Am-a-sham, Big-at-Babble

Clip-n-Clap, Clippety Cloppety
Chomp Chomp,
Chump-a-Dump
Dump-a-dandy, Draw-a-Doodle
Didik-Di-Dai, Di-Dai, Di-Dai
Eeeks-cheeks,
Fie-Fo-Fum
Fiddle-diddle, Geeky-Googly
Higgledy-piggledy, Hanky-panky,
Hoity-toity,
Iffity-jiffity,
Jolly-kolly, Kinky-pinky
Kick-a-po-poo, Lick-a-loo-too
Loony-toony,
Moon-a-toon
Nickel-tickle, Oompa-loompa
Oops-a-daisy, Pompety Pom,
Peggy-ooo-lear,
Quench-a-Quickie
Rompety Romp, Rouse-a-rabble
Stomp-a-tromp, Tweety-tweet
Tickled-pink,
Ugly-tugly
Voodoo-shoodu, Volume-sholume
Wink-at-a-twink, Wobble-a-wonk
Xylo-phylo
Yikes-tikes
Zinga-Zoonga, all in Zest!

Tomorrow!

My life is becoming like a movie in which nothing-really-happens and yet there is a constant tension seething under the covers. Like slowly moving molten magma under a volcanic dome ... a deferential silence maintained as the imminent explosion is patiently expected.

I am nervous with apprehension ... it wakes me up at night and startles me during the day. Sometimes I look forward to what may happen with joy, at other times I am afraid and want time to freeze so that I will never have to go beyond the 'now'. Most of the time I vascillate between cynicism and gratitude... My cynicism, because its going to be yet another day in a life in which nothing-really-happens, is quickly replaced by thankfulness when I think of all the horrible things that might happen ... because nice things happen seldom. And so with my baggage of joy, fear, cynicism and gratitude, all rolled into a neat rucksack, I traipse through time.

And yet, I hope ... while I wait patiently ...

Like Patience on a monument,
Green and yellow with melancholy

Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Nothing in particular

Its been one of those weekends. Started off with a Friday evening at the bar where I stayed too long and babbled a lot more than I should have. I wish I could control myself a little more and be a little less opinionated. Anyway, the damage is done!

Saturday morning: went skiing for a few hours. It was followed by an enjoyable lunch with friends. Other than that I officially brooded through the weekend. Took care of chores such as laundry, but got NO work done. School starts tomorrow and I feel like I haven't had enough of a break.

K' very kindly gave me 2 packs of frozen blackberries yesterday, which had defrosted by the time I got home, and needed immediate attention to avoid a rot. I had initially intended to bake a blackberry pie, but being too lazy, I decided to blend them into a juice that I could use as a health drink (!). But laziness seldom pays. The blended blackberries were so dense that it was barely drink-worthy. It also ruined all chances of making a pie of the berries and made the rot-meter reading even more critical. So I ended up baking a blackberry-almond cake... thats an almond cake with 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 3 eggs, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp vanilla extract, a drop of lime juice, the blended backberries and of course the almonds, baked for 45 minutes at 375F. It turned out pretty well. It went from being the disaster of the weekend to making a last minute sharp turn to be the brightest spot.

Oh well!

Yet again...

The Holiday season is over. The New Year is here. The following lines, adapted from Howard Thurman come to mind:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of the holydays begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild nations,
To bring peace among
brothers and sisters,

To make music in the heart.

Even as we bid farewell to the old order and usher in the new, most things remain the same. The opposites of love and hate continue to battle everyday as human history is written and re-written, every moment, in the blood of the fallen warriors. A history that weaves together the joys of the victor and the ignominy of the vanquished and all else in between, producing a garment of many hues that relates the pain of the living and the beauty of life ... the music in our hearts.

Its still snowing and we have a long grey winter ahead, before the varied hues of spring take over.