the good judas....

ok, so the revelation that a new gospel, one according to judas iscariot, has been translated and published by national geographic was timely....given that today is palm sunday...and that is the day when the sunday school lesson usually involves the betrayal by judas......this newly revealed text contends that jesus asked judas to betray him.....which makes sense in that jesus already knew that judas would betray him at the last supper.....what better way to know this than having asked him to do so yourself......i would be interested to read the entire document at some point......as for the rest of the christian world......hopefully the source of the info...national geographic...will lend some credibility.......those folks do their homework before publishing a word or a picture.......

comparative lit......

ok,so.....i was reading a library book on the deck...after an exhaustive afternoon of weeding.......and i stood up with a feverish revelation........this opening chapter was not anita brookner...but colette's the break of day.........few in my limited readership could discern between colette and her detractors......not from disinterest but rather from a general lack of appreciation of madame colete....or from a sad lack of translated works........surely anita brookner has read/absorbed...break of day....i intended it to be my bookclub choice a few years ago.....but it was not available in general print....we read cheri instead......a compelling work made into gigi with audrey hepburn.....but nothing like break of day.....the opening chapter evokes the author's relationship with her mother.....i thought of colette when i read random opening chapters available at nytimes.com book section.....i reread the opening chapter to never let me go...by KAZUO ISHIGURO.......i detested this book......mostly because i found the reality more than i could stand..............may be even more than emma thompson could stand were she in the film version..............but back to brookner....leaving home is a poor woman's break of day....and i am sorry for brookner in her peevish attempt..............

weeding as catharsis

ok, so.......i had an hour or so to kill between getting home from work, and joining my workmates for an evening out....dinner at freddies and then she show at the regional arts center.....i am loathe to mouthe the name of the show for fear of being mocked.....so only those who live in danville and who pay attention to these things know of what musical i attended......but i digress.....from my hour to kill......beginning the weeding process.....starting on the right and working left.......why?.....because that is the way i have always done this progression.......i will admit to being much more brutal in this task as i have gotten older.......ripping out perennials that are encroaching on the rose bushes.......weeding is also a bit discouraging......to think that i have been pulling wild onions from the same beds for 24 years without extinguishing their kind.......i recall a book on gardening that martha stewart published early in her career.....martha actually dug up her top soil and baked it in her oven to kill both weeds and other undesirable plants........what a dichotomy......weeds versus obsessive/compulsive behaviors that could lead one's family to call 9-11........and then there is the lawn.....the actual grass is lush.....which only makes the bald spots more noticable......i attempt to coax grass to grow on these spots every year.......fluffing up the topsoil, and sowing seed and covering the spots with straw and avoiding the areas with the mower.....a reasonable person would dip up the entire front yard and lay sod......but i am not quite ready to cry uncle.......not quite yet.......think bill murray in caddyshack....battling with the groundhogs....or was it chipmunks?.......its me versus it (the bluegrass......).....and i aim to win....eventually.........

musique noveaux

ok, so......only a few of the downloaded songs on my desktop are french, but i have shoved them all into a folder so named......just to make room for more music that may come along before i have passed judgement on what i have already acquired......these decisions are not as easy as one would imagine......some tunes have slow starts.......and could be better than expected if given a chance.......the best so far (of recent downloads that includes some from sxsw and 3hive)are as follows:

glen phillips......released
khris delmhorst......under the waves
annie stella....breathe through
ben taylor......nothing that i can do
joseph arthur......speed of light
the weepies.....world spins madly around
adrienne young and little sadie.....my love will keep
pink......dear mr president
david ford.....state of the union
piers faccini....picture of you
the chapin sisters....don't love you


there are so many more in my new file......but so little time.........

immigration issues.....

ok, so the first new yorker cartoon in the newest issue pretty much says it all........

hypocrisy........

ok, so an excerpt from my day in public health......a mamma-to-be who was kicked out of her christian school when she became pregnant and 'had' to get married.....seems that babbymammas are not welcome in the bosom of the believers......gee.....so if she had aborted and not told anybody it would have been ok for her to stay?......or if she had gotten married and then told she was expecting it would have been ok?.....or maybe she should have pleaded immaculate conception and challenged them all to disprove her assertion.......as it is......i imagined myself calling out the hypocrits over this issue of premarital sex........under the banner of wdjas( what did jesus actually say)......as i recall he said....he(she) who could has commited no sin shall cast the first stone.......or words ot that effect.....wise words......given that most folks cannot claim chastity for themselves legitimitely........but i digress.....i truly felt ashamed of the christian community in talking with this girl not much younger than my own children.......hoping that if the shoe was on my foot that i would act better.........

abloom.......

ok, so my yard is abloom with the quince tree, the pear, the forsythia.....and the redbud just beginning to burst forth.......and then there are the tulips, the daffodils, the narcissia, the grape hyacinths........too bad the grass has bald patches, and has not yet been mowed......eventually i must learn to mow......but i am resisting the temptation to learn.......at least until there are no other options......at least 2 roses didn't seem to make the mild winter.......mrs. hardy and a tranplanted rose that may be reine de violette........but with old roses one doesn't get too worked up too quickly....these can come back from roots if the roots are still vital.....and i am willing to wait a bit longer before i get out the shovel.......ah, but i love springtime in the garden...........

you men are all pigs......

ok, so the chance to see a cross-section of humanity over my washington dc weekend was fruitful......there was thr asian wedding party all dressed up and taking formal portraits near the jefferson memorial.....and the ponytail family of 15 previously mentioned...and then there was the singular woman who had camped out on a park bench with the banner that read....you men are all pigs.......not men are all pigs....but you men....again...no idea what she meant by all this....i couldn't quite make out her sideline signs.......but then my feet hurt at that point in the afternoon......and the pain i felt was my own and not hers...........

ok, so my middle child and i really liked this small piece by cezanne........which was not available in poster or postcard form......it seemed quite the impressionist masterpiece......done in rapid strokes with fervor and emotion of a moment to be remembered.......the kind of painting one wanted to reach out and touch.......... 

dear mr president....

ok, so these song lyrics are by pink...but the backups are by the indigo girls....and the song is tearjerking....i downloaded it from perezhilton.com...scroll way down the page........

Dear Mr. President"
(feat. Indigo Girls)

Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pay the road to hell

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would you

backsliding.......

ok, so the mm has slid a tad.......the pull of a restful trip....the packability of my old floppy pillow......or that is what i told myself when i stuffed it into my suitcase......it is so easy to pack......i'll sleep so well on my vacation.....and now that i am home i cannot give it up (again).....or at least....not yet.........

ok, so this is the newish baby panda att he national zoo......so very cute....roley-poley cute....... 

ok, so we are home safe and sound.......and with a few photos to share......we enjoyed the cherry blossoms immensely....all these years of traveling to d.c.to see family and friends....and we had never seen the cherry trees.....so lovely....... 

medical volunteers needed....

ok,so....the washington post has a special ad section.....for recruiting medical volunteers......makes sense that the numerous gov't research facilities would recruit locally.....for folks with no health problems as well as for niche groups.....cocaine-users between the ages of 18-45, folks with acid reflux, people who have hepatitis, folks who sleep too much and people who cannot stay asleep, people willing to test an anti-dengue fever vaccine, people willing to skip theircholesterol meds.....compensation provided.....a person lucky enough to have all the right conditions and/or gutsy enough to contract new ones could almost make a career out of medical 'volunteering'..

panda tickets

ok,so.....our trip to the zoo was postponed til this morning...seems that the pandas are viewable with timed tickets.....which were fully booked until 9:10 this morning.....and since the zoo is a 30 minute walk from the metro....and we must line up tickets in-hand 20minutes ahead....and the metro ride is 35 minutes from nicks.....this entire adventure involved getting up at 6:00 am.....a lot to ask a woman who weeded for 8 hours yesterday.....i feel so sooooooo old atthis moment.....all for apanda viewing that won't appen if the pandas stay in their den......oy......

absolutely exhausted

ok,so.........i weeded flower beds today.......all day.......i find weeding a completely satisfying endeavor......though not as peaceful as one would expect.....the frogs in the nearby lilypond were courting....the national geographic kind of spectacle complete with the bulging throats and a frantic song..

making martha proud

ok,so.....yesterday we launched into gardening projects with nick rather than sightseeing......i sorted his collection of empty pots......by size and transformed their original mound into an orderly lineup......when i say 'collection' i must also add that nick has a rose growing business.....and he has accumulated thousands of containers for use in the process.....the new lineup spans thirty feet along a fence.......most gardener stores have fewer pots in stock.......meanwhile, ernst,nick, and ayle filled a truck and a flatbed trailor with junk in order to make room for a shelter for his kabota and its accessories.....i like that sort of work......clearing nd organizing....it brings pleasure to see immediate results.....today i plan to take cayle to the zoo.....maybe i can get a smaller project or two done after we get back......

a newspaper in the hand....

ok,so i am thoroughly enjoying a peaceful sunday morning .....no agenda except to relish a real rather than vitual copy of the washington post along with my coffee...this after already enjoying the walk to the road to fetch said paper....a route past numerous boxwoods....the aroma of moist box in the mornings is like madeleines to proust.....but i digress from the newspaper......articles beheld firsthand are much more compelling in person......today's art piece on shifting colors in paintings was fascinating....and a day late.....two of the pieces held up as examples were seen yesterday but without this critical knowledge i fear i appreciated them less .....ah well.....and the spring book reviews........read from paper spread over the coffeetable rather than from a glowing screen .....you know what i mean......online can never replace the pleasures of paper......

peak

ok,so.......we arrived on the tidal basin to see the cherry blossoms at peak bloom....us......and 100.000 others......a cross section of humanity.....including a wedding party taking formal photos....and a family of 15 all sporting ponytails drawn into buns....boys and girls......we surmised some sort of cult.....then off to see cezanne in provence at the national gallery....the best of the expo was a small piece called sugar bowl, pears and blue cup.....the brush work was so palpable we envisioned the meandaddy of the l.o. reaching to touch the canvas.....we savored the old masters while we had the opportunity....an exhibit of frans van mieris.....a marvelous still life with flowers that included a blue satin curtain drawn to expose the painting beneath......the fabric was so very wrinkled and lustrous and ever so real.......a nice afternoon......but now there is basketballto savor.......adeiu...

safe and sound

,ok,so......the plane trip from start.....as in leaving the house....to finish.....as in walking in nick's front door.....took 6 hours......as opposed to 10 but it felt so leisurely as to be less the time.....of course, we arrived at the louisville airport 2 hours early.....and our baggage pickup was complicated by a clog on the conveyor.....oy.....stephan was ith nick, having arrived by train earlier in the evening......roseanne was waiting up and was kind enough to let us all eat and unwind before suggesting we all turn in....i awoke this morning refreshed and eager to have my ritual tour of the garden with coffee in hand whle the dew is still on the boxwood.....nick's garden is a multi-acre showplace with 2 massive lilyponds, gazebos, gravel paths, and 'rooms' separated by 12foot box hedges or trellises.....his box have suffered from voles who burrow in their roots.....he has received a crate of ferral cats from a rescue group called friends of the felines to catch the voles.....they are currently confined to the stone springhouse.....they must be confined for two weeks to assure that they will stay......tommorrw is the day for the door to be left ajar...and we may be able to catch sight......seems cats , ferral or otherwise, are the thing with local gardeners....his friend karen has 14, which nick termed cat saturation.......he is hoping that the cats will catch the voles.....and may go so far as to acquire a terrier to catch groundhogs......we suggested a deerhound for the deer......but he won't commit to a full complement of varmint-chasing pets.....go figure......must motivate the vacationers to go downtown....the day is getting away from us