Tent Syndrome

Public Service Announcement:
Do you have tent syndrome?  This temporary condition afflicts thousands of people every year.  People go camping and think that no one around them can hear what's being said inside the tent.   This may be due to a temporary loss of object permanence once you step inside the tent.  If you can't see it, it's not there.   This dangerous condition has threatened many relationships.  Its insidiousness is not limited to tents but can be observed in other situations including the dreaded "This is a private conversation that no one else should hear but I'm talking about it at Starbucks."  You too can raise awareness and help stop tent syndrome by talking loudly about tent syndrome in public places that might give people the illusion of privacy.  A public restroom is a good spot to start.

----End of Public Service Announcement---

We've all seen tent syndrome in action:
Like when we'd go to Mexico...  You'd have a line of tents, a boy half and a girl half.  Invariably, someone in the girl half would be talking about a boy who is just a few tents over...  Until someone in boy tent starts talking and all of a sudden the girl side realizes that the fabric walls don't stop the sound.  Oops! Both sides would do this.... the things you would hear! 

I think I'm living in a tent.  I used to want to live in a yurt.  I take that back now.   My neighbors were in their yard late last night and early this morning.   I was half asleep; but this morning, I woke with a memory of someone talking about Jesse being gay.  Tent syndrome strikes again!  Just because you're talking to someone doesn't mean the rest of the world can't hear.  You're outside.  Sound travels. 

I have a partition dividing my room from the entry way so if you stand in common area, I can hear just about everything you say.  So at 6 am, my housemates came in and started to settle some friends in to camp out on the floor in the common area.  My favorite bit: housemate says to friends, "I'll see you both in the morning."  I respond: "Um, it's 6 am; it is morning!"  Silence.  Tent syndrome. 

Yes, thanks to tent syndrome, I watched the sun rise this morning.  It was beautiful. 

Now, I'm going to go dig out my white noise machine and plug it in.

So neighbors and housemates, if you can hear my "ocean", I can hear you!

  

Garden Day

Today, I went to play in my garden and took my camera along.

 My favorite heirloom bean: Rattlesnake.

 Best part about rattlesnakes is that the pattern on the bean differentiates it from the stem.  Most beans blend with the stem color which makes them harder to find.  Although, I still miss finding them even with the pattern! 

 My cilantro grew nice and big earlier in the summer.  I came out one night to cut it for dinner only to find that something had been nibbling on it.  I'm going with rabbits here since deer aren't usually in the residential areas.  Both plants were nibbled back over two days.  When the cilantro grew back it started to bolt.  I left them since I think the flowers are rather beautiful.  The flowers have larger white edge petals.  The centers are trimmed with pink.  They work as cut flowers but smell like cilantro.

So far I've lost 4 different plants to gophers.  The gophers have breached the chicken wire under the plot.  Plants lost: 1 tomato, 1 nasturtium 1 cilantro, 1 cucumber.  

I'm taking bets on what plant will disappear next!

 The tunnels are collapsing but I don't have a clear entry point to work with.  I'm curious if planting poisonous plants like poison hemlock or oleander around a garden would do anything to deter gophers.  When I first started my garden plot, there was a large poison hemlock plant in the center and no gopher trouble.  The hemlock died and was taken out.  Now I have gophers...  Of course, I may just have the five star plant buffet or the gophers took advantage of our wet spring to go forth and multiply.  Who knows?  :)

Update

It's been a fun couple of weeks.  The program I work for at the University was going through an accreditation process and we ran about making sure everything went smoothly.   It went incredibly smoothly and the program passed with flying colors.  My new nickname is "the Dean's Assistant" as someone mistook me as such.  I'm not going to complain about that... I just need to live up to it!

Tonight, in my multicultural literature class, we were looking at Jacqueline Woodson's book If You come Softly. It's an excellent book that will be added to my library.  In the book. Jeremiah makes a comparison between rain and the looks he and Ellie receive  while dating (he's African American and she's White).

"Think of it..." Jeremiah said slowly. "Like weather or something. You got your rain, your snow, your sunshine.  Always changing but still constant, you know."

In class, snow was compared to the overt acts of racism and sunshine to the days where racism isn't present.

Jeremiah continues with, "Let's say it's rain- the people who've got problems with us being together-let's call them and their problems rain."

A little later, the snow is melting on Ellie's face and I made a point about snow as a metaphor for racism in the book.  This got my professor really excited.  And he proceeded to emphasize snow as he read the rest of his selections in the book.


But what he didn't know was...




My mom was an English major in college. 

 

She would do this thing when we were growing up, pointing out the symbolism and metaphors as we watched movies or read books.  She ruined more movies that way. :)  We'd be watching a movie and all of a sudden there's Mom talking and pointing out patterns and symbolism (see the waves crashing, that implies...or when Mr. Darcy goes for a swim, that's a symbol of rebirth...  yada yada yada ).   This is all wonderfully helpful as an adult but when you just want to watch a movie, not so much.

I caught myself doing the same thing recently while watching the "other" Pride and Prejudice (2006). I'm turning into my mother! When Lizzy wanders through the statuary room at Pemberley, there's an awakening and Lizzy gains the awareness of a woman. It wasn't a very subtle metaphor though.   I have to have a disclaimer here. This was my first time watching this version all the way through.  The first time I tried to watch it, I wanted to smack Bingley for acting like a 15 year old boy, walking into a girls room WHILE knocking, being coached on proper etiquette and his general silliness....  I just couldn't take it. ;) 

Anyways, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to post.  The picture at the top has nothing to do with the post.  I just wanted to add a picture.  Plus, I had been thinking about the trip Mom and I took to Washington a year and a half ago. 

Thanks Mom for making me look smart!  Love you!  :)

I feel as though I've discovered a treasure trove. 

Since encountering Elizabeth Goudge, via Lanier's writings, I have been on the lookout for Miss Goudge's books.

http://laniersbooks.com/2010/01/14/precisely-miss-goudge/
http://laniersbooks.com/2010/04/19/bereft/
http://laniersbooks.com/2007/02/23/elizabeth-goudge/


I have to admit that when I first picked up one of her collections of short stories, I only read a few before returning it to the library.  Somehow, it did not capture my imagination nor was I willing to devote the attention required by its beauty.  Beautiful books cannot be skimmed.  They must be absorbed word by word.

During the summer, I was poking about the library and spotted several of her books.  Castle on the Hill had me drawn in on the first page.  I've since devoured two more, A Pedlars Pack and The Golden Skylark.  Each one is filled with beautiful thoughts and word pictures.  She reminds me a bit of L.M. Montgomery in her descriptions of nature.  If I ever make it to Europe, I would like to visit the Channel Islands.  For that is where the Du Frocq's live with their mischievous, good hearted children!  

My summer reading plans never quite materialized.  I didn't finish any of the ones that I had on my reading list.
But, I made a new book friend in Elizabeth Goudge.  I'll be seeking out more treasures by her and looking to add some to my collection!    

Remember way back when?

Ever re-visit something from your childhood?

Last year for my birthday, my parents bought be the complete set of the Gospel Bill Show. It was my absolute favorite show when I was little. It came on right after re-runs of RinTinTin in the afternoons. It was also on Saturday mornings with Quigley's Village and Joy Junction. Along with the childhood standards of Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, I have vivid memories of watching Gospel Bill.

Even though I received the DVDs last year, I didn't get a chance to watch them. I left them at home when I moved and the idea was that we would watch them as a family. Last time I was home, we were celebrating my birthday and I pulled them out with the intention of watching them.  We went swimming instead. I brought the first dvd back with me.

I curled up on my bed and braced myself for disillusionment.

Nothing

It such a pleasant surprise to have something be as good as I remembered it.  It was something that I think I could show to kids now (depends on the kids) and they might (hopefully?) enjoy them.   The live action stories, the puppet storyline, and the music made me smile.  I'm looking forward to working through the whole set.  Silly of me? Maybe. But definitely very enjoyable.  

Do you have a favorite childhood program that you like to revisit?

I'll leave you with one of my favorite bits.

I write down little sentences each day... ideas for a post... yet I can never get the full idea onto the page. I'd love to write something contemplative or pithy.  I'd even settle for humorous.  Instead, I have word snapshots of the last couple weeks floating through my head.

My dad using the word loamy in a sentence...  "Wow, this soil is loamy"  To which I expressed my approval and surprise that mom's green thumbness was rubbing off on him.

Working on a building project that initially made our high school built homes in Mexico look like they were built to code.

Yellow sticky insect traps in trees as reminders of God's faithfulness.  Even as careful as I was about saving enough money for school, if I hadn't worked at the county agriculture department, school would have been a lot more challenging.

Learning about home birth in my human development course.  It was intriguing to hear the differences between home and hospital, and reasons why someone would choose to have her baby at home.

Having an awesome kick off for the Christian club on campus.  We packed out the room and had standing room only!

I tried something new this semester.  I love it now.  I just wish that I would let myself learn.  I tend to want to do something right the first time which makes learning a new skill difficult.

Joking with friends before class about the abysmal lack of men in our classes, only to have a guy walk in later (looking for another class) and remark (while looking at the 30 girls), "Wow, I really like this class. Really like this class!"  The teacher asked what class he was looking for.... "Human sexuality."  Yeah guys, looking for girls?  Try Liberal Studies... We average 10 girls to every guy.  With odds like that... ;)

Taking time to hang out with a friend, meet new people, relax and watch rugby.  I have to say, rugby is way more fun than football.

I wish I had something more cohesive but I'd rather have an updated blog for my friends and family than leave you all wondering what's happening...   Not that I'm sure anyone outside of my family checks regularly but I've got to keep up appearances, you know
 

Hair Story

Ducking under tree branches, my hair was adorned with bits and pieces of plant material.  It had been a delightful day working on a building project, but I needed to check for ticks before heading back to the university.  My mom pulled out a hairbrush.  A hairbrush!

I haven't used a hairbrush in years.

Curls just don't respond well to "The Brush."   Since I couldn't come up with an alternative so I wouldn't go home with a new "friend,"  I submitted to the brush. 

My brother saw me afterwards and declared that I looked like Hermione (from the early Harry Potter films) and the Princess Diaries' Princess Mia (before the makeover).   Flattery will get you everywhere... 
Personally, I was going to say I looked like the female triangle hair Dilbert cartoon character.

The whole incident made me think back to my childhood... the good years with de-tangler, the bad years of the hair dryer and funky bangs and the years of braids and buns in an attempt to keep the friz down.  Dad blowing drying my hair upside down after bath time when I was six.  I think my hair was horizontal until Mom came in to fix it.  And then, I discovered conditioner.  The most vital thing for a curly girl: conditioner.  The brush became a fixture in the back of the drawer.  The hairdryer was left behind.  My hair slowly morphed into something manageable.  I even liked it.  And now, I love it.  

Stay back brushes and hairdryers, this head is all natural and naturally curly.