Wednesday, December 9, 2009

It Ain't Wordless But There Are Pictures

It's so warm today, seventy degrees at seven thirty in the morning and humid? Child, you don't know humid unless you're here. Winter? Really?

I'm going to yoga today. I haven't been in a very long time. Between Owen and my foot and my yoga teacher's back (she has ruptured a disc for the third time- not doing yoga) I just haven't been. I miss it. I need it. My foot is still bothering me. Badly.
I went to the real shoe store yesterday. Not the Shoe Circus/Carnival/Warehouse/Giant-Enormous-Vast-Display-of-Shoes-Store. The real one where a guy who has training and years of experience and who runs looks at the way you walk and listens to you. I told him I thought I had a tendon problem. He showed me his scar where he'd had the same problem. He laced me up in new shoes for walking and watched me walk again.
Ice, he said.
Ibuprofen, he said.
I paid for the shoes, walked out with a smile.
Then I went to the Shoe Circus/Carnival/Warehouse/Giant-Enormous-Vast-Display-of-Shoes-Store to find something other than my beloved little Crocs which offer nothing more than a sole, which is really all I want in a shoe. But I realized that my poor foot, if it is ever to really heal, is going to need some more support, especially under my high-and-mighty arch. I bought a pair of fake Birks, made by New Balance at Ross for $12.99. My feet feel better already even if I do look like I am crunching granola.

Anyway, I got up this morning and went out to the chicken house to let Miss Betty out before Sam got to her. The chickens were just beginning to stir and I wish I'd had my camera, the way they were all lined up on the roost, looking at Sam for direction on how to start the new day. He was doing a little Chicken Man Dance, his big dinosaur claws shuffling and tapping the ground with dainty steps. It was amazing! I didn't know they did that! And the hens began to jump off the roost and head into the coop, one by one and as they did, he jumped on them and had his way! The Man, The Rooster! The Amazing Chicken Love Maker! Then Elvis joined in and had a few ladies himself!
What excitement in the hen house and this happens every morning!

Well.

I took my camera back out, quick, quick, but I had missed most of the morning dance. Here's Betty, taking a grape from my hand:


Look. I know I anthropomorphise my chickens. I can't help it. And so what? Maybe, dammit, they are just like us but with feathers and beaks and their own damn ways and culture and Betty is as sweet and darling in her ways and personality as I think she is.

It was actually chillier in the room the camera was in than it is outside and so my lens got foggy and besides that, it is awfully hard to get a good picture of chickens. They move so fast. But here's one I got of Sam and Elvis, my two noble (but occasionally mean) Roosters, head-to-head. They do not fight over the ladies much. I don't understand this. By the rules of roosters, they should fight like mad but they don't.


Plenty of hens for all, I suppose.

And here's a Bradford Pear leaf, fallen from the tree, and it is one of those whose colors remind me so much of the background of the Virgin of Guadalupe as she is represented so often:


One more. Last night I took this one because the light spilling from the kitchen was golden and the roses in their last bloom of the season, were so brave, standing up and being so red and so soft and so gorgeous in the day's dying light.

And now. Off to do Old Crippled Lady yoga.
And then I am going to lace on my new shoes and take a walk.
Ibuprofen may be involved.

The woods are waiting for me.

16 comments:

  1. Good luck with your walking. I badly neglect my feet. I really should get mine looked at. Love the pictures, and the observation of the hens and roosters.

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  2. Your lovely pictures put a smile on my face! Glad you found some comfy shoes at a great price! Hope yoga feels good. I'm off to therapy hopefully to get a few more muscles to calm down and relax. They're all still on high alert and not forgiving me easily. Your photos - chickens and roses!! - made my snowy slushy Illinois morning so much nicer. Ane the doggies peeping through the door made me smile, thanks!

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  3. Crippled lady yoga..? heheh~ Even when your foot hurts, you still crack me up!

    Man, I can't believe chicken do it every day... I think Betty was a human in her last life, with many children and no will to do it every day. Maybe that's why Sam is mean to her! She's a chicken libber! (Get it?) I know, weak, but still hoping to get a smile. :-)
    xoxo m

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  4. Love the shoes and the chickens too! This weather is awful. I'm going to Chicago next week and it will be quite a shock to my system I'm sure.

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  5. aw i hope your foot will get better soon...ice! ibu!:-)

    totally like the pic of the leaf and the kitchen&rose pic looks so inviting...

    by the way i love humid..yes i do..when i lived for a while in nola i loved the humid weather the most...makes me feel all..well..no..lets dont go there...i might scare the chicken with it...:-)

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  6. Glad I could have a piece of home today. Thanks sweet Mama.

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  7. you were wearing crocs with foot problems?
    tsk tsk

    and I love that you have those eyes at the screen door watching and waiting always.

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  8. Technogram- Our feet are our foundations. We must treat them well.

    Mel- I hope you feel better soon. And aren't the dogs cute? I didn't even realize they were there until I saw the pictures. "What is Mommy doing?"
    Although I am not their mommy. I am actually their slave.

    Ms. Fleur- Yep. Every day. Many times. The last thing Sam does before he goes to roost is jump on Mabel. Don't ask me why.
    Do you think that is Betty had a bra she would burn it?

    Lois- Uh. Yes. I'm thinking Chicago's weather is nothing like this.

    Danielle- Humidity does slow us down and make us lethargic. Which can lead to other things. Things you can do lying down. I get your drift, dear.

    HoneyLuna- My pleasure, my sweet girl.

    Deb- I know. And it didn't even occur to me that the Crocs might be part of the problem! Stupid.

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  9. You're better off with these. Granola or not, I think birks are really cool. (And I really don't like Crocs, but that may just be something to do with the type of people that wear them over here.)

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  10. Really, since they clearly both get all the chicken booty they need, they probably don't feel much like fighting. Maybe standing around bragging about how many times and with whom, doing the rooster equivalent of having a smoke, I don't know. But I know that I never feel like fighting when I am well satisfied. :)

    Here to hoping the fake birks help; they DO look nice, granoly-y or not, and I have foot envy. Yours are so long and slender!

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  11. I am so sorry your foot is hurting again. Goddammit. Poor footy.

    I spy Pearl in the kitchen door photo! I only have eyes for Pearl. Please kiss her on the top of the head for me.

    I envy you the open screen door in the picture. If I opened my door to the screen, I'd freeze my fucking ass off now.

    Love you. Ice and ibuprofen. Do it.

    SB

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  12. The pic of the two cocks is so nice and glowy. And that last one is very nice too.

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  13. Mwa- I wore the cute crocks. Not the clunky clog ones. But they were not helping my foot.

    Kori- Yep. I think those roosters get plenty of hen pussy. Haha! I'm so crude. I think that picture makes my feet look longer and thinner than they are. You should have seen them laced into my new blindingly white walking shoes. They looked ENORMOUS! I was almost embarrassed to go out and believe me- that rarely happens to Ms. Moon.

    Ms. Bastard- I have all the doors open right now. It's raining and warm and delightful although I hear there's a tornado in the area. If I hear the freight train (actually, a freight train just went by, for real), I will grab Pearl and we will hide in the little closet under the stairway where the mice live. No worries!

    Steph- They are cocks indeed!

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  14. That leaf is absolutely beautiful! I don't think I've ever seen one like it. Been reading everything, just haven't had lots of time to comment on everything. Missing you!

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  15. Ginger- I know you have exams. You are excused.

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  16. That leaf, I want to own it.
    I know that's not the right way to think. But I need to frame it. It's gorgeous, perfect. Thank you. The roses and the dogs too. All of it actually is wonderful and I'm glad it's not wordless. That wouldn't be any fun.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.