Thanksgiving (literally giving thanks)

i'm thankful for so much.
i'm thankful my wife's a catholic.
i'm thankful her family's catholic as well.
i'm thankful the conservative evangelical church banned me from their midst.
i'm thankful that i no longer have to make sense of a group which predominantly rejects women as taking any leadership roles in their group.
i'm thankful that i no longer belong to a group which accepts women as servers (i believe the term is deaconess) but banned from having ANY position which allows them to exersize authority over the male gender.
i'm SO thankful and grateful that i don't nor ever did embrace Sarah Palin as a viable candidate for the number two (i said number two) position in our nation.
i'm SO thankful and grateful that i'm not a conservative evangelical christian attempting to make any sense WHATSOEVER with the concept of rejecting leadership roles for women in my church yet embracing a woman as vice president with the hope and breathless anticipation of her ascending to the office of president.
i'm so thankful that i don't have to act stupid by submitting to the authority of a woman in the highest elective/non-elective office in the free world yet can't EVER justify submitting to the authority of a woman in my small, and rather insignificant congregation.
i'm thankful that i don't have to be stupid....my stupidity is a choice.

the deer viewer

i had to do something with my car...
i had to do something with my car because i wasn't paying for it but didn't want to give it back either (some head scratchin' methinks)
i had to do something with my car to hide it and decided to try and hide it in a shed by the house i was hoping to rent.
i had to open the shed door in order to hide my car from my creditors...
i opened the shed door and discovered in graphic terms that my landlord is a hunter...not a gatherer.
i opened the shed door to hide my car from my creditors and viewed several slain deer hanging from the rafters.
my car would have fit into the shed in spite of the fact that several slain deer were hanging from the rafters...(hang me in the wind to dry)
the entrails from said deer were piled beneath them in such a way as to block any possible entrance into the shed.
the entrails formerly belonging to the hanging deer were piled and spilt in the dead of winter and were therefore a formidable frozen hill/mound.
i decided to drive my car to the bank....drop it off...and NOT move into the house.
i think i'm better off.
Merry Thanksgiving!

cookie sheet as bento

my cookie sheet as bento......

true japanese craftsmanship; or, the cookie sheet as bento

as i work through most days i think of how NOT like a japanese craftsman i am. they apprenticed for eight lifetimes to learn the proper "hooking" motion for the right thumb into the belt loop (ten more lifetimes to glean an understanding of the ways in which one actually picks up the hammer); it took me a day to wax rhapsodic as to the finer points of mies van der ruhr's treatise on The Elements of Glass. it takes the average japanese 437 lifetimes to learn to move the hand of the puppet (not the head mind you...)in traditional kabuki theater. it took less than 6 hours for me to listen to and digest the inner machinations of Byron's Don Juan (pronounced Joo-en). the two worlds however met today...twirled each other about as one would at a barn dance....and did the doe see doe. some of my SUV's floorboard is missing...has been missing and will continue , no doubt to begone (out, out, damned...). my remedy prior to this a.m. was to keep my foot on the gas pedal as gingerly as one could given the increasing heat emanating from said fled floorboard. i woke this morning with a faint memory one of you no doubt forged into my head; that of a japanese craftsman using the left over rice from his bento acting as a wood filler marrying the integrity of several thousand year old timbers with the immediacy of his rice. "fabulous" i averred as i rummaged about the kitchen....searching for my rice ball.....which i found in the form of one of our favorite cookie sheets. prior to my departure in said SUV, i found a suitable tear in the car's floor covering (carpet et pad) placed the cookie sheet betwixt the tail pipe and the torn carpeting. it took a few minutes but as i sped down the mountain i heard the unmistakable sound..of one hand clapping.

sunday haiku

played on a harmonica
the old rugged cross
makes me cry

working at the Little Green House

i feel like bob de niro. i feel like bob de niro because he was in a movie. i feel like bob de niro because he was in a movie about punishment. i feel like bob de niro because he labored forever with heavy objects strapped to his back in an expression of self-loathing. i feel like bob de niro because he thought that if he punished himself adequately enow....Gott Himself would come rescue him. i feel like bob de niro because after he made the movie he went home to a really groovy house....with a really groovy wife....and an exceptionally groovy car. i feel like bob de niro because after all is said and done, i'm half-full....not half-empty. turns out...i have a great life. better than bob de niro's.

trains, planes and automobiles

so....i'm in my pathfinder (see photos as my car is caught in various compromising positions) and as i'm driving to an irrigation job, see what can only be described as a discouraging sight/site in the form of smoke rising from my feet. i'm surefooted and agile etc...but i assured myself that my feet were indeed, Not on fire. turns out the relatively new exhaust pipe running from engine to stern, is too close to the floorboard (rotted somewhat and sagging as a result at this particular juncture) causing said floor mat to smolder.

so there it is...my fire slash (the word really works better than the symbol) smoke story de jour.

the trouble with June

June has its own challenges...particularly in the U.S.; vacations are spoken about excitedly....we eat less; more often than not...drink more, and have some rest prior to the onslaught of autumn. July of course places us squarely in the middle/crux of the year and as we're principally timid creatures, the month represents a wee bit o' tension (are they really going to return to school in late August?) with the heat and molasses-like ennui setting in daily....creeping like lava (an inevitable yet excruciatingly slow process) into our mundane lives (gee.....are we morose perhaps?).

Grace and Peace everyone....we could all use a second helping, couldn't we? the time zones and international dateline could hardly prevent these sentiments from reaching any and all...

john hancock (not THE john hancock you dolt!)

the cubbies? or the sox?

today (sunday, april 20) on a beautiful Lord's Day, we began with a stroll/run towards Lake Michigan. the dogs and kinder were out in force as we joined in the buffeting (wind/sand/pan-handling) that must take place hourly on the big lake. Amy (my favorite niece - "hey...woe there hoss..don't you have other nieces?") called and asked us to join her for a beverage or two pre or post game (the cubbies were playing (that's why i included the sox in the title you dolt)) depending on when we arrived.

as most of you know...i'm inclined to participate in travel a la mass transit when and how i can with the "el" being no exception. the doorman at 40 E. Delaware has superlative skills including a sense of direction and the best line (red/green/blue/orange) to facilitate our trek to Wrigley Field; hands down the definitive mecca of base-oo-ball-roo (a japanese pronunciation as we're inclined to think that they love baseball more than the americans ("why, i believe that's a might sacriligeous there pardner"). our Amy (she's OUR Amy now (she's always been Gina's Amy but as i haven't spent much time with her 'fore now haven't had the pleasure of her being my Amy as well...thus, OUR Amy) called and asked us to meet her after she fled the festivities sometime during the fifth inning (the shade...the wind, contributing negatively to the game experience....plus it's not the attending the game itself (das Spiel selbst), as much as the quaffing 'o ales in and about the immediate Wrigley environs, in this case a block from the stadium. we met at a local bar...mingled with a few hundred thousand revelers and embraced/hugged following a perfectly spent and lovely afternoon. Amy; you're an exceptional woman and we can't begin to express what that meant for us to share in your life. don't forget us on your way up, dear. and try to remind Ryan next time to get his young, professional, and a bit neer-do-well ass oer to the field.

moving to Chicago soon...going to be a dennil floss tycoon

Gina and I attended a service in Chicago on Friday (april 19) devoted to the memory of a dear family member's father (Bob). as any experience surrounding rememberance and the passing of close family clouds the days/weeks/months, our family couldn't help but embrace us...cajole and otherwise force us into the funnel of their Polish arms (laden with drink, food (we'll begin a discourse soon on the wonder and splendor of a three meat platter (CBS ; chicken, beef and sausage)backfilled with various vegatables including macaroni - similarly described as a vegatable in the south))) - how parenthetical.

amidst the sorrow, our family (doug, sue (pronounced Soo with a faint schwa) amy and ryan) eulogized and celebrated their father/grandfather's life the while weighing in on the more subtle threads woven through the Polish/American community. i've never had a single experience in my forty eight years combining sobriety, a somberness, if you will, unique to the midwest coupled with the sheer folly and hilarity i could only associate with a wedding. the months of postings, photos, and snippets we've been gifted will only continue to reinforce my own sensibilities that this world is made up of an infinite collection of Gott's gifts...mostly surrounding the ways in which our families labor each day to reproduce the basic themes of greek tragedies. thank you Bowen/Olecks.....your fodder is priceless!

Noah's back in der Fatherland

last night a sad thing happened on the way to the.....oh wait...Noah flew back to his day job as a master's student in Germany. the ennui...the malaise was palpable in his demeanor as he boarded plane after plane on his trek from Knoxville to Stuttgart. he'll be back however.....in a few months and then we're on to the doctoral work at UT (what???how does a Dawg matriculate to a Vol school.....sheesh!).. Hazel Motes once said, "i've met my double and i had to kill my doppleganger." okay....noah..flannery always had it right. or as a wonder of a friend's father loved to aver...."it's a trickbag..."

Easter Blessings

so...we attended Mass (i know...i know..i'm an accidental catholic; not one to easily slip by the priest and partake o the eucharist) and i was looking for blessings where i could find 'em. the priest indicated that as he's a gatekeeper (say what?) one can't eat o' the Body and drink the Blood unless one's catholic (me..the particular me...NOT being catholic) but one could cross their collective arms and recieve a blessing. so....i did! and saw the blessing in so many different things....the life and love of our Lord ...my family...my vast network of friends and the unspoken numbers out there who lift me over their shoulders...shift the weight in their legs and urge themselves forward. it was Easter... but it's always Easter isn't it? the Lord has blessed me overwhelmingly in the past several months in His care and complete domination oer dust and moth...(or is that rust and dross) as it's referenced to me. most importantly though...you (you know who you are) attack me lovingly, furtively (you like it when i bandy the term furtive about don't you, sandy) with little to no regard to decorum, tradition or ones fancy. thank you all..for this renewed merging into the wild, somber, cacaphonous, melodic, tragically and flawed travails we all must encounter. Happy Easter!
I KNOW IT!

the greatest cartoon ever....(except if it's not)

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

• pt i
  xc

this is me in grade nine baby...this is me in grade nine!

i was asked recently to take rather seriously my response to the query, "which Kurosawa movies (note i said movies...not film) i had seen?" not having most of my memory (even long term is sketchy) i had to think about what i had taken in over the years...and came up with a rather incomplete list. Kagemusha; Ran; Rashomon; Sanjiro; Throne of Blood; Yojimbo, and of course, The Seven Samurai. so there it is...laid bare....somewhat coquettishly.....("my, your shoulders have a pearl-like hue to them....")

beyond madness

the long hot summer...and then some....oh yeah we're in spring now. i've lost much. i can't really find it again. or at least that's what my neurologist says. she says i can't write complete sentences. she says that i won't ever be BACK! she says that i have brain damage. she says that she won't charge me for seeing her. she says it's time for me to be productive. my neurologist is really something