Jabberwocky for 2003 March

- Rachel and I had a nice weekend. We went to eat at Macaroni Grill and then to see The Hours. I liked the movie; it was arty.

I pulled weeds on Saturday and filled my green waste bin. Still so much more to do!

Today they replaced me as Ward Activities Chairperson. I still have to be on the committee but I don't have to be in charge. Hooray!

I also went to visit Larry Mercer in Intensive Care. He's not looking so good. He didn't respond much to anything I said or did, except a few times, with great effort, he moved his eyes. I spoke to the case manager the hospital brought on board for him and explained the family situation and what we at church can do for him.

- Sinking slowly into existential pain.

I bought yards of blue ribbon to make Win Without War pin ons, and I gave away almost all I made. Midge Ladd asked if I thought we'd be "allowed" to wear a political statement. I pointed out that our employer doesn't know we exist, and if they don't like our politics, tough. We don't like theirs either.

I think Rachel might be on the front page of the newspaper, protesting the war at UCLA. She's kind of small in the back of the picture.

Like a line from "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" (on the which I did my thesis): "She had a burning slow headache, and noticed it now, remembering she had waked up with it and it had in fact begun the evening before. While she dressed she tried to trace the insidious career of her headache, and it seemed reasonable to suppose it had started with the war."

Marlene and I listened to some of Bush's speech and then went to Jacalito's for dinner. I feel so helpless, trying to make a statement by pinning on a ribbon. As if.

- Today at Costco I bought a new swimsuit. It came with the front hemisphere of an extruded clear plastic torso. Very bizarre. There has just GOT to be something artistic one could do with half of a plastic torso.

- Larry Mercer is out of intensive care and in a semi private room. I was going to go see him after church, but didn't feel well enough to stomach it. Maybe I'll go tomorrow after the post office.

The newspaper reports that terrorist cells may attack allied troops when they invade Iraq. This prospect comes as a big surprise to whom? Come again?

I have daffodils and freesias, and the pussy willow is having kittens; spring has sprung. This fact is supposed to be reassuring.

- I went to see Larry Mercer in the hospital. His brother is here from Virginia to handle things. Larry was out of bed, and I think he recognized me, but dementia is setting in. I stayed with him while the brother met with the social worker. He wanted to be shaved, so I scared up a disposable razor and shaved him, and rubbed cream on his body, massaged his feet, and found socks because his feet were icy.

The television was showing a M.A.S.H. marathon, with the sound turned off. It was a very strange experience to be in a hospital, in the middle of medical procedures, looking through the small window of television into another hospital setting, watching other medical procedures happening.

I watched my friend Sheila, still running on the credits trailer after all these years. I wish I knew where Sheila is now, and hope she is doing okay.

- Jonathan and his family have come and gone. The house is once again calm and silent. Jon put woodwork around the French doors and did a lovely job. (Annoy Bush! Walk through a French door!)

I was going to plant some spring bulbs today but it's pouring.

I went to a birthday party for Cindy Hubble. (took her spring bulbs for a present.) During the party I had a nice conversation with her brother Brock. He's a fun and interesting person to be around.

Cindy has her new house done in animal/jungle motif, much as I imagine Anne wants to do hers. Brock did the wall murals of the palm trees and vines.

I tried on all the dresses I bought for a dollar at the Assistance League thrift shop when I went there with Jill and Sharon on Saturday. I didn't try them on there because I though for sure they would fit. Every one of them is too big. I'm going to wear them anyhow.

I was going to go to Jastro Park to protest tonight, but it's raining and dark and cold.

I went to the store today to buy mint extract for the layered mint brownies I am making. There was a new kind there, all natural and organic, pure peppermint. I thought it might be better so I gave it a try. Whew! The whole house smells like peppermint.

I also bought corned beef and cabbage to cook when my kids come home this weekend.

I had St. Pat's dinner at the Nations home. Karen made Irish Soda Bread in honor of the occasion, and I took my green brownies. I didn't think I would like the Irish Soda Bread, but I did. She kept basting it with buttermilk while it was baking.

Gaaah. War. I'm worried sick.

I cleaned the house, and am getting ready to finish wallpapering the bathroom. Next up: vegetable garden. (No, not Victory Garden; I'm too jaded for that.)

Susie is randomly home for the weekend.

SOMEBODY in my house came home from a stroll in the park wearing a big diamond on her finger. Now the sisters and the new fiance are in the bathroom giggling and doing manicures.

It kind of makes me sad because it's my diamond ring, which she inherited. Nostalgia I guess. I do, however, believe it's very wise of the kids to not buy a new ring since he has another year of school. He's going to be an accountant when he grows up-- he fits right in with all the pocket protector type men in our family.

I feel as though I'm perched on the edge of the Apocalypse, and I'm talking about commas.

Like Nabokov, at the outbreak of an earlier war:

My nerves were on edge because of the darkness of the earth, which I had not noticed muffling itself up, and the nakedness of the firmament, the disrobing of which I had not noticed either. Overhead, between the formless trees bordering my dissolving path, the night sky was pale with stars. In those years, that marvelous mess of constellations, nebulae, interstellar- gaps and all the rest of the awesome show provoked in me an indescribable sense of nausea, of utter panic, as if I were hanging from the earth upside down on the brink of infinite space, with terrestrial gravity still holding me by the heels but about to release me any moment. Except for two corner windows in the upper story (my mother''s sitting room) the house was already dark. . . . My mother reclined on the sofa with the St. Petersburg Rech in her hands and an unopened London Times in her lap. A white telephone gleamed on the glass-topped table near her. . . . An armchair stood by the sofa, but I always avoided it because o f its golden satin, the mere sight of which caused a laciniate shiver to branch from my spine like nocturnal lightning (226).

I ran a google search looking for ldsbride.com and one of the results that appeared was this:

3. Trumark Brand Slingshots - Ammo for Catapults View TRUMARK'S Complete Line of Slingshots / Catapults and Ammo. Established 1953 Trumark's popular wrist-braced sling shots / catapults ... Category: Recreation > Guns > Slings and Blowguns http://www.slingshots.com/

I went to JoAnn's and sat on the cell phone with Susie picking out dress patterns via long distance. I like the dress we picked out for her but it looks like it will be hard to make. I can't figure out how to make it with a back zipper instead of buttons, so it looks like a repeat of dressing Alyson in the bride's room. (shudder.) If the bodice were fitted differently a zipper would work, but nooooo. The dress she wants for Rachel is going to be easier and quicker to make than the dress Rachel wants.

I stayed home sick in bed today all day, until it was time to meet with the tax man. After that I crashed some more. I started feeling a little better about 5 p.m. but think I'll go to bed early so I can work tomorrow.