Only one thing that I done wrong....

We're off to M.I. Crooked letter.crooked letter. I.Crooked letter. Crooked Letter.I. Hump Back. HumpBack. I. (That's Mississippi in layman's terms) today. Ain't Cindy (pronounced just like that) called this morning to check and see if I want any fresh basil, bell peppers, and tomatoes at the family re-onion. Yay! We'll all meet at Wanita (Of which I can find nothing about on the internet, but I'll post pictures) and eat, and eat, and eat.

On the way down, we are going to stop off and see Todd Snider play in Huntsville. I'll give a full detailed report upon return for there are sure to be stories to tell.

PS. My bike is my favorite thing in the whole world right now. As I set off to explore the neighborhood last night at dusk, I realized that the moments on my bike, riding hard, singing out loud in the cool evening air, are what are keeping me sane and happy these days.

This is not Eli, it's just a tribute, nah,nah, nahhh

And then you drift away on a summer's day where the wildflowers bloom

Mama, let's go outside. I'm gonna pick you a ton of flowers!
Here's one!
We can do it together, Eli.
Here's your bouquet.

Put it in a vase, mama.
How do some flowers grow by themselves?
Do flowers go to heaven?

Rock me pretty baby rock me all at once

I'm changing out the ipod - here's what I've been listening to for too long...

Adam Carroll
The Be Good Tanyas
Billy Bragg & Wilco
Bob Dylan
Bright Eyes
Dedicated
Todd Snider
Old Crow
Robert Earl Keen
Lou Reed
Music from the Coffee Lands - Putumayo
Led Zepplin
Steve Earl
Porter Hall Tennessee
Wilco

People are crazy and times are strange

Late post from Thursday: Go watch this
Thanks Auntie Erin, I've been thinking of this for 2 days.

You're not alone any more

Do loner parents raise loner kids?

When you are a parent, all of a sudden, you can not enjoy the wondrous benefits of being a loner. Though, I am fascinated and enamored by other people, I really do enjoy doing my own thing. I never joined a sororiety or kept a large group of friends. When I went to Spain, the college kid group I was with voted me most likely to wander off and meet someone interesting. I relish wandering alone in a new city. I crave setting my own schedule, drinking coffee in silence reading, taking a long quiet walk, doing some sort of alone work, art or yoga. I don't even mind cleaning the house, cooking or running errands too much alone with my own thoughts and my own schedule.

As a parent, my "alone" time has shrunk to include only my morning commute with NPR. The kids and husband have violated almost all other aspects of life, from poop time and showering, to running errands. I must always take others into consideration now. Dinner becomes a huge production complete with screaming little people and individual demands. As a loner, a beer, popcorn and strawberries would have sufficed as a delicacy, but now plans must be much more elaborate. Even checking the mail becomes a shoe finding, but I don't want those shoes, I wanna carry the mail, Eli don't put that in a mud-puddle, y'all come on back inside now kind of ordeal. I have even joined mom groups.

One day, I will miss their companionship, observations, mishaps, and quirks tremendously, but when I do, I will also relish my loner-ness again.

To the old folks home and the college...

Last weekend, Evan graduated from MTSU! Go Evan! We had a grand par-tay. Thanks to all who made the trip down, thanks to all for your support and encouragement. Evan starts his tenure in the "real world" tomorrow. He says he's not excited, but I say he is..

They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn

SUN- Sly and Coy
Taunts with nude leg through
Heavy curtain
Crusty eyes, foggy minds
Monotone drudgery emits
through the station waves
Workers wait, coffee brews
Rushing,
Planning,
Dreading
The Morning Commute

You see somebody naked you say who is that man..

In honor of my green post today, Ollie and Eli enjoyed playing in the mud and then the soft spring rain. I made them strip before trekking strait to the bathroom, and Ollie was the happiest I may have ever seen him. He was naked as a jay bird laughing at the top of his lungs in the rain, muddy as all get out. He peed with gusto, sang, and made mud pies. It was with sweet sorrow that I drug his lilly white booty in for fear of indecency and our neighborhood living. Such rebellion and glory in his sweet eyes. The day was followed with a good hard bike ride with the 2 showered pigs in tow. I love summer.

And landed fully blast in his garden flowers...

These smell heavenly. Like my cousin Holly, whom I miss dearly.
Lavender
Mint
Hosta
Lillies that Ollie gave me for Mother's Day.

Gardenias

Shamrock
Hens and Chicks

I love spring in our new house. The kids love to help garden, inhale the scent of the flowers, get dirty, hold on to the worms, and yell at the top of thier lungs welding sticks.

An' he just smoked my eyelids and punched my cigarette

I know that I have posted a link to this before, but I didn't mention how cool I think it is. I would never in a billion years want to be a tattler, narc, whiner, moaner, groaner, BUT, I love this website. Am I like Big Brother?? I reported 2 people this week. I am a militant, disgusted, ex-smoker, and I truly believe that if people just realized how many resources and how much money they were wasting, they wouldn't act so trashy.

Here are a few facts (cut and pasted from http://www.stoplitter.org/)

$11,000,000. Yes, you read those zeros right. That's $11 million tax payer dollars our state spends picking up the trash Tennesseans throw down on the ground. That doesn't even count what your city pays to pick up litter in the incorporated areas.

12,000,000 miles are driven each year picking up litter in our state. Think about all the gas that is needed to fuel trucks for litter pick up.


18% of all littered items end up in our streams and waterways as pollution. That means litter in our state travels to other states and eventually ends up in the ocean.

So when you report them:

With the information you provide to us below, we will send a friendly reminder letter to the registered owner of the Tennessee vehicle informing them of the negative consequences of their littering actions and providing them with educational materials. The letter will include information about how to contain their litter and inform them that litterers can be fined up to $1,500.

Now go bust some butts.