Adventures at the State Fair

Home in the Rookery

We took the kiddies to the fair on Saturday.  We ogled the animals, watched the pigs squeal around the track, and cheered for duck #88, who won by a bill and collected his prize of cheese puffs.  We ate foot-long corndogs, and steak on a stick, with fresh-squeezed lemonade to wash it all down.  With our stomachs chewing on this

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Homey Crafts

Home in the Rookery

My daughter talked me into starting a hat for her a couple weeks back.  She chose a spool of yarn in rainbow hues and we bought a corking round, but I didn’t get far on the project because of course I have very little time to sit quietly and let my hands work. Today we

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A Day on the Wild Side

1 CommentHome in the Rookery, Writing

We took the kids (on Saturday, I’m behind) to the Carnivore Preservation Trust, just outside of Pittsboro.  It’s a very cool and happening place with leopards (including the last Barbary), ocelots, tigers, servals and, of course, the darling but ferocious kinkajous.  Yes, that’s the same little critter that bit Paris Hilton . . . and then ordered out for a

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A Cricket in the Night

Home in the Rookery

Last night, heading to bed, I was especially tired and grateful for sleep.  My husband was working on his laptop beside me, but the light was off and all was well. Then we heard it.  The dreaded crick crick crick of a cricket in our room.  It wasn’t too loud but had an echo-y sound

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Library Rant

Home in the Rookery

I have always been a great patron of the library.  More so than the average tax-payer because I always have a fine to pay.  Sometimes only a few cents, sometimes (especially during the summer) in the five, fifteen, or twenty dollar range. But no more. As of now, I will buy my books from book sellers, either brick-and-mortar or ebay

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Remembering 9-11-2001

2 CommentsHome in the Rookery

I heard the news.  That morning will always be very clear in my memory.  I had just dropped our son off at preschool, and was headed to the gym.  I liked to work out in the water, as my six months pregnant bulk was never comfortable.  I turned on the car radio and heard the anouncers discussing

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Origami

Home in the Rookery, The Human Condition

I found the Extreme Sport of Origami a fascinating look at one of my favorite subjects.  I love to watch the creation of Origami, and I’ve always liked the idea of taking it up.  I almost certainly won’t progress beyond basic forms if I do.  It seems to require single-minded devotion from the practitioners, and I’ve never been single-minded

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Re-found treasure

Home in the Rookery, Writing

Our oldest computer has been threatening to die, so today we went searching on the hard drive to see what needed rescuing.  We found lots of old writing files, some which I’d been missing, but some I’d forgotten were ever written.  It was great to come across the titles of these old stories and fragments,

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Listening for the storm

Home in the Rookery, Writing

We have a tropical storm, wannabe hurricane, headed our way.  Outside it is dark and the wind soughs through the wet leaves in the trees.  The birds are quiet, but the cicadas sing. I’ve been thinking how important sound is.  We know, instantly, on entering a room how comfortable the people in it feel with

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