I just finished reading Salt Dancers by Ursula Hegi. It’s the story of Julia, who revisits dark family issues when she travels from one coast to the other to return home after more than 20 years away. She wants to understand what went wrong with her family so she can avoid that with the child she’s expecting. It’s haunting and painful, yet it’s also hopeful. And, oh, so familiar.
We have a critter living in our barn. I tweeted about it on Sunday, wondering what kind of critter it could be. I got lots of ideas from Twitter and Facebook: ermine, weasel, mink, opossum, Edgar Winter, cat. I’ve got some pictures. It was dark, and the critter was fast, but it looks like it’s all white with a black tip on its tail. Anyway … it’s not easy to see much in the pictures … just look for the green demon eyes. Any ideas?
I’ve said before that we love Dr. Seuss in this house. We have plenty Dr. Seuss books on the shelf, but we have several everywhere else — in the dollhouse, beside pillows and under covers, on the coffee table, in the toybox, in the bathroom. My kids enjoyed looking through my old My Book About Me By Me, which I got when I was about their age. They each got one last year for Christmas.
As I look at the titles, I realize we have read every one of them, some of them many, many times (we went through a serious Horton Hears a Who! phase a while back). We love them all. Well, I don’t care much for Fox in Socks. That was a dirty, dirty trick, Dr. Seuss, that would drive any parent to drink. At least the ones who actually try to read it out loud at bedtime. I mean, c’mon.
Through three cheese trees
three free fleas flew.
While these fleas flew,
freezy breeze blew.
Freezy breeze made
these three trees freeze.
Freezy trees made
these trees’ cheese freeze.
That’s what made these
three free fleas sneeze.
(from Fox in Sox: A Tongue Twister for Super Children by Dr. Seuss)
Seriously? Children. “You have em, I’ll entertain em.” Indeed, Dr. Smart-Aleck.
But really. You gave us The Eye Book, The Foot Book and The Sleep Book. Green Eggs and Ham and Hop on Pop. The Lorax, Sneetches and the Grinch. Most of all, you gave us playful rhythms, language acrobatics and a wonderful carnival ride into the world of your imagination.
If we didn’t have birthdays, you wouldn’t be you.
If you’d never been born, well then what would you do?
If you’d never been born, well then what would you be?
You might be a fish! Or a toad in a tree!
You might be a doorknob! Or three baked potatoes!
You might be a bag full of hard green tomatoes.
Or worse than all that . . . Why, you might be a WASN’T!
A Wasn’t has no fun at all. No, he doesn’t.
A Wasn’t just isn’t. He just isn’t present.
But you . . . You ARE YOU! And, now isn’t that pleasant! (from Happy Birthday to You! by Dr. Seuss)
We’re so glad you had a birthday and that YOU were YOU. Thank you for that. And from all of us in my home, happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!
Sometimes it takes someone else’s words to express how you feel.
I don’t want to be loved just because I am a sister, a mother, an old friend, or a known quantity. I want to be loved because I’m worthy – because I give it back with an open heart – because whether we are together or at a distance, we both feel drawn to care for, support, and love each other with the best of everything that is within us, knowing that mediocrity is the antithesis of interest.
Love me because I’m worthy. If you believe I am not, then you really shouldn’t love me at all.
Thank you, Jane, at Finding My America for sharing so much with your words.
I just finished reading Home by Marilynne Robinson. It was a closer look at some of the people in Gilead. A bit darker than Gilead (not as dark as Housekeeping, though) but just as insightful. Robinson is an amazing writer.
The kids and I saw footprints in the snow one morning before school. We hadn’t seen any animals around, so it was a mystery how they got there. We’ve had various critters around — deer, skunk, raccoon. It would be interesting to figure out what had wandered around our house in the snow.
After school, we went out to track the prints. They stopped with tire tracks. Did Pappa have an animal in his pickup? We didn’t think so. They went a little ways past the garage but not all the way down the driveway. They stopped before the snow in the yard. We saw them along the side of the house, though, to the door into the garage. I remembered feeling horrible for the delivery guy who had to tromp through the snow I hadn’t had time to clear yet. Aha! The delivery guy. He must have had a dog. Mystery solved.
I don’t get Wanda Sykes.
I’m surprised at how much I enjoy The Deep End.
Who wouldn’t want an Italian villa?
Best thing about watching OL figure skating? Scott Hamilton.
My kids think I’m cool because I once sat next to a real princess on a plane.
Magpie Musing makes me think. She also makes me happy. She’s inspired me (again), this time to think about what makes me happy. Here’s a list.
“Nothing is more human than a book.” ~ Marilynne Robinson, The Paris Review, Issue 186, Fall 2008.
