A Pond, A Nation

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

My neighbors rebuilt their pond – it’s magnificent. I watched the fish as they initially huddled together, sometimes at the very bottom of the pond when temperatures were cold, but at others, it seemed, for security. Every movement was made as a group, their little school. In barely a week and a half they have settled in, and now explore, swimming alone or with a few others, then back in the larger group, all dictated by needs and desires of which I can only surmise.

They frolic in the waterfall, dive, dart and occasionally leap splendidly in the air and splash down. I could watch them all day; they are mesmerizing. Observing a pattern of life so vastly different from my own – and yet so elementally the same – brought to mind a favorite quote.

It’s by Henry Beston from The Outermost House, A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, written in 1928. This quote prompted me to pick up the book at the annual library sale, a perfect summer read.

“For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.” 

This quote has lived in my heart for over two decades and resonates deeply with my own love for animals. The fishes’ world may be a simple pond, but they are a nation of their own.

Alien Hands

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

I see them every time I look out my office window. Or go out the side door.

“Help us,” they say.

“Touch us.”

Alien hands, feathery, menacing. Reaching out to touch me with what ungodly result. Never before have aliens managed to push through the fenced border. And now they stretch out constantly, some wicked and high-pitched gurgling almost below one’s range of hearing.

“Feed us. We won’t hurt you.”

Fat chance. I think I’ll pass.

Making A Cup of Excedrin

/ still a dreamer

Perhaps you didn’t know … I only found out yesterday by chance … there was a massive recall in January of all Excedrin products by their manufacturer Novartis, as well as a recall of Bufferin, No-Doz, and Gas-X.

Yesterday, I woke with a screamer combo sinus/migraine headache. My go-to med is Excedrin. I have two scrips – one makes my heart race and the other knocks me out, though both are effective, just not if you want to have a pleasant day, or a day at all. Excedrin does the trick as a rule, but wanting to take it with food, I waited, and then happened across the recall information. So first I panicked – now I might have small pieces of other drugs in my Excedrin – even though Novartis’ web site says there have been no reported incidents and that it was a precautionary recall. Forget that I had two bottles and had already used a fair amount from both. Now I was in trouble. I checked the web site for lot#, but mine had been 2 bottles in a box and I no longer had the box. Maybe I escaped this fate! I called Novartis. Nope. My bottles were on the recall list. Crap.

So let’s forego the logic that the Excedrin I had on hand were OK so far. Now I eyed them suspiciously. I decided to try an experiment. I would make my own Excedrin.

Checking the amounts on the bottle for each tablet, I made up the equivalent by combining Tylenol, aspirin and a cup of coffee, (Yes, I looked up how much caffeine was in a cup, etc.) I took it all together, and wouldn’t you know … it worked!  It took a little longer than Excedrin alone as the delivery system was somewhat compromised, but still …

So if you’re stuck with a recalled bottle, make yourself up a cup of Excedrin! Or … use the ones that have already proven perfectly safe, or buy a generic/store brand in the supermarket. That’s what I did this afternoon, and they may work out every bit as well. But really, I prefer coffee.

p.s. A note for all you Excedrin takers:  According to the woman I spoke with at Novartis, the Excedrin that were not part of the recall and definitely safe were those that come in packages of 2, 4, 8 or 10.  So if we can find them, she said these are OK.

The Great Boatlift of 9/11

/ still a dreamer

The Great Boatlift of 9/11, sent to me by a friend yesterday, is a truly moving documentary about the boat evacuation on 9/11 and how everyday people became heroes in a largely unsung rescue. I don’t know how it is that I had never seen this before yesterday.

With the towers in flames and everyone running for their lives, it soon became clear that Manhattan was an island and that there weren’t many places to run. But that it’s an island also meant something else. There were boats. This is such an amazing film, made 10 years after 9/11 by Eddie Rosenstein and narrated by Tom Hanks. When the call went out for help, hundreds of  tugboats, ferries, fishing boats, coast guard cutters, party boats and others sped to Manhattan to take as many people as they could for as many trips as they could make. It was the largest boat evacuation in history; nearly 500,000 people were taken to safety by everyday heroes. It’s nearly 12 minutes long but worth every second.

 

Did I Go Overboard (at the Book Sale?)

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Or maybe the question really should be, can one go overboard at this book sale?

I met my friend and her daughter in the library parking lot, eager to spend time together as well as pick up a few select books. I had a very short list as I still have quite a few books from last year, and figured I’d just be quasi-aimlessly browsing. Up the aisles, down the aisles, I wasn’t seeing much of interest at all. Then all of a sudden it was like something kicked in and books I wanted were everywhere! Alas, I checked out with two big canvas bags of books.

At a $1 for hardbound and large paperbacks, $.50 for smaller paperbacks, how bad could I feel?

What you don’t see here are the 3 Twilight books I have not yet read — that’s for whenever — a replacement of a truly fabulous book, White Oleander,  I’d lent someone and may never see again, and a copy of a book I’d lent a friend which she liked so much, (and returned), I thought she might like her own copy.

What else did I get? Some new (to me) titles by authors that I love – Second Nature and The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman, And Both Were Young by Madeleine L’Engle, Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans and one excellent writer I haven’t read in ages – Pandora by Anne Rice. I also picked up a couple authors I really enjoy when I want a somewhat lighter read – Body Surfing by Anita Shreve, Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen, and a couple books by authors I’ve read and was sufficiently impressed by to want to read more, Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan and The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood. Here’s hoping their second reads are as riveting as the first!

In addition, I bought one book recommended to me by my book sale buddy, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and two by a lovely woman I was chatting with about some of our favorites. We each took home books recommended by the other. What better place to start up a conversation than in aisles of books! She recommended The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller and A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.

I spotted a few interesting titles and authors I’m not familiar with and believe I will like  … I Am Morgan LeFay by Nancy Springer, Witches on the Road Tonight by Sheri Holman, I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass, The Last Templar by Michael Jecks and That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo. (Turns out I actually have read a book by him before, and I’m glad I got this.)

The damages? Including the 5 books not pictured, a whopping $17.25!  Overboard? I think not.

I just don’t know what to read first.