Little Articles of Faith

Dear Maria,

Finally, September. Although Labor Day weekend is not until the end of this week, at least there is some kind of promise in the air that the weather will relent a bit. The truth is—the truth—four out of the last five mornings have been cool enough for breakfast outdoors.

Of course, you know how I feel about getting outside, and this morning was pleasant enough to take a little off the top of shrubs, pulls some weeds, and deadhead the roses without breaking into a sweat. Good business.

Now here at this address deep into the fifth growing season, I am able to count on certain patterns as the sun courses along. Across the street, the neighbor’s water oak dropped a bunch of colored leaves last week, which it has done late summer each year. The old vines that climb the white oak out back have started changing colors—always an early sign along with the neighbor’s oak.

Hummingbirds, morning and evening, have been working over the roses and the althea—sometimes in the lantana, but not often. The kites have not been about for a week or so, and the arrival of the big hawk that seems to return each fall to terrorize the neighborhood is a month away most likely.

The other night at Barnes & Noble—yes, a java chip grande at hand—I was reading the short blurbs found at the beginning of The Economist, and then the next morning I happened to read online a much longer article on one of the same topics, Chinese dissent artist Ai Weiwei. I take those little snippets as gospel, so a 1,500-word effort must mean—well, what?  I can only imagine dozens of books have been written about on Weiwei.

Fourteen biographical or autobiographical works about Weiwei listed at Amazon. Yes, I had to check. Too easy not to. Speaks to how little I know, yet I read 5 or 6-sentence summations greedily and then feel like I know something of some situation or event beyond my daily horizon.

Read half-dozen or so articles on Katrina—schools, levees, breakdown of governmental services, police, Charity Hospital, small businesses. A sort of skimming the tip of the iceberg.

Pyracantha berries, I believe, will begin to redden soon.

I expect family gatherings will mark the upcoming weekend. Be well, and maybe next time I will get around to saying a little something about national politics. It will be brief. If I bother.

Yours, of course, 

srk