Japanese culture

My friend over at Five Reflections along with his wife like to dabble in Haiku's, a form of Japanese poetry. It's an intriguing form of writing that I remember from High School and when 5R blogged about them I posted one in the comments with a nod to my blog. This past weekend I posted one that was a more straight forward creation.

Winter chill beckons
Snowflakes soft upon the air
Drift downward silent

~inspired by the winter weather preview

we experieced last week.

A-1 November weather

Sunny and warm November weekend. Did some outdoor yardwork and Carol worked inside winterizing the windows then gave me a hand putting up some of that fencing we brought home a couple of weeks ago. Temperatures were in the 60s today which had me reminiscing of a November day 27 years ago on a similarly warm day when Carol, Lois and I from a kit built a utility shed on the land that Carol and I eventually built our house on. Funny thing is, from lack of use the now "old shed" has fallen into disrepair and has been taken over by ants and mice. When I get a chance I need to tear it down as it's a property liability.

Carol and Lois doing a little roofing back in
the day before "do-it-yourself" was cool.

Out there on the fringe again

I've been much absorbed recently reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. I'm about 3 quarters through it and the story has been building constantly to an event of immense proportions. This is deep space, far into the future stuff, gritty yet sophisticated. This is not a happy book, grim work is afoot in a story that transpires over 3 timelines that span over 40 years as the main characters finally come together for each of their own purposes. I am totally blown away reading this and it is Reynolds' first published novel (2000). I bought the book used for $2 from a bookrack on the sidewalk outside a bookstore in Portland, great value considering it contains over 200,000 words. I've been working my way through it for a month now as my reading time consists of a few minutes here and there with the occasional half hour or so thrown in. I will follow up on other of Reynolds work which includes sequels to this book.

A good weekend

The weekend has been pretty good - Ian was home for Friday night. He had his own cold to deal with as mine is slowly winding down. He had a OA business meeting Saturday morning to attend before heading back to campus. Brief as the visit was it was awfully good to see him. The dogs go crazy themselves when they see him. Patches walks with the swagger of a dog who robbed the cookie jar and didn't get caught. Saturday was a washout as it was so I spent a good part of the day working on the church newsletter I do monthly. Today Carol and I traveled to my mother's to winterize her windows. It was fun to visit with her and she had made a hardy chicken noodle soup and sandwiches for lunch. Now that we're home I'm finishing off the day watching by football games and some computer projects.

Theory yet to be tested

I'm willing to bet that best action one can take to knockout a cold is to shutdown for 3 or 4 days. Otherwise bear the burden for a week or more depending on how little rest one gets.