Friday, May 19, 2000

my weblog neighbor to the left has a very nice library. i've been considering putting something similar up where i could link to the blog entries that have quotes from what i've read.....so far i've been lazy. still, he has good literary tatse and i suggest you indulge yourselves.....
posted by April Fraze 5/19/2000 11:42:27 PM| link

on the way home last night i saw this greenhouse off a road running parrellel to 35S. tonight i glanced over as i reached lakeville and there it was again. i was low on gas, so i made a deal with myself. i would pull into a station and if there was an atm i could buy some plants. i was in luck, so i cruised on over and instantly i knew i was in trouble. this place was phenomenal. i totally appreciate a place that takes pride in its plants. everything was absolutely beautiful and well-kept. i wandered the many aisles for quite some time and ended up buying 2-4" pansy pots that haven't bloomed yet, but will have purple and orange blossoms. i believe they are called joker face or something like that. i also bought a small rosemary plant to put in the herb garden i plan to start and some onion sets: red, yellow, and white. all of these goodies totalled under $5. i think i will return after i get the garden completely plantable. brad is here tonight officially....our firsat night as live-in lovers.......we agreed that we will likely go back to the nursery to buy our peppers and a few more tomatoes. this garden has me so psyched. it's the first time i have had my own plot and i am hoping that the green thumb i have with my houseplants will carry over.
posted by April Fraze 5/19/2000 11:27:58 PM| link

this one's for john.

"this must be heaven --
tonight I crossed the line.
you must be the angel
i thought I'd never find.
was it you I heard singin'
while I was chasin' dreams?
driven by the wind,
like the dust that blows around
and the rain fallin' down... "

--the oldest juveniles in the state of california, the grateful dead.....

yes, bobby is the BIG cheese, but damn, i love him....
posted by April Fraze 5/19/2000 11:18:22 PM| link

it's a friday night at home again, as usual....don't feel sorry for me, it's my lifestyle these days, and i'm happy with it. the peace is quite wonderful actually. the "kids" (pets to many) enjoy me being home. kyra and i played throw the rope for awhile and i watched the dukes of hazard reunion for nostalgia's sake.

i'm anxious to read.....to spend a little more time with robbins. he has become my guru....a mentor if you will and i want everyone to read his books. the same goes for daniel quinn's ishmael. before curling up on the couch i decided to spend some time on-line. you see, i used to enjoy reading journals and finding new personalities....i had a newsgroup i loved with names i recognized. i got e-mail from people all over the world that i trade shows with and some people i just have grown to love over the web.....lately, i've had a difficult time sitting here for pleasure's sake. i guess it's because i am in the same posture all day for work. if i could get one of those rolling hospital tables....you know the one's that are like an arm and fit over the beds? i could put it over my couch and surf the web or blog my thoughts.....
,br> anyway, i started with a point to make.......i read some weblogs......started going from one link to the next not knowing where i started.......i came across ben brown and read his daily entry. he has a bitter taste for what weblogs are becoming and i agree. he may even be irked that i linked him here. my personal theory about the situation is this: there are "popular" loggers......they're the elite to all of the blogger groupies......when you link....you show up in their referral log....if you're as cool as you hope to be, then maybe, just maybe....ever popular ben will link to you, too......it's just a theory, but it makes sense to me......and ben, i admire your work...i don't read you regularly....i won't worship you......but i find it enlightening to see that you haven't let the fame hit you in the head and you do it your way....please, don't appease the masses.
posted by April Fraze 5/19/2000 11:08:48 PM| link

sheesh!
posted by April Fraze 5/19/2000 10:21:23 PM| link

i left work this afternoon with a spring in my step. as i walked through the doors of riverplace i found myself singing "sunshine on my shoulders." unconsciously, the stereo in my head switched channels and i barely heard myself uttering the words to the cure's "just like heaven." it has always been a happy song for me.

"show me, show me, show me
how you do that trick
the one that makes me scream she said
the one that makes me laugh she said
and threw her arms around my neck
show me how you do it
and i promise you,
i promise that i'll run away with you."

as i hopped in the car i paused to find the oregon state prison garcia/kahn show i was listening to yesterday. i continued on with "just like heaven" and as i started the car i finished the words "spinning on that dizzy edge just before they came on the radio. freaky. was i picking up a radio signal? i cranked it up and acted like a teenager the whole way home.

another good spring song for letting loose: american girl by tom petty.

make music part of your weekend.....please enjoy the lovely weather.
posted by April Fraze 5/19/2000 08:25:43 PM| link

just when you thought it would never get here.........THE WEEKEND!!! get on out and enjoy it....stop reading this page immediately (well, please come back later), get your butts outside and enjoy a little sunshine.....

"sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.
sunshine in my eyes can make me cry.
sunshine on the water looks so lovely.
sunshine almost always makes me high.
if i had a gift that i could give you
i'd give to you a day just like today.
and if i had a song that i could sing for you
i'd sing a song to make you feel this way."

--the late, great mr. john denver.

posted by April Fraze 5/19/2000 04:55:53 PM| link

here's another picture: this time it's of teton and kyra running at me in nerstrand big woods on one of our afternoon hikes.....isn't minnesota pretty?
posted by April Fraze 5/19/2000 02:09:27 PM| link

Thursday, May 18, 2000

father's day is june 18th. my suggestion: this book. i got one for my mother for mothers day also. definitely a great gift that can stay in your family.
posted by April Fraze 5/18/2000 10:37:57 PM| link

my father marched in washington, d.c. this week....i'm proud of him. he's a member of the united mine workers of america. they marched to protect their health care.....did i say i was proud of him? i'm also happy for him....my father is also a vietnam vet....his dream of seeing the wall has finally come true...and he also got to see the other sites. i wish i had sent him some charcoal to make rubbings.

when i moved home and introduced my dad to the web we found a site honoring the vietnam vets. we spent a late weekend night looking up names of old friends.....men who spent one of the most emotional periods of their lives together....not knowing what the next day held....or perhaps knowing, and wishing they didn't. he doesn't talk about it much. he was a marine....and he wasn't drafted. i don't try to think about the war and whether it was right or wrong that we were there. i only know that my family was involved. my uncle charlie was drafted into the army and my father, a year younger, enlisted in a position that looked over what his older brother was doing (that's how my granny tells it). little old ladies from their hometown sent them cookies. they are honorable men, and i'm certain they did what they felt was right. it was a different time then.

"what would you do if i sang out of tune
would you stand up and walk out on me?
lend me an ear and i'll sing you a song
i will try not to sing out of key
oh yeah, baby, by with a little help from my friends"
--joe cocker sings it like this....at least that's what daddy always said.

maybe it's hard to see that i am a daddy's girl...most likely not. when i was born they brought me to my grandmother's and i had a wet diaper. granny started to take me saying i needed changed, my father refused..."she's my daughter and i'll do it." he was a good daddy. he bought me my first dog. when i was in diapers he would come home and relax in the recliner with me in one arm and an issue of cooner open. he's a coon hunter, like his father before him, and like my brother. julie, was a little walker coonhound and i loved her. i don't exactly remember getting her i was so young, but i remember her disappearance. i was 5. she was gone, but her collar wasn't.....someone had wanted to buy her....i guess they took the matter into their own hands when my father refused. we didn't really know what happened, but it was suspicious. it still amazes me to this day......a man of 27, only a year older than i am now explains that the dog you want is owned by his 5 year old little girl..........after this, the fact that any person in this world felt they had a right to take julie away from her home where she was loved......it just doesn't make sense.
posted by April Fraze 5/18/2000 10:27:36 PM| link

so, tell me? does brad remind you of brent, too? check out the picture at the bottom of this page. it's more easily seen.
posted by April Fraze 5/18/2000 10:05:55 PM| link

i have this scanner/fax/printer at work....it sucks for scanning, but i got to playing around with it and added some shots from our trip to the zoo and kyra bell at nerstrand big woods. here are a few shots of brad (hint: combing your hair often is NOT a prerequisite for my love...sorry brad! ;-) ) there are also pix of me here and here. they scanned pretty dark unfortunately, but oh well. they are also incredibly crooked....what can i say...by far, the best pictures are of kyra. here's one of her looking sassy (notice that james dean look and the arm over the seat....she's groovy), and here's my little water dog having a good time. i think it's time to shell out the cash for a scanner.....or maybe a digital camera.....oh well.
posted by April Fraze 5/18/2000 04:49:25 PM| link

Wednesday, May 17, 2000

things are beginning to take shape these days so i decided to take a much needed break to blog. i've been in such a mood since starting work in the office. my main difficulty has been learning how to do it all over again. i have been working from home since january. there's a big difference in getting up at eight in the morning and getting up early enough to make the 70 mile drive to the office so i can be here by eight-thirty (don't tell anyone, but i am often late...i attribute it to errands, but i don't take lunch so it equals out :-) ). things have certainly improved in the last week....since the "conference", and i almost enjoy my job again. i am also learning how to make my evenings at home productive. for the first 3 weeks i came home and fell onto the couch in exhaustion, stirring only to grab my book and read before bed. this week i've actually had dinner and last night brad and i spent an hour+ working on the garden. it feels good to have the energy to get things done. i couldn't help singing "rock me amedeus" as i picked at the sod (we're working the garden old school....removing the sod, working the ground....it's a big bunch of rewarding work....my spirits soared....amazing how happy dirt makes me....)

"baby, baby, do,
rock me, baby, baby, do
rock me, baby, baby do, rock me, yah, yah, yaaaahh!"

--falco

in other news, things are looking up on the home front. bradley has found a rewarding new career in mankato (you know, where pa ingalls used to take the wagon) and will be officially living with me starting this weekend. we know it's soon....it may even be crazy, but it makes us happy and damn it, why the hell not. i get a person to talk to through the week, someone to share the responsibilities of home and yard, and utilities, and rent with, a loving companion, a shoulder to lean on, and i love him, so be it.


posted by April Fraze 5/17/2000 10:54:15 AM| link

Monday, May 15, 2000

i miss my on-line friends......i miss the e-mails, the newsgroup, the life of this page...i promise this is temporary...i will be back (in my best arnold voice)
posted by April Fraze 5/15/2000 11:22:56 AM| link