a day to remember...

Well, dear all,  I would love to strew this post with picture-proof, but I am on a "borrowed device" (public library) and not sure whether I'll EVER have access to my own pictures, documents, etc., EVER AGAIN.
New computer time, in short.  Actually new computer time + 10 days.  Ah, well.
Yesterday WAS ANOTHER DAY, however.  Annie and her intrepid parents and I met at the local summer fair, which has been called all sorts of things, some of them printable, but for the moment is called "K-Days" again.  Do not ask me.  Il ne faut pas chercher a comprendre.  Just take my word for it.
Now a week or ten days ago the Notable Annie, Thing #One, spontaneously expressed an ambition to RIDE A HORSE.  After some dialogue she agreed, "Pony would be better.  Little would be better.  And a seatbelt" (the thought of which makes me helpless every time I think of it).
Are you keeping in mind, O Best Beloved, that Annie is 28 months old???
Inevitably, FATEDLY, not long after we embarked down the midway, there were RIDABLE EQUINES.  Parenthesis here to note that she and Grandma had already met the Clydesdale pair in the farm-animal display...individually in box stalls, with their heads down in the hay-box.  Until they straightened up.  I had just a glimpse of how big a Clydesdale looks to a 2-year-old.  When that big head comes up into view, it might as well be the Kraken.  But "did she tremble, did she blinch?"  She did not...took in the spectacle with utter satisfaction and aplomb.  Heart of a lion, in this little girl.
Back to the RIDABLES.  The usual panoply of pony-sized critters harnessed to a windlass-arrangement, walking solemnly in a circle.  In due course it was Annie's turn.  Her Mommy put her in the saddle and walked around with her while Daddy and Grandma cheered on the sidelines.  First round, considerable consternation on the face (but not distress); second round -- all tranquil and calm; third round, HUGE grin.
Her Mommy reported that throughout the ride, which was substantially long ("Grandma, I went ROUND AND ROUND AND ROUND"), there was a constant inner bubble of delighted laughter in that little mortal frame.
This all bodes delightfully well.  I see clearly boots and a little black velvet helmet in the future.
Oh yes -- and when it was over, and Annie was lifted off -- "Mommy, I think I jus' have to give Horse a Little Kiss"  which she did.  He took it well.
Some other time I'll tell you about the Rubber Ducky game and Annie's triumphant win of a small non-specific green/blue stuffed dog, christened "Loola."  Oh yes, and the sheep-shearing at which Annie interpreted the bleating of the patient...
And a good time was had by all!
 

A reflection on a non-preaching weekend....

seeing as HOW nobody at this house is preaching tomorrow, I am sympathetically offering a funny of some antiquity to all those of you toiling over three-points-and-a-poem today.  Here's how we do it in the True North Strong and Free: 

February 21, 2008

Canadian Sermon Types, eh?

And now for something completely different...

Neil Young, who pastors Erindale United Church in Mississauga, Ontario, sent us this inventory of sermon styles in the Great White North.

The Maple Syrup: Boils source material down to about 1/50th its starting volume.

The Mountie: When it's most dressed-up, it doesn't arrest anybody.

The Igloo: Goes 'round and 'round until a final capstone is dropped in.

The Curling: Kind of incomprehensible, but everybody seems to have a good time.

The Lacrosse: Fast, hard-hitting, and it's hard to see the points as they're made.

The Hockey Fight: Staggers unsteadily, swinging wildly, but lands a punch or two.

The Canadian: Overly apologetic.

The Snowmobile: Loud and a bit obnoxious, but takes you places you otherwise wouldn't go.

The Beaver: Dams everything in sight.

The Maple Leaf: Has 11 points; always ends up falling to the ground.

 

Second Day, with some outings...

Today the routine was a little different -- went out to shop for a short list of items, then swung back past the library, dropped one off (Ursula Le Guin), picked one up (Rana Dasgupta), then to the pharmacy for a prescription and vitamin C, to the P.O. to mail a couple of items...and home again.
It's been hot...I've kept windows and drapes closed, will open up everything again tonight and turn on some fans...
Meantime I have finished Barbara Ehrenreich, Living with a Wild God, which was very good indeed (I'd read her Nickel and Dimed earlier).  It would be a great book I think for university student groups...
I am very far behind in reading the periodicals that come in -- but have at least made some "stacks" and can commence to get caught up.
Tomorrow I go out for coffee and some book-talk (Eliot's Four Quartets and John Booty's book of reflections on them); then I have a date to go to the University farm and collect a dozen "heirloom eggs" on behalf of the daughter-family-unit, who are away...they have sponsored a University Chicken this year and collect eggs every two weeks.  Very exciting!
And in the evening, a sit-down with an art-studio group.  I am hoping that the contents of the mending basket qualify me to take part!
And that is all that is new at Tether's End.

Happy Day...

A quick post here this morning; in fifteen minutes this apparatus is turned OFF for the day.  In words repeated oftener than anything else in my memory, "There's going to be a new regime around here!!!"

This is a "statuary" holiday hereabouts, as a friend likes to say.  The sun is shining, the winds are calm, there is nothing ominous in the forecast.  Festivity is imminent all around and about, culminating in "illuminations" on the Big Ol' Bridge tonight, and fireworks.  I intend to take it all on trust.  Standing in a crowd, in the dark, in a cloud of mosquitoes, is not really all that much fun.

But today is a new day.  I have started with a new morning routine.  And a modest frittata (green onions, jalapeno, spinach, cheese, and 2 farm eggs) and 2 pieces of toast (homemade bread).  There is a pot of half-caf coffee on the warmer.  The bed is made, the bathroom is tidy, I am showered and dressed (and medicated and "vitaminized") and insofar as such a thing is possible, READY FOR THE DAY.

A new schedule, a new way of managing time and space and chores.  I am about to sit down with bookbag, reading specs, reading journal and pen, and READ AND READ AND READ.  It may be what I'm all about, from here on.

After while, I intend to go outdoors for a time, with my hat on, and walk in an intentional way.

But not to do errands.  Tomorrow, errands -- library and pharmacy and grocery store and bank and post office. 

Today, I'm reading and walking.  And eating delicious leftovers; cold roast beef and cold potatoes and carrot/cabbage slaw and carrot sticks and hummus and Washington State black cherries.

Then I'm going to read some more.

Back atcha, anon.