Calm as the Moon

The Wisdom of Crows

This past weekend, Doug and I were driving into town on West Main Road to go to Bell's to see our friends and enjoy some music. West Main takes us past our old sweet little yellow  house that I just love and the neighborhood that I had very little love for...but one really remarkable thing about that neighborhood was that at the end of our old road was the Valley One parking lot of WMU. Don't get me wrong the parking lot is not all that remarkable. What is remarkable is that the  area between Valley One and Valley Two that affords a small but dense lot of very tall trees (upwards of 2-3 acres) is a place were crows like to roost. Well that Saturday night, there was a roost forming as we drove into town. The color of the sky was changing as fast as the seconds were passing by and it was speckled and blurred with the black bodies of these birds.

If you have never witnessed a group of crows roosting in the fall and winter, you really need to make sure you do before the end of your life. There is something really intriguing to see tens of thousands of crows congregate together before heading off together to their final roosting spot for the night. They are calling and chasing each other around. It is a visceral noise that can't be duplicated. There is a feeling that you get as you watch all these big black birds doing their thing. They aren't alone. They are together. They have power and protection in numbers. They share information. They fight. They come together.

They are the color of night. It's almost like as they coalesce, the darkness of night encloses us like they are pulling it around us. They don't call it a murder of crows for nothing.  Johnny Cash has nothing on these guys. 

 

Sweet nothings...

When I first met Doug, one of the things that made him so attractive to me was that he was just so darn quirky. This guy has a heart of gold and a mind as sharp as Ginsu knives. He demonstrated his mental prowess to me pretty early on by reciting a series of things that were a memory game that he learned when he was in Boy Scouts...seriously like 10 years earlier. Come to find out now, thanks to the magical wonder that is Google...it was used in the 1940's as the "Announcer's Test" to check for speaking ability. I know that if I ever asked him to say it now he could rattle it off without a care while making jerky, doing a load of laundry or starting a fire with bare sticks, a little saw dust and two hard rocks in less than a minute. I gotta say...that's pretty hot.

Here's the game for your amusement...my personal favorite is number 9.

    * One hen
    * Two ducks
    * Three squawking geese
    * Four limerick oysters
    * Five corpulent porpoises
    * Six pair of Don Alverzo's tweezers
    * Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array
    * Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt
    * Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic, old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards propitiation and sloth
    * Ten lyrical, spherical diabolical demons of the deep who hall stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time.

And in case you didn't know what propitiation means (I had to look it up), Dictionary.com says the following:
pro·pi·ti·a·tion  –noun 

1.	the act of propitiating; conciliation: the propitiation of the wrathful gods.

2.	something that propitiates.

Yeah I know...OK great...what does propitiate mean??

pro·pi·ti·ate –verb (used with object)  -at·ed, -at·ing.
- to make favorably inclined; appease; conciliate.

Ahh...I feel smarter already.

The McKenna Hypothesis on Stress: A Body's Manifestation for a Need to Audibly Express or Show the Appearance of Merriment or Amusement.

Stress. It manifests itself differently in everybody. For me, I start questioning myself over things that I have no control over and have an uncontrollable need to make lists. I am convinced though that stress is your body's way of telling you that you need to laugh. Not just a little either. You have an intense physical need to laugh. Out loud. Stress is the need for a bubbly, full body, pee your pants laugh but you just don't have the proper impetus to actually perpetuate the motion.

I found myself in that state on yesterday morning. Claire and Eddie were all over me and driving me crazy and I was just clamoring to get to the car to get to work so I could at least start on the work that I had piled up to do. I needed to tackle the things that were banging around in my head and not letting me sleep for more than five hours that night. I found myself just yelling in the car..."Oh my GOD! What the Hell! Argh!!" and literally just yelling to yell. I heard myself saying these things out loud and started laughing. I laughed at myself for getting so worked up that I had to yell at myself in the car. Completely ridiculous but necessary and I highly recommend it to anybody. I spent the rest of the day searching out reasons to laugh and just stuck with it. It turned out to be a pretty good day despite its tenuous beginning.

My brain is drying up...

So I'm forcing myself to sit here for 15 minutes to plow through a post for today while I try to avoid getting on the trainer for what is supposed to be an hour and half ride...ugh. Both options...1) come up with something outrageously witty or 2) sweat and breathe hard for 90 minutes...are looking oh so appealling.

Ok...more movie quotes to placate Brian...Strange Brew. You know, I racked my brain for at least half an hour that night trying to remember what other movie we talked about. :-) My bad! And such a good one too...chocked full!

Strange Brew 1983 (Full title: The Adventures of Bob and Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew)

Doug McKenzie: I am your father, Luke. Give in to the dark side of the force, you knob.
Bob McKenzie: He saw Jedi 17 times, eh.

***

Doug McKenzie: maybe this will rekindle your memory..give it to her!
Bok McKenzie: Its my last one!
Doug McKenzie: Now!
Bob McKenzie: Okay here you go (handing the woman a donut)......its a jelly.....

***

Doug McKenzie: The power of the force has stopped you, you hosers.

***

Bob McKenzie: If I didn't have puke breath, I'd kiss you.

***

Parking attendant: Hey, you! Six-fifty!
[Rosey pulls his jacket down around his arms, hockey style, and shows the guy his fists]
Jean LaRose: All I got's two fives!

***

Bob MacKenzie: My brother and I used to say that drownin' in beer was like heaven, eh? Now he's not here, and I've got two soakers... this isn't heaven, this sucks.

Task complete. Not well but done for the day. I promise better for tomorrow. Ok...off to the trainer!

Rural Retro

This old Ford Bronco was for sale as of last week in the thriving metropolis of downtown Mattawan last week (only 3000 bones!). I can't stop thinking about it! I can totally see buying this baby, redoing the interior and cleaning her up and communiting to town in her. So much for fuel economy but I think the orange totally makes up for it!

The Wall

Do you know how hard it is to come up with a new idea to write about every day? OMG...I can only guess but I feel like this must be what it's like to hit the wall while running a marathon. My apologies for the whining but ugh...it's getting a little rough here. Only five more days and then I can go back to my couch-potato-blogging ways! :-) I do think this experience is going to make it easier for me to post more often than once a month though so who knows.

Well today's post was inspired by my pals that I was hanging out with at Bell's last night (shoutin' out to Brian, Brian, Angie and Doug!). There isn't much better in this world than hanging out drinking good beer with good friends, while listening to good music.

Alright! 5 Memorable Movie Quotes not necessarily great (OK actually six movies and more than five quotes because I just couldn't decide...in no particular order):

1. Caddyshack 1980

Judge Smails: You know, you should play with Dr. Beeper and myself. I mean, he's been club champion for three years running and I'm no slouch myself.

Ty Webb:
Don't sell yourself short Judge, you're a tremendous slouch.

2. Top Gun 1986

Iceman: You can be my wingman any time.

Maverick:
Bull$#!+! You can be mine.

3. Pretty in Pink 1986

Iona: Does he have... strong lips?

Andie:
How can you tell?

Iona:
Did you feel it in your knees?

Andie:
I felt it everywhere.

Iona:
Strong lips.


[laughs]

Iona:
I know I'm old enough to be his mother, but when the Duck laid that
kiss on me last night, I swear my thighs just went up in flames! He
must practice on melons or something.

4. Animal House 1978

Katy: Boon, I think I'm in love with a retard.

Boon:
Is he bigger than me?

5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off 1986 (Chocked full!)

Ferris: I do have a test today. that wasn't bull$#!+. It's on European socialism. I mean, really, what's the point? I'm not European. I don't plan on being European. So who cares if they're socialists? They could be fascist anarchists. It still doesn't change the fact that I don't own a car. Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in The Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.

or

Ferris: The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It's a good non-specific symptom; I'm a big believer in it. A lot of people will tell you that a good phony fever is a dead lock, but, uh... you get a nervous mother, you could wind up in a doctor's office. That's worse than school. You fake a stomach cramp, and when you're bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It's a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school.

or

Ferris: Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

6.  The Blue's Brothers 1980

Burton Mercer: Who wants an orange whip? Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips!

or

Elwood:
It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.

Jake:
Hit it.

or

Elwood: Illinois Nazis.

Jake: I hate Illinois Nazis.

This is what happens when...

you don't pay close enough attention to your then two almost three year old who is feeling really impatient about trying out the new nail polish color that her Mom just bought for her.

No hardwood floors were hurt during the painting of the toes.

Two years ago today...

Claire Bear learned to walk at Grandma's house. What a good day!

Today, she is picking out her own outfits, going to the bathroom on her own, getting really picky about what food she eats, sitting still for haircuts, taking care of her baby doll, racing cars with Eddie, watching Shrek 3 as many times as we will let her in a day, "reads" books to anyone who will listen, loves to help in the kitchen, and sings the song "I don't like your girlfriend!" with the most devilish grin you can imagine. And she's only three. Oh dear.

I Give Thanks for Google!

So true!

Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. Favorite! It doesn't exclude anyone based on religion and you can celebrate it the way you want. You get to dedicate an entire day to making an amazing meal and you have leftovers that linger for days. Mmm...open faced turkey sandwiches! Ok...my mouth is watering. Let's move on.

So before I get into today's topic I just want to say I am thankful to you for stopping by and having a read. I really appreciate that you are interested and are taking the time to take in what I've got to say.

I was hoping at some point during this month of blogging to do a series on Kalamazoo's especially thought provoking church signs. But of course, some of my favorites have been a little tame lately and don't make for an interesting post. So when in turmoil, turn to Google Images.

Or maybe not.

You know, the Internet is so fantastic because if you can't get enough from driving down the road you can find a book that is filled with them. You can find even more that are cataloged and referenced for your convenience. Or the best...you can generate your own:

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all! I hope your bellies are happy and you are too!

My Dream Job

Not a lot of people understand this but my dream job would be to sing back up for Pink Floyd. It has been ever since we saw Pink Floyd in concert in 1994. Video is worth a million words...

The video below is from that tour and you can see how the women who were singing back up looked completely amazing, backlit, swaying with the music and just belting it out. I'd be happy up there.

You'll have to be a little patient to see the singers...they are around three minutes in. Hope you enjoy one of my favorite songs too. I'm not a big stick in the mud about whether or not Roger Waters is singing lead. There is a more authentic feel to the music with him but what can you do? The music is still fantastic.