Science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. Singer (sorry, no shows) & nudist (in my home). Beer, cat, cheese, coffee, pie and wine friend. Left IBM and Silicon Valley for the southern Oregon life but I miss the ocean. We're too far inland. Gotta move.
She would have been called a troubled teenager. Drinking too much, dropping out of school, becoming pregnant, marrying before she was seventeen, her life had taken turns that we didn’t expect from such an intelligent and charming person.
Two divorces, two children, and forty-five years later, she acquired her GED, graduated college with a B.S., runs a family business, is a grandmother of three, and is also a professional. She’s the one we turn to for help. She’s strong, stable, and reliable, the person we thought she would be before she became a troubled teen.
Here in Pittsburgh, PA, Monday, October 3, 2022, appears to a lovely autumn day. That’s the message given out by the 7:19 sunrise. No clouds. Comfortable 40 F with expectations of 62. Slow silvery rise over the trees that began sunnier and brighter. The silver found gold and the air found warmth.
Mom has appointments today, including her PCP, so I’m up getting ready for that. Computer had issues yesterday that I addressed but some issues lingered from that. My wife left a voice mail on my phone that she has Internet issues at home, so she needs to call me so I can walk her through rebooting. Gonna be a busy day.
Looking at photos all over Mom’s house, I thought about growing up. The Neurons fed in the line, “To face this on my own, well, I guess that this is growing up.” Just like that, Blink-182’s 1997 song, “Dammit”, is in the morning mental music stream. It’s a straightforward song, fast beat, nice sound that I always enjoyed. Hope you do as well.
Now must go grow up. Kick into adulting gear. Stay positive, test negative. Excuse me, I gotta go get coffee. Adulting requires coffee. Have the best one you can.
He and his sister were talking about words. She said, “You know where spitting image comes from?”
No.
“It was originally spirit in image. It was a religious reference. Somehow it got twisted into spitting image. I think it’s probably from someone’s accent confusing people, so they thought someone was saying spitting image instead of spirit image.
He later searched for origins, and spirit in image wasn’t mentioned. Shame, though, it sounded like a good story.
Graylight heralded dawn and a tombstone-like sky at 7:17 this morning. The red squirrel was busy early, a crimson slash racing across the emerald lawn and through the trees. He was probably making up for yesterday, when steady rain gifted to us by Hurricane Ian kept the wildlife passive and sheltered. The deer did show yesterday and popped into the side yard outside the kitchen window as I prepared Mom’s breakfast just after sunrise.
Today is October of 2022’s first Sunday, and the second day of the month. Birthdays galore this month for our tribe. July and October are our busiest birthday months. This day will see lows of 50 F and highs of 64 with light rain. Sunset cometh this evening, 7:01 PM.
Mom continues improving. Next week will be a big challenge, with three doctor appointments and seven home visits – physical and occupational therapists, nurse, and nurse aide. I’ll probably be flying west to home the week after, I think. I miss my partners, aka my wife and floofs. I’ve only been here 22 days but it seems longer. My days are more idle as Mom gets healthier and does more for herself. I’m deliberately drawing back, mindful as I do, to test her skills, along with her partner. He’s 92 and well-meaning, in decent health, but he gets tired and forgetful, totally understandable.
BTW, did you see that after Ian’s strike on Florida and the southeastern US, and his travels up the Atlantic coast, another storm is intensifying and heading towards Mexico. Busy storm season. The death and destruction already seen is enervating and demoralizing.
I have Veruca Salt orbiting the morning mental music stream with their song, “Seether”, from 1994. The song is a throwback, solid grunge, simple chords, a steady beat. The band’s name is familiar from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Originally hearing it caused a double take followed by a short burst of laughter. Anyway, the song came into my head when I was dealing with Mom yesterday. She’d become worked up about an issue and I started chatting with her to distract her and calm her down. Lo’, The Neurons awoke and said, “Hey, that reminds me of that Veruca Salt song,” and here we are.
Side note: today’s post was delayed by house guests.
Stay positive, and test negative, and so on, and do what you need to take care of yourself and your people and tribe. I’d have coffee, thanks. Here’s the music. Hope you enjoy it.
It was a simple pleasure. He stood outside on the covered back porch, sipping from a hot cup of coffee, listening to the rain, smelling the fragrances as cool air bathed him. The knots in his soul unraveled as he stood there.
Looking up, she sees him and asks, “You’re already here?”
Clearly, it’s a verbal tic. As an expression, it puzzles him. They’re looking at him and asking if he’s already there, when he clearly is. But that’s the nature of those things, something employed to buy some thinking time.
It’s one of two tics which dominate the family. He’s been away so much, he doesn’t have them, so he notices. The other comes up as he says, “I’ve already put the garbage out,” or, “I already ate lunch.”
The reply comes back, “Really?”
He mostly bites back the response, “No, I’m making these things up.”
Edfloofcation(floofinition) – 1. Process of learning and understanding specific animals.
In use: “Once a new animal joins a household, humans and the resifloofs go through edfloofcation about the newcomer, as the newcomer does the same, sniffing and testing boundaries, adjusting to the sounds and patterns of a new life.”
2. General procedure for spreading and sharing information about animals in order to combat bias against them.
In use: “The net has become an important tool in edfloofcation, as stories about animal courage, love, and intelligence are shared, hopefully dispelling ideas that animals are unthinking and unfeeling creatures, instead firming the foundation that animals deserve the same rights and protections which humans expect for themselves”
Slow and ponderous, daybreak took over the sky’s voluminous gray matter at 7:16 AM. This, I learn from the baffle net, is ten minutes earlier than they’ll see in Ashland, Oregon later today. 52 and 56, respectively, degrees in F, are the current and high temperatures. 7:03 sees the world turn that brings us another night.
Welcome to October 1, 2022.
It’s Saturday. Leaves are just turning in our neighborhood, with one mighty perennial going dark red. While the trees are heralding fall, animals and the weather are muttering, “Winter is coming.” Ned would be concerned, although meteorologists tell us they’re we’re seeing Ian’s stuff in our weather pattern. Overcast, they call this sky.
The Neurons dropped “Barely Breathing” into the morning mental music stream. Had to look it up to learn it’s by Duncan Sheik from 1996. I think the song employs many clever phrases. One set in mind this dawn was, “And everyone keeps asking, what’s it all about? I used to be so certain, and I can’t figure out. What is this attraction, I can only feel the pain. There’s nothing left to reason and only you to blame. Will it ever change?”
Why those words today, I queried The Neurons. Is it part of a memory set? Could well be, something of the air, imbued in the house, makes me think of other times and years, of course. Photos on the walls and shelves document the family’s expansion, and there we are as the young, when now we’re the old. It could be the chilly wet weather, and the dance of leaves falling off trees as they flirt with new colors. Maybe it’s just a natural echo of the mind set delivered when you realize, oh, I have aged. I used to be so certain. Now I wonder about more, and entertain reflections on paths taken and results found.
Think I need coffee.
Stay positive, test negative, and so on. Stay safe as you travel the roads and skies, stealing glances at weather, people, news. Where the heck is that coffee?
Michael Seidel, writer 