Wednesday wanderings

1) A nun friend from New York, in an email assuring me of prayers for Randy, mentioned that several of the community will be attending Vespers (an evening prayer service) with Pope Francis at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York tomorrow. I told her that for the first time that I can recall since the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978, non-Catholic as well as Catholic friends remark on how much they like this pope. I know lots of people adored JPII, but sadly that faded a bit as his pontificate wore on. He may be venerated officially as a saint by the church, but even so ... My Protestant grandmother kept a picture of John Paul I on her dining room wall, a magazine cover she had cut out and framed. "I like his smile," she told me. It shone on the world all too briefly.

2) A friend complains that his wife complains all the time. (This is a fact, as far as I can tell.) I said that seems to be human nature. Whenever he complains about her now, I joke, "There's a lot of human nature around, isn't there?" He smiles, but I wonder what he thinks. At any rate, he is complaining about her complaining and I, in my way, am complaining about his complaining about her complaining. I guess there is enough human nature to go around for us all.

3) We have set dates for the October NaNoWriMo prep sessions at the library, and I am in the process of calling those who signed up to let them know about that. I got an email today from the NaNoWriMo Madison municipal liaison offering assistance. And another email from the "Come Write In" part of the program. So things continue to roll along on that front. Remember, dear readers: The World Needs Your Novel!

4)Today is the first day of Autumn, Mabon for Wiccans, in the northern hemisphere. Our friends in the southern hemisphere are entering Spring, and Wiccans are celebrating Ostara. It is also the date that some folks think will be the End of the World. What can I say? "Been there, survived that." There was an old Peanuts cartoon in which Linus explains that the world cannot end today because somewhere it is already tomorrow. Makes as much sense as most theories.