Sunday, April 22, 2007
obscene sandwich
i usually love the distinct and lively atmosphere of my neighborhood...especially in the springtime. today that lively atmosphere was especially distinct...
this afternoon i innocently walked into the kitchen to feed zinni. grateful for the beauty of this earth day afternoon, i glanced out the window into my neighbor's backyard and was met with...a penis...with a man attached to it.
just a few short hours later, sarah and i were sitting in our living room, enjoying the warm breeze wafting through the windows and the joyful sounds of a neighborhood that has come back to life after a long winter. there are plenty of signs of spring out of our front windows - kids on bikes, stiff people walking even stiffer dogs, the rosebushes our neighborhood drug dealer planted across the street -- oh, and of course the sight of our neighbors bumping and grinding to "ambitionz az a ridah" by 2Pac in their front yard.
i love seeing people out and about...but do they really have to be that OUT and ABOUT?
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
today
today i...
was stung by a wasp
had chocolate fondue with good friends
was anxious to know
took a walk
ran out of coffee
ranted and raved a little
saw a dead squirrel up close (a lot closer than i wanted)
used two bobby pins to hold my hair back because it's long enough
played with play-doh
zinni...she's quite the party animal, and she really is an animal
was stung by a wasp
had chocolate fondue with good friends
was anxious to know
took a walk
ran out of coffee
ranted and raved a little
saw a dead squirrel up close (a lot closer than i wanted)
used two bobby pins to hold my hair back because it's long enough
played with play-doh
zinni...she's quite the party animal, and she really is an animalMonday, April 16, 2007
michigan winters just may be worth it after all
i sometimes find the gray, snowy mornings of michigan to be beautiful, but more often they seem mundane, depressing, and tiresome. there are many times when i would gladly give them up for warm, sunny, blue-sky days.
today, however, i am recognizing that maybe they are worth it. without those days, i would not find so much joy in the spring-time presence of people mingling on the street corners, walking their dogs, sitting on their porches. i would not marvel every morning at the simple fact that i get to see light before i go to work. i would not take such pleasure in wearing fewer layers or lighter shoes. i would not find such glorious delight in seeing GREEN things. i would not take a good look at the robin hopping around on the nearby grass as i wait as a stoplight. i would not realize how much i have missed camping trips, outings to lake michigan, neighborhood cookouts, campfires in mom and dad's backyard.
without those gray, snowy mornings...green things, sunshine, and neighbors would be part of every day and i probably would not find myself longing for those things as i do in the middle of winter. it could be nice to have sunshine, warmth, green things every day, but i think that maybe it is nicer to be given the joy of rejoicing every year when spring is faithfully and lovingly given to us once again.
today, however, i am recognizing that maybe they are worth it. without those days, i would not find so much joy in the spring-time presence of people mingling on the street corners, walking their dogs, sitting on their porches. i would not marvel every morning at the simple fact that i get to see light before i go to work. i would not take such pleasure in wearing fewer layers or lighter shoes. i would not find such glorious delight in seeing GREEN things. i would not take a good look at the robin hopping around on the nearby grass as i wait as a stoplight. i would not realize how much i have missed camping trips, outings to lake michigan, neighborhood cookouts, campfires in mom and dad's backyard.
without those gray, snowy mornings...green things, sunshine, and neighbors would be part of every day and i probably would not find myself longing for those things as i do in the middle of winter. it could be nice to have sunshine, warmth, green things every day, but i think that maybe it is nicer to be given the joy of rejoicing every year when spring is faithfully and lovingly given to us once again.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
this lifestyle...hmmm...
i've been thinking about how we (as people making up a city/country/some of the world) live, and continuing to wonder about things.
i mean, every morning, most of us wake up to one of the most annoying and unnatural sounds in the world...the beeping of an alarm clock. we finally get out of bed after bribing ourselves with thoughts of a mug of tea or coffee and/or a hot shower...things many of us are dependent on in the morning. in the winter, we get out of bed in the dark, drive to work in the dark, and leave work after the sun has set for the day...seeing very little, if any, of the sun. we spend most of the day sitting in a desk chair...so on our way home from work we stop at the gym to exercise in a room filled with machines. when we get home, we fill our stomachs with food that was overly processed without giving a thought to the people who worked hard to bring that food to our table or the things that were added to it that we would be better off not eating. then, we sit in front of the television and watch other people live lives that don't actually exist. we clothe ourselves without thinking of the very real people who actually sewed the sleeves onto our t-shirts. we are constantly tense and we frequently complain about all of the stress in our lives.
with that lifestyle comes clean drinking water, technological advances, growth in the field of medicine, etc... but is it worth it? without all of those advances, lifespans would probably be shorter, but would it be worth living shorter lives if it meant that every morning we could wake up because the sun came up and not because our alarm clock was beeping? if we got our exercise by working outside instead of sitting in a chair all day? if we knew where our food and clothing came from because we made them ourselves? if we weren't always running through our to-do lists, but were able to "just be" more of the time?
that's a tough one. and how do WE (to the extent that we are able) NOT live the way "most of us" live in the very-real midst of the people who make up that "most of us"?
i mean, every morning, most of us wake up to one of the most annoying and unnatural sounds in the world...the beeping of an alarm clock. we finally get out of bed after bribing ourselves with thoughts of a mug of tea or coffee and/or a hot shower...things many of us are dependent on in the morning. in the winter, we get out of bed in the dark, drive to work in the dark, and leave work after the sun has set for the day...seeing very little, if any, of the sun. we spend most of the day sitting in a desk chair...so on our way home from work we stop at the gym to exercise in a room filled with machines. when we get home, we fill our stomachs with food that was overly processed without giving a thought to the people who worked hard to bring that food to our table or the things that were added to it that we would be better off not eating. then, we sit in front of the television and watch other people live lives that don't actually exist. we clothe ourselves without thinking of the very real people who actually sewed the sleeves onto our t-shirts. we are constantly tense and we frequently complain about all of the stress in our lives.
with that lifestyle comes clean drinking water, technological advances, growth in the field of medicine, etc... but is it worth it? without all of those advances, lifespans would probably be shorter, but would it be worth living shorter lives if it meant that every morning we could wake up because the sun came up and not because our alarm clock was beeping? if we got our exercise by working outside instead of sitting in a chair all day? if we knew where our food and clothing came from because we made them ourselves? if we weren't always running through our to-do lists, but were able to "just be" more of the time?
that's a tough one. and how do WE (to the extent that we are able) NOT live the way "most of us" live in the very-real midst of the people who make up that "most of us"?
Friday, April 13, 2007
greenhouse
A greenhouse in my very own living room...
Grow, grow, grow, little buggers.
Tonight I almost rescued a dog. But...only almost.
Grow, grow, grow, little buggers.Tonight I almost rescued a dog. But...only almost.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
herbs
I am now becoming a blogger. This is good, I think.
Today I will tell you that I am growing herbs. This is pretty exciting. I planted them on Saturday and have been eagerly (and impatiently) waiting for them to pop through the soil to show that I really did plant them right and they really do exist. I have been checking on them somewhat obsessively, I will admit, and when I checked yesterday afternoon before work, I saw nothing, as usual. Three hours later I came back and looked at them again and squealed because suddenly there were sprouts! There may be snow outside, but my little green herb plants are happily growing under the heating lamp inside my own living room. And green things make me happy.
Today I will tell you that I am growing herbs. This is pretty exciting. I planted them on Saturday and have been eagerly (and impatiently) waiting for them to pop through the soil to show that I really did plant them right and they really do exist. I have been checking on them somewhat obsessively, I will admit, and when I checked yesterday afternoon before work, I saw nothing, as usual. Three hours later I came back and looked at them again and squealed because suddenly there were sprouts! There may be snow outside, but my little green herb plants are happily growing under the heating lamp inside my own living room. And green things make me happy.
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