reflection 2

the ideal house guest would be a bald anti-social dog loving naturist on a hunger strike.

reflection

we have a young friend staying for a spell. 

time was when i grumbled about J2's shopping pattern (too voracious) bathroom habits (too hairy) and conversation (too much). all i say now is, things could be worse.

scatology

today, whilst grooming Dog, i discover the source of the unseasonably strong smell emanating from him over the entire weekend. what i say is, don't ask, don't tell.

prostatism

in the time it takes Dog to empty his bladder into the bush by our front path these days, a body could freeze into an icicle.

agitato

there's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew... yet. it will be cold and bitter, watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. but it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.  - sir arthur conan doyle (his last bow, 1917)

as two koreas teeter today on the brink of engagement, what we learn from the history we live is this, that a new east wind succeeds every last one. 

in thanksgiving

thanks for prayers that thou hast answered

thanks for what thou dost deny

thanks for tears by now forgotten

thanks for peace within my soul

thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure

thanks to God for my redeemer!

- august ludwig storm (adap.)

for the bounties of hearth and table, for the solace of family and friends, for fellowship and partnership, for a meeting of like minds, and for physical enjoyment, for providence and protection, for bread and for flowers, thank you.

thanksgiving 2010

HOM and J2 commandeer my kitchen for thanksgiving dinner productions. i am only permitted furtive glances at the war zone. i'll tell you this, it smells wonderful. indeed the entire neighborhood smells deliciously like roasting turkey and baking pies this afternoon.

i can hardly wait for dinner, but i don't even want to think about the washing up after.

brave new world

stuff i've watched on youtube lately:

tetris played at super speed

world's fastest hand clapper

4 corgi's barking happy birthday to you

the folding of an origami cuckoo clock

abdominal surgery

everything has an alter e-go these days.

snail

a grown man

on his annual vacation

origami paper

youtube

we're becoming a zoo.

caveat emptor

i fall in love with this delicious trinket at the thrift shop only to discover an irredeemable crack at the side when i get home. this makes a strong case for sticking to ugly utilitarian pieces that plod on and on and never fail.

stinky bug

a grown man

on his annual vacation

origami paper

youtube

why??

remembrance

we put up christmas decorations tonight. our ancient tree our battered advent calendar and our plump pretty candle. we remember that christmas is really none of these things but we are grateful for the gift of time for some beloved family rituals.

make special traditions, i want to tell young families. don't sweat the small stuff. the time comes swiftly when baby jesus goes on the nativity scene a final time. 

lunch date

HOM and i spend a morning on the baltimore waterfront. we are accosted by the obligatory parking ticket hustler. we dutifully do the tourist circuit at fell's point and broadway market. after that we head to the highlight of our trip, which are the decadently divine crab cakes from g&m restaurant at linthicum heights. as rachael would say, yumm-o!

historic sperryville

the trouble with quaint main street america is that it is a picturesque shell existing largely to entice tourist dollars.

is vair purty sair. but are zere real people here?

passage

J1 turns eighteen. i feel outrun, like every mother must on such a day. the years cunningly outpace me and i am caught unready. today i needs must greet the young man who replaces the little boy. a strapping young man he, with his sly wit and crooked smile, and with his hungry hopes in life.

young man, i want to say, remember the hope to which you have been called! remember that you have a goodly inheritance. remember to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God, and remember that in return he is faithful and loving and merciful.

remember that there is One who writes your song, and gives you the words for your songs. and today, as you turn adult, i raise a toast to you. you've given us laughter and tears. you've given us joy. you've made us proud. cheers.

skyline drive

here is one really tired camper back from his trip, having overdosed on sounds smells and sights and having successfully reupholstered the toyota with his fur. 

new toy 3

quieter. swifter. more solid. thirty nine (thirty nine!) focus points. raw data capability. a banquet of editing options. more features than i can comprehend. 

i need to admit that technology has unquestionably outstripped competence.

new toy 2

i bury myself in this today. all i can say is, there's non-fiction, and there's greek. also there's flawed short term memory, and there's cognitive deficit. added to which there are raw data files, which at once promise great possibilities and more greek. 

baggage

we pack for a weekend trip. 

half the trunk is taken up by Dog. the other half holds Dog's kibbles Dog's dishes Dog's treats the laptop the dvd player the dvd a bag of all our clothes my storybooks and breakfast food. if you ask me, it might be easier to have a weekend trip to our backyard.

psalm 136

not what i planned

not where i thought

not what i trained for 

not where dreams pointed

not hardship

nor sacrifice

less doing

much waiting

tender joys
unearned blessings
incomprehensible peace
undeserved love

God writes my song.

new toy

it's here!

tactical error

i make the mistake of reading up tiramisu on wikipedia as i single-handedly polish off the slab in the 'fridge. now i am torn between a slightly sick feeling intense regret and a strange wonder. the sick feeling is due to the size of the slab. the regret is from knowing what makes up the stuff. the wonder is because i don't even like cheese.

wet day

there are two faces to fall, one lavishly flamboyant and the other aloof and spent. i suspect we will have more of the latter shortly. brrrrrr.

momma hubbard

what my refrigerator currently holds :

a slab of tiramisu

half a ginormous cheesecake

over a gallon of almond jelly in multiple containers, all HOM's fault

one frozen turkey awaiting thanksgiving

a can of reddi wip

leftover diet coke

if you look carefully, you will realize, as i reluctantly do, that none of the above will do too well as tonight's dinner.

the perfect storm

what do you get when your husband returns from a week long business trip and your kid has a sleepover that involves loaning out of bedclothes and sleepwear and the family goes to church the next day as well as to dinner in a non-fast food establishment with an action-packed basketball game in between? a washer and a dryer gasping away for dear life, that's what you get.

holy grail

august: rumors swirl

sep 15: the official unveiling

sep 15: pre-orders begin

oct 15: delivery starts

late oct: rave reviews appear

end oct: demand overwhelms supply

end oct: item temporarily withdrawn
nov 14: item available again

nov 14: we place our order!

nov 14: demand overwhelms supply
nov 14: item temporarily withdrawn

delivery date: your best guess, darlin'

acquiring ourselves a new nikon d7000 is getting to require much vigilance and nimbleness with the credit card in addition to considerable patience and a lot of hope. we are part of an eccentric movement of acolytes deliriously on the trail of the latest prize.  fraternité!

hush

why do people say pun intended when they intend a pun?
why do people end ironic statements with a J icon?

taking stock 2

what four odd years stateside have done to me:

• i am able to quite randomly strike up conversations with total strangers when i stand in line or when we pass on the street. very friendly of me.
• i only barely shudder when bare acquaintances hug me in greeting and i am sometimes able to stop myself from reflexly patting their back as if in comfort.
• i realize that the word partner refers more often to life partners usually of the same gender, than to a business associate or an accomplice.

requiem

this article is written by two scientists from the genome institute of singapore and addresses public misgivings about chimeric research and the possibility of creating human-animal hybrids in the future. briefly, their argument is that distant hybrids are biological impossibilities and therefore moral reservations are extraneous.

they miss the points:

• misgivings need not address a current technology.
• misgivings should be addressed. they can be useful. we tell teenagers that.
• biological impossibilities today are little lambs called Dolly tomorrow.

when two clearly clever people can miss such points the intellectual rigor of their ethical development is tragically suspect.

parenthood perk

J1 drives HOM's car home for me from the auto workshop. this must be the most palatable side effect of financing a teenager's driver's licence.

autumn spell

there are few sights more stunning, i think, than that of a japanese maple in its brazen glory.

mah pwecious

here is an indignant letter to the editor of a singapore broadsheet. briefly, the mother of a six year old is shocked that her child's preschool graduation will not involve little tykes crossing a stage in gown to collect their scroll and having their photographs taken. it will instead feature a concert. in her words, this is a painful omission.

perhaps this is kindliness. lest junior fail to make it to a real tertiary commencement, let's give him the works now! he knows his numbers! his colors! his alphabet! he's earned his mortarboard! egalité! ignorez raison!

perhaps for his primary school graduation, when he knows his fractions, he can wear the bonnet!

spanakopita

my share of the 120 that J2 makes, mostly for her friends.

potluck strategy for the non-cook:

1. have a daughter,

2. have a husband, or

3. know where to shop.

marching orders

the word is out. J1 enlists into the military in february. in three short months, before the snow melts and before the leaves return.

i know a little of how a very ill patient feels now, who gets a reprieve. this half year is our reprieve from the farewells we should have said in july. this way we get another autumn another birthday another thanksgiving another christmas. so in truth it is not three short months but an unexpected and undeserved gift. 

the LORD watches over all who love him,  -  psalm 14:20.

truth in advertising

this comes in the mail today:

just this emerges from it:

and it contains only these:

you could say that the doctrine of proportionality is satisfied.

xanthippe

here is what socrates says about his choosing a famously difficult woman to wife: i wish to deal with human beings, to associate with man in general; hence my choice of wife. i know full well, if i can tolerate her spirit, i can with ease attach myself to every human being else. (xenophon's symposium)

if you ask me, socrates' enormous intellect overshadows his common sense.

indescribable gift

pardon for sin and a peace that endureth/ thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide/ strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow/ blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!  -  thomas chisolm

we sing this in church today, the reprise of my wedding hymn. it is as difficult to sing today as it was twenty years ago. i want at once to proclaim the words, and also to tremble at my presumptuousness. would my God give me so much, with more besides? can there truly be no shadow of turning with him? and then i remember that Christ did not hold back his life but laid it down freely for me. i need to say with the centurion, my God, i believe. help my unbelief!

o give me grace to follow my master and my friend.  -  j e bode

taking stock

what four odd years stateside have done to my english:

• i spell american, exclusively. there are rules about -or and -our that i no longer seek to impose on the spell check function.
• i tend to shamelessly split my infinitives these days.
• peeps of heartiness push out through my native style. i say pop of color and sometimes i even say i'm good when strangers ask me how i am.
• i remain unable to say 'erb, as in 'erbal soup and 'erbert 'oover. i say wa-ter instead of WAH-der. but i do say an-tie-bodies and mul-tie-national.

change of seasons

J2 gets ill in the night. which if you ask me, is rather clever of her. if one must succumb, the best time would be the night that daylight saving ends. that way you get a additional hour to sleep off the ravages.

now i feel that fall has administratively begun.

for the record 2

what i want to learn to photograph better:

1. people,
2. food, and
3. in black & white.

book of the year (non-fiction)

2007  the elephant and the dragon - robin meredith (2007)

2008  parkinson's law: the pursuit of progress - c northcote parkinson (1958)

2009  watching the english - kate fox (2005)

2010  the problem of pain - c s lewis (1962)

book of the year (fiction)

2007  daniel isn't talking - marti leimbach (2006)

2008  a free life - ha jin (2007)

2009  cold comfort farm - stella gibbons (1932)

2010  memoirs of a geisha - arthur golden (1997)

dinner tonight

from an internet recipe, with liberal licence. but i'll say this. i may not be good with instructions, but i improvise confidently enough.

unsure of dates

in cases of doubt cover all bases.

other people's stuff 3

here are the blogs i read for sheer enjoyment: this¹, this², this³, and this⁴.

¹ grammatical chick lit.
² an engaging interpretation of the diary-of-my-life genre; brit.
³ ditto, american style.
⁴ irreverent brit in hk. i'm sure he's brit.

a series of unfortunate names

some things i cannot imagine myself purchasing, on account of their haplessly unprepossessing monikers:

sunbeam heaters

lenovo computers

young chang pianos
iwc watches

qq autos

one has to admit that these names sound at once vapid and vacuous which reflects rather badly on my shallowness but they nevertheless do not exactly inspire great confidence that the heater will not short circuit within an hour, for example. what's in a name, we like to say. plenty, that's what. if you ask me, a toyoda's brakes are more likely to fail than a toyota's.

other people's stuff 2

here are my friends' chinese blogs which i want to be able to access again even if i am dependent on google's mangled translation to read them: this and this, although it appears one of them has migrated to this.

which leaves only picture blogs and blogs i actually read on the main screen now.

other people's stuff

in between good reads now because my latest spoils are en route from amazon.com and the e-book failed to download, so i have been surfing through some blogs from home: this¹ , this² , this³  and this⁴ . for that matter let's put this⁵  and this⁶  here too, for a complete archive.

¹ this is where i start.
² this guy is currently relocating his family to the u.s., which naturally rings some nostalgic bells for me, so i'll follow his fortunes for a bit.
³ this lady appears to be selling singapore themed meals from out of her home kitchen, which will work quite well for me if she lives near me. i hope she replies my question. 
⁴ i like this best. it's unerringly grammatical chick lit.
⁵ young sgp trailing spouse in china.
⁶ for old loyalties and a fondness for things malaysian.

housekeeping

the young pup thinks the low frequency at which bed linen is laundered contributes to acne vulgaris. this is an unfair slur. think about it. i don't get acne, even if some people do. if you ask me, young pups should stop getting their medical education from web perpetuated lore and just drink more water and avoid chocolate.

new best friend ♥ ♥ ♥

the new heater arrives. i don't handle technical english too well but i would say i quite successfully put this together. more importantly it is unquestionably emanating heat the initial blasts of which totally make my day. we need to get three more to pre-empt the custodial tussles i foresee erupting when everybody comes home later.

the agony & the ecstacy

J2 and i go shopping for a new pair of jeans. the experience leaves me drained.

shopping, like cold weather and little children, is best enjoyed in the remote abstract.

november

it's time soon to take stock to remember and to be thankful.

skyline drive

come for a drive, we tell our teenagers. there is beauty that one should behold once. 's ok, J2 says, i get nice scenery from the window of my physics lab.

there is beauty that one sees better with beloved company, with good friends, and with awareness of life's restraints.