Weblog 202

December 20, 2009~ 1:00am
During my browsing this past week, I became fascinated with illustrations of fairytales. (I'm in heaven when I begin to delve into artwork) -and from there, the deeper, and almost always universal underlying messages to be found in these commonly told, old stories. Take for instance, Red Riding Hood.



Besides being a tale of a little girl and the trickery of a wolf, the story is also an allegory about being taken in by deception. (Obviously it can seen as the story of child molestation...i.e.- the innocent lured into compromise by someone trusted... that's fairly blatant I think) but in a broader sense, it's about the dangers of fakery that any one of us may come up against.



How about that gorgeous, vintage etching! --I was thinking mostly along the lines of the duplicity of commerce, and any sellers who use manipulation to pull the buyer in. (And it's a good thing to be thinking about at this time of the year.)

What about spam mail... or regular old snail mail with its onslaught of circulars and hype from credit card companies to cable TV, both with their 'special low rates'- for a specific time period, however; after that, you're at the mercy of the merchant.

So often those who come at us in life, showing only their submissive, unctuous side, have some pretty darn self-serving motives up their sleeves, or- in the case of Red Riding Hood



-under their costumes, knowing how to appeal to something soft and kind in us. I guess seeing those lovely illustrations set me thinking about misleading sales practices....hookwinkers, scalawags of every stripe and color...and how cautious we need to be to stay clear of them. The old stories don't remain popular- told and retold over decades -without the deeper, more subconscious hooks into the psyche. The messages are woven into the netting that holds us all together in our like fears and our common desires.

When you have time, just think about some of them. It's not just Aesop who told fables with morals at the end- 'The Fox and the Grapes', 'The Tortoise and the Hare'-- most children's tales have messages, and it's interesting to look beyond the bald surface of those simple story lines to hear what's they're really telling us.

I've been holed up here all day. The snow did indeed COMETH. Luckily, Wayne and I did our grocery shopping Friday, fully prepared for a snowed-in day today. By comparison with what much of the rest of country was treated to, our snowfall was modest...about 5 inches.



Still...the first one of the year always hits hard and leaves everyone reeling. (I dread going out there tomorrow afternoon and cleaning off the car!) Every year the same.....it's beautiful, quiet, still....(but a pain in the butt, nevertheless.) LOL!!

The news is so FULL of scary, maddening and exhausting crap, every now and then when a truly uplifting news item comes along, I just wanna dance I'm so happy. Today I read about the special love one young woman had for a horse she remembered from childhood....



Click on that little picture to read something that will warm your heart, no matter what the temperature in your neck of the woods. When I read things like that-- at least for a short while-- the world looks right to me. I wish there were more of them. More people like that young lady. Like the vet. Kind folks... ones who know the meaning of selflessness.

And I applaud them wildly.




December 21, 2009~ 5:00am
I stopped to get mum a paper yesterday on my way to visit, and picked up snowmen figurines to put around the table for each of the 'Table Six' ladies. Since I eat dinner there on Sundays, I wanted to spread a little holiday cheer, and oh man, it worked like a charm....



and that made me very happy. Dolores was even talking to hers...."Now my other guy will have some company. Are you comfortable in there?" she asked him, tucked in the pouch on her walker. Then she asked me to come to her room so I could see her laughing dog. (She's got a stuffed animal dog that laughs and rolls over and over on the floor, which delights her...and he was cute as the dickens.)

Passing through the activity room to get to the back elevator, the cockatiel they keep in a big cage there began to whistle and tweet at me with GREAT enthusiasm as I passed. That thrilled me- (birds usually respond to me, but my last attempt to talk to him produced only extreme boredom as he sat on his perch.) However last night... he was Howard Cosell...couldn't shut him up! So cute, those little guys with their rouged-up clown cheeks.

The afternoon was very pleasant. Never underestimate the joy that a small, unexpected gift can bring to folks. It is like spreading sunshine.

Except for the grumpy nurse..... LOL! (I'd brought an apricot confection for the nurses, but the station door was locked.) I ran into her in the hall, big smile on my face, holding out their treat. She was less than cheerful....led me down to the utility room to throw away mum's empty cookie box. I'd always taken them down to the recreation room to toss them in the trash there, and she was scolding me about doing that. "Where are you going to put that?" she asked. "Oh no....down here. Not in that room." (That one is always like that. Some folks are all work and no play. Just gotta accept it.)




December 24, 2009~ 9:00pm
Christmas Eve. Finally. (I say that- not as in, "Oh boy o boy o boy, it's finally here!"- but as in



I have a galloping case of Christmas ennui this year. A flatness to which the forced extra activity and bustle has been particularly tiring this time around. (I suspect there's an underlying depression but a mild one...an exhausted one...and not real physical tiredness, just what feels like extreme mental exhaustion.)

Tomorrow the weather is predicted to be freezing rain in the morning-- then all rain, then dropping from the 40's during the afternoon, to possible 'snow showers' later in the evening..... I don't trust it.

I don't trust changeable weather that starts off with ice, and I've opted to do something I've never done.... stay home for Christmas. Hole up.

The family is set.

All gifts have been delivered.

Mum will be with my sister's family, and Holly and her family are going to her mother-in-law's.

I will be hiving, as will Wayne-- each in our respective hives.

When I tell people that they look at me like I'm crazy...lol. The reality is for the past two weeks I've worked like a mad woman at work, trying to make up for the week I took off earlier in December. (This was a MUCH more active December than we're used to. Must be all those folks getting things now before their medical deductibles kick in again in January. Insurances have changed so much with so much more out of pocket expense- once that's satisfied it's only natural to want to get what you can before it's all out of pocket again in the new year.) I don't blame them..... but man, it's been a challenge.

So in addition to my 'lack of affect'..lol...I have plain old burn-out to contend with.

While you all are traveling back and forth from house to house- gifts in the car... cooking smells wafting into the chilly air, I will no doubt be sound asleep- (or propped up in bed with a book -or working crosswords.) It's a kind of gift to myself, and it's just what I asked from Santa, and for me.....it feels just right.

For all of you revelers, church-goers and caroling merry-makers, I wish you a safe and happy holiday.

But from a distance.

Feliz Navidad.





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