100 Word Wednesday

Mousetraps!  Miss M recently included mousetraps on a list of items for a science project.  Specifically the students are building Rube-Goldberg contraptions this year.  Miss M and her partner are designing and building a twenty step project to crack an egg.  Don’t ask me how mouse traps will figure into this process.  I was dismayed when looking to purchase said mousetraps that the stocker at Target told me he thought they had them and that I could find them in the pet aisle.  My response was, “I hope not.”  But sure enough, that’s where they were along with mouse food!

Haiku Tuesday

white cat in the yard

disturbing the inside cats

who’s jealous of whom?

Miss M Monday

I think I mentioned that I’m a terrible parent.  Well, here is another example for your amusement.  I appear to be an utter failure in the transmission of common sense to my child.  One recent evening, Miss M decided to cut up an apple for a snack.  Miss M knows how to use both a knife and a cutting board.  She chose, instead, to use her hand for a cutting board!

After this poor choice had the results you might expect, she came to me and, in a trembly voice but without tears, told me she had cut herself.  This was made obvious by the blood gushing from her hand down her wrist and arm!  I calmly took her to the sink and rinsed off the wound.  And, after once again being glad I have a strong stomach, I told Miss M she was definitely going to require a trip to the emergency room.

I asked (this seemed like a reasonable question), “Why didn’t you use a cutting board?”

“I dunno,” was Miss M’s typical thirteen-year-old response.

At the emergency room, Miss M had to explain her failure to use good sense no less than six times.  The attending physician asked her why she didn’t just bite into her apple.  I liked this question even better than mine…it really boiled things down to the simplest way to avoid injury.  Miss M’s response to this question was, “Apples taste better cut up in my opinion.”  Wow.

After two hours of very kind emergency room folks, comments on the lack of drama given that Miss M is thirteen (she was actually excited to have an injury to show off), and five stitches, we made our way home.

“Do I have to go to school tomorrow?” Miss M asked in the car.

“Yes,” I told her, “failure to learn the cutting board lesson doesn’t excuse you from learning altogether!”

Pandora’s Bits

In case you missed something this week, here are links to this week’s posts!  I’d hate for you to miss out on something!  Happy reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Miss M Monday

Haiku Tuesday

100 Word Wednesday

Still Life Thursday

What Would Pandora Do? Advice for the Slightly Insane

Outside Pandora’s Box – Granny Geek

Photo of the Week - Tom Playing

Photo of the Week – Tom Playing

Tom Playing, originally uploaded by Pandora’s Box on flickr.

Yes, yes, I know Tom’s hands are fuzzy…but he was playing something awesome. Which bit of awesomeness in this particular moment, I don’t remember as I was wine and dessert addled and post Thanksgiving dulled.  JJ and I don’t get to see our friend Tom nearly often enough or hear him play often enough. Our visits are always bittersweet eliciting such a joy to be together and such a disappointment that they aren’t longer.

You can check out some of the awesome music JJ and Tom have made together here!

Outside Pandora’s Box – Granny Geek!

Granny Geek’s blog is awesome!  Even the tag-line cracks me up:  ”A geezer’s view of the world from the Old Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas.”   A friend introduced me to this blog quite some time ago, I lost the link during a computer upgrade and now I have rediscovered it!   The thing that first attracted me to Granny Geek’s posts was that Granny is an outspoken liberal here in the midst of rampant conservatism.  She really is a breath of fresh air!  But she doesn’t just take on political issues.  Granny is also up on everything that’s going on in her neighborhood of Oak Cliff (where we happen to have friends) and all around Dallas as well.

I get a kick out of someone who is a self-described “geezer” writing such an entertaining blog, taking photographs, staying engaged with life and sharing it with all of us out here in the world!  I hope I’m still blogging (or whatever blogging has become) when I’m Granny’s age!  Among the serious discussions and reviews of places I need to remember to try, I also always enjoy the items that fall under “Signs and Wonders”.  I love strange and screwed up signs and Granny has quite a collection!

Go check out Granny!  If you live in the area, I’m sure you’ll see some familiar sites!  And if you don’t, just go for the laughs.

What Would Pandora Do? Advice for the Slightly Insane

Each Friday Pandora provides answers to your most burning questions and sometimes answers questions about things that burn.

Dear Ms. Pandora,

What’s an “f-stop”?  Can I yell that in traffic?

Sincerely yours,

Surly

Dear Surly,

I would assume you can yell anything you want in traffic, you don’t need my permission unless I’m riding shotgun!

As for your question regarding f-stops…I’m going to take a wild guess here that you know people who use cameras that do more than just point-and-shoot and have found yourself stuck in the middle of a photography geek-out session.  Well, Surly, it’s really pretty simple.  An f-stop is the opening in the lens of a camera.  This opening can change and thus f-stops are numbered.  Imagine your pie hole (or cake hole as you prefer), if you pucker up for a kiss, that’s a smaller f-stop (but bigger number – I know, it can be confusing) like f/22.  If you open your pie hole really big so a little bird could fly in, that is more like f/1.8.  Different f-stops are used for different shooting conditions and to achieve varying depths of field.

Wish I could be there when you yell “f-stop” at someone!

XOXO,

Pandora

Disclaimer:  Heeding the advice of a dragon puppet is done at the reader’s own risk and the author of this blog assumes no responsibility for the results for such actions.  If you have questions for Pandora, send them to:  Pandora at joseph-curry dot com!

Still Life Thursday – Feathers

Feathers, originally uploaded by Pandora’s Box on flickr.

I collect feathers…not the kind you buy in souvenir shops…the kind you find. This is a view into my feather bowl that sits on my bookshelf…I always look for feathers in my yard, at the park and anywhere else I go. Sometimes, friends and family even bring me feathers they find!

100 Word Wednesday

Hot tea.  It is finally the time of year again that makes me want hot tea.  JJ will drink it with me too…but that part usually requires his getting a sore throat to start.  Recently he came home with one, and so I brewed a pot of ginger tea that we shared after work.  That was really nice.  I enjoy having some wind down time together and reviving that tradition each year.  There is something so soothing and quiet about the ritual of a shared cup of tea.  The bonus is that the warm liquid actually helps a sore throat!

Haiku Tuesday

woodpeckers scouting

flitting from branch to feeder

red caps flash brightly