text:
Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Childhood Goodies

So we were planning our Harvest Blessing party.

So we were concocting a menu.

So TGF started salivating over the memory of this thing called “Popcorn Cake” that her Aunt Kay used to make on occasion.

So then there was the hunt for a recipe.

So then it was the day of the party and she was thinking about not doing it after all even though she ran out for the marshmallows required for this bizarre thing that morning because of course she hadn’t consulted the recipe when we made our list and shopped Friday night – the night before said party.

So TGF asked me, if I would make it. Nevermind that I had already made two loaves of Moroccan Pumpkin Tea loaf and Jello Brain the night before, or was making the casserole thingamabob that day, segmenting the pomegranate, had to make the dip, would be cutting up the veggies and slicing the cheese. Sure I could also make the Popcorn Cake. Why the hell not? I mean it’s not like I still needed to shower and had NO idea what I was wearing and we all know that can take some time. I mean have you seen my closet? While I suspect it will always lack half of what I think it should have it is far from empty.

There I am, “cooking” ingredients I never thought would be in my house, let alone used in combination by ME – Shedd’s Spread margarine, J*ff Peanut Butter, and mini marshmallows in a saucepan on MY stove. While stirring this concoction, I muttered something about, “How the mighty had fallen” but continued stirring resigned, at least a little, to my fate.

Later, after “unmolding it,” she poked at it, saying it did not seem firm enough. Many folks pointed to it laughing and the story of its history was told. Much discussion ensued on whether this sort of thing was in the same league of jello dishes with things like M*racle Whip and grated carrots were a Midwest thing, gentile thing or not. I vote for yes and I would be happy to keep those sorts of things in the Midwest for the most part. I love that our friends were brave and adventurous enough that more than one volunteered to try this thing.

TGF pronounced “okay but not what she remembered” and lamented it really is hard to recreate childhood memories like this one. Aside from not being as stiff a thing as she remembered she was clear that her Aunt Kay’s did NOT have a peanut butter flavor. !!! How could one not realize from the ingredient list that there was peanut butter in it and thus would taste like peanut butter? I ask you! The recipe (if you can call it that) says melt margarine, add peanut butter, blend, then add 5 CUPS worth of marshmallows and stir until smooth, pour over popcorn and added treats (in our case m&ms and peanuts) to coat. Wouldn’t you deduce it would taste a bit like peanut butter before you tasted it?

Of course being the wonderfully indulgent girlfriend that I am, I helped her deduce that her childhood Popcorn Cake must have used corn syrup and/or other things but clearly not peanut butter to bind the 11 cups of popcorn together. In fact I will hunt down a recipe that seems more appropriate and will probably even make it. Because I’m that good of a girlfriend. Or because my mightiness has really, really fallen. You decide.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Time for Goodbye

It did not go as I hoped or expected, but things like this rarely do. The cost of having someone come to the house was exorbinate. Really - $280! Of course the truth is had I the money even close to lying about as it were, I would have spent that amount. I really would have for my Elliott.

In the end it was a crazy afternoon, picking up Purple Beast (our car) from the auto shop where they could not determine what was wrong, so it's still wrong, going to the dog park, me doing a planned quick excursion to have my barely regular beauty indulgence (my brows), and then off the vet's office. All in a period of about 2 hours. Oh, I did I mention we were readying for a party as well? No? Well we were.

At the park we told Ruth what was happening, where upon she kindly and maternally suggested we delay the party a week. But I really did not want to do that, for so many reasons. From a practical standpoint it was 24 hours notice! Craziness. Granted we had yet to go food shopping for the event but still. Also, there would be a high percentage of folks attending who would know what was happening and honestly, I knew we would be supported if the need arose and that we would be implicitly even if it were not spoken of at all. The party would be a good diversion. As the party was billed as a Harvest Blessing event, the truth is the harvest time is also when we put things to rest so it seemed right, to me and TGF, to continue.

Poor Elliot had actually gained weight but it was all fluid because the rest of him was skin and bones. TGF had to find
him and he was outside for the first time in at least two weeks, as if he knew it was time for his last hurrah. He fought her hard, the most energetic he had been in over a month, getting into the carrier. When we were in the exam room and took him out, he talked up a storm, again for the first time in forever. He looked so frail, his eyes runny and a bit dull, his fur lacking it's fullness - there is no way he looked under two years of age, he looked like an old man. After a bit his voice failed and though he mouthed his stories to us, no sound was heard, his energy spent.

The first shot is a sedative and I swear he fought the sleep. I saw him saying no, wait. But he and I looked at each other and I told h
im it really was time as much as we all wanted to deny it. Elliott sighed loudly, just like his brother Atticus does, but which Elliott has never been heard to do, and sleep began to settle upon him starting from his head, drifting down his body. I stroked him the entire time, spoke aloud and then silently. TGF thanked him for choosing us. The vet came back in the room and gave him the second shot in his heart, which totally broke mine. He felt around Elliott's emaciated body for the correct spot, I tried to find my logical brain and wonder how they know the spot, how it feels - physically - to give that shot, but mostly my eyes just watered over and I felt that life was once again proving itself unfair that it would take this cat with the most gentle spirit I have ever met.

Elliot Butler
Honouring us with his presence
May 29, 2005
October 27, 2006

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Time is approaching

Elliott, my beloved long haired tuxedo cat, is starting to really fail. He does nothing but sleep, his walking is labored, and today he had trouble jumping up to the table where the food is served. TGF said she went to lift him up and he objected to the touch, which has become more common. He is very swollen and no doubt quite uncomfortable. I have been finding little puddles of very concentrated urine, which I am sure are his.

I have posted to a local resource list asking for contact information for a v
et who would come to the house to put him down. I simply cannot imagine taking him in somewhere and bringing his body home. I just can't. Not that doing it here will be easier really, but it just feel more "right" to me. Having him die at home fits with my idea that birth happens at home, unless it really needs to be elsewhere. It is about respecting life for me. I have no idea how I managed to live this long without having this experience.

Right now I am remembering when we lost a foster kitten, one the first ones - Larissa, she and Atticus (nee Lycus) came to us together on a Saturday in late May. We called her "calendar kitty", she was sure to be an absolute stunner. Atticus was far from a beauty, though he turned into an absolutely striking adult cat. She was vivacious and lively, but then suddenly she became sick and in about 3 or 4 days we woke up to her limp, tiny, and soft body. Actually I dealt with it really well, lifting her small, almost weightless body and cuddling her against my cheek. TGF solemnly took her body and buried her in our front yard. The spot is marked and next to her is planted lemon balm and strawberries. Now we will have another special spot to mark and honor. Soon, all too soon.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Today marks one year since my first entry. I am truly shocked, shocked I tell you, that I have keep this thing going. This will be my 213th entry. That means that more days than not I wrote something. Not by much I grant you but still more than not. Okay, sure there were more entries that were quiz results than I care to admit but still for me this level of commitment is frankly staggering.

I have learned a lot through this experience so far.

1. I enjoy developing my voice.
2. I like pushing my boundaries of comfort and writing personal things. Sometimes.
3. Blogs are addicting, reading them that is. Writing them, almost as addicting.
4. Receiving comments are fun, moving, and a little like love.
5. Blog entries can be turned into graduate school assignments. With some editing of course.
6. Blogs are an obligation of your own making.
7. Writing for a mostly imaginary audience can inhibit for some reason, but writing something you know your mother reads....{shivers}. But I do it anyway.
8. Animal stories are not a cop out, quite, but make for fun entries.
9. A great by product is doing more photography and enjoying it. A lot.

I'm sure there are other things I have gotten out of doing this but I think you get the idea. So this means I am going to keeping writing. Hope you keep reading.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

What I don't want to face

Is my age. Not because I am so old, but because my age makes itself apparent in knowledge and limitations. There are things I know about myself, that I can accept even if I still struggle with them. I know that I am not good at hierarchies, which made working at Smith College School of Social Work a challenge (well that along with the incredible racism and classism that permeated the halls and stacks of paper with a stench that turned my stomach daily). I know that I do not like routine, though I need it; finding a balance between having some routine and not feeling hemmed in is a fine art that takes decades of effort and I am only one decade into that practice.

My age, shows in my body, it doesn't recover as quickly, I cannot ignore the aches the same way I did when I took 3-5 dances a week, an occasional yoga or self defense class added in and very erratic sleeping schedules. It also shows my age in a comfort I have in this body that is larger and looser than it was in my twenties. There is a thrill in my sexuality that is deeper and more fulfilling than what I thought was evolved when 23. I suppose it was rather evolved (or at least rather extensive in experience and wilingness to explore) at that time but still nothing compares with the truth that one can inhabit with age and time to assimilate those experiences.

Last week marked thirty years of getting my menstrual cycles. Three decades. Years upon years of a remarkably unremarkable cycle. Quickly my cycle was regular and the only time I was seriously late, I was pregnant. Yes, I have been pregnant, more than once. Yes, I was using birth control every time. Looking back I realize that I was pregnant three times, but only really knew about the time times that I had it "taken care of", the other time I had a very early miscarriage. How do I know? Because as I have said the only other times I missed a cycle I was pregnant.

The other night I had a what I think was a hot flash, as best as I can determine what a hot flash actually is when I have one. I had one a few weeks ago. This after a long absence of any middle of the night heat waves. When I say long, I mean about 3 years, maybe longer. These flashes are a sore subject at Casa de Cedar, for both of us. They represent the end of a road, a road that leads to pregnancy. It could eventually be the end of ambivalence. That would be nice, but so so sad.

When I was a child I longed for a baby, I ached for that future time when I would have a child, maybe even two. A high school senior, 17 years old, I was pregnant. There was no way I could continue a pregnancy. While at my after school job at a market research company whose name I no longer remember I called into the very nice clinic where I had left my urine sample at so that could tell me I was not pregnant. Only when I called they told me the thing I feared, the one thing I did not want to face, the unfortunate evidence of my wild abandon (but not so wild that I ignored birth control). With barely a two second pause, I made my appointment.

On a weekday, during spring break of my senior year I took the subway to the elegant neighborhood, next to the infamous Copacabana Club (the original location), met up with JL, the boyfriend - the shell shocked almost father-like creature. We parted ways in the waiting room while they took me into a room where several us heard what to expect, told a brief explanation of why we chose this path. I don't remember much of that piece, just that something like that happened, I believe they referred to it as "counseling". I remember slipping away under the general (there was no WAY I was staying awake for this, I was already being more brave than I ever wanted to be); I remember thinking about the stuffed animal, a cat that Abby had given me since she couldn't be there was still in my bag, but I was no longer sure where my bag was and I felt desperate about getting the cat back. The next clear thing I remember is waking up in a narrow bed with stiff but clean sheets (like I said this was a very nice place), a lovely nurse like person hovering near me, feeling the absolute terror and horror of what I had just done, something so irrevocable, so permanent. I remember the hot instant chicken soup and throwing it up moments later. Escorted by JL, we took the subway back to my mother's apartment, where I was staying during my break from school, where it was safe to be healing from this. I stayed on the pull out couch from my childhood that was new when I was 7 but was now stiff, the arms with stuffing falling out and an Indian print bedspread covering it's age and leaks. To avoid the reality of what I had just lived through, while asleep courtesy of anesthesia, I convinced JL to attempt anal sex because escape was what I craved more than anything. I needed to know that I was still sexual despite the invasion that was not sex but abused my sex organs with my consent and my distinct fear. The attempt, both the physical and mental were far from successful that evening.

Here it is decades later and my sex life has long since recovered from the naivete and lack of appropriate, um, accessories of that evening. My journey of parenthood has been a push-pull relationship ever since. I have debated whether, when, if, many times over. I have taken quizzes, polled friends, read books, even done therapy. Seven years ago I was trying, on purpose with very expensive, previously frozen crawlers, in my own bedroom with my then partner. Three times I got pregnant while trying not to; three times trying very hard, making offerings, having rituals, I did not even go one day late in my cycle. Afterwards I sank into a five year silence on the topic. It was awful, I was stuck. Back in therapy I made progress. If you call acknowledging that either decision involves a deep and gruesome grieving progress. I came as close to a decision as I had in five long lonely painful years to not have children.

Then, bang. Enter The Girl Friend. In our early days she spoke passionately about wanting to have children and a terror landed in my belly that I would lose this person that I was growing convinced was a once in a lifetime kind of love because I had made a decision that was in direct conflict with her heart's desire. Our relationship quickly turned into a whirlwind of change for both of us since that time, two and a half years ago. In involved, among many other things, her moving 2000 miles from home and family, and me ending a 12 year relationship. We are both torn because we are selfish about our time together - it's still earlier in the scheme of things, less than three years long. There is a deep relish in having an intensely passionate relationship, something that we have more completely with each other than ever before and given the damper our animals can put on the mojo, the idea of a toddler's cry at 11pm when just on the verge of a powerful orgasm, well is less than thrilling.

On the flip side there is a joy and love we will not experience in this lifetime and that feels earth shatteringly empty. Aside from the selfishness about our time, our lack of constraints, there is our age. We are far from spring chickens, and each 3am sweat reminds how I am about to be past my prime for bearing children. Yes there is adoption, I know that quite well. That would still be having a child, which is an elemental decision that has to be made first. Not to mention whether I can resolve to have a child and never experience pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, experiences that I have longed for since before my body could physically do that.

Lately, time feels like it marching in a such a dogged way. Deadlines loom, over hang, pass over me. Anniversaries of beginnings, endings, diagnoses seem constant. This deadline, which has no real date, casts a shadow over everything in these days of clear sunny autumn days in the Bay Area. I have no answers about what happens next. There is no one closing conversation that TGF and I will, or can have. It is an ongoing internal and external dialogue. There are days when I can push it aside, like my age and neither exists in any real way, but today, like the last few days it seems a shawl covering my thoughts with a overlay of sadness and fear that it will became a wedge in my relationship that can only be removed by ending. TGF would push this off as not true, not possible but fears are not about what is real but about the what ifs that keep us awake.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

I really live here!

It's true after almost exactly 18 months, it's official. Yesterday morning there was a knock at the door, TGF and I looked at each other quizzically because let's face it no one just randomly stops by in this neck of the woods. I mean, it's Saturday morning, Jennie and Graham are at his soccer game, Sue (private blog, sorry) and Sarah (sadly blogless though I don't know how she would find the time) are barely awake, Andrea and Liz are cooing over baby Val at McD or somewhere like that, and so on. Too early for a package delivery and we are not expecting anything. Well we are from this bizarre auction like thing TGF spent at least 12 hours glued to her mactop to "win". So yes, we are expecting three bags of crap. Literally. Well sort of, I certainly hope we do not receive the remnants of some creature's meal, although eight dollars for three "bags" I don't know what we will get and neither does she. I mean literally in that that is what this online event names it's "prize". It has made her happy, like Dick Dastardly thinking he had finally outsmarted Penelope Pitstop. For about another twelve hours she went around the house maniacally saying in a sing song way "I won three bags o' crap!".

Of course I had to see who was at the door because, well it could have been something fun, like Ed McMahon with a super gigantic check, which would be absolutely helpful for things like rent and food, though the chance of that would be like one in ten million since I haven't played along with that stupidity in over a decade (hey, hope springs eternal and all that). Our front door is one of those old glass doors (G141) with lots of panes that has a curtain over it (courtesy of our gracious landlady), I pull it back at bit to ascertain the knocker. Lo and behold! It is the beatific face of a Jehovah Witness with the latest copy of "Awake!" in prominent placement in his arms. Thank goodness for the magazine's presence or I never would have guessed. Yeah right. A good looking, dressed in a suit man knocks on my door on a Saturday - never would have guessed. Hey I didn't grow up down the road from a major headquarters of Watchtower without learning a thing or two!

In looking up one my favorite landmarks (one could see this building when driving over the Brooklyn Bridge (one the most beautiful bridges in the world, IMNSHO) I see it has been sold! It will be turned into loft condo thingys, of course. This strikes me a bit akin to churches being turned into clubs. I went to the Limelight in the 80's once, for a GLBT event, very trippy in effect but horrible music much of the night, though I do remember some good flirting and having a great deal of fun people watching. It only stands to reason that the Watchtower and other places have been sold to make way for "progress" or in the case of New York City, lack of overpriced places to live. The church on the corner of my old house on Strong Place, which I recently visited albeit most briefly, is being converted into condos. This Baptist Church has been around for a very long time, though wouldn't you know in this neighborhood teeming with Italian Catholics it is only now, it writing this post that I see it was a Baptist church. I had NO idea. Never occurred to me to look that hard. I assumed {gasp} it was Catholic, because well, if you had been in that neighborhood when Cammerari Bros. Bakery (as in the movie it was a real place {this link also mentions Caputo's another place I remember} that had great bread) woke you up at predawn with the arousing aroma of Italian bread baking, there was no other logical conclusion. Okay now I'm missing Brooklyn, big time.

Back to Berkeley. I smiled politely through the glass panes, shook my head, and mouthed, "No thank you". Returning to face TGF, I said, "Now I know I'm really home, this is really where I live because that was Jehovah Witness." Since I moved to Brooklyn, when I was almost nine, this is something I expect to have happen where I live. I continued to live in Brooklyn for a long time and always had that knock at the door. Even in my tiny little house (I do mean tiny, it was 720 sq. ft) in the Baystate Village section of Northampton on a street only one block long they found me. It was totally expected that they would when I moved to 40th Street in West Oakland, but here? In the Westbrae neighborhood of Berkeley. Ah. Settling into my spot on the couch that place feels that much more like home.

Friday, October 13, 2006

I'm sure some of you would have guessed this

I saw this over at Breena's blog. I just couldn't resist it.

Pure Nerd

69 % Nerd, 21% Geek, 17% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The New York Adventure

I never wrote about our trip to NY. Well it was a whirlwind and once we got back and started to recover we had to face Elliott’s ill health. Since then there’s been a myriad of things to write about, but really it does deserve some attention.

We were fortunate in that Ruth, Piccolo’s mom, offered to drive us for our redeye flight out of SFO on Sunday night. Unfortunately much to TGF’s dismay and annoyance this was not a direct flight so there was a stopover at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Predawn at an airport is a bit surreal. The lack of sleep (neither of us dozed well on the first leg) and her “inner gay man” came out in full force dissing people’s clothing right and left. If I wasn’t so grumpy I might have found the insightful if highly biting commentary amusing. All went well with the rest of the trip including renting the car.

I had never driven to or from Newark Airport but TGF was an excellent copilot though I relaxed greatly once we were in Westchester County and was breathing easier once we were on Route 9. TGF however was getting, well, a tad panicky. She and Sunny met, briefly during our last trip east. It was badly planned as we had we had flown in the evening before (the details posted here), I wasn’t able to get caffeine into TGF before the meet up. The normally chatty, witty, and intelligent Southern Babe I know was nowhere in evidence for fully the first 30 minutes. Thus her anxiety.

We arrived to joyous welcomes and hugs. Sunny proceeded to give the house tour and Karen was her witty self and doled out an appropriate number of compliments and leading questions. Whew. Later we went out to dinner at Umami with Sunny’s neighbor Barbara with her lovely but shy daughter Emma. The duck quesadilla appetizer was lovely as was grilled portabella and mozzarella. I had the pad thai – which was quite good. TGF had the truffled macaroni and cheese, which was magnificent!

Tuesday we did a small shopping expedition in order to pick up some make-up for TGF, because well she simply could not go to Broadway without the appropriate outfit (which we took care of earlier) and looking wonderful. The three of us headed to Bloomingdales in White Plains in such of Clinique – the only make up that can touch her delicate skin. I picked out a great lip colour, Pink Toffee for her. I picked up some Stila, lipstick (Piaf) mand eyeliner (Amethyst). With the exception of our first meeting, this might the only other time I have seen her with make-up on. Sunny thought she looked hot and compared her to Jeri Ryan. How much more of a compliment could she give her!

Lindsay, Sunny’s husband, was supposed to go with us to Broadway that night but his work compelled him and left him with deadlines that suddenly needed his attention. Luckily I suggested that we call Deborah to join us and she was able to make it. TGF and Deborah really hit it off at camp so this was a great bonus. TGF and I were starving so we all went for a really quick bite at Juniors which had just opened about 3 doors up from the theatre. Finally it was time to go to the performance of A Chorus Line. There was something incredibly thrilling about sitting so close watching my cousin, Jeff Schecter, on stage. It turned out that he has the first solo performance where he sings “I Can Do That”. There were a lot of great performers in this company: Yuka Takara is adorable, even more so in her own make up and clothing (yes we waited by the stage door after the show); Jason Tam gave a very moving performance (though in truth I found the writing itself a bit disjointed and lacking); Michael Paternostro, who is Jeff’s best friend was wonderful. Natalie Cortez has a great voice, emotions just pour forth. A significant amount of the show revolves around the character, Cassie, but I was far from impressed by Charlotte D’Ambroise’s performance. But Jessica Lee Goldyn gave an awesome performance of “Dance 10" (aka Tits and Ass). Oh and Deidre Goodwin - just Fabulous! Love her!

As I mentioned we waited by the stage door and gave kudos to a number of the actors while we waited for Jeff. Finally he came out. It was marvelous to see him, I think the last time I saw him was at our grandmother’s funeral over five years ago. Later TGF noted that his face absolutely lit up when he saw I was there – which is kind of how it felt. We don’t have a lot of shared history but a great amount of mutual affection. The director came out and complimented him on his number. It turns his number had been limited in dance moves because he severely twisted his ankle before they opened in San Francisco a month earlier. He had just been given the new choreography that afternoon – we would have never guessed! We all retreated back to Juniors so we could catch up a bit. By the way if any of my dear readers are interested in backing an independent comedy written by my cuz, contact me! I haven’t read it, cannot vouch for but he’s family, so I have to ask. After he left we wandered a few blocks out of our way (which my feet objected to though they looked fabulous in Aerosole shoes TGF bought me a year ago and hadn’t a chance to wear. I mean these shoes are killer!) to see the huge billboard (his is the third butt from the right) which has my cousin’s ass about three tall, at least.

The next day (Wednesday) we packed up and drove into the city proper, as in the five boroughs. I realize non-New Yorkers think “the city” only equals Manhattan but in fact “the city” is made up of all five boroughs. We drove through parts of the Bronx, Queens and finally our destination – Brooklyn. Even with a delayed start and some traffic snags we were only about 10 minutes late for meeting Jerry, my father, and Maddy, his girlfriend. We had a lovely lunch at an Italian place on Smith Street, which has in recent years become restaurant row – very different from when I lived there, many moons ago. Though TGF used codes so to give us an out (something we had discussed before) I decided that we should spend a bit longer with Jerry, especially since he really wanted to show me an apartment he is hoping to move into.

First we did stop briefly at the brownstone on Strong Place that is the closet thing I have to a family homestead. We didn't get to go inside but at least TGF now has a visual when I refer to the house.

The building Jerry is interested in relocating to is in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, right on the water.

It is right by this Waterfront Museum.

Let me tell you the place he planning to move to is a fabulous remodel of a nineteenth century brick factory building (his building is mentioned here, it's connected to the Fairway Market). TGF demanded that I take all sort of photos outside to capture the views and inside.

This is one of the views from the roof. Even I would consider such a place, and there is just about nothing that would convince me to move back to NYC, as much as I love it.

Once we had done the rounds and ohh’ed and ahh’ed over the place we took off to Greg and Janet’s. Once we arrived in their place we both took our first really deep breath since we arrived and were probably more relaxed than we had been since before we left the west coast. After lolling about for a bit, we headed to Bogota – a great restaurant about two blocks from their place. Really good food, excellent margaritas, fabulous company. So nice. Essentially we came back to the apartment and one by one we drifted off to sleep. After a light breakfast of New York bagels and some good coffee we took off back to Newark.

It seems that we have made peace with the transportation gods since everything went smoothly. We are grateful for that. It was a successful visit regarding TGF meeting the family. Lindsay officially welcomed her. Jerry was assured of his adoration of her. Maddy seemed to approve as well. And Sunny, well I am sure she was charmed though TGF is feeling shaky. Do they adore each other madly? No. But I do think that Sunny is feeling good about things and that’s a very good thing.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Not so finished

Well I finally decided to look at Niya's cat bed without the support of tupperware and towels to form it. Sigh. The sides flop sadly, so I suspect another go in the washer is in order. I'm thinking at least a 6 minute cycle this time, since I think I did 6 and then 2 last time. It is still quite large so I am not too concerned about that part. I am sad that it did not stiffen as I had hoped. Here's to hot water and friction.

On a happier note, I did switch needles on the surprise project and it is flying! I actually now have something that would be to big for B*rbie. The downside is it is so frigging boring. All knit stitch and I just am doing it until it's the right size, which even with better needles is going to be awhile. Soon I will pick up T'Mane's outfit again, especially since I finally ordered more yarn so I can make the pants. Jeez, it's good things she's a peanut, it should still fit. My new deadline is Thanksgiving.

The lure of the shawl sirens has hit me which leaves me pondering if the Dale of Norway Svale in Mist (9 skeins) that I have would work for either Swallowtail or Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style. Conveniently I own the copy of Interweave that has Swallowtail, and my best bud Jennie, owns the book Wrap Style. Easy enough to see if the yardage is there in my stash. This all leaves 3 skeins in lavender to use somewhere as well. Any thoughts?

Finding a rhythm

Apparently the dark hours before dawn are very productive for me. On Friday I woke up at 5:00a.m. thanks to the kittens and could not go back to sleep. That is when I finished the edit of the research paper, wrote in my online classes a bit, emailed a different professor (who has not written back yet!) and so forth. Friday night is when I finished the cat bed and the mittens. Saturday I did not wake unusually early but evidently propelled by the productivity of the day before had me posting away on my online classes. Then nothing. No seriously.

Fast forward to this morning. Again the kittens decided playing on sleeping mama heads was a good idea. Again I could not fall back to sleep because I started obsessing on school work - a common thread over here at The Cedar Street Zoo. So at just after 4:00a.m. I quietly found warm clothes, grabbed my glasses, headed to the laundry room to throw a load in, and settled on the couch with Lotus (my laptop) and my Crisis Intervention book. Read chapter eight, reviewed the assignment based on the chart in chapter six on Erikson's stages of development.

"Using Kanel's chart from page 93, map your own life using Erikson's stages but put in a "Possible Problematic Social Role Change" from your own personal life history. From your current vantage point suggest the Intervention(s) you would recommend now. Use only one "Possible" for each stage. "

There is something especially surreal about doing this type of assignment before daybreak. I realize that one in a graduate program in psychology gets to examine their life and all the minutiae of crazy that has happened but trying to choose the one problematic crisis? How is it possible to determine which messed up episode captures the representation of development for each life stage? Saana and Atticus served as silent supporters of my careful consideration of what details about myself I was willing to reveal and still truly fulfill the assignment. It was very interesting writing the interventions as I have wondered about this sort of thing, without the language and background, in earlier musings. Also as this part of the course is focused on crisis and not particularly doing therapy, it was really challenging because deep therapeutic work was what was needed frequently in the episodes I choose.

Sometimes doing this work reminds me of when I did the certificate program in Maternal and Child Health at Boston University's School of Public Health. You read about all about the multitude of things that can go wrong and scare yourself. During that one year program I did about, hm, 6 births? It was hard as hell not to worry, to pick over symptoms, to pray furiously to deities you're not even sure you believe in. When I read about the dysfunctions of families, there are times I feel like my life is being used without permission in vignettes. Looking at couple dynamics I feel like I am scoring my relationship against the examples in the texts and trying to justify where we are not perfect. No couple is perfect, and no one really knows what happens when no one is there to listen in. In theory we all know this, but still we posit the dynamics we only have hints at. There are times I feel like I am a living, breathing example of a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Who am I to provide therapy? I realize I have some skills, and will gain more before, before what exactly? In truth I have been already providing therapy but somehow it doesn't feel real right now. When my next client is assigned, will it start feeling real again? Probably and it will leave me with a fear that leaves me hollow on the days when I feel it is hopeless and I am ineffective. Those days will be countered by the moments of deep connection with a client. It's then that regular math doesn't work. Minutes will quell days of dread. It's magic formula.

Remind me of that will you?

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Finished, almost finished, trying to finish, and hopefully finished

After great delay and putting aside I have finished Adrienne's gift of a hat and mittens. These mitts are my first try at the critters, which took a number of attempts to truly finish. First there was trying this pattern, which while quick, just looked formless and too short. So searched and decided on this pattern. There was simply no comparison - more elegant shaping, better length and fit, tighter stitch thus the first mitt got frogged unmercifully. Inspired by the speed with which even the second mitt was done I started gleefully on the second but when done it was seriously smaller. Sigh.

Frogging and more yarn usage occurred. Wonderful you say, well I would have too except now the second mitt's thumb was too small. Finally last night I snipped and frogged, but done! The hat was my own creation, I added a barely noticeable eyelet pattern to keep from getting bored while knitting. Also started that twice as I did not account for the yarn girth, frogged, reduced my cast on by 20 stitches less and now I love it. Given that it is a fantastic colour I am sure Adrienne will enjoy it.
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun, colour grape.
Hat: circular size 9
Mittens: size 6, Crystal Place, size 7 Susan Bates Quick Silver (borrowed from Jennie)

Niya's cat bed has finally been casted off, thrown in the washer for felting - one 6 minute cycle,one 2 minute cycle, hot wash, cold rinse. I love love this yarn for bulky projects and of course it's been discontinued. The pattern is simple but I wasn't sure about adding the eyelash.

I searched my stash and found this great colour, no label so I have no idea of it's origins. I finished it last night which included trying very haphazardly to circle a tupperware thingy with towels to reach something like the circumference I want. It is currently drying and I am hoping getting a little stiff.

Given it's my first felting attempt I won't worry too much about how sturd
y the sides will be long term. Yarn: Debbie Bliss - Soho (disc) colour 37505 I think.
Some unknown but fantastic eyelash yarn.
Needles: Size 9 dpn, Clover I think? and Size 11 Clover circulars.

Next up is the secret project which is taking a long time for a few reasons. I don't love the Daisy circulars (size 13) for the ladder/railroad yarn at all! The points are way too dull for the material. Then all the yarn started coming off the cardboard it's packaged on. Don't let this happen to you.

This is how it looks after spending 4+ hours detangling! I am thinking of changing over to my Clover circulars (size 15). Since there isn't much done yet and gauge is not critical I think it might be okay. If it makes the project go faster then it's worth the shift in scale.

As to the hopefully finished, I sent off my revised research proposal paper to my professor this morning. Now mind you this is not research I will actually conduct, it was merely practice for writing such a thing. Since I do not plan on doing research it is a tad annoying but on the other hand it give me greater insight on how much work it takes to justify research that does happen. It also gives me pause for the future of this nation given how much is researched that is obvious. Like this tidbit:

Given the high incidence of childhood sleep problem and diagnosed postnatal depression, it is likely significant numbers of mothers being diagnosed as having postnatal depression are suffering the effects of chronic sleep deprivation.

Armstrong, K.L., Van Haeringern, A.R. (1998) Sleep deprivation or postnatal depression in later infancy: Separating the chicken from the egg. Journal of Paediatric Child Health, Volume 34 (3) pp??.

Brilliant! Brilliant I tell you, I would have never put postpartum depression and sleep deprivation together. Of course my proposal was so much more brilliant even than that. It had something to do with investigating if feelings of disempowerment during the birthing process lead to a crumbled self confidence which in turn would impact the marital dyad. Of course my greater intent would be to process data that would help support (eventually, after about 12 more studies) Stanton's* premise, which I concur with, that what we label postpartum depression is actually a realistic response to the pressures women feel when they become mothers in our society which makes it nearly impossible to be held in high esteem when one is a mother without turning around and smacking you down because that's all you do or smacking you for daring to have a life and possibly a career in addition to being a mother. This all results in a struggle for identity that leaves most women exhausted and overwhelmed and feeling like a failure.

Oh dear it appears I have found myself on a soapbox, how did I get here? Pardon me, as I step down.

I am off to accomplish more things. Ta ta!

Stanton, A., Lobel, M., Sears, S., & DeLuca R. (2002) Psychosocial aspects of selected issues in women'’s reproductive health: Current status and future directions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Volume 70(3), 751Â–770

Friday, October 06, 2006

The Girl Friend agrees.

Emphatically so.

What Your Underwear Says About You

When you're bad, you're very bad. And when you're good, you're still trouble!

You're sexy, in that pinup girl, tease sort of way.

If I am remembering correctly this

This matches my Myers-Briggs score from eons ago. Even if it didn't, the "score" makes sense to me.

Your Personality Cluster is Introverted Feeling

You are:

Tolerant, flexible, and open to new ideas.
A stickler for integrity and authenticity.
Passionate about causes, beliefs, or politics.
Likely to have many "best friends" from many walks of life

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Distractions Needed

Thanks be to Juno for this post which has me thinking about knitting rather than the ill cat lying next to me. Now I want to get my hands on the Spring 2004 Interweave because I found still more patterns to pine over.

I am not sure I have "True Yarn" yet, though I am loving the (of course) discontinued Debbie Bliss Soho (colour 9). I am just about finished Niya's cat bed using it, and should have just a few yards less than 5 balls left. If I like how the felting works I'm thinking about making a laptop cover for my Lotus Baby. Yes, I named the new laptop Lotus, stop groaning!

While Juno pined for the Salt Peanuts, I am interested at least in Polka Purl Dots, though I really need to see a better photo. Oh found one! Nice. Swell Sweater seems like something to hang out in but could be dresser when the occasion called for it. Caramel Cap-Sleeve Top, maybe, again need to see more.
Oh, maybe NOT on the Caramel! Ditto Side to Side Ribbon Pullover. Of course, that would require a lot of ribbon yarn, which well, isn't a "True Love" type of yarn for me. Hm, found a photo, perhaps not. Well thanks to surfing for the above photos I found this, which is tempting.

Distraction good.

Oh! My lovely friend Ruth, Piccolo's mom, gave me a birthday gift the other day.
Before giving it to me she said, "This is only for you. You'll understand when you open it." FOUR lovely hanks of Misti Alpaca Chunky in Marina Melange. This stuff is so soft. I am thinking I might be able to make a "set" of a scarf, hat and fingerless gloves. Maybe there would be enough yarn. Maybe this Reversible Cable scarf. Or something simple like this. I'm wondering if these would work. I long to be at Savannah Chick's level, so making something of hers would be moving in that direction. Or, since I'm making her cat bed design, maybe these. I love these but not for this yarn. Oh! But that pattern would be lovely, I think, for the Lorna's Lion & Lamb hank that Jennie (it's a different Jennie link than the last post because that girl is so busy she has TWO blogs!) gifted me with some time ago. But would I wear them enough, I mean this yarn is GORGEOUS!

Again I say, Distraction Good.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

It's not a good sign

When the vet tech looks briefly at your cat's test results, then ushers you to an exam room. I was expecting this, I really was but how prepared can one really be when a cat that holds your heart in his tiny paw is fatally ill.

My beloved Elliott has the effusive form of Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). From the moment he came to our home as a foster, May 29th 2005 this little ragamuffin stole my heart. Elliott was a little sick as young one, briefly very ill and we needed to give him subcutaneous injections of fluids, he often ran hot appearing to have a fever. As an adolescent cat he was gangly, reminiscent of a young Henry Fonda.

He grew into a long and elegant cat, I adored every
phase. Elliott is the loner of the group, only bonding with Orion who was in his foursome (TGF brought home Elliott {nee Achilles}, Orion, Caliopee, and Atticus {nee Lycus} while I was attending a birth.).

Though it was my heart that was smitten he would have nothing to do with me. He regularly begs to sit on TGF's chest while she sits on the couch surfing the web, or stands on her chest when she is in bed. Of course I suppose it's only fair as Atticus stole her heart and soul but he pines for me when I go out of town.

(I just lost everything I wrote after this, so I will try to recreate it. Once was friggin hard enough!)

Tonight after telling TGF (which sucked, a LOT) I gathered up the skinny, pot-bellied cat my boy has become and we sat together while I surfed, thought, and whispered sweet things in his ear. He sat with me for an hour which is a clear sign that he is not well.

Over dinner, I glimpsed at Elliott and his belly looked smaller. I swear it did, so I thought, "Maybe he will be that one in a million that spontaneously goes into remission and will live for years more." Wishful thinking. Wishing very hard.

Now we are left with deciding how much is enough. It is a fine line between not allowing him to suffer and how much are we sparing ourselves. I have never had to do this with a member of my family. I know I'’ve been lucky. All my cats have done off to die. My family dog was put down after I left home and without my prior knowledge. I think I would before to have a vet come to our home to put my boy love down. Afterwards, I'm not sure. Jennie was a sweetheart and sent me the link to the place she used. They sprinkled the ashes at a pet garden. I don't know if the site wasn'’t clear or I just could not feel it, but I could not see using them. Maybe it's too soon to think clearly about this. I never understood keeping a box of ashes, but I am beginning to see the draw. The desire to hold on can be so intense.

Toy Story - The Adult Version

Keep them coming folks!

Official Announcement: Dharma will be accepting toy stories until January 1st 2007 for use in an article which will be published, er, hopefully somewhere but certainly if nowhere else here!

I've got a couple, Melissa B and Wen have sent me the bones of two more. Com'on folks! I see great things here.

Melissa - well our toy get "chewed" and generally used by the dog and cats!
Wen - I am hoping you eventually got a new version to give to T. I love the idea that the SW employee wouldn't know what to do with it, however I used to correspond with a SW employee that I'm pretty sure would think it was her lucky day to find it.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

200 and nothing to say

This will be my 200th post! I cannot believe it, not just because of the sheer number but because I really and truly have nothing funny, poignant, or some other great adjective to say. Sure I could, and ought to, report on our trip to NY, and I have been stewing some ideas for posts in my brain but none seem done, or more precisely I am too cranky to work on them.

Random bits from my universe:

- Marcel still isn't have the best bowel movements so a sample was ceremoniously scrapped from the living room floor behind the television where he insists of doing his bidness. He has been nicknamed Mr. Prissy Pants as I think part of using my living room floor as his litter box is because he is VERY fussy about the state of his litter box and won't use it if it does not meet his standards.

- Elliott is at the vet's office for blood tests and such, after being taken in for an 8:30am appointment. Now you have to know that 8:30am is the devil's time for TGF as she hates being up and functioning early so I am totally stumped as to why she agreed to that time yesterday when she called. The vet was not encouraging in his assessment of Elliott's health, basically everything that could be causing his belly to swell is pretty serious and potentially we may have some hard choices to make. I am holding out hope that rumors of ill health have been greatly exaggerated.

- Wyatt is being a royal pain. I do think that he is acting out in part because we were away again so soon, though he had an housesitter/pet amuser extraordinaire, Brooklynne, who spoiled him with two walks a day. In addition he needs a dose of flea medication so in the meantime he is snuffylying something horrid with such fervor that he wakes us up during the night. The coup de grace was waking up this morning to find he had spent part of those wee hours destroying a new, er, toy* TGF had bought for me (really if you think about it, for us ;-)) for my birthday yesterday. Yes, we did get to use it last night but now it has become a one trick pony as it is irrevocably destroyed. The kittens keep finding bits of carcass that was a tool of joy and playing with it. Glad
someone can still get enjoyment out of it.

- My professor finally sent my paper back with revisions. I like how he says, "You have some work to do, but not a lot". Sure not a lot. Just have to dump two citations and find new ones that say the same thing but strictly in the field of psychology. Sheesh, psychology? I mean for cripes sakes just because I am pursuing a degree in psychology the references have to be from the field? Whoever heard of such a thing? I ask you. No really, I'm asking.

- Yesterday we had a lovely breakfast at La Note, which serves my all time favorite breakfast (Cote Nord), which in my opinion is a great way to start one's birthday. I haven't been in forever, and TGF had never been there. It did not disappoint. From there we wondered into Pendragon Books next door, but surprisingly not much inspired us, though I did pick up the October issue of Cook's Illustrated my all time favorite cooking magazine and it should be yours. I thought it would be fun to check out Crossroads Trading across the street. The selection there is quite fun and most things are quite reasonably priced. Well I thought so until I went to check out and was surprised to hear the total. However I thought a moment and realized that it averaged just under $10 for each item (which doesn't match the time where things average out to $4 a piece, but still decent), including a very fun pair of heels, some, er, play clothing much of which, because I am nothing if not frugal, I can wear as part of my regular wardrobe, which I hope to make TGF crazy with since it will have other connotations. Evil? According to recent testing I am not all that evil, right?

I suspect it really is time for me to start to work, like on the above mentioned paper from hell. Still need to find a cassette player (Jennie, it needs to play regular sized cassette, not mini. But thanks!), and someone to interview for the other class. Once all this stuff is done and evaluated I will have finished two classes that have been hanging over my head for almost 2 years and I can move on to the next 3 classes I hope to finish up while taking, um, 3 classes this semester, hopefully 4 if I can enroll in one class as a mentored class rather than online. Oh yeah, and I really need to go to the TBS office this week, do my paperwork to account for my practicum hours. Not that TBS has finished getting the paperwork over to my school so Saybrook can approve the site or anything. Nope nothing like that! I am trying to gear up to taking another client as I need to get cracking on hours for this semester. The raging butterflies hit my belly every time I think about taking a new client but it must be done. Wish me luck!

* You didn't really think I'd link you to the actual toy, did you? Where would the fun be in that. This way your imagination can go wild, as we did last night.


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
Last Minute Guide to all things Christmas

Monday, December 21, 2015

If you're looking into making your own hostess gift, but time is running out, here are 15 delicious and nifty homemade goodies that will surely hit the spot.
Plus, those 9 more ideas for next day's breakfast...
Still looking for last minute gems for a friend or a sister? Here are 11 pretty awesome gift guides that might just inspire you.

Not decided on how to wrap gifts yet? Here are 13 lovely ideas that might help, including those 3 irresistibly zesty takes on wrapping.

Every Christmas party should have a great boozy drink and here are 10 of my favourites.

And the best way to jazz up your home for the Holidays is by trying one of those 4 great simmer pots.

P.S: A nifty little clementine trick and those delicious hot chocolate spoons.
P.P.S: Mmm, orange and clove pomanders!

Psst: the comments are switched off during the Holidays. But if you want to drop me a little hello, you can always reach me via email - :)
Related Posts with Thumbnails

exPress-o All rights reserved . Design by Blog Milk

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-185-224-210.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-22
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for May 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


text:
Wednesday, March 2, 2011

First Impressions #1

I’d like to offer a big thank you to Marisa Hopkins at Living the Creative Life, for being brave enough to share a page of her manuscript for First Impressions feedback! After you’ve read my impressions below, pop over to Mainewords, where Marcy Hatch will also be sharing feedback on Marisa’s page.

The following excerpt is the first 130 words of SLEEP, Marisa’s urban fantasy retelling of Sleeping Beauty:

On the day I was born all the spring flowers blossomed, the crickets played their violin wings and the faeries sang songs of love and joy. That’s what my father used to tell me, anyway, as he tucked me into bed at night. I’d lay there with my baby quilt pulled all the way up to my chin and listen as he told me over and over again, the story of my birth and the bliss he and my mother felt as they gazed upon their newborn Cinnia Rose.

I knew by the time I was three that spring flowers don’t bloom through the autumn frost and crickets die in the cold. Not to mention the only faeries at my birth were my pixies, and of the seven of them, only Skipperling can carry a tune.

Immediately, an image of Pixie Hollow springs to my mind, but then it is bashed down by the first sentence of the second paragraph. This sentence lets me know that everything is not all sweetness and light in Cinnia Rose’s world, and suggests a conflict between the way things should be and the way they are. Her voice hints at disappointment or cynicism here, but as I continue reading to end of the page, I realize the emotion I’m seeing is sadness.

After this opening passage, the narrator shares the rest of her father’s retelling of her birth and reveals that both her parents are dead. The memory of this favorite story is all she has left to comfort her. Marisa ends the excerpt with these sentences:

I’m supposed to feel lucky that I was given seven faery gifts at my birth. But I would give back every single one in a heartbeat just to hear my father tell the story one more time.

I found this intriguing! Here is the conflict in the story: Cinnia Rose is supposed to be gifted. She is supposed to have a life that mirrors her father’s story. But she doesn’t. All is not well in her world.

Whenever I see lines that grab me like this, I usually recommend moving them forward and opening with them. They would reveal Cinnia Rose’s problem and a bit of her personality in the very first paragraph. It occurs to me that the first lines as written reveal her father’s personality, not her own, and he is apparently dead when the story opens. So, perhaps it would be better to begin with the narrator’s wish that she could trade what she has for what she lost. What do you think, Marisa? Those lines could lead into the father’s story about her birth, but the telling of it would be flavored with sadness – because we would already know it’s not true and the man who loved to tell it to her is gone.

Marcy has her own First Impressions of Marisa’s work over at Mainewords. On Friday, First Impressions continues with a look at another writer’s first page.

  1. Oh, great concept and lovely writing, Marisa!

    Dianne, I think you're spot on with your suggestions, too.

  2. Great suggestions, Dianne. I would agree. This is wonderful Marisa. Very intriguing.
    I look forward to reading more first impressions excerpts.

  3. I know we aren't supposed to start with back story, but this really pulled me into the story.

    Wow, Dianne, you are brilliant. Moving those first two sentences makes a more compelling start.

    I forgot you were doing the first impressions crit. Otherwise, I would have linked you on today's post. If you want, I can mention it on Friday.

  4. MANY many thanks, Dianne!! And moving that last paragraph up to the top is an EXCELLENT suggestion - I look forward to playing around with it :)

    Again, thank you!

  5. hi miss dianne! miss marisas story is real neat. i like how you said when lines grab you they could have lots more punch at the start. im thinking that part of that hook stuff that could make you wanna read more. for sure im gonna learn lots from this first impression stuff.
    ...hugs from lenny

  6. Nice job Marisa my friend! I know how hard it was for you to put your work out there for public scrutiny. I'm SOOOO proud of you!!!

  7. Dianne, that was awesome. I agree you are spot on. I love your suggestion of moving the paragraph, how as it starts it is in Cinnie's fathers voice. It had felt wrong to me before but I didn't know why until you articulated it. So cool.

  8. Wow, great advice:)
    Love Marisa's writing!


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
Thread: Sold
View Single Post
Old 02-08-2013, 11:02 AM   #3
lachingona1's Avatar
Registered Users
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: NW
Posts: 194
Re: NB~ Organic Imse vimse, Organic Caboose

We're a UC'ing, breastfeeding, babywearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, non-vaccinating, unschooling, family with 5 kiddos Oct. 2004, July, 2007, July, 2009, Oct. 2010, Nov. 2012
lachingona1 is offline   Reply With Quote


text:
Scarlett Johansson-HQ Hot Wallpapers

Scarlett Johansson WallpaperScarlett Johansson
Hollywood Glamour Actress
Biography & Latest Wallpapers

First, she added depth to a supporting role as the daughter of a middle-aged ad salesman (Dennis Quaid) who becomes involved with her father's young boss (Topher Grace) in writer-director Paul Weitz's comedy "In Good Company." Following that moderate box office success, she gave a Golden Globe-nominated (but little-seen) performance as a headstrong teen who returns to her late mother's home to unexpectedly share it with a pair of booze-soaked intellectual boarders (John Travolta and Gabriel Macht) in the Southern-influenced character drama "A Love Song for Bobby Long." In both films, Johansson's potent combination of adolescent freshness and wise-beyond-her-years maturity helped breathe a compelling realism into her roles. Off-screen, her male admirers were disappointed to find out that the young Hot symbol had her own leading man, Josh Hartnett, with whom she began a two-year relationship in 2004. In an unfortunate introduction into the sci-fi action genre, Johansson was cast as the lead in director Michael Bay's misfire "The Island" (2005), as a woman living in a post-Apocalyptic world only to discover it is a façade for something much more sinister.
Latest Wallpapers >>

As expected from an actress who generally shone under the employ of more artful auteurs, Johansson fared better in Woody Allen's serious-minded "Match Point" (2005), playing a sensual but struggling American actress in London who takes up with her ex-beau's brother-in-law (Jonathan Rhys-Myers), forcing him to choose between her and his comfortable, status-granting marriage. The result was another Golden Globe nomination and one of Allen's best works in years. Johansson would, in fact, become a kind of muse for the director, who would cast her in several more of his films.


text:
Monday, August 6, 2012

Dickens, One Year On

A year ago today Daisy and I got in the car and drove to Eugene to meet this guy. We liked him so much we took him home. Daisy has since had occasion to regret it, but on the whole I believe she enjoys having a big plush toy to chew on and bark at when it sneaks up on her during naps.

Dickens will be two years old on September 11. Given his inauspicious birthdate and his disastrous effect on home furnishings in the first few months of his life here, I nicknamed him Hound Zero. I'm happy to say that nickname has fallen into disuse, although there are still moments when he's every bit the rebellious adolescent--to be expected, I guess, given that at two years old he's the equivalent of a 14-year-old human.

We've been training a lot in the backyard, and if I can get his attention, Dickens does well. He picks up things fast, but he also gets bored fast, so I have to be careful not to let the sessions go on too long. I'm having some work done in the back yard, and when it's over there'll be room for a small agility layout. I have a feeling agility is going to be right in Dickens's wheelhouse.

And now, Year Two...


text:
Keep Your Fork – Two True, Very Different Stories!

Keep Your Fork Cropped

Story Number One – The Best is Yet to Come!

Courtesy of

Attributed to Roger William Thomas
Submitted to Ann Landers by Kay in California

A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given three months to live. She asked her Pastor to come to her home to discuss her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral, and what scriptures she wanted read, and which outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Then she said, “One more thing… I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.”

The pastor was surprised.

The woman explained, “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably say to everyone, ‘Keep your fork.’ It was my favorite time of the dinner, because I knew something better was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep dish apple pie – something wonderful. So, I want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and wonder, ‘ What’s with the fork?’ Then, I want you to tell them, ‘ Keep your fork, because the best is yet to come.’ ”

The pastor’s eyes welled up with tears of joy as he bid the woman goodbye. He realized she had a better grasp of heaven than he did, and knew something better was coming.

At the funeral, when people asked him why she was holding a fork, the pastor told them of the conversation he had with the woman before she died. He said he could not stop thinking about the fork, and knew they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either. He was right.

“Keep your fork. The best is yet to come.”

Story Number Two – “I Told You to Keep Your Fork!”

Many years ago I was attending a work related conference at a beautiful, rustic but high class Adirondack Mountain Resort in northern New York State with my wife, Lynn.

It was the custom of that resort to import college age men and women to wait tables, bus dirty dishes, greet incoming guests, etc.  The clientele of the resort especially enjoyed the Irish dialect or “Brogue” with which they spoke and the gracious demeanor they displayed.

This time, however, the conference was in early May and the Irish workforce had not yet arrived.

The resort used available local workers to do the needed tasks. Some of these workers were retired from various jobs and others seemed to be there just to earn a little extra money with less than a full understanding of the job requirements or the ambiance which they were expected to convey.

One evening Lynn and I were seated at a table with several high ranking telephone company executives. Our waitress was a lady of retirement age whose approach to her job and to her table guests was very direct.

Waitress images

Typical Preseason Waitress Image

First, she nearly threw the menus at each of us then barked that she would return in a few minutes and that we should be ready to place our orders.

She took our orders on a typical restaurant writing pad and when she returned with our food she loudly demanded to know who ordered which entree, putting each plate down less than gracefully.

Her parting shot to us was this: “Keep your forks because the good silver isn’t out yet and we’ll run short if you don’t.”

As we finished the main course she returned to take dessert orders and subsequently returned with them.

All this time the company president seated across from me was talking and talking and only minimally paying attention to the waitress’s instructions.  So, when she put a dish of apple pie in front of him he noticed that he had no fork and said to her, “Oh Miss, could I have a dessert fork.”

She scowled at him and responded, “I thought I told you to keep your fork!”

Apple-Pie by

Apple-Pie by

To which he curtly replied, “So shoot me, I forgot.  Now please bring me a fork.”  His back was to the direction she walked but all the rest of the table guests watched her in shock as she sauntered up to a huge tray of dirty dishes, pulled out a fork and swiped it under her armpit to “clean” it.

She marched back to the table and roughly placed it in front of this somewhat agitated company president.

All of us at the table quickly assessed the situation and discreetly nodded to each other to remain silent – which we all did until the company president’s pie was in his stomach.  Then and only then did we confess to him what had happened behind his back and that we all knew it.

Fortunately, he was in good humor toward us and laughed the incident off.

This story has been repeated many times in my family and probably in the four other families at that table in that fancy Adirondack resort that featured its well-trained and charming Irish staff starting at the end of May each year and continuing until September, when the local staff returned to finish the season with a distinctively different ambiance.

Many times in our house, we have heard the command “Keep your fork.”  Like the first story, we always took that instruction as a signal that The Best Was Yet to Come.

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below

Leave a Comment:

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Hit Counter provided by laptop reviews
%d bloggers like this:


text:
IC and discrete distributors stock parts begin by 2 Page 11

Part numbers letters list:0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Parts from012345678910111213
From 2SA1890AETZ to 2SA1932(TP,Q)

From 2SA1932Y to 2SA1947-T113-1D

From 2SA1947/AB to 2SA1976Q

From 2SA1976Y to 2SA1982

From 2SA1983 to 2SA2018TLDK

From 2SA2018TR to 2SA205

From 2SA205(TE85L.F to 2SA2094FRATLQ

From 2SA2094Q to 2SA2174GRL

From 2SA2174GSL to 2SA273

From 2SA274 to 2SA355(A)

From 2SA355A to 2SA452

From 2SA452(H) to 2SA510XO

From 2SA511 to 2SA564-R(NC)

From 2SA564-S to 2SA611

From 2SA611A to 2SA673CTZ-E

From 2SA673CTZPRFMD to 2SA719Q(A719)

From 2SA719QR to 2SA741(H)

From 2SA741(N) to 2SA800A

From 2SA801 to 2SA812-T1B/M5A

From 2SA812-T1B/M5I to 2SA812M6B

From 2SA812M6M7 to 2SA854-Q

From 2SA854-Q(T) to 2SA915K2A

From 2SA915L to 2SA937-RT

From 2SA9375K to 2SA954L

From 2SA954T to 2SA985AP

From 2SA985APS to 2SB0709A-R(TX)

From 2SB0709A0L to 2SB1000-AJ

From 2SB1000-J to 2SB1025DJ

From 2SB1025DJTL to 2SB1065/2SD1506

From 2SB1065Q to 2SB1100J

From 2SB1100K to 2SB1116A

From 2SB1116A-AZ to 2SB1121T-TL

From 2SB1121T-TL2A/30V to 2SB1125TD

From 2SB1126 to 2SB1132T000R

From 2SB1132T000R/BA.R to 2SB1168R

From 2SB1169 to 2SB1184R

From 2SB1184R-TL to 2SB1188U

From 2SB1189 to 2SB1198/AKQ

From 2SB1198ADQ to 2SB1203S-23

From 2SB1203S-34 to 2SB1216

From 2SB1216(251/252) to 2SB121900L

From 2SB12190RL to 2SB1238TV3R

From 2SB1239 to 2SB1260T100R-4

From 2SB1260T101P to 2SB1290E

From 2SB1291 to 2SB131(A)

From 2SB1310 to 2SB1347S

From 2SB1348 to 2SB1386P

From 2SB1386PT to 2SB1412/B1412Q

From 2SB1412/B1412Q to 2SB1424/AE

From 2SB1424/AEQ to 2SB1440(U)-R/11R

From 2SB1440(U)-R/1R to 2SB1462J-QRTX

From 2SB1462J-R to 2SB1516HRATLQ

From 2SB1516P to 2SB1571-T1/FZ

From 2SB1571-T15A/50V to 2SB1603A

From 2SB1604 to 2SB1669-ZJ-E1

From 2SB1669AZ to 2SB1721O-Z-E1

From 2SB1721Z-E1 to 2SB2118

From 2SB212 to 2SB3020L

From 2SB303 to 2SB397

From 2SB398 to 2SB499

From 2SB50 to 2SB551

From 2SB551(H) to 2SB595Y

From 2SB596 to 2SB624-T1BBV4

From 2SB624-T1BBV4BV3 to 2SB647AC-EQ

From 2SB647AC-Q to 2SB68

From 2SB680 to 2SB709A-S-

From 2SB709A-S-(TX) to 2SB710AS-(TX)

From 2SB710AS-TX to 2SB736/BW5

From 2SB736/BW5 to 2SB756

From 2SB756A to 2SB770

From 2SB771 to 2SB772SL-P-AA3-R

From 2SB772SL-P-AB3-R to 2SB792-S/IS/1S

From 2SB792A to 2SB800/FK

From 2SB800/FK to 2SB810MM

From 2SB810T to 2SB826

From 2SB826-R to 2SB863-O

From 2SB863-R to 2SB908Q

From 2SB908TE16L to 2SB943

From 2SB943-P to 2SB968-R

From 2SB968-R(TX) to 2SC083

From 2SC083/IDP to 2SC1032

From 2SC1033 to 2SC1102

From 2SC1103 to 2SC1173

From 2SC1173-O to 2SC1226-R

From 2SC1226A to 2SC1311

From 2SC1311F to 2SC1372

From 2SC1373 to 2SC141A

From 2SC141D to 2SC1481

From 2SC1482 to 2SC1560

From 2SC1561 to 2SC1621-T2B

From 2SC1621-T2B-B3 to 2SC1623-T1-4

From 2SC1623-T1-A(L5) to 2SC1623CLASSL5/L5

From 2SC1623CLASSL6/L6 to 2SC1651S

From 2SC1651STPQ to 2SC1683(A)

From 2SC1683/A to 2SC1740STDTPR

From 2SC1740STDTPR to 2SC1793

From 2SC1794 to 2SC1815BL-ZQT

From 2SC1815BLTE2 to 2SC1841EF

From 2SC1841F to 2SC1890A

From 2SC1890A-D to 2SC1946A-01

From 2SC1946AV to 2SC2001-T-L

From 2SC2001-TA-L(TR) to 2SC2055

From 2SC2055-101 to 2SC2097-H

From 2SC2097-H-MP to 2SC2165H

From 2SC2166 to 2SC2223M-T1B

From 2SC2223N to 2SC2240-Y

From 2SC2240-Y-GR-BL to 2SC2289-KA

From 2SC2289-MA to 2SC232T9

From 2SC233 to 2SC2351T1BR2-A

From 2SC2352 to 2SC2396F

From 2SC2397 to 2SC2411K/R

From 2SC2411KCQ to 2SC2412K/BS

From 2SC2412K/BS to 2SC2412KX2

From 2SC2412K_07 to 2SC245-Y(TE4

From 2SC2450 to 2SC2468

From 2SC2468-02 to 2SC2500GR

From 2SC2500Y/C to 2SC2562-Y

From 2SC2562Y to 2SC2618/RB

From 2SC2618/RC to 2SC2633

From 2SC2634 to 2SC2668Y/O

From 2SC2668YOOYAE to 2SC2705-O

From 2SC2705-O(TE6,F,M) to 2SC2712-Y(TLSPFT)

From 2SC2712-Y(TLSPFT) to 2SC2713-GR(5LSFT

From 2SC2713-GR(DG) to 2SC2715OR

From 2SC2715OTE85R to 2SC2735J-TR

From 2SC2735J/JC to 2SC2757-T32

From 2SC2757-T33 to 2SC2780/NC

From 2SC2780/NK to 2SC2802T1

From 2SC2803 to 2SC2814-TL

From 2SC2814/F4 to 2SC2859-X

From 2SC2859-Y to 2SC2878_07

From 2SC2879 to 2SC2896

From 2SC2896(K) to 2SC2946-Z-E1

From 2SC2946/C2946 to 2SC2996/GO

From 2SC2996/GO to 2SC3052-T12-2E

From 2SC3052-T12-2F to 2SC3072-C

From 2SC3072-C(LB) to 2SC3098/MB

From 2SC3098MB to 2SC3123_07

From 2SC3124 to 2SC3138VNY

From 2SC3138Y to 2SC318

From 2SC318(A) to 2SC3209Y

From 2SC320N to 2SC3249EAA

From 2SC325 to 2SC3281

From 2SC3281-0 to 2SC3311A-Q(TA)

From 2SC3311A-QTA to 2SC3326-B/CCB

From 2SC3326-B/CCB to 2SC3353A

From 2SC3354 to 2SC3356-T2B(R23)

From 2SC3356-T2B(R24) to 2SC3357-T1/RF

From 2SC3357-T1/RH to 2SC3368

From 2SC3368- to 2SC3397-TA

From 2SC3397-TB to 2SC3423-O/TD>

From 2SC3423-Q to 2SC3440G-T1-GB

From 2SC3440T12 to 2SC3478-AK

From 2SC3478-K to 2SC3518-K

From 2SC3518-L to 2SC3554

From 2SC3554(SL) to 2SC3585-T1/R43

From 2SC3585-T1/R43 to 2SC3608

From 2SC3609 to 2SC3623T

From 2SC3623TJM to 2SC3641

From 2SC3642 to 2SC3660(A)

0-C     D-L     M-R     S-Z


WARC-Truncated: length

text:
Network Design & Services

A stable IT infrastructure forms the core foundation of the communication and networking ability among the working people of the company. This always turns in handy when organizations rely on the compatibility of their workers and co-workers that in turn help to carry out different operations, daily transactions and strategic planning for the immediate or near future. The IT or Information Technology is what makes up the IS, or Information Systems of the organization. In the world of cloud technology like today, IT workhouse provides strong foundations for businesses that expand globally and showcase their reach on virtual domains as well. For this purpose, it is of prime importance to have a stable network design, network infrastructure and network installation systems. In case the computer network of a company fails for some reason, it would be literally impossible for the firms to undergo their business doings during that period and the profits would certainly drop drastically.

As much as anybody would wish that these catastrophic crashes to our network systems never happen, they are inevitable. But, there are many ways to curb such hurdles. There are simple solutions that take into account that like machines, network connections wear out due to over-connectivity or too much queue at times. Network design and services help curb such problems with immediate response, maintenance and high optimization. These services go beyond the conventional repair of Wi-Fi or LAN (Local Area Network) and MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), but they also look into several other prospects such as network design, network infrastructure and network installation systems. The biggest advantage clients get from these services is that they specialise in the design, installation and project management of Network Systems. With their experience and numerous technology solutions, they can bring the networking systems up to pace and provide the performance the business needs. These services take responsibilities even through remote places and look into the problem on a first-hand basis.

Companies like Cisco and Digital Forerunners offer such services, understand the immediate need for support when network connections, be it intra or inter networks, are not functioning in their usual manner. If the network hubs are having problems, the services use in-depth industry knowledge, practical exposure and intensive project management experience to deliver ready-to-use industry-compliant installations for digital, voice, data, wireless, or audio and video solutions. This fixes the root areas and companies can go back to square one to enjoy their network design, network infrastructure and network installation systems.

The importance of the Information Systems and network services in a company can never be underestimated. They are of high significance in the functioning of the daily business operations and keeping them up to date with regular interval maintenance and redesign of the systems coupled with the critique of the installation systems must be considered by any organization and should be looked up on as a vital investment to maximize the benefits and unleash the potential of the workers.

Visit for details on our network design and services today!


text:
Skip to main content

Ted Szukalski

Gallery of fine art photography.

Dijon, Burgundy, France

Because of the distance between Geneva and Paris we knew we will need to spend a night somewhere in the middle. After traveling all day and enjoying the country side of Jura and Beugundy we have decided to stop for the night at Dijon. I have to admit the only thing I knew about the town is that there is mustard called after it. Well the mustard does not cut it here. This is a city with rich history, in fact the city is being considered by UNESCO as world heritage of mankind. Numerous old, monumental buildings proclaim its once greatness and significance in culture and history of France.

And once you are tired of exploring the city sit down in one of the many charming restaurants and enjoy a superb dinner. One note: they do not accept all international credit cards everywhere so you better check before you sit down otherwise you will be in search of a bank machine in a real hurry as I was.

Explore my Dijon photographic gallery.


text:
Media statements and opinion pieces by the Australian Digital Alliance in response to copyright law and policy developments.

Media Statements

  • 19 February 2014
    The Tech and Telco sector support Attorney-General’s commitment to copyright reform

    Today the Tech and Telco industries joined other organisations and experts in welcoming the Attorney-General George Brandis’ commitment to fixing Australia’s copyright law, and requesting that the update of Australia’s laws includes the introduction ‘fair use’.

  • 17 May 2013

    May 17, 2013 – Today, a coalition of organisations representing a diversity of interests have come together from around the world to ask for A Fair Deal on intellectual property (IP) in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).

  • 10 September 2012

    Australia’s copyright regime is currently holding back innovation, but making copyright more flexible and technology-neutral will, over time, add $600m in annual productivity gains to the economy.

    These findings are contained in two new reports prepared by Lateral Economics for the Australian Digital Alliance.

  • 27 April 2012

    Today the Full Court of the Federal Court ruled that the TV Now service provided by Optus, which enabled consumers to record free-to-air TV to the cloud for playback on their personal devices, is an infringement of copyright.

    The Federal Court considered Optus to be the “maker” of the recording of free-to-air content, despite consumers selecting content to record.

    The Australian Digital Alliance is concerned that the Federal Court’s decision could impact on future innovation in cloud-based services in Australia.

Subscribe to Media statements

© 2016 - Australian Digital Alliance

Website by Oxide Interactive Canberra web design and usability


text:
Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Changing Landscape

In December 2007 our town suffered a really bad ice storm. Many trees were lost and the landscape of our community changed, including our cemeteries. A few trees were repurposed at the Penwell-Gabel [old Memorial Park] Cemetery.

The one with the animals is in Petland

Monday, June 29, 2009

Survey Says...

I use the words Interment or Inter, but not everyone does.

******WHAT DO YOU USE?******

Interment –noun
the act or ceremony of interring; burial.
interment. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/interment (accessed: June 29, 2009).

Or this...

Inter –verb (used with object), -terred, -ter⋅ring.
1. to place (a dead body) in a grave or tomb; bury.
2. Obsolete. to put into the earth.
inter. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inter (accessed: June 29, 2009).

The one I see most often is:

Internment –noun
1. an act or instance of interning.
2. the state of being interned; confinement.
internment. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/internment (accessed: June 29, 2009).

Or this...

Intern –verb (used with object)
1. to restrict to or confine within prescribed limits, as prisoners of war, enemy aliens, or combat troops who take refuge in a neutral country.
2. to impound or hold within a country until the termination of a war, as a ship of a belligerent that has put into a neutral port and remained beyond a limited period.
intern. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intern (accessed: June 29, 2009).

[there is also a definition that includes a trainee or apprentice]

These spellings did not return any results
A. Inturnment
B. Inturment

A new one to me a few years back was Inurn. I saw it appearing in our newspaper obits here in Kansas. When my little sister died in 2007 I included this word in her obituary and was told by the newspaper in Georgia that it was not a proper term. Huh? It was not worth the hassle during such a sad time that I just re-worded it.

Inurn –verb (used with object)
1. to put into an urn, esp. ashes after cremation.
2. to bury; inter.
inurnment. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inurnment (accessed: June 29, 2009).

Who Are You?

This is [only] one of the saddest headstones I've found. Someone cared enough to have the cross placed on this grave and even embed the little doll into the stone but no where can I find a name for the person buried here. I am assuming it is a baby or child.
This grave is located in the Eastside Cemetery in Hutchinson, KS. I spend a lot of time here for a multi-level project that two of us are working on. We typed all of the paper records for the city and for our genealogical society and are now walking each lot noting the burials with and without headstones. All of this will eventually find its way to the society web site. The grave is also in the original Potter's Field, where even though there may be an interment record there isn't always a location recorded. I'm in the process of analyzing about 130 years worth of records to reconstruct what I can. My eyes scan the cemetery for this marker each time I enter it.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Second Look

It wasn't until I looked through these pictures again from Attica Cemetery that I realized this was not a Rock of Ages headstone. It's a sweet remembrance for a young woman. My trip to this cemetery was unusual in that it is an hour and half from my house. My husband, being the good sport that he is when it comes to visiting cemeteries, drove with me to find this particular cemetery to see the Nathan Grigsby lot that I had heard about. Click on the label to find that headstone.

Friday, June 26, 2009

A Good Clue

Now why can't I get help like this in my genealogy?
"Left his wife and seven children to mourn his death, at rest"

Jesse B. Harris
12/20/1860 - 12/4/1911
Riverdale Cemetery, Columbus, GA

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Frances Rohrer

Frances Elizabeth
Daughter of
John G & Josephine Rohrer
Born: 12/17/1888
Died: 3/21/1902
Buried: Mt. Olive Cemetery, Pittsburg, Crawford Co., KS

I could only find a Francis Rohrer, age 11, born Dec. 1888, in the household of Peter Rodenberger household on N. Grand Avenue in the 1900 Pittsburg, Crawford Co., KS Federal census. Her mother Josephine is on the same base and she died in 1936. It's possible the father is buried close by and I missed him.

DCW Videos

I've been experimenting with videos, mostly for my genealogical society. After investing in a video software I found that I liked the simple one that came with my computer better. It doesn't have many bells and whistles but I don't need a degree to figure out how to use it. What I do like about it is that I can take digital photos and create a video from them. I do own a camcorder now but find it impossible to visit some of these cemeteries again or often.

I have added a video bar to the side column and uploaded two short videos. Or, you can link to the YouTube channel for Digital Cemetery Walk directly.

I plan to keep my videos short, under 3 minutes, so you won't fall asleep! Should one warrant more time, well, that's okay too!

Blog Highlighted

I am honored to have my blog highlighted by Laurie over at The Graveyard Detective. I am inspired by so many other cemetery bloggers, including Laurie. Thanks, Laurie!

The photos used in my header and footer are from the historic Linwood Cemetery in my hometown of Columbus, GA. I love to walk this cemetery when I go home to visit.

I am captivated by the symbolism found on headstones. You see cemeteries in a new way when you stand before a grave and silently ask "what am I being told about you?".

Through my AGS membership I have come to know Richard Waterhouse. He shares his love of symbolism through a monthly newsletter. I had the opportunity to interview him for our genealogical society quarterly. You can read a copy on his web site. Click on the Symbols in the Cemetery article. You will also find his newsletter back issues on his site too.

Have you visited a cemetery today?

Monday, June 22, 2009

Cemetery & Photo Count Update

I had an opportunity to visit a small pioneer cemetery while out of town. Add Eakins Cemetery in Denton Co., TX to my previous list.

Updated Count:
118 cemeteries represented by 16,828 photos

Even though I try to delete duplicates I know within some folders I may have some that I resized for posting online.

See my previous post with the same label for more information.

Sea of Coping - Riverdale Cemetery

The Riverdale Cemetery in Columbus, GA has to be one of the hardest cemeteries to maintain. When you look out across the cemetery your gaze falls upon a sea of coping, for most lots within a section are divided by it. Last fall I heard the city is working to establish a foundation that would cover Riverdale, Porterdale and East Porterdale. I hope so! My mother and 3 of my sisters are buried here, along with my grandmother, Great grandmother and other relatives.

Steinbeck - Pioneer Family

The Steinbeck family burials occupy the west section of 2 lots at Eastside Cemetery. The surname headstone states "members of Reno County Pioneer family 1848". Reno County wasn't officially established until 1872. There are 10 family members buried here.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Charlie Martin

We spent a long weekend in Ponder, Texas. I had the opportunity to take a quick visit to Eakins Cemetery. Here is the grave of Charlie Martin 2/12/1902 - 6/10/1905. I did find a few transcriptions online for this cemetery. All have his death year as 1903 but enlarging the close-up headstone photo clearly shows it as 1905.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Cemetery Photographs

My love of cemeteries developed through genealogy but it wasn't until the last few years that I really noticed the beauty that can be found in a cemetery. In the beginning my visits were limited to locating specific people, photographing the headstone for my records and leaving. That, however, changed along the way. Now I find that I will stop and visit any cemetery regardless of a family connection [and these days most have no connection].

I was curious of just how many cemeteries I have taken photographs in [that I have a record of] - so I decided to look. I also noted I began to take more photos after I purchased my first digital camera, no longer needing to be conservative with film and developing costs.

I keep all of my computer files organized in folders so pulling this information was easy. I have photographs for 116 cemeteries that I have visited. These 116 cemeteries total 16,687 photos. Of those 12, 238 are in the Kansas county that I live in. We have 54 cemeteries and so far I have completely photographed 34 and partially photographed the remaining. 3 are really large of which 2 may never get done completely but the other one is currently a special project I'm working on with a friend for our genealogical society web site. I also have 1,280 photos that others have shared with me over the years. And, I have a photo box that have several hundred taken on film.

Here is my list as of today.
**[Added one 6/18 - new count is 117 cemeteries w/ 16, 745 photos]

Cemetery, County, State
Abbyville, Reno, KS
Amish, Reno, KS
Antioch, Reno, KS
Arlington, Reno, KS
Attica, Harper, KS
Bainum, Reno, KS
Baker, Reno, KS
Baxter Springs, Cherokee, KS
Beallwood, Muscogee, GA
Buhler, Reno, KS
Buhler Municipal, Reno, KS
Burrton, Harvey , KS
Calvary, Crawford, KS
Campground, Holmes, FL
Cedar Hill, Terrell, GA
Cottonwood, Rice, KS
East Porterdale, Muscogee, GA
Eastside, Reno, KS
Elmwood, Montgomery, KS
Enterprise City, Coffee, AL
Evergreen, Muscogee, GA
Fairlawn Burial Park, Reno, KS
Fairview, Montgomery, KS
Fairview [Albion], Reno, KS
Fairview [Elmer], Reno, KS
Fairview Methodist, Reno, KS
Fairview Park, Stafford, KS
Flat Creek, Geneva, AL
Ft. Dodge, Ford, KS
Ft. Scott National, Bourbon, KS
Glendale, Reno, KS
Glenwood, Washington, FL
Grace Meadow, Marion, KS
Graceland, Meade, KS
Halsted, Harvey, KS
Haven Priest, Reno, KS
Hayes Township, Reno, KS
Hazen, Reno, KS
Hebron, Harvey, KS
Highland Park, Crawford, KS
Hillside, Edwards, KS
Hoffnungsau, McPherson, KS
Hunt Shive, Harvey, KS
Hurricane Creek, Holmes, FL
Iola, Allen, KS
Kinsley, Edwards, KS
Langdon Old, Reno, KS
Laurel, Reno, KS
Lerado, Reno, KS
Linwood, Muscogee, GA
Little River Township, Reno, KS
Lodiana, Rice, KS
Lone Star, Reno, KS
Lutheran, Reno, KS
Maple Hill Langdon, Reno, KS
Maranatha, Reno, KS
Martin, Stafford, KS
Mitchell, Reno, KS
Morgan Methodist, Calhoun, GA
Mt. Ida, Holmes, FL
Mt. Olive, Crawford, KS
New Bethel, Terrell, GA
New Hope, Houston, AL
New Providence, Houston, AL
Park Hill, Muscogee, GA
Partridge, Reno, KS
Pawnee Rock, Barton, KS
Peace Bethel, Reno, KS
Peace Creek, Reno, KS
Peace Valley, Reno, KS
Peaceful Acres, Covington, AL
Penwell Gabel, Reno, KS
Plainview Amish, Reno, KS
Pleasant Hill - Loda, Reno, KS
Pleasant Hill - Ninnescah, Reno, KS
Pleasant Ridge, Johnson, KS
Pleasant View - Darlow, Reno, KS
Pleasant View - Huntsville, Reno, KS
Plevna, Reno, KS
Ponce DeLeon, Holmes, FL
Porterdale, Muscogee, GA
Pretty Prairie Mennonite, Reno, KS
Ramah PBC, Houston, AL
Reese Baptist, Geneva, AL
Reformatory, Reno, KS
Rehobeth, Houston , AL
Restlawn, Montgomery, KS
Rice Co Poor Farm, Rice, KS
Riverdale, Muscogee, GA
Rockville, Rice, KS
S. Inman, McPherson, KS
Salem, Reno, KS
Salem Orphans Home, Marion, KS
Schooley, Reno, KS
Sego, Reno, KS
Shirly, Crawford, KS
Simmons, Chase, KS
Smith, Houston, AL
St. Agnes Catholic, Reno, KS
St. Aloysius, Crawford, KS
St. Joseph Catholic , Reno, KS
St. Joseph Highland, Clark, KS
St. Louis, Kingman, KS
St. Paul Lutheran, Reno, KS
Stafford, Stafford, KS
Sterling Community, Rice, KS
Sterling Mennonite, Reno, KS
Sweet Gum Head, Holmes, FL
Sylvia, Reno, KS
Tabernacle, Geneva, AL
Thiessen Old, Reno, KS
Turon, Reno, KS
Valley Township, Reno, KS
Westminster Old, Reno, KS
Wildmead, Reno, KS
Yoder Amish, Reno, KS
Yoder Mennonite, Reno, KS

A lot of these can be seen using the Photos 1 & Photos 2 links.

I guess I really do like cemeteries!

Kinsley Cemetery

This was the first cemetery established for Kinsley. It's history is sad but it has been remembered and maintained.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Albert K. Clopton

Albert K. Clopton
December 14, 1877 - May 12, 1879

Albert's grave is located in the historic Linwood Cemetery, in my hometown of Columbus, GA. His is just one of the many beautiful headstones you will discover at Linwood. Thankfully, his parents [or someone] marked his brief time on earth. So many times children were born and died in a time period where records may not exist outside of the family bible. Often times their headstone may be the only record of their life.

What was his middle name? What dreams did his parents have for him. Say his name out loud and remember Albert today.


text:
Interactive Marketing Services By Top Agency, Digitalforce India

Home » Interactive Marketing

Interactive Marketing

Digitalforce Online complements proven-effective digital marketing comprehensively.Our paid search programs include wide range of cutting-edge Interactive Marketing Services. These solutions are viably meant to boost website visibility, capture Targeted Visitors or organic traffic.Ultimately, these leads are converted into sales,besides reducing customer acquisition costs and fetcheffectual results.

You might occasionally come across an Internet Marketing Company, known for putting itsrich experience into practice innovatively. The best part is with its innovation, proper results are deliveredto clients. Digitalforce is an exemplar of such business ethics which serves the needs of all business enterprises.

Digitalforce Online India Pvt. Ltd. is listed among leading Internet Marketing Companies of India. The team adopts definite Interactive Marketing techniques which promote the growth of your business. The varied techniques employed by us include:

Interactive Marketing is being demanded highly in the virtual market due to its swift and effective response. This response compiles all the activities of web based marketing in the favor of clients. Adding brand awareness of your company to the targeted visitors is the chief aim of our interactive marketing. Consumer response and conversion rates get better with Digitalforce as our experts promote your business smoothly. This continuous process of marketing has gone digital and our team of professionals are committed to attain your company goals in deadline specified in the beginning.

Go to top

Our Clients


text:
Happy Birthday, Marvin Gaye

Discussion in 'Hip Hop, R&B, Old School' started by SIRIUSaboutXM, Mar 31, 2011.

  1. SIRIUSaboutXM

    SIRIUSaboutXM DRC Special Contributor

    Sat 4/2 1:00 pm ET
    Soul Town spotlights the music of Marvin Gaye on what would have been his 72nd birthday Saturday, April 2. Weâ€™re spotlighting his music every hour starting at 1 pm through 12 am ET.

Share This Page


text:
Thank you for voting.
 - Dilbert by Scott Adams

Share July 02, 2014's comic on:

Tags #managers & supervisors, #obliviousness

View Transcript

Carol: I brought my son to work. Do you have any career advice for him? Dilbert: All boys your age are idiots. If you make any career decisions today, your life will forever be determined by an idiot. Boss: Are we expecting any unforeseen problems today? Dilbert: But you get used to it.

comments powered by Disqus


text:
Decoupage DIY with a $7 poster

I love seeing unique ideas for refinishing furniture! I have an old desk that I’ve been meaning to refinish, but I wasn’t sure what to do with it. …read more Shared by : DIYselfies Creative Ideas

studio MK27 contains tetris house within an intimate timber-clad box

this two-storey residential property features a permeable ground floor that can be presented in a variety of configurations using movable panels. The post studio MK27 contains tetris house within an intimate timber-clad box appeared first on designboom | architecture &Read more…

Upcoming Trend: Openwork

Spring/Summer 2015:KenzoOscar de la RentaTomeEmanuel UngaroValentinoLanvinRochasGosia BaczyńskaPaul & Joe …read more Shared by : Sweet Cinnamon Cupcake

Deck Lighting Ideas That Bring Out The Beauty Of The Space

Lounging on a chair, having dinner or breakfast outdoors, bathing in the sun and admiring the views are all fun and relaxing activities we’re used to enjoying on the deck and they’re much more pleasant when the décor and theRead more…

27 Stunning Home Upgrades To Make In No Time

From small and simple to big changes, home upgrades can make a huge different in the beauty and comfort of your home, both inside and out. Upgrades come in all shapes and sizes, from small decoration improvements to larger roomRead more…

Shipping Container Home Acts Like A Sculpture In The Irish Land

In 2014 a new and unconventional construction was added to the beautiful Irish countryside. The residence was designed by The architects employed a completely new approach for the area, designing the first modern shipping container construction in Northern Ireland. TheyRead more…

Andreja Pejic Lands a Major Beauty Contract

The 23-year-old is one of the first transgender models to score a huge beauty campaign. read more …read more Shared by : The Hollywood Reporter

discover the art of spare parts with OFFBITS toy robots

originally designed with unused and unloved bits and pieces, the tiny robots now come in built-it-yourself kits that can be infinitely customized with your own spare parts. The post discover the art of spare parts with OFFBITS toy robots appearedRead more…

34 Light Bulb Moment Tips For Decluttering Your Home And Life

Clutter seems to breed, doesn’t it? You put one piece of mail on the table and come back just a few days later and its developed into a dozen things. …read more Shared by : DIYselfies Creative Ideas

Celebrity Teens To Look For Style Inspiration

Here are some of the best and freshest Hollywood teen fashion icons everyone is watching Living and Lifestyle offers you the latest and best advice on health and wellbeing, fashion, beauty and relationships. …read more Shared by : Designerz Central

Fab design find: Umbra’s Hub ladder

There are three things that are always on my shopping list when antiquing season rolls around: 1. Blue Willow. It was my first set of patterned dishes when I moved out on my own, and ever since, I’ve had anRead more…

Patricia Urquiola coats transparent furniture for Glas Italia with an iridescent sheen

Milan 2015: Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola has overcome her hatred of glass to design a collection of irridescent furniture and mirrors using the material. (more…) …read more Shared by : Dezeen