safely in st louis

ok,so....i landed safely, and successfully located metrolink, the light rail system that i noticed on-line when researching the city....rode into town for $3,50 rather than $25.....have registered,eaten lunch in a deli located in a building that houses a national architectural society,,,,,and enjoyed a nice nap-my traveling companions suggestion...a nap was on my mind too, but not spmething that i'd have suggested....later we want to wlk to the arch...a few blocks over......back to te meeting....will see cyndi lauper on friday....and will attend a drug company hosted event at the zoo on thursday....yeah....there arethe sessions to attend, too...

getting ready to go.....

ok, so the mm will be in st louis for a few days.....soaking in the scenery (such as it is) as well as soaking in vast new knowledge about diabetes......i have not been to such a workshop since i can remember.....maybe new orleans or san francisco several years ago.....when i still worked for the hospital.....but i digress.....it will be good to get away and to miss being home.....i will post if there is wi-fi available......

nothing to read.....

ok, so ...i leave for st louis in the morning....and i can find nothing in this house that i want to read......yeah, i understand the irony of possessing more books than there is shelf-space.....and though i have perused the stacks and the shelves and even those under beds....no volume yet has caught my eye as the next big read.....i am looking for 1) a paperback 2) fiction rather than non.....3)hopefully something i've only read once or twice.....4 something i liked the first time.....i have blogged before about the books i have put down for lack of interest......and should i ever get around to weeding these i would have less of a conundrum now.....maybe i'll see something at the airport....

say it isn't so, jour infinity

ok, so this from the www.....Spanish rider Iban Mayo tested positive for EPO during the final week of the Tour de France, his team said Monday in a statement.

Doping allegations and suspicions have devastated the 2007 Tour, which ended Sunday. Three riders, including former overall leader Michael Rasmussen, and two teams were expelled during the three-week race.

Mayo's Saunier Duval team was told of the results of the July 24 test by cycling's governing body and ''immediately suspended'' Mayo, according to a statement posted on the team's Web site.

another good jefferson quote....

ok, so....having made a recent purchase from Monticello...i appear to be back on their mailing list.....it is curious in our household to get a catalog these days....as we make so few purchases to catalog companies.....in a perfect world, the goodwills would put out an online catalog so i wouldn't have to search so diligently through their racks...but i digress......there is available a cup that reads......"though an old man, I am but a young gardener.....'....my sentiments exactly.......i have so much to learn about the intricacies of gardening.....

back to destruction

ok, so.......in the fray of ulysses, harry potter7....and a lot of rain....i had left my daylily eradication project in limbo.....the digging fork left precisely where i left off......and it was quite a surprise to come back to it this morning....to find that many little daylily sprouts had popped up where i had already finished....omg...these daylilies are pesky little buggers.....and so i worked another 45 minutes going back over what i had already dug up....and then put in another hour so so working on down the bed......so discouraging.....however, i have discovered some daylily secrets....they spread first by a tender orange horizontal root....and then this root ages into a hardened yellowish root....which appears able to spawn new clusters of the lobe-like part of the lily that lurks beneath the dirt like an iceburg .......my workmates have suggested chemical options.....but these are not really possibilities for someone who wants selected plants to thrive in these locations.....but the destruction doesn't end with daylilies....i also did some work necessary before we have our driveway resealed....the ivy, the lamb's ear, and the dusty miller have all encroached upon the driveway.....almost a foot in some spots....and so i literally cut them off at the actual edge of the pavement......the true sleeping dog chores it to dig up one of my robin hood roses.....the three matching pink roses that flank the front porch....we have to rip out the posts and railings and replace them...given significant rot and/or termite damage.....it would seem that the paint is the only thing keeping some spots erect....ouch!......and the rose in question is quite near the wood and taking much of the blame for the situation......but that is not a task that i will take on this day......

it pays to pay attention....

ok, so...i am home today, a fair trade since i will still be in saint louis on saturday...at a diabetes meeting necessary for my continued diabetes credential....and it would appear that there are those who live with me that were unaware that 1) i would be home past daddy's departure time for work and 2) i am going to be traveling at all......because i answered the phone a little while ago.....and a nervous little boy asked me why i hadn't called him like i said i was going to.....ooops.......

ok, so.....

ok,so......the tour is over, with team discovery boasting two riders on the podium...contador the winner, and leipheimer the bronze medalist...if they called these medals.......and because the tour took so long today....we had to to drive to lexington to the soccer game before letour.fr was quite done with coverage....and so i had to wait to find out who really won til we got home.......after the game, and after ;lunch with our eldest...at ramsey's just a short-ish walk down high from his new place.......and now our july marathon television obsession is over....and we can go tback to watching little to no television at all..... npr on sunday mornings has been interviewing people on their 1) summer reading list and 2) the book(s) they would read if they had all the time in the world....more than one person has noted ulysses as that last book......until today...when the guy in question mentioned proust......hmmmm.....i have tried to read swann's way......maybe i need to give it the level of attention given joyce.......

rain

ok, so...it would appear that the best rain dance is to have the high school soccer teams enter the bluegrass state games this weekend....because the rain has barely let up since friday evening....there were two muddy games yesterday....and the game this morning at 9 must be the same, given the level of moisture at our house....we are skipping church to go to the 1:00 game, where there d-ville girls will either be playing for the gold or the bronze.....either way our freshman player will not be on the field other than to warm-up.......but there is always hope that one's child be eventually get to play, and parents best be there when that day comes....and so we'll likely meet up with our eldest and take another tour of his new place.....a truly charming apartment with 18 foot ceilings and 15 foot doors, a lovely (nonworking) marble fireplace and lovely wood floors...yeah, well...the floors could use refinishing......but as he'll only live there through may......not to worry.......

under the weather....

ok, so....i got up early to take the youngest into town for the 7:20 am...then went back to bed......and slept til 11:25 when the neighbor called asking for her.....no need to elaborate on symptoms....just know that after i drive her back to the soccer bus (4:10) to go to today's second game i am going back to bed.....some days you just have to give in to what ails you......

daily dose of latin

ok, so as i was driving home from dropping my youngest off at the soccer bus.....i was listening to the npr sports show...only a game....and in the short piece about how they were not going to do pieces on th tour de france...the latin phrase sine quo non was used.....and though i knew it was latin.....i had to come home and look it up.... without which, nothing; it is essential....no idea about the context in which it was used...i was much too dazzled by unknown latin to catch the rest......

naked old men in expensive cars

ok, so this little bit of news was a welcome relief....Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, who made headlines earlier this year when he claimed to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, said Friday he was stripped, robbed and left naked in his Rolls-Royce by three women. He claimed to have beem handcuffed to the steering wheel, though no handcuffs were found by police at the scene......

almost over, thanks be to god....

ok, so this year's disastrous tour dr france is nearly over....with the time trial today and the race into paris tomorrow......i must admit that it is like a car pileup...one cannot help but to gawk despite the knowledge that to watch is wrong.......there are two discovery riders who could be on the podium, something that hasn't happened before...to my knowledge....and one of them is an american......who will hopefully not turn out to have anything positive turn up later.......

almost over, thanks be to god....

ok, so this year's disastrous tour dr france is nearly over....with the time trial today and the race into paris tomorrow......i must admit that it is like a car pileup...one cannot help but to gawk despite the knowledge that to watch is wrong.......there are two discovery riders who could be on the podium, something that hasn't happened before...to my knowledge....and one of them is an american......who will hopefully not turn out to have anything positive turn up later.......

truly bizarre

ok, so the business with the idling car outside our gate last night was truly bizarre....we suspect that it was a couple of people (had to be at least 2 because both front doors were open)....were texting friends to find out just where the heck the party was.....had to be texting because there was no sounds of voices.....and we can generally hear much of what is being said from the distance in question.....i do appreciate the call of concern from my favorite gentle reader....

?home invasion

ok, so.....about the time we were done watching the tour on tape....our daughter swept downstairs with the announcement that a car was stopped outside our gate.....doors open...interior lights on.....just sitting there....couldn't quite tell if there was anybody inside...if the driver was casing our house...or had gotten in the basement door found open(!)......about the time my spouse had his shoes on and flashlight at the ready to at least get the license plate numbers...the car drove off......we have never had this happen before....and realistically, nobody targeting us would have stopped so close to our house...this happened at least an hour ago.....so i feel assured that it is ok to go to bed......

trivial trivia

ok, so....the bookmark i am using to keep my place in my hp7 re-read is from el palau guell in barcelona..... because i thought i place where jealosies dwell would be best for this book.......

more random curiousities...

ok, so.... when i went outside with my gallon jug of recycled bath water....there were scores of dead june bugs dead on the side deck.....what's up with that...june bugs in july?....dead bugs all in one place.....we don't use chemicals...so it is curious to see such a sight......and then there are the petunias....that i didn't plant....seems the dirt i used to plant some of my geraniums harbored petunia seeds....fuschia and white striped petunias...not even a variety i'd have chosen....they do add an air of whimsey to the other hues, i suppose.....and last a glimpse into my lunch hour...that i spent at the stanford goodwill....recently opened.....and delightfully colorcoded...i didn't even take a cart because i was just killing time....and another customer stopped me by grabbing my arm.....and asked in great earnestness where we 'kept the picture frames'......like i worked there and would know......what a hoot.....i told him we didn't have any right now and to check back......

say it isn't so, jour trois......

ok,so......the tour rode from pau today with no yellow jersey...seems that the abrupt dismissal of the fella wearing the yellow jersey means that next next guy in line must earn it, rather than get it handed down......so far this day...i knock on wood as i type this...listen closely for the reverb......there have been no failed tests, no firings, no nothing....only a discovery team person now in the yellow, and his teammate in 3rd place...this race is over sunday in paris.....so it looks really good for team discovery to have somebody on the podium.....but at such a price....seems team rabobank may lose its funding from....rabobank...just like phonak dropped its team funding after floyd landis tested positive.....again, these riders seem unable to grasp that scandal scares the money, and without money there is no sport.....you're just another crazy guy careening down a mountain road.....but with no hope of profiting by your foolishness......

random burdens....

ok, so.....i rarely meet up with people i know professionally...though i work in three counties, i reside in none of them....and so it was a real shock to open up the door to the clinic waiting room to call for my scheduled client, and see someone i know in the waiting room...someone who doesn't live in the county in question, either.......gentle readers, people do not drive distances for services unless they wish to remain under the radar....and so i made it a point to go out and speak to this person...to make sure it was understood that privacy agreements that i signed make it impossible for me to even mention that i saw the person at the clinic, nevermind what service was desired.......my first fear when that moment of recognition occurred was that the person would bolt rather than risk global reporting of the visit.....and that is a curious burden...to know things one would rather not know.......i can only hope that the nurse who dealt with this client gave effective advice that will be heeded in future......

another cat story

ok, so this from cnn.com.....Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours.

Oscar the cat doesn't like to be put out in the hall when a patient is dying.

His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means the patient has less than four hours to live.

"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one," said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

The 2-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The facility treats people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses.

After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would wind up dying in a few hours.

Dosa said Oscar seems to take his work seriously and is generally aloof. "This is not a cat that's friendly to people," he said. He is better at predicting death than staff.

say it isn't so.....jour deux

ok, so....i had followed along from time to time to today's stage, and thought when i finally closed the window that all was well with the tour again.....oh how wrong i was....first i see midafternoon an italian rider being led away by les gendarmes.....along with news that the entire cofidis team was out......and later on...as i was waiting for my daughter at soccer practice came the news on npr that the danish team had fired the yellow jersey/tour leader michael rasmussen.....and he was also out.....out and gone....omg.....these people were all told upfront...signed promises.....and yet they persisted with the same old crutches that could kill the sport......transfusion, testosterone doping.....are these men self-destructive.....or willing to sacrifice everything to stand on a podium for a moment of glory.......i am simply stunned......

say it isn't so.....

ok, so, i was distressed to read on line this afternoon that Alexander Vinikourov and his entire team have withdrawn from the Tour de France due to allegations that Vinnie was caught having had a blood transfusion after his time trial win.....to be more specific....he was caught having blood from another 'population' in his body......that sounds ominous.....and since they all signed a pre-race contract that if one cheats they all leave.....that is it for Team Astana.....which kinda reminds me of Team Festina who were kicked out a few years ago for the same sort of thing....don't these folks understand that sponsors will no longer pay to be associated with such behavior.....for the same reason that M. Vick has been barred from attending football camp with his team....there will be no television coverage of a team with such a stain.....and without tv...there is no payout for everybody else.....sad that money makes the world go around....but money always trumps integrity.....ah well.....I was afraid that this year would be our last tour to watch after floyd landis's crash and burn....and my fears may be right on target.......

rest day

ok, so.....today is a tour de france rest day.....and i am delighted to be able to come home later on and not watch the tour til 10 or 11......even with fastforward, the 150-200 mile races take forever to watch......alas, i have a class this evening....and cannot manage to take this day for personal rest and relaxation.....my youngest was sick yesterday.....and for all i know may be still sick......she insisted that we check our cupboards for recalled food products (at the urging of her birthmother)....but we don't tend to buy canned hot dog chili sauce, or canned dog food for that matter......the fact that both are recalled by the same company is a rather nauseating notion......

darned disappointed.....

ok, so....i rushed through hp7 because i was certain that i would go to work on monday morning to find that my potterite workmates (they who went to walmart at midnight and stayed up to read the last 2 installments) had already finished and would want to talk about all the finer points.....but no....i finished, and one was only on chapter 11 and the other hadn't begun....because her vacation book on tape wasn't finished and she wanted closure before she started potter.....omg....and so i spent my day wishing that i had relished each and every page a little longer....i intend to begin my reread right after i get supper going.....

salad days and nights.....

ok, so i dreamed about salad last night.....in a kinda slow-motion scene....in the kitchen of some sort of office complex....with a catered lunch where the salad had been portioned out into foam cups....and i couldn't figure out how to get dressing into the bottom of the cup, so i was pouring the salad back and forth between two cups.....sadly, this seemed to take up the entire night.....and now i feel very tired and un-refreshed.....

mean mamma

ok, so there is a moment at the end of hp7 that a really meanmamma does the right thing.....it happens really quickly....and if you read recklessly fast...like me you might miss it......

all was well.....

ok, so...i finished my first read-through of book 7.....while i sorta watched my child swimming in her lifejacket in the lake.....for the record....all questions were addressed...all plot lines were tied up.....and the people who released spoilers were basically wrong.....and the person i hoped would not die...did not die.....how's that for faith?..........i finished the book while languishing on my new brick terrace...listening to water falling on rocks....and while thinking that life is good.......

fried green tomatoes

ok, so.....i attempted to make fried green tomatoes as a lunch side to to pine-nut crusted salon.....i had made corn pudding to also go with it, and thought i'd use a tad of the batter to cover the tomatoes.....ooops...it seems that when one fried tomatoes, one must use dry rather than wet coating......what a mess......i am not cut out for southern cooking.......

up early and making progress.....

ok, so i had intended to sleep in a bit, given that i stayed up well past midnight reading.......#7......but the lure was far too great.....and so i was out of bed not too long after my spouse reset the alarm......alas, i am teaching sunday school, and must reread the lesson before i can pick up harry where i left off......at chapter 11 (out of 30+).......i had read the spoilers......and was prepared for a bit of bloodshed by this point.....several of the spoiler plot points have been wrong, however......and so i am holding out for a reprieve on the spoiler that upset me most......this has been a series about hope....and one cannot give up hope just yet......

better late than never.....

ok, so i went to cincinnati and back without the book....mostly because my spouse felt it an unreasonable expense to buy an extra copy just so i could start a few hours early....ah well....and now we are home, and the book is in my hands......

angry over 'arry

ok, so....the morning is half gone...and my copy of harry potter 7 is not yet here......yeah, well....it is not yet 8:00 am...but had i the sense to have stood in line last night, and resisted the temptation to order from amazon....i'd be almost done with the book by now....we are traveling to cincinnati for a baby shower......and i have concluded that should there be no book by the time we leave, we'll run by the h-burg krogers to buy another.....i cannot justify a 5-hour car trip with no book 7......and so i am simply pacing for potter like a little kid waiting impatiently for santa claus

when the goodwill gods are smiling....

ok, so......i drove up to lexington after work today to complete the payment on the plane ticket to paris for my eldest.....i was cashing in vouchers from april....and those must be processed directly by delta.....and so my horror at the price paid for the trip (it had gone up considerably since i originally did the on-line calculation) was mitigated by the subtraction of $400......and since i was already in lexington....i went by the l.barn, the clay's mill goodwill, and the boston road goodwill before marshall's and back home.....i found 3 lovely summer dresses in silk and/or linen......and a perfectly passable faux-amber bracelet...as well as a baby shower gift.....and to pay for it all i swung by my periodic consulting job to see a client who has lost weight since admission....between this visit and the last i will come out just about even on the day......life really is good......by the way, i do have the funds on hand to pay for my own ticket to paris....i only hesitate because those i love believe a second trip in a single year to be frivolous......on the other hand, a local wise woman i admire suggested to me today that i simply consider the december trip as a 2008 trip taken early.....and wrap this all up as a book-keeping manipulation.....i like how she thinks.....

addendum

ok, so.....after supper my 14-year old grabbed the epic novel....and announced that if i could read it she could.......this will be amusing, at the very least......

jean de florette flashbacks

ok, so after work, and after finishing the epic novel i watered my garden.....this is a tedious endeavor these days.....a single gallon at a time drawn from the saved bathwater in the downstairs lavatory.....the temperature was intense enough that i had a jean de florette flashback...of gerard depardieu carrying water from the spring to his carnations and his rabbits.....back and forth, back and forth.....painfully tragic scenes......realistically, my struggle was short-lived...only 17 trips.....and pointless...as it is pouring down as we speak......i do believe completely that had i not watered, it would not have rained.......

yes!

ok, so....i got home early enough to finish ulysses......plowed on toward the end until it was done.....yes, yes, and yes.....well, yeah...molly only says the single yes......but you get my point......i imagine that i am the only person on earth who was under the gun to finish ulysses in time for the final harry potter to come out......but then, one never knows..........i must say that it is a different feeling than i felt when i finished moby dick, the last epic that i read, as a read-out-loud book with my eldest.....when he was still in montessori....moby dick was quite repetitive.......and if i cannot read or hear the word leviathan without flashbacks....the word was used so many times to describe the same thing......moby dick is no ulysses.....ulysses is brilliant...impossible, unattainable....absolutely the finest work of literature yet created.....and yet i cannot wait to finish harry potter's last installment.....not because it is timeless prose, but because it is exciting and compelling and enchanting....which were j.k.rowling goals.....i cannot begin to entertain the notion that james joyce intended to entertain me with his masterpiece....perplex me, yes....but amuse me.....no!

latest victim of the tour.....

ok, so.....since the tour started i have barely picked up ulysses.......despite being so very close to finishing......molly is in bed, for gosh sakes, and leopold is asleep......how much more can there be to read...but one cannot read ulysses and watch the tour in the same leisure time slot.....no earthly idea how i will watch the tour and read harry potter....pray for me, gentle readers...that i not become yet another ulysses casualty....someone who came so very close to finishing but fell short of glory......

the televised tour

ok, so...the tour is no longer covered by OLN, because OLN morphed into Versus.....day to day stuff can be found at www.versus.com\tdf..........though i like to keep up with www.letour.fr during the day because 1) the state of ky hasn't thought to block this site and 2)it is a welcome challenge to try to figure out the blow-by-blow en francais.....

say what?

ok, so today our -bio-terror planner stopped by to do a little training on whatever we'd could read for ourselves off the power-point notes....and before he could even get started reading, one of my colleagues had a complaint...seems yesterday when we had a torrential downpour in late afternoon.....complete with thunder and lightening......nobody told her......and because her blinds were drawn she didn't see it for herself from her own window....and she asked this bio-terror planner what he was going to do about warning busy people about potential disasters.....What?......it was a storm.....yes.....and anybody and everybody that isn't deaf or nerve-dead could have heard or felt the ruckus outside....and somebody who keeps the blinds drawn could look out occasionally during the day just to see....and given that it was all over in less than 30 minutes.....by the time a phone tree would have been started it would have been over by the time everybody got the message.....gracious sakes.....i'd been embarrassed to admit that i was that out of touch with the rest of such a small workplace.....and even if somebody had told her, what would she have done about it?...not much, other than wait for the rain to subside before going home.....

fessing up....

ok so yesterday one of my favorite gossip blogs had a collection of spoiler sites for the book release of the century.....and though several were were just words on paper with dire predictions, there was one with photographs of the book's pages.....the table of contents were clearly visible, and the last chapter......and though the death count was not substantiated by such photos....it did seem as though the poster had actually read some of the book if not all.....i cannot wait to read those chapters for myself....just to see if this blabber was right or wrong......i am not sure that all is well that ends well after reading this potential list......

unknown rookie riders.....

ok, so one guess how we spent last evening......watching a fast-forwarded version of the tour......in the alps not far from italy......with spectacular views and impossible turns and wicked up and downhills.....nowhere that i'd want to ride, by the way......there was a curious mishap on a flat section, where somebody's stupid, large yellow dog walked right across the road and into the path of a rider.....the dog got up and walked away, but the rider's carbon wheel was bent and ruined....luckily the rider wasn't hurt.....poor alexander vinikurov is riding with stitches in his knees and elbows after his wreck from a few days ago......he looks really pained......possibly because riders in pain cannot take most effective drugs for fear of doping accusations.....vini is at least 8 minutes behind the leader, so barring any miracle his hopes of winning the tour are toast....but i digress from my original theme...about the rookie riders who are making a big splash....the stage winner from tuesday is a columbian riding in his first tour, for barloworld, a south african team......no idea what barloworld is.....almost sounds like an r.v. sales lot...eh?.......this guy trains in the mountains, so he was just dandy with his own mountainous breakaway.....since his name hadn't come up before yesterday, nobody chased til it was too late....i am always pleased when the bold single breakaway guys win the stage......swim banquet tonight....(and thankfully that season is over.....) so we will be later than usual watching today's stage....

enough is enough.....

ok, so i deleted a blog awhile back because the emerging senator/hooker/diaper scandal was just too sad for comment...a married man with 4 children carrying on like...well....like married men with hookers presumably carry on.....but for his wifey to have low-rated hilary for standing by her man in the past...and then yesterday to stand by her man like he was an innocent bystander......all i will say is that i won't stand close to her because lightening will strike her at any moment....her and her youtube-fodder of a soon-to-be ex-senator...does she not know that hiring a hooker is illegal in the district...so denying hookers in louisiana is pointless?......family values, indeed.....

frustration.....

ok, so last evening we settled in to watch sunday's tour stage.....we couldn't watch it sunday evening because my mother had moved her vcr, and somehow changed her settings...the tape ran out before the race ended....and so we had 2 tapes to watch on monday...the first andf then the ending she taped for us in sunday primetime that included the end......and so when tape 1 ran out, we popped in tape 2......ti find that it contained only the end.....as in the wrap up....and not the last 15 k of the actual race......seems my mom wasn't clear on what was meant by the end.....and so my spouse was on the phone with her last night making sure she had her vcr set correctly, and making sure that she had the start time programmed in....the stage itself was intense......with michael rasmussen of denmark ahead the entire way, with several folks close behind.....there was a trragic mishap where michael rogers (aussie?) hit a guardrail and a spanish rider named arroyo hit him, and flipped over the guardrail into the culvert....he spaniard climbed right up the hill, and got on that bike and rode away, but rogers appeared to be quite hurt, and though he, too, rodse away....he abandoned soon after with major injuries....it was so sad to see this fellow sobbing...in both physical and emotional pain.......hopefully today's stage will be less dramatic......

pottermania

ok, so i kinda wish i could just take a really, really long nap until saturday, when the newest and last potter book comes out......just perusing the nytimes this morning fed the flames....with an article about the voice-actor who narrated all the potter books, including the latest.....he says that the ending is a surprise, and of course....ain't telling how it ends.....no matter who asks and how much they offer......he has not even told his spouse....which means they have compensated him well for his services.......or the check won't clear til monday morning.....here at home i have threatened to keep all details to myself....mostly because nobody else has read book 6......and without book 6, book 7 will make no sense.......i am tickled to discover just which of my acquaintances are potter fans......several unlikely folks at work- two tell me they will be at the h-burg walmart at midnight to buy copies for themselves and family members.....nobody wants to wait.....i have pre-ordered mine from amazon, and have no idea if the book will arrive on saturday despite having paid extra for the privilege...i should say....saturday before we get int he car and rive to cincinnati for a baby shower......what clueless person schedules a family event on potter's day.....?.....

too soon old, too late smart

ok, so the pinch-hit preacher this morning quoted this book by gordon livingston, a psychiatrist who muses about the thirty things we need to know now....the amazon reviews were interesting....especially this quote...."three components of happiness are something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to," and he reminds us that "love is demonstrated behaviorally"-that is, actions count more than words. In his discussion of "Happiness is the greatest risk," he considers how our fear of losing happiness is often a roadblock to our experiencing it.....his description of happiness is remarkably close to my own simple version.....i know that i am always at my perkiest when i feel usefully engaged, when i have my loved ones either around or in reasonably regular contact, and when i have something to look forward to.....read this as a trip to paris if you will......this isn't the part quoted by the preacher....he was going on and on about maps not being in synch with the real, touchable world...or some such.......but i digress.....from happiness....a state that i consider to be far from giddy, and not even close to smug......happiness is an ethereal moment that one identifies only as it is passing....but such moments are precious and worth the effort.....

harry potter

ok, so......we went to see harry potter V after lunch......and i was not disappointed.....the director did a credible job of distilling down an 800 page book into a 2 hour movie.....without losing much of the essential plot points......i could see it again, i suppose...or just wait until the dvd comes out at christmas and watch it over and over.....dolores umbridge as played by imelda staunton was over-the-top...in her pink chanel boucle and her sweater sets....her office, done in scores of moving/purring cat plates set against pink walls....even the sugar she stirred on her tea was pink......and her smile was quite saccharine...for one so very very evil.....and luna lovegood was also cast well....by a pale-haired actress who really did seem to be as offbeat as luna is supposed to be.......the usual suspects are growing up quickly before our eyes....and each and everyone remind us just how well-cast they were in harry potter I......2 more films before it all ends.......and the last book out saturday........

blog as memory book

ok, so i used my blog this afternoon for its original purpose....to record the highlights of my day-to-day life for such a time as i cannot recall them.....and so it was that today i couldn't quite recall how long my dad has been gone......and so i searched my own blog to remember...november 2002, for the record......yes, i could have called my mother for that information, but she will not always be there to ask.....

taking on mcconnell

ok, so this video was on crooks and liars blog......

superfoods

ok, so i have been meaning to blog useful information....here goes.....the following foods are considered the most nutritious by some guy who wrote a book about the most nutritious foods.....and having read the list i mostly agree....i'd have included sweet red peppers:

apples
avocados
beans
blueberries
broccoli
cinnamon
dark chocolate
dried fruit
garlic
honey
kiwis
oats
olive oil
onions
oranges
pomegranates
pumpkins
soy
spinach
tea
tomatoes
turkey breast
walnuts
wild salmon
yogurt

not much of a day off.....

ok, so....on monday mornings a reasonable person imagines what the upcoming (and therefore ideal) weekend will be like...vast blocks of free time interrupted with only minimal obligations.....i have never actually had such a weekend, and alas....this weekend will not qualify. I am organizing the funeral dinner for a sunday school freind whose mother passed away this week.....my refrigerator is full of donated food that i will take by her house at 5....and i have not made my contribution as yet because there is no place to put it....i have to run my child several places today.....and at some point make supper for invited company......i teach sunday school tomorrow and need to actually read the lesson at some point.....and i really do want to see harry potter before i go back to work on monday morning.....sadly....i do not see any naptime in this scenario......a great shame because ideal weekends include a nap of some length......and i don't think that going back to bed right now qualifies as a nap.......

page 666

ok, so i have 2 chapters to go in ulysses....leopold bloom and stephen dedaleus are on their way to bloom's house....after a full day of doing just about everything in dublin.....i was amused that the last chapter i read included the word proclivities...a term i recently used in a blog...not that i have anything in common with joyce....though it was nice to see that i spelled the word correctly......the last chapter was much easier to read than the others....it was as if joyce had run out of styles to try on for size, and was left with straight-up prose.....

more about the malpractice lawyer....

ok, so one of the more amusing parts to having an overnight guest.....even one so pleasant, is to follow his internet trail after he is gone......he checked in with 2 different email accounts, then went to facebook, and then to the tottenham spurs team site...no idea if this is soccer, rugby, or cricket....this fellow plays cricket for his hometown team.....but the spurs doesn't sound like cricket somehow.....and he appeared to finish off the evening with bbc sports.....yeah, yeah...this all seems very clandestine...but these websites were all on my pulldown menu, making them impossible to ignore......and to his credit, he was familiar with the namesake of our cat- phillida erskine-brown, a fictional british barrister......both E and I mentioned this connection...I when the cat came in the house, and E when the guest held the cat......any british malpractice lawyer who likes cats cannot be all bad.....

cross country

ok, so we hosting a british malpractice lawyer from london who is on his way to yorktown from astoria...almost there...he has a 3month visa and has to get back to work......nice evening....luckily he was wishing he could watch the tour de france....

second thoughts

ok, so......i had a blog here that referenced a republican senator from Louisiana who has had to fess up to some rather embarrassing proclivities of late......but i decided to erase my comments because it seemed the decent thing to do......and because i am better off spending my time praying for his family, whose lives will never be the same.....

show and tell

ok, so this evening at bookclub...the discussion got down to a sort of show and tell, with folks wanting to disclose college experiences brought to mind by the novel I am Charlotte Simmons....by Tom Wolfe...this was not a book that i will feel the need to read again....and i was not moved to give the blow-by-blow of my own acid flashbacks from college evoked by Wolfe's loquacious prose.....we did enjoy a nice outing with friends, which is the bottom line of this bookclub.....and now that we are back home, it is back to the tdf.....stage 3....mostly on fastforward because we are tired.....and just want the highlights.....there was just a sweet moment where the pelaton passed through the hometown of one of the riders...and the group slowed way, way down so he could be photographed with family and friends.....how very sportsmanlike.....

another reason why i love this country

ok, so this from cnn.com......Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks -- and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons. Balloons suspend Kent Couch in a lawn chair as he floats in the skies near Bend, Oregon, on Saturday.

With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as ballast -- he could turn a spigot, release water and rise -- Couch headed into the Oregon sky.

Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer's field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles from home.

"When you're a little kid and you're holding a helium balloon, it has to cross your mind," Couch told the Bend Bulletin.

"When you're laying in the grass on a summer day, and you see the clouds, you wish you could jump on them," he said. "This is as close as you can come to jumping on them. It's just like that."

Couch is the latest American to emulate Larry Walters -- who in 1982 rose three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Walters had surprised an airline pilot, who radioed the control tower that he had just passed a guy in a lawn chair. Walters paid a $1,500 penalty for violating air traffic rules.

at a loss for words.....

ok, so there are times when i cannot find the right words....and i have little assurance that there are words out there....but i will muddle on in the quest for the perfect words.....not because this is my only option, but because it is important to me to say these words....

ok, so......we arrived home last night rather late from a cookout, and had to rush through the latest tdf stage....a lovely ride from london to canterbury......robbie mckuen of australia came back from behind (he had been in a little crash) to win the stage...his sprint was a sight to see......as was the scenery along the way.......we recognized sissinghurst at once....a marvelous kentish garden that my spouse and i visited some years back on our whirlwind garden-themed jaunt.....no idea why we didn't go to canterbury if we had been that close.....

ok, so......we had an impromptu water-gathering this afternoon......3 different families with kayaks...lots of kayaks....in fact...i now covet a one-person folbot from england that is a canvas skin covering a foldable frame.......lightest craft i have ever beheld.....or navigated.....this was quite a shock to my youngest, when i got in and sped off.....she had no idea that in my youth we lived near enough to a major canoeing river that every girlscout, 4-H, church and school group i was ever involved with took a canoeing trip each year....and i must say that this single canvas-skin kayak was a pleasure to steer...i can see myself enjoying an afternoon in such a boat. ...maybe not enough to forgo a trip to paris.......which is roughly an equal exchange.......maybe when my ship comes in.......

ok, so the newest version of blogger is teflon to titles....the cursor simply will not let me create a title.....go figure....

ok, so the results of the tour de france prologue are as follows:

1. Fabian CANCELLARA
2. Andréas KLÖDEN
3. George HINCAPIE
4. Bradley WIGGINS
5. Vladimir GUSEV

the commentators took great care to explain that no rider will wear #1 this year......in fact...it didn't appear that anybody was wearing 1-10...the fellow who finished second last year is wearing #11.....such is the distancing these folks are putting between last year's tour (still in arbitration) and this one.....hopefully this tour will finish unblemished, for the sake of the entire sport.....

breakfast at wimbledon

ok, so i got up to do what i always do on this saturday is july.....lounge about, drink coffee, and watch the ladies final tennis match.....this year i was rooting for marion bartoli, an unknown frenchwoman who whooped justine henin yesterday with great and gutsy play....she held her own with venus w. but seemed to fade at the end......now i will get myself together to do some chores....so many daylilies to get rid of, so little time......

harry won't die

ok, so...i have spent far too much time in discussion with harryites i know...at work and at play....and our consensus......that harry will not ide.....because....jk rowlings said that she wrote the final chapter at the beginning...that was years and years ago...when she was penniless and a newish mother......i cannot believe that a first time mother would set out to write a book where the lead character dies at the end......harry potter is her baby, of sorts.....and no mother kills off her first born.....and no big name studio builds a megabucks theme park in florida to a boy wizard who dies......they must know something we don't know.........

low energy day.....

ok, so i tried to conserve energy/resources on this day..mostly off......i sat under the trees to dig out daylilies in my on-going eradication scheme....and then i hung laundry out on the deck railings rather than to use the dryer....and then i repaired sofa cushions for my eldest while watching a 5-set thriller at wimbledon between andy roddick and richard gasquet...wow...the frenchman battled back from the basement to beat roddick....and i was pleased to see marion bartolli beat justine henin to reach the women's final...i like to see the underdog win...and i really hope that bartolli whoops venus williams...who, like her sister, is a most ungracious loser.....so very american in that regard.....neither venus nor serena has ever lost to a better player.....no, the loss is always ailments or mistakes that they had made...when serena lost to justine, she blamed her wrapped thumb....and her wrapped leg.....and never once complemented her opponent.......my next move is to relax by the pond.....reading the new yorker in natural light......a good day for a friday....

freudian....

ok, so...after 2 stops at groceries on the way home, and the systematic putting away of stuff, i went upstairs to change clothes and found myself putting on my pajamas, rather than a pair of shorts......ooops......must mean that i am really tired....as much emotionally as physically....there are only so many pregnant underage girls that a person can meet and process in a day without the specter of the downfall of society as we know it flashing before my eyes....when asked to describe the daily diet of her toddler, one girl (expecting again soon after the 1st turns one) told me that she stopped trying to feed her baby jar-food because he didn't seem to like it...and so at 11 months this child is drinking formula and eating little other than cheetos.....omg......and when i asked her if she had tried to give this near-child a cup....she seemed incredulous to the notion that an almost year-old child could be expected to hold a sippy cup.....and when i mentioned that a pack-day habit ends up costing $19,000 by the time this toddler graduates high school she just shrugged......gentle readers, this is not enough to turn me to the dark (red side).....where would these folks be without public assistance?.......i have no answers....only questions......where is this child's grandparents....there must be somebody who can guide this idiotic teen entrusted with a child and one-on-the-way........and it is not the other idiotic teenager who was with her (clients in my thursday county alsways come with somebody else)......also expecting.....and seeming to see pregnant teen number one as her role model.....omg.....

mm's day off......

ok, so.....i lounged in my pajamas til nearly noon.....watering flowers from the bath water, watching wimbledon tennis, and doing a bit of laundry.....i am laundering/repairing the cushion covers for the sofa that the eldest is borrowing from grandma.....and rather than using the dryer...which might shrink them...i arranged them on the deck to dry......and then i read from a collection of m.f.k. fisher's journal entries......which she edited herself for publication after her death......these are blog-worthy pieces.....at one point she mentions (around 1933) that she is trying to read ulysses......but got bogged down around page 27 or so.......i laughed out loud, given that i am reading m.f.k. fisher as a respite from james joyce......and then......i rode 22 miles on the back of the tandem with my beloved.....most of the wednesday night crowd had better things to do, but the night was....adequate...a bit breezy....seemed like there were headwinds coning and going....and we even came back into town past the 1.45 million dollar house on maple......just to gawk......and last but not least we went to a lawn party, where upon we met an around the corner neighbor that we'd never before met...it is regrettable that i do not have the rest of the week off....because i could so enjoy the leisurely pace of this day....every day......

home ownership as daytime drama.....

ok, so we survived the night....we whose newest hot water heater shorted out, just like the last one.....no early morning fire this time, thankfully....earlier in the week my spouse discovered that one of the cabinet doors below the sink had been knocked in......seems someone repeatedly tried to close the door with a swift kick rather than a closer inspection to move the item blocking the closure.....hmmmm.....and the drama that insued was priceless...as the story-teller waffled between accident and kicker's prowess......a curious tack to take when one is in trouble.....also today a bar was placed int he armoire to make it usable for hanging clothes when it moves to lexington, and a slow toilet leak was repaired......there is always something to be done in one's home.....we know for a fact the many of the upright pillars on the front porch are rotted and kept upright only by layers of white paint......but we spend little time out there, and until someone literally leans through one, that project will wait until another day......... some repairs must handled with immediacy...others can be out on the back burner until one has a quiet day off mid-week.......

million-dollar houses....

ok, so....the million dollar house is not in brunswick...but in d-ville...in somebody's backyard...on maple ave.....who in their right mind would pay that much to live in somebody else's backyard?........

hot water heater headaches....

ok, so....we got home from the swim meet to find that there was not hot water......not for bathes or showers....and the conundrum appliance did reset when prompted...but we have no idea what shorted out the system......gentle readers.....we have a hot water heater curse here on the lake....and the last one burst into flames sometime int he night a few years ago....and were it not for the smoke alarms we would have been history.....and so we got out the matches to check out the smoke alarms just in case........

stephen and leopold at the maternity hospital

ok, so...i was able to finish the next chapter in ulysses by the swim meet so i was able to discuss it with the resident scholar......if briefly because our children were swimming and demanding attention.....this chapter has much to say about (the immorality of) contraception, masturbation, and any even abstinence in marriage because it does not lead to the birth of children.....who knew....i suppose the catholic backround of joyce had a lot to do with this.......now stephen and leopold are off to the bordello....hmmm.......wonder what is next in store.......

a travesty.....

ok, so this from the w.post.....President Bush today commuted the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, sparing him
Statement by President

"With the denial of bail being upheld and incarceration imminent, I believe it is now important to react to that decision," Bush said in a statement issued by the White House early this evening. Although the president said he "respected" the jury's verdict, he added that he had "concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive."

so......since dubya asked libby to lie in the first place....he could have saved the taxpayers a load of cash by pardoning him upfront.....

i might have mentioned this before....

ok, so this from the nytimes.....sadly, the fastest geowing population for std's is the over50 set..... July 2, 2007 -- In its ongoing effort to curb HIV infection rates in the Big Apple, the city has for the first time begun targeting older New Yorkers - delivering condoms and safe-sex messages to senior centers.

Since early June, the Department for the Aging has been coordinating with health officials to not only drop off the prophylactics, but also give informational seminars.

By late last week, 100 of the city's 325 senior centers had received the city-branded condoms and HIV-prevention brochures. The rest of the centers will receive theirs this week, with only seven centers so far opting out.

"It's more than just a distribution of condoms. We were looking at the issue of HIV/AIDS in the above-50 population," said DFTA Commissioner Edwin Méndez-Santiago.

tdf

ok, so the tour de france starts saturday with a prologue ride in london....and a sunday ride from London to canterbury.....and then on to France.....we will watch with heavy hearts...given the year's doping upheaval stories.....this year will make or break the toru i fear...the sponsors did not sign on until the last minute....i hope that the riders play by the rules.....

the concert for diana....

ok, so the three of us watched nbc's edited version of the concert for diana....which was actually narrated by matt lauer in addition to being distilled down to a song each my the major acts.....i cannot say that i was disappointed...one gets what one pays for....but i would have enjoyed some of the songs mentioned by online bloggers.....such as tom jones covering the arctic monkeys...and elton john singing tiny dancer....neither made nbc's cut......ah well......there was a huge contingement of 50 somethings....those of us who know all the lyrics to diana's favorite songs.....and remember the wedding of the century because we watched on television, or were lucky enough to have lined the london streets for a peek.....it was sweet of william and harry to throw this huge fundraiser for diana's charities......to do something to make sure we all remember their mother...... she has become such an icon for beauty, community service, and consummate motherhood that few us of could ever forget her.....

it has come to this.....

ok, so i received from half.com a book by mfk fisher...not the one i heard on a summer reading piece on npr...that was consider the oyster.....this one, the gastronomical me was so familiar i ripped through the collective bookshelves....and there it was....as part of a collected works book that i had completely missed when i checked the shelves to make sure i didn't have this book before i ordered it.....yikes......seems i also have consider the oyster.......i have no idea how i missed this collection in the cooking section of the shelves.....mfk fisher is a tremendously talented food writer....likely the first to publish her thoughts on the art of eating.....ah well....at least this slim volume was easier to hold...the collected works is 3 inches thick.....yeah....and i am fully aware that mfk fisher is not james joyce.....i am finally through with the oxen of the sun part.....and am past the halfway point.....just need a break frum dublin....

so very sore.....

ok, so yesterday i cleared out flower beds for 4 hours.....spent daylilies, weeds, and trees/shrubs that seem to spring up randomly: cedars and redbuds are the biggest offenders.....these self-seed quite easily...and can get quite large in a short amount of time...which would be great if i really did want a redbud amongst the hostas.....i managed to clear the entire frontage on the other side of the fence, and then along the fence on this side.....almost to the bend in the sidewalk.....three wheelbarrows full of sticks, dead or dying organic matter....and now those body parts least used to bending and pulling are in pain....and i am nowhere near done with this project....the good news is that the recent rains have made it easier to pull things out of the soil......i am working to pull out daylilies entirely from several spots....easier said than doen...but i am working toward that goal......