King of Swords (Spades)

Where am I now and where am I going?

Since facilitating the PW workshop on Saturday, I've been in a quiet place of unconscious and occasionally conscious introspection. Nothing material has really been accomplished and my time has been slipping through the hourglass with much pondering, some worrying and a few moments of wonderment.

The pondering is focused on "what to accomplish next and how?" The worrying is about the state of the economy and my own limited resources.

I appear to be consumed with news, good and bad and particularly about the election. I am convinced that the Republican ticket will be bad for the economy and very bad for me. I worry about the outcome and don't feel more heartened by the number of robo calls I am getting from the Democrats.

Today my phone rang and I picked it up to hear former President Clinton's voice encouraging me to vote the Democratic ticket. In the last week I've heard from the Governor, the Democratic Party, our local Congressman and now a former President.

In previous years, I was registered as an Independent--it was difficult to do otherwise. Now that I've enrolled in the Party, these calls are both fascinating but also telling of how folks are scrambling in a hardscrabble election year.

It doesn't put my mind at rest, but rather unnerves me.

The wonderment is how small things can be the best of all.

This week I received my Pelikan M200 nibs from Chartpak and had a terrific conversation with Abi on the phone today.

While 40,000 of us had an 18-hr power outage, I had a wool cape I bought at a yard sale for five dollars to keep me warm indoors.

And finally today I signed up for National Novel Writing Month for the first time. I have had friends and acquaintances attempt to write a novel in 30 days, but it didn't appeal to me. Now I've signed up, not necessarily with the intention of writing a novel in thirty days, to jump start my lagging daily writing.

Imagine: Spanish painting of King Solomon (perhaps in an old tarot deck).