something fishy

caught in the act...
the great St Pete Beach sand investigation
what is this stuff, anyway?

home again

mmmmm so nice to be home and sleep in my own flannel-sheeted bed under my heavy pile of quilts in the land of snow and mud after weeks of sleeping on other people's lumpy sofas and guest beds in the near-tropics.

warning - if you put some beautiful powdery white beach sand in a small zip-lock baggie, your carry-on will be searched and you may be treated as slightly suspicious at first, then dotty afterwards. 

but your cats will enjoy scooping it around in a bowl and tossing it on the floor!

dreams of no doubt

in the dream a very small girl, maybe age 3, plays around some puddles as a slight rain sprinkles.  she has sandy rough boy-cut hair and wears a simple rumpled shift.  face and arms are still baby-fat rounded.  her caretaker, young mother, teenaged sister -- yes i think it is her much older sister -- stands nearby staring off at a shadowy female figure some distance away.  the tiny girl raises her chubby arms in the pick-me-up gesture and goes to the sister without hesitation without doubt without trying to read her sister's face or posture.  her sister scoops her up without hesitation without doubt without asking "do you want to come up?" and molds her to her shoulder, still looking off.

this vision of perfect mutual trust and accomodation is so profoundly affecting, i can't get it out of my mind.

country mouse

i couldn't believe how long it took to pick up a carton of milk on the way home.  i'd recently moved from the city, where you took your stuff to the counter, paid, and you were out of there.  now i had to stand in line while the checker conversed with each customer...and even worse, when my turn came, i was expected to comment on the weather and exchange other inane pleasantries before leaving with my purchases.

i thought of this today as i stood in line, an activity i've come to know as an opportunity to chat with anyone else in the line, and then, at the counter, discovering that the checker is a friend i haven't seen in awhile and we catch up on each others' lives. she even came around from behind the counter for a happy new year hug. i glanced back at the people waiting in line, hoping they were all from around here.  even at the pharmacy when i pick up some meds or something, the pharmacist comes around the counter for a hug!

up to no good

could this be mudpie?

this doesn't look good!

the sun is coming back?

the sun came up early yesterday! 

made a believer of me

spring is a long slow dance -

step forward, step back

and mud mud mud

meanwhile, speaking of mud, 

mudpie put pots of herbs at her tiny houseboat window, 

even tho Raglan Shire is still covered in snow.

feels good to see them there.

let your smile be your umbrella - my birthday version!

let your smile be your umbrella

let your grimace be your shoe

let your smirk be your sombrero

and you'll find a love that's true

let your frown be your long underwear

and your sneer your pocketbook

let your grin be your ballet shoe ribbon

then you'll know you're off the hook!

I thought of this poem in my sleep last night and wrote it down when I woke up this morning!  A good birthday poem! 

(You have to stomp and clap to the fiddle and banjo, and join in on the chorus)