At the National Museum of Nature and History (Smithsonian)
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
2010 Book 13 - Prodigal Summer
I just finished Barbara Kingsolver's book Prodigal Summer. Here is the back flap write-up:
This was a GREAT book. It got me thinking about nature and humans and the interconnections between the two. It definitely hit a chord with me and made me want to get back to the basics of life and live clean and enjoy the simple things in the world like the sound of rain on the roof and birds singing in the trees.
I want to vacation in the mountains now....
Barbara Kingsolver's fifth novel is a hymn to wildness that celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature, and of nature itself. It weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives amid the mountains and farms of southern Appalachia. Over the course of one humid summer, this novel's intriguing protagonists face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with which they necessarily share a place.
This was a GREAT book. It got me thinking about nature and humans and the interconnections between the two. It definitely hit a chord with me and made me want to get back to the basics of life and live clean and enjoy the simple things in the world like the sound of rain on the roof and birds singing in the trees.
I want to vacation in the mountains now....
Friday, May 28, 2010
A Little High Strung - Part 2
To add to the concern that I have going for the world at large and something that is being added to my overall stress and jumpiness levels, yesterday as The Queen and I were driving home we saw this little boy (probably 3 or 4) walking down the middle of a street headed towards a VERY busy street with absolutely no adult in site. I, of course, totally freak out and make The Queen turn at the next street and circle back so that we can grab the little tyke. Luckily, by the time we got there a whole slew of neighbors had seen him as well and were out in the street getting him and walking him back to where his home was, we assume. Now tell me...who would let their little kid out of the house in this day and age?!?
40-something years ago when my sister and her best friend at the time, Charles, decided to do something very similar, my Mom and his mom completely freaked and went searching all over the neighborhood (or at least that is the story that I heard). But there wasn't quite the same worry as they were within a small family neighborhood and cars didn't go whipping around quite like they do now a days.
On another note, I haven't gotten my mail yet, however, I did douse the mailbox (and hopefully, the black widow) with a healthy amount of bug spray last night. I'm planning on getting the mail this evening while wearing my long rubber gloves and then throwing all the mail into the street and stomping all over it...just to be sure she's no longer with us.
I did dream about her last night but I think the fact that I watched So You Think You Can Dance right before going to bed the black widow in my dream turned into a dancer who then sorta melted away and left nothing but a costume on the ground that sorta looked like a lady bug...oh and there were random kids just sorta wandering around.
Isn't it amazing how the sub-conscious works?
40-something years ago when my sister and her best friend at the time, Charles, decided to do something very similar, my Mom and his mom completely freaked and went searching all over the neighborhood (or at least that is the story that I heard). But there wasn't quite the same worry as they were within a small family neighborhood and cars didn't go whipping around quite like they do now a days.
On another note, I haven't gotten my mail yet, however, I did douse the mailbox (and hopefully, the black widow) with a healthy amount of bug spray last night. I'm planning on getting the mail this evening while wearing my long rubber gloves and then throwing all the mail into the street and stomping all over it...just to be sure she's no longer with us.
I did dream about her last night but I think the fact that I watched So You Think You Can Dance right before going to bed the black widow in my dream turned into a dancer who then sorta melted away and left nothing but a costume on the ground that sorta looked like a lady bug...oh and there were random kids just sorta wandering around.
Isn't it amazing how the sub-conscious works?
Thursday, May 27, 2010
A Little High Strung
For some reason I've been very on edge and nervous lately. I don't really understand why this is happening to me, I should be doing great. I'm working out daily, eating pretty much right, in general I'm pretty happy. And yet....
- Have woken up in the middle of the night having a panic attack...this has happened a couple of times.
- Today as I was warming up on the treadmill, my trainer comes up from behind and says "Good Morning" and I about jump out of my skin. I mean, 5:30 is when we were supposed to meet and it was 5:30 but for some reason...
- Again this morning, I go out to get my mail out of the mailbox (I was too lazy yesterday to do this). I open the box up and put my hand in and feel spider webs, which automatically make me jump and pull my hand back. I then see the movement of a shiny black spider with a bight red hourglass on her belly.... I can't imagine what the outcome would have been if I'd still had my heart rate monitor on at that moment...pretty certain it would have spiked!!
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