Scribble Nation

Your Love is Later Than Ice Cream

This haiku is late

While I was eating ice cream

Wednesday came and went

Rhyme Doesn't Look Like a Word

I think some kind of portal to rhyme world has unlocked in my mind. Ever since that haiku last week I've been a non-stop poemeopath. In fact, that little doodle from my last post was an illustration for a poem I started quite some time ago. My new rhyming kick inspired me to finally finish it up. Here goes...

Yesterday I went and stole tomorrow
I put it in a box and shut the lid
Much to my delight and to it's sorrow
Stole the day. Yes, that's exactly what I did

It pounded on the box
and then it screamed out
of how sinful it can be to steal the dawn
But all that I could think of was of yesterday
and how much more I would enjoy it with tomorrow gone

Oh today.
What a glorious day.
Oh tonight.
What a glorious night.
All the things that could happen to spoil my dream
have been locked up and put out of sight

What a dream that I have
What a dream that I see
Oh but what a disaster tomorrow could be

So yesterday I went and stole tomorrow
I put it in a box and closed the lid
Much to my delight and to it's sorrow
Stole the day, yes that's exactly what I did

Oh today!
What a glorious day!
Oh right now!
What a glorious now!
All the things that I think are forever somehow
are every and each of them now

*******************************************************************************************************
So that's my new poem. I've got a few more with the same kind of feeling stashed away. Maybe I'll revitalize them as well - seeing as I'm on a poem kick. I have a really hard time NAMING poems. They already have so many words, I feel like titles are just gratuitous. I suppose  there aren't any rules against leaving poems untitled, right? There aren't any poem police after all.

Scanners Rule!

S. Bobleo got me a fancy la dee dah scanner for my Birthday this year. I broke her in today with this lovely doodle. I can't wait to go through my sketch pads and convert my favorite scribbles into finished pieces. Woopee!!

Witness the wonders of scanning!!

We start out with this. A lovely sketchy doodle.

Then we scan it in to get this:

Clean up the lines, add some color and presto!! Wind up with this:

Did I mention I heart my new scanner? Thanks Bobleo!

Pinch Meh Pls

I is gigglin tu much

Can I Has Lolcats? Is Possible?

Oh hai. Wat U want? Is funny cats? Here they is.

Bringing it Back

My sis, Heather was doing a weekly Haiku for a while before she fell off the face of the blogsphere. I thought it was a great idea so I'm bringing it back. I hope. So here we are with my first Wednesday Haiku.

Is anyone else out there haiku-ing?

Best Birthday Ever

In the past few years I've developed a real disdain for birthdays. I have never been one for rules and I am certainly not a fan of anything that requires me to put on a show... especially a show of how much fun I'm having. It's like the more pressure there is to enjoy myself, look happy or thankful, the more panic-stricken and unhappy I become. My latest birthdays have tended to be gauntlets of anxiety attacks and depression than barrels of fun. This year the tables turned...

This past Wednesday was spent miles and miles away from civilization, hours away from the nearest super center or interstate and light years away from the drudgery of everyday routine. Accompanied by my parents, all three sisters, my wonderful aunt and uncle and S. Bobleo, the love of my life I spent my 26th birthday paddling down the West Branch Penobscot River in the North Woods of Maine. The beauty of the Alagash cannot be explained or even photographed well enough to ever express what it feels like to actually be there. The smell of the trees and the water, the sound of the river and the forest, undisturbed by motors or small-talk, the feel of the air on your skin or the current running against your hand... These things just can't be effectively translated.  (But I will certainly try in my next few posts!)

Wednesday was filled with challenge, frustration, adventure and ultimately reward and satisfaction. It was our first day of real paddling. Most of the team were novice paddlers, some were practically paddle virgins. Nevertheless, with help from our fearless leader and trusted guide, my Uncle Andy (the coolest guy north of Portsmouth) we traveled 8 miles down river, 1 mile upstream (through the Lobster Lake Inlet) and about 3 harrowing miles across a massive (and very windy) lake. Four of us actually lost control of our boats at the mouth of the lake. We nearly gave up at this point, unable to steer our boats, nearly capsizing and soaking wet. But when the initial cloud of frustration cleared I opened my eyes and remembered how lucky I was to be soaking wet and ankle deep in lake mud. I looked up at the hazy sky and saw the mountain lined horizon that created a kind of sepia masterpiece out of the whole situation. I told my baby sis to keep the rear end of the boat straight, I grabbed hold of the bow line and towed the boat to the shallows where the rest of our family waited. Our entire fleet wound up towing our canoes by foot for a mile or so through the shallows. When the wind died a little Andy gave the go ahead to begin paddling again. We dug in like our lives depended on it and made our way to the most beautiful white sand beach I have ever seen in person.

The trip was riddled with moments like that one, challenges or potential problems that ended up again and again in moments of beauty and joy. I even got a birthday cake.

Camp Cake
1 pound cake
1 tub of chocolate frosting
Dash of confetti sprinkles
12 candles, one for each mile paddled that day

So that was our wonderful trip. I will share more pictures and stories soon, but first I want to share the best thing that happened on July 11, 2007. One of my best friends in the world, Melissa, was facing a challenge of her own. After 2 days of labor sans epidural, blood pressure scares and oodles and oodles of pain she received the best reward a mother could ask for.

A beautiful, healthy baby girl. Her name is Gianna Loreen. But you can call her Gia. Mama and baby are both home, happy and healthy. Gia has a lot of love ahead of her. I'll meet her for the first time tonight, but I am already in love. :)

And Away We Go

(Scott Bobleo crossing the Wass... Stream last year)

We're off to Maine for big woodsy adventures! This year we'll be paddling our hearts out somewhere remote and picturesque.

BIG NEWS!!! My good buddy Jessica Em had her baby on the fourth of July! She's been named Penelope Grace and is she ever cute? Congrats Jessica and Lee!!

S.B.B. Continued

Bobleo and I had some serious disputes over my local shopping experiment over the weekend. Sarah made some good points regarding the state of things already being what they are... Several people have noted that Target does lots of good stuff for charities communitites etc... Which I have no arguments against at all! But I think the point I forgot to make originally was that axing the biggest 3 stores in the area first was more to break a habit than make a statement. There is definately nothing virtuous about a corprate chain that happens to be slightly smaller than another corporate chain. One being smaller than another has nothing to do with what kind of company they are. But where do you start? I buy everything at Target. In order to break the habit and start thinking about alternatives I feel like I have to axe my one-stop!! Besides, Target isn't going to miss me back.

After a long conversation with Sarah on where I should be focusing my energies I rescinded my Target boycott yesterday and went shopping... But I still don't feel quite right... Should I re-rescind? Or just accept that the battle for small businesses is over anyway and I should stick to grocery shopping for my local supportiveness? Target may do more good than other corporations but they are still the same kind of massive buying and distribution powerhouse that ran every small ma-n-pa shoe or toilet brush store out of town. The problem now is that since there are none of the ma's n pa's left we have no choice but to choose the best of the big-guys. So if I have to make that choice, I'd choose Target. But I wish ma n pa kettle were still hawking shoes and toilet brushes in downtown Danbury.

For now, I'm going to settle on the following:

Produce will come from farms to the left and right of me. That's a good start. Groceries will come from Bethel Food or Stew Leonards.

As far as everything else goes I'm just going to make a concious decision to look for a local source first. If that turns out to be impossible or impossibly expensive, I'll go to the next best thing...

And I'll shop on Etsy!! Because that's where this notion got into my head in the first place. Viva la crafty revolution!!! End mass production!! Damn the man!!!

Bobleo: "I don't think we're in a financial position to be damning the man every time we turn around."
MH: "Damn."