tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16198921054076898532024-02-07T23:27:47.922-07:00Three Square Books a DayOutside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
- Groucho MarxArtsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.comBlogger184125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-12857768607285512492010-10-22T19:35:00.001-06:002010-10-22T19:37:38.865-06:00What a Feminist Learned TodayToday I learned that when men grow hair on their faces, it's funny, it's adorable, it's endearing, it's wonderful.<br />
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Today I learned that when women grow hair on their legs, it's disgusting, it's unspeakable, it should not be discussed in polite company, it puts one off one's lunch.<br />
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Today I learned how angry I am, that this double standard should be so casually assumed by so many people.<br />
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It seems as though Blogger won't let you embed video any more, so here. Go and watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6wJl37N9C0">this</a>. Pay close attention (I'm using my teacher voice right now) to the last thirty seconds or so.<br />
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And then, maybe, the next time someone says that leg hair on a human being is shameful and degrading, we can do what I was not brave enough to do today - we can say a massive and collective <i>screw you </i>to the masses who think we are less than human because we are women.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-3755139807185956312010-10-08T20:52:00.000-06:002010-10-08T20:52:08.834-06:00On being thankful for your own damn self<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">without any assistance or guidance from you <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />i have loved you assiduously for 8 months 2 wks & a day <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />i have been stood up four times <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />i’ve left 7 packages on yr doorstep <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />forty poems 2 plants & 3 handmade notecards i left <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />town so i cd send to you have been no help to me <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />on my job <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />you call at 3:00 in the mornin on weekdays <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />so i cd drive 27 1/2 miles cross the bay before i go to work <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />charmin charmin <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />but you are of no assistance <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />i want you to know <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />this waz an experiment <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />to see how selifsh i cd be <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />if i wd really carry on to snare a possible lover <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />if i waz capable of debasin my self for the love of another <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />if i cd stand not being wanted <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />when i wanted to be wanted <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />& i cannot <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />so <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />with no further assistance & no guidance from you <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />i am endin this affair</div><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">this note is attached to a plant <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />i’ve been waterin since the day i met you <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />you may water it <br style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1em;" />yr damn self</div><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">-ntozake shange</div>Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-64747047287295762572010-10-03T12:14:00.002-06:002010-10-03T12:14:43.967-06:00Random, with Angst and PicturesI just realized the other day that I've been working my butt off for three years, and I have, financially speaking, gotten exactly nowhere. Three years ago, you see, I was getting child support, and a whack of money from the government (Child Tax Benefit FTW). Now, no more child support, and I make too much money (oh, irony) to qualify for the Child Tax Benefit, and we've taken up riding and competitive swimming respectively, and if we want to keep doing that then our budget (and by "our" I mean "my," because only one of us works in this household, and it sure as hell ain't the dog) is very, very, very tight.<br />
<br />
And I know I shouldn't complain, because there are so many people with less than I have, and when things are tight AFTER you've paid for all your bills and expenses and food and extra fun things (riding, swimming) then you have no one to blame but yourself, and I know that September is always hard because of back to school things, but HOLY COW, I would like things to be easier. Sometimes. Just once or twice, maybe, so I can see what it's like. I promise not to get used to it.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Anyway. Moving on.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha8U80HcPJajL5UsNcnOald12lh-Hlqh1JNHxzEcsxN0qNNOCFMjeEWZIbYAuan8ddzSUC-oM651D3eci5Z3AeAPCZEc3BM6QRzyZJr8K2vNbxhD7hGGA0CUmUCp_GRtKjQCjk61kvBvJh/s1600/colours+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha8U80HcPJajL5UsNcnOald12lh-Hlqh1JNHxzEcsxN0qNNOCFMjeEWZIbYAuan8ddzSUC-oM651D3eci5Z3AeAPCZEc3BM6QRzyZJr8K2vNbxhD7hGGA0CUmUCp_GRtKjQCjk61kvBvJh/s320/colours+4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Fall is, all financial disasters aside, my favourite season. It's the colours, the weather, the fact that it's not dark all the time yet, that golden light we get here over the fields, the excitement of a new school year. The air is cool and crisp and dry, and you can crunch leaves under your feet and smell their spicy scent, and sit in front of your fireplace at night, and wear your lovely knitted sweaters.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXHwcyAoB5fK6kX0iVcF2332fvua9yISzIU8MTG4pe9s51Xw6l5fL7aDuefx6oYsyq_ifejKg__859mze42z-5POffFW53WOCIvtdLdUv5dCZcDrG9BnM8i_foHeIssJAU1QyKfpXJqh7V/s1600/colours+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXHwcyAoB5fK6kX0iVcF2332fvua9yISzIU8MTG4pe9s51Xw6l5fL7aDuefx6oYsyq_ifejKg__859mze42z-5POffFW53WOCIvtdLdUv5dCZcDrG9BnM8i_foHeIssJAU1QyKfpXJqh7V/s320/colours+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Most of all, I love fall because it isn't February.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqulDeyTbYBm_a5kbq2eJfKkEK1i7pEapuqH6w_jplcf2bIsgolsF6y_qYJRMSyff7Oc-Z4-ap9KJ-leiulqMLw9LZDp9JphK2hZ_C6kKdjQ7sIwey6oa1gYzn-0rHA4kSd0KxREW0QupZ/s1600/fall+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqulDeyTbYBm_a5kbq2eJfKkEK1i7pEapuqH6w_jplcf2bIsgolsF6y_qYJRMSyff7Oc-Z4-ap9KJ-leiulqMLw9LZDp9JphK2hZ_C6kKdjQ7sIwey6oa1gYzn-0rHA4kSd0KxREW0QupZ/s320/fall+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have decided that I want to knit a blanket - the Moderne Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting. <a href="http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2010/03/behemoth.htm">Here's</a> someone who's already done it, if you're curious. (If you're curious about why someone might want to knit a blanket, well, I just can't help you there. Some people like skiing, some people like knitting blankets. There's no accounting for weirdness.) I want my blanket's colours to be fallish, even though I made that word up and don't know quite what I mean. Like this, maybe:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmz6611yP_Nx29oOkN5xapiQJoNChCJ3fvyPsF0byAMXxugvqlzIB7DIJSHQirQJShVqElTjrdh8hvnTWaBxWPBtZba-KnNdHAlaTZ0Cc2Kd6lZgcck6qCSJtaezMHivUhedRaRdyKhZBW/s1600/fall+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmz6611yP_Nx29oOkN5xapiQJoNChCJ3fvyPsF0byAMXxugvqlzIB7DIJSHQirQJShVqElTjrdh8hvnTWaBxWPBtZba-KnNdHAlaTZ0Cc2Kd6lZgcck6qCSJtaezMHivUhedRaRdyKhZBW/s320/fall+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Or this:</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQltsfeX8Ts836gfSkVRCyD95_oRVRBbnP5KhMkaz9qf4RV0aRhwT1FhOWkr4Qoq8B_ufIRpZot3LTMfLpn7bgiQWLxCD7sTgcQTHIFPHXhLE8ChK8-QKWorQXYYXuXTEFRA50Uoz4J5w/s1600/colours.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQltsfeX8Ts836gfSkVRCyD95_oRVRBbnP5KhMkaz9qf4RV0aRhwT1FhOWkr4Qoq8B_ufIRpZot3LTMfLpn7bgiQWLxCD7sTgcQTHIFPHXhLE8ChK8-QKWorQXYYXuXTEFRA50Uoz4J5w/s320/colours.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But probably this, for sure (maybe):</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzoWeEB9TqEk0RxNtRWPZWprEyQSgqPW3yJQ2M4ZqNv5i9lQ-rnMuoKz338vezG9awv-zv-MWD-ue6XtlIOIe4BtQJDw7-On3ah74Qp-xF79i-xlIvCJltYtpMFLI1UQp2HoLUj7fF_eKh/s1600/colours2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzoWeEB9TqEk0RxNtRWPZWprEyQSgqPW3yJQ2M4ZqNv5i9lQ-rnMuoKz338vezG9awv-zv-MWD-ue6XtlIOIe4BtQJDw7-On3ah74Qp-xF79i-xlIvCJltYtpMFLI1UQp2HoLUj7fF_eKh/s320/colours2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I like the dark spruce green, the sage green of the fields, the dark red and the bright yellow of the leaves changing, the blue blue sky, the patches of green grass that last and last, the water that reflects the long autumn afternoon light, the blush of the sunrise.<br />
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Decisions, decisions.<br />
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Perhaps I will just go and make a pumpkin pie, instead.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-81802240636749884622010-10-02T12:13:00.000-06:002010-10-02T12:13:46.408-06:00Poem for Saturday - really sad edition<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dog's Death</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By John Updike</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
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<div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She must have been kicked unseen or brushed by a car. <br style="line-height: 1em;" />Too young to know much, she was beginning to learn <br style="line-height: 1em;" />To use the newspapers spread on the kitchen floor <br style="line-height: 1em;" />And to win, wetting there, the words, “Good dog! <br style="line-height: 1em;" />Good dog!”</span></div><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We thought her shy malaise was a shot reaction. <br style="line-height: 1em;" />The autopsy disclosed a rupture in her liver. <br style="line-height: 1em;" />As we teased her with play, blood was filling her skin <br style="line-height: 1em;" />And her heart was learning to lie down forever.</span></div><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday morning, as the children were noisily fed <br style="line-height: 1em;" />And sent to school, she crawled beneath the youngest’s bed. <br style="line-height: 1em;" />We found her twisted and limp but still alive. <br style="line-height: 1em;" />In the car to the vet’s, on my lap, she tried</span></div><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To bite my hand and died. I stroked her warm fur <br style="line-height: 1em;" />And my wife called in a voice imperious with tears. <br style="line-height: 1em;" />Though surrounded by love that would have upheld her, <br style="line-height: 1em;" />Nevertheless she sank and, stiffening, disappeared.</span></div><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back home, we found that in the night her frame, <br style="line-height: 1em;" />Drawing near to dissolution, had endured the shame <br style="line-height: 1em;" />Of diarrhoea and had dragged across the floor <br style="line-height: 1em;" />To a newspaper carelessly left there. Good dog.</span></div>Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-84975616380692295622010-09-22T18:46:00.001-06:002010-09-22T18:46:32.864-06:00It's my blog, I can cry if I want to.<div style="text-align: left;">So I had one of those weird days - this thing happened, this (metaphorical) poke at a (metaphorical) sore spot I have that I thought was long since healed.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Turns out it isn't. It's still raw and oozing and didn't want to be poked at. It hurt, actually.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">So on the way home I was thinking those negative thoughts, you know? The ones that say all the things you aren't, all the ways you have failed, all the ways in which you do not live up to the expectations you hold for yourself.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This happens to me all the freaking time.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">When I get like this, I make a list. (I love lists; sometimes I will put something on a list that I've already done just so that I can have the pleasure of crossing it off.) The list I make when I'm feeling lost and lonely and like a big fat failure is the list of all the things I <i>can</i> do, all the things I have accomplished<i>, </i>all the successes and the skills I have acquired over the years. The list includes the most mundane things: as long as I'm proud of my achievement, it goes on the list.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The list includes the following things:</div><br />
<ul><li style="text-align: left;">I can drive a standard. The person who poked me cannot. Na na na na na na. (Nobody said the list isn't childish)</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">I can quiet a class of 32 grade 8 students without saying a word.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">I am the queen of the knitters. Herewith is evidence: the Citron shawl I knit for my gramma. It is fabulous, and by the end I was knitting a row of 437 teeny tiny stitches and not even feeling the urge for a stiff drink.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIvUHaprdQTpHpVfRBg1DAzUZSbZOv-_UcZ5SCjYn5xmVMKh9n3a-0AfWxUQjWjLFCSIFfGX2qoEmZ2FfC4Q6yBAO6llr3FutI3G_ecm64Q8wisfEOT2KkJBaG1CeU1Lx42-cOei7W8yM/s1600/Citron+done+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIvUHaprdQTpHpVfRBg1DAzUZSbZOv-_UcZ5SCjYn5xmVMKh9n3a-0AfWxUQjWjLFCSIFfGX2qoEmZ2FfC4Q6yBAO6llr3FutI3G_ecm64Q8wisfEOT2KkJBaG1CeU1Lx42-cOei7W8yM/s320/Citron+done+3.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><ul><li style="text-align: left;">I took up riding when I was 34. Not a lot of people do that, although my friend Holly knows a lady who started taking lessons when she was 65 and just did her first show at 72. And I'm not bad at it, either (especially now that I have cracked the canter).</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">I own my house. Well, the bank owns it, actually, but they let me live here. Me, a single, unmarried person without a second income. They looked at me and though I was a good risk for a mortgage.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">I'm raising a boy child. On my own. I did not freak out (much) when I got pregnant, I did not run shrieking for the hills because it was not what I planned. I did not leave; I stayed and did my best and I didn't regret it for a moment. This boy here is my greatest achievement (even more than the canter, actually).</li>
</ul><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXwdwvwbbdnXQQ8G370wL0alhyphenhyphenYr6CB3kCw9soorEME53Q1aiHu5hRA-4crjQtkju09WloHnHEx_7VQtGw0IhnjcmELbHnnJBpKKXuahk-Q-9cGgoBjL1Ev6v6V2UNpq2hBs4mw5kpdYq/s1600/Jamie+teeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXwdwvwbbdnXQQ8G370wL0alhyphenhyphenYr6CB3kCw9soorEME53Q1aiHu5hRA-4crjQtkju09WloHnHEx_7VQtGw0IhnjcmELbHnnJBpKKXuahk-Q-9cGgoBjL1Ev6v6V2UNpq2hBs4mw5kpdYq/s320/Jamie+teeth.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><ul><li style="text-align: left;">I have three university degrees. Irritating person who irritates me? Oh, they have NONE.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">I make a mean pie. Any kind. Bring it on.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">I have some awesome friends, one of whom swears that she would totally throw herself on a bee for me. Totally.</li>
</ul><div style="text-align: left;">And this irritating person, who drove me to publishing a self-aggrandizing list of the ways in which I am fabulous, they do not get to make me feel like less of a great person with one poke. I'm not going to let them.</div>Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-11877945640430315372010-09-12T15:04:00.001-06:002010-09-12T15:11:22.745-06:00We now return to your regularly scheduled blogging.I've been thinking for a long time (since April, actually, did you notice?) about blogging. I find that I have these huge expectations of myself - scintillating content, regularly updated, a few good jokes. At the same time, I have all these limitations: the things that I most want to write about are the things I can't say. All those tangled up stories of life that writing can magically smooth out, but which are not intended for a blogging public. I felt gagged, stuck in the trivial when I wanted to get a few good stones off my chest instead.<br />
<br />
Then there's the issue of updating. I've never been good at regular output. The only time I wrote to a deadline which I never, ever missed was when I was an editor, and that ended in a nasty bit of burnout and resulted in a complete life change (and the decision to never write for a living again, which is kind of a shame because I liked it at the time). I'm kind of a sporadic person - something will occur to me as I drive, and I write about it later. Or not. Whatevs.<br />
<br />
I never wanted to write one of those navel-gazing whiny blogs: "Woe is me, I weeded the asparagus patch today and my darling hubby took <i>lean</i> ground beef out of the freezer instead of <i>extra-lean</i>, the useless lump" but I've started to think that's what blogging is best suited to. Not so much the existential or the transcendent, but just the everyday. This is what happened to me today. Read it or don't - it doesn't matter.<br />
<br />
So I'm back, with this: today I went to Spruce Meadows and saw Eric Lamaze do a clear round on Hickstead, and it was amazing.<br />
<br />
Thanks. Come again soon.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-34819548691363419142010-04-16T18:18:00.000-06:002010-04-16T18:18:13.297-06:00Poem on Friday because I'm really busy tomorrowThis one is for S., who just came down with stomach cancer. Because if anyone is going to be the old woman wearing purple, it will be her.<br />
<br />
<b>Warning</b><br />
<i>When I am an old woman I shall wear purple<br />
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.<br />
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves<br />
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.<br />
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired<br />
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells<br />
And run my stick along the public railings<br />
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.<br />
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain<br />
And pick flowers in other people's gardens<br />
And learn to spit.<br />
<br />
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat<br />
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go<br />
Or only bread and pickle for a week<br />
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.<br />
<br />
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry<br />
And pay our rent and not swear in the street<br />
And set a good example for the children.<br />
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.<br />
<br />
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?<br />
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised<br />
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple. <br />
<br />
Jenny Joseph</i>.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-16473458202471555962010-04-11T19:51:00.000-06:002010-04-11T19:51:35.766-06:00Well, something went "click" anyway.I've been working and working on the canter in my riding lessons. Both my falls (and the rather embarrassing half-fall of which we do not speak) happened at the canter, and a few weeks ago I asked to go back on a lunge line and start over. Since then I've been working on strength and flexibility and position and the elusive "quiet hands." (I love that phrase: it's one of those lovely and evocative expressions that you understand perfectly even though it really doesn't make any sense.)<br />
<br />
My teacher's been telling me that one day it would all come together - all the things I've been working on would mesh with the movement of the horse, and it would just click.<br />
<br />
And it finally did.<br />
<br />
But I still can't do this, though.<br />
<br />
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CnsWQ4kNG-w&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CnsWQ4kNG-w&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-4385774310235450472010-04-06T19:00:00.000-06:002010-04-06T19:00:59.341-06:00Waltzing's for Dreamers and Losers in LoveSome strange and wonderful (or odd, depends how you look at it) things:<br />
<br />
1. My new riding helmet arrived. Fits perfectly. If you accuse me of having worried about it, I will deny it.<br />
<br />
2. When my dog follows me around, insisting that she is most at home in whatever room I am in, I find it comforting and sweet. When my son does it, I find it extremely irritating.<br />
<br />
3. There is a cold spot right between my shoulder blades. No matter what I do, it's cold... right... there. Last night I woke up in a sweat, except for that one spot on my back that feels like a cold draft is going down it.<br />
<br />
4. My friend Holly says that people who don't like the smell of horses just aren't her kind of people. I find that I agree, completely.<br />
<br />
5. I had my last first date six years ago today. I bet you that guy (another engineer - I just don't learn) is now happily married with 2.5 kids and a dog of his own. I bet he finds it annoying when the dog follows him around, and sweet when his son does.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-2929396431373323742010-04-03T19:25:00.000-06:002010-04-03T19:25:49.427-06:00Saturday Not a PoemBecause I can, that's why.<br />
<br />
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3KANI2dpXLw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3KANI2dpXLw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-89605668761864173472010-04-01T19:18:00.000-06:002010-04-01T19:18:04.878-06:00Worry, Worry, WorryThe other day I was driving to get my taxes done and heard this song <a href="http://www.ckua.com/">on the radio</a> - I almost drove off the road, because apparently Rick Fines lives in my head:<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;"></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">You were born in the house of guilt<br />
You’ve been worried all your time<br />
You stay worried all the time<br />
I wish there were some way<br />
That I could ease your mind</span></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">You can barely get to sleep at night<br />
Over some little thing you said<br />
Some little thing you said<br />
You worry was misread<br />
But it keeps racin’<br />
Round and round your head</span></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px;">The song ("Half-full Cup") now lives on my iPod, where hopefully I will learn to go a bit easier on myself while listening to it.</span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px;">So I had that wonderful customer service moment the other day about my broken riding helmet (I didn't land on my head or anything - a screw came loose on the inside, where the strap is attached to the shell of the helmet, I'm thinking it was a manufacturing defect) and now my new helmet is in the mail. But what if I told them to send size Large instead of Medium? I have a freakishly large head, the size isn't on the label, and I can't remember... What if I have to return it cause it's too big? Will that be a hassle, or what?</span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px;">These, oh faithful readers, are the thoughts that go round and round my head. Scintillating, no?</span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px;">On the plus side, I went to the doctor today and got some lovely medicine for the sinus infection that has been bugging me all week (Hello! I'm on vacation! Come on in, nasty infections!), and I still have more time off. To do my marking, you know. Also, I have a good friend coming to visit over the weekend, and plans with other friends too.</span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px;">So the cup is, I suppose, half full after all.</span></div>Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-56144786628183785912010-03-30T09:05:00.000-06:002010-03-30T09:05:52.707-06:00Spring Break - return of the markingIt's a teacher's horror movie!<br />
<br />
Although, to be honest, I haven't done any marking yet. I've gone to the library, and I've dropped off my taxes, and now I'm worrying. It's odd that I would worry about my taxes - I'm a law-abiding person, except for that one stop-sign incident with the cute Mountie, but I'm always convinced that the Canadian version of Big Brother is just waiting for me to make a mistake so he can pounce. Is there a word for that feeling, when you've done nothing wrong but you still feel guilty?<br />
<br />
In other news, my riding helmet broke, and <a href="http://www.irhhelmets.com/">IRH</a> is replacing it, no muss, no fuss. There are no words for how much I love good customer service.<br />
<br />
AND, today the boy-child rode his bike to school. First time ever. Completely alone and unsupervised. I want to cry, and I'm so proud.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-22045935449806096292010-03-29T09:14:00.000-06:002010-03-29T09:14:25.238-06:00Back with a poemAdvice to the Young<br />
Miriam Waddington<br />
<br />
1<br />
Keep bees and<br />
grow asparagus,<br />
watch the tides<br />
and listen to the<br />
wind instead of<br />
the politicians<br />
make up your own<br />
stories and believe<br />
them if you want to<br />
live the good life.<br />
<br />
2<br />
All rituals<br />
are instincts<br />
never fully<br />
trust them but<br />
study to im-<br />
prove biology<br />
with reason.<br />
<br />
3<br />
Digging trenches<br />
for asparagus<br />
is good for the<br />
muscles and<br />
waiting for the<br />
plants to settle<br />
teaches patience<br />
to those who are<br />
usually in too<br />
much of a hurry.<br />
<br />
4<br />
There is morality<br />
in bee-keeping<br />
it teaches how<br />
not to be afraid<br />
of the bee swarm<br />
it teaches how<br />
not to be afraid of<br />
finding new places<br />
and building in them<br />
all over again.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-84319969156006227332010-03-06T19:18:00.002-07:002010-03-06T19:18:27.201-07:00Also, you should not look one in the mouth.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px;"><h2 style="color: black; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 8px; min-height: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Gift Horses</h2></span><br />
<div class="author" style="font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY JACK GILBERT</div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">He lives in the barrens, in dying neighborhoods </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">and negligible countries. None with an address. </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">But still the Devil finds him. Kills the wife </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">or spoils the marriage. Publishes each place </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">and makes it popular, makes it better, makes it </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">unusable. Brings news of friends, all defeated, </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">most sick or sad without reasons. Shows him </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">photographs of the beautiful women in old movies </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">whose luminous faces sixteen feet tall looked out </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">at the boy in the dark where he grew his heart. </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">Brings pictures of what they look like now.</div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">Says how lively they are, and brave despite their age. </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">Taking away everything. For the Devil is commissioned </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">to harm, to keelhaul us with loss, with knowledge </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">of how all things splendid are disfigured by small </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">and small. Yet he allows us to eat roast goat </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">on the mountain above Parakia. Lets us stumble </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">for the first time, unprepared, onto the buildings </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">of Palladio in moonlight. Maybe because he is not </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">good at his job. I believe he loves us against </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">his will. Because of the women and how the men </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">struggle to hear inside them. Because we construe </div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">something important from trees and locomotives,</div><div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">smell weeds on a hot July afternoon and are augmented.</div>Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-58078207801053012632010-02-28T18:51:00.000-07:002010-02-28T18:51:58.977-07:00So close...I have been lying low in an attempt to thwart the February Curse. This attempt has been moderately successful: to wit, a relative had brain surgery and did not die! (Interesting to note that if you have a c-section, they keep you in the hospital longer than if you have brain surgery.) On the other hand, I fell off my horse last week, and my boy spent all of today vomiting in various rooms of the house, so there you go. I guess it all kind of balances out in the end, doesn't it?<br />
<br />
While blocking out the fact that it was February, I did some knitting: notably, I finished the Anti-February cardigan. (Wow. New blogger thingy for pictures. Strange.)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKcKmTjStVogRGGrn2SlqrTuvqRF0WUFpdmMrYH7drYz5Ay3gPi1fZ8185E8UkoHEodKx9VxITyBneyK32B57CdkEuo3NgVkU6viNTquml1SNFFsmS71sEp79UGKorHOtQrIAFv7L173KA/s1600-h/not+feb+done+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKcKmTjStVogRGGrn2SlqrTuvqRF0WUFpdmMrYH7drYz5Ay3gPi1fZ8185E8UkoHEodKx9VxITyBneyK32B57CdkEuo3NgVkU6viNTquml1SNFFsmS71sEp79UGKorHOtQrIAFv7L173KA/s320/not+feb+done+1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKna1iPBOQCf11Eg0-Fu0twj8q1GnX3B4iomwj0cBOoA6xwORxMwMjDP0xigOMCPUq95OYPH13ipcIzfSv2MITGuU2O9wmHQMpuCkqxPX6TlFlpHKHAgqEio1t7B5R6nxcUPGxWJhHjRDR/s1600-h/not+feb+done+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKna1iPBOQCf11Eg0-Fu0twj8q1GnX3B4iomwj0cBOoA6xwORxMwMjDP0xigOMCPUq95OYPH13ipcIzfSv2MITGuU2O9wmHQMpuCkqxPX6TlFlpHKHAgqEio1t7B5R6nxcUPGxWJhHjRDR/s320/not+feb+done+2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
I love it. (The sweater. Not sure about the blogger picture thingy.) It's a top-down cardigan, in Noro Silk Garden - lovely to knit, and fabulous to wear. Very much Anti-February, as the name suggests.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagS6j7yH2pp5NungCUFHW0KhIi90ERdtQGL5MmiRXnTxeWI7Nc63Fw3OOfGsjgxKlHKLdNQbx8Kber8YqvEQI_7XVsd9BRLh4550Sevwsy5PjG_kexrnqz0nMOGNSYyc3zOAcqmuWO6iV/s1600-h/not+feb+done+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagS6j7yH2pp5NungCUFHW0KhIi90ERdtQGL5MmiRXnTxeWI7Nc63Fw3OOfGsjgxKlHKLdNQbx8Kber8YqvEQI_7XVsd9BRLh4550Sevwsy5PjG_kexrnqz0nMOGNSYyc3zOAcqmuWO6iV/s320/not+feb+done+3.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNkfAMZeeCtud7L1g1QXTZzTRMKus32jeXu4PamoJYCCAzyoBV0DGksYSt_6q7kPbQh108SMwchLV7Mep18hUMA7HfZCWS881trTOFCCSJUNs95flrA0k_Rh22HdDORJ8l70hj3rOiDdH/s1600-h/boogie+back+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNkfAMZeeCtud7L1g1QXTZzTRMKus32jeXu4PamoJYCCAzyoBV0DGksYSt_6q7kPbQh108SMwchLV7Mep18hUMA7HfZCWS881trTOFCCSJUNs95flrA0k_Rh22HdDORJ8l70hj3rOiDdH/s320/boogie+back+3.jpg" /></a>Then I knit a vest, but I only took pictures of the back. (How much of the February curse, I ask myself, is self-inflicted?)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0000ee; text-decoration: underline;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm also knitting a shawl for my gramma. I haven't gotten around to taking a picture of that yet, but the link to the pattern is <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter09/PATTcitron.php">here</a>. I know I can safely discuss the gramma shawl, because she does not read the blog. ("You write something on the computer? That's nice, dear.")</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><div style="text-align: left;">AND, the top-secret Pirate Mittens for Kathy are done and given, and loved. Everybody say "Argh."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCFXgr22WJCgFpG4CNiyqDSBtZbtlG2WdO5BSz5SvmcfamrxbjCgOLtw2Rd5aXjQKtSwAwX2SYOls5jQzsATRAmzanKTm5L1OXn1VfuqhZORPPmg8PF02EmNYoJufA4p6cmUsw0zxiL8m/s1600-h/Argh+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCFXgr22WJCgFpG4CNiyqDSBtZbtlG2WdO5BSz5SvmcfamrxbjCgOLtw2Rd5aXjQKtSwAwX2SYOls5jQzsATRAmzanKTm5L1OXn1VfuqhZORPPmg8PF02EmNYoJufA4p6cmUsw0zxiL8m/s320/Argh+1.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUWL5QNGIPrFNRmMcJoi4OfkbBFjeRZ5wNA7I9DyYZCsaqhndtIShUHa-mbsfd7yP3_csrtl0dYwJtR3gXaamfwgxfU33XRco8aE7nCBCFU7KDeuJIs_Ign6qM5IXcBZwAuDZZ3n1rucw/s1600-h/Argh2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUWL5QNGIPrFNRmMcJoi4OfkbBFjeRZ5wNA7I9DyYZCsaqhndtIShUHa-mbsfd7yP3_csrtl0dYwJtR3gXaamfwgxfU33XRco8aE7nCBCFU7KDeuJIs_Ign6qM5IXcBZwAuDZZ3n1rucw/s320/Argh2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The February Curse did not affect my knitting at all, but it seems to have cast some kind of dark spell on my reading. I only finished one book last week! Honestly! Things are not at all well around here.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And so, in celebration of there being only five and a half more hours of February left, and that I have survived it, I give you the view from my bedroom window at 6:11 this very evening: please note that it is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">not yet dark.</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRxrSFj7JpBtJ1GwLQQJNLzH82tMOnus3dvPpwCLjAp5X2qSlEHOtv8-k6dEUsh0gRaC-eLTkpDWlHrg3rjOYj5buwu7p52twrMDY8saU-QyfaxbP03opzhy4brbFEpB3OO6uaueV2xR8H/s1600-h/not+dark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRxrSFj7JpBtJ1GwLQQJNLzH82tMOnus3dvPpwCLjAp5X2qSlEHOtv8-k6dEUsh0gRaC-eLTkpDWlHrg3rjOYj5buwu7p52twrMDY8saU-QyfaxbP03opzhy4brbFEpB3OO6uaueV2xR8H/s320/not+dark.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Spring. It's in the air.<br />
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<br class="webkit-block-placeholder" />Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-17018550324909648622010-02-14T15:06:00.002-07:002010-02-14T15:06:19.222-07:00Why are so many poems about love, anyway?To his Coy Mistress<br />
by Andrew Marvell<br />
<br />
<br />
Had we but world enough, and time,<br />
This coyness, lady, were no crime.<br />
We would sit down and think which way<br />
To walk, and pass our long love's day;<br />
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side<br />
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide<br />
Of Humber would complain. I would<br />
Love you ten years before the Flood;<br />
And you should, if you please, refuse<br />
Till the conversion of the Jews.<br />
My vegetable love should grow<br />
Vaster than empires, and more slow.<br />
An hundred years should go to praise<br />
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;<br />
Two hundred to adore each breast,<br />
But thirty thousand to the rest;<br />
An age at least to every part,<br />
And the last age should show your heart.<br />
For, lady, you deserve this state,<br />
Nor would I love at lower rate.<br />
<br />
But at my back I always hear<br />
Time's winged chariot hurrying near;<br />
And yonder all before us lie<br />
Deserts of vast eternity.<br />
Thy beauty shall no more be found,<br />
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound<br />
My echoing song; then worms shall try<br />
That long preserv'd virginity,<br />
And your quaint honour turn to dust,<br />
And into ashes all my lust.<br />
The grave's a fine and private place,<br />
But none I think do there embrace.<br />
<br />
Now therefore, while the youthful hue<br />
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,<br />
And while thy willing soul transpires<br />
At every pore with instant fires,<br />
Now let us sport us while we may;<br />
And now, like am'rous birds of prey,<br />
Rather at once our time devour,<br />
Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power.<br />
Let us roll all our strength, and all<br />
Our sweetness, up into one ball;<br />
And tear our pleasures with rough strife<br />
Thorough the iron gates of life.<br />
Thus, though we cannot make our sun<br />
Stand still, yet we will make him run.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-88421548261257324032010-02-12T19:09:00.001-07:002010-02-12T19:10:20.217-07:00"Feminist" is not a bad word.First, my young onions, go look at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RyPamyWotM">this</a>.<br />
<br />
Then, once you've had a good slug of something to wash the bad taste out of your mouth, go on over <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou5Ens-qNRc">here</a>.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-23507874813865963232010-02-08T18:50:00.000-07:002010-02-08T18:50:14.149-07:00Drove my Chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry.Speaking of trips down memory lane, a colleague emailed me <a href="http://www.vpike.com/">this link</a> - you enter an address and it shows you a picture of that street. You can move the little man on the map up and down the block if you want, and see a 360 degree view of the houses. I've looked at every house I ever lived in... funny how the last apartment building I lived in while I was in Montreal still has that "for rent" sign in the front window. I wonder if it's Apartment 5 for rent?<br />
<br />
Where does the time go?Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-63212526127800503282010-02-07T18:45:00.000-07:002010-02-07T18:45:38.056-07:00But what should we do after lunch?Today I got up early (couldn't sleep) and washed the kitchen floor. I made breakfast, and dusted the whole house (except my office, where I pretend I can't see any dust because every square inch is covered with books). I zipped to Sobey's to buy a few things; I zipped home again and made an apple crisp. I did three loads of laundry. I made bread and set it to rise (I love saying that - very "Little House on the Prairie.") I made lunch. I went to a riding lesson, where I did not fall off but did get very dusty. I asked my riding teacher's husband for some advice about a leaking sink. (If I ever get married, it will be to someone like Keith - he is both handy and kind.) I came home, washed my riding clothes, (that was the fourth load), punched down the bread, and started split pea soup. I baked the bread (made it into rolls, sprinkled with rosemary and Maldon salt, cooked it in a cast iron pan), folded and put away the laundry, knit a couple rows on a new project, cleaned my bathroom. I read for a few minutes here and there, and took frequent breaks to admire my newly completed Anti-February cardigan, which is drying and which only needs its buttons to be perfect. I poured a bit of Drano down the non-leaking sink, and loaded up the dishwasher. I made two healthy lunches for tomorrow.<br />
<br />
Now my kitchen is clean, my dog and my son are both fed, and I am filled with contentment. And pea soup.<br />
<br />
I love weekends. They're so relaxing.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-55839530014270489032010-02-06T18:52:00.000-07:002010-02-06T18:52:04.286-07:00I write poems in copies of Beowulf, too. (Not really.)"Poem Written in a Copy of Beowulf"<br />
by Borges (trans. by Alastair Reid)<br />
<br />
At various times, I have asked myself what reasons<br />
moved me to study, while my night came down,<br />
without particular hope of satisfaction,<br />
the language of the blunt-tongued Anglo-Saxons.<br />
<br />
Used up by the years, my memory<br />
loses its grip on words that I have vainly<br />
repeated and repeated. My life in the same way<br />
weaves and unweaves its weary history.<br />
<br />
Then I tell myself: it must be that the soul<br />
has some secret, sufficient way of knowing<br />
that it is immortal, that its vast, encompassing<br />
circle can take in all, can accomplish all.<br />
<br />
Beyond my anxiety, beyond this writing,<br />
the universe waits, inexhaustible, inviting.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-47321661037765112782010-02-05T17:48:00.000-07:002010-02-05T17:48:44.533-07:00Sometimes you just have to say "amen." Even when you're an atheist.This blogging thing is fun, but it can be very, very weird, too. I find myself in conversation with Real Live People and saying things like "well, my friend Screen Name says this" or "there was a hilarious discussion over on so-and-so's blog" and feeling like a bit of a fool. After all, the people who live in the screen of your computer aren't real... are they?<br />
<br />
But they are, and I've been fortunate in reading some really awesome writers. One of those is Mrs. Spit, whose blog I stumbled on one day when I was looking for ways to teach my grade 7s about Subjects and Predicates. (I don't know what teachers did before Google. Honestly. Google has made everything easier.) Anyway, the Missus and I don't always agree on stuff, but I love her blog and she frequently leaves thoughtful and kind and intelligent comments on mine, which I also love.<br />
<br />
The other day she wrote <a href="http://mrsspit.ca/?p=988">this post</a>, which I think is one of the most intelligent things I have ever read. And so, without further ado, I would urge you all to go on over and read it, because I have nothing else to add.<br />
<br />
Except for a heartfelt amen. (Which, coming from me, is something else.)Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-76488715820537135522010-02-02T19:39:00.000-07:002010-02-02T19:39:53.090-07:00Well, now I feel a whole lot better.Because none other than <a href="http://www.balzacbilly.com/">Balzac Billy</a> said it's going to be an early spring.<br />
<br />
We can all relax.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-24305972264667646752010-01-30T18:55:00.000-07:002010-01-30T18:55:25.100-07:00Beautifully DonneTHE GOOD-MORROW.<br />
by John Donne<br />
<br />
<br />
I wonder by my troth, what thou and I<br />
Did, till we loved? Were we not wean'd till then? <br />
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly? <br />
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den?<br />
'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be;<br />
If ever any beauty I did see, <br />
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.<br />
<br />
And now good-morrow to our waking souls, <br />
Which watch not one another out of fear;<br />
For love all love of other sights controls,<br />
And makes one little room an everywhere.<br />
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone;<br />
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown;<br />
Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one. <br />
<br />
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, <br />
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;<br />
Where can we find two better hemispheres <br />
Without sharp north, without declining west?<br />
Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally;<br />
If our two loves be one, or thou and I <br />
Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-20247400101290138332010-01-27T19:11:00.002-07:002010-01-27T19:11:24.675-07:00True Fact.After Tuesday, even the calendar says WTF.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619892105407689853.post-32114872726413946552010-01-24T18:40:00.002-07:002010-01-24T18:52:52.823-07:00Comfort me with PumpkinLet's imagine, hypothetically of course, that you are really, really anxious. Your anxiety, in fact, is so off the scale that you really think it might be a good idea to just get into bed and stay there until it passes. (It's not a good idea, by the way.) Let's imagine that you went to your doctor and she gave you an anti-depressant that works by making you feel so physically wretched that you forget how emotionally wretched you are. (They're definitely on to something there.) Maybe you've spent weeks and weeks trying to find a counsellor, only to encounter answering machines that say no one can talk to you until you're so desperate that you're ready to drive yourself to the hospital, where they would probably have you committed. Also, the answering machines all give the number of the distress line. In case, you know, you're distressed.<br /><br />And now let's imagine that you got out of bed this morning and your first thought was "I am going to re-arrange the pantry." And so you did, taking every single thing out of it and putting most of the stuff back in a far, far more pleasing and orderly manner. Then your friend called and asked if you wanted to come see her sister's new baby, so you went on over and cuddled a newborn for a while. Maybe when you got home you finished the pantry and decided to make a pumpkin pie. Then you did three loads of laundry and cleaned the house from top to bottom and only had one or two tiny moments of short breath and incipient panic. You roasted a chicken, you ran the dishwasher, you knitted a little on your Anti-February sweater, you read a book, you stayed out of bed.<br /><br />Maybe you are thinking right now that counsellors and drugs are just fine, but sometimes what you need to do is take complete and utter control of everything around you that can be controlled - not your brain chemistry, not your fear, not your crying in inappropriate places - but your pantry, and a graham-cracker crust, and pumpkin filling, and chicken with lemon and rosemary.<br /><br />Maybe some days, having a grip on those things (and a wickedly tidy pantry) is just enough to get you through.Artsy Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02173478695441453293noreply@blogger.com1