Got a little, give a little

I went yard walking late this morning, or late for me anyway. The sun had just topped the hill and was blinding...what could I photograph in this light? I stood on the dock and swung up the camera, took a quick shot and came back in with spots dancing in my eyes. Blinded by the light, indeed...


(Once again, lechon is being deferred for something else. That is because I found out that there will be a real deal pig roasting going on at El Batey tomorrow morning and I wanted to get some pictures of my own to share, rather than only others I've gathered up. So, this gives you yet more time to dig your own pig pit!)

When I got to the cart this morning a giant truck was next to it, spewing fumes as it was being used to run a gennie for a guy welding stuff on the little sewer pipe bridge (gotta think of a socially acceptable shorter name for that thing). Plus, they'd knocked my trash can over putting the electrical cord through...and left it spewed as well. So I took a walk to Milka's to think how to deal with both issues and came up with...pick up the trash, say nothing. Ask them to move the truck forward about 15 feet or so, which they did. Except for the noise, everything was fine on a beautiful day (when my job means I sit outside in December in shorts and a t shirt, I mean, c'mon!)

Finally, they turned off the truck. Then they packed up their stuff and left. Minutes later I could hear tamborines and maracas and chirping children. Neil and Nydia were holding the children's Christmas party at Dinghy Dock. I grabbed my camera just in time as they were booking along pretty fast! So I missed the old people parranda in pics, but I caught the young people one. All was peaceful, all was bright. Again.

And I got to thinking about the whole Christmas thing, how many people won't be able to do what they'd usually do as far as gift giving or other expenditures considered 'normal' at this time of year, especially the kind that kept the debt piling up. And I thought about a birthday party I went to the other night where almost every gift was a handmade one...clever ones too, not little rick rack trimmed dresses for the dish soap. Will more people find they are really creative this year when they truly want to share a gift or two? Will you?

Then I got what I considered a really good article by email that was in the same general direction, focusing on giving what you can, where you can. And getting back the unexpected.

So what's the point here? Am I leading up to something profound? No. I just think that out of the huge financial mess (and its attendant trickle down personal disasters) something good has to come of it. And if, at Christmas (yes, Virginia, Christmas only, because that is where pressure is most exerted to overdo, overwant, overspend, overhave), we can realize that life being more simple by necessity needn't be a howling thing, but a good gentle shove in the right direction of some very positive reality (easy for me to say with a roof over my head and food on my shelves, but it's still true)...then that could be one good consequence in the myriad of bad ones.

Because Christmas will be over soon, and there is a whole new year to think about how we want to live our lives...and maybe have a bit more of *others* than just mememememe. Maybe. At least that's this story, and I'm sticking to it.