Looking for 2nd career

Today I paid $52.00 for 12 gallons of gas. And .69 cents for one Fuji apple.

(and this just in...US Airways will no longer give out free peanuts on its flights.)

New look

Two days ago I bought a new hat to protect my face from the sun. I think I look exactly like Harrison Ford. (except for the beard, but I'm working on that.)

Little known fact

I was named after Orson Welles daughter, Christopher Welles born on my mother's 18th birthday.

Alien fears

Sometimes I feel like I'm from a completely different mollusk.

Advice to myself

Sit. Stay.

Separate priorities

This morning listening to support staff at the dermatologist's office while waiting to have surgery on my face to remove skin cancer:

Clerk: "I so don't want to be here this morning."

Nurse: "Me either"

Clerk: "I'm really tired from the barbeque yesterday."

Nurse: "I'm just plain burned out."

Clerk: I'm hungry. I didn't have time for breakfast this morning."

Nurse: "You want the rest of my doughnut?"

Clerk: "Thanks."

Brain fade

Me: I think I'm allergic to this book. I've been sneezing ever since I started reading it.
Irene: You might just have to give it up.
Me: I just started it!
Irene: Is it good?
Me: No, but it's easy to read.

Birthing room

Another creature birthing itself.

Pondering

I'm just here, trying to figure things out today.

More rules

Flea market sign.

Ghost writer

I'm having trouble with a short story I'm working on. Won't someone just write it for me?

With the right neighbors...

...who needs health insurance?

Living large

For successful road trips you have to be willing take risks, travel light and go with the flo.

We did not see...

But in Oregon we did see a dog lumpy with tumors who sang along with "Jesus Loves Me."

A drug dealer's state rest stop where everyone drove in in a beat-up Chevy van and exchanged drugs like it was a farmer's market.

A new bride leaning against the fender of her SUV, beneath a cheery "Just Married" sign, smoking and staring desolately at the black-topped parking lot of a Best Western Hotel.

A family of 3 with their Jack Russell terrier picnicking on the grassy center divide of I-5.

A rust covered van stuffed to the gills with clothes, furniture, books and rubble sporting a bumper sticker that read, "At least I can still smoke in my car."

Resting

I'm a little worn out at the moment. I'll be back to the blog soon.

On the Road

I'm out of here. I'll be back in one week. Someone hold down the fort.

Fun in the sun

Two years ago this month Irene and I spent 3 weeks in Belize with my son and his family. Before we left we went to a local tanning spa, the kind where you stand in a shower of brown toxic mist and come out looking like a pair of hiking boots. We looked dazzling when we boarded the flight for Belize. But as the vacation progressed our "tans" paled and we arrived back in Santa Cruz looking as if we'd spent the month in a sanitorium somewhere.

The bright side

I was at a routine doctor's appointment the other day and I mentioned I was afraid I was losing my mind.
Me: I'm a writer. I'm worried about my mind.
Doc: What are you writing?
Me: I'm writing a novel.
Doc: Fiction, then.
Me: Yes.
Doc: Just be glad you're not writing a book on physics.

Living it up

Summer's almost here. I can hardly wait!

Di Prima reading Di Prima

"Is it too late for me to be a beat poet?" cg

Key to success

It's just a matter of collecting yourself.

Fledgling flight

Our little birds didn't make it. We think they died sometime in the night. We've put them, nest and all into our sculpture garden. It's amazing how attached we got to them and how sad we feel. Sorry we didn't do better by you little friends. Fly free.

Freedom!

"Woman Setting Her Spirit Loose", by Amadisto McCarroll Gallegos, Age 2 Mother's Day 2008.
See me running through the wild flowers? Look quick, I'm fast! Thanks, Booj. Love Grandma Coop (click on image for full effect.)

Busted?

Here's a "live" picture of one of our little nesting birds. The one that was a blue speckled egg a week or so ago. I think this bird must be adopted. I mean, the parents are small delicate little finch-like-things. This baby has a mohawk and a big yellow beak and literally bulges out of its nest.
But this is Santa Cruz. Maybe the fringe element has already gotten to the little guy. If I hear heavy metal and smell funny smoke I'm calling the coppers.

Does this count?

I haven't been out much today but I've peeked several times.

Dinner talk

Me: I don't want you to think I'm always complaining, but my foot hurts. What do you think is wrong with it?
Irene: I don't know. Why do you think it's hurt?
Me: It gives me pain.
Irene: What do you think is wrong with it?
Me: That's what I asked you.

House calls

Okay, maybe I can focus on the war in Iraq or the cost of gas or John McCain.

Home depot

Be careful out there. It's nesting season.

Air head

I'm a little light headed this evening.

Loom in the room

A friend once gave me a commerical room sized loom because I wanted to be a weaver. It took up our entire living room. No couch, no chairs. Just the loom. To my credit we didn't start hanging laundry on it for some 6 weeks.
The end came though one morning when my son, Sol said, "I had a nightmare last night. I dreamed the loom was coming after me. The loom was trying to kill us all."
I gave the loom to a local school and I can just hope they had better luck with it then we did.

The Visitor

During the 90s I belonged to a drum circle and we met in a local park. We were a community for 10 years and sometimes I still miss it. Yesterday we saw the new indie movie, "The Visitor". The movie is all about finding a sense of place even when a person feels doomed to dislocation. The title is an ambiguous reference to who among us is the real visitor. Richard Jenkins stars and it is one of the best films I've seen in a while. It features a lot of drum circles with a New York City backdrop and brought this visitor back to a real sense of place.

Just in case...

Today I learned that "Sa-hala al-wensh say ra-na-tee" means, "My car's been towed," in Arabic. (from a phrase book at Logo's while killing time waiting for a movie at the Del Mar.)

Formula for success

As an 18 year old bride I spent an enormous amount of time ironing long sleeve white shirts. I believed this is all it took.

Balance beam

I took a short walk yesterday without my dog. I was off-balance and my little trek seemed endless.

Nut finch snacks

The red-breasted nut finch eggs have hatched on our patio. We're trying not to use our back door or our patio which limits us in this tiny house but anything for a bird, right? Three years ago mourning doves lived in a nest on our patio. On their fledgling flight the neighborhood cats ate them. We're dreading these little nut finch's first "steps". We live in a state of perpetual alarm around here.

Cure

I saw an ad in a magazine. I thought it said, "Cheap Home, cure for bad breath."
Actually it said, "Cheap home-cure for bad breath."
Which just goes to show, Miss Pratt in the 5th grade was right. Commas do count.

Sick and tired

Overheard at the flea market:
Her: "I want to eat out. I'm tired of cooking."
Him: "I'm tired of people."
Her: "I'm sick and tired of just you and me."

5 years ago today...

Body image

I was planning a day at a local pool for me and my friend, Joanne who was some years older than me.
"Bring your suit," I said.
"Hah!" she gaffawed. "The only way I'll get near a swimming pool is in a wetsuit."
"Joanne, don't worry about other people. No matter your age, your weight, or anything else. Just love your body."
"Get back to me in 10 years," she said.
Ten years later, I finally get it.

Mahatma Gandhi...

..when asked what he thought of Western civilization said, "I think it would be a good idea."