Getting Colder

It had been fairly warm all day yesterday, but it was close to 16 degrees Fahrenheit on the thermometer just outside my kitchen window this morning, and headed for minus 13 overnight according to the weather forecast on the weather.gov website. So it would be good to wear an extra pair of socks, make sure the pets are warm and snuggle in for the night!
We're apparently at the beginning of a new era, judging by the large social, economic and technological changes that have taken place over the past few decades.
With "new years" coming up in just one day, I think it would be a good idea to look at the future over a larger time period than just this year coming - at least for now. Just how do you see the future taking shape? What would you like to happen? What new challenges do you think might prove the most productive?
Things like that!
The "great grand-children" postulates. Safer, smaller, more economical cars - easier to learn algebra - more stable families - stuff like that!
I'll write up my own list and publish it on Wednesday. How's that?

Drive carefully!

  Bill

A "No Go" in Hardwick

Cold this morning - very cold - and following a disappointing day yesterday, could have made it feel even colder than it was! I had to go out and get more propane at the gas station. It's a problem keeping the garage from freezing in the winter, and it's not even quite winter yet! So the morning wasn't as bright and happy as it should have been! I think the birds and squirrels agree about that! I put extra rations of peanuts into their feeder and I don't think they got enough - they really need a lot of food to combat this cold. It's about our sixth winter up here and I think we're as well prepared as we've ever been. It's just come a bit early this time!
I went down to Hardwick for the first time to see about a teaching job - strictly no go. The only thing that might prove good about it is I won't have to work there. It was hard to find much to like about the place, so run down and understaffed. The math teacher seemed personable, but I though she was a student when I first saw her and it quite set me back when she was introduced to me as a teacher.  She looked about 16 or 17. I imagine that having a retired teacher, like myself, apply for the job could have been similarly disconcerting. I certainly don't like to think that way about myself, but it could be. C'est la vie.

Channukah and Thanksgiving eclipse

According to one article I read, Channukah and Thanksgiving will not collide for another 79,000 years! So it's a special event! The morning was wet, cold and slushy. It's currently snowing "white" again and moderately with a forecast of another 2 - 4 inches or so. It promises to be a nice Thanksgiving, and with Channukah occuring at the same time it should be extra interesting. Two different worlds and two different calendars and two different meanings, all happening at the same time. There are so many places on this earth totally removed from either holiday. You become very objective about this, possibly like the people who make calendars to hang on the wall.

Cold Today

It was cold today; biting, threatening cold. My modem had failed and the internet had to be accessed by iphone. Over the weekend, my enthusiasm had waned. My other computer had failed as well. What was going on? I'd hoped things would improve in many very important areas and suddenly, with the arrival of the new "Fairpoint" modem, all became very unhappy indeed. It was like an electronic filter had been installed here at the creative and communication terminal and it warped most of my good intentions.
Well. we'll see!

After the Dance

The girls were something else to perceive. They wore what appeared to be grass

skirts with flowers and brightly colored pieces of cloth all sewn up to look like

what Nomi thought Hawaiian hula girls should look like. Several  of her troupe

were quite overweight. Several were very young and small bodied. Nomi herself

had an intensely attractive figure as she led the rest of the girls. The music was

loud and the dance was sensual, rhythmic and well balanced with the music.

Nomi obviously had a gift that, till now, Jim barely suspected. It's difficult to

describe the effect of Miranda's music and the dancing along with the interrupted

plan and subsequent confusion. The Vulture appeared hypnotized by it all, as if

everything that happened was part of the show. Theatre has a power all its own.

People allow it to continue and produce its effects, even strange and threatening

as the case might be. Here is what probably happened. There is no other rational

explanation!

The girls were still dancing as the pirates were being locked up in the brig. Nomi

still held most of Captain Wallace's attention. Their eyes met in a moment that

must have been pure glee,  like when you bet on a long shot and it came from

behind and you and the object of your affection were jumping up and down at the

same time, in the same rhythm, and everything else that could be right, was.

Indian Winter

It's 6:40 pm according to the little clock on the lower right of this computer. It's very dark out - and cold!

Just that quickly and we jump from Indian Summer to Indian Winter - a concept that I recently invented, though I feel sure it's been invented before by many others. This time it represents an earlier winter climate than usual. Up here in northern Vermont, though, early winters are quite common, at least in my short experience here of about six years. Yesterday also marked the first day of a return to standard time from daylight savings time. Again, the computer clock proved the correct and timely, excuse me, reference to this fact. "It", or some technician with a better worked out schedule system than most people, also reminded me of my daughter in law's birthday - yesteday in fact, who my friends are, and that I should back up my files. These are pretty handy little machines, eh? Back to Indian Winter...

It gets very cold up here in northern Vermont where I live. We're just six miles from the Canadian border. I once read minus 28 degrees Fahrenheit directly off a thermometer which I held in my hand on the deck outside my front door. This was my first winter up here and I was curious. It was about one o'clock in the morning and was getting colder fast! I've never measured 40 below, but I've heard people speak about it and I believe I felt it through the wall of my bedroom! The cold of winter never penetrated the insulation of my home like that before! Well, it was only 19 degrees at the kitchen window thermometer, just outside the window where I can see it, when I glanced out this morning. That's not very cold, not even for November, but it was about 80 degrees or so just a few days ago, when I wrote about Indian Summer and that's quite a contrast. Fast, sudden, and I fear too many little birds and small animals fell in the surprise of it! I feel sorry for them. Indian Winter doesn't describe this weather phenomenon. Early Winter Shock would be better!

Happy Halloween!

I hope you were successful last evening in your hunt for treats!

I so loved this holiday when I was a child that I celebrate it even today as my own personal new years celebration, along with my closest family and friends! So, Happy New Year!!

A little drive around the Vermont countryside proved very rewarding. The chocolate candy was especially fine. The day was very warm for this time of year, but it rained a lot earlier this morning. Still, it was a nice afternoon.

I'm starting my study of communiction and I'm excited about it. It seems to be the make/break of success on this planet. So very, very important. So, what is it? Well, yeah - the interchange of ideas - communication particles, words, musical notes, symbols, smiles and all of that. Well, I'm sure most of you have tried that and even had occasional success at it. "Hello!", you say, and you get back - "Hi!" and you feel all warm and good. So you keep doing this, see, and it gets better and better and soon you're laughing. You found the answer! Indeed, you have. Communication is one of the easiest things to contact there ever was! You think about it and it's there! Right there - sing a song! Dance! Don't just listen to me. Try it yourself - see what happens.

So if it's so simple, why is this world having such a problem with it? That's such a good question, that I'm going to leave it there for you and come back to it.

It's actually way up there! It's way way up there for most people - beyond the stars. Yet it's so powerful that it goes right through everying - woosh bang - from zillions of miles away, like so many things that people ascribe to "higher powers". Apparently, we all have the innate ability to communicate freely and easily on our own determinism and with out own tools, but we often fall short of the mark. Ask any publisher, any marketing agency, any media manager. It's not as easy as you'd think, even though it probably is as easy as you think when you really know how.

So along with the development of the story, "Dance of the Deep", we're going to run a parallel account of how to communicate it to those who wish to read it or view it as a play or video of some sort.