Roboco’s Neighborhood

Eliza's Garden

tom
2 hours ago
2 comments

As I wrote before, 17 year-old Eliza died Christmas night. I wrote a thing about it, and thanks to everyone who left comments, said prayers for her family, or thought good thoughts. I'm sad for Sara and Bubba, Eliza's parents. As a good friend pointed out during a chat, "I can't imagine their loss, not only of their daughter, but when you've been battling something that long, what do you do when it ends?"

Turns out, what Sara and Bubba are doing is celebrating Eliza's incredible life, not lamenting how short it was.

In that spirit, my tribute to her is two-fold.

First, I ask that you do this. Next time you're depressed or world-weary, when life's abrasive beatings become overwhelming, drink a root beer.

Eliza loved root beer. I was trapped in the hospital for five weeks two years ago, and I had it relatively good. I could eat and drink and talk and sleep. I had pain, of course, but I wasn't fighting for breath. Friends brought me my favorite beverages by the 12-pack--Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Diet Sunkist Orange Soda--and I was able to drink them like crazy. Even better, I had a Foley catheter, so I didn't spend all day running to the bathroom.

Root beer was Eliza's champagne, but she couldn't drink it much of the time, due to one problem or another. As bad as things were for her, she remained positive and vibrant, and when she WAS able to drink root beer, it was all the more special, an effervescent celebration with foamy mustaches all around. So when you get the blues, enjoy a root beer, maybe toast the memory of someone more positive in her sicknesses than I usually am in my oft taken-for-granted health. (recipe idea: Jägermeister and Diet Coke tastes a lot like root beer, if you need yours with a little kick)

The second thing is that I planted a memorial garden on Farm Town. Yeah, I'm a dork, but I like my Farm Town farm. I took down my mountain, and set up Eliza's tribute garden, putting careful thought into each element.

First of all, I put in an orange tree, for Eliza was a Floridian. Moreover, Eliza was a Tallahasseean. As Sara wrote, "She LOVED it here! She loved everything about Tallahassee." In spring, Tallahassee veritably explodes with dogwoods and azaleas blossoming everywhere. Thus, I planted dogwoods and azaleas to celebrate the beauty that surrounds us, the beauty Eliza appreciated so much.

I put in cherry blossom trees. They say Washington, DC, is like heaven when the cherry trees blossom, so it seems apropos.

My Eliza celebration garden also has a pine tree covered in Christmas lights. Tallahassee has lots of pines. One of my favorite spots during college was in the middle of the Appalachicola National Forest, a small clearing surrounded by slash pines. I loved the sound the wind made through those trees, even when I went home all sneezy and yellow with pollen. I picked a pine tree covered with lights as a sign of celebration amidst mundanity. Pine trees aren't as interesting or beautiful as maples or oaks--they look the same in winter as in summer, like giant poles with green needles. This pine is covered with Christmas lights, representing the celebration Eliza managed to find even in her hospital room's stark bleakness. Sara writes that Eliza never met a Pixar film she didn't like. That says a bunch.

Flower-wise, I spelled out Eliza's name in blue hyacinths. In the Victorian language of flowers, the Hyacinth stands for play, and the blue Hyacinth for sincerity. In addition, they're just pretty, even in Farm Town. Around the letters, I planted daffodils. Eliza had a sharp mind and vivid imagination, and used these tools to find a happy refuge amidst some horrible situations. I used daffodils to reference the Wordsworth poem, the last two lines: "And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils." It's an idyllic image, but I can imagine Eliza dancing through a heavenly daffodil field.

There are other flowers, too, many of which I chose for their beauty; others because they were given to me by friends. Friends and family were a huge part of her life, and everybody who knew Eliza loved her. So thanks LauriMoo, Drude, Debra Jo Bob and everyone else who has given me trees and flowers. If you're on Farm Town, and you'd like to add a flower, gift one to me. I'll put it there. Hey, if I have to make a whole new farm to fit them all, I'll do it.

There's also a bench next to a small pond. Stop by. Sit awhile and reflect. Behind the bench, there's a cart with five huge barrels of root beer. Help yourself, count your blessings, smile, and enjoy your 2010. Celebrate Eliza, and celebrate your life.

Eliza's Garden

(The hyacinths and daffodils haven't bloomed yet, but they will!)

Expensive....

LBeeeze
6 hours ago
7 comments

Yeah, the lift tickets are kinda expensive....

Board Hog

Linky Thing

What the hey...I'll work like a dog on Monday....

California Sunset

AmyH
12 hours ago
2 comments

Still on the road to San Diego. Had a little bit of a late start this morning and a one-hour stop in Yuma for food and a mini-obsession with instant/scratch lottery tickets. I didn't win anything but Miss K won $2.

NYE was fun, concert was a blast and people-watching was exceptional. It was a freak show and I was sober. All the better for making observations.

I lasted about 10 seconds in the mosh pit before my friend Rick reached over some people and dragged me out to safety. I lost Miss K in a pile of people but she came out unscathed because she fell on top of a guy. He ended up being okay, too.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

IMG00066-20100101-1759.jpg

ok

mariser
Yesterday
6 comments

hey.
we made it
one decade into the new millenium

WHERE IS MY ROCKET CAR?

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS. JETPACKS!

so disappointed

Early 20th Century (Junior Fiction) Series Books

thegrumblebunny
Yesterday

In the back of the turn of the century series books for girls I read there is often a list of other similar books the publisher has to offer. I don't always remember to write down what books I've read, but I do seem to manage to keep a list of the offerings I've seen, even if I don't write down the author. Some of these 39 books can be found at places like archive.org, gutenberg.org, and google books.

The below list does not include any series books I've already read... that's kept here.

Airship Boys

Amy Bell Marlowe’s Books For Girls

Barton’s Books For Girls by May Barton

Betty Gordon by Alice B. Emerson

Betty Wales by Margaret Ward

Billie Bradley

Blythe Girls

Boys and Girls of the 77 by Mary P. Wells Smith

Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue by Laura Lee Hope

Curly Tops by Howard Garis

Dorothy Chester

Dorothy Dale

Elsie by Martha Finley

Felicia by Elizabeth Lincoln Gould

Four Little Blossoms

Frontier Boys by Wyn Roosevelt

Grandpa's Little Girls by Alice Turner Curtis

Girl Scouts by Lillian Garis

Jane Allen by Edith Bancroft

Kay Tracey by Frances Judd

Khaki Boys

Khaki Girls

Laura T. Meade's Books For Girls

Linger-Nots by Agnes Miller

Maxie by Elsie Gardner

Motor Boys

Motor Girls

Moving Picture Girls by Laura Lee Hope

Patsy Carroll by Grace Gordon

Peggy Lee by Anna Andrews

Polly Brewster

Radio Girls by Margaret Penrose

Rover Boys

Ruby & Ruthy by Minnie Paull

Saddle Boys by James Carson

Six Girls/Six Girls the Seventh by Maria Ames Taggart

Six Little Bunkers by Laura Lee Hope

Sue Orcutt/The Orcutt Girls by Charlotte M. Vaile

Teddy B. & Teddy G., Bear Detectives

there aint' nothing

mariser
Yesterday
1 comment

as good as listening to NC!NC!NC! after midnignt
which means I'll be as obsessed with Nick in 2010 as I was in 2002-3-4-5-6-7-8-9

like teh Nick would say

SAVE YOURSELF!

happy new year to any and all of you.

you weren't much of a muse
but then
I wasn't much of a poet

Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues -05 - there she goes, my beautiful world

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

3 comments

dammit ---- a free-verse poem

mariser
2 days ago
7 comments

since I'm a shut-in and an introvert*
I planned to spend the day doing two things I've never done
making a playlist**
making a best-of-year thingie
(actually three things - being an album type of person, decided to forgo that and do singles)

so I did
filtered my music collection for "year released = 2009"
looked at times played, what I liked best, other criteria
cut
cut again
came up with 20 songs
which I didnt' mean to do
just happened that way

spent some time getting cover art for each
then came time to upload to VOX
well,
three times it just kept on going and going and going
at least thirty minutes each time
until I canceled.
let one go for over an hour and though it never finished according to the pop-up
when I canceled it was done.
except without cover art
so I deleted it and tried again
same result
did a second song
took forever to upload
and no cover art.
the third song, a few seconds ago
it worked on loading for about fifteen minutes
and then announced "cannot accept this kind of file"
though it is a plain .mp3

I give up
you can listed to the two songs
(without cover art)
all I have to show for several hours of work
(not really. it was mostly waiting)

02 Epilepsy Is Dancing

Antony & The Johnsons

01-lust-for-life

Girls

* yes, I'm an introvert. who speaks constantly. it is possible, check yer Jung
** not technically true. I did do a kind-of-playlist for the '15 days of bah humbug' project. but that was on a theme

Party Party Party !!!

LBeeeze
2 days ago
30 comments

Put on your best party pajamas...

Party Pajamas

4 comments

Swing to the left...

Swing Left

Swing to the right...

Swing Right

Get on down and party with the pigs !!!

Happy New Year !!!

Happy New Year!

RG
2 days ago
3 comments

A heartfelt, "Happy New Year" to all my vox neighbors.

May 2010 be your very finest year yet.

Ron & Cheri

a metaphor, or something

hotrod
2 days ago
8 comments

I was walking home from the Metro about a half-hour ago, and had the delightful experience of stepping in a pile of shit in the middle of the sidewalk that some kind dog owner had neglected to clean up. And that about sums up my miserable day and this miserable year. I'd wish for a better 2010, but what's the fucking point?