Opposite Attraction?

"Easter had always struck Fogel as a holiday without real punch, though there was, among the more vivid of his childhood memories, a magical peep into a big sugar egg; it had been at his aunt's house, in Connecticut, where the houses seemed cleaner than in New Jersey, the people wealthier, the daffodils a brighter yellow."

Wen I got to the bottom of the first page: "Fogel was sixty-two, and felt retirement drawing closer. In the daily rub he discovered all sorts of fresh reasons for irritation..." He Who Must Be Obeyed asked me "Do you really like this?" There was a sting to the question and I knew there was no right answer. I thought for a while before I said, "Yes." It was apparent that he had no time for such stuff. I find my own fresh reason for irritation. I thought to myself, I will just keep my reading skills to myself. Elder bonding be hanged.

Maybe it is too much winter. I am desperate for something to divert my mind and get it off of my Lumbar Spine. Last year's histories do no do it right now. "If you want me to read to you, you choosed a book." John Updike's Short Easter was not his cup of tea.

Teaching Old Dogs

Photo: Caleb Jones for NPR


The time marches along.

I am sad about John Updike's death. I have found some news articles on him. I am listening to National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" and they are going to replay some interviews of him previously. The nice thing about the Internet, one can listen to them on the computer as well. I found a couple audio links to him this afternoon. He was a funny fellow...and eloquent. I wish I had read more of his work. His last book will come out this spring. I wish Kurt Vonnegut had not died either. But people die and we miss them when they are gone.

I suppose a person should purposely decide to appreciate those we admire before they die. I have a lot of folks that would fit that description.

The new trick I am trying to learn is a switch-over from Word 2000 to Vista. It would be nice to have a text that I could dog ear. As it is I attempt to decipher the on screen helps. I find my vocabulary is sadly lacking. In over an hour I learned one thing. I had inadvertently locked my document and had to find out how to unlock it to work on it. I reminded myself not to become discouraged and to keep my enthusiasm for the task.

A New Day

We are now on our way to peace and prosperity! So say the new faces in our capitol. It would be a good thing if they are correct in their assumptions. As optimistic as I am, usually, I am not holding my breath for a couple of years while the gears of government get new grease.

Actually, it will be a huge relief not to hear the continual vilification of Former President Bush. His genuine kindly behavior to the Obama family was another testament to his core values.

Aren't people always disdained for their core values? I recall a time well over 50 years ago when my high school friends and I were called the "Goody-Goody Girls." It stung then but rather amuses me today. We weren't all that good; but maybe it was ok to give some people our own age that impression. So, I will let my better angels guide my thoughts and words when at all possible.

The Prayer Service yesterday morning at the National Cathedral was my idea of a proper beginning. It was inclusive, with top notch music and a thought provoking sermon by the Rev Dr. Sharon Watkins. The Cherokee fable she used as an illustration could have been a parable with its thought provoking moral lesson.

Not Shoveling Coal

No, we are not shoveling coal. We woke up to a cold house this morning. When I got up the first time about 6:30, I turned up the heat, went back to bed, but the gas never came on. He Who...fiddled around with the thermostat and turned the fan to 'on' instead of 'automatic' so we assumed our trusty ancient furnace had come on and we would be eating breakfast in comfy accustomed warmth. It was not to be.

Here we are, nearly noon, and with more thermostat fiddling and the fan back to 'automatic,' the gas is finally burning and the house is again over 60 degrees. "Maybe we need a repair man," I suggested. "Messing with the thermostat is easier than shoveling coal," was the reply to my suggestion. One can over-do the frugality, methinks.

While Waiting

A fair amount of our time is spent in waiting. Over the past decades I have waited in hospital waiting rooms while the man in my life endured various surgeries. Waiting for the doctor's exhausted news, waiting for a good outcome, waiting with anxious anticipation for his return to health.

I have waited for many pregnancies to come to fruition. Only the first wait was one with real anxiety, the rest were just what they were, a long wait. And then the wait until each one was out of diapers, could tie their shoes, for school to start or end. Children each come with a lifetime of waiting.

Today I await the return of He Who Must Be Obeyed. Either his cell phone does not work or it hasn't occurred to him that I might be waiting with a little bit of anxiety. Traveling this region in winter can hold the surprise of icy or blizzard blinded highways.

I wait for the end of a seemingly unending financial burden. I pray we are relieved from it. Some say be careful what you pray for and I have experienced a prayer answered in a way that the first situation was actually easier to live with than the resolution. Of course there is the old saw, "God helps people who help themselves." So I act with impunity and pray (again) that I have done the wise thing.

During a wait yesterday, a somewhat disheveled woman asked me point blank "Are you having a Happy New Year?" It took me aback. I don't know why I found it so completely startling. Everyone else sat in a silent and properly buttoned down wait. "It is only the 5th," I told her. "Well," she said, "I have won $27!" How lucky.