Loose Leaf Notes

1. “I meant to go downstairs but came upstairs instead,” I said to Joe Sunday morning.  Seems these winter days teeter between tending the woodstove in the cellar and working at the computer in the office upstairs.  And sometimes I get spun around.

2. Later that day, I posted THIS poem about Winter Solstice and got a comment from a reader that read, “What a brilliant conceit you’ve built here, Colleen!” so I had to look up “conceit,” because I was only familiar with the more common meaning of the word: “excessive pride in oneself.”  I learned that the second meaning is “a fanciful expression in writing or speech; an elaborate metaphor.” 

3. After participating in a Facebook thread about how Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs contain mercury and LED light bulbs contain lead and arsenic, a joke starting forming that began:  “How many hazmat workers does it take to change a light bulb?”

4. You know social media has a hold on your life when you see something cool and find yourself looking for a “like” button.

5. I think this qualifies as Yogi Berra Zen: “In times like these you have to speak and act. But if every time you speak and act, you make matters worse, you better shut up.”  – Pema Chodron

6. THIS penguin makes me happy.

7. And THIS blind painter inspires me.

8. When it’s winter and I say something is “cool” I always think it’s a pun.

9. Along with a link to a story titled “Sales of ‘any old shit’ expected to treble as men start Christmas shopping” a friend on Facebook wrote:  “I just bought my kids some sardines for their stocking. To be fair, they love them.”

10. Joe fills everyone stockings with buffalo jerky and tangerines and never gets a complaint.  This year Josh wanted a load of gravel for his property, so I filled a gift bag with gravel (as close to getting coal as he’s gotten) and hid some money in it.

11. Joe Cocker passed away Tuesday, which reminded me of when my sister Sherry and I saw him at the Boston Tea Party in 1968 before he was well known.  At the time, we thought he was very brave and were convinced that he had cerebral palsy because of the way he contorted himself when he sang.

12. Coming from the North Pole, Santa knows how to chill, but THIS is going too far.

13. Is it too late to put THESE on my “All I Want for Christmas” list?