Weblog 255
January 2, 2011~ 12:00 am
We made it through another year without blowing one another up, and in this day and age
that's reason enough to celebrate, so HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE-- we're still here! The planet yet spins. "Where there's life there's hope"-- so pop the corks and throw arms around the people dear to you (and try and see the similarities in every pair of eyes.... the common humanity... the humor .... even the shared pain.)
A perfect illustration of a second chance (a new beginning....a 'New Year') is how some creatures shed their old skins, and slither or crawl along with brand new outer selves. (My daughter Holly had two pets doing just that at the same time recently-- her corn snake Mike, and her crab Zachary) - and she sent along these pictures.
That's Mike. (Or the 'ghost' of the old Mike)- and it's amazing to me. Here's what she said:
I shared in this blog how Holly has been nursing one of her hermit crabs whom she found being eaten alive by his tank mates at his last molting, and she saved him. She put him in his own hospital tank and hand fed the poor fella, doctoring his missing limb sites with peroxide, and watching over him. Well..........TA DA!!! Here's Zach's brand new nubbin-sized appendages, growing back again!
Those tiny, milky-looking iridescent little bumps will become strong, healthy claws. (You can see his large, full claws hanging down off the side of her hand. He's been a unilateral amputee since the incident, and because she took the time-- isolated him and gave him extra care and attention, Zach lived. I just love that she did that. Just love it. He's quite used to her holding him. (It must make him feel safe.) Look at those two little black eyes on their stalks... Zachary delights me! He symbolizes survival where there is caring and intervention.
The New Year weekend has been quiet for me. I even fell asleep at 11:30 on New Year's Eve, so I missed the actual turning of the year into 2011, but Wayne was the first one in my house on New Year's day, so I hope the old superstition that a 'if a dark-haired man is the first to enter the home in the New Year, it brings good luck' holds true. I'm gonna need it shortly with these tooth extractions looming on the horizon in mid-January. (Oh, make no mistake, I'm pleased to be rid of these troublesome things) but still, they're part of me... and were since I was seven.) That's a long time for something to be attached. LOL!! I think of all the meals, the words, the kisses, the laughter that passed around and through and over these teeth, and in their own way, they're like 'little people' to me
who've shared this journey up till now. (I think I'll ask the oral surgeon to give them to me. No kidding! I have a plastic container which holds seven back molars that were removed about 6 years ago, and in with them, I've placed two incisors that belonged to Beethoven, my cat- who lost them as he aged, while trying to jump onto the stereo: twice. Lost an eyetooth each time as he whacked it right on the edge. LOL!!)
I'm a sentimental fool, I know-- but that's just me. So far the amoxicillin has taken care of the infection, and I no longer look like a chipmunk who's had a stroke-- with one big puffy cheek sagging waaay down. I can sleep-- and I've not been popping ibuprophen the way I had for four days every 3 or four hours like clockwork, when the hideous pressure and thumping would wake me even out of a sound sleep. That's gone, thank God.
I said here once that I would put a picture of my toothless mouth on this blog, if ever I had my teeth pulled......and I will, no shit. As soon as I heal.
For all those out there suffering in silence with bothersome teeth, who fear extractions and dentures, who feel ashamed- like it's some sort of personal failing or a thing to be hidden......BULLSHIT! It's just what happens to many of us as we age. I figure if I can once again actually chew and not fret that something is going to break off or fall out......HALLELUJAH!! Life goes on- only better -and less problematic. That's how I see it. (Reminds me of those crazy young Victorian Civil War boys-- shot, dying --and saying "Glory be to God......I DIE HAPPY!" (That's an actual quote.) What is 'death' to some, is 'triumph' to others. It's a question of attitude.
On New Year's Day, Wayne and I had a nice meal together, then selected a movie to watch. We ended up with 'Public Enemies'- starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bales as G-Man Melvin Purvis on the trail the famous 1933 bank robber.
The film probably got good reviews but it was filmed with waaay too dark lighting, the dialogue was 'mumbly'... and it had LOTS of jerky camera action that seemed like several hand-held cameras filming at once from a variety of angles. Perhaps it was meant to give the scenes more of a sense of real-life real-time action, but I found it distracting and just plain annoying.
I find a LOT of those techniques conspicuously 'hokey' and so many movies use these tricks, especially filming period pieces from the 30's and 40's. No one can tell me all suits were dark, all walls were drab and all lighting murky- with vast pools of shadow everywhere. It's the way Hollywood re-creates that time EACH and every time they put it on the screen.
I found the performances self-consciously overdone- (and this, from truly fine actors) the exception being the actor who plays Depp's mobster best friend, and the one G-man who delivers Dillinger's final words as he lay dying, to his girlfriend in prison. (That was the same actor who played George Pickett in the movie 'Gettysburg'-- Stephen Lang. He's masterful in every role he's ever played and he's like a chameleon: hard to spot, that's how completely he morphs from role to role.)
Over all, I'd say this film over-reached. It was too 'caricatured', the southern accents appallingly bad, and every scene, WAY TOO DARK. Get some LIGHTS IN THERE... RELAX THE STIFFNESS out of actors who always seemed to be acting, never once dissolving into the characters they portray.
I'd give this one a 6 on a scale from 1 to 10. This story has been done before.... and way better. Anyway, despite our choice of film, I had a lovely New Year's day. (And Wayne even brought me a container of his homemade pasta with pesto sauce, with LOTS of fresh grated mozzarella on top!) It smells DELICOUS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
January 3, 2011~ 5:15 pm
It's amazing to me how often people show dismay at hearing a person is getting dentures. Those who have dentures will respond in one of two ways, either: "I understand. I was the same way once, just get them out!"..... or .... "Oh, it's gonna be painful. A full set? Can't they save any?"
And folks with good teeth can't even imagine the process at all. LOL!!
I'm just happy the pain is gone NOW, and the antibiotics are taking care of the abcess. Then, well.... all I have to do is look in my mouth and there's really no question what needs to be done. No question at all. Thank GOD my dentist listened.
Yep. Just me and a compassionate dentist listening to me and not some 'rah-rah' new dental technology.... drill your jawbone, implant this, implant that' kind of cowboy. She let my teeth do the talking....(and my eyes. Which must have looked like a wounded puppy's staring up at her and begging. LOL!!) Once she told me she'd extract the whole sorry LOT, my mouth was happy as can be.
And me and the new ones? We're gonna get along just fine. (I've lived with their evil twins for 52 years and it's time to EVICT. "You're OUTTA HERE, bubs!") You have less than 2 weeks to torture me. Yippieeee!!
January 5, 2011~ 6:15 pm
You know how happy I become finding vintage picture sites, and I found a most enjoyable one I've been perusing the past couple of days.
Most of the photos from the late nineteeth and early twentieth century show dour- or at least, terribly serious-looking poses, so that one tends to make the leap to thinking folks of that time mostly read the Bible, stood stiffly, and lived life with their teeth gritted. Well how about this? I LOVE IT!
What a charming glimpse into that couples' life! It makes me smile all over studying that one. And there's so many more......just pay a visit to the folks at Flickr, and pore over The Smiling Victorian. This is the other side of the coin-- the very human -- grinning, sheepishly smiling --out and out monkey-shining from the past. (If you bring up any particular picture, you'll find other links on the right-hand side to more and more vintage happiness.) I can't think of a better way to spend some time, and begin to grin yourself. I LOVE THIS STUFF!! (Thanks, Flickr Folks.)
January 6, 2011~ 7:15 pm
Sometimes even with the best of care and the highest hopes, our beloved pets die. I was very saddened today to hear of the passing of Holly's hermit crab she tried so hard to save. He was a good guy.
So long, buddy. You were WELL LOVED, that's for sure. Holly buried him in the 'Buddha corner' of her backyard. (If anyone wants a little bit of valor, grab hold of Zach's spirit.) He must have grown tired, and yesterday he would not stay in his shell. Must have known it was his time.
I happen to believe there is a lifeforce we ALL share- every living thing, and it's visible and animated here for a time, then dissolves into something else but never leaves. It finds housing elsewhere. Plant, person..... animal. It's never destroyed, because love isn't. Even for the smallest creature, love is magnificent in action. We triumph when we love, and yes, it hurts. Bye, Zach.
And hello.
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
We made it through another year without blowing one another up, and in this day and age
that's reason enough to celebrate, so HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE-- we're still here! The planet yet spins. "Where there's life there's hope"-- so pop the corks and throw arms around the people dear to you (and try and see the similarities in every pair of eyes.... the common humanity... the humor .... even the shared pain.)
A perfect illustration of a second chance (a new beginning....a 'New Year') is how some creatures shed their old skins, and slither or crawl along with brand new outer selves. (My daughter Holly had two pets doing just that at the same time recently-- her corn snake Mike, and her crab Zachary) - and she sent along these pictures.
That's Mike. (Or the 'ghost' of the old Mike)- and it's amazing to me. Here's what she said:
[Mike's] skin came off in one complete piece including the brilles (eyecaps) and the tail tip. No problems at all.He's growing and thriving, is Mike--- and leaving his 'old self' behind. Do we do this too? Is it ever this apparent?
I shared in this blog how Holly has been nursing one of her hermit crabs whom she found being eaten alive by his tank mates at his last molting, and she saved him. She put him in his own hospital tank and hand fed the poor fella, doctoring his missing limb sites with peroxide, and watching over him. Well..........TA DA!!! Here's Zach's brand new nubbin-sized appendages, growing back again!
Those tiny, milky-looking iridescent little bumps will become strong, healthy claws. (You can see his large, full claws hanging down off the side of her hand. He's been a unilateral amputee since the incident, and because she took the time-- isolated him and gave him extra care and attention, Zach lived. I just love that she did that. Just love it. He's quite used to her holding him. (It must make him feel safe.) Look at those two little black eyes on their stalks... Zachary delights me! He symbolizes survival where there is caring and intervention.
The New Year weekend has been quiet for me. I even fell asleep at 11:30 on New Year's Eve, so I missed the actual turning of the year into 2011, but Wayne was the first one in my house on New Year's day, so I hope the old superstition that a 'if a dark-haired man is the first to enter the home in the New Year, it brings good luck' holds true. I'm gonna need it shortly with these tooth extractions looming on the horizon in mid-January. (Oh, make no mistake, I'm pleased to be rid of these troublesome things) but still, they're part of me... and were since I was seven.) That's a long time for something to be attached. LOL!! I think of all the meals, the words, the kisses, the laughter that passed around and through and over these teeth, and in their own way, they're like 'little people' to me
who've shared this journey up till now. (I think I'll ask the oral surgeon to give them to me. No kidding! I have a plastic container which holds seven back molars that were removed about 6 years ago, and in with them, I've placed two incisors that belonged to Beethoven, my cat- who lost them as he aged, while trying to jump onto the stereo: twice. Lost an eyetooth each time as he whacked it right on the edge. LOL!!)
I'm a sentimental fool, I know-- but that's just me. So far the amoxicillin has taken care of the infection, and I no longer look like a chipmunk who's had a stroke-- with one big puffy cheek sagging waaay down. I can sleep-- and I've not been popping ibuprophen the way I had for four days every 3 or four hours like clockwork, when the hideous pressure and thumping would wake me even out of a sound sleep. That's gone, thank God.
I said here once that I would put a picture of my toothless mouth on this blog, if ever I had my teeth pulled......and I will, no shit. As soon as I heal.
For all those out there suffering in silence with bothersome teeth, who fear extractions and dentures, who feel ashamed- like it's some sort of personal failing or a thing to be hidden......BULLSHIT! It's just what happens to many of us as we age. I figure if I can once again actually chew and not fret that something is going to break off or fall out......HALLELUJAH!! Life goes on- only better -and less problematic. That's how I see it. (Reminds me of those crazy young Victorian Civil War boys-- shot, dying --and saying "Glory be to God......I DIE HAPPY!" (That's an actual quote.) What is 'death' to some, is 'triumph' to others. It's a question of attitude.
On New Year's Day, Wayne and I had a nice meal together, then selected a movie to watch. We ended up with 'Public Enemies'- starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bales as G-Man Melvin Purvis on the trail the famous 1933 bank robber.
The film probably got good reviews but it was filmed with waaay too dark lighting, the dialogue was 'mumbly'... and it had LOTS of jerky camera action that seemed like several hand-held cameras filming at once from a variety of angles. Perhaps it was meant to give the scenes more of a sense of real-life real-time action, but I found it distracting and just plain annoying.
I find a LOT of those techniques conspicuously 'hokey' and so many movies use these tricks, especially filming period pieces from the 30's and 40's. No one can tell me all suits were dark, all walls were drab and all lighting murky- with vast pools of shadow everywhere. It's the way Hollywood re-creates that time EACH and every time they put it on the screen.
I found the performances self-consciously overdone- (and this, from truly fine actors) the exception being the actor who plays Depp's mobster best friend, and the one G-man who delivers Dillinger's final words as he lay dying, to his girlfriend in prison. (That was the same actor who played George Pickett in the movie 'Gettysburg'-- Stephen Lang. He's masterful in every role he's ever played and he's like a chameleon: hard to spot, that's how completely he morphs from role to role.)
Over all, I'd say this film over-reached. It was too 'caricatured', the southern accents appallingly bad, and every scene, WAY TOO DARK. Get some LIGHTS IN THERE... RELAX THE STIFFNESS out of actors who always seemed to be acting, never once dissolving into the characters they portray.
I'd give this one a 6 on a scale from 1 to 10. This story has been done before.... and way better. Anyway, despite our choice of film, I had a lovely New Year's day. (And Wayne even brought me a container of his homemade pasta with pesto sauce, with LOTS of fresh grated mozzarella on top!) It smells DELICOUS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
January 3, 2011~ 5:15 pm
It's amazing to me how often people show dismay at hearing a person is getting dentures. Those who have dentures will respond in one of two ways, either: "I understand. I was the same way once, just get them out!"..... or .... "Oh, it's gonna be painful. A full set? Can't they save any?"
And folks with good teeth can't even imagine the process at all. LOL!!
I'm just happy the pain is gone NOW, and the antibiotics are taking care of the abcess. Then, well.... all I have to do is look in my mouth and there's really no question what needs to be done. No question at all. Thank GOD my dentist listened.
Yep. Just me and a compassionate dentist listening to me and not some 'rah-rah' new dental technology.... drill your jawbone, implant this, implant that' kind of cowboy. She let my teeth do the talking....(and my eyes. Which must have looked like a wounded puppy's staring up at her and begging. LOL!!) Once she told me she'd extract the whole sorry LOT, my mouth was happy as can be.
And me and the new ones? We're gonna get along just fine. (I've lived with their evil twins for 52 years and it's time to EVICT. "You're OUTTA HERE, bubs!") You have less than 2 weeks to torture me. Yippieeee!!
January 5, 2011~ 6:15 pm
You know how happy I become finding vintage picture sites, and I found a most enjoyable one I've been perusing the past couple of days.
Most of the photos from the late nineteeth and early twentieth century show dour- or at least, terribly serious-looking poses, so that one tends to make the leap to thinking folks of that time mostly read the Bible, stood stiffly, and lived life with their teeth gritted. Well how about this? I LOVE IT!
What a charming glimpse into that couples' life! It makes me smile all over studying that one. And there's so many more......just pay a visit to the folks at Flickr, and pore over The Smiling Victorian. This is the other side of the coin-- the very human -- grinning, sheepishly smiling --out and out monkey-shining from the past. (If you bring up any particular picture, you'll find other links on the right-hand side to more and more vintage happiness.) I can't think of a better way to spend some time, and begin to grin yourself. I LOVE THIS STUFF!! (Thanks, Flickr Folks.)
January 6, 2011~ 7:15 pm
Sometimes even with the best of care and the highest hopes, our beloved pets die. I was very saddened today to hear of the passing of Holly's hermit crab she tried so hard to save. He was a good guy.
So long, buddy. You were WELL LOVED, that's for sure. Holly buried him in the 'Buddha corner' of her backyard. (If anyone wants a little bit of valor, grab hold of Zach's spirit.) He must have grown tired, and yesterday he would not stay in his shell. Must have known it was his time.
I happen to believe there is a lifeforce we ALL share- every living thing, and it's visible and animated here for a time, then dissolves into something else but never leaves. It finds housing elsewhere. Plant, person..... animal. It's never destroyed, because love isn't. Even for the smallest creature, love is magnificent in action. We triumph when we love, and yes, it hurts. Bye, Zach.
(Return To Weekly Archives)
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