Top Ten Reasons We Were Away From The Blog For Two Weeks

1. Another alien abduction experience.

2. Lots of yogurt and raisins to clean up off the floor.

3. Another root canal.

4. High on Vicodin.

5.Tsunami-proofing the apartment.

6. Too tired and high to come up with Ten Reasons we were away from the blog.

Here's our new Simple Living weekly dinner menu:

Sunday: Roast Chicken

Monday: Chicken Soup and Pie

Tuesday: Giant Salad Night

Wednesday: Chili

Thursday: World Cultures Day

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Take-out

As for everything else, here is everything else: it's cold in Sunnyside, but the violets are surviving in the gardens of Sunnyside Gardens. The Beast can now say "New York City" and is also a very good dancer and knows her Norman kings (really). We're learning some Welsh songs to prepare for a visit from Grandma and Grandpa of Wales. Meanwhile, we despise the Obama team for going to Libya. Have we not enough wars? And not closing Guantanamo. And not abolishing the Death Penalty. We told you so before the election. Everyone was like He's great. He's different. He sucks.

Tomorrow we'll be on a panel discussion at Poets House down town NYC re: RD's The HD Book. 2 pm. 

And we'll be back here next week with more news on this and that.

Peace out peops.

This is from the iPhone manual. (Place the phone across the room and shout into it through a bull horn for maximum safety.)(And drag it behind you on a leash rather than carrying it in your pocket.)

For optimal mobile device performance and to be sure that human
exposure to RF energy does not exceed the FCC, IC, and European Union
guidelines, always follow these instructions and precautions: When on a
call using the built-in audio receiver in iPhone, hold iPhone with the dock
connector pointed down toward your shoulder to increase separation
from the antenna. When using iPhone near your body for voice calls
or for wireless data transmission over a cellular network, keep iPhone
at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) away from the body, and only use carrying cases,
belt clips, or holders that do not have metal parts and that maintain at
least 15 mm (5/8 inch) separation between iPhone and the body.
iPhone is designed and manufactured to comply with the limits for
exposure to RF energy set by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) of the United States, Industry Canada (IC) of Canada, and regulating
entities of Japan, the European Union, and other countries. The exposure
standard employs a unit of measurement known as the specific
absorption rate, or SAR. The SAR limit applicable to iPhone set by the
FCC is 1.6 watts per kilogram (W/kg), 1.6 W/kg by Industry Canada,
and 2.0 W/kg by the Council of the European Union. Tests for SAR are
conducted using standard operating positions (i.e., at the ear and worn
on the body) specified by these agencies, with iPhone transmitting
at its highest certified power level in all tested frequency bands.
Although SAR is determined at the highest certified power level in each
frequency band, the actual SAR level of iPhone while in operation can
be well below the maximum value because iPhone adjusts its cellular
transmitting power based in part on proximity to the wireless network.
In general, the closer you are to a cellular base station, the lower the
cellular transmitting power level.

iPhone’s SAR measurement may exceed the FCC exposure guidelines for
body-worn operation if positioned less than 15 mm (5/8 inch) from the
body (e.g., when carrying iPhone in your pocket).

we've heard that a woman loses one tooth for every kid. we're now onto about four teeth, the lastest one under a new super-expensive bridge. oy vey! they're going to try to drill a root canal through that fancy porcelain.

meanwhile, we've been grooving on simplicity here.  we focus on two activities a day (and one of them can be "rest").  today is pie and play. apple pie is where it's at.

tomorrow we'll be looking at flowers. we've got daffodils on the kitchen table in honor of the beast's welsh heritage.

and it's spring in sunnyside. the crocuses are coming up and gardening season begins. we're growing a lot of herby things for our local garden jobs— red texas hummingbird sage, blue lobelia, purple anise hyssop, and yellow calendula.

meanwhile, here's our schedule for the week:

monday— pie and play

tuesday— flowers and a jog

wednesday— french and knitting

thursday— play and rest

friday— swimming and pizza

saturday— maybe the zoo

sunday— family breakfast out

shouts out to our peops whit, evan, zoe, mapes, sian, aunt m, the connecticut otter, the brit boys, and all the rest of the crew. peace.

Soccer Fans Ruffled After Player Kicks Owl

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Soccer fans are crying fowl over kicking an owl. In fact, they're crying a lot worse.

Panama defender Luis Moreno is facing sanctions after he kicked an injured owl that landed on the field during a game Sunday when his Colombian club Deportivo Pereira was playing Atletico Junior.

The owl is a mascot for Atletico Junior and was being treated Monday at a veterinary clinic in Barranquilla. The bird is expected to recover from a slight fracture of its right leg.

The owl had landed injured near the corner of the field when Moreno walked over and kicked it about three yards. Atletico Junior fans shouted "murder, murder."

Moreno said he did not know the bird was a good-luck charm for the other team.

It's a snowy monday in sunnyside and today is pie day.  We're going to make a blackberry apple pie. Last week we went for a lemon honey pie that turned out great. Filling ingredients: 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup honey, 3 egg whites, lemon zest.  Our pie crust is very simple: 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup milk, 2 cups unbleached flour, 3/4 cups oatmeal. (None of that chopping of butter and sprinkling of ice water that makes pie crusts so tedious.)  Today is also soup day, chicken soup.  We're starting with a mirepoix (the Beast's first): saute of celery, carrot, onion, and thyme. (maybe a bit of red wine). With revolutions ongoing around the globe we feel some springtime ray of hope. The crocuses are popping up around the neighborhood and we've planted our first indoor delphiniums and calendula for the spring gardening season. Whit, we owe you an email. Thanks for those links. Evan, we'll see you this week we hope. Shouts out to our peops in England and the goats and dogs and cats of Wales. Peace.

Hi All,

I'm going to be teaching a ten-week reading/writing workshop on
Saturdays (3-5 pm) beginning March 5.  The class will be organized
around a comprehensive view of Robert Duncan's life and career, with
special attention to Duncan's recently published critical work on
Modernism, The H.D. Book.  We'll do writing around Duncan's own
writing, with attention to his influences and peers and students
(Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Helen Adam, Jack Spicer, Charles Olson,
Michael Palmer, etc.) and we'll listen to recordings of RD's lectures
and readings. Students will also bring their own work and projects to
share with the class.  Fee is $300 for 10 weeks. (payment by
installment is possible.)  If you have questions or if you'd like to
reserve a spot, email me at ljarnot@gmail.com.

It was too icy to make it to French class this morning, so we opted for baking instead. Here's an easy recipe for a ginger coconut cookie:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup grated coconut

3 tbspn honey

3 tbspn milk

2 tbspn ground fresh ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

peace out!

Amy Goodman did a great interview with Noam Chomsky this morning on Democracy Now. Here's the link:

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/2/2/part_2_noam_chomsky_this_is_the_most_remarkable_regional_uprising_that_i_can_remember

Thomas picked up some old Rolling Stones CDs at the library which we are enjoying despite the creepiness of Keith Richards' new memoir. Those were the days when we thought Keith Richards was god. Turns out he's just an asshole.

Meanwhile, with a kid in the house, one says "those were the days" all the time. The Beast draws boa constrictors on the walls with blue markers. It's exhilarating.

In Sunnyside it's practically below zero weather and the sun is shining in a cold glaring way.  We try to finish the copy edits of the Duncan biography, but can't make the time. UCal maybe is ready to drop the contract because of our stay-at-home-mom timeline. A book on RD came the other day and footnoted us as a key player in the "emerging Duncan industry". We were horrified. That which we love is not an industry. If only Eros ruled over the houses of industry and academia. But then the houses of industry and academia would not need to be. Tell it at the AWP, dweebs.

In NYC there's a city council bill to take the fluoride out of the water. There's too much of it, it's not properly regulated, and it's not good for kids or people with kidney problems.

Speaking of kidney problems, does anyone have a CRF cat? Our Harry is in stage 2 chronic renal failure and we'd like to know what the best diet is: low protein or high protein? There seems to be some disagreement on this. Our vet prescribes k/d diet: low phosphorus, low protein, but should we supplement with chicken gizzards? We're hydrating him, moderately, 50 ml a day.

And back to the water in Sunnyside, it's not only chlorine, it's also lead. Yes, lead, which causes brain damage in babies. We need a good filtration system. Suggestions welcome. We'll be back soon with more news of this and that. Next weekend we're in Buffalo to give a Saturday Night Reading for Just Buffalo. Peace out people. And eat the industrialists.