Sunday, September 2, 2012

A Fragile Construct

I may or may not have mentioned I played hooky from work on Friday. Actually, I asked for and took the time off-I knew Monday was a holiday and we were getting new computers with new and alien (to me) operating systems (and coin slots, at least it feels like it) Friday and I am absolutely useless in these situations so I took the day off and got a head start on the long weekend.

Which meant yesterday felt like Sunday but wasn't. We had a mostly nice day, though it clouded up in the late afternoon and I went for a jaunt up the side of a hill to a very large green space in the physical center of where I live though most of us see it as on the outskirts because of where we concentrate most of our attention (considering how that's been working out maybe we should decrease the Ritalin?).

Managed to almost be part of a wedding in the park-Ashley and John, I believe. I tried to get the crowd to go along and chant "Jump! Jump!" with me but they  would have none of it and, thinking back to our nuptials almost 35 years ago in the Offenbach Rathaus, I smiled and silently wished the young couple well. I also didn't get any cake about which I was less than gracious and still am.


I'm sure before the two of them celebrate their 35th anniversary, I'll have forgotten all about it, but if I were them I wouldn't count on it and I'd stay out of the park until the coast is clear. What I really enjoyed was the minister asking all of us attending (technically all of them attending plus me, the interloper) to vow aloud to help them remain together and when he got a murmur of assent instead of a tumultuous shout, he had everyone do it again, twice. It turned out there was no to-go window for cake so I decided discretion was the better part of valor and beat feet out of there. It made for a different way to kick-off Labor Day.

And truth to tell, I'm never sure what we're supposed to do with Labor Day and in recent years, especially in the poisoned political climate of a Presidential election, I'm not sure it's a good idea to do anything on Labor Day since organized labor seems to be the whipping boy right now for at least one formerly great though still surprisingly national political party. And like so much else, we've heard and will hear this election season,
it's never eaten as hot as it's served and read for yourself who helped create whom for the 21st Century.

Suspect that's why I'll always have a soft spot for Dave Cousins and the Strawbs. Till the day I die.
-bill kenny      

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