The Limelette Doesn't Fall Far...

Way back when I was pregnant with Calypso and living in Trinidad I had some pretty horrendous food cravings.  The main ones were for lasagna, broccoli, peanut butter TastyKakes, and Doritos.  I had others from time to time but those items were virtually unavailable at all so they went unsated...and I became a bit crazed at times.  Now you have to understand when I say crazed I mean I was pitifully obsessed.  You need to take just a moment and go read this old post about how those cravings were met.  Its short, I promise.

Ok, now that you're back...




This weekend when Calypso came home (and after we both got to sleep in from the 3am arrival) she let me know she'd had some powerful food cravings while she was in Costa Rica.  First on her list was spaghetti.  I smiled.  Next she said she wanted salad that was made with lettuce instead of cabbage.  Then she told me she was really hoping we could get bagels for breakfast.  Finally, she told me she was absolutely DYING for.....broccoli.

I didn't give her a bouquet but she moaned in delight over the spaghetti dinner with a garden salad heavy on the broccoli that we had Saturday night.

Letting Go and Holding On

A few weeks ago while grocery shopping I ran into the mother of one of Calypso's closest friends.  She somewhat tearfully related what a hard time she was having with her daughter being gone away to college and asked if I was having as hard a time as she was.  I wanted to walk a delicate balance between being sensitive to what was a hard transition for her but still be honest.  I just said that I sometimes missed Calypso but that I was very deeply grateful that she was well enough to be away and doing what she wanted to be doing.  That she was away meant she was healthy because the previous year she spent so much time at home involuntarily because for so many days she couldn't even get off the couch or out of bed.  I said I'd rather have her away and well than terribly sick and at home.

This weekend Calypso returned from three weeks in Costa Rica and we spent an afternoon at that friend's house.  Her friend's mom and I were talking and she thanked me for that conversation because it snapped her out of a pity party.  I told her I hoped I hadn't come across as sanctimonious I just truly am grateful for Calypso's restored health.  She assured me I had not.  It was just the reality check she needed at the time.

That said, it's every bit as much a gift to stay up until 3 am waiting for a delayed flight just to have Calypso run in the front door searching for me so she can throw her arms around me in a tight hug.

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.

Food for Thought

Monday in the USA is Martin Luther King, Jr Day.  Plenty of folks will quotes excerpts from the I Have a Dream speech.  Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful speech, one of the greats in American history.  Sadly, what often happens with the great speeches and ideals they express is we become inured to the message by repetition.  Rev. King has been one of my heroes since I was in grade school and read about his adherence to non-violence for the first time.  Today I thought I'd reference some of MLK, Jr's other quotes which perhaps are not as well known and offer them for consideration in light of current conditions.

 

The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.
Martin Luther King, Jr., The Purpose of Education


When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam


A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching
spiritual death.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, (1967)


 Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-- Strength to Love (1963)


The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
-- Strength to Love (1963)


I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.--Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)

Da Count-Da Team

I've said it before, I'm saying it again.  I work with some really amazing people.  I've recently gotten over a truly hideous flare up with my lower back.  During the worst of it I could not drive because we have a stick shift and it was making things worse to work the clutch.  One of the girls in the office was kind enough to give me rides to work.  Another one was sweet enough to come out of her way to take me in on our time off so I could get the treatment I needed to get better.  

Business has been slow...increasingly slow...for way too long.  The boss has been sending two different people home early whenever he thinks we can manage with reduced staff.  It's been happening more and more.  I volunteered to be put in the rotation for that so it wasn't always the same two people taking the hit to the paycheck and I figured I could manage loosing the kind of time I saw the two of them losing and if we spread it around they'd lose less.

This week the boss told us very reluctantly at the weekly staff meeting that he was not only taking hours away from each of us, he was going to take away entire days.  It has gotten that bad.  We all knew it was bad but none of us thought it had come to that.  We were also all concerned about one coworker in particular because she and her husband are already on the edge economically due to his long-term unemployment.  As shocked as we all were by our own reduced hours (and they were significant, I lost between a third and half my hours) most of us were more deeply concerned about her (well, and the owners, of course, because they are good and decent people who give excellent care and if they go under we are all SOL).  I was sent home immediately that day but found out when I came in to work next that one of the other girls who also lost two days gave up a third to the coworker who we were all so worried about.

I am just continually humbled by the kindness and decency of some people I am privileged to know.  I am grateful to be part of such a team of people and certainly hope this will be a temporary situation so we can all get back to doing our jobs well...together.

Voting in the Pri-meme-ary

The Queen's Meme #106 ~ The Political Caucus Meme

Welcome To The Queen's Meme #106

7 Royal Questions on Tuesday

It's caucus time in the good ole' USA. We're trying to elect a Commander in Chief this year. Whenever I hear the rhetoric known as American politics, or business-as-usual, I try to remember that I'm really after someone of leadership and honesty. Hard to tell these days. Hard to tell. 

What is the meaning of a caucus? By definition in U.S. Politics it is "a meeting of party leaders to select candidates, elect convention delegates, etc."

 It's the "etc" I'm worried about. We seem to be talking about a lot of etcs these days. Can't anyone say what they mean and mean what they say? Bonnie Raitt said it best. They should listen to her.

For purposes of this meme, let's focus on these political forces: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman.  I submit these questions to be of vital interest and importance to the welfare of our country. And let's hurry.

By the time we all finish this meme, someone else could drop out. 

Or move to China.

The first United Farmers of Alberta legislative caucus in 1921.

1. What topic would you like to see the candidates discuss that they haven't already discussed?

I'd like them to cover how quantum mechanics and general relativity find unity in string theory.  Alternately, I think they should all swap their favorite recipes.

2. Which one of these men would run in and save you and your family from a burning building if he knew it would cost him the election?

Wait, first I need to know which one knows the Heimlich maneuver because I started choking when I laughed at the idea while eating pretzels that ANY of them would sacrifice themselves in such a way.  Fortunately, I can self-Heimlich (that's what the kids are calling it these days).

3. Who is the best dressed candidate?

For what are they dressing?  A debate? A romp in the Oval Office with an intern? Taking a call on the Batphone?

4. Who would be the best hostage negotiator?

My money goes on Pat Paulsen and he's been dead since 1997.

5. Who has the prettiest and most First-Ladyish wife?  (look for the nails..)

I dunno but the only good thing about the potential of Michele Bachmann being elected (I just shuddered in horror even typing that) would have been seeing Marcus' inaugural gown. 

6.  Which one of these men would you trust with the nuclear code?

Oh dear God, my PTSD....the tics are starting again...

7.  If I, Queen Mimi, invited one of them to Bloggingham for dinner, what should I cook and what question would you like me to ask him?

Invite Rick Perry.  Don't cook at all just do some tequila shots and ask him to recite the Bill of Rights.

A Good Pair of Shoes

Back in November, if you recall, I mentioned Van and Abbe who were running in the Disney Marathon to raise money for research for Leukemia and  Lymphoma treatment.  They ran last year and Van wrote the name of Abbe's cousin, who had been diagnosed, on his sneakers.  When I donated this year I asked if he'd carry Aunt Bee's name since she had been diagnosed about a year ago.   He very kindly agreed.  A week ago we said goodbye to Aunt Bee.  This weekend I found this in my email showing me her name on his shoes for the race he and Abbe ran yesterday.

Although I knew I made the request ad he promised to grant it there was something about seeing it that made a lump form in my throat.  Then I remembered one of the poems read at my aunt's funeral was one she had written and I knew she'd be smiling down on Van and Abbe for every step of the marathon.


When my days on earth are done
To Heaven I hope to go.
Hopefully getting a pair of wings
And maybe a halo
Wings-maybe
"Halo," I don't know?
When you are sitting
And looking at the sky,
Look for the clouds
That are rolling by.
Maybe your eye will
Catch a special one.
It will look like a pair of shoes.
That will be me running along.
No halo!
No wings!
But a Good Pair of Shoes



Thanks, Van for giving my aunt that good pair of shoes.  I hope they carried you well.

Friday 55-Yet Another Wacky Resolution

She stopped making resolutions years ago.

It was futile

and led to failure.

This year she made a real resolution.

It would be attainable.

She would throw away any panties

that rode up, slid down, bunched,

or otherwise annoyed.

Life was too full of challenges

for underwear to be one.

Slingshot to the trash...

SCORE!

Wacky Resolutions

I gave up making real resolutions years ago.  Some call me a cynic.  I prefer realist.  Why set myself up for self-loathing with a bunch of promises I make to myself and break within days or weeks?  However, I'm always up for some fun so let's make some entertaining resolutions.  Here's how it will work. One person makes a resolution and the next person explains the ramifications in a twisted sort of way and makes his or her own resolution, which is in turn fouled up by the nest person and so on....  Like so...

Lime: I resolve to loose 20 lbs this year.

Susie: Congratulation on loosing 20 lbs.  Unfortunately, it was because of a heavy lice infestation and had to shave all the hair on your entire body.  I resolve to boost my textile business.

Logo: Congratulations on your booming business.  I hear you've cornered the market on Rick Perry campaign t-shirts.  I resolve to get up early every morning.

Suldog: Congratulations on becoming an early bird.  I hope you enjoy your daily morning bowl of meal worms for breakfast.  I resolve...


Got it?  Ok.  Go!

I resolve to exercise regularly.