I February 2026

Reloj according to the RAE (Real Academia Española : Del cat. ant. relotge, este del lat. horologĭum 'reloj de arena’, ‘reloj de sol’, ‘clepsidra', y este del gr. ὡρολόγιον hōrológion.

I have written many times about my relationship with time. Here (above) is one of the blogs. And I have also written in repeated time how Jorge Luís Borges wrote that all first times are infinitely repeated as first times.

Today I thought I might add a bit about time and me as I was looking at my watch. In Spanish there are no two individual words watch and clock. Both are reloj (plural relojes) and my wrist watch is a reloj de pulsera. My watch is a Timex (made in the Philippines that I purchased for $50.00 at the Bay in 1986. Since then all I have done to keep it going is to change the battery every two years. I never take it off either when I swim or when I am in my hot tub bath.

The watch today made me remember Brother Cyriac Haden, C.S.C. who taught me algebra and chemistry in the late 50 at St. Edward’s High School in Austin. He had discipline problems so we made his classes probably unhappy for him. In one of his classes it was the one before lunch. I would stare at the large clock behind him and it seemed that time stood still. Such was our treatment of him that when I returned years later to a class reunion I went to the campus Assumption Cemetery and apologized at his grave.

  

Brother Cyriac Haden, C.S.C.

Now in this century I wake up early to fed my two cats and to make my breakfast-in-bed on a tray. I do stuff during the day (nothing important) and before I know it I am turning off the light to sleep. I am wondering if I can change this or if I want to change this speeding of time.

Brother Cyriac might have some ideas.