A Tidings of Magpies

It's dark when I leave for work in the morning. It's dark when I drive home, and when I get to glance out the windows it's nothing but grey. I can't sleep all the way through the night. I wake up and think about everything I have to get done. Two studies involving firefighters, flour dust and baker's asthma, and job hazard analysis. And, I'm intimidated by our scanner. Maybe a little a cup of Sleepytime Tea will do the trick tonight and I can sleep past three... An Early Start in Midwinter by Robyn Sarah The freeze is on. At six a scattering of sickly lights shine pale in kitchen windows. Thermostats are adjusted. Furnaces blast on with a whoosh. And day rumbles up out of cellars to the tune of bacon spitting in a greasy pan. Scrape your nail along the window-pane, shave off a curl of frost. Or press your thumb against the film of white to melt an eye onto the fire escape. All night pipes ticked and grumbled like sore bones. The tap runs rust over your chapped h...

...everything sounds better in a British accent. for a better read, click on the photo.

I'll just go on up to the hospital and wait for you all there. You look like accidents waiting to happen. aaaahhhhhh, the absolute joy of children...

From a hilarious blogsite, OVERHEARD LINES ... 30 March, 2009 Half-Full, Half-Empty Girls Girl 1: "Oh look, those people are camping!" Girl 2: "No, they're homeless. People don't camp by the freeway." OVERHEARD BY MARGOT

I came home from work last night and found my old friend, the Garnet Hill catalogue, waiting for me on the hallway steps. How has it come to pass that I am not living in that utopia? That should be me searching out the "so many ways to celebrate spring"...reveling in "the versatility of cashmere", certainly "replenishing my wardrobe" and "refreshing my home." These lovely, lovely people have no access to radios or televisions and have never heard of an economy--cratering or otherwise. I belong with my people. They are my tribe. Don't be a silly ass like my husband and talk to me of marketing. I know these folks exist. Right there, on page 7., one of my could-be-best-friends is standing on the doorframe of her convertible with her big old crazy floppy hat and a fully, scrumptiously packed picnic basket in the back seat. She's waiting for me to arrive with the brown bag full of refreshing bottles of clear mountain spring water before we dr...

and on Valentine's Day going to see the ballet, Peter Pan. Cause nothing says love like a pirate and his crocodile.

from The Writers' Almanac: "Today we celebrate three holidays, all of them from the same source. February 2nd is a "cross-quarter" day in the solar calendar, which means that it falls exactly between a solstice and an equinox. It's the ancient Celtic celebration of Imbolc, in honor of Brigit, the goddess of fire, poetry, healing, and childbirth. Brigit brings the healing power of the sun back to the world on Imbolc, a day that carries the first promise of spring. Imbolc comes from the Old Irish i mbolg, meaning "in the belly," because this is the time when ewes became pregnant to deliver spring lambs. The Christians took over the Celtic celebration and made February 2nd into a Christian holiday, Candlemas Day. Candlemas Day celebrates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple exactly 40 days after Christmas. There are many old sayings about today — about the emergence of animals from their winter dens and omens that predict the season ahead. One English s...