The day of our last snowstorm I looked outside at our snow-covered patio furniture and fancied snowmen and snow women (How come snow women is two words according to my spell check but snowmen is one word?) sitting at the table chatting. I don't know that I have ever seen a snowman sitting down---probably because they could be a bit of a challenge to build that way. Besides snowman have pretty short lives so why waste time sitting down...but if they ever did decide to take a rest I would love to have them do it at my patio table! I even felt a tickling urge to bundle up and go sit at the table myself just for fun but I really try to limit my family's (and my neighbor's) concerns about my state of mind...It is probably good that I don't give into all of my unusual urges but this was one I should have indulged. It could have been great fun to go out and sit on the deck on a snowy chair and drink a cup of hot cocoa.
Anyway...accompanying my musings about the socializing of snowmen were memories of myself sitting at my patio table only months before trying to find refuge from the hot summer sun under the disappointingly warm shade of the table umbrella. I guess that is something I have in common with snow people---we both seek shade from the heat of the sun to prevent us from melting into a puddle.
Speaking of melting...when we build a snowman in the yard it ends up melting into the grass and flower beds so there is a little essence of snow in the fresh green grass and delicate pastel flowers of spring. If I entertained snowmen on my deck they would eventually melt down into the spaces in the deck and soak into the dirt underneath. So this summer when I subject my bare feet (and I always do) to the broiling heat of my deck I will think of the cooling possibilities of remnants of snowmen having passed through the soil below. The continuous cycle of life---life begetting more life--- and even death and decay begetting life---layers of life---always a fascinating miracle to ponder.
Well the 'day of love' has passed. (I am so glad we are not limited to one day a year to show our affection but it is kind of fun to have that be a special focus as long as our undying devotion doesn't get crowded out by chocolate and flowers and jewelry and perfume and all of the other wrappings and trappings of the holiday) My sweetheart treated me very special and I tried to make him feel special too. Years ago I had a humbling revelation that despite modern marketing viewpoints, Valentine's Day is for men too! Like everything else Valentine's Day has changed over the course of my lifetime. I miss brainstorming ideas for valentine boxes for school with my kids. I miss the excitement of leaving valentines on doorsteps as a kid and running away as fast as I could before someone could answer their door. This year I missed good old-fashioned conversation hearts. I must admit I have always been fond of their overly sweet chalky goodness but now they have been relegated to nostalgic fare at best. I picked up a bag of conversation hearts on my Saturday trip to the grocery store because I had been craving them and was looking forward to nibbling on them for a couple of days but when I got them home I was disappointed to find that they were tutti fruity conversation hearts! Where were my perfumey tasting purples, my anise flavored whites, my wintergreenesque flavored pinks, my wonderfully fake banana flavored yellows? I still ate several of the tutti fruity ones because---well they contained sugar and were still a bit chalky but they did not in any way satisfy my craving. I have found it a bit sad for quite some time that the conversation on the conversation hearts isn't quite what it used to be but now they have messed with the flavor and texture. You can find sour glittering hearts, Disney hearts, gummy hearts, and of course a myriad of chocolate hearts but I did not see any of the good old original conversation hearts in small or large size. Perhaps I waited to long to get them or maybe they have disappeared because no one else liked them but me. I finally threw away the rest of the fruity ones and bought myself a roll of Necco wafers to somewhat satisfy my craving. The flavors were good but I missed the thick pleasant chalkiness---kind of like what I think it would be like to chew on soft sandstone pebbles---maybe I have a deficiency of some sort...
We have a dinosaur sitting on our kitchen windowsill. It was a Christmas gift from my youngest daughter to her dad. It was inside of a volcano which was inside of a plastic container. The volcano erupted after adding vinegar and revealed a dinosaur inside that grew when you filled the container with water. It looked big and inflated for a time --kind of like me after eating all those holiday goodies-- and then we poured out the water and it has gradually shrunken down to it's original small size. I want to do that! Eventually I guess I will have to dispose of it but it kind of feels like it belongs there now and it has got me to thinking(I know it doesn't take much and it could be a dangerous thing)...you know how we tend to have to go to the bathroom a lot as we get older and we don't drink as much either---because then we have to go again---well maybe that's why we shrivel and shrink with age---we are losing too much water! Also, older people don't soak in the tub as much because of safety issues so see---there is more cause for shriveling. Maybe we should immerse ourselves in water for a few minutes each day and it would keep us looking youthful. Babies are immersed in water for nine months and they come out all shriveled but maybe it would have the opposite effect on an old person...
My brain is starting to feel mushy-slushy and I better quit before anyone reading this drowns in a puddle of nonsense.
Who would you like to see sitting in your patio chairs?
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
I mentioned at the end of my last post that I would say more about airport security screening. Well here it is...
Over the Christmas holidays our family got interested in a television series (via netflix---netflix is kind of like a metal detector--sometimes it will uncover treasures but only after uncovering a substantial amount of worthless refuse) called Lie to Me. It is about a group of psychologists whose specialty is reading micr0 facial expressions and body language which they apply to solving various cases--mostly of a criminal nature. The whole 'reading' thing is fascinating but unfortunately after the first season the show seemed to follow a familiar path for modern television dramas---once the producers hook people with an intriguing premise and interesting characters they start throwing in more sex and violence as if competing to see just how depraved they can make the criminal cases and just how non-private they can make the private lives of the regular characters. (I have fallen for several appealing lures only to find, like a hooked fish, that they are not only non-nourishing but not palatable---they get stuck in my throat and I wiggle around until I hopefully escape before being completely reeled in) Anyway......in the show there is a woman who is a natural at reading facial expressions and body language who is actually working for the Transportation Security Agency when she is spotted and hired by the two main psychologists. This finally leads me to my proposal for more efficient less intrusive airport security screening----
First have large screens that would show each passenger and then have teams of these trained psychologists (preferably all natural born talents in reading micro facial expressions and body language) study the screens. Anyone not passing their 'screen test' would have to step aside into a booth where a psychologist would do a face to face analysis to detect any potential threats. Anyone working as a member of these a-teams of impressive psychologists would have the extra incentive of possibly starting their own company or even being offered their own TV series.
After being carefully scrutinized by hypersensitive psychologists passengers would then need to pass through a line of well seasoned mothers. We all know from experience how good mothers are at knowing when some thing's up and especially how hard it is to hide anything from them. Considering all the blame mothers as a group have received from the profession of psychology it would be a bit of poetic justice to have the psychologists' work double-checked by a group of mothers...
If people weren't posing a threat but just hiding hurt feelings or insecurities then they could receive several motherly hugs and even some quick motherly advice making for much happier passengers. (Of course the mothers would have to be specially trained in non-meddling or it could take a while to get through the lines)
If the passengers make it past the psychologists and the mothers then they will just need to pass through some trained bomb sniffing dogs (I endure this everyday upon arriving home only it isn't bombs my dogs are sniffing) and then they will be allowed to fly the hopefully friendlier skies.
I think these innovative methods of airport security screening could work and all without taking off your shoes, being too thoroughly frisked or being violated by x-ray vision body scanners (which are of no medical benefit and will probably soon be found to cause cancer).
Seriously I think we should be thankful that we live in a country where someone is concerned for our safety and tries to take precautions to protect us but I do question the effectiveness of current methods. We all learn early in life that sometimes we get extra homework because someone else was misbehaving so we should be willing to trade some convenience for security but when it comes to airport security these days the line between protecting freedoms and violating them seems to be a fine line.
Today the sun is shining and making the snow sparkle. I feel like I could be in a snow globe surrounded by a crystal clear sky---as long as no one shakes it and gets the snow falling---- of course if I still pretended to be in a snow globe then the snow would be fun---that is the point of snow globes...
How is your view of the globe?
Take good care!
Over the Christmas holidays our family got interested in a television series (via netflix---netflix is kind of like a metal detector--sometimes it will uncover treasures but only after uncovering a substantial amount of worthless refuse) called Lie to Me. It is about a group of psychologists whose specialty is reading micr0 facial expressions and body language which they apply to solving various cases--mostly of a criminal nature. The whole 'reading' thing is fascinating but unfortunately after the first season the show seemed to follow a familiar path for modern television dramas---once the producers hook people with an intriguing premise and interesting characters they start throwing in more sex and violence as if competing to see just how depraved they can make the criminal cases and just how non-private they can make the private lives of the regular characters. (I have fallen for several appealing lures only to find, like a hooked fish, that they are not only non-nourishing but not palatable---they get stuck in my throat and I wiggle around until I hopefully escape before being completely reeled in) Anyway......in the show there is a woman who is a natural at reading facial expressions and body language who is actually working for the Transportation Security Agency when she is spotted and hired by the two main psychologists. This finally leads me to my proposal for more efficient less intrusive airport security screening----
First have large screens that would show each passenger and then have teams of these trained psychologists (preferably all natural born talents in reading micro facial expressions and body language) study the screens. Anyone not passing their 'screen test' would have to step aside into a booth where a psychologist would do a face to face analysis to detect any potential threats. Anyone working as a member of these a-teams of impressive psychologists would have the extra incentive of possibly starting their own company or even being offered their own TV series.
After being carefully scrutinized by hypersensitive psychologists passengers would then need to pass through a line of well seasoned mothers. We all know from experience how good mothers are at knowing when some thing's up and especially how hard it is to hide anything from them. Considering all the blame mothers as a group have received from the profession of psychology it would be a bit of poetic justice to have the psychologists' work double-checked by a group of mothers...
If people weren't posing a threat but just hiding hurt feelings or insecurities then they could receive several motherly hugs and even some quick motherly advice making for much happier passengers. (Of course the mothers would have to be specially trained in non-meddling or it could take a while to get through the lines)
If the passengers make it past the psychologists and the mothers then they will just need to pass through some trained bomb sniffing dogs (I endure this everyday upon arriving home only it isn't bombs my dogs are sniffing) and then they will be allowed to fly the hopefully friendlier skies.
I think these innovative methods of airport security screening could work and all without taking off your shoes, being too thoroughly frisked or being violated by x-ray vision body scanners (which are of no medical benefit and will probably soon be found to cause cancer).
Seriously I think we should be thankful that we live in a country where someone is concerned for our safety and tries to take precautions to protect us but I do question the effectiveness of current methods. We all learn early in life that sometimes we get extra homework because someone else was misbehaving so we should be willing to trade some convenience for security but when it comes to airport security these days the line between protecting freedoms and violating them seems to be a fine line.
Today the sun is shining and making the snow sparkle. I feel like I could be in a snow globe surrounded by a crystal clear sky---as long as no one shakes it and gets the snow falling---- of course if I still pretended to be in a snow globe then the snow would be fun---that is the point of snow globes...
How is your view of the globe?
Take good care!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
A good friend of mine who is very observant and apparently much better at math than I am pointed out that it hasn't been 10 months since my last post, only 6. I don't know how to explain my miscalculation---perhaps I was thinking of April instead of August or maybe it is because I seem to sometimes go on mini-vacations to another dimension...
That got me thinking about the twilight zone---not the television show--which was interesting but creepy--not the peppy song of that name by The Manhattan Transfer--although I like that song and I can relate to it--but I am speaking of the twilight zone that describes well...another dimension of time and space where things are a little skewed.
That got me to thinking about twilight---not the book about sparkling 90-year-old vampires with teenage angst---but the adjective used to describe a period of gradual decline. I have heard of someone being referred to as being in the twilight of their lives...this is to mean they are declining in years---their time is waning like the sunlight at the end of day.
That got me to thinking about where I am in my life. Perhaps I am in the afternoon of my life---my kids would probably say late afternoon judging by their sometimes harsh reminders of my age . Afternoon...just after lunch--a good time to take a walk and ponder the events of a morning that seems to be both minutes away and almost part of another day. Afternoon...a time to feel a pressing need to get things done while daylight is burning--to revel in the long stretching out of the day. Afternoon...a time to think about the coming evening which could hold excitement bathed in moonlight and stars or long hours of quietly apprehensive darkness or probably both. Afternoon...a good time for a light snack and a quick nap...
Did you know that twilight zone also refers to the lowest level of the ocean to which light can penetrate? (I admit to referring frequently to the dictionary---it is a wonderful place that I have enjoyed visiting ever since I learned to read) Perhaps it is wise to not go deeper than light can penetrate--either in exploring the depths of the ocean or the depths of thought...Hmmm...
Here is a totally unrelated thought (I know you are not surprised in the least--or in the most)
The TSA is testing a more polite body scanning software for airports. Could the body scanners double as medical scanners then at least if we have to have our privacy invaded to protect us we could find out if we have any health concerns...
More thoughts to come on suggestions for airport security...
Have a wonderful day whatever part of the day you claim!
That got me thinking about the twilight zone---not the television show--which was interesting but creepy--not the peppy song of that name by The Manhattan Transfer--although I like that song and I can relate to it--but I am speaking of the twilight zone that describes well...another dimension of time and space where things are a little skewed.
That got me to thinking about twilight---not the book about sparkling 90-year-old vampires with teenage angst---but the adjective used to describe a period of gradual decline. I have heard of someone being referred to as being in the twilight of their lives...this is to mean they are declining in years---their time is waning like the sunlight at the end of day.
That got me to thinking about where I am in my life. Perhaps I am in the afternoon of my life---my kids would probably say late afternoon judging by their sometimes harsh reminders of my age . Afternoon...just after lunch--a good time to take a walk and ponder the events of a morning that seems to be both minutes away and almost part of another day. Afternoon...a time to feel a pressing need to get things done while daylight is burning--to revel in the long stretching out of the day. Afternoon...a time to think about the coming evening which could hold excitement bathed in moonlight and stars or long hours of quietly apprehensive darkness or probably both. Afternoon...a good time for a light snack and a quick nap...
Did you know that twilight zone also refers to the lowest level of the ocean to which light can penetrate? (I admit to referring frequently to the dictionary---it is a wonderful place that I have enjoyed visiting ever since I learned to read) Perhaps it is wise to not go deeper than light can penetrate--either in exploring the depths of the ocean or the depths of thought...Hmmm...
Here is a totally unrelated thought (I know you are not surprised in the least--or in the most)
The TSA is testing a more polite body scanning software for airports. Could the body scanners double as medical scanners then at least if we have to have our privacy invaded to protect us we could find out if we have any health concerns...
More thoughts to come on suggestions for airport security...
Have a wonderful day whatever part of the day you claim!
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