“Hard work keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit.”
Today is quiet, calm. It is a fall day. It is cloudy, dark cloudy, but warm, in the 70’s. Tonight will get down to the 50’s. I’d invent today if it didn’t already exist. The best days don’t have to be sunny.
When I was a kid, I wondered why on Labor Day nobody worked. Even my father stayed home. When I was older, I understood it was a day to honor the American worker, to commemorate the contributions of the labor movement. It was in 1887 when Oregon first celebrated Labor Day. Massachusetts followed that same year. Everything used to be closed on Labor Day. We had a barbecue. Labor Day was, for me, the summer’s last hurrah.
School always started the day after Labor Day. It was the end of freedom. No longer were the days mine. My life became regimented. I got up the same time every school day. My mother was my alarm clock, and she yelled up the stairs to tell us it was time to get up. Breakfast was always ready. I remember the tea pot with the ends of tea bags hanging out of the pot was always on the table. Breakfast was either eggs or cereal. After breakfast I got dressed in my uniform. The same uniform I wore every day. My friend and I walked to school together on the same route every day. We waited in the school yard for the bell. I sat at the same desk day after day. The lessons followed the same order except we had art and music once a week. Lunch followed by recess was the same time every day. When the school bell rang to free us from our chains, our proverbial chains, I ran home at breakneck speed. I changed quickly into my play clothes and ran outside. I didn’t want to miss a minute of my free time, the only free time every day. The street lights came on soon enough.
My dance card has only one listing for the week, my uke lesson on Wednesday. I haven’t left the house or even gotten dressed since Friday. I did do some cleaning. I vacuumed and polished. On my to-do list for today is to fill the bird feeders, change my bed, water the inside plants then take a nap. The sloth in me needs its time.
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
September 2, 2024 at 4:29 pm
Hi Kat,
Labor Day is my least favorite of the three summer holidays because it marks the unofficial end to summer. Already, stores are stocking Halloween stuff, which means the winter solstice gift buying frenzy can’t be far behind. 😦
This year is even worse because we could wind up with Trump unleashed back in the White House. If, God forbid, that happens, democracy as we know it will come to an end. If the Republicans gain complete power in the Congress, they will turn back the legal clock to 1955. Worse yet, they have been chomping at the bit to call a new Constitutional Convention, and what’s left of woman’s rights and civil rights will disappear.
Already, in Texas Governor Abbott and his electoral right wing minions have purged one million people from the voting rolls. If you are a poor or a middle class minority person, will you hire an attorney to get your right to vote back? The Republicans are hedging their bets that if Kamala Harris wins, that the election was again stolen from Trump.
They already own the courts so taking over the entire government, as is covered in 2025 from the Heritage Foundation, will be easy.
September 2, 2024 at 8:47 pm
Hi Bob,
This is my favorite time of year here. The cape holds on to summer weather for a while then slowly transitions into fall which can stay even into November. I’ve had Thanksgiving on the deck.
I can’t let the idea of Trump in the White House into my brain. That would mean thinking about everything you wrote. I’ll not do that to myself. I can’t spend my time always thinking of the worst scenarios.
If given my druthers, I’d drop Texas and Florida into the ocean. The republicans are getting their stories straight so they can lie again that the election was stolen should Trump lose. He has already started laying the groundwork.
I am hopeful.
September 2, 2024 at 9:30 pm
We have discussed possibly leaving the country should Trump win. Obviously, we could emigrate to Israel, but Netanyahu is just a Jewish version ofTrump.
Like you I’m also hopeful.
September 2, 2024 at 9:46 pm
Bob,
I figure the furthest I’d go would be Canada. If I were younger, much younger, I’d relocate to Ghana. My money would go far there. I could live well. I’d just have to ignore the heat and the get vaccinated.