10.7.2010

Raunt

Messy restaurant restrooms. Eeuuww! Messy bathrooms period are a drag, and by messy, I don't mean the occasional cat-torn-toilet-paper-on-the-floor messy. I mean the "oh boy, whazz'at on the floor" kinda messy. But when you're in a restaurant, and you need to use the loo, and loo seems to be screaming "boo!" well, that's just scary. Today I went to a lovely new spot for lunch, quite chic, quite urban, and moderately expensive, but the bathrooom was frightening ... right down to the torn-off-real-lock-substituted-with-a-hook-n-latch-lock. Really? Add that to the super bad water pressure that made the go-go a no-go and well, let's just say that I was thrilled to have the experience after the meal or it woulda been an appetite killer. Hate messy restrooms!

Rave

People who can keep the conversation moving. At the same surprise lunch today, friends and I were were laughing and talking and talking and sighing and sighing and exclaiming and exclaiming and eating and eating and planning and planning to eat more :) Phew! All good, every minute, every bite, every word. What a joy to be out to lunch and find that you all have so much to say, you hardly get much said at all because you're trying to squeeze 15 conversations into each 15 minutes! It was a blast, and I so appreciated being with people who kept the talk buzzin'. Love conversation movers!

10.6.2010

Raunt

Using the word 'troops' while reporting. I don't get it. I wake up to the news often and the reporters are always talking about 'troops' dying. Then they go on to say that 6 troops died in a roadside attack. When I think of troops, I think of multitudes. Like an army. Fairly vague, lotta peeps, lotta uniforms, no real faces. But apparently *they* (you know, the big, invisible *they*) must think that we can't hear war personalized down to an individual and their name, thus they do not say the truth like "6 soldiers, Joe Smith from Ham Lake, Jack Smith, Bob Smith, Bill Smith from St. Paul, and Charlie Smith, Derrick Smith from Minneapolis died." It's harder to hear that personalized truth, but it is the truth. And truth about war is ugly. In my opinion, soldiers and the civilians who die deserve to be named. And we deserve the hurt while hearing those names since we're the ones who put them in harms way in the first place with our decision to go to war. It's ugly. You can't hide from the truth.

Rave

Geraniums. Geraniums were, I think, one of my mom's favorite flowers. She liked to paint them, I know that. I have a few around my house, and I'm in awe at their tenacity to just keep growing. Sun-in, sun-out. Hot-in, cold-out. They just keep growing. Those little cluster of petals create lacelike shadows in my dining room, too. Pretty, colorful, lacey. What a flower to rave about! Love geraniums!