Keats at Last!

Today, I finally saw my breath outside, and longtime readers and friends know what that means: the annual dose of John Keats!

You can read last year's more extensive Keats posts here and here. And if you haven't seen it already, I highly recommend the recent film about Keats, Bright Star.

To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or, by a cyder-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,-

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

-John Keats (1795-1821)

Waiting for True Autumn

When will it truly be fall?

I'm as restless as a migrating goose, but free of any drive to take off (or do much of anything).

I keep waiting for the first seen breath, the first comforter night, the first earnest foliage-drop. Those of you who know me will have patience, aware that I pine for my favorite season about this time every year, jealously ogling AP photos of New England leaves.

What do we have?

Rain. Tons and tons of mid-fifties rain.

A permanent holding pattern.

But today I "found" an hour and a half to snuggle into a corner of a deep sofa at a local wine bar. I'm enjoying a delicious glass of red wine, and doing my best to imagine that it's as cold as it looks outside.

Cheers!

Health Care Thoughts

Yes, reader(s)....I'm still alive. It's a season of memories and not enough time to think about them as life does still seem to go on.

A couple of folks have missed the blog, so I thought I'd make an attempt at a post. Know that what you are about to read is pure opinion, shamefully unsourced. But it's that kind of a day...kind of rantish.

So, for your consideration, some random thoughts on health care.

1. I've given up on trying to follow the permutations of the "health care bill" until, at least, one makes it to the floor of Congress. Seeing key provision after key provision go by the wayside in committee, in pursuit of utopian bipartisan support, has proven too frustrating. Our Democratic majority seems unwilling to stand up to special interests and the media, even in the face of the public's desire for significant reform.

2. We would be hopelessly naive to think that the insurance industry is going to place the availability and affordability of a private health plan over the profits it will generate. We need a public option. Maybe you know: did some of the obvious, simple solutions go by the wayside when I wasn't looking? Why not open federal or state employees' health plans to individual buy-in? Or do the same with Medicaid? Surely the government has had enough experience with Medicare premium programs to figure out a workable procedure. Or maybe not.

3. And yes, I have private health insurance. But since The Man and I are self-employed, we pay for it. And I mean PAY for it, an exorbitant amount, to the tune of a small car every year. While we hear about the problems of the uninsured at every turn, we don't hear much about those of us who already purchase insurance in the private market. A public option would give us a chance to take advantage of a large buying pool or maybe even force insurance companies to create buying pools due to competition. Ask anyone who buys his or her own insurance without employer contributions: we need relief.

4. Is it even possible to get to the bottom of why health care costs so much? Depending on the source, we can blame trial lawyers, insurance companies, big pharma, greedy doctors. Who knows? One interesting, informed opinion can be found in "The Cost Conundrum," initially published in The New Yorker.

5. Why are people worried about "the government instead of doctors making health care decisions" when our doctors' choices are already influenced by what private insurers will or will not cover? We now have a system where actuarial tables and statistical medicine determine, to a huge degree, the care we receive. It's my understanding that doctors actually have more freedom under Medicare and Medicaid than they do under some major health plans. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here.

Autumn Deficit Disorder

It's that time of year when I long for a fall that just won't come. When the usually ubiquitous squirrels go missing, probably to Vermont or some autumn haven, because nothing in the atmosphere suggests they should bother burying acorns. When the desire to pluck a perfectly ripe apple from a tree is defeated by green pecans.

Slight Cooling Trend

Sorry I've been away for so long. My days in Oregon were full if hot, my trip home was uneventful, and settling back into a routine has been challenging.

The last two mornings have held a suggestion of coolness, and evening walks have become slightly less sweaty. Such minuscule harbingers of fall always improve my mood and inspire new ideas.

Along these lines, here are some random plans/resolutions for the upcoming season.

1. Eschew restaurants for food I cook myself.

2. Go to Young Girl's soccer practices and games with glee.

3. Revive my blogging spirit.

4. Advocate calmly for health care reform.

5. Advocate calmly, period.

6. Inspired by Karen Maezen Miller, do the laundry.

7. Attack a pile of paper a day.

8. Spend time outdoors, damn the mosquitoes.

9. Touch base once each week with an old friend.

10. Renew.

Random in Oregon

* My writing group is as wonderful as I remember it. If I had that kind of support in Texas I'd be glued to the keyboard, I think. Now I just have to figure out how to feel the love 2100 miles away.

* It's been very difficult for me to make calls and re-cement old friendships this time. I'm certain that has to do with my mother's death.

* Young Girl had two marvelous sleep-away camp experiences, one near the coast and another in the mountains. She's tangibly more grown up, but in a good way.

* I leave to drive home this Saturday. I'm going to shoot for four nights on the road because I need to be back for Young Girl's Upper Elementary parent orientation on Wednesday night. But, after all, safety first.....as long as I'm home for YG's first day of Upper El on Thursday I'll be fine.

* I miss Large Dog. After a streak of destructive digging behavior, involving my dear hosting friend's yard and camellia bushes, I had to board him at a local vet's. I'll pick him up on Saturday morning, after I deliver YG and The Man to the airport and start my own journey home.

* And, about home...I'm ready to be there.