Tag Archives: friendship

flokati: a dance, a cereal, or a beloved uncle’s nickname?

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turns out it’s none of the above. it’s the rug i have on my wood floor, and it’s wool comes from a mountain goat or lamb or some sort of unknown animal, perhaps an otter, but it’s hard to know for sure.

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and after such a long and hearty winter, it was time to wash my filthy flokati and bring it back into the fresh and clean spring feel now inhabiting the cottage. i researched online and found that the scandanavians traditionally throw it outside on top of a pile of fresh snow and beat it into clean submission with a stick. i then went with the laundromat option, so as to maintain at least some illusion of normalcy with my neighbors for just a bit longer.

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i invited my friend m to go on a ‘goat washing adventure’ with me. she was in immediately, as she is up for most anything. and while she wasn’t sure exactly what we’d be doing, she knew that we always have fun doing whatever it might be. upon notifying her family, she was quickly questioned by her daughters, who said they never knew you could wash a rug, and asked why it had never happened in their house. and why it was never going to. i understood this, and if mine was not so ‘pet-like’, it never would have happened in my house either. that settled, we headed off to super sud’s.

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all you need:

the flokati, some strong coffee, a bottle of gentle woolite, lots of coins. good company,

and of course, a dog brush.

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greeted by the manager, with no bra, a benjamin the dog sweatshirt,

and a personality like a drill sergeant, who told us not to overload, we were warned and ready.

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ummmm…

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there were so many options, signs, warnings. so much potential for trouble.

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so much math.

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i should have listened better in school.

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more math! and then, not working after all.

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but, somehow it had a homey feel about it. 

and it had with something for everyone.

the kitchen sink, with notes from mom.

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the tech center.

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the two odd cousins in the den.

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the food and entertainment in the family room area.

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the sports memorabilia corner.

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the centrifuge?

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the book nook.  

here i am, reading  and laughing out loud at

‘humor at the speed of life’,

written by fellow blogger, ned, (http://nedhickson.com).

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and here is m, after the wash,

fluffing the flokati, with the dog brush,

bringing it back to it’s original luster. 

she is taking her job very seriously.

and she is primping and pampering her

like dorothy upon arriving in the emerald city.

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and at last, she is a beauty once more.

and after much coffee, many laughs,

more warnings, and a few scoldings from the sergeant, 

we are on our way.

and the flokati

is ready to be welcomed back to the cottage,

fresh and fluffy, once more.

whatever it might be.

and now that i look at it,

i think it might be muskrat wool.

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“I’ve buried a lot of my laundry in the back yard.”
― Phyllis Diller

Work is the meat of life, pleasure the dessert. B. C. Forbes

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met up with some friends for brunch.

waited a long time and caught up on stories.

looked forward to the mimosas and coffee and delicious savory crepes.

as last, they arrived at our table. 

but then. 

our dessert came.

1 minute later.

ice cream, sweet apple filling oozing, delicately wrapped in brown sugar.

tucked inside of the softest of doughs.

melting onto the plate.

we each had the same reaction at the same time.

threw down the gauntlet.

abandoned our food without a look back.

jumped into dessert. 

bliss. 

why we are friends.

we understand each other.

even when no words are spoken.

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Absolutely eat dessert first. The thing that you want to do the most, do that.  – Joss Whedon

the tie that surprisingly binds

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i was 6, and my middle sister and i shared a best friend. school was out and the whole summer was ahead for the 3 of us, with nothing to do but enjoy it together. our vision came to an abrupt halt when we found out that our best friend in the world was heading off on a vacation with her family to a far-off land called, ‘wisconsin.’ we couldn’t bear to be away from each other and so we came up with a plan to stay connected even though we might find ourselves in different states. we spent all day and gathered up every bit of string and yarn and twine we could find. we spent hours tying them all together to create ‘the world’s giantestbiggestlongeststrongest string ever.’ 

soon the big day arrived, the day of their departure.  as our friend and her family drove off, she was sitting backwards in her family station wagon and she kept the back window down. she held tightly onto one end of our magical string, while we stood on the street in front of her house holding onto the other end. after about 100 feet, at the corner, the string broke. my sister and i stood there dumbfounded and a bit sad as we realized our plan had not worked out as we expected. we could only imagine what she was feeling. when she returned 2 weeks later, we all laughed about it and went on with our summer together. the most wonderful thing is that through many years and many states and many life events, including the death of my sister, we still remain friends, like sisters, and forever tied together.