think of how Diplomat might be viewing your scene. – Ms. H. 

 

1557. What an interesting concept. She is still in my head after all; she and the rest of the characters. They will be buried with me, of course. 

 

No, they won't, Mr. Orndorff. – Ms. Havisham

 

* * *

 * * *

January 21, 2021

 

Mid-morning. Last night you wrote, "I have nothing to lose." You feel that you should "have nothing to gain" either. – Ms. H. 

 

0931. What I mean is that I do not want this 'rework with the new times' to be a selfish act. This brings me to the conflict – spiritually, I did all I could to bring about Diplomat's Pouch, published it as a philosophical treatise for a week or so through Amazon, then I took it off the market. Is it morally right to change it into a ghost story?

 

It will always be a passionate spirit story, Mr. Orndorff because that is the way it came from your heartansoulanmind to your fingertips and the keyboard. Drop this into your blog. – Ms. Havisham

 

2225. Tonight I am up to Chapter Forty with the deletions and a few minor changes along the way. It will be interesting to see if it makes sense without Amorella, Soki, and you to be a direct part of the story. I am curious enough to continue. G-D and G-Dofamily are still mentioned without the other spirits. Diplomat has captured the Voice or Spirit within, but she does not yet fully recognize that it is me, the author. This in itself gives the story another twist I had not thought of. Simply put, it is me who is within her. I am the one who is haunted by the dream she exists in. 2237.

 

Yes. This is an interesting turnabout. Without the other spirits, myself included, she can only sense you, her creator. –Ms. H. - Drop in the blog. 

 

* * *

* * *

January 20, 2021

 

You were gratified the way the Inauguration was handled today. Presently, you are waiting for Carol in the parking lot of DSW Shoes. Before we do anything else, write the Introduction and Afterword of The Gravedigger's Tale, the title of which may also be altered if need be. Spirits will intercede in the story to take the place of Angels and the like. Even Amorella will be stricken from the story for publication to tone down the rhetoric. No aliens. However, Grace will subtly have her say. What do you think? – Ms. Havisham. 

 

1400. Are we returning to Greek and Roman times?

 

We begin with a gathering of Spirits setting forth a dream of kindness, compassion and empathy. – Ms. H. 

 

1404. I am not interested. I do not have the passion. I had the passion in the work I renounced from publication last Fall. I followed my heartansoulanmind but went overboard. I feel I am used up, that I have no more sense of a human truth within me. Besides, the world is a better place today. 

 

So be it, Mr. Orndorff. Take down your blogs. You had your say. – Ms. Havisham 

 

1409. I have been thinking of such. I was a teacher, and I was a writer, but not a very good one – mis-directions with directions sent. However, I cannot find the will to do so at this time. Sharing appears to be the essence of writing. 

 

Evening. This is a draft, Mr. Orndorff. Do as you will, purge the Soki and Commentaries. – Ms. Havisham

 

2151. I have nothing to lose. The original still exists. Today is the beginning of another time – one of hope and renewal. 

 

2308. I stopped the purging at Chapter Thirty-Five.

 

* * *

January 19, 2021

 

Bedtime. You realize the Diplomat's Pouch is frozen in limbo as personal sacred territory. The work cannot be changed but for the Intro and Afterword remarks. Clear them if you wish. You may change it to a fiction from philosophy then let it go. I will help you with this and a one-hundred-word Introduction and a one-hundred-word Afterword. Other slight changes to lessen the sense of being philosophical, to soften the philosophical slant, may be made. The fictional title may be changed to A Gravedigger's Tale, and this aspect can be hardened into the theme of the work. – Ms. Havisham. 

 

2251. I will consider this. I agree with what you write. I don't know what I will do afterword.

 

* * *

January 18, 2021

 

Early morning. With Jadah sitting on your lap in your favorite black leather chair you thought of a new title for a slightly trimmed fictionalized Diplomat's Pouch  philosophy into A Gravedigger's Tale. 

 

Afternoon. Employed by Westerville City for several summers in the early and mid 1960s, Richard worked first in cemetery maintenance at Blendon Township's Pioneer Cemetery at South State Street; Olde Methodist Cemetery at the end of Lincoln Street; Blendon Central Cemetery at Dempsey and South Hempstead Road; along with Otterbein Cemetery at Knox and Walnut Streets. Richard along with a full-time caretaker at the cemeteries, and he also dug summer-time graves at Otterbein Cemetery with  pick, shovel and ax, and sometimes with the help of a hand-carried shovel attached to a portable air compressor. 

 

Evening. Your passions, your heartansoulanmind, are rejuvenated. Here are your thoughts at present. November 9, 2001 stirred your mind to the upcoming setting for Diplomat's Pouch. Today, you are stirred by a social and political connection to January 6, 2021. The key to this is a message of compassion and courage from three aliens, two females and one male whose civilization is only a thousand years ahead of your own. The earthlings directly involved are one female and two males. The communication is empathetic and carried by heartansoulanmind in a dreamtime like sequences; like attempts to communicate with the Dead. 

 

2248. Well, this is something to think on – a ghost-like story based on quantum physics. 

* * *

January 6, 2021

 

You had Chinese at your favorite restaurant, Lucky House, and presently Carol is searching for 5X7 picture frames for the boys' recent photos at nearby Walmart in Westerville. – Ms. Havisham

 

1454. Hopefully, the Democrats will have gained both seats in the Senate later today. O Happy Day, if this is so. Friday, we have an early supper with Cathy and Tod at Old Bag of Nails Uptown.

 

From 1600 to 2020 hours, you and Carol were glued to the televisions various channels: NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and cable's BBC over a crew of two thousand or so Trumpets' Insurrection or Coup on the U.S. Capitol Building, and on the Congress and Senate's official acceptance of the States' votes on Biden and Harris as elected President and Vice President. – Ms. Havisham

 

**

BBC Summary at 2304 hours.

1.   Armed supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol building and forced a lockdown

2.   Rioters smashed windows and clashed with police, with one person shot dead

3.   The violence halted debate over Joe Biden's election win but Congress has reconvened

4.   Some Republicans were trying to overturn the results in some states but lack sufficient support

5.   Trump called on his violent supporters to go home but repeated false claims the election was stolen

6.   Earlier, Democrats won two Senate seats in Georgia that tipped control of the Senate their way

7.   Meanwhile, the Democrats have won control of the Senate after Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Republican incumbents

**

* * *

January 5, 2021

 

Afternoon. Your thoughts are on trimming up "Diplomat's Pouch" and turning the page into fiction rather than bio-fictional thinking. First, taking out all introductory material and changing the name from Richard to David Sawyer of something of that sort; complete rid the author of the book with any of the characters. Perhaps only Friendly's perspective. No angels or suggestions of angels – just a 'ghost' story from the cemetery. – Ms. Havisham

1722. I am not really that interested at present. The base story is complete. The only thing needed is an introduction. 

 

Your heart agrees; your mind does not, and your soul is indifferent at this point in your life with a the statement, "What is done, is done, orndorff. Let it go." Ms. Havisham

 

 

 * * *

January 2, 2021

 

Good morning, Mr. Orndorff. Your passion for writing has ebbed away for the present, perhaps permanently. Basically, your purpose has eroded away with the realization that it was a false cause stemming from misplaced guilt perhaps, who knows. This is how your heart and mind see it. After your reflections on your soul, you realize this was most likely misplaced also – wishful thinking if nothing else. I would say your intent was innocent, but you don't want to believe that because you don't trust your 'inner voices' as much as you used to. You would like to broadly put these four blogs in the category of 'Misunderstandings or Misinterpretations' in the sense you wished you could help make the world a better place as long as you were here. Do you agree? – Ms. Havisham

 

0905. I hoped I would have made a greater contribution, but a career in consistently attempting to teach young people to be more thoughtful, reasonable, and scholarly each year is positive in my own mind. I hope I did no one any permanent harm in my life. 0910.

 

Do not take the blog down as of yet, but let's take a sabbatical, so to speak. Ms. Havisham

 

* * *

 25. Christmas

Early afternoon. You and Carol shoveled the driveway before nine o'clock this morning, then you napped until eleven. Carol made hamburgers and veggies for lunch, which you had for breakfast. In an hour, you will be on your way to the movie theatre for a private showing to see "Wonder Woman." Kim, Paul, Owen, Brennan, Gayle, Carol and you are going. Cathy and Tod canceled last minute because Tod is having a bad health day. 

 

2145. "Wonder Woman" earned a three out of five, but some scenes were worth a four. We had a good time,  nevertheless. Dinner of short ribs, veggies, salad, potatoes, and yummy ginger cake dessert with caramel sauce topping and a plop of whipped cream on top from 101 Beer Kitchen was excellent. We exchanged gifts, enjoying the time together (I lost to Owen in chess. He played well, and I made three errors which didn't help my cause.) Kim and Paul gave each of us Air Pro earphones, and we each bought ourselves an iPhone 11, which Paul set up for us. 

 

Tomorrow you need to call AAA and have a new battery installed in the 2005 Honda. Kim and Paul tried to talk you into selling it and buy an updated Honda Accord, if not a new one, because of the safety features. Once the year is over, we can better return to this blog's focus, editing "Grandma's Stories" into one book from short story selections in three books. – Ms. Havisham

 

2207. We had a good Christmas afternoon and evening with family. 

 

* * *

 December 22, 2020

24. a biopic on words

 

Last night Carol and I watched "The Professor and the Madman," a 'biopic' with Mel Gibson and Sean Penn about creating the Victorian Oxford English Dictionary, which was quite above Samuel Johnson's eighteen-century version. The professional reviews of the film are terrible. We thought it was well done for showing the developing passions of the word-lovers, a self-taught Scottish professor, James Murray, and a Yale-educated, mentally distraught Civil War Veteran, Dr. William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor's main setting is at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital in Berkshire, while Professor Murray's place is at Oxford. The two plus the Oxford English Dictionary project are the film's main focus. This is dressed up with Professor Murray, a teacher, having a wife, and several young children. Dr. Minor has committed for accidentally murdering the wrong man in London and convicted to Broadmoor for insanity. He develops a stressful relationship with the wife, with children, of the man he murdered, while he still believes someone that he branded a deserter in the Civil War is still stalking him. 

 

The film has terribly violent moments. However, it is the intellectual passion of the lexophiles that impresses me the most. As life-long readers, Carol and I feel the film is well worth watching. Avid readers who understand the subtleties within word meanings will, I trust, see beyond the film's shortcomings. It takes courage to make a film about the making of a dictionary like the Oxford English. – rho, – 2236. 

 

 * * *

[addendum] December 24, 2020

on friends

 

Craig and Alta called tonight to wish you both a Merry Christmas, and you had a good chat for thirty-five minutes or so. You both miss seeing them. As you turned off the porch Christmas lights, you noted it snowed at least two inches, perhaps three. The four of you talked about how Christmas is not the same for seventy-year-olds. They have a small tree, and so do you. The fun is for the children and young at heart; for you four, fun is talking to friends any time of the day or year and watching the children and young at heart. – Ms. Havisham

 

2243. That it is. Friends. I cannot imagine an afterworld without old friends. 

 

* * *