Barbies

One day when I was probably about 10 or 11, I was in my bedroom with a Barbie doll I had retrieved from the depths of some piles of stuff in a closet or under my bed. I decided that even though I had never really liked Barbies at all, I wanted to have a pretend friend who I would know everything about and who I could tell everything to. It lasted all of 18 seconds. Probably because Barbies are mute. I wanted to have a companion who would only know the good things about me and would be limited to that picture. Likewise, I would only know the neat and tidy things about her; the things I imagined didn't include catching colds and bodily functions.
Blogs seem to be a way for people to present a certain image of themselves - I can post whatever information I feel like presenting, and viewers who don't know me are limited to that information. My clothes on the floor and dishes on the counter probably won't make the cut in what I write. But they're there.
That's also one of the things I like about looking at other people's blogs. I can imagine that someone's car is clean, their office is immaculate and efficient, and their bathroom isn't filled with half-empty jars and bottles. I can imagine that they lead a magazine life. A TV character's life. One with no depth, but man, is it neat.
I'm realizing more and more that it truly is the 'messy' things in life that make it interesting and that make people unique. The messiness rounds everything out and makes us human. Trying to overcome those things and 'attain' just isn't worth it.

Devil's walking stick

I was outside doing some yard work this afternoon, getting a flower bed ready for a nice long sleep by clearing out all of the gout weed and trimming up the clematis and tearing down a really makeshift and ugly trellis. I am really excited for next spring and summer when I know what to expect will come up out of nowhere. Perhaps I shouldn't get my hopes up, lest I be sorely disappointed to realize that I paid too much attention to the plants and over-loved them. Hopefully that won't happen, especially not with the peonies that I missed blooming this year when I was away. This image is a Devil's Walking Stick, or Hercules' Club. It drops its branches in the fall and has a very thorny trunk. I think it's quite unique, and I'm glad we have one in the yard. Some of the other things I am excited to have are (in no particular order): daffodils, tulips, crocuses, 4 clematis, a japanese cherry tree, flowering quince, 2 snowball trees, a white lilac and a 'regular' one, a chestnut tree, japanese maple, 2 weigela, honeysuckle bush and vine, hydrangea, a dozen types of roses, a thornless raspberry patch, peonies, daylilies, lily of the valley, delphiniums, phlox, a HUGE oak tree, cedar trees, daisies, chinese lanterns, etc. Definitely a lot of work, and definitely worth it!

Freckled retina

An image of my fully functional right retina. How amazing is it that this is an actual photograph of my retina? I got a copy printed out so I can show it to my students when expalaining how the eye functions. There is a small freckle on my retina (just like a face freckle, only an interior one) just below my optic disc. That's the white bit - it's also what creates the blind spot that you have. Eyes and sight are so fabulous. And accommodating for the loss of vision is such a huge challenge. We take in 70% of the information about the world around us through vision. Having that sense compromised changes everything.

A few years ago

Adam took this picture of me a couple of years ago on the ferry between Digby, NS and Saint John, NB. I'm really only posting it here because that's the easiest way I can figure out how to get it in my profile.