Thanksgiving Vacation Week

Our home sits on a dead end road. I had never been down to the dead end until today. It seems kind of strange now to realize that. It’s only about a half mile down. It runs along the lake with houses on both sides. I’d believed it had a foot path connecting it to Foster Lane which runs parallel to it, but I didn’t discover it if there is one.

I’m just coming off a week’s vacation. I like taking this week off to retreat into home, do lots of cooking, relax with a book, take walks, feast on leftovers. After our walk down the dead end street today we enjoyed a delicious turkey sandwich and a Stella, brought in some Christmas decorations from the cottage and put out a few things. I like a gradual progression into Christmas.

I finished reading Bleeding Kansas, this week; a book by Sara Paretsky that I picked up at the Austin airport after having finished Carolyn Cassady’s Off The Road on the flight down. I loved Off The Road, a different take on the beats, from the perspective of a woman who loved some of them in spite of herself.

Bleeding Kansas was a good enough story; nothing to get excited about but an easy read to enjoy by the fire.

The turkey soup has been simmering for the last few hours and it's just about time to add some dumplings. Yummy.

Cheers

Nov. 16th, 2008 at 12:22 PM

Cheers from the Grist Mill Restaurant (recommended to us by people we met at Guero's Taco Bar our first night out in Austin) in New Braunfels. It's located next to Gruene Hall - the dance hall (oldest dance hall in Texas) where John Travolta boogied with wings in the movie Michael.

Kayaking

November 14th

Nice paddle with Betty this afternoon along a quiet stretch of the Colorado River in Austin. Mid 80s probably, beautiful sun. Lots of turtles, ducks, swans, etc., and magnificent cypress trees! They discovered a dead body at Barton’s Spring so we couldn’t paddle up that way. Yikes!

The Room

Sleeping late this morning I dreamed that I discovered a new room in my house that I’d forgotten was there. This is a recurring dream, though this time with a different twist. The room was filled with objects that had been left there I realized by a previous owner. Many of the objects were bits and pieces you’d find in a 5 and dime, or you’d buy from one of those TV commercials – not available in stores! Buy now! There’d be 5 or 10 of some identical items stashed away in a little box. On a large table in the middle of the room were a multitude of framed photos, all with identical frames; photos of people whose faces weren’t clear to me. There was a king sized bed with a luxurious tapestry bedspread on it. I was fortunate to discover the room when I did because some visitors had just arrived and needed overnight accommodations. I don’t remember if I knew who they were but I know I wanted them to stay. We started cleaning out the room together; throwing away much of what was there, but every once in a while, keeping some little trinket that seemed to speak to me. I woke up just as my late husband walked into the room, and looking up, there was Rick, about to kiss me goodbye as he left for campus.

Big Comfy Chair

I’m sitting in my big comfy chair on this dreary gray day looking out the window at the beach. There’s a blue suv parked over there. As I watch, a middle aged woman with short red hair climbs out of the back seat, adjusts her clothing, pulling her pants out of the crack of her ass, straightens her blouse, and stretches . . . just as a young man climbs out of the back seat on the other side of the suv. He runs his hands through his thick black hair, turns and smiles at the woman, and lights a cigarette, as they both climb into the front seats of the suv and drive away. Hmmm, wonder what they were doing . . .

Amazing what I can witness, right from the coziness of my big comfy chair. One early morning last week I watched an eagle soaring over the tops of the pine trees. Another day I watched as multiple hundred year-old pines were murdered, just for being.

I sit here today with Karma curled up beside me and the sound of rain drizzling off the roof. I contemplate lighting a fire in the fireplace though knowing I’d be plenty warm if I just put on a pair of socks instead of lounging around in my lightweight clothes and bare feet. I should save the wood for a colder day but the fire would feel so cozy and take some of the dampness and dreariness out of the air. I know before I even begin that the “shoulds” aren’t going to win this argument.

The Hour

Today is the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. Or is it the end of Daylight Savings Time? I’m never sure but it’s inconsequential. It’s time to turn the clocks back an hour. I never turn them back till I wake up the next morning. That hour is a gift from Chronos; one must relive that hour with vigor. Just savor the thought of that hour, wait until the opportune time, and walaa, turn em back and enjoy! I can do anything in that hour because it doesn’t really exist. It’s already passed.

It’s much different than the spring where you turn the clocks ahead. You’re frantic; you’ve lost a whole hour and you’ll never get it back! Turning them back in the fall doesn’t make up for it. It’s too disconnected. It’s been too long. It would suck to think of today’s extra hour as just a quid pro quo for spring’s loss. Deal with the loss in the spring and celebrate the gift we’re given today!

What will YOU do with your one wild and precious hour?