Bits and pieces

It's all I can manage!

Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in.
~Leonard Cohen

A Thursday Meme

I've been working hard and I'm too lazy to do a Thursday 13! Frank said that Arun had this cool meme on his blog, and here it is. Thanks, guys!


“I live in a brick house at the edge of the woods on a river (you thought it would be blue, didn't you?) in Athens, Georgia…”

“The last time I had a huge belly laugh with my child(ren) was when...well, I don't remember the last ones, but some stand out. On Sean's first trip to Disneyland, we closed the Park at about 1a.m., and we bought a handful of balloons on our way out. We got to the hotel room and we showed Sean (who was 7 at the time) the 'helium voice' trick. We took turns talking like Minnie and Mickey and laughed so hard we thought the hotel folk would ask us to leave.
And a few years back I surprised my Sarah J by showing up in San Diego for Mother's Day. When we saw each other we grinned and hugged and cried, which, as all girls know, is the same as a belly laugh.”

“My mother would often tell me...
My mother: 'What are you doing inside? It's nice out.'
Me: 'But mom, this is southern California.'
My mother: 'You can come inside when the streetlights come on.'

“To be the sort of parent I aspire to being, I find myself becoming more puzzled, because my kids left home years ago!”

“If I had a two week fully paid holiday with absolutely no responsibilities, and no kids I would fly to Palau, learn to SCUBA and spend the rest of the time in the water. “

“A book that profoundly impacted on my life is West with the Night.”

“I secretly would like to be a beach bum. “

“At my funeral I want people to wear color and play music and dance and drink and eat. I wouldn't mind helping them practice before my funeral, either!”

Thursday Thirteen

The other day I read yet another rant from some old coot (his words) demanding a return to better days when kids had morals, manners, and respected coots (my word). To him and his ilk, I say get out and meet some...

Kids These Days

Here are--not just 13--but double that.

Just to get you started.

Thursday Thirteen

And my 50th post!

I blithely agreed with my best friend, Ronnie, that we should both list our favorite 13 dance tunes today. It turned out to be the most difficult TT ever! Dancing has always been part of my life, but after rummaging around in the CD collection to jog my memory, I now realize that, for me, it's always been a solitary and/or highly choreographed activity. I never learned the Frug, Electric Slide, disco moves, and certainly not the Lambada. I never did the Chicken Dance, YMCA, or the Time Warp. If it required a partner or was really popular, I was and still am, a non-participant. Well, there are some exceptions: junior high and high school "social" dances and the occasional wedding reception, Twisting in the living room with my mom, doing the Hokey Pokey at the skating rink, and dancing with my kids when they were toddlers. But before and after that came the ballet and tap lessons, gyrating to the radio in my bedroom, Tahitian, Hawaiian, Samoan, and Maori dance lessons and performances, drill team routines, dance concerts during hippy days, and I often do Tai Chi to music. When I dance with other people, I want it choreographed. When it's just me, I dance to my own drummer! So, in no particular order, this music has provided bits and pieces of my soundtrack:

13 Favorite Dance Tunes

1. Sleeping Bag ~ ZZ Top, Greatest Hits

2. Migra ~ Santana, Supernatural

3. The Rhythm of the Heat ~ Peter Gabriel, Security

4. Key West Intermezzo ~ John Mellencamp, Mr. Happy Go Lucky

5. Interlude: Let's Dance/Miss You Much ~ Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation

6. Loco-motion ~ Little Eva (Note: at a jr. high dance, we did the Loco-motion in a long line. I didn't know there was an actual dance--I thought we were making it up!)

7. Slave to Love ~ Brian Ferry, Boys and Girls

8. Spanish Moon ~ Little Feat, Waiting for Columbus

9. Glad All Over ~ Dave Clark Five

10. Simply Irresistible ~ Robert Palmer, Heavy Nova

11. River's Dance ~ Greg Edmonson, Firefly

12. Don't Come Around Here No More ~ Tom Petty, Southern Accents

When I was 11, I was introduced to Tahitian dance and I still think it's the ultimate dance music. If you're not familiar with it, you can look and listen here:

13. Te Hamata at the 2007 Te Mahana Hiro’a o Tahiti Children’s Tahitian Dance Competition in Laie, Hawaii.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Heart's Desires

Is there a word for a gathering of fireflies? I think "dazzling" would do. I would like a dazzling of fireflies every summer night, please. Like sunsets, I never get tired of watching them.

Climbing trees is a lot of fun, and it's even better if you have a comfortable place to sit while you're up there. I could build this treehouse in maybe, uh, ten years?

I would love a small grove of orange trees! Nothing can compare with the scent of orange blossoms or ripe oranges still on the trees.

With our first tipi, we learned that taking it camping is like taking a baby camping; there's so much stuff to haul! Our next one we'll set up between the house and the river--a quick retreat from technology (and chores!).

I love this Tobias Wong chandelier. It is totally wrong for our house, but I don't care.

Kaleidoscopes combine two of my favorite things: color and light. This one is in La Casita de Kaleidoscopes in Old Town Albuquerque, a favorite place. It was made by someone who goes by Sea Parrot.

I could live here. Really.

Outdoor showers are great even if it's only a hose hanging over the deck rail. But add a little privacy and hot water and it's better than chocolate.

I've always said I will never have another horse, but if I could have a grey Arabian filly, I would reconsider.

Fresh flowers in the house every day. I'm working on it!

Drum lessons have often been somewhere on my list of things to do/want. It must have been all those Tahitian dance lessons!

I love Jessica Joslin's art, particularly Adeliza.

No, I don't want Willie Nelson hanging around, but Annie Leibowitz did this portrait of him and it's great. I've never taken a good picture in my life, so maybe if Annie was behind the camera it could happen! (For the record, my Rick, who is a fine photographer, gave up because I'm never satisfied!)

Of course, these are just the first 13 that drifted to the top. There are plenty more where these came from!