This little five day weekend has disappeared all around me. It is difficult to take time off when there are visitors. The time becomes absorbed into others where it evaporates at twice the normal rate or more.
An old friend and I took our boys ice skating yesterday. It was unexpectedly fun, just carving silly and lopsided ovals out of the ice for an hour or so. Trying to teach them to not be afraid to try nor ashamed to fall with non-existent lessons pulled from the reservoir of my own life. I try to be honest, explaining that everybody feels fear and yet tries to be cool.
The friend, Lisa, and I talked about Jung and his theories on what causes the mid-life feelings that we now share. The death of the Ego, it seems, was the explanation she offered, though in my memory I thought it was the Super-Ego. Though I'd say there may be some napping of the Id as well. We know we can't trust the mind too much.
Like in the picture above. The mind does things to the image that are not there, but there they are.
The seasonal rains have arrived. It will be gray and wet for at least a week. I don't mind. Every so often the weather changes my life for the better. Some time spent inside with the murmuring rains feels friendly enough. Everywhere the Japanese maples are turning, the oaks in all directions from yellow to deep orange, the indigenous plants in the meadows also each giving off their unique colors. Of course the vineyards have fallen from gold to red. I don't think I've taken a single picture of the phenomenon this year. Or, not one that was explicitly for that purpose.
When it comes to nature photography, I mostly prefer stuff like this:
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