That’s the kind of
week it’s been. Seems like there’s nothing going on, but really there’s been a
lot.
Jacob went off to
eighth grade Monday morning without notable enthusiasm for the prospect—he looked
cute though. Temperature was forecast to be 102, so he wore his hoodie. Just
in case, I suppose. In Austin, grandsons
Sawyer and Ford went back to school—eighth and seventh grades—and in Tomball,
Kegan went to seventh and Morgan started her first year in high school. I tried
to grab their first-day pictures from Facebook but couldn’t. In Frisco, Eden
started her junior year in high school, while Maddie is junior at Colorado in
Boulder. They’re growing so fast! I laughed at the friend who confessed she still
thinks of Megan as a TCU student—only about twenty-eight years behind, but that
friend moved away years ago and until recently didn’t keep in close touch. Nice
to have her back in the fold.
School also started
at Lily B. Clayton Elementary across the street from us and brought
complications—the city has put up No Parking signs in front of our house, effective
from 7:00-9:00 in the morning and 2:00-4:00 in the afternoon. For a three-car
family, with a skinny 1920s driveway, that’s a real hardship. We also have new
Stop signs, though thank goodness they are not in front of us. I don’t see how
the No Parking is going to help—it should be down the street where the crossing
guard is. An engineer from the city will meet with us “in the field” next week.
Perhaps he’ll explain the logic.
Monday was much
taken up by Jordan’s bad back and a doctor’s appointment. She has been referred
to a specialist but won’t been seen until August 29. When you’re in the kind of
pain she is, I’m sure that seems an eternity. There’s not much I can do to
help, but I’m trying. Made Frito pie for everyone one night, and helped put
together a big salad last night.
Tuesday I managed
to get a whole lot done. Finished edits on my ranching history novel, and it
has now gone back to the formatter for finishing touches. I’m excited about
publishing it in September. And I put together what I think will be a huge
issue of the Poohbah, Berkeley neighborhood newsletter. Lots of good stuff
about who did what over the summer, back-to-school pictures, and marvelous photographs
of the painted churches around Schulenburg plus the usual monthly features.
Still tying up loose ends.
My former student,
now a chef, came for lunch today and declared I had fixed the perfect light
lunch. Always pleases me to get her culinary approval. Recipes will be on my
cooking blog, http://www.gourmetonahotplate.blogspot.com,
tomorrow. After lunch we had our own mini meeting of Better Angels, the group
that tries to bring together people of opposing political views. I asked why
she supports trump, and she said the economy is doing well. I fear that my
protests that it’s not really healthy at all fell on deaf ears.
But on a lot of
issues she agreed with me—the hilarious folly of this kerfuffle over buying Greenland,
the unbelievable promise to the NRA’s LaPierre that background checks are off
the table despite trump’s words at the times of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
She’s not sure climate change is real and says there are two sides, doesn’t
believe we could lose the earth, while I think it is desperate. We agree that
we need health care reform and immigration reform—pre-existing conditions might
be a deal-breaker for her, and she says trump is not the kind of person she’d ever
sit down and have a beer with. It
astounds me that given that she still thinks he’s the person to run the country.
We kept it light, but that is hard for me because I feel so intensely about the
earth’s current situation. I did find that she was unaware of several things I
mentioned—one of the reasons I keep posting on Facebook. We need an informed voting
populace.
I have one other
friend that I haven’t seen since trump took office because I can’t bear her support
for him. I don’t know if I have the strength for reconciliation there, but
today was a lesson for me.
Tonight, a
relaxing dinner with Betty at the Tavern.
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| How much things have changed |
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