See Above

See? Right there below the name of the blog? Where it says "the words never stop!"? Well, sometimes they slow to a trickle and they've been like that for me for quite a number of years now. In the word-wrangling world my get-up-and-go got-up-and-went. And it's pi$$ing me off. (Sorry, I don't mean to curse but it makes me that mad.) I'd like to spread a thick layer of blame over all and sundry--the weather, Durwood, menopause, the weather, my weight, Durwood, my tingly fingers, Mom, arthritis, the weather, my sore elbow--I could go on and on reflecting the blame outward but I know in my heart (and in my guts) that it's me. All me. Lazy, whiny, selfish, cranky, moody me. Right now I could lie down and stare at the ceiling for hours and be perfectly content. Or I could cry. Or drive off into the sunset. I fantasize about sweeping everything (and everyone) out of the house into the yard, sorting carefully, and only keeping things that I really want. On days like today I probably wouldn't even let myself back in. Oh, I'm confident that this mood will blow over fairly quickly. One good thing about me is I'm seldom blue for too long. And I'm wearing new earrings too. Sheesh, who can be down in the dumps for long when she's wearing new earrings? I feel better already.

August 27 & 28--Malaysia, Dyak, Iban, Hornbill Figure. Rita didn't remember ordering anything and yet here was a crate from Singapore addressed to her. The crate was wooden and it had stickers and cryptic markings all over it. She had to get a pry bar out of Fred's toolbox to get it open. She was surprised to see old fashioned packing that looked like wood shavings called excelsior instead of those extruded foam packing peanuts. She pulled out handfuls of the stuff, ending up standing in the middle of a drift of it. She uncovered what looked like a wooden purse handle and pulled on it. Up out of the packing came a sculpture of a bird, she thought. At least part of it looked like a bird. On the back side was a pair of lizards standing tail to tail with a hanging string of beads below them. The whole thing was painted in red and gold stripes. Was it a shaman's headdress or an art piece--and who had sent it? She dug right to the bottom of the crate and shook out all the clumps of excelsior but she didn't find a trace of the sender.

We went to Malaysia once a long time ago. I liked their kites. It's the first time we ate satay. Mmm, chicken-sicles with peanut dipping sauce. The squid ones are good too. Yum. I wonder if we could make some Malaysian Weight Watchers food. Or some Caribbean. Somebody needs to get to work on a form of instant transportation. Beam me up, Scotty, I need a vacation.

--Barbara