centre of the universe - the dreaming

1. Canadian Movies - especially old ones.
2. Symphony Orchestras
3. Bow Ties
4. The Rolled 'R' Song, as composed by The Nipper
5. T'under and lightnin'

Labels: 365 Days of Grace

Items 1 - 3 (Uhura counts for two because she forgot):



Items 4 - 5:

Labels: 365 Days of Grace, star trek

1. Remembering to stop the car on the way to the babysitter's so that we can all hop out and jump on the crackly ice, to hear that sharp, percussive sound of breaking glass, and watch in glee as mud splashes up to dot our trousers, jackets, and smiling faces.

2. Shy crocuses peeking out from under the humous and layers of last fall's leaves.

3. Confused Cats blinking in the sun, and taking tentative steps out on to the deck. They are convinced, you see, that their paws will become Wet and therefore Unsatisfactory (although they pronounce it 'uncatisfactory') because they can smell the warm air and they know that somewhere nearby, water runs in rivulets.

4. Finding pucks, shields, swords, mittens, keys, a hammer, and a barbeque that had been buried in the snow all winter.

5. Sounds of joy bubbling up and out of every child who walks past the house on the way to school. Their voices have been muted by the snow too long, and they are hungry for the colour green.

Labels: 365 Days of Grace, spring, when there's weather

First, I have never written a screenplay before...before LAST NIGHT, that is. I did the game writeup as a screenplay. It seems to be working well.

Second, I am eating smoked cheddar sticks. It is odd, but tasty.

Third, I completely forgot what else I was going to tell you, other than that I was Very Angry yesterday, and briefly again this morning. Someone should look in to that.

Fourth, I am drinking tea. It pleases me.

Fifth, I remembered. I have come up with a brilliant way to revitalise the travel industry. From now on, passengers are barred from wearing clothing on aeroplanes. When you check in, you are handed a paper bathrobe. You proceed to security (where the lineups will be MUCH smaller), and are allowed only one clear, plastic bag with handles for your carry-on. It will contain your clothing and a book or magazine. Or knitting. You are allowed no electronics on the aeroplane at all.

From the check-in and security counter, you proceed to the Turkish Bath, where you relax for at least an hour before your flight is scheduled to leave. There is an incinerator at the entrance of the Turkish Bath for you to deposit your paper robe. Better yet, all the paper robes are shredded, boiled, and re-formed. Waste not, want not.

You leave the Turkish Bath, retrieve your plastic carry-on, and board the plane. Buck nekkit.

Not only will it make the flights cheaper (less security needed, less weight on the plane) and more smell-better (the Turkish Baths are mandatory so that wimmins and men can get rid of all that stinky cologne they wear), but you **don't have to wear clothes**!

That is all.

Oh. And this was a contribution to Grace in Small Things.

Labels: 365 Days of Grace

1. Sharpened pencils, and the dusty, scratchy sound they make on paper when I'm
2. drawing something.
3. The sound certain words make and how
4. the sound certain words make are different in your head than from your mouth.
5. Singing silly songs I just made up on the spot about making elephant noises.
   

Labels: 365 Days of Grace

1. The snow and ice snapping sharply; the loud, percussive crack as you walk on frozen/thawed/frozen/thawed ice
2. makes me think of the creak and crack of the floorboards of a wooden-hulled ship, the way they would heave and twist against one another in the humidity and salt water of the
3. warm waters of the southern coast.
   
4. The rocking, pitch and roll of any sailing vessel, whether canoe, sloop, or duck boat.
5. How the fresh-fallen snow glitters and sparkles, frozen moments of dew.
   

Labels: 365 Days of Grace

1. I used to go to the lake with my best friend Sarah in the summers.
2. Her grandparents' cabin had a room with a double bed, a room with twin beds, a master bedroom with a queen size bed, and a room with a single bed. When we stayed in the summers, we either slept in the double bed or in the twin beds. We stayed up all night making beadwork, yarn, and origami crafts.
3. Sometimes, we read books together. It was the first time I read the Narnia series. She would finish a book and hand it to me. We went through all seven books in four nights and five days.
4. The lake had algal blooms that looked like slices of kiwi. We called them jellyfish, but they weren't. We would tear them apart and squish them and we thought we were helping the lake. Or at least, we pretended we were.
5. Her grandparents had an old duck boat/plyboard dory that we would row out in around the lake and sing bawdy sailor songs Very Loudly. We knew some Very Naughty Songs.
   

Labels: 365 Days of Grace, sarah, summer

1. One time, at the lake, my uncle tried to teach me to water-ski. The plants on the bottom of the lake are awfully pretty.
   
2. Eventually, he succeeded.
3. Letting go of the rope allows for less drownage.
4. When the sun is high in the sky and the water is smooth as glass, there is nothing better than the feeling of cutting through the water, across the wake and back, across and back, across and back.
5. When the sun is low in the sky and the fish flies are out above the water, it is better to canoe out to - but not overturn the canoe in - the middle of the lake with your cousin.
   

Labels: 365 Days of Grace, boat swimming

1. That noise The Nipper makes when a skateboard, helicopter, truck, spaceship, boat, or other transportative device is going a particular speed through a particular environment.
   
2. It is often accompanied by the noise he makes for rapid-fire machine guns.
   
3. And is sometimes followed by the death throes and screaming, lashing about from the passengers/enemies/passers-by.
   
4. The long, long, long, long and involved explanation of what is *actually* happening, *actually*, since he is not permitted to play with guns. Those noises are *actually* lasers, not *actually* rapid-fire machine guns or howitzers.
   
5. The Nipper's rosebud mouth and very precise articulate speech, and the tender hugs and kisses he offers as recompense for breaking the 'no guns' rule.

Labels: 365 Days of Grace, kids, The Nipper

1. Wearing my steampunk goggles, lab coat, and leather welding gloves and shouting "SCIENCE!" at random intervals.
   
2. Singing, badly and loudly, in the kitchen.
   
3. Accompanying above with a terribly goofy dance.
   
4. And hitting myself in the head with frying pans. I'm a hit among the under-ten set.
   
5. Tripping over footprints in the snow.
   

Labels: 365 Days of Grace

Actors (dead) edition:

And, see, this is the thing. Actors bring me a small amount of joy, for the imaginings they bring to roles I'd envisionated.

1. Jim Henson
   
2. James Dean
   
3. Marlene Dietrich
   
4. Humphrey Bogart
   
5. John Belushi

Labels: 365 Days of Grace

1. Pluperfect, both the tense, and the word, which sounds like a particularly ripe fruit with sweet and juicy indigo flesh.

2. The Elusive Semicolon; often, we forget about this powerful object; frequently, we use him incorrectly.

3. Particularly clever adjectival phrases. That was an example of a dependent adverbial clause.

4. Conjunctive Adverbs. A little known fact is that the disease known as 'pinkeye' (or, conjunctivitis) is actually caused by that squinty thing that happens when one experiences boring old "ending in -ly" adverbs too much.

5. Tiny little parts of speech. Articles like "a", "an", and "the"; Pronouns like "it".

Labels: 365 Days of Grace

Actors (living) Edition:

1. My boyfriend, Johnny Depp. Or, as he likes me to call him, J. Or sometimes J.D., if we're being silly. Johnny doesn't mind that I have other boyfriends, because none of them is as famous as he is.

2. I've already mentioned Patrick Warburton, so let's go with my other boyfriend Hugh Jackman. It's a thing we have. He doesn't tell his wife about me; I don't let anyone take photographs of us together. It's a pretty slick system.

3. Steve Carrell.

4. My on-again-off-again boyfriend Gary Oldman. Gary's sensitive. He doesn't like it when you say things like "Gary Oldman! Don't you ever do your own laundry!??" We work through it.

5. Forrest Whitaker.


Visit Grace in Small Things

Labels: 365 Days of Grace, actors

1. Canoes

2. Blade Runner

3. Hats with ears

4. The photograph of Yours Truly in the paper in grade three, when Yours Truly won a tee-shirt slogan contest for the public library. I have no idea what the slogan was.

5. Patrick Warburton


Visit Grace in Small Things

Labels: 365 Days of Grace

1. Singing to the bubbies at night - they think I'm the greatest singer in the world.

2. Mashed potatoes

3. The sparkle of snow in the sun.

4. Memories of Nama.

5. Old photographs


Visit Grace in Small Things

Labels: 365 Days of Grace

1. 
   

Labels: 365 Days of Grace, GIST

1. Roux
2. Rae
3. Red
4. Rilla
5. Richard
   

Labels: 365 Days of Grace, GIST

My friend Schmutzie started this thing called "Grace in Small Things". It pleases me. Therefore, I shall also participate in some small way. I encourage you also to do the same.

The basic premise is this:
For 365 days, post a list of five things for which you are grateful; five things that have brought grace to your life.

Grace in Small Things #1 of 365:
1) The slippers from my mother-in-law
2) make-believe
3) coloured ink
4) steam
5) kisses from babies

Labels: 365 Days of Grace