So Much for That...

     I won't be meeting my future kitten today.  The breeder has...issues.  To Wit, "I just dont (sic) feel comfortable selling a kitten to someone who cant give me a decent reference and has no other way of verifying who they are."  Now, apparently, this woman has 2 criteria, one of which must be met for a reference to be "decent:" a)it be from a veterinarian or b)it be on Facebook.  Well, those of you who know my opinion on Facebook will know that if that is a "decent" reference, that I am happy being positively indecent.
     My response was "I have lived and worked in the country for 6 years, with multiple co-workers and employers as references. In addition,  and more importantly, I have a member of the Clerk of the Courts from Edinburgh Chambers who was my reference for my citizenship.  I will take her reference over ANY vet.  It's your time and baby, and off course your choice. I just hope that you open your mind before you keep any more animals from a good home. "
     She DID recommend a kitten from an ad online.  The recommendation also tells something about her.  You see, I was trying to reserve her pedigree kitten.  She recommended a moggy.  Back-handed way of saying that I am not good enough for a pureblood?  I have nothing against Moggies.  ALL of my preveious cats have been moggies.  I was just going to see how the purebred Norweigian Forest Cat side of the fence was.  I guess not today... 

A New Member of the Family

   I haven't posted in quite awhile.  A breeder, looking for a reference, asked for my Facebook.  Now most of you know that I loathe FB.  Most folks who use it can't create their own emails or webpages.  But I do have my blog...out of date, but it shows who I am.

   I am going to meet her tomorrow.  Hopefully, I will impress her, and I will be able to reserve the kitten that I want.  If so, then maybe I can post a photo of wee Luidaeg.  Either way, the blog is back!

I am Running 4 Cancer....

Well, I'm not running to help cancer...I'm not running to get cancer.  I'm running to raise money for the charity Run 4 Cancer...in honor of my late Great Aunt Helen, זיכרונה לברכה.

Click on either of the links below and give, if you can.  Also, feel free to share this site.  Let's save lives and remember a great lady!

My Run 4 Cancer Page

Get Me to the JoP on Time...

   I sit here, in the airport, about to take my last flight as a single man.  This is an experience which I've alternately desired and despaired of reaching.  Still,today, I find myself with butterflies.  This experience should prove as exciting as any...

"May you live in exciting times..."

Tomorrow Comes....

     I saw "Les Miz" today...the film.  I may do a review at some point.  It has some weaknesses, but the strengths far outweigh them.  What I will say now is how I feel that this film is needed...right now.  Redemption as a gift and a choice,  loving someone, anyone as seeing the face of G-d, and finally, the surety that, even though we lose battles in our struggle, progress has been made...Tomorrow comes!

This is the lovely afternoon that I had awaiting me at The Mound in Edinburgh.  This was the setting for a blind date.  Perfect, huh? 

Below was my day today.  I spent some time outside, enjoying the kind of sun which DOESN'T come with unbearable temperatures and humidity.

How strange it is that I'm in Scotland, enjoying the beautiful sun(matched with perfect Autumnal temperatures), and my mates and family back in Myrtle Beach, are inundated with rain (surely to be followed by excessively humid heat).  I figured that I MUST rub it in!  ;-)




   Alas, I'd love to post some photos here....It seems that Blogger, in trying to "OutFacebook Facebook," has made it impossible for me to upload pics at this moment.  It all seems to be connected to their Google + (although the entire thing is a big minus in my opinion).  I can't even sign in to Picasa, because their attempt to get me to allow my photos to be displayed in my G+ profile (which I don't mind doing...) has caused a glitch.  Sigh.  More when I CAN post photos...

In the dead, dark hours after midnight, when the world seems to stop in it's place...

I sit here, in the center of a funnel.

Does the ripping wind foretell a hurricane,

Thrashing, tearing, leaving destruction in its wake?

The last storm's progeny still creep

About me, surprising in their strength.

Might one of them be that which might lift skyward,

Dropping me into lands of danger and hope.

Thrashing, scanning, soaring, I survey the storm.

Welcome to Katniss!

I was feeling a little alone here in Purgatory and bemoaning not knowing where I'd be next year (the excuse that I've used to forgo pet ownership for the last few years), when I realized that I could commit to finding a domicile which accepts cats. So, less than 20 hours later, I was bringing home Katniss from a local shelter. 48 hours later, I have ZERO regrets!

First Draft Done!

I happily emailed the first draft of my thesis to my advisor today. I don't know what to do with myself!

...but, I did treat myself by going to see "Thor," so were I to meet Chris Helmsworth, I'd know what to do with him!!

Equal Time for Dryads

A Peppy Little Sonnet About the Snow

A day full of promise, hope, and new-fallen snow

I snap into my bindings, and downhill I go

Cruising down the mountain, music in my ears

Right there in my element, outrunning my fears

From a path out of site, comes a skier behind

Think I'll ride down beside him. Don't think he will mind

For a day or forever, our paths curved as one

Cutting, each complimenting as the other one spun

But the skier, his interest, it dwindled a bit

From his inattention -a crash, and from it my board split

So I sit in the snow on this beautiful day

But my riding partner is skiing away

My source of locomotion is gone now, kaput

And which pain is the greater, my heart or my foot?

Paging Sparky

If you're out there, and you read this. Please email: phoenixlove137@gmail.com

"Writing Again" From Seanan McGuire's Cover of We're About 9

I just wanted to leave you this

One last note in your window
Before you disappear
I wanted to concatenate

The paper with the pen
With the hand that you left here
I wanted to show you
That I'm still breathing
I wanted to show you
My fingers still bend
I wanted to thank you for giving me something
To be all bitter about
It's good to be writing again

And I didn't want to wallow
So I'm writing a peppy
Little sonnet about the snow
And I think you would like it
And I guess that's what I really miss

And there's something bothering me
What I wanted to say is

Oops, I didn't mean to get all heavy
I mean, really, I am doing just fine
When I look at your picture
You are foreign to me
You are practically out of my mind
And this is the season, I thought, for all summer
And this is the reason I emptied my mind
On to pieces of paper that don't hold the answers
Just clear-headed questions
And the memories
Of warmer times

And I've sworn off of lovers
But I've adopted a cat
With paws the color of snow
And I think you would like her
And I guess that's what I really miss

And there's something bothering me
What I wanted to say is

So, here it goes this is my letter
To tell you the truth, I can't tell if I'm better
I've been thinking about the way most
Things are difficult to open and easier to close

But closure isn't something hat you get with a person
It's a plan interrupted by snow
Or a division of property

I gain that. You gain this.

And there's something bothering me
What I wanted to say is

I wanted to tell you
That I'm still
Breathing
I wanted to show you
My fingers
Still bend
I wanted to thank you
For giving me something
To be all bitter about
It's good to be writing again
It's good to be writing again

A New Decade

I find myself comtemplating what works for me, and what doesn't. I seem to view my life through the lens of Romantic Comedies...the good ones, anyway. I'm in some version of "Sweet Home Alabama," where I've left my roots and Southern friends, and now, I've come back to the South, only to be bitchy and disrespectful to the folks here. Of course, that ignores the fact that, here, I'm surrounded by bigots and selfish voters who care more for their own pocket change than for the lives of their fellows.

The future that I long for is direct from "The Family Stone," a holiday surrounded by children and grandchildren, with all that entails. That dream ignores the expense of Massachusetts living and the greater expense of having children.

The middle of the story is missing, but one thing is certain to me. It's not here. I'll be leaving South Carolina this summer. The path is set. Time to get ready for it!

In my 40th year, I've realized what I want, what I need, and what I can't accept. Now, I begin learning what I must do to find what I can accept.

Triage

I've found that a state of living in the new world is a feeling that something is bleeding from me...Sometimes it's energy...Sometimes time. I've been scrambling, trying to make it to the metaphorical ER, where I can have the wounds closed, but that's a long trip. I'm out in the field here, and I believe that I've just realized that I need some triage, to keep me going until I can reach the field hospital.

Anyone else feel similar?

Moved

Yesterday, a friend from grad school emailed me. It seems that she'd been moved by my writing on this site. I have to say that I was moved by her positive response. I intend to make a concerted effort to post more often.

One Day I'll Fly Away...

I follow the night
Can't stand the light
When will I begin
To live again?

One day I'll fly away
Leave all this to yesterday
What more could your Love do for me?
When will Love be through with me?

Why live life from dream to dream?
And dread the day when dreaming ends

One day I'll fly away
Leave all this to yesterday
Why live life from dream to dream?
And dread the day when dreaming ends...

Will Jennings

When In Rome

When in Rome,

I'll do as the Romans do.

But then, in any city,

I'll think of you.

Your dirt.

Your smell.

The bitter cold.

Radiating heat.

Art so profound as to make you weep.

Neither cheap nor easy,

Yet one of the best things in life.

The dream of millions,

You draw them all,

Chew some up, and spit them out.

Others of us

You never let go.