for those of you who are missing my comments on your blog post......
i'm having issues with my puter. your sites with "word verification" won't completely load and without the word verification....i can't leave a message...so...hopefully it gets fixed soon.
for now....i'll be out working in my flower beds.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Monday, May 29, 2006
Worth saying...twice.
Excerpt From Slaughterhouse Five On Memorial Day
(pp. 53-55)
Billy Pilgrim padded downstairs on his blue and ivory feet. He went into the kitchen, where the moonlight called his attention to a half bottle of champagne on the kitchen table, all that was left from the reception in the tent. Somebody had stoppered it again. "Drink me," it seemed to say.
So Billy uncorked it with his thumbs.
It didn't make a pop.
The champagne was dead.
So it goes.
Billy looked at the clock on the gas stove. He had an hour to kill before the saucer came. He went into the living room, swinging the bottle like a dinner bell, turned on the television. He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.
Slaughterhouse Five
by Kurt Vonnegut, 1969
(pp. 53-55)
Billy Pilgrim padded downstairs on his blue and ivory feet. He went into the kitchen, where the moonlight called his attention to a half bottle of champagne on the kitchen table, all that was left from the reception in the tent. Somebody had stoppered it again. "Drink me," it seemed to say.
So Billy uncorked it with his thumbs.
It didn't make a pop.
The champagne was dead.
So it goes.
Billy looked at the clock on the gas stove. He had an hour to kill before the saucer came. He went into the living room, swinging the bottle like a dinner bell, turned on the television. He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.
Slaughterhouse Five
by Kurt Vonnegut, 1969
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Here is where I stood today....
We visit this spot frequently, and I never tire of it. The drive is about 2 hours from here... 100 miles. Bannack was the first Territory Capitol in Montana. I feel a connection here...a real connection.
BTW, it snowed today. The flakes were at least 2 inches in diameter. I got soaked walking up to the old cemetery on this hill. I walked in and through every single one of these buildings. The ghost at the hotel didn't seem too close, this time.
AND we stopped at the Patagonia Outlet store in Dillon and boy did I shop!
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
tomorrow is
the last day with students, friday is the last day of school. after this week i'll have lots more time to write!
Monday, May 22, 2006
i know--
time for a new blog post. i've just had SO much going on lately that i just haven't the time or heart to write any of it. being a teacher is a bittersweet thing when your top seniors graduate...a double edged sword. umm. can't say much more than that, it hurts too much.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Monday, May 08, 2006
Sunday, May 07, 2006
2417 US Fatalities in Iraq.
Here are some "precious moments" pic, they've been around before, but still worth looking at....
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Going for a hike
along the Madison. Will hopefully have some pics to post when we get back....and lots of stories!
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
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