OILBF- dream journal

Old Italian Leaving BoyFriend showed at my parent's house while I was visiting and acted like he had never quit talking to me with no attempt at an explanation. Somehow, I fell for the ruse that he was a nice guy, although I did tell him that I was married. Then he joined the military and left one night while everyone was asleep. Outside, I found his footprints and a symbol drawn in the dirt that I interpreted as a farewell message.

(I woke up startled and scared that my mind had conjured this image of OILBF, and took awhile to fall back asleep.)

Sronnoc Esor

Stone Pillow- movie review

link

This made for TV movie with a serious Lucille Ball contains moments of truth and purity that give you something to think about. It makes me almost wish that all my stuff fit in a cart. As a bonus, Lucy's performance is impeccable. Well worth the watching.

Rose

Nonplussed- word of the day

"I was nonplussed when I learned that Landlady was asking $380,000 for this house, which the Bank appraised at $225,000; following which she accepted an offer of $250,000." R. Connors


non·plus (nn-pls)
tr.v. non·plused also non·plussed, non·plus·ing also non·plus·sing, non·plus·es also non·plus·ses

To put at a loss as to what to think, say, or do; bewilder.
n. A state of perplexity, confusion, or bewilderment.

[From Latin nn pls, no more : nn, not; see non- + pls, more; see pel-1 in Indo-European roots.]

hm();Sources=Sources 2;
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Shadow is Nuts

The nuts in this bowl were stale when we got them over a month ago. So I put them in the decorative handmade wooden bowl that we got for Christmas and put it on top of a tall speaker. Shadow has decided that a nut is a wonderful thing to play with. She regularly jumps up on the window sill and roots around until she gets one to pop out on the floor.

Rose

North Country- movie review

link

This film takes a good look at harassment, abuse, and unfair treatment of women in the workplace, the school, and the home. It is based on the life of real woman Lois Jenson and others who refused to submit to such treatment. It causes me to wonder: how often in life do we tolerate inequity because we fear the consequences if we stand up for ourselves? In the characters in the film, I see people I know and have known and a glimpse of myself. There is bigotry, fear, anger, desperation, compassion, but most of all, there is courage.

Rose

Hair

Having had enough of rinsing hair out of the tub and vaccuuming it off the floor, I simply cut it off. It's going to a good cause. I currently have the hairstyle you might expect if you cut off your ponytail: longish in front, short in back; call it a tellum. And my head feels so light.

rc

grandma comfort- dream journal

We went to see Grandma Comfort, who died ten years ago. Her back door was ajar, so we went in. We had heard something bad had happened and thought there had been a fire, but everything was intact. Dahlia Man's dog was locked in an upstairs bedroom. Everyone was acting as if Grandma had just died. People were going through her stuff and taking what they wanted. I stayed upstairs while everyone else congregated down in the living room. I was looking through all the old VHS movies and little trinkets Grandma had collected. She always had odds and ends saved up for presents, and I took some little notepads for my neice, A.E.

As we were getting ready to leave, there was a delivery. It was some kind of fabric, folded up and wrapped in plastic. Mother was already in the car and I took them to ask what it was. She took one look and told me not to worry about it. I realized then that they were chair covers for the funeral. I took them back to the house, where vendors were standing in line to talk to my aunts and uncles. They had decorated the downstairs in all white for the funeral, with white hangings on the walls and covering all the furniture. When Mother saw it she was appalled. The others had to go somewhere, and while they were gone, Mother put everything back the way Grandma used to keep it, with warm marigold tones. When the others came back, they were very upset. Mother explained that Grandma would not have wanted all the decorations and fuss, and they kept it that way.

Sronnoc Esor

Ma Vie en Rose- movie review

link

A Belgian film about a seven year old boy with a gender identity crisis. It is a touching and entertaining look at his struggles and fantasies, as well as his treatment by others. It is truly apropos that, at the end, he meets a girl who is troubled by the same malady.

It is always useful to have your thinking challenged and be reminded that everyone is not the same. This movie accomplished that.

Rose

Varied Thrush

jc called me out of the shower this morning: "I think you should see this bird." Indeed I should. The varied thrush is very elusive, hiding high in the trees in springtime, singing its beautiful song. Dahlia Man told me, when I noticed one in his yard, that they come down from the forest when it gets very cold. That explains it. We got our once-every-ten-years snow last week, and it was down to 17 degrees F.

Rose

manicotti

jc was so pleased with the "manigotts" that he took a picture and insisted that I post it here. So here it is.

Rose

Central Station- movie review

synopsis

This movie robs you of all faith in the goodness of mankind, then, bit by bit, restores it to you. It is a worthwhile foray outside the world of American film-making and the American life that we so take for granted. The roles here are so completely unexpected and foreign, and yet, I fear, very true. The filming is impeccable and non-judgmental, making the story come together in a believable and touching way.

Rose

inviting ourselves over- dream journal

We were hungry and for some unknown reason couldn't cook at home, so we barged in on a kindly neighbor and cooked there. jc did the cooking and did it all wrong, whilst making a huge mess. Neighbor had a Christmas tree up that was too large for the space, so he had cut two pieces off the top and displayed them elsewhere. Then his rather elderly wife showed up with two adorable adopted infants. I had to work hard to restrain myself from offering to take one off her hands. As I was cleaning the dishes, I began to notice that the kitchen counter was listing about ninety degrees, rendering it nearly unuseable. On the way home by boat, someone asked for help with their child who was seizing. He stopped when I got his attention and made him look in my eyes.

Sronnoc Esor

Daily Reading

Mother and Father send us a complimentary subscription to a biweekly conservative religious publication called The Sword of the Lord. When we received the daily Bible reading guide and calendar in the end of January, I decided to read through once with a more open mindset. jc agreed to participate in the experiment. We've just now finished the book of Genesis. To tell the truth, I had forgotten that there were so many racy stories in there. So far we've read about Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Joseph; oh and don't forget Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, Tamar and Dinah.

rc

a few photos

naptime for the kitties- Shadow snuggles under the covers


snowy hot spring at McCreadie Station

Rose

Gone to the Mountains

We've been in the mountains for a few days, and I've been pretty lazy about writing. It snowed while we were there and left everything looking like fairyland. We found a natural hot spring and soaked one day while it was raining. That was a convenient time for a Korean language lesson.

We had a lot of great food; Ki'il and the Scholar like to eat. I discovered that corn bread bakes just fine in the microwave and that my white bean and tofu soup tastes much better when you don't forget the chicken broth.

Nordic skiing turned out to be easier than I expected. We enjoyed skiing one evening under the full moon. It also makes you really hot. I was wearing way too many clothes here and left most of that stuff at the hotel for future outings.

It's good to be back home. I got in three nights at work, which adds up to almost as much work as I had in the whole month of December. The kitties were glad to see us, too.

Rose

Staying Warm

Laundry isn't out of the dryer half a minute around here before there is at least one kitty nestled into it as seen above. That's just plain good sense when the heater doesn't work any better than ours does.

We're headed to the mountains tomorrow for a cross country or Nordic skiing adventure with Ki'il and the Scholar for a few days and I better crawl in somewhere warm and snooze awhile before our early start in the AM.

Rose

Year of the Pig (almost)

We welcomed the New Year last night with friends Ki'il and the Scholar. I made stromboli, then we went to the beach and built a bonfire. There was a huge driftwood log fifty or sixty feet long, and the Scholar built the fire in the corner created by a broken off branch. We roasted marshmallows and talked. The moonlight glinted silverly off the crashing white surf. The lighthouse spread its intermittent beam. Sporadic fireworks shot up. We were alone on the beach. Just at the stroke of midnight, we looked up to see the full moon surrounded by a rainbow. I discovered that this phenomenon is known as a corona. It wasn't as full last night as the picture, but I take it as an excellent omen for the year to come.

Cheers,

Rose

Beware Strange Men.

As I was sitting idly on the sofa wondering what to blog about today, I chanced to glance out the window and spy a mustachioed stranger on the porch. No sooner did I notice him than he knocked on the window. I recognized him as the neighbor who had been fixing his car as I went to the post office this morning and tried to engage me in conversation about holiday fare. Looking back at the computer, I calmly informed jc that there was a man at the window. We had just this morning discovered that it is possible to communicate through the windows, owing to their thinness.

The man spoke: "Is that my cat?" He pointed to my lovely Ailleanach, nervously skittering away.

jc replied, "I don't think so."

A short conversation ensued about the various tabbies in the neighborhood before the intruder scuttled off. I repressed the urge to vomit and instructed Ailleanach to bare her fangs threateningly should the situation recur.

A note on our living situation: jc is currently engaged in a diligent perusal of all available real estate. Landlady's appraisal came back too low & the deal will probably fall through. We're still getting out of here as soon as possible.

Rose

A big thank you to all my loyal readers who offered their sympathies.

rc

Remembrance

I learned today of Granny's death after a long illness. She was 89 years old. In the past five years or so, because of bad osteoporosis, she broke her hip, collarbone, pelvis, and some vertebrae. All but the last time she returned home to the farm after a stay in rehab. This time she had to go to a nursing home. In the last weeks, she became progressively, drastically worse, so that at time she no longer recognized family members. In her last letter to me, just weeks ago, she sorrowed that she could no longer walk without help.

I have been anticipating this for some time, and am grateful that she has been loosed from the trouble that plagued her in the last years. I am pleased to know that she died in her sleep, with adequate pain control, and family by her side.

I remember her life.

Granny was born in a very small, rural town in 1917. In the 1930's she took the train some ten miles to go to high school, then continued on to college to earn a degree in higher mathematics. She went on to earn her master's degree in the 1960's. She taught upper math at the local high school, by this time, much closer to home, until retirement. Everyone in the school district remembers her as a tough math teacher and as a woman whose hair was snow white in her thirties. She used to sit in the living room and work calculus the way most people do the crossword puzzle.

As if a teaching career weren't enough, Grandma raised five children and worked on the farm. There were no TV dinners then, either. She shamed me throughout her life by her industry. I would bet that she was still mowing the grass in her eighties and only stopped then because the family made a pointed effort to mow it before she could get to it.

She made delicious candy at Christmastime and peanut butter eggs for Easter. There are many dishes that she is known for making best. Anytime we visited near mealtime, she insisted on cooking "a little something." I'm not sure if we ever had a meal there that didn't include dessert.

At times, I was afraid to open my mouth around her for fear of saying something stupid. She stayed informed of current events, and had a certain knack for knowing what things really meant.

By my best count, she is survived by her five children, twelve grandchildren, and ten or eleven great grandchildren.

Rose

sad holiday for some

I am deeply saddened and appaled by this news story reporting the death of James Emerick Dean, 28 years old, at the hands of the police. The poor guy's crime was that he didn't want to go to Iraq, having already served 18 months in Afghanistan.

I know there are lots of angles to this: volunteer army, mental illness, taking pot shots at the police surrounding his house. Nonetheless, he is another casulaty of the war in Iraq. jc remembers a boy from his hometown who shot himself rather than going to Vietnam.

When will this end?

rc