13 Thursday’s Spring Roll
1. To me hor d’oeuvres is just another way of saying “spoil my appetite.”
2. Facebook entry April 10: The golden finches are feeding, asparagus needs weeding, and I saw a butterfly today!
3. Favorite quotable line of the week, written by Alice Walker in her children’s book Why War is Never a Good Idea: “The war speaks every language. It never knows what to say to frogs.”
4. It’s bad enough that for years in Virginia General Jackson and Lee Day and Martin Luther King Day were celebrated on the same day, now our new governor has proclaimed April Confederate History Month, drudging up old grudges and divisions. More from a New York Times columnist HERE.
5. April is also National Poetry Month, Autism Awareness Month, National Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month, National Arab American Heritage Month, National Marching Band Appreciation Month, National Manatee Awareness Month, and that’s no April Fools.
6. When I first moved to Floyd in I was shocked to discover that the KKK was holding a march downtown and I had to figure out how to explain such things to my then young sons. An account of that is HERE.
7. What does my counselor husband prescribe for his own stress reduction therapy: He watches videos like THIS one of our grandson Bryce.
8. My self-therapy: Poetry is a constant in my life. I seem to have a need to interpret everything into the voice of my own spirit in order to better understand it. When I haven’t written any poetry in awhile, I become irritable and restless. At those times, I think of writing as taking my physic blood pressure, and I use the pen to get a diagnosis as well as for the treatment.
9. Spring is a fling of short lived blooms, more about romance than marriage. Crocus and daffodils, my first loves of spring, make a strong impression, but soon I’m feeling fickle and my head turns for tulips.
10. Of the 272 Youtube video clips I’ve posted since 2007, THIS one has oddly gotten the most views, nearly 8,000, which makes me think that THIS one that I took over the weekend will be its competition.
11. Today I played pick-up-sticks with spaghetti when I mistakenly opened the box at both ends.
12. This is the time of year when John Lennon’s Helter Skelter line “I got blisters on my fingers!” comes to mind, only my blisters come from weeding, digging, and raking in the garden and not from playing the guitar.
13. It’s a good thing that winter’s hard cold tax is refunded in spring with birdsong, flowers, and warm weather.
See what else is being served up HERE.
April 15th, 2010 12:15 am
April is also National Card and Letter Writing Month – a great time to catch up with friends and family you have not heard from in a while! No tulips here yet, but we have seen crocus, daffodils and magnolias.
April 15th, 2010 12:22 am
Happy Spring. It sounds like you have a good grasp on the season. I had the opportunity to play in my garden… it’s a great excuse to make mud pies.
Happy TT!
April 15th, 2010 1:55 am
I read about #4. I wonder what century the governor thinks he is living in.
April 15th, 2010 2:04 am
April is also Sexual Assault Awareness month and Child Abuse Awareness month…….April really is busy!
Where I grew up the KKK is still alive and kicking…unbelievable. I just don’t understand how people can still be a part of that. sad.
April 15th, 2010 4:02 am
I didn’t know even Manatee Awareness is also April. Isn’t no. 13 just wonderful!
April 15th, 2010 4:08 am
This is one of my favorite posts. It is so full of information and fun!
April 15th, 2010 6:13 am
#11~That’s too funny! I can just picture it, no wait, I can just video it!
April 15th, 2010 6:18 am
Facebook, therapy, poetry, quotes, youtube…very cool T13. Who knew April was such a busy National ______ Month?!?
April 15th, 2010 6:44 am
I loved, LOVED this eclectic list…it made for a very interesting blog read. Excellent.
My 13 is posted, I do hope you can stop by sometime if you have time today. It’s 13 catch phrases I really like. Have a glorious Thursday!!
April 15th, 2010 7:21 am
Confederates and KKK – we’re quite a state, eh? I liked the video of the log splitter – made me think maybe I should get my husband one of those.
April 15th, 2010 8:01 am
Great list, Colleen. I love #9. It did make me wonder what season you would compare marriage to. 🙂
I can never let my husband watch that log splitter video…because he would want one, too.
April 15th, 2010 8:29 am
What in the world is wrong with your new governor? Is he nuts? Sheesh. And the KKK is one reason I’m glad I don’t live in VA anymore…it just amazes me they’re still active. I don’t understand some folks.
April 15th, 2010 9:23 am
The log splitter cost around 1,000. It was a Christmas gift for Josh and Joe made use of it before it went off to Asheville. Josh didn’t get any more big gifts for a couple of years cause that one topped all.
Winter as marriage came to mind but I think summer would fit too, when all the plants are growing and dyging at the same time.
April 15th, 2010 9:33 am
There is a lot of recognition going on this month.
Have a great Thursday!
http://harrietandfriends.com/2010/04/47-percent-americans-pay-federal-income-tax/
April 15th, 2010 12:32 pm
I planted my tulips too late.
Thought they met with a terrible fate.
But now through the dew
I see just a few…
Though we’ll never have blooms at this rate.
April 15th, 2010 4:59 pm
2 all you need
April 15th, 2010 7:29 pm
You got Helter Skelter stuck in my head. Sigh.
April 15th, 2010 9:35 pm
Thanks, Colleen, for posting the link to the NYT column. I don’t know whether to laugh or sigh. I did both while reading it.
April 16th, 2010 7:55 pm
poetry can be a good place to consider. you know my pesbo blog too, eh Colleen? I’m writing about poetry each day of the month for April. A bit of about Arabic by chance but no marching bands. No manatees but I’ll take it under advisement. 😉
April 24th, 2010 11:36 pm
I have a memory of the KKK, in uniforms, soliciting funds at a traffic light in my hometown in South Florida, but I can’t supply a year – mid-1970s?? There is one thing that is a constant with humans: hatred, small-mindedness and mean-spiritedness. Unfortunately, economic distress brings out the worst in us.