Saturday
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"When we lived closer to fire, when our lives depended upon the careful tending of the hearth, we had before us a symbol of the need for nourishment that lay deep in our souls." - Anne Scott
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Heard on the news the last two nights that Bank of America is now going to charge their customers a fee for using their debit cards for purchases. There will be no fee for cash withdrawals from the BofA auto-tellers.

Whaaat? The banks have pushed us to use our cards. I like my card and only use it when I have money in the account. If there is not enough money in the account, the card will not be approved. Now I bank at a credit union and their practices may be different than a regular bank. I do know that if the credit union put this into practice, I would stop using my debit card. I also heard on the report that customers of BofA said they would pull their accounts and go to another bank. I say yeah to those customers.

I know with the credit union they have been pushing to go green. Well, Michael did but then when we needed to have copies of his bank statements they were going to charge him about $2 for each statement. We fussed and whined and they bank waived the fee since we did not ask for copies very often. The said we could copy them online. That is fine if you have a printer to print the pages. If the bank had not relented on the fees, we would have gone to the library and printed the statements at 10 cents a copy. Even then that would have been pricey. We asked the bank to begin sending Michael's statements to him. This has made our lives so much easier.

Reading the quote today reminds me of when I was little girl growing up in the country in Maine. All our homes were heated by wood stoves. All of the cooking was done on the wood stoves. Two of my Aunts had wood stoves with an oven. I will never know how they kept the temperature constant to come out with the good tasting food that they did. I talked with my Cousin P about this and she said her mom would use certain types of wood, small cut that would make a hot fire. She said for biscuits if the oven became too hot, she would open the oven door until the temperature dropped and then close it again. Cousin P said that from what she remembers it was the type of wood and that you had to know your oven. All I know is that we never came away from her mom's table hungry no matter how many people were sitting there.

I also remember how Uncle P or Uncle Bo depending on whose house I was staying at would tamper down the fire at night. There was still a lot of heat coming from the stove but they would arrange the coals to last through the night. In the morning they would stir up the coals and then add wood to them. Before we knew it, there was a roaring fire going and the room would warm up in no time. Especially during the winter, these fires kept us alive and provided cooked food for our tables.

Since I stayed up until 2 a.m. this morning, I slept in until 10 a.m. I still feel kind of sleepy. However, Bailey did not bother me and I was grateful for this.

Another night of strange dreams; these I do not remember. But I remember feeling anxious so they must have been busy dreams or dreams of which I could not get away from what ever it was such as getting out of a building or a group of people.

There is sunshine this morning or at least at this hour. I do not remember if it was overcast earlier in the morning. The sunshine is nice since the last two days have been dreary. Maybe there will not be rain today here on the coast.

I did go out and water the garden and plants. I am finding now to check the potted plants with my finger to see if they do in fact need water. Since doing this I noted that the yellow has left the leaves of the bamboo plant.

I did not see him last night but the opossum must have gotten into the bread crumbs because they are half gone and I know the birds did not eat that much from the time I put them out till dusk. Remembering the crumbs was one of those "ah ha" moments when I realized I had not brought the dish in.

Last night I typed on my computer while Michael was surfing the 'Net and reading his e-mail. I could see us sharing an office. Our desks back to back and we each are doing our own work. Yes, we like being together.

I wrote several pages in my hard cover journal last night. Yesterday's Al-Anon focus was about having a plan. I realize I had not been making a list in my journal of things I would like to accomplish the next day. Hence, I have been flying blindly during the day. Granted I have had fun. Only the housework is taking a beating, I'm not reading or writing in my journal.

I told Michael I was watching my ABC soaps on his lap top. He replied in indignation that I was doing subversive things on his computer. LOL. I reminded him that it would be good to find out what is going on with my computer so that I can have the Internet hook up on my lap top and then I would not be on his lap top. His reply was that I am always on my PC. Well, I am in a writing mood right now and I am going to take advantage of it.

It is as the quote implies, if I tend to my writing fires every day then everyday I will want to write and will write something.

I still feel the morning pages are a mind dump. It is getting rid of that minutia that does not need to be cataloged in my brain. It creates open space in my brain for new stuff. Oh I know the perfect analogy: It is the same as defragging my computer. I am defragging my brain. Ha!

I found out yesterday in my reading of blogs that it was Julia Cameron who created the morning pages and not Natalie Goldberg. I think I have given away all of Cameron's books. I think I want the "Artist's Way" again. This book is a good resource book. Stupid, stupid, stupid me for getting rid of books that are so helpful for me in my writing and doing art.

My flowers are looking good today. I have three that are flowering. I am very glad to see the rosemary with flowers. I hope the honey bees are visiting her.

The new rose plant seems to be holding up. Some of the flowers have wilted and she has lost some leaves. Overall, the plant seems to be taking to the outdoors and with me checking the moistness of the earth I will not be over watering her. I am keeping my fingers crossed because usually with this type of rose, I have killed all the others that have been given to me. Tim reminded me to watch out for aphids. Those little varmints just love roses. I do have my water bottle of soapy water. I will need to go online and check out just how to take care of the critters. I do not want to use a chemical insecticide.

When reading my e-mails last night, I found one that informed me that National Novel Writing Month is next month. I have noted it on my calendar on my cell phone. I wonder if I want to do this again. My thinking is that I am doing enough writing between the morning pages and entries for WoM. Do I really want to take on another writing task for the month of November? The challenge beckons me but yet I hesitate.

mz. em
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Currently reading:
-- "Charade" - Sandra Brown
-- "The Daily Book of Art/356 readings that teach, inspire & entertain" - day 5
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++