Saturday, August 17, 2013

100 things I love or at least have an opinion about. Okay, only 16.


  1. Mushrooms that pop up from blank spots in the dirt into giant pillowy masses in a matter of hours.  Especially the ones I can eat.
  2. As you can see by #1, I’m trying to find reasons to look forward to fall, but I’m not looking forward to it , not one little bit.  It gets dark and rainy and the swimming stops and the people go back inside.  I'm not for that.  It's not that I don't like candles, I truly do.  But really, daylight is way better.
  3. Water for swimming and drinking and sitting in.  Especially the swimming part.  Moving through the water as our ancestors did. 
  4. Those letters I used to write from summer camp.  Oh wait, I didn’t go to summer camp.  But if I did, it would have been like this:
Dear C,
Camp is really fun.  Today we went swimming and did archery and arts and crafts.  They are making us write letters home now. Who’s your teacher next year?  I hope we’re in the same class.  I really do.
Your friend,
Betsy
  1. The use of, “I really do,” above.
  2. When did signing things, "your friend" go extinct?  
  3. Food that requires effort at the table, like crab or fondue.
  4. I hate fondue, actually.  I like the idea of it, but it's soggy and gross.
  5. The clean-hearted uncomplicated salty tears that come from caring deeply about something, and even if it's messed up and complicated and totally cul-de-sac-ish, if that's a word, caring is still a good thing.  Because I do believe that it changes people, entirely for the better, to be cared about.
  6. Maps.  In fact, I've been longing for those blank worksheets they give you in social studies class where you color each country with a different pastel color.  Should I take that up again, or would it be too weird?
  7. Getting stuff done.  Which I do far too little of.  I can spend a whole day and get jack-shit done.  (Or is it “not get jack-shit done?  Is Jack-shit hyphenated?  Capitolized?  Is Jack shit what we should be doing, or what we do instead?  These are the type of thoughts that I waste way too much time on.)
  8. When someone walks in to the coffeeshop and says, “76.”  And I know without asking that he means the temperature of the lake water, one meter deep, which I like on so many levels. 
  9. Turns out I don’t really have 100 things.

  10. I so wish I would clean my windows.  I am wishing that so hard that I am almost thinking about putting it on my to do list with all the other stuff I haven't done and probably won't.
  11. The book of short-stories, The Tenth of December.  And, I'm turning into a general fan of George Saunders, who says his biggest regret is failures of kindness.  That's a good kind of regret to have.  Add it to the to-do list:  "Avoid failures of kindness whenever possible."
  12. Did you know you can purchase contact lenses that are purely cosmetic?  RIght?  If you want to look angry, for example, you can buy some red bits of plastic and wear them over your eyeball.  Who knew?
  13. Speaking of cosmetic surgery, Little S. is having his embarrassingly large tonsils removed this week, and I hope that goes well.  I'm told that the view down his throat will be vastly improved, and what's not to love about that?
  14. Headlines like this one:  "Is Economics More Like History than Physics?" Right?  That's not even a real question, in case you were wondering.  That's like, "Is yoga more like reading than cooking?"  Right?
  15. People who have a firm and appropriate grasp of the use of the inside voice.  
  16.  This claw that I found when cleaning out my barn:



9 comments:

  1. As you may know, I too, have been thinking a great deal about kindness. Here's something I'm realizing- I am not as kind to my husband as I could be. Sometimes I am impatient with him. This is not kindness. I am going to try and do better.
    I have studied that claw. Do you have raccoons? Could be one. Or it might have belonged to another creature. What do you think, dear Betsy?
    Have you ever seen that bumper sticker that says, "I know Jack Shit."? It's one of my favorites. As are you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ms. Moon, it's good to keep thinking about kindness. It's so much easier to be kind to Keith Richards, though, than the annoying people we live with, right?

      I'm thinking that claw is from a weasel, but yes, raccoon would be plausible too.

      And thank you! You too, one of my favorites! xo

      Delete
  2. I hope you don't mind, but I have a list in return for yours. And you have more than 16 things, there, but perhaps you knew that. Not just 17 things either. Although I can't tell if 10 counts or not. But 1-4 (the first 1-4) certainly do.

    Here is my list.
    1. I love fall. I love it like spring. Maybe better, because I'm always snowed-under work-wise, and sometimes also weather-wise, in spring. Fall is busy, but not in the same kind of extreme way. But I'm not arguing with your summer thing. I simply don't have a swimming hole to help summer be nice.
    2. Camp wasn't fun. Even with my friend THERE, it wasn't fun.
    3. I think you should definitely colour some blank maps. It is a soothing thing to do. And it gives you time to think while still getting something done. Ironing does that too, but it's not as much fun.
    4. Number 7 is hilarious. You made me LOL :)
    And it's also exactly what I've been getting done most of the summer.
    5. Just clean one window. Then just look out that one window. If necessary, just clean the part at your head-height. While you're at it, clean the window the cats look out of. Wait, you don't have cats. I do. I guess that was for me. Kids' fingerprints got nothin' on cats' noseprints.
    6. I don't need red contact lenses to look angry. All I need to do is stop smiling. I hate gravity.
    7. I must find that book of short stories. They're the only thing I have time to read, anymore, besides comics and blogs.
    8. I love your horoscopes. And your lists. I hope you have an awesome week. Even a good one, because the rest of the weeks on that scale from Awesome to Terrible are pretty much on the wrong end.

    Your friend,
    jenny

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love your list. But I'm a tiny bit sad that camp wasn't fun. Maybe you should write an imaginary letter from camp to help me understand why it wasn't fun. I like the idea of cleaning just one window, maybe two. I might actually do that today.
      I hope your week is grand!

      Delete
    2. You're on!

      Dear Betsy,

      Wish I was there. Or anywhere but here, at camp. They made me "bob" in the ocean. I'm used to fresh water! And it was a freezing cold day, even. I had goosebumps on my goosebumps, and I ended up crying in front of the whole class. Now I'm doing arts and crafts instead of swimming. But I'm homesick. And the toilets are far away, and you know how small my bladder is. And I'm getting to wear my new rubber boots and raincoat every single day! And there's a lot of bugs at campfire, and it's real dark getting there.

      Your friend,
      jenny

      A Grand Week - that's what I wish for you, too.

      Delete
  3. I know! I'll come over and wash windows with you and we can bake pies at the same time. Your friend, Meg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, my dear Meg, maybe we should just go gather blackberries, and then make the pies. I know a secret spot!

      Delete
  4. I know! I'll come over and wash windows with you and we can bake pies at the same time. Your friend, Meg

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was ok until I got the the claw picture. For some reason, I started in on the brevity of life and then I choked up and had to go have a lie down.

    ReplyDelete

I'm excited to report that the author Celeste Ng has selected m y modern love essay to read for the Modern Love podcast next week. Suc...