dual personalities

It’s a blustery, rainy morning again. Just so you know, I’m going to start every weekly post with the weather report so I have a record against which I can test my hypothesis that it rains every Saturday. Yikes.

We celebrated three birthdays this week — my niece (left) on Wednesday and my middle son (in the middle) and son #3’s girlfriend (right) on Thursday.

Alas, I could not be with any of the celebrants but did think about them all day! I did get to speak to son #2 as he waited patiently in Salt Lake City airport for a flight to Albaquerque for a few days vacation with his beloved. He reckoned that he would spend less time in the air than waiting for the flight, but he accepted the situation stoically. It seems to be the norm for air travel these days. I’d rather drive.

Aside from the birthdays, my week was tiring but satisfying. Nothing bad happened, classes went surprisingly well, and I only spilled coffee down the front of my white shirt once! Even so, by last night I needed to do some comfort reading, so I settled on John Buchan’s 1927 novel, The Witch Wood, which I have never read. I could tell it was my kind of book right from the prologue (I’m reading the book on Kindle, hence the screen capture):

It’s a good reminder that  long term change is inevitable and usually sad. Most of the book takes place in Scotland during the 17th century and (so far) involves the young Presbyterian minister of the village,  Loyalists (Montrose in his lonely loyalty), and Cromwellians.  I think there may be a little devil worship in there too.  Buchan is always thoughtful and much of what he says resonates today. Take, for example, his observation, “The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them.” Hmm… that’s an interesting thought.

Discuss among yourselves and have a wonderful weekend!