Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Friday, June 25, 2010

It's officially summer now

I sat out on the deck last night, watching the waterfall and the pond. Guy and the girlfriend had come over to load the left over limestone into his truck. Kim has gotten him to agree to build a flagstone path through her back garden. After they finished moving it, they sat for a few minutes,... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Facebook Friends...

Years ago -- around 1970 -- I had a job at the city offices up on Main Street. Billing clerk for the water department. Our 48K computer was half again the size of a full-grown elephant, and the room it lived in had to be kept at 68 degrees with very low humidity. Leave the door open on a typical... Sign in to see full entry.

Garden Kingdom...

That's the name of the company who fixed my back yard pond. It's only about 10 feet across at the wide end, kind of a triangle shape. The waterfall's at the wide end, the narrow is about two steps off the deck. The new rocks are brown sandstone, some have a bit of moss or lichen on them, and it... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Poets & Writers

Just received the July-August issue of Poets & Writers. Sometimes I'm busy (doin' nothin') and don't even crack the cover. But this time I got busy right away. The back cover ad called to me like the siren's song drew those sailors so long ago. I don't think I'm going to stop up my ears or lash... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Slim fellow in the grass...

Remember Emily? What brought me to her poetry yesterday was the humidity they say it's not the heat She's got the makings of a plot in this slender poem. She leaves much for imagination to think about in this truth, boiled and reduced to its essence. A wounded deer leaps highest, I've heard the... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Busy Shift at Carnegie's Bookshop

I got there early so I could put out the snacks and turn on the ceiling fans, set up the cash register, neaten up. The temp gauge on Ruby's dashboard (my little Toyota) said 99 degrees. So I spread a towel over the steering wheel to keep it cool enough to touch by the time I was ready to drive home.... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

More 1890s articles are coming...

I almost decided not to go to the library today, not work my shift in the little used book shop. It's supposed to get to 97 degrees this afternoon, which turns the car into an oven, makes the seat belt buckle hot enough to burn. But there's a chance of thunderstorms, possibly severe, which means... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Thumper, the cute bunny from "Bambi" said it 60 years ago...

"If ya can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all." Wouldn't that put CNN and all the show biz gossip gurus outta business? So I'm sayin' nothin' about the Gulf of Mexico and the BP carelessness that led to an ongoing eruption of poison into an already threatened environment. And I'm sayin'... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Mistakes have been made. Maybe learned from.

The mistake was posting a chapter from My Disco Ball is Broken on Zoetrope, Frances Ford Coppola's online workshop for writers. I got back some feedback that left me crestfallen and disheartened. A careful and helpful reviewer made some suggestions that would have made perfect sense for fixing a... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

About the "Small People"

Of all the things I hate most in the world, being talked down to by some "superior" man is probably at the top of my list. All a guy has to do is treat me like a silly woman, say something the equivalent of "there, there, don't worry your pretty little head about it," and there's an adrenalin surge... Sign in to see full entry.

Headlines (What is this?)