Late one afternoon my children gather around the TV for Arthur on PBS. The topic on the show for discussion during the intermission between segments is Fire Safety. Kids gather around real firemen and ask questions and give answers.
Q - "What if your door is closed and you feel from the inside that it is hot?"
A – "Don’t open it! Go out a window if you can; shout for help!"
A little girl asks the fireman, "What if there's a fire at the fire station?"
My own daughter answers – "You call it irony."
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Sam's Neo-Idioms
My son Sam, exasperated by his younger sister's pesky behavior, tells her to shut up.
I scold him for saying shut up.
Sam replied, "But she's getting on my last nerve!"
I scold him for saying shut up.
Sam replied, "But she's getting on my last nerve!"
Random Chance of Greatness?
"We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually produce a masterpiece. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true."
- Eyler Coates
- Eyler Coates
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Comments Comment
Just wanted to let you know that this blog now allows anonymous comments. That means basically anyone can comment now, even if you're not a registered user. I'm figuring these things out as I go along. Maybe I'll hear from you now?
Friday, August 26, 2005
Six Degrees of Separation or It's a Small World
I was trying to explain the theory of Six Degrees of Separation to a young friend the other day and she greeted the information with skepticism. I blame that on youth as everything seems so big the younger you are. Even the kitchen you grew up in seems huge until you visit it again as an adult. Everything shrinks as we grow older, except maybe taxes and waistlines. But I digress. There is a story in all of this.
When I was a child my parents took me on vacations to Door County during the summers. One night we visited the studio of "The Glassblower," as Tom Yelvington called himself. He would open his studio after dark and put on glassblowing demonstrations, lighting up the night with long strings and balls of molten glass. I remember this performance and the amazing process by which he would take a hunk of nothing and turn it into a beautiful vase or bowl. By the time I was a teenager he had shut down his studio and my parents and I never heard what happened to him.
During my last week in the firm I was assigned to a new desk right next to a secretary who had just been hired. She introduced herself as Mary Yelvington. In my mind I immediately saw molten glass spinning in the dark of night. She has red hair just like her brother, Tom. She tells me he has retired and is living right here in Milwaukee. The counters in my mother's kitchen just became a little lower than I remembered them.
When I was a child my parents took me on vacations to Door County during the summers. One night we visited the studio of "The Glassblower," as Tom Yelvington called himself. He would open his studio after dark and put on glassblowing demonstrations, lighting up the night with long strings and balls of molten glass. I remember this performance and the amazing process by which he would take a hunk of nothing and turn it into a beautiful vase or bowl. By the time I was a teenager he had shut down his studio and my parents and I never heard what happened to him.
During my last week in the firm I was assigned to a new desk right next to a secretary who had just been hired. She introduced herself as Mary Yelvington. In my mind I immediately saw molten glass spinning in the dark of night. She has red hair just like her brother, Tom. She tells me he has retired and is living right here in Milwaukee. The counters in my mother's kitchen just became a little lower than I remembered them.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Daydreaming Causes Serious Illness
Scientists and doctors are now exploring a possible link between daydreaming and Alzheimer's development later in life. Geez, where does that put me after working all summer in this huge law firm? Will I be able to litigate for damages caused by extreme workplace banality leading to flights of mental fantasy and in turn increased liklihood of debilitating disease? I better snag one of these hard working lawyers now before I forget.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Use an Electric Mower
"It would save you, on average, 73% in lawn-chore costs and is better for the environment. The average gasoline mower tested by the Environmental Protection Agency emits in one hour the same amount of hydrocarbons that a 1992 Ford Explorer emits over 23,600 miles." (emphasis mine)
- from an article on Green Living in today's Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel by Natalie Ermann Russell (USA Weekend section)
Madison Gas and Electric in Madison, WI says, "Mowing your lawn for one hour with a conventional gas lawn mower can cause more air pollution than driving from Madison to Chicago and back in a new car. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, gas mowers cause 5% of the nation's air pollution. Trade in your old gas mower for a new corded or rechargeable cordless electric lawn mower. You'll save time and money—and help the environment."
Responsibly mow or let it grow!
- from an article on Green Living in today's Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel by Natalie Ermann Russell (USA Weekend section)
Madison Gas and Electric in Madison, WI says, "Mowing your lawn for one hour with a conventional gas lawn mower can cause more air pollution than driving from Madison to Chicago and back in a new car. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, gas mowers cause 5% of the nation's air pollution. Trade in your old gas mower for a new corded or rechargeable cordless electric lawn mower. You'll save time and money—and help the environment."
Responsibly mow or let it grow!
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Friday, August 19, 2005
Sorry, But Comments Just Got Harder
Thanks to some spam-rat who left a huge advert in one of my "comment" areas, I am now using a supposedly safer system, which just means that you regular folks and friends will now have to work slightly harder to leave a comment. All it will do is ask you to type in the funny word you see on your screen before posting. This is supposed to stop spammers from dumping auto-crap into your comments, as the above-mentioned jerk recently did. I apologize for this and hope it won't deter your sincere comments.
Pine Tree Gallery
Typing this entry I can look down and see the lovely bracelet I bought at the Pine Tree Gallery in Ironwood, Michigan this past week. I simply had to plug the place and recommend that anyone travelling in the vicinity stop in and visit them on Hwy 2. They always have solid art on exhibit and for sale and they are very nice besides. They gave us great information on the Porcupine Mountains Wildnerness Area which served us very well on our vacation. We (okay, I bought all the stuff) bought some jewelry and a ceramic bowl on our two visits. Go guys - I love your gallery!
Northwoods Vacation
We just returned from a week in Wisconsin's north woods, near Lake Superior, and when I get things going there will be many photos to post. We had enjoyed beautiful weather up until the very last day, the homecoming day. Then it rained off and on all day long and we took forever to get home, finally arriving at our back door at 10:20 pm. We apparently were driving just behind some tornados, but were thankfully and blissfully ignorant of this fact until after they had done their damage south of us. With the sky overcast and gloomy I finally enjoyed some even lighting and took a good number of photos on the ride home. I can still hear the groans from the back of the van each time I turned around and headed back to some scene to be photographed.
I was burning along at 74 mph a few miles south of Hurley on Hwy 51 when a State Patrol car coming towards me turned on its lights and did a quick U-turn. Rats. He was very nice about it, at least, and I got some really pretty photos by the side of the road while he sat in his squad and wrote out my enormous ticket. I have only had one speeding ticket in my life up until now. That occurred back in Minnesota in the early '90s on a back road coming home from South Dakota. The officer at that time gave me a $40 ticket and then chided me on what a nice pair of shoes that $40 would have purchased, tch, tch. I wanted to punch his lights out.
My husband just came upstairs to tell me that our van was broken into last night. Passenger side window is smashed and the radio was ripped out of the dash. The only reason we left the van outside last night was because we have a friend's Land Rover parked in our garage. We were going to take the Land Rover on our trip, for fun (it's loaded), but after driving it home from the friend's house, realizing how little storage space there actually is in there after putting half a dozen people in, and then filling the tank with the requisite super premium gasoline for $50, we decided to take our roomier, slightly more economical though less exotic minivan. So, the Land Rover sits unharmed in our garage with $50 in its tank and our van is on the parking slab, bruised and battered.
Welcome back to the city.
I was burning along at 74 mph a few miles south of Hurley on Hwy 51 when a State Patrol car coming towards me turned on its lights and did a quick U-turn. Rats. He was very nice about it, at least, and I got some really pretty photos by the side of the road while he sat in his squad and wrote out my enormous ticket. I have only had one speeding ticket in my life up until now. That occurred back in Minnesota in the early '90s on a back road coming home from South Dakota. The officer at that time gave me a $40 ticket and then chided me on what a nice pair of shoes that $40 would have purchased, tch, tch. I wanted to punch his lights out.
My husband just came upstairs to tell me that our van was broken into last night. Passenger side window is smashed and the radio was ripped out of the dash. The only reason we left the van outside last night was because we have a friend's Land Rover parked in our garage. We were going to take the Land Rover on our trip, for fun (it's loaded), but after driving it home from the friend's house, realizing how little storage space there actually is in there after putting half a dozen people in, and then filling the tank with the requisite super premium gasoline for $50, we decided to take our roomier, slightly more economical though less exotic minivan. So, the Land Rover sits unharmed in our garage with $50 in its tank and our van is on the parking slab, bruised and battered.
Welcome back to the city.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Trygve Update
We came home late tonight and for the first time I caught Trygve molting. He was nearly out of his old skin, hanging from the top of his enclosure by about a centimeter of his long narrow abdomen still stuck in the old shell. He had two sets of curled up, turquoise wings, much larger than the last version. He eventually wiggled completely free and the old skin dropped to the floor where a cricket quickly ran over to investigate. I reached in and removed this fragile carcass and studied it, amazed at the thin membrane that had covered even eyes, wings and antennae.
The new Trygve has turquoise wings and forelegs, each molt in general producing slightly more color. His abdomen was plump and his wings short and curled, but he began to sort of pump the extra fluids from his body out to his limbs and wings just like butterflies do when they emerge from their cocoons. My new macro lens just arrived this afternoon so I put it to the test (see above), but will surely have to take more photos in the daylight after I hunt down my tripod.
The new Trygve has turquoise wings and forelegs, each molt in general producing slightly more color. His abdomen was plump and his wings short and curled, but he began to sort of pump the extra fluids from his body out to his limbs and wings just like butterflies do when they emerge from their cocoons. My new macro lens just arrived this afternoon so I put it to the test (see above), but will surely have to take more photos in the daylight after I hunt down my tripod.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Depression and Writing
[The] link between writing and depression may stem in part from the fact that depressed people tend to be strongly introspective, a trait that may foster writing. Depression, when it does not incapacitate a person, may actually make him or her see the world more accurately than normal people do. (Of course, an accurately pessimistic view of things can also be paralyzing.)
- from The Midnight Disease by Alice W. Flaherty, p. 32
- from The Midnight Disease by Alice W. Flaherty, p. 32
Sunday, August 07, 2005
When Want Goes Awry
Just because you want something very, very badly does not mean you can have it. Even if you' ve wanted it ever since you can remember wanting anything. It is better to pour the effort into living without and be so easily rewarded thus that the wanting melts away and becomes the thing forgotten.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Highest gas prices of my life
Yesterday we gassed up the van at $2.499 a gallon (why don't we just say $2.50?) . Late last night we had to make a grocery run (damn full-time job) and upon returning to the car, hubby couldn't find his keys. He had been driving so he must have had them when he got out of the car. I started to dig through my purse for my lately unused set (damn full-time job), but before I could find them we reached the van and it was running. Found the keys in the ignition.
We had just purchased $145 worth of groceries, so you can imagine it wasn't just a quick run-in, get-out trip. How ironic that we chose the day when we had just paid the highest price for gasoline in our lives to let the van run for a good 45 minutes, empty and still, in a dark parking lot.
(My sincere apologies to hubby. I could have easily done the same, and I hold no grudge. You are a very good man. Thank you for working hard so that we can afford to pay $2.50/gallon to run our environmentally degrading vehicle.)
We had just purchased $145 worth of groceries, so you can imagine it wasn't just a quick run-in, get-out trip. How ironic that we chose the day when we had just paid the highest price for gasoline in our lives to let the van run for a good 45 minutes, empty and still, in a dark parking lot.
(My sincere apologies to hubby. I could have easily done the same, and I hold no grudge. You are a very good man. Thank you for working hard so that we can afford to pay $2.50/gallon to run our environmentally degrading vehicle.)
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