Procrastination Aids: If You Were a Writer in the Fall...

I swear I was going for fantasy novelist!

You Should Be A Poet

You craft words well, in creative and unexpected ways.And you have a great talent for evoking beautiful imagery...Or describing the most intense heartbreak ever.You're already naturally a poet, even if you've never written a poem.

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

And then there's this, uplifting thing that it is:

You Are Changing Leaves

Pretty, but soon dead.

What Part of Fall Are You?

Friday Quote: On Useful Pets

The Tiger

The Tiger on the other hand,
is kittenish and mild,
He makes a pretty playfellow for any little child;
And mothers of large families (who claim to common sense)
Will find a Tiger well repay the trouble and expense.

--Hilaire Belloc
Cautionary Verses

Worm

I recant. I don't hate people, and I feel like an invertebrate for having said so. What I need isn't a tirade, as satisfactory as that might sound. What I really need is to think about the day's good points. Here goes.

:::deep breath:::

1. The younger daughter after school this afternoon using her little stuffed eagle (school mascot) and her goldfish crackers to give us an impromptu demonstration at the table of what DDT does to the wildlife in an ecosystem. (I will never look at goldfish crackers the same way again.)

2. The older daughter buying her little sister a secret Easter gift with her own money.

3. Errand running with Grandma.

4. The sky at sunset as I sat on the glider and watched the colors change and the light soften.

5. The trilling of one of the creek frogs and the sweet chirping of the peepers (little tree frogs) as dusk deepened.

6. The more frequent desire to write, and the slowly widening freedom to dabble in fiction for the first time in almost twenty years.

7. A 10-15 minute conversation with a couple I'd just met--total strangers--in the hairspray aisle at Stuff-Mart. They are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year, something that means more to me more than I can say. (Yes, I told them so and thanked them.)

8. The patient, hard-working, kind and faintly warped husband sleeping in the next room.

9. The light that spilled through the eastern windows in the bedroom this morning.

10. The God whose grace astounds and totally befuddles me.

Overload

I.

Hate.

People.

(Note: If you are reading this, I will consider temporarily suspending you from membership in the human race so long as you do not call or show up on my doorstep for three days.)

Procrastination Aids: Zodiac

This little quizzlet is supposed to reveal which zodiac sign you should have been born under. Sometimes it's nice to know I've done something right. I was amused at the accuracy of the description, especially the first four points. The fifth is applicable on the last job only--I am decisively anti-athletic. The sixth is true, but only in the same sense as would be true for a train wreck, I'm afraid. The seventh...maybe; I wonder if black pepper and dill pickle potato chips apply, here.

You Should Be An Aquarius

What's good about you: philosophical and idealistic, you are a great thinker What's bad about you: you require a lot of space - it's hard to get close to you In love: you're quirky and playful, but you hate to be smothered In friendship, you're: likely to have many acquaintances and very few good friends Your ideal job: pilot, snow boarder, or science fiction writer Your sense of fashion: unconventional, unique outfits that turn heads You like to pig out on: anything with garlic or unique spices

What Sign Should You Be?

Friday Quote: On What Children Value

"Children are the true connoisseurs. What's precious to them has no price, only value."

--Bel Kaufman

A. Panda

This is the most important member of our family. She doesn't pick up after herself. She doesn't help with any other chores. She doesn't bring in an income or run errands or go to school. Be not deceived, however. A. Panda is entirely indispensible. She eats meals at the table. She plays outside with the girls. She goes to church. She goes to Grandma's house. She goes shopping. She oversees baths. She is present at nightly story times. She sleeps in the bed with our younger daughter every single night. Life cannot go on without her.

Wednesday we lost A. Panda somewhere between the schoolhouse and the girls' room upon arrival home. We ransaked the car. We traced our paths from the car, across the yard, into the house and in every single room wherein the younger daughter had set her foot since entry. A. was nowhere to be found. In desperation, I called the local convenience store back in town where we'd stopped for Icees after school. The girl working the front counter walked through the store and even looked out in the parking lot. She was very sympathetic, but she found no panda.

Eventually we did find A. Panda. She was upstairs in the girls' room sitting on a shelf. Well, no wonder we couldn't find her! The younger daughter had put her up! There was, I assure you, much rejoicing. Especially as Mama was just heading for her car keys to drive 15 miles back into town and scour the streets and parking lots for her.

Later that afternoon we found something else that added to our pandaic celebrations: the Panda Cam at the Smithsonian National Zoo.

We share our joy.

(Note: The Naked Mole Rat Cam is pretty interesting, too, although perhaps a large part of the attraction is the shock on people's faces when you tell them what you've been watching on the internet.)