Dragon's Alley

I suppose y'all want to know how it went on Saturday...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:06:00 PST

I got about 4 hours sleep last night, Tom and Devon were here at 9am to continue the paint party so if I don't make much sense blame the lack of sleep...

The first place we saw was just awful - the building was in less the wonderful condition (the windows were rusty and rotting) and the unit itself was dark and dreary and creepy. Even my husband who never picks up on vibes or feelings said it was creepy. OK, on to the next one...

You know the one that looked really nice in the photos? Well it was really nice! I loved the dining room and the kitchen was small but delightful. Lots of nice details BUT it was a basement apartment! There was nothing in any of the descriptions or paperwork that indicated this. It was about half-below grade and very light but it was still a basement and I DO NOT do basements. Then there was the babbling brook in the living room - there was this bump-out, like a column, and we could hear water flowing through it - loudly. Constantly. First we thought it was a toilet flushing but the noise of the water was constant. Then we thought it might be the sump pump (which was just outside the bedroom window) but it wasn't. So between the basement aspect and the babbling brook we passed on it!

Our agent is keeping a sharp eye on that complex tho - it was beautiful and the units are all large and airy. We had been in that complex before when we lived in Alexandria - I don't remember why - maybe when we were looking for a rental. It's a good 5 block walk to the bus stop to the Metro but if we were younger and healthier, walking to the Metro from there would be easy - I've done it before - I walked from the King Street Metro to my orthopedist who is a couple of blocks further up than this complex...Oh my, yes - we lovey that complex.

So the painting continues apace. My house is a total mess - the floors are covered in brown paper; there is blue painter tape on everything; there is spackle debris everywhere - I couldn't clean even if I wanted to and strangely enough I am okay with it. No stress at all. Simply amazing. BB the orange cat has gone into hiding, lord knows when we will see him again. Miss Frankie is parading around complaining and I suspect we will be cleaning paint off her on a daily basis.

But you know - it's all good. I'm sleepy and a little tired physically but psychologically/emotionally I'm just fine...I'm cool...and I'm smiling...

Saturday Night...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:42:00 PST

Been out all day - got home after 8 pm - tired. Catch up with everybody on Sunday, or maybe Monday...

Friday was a crazy day - but good.

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:01:00 PST

My house is in total turmoil. Tom and Devon spent all day Friday taping and spackling and what all has to be be done before painting - which will start on Monday. The house is a chaotic mess and dirty. You all know how much I dislike chaos and dirt and yet - I'm good with all of it.

I am physically tired tho - big day for me personally - I actually left the house all on my own and went to the hair salon for a cut and color and to have my eyebrows tamed. While I was there I had an amazing experience that falls under the metaphysical (for lack of a better word) heading. I haven't done much in that area since moving here - no one to connect with, no one to practice with, so this was a spontaneous act and oh, it was so good - exhausting, sad, happy but good.

There is so much energy around - I feel like I could reach out and just grab it - there are connections all over; things falling into place unexpectedly. Thursday the accountant did a happy dance because we are finally getting a refund from the Feds (she took it very personally LOL). Jen said she had a dream about me - that she and her family visited me. The Universe is just crackling around me - and I am mostly calm, mostly rolling with it, mostly centered and solid. Que sera, sera - I'm good with it all.

It's a great feeling - calm, peaceful yet energetic and happy and oh so tired but in oh such a good way.

Busy days...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:08:00 PST

Tom the miracle man will be here on Friday to start prepping the place for painting. So we decided to empty the bookcases in my office and pack all my stuff up. The freestanding bookcase will be disposed of and the room will certainly look much larger - all the better for showing, yeah? Tomorrow we will finish in my office and then take down all the art work in the house, bubble wrap it and store it.

I have a 1920's Mutschler Porce Namel kitchen table I am getting rid of - posted it on Craig's List in the "antique" category but may move it to "furniture". The cool thing was I found a 1929 Mutschler catalogue on line with table in it....you can see the catalogue HERE. My table is on page 47.

We started the mortgage pre-approval process and the bank has already pulled my credit reports - I got a credit alert this morning and nearly had a coronary until I checked and saw it was the bank.

I am much calmer - and it's a good thing I don't take horoscopes to heart because mine, for the month of February, said if you are buying or selling a house nothing will happen till the end of June - feh! Something about some planet of other being retrograde or coming out of retrograde - some such nonsense. For those of you who are astrology believers, I don't mean to offend you, but it's such a crock...

I can only be positive and up beat and believe that now is my time to fly - to grow. That it is my time to have what I need. To build a foundation and work up from there - not everything in one fell swoop, not perfect from the very beginning but one step at a time, one foot in front of the other, moving steady on, taxing down my own personal runway so I can fly...

All I'm seeing in my mind's eye are butterflies and wings....I see wings all around me...I feel the warm breeze they create as they flutter and beat...

Fanciful you say? Perhaps but it is who I am. Butterflies have been with me always, tho my connection to them waned for years and now it is back. And the wings thing - there are times when I see wings of all shapes and colors; I can feel them - all around me - just wings; not attached to any thing - just pairs of wings. The wings are a new phenomenon - mystified me at first, now they are some thing I take comfort in, when comfort is what I need. And joy, when that is what I am feeling. And hope when I need that.

Do we make these things up? See and feel what we need to, in our imagination only OR...Are they always there and we only see and feel them when we truly need to. I believe the Universe provides what we need and it is up to us to recognize it, accept it, use it...I'm so bad at that. And sometimes, when we are deaf and blind to what is offered, the Universe insists - for whatever reason...a kindness, perhaps.

I don't know. I don't need to know the why or the how. I only need to know it's there. And maybe learn to to use it and not screw it up.

For now, we have busy days. Going forward days. Hoping and praying days. Working hard days - not expecting things to drop in our laps but rather laying down that runway that we can take off from...Accepting the butterflies and the wings as the gifts and reminders that they are.

I never know if I'm making any sense when I try to write about these feelings...but it's okay, I only need to feel them, trust them, accept them and go from there...

I'm so excited...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:42:00 PST

I can't form a coherent sentence; I can't sit still - my husband has had to peel me off the ceiling several times today...this song might not be appropriate to the situation but the title fits - come on and dance with me- gotta work off the nervous - excited energy...

Equal but different

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:59:00 PST

The other day I said, as I often have, "what do folks do for laughs if they don't have cats???". That is not a put-down of dogs. I grew up with dogs, started living with cats when I was in my late 20's, been living with them ever since. We did have two cats and a dog for a while in the mid-90's but we had to leave her behind when we moved to Virginia.

I think dogs are universally sweet creatures, and if they aren't it's the fault of whatever humans they came in contact with. Dogs are just so doofy, and goofy. They are not sophisticated creatures and they will do anything for food. They are loyal to a fault and trust too much for their own good. There aren't any bad dogs, just bad humans. At least that's how I see it.

Ah, but cats - different story. I have met many dumb dogs but very few dumb cats. That said, my orange BB cat is just about the dumbest cat I have ever met - but he is also incredibly mellow and a total cuddle bunny, velcro kitty. Now Miss Frankie Lulu Belle - well, almost any cat would pale in comparison to her - truly. She is too damn smart for her own good, and with that gorgeous face - well, people fall all over her. We had them at the vet at the same time and they fussed and cooed over Frankie and then fell all over themselves saying "Oh, BB is a nice cat too".

I always laugh when people say they don't like cats because they are independent - Ha! There is less maintenance with cats - no going out in all kinds of weather to meet basic needs like dogs - but truly cats train US far more than we train them. We do their bidding - and they demand human interaction. Aloof??? Really?? Nah - While Frankie hates being picked up, she insists on being attached to a human at all times. Right now she is a little annoyed because she can't lie on my arm as I type - so she is 3 inches away - napping while sitting up...BB is downstairs sitting on the back of my husband's recliner while he works. These guys are never far from us - and it's because they prefer it that way. They hate being alone - and by alone I mean with no humans around. Independent/aloof - Not on a bet.

And yet, as sweet and loving as dogs are, and as goofy and doofy as dogs are, and as loyal as dogs are, they just aren't as naturally funny as cats!

But if you want a cat that is very much like a dog - get a Siamese. They are super smart, very protective of their home, very protective of their human, physically beautiful, but you know, I have had several Siamese kitties and their just not as funny as my shelter kitty "mutts".

Or maybe I am just a tiny bit prejudiced toward my "children"...(and I just got up from desk to open the blinds because Frankie was sitting on the couch rattling the blinds because she wanted to look out).

Dogs, cats, rabbits, gerbils, chickens, iguanas - who ever shares your life and makes you smile...It's all good!

(Image from HERE)

Ok, what do I have for you today?

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:56:00 PST

We are in the "hurry up and wait" mode. We chose a seller's agent who promised us wonderful personal service and we haven't heard from her in 2 days.(Whoopsie - half-an hour after I posted this - she called) The other agent we interviewed was very impressive but we got the distinct feeling he was more accustomed to working with higher end properties, my husband actually voiced that concern. It wasn't a comfortable fit personality wise but I did like his stats. I was in the process of changing my less than positive attitude towards real estate agents, now, maybe not so much.

We are trying to get a buyer's agent in Virginia and so far no luck with that - I prefer communicating by email and it seems a whole lot of people aren't...my in-box is very lonely.

We are going to spend the weekend sorting and tossing. My husband are I are minimalists and yet, somehow, that marvelous 6 foot long closet we had built in the basement has become chock-a-block with "maybe" stuff. This will actually be fun for us - we get bored, we reorganize and toss. I know, I know - we are peculiar.

You may have noticed (or not) that there haven't been any new entries in "Today's Conversation" - our conversations haven't been all that amusing lately - conversations have been all business, or all none of your business. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Any Apple users out there? Nifty article in the Thursday NYTimes - their technology columns are far more useful than their food columns. If you are a power iPad user, check this out.

Also it seems there is an app called "FaceTime" that allows you to make video phone calls from any Apple device. I bought the app for 99¢ . You can use a person's email to contact them. I was fooling with it and wound up calling Jen. What I didn't know was the call actually showed up on her iPhone. Whoops! Thankfully the call didn't disturb her and she didn't know I "called" until much later. That's what I hate about phones - you don't know if you are disturbing someone, interrupting something - I like email - less intrusive.

And lastly, but never leastly - what do folks do for laughs if they don't have cats???

You're joking, right? AKA The NYT food and style sections

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:02:00 PST

If you want to laugh your ass off I strongly suggest reading the Style/Food/Home/Fashion sections of the New York Times. These sections are basically the print version of "Life Styles of the Rich and Famous". I'm not too sure if any of us normal folks relate.

Today's evidence: Wednesday is "Dining" day and I swear even back in the days when I cooked, never in my life have I ever cut out a recipe from the Times. Never. Hell, most of the time I gag at the thought of eating some of the recipes, much less cooking them. In today's paper we have An Indian Curry Close to Home. My favorite part of this is the second sentence "With only a few ingredients you most likely have on hand..." They are so kidding me with this. And yet I'm sure many, many folks always have fresh ginger, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black mustard seeds (and we should all get into the habit of toasting and grinding our own spices), mint, cilantro and chives hanging around. And let's not count the ghee. What the hell??? I'm sure that are some folks out there, one of us nice normal folks, who do actually cook like this on a regular basis, and even toast and grind their own spices. Well, God bless you - where do you find the time ? Or the ingredients. Just Askin'

Then we have a lady who cannot possibly be a native New Yorker because she calls shopping carts "granny carts" There's A Younger Hand on the Granny Cart. New York is a walking city - and shopping carts are how we get our stuff from here to there. Even tho my father had a car we also had a shopping cart because sometimes you had to get a bunch a stuff from the grocery store and it was going to be too heavy to schlep 6 or 8 blocks. When I got my first apartment the laundry room was in the basement and while there was an elevator it was just easier to put the laundry in the shopping cart and take it downstairs that way.

I never owned a car, or drove, for the 44 years I lived in NYC - how in hell does this woman think we got our groceries home? Shopping carts were (are) a way of life in New York and other cities (including where I live now). You trying schlepping 20 pounds of kitty litter home from the store without one. Granny cart my ass - been using one since I was a kid, still use one, will always use one because I'm smart, because I am a native New Yorker and because everybody in NYC uses them and because I don't give a rat's ass what other people think.

Okay - that's the rant of the day. Over and out...

Most of you got it right.

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:05:00 PST

We have been in the process of deciding whether to sell our house. We've had the amazing Tom the Remodeler come in to see what needs spiffing up. We had a home inspector come in and tell us what needs fixing (very little). We had the house appraised so we know whether it will be worth it, and..It is.

I won't give you numbers - what we paid, what it's worth (more than we paid, thankfully) or what we have spent on upgrading/improving (you would gag at THAT number.)

Wednesday we are interviewing 2 real estate agents, tho I already have a favorite. Some negotiations will have to be done there because we have such a small margin of "it's not going to be worth it." The scary part is looking for a place to buy while trying to sell.

And yes, we are going back to Virginia. This time to Arlington. As much as I like Old Town, it's pricey and I hate paying all those extra taxes...the city of Alexandria has their own set of taxes, over and above all the other taxes that must be paid and I don't feel like paying them any more. So it will be somewhere along the Orange Line .

I'm ready to shake off my agoraphobia (really - I've developed this fear of leaving the house and when I do go out, on very rare occasions, I have an anxiety attack before and a melt-down after - it's ugly!). Ready to pack my little bits of flotsam and jetsam and get back to living again.

So please, my dear friends, keep your fingers and toes crossed, light a candle, wish me luck that we manage to pull this off with a minimum amount of stress. Send those good thoughts my way - I need them!

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:27:00 PST

Last night we were watching "Criminal Minds" and the intro scene is a bunch of high school seniors at the beach celebrating graduation. There's a girl and a guy having an inane conversation and at the end of every sentence she said "Johnny" and of course this immediately leapt to mind...

...1

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:00:00 PST

...2

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:00:00 PST

3...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:46:00 PST

I love being an obsessive compulsive nut job!

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00:00 PST

I spent the afternoon spiffing up my spread sheets and the "house" book. I am cuckoo enough that each and every line in the spread sheet for the house repairs/improvements was manually adjusted for height. 'Cause you know, when it printed out with the grid lines it wasn't all that easy to read - I wanted some more spacing. A one line entry became .25, a 2 line entry was .45, a 3 line entry was .66 and so on...I printed out several copies, saved it as a pdf (just for the hell of it) and it's pretty, pretty.

I also up-dated the house book. I had a bunch of invoices and maintenance contracts that I hadn't put in the book. So I popped them in their plastic page protectors and put them in their rightful place. What's a house book you say? Every one has one, right?

When we started house hunting 3 1/2 years ago we started a loose-leaf book for everything pertaining to the search - started with print-outs of houses we looked at, then the real estate agents contract and then when we put in the offer the book started filling up fast. Every single piece of paper, including copies of checks, went in the book. We had renter's insurance where we had lived and that cancellation notice is in the book. The contract with the moving company is in the book. EVERYTHING is in the book. You want a history of this house - it's in the book.

I am so freakin' organized

Patience is not one of my virtues

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:05:00 PST

assuming I have any to begin with, patience is certainly not one of them. And in a seemingly contradictory fashion, I don't make snap decisions. Many years ago I made a life decision that was irrevocable and when I told a friend he said "How can you make a snap decision like that?" I replied "Snap decision? I've been thinking and researching and planning this for two years!"

I am a planner. Once I decide to do something the research begins. Then several scenarios are created and plans for each one. Then additional contingency plans are made for what could go wrong in each of those scenarios. Once those are all in place I start with the best possible and work from there. This takes time.

Yet I have no patience.

We have decided to look into making some changes. Can we afford a certain portion of it - yes, we can. Okay but to do that other complicated actions have to be taken. Are they feasible - maybe but...So spend some money to make some money - so to speak. Appointments made - wait for them to occur. Wait..wait..wait.

I'm still waiting.

Wait to get those results, if they are positive then make some more appointments. Wait for those results.

I'm waiting for the first round of appointments and they are all that's on my mind. Can't eat, can't sleep, can't think of anything else. But still I have to research the next steps if they turn out well. But I can only go so far with my research and planning.

Once I decide to do something I want to DO IT NOW. Right now all I can do is get the information I need to decide IF I can do what I want.

Insanity.

I have no patience.

All the kool kids are doing it...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:58:00 PST

The latest badge of coolness? Socks - so says the NYT. Flashy socks now signal that you are a member of the in crowd. So Vanilla you're IN!

On to the not so kool kids - I offer you this article from the NYT Facebook Is Using You. As you may well be aware FB is going public and a few people are about to become billionaires. More power to them.

FB, Google et al make their money by selling advertising - targeted advertising. With every click of your mouse you are telling them what you like, what you eat, where you go and so on. Idle curiosity can link you with people, places, ideas, that don't really represent who you are. Not to mention that you have to see these advertisements whether you like it or not and they take up real estate on your screen. The upside to the advertising is that it allows us to have all these wonderful web sites and services free of charge. The article makes some serious points about internet privacy and I think you all should read it - take the time, please.

My point tho is simpler - I don't see these ads - not on FB or in GMail or any where really. Why? Because not only do I have pop-ups blocked I also have a little app called "Adblock Plus" . Basically that means I am getting a really free ride and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it.

Everyone knows how much I hate all things Microsoft (except for Publisher) which is why I have several Mac's. Which is why I have been using Firefox since the moment it came on the market. The other day I checked some stats for this blog and discovered that 52% of the viewers are using Firefox, 25% are using Chrome and 13% are using IE. Only 2% are using Safari. I guess folks are getting smarter. On the other hand, operating systems breakdown to 78% for Windows and only 19% for Macintosh. Linux is 1% (and I know who you are!) and at less than 1% are iPad, iPhone, Android and Ubuntu.

I keep wondering if people with Windows computers who are also using Apple's iPad or iPhone every get frustrated with their pc's or laptops. I wonder how much they are contemplating going all Apple. But that's just an aside.

What frustrates me is people who moan and groan about their computers, their on-line experiences and when they are told there are ways to solve those problems they reply "Oh, but I'm used to this" "I can't learn something new" "I don't wanna" - Well then Shut Up!

No computer is invulnerable to outside tampering but there are simple, free, easy tools available to give you another layer of protection - So aside from privacy issues (really - read that article I linked to) there are "quality of use" issues.

Stop being a bunch of old farts, stop whining, switch to Firefox (or any other browser besides IE), download Ad Block, use the private browsing function, don't store your passwords, set your browser to clean your cache and history every time you close your browser and for crap's sake, if you have have an anti-virus program - USE IT!

Okay, now I'm done - until next time.

I've always found astrology amusing,

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:21:00 PST

a parlor game, nothing more. But sometimes, just sometimes, these stupid horoscopes are so right on it's creepy. Really creepy...

While I glance at the daily one in the newspaper, which is always a total joke, most months I don't check my horoscope but this month I did. My horoscope this month gave me pause - it's like someone has been eavesdropping on my conversations, hiding in my house, sneaking around gathering information and is so bloody specific to what is going on right now, I clicked off the page and just stared at the blank screen.

I didn't read the whole February horoscope, I tend to skip over the romance and work related stuff since neither is a part of my life but the main part - woo-eee. Actually some of it was some common sense advice I hadn't thought about but should have and now am.

Big picture, have to keep my eyes on the big picture - not my best skill, I'm the detail person; I'm the organizer-list maker. Unfortunately my husband is also a detail person - gonna be a bumpy couple of months!

Thank you for your kindness

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:09:00 PST

I've been quiet for some time now, not saying much, here or anywhere else on the interwebz. Messages of caring were posted on my FB wall over the weekend and I didn't see them until Monday because I just wasn't there. I'm not sure how much I will be anywhere for a while.

I've been rather out of it - not ill in a physical way but more in an emotional/psychological way. I've been a worry to the people who have been witness to my discombobulation. Plans are being made that may help prevent more discombobulating in the future and they will probably be revealed here over time. Quite exciting actually but stressful and far from anywhere near instant...months in the making and doing are these plans. But forward we are going. And it's a rather nice direction to be going...It takes so much energy to stay afloat, in one place, going neither forward nor backward; eventually exhaustion sets in and one goes down because there is no up.

But now there is an up and a forward...

Some people believe in angels - I do tho I don't think of them as angels in the religious way but rather entities, spirits and souls - these I know are there. But if you would like to call them angels I have no objection, I'll use your word.

I know a lady who does angel communications, yes, I know you are laughing and to be honest I find some of her pronouncements/philosophy/teachings - howsoever you wish to call them - amusing. Is amusing a good word? At any rate she is a most charming, sincere and delightful lady and sometimes I need to hear what the "angels" have to say because there is always some truth in it. Common sense perhaps, normal wisdom and kind words, perhaps. But sometimes we just need to hear that. Last December I requested an angel reading from this lady - I was feeling antsy and disconnected and...

The reading was very interesting - to me. I wanted to share it with you because round about that time I was having a discussion on-line about hands - and hands show up in the reading. Some of the reading is very complimentary to me - so just skip over those parts because they are bush-wah...total nonsense but some of it is very interesting, not just for me, but for everyone in general. Nothing earth shattering. Common sense mostly, things any good therapist might tell you.

I put the reading into a Google doc format and if you want to read it you can access it HERE. It's runs a bit long, and the formatting bites but if you are curious...

And Jen, the part about the hands is towards the end, you might find that part curious.

Saving Grace -

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:29:00 PST

The only thing that moves me lately is the music. The only things that saves me is the music.

Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PST

The long and the short of it; or rather the tall and the tiny...

Once Again, web surfing background music

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:49:00 PST

It's from Jonathan Livingstone Seagull - a favorite soundtrack of mine. Just click play, and then open a new window/tab. Enjoy the music while you carry on the day's duties..

Just because...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PST

music is essential. Click Play, then open a new tab or window and continue your web surfing accompanied by George Gershwin

I don't like January...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:16:00 PST

and maybe I don't like February either but I can't tell till I get there. I have no memory of not liking February but my oh my I think I have always not liked January.

January doesn't feel right. It's all ennui and anxiety. All throw everything out including myself. Erase, Erase. Erase!

It seems every January I try to delete myself. Last January I closed my blog Hugz and opened this one. I imported all the posts from the one into the other and then deleted past posts that weren't relevant or were deemed unworthy or boring or too personal or stupid or...I've been blogging since 2005 and my stats show something like 315 posts, if you include the ones I deleted it would be three times that many, at least.

A lot of people think of January as "new year, new beginning", I think of it as "delete, delete, delete" and not for positive reasons. It's not like I want to start something new but more like I want to get rid of what's old - not for any particular reason except that I'm tired of it. January makes me tired.

Maybe it's the hibernation gene left over from pre homo sapien times, we just sleep more and have less energy in the cold winter months; preserving our energies and food stores against hard times and Spring. I don't know.

I am uncomfortable in my own skin. I want to shed it, my identity, my past, with no looking to the future. Which leaves me where? Don't know, never thought about it till I started to write it done just now.

I don't want to be someone else, I just don't want to be me, or be here. And that's not here as in where I physically am, because you all know how much I hate where I live, but just not here. Makes no sense except that it does. If you've ever felt this way. If not, then lucky you and don't trouble yourself with trying to understand. How often do I really make sense anyway?

January is not like September.

September is always filled with hope and joy and New New New! Probably goes back to childhood when September meant a new school year and new clothes (sometimes), new books, pens, pencils. Paper - clean and crisp and blank; ready for new and better stories. September is forward - bigger, better! Not a re-invention but a building on, and up - higher, better!

I like September very much...

But I don't think I like January at all.

Fractured...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:10:00 PST

Vanilla (of String to Short to Tie) had a post about Popeye today. It reminded me that my favorites songs and sayings from childhood were the "fractured" ones; the mocking ones.

We sang "I'm Popeye the sailor man, I live in a garbage can..." The there were the nursery rhymes - "Jack and Jill went up the hill, They each had a quarter. Jill came down with 50 cents, Think they went up for water?" Someone wrote that in my 8th graduation autograph book and a teacher saw it and went ballistic.

How about "Hickory dickery dock, Two mice ran up the clock, The clock struck one and the other got away with minor injuries" Of course nursery rhymes are kind of violent anyway...Look 'em up or dredge a few from your memory.

I remember in the early days of Beatle-mania hearing my much younger brother singing "Close your eyes and I'll slug you, tomorrow I'll mug you" . Simple stuff, kid stuff but funny - at least to kids.

My father was a Mason (that's the fraternal order not the trade) and every Christmas his Lodge gave a party, supposed to be for the kids. And the kids were the entertainment - sort of like a little amateur talent contest or whatever. One year, when I was about 8 or so I recited one of my favorite Christmas poems..."The Unwise Christmas". I can't find a copy on-line so I will copy out the poem in it's entirety:

The Unwise Christmas
by Ralph Bergengren

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
One creature was stirring, and that was a mouse.
The stockings that hung by the chimney with care
He's nibbled the toes of them, pair after pair.
He ate all the candy, six candy canes too;
Not a morsel was left when that mouse had got through.
The moral of which-if you know what a sight is
A mouse that has perished of acute gastritis-
That Christmas itself may be called into question
If carried so far it creates indigestion."

I don't recall if anyone commented on my choice of recitation material - probably no one was listening to the chubby girl with short straight black hair and blunt cut bangs. I looked as odd as my poem.

I guess I've always had a slightly twisted take on things. I've always enjoyed the slightly off, the slyly off...Did as a kid, do now...

So...

noreply@blogger.com (Grace) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:03:00 PST

Deactivated and then reactivated my FaceBook account but don't expect much activity from me on there - not that I ever have been very active. Mostly just posted my blog posts...

Sometimes I just have odd thoughts that go through my head that I want to say out loud and since I am a recluse (not my choice) I have no one to say them to - and you do want to say them to someone and neither my husband not my cats really care (or listen). Once in a while I would post these odd thoughts and observations on FB but it seems so unsatisfying. I'm going back to Twitter - why I think that is better than FB, I have no idea but it feels better. So you can find my inanities @DragonsAlley from now on. (I just noticed I have two cap letters in my twitter name, I wonder is all lower case would work - hmmm - someone try that for me please?)

Remember I mentioned a book I was asked to review? It's a slog - good thing it's short - several chapters in and I'm not thrilled. Since it's already been published by a university press I have to assume it's just me. When I started reading I thought the first chapter was missing, chapter one reads like it is a continuation. Then I got to chapter two and it didn't seem to be connected to chapter one until a few pages in, so I was thinking this was a book of linked short stories. And it seems a little "simple" - I don't know what to make of this book at all.

I can't believe it's so late in the afternoon - I was up early enough (for me) and except for the Book Review section of the NYT the papers have been read, there is a load of laundry in the dryer, and I didn't really settle into the computer until 1:30-ish. Sunday involves a lot of reading even tho all the Sunday "extras" come on Saturday. Dontcha' hate that - reading the Sunday funnies on Saturday?

Just meandering thoughts on a cold winter's day...