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April 24, 2004
in spring...
...more mortal singers than belong
To any one place cover us with song.
Thrush, bluebird, blackbird, sparrow, and robin throng...
~Robert Frost, "Our Singing Strength"
Every morning before work I've been trying to walk along the Charles. First thing in the morning, the birds sing with the most heavenly voices. Once the day begins to move toward noon, the songs taper off and I wish I could see and hear more of those birds...the ones that seem to hide during the day, not the pigeons, the geese, sparrows and starlings.
Today we walked along the Minuteman Trail again and saw both a hairy woodpecker and a little
We also saw a little hawk swooping through the woods, only a few feet above our heads, probably looking for squirrels.
More wild than the wildlife was the man using his above-ground pool in his backyard as an enclosure for the burnpile he had going.
It wasn't really as wild as when we went out last night to Bukowski's with Joe's ex-co-worker, Jess, and when we went to pick her up, we saw that her neighbor had filled in their below-ground pool with dirt (LOTS of dirt) and were going to plant a garden in it. How tacky is that?
Posted by crystallyn at 01:17 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 22, 2004
spring is sprung
finally! Every morning I try to get to work early so I can take a walk along the Charles River. It's wonderful to be able to see the way that the seasons are changing over. This week has been especially wonderful weather-wise. On my morning walks I have seen:
* Two swallows swooping and flying over the water.
* A cat sitting on the edge of the river, enviously eyeing a goose that it couldn't get to.
* Starlings, sparrows, pigeons and ducks primping, preening and dancing for their mates.
* A goldfinch every morning, singing sweetly.
* Lots and lots of poochies...bulldogs, dobermans, pugs, poodles, and even a little golden retriever puppy still clumsy and curious.
* A doll's arm floating in the river.
* Rowers, rowers, rowers.
* Magnolia trees beginning to blossom.
* Boatowners beginning to take the plastic off their boats.
* Lots and lots of Duck boats in the water.
* Fish jumping.
* A Buddha on someone's apartment porch.
* Trees beginning to extend their leaves...each day a little more.
My right ear is blocked up a bit...allergies are definitely starting to kick in! Today is supposed to be hot and humid, but cloudy until the afternoon rolls around. This weekend I think we're going to take a stab at planting flowers, getting out the summer clothes and well, writing my 10 page term paper.
I'm really looking forward to summer this year!
(oh and figured out the stylesheet, sorta!)
Posted by crystallyn at 06:38 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 21, 2004
as you can see
I'm not very good at MT CSS. :(
And it's late and I need to sleeeeep.
Posted by crystallyn at 10:06 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 20, 2004
wooohooo!
I have a gmail account! 1000MB storage! No more Yahoo! for my general email box!
Posted by crystallyn at 07:01 PM | TrackBack
April 18, 2004
My turn to play
the game...I'm a little late to jump on this bandwagon, but...here goes:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
I have Tom Shippey's J.R.R. Tolkien-Author of the Century.
5th sentence on page 23:
'It was rather splendid to be wearing a blade made in Gondolin for the goblin-wars of which so many songs had sung,' says the narrator, and though this romantic sentiment is immediately qualified by a practical one--'and also he had noticed that such weapons made a great impression on goblins that came upon them suddenly'--it marks perhaps the first stage in Bilbo's winning a place in the modern world of fairy-tale.
Posted by crystallyn at 08:29 PM | TrackBack
April 14, 2004
leggo of my lego
Check this out...
It's made entirely from Legos. Really. Found at Gizmodo...go check out the close-ups if you don't believe me.
I really love Legos. My brother was really into them and when we weren't making him play with my sister's Barbies we would build crazy things. My nephews have discovered how much fun they are too. There is a wonderful little shop in Waltham, The Construction Site, that carries every Lego you can imagine. I have to admit, I found myself longing for the whole Harry Potter set. :)
Oh my...there is a Legoland? No wait, FOUR of them? What planet have I been living on?!
Posted by crystallyn at 06:26 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
April 13, 2004
national poetry month
is upon us. This is, oddly enough, readily apparent as one drives along the Charles river. No, I don't mean the river is poetic, although it is. I'm not talking about the view, although it is too. Or even the ecclectic mix of people that walk, run, bike, blade, skip and meander along its banks--certainly lots of poetry there.
No, I mean literally--there is poetry on the banks of the Charles. Sticks of it poking out of the ground all along the paths. At least that's what it looks like from the road as I drive to and from work. I haven't been able to stop and check it out as I would like.
It looks like someone has put little signs all along the bike path, with poems on each sign. What a great idea! I have tried to do a little search to see if I could find out who is behind it, but alas, nothing. The signs themselves might say, but as already noted, I haven't been able to stop and see.
I went to a poetry reading by Jorie Graham this weekend. Had the chance to meet a woman in the online poetry group I am part of, Zeugma. The reading was interesting. It was in the upstairs of the Harvard Advocate building, which was a cute little house, quite old, and also packed to the gills with kids ten years younger than me. We ended up sitting on the cramped floor, with no room to move about at all, which left me with one foot in a near coma by the end of the reading.
I think it's fascinating to hear poets read their own works. Their reading is always different than how I would have read it, and often the meanings completely change. As my friend pointed out though, poets often don't know HOW to read their poetry aloud. I believe that is true. I've heard recordings of some very famous poets who essentially near wreck their poems by uttering them to captive audiences. Jorie read her poems in a tremendous rush, as though they were rivers bursting their banks, or as though she were desperate to read them and leave. She read all her poems like that, which I found both curious and sometimes distracting. I found my mind wandering when I should have had rapt attention. I wasn't surprised when, as soon as she finished reading, she slung her pack over her back and made for the door. I was disappointed...I'm used to going to readings and have books signed. John Updike, Maxine Kumin and Tess Gallagher weren't too busy. I mean, the fans are the ones essentially who are anteing up her paycheck...and nowhere is that more true than with a poet.
I think Katey was the one that mentioned something about buying poetry books equates to good poetry karma for the poetic self...or maybe that was Stephanie...it was certainly one of them. As my two Jorie Graham volumes sat, unsigned in the bottom of my bag, I realized that in this case, it wasn't the case.
Perhaps my poetic karma will manifest elsewhere...
Posted by crystallyn at 06:29 AM | TrackBack
April 07, 2004
very very fine
Kraft just bought out longtime local juicemaker, Veryfine. The company has been owned by the same family for over 100 years. Normally a buyout of this sort would be heart-wrenching. I've been in so many buy-outs, mergers and even bankruptcies, and been one of those employees who walks away with barely anything.
Not the employees of Veryfine. Sam Rowse, president of Veryfine, is splitting $15M between the 400 employees. A story like this is heart-warming during this time of political chaos (I'm trying to swear off the nightly news these days!) and national job insecurity. It gives me such hope. I want to write that man a letter and tell him how amazing it is to see a corporate executive who wants to reward the people who helped make the company great, who helped create a Veryfine product and who cares more about the people than the money.
There are some very generous people in this world. I find that more and more I am trying to aspire to be giving in places where I can. Many years ago, when I had just graduated and was jobless, I had a cat that was dying--a blood clot had paralyzed her back legs. I was at the vet, crying because I couldn't afford to do anything to keep her alive and truthfully, couldn't even afford to put her to sleep. Two women in the waiting room witnessed my sad sorry state. One of them came over to me and put her arm around me, handing me a $50 check. I couldn't believe it. She just said, "I know how it is." I think about that woman a lot. That one tiny moment has left its mark (mushy me is even crying just thinking about it). Karma. I really believe that when you act in love, you receive in love. I hope that the universe is rewarding that woman. I still wish that I could.
Just like Sam Rowse and all his very very fine employees. Kudos to you Mr. Rowse. The world needs more people like you.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:18 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 01, 2004
It's April 1!
but it's no April Fools that the next issue of Plum Ruby Review is online!!