well i finally understand uptalking.
yes i thought it was weird and irritating but suddenly i saw the light.
it's a contraction. we've been doing it right along.
now we just cut to the question mark instead of adding these words at the end of our sentences.
it could be because more and more we suspect you aren't listening, don-cha-know?
so listen to me, will you?
n'est pas?
nome sain?
eh?
y'know?
understand?
non?
ya?
and that's all it is. get it?
Dec 21, 2013
Dec 7, 2013
surprise frog package *sniff*
froggy things arrived by post
two of the things i love the most
two funny books! for laughs or napping
all in wondrous froggy wrapping!
from Osprey, a fellow doggerel lover,
a lover of silliness and surprise
a person of remarkable energy and humour and passion,
the funnest and most creative time of my life is due to her.
it changed me for the better.
now she is on her way out the door,
into the next something or nothing,
a light will go out in our world.
she plans her exit for the solstice,
to steal off in the darkness while everything sleeps.
all of us who knew her will carry a little of osprey within us, and feel joy and loss when we think of her -- and i have her books!!
i had some Lear and Carroll and even Don Marquis, and all those funny books, but of Belloc i only knew to be kind and tender to frogs! osprey wanted to further my education in this respect, and as she will have no more use for these books, i am so happy to receive them.
Dec 3, 2013
my imaginary friends may be real and you maybe not
so i got another box from the attic.
stuff my mom saved from my childhood and then gave to me.
maybe i can get rid of it!
here's my baby book, something mothers worked hard at.
oh look, i had an imaginary friend, a rabbit.
i have no memory of such a thing.
apparently it had to have a place to sit at dinner.
my parents loved this stuff.
i'm thinking my next imaginary friend was Jesus,
i took to him at a very early age.
my parents were not so happy about that,
but they let me live in that rabbit hole until i outgrew it.
which i did, and then went without imaginary friends for years.
were those my years as a grown-up?
now that i'm a Buddhist i have many many imaginary friends!
if i become a Hindu i'll have multiple times that number.
my friend the Shaman has his power animal (i keep wanting to say 'familiar' but that's witches)
it sits by him at dinner (apparently on the floor) or so he mentioned at dinner recently.
is that his imaginary friend, or is it real?
in which case aren't they all real?
real as anything else?
stuff my mom saved from my childhood and then gave to me.
maybe i can get rid of it!
here's my baby book, something mothers worked hard at.
oh look, i had an imaginary friend, a rabbit.
i have no memory of such a thing.
apparently it had to have a place to sit at dinner.
my parents loved this stuff.
i'm thinking my next imaginary friend was Jesus,
i took to him at a very early age.
my parents were not so happy about that,
but they let me live in that rabbit hole until i outgrew it.
which i did, and then went without imaginary friends for years.
were those my years as a grown-up?
now that i'm a Buddhist i have many many imaginary friends!
if i become a Hindu i'll have multiple times that number.
my friend the Shaman has his power animal (i keep wanting to say 'familiar' but that's witches)
it sits by him at dinner (apparently on the floor) or so he mentioned at dinner recently.
is that his imaginary friend, or is it real?
in which case aren't they all real?
real as anything else?
Oct 30, 2013
the weather the weather the weather
dear friend
the weather as always is strange here where it's nearly november.
our first snowflakes fall past my window.
this is not the strange part.
the strange part was yesterday eve they were haying across in the field.
tractors and trucks with their summertime hum,
loading the bales.
and our silver maple has taken a vow to renounce deciduosity.
tho all other trees have turned red/gold and bare,
she wears green.
the weather as always is strange here where it's nearly november.
our first snowflakes fall past my window.
this is not the strange part.
the strange part was yesterday eve they were haying across in the field.
tractors and trucks with their summertime hum,
loading the bales.
and our silver maple has taken a vow to renounce deciduosity.
tho all other trees have turned red/gold and bare,
she wears green.
Oct 23, 2013
the dangers of peanuts
you know that song "found a peanut?"
what's with that?
when i was a kid the common belief was that if you ate a bad peanut you'd die.
back then i never heard of anyone actually dying from eating a peanut.
but now it seems it does happen, and it's frightening.
not from rotten peanuts, but from deadly peanut allergy.
i wonder if that's how the song came about? and people just blamed a bad peanut.
blech i've eaten bad peanuts sometimes you get one in a bunch, i conjure up the yucky taste just thinking about it.
what's with that?
when i was a kid the common belief was that if you ate a bad peanut you'd die.
back then i never heard of anyone actually dying from eating a peanut.
but now it seems it does happen, and it's frightening.
not from rotten peanuts, but from deadly peanut allergy.
i wonder if that's how the song came about? and people just blamed a bad peanut.
blech i've eaten bad peanuts sometimes you get one in a bunch, i conjure up the yucky taste just thinking about it.
Oct 21, 2013
the wiggle glass goes on to a new life
our windows have wiggly glass.
because they are very old -- from back before.
if you look through them and move your head, the grass, trees, hills, clouds wiggle and wave!
we want to be warmer in vermont winters, now that we're old and seem to feel colder, so we're having some of them replaced with double pane tight fitting new windows. i'll miss the wiggle glass.
our carpenter was planning to take the old double hung wood windows to be discarded. but our town recently got enrolled in Front Porch Forum, and now we can send messages to well over 100 of our neighbors, and the group is growing! so i posted about the windows last week, and they've all been taken. YAY!
some will be part of a sugar house, making up the front of it, so you will see the owner inside boiling down his sap, all wiggly hee hee. some will go in a new barn being built. isn't it wonderful?
the carpenter doesn't know -- he left before the windows were picked up. it'll be fun to tell him, since we just had a long talk about death and the bardo and rebirth.
because they are very old -- from back before.
if you look through them and move your head, the grass, trees, hills, clouds wiggle and wave!
we want to be warmer in vermont winters, now that we're old and seem to feel colder, so we're having some of them replaced with double pane tight fitting new windows. i'll miss the wiggle glass.
our carpenter was planning to take the old double hung wood windows to be discarded. but our town recently got enrolled in Front Porch Forum, and now we can send messages to well over 100 of our neighbors, and the group is growing! so i posted about the windows last week, and they've all been taken. YAY!
some will be part of a sugar house, making up the front of it, so you will see the owner inside boiling down his sap, all wiggly hee hee. some will go in a new barn being built. isn't it wonderful?
the carpenter doesn't know -- he left before the windows were picked up. it'll be fun to tell him, since we just had a long talk about death and the bardo and rebirth.
Oct 15, 2013
Juggling revisited
years ago i concluded i would never be able to ride a unicyle (outside of Second Life) or go to clown school, but with the help of a juggling book, i could learn to juggle.
i gave it a year and then concluded it was an inborn skill -- especially when i met scott who could juggle as if he were born to it, and apparently hadn't had to learn it at all!
unlike most everyone i know, i LIKE the circus. ok ok i know, the animals, i did give it up until the new circus movement sans exotic animals.
i gave it a year and then concluded it was an inborn skill -- especially when i met scott who could juggle as if he were born to it, and apparently hadn't had to learn it at all!
unlike most everyone i know, i LIKE the circus. ok ok i know, the animals, i did give it up until the new circus movement sans exotic animals.
so i'm reading The Ordinary Acrobat: A Journey into the Wondrous World of the Circus, Past and Present by Duncan Wall, and savoring it.
i'm up to the chapters on juggling, history and present, and got out my beanbags for another try. as Duncan learns, he gets some tips from the pros, like concentrate on the TOSS. that really helps! and chanting the rhythm outloud.
maybe i'll give it another year.
Aug 28, 2013
the joy of dieting
"diet" wasn't my thing. this left me out of or seriously bored with many conversations.
i assumed it all had to do with some body image problem.
recently i watched a super good PBS video Eat, Fast and Live Longer with Michael Mosley (available it says until 9/7) http://video.pbs.org/video/2363162206/ and decided to try it. (except i don't really want to live with michael mosley)
now i get it! it's a way to organize your life. instead of wandering aimlessly about in life, you are on a mission, a project. you research, you devise menus, your brain has something to do when it needs distraction -- think up menus, plan new wardrobes, pat yourself on the back, plan how you'll get through a restaurant or party experience, all that kind of stuff.
Things People Organize Their Lives Around fascinates me since i quit my job. it's kind of a sub-category of my lifelong interest in What People Should Do With Their Time, other than, that is, criticize everyone else for how they're spending THEIR time.
anyway, this 5:2 diet is great, because you only do it 2 days out of 5, and on the days you are eating very little, you can just reassure your tummy that tomorrow you will FEAST!
i assumed it all had to do with some body image problem.
recently i watched a super good PBS video Eat, Fast and Live Longer with Michael Mosley (available it says until 9/7) http://video.pbs.org/video/2363162206/ and decided to try it. (except i don't really want to live with michael mosley)
now i get it! it's a way to organize your life. instead of wandering aimlessly about in life, you are on a mission, a project. you research, you devise menus, your brain has something to do when it needs distraction -- think up menus, plan new wardrobes, pat yourself on the back, plan how you'll get through a restaurant or party experience, all that kind of stuff.
Things People Organize Their Lives Around fascinates me since i quit my job. it's kind of a sub-category of my lifelong interest in What People Should Do With Their Time, other than, that is, criticize everyone else for how they're spending THEIR time.
anyway, this 5:2 diet is great, because you only do it 2 days out of 5, and on the days you are eating very little, you can just reassure your tummy that tomorrow you will FEAST!
Aug 26, 2013
making sense of parties
something i read the other day has stuck in my mind.
an explanation of traits of introverts vs extroverts.
the part that stuck was about parties.
it said that introverts go to parties looking forward to spending time with people they know.
extroverts go to parties looking forward to meeting new people.
that stopped my mind.
going somewhere with the idea of looking forward to meeting new people. i cannot wrap my mind around that idea.
but looking back at the behavior of some of my friends, i can see it now!
it all makes sense! they look forward to meeting new people.
is this obvious and i just missed it all these many years, that such a thing was common and not a weird affectation of a few people i knew?
i wonder what that's like? i wonder if i could try it?
an explanation of traits of introverts vs extroverts.
the part that stuck was about parties.
it said that introverts go to parties looking forward to spending time with people they know.
extroverts go to parties looking forward to meeting new people.
that stopped my mind.
going somewhere with the idea of looking forward to meeting new people. i cannot wrap my mind around that idea.
but looking back at the behavior of some of my friends, i can see it now!
it all makes sense! they look forward to meeting new people.
is this obvious and i just missed it all these many years, that such a thing was common and not a weird affectation of a few people i knew?
i wonder what that's like? i wonder if i could try it?
Aug 3, 2013
lightning strikes
NPR has a little map showing the last 18 months of lightning fatalities in the USA. i clicked on one near my home, and it was the lightning death of a teenage boy. crazy, huh?
when i was a child my parents had some friends who had escaped the nazis and brought their two little kids to this country, where the kids, playing in a field with their metal wagon, were struck and killed by lightning. i actually recently found this article about them online, with no date, but i think it was from 2001, as i also found his obituary from 2004.
that story stuck with me through my life, a profound example of something or other.
recently i asked my friend Vicki and her mom what they would do if they were out in a field and heard thunder, would they lie flat, would they squat, or would they (bad move) RUN.
my friend's mom said "i wouldn't be out in a field. i'd be at the mall." is this why statistically mostly men are killed by lightning?
Jul 17, 2013
serendipity strikes again
all they had were the really big watermelons, not the small sweet ones, but we figured it would be ok for the party.
but then we didn't get to go to the party!
plus it was hot hot hot
thank goodness for the world wide web, the information highway, the 'net.
i discovered a new fabulous hot weather cooling beverage...fill the blender with watermelon, mince up some mint (rampant in our back yard), and when it's all a liquid, chill it.
it looks so pretty in a glass with a sprig of mint.
deeelicious, plus i filled several quart jars and froze them for winter.
watermelon mint ice cubes would be good too!
but then we didn't get to go to the party!
plus it was hot hot hot
thank goodness for the world wide web, the information highway, the 'net.
i discovered a new fabulous hot weather cooling beverage...fill the blender with watermelon, mince up some mint (rampant in our back yard), and when it's all a liquid, chill it.
it looks so pretty in a glass with a sprig of mint.
deeelicious, plus i filled several quart jars and froze them for winter.
watermelon mint ice cubes would be good too!
Jul 15, 2013
the silver apples of the moon
why don't i have a label "songs stuck in my head?"
i could do a whole blog of them, of interest only to me, but then so is this blog. i really do it cause i like to type.
anyway, i refrained from saying "he caught a little silver trout" in my previous post, but the song is still stuck in my head (the version someone put to music).
tho i am old with wandering through hollow lands and hilly lands
has anyone done this in second life?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxIroakIXto
i could do a whole blog of them, of interest only to me, but then so is this blog. i really do it cause i like to type.
anyway, i refrained from saying "he caught a little silver trout" in my previous post, but the song is still stuck in my head (the version someone put to music).
tho i am old with wandering through hollow lands and hilly lands
has anyone done this in second life?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxIroakIXto
Jul 14, 2013
sunday morning before the heat settles in
he caught a fish just as i walked by!
i've walked around the 3 or 4 blocks of this village for years; always something to see in this town of 600 people in 42 sq miles.
this morning it was a crew of parents behind the school working on the new greenhouse and pavillion, and
a big crowd (25 cars!) at the church, i could hear singing.
along the brook by the falls no kids were swimming yet; the fire chief's truck was parked nearby.
uh-oh,
but then i saw him up the hill a bit holding a fishing rod.
i waved but he was intent as his rod bent. i watched to see what he'd snagged.
he pulled in a 6 or 7 inch silvery fish -- couldn't see for sure, but it had to be a trout!
i've walked around the 3 or 4 blocks of this village for years; always something to see in this town of 600 people in 42 sq miles.
this morning it was a crew of parents behind the school working on the new greenhouse and pavillion, and
a big crowd (25 cars!) at the church, i could hear singing.
along the brook by the falls no kids were swimming yet; the fire chief's truck was parked nearby.
uh-oh,
but then i saw him up the hill a bit holding a fishing rod.
i waved but he was intent as his rod bent. i watched to see what he'd snagged.
he pulled in a 6 or 7 inch silvery fish -- couldn't see for sure, but it had to be a trout!
Jul 13, 2013
in which i make it stop raining
weeks and weeks ago it got rainy a bit almost every day and my shoes would be soaked after a bit of gardening.
then it got rainier, raining some every day, sometimes really really hard.
and HOT too. the humidity was around 90 to 93%.
i've never found rainboots in narrow sizes, but i was desperate and ordered some i found online because people in the comments said they had a narrow fit.
they were due to arrive on Friday.
NOW it will stop raining, i told everyone. because I ORDERED BOOTS.
probably have a draught!
meanwhile it rained even more. and harder.
then FLOOD WATCHES.
and i got stranded in Windsor due to flooded and washed out roads one night and had to call some folks i know and ask to sleep on their floor!
friday came, no boots, flooding getting worse, i realize the email said the NEXT friday.
don't worry i told everyone, my boots will be here next friday.
by wednesday i was sleeping with essentials all packed and the car facing out right by the road. everything was soaking, the river was roaring and roaring, thunder and lightening were added to the mix.
more storms moving in for thursday.
but thursday came and YAY the next batch of storms had veered north. AND MY BOOTS ARRIVED!
aren't they adorable? no more rain in the forecast. but SHHHHHH!!! i am sending them back...way to wide to stay on, even with thick socks! don't tell.
then it got rainier, raining some every day, sometimes really really hard.
and HOT too. the humidity was around 90 to 93%.
 |
| how hot was it? this hot |
i've never found rainboots in narrow sizes, but i was desperate and ordered some i found online because people in the comments said they had a narrow fit.
they were due to arrive on Friday.
NOW it will stop raining, i told everyone. because I ORDERED BOOTS.
probably have a draught!
meanwhile it rained even more. and harder.
then FLOOD WATCHES.
and i got stranded in Windsor due to flooded and washed out roads one night and had to call some folks i know and ask to sleep on their floor!
friday came, no boots, flooding getting worse, i realize the email said the NEXT friday.
don't worry i told everyone, my boots will be here next friday.
by wednesday i was sleeping with essentials all packed and the car facing out right by the road. everything was soaking, the river was roaring and roaring, thunder and lightening were added to the mix.
more storms moving in for thursday.
 |
| a mushroom grew on our doormat! |
aren't they adorable? no more rain in the forecast. but SHHHHHH!!! i am sending them back...way to wide to stay on, even with thick socks! don't tell.
 |
| i love them but they won't stay on |
Jul 12, 2013
trying out firestorm
taking firestorm out for a test drive -- toady's class sounded like a good way to do it!
and it was a fun class, lots of tinies there, making a little spaceship that follows you around.
not only that, but another tiny can sit on it and have a ride!
everything in firestorm was right where i looked for it, so they really did make it like phoenix. it was fun to be back in one of toady's classes. she is amazingly good at working with a bunch of exuberant unruly tinies!
i do get the feeling that firestorm's perspective is a little strange -- everything looks further away sooner if that makes any sense. maybe it's a setting somewhere. i'd like my view to be flattened in a bit, less depth.
and it was a fun class, lots of tinies there, making a little spaceship that follows you around.
not only that, but another tiny can sit on it and have a ride!
everything in firestorm was right where i looked for it, so they really did make it like phoenix. it was fun to be back in one of toady's classes. she is amazingly good at working with a bunch of exuberant unruly tinies!
 |
| toady looks scary but she's a good teacher!! |
 | |||||
| we play with our spaceships after they're all done |
i do get the feeling that firestorm's perspective is a little strange -- everything looks further away sooner if that makes any sense. maybe it's a setting somewhere. i'd like my view to be flattened in a bit, less depth.
Jul 10, 2013
phoenix to firestorm -- i did it
second life is so off my radar these days, i seldom give it a thought except to go in once a month and pay mudpie's houseboat rent and check on lucy's property.
i noticed a sort of urgent message from Phoenix.
apparently it is now imperative to migrate to the Firestorm viewer.
i've been meaning to for a couple of years, but keep thinking "why not just give up on the whole second life thing?"
yes, why not? i guess i had so much fun there for 4 or 5 years, it's hard to cut my ties. nostalgia for a virtual world, now so changed as to be barely interesting at all.
anyway, i did the surprisingly painless upgrade. it seems while i've been procrastinating, so have many others, and Firestorm just worked harder and harder to make a version more like Phoenix, just for us diehards.
everything seems to work except lucy's grass and money pile are white instead of green! (click pictures to see them really big!)
i noticed a sort of urgent message from Phoenix.
apparently it is now imperative to migrate to the Firestorm viewer.
i've been meaning to for a couple of years, but keep thinking "why not just give up on the whole second life thing?"
yes, why not? i guess i had so much fun there for 4 or 5 years, it's hard to cut my ties. nostalgia for a virtual world, now so changed as to be barely interesting at all.
anyway, i did the surprisingly painless upgrade. it seems while i've been procrastinating, so have many others, and Firestorm just worked harder and harder to make a version more like Phoenix, just for us diehards.
everything seems to work except lucy's grass and money pile are white instead of green! (click pictures to see them really big!)
 |
| where's the grass? and the money pile isn't green either |
 |
| the other colors seem ok -- nice that the ugly across the way is gone |
 |
| all is well in haven shire at mudpie's houseboat |
 |
| and there are some new businesses in the neighborhood |
Jun 28, 2013
new fangled gadgets
Me, being dramatic, "WHAT?" "Did Mom DIE?"
Dad, "No, she doesn't know yet"
Me, "She said you could get a microwave over her dead body."
Dad, "She's in Maryland for the week at her sister's. So I needed one! Don't worry, she'll get used to it."
This was in the 60s. Recently I sent a link to friends with kids, grandkids, work with kids, for a summer fun project using ivory soap and a microwave oven. One friend replied "I wish I had a microwave -- Not really." She's an old-fashioned sort of cook.
Mom did find uses for the microwave. Dad then got each of us kids a microwave so he could use it for his coffee and his oatmeal when they visited us. I foresaw it as useless, but once we had it, we found it handy.
It turns out the first microwave oven was sold in 1947. That's as in freaking NINETEEN FORTY SEVEN! It's new like the TV, refrigerator and stove are new! The countertop version was introduced in 1967 by Amana. Lots of people still refuse to have TVs, and dammit, you just can't get ice delivered for an icebox any more.
Some people are convinced microwave cooking is dangerous, radiates microwaves, chemically changes the food. Could be. I will say this, if you aren't careful, it for sure lets you to cook up all kinds of prepared foods best left out of your meal plan!
Dad, "No, she doesn't know yet"
Me, "She said you could get a microwave over her dead body."
Dad, "She's in Maryland for the week at her sister's. So I needed one! Don't worry, she'll get used to it."
This was in the 60s. Recently I sent a link to friends with kids, grandkids, work with kids, for a summer fun project using ivory soap and a microwave oven. One friend replied "I wish I had a microwave -- Not really." She's an old-fashioned sort of cook.
Mom did find uses for the microwave. Dad then got each of us kids a microwave so he could use it for his coffee and his oatmeal when they visited us. I foresaw it as useless, but once we had it, we found it handy.
It turns out the first microwave oven was sold in 1947. That's as in freaking NINETEEN FORTY SEVEN! It's new like the TV, refrigerator and stove are new! The countertop version was introduced in 1967 by Amana. Lots of people still refuse to have TVs, and dammit, you just can't get ice delivered for an icebox any more.
Some people are convinced microwave cooking is dangerous, radiates microwaves, chemically changes the food. Could be. I will say this, if you aren't careful, it for sure lets you to cook up all kinds of prepared foods best left out of your meal plan!
Jun 27, 2013
go
liz's cat died.
so sad.
but then,
you know i'm sure.
it was her smart cat.
so now will the dumb one be the smart cat?
i mean if you don't care about cats, why are you even on the internet?
anyway it's a chance to reprint (without permission) the best dead cat poem by someone who really gets it.
On the Death of a Cat
- Franz Wright
In life, death
was nothing
to you: I am
willing to wager
my soul that it
simply never occurred
to your nightmare-less
mind, while sleep
was everything
(see it raised
to an infinite
power and perfection)--no death
in you then, so now
how even less. Dear stealth
of innocence
licked polished
to an evil
luster, little
milk fang, whiskered
night
friend--
go.
^ ^
so sad.
but then,
you know i'm sure.
it was her smart cat.
so now will the dumb one be the smart cat?
i mean if you don't care about cats, why are you even on the internet?
anyway it's a chance to reprint (without permission) the best dead cat poem by someone who really gets it.
On the Death of a Cat
- Franz Wright
In life, death
was nothing
to you: I am
willing to wager
my soul that it
simply never occurred
to your nightmare-less
mind, while sleep
was everything
(see it raised
to an infinite
power and perfection)--no death
in you then, so now
how even less. Dear stealth
of innocence
licked polished
to an evil
luster, little
milk fang, whiskered
night
friend--
go.
^ ^
May 13, 2013
But Wait! That's ME?
a very weird thing has happened.
there's a blog called Lucy Tornado's Blog.
that's really the name of it!
and it has nothing to do with me, Lucy Tornado!
how can this happen?
the worst part is someone might go to the blog thinking i wrote all that.
what should i do?
i hardly use this blog but still would hate to have ideas and opinions attributed to me that are not like me.
what to do what to do fret fret fret.
there's a blog called Lucy Tornado's Blog.
that's really the name of it!
and it has nothing to do with me, Lucy Tornado!
how can this happen?
the worst part is someone might go to the blog thinking i wrote all that.
what should i do?
i hardly use this blog but still would hate to have ideas and opinions attributed to me that are not like me.
what to do what to do fret fret fret.
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