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Autumn Leaves: Recording the golden years
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Growing Older Disgracefully
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Mostly teenagers
but whatever
keeps me rememberin'
keeps it green
2009-10-19 - 4:21 p.m.
Journal by Sil
28 April 2000
7:00 p.m. The sun is shining in the north-west window, kinda getting in my eyes, but it certainly indicates that spring marches on apace! A couple days ago, the almanac indicated that sunup to sundown is now over 14 hours here. HERE is just below the 45th parallel of north latitude, the "shoulder" of Earth.
Sure do love these long mellow evenings. I remember once, when I was young and foolish, playing volleyball until nearly 10 p.m. the evening of the summer solstice. We played until we couldn't see well enough to aim shots right. Funny how perspective just flattens out within a few minutes at a certain stage of dusk. Is that what they mean by "roaming in the gloaming?" It's a sort of magical effect, as if anything could happen,... Puck could come popping out of nowhere.
An awful lot has happened since I last set down the events of my life. I got fired from my job at the newspaper a week ago. I just wasn't as good a bookkeeper as they needed. They're going to have a hard time finding a good one who will commit to 30 hours/week x $7.50/hr., no matter how long it takes to get the work done.
When they told me, they gave me a check for the past two weeks plus 2 weeks instead of notice. I gathered up my lunch (I ate at my desk and kept working during lunch hour on Fridays) and most of my other stuff, as they wanted me to decamp right away. Drove over to the temp service where I worked last year, and renewed my association with them.
Well, to make a long story short, Betty called yesterday and wants me to take a 40 hour/week job doing clerical work for $8/hr. That means roughly 40% more per week than I was making, even with the extra taxes. The job lasts for 5 weeks, building up to a conference that the organization is putting on. Betty warned me that it's quite a formal office, so I went out and spent $50 on shoes, "nylons," and "underpinnings." Got to downplay the "rustic look"... :-) Probably should get my hair cut, too. I'm getting to the Shetland pony stage,... bangs down over my eyes.
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Journal by Sil
27 June 2000,...10:45 A.M., EDT
Feeling really crabby today.
The @#! Connect program keeps trying to go on-line, even though I've chosen Work OffLine and Hang Up a bunch of times. I was trying to read my e-mail in Outlook Express when all this was going on. Finally the MeSs told me I'd performed an illegal operation and shut down Outlook Express. So, I'm stuck venting my anger instead of cleaning up the plethora of messages in OE. This "shut down" business has become a common occurance lately. Don't know if it is connected to adding the extra RAM. But, it surely is irritating.
The dog spilling the big water dish didn't help matters any. I grabbed the nearest terrycloth item [my bathrobe] and soaked it up. So, the robe and the throwrug have to be dried out before they mold. And hanging them out on the line isn't an option, nor is putting them in the clothes dryer [see below].
Today is supposed to be the last of the hot and muggy weather. The haze is quite thick on the hill here, nearly fog, although the National Weather Service doesn't seem to think it's that serious. They predict serious thunderstorms later today and it sure feels like it!!!
12:10...Been trying to write code and the blankety-blank FrontPage jumped in with all this extra clutter when I poked "Edit"...Bah!!! Humbug!!! I submit, so's not to lose the aforegoing.
15:20...Hot dog!!! We just had a real humdinger of a thunderstorm roar through here about an hour ago. I had some serious worries about those "widowmakers" coming down out of the trees around the house. {They've been hanging since the ice storm of '98. One of these days, they'll break loose and land on whatever happens to be underneath at the time.} I ran out to shut the van's windows when I heard the radio warning, saying the storm was over Rome. Anything coming from that direction (Belgrade Lakes area) passes right over Vassalboro as a general rule. A few big raindrops splatted on the ramp as I ran back into the house. And 3 cats raced to the cat-door like they'd been sent for. The squall line hit a few minutes later, lashing the trees furiously, and the downpour sluiced against the house like a firehose. Up on the balcony, under the roof overhang, the rain bounced off the trees and washed my face like ocean spray. 'Twas the better part of valor to get inside and shut the door, as I've seen lightning follow drafts right into a house through an open window. So I settled on my bed and tried to read some science fiction while the old oak tree creaked and groaned outside.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday, 17 July, 2000 12:56:35 PM EDT Visited the folks in Berwick yesterday. Dad and I had a great time working on his book of recipes and reminicences. He is coming along quite well at learning how to operate his computer. He is worried about Mum, though, and so am I. She is acting more and more like a person in the grip of senile dementia. He has put a lock on the door to keep her from wandering outside. [She resents it, too.] She scared him last month when she said she was going to help her father work in his garden. Her Pa died when I was about 7 years old, over 50 years ago. Dad is showing signs of stress. His physical state is fragile enough so's he is scared. He has been skipping physical therapy because he doesn't dare leave her alone, locked in the house. She forgets if she's put a pot on the stove. Also she gets scared of hallucinations, he believes. She clearly told me that her mother is lurking in the house,...that's the mother who used to terrify her with whips and frightening masks when she was a child. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next series is the TRIP TO IRELAND Journal.
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