Overcast and Unseasonably Warm Monday

7:36

Sunny Sunday Afternoon

Awoke around 6:30, after a restless night, one of those night's where you keep thinking the same thing over and over, like the movie Groundhog Day.  It's now 7:25 and I can make out the other side of the lake, though its overcast, no sun today.  It's strange to have it in the forties, even overnight, this late in the year.  Global warming?  Perhaps.  I still am optimistic about the winter, that we will have lots of snow, like two years ago.  I am afraid we may get a severe snow storm at least once, the kind where we may stranded down here on Woodlawn for a day or two, as most of the weather events over the past two years seem to be severe.

Yesterday was a day just like the others, hoping that Evie feels better, has less of a cough, and finding the energy to keep active.  She does seem a bit better despite her wracking cough on and off during the day, something the doctor says can last for a couple of weeks.  It's discouraging for her because she has no energy and Christmas, getting ready for the it and our visits to our grandchildren is fast approaching.

Chautauqua's Bell Tower

Since I was up so early yesterday, I went for a walk at the CI around 9:00, much earlier than usual for a Sunday.  It's not much fun going on walks without Evie, so I force myself to get out and 'just do it.'  Big deal.  The sun did come out for part of my walk, amazingly, and it felt good to be outside, to walk the empty CI, and enjoy the sun on my face, the light wind, the variety of homes and landscaping, the lake, the new houses that are going up.  Just trying to be in the present, practice my mindfulness!  

A couple of eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast, a cup of coffee, and I was happy for the rest of the day.  Another leisurely Sunday for both of us, reading and watching TV, surfing back and forth between football and coverage of the horrific events in Newtown, hoping there was a good movie on another channel.  There wasn't alas.  The only humor this morning took place courtesy of Fox News, when a Republican from Texas said more guns are the answer.  "I wish to God she(the school's principal) had had an m-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out ... and takes him out and takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids." People are nuts, and so are many of our Congressmen. Evie had put a pork shoulder in the oven late morning, so that by 6:00, it was falling apart and we mixed a quarter of the  pork with barbecue sauce for sandwiches, stacked high with cole slaw.  

We watched a couple of episodes of Parenthood, then about 9:30, we watched the taped replay of the service in Newtown.  We wanted to watch Obama's speech, so we skipped through the parade of religious figures who preceded him.  I felt sorry for all the people who had to sit through this.  Obama was good, empathetic and in control, but it was not at the level of some of his other great speeches, perhaps it could not since the subject was the random murders of twenty children.  What possibly could he say that would give comfort.  The Scriptures sound like platitudes, especially  since this is the fourth time he has had to speak at a memorial service at tragedies like this.  I know he spent part of the afternoon with the families of the the victims.  No matter who is President, you have to admire their courage to confront these tragedies, to give succor to the families.  What can you say to twenty sets of parents, to think of something to say to each pair?  I am glad he did not politicize the speech, to talk specifically about the need for gun control.  He just said things have got to change, that our roles as parents is to protect our children and we are not doing  that.  Things have to change.  Amen.

I obviously believe in gun control.  It's fine for hunter's to have their guns.  But that's about it.  And no one needs am assault rifle unless you are a police officer or in the military.  Most Republicans would disagree with this; most Democrats would agree but are too wimpy and worried about being reelceted to challenge the gun laws.  Recently, the momentum has been with the NRA and gun rights, making it legal to carry a concealed weapon on some college campuses, almost anywhere in a state like Florida.  Why?  How crazy is that?  Bring a gun to the supermarket, to the theater, to my English class, to a sporting event?  Where did this craziness come from?  A few nutty NRA's, and Republicans and wimpy Democrats went along for fear of the wrath of the NRA and it's members.  Things have to change.  An amazing statistic I just heard on MSNBC.  Since MLK's assassination in 1967, over a million Americans have been murdered because of guns.