Musings

Red Hat Society

Driving past Coldstone (Ice cream parlor) in the Geneva Commons mall I saw a group of about 20 of these women sitting at umbrellad tables on the sidewalk out front. They seemed to be enjoying huge sundaes and having a great time. All of them in full 'Society' regalia, that being red hats and purple outfits.

I had heard tales of these women, I'd never actually had a sighting of them in a herd like that, and was happy to see that they do exist. According to the website these groups have sprung up all over the country after the founder was inspired by this poem by Jenny Joseph:

Warning When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick the flowers in other peoples' gardens And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go Or only bread and pickle for a week And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes. But now we must have clothes that keep us dry And pay our rent and not swear in the street And set a good example for the children. We must have friends to dinner and read the papers. But maybe I ought to practice a little now? So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

I admire these women, they have spunk. My mother-in-law has often spoken of this group and I think she even belongs to a chapter. Well, while shopping in San Diego I ran across the most beautiful red hat and with this group and my mother-in-law in mind I bought it. Now, technically I bought the hat for her to wear to her society meetings, but whether she actually receives the hat or not is yet to be seen as I have fallen in love with the lovely crimson topper. I'm thinking that I’ll go ahead and give it to her and make her swear an oath that she will return the hat to me when she tires of wearing it. Mind, I’m not a hat person so I don’t actually intend to wear it, I just want to be able to look at it from time to time, crowning my hat stand.

Bloody Gifts

Those of you who own cats will understand, the rest of you should perhaps avert your eyes.

Having been away from my Snickers for almost a year, I had managed to forget some of the sweet yet grisly benefits of cat ownership. You see cats, unlike dogs, are scrupulous about earning their keep around the house. What you might ask could a cat possibly do to earn its keep. Well, cats are extraordinarily good hunters and in a show of loyalty (yes, they are just as loyal as dogs, if not more) they like to share their nightly kill with their masters.

When Snickers was young she began earning her keep by leaving her freshly killed mouse or baby bunny or ground squirrel (well the bloody, furry mass that was left over after she’d eaten her share.) on the front steps where I would be sure to nearly step on it on my way out to work.

At first I didn’t understand these road blocks and would kick the grisly prize into the nearby shrubs and curse the damn cat loudly. Then I began to understand the significance of these bloody fur balls and would kick the grisly prize into the nearby shrubs and thank the cat and then get into my car and curse her loudly.

Over the years Snickers’ prizes became smaller and less frequent. In the years preceding our move her prizes had dwindled to large dragonflies on the doorstep a few times during the summer.

I of course attributed this to the fact that the fat cat was aging and not as spry as she used to be and also that she had become complacent and confident as to her place in our hearts and home.

However, in the two weeks since I have arrived back at Illinois house, Snickers has left me, no less than 4 dead baby bunnies (identified mostly by their color and their ears). Of course she also seems to know that I’m not going to go out the front door in the morning and has left these grisly baubles in the driveway behind my truck where I am sure to run them over and grind them into the pavement where they will be forever immortalized as macabre stains.

Apparently my suppositions were wrong about the dwindling size and frequency of her gifts. Apparently the issue was lack of game. You see, S (and sometimes I) would dispose of nests full of these rodents when we’d run across them in our gardening. We’re not the cruel tear-the-wings-of-off-flies types, we are gardeners and grown rabbits can eat an astonishing amount of vegetation. Well, it seems that in the year that we’ve been gone the rabbit population has known some really happy times. They are everywhere you look and apparently still breeding, even this late in the season. Poor Snickers is doing her very best, but there are just too many of them. On the bright side, I have three more weeks of lovely surprises to look forward to.

Books

The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy – Book 1) by Jonathan Stroud - A fantasy novel for young readers told from the point of view of the djinni, Bartimaeus, about a young magician in training named Nathanial. I loved Bartimaeus’ sarcasm (me? Sarcasm?) and his self promoting style in telling the story of this unfortunate boy. I can’t wait for the sequel, The Golem's Eye (Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 2) to come out in September.

Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6) - I have read all of the books in this series, that has been over twenty years in the making/completing. I know that Mr. King meant for this to be his opus, but this installment is a bit disappointing. It’s not up to his usual high standards of story telling. To make things worse he writes himself into this story. I read it because I’ve read all the others and will read the final installment The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7) when it comes out in September, because I really want to see what all the sacrifice of this band of friends has been for. I like the story and it’s been wildly imaginative, but this last installment was thrown together too fast and he seems to reach hard to incorporate a lot of stuff from his other writings.

That is all.