By Joan Houlihan
This is regret: or a ferret. Snuffling,
stunted, a snout full of snow.
As the end of day shuffles down
the repentant scurry and swarm—
an unstable contrition is born.
Bend down. Look into the lair.
Where newborn pieties spark and strike
I will make my peace as a low bulb
burnt into a dent of snow. A cloth to keep me
from seeping. Light crumpled over a hole.
Why does the maker keep me awake?
He must want my oddments, their glow.
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I had a low-key but very nice first day of 2010. Adam discovered via California Tortilla's Facebook fan page that they had $5 burrito feasts with chips and salsa, and lobbied to go there for lunch, to which Paul acquiesced once everyone had seen enough of the Tournament of Roses Parade. I got an e-mail from Brighton Collectibles that the first 50 customers at every store would get a free New Year gift, so I stopped at the mall (which apparently a lot of people thought was closed, because it was pretty empty) and got a 2010 heart charm. We ran out to a few stores for some necessary things (shampoo, DVD-R, discount holiday M&Ms), then came home and watched bowl games on and off until dinnertime (Hoppin' John, a southern African-American dish for New Year's Day). Then we were able to watch via a friend's iPlayer Doctor Who's "The End of Time, Part 2." Since that is airing on BBC America on Saturday and I'm going to watch again, I won't say anything about it except -- small squeeful spoiler -- that despite having a bunch of issues with this Doctor in this episode and many previous ones, there's obviously a lot of love for the franchise and for science fiction in general, and it would have been worth watching this installment just for this franchise's Han Solo in Mos Eisley and especially Wilf playing Luke Skywalker.
An elephant made by a volunteer at the Brandywine River Museum.
These handmade ornaments made from nature adorn many trees and are sold for fundraising in the gift shop.
Dementordelta is very fond of this snake.
Here is the Grinch on a Dr. Seuss-themed tree...
...and Oscar the Grouch on a Muppet-themed tree.
The museum has a large Alice in Wonderland wreath to celebrate its exhibit of Lewis Carroll-based illustrations; here are some of the ornaments on it.
Local animals include beavers, horses, and groundhogs.
And this, obviously, is Noah with his ark.
The Friday Five: Simple Gifts
1. What do you do when you can do no more? Sleep if I can, beg for help if I can't.
2. What activity recharges your inner battery? Contemplating really beautiful artwork.
3. What was the last time you acted selflessly? No idea. I give time and money to various worthy organizations but so many of them came begging for an end-of-year handout that I am feeling miserly at the moment.
4. What was the last time you were given a gift? Wednesday when we went to Borders.
5. What does a pet give you? Unconditional
Fannish 5: Name your 5 fannish wishes for the new year.
1. To watch a really good, emotionally satisfying conclusion to Smallville.
2. To be astonished at how much better Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows works as a film than a book.
3. To find out that all the people I'd like to see have been cast in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean.
4. To learn that the Arrested Development movie has finally started filming.
5. To be pleasantly surprised by the Eleventh Doctor.
I tried to write a New Year's Resolutions post since I couldn't do a proper Things I'll Miss About the '00s post, but I am apparently an epic failure at memes at the moment. The only resolution I seriously considered was giving up poultry -- I haven't eaten red meat in more than 10 years, and it would be the same for pork except I took two days off in New Orleans last year to eat real gumbo and jambalaya (and my stomach was so violently upset for a week afterward that I will never do that again, and never miss it) -- but I'm still trying to get my sodium under control, and I still need to drop some weight, and I'd have to take total responsibility for my own food at home if I stopped eating poultry since my family has been terrific about limiting sodium and not eating cheeseburgers or ham at home but I think they'd balk at family dinners with no turkey meatballs or chicken panang, so I think this is just not the time to do it. In a few months when I'm more familiar with what foods I can eat quickly within my dietary restrictions, maybe I'll do it then. Anyway, in 2009 I did NOT make any resolutions concerning my eating habits, having blown them off in several previous years, so it figures that that was the year my doctor gave me the "change your diet or take meds for the rest of your life" wake-up call.
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