Sam and Other Happenings of the Day

Yesterday I sat with Sam briefly before he went to school. Sam is a story teller like his Poppy--he was full of his experience with the first fire drill at the school. I heard about it in detail. He was quite impressed with the whole thing. They watched an "Arthur" movie about fire and fire drills, then marched out one by one to the playground and waited silently until the all clear bell sounded. Brings back memories of corraling 5th and 6th graders at Dyess across from the school in an 80-mile an hour wind praying for that bell to blow.

Again, the weather is Chamber of Commerce perfect and there are some leaves flying--I don't know if they have let go because it's fall or because of the lack of rain.

In a restaurant I watched a black family do what all good families do as they eat--teach the children manners (there was a two-year-old boy and a younger girl--so precious.) and converse. Both the mother and father had flash cards to play with the boy-- counting cards with various animals and insects on them. I complimented them as I left, and the mother said that they had gotten the cards at a meeting for the parents of autistic children (they have another son who is stricken), but the two year old was just eating up the learning with them. I said a little prayer for those who are researching autism as I left.

Then Doris and I want to see Richard Gere that afternoon--Nights at Rodanthe. The reviews have been mediocre. We enjoyed it--guess we are suckers for romance movies. This one harked back to the old Cary Grant--Deborah Karr flicks. The photography was beautiful of Cape Hatterus and the ocean. Reviews called it treacly, and it was , but we liked it. Diane Lane is beautiful at 48 and of course Richard is beautiful at any age. (now 50, I think).

Then the evening ended with the debate. I thought the oft-described as "eloquent" Obama was slightly off his game and missed several opportunities to jibe McCain. McCain impressed with his tales of world travels, meetings with heads of state, and his general knowledge of foreign diplomacy. I think he won this one. Both were somewhat tongue-tied when it came to what they would do with the financial crisis. That does not bode well. But it was fun to watch them together for the first time and to compare.