Readers – I have a dare for you, a double dare. I double dare you to look around and realize the joy in your life and show appreciation. If you’re in California – repeal Prop 8. If you’re in Arkansas – write the politicians and tell them you’re embarrassed about the fact they passed a law disallowing unmarried people from fostering or adopting. If you’re in New York – think of a nonprofit to go…
The bayou is already alive with bonfires – mini ones built by neighbors along the water. On Orleans, at midnight, the big huge bonfire of everyone’s old Christmas trees starts and this year promises to be more “in control” than years past of trees plus everything Katrina left to burn. Midmorning, Loca and I had a late start to our walk BUT we ran into everyone else we see in the early morning – I…
Today is somewhere between last year and next year — 2009 looms like a mega to do list and 2008’s list still needs so much checked off. How will all of what should be done by the stroke of midnight happen? [and by who?] I went to take Loca for a walk since she didn’t get one this morning as I was up late with the Bean having a meltdown. So we were walking out…
I was speaking to a friend in the park the other day and we were lamenting the inability of another friend’s foibles – I said, by now don’t you think she should grow up? And my friend said, “None of us are growing up, we are just growing old.” I always believed I was an aware person, but truthfully the only way you can be aware is to walk in the shoes of another. After…
My brother sends me photos of his perfect menorah (no candles) and dog with yamulka – happy chihuanaka to everyone from Chico:
The last nights of Hanukkah, I spent one night cursing the Jews who made the cheap menorah candles and then the next night cursing the gentiles who made fancy menorahs that cheap Jewish candles don’t fit in. In the end, it doesn’t matter because once you light the menorahs, the candles all burn the same and they are bright, and cheerful, and Hanukkah is about bringing light in, no matter who is responsible.
Today Amazon sent “It’s All Good Hair: The Guide to Styling and Grooming Black Children’s Hair” since that might be something we need to know very soon. Just this moment, I ordered The Baby Whisperer but in a DVD so that we can watch it together – a friend recommended it after her third child and told me she wished she’d have had it when her first was born. We’ve been trying to figure out…
We’re having a little last day of Hanukkah, 73rd birthday celebration for mom here tonight, only she won’t be here. She refuses to leave the house with two teeth missing and the remnants of a black eye. We went over to her apartment today with a miniature chocolate cake that had 2009 written across it, three candles, a birthday card, ground beef because that’s all she says she can eat, four cans of Tecate, white…
I’m keeping a book of lessons learned and I thank every love who has taught me one of the lessons entered in that book – even the lesser lovers. Before I went to sleep the other night, I read from Mark Strand’s Man and Camel and the poem that struck a nerve was Black Sea – my thoughts were on Turkey, and the Black Sea, and things that are foreignly familiar and yet puzzling by…
The Bean perked up around morning after getting a good night’s sleep due to her anxiety medication and today has seemed more like part of the family than she has in a long time. She cruised by for a scritch while I was having my morning coffee and she doesn’t seem so crazed to find an obstacle to trip over or a corner to bump into. The meds are a patch nonetheless – they just…