Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Tuesday morning ramblings


Spring along the Thornapple, photo by Sage

Tropical weather has come to the upper mid-west. Since Friday, we’ve been getting up into the high 70s and low 80s. Trees are beginning to bud out. Dogwoods are beginning to unfurl their flowers and in a few days, the highways will be lined with white flowers. The populous, having suffered from a lack of sun for the past six months, are now noticeably more cheerful. Instead of reading by the fireplace, I now sit on the swing on the back porch, the cracking flame being replaced with the chirping of birds and the singing of insects. Thanks to nasal spray, life is okay. I won’t say it’s as great as all the giddy people around me think it is, for I miss winter and the snow, but it’s okay. After all, trout season opens this weekend. The negative side is that the great Michigan miniature air show is about to begin as zillions of mosquitoes take the sky with the sole purpose to make life miserable. Then, all these happy people will be longing for winter.

I started this weekend by taking my daughter on a date to her school’s “movie night,” which is sponsored by the PTA. (It was a cheap date!) I think I was the only one in the crowd who had not seen Disney’s “High School Musical.” The kids and many of the parents sang and recited lines as they whipped around glow-light sticks. Obviously, this event is a training exercise for the day they’re old enough to go to the Rocky Horror Picture Show and really cut loose. I came away with mixed feelings about the movie. On the right hand, it encourages kids not to bow to peer pressure and to reach for their dreams. On the left hand, it encourages kids to take things into their own hands as the students in the film hacked into the school’s computer system, causing a power failure, which allows the star athlete miss enough of the game and the school’s brain to miss enough of the academic Olympics so that together they auditioned for the school musical. I’m sure the film will help create among our children self-confident adults who are also budding anarchists.

Saturday morning, my daughter, the dog and I took the canoe out for the first time of the season. With no foliage, we had an interesting look into the woods and swamps. We also got a first hand look at a Canadian goose sitting on her nest out in a high marshy area surrounded by water. The bird sat still as we paddled within 10 feet of her and her nest. I’d thought this was early in the season for sitting on the nest, but I must be wrong.

Sunday night I watched the 1955 Humphrey Bogart film, “We’re No Angels.” It was a real treat. Three cons escape from prison and plan to rob a family who they discover are about to lose everything. With great comedy, instead of robbing the family, they help them out. It’s Christmas after all! There are some great lines in the film, such as when they decide to go back to prison, with Bogart quipping, “there’s a better class of people there.”

Yesterday was so busy I didn’t get time to do any “Monday Morning Ramblings.” It’s a good thing I’ve received a reprieve from jury duty this week—I still have to check in next week and see if they need me. So here’s my Monday ramblings—a day late and a dollar short…

16 comments:

  1. Your first paragraph explains why I stay in the house during the spring and summer too.

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  2. Sage, I'll have to read this later; I just wanted you to know that your five+ questions are in my current blog post.

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  3. ooh i do love a good bogie movie! and that's a great one.

    i've been down catching up. good job with the horrible colonoscopy thing babe. yuk. my dad complained bitterly about his too i remember!

    sorry i've not been around for a while. been busy with my new man and the lovelilets! i'll try to write something too soon.
    kisses.

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  4. I like Kenju's questions, Sage. I think you should answer them on your blog. Not that you care what I think but I try nevertheless...


    :-)

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  5. Have a somewhat similar theme in the poem I wrote this morning, regarding kids and peers. Enjoyable read as always!!

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  6. Sounds like a great movie. Into the Que it goes.

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  7. Come chk my blog. Nominated you for thinking blogger.

    Hey, taking kids anywhere is never a cheap date. I object on behalf of your daughter. Moneywise, may be. Going by experience, never.

    PS: don't forget to read my villanelle either.

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  8. I'm so glad you finally watched and liked We're No Angels!

    I plan to watch it again soon myself

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  9. Murf, staying inside all the time is too depressing

    Kenju, I'll try to get around to this later this week.

    Keda, welcome back!

    Pat, your poem for today is a classic--every one should go check it out!

    Kevin, I knew what you meant--btw, which movie? :-)

    Gautami, I am honored. Thank you, and your poetry is wonderful and I feel so inadequate when you point out that I "write poetry too"

    Diane, Thank you for recommending the movie--it's a classic and I may have to watch it again before I sent it back to Netflix

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  10. See? I came back! We're No Angels was performed while I was in college by our drama group. I don't think I've seen the movie, except maybe on TV. Perhaps I'll put that in my blockbuster-on-line queue.

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  11. I just came up with a great idea for a new profile picture for you (and it's not because I have a foot fetish)...how about a shot of your feet while laying in one of your hammocks as you are prone to doing on summer afternoons?

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  12. Looks a lot like our wetland. We've just gotta get a canoe or rowboat so we can go exploring here.

    You've got skeeters already? None here yet!

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  13. That musical movie seems silly to me, but I love love love that you took your kid out on a date.

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  14. I love that picture...glad warm weather has found you. Well I assume you like a bit of warm weather...I couldn't believe how much more effective the nose spray is over Allegra but it makes me gain weight...the steroids. So I try to use it very sparingly. I can go 3 days with it and jump 5 pounds. Not use it and drop them back. Weird.

    High School Musical. I have seen more than I want to and will no doubt be going this summer to take the kids to number 2.

    I don't know how I got so behind over here. I hope all went well with your colon thing, I can't spell it, sorry. I know a lot of people have to have them but they can't be to comfortable. I hope you are healthy.

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  15. Kenju, it was a good movie, I think it was remade in the 90s, but I haven't seen the newer one.

    Murf, I'd thought about that--no hammock laying the next few days as the rain is falling

    Karen, I've had a canoe since I was 16--you actually see more wildlife from a boat than from hiking, no skeeters yet, I'm just anticipating

    Jay, it's always cool to take your kids out

    Deana, I've never thought of the weight gain, uck, the colon thing appt isn't until late May

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