Radical Change

 


The wind that came with the thunderstorms last night stripped most of the leaves from my front yard maple tree.  None of the other trees on the street have leaves changing color.  They didn't lose all but a handful of their leaves in last night's windstorm.  I told the city arborist five years ago that my tree was sick but did he do anything about it?  No, he did not.  Bureaucrats, bah.  I took both of these photos from my front stoop this morning, one facing west and the other facing east.  Crazy, huh?


I met my friend, ACJ, this morning to write.  We wrote a prompt and then tried to settle to work but ended up interrupting each other repeatedly and finally talked about attending the WI Writers' Institute Conference in Madison in April.  Maybe I can get this novel manuscript tidied up and ready to pitch to an agent by then.  That'd be good.

Tonight was the second of three art history lectures I signed up for at the ADRC.  It's taught by an art professor/priest from St. Norbert College where DIL1 works.  Very enjoyable.  I had a chiropractor appointment this afternoon too so no sewing got sewn.  I did finish the Orange & Lemon Slipper Sock before the lecture and then I wove in all the tails while watching the PBS show about Harper Lee when I got home.  See?  A pair of socks.


September 18--Lewis Hine, Children Playing Baseball in a Tenement Playground, USA.  "Hey, batter batter," the ragged boys called at the boy holding the bat ready to swing.  The boy with the bat wore clean, tidy clothes and leather shoes.  He looked as out of place as an orchid in a hay field but he held his mouth in a determined line and stared at the boy with the ball.  The pitch was thrown, he swung, and missed.  "Strike!" called a dark-skinned boy crouched behind the batter.  By the looks on the faces of the sideline children this was more than a game.  Hierarchy and acceptance were at stake.  The haves and the have-nots of the block were locked in battle.  Color and nationality weren't in play, only hand-eye coordination and the ability to hit counted.

Not only did last night's storm blow the leaves off my tree, it also blew cooler temps into town.  Yesterday it was in the mid-80s and humid as all get out, today it barely made 65 and was drier, more appropriate for mid-September in Wisconsin.  I like it.
--Barbara