LED Sheep Art

Michele directed me to this video, which appears to be going viral.

Meet Flicker!

Here are some images of our new kitty, Flicker. We finally decided that her name is Flicker because she flicks her tail vigorously when she walks and becauses she watches the birds, including flickers, so intently that she can almost bore a hole in the window glass. You don't want to interrupt her concentration when she is watching the birds, because she'll grab your hand and mouth it for a few seconds. 

She is about 9 months old. She likes strutting around the house, sitting on the windowsills, and sleeping at the foot of the bed. She and Ike are getting used to each other. Ike, who has always been good with cats, wanted to kiss her when she first got here, but she thought he was going to eat her, so she flicked out that long left and punched his nose.

National Poetry Month, and it's still not spring

In a Station of the Metro
Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.


Flowering crabapple petals on a snow-wet bough.

Blossoms and snow

Thanks, Rosie

Thursday when we got home from work we couldn't find Rosie. We looked everywhere in the house that evening, on Friday, and yesterday. She had been declining for a long time, and recently stopped eating. We figure she climbed into the crawlspace, a quiet, private space, to die. She was 18 years old. She was a good cat, and I'm glad we were together for so long.

National Poetry Month and Spring

in Just-

by: e.e. cummings (1894-1962)

in Just-

spring       when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles       far       and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far       and       wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

 from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

     the

             goat-footed

balloonMan       whistles

far

and

wee

Mud-luscious, but not in Los 'Mos this morning.

National Poetry Month and Chuckie and Bobbie

When Chuckie and Bobbie were little kids, they would crack up so easily together. It didn't matter if they'd made the joke a hundred times before, it was always new and always hilarious. 

For example, whenever we went to Albuquerque, they'd look for a Sherwin-Williams Paint sign, and when they saw one, they'd say, "Sherwin-Williams Paints cover the earth--with ketchup!" 

Ketchup covering the earth.

The afternoon cartoons were another source of merriment. Mighty Mouse would urge us to "hold on to your seats as we blast off to this and all of your favorite cartoon stars!" So Chuckie and Bobbie would grab their butts and crack up.


Hold on to your seats!

Every year at Christmastime, they'd laugh like little nuts as they limped around the house using candy canes for support. But the most fun was their reading of Clement Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas." They'd read aloud with lots of expression and seriousness until they reached the lines

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Then the giggles would start.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw out the trash!

A visit from St. Nicholas

That was usually as far as they got. They'd be limp with laughter. And so would we.

National Poetry Month and baseball

The Origin of Baseball
Kenneth Patchen

Someone had been walking in and out
Of the world without coming
To much decision about anything.
The sun seemed too hot most of the time.
There weren’t enough birds around
And the hills had a silly look
When he got on top of one.
The girls in heaven, however, thought
Nothing of asking to see his watch
Like you would want someone to tell
A joke – “Time,” they’d say, “what’s
That mean – Time?”, laughing with the edges
Of their white mouths, like a flutter of paper
In a madhouse. And he’d stumble over
General Sherman or Elizabeth B.
Browning, muttering, “Can’t you keep
Your big wings out of the aisle?” But down
Again, there’d be millions of people without
Enough to eat and men with guns just
Standing there shooting each other.

So he wanted to throw something
And he picked up a baseball.