Halloween in Eastwick-hill-ham-shire

How awful can it be and still be funny?

My friend Brian told me about something he saw on television so I looked it up on google. WARNING...DO NOT LOOK AT THIS IF YOU THINKS JOKES ABOUT CANNIBALISM ARE NOT FUNNY: Hufu

I'm still trying to figure out:

A. Is this for real? (I think probably not)
B. Is this really clever and funny? or has it crossed the line to cruelly horrible? (can it be both?)
C. Am I doing the wrong thing telling one more person about it? (well, you'll hear about it somewhere else if not already)
D. Can I admire the art but despise the thought? (I think probably not)

If you are strong of stomach and have a really stretchy sense of humour, check it out. If not, skip it.

Bonus: on each page there's an "escape" link for if you are feeling queasy. Check where it sends you!

question: already asked too many

mompoet - now reconsidering the wisdom of naming my squash

how weird are you

I'm a bit disappointed in my result, admiring weirdness as I do. But you gotta be what you gotta be.

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

question: how weird are you?

mompoet - don't worry, I can't read your answers, but I might ask you later

pomegranate is beautiful

question: what is your favourite fruit?

mompoet - swallowing the seeds

Syringa Tree

Holy crap. The whole theatre was crying. I wasn't just weeping, I was stifling sobs. It is a beautiful play.

Here's a link.

question: none

mompoet - wow

Chapbook Recap and Weekend Ahead

It bucketed rain all the way out to Whonnock but when we got there, Helmi and Fred's place was cozy and inviting. We took off our shoes, curled up in interesting and gracious chairs and couches, stretched out on the floor and emptied out our pockets of stories, both personal and for the book. We talked about health and love and travel and money and work. We put our energy and indignation up in support of friends to whom fate is dealing a bad hand. We laughed. We ate a big crazy patchwork supper. We drank wine. We chose a title, set the order of stories, agreed on absolute deadlines, laughed about author bios, encouraged our most-beleagured friend to go with his heart as far as including his story this time or re-writing it and waiting for next time. We talked about why we liked the story written by the one least confident about including hers. We prowled restlessly around photographs and artwork for the cover, loving nothing intensely enough nor with consensus to say "That's the cover." We agreed, barring a last minute romance with a cover yet undiscovered, that this will the "the black book with red title." We named it My Mother and Other Lies. We drank coffee, ate brandy chocolates and fruit too beautiful for words and talked about the declining quality of hospital linens. Then we went home.

Today is another day, less group collaboration, more offspring transportation. I'll lunch with Mom and Dad and Andy, then go see The Syringa Tree at the Playhouse. I will surely cry in the the dark, but that's what I do. At some point I will put finishing touches on a Sunday School lesson, help with last minute Halloween preparations including artistic design of Pippi Longstocking hair using actual hair, a bent coathanger and red spray colour. Check in about Chapter 2 and 3 math tests, cuddle on the couch with husband and watch some dvd or other, write a couple of reference letters and some thank you cards, send a message to Eritrea and make applesauce.

Life has a complicated and beautiful shape, even on ordinary days. Nothing is perfect. Everything is interesting. Much is unexpected or at least different from orignally anticipted. I am blessed.

question: whatcha doing today? Whadja do yesterday?

mompoet - oomphy

Bruno is Soup

I think Bruno is some kind of pumpkin, but he's a tasty one. It was easy to carve him into chunks. I baked him for a couple of hours, then pureed him with some sauteed onion and garlic and curry powder, then I mixed in some soup stock and a can of coconut milk. Fiery and nice with crunchy pumpkin seeds for topping. Yum. Good Bruno.

question: Do you think Bruno is some kind of pumpkin?

mompoet - thinking about Rosalie, who might require an axe or a chainsaw, but should be lovely with some ginger and orange juice I think...

more-on the "voice of parents in b.c."

The Georgia Straight tells it.

question: which group would you rather have represent you?

mompoet - not bitter, nope, not one bit - PITUIIIII! bleggg hack spit...

spamma-lamma-ding-gone

Blogger has added an optional verification feature to screen out automated spam comments - "look at these wavey letters and type them in to verify that you are a real person." Now we will have to look somewhere else for opportunities to get a university degree in 5 minutes, make lots of money real fast and buy hats for our dogs.

question: is it okay if I still post fake spam-comments from time to time?

mompoet - silly a lot of the time

scary

There's a coffin in the garden, with a Frankenstein hand sticking out.

question: whoooooooossssseeee hand?

mompoet - spooky

making another book-baby

Our next Shoreline chapbook is in the works. The "Pub Committee" will meet Friday at Helmi's to pull it along as we approach its expected arrival date some time in mid-December. I am feeling like a negligent parent right now, having set my editing duties and writing responsibilities aside for work, the festival, family time...now I have to get to it, and I I'm feeling like I can't give the same quality of care and support that I have given the group and the process in past years.

One thing's for sure, the book will be great even with less of my input. We are each, individually, good writers/poets/editors and publishers. As a group, we are incredible. Our chapbooks are treasures. This one will be too. What I'm regretting is that I have not put the same kind of energy and love into this one so far. I hope I can still make up for it in the third trimester or its publishing equivalent. Offer foot-rubs? Bring some squash soup to the meeting? Just be there. Okay, yes, that's probably it. Just be there.

In the meantime I also have to work on supporting/critiquing Jody's beautiful poems and Brian's provocative story, and get my own act together with the rough and ready blurts that I call my own poems (grateful for the help of Michael, the editor who says he doesn't know poetry!). It will happen. And now my heart is pointed in the direction of this endeavour. Onward.

question: whatcha working on right now?

mompoet - re-connecting with ongoing commitments and connections too important to lose

Look what happened to my garden....

Must have been the public service job action on Friday. City cemetery workers were off the job for the day, so citizens pitched in to fill the gap.

question: got crypts?

mompoet - very scary

these leaves reminded me

of when you dump out a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle and all the pieces are in an updside-down heap.

question: what do you see on the ground?

mompoet - always looking around

Still Tired

A week after the festival and I'm still going in slow motion, craving naps and leaving tasks undone. I have read magazines and watched dvds and sat on the couch and talked with my husband and kids and petted the dog and made a lap for the cat more this week than I have done in a long time. At the office I allowed my work team to do the busy stuff while I said a lot of "thanks" and "okay" and "that's great." I'm mostly okay with this, but I've had a bit of nagging "are you losing it??" kind of worry.

When I was 24 years old, I broke my finger playing "wallyball" - manic volleyball in a racquetball court. I healed in a fortnight and was back at it. Twenty years later, I'm not so quick to regenerate. Elbow tendonitus took almost a year to heal and there's something going on with my ankle.... The point is, I think it's the same with my psyche. I could ask myself to do amazing things when I was younger, completely wipe myself out, then be ready for action Monday morning at 7am. I guess I have to learn to be patient with myself, and also to tune in better to what's really happening - all the layers.

It's not only that for the week of the festival I got up early, stayed up late and worked hard. I must acknowledge also that I met a lot of people, absorbed a lot of personal stories, immersed myself in dozens of performances, deepened bonds of trust with my Poetry House friends, stretched boundaries with my family and challenged my own idea of my self and what I'm meant to do. These things shake the soul in ways that are both creative and destructive. The pieces are all still settling, and an odd sort of healing is happening - like when I lift weights, tear muscle a bit, and build new, or when my son's braces move the roots of his teeth to new alignment. In the end it's for the better, but during the process there needs to be time for rest and adjustment.

So maybe it's not just that I'm older. Maybe there's more going on than when I was younger and life was simpler. Or maybe I'm just paying better attention and feeling it more. Whatever the case, I'm okay with it and curious to find out what happens next.

question: when do we stop growing up?

mompoet - growing I think

Two kindsa potatoes

I'm making potatoes au grautin for the creamy potato lovers and garlic/olive oil potatoes for the garlic lovers who abstain from dairy. We'll take the potatoes and a biiiiiiig salad (yet to be made) to Louise's house where we will have supper with Louise and Sam and Sam's girlfriend Vicky and also with Robin and Ralph and Emma. Everyone is bringing something. Last time we all shared a meal was Fort Ebey in August so it is time. And this is the first time we'll meet Vicky.

In case you have never made garlic/olive oil potatoes, here's how:

Wash but do not peel as many russet potatoes as you like.
Chop them into cubes (smallish but not so small as hash browns).
Toss them in a large bowl with good olive oil (enough to coat the lot) and as much garlic as you can bear, extruded from your garlic press, or minced if you don't have a garlic press.
Add some more garlic. Really.
Spread them out in a pan or casserole or two that has been lightly oiled with more olive oil (it's good for you, so it's okay!) potatoes should be about an inch deep (deeper works but will take longer to cook).
Bake in the oven anywhere from 350 to 425, depending on what else you have in there. Lower takes longer, hotter goes quicker, but they're flexible.
About every 15 minutes or so, stir and flip them to help them crispy-roast all over.
(Good guide - if you finish your glass of wine and you haven't flipped them, get up and flip them).
Your house will smell like garlic. This is good.
They are done when they are golden and crispy on almost all sides of each potato bit - but don't be a perfectionist - just eat them when you can't stand to wait any longer, or when whatever it is else you are cooking is ready.
Rule of thumb: cooked longer is crispier and so better.
Yum
Good with just about anything. Great re-heated for breakfast.
Yum yum.

question: what's for supper at your house?

mompoet - cooking communally

ps I just read that - now you know why I will never be a successful cookbook writer - bla bla bla

Picket Day

I was on picket duty from 8am-12 noon. We walked up and down the sidewalk in front of the arena. Pat and Emira from Pappagallo's gave us two big airpots of free coffee to help us stay warm. They are good people.

Spencer had to work because the ice plant in the arena needs constant monitoring, what with the deadly ammonia and all. He let us use the bathroom if we needed it. The picket captain said we could go to the rally at the Coliseum as long as some of us stayed outside the arena. Sherrard and I went to the rally. A few others went to join some teachers at a nearby school. Some of the high school picketers came around the block to walk with us. The morning crept slowly until we left for the rally.

The rally was fun but pretty low key. Jinny Sims spoke, along with the national and provincial CUPE Heads and someone from the HEU. I think people are pretty hopeful that the teachers will vote to go back to work. It was encouraging to see a show of solidarity among the teachers, CUPE and HEU. I saw a lot of teachers who I know, including Janice and Liz from Coquitlam School District. There were students there too, which was very cool, and university and college faculty and staff.

It made me remember the Solidarity General Strike in November 1983. I was a student teacher, just finishing up PDP at SFU. We closed down the province to all unionized work for a few days. The Lower Mainland's Solidarity Rally was at Empire Stadium. I remember that I was worried that I'd have to repeat the semester in January to get my teachers' certificate. The strike went on for a few days but at the end the university said we could still graduate. Bill VanderZalm was Premier then.

I've been thinking about the social and economic conditions that lie at the root of the struggles between business and labour, government and public service. What we're doing now is working on one of the symptoms of something much bigger. Something has to change drastically in the world or this deterioration will continue. It seems like there is abundant wealth, but it's concentrated in mostly bad hands and is making hardly anyone really safe of happy - not even the people who control it. My family is lucky to be relatively affluent and reasonably protected, but I know that the price for this is paid by many other families who are not so lucky, so I have a responsibility to do what I can to make a positive change.

I don't know the answers, but the question is becoming more and more clear, and the problem more obvious. I am paying attention.

question: do you remember Bill and Lill? are we still in Fantasyland?

mompoet - paying attention

momthink on working/walking

A month or so ago I booked today off work because it is a pro-d day. I work a flex schedule, so as long as I turn in 70 hrs every two-week cycle I can work as many or few days as I like - oh I have to take off 2 days in every 7. So I can work a couple of longer days then take a day off for a pro-d or just a stretch weekend, which I love.

But now we are walking off the job in support of the teachers. So I'm going to work to not work.

Partly, I don't want to appear to be avoiding taking a day off without pay by saying "I had it off already." Partly I want to be actively involved in the protest. Staying home in my pajamas is tempting, but the teachers are already out there in the dark and the cold, and there's the rally....we need to fill the rally to show support.

So I'm going to work on my day off to not work.

I'm still wrestling with the matter of pay. I think I will still get paid unless I flex another day off next week, but I suspect I'll be too busy getting all of my suspended/postponed programs going again if/when schools reopen next week. So I could flex a day off, then work it and get paid overtime, which would be really bizarre.

If I just work 5 days next week I will get my full 2-weeks' pay at the end of the cycle, even though I'm walking off the job today...if that makes sense. I think I should donate a day's pay to the union, or the teachers, or to charity. I'll ask my union rep.

If this sounds weird to you, welcome to mom-think. Checking in with 3 of my co-workers last night, they were going through the same ethical contortions. We are all moms.

question: which layer of good is the innermost? how much does the outermost matter?

mompoet - after you, no - after you

Vince Ready's Recommendations

Here's what mediator/faciliator Vince Ready is recommending, as posted on the BCTF website. BCTF Exec is meeting this evening to consider them.

The Ministry of Education website has no mention of Ready's recommendations or of the teachers' strike whatsoever. Perhaps they haven't noticed that there's a teachers' strike? Or maybe they think if they don't talk about it it will go away?

BCCPAC has no mention either of the Ready recommendation on their website, but they're parents and they're probably home with their children tonight. Maybe they'll lay us another golden egg in the morning.

Realistically, the teachers have the most to gain by publicizing the Ready report. They also use their website to get the info out to teachers around the province. It stands to reason that they are the ones getting the report out in this manner.

Watch the 11 o'clock news. Hug your kids. Read to them. Take them to the rally on Friday.

question: whose reality is real?

mompoet - who still thinks teachers and librarians are superheroes

My own Napoleon Dynamite Moment

One of my favourite things in the movie Napoleon Dynamite is how Napoleon leaves the room. He does this super-rapid tilt/lurch/bolt move that is so good I want to learn how to do it myself, but I'd probably break something. Anyway, I saw it in real life the other day.

Tuesday lunchtime, my son takes the bus from home to a sushi place near my office. I meet him at the restaurant, and treat him to all-you-can-eat sushi. The bus comes by every 30 minutes. After about 26 minutes of non-stop eating and talking about the various types of test-buses in use right now, he asks me about the time until the next bus. "Relax," I say, "you have another half hour - unless you want to go right now." So he stuffs a piece of BC roll in his mouth, drops his chopsticks and says, "Thanks for lunch. I feel full. I'm going to go now." Then he does the Napoleon move and runs out the door of the restaurant. I'm just smiling to myself when the restaurant door bangs open a moment later. He's standing beside the table looking at me. "Hug!" he says. So I hug him. "BYE!" tilt/lurch/bolt. Everyone in the place is grinning by now. The bus goes by about 40 seconds later and he's gone. My Napoleon.

question: with whom do you identify in that movie?

mompoet - sticking around to see the white stallion

Here's the teachers' statement

The teachers' proposed settlement is posted on the BCTF website.

Looks like my co-workers and I will be out in protest tomorrow with the rest of the Lower Mainland CUPE locals. We may picket the arena, or we'll be sent to a school to walk with the teachers (my preference). I'll try to get to the rally too. The rumour is we might also be out Monday, but wait and see...

The government has to budge. This seems to me like a perfect opportunity for everyone to model to the kids how grownups act when they have a conflict.

question: where are the grownups in our government?

mompoet - remembering the rules of backbone parenting