An eerie quiet spread across the land

It was an exceptionally quiet Monday morning. TPP did not see a single other person while walking to the coffee shoppe. It had been raining for hours, and it was still a light drizzle. Things were wet, very green, fresh, and lots of new things had popped into bloom. However the strange quiet was because finals were last week and graduation took place on Saturday, so this college town had emptied and everyone went home for Mother's Day. Aside from all the new things in flower, other observations contributed to eerie nature of the morning. A lot of couches died over the weekend; fourteen were piled on the curb, four at a single address. At least they weren't hauled into the street and burned as was the fashion (very much frowned upon!) a decade or so ago.  A dismembered foosball table sat in an avenue's median. It looked sad. A dozen feet away sat a whole pineapple. One wonders if they possibly could have had any connection?  One apartment building was cordoned off by yellow caution tape.  It seemed very appropriate; TPP has no desire to investigate. The expected confluent litter of beer cups and associated drinking paraphernalia were strangely lacking except for one place where the empties were artfully stacked on a porch railing; it was all too neat. Maybe the pending arrival of parents triggered some primal survival instinct to pick things up. In contrast the coffee shoppe was bustling; a lot of faculty were getting caffeinated for a last bout of grading. Students were totally lacking. It felt really good knowing this was the first Monday after finals when grading did not ominously loom for TPP in over 4 decades! 

Just like a Monday, Monday

Memorial Day is just like a Monday because actually it is a Monday.  It started with a loud crack at about 2 AM, and it was very loud because it woke me up and the windows were closed because we finally gave up and turned the AC on.  Nothing else happened and sleep was returning when the emergency flashing lights appeared.  The connection between the two wasn't obvious, nor was it clear what the emergency vehicle was doing out there, but no one was knocking on our door, so close to sleep again, but then new brighter emergency lights appeared, and all became obvious.  A large (2 foot diam) branch from the basswood across the street had cracked, and a very large limb was blocking the entire street and resting on the utility wires across the street right above our driveway.  OK this might affect the AC and the fans.  But these emergency tree guys have the best toys, and they are experienced, and after deciding how to attack the problem it probably only took them one and a half hours to clear up the whole thing, and they did so without bringing down the wires!  So morning arrived at the usual time a bit sleep deprived, fought with the need the coffee to make the coffee paradox and lost with the result of coffee grounds spilled across the kitchen.  Ah, well, that's why it's a paradox.  And then to further enforce the Mondayness of it all, our bi-weekly Monday cleaning crew showed up because they would rather clean and get paid than have a Monday off.  So while shuffling off to get out of their path, more coffee gets spilled (Understand why cleaners are needed?), so the safest thing to do, perhaps, is see if the cable is working and blog.  But if the Phactor waits too much longer the heat of the day and sun will reach his kitchen garden, and there are things to plant.  Coffee is needed before launching into anything productive, so back to the paradox, and Mrs. Phactor reminds me that need of coffee has been satisfied (?) so the paradox and other excuses no longer apply.  Without question it is a Monday.