Jewish New Year - feast of sweetness, birthday of earth and hope - wake up call - umpteenth chance - the book of life is open and we are invited to open our own personal books of accounting and recounting. I feel reflective, quiet - discouraged by all the harm people do each other, by the persistance of war and mistrust on levels global and personal. I am aware of the impermanance of life and human creation, whether from hurricaine or from accident (a high school boy killed last week when he rode his bike toward school because of a bus strike and was hit b y a cement truck). I am more comfortable now that my life is past midpoint, that it will wind down, will end. It is rich now. I have so many blessings (three of which still fit on my lap at one time if we squish). I cleaned the house and smile at a bow of apples on the table, fresh flowers. I owe apologies, outreach, continued efforts to heal what is broken in the world. I dip my apple in honey and remember the sweet, even as the bitter scent of misery lingers in the air. I begin again.