The Frog Blog

J.R. Sparlin discusses things

Friday, July 12, 2019

Rules

Rules

To be posted outside my house.

1. All small creatures are welcome to shelter in the yard.

2. Please get along peaceably.

3. You may eat all the grass and mosquitoes you like; please bring your friends.

4. Please do not assault the house.

5. PLEASE DO NOT ENTER THE HOUSE.

6. Those of you who are skunks, please do not skunk.

7. Those of you who are not skunks, please do not startle the skunks. 

Saturday, June 8, 2019

Blink

A few weeks ago my husband Derek and I attended our nephew Benjamin's high school graduation. We were very tired that day because a woodpecker had been attacking our house since early morning. I sat in the stadium in a sleepy daze watching the pre-ceremony videos the class had put together. In the videos many of them wore 2019 t-shirts. I was thinking to myself, if we had done this sort of thing my shirt would have said 1989; and it slowly worked its way into my brain that there were 9's on the end of both dates, and that it has been thirty years since I graduated from high school. I found this surprising; to add to the impression, the girls in the class wore white gowns just as I had.

Blink. Decade. Blink. Decade. Blink. Decade.

The whole day was a bit surreal; here are some random impressions.

The security guard wished me happy Mother's Day (I have no children).

Graduations are always poignant with many emotions, with the consciousness of what you are losing mixed with the excitement of what lies ahead. At least Benjamin's class has social media to easily keep in touch with their friends. It was a bit harder for us.

A really beautiful "hat throw," with white and bright purple hats fluttering like confetti against the dark seats of the arena and the bright light of the floor.

Young women in white gowns bring to mind angels, nurses, spirits, saints.

Hecate is the goddess of magic and of the crossroads.

On the way home, Derek says (loudly, suddenly, without immediate context and to an unspecified audience): "Who doesn't like DuckTales? I will FIGHT you!"