Weblog 213
March 7, 2010~ 12:00am
First week without snow in since early February. I am ecstatic! I feel so much less hemmed in and stifled. The MELT is upon us!
Patches and whole swaths of white shrink daily, showing more and more browns and greens and bare tree branches ... some permanently bowed or broken, but life and growth are reasserting themselves after this spell of suspended animation. It's like watching time-lapse photography, especially those times when the sun is out full-force and the melt is happening right before the eyes and before you know it, there'll be crocuses pushing their way free...
and it doesn't matter how many repetitions of this yearly miracle we witness in a lifetime, it's always unbelievably beautiful. Small flags of purple waving, piercing through snow is the reaffirmation of life eternal to me. Such small, blinding miracles surround us, and oh! - the birdsong!
The birds have been going crazy in this thaw, singing their hearts out.
Unfortunately I have a house that is a 'preferred hostel' for roosting mourning doves. (Must be these old windows I never bother to slide the storm windows into, so it makes a nice 'shelf' where they can perch.) This morning I realized I was waking up every hour or two, even though I wear earplugs (religiously) - there came the distinct sound of a mourning dove's call insistent enough to wake me from a sound sleep - over and over.
They're beauties, but they're also awful noisy on a Saturday when you have the chance sleep in.
I crept into the hallway and gently moved the drape aside and sure enough, staring back at me just before she took off into a startled get-away, a shiny shoe-button black dove-eye as surprised as can be. LOL!! The dang thing was back in an hour or so, carrying on and waking me up again. I think there'll be nests on my windowsills again this year. Oh well.....it's kind of sweet... but man-o-man, very unsettling when you're trying to catch up on shuteye.
Pittsburgh is well into its springtime thaw on every slope and hillside where, just until this past week, snow filled every inch of ground.
It's thrown off its patchwork white-and-gray quilt and allowed some green to creep back in. (That artistic picture was on the front page of the Post-Gazette this week and I just loved it.) And look at the moody, other-worldly view of the now abandoned St. Nicholas Orthodox Church that I pass every morning on my commute to work, driving along Rt 28, this sight unseen....
it glows blue in the early early dawn, spooky and silent.
I never knew that little Blessed Mother grotto was housed on the hillside behind the church until I saw it featured in a truly AMAZING section of the Post-Gazette online.
You're in for a treat if you've never seen these WONDERFUL PANORAMA VIEWS of Pittsburgh attractions. They revolve, zoom in, out....they'll make you dizzy and delighted. What a great feature! (I always check to see if there's a new one.)
I love the photography in our local newspaper, and I'd stack it up to any news journal anywhere- those photographers are truly talented.
And another treat! I have a new link for you and you're gonna love it. It features 'best of' articles.... with exceptional artwork. Feast your eyes... (and what a title....it tickles my funnybone) Well-Medicated.com ...LOL!! Trust me... these are terrific. (I'm putting that link on my list to the left, so I remember to check it out periodically.)
My winter doldrums are lifting. I saw the grandkids Saturday night and as usual, they did their fair share of lifting my spirits as well. We discussed killer whales and sharks... and how we got from that to giggling, I don't know but it always happens, no matter the subject.
Bill kept talking about swimming in the ocean, and about the 'Buddhas' that float out there.
We were perplexed- until it gradually became apparent he meant 'buoys', not Buddhas. When we corrected him, Bill simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Buddhas... BOO-EES, whatever, gram, they tell you where to STOP and that's a GOOD THING!" he said-- his eyes big and round. LOL!!
Tip of the day: SWIM WHERE THERE'S BUDDHAS, ALWAYS!
Oh! and check this out! BILL MADE THE COVER OF THE BETHEL PARK CHRONICLES!
He's the tow head second from the right. Bill is all things Ninja and Karate. Here we go.... a bit closer....
(I got kind of a shine on the picture trying to snap the magazine cover)... but he shines all the time, that kid!
March 7, 2010~ 7:00am
(No mourning dove din yet, but I woke up anyway.) I read the local online news, and happened upon an article about the Gene Kelly statue that's been proposed for somewhere in our downtown area- a project that's been constantly stymied by the late singing and dancing actor's much younger widow, Patricia Ward Kelly.
I wondered what she looked like, so I did a search.
Oddly, there was only one photo I could find on my first sweep. (For the wife of a Hollywood celebrity, that seemed unusual- a very strange person I should think)- but the truly odd thing was that it occupied the same page as a haunting bit of art, so I clicked on it and it lead me to controversial artist, Gottfried Helnwein...... and I was blown away.
If you click on that excellent painting, it will take you to one of the most unsettling, dark and MAGNIFICIENT collections of dream/nightmare works you're ever likely to encounter.
If art is successful, it strikes sharp notes to the core of us....it shakes us around like a dog toy, to leave us reeling for a bit... and his work does just that.
There are no words for his visions of sacrificed innocence or the maleficence lurking in this world, but there are pictures.... amazing, moving and disturbing images.
To look is to have the mind wake up and complacency challenged because Helnwein paintings make the viewer a witness... and I daresay once seen, it's impossible to revert to comfortable ignorance.
These... crush the soul.
March 9, 2010~ 8:15pm
Yep. It happens....
and today was my day till I worked my way out of it.
Tuesdays and Thursdays (as well as Sundays, for dinner) I visit my mum right after work at Assisted Living. It was a very pretty day... I was tired, but in a good mood. Traffic was kind of 'snarly'... but it kept moving. Alas, when I was TWO BLOCKS from the place, I saw fire engines and police cars up ahead, directing traffic, and the street to the place was not accessible. Got in a long line of more traffic, and what turned out to be a day where I was 10 minutes early, turned into a 20 minute detour, hoping I could find my way around from another direction, and I ended up being late. I called her, "Ma.....I'm stuck in traffic. There were fire engines blocking your road...."
"Oh! Were you coming today??" LOL!!! I just wanted to turn around somehow and drive straight home. "Yes, ma. I visit on Tuesdays, remember?"
"Are you staying for dinner?"- hope in her voice. "No. That's Sundays, mum. During the week, it makes too long of a day. I've already been on the road almost and hour and a half." Silence. "O.K. See you when you get here."
Ever have one of those days where the person you're talking to can find NOTHING positive? "I went to mass here at 3:00. Humph. Mass....if you wanna call it that. That priest rushed through so fast, it hardly seemed like anything.
"Fix that damn clock. It's been blinking. Why is it blinking?"
"Power probably went out for a minute, mum. This is a digital."
"The power didn't go out! Straighten that picture. You bumped that picture." (Grrrrrrrrr....)
On and on like that, till I finally said, "Don't you have ANYTHING positive to say? Sheesh. You're a pain in the ass today!"
Getting back home after my 45 minute visit was another long line of traffic- and my short-cut has a bridge torn out, earth-movers parked all around like yellow dinosaurs. All I can say is I'M GLAD TO BE HOME. Some days it's nuthin' but lemon drops and pruny lips...some days.......life just gives you a big wet old RASPBERRY, a Bronx cheer.
Today was like that.
March 11, 2010~ 7:15pm
Just had to tell 'ya- (because I'm in a good mood) -and because we've had 4 consecutive days of sunshine and temperatures in the low 60's! -and because I had a fine visit with mum today - and because tomorrow is FRIDAY and I get to see the grandkids and daughter and son-in-law AND my honey tomorrow....THIS MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD!! Remember I told you how cranky mum was on Tuesday and how I had to reset her digital clock....well.........LOL!!!.....I also, apparently, set the ALARM. LOL!!!
So at midnight on Tuesday, there she was, sleeping and probably snoring peacefully....when the digital alarm clock went off 12 A.M. SHARP. Startled her right out of her crankiness, I'll just bet. (So she YANKED THE PLUG again, right out of the wall.) Yes, I had to reset the clock today, with many many many reassurances that the alarm was OFF!
Sometimes what goes around comes around, and somehow the powers that be just reshuffle the deck and kick your ass. LOL!!!
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
First week without snow in since early February. I am ecstatic! I feel so much less hemmed in and stifled. The MELT is upon us!
Patches and whole swaths of white shrink daily, showing more and more browns and greens and bare tree branches ... some permanently bowed or broken, but life and growth are reasserting themselves after this spell of suspended animation. It's like watching time-lapse photography, especially those times when the sun is out full-force and the melt is happening right before the eyes and before you know it, there'll be crocuses pushing their way free...
and it doesn't matter how many repetitions of this yearly miracle we witness in a lifetime, it's always unbelievably beautiful. Small flags of purple waving, piercing through snow is the reaffirmation of life eternal to me. Such small, blinding miracles surround us, and oh! - the birdsong!
The birds have been going crazy in this thaw, singing their hearts out.
Unfortunately I have a house that is a 'preferred hostel' for roosting mourning doves. (Must be these old windows I never bother to slide the storm windows into, so it makes a nice 'shelf' where they can perch.) This morning I realized I was waking up every hour or two, even though I wear earplugs (religiously) - there came the distinct sound of a mourning dove's call insistent enough to wake me from a sound sleep - over and over.
They're beauties, but they're also awful noisy on a Saturday when you have the chance sleep in.
I crept into the hallway and gently moved the drape aside and sure enough, staring back at me just before she took off into a startled get-away, a shiny shoe-button black dove-eye as surprised as can be. LOL!! The dang thing was back in an hour or so, carrying on and waking me up again. I think there'll be nests on my windowsills again this year. Oh well.....it's kind of sweet... but man-o-man, very unsettling when you're trying to catch up on shuteye.
Pittsburgh is well into its springtime thaw on every slope and hillside where, just until this past week, snow filled every inch of ground.
It's thrown off its patchwork white-and-gray quilt and allowed some green to creep back in. (That artistic picture was on the front page of the Post-Gazette this week and I just loved it.) And look at the moody, other-worldly view of the now abandoned St. Nicholas Orthodox Church that I pass every morning on my commute to work, driving along Rt 28, this sight unseen....
I never knew that little Blessed Mother grotto was housed on the hillside behind the church until I saw it featured in a truly AMAZING section of the Post-Gazette online.
You're in for a treat if you've never seen these WONDERFUL PANORAMA VIEWS of Pittsburgh attractions. They revolve, zoom in, out....they'll make you dizzy and delighted. What a great feature! (I always check to see if there's a new one.)
I love the photography in our local newspaper, and I'd stack it up to any news journal anywhere- those photographers are truly talented.
And another treat! I have a new link for you and you're gonna love it. It features 'best of' articles.... with exceptional artwork. Feast your eyes... (and what a title....it tickles my funnybone) Well-Medicated.com ...LOL!! Trust me... these are terrific. (I'm putting that link on my list to the left, so I remember to check it out periodically.)
My winter doldrums are lifting. I saw the grandkids Saturday night and as usual, they did their fair share of lifting my spirits as well. We discussed killer whales and sharks... and how we got from that to giggling, I don't know but it always happens, no matter the subject.
Bill kept talking about swimming in the ocean, and about the 'Buddhas' that float out there.
We were perplexed- until it gradually became apparent he meant 'buoys', not Buddhas. When we corrected him, Bill simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Buddhas... BOO-EES, whatever, gram, they tell you where to STOP and that's a GOOD THING!" he said-- his eyes big and round. LOL!!
Oh! and check this out! BILL MADE THE COVER OF THE BETHEL PARK CHRONICLES!
He's the tow head second from the right. Bill is all things Ninja and Karate. Here we go.... a bit closer....
(I got kind of a shine on the picture trying to snap the magazine cover)... but he shines all the time, that kid!
March 7, 2010~ 7:00am
(No mourning dove din yet, but I woke up anyway.) I read the local online news, and happened upon an article about the Gene Kelly statue that's been proposed for somewhere in our downtown area- a project that's been constantly stymied by the late singing and dancing actor's much younger widow, Patricia Ward Kelly.
I wondered what she looked like, so I did a search.
Oddly, there was only one photo I could find on my first sweep. (For the wife of a Hollywood celebrity, that seemed unusual- a very strange person I should think)- but the truly odd thing was that it occupied the same page as a haunting bit of art, so I clicked on it and it lead me to controversial artist, Gottfried Helnwein...... and I was blown away.
If you click on that excellent painting, it will take you to one of the most unsettling, dark and MAGNIFICIENT collections of dream/nightmare works you're ever likely to encounter.
If art is successful, it strikes sharp notes to the core of us....it shakes us around like a dog toy, to leave us reeling for a bit... and his work does just that.
There are no words for his visions of sacrificed innocence or the maleficence lurking in this world, but there are pictures.... amazing, moving and disturbing images.
To look is to have the mind wake up and complacency challenged because Helnwein paintings make the viewer a witness... and I daresay once seen, it's impossible to revert to comfortable ignorance.
These... crush the soul.
March 9, 2010~ 8:15pm
Yep. It happens....
and today was my day till I worked my way out of it.
Tuesdays and Thursdays (as well as Sundays, for dinner) I visit my mum right after work at Assisted Living. It was a very pretty day... I was tired, but in a good mood. Traffic was kind of 'snarly'... but it kept moving. Alas, when I was TWO BLOCKS from the place, I saw fire engines and police cars up ahead, directing traffic, and the street to the place was not accessible. Got in a long line of more traffic, and what turned out to be a day where I was 10 minutes early, turned into a 20 minute detour, hoping I could find my way around from another direction, and I ended up being late. I called her, "Ma.....I'm stuck in traffic. There were fire engines blocking your road...."
"Oh! Were you coming today??" LOL!!! I just wanted to turn around somehow and drive straight home. "Yes, ma. I visit on Tuesdays, remember?"
"Are you staying for dinner?"- hope in her voice. "No. That's Sundays, mum. During the week, it makes too long of a day. I've already been on the road almost and hour and a half." Silence. "O.K. See you when you get here."
Ever have one of those days where the person you're talking to can find NOTHING positive? "I went to mass here at 3:00. Humph. Mass....if you wanna call it that. That priest rushed through so fast, it hardly seemed like anything.
"Fix that damn clock. It's been blinking. Why is it blinking?"
"Power probably went out for a minute, mum. This is a digital."
"The power didn't go out! Straighten that picture. You bumped that picture." (Grrrrrrrrr....)
On and on like that, till I finally said, "Don't you have ANYTHING positive to say? Sheesh. You're a pain in the ass today!"
Getting back home after my 45 minute visit was another long line of traffic- and my short-cut has a bridge torn out, earth-movers parked all around like yellow dinosaurs. All I can say is I'M GLAD TO BE HOME. Some days it's nuthin' but lemon drops and pruny lips...some days.......life just gives you a big wet old RASPBERRY, a Bronx cheer.
March 11, 2010~ 7:15pm
Just had to tell 'ya- (because I'm in a good mood) -and because we've had 4 consecutive days of sunshine and temperatures in the low 60's! -and because I had a fine visit with mum today - and because tomorrow is FRIDAY and I get to see the grandkids and daughter and son-in-law AND my honey tomorrow....THIS MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD!! Remember I told you how cranky mum was on Tuesday and how I had to reset her digital clock....well.........LOL!!!.....I also, apparently, set the ALARM. LOL!!!
So at midnight on Tuesday, there she was, sleeping and probably snoring peacefully....when the digital alarm clock went off 12 A.M. SHARP. Startled her right out of her crankiness, I'll just bet. (So she YANKED THE PLUG again, right out of the wall.) Yes, I had to reset the clock today, with many many many reassurances that the alarm was OFF!
Sometimes what goes around comes around, and somehow the powers that be just reshuffle the deck and kick your ass. LOL!!!
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