more about lucky

ok, so i dreamed about lucky last night...and her entire personna had changed...she was a private duty nurse to a dying eccentric who likes his nurses to be named after interstate exits....and since he is dying without visitors...she has taken his cellphone (one of the original models)...and started to call the list systematically, cajoling those involved to drop by, send a card, or other wise pay their respects while they can.......this entire scenario came to me between 3:00 and 3:34 am...when the alarm went off....earlier i had set our old stand-by clock...with the round face and the wind-up motion...and it never occured to me to synchronize.....so when it went off so soon i had to actually turn on a light to set both time and alarm....and i was still so taken aback by this glitch in lucky's story that i couldn't quite settle down enough to sleep deeply.....i type this having passed by the waddy-peytona exit coming and going today...this story is not about waddy......maybe she will burst forth another day...another season.......

clear as mud.....

ok, so i drove to yet another workshop in lousiville today......and listned to cd#3 no less than 3 times......and while some things are clearer.....say..the numbers 70-100...i had forgotten how one cyphered those.....other issues are still up in the air.....the narrator is somewhat unclear in her diction...it took me a while to figure out that she was saying haut to mean tall......because she saounded so much like oh....and i am used to hearing it as haute with a t sound at the end....ah well......i suppose that there are numerous ways to say anything in enlgish, so i cannot be surprised that there are so many ways to say the same thing en francais....recently a non-blood kin was visiting....and despite the early hour he held out his empty cupped-fist...and quipped it's 5:00 somewhere...i am sad to admit that with our lobby television tuned to country music channels i knew exactly what he meant....and fetched him a beer asap...i'd say toutes suites but i am not sure that is the correct spelling.....if worse comes to worse, i'll point and pay.....silently.....hopefully to will not come to that.......

crows in trees.....

ok, so as i drove to work this morning in a semi-fog....there was one section of road that was a bit above the field to the right....and there were 3 scraggly trees sticking up, with 3 crows perched on the tippy-top of each......and while i did not take this as a sign.......i must say that the sight moved me......

j'ai besoin de demander?

ok, so we were slow at times today....and so i continued to write out the many ways i can express myself.....en francais....i have come to understand that i recall some verbs better than others.....for instance......i really like j'ai besoin de.....i need to_____i am also fond of j'aimerais......i'd like to....it sounds so polite...alas, while i know to connect j'ai besoin d'ecrire.....some things do not sound quite right when the rules of connection don't seem to apply (i refer to the blog title)...so what's up?...is that how one says i need to ask?.......is there a better way?......i am going to listen to cd#3 as i drive to and from louisville tomorrow....and i do not feel ready...as i have focused on je and have completely ignored vous or tu let alone nous......on the other hand, i do feel more comfortable with je veux, je vais, and je dois......c'est le vie......

basketball trivia.....

ok, so...i am ignoring the current #1 ranked ncaa basketball team, because they do better when i pay them no mind......but my mother handed out a bit of trivia over the phone just now....a fact that i have confirmed per wikipedia....that bobby knight was on the last osu championship basketball team in 1960...not a starter...just the #6 guy....but still an interesting bit of lore for the almost march madness.......

march madness.....

ok, so march is almost upon me.....and march is when i try to gear up for the garden....following is my tentative to-do list for march madness.....1) repair the pond....which no longer holds water for the louisiana iris 2) purchase new concrete urns....substantial urns this time.. to replace the faux-terracotta ones that have cracked and don't drain well.....durham's in stanford has some that i like by the owner's driveway...if the owner has them, they can be gotten from somewhere....... 3)clean out the deadwood from the beds 4) fix the lattice on the trellis....should have asked for this as a birthday tribute....5)weed and feed the yard....hope springs eternal......6)repaint the porch floor and the porch railings....when the weather warms up......7) ask the neighbor to build a square table for the deck to sit alongside the long deck table...the one that doesn't quite seat our family......)repaint the benches.....anything else?

free downloads.....

ok, so this song was available this afternoon from 3-hive......i am intrigued by the lyrics....

I was getting ready to be a threat
I was getting set for my
accidental suicide
the kind where no one dies
no one looks too surprised
then you realize
that you're riding on a para-success
of a heavy-handed metaphor
and a feeling like you've been here before
because you've been here before
and you've been here before
then a word washed ashore
a word washed ashore
then a word washed ashore

sovay, sovay,sovay
all along the day

I was getting ready to consider my next plan of attack
I think I'm gonna sack
the whole board of trustees
all those Don Quixotes un their B-17s
and I swear this time
yeah this time
they'll blow us back to the 70's
and this time
they're playin Ride of the Valkyries
with no semblance of grace or ease
and they're acting on vagaries
with their violent proclivities
and they're playing ride
Ride of the Valkyries
sovay,sovay,sovay
all along the day

writing it all out......

ok, so in my spare time today i started to do copying of verbs and infinitives.....just to practice......some of these make sense.....like je dois payer....but others seem un-natural....like je dois danser......not my style.....i am doing the written work so that i can move on from disc 2......i actually feel less comfortable with french this very moment than i did before i started this endeavor.......

close call.....

ok, so i had a close call this morning......dragged my sorry body out of the bed, started the coffee, fed the cat, and trotted up to the road for the lexington paper......all per usual....it was a few moments into the front page that the silence got my attention...slience means no percolation....and no coffee.....no caffeine to jumpstart a brain already muddled by lack of sleep......couldn't resist the temptation to stay up for best picture....just in case my pick prevailed....rats.....l.m.s. was robbed, i tell you, robbed.....cannot tell you much more than that until the coffee kicks in...yeah, the coffee.....sometime after starting this rant the coffee maker was repaired, through divine intervention and answered prayer......might make a decent screenplay?

you say it's your birthday?

ok, so this non-milestone birthday was low-key......having celebrated officially last evening.....i did get up early enough to make 2-potato latkes and an omelet for the visiting offspring, as per tradition.....and i will admit to coming home after sunday school to be able to cook lunch before he went back to lexington..a sunday call from our middle child is always a highlight of our week, and this week's edition did not disappoint.......after walking on the treadmill during uk's loss to vandy.....i went on to watch the first part of osu/wisconsin......at some point i snuck in to check out cnn....and during my absence osu took the lead.....a revelation!.....osu does better when i am not watching.....and so i hung out elsewhere....kinda listening in but not watching....and osu went on to win 49-48.......may be enough to be #1 this week......and certainly a sign that i need to find something else to do during each and every osu game until march madness is over......could work out very well.....i will be out of the country during the title weekend.....just like i was out of the country when the football buckeyes last took it all.....if this theory holds i may have to travel more often for my team......but i digress from mm's big day....the oscars are on this evening....a televised event i do not miss if for no other reason that to see the dresses......the flatscreen tv that my spouse has been eyeing for weeks was on sale in lexington, and he headed out with his ad and his coupon to bring it home.....which means that i should be viewing my show on a much larger screen than usual.....all in all a good day......if little miss sunshine wins best picture...then it will be a superb day

the squid and the whale

ok, so last evening after the birthday festivities we sat down to watch the squid and the whale.....without the youngest, as per direction by our eldest that the r rating was there for a reason......as family dysfunction goes, this film couldn't have been a better portrayal...and jeff daniels couldn't have been better at playing a guy you wouldn't have married in the first place let alone stuck with for so long.....what a jerk.....there were some scenes that resonated......like the one where the mom is sneaking stacks of her books under the bed of the youngest boy.....so that the dad couldn't take them ....and the scene with the cat escaping and everybody outside in a panic.....i was secretly pleased that walt seemed to warm back up to his mom after living with his dad......curiously, i felt that we shouldn't be watching....the angst was so palpable and the breach in the relationships so keenly protrayed that it gave me the sense that i was a voyeur and that these folks should close their drapes.....it was almost too much information......will have to watch many more times to catch the nuances, of course......

lucky haskins.....

ok, so as i was pulling out of the aldi parking lot....there was a lumpish girl without a coat walking down the sidewalk towards town......and the theme of a novella came to me in a flash...lucky haskins lost her cell phone.....and the world as she knew it came apart at the seams.....the girl in question was lucky.....a heroine who borrowed her name from the exit off of interstate 75 south of toledo, ohio...curious that she mourned the loss of a cell phone...as she disliked phone communications as inpersonal......and the phone in question was not exactly hers........but i digress from my revelation.....the world that burst open to me on south 4th street was the vision of what poor lucky's life would be without the phone she rarely used because it wasnt' hers.........omg...the deluge......

the highlight of my week.....

ok, so...this monologue by craig ferguson was touching.....and a bit humbling.....i am so sorry to have taken britney's name in vain.....

ok, so this billboard is currently on display in new zealand ......something to do with a pizza parlor.....and obviously in litigation regarding the caption.....nevertheless, i find it amusing.......by the way, i have just figured out how to add photos to the new version of blogger......feeling quite smug at the moment...

to change or not to change

ok, so...the blogger folks are encouraging their new and improved templates.....and i am considering the plunge....i have had the current format for quite a while.....alas, change is painful...and must be approached with caution......

parler francais?

ok, so.....my eldest and i had an interesting discussion about language-learning over lunch.....he contends that french is a back-loaded language.....meaning that one can grasp certain basics....but the nuances may take years to perfect, even after frequent practice...on the other hand...his linguistics prof. says that russian is a front-loaded language......get past the basics and you have it made.......as opposed to languages that have multiple genders........as previously mentioned i am on disc 2 of my french cd's....and i am loathe to move on quickly because i am still stuck on such things as je vais versus je veux versus je besoin de.......and how exactly does one ask where to find the bathroom?....is it ou se trouve le w.c.?....as i learned in 1972........or is it ou sont le toilette?...or is it enough to walk in and ask toilette, s'il vous plait? with a humbleness in one's voice......i cannot say....after many days of disc 2........

long lost.....

ok, so....after a shortened work-day made hyper-frustrating by the bi-weekly timesheet coding.....i drove to lexington to have lunch with my eldest....always a pleasure...this time i parked and we walked to ramsey's on high where we enjoyed their classic reuben sandwiches.....and exchanged updates.....his reply for my usual.....give me the highlights of your week were completely unexpected....he had attended a lecture by a german author about her life and her works.....an interesting story on its own, but that would dilute what came next.....the crowd was invited to go on out to the lobby for refreshments, courtesy of the german dept at transy.....which is headed up by no less than the long-lost first cousin of my dear spouse.....i say long-lost because we have not kept up with this part of the family near as well as we should have.....they came to dinner long ago when the children were small...and i have no idea why we didn't continue to do so.....ah well....but my eldest walked right out front and introduced himself......good for him.....and now the ball is in our court...or rather in my spouse's court.....

but let me not forget to report on the remainder of the afternoon.....we walked over to the u. of k. art museum....to see an exhibit called art in bloom.....which involves a melding of local florists with art in the collection....floral arrangements that complement or are inspired by selected pieces......intriguing notion.....some were brilliant and some were not.....ah well.....the docent at the desk turned out to be a danville student who was on my first bate trip to paris....whose mother lives on g-island road......she is getting a master's degree in art history from u.k......nice to see her.....i was somewhat taken aback that u of k has received so few works of art as donations.....compared to......just about every college-owned art museum i have ever entered......maybe pres. todd needs to get the word out......i made my way ever so sloly down n-ville road....which resembles rush hour at any hour of the day.....did find a suitable frame for the poem in question....just need a custom matte as the poem is not near as long as the frame......a good start to that project......and later a stop at the b-county library where i was able to borrow the squid and the whale....and a life aquatic to get me through the weekend....a bit concerned why my middle child finds a film about the breakup of a marriage so intriguing......tomorrow is my birthday dinner...though not my birthday.....i have added lumpcrabcakes and bacon-wrapped scallops to my original menu of french onion soup and salad with goat cheese toasts....cannot wait......

meredith makes it out alive.....

ok, so for those of you who don't watch grey's anatomy, meredith does survive her near-drowning 3-part episode......despite her respite, the show was a tear-jerker, but only to folks who recongized the characters in the near-death-almost-passed-over-to-the-otherside sequences......that part was a very nice touch...especially the part where meredith and her mother cross paths at the moment meredith decides to live and her mm checks out......tears are cathartic, and it is far more socially acceptable to weap after a television program than in most life-situations.......maybe that is why i sit up every week to watch.......because bottom-line i need to good cry....

ok, so.....

ok, so......my drive to louisville this morning was a downer because 1) my workmate did not stop talking about how upset she is about work until i said...enough of work, i'd rather talk about britney spears shaved head than talk about work.....2)the fog was thick as potato soup....yeah,yeah,yeah...the idiom is thick as pea soup, but the fog was kinda whiteish rather than greenish.....3)i had to listen to griping rather than my french-on-cd's.....i did listen to my cd#2 after i dropped off my human cargo at the health department.....maybe another 2-3 listens to cd#2 and i can move on to #3......the highlight of the day was realizing that the hurstbourne tuesday morning was across the parking lot from the conference hotel.....i found a nice umbrella, some gardening gloves, and a photo album for my daughter's paris pictures.....i almost bought a long brushed silver frame that i thought might hold the original poem i have to protect.....when i go to l-ville next wednesday for yet another meeting i will take along measurements.....the frame might be absolutely perfect.......mostly the conference was a waste of my precious time...but one never sees that coming when one signs up.....it is only after one offers rides to 2-3 others and commits to the day that the mistake dawns quickly upon the semi-sedated brain cells......omg...had i been alone i'd been gone by 10:00 am........

how was your day, honey.....?

ok, so.....there were tense moments today....mostly because we have new staff......who misunderstood just why a mom with a toddler was there for services......and when i finished weighing, measuring and fulfilling all other gov't requirements for the toddler....i turned to the mamma's chart...and asked when she was due......oooppsss....turns out she needed no services.....because she is not pregnant....and did not appreciate being asked about pregnancy.....bless the new clerk's heart.....she had no clue that her error would have such profound ramifications....good thing this mamma could take a joke......of course.....there were more laughs when the mamma undressed her child thinking that i was the one going to give her boy shots....ooopppsss...turns out she failed to mention to the clerk that shots were due.....and that i could not give shots to this nearly naked boy.....ah well......and that was not even the low point of my day......nope...it came much later as a coworker who is riding with me to l-ville tomorrow for a meeting swept in to ask if it was ok that she brings her coffee along for the ride.....ok....so far so good...and then she wanted to know just when we had to leave....knowiong that i have to be back to teach my class....and then she went that one statement too far....asking just what qualified me to teach a college class......ooopppsss......well, i replied, slowly so she could understand.....it is the master's degree and the 27 years of experience in the health field.....oh, i guess i don't have that....she replied........hopefully we won't revisit that tomorrow on either the drive up or back......

the world looks better.....

ok, so let me just say that the world looks so much better after a good night's sleep......10 til 6:30 seems just about perfect....didn't improve the understandability of my dreams.....i was at a yard sale and seemed to be buying up items previously owned by my friend jane....with jane standing right next to me.....i am supposed to drive up to cincinnati to see her on friday, but i fear this trip must be postponed because i no longer have most of the day off, and driving 5 hours in an afternoon doesn't leave much time for a chat.....but i digress from this dream.....there was a buffet lunch available, but we were taking ours to go, and all we could choose from were salads dressed in white sauces: cucumbers salad, potato salad, macaroni salad....no vegetables included......what a curious thing to dream about.....who would bother to make salads that had no vegetables in them?.....ah well......speaking of sleep......remind me, gentle readers, to clean out the linen cupboard.....the last time i sorted out sheets to give to the goodwill, i somehow failed to give away all of the sheets that don't quite fit any of our beds..or that don't suit..which caused great distress to some last evening.......better to have an empty linen cupboard than sheets that do not fit or that are not a complete set or don't suit.....

sparrow house.....

ok, so the tune by this group called when i am gone is quite melancholy..in the best fleetwood mac sense.......

hopeful signs....

ok, so...i took a turn along the garden path with my cup of white raspberry tea...and rejoiced to see croci....at least 6 of varying colors....wow...i really needed to see a sign of spring....

the complete listing

ok, so for a complete and itemized listing of my faults and shortcomings.....send a self-addressed-stamped envelope......to add to the list just comment below.....that gives me a fighting chance to reject the offered critique.....

repetition.....

ok, so on a whim i made a quiche on saturday.......yeah, well-i did use a refrigerated crust but the rest of scratch......carmelized onions, bacon and spinach.....yummy......didn't need an actual recipe.....have made enough quiches in my day to find the directions unnecessary.....and this is how repetition in learning language figures in, i suppose.....theoretically if i listen to disc 2 every day for 4 years i will remember everything on it......as it stands now, i can vaugely recall hearing this stuff after days of listening before and after work and when running errands......oy

the moleskine

ok, so this afternoon i broke open the plastic-sealed journal.....and began the transfer of information.....starting with my newest guidebook (Access 2007)....to be later enriched with tips from previous trips....rail schedules, museum open/close information, modestly-priced restaurants in each section of town....especially those closest to the hotel...a folded metro map....alternative scenarios for each day.....in domino-effect based on what time we actually arrive at our hotel.....my favorite first-day destination is musee d'orsay for lunch in the grand dining room....great food at reasonable prices in outstanding (think gilded mirrors and cherubs)surroundings.....if we do not make it into town in time for this ideal lunch, then i have an alternative scenario that bumps the musee d'orsay meal to another less desirable day.....ah well....one cannot do all the things one wishes on a short jaunt to paris....but one can try.....i value my little moleskine(s) because they are so very trim and unobtrusive....looking refined rather than touristy...a will also print out some useful phrases en francais.....and as we spend money i will tape in receipts...always helpful in filling out custom forms....and record an actual blow-by-blow account of the how we spent our time.....

mrs. boggs.......

ok, so the estate sale for my late friend mildred is next saturday......and i will not be attending......mostly because the 2 lovely watercolors she painted and presented to me during her lifetime mean more than any such works i might buy at her sale......there are several she had in her studio that i vaguely recall....but neither are those that i can see myself bidding upwards against strangers.....cayle's pappy has already purchased her lakeside property...will be a curious arrangement as he used to live across the street with cayle's mimi once upon a time....the lake place will only be a weekend destination....but will still be problematic.......

a single degree.....

ok, so a single degree makes all the difference.....our house is kept at a hardy 66 degrees....but bumping it up to 67 on a particularly cold days adds just enough ambiant warmth to make me believe it is balmy inside.......there IS snow on the ground.....looks like a few inches, but not enough to fret over.....so far church has not been cancelled.....the sun has peaked through the clouds and is streaming through the new window in the front room.....a lovely way to greet a new day.......and a glrious day to be at home rather than work.....

mr and mrs smith.......

ok, so....i borrowed dvds at the library.....in addition to 84 charing cross orad.....wow....mr and mrs smith...starring brad pitt and angelina jolie.....quite the action picture......hard to count the cars, homes, and businesses destroyed before it was all over......i heard they may do a sequel......if they can find something concrete left over from the carnage on which to build a new plot line....

84 charing cross road

ok, so...i borrowed this film from the library today an a whim...an online recommendation..it is the charming, and true story about a new york writer who bought used and out-of-print books from a london-based shop (at 84 charing cross road).....and the correspondence between the writer, and each of the folks there over the years....she was so thrilled to find the books in question, she sent tinned foods unavailable in post-war rationing...the comments on literaure, featured in her letters or the stopre manager's responses are quite precious.....i must admit to tears when she she missed the coronation...she had planned to travel to london to meet them all because had to cancel because she needed dental work and she could not afford both....she corresponded for 20 years...always putting off travel til tomorrow that she should have done today.....by the time she finally went to london, the store manager frank was dead, and the store gone......how very sad.....but such a sweet and unexpected film........

not going to red lobster....

ok, so......my birthday looms.....and all i can say about how i want to mark the occassion is that i do not want to go to red lobster......the offer has been made....and politely declined....for a variety of reasons....starting with the fact that driving to lexington, even on a sunday,is annoying....and to go on a saturday night-when the eldest is not working- would be worse.....and so i am scheming up a luscious meal i can cook at home on saturday evening here at the house.....not quite sure what i want- sushi sounds good....though that would have to be driven down from lexington.....french onion soup also sounds tasty.....as does a simple salad with goat cheese toasts......good thing i am plotting early...and often about menu.....

marie. antoinette

ok, so we watched the film last evening.....my spouse for the first time, as he had passed on our opening day trip to see it in nicholasville......and i was determined to pinpoint just why critics disliked it so......it could be the soundtrack.....though classical tunes would not have conveyed the avant-garde nature of marie's circle of bon vivants the way that new music does.......one does have the urge to tell the poor dear that she can turn all this around if she puts her mind to it.....but she is oblivious......as the youngest of 15 children would be, i suppose.....i read on wikipedia that her mm was horrified to discover, after she had been promised to the french dauphin, that marie could not speak french and had no knowledge of french/austrian history or world affairs.....so it should come as no surprise that she continued on with a decided lack of attention to politics.....and it should come as no surprise that her friends took advantage of her....financially and politically........such a sad tale of woe that should have ended differently.......speaking of ending differently, (a mansfield park reference, by the way...) i did finish my jane austen bio......a book that only an austen fan(atic) could possibly sift through.....such is the ilk of bios.....far too many facts and details and.....trivial asides......but these bits of this and that add up to a richer understanding of each of her 6 novels......every circumstance depicted happened to somebody that our jane either knew, or knew of.....i was pleased to learn that she did find acclaim in her own lifetime.....the prince regent read several of her books, and especially liked p&p......and she received letters from her fans.......i had always bene under the impression that most of her work was published posthumously and that she died feeling as if she had failed as a writer.....not so.....2 of her works were published after her death, but she did enjoy the attention brought by the first 4.....there is the subject of her 2 love affairs.....she spent a year believing that this irish fellow was as in love with her as she was with him,....but he married somebody else......and when she was finally asked to marry a friend of the family years later, she got cold feet and turned him down the day after the engagement party......it could have turned out differently, i suppose, but it didn't......

friday, friday......

ok, so......i drive 2 counties over to see a client and to speak to a group of senior citizens....and then i am done with work until monday.....and it couldn't happen to a more exhausted m.m.......i expect to have finished grocery shopping and other assorted chores before the expected snow hits.....and now that i have a book to read, the snow might as well fall heavy and drift up to the doors.....i am savoring the newest jane austen bio becoming jane austen....so far she is writing short stories only for amusement of her extended family.....but one can see in them the roots of her novels.....alas, i do have to get caught up on my course work....such as posting grades online and studying the next lecture chapters.....and i will put some time into reviewing the book that goes along with my inthecar french cd's...for the record, i have moved on to cd#2......my drive time today will be long enough for a complete repeat of this section......oh yeah...and we are going to watch marie antionette on dvd....just came in the mail yesterday.....lots to do this weekend......

no reality, please.....

ok, so we have all just watched the cliff-hanger grey's anatomy.......and none of the (collective) we can handle life without meredith.......

the day after.....

ok, so.....i had vivid and weird dreams last evening....and so work related that i should be compensated.....in my dreams i was at the anderson co. h.dept.....where i go tomorrow to see a diabetic client before talking to the senior citizens...and in my dreams someone showed me to the parlor of the health dept (which doesn;t exist)....and i was sitting on a sofa with my client when the widescreen t.v. turned itself on...and my client got all upset about the disturbence and left....and i could not turn it off...meanwhile...in the window of the parlor there were neon signs spelling out the names of the health dept board members...a curious touch for a dream.....given that i have no idea of who is on their board....ah well.....i began cd 2 of my learnfrenchasidrive collection.....and i was amazed at just how much french i could recognize.....after hearing the first run-through.....and how much french i could not remember during the audio review.....which makes me wonder if i am retarded in some organic way.....some gene gone awry that fixed itself before the birth of my gifted offspring.....has to be..because no reasonably intelligent adult could have forgotten as many french terms as i.......

forced-romance day....

ok, so....i am so glad this day is almost over......what with my workmates receiving flowers right and left...and folks asking me what my spouse did.....to which i replied....what did you do for your spouse?.......i fixed my beloved a filet mignon supper after my class dismissed early this evening.....i can do that because i am the instructor.....yeah the filet was wrapped in bacon....and our semi-dog loved every bit of this castoff......flowers are a lovely gesture...but i treat myself to $2.99 bouquets nearly every week....so spending (read this as wasting) cash on over-priced blooms is foolish.......on the other hand...when my spouse showed up with a new pair of walking shoes in my size...because he thought it was time for a fresh pair....i considered that intensely thoughtful and insightful.....and it mattered not one bit that the gesture did not take place on a made-for-profit holiday......

valentine's playlist....

ok, so i downloaded the following from salon.com.....i am posting the list so i can remember half of these....as there were numbers and no names for several of the tunes......

"Proceed With Caution," the New Amsterdams
2. "Get Your Curse," His Name Is Alive
3. "14th Street," Laura Cantrell
4. "Goodbye," the Postmarks
5. "Memory Lane," Elliott Smith
6. "Lily One," Matt Pond PA
7. "Crazy for Leaving," Catfish Haven
8. "Always for You," the Album Leaf
9. "You Can Never Hold Back Spring," Tom Waits
10. "Another Sunny Day," Belle and Sebastian
11. "I Am John," Loney, Dear
12. "As Far as I Know," Paul Westerberg

belle and sebastian wasn't available as a download, but it is already on my pda.....

happy valentine's day...

ok, so there was a card waiting for me on the coffee maker this mroning....my never-fail first morning destination prior to going out for the newspaper.....how very thoughtful......

so very tired.......

ok, so......the rain kept clients away....and so i was able to devote more than the usual time to reviewing french verbs......and sadly...i can recall few as i sit here at the keyboard.......je suis un idiot......(or is that une idiote?)

sleepless......

ok, so despite the lack of caffeine in my system, i tossed/turned through a restless night that seemed to be caffeine-driven.....no clue why....at one point i moved the kleenex box in front of the clock so i wouldn't be troubled by the knowledge of just how long i had been awake....all i need right now is to go back to bed, but i will go to work anyway.......and daydream about sleeping.....

daily downloads.....

ok, so so i have downloaded a new song by andrew bird, and a tune by the willowz called lonesome gods that is very nice....and another by albert hammond called in transit that is catchy....and of course, i downloaded the dixie chicks performance at the grammy's, as introduced by joan baez......yeah, many critics made much of the granny nature of the grammy's......i didn't notice....given that i really enjoyed the production....seems i am already a granny without benefit of grandchildren...who knew?.....

my, but our standards have changed....

ok, so this from jossip, a blog from nyc......A condominium board on the Upper East Side is asking a judge to stop a newly opened Subway restaurant from baking fresh bread, claiming the building is being "inundated with strong and nauseating food odors," causing property values to plummet.

The owner of the franchise, Tae Hyun Shin, 47, said yesterday that he has tried to accommodate his neighbors, offering to reimburse them to dry-clean clothes they say smell as well as installing a $3,500 ventilation system that he says pushes the baking fragrance onto Second Avenue.

The campaign is being spearheaded by a couple who live on the third floor. They allege in a lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court that the lobby, basement, and stairs of the Waterford Condominium at 300 E. 93rd St. suddenly began smelling almost two weeks ago, after the restaurant opened.

"Defendants have failed to abate the condition, thereby damaging the health and safety of the condominium's unit owners and employees," the suit says.

omg.....health and safety issues?.......from smelling baking bread.....?are these people crazy?.....i would much rather smell baking bread than...say.....car exhaust from crowded nyc streets......they shoudl be paying subway.......

not ready to make nice.....

ok, so it was worth it to stay up late to watch the dixie chicks clean up at the grammys...5! including the big three......album of the year was icing on the cake.....for the record, the long way home was a fabulous collection of cross-over tunes....my favorite is silent house, a tear-jerker song about alzeimers disease.....and all in a year when country radio would not play their stuff.......good going, chicks!

an addendum....we were thrilled to see that imogene heap was not only nominated, but showed up with tree branches in her hair....made our day!

an amelie afternoon.....

ok, so.....after church and lunch...and a family church directory photo (the home-bound folks- not the far-flung....) i settled into a walk on the treadmill with amelie.....followed by a french study session while i watched the remainder of the film from the back table....i am amazed that the new french teacher guy is using verbs i have never heard.....je veux?....where have i been for this one all these years of not recalling french?.....i was taught to say voudrais?.....and je dois?......i have never heard that way to say i have to....and so i am listening closely as i drive, while my 3rd child is happily oblivious.....i have told her that we will not eat until she tells me in french that she is hungry...which is not true for lunch, as i have these meals planned out day by day.....supper....who knows where we will be and where we will stop...but i have favorite lunch spots that must be included......first day....musee d'orsay's grand ballroom restaurant.....such a marvelous space and such good hot and cold plates.....and musee jaquemart-andre....an ethereal space with an imported italian frescoed ceiling complete with angels peering over the faux railing...and then there is the sweet place across the parking lot from giverny....and cafe marly aside the louvre pyramid for brunch on sunday......life doesn't get better than these midday repasts.....i must add that i have yet to enter the first line of information in my moleskine journal.....that will come.....and then i will lend out my new guidebooks to dear friends traveling to france in june/july......i try to transfer all my info into a non-guidebook that doubles as my day-by-day financial record.....it is always comforting to know exactly where my money has gone......for the record i have 3 distinct day-by-day scenarios that hinge solely on when we arrive at our hotel from the airport on saturday......i will be ready for any and all possibilities......

lost......

ok, so...sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning i took off my watch somewhere other than where i usually take it off....and now i cannot find it.....we are not talking cartier here (though i secretly wish we were....).....but still...i cannot do without my watch....in the meantime i am wearing a funky blue plastic nike sports watch that somebody returned....it does tell time.....but it is not quite my style....and so....i will not rest until i figure out where i took off this elusive timepiece.......

yet another twist to the tale.....

ok, so this from the times-uk online....Now the extraordinary whodunnit over the identity of the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby daughter has taken another twist - it could be her elderly billionaire husband, who died in 1995.

J Howard Marshall’s name was thrown into the paternity stakes by the half-sister of Ms Smith, 39, the buxom and platinum-blond former Playboy Playmate who collapsed and died in mysterious circumstances in a Florida hotel room last week.

In the manuscript for a new book, Donna Hogan says that her sister froze the sperm of the 90-year-old Mr Marshall and suspects she used it to become pregnant.

mm notes- this story just gets more bizarre as the days go on....too bad dubya can't be linked somehow...now that would make things really interesting.....

understandedly confused.....

ok, so....i m personally pleased that b. obama is running for president......he is liberal and mostly baggage-free....and though i would prefer to vote for the first viable woman.....hilary has so much baggage as to be cumbersome.....maybe not her own...but linkable.....the questionable death of vince foster is similar enough to ed kennedy and chappequidick (sp) to quell all hope for for this reasonably open-minded person......curiously, the colbert report a few nights ago hosted a salon.com columnist who explained why obama is not black.....wtf? you say under your (collective) breath?..how can he be dark-skinned with african roots and not be black?.......it seems that those of color have determined that only those who have west african slave connections can call themselves black.....and mr obama, with only kenyan (eastern) african connections by way of his kansan mother living in hawaii....cannot by this definition be...black........who knew?.....the salon.com commentator on colbert's show was serious as a heart attack about this point....which does not seem to be a legal term by any means.....gp figure.....so what does that say about us non-blacks....are germanic northern europeans any less white than those from england or france or wales.....?......shoud we of palour subdivide into these cultural distinctions......?,,,my scottish kin came here as indentured servants...doesn;t that align me with east africans?.....or at least in the same boat as kenyans?.......or irish who have been the whipping folks for decades in some parts.......ah well....i might just throw my hat into obama's ring right now and save others any debate on where i stiand.....

je ne veux pas apprendre

ok, so.....this was the line being presented on my new learn-french-while-you-drive cd's when i picked up my daughter after her volunteer session at the animal shelter......she looked at me, and we (collective) burst out laughing.....it was a precious moment......i, however, feel the exact opposite about learning.....despite 30+ years at a standstill with les mots francais.....the english-speaking guy told me emphatically in his opening remarks that he is proud of my dsire to learn french....and that with practice, and with a willingness to make mistakes, i can learn and/or improve my language skills.....this fellow, by the way, is a professor at u of ill, and sounds vaguely like the d. anderson of the french language learning world.....but i digress......i listened and repeated between stops at the aldi, the kroger, the gas station, the animal shelter, and back home.....somewhere along the way i must have missed the phrase je veux....doesn't even sound familiar.....but i know it for the here and now.....speaking of my errands...i ran into a dear friend that i have not seen since i saw her at the food lion last easter....with her extensive shopping list....and it was good to not only catch up, but share a few laughs.....gosh.....2 days of good conversation......i'm nearly on a roll......who knows who will come my way tomorrow......j'aime parler avec mes amis.......

the lives of others.....

ok, so...there is a german film nominated for the foreign language oscar that has just come out in the u.s......i say come out quite loosely, as it is not playing anywhere around here......despite the npr reviews and the fresh-air interview with the director....and the nytimes piece about it......the storyline goes something like this.....east german member of the secret police sets up a lsitening center in the attic of the apartment building where an artist and his actress girlfriend live.....every room is bugged, so that the police/listener guy can catch them saying something subversive toward the state.....crumbling state by this time (1984)....and the policeman becomes intrigued by the lives he overhears....and his life is changed by it despite his convictions that art is unncessary and dangerous.....in the fresh-air interview, the director said that it was not until he was filming that he discovered that the actor who played the policeman had lived in berlin during the time in question...and after the wall fell, he petitioned the secret police for his own file......some folks found it easier to move ahead and not find out who had betrayed them.....but this guy wanted to embrace those issues.....seems he was working at the time with at least 2 actors in his group at the time that were secret police plants- pretending to be actors to spy on him....but i digress from the lives of others.....spying on the artsy couple made this guy realize that he had no life of his own.....and that is so very sad......but even those of us who feel like we have a full life like to have our share of peeking in at the lives of others.....that is precisely why soap operas have held the fascinatiuon of so many for so long.....and why we like serial evening dramas.....like e.r..or c.s.i...(well-not me because i have never seen them) or grey's anatomy....(which i do not miss...) ....and that is why we so enjoy an exceptional novel- with characters that draw us in heart and soul.....as opposed to fiction that is easily put down......and i suppose this explains why it is so interesting to read the blogs of others.....i have looked in on the meanmama blog a few times this week.....we do have a few things in common.....she doesn't capitalize.....and she isn't as mean as the moniker implies...and she seems to be a free-thinking and thoughtful soul......on the other hand...she is a vegan....which i most certainly am not.....speaking of the lives of others....i went out to lunch yesterday with my eldest to catch up.....i had every intention to order a steak sandwich at j.beth cafe.....having studied the menu, but i ordered a glass of sauvignon blanc instinctively....and went on to enjoy the crab cakes over spinach salad.....which were delicious and far less caloric......i discussed the film with andrew......who would enjoy it for the german language as well as for the plot line.....after our lunch i drove back to d-ville to meet some dear friends for wine and savory treats.....to catch up on their lives.....thankfully we (collective) lead far less dramatic lives than those in the news, or those sad local folks we know to be going through rough patches.....and that is a relief- to find out that one's fabulous friends live just as quietly as you.......

at least one person is happy about a.k.smith's demise

ok, so the crazy astronaut diaper lady must be relieved that a.n. smith died...the headlines will be all a.n. for the next little bit, what with her autopsy and custody battle ongoing.....and since sensation runs in threes....i can only imagine what the third outrageous event will be.......

12......

ok, so this composite score showed up in an envelope at our home....and it took me a few minutes to take in the horror.......

a.n.smith....

ok, so the news broke baout a.n.smith's tragic if unsurprising death just before i left work.....grown women were huddled around a p.c. screen listening to audio updates from the hospital......surreal.....one woman quipped......'i don't know if i want to live in a workd without anna nicole....'.....maybe she was joking......

baby, it's cold outside....

ok, so the wind chill is under zero today.....i did bundle up to venture out to the road for the newspaper.....would rather crawl back into my flannel-lined womb.....

completely converted.....

ok, so this from cnn.com.....One of four ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard said the disgraced minister emerged convinced that he is "completely heterosexual."

Haggard also said his sexual contact with men was limited to the former male prostitute who came forward with sexual allegations, the Rev. Tim Ralph of Larkspur told The Denver Post for a story in Tuesday's edition.

"He is completely heterosexual," Ralph said. "That is something he discovered. It was the acting-out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing."

Ralph said the board spoke with people close to Haggard while investigating his claim that his only extramarital sexual contact happened with Mike Jones. The board found no evidence to the contrary.

mm notes:.....these fellas may say that he is saved from sin but i have a hard time beleiving that they'll give him his old job back......

a skiff of snow.....

ok,so many of my workmates were completely obsessed with the possibility that there could be inches and inches of snow this afternoon or this evening......and their collective hysteria caused our director to call an actual meeting to discuss possible scenarios for closing early or closing on wednesday......none of which were worth any of our time, given that the snow passed us so far to the north as to be laughable.......those of us blessed to be from northern climates will quickly tell you that to qualify as a significant snow...the actual snow best cover your shoe...not just the sole of your shoe........oy......

driving nonstop from texas.....

ok, so the tale of the astronaut gone wild in a wig and diapers has me baffled......she's got a husband and 3 children at home, including 5 year-old twins.....and she was either having an affair with this fellow astronaut or wanting to have an affair with this fellow astronaut.....and she went off the deep end when she discovered that yet another astronaut had possibly taken away his interest.......hard to know where to start with this.....given that most single men probably do not dream about whisking away married mothers of three.....especially those who have stainless steel mallets, 4-inch hunting knives, and trashbags in the back of their cars......ouch!...and even though the woman never touched the alleged victim.....she won't be getting out of jail anytime soon....so let us hope that the spouse/parent of the twins remembered to pick them up from daycare and has fed them and put them to bed in mm's absence.......but i digress from my original intent.....wondering how the poor woman entertained herself for the drive....books on cd....a murder mystery? ......maybe an unedited life of jane austen, mayhaps......or french language refresher course?.......hard to imagine such a long journey with nothing but my jealosy to keep my eyes on the road......frankly, i feel sorry for this woman, and her teenage son and her husband and her twins...for their lives will never be the same.....even after this deranged woman goes to jail.......

cold.....

ok, so it is 3 degrees today, and we are expecting 3-6 inches of snow the evening....or possibly late afternoon......of course, it will be early because i work til 6 today.....i might just slip some snow boots in the car just in case.....i am holding my breath about tomorrow.....i give my first test of the semester tomorrow...and really don't want to postpone it in any way....so here's hoping that the snowfall comes quickly, and is quickly scraped off the warming salted roads by wednesday at 6.....

gag a maggot....

ok, so this from salon.com...which is not blocked on my home pc....

Here's a truly dark development in human history. The Landmark Legal Foundation has nominated Rush Limbaugh for the Nobel Peace Prize. As Molly Ivins might have put it: It's enough to gag a maggot.

luckily, those fine folks up in sweden are too egalitarian to bother with hate-radio in america....

permanent record

ok, so i want it noted for posterity that at this very moment my sinuses are not congested and that i feel like a million bucks....hear me knocking on wood?

webwashed......

ok, so i, and my workmates spent much of our day in a state of webwash....meaning that any site that was not directly associated with state gov't was webwashed...and not accessible...even google was webwashed.....thankfully this foolishness lasted less than an hour...i took it be a collective warning shot.....ah well.....it is amusing to know that old ernie up in frankfort thinks that such sites as eatright.org (the american dietetic association website) might be porn....

monday, monday.....

ok, so it is 4 degrees outside.....i would have figured that out when i tramped to the mailbox to get the newspaper....but i had heard it already on the radio and wore gloves in addition to a down vest.....many area schools are closed.....not including my daughter's.....and so i must get dressed to drive her into town prior to driving to work, where the schools are closed.....more importantly- i'll not be going to my diabetes support group in anderson this evening because their schools are closed and per tradition (and printed in the newsletter) we do not meet when anderson schools are out for weather conditions......and so i get to come on home after work today.....though i had kinda made plans to meet my eldest for lunch friday with my extra time.....i might still do that using a bit of vacation time- i can manage a late lunch with only 1 hour of annual leave.....i did get a restful night's sleep.....even with my congestion....these prescription-strength sinus remedies sent over by my doctor appear to have kicked in......i was amused to read in the lexington paper about most favorite versus least favorite superbowl commercials.....i saw none that appeared up to the high standard set by herding cats a few years back.....nope....none of those aired last night can compare to that classic......the game itself was better than usual.....lots of drama and good plays...too bad about the rain.....we had a lively debate about whether prince was playing air guitar so as not to get electricuted in the (purple) rain......i say he was never hooked up and the music was all pre-recorded for that particular scenario (downpour)....ah well.....it is monday morning and i must get myself ready for another week at work......such a shame, because i feel that it takes a few days to get really into the relaxation groove....and i had just about reached nirvana when the alarm went off......

cancellation

ok, so....i got up fairly early this morning to make breakfast for our guests...and was delighted to find that church services were cancelled.....i suppose it is tactless to admit that one is overjoyed to discover that one's church has called off both sundday school and worship services.....but......to lie about this would be equally sinful.....and so i went ahead and read the papers, and worked on breakfast, and walked on the treadmill while chatting with my sisterinlaw....and then read more of the papers while we gazed out upon the snow-covered branches....i am so rarely at home on sunday mornings.....only on this rare 'snow days' do i get to bask in the special glow that permeates our back room on winter mornings.....my sisterinlaw was especially talkative.....and given that i find conversations that require little more on my part than smiles and nods curiously soothing.....it was an idyllic way to pass the time between breakfast and lunch.....and there is a major bonus to all of this family togetherness....my brotherinlaw replaced the light/fan/heater unit in our upstairs bathroom, which means on cold days ( like tomorrow) i can dart out of the shower into warmth.....oh my....such luxury.....ok, so...it is a bit after 2...i have already exercised, the dishes are done.....the papers read....a nap would just about take this day overthetop.....

the drive to lexington....

ok, so i have just returned from the belated trip to lexington....my spouse actually wanted me to go yesterday...but i put it off until today given that 1)the roads were still somewhat icey 2) it was still snowing 3)i felt like crap.......today i still feel like my head could explode......but at least the road conditions were improved.....so what is in lexington that can not be had in d-ville?......light fixtures.....16 inch pendant light fixtures that shine down rather than up.......preferably in antique brass......my brotherinlaw the electrician is coming for the weekend to help my spouse with a few home improvement projects....and if they had time they could change out the lamp that hangs over the front room table.....the one that i haven't noticed to be faulty in any way.....and that shines down, come to think about it.........yet there is something about it that displeases my beloved....and for him i drove to 2 fixture stores.....in between my usual haunts (goodwills and marshall's)....i am thrilled to report that i found a black snap-up reversible vest (the blue side is silk).....for $1.75 rather than the $125 an online outfit wanted for a similar vest.....and with the money i saved i treated myself to a black quilted calvin klein car-coat...that also snaps up and looks like ti will be tres chic for the cafe life in paris come late march.......and since this item was half-off....i think my trip to lexington was a success...despite the fact that i came home fixture-free......seems the style in question is not fashionable at the moment....the stores seemed to have numerous 16-inch pendant-style fixtures with the light pointed up....i did score some catalogs.....and now i can study the exact and perfect replacement lamp at my leisure...under no pressure to get home before my inlaws arrive .....any moment......

plea for tech help

ok, so...went i tried to catch up on free mp3 downloads at salon.com this morning....quicktime played them rather than downloaded them.......what's with quicktime?...how has it taken over my desktop...and how do i get back to winamp...which allows the option of play versus download?......how does this happen?.......if you can help....leave me a message....thanks, pm (perplexed mamma)

marginalia.....

ok, so.....i came home from work today early and went to bed, hoping to nip these symptoms in the bud....couldn't quite fall asleep, given that i cannot breathe...and lying down makes me feel as if i am drowning...but i digress....from the book i am reading, and picked up to lull me to sleep as i snuggled down inside the flannel sheets .......i started a chapter over......and was lucid enough to notice faint pencil marks....a straight vertical line...wispy yet deliberate....the first such passage i noticed: 'Everything we do that isn't directly centered on work revolved around concealment, seclusion, ways of evasion.'....another tagged sentiment i especially liked...'Every sentence has a truth waiting at the end of itand the writer learns how to know it when he finally gets there.' ....i am pretty fuzzy on most of the chapters i read this afternoon...and will have to go back and reread them before i move on to where my bookmark is placed......i want credit for the bookmark.....i try to be kind when the book is not my own.....i would never write in the margins of a borrowed book.....only the owner retains such rights....which makes these markings all the more interesting, as they are potentially insightful into the mind of he that lent me the book....granted, actual comments in the margins would be the easiest path to insight, but the simple verticals lines allows the author to retain the upperhand........

mamma's friend jane......

ok, so mamma's friend jane says that my life,as blogged, is far too complicated........i will make it a priority to get to cincinnati asap.......at least for the champagne and good times......glad to hear she's up for a drive.....

pre-order....

ok, so i have pre-ordered harry potter and the deathly hallows...to be delivered on july 21, 2007......now all i need do is remember to take that day off so i can read the book in one marathon session.......

bad hair week.....

ok, so my hair is starting to grow out from its donation phase.....and the result is less than attractive.....the ends are just long enough to flip up...into some sort of little dutch girl fright wig.....ouch!......it will take some time for these layers to grow out, and so i have no intention of trusting the transition to someone who could try to try the layered look again....maybe the headscarf thing could work for a couple of months....a pseudo=islamic getup to shield the true horror of my shaggy locks from society at large.......