Forever Young: 03/22/12

Blog Manifesto

This blog is dedicated, as the title would suggest, to the qualities of being young. We are young writers. We are playful and sensitive, fluid and changing. We are unashamed with our art. We wonder at the world, puzzle over the meanings of things and twirl in delight at images and ideas that float by, grabbing at them as they pass. We are curious and constantly inquiring and prying concepts open and taking assumptions apart. We are on the ground, close to the earth. We have bare feet and wiggle our toes into nature. We carry our blankies still and wrap up cozy and comfy with each other and tell ghost stories and shiver at creepy things. We laugh and we cry and we take a lot of naps, drained from our outings and exertions.

We write as gifts to each other, tying them up in ribbon and leaving them around for each other to find, hiding and waiting for the person to wake up and read. Surprise! We weave our stories together to create a bond. One writes, then the other. then another again. We have a shared reality that we have crafted, bit by piece by patch, by string. We write simple, honest authentic things, with our unique voices. You can tell each one of us from the other, without knowing who wrote what. Our voices are clear and gentle and original. We whisper and our personalities roar! Like children, our feelings are strong, our passion for what we write shakes us. We are moved and sometimes left breathless, by our own words or the words of each other. We cannonball into each others spaces. We fall backward into each others writing, like into a pile of leaves or a soft bed. We gobble and grin and ask for more. (footnote kudos to JC)

Then we go to bed, wake up to a new day and do it all over again!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Variation on a theme from the video

I awoke with energy today. A fortuitous aligning of the amount of sleep I got, my blood sugar level, and the exercise I got yesterday have given me a rare desire to do the chores in my kitchen..
My kitchen counter is a clutter magnet piled high with trinkets from my son's collections, the groceries from yesterday, dog paraphernalia, pill bottles, scissors, swatches of cloth for a project...stuff! I've been meaning to clear it to the counter top for days. So, today's the day!

Just as I begin my sister comes to the door to return a borrowed electric carving knife.. Just dropping it off. (Maybe she had extra energy this morning also!) I use it only twice a year and keep it in the odd little cabinet for the microwave air vent above the stove. When I attempt to put it up there the chai latte tea favored by my daughter when she visits, has taken its' place. This cabinet needs rearranging, I think to myself.

From the top of the two-step stool I'm on, I can see everything in the cupboard and make room for the carving knife. I can also see the top edge of the microwave and the surface of the cabinet door. They are covered with an accumulation of greasy dust! While I'm here, I should wipe this clean, I decide.

Down I go to the faucet, dunk the sponge in the hot water, drip on the Dawn liquid and climb back up. Wipe, wipe, scrub with the flip side, wipe again....this is a tough mess. Down I go to get a clean towel to wipe up the dirty residue. It cleans up really well. The cupboard door is back to its melamine luster and the microwave looks nice ...except for the vent . The little slats are still dirty. I remember the vent is removable. Two screws and I could take it off and wash it in the sink! Great idea. Down I go to get the screwdriver. Everyone I locate is a straight slot! So, I finally find the smallest one which I can use on the Phillips screw with success.

The first screw comes out with no problem. The second turns and turns and never rises! The whole vent comes off with that screw in place. It had never been attached because the plastic support was broken all along. So, maybe I can glue the support parts back in place and it will be better than it was when installed! Great idea. Down I go to wash the vent, clean the support parts, find the glue. Has to be a plastic glue!

In my office I find a glue pen, rubber cement, wood glue, white glue and some dried up crazy glue! Guess I'll have to go to the store for some plastic glue! Maybe later. Right now I have the microwave vent on my counter, the two screws in a 1/4 cup measure, the bits of support column drying on a towel, four screwdrivers, two dirty towels, a grimy sponge and my counter top is still nowhere to be seen! And, I'm fairly exhausted...hungry, too. Think I'll go make lunch and take a nap.