Snippets of an ordinary life in an extraordinary world
This has become a new addiction. Over the last few nights I’ve completed a few earring and bracelet sets:
The purple set with stars is inspired by twilight. Gee, we’ll call them the Twilight set. 
Those have a specific recipient in mind. It’s funny how someone pops into your head as you’re looking for just the right parts!
Like I need another hobby! But I’ve discovered I really like beading! I started out with some earrings this weekend:
And tonight decided to try a matching set of earrings and a bracelet for my sister:
Oh, and I’ve been duly warned (by a couple of my faithful readers) not to ever use the words pregnancy test in another blog posting unless “I really mean it.” Apparently we’re under a Taylor Tot Watch.
I don’t even remember what channel I was watching, but when I saw this commercial I almost peed my pants laughing. All I could think about as the commercial cut in was the intro to Spaceballs. I could almost see the bumper sticker on the tube that says, “I pee for nobody.”
We went to the movies tonight to see “Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer.” It was okay. The special effects were awesome. It’s just too bad Jessica Alba can’t act her way out of a paper bag. Hubby says that’s okay because she looks good doing it. Which is fine if you go for that look (and if he does, I’m not sure why he’s married to me!).
We always seem to have a comic moment standing in the concession line at this theater, almost all of them have established themselves firmly in the lore of the Taylor family.
Several years ago we stood behind a young boy and his father in a line that was taking impossibly long to move forward. I mean, how long can it take to fill a cup with soda and stuff a hot dog in its bun? That’s a dangerous question to ask, my friends. The boy and his dad finally reached the counter and placed their order. The kid manning the register was surly and unresponsive, and apparently learned to walk from a sloth. As everyone in shuffled impatiently, the boy watched the employee patiently. With complete calmness, he turned to his father and whispered, “I don’t think he likes his job!” From the mouths of babes…
The behavior of the average person never ceases to amaze and surprise me. Every time we go out, especially to the movies (what is it about movies?!), someone manages to do or say something that would never occur to me.
The middle aged couple in front me were cashing in their “free small popcorn” vouchers (because Wednesdays are “free small popcorn” nights) and get two drinks. The employee filled up the popcorn bags, set them on the counter, and turned to get the drinks. As the kid’s back was turned, the woman starts madly banging the bags on the counter. Then she pats the popcorn down, shakes the bags again, and pats them down once more. She’s settled the popcorn by maybe an inch or two, but enough that it’s noticeably below the edge of the bag. As the kid turns back around with the drinks, she pushes the bags back to him and says, “Can you finish filling these?” I guess you’ve got to get your money’s worth on a free bag of popcorn. Sheesh.
I watch all of this in silence but lose it when Nathan murmurs, “Geez, lady. You’d get even more if you brought a hydraulic ram.”
My Friday Felicitations this week aren’t in list format, but rather in this thank-you note to an ordinary, lovely day in my life.
We’re in Rockport for the weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as a family. Right now Daddy, Nathan, and Jo are out on the pier fishing together. I love it. I love that we are a family, and I love that my birth family and my marriage family have merged so well.
I went to the pier with them for a while tonight, although my chosen sport was reading. I have this new book I’ve been eager to read: Holdfast by Kathleen Dean Moore, the keynote speaker from the SCN conference I attended in San Marcos. She’s a philosophy professor and a naturalist–a potent combination. And I have not been disappointed by the book.
And what better place to read a collection of essays about connecting with nature than sitting on the end of a pier in the Gulf of Mexico at sunset? It was fabulous.
I grew up in the desert of New Mexico, landlocked and dry, surrounded by mountains and mesas. For the last eight years I’ve lived near Houston, anchored by the pine forests that are occasionally interrupted by meadows and pastures. The Gulf Coast is a whole new experience. It’s flat. So flat I start to feel a little unanchored if I think on it too long. But as soon as I get to the beach, I revel in the wind, a constant bath of moist air. Having grown up in the desert (and possessing a deep fear of water for most of my life), I am always surprised at my immediate at-homeness when I’m near the ocean.
My element, somehow, is water. When I reach the end of the pier, I choose to face the water instead of the setting sun. It’s easy to believe myself insulated in solitude even though several fishermen are within a few feet of me. The water is slightly choppy, so all I hear is the rush of wind and lapping of small waves. Only the occasional whish of the line and clack of the reel remind me I’m among my fellow creatures.
I read Moore’s words, which remind me of my own current blissful existence on the pier:
“Life directs all its power to one end, and that is to continue to be. A marsh at nightfall is life loving itself. Nothing more. But nothing less, either, and we should not be fooled into thinking this is a small thing.” (from “The Testimony of the Marsh”)
My train of thought derails right there and my mind stills. Sitting here on the edge of this endless expanse, there is nothing better than just being in this moment.
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