Monday, November 09, 2015

It's been over a week, so a few quick thoughts...

All this fuss over a plain red cup. Honestly, when will my Christian brothers and sisters stop expecting the world to behave like believers? And how stupid is it to be a snarky ass and insist your name is "Merry Christmas" in order to have it written on your cup? Deeds witness more loudly than words.

The Republican debate circus is coming to town. Several candidates are doing events in other parts of the state, as long as they are "in the neighborhood". The good news? One year from this Wednesday, the election will be, for better or worse, over. Three hundred sixty-six - oops - three hundred sixty-seven (2016 is a leap year, as is every presidential election year - you would almost think the politicians planned that so they would have an extra day of campaigning) days to go. Maybe I should put a countdown clock up in the sidebar.

The dinner party Saturday was perhaps the best of the five "Supper for 12 Strangers" I've held. Once student simply didn't show up at the carpool; the other four both tried to contact her and waited an extra ten minutes, all in vain. Boy, did she miss out. Much fun, conversation, laughter. Two of the young ladies were international students, from China and Kenya. While internationals can be very reserved, particularly the Chinese, both girls were chatty and fun. A friend of mine came as a sort of "wing woman", helping to keep the conversation going when I needed to be in the kitchen.

The only down side? I gave away all the leftovers (this is apparently very much a Wisconsin, though not an American, custom, as I explained to the internationals and the native New Yorker (the student from Wisconsin understood it- the impulse to offer any leftovers to your guests, for them to take home for lunches or a quick dinner).

The heat came on when I was getting ready this morning, and stayed on for a good five minutes. It turns out the outside temperature was only 28 when I left for work this morning. It may be time to consider changing from the light spring jacket over to the heavy winter one, finding the scarves, mittens and gloves.

Forty years ago this afternoon, the Edmund Fitzgerald set out on Lake Superior, headed to Zug Island, near Detroit. Shortly afterward, a gale warning was issued for the lake. By seven-thirty the following evening, the ship had sunk with all hands aboard. While the Gordon Lightfoot song is probably the most well known tribute to the tragedy, today's JSOnline has a nice article about it, centering on the memories of one of the crew members' brother.

No comments: