professions, nap, overcast

*I remember again the professionalism of the ambulance team and the ER staff and am in awe of this bit of our medical community that I experienced yesterday.

*A nap..a nap..a nap.

*An overcast day in which to recuperate and be mellow and watch movies.

Strange day

A strange day. There really were gems in it:

*Digereedoo, "Norwegian Wood" played on piano and bass, accordian, drums.All their musics follow us down the shaded outdoor mall.

*Flower planters overflowing--I want to take pictures of them all.

*The ballet of paramedics as they try to figure out what is wrong with R.

*Passing the time, long since out of yarn, in the ER by thinking about military time.

*He enumerates topics by pointing to the oxygen monitor on his finger.

*Home together.

detour, red, Hawaii

How could I have skipped three days of gems? Well, here's for today.....

*Road repairs force me to detour through alleyways (this city still has them) and I pass by backyard gardens and towering hollyhocks.

*Finally deciding on a car--red.

*The salesperson asks, for the purchase forms, my birthdate.
"I was born on that date!"--he says.
"Where were you born?"--says I.
"Hawaii."--he replies.
"!!!So was I!"--a fleeting bond.

weather, newspaper, food

*A weatherman refers to a hurricane as "a hunk of moisture".

*The Metropolitan Diary part of the Monday New York Times.

*A nutritionist who patiently walks me through carbs and protein and fats.

flops, cylinders, the plains...

*The flop of flip-flops (or is it the flip?).

*Highly polished silver metal cylinders stacked horizontally lengthwise sparkling in the sun.

*We drive out onto the plains:
--a farmer on a tractor giving his wheat field a butch haircut
--derelict houses that I want to rescue, live in and restore
--stinky feedlots of sheep
--long sprinklers with hanging down showers-the sprinklers travel in circles so the
irrigated fields are circular. Have you seen them from the air?
--fields of sugarbeets
--racing a parallel train
--the yellow of stately sunflowers goes on and on in fields
--golden cubes of hay
--heat shimmering from a silver quonset hut (I am particularly fond of quonset huts)
--in a field of sugar beets last year's seeds have sprouted so that there are taller corn
plants in among the short dark green leaves of sugar beets

A marvelous day. My senses are satiated.

G Quest, ride, tech

*"Well, screw that! What is this thing? I mean it serves no purpose for there to be a bunch of chompy, crushy things in the middle of a hallway! We shouldn't have to do this! It makes no logical sense! Why is it here? ...Well, forget it. I am not doing it. This episode was badly written!...Whoever wrote this episode should die!"

*We go for a ride into the country after supper to cool off. It is a mixed blessing--the dog's breath from the back seat ("like the inside of a garbage truck") and R's minty, anise, herbal chewing tobacco substitute wafting from his mouth beside me.

*Modern medical tech--I put my foot in a pedicure soaking looking tub and 2 minutes later know what my bone density is.

over the fence,long sleeves, more plants than I remember

*Sunflowers poke their heads over a worn fence like Buddha peering over his father's fence at the real world.

*The clean up lady has decided that the season is beginning to change--she was wearing a long sleeved shirt instead of her usual sleeveless one.

*I am beginning to move the plants inside for the cold weather (I won't say winter) and where in the heck did I get so many? Oh well, they will all sort themselves out.

quacking, CD,less than I look

*A quacking noise came from below our balcony and when I stepped out to investigate a boy in our building had found the squeaky toy dinosaur on a bike in the rack too tempting. I called "Hi!" down to him to ask about his first day of school. He is a rather small boy going to Middle School for the first time, riding his bike two miles. He was chipper.

*We have to go on a car trip--"Canterbury Tales" on CD is 25 hours long and we've just begun it.

*A nutrition counselor who is surprised at my weight--she thinks I weigh less.

eye color, relief, by the pool

*The lady who talks to me about exercise has eyes the color of my grand-daughter who I have not seen for a year.

*Relief to learn that I do not need to do certain strenuous exercises every day.

*A chaise lounge sit by the pool (can't go in because of a rice steam burn on my arm)catching up on the papers, cross words. The wind is blowing just enough for coolness but not enough to disturb the papers.

aroma, cafe, library

*I pickle cucumbers and an allspice-cloves-bayleaf-vinegary aroma permeates the apt.

*The cafe of the market is full of shiny faced children in new clothes brought in for breakfast by their moms and grammas on the first day of school. We all sit on creaky wire chairs spotlighted by sunshine which shimmers in through the hugh garage door type open windows. The sprightly music adds to the atmosphere of anticipation for the new school year with new school supplies. Sitting around two tables pushed together in the corner is a group of elderly women enjoying the yearly ritual.

*The university classes have not begun, however, and the library is deserted. My shoes squeak over the tile in the atrium as I walk towards the elevator (let's save the knees today). Up three stories I find a cushioned chair, take in the view westward and settle in to read.

clouds, fish, trumpet

*Purple clouds of sage.

*I can ride my bike to the market for the fish because it is so cool today.

*Creamy yellow trumpet vine spill over a weather beaten wooden fence.

Bows and Arrows

On Children

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Kahlil Gibran

truck, sleep, dress

*I see a pick up truck on the railroad tracks and think "What the?" then see the tiny metal wheels on which it rides the rails.

*Tiptoeing out while the dog sleeps, wondering if she will wake while we are gone and returning to find her in the exact position in which we left her.

*I wear an embroidered Mexican dress to lunch with a black shawl and feel very festive for our last lunch together.

doing something, chips, plates

*Doing something that makes someone really happy.

*We three go to the store with three different appetites and habits and we come out with food I've never heard of and the chips!! "Cilantro, tomato, jalapeno & garlic pico de gallo" "cilantro and lime" "three pepper blue corn" We never even ever have chips, hardly.

*Yellow paper plates on a large dark oak table.

words, dog walk, lost

*While sitting around the table eating food untame in the mouth we begin to pronounce words that feel good in our mouths:ghurka (or is it because it reminds me of pickles?), parapluie, trubka, trottoir--on and on until we fizzle out into laughter.

*K walks the dog with me (black plastic bag over my hand in preparation) and we catch up on what we've been doing which for me is the Stupa, the tea factory, sushi and for her is waiting for a reply from a grant so she can enroll in school. I am so exhausted (happily, very happily) from our visitor that I am totally zonked and begin two stories about animals who meet bazaar deaths. I stop in the middle of both of them (when I realize how rather depressing they are) and laugh. Passing the pink rose bush which is still fragrantly in bloom I stop to exclaim how great that (the blooming) is. Feeling redeemed we continue on.

*I can't find the labeller in all the wonderful visitor confusion but I will never lose the dog because she follows me around as I go from room to room.

mint, teas, fizzy

*She raises the door of the mint storage room. We walk in. I am overpowered. My sinuses clear. My breath comes more easily. I taste the aroma of mint for hours. I want to return.

*Finding great variety of teas in the teashop that are not available anywhere else.

*Fizzy water as an alternative to still water.

warm, recognition, carrots

*Six children come to swim at the pool--the oldest mother henning them along. The first one jumps in exclaiming in relief--"It's warm!!!"

*The Greek waiter recognizes us.

*Hair the color of new carrots on a little girl in the pool.

garage, puzzle, whistle

*When I open the garage door to get my bike I am enveloped by garage smells--dripped oil, leather, dried paper books--which escape.

*Sharing a crossword puzzle with my son.

*After we watch Wallace and Grommit I whistle the title song the rest of the day.

influenced, fans, cloths

*I've come across an interesting thing--with the help of two margaritas. Influenced by the m's I sat down in front of the computer to chill out and realized that I have bookmarked strange blogs. What was I thinking when I dog earred a blog about how to choose the length of my necklace? (Besides wondering when I actually wear a necklace.) Evidentially, the proper size of necklace to wear depends upon the size of the wearer's breasts---uh.

*Window fans=gems

*Ditto ice cold wash cloths worn on the top of the head.

water, water, maps

*We go up to the river--icy cold, slick rocks, whitewater--and sit in silence soaking it in. Khaki follows me into the water and delicately laps. I sit on a rock and entice her into the deeper water. My feet lose feeling--can I walk back to shore?

*Coming back home we are all numb and sleepy. They sidle off to naps and I am left in the cool room drinking glass after glass of water like someone who has just crossed a desert.

*While swimming I glance over to the side of pool and see that he is studying a map.I am overwhelmed that this offspring is most like me.

movie, rest, replace

*Going to a movie that I've seen with someone who has not seen it--the happy feeling I get when he laughs at the parts that I laughed at when I first saw it.

*A day off from exercising.

*No longer home owners, we report a broken toilet seat and while we are at the movie someone comes to replace it. No worries, no swearing, no trip to the hardware store.

shower, nap, cooking

*We dash through the front door:
"I need a shower."
"You guys go ahead--I'm not so chloritized."

*A long gentle nap knowing all my chicks are safe in the same state.

*He prepares dinner for us!

waiting, desk, stamp

*The anticipatory time before a visitor comes.

*Sitting at an old school desk and wondering what was learned on it.

*A new address stamp--clear and bold.