meanwhile, inside and downstairs...

Paperwork!

(Personal historical note: the table was my family's dining room table when I was growing up. There were seven of us: Mom and Dad, two daughters and three sons. The chair had been in my Dad's family's home on the Ohio River, probably since before 1900. The piano was my Mom's and the rug her sister's.)

Which being interpreted is ~

"This stuff may drive me mad but at least I won't be completely alone!"