Friday, April 29, 2011

I'm Eligible!

Yes, that's right. In the eyes of the hiring system for the Biologist job, I have been deemed Eligible. I think this is one of many little steps in the process, but I'm so pleased to have made it past the initial screen. Here's the definition.

"Eligible - Application Referred to Selecting Official: Applicant's name has been sent to the selecting official for further evaluation and possible selection."

Ha! Me and 50 other nerds.

It's still Poetry Month

Ahem. And I'm a couple of haiku short. So, I'm cheating and reposting this nice poem that I posted a few months ago. Courtesy of the OnBeing blog.

“Love after Love”
by Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Control


For as much as I'm a fan and proponent of science, I also recognize that there are workings that are beyond the reach of my conscious mind. I bought myself a Tarot deck a few years ago, and pull it out occasionally. IMO, it taps into what I am already thinking or feeling at some level, and brings it up for discussion (with myself, of course). I'm a total newbie/novice, but still manage to get something out of it a lot of the time.

This card came up in the "probable future" spot in the reading. For me at this time, this one's all about control.

Here's a blurb:

"The lesson of the Four of Pentacles is that control is impossible. We stand in the world as in a great ocean. Who could manage or possess such power? The only way to keep from drowning is to ride the currents. The ocean will support us as long as we swim with the flow."

Between my job search and my Mr. Right search, I've been weighed heavy with trying to make things happen. And happen NOW. Or when I want them to. With this in mind, I wanted to let these two aspects of my life know that I'm going to be letting them both go on their own for the weekend. I'm going to turn my computer off for much of the time, and work out in my garden. I'm going for coffee with new prospect P, and probably will try to hike with Sally on Sunday.

It's hard to let go!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Edging

Now THAT's an exciting blog post! Ha. I got my income tax refund recently and feel like I've got a few bucks to do some small improvements in my yard. One of them involves large quantities of mulch to cover or re-cover areas that I don't want to cut with the mower, with the related job of containing the mulch by installing edging. With the rain we've had lately, it should be relatively easy to install the edging, and it make such a difference to how my little yard will look. I'm keeping my options open for another raised bed or two where I put some of the mulch, but won't being doing those this year.

The tax refund has also made it OK that I hang on to the van for a while longer, despite no immediate job prospects come November. It's been running warm since I had the heater coil replaced last fall, and I made the appointment to bring it in to have them look at that, plus to make sure she's trip-worthy for the summer. I want to get out a lot this summer (note to self, maybe it's time to make some campground reservations...).

I did succumb and email the contact person for the Biologist job, as I haven't heard anything, and it's been over 4 weeks. Four rather anxious weeks, despite my best efforts to go with the flow, knowing that I have given it my best shot. She was gracious enough to get right back to me, and said they had received a large number of applications, and she expected to "have an update by Friday". I'm glad I emailed her. I'm just about to the point where I feel like I am checking the job sites enough, but not too much. When I look at something like "all the jobs in Fort Collins" that were posted in the last 24 hours, it's several hundred. I mean, it looks like there are a lot of jobs open, even if almost all of them are not my thing. Lots of medical, IT, financial positions. But this is a good place to have the skill I have, and I remain optimistic that I can find something in town.

Lastly, I finally got to speak again with P, the person I met when I was hiking the other day. He was out of town for a week, and we traded a few emails, but got to actually talk on the phone yesterday. So far so good. It's hard (duh) to get the nonverbal communication stuff over the phone, but we talked for about 40 minutes. We nailed down a time for coffee on Saturday.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Mild Holiday Angst

It was kind of a strange day today. I don't know where my head was (oh, wait, it was probably on some job classified site, but still) but I totally misread Mr W's interest in Easter. He must have spent the last few with his dad, because I had asked him if he wanted to dye eggs, he said no, so I bought a little box of chocolates, happy with my thoughtfulness. Boy, did I read that wrong. He was very upset that I didn't get him Easter candy, and cried actual tears for a while, although later admitted that he wrung it out a bit to see if I'd buy him a new game for his video game player. They are pretty savvy, but I didn't feel bad enough about it to offer that.

The above events did put me in a bit of a funk, and I actually got melancholy, which is unusual for me. I pined for the days when mom and dad had the holidays all planned out, down to our clothes and shoes. I was taken care of.

But we went to church, and doing that kind of dusted me off and propped me back up. I was hoping to get a little nugget to metaphorically put in my pocket, to help me get some perspective. The minister, who I adore, he's so good at what he does, talked a bit about how you have to have the lows so you can appreciate the highs. You have to know what the bad stuff feels like in order to appreciate the ecstasy of the good stuff. I liked that.

Mr W and I also went on a hike with the dog, and while I thought we'd go just part of the way around this trail, we ended up doing the whole two mile loop, which Sally loved because she got to go wading into the chilly water several times. Mr W hung tough until the last 1/4 mile or so, but still persevered. 

I called my family, my dad, and each of my brothers, and got to speak with my dad for a bit. I had let him know about my job situation via email, and he said the funniest things, which I got a lot of comfort from. It was like he was in my head, and said the stuff I needed to hear. He said he had talked with God about the job thing, and that it was all going to work out. Better than I expected, and things would be just fine. Then he went on to say, "You're not alone, honey." It makes me tear up just writing it again. I hadn't asked for the assist, but he gave it and it helped a lot. Later I got caught up with one brother and got an email from my SIL, so touched base with everyone.

Next year, I'll make up the basket, and heck, I'll even hide the thing, and leave clever clues (Mr W's going to regret asking today whether I had hidden his candy. It might be in the compost pile...) for him to work for finding it. He actually really enjoys that, and I think it's fun as well. I was sort of wanting ham, but made a tuna casserole (not the same) because the celery was going down fast.

In the end, it's up to me to make a stab at holiday traditions, whatever they end up being.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Aaaaaannnnddd another thing

I've just updated the "blogs I follow" list. I've got a slew of them in Google Reader, and just imported most of those.

Lots of good stuff!!

Job Seach Mini-Rant

To the HR people out there who write job descriptions, working with the people who actually will be supervising the new hire, carefully listing the requirements and expectations for the job, figuring out how many years of education candidates should have:

Would it kill you to give a salary range for the position?!!

"Commensurate with qualifications and experience" means almost nothing to me. Why do people do this? Is it to passively try to lowball potential workers so they don't have to be paid at the very top of the budgeted amount for the position? Do they not know how much money they have to spend on the position? I can't believe it's the latter. Do they think that giving a salary range reduces their bargaining power when it comes time to negotiate a salary?  Or that giving a salary range would turn some people off who might think the salary is too low and therefore not apply at all?

I just don't get it. A few years ago I talked to some people on campus about a Lab Manager job, and in the end, I'd have to take a huge pay cut. It wastes both our time to have me even come in, when if the salary was posted, I'd have passed on the job. And I feel weird asking up front. Furthermore, I simply told them I had to remove my name from consideration, and didn't say why, because I thought it would look bad. Greedy. On the other hand, maybe I should have known, although for a job that's just called "Lab Manager", I imagine there's a large range of salaries. Yes, I know how to find those salary surveys online, it just seems like they're never exactly like what I'm searching for.

That's one thing I like about trying to get in with a government agency. It's all out there at the beginning. And, they'll pay for a person to have an advanced degree. No, I still haven't heard anything on the Biologist job. On Monday it will have been four weeks since it closed, so I should hear something soon, like how my qualifications compared to other applicants.

But I'm keeping my eye out for a variety of things, and figured out a couple more keywords to search on that return the sorts of jobs that I could do. I haven't reached an equilibrium point yet between feeling like I'm actively searching enough and feeling like I'm spending too much time checking and rechecking job sites. Hopefully soon.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Garden 4-22-11

Lettuce and peas.


Apple blossoms!!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Haiku #6

I should wait for rain
To pull the copious weeds
Timing, everything

Sleep. And contract work

I should start this out by saying that I found out yesterday that I will get that bit of funding to take me three months or so past the end of my work contract. That is very good, although the details have yet to be worked out and I'll have to be some kind of other contractor, where I buy my own health insurance and take out my own taxes. I don't dislike that, it's just that I don't want to do it wrong. And ambivalent is the word of the hour there; it is great to get a little extension (so I'll have a job through Halloween) but my need/want to have a full time thing is still pretty strong.

This segues nicely into what I wanted to say about sleep. When things are humming along, I'll get about 7-7.5 hours of sleep during the week, and maybe 8-9 on the weekends. I wake up once, and then go back to sleep pretty easily. When my mind is occupied with thoughts of things that are not settled, it makes me wake up early. I'm thankful that I usually don't have trouble falling asleep, but I'll wake up earlier than I want to.

Anyway, I can tell a difference when I've gotten a couple of decent nights' sleep because I start to plan. I start to think forward, and that is a good feeling. I woke up this morning feeling that way, and am relieved. I have a lot of work to get done in the garden/yard this weekend, and it helps to be looking forward to it with enthusiasm.

I've always envied those people who can fall asleep at the drop of a hat and do 8-9 hours, no matter where they are or what's going on in their lives. I've wondered if a person could be trained to be more like that.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Some musings

I'm still thinking about the juxtaposition of seeing old flame CB, and meeting this new person, P on the same day. I don't quite know what to do with the feelings related to knowing there is someone out there with whom I share this great chemistry and who feels the same about me, yet we can't be together. With Mr W's dad here in town, I simply can't pick up and move. I can't do that to Mr W solely for my benefit. And CB can't do it on his end either. So, I will let these feelings recede and sort of put them in a pretty box in my mind. And look forward.

Look forward to getting to know P. I take it as a good sign that we talked easily and about interesting stuff on the trail, so I imagine there will be more of the same. He works at an art museum, so he's a student of history and is like-minded on things I care about, and is outdoorsy.

Back to Mr W. He went to the doctor the other day for just a check up and almost weighs as much as Sally the dog now. 80 pounds. He's still slender, and I worry that one of these days, his lack of having a sport that he does regularly is going to catch up with him. But he's quite healthy, and I am thankful. Last night for the first time, he asked that I set the alarm clock instead of waking him up myself. You got it, kid. We'll have to find something other than NPR to wake him up to, maybe a CD.

He sometimes bemoans that fact that he has to attend the after school care, while "everyone" else does not. Has to go to the all-day day care when they have a day off from school and his dad and I are working. It usually ends up as, "well, that's just how it is, and most kids have two parents that work" Blah, blah, blah. I guess it's part of being a kid that he can't see that in a couple of years he'll be capable of staying home on his own, and won't have to go to that stuff. Two years is a long time for a 10 year old, though, isn't it?

Sunday, April 17, 2011

An Open Letter to Mike G

Dear Mike (for those of you who don't know Mike, he's a good friend of my brother's and commenter here):

Just wanted to let you know that I took your recent advice to wish for my prince to come. While I was washing dishes on Friday night, I said, out loud, "I want to meet him. I want to meet a nice guy who is potential partner material."

I'd thought share how my day went yesterday (the next day, Saturday).

1. I went hiking with a local Meet Up group. We went to the Red Mountain Open Space north of Fort Collins, where it was (and always is) windy but really beautiful country. When we first got there, there was a group member from Laramie, WY (which is about an hour north of FC) who met us there, and he was driving a red Insight like SIL Mary's. I went over to see how he liked it and we talked a bit. Later in the hike, we were chatting, and it turns out he's from Ohio, and went to the same college that I went to, but graduated a couple of years before I got there. He's asked me out for coffee, and we're volleying emails to set it up.

2. Riding as a passenger on the way to the hike, I'm checking my email, and see that a guy from the dog park who is part of our little group that always seems to bring their dogs there at the same time, has sent me a message, saying if I ever wanted help in my garden, to give him a call. I see him as a friend, but it's still nice to be asked, you know?

3. Finally, in the evening, I drove to Denver and met up with old friend (and former long distance relationship guy) CB, who had been in town leading a tour. I sat in on their last dinner, and it was a really nice experience to see how CB and his co-leader interact with the clients, and how much they obviously enjoying themselves. I was not expecting to feel pretty much the same about him, after a year and a half of being apart. So goes this matter of the heart. It was great to see him. The combination of the 900 mile distance and the need to be good parents to our young kids is difficult to surmount.

How's that for asking and receiving?

I mean, I've been whining for months now about this, but I haven't actually sent a request to... um, whoever receives such things. I'm a nerd who is firmly on the side of science on most things, but the degree of coincidence here is a little freaky.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Haiku #5

Job searching feels like
holding my breath for too long
while life continues

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Mixed

I got an email from the x this afternoon, telling me that he and his girlfriend are now engaged. No firm plans on the particulars yet but they are staying in town.

I have mixed feelings on this. I don't mind, or care that he's taking this step. I really don't. There has never been any ambiguity as to our status, and I am thankful for that. And furthermore, as I told him when I replied to his email, anything the promotes stability in Mr W's life is fine by me. She seems a reasonable person, has a son of her own (a couple of years younger than Mr W) and doesn't seem to have any hangups about her role in his life. I asked Mr W tonight what he thought, thinking that, like a lot of kids of divorced parents, that he might be a little sad that this event meant that his parents really would never get back together.

He said it was fine, and then asked right away how I felt about it. And then asked if I was ever going to get married again. I hope I don't appear like this crazy spinster type person to him. I told him that I was really looking forward to being married again, I just hadn't found the right guy yet. His response was, "So someday, I'll belong to two families." Yup, that's been the goal, my sweet offspring.

This gets to why this news kind of sat like a pebble in my shoe today. I'm a little bummed out that I am not in the same place. I'm a little sad that I am not in the same position. I haven't by any means lost hope, but I figured I'd be there by now. But here I am, and life is good. I'm looking forward to a lot of things. The job thing will resolve itself. My kid and I are healthy. The important stuff is in place.

Occupied

It was another up and down-ish sort of day yesterday on the job front. I'm still waiting (it might be too soon yet) to hear something on the fed job, which I will call the Biologist job to distinguish it from another fed job I'll talk about shortly. The Biologist job closed a little over two weeks ago, but I'd like to know NOW, thanks. It's nice that they let you see, on the electronic application system, whether all of your materials have been received, and mine have. So it's just a waiting game.

I finally heard about the teaching jobs. I didn't get them! Not too surprising there. I'm still a bit flummoxed as to what exactly they were looking for that I didn't even rate an interview. Well, fine, then. Keep your $9,000 a year pay cut and I'll take my talents elsewhere. It's kind of like that, that I was willing to sacrifice in order to do this important job, and they more or less said, "No. No thanks". If there were a clearer message to move on and focus somewhere else, I don't know what it is.

Did you read/listen to the piece on NPR about aging and stress? A new study indicated that our ability to bounce back from stressful events has something to do with longevity. Looking forward, I am.

I had been meaning to contact a friend who I hadn't talked to for a while. I am friends with he and his wife and our kids went to the same daycare when they were little spuds. He works for a nonprofit that helped me choose my study organism when I was in school, and has since become its director. I emailed him to see if he knew anyone that might be connected to the Biologist job, and he said no, but he'd keep his eyes open for other positions.

That night, that NIGHT, he forwards me an email that is what they call an "Outreach Notice" where another agency wants to gauge interest in a position before it's actually posted. The position is another fed position, in town, and is for something called a "Science Application and Delivery Specialist". Another job that is right up my alley, blending science and the explaining of science. And it pays well, too. This one is mostly the explaining of science. I'm still marveling at the timing of it. I would have seen the posting when it becomes official in a month or so, but now I've sent my resume directly to the person I'd be working for. How cool is that?

They are still trying to wrangle the extra months for me at work, and I feel ambivalent about working so hard to get out of there and finding the next thing. I hope the timing works out so I can get done all I want to there, and then take a couple of weeks off and start the new thing. HA! Right. But that's OK.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Progress


Here is my Cadence as of this morning. I did move all the live stitches to scrap yarn so I could try it on, and the neckline, which is really wide in the pattern, and which I made on smaller needles, will work fine. The yarn is pretty grabby, so I've had to change the way I hold it and that has sped up the process a lot. I'm ready to do the 2" of ribbing on the bottom now, and then hopefully knock out the sleeves.

I say hopefully, because this is the time of year when knitting loses its appeal to gardening. I used to worry that I'd lost interest in knitting all together, but it comes back in the fall. I like the rhythm of that. I was outside for a bit yesterday, and made a long list of things that need to be done in order to properly usher in spring/summer at my house.

Has anyone every tried doing weed control by pouring boiling water on the weeds? The previous owners put down pea gravel in the font of the house and it always has weeds, which I usually knock back with Roundup, but would like to find an alternative. I did a test patch yesterday, and the leaves sure looked cooked, but I'll have to wait and see it that actually kills the plant. I remember seeing a butane torch apparatus in a gardening catalog that allowed the user to burn weeds, and thought that was a good idea for this small space, too.

Since the government shutdown isn't going to happen, it's back to work today, and I am relieved.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Haiku #4

Sally hearts dog park
Tongue dotted with dirt and grass
Please, just throw the ball

Friday, April 8, 2011

Haiku #3

Government shutdown
Bicker like little children
I've got work to do

Similarities

With the pending government shutdown, it feels like I'm losing my job twice. I can't believe that actual adults are compelled to let the government shut down so they can posture themselves into a better political position. I didn't think it would happen, but here we are on the day, and no budget. I only hope now that I will be able to enjoy myself on this involuntary furlough, as it's out of my hands.

We're not going to starve, and indeed today is payday, so we'll be OK for a few days while it gets sorted out. Did you know the shutdown of 1996 was 21 days? That's a little scary. I don't remember much about it.

Have you seen the Decorah Eagle webcam? I observed eagles for my MS, and while some say it's like watching paint dry, I find it fascinating. More like watching a fish in a tank. The little ones were just born in the last week or so, they come out from under the mom relatively frequently.

OK, back to the job stuff. So I've been putting my resume up on Monster, and the federal job site, and Career Builder. I've heard from several recruiters for things like selling insurance and being an analyst in WI, but nothing serious there. Which is fine, I guess I don't really expect to have a future employer find me in that way, I'd just like to be ready to tweak a resume that's on the site and send it along as an application.

But there is a similarity to posting one's resume online, and posting an online personal ad. I didn't realize this until I went onto Monster and saw that my resume had been viewed by two "potential employers". And I felt that little rush I felt when people looked at my profile. That's so freaky. Look at me! Look at me! To what end, I have no idea. I need to expand my search and submit resumes for some positions that I sort of qualify for.

I can see that attitude is a big driver in this. If I feel down in the dumps about it, that's going to come through when I'm deciding what to say in a cover letter. Nothing's really changed in my search for a new job, the openings just aren't moving fast enough. That's another similarity between this search and my search for a partner. Oh, why, Universe!? Why do I have to learn this lesson over and over?! Enjoying the ride in the meantime is so very difficult.

This segues me into the other thing that is going on. The person I was in the long distance relationship with is in CO working this week and next. We're going to eventually get together for a visit at the end of his tour, and I'm looking forward to seeing him. It has made me remember, though, how hard it was to do the long distance thing. "Waiting gracefully" was the term I used for being able to live my life between visits, and it was something I was never able to master.

So, as life will go, I have an opportunity to put my money where my mouth is today. I don't feel like going out and having fun, but my son's class needed a chaperone for a field trip to a park today, and I'm going. I'll go into work for a few hours in the afternoon to prepare for the shutdown, but am going to concentrate on just being with my kid today. He's really looking forward to it, and I felt (but covered it up) sort of ho-hum last night. Today we will have a nice time, it's supposed to be a nice day and those kids are always a lot of fun.

It will work out, and I'm doing what I can about the things I can do something about.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

CPR class





Work offered a free CPR class yesterday, so I took it. It has been a while, over 10 years, and the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) is at the forefront of the process now. They've also changed the sequence of steps from ABC to CAB, meaning that a round of chest compressions (hard and fast!) should start right after assessing that the scene is safe, followed by checking airway and breathing.

This emphasis on the AED of course assumes that when someone goes down, someone can start chest compressions, while someone ELSE calls 911 and gets the AED. We have seven of them at work, and I could get to one if need be. Great, so if there's a crisis outside of work, where do you go? It occurred to me that there should be a smart phone application for that. And there is, so I will download it to to my phone today.

Participating in stuff like this always makes me a little anxious that I would someday have to put the knowledge to work. Everyone should at least (if I may pontificate for a moment) have read how to use one. The statistics are staggering. Almost a quarter of a million people go into sudden cardiac arrest each year.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

More Spring Cleaning


Here are my seedlings this morning. I have to laugh at the scale of my "operation" here at Casa LindaCO. That's half broccoli, and then some tomatoes, cantaloupe and pickling cucumbers. I also started some broccoli and tomatoes for the community garden that grows stuff to donate to the food bank. The rest of what I want to plant needs to be direct-sown so we'll do that in about a month.

I'd like to finish this sweater I'm working on before it gets warm, but time is getting short and I can feel the desire to knit starting to slip away like it always does when it gets warm. I'm about half-way done, so it's anyone's guess at this point.

I was listening to a song on my iPod the other day and had the most curious thought. The song was "Useless Desires" by Patty Griffin. The link is for a live version video. For some reason, this song found its way to me the summer of 2006, when I thought (incorrectly) that I was ready to start dating again. I met someone online, and we had a really good rapport, electronically, anyway. I remember it feeling so great, and that perhaps this was it (or maybe IT). After we met, he absolutely lost interest. Perhaps because I was just a wee bit taller? We'll never know, but the despair I felt was a really good lesson about infatuation vs the real thing, and when to let your guard down, that kind of thing.

So I heard this song last week when I was going over data on the computer in the lab, and I had this thought, which was: if I could go back to the Linda of the summer of 2006, I'd tell her that things are going to be OK. I'd tell her the road to finding a partner isn't nearly as linear as she would have hoped, but that we've learned a lot about the important stuff in life so far along the way. And we are strong (most of the time).

Then I thought, how about the future Linda? The five years hence Linda? What sage and sound advice would she return with? My hope is that she'd say I'm currently doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and that things with finding Mr. Right fall into place when they should and in a very natural and fun way. I'm hoping also that she'd rave about what a great thing it turned out to be to get the kick in the pants to move from my current position to the thing she's doing. Meeting people, working in some kind of conservation biology and/or science communication sort of job.

And this all made me smile a bit.

Current Favoritist Song




Disclaimer: I listened to this song before I saw the video, which is sort of odd. Not obscene or gory or anything, but I don't get the exploding people at the end... I suggest you listen to it before you watch the video, maybe? Anyway, I love the words and the beat. The teacher at my Spin class was nice enough to let me foist a playlist on her yesterday, and this was on it. Go! Run! Be happy!!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Haiku #2 and Spring notes




Yesterday I bought a few bags of Sheep and Peat yesterday, and worked that into the soil of my raised beds. After trying to keep up with turning compost and watering the pile during this really dry winter, I have no finished compost to give to my garden this year. I guess it's going to be a two year process. I have a spin composter for my kitchen scraps and that goes pretty fast, especially now that it's warming up. I wish I could just throw compostable stuff on a pile and leave it alone, but I don't have the space.

I also shored up the raised beds by putting wood screws in at the corners, and will be switching what is grown in each bed, so I moved the trellis and planted lettuce and peas yesterday. The garden center where I bought single starts of lettuce last year had their lettuce in four-cell packs, so I bought two, one green, one red. That's a lotta lettuce. I also got my snap peas planted, and planted a lot - most of a package. It feels good to be underway.

Last night, I woke up around 2:30 to the smell of smoke. It has been a really dry winter, so my thought, after I sniffed around my appliances and found nothing on fire, was that it was a wildfire somewhere. Sure enough, there's a fire burning west of town and the wind blew the smoke right into town. Humans must have some really basal mechanism that says, "Hey! Fire! Don't sleep, you might have to flee!" because the rest of the night I was restless. At the time I write this, it's 2000 acres and only about 30% contained, so people are being evacuated. Nothing to worry about here in town, though, except the smoke. After an 80 (!) degree day yesterday, it's supposed to snow this afternoon. It's so Colorado, but that weather should help the firefighters' efforts.

Here's a haiku for my gardening efforts yesterday.


Bags of Sheep and Peat
turned over to feed the soil
The peas are happy

Friday, April 1, 2011

National Poetry Month


It's National Poetry Month in April, and I thought I would give myself a light challenge of writing at least 10 haiku (haikus?) this month. Sounds pretty reasonable, especially since I'm going to use one that I wrote a while ago to start off.  The poster above is from the 2010 celebration and I just love it for some reason. Love how it looks like paper cutouts assembled together, love the colors, love the line of poetry. It just really does it for me. I have this image on my desktop at work (I guess for about a year now!).

OK, here's #1:

Don't know much about
the laws of attraction, but
haiku writers, wow!

I wrote this when I was doing the online dating thing.

Hey, here's an idea! Feel free to play along.