yup, this is me, alright

Your Personality Profile

You are sexy, powerful, and bold. You're full of passion and energy... Sometimes this passion has a dark side. You feel most alive when you're seducing someone. You never fail to get someone's attention. Quick minded, you're also quick to lose your temper!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

I can see clearly now

small boing this morning. I can feel my energy seeping back. It does not take long for my spring to become re-sprung.

Wow! What a festival. Yeah! Mmmm, what a great family I have. Easy to spring back when I am surrounded by people who jump up and down when they see me.

question: which should I chop up first, Rosalie or Bruno?

mompoet - contemplating squash soup, now that there's time to cook

sloping like a sloth

Recovering from the festival on Sunday I reversed my sleep/wake cycle proportions, waking for 9 hours and sleeping for 15. In between I wore flannel and floppy socks and slunk around like a stunned skunk. I dressed for a couple of hours after lunch and took the girls out to ValuVillage for Halloween provisioning. They are planning a huge and elaborate party. While they pondered pink wigs and daggers with built in blood-drip compartments, I looked at the houseware that people have given up. Mostly from the kitchens of gone Grandmas I think. Most fascinating was a pressure canner. It was big enough to boil a basketball with room to spare, and tightened with frightening looking 4-inch long heavy-duty screws. It appeared to be vintage 1940. A good value at $35.99 if it works - or maybe even for antique value but I left it. Too much of a commitment of space and I'd have to try it and I'd probably blow something up. Like the time my mom's pressure cooker exploded and there were black beans on the ceiling. Nope, not the right day for that. I fell asleep on the couch about 5 minutes after supper and was down for the night. Monday morning I felt like creamed death on toast or maybe an economy-size jar of ennui (low sodium variety). I oozed in to work, grateful for no meetings and hung around my office all day looking like a big black slug in my dark dark clothes and my wool scarf which I wore all day long. Tofu in spicy garlic sauce from the szechuan helped a bit at lunchtime but not much. Now I'm home and there are flannel sheets and two pillows all my own, although I'll throw one on the floor. Sleeepppp.

question - ever have a possum day?

mompoet - mom-possum

Letter about the Teacher's Strike

There's an excellent letter in today's edition of The Tyee.

question: what do you think?

mompoet - thinking

My other favourite blog

If you read my blog you know I love Dooce. But I also love Defective Yeti. Matthew Baldwin's mix of social commentary, movie and music reviews and family stories is always good. I love the stories featuring his wife (The Queen) and baby son (The Squirrelly). If you like board games he's a fanatic, and reviews those too.

Last week he posted a very personal entry about his son's diagnosis with ASD - autism spectrum disorder. Reading it, I was deeply moved.

Matthew and his wife and the Squirrelly have been in my thoughts ever since. I know from our family's experiences with our own son's differences that this is a confusing and frightening time for them. I also know that things can turn out better than you would ever expect, although it's long and hard for everyone in the first years of coping, learning and adjusting. I really believe that we are sent who we are sent because they need us and we need them. In our case, I think our son came to us because we were the right people to help him, but also because we needed the experience of learning and growing from him to be fully ourselves. Loving him has made me grow up the way nothing else could. I am a better person for it, and grateful now that I can breathe out and say, "Yes, he will be okay. He will have a happy life."

If you have a moment (and possibly some kleenex) please read Matthew's post. And send him your thoughts/prayers/white light - whatever you've got. His family needs it right now. In the long run, they will be okay. Better than okay in fact.

question: do you lean to fatalism or belief in random occurrence?

mompoet - yes

New Jib-Jab Fun

"Big Box-Mart" is the newest Jib-Jab feature. Check it out here.

question: where do you buy your crap?

mompoet - shopping local and small whenever possible

Festival's Done

Today is Sunday and the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word is over. It was one of the biggest and best things with which I have ever been involved. Our finals night was spectacular. Any of the teams could have won, they were all that good, but in the end Vancouver Team 2 (the one I was rooting for) was declared champion.

This week has been unbelievably rich for me. Up until now my only exposure to spoken word artists not from Vancouver has been when they have featured at the Vancouver Slam. I have not toured or gone to a major competition. Finally all of these people and experiences that I have only heard about came to Vancouver and I got to be there and be part of it. I have met so many new friends and seen performance styles and talents that have filled me with awe and inspiration.

Another wonderful thing about this week was the volunteers. Ottawa poet John Akpata called them our "army of peace," which I think is a perfect description. They hosted poets in their homes, drove them in from the airport, solicited donations, put up posters and helped at the events. Volunteers worked the door, info table, merchandise table, bar and lineup. They were timekeepers and scorekeepers for the competition and they made sure the poets were welcomed and taken care of at every event. They worked with dedication, team spirit and a great sense of fun. They all seemed to feel lucky to be doing the job, which made me feel very very happy because that was my goal for working with them.

Most of all, I have loved working with my Vancouver Poetry House friends to make this festival happen. I'm not sure if we really knew what we were getting into when we started this project almost two years ago, but the process has been as important as the actual festival. I am inspired by the talent, creativity, hard work and good will of this small but mighty group. When I think about how I feel about them, I can understand what the volunteers have been saying to me this week. Lucky, lucky, lucky... Randy, Jim, Sean, Chrystalene, Emily, Steve, Graham, Brendan, Angus, Barbara, Daniel, Matthew, Rowan, Joee, Kevin, Darek. You are beyond wonderful. I am blessed to know you.

The day after the festival I am proud and happy and also sad that it is over. My friend Irene checked in with me yesterday to make sure I wan't going to feel too sad. So far I am okay, although I had a couple of moments near the end of last evening when it hit me that we wouldn't have this to look forward to any more. Today I'm kind of bobbing up and down with alternating joy and deflation. But there are other projects on the horizon. I'm leaving this one immeasurably richer and more grateful than I can say.

question: what do you do on the day after Christmas?

mompoet - glad, sad and glad (mostly glad)

Coming up for air

Today is Day 3 of the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Vancouver. We have enjoyed 2 fabulous evening events and 1 great day show. All but 2 of the artists are here (I'm picking the last 2 up this morning and taking them to my Mom and Dad's house where they will be billetted). The performances have been beyond amazing. The volunteers are spectacular. It's my job to coordinate the volunteer help, and they are making it so easy. My Poetry House friends who are organizing the festival are wonderful to work with - everyone is pitching in and sharing the work and the enjoyment of these days.

I took the week off work, but I still have my husband and the kids here, so I'm staying away from Wednesday's day event. The kids are home from school while the teachers are still on strike, and I want to spend the day with them after I get the poets in from the airport. Daughter has been waiting for me to take her to the yarn store to buy some new colours. (She taught herself to knit over the Thanksgiving weekend.) Son really needs a haircut, and just wants some time to talk to me about politics and sports, his two passions. Husband is grateful that I came home early from Wednesday night's show, partly because he doesn't sleep well (or at all) until I come home, and he leaves for work at 4:30am. Partly because he needs to know that he is just as important to me as this festival.

Tonight I'll be back in the game. If you are in Vancouver and you haven't made plans to come to a show, please do. Day events at Vancouver Community College are free. Evening events run from $12-$15. Some of these poets you will only see together in one show maybe once a year at a nationals competition somewhere, and even then probably not. This is performance poetry, comedy, storytelling - all accessible and available for you here in Vancouver. It's so good.

Our website tells more. Please check it out.

Now I'm going to eat porridge and get dressed and drive to the airport, then take kids for yarn and a haircut, then almost certainly a Szechuan lunch.

question: heard any good stories lately?

mompoet - of the running-over cup

Good article about the teacher's strike

A parent's view in The Tyee

question: what will the future hold for our children

mompoet - supporting the teachers who are supporting the interests of the kids

Rainy Day Leafscapes in a Place Too Beautiful for Words

question: have you seen the Fall?

mompoet - appreciative

And now for something lighter

At supper tonight the kids proposed a set of theme days to make life at the office more fun and less stressful for the grown-ups:

Monday - Marijuana Monday
Tuesday - Tequila Tuesday
Wednesday - Naked Wednesday
Thursday - Tuscan Thursday (in which everyone flies to Tuscany for the day)
Friday - Freestyle Friday (your choice)

Note: These choices are satirical and in no way reflect the behaviour of the actual family or friends of mompoet or mompoet's co-workers...(daughter says to insert "wink wink" here).

It does say something, however, that this was part of Thanksgiving Supper table conversation at Grandma and Grandpa's house and nobody was sent out of the room.

question: who made these kids the way they are?

mompoet - I know, my fault

How to talk to your kids about sex

It never fails. Well-fed children driving home in the dark will talk about anything. Tonight my 12 and 15 year old peppered me with questions about abortion. (This after I told them that the movie that Andy and I plan to watch on dvd tonight is Vera Drake.) So now they know how abortions are performed, why a woman might choose to have an abortion, a bit about the moral and legal issues surrounding abortion and some of the history of the anti-abortion and pro-choice movements in the US and Canada...whew! All that while driving home from Grandma and Grandpa's house after Thanksgiving supper. They discussed it and began to formulate their own positions on the issue, realising that it is complex. We talked about what it would take to make this a non-issue (so eliminating even the question of the need for abortions) - adequate strategies for prevention of unwanted pregnancies, especially for young women; scientific advances to improve the life-outlook for people born with disabilities; viable options for pregnancy support and adoption; and a societal change in attitude about love, sex and responsibility for pregnancy...I don't have the answers to all this, but I'm glad my kids are curious and engaged and thoughtful about it and I'm grateful that they will ask me these questions. I should drive them around more in the dark.

question: how do you talk to your kids about life's big questions?

mompoet - turkey-assisted mom-talker

church is good

I was tempted to sleep in today. The pillow felt so good and I knew an extra two hours would set me up for a really "filled-up-with-rest" feeling that I enjoy so much on the weekend. But I went to church, as I do by habit except when I'm out of town or for the occasional volunteer job.

Boy am I glad I went. Church is like going to the gym. It's strange, but investing an hour or two there seems to give me more time to do things during the week. Surrounded by my church community, and just thinking about God, I am reassured that I can do whatever it is that I need to do. It's not so much that I see a righteous path, it's more like I believe better in my own ability to follow it. I do pray during the week, but going to church is different. It's like a big lens that focuses the spiritual energy and tells me, "It's okay to be confused, or frightened, or frustrated, or filled with joy, or all of them at the same time. You can handle it because God is with you, believing in you as you believe in God."

Today in church I felt that way. Taking a couple of hours away from busy-ness and some challenges reminded me that I am made to do what I'm doing and I can do it with joy, and confusion and fear and frustration and sometimes all of them together and that's okay.

question: where do you find courage?

mompoet - well and able

what to do after you buy a gigantic bag of broccoli at costco

onions, garlic, olive oil, soup stock, potatoes, broccoli for the last 10 minutes, s&p, puree, real cream. mmmm

question: who for such dainties would not stoop?

mompoet - beautiful beautiful

CONGRATULATIONS ROBIN!

My friend Robin will get her university diploma (BGS) tomorrow. She has studied, one course at a time, juggling this with work (she works with me - so it can't be all bad), a baby (now in grade 1) a husband (who does the dishes) 2 dogs and assorted other happy obligations (did I mention she helps care for preschool nephew and twin nieces?)

Anyway. She made it.

CONGRATULATION ROBIN!

You are smart and brave and optimistic and kind. You are a fine priority-picker and an example of grace under pressure. You managed teething+midterms, performance reviews+distance education, daycare+essays, car repairs and renovations+registration. You are amazing, inspiring, a treasure, a gem, absolutely fabulous.

I'll be a big mushball at your convocation tomorrow and I won't be able to say any of this, so I thought I'd just go ahead and make it public. And just in case you're getting a bit mushy right now, I can fix that. Here's your boyfriend. Look at these guys. What about this??? Or this???

There. Now we're laughing again.

I love-a love-a you! Congratulations.

question - did you ever feel so proud of someone you could just burst?

mompoet - just proud, that's all

Talking Turkey

In which I fess up that I do not like English food.

Well, that's not too much of a revelation. I participate in the feasting, but look forward more to the soup than the actual meal. Here's my rundown of Thanksgiving foods from least to most-beloved.

LEAST
mashed potatoes - Is this glue? or babyfood? It seems like something that should be served by a tube, not with a fork. And gravy - I don't get that either - sauce that tastes like the stuff that you're putting it on? Hmmm.

gerkins - I love pickles, but gerkins are pickle wannabes. I'm urkin' about that gerkin. Sounds like a jerkin, which is a jacket, not a lewd act, by the way.

shrimp cocktail - Shrimp is lovely but I like it warm with spicy sauce, not in a cup on iceberg lettuce looking like a lab specimen.

SORT of OK
stuffing - We always make a whole bunch and then we have a whole bunch left over, then we throw it away when it is fossilized (with the fossilized gravy).

buns - tend to be white and knobby at Thanksgiving for some reason. I really love bread, but with potatoes and stuffing it's overkill. Something for the kids I guess, who have the sense not to take the items that they don't enjoy. One consolation - real butter...mmmmmm.

any overcooked vegetable - beans, brussel sprouts, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower. The bounty of the season is a sad thing when it is boiled for 15 minutes. Ditto for frozen brussels sprouts which come out of the bag without a chance of yumminess.

turkey - which is kind of like coffee, smelling better than it actually tastes. And you get a plank of it on your plate. If it's dry you have to coat it in that gravy so it will slide down. Fortunately my mom and mom-in-law and even I know how to roast it so it is not dry, but still, it's yummiest moment is when it's still in the oven, or after it's done - turkey-picking is yummy - little bits out of the fridge, then the soup. Ah...the soup.

cranberry sauce - I think it's something to make the turkey go down better - like hiding a penicillin pill in a glob of jam. My mom used to do that when I was little. I love cranberries in muffins but not so much on the side of the plate with meat. Cranberry sauce is okay if it's the kind with berries in it. The strained jelly kind is in the same category with mashed potatoes.

MOST
pumpkin pie - with whipped cream - could eat a whole one. won't.

yams - whoever invented these had the right idea - sweet and flavourful and substantial. Makes the potatoes look like idiots.

brussel sprouts done right - just cooked not boiled to death

salad - some people think it's crazy to have a salad on top of all of this, but I think a salad is very good at Thanksgiving - like a summary of summer goodness. And if there's leftover you can put some turkey on it and take it to work. And use real good salad dressing - not gravy.

I once invented a lasagne from holiday leftovers - It had turkey and stuffing in between the layers of noodles, and white cheeses and white sauce and slivered almonds. It was good, but mostly because of the noodles and the fact that the turkey and stuffing was not so concentrated.

Heading into Thanksgiving I know I will enjoy the meal, and just wait. There will be soup.

Beautiful, beautiful soup.

question - how does the feast stack up for you? favourites? non-favourites?

mompoet - thinking about soup

Damn Spam

My blog is getting spam comments at the rate of 3-5 per day. I guess that means I'm popular, but not in a good way. I don't think there's much I can do about it, except delete it. But just for the record, neither I nor you, my friends and family and any friendly strangers who read this blog, need info about fast college degrees, nine west shoes (what are those, anyway?), Halloween masks, used tent trailers, antique collectibles, or making my penis larger with a pill.

question: we don't, do we?

mompoet - tired of tinned smashed meat

comfort food

Daughter has a cold. Last night she sang in a hurricane relief benefit concert. At supper time she wanted chicken noodle soup and orange juice. I have also been giving her echinacia and lots of water, and I made her eat broccoli, which she likes, but it didn't occur to her to ask for it when she has a cold.

When I have a cold or I'm feeling sorry for myself, I want pasta with butter and salt and parmesan cheese. I drink water. My son's a pasta guy too. Andy eats toast.

On the way home from the concert, daughter ate salt and vinegar potato chips, which we both love, and we sang our silly going-home-from-something-good song (she sings backup to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" while I sing a story about what we've just done in a very high and gurgly voice). We both killed ourselves laughing.

Sometimes when you feel yucky a couple of little things like that will make it bearable. I'm glad my girl and I speak the same language of comfort.

question - what do you eat when you feel yukky?

mompoet - flannel pajamas and socks that my mom knit for me

A good, good day

They came, we planted. It was good. I made it to Saturday, grateful for a sunny afternoon with lots of help from everyone involved in the project. About 100 people walked up the trail to the meadow and dug in to plant native ferns and shrubs and small trees near the banks of Eagle Creek. Fabulous volunteers helped put up signs, serve hot chocolate, paint faces, lug pots and shovels and dig, dig, dig. A couple of local politicians came and one media person, but mostly it was the moms and kids and adults of all ages, sharing in the work of bringing a bit of nature to the city. Evergreen is a wonderful organization that does this full time. I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with their good people. This day could have been a royal disaster due to my oversight about booking the facility. I'm grateful that I detected my error in time to fix it, and even more grateful for all of the people who cheerfully came to my aid with the recovery plan. I am happy and relieved and glad that it is Sunday. I hope that I get a chance to do this again.

question: how was your Saturday?

mompoet - breathing out gently

what are you doing the week after thanksgiving?

The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word happens October 11-15 in Vancouver. For 5 nights and 4 days we will have performance poets and stoytellers from across Canada, the US and other places, all sharing their talent in a celebration of spoken word.

Here's the website: www.cfsw.net

Festival passes are now available at Magpie Magazines on Commercial and Duthie Books on 4th. They cost $55 for all five nights - poems for a song! Individual events are priced on a sliding scale, $12-15 for the first four evenings, $15-20 for finals night on Saturday October 15.

I'm helping out with volunteer coordination. If you would like to help, please get in touch (there's a link on the website). The schedule is almost full, but there are still jobs to do. We also need people who live in Vancouver who can host poets in their homes for a few days, and people with cars who can do a pick-up or drop-off at the airport.

It's going to be the most amazing show.

question: who is you favourite poet?

mompoet - peeking over the hill at the glorious, glorious (did I say glorious?) mountain