new years heave

THROW IT OUT

you dont want it anymore

its gone

past

bin did

happy new year

hmmmmmmmm

now what

on getting to be A Little Old Lady

one shrinks

three inches

huh

howza bout that ?

bone density test

wild ice

From: "Katherine Hunter"
Date: Sun, Jan 13, 2002, 12:42 PM
To: daveworld@3sheep.com
Subject: wild ice

did i tell you about skating on the lake this year ?

after a longish lateish and warmish Indian Summer the temps went
fiercely cold in early December / down to ten degrees and less / to zero
even / with no precipitation at all / no rain / no snow / no nuffin /
and not a cloud in the sky day or night / and no wind / no breeze / no
even a zephyr of delight

perfect conditions for perfect ice / wild ice

i drove out to see the lake / this is Ken's Lake / a man-made basin
scooped out between towering red rock walls / filled with icy waters
rushing down from the mountains above / in summer it is a swimming and
fishing hole and in the winter if we are lucky it is an ice rink / a
wild ice rink

the lake was like glass / a mirror perfectly reflecting the bright blue
sky above

i saw hovering over the lake a faint shadow of my former self / the
former self who yapped and yammered about skating so much that when i
went out last year to skate / all decked out in my nifty mature lady
cashmere skating skirt handknitted sweater / cutsy wootsy / there fore
stepping on the ice led to instant paralysis brought on by the chill
fear of falling down and breaking a hip

at a certain "age" one thinks a bit about smashing a hip

i was so intimidated by the vast expanse of ice that i barely cd kick or
glide much less smile

i dont know how big the lake is / no one seems to know / but it is so
big that if you skate to the other side you become a tiny figure / and
it is so big that hockey can go on over there and figure skating over
here and kids on sleds and dogs and all can go everywhere and sometimes
there is an ice fisherman or two

it is never crowded and such a big sky above

this year at xmas time i hear the ice is skatable / i run a tape through
my head of all the possible falls i will no doubt experience but i know
the fear is my bete noir and must be faced up to

i tried on my skates / the boots felt good / last year i had crashed my
bike and had a twisted foot / the blades are perfect from sharpening
last spring in the east / all i had to fear was fear itself

and then i erased all past skating history / forget about the rink in
maryland where i learned to skate exactly five years ago / where i
discovered it was possible for someone like me to have an ambition after
all (to be a skate guard/smile) and how embarrassing it was to not be
able to skate the lake last year and blah blah / i wd just go with my
skates like i did the first time when i was eight years old and if i can
skate okay and if not / well shoot / so what

the whole time i have been in Moab i nurtured an underlying current of
pondering why am i living in a town with no ice rink just because my
daughter is here and my mother too and it apears to be my life script /
and since the paralytic debacle on Ken's Lake last year i even doubted
my (need want desire) to skate

Doni and Kaki went with me / we took chairs / you have to go on the ice
with a chair to sit on to put on your skates / kaki sez you better wear
your helmet / er / no / but i did bring my mother's / dont laugh /
*walker* for those first unsteady steps and i did use my wrist guards

but !!!!!!!

as soon as i had my skates on i was up and out there / o mi gosh / it
was just like flying

this was absolutely the best ice i have ever skated bar none / not even
the ice specially zammed for Dorothy Hamil that time in Maryland

this ice had not a blip bump bubble ripple or wavelet / just clean clear
through / smoooooooth / s lick / slidey / and at the same time it was
almost "soft" and forgiving

some wild ice is just soooooo hard !!

no rocks either / KZMU our radio station had been admonishing folks not
to throw rocks on the ice to see if is frozen / so there was only one
rock and as soon as an ice fisherman went out with an augur to drill a
hole we knew it was safe at ten inches thick

there was still open water at the east side and the southern end and
here is another cool thing about the ice / when the sun drops down
behind the rim the temperatures lower causing the ice to heave and crack
much like Frost Heaves on the roads in Vermont / so the ice had cracked
majorly and the cracks filled in with fresh clear water and then froze
over again in the night to almost perfect seamlessness / you cd just
skim right over the cracks which varied from an inch wide to three or
four inches wide / of clear sparkling ice in contrast to the solid slab

it was abstract art

and another day you can see through the uppermost layers to a layer
below that had fragmented and then refrozen / you cd see the patterns
rather like tortoise shell / magical

the ice is live / it keeps on changing / it groans and growels when it
heaves and in the still of morning you can sit by the edge and hear the
water underneath gurgling and sloshing and moving about

one night it gently snowed / the lake is out in Spanish Valley and is at
a higher elevation than the town of Moab / there was a light dusting of
snow on the lake / skating on it felt like skating on champagne bubbles

giddiness came right up through my blades / through my boots / into my
feet

these skating days were / are some of the very best days of my life

skating with kaki and doni and dought running with us on the ice / she
loves the ice

a rambunctious gamboling puppy eating all the zucchini cake i brought

the old timer Moabi who came out to what was going on / wdnt put on
their skates until they got out their own augur and drilled a hole /
then put their beer in the ice / i skated with one cuze he sed he didnt
know if he cd stand up / and shoot he is older'n me / he was born in
1924 and was in ww2 / we had a good chat skating / he told me stories of
growing up in Moab and skating in the sluices (sloooz) which is the
wetlands between the town and the Colorado River

then they got their skates and brought back some wood for a fire

and a good time was had by all

Skaterina (starts all over again)

oh did i mention i never fell down / not even once

the Dark Start Regulars

me and Dot and Dought are not the only early morning walkers on the mill creek parkway (the bike path that winds through town)

there are the Dark Start Regulars

there is a pair of women and a trio of women / there is an elderly gent on a bcycle who rings a bell as he comes up behind / there is an elderly couple who also stop to pet Dought / there is Jace who works at the shifty markup (city market) / he carries a flashlight and a big stick

i wonder if he carries the big stick because of the bear

a few years ago i went on a river trip down Desolation Canyon / it was fall of a drought year / there were many warnings of bears / rafters had been attacked in their tents

bear scat sightings were marked on beaches to notify incoming campers

we had dought along to check out campsites before we came ashore / that's when i changed her name from Doubt (not a shadow of a) to Dought / as in courageous resolute and brave / also Scots for cute

well, Doughty across the pond

we saw one bear, a young one, happily bathing, splashing in the river close to shore

later, back in Moab, walking the bike path where it passes the Youth Garden Project i spied an unmistakable pile of bear poo / there was more in the garden too / the bear ate the lettuce

he/she had eaten some fruits / something like loquats / these grow on the only tree in town it is all the way on the other side of Main Street / well there is a tunnel under Main Street so he didnt have to cross over

i more or less expect to see a bear on the bike path sooner or later

we started this Dark Start business in the summer when it is too hot to walk later in the day / i expected to give it up when it got cold / maybe switch to driving up to the slick rock later in the day

but i am hooked on the morning jaunt and gosh, so is everyone else of the Dark Start Regulars / we are all out there every morning / ten degrees today !

brrr

a risky tactic

announcing intentions to NOT do something is a risky tactic

since ones brain does not hear NOTs

which cd just as easily be KNOTS

therefore no more (smile) declarations of intent

::::::::>>>>>>><<<<<<:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

fresh squeezed orange juice with a shot of raspberry flavored B-12 with Folic Acid

abstinence makes the heart grow fonder

oh i feel self righteously better already

of course it is only 7 o'clock in the morning

of day One

heh indeedy

notes on being a Practicing Alcoholic

ohyeah i can answer all those questions on Are You An Alcoholic ? lists

well not the one about job interference / i dont have a job

and not the one where you drink first thing in the morning

that does make one erp

and not good practice for a well rounded Practicing Alcoholic

see there is Managed Moderation / smile

today however i embark on a new phase

someone near and dear to me has given up something near and dear for thirty days

impressed and inspired i decide to give up something near and dear to

Balance Through Contrast you know

in two weeks i will chalk up 72 years of life in this planetary zone / i wd not like to be in the Old Lady Drunk category

can do did

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

say a fond farewell to tomato season 2005

Tomato Sandwiches

in the realm of Eat Art tomato sandwiches reign supreme

homegrown tomatoes on white bread with mayo / um yum

i always have an idea of perfection with certain foods / like the ultimate in tomato sandwiches that i achieved once :

homegrown tomatoes / that is, grown by me and picked when warm with sunshine

homemade bread / yeah / white

homemade mayonnaise

no salt / maybe a little pepper

i also love english style tea sandwiches thin thin thin slices of tomato on thin thin thin slices of white bread the kind with no crusts / mere smear of butter

tomatoes are great source for Vitamin C and is an enhancer for the absorption of iron into the body

let me know if anyone would like some TomatoGarlicJam

one more tomato season

last year i said i hoped to live through one more tomato season

did it !

today i will put the finishing touches on the last of the tomatoes to be canned

the cherry toms and the juliettes (baby plum toms) with copious amounts of roasted garlic completed their mission yesterday as they became lovely pints of tomatogarlicJAM

yum

the rest of the tomatoes will become base for soup or ketchup or gosh whatever comes to mind

it was a good year for tomatoes

and for me

Tao Te Ching

<<<<<>>>>>>

those who talk don't know

those who know don't talk

a few more writers' blocks

#12 :

Do without thinking

Think without doing


#13 :

To know and Be Insouciant

Is a Strange Power

(write on, sister)


and an all purpose suggestion :

when in the mind
all is think
pull the plug
and drain the sink

ends

<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>

wits end
loose end
end of my rope

means justify the ends

writers' block #111

It's okay to do nothing ~~~

someone has to

or nothing would ever get done

...........

no one is watching and

no one is keeping score

i like how ~~~

~~~ my face feels

when i smile

after eating chocolate

rich and delicious

my new weightloss plan is Rich and Delicious

i signed up at ediets / lose ten pounds in five weeks / where you choose the menu plan that suits your needs

you can choose low fat low sodium / vegetarian / blood type / atkins / glycemic index / mediteranean

i considered the possibility that taking five pounds off would be easier / heh / if i followed someone else's idea of a weightloss plan

so far i have done the glycemic index / the blood type (A-) / and the Mediterranean

i fib each week at the weight check in / i say i have lost a pound a week / they like that

aside from learning some new and interesting food possibilitease i have not conscientiously followed any of the eating plans / in fact, they seem wierd / there are days when you eat tuna fish three times / but you should see the Atkins diet / meat times 3

jenny craig model is processed and packaged food / when i chose jenny (after seeing kirstie alley on tv) ediets warned me of its sodium overload / see / i had checked low sodium in the preferences at the beginning

how nice they are looking out for me

here's my new plan : Rich and Delicious

you eat very very tasty yummy foods esp the favorites of your life time but you eat very very tiny amounts and you eat what you have on hand which will be all the stuff you primarily buy or want to buy

example : i love mushrooms and bacon on toast

half a slice of bacon crispy with 2-3 mushrooms sauteed in a little olive oil (yes, skip the butter)
on extremely thin slice of spelt baguette that is not very big around

there ~~

maybe a handful of parsley or cilantro for the green group

and Oh maybe some minced garlic

burp

stay tuned

epiphany of the day

a light goes on

i tell my daugher :

ever since i fainted and had all the tests and made out my will and my medical powers of attorney and other directives i have focused so much on "end of life" issues like getting my affairs in order and not leaving a mess for someone else to tidy up that i have not been having any fun with my toys

it's like

oh i am going to die i better clean out a drawer

she laughs

this morning i am firing the kiln

there is the bottom of a canning jar on top of a tangle of copper wire on top of a couple of pieces of clear glass to complete the glass and wire "sandwich" / leftover bracelet pieces decorate the canning jar bottom

and

toasting Really Rustic 'Routons / the spelt baguetts torn up into pieces / doused with a little spanish olive oil / Real Salt and lemon pepper

into the oven

now ~ two activitease that require watching and timing

no time for drawer cleaning

Skaterina's email / part two

she received this email yesterday :

"We have an ongoing discussion in our house regarding the phrase
Shoot phooey. I use it a great deal; my 16 year old thinks I'm making up stuff. Is this a phrase you've heard others use, or are we the only two cool people in the world who understand the power of the two words together?"

--
Posted by Anonymous to skaterina at 10/19/2005 06:34:58 PM

~~

now this is an email that is the exception to the former post

this commenter actually appears to have read Skaterina's blog for she does, indeed, use the phrase Shoot Phooey

and has done so for many years

she usually says Shoot Phooey aloud with an understood comma between Shoot and Phooey

like this :

shoot, phooey

and, yes, we are prolly the only two cool people in the world

smile

Skaterina's email

everyday she gets an email from an "anonymous@blogspot" claiming to have suddenly stumbled onto her wonderful blog and they immediately bookmark it it is so fine and tasty and when she has time will she please visit their blogs which sell wine dog coats cooking lessons and many other desireable objets d'arte or activitease

it is fairly obvious that this is some form of spam

one wonders why the email and not a comment since a comment with the link enclosed would then be available to all her 1-3 readers

one guesses that these poor blogspots are in need of readers and this is one way to drum up a little biziness

sorry / it is not working

oh i got old part three

the exact moment ?

i was sitting outside in the outdoor room appreciating my vision and my vision quest

when i saw myself as an old lady with a Seeing Eye dog

what a great comfort

to be able to take a dog where only Seeing Eye dogs can go

meanwhile

i memorize the digital button controls on the washing machine

major set back ~~~~~

~~~~~~ in the weight loss program

i got a new digital scale / it weighs me five 5! pounds more than the other scale

sheesh

oh i got old part two

first there was crossing the line / gradual but inevitable / like being pre-menstrual and later pre-menopausal

a line that zigged and zagged / sneakily took a serpentine path / there were random detours and loop de loops

sometimes the line took a long ride on a merry-go-round or on a roller coaster

there was a lot of to and fro-ing and considerable time gazing in to a mirror

i was still me / post menopausal / officially a senior citizen / shoot i even collected social security and have medicare

William Saroyan wrote once that he didnt know he was going to get old

i always knew that / i just didnt know what it would be like / aging presents one with a fair amount of surprises

and then One Day there was The Moment when i clearly realized OH I got OLD

after all is said and done i will never again be who i was but Get This :

in becoming Old i also become someone New

i mean if Skaterina isnt going to skate what's the next best thing ?

old lady characters simmering on the back burner

Mrs. Foley springs to mind / with her little psychic side kick, Miss Tickle to beat the drum

so Oh i got Old and it's cool and i am ready

oh i got old

smile

what will i wear ?

what about my hair ?

answers soon

on being a denizen of the blogisphere

i read quite a few political blogs

favorites are bookmarked and likely favorites are bookmarked too

but

when a blog is not updated Every Day i bump it off

heh

i should bump me

! calling all skaterinas !

skaterina is receiving e-mails that mention topics she is writing about but she isnt exactly doing that

someone refers to her writing about breast cancer

not i, said the little red hen

weight loss ?

er / who ? us ?

intelligible design

if It is So intelligent
why isnt it smarter?

we went to the mtns ~~~~~

~~~~~~~

we went to the mtns to see the fall colours

we picked two hatfulls of high mountain rose hips

caterina is now slumped in the recliner *

picking the little fuzzes off the rose hips so they can

go into the dehydrater

and then provide the potential for rose hips jam

syrup soup puree leather most likely tea

they are no doubt an essential element of

pemmican



* the recliner is an updated version of the old 50's butterfly or sling chairs in that structural elements are metal pipe and the seat and back is a one piece padded piece slips over the top struts / extremely comfortable / low enough slung to provide an impromptertou exercixe moment as it takes a bit of ooooomph to lift oneself out of the chair

the leg rest of the recliner is a large exercise ball / the blue one has little legs on one side so it will not roll away when you are not looking / there are six legs they look like teats / udderly delightful / flinging ones legs over the exercise ball and slumping in the chair are essential routines in Improvahoga Yoga

that's that on the recliner chair

except for this : arrange the ball and your legs so that the backs of your knees are in harmony with the top of the ball / bounce up and down gently lightly subtley / clarity resides in the backs of your knees / get in touch with your knee backs

wriggle your toes

goodness / oh yes / it is October

altar(sic)ing mindset

Work like you don't need the money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
Dance like nobody's watching,
Sing like nobody's listening,
Live like it's Heaven on Earth!

[source unknown]

motley and at ease

~~~~~~~~~

hmmmmm

the ultimate insouciance

dark start with gibbous moon

i love these early morning walks

it is so dark when we start i can barely see the white dog

nevermind the little black dog

appearing out of shadow

a shining gibbous moon / just off being full

lighting our way

we skip the eerie black underpass to cross the street

sometimes a car / bright lights

the dogs know to wait at the curb before we cross

i briskly stroll briskly / breathing chill morning air briskly

we go all the way to the park that has the outdoor xylophones

it is light enough to see now / to pick up the whatchamacallems / the mallets ?

to run them lightly over the bars of lyric sound and then more BRISKLY

by then eastern sky glowing / on the way back we will see the moab rim begin to glow with the coming dawn

hurry home before we turn into pumpkins

i like lessons ~~~

~~~ from mountain climbers :

"Never trust a piton you don't put in yourself."

from Solo Faces by James Salter

or from great aunt Maudie :

if you want something done right
do it yourself

today's menu at the iron rich cafe

breakie : cream of wheat with splurp of ghee

lunch : spiced buffalo pattie rarely cooked with

a perfect tomato from the garden and a rasher

of asparagus

creme caramel ice cream

after nap pick me up juice of two fresh oranges

with two squirts liquid B-12 with folic acid

orange juice excellent source of potassium

later : espresso with hot milk

stayed tuned in for dinner

~~~


i brought my blood iron levels up with an iron rich diet

my appetite is here

steam the spinach lightly / just limp it
drain it and squeeze the moisture out
whir it up in the blender with some
half n half / spritz of salt and pepper
grating of nutmeg

this is a sauce for liguine or cappellini
or your favorite pasta shape

along with the newly made ricotta
that has been marinated overnight
in chopped fresh herbs

like parsley sage rosemary thyme
some chopped garlic and olive oil

sprinkle of salt / dash of lemon pepper

warm this up in a 350 degree oven

use it with the creamed spinach
sauce to dress the pasta

lunk of butter on top
of course

evening menu possibilitease

involving iron rich foods

baby spinach salad with sliced fresh mushrooms
and little crispy greasy cubetti of salt pork
handful of parsley from the garden
sungold cherrie tomatoes sliced in half
a mere swish of olive oil and fruit wine vinegar

serve with

liver / quickly sauteed with sweet onion crescents
and slivers of baby crook neck summer squash

or

a seared lean beef (ground round) quarter pounder
still cool inside with lemon pepper

and whatever condiments strike your fancye

like gingerlime

somewhere to be lighthearted and carefree

in a word

Insouciance

is somewhere

to be

i notice that ~~~

~~~ Amy Goodman on Democracy Now when she talks about President Bush in Crawford, Texas / well she never calls his place his Ranch / she calls it his estate or his property / sorta changes his image, non e vero ?

all hat and no cattle

iron deficiency anemia

you feel real tired / extremely tired / and dizzy / when you bend over or stoop down and get up again you are dizzy

hang on to the tomato cage for support

sooner or later you faint

a syncope not a transient ischemic attack

one is you faint and the other (the TIA) is a mini stroke

one day i felt ~~~~so tired so done in so ready for the end that was surely near i got out my living will (downloaded during the schiavo media event) and called my lawyer

also the doctor

i had tests / blood / ekg / echocardiogram / the eagerly awaited colonoscopy and more scopys after that

so / I am just anemic / your iron is so slow its a wonder you can get out of bed in the morning sez the doc

it's the delicious italian espresso with hot milk that gets me out of bed in the morning / smile

exploding mushrooms

mushrooms of all kinds and colours and shapes and mystical business
are the secret ingredient on the Iron Chef tonight

meanwhile

in the morning
along the creek
mushrooms
explode / like
little dirt volcanoes
erupt
and there you have mushrooms !

luck ~~~

~~~is the first thing

do you feel lucky
or are you
lucky

do you feel lucky because you are lucky

or are you luxky dukky

??????????????????????????

today's lesson in essence

"One way to be safe on a dangerous mountain is never let someone less competent than you make decisions for you."

from Moments of Doubt by David Roberts

Contrarian

^^^^^
still doing what i aint gonna do no more

^^^^^

todays lesson

No
One
Is
Watching
and
No One Is Keeping Score

i hover ~~~

~~~ on the brink

of impossible tomorrows

well i did it

almost

one year blogging

entry every day

sorta kinda

SYS*



*see you soon*

why not

When you cant stop
being
who
you
are

be more of you

http://caterinacacciatore.blogspot.com/

sheez back

side o' fries

sh / dont tell Caterina !

Caterina can not be depended upon these days / she is indulging in a Full Tilt Lolly Gag

she has not made any chicken soup in weeks !

soooo

take a can of Campbell's Double Noodle / add 2/3 can of chicken broth that comes in a box (pacific) and 1/3 can milk

as that warms up peel a few cloves of garlic and toss them in

add a bouquet of summer savory and pineapple sage

real salt and pepper / a sprinkle of cayenne

at serving time a spritz of cream

hey they aint bad !

drama in the garden

a big plant saucer sits on
an upside down big pot

water for the birds
two flat rocks centered
in the water
for stability


oh look there are ants on the rock ! how did they get on the rock surrounded by water / they must have fallen out of the elm tree whose branches hang down curtaining the birds' bathwater

set a couple of thin sticks and twigs from the rock to the edge of the pot

wow the ants are quick / immediately they are on the sticks and heading home

a flat slat provides a ladder down to the grass

and now ~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~that we are completely FULL of OurSelves

we let loose all the butterflies from the Butterfly Rhythm Band

see them soar

Yay summersolsticefullmooninsagittarius

hooray

plunging headlong into time

bogspot

bogged down

but not uprooted

the doldrums dont last forever

nonfunctioning links

i see the links on the tumbleweed and agretti posts are not working

hmmm

i know they are correctly written bc blogspot points out the errors if they are not

hmmm

maybe bc i just installed TIGER / the printer software had to be reinstalled after TIGER

hmmm

and now for a word about tumbleweeds

tumbleweed

from this site :


Tumbleweed was given the name Salsola australis in 1810 by Robert Brown from the British Museum. He discovered it in Australia. Even though he was the first to classify the plant, he didn't get credit for his work for 170 years. Another scientific name is Salsola kali, but it's also popularly called saltwort, Russian cactus, wind witch, buckbush, soft rolypoly and prickly rolypoly.

There are actually several species of plant that are called "tumbleweed". They all live on flat, open areas, so that the wind can easily blow them around. They all use the strategy of scattering their seeds around as they roll.

Salsola belongs to the spinach family. It is common in Asia, North America, Australia and Africa, and it grows into a ball. Another "tumbleweed", the Rose of Jericho, Anastatica hierochuntica, lives in the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa. It's a delicate wild mustard that looks like a normal plant while it's alive. But when it dries out, it curls up into a ball. The wind rolls it across the desert until it get wet. Then the branches straighten up again, and the seeds drop out. The tumbleweed is not such a pest anymore, since the introduction of phenoxy herbicides in World War II. But it still costs millions of dollars to clean it out of canals and from the side of the road. And motorists still end up in hospital, after trying to outrace a tumbleweed on a windy day.

%%%

follow up to a comment re "agretti"

here is a comment posted on the May 18 entry : about agretti :

it is an ocean grown vegetable, also known as salicornia or seaphire or samphire.

here's a link:

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9606/18/t_t/saltwater.farms/

kelly

thanks, kelly, for an interesting link

i had googled it up a while ago and this is what i found :

Agretti $3.50
Salsola soda Units or #seeds/pkt.: 50
MO SYAG

a 70 days Agretti/Salicornia, a rare European delicacy, is also prized in Japanese sushi for its unusual, salty flavor. Plants have a beautiful candelabra shape and crisp, crunchy thin leaves. Expensive and highly prized by top chefs, it’s difficult to find. Can be grown in regular soil or in salt marshes.

from this site :

underwoodgardens

we are getting seeds to plant in our wetlands here in Moab / one of the few wetlands in the state of Utah

howsomever, the so-called agretti that was a favorite vegetable in Rome did not seem like a rare delicacy / it was pretty common at the outdoor markets / we ate a lot of it / was not shaped like a candelabra and was not salty

howsomever, the baby tumble weed we picked and ate recently this spring was very very very much like the agretti of Rome

oh i do so love a mystery

next blog wandering

i pass through several spanish speaking countries

i discover Dietary Fiber links uses the same blogger template as do i

shoot phooey

i missed meatloaf mashtaters n brown gravy day at the moab diner

again !

last week i went but it was already tuesday

my daughter is Fifty

am i elderly yet ?

winding up the merrie month of may

one more month to go

Out Of It

Caterina is out of It / out of the Kitchen

we are Eating Out of the Garden

greens / green things / tumbleweed babies

we are looking for the lamb chop tree

the wine will taste better ~~~~

~~~~in these handblown wine goblets from the Art Fair

oops

rinse glass / set in dish drainer / open wine / pick up glass / break stem in half

sheesh

but it is true / the wine does taste better in the remaining goblet

cheers

favorite wine havent had in years order two cases wait several weeks / it doesnt taste as good as it used to

~~~~~~~~~~
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
???????????????

bummer

Never Ask Why ~~~~~

~~~~~if Reason you Seek

for the Brain is Awry

and

Springing a Leak

Caterina just got high on a sweet crisp raw turnip

she is demo cooking at the opening tomorrow of the local farmers market

she was asked to focus on arugula, asian greens, and sweet turnips

shoppers admire these three / they vibrate from their baskets in the booth

many folks doan know what to do with arugula, asian greens, and most of all

shy away from the sound of the word TurNip

uh no

turns out there are more than 300 recipes for arugula, mostly variations on the salad theme, at epicurious.com

turnips came in last

two bunches of incredibly beautiful small creamy white turnips are delivered / the greens are tall and leafy and darn greeny and freshly dampened

she puts the two bunches on the counter / one bunch neatly tied has six perfect small turnips about the size bigger than a golf ball and smaller than a tennis ball / creamy white and perfectly formed / they looked like a picture of a perfect Pin Up TurnIP

she begins to stew in her own juice / how can she chop the tops off and boil up these babies / just like that / just cuz i googled Sweet Turnips

big sigh

to be cont,, , , ,,,, , ,,,

the texture and mouth feel of agretti / smile

you know how grass is flat bladed ?

agretti is like grass if it were tubes / teeny tubes / very skinny tubes

and not dry inside

rather like how grass would be if it were a succulent

not too juicy / still needs to be dressed with olive oil and lemon

si vuoi

it comes in the length that if it were your lawn you would think it was close to time to mow

~~~~

agretti is also an important ingredient in sushi

~~~~ piccolo mundo

i discovered a group of ex-pats actually discussing agretti !~ today / this very day

what it is it / someone said It Is Tumbleweed !

having fun with red

reds

my favorite colour is REDS

my favorite motto is ~~

when in doubt wear red

~~~~~~~~

fusing glass pieces with a specific result in mind

reds

mmmmmmm/yum

candy red cinnamon bears (current bender) (three bags in two weeks)

mayhem in the morning or sometimes in the middle of the night

this is the time of year the suicide roaches come into the house to drown in the sink

at first seeing them in the sink (them means from 1 to 6 so far) and knowing what i had to do to cooperate with their death wish / well / it was upsetting / i havent even had my coffee yet

turn on the water anyway / lift the drain baskets out so they have a clear shot going down the pipes

ooops / they seem to have changed their minds / yes

they struggle against the water but i persevere / the water gets hotter

another way is to fill the sinks with water the night before / quick and easy for your usual suicide roach

i discover one middle of the night that by 2:30 am when i come into the kitchen for my hot milk and ghee they are already to go / i lift them out carefully although they are pretty much goners by now / and carry them outside where they can go back to the earth

otherwise i fear them clogging my sink trap

i cant think of anything more gross

Caterina is Out To Lunch

she has abandoned the kitchen to Eat Out

she gives up Eat Art for Eat Out

out to lunch

biscuits and gravy at the Moab Diner

chili cheese burger with onion and a side of fries at Milt's

and oh that cream puff at Marianne's

~~~~~~oh wait

sheez back and we are gonna eat baby amaranths and barely toddling tumbleweed

when it is a long way to go before it rolls across the desert and clumps up at fences

the young green tumble weed is bright green and grassy even after rather long cooking / it has the texture and mouth feel of agretti which we loved to eat in Rome

gotta look up agretti / havent thought of it in years

a brief but unexpected intimacy

i was barefoot when my former computer guru stopped by to bring the tangerine flake baby iBook back after a little tune up

he stayed to chat

dont fix your toes, he said, my mother did and she is in constant pain

oh he noticed my toes

he meant my "hammer toes" which a nurse pointed out to me when i was in for cataract surgery / doctor so and so can fix them, she said

until then i thought the knobby knuckles on my second toes was a form of arthritis

nope

hammer toes

i imagine the fixing to involve hammers

at loose ends

dangling

drifting

at least not tied in knots

or tied in Nots ?

there is nothing like a Quote

Eleanor Roosevelt's Wartime Prayer


Dear Lord,

Lest I continue
My complacent way,
Help me to remember that somewhere,
Somehow out there
A man died for me today.
As long as there be war,
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?

when ~~~

~~~you are doing what you werent gonna do
one more time

today's lesson on writing

"Form means nothing when content has no value."

from a letter to the editor, New York Times by

Carol Zoref
Bronxville, N.Y., May 4, 2005
The writer is the writing coordinator at Sarah Lawrence College.

•

Reminder

Only a fool criticizes work in progress

Topics that have been overlooked / postponed / or just ignored

ugly shed is gone

car show

sea of pink

less is more (loss is gain)

farewell to The Last Cat

wait !

it's Mothers Day

in honor of my mother who died recently
Caterina is making homemade cherry garcia
ice cream as she tests the vanilla ice cream
recipe she posted last month

sweet and sour cherries soaked in Kirsch
three kinds of dark chocolate / one with
raspberries

The Poppy in the Tulip Square

the attack on the trade center in 2001 and the attendant thoughts of world war and its scarcities bounced me into a couple of challenges i might not otherwise have considered

sorta like adopting a war cry and a battle plan to cope with unexpected expectations i learned how to can foods / canned every tomato in the garden / every plum on the tree / once that was done it was fall and the ocasion for another challenge / i decided to plant 500 flower bulbs

the challenge here was finding enough diggable areas to plant that many bulbs

there was a Blue collection and an assortment of daffodils/jonquils etc of all sizes and petal types / there were also bulbs that were destined to acclimate and these also had the advantage of being planted two or three to a hole

i bought some groovy bright red gardening tools to make it all fun and easy

there were also 50 tulips 50

all fancy hybrids and what not / these were not guaranteed to bloom more than the first year

in the south side lawn of my house was a plain dirt square about 4 feet by 4 feet / the cement mixer on a square of plywood had occupied this spot for several years / once moved it was free of grass

remembering a neighbor in the Vermont village who had a small square flower garden in the middle of her otherwise lush grassy lawn i decided to prep the square and plant the 50 tulips 50 there.

around the outer edge i planted "blues" / grape hyacinths and anemones

all the tulips came up and so did the blue border / i was thrilled

gradually the tulips gave up the ghost / several orange ones and a pair of whites and a pretty pink streaked white one all have survived since then and bloom anew / the border continues to come up and bloom too

an errant poppy seed germinated and began to grow

i do love poppies / ever since years in Europe where i was dazzled by the fields of poppies (now known as Legionaire poppies) tinting the hillsides and fields with red

i read if poppies are cut before they open they make a nice cut flower for bouquets

we got up early one morning / at dawn and drove out of Rome to the countryside and found a likely field for picking unopened poppies

we came away with armfulls of them / there were literally thousands of flowers / i followed the old Girl Scout rule about only picking a flower once you have seen .............. so many of them

we also came away with our sweaters stuck all over with golden grass debris

the cut poppies did, indeed, last a week or more in big jars of water on the dining room table

now as for that Poppy in the Tulip Square she is flourishing beyond all expectations / she has not bloomed much so far but this year she is truly in her prime

she survives to thrive (smile)

i just counted more than a dozen buds / maybe more / i lost count

i will keep score as each one blooms

accompanying her are a small flock of California poppies / golden yellow and creamy white / that i started indoors

eager anticipation with camera at the ready

~~~~~~~~~

ps / the neighbor lady with the flower square in her lawn in Vermont told me that it was where her children's play house had been

A telling quote

"My creed is that: Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to make others so."

Rpbert Ingersoll, noted but neglected 19th century athiest

When daydreams ~~~~~

~~~~~ become retrospectives filter out the gloom, doom, and remorse

congratulate yourself on having lived through it inspite of yourself

survival leads to thrival

thunder lightning

vicious wind

lights out

Going to the dentist

today i had a root canal

compared to a cervical biopsy it was a piece of cake

or was it a picnic ?

hmmm / no, a piece of cake

oh a bit of a picnic too but that was after / my daughter drove me / the root canal dentist was in a town in Colorado 100 miles from where i live (my dentist doesnt think the local dentists have a good enough success rate at root canals / sheesh)

i brought a thermos of chicken soup and daughter brought a salad

we sat on a stump in the parking lot of the dental clinic where i had the soup and she had the salad

then we fled back to Utah quick as prairie dogs

Fish or Cut Bait ?

you gonna keep me (ms blog) going or not ?

let's face it, you think of me every day

you think of topics i wd like and then you dont tell me about them

so what's the big deal ?

let's get this show on the road again

oh, okay

Today's Reminder

No matter how much needs to be done
It will be done sooner or later
or
Maybe not

Poppy Picture

POPPY

oops / where does that blue background come from ? click slide show and the background will be white / so much for upddating for greater blah blah blah

guess i still have a lot to learn

spose that is good

Icelandic Poppies

i love these poppies / their fragile petals (only Mother Nature cd dream up such a delicacy) and lovely range of colours from pale peaches and yellows and creams to a deep deep orange

i grew them in window boxes or on the terrace of the apartimento in Rome / sometimes i grew nasturtiums or multicoloured anemones / i often thought i was the only person in Rome who didnt grow the ubiquitous ivy geraniums

last spring in California i bought six icelandic poppy plants at the budding stage / decided to forego choosing colours to just getting some young enough to make the trip back to Utah

they did okay here and eventually bloomed pale peach and yellow and cream / there was one orange one

four of them survived the winter here / heavily mulched

the first one to bloom was spectacular orange/gold/tangerine colours with ruffled petals

i took many pictures of it (i just updated iPhoto and iLife5 which apparently makes it more complicated to add a picture to the homepage / patience, my dear, i tell myself)

darn lucky too as the first time i ran my water program for the season a heavy spray of water nearly knocked this plant senseless / i carefully moved it / poppies hate to be transplanted / she seems to be doing okay now / this morning she has put forth another ruffly bloom

meanwhile the other plants are catching up with the blooming and Get This :

so far every flower is bright orange

yes, even the plants that i recall as peach or yellow or cream

now dont that just beat all ?

Turning Point or Tipping Point ?

turning point : revolving in place
camped out at the crossroads
the future looks the same in all directions

tipping point : out of balance
teetering on the pivot point
dazzled by dizziness

in other words : all routines are under serious scrutiny

the name of the game is Reinvigorating Revision

Skeeter

of all the cats i have had and there have been many Skeeter is the most freaked out when put in a cage or carrier and hauled off for a ride in a truck

after the last cross country trip we arrived in Moab to stay and i promised him i wd never never again take him anywhere in a cage or car

so i wait patiently for him to die on his own / he sleeps long hours in his basket / he gets up once in a while to go outside where he lounges in his favorite places and then comes back in to drink water and return to his basket

he still drinks a lot of water

he has not had any food for a week

at first i offered all his favorites but, no, he has had enough good stuff in his life to eat / he is ready and he is serene and peaceful

if i were to take him up and maybe carry him in my arms (he never liked being picked up or cuddled) to the vet to be put to sleep it wd disrupt his natural flow / cause him anxiety and fear

soon he will sleep for good and all

the Last Cat

the Last Cat will soon be the Late Lamented Last Cat

he is sleeping off his life on the catnip express

safe journey, pal

i hover ~~~~

~~~~~ over my seedlings

the Navaho red meat watermelon seeds are just poking through the soil / the seed shell clings to the tender green leaves / i want to pick it flip it nip it off ////oh but i will disturb the process

meanwhile ~~~~

~~~~ i hover

French Fries

Milt's is a 50's diner built in 1954 / there are eight stools and a take out window / there is a picnic table under the trees

Milt's is one of the oldest and longest running businesses in Moab

the "real Milt" sold out long ago to someone who retained all the Milti-ness with none of the charm

it is said Milt's is one place you can go in Moab where you wont hear The Grateful Dead

at last at long last there are new owners / a young couple / true Moabi / and we know both of their mothers / oh its a small town, is Moab

i heard the french fries were pretty good and the meat is being supplied by The Old Geezer / these are good signs

the french fries are yum / nice and long and fresh and both crispy and soft in just the right balance / and that night i woke thinking of Milt's french fries

oh they make onion rings too ! i do love onion rings

so had some of them and then discovered homemade ice cream sandwiches on homemade chocolate chip cookies made by one of the new owner's mother

smile

i had a restaurant when i was younger / i had Guest Mother Cooks each week and pictures of everybody's mothers framed on the walls

DBA ? Everybody's Mother

i fell in love with a customer / we ran away to live in the mountains / on a mesa overlooking the town of Moab / driving Miss DreamBoat i tootled into town for a chili cheeseburger at Milt's

good gravy i am doing it still

t-shirts with DreamBoat coming soon

Driving Miss DreamBoat

*Tanka*

5 lines / 31 syllables / 5.7.5.77


Driving Miss DreamBoat
Vintage sixty five dodge dart
toot toot here we come
Beloved gypsy wagon
sheez my Moabius trip

keeping records / daily journals

Thomas Mallon in A Book of One's Own (People and Their Diaries) tells that his father kept every cancelled check and kept them in boxes and these he discovered after his father's death

cool concept

cancelled checks tell one of the stories of your life

handspun handwoven blankets tell stories of my life

series of cartoon drawings in the Daily Do Nut series

all the faces / from the self portraits drawn during mid life crisis time in rome to only my feet

howza bout the collection of recipeez / that dusty disorganized pile

yup

gotta go / time for The Daily Show / smile

must be SynchronCity

The Royal Wedding

i like the way Camillacarries herself : "I ride English"

her wedding hat is totally divine

The Incredible Shrinking Last Cat

His name is Skeeter

once he was so big he was mistaken for a racoon

he is one of two cats i took to Vermont with me from California / then he was one of three cats that traveled from Vermont to Maryland / and yes the same three made the journey to Utah

boy did he ever hate that trip / it took ten days / it was winter / in every motel he hid under the bed and i had to drag him out / one room had a KING sized bed / luckily i was able to move the bed to retrieve him / this was usually by hauling him out by the tail while he dug his claws into the rug / oh we had a lovely relationship

the oher two cats now sleep deep in the back yard while Skeeter claims the distinction of being my Last Cat

he keeps me from starting over with kittens

once he was so big that when you picked him up he was a huge and heavy armload / he was bigger than little dog, Dot / Skeeter hated being picked up so much (oh too much a BIG TOM) that the struggle wasnt worth it

he hated being petted / he hated snuggling or cuddling even though he often slept on my bed / i never heard him purr

he was born in a basket of coloured fleece that was in a rocking chair that was on top of a table (dont ask) at the Happy Trail Spider Works and Bubble Preserve / his mother was Late Sleeper

now he is really up there in years / he was finally neutered after being hit by a car in Vermont

he has always been my least favorite cat so it figures he wd outlast them all (dozens of cats over time)

his most irritating trait was meowing so loudly and so insistently for food that one time i grabbed him up and ran out the back door with him to the stream that flowed behind our house in Vermont / there was a foot bridge there and below a rocky rill where the stream rushed madly around the bend

i held him out over the railing as if i were going to drop him in

well shucks i just cdnt do it

(next day i read in the paper that a woman had thrown her new born baby in a river)

but this is now and Skeeter is the only cat / the last cat

this changes our whole relationship / i decided to kill him with loving kindness and plenty of rich food / chicken livers lightly poached rare / warm cream on cold mornings / and so on / his meows for food became more subdued / i detected an ocasional PURRRR

our most touching moment was the first night i came home from the hospital after the hystericalectomy two years ago / ____ lifted him up onto my bed (he was too heavy for me to pick up / he was over the weight limit and the bed is too high for him to jump onto) so he was picked up and he settled down next to me / and in the dark / in the night / when i touched him / his warmth and aliveness / i was so glad to be home / to be okay / to have survived the ghastly operation

i totally cater to him now / getting out of bed at all times to let him out or let him back in / giving him a little more sensible meals than chicken livers and cream

he doesnt eat much anymore / one eye cant see / he is deaf / i know this because i can vacuum around his basket and he doesnt budge or wake up / he drinks a lot of water / he is losing weight

he is shrinking into old age

someone said the other day, What a Big Cat !

no / he is smaller / much smaller

still big but smaller

i know when i pick him up now (no more struggle) it is easy to feel the difference

he enjoys a brief cuddle and bursts forth with PURR

after a brief interlude

we are back and caterina is yammering about liver

in the kitchen

the rest of the family is home again bringing Native American seeds : Tahitian Squash / Apache CrookNeck Watermelon / Red Meat Hopi watermelon / Navajo Red Seed watermelon / each is planted four times / power number of the Hopi

there is also a packet of seeds for Mountain Spinach that gets six feet tall

wow

a fascinating true life and death story

interesting story

the comments go with it / good read

how to open your larynx

stand or sit up straight so as to open your horizons
bring your hand up to your face / i use my right hand
with thumb and fingers making a C shape

place your thumb on the space between your chin
and your lower
lip
place your index finger on the space between your
upper lip and nose

open your mouth wide while thunb and index finger
apply pressure / this doesnt hurt

go AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

this vibration opens your larnyx/larynx/whatever

just ask anyone

smile

Humble Pie

the full menu for the next few days will be Humble Pie

i will eat my words / chew em up good and spit em out

how liberating to discover and then acknowledge that
my pointless opinions are all wrong and i never never
ever again will find it necessary to voice them / smile

Lower your voice ~~~~

~~~~ lower your voice
bring it up from an Open larynx

speak softly or quietly
(audibly / with precise
pronounciation
& enunciation)

with sufficient Pauses between thoughts
to allow for Spontaneous evolutions

Hum before you get out of bed in the morning
or whenever else seems appropriate

(Keep it private / be discreet / lessen the blab

LISTEN A LOT

april 17 / aunt maudie's birthday / she is 62 plus 50 = 112!)

4/17/1996

Ghoulishness : I succumbed

after four and a half months free of television news (not even C-span) i succumbed to the ghoulish spectacle in Florida and if you dont know about a woman in a persistent vegetative state being exploited for political gain then nevermind

i watched FOX (aka Faux) !

i will get over it / after all / tomorrow is April Fool's Day

the way of the improvaho

the path of surprise

all the way out there

or not

being here now in the moment

doing what comes naturally

I saw my first roll over today / up at Potato Salad across from the power damn / you know where all the jeepers congregate during jeep week

there is this severe up hill climb with sharp ledges where the 4 wheelers get hung up on the ledge / the front tires will be above the ledge and the rear tires below / to get enough traction to climb the ledge / well / one guy had to give up and back down / the next one up made it to the top / the third one looked good / then the slippage / over it went / wow / over and over and down down and then when the rig was right up he got control and steered the jeep down to a safe parking spot

the search and rescue helipcopters spun over head

search and rescue on the job

Cosmic Irony = Karma ?

a young woman has an eating disorder called bulimia (aka The Vomit Diet)

she depletes her system resources and diminishes her immune system by discarding nutrition

her heart attacks

stops long enough to drain the brain

she is kept alive for fifteen years on feeding tubes

&&&&&

this is a Lesson in Essence

Essentials

known as living out your will

Butterfly Rhythm

with mom and dad and the kids away i can fine tune my proclivities for Butterfly Rhythm

oc mom and dad and the kids are all the same people / id est / daughter and son-out-law / but these are the roles they play in my life

Butterfly Rhythm is an Improvaho version of ADAH / attention deficitty (sic) disorderly

whew

in Improvaho land we get to flit from flower to flower / to spend any amount of time or not doing anything or nothing at all

Butterfly Rhythm is based on the following freedoms :

to be as sloppy as i want to be in my own house

to be the opposite at any given moment

to start begin initiate as many projects as i can think of and finish them in my own good time / or not at all

to live at my own pace and rhythm

and ah yes

the ultimate freedom is impeccable behavior

living wills

i am updating my living will and appointing President Bush and the Congress to decide for my end of life options

down load living will forms

living will

there are more sites available / google 'em up

Drilling in the Refuge / A Dark Day is Upon Us

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

- W.B. Yeats, 'The Second Coming'

One Day At A Time ? Nah......

half day at a time is more like it

i have super energy in the morning / actually leaping out of bed to the cries of The Alarm Cat

if anything needs to be done it will be done in the morning

morning becomes electric / smile

afternoons will be spent in deep hammock meditation

March Madness

no, not the basketball tournament

what is it about March ? wherever i have lived i become restless during the month of March

what a rascal March is / in Topanga Canyon it was often a month of huge downpours and floods / in Vermont the biggest snow storms / in Rome it rained every day the spring i decided to come back to the states

here in Moab, March teases with hints of spring then just when half the aloe vera plants have been moved outside there is a freeze / kaboom / gone are the aloe vera plants just like that

if one is a nomad or better yet, a New Mad, this is the season to migrate or at least get ready to migrate

and the Rideau Canal is officially closed / so no chance of a sudden flight to Ottawa to skate its wondrous miles

foo

the astrological month of pisces

plumb the depths
swim in all directions

sounds fishy to me

clinging to the past

someone dies / someone important to you / someone significant in your life

no more phone calls / no more unexpected visits / no more obligations

there is a hole in your life and you wallow in it

you wallow in sadness and sorrow and self-pity and anger

the way through grief is to grieve

Which comes first ?

fly away hair all over your face wont stay in place

or

feeling pissed at every little trivial nit picking thing

??????????????????????????????????????????????

A post on blogging by a blogger i read daily

BLOGGING

Do I still want to do all the things i used to want to do ? #1

like what ?

well, there's the big ol' Secretary desk that has been in my life for as long as i can remember so i sent it out for my mother when we moved her from Maryland to Utah / everything or anything that was in it went in a box and upon arrival was placed back in the drawers and cubby holes

the desk did its job holding stuff / a selection of big envelopes in one of the lower drawers / dusty papers that no one wanted to go through / bits of jewelry tucked away in secret hiding places / expired passports / an envelope containing $2 bills / books on the upper shelves with the glass fronted doors / a disorganized stamp collection

as a child i fancied using this as my very own desk (when i grow up, i thought)

now that mom has passed on i emptied out the drawers and cubby holes / in a drastic change of mind i decided to Get Rid of It

oh my

give it away ? trash it ? try to sell it ?

it is not quite an antique

however now that it is empty it presents itself as having a lot of practicality

(for me blogging is a bit like making notes or lists for myself and putting them out incase anyone cares / smile)

i decide to try using it and so move it to a more accessible place / put the envelopes back in the drawer / the books back on the shelves / choose which cubby to put the unpaid bills and where to put the paid receipts / bank statements and so on

a true follow-through on this project will mean i can get rid of the little child's desk i use which is singularly inadequate

stay tuned

Well ~~~~

~~~~~~i know i am in harmony with the universe when i can walk on the desert barefoot

Pressure Relief Valve

a Pressure Relief Valve is being installed somewhere close to the Courage Button

oops ! hey there, not so close to the Panic Button !

the PRV is designed to protect oneself against the build up of relentless delusions and unrealistic expectations

i feel better already

a tribute ~~~

to the fertility of tomato seeds

i planted a dried slice of tomato in each pot thinking maybe one or two or three might germinate and guess what

each pot is a little forest of tomato babies

breaks my heart to have to thin them out / i eat the seedlings or put them in the dogs' food

(check correct use of possessive plural apostrophe

eh?)

transition zone / new moon

Ignore ants is bliss

it's okay to make mistakes

dont let your mouth rob your eyes

or your ears

Well ~~~~

moody, broody

not to mention stuck stumped stupified stymied

hey it takes some doing to adjust ones perception

altar (sic) ones ego

reinvigorate ones spirit

so forgive me Dearlie Blog for my dedicated neglect

that Caterina / she keeps up good / the chicken salad was first rate / we even had potato chips / my favorites / Lays!

this morning she is googling up recipeez for Scallop Bisque as she desires to follow up on the success of her famous Shrimp Bisque

shoot / all she does is lay around in the hammock all day dreaming up stuff to do in the kitchen

she is soooo into EAT ART

EAT ART

There's nothing like a Good Hair day ~~~~

~~~~~~to perk you right up

There are only a few Universal Truths

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart. - confucius

Follow your path with heart. - don juan

Lessons in Essence

indulging in remorse is the ultimate in self-torture

&&&

dont try to make a smoothie in a food processor

use a blender, dummy

Tomato Babies

it gives me great pleasure to announce the birth / er / germination of

Zapoteca
Golden Strawberry
Rosy Persimmon
The Heiress of Manzanita Farms
Signorina Genovese
and
ta da ta : BIG BEEF

FOLLY

The PT Cruiser's license plate sez FOLLY

i hope never again to have a license plate that people have to ask what it means / sometimes i say "the prisoners got it wrong, it should be DOLLY"

smile

a "folly" is a bit of mischief or a big screw up / one look at this car and i wanted one and i ordered it despite being over 2000 miles from home, meaning at some point i would have to travel back east to take possession when it was ready

so it was impulsive and extravagant and, yes, secretive / i was going to have to wait so long for delivery that i decided not to tell anyone what i had done / that is, until i realized i would need a carport on the property i share with family members

i chose FOLLY because she is my Controlled Folly

which is like being in charge of your own screwups / it is from Don Juan

a Controlled Folly is a degree of abandon and a degree of control

some folks get it and smile

some get the DOLLY explanation

FOLLY is pronounced FA - LEE

so i am moseying along Rte 50 across the high Nevada desert on that Loneliest Road in America last spring when a State Trooper came driving towards me on the two lane highway / i mean, he was in the same lane as i was / so i stopped

Hello, Mrs. Foley (FOE-LEE) he greeted me

duh

i am thinking some kind of APB is out for a woman named Foley so i chirp "I am not Mrs. Foley"

non-plussed the officer said well, pull off the road, there is a BIG WIDE LOAD coming

so i did / and thought no more of it until i got home and told the story to the kids / ah haha / did they laugh at me / of course they knew immediately that the officer assumed FOLLY was my name and it was pronounced FOE-LEE

i have yet to live this down

Channeling

this morning i said to my son-out-law, Hey, Bub....and then, Did Estelle (my mother) ever call you Bub ? (that is not his name)

i think i am channeling my mother / things she used to say pop into my mind / son-out-law sez Yes, he has noticed me a couple of times saying things she would say

she had a sharp tongue and cd be a bit nasty / or a lot nasty / i dont necessarily want to emulate that particular characteristic

to laugh like her would be okay / she had an engaging laugh even when it came at the expense of someone else

so i cant say i miss her all that much

as for channeling i believe that people who channel other beings are primarily in touch with their own intuition and connection to the Universe / why they name these entities the way they do is beyond my ken

Dressing up to go to the Dentist

the receptionist admires my linen dresses and my fleet of (2) cars / the PT Cruiser and the Dodge Dart / the dentist compliments me on my bracelets

a morning conversation with my coffee cup led me to think it was time to get out a little more / have a "social" life

in a small town like Moab going to the dentist is a social occasion

one day the receptionist wore a handknitted vest that she had made so this morning i took a shawl i had knitted from my handspun / next time she said she will wear a sweater that her father had knitted for her / i cant wait

on the wall is a painting by my neighbor who is a popular collectible local artist / he built my screen doors and put up posts and beams for our new shed

the dentist and his wife who is also a dentist are training interns so there is a running instructional commentary going on as the dental work proceeds / this is both illuminating and endearing

over the weekend the dentist and his wife went to the Grand Canyon / during intervals when not drilling (zzzzzzzzz) he describes the South Rim and the North Rim as well as architectural features and shares legendary stories of the Grand Canyon and of Powell's trip down the river / he is a photographer with an artist's eye

background music / i hear BaBaBaBarbara Ann/ takes me back to another era / then some early Beatles / i notice the only music i actually "hear" is music i am already familiar with

i am not keen on going to the dentist / too many awful experiences when i was younger especially in the '40's when the slow speed drill ground on and on accompanied by the smell of burning tooth enamel

a couple of years ago when i was a relative newcomer to Moab a piece of an old crown broke off / i was leaving for the east coast the next day / the broken spot was sharp / i had not yet gone to a dentist in Moab so i went to about 6 different dental clinics hoping to find someone who would bump off the sharp edge despite my lack of appointment

Dr F was the only one who said yes i can see you if you can wait a few minutes / so now he is the dentist i choose to see

Remember the Ab-Roller ?

i rolled my abs on the Ab-Roller every day every day every day for a long time / yes / not exactly how long but i was dedicated and then one day i didnt do it and the next day i didnt do it and the next day

i never used it again

just stopped like that

out of the blue

with no rhyme or reason

that's what it feels like with the blog right now

my get up and go got up and got

complacency

acceptance with contentment

not expecting anything too awful to happen

heh

appreciating every moment even when you are not praising yourself for appreciating every moment / i salute you, don juan

Hey, Rube

happy landings, Hunter

Pick Up Tricks

a brisk uplifting walk
a runner shows me an exercise called a "low walk"
she is in training for speed skating

!!!

ice ? yes, ice

she skates at the olympic oval in salt lake city

big sigh from skaterina

Further Adventures in the Art ~~~

~~~~~ of Controlled Schizophrenia

(notes from The Fictional Archeologist)

scraps from the memory hole bubble up

"Let's see if i can figure out where i am
today
where i am coming from
so to speak

Oh
now
i remember :
the adventure of a Lifetime

i am committed to a journey that will be of immense value to me and to my future on this planet
(wrote Dwadwee Wandrr in one of her LUCID moments
~~~~~

~~~~~~

She discovered she wuz the Higher Power for a wimpy kinda cold footed girl who lost her spirit and humor at frequent intervals

(have i thanked my mother lately for making me go to secretarial school where i learned typing and shorthand)

when reviewing the past ~~~~~

~~~~~~~~(oh all those missed opportunitease)
is not very uplifting / time to turn over a new leaf
change your tune

shed old skin
grow new tale

everyday is not every day

weightless tea : drink one cup before each meal (or between meals) EVERYDAY for a month

but the next day is not an EVERYDAY / it is a carrot juice and tortellini in brodo kind of day

once you have taken the cake and ingested essence of improvahokiness what wd you expect ?

JumpStart

one hint of spring is all it takes
one swell foop totally cleans the house
rearranges the furniture for maximum seasonal
advantage

peeks into the envelopes that hold the tomato seeds from last year
thin slices of golden orange coral red like little lace doilies diddled with seeds
the plan is to plant an entire slice in each of 12 pots / one for each of the varieties

i like that !

calendar sez saturday and sunday / moon in cancer / will be best time for planting

the pots will be prepared and the pillows will be sewn up for the hammock meditation season

the office (denim covered love seat) is moved to the kitchen to free up the south facing windows for the sewing/planting table

clinging still to winter / the favorite season in moab / in the valley it rains / in the mountains it snows

my cup runneth over

Tomato Season 2005 gets underway

baby lettuces peeking
bulbs poking up 2-3-4 inches of green
parsleys and arugula staging strong comebacks

loll in the hammock to decide crucial events like the timing of the tomato seedlings delivery / i will order seedlings again this year instead of starting from seed / except trying out the seeds kaki collected and dried from last year / like the golden strawberry tomatoes and the persimmon tomatoes

tomato season extends well past sun-dried tomatoes !

enormous cherry tomato plants were "gophered" when i grew tomatoes in Topanga / i hung the cut off plants by the roots on the side of the bunkhouse and there they dried in place / well, sure, that's how that is done

more fun and innovative than drying tomatoes is canning them / roasting them with garlic and/or herbs / and "putting them by" / the persimmon tomatoes have crystallized ginger cubes thrust into the jar before sealing

tomato season continues until all the canned tomatoes are used up ! the ginger cubes in the pesimmon tomatoes do not dissolve during the canning process so when opened up in January a nice morsel of delight

tomato season 2004 is still an ongoing enchantment / a couple of spoonfuls of tomato jam with its whole cloves of garlic go into the new beef broth / squirt of lemon / dash of cayenne / zero points on weight watchers

smile

Cockadoodle Do

happy new year / the year of the Rooster / hey that's me !

and today the Season of the Hammock begins

not a cloud in the sky

dedicated Lolling is in progress

short term goal

live one more tomato season

memory trigger

cnn reports today that a newborn baby was tossed out the window of a car by a couple that appeared to be arguing

a driver, seeing this event and thinking the bundle was kittens or puppies, pulled over to investigate and found the baby boy, only an hour old, with a plastic bag over his head and the umbilical cord still attached

sigh

how much more fucked up can the human race demonstrate for itself

i truly despair

sposedly the baby is okay / looked like a nice healthy one at 8 pounds

this triggers an old memory*

i was driving with a young friend who had just had a baby / she was in that kind of stunned limbo one feels after such a major event and she said i feel like throwing him out the window and i said, well, that's normal / and she told me later that my saying that relieved her depression and any feelings of guilt and she thanked me for it

i have no idea where that idea came from / i mean where i say Oh well, that's normal / maybe just better than saying why you crazy evil monster

*i have a photographic memory with too much film

in bed with Tom Clancy

i have never read a book by Tom Clancy but lately i have listened to two on tape / in The Bear and The Dragon a damning sequence on China' population control methods / China, of course, not only enjoys favored nation status but holds most of our federal debt

i believe Tom Clancy is one of the Many who imagined terrorists high jacking planes to use as weapons of destruction / yes, one of the Many / unlike our National Security Advisor who could imagine no such thing / and whose idea of Diplomacy is to appear only in front of screened audiences with screened questions and from what i can tell was unable to imagine what her job as Nationa Security Advisor was either

okay enough seething / back to the important stuff at hand / like how nice it is to have my coffee in bed during cold weather here / when Moab heats up it will be off to the rocks before the sun grabs the sky

at Happy Trail my bed was in different places depending on the season / in winter along the window wall of the upstairs room that looked out over the creek, enveloped by live oaks and sycamores / or on the deck just outside that room for the warm weather months (most of the year there in southern california) / sometimes i put my bed, a pretty antique brass bed, in the kitchen, the warmest room of the house when it got very cold in Topanga

later a little room was added to the house / the Butterfly Room had its own entrance and a little porch where it was possible to string up a Navajo Loom from the roof supports / the room itself was narrow but tall with a "vaulted" ceiling / that means you could see the peaked roof supports abd there was a skylight

one day hiking in the hills i found a maple head and foot board someone had trashed / it was in perfect condition / i brought them home and asked a carpenter/friend to make a bed frame for it and i would put it in the Butterfly Room

we were all high on something in those days so when he checked with me about length measurements i agreed to some numbers that turned out to be Eight Feet Long / by then my "mattress" consisted of Five feather beds piled one on another / with a fluffy duvet and a down sheet on top of that my bed looked like a giant marshmallow / smile

when all fluffed up sinking into those feathers was just like well, sinking / friends would ask if they cd try it out

all that shaking and fluffing up of the feather beds was a considerable amount of upper arm exercise and had to be done every day to get the maximum sinking effect / i do like my life style to provide me with exercises

so the feather beds fit into the box-like bed frame with two extra feet left at the bottom / this turned out to be perfect / the Butterfly Room was just big enough for the bed and a night stand / the extra two feet provided space for extra blankets, pillow, and a clothes dump

pondering the miscue on the measurements i realized that since my most recent lovers had been six foot eight that the carpenter/friend just assumed i would want a bed long enough to accomodate my taste in men

heh

Holey Moley*

well that's that
avoiding the dentist so i wdnt get x-rayed, poisoned with antibiotics, or have my teeth pulled out didnt work anymore so i went to the dentist and yes had x-rays and a tooth pulled out !

oh well

the upside is the dentist is a photographer and gave me some tips on photographing glass (the bracelets and fused glass Improvaho Fooling Around Things) as well as names of two photographers in town who cd help me out

he also raises little tiny frogs ! yes, he has tanks in one room of the dental clinic / when i go back tomorrow i will bring my camera

see, there is a bright side to everything

and *that* is an element in maintaining ones Equilibrium in the face of chaos, disaster, or death of dear one

*hole where molar used to be / smile

Constant Reminders

all constant reminders of times i was stupid / ignorant / just plain dumb
will be packed up into a wheel barrow and hauled off to the slick rocks
and buried forthwith

the rising stock price of Apple will be erased from memory

to the Dentist

my appointment is at 10:40 / while i am flossing my teeth the receptionist calls to see if i can come earlier !

at 9:30 / i say Oh Yes

well it just shows to go ya that if you put something off long enough you finally cant wait to do it / you welcome it with open arms / er / open mouth

something important but not "serious" / id est / no pain drives me for a checkup / just the realization that the last few years have been focussed on health issues and / shoot / i might live a long time after all and i sure would like to have all of my teeth

aging is not an illness / growing older is not a disease / although time passing can cause one to be ill at ease / i intend to stay healthy and agile and active and flexible / my mother would say Just You Wait Until You Are Old and Decrepit / hmmm

no thanks

so i do my incontinent preventive exercises / my tibetan eye chart exercises / my stretches and my ImprovaHogiYoga / do my toe touches when i am in the shower / follow a High Fiber diet

it has been brought to my attention the yucky stuff that can happen to you on a low fiber or processed food diet / Google up diverticulosis and/or colon polyps

i researched this / someone i know is so afflicted

pay attention to the amount of Dietary Fiber that is in or not in the foods you eat / it is listed with the grams of fat and sugar and what not on the labels on food / i for one am glad this kind of labeling is required / let's just hope it is accurate

well this is my health lecture for the day

lovely rainy morning

i heard it was going to rain but in the desert you cant count on it so it is grand to wake up to the sound of rain

i love living somewhere that rain brings rejoicing instead of groans

get back in bed with coffee / finish the book on tape / get the current read and the DVD still not viewed / pop open the power book / the last cat naps at my side

the DVD is Beat the Devil from 1954 with Humphrey Bogart

i shall see this when i have my cream of wheat/oat bran / ideal breakfast on a chill damp day

anomalies

my mother used to ask when i was going to grow up

a friend told me when her mother died she felt young again

curiosities abound

Super Boil (sic)

i love seeing Bush 41 and Bill Clinton hanging out together

someone has a sense of irony left

the Contrarian is true to herself

from today's Washington Post :

"In Omaha on Friday, a divorced single mother named Mary Mornin tells the president, "I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters."


"Fantastic," the president exclaims, and he tells her she has "the hardest job in America, being a single mom."


Later, the 57-year old Mornin tells Bush that she works three jobs, which the president deems "uniquely American" and "fantastic." He asks her if she gets any sleep."

Conflict of Interests

see i want Caterina to write up my collection of recipeez that are on scraps of paper / clippings from newspapers and magazines / accumulated over the years that when i want one i have to scuffle through the pile or else Google up the recipe i want which turns out to the the easiest and most reasonable solution

*she* wants to just scribble down whatever we are dining on today or recipeez that she makes up

sigh

a return to clarity

it is not possible to eat a frozen chicken pie / not swanson / not marie callendar / not pepperidge farm even as a gesture to nostalgia

A Timely Diversion

i have been asked to help choose handles and drawer pulls for a custom armoire built for a friend / she calls / she sez i have ordered 12 different handles and i cant decide and so i thought who do i know that cares
about this sort of thing and of course it is me who cares about stuff like that

i was in a self-pitying mope / the obituary is in the paper / a loving tribute as it should be

but

life growing up with my mother was also Life on Tenterhooks : and so i wrote this :

~2~ on tenterhooks : apprehensive uneasy anxious qualmish worried alarmed concerned nervous

sl : uptight queasy jittery skittish jumpy on edge edgy

on a cliff edge on a tightrope waiting for the ax to fall or for the other shoe to drop or for the bomb to go off

(life growing up with my mother)

~~~~~~~

tenterhooks are bent nails or hooks used on a loom to hold the weaving taut and keep the edges even and the width consistent

squeezing a teddy bear

this is another hand exercise/strengthener

instead of one of those balls i have a darling little bear

just the right size to grip his torso and squeeze

and then of course he makes cute gestures with his arms and legs

this is kinda fun

(i have grown way past squeezing balls / wink)

why, skaterina

is that an inuendo ?

today not a cloud in the sky

the sky blew blue
mountain peaks snow white
i walked on the desert

a tisket a tasket

my current exercise regime fits right in to my life style / actually it IS my life style :

running up and down stairs to "do glass" (id est fire the kiln / monitor its performance) / must not touch the walls when i go up and down (no railings so no holding on) good for balance (at my age) heh

thumb strengthening via DreamBoat's door opening buttons that you have to push REAL HARD

(i can feel the progress)

( something something about one's will in one's thumb / hmm / a little research in order )

weight lifting : i shop with a basket / i have different size baskets for different types of shopping / like a lot or a little ? the basket needs to fit on the shelf of the scanners at the Shifty MarkUp / when the basket is full i stop shopping / i have to be able to carry the basket back out to the car with one hand/arm

sidebar: the check out ladies and the baggers love the diversion i bring to them with my basket / i get 5cents off for not using a bag / heh / at first a couple of the baggers were nonplussed to see that everything needed to go back into the basket / they are so used to bags

a challenge !

the grok it

so now my hands and arms are pretty strong again / a few years ago i noticed my hands which have always been quick and nimble from so much knitting weaving all that blah blah were a bit stiff and so i do hand exercises called typing on this keyboard, chopping onions, smile, you know what i mean

incontinence preventive exercise ; stop in mid-stream / hold it / let it go / hold again ~~~ do this when you think of it / incontinence is not confined to the elderly / it sure is a drag to be a grown up who wets her pants

on that note ~~~~~~~~

a heart warming day

once more across the vast uninhabitable desert to the nursing home to collect my mother's belongings and express our thanks and appreciation to a kind, and loving staff who cared for her these last few years

one more day in the process of healing

we are planning a memorial service here at home with a "water feature" designed by me and made by the sonoutlaw for the front yard where her ashes will go

obit

today my daughter began to write her grandmother's obituary / i told her about how she drove cross country, from maryland to los angeles, in 1939 / no mean trick in those days before the interstates

she wrote some good stuff / i gave her what i wrote here / she used most of it / left out mean and nasty / smile

she added (and i love this) "she was a stylin' babe with lots of pizzazz"

then we sat around and told Estelle Stories

my friend from vermont who came out for deep winter knew my mother and this is comforting to have a pal on board / kaki was in hawaii also with a friend who knew my mother / this is a blessing at a time when it is possible to feel very much alone

she loved flowers and birds / she always fed the birds and when her neighbor complained about bird poop on her car because my mother fed the birds / she said well / mean and nasty

smile

Thought for the Day

We build the future by enlarging our past. (Goethe)

Contemplation

sorrow is embraced
grief is not denied

contemplation restores ones spirit

loss becomes gain

insights illuminate choices and changes to come

looking at the past mirrors the future

be here now / stay in the moment

life is what it is and is no more

~~~~~~~~~

i thank everyone who sent love and prayers and hugs
i am touched by the generosity of your thoughts

Sad

i feel so sad i watched the tv news and didnt feel worse

sigh

like my Mom i will bounce back

and come up with the Fiery Chocolate Ice Cream recipe Spring asked for

smile

Her Journey Continues

the first thing i realize is how much i appreciate her negative qualities

she was ruthless . incorrigible . she had a sharp tongue . she could be hurtful and mean . remarkably resilient . she knew how to roll with the punches . go down . and come back feisty and snotty and spunky as ever

she had a lot of pizazz and was incredibily forgiving

she had 94 years and a colourful life

her death was quick, peaceful, and pain free

ciao, bella

my mom

my mom is in the ER / hospital in Price

i going up there now / maybe away for a day or two

prayers for her welcome / please and thank you

tic avoidance

like lip tics :

chewing on lip
making funny shapes with lips
squiggles and grimaces and grins

keep rapid repetition at a minimum

also drooling and slack jaw

inauguration day blues

i put the blue sparkling wine bottle in a paper bag and went outside and smashed the bottle in the bag with a hammer

i spilled the pieces out on the table to see what i had wrought

random shapes / funny shapes / curved and rounded / slivers

i let them rest while i considered the possibilitease

an experimental fusing

arrangement on the kiln shelf of shapes galore !

with added bits and pieces of dichroic glass / etc / what not

to see who would fuse with whom

cool beans / i made the beginnings (first firing) of an Improvaho Fooling Around Thing

needs some connecting links for the second firing

sheez in the kiln now waiting for tomorrow / smile

Grudge

i am carrying a grudge and it wont fit into the little red wagon with the regrets, resentments, and hauntings

this grudge is borne along by my unlimited reservoir of self-importance

perhaps airing the grudge will lighten its load

every year in febraio the Youth Garden Project holds a fund raiser called The Chocolate Lovers' Fling

donations of chocolate desserts pour into the MARC (Moab Arts and Recreation Center) $10.00 is charged adults to enter and sample as many of the chocolate offerings as one can stomach / er um / enjoy

lots of children attend / ticket price reduced for them

prizes are awarded

each Fling has a theme

in 2002 the theme was The Olympics : The Fire Within

i do not actually LOVE chocolate but i was game to participate / a friend and i partnered up / we created a spectacularly good chocolate ice cream that included some red chili, cayenne, and orange / it really was yummy / "surprisingly so" (wink)

we made chocolate ice cream cones

picture this : an Olympic torch composed of a cone with the ice cream on top / the ice cream was decorated with thin strips of candied orange peel (the flames) and a silver candle / lit of course

with each serving we said, Pass the Torch

no one passed the torch until tasting the ice cream and experiencing "the fire within" / smile

of course our friends and family were dazzled and amazed at our imagination and creativity and our theme-appropriate contribution

did we win ?

we did not !

here is where i heft the grudge onto my back

the winner was a dumb cake with little plastic cars running over it / folks on the way to the Olympics in Salt Lake

well, i never !

never again / i stick my tongue out and make a loud RASPBERRY (known as The Bronx Cheer)

i feel better now / into the wagon with you, Grudge

Choosing a Character

~~~~" I have glimpsed the stranger

she has an open mind and an expansive heart

among her many skills . talents . arts . she is an Adept

at Banishing Demons

she has an inner strength that deflects "curses"

and is totally free of the Bondage of the Appropriate ~~ (nice)

&&&&&&&&

she is blessed with a lot of Quick
and that is necessary for she has
to go around visiting all the
Experimental Egglets from "~~~~~~"
who are now Improvahoki Earth Probes
to see how they are adapting and what
Discovereaze they are X-ploring as they
seek Power in Alien Climes"


(yellowed fragment undated / submitted by
The Fictional Archeologist)

smile

a plug for the kitchen help

oh i mean the italian cousin / la cugina italiana / l cugina dalla cucina

lacugina

Dream

"Here is a little red wagon for you / put all your regrets in it / put your unfinished and unanswered questions it it / put your hauntings in it. You can then pull the wagon along with you as a more efficient method of hanging on to the past than keeping them with the monkeys on your back. Or you can leave the wagon behind."

energized

getting to be Someone
i dont know yet

what am up to

up to speed
feeling healing
the year of cancer
and year of recovery
sono tutto fatto

(all done)

strong again

piu forte di mai

yay

old habits die hard

i just cd not resist a peek at the confirmation hearings for Condoleeza Rice on C-span

comments on politicks will be confined to deeply superficial

i see Condi has a new and more elegant hair-do

smarter

meaning the hair style is smarter

okay thats enough

thought for MLK,jr Day

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. says "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

actually

i did not do any of those things like quibble grouse moan piss groan cry and whine

the week since the new moon has been so productive and accomplished i had no time for even the smallest of small talk

i made eight bracelets, threw a charming dinner party, wound up a challenge that had been dominating the proceedings since mid December, chose the tomato plants for this season from the new natural gardening catalogue, organized my pantry space, tidied up my attic/studio work space, made potato-leek soup to die for, and Oh Well

so much more

grin

okay let's get real here ~~

~~there's no way i'm gonna catch up no matter how much i change the dates / apparently i have been taking a break in order to quibble and grouse and piss and moan and whine and cry

so there

you can tell when i am bored ~~

~~ at the restaurant in topanga they cd tell i was bored when i made tuna nooodle casserole for dinnner

what do you call it when ~~

~~a Full Tilt LollyGag meets A Strategic Binge ?

that's easy

the dynamic of a strategic binge is a Decisive Blowout

a Decisive Blowout is not compulsive

the Strategic Binger chooses to go all the way / all the ways !!

with conscientious meticulousness

committed to bingeing until one cant stand it anymore

~~~~~ or runs out of Red ~~~~~~~~

smile

current Strategic Binge involves making potholders with cotton loops on a small red metal weaving frame

i learned to make these potholders when i was seven or eight

picking up the loom and loops now more than 60 years later returns me to my most essential inner child

the one with the beginner mind

the one who discovered patience

that perseverance furthers

that the oriental rug with the golden dragons in the corners was a safe haven

a place to acquire many mechanical skills

the last potholder binge did, indeed, run out of red / the binge was concluded by abandonment / there was even a potholder on the loom that was finished except for looping its edges to take it off the loom

it didnt even need another red loop but ~~

~~ pow / binge over in one fell swoop / like quitting drinking half way through a margarita or giving up cozze ala marinara half way through the platter when daughter said they looked like tonsils

he so smart / so well informed

Bush “Town Hall” Tidbits: #3


Dubya can condescend to a Red-stater with the best of them, saying to one attendee, “Have they got C-SPAN out there in Utah?”

this reminds me of when he asked the chief of state of Brazil if "you have any black people?"

(sorry, just had to let a little er um political commentary sneak in)

New Moon / first of 2005

today's menu

a nibble at quibbles

follow up with a grouse

brisk walk to clarify boundaries

midday is smoothly socially serene

sparkles with laughter and a few good natured ribs

serve with chumminess on turning points with hearts of calm


~~(meanwhile Chaz puts up the shelves / Lundy fixes DreamBoat's tailgate lock / the hopping john from new year's eve lurking in the usually cold but now balmy back room makes itself known

poor hopping john ran out of luck)~~

what if ~~

~~ it turns out i live a long time after all even though i think every day/night cd be my last

and

retain all my senses / sight / smell / taste / hearing / not to mention all of my teeth

avoid the breakage of key bones and the deterioration of significant organs

remain (smile) mentally alert

and dont "get decrepit" at all

but i waste my time and energy expecting these things to happen because of The Aging Process ?

wouldnt that be a terrific bummer ?

now what did i mean by that ?

when emdot encouraged me to join Flickr

i replied it's so very very you but not so very very me

now what did i mean by that ?

smile

Flickr is neat and offers many options

it is a BUSY place

sorta like a grand central station of picture shopping / name dropping / contacts popping

i kinda like my mac Homepages / so easy to do / put pictures in iPhoto / choose the ones you want to publish to the Homepage / click / presto pronto / there it is / arrange them in two coloumns or three coloumns / write a limited amount of caption / click publish and there you go

done

oh yeah, choose a frame or template / i like frameless / KISS / keep it simple, stupid / although in the initial excitement of having a mac with this application / as a joke i used the halloween motif / someone on the list at the time told me it wasnt halloween / duh / so i can do without comments / wink

my homepage is like come in to my house / my cyberphoto studio

a dearth of quibbles

doesnt quibbling ever take up so much time ?

whew / glad that's over

Nimitz Class

i am listening to a book on tape called Nimitz Class by Patrick Robinson

Nimitz class refers to nuclear powered aircraft carriers

the book is copyright 1997 but the setting of the plot is 2002

sooo / it was written years before IX/XI and therefore there is no mention or reference to the attack on the World Trade Center

in the story the BIGGEST AND BESTEST aircraft carrier is vaporized with several of its support war ships (like destroyers, frigates and so on) seriously damaged

first impressions are that the explosion must be an accident with the nuclear weapons carried by the aircraft carrier inasmuch as no other cause can be imagined

~~~~~interruptus buptus~~~~~~~

okay i have a problem with being interrupted in mid-flow and my unlimited reserve of self-importance kicks in

once upon a time i used interruptions as great leaps forward / the interrupter was my toddler grandkid who was in my charge at a time that coincided with intense creative activity / every interruption by him was a gift / i made it so / of course

i would stop in my work for varying lengths of time to devote myself to him and when i came back to pick up where i left off there was often a jolt of new perspective / seeing where i was and where i was going as fresh and new

once upon a time i had fabulous concentration / i was able to create a character for acting in the theatre and hold true to this creation during hours of performance no matter what sights sounds or smells came into play / once time, indeed, someone sitting in the first row (arena type staging) translated my every line into italian for his companion / i faltered not

and i do recall that with a big smile

once upon a time i did some of my most satisfying writing at a small desk in our very busy dining room or standing on street corners scribbling on a Rhodia tablet

(ps / googled up Rhodia / they had an ad at Talking Points Memo in the last year / i loved their tablets when i lived in R ome)

oh well okay / cut to the chase

coming soon to a blog near you : quick review of Nimitz Class