Time and Seasons

Fall is here. The air is sharp and crisp, sometimes damp and heavy with a perfume of ripeness. It's harvest time...and grapes soon to be plucked, heavy with precious juice, from the life-giving vines which nurtured them. Olives are usually picked from small trees covered with slender, silvery-green leaves in November. I will be back in Italy when the olive harvest commences and can enjoy fresh pressed, greenish-gold olive oil freshly bottled.

The leaves are falling from the trees rapidly and swirl playfully around my feet as I walk through the city. I keep expecting to see roundly orange pumpkins decorating doorsteps, and champagne-colored cornstalks tied crisply in bundles and leaned decoratively in corners. Autumn in Texas is a joy as the unbearable heat of summer gives way to cooler air and the crepe myrtle outside my kitchen window turns a lovely shade of orange.

I found a scale at a local pharmacy and decided to weigh myself to mark the progress I have made. I tested the scale by my placing my purse on it, to find, alarmingly, that it weighed 41 kilos, in excess of 90 pounds. Even more suspiciously, my left foot weighed the same amount. Drats! The scale was broken. I guess the Universe interceded, preventing me from weighing myself, undoubtedly knowing this might have the power to cause me to focus obsessively on my weight and progress, or lack thereof. I suspect I have not lost as much weight as I would like to think I have lost. No real surprise as I eat a great deal and struggle daily with self-control. I have firmed up quite a bit due to the exercise which possibly makes me appear as though I have lost more than I actually have.

I am wearing a new pair of jeans. They are quite tight acting rather like a waist to knee girdle reducing circumference and controlling jiggle. They do give me nice legs though. Not thin certainly, but shapely. They don't do a thing to augment my flat ass however.

On advice from the Japanese gentlemen, Toru, I walked back to the cathedral at high noon to view the astronomical clock. Precisely at 12, a small bell sounded and a colorful wooden figure moved rapidly from the right side to the left and disappeared from view. I waited for more motion from the enormous time-keeper, but there was nothing. I confess to being a bit disappointed as I wished to see more. I had not even time to get out my camera before the show was over. I was interested to note that while the clock sounded precisely at noon according to my watch, the clock showed the time as 12:10. Maybe it needs a bit of winding.....

I got lost today. I went for a walk on the ring outside the island, in a direction I had never before explored. I walked in and out of sight of the river, my marker, and crossed the tram tracks, which I know intimately since I came about 24 inches from being run down by a tram the other day. I was so busy listening to music and watching for cars, pedestrians and bicycles, that I failed to noticed a 3 car tram approaching from the left. At any rate, I followed the tram lines away from the island, made two left turns, and was lost. I walked a bit in the direction in which I still believe the river lay and when I didn't see anything familiar, like a bridge or church spires, I turned around and retraced my steps, nearly taking a wrong turn. When I was in sight of the river again I crossed over and believed I was back on the island; however I didn't recognize the street or any of the shops. I walked along, planning to turn back if I didn't spot something familiar in a short time, and eventually intersected the street on which I live, Grand 'Rue. What startled me is that I came upon my street from the direction opposite of where I believed I was. I am not sure how my internal compass got so turned around, but it shook me just a tad and I had to fight the urge to sprint down the street and take refuge in my little home.