Snow is the enemy.
Using the latest military Super Doppler technology the media relentlessly sounds the alarm of its imminent attack. Citizens, anxious to do their part, sleep restlessly - anticipating the next day's battles. Heavy equipment, trundling noisily down the deserted streets, moves into place before dawn's early light . Local militias quickly join the battle, wielding their own smaller arms - while imbedded reporters provide detailed accounts of the storm's passing for the housebound armchair combatants.
After the war we toast our victory with hot chocolate - as nay sayers protest "Hey! It's winter! It's Connecticut! Idiots - it's supposed to snow!"
Monday, January 09, 2006
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
99 words about yard ornaments
Dead, deflated Santas litter the daytime lawns of our town - along with other icons of the season like snowmen, Grinches and the occasional snow globe.
A month or so ago the images of Halloween, most of them orange, lay void of air on the same spots. And before that, the rabbits of Easter.
What do the denizens of the daytime, the children, make of this uninflated carnage?
Will their memories of these holidays be mental photos of surreal plastic puddles - like melting Dali watches?
Or will they remember that when the family was home, the holiday came to life?
A month or so ago the images of Halloween, most of them orange, lay void of air on the same spots. And before that, the rabbits of Easter.
What do the denizens of the daytime, the children, make of this uninflated carnage?
Will their memories of these holidays be mental photos of surreal plastic puddles - like melting Dali watches?
Or will they remember that when the family was home, the holiday came to life?
99 words about grocery carts
Why don't we put our grocery carts away?
We shouldn't:
"Cart collecting gives somebody a job."
Maybe true, definitely condescending - and there is other work.
Besides that's really an excuse after the fact, not a reason before.
We should:
"Returning carts would keep prices down."
Yeah right!
"Loose carts are a safety hazard."
A minor one, but still not really why we should corral them.
Why then? - The Golden Rule.
The way we treat other people's things, we're saying, is how ours (and we) should be treated.
Corralling carts, running yellow lights, torturing prisoners.
It really is that simple.
We shouldn't:
"Cart collecting gives somebody a job."
Maybe true, definitely condescending - and there is other work.
Besides that's really an excuse after the fact, not a reason before.
We should:
"Returning carts would keep prices down."
Yeah right!
"Loose carts are a safety hazard."
A minor one, but still not really why we should corral them.
Why then? - The Golden Rule.
The way we treat other people's things, we're saying, is how ours (and we) should be treated.
Corralling carts, running yellow lights, torturing prisoners.
It really is that simple.
99 words about Autumn
So here they come again!
Cascading down one by one, or clustered into groups.
Claiming their individual space, or slipping and sliding on top of each other into poorly organized piles.
Some say they're late this year, less vivid - but there seems to be more of them.
Either way, most will be gone within a week - bagged and dragged to the curb for pickup and recycling.
Some will stay through the holidays.
You can hear them on delivery days, pushing through the mail slot and flopping onto the floor.
Leaves? Not nowadays!
It's Fall. It's LL Bean and all.
Cascading down one by one, or clustered into groups.
Claiming their individual space, or slipping and sliding on top of each other into poorly organized piles.
Some say they're late this year, less vivid - but there seems to be more of them.
Either way, most will be gone within a week - bagged and dragged to the curb for pickup and recycling.
Some will stay through the holidays.
You can hear them on delivery days, pushing through the mail slot and flopping onto the floor.
Leaves? Not nowadays!
It's Fall. It's LL Bean and all.
99 words about birds
Our yard is being overrun by doves.
It's normal for birds to inundate this property. Squirrels too.
We have four feeders - three sunflower and one thistle. Plus an abundance of insects in our grass.
Congregations of sparrows and finches queue up at the stations. Chickadee gangs shout eponymously at refill time. Squirrel squads sort through the bark-mulch for fallen seeds.
After rainstorms, crows and grackles cover the lawn in ominous blankets of lustrous black, pecking invisible tidbits from the moist fescue.
Now bevies of doves dine delicately.
Just another branch of Hometown Buffet to the hawk circling hungrily above.
It's normal for birds to inundate this property. Squirrels too.
We have four feeders - three sunflower and one thistle. Plus an abundance of insects in our grass.
Congregations of sparrows and finches queue up at the stations. Chickadee gangs shout eponymously at refill time. Squirrel squads sort through the bark-mulch for fallen seeds.
After rainstorms, crows and grackles cover the lawn in ominous blankets of lustrous black, pecking invisible tidbits from the moist fescue.
Now bevies of doves dine delicately.
Just another branch of Hometown Buffet to the hawk circling hungrily above.
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