marvelous monday

we are being showered with good days this fall. today, though i woke at 6 am, and trained on a new case until 9 am, i arrived home earlier than expected, and david and i have been able to whiddle the day away, doing nothing in particular. this "nothing" has been composed of reading, writing, watching the police and fire dept. at the house across the street (a small fire broke out- don't really know the details), fishing/reading at the park, walking and mocking a gaggle of geese, more reading and munching.

brief soliloquy on neighborly drama: the sad thing is, i, indoors, while david gathered fishing equipment from the barn, heard a woman scream outside. it sounded like "LIAR, LIAR!" mildly curious, but mostly in a meddling way, i went to the front door to see what might be seen, but only saw a man cross the street to into a yard a couple houses down. i figured he was trying to resolve a dispute- we've had several over the summer that were easily heard by the whole block and are, of course, disturbing. but, it seems pointless to try to get involved, as the police will be called anyway. as i turned away from the door, a bit disgusted, i saw david in the front, loading the car, so, instead, headed outside. a young woman was staggering toward the street, howling and crying, but nothing appeared to be wrong with her physically, as far as i could see. two men were helping her, and the fire dept and police were there within a couple minutes. soon i realized that she was crying about her hands- she had perhaps burned them trying to put out a fire? i felt distressed, and wanted to go over, but i was afraid of being in the way, and getting into a situation that would be troublesome, so we sat in the car, watching and waiting- like several other neighbors, up and down the block. a bit of smoke billowed out of the windows, but the hose was never taken up, and only a couple of firemen went inside. i know it sounds bad, but our neighborhood really isn't, overall... i don't know what's more sad the fire and the woman- or that i was so easily mastered by fear and dread and prevented to from offering assistance. it's too easy to feel scornful, to have a "i guess their just reaping the consequences" attitude that utterly lacks compassion and forgets to remember that only by the grace of God that is not me... next time, i hope i remember more quickly and follow my instinct to do what is right.

saturday we had a charming morning and early afternoon, babysitting for a couple of darling boys, noah and vaughn. we played cars and trains, read books, watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", ate mac'n'cheese, helped with potty time, took a walk around the block, made leaf piles and jumped in them, and headed back in for apple juice and more play. babysitting is so luxurious- you get to do all the fun-stuff of parenting, and then hand them back for an evening alone: we went to Smokey Bones, and to watch the most recent Harry Potter movie (two thumbs down d/t terrible script writing! remember people- "the book is ALWAYS better than the movie").

noah and vaughn

shellacked leaves

dressed up to go out

smirking?

"i sleep in a drawer!" -nelson, The Simpsons