happy holidays

xoxo zim

as per your request:

at the risk of being shallow and unrepentantly gluttonous

the reasons i like christmastime are the following:

pistachios

clementine oranges

idle isle melbas

idle isle french mints

peppernuts

ebelskivers

jam thumbprints

peppermint ice cream (preferably with both green and pink gelatinous messes)

a lake and a bridge

Provo Bay was chosen for its beauty and accessibility, and because a great blue heron flew right over my head there on two separate occasions.

No tools were used at any step in the making of the bridge. We created the bridge using sticks, reeds, grasses and leaves. These materials were collected in the marshy areas around the bay. The plants were brittle and golden in color due to the coming winter. These materials were chosen due to their buoyancy as well as their proximity and connection to the site.

Connections were made by inserting reeds with smaller diameters into slits made in reeds with larger diameters. Sticks, grasses and leaves were woven into the framework. We had creative freedom and each person was allowed to make add or make changes to the framework as they saw fit. So, the bridge was a sum of individual parts as well as an overall collective effort.

When the piecing together of the bridge was complete, we put it out to lake.

Within two hours, the wind, waves, rocks (and perhaps unseen nibblings by fish and the infamous monster of Utah Lake) dismantled the bridge and the materials nestled themselves into the rocky side of the jetty.

As far as I can tell, no coots were harmed or even noticed the bridge.

A minimally intrusive natural bridge that preserved the integrity of the lake, it came forth from the lakescape and returned to it.





thanks and thanks to amy, wayne, clark, terry, my eh'ers, and a. bird for the musics.

bullsh*t

it's been over a month, and he is still my favorite.

UV Sierra Forum Bridge Meeting

Meeting tonight, Wednesday November 18, 6:30 pm, Provo Library, Room 201

It's a discussion.

Should be enlightening.



Questions and comments about the lake/proposed bridge can be sent to:

Reed Price, Executive Director of the Utah Lake Commission
rprice@utahlakecommission.org

i'll be honest.

because usually, i'm not.

my blog is lacking because i now put my miscellaneous thoughts on twitter.

some people hate twitter. i can't worry about that. we can talk about my twitter philosophy another time. i added a twitter thing on the side.

and then, sometimes, i nerd out on birds. tufted jay, plush crested jay, crested grebe, owl nest cam, dark-eyed juncos, kingfishers, oh my hell. i added a bird nerd thing on the side.



to update: still crushing on vincent price. and you can add carl sagan to the list.

because:


anybody have a copy of cosmos i can trip out to?

interpret.

dream 1
standing on a crowded street corner in slc waiting to cross the street. a man bumps into me and i laugh and say to him, "hey, give me three steps!" he looks at me confused. "do you know lynyrd skynyrd?" i ask. he just shakes his head, continuing with the confused look.

dream 2
i arrive at my parents house and see large canvas bags filled to the brim with gifts for various families and friends. i come to the conclusion that they must be sent off immediately. i attach a bundle of silver mylar balloons to each bag, and send them off. as i'm watching them float away, i realize that they will never reach their destinations.

Utah Lake Bridge Info

The first foto was stolen from Heather. The others are mine.

If you are interested in getting involved with the proposed bridge over Utah Lake, there are a couple of options.

I will be attending both public hearings. You are invited to accompany me.


RDCC--public comment period (until 10/25/2009)
Make a comment. Look for Project 10836.

Public Hearing--Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 6:00 pm in Room 2500 of the Utah County Health and Justice Building, 151 South University Avenue.

Public Meeting--Wednesday, November 11, 2009 from 6:00-8:00 pm at Saratoga Shores Elementary School in Saratoga Springs.

Direct Mail--Utah Lake Bridge Crossing, Dave Grierson, Forestry, Fire and State Lands, PO Box 145703, SLC, UT 84114-5703

Web site--information, join mailing list, submit comments, read other comments:
http://www.ffsl.utah.gov/sovlands/utahlake/bridgecrossing.php

for y'all.

something small.

in the head.

i watched harold and maude for the first time the other day, while sewing together my crochet squares.

lovely film.

cat stevens has once again taken over my brain.

The Knife

This is an excerpt from a book I'm reading.


. . . perhaps it was a story in the Haida sense in which time operates more like a spiral, or like the rings of a tree. There is a saying among the peoples of the Northwest Coast: "The world is as sharp as the edge of a knife," and Robert Davidson, the man responsible for carving Masset's first post-missionary pole, imagines this edge as a circle. "If you live on the edge of a circle," he explained in a documentary film, "that is the present moment. What's inside is knowledge, experience: the past. What's outside has yet to be experienced. The knife's edge is so fine that you can live either in the past or in the future. The real trick," says Davidson, "is to live on the edge."


The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant

(i highly recommend)

that's just the way it is.

abby's take.

amy was walking around the garden with abby when they found an ant. abby excitedly pointed out the ant. "what's its name?" amy asked. "forever," abby replied.

she is three.

abby found two dead baby starlings that had fallen out of their nest. the parent birds and their other offspring were neatly tucked into the eave just above where the two fallen lay. she asked about the birds, and i told her they had fallen out of their nest and they were dead.

"what about the mama and dada birds, they pick them up?"

jera explained that the mama and dada birds couldn't pick them up because they don't have arms, they have wings.

"what if abby falls down?"

oh dear abby. are you a baby bird?

"then we pick abby up, because we have arms, like this." and i picked her up.

funny girl.

let's all go.

the first status says, "thinks this is the start of something newww! :)"

the status right on top of it says, "hates change."

i like that juxtaposition.

good days. i have a cute stamp on my hand from a lovely show, the which reminds me what i like and why i like things. people who do things because they love it. and friendly. i wish i were friendly.

and the students in guatemala are all organized and ready to start summer life there. stress relieved.

i read plato's allegory of the cave for the first time the other day. i read it with some students at heritage. chord struck.

i love you.

i tried the same thing with stella. no response.

happy easter.

three ways to melt a chocolate bunny from dirtyrabbit on Vimeo.

a quick one from computer basics class

one of the boys was explaining that he already knew powerpoint. these are his words.

andrea, you should have seen it. i made a powerpoint in biology. 28 slides. it was so nice, had transitions and everything. (exhales admiringly). i got 43 points out of 40. 130 percent.

disreconciliation.

"bill gates says, 'look at what your computer can become.' but it's you that should be doing the becoming, not the damn fool computer."

vonnegut, in man without a country



i am done with my relationship with technology.

(i realize this is a silly statement considering that i am writing on a weblog, but this is more about frustration)

my computer kaputsed, and i am not leaving any room for hope that my fotos will be salvaged. i feel a great loss.

heaven forbid i ever have to deal with a real loss.



i'm considering adding nyc by interpol to my list "aaasongs i'm not allowed to listen to." i heard it again recently, after a long while. i've listened to it around 20 times in the last two days.

i have things to look forward to this weekend.

mother's revenge

This conversation (verbal altercation?) took place between two boys this morning:

x: Egypt!

y: Africa!

x: Egypt!

y: In Africa!

x: EGYPT!

y: Which is in AFRICA!

x: (pauses) WHAT THE HELL?!

y: Are you f***ing retarded?

x: (pauses thoughtfully) Are you telling me EGYPT is in AFRICA?

y: Africa is a continent, dumb*ss.

x: Are you f***ing kidding me?

y: No.

x: (remains speechless, with a jaw-dropped facial expression mixed with anger, surprise, and incredulousness)

phat tuesday.

is there anything sweeter than a baby lamby with white wool and black legs?




they are so dear.




i'm giving up sugar for lent. but not sweetness. oh! those little lambs!


lupe and stella are jealous of little lambies because these cats are evil.

this side of provo.

someone, a man, outside, in a grit growly voice, just yelled, loudly, "everybody lock up your daughters and wives 'cause i'm hitting the town tonight!"

me gusta el barrio mio.

this morning i ran out of gas. no metaphor here. in the middlest lane of university avenue almost to the intersection of foothill drive. i guess i should say that little fat boy ran out of fossil fuels, not me, really.

i immediately phreeked out a little.

a gentle sir in a nice truck stopped and waited with me to push fatty out of the middle of traffic.

another gentle young sir wanted to help push. we tried, but without power steering, it was a lost cause.

at the moment of slight despair, a huge blue (that very lovely bright blue) truck pulled up in the turn lane next to fatty, window rolled down. a wild-red-headed-and-bearded man asked me what i needed.

i needed gas.

he parked the car in the turn lane, told the honkers to shut the f*** up, and proceeded to fill my tank with just enough gas to get me to work only 5 minutes late.

the sir in the first car followed me to heritage (he works at scenic view).

what tender souls of altruism and kindness!

the idiot in me thought there was at least one more little trip of gas in fatty's belly. incorrect! this has happened enough times that i have learned that i don't learn my lesson. test me.

but what tender people were to be found on university ave this morning! and i'm not talking about npr reporters alone!

and least of all my dad, who jumped in his truck to get fat boy some fuel. he's the best.

people are born every few two hundred years

happy birthday! 200 is the new 50!

i wished my class happy chuck and abe day. one of the girls looked at me, not only like i was crazy, but completely perplexed, "what is chuck an egg day?"

happy chuck and abe day.
happy chuck an egg day.

ps only a dreamboat like abe can pull off hair like that. abnormazing. and striking. i'll bet he didn't even use that much product. maybe a can of bearwax?

last night.

i was in a bad/evil mood.

sue me.

jk.

i'm sorry, i love you, world.

an ode to an ode.

anode to anode.

mmmmmmmmk.

i saw the delta spirit at urban lounge in salt lake on tuesday.

it was perfect.

i was cut in line at walgreens while waiting to buy a bag of goldfish crackers that i didn't want but felt compelled to buy because we were going to park in their parking lot. but, i am not passive and guilt-stricken!

we ate at slouvaki, a greek place; a gyro. geez it was good.

we saw an enjoyable local band! the furs! of salt lake city. wild west suburban psychedelic jammage.

and the delta spirit! ode to these boys! this is grindy grubby bluesy grit americana at its best! matthew vasquez has a voice that rasps out the final breath over and again. they started out with strange vine and people c'mon. i love the music through speakers, so nice. but the throbbing reverb of the sternum is payment and repayment. the atmosphere was light and happy and breezy and we were like good friends, weren't we?

we didn't get home til late late late (early?), and i was so tired the next day.

songs we never wrote
seeds they wouldn’t sow
we’re taking it all to the end
and we’re planting our own garden

my iron knee

running 2 miles is suddenly an accomplishment.

i am really losing patience with this *$#@'d knee.

i'm doing it, again.

again i find myself slowing down toward the end of my book. i hate finishing good books, a conundrum.

the head was mine, but not to use, not to think with, only to remember and not too much remember.
ernest hemingway
a farewell to arms

i like having time to read. glory be.

curse borders for it's seductive 30% off coupons. times is hard, but i'm still spending my monies on books.

it's all so clear, suddenly.

i was driving west on 500 north, homeward bound. as i crossed through the light on freedom boulevard, a black car pulled a u-ee in front of me, causing me to slow to a near-stop.

twit.

bumper sticker: i ♥ switchfoot

on the subject of reading.

we should talk about books. i have a few i'd like you to read.