To make up for my "holier than thou" crack in the last post, I thought I'd bring a bit of levity to everyone's day.
more Father Ted fun
08 February 2008
rats and saints
Moon: waxing crescent. 3% full
Today the dogs were a hit at the bank drive through and the gas station. I should say two Great Danes in a Thunderbird. Doesn't leave much room for me, the driver. But, Dobby and Filch were happy with the attention--they even got dog treats and waves from the teller and the bank customers.
Yesterday marked the Chinese New Year. We are now in the Year of the Rat. Hmm...how unpleasant that sounds. Although I read somewhere that the Chinese symbol for "rat" can also stand for "mouse". So maybe it is the Year of the Mouse?
Either way it makes me want to go to Disney World. I like visiting Disney--it's expensive as all get out, but staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge is wonderful. I've stayed in some gorgeous hotels, but this one is beyond spectacular. They have a fire pit in the lobby and the African art and materials are amazing. [As a poet, you think I'd be able to describe it better.] The whole place is surrounded by a game preserve--giraffes, zebras, funky African longhorns, antelopes, and oodles of crazy birds. The best views are from the Savannah rooms. Oh, and there are three places to eat: The Mara-a grab and go food court (good for grabbing water, munchies to keep bellies happy when walking around); Boma-a sit down casual restaurant (they also do the spectacular room service); and Jiko-the fancy restaurant.
And although I like visiting Disney, my uncle calls it the "land of the rat" because he insists that Disney destroyed central Florida. He remembers how quiet and peaceful it was when he was growing up. Me, I remember living there and watching them erect the geodesic dome at Epcot--it looked like a giant eagle nest for the longest time. I also remember all the orange fields around Orlando and Cleremont--most of which are now paved with concrete as Orlando sprawls. That I'll give my uncle. I, too, prefer places without people living directly on top of each other and with a lot of green space.
**********
Family Tree Progress
I discovered I am a great (x many generations) niece of a Saint. So now if anyone ever says I am acting "holier than thou" I can say DUH.
Several generations on, another Catholic member of that same branch was burned at the stake during the Protestant Reformation in England. And not too long after, my direct line hopped over to America and remained Protestant.
If you are religious and reading this, I apologize if I have offended you. I have been doing my genealogy and am discovering the odd habits of my ancestors. They were either very religious or anti religious and few seem to be on the fence.
These two seem to be the most interesting so far--just due to open documentation. Not that the rest of my family is inherently boring, but there are a lot of quiet lives. On goes the quest...
Today the dogs were a hit at the bank drive through and the gas station. I should say two Great Danes in a Thunderbird. Doesn't leave much room for me, the driver. But, Dobby and Filch were happy with the attention--they even got dog treats and waves from the teller and the bank customers.
Yesterday marked the Chinese New Year. We are now in the Year of the Rat. Hmm...how unpleasant that sounds. Although I read somewhere that the Chinese symbol for "rat" can also stand for "mouse". So maybe it is the Year of the Mouse?
Either way it makes me want to go to Disney World. I like visiting Disney--it's expensive as all get out, but staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge is wonderful. I've stayed in some gorgeous hotels, but this one is beyond spectacular. They have a fire pit in the lobby and the African art and materials are amazing. [As a poet, you think I'd be able to describe it better.] The whole place is surrounded by a game preserve--giraffes, zebras, funky African longhorns, antelopes, and oodles of crazy birds. The best views are from the Savannah rooms. Oh, and there are three places to eat: The Mara-a grab and go food court (good for grabbing water, munchies to keep bellies happy when walking around); Boma-a sit down casual restaurant (they also do the spectacular room service); and Jiko-the fancy restaurant.
And although I like visiting Disney, my uncle calls it the "land of the rat" because he insists that Disney destroyed central Florida. He remembers how quiet and peaceful it was when he was growing up. Me, I remember living there and watching them erect the geodesic dome at Epcot--it looked like a giant eagle nest for the longest time. I also remember all the orange fields around Orlando and Cleremont--most of which are now paved with concrete as Orlando sprawls. That I'll give my uncle. I, too, prefer places without people living directly on top of each other and with a lot of green space.
**********
Family Tree Progress
I discovered I am a great (x many generations) niece of a Saint. So now if anyone ever says I am acting "holier than thou" I can say DUH.
Several generations on, another Catholic member of that same branch was burned at the stake during the Protestant Reformation in England. And not too long after, my direct line hopped over to America and remained Protestant.
If you are religious and reading this, I apologize if I have offended you. I have been doing my genealogy and am discovering the odd habits of my ancestors. They were either very religious or anti religious and few seem to be on the fence.
These two seem to be the most interesting so far--just due to open documentation. Not that the rest of my family is inherently boring, but there are a lot of quiet lives. On goes the quest...
06 February 2008
wrap ups and possibilities
Moon: new moon. 0% full. Every end is a beginning.
Solar Eclipse: not seen here. See articles: TimesOnline, The Age, ABC News Australia.
Also, the odd weather continues. Tornadoes in Tennesee, Arkansas, Alabama and Kentucky yesterday did huge damage--killed some fifty (maybe more?) people. In FEBRUARY. Now, after the almost fifty degree weather for the last two days we are being slapped with a nasty snow storm. However, I think Wisconsin and Chicago will get hit much harder. We expect only two to four inches...I heard Milwaukee was expecting something like fifteen.
I've been doing geneological research lately. Most of it is on my dad's side--my aunts got us traced back on their father's side to 1792 and their mother's side to 1698. Doing my own research, I've gotten us back to 1499 in Tintern, Wales (see Wordsworth). [This could have explained my English major to my parents.] It is amazing the information on the web--especially old information--some from archives, some from others searching the same geneological lines. Now that I've got the dates, I am going to try to put together lives--especially of family members that made the journey from England, Wales, and Germany. Hmm...perhaps I have found a new obsession?
I also stumbled across a dating site for scientists or the scientifically inclined. Brainy men are sexy. I love science--I like the stories: where we come from and where we could go. So many possibilites.
Solar Eclipse: not seen here. See articles: TimesOnline, The Age, ABC News Australia.
Also, the odd weather continues. Tornadoes in Tennesee, Arkansas, Alabama and Kentucky yesterday did huge damage--killed some fifty (maybe more?) people. In FEBRUARY. Now, after the almost fifty degree weather for the last two days we are being slapped with a nasty snow storm. However, I think Wisconsin and Chicago will get hit much harder. We expect only two to four inches...I heard Milwaukee was expecting something like fifteen.
I've been doing geneological research lately. Most of it is on my dad's side--my aunts got us traced back on their father's side to 1792 and their mother's side to 1698. Doing my own research, I've gotten us back to 1499 in Tintern, Wales (see Wordsworth). [This could have explained my English major to my parents.] It is amazing the information on the web--especially old information--some from archives, some from others searching the same geneological lines. Now that I've got the dates, I am going to try to put together lives--especially of family members that made the journey from England, Wales, and Germany. Hmm...perhaps I have found a new obsession?
I also stumbled across a dating site for scientists or the scientifically inclined. Brainy men are sexy. I love science--I like the stories: where we come from and where we could go. So many possibilites.
available star-crossed references:
funky weather,
genealogy,
science
04 February 2008
thick as pea soup
Moon: waning crescent. 4% full.
You know, I have always heard (and used) the phrase "thick as pea soup". However, I should say I am completely ignorant of pea soup in general--never had the stuff. Is it chowdery and filled with thickeners like corn starch and heavy creams? Is it just overloaded with peas and possibly ham chunks? These are things about which I am unaware.
I should mention I am NOT the cook in the family. (But I do make killer oatmeal rasin cookies!)
Back to the pea soup: we are surrounded with thick fog. It is 10:30ish and about 45 degrees out--and we've got about six inches of snow on the ground. Warm air+cold ground=uber fog. I couldn't even see ten feet in front of my car on the back roads...it wasn't much better in streetlamped areas either.
I adore fog (as long as I don't have to drive in it). It curls and wheedles around objects playing peekaboo with us. It is especially lovely with the emptiness of it--the deadness of sound, the isolation, the creep factor. Who could resist?
I remember one of the first Stephen King stories I read was about fog--I don't remember much except people being stuck in a grocery store(?) and needing to get home through very scary unseen monsters. I also remember Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon--and how certain people could become lost from Glastonbury and stumble through the mists and end up in Avalon. At thirteen, those story details make their way into the psyche--and now when fog is so thick you can't see your own hand I think about ghosts and monsters and wonder how lost I could get.
So tonight is a night to be insulated with one's own thoughts, one's own ghosts. It is a good night for journaling. It is a good night for blankets and a good book. It is a good time for silence and listening to all the sounds we never pay attention to during our busy lives. Fog slows everything down--take advantage of it.
You know, I have always heard (and used) the phrase "thick as pea soup". However, I should say I am completely ignorant of pea soup in general--never had the stuff. Is it chowdery and filled with thickeners like corn starch and heavy creams? Is it just overloaded with peas and possibly ham chunks? These are things about which I am unaware.
I should mention I am NOT the cook in the family. (But I do make killer oatmeal rasin cookies!)
Back to the pea soup: we are surrounded with thick fog. It is 10:30ish and about 45 degrees out--and we've got about six inches of snow on the ground. Warm air+cold ground=uber fog. I couldn't even see ten feet in front of my car on the back roads...it wasn't much better in streetlamped areas either.
I adore fog (as long as I don't have to drive in it). It curls and wheedles around objects playing peekaboo with us. It is especially lovely with the emptiness of it--the deadness of sound, the isolation, the creep factor. Who could resist?
I remember one of the first Stephen King stories I read was about fog--I don't remember much except people being stuck in a grocery store(?) and needing to get home through very scary unseen monsters. I also remember Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon--and how certain people could become lost from Glastonbury and stumble through the mists and end up in Avalon. At thirteen, those story details make their way into the psyche--and now when fog is so thick you can't see your own hand I think about ghosts and monsters and wonder how lost I could get.
So tonight is a night to be insulated with one's own thoughts, one's own ghosts. It is a good night for journaling. It is a good night for blankets and a good book. It is a good time for silence and listening to all the sounds we never pay attention to during our busy lives. Fog slows everything down--take advantage of it.
available star-crossed references:
books,
fog,
funky weather,
journals,
silence
01 February 2008
whacko weather
Ok...for the last few weeks we've been seeing some funky weather. The weather people say it is due to a "la Nina" system. Come on, folks...this is odd weather even for that.
Imagine a normal winter day, cloudy and about 25ish degrees. Not bad--easy to get through. Usually we get a few bitter patches--0 degrees with negative windchill, sometimes worse. But we are fluctuating in 7 to 10 day-long courses from bitter single digits to 50+, getting tons of lake effect snow in between. We are currently in our fourth go round.
Today is a lake effect snow day. Really the snow wouldn't be so terrible if it would quit drifting. It makes roads and sidewalks impossible to keep clear. I'm about to go shovel the sidewalk for the second time this morning before I open the store.
Moon: waning crescent.
Imagine a normal winter day, cloudy and about 25ish degrees. Not bad--easy to get through. Usually we get a few bitter patches--0 degrees with negative windchill, sometimes worse. But we are fluctuating in 7 to 10 day-long courses from bitter single digits to 50+, getting tons of lake effect snow in between. We are currently in our fourth go round.
Today is a lake effect snow day. Really the snow wouldn't be so terrible if it would quit drifting. It makes roads and sidewalks impossible to keep clear. I'm about to go shovel the sidewalk for the second time this morning before I open the store.
Moon: waning crescent.
available star-crossed references:
funky weather
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