Monthly Archives: May 2020

May11

swap meet.

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 this sign in a local store

so funny and makes a good point

yesterday

i found myself

swapping out a box of rigatoni

for a homemade strawberry shortcake donut

it all depends on supply and demand

and irrational cravings

i consider the transaction a win-win

vs.

a battle of the titans

yes

 there are days

when i would swap in the other direction.

what have you swapped during your quarantine?

 

—

“america ships tons of sugar cookies to denmark,

and denmark ships tons of sugar cookies to america.

wouldn’t it be more efficient just to swap recipes?”

-michael pollard

 

May10

from a mother to her daughters.

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happy mother’s day

to my daughters

who have shared in

my seemingly endless graduations

and all of

 our many, many other adventures and misadventures,

i  am grateful to you and love you for this

you’ve made me happy

watching you all grow

from amazing daughters into amazing mothers

you are my idols. 

“i don’t have to be perfect.

all is have to do is show up and enjoy

the messy, imperfect, and beautiful journey of my life.”

-kerry washington

May8

toast.

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I’m not gonna’ lie, i’m pretty good with toast.

 

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“What is the right way to cut a piece of toast?”Diagonally, insists the narrator in NIcholson Baker’s novel “The Mezzanine.” It creates a “triangularly cut slice” which in turn yields “an ideal first bit.” With rectangular toast, you must “angle the shape into your mouth, as you angle a big dresser through a hall doorway.” (Dwight Garner, NYT book critic’s new essay on the literature of breakfast food.)

—

—

“i have trouble with toast. toast is very difficult.

you have to watch it all the time or it burns up.”

-julia child, master chef (1912-2004)

 

—

credits: New York Times, Dwight Garner, Nicholson Baker,”The Mezzanine”, google images

May7

stillness.

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argo park, ann arbor, mi, usa – spring 2020

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“the important stuff will still be important by the time you get to it. the unimportant will have made its insignificance obvious or simply disappear. then, with stillness rather than needless urgency or exhaustion, you will be able to sit down and give what deserves consideration your full attention.” – Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key

May3

eel good.

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"Don't let me be lon-eel-y tonight."

An Aquarium in Japan Wants You to FaceTime With Its Shy Eels

“Many people have turned to video chat as a way to continue socializing while in quarantine, and the Sumida Aquarium in Tokyo, Japan, is asking you to help its eels do the same.

After the aquarium closed its doors to the public on March 1, its population of 300-odd spotted garden eels became increasingly bashful, burrowing into the sand whenever staff members were around. Although that isn’t abnormal behavior for wild garden eels, the ones in captivity at Sumida had adapted to the consistent, non-threatening presence of human visitors, and no longer tried to hide whenever someone approached.

This return to reticence is making it hard for employees to monitor their health, so they’ve devised a plan to reacclimate the tiny creatures to the existence of people: a three-day “face-showing festival” from Sunday, May 3, to Tuesday, May 5. During that time, the aquarium is requesting that people FaceTime the eels, waving or calmly calling out to them for up to 5 minutes before disconnecting.

Since they’ll be using FaceTime, you’ll need an iPhone, iPad, or other iOS device to call in. Staff members will be accepting calls on five tablets around the tanks, so there are five different email addresses you can try if you’d like to chat with the eels:

helpchin001@gmail.com‌
helpchin002@gmail.com‌
helpchin003@gmail.com‌
helpchin004@gmail.com‌
helpchin005@gmail.com

The lines will be open each day from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m JST, and because Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of EST, participants in the U.S. will technically need to call in the night before; i.e. from Saturday, May 2, to Monday, May 4, between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 1 a.m EST.In other words, it’s the perfect time to read a very short bedtime story to a very small eel.

 

“i don’t mind eels. except as meals.”

-ogden nash

 

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credits: ellen gutosky, mental floss

May2

little ponies.

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with the return of the beautiful weather

it seemed like a good time

to also return to shorter pants and smooth legs 

in my enthusiastic state

no need for directions

no need for glasses

i quickly replaced the blade cartridge in my razor

tried it, and nothing. 

looked more closely and realized 

i had put it on upside down

so rather than

fixing it and turning it the right way

my go-to move

was to go in the opposite direction

shaving from ankle to knee

with great results

until

i noticed some blood

apparently this technique

is not quite as efficient and gentle

as i had imagined

then there was even more blood

and more

luckily

i had my little pony bandaids at the ready

patched up all my places that needed patching

 set off for my walk

thanks, ponies 

luckily i am not a barber.

 

 

—

“education is when you read the fine print. experience is what you get if you don’t.”

-pete seeger

and

“just because I’m a lady doesn’t mean that I cannot handle myself in a sticky situation.”

– Rarity the Little Pony from the “Dog and Pony Episode”

–

 

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