Lookit my purty new purple nails - if you like purty, how about these postage stamps? Poem: November

      Internet photo of what I did for an hour this morning.

NOTE: Inexplicably, this blog post received 496 views. Now, two hours later, it's shot up to 501. What could the little robots be picking up? I did get one spam comment about my purty nails and then advertising something ridiculous. Occasionally I will publish spam if it's interesting spam.

One time in the early days of my marriage, I bought some Spam in the grocery store in Texas. The Greenwolds were not a Spam-eating family. My ex, on the other hand, was forced to eat Spam to save money as his dad was an alcoholic. 

Now, I ask you, Dear Reader. The Upper Moreland vacuum cleaner will be around whenever it chooses. Dyou think it's cheating that I put non-leaf items in my piles?

Chopped down my 8-foot sunflower and stuck it in de middle of the leaf pile, so they wouldn't see it - OMG you cheater you - they see everything - they look down - and I also stuck in some unsightly dead vines with berries on em on a different pile.

Got my nails polished after I raked. I had - and don't feel bad for me - closed my door and chopped off the top of right thumb nail and it kept snagging on everything, collecting lint.

Don't mind me if I keep looking at the clock. Going to a mental health talk at Warminster Hospital at 7 pm and figured out where it is. Without my two cataract operations, I wouldn't be able to see to get there.

We have a new floridly psychotic guy in our group so I was helping his mom find out how to get him in the hospital. Well, I guess he's gotta take his meds. I suggested he get 'depot injections.' Meaning shots.

People think b/c my manic-depression went away, they can do w/o their meds. Believe me, I make it clear to stay on your meds.

These are my meds I will never go off. Antirejection and diabetes pen. Ouch! I actually stick the needle in my flesh and if it hurts, remove it and stick it somewhere else.

Take your pick: belly, upper outer arms, and both left and right tush.

Went to the Hatboro PO and got all my stamps for the season. I do not enjoy standing in line.

What in tarnation?

For my 10-day bus trip to NOLA, I bought Dr Scholl's gel-pad sneakers which felt great at Walmart and dans le living.

When Scott and I walked in the Pennypack, they nicely hugged my feet and I thought, What a good shoe chooser you are, Ruthie.

I rarely remove my sox b/c it's so cold, but when I did, I noticed a teeny tiny lil cut on my right foot. The culprit, of course, was the Dr Scholl's.

While wearing them, I did think to myself, they remind me of my mom's orthopedic shoes, so I decided to paint them.

They're upstairs in Sarah's old room, awaiting the disguise.

I wrote the poem November many years ago. It's one of my favorites. At the time I worked at the now-defunct Bristol-Bensalem Human Services, where I made my own schedule. I didn't arrive until 10 in the morning, providing me with writing time in the morning.

NOVEMBER

The electric fan sits idle
in these darkening days
balancing the cup of coffee
that warms my hands
against the morning chill.

The leaves on my sturdy maples
hang,
tremble,
then drop,
one by one,
sucked by those great
immovable forces
that hold and bind us all,
the birth of babies ... the toss of waves
the hurricane's deadly whine
the lullabye of the soprano
aloft.

The crisp breeze
sweeps more leaves
to their grassy descent
allowing the sky to open

to be revealed
rippling with clouds
barrelsful! coming in at
high strut

like circus figures
on parade
clowns... acrobats... elephants
the jolly tamer of lions!
see!
tumbling and rolling into view

then, as if, on signal
fragmenting and
bowing out.