The 13 Thursday Offering
1. Sarah Mclachlan has a wonderful new Christmas CD out called Wintersong. You can hear her singing Joni Mitchell’s “River” HERE. Link via Simpy Coll.
2. And HERE’S a short video clip taken by an art collector of my Asheville potter son, Josh, at his UNC BFA graduation exhibit.
3. I got Josh a box of Chinese fortune cookies for Christmas, just so we could have fun reading the fortunes. We both like to use them in our collages, but I guess buying a whole box of them could be considered cheating.
4. Favorite quote of late: Art is either plagiarism or revolution. ~ Paul Gauguin
5. I don’t normally do gift cards but both my sons will be getting them from Lowes this year. My younger son Dylan just bought a house that needs to be fixed up and Josh is getting ready to build one.
6. Did you know that you couldn’t get into some prisons to visit an inmate if your not wearing a bra? I know this because when my friend Cynthia and I were visiting Alex before she passed away, we took turns telling funny stories. Cynthia told one about driving a friend to a prison so that the friend could visit a family member. They wouldn’t let Cynthia in because she didn’t have a bra on. The rest of the story involved her going around trying to beg, borrow, or make a bra. We were all trying to figure out why they had the rule in the first place.
7. I went to Fragment Fred’s Christmas Party this past weekend, my first time at his house. When he greeted me at the door, I told him that after reading about his family’s country home place for the past couple of years on his blog (and now his book) and hearing him talk about it on his WVTF Public Radio essays, I felt like I was visiting Garrison Keiller’s Lake Wobegon from Prairie Home Companion.
8. After doing two poetry readings two nights in a row last weekend, I was thrilled to be going to Fred’s party knowing that I could sit in a corner and drink a beer and that no one would ask me to perform.
9. My husband went back to school for his master’s degree in counseling about the same time that I started blogging. We joke that I’m getting my own self-taught degree in creative writing via the blog. It’s a crash course home study and every day is a new deadline! (The rest of this comment is HERE.)
10. Latest good get: The larger you live, the bigger the shadow you cast. This is another way to say “what goes up also comes down.”
11. For some reason all the lawyers in our area who advertise on TV have long brown beards and look like devils.
12. When I was a kid the song “I saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus underneath the Christmas Tree Last Night” totally confused me.
13. I want THIS for Christmas. Every blogger eventually needs one.
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here. View more 13 Thursday’s here.
December 21st, 2006 9:06 am
That hand rest thingy looks great! I’ll have to check that site out.
December 21st, 2006 9:23 am
My boyfriend absolutely love Sarah Mc!
I’m up!
December 21st, 2006 9:38 am
My mom is giving my sis-in-law a Lowe’s gift card to go with her new house for Xmas.
Sorry about last week…that stupid spam filter we have does that finger thing. I’ve been toying with different spam filters because the spam I’ve been receiving is terrible.
My 13 are up. Hopefully you won[t have trouble this week!
December 21st, 2006 10:09 am
Good list… love the part about the bra and prison… I can come up with some guesses as to why… but, who really knows, eh? I dig that ergo mouse rest. I do want one too! 🙂 I used to scoff at gift cards as a present… but they really are just handy.
Thank you for sharing and for visiting my blog.
Happy TT!
December 21st, 2006 10:16 am
Ha ha. I didn’t know the prison/blog fact. I’ll take that into future consideration, with all the inmates I visit. ha ha.
December 21st, 2006 11:21 am
Great list. Didn’t know the bra thing, either. Will keep that in mind next time I tour a jail!
December 21st, 2006 11:34 am
I’m sorry to hear about Alex’s passing…how sad. But she’s not in pain anymore, and that’s a good thing.
December 21st, 2006 11:34 am
Very interesting list! The mouse with handrest would be great!
Thanks for visiting my Yule-TT.
December 21st, 2006 11:35 am
They need those beards to stay warm up there! It tickles me how all these men suddenly develop beards during deer hunting season!
I think the Sarah cd is wonderful. I don’t have it but would like too! Maybe next time I’m out and think of it!
And you can’t beat a Lowe’s gift card! We all could use that one!
December 21st, 2006 11:38 am
I’ll have to browse through the ergo website when I have more time to covet. Blogging feels like a writing course to me as well. It makes me stretch a little more, push myself to follow a prompt, and finish on time. Have a Happy Christmas!
December 21st, 2006 11:42 am
You are right: every blogger should have that mouse with handrest! It sounds wonderful.
I had to chuckle reading your story about wearing a bra to visit some prisons! never heard of such a thing!
Happy Thursday. Happy holidays to you and yours!
December 21st, 2006 11:54 am
I love the look of the egro mouse pad. You’re right, every blogger would want one. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my site!
December 21st, 2006 12:17 pm
I also love Sarah’s music and will have to check this out.
Who could go wrong with a Lowe’s gift card to a guy? (smile)
And here’s hoping Santa brings you that new mouse.
December 21st, 2006 2:04 pm
Colleen, I’m glad we met via cyberspace and look forward to getting better acquainted in 2007!
I enjoyed Josh’s vidoe…you can feel his love for the clay. It reminds me of my daughter, Ana, who is an art major and currently very enthused about printmaking.
Merry Christmas!
Susan
December 21st, 2006 2:18 pm
LOL At the Bra thing! My girls were just singing “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” yesterday…and thought it was funny that Mommy would kiss Santa! Bobby gets Lowes gift cards from everyone in the family for Christmas now…it’s his favorite store (although, you couldn’t tell by looking at our house!) 😉 Hope Santa is good to you this year!!!
December 21st, 2006 2:55 pm
I have lots of bra-less friends. I wonder what that says about me…or them.
I thought the video of Josh was great too!
December 21st, 2006 3:32 pm
The bra rule is really strange. If anything I’d think it would be a liability for sneaking in contraband.
The #13 didn’t load. Is it ergonomic chair support?
December 21st, 2006 4:07 pm
It’s an ergonomic mouse hand support.
December 21st, 2006 6:09 pm
I loved seeing Josh’s video.
And about the person not allowed in jail to visit without a bra is foolish, she can hoard things in there, but it might be because the inmates get a free feel if they brush up accidentially against her. I actually have NO idea and this is just a guess.
December 21st, 2006 6:39 pm
I always wondered how mommy and santa got UNDER the Christmas tree. Ours was always too low to the ground to get under, unless you were lying down on the floor…..LOL
Wish I could have gone to Fred’s party!
December 21st, 2006 8:53 pm
i enjoyed reading this “13”. i guess your sons must not read your blog, or already know what they are getting. i don’t think any man would pass up a Lowes gift card. i’ll be taking an extended blogging break as i’ll be down in carolina for several weeks and won’t have regular access to a computer. but hope to check in here and there!
December 21st, 2006 10:09 pm
Even lawyers who don’t advertise on TV look like devils.
Actually most of them are….. devils that is!
The bra rule sounds a bit strange…. how are they going to know in the first place?
December 21st, 2006 11:34 pm
My sons don’t read the blog. Josh checks in occasionally. My youngest son specifically asked for a Lowes gift certficate and Josh said he didn’t want any presents unless it was related to building.
I guess the felt for a bra??
December 22nd, 2006 12:15 am
This is a GREAT list! I think the gift cards to Lowes is an excellent idea – it would be a great gift to me from my mom! (Mom, are you reading this – ahem, no she can’t be, she’s computer free – as in fat free).
The lawyer thing is funny and it is true you know. I know plenty of them that look like that – of coure they are not as good as I’ll be one day, and I’m much prettier.
The bra thing is quite funny. I think it probably has to do with easy access . . .
take care!
December 22nd, 2006 12:45 am
Dear Colleen,
You have the best, most creative, most colorful, absolutely gorgeous, funny looking, playful looking, artistic family around.
Sincerely,
TL
PS: I am up for adoption 🙂
December 22nd, 2006 2:12 pm
~~ Oh Colleen!! ~~
The little mouse “Helper” is just toocool…My middle son sometimes works for hours online, and his hands have a tendancy to go into hibernation after he’s thru…their so “asleep” that he can’t even wave hello to anyone…
And as for the Gift Card from Lowe’s — my youngest & I go into our local store so often that it seems some of the people in there know us by sight…don’t know if that’s a good thing or not…But I think I’d probably jump up & down if somebody was to give me a gift card to either Lowe’s – o – Home Depot. Show’s what kind of shopping I do the most…
~~And what’s up with the Bra thing??!! I’ve heard some strange stories from ex-prisoners, but not that one. Some ex-prisoners I worked with had some doozie’s for stories, but that’s one that would even beat theirs…Do our tax dollars pay for some guy (lady?) to do the checking??
lauri
December 22nd, 2006 4:29 pm
4) T.S. Elliot once said good poets borrow. Great poets steal.
6) If Jim Jarmusch knew about this, there would be rewrite for Down By Law. Ellen Barkin would have gotten in another scene.
7) Risky business telling someone they remind you of Garrison Keillor. It could go long in a good way or a bad way. The break is about 65/35 among NPR listeners, flipped for the public at large. Sounds like the odds broke in your favor on this one.~,:^)
December 22nd, 2006 9:44 pm
I’m laughing at the lawyer comment, and I too collect fortunes from fortune cookies… have them pinned on my writer’s board. 🙂
But I never thought to use them in collages, which I also love. Your 13’s are always a fun read.
~S 🙂
December 23rd, 2006 12:01 pm
Isn’t Sarahs CD amazing.. hauntingly beautiful.
I could definitely use one of those mouse thingies. What a great idea.
December 25th, 2006 3:48 pm
Such a cool video! It was great to “meet” Josh that way. Maybe the prison just wants to standardize: every woman goes in with a bra, every woman comes back out with a bra, so they don’t have to worry about potential contraband being left behind. So, then, what about jock straps? 🙂