It's a beautiful morning. Alice and I have just been out walking, enjoying the bright sunshine, and getting our shot of morning exercise. The sunshine highlights the glorious autumn colours, which are particularly good this year, apparently due to the extra natural sugar content of this year's foliage and last summer's weather.
Coming home from Kew Botanic Gardens on Saturday, when the rain wasn't coming down, the autumn colours looked bright, even without the benefit of the autumn sun. When it was shining, the colours were as bright and intense as I image the colours of fall are, in the United States....brilliant!!
And Christmas is racing towards us, which is as it should be, but not quite yet, please. Let's enjoy these autumn days a little longer before the onslaught of winter, the cold winds, the driving rain, the snow, ice, sleet and slush - is that too much to ask for?
There are other matters to think of, birthdays to remember and anniversaries to dwell on.
This November is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I was just a teenager in 1963 when the President was shot. My family and I were relaxing in the sitting-room watching television. A knock on our front door announced the arrival of one of my girlfriends, straight from watching a western film at our local cinema. Her film had suddenly come to an abrupt end, with the awful news of the Dallas shooting, which she came to share with us.
Now, I cannot quite remember if, at that same time, our television broadcast had also come to an abrupt end
with the same dreadful news but, there we all were, shocked, horrified and deeply saddened, by what we were listening to.
Our nation, and the entire world, was similarly shocked that this charismatic, brilliant man had gone. His life cut short by whomsoever had willed it should end, for whatever purpose this act had been deemed to be necessary and appropriate.
Our family knew nothing of conspiracy theories, politics or world affairs yet, still, we felt ourselves bereaved by this awful tragedy.
Our lives were affected and now, looking back, I remember the puzzled sadness which descended on us, that day.....22nd November, 1963.
Will the truth of President Kennedy's death ever be fully told, will all the guilty be brought to justice, who knows; yet the sadness still fully lingers and we are still bereft by his lost life, the missed opportunities, and we may all share these emotions in this period of remembrance?
Daisy
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