Argh, the blinding flash

We were on the phone with Mum, happily cuddling away when Curt snuck up on us with the camera. Quickly we all averted our eyes except for Clovis. Will he ever be able to see again?!

Visiting

Aunt Patty swung thru Greensboro on her way from Arkansas back home to upstate NY. She stayed just a few days, but what a treat! You all thought that I could talk your ear off, but she really brings out the Serena chatter box. What fun! Here she is with the pups...

Make gardens, not war

I love the idea of secret little plantings going up in odd and fairly random places. Maybe I should start doing this around North Carolina!
Check out the soldiers in action: Guerrillagardening.org

Disenfranchised?

Feeling Disenfranchised? This old ditty from Radiohead should just about push you over the edge...

All my Love

Redbird music

Another great album that came out in the last couple of years was Redbird: http://www.younghunter.com/redbird.html
Definitely worth getting your hands on a copy. Unfortunately, they only offer clips of a few songs on their website & none of my favourites.
YouTube has a performance of 'Ships,' but it takes getting past the mouths moving in a slightly different time than the sound - a bit annoying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lXPkxR6xzA

Local rules

My Dad is thinking of putting together a small vegetable garden. So, we've been looking up info. for his area. Curt found this blog: http://carletongarden.blogspot.com:80/
One of the few things I have learned is how poorly organized I am and how much I can gain from other people's insights on gardening. Certainly, if I have any planting advice it is to look for other folks in your area who are willing to share their gardening experiences. This will save you a lot of mistakes and may inspire some new ideas.

Trees for life

Sometimes a little good news can be so encouraging...
This is just so cool

Paper things

Over the holidays, our friend Christina sent me a sketchbook with all different colours of paper. In my usual destructive manner, I pulled out a sheet of each type and played around with folding them.
Then I strung them with beads: red glass from a childhood jacket and carved ivory from an old necklace that had fallen apart. I threaded them from the curtain rod. Of course, now we can't close those back curtains, but it's a second floor room, so no big deal. They put out some fun shadows in the early morning and they are always spinning because of the heating vents on the floor below.
Thanks Chris!

The National

I love this band. It is a wonderful thing to experience something that is so lacking in fashion, but which has so much passion, in these (as I now term them) Paris-spankin-Spears times.

Besides, that tambourine player is just dreamy!

Shame on you Senate Republicans

“We are witnessing the spectacle of a White House and Republican Senators unwilling even to engage in a debate on a war that claims at least one American life every day and at least $2.5 billion dollars a week.” - Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois (D)

Fabulous! Not like we expected this 'discussion' to go smoothly. Now we don't have to worry about rumpled feathers since it appears that it won't happen at all. By the way Senator Durbin, how many Iraqi's are we killing a week?

“You can run but you can’t hide." -Senator Harry Reid of Nevada (D)
Yeah, well, the opposition keeps coming out on top thus far. They don't seem very afraid of actually having to think about anything beyond their usual gambit. I suspect that you need a new tactic - like, say perhaps a whole new administrative cabinet? Just a thought.

How about this: Then next team that wins the Superbowl gets to lead the country. They are mostly just a bunch of religious millionaires too, but at least they're successful in something!

Warm winter days

Okay, so there’s ‘reality’ and ‘political reality’ and never the twain shall meet. In another display of blatant disregard for what anyone can see and feel all around them, it has been decided that we shouldn’t be too negative. Don’t want the cattle getting spooked.
Here’s a bit from a NYTimes article by Cornelia Dean:

“In its 2001 assessment, its third, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that in the next hundred year’s sea level would rise globally by at least a few inches and perhaps as much as three feet, a catastrophe for low-lying coastal areas and island nations.

In Paris today the panel will issue its fourth assessment, and people familiar with its deliberations say it will moderate its gloom on sea level rise, lowering its worst-case estimate.”

Heaven forbid that any scientists should be allowed to report back their best guess. No, we have to make it palatable to those who are just coming out of the clouds. If the head of the company has to do a 180, then I suppose that we have to make it as easy as possible for him.
Next they’ll be looking for a positive spin: just think, when it’s against the law to drive your behemoth gas-guzzling monster of an SUV, you can park it and live out of the thing.
But perhaps the planet is doomed anyhow. I mean a giant meteor could wipe us out at any time (I’ve seen that movie with the ominous piece of crushed tin foil slowly heading towards ‘earth’), aliens could blow us up, the planet could alternately freeze or overheat.
Whatever, it's the beginning of February and that means in another couple of weeks it'll be time to get a tan weeding the garden. For now, I'll watch the birds on the lake that were supposed to migrate, but found themselves comfortable here for the 'winter.'

Thanks Mum!

Mum sent me a lovely new dress. It is very posh and comfortable. Midian definitely approves - I'd better watch out or it will be all covered in orange fur and kitty drool!