Loose Leaf Notes

1. Comments and eggs. Comments and eggs. I like to count them every day.

2. Shadows are like brushes filled with black paint. My 4^th of July Shadow Shot is HERE.

3. My kitchen looked like a murder scene after I baked my annual blueberry pie.  When I cut into it, the juice dripped down the dishwasher and onto the floor. There was a chaotic mess on the counter and a big knife with a reddish stain conspicuously lying around.

4. Mario’s Mayhem, Cape Canaveral Lift Off, Bloody Palm Tree Sunday, Star Wars Revisited and Princess Leia’s Revenge were some of the self-named fireworks I saw in Floyd this year.

5. My blogger friend Tabor recently posted an entry about the female characters in fiction and non-fiction book that influenced her as a young adult, like Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, Ann Frank and Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web.  All I could come up with were Erma Brombeck, Yoko Ono and Annie Oakley!  I think that mix says a lot about me.

6. Only in the country and seen on Facebook:  Time to lock your car. The Zuchs are coming.

7. I don’t really understand why anyone grows zuchinni. Seems to me that they have no taste and people are always looking for ways to use them for filler food.

8. Free Range Kids:  “Over the past 50-60 years, play time in kids’ lives has been drastically cut. School days and years are longer and parents often schedule enrichment activities for their children instead of giving them space to direct their own play. Children are rarely given the freedom to direct their own activities, leading to a persistent rise in children feeling that they have no control over their lives. And, while correlation doesn’t prove causation, Dr. Peter Gray, who has been studying play for years, says there’s strong evidence that in this case, the decline in play is leading to a rise in depression and acute anxiety among young people.”  From a Ted Talk HERE. 

9. Most of the building projects on my son Josh’s land in Madison County NC have been done with recycled, repurposed, salvaged and scavenged materials.  When he bought his property seven years ago, he tore down the old house that was on it and salvaged what he could before burning it.  He and a friend recently built a barn using oak boards from the porch of that old house.  HERE is a picture of the new barn and HERE is a post called Tearing Down the House Party.

10. When my clarity goes off course, it can take everyone around me with it.  At least that’s sometimes true at my women’s dialogue circle when I’m engaged in a conscious conversation.  It’s a conversation built on safety, one that supports the knowledge that my struggles are just an aspect of all that I am, and that the darkest places within me are where my deepest learning can shine.  – More on my Women’s Dialogue group HERE.

11. “The earliest documentation of fireworks dates back to 7th century China, where they were invented. The fireworks were used to accompany many festivities. It is a part of the culture of China and had its origin there; eventually it spread to other cultures and societies. The art and science of firework making has developed into an independent profession. In China, pyrotechnicians were respected for their knowledge of complex techniques in mounting firework displays.” – From the Wikipedia

12. Spectacular fireworks, as professional as the ones that small towns display, were going off continuously and in both directions for as far as the eye could see. There were Revolutionary War-like bonfire encampments from horizon to horizon along the 5 mile stretch of beach. Groups of people were gathered and some were still coming out of their houses, as though an invasion from Mars might be occurring.  – Read more about what happens in Massachusetts when the local government makes fireworks illegal in a post called Boston Tea Party Revisited HERE.

13. My six-year old grandson Bryce wanted to know why farmers wear overalls. I answered him as best I could but his answer was better than mine.  Listen HERE.

__________Thirteen Thursday