A Tidings of Magpies

please note: photo by Eric Langlay

On our run-for-the-hills escape  romantic one day getaway, Hubby and I saw The Tree of Life , which is lush in visuals and in music and is quite good, though non-linear in its storyline. I'd see it again, and actually, think we'll get the DVD when it comes out if only to hear the conversations better. We also went for dinner at our favorite neighborhood bistro and shared a  Tonight's Special of two petit filets with red wine sauce and risotto with mushrooms, walnuts and spinach. Wish now we'd gotten two or twelve so there'd be left-overs. I could eat that for every single meal. Our movie choice was simply and purely based on which movie time was the soonest. Having only seen the previews Bad Teacher might better have fit my warped humor state of mind: I've seen Bridesmaids which is snort out loud funny. The kind of funny that you start to worry if you'll be able to stop laughing. HoneyHaired and I saw it together, but we'd like to do an ...

Bed in Summer by Robert Louis Stevenson In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day. I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people’s feet Still going past me in the street. And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like so much to play, To have to go to bed by day? please note: photo by Amy Frazier

Gonna get Hubby out of town today. And by out of town, I mean not inside a hospital. We might even be talking Waffle House. Daily Life by Susan Wood A parrot of irritation sits on my shoulder, pecks at my head, ruffling his feathers in my ear. He repeats everything I say, like a child trying to irritate the parent. Too much to do today: the dracena that's outgrown its pot, a mountain of bills to pay and nothing in the house to eat. Too many clothes need washing and the dog needs his shots. It just goes on and on, I say to myself, no one around, and catch myself saying it, a ball hit so straight to your glove you'd have to be blind not to catch it. And of course I hope it does go on and on forever, the little pain, the little pleasure, the sun a blood orange in the sky, the sky parrot blue and the day unfolding like a bird slowly spreading its wings, though I know, saying it, that it won't

So. You know,  I was having a little trouble after having the surgical procedure to bust up this kidney stone and I really wasn't able to keep any fluids down for a couple of days, which you need to do to flush out the fragments of the aforementioned broken-up stone. I'd even gotten to the point of calling the charge nurse in our ER and getting dressed and promised to go if things did not pick up in exactly 1 hour after "pounding in some fluids", but they did, and I got a couple hours of sleep, and then my mother called to say she had fallen...so...Hubby and I went down to pick her up and dust her off, but she hadn't really just fallen. She had had a stroke. Her "own private earthquake" as she described it as her chief complaint at the registration desk and I'm sure you all can imagine how extremely helpful that is in an emergency room while at the same time being impressed by the poetry of the sentiment. We took her to her hospital of ch...

   I Remember Lost Things by Ron Padgett I remember getting letters addressed to me with my name and street address, followed on the next line by the word City. Which meant the same city in which they had been mailed. Could life have been that simple? I remember the first time I heard Joe read from his I Remember. The shock of pleasure was quickly replaced by envy and the question, Why didn't I think of that? Aesthetic pleasure comes in many forms and degrees, but envy comes only when you wholeheartedly admire someone else's new work. Envying the talent of a person you love is particularly beautiful and envigorating. And you don't even have to answer the question. I remember feeling miffed at García Lorca because he made me feel like crying about something that may never have happened. There is a 1929 photograph of him standing next to a large sphere on a granite pedestal that also bears a sundial, on the Columbia University campus. Passing by the sundial t...

Yeah, it's kinda like that...Hubby and I went to BigFatTeaching Hospital yesterday bright and early at 6:30am to begin the registration and pre-op preparations. It's very busy and chatty there in the morning as all the events scheduled and unscheduled unwind themselves into the day. Interesting to watch for once  from the sidelines. Made it into the OR at 8:30 and didn't get much of a look at the lithotripsy machine since my glasses were already off, and to be honest, I'd already had a little sedation while I was rolled into the room.             All I really remember was I felt compelled to share with the nurses next to me was that everyone should go see the movie, Bridesmaids . I still stand by that opinion. Discovered the anesthesiologist was the husband of one of my favorite neuro residents upstairs. That was a lovely and comforting surprise. I think he was surprised I knew he had bee...

  by Pablo Neruda   ...I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

Miracles by Walt Whitman Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me I know of nothing else but miracles, Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan, Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky, Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water, Or stand under trees in the woods, Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love, Or sit at table at dinner with the rest, Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car, Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon, Or animals feeding in the fields, Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air, Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright, Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring; These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles, The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place. To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, Eve...

Not broken or fractured, but feeling a bit fragile and put-out. House arrest does not agree with me, though driving is really out of the question. My only exercise these days is walking the dog. But, 5 more days until the OR and baring my tush for my friends who work there. Whoopee. It's been hot, hot, hot in CinCity, but as everyone knows, it's not the heat but the humidity, which is also quite oppressive. Big storms yesterday and last night have left us just slightly cooler and more like a perfect day in June. Everyone is out working, except me. My contribution these days are large bags of discards and piles to take to St. V de P and dinners. Hubby is loving this as does the dog since I like to walk him and give him treats of whatever. Last night fish tacos, tonight Cuban Chicken with Avocado Salsa. And I try to wash everything down in beer in my attempts to dissolve this kidney stone much too late in the game. I really don't like beer though, so have found that mixin...

There once was a Congressman Weiner At invective, nobody was meaner But he lied about pics That he tweeted to chicks Now his prospects look quite a bit leaner....                     --Scott Wojahn

Well...I'm still home. Still on house arrest medical leave until June 16 when I go to the OR to get this badboy stone out. It's very frustrating and I feel horribly guilty about not working. I feel okay most of the time; like I've been kicked in my right flank by a horse, but that's do-able. But, about once a day that stone must do something--I do not know what--and I'm down. I try very hard not to drive since that seems to aggravate the situation. If the potholes in your city are anything like here, you know exactly what I mean. The preview of lithotripsy. So, I am home and bored though I have plenty to do here. HoneyHaired will be moving into a dorm come August and now's a good time to really get rid of childhood remnants. I didn't do all that well when CollegeGrrrl went away. I was hesitant to make the final decisions about what to toss and what to keep. I thought she might want some of her clothes, CD's, movies, books, makeup here at home and ...