Lessons In Walking

I was walking home from my counseling appointment last week and a man on a bike, who appeared to be related to Stephen Colbert's friend "The Professor", approached me.

He stopped at my side and mumbled something. He seemed to be talking to me, expecting a reply but I didn't understand him so I replied, "Excuse me... What did you say?"

"Do you know where Main Street is?" he asked looking a bit more upset at having to repeat himself.

I've lived here 4 years now, but I still don't have a clue. Prior to his question I was actually impressed with by myself for walking home by myself because there's a very good possibility that I'll get lost (if only due to nerves about putting myself in such a situation), but now I was embarrassed not to know directions for this man.

With all the stuff in my head the best things I could say was, "Sorry, I wasn't born here." (Well, "I'm not from around here" isn't true, and any other version of the truth would take hours from this man's life, so that's what I said.)

His response was to straighten up and pull away from me & protect himself from this crazy woman. As he said, "You're not from Fargo?!" his eyes widened with fear and he took off before I could say anything else.

In that moment I became the crazy one to be suspicious of.

Flash forward to this week.

Hubby is late to pick me up from the counselor's office, so I start walking home again down the same street where I met last week's Professor. Hubby drives down the street and toots his horn because he can't stop on the street, so I assume he'll drive around the block and meet me at next cross street ahead. As I approach the corner I look to my left, down the street, and I can just make out our van approaching.

A young man on a bike, clearly annoyed, yells to me, "It says 'walk.'"

"Congratulations, you can read," I snipe back without thinking.

Then it hits me, this young guy looks more angry and upset than the Professor did; perhaps my snotty retort isn't so smart... Sure, hubby's almost here, and the biker has continued through the crosswalk, but what if I were alone and he hadn't? Shouldn't I know better than to piss off some guy who already seems pissed off -- and who looks like he can do something about it?

Then it hit me, if things were to head down hill I can always just say, "Sorry, I wasn't born here," and let that put the fear into him.

(Image of Jimmy Fingers, The Professor, from The Colbert Report, © Comedy Central.)

You can take the kid out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the kid.

Sometimes, this is how I feel about where I live...



Photo via Malls of America.

For more groovy retro shopping stuff, see this post at Kitschy Kitschy Coo.

Dogs In Hats

Awhile ago I posted at the end of an article about old chalkware collectibles that I was looking for a little hat for the large German Shepherd dog vintage chalk statue... Well, we got one in a lot of dolls we bought at auction:


Mr. Schultz, the GDS, is quite happy to have his ravaged ears less noticeable -- tho he does hope for more of a canvas fishing number. It would be more masculine. But for now it does the trick.

Not only is it a perfect fit for the plaster pooch, but it fits Miss Toodles...



It's quite difficult to take a photo of her. Toodles "Squirrel Face" Davidson III, a Cairn Terrier, isn't the sit-still type. But we eventually got a photo that wasn't all a blur.


Toodles, aka Toodle-Oodle-Oodle-O's (and her Toodle-Oodle-Oodle-Nose) is really my dog Ween's dog. I'll have to share pics of him too -- but that's even trickier. Ween is a mutt, and apparently part Aborigine, for he fears the camera. He thinks that box will steal his sweet soul.

Homemade, On-The-Fly Greeting Card For Kat

My dear friend is so sad.

It hurts me so to see her sad.

What hurts me most is knowing that however unintentionally, I have a part in her pain.

I am truly sorry, both for your sadness and my part in it.

Perhaps knowing this helps. And if we could hug, perhaps I could be forgiven.

Maybe you'd even smile -- and mean it.

(Drawn & written in less than 3 minutes -- including using phone to take the photo.)

Protecting Our Kids, Literature-ly

While we are busy removing the cigarette from the author's photo (in our quest to remove smoking from our collective history, the publisher should also make the following changes to Goodnight Moon. *wink*

Who Doesn't Like Cute Animals?

I know I'm awfully biased since I interviewed the folks at Noah's Pals, but I have to say just how much I love their blog. It's full of cute animal facts (and images) and written so kids can understand it.