I heard these lines as mis-quoted by Alan Alda’s character in an old ER episode and I had to find their true author. Not a difficult task with Google & all.
Anyway, the point being is that they rang home with me. Especially yesterday.
While I still haven’t run the horses I did take my Continue reading “The Peace Of Wild Things”
So as this day draws to a close and I settle in for some tea & time wasting the thoughts of the day still swirl around me. 4th of July is a bit of an odd holiday for me. I usually shun the barbecue & beach invitations in a vague, “thank you – but I already have plans” sort of way. The truth is, I do. They’re not grand or festive really. But I have plans. I ALWAYS have plans. Ever since I moved out on my own I have NEVER missed a 4th of July at my moms. Every year I go over in the evening & we sit on the front porch & watch as the neighborhood goes up in whistles, rockets & cherry bombs. Then at 9:00pm, when the air is quite thick with sulfur, the fireworks show at the high school starts. We then take our chairs to the back yard, find a spot on the driveway & watch those.
When I lived there I didn’t hang out with mom, but I would always manage to go to the school with my friends for the show. Tradition. Habit. Constant. Comfort.
This year was no different really – except for an almost palpable fear buried deep in my psyche but present enough for me to see it’s outline. Continue reading “thoughts, mom & the 4th of july”
so there are only a couple of people that may read this that will get it (because they were there too) but it doesn’t matter, this is my little smile for the day.
So I am sitting here at home “working” (I use the term loosely because I have been out of commission for the last 2 days) and all of a sudden I hear a guy say, ” WHAT the fuck was THAT?” That was followed by the incessant clanking of a skateboard and the same guy laughing & saying, “WHAT the FUCK was THAT?!” Continue reading “Nostalgia”
I meant to post this a month ago because the emotion was so raw – but time got away from me then.
Today a little piece of something reminded me of it so I felt compelled to share:
It was the day before Thanksgiving and up until this moment [of my story] I had had a crappy day. Things that could potentially go wrong had. So to close my crappy day I went shopping at Trader’s for my groceries – looking forward to being done, going home and shutting out the world with the closing of my front door. People were in an especially caustic mood – I’m talking rare form rudeness and parking lot rage. I got honked at for waiting for a pedestrian I think. Anyway, as I left the parking lot for a saner space on the side street my usual nihilistic view of humanity took a hold on me with phrases of, “I HATE people”, “Most people should just DIE!” running through my head. In such a mood I went in & did my eventless shopping. Then, on my way back to my car it happened. Continue reading “a bit of everyday Magick”
So, ok, we all know that it’s been raining rather furiously for the last 2 days. Fine. I had an inkling something just wasn’t right with my vehicle when on New Year’s Eve the gifts that I put behind the front seat while I drove from point a) Hollywood to point b) Studio City were saturated upon arrival. You say, “but joAnn, you drive a Jeep, of course things will get wet when it rains.” Um, ok, I’ve driven a Jeep since 1988 and I’m on my 4th one. The ONLY time I had a flooding issue I was driving in a flash flood somewhere in Arizona. Yea, my car got a little wet. OK? Okay!
Fast forward to Monday afternoon (today). Continue reading “Good Thing I Own A Turkey Baster?”
For the last two weeks I have been doing that thing I do once or twice a year: playing foster mother/rehabilitator to a baby pigeon.
So how did I end up with this one you wonder? Well, I found him as I was walking to the movies one night in front of The Seventh Veil. He was nestled in this alcove against the wall as this guy aimed his camera phone at him trying to get that “perfect shot” and another guy watched. Somewhat odd activity in front of a strip club, yet not so odd really. I almost just walked by, almost. But I thought, no this isn’t right, I need to see what is going on. As I bent to look at him I realized it was a baby. Although fully feathered, his tail was maybe an inch long and he still had a lot of yellow baby fluff attached to his adult feathers. Someone had placed a small paper cup with water next to him. I thought to myself how the bird was too young to know what to do with that yet I was moved that someone out there had made this kind gesture towards a helpless ailing creature. The incongruity of such well meaning kindness against the backdrop of the Veil wasn’t lost on me and actually served to amaze me more. So semi explaining things as a teacher might to a disinterested student I diligently answered a couple of questions from the guy w/the camera phone as I picked up the baby bird. I then promptly walked back home with this little tired thing nesting in my hand.
Now Seven (I named him as I walked down the block) is quite a special bird. I am guessing that he fell from his nest and the only thing that broke his fall was the sidewalk. Continue reading “Seven”
