Friday 55-Chilled Lime

FRIDAY 55-Literally

Winter has finally hit.

Thank God for blankets.

I got my new alpaca blanket.

I still have my favorite old wool blanket.

I have the afghan my aunt made.

I'll use them all.

I am still cold.

 Mr. Lime keeps the bedroom at 50.

I confess 

when he's gone

I turn it up a notch.

DA COUNT

It's simple.  I'm counting an ample supply of warm blankets, sweaters, and Duluth style hats.  Oh, and a fireplace.  Now excuse me I have a date with a blanket and the fireplace....maybe a mug of cocoa too.

Year of the Meme

Welcome to The Queen's Meme

7 Royal Questions on Tuesday

Happy Chinese New Year! All over the world today - January 23 -  people are celebrating The Chinese New Year, ushering in the much acclaimed Year of The Dragon 2012.  There will be fifteen days of food, firecrackers, incense burning and revelry. It is considered to be the luckiest of all lunar Chinese new years. Prosperity and good fortune are central themes during this time of traditional hoopla.  Let's participate in the Queen's Castle today. What do you know about this phenomenal worldwide event? 

1. In a traditional Dragon or Lion Dance, the loud drums and cymbals are thought to chase out evil spirits. How do you do YOUR traditional Dragon Dance to drive out any evil in your life? (Do you dance with dragons?......or just old Elvis records....inquiring minds want to know)

I play Engelbert Humperdinck records backwards at 78 rpm, paint myself green and dance naked on the trampoline on a full moon,

2. Have you experienced any good or bad omens this year?

I'm not sure.  How should I interpret seeing clouds in the shape of Newt Gingrich, repeatedly crossing paths with a green wombat, and hearing sounds like a bag of cats being beaten with a stick wherever I go?

3. I believe that good fortune has more to do with personal integrity, honesty and character than ancient symbolism. Treating people the way you would want to be treated goes a long way in warding off that pesky negative Karma.  Dragons are considered evil creatures according to European culture , but in Chinese culture the dragon symbolizes supernatural power and goodness. Which one do you believe? Or would you rather just try the good ole' Golden Rule.......

In this recession the Golden Rule has become too expensive for me to afford.  I'm going with the Electroplate Rule.

4. Chinese couples will attempt to have "Dragon babies" in the year 2012. In order to take advantage of astrological predictions of wealth and success, name one thing you should attempt to "birth" that could bring you good luck.

Well...um...I'm feeling a little constipated.  Cooper, can ya pass me a yogurt?

5. You are in charge of the Chinese New Year Parade in your town. Who will ride on the first float?

There will be no floats.  Dragons will chase the politicians who like to co-opt the parades.  Any politician who cannot run fast enough will be barbequed by the flame throwers installed in the heads of the traditional Chinese dragon costumes.



6.  What is your favorite Chinese food?

Why? Are we ordering out for lunch?  In that case, are you buying?  And uh...can we have Thai instead?

7. Chinese people often think of themselves as descendants of the mythical Dragon creature. 
Do you have any mythical creatures in your family closet?

Oh great!  Just last week I finally got over the idea that there was a monster under the bed.  Now I have to worry about mythical creatures in the closet???

Trini Tuesday-Derek Walcott

I receive the daily email from Writer's Almanac.  It features a poem a day as well as little blurbs about things related to historic literary events of the day.  I highly recommend it.  I was reminded in Monday's email that it was the birthday of Derek Walcott, a Nobel Laureate and adopted Trinidadian.

 Although he was born in St. Lucia, he moved to Trinidad at the age of 23 and a few years later formed the Trinidad Theatre Workshop. He wrote and produced numerous plays and wrote as a drama and art critic as well. He has lived so long in Trinidad and nurtured so many artists and writers on the island that he has been adopted as one of their own (showing how open Trinis are, anyone can be a Trini if they show an openess and a concern for the well-being of the culture and people). In 1992 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (which has also been won by born and bred Trini, V.S. Naipual)

First, a favorite of his poems...

Love After Love

The time will come

when, with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

And a couple of his quotes, which I quite like...

I read; I travel; I become.

Break a vase, and the loves that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.

Strange Grief

Imagine living across the continent from your father who is in his 80s and in failing health.

Imagine a long, slow decline with many close calls during which you visit a few times and call periodically in between.

Imagine receiving the call that he has left this world.

Imagine you are the only person in the family your stepmother calls.  This is partly because your remaining family has dwindled to only about half a dozen people and partly because you are the only person who really had a relationship with the man you call Dad.

Imagine taking unending flack from your mother for your efforts at reconciliation.

Imagine your relationship, such as it was, being steeped in so many lies told for so many years you don't even know some basic things about your father.

Imagine people hearing your family name and asking if you're related to this man with the same name, your father, who is either respected for the career he had or reviled for the crimes he committed.

Imagine the fear over which way that conversation will go.  Imagine instructing your own children to ask why someone wants to know if they are ever asked if they are related to their grandfather.

Imagine flying across the country to attend your father's memorial surrounded by whatever people out there knew him, all strangers to you.  Imagine knowing that some of the things he is remembered for are complete fabrications that these strangers believe.

Imagine being told he donated his body to science and when they are done with him you will receive his ashes in the mail.

I'd imagine those ashes symbolize not so much the man who was your father as the loss of what could have been and what remains when a lifetime of lies are stripped away.

And as much as I try, I don't know that I can properly imagine what this experience is like for my husband.

Friday 55 & Da Count-Hilary's Tree

FRIDAY 55

Disquieted,

I restlessly wander the house
seeking calm.
Nothing engages me.
Nothing soothes.
At every turn I find
irritating,
invasive
distraction.

A whisper breaks through
to my spirit
suggesting,
inviting.
I open my door.

A shadow falls on my lips

shushing me.

The tree beckons me
with twiggy fingers
to find serenity
among her kin.

DA COUNT

The above picture was taken by Hilary of The Smitten Image.  She shared it in a wonderful post all about trees.  I was captivated and asked her if I may use it.  She graciously agreed.  Since childhood I have found peace among the trees.  In the past couple of weeks I've been reminded and drawn back to the trees for a few different reasons.  There's a rooted and interconnected quality to a forest that speaks to me.  There is strength and endurance in the longevity of a tree.  They hold secrets and whisper wisdom.  Even in the leafless days of winter they have a power.  Some may love the prairies.  I love my forests and the trees in them.

Now You're Just Messing With Me

In spite of recently reduced hours I do still have a job.  When I work I work until 7:00 or 7:30pm depending on how long the last patients take.  That means I get home at 7:30 or 8:00pm.  My family generally prefers to eat dinner well before that and honestly I have NO interest whatsoever in cooking at that hour.  I'm just hungry and want to eat when I get home.

Some nights when I am not at work I will cook enough to have leftovers for a night when I am working.  This generally gets me complaints from Mr. Lime and Isaac about them not wanting leftovers.  They have also been known to whine about the fact that I have not left them something fresh for the evening.

Other times I put food in the crock pot and tell them to eat when they are hungry.  Most of the time they do so.  However there are nights when I do this and they opt to ignore that food because it's not what they wanted or like tonight  (I made a big salad, put meatballs and sauce in the crock pot, and left a box of spaghetti for them to cook before leaving for a 10 hour work day followed by an evening meeting) when they don't cook the noodles or touch any of the food I got ready for them instead opting for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

And don't even start me on when I have made my own lunch the night before, labeled it as such, and someone else takes it for his lunch.

Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.

Biology Class Indeed

Isaac is 16.  He is a smart kid who until recently never had to work for good grades.  The end of last year we thought perhaps the stress the family had been under was accounting for grades that were less than stellar.  It was the end of the year.  We spoke to him but didn't give him any major consequences.

This year when school resumed, Isaac moved up to the high school.  His grades remained significantly less than impressive.  We spoke again.  The grades did not budge.  We enacted some meaningful consequences.  He protested vociferously. I spoke with teachers during the week of conferences.  Some noted he seemed to be engaged in attention seeking behavior in class.  I had words with the manchild about his class behavior. We enforced consequences.  Grades improved.

I did notice that it seemed to only be the teachers who were younger women where he was behaving poorly.  Hhhmmm...

Friday he came home and we had the following conversation.

Him: Remember how my biology teacher Mr. B. is leaving the second half of the year?

Me: Yes.

Him:  Well we got the new teacher today.  I just want you to know my grade will be going from a 95 to a 75.

Me: (firmly) Oh no it won't.


Him: (smiling dreamily) Oh yeah...it will...the new teacher is a woman...and she is HAWT!  I'll be lucky if I even pass.

Me:  Oh, you'll keep your grade where it ought to be.  You've proved you're capable.

Him: (whining) But Mom, she is so hot I am never going to be able to concentrate on anything she is saying during class.

Me: I'll tell her to wear baggy clothes, not comb her hair, blacken a tooth, and stop bathing.

They really have to start hiring women who look like this.