10 Things Irreplaceable (About Summer)

  
    It's already fall.  (bliss)
    But even though I love fall, there are a few redeeming features of summer that I will miss.

So here's a list of them.

1. Fireflies.  The first one I see usually sends me nearly crazy with happiness.
2. Shade.  To balance out a downside of summer, the heat.
3. Heat. Even though yes, it's a downside, it does mean you can go barefoot. (Which is definitely redeeming.)
4. Canoeing. It's more comfy if the water's warm.
5. Pasta salad.  Nuff said.
6. Picnics.  I go on winter ones too, but I can get more people to go with me if it's summertime. Dunno why.
7. MUSIC CAMP!!!!
8. The ready abundance of flowers.
9. Happier people.  I think it's the sun.
10. Iced Coffee.  (It's cold.)

I'm thankful for summer, the seasons, the sway and dance of them.  (Wasn't it creative of God?)  

Yes, I like summer.
 But here's to Fall!!!!!!!!!!

Why Poetry Shows Up on My Blog Oftener Than I Thought It Would

  Well, actually, I don't know why it does.  Except that capturing moments does seem to be an intrinsic way of poetry.  
   Except for Monday night. Monday night, it really didn't tye into the moment at all. Also, I have to usually try to remember a poem that would fit suitably for whatever occasion I'm trying to fit to poetry, (or go look it up on google. handy invention, the internet. makes me lazy.).  This time it came of it's own volition, and I have no idea why.  I was sleeping, poetry was probably the last thing on my mind.  
  'K. So.  Monday night I could.not.sleep.well.    Toss turn, too hot too cold, the beds too short the blanket's twisted (and in between drift in and out of sleep).  I must've fallen asleep finally, 'cus I remember waking up enough to know I was awake and that I would be asleep again soon, and then "out of the black night" as it were, this poem.

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

"That's weird," I thought. And then, "This is going to be funny tomorrow."  And then I went back to sleep.   I was right. It was funny Tuesday morning, when I remembered. I had to laugh.  Such a random thing to think at three o'clock of a morning. 
 I don't think I remembered the whole thing, because all I remember is so much depending on the red wheelbarrow.
  But still. 

 I think it I must be subconsciously wanting a wheelbarrow. Or needing one.  Maybe chickens? 

p.s. the poem's by William Carlos Williams, if anyone is wondering.

*Insert Delighted Chuckle*

  Only I don't know if I chuckle? or if I laugh.   Anyway, I'm delighted at the moment. It's a grey day!!!
 I thoroughly enjoy rainy days. That is, if there's not too many of them consecutively.  But we haven't had one for a little and it's dry around here and time for rain and classical music and coffee.  The last rainy day (with coffee) that I remember, was at a friend's house and we listened to 'The Importance of Being Earnest' and laughed a great deal. 

(This is not her house. Is it QJ? :)  But it seemed to fit with the coffee and classical music.)

(Mendelssohn.)

 (The perfect music for a rainy day.)

A Tour of My Handbag

*Ahem*  
  Rainey, this post is for you.  To prove that I do, sometimes, have a neat (well, ok, that's open to interpretation) handbag.  
  Ok. So.  Saturday afternoon I decided to clean Everything out of my handbag because the handbag itself was in need of a good scrubbing, and therefore the following photo.  Yup, Everything.*

 
 I also decided to catalogue the detritus. Be warned; it's boring and gruesome. Also tedious. You may want to leave and find a different blog to peruse. 

 Here goes.  
Alright folks, moving from left to right, and starting from the handbag's strap which is poking into the left-hand side of the frame.  Directly beneath it, you will notice two small round objects.
  The first being a button which popped off the cuff of a very pretty white jacket, and which I stuck into an inward pocket for safe-keeping until I finally get around to mending. Please note the thread still attached and the very pretty rhinestone.  Thank you.  
  The next 'small round object' is of a peculiar orangey-brown hue with veins of dark brown, and was picked up by yours truly on the bank of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. It is a rock. ('Pebble' would possibly be a more accurate word.) It is very smooth and I carried it around for a while just to feel it. It's a very nice rock.  I'm not sure what Sort of rock it is. (Besides being smooth and nice.)
  To the right of the button and pebble are my keys and two packs of gum. Spearmint and Polar Ice, in fact.  I won't get to chew all of it, as my siblings always occasionally raid my purse for gum.
  Above the keys there is a stack of assorted papers which are as follows:

• a scrap containing computer screen info, in my brother's handwriting, because my daddy's monitor quit and we two were researching what Walmart had in stock. Well, he was, and I provided the paper and pen.
• Bible verses I was memorizing.Luke 10:25-37
• my daily planner. Which I don't use on a daily basis.
• my "To Read" booklist, which I keep on hand in case I happen to be going through a library.  I think there's about 70 books on it.  
• quote from a poem entitled "Shipwrecked", which I didn't really like as a whole, just this phrase. "Here lie the bones of twenty trees,"
•  a plastic sandwich bag containing more bible verses, poem or two, and my personal pics.
• two different lists of stuff that I either needed to accomplish, or purchase, before I left for a girl's seminar weekend.

And there you have the first photo explained. The black cord belongs in the next section.

   Proceeding from left to right, as usual.  The aforementioned gum, and papers.
  Next is a plastic sandwich bag of tealights and matches. I keep them for emergencies. Such as a picnic with no candles. (You know what I mean. Atmosphere-less picnincs? How dreadful.)  It has come to my attention however, that the matchbox's strike area has become wax-covered, so I may have to rethink the matches bit. A lighter, perhaps?
  Hm. To the right of the candles is a small mountain of used tissues and empty gum wrappers. I think I need a trashcan in my handbag.
  Below that is an empty plastic sandwich bag which usually contains my tech accessories. They are tangled en masse to the left of the bag.  It appears that the black cord from the previous frame would be my mp3 charger but I'm not certain about that, since there is also my cellphone charger and earbuds in that maze somewhere.
  In the bottom righthand corner of the photo, you will see my sunglasses, chapstick, and two handy dandy little notebooks. I use them for:

• a journal
• a collection of observations
• thoughts
• opinions
• leaves
• and sometimes they even come in useful for holding the attention of small children. 
• (Drawing material.)

  Last but not least, a small bottle of hand lotion. Japanese Cherry Blossom.  Oooo, I like. :)

 Moving on.   Recognize those books? 
  The yellow bottle is sunscreen. I'm fair-skinned and sensitive to the sun's radiance. However, I detest sunscreen. That means the yellow bottle is still full.
  The blue bottle is bubbles.  Great fun. :) 
  The small brown bottle is hand sanitizer. Brown Sugar and Vanilla-scented.  Usually I forget I have it.
  The white bottle is tylenol. For the amount I use I really wouldn't have to carry it around in my purse, but if you don't have it and you Need it, then it's not good. See?
  The purple cylindrical shape is a moody flashlight.
  The green cylindrical shape is a pen. Thank goodness it's not moody. 

If you don't know what a penny is...

   The hot pink piece of paper must've escaped the sandwich bag. It's the holiday hours of our public library from last Christmas, and it's holding a pin captive, otherwise I would've thrown it away by now.
   And last BUT NOT LEAST!  a mint tea bag.  For whenever.   There used to be an English Breakfast tea bag in there (for at least a month), but I just drank it on a certain stormy Thursday. (happiness)

  Oh, and those are my keys. Guess which one is my favorite?

 
Aaaaaand there you have it. Of course, the contents vary from time to time, but these are the general essentials.  I don't have a pic of the cleaned-out, neatly arranged, finished product, but that's because it doesn't exist yet. The handbag is waiting to be washed. Still.







*well, not quite everything. I realized later that my wallet (the size of those handy dandy little notebooks) wasn't in the pile and a black plastic comb, and a long scissors, and the only reason there wasn't a pinecone too, was that I was wearing a sweatshirt with big pockets at the time.

"Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock, and the Golden Rule!"

  That's what my brother said at breakfast this morning.  It made me laugh.  (Which is a good thing, because although I'm not usually exactly "grouchy" in the morning I'm not really a morning person.)
  I don't know what context he said it in, but he was quoting from the classic musical 'The Music Man'.   It's one of my favorite lines from the movie.   I'm not sure exactly WHY it tickles my funny bone. Maybe it's the way the actor sings it, while hanging off a very serious looking statue???


*edited to say that this incident is now ancient history. I'm not even sure when it happened. The paragraph's been sitting around as a draft and I'm finally publishing it. :)  Because it makes me smile every time I see it.

Discovering A Poet

I'd never read very many poems by Carl Sandburg before last Saturday. Oh, the usual ones of course. The one about cat-footed fog and the one about the plough-boy against the sunset. But not very many more.
 But last Saturday, I was at a homeschooler convention and bought some books from a used-book stand. Of the six books I purchased, one was titled "Wind Song".  It's a compilation of Sandburg poems, and I stuck it in my rather large handbag to read later, after I became tired of exploring curriculums and walking through booths. That time soon came, and I sat down in the high-ceilinged, many-beamed cafeteria to rest my aching feet. It was sunny and warm and on the 29th page is a poem that very nearly put me to sleep.  I've nearly memorized it since then, it is so soothing.


SLEEP SONG

Into any little room
may come a tall steel bridge
and a long white fog,
changing lights and mist,
moving as if a great sea
and many mighty waters
had come into that room
easy with bundles of sleep,
bundles of sea-moss sheen,
shapes of sunset cunning,
shifts of moonrise gold--
    slow talk of low fog
    on your forehead,
    hands of cool fog
    on your eyes--
so let a sleep song be spoken--
let spoken fog sheets come
out of a long white harbor--
let a slow mist deliver
long bundles of sleep.
              -Carl Sandburg


Which is what I need now. Goodnight all. May you dream of tall steel bridges, changing lights and mist. 

Hurrah! for...

April Rain

It isn't raining rain to me,

   It's raining daffodils;

In every dimpled drop I see

   Wild flowers on the hills.

The clouds of gray engulf the day,

    And overwhelm the town;

It isn't raining rain to me,

    It's raining roses down.

It isn't raining rain to me,

   But fields of clover bloom,

Where any buccaneering bee,

  May find a bed and room.

A health unto the happy,

  A fig for him who frets--

It isn't raining rain to me,

   It's raining violets.

-Robert Loveman