Free The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart Page B

years of metric I still feel this need. “Ten kilometers? Yes, but what’s it really?” I always want to know.)
    Taking many walks, despite heat. V. strange without iPod. Normally have certain podcasts for certain routes. ( Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me on Lefroy Rd heading west. This American Life on Dog Beach, etc.) Unplugged, am trying instead to focus on surroundings. Taking new routes so I have something interesting/new to observe. Figs, e.g. They are everywhere in this neighborhood! Am trying one from every tree I pass. Thoreauvian? Maybe. Fattening? Definitely.
    Hair issues continue to challenge. Have experimented with low-tech straightening—i.e., combing wet bangs straight back and pinning them as if skull were a giant roller. Sad really.
    Do look, as feared, like bag lady. But at least have acquired good tan. So perhaps a glowing bag lady ...
     
     
    January 9
     
    Tension.
    Fought with A. about dishes, credit-card charge for overdue books, and general princessy attitude. Returned home from clubs last night at TWO A.M. Silently handed her and friend a lantern and stalked back to bed. (“Sorry about my FREAKY HOUSE, Laura!” she called out.) Always blaming The Experiment for everything undone, disorganized, and dysfunctional in her life right now. Literally ask myself on a daily if not hourly basis where I have gone wrong. Powerlessness? Don’t get me started.
     
     
    January 10
     
    Bad night: hay-feverish and disturbing dreams. I want my, I want my, I want my NPR!
    Explained to B.’s coach about The Experiment and was startled/ slightly freaked out to see his eyes misting over. He gave Bill a lecture about how fortunate he was to be having this experience ... how he would remember it his whole life AND BE GRATEFUL TO HIS MOTHER (my favorite part). Said he would love to do the same at his house. Bill dumbstruck. Looked at me with something bordering on respect.
    Anni apologized for yesterday and we did a big, cathartic clean of her room. (“Simplify, simplify, honey. Like, why have a dozen empty cans of Diet Coke when two or three will do?”) Said she’d told friends about The Experiment and was surprised how many thought it was cool.
    Did laundry by hand, btw. Surprisingly pleasant (just a couple of summer tops and underwear—can’t imagine doing linens or, God forbid, B.’s football stuff). Remembered my grandmother’s washboard and how she washed her “smalls” in the kitchen sink every morning and hung them out to dry first thing. Felt v. virtuous and carbon neutral, pegging it all out like some fifties housewife. Shame about the hair though.
     
     
    January 11
     
    NEW KITTEN!!! Decided we needed a handheld toy after all. Hazel! So adorable. A. & B. picked her out of lineup from Cat Haven. She is afraid of Rupert, even though he is about as fierce as a Persian rug.
    Eleven p.m. Girls talking and reading by candlelight, in clean, aired room, not glued to Facebook in zombie-ish oblivion to surrounding chaos. They are tired—as they should be at this hour—not wired.
     
     
    January 13
     
    Have decided dishwasher is hugely overrated. Not really a timesaving device—more a time-delay device. Its function surely ¾ aesthetic— i.e., removing dishes from view. A dark kitchen does the same job instantaneously.
     
     
    January 15
     
    How to manage time (drop-offs, pick-ups) without cell phone? First attempt today, as needed Bill’s help to pick up bed. (Offered him queen-size bed to compensate for loss of TV. Will have literally no room to swing a pug in there now, but whatevs ...)
    Complicated logistics! Me at ABC in Perth, B. in Fremantle. Devised plan for B. to take bus and then train to Subiaco, where would meet him at station at 3:30 p.m.
    V. anxious, as plans like this usually need a dozen texts back and forth to confirm, rejig, reconfirm, and re-rejig. (“Missed bus,” “Can’t find SmartRider,” “OK to meet fifteen mins later?” etc. etc.)
    And guess what?
    Bang on time. When I