Friday, November 20, 2009

Thanksgiving Prep FF

Oh, it's the perfect Friday Five for me today. I believe I'm experiencing the mullygrubs - Mom and Dad finished their annual visit yesterday, the holidays are closing in with no family again this year, and a general mully-grubbiness has latched on... so here comes the cure via FF!
Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk, I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.


--Ginger Andrews (from Hurricane Sisters)

So this Friday before Thanksgiving, think about Aunt Bert and how she'll celebrate Thanksgiving! And how about YOU?

1. What is your cure for the "mulleygrubs"?
Love. Being around people who love me and whom I love. Friends, family, other loving people.
2. Where will you be for Thanksgiving?
We still haven't figured this out yet. Has anyone experienced some "alternative" options for the holiday that may be fun and meaningful? We're thinking of volunteering somewhere to serve food, but the local options are always swamped with volunteers. Other thoughts...?
3. What foods will be served? Which are traditional for your family?
All the familiar Thanksgivingy stuff are our traditions... but one year Jamie and I tried going to a Southern restaurant as an "alternative" :). It didn't work out so well for a holiday-feel.

4. How do you feel about Thanksgiving as a holiday?
Tough question! It is so many-layered and challenging. I tend to celebrate it as a secular U.S. holiday, a time for traditions and families and gratitude (to the Holy, of course, since that's my framework). I struggle with the historical conquest of native peoples, so if we celebrate publicly I try to honor that truth amidst giving thanks.
5. In this season of Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for?
Everything! I have been blessed with a wonderful spouse, a great job, a beautiful (rented) home and fun and loving cats. I have enough to eat, a warm bed and friends who care. I am healthy. My life is a veritable cornucopia of good things - what could I not be grateful for?!! (begone, mullygrubs!)

~~~
The mullygrubs have almost conquered
my spirit
trying to pull me
down into earth-bound disdain for
feeling
Grumpy-angry-old-woman-choice
to groan and diminish or grow and finish
life
on the ups. 


It is a choice, she croons in my defensive ear
it is a way of seeing the is-ness of it all.
What all,
I wonder impertinent
and prayerful
that she will convince me


won't stop at the roadblocks I throw into her path
to my shyly-peeking-open-soul-door.


keep coming, don't stop, hurdle the concrete barrier of my pain
and sweep the door open with Spirit-powered wind
hushing words
silently tucking themselves into my psyche's bedding
ready to sleep, and dream, and never
ever
fear

Monday, November 16, 2009

Visitations...


...and I do not mean angelic.


I think the photograph depicts quite clearly the nature of the visitation. One face is calling out for help; the other is expressing direct disdain for the whole situation. Neither one is accustomed to having the other around: Puck enjoys the quiet of living a more monk-like existence (Mom tends to be more boisterous), and Mom doesn't generally go in for cats sitting on her lap (or on the couch, or even the carpet, for that matter). 


As for me, I think periodic changes and challenges to our familiar surroundings or ways of living are good for us. Not preferred, naturally, but growthful. Heaven help us all!
:P 

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Bud-wise-errrr


I've lived in Fort Collins for 5 years, and today was the first time I've ever been to the Budweiser brewery. The tasting room was cozy - of all things, I didn't expect warm atmosphere, a working fireplace and a great view of the mountains. If you visit northern Colorado, I recommend the tour (alongside the many micro-breweries here). My parents were particularly enamored of the clydesdales... I liked the commercials, past and present, since I don't have TV.
:)

Friday, November 6, 2009

New New NEW!

I always look forward to the Friday Five - especially when I can be so very RANDOM!

Songbird's invitation...
There's a new baby on my street, a double
PK whose Mom and Dad are Methodist
pastors and church planters. I'm hoping to
go over and meet her today. I love new babies, the way they smell and their sweet little fingers and toes. Little K has me thinking about all the new things that please us with their shiny freshness.
Please share with us five things you like *especially* when they are new.***

1. New pens and new notebooks. Mmmmm, the feel of writing with the smooth flow of a newly opened fountain pen (or its imitation, since that's what I can afford) on a fresh page - there is nothing like it!
2. A new book! The cover unblemished and the pages just begging for my input on their fresh margins. (again, a pen & a book - am I sensing a theme?)
3. A new bag. Whether a linen grocery bag, knitted
purse, or backpack - any bag! It wasn't until just a few years ago that I started switching out my bags/purses like crazy... particularly my computer bag. I had a great one on wheels that I rolled everywhere (the coffee shop, in particular, which completely embarrassed my partner). My current one is hot pink/purple with multicolored polka dots! (note: bags can carry pens & books).

4. New shoes. Again, it wasn't until a few years ago (after I moved to Colorado) that I began to enjoy nice shoes. Maybe it's having to be comfortable on your feet while wanting to be fun or stylish?

5. A new haircut. I just had 5 inches taken off my head yesterday (plus some extra in layers). A haircut is never exactly the same as when it's new.