Em’s Neighborhood

2010-3
Originally uploaded by kittyireland

The daily salad.

2010-2
Originally uploaded by kittyireland

A quiet weekend in the new year. The crows keep their voices down.

2010-1
Originally uploaded by kittyireland

The first day of 2010 I start a detox diet. The remains of the St. Germain liqueur will stay in the bottle until february...

I'm not making any specific resolutions for 2010. If I make resolutions they are intended to be ongoing, not subject to annual election. I am however giving myself a challenge.... well, two challenges:

1. WRITE EVERY DAY in 2010 (novels, journals, blogs, limericks, letters, stories, haiku on napkin... they all count)
2. Keep a photo journal. Somewhat daily, no specific content requirements... I will cross-post from flickr for ya.

Beyond that, I have some general principles that I am working on, regardless of what year it is...

Do more. I want to spend more of my time actively engaged in doing, whether it's washing dishes or doing yoga or writing or reading or vacuuming or working or playing games or going for a walk. This means less passive media consumption and internet snurffing.

Make something. A stew, a collage, a painting, a novel, a website, a film. Whatever. Always have something in progress.

Be healthier. More exercising, less drinking, more raw vegetables, less takeout, etc... This month I am doing a detox diet coupled with experimenting with a gluten-free diet.

Participate. Find ways to work with others on projects I find interesting, take classes, get involved in community action, and think of other ways to engage with other people in active ways.

In terms of goals... they are in flux. I still have many of the same goals I did last year at this time and most of them have barely moved forward... or moved sideways. The problem with most goals is that they require a financial foundation that I simply don't have right now. Grad school, travel, starting businesses... all require some sort of investment. In February I will find out whether the freelance work for my old boss will come through and tide me over for this year. Until then, I am trying to organize my options in some sort of sensible way in order to understand what they really are and make a rational decision about what to do next.

One of the best parts of being in Ohio is that we have reconnected with Ben's (huge) clan of family. I've known them for over 14 years, but from a distance. I was a bit slow on getting all the names right and the spouses and the kids. When I saw one kid I'd known as a little kid (now late teens) I did not recognize him to everyone's amusement.

How could I not know Hunter?

The clan has been together in the same area of Ohio forever. The 14 years Bens been with me in Californa never really took him out of the family loop. Now that he's back here, it's almost like he never left. I have to say I love being part of the "clan".

Today Ben's aunt Bobbie (Barb) had everyone to her home in Mansfield for "pigs in a blanket." (pork and ground beef balls with rice wrapped in cabbage in a soup of tomato and spices and sauerkraut. Thick chunks of bread and butter  and mashed potatoes finished the meal. All served straight from the kitchen to whoever showed up, whenever they showed up. The pot had been cooking for over 10 hours - started the day before and then reheated today so the flavors blended and mellowed. It was so unbelievably good and satisfying. We all ate wherever we could find a spot  while the tv played one of many football games. Ben helped this cousins set up his mom's new speaker system to go with her new tv. Ben and his cousin Lonnie worked together on the project - joking and teasing each other. Honestly they are as different as night and day, but underneath the "types" the connection - the family tie - is obvious. Ben- his tight black jeans, pink and black sneakers, red and black flannel topped with a black biker jacket, tatted and pierced, blue hair, goofy humor - in the snow, Ben makes snow men. In the snow, Lonnie waits for hours with a gun or bow for his prey to pass close enough for a clean kill. Lonnie with his home full of stuffed and mounted animals, deer watch his tv from behind his chair - the black bear comes out of the wall behind the tv. The turkeys and peasants are flattened into wall hangings. Lonnie - in his camo pants and loose muddy boots - hair trimmed short  - buff  - while Ben is a computer whiz who does art for a living. Lonnie works at a correctional facility. He is big and tough. I'm sure on one messes with Lonnie. Different. Wildly different. And yet I've watched them getting closer with each gathering.

Ben's family accepts each other 100%, Can't say they accept everyone - or every type - but once someone is in the family "clan" everyone has their back.

Every time we are with Ben's family - I feel - like I am a part of something.
It's wonderful to feel this much love - from them all and for them all.
 
And Ben.

I watched that film, It's a Wonderful Life, pretty much every December - sometimes two or three times - from as far back as I can remember. I liked the movie a lot as a kid, and although I rarely watch it anymore (saw it last year, but not this year).

I liked it when I was a kid because it was funny. Both the George Bailey character and Clarence are adorable clowns. I like it as an adult because it is a fitting parable for the particular misery of living hand-to-mouth.

The film does not have a happy ending, in my opinion. It is certainly a nice, uplifting ending, reminding us of the comfort of friends and family. But none of the problems that had led George Bailey to attempt suicide had been solved. Sure, the immediate financial crisis was averted, but George Bailey was left to continue with a life that at least part of him hated.

But he was supposed to have learned an important lesson. A lesson that the viewer can swallow like a harmless sugar pill: Your own desires are not important.

Did George Bailey make the right choice when he decided to take over the building and loan instead of seeing the world? The film asserts that he did. If he hadn't been around, Bedford Falls would have turned into an amoral and over-developed hellhole. His choice represents an interest in a good greater than his own happiness.

Frankly, I don't buy it. I think the players would have done fine without George and his affable generosity, despite the potential of Pottersville. I was always rooting for George Bailey to get the hell out of there, and I still am. 

Happy
New Year!

Thank you and good night. I've complete the challenge. Sweet!

Boyfriend and I will be leaving for Catalina Island tomorrow.  We will be celebrating New Year's at the Casino, and at midnight we will be standing beneath an avalanche of balloons.

On later days, we will tour the island, looking for bison, deer, quail, eagles and foxes.  We will play miniature golf, with the local cats s-link-ing behind us.  We will enjoy yourselves on that petite, happy island.

Isle Be Seeing You In 2010

So while I'm away, behave yourselves - do - this New Year's.  I did receive some money for Christmas, but certainly not enough to post bail for the lot of you.

The Nation's Swinginest Playground

This is not the last post in the 104p52w challenge. Tomorrow I will post the last one in the challenge and then wait for Dabysan to start proclaiming victory and whining about how I need to send him a pie. Of course, he's wrong, but what can you do? If I didn't have to pay a mortgage, I could make it my life's work pointing out to Dabysan all the times he's been wrong and will be wrong. But, you know, I got shit to do.

What that shit is, I'm not sure.

Since it's New Year's Eve Eve I'm feeling a little reflective. 2009 passed in a sort of boring blur, which is a damn shame. I have only myself to blame though. Only boring people get bored, right? My resolution for 2010 is to be less boring. I need to start carpeing that diem.

Viva la 2010!

Debbiesick

I coughed and wheezed all night long. No more "i'm ok, it's just a cold." I drive my mess down to urgent care.
Yes, I have a cold - and that cold has camped out in my lungs. Now it's bronchitis. I got a whole mess of meds to take and an shiny new inhaler. My script called for me to get a vaporizer and other non rx stuff and then to up my vitamin c, liquids, and REST. He asked if I needed a note for my empoyer so I could get out of working for a few days till the anibotics and steroids - whee.

Once I settled in on my second pot of tea I watched SHAKES THE CLOWN. Wow, I loved it. Bobcat rules.

Nym headed in to the vet today too. Like mommy he has a infection in his ears and in his nose. He's beside me right now on his part of the couch. Me, I'm on my end with my feet up watching tv for the 6th day in a row. But I don't want this to get worse - so - I'm resting with the steam of the humidifier filling the room with the scent of vicks.