when you send the MITM to the store. . .

dinner will be superb! boiled crawfish, panko encrusted talapia, oven roasted fingerling potatoes and zuchinni and to drink, a lovely chilled fumé blanc.

and y'all wondered why i never got back to the blog yesterday.

procrastination, part 2

the saga continues...

so far today, i have had 2 cups of coffee, added a bloglist to the side bar and, hold on, i don't think i've done anything else.

this can not continue!

ok, maybe for just a little longer.

i have things to do today.

procrastination

i have housework to do and i am not doing it. it took me an entire day (ok, not really, but it did take a very long time) to clean one bathroom and our bedroom. now, it wasn't all that bad, but it was still a major pain in my ass. so, here i am now telling all y'all about it. feel free to wander off because i am just going to go on about it for a few more paragraphs. i did hang some things on the walls even though we're going to repaint the bedroom eventually, there is no reason why it can't look as lovely as possible now. right? (i didn't realise how much stuff i have that serves no real purpose except to be decorative.)

anyway, i'm stalling. this place does not clean itself. we'll probably have people over later this evening or tomorrow, so it's time to party on, garth.

i'll be back.

i might even take pictures.

i might even finish.

and then there's this. . .

The way your head works is God's own private mystery.

this was sent to me by poem-a-day and the lovely people at the academy of american poets. i'm originally a californian girl who became southern by choice, but in my center i'm still a left coast child who's found the right coast to be as comfortable as flip flops from the end of last summer - molded to my feet and as soft as the feather pillow on my bed. anyway, here it is and here i am, sitting in the stillness of another southern night waiting for another chance. or maybe, i'm just lucky.

Psychoanalysis: An Elegy
by Jack Spicer


What are you thinking about?

I am thinking of an early summer.
I am thinking of wet hills in the rain
Pouring water. Shedding it
Down empty acres of oak and manzanita
Down to the old green brush tangled in the sun,
Greasewood, sage, and spring mustard.
Or the hot wind coming down from Santa Ana
Driving the hills crazy,
A fast wind with a bit of dust in it
Bruising everything and making the seed sweet.
Or down in the city where the peach trees
Are awkward as young horses,
And there are kites caught on the wires
Up above the street lamps,
And the storm drains are all choked with dead branches.

What are you thinking?

I think that I would like to write a poem that is slow as a summer
As slow getting started
As 4th of July somewhere around the middle of the second stanza
After a lot of unusual rain
California seems long in the summer.
I would like to write a poem as long as California
And as slow as a summer.
Do you get me, Doctor? It would have to be as slow
As the very tip of summer.
As slow as the summer seems
On a hot day drinking beer outside Riverside
Or standing in the middle of a white-hot road
Between Bakersfield and Hell
Waiting for Santa Claus.

What are you thinking now?

I’m thinking that she is very much like California.
When she is still her dress is like a roadmap. Highways
Traveling up and down her skin
Long empty highways
With the moon chasing jackrabbits across them
On hot summer nights.
I am thinking that her body could be California
And I a rich Eastern tourist
Lost somewhere between Hell and Texas
Looking at a map of a long, wet, dancing California
That I have never seen.
Send me some penny picture-postcards, lady,
Send them.
One of each breast photographed looking
Like curious national monuments,
One of your body sweeping like a three-lane highway
Twenty-seven miles from a night’s lodging
In the world’s oldest hotel.

What are you thinking?

I am thinking of how many times this poem
Will be repeated. How many summers
Will torture California
Until the damned maps burn
Until the mad cartographer
Falls to the ground and possesses
The sweet thick earth from which he has been hiding.

What are you thinking now?

I am thinking that a poem could go on forever.

*sigh*

i think i have a mildewed brain. maybe it's mold. early jungle rot from all the rain and now the humidity? whatever it is, my mind is asleep/clouded/dull/gone. what scares me is that this is happening more and more when it comes to sitting and writing. i do wonder if it's just a seasonal disorder affecting bloggers only.



any thoughts, anecdotes, stories y'all wanna share?

memorial day 2009

memorial day in the united states was established to honor those who have died in service to our country. the reality of the human condition demands a standing army and that reality has meant that people die. we can argue and disagree over the cause of wars, but they exist and unless human nature changes, they will continue to happen and we will continue to suffer loss of loved ones. today is a day of remembrance, not debate for me. a day to honor the ultimate commitment of those who stood on the line.

may they rest in peace and perpetual shine upon them.

gone fishin

happy friday and for all of us stateside, enjoy the 3 day weekend. i'm gone for a few days, but i'll be back on monday with a Memorial Day post.

UPDATE:

the first blog i ever read was waiter rant. i just discovered that his birthday was may 16th. if y'all are like me and haven't been making the blog rounds diligently, then hop on over and wish our blogosphere pal a good one! i, for one, wouldn't be blogging if it weren't for him and the wonderful pals i've made since then.

so what do you think about the new colors?

please let me know what you think.

it's still raining here

i'm so not singing in the rain, but i am smiling now! some days i absolutely adore technology!

let me introduce mr. buzzard

(pictures courtesy of the MITM)

witness the turkey buzzard* who decided to have a picnic lunch in our front yard. i am truly a city girl and this was nature up close and personal. none of this even fazed the MITM, but miss daisy and i were mesmerized and only slightly horrified by the carnage. i say only slightly because it was a squirrel and around here squirrels are considered pests. unless, you're real country, then squirrels are dinner. anyway, if you click on the link i posted, you'll learn more than you ever wanted to know about this winged sanitation engineer of the south!

(these pictures were taken before the gardener clipped the lawn. it's far more respectable looking now.)

*the wingspan of a turkey vulture or buzzard is actually (on average) closer to 6 feet and not what's listed.

too much nature!

i have something to tell you, but i have to wait for the photos which means you have to wait for the the whole story, as well.

and it happened right in our front yard!

holy moley!

manuel, the waiter is reinventing himself. he said he'll be back. *sigh* i'll just have to wear my WDF button all the time! go read what he has to say.


and then come back and tell me what it all means.


give me hope.


*sigh*


(very selfishly, i'm already missing his daily fare.)

monday, monday can't trust that day...

You are the World

Completion, Good Reward.

The World is the final card of the Major Arcana, and as such represents saturnian energies, time, and completion.

The World card pictures a dancer in a Yoni (sometimes made of laurel leaves). The Yoni symbolizes the great Mother, the cervix through which everything is born, and also the doorway to the next life after death. It is indicative of a complete circle. Everything is finally coming together, successfully and at last. You will get that Ph.D. you've been working for years to complete, graduate at long last, marry after a long engagement, or finish that huge project. This card is not for little ends, but for big ones, important ones, ones that come with well earned cheers and acknowledgements. Your hard work, knowledge, wisdom, patience, etc, will absolutely pay-off; you've done everything right.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

by way of explanation: i nicked this from the lovely scarlet-blue and as she said, she is the moon!

and here it is, saturday

i haven't answered comments in days!

it's still raining on and off.

i couldn't sleep last night.

i'm as tired as a three men walk into a bar joke.

and i thought all y'all needed to know. . .

hump day

it has been grey and gloomy all day.

it has also been muggy all day.

it is now raining and looks as if it will continue for at least another hour or more.

why am i still surprised?

seriously, living in the south you can feel it, smell it and sometimes hear it coming. and still, i am always surprised when it finally hits. i think the humidity is causing a fungal growth on my brain. *sigh* i need a vacation.


or maybe just a haircut.


(stick with me, kids. i promise this funk will pass and i'll be my old self soon!)

sexy blogger redux

i'm so sexy it hurts and it has also rendered me lightheaded and forgetful! the saucy, sexy minx aka eryl also gave me this award! go over and read her sexy acceptance post!

because mapstew said so

it's true! map said this was a lovely blog and i've elected to translate that into i am lovely, too! (i have been having most unlovely thoughts today...don't ask, just take my word for it.) now, map didn't list any rules as i recall and if he did he changed them i'm sure, so i'm safe. i vaguely remember the number 15, but i think he must have been kidding. but really, all y'all are lovely! if i still had a blogroll on my sidebar, i'd attach this lovely blog award to all ya'll!

thank you, miss leah!

this is what happens when all y'all start handin' out awards! ah get tagged as a SEXY BLOGGER! who knew? ah mean to tell y'all, i was as surprised as all get out, but then again. . .anyway, like every other award, there are rules. these are deceptively simple, i must give five (5) reasons why i am sexy. i'm guessing that having 4 children doesn't count.

1. i'm fascinated by people and love learning about them.

2. i listen totally when someone is talking to me.

3. i have been told i am glamorous and it really is true.

4. i am confident and secure with myself.

5. i've been around long enough to know just enough to do what is enough and then, 1 thing more.

now, i'm supposed to tag 5 of y'all. do y'all know how difficult that is to do?

for so many reasons totally unrelated to why i think i'm sexy, i nominate:

1. tony

2. dh

3. e@l

4. rock mum

5. hangar queen

if y'all haven't visited these bloggers, do it...y'all will be delighted to have met them!

so now, thanks to leah, i'll be humming do you think i'm sexy and dancin around like rod stewart all night!

my favorite cards

happy mother's day!

saturday

i will post again, i promise.

lots to tell, i've started 3 different entries...but i can't finish anything.

it's all good, not to worry, just busy.

be kind to each other.

thanks to istvanski



from a member of the coconut krewe

Whenever you have truth
it must be given with love,
or the message and the
messenger will be rejected.
-Mahatma Ghandi

mid week madness

i have been graced with not 1, but 2 additional awards recently, for which i am HUGELY grateful. as soon as i return from the madness which is my life today, i shall post the awards and my own little sumpin sumpin for the cause!

brb




eventually.

it's that time again

The Noblesse Oblige Award

1) The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervades amongst different cultures and beliefs.
2) The Blog contents inspire; strives to encourage and offers solutions.
3) There is a clear purpose at the Blog; one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs.
4) The Blog is refreshing and creative.
5) The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking.


The Blogger who receives this award will need to perform the following steps:

1) Create a Post with a mention and link to the person who presented the Noblesse Oblige Award.
2) The Award Conditions must be displayed at the Post.
3) Write a short article about what the Blog has thus far achieved – preferably citing one or more older post to support.
4) The Blogger must present the Noblesse Oblige Award in concurrence with the Award conditions.
5) Blogger must display the Award at any location at the Blog.

This award was presented by Madame de Farge along with lovely words of praise for my humble efforts to amuse all y'all. I am honored, but also feel terribly unworthy! I do take comfort in the fact that the reason she bestowed it was because I made her laugh! having a MAC and also being an only child had absolutely nothing to do with it!

Now, as The Rules dictate, I must support the assertion! There have been some funny ones that all y'all have seemed to enjoy. But, to decide which to cite is not only difficult, but worrisome! I mean, I make me laugh all the time, but I really don't think of myself as all that funny. I do know that y'all keep comin back fer mo', so something must be working for all ya'll!

That bit of business aside, I feel as if I've been the recipient of far more than I've given - I've found new friends around the world! Y'all have been entertaining, supportive, generous, enlightening, gracious and loving! Which leads me to the second part of The Rules: awarding it to 5 other bloggers! How can I choose just FIVE? All y'all have special and absolutely delicious blogs and it's more than difficult, but, here's goes:

1. Eryl because she has inspired me in so many ways with her attitude and grace under pressure. I've learned so much from her, not to mention, her grey walls were the inspiration for MY own kitchen1

2. Kim is not only a wonderful and thoughtful writer, he is an accomplished photographer! He has been the calm spot in a storm and for that alone, I will always be grateful!

3. Istvanski is our man in Croydon. Music and mayhem all come together with a freshness and joy that is infectious! He keeps me in touch with all things musical and does some of the best commentary and really cool podcasts!

4. Shan is wonderful! I love her freshness and sincerity. She is a gentle soul full of grace!

5. Scout aka Robyn is incredible! She writes not only her blog, but for her local newspaper, she's a musician, she makes gorgeous jewelry and is just all around FANTASTIC!

So, there it is! Thank You again, Madame deFarge. And Thank You, dear Readers!