The Thirteen Thursday Thaw
1. I recently had a first blog birthday. On Monday, March 20, when I posted “Happy Birthday to Loose Leaf” it was also my dad’s birthday, the first since he passed away this past November. He would have been 82.
2. I have an email pen pal who found me via hearing my blog entry turned WVTF radio essay, Life in the Rural Fast Lane. On the morning I posted “Happy Birthday Loose Leaf,” I received an email in which he informed me that we should all have off work because it was Big Bird’s Birthday. Sure enough, I googled “Big Bird” and his birthday is also March 20th. My friend hadn’t read my Loose Leaf birthday post yet. That’s the kind of synchronicity that goes on in my life all the time.
3. Feeling the impact of my father’s death is like an iceberg that I haven’t even seen the tip of yet.
4. I recently learned (from Sage) that Tom Fox, the Quaker who was kidnapped and killed in Iraq, kept a blog, “Waiting in the Light.” There are only 7 entries. The last one, which was posted on November 9th had 139 comments the day I was there. Here is an excerpt: We have seen again and again in the last one hundred years the evolution of warfare to the point now when the first two parts of war that have been in play for centuries, that of middle-age men sending out young men to fight and die to keep the middle-age men in power, has added a third component. Still the young fight and die to retain the power of the middle-age men but now most of those who lose their lives in the conflict are women and children.
5. The Soldier’s Arabic: The word for love, habib, is written from right…to left, starting where we would end it…and ending where we might begin… So begins a poem from Brian Turner’s book, “Here, Bullet,” a chronicle of poetry from Iraq, which I became aware of through a review done by Rick at Verb-Ops, a new blog I found (or did Rick find me?). Either way, I’m glad I know the way to Verb-Ops now.
6. Michele Agnew asked her readers this week, “What signifies spring for you?” My answer is a RAKE. Once the rake comes out, the race is on to see if I can rake out the flower beds before my husband finishes tilling the vegetable garden.
7. Some people think the only reason the internet exists is to forward mass mailings of jokes and chain letters to everyone on their address list. I enjoy an occasional passed on “find,” but not when it’s the only thing someone ever sends me.
8. For those of you who have expressed interest in knowing more about the Floyd lifestyle I live, check out David St. Lawrence’s blog post, titled, “Early Impressions of Floyd Life.” David, who read from his book, “Danger Quicksand Have a Nice Day,” at our recent spoken word event, and his wife Gretchen are new to Floyd.
9. Oddfella’s Cantina, currently my favorite restaurant in Floyd, was originally owned by the founders of Floyd Fest and was named for the odd mix of folk who live in our one stoplight town. Inside the restaurant there’s a birdcage hanging from a post with a Barbie doll in a red dress inside it.
10. In Floyd we have locally famous artists, potters, wood-carvers, writers, and musicians; alongside well diggers, saw-millers, hunters, and home builders. We also have midwives, herbalists, dousers, and rites-of-passage ceremonialists. Is it any wonder that I publish my books from my log cabin home, from a make-shift office that used to be my son’s bedroom, which is why Grateful Dead posters still hang on the walls? ~ excerpt about Floyd living from Homegrown, my essay that first appeared in Muses Like Moonlight and later aired on WVTF.
11. Yesterday I went to Blacksburg for a dentist appointment. Even the fire hydrants there are painted in Virginia Tech football team colors of orange and maroon.
12. Floyd artist, Alina, who I wrote about here, also participated in our spoken word open mic Saturday night. She’s been reading my blog and got inspired by it. Now she has one of her own, Sharing My Gold. I also found Leslie (or did Leslie find me?) of Squirrel Spur recently. She blogs about 15 minutes up the road in the next county over from me.
13. A sun cracked morning: The smell of wild onions…and dirt over easy…is awakening my appetite…for spring.
Post Note: Click on the 13 icon on my sidebar for others who participate. My other 13 Thursdays can be found here.
March 23rd, 2006 8:52 am
I had read about Tom Fox on Sage’s website. How awful. Did you hear that stupid Laura Ingrahms outburst?…. Maybe she would like to face what they face in Iraq herself before she shoots off her mouth. I am pretty sure she is on the Bush payroll.
Sorry-
funny the rake to me means fall! I think my allergies mean spring. I love it though, don’t you? I’m ready for my flower gardens!
March 23rd, 2006 9:03 am
Hi Deana, I hadn’t heard about Laura Ingrahms and I didn’t know who she was. I just googled her and it sounds like she is an Anne Coulter type. Why so many people like that yelling negativity on the radio? I guess it’s entertaining to some people.
You reminded me that most people do rake in the fall. I wait till spring…till I’m forced to do it…if I want to see my flowers.
March 23rd, 2006 10:15 am
Happy belated blog anniversary. Your dad had a relatively long life… but it must have been hard to think of his bday the first time he is not around.
I will check out your links about Floyd, it will be like a virtual visit. And thanks for visiting my TT!
March 23rd, 2006 10:26 am
And I was at the dentist this morning… (getting that tooth pulled that I broke during the seizure).
My 13 are up now!
March 23rd, 2006 11:03 am
Big Bird’s birthday. I missed that. 🙁
I’m sorry about your father’s passing. I’m sure celebrating his birthday was difficult for you and your sister.
Thanks for stopping by this morning. When I wrote the list I thought of you. Like the time you thought I packed a bag for my Snickers bars. That still makes me smile. Wish I had a bag of them now! 😉
March 23rd, 2006 11:09 am
Happy Belated Blog Birthday! Yah!!!
Got my TT up!
March 23rd, 2006 11:38 am
So sorry about your dad…My dad passed away in ’89 and I’m still dealing with it, although not as often or as intense as I used to.
My 13 is up.
March 23rd, 2006 11:48 am
How neat your blog and big birs share a birthday:) My TT are up!
March 23rd, 2006 12:41 pm
happy belated birthday. mine is january 11 and i share it with my country’s first prime minister, i think it should be a national holiday. my dad passed away when he was 64, almost 11 years ago, i’m still at the tip too. sometimes i forget i can’t just pick up the phone and call him. i have no idea how long it takes to get over that feeling.
i’m doing the tt too.
March 23rd, 2006 12:56 pm
I found Tom Fox’s blog the same way, through Sage’s site. Our local newspaper, surprisingly, introduced me to this very moving blog
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com./
This is an exerpt from the paper’s article
“The author was and is an unmarried Iraqi woman, now about 26 years old. She lived abroad and learned English when she was a child or adolescent. She studied at University of Baghdad, became a computer programmer and managed the network for a small Baghdad company until the war started. Now she lives with her family in Baghdad. She calls herself “Riverbend.”
For a time, Riverbend updated her blog almost every day. Later, in part because of erratic electrical and telephone service, she went to one post every one or two weeks. Even so, approximately 6,000 people still visit the site daily. Her writing is vivid and compelling, even when she writes about everyday life. ”
March 23rd, 2006 1:27 pm
Happy belated birthday. Not too sure what I’m going to do for my blog’s first birthday (only 10 months away…can’t wait).
My TT are up here
March 23rd, 2006 1:35 pm
Thanks for the link, Mayberry. What a great site! And your bio above helped because I didn’t find one on the page. I’ll pass it on.
One thing that I find frustrating is that so many people don’t realize that Iraqis were already highly educated and modernized before the invasion. You wouldn’t know that from listening to George Bush and Cheney. The rebuilding of schools and etc. are mainly due to the fact that we bombed them.
March 23rd, 2006 1:38 pm
Hi Col, all,
I don’t do the Thirteen Thursday, but let me mention that I took your word “thaw” to be a play on words. Thaw in the spring, yes.
But could it also be the thawing of offical version of Sept. 11th is beginning. It’s what I posted about today. I was reminded of it when you listed #4 in your 13.
habib to you,
Kathy
March 23rd, 2006 1:43 pm
Kath, Well, I did hear a clip yesterday of Charlie Sheen talking about not believing the offical version of 9/11…like the towers coming down that way. The press did it in such a way as to imply he was a weirdo. I’ll have to hop over to your place and see what else is new.
March 23rd, 2006 2:50 pm
Hey babe, Happy Blog Anniversary. So sorry about your dad. He must have been a wonderful man to have such a gifted daughter. Only got a few of your 13 read….I promise to come back later and read the rest. Happy Spring time!
March 23rd, 2006 3:09 pm
Happy blog anniversary. I see snow behind that picture. It only deposited a few flakes that did not stick here but in Williamsburg they had a couple of inches and Nyssa has the snowman pictures to prove it.
March 23rd, 2006 3:21 pm
I am so wanting spring to be here now. I went out last weekend and just stared at our garden plot.
My 13 is busy tilling the soil now at http://akaenigma.blogspot.com/
March 23rd, 2006 4:08 pm
Lately I think the Internet is about group therapy. It works wonders!
March 23rd, 2006 4:20 pm
what a very ‘spring’-y TT! 🙂 while i have no soil to till now, i will soon enough!
a very happy spring, happy belated birthday & happy TT! 🙂
March 23rd, 2006 5:59 pm
Hi coll….#3 is right up there for me too!!!!!
It was Mr.Rogers birthday too!! Who has since passed away too.
I heard once that more geniuses and criminals were born in March then any other month. I wonder if this true?
March 23rd, 2006 10:20 pm
Interesting how quickly people grasp the unique nature of Floyd. Mr. St. Lawrence provides a great description.
The days that mark anniversaries in the lives of people I’ve lost are hard for me, too.
March 23rd, 2006 11:47 pm
Happy belated blogiversary, Colleen! Our rake has already had its first workout here, I hope you see yours soon!
xo
March 24th, 2006 2:23 am
A Happy Birthday to your Blog, Colleen…I haven’t been here for a while…I don’t why..just busy wirh stuff..I do miss the exchange..But..I need to keep that Registered User thing on….Hey! Didn’y you once have a Blogger thingy?? You probably still do! (lol)
Anyway, Congrats to you Colleen….
March 24th, 2006 7:39 am
A rake. Hm, that’s a better indicator than cigarette butts and dog poop littered on snow all finally melting out again.
Habib is an active root word: love, habiba (sugar), habibi (honey-darling).
7 made me chuckle.
Love your 13.
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