It is Sunday, September 13 and there are only 74 days until Thanksgiving, so start looking for those stretchy pants and getting ready to watch football with your trousers unbuttoned.  Today we remember the birthdays of Milton Hershey, Mel Torme and Peter Cetera.  On this day in 1788 New York City became the capital of the United States, in 1948 Margaret Chase Smith was elected senator and became the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress and in 1977 the first TV viewer discretion warning was issued, for the show “Soap.”  In Rhodesia it is Pioneer Day, in the US it is National Grandparents Day and world-wide it is Dante Alighieri Day.

You are probably wondering who Dante Alighieri is and why he has a day.  Not all of you, but a couple of you, at least.  Dante was an Italian poet and moral philosopher best known for the epic poem The Divine Comedy, which comprises sections representing the three tiers of the Christian afterlife: purgatory, heaven, and hell. This poem, a great work of medieval literature and considered the greatest work of literature composed in Italian, is a philosophical Christian vision of mankind’s eternal fate. Dante is seen as the father of modern Italian, and his works have flourished since before his 1321 death.  Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 to a family with a history of involvement in the complex Florentine political scene, and this setting would become a feature in his Inferno years later.

Dante began to immerse himself in the study of philosophy and the machinations of the Florentine political scene. Florence then was a tumultuous city, with factions representing the papacy and the empire continually at odds, and Dante held a number of important public posts. In 1302, however, he fell out of favor and was exiled for life by the leaders of the Black Guelphs, the political faction in power at the time and who were in league with Pope Boniface VIII. In his exile, Dante traveled and wrote, conceiving The Divine Comedy, and he withdrew from all political activities.   The Divine Comedy is an allegory of human life presented as a visionary trip through the Christian afterlife, written as a warning to a corrupt society to steer itself to the path of righteousness.  Now you have a better understanding of who he was.  Why does he have his own day?  I do not know (shoulder shrug).

We are working at becoming fully ensconced in our new abode.  We are cleaning and polishing furniture and getting things organized.  The lovely Elaine has even cleaned the bottles and cans of cleaning products before putting them in their proper place.  We still have no idea where most things are and I find myself wandering around opening cabinet doors and drawers until I find what I need.  The problem is that I do not always remember where an item was and end up putting it back in a different place.  This means that the next time it is needed, we will have to wander and open things until we find it again.  Fortunately, the lovely Elaine does not remember where she put everything, so she does not holler at me for putting it back in the wrong place, yet.

We have started hanging art work and believe me when I tell you that I make this a major project for myself.  I can be somewhat OCD at times and the hanging of art work is one of those times.  I have two different types of nails, two different size hooks and a couple different screws to use, depending on what is being hung.  In addition, I have my tape measure and a laser level to make sure that each item is centered and leveled properly.  I usually have the lovely Elaine come into the room and tell me how far up she wants something hung.  Once we have established that and I make a mark on the wall to show where it should go, she leaves the room and I get started.

Did you know that, generally, picture frames are not simple measurements like 17 inches or 24 inches or other things like that?  No-o-o-o!  That would make it too simple.  I was measuring one frame so that I would know what I was working with and the size was 36 ¾ inches.  I am trying to center and hang this in a space that is 80 inches wide.  What makes it worse is that I need to use two nails, one on each end, and the hangers are ¾ of an inch from the top and one inch in from the side.  The two questions that immediately came to my mind were – do we really want to hang this piece and is there a way for me to get my hands on the framer of this thing?  I was assured by Elaine that we did want to hang it.  It is up, it is level and it is centered, but I am still not having nice thoughts about the framer.

I was back at the old house the other day because the work was supposed to start on the deck demolition (I will explain at a later date).  Unfortunately, it did not because, after weeks without rain, that day was the day it rained.  The work was moved to the next day and we continue to plod forward on that front.  I hope to be able to shed that burden soon.  We are currently paying for taxes, utilities and insurance on both and as my father used to say, “I am not made of money” so we need to end that situation soon.   I cannot wait to unload and tell you that whole saga when the time comes.  It may have to be a two-parter!

This week our fact tells us that you cannot snore and dream at the same time.  Of course not!  How can you dream when your wife keeps elbowing you and telling you to roll over and stop making that infernal noise?