As the good, socially responsible person you are probably trying to be (because I think most of my friends and family are in that category, and I don't think there are many strangers reading this blog, and anyway I would hope they're trying to be socially responsible too), you may well have money in "ethical" investment funds.
Well, just remember that it's always a good idea to question anyone who's trying to sell you something and to read the fine print on anything you sign your name (much less give your money) to.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
sending up the white flag
OK. Fine. You win. I give up.
A bunch of snow tumbled off our steep roof yesterday, hitting the top of the 6-foot snow drifts separating our house from the street. Because the snow is piled so high and precariously, most of what fell off the roof tumbled down the snow drifts to fill in the (very little) space that wasn't already covered in snow, such as the narrow walkway from the front door to the sidewalk, the sidewalk itself, and our front porch.
There wasn't much on the front porch - we keep moving the mail basket closer to the door so that the mailman will continue to take pity on us enough to deliver our mail. The bench and planters on the other end of the porch weren't exactly in use anyway.
But there was one thing on the front porch that was getting a lot of use, and is now buried under several feet of snow.
Yup.
The snow shovel.
p.s. That doesn't mean it's not going to snow anymore.
p.p.s. If you clicked on the link to the house photo, just picture snow piles completely blocking the entire front of the house, up to nearly the top of the windows. Seriously.
A bunch of snow tumbled off our steep roof yesterday, hitting the top of the 6-foot snow drifts separating our house from the street. Because the snow is piled so high and precariously, most of what fell off the roof tumbled down the snow drifts to fill in the (very little) space that wasn't already covered in snow, such as the narrow walkway from the front door to the sidewalk, the sidewalk itself, and our front porch.
There wasn't much on the front porch - we keep moving the mail basket closer to the door so that the mailman will continue to take pity on us enough to deliver our mail. The bench and planters on the other end of the porch weren't exactly in use anyway.
But there was one thing on the front porch that was getting a lot of use, and is now buried under several feet of snow.
Yup.
The snow shovel.
p.s. That doesn't mean it's not going to snow anymore.
p.p.s. If you clicked on the link to the house photo, just picture snow piles completely blocking the entire front of the house, up to nearly the top of the windows. Seriously.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Beelzebufo!
The Frog from Hell is coming to get you!
Well, OK, maybe not coming now, but it's a good thing none of us was in Madagascar 70 million years ago.
And I think "Beelzebufo" would make a great name for a band or a houseplant or a first-born son, don't you?
Monday, February 18, 2008
multiple kinds of "wow"
I just had a total blast dancing away the weekend. I got to spend time with my friends, make new friends, dance with so many of my favorite people, flirt with some very nice boys, and not sleep nearly enough.
And oh the singing! After making it to the last 10 minutes of the Amidons' harmony gospel sing at last year's festival, I made very sure to be there for the whole thing this time. Not only that but I now own fun technology that allowed me to bring the session home with me, because I am lousy at remembering songs after only one or two or twelve times through. And thanks to that technology I just remembered - as I uploaded the recordings to my computer - the moment when I looked up during the chorus of "I Will Guide Thee" ("All the way from earth to heaven, I will guide thee with mine eyes) and watched a deaf man and his hearing wife sing and sign the words to each other, and I wondered if anyone around me saw it too or if they just thought I was crying because the song is so pretty.
And did anyone else find it HILARIOUS (and kind of a bad omen) that in the closing ceremony during the farewell contra dance, nobody could find the thank-you gift for the outgoing director of festival logistics? I bet he'd have known where it was.
I love disappearing now and then into my weird little world.
But it's funny how life doesn't stop in the rest of the world just because there's dancing to be done (which is why, I think, I need so much to dance in the first place). This was a rough weekend for some people I love. Cycles of life and all that. Hug them if you see them, will you?
And did you know? A country was just born. And of course it's messy and there is struggle and who knows what will happen. But that's pretty exciting.
Go, universe! Way to keep things interesting.
And oh the singing! After making it to the last 10 minutes of the Amidons' harmony gospel sing at last year's festival, I made very sure to be there for the whole thing this time. Not only that but I now own fun technology that allowed me to bring the session home with me, because I am lousy at remembering songs after only one or two or twelve times through. And thanks to that technology I just remembered - as I uploaded the recordings to my computer - the moment when I looked up during the chorus of "I Will Guide Thee" ("All the way from earth to heaven, I will guide thee with mine eyes) and watched a deaf man and his hearing wife sing and sign the words to each other, and I wondered if anyone around me saw it too or if they just thought I was crying because the song is so pretty.
And did anyone else find it HILARIOUS (and kind of a bad omen) that in the closing ceremony during the farewell contra dance, nobody could find the thank-you gift for the outgoing director of festival logistics? I bet he'd have known where it was.
I love disappearing now and then into my weird little world.
But it's funny how life doesn't stop in the rest of the world just because there's dancing to be done (which is why, I think, I need so much to dance in the first place). This was a rough weekend for some people I love. Cycles of life and all that. Hug them if you see them, will you?
And did you know? A country was just born. And of course it's messy and there is struggle and who knows what will happen. But that's pretty exciting.
Go, universe! Way to keep things interesting.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
oh what a day
Holy snowstorm, Batman! They were not kidding on this one (in fact, that's been the problem all winter - they've never been kidding, and they've rarely been wrong. Unless you count always getting more snow than they predicted as wrong). High/lowlights of the last 24 hours:
1) 2/3 (myself being half of that 2/3) (=1) (there is the extent of my knowledge retention from high school math) of Colman's Well carpooled to rehearse at the Renaissance Man's house last evening. A few flakes were falling as the Tall Bass and I left Brattleboro, but five minutes later on the highway we were driving through a blizzard. We should have turned around and gone home, but the Renaissance Man is leaving (hopefully) for Ireland today so we really wanted to gather and sing some new stuff since our concerts last weekend, and take care of some business planning. You know, the stuff dumb musicians prioritize when they're too used to driving through all kinds of crap in order to get to the rehearsals and gigs that allow them to be musicians. (Note: I don't really think of myself as a musician yet, but I am sort of along for the ride here.) So, on we went.
2) Of course, by the time we got on the highway to come back north later in the evening, the road was covered in several inches of snow, nothing had been plowed, it was impossible to see much beyond the front of the car, and there was crazy snow blowing straight at us. If you stared straight into it (which I could do because I wasn't driving) it felt a little like being on Space Mountain at Disneyworld. Except actually kind of trippy and scary. The drive, normally 20 minutes, took us over an hour. And then he stayed over at my house rather than risk (at best) several more hours (normally 20 minutes) driving on the state highway the rest of the way back to where he lives, or (at worst) death.
And then this morning the guy at the insurance agency across the street, in whose lot we left the Tall Bass' car because there is NOWHERE else to put a car in a snowstorm in this town, screamed (I am not kidding) very un-nice things at him this morning as he was trying to get his car out at 8am. I have never heard anything like it. You'd think that on a morning when our little Vermont town wakes up to 9 inches of snow under half an inch of ice, with sleet still falling, everything closed, and travel totally treacherous, that people would be a little flexible and understanding instead of being, oh, HUGE ASSHOLES. It makes me so sad to be that wrong about people.
3) But before that, we got up and looked out the window to see that the huge snowbanks in front of my house had spread out to completely block in the narrow tunnel we've managed to keep cleared out so that we can get out the door. The view from my front door was this (and, to be clear, all space to the right and left of this frame had five feet of snow in it also):
Doh.
But then later it looked like this (that's me shoveling; my housemate took this photo). Go me!:
4) When I said "everything closed" in town, I meant "everything BUT my organization, despite the fact that our office is up in the hills on a dirt road that sucks even when the rest of the roads in town are OK." Right. Sure, they gave us a two-hour delayed opening. But still.
So then, after shoveling for over an hour and deciding there was no way I'd ever get my car out, and if I did I did not feel like risking my life to drive to work, I came in and called a friend from work and went on a tirade about having to go into work in this weather (mind you, I quite like my job and certainly would have liked to be at work today and gotten things done. I just don't like skidding off the road and dying). Which he let me ramble about for a while, and then cut in to say "oh, I just got a message that we decided to close for the day after all." In other words, OK, MonkeyHippy, chill out.
Woohoo! Snow day!
5) And then the sleet started mixing with rain, and all the storm drains were iced over (or MIA since October, because they're permanently buried under snow) and my street (a main thoroughfare through town, mind you) had bigger and bigger puddles building up, until suddenly the puddles were multiple inches of flowing water with nowhere to go, and it was coming up to the undercarriages of the cars, and the city had to send out public works guys and large equipment to try to clear the drains. Which they did, an effort involving only a dozen town employees, half a dozen pieces of huge equipment, and a couple of hours of trying to find the drains and intermittently closing off the street. I am not kidding. I'd hate to see how many city employees and backhoes it takes to change a light bulb.
I don't know if you can really get a sense of it in these photos, but trust me, it was NUTS. There was a lake in the street right in front of my house. If I'd been video-taping it I'm sure it could be on one of those Weather Channel storm specials.
And life will go on, and we will say, for (at least) the 17th time this winter, "wow, I don't know if we can handle another storm like that."
1) 2/3 (myself being half of that 2/3) (=1) (there is the extent of my knowledge retention from high school math) of Colman's Well carpooled to rehearse at the Renaissance Man's house last evening. A few flakes were falling as the Tall Bass and I left Brattleboro, but five minutes later on the highway we were driving through a blizzard. We should have turned around and gone home, but the Renaissance Man is leaving (hopefully) for Ireland today so we really wanted to gather and sing some new stuff since our concerts last weekend, and take care of some business planning. You know, the stuff dumb musicians prioritize when they're too used to driving through all kinds of crap in order to get to the rehearsals and gigs that allow them to be musicians. (Note: I don't really think of myself as a musician yet, but I am sort of along for the ride here.) So, on we went.
2) Of course, by the time we got on the highway to come back north later in the evening, the road was covered in several inches of snow, nothing had been plowed, it was impossible to see much beyond the front of the car, and there was crazy snow blowing straight at us. If you stared straight into it (which I could do because I wasn't driving) it felt a little like being on Space Mountain at Disneyworld. Except actually kind of trippy and scary. The drive, normally 20 minutes, took us over an hour. And then he stayed over at my house rather than risk (at best) several more hours (normally 20 minutes) driving on the state highway the rest of the way back to where he lives, or (at worst) death.
And then this morning the guy at the insurance agency across the street, in whose lot we left the Tall Bass' car because there is NOWHERE else to put a car in a snowstorm in this town, screamed (I am not kidding) very un-nice things at him this morning as he was trying to get his car out at 8am. I have never heard anything like it. You'd think that on a morning when our little Vermont town wakes up to 9 inches of snow under half an inch of ice, with sleet still falling, everything closed, and travel totally treacherous, that people would be a little flexible and understanding instead of being, oh, HUGE ASSHOLES. It makes me so sad to be that wrong about people.
3) But before that, we got up and looked out the window to see that the huge snowbanks in front of my house had spread out to completely block in the narrow tunnel we've managed to keep cleared out so that we can get out the door. The view from my front door was this (and, to be clear, all space to the right and left of this frame had five feet of snow in it also):
Doh.But then later it looked like this (that's me shoveling; my housemate took this photo). Go me!:
4) When I said "everything closed" in town, I meant "everything BUT my organization, despite the fact that our office is up in the hills on a dirt road that sucks even when the rest of the roads in town are OK." Right. Sure, they gave us a two-hour delayed opening. But still.
So then, after shoveling for over an hour and deciding there was no way I'd ever get my car out, and if I did I did not feel like risking my life to drive to work, I came in and called a friend from work and went on a tirade about having to go into work in this weather (mind you, I quite like my job and certainly would have liked to be at work today and gotten things done. I just don't like skidding off the road and dying). Which he let me ramble about for a while, and then cut in to say "oh, I just got a message that we decided to close for the day after all." In other words, OK, MonkeyHippy, chill out.
Woohoo! Snow day!
5) And then the sleet started mixing with rain, and all the storm drains were iced over (or MIA since October, because they're permanently buried under snow) and my street (a main thoroughfare through town, mind you) had bigger and bigger puddles building up, until suddenly the puddles were multiple inches of flowing water with nowhere to go, and it was coming up to the undercarriages of the cars, and the city had to send out public works guys and large equipment to try to clear the drains. Which they did, an effort involving only a dozen town employees, half a dozen pieces of huge equipment, and a couple of hours of trying to find the drains and intermittently closing off the street. I am not kidding. I'd hate to see how many city employees and backhoes it takes to change a light bulb.
I don't know if you can really get a sense of it in these photos, but trust me, it was NUTS. There was a lake in the street right in front of my house. If I'd been video-taping it I'm sure it could be on one of those Weather Channel storm specials.But now the day is almost done. And I almost feel like it was productive. I certainly got my exercise, what with two hour-long snow/sleet/slush/water-shoveling sessions. Have you ever shoveled water? That was a new one for me. And hopefully tomorrow my car wheels won't be encased in ice (hence the shoveling water).
And life will go on, and we will say, for (at least) the 17th time this winter, "wow, I don't know if we can handle another storm like that."
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
but if it's any clue - which it's probably not - i'm writing this at 1:00am
SIGH...
Sometimes the universe is smart enough not to give you what you think you want, because it's soooo much less complicated than the alternative.
And no, I'm not going to explain it any more than that.
Update: Don't worry, I'm fine and this is not really a big deal. It's just me eating my heart out a little bit. Thank you to those who were concerned.
Sometimes the universe is smart enough not to give you what you think you want, because it's soooo much less complicated than the alternative.
And no, I'm not going to explain it any more than that.
Update: Don't worry, I'm fine and this is not really a big deal. It's just me eating my heart out a little bit. Thank you to those who were concerned.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
so proud to live here
I do love living here, in spite (or because?) of our apparent reputation (and this according to our own local paper):
"'We're unique,' said Selectboard Chairman Audrey Garfield, in response to fellow board member Dick DeGray's fears that the town is sending a negative message to people who are considering starting a business in Brattleboro.
Garfield thinks that what she calls "the Brattleboro brand" constitutes this town's uniqueness. Unfortunately, for the past year, the "Brattleboro brand" has been nudity, Tasers and loony lefties."
It would make an excellent bumper sticker, don't you think?
Friday, February 8, 2008
beginnings, admissions, and love
We did it! Colman's Well, my (mostly) vocal trio that's been rehearsing weekly since September, actually performed last night. And it was so much fun!
But not just that: we did a house concert in the beautiful home of The Sisters (one of whom is aka Froggoddess, of previous mention in this blog), Curly and Mr. Blue Eyes, some of the most beautiful people I know. And the room was full of people I love, many of whom didn't know that I sing, and all of whom are real music lovers. It was such a joy to share this music with them and trust that they would willingly follow us on the somewhat meandering and occasionally weird journey through our eclectic musical tastes and tendencies. It was such an amazing way to start out on our performance path.
Our next concert is this Sunday in Leverett, MA (near Amherst). If you live around there, you should come! It's another house concert, 4:30pm.
Which brings me to the admission... See, I was all excited about the Polar Plunge, right? And I was pushing you to give me money, and getting all jazzed for the fun of the road trip to Boston and the incredible physical shock of 33 degree salt water. But then we discovered that they've pushed back the Plunge time from noon to 1pm. And plunging at noon, sprinting through the hot shower and hot chocolate queues (aka The Thaw), jumping in the car and busting our butts back home so that I could be ready to perform at 4:30 in rural western MA was going to be, um, exciting. But plunging at 1:00, etc., etc. and being ready to perform in Leverett at 4:30pm would be, um, totally impossible.
So, friends, it is with heavy heart that I announce my resignation from the 2008 DIAL/SELF Polar Plunge team. And it is with some curiosity that I take a step back and ask what it says about me that I am truly bummed that I don't get to drive 2.5 hours each way to jump into the freezing cold (and, might I say, smelly) ocean for 30 seconds? But regardless of that, DO NOT FEAR: your contributions, generous as I'm sure they have been, will still go to DIAL/SELF Teen Services and the other excellent (and undoubtedly underfunded) organizations supported by the New England Network. The checks I received in the mail have been handed over to our fearless team captain, and I called the Network to make sure that any online pledges in my name will still be counted toward our team total. There's also a possibility of an Acting Rachel plunging in my place. And I promise to jump into really cold water at some point and put photos of it on here.
And now for the love: I throroughly adore the poetry and artwork of Brian Andreas, and encourage you to go right now to www.storypeople.com to see it for yourself. While I've signed up for and then quickly begun to ignore a number of daily email listserves over the years (word of the day, anyone?), after several months I still love opening my email every morning to a new StoryPeople poem, even though I've read most of them at some point before. This one, waiting in my inbox this morning, just made me so happy, because it probably describes the relationships (past, present and/or future) of so many of us (gendered pronouns notwithstanding). It certainly doesn't have any current relevance in my life, but you never know what - or who - is around the corner.
Possible Love by Brian Andreas
She learned to love him before he
thought it was even possible, so
he didn't have a chance to hide &
mess it up & while it was a little scary
at times, mainly he could not even
imagine the world without her there.
Happy almost-Valentines Day...
(And please don't sue me for copyright infringement, Mr. Andreas. I am definitely not making any money off this blog.) (Unless anyone wants to give me money for this blog, in which case please go ahead, but don't tell Brian Andreas.)
But not just that: we did a house concert in the beautiful home of The Sisters (one of whom is aka Froggoddess, of previous mention in this blog), Curly and Mr. Blue Eyes, some of the most beautiful people I know. And the room was full of people I love, many of whom didn't know that I sing, and all of whom are real music lovers. It was such a joy to share this music with them and trust that they would willingly follow us on the somewhat meandering and occasionally weird journey through our eclectic musical tastes and tendencies. It was such an amazing way to start out on our performance path.
Our next concert is this Sunday in Leverett, MA (near Amherst). If you live around there, you should come! It's another house concert, 4:30pm.
Which brings me to the admission... See, I was all excited about the Polar Plunge, right? And I was pushing you to give me money, and getting all jazzed for the fun of the road trip to Boston and the incredible physical shock of 33 degree salt water. But then we discovered that they've pushed back the Plunge time from noon to 1pm. And plunging at noon, sprinting through the hot shower and hot chocolate queues (aka The Thaw), jumping in the car and busting our butts back home so that I could be ready to perform at 4:30 in rural western MA was going to be, um, exciting. But plunging at 1:00, etc., etc. and being ready to perform in Leverett at 4:30pm would be, um, totally impossible.
So, friends, it is with heavy heart that I announce my resignation from the 2008 DIAL/SELF Polar Plunge team. And it is with some curiosity that I take a step back and ask what it says about me that I am truly bummed that I don't get to drive 2.5 hours each way to jump into the freezing cold (and, might I say, smelly) ocean for 30 seconds? But regardless of that, DO NOT FEAR: your contributions, generous as I'm sure they have been, will still go to DIAL/SELF Teen Services and the other excellent (and undoubtedly underfunded) organizations supported by the New England Network. The checks I received in the mail have been handed over to our fearless team captain, and I called the Network to make sure that any online pledges in my name will still be counted toward our team total. There's also a possibility of an Acting Rachel plunging in my place. And I promise to jump into really cold water at some point and put photos of it on here.
And now for the love: I throroughly adore the poetry and artwork of Brian Andreas, and encourage you to go right now to www.storypeople.com to see it for yourself. While I've signed up for and then quickly begun to ignore a number of daily email listserves over the years (word of the day, anyone?), after several months I still love opening my email every morning to a new StoryPeople poem, even though I've read most of them at some point before. This one, waiting in my inbox this morning, just made me so happy, because it probably describes the relationships (past, present and/or future) of so many of us (gendered pronouns notwithstanding). It certainly doesn't have any current relevance in my life, but you never know what - or who - is around the corner.
Possible Love by Brian Andreas
She learned to love him before he
thought it was even possible, so
he didn't have a chance to hide &
mess it up & while it was a little scary
at times, mainly he could not even
imagine the world without her there.
Happy almost-Valentines Day...
(And please don't sue me for copyright infringement, Mr. Andreas. I am definitely not making any money off this blog.) (Unless anyone wants to give me money for this blog, in which case please go ahead, but don't tell Brian Andreas.)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
shameless appeal for money, take II
Just a reminder that I'll be jumping in the freezing cold ocean next week for a really good cause, and I really hope you'll consider making a donation.
Frankly, the DIAL/SELF team is nowhere near where we were with pledges at this time last year, even with more people on our team. And I know we all get asked for money a lot, and you probably already give to some good causes, and that is truly wonderful. And we all have to decide where to put our finite resources, because very few of us can actually give money to all the worthy causes out there.
But (you knew there was a "but" coming, right?) if you can find it in you to give a few bucks so that homeless teenagers around here have a safe place to sleep and access to some resources that could get them off the streets and on track to better opportunities, please consider pledging.
THANK YOU.
Did I mention this involves me jumping in the freezing cold ocean? :) Would it help for you to just think of this as paying good money to see me do something ridiculous? I promise to post photos!
Frankly, the DIAL/SELF team is nowhere near where we were with pledges at this time last year, even with more people on our team. And I know we all get asked for money a lot, and you probably already give to some good causes, and that is truly wonderful. And we all have to decide where to put our finite resources, because very few of us can actually give money to all the worthy causes out there.
But (you knew there was a "but" coming, right?) if you can find it in you to give a few bucks so that homeless teenagers around here have a safe place to sleep and access to some resources that could get them off the streets and on track to better opportunities, please consider pledging.
THANK YOU.
Did I mention this involves me jumping in the freezing cold ocean? :) Would it help for you to just think of this as paying good money to see me do something ridiculous? I promise to post photos!
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