We have quite a spider hanging out on our balcony. It's become the neighborhood attraction.

It's been a long week... Our 12 year old neice will be staying with us for a few weeks as her mother has to (unfortunately) work a 3rd shift as part of her training for a new job. Madison and I had a lot of fun the other night making some jewelry for a class project.

It's definitely been an interesting week thus far. After having a Catagory 1 hurricane force winds hit us the day after Ike in Texas, most of Cincinnati was left without power on Sunday afternoon. And Monday and some people still don't have power. Like my office of employment. I have yet to work this week. (Darn!) This may have been a good thing, because there are only so many gas stations with electricity and they are running out of fuel. Luckily the grocery and bank finally reopened.

With the number of trees split down their middles and landing on houses and cars, all over the roads, for a little while on Sunday it looked as though we had been hit by a hurricane. Just without the water.

Our New Balcony Friend

The picture isn't great because I had to take it though the window and screen to avoid scaring the squirrel away. But he visits often, though never when the door is open.

He likes to climb over to the roof of the house to our left, next to our larger window, where the cats like to sit. He runs back and forth toward our window which drives the kittens... nutty.

All in a Wooster Backyard

The Long Holiday in Northern Michigan

New Camera Love

More photos to come, as soon as I get them, from the birthday celebration. I think everyone's a bit too hungover to send them today. :)

The Bengals SUCK.

The Reds SUCK.

I feel like I'm living in the Cleveland area again, and must now adjust to accepting the heartbreak of an ill sports city.

The Bengals are so clueless in their drafting that they have now resigned the drug-using thug that barely played a game last year. How hard can it be for you to settle down and just play the game when you're making millions of dollars?

Thank God for Ohio State football. With half of the team returning for another year, we're bound to see another run for the BCS Championship Game. Let's just hope they can win it this time....


Now, it's been suggested, by me, that we should form another team. One that allows sex, whisky and poetry incorporated into the game calling. Who's with me??? Any suggestions for a team name??? Come on.. make me laugh. I know you can do it.

Ah... the first pages of the novel are written, with more words flowing down to the paper. It's a lovely feeling.

Unfortunately our weekend travel plans to Wooster fell through, but it was a relaxing weekend nevertheless. We plan to go after Labor Day weekend, which will be spent at the cottage in northern Michigan, canoeing and swimming in store (along with the opening game of The Ohio State football team... ironic that we shall watch it in Michigan...). But first, I must get through the drunken endevour of the big 3-0 day. As carefully planned, the party location is within walking distance. One does get smarter about their drinking as they get older, eh?

Night out at Zip's! YUMMY.

The Secret Garden of Ault Park

One should not dwell too long in the words of Nietzsche, lest one becomes blurry and must retreat to eating icecream.

Perhaps the last words spoken by one character in the novel:

"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if though gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee." (Beyond Good and Evil)

The hateful heat wave has now passed and left us our reward for survival: the romantically breezy days of summer.

The heat has a murderous effect on this city, where people are already too uptight. They become vengeful, like a psychopath ready to jump out of their own skin. The smiles are melted off their faces and the heat becomes the fault not of Nature, but of everyone around them.

Tempers rage at children, who don't yet feel the affect of heat, they rather enjoy it as they splash around in swimming pools and run through backyard sprinklers. Tempers rage at husbands and wives who already hate each other. The heat makes them think of murder. Tempers rage at other drivers on the road, who likewise are only trying to get home and into the comfort of central air and out of the smoggy humidity-filled passage of the highway.

They cannot control their tempers in this heat. To them, the haze of humidity penetrates their lungs, giving their speech only bouts of comments, the fewer words the better. It penetrates their skin so that they recoil away from the loving touch of others. It penetrates their skin and goes into the blood stream such that it boils with anger and infects their logic and reason.

Thankfully, the heat wave only lasted a week. Any longer and their might have been a jump in the homicide rate.

The haze has now lifted and one can see the blue skies again. The trees oblige with cool wisps of air, felt through open windows and doors, a glorious dance of acceptance of Nature's change of plans. The chirping of birds now sounds of a welcoming song to enjoy the day.

And now the people of this city relax and ease their temperament. The husband kisses the wife in the morning on his way out the door, knowing of the pleasantness outside. People smile at each other once again.

Ovid's The Metamorphoses has provided quite a bit of good reading in relation to the novel I'm writing. A brief description of the novel in Ovid's tonuge:

"I swear by all the rivers
Of deepest Hell my best is done to conquer
Human Ill: the best is not enough; taint
Must be cut from flesh as with a cleansing
Knife the body cured."
(Book I, Ages of Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron)

Her words in tears: "How can I desecrate
My mother's spirit? O forgive me, Goddess."
(Book I, Deucalion and Pyrrha)

"One day - and that was very long ago -
We lived within the womb of our first mother,
And we were scarcely more than hopes of men,
Seeds of the first beginning, till Nature's hands
(How artfully she worked to suit her purpose!)
Gave us our destiny to live beyond
distending walls which held us coiled in darkness,
So from that home we fell to worldy being.
...
Time wears away the engery, the vigour
Of earlier years within the wasting body."

And the most important one...

"Nothing retains the shape of what it was,
And Nature, always making old things new,
Proves nothing dies within the universe,
But takes another being in new forms.
What is called birth is change from what we were,
And death the shape of being left behind.
Though all things melt or grow from here to there,
Yet the same balance of the world remains."
(Book XV, The Philosopher)

Absolutely disgusting outside. You can feel the humidity the moment you step outside, and it's haze permiates everything, including your skin and lungs. The heat isn't too bad. I've lived in hotter weather in Phoenix in the summer. And there, it doesn't really matter if it is dry or humid, 115 is still 115. But this... blah. It's been threatening to rain all week, but no relief is to be found apparently for the moment.

It was extremely difficult to stop myself from continuing to write last night, but it became the middle of the night and my hand was cramping so bad I nearly took a muscle relaxer. Twenty-five pages of writing on the first two chapters, both which will be longer than I anticipated. The earlier days of the week were mainly spent doing some necesary research before I could write the first two chapters.

Now, I need A LOT of research for the third and fourth, so other than re-writing out the actual long versions of the first and second, as my writing last night was not the complete version, some dialogue and outline of events in very specific detail, but not the actual chapters themselves, so there is still much work yet to be done to the first two chapters.

The third and fourth chapters require a good deal of geographical research on the location in which the second main character lives. This will require my computer to stop acting like a bitch. Or I guess the easier solution would be to get the internet finally hooked up to Matt's computer and use it during the day when he is not home.

Besides, we need to get our cable account set up anyway as the new football season will be starting up very soon. For all the football naysayers, just remember that a man used to be well-rounded, sound body and sound mind, for him to be considered a great philosopher or poet.

Hemmingway liked football. Enough said.

Today's post will paint a much nicer, and more appropriate, image of my wonderful man. Even though I did wake up, walk down the hall, into my den and nearly stepped on a sopping wet cloth that turned out to be his running shirt from this morning. Really, why the fuck is it lying next to MY desk? Anyway...

It seems, even after almost 4 years you can learn something new about a person. In this case, this evening while discussing cameras, since I intend to purchase one finally in a couple of weeks, Matt goes to the closet and breaks out a large box that contains photography equipment. A nice camera, a movie camera, darkroom equipment, etc. ??????

Okay, when did this happen, I ask, a bit confused as to why it took this long to discover. "Um... I did go to film school sweetie." "I know, but why didn't you show me all this before?" [Needless to say, there was a good answer, just not one that needs to be shared with the world as it is Matt's personal reason and this is not his blog, nor does it have any meaning to the point of this story.]

And that point being, is that I'll finally LEARN how to use a camera the correct way instead of paying for a class at the Art Academy like I was intending to upon making the decision to purchase a good camera because I will finally have someone to teach me.

And the man redeems himself nicely so.

Well, I finally did it. After all this time saying I wouldn't, or that I didn't have the time or any other excuse I could think of, I decided to finally do it.

I joined Facebook. AHHH!!!

Now, on to a rather important subject. My dear Matt seems to have formed some impression in his mind that I should be acting more housewifey since I'm home all day long. He hasn't actually said those words, but he frequently makes the comment, "You're the one who's home all day." Yes, that is true. Home, attempting to HEAL, not clean up after YOU. Because his idea of doing the dishes is to fill the sink with water and put the dishes in the sink. Or starting the laundry means picking up the clothes and putting them in the laundry basket.

Close baby, but no cigar. And then he wonders why I've left it that way to see if he finishes what he started. No. He doesn't. And unfortunately I'm not the type who lets it stay unclean.

A reminder to Matt is #1 We're not married, #2 I'm not your bitch and #3 I might be at home all day right now but I'm still the one bringing in the money and paying the bills. Get off your ass and do it yourself. :)

He never reads this blog, so I can say whatever I want.