MENU OF THE DAYListening to: one of the most amazing songs ever written: "Hello In There" by John Prine song, only this is performed by Jeffrey Foucault (and he does an amazing job with it. ) I'm not a crying woman, but this song makes me almost always tear up.
Reading: Getting Ready to Start "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett about African American women living in Mississippi in 1962.
Netflix Rental: "Seven Pounds". Haven't watched it yet.
Idol Talk: Adam Lambert is my very favorite Idol contestant of all of the years i have been watching. Not only is he amazing in that he can do all genres and make me like stuff (Like Zeppelin) that i normally wouldn't like but you can just tell, he's a genuinely caring and nice and wonderful guy.
Again, i have no idea what i am getting ready to say so this will be a mishmash. But it will be NUMBERED!
*****************
1. i just hit repeat on the song "Hello In There". I think i am adding this song to my Top Ten favorite all time songs. In this version by Foucault, there is a subtle background harmony that almost sounds like Emmylou Harris. It probably isn't. But it's so nice anyway.
2. If i was the type of person who used the word 'lovely'. I would say the harmony was lovely.
3. But i am not that type of person. I just know it would sound false coming from me. I don't even know why.
4. I work for teacher unions. We held a meeting today with the new teachers in one of our districts being RIFFED - (meaning that they are out of a job). At the end of the meeting listening to their questions and hearing some of their stories I just felt strongly that probably all (with the exception of maybe 1) in the group were teachers NO DISTRICT would want to lose. I was impressed with their earnestness, their almost graceful resignation and that they didn't blame the union, the district administration, or whatever.
5. It made me feel like i wish we could do more as a union and at the same time it also lifted me up that there are some folks out there wanting to teacher your kids who are total quality.
6. And here's something i think everyone should know: I don't know of another profession doing so well with less resources than teaching. I cannot say this enough. All we hear in the media about is how terrible schools are. But that is not true. There are some amazing things going on in schools even where the funding is lacking. I will never listen to anyone talk down public schools and teachers unless i KNOW FOR SURE that they have been out in a school volunteering, tutoring, active in their child's education and voting. For example, business folks or politicians who speak about the need for reforming in a huge way, but haven't set one toe in a school in the past 5 or 10 years, have no credence with me. NONE.
7. Ok, i am off my high horse about schools now.
8. I just hit repeat on Foucault's version of "Hello in There" for a third time. (God, i love that song. )
9. I have to go to a funeral of my first husband's father soon. He died yesterday morning at home. (My ex husband's parents still live next door to my parents, all these years later.) I liked him. He is the one who taught me how to dance. In the old fashioned way with the jitterbug. He and his wife (who i also loved) were fun to watch on the dance floor of The Elks club. I learned how to follow lead and never look at my feet and to follow the rhythm of the music.
10. Going to funerals from people from your past is a very weird thing. I've been to a couple with both ex-husbands since i've been married to them and it's been strange. I find myself in a banal/small talk conversation with them and walk away from them wondering: Why did i ever marry those guys in the first place? And i wonder if they feel the same thing.
11. Only i cannot imagine that they do. In MY fantasy they are always saying to themselves: "Wow, she looks so fabulous why did i ever screw things up so that she got away!"...
12, Okay y'all know the drill. What is on your mind, even if you think you have nothing to say, just wing it. I swear when i do these, i have no idea what i'm starting to write. There is something rather cathartic about it.
11 comments:
1. Listening to "The Field Song" by The Lighthouse and The Whaler from Paste 51. It's a nice song, but not 3 times in a row nice.
2. I swear, I am going to finish the last 70 pages "Women In Love" three pages at a time. Partly because I can never seem to sit and read for more than a few minutes at a time, and partly because it is really starting to get on my nerves.
3. I guess, even as I was a literature major, I am not the kind of person to appreciate the classics. At least not certain periods, like early 20th century english. I can see that it's well written and there are certain passages that appeal to me, but the whole exercise has not been very rewarding.
4. My next book will be to reread Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much is True," one of my favorite books of all time. Kind of like "Owen Meany" I'm going back to read it again more than 10 years later. Then I'm going to get a copy of his new book about Columbine.
5. I am just loving Lost! I can't wait for the season finale next week. I really enjoyed the scene where Miles watched himself leaving the island and understood that his father sent them away out of love. Also glad Sayid is back!
6. Now I'm listening to "This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore" by Elton John from jojo's Gumbo Goodbye. I really love this song and have been known to repeat it on my ipod.
7. We're planning a graduation party for Melanie. I'm kind of reeling a little that I may have bitten off too much doing this a week before Grace and I leave for Japan. We're going to hire a caterer, and I have to finalize the guest list and get the invitations out. Right now there are 100 people on the list, and I'm stressing that that will be too many to have at our house and trying to figure out how many would actually come.
8. Chris said, "Why are you doing this, she doesn't even care?" and I thought about it and concluded that I'm doing it for myself because I want to celebrate it. And I think that should be reason enough.
9. We're not riding tomorrow because the trainer will be away at a show. It's weird whenever we miss a Saturday morning ride. It's going to be really weird when Melanie isn't going with me anymore.
10. But we both did ride on Tuesday evening, when normally just Melanie rides. We have a more complicated jumper course and some of the jumps are a little higher than usual. Plus Romeo had been cooped up in his stall because of all the rain, and he gets kind of nutso. It took me about 10 minutes to even get on him because he was dancing around so much. But we got through the course twice, and the second time was better than the first. It was fun and I feel a little proud of myself for meeting a challenge.
11. Now I'm listening to the Lauridsen that Lynnie sent me when I was gathering classical music to send to Vittorio in Italy.
12. For all of the drama, I'm still happy that I had the opportunity to meet so many great friends on Gumbo.
even when you say you have nothing to say, you still write great things to read, Jo.
that label on your wine bottle cracks me up!!
1. I'm watching Craig Ferguson. I'd rather listen to my iPod but it's in Antarctica - probably not being listened to.
2. I'd get another iPod but I can't really justify it. Maybe my oldest son will buy me one for Mother's Day although I don't think I ever mentioned to him that I miss my iPod...
3. Miss Emmy Lou Who broke her arm this afternoon. I thought maybe her wrist and by the time we were settled in at the ER I thought maybe just a sprain (since she was showing me how well she could bend it and make a fist and all). But no, not only was her arm broken but both bones in her forearm were broken near the wrist and the growth plates.
4. We see yet another specialist on Monday. An orthopedic surgwon probably right after we see the podiatric surgeon for a regularly scheduled visit to talk about how she's walking on the inside of her foot.
5. Dealing with all this hospital stuff - she was actually IN the hospital with a kidney infection two weekends ago - has worn me plumb out.
6. I can't remember the last book I actually read through to the end. Wait, it was Paulo Coelho's Alchemist.
7. And now Oprah is on. It's after midnight but this is rerun. Oh well, there was nothing on HGTV or TLC and I can't afford to watch QVC...
I'm tired, my throat hurts..I haven't done laundry or went grocery shopping in weeks. I guess I know what my Mother's Day is gonna look like.
Ok..do NOT let me post when I first get up in the morning. I'm not a morning person.
1. I do need to go shopping, mow the yard and clean. Ok..that's not helping my mood.
2. I need to go to the bookstore. Yes, I said need. Books are a necessity. Jen Lancaster and Charlaine Harris have books out. They need a home.
3. Amanda sent me a card for Mother's Day from Hallmark. Unfortunately the sound was broken by the time it got here. But that may be a good thing because it was You are my sunshine which was my mom's favorite song and I would have cried.
4. The weather is beautiful today. Maybe I'll take Lucy to the park..no I need to mow, shop and clean.
5. I really need to go into work too.
6. But I want books.
7. ARRERRRGGGG...maybe I'll just sit here and post and play games.
8. I'll go mow and then I'll play.
9. Barb, I'm so glad you are doing a graduation party. Amanda didn't have one. Satan said he'd do it (he has a pool) so I said ok. Then two days before he got mad at me and canceled it. Amanda had a good time going to other parties but he sucked that day.
But the ceremony is so cool...hard to believe we have kids old enough to graduate.
10. Sam, did you like the Alchemist?..it took me so long to read it...and it was o short. I kept putting it down.
we have a pool, too.
she hit the garage door frame backing my truck out this morning, and put a dent in it. :-( major bummer, she is so upset and afraid of her dad's reaction. i put my arms around her and told her she's more important to me than the truck, but her dad won't make it seem that way. stupid temper. plus i'm worried about what it will cost to fix, trying to avoid reporting it to the insurance company, bla bla on top of the cost of the graduation party.
but i'm still glad i'm doing it.
the girls gave me a card and a candle for mother's day. first time they've done that since the teachers had them making stuff in school. that made my day, dent or no dent.
do something fun, susie... the cleaning will wait for another day. you must be floating from the shawn mullins concert!
hey y'all! eque, grits, sam, susieatl....just checking in. I still don't really have anything to say, but i'm glad you are all here!....
Grits i cannot believe how many books are coming out by authors i love since i went looking around for the new Russo book!
Did y'all know that Rebecca Wells has another one soon? I'll post some more about books on my next post. I never did finish the Yayas in Bloom book so i'm not too sure i'm super excited about a new one, but i'll definitely look it over.
I'm reeling over the final episode of "Lost." I didn't see it until last night, so ~~~ I've spent the day reading various reviews about it.
Hi to everybody ~~~ Steve is practicing his guitar in the other room; he misses the Friday night jams at Martin's (they only go from October thru April.)
We need to find him a Sunday afternoon outdoor jam. Those are my favorites ~~~ blues in a beer garden.
I'm cooking a pot roast ~~~ it's been a long time since we've had any beef. I had to take a blood test, so we've been eating mostly chicken and occasionally pork chops. I passed with flying colors ~~~ cholesterol down to 179, so now I feel like I can have some beef again! I roasted a turkey a couple of nights ago. Half of it is now in the freezer, and I'm boiling the bones for broth.
#6. Jo, I love your comments about teachers.
Jo-
Can you email me? I don't have you email since I switched over to Charter. Everything is fine, I just want to talk.
piperwish1@charter.net
You know how much I love Lost, so I don't need to go there.
I need a Kindle. That's all there is to it. I have pared my 'take with' books down to my Lonely Planet China, a Coben, a Koontz, a crossword puzzle book (all paperback) and my journal and my carry on is still 20 pounds. For the in-country flights we've been told that we have an 11 pound limit- and only 1 carry on. 11 pounds!! I have 15 pounds of camera gear!!! ACK!
I have movies, TV shows and mucho music on my iPod, so even without books I'll survive. I just need something for those 10-hour flight legs. BOR-ing.
I hear ya on the school thing. And what makes it worse is letting go of really good teachers while the system continues to protect a lot of the really really crappy ones. (and by system, you know who I mean...)
I'll be MIA for a bit. Tell ya all about it when I get home!
pearl, when i think 'system' i think people mean unions. But that's not entirely true, and am not thinking that is what you meant. ....though i have to admit, i do have my problems at times with our existence. By 'system' when i talk about keeping the really crappy ones, i make reference to the crappy administrators/principals etc. who don't do what is needed to do to get them out.
Lynnie, thank you. I am like a broken record on this i know. I say it over and over.
I forgot to ask Sam, do the iPod batteries die quickly in Anartica????
umma, i'm emailing you. and i'll add more later.
I've been actually too busy to change this blog or to feel so inspired as to want to. American Idol ends this week and i got some family stuff going on. Some good, some bad. I thought it was going to be all relaxing reading books, etc. while my husband was on his Alaskan cruise. But so far not.
I'll be back soon. Since he's still gone on Friday, i'm sure that is the evening i will feel so inspired. It will be a three day weekend, a wine night since it's Friday, the opening day of the pool, and it's supposed to be 74 degrees! Nothing could make me happier.
And Sarah, my friend....if you are still reading. Did my birthday card get mailed back to you for lack of a stamp too???? i'm just sayin'. I always knew you loved Julie best.
Post a Comment