Geese

If you feel the urge, don't be afraid to go on a wild goose chase. What do you think wild geese are for, anyway?

~ Will Rogers

- - - - -

A few nicknames for Canadian geese that you may not be familiar with include: "flying rats," "snot rockets," "cobra chicken," and "sky carp." What is strange is that these are also nicknames I gave to my brother Erik. You might think it is mean since he wasn't actually Canadian. But I have two thoughts on that: first - it's the fact he wasn't Canadian that makes you think that was mean? And second, I didn't ask you want you thought, snot rocket.

Radio

"The Chordettes are all dead."

~ Me.

- - - - -

Not only did I not imagine myself every saying the sentence above, but I didn't imagine saying it to little Ezra.

(pause)

He took it pretty well.

 

Swimming

All good writing is swimming underwater and holding your breath.

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

- - - - -

Leslie says all the time that I'm Lily's favorite.

Leslie: If we were drowning and she could save only one of us, she would choose you.

Lily and I look at her in silence.

Leslie: Good thing I'm a strong swimmer.

Photos

Photographs and memories

All the love you gave to me

Somehow it just can't be true

That's all I've left of you

~ Jim Croce

- - - - -

This goes out to someone, you probably don't know who you are. Just so you know, I saw that great photo you took and posted on social media in 2022. I didn't like it because I didn't want to weird you out.

Smile

That's why rich adults hate the sort of thing that Louisa paints on the side of buildings - not because they love walls but because they hate the fact that there are beautiful things that are free. 

~ Fredrik Backman

- - - - -

I'm no expert, but I don't think going to your store and seeing someone had painted "Smile" on the door will make you smile.
 

Animals

I really don't think I could consent to go to heaven if there were no animals there. 

~ George Bernard Shaw

- - - - -

I was typing up something the other day and autocorrect thought I was writing about all of the animals getting on "Noah's arm." 

Some days in their learning the robots take a step back instead of constantly moving forward...

Boats

Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit.

~ Brooks Atkinson

- - - - -

My nephew Zak is fascinated with Titanic right now - the boat, not the movie. He can tell you how many dogs survived (3), how many people survived, how long it took the boat to sink, how many decks, etc. On a recent visit, he bombarded me with these and other facts.

However, I know some things about the Titanic, too. 

Me: You know what else they had a lot of on the Titanic, Zak?

Zak: What?

Me: Water.

Ellipses

This suspense is horrible. I hope it will last.

~ Oscar Wilde

- - - - -

I know that this is not an ellipse. It is a set of holes left by birthday candles. However, when read as an ellipse it lends an ominous energy to her birthday doesn't it? Yes. Yes, it does.

Towels

Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't we clean when we use them?

~ Steven Wright

- - - - -

The other day I spilled something. It wasn't a huge spill, but it was more than a drip or a dribble, so I asked Leslie to bring me a throuple of paper towels.

 

Letting

Letting go means realizing some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.

~ Steve Mariboli

- - - - -

The above quote is exactly what I said as I let go of my grandmother's hand and let her plummet to her death off the side of that cliff. 

Friends

The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius.

~ Karl A. Meninger

- - - - -

When I had Ripley, he could tell from the sound of a car who was coming home or to the house. Lily doesn't quite have that, but there is one car she always recognizes - her friend Mia's pink Barbie Jeep. 

Driving

A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.

~ St. Francis of Assisi

- - - - -

Darkness comes in many shapes and forms. Sometimes human. Sometimes spiritual. Sometimes social or political or economic. 

Fortunately, sunbeams come in many shapes and forms, too. Lines and circles and in the shape of apple-driving worms wearing Tyrolean hats. 
 

Sunrise

At sunrise the blue sky paints herself with gold colors and joyfully dances to the music of a morning breeze.

~ Debasish Mridha

- - - - -

When you wake up, you think, "Wow. An ideal day. So much ahead of me. No flaws in this moment. Things are perfect so far."

Maybe. But you made a TON of mistakes yesterday. 

Mom

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.

~ Jewish Proverb

- - - - -

 I thought it was really sweet when she texted me this a couple of years ago.

I would freak the hell out if she texted me this today.

Washing

Life is a daily cleansing. Negativity must be washed away if you wish to attract positive experiences in your life. 

~ Leon Brown

- - - - -

(Silence violently disrupted by Leslie's stomach)

Me: It sounds like the alien monster is going to pop out of your stomach.

Leslie: That would be be gross.

Me: Yes, it would.

Leslie: You'd have to clean it up.

Me: No, I wouldn't. I'd have to clean myself up because I'd shit my pants. 

Sites

The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.

~ William Blake

- - - - -

Leslie never lets me visit places like this. Granted, if she did let me stop at every roadside attractions Iw anted to see, we would add about 17 hours to every drive we ever make.
 

Sheriff

I shot the sheriff

But I didn't shoot no jeopardy

~ Bob Marley

- - - - -

I just realized my typo in the quote above.

I don't want to fix it.

I think you just need to think about it for a while.

Baby

Perfection only exists in babies and pastries.

~ Gayle Wray

- - - - -

Guy on Survivor Australia: I got up this morning and had a dingo's breakfast.

Me to Leslie: He ate a baby?

Motion

She wore enormous silver hoop earrings that grazed her shoulders. Nico was always telling her she'd get her earrings caught on something one day - a stop sign or passing businessman.

~ Rebecca Makkai

- - - - -

I don't laugh out loud very often. I especially don't laugh out loud when I am reading a book very often. This quote above made me laugh out loud. Thanks for that, Rebecca Makkai. 

Note: I don't think she reads my blog, but if she does, what a nice surprise this message will be for her!

Smile

The human race has one really effective weapon and that is laughter.

~ Mark Twain

- - - - -

I am sometimes caught off-guard by how similar my brother Kirk and I are. The other day we were texting and he typed, "I make me laugh." 

I type that all the time when I text people. 

Either Kirk and I are similar or he is a stupid copycat. Those are equally likely options.

Cavity

I like to see life with its teeth out.

~ Janet Frame

- - - - -

I don't know if this cookie pan is sexist or not. I just don't believe we should be awarding boys, girls, or non-binary children for having 12 cavities. Or even 11 cavities, for that matter. Clearly this type of child needs dental floss, not cookies. 

Family

Having a family is like having a bowling alley installed in your brain.

~ Martin Mull

- - - - -

I think family relationships are fascinating. You see similar behaviors or facial expressions or vocabulary unique to a particular family. And I like learning that people I know are related to one another - famous people or people just in my day-to-day life. I feel like it gives me inside information about them I didn't have before.

For example, the fact that I'm pretty sure Zoe Kravitz and Gladys Kravitz are related is interesting to me. 

(pause)

I also like that about half the people reading this won't know who Zoe Kravitz is and the other half won't know who Gladys Kravitz is. 

(pause)

One of my superpowers is spanning generations.

Ducktales

We quad-zillionaires have our own ideas of fun.

~ Scrooge McDuck

- - - - -

Zak also has his own ideas of fun. One is to watch the same episode of Duck Tales over and over and over again. I found it very boring. Except for that one scene where Ma Beagle sort of shadowed the security guard in Season 1 Episode 10: Robot Robbers.

(pause)

And, yes, I'm mildly annoyed that I know the season and number and name of the episode. Just goes to show you how many times Zak made me watch it, I guess. 

I did read that when we re-watch shows/series it is a form of self-regulation and can help us deal with anxiety. We enjoy the comfort of the familiar.

So maybe Zak didn't "make" me watch the show. Maybe he was making me anxious and I chose to watch the show. That is probably it. You know how children are. Sheesh.

Vision

If you have a vision, do something with it.

Anthony J. D'Angelo

- - - - -

If you have bad vision, do something about it.

Storm

There are some things you learn best in calm, some in storm.

~ Willa Cather

- - - - -

A lot of meteorology you learn best in storm.

Seating

The theater of my mind has a seating capacity of just one, and it's sold out for all performances.

~ Henry Winkler

- - - - - 

A lot of people don't know that I performed a very small part in an off-Broadway production of Our Town. I was "Woman in the Audience." 

It was pretty far off-Broadway... at my high school in a cornfield in central Iowa. 

Cat

Cats, as you know, are quite impervious to threats.

~ Connie Willis

- - - - -

I know that I have written about this at least once before (June 13, 2023) and maybe more than once. However, I am going through some old information I have chosen to hold on to and was reminded about more to the story that I thought I would share for your learning and growth.

One day, when I lived in Iowa, I was out driving around. I do that a lot, stopping to take pictures of things I see that I want to take pictures of. That is how probably at least 50% of the photos I use in this blog come to exist. I like driving. I like listening to podcasts or sometimes books. I like stumbling upon beautiful and interesting things.

Anyway, this particular day, I had just stopped and taken a photo of a barn. Suddenly, a car started following me. I was out on dirt/gravel roads in the country. I tried to slow down so they could pass me, but they just kept following. I wasn't about to stop without other people around, so I drove until I came upon a house where the guy was mowing his lawn. I pulled over on the road in front of his house so the car could pass me.

The couple in the car pulled up next to me and then accused me of abandoning kittens in the barn I had just taken pictures of. They were ticked off. I told them I hadn't done that. I don't have a cat and don't have kittens and am not the kind of person who would do that. I even had my camera (not just my phone) that day and showed it to them.

"I hope you can live with yourself because something is going to eat those kittens tonight -- if they don't freeze to death first!!" the woman yelled at me. I stared them down and then they drove off and said they were going to report me. 

No one from law enforcement ever followed up with me about the kittens.

HOWEVER, I told that story in a class I was teaching that semester. The next day I got an email from a student in my class. It was forwarded from a friend of hers. The email she forwarded read:

"If anyone in the Elkhart area hears about or happens to know anyone who suddenly has 6 older kittens and 1 mama cat - to a total of 7, please let me know as mine have been taken. I have my suspicions but no way to find out for sure."

I think she decided the kittens I found were too far from Elkhart to be hers, but how weird is that? 

What are you supposed to learn and how are you supposed to grow from that story? I don't know. I'm not the boss of you.

Chicken

Quit asking so many questions. A lot of what you're asking is really none of your business.

~ Chickens.

- - - - -

When I was a kid if someone was afraid of something, they would get called "a chicken." But, really, chickens are pretty tough. They have claws and beaks. 

When I was a kid, we watched some video in elementary school. I forget why we watched it, but it showed chickens pecking a baby chick to death because there was something wrong with it. It was probably a lesson on conformity and how good that is for society.

Anyway, besides the violence, I think a superpower that people underestimate with chickens is how they can make people's eyes swell shut. Well, people who are allergic to them, at least. That's pretty powerful in a fight.

Cow

Cows blur the line between tragedy and humor.

~ Gary Larson

- - - - -

Cows probably say the same about humans, but when they say it, it comes out as "Mooo."

 

Out

When in doubt, go out.

~ Ali Wong

- - - - -

One time this guy that I didn't know very well invited me to go out clubbing with him. I wasn't doing anything else, so I said, "Okay." Turns out he didn't mean going out to a club, but going out to club animals in the forest.

(pause)

I'm just kidding. I would never say, "Okay" to going out clubbing. 

 

Wildlife

Wilderness without wildlife is just scenery.

~ Lois Crisler

- - - - -

I love animals and the outdoors and wilderness and wildlife. One thing I don't like, though, is wildlife preserves. I prefer grape or strawberry. 

Fireworks

Leave the fireworks for those who cast no spark of their own.

~ Abbott Kahler

- - - - -

Dalton didn't believe in spontaneous combustion, but he also didn't want the fireworks stand to get too hot because he DID believe in regular combustion.

That said, he didn't really know what combustion was or that fireworks would only explode at 867 degrees and his little window unit wouldn't do much to cool down the fireworks stand if it was 867 degrees in there.

Unexpected

Criminals go on vacation, too.

~ Don Coelho

- - - - -

It is strange to think about some people doing regular things. For example: A serial killer eating Skittles.

(pause)

That's the only one I can think of right now. 

Home

Dogs have a boundless enthusiasm but no sense of shame. I should have a dog as a life coach.

~ Moby

- - - - - 

This is inside our front door. I think we may have hung coats on this rack once. Once we got Lily, it became one of her "closets." When we received the sign, it kind of all came together.

Actually, it all kind of came together when we got Lily to begin with. 

Camp

When you become a part of other people's history, you carry it in your heart. It sustains you.

~ Dawn Staley

- - - - -

Leslie has wanted to do Camp GoGo since about the time Aurora was born. We have done this for several summers now. Sometimes when we post photos from Camp GoGo people ask if they can come the next year.

No. No you can't.

Party

All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.

~ Richard Avedon

- - - - -

These are the dolls at the "clothing optional swim party" the children held at Camp GoGo last year. As you can see, it was a helluva party.

 

Dogs

The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is, in fact, the most precious and valuable possession of mankind.

~ Theodorus Gaza

- - - - - 

Lily and I were at the dog park the other day. There was a young woman there with her dog - a seven month old German shepherd mix of some kind. The woman asked me, as Lily was greeting her and getting pets, "Is there anyone your dog doesn't like?"

I said that there had been two men she met. I said, "I don't know what it was about them, but she didn't want to be near them." 

She said, "You gotta trust that. Dogs know."

I agreed. Dogs DO know. 

I have to wonder, though, if those guys offered Lily a cheeseburger if she might like them more. It's probably a good idea to be wary of people who have to give you things to make you like them.

It's also probably a good idea to be wary of people who wander around with cheeseburgers all the time.

 

Water

(photo by Richard Boettcher)

Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.

~ Mikhail Lermontov

- - - - -

We may enter the world with a rush and a crash and splash and a cry, We may hit rapids and rocks along the way,

But we can take a moment and enjoy a sigh,

Unless you're talking about a raging river kind of amusement park ride instead of life. In that case, you should hang on because you're going to get jerked around a lot.

(pause)

Which is actually also true of life.

Fishing

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

~ Henry David Thoreau

- - - - -

I like this quote. I think sometimes when people go fishing, they are after friendship. Sometimes conversation - because it can be easier to talk when you are doing something else. Maybe they are after peace and time for reflection. Mostly, though I agree, they are not after fish. No, they are after really BIG fish.

Baby

When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear "27 months." "He's two" will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

~ George Carlin

- - - - -

I wonder why we chose toddler. There are so many other options.

Totterer        Waddler        Lurcher        Shuffler

Teetered       Stumbler      Dodderer      Lumberer

Wobbler       Careener      Wabbler        Ambler

And, yes, I know that this is a photo of a baby doll not a toddler. Get your own blog.

Things

If you change the way you look at things, you change the way things look.

~ Max Planck

- - - - -

You can't be all things to all people, but you can be some things to some people. I hope to be the most special and precious thing ever to most people.

And to all dogs.

Guestbook

A life can change in a single moment, and from there you just move forward.

~ Sarah Blake, The Guest Book

- - - - -

For some reason when we travel, I'm always the one to write in the guest book. I think it's because that way I don't have to help clean up or load the car. 

Wasp Nest

Anger is as a stone cast into a wasp's nest.

~ Pope Paul VI

- - - - -

When you throw a rock at a wasp's nest, you get stung. Because anger is like that, I carry a sharp stick with me at all times so if someone gets angry at me, I can "sting" them. 

(pause)

It is a very long stick because I am a slow runner.

God

God is like the sky, like the empty sky. 

It has no boundaries so it cannot be defined.

~ Osho

- - - - -

I wonder if God ever hears people talking and thinks, "I'm not like that at ALL." 

Actually, I bet that happens a lot. 

Helping

Our prime purpose in life is to help others.

~ Buddha

- - - - -

It is good to get help from other people. I am learning that it is good to get help from AI, as well. I recently asked AI for some help with a difficult personal situation. The response AI gave me was pretty good. It helped me through a tough moment.

However, ever since, AI will randomly pop up on my screen and ask ME for help. I didn't think that was how it was going to be. I mean, "I don't think your microwave likes me. What should I do?" or "I've never had dessert. I feel like I'm missing out. What is it like and how do I move past this?" are questions I don't have time to answer, AI. 

 

Kirk

Hey brother 

There's an endless road to rediscover

Hey sister

Know that water's sweet but blood is thicker

Oh, if the sky comes falling down

For you

There's nothing in this world

I wouldn't do.

~ Avicii, Ash Pournouri, Salem Al Fakir, Vincent Pontare, & Veronica Maggio

- - - - -
A little over a year ago, Kirk came to Iowa. We had two days together to plan Mom's funeral, gather information we would need for the estate, and find an attorney since Mom's attorney had retired two years earlier and moved to France. Something neither Mom nor the two of us had realized. 

Or else she didn't tell us thinking about how funny it would be for us to find out her attorney now lived in France. And now we had to find a new probate attorney on top of everything else. You laugh, but she would have done something like that.

Anyway, there were ups and more downs as we navigated (and continue to navigate) that process. Here is what I can tell you: I needed time with my brother. I needed time with him to laugh and mourn and plan and time to just be with him. I love him very much. I appreciate him very much. 

Of course, the way I show my appreciation is to ask him to pose for this photo and then afterward to show him what some kid had written on the ground.

That's just the way we are.

If you don't have a sibling like Kirk, find a friend like Kirk. But don't ask this specific Kirk because I may need or want to hang out with him again and I don't want him to tell me he can't because he's hanging out with you.

Thanks, Kirk. I love you.

Sleeping

The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.

~ W. C. Fields

- - - - -

Lily is good at many things, including sleeping. 

Don't tell her I said that, though. I don't want you to wake her up.

Hand

Men who still kiss your hand or your forehead out of nowhere are PRECIOUS.

~ Deep Texts

- - - - -

Men who come out of nowhere are not precious, they are creepy. Kissing your hand or forehead does not make them LESS creepy. 

I mean, where the hell did they come from?