Like David Duchovny in Kalifornia

No Trespassing though I did


As Snowflake watched from his perch in the Slaab


I felt like David Duchovny in Kalifornia.


Or maybe this was Kansas and I found the Clutters.

Fall Ride

Just past peak along the Wisconsin River



Turbines at Grandfather Falls



The Dam at Grandfather Falls



Ready for Takeoff



Old Mossy Steps on a Winding Trail Along the River



Stripes

To Canterbury

It's late. The house is blissfully dark and quiet, save for the precious little snores of FrankPierce and GingerRodgers. It's a twist to their given names and they dig it. It's raining and I can hear the drops tapping and splooching against the thin glass of these old windows as the cars hiss by.

There is a certain something about fall rain. When it does, it seems steady and constant. Comforting and rythmic. Dampness and cold. The kind of cold that when I go to bed, it seems to take me hours to warm up. I lay there for an hour kicking my legs and ice block feet together to get some friction going and then decide to put on some pants. A half an hour after that, maybe a sweatshirt. Fuck I hate wearing socks to bed, but maybe... Two or three hours later I decide I need another blanket.

Maybe this is how it starts. The circulation slowly goes, stiffness in the morning as arthritis sets in. I am as blind as a bat without my contacts or glasses. Heading West I wish I had some directions.

Book? What's a book?

Once upon a time I was a fair english major. I even have a degree somewhere. I'm almost shamed to write this because it has been so long since I've been able to READ an entire book and I love books, LOVE them. Way back I thought I even might become a Professor of such things. I was meandering over at J's place and was tagged to do this book meme. It's gonna be a little different though. Not too current and pretty old skool.

One book that changed your life:

I guess it really wasn't a book per se, but rather a few female authors. I had an amazing high school lit teacher named Ms. Thorson. It was in her class that I first read "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor and "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers. Both of these authors were so different from the usual big dick Hemingways of the typical HS syllabus. These two lovelies and their eccentric characters and sad tales made me want to be like them, to write stories. They are the reason why I wanted to major in english instead of economics, education, crap. Writing is life.

Anybody care to identify this kick ass sentence?(one of my faves and not from the above girls) NO GOOGLE-ING!

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.


One book you read more than once:

Jane Eyre Call me a gothic whore, but I fell in love with the Bronte Sisters in college. Rochester, even with one good eye is a prince. True love conquers all, even if it takes years and years. Or one entire good lifetime. See, I still have hope.

One book you want on a desert island:

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. Back in the day I was so in love with the idea of arriving in Paris with only $5 that I gobbled up every morsel of Henry I could find. Food, sex, writing and art. Just the basics.


One book that made you cry:

Part of me wants to nod to Carson McCullers and "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", but I think my heart will always belong to Holden Caufield. Sweet dear Holden. It strikes so many chords with me. I read this to my belly bump when I was preggo. I was suprised at how the themes still resonated with me even at 37. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it is the novel "Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger.


One book that made you laugh:

"Clara - The Story of the Pug that Ruled My Life" by Margo Kaufman. If you're a dog lover you may laugh, if you're a pug lover you will know exactly what she's writing about. R.I.P Margo.


One book you wish would have been written:

Serious Advice on Single Mothering - No Bullshit Hootchie Mamma Wannabe's Allowed(Anyone Can Squeeze Out a Kid and "Call" themselves a Mother)

One book you wish had never been written:

The Old Man and the Sea by HardOn Hemingway


One book you are currently (re)reading (again & again):

Sam & Gus by P.D. Eastman, Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess, and mnay more that are currently in the rotation. Currently reading "The Paris Review Book of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, The Art of Writing AND Everything Else in the World Since 1953". Nuggets of Goodness, I tell you. See if you can find the short story "The Fine Art of Sighing" by Bernard Cooper. Big sigh.

One book you have been meaning to read:

Way back, J was reading "The Time Traveller's Wife" and I thought it sounded interesting so I picked it up a few months ago. Also, "The Secret Lives of Bees". I've also been meaning to read "A Cook's Tour". I like-a Anthony Bourdain, lots.


Three people you will tag:

Um k, J. This has taken me almost two hours to do and I don't have any links in yet! Ugh. Screw it. So if you're really interested in my books you'll just have to Amazon it yourself.

I know I'd love to tag M, D, A, A, R, L, P, C, R, C, CG, LE, J, J, C and of course the wonderful MG. I just can't decide so I leave it up to you. Is there anybody out there?

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the beginning of this rambling ramshackle blogspot. It was a sad start for me. An entire year has gone by and so much and so little has happened. An entire year. I am so thankful for the friendships that I have found. I treasure them, truly. I anxiously await the news of a new baby girl born today. Last night we sat around the fire pit on their deck, watching the flames, the stars, and the little boys, playing. The next day would be so different for them. Today we welcome a new life.

Today I share my life with two new babies of my own. Over the weekend I was trolling Petfinder and these two sweet peas popped up about four hours away from where I live. Something made me pick up the phone and call the shelter to see if they were available. Snowflake and I went and got them on Tuesday. He was such a good roadtripper for me.

Meet Frankie and Ginger(their given names, I'm not changing them because they know them). Ginger is the brindle ingenue who should have never been bred. Apparently after she had a litter of seven puppies the owners son came down with allergies and they were dumped at the shelter. I don't think they're even a year old.

My mother thinks I'm a fruit bat, but I say life is richer with dogs. I love caring for them. Everyone(that would be The Chidler) is adjusting as well as can be expected. We make a fine motley crew.

L'chaim!



This is not the face of an ingenue; this is an old soul in a new body -- wary, wise to her own long past, on to the wiles of the world, and having miles to go before she sleeps.
-- Sarah Ban Breathnach, Something More

From Ed & Martha

I have the most beautiful heirloom concord grapevine growing on the side of my house, disguising the screen porch in total lushness. Once my grandparents, I can remember it growing thick on the trellis on the side of their white front porch, opposite the swing. It was given to them by their neighbors in the 1940's and was already very old. When my grandmother died, I took this vine and planted it in 1995.

My sweet blackberry pug loved the grapes on this vine. Near the end of August you could always find him, even half blind snorteling and chorteling around like a truffle sniffing pig hitting pay dirt. Twice I made the most amazing preserves from it's bountiful dripping vines. Sugar and grapes and nothing in between.

To smell the real grapey grape is incredible. The aroma is heavenly. I love the fact that I have this vine and can share it with Snowflake. I love that he loves it. These are the amazingly cool things to give your kid one day. Thanks granny and gramps.

In Charlie's Parade

Beautiful Boy

Almost 2 1/2 years old

Your Name in Russian

YOUR NAME IN RUSSIAN- Type your name in the empty box and see what it looks like in Russian.
This is funny... try it out. Ignore all the crazy Russian on the site, just type your name in the text box and click to see what your name looks like in Russian...very impressive!

Charles of the Floating Head

Cleaning Closets

It was a gorgeous morning, crisp with a slight chill breeze blowing in the windows. A fine day to clean my closet. The closet that was stuffed to the brim akin to a cartoon where if you open the door it just explodes into the room. It really wasn't that bad although it took several hours. I'm very thorough like that.

I packed away the Steve Madden and Enzo Angiolini pumps I had hanging around from a past existence. They have no purpose now, but just in case they are safely tucked away in the dungeon. I found my copy of "In the Company of Wolves" along with several love notes addressed to me, but back then I was "Little Sexy" to the author. Oh yeah.

Then I came across a letter I wrote to said author, two pages of hateful hurried vertical scrawl. That went to the dungeon as well. Sometimes it is so good to have something written at a very chaotic time just to judge your progress by.

I vaccumed it up, finally making it all the way to the back(this is a big closet that walks out onto the roof between the house and the gargage) scouring the fallen pieces of plaster that came down when I undertook my first huge homeowner's project- putting a cool standing seam copper roof on four years ago(I just never get back there except for shoveling the snow off in the winter). I found the cool carpets from Turkey and put them down and poshed it out for Snowflake. It's his first "Hideout".

We really like being in the closet. It's cool and bright and quiet. Perfect for reading books. I love it there. Grooving along on that good feeling I was going through some stuff on a shelf and found a note still attached to it's yellow 3" x 5" ruled pad from someone very dear to me. This is what it says:


Hello Love

Just a little note for you(a musical note is drawn above this)

I hope your day went well and things
made you smile, you know I don't
like it when your(sp) sad,

crossed out scribble unreadable

By now I'm a million miles away
and missing you like crazy. It'll
be tough going cold turkey,
but I know I'll see you again
in Life & in dreams.

Take Care.

with all my Love, ___________________


I smile to no one, genuinely and warmly, feeling it so deeply. It's a fricking Lion King moment for me, can you feel the love tonight, world!

I feel clean and I glow.

Big Scary Rocks

Last week I watched ABC's doomsday special on how the human race could end. It was especially depressing hearing about asteroids. BIG, BIG ASTEROIDS. The kind of asteroids that when they hit the planet, the people on the other side will at first witness a shooting star or two, progressing into a meteor shower that ends up fire bombing everything in sight.

It's only a matter of time "they say". I am now obsessed with looking at the moon. Last night I tried to take a picture of it. I no longer see that mystical, dreamy melancholy face, but rather the monstrous shadows cast by the sun across dark craters whose depth is endless and bottomless.

I imagine myself as one of those unsuspecting types watching the stars fly though the air, thinking how amazing it all is and then the realization of ultimate demise begins. I think about myself or people like me and I want all of us to have someone's hand to hold by that time. My heart breaks.

baby stepper

thank you, thank you very much

Snowflake Channels Elvis- The Fat Years OR
Get Outta My Face Crazy Lady!

A Tale of Tail

Has blogging got you down? Need a vacation or a brief respite from your own reality? If so, take a few moments and hop on the the magic train to the Life Expert's sexy Ding-Lo in the sky. Fascinating!

there goes summer

Beautiful

Thursday night I took some photographs of my friend who is ready to deliver a beautiful baby girl any day now. Doesn't she look amazing? I keep going back to sneak a peek because she looks so fricking divine.

Buds for You

budweiser, clydesdales, dalmation

Freak Faqs

10. My youngest brother and I share the same birthday. We are five years apart. Some say "Irish Twins", I say parents having sex on their anniversary.

9. I won a state photography contest when I was 13 years old and had two photos in the Neville Museum.

8. I won a poetry contest when I was in third grade... it was about snow. I received a "blue ribbon" and my photo in the local paper.

7. I won a free choice of "Laughing Cow" cheese in sweepstakes.

6. I'm a nail biter. On certain whims that can stretch for weeks, I primp my nails, grow them out, French Manicure them and then, bite them off.

5. My parents once used Vic's Vapor Rub for lube. Woops.

4. My deceased brother had sex with a girl and used a stick of butter for lube. He knocked this girl up and called his progeny his "little butter ball".

3. A friend and I tripped on liquid acid in my front yard one summer day and reveled in the beauty of the ant hills and all that's small. It was alot like the scene in Animal House when Boone and his GF are smoking pot with Donald Sutherland.

2. I have never shit my pants.

1. I pick up almost any stray dog that crosses my path and return them to the Human Society or their owners.


feelin' freaky friday, tmi, personal, lists, weird