My poems and writing

I was rather in the mood to write and wanted to share some of my poems. I write a variety of styles and I write what I feel. That being said, these are pretty ordinary. So as not to overwhelm anyone I'll only post a couple at a time.

These first two are poems I wrote when I was in Germany. I truly love everything about Germany and I found it very easy to write there. In fact, I find it much easier to write in Europe period. I think it's atmosphere mainly but the difference in culture is also a factor for me. So for me writing creatively is much easier in Europe than anywhere else including New Zealand.

Well let me clarify that. I actually did write quite a bit about New Zealand but it was more along the lines of descriptive things since there were so many gorgeous places to share. No poetry though. So, here are two results of my time spent in lovely Germany.


The city tree

Magnificent is the tree whose branches burst forth,
and whose roots have fought for a place to be.
Such is the life of a city tree...

Kathrine Ford


Under the blue of a German sky

Under the blue of a German sky
and the city that it caresses,
all the noises of ordinary life
my heart's desire it suppresses.

The warmth of the sun upon my skin
has also turned all that is green again.
To live and grow until all shall die,
under the blue of a German sky.

Kathrine Ford

An AmeriBrit's relaxing Thanksgiving

Today was a nice day. I cooked a nice dinner and Pete baked a ham that was the best. All in all it was a very nice dinner. I ended the day by reading over blogs I like, Pete's being one of them. From there I found a link to something really funny.

Read this. It is simply too funny to do the piece justice by telling you about it.

I hope everyone has had a nice dinner with people you love and that the rest of the year is a good one for us all. To our British family and friends, I wish you all had been here with us today to celebrate. Still, I look forward to that November 2 holiday once Her Majesty's government is in effect again..(g). While I'm on that subject, I'd like to make an amendment or two to those rules.

1. Stop keeping all the best tea e.g. Typhoo, Yorkshire, etc to yourselves and make it cheap and readily available for we Americans henceforth to be known as AmeriBrits. We're sick and tired of paying ridiculous import prices for it in American markets.

2. Do stop hoarding all the best crisps, e.g. Walkers Smoky Bacon, Walkers Beef and onion, basically anything with "Walkers" in the name. We as AmeriBrits should be able to lobby Parliament for our right to enjoy those too and at a substantial decrease in cost as well. Please don't force us to create a special underground government division to carry out raids on Walkers warehouses in order to acquire crisps.

3. After the national health care goes into effect, do make sensible over the counter drugs that actually work available to the public. We are sick and tired of having our hands slapped in regard to pain killers and various other medications that the rest of the world has within reach. Actually, if you are going to force those of us that would choose to be elsewhere to continue to live here in the US, drugs should be given to us for free as a token of your heartfelt sympathy.

4. To actually be able to afford to live e.g. going on holiday, visiting places etc, without the need of more than one hundred dollars - as well as pay our bills. We cannot currently do both. Our monthly electricity bills are simply too high.

5. To immediately put into effect a change from our ridiculously expensive electricity of 110 volts to 230 or 240 volts whichever is the current system used in Britain today.

6. Also, add proper three-prong plugs rather than the two-prong fire traps they give us now. Adding that any contractor found installing aluminium wiring should be immediately taken out wrapped securely in his spool of aluminium wire and beaten like a rented mule until he comes to his senses and reinstalls copper or whatever safer wiring Britain uses.

In conclusion, those of us who understand most of the rules established (especially the one about the Commonwealth of Massachusetts paying penance via the salt shaker) may consider you more hospitable if you can meet the above conditions within a reasonable period of time. Therefore we welcome the Queen and Royal family as well as Tony Blair who isn't too bad to look at so it won't be a total drag listening to his speeches.

A repost from Augmented Reality

The following is a bit that I posted on Pete's blog, "Augmented Reality". I'm reposting here in the hopes that someone will come forward and volunteer their services to teach me the rules of cricket. Feel free to correct me on the goal bit if it's wrong.

I see that things have moved on at work with Kumar playing cricket in the hallway. That's pretty funny actually. It's nice to know that at least one of the top guys has a good sense of humor or at least a sense of fun.

You may want to equip yourself with your own cricket bat so you can defend the goal. The goal being the filing cabinet in your cubicle. That is if cricket has goals. I am in dire need of a cricket tutorial. Deek! Help me here. lol...

Maybe they could make office cricket a new thing to boost employee moral and establish trust with upper management. After all, nothing says "I'm your friend" like giving someone a good whack on the nut with a cricket ball. Even if it does happen to be a tennis ball. Safer for in-office games I expect.

Plus getting sacked by the boss whilst he chases you from the office wielding a cricket bat millimeters from your skull wouldn't be a very pleasant way to end a working relationship.

Thanksgiving November 25, 2004

I am thankful for
my family, friends, pets,
and all things in nature.

With the holiday season upon us

To: All Employees
From: Management
Subject: Office conduct during the Christmas season

Effective immediately, employees should keep in mind the following guidelines in compliance with FROLIC (the Federal Revelry Office and Leisure Industry Council).

1. Running aluminum foil through the paper shredder to make tinsel is discouraged.

2. Playing Jingle Bells on the push-button phone is forbidden (it runs up an incredible long distance bill)

3. Work requests are not to be filed under "Bah humbug."

4. Company cars are not to be used to go over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house.

5. All fruitcake is to be eaten BEFORE July 25.

Eggnog will not be dispensed in vending machines. In spite of all this, the staff is encouraged to have a Happy Holiday.

Cooking and the absolute King of Quesadillas

Over the years I have continually tried to create new recipes to keep dinnertime from being boring. Usually I succeed. Tonight I thought I might try to create a dessert that combined a Southern fruit crisp and an English pudding.

What I ended up with was a moist pudding with coconut, chopped pecans, oats and the other bready bits with raisins and chunks of juicy apples, brown sugar, fresh grated cinnamon and nutmeg with a cinnamony crisp topping. This is best served in small portions since it is rich and the calorie content goes into the infinite.

Needless to say, it came out wonderfully. It was the perfect ending to the homemade Mexican food I cooked tonight. I made enchiladas, refried beans and chicken and cheese quesadillas with salsa verde.

I was successful with all of it and the quesadillas came out great but I have to say that Mike's are still better than mine. I would say that isn't fair but other people reading this would not understand and think me loopy. Perhaps I should explain.

While I usually take great care in the preparation and presentation of most things I cook and bake, Mike's is generally cooked or baked as is and in the rough. And believe me, after years of some very tasty but interesting looking dishes, my words are kind. And yes in case you are wondering, I'm speaking of our own Chief Idiot.

Mike's cooking is great. If you don't actually look at what you are served or eat. The phrase, "it's all in the presentation" means nothing to him. Once he created a dish called Burrito Surprise. It actually tasted pretty damn good. But you couldn't look at it too long.

Later on, I had a dream that Mike's Burrito Surprise was chasing me down the street flinging cheese and sauce at me. It was very strange. Now I have a random fear of burritos and anything with "supreme" on it.

Having said that I turn to the taste. His quesadillas are exquisite and how fortunate for those eating it - It is so simple, there is little that could make it even slightly unattractive. So, we have good looks and great taste. Best in the state.

So Mike, I may tease you about how your dishes look, but take heart. You still wear the crown of the King for best quesadillas in Texas.

Living jewelry

I am currently typing with Sierra wrapped around my right wrist. She looks like a very lovely and wiggly bracelet. Sierra as you probably know is my little royal python. I never knew that snakes could be such characters but she certainty is. She's grown since I got her, she's almost two feet long now. Who says snakes can't be good pets? I say humbug to them!

World Toilet Day

Over the years I've discovered that people really do find almost any excuse to celebrate. That now includes the toilet industry. Who knew there was a World Toilet Day? I didn't know.

Apparently it's held in Beijing. It must be a real hoot to be there with all those toilet people. Really. It just sends shivers down my back and makes me feel all flushed. Here are some links to check it out.

World Toilet Organization

World Toilet Day

Toiletology 101

National Public Toilet Map

World Toilet Summit

So... we have links on the World Toilet Organization where men and women in black suits sit on cushioned rings before huge screens that show all the worlds toilets and current activity.

Next we have the primary celebration for World Toilet Day complete with loads of coffee and Charmin.

And for the scholars, we have a general course on Toiletology 101. No problem there - It's always best to start at the beginning.

And last but certainly not least, we have a good, clean map site for those who might need help finding one on their own.

Between this post and the links, there should be enough information out there to let ordinary people hold the handle of the World Toilet Summit. So sit back on whatever you are most comfortable, roost awhile and have a good read.

The birds are back in town

Ok, I've written about the birds here in the North Dallas area before and I was at least partially serious. I had thought that possibly they had moved on to some other area of town. Nope. No such luck. They're back and as I type, there is a large flock of the noisy little cat tormentors just outside my window. I yell at them now and then, "SHUT UP YOU BIRDS." they stop for maybe a minute or two then pick up the chorus again. I'm sure they add more birds each time.

I think they are singing special music just for me. I can here the words to that old song, "The boys are back in town" right now only with "boys" replaced by "birds".

I know there are a few intelligent people that read this blog now and then. Could someone please help me find a deterrent so that the feathered cretins would find another roost? I don't want to hurt them, just encourage them to move nest.

And you people can stop laughing and shaking your heads since I'm sure that's what most of you are doing right now. I am not a loon.

New and improved

I thought it was just about time to add a title graphic of my own since I create so many different things with Paint Shop Pro. The clock came from clocklink. If you want a clock just move your cursor over the clock and follow the link. It's a cool free service for blogs as well as your desktop.

Now if someone would just hire me to make wonderful, original graphics all day, I would have my dream job. Maybe I'll get lucky and some really nice person in San Francisco - one with an eye for talent - will see my stuff and want to hire me to make them graphics all day.

Yea sure, I'm daydreaming but I can do that on here. Even without being hired and moving away to California, I will always love creating graphics. Let me know if the title gif looks weird at all. Well ok, let me know if you know what you're looking at. If you don't have a clue about graphics? Don't bother me. Ha.

Sanding disks or flame throwers. You decide!

You know the media advertises everything today. There is a cheap and shoddy product out there for pretty much everything anymore no matter what you need. I happened across something that I really found to be odd and still , I can't really see how it would work. Has anyone seen these ladies hair removal kits that contain something that looks very much like a sanding disk? I just wonder if I'm the only one that notices that crap. What really gets me is that it looks like a disk sander.

Anytime I see that stuff, I get these visuals of myself using whatever advertisers happen to be peddling at the time. So, here I am, sitting with this leg shaving, sanding disk while an EMS guy applies bandages to what's left of my ground up leg.

Now that I've shared that one, someone please tell me what those actually are and how they work. Do they work? Or is it a total farce and women are still left with those creepy stubbly hairs anyway despite the weekly sanding disk treatment? What a cruel trick that would be. Why not just create a mini flame thrower to singe the hair off? Someone will see this and make millions off what I just suggested.

*Disclaimer* The owner of this blog holds all rights, titles, patents etc on the mini flame thrower hair removal system. Also the blog owner is not responsible for any halfwit injured be it normal use or through total stupidity whilst trying to mini flame throw their hair away. So there.

And so, would you prefer to use a sanding disk or a mini flame thrower? Come on folks, let me hear your thoughts on this. M Bas IL Radio. Lines are open.

Hedgehog eh? Uhhhhhhuh.

In response to the last post, I'm writing to wsay that while I may be big, I am not hairy. Ha. So there. I happen to be very cuddly not unlike a koala bear. Not a big tyrant-type bear like a grizzly. Those mainly live in the upper US and I'm in the southwest. Ha again. I fail to see any resemblance to myself and a hedgehog though since I have no spikes. I can be spiky if I feel the need but normally I am not.

Both you two have my home phone number and are welcome to call me. In fact, Tassie Devil called me today to wish me a happy birthday and to catch up on all the bits we've missed back and forth. But, did Deeky call me? Nope. No call from His Deekness. However, since it's Deeky, I forgive him for not calling.

I do like fish and honey is nice too but that doesn't mean I'm a fish. Or a hedgehog. Or a bear. Maybe it's a fishy hedgebear. I love reptiles, snakes and lizards mainly so who can tell these things.

I feel good today, I think because it's my day to celebrate and do something fun. Wheeee! Please send large parcels of British goodies and huge steaming piles of cash immediately. Ok then don't. lol... I'll still love you both.

So is Tony Blair a fishy hedgebear too? Who knew he had the same problem I did? I didn't know. Frankly I'll be greatly relieved once mine has been corrected since I never know when I am going to have an attack so I can't live a normalish life at the moment. Suddenly having your heart start beating at 220 is a huge drag. Surgery is November 29. Keep fingers and eyes crossed but please, not while driving.

Ok, I am off to grill steaks for dinner. Everyone is invited. Deek, Tassie, Goalie, and of course my other alter ego, Chief Idiot, Mike. And yes Mike, I can over cook, burn and ruin yours just like you like it. He'll be reading this but not posting since he's likely to be chopping broccoli. HAHA... Blame SNL for that one.

More soon from Bushland. Say... that's catchy. But then sos a cold. Ha.

In Her Absence

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   hey Tas - have you heard from Kate recently ? I think she is sick...

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   She said she had heart probs - I'm quite worried!

Tassie Devil says:

   Me too

Tassie Devil says:

   Haven't heard from her in weeks

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   any news?

Tassie Devil says:

   she told me she had been having heart problems as well....sounded like atrial fibrillation

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   same as Tony Blair

Tassie Devil says:

   which is easily treatable

Tassie Devil says:

   indeed.

Tassie Devil says:

   But haven't heard from her at all

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   http://katesworldblog.blogspot.com/

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   her blog has a post on it

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   (just looked)]\

Tassie Devil says:

   well I checked that a couple of days ago

Tassie Devil says:

   but not since.

Tassie Devil says:

   that's good.

Tassie Devil says:

   so she's hibernating then.

Tassie Devil says:

   hmmm

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   lol

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   like a hedgehog

Tassie Devil says:

   indeed, or a bear

Tassie Devil says:

   lol

Tassie Devil says:

   more in character I reckon

Tassie Devil says:

   not that I know a lot about bears

Tassie Devil says:

   but that one can be fierce when roused.

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   yes

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   likes honey and fish

Tassie Devil says:

   well don't know about her taste in those lol

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   big and hairy!

Tassie Devil says:

   I'm sorry, but I am cutting it fine to get to work on time, I'm going to have to scoot

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   ok

Tassie Devil says:

   no comment there

Tassie Devil says:

   lol

Tassie Devil says:

   You're wicked.

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   thanks for the chat

Tassie Devil says:

   lol

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   take care :)

Tassie Devil says:

   no problem

Tassie Devil says:

   you too.

Tassie Devil says:

   bye

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   byeeeeeeeeee

Ezekiel Norwood says:

   x

I'm still kickin'

Hello everyone! I'm here now from a short break to rest my weary nerves, body, brain etc. It's a real drag to get older and have your body betray you even while still mentally feeling much the same as twenty years ago.

My brain says, "Wheeee! Let's party!" but of course all the various bits inside each have their own agenda and few of them agree with each other. So, I've had to step in and settle things.

Taking Deek's idea, I've given my bits a good stern lecture about how I am the one in control here and all the individual bits will cooperate with what I want, like it or not. So there. Let's hope this settles things down.

I'll add more posts later today since my posting of October was almost nothing. Thank you Deek and Goalie for posting in my absence and keeping things going. It's nice to know that you guy's miss me when I'm not here. :o)

Onward and upward, it's time to cook Chinese.