Lunar Eclipse

A couple of pictures of the lunar eclipse earlier this week, veiled by a hazy nimbus. That's a planet (not sure which one) barely visible in the lower left of the later picture.

Critter Blogging of a Sort

Heard a house finch today in the Arboretum. Yes, I know they're an invasive species, but in the city they are one of the first signs of impending spring. It's a real pleasure to hear their sweet, trilling song. The sun's intensity is markedly stronger and the buds on the trees are getting fatter. Winter may be only half done, but that means it's on the wane.

My Political Two Cents

I'm not anti-Hillary, but am afraid that, if she is the Dem nominee, the media's hate-frenzy will make their treatment of Gore and Kerry look like schoolyard taunting. Can you say President Huckabee?

Here's a politician to watch for the future. Thanks to Thoughts from Kansas.

Angry Salt Guy, Happy Pepper Pal

Random Neuronal Firings, New Year's Edition

I know I'm writing this only for myself, but sometimes writing one's thoughts as if someone were going to read them helps to get the pesky things in order.

My New Year's musings have been particularly melancholy this time around. There have been ups and downs, but some of the downs have been been very low, and the highs were mostly just middling. Just say 2007 wasn't one of my favorite years.

One of the tasks I usually do around New Year's is tending my large collection of houseplants. I have had many plants for 10 or more years; the very oldest, for about 30 years. So you see these are old friends, not just household decorations. Early winter is a good time to evaluate what needs repotting, pruning, or general TLC, and the habit of evaluating them leads to thinking about my own state at this junction of the years.

Haworthia grows in a shallow clay pan decorated with incised markings. The pot came from a favorite farm stand/nursery that has gone the way of much too much fertile land - sold for development. I don't even remember the name of the place, but I vividly recall the shock of overhearing two men on the bus talking about how the place was being bought up by the college across the road. "Say it ain't so!" I inwardly cried, and drove out a couple of weeks later to find that it was indeed so.

And that's what this year has been like for me. A couple of rugs pulled out from under me, some events entirely out of my control, and the creeping realization that I'm no spring chicken anymore. (Yes, I should have probably have caught on to that one some time ago.)

So what does this have to do with Angry Salt Guy and Happy Pepper Pal? Happy is always Happy, never seeing the smallest cloud in the sky, and Angry - nothing can cheer him up or soothe him. But they're just salt and pepper shakers; our moods aren't indelibly painted on our faces. We can adapt, and we can cause change as well as be passive before it.

The old adage to change what you can, and accept what you cannot change, is a good thing to repeat to one's self every now and then. So I'm going to go out into the gloomy weather, lay in some provisions for the long winter ahead, and plan a quiet New Year's Day with my plants, a good dinner, and a nice bottle of wine. I'll prune and repot, browse the seed catalogs and dust off the gym shoes. Another year is coming.

Poezja

Form

There are times when one sees
that many things may happen,
and the time when one sees that not all things will happen
comes when it does and not when one is wanting it.
There are edges to things.
There are squares, circles, cliques, and webs.
All of them have form, and what is form
but the decision of something
to be this and not that.

12/18/2007

A poem about unrequited love, surprisingly enough.

Critter Blogging, of a Sort

Food Porn of the 60s: look at the layer of fat on that bad boy. Although roast oranges garnished with watercress look like they'd make a great accompaniment to roast meat.

another quote instead of an original post

In comments at Sadly, No! mikey says:

Ok. Look, I understand the strategy of demonizing your chosen enemy. But these idiots are going to have to narrow it down. Decide who you want to demonize, and focus on them. Here we have gays, mexicans, dwarves, liberals, teachers, arabs, persians, chinese and women.

If you’re going to convince me to start hating certain groups, you’ve got to figure out how to let me focus on one, or maybe two. Any more than that, and my hatred’s gonna be so watered down that I won’t want to kill them all. Maybe just steal their bicycles. I just don’t have that much hatred in inventory at one time…

I think I want mikey to have my babies.