2 Board Alley

Today I Posted at CCE

about the "Dear Plagiarist" essay in the IHE.  My post is here .  Have a great 4th!

The Chat du Chats: Friday Cat Blogging Returns

One aspect of blogging that has been sorely missed around here has been the Friday Blogging of the Cats.  Our team of tabbies has spent the last few months languishing in unpostedness.  And now that the time has come, there doesn't seem much to post about the charming critters except to say that someone (whose name rhymes with "ickerfoodle") has been soaking his toys in his waterbowl.  Not all of his toys all at once, mind you--just whenever he's playing and gets thirsty.  He trots over to the bowl and dunks the toy while drinking, a la "Stone Soup," and then leaves it there.  I don't really care since I won't be drinking the stuff, and the Bink has his own bowl of clear water to sip from.  

A New Direction

Hence the photo of the Metro Elephant taken outside the MLK library last week.  I'm not completely sold on the parrot theme--the middle column seems too narrow, but I'm leaving it in place until I figure out how to use Corel 11 to create a new banner--A Joannerbanner, if you will. 

I had lunch with timna last week which was a terrific event in and of itself.  To get there, I took the Metro, which, as you can well imagine, had no passengers in the first and last cars, but SRO cars in the middle.  I couldn't help but notice that the "voice" kept announcing that Fort Totten was closed due to a "situation."  Calling George Orwell!  A "situation"?!?

Anyhow, I pulled myself together to have a delicious lunch of biriyani chicken and rice and plenty of laughter.  And afterwards, I strolled over to the Portrait Gallery and its conjoined twin, the American Gallery of Art, something I don't do often enough.  Saw an exhibit of the history of the US, which meant lots and lots of portraits of white men, not so much of people of other races or sexes.  Oh well.  An exhibit of paintings done for the WPA struck my fancy, and if I'd had time, I'd have stayed to look at all of the exhibits, but doing that would have meant coming home on the Metro during rush hour. 

So, I'm back and adding to my blogroll.  If you don't see your blog posted here, e me at jmkhoward at g mail dot com.

Taking a Break

I'm going through a phase where I'm not much interested in blogging or writing of any kind--we're in the midst of settling my father's estate, I'm back at work, and I am using my blog time to read and chill. But I'll return, and in the meantime, I'm reading your blogs to stay in touch.

Sunday Cat Blogging

He is the master of all he surveys and the great destroyer of the carpet. 

Hello, Stranger

After the whirlwind that was January's blog-a-day festival, I've slowed down to an almost halt here.  I'm up to about 80% energy since November, and am getting into the crush of the new semester with enthusiasm.  I've been working on my textspace and will probably do most of my posting there as well as occasional posts here and at The Crying Room.  I haven't felt the need to write so much about my grief these days, though I feel it, from time to time, swooping in and then trailing out. 

I've been trying to get back into the swing of reading blogs more thoughtfully than I have in the past several months.  I'm still lurking for the most part, but I'm glad to be back to reading more regularly.  I've missed it.  As much fun as Facebook is, it isn't blogging.

And the cats, well, they, too will be blogged about with more frequency.  They've spent the months since November writing biweekly letters to my niece and nephew, ages4 and 2, and are developing quite a following.  As their editor, I spend a great deal of time looking over their work. And typing--it's not easy to type with thick paws.

This Week: ISO NEW Fears

From Rob Brezny's astrology site:

Gemini Horoscope for week of January 15, 2009 It's a favorable time for you to phase out at least 60 percent of your stale old fears. The cosmos is poised to assist you in this noble cause if you'll exert even a modicum of effort. What's that you say? You're afraid you can't live authentically without a hefty amount of anxieties? You secretly believe that you'd be bored if you didn't have your worries to entertain you? Well, here's an idea that might work: Simply replace your hackneyed, knee-jerk fears with a slew of silly and outlandish ones. They'll allow you to feel the friction you rely on to feel alive, but they won't bog you down with heavy stagnancy. For example, you could contract automatonophobia, the fear of ventriloquist's dummies, and apeirophobia, the fear of infinity. Other good choices might be kyphophobia, the fear of stooping, and lutraphobia, the fear of otters.

Silly Phobias:

1.  twistaschreechaphobia--the fear of animal-shaped balloons

2.  forforphobia:  the fear of Swedish grandfathers

3.  llamahalatosisphobia: fear of llamas with bad breath

5.  forphobia:  fear of the number four

6.  farfallaphobia: the fear of butterfly-shaped pasta

(note--can't get the link to work on this computer.  Will fix it tomorrow).

Here's Why I Won't Be At The Inauguration

This tops my list of reasons to avoid going to the inauguration, an event that takes place on the coldest day of winter, in the midst of a crowd.  This year, they're closing off some of the bridges into D.C. and some of my fellow D.C. area folk will be watching the event in he warmth of a church, restaurant or city hall. I'd hoped to rent out my house or driveway for a quick buck, but alas, that turned out to be not such a great idea. A good friend of mine wants me to go with her to view this historic event, but I just don't know. . . I quit going to 4th of July celebrations on the Mall because of the crowd on the Metro and at the Mall, and I don't think I want to be in the middle of an enormous, excited crowd in midwinter. 

But I will be watching it on t.v.

VRS: It's From the Onion, so I Know it's True

Garden Coaching: Just What I Need

Just in time for this year's foray into the vegetable garden:  a gardening coach who will come to my house and , more importantly, to my vegetable garden, and show me how to maintain and sustain an eco- (but not deer-)friendly cabbage patch. 

It's exactly what I need--I've got the books, the tools and the space, but what I lack is the knowledge and confidence to pull it off without pulling out the wrong plant (as in, what's a weed?)

I want to build a strong wire canopy top for the garden to keep the deer from leaping over the ten-foot tall fence, which they do well and frequently.  I am going to revive the radio that plays NPR (or any channel, for that matter) and frightens the deer, and I just might create a deer garden on the other side of the yard to keep their focus away from my food.  Something tells me that that wouldn't be such a great a idea, and that I should just let them chomp across the lawn. 

And I want to keep the butterfly garden trimmed and weeded, but I don't think I'll do much with it this year--I want to get the vegetable garden growing and the compost heaps brewing.