“Talking Heads” Painting by Vickie Scarlett Fisher From fineartamerica.com
talking heads at their mischief
poking rude digitized fingers
in everyone’s eyes
acid viper tongues slither
toward everyone’s ears
pseudo-intellect trash-talk
combustible commentary
sucking the air from the room
all it takes to defeat their agenda
demote their celebrity
steal all their power
take aim at their pixel heart
zap the remote
change the channel
rebreathe common sense and
replenish the lungs of the mind
don’t tell me how
nice your
candidate is,
what a good
christian
he claims to be;
by his actions
he will be known:
does he care
for the sick,
the disenfranchised?
do his actions
help or hinder
the betterment of the
“least of these”?
does he threaten
shutdowns when he
doesn’t get his way?
do even members
of his own party
distance themselves
from him?
take a dose of
reality
look beyond
your own
narrow interests
and call me in
the morning.
Very often I have to decide what image is the one I want to keep. I don’t need two or three, which would make the things much easier. Only one. “He who has a choice, has a torment”.
It helps when I know exactly what the image will be used for. Below, there are two photographs of the same swan – the cropped one is a header image. That is easy.
Sometimes I have two things that I have to choose between, and neither of them is good. It is like you have to choose what house you have to move in, and these are your only options:
Choosing between two imperfect things is a difficult choice most of voters have to deal with…
In modern society, The Media tells people how to live and what to think. Many of those who imagine themselves free, independent and having their own opinion, are in fact tied up…
Several days ago I wrote about my itchy skin issues. Sadly, I’ve always been cursed with dry skin, but my withdrawal from the antidepressant Effexor has exacerbated the itchiness to the point where I just want to immerse myself in a large tub of lotion until all of the unpleasant side effects have abated.
Unfortunately, that scenario is neither logical nor feasible, so I find myself using various door frames and large pieces of furniture as scratching posts. I did purchase the Roll a Lotion product which works well in the absence of my preferred lotion applicator, namely Studly Doright.
The Roll A Lotion, not Studly Doright
A WordPress friend suggested bathing in a solution of bicarbonate of soda, but I didn’t have any on hand. Her suggestion, though, reminded me that my mom used to use a product with oatmeal in it to help reduce my itchiness. Heck, I had oatmeal right in my cabinet!
I filled our ridiculously oversized whirlpool tub (honestly, we could almost practice synchronized swimming routines or play water polo matches in the darned thing) with water and oatmeal. Then I climbed in and just relaxed.
The bath felt delicious. I soaked for 20 minutes while singing along with Adele. Hello! She had me believing we really could have had it all whilst rolling in the deep.
Once the water became lukewarm I began the process of getting out of the tub. This is always an ordeal. You see, I’ve grown rather bottom heavy over the years while my arm strength hasn’t increased enough to compensate for the extra weight.
This night was no different. After pulling the plug, I scootched my legs up under me as much as possible for leverage and then heaved myself to a standing position. Only to realize I was covered in clumps of oatmeal.
“Well, crap!” I said aloud. In retrospect I should’ve said, “Well, oatmeal,” but that didn’t occur to me at the time.
I squatted as much as my old legs would allow in order to splash water onto the clumpy parts and then remembered that the tub had a shower head! A solution was at hand.
Of course the shower head is on the opposite end of the tub from the regular spout, and one must turn on the water from yet another side of the tub.
So I reached behind me and got a powerful stream of water flowing from the faucet. Then I reached in front of me to raise the diverter so water would flow from the shower head.
Unlike what is shown in my picture above, the damned shower head wasn’t aimed so water would enter the tub. Oh no. It was aimed directly at the back edge of the tub surround, and the water pressure sent water spraying in all directions. Of course I instinctively, and irrationally, ducked, losing my footing in the process and sitting down hard. I yelled at Adele to shut the hell up. She ignored me.
I cried briefly and then got down to the business of rinsing my body free of oatmeal. The shower head, properly corralled, did a fine job of rinsing the oatmeal out of every nook and cranny. Soon I was squeaky clean. The tub, though, was not. The remainder of my evening was spent cleaning it out.
When all was said and done the tub sparkled, I was exhausted, bruised, and yes, still itchy. And Adele? Well, she just kept on singing.
old brother died
and who would pay
to send him on
his final way?
the cost of life
had been too dear
the cost of death
was dearer still.
oh who will come
to send him home
this man who lived
a life alone?
Miriam and I hung out together in the feline playroom at Tallahassee Animal Services this afternoon. She would definitely be a contender for the Miss Congeniality award at any pageant.
At six months of age, she’s still a kitten–playful and precocious, but with a sweet intelligence that is hard to resist. Her markings are gorgeous–very exotic.
Miriam is available for adoption and would make a terrific addition to any home.
I also played with Avocado, one of the great dogs available at TAS.
From the shelter website: “Avocado (aka “Avie”) is a purebred mutt, most notably showing characteristics of a boxer and black mouth cur (but smaller than both). She is about 2 years old and 45lbs. She came into the shelter as a stray (her owner was never found).
She has been in fostercare for about a month where she recovered from a severe case of noncontagious mange, a skin infection and an ear infection. Avocado has responded great to treatment and is now available for adoption!
She was virtually hairless and appears to be growing in reddish color with a black mask. Her hair is similar to a Lab’s.
Avocado is an active, social girl who enjoys playing with toys (she loves playing with them more than most!) and doggie friends.
She is housebroken, crate trained and alert barks when someone comes to the door. She does well with cats and doesn’t show interest in birds. Avocado travels well in the car and walks ok on leash.
She knows “sit,” “down” and “crate” most days but would definitely benefit from obedience classes. She enjoys going for walks and is respectful of fences (doesn’t jump over a 4 ft fence or try to dig under).
She has been around small kids and does fine with them. If you are looking for a medium sized dog that is active, smart and social but has a remarkable sense of humor, Avocado could be just the fit! Sweet and affectionate this girl is sure to delight any family! Avocado is spayed, vaccinated, dewormed, heartworm negative and microchipped.”
Come check out the wonderful companions available for adoption at Tallahassee Animal Services, and remember,
“Lily 4 Apotheosis” Painting by Petro Bevza From fineartamerica.com
will we grow
duly wiser
more able
to tell
right from wrong
or is aging
mere process
by which
to obtain
the free frank
realization
we no longer
give a good damn
Last night I posted the following post on my Facebook page:
A few people responded directly, but no one took me seriously. My friends know I have nowhere near a gazillion dollars. Right at this moment I barely have twenty dollars, and that has to last me all week.
The interesting thing that occurred following that post was the number of rather lascivious offers I received on my private message board. So many that I ended up deleting that app from my phone. Who knew that my itchy back could inspire so many perverted responses?
Back to my back. I cannot tell you just how agonizingly itchy it is. Apparently one of the side effects of withdrawing from the antidepressant Effexor is itchy skin–along with vivid nightmares and brain zaps. There isn’t much I can do about the last two, but I can put lotion on the offending body parts. At least the ones within reach.
Studly Doright was out of town last night, and he’s my go to lotion application expert. Without him I was reduced to all sorts of physical contortions that still left my back untreated. One of my Facebook friends (not a creep) suggested that I do the following:
” get a very thin dishtowel, lots of lotion. roll up the towel, lotion top to bottom, hold it as if you want to dry your back, like this / right top to bottom left, lotion side toward your back, and rub up and down. reapply lotion, switch hands, repeat.”
What a great plan, I thought. But what if I went a step further and got an old white tshirt, one of Studly’s of course, and squirted lotion all over the inside? Then I could just put the tshirt on and voilà, lotionwould magically be applied to my back!
This was not a terrible idea; although, I did end up with copious amounts of lotion in my hair. The important thing, though, was that my back was thoroughly moisturized and for a wonderfully, blessed time wasn’t driving me ape sh*t crazy.
In retrospect I should’ve used a button down shirt which would’ve prevented the whole lotion in the hair scenario. I’m now thinking of designing and patenting the exciting new MOISTURE SHIRT! Available where fine personal care items are sold.
Today I took a proactive stance. That’s something I seldom do, so applause might be in order. I’ll wait while you give me a standing O…. I purchased a product that should make applying lotion much simpler:
I gave it a trial run this evening, even though Studly is home. Honestly, this lotion applicator might be my new best friend. It worked exactly as advertised and doesn’t need any laundry done or dinners cooked. If it knows how to change a tire I might not need Studly at all.
“Talking Heads”
Praying for Eyebrowz 