Small World

This evening, I was walking up Ivory Street past St. John the Baptist Catholic Church just after the Saturday mass was over. A couple came out of the church and called out to me. They wanted to tell me they had seen me on television.  Now when might that be?  I haven't been on local television for a few years.

It turns out that they spend their winters in a condo in Biloxi, Mississippi and were surprised to see someone from Seymour being interviewed about a presentation at the Pass Christian Public Library. That was in February. "It's a small world," he said.

I guess so.  It's amazing how often I run into people I know in the most unexpected places.There was the time in 1969 I heard a distinctive accent as I was waiting at a Los Angeles street corner. It was Sheboygan-ese, a very distinctive way of talking you hear only in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I turned and looked and there was a UW-Oshkosh sorority sister I hadn't seen in at least five years.  We talked for five minutes on that corner. I haven't seen her since.

A few years ago, I had just come down from Scotland to Heathrow in London to catch an international flight back to the United States. I hadn't slept in 48 hours. (Another story!) I was in a daze and wasn't navigating very well through the airport system.  Then I heard someone say, "Colleen, what are you doing here?"  It was Laurel Mills, the poet from Neenah, and it turned out we were taking the same plane.

In July, I drove through Escanaba, Michigan and stopped when I noticed there was a festival, and found friends Skip and Judy from Bowler.  Skip was about to go on stage.

It happens all the time. I am forever running into people I know around the world. So am I surprised that a couple of parishioners from Seymour saw me on TV in Biloxi, Mississippi?  Nope.

Small world.

Reasons to Celebrate

First of all, Happy Birthday to Wade, my partner over at Black Coffee Fiction. He's the hardest-working of us all, a writer who takes his craft seriously. I celebrate our friendship.

Second, I celebrate finishing up yet another short story, "The Lifeguards" at Black Coffee Fiction. http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com  I first got the glimmerings for the story at the Seymour Aquatic Center while talking to Tony, one of the lifeguards.  I commented on how annoying my constant chatter must be to the crew, so much younger than me.  Tony and I talked about ways lifeguards could get rid of annoying swimmers.  It took two years for that to simmer then boil into the story I posted this afternoon.

Third, I celebrate yet another autumn day and me getting back into walking longer distances, four miles today. The summer with its heat, cold, rain, and mosquitoes was never quite conducive for exercise. Now I am working on getting into shape for my winter trip to Hawaii. And I'll celebrate that, too, come February.

I'm happy today that this blog seems to have finally hit its stride. For years, the weekly count was around 200 readers.  Suddenly, over 400 people a week are checking in to see what I am up to, people from every continent except Antarctica.  Whoever you are, I appreciate you.

Even bad news is getting little wrinkles of serendipity.  This morning a drain in the basement stopped up. Gary went in with a plunger to see if he could get it unstopped.  He didn't and that means we'll have a plumber tomorrow, but while he was plunging up refuse, he found a wadded up ten dollar bill!

It may be the lemon balm my friend Norma gave me (It maketh a merry heart!") but I am feeling serene and eager to see what the future brings.

Today

I guess we are getting old. This morning the Timber Creek Tree Service came to trim our trees that were hanging over the house because of an insurance audit.

This was the highlight of our day.  It made me think of my father who used to look forward to the garbage truck going by once a week.  Still I thought the guy up in the tree was so cool, moving the arm so smoothly through the middle of the tree.

Gary asked him not to drop branches on the forsythia bush below and though the branches came down this way and that, the bush will survive.  Amazing.

Gary had an appointment in Appleton today.  He asked if he could take my car since it gets good mileage. He filled it with gas and was about to go when he remembered that his appointment was with at a car dealership.  His van was getting its annual checkup and oil change.  So there was no taking MY car!

Gary is getting forgetful lately. This morning he turned on the furnace to warm up the house then forgot to turn it off.  All day long, I kept thinking I was having hot flashes and it wasn't until late this afternoon that I discovered what the problem was.  In my younger days, I would have figured things like that out a lot sooner.

We're both getting old. It's good thing we have each other.

Money

Whenever I hear the right wing talking about the federal budget, comparing it to family budgets, I know they don't understand how the economy works.

Whenever I hear about politicians, clergy, CEO's caught stealing money, I realize that money is more important to them than humanity or even their own souls.

In fact, I don't think most people understand money at all.

When I was very young, a cereal company had a brilliant idea. Each box of cereal contained a dollar bill, which was almost as much as the box of cereal. The catch?  It was a Confederate dollar bill, which was about as valuable as the paper it had been printed on about a hundred years before.  Boxes of the bills had been found stored somewhere.

My brother Carl was about to go to Vietnam, when our Uncle George arrived to give him his lucky talisman, the Roman coin he had carried with him through his days as a pilot in World War II.  Carl was supposed to take it to Vietnam with him. Carl, however, was terrified that he would lose George's coin.  Instead, he rented a safe deposit box and left it there. When he came back he was able to return the coin to George.
Later, he found out that one could buy those coins for a few cents. The Romans minted millions of the coins; they are still being unearthed all over Europe.

Again, when I was young, dollar bills were often stamped with "silver certificate" which meant they could theoretically be turned in for silver. They were gradually replaced by the bills we still see today, though those, too, are being replaced with some that are counterfeit-proof.

Then, of course, there were checks, which are now replaced with credit and debit cards. Those precious dollars are a blip on our computer screens. And even more, there are now bit coins used in on line trading.

So what is a dollar worth?  A dollar is exactly what people around the globe thinks it is worth.

When the government no longer can pay its debts, the world will no longer think our dollar is worth much.

In the simplest terms, when the world considers our dollar worthless, it won't be worth much in the USA either. That is why the government must be funded and the debt ceiling approved by Congress so our bills are paid.

Otherwise, some other nation will be putting our dollar bills in cereal boxes.

New Book, Stuff and Onions

Wade e-mailed to let Betty and me know that he finished the e-book and set the wheels in motion with one click of his mouse.  Black Coffee Fiction, Volume 2: 33% More Caffeine, will be available through Amazon.com and Smashword in ten days.

Once Wade finished that, he started on the paperback.

It is so exciting to have another book on the way.

* * *

Gary had a doctor's appointment this morning. I offered to go with him, partly out of concern and partly to keep an eye on him.  I didn't go.  After his appointment, he went to Best Buy and came back with another television for my office.  I now have a big screen. I don't see the point. To me it is just another gadget. He is sure I will be watching videos but that isn't going to happen. I usually play the TV in the evening, but more than watching, I am listening as I work on this computer.

When we were in Appleton on Sunday, I talked him out of getting that television. Once out of my sight ...

I think we have seven televisions now. Next time he sees the doctor, I will go along.

* * *

Today, I checked the weedy mess that is my vegetable garden.  I found three cucumbers, one tomato and a bunch of onions. I pulled everything out. Because we are likely to be moving next summer, I have no plans for another. There were enough onions to last until January.

Tomorrow, I will be working on the apple tree. If I get some non-wormy apples, we'll have pie. I might make some apple walnut bread, too.

Gary is going to bring the trailer from Manzke farm.  We will be cutting down the shrubs, including the peony bushes, then haul the refuse out to the dump.

There's always something to do.  

Preparing for the Holidays

Today I got out our Halloween decorations.

I used to do a lot more at Halloween, putting up decorative clings on the windows and hanging bats and ghosts around inside and out.  Now I down to some orange lights and six electric jack o'lanterns.

The jack'o lanterns serve another purpose and that is as decoration when I am out telling stories in late October. I tell ghost stories so the ambiance must be right.  I want the stage to be largely dark but these pumpkins put off enough lights so that the audience can see my face just enough.

While I was hunting for Halloween, I found the Christmas decorations, and that included the Christmas cards I bought post-Christmas (90 percent off!). Usually, I am tearing the house apart looking for the cards I bought.  This year, I'll be ready to start addressing them. Unless I lose them again between now and the end of November. 

Autumn Sunday, This and That

Sunday morning began with an e-mail from Walgreens with a good photo offer.

My Canon camera stopped working a couple of weeks ago, but the SD card still had photos. I figured I had better get the prints made while I could.  It was a morning of looking back at 2013. The photos start with Circle Tour and progress through all the provincial parks. Then it was the national forest campgrounds we stayed at until we were forced to leave.  These photos have to go into the album along with the blog entries that describe the year. It took almost two hours to select the photos and order them.

Then the rain quit, the sun came out, and I set out to walk a couple of miles. The Packers were playing and that is the best time for a stroll. The streets were empty as the residents were glued to their television sets. It's only a game, I always say, but the people of Northeast Wisconsin have three religions:  their churches, the Packers and money, and not necessarily in that order.My only religion is nature, so I ignore them.

I stopped at the BP for a few minutes and talked to the cashier, who told me she was a Bears fan.

"And they let you live?" I asked.  I liked her style.

I watched Wendell Berry on Bill Moyer's show on Public Television this week. One of his comments caught my attention: "There's a world of pleasure in contrariness."  That has been my style all my life.  

Later, Gary and I went shopping. We picked up the photos and bought some groceries and nostrums. Then we took a drive through autumn which is gradually working its way through central Wisconsin. We wound up at Van Patten Road. Almost all the birds have migrated through. We won't see them again until the beginning of April. There was one bird left, the great white egret, wading through the waters of the swamp. We've never seen one egret there before. Usually there are dozens. It must be the last egret of summer, there just for us. 

Tonight we are figuring out what to do with the week. We have to clear the gardens, put away camping gear, and clean the house. I'll finish the story I began for Black Coffee Fiction. I want to re-do the Decades e-book which never was properly done. 

I guess that is enough for one week.