October is, thus far, as sunny and fair as September, but there is a winter storm on the near horizon AND... we finally broke down and turned the heat on. It was 18 on Saturday morning, and warmed up enough that it was almost too hot to be on the deck in the afternoon. The forecast looks like more of the same, clear days and nights, the peaks retaining some north snow, desert season!
October 10th was Johnny's 25th anniversary here in Telluride. He has lived here longer than in his home state of Vermont.
Anthony was getting over being sick on Thursday evening, so we had a nice quiet evening at home - Johnny and Cella looked through a book about the railroad that ran into Telluride over the previous 100 years, trying to find the photo of the cemetery behind our house, showing the "Lone Tree". They also looked at all the old back-and-white photos of town, trying to find what is different now, especially of the elementary school.
I, meanwhile, was reducing an enormous and slightly obscene zucchini that our neighbors grew in Norwood, down to zucchini nut cookies with a cream cheese frosting in between, like a sandwich. Kind of like carrot cake with the frosting glueing the two sides together. And 2 loaves of zucchini bread, one for the freezer and one for now.
Friday Anthony did some work errands and small jobs with Johnny, and we all reconvened for dinner and a bike ride into town for ice cream. Yes, I wore my slippers into town for that venture!
We had frequent visits from our neighbor, 1st-grader Jack. Jack is the kind of kid who shows up at our house by standing on his tip-toes and peering through the glass of the front door until he enters, usually brandishing some kind of age-inappropriate device, like nunchucks or handcuffs or, this time, a homemade bow and arrow. The bow was longer than Jack is tall and Johnny and Cella came upon him outside a day or two later, pointing it at the sky with a menacing and focussed demeanor. The interaction went something like this:
Johnny: Hi Jack, what are you doing?
Jack: I'm shooting birds out of the sky.
Johnny: Really?
Jack: Yes.
Johnny: How do you think it would feel if you were a bird and some kid shot you out of the sky with his bow and arrow.
Jack: You're weird.
The kids like to run around and play hide and seek with him, behind the houses, in the cemetery, in and out of Jack's house. He's a good neighbor and always entertaining.
I have discovered what I think is a type of perhaps un-documented learning disability in myself. Over the course of the past few weeks with Anthony's soccer games on Saturdays, I have found myself chatting with friends and mothers on the sidelines, enjoying the weather, relaxing on the fields. I will be chit-chatting, watching the kids run around with the ball, and then all of a sudden the person I am talking with will yell out some words of encouragement, like, "Way to get the ball, so-and-so" or "Good one, so-and-so" and I suddenly realize, They're watching the game. They are actually watching the ball in play and the strategy of the game.
Me? I'm wondering whose kid is who's, why is that kid wearing sunglasses, whose parent they look like, etc, etc... I literally go blank when I see a team sport in action. Yes, I know we are talking about 10-year olds, but still.
If anyone has done any of those Gallup tests to "discover your strengths" you will know what I am talking about when I tell you that among my top 5 strengths lurks Individuation. Basically the opposite of an Includer. I am wondering if that strength proves to be a weakness when faced with group dynamics, like the viewing of team sports, humans interacting with a common goal.
Anyway, we have pumpkins to carve this weekend, which I love, as well as pumpkin seeds to salt and roast and nibble on.
I am still working my way through the Pulitzer Prize book list, wondering if I can finish in a year? Maybe I should have been blogging about that. I guess that theme is kind of old, picking something, doing it for a year, writing about it, getting a ton of readers, having hilarious/disastrous tales interwoven with real-life angst, working the blog entries into a book, selling the movie rights and then seeing an actress who looks kind of like me but way hotter than me play me, and starting my new life of no work and all leisure as soon as possible.
Easy-peasy, macaroni and cheesy.
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