practice making a link

check out :


this

ah Skaterina what a boring little blogger you are

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/magazine/19PHENOM.html?8hpib

heh

more on doing nothing

the trouble with doing nothing
is you dont know when you are finished

Profile Views

there have been 157 profile views

who are these profile viewers ?

next blog wanderers ?

are they disappointed that there is nothing there about me ?

if i were to post anything it would be my resume :

~~sunset collector / view inspector

~~cloud surveyor / food purveyor

birthday gifts

whilst i was whipping up the green chile soup the daughter and son-out-law arrived bearing birthday gifts

roses from him and a rack of lamb from her

how sweet and how gourmet

menu for the rack of lamb forthcoming

Something for Nothing / an observation

the slower you do something the more it looks like nothing

it's true / i am eating soup out of cans

not directly out of the can / not yet

some campbells like tomato or double noodle / i use a can of milk for the tomato and a can of chicken broth from a box for the double noodle

today i had a treat / yesterday a young man i first knew when i lived on the mesa brought me a pound of deer burger and two packages of green chiles he had grown, roasted, and put by for the winter

i made green chile soup for my birthday

caterina cacciatore will give you the particulars over at her blog when she gets around to it and when she does i wil repost the url / i know you dont want to miss it

mmmmm

scraps from the dusty heap

"I dont think it is possible to live in california for any extended period of time and not get homesick for it once in a while even when you are giddy with relief over having escaped with your life !"

undated / plucked from the memory bank / oh yeah, now i remember ~~~~

~~~(i packed up my essentials / loom / spinning wheel / sewing machine / feather beds / dog / cats / i moved from southern california to a small rural village in vermont)~~~

and then :

giddy with relief
giddy with Real Life

the first few weeks i watched the opening credits of a soap opera called Santa Barbara because i so missed the Pacific Ocean and the beaches / i took to reading books set in california / like books by Kellerman / Grafton / Muller / Pronzini / Parker .... and so on

i got over it

my house in Topanga hovered over a branch of Topanga Creek so handy for refreshing wades and dunks and when in flood carried down to the sea all kinds of stuff you didnt want anymore / smile / oh that icky green chair

in Chelsea the first branch of the White River ran just behind the house / a furiously busy and sparkling brook burbled most of the year treating me to a rocky rapids exactly behind the yard

wasnt the kind of creek you'd toss your unwanted unliked furniture / oh no

there were the bagel races ~~~ so the memory scrap sez ~~

"Today's bagel race had a new and exciting participant & that blueberry muffin took off downstream and was out of sight in the rapids before the bagels could even jump out of the bag !"

# undated / some time later


& writing is based on a carefully planned and controlled use of the second attention &

how long does it take

how long does it take before doing nothing stops being fun ?

To Toronto to Skate

when i saw this photograph :

http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/

(go back to December 11)

i wanted to go there and skate for by birthday

so i left tomorrow and came back next week / smile

i flew up to Salt Lake City on the little plane from Moab / over the snowy mountains / from Salt Lake i flew over the Rockies to Denver / changed planes and thence to Toronto where i stayed in a charming little hotel

sigh / well not quite / but very soon / stayed tuned in

url for Caterina Cacciatore

http://caterinacacciatore.blogspot.com/

what i did and didnt do today

i didnt do all the things i usually do

instead i stayed in bed all day !

i had a first rate rest while the Italian cousin made a lemon pound cake with blueberries for the book signing tonight

i feel great !

Caterina will post the recipe for the cake (inspired by Basque cakes) when she gets around to it on her blog, the url of which i momentarily do not recall

I may be able to thread a needle ~

but without the cataracts i look ten years older

smile

bring back that gauzy blur

it's a good thing i am too vain to be vain

I threaded a needle ~

i threaded a needle with one hand tied behind my back

heh

just kidding

i threaded a needle WITHOUT MY GLASSES ON

that's how much improved my vision is since the cataract surgery

wow

Lessons

when outside input threatens to throw a pall over the proceedings ~

why, how appalling

smile

it must be time to reassume Potanga, the Improvaho nirvana

in which one is detached from attachment and attached to detachment

balance is being able to swing from side to side / like walking a tightrope or across a log over the creek

or not falling down from tripping over your skate blades

being able to sway ~

swivel pivot swing around ~~ !!

Circle Twist Revolve Rotate

~~~~~~~Pirouette~~~~~~~~

I have my skates on ~

oh i am sitting on the love seat by the fire and i have my skates on ~

this is one way of breaking in your skate boots which are stiff and hard when new / they need to be molded to your foot for your ultimate skating pleasure / the boot is the connecting link between you & your foot & the skate blade

the goal is the skate blade as an extension of your body via your foot

i didnt know about breaking in skate boots when i signed up for lessons / i bought my skates the day before the lessons started / this was in 1997 when i was back east / i was waiting there to be a witness in a trial and had six weeks to spend there / the day i got the subpoena was the same day i saw the ad for skating lessons in the local weekly rag

ever since my first Sonja Henie movie i have wanted to BE a figure skater or at least take real lessons

the young salesman told me about breaking in the boots / use thin socks (this is the rule for figure skates) / wet the socks and put them on and put on the boots / using the blade guards walk around on padded or carpeted floors / wear them when you eat or watch tv

i laid out a path of my woven cotton rag rugs and tramped around for hours that night

when i remembered this i got out my skates and put them by the heater / when i was working at the rink i warmed my boots up with the hand dryer in the bathroom

i am figuring out how to keep my boots warm on the way out to the lake / hmmm / warm them by the heater then wrap them in blankets with hot water bottles ! then keep them near the car heater on the way out / it's not all that far / i tell you putting on warm boots is way more better

i also like to have my feet bare in the boots / the first time i slipped them on sans socks i felt like i had entered the bliss zone / it is very like the first time you put them on after they are well broken in / there's this moment when you suddenly realize they really are broken in / they go on like slippers and are completely comfortable / this is when the blade begins to feel attached to your foot instead of your boot / it is a whole different relationship to the ice

ah, the ice !

more anon

what i mean by psychedelic in relation to cataract surgery

psychedelic means to me Consciousness Expanding

Balance through Contrast

this time i was awake

i slept through the first cataract surgery / it was like dying and not going anywhere interesting / and then wanting to sleep for three days or else i was snarky and snarly / that was the right eye / the one connected to the right side of the brain

for the left eye less pizzazz was put in the IV and ...um...

this time i was awake / it was psychedelic / i cd SEE the splash of fluid that swirled around my eye / colours / wowee zowee

oh the Xmas Light parade ~

Glazey Dazely

morning is cataract surgery now that i know what to expect i want to do it less

smile

but the left eye which once was the good eye and now is the bad eye since the bad eye got fixed and turned into the good eye

wants to get "fixed"

so there you have it

December

Dance with your demons !

it's now or never, kid

get in shape to skate or (gasp) hang up your skates

r u kidney me ?

with all these cute skating clothes ?

if i hang up my skates will i feel as bad about it as i still do about giving away my dolls 49 years ago ?

at least i wont have 49 more years to feel bad / i'll just feel stupid and wimpy today and tomorrow and the day after that . . . . . .

i got out my cold weather duds from Vermont / the lovely chenille scarf and hat made by Maggie the Weaver / my warm gloves from the skating rink / and then my old University of Virginia jacket that i found in a thrift shop about 15 years ago

this jacket is not an athletic jacket / when i went to the University of Virginia the "uniform" for men students was coat and tie / the official jacket is a kind of herringbone tweed with the colours of the school (navy and orange) gently woven in to the weave / The University was founded by Thomas Jefferson / it was an all male school and the men were expected to behave like Virginia gentlemen

(smile)

the liberal arts college for women was in another part of the state / a few women were at the University in nursing and education / there was one woman in the law school / it was the 50's

i took the dogs and went up to the Slick Rock / snowy high desert / a wandering stroll took me over the rocks and down to the sandy track / i went to visit "the button" : the baby cactus button i discovered several years ago in an area with several mature barrels / i had placed a rock next to her the last time / oh, she is covered with snow and ice / i carefully uncover her with a thin stick, wondering if maybe she needs the protection and i should leave her be

it is bright and sunny and cold / the temperature is 25' / when it the sun is out in the drop dead blue cloudless sky its doesnt feel all that cold

i wondered if i were having "symptoms" of "the silent killer" and would i drop dead on the ice this year

i remember hiking all over the Santa Monica Mountains in Topanga canyon when my grandson was a baby with him in my back pack and it would be one hundred degrees at high noon in July and the track would be sandy and hot and i would be barefoot and high on 'shrooms

i used to imagine falling over in a heap and dying on the track with the kid on my back

and now later this month i will rack up my 71st year / sure is a bummer that it takes 70 years to get to where you want to be

oh yeah ? where's that ?

oh Ice Skating on a beautiful lake in SE Utah wearing my snazzy black cashmere skating skirts

boom / splat