Month: April 2017

I Lost My Marble

A few months ago I posted a whimsical piece about the thoughts I entertained while picking up a marble with my toes. (Link below, if you’re interested.) The exercise eventually helped reform my wayward middle metatarsal, and I dispensed with the activity.

Recently, though, my metatarsal began behaving badly again. When I went to find my marble it was gone. I truly had lost my marble. I looked high and low, mumbling to myself like some sort of mad woman. The cats, who I suspect of having had something to do with my marble’s disappearance watched me warily as I dove into drawers, cast shoes about the closet, and peered into dark corners and between chair cushions. Alas, no marble.

So when I spied a jar of marbles at a shop in Apalachicola with the sign, “Marbles: 30 for $1.00,” I grabbed a couple of greenies and took them to the checkout counter. 

“Only two?” The proprietor asked.

“Yes sir, you see I lost my marble and I’m looking for a replacement. The second one’s insurance.”

“In that case, no charge,” he said. “Never let it be said that I deprived a woman of her marbles.”

Call me crazy, but I think he just wanted me out of his store.

https://nananoyz5forme.com/2016/10/13/thoughts-while-picking-up-a-marble-with-my-toes/

Snapshot #139

I’m trying to finish a project (alright, a nap), when Patches inserted herself into the scenario, insisting that I rise from my comfortable spot and get her a treat. I call this one, “Can You Hear Me Meow?”

The Dark Places

Everyone knows the dark places, those that linger on the edge of consciousness like a Neil Young song. 

Down by the River, why’d you shoot your baby? Did you go into that dark place and become so 

Disoriented that there was no return? I watched myself in a mirror once. Got lost in my own eyes,

And almost drowned in a river of madness before clawing my way back to the other side. 

But no one even knew I’d ventured over. I washed my hands and splashed water on my face

Before going to prepare a simple beef casserole for dinner. The onions made my eyes water.

“Woman Looking at Herself in Mirror,” artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

Snapshot #138

Another photo from my walk around Lake Ella in Tallahassee. I think a fitting title would be, “A Confederacy of Turtles.”

I Hate it When That Happens

On Sunday evening, Doright Manor took a direct lightning strike, frying both of our television sets, along with our washing machine, and Studly Doright’s elliptical exercise machine. The blinding flash of lightning and the simultaneous explosion of a deafening clap of thunder didn’t do much for my blood pressure, either. 

We’d been in bed for only a few minutes when the strike came. Of course Studly was already snoring in that annoying way he has of dropping off to sleep the second his head hits the pillow, and true to form, I was reading. Our eldest cat, Scout, who is generally unperturbed by storms began meowing frantically just before the KABOOM! I should’ve known something big was about to happen.

Oddly enough we never lost electricity, but we are without television and Internet until service providers can make the trip out here. And if I want to do laundry before next Wednesday I’ll have to head to a laundromat. Strike that. I’ll GET to go to a laundromat. I’m awfully fond of them, you know. Best people watching in the world happens at laundromats.


Oh, about Studly’s elliptical machine…I’m lobbying to just chuck it. I kept thinking I’d write a post about the way its hulking presence in our den/kitchen area has marred the feng shui of my otherwise peaceful existence. Now it appears there was karmic redemption. Bwahaha!

https://youtu.be/RasBza2FL84

Peace, people.

So Little Light

Read more at redswrap.wordpress.com. Moved me to fresh tears.

Jan Wilberg's avatarRed's Wrap

The only true sunlight came late today. And it lasted only minutes.

I tried to shake off last night’s news but the images of limp, choking babies being hosed down by the adults trying to save their lives stuck with me. The babies were like toys in the news, ornaments for commentary otherwise preoccupied by lies. The babies aren’t lies. They are real.

But they are other people’s babies. It’s important to remember that. It wasn’t our babies who were gassed.

Our babies were shot, mowed down by a man with an assault rifle while they were at school, safe with their teachers.

Last night, we watched as a favorite female news commentator nearly teared up after the film of injured and murdered Syrian children ran.

“She’s really upset,” I said to my husband.

“She has children,” he answered.

Yes, I thought to myself. She has children. Probably around the…

View original post 116 more words

Snapshot(s) #137a and b

Taken on Monday at Lake Ella in Tallahassee. I call these, “Now You See Me,” and “Now I Think You Don’t.”


Slowly I Turned

I had the oddest dream a couple of nights ago, and while I can’t remember much detail I do remember one repetitive scene. Some action–a trigger word–spoken by me in the dream resulted in a handsome man walking towards me while loudly eating popcorn. He never spoke, but approached and offered me some of the popcorn, to which I’d respond, “You know I can’t have popcorn!” before slapping him across the face.

When I awakened I realized that same scene had occurred at least three times during my dream, and while the trigger word is lost to me I remember it being something mundane. The whole thing reminded me of the old comedy routine known as “Slowly I Turned,” so I promptly googled it.

According to Google, the skit is attributed to comic writer, Joey Faye, and has been performed by a number of comedians through the years. Some of you younger folk might never have seen it, so here are a few clips. It still cracks me up. I’m not sure why.

Here’s Lucille Ball’s take on it:

https://youtu.be/wTnGpaY3VKY
And the Three Stooges:

https://youtu.be/MYP1OBZfFK0
But my favorite is performed by Abbott and Costello:

https://youtu.be/8KpsUlvzbkk

Snapshot(s) #136a, b, c, d, and maybe e

I walked around beautiful Lake Ella in Tallahassee yesterday, enjoying the slightly overcast day. All the normal sights were on display: turtles, geese, ducks, and people. Today, though, I saw something I’d never seen. A blue heron came flying across the lake with something in its beak. 

At first I thought the something was a fish or a frog, but when the heron landed I realized it was a baby duck! Let’s call these, “The Circle of Life,” or “Requiem for a Duckling.”





The heron didn’t appreciate an audience while it ate, so he flew away with the duck still clamped in its beak.


Ah, the circle of life. Poor little duck!

Cadences

steady as you go
rhythmic bass kicking in hard
a call to march forth


drummers know the pull
of the beat’s relentless drive
addictive cadence


rat a tat tat tat
left, right, left, pivot tightly
martial unison

https://youtu.be/taRyW7cOQ-Q