Drums in the morning

This morning I was rudely awakened at 7:30 (after being up at 6:45 with Sophie) by what sounded like someone tapping the window in my front door. When I pulled myself to full consciousness, I realized it was the tat-tat-tat of drums, soon followed by the boom of bigger, deeper drums.

It was the annual walkathon at Sweet Lily B. Clayton, the elementary school across from my house. When Jacob was in school there, I thought the spirit activities preceding the walk were stirring and always watched from the front porch. Now that I’m tucked away in the cottage out of sight I find it less thrilling.

This afternoon, a happy and pleasant gentleman came to repair our gate. He assured me it was fixable and he wouldn’t need to bother me again—so I took a nap. However, fixing it involved some weird kind of machinery that whined at various pitches. It reminded me of having an MRI, listening to the sounds and try to make a pattern or some sense of them. I almost—but not quite—got up to see what he was doing. Whatever it was, stopped, and I did fall asleep. Presto! When I got up the gate was fixed.

For me to get annoyed at those two intrusions on my sleep tells me it’s either the falling barometer or I need to work on my negativity. I was bummed last night because I found my latest prescription for a blood thinner will cost over $400—I’m fortunate I can scrape that together, while I know many people couldn’t. But still it’s frustrating. I’m in the dreaded doughnut hole where I landed because of lots of very expensive eye drops earlier this year. Another reason to vote blue.

And when I went to pick up my prescription I got annoyed by all the construction around the east side of the university campus. All those cute, old bungalows—so typical of a major era in our history—are being swept away and replaced by townhouses and stealth dorms (buildings that skirt zoning laws by having one kitchen for several small apartments). The university has closed a couple of side streets and is generally complicit in changing the face of the neighborhood. I wish they’d take a course in urban preservation.

Hmmm—there was a third thing that irritated me, but I have to laugh at myself. I can’t think of it now. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain all day, so I’ll have to make a determined effort to brighten my mood. I’ll probably stay home and work on revisions of the Alamo book, which is what I did today. Intense work. Not exactly cheering but encouraging.

IF you’re in North Texas, stay warm and dry. It’s not only going to be wet, but I heard it’s going down to the forties by Monday.