Sort of All Over the Place in Everyday Ramblings

From a walk yesterday. Catching that tail end of fall as we turn towards winter.

I was tired; therefore, it was a flat walk, mostly so Mrs. Sherlock and I could catch up on our recent goings on as opposed to being ambitious in pursuit of exercise. I think something will need to give in my movement diet for the next few weeks. I was useless when I got home. Carlo is one person, (albeit a feline person) that did not mind. I was thoroughly investigated for evidence of d-o-g upon my return.

Frieda, my standard poodle friend is getting a bit gray. She is such a sweetie.

I had taken notes in case I was inspired to write a poem about the romantic pink house I posted a picture of a few weeks back. I told the guys at coffee that we should buy it. I made my case, pretty persuasively and they peppered me with questions all in good fun. There was rather a lot of concern about the plumbing, and I shared my concern about the heat. I had imagined rooms for each of our artistic endeavors. There was a lot of laughter in sharing the vision.

It turns out one of the guys has been in the building. When it was the lodge, they had a Christmas event where boys and their dads could come see this train set landscape replica of the Columbia River Gorge. That was in the spacious basement. He used to take his son there.

One of my students knows someone who knows about the people that lived there and are selling it. I can’t wait to hear the dish on them. She only lives about 10 blocks away from the building so she may find out more.

It recently stopped raining and I was able to get out to the grocery. My normal schedule has been slightly altered this week to accommodate other’s schedules.

We talked about rituals this week and at one point when talking about the difference between habit and ritual someone said, “Well no one makes a ritual of going to the grocery store.” I felt too shy to say that I do. It is all tied around my class times and the bus schedules, but I usually go twice a week right after class. But I would say, yeah, at this point it is a ritual. One I kept even when I was displaced.

I thought that perhaps the difference between a habit and a ritual is the presence of an intention.

There was much talk of family, and family and rituals and Passover and Thanksgiving. We also talked quite a bit about a particular annual Hindu ritual and the whole ritualized production of a wedding. And blended weddings.

The Israeli/Hamas conflict was not far from anyone’s mind, but we talked about it obliquely.

We had a lot of fun yesterday in class talking about the word “flex” as it is being used these days where someone will say about someone else, “Well, that is a flex.” Meaning that someone is basically showing off. It was in a contemporary poem I read to them.

Mrs. Sherlock, who was not aware of the usage, managed to sneak it into the conversation twice while we were walking, and she was so proud of that. At this point the usage is probably on the way out, as is the way of these newer word deployments. By the time we learn about them, they are over.

My sister Kes went to a birthday party for her local yarn store today and had a photo opp with a very handsome white llama named Caesar. (Don’t tell Milo, okay?) I am so jealous.

And what is the deal with the pandas? Why did they have to go home? I hope they have a happy and congenial retirement and I thank them for their service at the Washington Zoo.