Funny link

OK, so since being preggers with Raelin, Kelly has slipped from the occasional peek at People and other celeb mind candy mags to somewhat consistent consumption of them. And if they're around, I too will partake to both sedate my intellect and, well, sedate my intellect.

Anyhow, Kelly also likes to read blogs, waiterrant in particular, which linked on day to go fug yourself, which takes witty deconstruction of celebrity behavior and fashion sense to a new high. They have their favorite targets, two of which are Britney Spears and Kevin Federline (impressed I know the names?). They like them so much the pair has a page on the site. Now, this is one of the most humorous things I've read in a while, mostly because I've found myself on many occasions of sedating my intellect with People (or InTouch, or whatever mind crack happens to be around) looking at photos of one or both of them (BS and KF) wondering..."what the fuck?!" I mean really, those two are just beyond words...until I read the fugging of them and the light hath shineth!

A couple more words

It's funny reading my entries from not that long ago and seeing how far Raelin's language skills have come.

She's still busting out some good ones though:

calendator = calculator. We have one on the phone table that Kelly uses for bills and stuff. Raelin likes it cuz it has lots of buttons to push and she can pretend it's a phone.

puggler thing = wall plug. Kelly put the fan out on our new deck to make it easier to clean. I was out there with Raelin and she asked me to plug it in, to which I responded I couldn't. Mostly I just didn't want the fan on out on the deck. Anyhow, her resonse was "there's no puggler thing out here." She then had to shout inside to Kelly "there's no puggler thing outside, mamma!"

fishy button = the button on the car cd player that goes to the next track. I have no idea where this one came from or how long it'll be around. Raelin likes to play in the car. Like really. She could, and has, spent almost an hour at a time just playing in the car (of course we take the keys out first and make sure the parking brake is pulled and a window open, etc). Anyhow, tonight I was in the car with her, which is rare since Kelly and I usually use those precious moments to work in the garden. Anyhow, one of her favorite cd's is in the deck, which is all about the ocean and sea life and she definitively points at the glowing blue button and states "That's the fishy button, there."

In other general Raelin news, she really likes to jump and can now actually clear both feet off the ground at the same time. She also likes to walk and run around the house on her tip toes. Since we're heading out West here in a few days, Kelly bought her a little portable CD player so she can listen to her music on the plane. Turns out she's not nearly as interested in listening to cds and she is playing with the player and the cds. Fortunately, I've ripped all her discs, since she now plays with them daily and generally scratches them to no end.

Another of her latest favorite things is to help me shave. She knows all the steps, and I use a shaving kit that has several steps. She likes to sit on the counter right next to where I'm standing and give a blow-by-blow commentary of what I'm doing. She also likes to have a little bit of each thing, which typically ends of getting rubbed on my arm, but oh well...

She's also in love with our chickens and likes feeding, watching, and going in their chicken tractor to hang out with them. Throw in her love of picking our flowers and helping pick veggies and berries from the garden (and trails) and you've got one little suburban ag-toddler...

dunno, you tell me

It's dusk, a gentle breeze brings a gentle coolness to the end of a hot and humid Maine summer day. To the north a massive thunderhead continues to billow skyward, lit from within by bolts of lightning. It's still too far away to hear the thunder, perhaps it will bring some more rain tonight.

Summer storms are one of, if not the highlight of Maine summers. Growing up in semi-arid southern california we never got summer storms. We seldom got winter storms, either =) Here though, the summer air gets heavy with humidity; not opressingly so, but enough that the body feels it. Enough that with the moisture there is carried the scents of summer, of wet earth and fresh plants, of blooming flowers.

The thunder is getting louder now, the cloud a bit more looming. It would be nice to get some more rain. The fat warm drops of a summer storm cooling the air as they fall.

I have't been up to much lately. Did something bad to my ankle skimboarding a couple weeks back and have been on crutches since. It's getting better thanks to rest, homeopathics, and yesterday's acupuncture session. It's remarkable what acupuncture does, not just for the acute symptom, but for my entire being.

I've been thinking about plants and flowers a lot lately; it's been a somewhat constant metaphor for a few years now. The idea of being born a planted seed, and following some unknown path and guidance through the nurturing, though challenging darkness of the unknown to that moment when the surface of the soil is broken, and the narrow limits of one's world are blown apart by the warmth and brightness of the sun, and the boundlessness of this new place we look around and find ourselves in.

As a gardener, or more one who builds our gardens, it brings great pleasure to witness plants going through this process.

When I was on the acupuncturist's table and she was instructing me to just hold space with my breath for whatever I may be feeling due to the needles, I felt this again, this sensation of simple tending something else in its process to become. In this case my own body healing itself. Then something shifted, and I became the plant, and my life the process, and the acupuncturist, and the spirit that is in all things were there tending that experience. It was a little overwhelming; tears came, and really I felt more, I don't know, present perhaps? than I have for some time. Like I'd just awoken from a long slumber.

Dusk has given way to full dark. The storm has spread now to the east. I hope it comes right over head and shakes the house...that's the best...