Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve

This morning when I awoke I had to gasp at the amount of leaves the rain and wind brought down last night! The back yard was aglow with yellow. My mind started thinking about the best strategy to tackle the chore of removal. While drinking my coffee and blankly staring into the yard, I thought about how sad things were. It didn’t feel like Christmas. I see very little smiles while I’m out running errands. The economy is bad. There’s no electric charge in the air. Life in general is gloomy for most folks. Then it occurred to me, that I too could be pulled into that abyss of bleak if I allow it. And if by magic, the yard danced alive with vibrant color. This is Christmas Eve. .....S.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Sentimental

They come out every year in December. The Snowmen. It’s Martha Stewart… meet South Park. Every year I try to quietly put them back into their box, and every time they announce, they’re baaaack. She’s had them for 35 years. What more can I say? ..... S.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Kitty Booty


Cole is a kleptomaniac. Alarmed by the birds he was bringing home, we put a bell on his collar. Solving a serious problem, inadvertently created an amusing one. We noticed it early on, when we started finding little baby socks inside the gate. Socks were his choice of theft; they could be balled up, inside out or sometimes knotted together… but definitely dirty. He was stealing laundry! Soon, we had adult gym and dress socks piling up at the back door. Last summer he stepped up his game; a suede gardening glove showed up, then its mate the next morning. In one month’s time, we had over 20 gloves. The early ones were leather, then later on, cloth. We surmised that the unhappy gardener was spending too much money replacing missing gloves so they started buying cheaper ones. One morning a red striped polo shirt was snagged inside the cat door as he tried dragging it through. Lately he's brought home baseball caps, bandanas, slippers, small toys and several children’s shoes; just one shoe each time, mind you, not the pair. We imagine the conversations going on inside these homes, the poor kids being scolded by their parents “well, they just don’t get up and walk away!” ...... S.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Shades of Green

I was on my own for dinner last night. Staring into the fridge, I let my taste buds creatively select a paring of flavors for my salad. I imagined biting into a forkful of cucumber with little lime wedgies, pepperoncini slivers with crisp romaine hearts, sprigs of broccoli and avocado chunks mingled with scallion dices in every mouthful. After everything was on the kitchen counter, I thought “hey, I’m eating green tonight!”… I tossed it all with Gerard’s champagne dressing.... S.