a first for Mr. Lee

Drove up this evening to retrieve the mail i had forgot and decided to take Mr. Lee with me. Do they make booster seats for little dogs;or should i consider adapting one? Earlier Mr. Lee and Katrina and I took a walk to the river together - sort of together, Mr. Lee way ahead and Katrina meowing loudly from behind me. I am working on a papier mache piece and realizing how hard it is and wondering what the fuck...and yet somehow caught by the ordeal. Today Nancy brought a quilt she was working on to qigong so that she could get Fran's help pinning the back to front with the stuffing (word? batting?) after class ... I imagine that working with art in any medium is an ordeal both attractive and repulsive at the same time...and so i will continue with "heavy boots," alternately excited and despairing. Right now I think the body is all wrong - and I should have worked today and didn't! Maybe tomorrow after morning with P. I will try again to amend the proportions of legs and even go for the arms. Days ago I finished Dinaw Mengestu's How to Read the Air and still it runs thru my mind as the sky might, as back drop conversation. I love the sensibility of this writer...

a blurr of snow

a painted world - gone by noon, but fear the freezing temperatures tonight. Was like a candied world, the forsythia with ice cream, sugar glaze on daffodils, dollops of cream on red buds (i suspect i am having a reaction to avoiding sweets). Mr Lee and I are bearing up looking forward to more balmy weather and longer walks.
I realize how much I enjoy distraction from the news of the day, how easily disturbed I am by the state of women's health in this state, in this nation. What triggers such a reversal, step back into the 50's?

on the brighter side

Our luscious warm weather seems history, my winter coat i had prematurely washed, is back on. Nevertheless, spring is all about the house, all green and yellow here with the red buds in suspension; i wonder if they hesitate sensing we are due two more below freezing nights?
P is drawing circles very well now - when we're not dramatizing "baby sad," which is a role assigned to me. I rub my eyes and boo hoo and when P looks at me, I laugh. I keep saying, "but i'm not sad, you are here!" It doesn't matter, we need to play "sad" and sometimes, "mad." I seem to be genuine enough at "mad" that I am seldom given that part. I ask her how to be sad and she jumps up. "Can I jump and be sad?" I ask. We discuss that; it isn't acceptable. If I do a fairly good sad, P brings me a ball. We can play ball and play at sad - especially if I miss the bucket that we use as a basket. I am so ready to move on to another role, but if P asks, I am a willing player. Mr. Lee hovers under the chair hoping for scraps! Yesterday evening he buried a dog biscuit in the yard. oh, happy me with P and mr. lee.

RELIEF!

I'm excited! the second pathology report on the melanoma I have not talked about was good, good in that the bad cells were NOT deep, which means they will not have to excise lymph. On April 6th the surgeon will take a wide cut only (1mm all around the spot, a bit longer on two ends so that they can tie it up). Yippe; I credit qigong, tumeric and the one thousand things like laughter and good thoughts and long walks. Just about to bundle up (it got cold again but we luckily missed frost last night) for a walk with Mr. Lee - who doesn't know it but is as excited as i am!! HAPPY DANCE TIME.

tragedy

A piece of the sun was murdered this afternoon in devolution hollar; big golden Buff Daddy was killed by what Baldwin suspects was a big dog - possibly coyotes, along with 3 hens, 4 more are missing and presumed dead and 6 crouch in the hen house...while i was sitting in a room learning about Rasa Ayurveda. And one thing I figure is that the massacre happened in the Mars time of day, from 1:42 to 5:08 PM. Thankful that Mr. Lee was not outside and Katrina is quite ok. Baldwin says that he had come down to till in the garden and noticed that no chickens were in the chicken yard; he went to look and found the 4 bodies and then scattered live hens through the yard and even up the road; of the 4 missing, 2 were my Americanas who lay the blue/green eggs. I put rescue remedy in the water in the coop. And I've 3 eggs on the counter which Mindy and Pearl will put in the incubator in hopes that some are the children of the deceased (one is an Americana egg). Fault of the superMOON?

Hard not to think

about Japan, about whole towns tugged into the sea, about the threat of radiation leaks from the coastal nuclear power plants, about the rolling black outs, about how unprepared the most prepared can be. It is beyond imagining, or beyond mine: all the detritus left behind from the awful wave. I remember cleaning up after hurricane Camille, the sound of the generator, the heat and still air, beginning slowly to tackle one small section of yard.

Going to town!

Aunt Estelle and Ms Mice and I are off to Blacksburg to pick up Susan and Elizabeth and continue on to Giles for rehearsal - hoping for zero to light precipitation when we arrive. Fun to have the company, I should remember that I can always find a companion in my house! Mr. Lee would so love to come but he is noisier than these ladies.
We drove thru a thunderstorm, of course, but managed to bring the ladies in during a lull in the pouring rain. They look very fine in Ann's great room. I've some more dusting to do and bit of repair; there is a considerable difference in the light here in the hollar and the light on the cliffs at Ann's. Rehearsal was fine and promising!

jump so high

What is it about jumping high? When I was five I thought I could jump high enough to fly. What prompts us as kids to think we can escape gravity? Or do we assume we are kin to birds? Whatever the impetus, P has the lust. And Mindy located an inside gym for little folk with all manner of trampoline equipment along with the serious gymnastic bars, boards and ropes! I happened to run into Mindy and P on the way to get chicken feed as I was on the way out of Tractor supply. I stowed my goods and joined them, getting a second look at baby ducks and baby chicks which had just arrived at the farm store! Then coffee before the gym. Ah! we all took off our shoes and bounced...little ones who couldn't yet walk were bouncing as their siblings jumped. Wonderful happy little people - and a marvelous area of foam blocks that you can jump into without harm. P. had a ball and didn't want to leave. A fine Mardi Gras.

beaucoup rain, now snow in air

The muddy swirl in the background of the picture is my creek, swollen and fierce; threatening enough that Mr. Lee did not want to cross when we tried a walk to see the big river. It seems that the rain having switched to snow for a few minutes has tapered off and perhaps Mr. Lee and I can venture out again.
Yesterday Mindy and I took P to her first play (discounting the puppet show she saw last year); today Mindy says that P's favorite parts were when the ugly duckling was born and when nanee was on stage (I was there for a moment to welcome all and to mention an upcoming library event). It is great to have a fan.
Mr. Lee is tucked legs under in a tight circle, drying off his curls - looking more like a lamb. Would be good day for book and I have good books, but instead I am winding down from intrigue within a nonprofit! I am continually surprised by people; perhaps I am naive.

today the massage table

Around lunch time Andi came to retrieve John's massage table for her own use; it was good to see her almost 28 year old self who is about to fly to Florida for her birthday. And as I try not to edit myself here, I will say it is a relief to have it gone and with it, I think much of the remnants of John. Nonetheless, I feel for Andi who now has the poor soul of her father on her hands!

Moving towards Mardi Gras, here's a picture of Jennicksa dressed for carnival in Trinidad.

mista smarty pants

Full of surprises and delight is mr. lee - yesterday afternoon he jumped into Pearl's stroller cracking us all up! He is right now sleeping on his back wedged between pillow and arm of overstuffed chair, looks to be in doggie dream land after our hike about Red Bud. Slight noise and he bounds up into full bark assault at back door. He hides his chew bone and sometimes puppy biscuits; I found a biscuit wedged in the same chair he was just napping in.