Well, it was good to get that last one off my chest! The previous post was a Major Rant of frustrated feelings and opinions on a situation that had been brewing for a few years. After finally writing it down and dumping it here, I’ve been able to let it go and move on. My apologies to anyone who actually read the entire thing, didn’t relate and perhaps felt they suffered through it….. it was a long one. If you do sympathize, feel free to boycott the network along with me. Anyway…..

With the intention of veering off into another direction, I’ve taken a few steps to accommodate that. The first has been not watching the news on television at all. It has helped tremendously.

The next step was to just appreciate the small routine things. Here is the Dutch Baby (German pancake) from this past Sunday. I tend to make them on Sunday mornings and add whatever I have available. This one was pear and blueberry. When it came out of the oven it was all puffed up, fragrant and yummy.

I came across an entire bin of burn morel mushrooms in a grocery store last week. They have been shipped here from the west and are crazy expensive, but it was nice to see them and get a tiny zing of anticipation for the morel season arriving in the northeast in a few months. Hopefully it will be a good one. I had fantasies of filling up an entire shopping bag with these and running away!

The other day I picked up my keys off the table and suddenly began admiring the old enamel Moroccan hamsa on my keyring, gifted years ago from a friend who recently passed away.

The previous attachment to my keyring was a brass swivel spring snap that was given to me by a very dear friend-more-like-family about fifty years ago. My wonderful friend Everitt had picked it up in one of those old hardware stores that used to have lots of bins and sawdust on the floor. He is no longer earthside either, which has made it all the more precious. Holding it in my hands or seeing it daily as I opened the door or started my car has always provided a level of comfort, a talisman of the heart. I didn’t realize how much until recently removing it from the keyring, as the key fob for my latest car added a bit too much bulky weight. But I may just put it back on anyway, because something feels off not having it there.

On the subject of gifts, an interesting and generous assortment of medicinal mushroom powders and teas was sent to me. I’m slowly working my way through them, experimenting with their uses and best benefits. They should last a while. I am hoping to suddenly look and feel full of glowing vibrancy and energy. We shall see…..

The most exciting thing has been the Barred Owl that dwells in the woods behind my daughter’s house. She thinks there are a pair of them. It was just hanging out in the pine trees.

I am not sure if this was the same owl that swooped down and whooshed closely past me while taking out the dog in front of her house one night. It was pretty startling (I am always afraid Little Rudi will be picked up by a hawk or snatched by a coyote…..small dog worries). Here is this beauty from her yard the other day, sitting in the trees, then diving in to check something out, then zooming away.

There is something magical, mysterious and wonderful about seeing an owl…

Making the focus on small, random, sweet observances in life has been a mood elevator. However, I had to pause and wonder about something I saw today.

Glancing up at my rear view mirror while driving home this afternoon, a neon green light caught my attention. At first it appeared be perhaps a weird little indicator light for something in my own car that I had not known about before. But once stopped at a traffic light I was able to see that it was actually something in the windshield of the car behind me.

The car behind had “The Finger” lit up in neon LED lights in his windshield.

As I oft exclaim to myself and did again at that moment – “Seriously?” I admit to being a little confused. Since I didn’t do anything to this person, was driving the same speed along with traffic and hadn’t cut anyone off, it wasn’t really clear if “The Finger” was specifically meant for me or if it was just something he felt the need to proudly display all the time to the world. Questions ran though my mind while waiting for the stoplight to change; Is this person perennially pissed off? Might this be a visual alternative to acting out some road rage? Is this meant to be funny and I’m just missing the joke? Is this actually not a neon “flipping of the bird” but perhaps has some other urban cultural reference that I am not hip to?

Then there is the question that begs – who or what kind of person would want to drive around with that in their windshield? It was difficult to discern if it was someone younger, although road ragers come all varieties. What might have happened if I had suddenly stuck my finger up and given it back to him? Would that have incited some real road rage? Driving further down the road, I lost him at the next traffic light. The finger light continued to glow in the distance as I pulled away, so perhaps it had nothing to do with me.

Later on at home, I googled those lights and found some of them can also be adjusted to different gestures. I guess this was just not a very friendly person. The part I pulled out of this which could be considered slightly amusing is how totally bizarre a world it is that we live in.

Veering onto other tracks has taken a bit of mindfulness, but I’ve been practicing. The other day I had shown up for an appointment for the second time, only to find – once again – it had been cancelled (and I had not been informed). An exercise in office ineptness, but that’s another story. I was determined to continue veering away from that track as I headed back towards the parking lot, only shaking my head but not allowing annoyance to take over. A pickup truck had parked next to my car, with the likeness of Queen Elizabeth looking out the window from the back seat.

I’m not sure what that’s about either. Why The Queen of England? (on the other hand, why not)? But really, how can you not be amused by this? Trying to find the humor wherever I can. We all could use some of that.

~*~