Oh, I don’t mean the big stuff that
has obviously gone wrong in our world—impeachment, DACA, Jimmy Carter having
brains surgery, all the corruption being revealed, climate change is destroying the planet. It’s enough to boggle the
mind, but little things are amiss, I blame it on the cold front.
Yesterday Jordan brought her
morning tea out to sit for a minute in the cottage, as she often does. I can
tell you precisely when the cold front hit. When she came in and saw me bundled
in a sweater and lap robe, in anticipation, she said, “Mom, it’s not cold yet.”
When she left my patio doors it still wasn’t cold, but by the time she got to
her back door—and, folks, this is not a big back yard—the wind was ferocious,
her hair was blowing in all directions, leaves were swirling around her, and
she could barely get the big sun umbrella down. For those who haven’t lived in
Texas, the answer is yes, that’s how quickly our weather can change when a blue
norther blows in.
Last night we were to have happy
hour company—parents of a girl Jordan was close friends with in grade school
and has re-hooked with in the last couple of years. I always liked the parents,
and when Jordan suggested we invite them, I happily agreed. Jordan came out to straighten,
as she always does when I’m having “special” company, and then left to get
Jacob, asking me to put out some appetizers (we keep a drawer full of cheese,
sausage, etc. for happy hour visitors). A little before they were due, I put
out crackers in a basket, got out the cheese board, and was just unwrapping
sausage and cranberry-coated goat cheese (does that not sound wonderful?), when
she called to say they were re-scheduling. So there I was—wrapping cheese and
sausage up, storing crackers and hoping they didn’t go stale. And I was all dressed
up with no place to go, no one to impress. Christian saved the evening
with pot of chili, so good on a cold
night, and the four of us had a happy supper in the cottage.
This morning Sophie began to dance
round at, heaven help me! 6:30. I could hear her nails clicking on the wood
floor. She was also coughing quite a bit, not unusual for her in the morning. I
ignored it for a bit, because the house was chilly—it was 24 outside—and I was
cozy in my blankets. Then I decided I’d give her a Benadryl and she’d sleep—wrong!
At 7:20, she made it clear she had to go outside. She came right back in, but
by eight she wanted to go again, and I gave up, got up.
This morning, when I should have
been working, I had to fight with bill collectors. The security system sent me
a dunning email, even though I had given them updated automatic deduction
information last week. Got that straightened out with a cheerful
representative, but it was the long wait until I got to her that frustrated me.
Then I had to check the automatic deduction for my household/automobile
insurance because the premium has gone up (of course).
All that out of the way, the world
looks a little better tonight. It’s still cold, but the sun shone bravely today,
and the future of DACA recipients is still uncertain—can you imagine living
with that cloud over you?—but Jimmy Carter is recovering, public impeachment hearings
begin tomorrow, and we had our usual Tuesday happy hour with neighbor Mary
tonight. I told her I hoped she saw it as a compliment that we called it, “It’s
just Mary,” and served leftovers—a bit of this piece of cheese and that, some
herring left in the jar, a few Parmesan crisps—gosh, they are so good!
And to my credit, I baked the last
of the oatmeal cookies, got all the dishes washed, and went through two cooking
magazines to pull out the recipes I wanted and throw out the magazines. I need
a clear and clean desk. Writing? What’s that?
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