Weather in the Tries: 
Oh no, Mr. Bill! We might get some rain on Wednesday. It’s going to take the clouds that long to finally decide to spit at us. As long as we have a cloud cover, the lows will be above freezing. However, once they wring themselves out, and we have some sunshine during the day, we’ll have freezing temps overnight. I’m so glad I’ve got a sheet warmer above and beyond my puppy! He likes it, too. 

Cafes:
I’m not talking about places to eat, though many cafes are, in fact in a café, or other eatery establishment. I’m talking about Conversation Cafes. When I moved to Florida, I was introduced to these delightful programs. I attended two, on a Café Philo (Philosophy) and a Café Theo (Theology). It took a while to find one when I moved to Kennewick, but I did, finally find one, Reflection Café. And, for the most part, I attended just about all of them. Then, I moved to Albuquerque where I couldn’t find any, then I moved back to the Tries and then, before I could re-connect, Covid came, with the lock down, and etc. 

You cannot imagine my excitement to find that the Café is back! Maybe not as often as before, but we’re getting there. And I was at the last meeting, where we talked about Loneliness. It has become a National Problem. A short paper, easily read and digested is here. The longer paper, the actual full report by the Surgeon General is here. This morning I found an interesting bit in a WaPo  article that says: “It turns out only children are not more selfish than others. They aren’t lonelier than others,” Falbo said. “Ironically in many ways, they’re less lonely than other people because they’re accustomed to being alone.” from: Millennials aren’t having kids. Here’s why. by Andrew Van Dam, November 3 at 6 am. I am seldom lonely. I tell people I’ve got a skull full of characters to keep me company. But what I never thought of before is I’m an only child! I’m used to being alone.

And, there’s more! Yes! For a limited time only, you too… I have been invited to speak at one in February or March about being a Death Doula. I’m also hoping to talk about a Death Café. I just checked and we may have one here in the tries. Alas they have a Facebook page, with dates of month/day but no year. Or meeting place. I have sent a message, now to wait for an answer.

Death Cafes are a little different, I understand from my reading. There is no agenda, people just talk about death—their fears, their questions, whatever they want to discuss about death. Very laid back. If they meet in an eatery, they buy and eat something, have a cuppa or glassa, and just talk and ask questions. Whereas Reflection Café, we meet in a pizza place, order dinner, a drink, and maybe desert. We eat and converse from 6pm to 7pm, then hold our meeting with a leader, and maybe a bit of a talk then questions, or maybe just talk, answering questions that come up from the group or a leader.

Here is a photo of one of my brothers of choice Dave, taken at Ciudad, the Portuguese restaurant I told you about last week. Isn’t the mural great? 

From the Paws of the Big Chihuahua:
My human has been home for a whole week. I’m not sure how long that is, but she tells me it is many, many days. She’s talking a little funny, she can’t say all of the words she usually says, and she blames a hitchhiker she picked up on the way home. That concerns me, that she’s picking up strange dogs, but she said it was a germ or a virus, that I shouldn’t worry about her picking up strange dogs. She promises she won’t ever do that. Though, I guess, if one was injured, it would be okay. I’m just glad she’s home and taking naps with me every day. Or most every day. How long is a day?

Dreams are messages from the deep. Dune 10-minuteTrailer