LEFTOVER BREAKFAST ... I usually have a pickup breakfast. I could have cereal and milk, fruit. Sometimes I simply finish up whatever leftover is in the ice box. You can tell my age; I still use the words “ice box.”

... OR AN OMELET I met the French wife of a lefty organizer in Canada. She said you start the omelet by putting butter in the pan to get it sizzling. You put in your eggs and whatever, and you immediately put the heat down and the cover on. You don’t wait for it to get cooked; you want it to be liquid in parts. You take it out and turn it over so the brown is on top, and you take it right away to the table so it doesn’t get overcooked. And if you have good cheese, it can be super.

ANSWERING MAIL The mail comes in by the bushel. That’s the principal news of my life. There’s no time. The mail swamps us. In one way, it’s a very sad situation. I see all sorts of bushes that should be cut. I barely have time to split the wood for our fire. We heat one room with a fireplace and heat the other with a stove.

KINDS OF MAIL People wanting autographs. I have a special form letter that starts off: “I wish I could persuade you that collecting autographs is one of the more foolish ways we can spend our precious days. There are important things needing to be done in every community.” How can people be brought together to do these important things? I’ve tried with banjos and boats.

CHOPPING WOOD That’s recreation. It’s in our DNA to like to go “whack.” About two or three million years ago, we started walking on two feet, and that’s when we started swinging sticks. It’s not an accident that sports like golf and baseball and cricket are popular all over the world.