APRIL'S THIS 'N' THAT

Yesterday at 6:30 a.m. while I was on my walk I watched a driver from Burrtec Waste Industries pull up in front of a huge full-to-overflowing dumpster, jump out of his truck and muscle the dumpster into place so his truck’s arms could hoist it overhead for emptying.  The worker was no spring chicken and not a very big man, but he certainly was solid muscle.  Seeing how much strength was needed to do this, I couldn’t help but think about how tired he must be at the end of the day from all that physical effort.  And it made me grateful for people who do those physical kinds of jobs. 

I have a friend who is just about as religious as I am (which is not very) and not too long ago we were talking about prayer.  He said he doesn’t pray, but each Sunday evening he spends some time reflecting on his friends and family and their importance in his life.  He says it always reminds him to let them know how much he appreciates them.  I thought of this as I said “hi” to the trash man and for what it was worth I thought I’d like some blessings to waft down on this man as he goes about his hard work. 

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Several months ago I saw an author interviewed on BookTv about his book “In the Courts of the Conqueror.” The subtitle is “The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided.” The author is Walter R. Echo-Hawk.  The first sentence in this book is as follows:  In the very first case to come before the United States Supreme County involving a significant Native American issue, Chief Justice John Marshall ominously described the American judicial system as ‘the Courts of the conqueror.’  Thus clothed, the Supreme Court handed down a sweeping opinion that appropriated legal title to the United States, even though most of the continent was still owned and occupied at the time by Indians tribes.” 

Those two sentences alone gave me the heebie-jeebies.  My thinking has always been that generally “we” never did right by the Indians and there has been way too much lying and broken vows on our part.  This is a hard book to read and a hard book to read.  By that I mean it is a long, dense, intense book and is going to take far longer to read than the two weeks I am allotted on an inter-library loan, and that reading what I am seeing with my own eyes is almost too painful to read.  I am glad I had exposure to Echo-Hawk on BookTV first.  What he said there encouraged me to go after his book, and reading it makes me wish I was at the beginning of my adult life instead of at the end of it, so I could stand up and be counted.

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On a lighter note, I ordered a 4 oz bottle of Vanilla Bean Paste through Amazon.com for a recipe I intend to try.  It’s called “Brown Butter Cookies.”  They had better taste good because with the addition of this vanilla bean paste they will be very pricy.  But that’s not the point here.  The point is that Amazon sent the little tiny jar of paste in a cardboard box that was three feet long and 1 foot wide.  It was overkill if I ever saw it.  Of course there were yards and yards of bubble wrap inside, but that too was overkill if you ask me.  I’m sure I was paying for all that excess in the shipping charges that were included in the total cost, but to be honest, even if I overpaid by half it really wouldn’t make all that difference in the cost; the cookies would still be pricy.  All I have to say is that they had better be scrumptious!  Now I’ve got to find time to make them.  So much for retirement!

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And guaranteed to put a smile on your face is a neat computer-thing called “Nude Men Clock.”  The name alone is worth a chuckle, but when you see it you may just get as much delight from it as I do.  (And for nervous Nellies, let me say that it is tastefully done!)

< http://lovedbdb.com/nudemenClock/index2.html>


You can change it from digital to analog by clicking anywhere in the clock.

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So April is kaput after today.  Seems as Christmas was just yesterday and here we are heading into May.  Do you remember when Christmases were SO far apart and school years were SO long?  Thinking of “Time” reminds me of how much I enjoy reading time travel books.  Of special note are the first one I read, “Lady of Hay,” which exposed me to the genre, the best one so far “Time Traveler’s Wife” and most intriguing, “Her Fearful Symmetry.”   And of course there is the delightful movie, “Kate and Leopold.”  Liking time travel things reminds me that I am not too egg-heady for my own good.