delegation (a prayer)

Dear God, please bless and protect these people whose names I list now. Heal their illness, keep them safe on their journeys, help them weather the storms through which they pass. Help me to love and care for those who I take as my own to love and care for. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Dear husband, please take this list into your care. On your way home, please buy eggs, milk, bread and broccoli (2 bunches). Pick up our daughter from rehearsal and deliver her to dance class. Help me to love and care for those who I take as my own to love and care for, as I love and care for you, xox.

Dear children, please pack some of this banana bread in your lunches today. There are nice apples in the bowl on the table too. Assemble for yourselves healthy meals to help you go through the day with energy and happiness. Help me to love and care for you, who I take as my own to love and care for. Hugs, Mom.

Dear self, please remember to take these books back to the library, and pack your shoes for the gym at lunch. Get some of that banana bread, for it will surely be gone by the time you return. Pack an apple and drink your water. Care for yourself so that you may care for those who you choose to love. Love yourself and your life, so that you may do these things with joy. In the name of all great blessings and small wonders, Amen.

question: what's your prayer?

mompoet - trusting

just me

I woke up the other morning at 5:30, my usual time. It was dark. Andy was still asleep. It was cold. I reached, in the dark, for something warm to wear and found my sloppy grey sweatpants - perfect for 5:30 in the morning. I put them on and stepped quietly out of the bedroom. The hallway and stairs were dark too. Never mind. I'll put the light on in the kitchen.

On my way down it occurred to me, I must be gaining weight. I must have gained a lot of weight - gosh! These sweat pants are really tight! There used to be tons of room in "the bucket" because I bought them before I lost all this weight.

Wait. I get downstairs and see I have them on backwards. No room in the rear, but a kangaroo pouch in the front. Turn the pants around. Problem solved. Just me.

question: are you sharp as a tack when you wake up?

mompoet - more of a butter knife until I get my coffee

the difference

A dog, wanting a particular spot on her face rubbed after consuming the morning meal, would not take the long way around the table. She would not pause, tail curling, to consider if a scratch on the chin would be worth the effort of approach. The spiral spine of your notebook would not catch her fang as she showed you how, where, this much. When you moved the book aside, she would not make pizza in your lap (her paws not kneading in that peculiar manner of tentative possessiveness). A dog, all shambling bee-line and tropical grin, would nudge her sweet snout between you and your book and say, "Howdy, give me some love."

question - have you noticed the difference?

mompoet - missing one, loving both

salpingo (a writing exercise)

a Mediterranean soup made with tomatoes and sardines in a light broth

a nervous disorder, characterized by auditory hallucinations

a 19th century Mexican art movement

a deviated bamboo fiber stocking, designed to be worn with flip-flop sandals

a colourful shore bird native to the Florida coast

a burning rash caused by an allergy

a style of dance music played at celebrations in Argentina

a prayer cycle, observed by indigenous people of the southwestern US, for 14 days around the spring equinox

a drinking game, popular in the 1960s, played with forks, corks and poker chips

a new flavour of salsa

a scientific term denoting the echo sound of radar when it returns to the sender

question: do you know salpingo?

mompoet - I want to go invent the game now

bad product/good product

last of winter, first of spring

It turned into spring about 10:45am on Saturday. Near the time for change I realised that I was seeing the winter out with a cycle class. This was a good choice, I thought. I spent an hour in a darkened studio with 20 other people on stationary bikes, music pumping loud, pushing through an hour of intense work and sweat. We could have been anywhere at any time of year, but it felt tropical. It was a great class. I love the Saturday morning spin to kick off the weekend. Goodbye winter!

When I got home I showered, then asked Andy to start the spring with me by going for a walk. We needed to stay close to home so we could catch Fi and her friends at the Skytrain and get them to the latter part of a rehearsal in Port Moody. We walked up and down St. Johns Street. It's always interesting to look at the shop windows and see who else is out walking. We stopped at Smile and Shine Florist to pick up flowers for Fiona's closing night in Little Shop of Horrors. Along the boulevard, gorgeous white cherry blossoms made a beautiful canopy outside of the shop doors. It was a lovely stroll.

At home, before supper, we carried the patio furniture up from the basement and set it out on the deck. A couple of pieces needed to be hauled up with a rope because they don't fit through the inside of the house, but that's kind of fun, and another way of marking the change in season.

We sat on the deck in the late afternoon and remarked on the warm breeze and the scents of spring. Even though rain is predicted for Sunday, we'll cook barbeque for supper.

Goodbye winter, hello spring!

question: how did you mark the equinox?

mompoet - walk, pedal, work, rest

vegetarian fruit juice

A friend loaned me a couple of copies of Clean Eating Magazine. I read them, and noticed that the recipes and articles were great, but they had some ads that made me ponder - a fair number of ads for nutritional supplements and processed cereals and bars, seemingly at odds with the philosophy of the publication, which focuses on foods made whole, fresh and simple.

The funniest ad I found (or so I thought) was for "vegetarian fruit juice." "HA HA!" I thought, "enough of that pork and turkey fruit juice I have been drinking up until now." While I am not a vegetarian, I was perplexed. How could one fruit juice be more vegetarian than another?

Last night I did a bit of googling, and found out that many fruit juices do contain animal products. I couldn't locate an article, but the topic is discussed on lots of eating forums like this one. Now, I don't normally read eating forums (eating forums!?!) but the information sounds plausible anyway. I don't actually drink juice, preferring to chew my fruit, but I do find this info enlightening, and I guess I have to stop laughing at ads for vegetarian fruit juice now.

question: do you like your orange juice with bug dye, fish oil, sheep vitamin and marrow clarifying agent?

mompoet - eat a banana, ok?

dead poets' slam

I didn't realise this was up on youtube - recorded at the Dead Poet's Slam at the Vancouver Poetry Slam in October.



Thanks wnsbt, you rock

not "little shop of sweet sentiments and precious platitudes"

Fiona's school musical opened this weekend. It's Little Shop of Horrors - a tale of greed, lust and inter-planetary botanical horror. In short, a perfect vehicle for budding teen-age talent. Fiona plays Audrey, the flower shop assistant who considers herself not worthy of a nice guy like Seymour, who works with her for shop owner Mr. Mushnik. On the day that Mushnik decides to pack it in and close his unsuccessful business, Seymour puts his newest strange plant, named "Audrey Two" in the window, and everything changes. The story is a Faust legend, set in 1950s skid row squalor. Seymour trades his morality for fame, fortune and love, with predictably disastrous consequences. Carrying the tale along is a trio of "Doo-wop" girls, an assortment of skid row residents, and Audrey's boyfriend, a sadistic dentist with an addiction to nitrous oxide.

The Heritage Woods Secondary performance is a big bowlful of black humour fun. Central to the story is a people-eating plant, played and given voice in its various shapes and sizes by student actors who operate an amazing set of plant puppets. There's a student orchestra and student stage crew and student theatre techs. Under the direction of their amazing acting and music teachers, Shanda Walters (director) and Ingrid Gay (musical director) they bring this story to life in all of its grimy and grizzly wonderful horribleness. I'm biased of course, being mom to one of the performers, and knowing a lot of the students who are in it, but I'm sure even if I knew nobody in it, I'd love this show. Ms Walters picked the right play for this year's musical theatre class, with bang-on casting for shy Seymour, the insane dentist and the enigmatic Mr. Mushnik (played with chutzpah by a girl, but you don't figure this our for the first few minutes she's so good). As for Audrey, I have to say that it made me feel uncomfortable to see my daughter dressed up in tall heels and a tight skirt, being pushed around by a cruel boyfriend, then eaten by a plant, but that's theatre, not real life, so I can handle it. The set is dark and weird, costuming is quirky and convincing, and the music is great. We're blessed at Heritage with some awesome musicians and singers, and Ms. Gay brings out the best of their talents.

Fiona sings two very tender songs, both of which made me cry, except that in the reprise of "Somewhere that's Green," I was also laughing my head off at the same time, because it's just so darn silly and improbable. My neighbours caught me laughing as my blood-stained daughter was being eaten by the plant. They reassured me that I am still a good mother, even so.

If you get a chance to go see this show, you will be not be disappointed. There are 3 more performances: March 17 at 4pm, and 18th, 19th and 20th at 7:30, all at Heritage Woods Secondary. Tix are available at the door, $12 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Not suitable for younger children, or people who have been traumatized by bad experiences with Venus Fly Traps.

question: does that guy look like plant food to you?

mompoet - laughing and crying (and proud)

on call

I am call this week for emergency social services, and I got my first call. I have been somewhat anxious, anticipating this, despite assurances from my team members that they would be there to support me, and that the job is manageable and rewarding.

On Wednesday morning, the emergency coordinator emailed to ask me to find out more info about a fire that had been reported in the news, but not called in to ESS. I phoned a fire chief and an assistant fire chief and asked for details about the incident. The aim was to find out if there was a possibility that their might be follow-up work for us. It turned out that people were evacuated, but they all found shelter with friends and family.

On Thursday afternoon, it was the real thing. I was called to assist a family whose apartment had burned. I was supervised and assisted in my work by an experienced member of the team - someone who I have worked with in other capacities for 30 years. We shared responsibilities and he guided me through the steps. By supper time, we had the family (luckily only one family) safely checked into a hotel, with food vouchers and information about their steps for follow up. The provincial emergency program covers 72 hours of accommodation, food and incidentals as needed. I just wanted to scoop up the people and take them home, thinking about what they must be going through. It was good to be able to help them find a safe haven at least for the short term.

Over the next couple of days I'll be doing follow-up work, checking in with the family, updating the provincial emergency office about the incident, doing a debrief with the team, then filing the paperwork. For a first experience this was a good one. I had a dry run on Wednesday to get me geared up, and I didn't even have to wake up in the middle of the night. I know there will be more complicated and challenging incidents, but I also know that I'm not on my own when I'm on call, and this is do-able. It's also a privilege to be allowed to help in this way.

question: have you been waiting for something new, about to happen?

mompoet - initiated

moving on down the road

On Sunday, I finished my term as President of Vancouver Poetry House, and resigned from the Board of Directors. I have been a director since we formed our society in 2003. During this time, Poetry House has organized the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and the Individual World Poetry Slam in Vancouver. These 2 large events drew poets and audience from all over North America and built up participation in spoken word art in our city. We created WordPlay, a poetry in schools program that employs poets to run workshops for students, started a youth poetry slam, and organized workshops and special performances. We got 2 Canada Council grants which we used to bring poets to Vancouver to share their art. We also launched a very cool website.

I love Poetry House. I love the friends with whom I have worked - board members and volunteers. I have learned a lot about poetry, running an organization, and how people work together. The experience has been exciting, challenging, triumphant and absurd at various times. Mostly it has been excellent to work with people who share a passion and get energized by making wonderful things happen.

I'm sad to leave now, but know for sure that the timing is right. We have just one short year left as a family of four living all in one house. Fiona will be going away to university after she finishes high school next year. Alex will likely stay for a while longer, but will be beginning his career. Andy and I are making the transition from parents of children to parents of adults, and thinking more about house projects, travel, and the shape our life together will take for the next 25 years. It's possible I may return to my regular job at the end of this year, after 3 years acting in another. At church I continue to be involved in outreach activities, mostly around issues of homelessness in our community. If I was an octopus, with a brain and a heart in each arm, I'd keep Poetry House. Being a person, with one head and one heart, I'm pulling in a bit to have energy and focus for the things that are closest to home.

I'll still come out to the poetry slam, and will try to help with events and projects when I can. In the meantime, Poetry House is going places. It has a board of directors that is skilled, dynamic, and poised to advance our programs to the next level of wonderfulness. It's working in a time of financial restraint, but artistic abundance. The opportunities now for engaging people in art are as great as they have ever been.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to have been involved in PoHouse. I'm sad to say good-bye now, but confident that it's the best choice all around. I look forward to seeing where PoHouse goes. I will remain a member, and an admiring fan.

question: what have you set down?

mompoet - picking up my feet and walking on down the road

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass

Little Shop of Horrors

Fiona is playing Audrey in Little Shop, which opens next week at Heritage Woods Secondary. It will be horrible and funny and lovely.

question: did you ever have a Venus Fly Trap when you were a kid?

mompoet - the resemblance ends there

my kiss goodbye (edited)

my kiss goodbye starts out
like a skytrain car full of teenagers
all blustery hormone bravado and sweaty-footed self-consciousness

my kiss goodbye launches itself like a jilted marmot sprung loose from a trap
clamps onto your lower lip
it does not let go when you shake and yell
it does not let go when you plead
it resists bribery, threats and ignoring
relenting only when you whistle
(which is hard to do with a marmot latched on to your lip, but you must try)

I want my kiss goodbye to be a sonnet
there are thing that I want this kiss to accomplish
I want it to be elegant, composed, to say more with less
but this kiss is impulsive and contrary
it chews gum in karate practice
runs with scissors
laughs when someone farts
and always takes the biggest cookie

besides, this kiss is hungry
so hungry, it wants to eat all of you now
but it doesn’t, because it likes you too much
instead it eats 2 mangoes, a banana, a clean pair of socks, the HST, the musical “Spring Awakening,” the single transferable voting system and the city of New Westminster
it begins to eat today’s newspaper, realises you haven't read it yet, and stops

my kiss goodbye is a 200 car freight train run-on sentence
a shredded parachute made out of a blue velvet curtain salvaged from a vaudeville theatre
it has holes big enough to put your head through
and dangles participles like lost memories

my kiss goodbye knows that goodbye is already a done deal
still, it lingers in the hallway like the end of a dinner party
recycling run-down conversation
dreading the weather strip FPPtttP of the door
the CLOK of the latch in the frame
it tastes like liberation
smells like neglect

thank goodness this goodbye kiss kept its shoes on when it came over
it steps onto the landing
down the stoop
FFTttP
CLOK
out to the cold, clear night

if vegetables were a country, this would be the flag

ZIPPITY!

For the Olympics, there's a free zip line ride over Robson Square. Lineups to get on it are very long (sometimes 8 to 10 hours). This morning, Andy and I woke up at 5 and got downtown about 6:30am to stand in the queue. By 11:15 we were zipping!

It was dark and raining lightly when we arrived, and about 50 people were already waiting. The mood was buoyant in the lineup. We were all there to do something new and fun and it was a bit silly being there so early. There were plenty of security guards milling about, chatting in a friendly way and handing out rain ponchos. Someone bought two big boxes of timbits and handed them up and down the line. Far Coast Coffee sent a sample-giver out to dispense mini cups of coffee. About 9am they let us in off Robson Street into the official waiting area which was covered and out of the rain. I had a stiff back from standing, so I sat down on the ground on my poncho. Andy and I listened to the radio on his mp3 player and read the newspaper.

As 10 o'clock neared and the zip line got ready to actually open, I started to feel some twinges of nervousness. I looked at the big tower, and watched the staff checking the rigging and taking a test run (hanging upside down and laughing and yelling all the way). Then they took in the first group of 8 people, and I watched as the first customers of the day went for their zip trip. A man and a woman appeared at the top of the tower. They wore helmets and body harnesses. The zip line staff people hooked the riders' gear to the overhead cables, and hung their bags off the rigging to go along with them for the ride. The man and the woman stood up there on the edge for what seemed like an agonizingly long time, then they each slowly stepped down off the top platform, to descend a set of 4 stairs TO NOWHERE! There's no railing or hand hold, you just walk town these steps about 8 storeys over Vancouver, and stand on the edge until the man says, "GO!" I knew then that the stairs would be the make or break for me.

Soon it was our turn. We signed waivers and walked into the room to be outfitted. I was stumbly and clumsy after the long, chilly, damp wait, but I got all hooked up. I kind of felt like a baby being put into a carseat. The woman in the suiting up room even put my helmet on for me. Next, we climbed the stairs - 81 steps up a see-through metal tower to the top platform. My heart was racing from fear as I turned each corner from flight to flight to flight. Higher and higher we climbed. Then we were at the top. We watched two other pairs of zip-trekkers depart the platform. The uneasy feelings bubbled and stewed but I felt determined to go through with it. Andy, meanwhile, kept finding me small items from his pockets to zip into my jacket pockets. That was probably good because I was kind of going inside my own head, and might have disappeared altogether without his requests to find a safe place for his keys and coins.

Our turn. I took the left-side cable and Andy took the right. The man at the edge was roped up to the platform, I noticed, so at least I knew I could not pull him off the edge to his death. First, he hooked me to the platform (temporarily) then he allowed me to approach the edge. He secured my harness to a pulley overhead and checked all of the adjustments on my harness. I told him that I was afraid of the stairs, and he offered to hold my hand all the way down. I tried that but felt better grabbing the overhead cable for the first three steps down. "It's okay," he said, "You're doing great, Sue, just one step at a time." Thing is, I couldn't reach the bottom step and still hold the cable, so I let go and just held the tether strap that hooked the front of my harness to the pulley. Somewhere in there the man unhooked me from the platform, because next thing I knew, he was counting, "1 - 2 - 3" and I took a step off the bottom step, into the air, and WHOOOSH! Andy and I were flying side-by-side (well for a moment, then I scooted out ahead). I turned and waved back - "THANK YOU!" as the pulley screamed along the cable and I looked out over the square and the street and the people. Andy and I were both whooping and cheering and before we knew it, we were on the other side. The staff on that side hauled us up onto their platform, clamped us on there, and talked us through the quick process of unhooking from the pulley and getting fully onto the platform and out of the landing zone. I think I said "Thank you!" about a dozen times - for the fun, and also for allowing me to make it to the other side in one piece. It was a surreal feeling. I don't think our feet really touched the ground for another 5 minutes after our landing. It was that much fun.

I would do it again in a heartbeat. Maybe if I have enough money sometime I'll go try the trek up at Whistler. It's run by the same company that has run the line at Robson Square. And now I have a souvenir caribener and a 10% discount coupon for Whistler Ziptrek and my most amazing Olympic experience for sure.

question: have you zipped?

mompoet - WHEEEE! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!

Olympic Thursday

Andy and I both had a day off work Thursday, so we went downtown to see a few more things - our first Olympic day just us two.

We walked from the Main Street skytrain station to the lineup for the Ontario Pavilion, where we waited for about 90 minutes to get into the "4D" theatre experience. It was a movie about Ontario in 3D, with vibrating seats real snow, water splashes and squirts of fragrance (pine forest, hot chocolate) to make the experience seem almost real. It reminded me of the movies at Expo. It was beautiful and fun but pretty gimmicky. I'm glad I saw it, though. It's been a while since Expo.

After we explored the Ontario pavilion, we walked along the False Creek seawall to Yaletown, then up Cambie into downtown. We got a free sample of Vitamin Water and visited the Bell Ice Cube. There, they give you a set of earbuds so you can plug into the audio for one of dozens of giant screen TVs showing the three different Olympic broadcasts all owned by CTV, that simultaneously show the various events going on in Richmond, Vancouver, Cypress Bowl and Whistler. They also have smaller screens showing the history of the Olympics, you can plug into those two. That was kind of neat.

We looked at the lineup for the Canadian Mint and decided not to go. It was probably about 4 hours long. I would have liked to hold a real Olympic medal, but I guess I won't. We checked out the zipline lineup, knowing we planned to return early to ride the zipline the next day. At 11:30 in the morning, it was 8 hours long.

Next, we got on the Canada Line and traveled to Richmond's "O Zone," to check it out. The family activities (outdoor skating and entertainment stage) weren't open until 3, so we visited the Holland Heineken House pavilion. The displays there were quite engaging, and we could have totally outfitted ourselves in orange Holland team/fan gear, but we didn't. We did visit the beer and food hall. We discovered there that the first step is to exchange money for a charged up cash card (which you can cash back out if you have money left on it when you leave). We got some beer (Heineken, of course) and ate lunch. I had "kale and potato hotchpotch with sausage." Andy had the same except sauerkraut instead of kale. It was a cardboard cone filled with big scoop of mashed potatoes with kale (mine) or sauerkraut (Andy's) mixed in, topped with crisp bacon sprinkles and a half a sausage stuck in quite jauntily. These were $7.50 each (tax included), and quite filling. The same size beer that costs $8 at BC Place was just $4.50 a glass at Heineken House. We milled about with the crowd and watched a bit of skiing on the big screen while we enjoyed our lunch and beer. Of all the Olympic venues we have visited so far, Heineken House is the the most friendly and laid back. We liked it.

By this time we had enjoyed enough Olympics for one day, so we took the Canada Line and the Skytrain home. We stopped at the produce store on the way, so we're stocked up with good stuff. We were home in time to catch the 2nd and 3rd period and see the Canadian women win gold. Hurray!

question: what's the nicest place you have visited during the Olympics? (hint, it doesn't have to be at the Olympics - it could be far away on purpose

mompoet - the sky was bluer today that anyone expected

they really have these

I think that one of the best things about the Olympics is that people were successfully discouraged from driving during the Games. Everyone is on transit. Lots of people are walking, and cyclist are being taken care of for a change.

Let's keep this part of the Olympics. Hoooray!

question: have you discovered a new way to get around these past 2 weeks?

mompoet - moving with the people

skating practice

On Sunday, Fiona and I got up at the crack of dawn, and took the bus to the Pacific Coliseum, to see the practice session for the original program ice dance competition. Tickets for the practice sessions were about $20 each for great seats, and went on sale a couple of months before the Olympics. I'm glad that I got a pair, and while Fiona wasn't too happy about waking up at 6am on a Sunday morning, she was glad we went.

The early morning photos are from our walk down to the highway to catch the bus. The skater photos show that the "OD" theme was "folk or country dances." We weren't aware of this when we watched the practice session, so we thought it was rather hilarious when we saw the costumes, like a German pair dressed as Polynesian dancers and Chinese skaters dancing in sequin-studded togas to "Zorba the Greek." Later we heard that the Russians dressed as Australian Aboriginal dancers sparked a controversy, but really it was a wacky paisley quilt of everyone dressed up as somebody else's folk stereotype. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir did a flamenco dance, but at least they weren't wearing Halloween costumes.

The skating was stunning, even though the skaters danced the first measures of their routine, then ceased before the exciting parts to skate around the arena holding hands. Near the end of the the 3 or 4 minute number, they would resume skating and complete to the bows. We saw some of the more complicated moves by other skaters as they moved around the arena practising (mostly) out of the way of the skaters whose music was playing. Of course, we watched the whole thing Sunday night on TV and saw our Canadians win this part of the competition. That made it all the more exciting.

Fiona said she felt anxious and excited for the skaters, wondering how they must feel, getting ready to skate in the Olympics. Some are only a couple of years older than she is. Seasoned or new, it must be an overwhelming experience for all of them. We were glad to witness this part of it and show our support.

question: have you ever seen a French skating duo, dressed as flashy hayseeds, performing to "Thank God I'm a country boy?"

mompoet - something new and exciting every day

a song that I like right now