31 October …
It promises to be a full day. The elementary school parade through town begins at 1020. I’ve been assigned to be there to take pictures. Paul is Iron Man. Kamille is a funky witch. Pictures next week.
Following that I will be going to the hardware store for the tools I need to do more paneling in my room.
Then lunch with the women from my grief group. I’m doing well, I think. I am no longer taking the anti-depressant and I don’t feel any sadder than normal. We meet about once a month to keep tabs on each other. The deaths we grieve were in July, August, October, and November of last year.
The next event is to pick up Paul from school and go to our taiko lesson. I’ve been learning the kadas (sections of the renshu taiko … practice exercise) and am pretty sure I won’t embarrass myself. Next hurdle is to learn the opening and closing phrases which say (in Japanese) “I am here, Teacher, and I am ready to learn.” And “Thank you Teacher, classroom, and other students for this time to learn.”
After that, home for a throw-together meal so the family can start Trick-or-Treating at 1800.
Last Sunday was pumpkin day.
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Weather is moving closer to winter. Nights are colder. It was 40º when I got up this morning, but it had been below freezing yesterday. First frost of the season.
The trees are dropping leaves rapidly
and the leaf carpet has turned
from red to gold.
The evergreens are coming into their own. Paul and I have been cataloguing the various greens … emerald, jade, lettuce, broccoli, new grass, shamrock, …
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I have been thinking a lot lately about the use of the possessive in English. So many times people are identified as a possession … MY children, MY husband or wife, MY teacher, etc.
I wonder why.
Children belong to both parents as well as to grandparents, but are really their own persons. A spouse is not a possession. A teacher does not usually teach only one child/person.
Other languages use a form something like “the husband of me” or “the house of the family”. That is just too cumbersome in English.
It would appear to be a conundrum without an answer.
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Mornings are staying dark which delays chores. Everyone’s day starts in the dark.
… 0745 this morning (the reddish spot in the upper right is the sun).
In a week, mornings will improve a bit and evening activities will be limited since it will be dark by 1600.
I’m with those who would like to see one or the other time system chosen and that would be it … no switching.
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Yesterday I was given a miracle (they do still happen). There has been a clock in the family since before the turn of the last century which now sits in my room. We call her “Grandmother”.
For a long time, she was silent. After George died, John got her running for me. But that didn’t last. She began striking incorrectly and seemed out of balance.
I enjoy seeing her and so set her on a stand near my bed, without any attention to leveling, where I could see her.
For several months, every time I looked at her she said it was ten minutes past ten.
Yesterday afternoon she suddenly began keeping time and striking (her chimes are the typical Westminster tune). I have no idea what happened. I was at the computer answering an email when suddenly I heard her strike.
After dinner I sat down near her and got her hands set to the correct time and the chiming synchronized.
She has been keeping perfect time ever since.
A miracle …
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A final reminder to vote …
“The rain that refreshes the parched ground is made up of single drops.”
-Kate Sheppard
So … ‘til next week.