And the seasons, they go round and round.

It was a gorgeous early fall day today, and I ended up having lunch with Ed on the terrasse of the Indian restaurant. They had the buffet on and Ed is allergic to tomatoes, and apart from the dal soup and the naan bread, everything had tomatoes in it, so they made him some tandoori chicken special, which was apparently delicious. I had the buffet and we shared a bowl of vanilla ice cream with mango sauce for dessert.

This place is particularly popular with the jogging crowd, a bunch of professors who meet at the gym and work out, then go replenish their lost calories with the best Indian food in town (also the only Indian food in town, but that doesn’t take away from its deliciousness). As we sat there, I was continually greeting people I knew, and it occurred to me that if I were having an affair, it would not be a particularly good place to bring my lover.

One of the many things we discussed was religious holidays. Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, probably the most holy day of the Jewish calendar. I have never observed the high holy days, at least not in a religious sense. When I was in school they were always days off. While my other Jewish friends went to the synagogue and spent the day in prayer, I and another friend who was equally observant would go to the mall. One time I was dragged to shul by a boyfriend who thought that I might change my evil ways if it were a reform service, and I found it insipid and inane. The only thing worse than religion is watered-down religion.

However, I told Ed that it made sense to me to celebrate recurring events that marked changes in the natural year. We are at the fall equinox when all the world over day and night share the same length. I think that’s pretty significant. Winter will soon be upon us (perish the thought) and we’ll next celebrate the winter solstice when the days start getting longer. Ed thought that this made me a true pagan, and I have no problem with that. Just as long as you don’t start bringing religion into it, I can handle it.

Then I spent lots of money at Costco and bought another cartridge for my inkjet printer (and I need one more, but there’s no matte black to be found anywhere) before arriving home to a finished front yard. The landscapers did a really nice job, laying the blue stone, redoing the gardens with the shrubs, putting river pebbles along the house so the water dripping from the eave troughs (it’s not supposed to do that) doesn’t make the dirt splash back up onto the siding. It’s going to cost a bloody fortune. This has definitely been an expensive summer. Oh, and the mechanic still hasn’t called about the Volvo, so I’m still driving around in the courtesy car, which isn’t so bad, I suppose.

Hubby and I watched the last two episodes in season four of PTB. Two more seasons to go, and hopefully they’ll have the last one out on DVD soon. They’re strangely addictive.

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