“find your place on the planet.
dig in,
and take responsibility from there.”
― gary snyder
Apr30
Monthly Archives: April 2016
Apr29
story.
—
image credit: grammarly
Apr28
wings.
kinders offer their presentations
to
the other kinders
and to us
their teachers.
they are very excited
as
they tell us
all about
the animals
they have studied.
one teaches us about
the colorful parrot.
another one asks
‘why do they fly?’
kinder answers
‘so they can see the world.’
in this moment
of clarity and understanding
she has
traded places with us
and has
become the teacher
and
we learn so much from her.
—
“feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?”
-frida kahlo
—
image credit: boredpanda.com
Apr27
go together.
team problem solving
4 grandies and 1 wagon
lots of sizes
lots of weight
lots of ages
lots of ideas
lots of feelings
1 bent axle
1 road at the end
how to get it back up the driveway
who wants to pull
who wants to push
who wants to ride
who wants to walk
how can we do it so no one cries?
—
“if you want to go quickly, go alone.
if you want to go far, go together.”
~african proverb.
Apr26
slim to none.
posted online by my local news outlet:
Severe weather forecast changed significantly, now in parts of Michigan.
Storm Prediction Center says severe storms possible in west Michigan this evening.
Main threat of severe weather expected just west of Michigan, but still a concern here.
The severe weather forecast for this afternoon and evening has changed significantly, and has increased part of Michigan’s severe weather chances.
The Storm Prediction Center issued a new forecast at 12:30 p.m., after looking at the latest round of weather data.
They basically shifted all of the severe weather risk areas eastward. The images above show you the earlier forecast from this morning on the left, and the forecast from 12:30 p.m. on the right.
Much of southern Lower Michigan went from a marginal risk of severe weather to a slight risk of severe weather.
—
i am a little confused, especially now that i’ve seen it move from marginal to slight, so i looked up the difference in the dictionary and now i’m really confused. i think i’ll just go to bed and wake up in the morning, hoping that the risk is actually at the ‘slim to none’ level.
—
mar·gin·al
ˈmärjənl/
adjective
adjective: marginal
of, relating to, or situated at the edge or margin of something.
vs.
slight
slīt/
adjective
adjective: slight; comparative adjective: slighter; superlative adjective: slightest
small in degree; inconsiderable.
—
news credit: mlive.com
Apr25
comfortable.
rescue glen frey the cat not the rockstar
is beginning to get comfortable.
he still eats like a mafioso
facing the door
always on his guard
and
we still startle each other
if either of us enters a room too fast
but
he doesn’t run away and hide
as much anymore
and even
hangs around a bit longer each day
scooting off to his safe spot
when he needs to
but
he talks to me loudly
and
lets me brush him now
and purrs
and tips over
and
even has bedtime habits.
at 10:30 each night
he climbs into his cushiony basket
where his stuffed kitty friend
awaits him
high atop
the window bench with a view of outside.
for a guy who’s had a hard and uncertain life
he seems to be settling in just fine.
—
if it’s the right chair,
it doesn’t take too long to get comfortable in it.
-robert de niro
Apr24
bubukles and babblement.
Shakespeare’s birthplace and The Roald Dahl Museum
You might think there’s nothing to link Roald Dahl and William Shakespeare, but there are a few things they have in common…
They’ve both got big anniversaries this year:
2016 marks 100 years since Roald Dahl’s birth, and 400 years since Shakespeare’s death. That means 2016 is a pretty great year for celebrating the lives and works of these two world-famous writers.
They both made up some crackling words:
Shakespeare coined countless new words and phrases, many of which have found their way into common usage, including ‘wild goose chase’, ‘laughing stock’, and ‘heart of gold’. Roald Dahl invented quite a few words of his own, especially while writing The BFG – who can forget snozzcumber, gigglehouse and exunkly?
Both authors have their very own dictionaries, both published by Oxford University Press. The Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary and The Gobblefunk Dictionary (coming in June).
Quick quiz:
Can you tell which of the following 5 words are Roald Dahl words, and which 5 are Shakespeare words?
Babblement, Smilets, Bubukles, Crumpscoddle, Pulsidge,
Vizaments, Squizzled, Twangling, Bootboggler, Sossel.
(Answers at the bottom of the page!)
They both have links to the Royal Shakespeare Company:
Set up in 1875 the Royal Shakespeare Company was established to inspire a lifelong love of William Shakespeare and to produce new plays and productions. In 2010 the RSC’s production of Matilda the Musical based on Roald Dahl’s Matilda, premiered at The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, before moving to the West End in 2011. This record-breaking, award-winning musical is still going strong, made its way to Broadway in 2013 and toured Australia in 2015.
They are both loved worldwide:
Shakespeare is well and truly international. According to The British Council his works have been translated into over 100 languages (including Klingon), and performed worldwide – Romeo and Juliet has been performed in 24 countries in the last 10 years alone!
Roald Dahl books have been translated into 58 languages including Norwegian, Welsh and Japanese, but not Klingon… yet. During his lifetime Roald Dahl stuck a pin in a world map every time he received fan mail from a new place. Far flung destinations included Sao Paulo, Beijing, Addis Ababa and Windhoek.
Roald’s Fan Map
They are both top ten borrowed authors:
Both Roald Dahl and Shakespeare are very popular with library goers it would seem. The Public Lending Right lists Roald Dahl as the number 1 most borrowed classic author in 2015, with Shakespeare taking tenth place. Not bad!
They’re big on the big screen:
Many of Shakespeare’s plays have been made into movies. According to the BFI the first Shakespeare film was made in 1899. Since then there have been countless film versions and adaptations including William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), West Side Story (1961), and 10 Things I Hate About You (1999).
There have been some great film adaptations of Roald Dahl’s books too, Including Matilda, Fantastic Mr Fox, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The BFG is coming to cinemas this July.
You can visit their home towns:
Two places you must definitely visit are The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire and Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Roald Dahl lived in the village of Great Missenden for 36 years and wrote all of his children’s books in his Writing Hut in the bottom of his garden. The Museum is housed in an old coaching inn on the High Street, you can’t miss it – look for the painted BFG on the front.
William Shakespeare lived in Henley Street in Stratford from the time of his birth until he was old enough to marry. Visitors can tread in his footsteps in the house he lived in, for millions of enthusiasts worldwide this house is a shrine.
Some of their stories are rooted in folklore:
Witches, magic, sprites and mysterious creatures appear in work by Roald Dahl and Shakespeare, and almost certainly rooted in folklore. Roald Dahl’s Norwegian heritage may have influenced his stories about jumbly giants and witches. His first story for children The Gremlins was inspired by RAF folklore which held that little creatures were responsible for the various mechanical failures on aeroplanes.
Shakespeare plays feature similar characters: Titania in Midsummer Night’s Dream, the sorcere Prospero, and the witches in Macbeth. Even Hamlet is borrowed from an old Scandinavian tale.
Quiz answers:
Roald Dahl = Babblement, Crumpscoddle, Squizzled, Bootboggler, Sossel.
William Shakespeare = Smilets, Bubukles, Pulsidge, Vizaments, Twangling.
—
credits: roald dahl museum
Apr23
“a strong spirit transcends rules.”- prince
while the kinders were playing a farm game
with crops and cash,
some sold
some bought
some traded.
i thought all were farmers
until one came to me
to say:
“she doesn’t want to be a farmer. she said she’s a jedi warrior!
that means she’ll be stronger than all of the rest of us!”
i told him that jedi and farmers are both very strong people.
both work hard and refuse to give up.
both try to do things peacefully.
and that
they could work together with no problem.
they would be good for each other.
they would help each other.
even a jedi has to eat.
even a farmer has to stand up and be brave.
and they became a very powerful team.
—
image credits: foodtank.com, google images, star wars, lucasfilm.ltd
Apr22
purple rain on earth day.
rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth;
without rain, there would be no life.
-john updike
Apr21
finding myself.
one saturday night in 2012, a search party was organized in iceland to hunt for a woman who had apparently failed to return to her tour bus. but the twist? she had. she became part of the search party looking for her, unaware that she was the subject of everyone’s concern.
the tour bus in question had stopped near iceland’s eldgja canyon and the woman in question took the opportunity to go freshen up and change clothes.
when she reboarded the bus, the rest of the passengers didn’t realize it was her. instead, they became alarmed that she’d gone missing. the driver waited for an hour before the police were called.
things escalated. a search of the area took place, joined by around 50 people, some in vehicles, many on foot. the coast guard was alerted, and the search went on for several hours.
it wasn’t until three in the morning that the truth became apparent: that the woman everyone thought was missing was actually helping them in the search. once she realized she was the missing tourist, she informed the police. the search was called off.
moral of the story? it’s always worth properly counting the number of people on a tour bus. no matter what they happen to be wearing.
—
“not only do I not know what’s going on,
i wouldn’t know what to do about it if i did”
– george carlin
—
credits: mentalfloss.uk
I didn't have my glasses on.... 
