Even before the fireworks celebrated the arrival of the new year, I knew 2012 was going to be a busy one. I would be traveling to Pennsylvania, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio, and Georgia.
January and February have flown by, and the travel has begun.
This week I spent a couple of days in Nashville, Tennessee. Then I came home with lots of work begging for my attention.
In spite of that, I was able to do some writing.
Here's a little corner I found at the Comfort Inn:
I'll talk more about my trip a little later, but for now this scene and song have been keeping me company.
Why?
Because I'm *Moving Right Along* with the travel in 2012.
You might want to pause my playlist to the right so you can enjoy Kermit and Fozzie.
This morning my husband woke me up with the question, "What's that noise?"
"The machine sound? It's the heater," I said.
"No. Listen," he said.
I did, and I heard it. I was pretty sure it was a mourning dove.
Then other bird sounds as well serenaded us from outside. It was early yet, but the sun had already arisen.
When we lived in Mississippi, my husband used to tell me about the arrival of the birds as an indicator.
"When you see a robin," he'd say. "It means something."
Growing up in the deep south, I didn't understand.
"What does it mean?" I'd ask.
"It means it's spring. It means you live in a place that has FOUR SEASONS."
And I'd get my dander up because he had yelled out 'four seasons' to which I'd yell back, "WE HAVE FOUR SEASONS HERE. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"
Back then, he didn't argue with me much. Just shake his head and walk out of the room. And following him trying to continue the fight didn't work that well. So, I just decided I'd won the argument then moved on.
But now I get what he meant because there are hardly any birds here in the wintertime. They leave. And I don't really notice they're gone until they come back and make all their bird noises in the morning. And I recognize that all those other mornings for months it's just been quiet.
I found a couple of websites which has a little player where you can hear to coo of the mourning dove.
There are very nice sites. These links are to the mourning dove page, but you can look at other things on their sites as well.
My mom used to tell me that if a mourning dove nested close by, it meant that soon someone close to us would die. I thought about that as we lay in bed and listened to the bird's call. Yet, I wasn't fearful or anxious at all. To tell you the truth, it's what kept me there instead of getting up in that 45 minutes before the alarm sounded to go sit in front of the computer and write. Still. the mourning dove is such a beautiful bird, and its call very nice. I wanted the call to mean more than death, so I Googled it. I found out that the dove is a symbol of maternal instincts, home, and security. My Christian tradition assigns the presence of the Holy Spirit to the appearance of a dove. Of course, that's the other kind of dove, I suppose, but, you know, it could have been a mourning dove that lit on Jesus' shoulder when he was baptized.
Here is some information about the symbolism of the mourning dove from a website called matchdoctor.
"When "Dove" makes an appearance to you it could mean:
People often find that unexpected and unseen support and assistance comes when they need it most.
Travel is often indicated when Dove appears prominently, and this may include relocation to a new home.
A death, either physical (of someone one knows or is close to) or symbolic (within the individual) may occur and while it may bring grief, there is also quite often a sense of relief and gratitude that suffering has finally ended and peace will soon be at hand.
A new relationship may begin or an old one rekindled."
So, does the dove know I'm going to Nashville over the weekend? Or maybe that relationship to be rekindled is the one with Spring?
Monday morning at 5:15 I woke up to the phone ringing. Past experience tells me this is an automated call from the principal at my kids' school saying there IS not school because of snow. Sure enough, I look out the window and see white, white, and more white.
Yay! A snow day! We used the opportunity to go see The Lorax, a movie my kids had been bugging the heck out of me to go see. I knew the environmental bent of the movie. That's okay. I mean, it makes good sense to plant some trees if you cut some down. I get that. My biggest beef is that the guy didn't go out and plant the trees himself. Instead, he waited for some kid to come and do it.
But I'm going by the movie version, as The Lorax is one of the Dr. Seuss books I have not read.
In the movie-and in the book, too- there is a stone with the word 'Unless' on it. In print and on screen, we get this message as well:
I like that message. Because there are a lot of sucky things which go on in this world. A lot of pain and a lot of suffering. For some, as the Lorax who speaks for the trees, it's about considering plants and animals as our fellow creatures. It's about realizing that the world isn't your garbage can so quit flicking your butts everywhere when you've sucked down your cigarette. Put your butt in a tin can or something then throw it in your garbage can, then let your garbage men take it and put it in a great big ol' landfill where it belongs. Ah, the landfill! I'm sure there are lots of 'unless' rocks there.
Or, how about this. Quit acting like a jerk. Consider there are people worse off than you. Get off your duff and do something to help somebody else. Without expectation of payment, including a 'thank you'.
Maybe they deserve your help. Maybe they don't. But most of us certainly don't deserve half of what we got--good or bad.
Take for example, the recent tornadoes which swept through my part of the country.
I'm always struck about how random the damage is. One house is fine, and a hundred yards down the road, there's a pile of rubble.
We would ask why, but we're probably not going to get a satisfactory answer. Instead, consider that rock again. "UNLESS". What shape is your rock going to take?
It's been a busy weekend, but I wanted to make it worth your while to come here, so I'm posting this hilarious video my friend Leona posted on her Facebook.
You'll want to pause my playlist to the right before you start this video.
Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday. His books were the ones I remember fondly from my childhood. Oh, those crazy, curvy worlds. Oh, those creatures who weren't quite people or animals but somewhere in between. Oh, the out-of-the-box words and rhymes and phrases.
Here's a link to a blog I wrote on another Dr. Seuss birthday a few years back.
So, my friend's daughter had a baby Sunday afternoon. I went to the hospital and waited in the family room since I wasn't allowed to go back since there were already too many visitors. That's okay. I was there to see Grandma gush which she did.
Now, this hospital has a policy that all TVs in family rooms, waiting rooms, and lobbies have to be on the Fox News Channel which, as you can imagine, is a problem for some people. I will refrain from commenting here about it except to tell you that this has been a controversy in town of this policy of channel choice. Me? I'm not there to watch TV, and if I do have to wait, I bring a book.
But interestingly, the TV in the maternity family room was not on Fox News but on Fox Sports-or maybe in some act of mercy, Fox News was playing Fox Sports. I mean it IS Nascar, after all. And there was rain and a lot of older white guys talking and talking and talking.
Fast forward to Monday night. The TV at home is now on the rescheduled Daytona race. I suspect it could be because of....
which is fine with me. Even though I tried to find a hot Nascar guy to drool over to sort of balance things out but didn't come up with anybody. I don't know. Maybe it's their driving suits. That kind of uniform just doesn't work somehow. Too much signage, I think.
Anyway, I'm typing away like I tend to do just before bedtime when my husband calls me upstairs to see what's going on at Daytona.
"Is it really worth seeing?" I asked.
Because, you know, it's upstairs. And it's cars going around a race track. We all hope for a wreck to break the monotony. Don't lie. You know you do. That's one reason I don't like it. Because I enjoy the wrecks too much.
He gets this gleam in his eye. "Yeah," he says.
He's from Ohio, which I consider the midwest because of the tendencies of those people not to express their emotions readily, appreciate southern cuisine such as grits, or their mispronunciations of certain words and misunderstandings of certain phrases (i.e. "bless her heart", "would you like to come in for a minute?", and/or "sweet or unsweet"). And do not get me started on the whole Sherman issue.
So, when that gleam happens, I know it's going to be good.
Following are some pictures:
then
and
The race stopped. And in good old boy fashion, the other drivers had to get out of their cars for a closer look.
There's always some goober who's got to Tweet it, of course. Is there no place sacred from social networking? HONESTLY!
Then there is the clean up because they've got something like 60 more miles to go.
And the show MUST GO ON!
Here's something I learned. Tide is great for cleaning up jet fuel.
I'm waiting to see what Tide's next commercial is going to be.
Because what's a grass stain next to jet fuel?
God bless this woman for having a dream of being a star and for going for it. God bless her for thanking the state of Alabama. Thank you, Octavia, for letting Alabama shine in your star light.
Many years ago Octavia stood in front of her high school English class and she recited from Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'. She blew the class away that day. In honor of that day, and this one, I paste Shakespeare's words below.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest -
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men -
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
Octavia talked about wanting to be a star. And she's done it. O reader, she is your inspiration for going for it.
