charivari for the right to make noise!

'charivari' to me was a cool word, like tatterdemalion... cool but no longer around.
nobody uses it.
but in Montreal they had a charivari as a form of protest last week - how cool is that?
not only the marchers, but those along the route came out to bang pots and pans in support.

The Guardian's Adam Gabbatt writes from Montreal:
Indeed, at the pot banging near the Jarry subway on Friday night the age range of the crowd was strikingly diverse. Sensibly dressed fortysomethings wearing hiking boots and kagools intermingled with long-haired students wearing only shorts. Men and women pushing young children in prams were flanked by hipsters on fixed-gear bikes.

The range of protesters was matched by the diversity of utensils they chose to create noise. Some had reached past the saucepan and wooden spoon, with the Guardian spying such unlikely pairings as a colander and a drumstick, a pan lid and a pair of chopsticks, and a barbecue lid and a pair of tongs all being put to alternative use.

As the protesters marched for more than four hours through various Montreal neighbourhoods, many people had taken to their balconies in support, bringing their own kitchenware and adding to the din.

kind of reminds me of the 60s when race riots spread across the USA and the one black guy in vermont exploded out to his curbside and set his paper-recycling bin on fire. (the good paper one, not glossy, that makes toxic fumes).

spork sport

never trust anyone who tells you a titanium spork can be hung on your nose as easily as a silver fork.*

it is way way more difficult and requires intense skill and concentration.

here is an expert demonstrating.  do not try this unless you know what you are doing.

*oops i meant as a silver spoon - never could hang a fork on my nose

iris

no matter what their color

all iris smell purple

to read or to weed

thoughts think themselves while you pull up weeds from the flower bed.  just back from talking to the librarian, and hearing my neighbor next door, i idly make a connection.  

he (the librarian) doesn't know them (the neighbors) because they don't go to the library, altho they live 3 doors down from it. 

they (the neighbors) perhaps don't even read.

my brain connects more dots. 

they (the neighbors) are seriously, germanically,  industrious.  

while they garden dawn to dusk to provide themselves with veggies year round (and sometimes some for us) i read on my back porch.  

i try to back into the corner behind the bush so they don't see me.

i believe that People Who Don't Read have a certain view of People Who Read.

People Who Read have a certain view of People Who Don't Read.

pulling weeds my brain lights up  AHA!  

he (the librarian) asked of the book i recommended to him: "it's not science fiction or fantasy is it?"

People Who Read have a certain view of WHAT OTHER PEOPLE READ.

there is a sort of hierarchy of what kind of reading is a waste of time.

readers of history and literature have a certain view of readers of mysteries.

mystery readers have a certain view of sci fi and fantasy readers.

who, i am sure, believe they are not wasting time like romance story readers!

it's fun to realize this.  my brain is cheerful about it.  it is one more clue in my life-long obsession called "What is it that people should do with their time?"  

hardly anyone approves of how anyone else spends their time!
 

preschool readiness

the school is adding a pre-school class for next year!  i checked to see if any dolls or stuffies wanted to move on from their quiet shelf to an adventurous social life in a pre-school, and a few were ready to go!

  but the school says they will have to be sealed up in a black plastic bag for 30 days once they arrive.  

  sounds dreadful. 

 hard to know what they think, but i have strong misgivings.  

  sure it makes sense, but it's almost summer so they could end up in a bag in a closet at the school the whole summer!  or worse, some less-than-alert person could mistake them for a trash bag (which is what they'll be in) and toss them in the dumpster!
not sure i'm ready for this move. 

 maybe i'll keep them until school opens again and then take them over and introduce them.

.

Spring: 4:30 am

through my chill window
the robins sing at bare dawn
what could be sweeter?

                                         ~mudpie

contains snacks and violets

warning: contains snacks and violets

visitors always get offered tea or coffee or water, hot or cold.  i've learned to keep some sugar handy; 

surprises me how many people use it.  

but half and half and ice just don't last, and we never do use them.  so we never have creamer, 

and ice you take your chances!  

are we weird? 

 i suppose so!

keeping the lights on

kudos to our electric company!  they deserved the Edison Electric Institute's 2011 Emergency Recovery Award. here's the summary of recovery from the storm last August.  we may not have had roads or bridges or water, by we had electricity!

Given the destruction of hundreds of roads and bridges, CVPS initially thought restoration of electricity would take weeks, but officials decided early in the recovery that a lack of roads would not stop the restoration efforts.  Employees were told to do whatever was necessary to safely restore service. Employees:

• Hiked, biked and used off-road motorcycles and ATVs to access areas where roads disappeared.
• Hired a contractor to build a temporary road to bypass massive washouts and allow immediate access to several towns, including Mendon and Killington, after Route 4 was washed away. Crews restored all power in Mendon and Killington in a day; Route 4 took 18 days to repair.
• Installed a portable substation to restore power to three isolated towns after the local substation in Rochester was destroyed.
• Surveyed, staked and built miles of entirely new lines in new places after existing lines and the roads they abutted disappeared.

And i think they had fun doing it.

riding the hedgies

Raglan Shire's 2012 Artwalk comprising 4 sims is quite a hike.  but YAY they've provided hedgepillars to ride around all the hedges hung with art!
a bumpy ride, but soft.  hedgeslugs would be smoother riding, but what a mess that would be for the walkers.

24 hour vigil

sitting out of time
in palpable emptiness
with nina's body
                     
                                                  ~mudpie

of course we do need it

cars pass swish rain chills
yesterday's lovely spring day
rap rap on the roof

                                        ~mudpie

warm brown & fragrant

everyone knows Freud's famous comment "What do women want?" (my favorite reply is from Gloria Steinem: "ask them one at a time.")

do you ever hear "What do men want?"

usually John does the cooking, but lately I've been cooking.  last night i made a meatloaf so good he actually dreamt about it during the night.

in case you are wondering, it was a turkey meatloaf recipe from the internet - lots of onion, garlic, ketchup, some w. sauce,  breadcrumbs, 1 egg, i think that's it!

do i ever dream about food? not that i remember...i'll have to pay attention.