I woke up at 7am. The laundry is now done, the house is vacuumed free of dust bunnies and my stuff is packed. I'm ready to head out on the road for a week and leave the house and cat in care of a friend. Whew! It's almost like going on vacation except i'm getting paid to play each morning with the kids. I'm going to try and track down the tardy photos from last weekend on my way out of town. If i find them i may have some new stuff to post this evening...~w

What kind of music does wendi listen to? Not that anyone's asked lately, but maybe the question should be rephrased...what kind of music doesn't wendi listen to? My mom and sister could answer that one right off the bat...anything country (with a very few exceptions, but for safety just rule out the category for now). I do get strange hankering for music every now and then. For a while i was on a Counting Crows (August & Everything After and Across a Wire) kick which led to Tom Waits (Used Songs) and Dave Matthews (Everyday) somehow. Tiring of the boys i moved to Natalie Merchant's new Motherland album. Then i just laid off the music for a while. But lately something's been pushing me toward...atmospheric or something. More complicated than Natalie and less rock than Dave. So yesterday i ended up with Enigma and Delerium. The only excuse i have is that it's National Poetry Month and the title of the Delerium album is Poem...so how could i resist. Enigma...it's well Love Sensuality and Devotion and well...those things cause many poems.

By the way, i've been toying with a new search engine teoma. It's awfully slick looking, but i'm finding that google still gets me where i want to go faster though.~w

For a person who usually dreams quite a lot, i feel like i've been blind without them lately. Perhaps i'm dreaming my waking life so thoroughly right now that my brain needs a break.~w

My first yellow tulip bloomed yesterday! Hurrah! I've had this place for over two years now and this is the first time i've been here to see the tulips bloom. Today i have 3 lovely yellow-orangey ones that opened up and i noticed that the azaleas have all set buds that are about to burst. I hate to go away next week and miss all that happens in the yard. But apparently that just the way my schedule works.~w

It's National Poetry Month! This year to celebrate there is a focus on Langston Hughes since he would have turned 100 this year in February. Today is Langston Hughes poetry reading day. So go out there and read some poetry by Langston Hughes. Or, gather some friends and form a reading group. Still don't know where to start? How about with one of my favorite Langston Hughes poems "Life is Fine." However, his most famous poem is probably "Harlem" often referred to as "A Dream Deferred" and the source of the title for Lorraine Hansberry's award winning play "A Raisin in the Sun." As for the rest of the month...you still have time to place a bid in Yahoo!'s rare poetry book auction.

Hey, i just discovered that it's also National Poetry Month in Canada! Dang! I missed reciting Dennis Lee's "Alligator Pie" with the Canadians at 8:45am this morning...Maybe those of you in Mountain, Pacific time and beyond still have a chance.

If you're in the UK you have plenty of time since it appears that National Poetry Day isn't until Thursday 10 October.

Happy Poeting!~w

Still celebrating the New Year? Well, APRIL FOOL, Pope Gregory changed the calender back in 1582. Now, instead of celebrating the new year with new life, we celebrate it right after the return of light. Oh, and there was a question about whether the Pope set the date of Easter. Actually, while it appears that Emporer Constantine set the date of Christmas, Easter was celebrated before the cruxifiction and that is why Pilate released a prisoner on that day (St. Matthew 27:15).~w

I almost didn't go hiking yesterday. I woke to a cloudy damp day and thought it wouldn't get much better. But then i realized that i hike in the Northwest had rarely been in sunshine, so what was i complaining about. So, just for the length of time it took to get from my friend's house to the trail, up the trail and back again the sun came out to shine in the Carolina mountains and make the hike gorgeous. I guess that was what i needed to do.~w