This morning, I decided not to go back to the zendo and complete the sesshin, despite the very strong appeal of another dharma talk by Okumura Roshi, but instead allowed myself to finally complete the healing process of last week's devastating bout with the flu.

The Sunday Times had two excellent articles - one on the legacy of Hunter S. Thompson, and a retrospective of Dustin Hoffman's career.

Around 10:30, a landscaping crew came by to help me clean up my yard. Try as I might, I was not able to keep up with the autumn's leaves and pine needles, which managed to get all caught up in the ivy all over my yard (I don't have a grass "lawn," - this place is far too shady), and even if I could rake them all up, it would literally have taken me dozens, if not a hundred, leaf bags to collect all the droppings.

The crew had three men armed with industrial-strength leafblowers (not like the little toy that I use), and starting on the roof, blew everything down the hill, where a fourth ran the leaves through a mower to mulch them and minimize the number of leaf bags needed.

They worked hard. But finally, after about four hours, they collected the leaf bags (and their pay) and headed off to the County compost facility. The place looks much better.

So, I'm actually making some progress on my list of things to do. As depressing as it is to me to do this, here's an update on the list:

1. Fix computer. Not done.
2. Change address on driver's license/tag registration. Not done.
3. Fix toilet in condo. Done!!!
4. Get duct tape marks off car. Done!!!
5. Join a gym. Not done. But with Daylight Saving's Time back in effect (longer days) and my health finally restored, this will be accomplished soon.
6. Buy living room furniture. Done, at least enough for now. The sofa arrived in February and I bought a nice Chinese carpet in March. However, I still want to replace the plantation shutters with a more open window treatment, and there's always room for more stuff.
7. Buy mirror and sconces for bathroom. Not done.
8. Yard work. Done!!!
9. Fix up the UCV: Paint the living room walls, mantlepiece and shelves as the realtor suggested - Done!!! I still need to re-clean the bathrooms, the kitchen, the refrigerator and the freezer, and steam clean the carpets before the Open House on April 26.
10. Body work: Colonoscopy - not done. Dermatology - not done. Dentistry - not done, despite my Mother's well-intentioned nagging, but a good dentist has been selected.
11. Reading. An endless task, that will never be done. There's always something new to read. But I still haven't finished even one of the books I bought January 30th, except for Michael Crichton's State of Fear, which I'm finished with more than finished reading.
12. Writing. Blogging is part of the reason I haven't finished my books, or written anything more than what's appeared in this blog (the "substitution effect").
13. Arithmetic: Income taxes - Done!!! And refunds already received. Still need to straighten out finances and collect monies owed me.