Monthly Archive: June 2005

20
Jun
2005

:(

I’m so bummed out I can hardly see straight. Anders is allergic to dogs.

19
Jun
2005

I MISS YOU, DAD

My father, John Whitney Slaughter (1940-1996), with HIS father, Danely Philip Slaughter (1911-1970), c. 1941

18
Jun
2005

THE REAL MIRACLE IS NOT TO WALK EITHER ON WATER OR IN THIN AIR BUT TO WALK ON THE EARTH

Today = perfect. Perfect weather, so unbelievably perfect that if I could bottle it in a tiny, frosted, gold-corked decanter that I could then hang around my neck on a thin golden chain so that it nestled just so, and open the bottle whenever I was feeling a bit down to uncork some of the blueblueBLUE sky, sunshine, and sparkle, and take a BIG sniff, I would be perfectly happy forever and ever. Nicolai Tower Founded by Bishop Absalon, archbishop of Roskilde (and Lund!) in the 12th century, Copenhagen is a fascinating, beautiful, lively city. King Christian IV, the great...

17
Jun
2005

ADMITTANCES

As I was walking back to the car after dropping the kids off this morning, I passed a green corner of well-cared for, summer-leafed shrubs. No one was near me, but I could hear a snuffly panting low-voiced hih hih hih. I looked around, a bit perplexed. It was coming from under the shrubs. Perhaps the Toby lookalike that hangs out at the daycare occasionally was huffing up an early-morning hairball? I bent down and looked under the skirts of the shrubbery. 2 pairs of button eyes glanced my way before returning to their amorous activities. Hedgehog Love! Why can...

16
Jun
2005

ONE FOR MY INNER CHILD

I think that it must be some sort of parental overcompensation to want to buy your children all the things you never had when YOU were a kid. Especially the toys. I mean, I ALSO want to share with them all the things I had and loved, like certain books,* and Spirograph, and Etch-a-Sketch. But when I stop and think about it, who did I really buy that Slip-n-Slide for last week? We’ve been kicking around the idea of getting one of those gigantic bone-breakers trampolines for the kids for the last year or so, and I think if we...

15
Jun
2005

IN WHICH LIZ POINTS AT THE SKY AND LOOKS AMAZED

Last spring and summer I walked every day. I had big plans for this year. Big, I tell you! Then I de-railed completely with a severely sprained ankle in February and I have not walked except once. It’s only now that my foot is starting to feel closer to normal than it has for a long time. I know, I’m lame. (haaaaaaaaa) I need a kick in the seat of the pants, a motivating word, a kick start. KICK! START! My son is in the middle of a project that has me totally floored. I can’t wait until he’s done...

14
Jun
2005

ANTICIPATORY

I don’t have anything pressing to write about tonight, but I can’t stop the compulsion, regardless. Luckily for me, and sadly for you, I don’t feel the pressure to be scintillating and interesting every damn day. 😛 Haaa! I keep finding good writers. I keep adding blogs and journals to my list. I need an INTERVENTION. Mack the Knife is playing on my playlist right now, and I want to get up and dance, but there is no one here to dance with. What a bummer that my Uncle Mike and Uncle Sam live so far away, and that my...

13
Jun
2005

ALL THE THINGS I COULD DO

Poor Carl Linneaus. Only one of the greater scientific minds of the 18th century. You slog and slog through ACRES of vegetative organization, discovering new species, naming them, figuring out a complete naming system, fer chrissakes, make such a reputation for yourself that your name goes up in lights across scientific history marquees everywhere as the Father of Taxonomy,…and then you’re doomed to be referred to by 7-year-olds in 21st century Sweden as “gubben pÃ¥ hundralappen.”* I will really miss Swedish money when the colorful but soulless Euro comes to town. I already mourned the demise of Holland’s pretty currency,...

12
Jun
2005

LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION

I was feeling particularly blank today. I am not sure why, but it probably has something to do with the moon or the rain or the numbers at the wrong end of the temperature scale. Perhaps I’m just tired, which isn’t wholly out of the realm of probability with me on any given day. I don’t like feeling blank, and I don’t WANT to feel blank. I sat here and stared at the screen for several minutes and nothing, but nothing, came to me. I thought earlier about some things to write about, but inspiration has flown off elsewhere and...

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