Sunset

We had this beautiful sunset Saturday evening after a day of rain. The sky suddenly burst open with color; I understand there was a rainbow behind me that I couldn't see through the trees.

On Sunday we had a bit of excitement here. My husband and I were in Rocky Mount trying to spend some time together and relax. His cell phone rang and it was a neighbor telling us the cows were out.

We raced home in record time and arrived to find two deputy cars here and several neighbors wandering around trying to round up wayward animals. People were excited and waving their arms. A woman I did not know kept talking about seeing a cow wander through her backyard (there are a number of small homes bordering the farm).

My husband, who was a little aggravated and frustrated by this whole scenario, sent me down the road to open one of the big gates, which I did. I then walked across a field and told a neighbor who had corralled a cow that we could get her through that gate, but he wanted me to open a smaller gate at the loading pen so he could try to put her in there. I opened the small gate and stepped back so he could shoo the cow on into the pen.



Older picture of a cow with a newborn.

The cow did not like that and she turned and charged at me. I shrieked and jumped up and tried to scare her to stop her and get out of the way at the same time. Such shenanigans in an old overweight lady are not to be, and my feet went out from under me in the damp grass. I hit the ground hard but since there was a 1,600 pound cow coming at me I climbed back up on my feet immediately, cursing as I did.

The cow swerved and headed for the road. I made a small effort to limp along after her but it was useless and I did not get far.

This animal was not going to be taken easily, and ultimately one of the neighbors on a utility vehicle and a policeman in his vehicle managed to get her through the gate. I certainly wasn't up to chasing after her.

I ended up with a sprained wrist, a big bruise on my lower leg, and another on my hip. It could have been worse, I suppose.

Ultimately we learned that the report was of two cows out, but we only found the one. My husband counted the cows and said they were all in the field. Perhaps one of them found her way back through the fence without help. In any event, he patrolled the fence and patched the hole he thought the cows went through, and that was the end of that.

On the Lookout

We End Up Somewhere Quiet

From Sunday Stealing

Fall/Autumn Meme

Q. First of all, is autumn your favorite season? Why or why not?

A. Autumn IS my favorite season! That's because it is cooler and it's pretty. It also heralded the start of the school year and I was a nerd who loved school. What am I saying? I'm still a nerd who loves school. Autumn means new notebooks and school books, new clothes and shoes, and new people in your life. What's not to love?

Q. Is it ‘autumn’ or ‘fall’, to you?

A. I actually use both.

Q. What kind of weather does your area get during this season?

A. It turns cold and we have chilly rains.

Q. Were you born in an autumn month?

A. No.

Q. Do you pay attention to any ‘fall fashions’?

A. No, but I look my best in "fall" colors - purples, browns, blues. A very long time ago when women did their "colors" (do they do that anymore?) I was an Autumn.

Q. Which leaf color is your favorite?

A. Red. I love it when the trees look like the hills are jumping with fire.

Q. Is it still fun to rake the leaves and jump in piles of them?

A. No. Actually that never was fun, it is only fun in the comic strips.

Q. When can you really tell that it’s autumn?

A. When the weather turns cooler and leaves begin to fall. Rather like today.

Q. Do you enjoy carving pumpkins?

A. Yes, though we seldom do it. We live far off the road and have no trick or treaters.

Q. Do you eat the pumpkin seeds? If so, do you put any kind of flavoring on it?

A. I don't eat them.

Q. Are you planning to go to a pumpkin patch this year?

A. Not particularly, but Ikenberry Orchards usually has loads of pumpkins and I visit there frequently.

Q. Which was your favorite Halloween costume to wear?

A. I always enjoyed being either a witch or a hobo. I was not the fairy princess type.

Q. Are you planning to go trick-or-treating? Why or why not?

A. No. I am old. A few years ago I donned a witchy costume and drove to FIncastle with bags of goodies, which I handed out to children throughout the town. I got a lot of strange looks. I am not sure anyone knew who I was, even my friends.

Q. Are there any county fairs or festivals held nearby during this time?

A. Buchanan has a Mountain Magic festival. Salem last week had its Olde Salem Days. The Craftsman Classic is at the Roanoke Civic Center in October.

Q. What is your favorite dessert for this time of year?

A. I don't have favorite desserts by season, but the apples are good in the fall.

Q. Is your Thanksgiving Day in October or November, if you even celebrate it?

A. It's in November.

Q. If you do celebrate it, where do you usually have Thanksgiving dinner?

A. At my mother-in-law's house.

Q. Do you remember any crafts you used to do that were autumn-themed?

A. Not really, but I remember when I was in the 7th grade, right at the first of school, we were given an assignment to collect leaves and label them, and turn it in at the end of the first six weeks semester. The teacher warned us that he would know who put it off until the last minute because the leaves would be changing, and the people who had green leaves instead of brown or colored ones would get the best grades. Guess what. I completely forgot about the assignment, and then raced around examining leaves to try to find whatever green ones I could. It was not one of my better classroom performances.

Q. Are any of your favorite bands doing a fall tour this year?

A. I am not aware of it if they are.

Q. Which new TV show are you looking forward to this season?

A. I watched Sleepy Hollow when it came on, and the new season of Survivor. Sleepy Hollow was a little gory so I don't know that I will watch it.

Q. How does autumn typically make you feel?

A. Fine.

Q. What color do you always associate with autumn?

A. Red.

Q. Is there a song that always reminds you of this season?

A. Not especially.

Q. Do you have any seasonal traditions?

A. No.

Q. Do you spend a lot of time outside during this time of the year?

A. Are you kidding me? Until there is frost on the pumpkins I can barely stand to be outside. The ragweed is killer this year.

Q. How can you tell that fall is over?

A. Santa Claus is nigh.  

Q. What is a typical autumn outfit that you wear?

A. Blue jeans and a sweater.

Q. Describe a perfect autumn day:

A. It's a lovely crisp 60 degrees, the sun is shining, the sky is a brilliant periwinkle blue, and I am outdoors working to clear up my flower beds. An hour or so later, I come in and shower, and my husband and I go to a fall festival. We hold hands as we peruse the goods, and eventually we end up somewhere quiet where we can chat over a nice bowl of spaghetti.  

Q. Do you hate it when stores start promoting Christmas early?

A. Yes.

Q. What is your favorite thing about this season?

A. That it comes and I'm still alive to enjoy it.

Magic Pills

When I was a child, so very long ago now, my brother, my young uncle, and I would pretend that we had magic pills.

Generally these were either M&Ms - usually the red ones - or a Smartie. Smarties are sugar candies that come in rolls of pastel colors, information I add because it seems to me not everyone eats these.

Anyway, I think the purple Smartie was the ultimate "magic pill" in our play.

Rather like Alice when she would drink something, the "pills" would "change" us somehow - make us smarter, or able to leap from tall buildings (which meant jumping from a chair with a towel for a cape). I think I usually went for the "make me smarter" pills, leaving the cavorting to the boys. I think I fancied myself the smart one, sort of like Velma in Scooby Doo.

We also took a children's multivitamin, which I remember as Flintstones even though they weren't around until 1968 according to Wikipedia. These were also magic pills, handed out daily by my grandmother, who kept my brother and me until we began school, and then again during the summers. Grandma would give us the vitamins and we'd run around like crazy superhuman beings for about five minutes afterwards, because the "magic" had to wear off.

So even back in the 1960s, the hunt was on for the magic pill. These days, here in my golden years, the magic pill would be the one that cures the asthma, eases the allergies, halts the pain. And there are no magic pills for those conditions. Most medication is really some kind of poison and side effects can be killers. It is something to keep in mind.

My mother believed that doctors could fix everything, and she gave me whatever they offered. That was frequent because I was a sickly child. I am fairly certain that up until I was married, I had imbibed in every antibiotic potion known to mankind. That is no longer the case, thanks to new drugs that I eschew and to a mindset that I keep that says "buyer beware" when I am offered a new drug.

Even so, I take far too many medications. I don't search for the happy pills, or the smart pills, or the weight loss pills, but the doctors have handed me instead blood pressure pills, thyroid pills, and allergy medication that I take year-round. Here a drug, there a drug, everywhere a drug drug.

None of them are magic pills, little round droplets that cure what ails me. They may help or control but they aren't fixes. Medication seldom fixes or cures, I fear. I'm not sure that anything does.

This morning as I took a 30-minute walk on the treadmill I was thinking of those times so long ago when I was naïve enough to think that just by believing it I could make an M&M be the magic pill that would make me smart. I learned long ago it takes hard work and lots of study to increase my knowledge. It takes hard work and lots of sweat to make a body healthy (something I am still not very good at). Pill-popping is a long-lived habit that I wish I had never learned.

This also came to mind because I have been reading that even Tylenol isn't safe. I have long known it could damage your liver and have been judicious in my consumption of that particular drug, but as I age I suspect I will be taking more of it. I don't tolerate the NSAIDS or aspirin, and that leaves acetaminophen. I'm not sure what has made the drug a topic for discussion all of a sudden, but it doesn't bode well for a pain-free old age.

I wonder if I tossed some magic M&Ms in the air, and made a wish, if anything would change.

Across the Valley

This Little Light

Thursday Thirteen

Where and when to read a book . . .

Barn and silo, stylized. This has
nothing to do with reading books.

1. While on hold when you're on the phone.

2. During TV commercials.

3. While you're waiting on the computer to boot up.

4. While you're waiting on cookies (or whatever) to bake.

Hollins University Chapel. This has
nothing to do with reading books.

5. While you're walking on the treadmill.

6. Anytime you're eating at the table.

7. While you're waiting at the doctor's office.

8. While you're waiting in line.

An old farm implement. Also nothing
to do with reading books.

9. While you're in the bathroom doing, well, you know.

10. While you're waiting on a website or whatever to download.

Autumn colors from a previous year.
Also nothing to do with reading books.

11. During TV programs you've already seen.

12. During boring meetings.

13. While you're riding in a car/bus/plane/train/etc.


Where do you read your books?


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 311th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Along the Fence

Full Barn

Shadows

Straight Lines

Books: Flight Behavior

Flight Behavior
By Barbara Kingsolver
Copyright 2012
436 pages


Barbara Kingsolver is one of those authors I am supposed to love - but don't. I don't hate her but I have attempted to read several of her books and this is the first one I have actually finished.

It is very good, though as with her other books I did not connect with it on an emotional level. This is more a book for the intellect, I think.

The book was on the bestseller list for a while, as most of Kingsolver's books are.

The story, told in the third person, takes place in the fictional town of Feathertown, TN. Dellarobia is an unhappy wife and mother of two who, after a decade of marriage, would like for something to change. She goes about this in the wrong way at first, looking for passion outside the marriage.

On her way to a secret tryst in a shack on the family farm, she stumbles upon a magnificent sight that forces her to rethink her entire life. Monarch butterflies have settled in the valley on the family's acreage - millions of them. Instead of flying to Mexico as they have in the past, for whatever reason the butterflies have ended up in Tennessee.

The novel takes on climate change in a rather spooky way - the book seems to foretell the summer we've had here in 2013 - too wet, too cool, too wrong for Virginia's mid-Atlantic climate. Dellarobia's husband, Cub, is a farmer from a farming family - and too much rain, too much of the wrong weather, wrecks the farming community (much as it has done in reality this summer). Her father-in-law wants to log the farm, which would destroy this new butterfly habitat.

The butterflies create a sensation as word spreads, and a scientist, Ovid, comes to study the insects. The novel investigates the differences between science and religion, education and the lack thereof, as well as class and other issues, all in one tidy bundle. However, Kingsolver does not preach nor does she make her characters do handstands to get the points across. Instead she weaves a fine tapestry that, when unfolded, shows us the whole of the issues.

If you already like Kingsolver I imagine you will love this book. If you like to read books about the issues of the day, you will love this book. Based on the reviews, some people will be turned off by the implied environmental lecture - probably the ones who most need to hear it but aren't listening anyway.

And I still don't "love" Kingsolver, but I must admit that she is a fine writer, and after finishing this book I like her better than I did.

I Want to See Them Coming

From Sunday Stealing. Care to join in?


Q. Most daring Dare you have ever done?

A. I don't know that I have ever done one. If I have, it wasn't memorable.

Q. When is the last time you did something you knew was wrong?

A. Earlier this week we bought some filing cabinets to use in the bedroom. I don't like them much and knew I wouldn't when my husband bought them, but I didn't speak up. That was wrong, but I don't think that's the kind of "wrong" you're talking about. For that type of wrong, I'd have to go back like 20 years or something.

Q. What was on your mind most today?

A. My health.

Q. Have a best friend?

A. My husband is my best friend.

Q. If you were upset, who’ s the first person you would go to?

A. My husband.

Q. When was the last time someone yelled at you?

A. It has been months and months.

Q. What have you done today, so far?

A. Piddled at the computer, ran the vacuum, changed the bed, cleaned the bathrooms. It's just midday (on Saturday).

Q. What did last weekend consist of?

A. I can't remember. Oh, we ran errands in the city and had lunch out.
 
Q. What are you listening to?

A. House noises. The hum of the air purifier, the washing machine, my fingers clicking on the keyboard.

Q. Who were you last in a car with?

A. My husband.

Q. Have you ever been called cute?

A. Can't say that I have.

Q. Describe how you feel right now in one word:

A. Concerned.

Q. Has anybody ever told you that you talk too fast?

A. I'm from the south. No one talks fast down here (unless they are from somewhere else).

Q. Did you have fun yesterday?

A. Not particularly.

Q. Do you like to cuddle?

A. Sure.

Q. Do you think someone is thinking about you?

A. Maybe.

Q. Are you stubborn?

A. Sometimes.

Q. Is there a friend, boyfriend/ girlfriend, or ex that you will never forget?

A. There are old friends that I miss, yes. But not boyfriends.

Q. Thinking back, are there people you have no idea why you hung out with?

A. Yes.

Q. How’s your heart?

A. Ticking right along.

Q. Are you easily amused?

A. Sometimes.

Q. Do you speak more than 2 languages?

A. No.

Q. Are you doing anything tonight?

A. I hope to finish reading a book.

Q. Is there a person of the same sex who means a lot to you?

A. Several, actually. I love my friends.

Q. Is your hair naturally straight?

A. No.

Q. What happened at 10:00 am?

A. I read the newspaper.

Q. What were you doing at ten last night?

A. Going to bed.

Q. Have you made someone happy today?

A. I have been alone all day.

Q. Is it hard for you to get over someone?

A. I am married and old,it's not a problem I generally have.

Q. Think it’s disgusting when girls get really wasted?

A. Yes.

Q. How long did it take you to get over you last ex?

A. I don't have an ex. I've been married for 30 years!

Q. When you are home alone do you still close the door when you shower?

A. No. I never close the door. If someone is going to get me while I'm in the shower, I want to see them coming.
 

Godwin Cemetery

Yesterday I was in Fincastle and I decided to stop by Godwin Cemetery and take photos.

The cemetery sits on a hill above the Fincastle Presbyterian Church. It is one of the older cemeteries in the county.

I thought cemetery photos on a Friday the 13th seemed appropriate.

Thursday Thirteen #310 - Making Friends

My friend Di over at her blog posted yesterday about how difficult it is to make friends. Since I still needed to do my Thursday Thirteen, her post made me think perhaps I could come up with 13 ways to make friends.

1. Join a club. This could be a photography club, book club, a writing group, a philosophy team, or whatever. Not that I am aware of any local philosophy groups, but maybe you could start one.

2. Go to church. Where I live, here in the Bible Belt, this seems to be the number one way folks make friends.

3. Take a class. I'm not talking about an online class although I suppose one might make online friends in those sorts of classes. But if you are looking for face time instead of Facebook time, you might actually venture into a classroom.

4. Play a sport or go watch ballgames. If you have an interest in a sport you could meet others who are also interested.

5. Volunteer. There are lots of places to give your time - libraries, animal shelters, old folks' homes, hospitals, homeless shelters.

6. Go to bars, coffee shops, or similar places. I actually don't suggest you do this because I don't think it is safe, but I know people do. I think the first five suggestions are safer and better ways to go about making friends.

7. Get to know your coworkers better. If you have a job and work with others, getting to know the people you work with can have multiple benefits.

***Unfortunately, those seven ways are the only ways I know to go about meeting people. So I'll finish out Thursday Thirteen with ways to be a good friend:***

VA Senator Tim Kaine listens
to Hollins University President
Nancy Gray.

8. Listen. This is probably the number one requirement in a friendship, the ability to listen. A little empathy helps, too.

9. Be loyal. Don't gossip about your new friend, stab them in the back, or take advantage of them. Stand beside them, not in front or behind them.

10. Be trustworthy. This is rather like being loyal, but it also includes things like showing up on time for a lunch date, leaving your cell phone off while you're visiting with your new friend, and keeping any confidences shared.

Making friends at a "local bloggers" meet-up!

11. Stay in contact. This can be via email, Facebook, phone calls, or actual face time, but this is vital if you want to maintain a relationship. Blog comments count, too!

12. Make plans. Don't wait for your new friend to invite you somewhere, take the initiative and ask them to lunch or an event. All they can do is say no, right?

13. Accept invitations when they are offered to you. If you say no every time someone invites you along, eventually they will stop asking. So go have a good time!



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 310th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Remembering the 343 on 9/11

Twelve years ago today, over 1,000 men and women, all of them dressed in 50 to 75 pounds of firefighting gear, faced the worst event of their careers.

An attack on the Twin Towers in New York City had the structures damaged and burning.

The first plane hit at 8:45 a.m., and the New York City Fire Department had its incident command center established by 8:50 a.m.

The fire department was on the scene within five minutes.

As business people hurried outside, firefighters raced inside to help.

They wanted to save lives, these firefighters. That is what they were trained to do.

What they loved to do.

What they would die doing.

As firefighters valiantly tried to reach people believed to be trapped on the upper floors, above the point of impact, the unthinkable happened. At 9:59 a.m. the first of the tallest towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.

As we all know, the tower fell without warning. The building was rubble and ash in a matter of seconds.

And 343 firefighters - heroes all - died, along with over 2,000 other people.


I am the wife of a firefighter. Every day could be the day that something goes wrong on the fire scene. This could be the day that a building explodes, a roof caves in, a car crashes into firefighters standing on the side of the road putting out a burning vehicle (something that happened in Roanoke in 1985, killing several firefighters).

Firefighters do a job that most people wouldn't dream of doing. They risk their lives every single time they go to work. When you are running away in fear, they are putting on their hats and heading off to face down whatever it is you are afraid of. Tornadoes, hurricanes, fire, flood, derecho winds, downed power lines or a terrorist attack do not halt these dedicated people. They go forward when the rest of us would hang back.

In 2011, there were 2,450 deaths in the United States as a result of 364,500 fires. There were 13,900 injuries in those fires, and the resulting damage from fires cost $6.6 billion. That same year, there were 80 deaths as a result of 85,400 fires in businesses. There were 1,100 injuries in those fires, and the resulting damage from the fires cost $2.4 billion.

Firefighters responded to over 30 million calls in 2011.

Like other public servants, emergency service workers have been attacked by various political sectors in recent years. How anyone can deny these brave men and women a livelihood in exchange for running into a burning structure is beyond me.

On this 12th anniversary of the attack on New York City, please remember the sacrifices of firefighters and other emergency services workers. They go where no one else dares to go.

You might want to say thank you to them, too. You never know when the life they save might be yours.

Books: Nora Roberts

All I Want for Christmas
By Nora Roberts
Copyright 1994
Read by Patrick Lawlor
3 Hours

The Villa
By Nora Roberts
Copyright 2002
Read by Laural Merlington
6 Hours

Nora Roberts is a prolific author who has written over 200 books since 1981. Many of them fall in the romance category, but she has also delved into mainstream fiction and fantasy.

Here is where I confess that I seldom read romances, so I have generally avoided Roberts. But an interview with her that I saw on CBS's Sunday Morning show piqued my interest.

In All I want for Christmas, Roberts gives us a single-parent family with two twin boys who want THE MOM for Christmas. Not just any mom, but the mom that fits the bill - she likes dogs and little boys and chocolate chip cookies. Of course the newest lady in the small town just happens to fit that description.

In The Villa, Roberts brings us a bit of a mystery. The story is set in the Napa Valley in California, as well as in Italy, and gives us the adventures of a wine-making family with a crazed enemy who will stop at nothing to ruin their century-old business.

Roberts is a good writer; she has a great command of metaphor and similes and does a fine job with her stories. I imagine I will be listening to more of her work from the audiobooks at the library.

Spinning Out of Control

There is something fascinating about a spider's intricate web.

It looks like a lot of work with precision detail.

Sometimes spider webs look like they have overdone it, with web wrapped everywhere. For weeks now I have been unable to leave the house without walking into thin strands of webbing.

According to the Farmer's Almanac, this is what spiders spinning webs means:

"Spiders can be predictors of winter weather. Spiders spinning larger than usual cobwebs and/ or entering the house in great numbers may mean a rough winter ahead. Time will tell."

I Don't Really Have a Favorite Day

From Sunday Stealing

The More Meme, Part II

Q. What would you choose to be famous for?

A. Writing.

Q. If you have a webcam, are you ever paranoid people can see you?

A. I don't have a webcam.

Q. Do you find it difficult to sleep at night? Any reason(s) why?

A. Sometimes. Pain lately has been a problem. Old bones.

Q. If you had to go on a game show, which would you choose?

A. Jeopardy.

Q. What about if you had to go on a reality show? Which would you choose then?

A. I'd go on Survivor, and probably be the first one voted off.

Q. Tell me about your favorite TV show.

A. At the moment my favorite is The Newsroom, now showing on HBO for its second season. It's about people who do the news at a fictional TV station. It examines the issues of the day and has compelling characters.

Q. Why were you last irritated?

A. Because I couldn't get checked out of the doctor's office in a timely manner.

Q. What time did you get up this morning?

A. I got out of bed around 6:15 a.m. but I was awake at 5:00 a.m.

Q. The last city you were in: Where was it and do you like it there?

A. That would be Roanoke. It's a small city and as cities go it is not bad, I suppose. I understand the shopping doesn't measure up to bigger cities.

Q. Do you like the countryside?

A. I live there so I hope so.

Q. If you see someone yawn, do you often yawn as well?

A. Don't we all?

Q. Recommend a good movie:

A. Lord of the Rings - all three movies, i.e., The Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

Q. Do you think you’d make a good model? Would you ever want to be one?

A. No and no.

Q. How often do you change your hairstyle? What does it look like now?

A. I haven't changed my hairstyle in years. Right now it needs a cut and it has a lot of gray in it.

Q. Do you have a favorite day of the week? Which is it?

A. I least like Monday but I don't really have a favorite day.

Q. Are you alone?

A. At the moment I am writing this, yes.

Q. When is the last time you were on the phone after 2 am?

A. I have no idea. The last really early morning call I received that I remember came on the day my mother died 13 years ago, so maybe then.

The Shoe Solution

So clutter is everywhere at my house; we have a space and junk issue here. I take comfort in the knowledge that at least we're not hoarders. Not yet, anyway. There is probably some cut-off line we are close to that makes one fall under that definition, but I don't think we are there yet.

In the last several weeks I've been looking at various components of a room and trying to figure out a solution to whatever is bothering me. Maybe the shelf is too full of stuff and some of it needs to go the attic, or the drawers need to be cleaned out, or whatever.

Shoes bothered me because I kept them in a basket on my side of the bed. Oh, I tried keeping them in the closet, but our closet is long and narrow, and there just isn't a lot of floor space in there for shoes. I bought things that hang from the clothes racks, and things with bars that you put your shoes on, and nothing worked to my satisfaction.

Years ago I started tossing shoes into clothes baskets, and that worked best to keep them from being something to trip over. It's probably hard on the shoes, though.

And because there is so little walking room in the closet, and there is already a basket of my husband's shoes in there, the basket of my shoes eventually ended up under the window on my side of the bed. Two tubs full, actually.

I hated how it looked, and last week decided this was one of those things I needed to do something about.

I found the solution at Target:

A nice faux-leather storage trunk. This was right around $80 and it holds all of my shoes. It also makes a seat under the window, so I can sit there and put on those shoes, or hang out and watch the deer.

I put some activated charcoal inside the trunk, too, so it would absorb any odor that the shoes might bring in with them. Generally I don't have smelly feet but you never know.




*I received no compensation for anything in this post.*