"Take me to the river."

I have noticed that human beings are drawn to the water. We swim in it, bathe in it, fish in it, float upon it, ski on top of it, drink it and then disturbingly enough pee in it. Whenever there is a storm, hurricane, heavy waves or whatever you will see people right down there doing their level best to take pictures and possibly die in it. It's got to be some sort of primordial drive right?

We are both fascinated and terrified by it's power and we must witness it first hand. Around here Spring River and Shoal Creek are the major water shows. You have to drive a ways to get to any lake of boating size. So we gravitate to the river. And we LOVE damns. We love the waterfall effect. We love the sound of the water pounding over the Falls.

Yesterday I knew the water was up so I first checked out Spring River here in Carthage and it was out and about. Not as bad as it has been but it was having a muddy walk about the park. It still fascinates me that some brilliant engineers thought it would be a good idea to build Route 66 right along the edge of the river. I mean...this major roadway was right on top of the river. Baffling! Anyway...folks were out and about...including me...taking pictures and watching the flood water pouring along. Checking out how much was over the roadways etc....

Later I decided I would check out the Falls in Joplin even though I knew EVERYBODY would be there. It was pretty crowded but I still took my pictures. Folks were milling about taking pictures, watching the power of the river as it pounded over the falls, listening to deafening roar of the water, and getting soaked by the mist. People would just stand there and watch and listen. I don't know about them but it makes me feel alive.

And it just made me think...here we have something in common. Here we have left all distractions behind. No TV, no computer, no work, no artificial noise crowding our brains. We have all followed the siren call of the river to just come and listen and "be". We are joined together in our love and fascination with nature. For just a brief, shining moment we are real people taking in a "real" moment. We should do this more often.

Namaste.

Random thoughts of the day

Just a few random things that blew across my brain today.

I saw an older gentleman out for a run on my way home from work. He had a nice pace going. I thought...good for him. Then I did a quick check of my moral compass...did I feel guilty that he was out doing something so healthy while I was shoving a glazed donut in my face and licking the glaze off my fingers...apparently not. I know I should feel morally chastised but I just can't bring myself to it. That donut was AWESOME!!

Dear lady on the white Vespa cruising down Newman Rd. this afternoon: You rock!! Not everyone could ride a Vespa wearing a dress and smoking a cigarette in such a cool fashion. You are awesome!! (This is NOT sarcasm...she was cool. Not many people still know how to look cool when they smoke.)

I am really not sure college-aged men should have thigh gaps but more power to you running dudes. Is it really healthy to have that little body fat? Anyway...well done.....

It is really difficult for fat folks to put an ice pack on their ankles by themselves. I should know...I just failed at it miserably. Yes...I called myself fat...get used to it. It is not a moral judgment it is simply a statement of fact. I refuse to pretend that I am not in fact fat and sassy. It just seems silly to ignore the obvious.

Oh...and Owen would like someone to call PETA or the ASCPA or just Sarah McLachlan and tell them that I am torturing him. He would ask himself but the whole lack of an opposable thumb is giving him trouble. Not only does mother force him to go outside when it's raining but she picks him up and gives him massages and kisses and coos in his ear and calls him El Diablo the pee monster. Owen feels that this must be stopped at any cost. So please...help a poodle out.

Welcome to my ADD induced quirky world.

Hello all-  After years of procrastinating I have finally got my blog up and tentatively running. You may be wondering about the title. My boss says that I am "quirky". I think this is how she sleeps at night knowing that she let me slip through the interview net without realizing how certifiable I really am. Since I like her and it makes her feel better we just go with "quirky". Now for the rubbish business. I do not believe that everything I will write on here will be rubbish. Some of it may be and some of you may think it all is rubbish but I really just like the word. Say it with me...rubbish...rubbish...rubbish...it's very tactile isn't it. It is one of my favorite words. Rubbish. So...since all the classy blog titles were taken by far classier people I went with quirky rubbish. Now I shall fill the internet with my special brand of quirky rubbishness until you all surrender to the urge to say rubbish over and over again...at least until the internet kicks me off or people really do think it is all rubbish in which case I shall retreat back into my quirky cave and be done with adulthood now and forever.

Oh look a chicken....