Category Archives: Life

Jun13

flashdance.

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35 years ago ‘flashdance’ was released

and it emerged again recently

in honor of international dance day

 i loved this movie

 had the shoes, the ripped up sweatshirt, the perm

though my dancing style

was a bit different  

from this welder by day/dancer by night

and i didn’t live in a cool loft

or have an eccentric dog

or ride my bike to work

or look at all alike

but other than that

we were like sisters.

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Take your passion and make it happen! #InternationalDanceDay

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“let us read and let us dance –

two amusements that will never do any harm to the world. “

-voltaire

 

 

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image credit: paramount pictures, jennifer beals

Jun12

dollar for dollar.

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when one local dollar tree store closed

my favorite enthusiastic manager

moved to the new location

and judging by my recent visit

he has not lost one bit

of his dollar store fervor and expertise.

this was a conversation between bob (the manager) and evelyn (my cashier) as i was checking out:

E: “bob, you’re really good at remembering all of the balloon numbers to ring up and knowing each one of them without looking.”

B: “well, i’ve been doing it a long time. once in a while a number will change or a new shape will come in, like a unicorn, but it’s part of my job to keep up with it.”

E: “when i worked at the grocery store, i knew all the prices for the cucumbers, the peppers and tomatoes. the easy ones”

B: “some are trickier, like avocados, and for some of those things you only see sometimes it’s harder to remember the all the plu’s.”

E: “it’s really a skill, bob. to be able to do that.”

customer john interrupts:

J: “hey bob – so this is where you’ve got up to – how are you liking the change?”

B: “hey, john. good to see you. it’s great. every day is great. i’m so lucky to be here.”

and how lucky is dollar tree to have bob as a manager?

a man who truly loves his job

 takes pride in all of it

is always smiling and helpful

knows exactly where every item in the store is located

and who happily learns the number for the new unicorn balloon.

Jun11

max.

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the kindhearted and quiet and hardworking kid

who comes and goes

without much of a pattern

asking if i’ll hire him

to shovel my snow and mow my lawn

now has a name – ‘max’

and his legend is growing and spreading

he came once when i wasn’t home

and my neighbor paid him to do my lawn

in return for the help i’d given her in the past

and the next time he was over mowing

max suddenly stopped his mower

because he found a baby squirrel

who had fallen from the nest in the tree

 and was sitting motionless and scared

we tried to pick the squirrel up

but he feebly ran away

into my neighbor’s yard

who then came out to help

and we all took him to my other neighbor’s house

who loves the squirrels

and said that he didn’t look good

 put him in his backyard and see if he would play

then brought him back

and laid him down below my tree

the squirrel soon passed away

and we buried him in the garden

and now, after meeting him

 my other neighbor has given max a job as well

and as more and more

of his generous and hard-working sprit is revealed

his business and his reputation as a decent human being

both continue to grow.

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“as much as we need a prosperous economy,

we also need a prosperity of kindness and decency.”

-caroline kennedy

Jun10

rainbow.

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“two bubbles found they had rainbows on their curves. 

they flickered out saying: 

“It was worth being a bubble, just to have held that rainbow thirty seconds.” 

 -carl sandburg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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image credits: thaths, flickr, mental floss

Jun9

open doors.

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one kinder opens the door for another after making sure it is safe for him to go

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the bittersweet feelings of being part of our multi-age class

most of the children don’t see themselves as being

different ages or stages

and may not yet see

that some will be moving on

to the higher grades

where they will have the chance to grow

in ways they have yet to imagine

and some will stay with us

for one more year

where they will have the chance

to be the leaders and teachers

to the new little ones joining our class

what we all know without any doubt

is that we are one

 we will always keep an open door for all of them

to safely come and go as they need

and as some leave and as some stay

our journeys continue another day.

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“if I look back when I begin to leave, will they remember me?” 

― adam young, owl city

Jun8

funoodler.

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the funoodler,

a food-safe reloadable hot gun that can doodle, draw and design with cheese

For a limited time, the laughing squid store is featuring a great deal on this gem.The Fondoodler is a super simple, food-safe reloadable hot gun that melts most types of string, shredded, block or sheet-style cheese in a cylindrical canister, just like a hot glue gun. This product is available for only $17 – an 43% discount on its original retail price of $30.

FEATURES

  • It’s a hot glue gun for cheese
  • Load it up with pretty much any kind of cheese and splorch away
  • In our tests, Velveeta got too liquidy to work very well, so we recommend just using real cheese
  • Contrary to the repeated protestations of the Cheetos mascot, being cheesy turns out to be very easy indeed
  • The perfect implement for writing entries in your dairy

SPECIFICATIONS

  • Model: Fond 1 as in: “if you can “fond” 1 for less, buy it!”
  • Condition: New
  • Gets cheese-meltingly hot in 3 minutes
  • All the convenience of Easy Cheese but maybe less gross? Jury is out on that one
  • Make your own Leaning Tower of Cheeza
  • Use it with American, Jack, Cheddar, whatever you like
  • String cheese is already the perfect size but shredded, block, or even sheet cheese also works
  • Use it for mortar in your cracker house. It’s Craft Cheese!
  • Dishwasher safe
  • Not for use with chocolate or marshmallows (though if you want to put some chocolate chips or tiny marshmallows in there we can’t stop you)
  • Power: 120V, 60Hz, .8A

Fondoodler: a hot glue gun, but for cheese. A scientific breakthrough to transform the way we live, the way we think, and the way we put cheese on stuff.

 

“the poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”

  • -gilbert k. chesterton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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credits: laughingsquid.com,lori dorn,

Jun7

gangsters.

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our 5th grade boys

milling around

excited and nervous and happy

decided they were going to do their ‘gangster walk’

on the way in to their graduation ceremony

in their suits and ties

jackets thrown over shoulders

and i had to smile

when i heard them

strutting by

singing ‘sweet caroline’

at the top of their lungs

i’m betting neil diamond would take it as a compliment

and when they went inside

they recited their kind words

sang school songs

watched as pictures of their younger days

flashed upon the screen

and finally ended with a beautiful candlelighting

i’m proud of these gangsters

as i’ve known some of them since they were 3

before they even knew what letter ‘gangster’ started with.

 

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“any distraction tends to get in the way of being an effective gangster.”

-terence winter

Jun6

end/beginning.

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kids from school days long since past

happy that this day was last. 

 

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“the biggest happiness is when at the end of the year

you feel better than at the beginning. “

-henry david thoreau

 

 

 

 

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image credit:  ann arbor news, ann arbor public library vintage collection

Jun5

make gentle.

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Ethel and Bobby Kennedy play with their sons before bedtime at home

 

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“let us dedicate ourselves to what the greeks wrote so many years ago:

to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. “

 – robert kennedy

november 20, 1925 – june 6, 1968

(50 years ago)

 

 

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image credit: time life pictures, paul schuyler

Jun4

rbg.

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saw this documentary last night.

mighty powerful.

wow.

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“it’s hard not to have a big year at the Supreme Court.”

-ruth bader ginsburg

 

 

 

 

 

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credits: magnolia pictures, cnn films. storyville films