where have all the flowers gone?

My mom used to sing that song “Where have all the flowers gone?” The lyrics are so beautiful and so sad. About how all the flowers end up by the graves of fallen soldiers. Now it seems they may disappear altogether.

Lately I’ve been reading up a lot on the disappearance of bees. The U.S. and much of Europe have both seen an almost 50% reduction in the number of bees and just today Thailand reported a 75% reduction.

There are numerous theories as to what is causing this. The bees are leaving the hive and never returning. Some say it’s due to pesticides, some say it’s due to interference in their navigation system that comes from cell phone frequencies. Whatever it is, it’s scary because bees are responsible for 1 in every 3 bites of food we take.

Albert Einstein once wrote that “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

We spend so much time talking about global warming that it’s shocking to me how underrated this problem is in the media and how unaware most of us are. Some people talk about being prepared for Armageddon when they watch news of natural disasters taking place around the globe, and that is reason enough to worry, but it’s something I’ve not gotten too worked up about. I just keep thinking about this bee thing, because it seems to be sneaking up on us, not many people are noticing it, and because it seems kind of unbelievable.

One journalist, writing about it said: “Instead of thinking of ourselves as consumers and competitive free agents, we need to start thinking of ourselves as passengers on a boat that is sinking...”--Dave Lindorff, of the Philadelphia Inquirer

I want to get on the party boat.

twinkie sushi

Maybe now the HB will eat sushi with me!

It's so cute. It's sort of inspiring how Twinkie's can still come up with great marketing ideas.

Vonnegut foot connection

Kurt Vonnegut died this week. I felt a sort of connection with him after learning about how the aliens in his novel "Cat's Cradle" mingled their souls together. They did so by pressing the bottoms of their feet together. It may sound odd, but I think that's really intimate. My twin sister and I used to soak our feet in out bathroom sink together all the time. Later, sometimes we would do it after dances, or after being out in the cold, or just to relax and talk before bed. As we got older and our feet got bigger they filled the sink so we had to rotate whose feet were on top like the sandwich game you play with your hands. Want to mingle your soul with someone else's, or open your hearts to each other? Soak your feet in a small sink together.

On the HB's 30th birthday

30 things I love about him:

1.he gets excited about trying a new rootbeer
2.when telling a story, he includes all the autobiographical details of everyone in the story
3.he buys the same pair of Adidas every time his shoes get worn out
4.I can beat him at air hockey
5.I can’t always beat him at speed anymore
6.he likes to take pictures and appreciates their sentimental value
7.sometimes he brushes his teeth for six or seven minutes
8.he has beautiful blue eyes
9.the way he plays with little animals and with babies
10.he makes me laugh every time he quotes “the big lebowski”
11.he went to my yoga class with me
12.he taught me to love football
13.he gets excited about a new tool
14.he lets me sleep in when I can
15.he is over prepared for every camping trip we take
16.he hiked all the way to sundial peak with me having no idea how long it would take
17.he tells me he loves me and that I’m hot
18.he gets dirty and fixes things
19.he makes me laugh when he tries to speak in Japanese (buta-chan, buta-chan)
20.he sings AC/DC like it should be sung—unintelligible, but imitating the voice well
21.he’s gone to concerts with me when he didn’t know the band at all
22.he introduced me to the Eagles of Death Metal and admitted the lead singer was hot because he was so flirtatious
23.family is very important to him
24.he made that army movie of Caiden
25.he is hilarious in that 80’s music video he made with his brothers
26.he practices baseball with Caiden
27.he fake laughs when I tickle him
28.he keeps a blanket in his truck for me
29.he lets me tease him
30.he asked me out

ant

Caiden proudly presented me with this Saturday morning when I came outside.

tough T

I’m thinking of getting the above tee for those late-night walks I like. Formerly, I was given a small can of mace to carry with me from the HB. After hearing about those walks and grocery-store runs I used to make at all hours from my last house, he’s since become more anxious about the ones I take now. We rode our bikes past my old house last night. Of all the places I’ve lived, I miss that place the most. I think I felt invincible when I lived there, in all respects—it was a time when I felt like I could do anything and be anyone I wanted to, nothing inhibiting me. No need for mace or tough tees then.

Actually I just thought it was creative and cool. It was recommended on the website: www.iliketotallyloveit.com

Peekay's chicken

Yesterday I brought in my plastic and furry peeping Easter chic into my office. This morning he was hanging from the fire sprinkler. Apparently, after I left yesterday, one of the women sitting next to be left the chic on the chair of our office Scrooge with a note saying “I think you’re just peepin’ awesome!” I thought this was pretty ingenious, because I’m sure he laughed, but didn’t want us to know. So his response this morning was to hang the chic before we arrived in the office--all in good fun though.

Since my job was sort of invented for me, I kind of lucked out to sit in the graphics department. It’s away from the execs in the other building and on a different floor than most of the other marketing and brand managers. Some like to call it “the music lounge.” So we do this sort of thing. We also talk about politics, religion, culture, dinosaurs, progression, music, and naked stories. But I had to tell them about Peekay because even though I wasn’t devastated by the hanging of my Easter chic, my story about Peekay did make Joe hold the chic and pet it for a minute, which was really amusing.

Peekay was in the book to movie “the power of one.” He’s an English orphan in a South African private school. He has a pet chicken that is the source of his only comfort and solace. Peekay is always being beat up by some bullies in the school but one day they do the unthinkable—they hang his pet chicken. It’s the saddest movie moment that exists, bypassing any death scene I’ve ever watched. It’s an incredible story though about a boy who overcomes the odds, never judges others despite being treated so poorly, and does his best to do his share of changing the world.

do you want me to eat the devil?

There is always something that makes each trip unique, even if it's to a place you've been before. This time I was happy to be there sharing them with the HB and I knew the hikes were ones that Caiden and his cousins would enjoy. Ty bought a camping oven sort of last minute, it looks like a laptop, skinny and silver, but opens up to reveal a small oven that can be heated on top of a little stove. About the time we were returning to camp from Goblin Valley I started begrudging the fact that he'd thought to buy an oven, but not a rhubarb pie. Now we know what we have to try next time.

So, I won't say much more about the trip, but I have to note 2 memorable quotes of Caiden's. Tyler told him to do something that he didn't want to, I can't remember if it was to just to come down and get going with us, or what, but Caiden kind of argued, and then responded, as if he'd thought up a good one: "And actually, you shouldn't be that mean."

Later on, the second morning, Tyler had made oatmeal for us all for breakfast like he had the first morning. Caiden didn't want to eat his, and Tyler wouldn't let him have any red vines until he had. Caiden, trying to think of the worse possible, and most convincing argument, said: "Do you want me to eat the devil?" He really didn't want to finish his oatmeal.

It was awesome. Tyler did a ton for this trip, making lots of grocery runs during the week and packing us all up on Friday and having everyone ready to go when I met them. I loved the feeling of working together with him when we both helped the kids climb up something or get past something they weren't sure they could. And, as much as I love to hike around on my own, I also love it when he helps me too, or just kind of looks our for me.