Thursday, April 30, 2009

THE DARKENED TEMPLE

Today was a rough day!

For no particular reason...is it a full moon???

Halfway through the day I thought...OMG I had a commitment to go to a poetry reading in La Jolla. This day and then poetry. I figured I would get all the ooky stuff out of the way at once, as well as "what the hell was I thinking".

The upside was that I got to meet my friend Melinda for dinner (as it turns out her treat for my birthday). She must have had a rough day as well since we both ordered comfort food and eschewed a salad in favor of Mud Pie at "The Spot"...which, oddly enough, hit the spot.



Warwick's was hosting this evening of poetry, on the last day of National Poetry
Month. We were to hear Mari L'Esperance read from her book The Darkened Temple.

“Longing itself is nothing but the heart’s open spaces,” writes Mari L’Esperance. And in the open spaces at the heart of these poems is a mother who has disappeared. In a world of war and displacement, illness of the mind and body, imprisonment and violence both historical and personal, the poet leads her readers through a landscape of loss. In unadorned language, she draws readers into the interplay between articulation and silence—and finally offers a vision of redemption.

The words above were written about the book, and it is truly incredible.

We live in a world where epistolary relationships are gone, no letters written, no cards sent, we have even condensed emails to text messages, and have even condensed those messages to acronyms (wtf?). We are raising a generation who think that spell check is always write ;^), and who cannot form sentences, thoughts, words or paragraphs with any meaning.

So in the midst of all of this it was truly wonderful to listen to words pour out of someone to form poems that conveyed astounding visual images.

I am going to share one of the poems in her book with you (if I have offended anyone's copyright laws please forgive me):

Map of the World

These days someone is always to blame
for someone else's misfortune, for the missed
opportunity, the lost childhood. Men
shaming women, women shaming men,


parents shaming their children who go on
to sink like stones to the bottom of the black lake,
never to surface. The men on the subway
droop in their suits like gray pieces of meat.

The women hide from their emptiness
in the gossip magazines. I think about it
sometimes, how humans have lost their way
in the deepening darkness. At the ocean's edge

I think I hear the waves try to tell me something.
They do not. They only do what they know
how to do--to follow the moon's irresistible
pull, to carry the fish in their watery arms.

She is a wonderful poet.

I had a fabulous time.





Tuesday, April 28, 2009

HAPPINESS IS TURNING 58...

...especially when you spent the whole last year telling everyone you were already 58.

We went to dinner tonight at Fleming's and I had the traditional lamb. I would be able to share the pictures with you, however, my camera chose this moment in time not to work (again!! (*&&^%$$##$@$(*<><) ). Trust me you cannot possible feel my frustration!!!

Suffice it to say a good time was had by all.

Monday, April 27, 2009

BIRTHDAY DINNER


Hen called me today to let me know that I was getting not one but two birthday celebrations.

Tonight I was to have dinner with Betsy and the grandkids at Corvette diner (a birthday institution in San Diego). Oh, what fun we would all have...hamburgers....throwing straws.....rude waitresses.....perfect.

In the "best laid plans of mice and men" scenario, he forgot that I was closing tonight. I simply said...."really, I am surprised that the kids are staying up that late on a school night. Are we eating at 9??"

The went to CPK without me...BTW this is what 58 looks like (I was pupsitting the dog), please note the bags under the eyes....wonder who does Joan Rivers Plastic Surgery??

THE PICK IS IN!!!

There is something called the NFL Draft.

This evidentally happens every year.

College students who play football await a drafting and gazillion dollar deal to play pro ball (versus college students who juggle part time jobs and studying to begin a job hunt with their MBA to make minimum wage as an overqualified employee of a large corporation--do I sound cynical).

This is one of the Henry rituals.

On this day he dons his draft outfit, as seen below.


Please note the ever present towel over the shoulder, sleep pants, and cereal bowl.

There is a 4 minute window that the team who is up has to select a draftee. When the selection is made Henry screams:

"THE PICK IS IN!"

Seriously a whole two days of this! Cute, huh??

PURLING AT PETCO VOLUME 4



Friday night we went to the game. It was freezing!!! (definition in Massachusetts 10 below windchill negative 45 degrees/San Diego 50 degrees). That's right -- Freezing!!! I was bundled up in a cashmere sweater, a heavy wool swing coat, and a beautiful Maggie White sweater jacket on top of all of that, scarf. Damn, I wish I had brought my mittens.

The night began with a healthy dinner of 5 for $5. This is the Petco equivalent of a happy meal: hot dog, peanuts, small diet, cookie, and popcorn. Versus a normal meal at Petco of a hotdog for $7.50 and a Diet Coke for $6.

I went to get mustard and relish on my dog, turned around, and Henry has set up an eating station on top of the trash can. "What are you doing?" I ask. He turns around. My eyes grow wide, as I observe the front of him. He has a catsup stain the size of Rhode Island on the front of his nice sweater. EEK!! "What have you done?" He looks down and begins to clean himself off when I point out that his hand is covered in catsup as well. OMG!! I got out the camera--and he requested no paparazzi. Damn!


We get to our seats in the stands (way up in the stands) and the wind begins to swirl, and I begin to purl. The woman next to me leans over and says: "If you would work faster we could be sharing a blanket."

Henry goes to clean up his sweater, which then turned to a frozen patch (I told you it was COLD). I finally convince him to go get hot chocolate, which, of course, is when Adrian Gonzalez hits the home run! Such is life!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

WEIGHT WATCHER OR WEIGHT WATCHERS

Over a year ago, Suzanne, who works with me, and I embarked on a dietary path.

I went on a liquid diet sponsored by Sharp.
Suzanne started Weight Watchers.
I tried to Five Factor Diet.
Suzanne continued on Weight Watchers.

I moved on to Jenny Craig (trust me the food does not look like this burrito).
Suzanne, boring, stayed on Weight Watchers.


The Biggest Loser....not me.
Suzanne -- Weight Watchers

Pritikin--Me
Suzanne-- Weight Watchers

12 Second Diet--yup, me again.
Suzanne Weight Watchers

(This was clearly my best success...I am the one on the right)

Dr. Oz, you guessed it.
Suzanne Weight Watchers

Marilu, uh huh.
Suzanne Weight Watchers

Essential Eating, yes sir.
Suzanne Weight Watchers

The hypnotize guy.
Suzanne Weight Watchers

Net result.
I have gained 25 pounds.
Suzanne has lost 53 pounds.
I would say what have I been doing wrong, but the obvious answer is eating everything in sight!!

Decision for tomorrow....Weight Watchers or gain another few pounds and go for surgery!!



Sunday, April 19, 2009

JOHN FROM CINCINNATI MEETS KAREN FROM NOVATO

We had a visit from our good friend Karen this weekend. We had not seen her for years and it was as though we had seen her yesterday. We decided it would be fun to do some eating


and with Karen laughing is also a good thing (she has the best laugh)


and eating

and laughing

and drinking

and toasting

and laughing

and sightseeing. We went to Petco,


Coronado and then to Imperial Beach which led to talk of John from Cincinnati.




We all liked John from Cincinnati in a train wreck sort of way! So we decided to find the motel that they lived in....

which we did...


It looked alot better on the show....but when I looked at the old clip above....it did not look that much better.

All in all it was a great visit. I hope we have another before twenty years because I doubt that my bus from the Old Folks Home will drive to her Old Folks Home.

Come back soon!!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

PURLING AT PETCO VOLUME 3

Easter...a perfect day for a ballgame.

We began the day by discovering a new restaurant, diner, dive, whatever it was it was good. The Cheese Shop located at 627 4th Avenue. We went for breakfast and ended up with lunch because it looked so good.


Then on to Petco and knitting, I mean baseball.


The weather was perfect.


Progress on my knitting.


They even won.


I came home and watched "Out of Africa". One forgets what an incredibly beautiful movie this was. 24 years old and still a wonderful movie---timeless actually!