We awoke to cloudy skies. Our morning walk concluded just before the raindrops began to fall. There has been a gentle rain, off and on, most of the morning. The sun has just broken through the clouds.
Attila harvested peppers from the garden this morning. He will wash and chop them, to fill canning jars with dried herbs, peppers, and diced carrots. I will add pickling brine to the jars, debubble, place the lids and rings on the jars, and steam can them.
The garden seems to be rebounding after struggling through the severe drought conditions we experienced through July and most of August. As long as the frost holds off, it might produce substantially more food.
I’ve had a few tragic losses in my life. It is a part of being human. After watching a history program focused on women in academia, I found myself transported back into the maelstrom of the disasters that visited me there. There were tragic losses, which were far beyond my control, which seemed orchestrated from hell, and certainly there was substantial malice involved on the part of some parties (death threats against my children, legal action was taken, my children survived).
Revisiting these life events triggered the old feelings, of disgust for the motives and behaviours of others (male and female), and of my determination to protect my children at any cost. Academia can be a very nasty environment. The cost was very, very high. It was paid in full, my academic career ended abruptly and finally, seven years of substantial success in graduate school severed.
My girls grew up safely and built lives for themselves.
These thoughts and feelings kept me awake for some time last night, tossing and turning. Finally I got out of bed, as did Attila, and we chatted. Attila said an interesting thing about it all, as he witnessed the situation first hand, “not sure whether to call it a tragic loss, or a lucky escape”. I feel it was both.
A few fitful nights are all that is left of that tragic loss. The lucky escape led my daughters to wonderful lives, and to my present life, for which I experience daily gratitude. Perspective is everything when judging things as a failure or a success.
Worldly
Weather
14°C
Date: 11:22 AM EDT Saturday 6 September 2025
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.5 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 14°C
Dew point: 8.6°C
Humidity: 62%
Wind: SW 15 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.”
Saint Teresa of Avila
1515 – 1582
My first ex was a necessary escape where I was quite afraid for a time. Fortunately, once I got away he never haunted me again. He just acted threatening before the divorce.
Love the pic of Ginger!
Teri, that is very fortunate, that your ex exited the scene.
My ex stated clearly that he had a vendetta against me. The children were “smart bombs” in this campaign. However, harming them was not his intention, although it did occur as a result of his campaign, which was solely about getting revenge on me.
It was a student who uttered the death threat against my children in the academic setting. It was an ugly ugly business, and time in my life. It wasn’t the only “inappropriate” behaviour I encountered, but it was the lowest.