At Least The Crows Are Adapting in Everyday Ramblings

  • Aug. 29, 2019, 11:28 a.m.
  • |
  • Public

I took this (not the best) shot Monday night on my way to class. It is of one of our bubbler water fountains. When I came upon it, there were actually three crows but one flew away at my stealth approach.

It is hot here. We have had a mild summer but it is going out with a dry windy roar.

The office had its summer wrap up the fiscal year picnic this afternoon at a park relatively close. I did not go. Last year we had talked about having me teach a class at the picnic this year. Ha! It was a nice idea… then.

My power company has formally instituted a flextime program that I participated in when it was a pilot. When there are weather extremes and high demand if you turn everything off and unplug it for say three to four hours you now get credits on your bill. Before it was just coupons. This is a flextime evening so even if I don’t have any students (I know three of my regulars are not coming) it will be worth it to show up to teach.

Work continues to be icky. But every day that goes by I get closer to getting out of the sinkhole I work in.

This morning I went up on campus to do a one-on-one training with a lovely woman who was just moving into new responsibilities. She was a CPA in Chile where she is from but when she came here she started out as a receptionist. She is finally moving more into financial duties (which she clearly enjoys) and we had a great time.

I was able to encourage her to use the services I developed over my years in purgatory to make her work significantly easier. I don’t know how much longer I am going to be able to do that with “the boys” clueless messing with things behind the scenes so I was grateful for the opportunity.

Mrs. Sherlock is returning from her trip today. Did I say she rode 150 miles on the Allegheny Trail? I’ll see her on the weekend. She is amazing on so many levels.

I have been teaching a holistic back health class the last few weeks and enjoying it, simple movements linked together to encourage the lazy bits to step up and do their part and the overworked parts to let go and chill.

It has been great to learn how all these things work in concert to support us in a comfortable upright position.

It is later now, once again a number of my regular students couldn’t make it to class but my student from last week that I adore who lost her partner in the pedestrian accident was and another student who is also a widow. Over the years we’ve talked about that quite a bit privately but the first student with the recent loss spoke up when after class her classmate asked if she were single in a curious gentle way.

I think she felt more comfortable because she had mentioned it the week before and after class we ended up sitting on the floor on our mats in the fading natural light talking about our partners, and the subtleties of loss.

Because I had looked up the accident and read a little about him I was able to ask germane questions about his life. We were able to turn that uncomfortable awkward moment last week into a kind of celebration of the joys of getting to know someone and sharing their life.

Not a bad way to avoid using “extra” energy at all.


Last updated August 29, 2019


woman in the moon August 29, 2019

I love the idea of you and your students sharing memories of lost partners. It's hard to be natural and to remember good things without losing the reality of people who are no longer living.
I typo-ed in Twitter where you cannot edit - I left the f out of life, and later saw what you get when you do that. Spooky.
Every day feel like weekend or prologue or whatever pastlogue is when you don't work anymore. Be prepared for what can be a disorienting lack of context in your life.
I look forward to seeing how you handle your time - time without an m is tie - when it all becomes your own.

woman in the moon August 29, 2019

What a fancy water fountain. I love the crows are enjoying it. Lacrosse has old cast iron 'bubblers' too. I remember standing on the concrete block to reach the flowing water when I was little. Sees like bubblers came from Wisconsin. Here's a link to more than you want to know (or believe) about bubblers. Half way down is a photo of a Portland OR fountain - maybe like yours except without the crows.
http://whoonew.com/2013/03/why-a-bubbler/
I looked for a pic of the ones I remember and just saw Monday in Lacrosse. They are green painted cast iron and I probably photoed them myself in bygone days.

noko woman in the moon ⋅ August 29, 2019

Cool, yeah public water was a big deal back in the boom days as it was an alternative to alcohol, which pretty much everyone was drinking then. Our bubblers are the same I would bet.

Marg August 30, 2019

What a beautiful old fountain!
You'll be glad to see Mrs. Sherlock - I bet you've missed her :)
The three of you sitting in the mats in the fading light sharing about your previous partners was a lovely image!

Zipster August 30, 2019

Love the photo of the crows enjoying the bubbler. I love how crows are so appreciative of our "gifts". How glad I am that you have such meaningful connection thru your class. It strikes me as such a counterpoint to the ridiculousness of your employment situation. I think of you as "employed", because under such toxic circumstances meaningful "work" is impossible.

You must be logged in to comment. Please sign in or join Prosebox to leave a comment.