I Must Say, It's About Time (6ws)

                      out of the darkest longest night
                      at last at last, a little more light

Who's on First

Ron Lavalette reminded me of this, and its just too good to not share.  After all these years,  it's still funny.

Who's on First

sorry, something happened to the video i had posted. The link will work, though

Musical Chairs

a week ago I got an e- mail notice about my upcoming dental appt.  January 17, wednesday.  I looked at the calendar and by golly there is no January 17 Wednesday, at least not this next year...soooo I called and she said,  oh im sorry I meant December 18 which IS a Wednesday.  Cool.

Tuesday (the 17th which is a Tuesday) I got a frantic dental receptionist on the line who said, where ARE you , did you forget?  I said no,  my appt. is for tomorrow.  She said, no no it was for today.  Could you make it by 10 today?  

It was snowing like mad, and -7 degrees.  No, I said, I'd never make it in time.  I now have an appointment for (wait for it)........... January 17.

Update on Charlie

He's back..  He's been somewhere Away for at least 3 days,  possibly sleeping under the old barn flooring,  but I had figured him for dead by now.  All the cold, the food in the dishes untouched out there.  I left the kibble.  Then yesterday, at -10 i went out to get wood and heard Charlie, meow meow meow meow squeak squeak.  Sitting in the Tunnel,  yelling his head off.  'where's my FOOD?  I go away for a couple of days,  come back,  and the food is gone and I am HUNGRY"   (typical male, right)
He went through 2 1/2 cans.  I pulled the dishes far enough forward so we were about a foot apart,  and he was just hungry enough and cold enough that he was willing to risk it, to eat.

Coulda grabbed him,  but that is a lot of cat to deal with and I really didn't look forward to a bloodbath at that stage.  I talked, he chewed.

This morning he was back, and it looks like his bed was slept in last night.   Nothing i can do about the cold,  but I can at least shelter him and feed him.

Cold. Snow. Hope. Fear. Acceptance. Reward. (6WS)

I'm waiting for the Global Warming folks to explain why the Sphinx was covered in snow this week.  I'm sure it has something to do with us breathing.  Im also pretty sure there had to have been a GW conference in Cairo or  somewhere with a nice hotel out there,  to discuss GW once again. Or maybe one of the head GW people just went on vacation there.

Joe Btfsplk, perhaps.

And along with all of that we have Christmas looming, and loom it does.  Wherever I go,  I am assaulted by Rudolph and Holly Jolly as only Burl Ives could do it.  Even at PT the therapist has her boombox loaded with all the awfuls, including these two and Alvin and the Chipmunks.  She's young, she'll learn.

First is hope,  to counter fear, the kind that trickles down your back like sweat on a hot summer day. One inch at a time,  you learn to adjust.  The Solstice is Hope,  The long winter teaches  Acceptance, and Spring is the Reward for getting through the winter.

Google+ and other assorted surprises-- buyer beware

I was horrified this week to learn that I had somehow joined the happy folks at Google+, simply by clicking on a link somewhere.  Not even sure where.
soooo. I went in this morning to see if I could unsubscribe.  ahahahahaha

Sure I can.       However.   Way down at the bottom it asks if you want to remove your Google+ profile.  "read more" it says.  (drum roll here.  cue the violins)  Under "read more' is an entire page explaining what will and will not happen if you do this. And all of them seem to pertain only to +.  However, at the bottom,  there is a quiet little statement that says 'if you delete your +profile you will effectively be removing yourself from most of the services which Google provides,  including blogs, email,  etc.

Our email server rides on  the G Mail pony.  I use Chrome to access at least 2/3rds of my online stuff.   This is entrapment, and there's not much I can do except try not to touch any  of the pretty flashing buttons over there.

now that christmas rears its head

http://vimeo.com/34011221

Things Happen, Then They Stop Happening (6WS)

Some years are like that.  Go along for years sometimes with barely a sniffle,  turn a corner, and you find the calendar has more filled spaces than empty and is now  more than just a pretty picture on the cellar door.   I've become one of those people who now says "let me check the calendar" before agreeing to ANYthing.

Nothing major,  just fiddly bits that all need attention,  in that "well, since I'm right here..." mode.
And then, with any luck,  we can relax back into calendars that  remind us what day it might be and even in some instances what month.

Self Explanatory Post

joolery
febyuerry
chimley chimbley chimeney
athalete
fillum (that we used to stuff in the camera to take pitchers with)
ellum tree
cemetary (I blame Stephen King for this one)
donut (ditto Dunkin Donuts)
parker (what you wear in the wintah)
and my absolute favorite  marathong

Tim Sample nevah grows old

He said, She said Part 2 (6WS)

He said

You know,  I love my kids as much as any man does but

there's times when I wish  they'd give me some personal

time.   They got me a computer  so I'd have "something 

to do" but I'm too busy to bother with it.

They brought over a cell phone so we could be in constant 

contact but after it fell off the tractor fender and I backed 

over it they told me I was working too hard.

Shoulda heard them when I  mentioned my new lady friend.

-------------------------------------------

She said

the day I fell over the dog I made the mistake of telling my daughter-in-law because it was funny, and a week later Home Services was at my door, and Meals on Wheels called to ask when would be a good time to deliver my lunch.

I shooed out the nurse and her blood pressure cuff and hung up on Meals on Wheels.  Then I called my son.

----------------------------------------

She said

One day Dad and I looked at one another and realized 

we were looking at strangers.  Since the last boy left we had 

been arguing, picking fights, and getting on one another's 

nerves.  After talking it over we decided it might be

time to just split up for a bit, have some time to 

ourselves and get to know each other again. 

I found an apartment nearer the kids, and Dad said he'd 

sell the house  (it's too big for the two of us anyway) 

and find something smaller,  and we'd see how that
worked out. He brings his laundry over once a week
and we talk. No fights, just talk. We've decided we
have to stop calling each other "Mom" and "Dad". We
practice.  He calls me Nancy and snickers, and I call
him Art,  and get the giggles.   I think we'll  be okay.

------------------------------------------

She said

She calls me once a week all the way from Idaho, makes
sure I know what this is costing her. Wants me to come
out and live with her.  Even though I've been to  Idaho,
and  California and  Florida,  and a lot of places in between,
after a few weeks of being polite and using different towels,
part of me longs to get  back to my students and my kiln
and my friends.

She tells me I'm getting too old to 'bother' with pottery,
and then mentions the 'nice' arts and crafts classes they
have at the day care center there,  the one right beside the
assisted living apartments.

The reality is, she  doesnt want me to live with her,  anymore
than I do.  She just wants to be able to tell her friends that she
'brought Mother out to be with her, she's getting so frail, you
know..."   I've started referring to it as Shady Pines,  which annoys her no end.

I  hung up on her the last time.  Now she can tell her friends I'm getting senile.

----------------------------

He said

A month ago I dropped a shovel on my foot, cracked a bone. When my daughter Lucy found out, she decided it was time to take charge.  "At your age..." seems to be the way she starts
every sentence these days. She even hired  a  "cleaning woman" for me, who could not be over 20--I had to show her how to clean a bathroom properly.

And  yesterday Lucy  told me she was  thinking of moving back to town so she could live here, and keep a proper eye on me. She forgets, the reason she moved out twenty years ago was because we simply could not get along;  she's too much like her mother, god rest her soul.  

Happy Thanksgiving

and other assorted flavors

entrees are always welcome before the main course

Charlie -- Progress report

This is an old house, with an attached shed. There has always been a passage way under the porch and into the shed.  We call it the tunnel,  and have sort of constructed a more permanent version so the cats can shelter there and come in themselves through a cat door in the shed/kitchen door.
I've started feeding Charlie at the inside end of the tunnel, to the great annoyance of the other two cats. *g*   And this morning,  since it was 20 deg out,  I made a cat bed for him

and tucked it into  a stack of wood.  yes, thats a sheepskin.  i threw in a catnip play toy for good measure.  I'd not mind sleeping in this myself,  frankly.

He Said, She Said, First part (6WS)

He said

I take nineteen pills every day:

8 in the morning, 6 at lunch,

the rest at bedtime. I have a chart

that also tells me which does what.

These keep me alive and moving,

the others keep me happy but not too happy.

I guess you can call this living

and yeah, it beats the alternatives.

---------------------------------------------

she said

My son's okay, he lets me alone,

drops by every week to visit, buys me

what I need when I can't get out.

He doesn't fuss. I'm still mom.

My daughter, however, has started

watching me, hovering in the shadows.

If I stumble, she frets.

If I forget a name, she gets really quiet.

She's started talking about moving in,

Im talking about moving away.

---------------------------------------------

She said

When Harry died it was pretty quiet around here

for a week or two, then the phone started ringing,

and almost every call was from someone

wanting to take me out, have me for dinner

(and I suspect I was the dessert), or just wanted

to talk dirty.  I was nice, but not interested.

I thought it was funny; my daughter and her husband

were shocked, wanted to call the cops, no less.

I told them I wasn't interested in raising up

a new husband, especially since most of them

just wanted a cook and bedwarmer and nurse,

and I said then, I will not take care of another 

sick old man, thank you very much.  They 

both looked relieved, if dubious.

I never told them about the one I didn't turn down.

-----------------------------------------

He said

I always said that when Skips died, that was 

the last dog  I'd  be having.  He died two 

weeks ago, and I buried him in the back yard 

beside the others;  this morning my daughter 

showed  up at the door with a  half-grown 

mongrel pup, all legs and  the other 

two-thirds ears, all wag and pant.  I looked 

at the dog, and the dog looked back: "Her 

name is Grace," my daughter said.

"You don't play fair," I said, to both of them, and

 my daughter just smiled.  Grace wagged her tail 

and put her paw on my boot.

Damn kids.

Thought for the Day

 we are where we would be
 if we went somewhere  else to live

A Note From An Old Friend (6WS)

--who never realized the poem in this

dont know where you'll be

but if I can

I'll walk along with you

all the way 

to the end of the field

down the road and out

and leave you there

I know you know

the rest of the way

you wont get lost

Progress Report--his name is Charlie

Put out a wildlife camera on the porch,  and finally got two good shots of this guy:

aha he's a grey torotoise shell mix, with the appetite of a wolverine.  Trouble is, its getting colder, and by my calculations  canned cat food freezes solid within a half hour at 20 degrees.

He won't come in.  If I appear in the doorway he quietly  jumps off the porch and hides.  Or goes back to his possible home under the barn.

Just keep on keepin on, I guess.

Things We Have To Leave Behind (6WS)

  sometimes  the forest wins

   or there is no longer a need

    sometimes we outgrow our passions
    or find new ways of working

It can be hard to let go of the familiar

or the cherished

  and childhood is a beginning, often down a cold unfamiliar  road,  not an end in itself

We leave things behind all the time.  Friends,  family, memories,  passions.  I guess the secret is to cherish the memories,  and try not to regret what we can't bring back

Maybe maybe not

he's been hanging around for at least three days,  keeps coming back to the same rock on the wall.  First time I saw him, he was outwaiting the deer and turkeys who swarmed around him  like, um,  a rock in the stream.  Now he sits on That Rock and waits for something edible  to appear .

When I call him he looks over here, a long slow stare.  Not nervous,  just careful.  

put food out for him last night,  dry kibble on the porch.  It looked swirled around a bit but thats all.  Racoons would have eaten most of it ,  flung the rest around, had a fight over the water dish. Probably would have taken the dish home for a souvenir.

We'll see.   It's up to him. 

thoughts in a cold new month (6WS)

Missing

not-knowing balanced
against the known: how sad to  turn,
find you not there

that shift when the tide
changes places with itself
rolls back up the beach

the sound the wind makes
when it stops; whispery leaves
hang silent again