The view over the roses on the far side of our driveway. When we bought this house 5 years ago, we could see across the valley from here. Our neighbor planted trees that block the view. It just makes me sick, but I try not to dwell on it, and focus on the view we have left and the fact that we can have it all by walking up the slope behind the house.
CT, the office manager where I work, is a veteran of the first Gulf War. She’s now, like my husband, a veteran for peace. She’s not in yet this morning, so maybe this entry’s a little premature, but I brought her flowers to thank her for her service.
Vets who don’t want to see other soldiers go through a war unless it’s absolutely necessary don’t get the appreciation that those who are willing to walk in parades do.I haven’t ever supported this current war, but I do support the individuals who are giving their lives. Even those who come back without a scratch have given the life they would have known if they hadn’t gone. They’ve done so in good faith and they deserve our respect.
Thank a vet. You can do it whether you’re for or against this war.
D and I went out for a little hike around our neighborhood and I took some photos that I thought I might use here.
When we were fixing dinner, Dodger (parrot) started asking for apple. We hadn’t eaten the last of the apples from the Granny Smith apple tree we planted a couple of years ago. We harvested 5 very tasty apples this year, the first that really tasted good. It was maybe the best Granny Smith I’ve ever tasted. It was on the tree so long it had a little blush on it, but it was still crisp and tangy, with a little extra sweetness and juice. Mmm.D cut it in half and set up this photo. Very artful. :)
I went and voted in California’s special elections today. This is where I voted, in the community hall of a local church.
I will just say that this was a huge expense and that we could have waited for a regular election. Thanks Mr. Schwartzenegger.But I will proudly wear my “I Voted” sticker. Everyone was in such a good mood. All feeling good about ourselves for participating, I guess.
I was running late because I had to pick up my car at the body shop…again. Now it’s running fine and looks great. They even replaced the hood, which was twisted a bit in the accident. D dropped a computer monitor on it when it was about a week old, so that’s also been taken car of and it looks almost new. Probably would have been smart to have taken a photo of THAT, huh.
Well, obviously. But it took me a while to get my decorations down.
I’m always pleased—and a little surprised—when everything fits back into the box it came in. Here it is, all ready to go back into the garage, where there was still shelf space waiting for it.
In a few weeks, D will give the house the big Christmas treatment. The little evergreen out front may just be ready for lights this year!
My friend K in NYC sent me this amazing response. (Since allowing comments means getting meaningless ads from people I turned that feature off; she sent this to my e-mail and granted me permission to post it here.)"I discovered this truth through personal experience and I thought I would share the story with you:
"A year after I moved to New York my apartment burned. I lost everything except one cat (black of course). A former work friend, R, who was touring with a dance company heard about it the next day and, because she had been involved with a fire 4 years before, called where I was staying and offered her apartment which was sitting empty while she was on the road. Then she told me who to contact and what to do to get Red Cross and city and all those things rolling to help me get a new apartment. This was fabulous. I stayed at her place for a month, went to the Red Cross and got clothes and a voucher for help with apartment rent, etc. I moved into my new place and really didn’t see R very much. Years later I had moved into the apartment I’m now in and it’s across the street from R. New York being New York I never see her."One day I was walking past her building thinking about what a wonderful thing she had done all those years ago, without being a close friend or asking for money or any of that, and how I really should just call her up and thank her. Then, low and behold, there’s R coming out of the subway right in front of me. I stopped her. She looked very distracted, maybe even upset, but she recognized me and stopped for a moment. So all I said was, “I was just thinking about everything you did when my apartment burned back in the 70’s and how I never would have made it without you. You letting me stay in your apartment and everything you told me to do. I don’t think I ever thanked you half as much as you deserved.” She looked at me weirdly, sort of humphed, thanked me for thanking her, and walked away. I thought, “Well, at least I thanked her, which makes ME feel better, even though she doesn’t seem to care.”
"That night when I got home there was a message from R on my phone machine. She apologized for the way she acted on the street. She’d simply been stunned by synchronicity. She had been coming from the bedside of a dying friend who was passed talking. She had sat next to him thinking, “I can’t do anything for him. I’ve never been able to do anything for any body. What the hell have I ever done to help anything in this life….” And on and on—and was still thinking that when she got out of the subway, only to be hit in the face with old time gratitude for something she didn’t even remember doing because she’d been on the road and had never seen me in her apartment, or had to deal with any of the stuff that had happened around my fire. To her it was a forgotten phone conversation, over in less than 5 minutes, before she had to get back to work.
"Anyway, sorry to go on this long, but there you have my story…well, R’s story. I somehow felt forced to share."I LOVE your blog and will make it a regular web stop! The pictures are great—loved the pumpkin!"
Photo is from the Internet...a copy of the New York Street set at Paramount Studios. Why use the real thing when you can use a set?
