Rummage is a fun word to say

I just got back from a walk around my neighborhood. Today is a lovely day, breezy and warm for the end of December. I go walking frequently and one of the things I enjoy about my neighborhood are the numerous piles of trash that sit by the road for weeks and weeks. I can witness firsthand the biodegradability of certain types of household garbage items. I can also scan each pile for salvageable items. One of the things I love is finding interesting and maybe useful things in people's garbage or in flea markets and antique stores. The good thing about garbage piles is that what you find is free! Today I spotted a footboard and headboard for a twin bed, and it wasn't half bad looking. But I don't need a twin bed. My other interesting find today was a pair of black, skater shoes that looked like the wearer spontaneously combusted while standing in them. The insides were completeley charred. It made me laugh. I kept walking and tried to imagine what could have happened to them, and my spontaneous combustion theory is still the best. Here are some others:

1. shoe owner needed candle holder and only the shoes were available
2. shoe owner burned shoes in a symbolic gesture,
"I'm through running from ___ (fill in the blank)"
3. shoe owner drank a little too much egg nog and took off shoes too close to the fire
4. shoe owner is a smoker and accidentally dropped a cigarette in both shoes, at separate times
5. shoe owner had a very bad case of athlete's foot

Well, as you can see, the possibilities are endless. If any of you kind readers have a theory, please post it and we'll hash this out together.

(Let me clarify by saying I don't rummage through people's garbage. I look at it and see what I can see.)

The other fun thing I saw today was three or four little boys up in a tree. They were laughing and trying to get down, but one of the boys got stuck. I walked by as his mom came to help him out. The boy's jean's pocket was hung on a branch and he was hanging from his jeans, laughing. I smelled fresh laundry when I walked by.

Merry Christmas!

 

Thanks for visiting hodgepodge!!

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Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in Latin

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Thoughts on a Tuesday

Ruthie started waving last week(the 13th of December, officially). It was so exciting. She does it more sparingly this week, but sometimes when she's playing she'll wave both arms, like she's practicing. She's also walking more steadily behind her little bike/walker thingy. It won't be long before she will officially be a biped. Just now I laid her down for her nap and I heard her talking to herself and so I peeked in to see what she was up to. She was romping around in her crib, sitting on her head with her booty up in the air, rolling around, looking in the little mirror at herself, all the while "talking" to herself. It was delightful to watch.

I hope yule enjoy this!

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat
Please put a penny in the old man's hat
If you haven't got a penny then a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny then
God bless you
God bless you, gentleman, God bless you
If you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you.

That is some old Christmas nursery rhyme that just came to mind. It makes me think of Dicken's Christmas Carol, which I am reading to Jay, starting last night. I started reading and Jay said, " Dickens was from where?" ( I was thinking "he really is dumb"). So I said " England, " and he said, " Then I'm gonna need you to read that in an English accent." Just when you think you know someone. So I am sharpening me lovely accent while starting a Christmas tradition of enjoying classic Christmas literature. ( I recommend O'Henry's short story "Gift of the Magi", and Tolstoy's short story " Where Love Is, There God is Also." I also love T.S. Eliot's poem, Journey of the Magi. I may try to post it here.)

O come, O come Inflatable

I have noticed this month the proliferation of inflatable Christmas lawn ornaments. No longer are people content with the huge plastic candles or manger scenes, the push is on for larger than life inflatable Frostys and Santas. At night they glow and wiggle as the continuous air flow keeps them upright in all their garish glory. During the day if you happen to drive by you'll see a bright puddle of nylon where Frosty frolicked the night before. Don't worry, Frosty has not headed home to colder climates, his air supply will return at dusk and he and Santa will reappear to brighten your heart again. A new addition to the inflatables that I noticed at Wal-Mart back in the summer (thank you, dear Wal-Mart) is a huge snow globe with Santa and a reindeer or two inside, and yes, it really snows inside the globe. Wonder of wonders. It seems the days of simple twinkle lights and wreaths are gone. This comment is in fact, a lament. I love driving around at Christmas to see the lights, but I have never liked the huge lawn ornaments, with the possible exception of the little reindeer outlined in white lights. The verdict is out on those creatures. They are low key and tasteful in most cases. But the inflatables make me shake my head and long for the days when life was simple and all people displayed in their yards was the American flag or a bird bath. There is always hope, however; maybe the little boy next door will get a BB gun for Christmas (you'll shoot your eye out) and accidentally use Frosty as a target.

Start at the bottom picture and read upwards!

This is reaching way back into the archives. Senior Trip, 1996. Amelia Island, Florida. It really makes me smile to think of those days and all the days in between that day and this day. So I raise my glass, to Jess, best friend always and forever!

Love, Merrill

This picture is from our summer trip to Kazakhstan in 1999. We were frolicking in a lovely wheat field. Oh the mighty metaphor of the wheat field. Dos vidania! 

Today is the birthday of my longest and best friend, Jessie. I would like to wish her much joy on this day of her nativity. She has two sweet children, Georgia and Eben, and a swell husband, B(ee)rian. I love you, Jess! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you! Since I can't I've decided to put a couple happy pictures here so we can look and remember our fun times together. This one was in Austin, Texas, on our adventure in the Greenbelt. "Are we lost?" "I think so." "Let's go ask the guy playing the aboriginal instrument." 

This is a picture I took this summer, at a hot-air balloon fly-in. This is for all you hot-air balloon fanatics, and for all you road warriors. Or maybe for those looking for a picture for their school report on the subject of "transportation." Or for the psych majors-you can deconstruct the ultimate subconscious longing of the motorcycle, its frustration with its own limitations and it's "helium envy." And the literary among us:





So much depends upon
A red motorcycle
Glazed with rainwater
Beside the colorful hot air balloon

I am currently rereading the Lord of the Rings, and I can't help but think how easy it would have been for Frodo to get to Mordor if he had had a Harley or a hot-air balloon. I think the Harley would have been my choice, due to the fact that you could leave the Black Riders in the dust. I'm afraid a hot-air balloon would be no match for the Nazgul. Seriously, though, I am enjoying Tolkien's Lord of the Rings just as much as the first time I read it. His writing is enchantingly beautiful and the depth of his creativity astounds me. I feel like I am there, with the Fellowship, heading South through all their danger and despair. I find myself wishing I could stay awhile in Lothlorien, with the Galadrim beneath the golden mallorn trees. This is what makes a good book. And when I say "good book" that is a simple phrase that to me encompasses many varied descriptions and qualifications that would take awhile to expound, therefore "good book" must suffice.
I must away, the baby awakes....