Jun 17 2010
It’s all a blur
Pre-Ramble: So, gosh, it seems like forever since I wrote a blog post. I hope I haven’t forgotten how. Hope my readers haven’t given up on me and moved on to some other blog site that features quirky random topics …
For the past few weeks I’ve been mired in a blur of high school graduation ”tasks” as my youngest child takes those last few steps up to the edge of the nest. The pride and ceremony that mark graduation from high school are seminal and well-deserved. These kids have worked hard. So many caps. So many gowns. So many wide eyes. So many hopes and dreams.
And - so many house parties, … so many balloon bunches, … so many yummy sheet cakes. I’ll just say that orchestrating a graduation is more complicated than one might think and, like carrying an umbrella, renting a tent does not automatically co-opt the weather into not raining on your grad party day. Thank goodness I have the kind of friends who will assure me/lie to me that our garage was totally “festive.” Never mind that we have been raking, weeding, mulching, planting and power-washing for months. No one could see any of that from the garage. Folks got a good look at our weed wacker, Miracle Grow and arsenal of snow shovels though.
Blog-time – So, ten days is practically an eternity in blog-time. So much has happened in the last couple weeks – General Petraeus faints on the stand; Kobe pounds the Celtics; something or other is happening in South Africa that involves soccer balls; and the oil “spill” rages on in the Gulf.
And that will be the last time you hear me refer to that horrendous, ecologically detrimental act of negligence by the inappropriately sanguine word “spill.” … Like, …
“Oopsy, we bad … Naughty BP, … we made a little boo-boo. Here, we’ll just sop up that whole silly mess with paper towels … “
Milk spills. Sippy cups spill. Fluffy twirling figure skaters take spills. Millions and millions of thick toxic gallons of crude oil surging uncontrollably into the water for weeks upon weeks due to the shoddy, careless - okay, criminally negligent - practices of a smug international conglomerate is far beyond anything that could even remotely be characterized as a “spill.”
The whole scenario in the Gulf is so appalling and sad that I can barely bring myself to address it directly. This is as close as I can get for now.
The Take-Away: Such a mix of events and emotions happening now. So proud of my 2010 graduate! Looking forward to watching her test those wings as she moves into her next Big Adventure. Looking forward too, to filling up this “empty nest” with lots of new and exciting ideas, projects, and hopefully some compelling blog posts as well.

Pre-Ramble: Like millions around the country, I was on the edge of my seat last night watching the 2010 NCAA National Championship basketball game between the first seed Duke Blue Devils and the sweet ‘n’ scrappy Cinderella
Pre-Ramble: So, time sure flies when you’re sunning and funning (it would appear that we have lost an entire hour, in fact).
Pre-Ramble: As the Olympic Games continue, I am compelled to re-address the topic in a more thoughtful way.
Pre-Ramble: Whether you’re for him or against him, one thing that most folks can pretty much agree on (except for Rush Limbaugh, who doesn’t agree with anyone on anything) is that the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to American President Barack Obama is a puzzlement. Before now, who would have ever thought that the response to such news would be such a resounding, “Huh?!”
Pre-Ramble: Truth be told, I am not much of a baseball fan. The games are too long, the uniforms are goofy, and the players are always spitting. Tonight however, I found myself rallied in the family room with my family (duh) watching the hometown Minnesota Twins battle the Detroit Tigers in extra innings for the American League Central championship.
Pre-Ramble: Every year it’s the same thing. The weather guy goes on and on about how the Leonid meteors are in our area … and how they are going to be spectacular … and how we should go to a hill top away from city lights between the hours of 1 and 4 a.m. to see their magnificence. They wax on about how the big show is only going to be visible for a limited time (like some kind of jewel-tone sweater set sale on the QVC), … and I get all fired up thinking that THIS will be the time that I finally see a shooting star.