fri(ght)day

whew what a day...shit i didn't know there could be that much hype in one afternoon.

i started the day off by having a somewhat difficult time with my usually reliable form of public transportation. upon arriving 15 minutes late to work, i walked into a scene of impending chaos. the lines, the lines...yep, far more people than i could have ever imagined decided to postpone their textbook purchases until friday. an even higher number than usual decided to pay for $200 books with a wad of five spots. umm yeah, that's very HELPFUL. by the end of the day my register wouldn't even close it was so full of money.

then the financial aid system went down. i spent a lot of time reassuring folks they could come back tomorrow. 4 pm rolled around and kept going, people kept coming in, so finally we had to lock the doors. i left a good half an hour after close after helping a nun look for her bag that never did turn up.

nothing felt as good as getting off the bus, but unfortunately i didn't get to stay home. still though, not having to cook dinner is a plus, having a movie to watch is a double plus plus.

summer is gone. i can feel it now. here at least, the equinox of the fall moon does equate with the beginning of fall. in ashland it didn't really feel much like fall until mid-october and the time of grapes.

here when i am outside in the morning it's cold and brisk, the leaves of the early maples are stained with red, and the dogwoods are surrendering to similar persuasions. hippocastanea sheds it's spiky balls near the bus stop and i like to pick up the buckeyes and carry them all over town. the fraxinus trees are a brilliant yellow against the clear blue sky and the sunsets are a different sort from the summer hues.

i secretly miss the hidden troves of grapevines though that i used to pick, the late summer teasels full of golden finches up in the mountains and the california quercus and it's many hues. there are lots of little differences between zone 7b and 6.

a new found pleasure is the gaultheria wintergreen berries like little red dots in the landscaping of pcc, huckleberries that pop up a few at a time in my bush, the red blaze of boston ivy and virgina creeper, and the crataegus (hawthorne) trees with their many berries.