Rewriting the birth certificate

I was seriously born into the wrong country.  If only my mother had gone to Scotland and fallen in love with my Dad there instead of vice versa, I would be a native.  Of course, this would require that my husband returned to England and run into me in my, ahem, native Scotland and then we would still have our lovely children...my but rewriting history gets tricky. 

Sunday Quote

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Otis Nebula

Happy to say a new poem, The Unfinished is Nothing, is up at Otis Nebula.  Am very pleased to be in such great company.  Please click right HERE to be whisked over to their site.

Happy Father's Day in lieu of Sunday Quote

Happy Father's Day to my Dad who is in the part of Heaven that looks like Scotland (or maybe that is Heaven - Scotland with a wee touch of Hawaii or Florida thrown in and a dash or two of Cape Cod and Vermont).  Happy Father's Day to my darling man, Bill, who has shared all the joys, chaos, heartache, and beauty of parenthood with me - our children are so lucky to have you as their Dad.

My Walking Adventure

 After work and quite overcast after a spectacular day where so many people coming in the library remarked about the sun and the glorious air and how we should all get outside.  Well, yes.  Afterwork when the sun has beat a hasty retreat and the rain is contemplating falling.  All the little turtles that sun on the rocks were not to be seen - and then I saw one.  In the bushes, down by the lilypads, a spectacular turtle, a glossy orange splash of color on its shell...I climbed as low as I dared and crept up to catch a photo of this amazing creature only to realize it was an orange soda bottle bobbing in the rushes.  Chagrined, I marched on only to come across what places a small terror in my heart....

 Many of them, walking from me with astonishingly lack of speed as I suggested very nicely they move and thanked them for not flying at me and eating my eyes or whatever geese do to people walking alone without witnesses.

 My next sighting was a wild floating box of rooms...

 more geese, who hopefully would not awaken as I passed, enraged at being disturbed, fly up and eat my eyes or whatever geese do....

 the companion to the first floating box about five minutes down from the first.  We are next to a high school so I imagine this was their creative tossing of the project.  Wonder what grade they got.

 Was about to despair realizing I am an utter fail at nature between the soda turtle and my slight terror of geese in packs, when up from the bank came Mama Duck and three babes.  No, I am not afraid of ducks.  Or puppies.  Or ladybugs and star fish.  Although I refuse to call the latter sea stars as it is most annoying when they up and change things like the name of creatures or like declaring Pluto is no longer a planet.  The hell it isn't.

 She let me stand close, they huddled in the cool air for warmth.  She checked me out and decided to eat some grass, hang out, relax.

Not so bad, I decided, if a Mama Duck decides you are a good enough sort to trust around her babies.  Thanks, Mama Duck, I feel better.  And it didn't rain on me after all.

Sunday Quote

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

  -Andre Gide

BEA in NYC or the yearly madness

 Well, of course, Captain Underpants had to come to BEA if there is yet another book release in this mind-bogglingly successful series for kids (if you have ever been stuck reading your kid this book or Pilkey's Super Diaper Baby, I feel your pain.)

 We were very impressed at the amount of effort this must take to lay these out on the steps.  Someone has a good eye and steady hands.  Can you imagine if it was crooked?  Maybe it was first go round and some poor soul was freaking out at three am.

 Rachael Ray is much prettier in person than on her show, not that she isn't pretty on her show but she was rather radiant looking.  Glowy or not,  I was not willing to stand in the crazy long line for a signed book, but couldn't resist a quick snapshot.

 My apologies to the dapper and darling Tim Gunn for a terrible snapshot.  Fun to walk by the celebrities but the lines are killer.  Just can't do it.  Although I did wait on line for a fab McGraw Hill red bag that were very hot.  Had to, my little paper bags were overflowing with galleys and catalogs and the like.  Priorities. You have to be very brave or very beautiful to pull off a white leotard and wings but this gal was both and gracious to boot.

 Ah, Olivia.  Do you know Pete the cat?  He loves his blue shoes.

 We came, we saw, we fought the good fight.  We now have a zillion catalogs, bookmarks, posters, and galleys.  Now the fun of perusing them begins.  Glad to be home since towards the end I was starting to feel a little bit like this sign suggests about the crowds and the fatigue factor of lugging bags of hand outs around.

until next year.

Pond walk

baby turtle too fast for the likes of me. 

Sunday Quote

The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but deliverance from fear.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Went to Candy Mountain and then some

Not sure what happened to the unicorn cookies - puffed up and then my freehand icing smiles didn't help.  I am told they were delish however.  Another crazy cake, this one spoofing the old youtube video of Charlie going to Candy Mountain, just the right snarky humor for the turning 13 set.  The party ended up in happy mayhem as they tend to do - once the kids discovered they could fill up all the old water guns with the melted ice from the cold drinks barrel it was game on.  Thank goodness for our large collection of towels :)

Rabbit Round-up

I have probably posted this prior but I do so love Dr. Alice Roberts ever since I saw her BBC special on Wild Swimming - so here is a fun interview in a car.  Longish but not dull especially all the chat about digging up bones and what have you (unless you shudder at bones stuff, I find it all quite fascinating).

This site where you can view magazine covers from old Holiday magazines is a walk through the past, so interesting and nostalgic.  I love that people put together these kind of sites online.

More memory - Dear Photograph - the book coming soon, cannot wait to ILL it (you know you are a librarian if you know that term) and I love the blog, the idea behind the blog etc.

Oh, and it is dinner.  So much for a big round-up.  End on this which I posted to all my long suffering pals - like the Donald, I would like to be called The Susan after seeing this. 

Nice to have a husband who cooks :)

Sunday Quote

Words for Healing

I am the moon woman

I go up to heaven

I am the woman of the great

expanse of the waters

I am the woman of the expanse

of the divine sea

-Mazatec.  From On the Road of Stars (Native American Night Poems and Sleep Charms).

Before the rain bloomed the garden

and it was a beautiful sight.  A few years back I wondered if left to its own devices, the hydrangea might hit the roof.  Yes, yes, and yes.  Stunning.  Even our house gargoyle approved.  And then came the rain and rain and rain and rain and some more rain and yes, rain.  Blooms in tatters, yard a sog fest, but all of it captured here which is why photography pretty much rocks.

Sunday Quote

If you haven't the strength to impose your own terms upon life, you must accept the terms it offers you.

-  T.S. Elliot

Stars

Such a voice.  Really nice acoustic guitar and solo from Gregg Allman.   

Happy Mother's Day (in lieu of Sunday Quote)

My lovely Mom and a little me way back when.  I have been graced with my own wonderful children and am reminded of how blessed I am every day, not just this day of cards and flowers (although thank you!  Appreciated!) by the sure fact of how they have made my life far more joyful, interesting, challenging, and just "way more funner" than it would ever have been without them.

  But on this day for mothers,  I miss my Mom even more than my everyday normal which is saying a lot. 

 Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

Hunter-gatherer vacay style

The hunt for really excellent Key Lime pie took us out of Islamorada and down the road towards the Keys to a little place my husband heard about by the side of the road.  Can I share the name?  Would if I could.  The pie is eaten, the scrap of paper long trashed, our memories are mostly a collage of blue upon blue, a hot sun, some perfect aqua blues of small homes near a trailer park, and a cat that said hello briefly and then left to go about its Florida cat business.
The pie was good.

camera at the ready....

Photo of rental car in a Florida truck's hubcab.   Have to go through the Florida photos and pull up some fun ones.  Cannot believe we have been back going on three weeks.  However, considering I located some items in a box from our trip last year to North Carolina, yet unpacked, I should hardly be surprised.

Sunday Quote

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people.  Let your memory be your travel bag.

- Alexander Solzhenitsyn