Canoeing the Boundary Waters

Posted on April 1, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

 

 Boundary Waters

Remaining on the river beach

I wave him off from the launch, wondering how

he settles onto the seat of the canoe no longer a child

a man’s long arms sweeping the swift choppy waves

clean up this room and hang up your clothes, young man…

orange life jacket next to him on the seat

let him learn for himself

he heads for the whitewater paddling cool and sure

realizing his error

he throws the jacket on unzipped

you can’t go!  you didn’t finish your homework…

Churning with sudden fury

the river takes command

I said you’re grounded…!

the boat spinning out-of-control

you can’t make me – I hate you…!

the rapids rumble, thrashing the air

engulfed in a rolling torrent he is gone

On shore I choke for breath, nauseated

strangled by the merciless hands of fear

how will he survive without me?

then in a glimpse I see him

as when from the womb, gasping for life

…it’s a boy…

the crown of carrot hair pops up

buoyant again downstream

why didn’t you call, I was worried…

the canoe rights easily

without struggle they are one

Steering into the boundary lake

he searches the shore for a place to take out

grinning when he spots me waiting for him

shakes the water from his hair

and raises the paddle skyward

claiming victory


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Twister: 1; Hot Rod: 0

Posted on April 1, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

Jeff came this week to take Hot Rod back to Santa Barbara.  It’s just not working out.  HR and Ed get along just fine, but the cat and Hot Rod seem to have some vendetta that has lingered from a past life.  Ed and Twister have agreed to be frienemies, but HR and Twister simply go completely whacko when they even sense each other near, Twister’s claws become razor sharp talons, HR becomes a growling lunatic.  Obviously this was too much for my aging nerves, and Twister was here first, so HR has to go.

It makes me sad.  It makes us all sad, even Andy who is Twister’s owner.  We all like HR, but we would not so much if Twister got hurt.  I really do have to be careful that I don’t turn into an animal hoarder, and I expect if I am ever diagnosed with dementia that I will be watched carefully by my family and friends so make sure I’m not inviting stray animals into my home.  Like the serial killer who writes on the mirror “stop me before I kill again” I am counting on you all!

Hot Rod is not a bad doggie, but he’s definitely a one animal home.  So off he goes back to the shelter until Jeff has a place for him.  Will I have learned my lesson – yet again – to not take in any more critters?

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The Zoo Expansion

Posted on March 24, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

Jeff has been working at an animal shelter this past year.  He is a natural with dogs – well, all my guys are, but Jeff just happens to be working with them.  He is learning a lot about doggie behavior, and although you don’t need to be a dog scientist to know this, he has diagnosed Ed the Dog as extremely neurotic and emotionally damaged.  We love him anyway.

Jeff fell in love with a dog at the shelter, Hot Rod, and he wants to adopt him and take him to Kansas when he goes to the University of Kansas next year.  Hot Rod is the kind of dog no one would ever adopt – too scary looking, too old, too whatever.  Still, Jeff was worried that someone might fall in love with him like he did and adopt him before Jeff would be able to (he can’t have dogs where he lives.)  So he convinced us to take the dog until he leaves this summer.

When I was in Colorado last weekend he brought him home and I let Al and the boys decide whether it would work out or not.  I guess he and Ed got into it a bit at first but Jeff was able to straighten the situation out.  So when I got home Jeff was gone and that dog was here.  Ed decided to let Hot Rod know that I was his Mom, and they got into it for a few seconds, but Hot Rod wins when there’s an altercation, so it ended quickly and Ed now knows that, even though I love him and he’s my baby boy, that Hot Rod can kick his ass so he might as well let me pet him as well.

They are both the same age – about 6 or so – and they now sleep together and walk around the house together pretending to patrol the place, and bug me for treats.  Walking around the kitchen is kind of like being in an NCAA tournament game – every which way I turn I am blocked.  We let Ed on the couch but two dogs on the couch is way too many so today I went to Tuesday Morning and picked up a couple of “dog chairs” on the cheap.  Then I sprayed the couch with doggie off stuff and gave them a few treats to introduce them to their new couches.

Ed weighs about 50 pounds and is not a small dog by any means.  Hot Rod has a head the size of a basketball.  As if you needed any proof that I am totally insane, here are some photos to prove it.  The picture of them in the chairs is funny because I took it right before I went over to Terri’s house to watch NCAAs and when I came home they had switched places.  I don’t know how they did that without waking up….

So there you are.  I finally have my two dogs, at least until Jeff leaves.  I think the secret to having two dogs is to have two old dogs…

 

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Rain Rivers

Posted on March 24, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

It’s been raining here for days.  Because we live on a hill, we get rain rivers down our driveway and down our street, they gush long the street gutters, sometimes diverted onto the street in wide sheets, the water still making its way downhill.  It’s beautiful, really.  There is ALOT of it today, I don’t know when I’ve seen so much water in the neighborhood.

When the boys were little, we had several very rainy winters in a row.  There was no way to keep them completely inside, and the water was fun.  I have movies of Andy playing outside the kitchen sliding glass doors, catching the water spewing out of the downspout in little buckets, or just letting it land on his boots, mesmerized as only moving water can mesmerize a person.

In desperation to get out of the house, I’d dress them and myself up in rain gear and we’d head down our long driveway to the street, armed with toy boats and cars and anything else that might float, and we’d play in the “rain rivers.”  Some driveways have culverts so we’d let our boats go into the culvert on the high side and hope they’d come out the other end.  Because it would be raining so hard, they always would.

There was a place along the flat part of the neighborhood where a puddle would collect on the side of the road.  It was tradition that on the way to school they would implore me to drive through that puddle making a huge wake and of course I would because I’m so goofy. Sometimes I still do it just for fun even though it’s just me.  Andy is living with us now for awhile, and I’ll bet you anything he’s been doing it too!

The last time it rained I was wistful to see a young mother with her two little ones, boats in hand, dressed in rain gear and boots, playing in the rain rivers.  It  made me feel good that in a world of buy, buy, buy and want, want, want, that something as simple as a rain river can still bring joy to a young mother and her toddlers, and probably always will.

One time we were down at Fisherman’s Wharf on a rainy Sunday.  I don’t think we had expected rain because we really weren’t dressed for it, and we were so wet that it didn’t matter that the boys were stomping through puddles with their shoes on.  It wasn’t a big deal – they were kids sneakers that would dry out eventually and would be outgrown probably sooner than that.  An older woman looked at us with disgust and said something derogatory, I don’t recall what.  I remember feeling so sad for her, wondering what would make her feel that way about three little boys having the time of their lives, laughing and stomping.

Time has moved on so quickly (just as the old ladies told me it would).  I am glad that when I leave the house on these rainy days, the little ones just a distant memory, I can still see them clear as a sunny day, playing in the rain rivers on our street.

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Rocky Mountain High

Posted on March 23, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

What a great weekend I had.  The best part of having babies is having grownups twenty plus years later.  I had a wonderful time with Joe.  We started the weekend watching the Colorado Buffs-should-been-in-NCAA beat Cal.  Of course I have no beef with our Cal but hey, I was in Buffs territory and anyway I want to see them win the NIT.  Watching them play at Coors Arena got me ticked off all over again.  They are tough, aggressive, good shooters and generally are obviously NCAA tournament material.  Joe told me last night after they beat Kent State that “New York New York” was played in the arena.  They are heading to Madison Square Garden and whether it’s NCAA or NIT that’s gotta be a thrill for the kids. The rest of the weekend was all about the NCAA tournament, we burned up the TV remote changing stations back and forth between games.

Saturday we went skiing.  I said I was never going to breathe a word about this, but Joe understands that once I get on my blog I can only tell the whole truth.  I was happy in my new boots (well, they need a little adjustment, the toes falling asleep thing is always a drag) and my hot new cerulean blue helmet was great.  I didn’t need it though, I didn’t fall.  I took another lesson and after one run down an intermediate run the instructor recommended I head back down to the beginner class again.  I am not proud and was happy to do so – I am clearly still scared.  I enjoyed the rest of the morning.

I had lunch with Joe and his buddies (who graciously drove us up there) and then in the afternoon they guided me up to the top of the mountain where I could ski green trails (easy) all the way to the bottom.  They took off and Joe stayed with me.  Well.  Here’s the bad news.  Apparently the day before the slopes were quintessential Colorado powder.  Then it warmed up.  Things were fine at the bottom of the mountain, but at the top they had closed two lifts to the summit because of winds, but even where we disembarked it was wiiiiiinnnnndddddyyy.  And.  Icy.  Damn.  I have never actually been sailed down part of a ski slope before, and it was intimidating.  However I used the skills I learned in the morning and just took it slow.  Joe’s buddy told me he hadn’t seen conditions that poor in 10 years.  Can you say “Murphy’s Law?”

It wasn’t until I had finished skiing for the day, exhausted that I asked Joe our elevation.  10,000 ft. at the base.  This is perhaps why I felt like an elephant with cement boots on clomping around at lunch. Copper Mountain is a huge resort and to get from place to place you take a shuttle bus.  Walking to the shuttle was brutal.   Every step felt like the descriptions they have up climbing Everest – concentrate, breathe, step, concentrate, breathe, step.  Okay, I exaggerate, but I felt a little better once I knew the elevation.  10,000 ft are you serious?   Anyway, my worries that I was going to be “spoiled” by the Colorado snow were staved off until next time.  Back to the Sierra cement – at lower elevations – is going to be just fine for now.

I hated to leave as you can imagine. Colorado is a nice place to visit and I would be happy if he settled there.  But I think it’s mostly so nice because he is there.  Nice friends, cozy apartment, good life.  It’s getting to the point (he’ll be 26 in a few days) where I can’t take credit for his successes, but I can still be proud…

Posted in Middle Aged and Onward | Leave a comment

Skiing In Colorado PreGame Show

Posted on March 17, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

Well, I decided to take a lesson again when we go skiing on Saturday.  I was able to get a decent rate on ticket/ski rental/half day group lesson (which is plenty).  I am happy on several levels, because I’m still a little nervous after my Tahoe spill a few years back plus I understand that Colorado skiing takes some getting used to.  Powder?  What’s that?  Joe who only snowboarded once in Tahoe on that fateful day two years ago – my excuse for wrecking my knee was that the conditions were less than optimal, which was actually a valid excuse –  tells me all he knows about Colorado is it’s soft when he falls.

I’m also happy because we are going with one of Joe’s buddies and I hated to think of Joe having to worry or feel guilty about me skiing alone, although this is not much of an issue for me, once you’re off the lift it’s a solo sport.  However he’s a nice man, and I’m sure it was in the back of his mind “what if Mom slows me down…”

Then it occurred to me that, already, the shift is happening.  Not that we went skiing when the kids were little, but the only option would have been morning ski school for the boys so we could have a morning of skiing before breaking our back assisting them off the chair lift at the top of the mountain.  Now here I am, going off to ski school for the morning so Joe can enjoy a free morning of skiing.  I know it’s not quite the same, and I certainly won’t be sobbing as he goes off while I go off with the ski instructor.  Funny how life perspective changes.  Years ago I would have been mortified to be with one of those hot young ski instructors while I klutzed along on my skis.  Now it’s a pure delight to watch them demonstrate a perfect turn and have them tell me “yeah, my mom says the same thing, I should make sure I finish school….” while we’re riding up the lift.  They’re still hot, but more in a kind of “oh for heaven’s sake he’s adorable” kind of way.

My concern that I will be needing to purchase an extra plane ticket for my long leg cast is also diminished with the idea of having a lesson, so all is well.

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Insignificant Rant

Posted on March 16, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

Getting ready to head to Colorado to see Joe.   We were pretty excited about watching the NCAAs together until Colorado got snubbed (to the dismay of everybody who is anybody in college basketball.  Multiple announcers were dumbfounded and Al McGuire is spinning in his grave like a basketball on the tip of a Harlem Globetrotter’s finger.  Anyway, we will watch at least until Marquette gets knocked out and well, we’ll have to keep watching to make sure Notre Dame doesn’t advance and, well, we like Kansas now that Jeff is going there…

We will be skiing on Saturday at Copper Mountain.  I know Colorado is supposed to be some of the world’s best skiing but I’m a little worried about this powder thing after skiing on New York ice and Tahoe cement all these years.  Will I be spoiled?  Will I not know how to deal with it?  I’ll keep you posted.

Ah, my rant.  So it’s midnight and I’m paying a few bills before I go and twice now I’ve tried to put the bill inside the return envelope provided by the company and the envelope, supposedly letter size, is too small for the bill. This has always been an issue with check sized return envelopes, you’d have to fold the check, but now even a letter you’re supposed to return can’t fit inside a letter sized return envelope?

It’s kind of like the sizes of things getting smaller so they don’t have to raise prices.  It just makes me wonder if one of these days I’m going to pay my ten bucks for my bottle of Oil of Olay and I’ll get home and there will be nothing in it.  I’m so tired.

I’m going to bed.  I told you it was insignificant.

I promise to write to you from my hospital bed in the Orthopedic Unit of Boulder Community Hospital….

 

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For a Moment…

Posted on March 14, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

There is nothing I could possibly say here that could describe what we all feel in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.  I only offer two photos, one of a child in an evac center playing with a balloon which brings me hope and the other of rescue dogs that have been brought from the US who await their gruesome task which explains why I love dogs so very much.  They truly are our best friends among the creatures on this earth.  Peace be with us all today.  Love, Mary

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Bummer, Dude

Posted on February 27, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

This on my Google daily quotation:

“I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image.” Stephen Hawking

Stephen, Stephen, Stephen.  I always thought of you as a source of inspiration.  Brilliant brain inside a crumpled body.  This goes to show that what Mahatma Gandhi said in yesterday’s quotation is true: “It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom.  It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

If Stephen were here, I’m sure I’d lose any argument we’d have based on logic.  My reaction to his quotation is not logical at all.  It is purely visceral.  Sadness.  Pity.  “…purely destructive.  We’ve created life in our own image.”  Really?  PURELY descrtuctive?  Here goes my inner Pollyanna again.  I suppose he would defend himself by saying it was a poor choice of words.  Maybe. But maybe that’s how he really feels?  And if he feels that way, others surely do too?  I find that view of life to be so sad, so jaded, and probably the reason I think faith is a good thing.  It is a common question among people of faith “I don’t know how someone survives death, illness, betrayal (insert your favorite tragedy here) without faith.”   This seems to me to be an example of what might happen.  You survive, but you have world view that believes we are purely destructive? Wow.  No thanks, I’ll take my superstition and foolish belief in the goodness of humanity based on a belief that there is a force bigger than us out there, which could probably can be described scientifically if we were smart enough.

It has been a comfort to read a list of Mahatma’s quotations after reading that sad quote by Stephen Hawking.  It is common knowledge that Stephen is an atheist and I have no issue with that.  Believe what you want to believe, or not.  I know atheists survive tragedies just fine, thank you.   But just for the record,  my “God” is a God of love.  My “God” is a God of hope.  My “God” is a God of believing that we are created in God’s image, and if so, then surely some of our inventions of “life” in the future will reflect that, as well as some that may very well reflect our depravity.

Here’s a final quote from Mahatma (yes, we’re on a first name basis, dude):

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Purely destructive? Not on my watch.

Mahatma Gandhi quotations are taken from http://www.thequotationspage.com  Check it out.  Great website. You can argue about stuff on that website all day long!

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No Snow, No Food, Still Writing

Posted on February 26, 2011 by favoritephilosopher

How could I have been fooled again?  How could I have not realized that it was a way to fill up news time?  Not even a flippin’ flurry that I could see.  Nothing on the bay area hillsides. As usual, a boring California winter.  Oooh, more rain due Tuesday, oooh, scary.  Like a bride jilted on her wedding day, I sit here with camera in hand, all dressed up nowhere to go, ready for the big day.  Just to hear all you “back east”-ers laughing maniacally at my foolish hopes.  “We got yer snow right here, bitch. All 160 inches of it.  We can deliver it by dump truck if you like…”

Can you tell I’m a bit grouchy?  It’s probably because I haven’t had any ice cream in awhile.  The food journal is working and I’m slowly shedding pounds, as long as I continue the WiiFit.  No exercise = no weight loss.  Duh.  But no ice cream is bound to make me grouchy.  Don’t worry, I’m not depriving myself of food.  I’m eating well, just trying to break some nasty food habits.  I will have ice cream again, by God.  Tomorrow IS another day (thank you, Scarlet).

As far as the writing – well, I’ve finished yet another module of my class and am rejuvenated a bit.  The end is in sight.  First drafts of writings for the portfolio are due next week.  Hopefully I’ll be able to put this all together and feel like I’ve really gotten something from this class.  It’s a lot of material and information to go through in eight weeks, and I don’t have time to really give it the attention it deserves.  I understand now why writers lock themselves up in cottages by the sea for months at a time.  Leave me the hell alone.  No phone, no computer (well, no internet) no TV, no people.  Alas, that is not my life, so I will have to carve out little pieces of time here and there.

At least it’s cold.  Ed the Dog is snoring at my feet, a blanket is over my lap, the heat is on, and truth be told, I like the rainstorms, they are pretty impressive coming in off the ocean like they do, all irritated and windy and just wanting to hit land and be done with their journey. This last one had it’s share of rainbow snippets – we don’t have too many full ones, just pieces of rainbow that hang in the sky here and there, like a bunch of prisms are hanging from the dome of the universe.

 

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