one card just tripled, tied the game in the ninth, and that's good, because it extends the baseball a little more, though it's already gone a little too far, into the cold, rainy season, where halloween is around the corner and you need a jacket on your way out the door. up in st. louis it's a bit colder than here, but they're really pretty close to the same, and yesterday, here, it occurred to me, looking out the window of my car, that it was the absolute peak of the season, oranges and reds and yellows shining through the stand of trees out there on wall and pleasant hill, two of my favorite streets.

high holy days are on their way, and this is what i call them: halloween, all saints day, all souls day, dia de los muertos, guy fawkes, sadie hawkins, actually i'm not so much into all those put together, as much as i am, just that it's so beautiful out. cold, yes, rainy, yes sometimes, but, just really nice. it's a busy time; rumors are flying about the strike, kids need halloween costumes, the term is busy, the roads are busy, and, believe it or not, my partner and i have started practicing christmas songs in preparation for an annual gig. we like this; it's good music. but it fills me with panic that the busiest season approaches.

the kitties, well, the kitties are down to two and we are almost certain to unload at least one of those if not both. the older one, we found a home for already. i think he/she will be ok; i send this kitty my best wishes as he/she goes to live among saudi students in the heart of the student area, where life is pretty wild. these guys are pretty wild too. they don't however have any particular superstition about black cats though. if you think about it, my music partner said, probably the reason it's hard to find owners for black cats is that people are superstitious, though they don't want to admit it.

so now rangers are up by two, i'm blogging the series, it's the bottom of the tenth, cards' last chance. the zero hour (as thursday is, for us, here in strike-land). do or die. pressure is on. the heat came on in my building at work, and that's a complete turnaround for the plants, which have been living on an air-conditioner for months, but are now in a warm-earthed jungle. the heat is on.

it occurred to me, as i was on wall street turning on pleasant hill, that the occupy folks ought to come out on our wall street, since it is in fact called wall street. wall street in our town starts way out there by that forest, on pleasant hill, and comes down through some woods to a student area, near where one of my sons live, by the university, up past a kind of run-down area, and also a corner where some guys hang around, out of work, or looking for work, or just hanging there on that corner. near there is this gas station that some guy bought and tried to turn into a hookah bar, but i'm not sure if that ever got off the ground or even if it is still a going concern. up the far northeast side it goes by a mosque and a school, and keeps going, but i rarely get out there beyond the school, and don't even know how far it goes. you could occupy wall street, i figure. why not? it's not like we have an actual financial district.

so i spend a lot of time driving around town, listening to african music (this keeps the boys quiet, since it has these wild rhythms and chants, and languages that the young one likes to pick up), and much of this is actually on wall street, since it's a decent road and i like it. so i guess i could say i'm occupying wall street. and i have my complaints, but i don't carry a sign, i just drive by the place. one of my complaints is that i don't have a costume, and halloween is upon us. i got two for the little boys, but i may have to go to a grownup party, and for these, well, grownups really need me to be dressed in one. ah, but what can you do? i haven't even had time to think about it.

i have other complaints, but who would care? it's the peak of the season, life is quick, everyone is busy, the cards' season is on the line, people's lives hang in the balance, with a strike around the corner, and i'm thinking, a day at a time. that's how it is for the kitties; they'll all come to a better place, i hope. they'll be delivered. and that's what i'm thinking, another turn of the wheel, and it'll all look different.