C.B. Potts's Blog, page 8

Three Things Make A Post Wednesday

1. Today we are practicing "Your emergency is not my emergency." Which is not my strongest skill - even if I manage not to disrupt everything in order to fix whatever's wrong, which can usually wait, I still feel extremely guilty about not doing that.

2. Another thing to work on - and something that has been part of my recent bump in the road - is the fact that sometimes really complex situations can't be boiled down into bullet points and that life doesn't necessarily break down neatly into...

Five Things Make a Post Tuesday

1. You know I hated the Patriots long before their balls went flat, yes? So I can't even pretend to be unbiased here. But I do like this marketing/NFL article about Deflategate: https://medium.com/@techtherapist/deflating-a-brand-79ff9e8dbe98

2. Negative self-talk is the enemy of happiness right now. And I've been in a big negative self-talk festival. So now I have to break some bad habits and replace them with good ones. Instead of "I'm so old," I need "I'm in the prime of my life". Except fo...

Five Things Make A Post Monday

1. So here is a very neat story about the freeing feeling of turning 40. I like it, although I've definitely been on the non-traditional breakfast foods bandwagon for DECADES: https://medium.com/thelist/age-40-aint-nobody-got-time-for-that-96651b435bb4

2. It's cold this morning, roughly 20 below with the wind. But it's beautiful too - the skies are robin's egg blue and bright; what clouds there are are travelers with an agenda, moving quickly on.

3. Almost through my reading of The Life of Luth...

Hey Y'All

So January has mostly happened, and I'm glad it's on its way out. Spring is coming and I'm feeling a little more like my natural, I can make life good self. (Yes, I realize a major blizzard is headed our way in the next few days. Spring, as we practice it, include blizzards. They play the role of sex in a octagarian's life: you want to know you can, at least one more time, before you really can't, anymore.)

I have made the switch to a standing desk. It's strange so far, but probably much bette...

Guys! I made a poem

And here it is: http://www.liminalitypoetry.com/issue-2-winter-201415/the-sirens-song-to-the-u-n-security-council-monday-july-10-2017/

Let me know what you think :-)

Also? Squee!

The Longest Night

Changes every year. It used to be lonely. And then it was the babies wouldn't sleep. And now there is a log in the wood stove, one child on the couch watching the tool time guy in a Santa Claus movie while the other one is up to something mysterious & holiday related upstairs.

Every year, it is enough. Every year, it is right for what it is.

2014 has tested us, tested us hard. Some times we failed. Some times we won. Some times we're still not entirely sure what has happened. There's been tears...

Snow's Coming, And That's Not All

Do you know what memory is? Memory is the lover that lets you go. She knows the thing is over; it's run its course, and the two of you just aren't meant to be. There were good times, there were bad times, plenty of whiskey under the bridge. And she stands on the platform, in a long gray skirt and a ridiculous hat and professional boots, and she waves to you. The promise is there that she'll be waiting for your return, but that's a lie and you both know it.

The funny bit is that time goes on....

Tuesday Morning

It is so dark when I go to wake the children up. Bare feet on wooden stairs; half a dozen, turn, half a dozen more. Dawn comes late now and the playroom is a night field. Harmony's room is darker still. I grope for the light string and for a time, find nothing. It feels like I'm falling.

You can tell how cold it is by the way the woodsmoke rises. Our neighbor, or maybe one house beyond, has their stove cranking. There's a puffy white column going up, twenty degrees against the horizon, give or...

Tuesday!

Thank you guys so much for all the present-shopping recs for Nadia! There's a lot of good stuff in there - I think the first thing I'll have her invent is a tree that grows money, and then she can have all of it.

I was thinking of Suzette Hayden Elgin big time last night and this morning, with some pretty profound gratitude. There was a thing that happened at school, and in talking with the principal about it, there was a moment I became very aware of the ways communication shape outcome, and...

So Far This Monday Has Included:

A forgotten book bag, containing the Social Studies book and study sheet. Much tears.

Goats running free near Flood's farm; a trio, wearing collars, they're well-kept.

Two stories sent out again, for hope springs eternal.

That's about it so far. How about you?

ALSO: I NEED YOUR SHOPPING-FU

Nadia has quite a tinkering/invention habit. She built a functional vending machine out of cardboard with tape, paperclips and string. (If you define functional as "accepts money & dispenses candy when you pus...