Sunday, October 4, 2009

Freaky doings

I was busy in the kitchen tonight, cleaning up and the doorbell rang. It took me no more than a minute to get to the door and no one was there. There wasn't even a car driving away or someone walking on the street. There was no....one...at...all.

But there on the porch railing was an old milk glass egg cup that I recognized. It had belonged to my Aunt Lee, dead now for more than ten years. I had been allowed to take it from the things she left at my parents' home. I know I took it somewhere and that I haven't seen it for a while.

When I picked it up tonight, it was dirty like it had lain somewhere, forgotten, and inside the cup was a fuzzy insect's nest. There was nothing...else...at...all.

Was it lying somewhere outside unnoticed and a passer-by picked it up? Did a neighbor - perhaps the neighbor right next door - find it in his yard? Was it in a brother's or sister's yard after a long-ago picnic, lying forgotten and just recently found?

The biggest mystery is this. Why didn't the person who found it and perched it on the porch rail wait for someone to open the door? Perhaps, no...one...rang...the...bell. Perhaps, it was my Aunt Lee returning her egg cup to me. Whooooohoooo. Did you hear that?

It is not too early for weird things to happen.

(It was probably the neighbors. They are pretty shy.)

Friday, October 2, 2009

Fall Friday Freedom

Today I had nothing I needed to get done. And so I have stayed in my sweat pants all day. I watched tv with my husband, did some exercises, emailed friends, and read. And I felt FREE!!
I like this feeling - of no schedule, no deadlines. I could get used to it.

By 2:30 I was feeling slightly stressed because my work-self kept reminding me of all the things I SHOULD be doing. So I did something. Guilt flew away. Bye bye guilt.

It feels like full Fall today, my favorite season. I am reading The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly about an 11 -year old girl on a farm in Texas in 1898. I just started it. Her grandfather is a naturalist and encourages Calpurnia, at a time when girls still only learn to embroider, play the piano and bake. He is horrified when Calpurnia has no idea what physics is.
In the book, it is summer - Texas summer - a nice counterpoint to the chill of Fall and the shortening days.

I had half a thought that I would say something deep in this post but today I don't have to do anything - so this is it for now.