Constructive

I did nothing all day while the contractors loaded in the new kitchen cabinets. Early afternoon, the Lead Contractor Dude came and said, "I got a question."
"Um, OK," I said, "I don't know how much help I'll be."
"I thought she said her sister designed this."
"She did. There are four of us."
"Oh. Well, we seem to be short one 24" cabinet and have two extra 30" cabinets."
We stared at the plans. We re-counted the cabinets. We stared at the plans. We stared at the cabinets. We put in a call to K, who was in a meeting and would call back.
Finally I said, "Would any of the cabinets already attached to the wall fit the description of the cabinet we're missing?"
A lightbulb went on over his head. The specs for the cabinet over the sink had changed, and been penciled in, but they'd followed the old specs instead of the new. A feeling of general enlightenment and relief filled the kitchen. K called back and had a productive conversation with the Lead Contractor Dude, incidentally solving the mystery of the two extra 30" cabinets.
I went back to doing nothing.

At eventide, everyone came home and S hung doors while K placed shelves and Tiger and I got in the way. I took pictures. Then we all went out to dinner.


Today's earrings: squirrels, kangaroos

Bedtime reading: _L. Frank Baum_, Katharine M. Rogers

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday

Lazed late. Hung about. The guys went canoeing. After lunch we bundled everyone into the car and drove to Princeton, where we had dinner with Aunt C. She seems tired. Tiger displayed his expanding knowledge of the Roman alphabet and cardinal numbers. We drove into the city and have arrived. K has just offered me a cookie, and so I must go.


Today's earrings: owls, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: _L. Frank Baum_, Katharine M. Rogers

Sweet

R came and mowed the lawn this morning, driving Tiger into a worshipful tizzy. K and I dragged the poor thing off to the store. We got books and stickers, but all he wanted was to see R, so we came home without going to the library. S took Tiger and R off to the zoo. Happiness!

They came back and R & Tiger played on the jungle gym while K&S worked on stuff and I lay on the living room couch and read about L. Frank Baum. I had just got to the part where the biographer talks sneeringly about the Populist Parable theory of _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ when I dozed off. Naps = good. (Though K did tell me later that I'd been snoring.)

The boys made apple crisp and chocolate chip cookies, consuming a fair amount of raw sugar in the process. R's father joined us for dinner. We ate; Tiger oscillated.

Now I'm going to go read the part of _Witches Abroad_ where someone drops a house on Nanny Ogg.


Today's earrings: moose, chocolate molecules

Bedtime reading: _Witches Abroad_, Terry Pratchett

I sank my fingers in the soil

Today we went to the farm, and I finally met the mythic Farmer Dave. He is most tall. First we set watermelon seeds in trays, then K went outside and hoed at thistles while Tiger and I moved dirt around in the big bin in the greenhouse. We planted imaginary orange roses. Later we met red chickens, black chickens, three-day-old chicks, four bunnies, and a number of tractors, some with incomprehensible attachments.

On the way home K dropped off some paperwork at the local day-care center. Tiger and I stayed in the car. I took the opportunity to read him TS Eliot's "The Naming of Cats." I don't think he really understood the poem. Eliot has that effect on lots of people.


Today's earrings: pigs, peas

Bedtime reading: _L. Frank Baum_, Katharine M. Rogers

IM IN UR APARTMENT CRASHING ON UR COUCH

Cherries were blossoming along the Harlem River Drive today. When I arrived the remodelers were engaged in drywalling, rather than floor refinishing. I slept gratefully through their labors. Then K appeared, and (mindful of floor refinishing on the morrow) we collected Tiger & S and fled to the countryside. I have seen the new catsuit; it is too adorable for words.

p.s. this is my 300th post.


Today's earrings: llamas, bronze triangles

Bedtime reading: _L. Frank Baum_, Katharine M. Rogers

how things get from point A to point B

and sometimes F = GMm/R²


Today's earrings: hands, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: L. Frank Baum, Katharine M. Rogers

Nevertheless

you've seen a strawberry
that's had a struggle; yet
was, where the fragments met,

a hedgehog or a star-
fish for the multitude
of seeds. What better food

than apple seeds - the fruit
within the fruit - locked in
like counter-curved twin

hazelnuts? Frost that kills
the little rubber-plant -
leaves of kok-sagyyz-stalks, can't

harm the roots; they still grow
in frozen ground. Once where
there was a prickley-pear -

leaf clinging to a barbed wire,
a root shot down to grow
in earth two feet below;

as carrots from mandrakes
or a ram's-horn root some-
times. Victory won't come

to me unless I go
to it; a grape tendril
ties a knot in knots till

knotted thirty times - so
the bound twig that's under-
gone and over-gone, can't stir.

The weak overcomes its
menace, the strong over-
comes itself. What is there

like fortitude! What sap
went through that little thread
to make the cherry red!

- - Marianne Moore


Today's earrings: flowers, amber drops

Bedtime reading: L. Frank Baum, Katharine M. Rogers

Good news/bad news

CC was right. It turned into a cold. I've been swilling chicken soup all day.
I blame the Cricket.

In happier news, Ozzy was voted out of Survivor, and he didn't see it coming at all. I laughed and laughed...
This may turn out to be the season I've been hoping for.


Today's earrings: frogs, alligators

Bedtime reading: L. Frank Baum, Katharine M. Rogers

Leaf

Leaf Fertility; growth; renewal. Green leaves depict hope; revival; renewal. Dead leaves are sadness; Autumn; decay. Crowns of leaves symbolize divinity or triumph and victory. In Chinese symbolism the leaves of the Cosmic Tree represent all beings in the universe -- the Ten Thousand Things.

- - An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols, J.C. Cooper


Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: L. Frank Baum, Katharine M. Rogers

Lyman

It struck me as I picked up tonight's reading material that there used to be a lot more people named Lyman. I checked the Baby Name Voyager for confirmation - Lyman was the 344th most popular name for boys in the 1880s and has been dropping ever since. Who were those kids named for, I wonder? The Lymans in Wikipedia either post-date the name's popularity or don't seem all that impressive.

It's a mystery.


Today's earrings: tree frogs, swirly aqua beads

Bedtime reading: L. Frank Baum, Katharine M. Rogers