First Wednesday

Today is the first Wednesday of the month. In the Twin Cities that means that the Emergency Sirens are tested at 1:00 pm throughout the metro area. The system is for warning residents of severe weather, tornadoes or even civil defense threats (since 9/11). I would barely notice the tests if it weren't for my friend, Margareth.

She is the leader of one of my writing groups and frequently reads memoirs of her life as a child in London during WWII. She tells about the terror of running to shelters from the German bombs at night. She still suffers PTSD from those dreadful times. So the first Wednesday of every month when the sirens sound, Margareth has to shake off the terror yet once again.

The sirens that make Minnesotans feel safe and secure do the opposite to those who have survived living in war-torn areas.

Let us count our blessings.

About adipose

When I was a kid, I was pudgy. I was unaware of the fact until we moved back to Minnesota from California when I was five. I have a vivid memory of meeting all my aunts for the first time, and they informed that I was fat. I have never felt anything but fat and unacceptable since.

There have been periods of my life when I lost weight and looked good, but my body image had been so distorted that I never recovered. I look at old pictures and wonder why I never knew I was OK. But, that shame never dies.

When I was in elementary school, it was common for us to have rhymes and chants. The most painful ones were taunts from my brothers or boys at school:
"Fatty-fatty two by four, Couldn't get thru the kitchen door, So she did it on the floor."

"Here comes the bride, Big fat and wide, Watch her waddle, From side to side." (My pastor used this to discourage me from having the traditional Wedding March at my wedding and instead using another hymn--which caused some confusion.)

I turned down my sister's request to be in her wedding because I'd recently had a baby and was still quite overweight.

There was also the specter of my Old Maid aunt who weighed 300 pounds and never married.
She lived with Grandma until she died and then slowly faded away. The aunt lived and died in the same small town and died before she turned sixty.

And yet, for all my history, when I watch the TV shows where they have large people taking off weight, I feel a little annoyance at them blubbering about their predicament. Obesity is so universally loathed that even fat people are prejudiced against other fat people.

I look forward to being cremated and having all my ugly fat burned up. I imagine hovering above the furnace dancing and singing (for surely I can do those things without all the extra flab and creaky bones!) It's gonna be great!

Same song, second verse

Graphic courtesy of Old Dame Penniwig

It ain't fair! I got walloped with another cold. This one is lotsa coughing and headachy, feveresh...

well, you know how it goes.

So, I'm facing more wasted days recovering my energy. Believe me, Springtime can't come a moment too soon. I need balmy fresh air and soft breezes, ahhhh.

A tribute to the darling daffodil

Many folks would be quite pleased

if the dandelion and the starling

(not to mention the house sparrow)

were never imported into the US.

This does not hold true for the daffodil.

We love daffodils!

They are perky, brightly colored and

welcome anywhere. Grocery stores and

flower markets will begin selling them

soon even though it's far too early for them

to start blooming outdoors. (We have winter

storm warnings forecast for tomorrow. The

sunshine is glorious however.)

There are dozens of Daffodil Festivals all over the US. Many

a school child has learned Wordsworth's Daffodil poem that ends:

"And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils."

Thank you, Great Britain, for this delightful springtime treasure.

Does heaven want us to take in stray cats?

At the risk of being typecast as a boring "cat lady" I'm doing an update on Gracie, our new kitty. We took her to the vet yesterday for a checkup. We put her in the cat carrier and when we took her out into the cold she squeezed as far back in the corner as she could. It seemed she was scared that she was going to be turned out in the cold again.

At the vet's office they did a blood test for FIV-FIP which was negative (thank goodness). We learned that Gracie is spayed, has no earmites, is healthy, approximately two years old and weighs a little over 8 pounds. They also checked to make sure she didn't have a microchip--she didn't. She does have a few fleas and parasites, so she got de-wormer and flea killer.


We are now the proud owners of a $175.00 stray cat (ouch!).

But, I wonder...is it altruistic or self-indulgent to take in stray cats?

It's not that we help cats to the exclusion of people. I regularly contribute to the Second Harvest Food Shelf and we often help out a single-mom neighbor with two kids.

When Christ said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me" was he excluding the animals? I have always felt he wasn't, besides, it's my nature to help out any creature that is suffering.

But then again, it seems Christ was only joking when he said, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth". So, how far can you actually take belief?

Monday is my favorite day of the week

I'm back in business! Ordinary Jo in North Dakota told me what I did wrong.

So, here's a picture of Melissa Leo. She didn't win an Oscar for Frozen River last
night, but it's a good film about a desperate woman who gets into smuggling illegal aliens across the Canadian border. It illustrates how blatantly Native Americans are discriminated against. My heart goes out to the Native peoples for the despicable damage our
ancestors did to them and for the ongoing racism we inflict on them.

If you get a chance, rent Frozen River.

Waffling and wondering

Whoa! I take back what I said about Friday the 13th!

I smugly posted that it made no sense to think there was any cosmic source of luck that could effect us. I even added a nice graphic to emphasize my point.

That's the last time I've been able to use a graphic. For some reason, whenever I try to add a picture now, I get four or five lines of gobbledy gook (that's putz-speak for computer language). On top of that, I also lost the icon for fonts and color at the top of the box. As a result--or in addition--when I use italics or bold, all it does is put EM or STRONG around the word. I think I may have goofed something up when I tried to take out the gap between my header and the text box.

I feel stifled and stupid. Anybody have any REALLY SIMPLE advice? Please?