Almost Fall

It is almost my favorite time of the year. Autumn is the season when things stop being hot and sticky and start being colorful and blustery. It doesn't get cold enough yet to be miserable, and there is still lots of color in the world.

I would enjoy a bit of a slower pace in life, but things around here are staying pretty brisk. This time of year brings many birthdays in our family, and of course, the Holidays are right around the corner. No hope of things slowing down much, I guess.

This week I am trying to get up when my husband gets up in order to get more done. I have made it through two early mornings so far, and have gotten my exercise done on time. This morning it was still dark when the dog and I went out, and most of the neighborhood was still asleep, or just barely waking. Only a few lights on in a few windows. The wind was up from the North, bringing a nice refreshing coolness. There was also a little mist blowing on us, product of the cold front and the leftovers from Gustav. It isn't supposed to get over 75 today, and that will be most welcome. So will temperatures in the low 60s or 50s tonight. Lovely.

Our subdivision is so quiet in the early morning. No dogs or kids running around, no loud machinery operating at the plant across 12th street yet. This morning it was just Bear and I and the breeze. Our footsteps audible on the sidewalk, neither of us making any extra noise, mindful of the sleeping neighborhood.

The major frustration for me right now is my throat. I can't seem to lose the phelgm caused by the post nasal drip. We have tried antihistamines and Singulair, and spray steroid, nothing works. I am about ready to just give up and make sure I practice most days in hopes of keeping my voice reasonably clear.

Too Down To Write

For a long time now,I've been too down-hearted to write much. So much wrong in the world, so little being done to fix it. Nothing I can do except use less energy and save what money I can.
The poor are already being squeezed, and it's just going to get worse. It's going to start really squeezing the middle class, and I don't know what those geniuses who are running up the oil prices are thinking. By creating an artificially high price because of perceived shortage (when in fact, there is no shortage) they are destroying the economies of many nations, not just ours. What is the real goal of the speculators? Is it just blind greed, or is there something more sinister at work?
Are they trying to bring down civilization? Are they the new terrorists? If they are, they are succeeding far beyond the dreams of Ben Laden. The riots that have broken out in some places, not in the U.S. yet, but that will come as gas goes higher and higher and people who already can't afford to eat lose their jobs.
We must get the speculators out of the commodities markets, and restore some common sense and common decency to our society. (Yeah, like THAT'S going to happen!)
I fear the end may be very near for our country, and it may be too late to turn things around. Too many years of the greed of the wealthy run amok have ruined things for all of us.

Birthdays, Gadgets, New Browsers and Other Discomforts of Modern Life

Today is the last actual day of my paid vacation from the library. I have enjoyed it. I did not get as much accomplished as I had hoped to, but I got a lot of corners cleaned out and this has made my life easier and myself more comfortable.
I took the week off in honor of my birthday. Being another year older doesn't really bother me, I mean, it beats the only available alternative. I just don't like the fact that I am getting older and presumably weaker as the world gets weirder and weirder. If gasoline gets much more expensive, we are going to have to find a public transportation system that Americans will actually use. It is going to have to go everywhere, and have a reliable and convenient schedule.
Actually, I think if we are allowed to shoot SUVs and render them useless to their owners, we will be a long way toward solving the problem. It will get rid of a lot of road rage too, by removing the large, dangerous vehicles driven by idiots. (Who else but an idiot would be driving something that big with gas prices this high?)
On the gadget front, I am enjoying both my MP3 player and my new cell phone. It is a camera phone, and I have yet to take a picture of my ear, as the old joke goes. I have several albums on my MP3 player, and a few photos. I have several ring tones on my phone, alas, it does not seem to allow the assignment of ring tones to individuals, as even when you set it up that way, the general ring tone is what you get.
We are both now using Firefox for web browsing. I like it all right so far. I wish I could use it for the bank site, but they are Exploder specific. (Stupid people. Exploder has more security holes than almost anything else out there, but they fall for Microsoft's propaganda every time.)
I suppose that is all the angst I can come up with for today. Time to finish dinner before my husband comes home.

Lent, Valentine's Day and my Birthday

This is the time of year when the weather is generally dreary, the skies grey, and the air rather chill. Still, a hint of Springtime may sneak out once in a while, with bright sun and slightly less cold in the breeze.
Valentines day comes during this dark season, tempting the faithful to neglect their Lenten vows of self-denial. I almost never give anything up for Lent, being raised Protestant, I was usually living in a Calvinist state of some self denial anyway. (We only had chocolate or soft drinks on special occasions, so when my friends would give those up, I thought it an empty gesture. ) I do usually try to ponder more spiritual things than my usual topics of rumination.
(The usual being "which disaster is coming next?", "Am I as fat as I think I am?", and "Am I REALLY THAT OLD?")
My birthday nearly always falls during Lent. I usually observe it anyway, because a birthday only comes once a year, and not celebrating seems ungrateful to the Creator who gave me life. To have had another year is something to be grateful for. As I age, it becomes more of a struggle to be happy about the mounting number of years, since their number is beginning to show in some areas of my appearance.
I have already gotten my Valentine's / Birthday present. My husband bought me an MP3 player. I admit to not really thinking I would use one, but I have albums on it that I used to listen to constantly and have not played in years. I can now not only listen to my Grand Opera arias, but I can relive teenage memories by listening to John Denver, Elton John, and the Moody Blues. Also Chicago, the Chieftains, Scottish folk songs, The Gypsy Kings, The Bangles, and never least, Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger's Precious Friend recording. I have also put some of the reordings our Church choir made on there, and the Christmas CD my husband and I recorded for my mother. My biggest challenge if I ever wear this out in public, like when shelving at the library, will be to NOT sing along with the arias or other pieces I know well.
Admittedly, my voice is not awful, but without proper aural feedback (ie, when the earbuds are in) one cannot self-correct for pitch and strength of tone. It is also rather jarring for those who cannot hear the orchestra and Maria Callas as I can to hear me burst forth into Una Voce Poco fa...
There are several albums saved on that device now, and there is still LOTS of room left. I can remember the days of being afraid that both sides of the LP would not fit onto the cassette tape when we were recording our records onto tape to be more portable. (And yes, I am old enough to remember 8-Track players, too.) My, how times and data storage and playback capacities have changed! I have changed on the outside, maybe a little on the inside, too. I'd like to think I am more emotionally mature than I was at 14, but some days it feels like I'm not. I feel pretty much like I have since my 20s, even though my 40s are fast wearing themselves out. We don't have any kids, so we may not be up on all the latest expressions and desireable gadgets, but we are also not as worn out, nor nearly as grey of head as our friends who have teenagers. We also have the joy of helping spoil kids without having to deal with their behavioral issues. Being an Aunt or Uncle, even by "adoption" is a good thing.
Oh well. Time to go see what my husband is up to.

New Year Adventures

So, for a New Year, this one is starting off on an irritating note. First, I have had a sinus cold since before New Year's. I can't sing, can barely talk, and have had to go and get antibiotics to get rid of it since it has become an infection.
We still have piles of branches all over town from all the trees that were destroyed in the ice storm. Our street has them on both sides. There have been some trucks in the neighborhood today. It would be nice to get rid of the stuff. I don't like the smoke from them burning the branches, though. We had lots of smoke blowing across town last week when they started burning. Some of us are allergic to wood smoke.

Also, to make for even more irritation, Google didn't want to let me log in to this blog today. Had to reset my password and the whole nine yards. Google needs to work on being less dorky if they want to keep customers happy. They keep changing things without notifying people first. Not very courteous.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. Ours was pretty nice. We ran things on a shoestring, and hence have no credit card debt additions from Christmas. That is a good thing. We are paying those suckers off as fast as we can. (Not fast enough for my taste, but still, the more I see the balance going DOWN the happier I am.)
I am anxious to get back to voice practice. I feel like I have lost so much ground, I'll never make it up. I also feel like I will have permanent damage from all the irritation to my vocal cords from this crud. I hope not, but I am afraid that every day this crap lingers adds to the possibility of damage. I am also afraid we'll lose our spots in choir from missing too many Sundays. Probably not, but still, it feels too weird not to be in choir. Church is no fun if you can't sing. (So much of our service is sung.)

That's about all the angst I have to share this time.

Of Ice and Men (Original, I Know)

We have apparently survived the Ice Storm of the Century here in Central Oklahoma. Our damage was limited to a couple of stained spots on the ceiling where the ice made the roof leak. Our roofer says the roof is in good shape, he had to re-set a couple of nails, but other than that, no problems. (We asked for an estimate of any needed repairs, just to make sure he was not just trying to get them out of warranty liability. Our insurance covers ice damming, which is what caused the leaks. )
We may not make an insurance claim. The leaks appear to be gone, and we were going to repaint the ceilings and walls in the living room and our bedroom eventually anyway. (Stains are not even noticible unless you know exactly where to look.) (But we'll see what happens next time it rains. )
I am of two minds about the insurance thing. I don't want festering damage to surprise us later, but I also don't want the insurance company to have us claim what is really minor damage and then raise the heck out of our rates. We mainly have insurance in case the house blows away in a tornado or burns down. We figure we can fix minor stuff on our own dime. (Have in the past.)
We got off pretty lucky, actually. Most people were without power at least part of the time. We were not. One of our trees broke apart, but it didn't do any serious damage to anything but itself. Matt was able to haul most of that stuff out of the yard by himself.
I just wish I could lose this feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

First Sunday of Advent (Already?!)

We had a good day today, if a lazy one. (For me, anyway.) Matt did a practice run on a dish he wants to take to the potluck at work, so he cooked and I goofed off today.
I don't have anything done that I should have done by this point for Christmas. I don't do much, but the few things I do tend to be time-consuming. Like making potholders for everyone on the library staff. (Not that everyone wants one, but they were wildly popular when I made them before, and I have bookmarks, which are always a hit with library natives.)
The Great CD Recording Project has almost been completed. Matt needs to record some of his tracks over. They came out way overmodulated. Most of mine sound better than I feared they would. As for the bobbles, wrong notes, and sinus glitches, well, stuff happens. It would happen if I were singing live for people, and so if it happens on the recording, I guess I can live with it.
I finally succeeded in snaring the elusive Advent Candles that actually go in my Abbey Press Advent Wreath. The Cathedral Books and Gifts store run by the ECW finally had some in. So, I carefully packed away the ones I got at the craft store, and we lit the first official Advent candle this evening.
I still have to write the Annual Cursed Letter of Christmas and send forth the annual greetings wondering who I won't hear back from this year.
There isn't too much to tell everybody this year. 2007 has been fairly benign. The only major trauma was to our credit pay off plan, as the Air Conditioning and Heating system had to be replaced to the tune of $8,000.00. There were also a couple of car repairs for Matt's Taurus, but we managed to get those taken care of fairly quickly. No major health scares for us or the pets, thanks be to God.
We never have major accomplishments to tout, as we are middle aged, childless, and rather boring. Boring isn't always a bad thing. Being boring gives me plenty of time to think. Mostly I waste that time worrying about whatever apocalyptic scenarios I dread most. (My secret motto is "It isn't IF, it's WHEN AND HOW BAD")
Meanwhile, back at the library, we have completed our annual 'canned goods to reduce your fines' campaign. This benefits a local food pantry. Gee, I hope they really need ten tons of chicken soup, green beans, and corn. That's what we got the most of. Some people were really into the spirit of it. They brought stuff like canned chicken and tuna, and Spam. They spent more on the canned goods they brought than they actually owed in fines. Some people just brought us the canned goods, they didn't have any fines. This community is really refreshing sometimes.