4/27/06:
I have been very busy at work this week. Looking back over my entries, I decided I needed to remind you that all of the pictures on my pages link to something I found interesting in one way or another. I especially want to let you know that the picture posted 4/19/06 of my sister-in-law Terrie holding her new grand daughter links to a lovely poem about becoming a mother.
Yesterday I sent emails to some people to let them know that my daughter Kira has completed her GED. Kira scored so well on the tests that she may be eligible for a scholarship to help her with nursing school, which she is working on her pre-requisites for.
I am very, very proud of Kira. She is smart, strong, kind, and beautiful.
We grow in time to trust the future for our answers. - Ruth Benedict
4/23/06:
It has a been lovely, sunny weekend here, ripe for over-extending the old body. We made it to the street fair today, enjoyed walking about and checking out all the booths, tasting some yummy fudge, eating cotton candy and an ice cream cone... There were lots of nice pottery, jewelry, photo and other art booths, including one booth with especially nice photos that the artist did up in handmade frames that matched the pictures in a lovely way. The farm photo at right is one of Ned Fox's and links to his site. We got out of Dodge, otherwise known as Mount Vernon, before 1PM, when the crowds became thick.
Once home I challenged myself with replacing my internal CD-RW, as mine had failed me recently. It wasn't all that hard, but it was stressful and freaky to take the cover off my CPU, locate the wires, undo them, pull out the old one, put in the new, and re-attach everything. When I turned on my computer the cd drive initially did not seem to be working, but after a few high-anxiety moments all was well. Jay gave me lots of advice, support and kindness while encouraging me to do it myself.
Then, once again, we enjoyed seeing people in cars waiting to advance toward town and on to their homes, from the vantage of our own. Hope you had a good weekend too. :)
Occupation is essential.- Virginia Woolf
4/22/06:
A beautiful and productive day today. Today we accomplished many things: picked up a frame for Jay's signed Ray Harryhausen print- got it together and hung, I got some weeding and transplanting done, Jay finished the living room laminate installation (now we just have to take it on through the kitchen area), we went to the dump and got rid of the cut-up old carpet and on the way back pretended we were tourists and stopped at the Red Barn [hard] Cider tasting place we had kept passing and remarking how we should stop some time, and we went into town and made it back alive... not an easy feat, given that this month is the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival and this weekend is the Tulip Festival street fair. Driving to and from town the last few weeks, I have watched a field of incredibly red tulips bloom, while juxtaposed behind this field was another one with incredibly bright yellow flowers. I would often see people pulled over to take a picture. This last week they came through the field and pulled the red petals off (I guess so that the plants would send energy to their bulbs), leaving behind rows of green leaves and stems with a carpet of red petals on the ground between them. From our back deck today we watched the tulip traffic on the main drag back up farther than we have yet seen, and were thankful we were home.
"And I'd like to give my love to everybody, and let them know that the grass may look greener on the other side, but believe me, it's just as hard to cut."- Little Richard
4/19/06:
My Parents' First Great-Grandchild!
My Brother and Sister-in-Law's First Grandchild!
The Best of Wishes for a Wonderful Future:
Caycee Nicole Carpenter, born 4/10/06 at 11:43pm in Frederick, Maryland, 7lb 8oz 19"long.
Born to Dustin and Jessica Carpenter, son and daughter-in-law of Don and Terrie Jardot, grandson and grand-daughter-in-law of Don and Charlotte Jardot.
...the sense of being which in calm hours arises, we know not how, in the soul, is not diverse from things, from space, from light, from time, from man, but one with them and proceeds obviously from the same source.... Here is the fountain of action and of thought.... We lie in the lap of immense intelligence.- Ralph Waldo Emerson
4/17/06:
Last Friday night we were again fortunate to have great music at our local small venue, The Lincoln Theater. We were treated to great blues music for almost three hours by Guy Davis, and he kindly autographed his new CD (released just that week) when I bought it. :) It is always such fun to see wonderful musicians play. The CD cover links to Guy's site, the tickets link to a song clip.
"Music is the vernacular of the human soul."- Geoffrey Latham
4/16/06:
I received an email this weekend that contained an Easter cartoon- it turned out to be one of my favorites, updated from the one I first put on my page in 2003 and loved so much I again included it Easter 2004.
The original from 2003 is at the right, the new one is on the left. When I worked with Mary Bradley I printed the cartoon, gave it to her, and she promptly posted it on her cubicle wall. It was later pointed out to Mary, by someone superior to her, that the cartoon used a word that some might find offensive. I offered to change the word "butt" to "ass" for her, but she wisely chose to move the cartoon to the interior of her cubicle, hidden somewhat by her large filing cabinet. When we were out and about, sometimes Mary's hearing aide would be on the fritz or her Meniere's would be acting up and she would miss out on parts of conversations. Being the sensitive social worker that I am, I would simply let her know this by discreetly saying to her "my butt hurts", and she would know what was what without everyone else being in on her business. This Easter cartoon is useful and funny on so many different levels...
I have continued to not be up to par since returning from Michigan, but I am hoping my cold has almost run its course. Jay has been valiantly working on our living/kitchen floor with little physical assistance from me. This laying about that I have been doing has given me the opportunity to read/finish a couple of books. Today I finished one I got from the library last weekend, Black Elk in Paris by Kate Horsley. It is a novel set mostly in Paris about 1887-1889 and includes Oglala Sioux spiritual leader Black Elk as one of its characters. The author has a Ph.D. in American Studies and this underlayment adds to the story. Here is an excerpt of Black Elk speaking just before returning to America: "Listen. I'll tell you what I've figured out. Now I know why the Spirit of Everything had me stay here so long, until I thought I was going to die here. I figured out that this spirit keeps sending messengers, and people keep not hearing what they're saying. Magical beings have been sent to tell the truth, but then people start yelling and waving their hands around, explaining what the messengers said and fighting about it, calling other messengers with the exact same message demons and enemies. It could be funny if it didn't cause so much suffering."
I hope this Easter Day finds you warm and blessed, and I end with words attributed to the messenger whose day this is. Gospel of Thomas, 113: His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?"
"It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it."
4/15/06:
Time indeed does keep slipping into the future, as the old rock song lyrics say. For no reason other than time, really, life's context changes. No amount of effort expended trying to sit still will stop time from propelling us forward.
A friend of mine told me he had been diagnosed with a cancer that would kill him five years ago February. Craig and I had a lot of interesting and long telephone conversations for several months after his diagnosis, then he became busy with being alive and we lapsed into less and less frequent emails, until his passing two years ago today. I think Craig would agree that blessings in this life become more and more poignant the older we get, but would have thoughts to add to mine.
I ran across the following poem last week, one that reflected and validated thoughts I have had about my own poignant blessings.
SIXTIETH BIRTHDAY DINNER
If in the men's room of our favorite restaurant
while blissfully pissing riserva spumante
I punch the wall because I am so old,
I promise not to punch too carelessly.
Our friend Franco cooks night and day
to transform blood and bones to osso buco.
He shouldn't have to clean them off his wall
or worry that a customer gone cuckoo
has mushed his knuckles like a slugger
whose steroid dosage needs a little tweaking.
My life with you has been beyond beyond
and there's nothing beyond it I'm seeking.
I just don't want to leave it, and I am
with every silken bite of tiramisu.
I wouldn't mind being dead
if I could be with you.
- Michael Ryan (from The New Yorker, Mar. 27, 2006)
4/11/06:
I have returned to work; the congestion is slowly seeping out of me as I return to the real world.
While in Michigan I collected some family information and my Uncle Paul kindly brought some very old photos and stuff out for me to look at, letting me take some to copy. The picture at right is of Julius and Jenny Jardot, parents of my paternal grandfather. More about all of that later. If you click on the photo, it will link you to pages of pictures I took in Michigan, mostly with Jay's camera since mine broke for a while.
I think of the trees and how simply they let go, let fall the riches of a season, how without grief (it seems) they can let go and go deep into their roots for renewal and sleep.- May Sarton
4/9/06:
"Oh Madonna of the Trail,
Your sisters crossed this nation
Full of brave determination
Looking for the land of their dreams
But the dream comes up empty
In this land of plenty
In my hometown."
- Jan Gillman, singer/songwriter
I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.- Virginia Woolf
4/8/06:
Jay and I did go see Ray Harryhausen in Bellingham Thursday evening. Jay bought Mr. Harryhausen's new book and a poster and had both autographed- who would've thought? I happened to run across the announcement of this engagement last month when checking the offerings of The Pickford Cinema, the independent theatre we go to occasionally up there. Given that Mr. Harryhausen lives in England and is 85, we were tickled pink that he was coming to the neighborhood. Mr. Harryhausen gave a short presentation, received with a standing ovation, and then we were treated to a showing of Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.
We also stopped at the home improvement store and picked up some nice laminate flooring that we will be putting in our living/kitchen/dining room. For now, however, I remain congested and not up to par- the flooring project will have to wait...
Spring does not ask an audience, but shapes each blossom perfectly, indifferent to applause.- Joan Walsh Anglund
4/6/06:
I have had a sore throat and cold since Monday when we were still in Michigan- yuck! So much for getting anything done... but we have tickets for a Ray Harryhausen presentation tonight in Bellingham, which we will still attend.
Sometimes things are not as they seem, or they are exactly as they seem once looked at closely. pa·tri·ot·ism n. Love of and devotion to one's country. Hmmm, interesting. Devotion to a country, not a person, leader or political party. Maybe you can be patriotic and still question the ideas of your country's leaders? Maybe you can be loyal to a country's ideals while denouncing its actions. Maybe.
Oh well- like the eggplant picture?
"Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself."- Froude
4/4/06:
Jay and I returned to our home today at 3AM, our flight was delayed in Detroit three hours- we were/are pooped! But we had a very good visit and my parents kept busy ferrying us about Michigan. As you can see from the lovely picture of myself at the right, I was very helpful.
Despite its delay, our flight went well. A young man with a nice voice kindly pointed out at the beginning of the flight that our seat bottom cushions could be used for flotation (and the airline thoughtfully placed a noticed on the back of the seat in front of me with the same information), but I did not need to take advantage of the floatation capacity of my seat, availing myself of the interesting restroom on the plane during the flight.
"Typos are very important to all written form. It gives the reader something to look for so they aren't distracted by the total lack of content in your writing." - Randy K. Milholland
Jardot's World: April Edition, 2006
All pictures on my page link to somewhere... go ahead, click!
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