Things that start with T
Trouble. Starts with T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool. (Um, that’s from The Music Man… came to mind when I decided on a title for this post.)
Thistles. We have a particularly nasty kind here — very spiny, very aggressive, and if you let them they get really tall. Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon digging up all the ones I could find in the “wildflower garden” area of our backyard. It’s not really a wildflower garden — it’s just a strip of yard that we don’t mow. There are some wildflowers in it, though. Some of them are nice, but not the thistles.
Tulips. I never cared for tulips when I was younger. They came with this house, though, and they have since grown on me. (Not literally.) There’s several small clumps on the near bank of the roadside ditch, between daffodils and locust trees. I think three of the clumps bloomed last year; not sure what the deal is with the others. There’s also several clumps in front of the house. Last fall I dug them up and moved them in front of the porch, because we thought we’d plant shrubs where they used to be. Except they’re all still there. Evidently the huge bulbs I’d dug up were just the top layer of what had been planted by the former owner.
Tired. I woke up at 6:00 this morning full of anxious thoughts about the music work I need to be doing: getting ready to record the score for the Cornell nature film, learning and practicing pieces for a wedding with Pas de Deux (a duo with a woman who plays harp and flute), practicing for The Hanshaw Trio’s ongoing recording project, preparing two workshops for a dulcimer festival this summer… so I had to get up and start working. Spent half the morning on one of the workshops, and the other half on the film score. Collapsed at noon for an hour and a half’s nap. I’ve been vegging here at the computer since then. I should go do some more work but I’m tired.
Thursday. I’m awake enough to remember that it’s Thursday, and that starts with T too. (Funny how as soon as you notice something, like T, it shows up everywhere. Look at all the T’s in this post so far!) One or two springs ago I wrote a tune called Thursday Morning. I think I just liked the sound of Thursday better than the other days of the week. It has a calmer sound with no expectations — Monday Morning might suggest anxiety or work; Sunday Morning church; Saturday Morning the joys of the weekend. Thursday Morning is more about a quiet morning at home alone, with a cat, a cup of tea, and a good book.
Time. Some of the time I was vegging online before starting this post, I was looking up someone from my past. It’s always a little weird to do that. People change… you think you’d love to get connected again, but then maybe it would be awkward. Maybe you wouldn’t have much in common anymore. It’s not much fun to look back through times populated with people who aren’t in my life anymore, especially when the population of now is very sparse and lonely. Relationships are strange. It bothers me when friendships end, whether I end them or the other person does or it just fizzles away. It bothers me that friendship isn’t always mutual. I don’t think “beggars can’t be choosers” really refers to friendship… or does it?
Temptation. I once got a fortune cookie with the fortune “Don’t mistake temptation for opportunity.” Probably the most profound one I’ve ever gotten. I like it. Just because something presents itself doesn’t mean it’s a good idea… or one could read it backwards and remember that not all opportunities are bad or dangerous.
Termination. I really should finish this post and go do some more of that work I was so anxious about this morning.
