Just a Plain Ol' Post

I promise. No whining or excuses. At least, I'll try.

I'll start with my yesterday--I took the day off, and it was positively glorious. I did four hours of household chores and relished it! It hardly felt like chores, it had been so long. Well, a big part of the pleasure was I also allowed myself to start the last Patrick O'Brian audio book in the Master & Commander series, "The Far Side of the World," and that made the mopping and dusting and de-furring a minor background activity. I had been putting off listening to this last one because, well, it's the last one, and I wouldn't have it to look forward to anymore, which is a bit silly, isn't it? But I'm sure the friend who loaned it to me is wondering if I've forgotten, and I really should get it back to her, and move on. To what, I'm not sure--I missed the last library book sale, and so am once again contemplating the unread stack on my dresser from past sales. "A Suitable Boy" perhaps? I fear for my wrist...I was unable to resist the cheap offer from "Food and Wine" magazine, so I have yet another collection of pulp to read every month, which I hope will not deter me from lit pulp.

Another part of yesterday's pleasantness was that it was an equally glorious day weather-wise. We've had a few rain storms in the past few weeks, so the grass is pushing up, the dust has subsided, and there's moisture in the air again. With blue skies above, I opened the windows for the first time in a month--I felt like I could breathe again…

The favorite thing I cleaned? I washed all of the bedding, sheets, blankets, mattress pad, pillow covers. And we flipped the mattress. It suddenly feels like a whole new bed, and I've slept so well the past few nights. I hope that continues.

I sat out on the back deck for a bit, enjoying the sun. But (OK, I'm going to complain, but not about work, so is that acceptable?), I got a bit angry about the stupid cyclone fence the synagogue neighbors are putting up. Our deck has a great view of it not just running along our back fence, but also as it backtracks up the hill. I suspect it's going to look very prison-like when it's all done, and I'm frustrated that there's nothing I can do about it.

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Adult Content Alert: I was in the gym this week and heard that one of our classmates, a columnist for our local paper, had written an article on the first synchronized Global Orgasm for Peace, "the brainchild of those who four years ago birthed Baring Witness, the anti-war demonstration that called for people to get naked for peace, starting with 45 women forming a giant peace sign on a chilly Marin County field in November 2002 for an aerial photographer." It's happening on December 22 to coincide with the winter solstice (mmm, lotsa nighttime), so mark you calendars!

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M and I are on a movies-in-the-theater jag--we saw "Casino Royale" on Friday night, and we both deemed it a very satisfying James Bond experience. I was skeptical of Daniel Craig as most were, but he really won me over, and the dearth of impossible stunts was a breath of fresh air. I did miss Q, but I think that was an omission that needed to be made.

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It's just going to be four of us for Thanksgiving, but my list of things to take up to Mom's is pretty long already. Part of it is just that M will be chief turkey cook, and he's going to do it on the grill, so there is a certain level of equipment necessary. But looking at the list and thinking of all the food and human and canine stuff I'm beginning to worry that it won't all fit in the Monster Mobile.