SILENCE

Well, unless some miracle happens I won't be posting any music while I'm here in Delaware. I've had a rather ridiculous past couple of hours during which the following took place: I thought there was no USB port for my flash drive on this computer, discovered there was a whole four-socket USB hub, plugged the flash into that, upon which all the blue lights on the hub stopped twinkling, making me think I broke it. I pulled the flash put of the hub, and the lights twinkled again. Thank God. Then the flash dropped out of my fingers. And I can't find it anywhere. This computer is a borrow from Steve's office, so I've been in email back-and-forths with the tech support woman, who happens to be the one who will be visiting us this weekend. It was from her that I learned what a USB hub is. These infernal blue lights have been blinking forever and I never knew what they were. She's been very nice dealing with my inanities, perhaps because she knows she will be eating well in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, Steve's at his training in Austin, Texas, which he flew to, and plans on flying from on Saturday, on American Airlines. You know, the one cancelling more than half of its flights because of badly bundled wires.

The sun finally came out here after an extremely foggy and dreary morning, and things now, on the way to 1 pm, are warming up beautifully, and that's how it's looking outside now, too: beautiful. When I'm done here I will do a bit of raking outside just to enjoy the day and get myself moving a bit. It's not easy to take my regular walks here, unfortuinately, so I have to find some other ways to get my heart rate a bit elevated. (I accomplished that with the flash drive fiasco, of course, but that had more to do with blood pressure.)

It is utterly silent here except for the AA-battery powered ticking of various clocks and tide indicators. There aren't even any waterbirds outside to make their welcome noises. The local NPR station is doing a fund drive, and since it's such a small donor area here they seem to go on and on with their begging, making for rather unsatifying radio. I'll turn on the ipod if things get really bad. And I have a lot of movies to watch.

I can remember when I was a little kid, how I hated it when my parents went out, leaving me alone in the quiet house. My folks never went far in those days--just across the street, in fact--and my mother's laugh was so loud that you could hear it all over the neighborhood in the summer, when the windows were open. Still, I'd have to call where they were just to say "hi," or make up some pretext. I felt silly doing it but was comforted to hear my mother's voice on the other end.

How the worm turned! When my teenage rebellion finally came, it was in a very healthy dose. It got so I could hardly stand to be around my parents. As I moved into my teens, I relished the entire weekends I'd have alone when my parents built a house on the water forty miles away and would visit it, leaving me on my own. Things stayed that way until I was well into my 30s, and then we were able to stand each others' company again. I'm so glad that happened. We were a "normal" family after all!

I will now do one more search for my little flash drive--it's so frustrating because it has to be here, and can only be in a small space, too.......then, if I don't find it, I'll just have to give up to maintain my sanity. Raking some leaves will help with that, too. Sorry for the silence.