I took a politics quiz before the election. It turns out that philosophically I side most with the Green Party. I'm not surprised... If the Green Party ever had a chance in hell of winning, I'd probably vote for a candidate. In the meantime, Barack's my man. I wonder what it is that I agree with Mitt about12%?
Candidates you side with...
95%
Jill Stein Green
86%
Barack Obama Democrat
Rocky Anderson Justice
12%
Mitt Romney Republican
68%
Massachusetts Voters
62%
American Voters
Parties you side with...
96% Democrat
95% Green
33% Libertarian
5% Republican
Johnathan recites his epic poem in honor of Molly's 50th birthday party.
For Molly
And as we solemnly wander in from the autumnal gloom,
myriad faces greet us and light up the room...
For tonight we celebrate, and eschew our sorrow -for very
soon shall come the 'morrow, finding ourselves again alone...
footfalls echoing in corridors unknown...
And in solitude, our minds doth fear
to ponder the passing of yet another year
But tonight -tonight! We gather as one, and though it
seems we seek not but fun,
'Tis in fact a bittersweet reality
that we ponder the passing of half a century...
And what better subject to serve as our muse
than Molly, sweet Molly, and not Thomas Cruise
For is there a kinder being on yon Winter Hill, than the
brown-eyed girl from Rockford, Ill.?
Annoyed she is so seldom, and though Christine causes
bedlam in her life,
She remains her common-law wife....
And what love it takes to endure the foul
-
the foulness of a dog that is moving its bowels!
In the misty morning on the top of a hill,
a frosty poop snagged and bagged by the girl from
Rockford, Ill.
And what of Wrigley, that son of a butch, who chomped
my shin and nipped my foot?
And with his sharp teeth glistening and bared,
Christine sat motionless, like a frozen LaClair
But in walked Molly in stockings and garters,
and took charge of the scene, but that's just for starters!
For when I was lost she offered a room and bed,
And though in the night she gave me no head,
I thought it neither selfish nor silly,
understanding her proclivity.
But she gave me the strength and courage
to move my own bowels from Extra Space storage,
loading the truck and giving the fuck
I was not able to give myself.
And taking my life down from the shelf
Molly and Chris packed it all,
for indeed they know something about U-haul...
And tomorrow when our delirium has passed,
and we find ourselves alone, aghast,
let us remember this evening when the room was warm
and our faces shone
with the light that occurs
when life becomes a poem,
keeping comfort from the cold
as outside the autumn winds doth blow...
-Jonathan Donahue
Copyright 2012
Poet Laureate
Fenwick Compound
11/10/12
This is an old video from last year. It's my cousin Joel dipping into the cold November waters of Sebago Lake in Maine. He splendidly entertained all of us, plus greatly impressed his younger cousins Natalie, Gavin, and Zach with his antics. Now he's in the Air Force, stationed in Texas. On this Veteran's Day, I hope for Joel's safety and health, and think of the other members of my family that have served in the armed forces. I love how the video begins with my niece running off to retrieve her brothers for the show.
I have recently received my Ancestry.com DNA kit in the mail. Soon I will spit into a tube and send off my bodily fluids to be analyzed. There are other choices for DNA analysis, like the National Geographic option, that may be more detailed and encompassing, but I talked to a friend and she said her first and cheaper choice was the Ancestry.com offer. If the Ancestry.com results are tantalizing and bring more questions and curiosity, then I'll likely go for the National Geographic analysis too, and will probably try to get my father to submit. Before I get the results, I thought I would write about my expectations. What surprises might there be? What will unlikely be a surprise at all?
Expected:
- I would expect that about 60 percent of my DNA ancestry should be from the British Isles-- England and Ireland.
- I know I have some Scandinavian DNA.
- I'm probably all Northern European.
Surprises or Questions to be answered:
- Do I have any German ancestry? Was my great-grandfather on my father's side, David Miller Taylor, German?
- Do I have any Native American blood? Did my great-grandmother Jedidah Pinhorn have an indigenous female relative in Canada?
- Do I have French ancestry? Perhaps?
- Can the DNA test tell me how far back my Norwegian ancestry goes?
- It would be a real shocker if I had Asian or African American blood, but you never know.
- Were my ancestors ancient Druids?
I don't know if DNA analysis will tell you anything more than what you can research in documents. I suppose it should, since DNA should go back before people kept records. We shall see.....
I know that in the big scheme of things, I hardly have any odd collections, nor do I have any extensive collections. Space and my mother's practical voice speaking in the back of my head prevent me from going hog wild. I would like to collect hoards of victor Victrolas, teapots, antique phones, watches, salt and pepper shakers, old cameras, to name a few. But thank goddess I do not have an attic, or a barn, or a huge basement at my disposal.
I browse Ebay and Etsy with a dreamy look on my face, but I deter myself mostly. Small collections, carefully chosen and packed away, have made the cut. I have already featured my black cat collection, and my various book collections.
Here are a couple of my other small collections---cuff links, pez dispensers, and card holders. These items can easily be shoved away in a drawer, or contained on a shelf for display.
I know these collections are not great in number, or very unique. These items won't get me featured in the World Book of Records, or the blog of weird collections, but they provide some small relief to the hoarding itch.
