Living In the World, Not on It

Since this newsletter reaches almost all parts of the globe, you may be reading this on a day when there's a torrid sun or a gentle spring breeze. Perhaps you are forced indoors by a drenching monsoon or a frigid snowstorm. But in this part of the world we are celebrating autumn, the season of colors. As the falling leaves form a feast for the eyes, it is a perfect week to talk about colors. Let's consider some unusual words to describe oranges and browns, grays and blues, and other shades in between. Interestingly, there's even a color named after the color of dead leaves! filemot (FIL-mot) noun, adjective The color of a dead or faded leaf: dull brown or yellowish brown. [From the corruption of the French term feuillemorte, from feuille (leaf) + morte (dead). Ultimately from Indo-European root bhel- (to thrive or bloom) that gave us flower, bleed, bless, foliage, blossom, and blade.] incarnadine (in-KAHR-nuh-dyn) adjective Flesh-colored; blood-red. noun An incarnadine colo...

Well, I guess I should write about this. It seems to be all that is on my mind. I am home all the time to conserve money. I have nothing to do other than the myriad household tasks that need doing but are dull now. I'm always around. I can't go places if it involves money and gas is so outrageously expensive it costs to go to the store for groceries. I'm stuck without income (trust me, what UI pays is no income; at least, not enough to manage my outgo... Being employed is a lot more to me than just having a way to pay bills and live happily in that regard. I am not happy not working anyway. I love to work. I love the work I do. I just cannot get any with the economy the way it is. It's funny, I remember very well when there were far more openings than candidates and one needed to woo candidates with all kinds of incentives and freebies and things to get them. This was just prior to the market crash in October 2000. We would interview people who had three other prospects...

Up until I picked up this book, "Sping Forward - The Annual Madness of Saving Time" by Michael Downing, I had no idea that there was anything controversial about Daylight Saving Time. For me, it is something that has been a constant since I was born (1968) and it was not something that I questioned too much or thought about... Other than the usual "why do we have it" and I was shocked to discover that none of the reasons I had been given were correct. In fact, I was surprised to discover that my penfriends overseas all observed it as well. The Bean and the mainland Europeans all do it the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October, but otherwise it is rather identical to what we do. Michael Downing has a wonderful book and I was surprising to discover how recently the idea came about - for governments. Be Franklin actually mentioned it in 1784; however, a Mr. Willet in England first pitched it in 1907. Parliament voted it down. American drafted it first in ...

Wondering what brought that on? Curious as to why, after two peaceful, happy posts I am suddenly off on a tear? Because PEOPLE WHO MARKET THINGS CAN BITE ME! I made a post two weeks ago and was appalled to see that my e-mail showed a response to my blog that was nothing to do with it - it was some yahoo selling something! Oh, yes, and two more - no, three more scum-buckets have just commented (not really) to my blog but they were just trying to sell me drugs or web ads or whatever - ruining all the pleasure I derive from my blog! How can this be? I joined the Do Not Call lists and the Do Not Send Me Junk Mail lists and they are great! They truly work. The days of getting morons calling my house all throughout the day are gone. I joined a Do Not SPAM list and I have yet to see any improvement. I suspect I never will. Jerks can SPAM me all the live long day and no one can stop them. I hope someday that this will end. For now, it seems that I am meant to be a victim to this stupidity. We ...

Where do I start with George? Everyone should have a friend like this. Even though we have not been as close as we once were long, long ago, I still regard him as one of my closest friends. I'm not really sure how we drifted apart. But I remember how we met and how much fun we had. We met right around this time of year when I was 17, starting my senior year in high school. I had met Julie, a new kid who was either a freshman or a sophomore in my school. She was great - very petite with large green eyes and a very punk hair cut and wore clothing very similar to mine. When I began doing the punk thing in high school no one had seen that before. I was definitely way out there to them. But Julie came along and she was way out there too. We got to be friendly - me with my half-shave head and blonde tail and purple hair in the front and her with her short spiky hair with blonde pieces and the heavy eye liner. We hung from time to time. And one day she had me over to meet some friends. It...

Yesterday was the Parsippany Fall Festival, an annual event where the township shuts North Beverwyck Road down from Vail to Knoll Roads and there are street vendors, foods, rides and other fun activities there. This is usually the last or next to last Sunday in September and I have found that as an EMT I really enjoy going to this little festival. For one thing, it is time well spent doing something for the squad and a chance to spend a day with different people. For another thing, it gets all but the tiniest amount of my Finance hours done for the year and leaves me with maybe one more hour to put in. Since I also like to be around for EMS week to do whatever the squad does to make the township aware of our services, that finishes my Finance hours. This leaves me with House hours, and I make most of the clean up dates for the squad, so I have all my time put in to vote. This year we did the usual selling soda, iced tea and water, and made a goodly amount of money; we did the usual fre...

A lot has been going on; I do have a large post in progress, in my Drafts folder - I don't want to put it up until I am finished. But in the weeks following Labor Day weekend, we have had a death in the family, a birth with the closest of friends, a new dog introduced, a job ending and a job beginning. That is a lot in the span of two weeks. Anyway, fear not. I'm still writing and still have a million things to say. This time of year is always extraordinarily busy - the New York Renaissance Festival, the Parsippany Fall Festival, work (when I have it), house stuff to clean out for autumn and prep for winter, etc. Plus this is my absolute favourite time of the year - I love autumn to distraction. More will follow soon, especially now that my assignment has ended!

The Post-Labor Day Week in Review This last week has been terrible in capital letters with one exception. It's a biggie, too, but the rest of the week was really quite awful. I guess we will just have to roll it all into one post. Time is in short supply at this time of the year, especially for me. I have work (until Thursday, 15 September, anyway), Ren (the New York Renaissance Festival) and riding. That leaves me with very little time to do anything else. Well, the four day weekend was fine. I had Friday off (thanks to the gods for that!) and had breakfast with Medicine Man and then went to get my hair done. It took a little longer than usual - for some reason, my hair only became brown the first go round, not burgundy. The second time it came out great. And in fit of bravery, I had my eyebrows waxed! It was not a bad experience. It was shocking when she yanked the fabric off but really so fast that it was not truly painful. It looks good, too. And unlike shaving, I won't nee...

When it comes to cats, life can be a mystery. I have had mine now for about 14 and a 1/2 years now... some better than others, clearly. But they are my fuzzy babies and I love them. And no matter how annoying some behaviour is, they are still a hell of a lot less work and annoyance than children! Ariel is the black and white cat to the right, Chelsea is the tortoiseshell tabby to the left. This was taken in our old house across town. Lately, possibly inspired by the Phantom's constant issues with his own cat, the Russian Insane One, she has been coming into the bedroom to meow - incessantly - for... whatever . I don't know what she wants. They never go without food and last night I after I fed them their once a day serving of wet food they got more dry. The water was there and the litter boxes are still clean. So what is the problem? Who knows. It's never Chelsea, either. It is always, without exception, Ariel. And it is daily. They never get fed in the morning. No matter w...

Ever wonder what happens to people when they age? Well, wonder no more. Experience from my grandparents, parents and patients has taught me a lot. So has the modern world and the companies that make pharmaceuticals. When my grandparents were alive, I watched them get older. There were the obvious signs... weight gain, moving slower, less hair, more grey. Then there were the subtle things that I did not see. Higher blood pressure, caution with driving and stairs, things that a kid really wouldn't notice. They did take vitamins but there were no maintenance medications about, no pain killers, no sleeping aids, and they did not seem to need any of these things. My Pop-pop had a heart attack in 1980, when he was roughly 72 or 73. He was in the hospital for some time and he had told me that he awoke in the middle of the night with massive pain and had been screaming. It sounded terrible. As an EMT it sounded a lot like a myocardial infarction, and it was. After the hospital stay he was ...