Hollins Reading

Last night I slipped out to Hollins University to hear two men read their work. Apparently it was meat night in the storytelling realm; maybe big guys eating lots of protein? I don't know.

The first reader was Thorpe Moeckel, an assistant English professor at Hollins who apparently lives near Purgatory Mountain, which is in my county.

According to the college faculty listing, this gentleman's "first full-length collection of poems, Odd Botany, won the 2000 Gerald Cable Award and was published in 2002 by Silverfish Review Press. Chapbooks include Meltlines, The Guessing Land, and Making a Map of the River. He earned his M.F.A. in 2002 at the University of Virginia, where he was a Jacob K. Javits and Henry Hoyns Fellow."

He read from his just-published book entitled Venison. I was sorry my husband wasn't there to hear this as he would never have believed someone could write poetry about killing and skinning deer. The poem - it is a single poem -  is 72 pages long and is written in couplets.

The authors did not have books for sale at this event. I would have brought home a signed copy of this for my husband if there had been.

The poem flowed well and read well but I think it was something I would like  see and perhaps read aloud myself in order to get a better feel for the work.

The second reader was Pinckney Benedict. Benedict formerly taught at Hollins but is now elsewhere. (Note: I never took classes from either of these professors as I was there long before they were.) His fourth book, Miracle Boy and Other Stories, also was just published. Apparently this book has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. I should put that in big letters: NOMINATED FOR PULITZER PRIZE.

Benedict read for perhaps 20 minutes. I could not decide if the story was set in older times and was plausible or if it was a bit of realistic science fiction, something along the lines of the twilight zone.

The story, told in first person, was of a young boy who was helping his father exterminate cows that had some kind of epidemic that required them to be killed.

I enjoyed listening to this story and now will spend some time wondering how it ended, for he did not read all the way to the end. What a tease, eh?

When I was an undergraduate at Hollins, I attended readings all the time. When I finished school, I went back frequently at first, but eventually my return to hear these authors dwindled to the point where I can scarcely remember the last one. I have been lucky if I made it once a year but I would like to do better in the upcoming school year.

But I must point out how lucky I and other area writers are to have an institution that brings in writers who are potential Pulitizer Prize winners. I have been to some great talks and readings at Hollins and I urge every writer to take a look at the college's events calendar and take note of what is coming up. These things are open to the public and free. There is a wealth of opportunity there.

While it is much more fun to attend these things when you know someone (I did not know a single person at this event, which really was unusual, I usually see somebody I know), I find them to be a little inspirational (and a little frustrating sometimes, too) but generally good for me. They make me think, they get me out of the house, and they put me out amongst people again. Those are all pluses.

So hooray for Hollins. Hooray for readings. Hooray for summer nights that let me venture out before it is dark!

Books: The Christmas Train

The Christmas Train
by David Baldacci
Read by Tim Matheson
Unabridged 7 hours
Copyright 2002

While it was the wrong time of year to listen to a Christmas book, I enjoyed this tale even though it had a rather unbelieveable ending.

I had heard of Baldacci but had not read any of his work. This was the only book available in the library when I went in search of something new to listen to in the car.

Tom Langdon is an aging war reporter who is trying to find himself. He has no family and wishes he had married Eleanor when he had the chance, but he let her slip through his fingers. He decides to take a cross-country train trip at Christmas time, ostensibly because he is related to Mark Twain and Twain did the same thing.

In any event, Langdon meets quite a number of characters, including a fiesty fat lady, a priest, a couple who want to get married aboard the train but haven't made any arrangements so that this will happen, a film director, and a boy's choir. He also meets up with his old flame, who is none to happy to see him.

Halfway through the trip Tom's current girlfriend boards the train as a surprise to Tom, which leads to even more interesting engagements between the characters. Will they get there on time or will a blizzard cause them all lots of problems?

If you enjoy seasonal stories, then this is a good one (but listen to it then, not now).

Window Dressing

As you may recall, in May we had new windows installed in the house.

New windows called for new window treatments.

These are the curtains that I had in the living room. Well, really they were just panels.

I never really liked them, because they had no color. They had been up for five years; they did the job.

When we went to Short Pump last weekend, I found curtains that I liked. Here they are:

A whole new look. Ta da.

Flowers

These are some of the flowers in the yard this week:

Red Rose

Pink Rose

Yellow Daisy

Marigolds

Summer Mum

Thursday Thirteen

I am having trouble coming up with a topic, so we'll have to go for an eclectic Thirteen.

1. The wind is whispering to me like a swan's trumpeting today. I hear my name on the breeze as I watch the needles on the blue spruce prance and dance. Blue skies, cotton-candy clouds and green leaves on the oaks in the far fields seem to say, "Anita, come to me."

2. A bear ran across the farm about a week ago. He was being chased by the cows, who are not friendly with bears in the least. It was a pretty big bear. Unfortunately I had no camera with me.

This bear was in the alfalfa last year.

3. Bluebirds have set up housekeeping in a post with a hole in it along the back fence. I discovered it the other day when I was tossing out some old bread for the birds. I will be trying to take pictures of the bluebirds now, but so far have been unsuccessful.

4. This is my favorite Bible verse: Psalm 121. I will lift up mine eyes. It is also the motto of Hollins University, where I went to college.

This is the Cocke building at Hollins.

5. Bugs have been particularly hard on my roses this year, and the "safe spray" I have been using as a pesticide is not working.

One of my roses.

6. My allergies have been particularly fierce this year. Last night I was visiting someone and began itching all over. I never did figure out what I was allergic to.

7. The best books I have read this year so far are The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow and The Help by Kathryn Stockett.


8. I have a huge backlog of books to read and I read at least 50 a year. Sometimes I think I read far too much and should stop reading entirely, but it seems I can't do that. I love my stories.

9. My birthday was Tuesday and I have been celebrating for several days. My husband took me out on a spur-of-the-moment weekend and my friend took me to lunch on Tuesday. Next week another friend and I will go to lunch to celebrate both our birthdays.

10. Because I am now another year older, I have been pondering the concept of time a lot. My friend gave me a wonderful clock which has words instead of numbers.  It lists 12 things to make besides money and includes magic, friends, love, time, and dinner. I actually have three clocks on the wall in my office. Two of them are working but one needs a battery.

11. The things on my desk include Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine, a tube of Arnicare, a wrap for my wrist, several sticks of sugar free gum, and Guide to Fiction Writing by Phyllis Whitney.

12.  Other things in my home office include a Xena: Warrior Princess action figure (complete with raised sword), an autographed picture of Charlie Sheen, and a four-pack of Christmas Coca-Cola, which is about 15 years old.

13. Final thought: if it ain't pretty or nice, you probably don't need it or want to hear it. Rid yourself of the negatives and then see what is left. It has to be something good.



Thursday Thirteen is played by many people; you can see the list here. Check out Alice Audry's blog for her list of Thursday Thirteens that she likes (I am on it - thanks Audry) for recommendations.

Quick Jump to Short Pump Part 2

As I noted in yesterday's post, over the weekend we slipped away to Short Pump for a birthday get-away.

Someone asked me about the different stores. Short Pump Town Center is a big open-air mall, but there are numerous strip malls in the area.

I am not a big shopper and the heat was incredible, but I did notice Whole Foods, Kohl's, Plow & Hearth, Dillard's, an Apple Store, Good Feet, Nordstrom's, Macy's (we went in Macy's and it was a much nicer Macy's than the one at Valley View), Dick's Sporting Goods, the Cheesecake Factory, Cold Stone Creamery, and Teavana, not to mention lots of other smaller stores.

If you like to shop then this is worth the drive, for sure.

One of our stops was a Williams-Sonoma. This was, truthfully, the reason for the trip. My husband had been asking me for a month what I wanted for my birthday.

"A salad spinner. They're about $5 at Walmart," I had told him time and again.

This bothered him for some reason, so he decided he was going to get me a really nice salad spinner. Which he did. He purchased for me a Good Grips Salad Spinner, made by OXO. He seemed very happy about this. It is a nice salad spinner; I've already used it.

After we checked out the mall we checked into our hotel. Our room was on the second floor.

The first warning of impending problems came when we stepped off the elevator.

"It smells like wet dog," my husband said. And it certainly did. My eyes stung a little as we wandered down the hall to find our room.

The room was very nice, with a king-sized bed, dark furniture, and spacious bathroom. The furnishings were very masculine; I told my husband that they must have had a male decorator. The room was also quite warm, about 76 degrees, and we switched the thermostat down while we settled in. I showered and dressed.

The staff downstairs sent up complimentary tickets for breakfast the next morning at their in-house restaurant, because I had told them we were there for my birthday. That was a nice surprise.

The temperature in the room did not drop, and finally we called downstairs to ask for help with the thermostat. I thought we had set it wrong.

Maintenance came up and said there had been problems with that room before with the thermostat. He set it and suggested we see how the room was after we returned from dinner.

We had planned to eat at the Cheesecake Factory, but the wait was 60 minutes and no restaurant is worth that.

We wandered around and came before Copper Grill Lobster & Steak House. We went in. The place was completely empty and it was 6 p.m. The hostess asked if we had reservations, which we did not, but she said that was fine and seated us.

It was rather odd that no one was there. Restaurants in Roanoke are crowded at 6 p.m. Once we took a look at the menu we figured out why.  This was the most expensive restaurant we had ever been in. It is similar in style to the Pomegranate in Troutville, which prior to this was the most expensive restaurant I'd ever eaten at. We are Red Lobster folks for high-end dining, if that tells you anything.

James said he wanted to treat me to a nice meal, so we went ahead and ordered. I had shrimp and he had surf and turf. The meal was indeed very good and the shrimp was some of the best I've ever had.

During the time we were there, perhaps five other small groups came in. The place definitely was not jumping. I can only imagine it was the pricing, for the food and service was excellent.

After we ate, we returned to our room to check out the air conditioning. It was still warm. We called the front desk and they decided to move us.

We packed up and went across the hall. It was a little warm, too, but we turned down the thermostat.

Then we went back out for more shopping.

We returned to the room to find it still warm. It was not as warm as the first room but obviously the temperature was not dropping. The room should have been pleasant by the time we returned but it was not.

It also smelled much more strongly of dog than the other room. Regular readers know I have very severe allergies and I wondered if I would last the night without needing my inhaler - or worse, a call to 911.

I never said anything to my husband about the doggy smell, but he could smell it as well and said something about it. The longer we sat there, the angrier he grew. I had not yet unpacked our things again and as he grew more agitated I decided not to.

"I've had it with this," he said. He went out the door, headed for the front desk.

He later told me he told them we were not happy with the accommodations and were thinking about going home. The front desk said they would move us yet again.

This time we went to the 8th floor, which according to the front desk was supposed to never have animals on it. However, by this time I suppose the smell was in our noses because frankly the entire place smelled like a wet dog to both of us.

This third room was a little cooler at 71 degrees. That should have been fine but the room was close and warm despite that. The maintenance man set the thermostat to 67 degrees and by morning we should have been freezing, but the temperature was still 71 when we woke up at 6 a.m.

This is a new motel that opened in January. Obviously their air conditioning system is not strong enough to keep the rooms cool during severe heat. Anyone who tries to open a hotel in the south without proper air conditioning obviously hasn't been thinking clearly.

We dressed and went down for our complimentary birthday breakfast bar. It was good but very pricey and I was glad we were eating on the house.

Then we packed up and checked out. The hotel gave us a discount because of the problems with the rooms. We did not know before that this hotel chain allowed pets. We will not be staying there again for this reason, not because of the heating, which was simply unfortunate, or the customer service. The service was excellent.

The ride back was uneventful and we were home by 11 a.m.

And that was our quick jump to Short Pump!

Quick Jump to Short Pump

On Saturday my husband said he wanted to go somewhere. His birthday was June 2 and mine is today (June 8) and a quick get-away seemed in order.

We decided to go to Short Pump, which is a shopping mecca just outside of Richmond.

We packed some things, made reservations at a hotel, and hopped in the car.

The trip down was uneventful. However, it is a three-hour drive, and that is with only one rest stop.




My husband. Isn't he handsome?

Our destination.

We were very impressed with the development in Short Pump. Here are people who, unlike the officials in Botetourt, understand that you can have attractive and well-designed structures and businesses will still come. In the Roanoke area, they seldom say no to any business regardless of what it looks like, which is why we have the shoddy McDonalds, the warehouse buildings for Walmart, and things like that. There was none of that in Short Pump.

Note that there are trees and the structures are off the highway. This is a Barnes and Noble. I don't think people in the Roanoke area allow trees to grow tall enough to hide signs.

Check out the lights. The properties were accessed from side roads off the main thoroughfare. We liked that design.

We arrived in Short Pump around 1 p.m. We ate lunch at McDonalds - a brick McDonalds that didn't have the clown and the colors, by the way. Then we went to Best Buy, where I looked at scanners. I had looked at scanners in Roanoke but was unimpressed with the selection. The selection in Short Pump was better but the customer service was very poor. The fellow who was waiting on us would only speak directly to my husband and not to me. He reminded me of Raj on The Big Bang Theory only it wasn't funny because I was the one who needed the information. I did not buy a scanner there but found one I liked that I could order later.

However, we slipped into Walmart to pick up more water bottles and found the same scanner there for $50 less. So we bought it and put it in the trunk.

We finally made it to Short Pump Town Center, where we discovered that this was not an enclosed mall but an open-air mall.

This would not have been a bad thing except that the thermometer in the car read 103 degrees and it felt like it. I wilt in 75 degree heat. Despite the heat, we walked the mall, making frequent stops for air-conditioning and venturing into the food court for drinks.

An Apple store attracted my attention and I had my first view of an iPad. It was smaller than I expected, about the size of a nice mouse pad or thereabouts. I can see the appeal of the device but not the expense of it.

Finally it was time to check in at our hotel.

We had never stayed at this motel chain before. Generally we stay elsewhere, having found that certain chains are usually clean. Some are now smoke-free, like this hotel, and that was a plus.


The lobby was quite impressive. The staff was very friendly and exceedingly helpful. We would come to learn that first hand, as you will learn later in Quick Jump to Short Pump, part 2!

Books on Yoga

Yoga as Medicine
By Timothy McCall, M.D.
Copyright 2007

Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness
By Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.d.
Copyright 1990

Dr. Yoga
By Nirmala Heriza
Copyright 2004

My massage therapist, Karen Wright with Soothing Solutions, loaned me these three books. She is also a yoga instructor and has promised to show me how to "breathe" in such a way that it could help lower my blood pressure. The books each offer a few pages on breathing and she wanted me to read them before she gives me a one-on-one session. When that happens I'll let you know how it goes (and she gives a great massage, by the way, if you're local and need some therapeutic touch on your back or something).

I like the first two books the best. The Yoga as Medicine in particular is very information and touches on how body work can assist a person in her efforts to regain or maintain health.

I picked up the Dr. Yoga book at the Green Valley Book Fair when I went with a friend in May, so I have added this to my reference collection. I will pick up the Yoga as Medicine at some point, I hope. Maybe I will ask for it for Christmas.

I do not do yoga as a regular practice but probably should. I do a little Tai Chi several times a month but am not as regular with that as I should be, too.

I'd be a dynamo if I'd just do the stuff I oughta, wouldn't I?

Thursday Thirteen

Today I thought I'd talk about food, strange foods I've eaten and favorite foods (mostly because I can't think of 13 strange foods).  You might notice that I crave sweets a lot.

1. Dough. I love raw cookie dough and cake batter mix, brownie mix, etc. But not when it is dry ingredients, but when it is done and ready for the pan. Licking the bowl and the beaters, as it were. I know one is not supposed to do this because the batter contains raw eggs, but this is one thing I still do. It makes me feel like a kid again.

2. Uncooked spaghetti. We don't eat a lot of spaghetti and since there are only two of us, we generally have raw spaghetti left over from a box because I don't cook it all at once. Before I discovered it was bad for my teeth, I loved to crunch the leftover raw spaghetti.

I read that some folks think you can get something called "pasta worms" from uncooked spaghetti. Anyone know if this is true, or is it a grandma myth?

3. Bologna and catsup sandwiches. When I was a teenager, I had this combination for breakfast every morning for a long time.

4. Strawberry cream cheese and celery. I have found this to be a great snack combination while dieting. My husband likes it, too.


5. Eggs and catsup. This is something I  usually do not have at home but will have when I have breakfast in a restaurant. I have always liked eggs and catsup. Maybe I just like catsup?

6. Root beer. A lot of people do not like root beer, but I do. I especially like that it is only 1 percent sodium, so if I want a sweet treat it doesn't affect my blood pressure. I prefer A & W brand will try others.

7. Zero bars. These are not chocolate candy bars but are white chocolate with a nougat in them. I don't know of anyone else who eats these but obviously someone does or the company would not make them.

 

8. Raw veggies from the garden. Raw peas, raw green beans, and raw squash are among my favorite raw vegetables. My husband thinks I'm nuts for eating things raw but they are really good without anything at all. I only eat them this way straight from my garden, though. Store bought things I cook because I don't know where they came from.

9. Strawberries. Or any kind of berry, really. Eating a good berry is like eating candy.

10. Teas. I suppose these aren't really foods, but I enjoy tea. I like herb teas, black teas, green teas, etc. Ginger teas when my tummy is hurting (from eating all this stuff, probably) always makes me feel better.

11. Bubblegum. This is not a food, either, but it is something I like. I am not supposed to chew gum because of TMJ but I sometimes do it anyway.

12. Icing. It has been a long time since I have done this, but there was a time when I bought cake icing and simply ate it straight from the container without cake. Fortunately I no longer do this. I think some people call this cake frosting.

13. Watermelon. It's almost summer and soon these will be affordable and will become a staple for a little while. Yummy!


Thursday Thirteen is played by a lot of bloggers. Check out the list here and join in the fun.

Books: The Help

The Help
By Kathryn Stockett
444 pages
Copyright 2009

The Help will likely be one of the best, if not the best, book I read this year.

Skeeter is just out of college and in need of something to do. She wants to be a writer, but how does one go about that when she lives in Mississippi in 1962?

She takes on a job writing a column for the local paper. She must frequently ask the advice of Aibileen, a black maid who works for one of her friends, because the column is about household tips, like how to starch a collar. Skeeter, being a child of privilege, has little knowledge about such common things.

As the Civil Rights movement unfolds, Skeeter realizes the discrepancies and biases of herself and her social circle. She decides to write the story of the maids who serve her friends. Aibileen agrees to help her, at great risk to her work position as well as her life in these terrible times of discrimination and strife.

They are joined in their work by Minnie, who has made herself an enemy of one of the town's main socialites. As the work progresses, other maids join in and soon Skeeter has a book that is accepted and published by a New York publisher.

This is a book that every southern woman, particularly those in the upper classes, should read. Maybe every woman should read it in order to better understand class relations, the inner turmoil of their neighbors, and the tragedies that come from closing the eyes to the inequities that are right in front of them.

I will be passing this book on to friends.

Adventures in Reporting #3

During the 10 years I spent writing for one area newspaper in the 1990s and up until 2004, I was painfully aware of one fact about that particular community, which was not where I live, that troubled me, perplexed me, and appalled me.

The K K K (K u   K l u x   K l a n) had a strong presence there.

The county seat was what is called a "sundown town." That means it was all-white, and all-white on purpose. During my time in the county I once saw a picture of a sign that used to be within the town environs.

It said something like, "N------, don't let the sun set on you in this town."

While that was a long time ago, some things still have not changed. The town was then, and still is, a very white community.

It's a place where Confederate Flags fly proudly from many poles. The Stars and Bars line the roads. They're a people hardened by life in the mountains who distrust government and anything or anyone different from them. The only reason some people would speak to me was because I knew my history and could eventually point to some 7th-generation relative who might or might not be a common ancestor with them or a friend.

Its the kind of place where a grand dragon, an organization leader, flies his flag up in the hollows.

While I was over there, in 1998, an out-of-state group gathered at Fenwick Mines in the Jefferson Forest in Craig. The event made headlines but there was no mischief.

At least not that year.

That changed in 1999. That year a black man ventured into town to work on the new grocery store project. He took room and board with a 74-year-old local man.

Threats followed, in person and by phone. A sign in a neighboring yard told the black man to go home, except in worse language.

And then someone set a cross afire in the yard.

A group of women from my alma mater, Hollins University, went to New Castle and organized a peace rally.

Because I was a freelance reporter and could turn stories down, I did not write about these events but instead turned them over to someone on staff. Someone who didn't venture into the area weekly and who would be covered by the employer's insurance should the tires on their car be slashed or, heaven forbid, they turned up dead.

Yeah, I wimped out.

To say these events frightened me would be an understatement. Did they influence my work? I am sure they did. For a long time I could not conduct an interview without wondering, are you someone who would hide behind a white hood?

These memories came back to me on Sunday. My husband, as he always does, was reading the farm machinery and auction listings.

He called me over to look at one of the advertisements (which you can also see on the link).

"Look, they're advertising K K K memorabilia," he said.

Listed under collectibles it advertised  an "original 1925 ... charter" and a full suit with a patch and other memorabilia.

I felt the distaste and surprise rise in my stomach. My mind flashed to those days in 1999 when I did not feel safe.

And up for auction one finds pieces of Americana, actual proof that such horrid things really did occur in this country, and still occur.

All I can do is shake my head. What a society we are.

Memorial Day

In honor and memory.

Look at them windows!

The window installers from Southwest Sunroom and Windows showed up at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday to replace 13 windows in my house.

The framing around the windows had darkened considerably on the exterior. The things leaked like sieves and definitely needed to be redone.

The shot above is the rear of the house exterior.



A closer view of the old window.



A little closer still!



By lunch time, the old windows had been ripped out and new windows put in place. It took three men about four hours to do everything but the exterior trim, which they finished that afternoon.



The windows on the exterior now have a creamy white colored trim.



I like the looks of it a lot. I think it gave the house more personality.



The house is an L-shaped ranch.




This is a picture of the rear with the new windows, like the first shot.

The windows are vinyl and are made by Gorell. We investigated the window brand and the installer as thoroughly as we could and, in the end, we were satisfied that this was the best deal for the money.

There are more expensive windows - we had quotes that were three times what we paid for this brand - but these have a good warranty and numerous thumbs up for being Energy Saver windows.

We'll see what happens to the electricity bill now.

Thursday Thirteen

Today, for my TT, I am going to talk about monsters. Specifically, kinds of monsters.

1. Politicians. One of my least favorite monsters. These monsters run around ruining lives by spouting out anything on their pea-brains and then expecting accolades and laws based on their verbosity. They can be members of any political party and any race or gender. They all have very large mouths and blood-sucking tendencies.

2. Giants. Giants in mythology went to war with Zeus and friends for control of the world. The Giants sprang from Gaia via the blood shed from Uranus's manhood (or godhood) when Cronus castrated his father. The Giants were essentially spawn of gods, but they were not friendly with the Olympians. Gaia urged them to turn on Zeus (her grandson) and so they did. The Giants hurled boulders and flaming trees at the sky. Zeus and the other Olympian gods fought back, though in the end they required Heracles to win the day. The days the Giants are sports teams and they are not very scary.

3. Ogres. These are humanoid monsters that eat villagers. Shrek and his ogress are lovable monsters in that they don't seem to really eat anyone. One might also apply this term to Wall Street CEOs and find it accurate.

4. Children. A few of these actually grow up to be politicians; they are the scariest kind. Monster children run around with crayons, scream in the stores, have jelly on their faces, and create havoc in their wake with each step.

That's me! Wasn't I scary?

5. Vampires. These blood-suckers have a new mystic in this world in that they are immortal, sexy, romantic and heroic. Vampires of old were rather nasty villains who wanted the creamy-white throated maiden and their immortality. Some vampires want to destroy the world and others want to save it. The most famous vampire is Dracula, but he has been lost to the charms of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, True Blood and various and sundry other stories about the living dead.


6. Bigfoot. Also known as Sasquatch, these humanoid creatures are ape-like beings that haunt the forests of the United States and Canada. They could also be your hairy uncle on a bad hair day.

7. Dragons. These reptilian creatures are generally huge, scaly and fire-breathing. Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea but was eventually forgotten.

There is also a dragon in Shrek and numerous other movies.

8. Banking officials. Bank officials rate up there with politicians in that they talk a good game but are sinisterly working to make you grovel and writhe in pain in order to take away your assets. They like to make you sign on the dotted line, too. Banking officials come in all shapes and sizes, but are almost always found lounging in bank offices.

9. Changeling. This is a creature left in place of a human child who has been kidnapped by another fairy creature. The changeling is usually sickly. Parents often continued to raise the changeling but treated it poorly if they could not swap it back for their real youngster. This could lead to ill-raised children en masse. See #4 for consideration on how often this might actually be occurring in present day.

10. Radio talk show personalities. These are among the most fierce of monsters, threatening lives and endangering entire civilizations with their hatred and vile-spewing venom. They can be known by their large size, beady little eyes and red faces. Truly hideous to look upon.

11. Not your mommy, mummies! Read closer. Mummies are another kind of living dead (except for the living part for real mummies) in that they are dead bodies wrapped in white strips of cloth that somehow come to life. Bram Stroker, who also created Dracula, gave us mummies as well in the novel The Jewel of the Seven Stars.

12. Ghosts. More dead things. Humanity has a real fascination with life after death, eh? Ghosts are spirits that continue on after the body has passed away. The belief in ghosts has been around forever and is as old as religions. Some famous ghosts include Casper (I used to read those comics when I was young), the three spirits in Dickens' Christmas Carol, and Patrick Swayze's ghost in Ghost.

13. Lastly, there are aliens!



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people. See a list of other participants here. This is number 141 for me.

Big Doin's

It's a big day at our house!

Today we are having our windows replaced.

I will have a before and after photo later, probably Friday.

The windows we are replacing were installed in 1987, when we built the house. Our house is a Timber Truss house, which is kind of like a kit. The windows came with it. I have no idea what name brand these old windows might be, but they have needed replacing for a good 10 years.

Last year, with so much snow, wind and cold, the drafts, along with sky-high heating bills, became nearly unbearable.

We decided it was time to spend some money and take care of this problem. Our bones are older and we're not quite as young as we used to be. Drafts make knees and backs and elbows and pretty much everything else ache these days.

That said, I must mention how much I love windows. I love being able to look out at the farm and see the trees and grass. I love watching the deer, squirrel and birds. I enjoy looking at the sky and watching the clouds roll past.

I never worked well in a cubicle, those times when I worked in cubicles. Cubicles and work spaces sans windows should be against the law, if you ask me.

Let's hope the work goes smoothly.

Positive Thinking

So I went looking for my "positive thinking" in recent days, because I was missing it and it seemed lost.

I peeked under the sofa.

I peered inside several books.

I hunted for it on Google and all over the Internet.

I ventured outside but it was raining.

I sought it in the car but all I found were old candy wrappers, which reminded me of days before diets.

There was no "positive thinking" in my filing cabinets.

Nor in the dust in the laundry room. Or amongst the clean clothes, for that matter.

I looked into my husband's eyes and I saw a glimmer of it there.

He reminded me to look in places I had not yet thought to check.

"Where did you see it last?" he asked.

I confessed it had been some time since I saw the real "positive thinking," though a fake version of it had been in place for a while.

So I looked again. In my desk I found bits of poetry and straggling words, leftovers from days gone by.

In my rocking chair I found two quarters and a dime and a little solace.

The kitchen brought an apple, a dish of strawberries and some celery.

Finally, I wondered if I would find it back on a college campus. And that reminded me of the Hollins University motto:

Levavi Oculos

How could I forget?

Psalm 121

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

The Poop Scoop?

I received an email from someone purporting to belong to a "fashion" community. The email said "I saw your septic tank advisor blog and was impressed by it. Please join our community to talk about fashion."

Um. My septic tank advisor blog, which is really my husband's on my account, is just an aggregate blog with links to news articles about septic tanks. It has no original content. It definitely doesn't talk about clothes. It links to articles about septic tank regulations, new productions, and problems people have with solid waste disposal.

So what does that have to do with fashion? Am I supposed to give fashion tips on porta-potties? The best apparel for bathroom visits? Don't wear heels so your knees won't be too high when you sit down? Wear skirts with no hose or panties for fastest relief? Watch your zipper, skipper, or you'll lose your you-know-what in the zip-up?

Sheesh.

My Lucky Day

Saturday the weatherman called for rain and so my husband and I decided we'd head to Roanoke after lunch.

In Daleville, we stopped off at Lord Botetourt High School for the 50th anniversary open house. I didn't know we were going by so I did not have my camera, unfortunately.

The school had been cleaned and spruced up for the big event. It's a much larger building than it was when my husband and I attended. He graduated in 1977 and I graduated in 1981. They built on sometime after I finished.

The attendance was not spectacular at the event, perhaps because it was pouring rain, but I had a nice time touring the halls and looking at five decades of photos.

I also saw two of my favorite teachers, Dee Sheffer and Sue Obenshain whose last name is now Goodpasture. Ms. Sheffer taught me English and Ms. Obenshain taught math. I am quite fond of them both and so I was very glad to see them. My husband visited with a few of his former teachers, too.

He then spent time looking at FFA (Future Farmers of America) displays. He was very active in that when he was young.

From there we headed to Roanoke. While we were in a store, I won't say which one, I turned down an empty aisle. In the middle of the aisle lay a sealed bank envelope. There was absolutely no one in sight, so I swiftly knelt and picked up the item.

I could tell from the feel of it as I put it in my pocket that there was a good deal of money in this envelope. I rushed over to my husband and told him I needed to go to customer service right away. "I found a lot of money," I whispered.

We headed for customer service. As we hurried, we passed several store employees and I stopped to ask for a manager. One of them spoke up and said he was a manager. I told him what I had found and he ushered me over to customer service.

Together we watched the clerk count out the money and then take it to a safe place. I won't say exactly how much it was or in what denominations, but it was in the hundreds.

The manager thanked me for being honest and turning in the money. "I am sure someone will be looking for this," he said. I did not leave my name or anything and I wonder in retrospect if I should have. Oh well.

I have never in my life found such a large amount of cash. In fact, I think the most I have ever found was a $5 bill in a parking lot once. Maybe it wasn't so much my lucky day as someone else's. At least I hope so. I do hope they get their money back.

This event discombobulated me a little bit. I was very nervous handling this cash that did not belong to me, even though I was doing nothing wrong. After we left customer service we went back to the area where I found the money, thinking we might see someone frantically searching, but we did not.

After that, we spent several hours shopping, ending up at Sam's Club where we had a very long wait in line. Sam's is never a good idea on a Saturday but sometimes you just can't help it.

As we headed to dinner, I decided to call the answering machine at home and check messages.

"Hi, this message is for Anita. This is Vicki at the Vitamin Shoppe. We had a raffle drawing today and you won a prize! Please come by and get it. We will hold it until Wednesday."

Well! I don't win things very often - about as often as I find envelopes full of money. This was turning into quite an eventful day. We weren't far from the Vitamin Shoppe (which recently opened near the IHOP at Valley View) so after we ate dinner we headed over there.



The clerk handed me a bag full of goodies. Inside I found a cup, several mixes of a milk shake for women, a personal lubricant (hmm...hmm) acidophilus pills, DVDs about health, and natural sleeping pills.

While this was not quite as exciting as the greenbacks, it seemed like a nice way to end the day.

But since I was having a lucky day, we decided to go three for three. I stopped at Food Lion and purchased a lottery ticket.

What did I win?

Well, so far only $1 on a scratch ticket. But one of the tickets is for a drawing that has yet to be held.

Maybe my luck will hold!

Like a Rose

under the May rains . . .



smells as sweet . . .



full of thorns but still a thing of beauty . . .

Thursday Thirteen #140

Today I offer you quotes about writing. If you're a writer, you might see yourself here. Or not.

1. Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. - E.L. Doctorow

2. And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. - Sylvia Plath

3. Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very;" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. - Mark Twain

4. The wastebasket is a writer's best friend. - Isaac Bashevis Singer

5. Easy reading is damn hard writing. - Nathaniel Hawthorne

6. The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it. - Jules Renard

7. If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster. - Isaac Asimov (note: I always thought this quote said six months, not minutes.)

8. Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. - Hannah Arendt

9. Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. - Gene Fowler

10. Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum. - Graycie Harmon

11. Every writer I know has trouble writing. - Joseph Heller

12. Writing is a struggle against silence. - Carlos Fuentes

13. I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension. -Norman Mailer




Lots of people play Thursday Thirteen. Read more about it here and check out the works of others who participate in this meme. Enjoy!