28/04/2012
The difference between crows and magpies.
Here at the Bird Park crows jump down out of the air with a ground shaking, window rattling THUD, straighten their feathers, then assess the situation before committing to anything further. Magpies, on the other hand, careen out of the air, hit the ground running, taper off in a sometimes stumbling bounce to a brief pause before dashing off, grabbing a peanut or bit of kibble and flying away.
Labels:
Bird Park,
note to self
25/04/2012
Good-bye smoker's teeth world. Hello London.
At the moment, I'm halfway through the two part process of cataract
removal. The right eye was done yesterday. Amazing! The walls in our house aren't smoker's teeth yellow after all. They're
white! And the fence in the Bird Park? The
wood has a lovely grain. One thing. I have occasionally noticed
the curve of the new lens along the outside corner of my vision. I hope
that goes away but, no matter what, next Tuesday we're doing the left eye.
Now for the summer travels countdown part of this ongoing, chaotic account of my life accompanied by a fair amount of anxiety. Not for the trip itself, five weeks in London, five weeks in Paris. That should be really interesting and fun. It's the preparation that makes me crazy and I am currently fully in The Crazy, with an extra dose of anxiety for the flight itself, a two-part adventure beginning with that restless night before the flight. We get up about 4 am for the kick-off flight to LA on May 21 followed by a several hour layover before the 10 hour flight to London arriving 8 hours ahead of our biological clocks so we'll do what travelers do. Stay up to catch up. But more on all this later.
Now for the summer travels countdown part of this ongoing, chaotic account of my life accompanied by a fair amount of anxiety. Not for the trip itself, five weeks in London, five weeks in Paris. That should be really interesting and fun. It's the preparation that makes me crazy and I am currently fully in The Crazy, with an extra dose of anxiety for the flight itself, a two-part adventure beginning with that restless night before the flight. We get up about 4 am for the kick-off flight to LA on May 21 followed by a several hour layover before the 10 hour flight to London arriving 8 hours ahead of our biological clocks so we'll do what travelers do. Stay up to catch up. But more on all this later.
Labels:
DITL,
travel notes
23/04/2012
Moving Day
We were recently in Portland helping my son Jack move his family into their first very own home.
Mista Leo packed right along with the rest of us but took...
...made it safely... |
...to their new home. |
Labels:
family
Faerie Court
No gender bias in her house so what a surprise when, completely on her own, Thea has fallen in love with the color pink and swirly dresses and takes very seriously the idea of being a Princess in the Faerie Court.
Of course, Nevada is only to happy to play along. If ever a dog were a faerie princess it would be Nevada.
Faerie Princess Thea |
Faerie Princess Nevada |
Of course, Nevada is only to happy to play along. If ever a dog were a faerie princess it would be Nevada.
Labels:
family
21/04/2012
Morning from the backroom
Comma Coffee is constantly changing.
Can you spot the new parlor grand piano?
Clue: look for the shinny flat surface.
Clue: look for the shinny flat surface.
Back in the back.
Labels:
Comma Coffee,
DITL
15/04/2012
"Women and children first"
MITT ROMNEY:
"THROW 'EM OVERBOARD!
NO LIFEBOAT,
NO LIFE VEST FOR YOU!"
"THROW 'EM OVERBOARD!
NO LIFEBOAT,
NO LIFE VEST FOR YOU!"
Republican version of women and children first then the world.
Here's Romney's proposal:
- Make contraception less available to poor women by getting rid of Planned Parenthood.
- Make the option of abortion illegal by signing a Personhood Amendment.
- Make access to prenatal care and pediatric care less available by gutting Medicaid.
- Then force mothers out of the home so that they can't even raise their own children.
- Gut public K-12 education.
- Gut grants for College Education.
- Continue outsourcing jobs to third world countries where people will work for .50 a day.
- Gut Medicare and Social Security.
- Gut the environment upon which life as we know it depends.
Labels:
politics,
reality checks
08/04/2012
The Mizpah at last
The desk clerk told us they sometimes hear children talking who are not there. That made the strange miniature furniture look really eerie. |
The big news this year is that the Mizpah Hotel has finally re-opened.
There have been other changes around town as well.
That photo I found a few years ago of the guy posing with a beer is gone.
Gone.... |
Little remained of tailor's shop from days gone by. |
I'm hoping the museum folks rescued the equipment. I don't think it was in the rubble but then I didn't dig around.
Tailor shop today, collapsed and gone. |
And, as I mentioned before, the little store Hippies of Tonopah is gone, not the building itself, but Hippy. Graffiti inside reads "Ur Gay". So much for love in diversity.
But no time to mourn to past.
The ghosts of Tonopah Present haunt us even now...
Goblin of the Fifth Floor |
...not only the goblin that accosted us as we explored the hotel...
The Lady in Red |
...but the ghost the Lady in Red herself. Legend has it that she was stabbed to death by a jealous lover in the hallway outside of her room, 502, and haunts the hotel to this day. Naturally, we tried reserving her room for our stay next fall but it was already booked. But we will be in room 501. Close enough. I'm already spooked. The building itself is morose and vaguely threatening. I was happy to get back down to the lobby and glad to re-emerge back out under the blue desert sky.
I posted more photos of the Mizpah here.
03/04/2012
New Madhuban
Going through papers on my desk this afternoon, I came across some things I wrote years ago that I'd been thinking about, and forgetting to, do something with. As you might guess, I wrote it during a particularly difficult time in my life. Anyway, I'm posting an excerpt here and at Anna Sadhorse.
New MadhubanTrees were planted in this area during America's Great Depression of the 1930's as part the New Deal.
West Virginia
this forest,
planted for a loaf of bread
and a dollar a day,
is a solemn place
the hill it has taken possession of
drops sharply
to a holler too steep for pasture
a place where small skeletons slowly turn to stone
this is a good place to be alone
the sun seldom finds entry to this grove
is a stranger here off his path
from a world that does not exist
his probing beams
only deepen the darkness
and threaten to ignite the brittle trees
one may only be here carefully
this forest has no need of company
birds know it they do not nest
or sing among its spiney branches
there is no undergrowth
nothing pierces the needle mat
and the pines themselves
have shed their lower branches
becoming heartless
pitch steeped trunks with shattered limbs
they offer no place to rest
who comes here must stand alone
who comes here to dream must dream
indifferent as the dead
asha
West Virginia, 1975 - Excerpt from Sunday Feast
02/04/2012
First dance
My niece Maren's wedding last month in Portland was a very sweet affair.
Uncle Papa Jim conducted the ceremony. Before meeting and marrying my sister, he was a fourth year novice at a Catholic monastery so priestly duties are natural for him.
He did choke up though when it came to the part where he put Maren's hand in Drew's. For a moment, we all held our breath.
Unfortunately, I'm one of those crappy amateur photographers who waves the camera around in the air and hopes for the best. It's like trying to catch a swarm of butterflies with a bucket. I took a lot of photos but, unfortunately, these are about as clear as any of them get.
Uncle Papa Jim conducted the ceremony. Before meeting and marrying my sister, he was a fourth year novice at a Catholic monastery so priestly duties are natural for him.
He did choke up though when it came to the part where he put Maren's hand in Drew's. For a moment, we all held our breath.
Unfortunately, I'm one of those crappy amateur photographers who waves the camera around in the air and hopes for the best. It's like trying to catch a swarm of butterflies with a bucket. I took a lot of photos but, unfortunately, these are about as clear as any of them get.
Big Girl Thea teaching cousin Leo to dance |
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