A Day

I'm off today.  The whole day stretches before me and I have yet to decide what to do with it.  Will I watch all the new stories in stasis on my DVR awaiting my needs for entertainment?  Shall I make soap?  The last batch is a bit brittle so will need to be rebatched when it is less caustic.  Shall I work on the redo of the oil painting I have at the weird place where it is all potential awaiting it chances at perfection vs. overdone?  Shall I start a new painting?  Shall I clean house, or the yard, or the garage?
But first I waste some time surfing the net.  The news is glum.  The government is shut-down and while I personally can't tell anything happened, I know that a family member is on a long-awaited vacation to see the Grand Canyon, The Petrified Forest, etc, etc, and they are closed. 
Closing a thing as large as the Grand Canyon makes it seem like it must not be so big--perhaps less than Grand.  I hope he gets to see it from the road at least.  I haven't heard of roads being closed from this.
I could go on about the shut-down.  The planned and executed shut-down intended to make the other side bend to our will (said with great, gothic trembling of voice and shadowy lighting--by both sides of the government, the coin, one coin...)
Instead I will focus on more important things like that delicious feeling of having a whole day stretched out ahead and no one putting anything into the planning but me.  I can see out the window as I type and the light is coming through the trees, long bright stripes of green and yellow with narrow and muted gray-green shadows, the clouds move and the colors are all muted, mottled, they move again and the bright areas seem to glow with warmth.  A leaf falls, pecans plink on the paving stones by the back door, a bright red surprise lily stands upright amid a bed of multicolored elephant ears.  I can feel the silence.  Perhaps I'll grab a book and spend the day on the balcony in a rocking chair.  I can imagine the warm/cool wind in gentle gusts on my skin.
Or perhaps I'll go make soap and have better results, there is a sense of magick in soap-making; watching the cloudy lye mix with the sparkling topaz oils changing first to an almost orange milk then continuing on with one change after another until it is a creamy, liquid ivory.  I do need to provide that batch to my sister for her friend.
If I hurry, perhaps I can do all those things.  If not, its still a day ruled only by myself.  Perhaps the people who have been shutdown are also having a day ruled only by themselves.   Perhaps those people near Grand Canyon can still see it.  Perhaps the parties hurting so many people to prove their points can see they have no point, no real point, no meaningful point.  Ultimately all any of us want is a day ruled by ourselves to do the things that makes us happy, bring us a sense of accomplishment and capability....
and magick.