Pinky and the Relative Calm in Everyday Ramblings

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I took this Saturday afternoon. It looks like pretty much the standard beautiful Oregon Coast empty beach scene but what is remarkable is the blue sky. In November! We had a mixed weather bag of wind and rain and clearing and a little unexpected sun now and then the four days we were out there.

There were the two hours we spent on Thursday night with the cable guy, who went to some pretty extraordinary lengths to get the storm damaged system operational so we could use the Internet. There was the dead smoke alarm battery and the beep every minute starting at 5 AM early after the time change. There was a large menacing hound loose, a very protective one, out on the beach when I was walking alone one morning that was worrisome and lots of dead birds because of the storm the week before but it was overall a perfect getaway.

I had one twinge in my back on Friday and that was it. After that just sore hips and abs from walking the beach and doing some advanced yoga training for the core muscles that was pretty challenging. Stuff one tries and just laughs at. Ha! But I could do a fair amount of it. It is always good to challenge oneself physically within safe limits.

While out there I read a little of Trying Not To Try: The Art And Science of Spontaneity but then started reading Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. The first book in his trilogy that is basically Harry Potter for grown ups who are a bit cynical and often see the world as a dark place. I had to wait weeks for a library copy so need to read it before it is due back.

We ate wonderful fresh food with an emphasis on vegetables and Most Honorable had his first ever Delicata squash yesterday. Kes lost a little weight and I maintained mine. There was both snacking and drinking too but we managed that in moderation.

It is so lovely to wake up feeling rested. I can’t remember the last time I felt that way. Fully completely rested.

So now the kitten search begins.

They are spaying cats so early now and this was definitely an issue with poor Stella who I got at the Humane Society after she had been abandoned with her brother in a cardboard box on the road there. The thing about them when they are spayed like that is they grow up to be cats that are not comfortable being handled by humans and Stella was like that. She would stand in my lap, or lean against me but she did not like anything that involved being confined near hands and it was a management problem, particularly as she got older and needed meds.

And after Sam, the man, I have absolutely no interest in living with a cat with anger management issues and strong jaws and sharp teeth no matter how gorgeous or full of personality they are. There will never be anyone like Sam. He was unique.

Otherwise November is shaping up to be a quiet inward facing month. I won’t be teaching that much, so far just the one class a week for now.

I have a ton of stuff I want to read and think about and my Dante class runs until early December. I found a great audio book version of The Inferno to listen to along with reading the text, that is read by Robert Pinsky, Seamus Heaney, Frank Bidart and Louise Glück, they each read a canto and then it goes to the next one. I love that. It is the Pinsky translation though autocorrect on my phone calls him Pinky.

Gosh the holidays are rolling in fast this year! With the medical expenses in the family we are going to have modest low key ones and while that may not be good for fueling a robust economy it is perfect for me; and my salary that is frozen at its current level until I retire.

Maybe if I am lucky I can earn an extra day off or something. I am a big fan of days off now. I think they are in the process of poaching Saint Joe for another position though and so I better enjoy this relative calm while it lasts.

Last updated November 03, 2014