The Quiet Life

Tech support

2012-02-12T08:53:00.000-05:00

My internet had been slowing down recently. After a while, I also noticed that I was booted off frequently. If I didn't notice being booted, I certainly noticed the pop-up window saying I am 'now connected'. What? I was never NOT connected.

I became suspicious that someone was using my Wi-Fi. I used to have a WPA encryption key but my router got zapped in an electrical storm and the guy said that either I could buy a new router or I could go unsecured. That sounded hinky to me, more like the guy didn't want to deal with it at that moment, or he didn't know how. But no one was living nearby me and on the wireless list it only listed my network, so I went unsecured.

But lately the internet connectivity problems were getting worse and worse. Last week a pop-up message after I got booted off, said, "Another computer is wrestling with your IP address and there is a conflict" or something like that. I don't have another computer. The pop-up error message confirmed my suspicions. Neighbor Net was underway. Now, if they are stealing Wi-Fi from me, a paying customer, that is their moral quandary. But if they are doing something illegal, and the police track their activities to my IP address, it's MY legal problem. Enough is enough.

I searched on the internet and found tutorials on how to detect if someone else was using your wireless. In addition to my computer, I found a Blackberry and an Android have been on. I don't own a Blackberry or an Android. A-HA!

I found another tutorial on how to set your own encryption key. It took me a while. There were two false starts. Once, I pressed enter and the screen froze and went black. I hate when that happens. I pictured smoke coming out of the router and the modem sprouting wings and flying off in a crazed dash against the window, like a wounded bird.

I rebooted and amazingly the wireless network refreshed with my encrypt! Yay! I'm IN, safely!

Not so fast. Apparently now I had to make the service provider reset the router to reflect the changes and recognize them. I did that by myself too. I rebooted once more and what a relief, the little icon started blinking happily and the little radio waves coming off the icon were green.

I was live on the internet again. I felt really proud of myself that I kept it up and stayed calm and finished the job.

I have three online ministries which mean a great deal to me. My entire social life (by choice) is online. My entertainment is online. I don't like being off even for a few minutes. I don't even like thinking I won't have access even for a few minutes. Call it addiction. Call it an active writing life. Call it anything you want, just don't call it offline.

I was thinking last night about life before internet. What did I used to do? I can't really remember. I didn't get online until 1997 or so. I was 37 then. As an adult in the 80's and early 90s at night I guess I'd just read or cook or make art or listen to music. Cable tv was new in the 80s, and there was not a lot of programming then. I remember when MTV went 24 hours. It was a big deal. Back then we used to rent a VCR machine (few people owned a personal machine themselves, though that changed fast) and rent movies and watch those.

I'm unashamed that I love the internet. I think it is a great invention. I am unashamed I spend so much time on it. I read news from other countries, I write to people far away, I watch documentaries like "Atom" and biographies of people like Richard Feynman (who, it turns out, was not such a nice guy). I look at art and read about art interpretation. I look up words in Greek. Mostly I listen to sermons or Gospel music, or encourage friends on email or Facebook or Twitter.

I'm glad that patience and perseverance allowed me to fix my internet connectivity problems. I'm glad that the internet has such good tutorials. I'm glad no one will be piggybacking on my Wi-Fi anymore or stealing bandwidth for either benign or nefarious purposes. Mostly, I'm glad to be back online after only two hours of tech trouble, lol!

Figgy thoughts

2012-02-04T10:18:00.000-05:00

There is a large fig tree on the property where I rent an anaprtment. There is one other resident here. I love figs but until I moved to GA and had access to them as a fresh item ready to be plucked I'd rarely eaten one. They damage easily, go over quickly and thus are expensive to buy when or if they do show up at a grocery store. For the most part, fresh figs had been inaccessible to me most of my life.

When I saw the fig tree I fell in love. I will never move. I will camp out under the tree on my back with mouth open and ready to eat all the figs that drop. None will even get to touch the ground. LOL.

In seasons past I'd made fig compote and fig purses. In addition to simply popping them in my mouth, all fresh and delicious. Today I stumbled across a recipe for fig-bleu cheese crostini, and a goat cheese-proscuitto and fig pizza. YUM, YUM YUM. Fig season cannot get here fast enough!

other design by photographer Kimberley Hasselbrink

Fig lovers, unite!

Gulliver, Lilliput, and sick day

2012-02-02T19:47:00.000-05:00

It's been a gorgeous day. We had strong sun, clear skies and 70 degree plus temps. Ahhh. However I stayed home from work with a vicious sinus infection and haven't been outside at all. I felt pretty bad yesterday at work, but during the night I'd propped myself upon two pillows so that my head was above my lungs. I had slept well and I'd been able to breathe all night. I woke up at 5:30am, thinking "Oh boy, I could breathe. Wonderful, I'll be at work today!"

So then I tried to get up. I tried and I tried. I was Gulliver! Liliputians had come in during the night and tied me down on all sides! My limbs were heavy and useless, my body veritably glued to the bed.

I was captive to the little germs swarming all over me, and succumbed to sleep once more...

Woodpecker

2012-01-28T13:54:00.000-05:00

Going to the garage to put in the laundry, I heard the peck-peck-peck of a busy little woodpecker somewhere in the yard. Immediately understanding that hunting up a woodpecker would be way more fun that dealing with dirty clothes, I dropped the laundry bag, grabbed my camera and took off to look for the tree hosting the little guy. Camouflage really works. It took me a while, but I found him at the top of the tree. Hi l'il guy!

Weekend brunch

2012-01-28T12:12:00.000-05:00

This morning broke clear and cold, but surprisingly, it has warmed up considerably. I went outside to the garage to put in a load of washing and the sun is strong, and it turns out that the day has warmed up to the point that no coat is needed. I heard the birds this morning twirping brightly and I love that sound almost beyond any other.

My Saturday brunches are another thing I enjoy very much. This morning I made a fantastic scrambled egg sandwich on crusty French baguette. I put in tomato, green pepper and mushroom, and sprinkled with finely shredded cheddar cheese. A cantaloupe and banana smoothie topped with peanuts finished me off. It was yummy. Yesterday I'd made pasta fagiole and today the flavors will be blended wonderfully, so that will be linner (lol, lunch-dinner).

I'm all off schedule for eating. During the week I eat my first meal at 11:30, which is lunch. Then when I get home a little something at 4:00 then another little something at 7:30 or 8:00. Three meals, just at weird times. It remains the same during the weekend.

I managed my time well yesterday and today I have a head start on the domestic chores. It feels really good to wake up Saturday morning knowing I have 8-10 hours of writing to do in compiling the Prophecy Newsletter, but that my other tasks are already taken care of. I might actually get to relax this late afternoon and read instead of working straight thru like usual.

I started a new book. A colleague at school had put a big box on the table in the copy room with the alluring word "FREE" on the side. Many of the items inside were books. One was "Amazon Dream" by Roberta Allen. Published in 1993 it tells the tale of a woman (Allen) who traveled to Peru's Amazon alone, just because it had always been a dream of hers. She had been an inveterate traveler prior to her Amazon trip, so she wasn't a newbie. But still...I've been to the fringe of the Amazon with a husband, four locals and a guide and it was still a strange experience. Going it alone seems like a travel biography I'd want to read.

Well, the tea is ready and the newsletter is calling. I will get started with my weekend work. I hope you all have a nice day!

The simple act of grocery shopping

2012-01-18T20:52:00.000-05:00

I structured my life so that I can live it simply. To that end, I have reduced my needs and have brutally excised my wants. I deliberately take pleasure in simple acts, simple scenes, and simple joys. I live slowly, intentionally. In a lot of ways, I could go simpler still. But the simplicity buck stops here, lol.

Because I don't have a hectic life, I can relish the simple (and few) errands I perform. Grocery shopping is one of those. There is a fancy-dancy grocery store 14 miles away. But a round trip of 28 to 30 miles is not wise in these gas pricey times, not to mention the temptations of being in a store with lots of extras. And finally, their prices are very high. It's simply not worth it to make the drive.

Instead, there is a mom and pop store of medium size but a good variety just a mile behind the school I work in. It takes me just about 5 minutes to get there. So I can arrive in just a few minutes and that is stress reducing.

I enjoy walking around at my leisure and choosing good, fresh food. The specials are good and I can feel secure knowing my budget can be adhered to. I know that after a long day at work that after getting the groceries, the drive home will be quick and I'll soon be relaxing.

The point of this blog entry is that any one of those are a HUGE blessing. Grocery store nearby? Blessing! It offers good, fresh, affordable food? BLESSING! Having a paycheck to be able to buy the food? Blessing! Being able to enjoy this mundane task as part of a lovely day? Blessing!

To me, living a 'a quiet life' means not just being audibly quiet, it means also being quietly content in the heart. Peace. The peace comes from accepting and thanking the blessings arising from the most mundane places. Like the grocery store.

Winter

2012-01-16T20:55:00.000-05:00

My old home, Gray Maine. I spent almost 30 years in Maine, half of them in Gray. Winters were brutal.

That hump is my Saturn station wagon. The orange blob in the door is my husband, who had to dig the door open and then is inside scrambling to find the keys. We'd been in Florida for two weeks.

Long icicle from a garage roof, Congregational Church in the background. The winter light at dusk is like that, bluish.

Icicles from the cabin I'd lived in for 14 years.

The cabin in spring. In height of winter, there would be massive drifts on either side of the shoveled path

During a snowstorm the wind-driven snow was blown Into my office under the door.

The thrill of finding Octagon soap

2012-01-15T19:29:00.000-05:00

I wonder occasionally how women accomplished tasks around the home 75 years ago. Like, what did they do before kitty litter? Sand and baking soda. That got me thinking about baking soda, and also vinegar. Those two items are safe, inexpensive and have dozens of useful purposes around the home. Here is a list of 60 uses for baking soda. Here are 131 uses for vinegar.

I found 20 Mule Team Borax at my local grocery store too. Thrilled to discover this old timey, stalwart item that has so many uses.

Now I have discovered "Octagon All Purpose Soap by Colgate". As the product description states, Octagon is more economical to use than liquid soap as it lasts longer. Easily cuts through grease and grime Removes stubborn stains. Great for your laundry, dishes, hands, and more.

This is a soap that has been in continuous production for 100 years. The Department Of American Studies at the University of Maryland reports, "Octagon Soap is a lye soap intended primarily for laundry purposes, but often used as an all-purpose soap. When used as a laundry soap, soap shavings are usually added to the water in a wash tub and laundry is hand washed using a corrugated washboard. Another way of using soaps of this kind is to put a whole soap bar in a water-filled tub containing the items to be washed. Heated from below by a fire, the contents of the tub would be stirred with a paddle. Until the 1940's, this was a common way of washing bedclothes which people wanted white and spot free. But Octagon soap is mild enough to be used as a hand soap if one is not very concerned about skin softness."

"Octagon soap was first sold early in the 1900's. During its most popular period, in the 1930's, it was a brown, roughly-cut, extruded bar of soap with coupons printed on the wrappers which could be collected and exchanged for various kinds of merchandise."

My bar of Octagon soap is the same- large, brown, heavy with 1930s wrapping.

"Until 1928 Octagon Soap was manufactured by the Colgate Company. Colgate & Company was started in 1806 by William Colgate when he opened up a starch, soap, and candle business on Dutch Street in New York City. Colgate & Company became the first great soap making concern in the United States. The first Colgate advertisement (for "Soap, Mould & Dipt Candles") appeared in a New York newspaper in 1817. It was not until the 1830's that the company began selling individual bars in uniform weights."

"Colgate introduced perfumed soap and began the manufacture of perfumes and essences during 1866. In 1872 Colgate began to produce the first milled perfumed toilet soap, Cashmere Bouquet. In this same year the Peet Brothers (William, Robert and James) started a soap company in Kansas City, Kansas."

"In 1898, in the western United States, the B. J. Johnson Soap Company began to make a soap entirely of palm and olive oil. The advertised advantage of this soap was that it floated. The soap was popular enough that in 1916 the Johnson brothers renamed their company after it - Palmolive. In 1926 the Peet Brothers' soap company merged with Palmolive to become Palmolive-Peet. In 1928, Palmolive-Peet merged with the Colgate Company to create the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company. For many years after 1928 Octagon Soap was produced by Colgate-Palmolive-Peet."

It floated. Huge inducement to buy the soap. Can you imagine the aggravation of leaning over a washtub in the hot sun, scrubbing your husband's farm shirt, and the soap slips and falls to the bottom of the tub. Having to root around for it a billion times must have been irksome in the extreme, not to mention a time waster.

"In 1953 Peet was dropped from the company's title, resulting in the company's present name, Colgate-Palmolive. Octagon soap was still in limited production at the time of this writing in 1999."

That is why I was surprised to find this throwback on the shelf at the store. Not that I knew what Octagon soap was at the time. I just was looking for a bar of soap that was less than $1. It cost 79 cents. It does last a good long time. I cut it in half and I use half at the bathroom sink and half at the shower.

Other uses I've read about are that it is wonderful for bug bites. Here is a list of applications Octagon soap is good for.
Dish soap
Hand soap
Clothing stain remover
Acne remedy
Bug bite/poison oak and ivy remedy
Grease remover
Cabinet/woodwork cleaner
Stove cleaner
Bathtub/tile cleaner
Tick repellent
Deer and rabbit garden repellent

"A single bar of simply packaged, long-lasting Octagon Soap can perform several tasks so you don’t have to worry about buying multiple targeted products in oversized plastic bottles, tubs, and what have you."

To use as a bug bite salve, simply lather up and put it on the affected area. Let dry in place.

I really like not having to resort to lots of different chemical items for household tasks. I really like having low-tech items available to do my usual jobs. I really like being able to buy inexpensive but quality items. Look for Borax and Octagon soap at the store, and buy lots of vinegar and baking soda while you're there. You can't go wrong.

I like tea

2012-01-09T18:22:00.000-05:00

I finished using my Christmas money. Most of it went into the bank. However I am so frugal during the year, I did spend some on stuff I like. I bought three books, some nurse socks (compression hose to stop the leg & feet swelling from being on your feet all day), a laptop desk for when I sit on the couch, and TEA!!

I bought 200 chamomile teabags. 100 are Stash Chamomile Herbal Tea, "Chamomile brews a beautiful golden cup with a delicate, classic apple-like flavor and fragrance. It is a soothing drink that is good any time of the day, but especially relaxing in the evening. It is naturally caffeine free." For variety the other is Chamomile Nights Herbal Tea: "Sweet and mellow, this tea offers just the right blend of natural herbs and flavors and is just what you need after a 'too much' day. Treat yourself to this golden-in-the-cup tea and simply enjoy."

I had been having a lot of green tea, which I love. I learned recently that green tea has quite a bit of caffeine, though. An average serving of brewed coffee contains 145 mg of caffeine, the same serving size of green tea provides 25 mg, which is a huge difference, but when you drink 5-8 cups of green tea in a five hour span of time it gets to be a lot of caffeine. I noticed when I laid down in bed at night that my heart would race and pound.

Of course, having long vacations such as the one I just finished at Christmas (two weeks) means I have plenty of time to visit WebMD and obsess about all my imaginary symptoms. With the heart pounding events occurring night after night I looked it up and it turns out the caffeine will do that. Make your heart pound when you lay down. Green tea is a really good diuretic but even so, I thought I'd better lay off the green tea so I bought completely caffeine free chamomile. In addition to being an all herb tea it has the added advantage of being the very tea that Peter Rabbit's mother served him when he arrived home safe, but much aggrieved, from his misadventure in Mr McGregor's vegetable garden. Did you know Peter Rabbit was first published in 1902? With that kind of history and pedigree, you can't miss on the chamomile. Chamomile has it all over green tea if you ask me.

Everybody around here has two names

2012-01-09T18:02:00.001-05:00

In Rhode Island, where I'm from, or Maine where I lived, people have the first name, the middle name, and the last name. They go by the first name. Admittedly there's a lot of "The Third", or III at the end, or a lot of letters. Like this, "Elizabeth Ellen Prata, III, MsEd, M.Div, LOL." People sure do like their education letters up north.

But here in the south the thing is two first names. "Sarah Beth", "John Thomas", "Abbie Fae", "Fairley Adin", like that. Now, I don't know if the people who use two first names also have a middle name. Interesting if they do. But woe to me if I call the child by only the first of the two first names. Once recently I called to a little girl named Anna Claire, but said only "Anna please come here" and the girl next to her shook a finger at me and said in her best Librarian voice, "Her name is ANNA CLAIRE!" Oops.

There are some boy names in the south that I had not heard before. These names are not common up north: Chase, Chance, Braxton, Mason, Carson. Nice names, solid.

When I was married my last name was Joyce. Elizabeth Joyce. That was tough, having two first names as all my names. It got mixed up a LOT. One teacher I taught with for many years never did call me Elizabeth. I just gave up after a while. When she called me Joyce, I answered. We have a presidential candidate with two first names and that's it, Ron Paul. And what's up with Mitt? Actually, Gov. Romney's first name is Willard. I looked up his genealogy and can't find Mitt as a family name. So I don't know what's up with Mitt or where it came from. I don't think I can vote for someone named Mitt. Just kidding. I'm not that superficial. Really.

We set a great store by our names, whether they are two first names or the full name with letters or numbers after, they identify us. I like to go by Elizabeth. I wouldn't mind if my parents had been born in the south and made my name be ElizabethEllen. That has a nice ring to it as well. Actually I don't care what you call me. Just don't call me late for dinner.

What a gorgeous day!

2012-01-07T20:35:00.000-05:00

I woke up at 6:30 to temps above fifty degrees. Is this January? I don't think so. But I'll take it!

I got so excited around noon with the sun so warm and high, I ran outside to take some photos so that I could put them up online and look at them from my laptop. LOL, ha ha! No it really was a nice day out there. Now it's raining, so I'm glad we had the sunshine and warmth while it lasted.

The light shining though the foliage was absolutely luminous...

I liked the shadows of the fig tree branches against the shed

Even Mrs. Frog enjoyed the day!

Back to work

2012-01-06T21:33:00.002-05:00

I started back to work today after a more than two-week break. I work in an elementary school as a Special Education teacher's aide. But the kids didn't come back today, it was a teacher's workday. The kids come back Monday.

I helped prepare bulletin boards, bind books, sort papers, glue buttons, copy papers, refresh the M&M bag (yum!) and stuff like that. It was an easy day, with an hour long lunch, no less. But tonight I'm so tired. You'd think I had been asked to jackhammer up the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I went grocery shopping after work. The prices are simply unbelievable. Many things that went on weekly Wed. special are simply gone by the time Friday rolls around, but I still stuck to the specials and didn't drift from my list. It was still hard to come in under budget. Noticing the rise in prices and the difficulty of staying on budget even when buying strictly the same thing, I've still had to raise it $10 per week. But not complaining, I have access to good food, I can afford good food, and I don't lack for good food at home.

I swung by the library to pick up the book on order, "The Paris Correspondent." The Amazon.com blurb says "High-profile journalist Alan S. Cowell's latest novel is a fast-paced trip into the dark heart of a newspaper office abroad. Addictive and illuminating, it deftly portrays the rivalries and complicated passions at the story's heart. Ed Clancy and Joe Shelby are journalists with The Paris Star, an English-language paper based in Paris. Relics from a time when print news was in its heyday, when being a reporter meant watching a city crumble around you as you called in one last dispatch, the Internet age has taken them by surprise. The two friends are faced with the death of what they hold most dear--their careers, and, for Shelby, a woman he cannot bring himself to mention. The Paris Correspondent is a tribute to journalism, love, and liquor in a turbulent era. Written in riveting prose that captures the changing world of a foreign correspondent's life, Alan S. Cowell's breakout novel is not to be missed. Writing from experience and in homage to Reynolds Packard's Dateline Paris, his razor-sharp and darkly funny style will win readers the world over."

So, should be good.

When I got home I had a salmon patty sandwich on crusty boule bread, some potato chips, and green tea. A couple of butter cookies with the rest of the tea for dessert topped me off.

My kitties were happy to see me when I got home. They'd been used to me being here every day and better still, having exactly the same routine each day. Maybe I'm really a cat at heart.

Soup and vacation

2012-01-04T08:30:00.000-05:00

I've had a good two weeks off. Now on Friday I go back to work. It is a teacher's workday with no students at school so it's like easing back in and it won't be a shock to the system. (Like Monday will be)

I was concerned with how tired and how sick I was the day after vacation began. I slept a lot the first week. I slept an obscene amount of sleep at night and also during the day in naps. I never fully got rid of the bronchitis, I still cough quite a bit, especially at night before bed and upon waking up. But I do feel lots better and the second week I stopped with the naps and just slept the regular 7.5 hours at night. I'm regulated again. Or as The Dog Whisperer says, 'I'm balanced.'

I made a really good pasta e fagiole I'd enjoyed for several days straight. Yesterday I made salmon patties and today to go along with that I"ll make another soup, this time collard greens and butter beans. I like soup. I think it is culinarily under-rated.

The cold weather finally arrived. It seems funny that just less than a week ago I had the windows open and it was in the upper 60s and low 70s, and the sunflower in the pot by my front door was blooming. Now it is in the teens. Hence, the soup!

Wednesday is my weekly grocery shopping expedition so today I will go out. Yes, out. Emerge from my tiny apartment to where there is fresh air and trees and...shudder...other people. But I'll brave it and as always, find that it will be a pleasant experience. And after all, I have to get used to other people at some point when this two week seclusion in my hermitage ends, because Monday there will be 600 big and little people to get used to again.

But the good thing is that after all that I'll do out and about today, which always does me good anyway, I'll be back IN. Yay for IN!

A brokered convention?

2012-01-04T07:36:00.000-05:00

Drudge has this for an Iowa-morning-after headline:
MITT 30,015
RICK 30,007

The Associated Press reports the results:
"Returns from all 1,774 precincts showed both Romney with 24.55 percent support and Santorum with 24.54 percent. Texas Rep. Ron Paul drew 21.5 percent of the votes."

Something was brought up last month. I saw it on The Most Important News and then The Truth Wins on US News & World Report. It is about a "brokered convention,"

"Sarah Palin or Jeb Bush could still win the Republican nomination in 2012 and become the next president of the United States. Really. In fact, Paul Ryan, Jim DeMint, Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie still have a chance too. How could this be? It is called a "brokered convention", and it has become a very real possibility for the Republican Party. In fact, Paul Ryan, Jim DeMint, Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie still have a chance too. How could this be? Well, it has now become clear that there is a very real chance that no Republican candidate will hold a majority of the delegates by the time the Republican convention rolls around. If that happens, that would mean that we would have the first "brokered convention" in decades. The truth is that the Republican establishment does not want this, but they are also scared to death of having someone like Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul as the nominee. So exactly what is a brokered convention?"

Wikipedia says of the process:

"A brokered convention is a situation in United States politics in which there are not enough delegates 'won' during the presidential primary and caucus elections for a single candidate to have a pre-existing majority, during the first official vote for a political party's presidential-candidate at its nominating convention. Once the first ballot, or vote, has occurred, and no candidate has a majority of the delegates' votes, the convention is then considered brokered; thereafter, the nomination is decided through a process of alternating political horse-trading, and additional re-votes. In this circumstance, all regular delegates (who, previously, were pledged to the candidate who had won their respective state's primary or caucus election) are "released," and are able to switch their allegiance to a different candidate before the next round of balloting. It is hoped that this 'freedom' will result in a re-vote resulting in a clear majority of delegates for one candidate."

Read more at any of the links.

CatBert: He will have his way, yessir

2012-01-01T12:43:00.000-05:00

My cat Bert is king of the manse. His 'spot' is at the foot of the bed, looking out the window. He is never happier than when I can raise it for him to see and smell what is out there. He often stays there all day if the window is up. When the window is down he is also pretty happy to look out. When the window is full of condensation, he is UNhappy. So in order to get a view, he licks the window to make peepholes. Enterprising cat. Gross window.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T20:40:00.000-05:00

Well, Happy New Year! I really don't know what else to say. I have a very boring life, and not much to report.

As much as I enjoy reading lists, like "Ten worst blogging mistakes of 2011" or "Five best design moments in your home", or "The inside scoop on where the best five broken meters are in town," I can't think of a list to write myself.

Speaking of meters, I remember a place I worked for 6 years, in a bedroom community of Portland Maine, a large town called Gray. It had a busy intersection, five state routes plus a turnpike interchange met just 100 feet from my office door. It was the only route for Poland Spring Trucks, logging trucks, and modular home trucks from the industries that produced them upstream. Trucks passed by the office constantly. Or I wished they passed. Once they got off the turnpike, they spotted the Cumberland Farms next door, or the McDonald's next to that or the Chinese restaurant across the street, and they screeched to a halt, parking at the first longish straight stretch they passed by: the driveway. Often, like, daily, they would park in front of our exit, blocking us, and our customers in. It was a problem.

Briefly and jokingly, me and my friend who owned the property thought about putting up a meter there, just so see what the truck drivers would do. We didn't, but the idea gave us a lot of giggles.

I'm not much of a retrospective, reminiscing kind of person. I had a good 2011. I assume 2012 will be equally as good. Or it won't. I don't know. That's about it for a year in review.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Vacation

2011-12-29T08:50:00.001-05:00

Our school department gives us two weeks off at Christmas and New Year's. I look forward to it every year. We start school on August 1st so by the time December comes around I'm ready for a long break. Contrary to popular myth, we don't get paid during this time. We get paid through this time but we only get paid for the days in the year that we work, 185 days. The pay is just spread out through the year so we can plan and budget.

Our District does an excellent job of that. Really excellent finances. I'm proud to work for the Madison County Schools. But when the vacations come along I'm happy for those too.

I don't have furniture that is all that comfortable. My couch is a futon, and the depth is off. If you sit with your back straight against the back, my knees don't hang over the edge. Moreover, it tilts upward. So when I want to get up, my knees are not hanging over the edge so I have no leverage, and I have to hurl myself to get over the deep tilt. Of course the cat laying across my legs and the other one draped across my shoulders are also a hindrance, lol.

Anyway, I put my laptop on a pillow and type or surf the net as I watch TV. TV is so inane these days I could be working on solving cold fusion and still get the drift of most TV shows. Every website I've read says NOT TO DO THAT to your laptop. Finally after about two years I heeded the warnings about pillows and overheating laptops and I bought a laptop desk. It came yesterday and I really like it.

It is a lot lighter than I thought it would be and less bulky too. It works like a charm. Unfortunately as I went to the Amazon.com page describing the product is says out of stock, they don't know when more will be in stock. Too bad! I would have bought another one, they are only $12. But now I can surf with the computer on my lap, guilt-free.

I also ordered a book, The Apostle: A Life of Paul by John Pollock. The editor's description says "The Apostle masterfully combines careful adherence to biblical text, detailed research, and a storyteller's gift to create a book equally relevant for both casual readers fascinated by Paul's life and serious biblical scholars. Pollock begins his fast-moving narrative with Stephen's death and follows Paul through his conversion, missionary journeys, and eventual execution. Many will enjoy it simply as a satisfying and insightful true-life story, although maps and a study guide allow for deeper exploration. The Apostle was originally published in 1969, and this new edition marks the first significant revision in many years." I started it last night and I really like it.

What a blessing it is to have time to read, to cook, to rest. The resting part is especially appreciated. After four and a half months of daily contact with every germ known to man, I am well and truly sick by the time Christmas comes. Ever since I started teaching, I always spend Christmas vacation recovering from bronchitis and this year is no exception. My lungs feel like they weigh 90 pounds and my throat is raw from coughing, suppressing coughing, or recovering from the last cough. Good timing though, just when I need to rest my body and my throat, I can stay home and sleep and not use my voice. Except when I talk to the cats, of course.

This week I am going to try and make pasta e fagiole, and make a citrus salad with the oranges I was given, and pineapple and kiwi. Avocados were on sale for 78 cents, yay! I'll make something with those, or just eat avocado and tomato sandwiches, one of my favorite sandwiches of all time.

I've been working on a series on the other blog that means a great deal to me. I love writing, and I feel most at home in front of a keyboard. I remember when I switched from typewriter to computer, what a happy day that was. The scene in my head is vivid: college circa 1981, in my loft efficiency apartment, sun streaming in, me at my desk in front of the typewriter. Deadline looming, this paper has to be finished NOW. But I never had lessons in typing and I am not an accurate typist. I was awash in Wite-Out, managing my typos, waiting for the white-out to dry, adjusting the paper with an eagle eye attempting to line up the last thing typed with the marks on the typewriter roller...I remember screaming AAARRRGGGHHH! And yelling that 'someone HAS to invent a better way!' By the time my Master's degree course rolled around in 1997 I was comfortably enconsed in front of a PC with word processing software, pressing cut and paste and the backspace with no Wite-Out in sight. Goodbye typewriter! Whaddya know, someone DID invent a better way. I was at the library a while ago and as I browsed near the table with an old typewriter on it, a child said, "What's that, Mommy?" I would have answered "It's a torture machine, son".

Isn't it weird to be old enough now that the common things you used in your youth are now obsolete relics. I often used to wonder what life was like in that regard for my grandmother, born in 1901 and emigrated to the US in her twenties. She was born in England when electricity and telephones were relatively new inventions, and she died in 1982 after we had gone to the moon, invented computers, and vanquished polio. Her life during the twentieth century must have been a whirlwind of new technologies emerging every day.

I'm finding myself tuning out of the latest inventions. I don't care about Blu-Ray (I don't even own a DVD player). I wonder why the Birds are so Angry, why don't they spell Wii correctly and I don't need a virtual reality when the one I'm in is just fine, thank you. I think I am on my way to becoming an official fuddy duddy. Oh, well, at least they still have books. For now at least.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:36:00.000-05:00

Christmas (vacation) is here

2011-12-22T14:25:00.002-05:00

Christmas and holiday vacation is here. We are released from school as of yesterday afternoon and won't go back until January 6th.

I am liking this! I plan to rest and recuperate from my sinus infection that is heading toward bronchitis. [coughing a lot today!] My mum sent me birthday bucks. I went hog wild and bought a book on the life of Apostle Paul and a laptop lap desk for when I'm typing on the couch. I am really looking forward to both!! My bible reading plan is to re-read several of the minor prophets, probably Obadiah and Hosea, and Micah.

For fun I'll likely lounge on the sofa writing while using that new laptop desk, and watching old reruns of Law&Order, lol. I'm at peace and very content, and 100% sure of the Holy Spirit's working in me for God's glory.

I am looking forward to visiting with friends, and writing. Eating the goodies people have shared with me, including making a wonderful fruit salad out of the many oranges I've been given. What I do not plan on is being busy. I have enough of that at work.

The Holy Spirit has given me a job that puts me in a lower standard of living economically but a high standard of quality of life. I have the opportunity to work with children, which I consider the noblest of professions. That is high-quality to me. I have time off, lots of it, to pursue my interests. I can rest my mind and be refreshed to study deeply, without being tired, and that is very high-quality to me. I have opportunity to recover from the myriad colds and sinus infections, and that is very good. I can be with friends through online ministry or in real life, OR stay by myself if I want to, and that is excellent. All these and many other things are wonderful benefits of the job I have.

So the next little while will be filled with the same peace and contentment I feel every day, except I'll be able to appreciate it in a less hectic manner because all is calm at the Prata house.

Some photos I like

2011-12-08T15:44:00.000-05:00

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Overheard

2011-12-01T18:01:00.000-05:00

At recess today, a kindergartener was eating a Nutty Buddy ice cream cone. Examining the wrapper closely, she said to herself, "I'm nutty. And this ice cream is my buddy. So that fits..."

Another kid...came running up to me, frustrated. Yelling, she said:
--"I went over there to tell those boys to stop wrestling, but they wouldn't listen to me!"
--They didn't listen to you because you are not the boss.
--"But why? Why I am not the boss?"

I feel your pain, honey.

Octopus walks on land at Fitzgerald Marine

2011-11-23T19:49:00.000-05:00

The video appeared on Youtube, and then was picked up on Yahoo. The article at Yahoo is excerpted below, but it was the comments after the Yahoo article about the octopus that made me laugh out loud.

"If you're curious to learn more about the sea creature's possible motivation, there has been some great research on the understanding of octopus intelligence recently, including this surprisingly moving article in Orion magazine, chronicling a researchers bond with a giant Pacific octopus named Athena."

"As it turns out, walking on land in the octopus kingdom is not as unique as you might think:
Some would let themselves be captured, only to use the net as a trampoline. They'd leap off the mesh and onto the floor—and then run for it. Yes, run. "You'd chase them under the tank, back and forth, like you were chasing a cat," [Middlebury College researcher Alexa] Warburton said. "It's so weird!"

"Octopuses in captivity actually escape their watery enclosures with alarming frequency. While on the move, they have been discovered on carpets, along bookshelves, in a teapot, and inside the aquarium tanks of other fish—upon whom they have usually been dining."

"However, it's quite unusual to capture video of a walking octopus in action. Part of the reason that studies on the creatures have been so limited, aside from their brief three-year life spans, is that they are notoriously shy, usually avoiding contact not only with humans, but with any other creatures, including fellow octopi."

Comments:
Louisc • Tulare, United States •
"I only see fresh walking sashimi, delicious! this one probably walk close to wasabi! They make a good combination."

Sid • Quezon City, Philippines •
caught that octopus and make it Calamares!.hehe

Gman • Wichita, United States •
Why did the octopus cross the road?

Xpez
If Octopusses started walking around Earth the big ones would definitely band together and take over earth..They are clever beasts...we can never trust them!!!

Mang Gooseteen • Makati City, Philippines •
its squidward!!! and where the hell is spongebob!!!

Victoria • Irvine, United States •
Octopi are extremely intelligent -not surprised he came out to hunt...not surprised he didn't stay either. Probably got a whiff of the politics and lousy TV and went back down where it's safe.

Would you like some biscuits along with that heart attack?

2011-11-22T09:55:00.000-05:00

Now step right up and hear a tale, a tale of domestic fail...Here we are again, me at home...doing domestic things. This morning I thought I'd bake some biscuits. Yes, Georgia ladies, biscuits! I had purchased a Peel N Pop tube of biscuits and now I was ready to bake them. Only problem: I'm afraid of peel and pop. I am also afraid of Jiffy Pop popcorn, but that is neither here nor there. It was the price of 59 cents that caused me to overlook the fact that I'd be petrified when I had to pop them.

I put the tube in the sink, peeled it, turned my face away and held my breath. Nothing. I peeled some more, my hear rate increasing, still no pop. I peeled ALL the paper off...no pop.

By now I have a cardboard tube, a pile of paper scraps, and a fluttering heart rate, but no pop. What to do? Go outside and football spike it on the concrete. POP! There. Nothing like full contact baking.

Reading update: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2011-11-19T16:47:00.001-05:00

I enjoy reading. I always have. As a kid I'd curl up under my favorite tree with a good Nancy Drew book. As a teen in high school I'd hide The Iliad inside my algebra book. As an adult I became entranced with a good legal thriller (Scott Turow), the newest adventure of global trotters like Jon Krakauer, or a science book by Stephen Jay Gould or Isaac Asimov.

My reading tastes as a high schooler and young adult were firmly in the classics aisle. I have read most of them (except Dickens, can't stand him). Yeats, Hardy, Twain, DeFoe....been there. I read Cervantes in Spanish and the Gallic Wars in Latin. However I was also a literary snob. Having such a reading resume under my belt I was feeling a bit superior.

Later on I got saved. I grew older and my reading tastes changed. Formerly I would never have picked up a John Grisham, believing it was beneath me to descend to gasp, popular fiction. LOL, I'm such an idiot.

But as I grew older I exhausted legal beagles Jonathan Harr and Scott Turow, so picked up a Grisham and I loved it. Quite rapidly I blew through all of Grisham's legal thrillers, and also his fiction, A Painted House. Eagerly I awaited this latest installment, The Litigators. I had thought Grisham was retired but I was delighted to discover a new book on the way.

The Litigators is excellent. At page 8 I stopped to reflect on what I had been reading and also reflect on how the author does what he does. By page 8 I noticed that the three main characters were firmly set in their respective settings in my mind. They were vivid, fleshed out, and distinct. The city and the offices in which they worked are also vivid and set. How does an author do this so firmly and in such economy of words? A good one. I read the book in two days and hated it to come to an end. I recommend The Litigators.

That was the good. Now for the bad. I wrestle so often with my desire to read versus and awful trash that is today's literary market. Secular books have so much in them that disqualify them from being remotely appropriate, never mind Godly that I often have to toss them aside after only a few pages. It is one reason I like Grisham, they're clean books.

So I turn to Christian books. Almost exclusively they are romantic or sentimental stories of wives or sisters and quilts and brownies and giggling. UGH. I am not sentimental and I am not romantic and I like a high tech adventure or a science mystery. There are only a few of those. So a day comes when I'm desperate and I pick one of these up. Invariably they have flowers on the front, or maybe a needle and thread. And a sunset, with softened color tones and gauzy type. Sigh.

I have only read one good one. It was called "One More Sunrise" ironically enough, and written by Tracie Peterson and Michael Landon. (The famous Michael Landon's son). All the rest that I have read are bad, bad, bad. A few I've been able to get through holding my nose. "Doesn't She Look Lovely" by Angela Hunt is one of those. The issue with all of these books is that they are written badly, with cliches that literally make me wince, and clunky sentence construction you can spot a mile off. Foreshadowing that is like a hammer instead of a whisper. Worst, sap all the way through. Christian women's fiction is in a terrible state. Please, Michael Landon, write another one!

The ugly has to be the book I read this week by Susan Casey called "The Devil's Teeth" and it is about sharks. No, the devil's teeth are not the sharks' teeth, but the location at which they appear each season at the Farallon Islands just a few miles off San Francisco. Yes, the Islands really DO look like devil's teeth, and those teeth have claimed many a ship.

Casey is an excellent writer, and I enjoyed her book on large waves called imaginatively, "The Wave." Although most of the book is a recounting of Casey's globetrotting with hunky surfers from wave location to wave location, she did take a few pages out to attend a scientific conference on the formation of large, rogue waves and present some information about that.

The Devil's Teeth is her first book, and she styled it in the way of Jon Krakauer, of Into Thin Air, the expedition to Everest that went so awry. Adventure writing sprinkled with a heavy dose of history and some science is right up my alley, and that is exactly what Casey delivers. So why is the book in the ugly category? Because of how she acted and what she did.

Two-thirds of the way through the book I realized that her accumulated ethical breaches, whining, carelessness, and self-absorption had set me over the edge. She had wormed her way onto the island though it was forbidden, she rented a sailboat and anchored off the island but failed to take even the most rudimentary safety precautions, oh, like knowing what kind of boat it was, how the mooring set up, what to provision for her stay (she thought about it while she was at the store) whether there was refrigeration on the boat, and boat handling. When I was getting ready to live aboard my sailboat I took a week-long boat safety and handling live-aboard course and then another one for one day about navigation.

She was going to put her life in the hands of a vessel moored off the most notoriously stormy and dangerous islands and took not one whit of precaution. It is like the tourists who show up to a Tundra expedition in flip flops.

Then she lost the boat. It slipped moorings and sailed off into the dark and stormy night. She behaved in such a way that it got one of the scientists on the island fired, and it wrecked the career of another. She got the project shut down. Worst of all, this was described in a careless sentence or two at the end of the book, with not a whit of regret. Just, 'so sorry, boys, see ya on the flip side.' Ugh. Or should I say, ugly.

This week I am reading Caleb's Crossing, a novelized story about the first Native American to graduate from Harvard, in 1665, and whatever else I can get my hands on. Happy reading, bifocal people!

Domestic day

2011-11-13T09:25:00.000-05:00

I am not a 'domestic goddess' as Roseanne used to say in her stand up routines in the 1980s. I don't like doing domestic chores. But I'm pretty fanatical about having a clean and orderly apartment. I hate to clean but I want it clean. I guess hope springs eternal, and I wake up every day thinking that a horde of cobbler's elves have arrived and done the tasks overnight. It hasn't happened yet.

So Saturdays are usually in one form or another a day when I clean up. The ladies around here are really cleaning kind of women. Their homes are always spotless. I mean even behind the toilet, the baseboards are clean. The back edge of the highest kitchen cupboard is clean. They clean. I don't.

I vacuum, dust, do the laundry, clean the kitchen and put everything in order. Occasionally I wash the couch afghans and the throws, and once in a while I run a Lysol wipe over the windowsills and baseboards. I should take the curtains down and wash them, but though I think about it often, I don't. On that score I have a reason: they are high and I have no ladder, not even a step ladder. Last time I put up curtains I stood on rickety chairs and wobbly hassocks, and that's dangerous to do when you live alone.

Yesterday I went all out and did the above, except not the curtains. I did vacuum the ceiling fan. So here are a few photos of domestic Saturday.

Hang the towel outside on a nice day, maybe one of the last warm ones? Time will tell...

The cats take advantage of a clean couch and a clean throw. Thanks for messing it up right away, guys.

Awww, but they're so cute! I forgive you.

I like the view outside. On my way to the garage where the washing machine is, there is the red birdhouse by the shed.

My laundry bag, atop the shelf waiting to be grabbed as I go out to get the clean clothes from the dryer in the garage.

Kids and their funny wisdom

2011-11-08T17:41:00.000-05:00

Kids today were hilarious. And that's good because I needed some laughs.

One little five year old guy and I were talking. As we finished our conversation, I said, "You sure are a cutie pie." He said, "Speaking of pie, I'm going to help my mom make a strawberry pie tonight." A five year old who's mastered the art of the segue. Pretty cool.

Another guy saw that math papers were being passed out. Immediately he said, "I don't feel good." I said, "What's the matter?" He said, "I've got heartburn. I need to go home and rest my heartburn."

At snack time outside, one gal eyed another little guy's snack across the picnic table. She pointed to what he was eating and asked, "What's that?" He replied absently, taking a huge bite, "I don't really know."

One guy had gotten into trouble. He was standing there at the trouble spot on the playground. As I walked by he said mournfully, "I'm so sorry for what I did!" I paused and asked, "What did you do?" His reply? "I don't remember!"

Aren't they characters? I really love talking with them and I truly love listening to them talk with each other. They lift my spirits.

Fall break is almost here

2011-10-26T19:42:00.001-04:00

I work in an elementary school as a teacher aide in Special Education Kindergarten. I love it! I get to work with kids and not have to plan lessons or have the heavy responsibility that the teachers have. It's still hectic and stressful though. We do our full 8 hours, and stop for very few of those minutes. It's go-go-go all day. That's a why I'm looking forward to the four-day fall break we get this weekend!

When tomorrow at 3:15 hits, I am out the door. I plan to cuddle up this weekend with some fresh baked apple crisp, tea, and my new book on giant, rogue waves. I'm going to write a lot and relax. I'll listen to music and turn on the heat as the temperatures fall a bit and stay warm knowing I don't have to go anywhere for four days (except church, which I enjoy and will be a part of the relaxing and nice festivities.)

Here is a fall photo from yesterday, haying in the field next door. The first guy with the circular blades rides around in a grid pattern and fluffs up the hay. The second guy comes after, in a tractor type thing that scoops up the fluffed up hay and apparently it is molded into a round bale inside the tractor. When the receptacle is full, the lid slowly opens and for all the world it looks like a dinosaur poops out an egg.

Jaguar blanket weather

2011-10-23T16:59:00.001-04:00

The weather finally cooled off. It is cool enough at night to need a touch of heat, and a blanket. This is the story of my blanket.

I love my blanket. I look forward all year to getting it out from the closet, and sleeping under it, and admiring it. It is a special blanket.

I bought it in a Native textile market in Otavalo, Ecuador. Otavalo is world renowned for its textiles, hand woven colorful blankets, sweaters, and tapestries. Here is a wikipedia photo of the market.

The tapestry of the three Otavalenos looks exactly like the tapestry I bought my mother. I bought a blanket. it is allegedly of alpaca wool, the finest, softest, most pliable and warmest wool, like, ever. Alpaca fleece is the natural fiber harvested from an alpaca, which is an animal similar to a llama. It is light or heavy in weight, depending on how it is spun. It is a soft, durable, luxurious and silky natural fiber. It is similar to sheep’s wool, but a lot warmer, not prickly, and has no lanolin, which makes it hypoallergenic. Alpaca is naturally water-repellent and difficult to ignite. Perfect for a blanket!

My blanket has a tiger motif but I call it a jaguar simply because I like saying jaguar blanket. I changed the sheets and got the prized blanket from its box in the closet where it had been stored since last March.

Here is a close-up of the fibers

Here is my itty bitty jaguar protecting his domain from the large jaguar entering his territory!

Not really. Bert loves his bed and he is simply yawning. He jumps up there the minute I begin changing the sheets. I have to boot him off a billion times just to get the bed made.

So it's jaguar blanket weather, and every year I put the blanket on the bed, not only do I enjoy this wonderful natural fiber, but I think about that long-ago time when I walked the aisles of a South American Indian market under the shadow of a volcano.
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Of pumpkin jack-o-lantern art and MST3K/Twitter

2011-10-10T11:23:00.000-04:00

The pumpkins my neighbor bought are turning into real works of art! I've never seen one this good!

Two weeks ago, lacking my regular tv show to watch due to having stopped for the season, (The Closer) I fell into watching the new sci fi show Terra Nova. It is about people from 2146 traveling back in time to the dinosaur period to start a colony of humans 'to do it right this time'. If they survive the huge comet that supposedly wiped out all the dinosaurs and all the mammals down to rodent size, that is.

It's a bad show but the allure of time travel plus dinos plus not anything better being on TV at that time by default gives me, the couch potato, the impetus to watch it. But there is something eminently better than Terra Nova to watch while I'm watching Terra Nova. Let me explain.

In the dim, dark ages of 1988, before cable really got going, there was a man named Joel Hodgson who created a subversive sci-fi series called Mystery Science Theater 2000 (later changed to 3000 to sound more futuristic). It ran for 11 seasons until 1999, and won a Peabody Award. The series features a man and his robot sidekicks who are trapped on a space station by an evil scientist and forced to watch a selection of bad movies, often (but not limited to) science fiction B-movies. To keep sane, the man and his robots provide a running commentary on each film, making fun of its flaws and wisecracking (or "riffing") their way through each reel in the style of a movie-theater peanut gallery, says Wikipedia.

Their comments were hilarious and elevated a bad movie to superstardom simply by the number of guffaws emitted by me. Enter twitter hashtag #TerraNova.

By listing the television show you're watching, hopefully a bad one, by its hashtag, the comments twitter-ers make are often just as hilarious as the old MST3K guys. Reading them plus watching a bad tv show at the same time is just as entertaining as if the show was good to begin with. Twitter streams dedicated to a particular show are the new Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Terra Nova is on tonight at 8pm on Fox. Twitter hashtag #TerraNova. Be there or be square.

Awaiting their fate

2011-10-09T14:35:00.000-04:00

My neighbor's pumpkins, soon to be carved into ghoulish specters...

File this under 'totally obvious'

2011-10-07T19:54:00.000-04:00

I had a great week, though a tiring one. I have sinusitis that has turned to bronchitis, the usual, blah blah blah, cough cough cough. But the weather has turned sterling, and this was a four day week with the kids, today being a teacher work day. So that was good.

One of the things I did today was to sharpen pencils and refresh the kids' pencil boxes with 8 standard crayons. It sounds silly but it's satisfying to make sure the kids have the tools they need to do their work. The teachers, of course, were busy preparing report cards and working with their data in advance of parent conferences, but I like doing the simple tasks in the background that help both the teachers and the kids.

The County Fair came to town last week. I didn't go. I feel that I left the fair last year on the pinnacle: having finally experienced the vaunted "funnel cake". There is nowhere else to do but down after that. LOL.

Leaving church this week I got caught at the tracks with a train going by. With nothing to do for a few minutes, I took out my camera and casually snapped. When I got home and saw the juxtaposition of the word train on the train car against the train lights, I laughed.

Really Big Flag

2011-09-14T09:39:00.000-04:00

In Cumberland Maine, ten years ago the firm Sevee & Mahar Engineers (SME) had put up the huge flag in honor of those fallen by murder and terrorism on 9/11/01. I understand the urge. On "that day" in September ten years ago, I had the urge to buy the biggest flag I could find and put it up, too. I love my flag, even if Michelle Obama doesn't.

Hummingbirds

2011-09-04T08:20:00.000-04:00

The hummingbirds have found my re-filled feeder. I took some shots out the window and others hurriedly at the front stoop. Today I will try to set up a blind and hunker for hours down like the wild nature photographers in the jungle do. OK, not really, but I'll sit at the stoop quietly with the camera on the correct setting, and try to get some better shots. Meantime, here are the ones I already managed to snap last night at dusk:

Here he comes!

Slurp, slurp! I like his little feet

Drink up little buddy!

They were fussing and fighting big time. Two hummingbirds were fending each other off. One would retire to the tree and wait for the other to appear and then chase him off. Then the other one would do the same. It was quite a ruckus.

Happy weekend!

2011-09-02T20:58:00.000-04:00

The hummingbirds are at my feeder, the cats are napping on the couch...and it is the start of a long, holiday weekend. I'm looking forward to it!

I get to write the prophecy newsletter tomorrow, and also study for the Sunday night faith group I attend. Monday is supposed to be cool and rainy, hallelujah!! Finally some cool weather. It has been a long time since we had raised up windows and cool days. There was one day this summer that was cool, high temps in the 70s. That's it. It has been in the 90's consistently since April. I'm looking forward to Monday, if indeed the cool weather arrives. The humidity might be a killer of the Tropical Storm Lee arrives instead.

The author of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series has written another book and I checked it out from the library. His books are happy, simple, easy to read, and has no immoral conundrum in the plot to pester me. I got a few other books, too, none whose title I remember at present. Most books I read these days are awful. Badly written, poorly edited, boring. I have no hope.

I plan to make fig purses this weekend. I received a bag of figs from a friend and I want to try these cute fig tarts.

Source

I did my cleaning on Wednesday so I won't even have to do it on Saturday and inconvenience myself with unwanted chores. Lol. And I'm all about not inconveniencing myself.

I miss the beach

Funkiness!

2011-08-28T19:17:00.000-04:00

Funky pics I like

A funky watering can at Bendzunas Glass Gallery in Comer

Artistically adorned door to BlueBell Gallery in Comer

Hens and chicks from my old deck in Maine. I had a lot of nice potted plants.

Taking a picture of myself in a yard art blue globe glass ball

Double exposure of my keyboard, lomo pic

I like the marble against lace.

You lookin' at me? Goldfish in a pond

Their job is on the line

It was a good week!

2011-08-27T06:47:00.001-04:00

We just finished the third full week of school It was a good week, filled with the usual laughs, praises, productivity and exhaustion, lol.

I find that I prefer a regular schedule. I do not mind doing the same thing over and over, each day, and in the same way. It gives me comfort. This week I went to a movie after school with a friend and then went out to dinner. We had a great time. But I still prefer to go home after school each day. I enjoy my Saturday routine of cleaning and then writing, and Sunday's routine of worship at church then cooking in the afternoon, interspersed with a nap. I don't know why I adhere to a routine so strongly, but it works for me and I'm going with it.

I'm watching the Outer Banks beach cam and the surf is pretty high. The camera is plastered with salt and rain and rocking back and forth in the wind, so the picture is blurry but the general state of things is clear enough. Hurricane. I hope the people along the Eastern seaboard heed the officials' warnings. Hurricanes are nothing to fool with. And parsing the Category 1 or Category 2 is nothing to fool with either. People say, 'Oh it's 'only' a category 1 so I'll just stay right here in my beachhouse on stilts and ride it out...' That is a foolish thing to do.

Category One Hurricane Barbara in 1953 left one dead and damages over $1 million in 1953 U.S. dollars. Hurricane Stan in 2005 was a Category One storm but the heavy rains it produced resulted in a deadly toll. Unofficially, as of this time, there have been up to 1,500 deaths in Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica from that Category One storm. Officially, there have been 796 deaths. Hurricane Katrina came ashore in Florida as a Category One hurricane and we all know what happened after that. She strengthened to become one of the worst hurricanes on record in terms of deaths and damage. Officials are worried about Hurricane Irene's rains and flooding capabilities, so please be careful out there and heed the warnings.

I put some more Maine photos on my Facebook photo albums and some friends with whom I work complimented me on them. It is fun to see Maine through their eyes. Maine IS a beautiful state, with many things to recommend it. I particularly love the wildness of the foggy coast, and I do miss seeing it quite a bit. I think I'll put up some more photos later, and re-visit my old state via pictures.

The weekend is here and I am thinking of what to cook for my workweek lunches. I think this week's main dish will be corn chowder, along with corn muffins, and granola bars. I've made casseroles three weeks in a row and now it is time for some soup!

Have a good weekend everyone and stay safe!

Random photos

2011-08-19T20:52:00.000-04:00

I don't know why I like these, I just do. I've posted the egg pic on this blog before but I pot it again because it intrigues me. Maybe the notion of the spilled out egg, no longer of use, and the different heather flowers at various stages of their life have a synchronicity. Maybe the synchronicity is only in my head. But that's OK. I see it.

A satisfying job

2011-08-18T19:46:00.001-04:00

Today I made a kid with a skinned knee laugh. I got to relieve a kid's fear of a test and help them relax. I got to give a hug to a lonely kid. I got to say 'I love you' to a troubled one. I got to encourage a struggling child and praise a successful one. I tied shoes, opened milk, passed back papers. I zipped backpacks, issued reminders to wash hands and plucked tissues for runny noses.

I did not solve the global economic crisis. I did not earn fame for a stunning new novel nor cause waves in the celebrity world just for being me. I had no paparazzi follow me nor did I star on a billboard. I had no calls to speak at a conference, nor did I balance a budget or quell a riot.

My labors today were mundane, anonymous, and wonderfully satisfying.

Kids again

2011-08-17T18:06:00.001-04:00

I had a great day. The kids made me laugh so hard. In one small group I was hosting, they got done with their math and for the last 3 minutes I said they could play with their manipulatives. We had been counting with little plastic puppies. One boy set them all in a good sized circle, and put one puppy in the middle, and two others were chasing each other around the outside of the circle. I said, "What are you playing?" He said "Duck Dick Goose!"

I get annoyed at the adults of the world. I watch Judge Judy sometimes when I get home. I see adult after adult live off of welfare, tell the Judge that they don't have work, never worked, don't want to work... They lay around their parents' home watching tv...or doing much of nothing. I see this kind of attitude reflected in quotes from people in the newspaper, I see adults in real life being lazy. It's a problem, these adults who slack. It's annoying. Even of the many who do work (and are blessed these days to have a job), they don't have a lot of 'go get um' attitude. Slacking is an art form these days.

I watch these kids, though. They are five years old, entering school for the first time. School is a huge building populated with really tall adults, lots of walking by them really fast. There are tons of kids they don't know. There are dozens of routines, and hundreds of tasks they must accomplish each day. They miss their mommies. They miss their daddies. But most of them, you know, try hard. They work. And most of them are cheerful about it.

I so respect these kids. It really would be similar to an adult's 18 hour day, what we ask them to absorb, and obediently too. For the ones who struggle, they smile and giggle with me as we count the dots over and over and over, or say the alphabet over and over and over. They work. And I respect them all for it.

And on top of the privilege I have to help kids, they make me laugh too.

Life is good.

Curious kids

2011-08-14T17:32:00.000-04:00

I had a quiet Sunday. I made my usual meals for the week, this time, pressing and marinating tofu for later grilling, fig compote, a marinated tomato salad for putting on crusty bruschetta tomorrow, and a hearty vegetable soup. Strangely, after all that, I'm not hungry and I'm just sipping a large mug of green tea now.

It was relaxing and nice day with the cats. The cats have had a hard time adjusting this week to my absence, with school resuming and me gone now all day. I was glad to spend a little cuddle time with them on the bed or on the couch.

It sure was a tiring week. Getting back to school hits like a ton of bricks. The kindergarteners are great though. On Friday morning as I was walking the line of them down the hall from the gym to their classrooms, one little guy turned and looked up at me and looked at my summer short sleeved sweater. He had questions.

Is that a sweater you have on?
Yes
Are you wearing anything under it?
Pause. How best to answer that one. ... This sweater IS the shirt.
Oh.
Pause. Then:
Why do you have to walk us down the hall? I can go by myself.
I laughed inside. The little one asking me this is exactly the one who should NEVER be allowed to go anywhere down the hall by himself, being so active and curious. I could just see him going into the custodian's closet and turning on all the faucets just to see what would happen.
Because it is important an adult go with all the little kids.
But I know my way.
I'm proud of you for knowing that already, but grownups still need to be around.
Why?
Because I love you and I like seeing you.
Oh! OK.

I really admire the curious ones, and I like the ones who stand up for themselves and insist on good answers to good questions (without being disrespectful). I also like simply talking with kids. They are interesting.

Well, my weekend is almost over and I get to talk with a bunch more of the little kids tomorrow. I can't wait to see what they have to say!

Maypops and sweet tea

2011-08-11T19:50:00.000-04:00

I'm still learning cool things about the south. Though I've lived here just about five years now, there is still so much to learn about this interesting section of the country. I was at a friend's house Sunday night and as we arrived for fun he handed out a bag of maypops to us all, some toothpicks, markers, and thumbtacks, and said to make something with them. I was told that they are called maypops. I had to learn more about maypops.

"Passiflora incarnata, commonly known as Maypop, Purple passionflower, True passionflower, Wild apricot, and Wild passion vine, is a fast growing perennial vine with climbing or trailing stems. A member of the passionflower genus Passiflora, the Maypop has large, intricate flowers with prominent styles and stamens. One of the hardiest species of passionflower, it is a common wildflower in the southern United States."

The flower is so pretty! I'll have to keep a lookout for them. I was told that when you stomp on the fruit of the passionflower, it pops, hence its name. In the innocent, Andy Griffith Mayberry days, kids would gather them and pop them all day long. Kind of like we do with bubble wrap now. But it's not the same.

You can eat them, though reportedly the maypop fruits are seedy. The leaves are edible too.

We had fun making insects and mini statues with our maypops. Some were lopsided, some were cute. Mine was deemed "interesting." LOL, I'm always the odd one. So I was glad to have learned more about the varied flora and fauna here in Georgia and to have participated in an old-timey fun thing with the natural fruit around here.

In another cute southern thing, at school the next day, I was talking with a couple of friends, and they mentioned the Chicken Express 'Happy Hour.' I was surprised to hear this, because there are a lot of Baptists around here (including me!) who don't drink alcohol (including me!) Turns out, 'Happy Hour' at Chicken Express is half priced sweet tea. Now, don't let anything come between a southerner and his sweet tea!

School began, figs are in, sunsets are lovely

2011-08-08T16:38:00.000-04:00

We started school Friday. Today was the second day with the kids. The kiddos are great! I really like my crew this year. Ha ha, like I don't love them every year. But it's hard to let go of the ones I'd worked with all last year and I miss them, feeling that little pang when I pass them in the hall. Soon enough, though they will be used to their new teacher and their new para-pro and I will have settled in to a routine with my current ones. The educational wheel of life turns.

Someone really nice gave me a huge bag of figs today. My fig tree is not bearing for the second year in a row. Unless I'm just really slow to get out there and pick, and other people are coming along and stripping it clean without me noticing...in any case I never get any figs from it like I did the first year I lived here. So I was thrilled for her to give me the bag. They are plump and great. I really like figs. I just ate a bunch :)

We had our small group faith group Sunday night. These are bible studies held in a home instead of a larger group at church on Sunday evenings. It is the 6th time we've met of our monthly meetings and I'm leading the group in a study. It was very sweet last night. Then as I left the very rural and beautiful home in which we'd met, this sunset greeted me:

Life is pretty good right now. I'm very grateful for my job, my friends, the children I work with, rural sunsets, and for fresh food.

School bells are ringing

2011-07-30T17:17:00.001-04:00

Well, they are for me, but the kids won't start until Aug 5. I go back Monday. I've been preparing my cats to steel themselves for Monday, when their mommy will suddenly disappear for most of the day and our comfortable schedule will change drastically, but I don't think they are absorbing the information as best they might.

I've really enjoyed the summer. I wrote a lot and read a lot and studied a lot and did not socialize a lot. All of which are great. I cooked garden stuff and took naps and watched Judge Judy. I looked at physics documentaries and interspersed them with clips from the comedy show The Big Bang Theory. I weaned myself off of Criminal Minds only to get stuck on cooking shows. I did nothing I didn't want to do and everything I wanted to do. Is it any wonder I'm mourning summer's end??

Eating on a budget

2011-07-28T17:10:00.000-04:00

Grocery shopping these days can be a trial, for sure. When you have a budget and you try to stick to it, the prices today can make that hard. It is very stress inducing, because though you can control your grocery bill somewhat by the choices you make, you can't do without food. It is a necessity.

I'vs shared a few blog entries about eating on a budget, essays containing my ideas on ways to save. One is here, another is here.

Prices are even higher than the last time I posted on this issue. One way to save is to delay shopping for a few days or so. We tend to open the fridge, see that our one favorite item is gone, and say "Goodness, I need to go shopping!" You would be surprised at how long you can delay grocery shopping by just eating what you have on hand. I tried it myself, and I ended up putting off shopping for a week. Now, I'm single and I don't have children, so things will undoubtedly be different at your house. But even then, if the Sugar Pops are out, and you feel you need to go buy more, how often do we emerge from the store with just that one replacement item? Rarely. Try putting it off a day or two or three.

My budget is maximum $30 for fresh food at the grocery store, and maximum $20 for hard goods at the Dollar Store. I was disappointed this week that I'd spent $24 at the Dollar Store and $36 at the grocery store. I was very careful, but still, it was $10 over budget. I hadn't bought any extras, but only the bare minimum.

At the grocery store, I purchased 26 items. Seventeen of those were sale items. Fifteen of the sale items were from the sale flyer, which I peruse before-hand and make studious choices. Studious means I don't buy them just because they are on sale. I buy them if they are something I normally eat, and can make a frugal recipe from. The other two sale items were 'on the spot sale items.' One was tomatoes marked down and the other was bread that was a day past date.

As for the bread, I was pretty excited. It was an artisan bread, a Ciabatta. It was pretty hard, lol. But it was large and only $1.99, the regular price was twice that and so was something I'd never buy in the normal course of things. The other item that was on spot sale was a bag of good, plump Roma tomatoes, a huge bag, for .99. I have no idea why they were priced so low, but I snatched them up before you could say Jack Robinson. At home, lunch became a ciabatta bread bruschetta and tofu I'd grilled. I diced up the tomatoes with their juice and added a touch of olive oil and salt-pepper. Let it soak for a while, then slice up the hard bread and top it with the tomato and juices. It softens up, except for the crust- but I like hard crust. Another way to have hard bread is for breakfast, to add butter and grill or toast, and then top with soft-boiled egg.

Another way to monitor spending is to refrain from eating lunch out. School starts up on Monday, yes indeed. My summer is coming to a rapid end. I pack a lunch every day and I avoid the vending machine. You'd be surprised how 50 cents or 75 cents adds up every day. Not to mention 7 or 8 dollars for lunch. Invariably I'm disappointed with lunch out or brought in. If it is brought in it is always cold, soggy and often not my order, lol. I can have collegiality with my friends but eat my own brought lunch.

From what I read of the farm forecasts and economic forecasts, prices are only going to go up. I pray for families. It is really hard these days to eat healthy on a budget. I hope some of these ideas help you. Please feel free to share your tips.

Summer in my yard

2011-07-15T11:03:00.000-04:00

I think the finest thing about summer, and there are many fine things, is to sit quietly in my chair by the window, reading, listening to the birds nearby and the train in the distance, the day waking up with each turn of the page.

That old comedian Roseanne might claim to be the "Domestic goddess" but I definitely am "Domestic Disaster." I don't know why the simplest domestic things confound me, but they do. This week I was taking a shower. I never take baths. Occasionally, the drain gets to draining slow, and you either put vinegar and baking soda down it or Drano, depending on how slow it gets to draining. I noticed this time that the water wasn't draining at all, but quickly rising over my feet, and on up to the ankles. "That's a lot of water," I thought. "The drain must be really stopped up." When I finished I watched to see if it would drain at all, and it wasn't. "How did it get so stopped up?" I wondered. "It wasn't even going slow yesterday. Maybe there is a stoppage in the system from the kitchen pipe or something." I could not attend to it then, It was Sunday and I needed to get to church. On the way home I bought Drano and a plunger. Plunging the drain yielded nothing. I plunged harder. Nothing, Then harder. I broke the plunger. Yet the drain yielded no drainage. I poured half a bottle of extra strength Draino and left if for half an hour. Nothing.

It was then I'd noticed the drain toggle was "UP". I don't know how that happened. I'm like the absent-minded professor or something, nose always in a book while the house burns down around me, belatedly looking up to ask, "Why are all the firemen here?"

Speaking of Roseanne, I'd stumbled across her new show last night. I didn't recognize her at all at first. I knew the voice was vaguely familiar, but didn't notice that she was the same woman as the one from the show from the 1980s for a few minutes. But I did get annoyed that she swore so much. Literally, every other word had to be bleeped. And this was in a speech where was sharing about how her philosophical outlook had changed during the time she was in Hollywood, and became afraid she was going to hell. That was what caught my attention at first. "Oh, good, a testimony" I thought. She spoke of moving to Hawaii and buying a nut farm. I don't know where she's headed but whichever it is the path toward it will be littered with profanity. I clicked the channel.

The field next door turns a pretty lilac-to-magenta color in mid-summer. Clumps of grass blades of a deep purple mixed in with the yellow and orange an the green make for a colorful array.

It's these guys that make it look purple:

The figs are getting ripe, as are the apples and the pears. Yummy times ahead.

Bill Bryson's 'Lost Continent' book: review

2011-07-08T13:23:00.000-04:00

I started Bill Bryson's "The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America." I was looking forward to reading it. I enjoyed A Walk in the Woods and Neither Here Nor There. I had high hopes. But I quit reading the book at page 8. Yes, page 8. I checked.

Why?

Within the first 8 pages there were so many malignant comments against Republicans, conservatives, God, farmers, small towns, and the entire midwest. I got sick of it, especially the conservative jokes. The derision against farmers was especially unfortunate. These people broil themselves to death in the summer and freeze their toes off in the winter just so we can have food. Apparently Mr Bryson doesn't eat food, or he would be at least a little bit thankful to the people who grow it and not make fun of their tan.

In frustration, because I really wanted to read and not get out of bed to get a different book, I turned to the middle section where he was traveling through Maine. He went up the coast from Portsmouth NH/Eliot ME border to Wiscasset and found nothing good to say. Nada. Zip. Here is the stretch I'm talking about:

It is 100 miles of rockbound coast and Bill Bryson found the entire thing "cold and drear," "messy and bleak." The landscape was "dull". Wiscasset was "just OK" and all of it was "unmemorable." He drove on across the state toward New Hampshire. Good riddance, I say.

Here is my Maine:

Yeah. "Drear."

Well, at least I know myself. I picked up a huge stack of books at the library because at least half of them usually turn out to be bad, profane, or unsuitable. How do so many bad books get published? I don't know, but at least there are good books that are published too. I start Comanche Moon, next!

Library day!

2011-07-07T17:08:00.000-04:00

I finished my books and went to the library, as per usual, on 'Thursday Grocery Day'. I picked up Comanche Moon, the next installment in the Lonesome Dove series. I really like Larry McMurtry's writing. It is expressive without being lengthy or flowery, qualities I admire in writer. Especially because I tend toward flowery and lengthy, lol.

I got a couple of Christian historical novels. Sigh, hope springs eternal. Usually though, Christian novels stink. They are a travesty of publishing and a malignancy on the intellect so my hopes are very low. I also got one about the Franklin expedition. This was a Victorian-era expedition, the purpose which was to map out the North-West Passage from Europe to Asia. I love a good expedition book. I also love a good science yarn, like Dava Sobel's Longitude, or Brunelleschi's Dome, or a nautical science adventure, like Isaac's Storm, Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, or The Sinking of the Whale Ship Essex. Books like those are few and far between- well written, scientifically accurate, and a whopper of a good story. The bonus is they are all true events. I'm hoping the Franklin Expedition book will be a good rousing adventure story, though it is tragic as most of the Polar stories are. I really admire those guys who laid it all on the line for the sake of advancing our knowledge of the world.

Bill Bryson is always good for a laugh. I got his book "Lost Continent" about his travels in small town America.

In addition I had purchased a couple of books that I picked up today at the Post Office: John Piper's "Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God" and Tony Attwood's "Complete Guide to Aspergers Syndrome". All this should keep me out of trouble for a while, lol.

Grocery shopping was kind of depressing. I set a budget of $30 for fresh goods and $20 for hard goods at the Dollar Store. I bought 13 items at the Dollar Store and aside from the cat food for $7 all the rest were mostly a dollar. I spent $22 there, buying only minimal things like denture cleaner (for my mouth guard) and mustard and peanut butter...then at the grocery store I spent $34. I was over budget, but at the grocery store I only bought 17 items and none of those were the $4 gallon of milk I usually get. Sigh. English muffins were up 20 cents, eggs are up, yogurt is exorbitant, ricotta cheese is outrageously high...it is sad. I really don't know how families with children do it.

Cat day afternoon, lol. Luke likes the top of the bookcase for his favorite nap-time space. I think he needs a valium. He looks too wound up.

It's not "Morning in America" any more...

2011-07-04T10:17:00.001-04:00

...it's dusk

Ronald Reagan Statue
"A statue of Ronald Reagan is to be unveiled in London's Grosvenor Square, as part of a year of celebrations to mark the 100th birthday of the former US president. The 10 foot bronze will be positioned on a pedestal close to the American Embassy, and stand alongside existing statues of two other 20th Century US leaders, Dwight Eisenhower and Franklin D Roosevelt. With the unveiling scheduled for July 4, US Independence Day, the Ronald Reagan Foundation has invited Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron to attend the ceremony. Condoleezza Rice, the former US secretary of state who worked for the Pentagon during Mr Reagan's presidency, will represent Nancy Reagan, 89, who will be following proceedings from her Californian home."

For those of you old enough to remember the 1980 Presidential election, Ronald Reagan ran as a conservative Republican. The oldest man to be elected to the position, may feared him and his principles, including myself, in which he "advocated reducing tax rates to spur economic growth, controlling the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy, and reducing government spending. In his first term he ... took a hard line against labor unions..." These are all positions I believe in now. Back then, I was a twenty-year old liberal agnostic abortion advocate scared to death of a Reagan presidency but having an antipathy to four more years of Jimmy Carter and inflation. If I remember right, I voted for John Anderson even though he was conservative because I've always believed in working toward a third party candidate and the other two candidates were just awful in my opinion.

Of course, we all know what happened. Reagan was a great president. Those people who were not clouded by liberal thought knew he would be great from the beginning, and history bears this out.

Particularly estimable was Reagan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's relationship. Both politicians held the same philosophical outlook in governing. They furthered the close relationship that John Adams brilliantly and humbly set the course for back in 1785 when the victorious and newly formed United States met with our former Kin,g George III.

As I look on this Fourth of July holiday today, I can't help but be filled with melancholy. The bright future that won Reagan the re-election, "Morning in America: Prouder, Stronger, Better" came as an optimistic note after the dour and malaise-filled failed Carter Presidency. Reagan's staunch stand against communism was the force that caused it to fail and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, shortly after Reagan left office. He had stood at Germany's Brandenburg Gate and challenged Russian President Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" It was a decade of US hegemony, respect, and where we did Good and were known to do Good in the world.

Twenty-one years later Obama (tried to stand) at the Brandenburg Gate and gave a speech apologizing for all of the above. With our current Oval Office occupier, we have lost the economy, lost our moral stand in the world, lost our way. We place Israel on the terror nation list and invite terrorists in the Muslim Brotherhood to the diplomatic table. Down is up and up is down.

I'm sad for the loss of solidity of the Constitution. It is a crumbling and increasingly transparent document now, being constantly chipped away at and outright ignored. It is a document that used to be a granite foundation for our country but now is simply a ghostly vapor. I miss the bright morning rays over the cornfields in the Morning in America campaign ads that I once was fearful of but know better now. I miss all that, but one important thing has changed with me since 'Morning In America' turned to dusk.

I am saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though I mourn the place America used to be, I know that she is not my ultimate home. America fulfilled many promises in her work for the Lord, and even in these evil days she is still doing so. I've replaced the State of Liberty with the Cross as my most revered emblem. It might be dusk in America now, with only the bronze statue of Reagan across the sea to remind us of our once glorious days not so long ago, but in Jesus's heaven, every day is morning, bright and filled with His glory. My independence day is December 3, 2003, the day Jesus set me free from my bondage of sin. I became truly free that day and I hope as you celebrate this nation's Independence, that you ponder your eternal morning, and where you will spend it.

Orvieto

2011-07-01T20:03:00.000-04:00

When I and a friend were in Italy some years ago, we stayed a couple of nights in Orvieto, an ancient Tuscan walled town. We found a hotel that used to be a villa back in the day. Back in the day in Italy means several hundred years ago. The lighting for the rooms were still the original Murano glass chandeliers, and the wall art were still the same ancient murals that late Renaissance painters had done. Our rooms overlooked a plaza and across the plaza was this church:

The other window overlooked the roofs with typical terra cotta tiles for roofing material. Terra cotta literally means baked earth. Terracotta tiles could be easily made using handy nearby materials, it is resistant to snow and frost, is durable, and the reason I took this photo: it's pretty.

My weekly airing out

2011-06-30T14:27:00.001-04:00

I went grocery shopping this morning, my weekly airing out. I'm not fond of expeditions into town, and in this case "town" is one stop light and a few people. Never mind going to a real town, Athens, with so many stimuli coming at me from every direction that my brain flops just thinking about it.

So my mini-jaunt yielded the usual humble joys, viewing farmland that was green from recent rain. Singing along with the radio. Working air conditioning on a 98 degree day. As I pulled into the store for some reason I thought of a person I had not thought of for three years. I mused about her Fourth of July plans, wondered how she was feeling, and trundled my cart (buggy, sorry!) into the store. From around the corner she walked into me. I love coincidences like that!

A side trip to the trusty fruit stand was a particular joy. HUGE mounds of plump blackberries and enormous trays of juicy peaches were arrayed enticingly, and I sure was enticed. They were in my bag in moments.

I was sad to see that the downward spiral of groceries in general is accelerating. Since last week milk went up 50 cents along with many other items, though not all of them went up in price as drastically as milk. In addition to prices going up, sizes are going down. The bagels that I look at each week, longing for but sadly decline to buy at a prohibitive cost of $3.59, suddenly were 1/3 smaller this week. Size of items are getting smaller and package sizes are getting smaller. 13 oz powdered creamer is now 11 ounces. And so on.

It's been really hot. The summer heat started very early. The 90 plus degree days began in mid-May and those don't usually start until July. Of course, after having successive 90-plus degree days for over a month there was no place to go but up. Sunday's actual temp is supposed to be 10o. You know it's going to be hot when the graphic on the weather page goes from a bare sun on Saturday to this:

The red hot thermometer with wavy lines cracks me up!

I've been enjoying Larry McMurtry's "Dead Man's Walk" the prequel to Lonesome Dove. I laughed when Gus and Call ran into Charlie Goodnight, and Oliver loving and Bose, those are the real men in history that Gus and Call and Deets are modeled after. So the character met the men inside the novelization of the real mens' lived. Time warp!

Tomorrow marks the halfway point in my summer vacation from work. Time flies.

Lonesome Dove weekend

2011-06-27T12:45:00.000-04:00

It was Lonesome Dove weekend on American Movie Classics. I found this out at 9 pm on Sunday. Oh, well, better late than never.

I have seen the Lonesome Dove series about ten times. It IS a classic, a true modern classic, that never ages and grows in power and punch each time you watch it. If you are unfamiliar with the film, it is a mini-series adaptation from Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer prize winning novel first broadcast in 1989. I cannot believe it was that long ago, (22 years!!) but there you have it, the obligatory comment 'my how time flies' wonderment from a middle aged woman. It is widely regarded as the best Western ever put to screen, and I've seen many Westerns and I agree.

I don't know what it is about the story, but its sweep and scope, the enormous expanses of land from the scrub of Texas to the prairies of Nebraska to the undulating hills and mountains of Montana's Big Sky country, but each person in the movie has an intimate story to tell under that expanse. It is true to life of the times and gritty too. Death is a constant companion in the film. There are many casualties, death occurs from from Indian raids to animal bites to accidents and even simple infections. Life was short in the late 1870s, and never secure.

The story is based on real life men who blazed trails in new lands and thus are forever part of the memorializing of the history of pioneers who made this country great. The history of the men the series is based on can be read here, and the series seems to be accurate in many of the details, right down to the lengthy funeral procession of Gus's body to the epitaph on Deets' grave marker.

I think my very favorite part among many favorite scenes is the part when Call returns to Lonesome Dove. After he buries his friend Gus, having dragged his body from Montana to Texas as a fulfillment of his friend's wishes, he cleans up and walks into town. Looking dapper, almost civilized, he views the town which he had left only a couple of years before with new eyes. It boasts a telegraph station and a reporter for a San Antonio newspaper. The whorehouse burned down and no other had taken its place. The town is quiet, genteel. The reporter gets wind of who Call is and pesters him with questions for an interview. "They say you dragged Gus's body three thousand miles...they say you were a Texas Ranger, they say back in the old days you cleared the country out of Comanches..."

After the epic sweep of seeing just these few years of a man's life that was really too big for one life, you narrow in on one moment. Just one. Call returns to settle down, and you realize as the reporter asks him about the 'old days', ...he has outlived himself and his time. He is a living anachronism.

It brings to mind Jimmy Buffett's line from the song "Nothing but a Breeze",

"One day I'll soon be a grandpa
All the pretty girls will call me "sir,"
Now, where they're asking me how things are
Soon they'll ask me how things were"

Everyone ages, but in the late 1800s the furious rate of progress butted up against history and sometimes outpaced it. Woodrow Call was one of those men who outlived himself. The final scene literally shows him walking into the sunset, where his future has already occurred but his past is gone too.

Bert and Luke, the incomparable companions

2011-06-20T13:00:00.002-04:00

My two cats could not be more different. One is a tiger and the other is a black and white. The tiger is Bert, and the b&w is Luke. Bert is so named because he sounds like a bird, making little noises all the time. Not wanting to all him "Bird". I settled for Bert. If I say his name just right it sounds like he sounds. Luke is vocal but not as much as Bert.

Bert is sleepy and Luke is alert. Bert looks like a football meatloaf, an Luke is skinny ad wiry. Luke and smart and Bert is...well...let me give an example

Sometimes a flying bug of one kind or another gets into the house. This excites both cats. What indoor house cat doesn't love to hunt! It is not the same as hunting a bird or a mouse, but hey, a moth will do! Luke and Bert will scramble their little legs and leap tall lamps in a single bound, charge over the mountainous couch, and land on the coffee table plains of Africa in moments. Well, Luke will. As Luke invariably catches the moth, eats it, wipes his paws, and goes back to sleep on his towel, Bert is still back at the couch, looking at the last place he saw the bug. He will riffle the pillows. He will look under the throw. He will sit and stare, in his lumpy way, for 10 minutes, 20 minutes convinced the moth will emerge any second, never allowing the thought to cram into his tiny brain that the moth is digesting in the now-slumbering Luke. The other night I put him out of his misery - and mine - by literally moving all the pillows and the throw to show him that no moth lurked.

Aw, Bert, I luv ya! Even if athletics and brains escape you, you're mine all mine!

Bark!

2011-06-18T20:47:00.000-04:00

The beauty of bark. I love texture and I love photography. Seeing as I have put myself on a gas diet, meaning, not driving anywhere so as to save money, I decided to photograph bark around my yard. I miss birches, there aren't a lot of them down here in Georgia, but there's pine and apple and magnolia and fig. There's sun drenched and lichen covered, woodpecker driven and ant pitted. See for yourself-

You're pond scum!

2011-06-16T18:27:00.000-04:00

I think this close-up of pond scum is pretty!

I think I will make fig cobbler tomorrow. I unearthed some figs from the freezer and I want to use them up before this season's crop is ready. By the looks of things on the fig tree in the yard, they will be soon. They've been frozen for almost a year so baking them will be best. I found a recipe for fig cobbler that amazingly calls for all the ingredients I already have. (*note: in frugal-world, rule #1 is 'use what you have!'). I'll probably do that early while it is still cool out.

This morning was lovely, speaking of cool. I noticed when I walked on the linoleum that the tiles were cool to my foot. I haven't felt anything cool for a long time so that was a nice surprise. The thunderstorms that came in last night freshened up the air, but unfortunately took out power and trees to many of the towns in the county. Not here, though. It was someone else's turn this time.

The library visit today yielded a great many new books for my summer reading program. I usually venture out on Fridays, but I had to do an errand this morning so I went to Danielsville today for my weekly shopping and library visit. (*note: frugal rule #2: "combine errands, and don't make any unnecessary ones!")

I got the pre-quel to Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, called "Dead Man's Walk" and featuring those two characters Call and McCrae. Another Christian historical romance by Deeanne Gist, The Girl With the Green Tattoo which came in on inter-library loan, I still have Lush Life, and two coffee table art books. Should keep me busy.

I spent time on the Southern Baptist Convention's twitter stream for the live sermon of David Platt yesterday and in so doing 'made friends' with some like-minded brothers and sisters of the faith. That was nice. I went to Colbert Baptist Church this morning to see off the mission team to Peru and hugged and got hugged in return, and that was nice too. There's good people all around, aren't there.

Mondrian's computer-like brain

2011-06-15T08:28:00.000-04:00

Piet Mondrian's work:

Mondrian original is simply picture perfect
By Steve Connor

"There is more to a Mondrian than meets the eye. A scientific study of one of the world's greatest abstract painters shows that he had an unnerving ability to make people feel that his paintings were perfect. Chris McManus, a psychologist from University College London, told the British Association Festival of Science at Leicester that most people could tell whether a Mondrian was genuine or a fake when given the choice between the real thing and something very similar. Furthermore, if anyone was tempted to believe that they could paint "that old rubbish" then think again. A Mondrian seemed to tap into a subconscious pleasure centre in the brain that made most people believe that the artwork just cannot be improved. Dr McManus ran a series of studies in which people were asked to choose between a computer-generated image of a real Mondrian and a similar image based on the same painting but with the patterns digitally distorted. "We took a Mondrian painting, put it into a computer and then just moved all the black and white lines slightly up and down so that they were all in slightly different proportions. The simple question is, should people care for them; can they tell the difference?" Dr McManus said. The results revealed that most people with no knowledge of art easily spotted the fake. "People can distinguish a real Mondrian from an adjusted, pseudo-Mondrian given the chance," he said."

Below, a computer chip-

Integrated circuit of Atmel Diopsis 740 System on Chip showing memory blocks, logic and input/output pads around the periphery, source

You might be interested to know that Piet Mondrian lived from 1872 to 1944. He arrived at the above style in 1921. The earliest development of the computer chip was 1949, four years after Mondrian's death, and its earliest discussions were not presented publicly until 1952. The first successful demonstration the first working integrated example of a chip occurred on on September 12, 1958. Mondrian was before his time. Pretty cool, eh?!

Looking at the world through different lenses

2011-06-14T17:42:00.000-04:00

Ha ha, guess!

OK, OK, bigger:

OK, biggest:

This next one is not a sunflower:

It is a sunspot, that LOOKS like a sunflower!

Summer routine

2011-06-13T09:43:00.000-04:00

It is the beginning of week 3 in the summer vacation from school. I've settled nicely into a relaxing routine that suits me and my needs and wants nicely. Usually I arise at 6am during the school year, and always being an early riser by nature, I still get up pretty early, in this case, 6:30. Sometimes I get up 15 minutes or so later, but that is because I lay there, listening to the dawn chorus of birds.

Growing up, my mother used to listen to public radio out of Boston, and that is synonymous with Robert J. Lurtsema. He hosted the morning classical music radio show for thirty years. Eccentric as far as radio hosts go, he had an unusual cadence to this speech that paused in strange places. He also stopped speaking for long periods. Dead air on the radio is a no-no, but Robert J., as he was known, didn't care. "I'm not afraid of dead air," he was quoted as saying. "I don't think there's anything wrong with a quiet spot once in a while."

He also began his show each morning with a chorus of birds. This birdsong lasted a while, and I loved it. I have always loved birds and where I lived it was suburban, but not rural. There were some birds, but not many. Robert J.'s outbreak of birdsong burst into my mind, penetrating it like no other sound in the cacophony of sounds that is modern life in a busy home. What a balm for the harried mind. Here is the Dawn Chorus .wav file from Morning Pro Musica.

So when I wake up and hear the birds outside, I spend time distinguishing between and among the sounds and calls, then I think of the classical music show, and of growing up, and let my mind wander, and it is a peaceful way to begin the day.

I scan the news, make coffee, settle down with breakfast and get dressed by 9am. I spend the day studying, writing, listening to sermons, and responding to theological queries via email or the blog. After 8 to 10 hours of this, I take a break, have supper, and then return to personal internet surfing. At night, I read in my chair. No music is on and no television. It is quiet. Last night I heard a baby donkey braying and a wayward rooster.

The last few days I've read the latest in the #1 Ladies Detective Agency book series and a Christian historical romance called The Measure of a Lady. Light reading after the heavy topics of the day. By 10:30 or 11 I go to bed. It is a day. And each day is like that. Fridays I grocery shop and do errands, and Sunday I go to church. Those are the only breaks in the routine. I expect those will be the ONLY breaks in the routine all summer. As I said at the beginning, this suits me. Long live summer!

A quiet Sunday

2011-06-12T18:22:00.000-04:00

We had a great Church service today on Jonah, as well as great Sunday School lesson on Jeremiah. Home, I made salmon patties mixed with green & red peppers and steamed asparagus on the side for my Sunday Dinner. A nap. Writing on the other blog. Now my book, Measure of a Lady. Best of all is that all this relaxing will not come to an end tomorrow but will continue. It's summer!

"The death of the bookmark"

2011-06-11T09:06:00.002-04:00

I'm old enough now that I've seen my share of headlines declaring the death of plenty of things. Sometimes these declarations are premature, sometimes not. "The death of the dollar." Soon, I think. "The death of email." When was the last time you really used email? I use Twitter, Direct Message, Facebook, blog commenting.... Email seems old and clunky now, doesn't it? "The Death of Global Warming." Die, global warming, die. "The death of the PC". Interesting article from Forbes.

Today I pronounce the death of the bookmark.

The humble bookmark, a workaholic so humble and insignificant. Yet so important. It stands at the bulwark of pages, holding the place for the reader. Whenever he next happens to think about his book, whether it be a moment or a year, there the bookmark will be, ready for him. There is the bookmark, having held its position for all that time.

They come in different shapes, some clip on, some are metal, some are paper, some have ribbons and some are long and some are short. Bookmarks are personal. You want just the right kind for yourself, and it also has to match the book. I have one that is metal, and evokes a stained glass pane in a cathedral. It doesn't work in a paperback, though, needing a heftier spine to keep the metal in place. I use that one in hardbacks.

Others have saying on them, and acquiring one that has a saying in which you don't believe, or agree, ruins the bookmark's prospects for being put in the line of duty. Those I re-gift, or I throw away. Some hapless bookmarks simply are never used, for no reason. I have one that is a clipping of a larger watercolor I did, it looks like a rainbow. I like it but I rarely use it. I don't know why.

The bookmark on the left is of Charleston, and I like Charleston so I use the bookmark. The middle one is the oft-overlooked watercolor strip. The one on the right has "The Salvation Poem" on it so that's an big yes to using it.

Here is a history of bookmarks and this little tiny but mighty lieutenant has been helping us since the days of papyrus.

Dear Reader, I don't know if you have mused on this trusty and stalwart reading aid much, or if bookmarks even have a place in your heart. But beware, this little trooper is in danger. He is in the early stages of decline, and being marginalized as we speak. Obsolescence looms. Why?

THE KINDLE.

An electronic book! Now far be it for me to deny reading materials to those in places where acquiring them is difficult. But an electronic book?? I cannot fathom it. Am I too old, resisting technological change after it is warranted? Did the ancients adhere to their wax tablets long after it was obvious that papyrus was an improvement? Did the papyrus crowd hang onto their 42 foot long scrolls long after it was obvious that the unwieldy form was being supplanted by a more economical one? But how, how can a Kindle be better than a book? I just don't see it. Worse, a Kindle doesn't require a traditional bookmark. Oh, woe to the little helper! And if it means the bookmark will go the way of the dodo, then I am against Kindles.

Interested in the different forms of a book? Here is a great resource, "The Evolution of the Book."

Ticketed for NOT riding in the bike lane

2011-06-09T09:35:00.002-04:00

This made me laugh, especially the end.

I got a package

2011-06-09T07:54:00.000-04:00

Online shopping suits me. So the other day I ordered a large covered cat litter box. I've been noticing that the cats are outgrowing the box I've had for them since they were little. I was hoping to bump things along and stretch it out, but that plan didn't work. The other day I awoke to see the lid of the box upended and inside the lower part where the litter is. Oops. I knew it was time to by a bigger box.

I searched online and read the reviews to the X-Large Deluxe Hooded Litter Box by PetMate. It seemed like a good buy and would solve the problem, and I ordered it. Being summer and the fact that I never leave the house (Except Fridays to grocery shop and Sundays to church) and given the fact that due to its being summer and I am refreshed and can concentrate deeply on my writing, and given the fact that it is 9000 degrees outside and I have the doors closed with the AC on all day, the box arrived and I never knew it all day. In the evenings when it cools off I turn off the AC an open the doors and windows. At 9:30 my neighbor who shares the house knocked on my door and said "You have a package." I opened the door to see just two feet from the front, a huge package, taller than her four year old daughter and one that certainly is hard to miss. I appreciated her letting me know, and excitedly I opened it up.

The litter box was big, the packaging made it seem bigger than it was, but it was still hefty. That's good, so is my tiger cat, Bert. Not fat, per se, though Bert does tend to portly. But tiger cats are big anyway, and this new litter box seemed like it would be a good size for him. The fly in the ointment is that Bert gets upset about even the minutest changes to anything in the apartment. I hoped he would take to it.

I'm happy with the box though not thrilled. The latches on either side are flimsy and I would not dare to pick up the box from the handle when it's filled with litter. The front plastic flap is also flimsy and I'm not sure I need it. It may be spooking Bert, we'll see. But disappointingly, they seem to scatter more litter with this large, covered box than they did with the small box with no lid I'd used for a few days until the new one arrived. I live in a two room apartment and there really is no other place to put it except in the tub, which I hate. Anyone who has inside cats knows the struggles of the little box.

Well, this blog entry just goes to show how life shrinks and slows in the summer. If the kitty litter scatter is the worst problem I have then life is good. Though my neighbor might be wondering why I never leave from the house...that is a mystery she will just have to live with.

Plants, birds, life

2011-06-07T12:13:00.000-04:00

I am still amazed that the seeds are sprouting this quickly in the three pots I planted on Saturday. In just three days they have poked through and are growing quickly! I can't wait for the flowers to come. Here is my attempt, beginning attempts, to prett-ify the front door, which is now all concrete. It used to have nice bushes next to it but they had to be removed to put in a culvert and it was paved over afterwards--

I plan to get a few small plants, perhaps cacti, for the wrought iron shelves above the daisies. It gets soooo hot on that spot. But maybe some small pots of flowers for color would be good too.

Here is the birdhouse I got in the mail today. It is made of coconut fiber and is a small wren resting house.

The directions said keep out of direct sun, away from the worst of where the rain comes, and offers unrestricted access. The other birdhouses in the yard are being used gangbusters and I sure hope the wrens arrive and find this spot for their home, too.

Super seeds

2011-06-06T17:34:00.000-04:00

I blogged about my Memorial Day weekend plans which included sprucing up my front door area by potting some plants from seeds. I didn't get to it on Memorial Day but I did it this Saturday. I planted morning glories, nasturtium or zinnias in terra cotta pots and now two days later two of them are sprouting! I can't believe they sprouted so fast. I cannot remember which of them I put in which pot, but I am pretty sure one of them is the morning glory. Amazing! They must be super-seeds or something. Or maybe I am just totally ignorant of how seeds grow. Likely the latter.

Hot day and errands don't mix

2011-06-03T13:18:00.000-04:00

When I first moved to the south I was observing that whenever a friend and I went grocery shopping in summer, she would place a cooler in the back of her car. At the grocery store, she would buy ice, and then put the ice in the cooler and then place her milk and other perishable items in it. I quickly realized that a car sitting in 100 degree heat would be over 120 degrees inside, and that in order to preserve the milk etc for the trip home extra measures were needed. Duly noted.

Errands on a hot day are not my favorite. I knew that several of them would be complicated and time consuming. But there you go, you have to do them. On the upside, I got my package at the Post Office.

Three years ago I bought a chair, and it had served well all this time. I like to sit in it and read. The bookcase next to it is just the right height to place my tea, and the lamp offers just enough light. It is not large and therefore takes no undue amount of space and it fits me well. And when I'm not in it, the cats like it, lol. Few things in this world are perfect, and I was sad when the chair situation became less than perfect. It was old three years ago, and used. Its springs, never spring chickens to begin with, faded fast and now when I sit in it, the chair sinks to an uncomfortable level. I purchased online an egg crate cushion that is used for wheelchair bound folks, and it came today. Perfect! Rather than buy a new chair $100, I spent $7 on a good and easy fix. It means a lot to me because it's summer I want to read many books, I want a comfy chair to do it in. I mean, who doesn't like a comfy chair? ("You never expect the Spanish Inquisition! Nooo, not the comfy chair!!" Sorry, reminiscing...)

Back home, I arrived to see that the landlord had finished mowing the lawn and was weedwhacking. We both remarked on the heat, but I know that I am blessed. I don't have children to tote around in the heat or to keep cool. I don't have to make repeated visits to a hospital and park in a hot lot every day. I don't have to go work outside in the heat for my pay. I saw an old friend at the Dollar Store. She asked "What are you going to do this summer?" And I happily said, "Nothing." I can sit in my chair and read and study and write. I'm very blessed.

Speaking of the Dollar Store, I am convinced that the Laws of Physics do not apply in there. It exists inside a bubble of netherworld Laws of the Universe in which time slows or even stops, and where people are teleported to the cashier line. You didn't know that about the Dollar Store, did you? Yes. When you arrive there you are happy because there are few if any customers in the store with you. But just as you complete your shopping, suddenly a million people appear and they all get in line in front of you. See? Teleportation. Then time stops because your line never moves. See? Suspended animation. It doesn't matter how many people are ahead of you or how many items they have. Time stops. As you lean against your cart (sorry, 'buggy') you realize that it truly is remarkable. The clerks are going as fast as they can. No one is slacking. Time just stops. I budget 30-45 minutes for tasks that in any other Zone of Normal Physics should take 10 minutes. It's just the way it is.

We need rain!

2011-06-02T13:30:00.000-04:00

Dead! Brown! Crunchy! That is the best description of the lawn. We have not had rain for a long time, and now we are experiencing an early and oppressive heat. Heat indexes today are predicted to go up to 107. That is VERY early for this kind of weather. Usually mid-August will see those kinds of indoors-staying, lemonade-sipping, book-reading dog days. In late May and early June it's the time to go with friends to the Park, sit by the river and read and have picnics. Take a walk on the trail. Go yard sale shopping. All of which I had plans to do, actually. But not in this heat.

"Please do not disturb the duck"

2011-06-01T08:46:00.000-04:00

This duck knows a good thing when she sees it. From Bangor Daily News today:

"Nesting duck at Home Depot attracts attention"
BANGOR, Maine — Debbie Currier looked a little bored as she shopped the lawn and garden section Tuesday at The Home Depot in Bangor, until she turned a corner and saw something afowl. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Currier. “Am I really seeing what I’m seeing?” “We get that a lot,” said Brenda Hatch, who works in Home Depot’s lawn and garden section. Surrounded by hostas, impatiens and Miracle-Gro potting mix sat a female mallard atop a nest containing seven eggs. The scene — cordoned off by strips of yellow tape and overshadowed by a sign that says “Please do not disturb the duck” — represents an unprecedented chance to see a nesting duck from only a few feet away, but if you want to touch her you’ll have to get through Hatch first. Hatch feeds the duck every morning and brings her water twice a day. In the morning, the duck sometimes follows Hatch around as she waters plants and restocks shelves. Sometimes when Hatch goes too close, the duck puffs up and starts breathing hard. And once in a while, the feathered fowl lashes out, nipping Hatch with her bill."

More at link. LOL, journalists love puns. And the clerk's name, "Hatch" is just too cute of a coincidence. The duck thing is so cute! The Bangor story reminds me of the famous children's book "Make Way for Ducklings," also a New England story. "Make Way for Ducklings is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First published in 1941, the book tells the story of a pair of mallard ducks who decide to raise their family on an island in the lagoon in Boston Public Garden, a park in the center of Boston, Massachusetts." That book won the 1942 Caldecott for the illustrations. Now if THAT doesn't make you feel old, I don't know what will.

I hope when the ducklings at Home Depot hatch that they find their way all right. Then the customers will really have to say 'make way for ducklings!'

Some more photos I like: rocks!!

2011-05-31T16:21:00.000-04:00

I saw one of those globes in a yard, you know, the colored kind on a pedestal. I went up close and took a picture of myself in the reflection. Note: objects in this mirror are smaller than they appear.

I like rocks. Rocks of all kinds! Small, large, mountainous, striated, polished, it doesn't matter. Rocks rock! This is of a garden pond.

The mountainous granite of Acadia, the rockbound coast of Maine

Jasper Beach Maine. No sand, all the beach is polished rhyolote and jasper.

Painted rocks west Texas. I think if I remember right, it was the Lobo Valley petroglyph site near Van Horn.

New Gloucester Maine rock wall, and heron, hiding. Or trying to.

Harbor rocks at low tide, Lubec, Maine. Plus kelp!

Two cute girls trying rock climbing for the first time, Gray ME

I went outside today

2011-05-31T11:15:00.001-04:00

When school ended Friday afternoon, I came home, slept for three hours, and have not emerged from this apartment except to put kitty litter in the garbage, ever since. This morning I decided I probably needed an airing out and went to do some errands.

In the summer, thinking is different, Rather than cram every minute with productivity so that everything that needs to get done, gets done, in the summer you have to do the opposite. Each task is carefully placed upon a particular day of the week, so that there is a touchstone for the day and something productive to then revolve around. You have to spread it out. Today was errands. Tomorrow will be vacuuming and laundry. The next day I plan to plant my seeds in pots and make a little garden over there on the cement next to my front door. Friday will be Danielsville for grocery shopping and the Library. Saturday will be cooking, and Sunday at church. I don't know what I will do next week, except likely repeat the cycle. And I'll do that 8 more times and then it will be school again!

I went to the gas station, Post Office, ATM, Dollar Store for two items, and then the fruit stand. That was my favorite part. Ralph has fresh Georgia peaches, and I also bought the last of the early summer strawberries. A pound of little potatoes ("dug today!") a tomato and a yellow squash completed the happy produce buying.

Feeling virtuous, and hot, I came home. By 10:30 the temps were already 92 and climbing, so I happily entered my cool and cozy apartment, to further my day by study, writing, and reading. Ahhh, summer.

Because the mail never stops...

2011-05-30T08:14:00.000-04:00

In the early 2000's, I worked for about 10 months in the US Post Office. It was a God-send of a job, and I appreciate my time there immeasurably. My role was to put up the inside Post Office Box mail, so I was not a carrier delivering in the weather. I did become familiar, though, with the trials and tribulations of what the other employees did, including the clerks, Postmaster, carriers, and substitutes. Being a Federal establishment, there were byzantine, complicated, unnecessary duplications of rules and tasks, and just plain stupid things we had to do. But the whole process is still amazing, if you think about it. If you're in California, you can pen a letter, put it in an envelope, and for little over 40 cents, it will travel across thousands of miles and be delivered to a tiny box by the side of the road, directly to you, in only a matter of a few days. Amazing. And I know from personal observation that the carriers and clerks and Postmaster I worked with are hard-working, honest, committed people who care.

We still like to poke fun at the PO, though. It doesn't help that the most famous cultural roles have created characters that are less than esteemed. Cliff Clavin from the long-running comedy show Cheers and Newman from the long-running comedy Seinfeld come to mind. This clip from Seinfeld where Newman explains why some workers 'go postal' is hilarious. I understand completely where he is coming from. My job as to first put up the first class mail and then start on the third class (junk) mail. There was tray after tray after tray of it...just as you get one tray done, three more come in...and your sense of purpose and accomplishment diminishes proportionally, not helped by the fact that you know people throw it away immediately.

Here is an article from an environmental website that talks about a USPS collapse. Think about the fleet of cars and trucks connected to delivering the mail, about how many people it employs, and the gas used. It is a lot more complicated than we like to make fun of.

USPS report says total collapse is imminent
The United States Postal Service is headed off a cliff, and – according to the US Government Accountability Office - few are even giving its demise a second thought. ... So, what happened? That’s what Phillip Herr, of the US Gov’t Accountability Office, is trying desperately to find out … for the past three years. Herr finds the USPS fascinating, for (perhaps) obvious reasons: the USPS is ubiquitous, relied on, and (my words, not his) totally screwed. “It’s one of those things that the public just takes for granted,” he says. “The mailman shows up, drops off the mail, and that’s it.” How bad, then, is the situation for the USPS? In scientific terms: Really bad. Since 2007 (the “salad days” of America’s last economic bubble) the USPS has been unable to cover its annual budget (80% of which is made up of employees’ salaries and benefits). To stay afloat and pay its people, the USPS has had to borrow more than 12 billion (with a b) dollars from the US Treasury, which (unlike GM and Chrysler) it has been unable to pay back. Earlier this month, the Treasury reached its statutory debt limit … so, unless something pretty drastic happens on Capitol Hill, it’s pretty much Game Over for the USPS, already."

There's more at the link, the author talks about the environmental impacts to having a fleet of a quarter million vehicles using so much gas every day, etc. He ends by saying that the USPS has outlived its usefulness...and perhaps, just perhaps, the last clip from Seinfeld (from the 1990s no less) speaks to that thought.

Why do carriers go postal? Because the mail never stops....

I'd like to cancel my mail

Two By Two

2011-05-29T10:31:00.000-04:00

I like to take pictures. When I worked for the Athens newspaper doing features and photography I went to a lot of events and I took a lot of pictures. In reviewing these, I noticed I tend to take photos of twos. Two things, two people...etc. Here is a photo essay of local people enjoying life, two by two.

At Carlton GA music fest

Two girls getting candy at Comer GA Christmas parade

At Farm Day, Mobile Dairy Exhibit for field trip elementary students

Two gentlemen catching up at Comer (GA) Fair

At a Lowery Gallery Art opening, Danielsville GA

Eastport ME 4th of July parade, USS McFaul Captain(l) and 2nd in Command

Gray ME, friends restoring Old Post Office historic building

Comer Farm Market, impromptu violin lesson

Danielsville GA, two Madison County High School football players recollecting a great play

Comer GA farmer's market, watermelon farmers talking

Godok Pisang, coming up!

2011-05-27T21:49:00.001-04:00

It's summer! Aside from my hopes of outdoor pot gardening as I mentioned earlier, I enjoy frugal grocery shopping which often results in creative ways to prepare the food I've bought. Today there were 5/lb bags of bananas for $1.29. I can't leave the red sticker items alone, and I bought the bag, fully knowing that my commitment to 17 bananas was ambitious. Being in the south and enduring 90 plus degrees every day already, baking banana bread for an hour was out of the question. Banana-cantaloupe or strawberry smoothies are always a healthy and cool choice for summer, but is there something to do with bananas beyond the mundane and expected? Why, thanks to the internets, I discovered there is!

Godok Pisang is a fried banana fritter that apparently is quick to prepare and delicious for tea time. It is a a ubiquitous snack in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and other south east Asian countries. I found this photo and recipe on a Singaporean food blogger's site. It is a very informative and also attractive food blog.

"If you have overripe bananas but are sick of making banana bread/muffins/smoothies, try this for a change. Kuih kodok or godok pisang. Gorgeously caramelised fritters using mashed bananas. Easy as pie. In fact, easier than pie! This recipe is very roughly adapted from Bananas.org (see last post), but I used a lot more fruit."

INGREDIENTS

8-9 medium ripe bananas (those with blackened skin are perfect)
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
Oil for frying

METHOD

1. Mash bananas into pulp (I used a potato masher).
2. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Your batter should be thick.
3. Heat oil (about 2-inches deep) in wok or deep pan using medium heat.
4. Use a large spoon to scoop and drop the batter into the hot oil. Hold the spoon low and close to the oil, so you don't get a nasty splatter.
5. Fry a few at a time until golden brown. Don't put too many in the oil at once because the oil temperature will drop too much and the dough will absorb oil and turn soggy.
6. Repeat until batter is finished.
You can see the ones I made are not as spherical as the ones sold outside. That's because I used more fruit and less flour, so they don't hold their shape as well. But they taste a whole lot nicer!

I think when some of the bananas get old, I'll make green sun tea and whip up some Godok Pisang. Just because it's summer, and I can!

Memorial Day weekend plans

2011-05-27T14:41:00.000-04:00

It is the long weekend for many people. But for me, It marks the beginning of summer break. Our school year ended today and I plan to kick back and relax, as I mentioned in a previous blog entry. I also plan to plant my pots with flowers, and the teacher with whom I worked part of this year gave me some seeds. I'll be planting nasturtium, zinnias, and morning glories. The Morning Glories I will train to go up the wrought iron and over the awning to the front door. It makes a nice canopy.

There were some changes to the shrubbery and landscaping by my front door from last year. I noted these in a blog entry last week. The changes are: the five o'clock flower plant, the rose bush, and the grass are all gone. They have been replaced with concrete. I will have my work cut out for me to pretty it up. I got the pots out and lined them up, ready for planting on Tuesday. I also have a bunch of round polished granite half cylinders that I'll use to make a border. Some of them will be used to put the posts on so they will be at different eye levels, for interest. As least, that is what the home landscaping shows say to do.

Looks kind of bleak, doesn't it?

Below are two gorgeous sunflowers along with greenery a dearly beloved friend sent to me on the last day of school. The flowers arrived in a bright yellow tissue paper tied with a yellow plaid ribbon. It was quite a happy surprise to receive these, and they are cherished.

(They got squashed in the classroom moving furntiture and then in my hot car while I went grocery shopping, They were assuredly perkier when they arrived at school!)

This is the mama blue jay hopping mad and squawking at me while I got out my pots and lined them up. Chill out, mom, it's SUMMER!!!!!!!!!

It's summer break: Sloths are my current role model

2011-05-24T19:14:00.000-04:00

I am making a light joke about being slothful this summer: my goals are to read, write, and blog. That's it. So...sloth. But cute sloth! On Cuteoverload.com I found two recent entries that grabbed my heart.

Meet the sloths from Lucy Cooke on Vimeo.

Sloth crosses the road, "I believe I Can Fly" version:

Sunday night heat

2011-05-22T18:33:00.001-04:00

The bluejays are squawking out my window. Wonder what they are on about. "You are getting on my last feather!" "Well, you ate my last seed!" LOL.

It is very hot here, the high today was 95 and it is still 94 at 6:15 pm. It's pretty early in the season to be so hot and that is a bit aggravating. Hey, maybe the blue jays are hot, too.

I am listening to John Prine radio on Pandora, "This guitar is for sale." I like Prine but can only take small doses, he gets so melancholy. Now it's Simon and Garfunkel, The Boxer, 1969. I used to think that was such a deep song when I was 9. But hey, I know all the words so on we go.

Tomorrow we have a classified staff breakfast at the big lunchroom at Colt Academy, and that will be nice. Our Kindergarten wing also has a luncheon at a K-teacher's house because we are saying good bye to some staff on our team. They will have new assignments next year, so the team will be broken up and a new team will be formed. It will be really nice to have lunch together and I'm looking forward to it. In between and afterwards I will be cleaning out our classroom and helping to clean the common areas of the school. We have a long checklist to accomplish but we have several days to do it. We have five days of post-planning this year due to the snow we received in January. Three of these days are make-up days which were originally going to be two days.

Here is something I thought was hilarious on Cute Overload:

So we can never say, "yeah, when sloths fly!" eh? Have a good week!

I'll miss the kids

2011-05-22T08:26:00.000-04:00

So I'm thinking this week about how I'll be at school but no kids will be there. That's always strange. I am looking forward to the rest, but I really do like the kids and I'll miss them.

One day a couple of weeks ago I returned to the classroom to find this at my seat:

I like you too, kiddo. I like you too.

Time for gratitude

2011-05-20T18:12:00.000-04:00

It's the end of the year. I mean the Georgia educational system school year. We start in August and we end in May, a month's difference than the school year I was employed by in Maine, which was on a September to June schedule.

End of year usually means reflection on the past and reviewing hopes for the future. I substitute taught in this system for two years and this year I got the permanent job. It has regular hours, medical benefits, and is clean work. More importantly, it's with kids, my calling and first love. It was a miracle that I got this job last July in a tight economy with many qualified applicants. I am grateful for it and count it as a blessing.

Best of all, I work in a school system run by people I admire and respect. I admire my principal who is a woman of great skills, passion for children, and integrity in her work. She is loyal to employees, but fair, and has high standards. I enjoy that she is approachable and that she runs a tight ship. She is also a Christian. What else can an employee ask for? Nothing.

I enjoy that the Superintendent is a moral man, a Christian who is also a man of great skills, has integrity, and is fair with high standards. It is important to me that I am part of a system that is run by people I respect. It is a terrible thing to be embarrassed by your boss. Rather, in my case, I have people whose example I strive to live up to. This is a blessing.

The school year beginning was a scary one for me because it has been 21 years since I was employed as an employee. I have either run my own business or have freelanced most of my life. But the people I work with are tremendous. I enjoy all my colleagues. They are good people! They are local moms and grandmoms, community members in this small community with whom I go to church, and see at the library, the Rec Department, the store. They are friendly and warm. They welcomed me, a stranger, into their fold and I am grateful to know them all. It is a blessing to like the people you work with.

After school today, the last day, I went grocery shopping. I value that I have a good, locally run grocery store just two miles from my work, and that quality, affordable foods are offered there. This is rare these days, that I can not only afford food, but I have access to GOOD food. I really love that a local family owns the store and they are civic minded. I would frequent their store even if it was not close, for this reason. I am grateful that I have good food in my fridge. I just finished scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes, toast, and home fries. That's more than a lot of people get in a week.

I am really grateful that I have a solid bible-believing church to go to. This is rare these days. It is helmed by a wonderful pastor who is loving and friendly but also extremely knowledgeable about the bible and preaches with a passion and love for Jesus that just makes you love Jesus more. I enjoy the folks at my church and in my Sunday School class, who again, welcomed me into their world lovingly and openly. They have helped me when I needed help and I know they are there for me if I need help again, as they know I would help them too. It is a blessing to really like the people you worship with.

I am blessed I live in a place like this:

It is my back yard. I'm not homeless, and I don't live near a quarry, or a garbage dump or live in a place like Tijuana or Calcutta. The Lord gave me a beautiful, peaceful place to dwell when I am not at worship or work. What a blessing.

No matter the tumult in the world, I am richly blessed in my sphere and I know it. Summer itself is another blessing. It is glorious around here, and just 4 miles down the road is a State Park with a river to swim in and a waterfall to enjoy. Thank you Lord for the riches you've given me, and I am grateful.

It's almost time to plant

2011-05-19T20:57:00.000-04:00

Well, it's past time to plant, but school is almost out and I will have some time to devote to my three pots, lol. There have been changes since last year. My front door used to have two sides where bushes and plants and pots were and could go. This year, the left side has been paved over by the landlord. I understand the need to do that, I guess, but I miss the huge and lovely five o'clock flower bush that used to be there,

And the beautiful rose bush,

and now it looks like this,

I had planted morning glories under the wrought iron hanger, and had trained them to wind up all over it and to the awning. Now those flowers are gone too. I'll buy some smaller pots to put on the shelves of the hanger, which secretly is a CD rack I'd gotten free at a yard sale and simply hung up as a planter holder.

Good news, though. The hummingbirds have discovered the feeder. And one lone morning glory had transplanted itself under the feeders by the tree,

I'll make it look pretty. I promise.

Summer Reading Program

2011-05-17T22:12:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking of great first lines to books lately. I really love language and I remember the really good lines that meant I was about to become embroiled in a story that swept away all else in the world. For a time, anyway. I am getting excited because the school year is almost over, and I will have days upon weeks to read what I choose. I'm really excited about this. I already have some books lined up- Leaving Cold Sassy, the unfinished sequel to Cold Sassy Tree, which a friend kindly lent me. An old Grisham law thriller, any old one will do. Angel Harp, a book that another friend had said was terrible but she sent it to me all the way from Kansas for me to try my hand at it, so I will. Lol. The Rainbow Men, by Douglas Sheldon. I found it in a swap pile, and there was no cover and very little is available on the internet about it as far as a synopsis goes. But I was taken by the first line:

"So this is how it ends for David Fulton Webster, he thought, in a dinghy with a dying girl." Intriguing! I'm hooked!

Topping the list will be bible study. Opening line: "In the beginning..." Pretty good if you ask me!.

My two favorite classic opening lines are below. The first is from my favorite author, Thomas Hardy: from The Return of the Native:

"A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment. Overhead the hollow stretch of whitish cloud shutting out the sky was as a tent which had the whole heath for its floor."

That's just beautiful. Simply wonderful.

And this one from Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez--

"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love." Who wouldn't love that? So creative, and so immediately relatable.

My favorite joke about an opening line is from the wonderful comedy, Cheers. In the bar, Frasier tries to get the guys interested in classic literature. He begins reading the first line from Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities".

"Dr. Frasier Crane: "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times."
Norm Peterson: Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. Which was it?"

It's much better seen. Skip to 2:40 - 3:40 on the video below. After that joke about the opening line, Frasier continues to read, and the guys immediately mock Dickens for being too indecisive. As they begin lose interest, Frasier spices it up...

Happy Summer Reading!

Pic of the day and quote of the day

2011-05-15T22:08:00.000-04:00

From My Modern Metropolis:

Caption at My Modern Met: "Does street art get better than this? Found on the streets of Verona, Italy is a pair of unmistakable legs! Surely they belong to the Wicked Witch of the East who was known to wear ruby slippers and striped socks. Morbid? Sure. Awesomely unexpected? Absolutely."

Quote of the day. This is from my life:

My neighbor took her two daughters to the beach for a 4-day weekend. The four-year-old had never been to the beach. They got home tonight as I was taking my laundry out of the dryer in the garage. "How was the beach?" I asked the little girl. "It was fun. There was a lot of sand and a...a...a really BIG pool!"

I'm almost to the moon!

2011-05-08T18:00:00.000-04:00

LOL! I read spaceweather.com today and was treated to a photo of a dashboard, with the odometer highlighted. Above the dash was a display of stars --

The caption read:
"CHECK YOUR ODOMETER: "On the eve of International Astronomy Day, 2011, my 1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport passed a major milestone," reports astrophotographer Dennis Mammana of Borrego Springs, California. "Its odometer flipped over to 186,282 miles; in other words, it's taken 13 years and 8 months for my Jeep to travel the distance a beam of light can cover in just one second."

I'd posted a few days ago that my 1993 Ford SUV clicked over to 211,111. The distance to the moon is 238,840 mi.

I'm almost there!!

In other astronomical news, I'd posted a couple of months ago that I had seen a sun halo. Yesterday Space weather posted an extraordinary photo of a complex sun halo. The caption said ""It was one of the brightest and most complex displays of sun haloes I have seen in 25 years of observing," reports Philippe Mollet, who took this picture:" Read the spaceweather entry for astronomical explanation of how these haloes form and why.

Here is my halo again. It was so big, that though I was lying down on the ground I could not get the entire halo into the picture.

The skies are amazing and wonderful!

Moms

2011-05-08T10:24:00.000-04:00

My mother, father, and his parents upon their wedding day in the late 1950s.

My one year birthday with my mother, grandmothers, and aunts. My mom is in the red shirt

Christmas 1961, me and my mom

My sister's wedding. My mom is in the pink dress. My brother is at the left and I am on the right

Christmas 2009, my mom and her Obama video.

This is my friend, who is a great mom. Here, she is washing the dishes. Again.

These are moms lining the soccer field's edge. All are great moms/grandmoms or women who support friends' kids.

Where would we be without moms?

Hummingbird feeder is up

2011-05-07T20:23:00.000-04:00

I hung my hummingbird feeder today. It's a bit late, but better late than never. I hope that the location will suit, it is near the other bird feeder, and the activity around that feeder gets fast and furious sometimes. But it is the best place to view them from inside the apartment. It is near enough for both me and the cats to see them and also to photograph them without scaring them off. I can move the feeder if the hummingbirds are too skittish from other birds.

This photo is from the apartment in Maine I'd had. I lived upstairs and was afforded a large deck, which I really loved. The feeder was hung at the opposite side of the deck from the sliding screen door

There is something so precious and cute about these birds. There is also the challenge to capture them in flight and to get a really good shot.

This next photo is of the same location in Georgia I'd hung the hummingbird feeder previously, and the shot isn't so great but I did capture the bird in flight --

This feeder is harder for them to perch. I may get a different feeder so they can set down for a moment...we'll see what the Dollar Store has.

While I'm waiting for the hummingbirds to show up, here are some other photos of birds I've taken--

spooky birds:

Mama & baby birds --

Shy birds --

Pretty bird --

Beach bird --

funny bird --

I love birds!

Moon, alas, and a shaky hand

2011-05-06T20:01:00.000-04:00

I tried to get a good shot of the moon but having no tripod or car to lay it on the night exposure means it will be blurry. The camera really needs to be still, and I guess holding my breath isn't enough. But it was a crisp night and the sliver looked so bright...

Today at work was a lovely day. Field Day to be exact, spent outside on the field playing with kids as they rotated from station to station. In one, they carried a dry sponge from one side of the field to another where they dunked it in a bucket of water and ran back, wrang it out into a bucket, and handed it to the next kid. It was fun, but then Coach said (wink wink) here is a coffee can, that will be easier to bring lots of water back, but you have to hold it over your head as you run'. The can actually had holes all around the rim and as they held it aloft it sprinkled water on their heads. Of course they thought this was hilarious.

What was even funnier was about half an hour later, one boy felt his previously wet shirt and said, "Hey, it's dry now!" He thought that it was a miracle or something.

The parachute always is a big hit. They hold it up and shake it and shake it and try and get all the balls on it to drain down the hole in the middle of the parachute. And the coup de grace is the moment when they can throw it high and then slam it down with them inside. They think they died and went to heaven.

After that was hot dogs and apples and chips and milk, and then recess, then a movie. Toy Story 3. "The Clawwww!" By then they were wobbling in their seats, eyes at half mast, insisting 'no, I'm not tired."

A good day at school, all in all. Fun under the sun.

High five for first kiss

2011-05-05T18:16:00.000-04:00

"You kissed me because you like me, I kissed you because I like you." Elliott and Bowie.

Good old car!

2011-05-03T17:16:00.000-04:00

I love my car. It is an SUV, Ford Explorer. I bought it when it had 181,000 miles on it, four years ago. It still runs. I haven't had a lot of problems with it, except for a few minor things a while ago. The last year and a half I have had no problems with it. Knock wood. I hope by saying all this that it will not suddenly poop out on me and leave me stranded. I do rely on my car. I mean, who doesn't?

It passed a milestone the other day. I was driving home from the grocery store and it turned 211,111.1 miles on the odometer. I liked all the ones, so I stopped to take a photo.

Good old American car!

Yesterday morning was gorgeous. The weather has been warm but not hot, and the nights with windows open just cool enough to warrant one slim blanket. I noticed the ground fog was lifting over the hayfield next door, so I snapped a couple of quick photos to commemorate the beautiful moment. The birds were happy, chirping away. My cats like the cool and refreshing weather too. nice morning.

I love the rural mornings around here.

Funny kid comments- redux

2011-04-28T19:30:00.000-04:00

Kindergartener asked his life's goal:
"When I grow up I want to be an animal."
Uh, ok!

In math, a boy was asked, "Can you count by fives?"
"Sure! Five, Five, Five, Five..."
Well, he did what was asked!

Girl dancing during indoor recess in the classroom.
"What are you doing?"
"Spanish dancing in outer space."

Now, there's a creative kid!

Peeps On A Stick, the newest culinary creation

2011-04-25T22:02:00.000-04:00

I had a lovely dinner of spinach lasagna, light salad of Boston lettuce and vine ripe tomatoes, and fresh strawberries with whipped cream. And lest you think me too fru-fru, I am now eating PEEPS ON A STICK! booo-yah!

Peeps on a Stick, for those who do not know,are the famous marshmallow Peeps, but arranged on a stick, likely so that more can be consumed at once. Yes, I am a Peeps fan, and I follow the Washington Post annual Peep Show Diorama. This year's winner was: "Chilean CoPeepapo Mine Rescue"

"This year's winning diorama, which depicts the dramatic rescue of 33 mine workers in Copiapo, Chile, last October, is the work of Mary Jo Ondrejka from Reston; Bryn Metzdorf from Fairfax; and Margaret Hartka from Parkton, Md. A Peep version of miner Ariel Ticona meets his newborn daughter for the first time, while Peep Johnny Barrios Rojas is greeted by both his wife and mistress."

Check out the other entries, always a blast to look at the fun and creativity.

The Poky Little Egg Hunt

2011-04-23T21:51:00.001-04:00

The beginning of the egg hunt:

The end of the egg hunt:

I am all for kids having fun, and I had fun the day I took these shots for the Athens Banner Herald. I mean, look at those precious babies in the photos! So sweet.

I recall my own Easters. My mother did take great care to create special Easter baskets each year. She delighted in stocking them with our favorite candies, and a sweet stuffed animal or two. She loved making them look pretty. I appreciated the baskets and the lengths she went to on our behalf.

The Easter Egg Hunts...not so much a fond memory. Actually, I hated the Easter Egg Hunts. I am not athletic, see. I am slow. I contemplate actions before taking them. I am not competitive. When I was a child, I stressed easily. I like peace and quiet, a tree perhaps, to recline under and read "The Poky Little Puppy." I could really relate to the Poky Little Puppy.

But the Egg Hunt is filled with tension as the kids line up. There's high competitiveness. Me, a slow mover, always got creamed at the start. I was run over, tripped, or just fell due to clumsiness. I always got to where the eggs just were. While everyone was screaming in giddy glee, I was crushed at the one or two measly eggs rolling around in my basket. The whole egg thing was torture, and embarrassment. It was not fun.

Well. Ahem. I'm over all that now, and I have the privilege of working with children in our church. This week I got to share with them the real meaning of Easter. I read to them directly from the bible, the story from Matthew. I got to explain to them the wonder of resurrection. I shared the glory of salvation through Jesus. I never got an egg treasure on one of those Egg Hunts, but I brought the true meaning of Easter alive to a room full of 7 year olds. Now that's the treasure I was looking for all along!

Some photos I like

2011-04-22T19:22:00.000-04:00

Beauty...

Villa D'Este, Lake Como, Italy

And the beast

Green eggs:

Cooking green eggs for Dr. Seuss day at school

And ham:

Bert:

And Luke:

Easter outfit, age three

2011-04-22T18:33:00.000-04:00

Me at age three, waiting to go to Easter Dinner with my grandparents. I loved the outfit. I really loved the Mary Janes! Back then, 47 years ago, Easter meant grandparents, Easter Basket (loved that!) Easter Egg Hunts (Hated those) and a ham dinner.

I am grateful that though it took another forty years from that moment on the swing, I eventually came to understand - and love- the true meaning of Easter.

Puddling my curtains

2011-04-11T18:28:00.000-04:00

The new chic thing for upscale homes is ‘curtains that puddle’. This means that the curtain length is deliberately long, and the bottom portion of the fabric puddles on the floor. It is supposed to evoke the feeling of a long wedding train, and therefore is romantic.

I hate it.

I am not a fan of curtains anyway, and yes, I’ve been blessed with not having to have any in most of the places I’ve lived. Either my property lot has been large, or set back from the road, or there have been no neighbors. I don’t like feeling hemmed in. I love light and I love the breeze at night.

But recently neighbors moved in right next door and I bought some curtains. (I do not live in a drapery kind of home.) I like symmetry. I like order. I like clean lines. The curtains I’d bought were simple and neutral colored. The TV design show hosts would balk at my design scheme, no doubt. I’d be on the show for “Color Intervention” or “Design Faux Pas” if they had shows like that. But I live in a two room apartment and excess fabric weighs down the room and too much color distracts. I like it the way I like it.

One set of the curtains I bought fell to the floor exactly. I had not measured prior to going to the store, thinking that the curtains at the thrift store were so inexpensive I would not mind simply cutting them if I needed to, but likely I would not because the windows are standard.

On the window at the front door, I put up a long curtain that has big pleats. It falls to the floor perfectly. However, I discovered that I obsess over making sure the pleats are equidistant from one another and perfectly in alignment. At one point I thought about getting a measuring tape to make sure the pleats are separated evenly but I had seen an episode of Law & Order last year where the wife had measured each shirt in the closet to make sure they were exactly separated from one another and one day she just snapped and shot her husband, so I left the measuring tape in the drawer and now I just eyeball the pleats.

The bedroom curtain, though, is satin and a little fancier, coming to a Vee with a tassel. It is long. It puddles. All that means is, it lays on the floor and gets in the way. When I open and close the curtain, it drags the dust from the floor (if there is any, ha ha).

I think puddling curtains are not romantic. They are simply impractical, messy, and unsymmetrical. And in my world, symmetry is everything.

Old car, nice scene

2011-04-04T16:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day. As I waited at a stop sign in Comer, I saw this old car turn up a drive, park, and an equally older gentleman step out. The tree lined driveway and the greenery along with the old car made me grab my camera and...SNAP

But son, I had a dream...

2011-04-01T19:20:00.000-04:00

So, my friends in Maine got a dose of April Fools...a heavy snowstorm!! I am so glad I moved to Georgia. I feel for those guys. By April you're really sick of winter. I mean, it's been going on since October! Here's what it looked like this morning up there.

This is what I awoke to:

I had a good day. I cleaned the apartment, and it looks good. I like it when it looks good in here. I went grocery shopping, and got more strawberries, among other things. I'm on my third tray of strawberries this week. Can you tell I love them?!

While I was walking across the parking lot a mom had taken her three year old out of the car and as she walked up to the carts his little face peeked out over her shoulder. He waved at me and smiled. You know how kids do that...they look straight at you, guileless, unabashed. He smiled while looking straight into my eyes, and he waved or the longest time. I looked back and waved at him and his smile broadened. What a nice way to walk into a store.

It wasn't crowded and I enjoyed picking up the few things I needed. At the checkout, there was another mom with a child about the same age, maybe slightly younger. He was obedient but since he was a kid the moment she put him down he started touching everything, the candy, the register at the next station over, the things on the floor. By that time she had gotten the money out of her wallet and picked him up again. She was telling the checkout lady that she has 6 kids under the age of ten, all boys. "The Lord didn't bless me with girls, but I love every one of them very much." The boy was noodling around with her ring of car keys, lost in play. After a pause she laughed and said, "As the only woman at my house it's like I'm Cinderella in my castle!"

The boy immediately perked up, looked at her and shouted, "Bwaaah! Mom, you don't have a castle!"

I burst out laughing. Kids. You can't even have a pretend dream, before they puncture it with pure pragmatism, lol.

With new neighbors, one of the goals for this week was to purchase and then install curtains. The purchase was a major ordeal because I hate curtains and also because I hate spending money. Installing them was an ordeal because I don't have a stool to step on and I have to tiptoe on tottery things like stack of books or a tippy folding chair. Accident waiting to happen.

My windows are big but half of the light is obscured because of the old fashioned metal awnings. I hated to lose more light. I also didn't want to weigh down the room with more fabric. It's small enough as it is.

I was satisfied with getting two long white cotton curtains with loops on top. I got a third curtain of sand color in a kind of silk nylon. After much huffing and curtain rods falling on my head, missed threaded loops...I finally got them up and they look pretty good.

My cats are sleeping on the couch on the freshly laundered throw, and someone next door is cutting the grass in the sunset evening. It's windy and cool, which is great because humid and warm in spring in Georgia means thunderstorms and tornadoes. It is a nice evening and I plan to study for the Faith Group meeting on Sunday. I can only count this evening and tomorrow as the remaining free days of vacation, and it sure has been a great one.

What America has become

2011-03-31T17:39:00.001-04:00

From the Delaware Courier Post Online: "After taking her daughter to school, Melissa McCafferty noticed something unusual on her drive home Friday. Heavy machinery and police cars were gathered around the front sidewalk of a house about a block away from hers. In the back of a dump truck, she saw a pile of basketball hoops. Nearby, she spotted a front-end loader working to rip another pole and rim out of the ground. She knew they would come for hers next. The mother of three sped around the corner to her home on Hilldale Court, parked under her children's basketball rim, climbed to the top of the pole and waited. "I promised my kids I'm not going to let them take it away," said McCafferty, 39, of Claymont."

"The McCaffertys and at least seven other residents of Radnor Green and Ashbourne Hills received letters warning them this would happen. Police and Delaware Department of Transportation officials say their hoops, angled toward the street, violate the state's Free Zone law, which prohibits hoops, trees, shrubs and other objects from being within seven feet of the pavement's edge in subdivisions. About 15 minutes after McCafferty climbed the pole by standing on top of her minivan, the DelDOT equipment rumbled toward her. Perched on a bend in the metal pole with her fuzzy bedroom slippers dangling down, McCafferty refused to budge despite police and DelDOT pleas. Police threatened to tow her van. They asked if she would miss work over this. ...She replied she "would be here all day," no matter what. McCafferty heard threats that the hoop would come down whether she cooperated or not. "If you're taking the pole, you're taking me with it," she recalled saying. The McCaffertys won Round 1, as at least five police cars and a few trucks of DelDOT workers left shortly after a News Journal photographer arrived." more at link

They lost round 2. See the video. Not only did they lose their pole of 60 years, but the officer blatantly lied to them, and then told them they could not stand outside to watch, they were ordered by the law to remain inside the house.

Flowers, by God

2011-03-29T18:07:00.001-04:00

It is a gray and cold day, standing puddles are all over the yard, and it is just not good for photographing much of anything, and worse, stark white and gray contrasts are my bane. But I wanted to visit some nice yard flowers nonetheless, and share them with the greenery starved folks who may still be longing for that first petal.

Leucojum aestivum: Summer snowflake. A sweet little flower that hangs cup-down like a lily of the valley, with cute green dots on the points of each petal.

The dogwood tree, where I hang my bird feeder. The birds eat me out of house and home!

What a wonderful day!

2011-03-28T20:41:00.000-04:00

Now that spring break has truly begun, I decided to have a day off, and recreate. I don't normally recreate, unless it is planned well in advance, studied to death, and napped over. Even then, I may change my mind. So the last time I went into Athens (The Big City!) for purely recreational reasons (or any other reason) was several years ago.

I live 17 miles from The Big City so it's not like I live in Echo Canyon and have to strap on a pack mule or something. But I simply enjoy home, and routine and doing the same things Over and over. And over.

The weekend isn't really the start of spring break because we always have weekends. I don't always have a Monday off, though. So today was the day. I got Bessie the Pack Mule loaded up and took off to do three specific things. (See, even in recreating, I have a list).

First I visited a friend who has an extensive theological and Christian library. He'd offered me the use of his personal library, so I took advantage immediately. I borrowed four books and plan to get through at least three of them this week.

First up was Nonie Darwish, "Now They Call Me Infidel", about Muslim woman who converted to Christianity. Oswald Chambers in a slim tome "Studies on the Sermon on the Mount." I do have pretty extensive knowledge of prophecy for being a newbie Christian but there are gaps in my knowledge of the basics, like the major sermon of the bible, lol. Grant Jeffrey's "Apocalypse" which is right up my alley, and RC Sproul's The Last Days According To Jesus. That one will take me a while to read. Sproul is pretty intense, like John MacArthur and CS Lewis, there are some authors you just need to ponder after each paragraph. Last was a little book called "Humility." I borrowed that because I sense that even though I am so great, there may be times occasionally when I am not so great. I need tips for how to handle those times. Few as they are.

[sarcasm, OK?]

I guess I'll have to put Seabiscuit aside for a few weeks. Then I hied mysel' down to the Thrift Store. I had a mission. Some very specific garments were on the list, as well as curtains. The sheers aren't going to cut it now that I have neighbors who live closer than 200 feet. I found some heavier white ones so the room won't feel smaller and I won't feel so closed in. I wanted to find some summer-weight pants (no luck), and a few tank tops. I plan to use tanks as an undershirt because all garment makers these days assume all women, no matter what the age, size, or modesty level, want to show of their cleavage crack. Well, I don't. Tank tops worn under the offending low cut shirt do the necessary covering up. I wanted to find a lightweight summer sweater to use as a blazer for church and a jacket at night, and I did find one. It's bright sunshine yellow. When you see me coming your future will be so bright you'll need shades. I found a couple of summer shirts and a couple of teddy bears for the classroom for 18 cents apiece. The total was $25. Three sets of curtains and halfway to a new summer wardrobe, can't beat that price with a stick.

Above, the living room. You can see the sheerness of the drapes, which was OK when no one lived nearby. Now I have neighbors. No one should have to see Bert & Luke in the morning, so sparing the neighbors that vision, I'll put some drapes up. Sigh.

And since it was nearly dinner time I went to Jason's Deli for a deli sandwich on good bread, chips, and a warm cookie just out of the oven. MMM. The coup de grace for the day was the plan to see The King's Speech. It has been in one movie theater or another in Athens ever since it was released last winter, which is great. I attended the 4pm matinee, and was shocked to discover that first-run movies during the day do not cost a nickel any more. Well, at least they don't cost $2.50, which was the price the last time I went to a matinee.

The King's Speech is a wonderful story, made all the better for being true. The second in line to the throne, King Albert, has a devastating speech impediment: a stammer and a very bad stutter. He seeks the help of an unconventional speech therapist when all others, over the years, have failed. He makes improvements but after a couple of years it becomes apparent that his elder brother will abdicate the throne in favor of marrying Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American. Albert will have to speak at his coronation, as well as address the people over the radio in the Kingdom's 65 colonies when Britain declares war on Germany.

The movie at once weaves in threads about the crushing weight of living a royal life, about duty, love, friendship, and most importantly, the need to have your voice heard. His voice was to be used as an instrument of comfort, encouragement and resistance to Hitler's evil throughout the war. How things might have been different for the Britons if their King had not been able to speak to them during that dark time.

I left the theatre happy and energized by such wondrous acting and hot to learn more about the royals, Churchill during WWII, and Wallis Simpson.

I had a pleasant drive home and was pleased to see that my newly bought drapes will work out nicely. Tomorrow I'll get a few more curtain rods, and hang them. All in all, a great day. Recreation has a lot going for it. You should try it sometime.

More LOL Catz

2011-03-26T22:46:00.000-04:00

OK, here is what made me laugh, First wave of laughter: guffaws. The cat looks so embarrassed! And man, a cat in a tank? That's even better than Toonces!

Second wave of laughter: Chortles. I mean, dude, taking such care to draw the chains on the tank just right? And wheels? This has to be a guy stuffing the cat in the box. And how did he get the cat in the box in the first place?

Third wave of laughter: Tee hees. Thinking of putting Bert in a tank like that. He wouldn't look embarrassed. He'd look aggrieved. Luke... well he'd just say "What's this? Love it!"

Hello from a neighbor

2011-03-19T10:04:00.000-04:00

I had a long week but a good week. Kids keep me going, they are so wonderful. I work at the AfterSchool program so by the time Friday rolls around, I am really ready to get home at 6:00! As I pulled into the driveway, the family that had moved in to the house my apartment is attached to was outside enjoying the 80-degree weather. A working mom, her teenage daughter and her 4-year-old daughter live there, and they were playing on the sunshine-y lawn. Both daughters were in bathing suits and the mom was swinging on the bench-swing under the arbor. It was a nice, domestic scene and I appreciated it for what it was. I turned off the car and opened the driver's seat door.

As I stepped out I was startled by the appearance of the 4 year old. She had padded over quickly, and quietly.

What are you doing?
I'm getting out of the car.
Why?
Because it is time to come home from work.
Why?
Because after you work, you come home.
Why?
So that I can get out of the car and talk to you.
Oh. Hey, do you like my bathing soup?
Yes, I like your bathing soup a lot. It's cute.
Okaybye.
And she ran off.

Isn't that what we all want? We want to understand the actions of the people around us. We want to connect. We want to be noticed. We want a compliment. Kids do it crudely but more honestly. Adults do it sophisticatedly but less honestly. But it is what we all want.

It was a nice way to be greeted when I got home. What a sweet, neighborly hello.

Funny kid comments

2011-03-14T20:47:00.000-04:00

A kid story. A second grade boy telling me a long tale about playing baseball and the throw and the hit and the catch, and all the other kids are listening intently, and the punch line, the ball smashed into his chest, [pointing] "And it made a big circle on my skin!! Right over my heart!" And another 2nd grade boy replied, "well, at least now you know where to put your hand when they say the pledge in the morning."

Spaceweather.com photo from Pete Lawrence in the UK. There is a conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury tonight. Alas, I cannot see it because my new neighbor likes to keep the floodlight on AT 90,000 RETINA BURNING MEGAWATTS. I can see the ants on the driveway concrete, but I cannot see the stars. Anyway, I digress.

I was showing this photo of the planetary conjunction to a kindergartener today. I gestured to the sunset and above it, the dots that are the planets. I said "If you and your mom or dad go outside tonight and look up, you will be able to see the planets of Jupiter and Mercury!" He said, "And the words, too?"

Eating on a budget: Cook what is on sale

2011-03-13T19:28:00.000-04:00

Tips on eating on the cheap.

We tend to get an idea in our minds of what we want for dinner, write a list, go to a nearby store, buy all the ingredients, and cook it for supper. Actually, that is a cumbersome and arrogant way to cook, and expensive, too.

Most of the world eats what is locally available, not being able to afford trucked-in specialties and off season produce. Deciding beforehand what we want to eat and then going out to buy it is a backwards way to go about it. Quite often, this or that ingredient we've bought for that meal or this is something you rarely use and will go over in the fridge or get lost in the condiment cupboard.

Go to the store, buy what is on sale, come home and then cook what you've bought and add to it what you have on hand. It takes a bit of creativity but after a while you will get used to thinking on your feet and cooking by combining sale ingredients with ingredients you already have.

This week at the store, cantaloupes were on sale for 99 cents, so I bought one. Strawberries were on sale, too, two for $3. I decided that these two fruits would be my snacks and desserts for the week. I could prepare them in the form of smoothies with yogurt. Yogurt is one of my staples. I could have them with cottage cheese or Cool Whip. Atop french toast or just plain. The trick to fruit is to prepare it for eating and have it on hand in a large bowl in the fridge. Cut up the cantaloupe and the strawberries after washing them and it's done. You tend to eat more fruit when it is easily grabbed rather than having to peel it or core it at the moment you are hungering for something quick. You won't have any waste, either. We throw out a lot of food in America.

Eggs were on sale as were peppers, so I will eat eggs and peppers this week, accompanied by red potato hash browns because red potatoes were on sale. A half-dozen English muffins were 99 cents so I bought two and one went in the freezer.

Tomatoes were on sale so I got a bunch, and will put them into a salad (bags of lettuce were on sale). So salads will be featured on the menu this week as well as tomato sandwiches and homemade English muffin pizzas featuring, of course, tomatoes.

It is not hard to re-train your mind to think about putting together ingredients that you've bought on sale. It just takes practice and pretty soon you will be reaping the benefits of a reduced grocery budget!