Transmissions from the Northern Outpost

Tag: The Wife

  • Ah, poetry!

    I’m not going to lie, but “cultivating my garden,” why I started this blog not coincidentally on January 20 of this year, is not easy right now. However, I am going to try in April with it being National Poetry Month and the month of my wife Kim’s 55th birthday – and also sadly the month of her mother and best friend passing away four years ago. With two of the three, I have things planned, really only sort of with the second, and the third one is really up to Kim with however she wants to remember them.

    For National Poetry Month, as mentioned in my last blog post, I will be sharing poems each day: first, mine from years ago, and then a link to another poem from one of three sites that share a poem a day that strikes my fancy that day. I subscribed to the three sites earlier this week in anticipation of National Poetry Month. For my wife’s birthday, which is next Sunday, we both are off next weekend and whatever we do, or don’t do, we’ll be together. As of now, we have no fixed plans.

    Also I’m going to try to write a poem or, maybe to be more accurate, to start a poem each day during April. I had a couple of poetry classes in college including an independent study during my senior year of college in the early 90s where the goal was to write poetry and get some poems published in literary journals, a very few of which I did. In the early to mid 2000s, I returned to writing poetry and even had a poetry reading at a now-defunct cultural society in suburban Philadelphia. That is where about half of the poems I’ll be sharing this coming month will be coming from.

    It only seems apropos that I leave you with a poem or two. I thought I’d start small with two of my favorite short poems:

    The title of this post comes from a line by Satine to Christian in the 2001 Baz Luhrmann movie Moulin Rouge that for some reason I think of when I think of talking about poetry: “Ah, poetry. Yes, this it what I want naughty words.”

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  • 2 days off in a row X 2

    Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, if you want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.

    Two days in a row off…

    …with Kim. She and I were off work yesterday and are off work today too. Yesterday since she was done with her previous shift at 6 a.m. (normally 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. when she works as a 911 dispatcher ), she slept part of the day. We then binge-watched a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Today we might get to some housecleaning while also continuing our binge-watch of this or that.

    Two days in a row off…

    …this weekend but by myself as Kim goes back to work tomorrow at 6 p.m. (me at 9:30 a.m.) and works through the weekend until her next days off Monday and Tuesday. I will be getting ready for National Poetry Month starting Tuesday. I already have 30 poems I wrote during and after college to share each day on the blog. I just have to work on formatting them, which might involve changing the theme of the blog so the lines in the poem break where I want them to break.

    Exercise accountability with family

    On Tuesday, in the process of talking with my father, who is 81, we committed to doing exercises daily that we each are supposed to be doing for respective issues: him, his back; me, my left wrist. We are checking in with each other every Tuesday to hold each other accountable. When I mentioned to my sister (not mentioning her age because I value my life 😉) in a text, she said she’d join us with knee exercises. So, now it’s a family thing. I’m off to do mine as soon as I post this…

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  • Spring, a concert, and off for 3 days

    Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, if you want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.

    Today is the first day of Spring. That is No. 1. While winter is still hanging on here, predicted temperatures for the next  weeks: 40s in the day and 20s at night, at least there is hope. I’ll take any hope we can get at this point.

    No. 2 is Kim and I are going to see singer Dar Williams Saturday night in our small town. We’ve known for a few months and Kim has gone and caught up with her latest albums in preparation. We’ve also been invited to a table at the concert. The venue where we’re seeing her has tables you can sit at and I believe, bonus, alcohol.

    No. 3 is that Kim is off for three days, starting tomorrow. I happen to work Sunday but we’re off together tomorrow night, all day Saturday, and Sunday night. It’s supposed to be rainy on Saturday, so just a day in and that’s OK too. We’ll be having a Chinese takeout, as has been our custom when she is off so that will “keep us” for food for the weekend.

    I’ll leave you with one of our favorite Dar Williams songs:

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  • A negative biopsy, a negative biopsy, a negative biopsy!

    Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, if you want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.

    This week, I am thankful mostly for one thing: a negative biopsy result for my wife after an initial inconclusive mammogram on Feb. 21 and unclear ultrasound last week. The biopsy was Monday and she received a phone call from the breast imaging center yesterday.

    We are celebrating this weekend at home as we both are off work. That is the second good thing this week, both of us being off at the same time. We’re getting takeout Chinese for the weekend with no real theme for the weekend other than watching mostly fun TV, which will be the third good thing this week.

    We recently got Netflix with commercials for free through our T-Mobile account. We’re returning to some favorites we’ve seen: Upper Middle Bogan and Tacoma FD, and also trying a couple of shows new to us: Fisk and Loudermilk. Click on the links of the titles for trailers for each (some NSFW or children). Our feature presentation on probably Saturday night, maybe Sunday night, will be this:

    We’ve heard about it and wanted to see it, but didn’t have Netflix to watch it. Now that we do, we’re all in.

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  • 3 Good Things Thursday: 17, 1, & 1

    Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, if you want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.

    I won’t lie that sometimes it is hard to accentuate the positive when the state of the world is in such disarray. But I still think it’s important for me, and for you, to remember the good in our lives and those around us, maybe especially in light (or dark) of the state of the world. That said, today’s three good things for me are going to be brief:

    1. I celebrated 17 years of blogging on WordPress.com on Sunday and in October, I will be celebrating 20 years of blogging altogether.
    2. I have the day off today from work, during which  one of the couple things I had planned was a grocery pickup (already done). Also tonight my wife Kim is off work, starting tonight into tomorrow so we’ll be chilling, probably with some funny TV.
    3. I finally finished my first book of the year, The Other End of the Line, the 24th in the Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri. I don’t think it was his best, but it was an okay book for my first book of the year. Now on to No. 2, which maybe I’ll finish by the end of April. I used to read anywhere from 40 to 80 books a year, but since 2020, I’ve had a difficult time focusing on reading. I can focus on TV (not news), movies, music, podcasts, and of course, my own belly navel, but that’s about it. Why? Sadly, see about state of the world above.

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  • Celebrating 5 days off in a row…

    Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, if you want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.

    5 days off in a row

    I work part-time at a small-town library and as such, my schedule varies week to week. This week, it just happens I have five days off in a row: Wednesday through Sunday. I’m using it as a chance to mostly hibernate as the temperatures especially for the next couple of days are all under 25 degrees Fahrenheit. I’m curling up with a book or two and binge-watching a few shows: Bones, The Lincoln Lawyer, and maybe the original Law & Order. I also have a playlist of podcasts, mostly from Tara Brach, that I’m going through.

    2 days off together

    My wife Kim is off the last two days of the five days I’m off. Tomorrow night, we’re getting Chinese, which, with appetizers and entree, usually lasts us the entire weekend. Also tomorrow night we’re having a themed movie night: Funky Friday with two documentaries, Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) about Sly Stone and Thunder Soul about a lesser known funk act, the Kashmere Stage Band.

    Celebrating 1 show

    Then on Saturday, the theme is Saturday Night Live with The Anniversary Special from this past Sunday and The Homecoming Concert from last Friday. We might also sprinkle in the four-part documentary Beyond Saturday Night. We already watched the documentary Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music.

    Kim started watching SNL when she was 7 with her sister, Debbie. They’d sneak watch while at their grandmother’s, usually missing the cold open because they’d wait for her to fall asleep. Steve Martin was her favorite, she said. Myself? I probably only really “discovered” it in my final years of high school and then in college, with my favorite probably being Phil Hartman. I even wrote a poem about him when he died in May 1998 (best viewed on desktop to show line breaks as the poet intended):

    On the Death of Phil Hartman

    A comedian dies, and suddenly the world explodes 
    into a nuclear array of light. It’s not funny
    how he died, bang with a bullet. Or how
    crowds cheer the demise of another country

    not realizing their own is near. What is funny
    is how he brought characters to the screen,
    but never his own, how a mushroom cloud
    is like a lotus flower opening its petals,

    how the clock can be pushed forward
    by actions in New Delhi, Islamabad.
    "I think laughter is an underrated emotion,"
    he once told Jane Pauley on Dateline.

    It’s what the world needs now,
    what could have been written
    as an epitaph on his gravestone
    if he hadn’t chosen to be cremated instead.

    His wish to be consumed by fire
    no longer seems bizarre;
    perhaps it was just foretelling what was
    and is, and is to come.

    And with that happy thought 😉, I will bid you adieu.

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  • Taking trips outside of town – and hibernating

    Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to join me and share in the comments, if you want, or in your own journal, or both, whatever works for you.

    A firemen’s breakfast

    On Sunday, my wife Kim and I went to a breakfast put on monthly by a local fire company. The previous week, the organizer of the breakfast died while responding to a fire. Kim, who is a 911 dispatcher, thought it was important to be there. The breakfast was very good. To me, it showed the resiliency of the community, especially so soon after the firefighter’s death.

    Another trip outside of town Tuesday

    On Tuesday, I made a solo trip to a town about 20 miles away. Even though it was for a doctor’s appointment, it wasn’t unpleasant as the appointment was a follow up on a new CPAP machine and was fine. Plus I was able to go to a bakery in town to get some pastries for both Kim and me and I was able to stop at my favorite rest stop (a Welcome Center to Pennsylvania on Route 15). We also stopped there on Sunday, which happened to be Groundhog Day! And yes, we watched the movie that night but of course.

    The overlook was blocked because of ice. While not as pretty as other times of year, it still is a “must stop” for me no matter the weather.

    Midwinter lū’au

    Last February, in an effort to keep our spirits up during the winter, we had a lūʻau of our own design. We had pina coladas instead of Mai Tais and fun food instead of a roasted pig. Not only is Kim a vegan, but also we don’t own a spit or have a barbecue pit in our backyard. Ha. This year, we’re doing it again this weekend, still with pina coladas but this time with Chinese food through the weekend. I already picked up all the ingredients for the pina coladas and will pick up the Chinese food probably on Saturday morning before an anticipated winter weather event Saturday into Sunday. It could be a mix of precipitation, but whatever it is, we’ll be hibernating.

    Author’s Note: Variations of “3 Good Things Thursday” can be found across the Interwebs and to which I was introduced by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who does hers every Sunday as part of her Sunday Salon post.

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  • The Wife, friends, and dad humour

    Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to join me and share in the comments, if you want, or in your own journal, or both, whatever works for you.

    This week is off the top of my head, as I’ve been running errands most of the day and didn’t draft this yesterday or earlier in the week as I often do. So, here we go:

    1. Monday, my wife said, was the first day she felt “normal” after returning from the hospital last month and going back to work mid-month this month. And today she had a fitting for compression sleeves for her legs with a lymphedema therapist at our local hospital and was able to walk in with no trouble. A month ago, she had a hard time getting to the office and I drove her. Today, she went by herself.
    2. Catching up with friends over the last few weeks, whether in person via phone or email or at the library where I work. I am so grateful for their friendship.
    3. Bingewatching Corner Gas, a Canadian comedy that aired from 2004 to 2009 and now is available on Freevee, yesterday afternoon. It was the dad humor, or humour, I needed. We’re on the final season after watching it over the last several years here and there.

    Author’s Note: Variations of “3 Good Things Thursday” can be found across the Interwebs and to which I was introduced by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who does hers every Sunday as part of her Sunday Salon post.

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