spoonerism

Ok, so my 2nd grade extremely distractable son is sitting at his desk trying to do his homework. He's supposed to be identifying character's feelings based on events that happened in the story he just read.
A few weeks ago, my husband acquired a 54-year-old bottle of "House of Lords" Scotch Whiskey from his deceased father's stash (according to his mother, it was a wedding gift to his parents) Said bottle is just sitting on a shelf a few feet from said son's wandering mind. Suddenly he says, "The spoonerism for House of Lords is Louse of Hordes".....
Needless to say, I cut his homework from 6 events/feelings down to 3, for being so innocently brilliant and giving us such a good laugh.

free

a word i love
with its open syllable falling off the cliff
screaming its name
not like freedom
closed in the shed with its
blind patriotism and the words
"I fought for your" in front of it
free is something you are
not something you have
it is preceded by "If you love something, set it"
free to be you and me (oh how I had a crush on Marlo Thomas!)
free stuff
free clinics
freeloaders
free speech
free falling
free will

god, inc.

When not teaching, doing laundry, washing dishes, cooking dinner, or dealing with two wild brothers, I like to google God. You just never know what you might find. A few weeks ago I ended up in God's office. Here's episode 1

i love words

I just learned two
new words
within mere seconds of one another!

From Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson: "He was so alarmed by the unpalatable image he'd conjured up that he knocked over his tea, not that one more stain could make any difference to a cloth that was a palimpsest of previous tea-related accidents. 'Something wrong, Mr. Brodie?' Binky inquired, mopping up the tea with the hem of her skirt, but before he could reply a cry like a huntsman's tantivy from the top end of the garden announced the arrival of Quintus Rain."

Your assignment (since I am, of course, a teacher) is to use one of these words in an original sentence.*

*optional

The Queen of Trees

The sycomore fig tree of Kenya, and its interconnectedness with the fig wasp and a host of other characters, was featured on Nature tonight. My boys (all three) and I were enraptured. Stunning photography, and a vivid reminder of the amazing planet we inhabit.
The Queen of Trees
In the words of my husband... "sure makes you appreciate Fig Newtons, doesn't it?"

Cocoon of Worlds

do you have one?
you know-
the one who
held your heart for what seemed like eternity
but it was only
the not-quite-grown-up-time.
Here is one of mine.
tell me about yours.

my mother's lipsticks

My mother died on Aug. 2nd, 2006. My brother and I spent three weeks together in her condo, cleaning out cupboards, sifting through papers, phoning companies. When we thought we had boxed, bagged, sold, given away, or trashed just about everything, I opened a tiny drawer in the bathroom, to find these. I don't think I have gone through one entire lipstick in my whole life (except maybe one of those Bonnebelle lip gloss things in adolescence, but I don't think that counts). I was amazed to find this whole slew of used up, half used up, and barely used lipsticks...

birthday

I just turned 40
turned over a new leaf
turned the corner
around something
i didn't even know was there
turned around in circles
and turned back to face
myself