it's that post-thanksgiving, late afternoon sunset and i'm sitting in my chair watching the sun go down over a melting-snow landscape. the snow is actually quite rare and probably won't be back for a little bit but we consider it wonderful, as snow melts and seeps into the ground, whereas rain just takes the dust and washes it off.

a traditional thanksgiving to me has a snowstorm wednesday night, and then again sunday night, so i can now say that we've had at least half of one. we had the turkey, and stuffing, and mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie - my wife is really quite excellent at it, and wants to do it herself - and even the kids, four teenagers, all came in and joined at one table for a happy meal. unusual for us as we've had kids who deliberately did not want to be part of that family thing and would occasionally go out of their way to avoid it.

no football here - i'm alone with my triptophane, and my computer, and the sunset, though my wife is sleeping right across from me. i had my booster last night - that means i am clear - but i have less a sense of freedom from worry, and more one that just, well, there will be another shot soon enough coming down the pike. the pharmacy guy was eager to stab me and didn't bother me about being like twenty minutes late for the appointment. he was ready, he was grateful, and he was positive. but watch out, he said, you'll feel it tomorrow.

and here it is tomorrow, and i'm trying to get back to my book. in my book a young girl goes to college in michigan and finds most of the women want to just get married and raise kids - women can't have a career in those days, 1870, and that's fine with most of them. not fine with her. she becomes an elocutionist and goes of to philadelphia to finish her education.

in philadelphia she sees a lot of things, but one of them is the controversy over the centennial exhibit's handling of women. women get their own pavilion, because all the main-house space has been taken over by foreign visitors. but the pavilion has a problem too - most of women's achievements are domestic achievements - how to wash clothes better, how to cook with new tools, etc. - and that just highlights the fact that that's about all women are able to do. Sure they can sing, or entertain, or look fancy (dresses in that era were quite a production) - but, you couldn't find a woman who, say, invented electricity, or even made advances in science, as marie curie and those who followed her were still a few years off.

the women in charge actually printed a newspaper, the new century, that was a hot item in its day. it wasn't quite radical enough for some, but to most, it represented the general idea that the times were a-changin'.