Month: May 2004

This is post #319 of this blog. If not always charming or relevant, I can at least now claim to be prolific, eh? This week being no different. I’ve recently posted to every aspect of the realm, so by all means please follow the links below to my other blogs my dearies…

The things you never asked for are the things you can’t seem to shake

When you were a cold and dead thing

You’d have died again for a taste of prescience

And now you are almost always real

And it hurts just to breathe

It hurts just to laugh sometimes

You know that every small joy

Comes at a price

That flowers are just a thing made for dying

And sweetness grows acrid after a time

And you long to be so cold again

To close your eyes and wish it all away

It used to be that easy

Once upon a time

(detritus)(poetica)(myth)(opinion)(divination)

Defrost a box of cheap hash brown patties in the fridge!
C’mon, I dare ya!
Makes for insanely easy breakfast burritos and potato pancakes and it’s way cheaper than those “Simply Potato” things and much easier than precooking them yourself and potatos are like the food of all perfection as it is…

(detritus)(dream)(poetica)(myth)(opinion)(divination)

He sings to Hades and Persephone and all assembled there, entreating them to release his beloved from the realm of Death as follows:

As he sang these tender strains, the very ghosts shed tears. Tantalus, in spite of his thirst, stopped for a moment his efforts for water, Ixion’s wheel stood still, the vulture ceased to tear the giant’s liver, the daughters of Danaus rested from their task of drawing water in a sieve, and Sisyphus sat on his rock to listen. Then for the first time, it is said, the cheeks of the Furies were wet with tears. Proserpine could not resist, and Pluto himself gave way. Eurydice was called. She came from among the new-arrived ghosts, limping with her wounded foot. Orpheus was permitted to take her away with him on one condition, that he should not turn around to look at her till they should have reached the upper air. Under this condition they proceeded on their way, he leading, she following, through passages dark and steep, in total silence, till they had nearly reached the outlet into the cheerful upper world, when Orpheus, in a moment of forgetfulness, to assure himself that she was still following, cast a glance behind him, when instantly she was borne away. Stretching out their arms to embrace each other, they grasped only the air! Dying now a second time, she yet cannot reproach her husband, for how can she blame his impatience to behold her? “Farewell,” she said, “a last farewell,”- and was hurried away, so fast that the sound hardly reached his ears.

[Orpheus in Hades: OVID, Metamorphoses, Book X, 1-106]

(detritus)(dream)(poetica)(myth)(opinion)(divination)

Dreamt I was trying so,so hard to get it right, that it was my last chance at something, but I don’t know what…if I screwed up I’d have to go back to the scene if the crime…the backseat of the car, the impact, trying to get up, maybe this time it wouldn’t work and I’d sever my spine or fall over dead on the spot…I could almost feel the pain again…not even childbirth hurts that much…there I was being punished again and I don’t know what for…sometimes I think my whole life’s been a test, and I keep failing, and you only get so many chances…one of these days I’m afraid going to wake up dead…

detritus)(poetica)(myth)(opinion)(divination)

My days are now organized by food events. Mondays is two for one hoagie

day. Tuesday is ninety nine cent leg and thigh chicken day. Wednesday is

discount bagel day. Thursday is Semolina bread day. Friday through Sunday

are the weekend and don’t count. Both my eating habits and my whereabouts at

any given time are somewhat subject to the above formula.

Today was both discount bagel day and 10:15 storytime at the library, so

Sarah and I were out and about at an early hour. Dropped Maggie off at

school, swung by the only gas station where I can safely pay cash without

having to remove the baby form her carseat, and headed for the bagel

purveyor of choice. Bought a dozen bagels and some lemonade from a manager

who resembled a disgruntled Ricky Ricardo. He insisted that since it was a

discount dozen, it could only be 12 and not a “baker’s dozen.” That if I

wanted 13 bagels I’d have to pay full price. Then he tried to charge me $1.

99 for a 12 oz lemonade. When I pointed out that the sign said it was $1.39,

he sighed and rolled his eyes and said “Well it’s really $1.99, but if you’

re gonna complain I guess we can give it for $1.39 this time. But only

because of the sign.” As though I knew all the secret prices for things and

was actively trying to rip him off

We sat outside, adjacent to the designated old-man-dining-alone-table (the

table went through three of them successively before we were done, which

means we eat even more slowly than old men) and split a blueberry bagel and

our drink. Sarah finished every bite with the exclamation “Mmm! Dat’s GOOD!”

in her sweet little baby voice. She smiled and preened and charmed her her

elderly admirers, then threw bagel chunks to nearby birds. Eventually we

finished and I packed her into the car with a bribe of paper and crayon. And

so we set off for the public library.

Storytime began with coloring time and Sarah did a very lovely job of

sharing crayons with all around her. Or rather distributing crayons

according to her whims. Eventually she had the whole tray in her possession

and put herself in charge of doling them out as she saw fit. Mommy’s little

tyrant. When actual storytime began, she looked around the room and got a

little bit freaked out and hid under a table. Eventually I lured her out

with more crayons and paper. She finally warmed up to the idea when they had

“rainbow time” where they shook little paper plates with streamers attached

and the middles cut out. She didn’t want to leave after that, and hummed the

“rainbow song” all the way home.

So that was our fun for today. Now we are home and offline still after

something like 18 hours. God knows when I will eventually get to post this.

Tomorrow will be bread day and probably running around the used bookstore

handing out toys to other children day. Clever mommy has learned to set up

camp in the children’s area with a pile of magazines. On a good day we’re

there for a while and I get half the stack read before we leave, thus saving

me the need to ever purchase them. If I’m ambitious and wee goosie can

behave herself we may even venture a trip to the movies on Friday before

school lets out. She is so much fun in the mornings these days. Nighttime

being another story. Night time is tantrum city. But perfection eludes us

all, right?

Farewell from mommyland!

Corbid

For those of you infrequent Blogger users out there (you know who you are) try signing in just for fun. There’ve been some major updates for the better that you may have some fun playing with…

And again, thanks to all who offered me birthday wishes or otherwise feted me on the occasion. And the tulips are STILL alive (corrupted Tori Amos lyric “…but she couldn’t keep tulips alive…”) Lizzie keeps overestimating me and giving me living things to care for in spite of the fact that I only seem to be good at growing humans 🙂 If you haven’t heard the story of the two platties and the neon tetra, well you probably don’t want to. It’s most gruesome and reflects me in a rather poor light. But I’m determined to try and keep these tulips alive for a decent interval. We shall just have to wait and see…

For your most profound amusement…

The Worst Romance Novel Covers of the Year…

“Adult Chritianity: the antidote to the Christian Right”

And as always…McSweeney’s

Knight of Pentacles: The essence of earth behaving as fire, such as molten magma: One slow to action, but decisive and unrelenting once set in motion.

The Star: New hopes and splendid revelations of the future. Insight, inspiration, courage and enlightenment of the spiritual self. Body and mind and converging towards the light at the end of a dark time.

(detritus)(dream)(poetica)(myth)(opinion)(divination)