A 13 of Thursday
1. I live in a log cabin on 3 acres. When describing it to others, I like to lower their expectations by referring to it as a humble abode, lived-in, country, or rustic.
2. My neighbor’s yard is like the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and mine is like the U.S. side. He mows more than us and has a landscaped entrance to his driveway. Our property tends to be more “naturalized.”
3. One of my top criteria for where I live is having enough privacy to sunbathe nude if I want to. More on that HERE.
4. It seems that summer just slipped through my hands. Season changes are like BIG-O birthdays to me. When I first turned 30, 40, and then 50, it felt abrupt and I was initially in denial. I feel the same about the season’s changes. I need time to get used to them and eventually I do.
5. It’s ironic that the word “hex” means witch in German and usually refers to a curse, but the Pennsylvania Dutch use hex signs (a folk art) to bless their homes with good luck. The one that hangs on our porch symbolizes “abundance and good will.”
6. We had a couple from Switzerland here for dinner this past weekend. When I asked them about their impressions of this country, they said they were surprised at how little we recycle and commented on how our news was so American-centered.
7. The irony and hypocrisy of Congressman Mark Foley professing to be protecting children from internet predators while at the same time being engaged in cyber sex chat with teenagers, is explained in psychology as “projection,” one of the defense mechanisms identified by Freud and still acknowledged today. According to Freud, projection is when an individual attributes to other people impulses and traits that he himself has but cannot accept
8. Although Foley is a Republican, Fox News labeled him as a Democrat several times during a recent airing of The O’Reilly Factor. They wish.
9. On the drive to Roanoke on Sunday to look at a house that my son and his wife might be buying, the sky was filled with the most amazing cloud formations I had ever seen. I thought of them as “schools of clouds” because they looked like giant whales swimming across the sky.
10. Most people know that a group of geese is a gaggle, but a murder of crows, a gulp of swallows, a pride of peacock, a parliament of owls, a flamboyance of flamingos? Who comes up with these words?
11. My answering machine message says: Leave your poem after the tone. I finally got a good one today from my friend Melody. She said: Colleen … what a dream … it sounds so distant … and reminiscent … of you.
12. I once called a person whose last name was White. Their answering machine message said: Hello. You have reached the White House.
13. This Health Blog picked up my post, “Floyd Loves Barbara Kingsolver,” about the sustainability of using local food. The Floyd Press story on Barbara’s visit to Floyd is HERE.
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13's are here. View more 13 Thursday’s here.
Comments
lovely as always... and a romp of otters.. or was it beavers oh i forget so easily!
i love the spider poem below too.
beautiful.
Posted by: keda | October 5, 2006 6:57 AM
Thanks for the heads up on animal group names - we often see turkeys and wondered what the collective group would be called, now I know:
turkey: rafter, posse, gang, dole, flock, raffle
I believe I like posse!
Always love to read your 13s, snippits to enjoy.
Posted by: Susan | October 5, 2006 7:18 AM
Thank you Colleen....
That is the "word" I have been searching for all summer long since I have from time to time neglected my yard care activities.
"Naturalized"....I like it.
Do you suppose that would work for the inside also? LOL
Posted by: Alan G | October 5, 2006 7:49 AM
#6 is very true--I'm in Germany now, and we recycle everything, and the news is much more international--comes from being so much less spread out and isolated, I think.
And #8? Not accidental.
Posted by: Darla | October 5, 2006 7:54 AM
Wow! You sure are an interesting person!
I love your cabin..it is my life long dream to live in a smallone on a quiet lake with a canoe. I gaze wistfully at those Log cabin magazines and think..."In my next life...!
I dressed up as Annie Oakley for hallowe'rn with my long braids! She was my idol! I'd get up and straddle our 2 couches to be like her on the 2 horses!
My mom used the flyswatter instead of the spatula! It didn't hurt but we ran away because of the germs!
I'm Canadian but prefer the natural unmanicured look of a yard.
We don't have names for groups of people other than just family, which is becoming harder to define. I saw in a poem about geese once, "the human gaggle" and I loved that!
Posted by: Ruth | October 5, 2006 8:22 AM
I have heard that European countries are WAY ahead of us when it comes to recycling and conserving energy. And, they are more globally aware than Americans. I bet your dinner was interesting.
3 acres in the country must be heaven!
I, too, have been witnessing the most amazing Sky Art. Makes it hard to drive, when my eyes are on the sky ;)
Posted by: Nancy | October 5, 2006 9:07 AM
From home to positive hex to wonderful clouds, wonderful 13
Posted by: Pearl | October 5, 2006 9:16 AM
Hey that's neat that the health blog picked up your post. Must mean the "abundance and good will" sign is working...either that or you deserve it!
Yeah, that "trick" (and I think it was intentional) by O'Reilly was a low blow (no pun intended).
Posted by: Kathy | October 5, 2006 9:16 AM
I must learn to write snippet poems if they can so be called. You are such an encouragement there. There are so many ahh moments each day and I need to learn to snippet them out into a paper thought. Thanks for reminding me- maybe I can work on this in Idaho? Be blessed today
Posted by: Red Queen | October 5, 2006 9:22 AM
I used to call my short little poems "mutant haiku," but lately I've been calling them little "sips" of poems. I notice that sip is right there in the word snippet!
Posted by: colleen | October 5, 2006 9:46 AM
I had to snicker. My little sister's last name is White and that's what they have on their answering machine. ;o)
While I can't actually sunbathe nude at my place, I don't have to look out my window to see my neighbor looking at out me. We have a small 35 acre farm on a back road that's nice and private. I like my privacy.
Happy Thursday!
T.Bird
Posted by: tbirdonawire | October 5, 2006 9:54 AM
I found it interesting how you compared yards to the sides of Niagara Falls. It actually shocked me to see what differences there were on each side.
I've posted my Thursday Thirteen, too. Enjoy! ;)
Posted by: Chaotic Mom | October 5, 2006 10:14 AM
love this list, it made me smile.
Posted by: Celfy | October 5, 2006 10:28 AM
I also find the news in America very America-centered, there is very limited information about what's happening in the rest of the world. Europe has more population density than the US, we need to recycle or else... Love collective nouns, thanks for the new ones! and happy TT :)
Posted by: mar | October 5, 2006 10:41 AM
[wistful sigh]
I so miss the Idaho mountains where I grew up. Your post has drummed up fond memories for me. Sure miss the fresh, crisp air, too. (I'm in Missouri now.)
So true on our news being "American-centered", if even an 1/8 of Americans knew what was really going on in the world around us... Well, I'd like to believe that their would be an outpouring of compassion and aid, but it's likely they'd have to get over the shock of reality, first.
#9 - Oh, too bad you didn't get a picture to share.
#10 - LOL! I love the "flamboyance of flamingo".
#11 - Wow, that was a good poem. Great idea, too.
#12 - (another...) LOL!
Have a terrific Thursday!
Posted by: ~ Stacy ~ | October 5, 2006 10:52 AM
Great Thursday 13. :) Friends of our live in a log cabin home, and it is just so beautiful.
Happy Thursday. :)
Posted by: Caylynn | October 5, 2006 12:03 PM
Ben pulled out the holiday movie Mickey Mouse's Twice Upon A Christmas last night and wanted to watch it. I noticed in the credits at the end that the script supervisor's name was Carole Holiday. That immediately made me think of you.
Posted by: Delane | October 5, 2006 12:25 PM
They labeled Foley as a Democrat? They'll stop at nothing! (and yet, it's funny).
Posted by: carmen | October 5, 2006 12:31 PM
I always learn so many things when I read your blog...Particularly your TT each week! Love It!
btw: I have tasted that fruit of the plant I posted about today and it is dee-licious!!! I understande the birds feasting, very very well! (lol)
Posted by: OldOldLady Of The Hills | October 5, 2006 1:17 PM
If I had three acres, it would most definitely be naturalized! I hate doing yard work.
My Thirteen is up today, too.
Posted by: terrilynn | October 5, 2006 2:21 PM
Great list as usual...we live in country cottage we call "The Nest". Mr. Wonderful says it's big enough that the kids can come and visit but they can't live with us. Love the hex sign and huge spider webb..was Charlotte spinning any yarns that day?
Posted by: Lazy Daisy | October 5, 2006 2:40 PM
My Mom was originally from PA Dutch country, so we always had a hex sign on our door!
Posted by: Janet | October 5, 2006 4:53 PM
Great list, very diverse.
Sometimes I think people like Foley use those jobs to be even closer to what they long for...for example, they watch the child porn and say how bad it is but really just love it. And that position lets them get holds of a lot of it. Disgusting but I believe it....
and I never knew a hex was ever considered a good thing!
Posted by: Deana | October 5, 2006 6:06 PM
Was that "our Melody, Colleen? Tell her we said hello. I agree about Foley and about the mistake of calling him a Dem. They wish, indeed!!
Now I am going to go tell Mar that some of us DO recycle!!
Posted by: kenju | October 5, 2006 6:18 PM
A well written T13 as usual! I don't know how you come up with all this...
I agree with the Switzerland couple, we experience your country like that too.
Come on over and have some pink cake and a glass of Dom Perignon!
But no cake throwing! Behave!
Posted by: Mrs Lifecruiser | October 5, 2006 7:23 PM
Loved your #9...."they wish." Jon Stewart has really been going to town about all of this on The Daily Show....he's my guy!
Interesting about the Swiss couple commenting on lack of International news here...never thought about it, but how very true. Gee, you think that says something about this country?
Posted by: Terri | October 5, 2006 7:52 PM
I thought we "talked" about Melody back in the summer. She went to the camp 3-4 years that my children went, and she was fast friends with my middle child. This summer, my oldest grandson went to the camp, and when they got there, who did they see but Melody and her boy! They had lost touch and had not heard from each other for 20+ years! Later that month, she went to NYC and my younger daughter saw her there. Small world!
Posted by: kenju | October 5, 2006 7:57 PM
Oh Colleen, I forgot to say about that fruit...You have to get to it before the birds do! I haven't been able to do that this year--yet!
But when some of those fruits ripen that are lower down where I can reach them...I am going to see if I can get there before those dear little house finches do!
I wish you could taste them!!! YUMMMY
Posted by: OldOldLady Of The Hills | October 5, 2006 7:58 PM
Naturalization of a yard. What a wonderful idea! Wish they would go for it here.
Posted by: srp | October 5, 2006 8:39 PM
RE: #8--I saw that, too (via jon Stewart)! So infuriating! And for a lot of people, that's their only news source.
Posted by: patry | October 5, 2006 11:37 PM
Would that be a "pod" of clouds? :) Love the imagery.
We keep our yard "naturalized" as much as we can while still coexisting peacefully with our civic association.
Posted by: Elissa | October 7, 2006 10:13 PM