Sara Eats Cicadas

May 28, 2007 | Category: Family, It's a Trip

While I avoid the big purple gorilla in the room (Hi Gorilla!), you may have heard that here in the Chicago area we've been infested with cicadas. Brood 18, the 17-year-cycle cicadas (red-eyed locust freaks), erupted this week - pouring over every outside surface like scurrying, winged lava.

There is, seriously, one on every leaf of my hosta.

At night, you can feel the vibration of the millions of them - moving, molting, mating.

They sound like a vacuum cleaner. They stick like flypaper to whatever they land on. They are harmless, non-toxic, and - let's face it - a little apocolyptic.

And?

Yummy.

Not ME. Sara.

Here's a movie we made this weekend of her snacking down:

A Quote

May 24, 2007 | Category: Well, That Was Random

“I am not a Starfleet commander, or T.J. Hooker.

I don't live on Starship NCC-1701 or own a phaser. And I don't know anybody named Bones, Sulu, or Spock. And no, I've never had green alien sex, though I'm sure it would be quite an evening.

I speak English and French, not Klingon! I drink Labatt's, not Romulan ale! And when someone says to me 'Live long and prosper', I seriously mean it when I say, 'Get a life'. My doctor's name is not McCoy, it's Ginsberg. And tribbles were puppets, not real animals. PUPPETS! And when I speak, I never, ever talk like every. Word. Is. Its. Own. Sentence.

I live in California, but I was raised in Montreal. And yes, I've gone where no man has gone before, but I was in Mexico and her father gave me permission! My name is William Shatner, and I am Canadian!”

I've been wrestling demons, in hot gusts of wind. And thinking about personas and people and who I really am.

Then this quote came along and made me laugh iced tea out my nose.

And in the end, the love you take...

May 08, 2007 | Category: Sick & Tired

I'm sorry.

For a long time, I have been dry.

In my bones, my heart, my eyes.

My words have gone cliche, dipped in trite. Silly, predictable, sifting through my fingers.

This is what it is like, on the other side of the decision. The life. The shark.

It is not because of you. God, no. You? I love. Everything about the conversational give and take... I love that you have been editor, audience, critic, and friend.

It is me.

Dry.

In body, mind, and spirit.

I use up a gallon of moisturizer a day. It doesn't help. I drank enough water to blow up my kindneys. It doesn't help. I stood in the rain, looked up and felt it drench my eyelashes and lips.

And it passed through me.

Leaving me back here.

I don't want to leave you.

I don't want to leave me.

I have found myself here so many times....

Oh. This is stupid. Like anyone remembers, later...

Good night, for now.

And thank you.

Love of the Puppy, and Gilmore Girls

May 03, 2007 | Category: Not The Nightly News

There is not much going on here because of all the ruckus. Puppy Sara has turned our world upside-down... I mean that in the best of ways.

And just 2 episodes left and they announce that Gilmore Girls is cancelled?

Dammit.

Oh, and Everyday Stranger's Helen is expecting! (And you'll never guess what....)

Furry Wonder

May 01, 2007 | Category: Family, It's a Trip

It's amazing what happens when you let go of the rope...

On Saturday, and not all prodded by my previous post *cough* and all the wonderful advice I got from it, CD and I slashed our expectations of what we can do to get the house ready for sale. Then? We pulled the trigger on ordering a kitchen. The house really can't be sold without a kitchen, or a new roof. The current roof was viciously ripped open this spring by mutant demon-spawn raccoons - who have since moved into the Radisson, complaining that our towels are not 'thirsty' enough for their tastes. Whatever the hell that means.

The current kitchen was, unfortunately, NOT ripped open by the mutant raccoons. That would have actually been helpful, since the demo is going to be a pain. No, the kitchen is just a strange 100-year-old bend in a hallway.

Feeling mighty-dang proud of ourselves, we also decided to pull the trigger on another long-promised adventure....

Please, meet Sara:

She is a 2-month old Golden Retriever/Poodle mix.

A more mellow, soft, sweet girl you have never met.

We're in love.