4/29/07:
It's easy to get confused, generally speaking. It's even easier to get confused when speakers and listeners grew up in different places. For instance, my mom has always referred to going around the house picking up odds and ends without a sense of urgency as "piddling around". Since Jay and I like to attend to tasks either in the yard or house at our own pace, I have often said that I spent the day or weekend "piddling around". Jay questioned my use of the term "piddling" and so did my friend Anita. Both of them are from the west coast. Jay thought the term I meant to use was "puttering". At first I thought he was right, but then I remembered my mom using the term, and then I thought some more and remembered "piddling" was indeed commonly used, as in a "piddling amount". Hmmm, I thought. A small amount. Yes, "piddling around", doing a small amount….
Answers.com offers clarification: v.tr. To use triflingly; squander: piddle away one's time. v.intr. To spend time aimlessly; diddle. Informal. To urinate. See? It is easy to get confused! As it turns out, I was using the term correctly after all, just being more formal— crazier things have happened!
I don't think it's proving anything Doc, as a matter of fact I don't even know what it means. It's just one of those things that gets in my head and keeps rolling around in there like a marble.— Columbo, in Double Exposure
4/27/07:
The rich influence America's public policies to a striking degree. Some wealthy people feel a responsibility to give back to the country that made them so, feeling their own wealth comes from the blood and sweat of others. Some wealthy people think their wealth demonstrates they are better than other people, superior, and they act as if their hunger for wealth cannot be satisfied, regardless of the cost of their actions to others or to the planet.
We have the means, we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the earth in our lifetime. We need only the will.— John F. Kennedy
4/24/07:
The tulip festivities are winding down as April begins to make way for May. The photo at left is from the Skagit Valley Herald and is of people out in the fields topping tulips. They pull off the flower petals so that the plants direct energy to the bulbs, instead of the flowers, and they drop the petals on the ground between the rows so the petals don't hang on the plants and attract undesirables, otherwise known as insects and mold. I encourage you to click on this photo as it links through the Hearald to several pages of lovely area tulip pictues— just keeping clicking "next" to see them all. Take special note of the pictures at the top of page 6. They were taken near our house of the same rainbow Jay photographed recently. Enjoy!
A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.— Amelia Earhart
4/22/07:
It was a beautiful day here today, the weather ignored forecasts of clouds and rain. I pruned my tree mallow, finding lots of new growth at the base and little else. The winter was hard on it and perhaps hard on our fig tree, which has yet to form buds or look alive with spring.
After dinner I noticed some nice shadows on the living room wall and snapped a picture. My photo links to a some interesting old girlie art from around the time I was born.
Last week was busy, including the theft of things from my car, bad national news, intense work activities, and many, many hours spent putting together application materials for a job with the Veterans Administration. They are opening a new outpatient center in Everett. It would be an interesting job for me, and it pays a lot more to boot.
This evening I called the man who turned my briefcase into the police department and thanked him for taking the time to turn it in. He seemed pleased I had called to thank him. He said there is a kind of hidden area by his house where he often finds piles of beer bottles and said last week he found my briefcase also next to some broken beer bottles, and a pair of womens shoes.
I'll let you know if I hear anything more about the VA job. Later, man.
Supposing truth is a woman- what then?— Nietzsche
4/21/07:
You never know what you'll see when you look out a window. Guess that's why we look.
Jay told me my 4/14 entry about people hanging in trees on sky hooks was kind of hard to follow, seemingly coming out of nowhere. I checked it out and, indeed, he was correct.
Today I edited my 4/14 entry. It might make more sense now— see what you think.
Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.— Kurt Vonnegut
4/20/07:
Yikes! What a week…
I started the week by going out to my car Monday morning to drive to work and noticed my trunk lid was ajar. I then noticed my glovebox and another little compartment in the front were wide open. Hmm, yes, my briefcase was gone, along with a flashlight, tire gauge, cell phone charger, forty or so burned CDs in a case, and some hand sanitizer. Yes, a clean thief had hit me. Luckily there was no damage to the car so I am left to wonder if I left it unlocked or if they used a slim jim or some such thing. When I got to work I reported the theft to the county sheriff's department and had my work pager turned off. Tuesday I heard from the city police that my bag had been turned in. When I picked it up I was surprised to find the bag clean and intact. My papers were there, my tire gauge, my work badge and, surprisingly, my pager. The thief kept my flashlight, cell charger, a digital thermometer and large measuring tape from my briefcase, and the hand santizer. Thank goodness I was hit by a clean thief, who left my briefcase relatively intact and my car unscratched.
Monday morning also brought news from my work partner Barbara that she had discovered as she drove into work that the home of a neighbor down the road burned over the weekend. She too was in shock, for she had not heard the firetrucks or anything else over the weekend. But that was not the end, for later in the day we heard the news heard everywhere 'round the country and the world of massive shootings and death on a college campus. Our personal woes paled in comparison.
The picture up left is a small version of one Jay took of a rainbow from our yard last weekend— it links to the nicer, large version.
The valley's tulip festival is now almost three quarters of the way through the month and the roads are often clogged. The main street of Mount Vernon was filled with a street fair today that goes on through the weekend. This afternoon I stopped and walked around some, munching on the fat-free pure sugar goodness of some cotton candy as I checked out pottery, art and jewelry. Mostly I enjoyed the cotton candy and sun.
I reviewed a few possibile selections for the quote today and decided to include two, as they demonstrate two different ways of looking at and being in this world. From the NPR series that is now a book, This I Believe, Edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman:
I believe that the world is inherently a very dangerous place and that things that are now very good can go bad very quickly.— Newt Gingrich
Man is a great enough creature and a great enough enigma to deserve both our pride and our compassion, and engage our fullest sense of mystery. I shall certainly never do as much with my life as I want to, and I shall sometimes fail miserably to live up to my conscience, whose word I do not distrust even when I can't obey it. But I am terribly glad to be alive; and when I have wit enough to think about it, terribly proud to be a man and an American, with all the rights and privileges that those words connote; and most of all I am humble before the responsibilities that are also mine. For no right comes without a responsibility, and being born luckier than most of the world's millions, I am also born more obligated.— Wallace Stegner
4/14/07:
We live out on the "flats", the flood plains of the valley, where the tulips grow. The weather was decent today, bringing with it hoardes of tulip gazers. Can't blame them. Just a couple miles up the road are fields of tulips with colors so intense you'd swear they had been photoshopped. Gorgeous.
Can you see those trees up on the ridge? Yes, see the one in the middle of the three, with the tip bent over? A man sits up there all day! I haven't been able to figure out why or what he's doing. I think there's a sky-hook holding him in place, then just before the sun sets a plane with two sets of wings swoops down to pick him up. Actually, I'm not sure if it is a man or a woman from this distance. The 90+ year old woman gazes over at me as if trying to see into me, checking my reaction to secrets normally kept close to her chest, so to speak. Can you see all those trees on the ridge? Actually, if you look closely, you'll see there's someone at the top of each one! They come everyday and hang on a sky-hook, until the plane swoops down to pick them up before dark. For the life of me I can't figure out what they're doing up there. I shook my head, marveling with her. Lots of people like to gaze at nature, and out windows, and some have more interesting stories to tell me about it than others.
It rained a little here this evening, creating a huge, close double rainbow in the sun's setting light. Jay took pictures, maybe they will show up here later. The lady next door, Rose, has a couple of old fruit trees in her front yard. When I went to close the front curtains in the darkening light, I saw her cherry tree glowing with its white flowers in the dimness. I took a picture as best I could.
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.
—from "Poetry" by Pablo Neruda
4/12/07:
Hmmm, seems we live in an ironic world after all.
Listerine, iconic maker of antiseptic mouthwashes, has issued a recall of mouth rinses used by children due to contamination by "microbes", otherwise known as germs. Click on the bottle picture for some interesting history about this American miracle elixir.
In other breaking news President Bush has figured out how illegals, people who basically break into the United States in order to work menial jobs for less than minimum wage, can become legal immigrants— they can simply fork over those thousands of dollars they have stashed in their back pockets.
You've got to admit, that President Bush sure has a firm grasp of the realities of the work world. If only I could find that gas station he goes to…
Have a happy 13th!
Humor is everywhere, in that there's irony in just about anything a human does.— Bill Nye
4/8/07:
April is tulip festival month in the valley. Each year we greet the festivities with mixed feelings. I was reminded of this Friday as I headed into town on my usual route, coming to a dead halt only half way there. It took me three times longer than usual to arrive at my destination. The nice picture at the left is from our local Skagit Valley Herald.
The weather has been nice here the last few days. We celebrated the day today by tending to our winter-worn flowerbeds, renewing gardens and washing vehicles. When we were done we ate of the earth's bounty. Rain began to fall as I spoke on the phone with my mother, refreshing the earth we had earlier disturbed. It was a good day.
Now we head on into another week, and I will keep reminding myself to take the road less traveled this month.
And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.— (NASB) Matt. 13:10-13
4/7/07:
We have a plant on our bathroom window sill that I have had for many, many years. It loves the northern light so much it treats us to a showing of its multiple flowers for several weeks a couple of times a year. It looks like a cross between a violet and a primrose. My plant bears a tag proclaiming it to be a Streptocarpus Michelle; searching the internet reveals it is simply a violet. It is blooming at this very moment.
Tonight we saw Miss Potter at our local Lincoln Theatre. It was a lovely movie we enjoyed a great deal. Check it out if it is in your neighborhood.
All outward forms of religion are almost useless, and are the causes of endless strife. . . . Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.— Beatrix Potter [Journals 1881-1897]
4/6/07:
I am so boring. Oh well, such as it is.
Once again I post the cartoon to the right. I have posted this item almost every year about this time, since 2003.
This year the cartoon links to a new animated picture gleaned from an email. Hope it is good for a teeny smile.
Have a good Easter :)
"I believe in a daily walk to listen because that is when I am close to God, that is when I find my way. And I am most at peace when I tune out the voices of the world long enough to hear the still, small voice of God directing me. 'Be still,' Psalm 46 reminds me, 'and know that I am God.'"— Susan Cosio, from This I Believe, Edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman in association with NPR
4/3/07:
Mary Bradley has a beautiful new grand daughter!
The Best of Wishes for a Wonderful Future:
Tegan Anne Holmes, born 10:30 pm March 31st.
Born to Tatia and Mark Holmes,
Mary's daughter and son-in-law.
Congratulations, we are happy for you.
Do I love you because you're beautiful
Or are you beautiful because I love you?
— Oscar Hammerstein
4/1/07:
Welcome to April 2007. As with all Aprils, the first day of the month is for fooling around.
To celebrate this fools' day, Grappler sent me an email touting a wonderful, free broadband service offered by Google. The picture of a mom and her son enjoying this service links to information, should you too wish to fool around.
More later, after I finish some business…
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
—from "Spring" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Jardot's World: April Edition, 2007
All pictures on my page link to somewhere... go ahead, click!
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