My Grandfather's Chair

For a while I've been the keeper of my grandfather's chair.  It's a Morris chair, and for the longest time it was a feature of my father's father's living room.  I always liked the wide arms on it, and the iron rod in the back which is used to set the back's reclining angle.  Grandpa's living room was dark, usually with a fire set in the wide hearth... although the hearth is probably narrower than I'm remembering it... anyway, changing the angle and moving the iron rod was one of those "look what you can do with old peoples' stuff" things that fascinated me as a six-year-old.  I think the metallic clank of the rod against the curling brackets was part of the appeal.

My folks had the chair for a few decades, and they've had to fix it up some.  The springs in the seat are great coiled things held together with bailing wire and metal clips which sometimes work free, which results in the cushion sinking below the rim of the chair's frame.  For some time it lived in their garage until I rescued it.  The chair dominates out living room, and I wrote from it before the Christmas season rearranged everything.

One of the difficulties writing in the chair is that it was designed for people shorter than I am, and siting in it wasn't the most ergonomic configuration for my legs or back.  Recently, I went to the hardware store and purchased some bed frame raisers.  They're blocky and ugly, but they brought the seat of the chair up about a half a foot.  When I sat down, the chair was wonderful:  with my knees level with my hips, I could relax into the chair with my hands resting comfortably on its arms.  All that's missing is a triangular wedge of a pillow to provide some lower lumbar support.

The only other difficulty is that -- well -- now that the legs are extended, the chair looks like a throne.    Mark ribs me about it only a little.   I'll have to think of something creative to do with a skirting so the legs and the extenders aren't so prominent.  

There Will Be Cats

I managed to get up at more-or-less 5AM.   The previous night, in a rare fit of planning, I laid out my kettle, tea and spoons so I didn't have to wander about the kitchen, blearily reminding myself what steps to follow to brew tea.

This morning,  I was being a bit of a wuss and I decided that it was too dark, cold and chilly to write outside -- so I wrote inside.   It didn't quite go as I had planned.

I've recently become the owner of a Morris chair that once belonged to my grandfather.  I've always dreamed of owning it.  Its arms are exactly the right length, and if I had any complaint about it at all, it's that the legs are a little lower than I would normally like.  Every time I sit in it it feels like I'm sitting in the captain's chair on the Enterprise.  Unfortunately, while it's a wonderful chair to read in, it's not so great for writing:  there's no good place to rest the keyboard, and I don't have a properly placed tray or table to prop up my mobile device.

I also didn't count on the cat.  Smokey thinks the chair is his chair, too; so I spent some time either typing with a cat resting on my left forearm or convincing him to not jump up on my lap.  By the end of the session, I'd curled to the left to better see what I was editing, and he settled for sitting Sphinx-like on the right arm rest.

Edited for about 70 minutes (out of 90).  Firmed up a scene.  The intro suffers from "driving to the plot," and I need to bring the conflict in sooner.  I'm pretty sure I'n not engaging in too much Tolkien Sclerosis.

Continuing on the Smokey Front:  He decided to perform one of his super-sonic charges through the house and zoomed from our bedroom, through the living room, across the breakfast nook, and outside onto the deck.  The fact that the screen door to the deck was closed was, apparently, a small impediment--and we now have a new cat door.

Workout: Various stations.  150 cal / 12 minutes on the rowing machine.  Judging from various indicators, the most obvious how swimming felt Sunday, I'm fairly happy with the results I'm seeing.  I don't seem to be losing any weight, so I'm assuming some of my new muscle mass is off-setting fat loss.