random thoughts on a wednesday

My friend, who is clearly a Photoshop wizard, created this image masterpiece to commemorate an upcoming bike trip.  I am the unicorn.  So lifelike.

Yesterday our dog Charlie was (finally) neutered.  He has been wearing the cone of shame to keep him from bothering his stitches.  Apparently the cone of shame is heavier than its thin plastic frame would suggest as he walks with it scraping the ground as if the weight of it is too much for his neck muscles to bear.  I can tell he wants to communicate his distress to me by the way he whined the entire night long.  Yes, the entire night long.  Until we took the cone off this morning.  Now he is sleeping peacefully in the morning light.

This morning my son saw a large animal step into the woods about <this> tall with a long tail, wolf-like head, and it was skin colored.  I'm pretty sure he saw a coyote and it's more worrisome to me that we have another coyote in our yard (what with all our chickens and ducks and small children) than the possibility of some kind of were-creature, but I wonder how I'll feel when the next full moon comes about.

I woke up craving avocado on toast.  Alas, we have no avocados.  And now nothing else will do.  Does that ever happen to you?

I had brunch with ex-poet laureate Billy Collins yesterday at the local college.  Listening to him read his poems was one of the most enjoyable things I have done in recent memory.  A friend of mine said that she envied that I could understand poetry, that it was all a lot of gobbledygook to her.  That made me think and I realize that I may not be getting the full meaning of the written word, but that it doesn't make it any less enjoyable for me.  Ignorance is bliss?  I think the same applies to visual art.  I can look at a piece without knowing the maker's intent and enjoy it all the same.  If I later learn what the artist was trying to say, it allows me to enjoy it in a different way.  What does that mean?  I don't know, this is a random post after all.

I'm teaching a needle-felting class tomorrow night and I'm so eager to do it.  I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.  Also, choosing what snacks to make is more nerve-wracking than planning the lesson plan.

I've been thinking about something my grandpa says - "It's easier to pull a rope than to push a rope."  But what if you can't get people to come along with you even when you're leading the way?  Is it okay to make a lasso and drag them with the rope?

I have many, many things I need to finish today.  Funny how deadlines seem to crop up all on the same day like that.  Coffee, take me away.  

Time to start the day.  I hope you all have a great mid-week.