Winnie the Poops

Irene Latham gave a poetry reading from her new book of poetry (The Color of Lost Rooms) Tuesday night at the GPL. I absolutely LOVE hearing Irene read, as not only does she read beautifully and sincerely, she also actively gets the audience to participate. On this visit, Irene included a slide show of images, one of which she asked us to create a group poem about. On one index card, we were asked to write down five descriptive words about the woman in the image. Next, we were to write down a happy memory from our past, a memory that was brought to mind by the image. Third, we were to write down something that we would like to happen, something again, that was connected to the image we were looking at. On the second card I wrote something like this, “When I would spend summers at my grandmother’s place in Kentucky, after dinner we would go out and sit in the grass. The grass was cool on our feet.” On the third card, I wrote something like this, “I would love to have an early summer dinner party with friends. We could eat, and then sit out in the cool summer grass.”

It just so happened that while I was in this reading with Irene, I had gotten an email from Laura Catoe entitled “Eating Outside,” and stating the following: “Yesterday, the weather was nice, so we ate dinner outside. As we got seated, Ben asked 'are Carol and Eric coming over?'"

Now, how is that for serendipity? And, how is that for sweetness?

We eat with the Catoes almost every Saturday evening. You know all about it. Dining al fresco when the weather permits. Eatin’ some food. Playin’ some bison. The usual. There are just some folks you think of when you think of dining outside. I’ve taken part in some wonderful dinners that took place outside. It is one of my favorite ways to dine. Dining outside with the Catoes always ranks as wonderful.

Eric and I have a Hollywood nickname, courtesy of Zoe. Like Brangelina and Bennifer…we are Carrot. Carol and Eric=Carrot. It totally works if you want to say our names together quickly...and especially if you are a tabloid doing a story on our glamorous 10th Street life. Zoe is not the only Catoe child calling us Carrot. Ben is calling us Carrot, too. And I suspect that when Cash collects all of his language faculties about him, he’ll call us Carrot as well. I like it. No, I love it.

Colonoscopy and endoscopy went well this morning…and I have such a clean colon now! All we have to do is wait for the biopsies of my various upper and lower bits & pieces to come back, and it is all over (Dr. Amin doesn’t expect to find anything). Slim was admittedly a bit disappointed that I wasn’t a Paper-Lace-singing, crazy-talking fool when I woke up from the anesthesia, and also that I remembered my conversations with both the nurse and Dr. Amin afterwards (because I guess normally you forget the stuff you talk about right after waking up from anesthesia)…but if it’s any consolation, he had to hold on to the back of my hoodie as I bounced out the door of the center and into the arms of ma, pa, and sister. I was a bit loopy and my feet felt HUGE (get out of my way FEET), so I kept tipping sideways.

I’ve been home since 9:30AM ish and I’ve eaten oatmeal, napped, eaten a baked potato, napped, washed dishes, inspected the roses, finished watching the Bukowski bio, eaten ice cream (cause Slim thought I deserved some tasty treats…awwwwww), and I’m thinking about another nap. I have a license to nap right now, and I’m using it to the full extent of the law. I can’t drive a car today. Because I may decide to take a nap at some point while I’m driving.


Exchange between me and E this morning:
Me: I’ve got rumblies in my tumblies…
E: Alright, Winnie the Poops…