Winter Memories

The family went snow tubing this winter with the little man's school at a place we have never been to before.

This was snow tubing like no other snow tubing I have ever seen. No trudging back up the hill with your tube, a moving sidewalk carried you and your tube effortlessly up the hill to repeat the cycle again and again...swiftly down and effortlessly up. As you can see in the video, they even had snow banks on the side so that there was no worry about killing each other as you flew down the hill...very safe, LOVED IT!



The Professor relished this event (as you can see, he was deprived as a child)with multiple solo runs with the little "Flip" camera.

I wanted to go down together as I find these events more fun in groups but for my introvert husband, he found more joy in the solo adventure. Either way it was a beautiful day that I remember fondly.

We even got the sullen teenager to tube once or twice after sitting out for hours.

I only have time for poems...

3/23/10

The caw in the naked crook
fears black
screaming
the chill of the wind
scars my naked breast

Originals

Putting some poetry out there again. Not sure if they are quite finished. What do you think?


Poor Man’s Special

Sorrow, the bitter glass of chardonnay
beach boys tinned ceiling décor
my weary elbows rest on the robbers countertop
stuck to the spot, the black hole of my existence
surrounded by Monkeys, the poor man’s special at the door.



Unnamed

You’ve put me in solitary confinement; duck tape mouth and platypus feet
I am the excessive sense of self importance drizzled over a peanut buster parfait
Your shadowy creaking slippers cannot hypnotize me no more
Cannot hypnotize me no more
I sensed your absence from my side
Dredged from the talk show in my mind, David Letterman as God
Even children get champagne
It’s my revival - full of splendor and magnificence
Straight jacketed fervor boiled brew.

Freya's day

I am taking this from Wikipedia...a bit of a paraphrase...'in most countries with a five day work week, Friday is the last day of the week giving us cause for celebration and/or relief.' However if you lived in Saudi Arabia or Iran, Friday is the last day of the weekend, Saturday being the first day of the work week. I'm guessing that I would feel a bit differently than I do today if I lived there.

In Germanic languages, Friday means the day of Freya who is the goddess of love. Similarly in romantic languages, Friday is derived from Latin dies Veneris, "day of Venus", Spanish viernes or French, vendredi and vineri in Romanian.

This goddess comes to me at a good time.

I believe in the power of the universe, providing what you need when you need it. In my life, I run into people for a reason, have conflict and strife for a reason. I believe that all events are meant to help me evolve. My oldest child. The child that has pushed me to the limits from the day he was born...not sleeping through the night until he was three. If I didn't learn patience then, he continues to provide me with opportunities. He is here to teach me patience, acceptance, and gratitude.

The power and the beauty in the mother Freya is in me. I can draw from her energy, her passion and her strength.

Winter Solstice 2009

The Professor and I in Mexico 1997

Today is a memorable day for me. It was on this day in 1997 (12 years ago) that The Professor proposed to me in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. The name Zihuatanejo comes from the word "Cihuatlan" which means "place of women" in Nahuatl. We went there to celebrate the baptism of our dear friends' first born son and it was the beginning of a six month journey for me and my eldest son in Spanish immersion. I studied at the University IberoAmericano while we lived with my friend's family.
All of us in the Zocalo in Mexico City.

The beach of the Cats, on the other hand, owes its name to the abundance of cat sharks (an inoffensive squalus that has a moustache and no teeth) that used to live in nearby waters.

I remember how difficult it was for me at the time, being away and having to think and speak in Spanish all the time. The Professor and our friends stayed with me through New Years but then went back to the Twin Cities to resume their lives. It was hard to be away from my love as I was newly "in love". The Professor and I meet two years earlier and had been living together for a year. We had a house and a dog and a 4 year old boy. The proposal itself was a surprise but knowing that I would marry this man was not.

On a sultry morning on the 21st of December as we were getting ready to start our day, The Professor pulls me aside to a balcony off of the hotel hallway. Years later I don't remember exact words, I just remember the feeling...excitement, elation...as he pulled out a beautiful ring with a turquoise stone and a silver leaf on each side of the stone, put it on my finger and asked me to marry him. The perfect setting. Perfect timing.

My plan is to return to this place in 2010. I haven't been to Mexico since then and it is time.

Just a poem

I swim in a sea of uncertainty
treading slowing when I get tired
I maneuver through the black waves
that come
upon
me
I am a strong swimmer,
that is the problem,
I have practiced
all
my
life
with each turn of my head
I fill my lungs with air
to return it to the depths
once more
once more
once more
once more
once more

They're creepy and they're kookie...

The Adams Family. Didn't we all love that show? Well, now my 10 year old loves it. He love it so much that it is all he can talk about. We don't have television but he "YouTube's" it. He watches it at the Grandma's house. Wherever he can, he sucks it in and memorizes it and recites it to me daily! Between this show and his obsession for The Lord of the Rings...hmmmm, this must be a phase.

Every night for at least a month, if not more, he has gone to sleep playing the same song from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. He has it on repeat so that it plays over and over and over. If we don't shut if off at night, it is all we hear all night long. He loves this song SOOOO much that he has learned to play it on the piano just by ear. This may seem mean of me but I have asked him to STOP playing it on the piano at times because I just can't take the same song over and over and over again!

Ok, tell me...was there a song that you remember that you loved SOOO much that you played it over and over and over until your parents yelled at you to stop playing that song? I am sure I must have done it but I can't remember what the song was or if they ever told me to turn it off. Maybe I blocked it out of my memory because it was so traumatic. I don't know. Let me hear your stories.