April Is Not Only the Cruellest Month

...It is also National Poetry Month
















Always Marry an April Girl
by Ogden Nash

Praise the spells and bless the charms,
I found April in my arms.
April golden, April cloudy,
Gracious, cruel, tender, rowdy;
April soft in flowered languor,
April cold with sudden anger,
Ever changing, ever true --
I love April, I love you.

Poetry Monday

The Rain
by Robert Creeley

All night the sound had
come back again,
and again falls
this quiet, persistent rain.

What am I to myself
that must be remembered,
insisted upon
so often? Is it

that never the ease,
even the hardness,
of rain falling
will have for me

something other than this,
something not so insistent—
am I to be locked in this
final uneasiness.

Love, if you love me,
lie next to me.
Be for me, like rain,
the getting out

of the tiredness, the fatuousness, the semi-
lust of intentional indifference.
Be wet
with a decent happiness.




[via The Poetry Foundation. Image via realtater]

The Steampunk Desktop

Steampunk refers to a subgenre of cyberpunk that is taken up with the pleasures and regrets of the Age of Steam.

So much so, that steampunks will go to great lengths to outfit their modern conveniences--such as this LCD monitor--to resemble machines from yesteryear.

Check out the amusing and informative (if not always user friendly) Steampunk Workshop for all sorts of ideas on outfitting your latterday gear with brass fittings and analog charm.

Poetry Tuesday

Persephone, Falling

by Rita Dove

One narcissus among the ordinary beautiful
flowers, one unlike all the others!  She pulled,
stooped to pull harder—
when, sprung out of the earth
on his glittering terrible
carriage, he claimed his due.
It is finished.  No one heard her.
No one!  She had strayed from the herd.

(Remember: go straight to school.
This is important, stop fooling around!
Don't answer to strangers.  Stick
with your playmates.  Keep your eyes down.)
This is how easily the pit
opens.  This is how one foot sinks into the ground.

[poem via poets.org and the Academy of American Poets. Image via Special Organic Soils]

Daily Affirmations with Donald Winnicott

So my year is going well, though I still haven't located a source for Day of the Dead-themed magnetic grocery list pads.

But I did pick up a Mexican Talavera bathroom sink instead.

No. I really did. It was considerably more expensive than my first idea for domestic bliss.

The contractor arrives to demolish the old bathroom on Monday.

But that's not what I wanted to discuss today. Today, a chilly January Saturday, I have four beautiful children under my wing. They are playing Risk at the dining table behind me as I write this. Everything is good. So..what?

I have this friend, see, this marvelous friend, whom I won't name, though I will point you to her blog right here...this marvelous friend, who not only likes but loves me, and lets me know everyday that she values me..and, see, well...

She's just better at stuff than me. She has this touch with all things domestic and many things worldly. She is smart, beautiful, usually calm, almost always happy, a terrific writer who has now does radio commentary, a stunning knitter, and now a glass artist, starting a new business making stained-glass windows.

Yes. She is that kind of person.

And she is absolutely marvelous with children. You could leave your kid with her for a day and a half--I have done it for three--and she will never bat an eye, and you can leave secure in the notion that your kid is if anything having a BETTER time with her than at home with you.

At the end of the day, time spent at her house is infinitely more peaceful and happy than time spent at mine.

And it's not the bathroom demolition, though that won't help any. It's just that if I have four kids, I have three bagels, and even if I can set the table nicely, I still have boxes of windowblinds waiting to be hung in the dining room.

But I remind myself that Anne would and will tell me that she doesn't love me for the number of bagels I keep in the house, and she wouldn't love me more if I suddenly grew an aptitude for crafts and could knit my way out of a paper bag. She trusts me with her kid.

The literature on raising kids actually singles out a person like me for special praise. Nine years ago, when we were having our babies, my friend Jamie directed me to the concept of the "good-enough mother," in the words of Donald Winnicott:

"The good-enough mother...starts off with an almost complete adaptation to her infant's needs, and as time proceeds she adapts less and less completely, gradually, according to the infant's growing ability to deal with her failure" (Winnicott, 1953)

So that's me, right on target, not by strategy but by nature: confessing to my daughter finally that there is a ten-minute slice of my day--the time when I am changing from work clothes to home clothes--when I don't want to hear her calling me unless something is on fire. Or Playing Family Hold Back with my kids on the milk and bagels. Or shifting the piles in the dining room to the piles in the basement, like that's going to help my housekeeping.

And here's me, looking in my best friend's son's eyes, seeing that he's doing fine here playing Risk and chilling with my stepson, stepdaughter, and daughter.

And here's me, looking in the funhouse mirror of my blog-post, saying with Stuart Smalley,

"I deserve good things. I am entitled to my share of happiness. I refuse to beat myself up. I am attractive person. I am fun to be with. "

Better Living through Listing

I don't know about you, but for me New Year's Eve has nothing on New Year's Day.

As grumpy as I can be during the holidays, there is something about that first day of the new year that still exhilarates me, against all odds and prior experience.

Today I am making lists and seeking solutions, straightening up my life and flying right at last.
All without leaving the safety of my home or the comfort of my pajamas.

If only every day were like New Year's Day.

Here's a sweet find from my current search for the perfect magnetized grocery list pad.

Which reminds me of my friends over here.

Meanwhile, as usual, I haven't found what I actually went Googling for.

Free set of magnetized grocery list pads to the first person who can find me my own in a Day of the Dead theme.

What Hath Mandelbrot Wrought?

While innocently trawling for a cookie recipe, I found that a Google of "mandelbrot" gets you this information.

Trippy.






In other news, here is the mandelbrot recipe I'll be trying tomorrow:

2 cups flour 1 teaspoon double acting baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 ounces sweet butter, softened 1 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 teaspoon lemon zest 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1 1/2 cups chopped almonds, toasted

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add zest, vanilla and almond extract. Add flour mixture and almonds while the machine is on low speed until dough is ormed. Scrape sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Remove from mixing machine and divide into thirds. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease & flour a baking sheet. With hands floured, form each portion of dough into a flat log 10 inches long and 2 inches wide (approximately). Bake logs in a preheated 325° F oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut logs crosswise, diagonally into 3/4 inch slices. Place slices on baking sheets and bake in the 325°F oven for 5 minutes. Remove and turn each cookie over and bake for 5 minutes more or until pale golden. Cool and store in airtight containers. Yield: About 3 dozen cookies Recipe from www.inmamaskitchen.com