We're shopping for a cheap rug for the kitchen today, as the floor is getting redone later in the week, and our old rug has been through a fire, floods and two dogs wallowing on it. Then we're having lunch with our younger son and looking at houses. He's seen a couple he likes, and I love his caution and carefulness. He's been looking on and off for several years, and not rushing into anything. It's a pretty fall day, and tomorrow it is supposed to rain (I'll believe it when I see it). So today is a good day to see a house with the sun shining on it. It makes a difference.
I'm reading a really terrific book after reading a really terrific book. I finished Sherman Alexie's "Blasphemy" which is a collection of short stories, most of which took my breath away. There is one about donkeys near the end that broke my heart. Then I began Louise Erdrich's "The Round House" and it is mesmerizing. It's narrator is a 13 year old boy, and his story is so gripping and effortless, and the bigger issues just slide on past his adolescent obsessions to make the whole story gripping and profound. I can hardly put it down to do my chores. They are two of my favorite Indian writers, and they are both clearly at the top of their game.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Old Age Day by Day October 7, 2012
I listened to a beautiful dharma talk this morning, one that made me cry. It was about Shantideva's teaching "Live as if you were already dead", which sounds weird, but it means to live without hopes or fears. I feel in my body the truth of that teaching - that we distract ourselves by dreaming up all kinds of "wantings", which we could truly enjoy each moment if we didn't freight it with so much pushing and pulling, attraction and aversion.
So when I returned home and discovered the A's had lost again, I was okay with it. I'm happy they won the Division, I'm happy the two games have been close and could have gone either way. I'm just happy they are the A's. They have the best heart on that team in baseball. And as my husband said, Detroit, like Oakland has a rough time of it as a city, so if they do win, they could use the boost.
We watched two oldies but goodies last night: "Holiday" with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, and "Talk of the Town" with Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Coleman. The former is a terrific movie with a something interesting to say, and the latter is a debate about what the law is and isn't. Both are funny, touching, well-acted and directed. I'm quite doting on the subject of Grant, and his heyday was the early forties. He just eats up the screen. I love Jean Arthur as well, and I've adored Ronald Coleman since I saw him in "Tale of Two Cities" as a child. Not only that, I made steak for dinner, and although I forgot to turn on the oven, so we did not have baked potatoes with it, my husband liked dinner well enough. He ate all of his rib eye and half of mine!
So when I returned home and discovered the A's had lost again, I was okay with it. I'm happy they won the Division, I'm happy the two games have been close and could have gone either way. I'm just happy they are the A's. They have the best heart on that team in baseball. And as my husband said, Detroit, like Oakland has a rough time of it as a city, so if they do win, they could use the boost.
We watched two oldies but goodies last night: "Holiday" with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, and "Talk of the Town" with Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Coleman. The former is a terrific movie with a something interesting to say, and the latter is a debate about what the law is and isn't. Both are funny, touching, well-acted and directed. I'm quite doting on the subject of Grant, and his heyday was the early forties. He just eats up the screen. I love Jean Arthur as well, and I've adored Ronald Coleman since I saw him in "Tale of Two Cities" as a child. Not only that, I made steak for dinner, and although I forgot to turn on the oven, so we did not have baked potatoes with it, my husband liked dinner well enough. He ate all of his rib eye and half of mine!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Old Age Day by Day October 6, 2012
My friend and I did a little antique shopping yesterday, and enjoyed looking. She bought nothing and I settled on a small, cheap table that had a painted bird on it. I'm fascinated with birds lately. But we oohed and aahed over jewelry, coins, teapots, plates and lamps. My friend was looking at a pendant set in rose gold with butterscotch jade. And truly, it looked like you could eat it; a really yummy color. I drooled over a Native American cuff bracelet with inset that depicted a pueblo village. I've never seen anything like it. We found a small walnut table, just beautiful wood, that we both loved. She fell for a lazy susan for Chinese new year, but we couldn't find out if the hand painted dishes would hold food without being ruined, so she decided not to risk it. We managed to spend a couple of hours in this one store, just having fun dreaming. Neither of us needs a thing. But we are admirers. We did the same thing in an outlet complex. Lots of looking, but nothing we needed. Then we had a lunch by the river and each ordered the same meal: fish sandwich, cold slaw, and fries. I hope we walked it off afterward!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Old Age Day by Day October 4, 2012
Oh, boy. The A's won the Division, and my granddaughter and I heard the 9th inning on the radio and screamed, along with my husband. She and I had been to our favorite plant nursery and she had found A's pumpkins, and we were completely prepared for victory. I've just finished hovering over the sports sections of the newspapers - so gratifying. Yesterday I called my kids, except for the one who lives in another state, and they were just as excited. It turned out our younger son had seen the two night games before yesterday's clincher.
It was especially soothing, because I did not like the debate last night, and thought Romney's aggressive stance would be taken for being presidential, and from the papers, it seems it has. I thought he insulted Jim Lehrer, and that he trampled all over the format and the moderator. The public wants to see a fight, and dualism personified, and I wish we could get the discourse beyond black and white, rhetoric and sound bites. I don't think we did, because the form of TV commands drama and pugilism and simplifying ideas. I hate watching these things. I feel diminished just sitting there like a sap.
Oh, well. Back to the A's. Ain't they grand?!
It was especially soothing, because I did not like the debate last night, and thought Romney's aggressive stance would be taken for being presidential, and from the papers, it seems it has. I thought he insulted Jim Lehrer, and that he trampled all over the format and the moderator. The public wants to see a fight, and dualism personified, and I wish we could get the discourse beyond black and white, rhetoric and sound bites. I don't think we did, because the form of TV commands drama and pugilism and simplifying ideas. I hate watching these things. I feel diminished just sitting there like a sap.
Oh, well. Back to the A's. Ain't they grand?!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Old Age Day by Day October 3, 2012
Well, the A's won again, and gee, they might even cinch the Division today. It's very happy late summer news, and it certainly takes the edge of the Fall doldrums. I have my granddaughter this afternoon, and she and her family are rabid A's fans, so we'll probably be discussing the team. At seven she's seen a lot more games her her years on earth than I have in those seven years. We also will do a little Halloween decorating and stop for an ice cream for her and probably play games. She's a lot of fun at this age, and she also likes to have heart to heart talks, which are endearing.
In the meantime we are getting estimates today for having our kitchen floor redone yet again. It's not that old, about fourteen years, but there has been a fire, and two floods from the refrigerator, and this will be the fourth repair. Of course, the heavy, claw footed dogs don't help either, or the chairs scraping back and forth from the table. I should have gone with concrete. It must be done. We've reached the tipping point of standing the eyesore of it. Then, onto painting, which I dread, but it must be done. These old houses just nag at you until they get fixed. I hear it loud and clear.
In the meantime we are getting estimates today for having our kitchen floor redone yet again. It's not that old, about fourteen years, but there has been a fire, and two floods from the refrigerator, and this will be the fourth repair. Of course, the heavy, claw footed dogs don't help either, or the chairs scraping back and forth from the table. I should have gone with concrete. It must be done. We've reached the tipping point of standing the eyesore of it. Then, onto painting, which I dread, but it must be done. These old houses just nag at you until they get fixed. I hear it loud and clear.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Old Age Day by Day October 2, 2012
Well, my beloved baseball team is in the playoffs! I am thrilled! I'd like to see them take the Division outright, but we'll see. They're young, they're crazy, they are in love with baseball, as they should be. May the force be with them. I was so excited last night I couldn't get to sleep right away, and neither could my husband. Okay, maybe it's not important in the larger scheme of things, but it's fun.
Now I've got to decide if I'm going to the game tonight, or if I'd be bad luck. There is a whole lot of magical thinking in my baseball attitude. I admit it. I don't want to jinx the team. They did win the last time I went, but the times before, well, it wasn't a pretty picture. If I had a palm reader handy.
Now I've got to decide if I'm going to the game tonight, or if I'd be bad luck. There is a whole lot of magical thinking in my baseball attitude. I admit it. I don't want to jinx the team. They did win the last time I went, but the times before, well, it wasn't a pretty picture. If I had a palm reader handy.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Old Age Day by Day October 1, 2012
Well, howdy do. It's October. I don't know where September got off to. So here comes Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas. I went in a craft store a couple of days ago and there was the whole season assaulting my eyes. I was buying scrapbooks for my granddaughter's pictures, and it took a firm grip on my mind to not veer in the holiday isles. And I don't even WANT to buy that stuff. It's hypnotic.
What I do want to do today is get an LED lantern and more flashlights and a battery radio, because on Saturday we lost power for one hour two separate times, and it made me realize all my emergency stuff has migrated to the cabin, which is good, the power often goes out up there, but I am ill prepared here for an earthquake. Sitting in a dark room my flashlight was NOT a romantic way to have our dinner. And my husband had to drive out to get our meal in an area with electricity, or otherwise we would have had cold sandwiches.
My lack of preparation reminds me that I think like the herds. We borrow with no ability to repay if things go south, we don't plan sensibly, then get angry at officials for not having the water and food and things we need to survive. We're like helpless babies. I like to think of myself as sensible, but I do not have tucked away cash in the house, or extra toliet paper etc. I used to, then got blaise. No more. I'm going to stock up today, not out of negativity, but knowing I'm not helpless and should not act that way, and because it is so easy, and I will not think well of myself if something happens and I have not at least done these few preparations that are wise. Mother nature does not promise us the unalienable right to electricity and clean water and food and shelter. She's got other things on her mind.
What I do want to do today is get an LED lantern and more flashlights and a battery radio, because on Saturday we lost power for one hour two separate times, and it made me realize all my emergency stuff has migrated to the cabin, which is good, the power often goes out up there, but I am ill prepared here for an earthquake. Sitting in a dark room my flashlight was NOT a romantic way to have our dinner. And my husband had to drive out to get our meal in an area with electricity, or otherwise we would have had cold sandwiches.
My lack of preparation reminds me that I think like the herds. We borrow with no ability to repay if things go south, we don't plan sensibly, then get angry at officials for not having the water and food and things we need to survive. We're like helpless babies. I like to think of myself as sensible, but I do not have tucked away cash in the house, or extra toliet paper etc. I used to, then got blaise. No more. I'm going to stock up today, not out of negativity, but knowing I'm not helpless and should not act that way, and because it is so easy, and I will not think well of myself if something happens and I have not at least done these few preparations that are wise. Mother nature does not promise us the unalienable right to electricity and clean water and food and shelter. She's got other things on her mind.
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