Took Sarah's five-foot, unstretched canvas to the laundry on Banahaw Street. That is where I always take my pieces of unstretched canvas for pressing.

That laundry also operates alkaline drinking water service, and that is where we order our drinking water as well. I do that by phone. Whenever I dial their number, a friendly woman in her late 40s answers and accommodates me. This afternoon, when I dropped off the canvas, I asked after her. The young woman who accepted my job request informed me that she passed away in hospital December 30, 2016 after a month-long illness.

A blank canvas, drinking water, death.

Beginnings, life, endings.

If only I'd earlier on been told that she was ill, I could have visited her or given her some comfort for all the kindness she'd shown me in the past.