Date

A new kind of bookend

barbara — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:01:18 -0600

barbarawrites

My name is barbara and I am addicted to books. Well, books and butter pecan ice cream, though the latter is a relatively new addiction, more or less replacing popcorn.

For decades, I’ve been a bit of a legend among family and friends because of my love affair with books. For me, buying, owning, reading a book is a multi-sensory experience. The sight, smell, feel of books is immensely seductive. I admit I have not tasted many and I’ve only listened to one audio book.

For decades, books have followed me home from Barnes & Noble and independent booksellers like stray puppies, sometimes singly, but more often in large numbers. I take them in, smooth their covers, position them for rotation as an upcoming read.

My books are shelved two-deep in each of a dozen or so bookcases. They are also more-or-less-artfully displayed in random collections on table-tops, the piano, my desk, etc.

Recently, while attempting to re-order my life, it became apparent that my collection of books has once again grown into something nearly unmanageable. Point of fact, the only place to go with them now is up. Possibly clear to the ceiling in every room save the bathrooms, and I’ve considered converting the bathroom linen closets into bookcases. Really, how many towels does a person need? There's more.

Hangin' some stuff on the Clothesline

barbara — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:43:27 -0500

barbara writes

Brother G is back in the hospital. So I must be brief.

(1) Do not be missing Jonathan Krohn in video above. Any chance this odd kid has opportunistic parents?
(2) Rush Limbaugh is a carbuncle on the butt of humanity. I believe it is neither Oxycontin nor overeating that has swelled him up but rather an overabundance of hubris. In our community, pit bulls are generally contained by fences. Something for the Republic Party to consider, perhaps?
(3) Timothy Geithner must be very lonely in Treasury, more or less by himself. Send “Thinking of You” cards, please.
(4) Note to event planners: Do not pair up Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer as overnight roommates.
(5) Buy low, sell high. Ooops. You missed it. Sorry. More.

Spammus interruptus

barbara — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:54:19 -0500

barbara writes

You'll be noticing a change in the comment format again. Back to the math problems. Sick and tired of electronic spam.

Blame it on these babies

susan — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:58:17 -0500

Yawn, stretch, hey y'all, what day is this? Is it spring yet?

If you hadn't noticed, I dropped my end of the Clothesline somewhere back in November. What happened? I'm not sure, and you probably don't care, but it goes something like this:

First, there was a letting go of eight years of Bush-induced roiling gut and torqued neck when Barack Obama won the election. You know the relaxation exercise in which you clench every bit of your body as tightly as you can, scrunch up your face, hold your breath, and then let it all go? And you feel your weight sink into the floor and white light fills your head and for a moment the gerbil-wheel of your mind stops squeaking?
read more

Besting the beastie

barbara — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:27:40 -0500

barbara grumbles

Okey dokey. Spam. Spammer. Spammest. The gift that keeps on giving. I've spent a fair amount of time in the past week or two clearing spam out of comments at the Clothesline.

First, our technical guru tried the math problem thingie. No go. Now we're back to Captcha, illustrated above. Those of you who've been with us from the get-go (and I dunno about you, but I was amazed to note that we've been at this for more than three years!) may remember seeing it here. Totally inconvenient for the pure in heart, but it is what it is.

So today, please leave a comment. Tell us what you're thinking about, worrying about, celebrating. We're so out of touch, we've no idea how all y'all are. Today's the day! We be kickin' beastie butt. Booyah!