” Ah, yes, superstition: it would appear to be cowardice in face of the supernatural.”
I am so very late today as I was a sloth. It was 11 before I woke up. Two phone calls before nine woke me, but I settled back under the covers both times and went back to sleep. Fern nestled beside me on one side and Gracie on the other. They are both now napping.
When I went to get the papers, I was astonished at how warm it was. It was 51°. I checked the weather in the paper as I had expected it to be cold, but that front isn’t due until tomorrow. I know it’s coming as already, in the last two hours, the temperature has dropped to 48°, still mild for winter but I’m getting spoiled by this winter and have high expectations (which you can accept as an intentional play on words).
The wind was amazing earlier. I heard a crash on the deck and both Gracie and I went running. The umbrella in the 100 pound metal stand had been blown over and it hit the railing. The wind has since weakened but it was wild for a while.
Today is Friday the 13th. The local paper, The Cape Cod Times, had a whole page about it. I found out that you can have your tonsils out today if you so choose as hemorrhages are no more likely today than any other day even though more than 40% of the surgical staff in a hospital in Germany believed otherwise. The Embassy Suites Hotel in Tampa has a 13th floor although most skyscrapers built-in the last 40 years don’t. The hotel opened in 2007 to much controversy and two guests requested a change of floors. I don’t know why they didn’t in the first place. That makes me wonder. The girl scout cookie sale starts around here today. I consider that a good thing. I’m thinking thin mints! Black cats are far less likely to be adopted. I told Maddie, my black cat, that she was a statistical anomaly but she didn’t even raise her head to acknowledge my comment.
I am not superstitious so today is like any other day to me; however, I do have to have blood drawn. I hope those 40% are as wrong as I think they are.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Cape Cod Times, cold, Friday the 13th, paraskevidekatriaphobia, superstitions, windy
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
January 13, 2012 at 2:09 pm
We humans find it difficult to remove myths, fairy tales, grandmother stories and other superstitious nonsense from our lives. Why do we say, “God Bless You” when a person sneezes? Of course, our parents told us that it was the polite thing to say. It’s an automatic response to a sneeze even if you are an atheist. I wonder, do people in China say,”Buddha Bless You” when a person sneezes? I forgot to ask when I was there. My mother always told me that whistling in the house or opening an umbrella in the house would bring bad luck. Her immigrant mother told her these nonsense superstitions. I tried it on my kids when they were driving me nuts whistling in the house and they just laughed.
Black dogs are also harder to adopt and I don’t know any superstition about bad luck and black dogs. Avoiding walking under ladders makes sense. If you walk under a ladder you might get hit by a paint can falling on your head. The odds are very low, but why take a chance. Broken mirrors and seven years of bad luck is ridiculous. A mirror is just a piece of glass with silver on one side. Is the bad luck from the glass, the silver or the fact that you are a klutz? If you spill some salt, is throwing a pinch over the shoulder going to improve your luck. Which shoulder should you throw it over? Who’s going to clean up the mess of salt on the floor?
This Friday the 13th is clear and warm here which is lucky for us. Our worst winter month is usually February so we are not out of woods just yet. We don’t get a lot of snow, but we get ice storms that make everything extremely dangerous. The ice downs trees and power lines leaving many neighborhoods in cold darkness and the ice turns street intersections into skating rinks. A fact that’s only loved by automobile body repair shops.
That cold front actually blew several bricks from my chimney Wednesday night when it roared through. You are in for a cold night tonight so keep warm.
January 13, 2012 at 6:51 pm
Bob,
I like fairy tales and remember so many my mother read to me like Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin and The Ugly Duckling, and I would hate for some kids to miss them. I don’t consider them superstitious nonsense.
I guess my mother was different as she never told us about umbrellas in the house or mirrors, but she did say, “God Bless you,: after someone sneezed. I think it’s been around so long people think of it as a courtesy instead of warning off the devil.
I didn’t know about black dogs, only cats. What superstition do the dogs carry? Most ladders are in places which would force you around them when going under is easier. I never did think of the paint fallling. I guess I’d take the odds though I do tend to beat the odds with weird stuff.
It is nearly 7 and is already down to 34°. The wind is so strong it sounds like a train. Tomorrow should be down to single digits by the game tomorrow night.
January 13, 2012 at 7:05 pm
You are right I shouldn’t have included fairy tails among the others. There is no superstition about black dogs, but they are not the first to be adopted in shelters. The one about the cats is certainly ridiculous. Keep warm.
January 13, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Hi Kat,
I forgot it was Friday the 13th. Good thing too, because I had to replace the bottom cellar step and I might not have done so if I had remembered today was an unlucky day. Just in case, you know. Not because I was lazy or anything. 😉
I am getting odd weather today. Cloudy, windy, rainy, sunny, cloudy, sunny again for a minute. Windy, windy, windy. The kind of day when horses get really jumpy and playful. It’s as if they want to race and jump and buck but don’t know which to do first so they start to do them all at the same time. I decided it was because they could feel themselves building up a static electric charge in their fur. 🙂
Enjoy the day.
January 13, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Hi Caryn,
I would never think postponing a task was laziness. It is merely saving it for another day!
Ours sounds the same. Rain very early in the morning, sun for a short time then that God-awful wind you mentioned. It whistled through here for the longest time. Now it is cold.
I didn’t know horses got static charhes in their fur. Cats I knew but not horses.
Enjoy your weekend and stay warm!
January 13, 2012 at 3:21 pm
The wind blows hard here now and it hits the cottage on the only side it isn’t protected, so it feels chilly indoors even if I have a fire in the stove burning.
Black cats are considered to bring good luck in England, over here in Sweden I know people thought they brought bad luck with them. But now days it’s sort of hip to have a black cat 🙂 I once had a black cat called Lucifer, but I have to admit if didn’t feel good when I went out in to the forest at night calling for him 🙂 🙂 🙂
I think we swedes are less superstitious than americans are when it comes to the number 13 and fridays. All our hotells high enough do have a thirteenth floor 🙂 and many at work didn’t even know it was the 13th today 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
January 13, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Christer,
I had to shut the back door as the wind was so strong it was blowing through the dog dooor making it cold all the way down the hall.
I think superstition is dying out here. Most people don’t even take notice of Friday the13th anymore. My family wasn’t very superstitious, and we had a black cat and I have one now.
I’m laughing at the pitcture I have of you in the forest yelling, “Lucifer!”
January 13, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Friday the 13th had something to do with hanging a banker facing Notre Dame Cathedral. That would be a lucky day for us too if it happened here and on a Friday of any date. I watched for hours to see if CNN could catch one on film jumping out of windows on Wall Street during the last stock market crash. Didn’t happen. Different breed of banksters this time around. Have a great weekend.
January 13, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Z&Me,
The bankers now have bucks even when their banks go bust. They’re too busy packing for a trip to the islands to get their cash than jump out of a window!
You too enjoy the weekend!
January 13, 2012 at 6:18 pm
You get early cookies! Sales in Texas don’t start until next Wednesday. I’ll be glad when they do; we currently have 75 cases in the house, only 28 of which belong to my Scout. Pickups are supposed to happen all weekend.
January 13, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Marchbanks,
We do get early cookies-here in southeastern Mass. I used to love house to house sales. Now I have to find where they’re being sold. Last year it was outside the supermarket.
I need my thin mints!
January 13, 2012 at 7:44 pm
My daughter was the official girl scout cookie supplier to the greatest running back in the National Football League….Barry Sanders.
January 13, 2012 at 9:44 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I figure he played for the Detroit Lions. Maybe among the greatest?
January 14, 2012 at 7:32 am
shakespeare knew that bad things happen often:
Songs from the Plays – “When that I was and a little tiny boy”
By William Shakespeare
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came to man’s estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
’Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.
A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.
January 14, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Fred,
The plays I thought I knew well, but this is new to me. It is perfect for the weather we’ve had. The wind blew down my protected umbrella again and lifted the coverings off the bbq and the chairs. I went out today is out the deck to rights. It was a might chilly.
Luckily we have only half: the wind, not the rain.
January 14, 2012 at 7:47 am
Great tunes today!!!!!!
Looks like we all survived !
xoxoxoxoxox
January 14, 2012 at 12:09 pm
splendid,
I survived with not a bruise or a cut. That’s big for me!