Elephant Duo

So the answer to the burning question posed yesterday...

What is this? 

Let me give you a hint.  The sole value of this object is symbolic.

I've become rather enamored with close up photography.  This is a close up of this object with its mate.  Have I told you I have a very active imagination? 

Lets zoom out a little further.  Can you guess what these two things are?  I think the trunks should give it away, but in case it hasn't...

Let me introduce my elephants.  It's hard to see in this picture, but the carved elephant actually has a tiny carved baby elephant inside her.  I keep them in my kitchen, a little trio, a little family.  I like to surround myself with images that encourage me and my family of elephants encourage me, much like the orchid in my kitchen. 

I also like elephants because they remind me of Ganesh, the Indian deity, remover of Obstacles.  I have several effigies of this deity around my house.  I have succumbed to his legend.  

Guess That Texture

Wow. I missed two whole days in a row.  I was having a staycation.  Sorry people.

So, here's a picture.  Can you guess what this is? 

Answer coming tomorrow! 

Poem: A Little Less

So I have decided to start posting some of my writing on this blog.  This terrifies me as I am my own worst critic and don't think most of my work is fit for human consumption.  But I am in a phase where I am trying to face my fears and embrace delusions of grandeur while accepting that I will fail, a lot, and look like an absolute fool, but that all this is okay.  Writing is a solitary thing and I have heard repeatedly from all types of writers that sharing your work is crucial for growth. 

Now, having said all that nice stuff about facing fears, I am starting by posting my "poetry."  Poetry is something I play around with but it is not my main medium.  So I am facing a fear, but not putting my bleeding heart out there with my novels and short stories.  At least not yet.  Enjoy.  Feel free to give me feedback, or not, as you feel moved. Or not. 

A Little Less   

In the mirror framed in painted wood.

On her wall.

We reflect.

His tiny face turned into my heart beat.

Mouth working a cupid's bleat.  Looking for my nipple.

I cannot stop staring.  Cupping

His small head. 

                       

So this is love.

This not-mine baby.

For whom I have.  

No say.

Just a murmur of

Mother-speak.

An ache.  

That moment,

I loved her less. 

Not because love is limited.

My love breeds like rabbits.

But for bringing such a small soul

Into a world.

She can’t handle.  

-----------

Let me give you a glimpse of how I work.  I've been staring at the screen for the last hour tweaking two lines over and over trying to assuage the gut feeling that I am jumping off a cliff.  So here is the latest permutation of this poem.  I think I'm overusing big words to make up for feeling insecure with my creativity.  

Thanks for bearing with this post! 

Word of the Day: Bruit

Bruit:
  verb (used with object)

1.) to voice abroad; rumor (used chiefly in the passive and often followed by about ): The report was bruited through the village.

 noun

2.)  Medicine/Medical . any generally abnormal sound or murmur heard on auscultation.

Definition courtesy of Dictionary.com.

Word was bruited through my house today that the kitties are getting outdoor privileges.  After years of being only indoor cats I am trying an experiment in which they are allowed out in the yard.  I am hoping this extra outdoor room might ameliorate their anger towards each other.  Now I just have to keep Oliver from "playing" with them like he is trying to smash grapes into wine.  Wish me luck.  

Things Are Not As They Seem

Having started this blog I am now prone to take pictures of anything and everything.  Not like I didn't do this before, as exemplified by the hippo butt in the last post, but that is beside the point.  The point is that the blog makes me look at things differently.  Sometimes, this can lead to disappointment. 

In Santa Barbara recently for my school (I go do an intensive three day session there every three weeks) I stopped at a store to pick up some much needed school supplies (i.e. Pringles and Gatorade) when I saw something pink and pretty poking out from behind some bushes. 

It looked flowery and just a bit fairy-tale-esque and lured me around the corner by building a fantasy of little birds and singing mice frolicking under its cherry-blossom glow. 

Now most of you have probably already noticed the unnaturalness of this "tree."  I, however, caught in the magical sparkling of the pink "flowers" couldn't quite place what was wrong with this picture. 

Until I really looked at the very metallic nature of the trunk of the tree.  Oh how disappointed I was that I had not stumbled into some Disney movie with magic glimmering trees. But then I decided that for a sculpture in a random place, this was pretty cool. 

Yeah, inspiration escapes me today.  But hey, no hippos. 

Misleading Pictures

Check out my European Dishwasher post again. I just added pictures. I think they are pretty, but then again The Cottage is kinda my baby, and what mama doesn't think her baby is pretty?



Now let me segue into today's post: Misleading Pictures.




Here are some pictures that if shown without explanation might mislead you into thinking I am a really cool outdoorsy woman who does a lot of neat stuff in her spare time. Let me disabuse you of this assumption. I love reading, writing, and food. All of these are mainly indoor activities. Now, with that disclaimer, let me pretend to be nifty for a little bit.









Yup. That's me. Yup. That's me in a pink helmet. It was the only one that fit okay! And be nice. I have on two shirts and a sweater! It was cold out the day I learned to four wheel in the high desert. I've only done this once, but I'll admit... it was a LOT of fun.












Here's one that makes me look simultaneously skinny, deranged, and like I play in the ocean. Either that or I have been transported to some vast white sci-fi world beyond knowing. You decide the parts that are misleading in the above sentences. Don't tell me though, just keep your decision to yourself and savor it quietly.









Go double chin! Hmm, maybe this picture isn't quite as misleading as I'd like it to be. But anyways, here I am rafting the Grand Canyon. Yes, I actually did this for eight days. Neat huh?









Let me present the cliff I jumped off of in the Grand Canyon. See that white mark in the water. That’s where I just went in. Okay, I’m lying. I’m still up top staring at the edge and shriking like the girl I am. But I did jump eventually. Yeah, I know, it’s not that high. But I think step ladders are high. Give me some credit for conquering fear or something.









Here someone, still not me, jumps off the cliff.











This photo might mislead you into thinking I am crazy. Or a bad photographer. Or both. Again, don't tell me your decision, just keep it to yourself.




Now let me present a series of photos that could mislead you into thinking I like children...








Wait? What is that funny thing at the bottom of the picture?










Oh, hello child.















Yes. I can put my hands on the glass too. Not that impressive, little child.














Don't bang on the glass! You'll call attention to us!




Oh, did you blog readers wish to see what is actually behind the blue wall of glass?


Well then. Here comes....












HIPPOS! I love hippos.












They look so graceful underwater.









No. Wait. Don't go hippo!














Okay, if you must go. The cage at the Bronx Zoo is pretty neat above water too.















And now that I've taken you on a tangential tour of the hippo exhibit at the Bronx zoo and mislead you into thinking I am outdoorsy, like kids, am nuts, and may or may not have experienced some wild white alternate reality... let me just say I'm actually pretty boring. Really. In case the enthusiasm for the hippo didn't prove this maybe next time I'll post some pictures showing me reading, or baking cookies, or sleeping, just to balance things out.




Thanks for checking in. If the hippos didn't scare you off I'll have more tomorrow. (Not hippos, blogs. More blogs. Sheesh.)

My European Dishwasher

When I first told my friends and family I was getting an European dishwasher they asked me “how tall is he” and “what color are his eyes?”  I replied that in my mind he was six foot tall, with beautiful dark curly hair, and had deep brown eyes.  Then I brought us all back down to reality by going, “no really, it’s an appliance and I’m getting it in white.  It will hook up to my sink like grandmother’s really old fashioned dish washer did, so I can put it in The Cottage without having to a.) remodel the kitchen b.) call a plumber or c.) not have a dishwasher.” Everyone agreed that with my established track record of housekeeping recruiting some live in help seemed the most sensible thing to do.  Hence, I have a tiny portable dishwasher in my lovely kitchen.

It doubles as a cutting board/extra counter space beside the stove when not in use and at night I love falling asleep to the soft swishing sound of my faithful European dishwasher cleaning my dishes. 

It is a sound that soothes me. 

Here is the other side of the kitchen.

Here is my kitchen with my little European dishwasher in action. 

My mom is one of those pesky clean relatives I allude to from time to time.  She likes to have the kitchen put to rights before she goes to sleep. (I admire this a lot which makes me more irritable about it because that is what jealousy does to my mood.) As the day wound down at our house when I was a kid, and we were getting ready for family time, mom would want to have the kitchen tidied up before we played games, or watched National Geographic, or indulged in a slide show.   The sound of her turning on the dishwasher signified that she was done cleaning the kitchen and was coming to join me and dad in our hi-jinks.  Often we would make popcorn in an old air popper, drizzle butter and salt over the fluffy kernels, and sit together and watch Wild America, where awful things happened to prey-animals and baby-animals and other animals.  The dishwasher would be going in the other room.  It was the sound of a day completed.  The backdrop to family time in the evenings. 

Now my dishwasher is often the sound of my day completed.   A lovely hum. 

I wish someone would make and butter popcorn for me though….and while they are at it, load the dishwasher for me… and put on some nature special so I can sit on the couch and cover my eyes while the lion chases the poor sad antelope.

But I guess I’m an adult now and have to do these things for myself.  Phooey. 

Every Day Life

I take lots of little videos of life at my house.  They are inane.  They are unimportant.  They make me smile.  In the name of megalomania I am posting one today.  

This video is a good insight into a typical day in the life of me and my dogs.  Gotta love the little things.  And the big things that try to love you into a pulp on your kitchen floor....

I'm sitting on the floor because I've never been good at staying in chairs.  Oliver is being messed around with by Ket.  If you watch closely you’ll see he is being very gentle with a little dog that doesn’t know how small she really is in this world.  Then you see Lilly who is standing next to me and wags her tail whenever I “look” at her with the camera.  She doesn’t play as much as the other two, but prefers to hang out with the “grown up” in the house.  You also hear me say ouch at least twice, which is something I say all the time at my  house because both Little Girls have sharp little claws and "dig" at me for attention.    Oliver also steps on me.  Ouch! 

Then in the denouement both Little Girls come pouncing over and put their noses in my face.  I stopped filming right before Oliver did the same thing.  I had to stand up quickly.  He was about to smush me into the tiles with his big-dog loving.   Enjoy.  

Joke of the Day: God Has A Point.

I hope this joke doesn't offend anyone.  I'm not trying to make a point I just heard this joke and thought it was funny.  So here goes...

A man is in a house and the police come by and tell him the area is flooding and he should evacuate to higher ground.  The man says “no, that’s okay, God will protect me.”  The police leave.  Sure enough flood water starts rising and creeping into the man’s house. He goes upstairs.  The water keeps rising.  Eventually he is on the roof the water is so high.  Someone comes by in a boat and yells to the man to jump to them so they can save him.  He says “no, that’s okay, God will protect me.”  Soon the water is creeping in around his feet and rising up towards his knees.  The water starts getting whipped up into white little froths by a strong wind and he looks up and sees a helicopter overhead.  A rescuer lowers a rope to him and yells for him to grab on so he can be lifted up and rescued.  The man yells back “no, that’s okay, God will protect me.”

 The man drowns. 

When the man gets to heaven he looks at God and goes “God!  Why did you let me drown?”

God replies “Let you drown! What do you mean let you drown? I sent the police, a life boat, and a helicopter to rescue you.  You turned them all away.” 

Miss You

Every time I am away from home....

I see this little face in my dreams and I miss my dogs terribly.  This is the board that blocks my front porch off from the street so I don't need to worry about the Little Girls slipping out the front door and getting into harm's way when I go out to greet friends, take out the trash, get the mail, and do other little things. Often I let them out onto the porch when I step out just so they can have a change of scenery.

Lilly is fine with this.   She runs around and eats dead bugs and leaves from the porch.  Oliver stands at the board and looks at me, then goes and sniff's Lilly's butt, then comes back to look after me.  Ket... just stands there on her tiny hind legs and watches me with big reproachful eyes.  She whines. She cries. She quivers and acts as though I am going-away-and-never-coming-back. Especially if I'm taking out the trash and leave her sight for a moment.  She does not like being separated from me for any reason.  It makes me laugh.  But then I look at this picture and see the sincerity in her plea for me not to leave her sight and I miss her so much. 

Not like she and Lilly don't go running into the kennel when I take them there.  It's like one big party for them.  Oliver loves it too.  He barks and howls and wiggles all over the Jeep when we start pulling into the drive. 

But the dogs are always so-so-so-so happy to see me when I go pick them up.  Almost as happy as I am to see them when I get home.