I was walking to work, noting with particular pleasure the flowers' change of colors: their efforts were numerous and charming. The thick, Crayola hues had now become varied and delicate: translucent pearl glowing with pink, cool magenta sighing into harvest yellow. High summer is a time for subtleties; it carries a hint of what is to come in the autumn, the year's season of change.
The sidewalks are very bad where I live; they resemble granite plates shifting within the restless, seismic earth. So it behooves me to watch my feet carefully. This particular morning, I was staring down a particularly ugly patch of ravaged sidewalk, when I saw a lovely thing lying there. Singular and unexpected, it was a calling card from its owner, a debonair visitor.
I believe it was a hawk's feather. Now goodness knows, there is food aplenty here for an enterprising raptor: dogs, cats, birds, rats - filthy diplomats of the big city - but I have never seen one. But I know that they are fine creatures, with rows of feathers muscling through the air currents, noble profiles, eyes that glitter with an opal's fire, senses that read the patterns of the sky like a book and beaks that sweep into a curve that ends in death.
It might have been circling the neighborhood, taking stock of the potential groceries; it might have perched on a telephone pole, an enviable silhouette, an errant breeze lifting a feather or two. Maybe that's how I got my souvenir.
Possibly it was unimpressed with what it saw, and returned to the dry hills inland. It might have flown north, where the fires had turned the forests black and raw, waiting for the small animals to burst into the open, out of their burning homes. Nature is opportunistic and cruel.
I continued walking, waiting for someone to stop me and remark what a handsome feather I was holding. But such whimsical observations were not forthcoming. Sometimes I felt the wind brush through the patterned barbs and wondered if perhaps my arm felt a little lighter? I fancied that it wasn't necessary to swing my arm back and forth - that it was instead resting on a cushion of air. If I looked down again, I wondered, would it just be upon city-ignored sidewalks or upon the tops of houses?
I hope the hawk doesn't regret leaving this feather. Its calling card is all I have from a visitor I wish I'd seen. I never saw it, a distant black cross blessing the innocuous summer horizon; I never heard the cry that made a pledge of pursuit and pain. I never watched the small, perfect structure, its base coated with down, its body strong yet at the same time a byword for weightlessness, swivel through the still air to land on the sidewalk that marked my route to work.
So I will promise to look into the sky, in order to keep our rendezvous - till we meet again.
My sweet mom...in all her glory! We went with her to get her head sheared today. She's about to get her second treatment of chemo this coming week. Her hair was already coming out in big patches, so she decided that it was time to shave it. More pics...including a mohawk...in my Flickr Photos.
Tokyo Rose
U.S.-born Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who was dubbed "Tokyo Rose" for broadcasting anti-American propaganda from Japan during World War II, was convicted of treason and sent to federal prison for about seven years (this picture was taken at the lockup in Alderson, West Virginia). D'Aquino was pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977.
I'm slightly wired. I'm on the pseudoephedrine. I think its easier to buy an ecstasy tablet here than it is to buy a cold tablet. You have to hand over your license to get a packet of codrals. I guess if something happens to this pack and I go and try to buy another pack tomorrow I'll have the swat team smashing down my front door looking for a cooker. So I started the day with a pseudo and a coffee. So I feel slightly wired, yet still unwell. And dehydrated. I wonder when they say on the pack to avoid alcohol do they really mean it. I'm supposed to be going out tonight.
What happened to Friday Night Musing? Dexter happened. The latest-in-Oz/ancient-in-America television entertainment, that's what happened.
I stumbled across a review of Dexter about a month back, then downloaded the audio book which the show is based on for a listen. I was intrigued by the plot, so went looking for bit torrent files and discovered the show is now in its third season in the States, with full torrents of seasons 1 and 2 available. I whacked them into UTorrent and a week or so later, we were sitting down nightly to watch one or two episodes of Dexter.
If you've not seen the first two episodes of season one on Network Ten, Sundays over the past fortnight, then you've missed a treat. The show is an engaging one about a Miami Police forensic scientist, Dexter Morgan, who due to a childhood trauma, carries a deep-seated sociopathic psychosis within his make-up. He feels empty, emotionless and seeks just to feel alive. Growing up, he found the closest he could come to feeling alive was by killing. It thrilled him. His foster father, Harry, recognised that his son had troubling undercurrents in his psyche, and so helped the young Dexter to manage and channel his urges. To pretend to be just like everyone else, while latently satisfying them but only in terms of the code of honour Harry instilled into Dexter. Dexter is a serial killer, but he only kills those who have done bad things and escaped the law. He's an artist, a collector and overall, a seemingly harmless and extremely likeable character. He gets into scrapes and despite the often morbid and macabre elements in the show, you find yourself always on Dexter's side, often chuckling as each episode develops.
We finished season one during the week and are now into season two. As I say, it's a very engaging, often funny and thoughtfully constructed show. The actors and characters are very believable with numerous sub-plots always running in the background. I highly recommend Dexter to anyone with a bent for something different.
my type of good people should not give any other people a chance or show some easy going with other people's wishes when it comes to stepping on ourselves a little bit to make them happy...
people still don't understand that some other people would do thing they don't necessarily like just to make their friends happy, yet those friends don't appreciate it nor feel it....
just because i go easy with people doesn't mean i have no right to go hard.. and in this thing, i WILL go hard.. people will be upset? i didn't like it that way,, i just gave a chance hoping they will understand.. they didn't yet? their fault..
something is gonna change soon.. and i'm gonna run it this time..
get ready.
mouse run run run run, cat chaces mouse, cat chase chase chase, mouse run run, the mouse hits a brick wall, oh the cat eats the mouse oh no oh no oh noooooooo this does not look good, blood every where, its so sad, the children cry as they witness this, the older child says, dont worry, im here to look after you.
the times you spend with your parents cherish them because you dont know when it will last.
I am calling on my vox nieghbors for some unique ideas for an event I have coming up. We are calling it "Dog Days of Summer"... Local Pet Stores, Veterinarians, Groomers, and Rescue Shelters have been asked to participate by either manning a booth or being a cash sponsor. I am going to have a stage and sound system with fun upbeat music and a DJ to host the contests like: "I am so Ugly I am Cute" contest, Owner look alike contest, Stupid Pet Tricks, etc.
Our association is providing plastic baggies and stickers for participants. We are hoping one of our sponsors can provide a DJ, bottled water, and/or tropical leis for pets and pet owners, as well as human treats and dog treats, and anything else that seems appropriate. A variety of pet contests will be held throughout the morning for all guests to enjoy. (I was thinking of having someone there grill hot "dogs" ... ha.) We will also be filling baby pools up with water for the dogs to play in and cool off.
Anyways... I am calling on you guys for other ideas... for pet games, contests, prizes.
