Whether there's weather

We have had an interesting week, weather-wise. And I am here to describe it in verse, giving credit where credit is due.

Today it is sunny, cool, and breezy, but not cold. A totally gorgeous day.  A day that, should Mother Nature decide to make one like today every day, many would rejoice.  Today makes me think of this poem, by Frank Asch:

SUNFLAKES
If sunlight fell like snowflakes,
gleaming yellow and so bright,
we could build a sunman,
we could have a sunball fight,
we could watch the sunflakes
drifting in the sky.
We could go sleighing
in the middle of July
through sundrifts and sunbanks,
we could ride a sunmobile,
and we could touch sunflakes —
I wonder how they'd feel.

Wednesday was volatile with many tornadoes and terrible wind and rain and hail and fatalities, damages, accidents and lots of devastation. I hadn't a poem in mind, but Emily Dickinson is always good, and this one seems to apply:

THE STORM
There came wind like a bugle;
It quivered through the grass,
And a green chill upon the heat
So ominous did pass
We barred the windows and the doors
As from an emerald ghost;
The doom's electric moccason
That very instant passed.
On a strange mob of panting trees,
And fences fled away,
And rivers where the houses ran
The living looked that day.
The bell within the steeple wild
The flying tidings whirled.
How much can come
And much can go,
And yet abide the world!

TTFN
JMS

Thoughts on TMI in the World of Blogging

My good friend LN was questioning putting too much "out there" on her blog. She used phrases like "pray about privacy needs"and "devoid of self-preservation instincts" and "how much self-disclosure is good?" Then she asked for my thoughts.

I responded to her via email, but I went back and re-read what I'd written and thought that it might be worth posting here. So below is my response to her. Here's hoping it may be useful to others, should they stumble across it.

Hey [Friend],

I totally understand. The unfortunate thing is, it really doesn't matter anymore. If someone wants the information, they'll get it. However, that being said, you can see that I have no filters on my blog, either. I do, though, try not to disclose major pieces of information - such as the exact names of people I talk about or places I go or if I am at home or on vacation; what have you. Those who know me, who know who and where I am and what I am up to most of the time will already know these things, and those who don't already know you - don't need to know. But they may just be interested in the story or whatever you've decided to talk about that day. I think that while it is important to be as careful as you can, there is a point that it can get ridiculous and become more of a pain than it's worth. At that point, then YOU don't want to do it anymore either. And I think, why put so much of yourself into something if you can let someone else ruin it for you.

I think if you want to be open, and talk about things as they come to you, then you need to make sure you feel comfortable with it. You can make it where only your friends or your followers can see what you write - and therefore you know those who read your blog are actually interested. You can also make it so that no one can read anything unless you invite them or unless they have a specific password - but at that point are you hindering your readers to such an extent that they'll just stop coming to "visit" you?

I personally like to be able to say what I think when I think it. To construct my sentences to my liking and use words that please me. To have that little bit of open and free expression and hope that I can brighten someones day if they stumble across it. I've had visitors all across the globe, either on purpose or by accident or at random. So at this point, after having the blog for longer than [Kiddo] has been alive, it doesn't matter anymore. I have nearly 600 posts now. My life, thoughts, words, deeds, writings, stories - whatever - are already out there. I'm careful, but I'm not obsessive about it.

Ultimately I think it's a choice. If you want it to be searched and found and read by "the masses" security settings will stop that cold. If you want to be more selective with your readers and followers, security settings are there for that. The beauty of this is that you can customize your blog to fit your needs. It needs to be what YOU want it to be, not what someone else thinks it should be.

Just my 7 cents.

Love you!

♥J

"Yep...we're going home now! Bye!"

Yesterday evening, I took Little Bit down to the marina so we could go for a walk and then maybe play on the playground for a while. Sadly, none of this took place.

While we did go down there, we saw my friend RM who I hadn't seen in about a year and stood there talking for a few minutes. A very few minutes. All too brief, because I miss my friend. But that's not the point of this post. As we were standing there chatting, the dark and foreboding sky that hovered over the city to our Southeast loomed and was, quite honestly, a bit concerning. Then the wind started picking up. It got stronger and stronger, whipping this way and that, shooting debris at us that stung and caused us to shield our eyes.

My friend and I looked at each other and, with little preamble or sentiment, essentially came to the same decision: "Yep...we're going home now! Bye!" And we got in our respective cars, out of the violent wind, and went home.

Little Bit was none too pleased about the prospect of going back to the house after such a brief outing - and it was difficult to explain to her why Mommy turned right around and went home. I'm quite sure that she would have played happily, even with the wind. The water on the lake churned up so quickly that there were white caps on the crests of the waves. I've never seen the water on that lake get so choppy. The drive home was interesting, watching leaves, branches, dust and other detritus* fly through the air. See the trees bending far beyond what seemed natural; in most cases without breaking. Watch the cars on the road ahead of us swerve this way and that; guided by the wind.

When we drove up our street (we live about 5 minutes away from the marina where we were) the little house across the street had some activity that was curious. A large branch had fallen in their front yard, nearly touching and blocking their side door, and rendering their on-a-pole-in-the-yard-installed satellite dish completely unusable. It must have just happened, because by the time Little Bit and I got out of the car, the folks across the street were coming out of their house to survey the damage. I'd bet they were watching something on television and went outside to investigate only when their satellite signal vanished. No one was hurt.

So I had to explain to Little Bit why we went home so quickly - and she didn't really understand the concept of what strong storms, and especially strong winds, can do. So we watched a couple of videos on YouTube with tornadoes and other strong wind-related storms. She got it. Then she decided that she was afraid a tornado would come to our house, and by this time I was absolutely certain that would not happen, so I assured her that she was fine and that we, and the house, and the dog, and all her toys, were completely safe.

Her response? She shrugged, went into her room to play with a game and then 15 minutes later was sound asleep - all on her own. It was about 7:00 p.m.

Where were Kiddo and Hubby during all this? At a local church for a Cub Scout meeting.

This morning, all seems well with the world, however there is storm damage all over the place, and people still dealing with power outages. There are even a couple elementary schools that have had to delay opening by a couple of hours due to clean up of storm damage.

And guess what? We get to do it all over again today!

I'm SO glad I work right by a large bank of windows!

TTFN JMS

* Yes, I had to look it up. I thought it was "detrius" but apparently it's not.

The Secret Life of Socks

The story below is one I wrote for the now-defunct "Knox Writing Club" blog that I started with my friend RK back in 2008. I don't know that I ever posted it on my blog - and frankly I'm too lazy to go back and hunt for it through the nearly-600 old posts!

Will this change the way you feel about your socks?

TTFN
JMS

*****
The Secret Life of Socks
We never know what the day will hold. Is today going to be quiet and uneventful, conversing with our fellow drawer-mates in the dark silence, or will it involve any number of tortures? That all depends on what the human decides when she wakes up.

Right now, all we can hear are muffled sounds from Outside; the world outside our small, dark existence. This is the time of day when we all panic. Everyone here is quiet; not even breathing; wondering. “Who will it be today?” There are some lucky ones here, though; those few who rarely get chosen because they are the wrong color or the wrong season – but it changes.

We’ve all be holding our breath now for hours. Outside, all is quiet. It seems like the water has quit running and the human must be dressing. The hairdryer hasn’t started yet. That is our cue - when the hairdryer stops. We can only guess where she is in her daily ablutions.

At length, the muffled sound of the hairdryer begins and simultaneously, every heartbeat in the drawer speeds up. Panic sets in. How much pain do we have to go through? When will it be enough? We cannot help but fervently wish that another of us will be chosen, leaving the rest of us to live another day in blissful peace.

This life is not one that any of us has chosen. It was chosen for us. We are but socks. How, then, can we have our revenge on the ones who made us? The one who purchased us? Or, the one who tortures us regularly? We have all made plans. We have all fantasized about turning the tables on our captors and inflicting horrendous pain upon them. We were made soft. Revenge is a thing of dreams.

Presently, we hear the silent footsteps of our captor bearing down upon our dark prison. The drawer opens, and the human reaches in to select one or two of us for further inspection in the glaring light of the bathroom. Shortly after inspection, one of us is sent back, happy at being rejected, while the other is violently separated from their sole mate and shoved onto a waiting human appendage.

This is the least of the pain. The worst of the pain begins once our fellow captors, the shoes, are secured in place on this same human appendage. The day begins in panic, and ends in pain.

Later, being within an inch of losing our lives, we are ripped off the human appendage, and tossed uncaringly into a waiting, smelly pile. Some of us have been bloodied. Some have been ripped, torn, cut. Some have been stretched to something totally unlike our former selves. But we all begin the waiting process for the finale.

After recovering somewhat during our one or two day stay in the smelly pile, we are hauled away in a basket, deposited into a swirling horror of water, nearly drowned, spun violently, and then heated until we nearly melt. Then, if we are lucky, we are reunited with our sole mate, and put back into our prison, only to begin again.

If we are unlucky, we lose our sole mate permanently to the Unknown. The Outside world is a cruel, cruel place. If you are ever unlucky enough to be granted a wish, do not wish for this life. Only the strong survive.

~(C) JMS, November 2008

K-Mart with an attitude problem?

I was trying to be so good; really making an attempt to keep up with my blog on a more consistent basis. I guess THAT didn't work, considering that it's been 22 days since my last post. (I feel like I've just confessed an unpardonable sin...and no, I'm not Catholic; not that it matters.)

Either that or I've gone to some kind of "Bloggers Anonymous" meeting. BA. "Hello, my name is Jennifer and it's been 22 days since my last post."

Sheesh.

So what have I been up to for the last 22 days? Frankly I'm not sure where to begin, because though I'm sure something interesting and blog-worthy has happened, I'm drawing a blank on what it could be. Although (and I don't know if I've already posted this way back when) I did give up all forms of soda for Lent. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, which was March 9th - and I haven't had any soda at all. Which quite honestly is saying something because for me it is almost a nectar of the gods. It wasn't quite as bad as giving up smoking (which I STILL crave to this day nearly 12 years later) but it was pretty bad.

Kiddo and Little Bit, as I said to my friend LN last night, constantly amaze and inspire me. They lead me to be a better person - though sometimes it is, admittedly, difficult. Last night was difficult, for example. What started out as an attempt to do something fun with the kids wound up being a struggle not to strangle one of them (specifically my older male offspring) in the middle of K-Mart. But God told me, in his way, that murdering my child, in front of so many witnesses no less, is probably not the best way to deal with the behavior issues being displayed by my beloved son and that I should probably just go home, get him settled in for bed early, and let him sleep off the attitude. (Wow! What a badly-constructed sentence...I should be ashamed.) Which is exactly what we did.

Little Bit was tired, too - so she went to bed and fell asleep almost right away.

Then I read a bit and then it was lights-out for me as well.

TTFN JMS