procrastination- verse 2

ok, so.....i spent the evening pulling daylilies out from around my hostas...as if i did not have 25 health class projects to grade before wednesday evening...or actually study for my lecture on aging and dying......not that i have to think too much on this subject......i could just be the case study....for at least the aging part.....i also frittered valuable grading time looking up the mystery blue wildflowers that appeared in my wooded areas....and along the lower wooded areas down the palisades on route 33/68......could not find it in 3 different wildflower photo datbanks.....curious.....must have been the weather conditions that led something forgotten and dromant to reappear.....i did photograph what was left of the plant nearest my pond....for the record...in case it never comes back.......i also walked a mile at lunch and 1.5 miles this evening.....a tried and true procrastination activity.....exercise......in fact, my spouse and i walked my mother's dog, who is trending toward rotundness.......in my final bout of avoidance behavior, i have downloaded the reader's guide to gilead, the book club book...as well as several reviews......i was amused that the google search for gilead book club guide came up with a link to the elementary school in my home town of mt gilead, ohio.......ah, nostlagia.....after reading the offical reader's guide, i was surprised that i had forgotten (which should be no surprise at all....) that this is a book about fathers and sons.....and not really about mothers at all.....the mother in this book is but a woman that her dying husband wishes to steer away from the son of his neighbor/nemesis after he (the dying preacher man/hero) actually dies........clearly, gentle readers....at 9:49 pm it is too late to start grading projects...i had best drag my weary lily-pulling bones up to bed...and worry about all that other tomorrow........

my life beyond the garden.....

ok, so.....i currently have no life beyond my garden.....so the title of this blog installment was a major red herring......

the level.....

ok so......i have sat in the chair on the brick terrace long enough to figure out that the entire spot is far from level.....and that a reasonable person would rip out all the bricks and find a comfortable flatness, and then rebuild the entire terrace.......a comfortable flatness may not be perfectly level, but it will be more desirable than the current downhill slant......a much bigger job...but the right job......

contentment.....

ok, so i have spent the last little bit sitting on the one chair that fits on the brick terrace by the pond.....with my feet up on the chair that sits on the dirt/rubble...watching the birds on the feeder....a chickadee, a tufted titmouse...a rose-breasted grosbeak....wow...we don't see them very often........with a glass of wine...and the cat.....who has grown fond of these marth stewart for kmart chairs circa maybe 2000...they are faux wicker...and the cat must find the weave sufficiently scratchy enough to soothe what ails her...as she will roll and writhe on this chair, and rub her face against the arm.....and then sit back with her legs tucked under in complete repose.....to quote kurt vonnegut...'if this isn't sweet, i don't know what is.....".......

serenade.....

ok, so we finished the truck-load of mulch after church.....a threesome of mostly willing kin....willing mostly because a baltimore oriole entertained us with his sweet call.....hopefully he'll find female companionship soon..... i went on to start shaping up bushes with the electric hedge trimmer.....when one drags out the electric cord(s)...the intention must be to trim every bit of shrubbery.....i have finished the front yard....and have started in on the shrubs that creep up the back of the garage......i will move on to the boxwoods that line my brick walk beneath the deck.....front and back......all of my shrubs have become overgrown.......and then...if i have an ounce of strength left......i will lay a few bricks by the pond....we had several left over from reworking the paths last summer.....i do need to rework the path that extends from the front of the garage on around to the deck....especially the place where the brick chimney fell down (i shouldn't say fell as in accident....a workman helped it to fall over.....and that is where it landed.....ooops.......with each and every task i see more and more things that i could also do before bookclub......the least of which is planting flowers.....reckon i can repaint the porch floor and the white trim before the middle of may?....and touch up the lawn furniture?.....enough of this rest and water break...must get to work....

procrastination

ok, so....i had yesterday afternoon off....and took the trouble to drive the truck so i could buy 2 scoops of mulch.....but i also took the trouble to stop by the krogers to buy ingredients for casseroles.... by the time i got home, the temperature had dropped just enough for me to choose the making of casseroles (an inside job) over the spreading of mulch (an outside job).....my list of people in need of casseroles was semi-vague.....the first to a woman from sunday school whose mother is dying...she and her brother are taking turns with 24/7 care so she doesn't have to leave her home.....the other is a neighbor...a working mother with small children.......both of these women are handling their personal strains well...but a casserole might give them a deserved break from cooking.....the third casserole will go into the freezer.....one's urges to be thoughtful do not always happen when there are three needs......sadly, the last time i made casseroles to give away, somebody was murdered and that 3rd casserole in my freezer came in handy......alas, the truckload of mulch is still in the garage (i put the truck in my car's space in case of rain....)...i am hoping that the emotional rush from delivering those casseroles last night will sustain this job...mulching is a gardening activity that always feels better when it is over......i have limited time today, as we are traveling to cincy this afternoon for a family surprise birthday.....i keep thinking that i will also have tomorrow afternoon for outdoor work.....but if the mulching is done today than i could finish the bricking of the pond patio, and finish my tiled table.....the tiles have been arranged, and all i need do is glue them in place.....the table has a nice martha-like air to it...i am pleased....if only the rest of the yard-work was done...then i ocould sit back and be really, really pleased.......

95-year old to graduate from college

ok, so this caught my eye as i perused salon.com....April 26,2007 | HAYS, Kansas -- When 95-year-old Nola Ochs graduates next month, she will be the world's oldest college graduate. The record Ochs will break, according to Guinness World Records, belongs to Mozelle Richardson, who at age 90 in 2004 received a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma.

On Thursday, the Kansas Legislature honored Ochs with praise and standing ovations.

Ochs did not plan to break records. She started taking classes at a community college after her husband of 39 years, Vernon, died in 1972. A class here and there over the years, and she was close to having enough hours for an undergraduate degree.

Last fall, Ochs moved the 100 miles from her farm to an apartment at Fort Hays State University to complete the final 30 hours to get a general studies degree with an emphasis on history.

An added joy for Ochs is that her 21-year-old granddaughter, Alexandra Ochs, will graduate with her.

hugh grant arrested

ok, so hugh was arrested for throwing what appeared to be a 1-pound plastic carryout container of baked beans at a photographer...a fellow crowding him in at his front door.......don't blame him for throwing what was near at hand.....

governor of oregon.....

ok, so the governor of oregon attempted this week to live on a food-stamp budget....i love this guy's gumption......because i know it cannot be done.....

iris and old-fashioned columbine....

ok, so now that the torrential rainshower has passed for a bit, i was able to venture out for my daily garden tour....the old-fashioned columbine are set to bloom...so far i see the double pink i grew from seed ( a lewis and clark variety purchased at monticello)....as well as wild red columbine....there used to be blue columbine from my grandma broughton's house in cleveland, but i have not seen signs of it this year......which will make me sad......the purple iris is set to bloom soon,......and the pinks......already fragrant as i wander my paths.....i have8 rise bushes to plant when the rain subsides....4 sally holmes, 3 peace, and 1 climbing iceburg......i have yet to receive the oak-leaf hydrangea.....i would like to plant them all at once and get it over with......tomorrow i plan to get mulch...and to start at the back of the house first and work back jsut because...i also plan to enlarge the seating area by the pond with bricks already on hand.....in my spare time.....

the prince of wales

ok, so i really enjoyed this piece in the nytimes about the prince of wales and his efforts to support slowfood and small-scale farmers......

ira glass

ok, so this piece about ira glass on the letterman show talking about the chicken lady is precious.....

housekeeping....

ok, so book club is in 3 weeks, and rather than rereading our selection (gilead), to be hosted at our house...i am reading marilynne robinson's first novel....housekeeping.......a book that i bought at a goodwill last friday........i was thrilled to snatch it, as i was aware that she had a previous novel....and a 50 cent book in the hand is always more desirable than a 5 buck book bought on-line.......this novel is quite unexpected, and i appreciate that in a work of literature.....i don't want to be able to see where the plot is going....and certainly don't want to anticipate comings and goings...i must admit, to be perfectly honest, that i read the reviews of the movie made of this book...starring christine lahti......and so when i read of sylvie, the dysfunctional maiden aunt who steps up to the plate to raise the dysfunctional orphaned nieces.....it is as if i was watching a movie in my mind......and i find pleasure in this arrangement....i can see myself sitting in a flooded home, in my stuffed armchair...thinking about everything about the here-and-now......and it is a pleasant diversion for all that i could worry about/feel guilt about...at this very moment i am ignoring a request from my church to give write a 2-3 paragraph statement of faith on the topic of stewardship......i task that i cannot do for fear of death by lightening-bolt strike....yet i have not emailed back with a reply yey or ney......as much as i can surmise, housekeeping deals with both the physical as well the as the emotional clutter that swirls around us.....i'd give my left kidney to unload my worries........which is why i cannot write the requested statement...because i would have to admit that i am not 100% on-board the soul train in question........that i have my doubts...that i believe that there are other folks living well in the world who believe things in complete contrast to how my church see things.......ah well......i am not yet through with this book, written by a current faculty member at the iowa writer's workshop...the mecca for creative writers.......i want to savor the ending.....i might be able to linger over this culmination until book club.....

yet another rolling stone list that is flawed and silly

ok, so rolling stone has released a list of 40 songs that changed the world....and britney spears has a song on the list...which taints it from the get-go.....what were they thinking....when i think about music that changed my 'world' so to speak.....interested me in breaking out of monkees mode.......i'd have to include beck's devil's haircut, joni mitchell's yellow taxi, and woodie guthrie's this land is your land....yeah, well....the guthrie song is older than me.....or almost so...but it did change the perspective of many a flower child rallying against the war...but britney spears.....?.......has nothing profound to say in front of or in back of the microphone.......

the landlord......

ok, so this link is thanks to the single m mean-mother...the tenant appears to be will ferrell....but the real star of this video is the landlord.....

fwd.....

ok, so i was heartened a few months back to get an email from my only 1st cousin on my mother's side of the family....she lives in cleveland....and as i have moved further and further since college and graduate school.....and my parents moved out of ohio altogether.....i have only seen her a handful of times in recent years....once, when she stopped by with her husband and kids on their way to disneyworld....and at my dad's funeral......her email was one of frustration...wanting to compare notes about aging parents...but since that initial volley...and the passing on of my email address to her parents....al i have hear from this clan begins with fwd: in the subject box......omg...i customarily delete forwarded everything......well, almost.....and though i did take the time to read the first few fwd's.....i now delete them as part of my morning routine......whatever happened to how are things going?...we are fine......i sent such an email as a reply to the first forward...and heard nothing in return.....which makes me sad......i haven't heard from my extended german family since the christmas letter....i am not surprised since edwin disclosed that he cannot walk far, and both he and anna are sick......i defer to my german relatives that i had to find years after my parents generation lost the,...it is in the failure to return letters that family is lost to us.....or in this case...in the sending of spam forwards added to the failure to answer actual notes of inquiry.....i makes me very, very sad......

hungry?

ok, so in my dreams i ordered a sandwich from a kiosk in a park.....it was the featured special....$3.99 for an olive/nut with bacon on portuguese rye......don't even know if there is such a thing as portuguese rye....and the notion of olive/nut spread with bacon is equally doubtful....and i am not sure that i got a chance to eat it, as i dropped my wallet when paying at the cashier, and then i spent much tedious time making sure all my credit cards were there....and there were more cards in my wallet than i own....which made it even more time-lagged......i woke up really, really hungry....must be some sort of connection.....

hard work/yard work

ok, so.....i called upon my crew (relatively willing volunteers) to help me triple-team my mothers weeds.....we were able to finish the front foundation plantings, the bed that used to surround her bradford pear....she had this removed and intends to plant a cherry tree....we also weeded around the redbud...alongside the garage, and around back beneath the sweetgum......yeah, we could have continued through the hostas...and around the roses and the perennials....that can wait for another day......at least now all dandelions visible from the road are gone and i will no longer drive to work with feelings of abject guilt........my mother had a completely neglected plastic tub sort of water garden in front in the space in front of her utility room....whatever was in there had frozen down to mush....and was breeding critters.....so we dumped out its contents, and took what still looked viable down to our pond....her tub had no pump, and was basically a breeding ground rather than a source of beauty......and then i started in trimming back the freeze-dried portions of my boxwoods.....i could have dragged out the electric trimmer, and miles of electric cord, but i opted for manual shearers.....and was able to do 7 bushes before i called it a day.....on to the pond......i brought down 2 garden chairs purchased at a kmart sale years ago...i do believe that ms martha herself blessed them as worthy.....and it was in the positioning of these chairs that i realized that the bricked-in surface is not near big enough for more than 1 person to sit...and so i will have to carry down all the bricks i saved from the chimney demolition and widen the sit-able surface.....so many things to do in a garden in the spring.....i did manage to sit in one of the chairs and read a book....the cat was drawn to the action of the waterfall, the chairs, and the reader....she took possession of the companion chair....and found its textures pleasing...she rolled and stretched, and contorted herself for what seemed like forever......all the while purring loudly as if this was the highlight of her week.....and when my spouse came out to see what we were doing...she gingerly made her way from rock to rock around the entire circumference.....stopping only to take tentative sips of recycled pond water from precisely the point where the fluid flowed over rock....it was a sight to see....a cat drinking from a waterfall.....

previously headless boy with bird

ok, so....in addition to pond rennovation, my spouse graciously fixed the statue of the boy with bird.....which has languished headless for years......all attempts to glue the head back on were fruitless, as the head is quite heavy and the break uneven.....so my spouse drilled holes in both the head and the body and pegged them together...that and glue should keep this previously headless statue intact......now that the head is back, i noticed that part of the nose is missing.....and so now we have a previously headless and partially noseless boy with bird......

ky in the news....again....

ok, so...this was just too sad a commentary on our state to overlook.....HICKMAN, Ky. (AP) -- Officials released a prisoner from a state facility after receiving a phony fax that ordered the man be freed, and didn't catch the mistake for nearly two weeks.

Timothy Rouse, 19, is charged with beating an elderly western Kentucky man and was at the Kentucky Correctional & Psychiatric Center in La Grange for a mental evaluation. He was released from that facility on April 6 after officials received the fake court order.

It contained grammatical errors, was not typed on letterhead and was faxed from a local grocery store. The fax falsely claimed that the Kentucky Supreme Court ''demanded'' Rouse be released. Lexington police arrested Rouse at his mother's home Thursday evening.

''It's outrageous that it happened,'' Fulton County Attorney Rick Major said. ''I'm just glad nobody got hurt because he's dangerous.''Police are still investigating who faxed it. Attorney Carlos Moran, who is representing Rouse, declined to comment.

Prison officials did not notice that the fax came from the grocery store because policies in place did not require checking the source of a faxed order, said the LaGrange facility's director, Greg Taylor.

''It's not part of a routine check, but certainly, in hindsight, that would perhaps have caused somebody to ask a question,'' he said. He added that misspellings on orders are common.

sunburn.....

ok, so i didn't see it coming...the sunburn i got at my child's morning soccer game.....with my body facing away from the sun...how does that work?......i didn;t notice the red until i came home and started in weeding my mother's front beds.....i did my goal- an entire wheelbarrow-full of weeds....and then i came in from the sun to find that my arms were also red.....i had actually put on sunscreen...but this only means that my burn came totally from the unprotected soccer game...not from the weeding...when again, my body was facing away from the sun......go figure.......when my spouse came home from work we moved on to the pond...added another 4 inches of height to the low end...then repositioned the rocks.....and filled it up to the brink......it is the fullest it has ever been......there was a small frog in the water when we started in working....and later on we found a toad lounging under the spent daffodil stems...a huge toad......i did spend time cutting back the spent daffodils...there were so many...and that chore had ot be done before i could start in with mulching.....of course, the plants i ordered online must also show up before i start in mulching.....i thought for sure i could do that today.....maybe monday?......but i digress from the pond....and its little waterfall....i find the sound of falling water especially pleasing.......water falling on my sunburn would also be nice......

the newest health food?

ok, so this from the worldwideweb....WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A fruity cocktail may not only be fun to drink but may count as health food, U.S. and Thai researchers say.

Adding ethanol -- the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits -- boosted the antioxidant nutrients in strawberries and blackberries, the researchers found.

Any colored fruit might be made even more healthful with the addition of a splash of alcohol, they report in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Dr. Korakot Chanjirakul and colleagues at Kasetsart University in Thailand and scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture stumbled upon their finding unexpectedly.

They were exploring ways to help keep strawberries fresh during storage. Treating the berries with alcohol increased in antioxidant capacity and free radical scavenging activity, they found.

Any colored fruit or vegetable is rich in antioxidants, which are chemicals that can cancel out the cell-damaging effects of compounds called free radicals.

Berries, for instance, contain compounds known as polyphenols and anthocyanins. People who eat more of these fruits and vegetables have a documented lower risk of cancer, heart disease and some neurological diseases.

The study did not address whether adding a little cocktail umbrella enhanced the effects.

a good day.....

ok, so.....i managed to go to three goodwills, have a lovely korean lunch with my eldest, meet both his german teacher and the other andrew in the gaines program, and drink too much wine with my friends later on-sitting with a lovely view of an almost secret garden.....our wine=and-cheese conversation turned naturally to chiara....and then blessedly to travel, which is always my favorite thing to talk about, dream about, and plan for......as afternoon-off days go, friday was right up there.....well, except for drinking too much wine and staying too late.....

t.g.i.f.

ok, so if it were not actually friday i'd have to pretend it was so......this has been a long week for us all.....and i think we are all due a little time this weekend for relxation and reflection.....as for me i have to finish my mother's weeding, and hopefuly plant my roses and hydrangea that will certainly arrive today or tomorrow....i do my best relaxing with a digging fork in my hand.....

health dept-csi

ok, so the ladies in my thursday county have been mighty busy....seems there has been a midsize white american-make car parked in the back lot since last week......and the nurses have been so curious as to go on down there to take a peek....they have made tiny chalk marks on the tires to see if it has been moved (no)...they have peeked inside to the point that they have recorded the address of mail sitting on the front passenger seat....(an address within eye-sight of the car from the back of the lot).....they have sniffed about in the trunk area, out of concern that crack was being manufactured on state-owned property....and pondered why the family has no need of the booster seat in the back seat....the theories are varied: that the car is being hid from the repo-folks; that the spouse(unknown make or female) has been murdered, and family told that the person has run-off.....that someone is hiding from an abusive spouse.....none of these make sense, in light of the fact that anybody standing in the backyard of the house would see the car in our lot.....and since there appears to be room for the car in the house's lot...why is it here......hmmmm........we might never know.....but for once i cannot wait til next thursday to find out if there has been any movement in their case.......

a scary thought....

ok, so this from crooks and liars.....

From ABC News, regarding the VA Tech shooter:

Some news accounts have suggested that Cho had a history of antidepressant use, but senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government's files. This does not completely rule out prescription drug use, including samples from a physician, drugs obtained through illegal Internet sources, or a gap in the federal database, but the sources say theirs is a reasonably complete search.

We don't even have a list of gun owners, and we have a list of everyone who has been prescribed anti-depressants? And in fact, the article suggests that this isn't just a database of patients who use anti-depressants, it's a federal database of every prescription drug you've ever bought.

What exactly do the Bushies do with that list? And what other lists do they have of which medications you've ever taken?

retail therapy

ok, so i am in the market for some new garden urns, and thought i'd just take a moment to browse on-line.......omg....i adore this urn, but for $1187 apiece...not counting shipping.......these might be a bit out of my league.....for those who've not seen them in person, this is a replica of the urns outside f.l.wright's oak park home.....and for the record, i have coveted them since first seeing them.....should any of my offspring strike it rich, i want them to remember these urns as suitable tokens of gratitude on birthdays etc.......

media blackout.....

ok, so...i am going media-black for at least the next 48 hours..no cnn...no nytimes...no wpost......until the visage of the shooter's video has dropped to bottom of the page news......i have not watched it.....will not watch it.....it feels somehow pornographic and filthy and tainted......and i will leave it in cyberspace......i feel so very sorry for htis young man's family......his parents, his sister....who did not deserve such notoriety or public scrutiny over how they begat this monster.......their lives will never be the same.....and though i understand that none of our lives will be the same......i feel especially sorry for those this man left behind.......

ok, so this sweet drawing is actually part of a realestate ad......in these troubled times, i found this image comforting......

one small voice for gun control.....

ok, so....a blood relative just called to tell us that a co-worker whose daughter goes to VT hasn't been reachable since yesterday.....and went on to rant about the notion that if the ex-israeli soldier/professor/holocaust survivor had been armed the whole thing would have been over.....hence our college/school staff need to be armed with concealed weapons.....wtf?......i teach a college class.....can you see me wearing a piece?!.....what a joke......what we really need is to follow new zealand's lead...after they had a similar tragedy, their countryman turned in thousands of weapons in an effort at gun control......i vote for nobody having guns rather than everybody having guns.....

bookmarks.....

ok, so...i can visualize at least 5 bookmarks that i have personally purchased on trips abroad.....the goya cats....my personal favorite......no frigging idea where it has gone......a gaudi fantasy from the top of a barcelona manse...the one where the hostess mentioned the jealocies......no sign of that bookmark, either....and then there is the mummified cat, something monet.....and....something made of pressed flowers in the cotswolds.......are they secreted in shelved books?.......or still in their protective wrappings...maybe in the original bag....somewhere......that i have yet to look?......i say this as someone who has searched this house from top to bottom for a waterford violet vase given to me by an old friend....i would never have given it away so why cannot i find it?.......a swipe of the hand by the cleaner after our fire?...that has occured to me also.....but i digress from the bookmarks i cannot locate.....how much time and effort does one devote to bookmarks..in the scheme of things?

lecture 62- jane austen.....

ok, so rather than repetitive clicking to cnn for an update, i have turned to a lecture that my eldest has provided...one of a history of literature series that he has in his possession........i find comfort in all things jane......though this lecture focuses on pride and prejudice, it does justice to austen's genre in the larger sense......but i digress from my avoidance of the tragedy at hand.....one gunshot was too much for me.....the reality of 33 dead is just too much too soon......jane was famous for focusing her novels away from the world at large.....she barely mentions bonaparte, or actual combat.......i am certain that many a senior thesis has taken up this omission in her prose.....but i can understand thoroughly the urge to escape the surrounding violence in a simple tale told well.....a 30-minute reflection on elizabeth bennett seems just the thing for an evening such as this.......

lo, a rose ere blooming.....

ok, so this rose, stanwell perpetual, is blooming...alongside daylilies that are yet kinda frozen/melted/freezedried......what a curious season this has turned out to be.......

the granny zone.....

ok, so for a few days running i have awakened about 4:00 am.....for no good reason......and have struggled/thrashed about in my efforts to go back to sleep......sounds might grannyish......i thought that sort of thing only happened to little old ladies?.....

teflon.....

ok, so....my email account appears to be like teflon for addresses on my contacts list.....i get all sorts of stuff in my junk mail box, but an email my spouse sent yesterday....bike ordering stuff he wanted to work on at home.... never arrived.......how does this work?......

projects.......

ok, so.....i went out to lowe's after returning books to the library....and though they had no oak-leaf hydrangeas.....they did have 1-inch square terracotta tiles that will cover the round green metal table on the deck...the martha-like project that i saw in a magazine had one smashing old dishes but these regularly shaped tiles seemed flatter and more useful in the long run...alas, i am lacking in about 8 packages, despite buying all there were at this lowes.....will stop at the nicholasville lowes on friday (i have the label off the back).....it wasn't a good day to complete this project, as the glue directions specified not to be used in rainy weather or in temps under 45 degrees.....got us there!......i think it this table will be quite lovely.....of course, i had also meant to drop by the ace hardware to pick up floor paint (for the porch) and seminole red for the lawn furniture, and grass green for the french style chairs that go with the table.....lots of things to do before book club in mid-may....and before child #2 comes home ever-so-briefly......and even if i had no deadlines in mind....these are the sort of things that make me happiest.....let us not forget the oak-leaf hydrangea....i have one coming from wayside gardens.....back to lowes....they had about a dozen dwarf english boxwoods marked down to 3 bucks a piece.....they had a bit of frostbite on the tops....as mine here at the house do...but i may just want to swing by there on my way home from work and snap those up.....surely i can find a place that needs a dwarf boxwood edging.....

joni mitchell

ok, so....in the wasted day that was mine on 4/14...i actually went back to bed to warm up as much as to read.....and though i didn't actually fall back asleep..it was the notion that counted.....and i was thinking about joni...and her free man in paris...and california....and her river.....and her yellow taxi...and her cold blue steel....and all i have is a kitty that is easily startled....and who leaps away when ever she is un-sure.....i have no idea what this has to do with joni mitchell.....all in know is that when i woke up my kitty was laying on my chest and nuzzling...and life doesn;t get any better than that, with or without joni mitchell......

the snake....

ok, so it appears that in recent blogs i have failed to mention the finding of the snake in the basement......the one lounging on the blue rug....the one between me and the wine in the refrigerator.....and so i grabbed up two ends of the rug...and rushed the snake out to the deck...and flung it.......only to see it hung up on the flimsiest snag of a rosebush....and so i got the longest pole in our garage......and worked that rose bush until it let lose of that poor snake........much as i hate snakes, i have a greater distaste for seeing them suffer

making adjustments

ok, so...with all the rain the pond didn't completley fill up......a design flaw not a tear...seems the right side is not quite as high as the left end...and the water simply went over the low places on the right......must add about 3-4 inches to have both sides equal and the pond full.....my mom has a water lily that needs to to split...which i can add to the louisiana iris that is now in the pond......no fish yet.....wanted to make sure the new pump was working and the liner patent before moving ahead...plan to replace the japanese maple behind the pond with an oak-leaf hydrangea...tomorrow might be a good day to dig up the skeletal remains of the maple, even if i don't run out to lowes to buy a hydrangea....have lots of weeding at my mom's house to do before i can think about my own yard......my recently purchased garden shoes are a disappointment...the rubber is too flimsey and these shoes seem only useful when walking downhill....who knew?.....

sally holmes

ok, so this is the group of roses that will take the place of the lately diseased and removed snowbush, a regal rose that completely sheltered us from view of the house across the street......i have read up on rosettes disease...seems it spreads by a mite, but treating the soil or roses themselves with anti-mite powder is not suggested.....all that i must do is to make sure that all remaining rose roots are removed (and burned).....these plants should arrive soon....and will hopefully fill in our little corner quickly........unlike the last rose, sally holmes blooms all season.....should be a glorious addition to our landscaping scheme.....

email......

ok, so...my spouse forwarded the delivery-failure email he got this morning from bellsouth.....curious that he was able to forward the failure-to-deliver email, successfully, but the original message was undeliverable.....omg...how does this work?!

white lilies and larkspur

ok, so.....at 9:00 this morning, as agreed on the phone, i arrived with my chicken, pasta and artichoke casserole at an address on east main street....expecting to simply drop it off, find something lucid to say about an event that is beyond words, and to leave.....and was surprised to be not only invited in but to sit and.......condole......for nearly 2 hours...... and more tissues than i thought 2 ageless women could require.....i had already wept before i arrived.....first when i wrote my thoughts on a notecard (one that traveled with me to paris and back absolutely blank because there were no words that fit....)....and again when i passed the montessori school and was filled beyond the brim with memories of dropping off, and picking up, and plays and sweeter times......i was met with the scent of white lilies.....i knew they were there somewhere, and it was not until she sat me down in her front parlor that i saw the huge vase-ful.....so what does one talk about for nearly two hours, on one of many lonely friday mornings that will surely follow this one?.....i suppose that is between me and a woman i have known since her daughter was three......i am relieved that i brought food, as i got the impression that there is no real cooking going on these days.....she seemed genuinely pleased to have supper taken care of.....i tend to forget that not everybody finds comfort in cooking......i do feel that my belated visit was how things were supposed to work out....that coming by well after the crowds have dwindled is valuable, both for me, who missed the funeral, and for someone who is alone with her box of yet-to-be-opened notes and her books on grieving.....i cannot imagine the daily horror.....all i can do is make casseroles and make it a priority to bring them by now and again.....

ok, so it goes

thursday is the new friday

ok, so....thursday is the new friday, but just for this week.....i worked monday night and tuesday night....and for this i get all day friday off......i have committed to weeding my mother's flower beds, but surely this is better than sitting at a desk......if only this day were over........yeah, i know that it is wrong to wish your life away like that...but i hate it when work gets between me and a bit of relaxation

incongruous

ok, so......my 8th grader is watching the last of a disney movie as i sit and blog...such a contrast to how i spent my morning.......signing a pregnant 8th grader up for a gov't program......she was by herself...no parent nor boyfriend.....and when i asked how her family had taken the news she replied something to the effect that her older sister was pregnant so her mom thought that she might as well have two grandchildren as one.....wtf?......by law our agency must report underage sexual contact to social services, and thankfully that task does not fall to me.....all i had to do was to convince this 8th grader to stop smoking and to start drinking milk and that the fact that she had gained weight since her last visit was something she'd have to get used to.....what mother lets her 8th grader date anybody, let alone someone over the age of 16?.....and to let her go it alone......many people have failed this child, including her parent(s).......so the next time my child asks me why she cannot have a boyfriend.....i will have ready emotions at hand to accentuate my refusal.....

a book i want to read....

ok, so i saw this website on the slightlylessmeanmama site...and again today on gawker.com......i must read this book because i found her website so amusing......just keep clicking the pink arrows in the right-hand corner......

disturbance in the force......

ok, so an email my spouse says he sent to me this morning, acknowledging that i was to teach a class this evening and would be home late......has yet to arrive......one shouldn't be able to beat one's email's home....not quite the point of the internet...my friend cynthia, with whom i co-teach at sunday school, says that some of her emails have bounced back altogether.......this news is a relief in that i have sent out quite a few guilt-driven emails of late and have heard no answers......i had not idea one could set one's email account to bounce.....

a bit of editing.....

ok, so i have done a bit of pruning to this blog of late......removing bits and pieces pf deadwood that........that i feel badly for writing or posting......not stuff anybody but me would notice, i suppose....but i feel better for it.........

the fried chicken dream.....

ok, so this dream is a few days old, and involves a funeral that hasn't come to pass.....because the person in question has not yet died.......it was all i could do to not blurt it out in sunday school yesterday.......when discussing prayer concerns for persons who are ill/dying......in my dream...it was at the funeral of my friend's mother.....in a town in the d-ville environs....and in my dream there was a large red pick-up truck that had numerous buckets of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, slaw, and the like in truck-bed...like a buffet.....so far so good, except for the deceased's great-grandchildren had gotten into the truck bed with the food and were throwing chicken pieces at each other, and at people lining up for the post-funeral meal.....and i was trying to get up on the truck to stop the madness when i woke up.......hmmmm.....why would anyone dream such a dream.....chicken-throwing at a funeral...out of a red pickup truck......i have no idea what to make of the symbolism...if any....and the bottom line: the hostess in question is such a perfectionist that she would have served up each and every plate herself....and it would not have been in the street nor in a truck.........

recovering.....

ok, so i appear to be recovering suitably.....from the abuse that is travel.....my middle left finger is no longer numb and discolored from having shut it in the door of a bathroom stall in charles-de-gaulle airport.....my feet are no longer sore and somewhat swollen for having walked 32 miles in 6 days....the knot on the back of my skull is coming down...the one that i got when stood up in the wrong place in the garret that is my closet during the putting-back-clothing ritual.....and my jet-lag appears to be diminished......by the time i begin to think about another trip i should be fully oblivious to the potential damage to my aging body.....but a nap just about now would surely cement the deal, eh?

bon anniversaire....

ok, so it is almost my 5th anniversary as a blogger....that momentous occasion is actually tomorrow....at which time i will likely be scurrying to get to work on time......and just as likely fail to give the topic its full due in my haste to get out the door.....as permanent records go.....this venue has been valuable to me as i struggle with aging....with change in general.....i type in what is on my mind and this contraption called a computer remembers it for me.....and keeps it where i can find it....and lets me look it back up later....from anywhere on the globe it would seem....curiously, my (permanent record) blogs occasionally differ from how i have chosen to remember the past...... do i simply write down the truth, and then remember it the way i wish it had happened?.....this hasn't happened often, but when i have discovered these little discrepancies it gives me pause......i must say that i am pleased with my own will to continue in spite of a decided family fear that i will disclose personal details about said family to a dangerous world...to some extent i understand their concerns.....my own mother once sent out christmas letters to over 100 of their closest friends that included dubious misinformation about my miscarriage.....and this count doesn't include who she might have told personally about this tragic event......ironically, as the mother of potential novelists i care not about how i might be portrayed in their literary works......because i see this as something i cannot hope to control and would not want to direct from the backseat for fear of putting a damper on their creativity......for me to say "write about your childhood as much as you like but don't you dare mention me" sounds mighty...childish don't ya think?......for me to completely pretend that i have no offspring sounds just as foolish an expectation.......but i have digressed from my 5th anniversary as a blogger......may i find something interesting to put into this permanent record for as long as i can remember the blogger password.......

a permanent record.....

ok, so there was a question in my midst today about this blog....yet again...about this as a permament record.....and about how someone could take all this and do whatever with it......i had a hard time following just what the concern was......given that our last name is no longer in print....and the randomness of first names is just that....random.......and if any of my offspring were to become famous.....i could just sell all of their toddler-era scribblings on ebay and cash-in.....and by the time this day might come about i might be totally senile and make stuff up when the press came to call.....much worse than i ever blogged.......or maybe not......google is not necessarily up-to-date....when i google my own name i come up with things that i have not been involved with in over 3 years.....or longer.....but i digress from the privacy of my offspring.....when i google their names.....the sites that come up are so much more specific to their personal lives than my blog could ever be......works of fiction, awards, race times.......quotes on the weather.....i am the least of their worries.......

versailles....

ok, so i walked on the treadmill this morning watching marie antoinette.......a delightful choice given our recent visit......made more amusing by the visible errors made when style and visual presentation took precidence over reality......for example......when marie's carriage drives up to versailles for the first time....it comes from the west rather than the east..with versailles in the background beyond the grand canal..which is unlikely given that she was coming from austria, in the east......looked great on screen, though......and in the scene where she is running back to her room after her sister-in-law delivers a son......she runs down a corridor lined with statues that leads away, not toward her suite of rooms.....again, looked great on screen.........i walked only 2 miles....quite a departure from my paris mileage...but then my aging body is still recovering from that trip.....might just dedicate this entire weekend to rest and relaxation......lots of paris-based movies i could watch........

snow........

ok, so i woke up from my long-awaited afternoon nap.......to find it snowing......wow.....nothing puts a damper on easter weekend like snow...........

smoked salmon.....

ok, so i stopped at the save-a-lot in h-burg on my way home this morning....only work 1/2 day on good friday.....and bought 6 packages of smoked salmon from the stand-up frozen seafood section......the lady at the checkout seemed surprised, and then asked how to fix smoked salmon...i explained that i intended to make miniature quiches with the 1st package, then nibble on the rest.....oh, she replied...the guy who bought 20 packages just a little while ago said he likes to eat his on crackers.......i had to fight the urge to go back and buy 20 packages of my own......part of the fist package went into the quiches...the miniature quiches made in miniature quiche pans purchased at dehillerin.....near les halles.......and the rest i nibbled with a bit of sour cream and capers....heaven on earth, which i suppose is fitting for holy week......the quiches, as well as coconut cake are in the oven, and it is my duty to hold off on my planned nap until these delicious treats are out of the oven......i can almost hold on......

our photos.....

ok, so this should be a link to ou our vacation photos.....

paris 2007

just click on the musee d'orsay clock....

ok, so these are my april fool's day roses, blooming at the rodin museum on april 1, 2007

ok, so i was amused by these crows bathing in a puddle of newly fallen rain....in front of l'orangerie...a newly opened museum......

coffee.....

ok, so....i managed to stay in bed until 6:30 am.....just to get my clock back to normal......but i have been awake since before 5.....given the 6 hour time difference i actually slept in....and now that i have made a superb spinach and cheese omelet and have my coffee with milk at hand....life is slowly feeling normal again.....i must admit that i did not have coffee every day of my trip......we ate in the hotel breakfast room the first morning (sunday) before we took the train to versailles, but i have a hard time paying 10 bucks a head for coffee and a croissant or a baguette......and so we would venture out in the mornings and buy pastries and even fresh red raspberries, but we didn't stop for hot beverages because we were walking somewhere and it seemed too much to ask to eat and drink and pay attention to those wiley french drivers/bikers......later on when we stopped for an afternoon snack in a sunlit cafe.....i couldn't be bothered with coffee when there was a wine selection to be had at nearly the same price.......for the record i have come to appreciate the white wines of sancerre.......the cafe au l'ait that i did order along the way was as it is supposed to be...rich, bold, and creamy.......but not much better than the coffee i clutch this cold morning, while i think about getting ready for work......i have opted to work thursday and friday....and to save the valuable vacation hours for trips to come......i should say...thursday and part of friday, as the state has given me off the afternoon of good friday for....good behavior?......and so all i have to do is to hang on til 11:45 tomorrow and i can sit back and relax from my travels......though on friday afternoon i cannot see me doing so with a cup of coffee......

81,244.....

ok, so the final step count measures out to something like 32.49 miles walked/run in6 days.......not bad......or rather...pas mal......

home again

ok, so.....i thought about calling this blog e(square).....for the exhilleration combined with exhaustion that is foreign travel......we were so thoroughly searched at charles de gaulle that both of us were patted down after removing all but our pants and shirts.......my quart-size plastic bag of gels, liquids, and creams was also perused carefully after it showed up on the xray......curiously, i was more concerned that i might have mislaid the prescription for the sinus spray....but that was never an issue coming or going......my yard is aglow with bloom: redbuds are at their peak...if there is one thing we can grow here on this slope it is redbuds......my spouse and eldest child fixed the trellis while i was gone......one of the roses has large buds.....cannot recall which rose it is....it is one of the ones i moved last fall......and it is lost to me until i see it and can look it up...that is the nice thing about roses: they can be traced by description and by photograph.....i will not likely attempt to print my pictures this evening.....my body thinks it is 1:00 am......i want it noted on my permanent record that i spent the least on myself on this trip than on any in the past....and this actually raised eyebrows going through customs.....why we bought so little....as if we must be hiding some extragavance......had we found the secret paris goodwills it would have been another story....maybe next time.....

coming home....

ok, so we had 2 final cafe stops....an assiette de salmon fume at the cafe at the end of our rue.....and a 2 course meal across the street from our hotel called restaurant st andre.....and when cayle made a fuss about eating at a restaurant named andrew.....well.....it was silly and she knew it...and she wanted to know why there was no cafe cayle.....i had a lovely appetizer with scallops and orange cream....and veal in a lovely sauce that i could not finish.....too much to eat....despite our high step count(now at 75990- at 2500 step sper mile, we are right up there with mileage..).....cayle is across the street from the internet cafe spending every last sou on souvenirs....as is what 14 year olds do....my purchases fit in my purse......something that has never happened before.....but then, i saw nothing i didn't already have, or needed ......and that must be a good thing, too......

74,614

ok, so that is the step count from my pedometer...from the moment i left home on friday til now.....that is well over the aha suggested 10,000 steps per day, and considering all i did on friday ws run for a plane, we have walked more than our share on this vacation......walked to st sulpice to light a candle and to see the rose line....then mero to abbesses...where i was surpised to find tht they have tiled over the paintings on the steps up.....and put in assorted photographic murals at intervals.......i really enjoyed the handpainted murals.....ah well.....sace coeur was crowded and we had to jockey for a place to light a candle....and so we metored to les hlles, and to st eustache to light yet another candle......and then on to the stravinsky fountain....and lunch at the cafeteria just beyond the beaubourg....the same one we lunched at with stephan's group.....arrived in time to beat the lunch crowd....had a fabulous composed salad of white asparagus, olives, jambon, tomatoes, and frisee lettuces.....with a cheese plate for my dessert and a passable cote du rhone......on to place des vodges.....and then a cafe stop in the sunshine, where cayle had an incredible chocolate cake with chocolate fudge inside and with creme anglaise on top and choclate swirlss......i made do with a crisp sancerre.........and then on to isle st louis where we shopped a bit before my daughter had an ice cream cone at berthilon......and more shopping down the seine.......canot wait to come home, if for no other reason that to rest.....i have just now checked the basketball score....ironic that my alma mater could lose to florida in national finals in 2 sports in the same year......i will live through this......hve just enough time to take a short nap before we start to think about where to eat our last meal in paris......my traveling companion is already thinking about where i should take her next year.....and that must be a good thing.....

clean clothing.....

ok, so we arrived home after a marathon day to find our luggage.....two days before we leave, but better than not showing up at all......we sent chocolate down to the clerk that was kind enough to call the airline for us.....saw the louvre highlights today...us and thousands of others who had the same idea....mona and venus and nike are quite popular....and the crown jewels...but when we headed back to the egyptian exhibits at my daughter's request, the crowds thinned to a point where we descended a stiarcase entirely alone....and stopped to enjoy the moment of solitude.....the richelieu wing was nearly deserted as well.....northern european paintings and the apartments of louis phillipe....found a cafe on a terrace overlooking the pyramid in that wing....basked in the sunshine over a lovely vegetable potage and a crisp white.....ah...life is good......made another attempt to ascend the eiffel tower....the lines looked in the 2 hour range....and so we went on to the nearly deserted l'arc du triomphe....and climbed those stairs instead......not quite sure how to spend tomorrow.....want to see the stravinsky fountain, do a bit of shopping (for things that are not curios....) and light candles.....for chiara and for my luggage......

spoke too soon....

ok, so...our luggage was not at the hotel as expected.....and the hotel clerk was thoughtful enough to call the airport, and our luggage may or may not be on some plane headed out way.....and it may or may not be totally lost.....the delta clerk was not certain.....and so we are off to find a few critical pieces of clothing.....so that we can wash out our things and have something to put back on.......if this didn't already sound like a chevy chase film.....i'd suggest it for a script........

april fool's day

ok, so.....as the ultimate april fool's trick....our luggage (and coats) will arrive on a glorious day with sunshine and 65 degree weather...how fair is that?.....we got up early to go to versailles....an hour early because i set my pda in the semi-darkness and mised the hour by one.....and so we were there when it opened...us and 1000 of our closest friends....so we walked down to the hameau and enjoyed the gardens by ourselves........the hameau was restored by sophi coppola for her movie...and it is over-the-top.....my child was thrilled by the goats, the swan, the pigs. the cows.....just precious.....and all of paris seemed to rowing on the canal or running, or biking....such a wonderful day to be in such a wonderful park....the chateau tour has been redone....so many more things on display...we saw the theatre...and the kings bedroom, both of which used to be on view for a supplemental charge.....did not get to see the riding school, and did not go up the eiffel tower, nor the towers of notre dame, nor ice cream at bertholon....because of the hundreds of folks in line before us.....on the other hand, we did go to musee rodin to see the thinker (at cayle's request?!)...and was flabbergasted to see roses in bloom...i intended to upload them, but the cafe computer will not recognize the camera.....lovely photo, take my word for it.....we also saw st. chapelle in its glory.....sunny days are perfect for that monument....and sat at a cafe on place st michelle for wine (me) and citron presse (my child).....her first taste is priceless..she took a gulp before i could tell her to add water and sugar.......now back to the hotel, where i hope to find my luggage.......til tomorrow....