A Plethera of Goods

I kept waking up this morning and looking at the clock, chiding myself that it was time to get up and then reassuring myself that it was “really” an hour earlier than the clock said, or at least within the body clock of my very own body as we just went on Daylight Savings Time two days ago.
I finally got up and felt extremely sorry for everyone in the world who’d had to get up and get to work or to school before their internal clocks had come to terms with the change and guilty that I hadn’t because guilt is my default emotion.
After some coffee on the back porch I decided to go through the desk in the bedroom I use and throw out a few things. This desk had no doubt been the one used by Captain Farnsworth, Ret. Navy, now deceased, the head of the family from whom we’d bought the house nine years ago. When we bought the house we inherited not only the furnishings and appliances, but also a pantry stocked with canned goods, a refrigerator filled with condiments, cabinets full of every kitchen requirement including a garlic press and a waffle maker, closets of stacked and folded sheets and towels, jackets and flannel shirts, a cabinet full of paper goods, baskets of beach toys, a liquor cabinet with liquors both strange and exotic, bathrooms full of everything from Band-aids to fingernail polish remover, a bookshelf full of mysteries, and many small dubious appliances like space heaters and heating pads. The Captain had kept all of the warrantees and instructions for every device he ever purchased and this material is mostly what I threw out today. A toaster, an air conditioner, a humidifier, a hand-held mixer- all of these things had their paperwork in order, even if these things don’t still actually exist. So I threw them all out and also the filters for his pipes and a typewriter ribbon and rotted rubber bands and a lot of other junk that we’ll never need and that I am quite sure, at this point, that Capt. Farnsworth will not either.
We’ve thrown away or used all of the canned goods that were left behind but many of the spices still take up space in the cabinet. I throw them out a few at a time but there always seem to be more, lurking and caking each time I open that cabinet. I think there may be some tea up there, too, that belonged to the Captain. It’s hard, somehow, to throw out perfectly good tea, even if you know it’s over ten years old and apt to taste a little, uh, tasteless.
But this is Dog Island and everything here has been transported by boat and so is rendered more precious and is not easily replaced. I don’t think I’ll ever need Everglades Seasoning, but one never knows.
Of course we’ve added to the stuff here, over the years. I’ve brought over strings of lights to decorate with and wind chimes which annoy the hell out of me if I forget to take down before I go to bed and a boom box and some CD’s and pictures and books on shells and birds and we’ve had to replace some of the appliances and so forth, so now it’s a mixture of the Farnsworths’ things and ours, too and there are an awful lot of things.
But things are merely things and I am glad to have a garlic press when I want one and glad that I didn’t have to buy it and bring it over and when we sell the house, I think we’ll leave a lot of things behind as well. It would be just as much trouble to take the things back across the water as it is to bring them here and how many garlic presses does one need?
And just as I know that no one can truly own a tree (and here, on the island, that lesson is learned quickly as the water rises and kills the trees or the storm comes and pushes them over) it’s good to remember that we are only borrowing this spot for awhile and paying to do so.
The osprey flies by, the pelican dives into the bay with a clumsy thunk, the coons raid the garbage and I wonder if they are descendents of the same critters that shared Capt. Farnsworth’s life here and I think they probably are.
We do not own them and we sort of own the beat-up old couches but I won’t be here forever to use or see any of them forever and sitting by the water on a March afternoon is a good time to reflect on all of this and remember to enjoy what I can while I can and throw away that which I don’t need and will never use.
I am enjoying myself so much and perhaps we shall have waffles tomorrow and I will be grateful to the captain for bringing over something which I never would but am glad to use once in a while since it is here already.

Monday, March 10, 2008
Dog Island, Florida