Well, I've purchased the candy, and the candles for the two pumpkins and am prepared for a horde, though we get more of a trickle of treat-or-treaters. We have too many stairs, as do many houses on our block, so kids go to the streets that are easier pickings. I don't blame them. I do wish I could have a teeny tiny handful of candy corn or bite sized Three Muskateers. Sigh.
I did a few errands and got more yarn this morning. When I want to eat, I knit. It works pretty well, and has the advantage that I am shoring up gifts for Christmas. I also believe it helps mitigate the arthritis in my hands. I pick colors that are lushous and tasty looking.
I'm reading a Rebecca Solnit book about Ireland, and picturing my visits and my relatives there. Next is Haruki Murakami's new opus, 1Q84. I've read the first chapter and it is terrific. I can't wait to read the rest but want to finish the book I'm reading first. I'm trying to be disciplined. The reviews for 1Q84 are spectacular. He's my favorite living writer, for sure. They are talking Nobel Prize in Literature in the reviews.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Old Age Day by Day October 30, 2011
We're off to the opera soon. It's a whole afternoon affair, and it's a beautiful day, so it's crazy, but there you are. One must make sacrifices for art. Susan Graham will be singing, so I look forward to that, plus I adore Handel. If I can just keep my mind off comparisons to being imprisoned in a tiny closet with a view.
Last night my husband and I watched the Robin Hood movie with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. I don't know why I like it so much, but the actors are part of it. Max Von Sydow, Danny Huston and others make it a delight, and it has an anti-war stance that seems valid. But it may just be Crowe. He's pretty mesmerizing. He can do a man of honor better than anyone right now. The only other actor I can think of is Matt Damon. And it's nice to see such a man on screen, since offscreen, well, let's just say they are hard to come by. When I need reassurance, I have to watch Gandhi or Gladiator or Amistad or Last of the Mohicans. Humm. I notice no 20th or 21st century heroes. I think that says it all.
Last night my husband and I watched the Robin Hood movie with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. I don't know why I like it so much, but the actors are part of it. Max Von Sydow, Danny Huston and others make it a delight, and it has an anti-war stance that seems valid. But it may just be Crowe. He's pretty mesmerizing. He can do a man of honor better than anyone right now. The only other actor I can think of is Matt Damon. And it's nice to see such a man on screen, since offscreen, well, let's just say they are hard to come by. When I need reassurance, I have to watch Gandhi or Gladiator or Amistad or Last of the Mohicans. Humm. I notice no 20th or 21st century heroes. I think that says it all.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Old Age Day by Day October 29, 2011
We've been walking a lot today, first around the reservoir and then to lunch. The weather is perfect, sunny and warm, and everyone is getting out before the rains. We've had a rash of little earthquakes centered right under us, so that makes us all relish being out of our houses a little more, as well. October, the month of earthquakes and firestorms, is just nervous making. Halloween fits right in with our states of mind.
We had great fun last night watching the end of the World Series and seeing the team we rooted for win. But I love Coach Washington so much that it hurt that he couldn't win as well. What a battle for the ages it was! Now it's all over until spring training, except for the praying that the A's get a grip.
Tomorrow we see a 4 hour Handel opera, Xerxes, so that will reorient us smartly toward the cultural end of life. I do love Handel, but I need comfortable shoes, underwear and a lot of bathroom standing in line to make it through such a long opera. It's kind of a marathon, but with no physical benefits.
We had great fun last night watching the end of the World Series and seeing the team we rooted for win. But I love Coach Washington so much that it hurt that he couldn't win as well. What a battle for the ages it was! Now it's all over until spring training, except for the praying that the A's get a grip.
Tomorrow we see a 4 hour Handel opera, Xerxes, so that will reorient us smartly toward the cultural end of life. I do love Handel, but I need comfortable shoes, underwear and a lot of bathroom standing in line to make it through such a long opera. It's kind of a marathon, but with no physical benefits.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Old Age Day by Day October 28, 2011
What a game! What nail biting, what shouting, what euphoria! I know, they have to win tonight as well, but they can't take away last night. It was what baseball is about - the surprise, the errors, the hopes dashed, the thrill as the ball goes over the fence. Ah, satisfaction. Both teams are playing so well, so fairly, and with such good grace. The coaches are wonderful. La Russa glum and trying not to bite his nails, Washington applauding and emotional. We get the whole gamut of the game just in the coaches alone.
Now my husband and I are about to go see a Pizzaro exhibit, and I can't think of a connection, except I expect happiness from the sight of the paintings. Human beings are physical, and it's a gift to the apex of that. They are emotional, and you get that in baseball and painting. And they are creative, and you get that both places as well. In baseball it's strategy and fluidity, in painting it's letting the moment come through you and your skills and engage you deeply. Actually, the later is true for the first and vice versa. Hey, I've just proved that there is no difference at all between baseball and great art! Or not.
Now my husband and I are about to go see a Pizzaro exhibit, and I can't think of a connection, except I expect happiness from the sight of the paintings. Human beings are physical, and it's a gift to the apex of that. They are emotional, and you get that in baseball and painting. And they are creative, and you get that both places as well. In baseball it's strategy and fluidity, in painting it's letting the moment come through you and your skills and engage you deeply. Actually, the later is true for the first and vice versa. Hey, I've just proved that there is no difference at all between baseball and great art! Or not.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Old Age Day by Day October 27, 2011
A friend and I had a long walk yesterday and lunch out. Before that I had coffee with another dear friend. It was good to walk and talk and laugh. Today I have therapy again. I usually have it only once a month, but I'm still absorbing the news about our older daughter's divorce, and I can use the guidance. I feel like there is a pall over me, and last night I talked to our younger son and he seemed so sad with his breakup of his romance that I just wanted to be able to DO SOMETHING. Of course, I cannot. It's not my business. And I'm not much of a sounding board either. Either they are protecting me or nobody fancies me for a sounding board. I feel useless. So, what do you know, I have to notice my own reactions and my ambulance chaser bent, and settle in to feel some measure of sorrow for a while. Shoot!
In the meantime, I have chorus tonight and my husband has promised to come up with a new place for lunch, and the sun is shining and despite the fact we woke up early from another earthquake, the day will undoubtedly contain some delightful moments, and I am determined not to worry about what I cannot affect. I hope.
In the meantime, I have chorus tonight and my husband has promised to come up with a new place for lunch, and the sun is shining and despite the fact we woke up early from another earthquake, the day will undoubtedly contain some delightful moments, and I am determined not to worry about what I cannot affect. I hope.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Old Age Day by Day October 25, 2011
The weather has changed. We're talking Fall here. The Halloween decorations mitigate the cooling off a bit for me. Sunday my daughter and I went to a Halloween store and she picked out giraffe ears and tail for her teaching, and then got some gloves and stuff for some kind of Tron outfit for a party with her friends. There was a tiny boy there trying on pig ears, but later we saw he had settled for being a firefighter. There was some majorly scary stuff in the store, and he was saying he was scared. The parents should have thought that one out more thoroughly. They could have gone to a toy store. But then, every R rated movie I go to there are small children dragged along with their parents, and I always wonder if it is worth the nightmares and trips into the room for comforting. However, maybe those parents don't comfort their kids, and that leads to thoughts scarier than the movie.
I'm being judgmental, a habit I've been trying to crack for years. I just saw too much bad stuff between working in the DA's office in Victim Assistance and the years in battered women's shelters. Some children are all alone in a terrifying world. My friend and I used to threaten to kidnap some of these kids to rescue them. Social services seldom got their act together to save them. But we never did. We had our own kids and no where to run. But it tore us up. So I'm a little over reactive as a result.
I'm being judgmental, a habit I've been trying to crack for years. I just saw too much bad stuff between working in the DA's office in Victim Assistance and the years in battered women's shelters. Some children are all alone in a terrifying world. My friend and I used to threaten to kidnap some of these kids to rescue them. Social services seldom got their act together to save them. But we never did. We had our own kids and no where to run. But it tore us up. So I'm a little over reactive as a result.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Old Age Day by Day October 24, 2011
We've been watching the World Series, and had a disappointing night last night, with our team losing. But it's a close series and baseball is being well played, so that is fun. We couldn't get the A's there, but at least La Russa is. My family on both sides is from Missouri, so rooting for Saint Louis is fine and dandy. Okay, I was born in Texas, but that was too long ago.
I saw a movie yesterday afternoon, Margin Call, and it was not as good as the New York Times pronounced, but I was struck by the acting of Kevin Spacey. I did not like him in the role for which he won the Oscar, American Beauty. Of course I loved him in the Usual Suspects. But in this film he is different, yet uses his amazingly evocative face to convey a huge range of emotions. I have new respect for him. It's really his film, though it has a host of super actors, like Jeremy Irons and Paul Bettany.
I'm making a soup with chicken and quinoa this afternoon, and the receipe looks yummy. It's still sunny weather, but at night there is a nip in the air, and soup sounds good.
I saw a movie yesterday afternoon, Margin Call, and it was not as good as the New York Times pronounced, but I was struck by the acting of Kevin Spacey. I did not like him in the role for which he won the Oscar, American Beauty. Of course I loved him in the Usual Suspects. But in this film he is different, yet uses his amazingly evocative face to convey a huge range of emotions. I have new respect for him. It's really his film, though it has a host of super actors, like Jeremy Irons and Paul Bettany.
I'm making a soup with chicken and quinoa this afternoon, and the receipe looks yummy. It's still sunny weather, but at night there is a nip in the air, and soup sounds good.
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