Watching

Always keep your eyes open. Keep watching. 

Because whatever you see can inspire you.

~ Grace Coddington

- - - - -
So one day when I was visiting Kirk and Jared I was kidsitting. This photo isn't from then. When I put Zak to bed he stayed in bed. But that's not my point. My point is this is the only photo of the monitor I have. Well, that might not be true, but what do you care about how many photos of the monitor I have? Well, if I had a lot that would be weird. I don't have a lot. This might be the only one. Maybe there is one other one.

But you make me digress...

My point is that these monitors freak me out. I am afraid that I will look at the monitor to see how Zak is doing and instead of seeing him I will see a ghostly image of a little girl with black eyeballs whose eyes melt and run down her face. And I know the melting eyeball girl is in the room with Zak, but I'm scared to go get him, but I'm more scared not to go get him.

So, that's why it's good to have a monitor, but I mostly just listened to it instead of watching it.

Of course, until just now, I hadn't considered what I might do if I heard, "Hellllllllooooooo... Zak neeeeeeds yooouuuuu..."

Of course, if it was Zak that would be hilarious. Terrifying, but hilarious.

Door

Look on every exit as being an entrance to somewhere else.

~ Tom Stoppard

- - - - -

And look on every entrance as being an exit from someplace.
And look on every window as a place to look away from or toward something.
And look on every ceiling as something over your head or under the feet of your upstairs neighbors.
And if those neighbors slam doors a lot, it doesn't matter if those doors are entrances or exits, that door slamming is REALLY annoying!

Photography

Which of my photographs is my favorite? 

The one I'm going to take tomorrow.

~ Imogen Cunningham

- - - - -

I think kids should start as photographers as early as possible. They see the world in different ways that are important to capture and share. They are better storytellers, meaning makers, and creatives than any of the rest of us. 

I wouldn't let them develop their own photos right away, though. They might drink the developer chemicals.

Sheesh, kid photographers!!

Expired

If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex?

~ Art Hoppe

- - - - -

I took this photo on August 28th, 2017 in the funeral home where we had Erik's funeral. It kind of made me laugh because how to kleenex expire? It also made me laugh because Erik was expired, too. I know there are people out there who think that isn't funny or it's disrespectful or whatever to joke about death. I don't spend a lot of time with those people, but I know they're out there.

Erik would have laughed at this post. After all, he did request "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" to be played at his funeral. 

(pause)

I really miss that guy.

Learn

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.

~ John Cotton Dana

- - - - -

Who double-dog dares to teach must SERIOUSLY never cease to learn. 

Lights

As a young woman, I wanted nothing more than to see my name in lights.

~ Barbara Streisand

- - - - -

I'd like to see my name on a Lite Brite. I don't have huge dreams, and most of my dreams are achievable. It's kind of silly. I could go get a Lite Brite right now and make that dream come true. But then I'd have to come up with a new dream.

(not really. I have a lot of other dreams.)

Mystery

It's completely unimportant. That's why it's so interesting!

~ Agatha Christie

- - - - -

We saw these people when we went to Niagara Falls. The scary thing is that we have never seen them since that day. I wondered what happened to them?

Examining

If there is anything we wish to change in a child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could be better changed in ourselves.

~ Carl Jung

- - - - -

If there is anything a child wishes to change in a rubber duck, he should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could be better changed in the child himself.

Of course no kid is going to take the time to do that.

Postcards

My music and my lyrics are essentially emotional postcards.

~ Sarah McLachlan

- - - - -

My emotional postcards are essentially song lyrics.

Discovery

Sixty years ago I knew everything; now I know nothing. Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

~ Will Durant

- - - - -

If education is a discovery of ignorance,
And if ignorance is bliss,
Then education is bliss.

Rut

Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail into a rut that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive.

~ Edith Wharton

- - - - -

I wonder if this quote is true for nuns.

Unsupervised

The older I get, the more I appreciate my rural childhood. I spent a lot of time outdoors, unsupervised, which is a blessing.

~ Barbara Kingsolver

- - - - -

I think a lack of supervision is essential to growing up. You have to try and fail at things in private - without the scrutiny of parents or other adults or other people. Like if you try to do a wheelie on your skateboard on a busted up sidewalk and you hit a crack and break your elbow. You don't want a lot of oldsters around to see that.

You do, however, want at least one oldster who can drive you to the hospital after that happens.

Also, this probably happens less on a farm than in a small town like say...  Altoona, Iowa.

Ideas

I can also write in crappy motel rooms, while standing in line, or sitting in the dentist's chair.

~ Augusten Burroughs

- - - - -

I find my best ideas when I'm doing things not when I'm sitting and writing about doing things. I don't know that I've ever written anything in a dentist's chair. I guess I did have a moment when I was waiting for the dentist and there was a window looking out to the street from my dental chair. I remember looking outside. It was raining out there. I saw cars going past. I liked seeing things moving and going along outside the dentist's office.

And I remember thinking, "I wonder if this is how dogs feel looking out the window." 

I should write a story about that.

Water

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.

~ Loren Eiseley

- - - - -

I can sit and look at calm water for hours. 

I can sit and look at clam water for hours too, but I don't usually see them because they're submerged.

Conversation

It is all right to hold a conversation, but you should let go of it now and then.

~ Richard Armour

- - - - -

Sometimes in a conversation, you have to read between the lines. Case in point (Leslie on the phone):

LL: Hi, BABY!  Yes, baby?  Mmhmm.  Okay.  About the water? Mmhmm.  Okay.  Yes baby, are you in the tub?

Aurora: No.

LL: But I hear water.  Yes, baby.  You had quinoa?  Yes baby.  Yep. Yes baby?

Aurora: Love you!

I imagine quinoa and water sound alike when spoken by a toddler.

Cow

No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes.

~ Kathe Kollwitz

- - - - -

I bet cows have emotions when they graze. I bet they think, "Mmmm. This is really good" - joy. Or, "Are you kidding me - this for dinner again?" - frustration. Or "Why do those kids always say 'Moo' when they go by my field?" - irritation.

One thing I bet they don't say is, "I have a beef with that guy." 

Because cows can't talk.

Beauty

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

- - - - -

I am susceptible to other people's feelings and words. I try not to show that a lot, but it is true. When I am around negative people, it affects me. 

Fortunately, there are a lot of positive people in my world. There are people who look to find points of agreement and moments of beauty; people who praise first and criticize later and demean and degrade never; people who work diligently in the pursuit of joy and grace instead of taking the easier path of being negative. Well, it is an easier path and more people will join you on it, but the costs are pretty substantial in the long run.

Sometimes I don't get to choose who I am around. Sometimes I am not strong enough to resist their active pursuits of misery, negativity, unhappiness, and gloom. 

But not all the time. Sometimes I am around positive people who look for happiness and work every day - probably most moments of every day - to find beauty and understanding.

And sometimes I am able to avoid the negative people -- even if I am required to be around them on occasion. One of my strategies is to tune them out. Another is to wish them well - because they clearly are suffering, and I don't want that for anyone. And yet another strategy I have when I have to be around them is to put my fingers in my ears and scream, "I can't hear you! I can't hear you!"

Trail

Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy.

~ Hamlin Garland

- - - - -  

I also like to walk - especially on trails - when things start to get to me. It helps me find some peace and calm and gets me back in touch with the deeper reality that matters rather than the superficial static and noise in my daily world.

That said - when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares do not fall from me. I just have different cares. Especially if I am very close to the coyote.

Hammock

An optimist is a man who plants two acorns and buys a hammock.

~ Jean de Lattre de Tassigny

- - - - -

A pessimist is a person who buys a hammock with a hammock rack holder things for the hammock and puts it together and then it snows and then the pessimist says, "Dammit."

Building

Whatever good things we build end up building us.

~ Jim Rohn

- - - - -

The same is true of the bad things. 

Bowling

One of the advantages bowling has over golf is that you seldom lose a bowling ball.

~ Don Carter

- - - - -

A lot of people don't know that the first version of Abba's "Dancing Queen" was actually called "Bowling Queen." 

Friday night and the lights are low...
Looking out for a place to bowl...
Where they play the right music
Staying in your lane
You come to look for fame
Anyone could have worn those shoes...
Hard to tell which ones are whose
With a bit of disinfectant
Everything is fine
You're in the mood to bowl
And now you're on a roll...

You are the bowling queen
Old and mean 
Nearly seventy
Bowling queen
Feel the beat from the bowling pin setting machine ohhh yeah
You can bowl
You can strike
Having the time of your life
Ooh see that older lady
Watch that scene
Diggin' the Bowling Queen

Also a lot of people don't know that the first version of Abba's "Dancing Queen" was actually called "Bowling Queen" because that is a lie. 

Nicknames

Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.

~ Thomas Paine

- - - - -

I have a lot of nicknames. My favorite is "Dr. Awesome," which is a nickname I gave myself. I am not sure that is how it's supposed to happen, but shut up. Leslie has some nicknames. One is Lulu. My cousin Tamra used to call my brother Erik "Er" for short. So, of course, I called him "Ick."

Life

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.

~ Carol Burnett

- - - - -

So, I started this blog nine years ago today. I started this blog at a time when I was in a very difficult work situation. I needed to do something just for my own amusement. I wanted something where I could use some of the photos I have taken. I wanted a creative outlet. 

It's changed a little bit since the beginning. There have been ups and downs. Some posts are better than others. I've missed some blog days. Sometimes I have missed several at a time - usually when something difficult was unfolding.

But I keep coming back and writing and posting more. This series of random observations is a way for me to step back from the  minutiae of life. And by the minutiae of life, I mean the small replica of the world I have in our basement where I control the futures and fortunes of others through magic.

It's a lot of pressure. 

That's why I need my blog.

Spider-Man

The parties set no end date for royalties, apparently contemplating that they would continue for as long as kids want to imitate Spider-Man (by doing whatever a spider can).

~ Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan 

- - - - -

You might think that Spiderman and chicken soup don't go together.

WRONG.

Obviously, they do. See these cans of Spiderman Chicken soup?

I guess that shows you.

Also, that quote from Justice Kagan is a line taken directly from the decision in the Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment LLC case. Justice Kagan rocks.

Lutefisk

I didn't actually know what regret tasted like -- but I imagined if it did have a flavor, it would be lutefisk.

~ Angela N. Blount

- - - - -

Me: Do you mind if I get something to eat in the car? I know you're not feeling well. 
(We were on a road trip. Leslie - as a general rule - does not make me eat in the car.) 

LL: That's fine. As long as it's not lutefisk.

Me: Okay. (pause) There aren't as many drive-thru lutefisk places as you might think.



Also, to my kinfolk, I know that lutefisk is not Dutch as might be implied by the photo above, but there aren't a lot of Norwegian restaurants where I live, so this is as close as I could find.

Factory

The suspense is terrible. I hope it'll last.

~ Willy Wonka

- - - - -

If Willy Wonka ran Andy Warhol's factory and Andy Warhol ran the chocolate factory... that would be different. I think Willy Wonka would make some pretty cool (and unconventional) art. Of course all of Andy Warhol's candy would taste like soup.

Love

The secret to improved plant breeding, apart from scientific knowledge, is love.

~ Luther Burbank

- - - - -

I do think plants grow better with love. I think people grow better with love. You know what does not grow better with love? 

(pause)

Seriously. I'm waiting. 

Lids

There's a lid for every pot.

~ Proverb

- - - - -

This is not necessarily true of Tupperware containers.

Caboose

The only way to be sure of catching a train is to miss the one before it.

~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

- - - - -

When my brother Erik was little he used to call the caboose on a train a "heckaboose." I don't know why. Obviously it adds a syllable to an already challenging word. Is it because language was too easy for him? Was it because he was so advanced he needed to challenge himself? Is it because he was from another planet and was struggling to learn our language?

Yeah. That last one.

Writing

After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.

~ Philip Pullman

- - - - -

So writing is part of what I do for my job. For me academic writing and creative writing are very similar. In both cases you get stuck sometimes.

The other day I was working on a manuscript for a journal and I had a very productive day. I got a lot done and was feeling really good about what I had done, that I had stopped when the time was right to stop, and that I was at a place where I could easily pick up the next day.

And then the next day came. I wrote about four paragraphs in two hours. And they weren't even particularly good paragraphs.

Writing is kind of like fortune cookies. You have high hopes and sometimes they give you what you were wanting or needing. Other times you are disappointed.

Which is also like people.

And pets.

And eating out at restaurants.

And maybe everything else. I think I just uncovered a universal truth:

Sometimes things disappoint you and sometimes they don't!

(pause)

I think maybe a lot of people knew this before I discovered it just now.

My blog posts are also a part of this universal truth.

Clown

Cole Porter: All the world loves a clown.

Michelle Boettcher: No, they do not.

- - - - -

Whoever wrote that song, "Send in the Clowns" is a sicko. Also, if anyone ever plays that song at a party that I'm attending, I'm leaving. I'm mainly leaving because I don't want anyone sending clowns in to any place where I am. I'm also leaving because I don't like parties. I don't know why I even went to that one where that song might be played. What was I thinking?