Friday Round-Up

My dog is not dying, to my knowledge. but people have been keeling over all over town. A friend once told me my consulting business would fold when my colleagues retired. I survived that but now folks are just plain dying. There are no contracts coming from the grave. Nope. It gives one pause.

So this week:

• I was in a house yesterday where the plants were alive. It made me want to put my plants up for adoption, including the ivy I hung in the back hall a few days ago not wanting to face the fact that my absence and subsequent neglect had killed it. As if hiding the body would change the truth.
• I have had occasion to re-know the Serenity Prayer this week which I often forget despite it being on a refrigerator magnet tacked to the window frame in my office. One might consider this a blessing although I don’t. Good weeks don’t require a lot of prayer, serenity or otherwise.
• I drove my 11-year old granddaughter from Point A to Point B in my convertible, telling her that there was nothing better in life than driving with the top down on a sunny day with the wind in your hair. She looked tired and a little worn out from the going back and forth in her life but then closed her eyes and put her head back to feel the sun and the wind.
• I had my hair cut this week. The woman who cuts my hair, who is an artist in so many ways, has a life so tough that sometimes she has to stand back to tell me. She holds the scissors in her hand and explains and, as she does, I read her lips and nod because, you know, you can’t wear a cochlear implant receiver while someone is cutting your hair. But I know the characters in her story and can track. She tells me. I tell her. “I am so tired of children,” someone said.
• I am packing for Nome. I have  a friend who is in Belgium, other friends in Paris, friends who go on cruises with formal seating and chocolate fountains. We are going to Nome. Pack rain gear, we are told. So I bought a $20 raincoat on Amazon so I can stand in the rain on the shore of the Bering Sea. And I am looking forward to this in the most amazing way. I deal in desolate and deserted.

That’s it. The week ending Friday, September 1, 2017. Maybe next week, I’ll do another round-up if I can find a good cattle picture.

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Photo by Jenny Hill on Unsplash