Moments on a rainy Saturday

1. 

I never thought I had a monopoly on polka dots, but until this morning I hadn't met anyone else who puts circles on their walls and furniture.  

Improvised Life introduced me to an artist who sponged green polka dots all over her walls.  

polka dots

"A polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots can’t stay alone; like the communicative life of people, two or three polka-dots become movement…Polka-dots are a way to infinity...."

2. 

Another way to infinity might be traveling to the moon--as Astronaut Michael Collins did.  This morning I listened to a short interview with Michael Collins who died this week at 90.  Scott Simons (my favorite host on NPR) played a bit of his interview with Collins when he was 88--on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

The great thing about Weekend Edition is Scott Simon and his kindness in talking to people and asking questions that, in this case, brought out the poetry in Collins' speech.  Another thing is that you can listen online if you miss it in the morning. 

Was he ever lonely?  Not at all; he was engrossed not so much in what the moon looked like but "beholding our own blue home in the dark of the solar system. Earth was the whole show--tiny against a black velvet background."  He loved the "bright colors of white clouds and the blue of waters, the smear of rust we call continents." 

3. 

Luci and I walked into the Dollar Tree in a downpour. To a dog and a small child, the Dollar Tree is as good as a museum.

People pet you there if you are a small dog.  They say they like your one stand up ear and your one droopy ear.  They scratch you on your head.

So we were walking down the dog aisle.  Luci spied a ball wrapped in net.  She grabbed it and held her head high as she carried it to the check out line.  She had found herself a treasure!  (She didn't have a dollar so I paid.) 

4.

Day could never stand for me to sing or hum, "Sunrise Sunset."  

"When did you grow to be a beauty?  

When did you grow to be so strong?  

Wasn't it yesterday that you were small?"

So today they are all in Richmond signing a lease for Jackson's first house--where he will live with friends in the fall as a student.

She texted me and Nana: "I'm so nervous I feel like throwing up." 

If my trip had gone according to plan, I'd have been there today, in Richmond, seeing my first grandson looking at his first college home.  Day and I would have been crying together, maybe Tom and Marcus too, as they are tender-hearted men.  

It's probably for the best that they have this day to themselves.  It's hard enough without a grandmother along for the ride, even if she is refrains from singing "Sunrise, Sunset..."

5.

And now, with a downpour outside, Luci and I are ready for a nap.