Category Archives: Writing

Wood: how many stories can one tree tell?

Posted by Daria on

Mending Wall

By Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it
And spills the upper boulder in the sun,
And make gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there,
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
“Stay where you are until our backs are turned!”
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.” I could say “Elves” to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

A place for lovely words.

Posted by Daria on

Is there a place for all those lovely words?

We spend weeks obsessing over perfect gifts, Christmas cards, delicious hors d’œuvres, matching napkins, candles, and wrapping paper. We want our Christmas and New Year celebrations to be an ideal blend of functional families, happiness, and perfection worthy of a re-touched magazine cover. Many of us wait for the holiday season and prepare for it for the rest of the year. It is family time. It is friend time.  It is a time for warm households and even warmer words.

If we live far away from our families we write warm letters, sweet emails, and send multiple texts. Even Santa receives emails and text these days. It must be easier for the elves to take care of the budgets and who-wants-what lists. Lists aside, this year I want to bring my attention to the Holiday Cards.  This year I love all the ones I got and have given out.  I did miss the deadline of mailing them out via regular post… but I have delivered to most of those, who I care about. I hope next year I will do even better and will remember all of my family and friends. (…and encourage others to do the same)

This year I wanted my cards to be witty but nice and in some cases I think I have succeeded. What I wanted the most is for those receiving my cards to remember what they said, be it a joke, a warm thought, a lot of xoxoxoxos. Why? I hope people remember that holiday feeling for the rest of the new year—— “someone out there actually cares”.

This year I feel that cards are like memories. We look at the pictures and we remember the good times. We read the cards and it reminds us of warm wishes, kisses, and hugs. All that we need to make it through the rest of the year: lots of love.

This year I wonder how many people actually keep the cards. I’d like to think that my family and friends lock their cards away and reread them when they are having tough times… What about coworkers, postmen, hairdressers, etc? What do they do? Where do cards really go? Trash? Recycling? Scrapbooks?  Do they make it to their fireplace mantel? Do they hide away in a secret drawer at work? Do they bring them home and share them with the rest of the family? I hope that cards get a place of honor because if you get one in the first place you should really be thankful. If you give a card do not expect one back… but hope for a “thank you”. For years I have been watching people at work take away, put in a special place, even trash holiday cards. I think that where your card ends up in the office (or outside) says a lot about how those people would like to treat you and your opinions. A message for those who don’t care or forget to thank you…  “no soup for you!!!” next year. For those that do: I appreciate it for the rest of the year.

This year send a card to a loved one, a thank you to somebody who helped you, a sorry for the one you hurt. Life is too short and we should all find time to write something important. After all you never know who needs a little reminder!

Best wishes in 2011!

the City and the Hills Are Back: the return of dumb and dumber

Posted by Daria on

Oh. My. God!

The City and the Hills are back!!! I know those two shows are my two dirty secrets. I do watch them and often PVR them (so my poor hubby wouldn’t have to sit through 20 minutes of THAT). I just can’t wait to see what happens next to all those wonderful characters. Drama!!!! So. MUCH. DRAMA.  I wish I had their problems!

 

Ya Right…

I do watch those two shows and every single time I watch people like Heidi, Audrina, Whitney, etc etc. I feel like I am getting dumber. On the other hand their problems are as addictive as crack (though I wouldn’t know). Plus they always look so nicely put together- I wish I had that much time on my hands. Oh yeah and money too. I mean who needs to spend more than 2 minutes per episode in school or more than 3 minutes designing their own clothes line… In the Hills and in the City life is great. On top of everything all the girls have nice nails (oh yeah and so do some boys… Justin Bobby).

I do wonder what kids learn from that show… I think that nothing good. I mean I can see through their drama, flaws, insecurities- but what about 13-15 year olds? Do they know? Can they tell? Well I sure hope that someone out there is telling them how fake those girls are BECAUSE IT IS A STUPID SHOW!!!

Very few of us will have to deal with the same problems and when we do most of us won’t be getting a boob-fix and a new BMW.

I would love to sit down and have a chat with the girls from that show. We can go for coffee at a fancy restaurant where we won’t actually eat anything. :)

I love Drama! Don’t have enough in my life!

On the serious note:

There is a reason why shows that provide some sort of escapism work so well. We get to go away into the world we wouldn’t know otherwise. As a personal example I would love to do some research into the appearance of Mexican, Spanish and South American Soap Operas in the 1980-1995 in the Soviet Union and post it collapse. Critiques also called it escapism.  Look into soaps in the Soviet Union; I grew up on “the Rich Cry Too”, “Simplemene Maria”, “Wild Rose” and  “Helene et les Garcons”. Maybe those soaps are the reason why I had no problems fitting into the North American Society? Who knows.