Armistice Day edition, part 2

my sweet old etcetera
aunt lucy during the recent

war could and what
is more did tell you just
what everybody was fighting

for,
my sister

isabel created hundreds
(and
hundreds) of socks not to
mention fleaproof earwarmers

etcetera wristers etcetera, my
mother hoped that

i would die etcetera
bravely of course my father used
to become hoarse talking about how it was
a privilege and if only he
could meanwhile my

self etcetera lay quietly
in the deep mud et

cetera
(dreaming,
et
cetera, of
Your smile
eyes knees and of your Etcetera)

(e.e. cummings)

Armistice Day edition

i sing of Olaf glad and big
whose warmest heart recoiled at war:
a conscientious object-or

his wellbelovéd colonel(trig
westpointer most succinctly bred)
took erring Olaf soon in hand;
but--though an host of overjoyed
noncoms(first knocking on the head
him)do through icy waters roll
that helplessness which others stroke
with brushes recently employed
anent this muddy toiletbowl,
while kindred intellects evoke
allegiance per blunt instruments--
Olaf(being to all intents
a corpse and wanting any rag
upon what God unto him gave)
responds,without getting annoyed
"I will not kiss your fucking flag"

straightway the silver bird looked grave
(departing hurriedly to shave)

but--though all kinds of officers
(a yearning nation's blueeyed pride)
their passive prey did kick and curse
until for wear their clarion
voices and boots were much the worse,
and egged the firstclassprivates on
his rectum wickedly to tease
by means of skilfully applied
bayonets roasted hot with heat--
Olaf(upon what were once knees)
does almost ceaselessly repeat
"there is some shit I will not eat"

our president,being of which
assertions duly notified
threw the yellowsonofabitch
into a dungeon,where he died

Christ(of His mercy infinite)
i pray to see;and Olaf,too

preponderatingly because
unless statistics lie he was
more brave than me:more blond than you.

(e.e. cummings)

Politic or Treat

We live in a mostly Obama neighborhood, but with a healthy number of McCain signs around. The girls have been big on pointing out both the Obama and McCain signs. We have studiously avoided saying anything bad about McCain or Palin, telling the girls that we're Obama supporters because we think Obama's plans are better. Simple, positive terms. Even so, the girls (mostly Lily) have been in the habit of saying, "oh no! John McCain!" when they see a new McCain sign in the neighborhood. We SWEAR it's not because of us.

We went out trick or treating around the neighborhood on Halloween. Most of the houses had either no sign in the yard or an Obama sign. About three quarters of the way through our trick-or-treating, we finally came to a McCain sign at a house with lit jack o'lanterns. Lily stops and points it out - "Look! John McCain!" I explain to her, "that's okay, 'different folk have different views.' These are our neighbors, so just go say 'trick or treat' and 'thank you.'" I pause for a second and add, just in case, "Oh, and don't say anything bad about John McCain while you're at their door, OK?" "OK." They go, get their candy, and we're on our way.

A few houses later we come to another John McCain sign. Julia is already halfway to the door when Lily stops at the sign and says, "Look, Dad! John McCain!" I say again, "Remember, Lil, 'different folk have different views?' Now go on."

Lily runs after Julia, shouting at the top of her lungs as she goes,
"HEY JULIA!! DON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT JOHN MCCAIN!!!"

A portrait of two sisters, in 40 words or less

(with some bias)

Julia Kane
Tells truths
Big Sister
Birthstone: Diamond the
Best!
Looks exactly like mommy
Goes to Kinergarden
The End

Lily Kane
Tells lies
The craziest ideas are in her head
Goes to preschool
Birthstone: Sapphire
The End

Julia's Christmas List

(Dear Santa, I'd like
a
nutcracker
I'd like to fly
I'd like some fish in a fish tank,
A rainbow for my room. I'd like some magic
powers)

Grandparents, you've got your work cut out for you.

New addition!

Introducing Buster:


Buster appears to be a dachshund/beagle mix. We got the name from Andy's dog in Toy Story 2. A little cliche perhaps, but it fits. He is about 1 year old and extremely calm and quiet but very friendly to all people and dogs.

What happens to a zucchini deferred?

(with apologies to Langston Hughes)
This is what happens when you go out of town for 11 days without realizing there are ripe zucchinis in your garden:
(Note the normal sized squash in the background and the largish squash and zucchinin in between)




(Obviously I'm really impressed with these zucchinis and really at a loss for how to convey it most impressively.)

These zucchinis went on to have a successful career in zucchini bread and chocolate cake.

Trip to Stone Mountain

With David, Siobhan, and baby James

Trip to Stone Mountain (NC)

Gardening at night

Took these after the rain this evening.

Gardening at Night

Stoop labor

Sunday, Debbie needed some raw peanuts shelled and peeled. The girls enthusiastically embraced the idea of helping shell peanuts, so the three of us sat on the front porch and developed a great division of labor for shelling the peanuts. At first, Julia cracked and shelled, I cracked and handed peanuts to Lily for shelling, and I peeled the peanuts that both girls shelled. Soon Lily discovered accidentally that she could crack the peanuts if she stepped on them, so our assembly line became much more efficient. Then Lily discovered that she could jump on the peanuts and get the same result (Julia then discovered that she could do this barefoot), so our assembly line became more amusing to all three (the added amusement for me being watching Lily's intense concentration as she aimed for so small a target as a peanut and seeing where she would actually land). Throughout it all I was just chuckling over, and giving thanks for, the eagerness, intensity, and persistence of these two over such a menial task. Who needs Backyardigans videos or Nintendo Wii when you've got kitchen prep or yard work to do? (Though Nintendo has a cooking game for the Wii system, called "Cooking Mama: Cook Off for Wii", so I suppose it won't be long until they come out with "Stoop Labor for Sony Playstation")

A short story by Julia

Julia wrote this story tonight while we were fixing dinner.

A short story by Julia

Chutney, Britney, Whitney, Julia, & Lily

The other night I made one of my favorite dinners, lentil dal and naan. We are reasonably diverse in our cooking, but Indian isn't something we really do at home much, so I joked to Debbie just after we sat down to eat, "why haven't I put the chutney out?," the joke being to imply that we just have chutney lying around the house all the time. She thought I was serious, though, and replied that maybe we did have some homemade chutney. Well, if Deb thinks we have something in the kitchen, chances are she's right, so I hopped up and started looking through our stash of home-canned goods in the pantry.

I stood up on a chair and craned my head into the upper recesses of the pantry. Hmmm...here's a jar of home-canned tomato marmalade...when did we make that? and why? and why did we save it, considering it was such a letdown?...Another jar of tomato marmalade...Now, what's this? Not labeled - looks like...ummm...pepper jelly? Ah! What's this stack of four jars? Bingo! Homemade peach Chutney!

I set the jar on the table. The lid was still sucked down into a concave shape and it held tight when I pried at it with my fingers. I pried it loose with my knife and it made a satisfying "shlup" when the seal finally gave. The old adage, "when in doubt, throw it out" ran through my mind, leaving me a bit disappointed and conflicted. Sniff. Smells okay. Look askance at it - kinda brown, but the pieces haven't turned to mush and the juices are clear. Taste - tastes great! I piled it on.

We start speculating. "When did we make this stuff? Well, let's see, it was in our old house, so that was three years ago. Further, we haven't canned anything since....since...yikes! since before Julia was born!" "Julia, this food is older than you!" (She got a kick out of that.) Deb suggests that maybe the family member on immune suppressant therapy shouldn't be the first person to test our home-canning skills. I proceed to eat heartily of the stuff anyway.

Anyhow, the next morning I was still alive and feeling great. Visitors to our house beware if we serve you Indian, you're going to be facing down a 5-year old jar of peach chutney. Fortunately there are a host of Indian restaurants in Raleigh where we can take you if Indian is really what you want.

Poetry Slam featuring Lily

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

I'm shifting towards posting pictures on Picasa Web Albums. Since mostly what I've done with this blog is put up pictures, most updates from now on will be on Picasa Web Albums.

Go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Evdeboranjulily

Julia's Journal

Julia's Journal

(Click on the picture above to read her journal)

Party invitations

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