Conversions

If you have to make a decision between a recess can and pendant light and f it seems like a now or never decision, you can freeze. But what a relief it is, in those heaps of Lowe's ads lies music with a kit to convert recessed light to hanging pendant. 

Mailing in the returns to save some money, I had to guess how many stamps would go onto the envelope. I wouldnt have to if I had a postage scale. It requires

ring magnets. Did you see them maintain a distance.  

If you have your tinkering shorts on, here's a book with a persistence of vision clock, dart clock 

Animalcula young scientists guide has a section on 'The Role of creativity in Science' where the author asks the reader to draw a clown. Recently a friend asked me to draw a dog. He had some mini dog sculptures. but I had to do it without looking at inspiration. As I drew, I knew that the boy wasnt that of a dog but of sheep, but I couldnt draw it otherwise. The author says yes you have to draw to be a real scientist 

Paglum imiitates whats closest to it. A good character for children book. The piece by Seth Fried begins with a list of animals. I wondered why. Now I know. Its fiction.

Made to measure. Sue Allison

Helen keller answers the iron

Integrity

Power. We learn about Marie Curie's invention, but not all of the story.

Robert Hass points out that Adrienne Rich's poems go further than other poets.

internal gaps in Upper Broadway. I go to the next line too fast. By maintaining the gaps, there is a tension between what would have been hacked lines.

Diving into Adrienne's work

Her poetic modes

The spiders genius

'To spin and weave in the same action

from her own body, anywhere -

even from a broken web' - Adrienne Rich.

Nature - our hope stash.

My baby puts forward chewed chapathi into my mouth.

Party in progress

10 Little Hot dogs

When the book jacket read ten little hot dogs going to sleep.. I started wondering well thats not new.. Ten little monkeys on a bed start rolling out of the bed one by one reducing the count of the ones on the bed. And the answer is: You count up and then down. And each hot dog brings something to the party on the huge plush chair. To make the read more challenging, you can point the colour of things being added to the party. You can then point to similar colour objects in the room or spot the objects in the room. As the whole situation goes on in the same place, the illustration does not get too different from the previous page other than the addition of the hot dogs and the objects they like to play with.
If you like more variations on the animals going to sleep. There's seven Little bunnies by Julie Stiegemeyer.

Seven ways to sleep

Seven little bunnies. They all fall asleep in the end, the same way cozy, dozy, drowsy... but each gets there having tired themselves out with different things. The illustrations are colourful. As each bunny plays different game, the picture changes quite a bit with each bunny falling asleep. Since the book starts with seven bunnies, you can ask the child pointing to the bunnies already asleep, how many are still awake? The rhyme is not quick, that difficulty might make it better for an advanced reader, in which case you can use one bunny's story a day to put your little reader to sleep.

If you are interested in variations of animals going to sleep, there's 10 little hot dogs by John Himmelman.

Super marble

I saw a kid aged eight walk into a party with a book. I half expected it to be 'The Diary of a Wimpy Kid'. I asked him if he knew how to play the game of Marbles. He didnt. I explained what I knew of it. Later I found him reading the book. Asked him for a summary. He told of a competition between Arthur and Grandma. Arthur learnt the game from Grandma but she hasnt taught him all the tricks. Then he asked me to guess who wins. I said grandma and then recalled the title 'Arthur loses his marbles'. 

Why write

Why these famous authors write

You will like this book if you are new to writing or you are intrested in the specificity of
 the authors in this book.

Options

While choosing design options for a home, sections of friends houses say a gourmet kitchen, pendant lights in one house, their neighbour's backyard fan, a desk in the kitchen of a house started falling in mind as jigsaw puzzle pieces.
When I went to a relatives house with same builder, it felt like I had an answer sheet to the question paper.
The non rectangular sink is basic.

After project management, I can understand why changing options is expensive. It is to curtail frequent changes which can derail the projec schedule.

Musings

I like how Japanese and Chinese art with its simple lines can evoke emotions.

What were your favourite toys as kids? Now I like miniature stuff.

Today I heard the chanting of a mouring dove on a pole. The one on the next pole had the same things to say. The me bird in visual.

daily dozen something like Surya namaskara

Daisy wheel printer

Dakhma. Tower of silence.

Damp box - Wow, wipes can stay moist now, even in summer.

Damp dry - When dry clothes are being ironed in India, a splatter of drops through your fingers makes them enough damp dry.

Danaus

Dancing frog

From Kitchen chemistry, Dave Barry might be lost in the kitchen. My husband likes to help me in the kitchen while I am cooking, but I find it so much easier to chop/cook on auto pilot.

Things fall apart

A letter from the Obgyn. Tough times for obgyns. It is hard to imagine the coveted doctors in peril. Changing face of medicine in 2013. They had implemented EHR. 

That one word

Bibesy is one word, if I had to choose from 20 obsolete english words that should make a comeback. It brings mind to pipasa. An Indian word very close in meaning to it. Dictionary is a cousin of encyclopaedia.

I too was plunged into a Hindi class after I switched schools 2 months after the school year. Until then I was learning two letter words - memorizing them - na la = nal (tap). And then I am in a class where the whole book is full of Hindi words.

One of the poems in Hindi, was about naveenatha (novelty) - like the newness of the life in spring. The trees outside were all grey barks, thin and thick. When noises of that of a rat jumping woke me up, I didnt realise the call of the rain. The leaves new and green heard it, earlier than me.

In high school, we cried to remember the dates of lives of writers and now we search all about them.

How does a teacher feel introducing metaphors to a class. I was all ears for my first idiom (the car) broke down in Bushman lesson.

paryay vachan. Synonyms.

Make your own sentences.

Word from the dictionary: Mafra. into a tweet story

The bat wings firm on the ground - push up stance. Wake up said the librarian. You have work to do. Insects to chew. At the Mafra library.

Start thinking about court as a place to pay, you forget that it is also where judges go.

Why frogs need Magainin.

Write a Magalogue

Magatama, half of the whole. Yin or yang. Looks like a cashew. Regalia of Japan. The other two - sword and mirror. Mirror stood for wisdom. Narcissus should have become Solomon. Mirror test.

Adarsa - mirror - perfect in likeness of reflection. Ideal. Idol. To want to be like them.

Heard books

My friend is reading this book and told me of another

I took the easy route and watched it on pbs. String theory bringing all the dimensions in Eschers sketches to screen.

Another

Code to enter

From world literatures travel writing, I stopped at The lonely planet guide to my apartment.

Orientation:

As you enter, watch your step. Thats my show slipping out the door. Generating that tuft of wool is my daughter's favourite time pass. You have 3 degrees of freedom from here, actually four if you havent taken your first step in. To the left for the hungry, straight on for nature calls and the right for company.

What to bring:

If you like movies not available on Netflix bring your favourite DVDS and a DVD player.
Sambhar, if you love it.
Get your own ear buds. We might soon banish them.

When to Go:

Best time, middle of the weekend, if we are not at the library, center of the arts or any other time promised on the phone.

Local Customs:

Baby hurdles. We like to keep you on your toes. So look out for toys.

Health

Dust is retained for vintage. Allergics, Get your SARS cap on.

Society and Culture


Women travellers

Number of avaliable men: 0

Dangers and Annoyances

For the reasons understood to the maintenance team AC in one room aged faster than the rest of the apartment.

Volunteer organizations
Needed helpers for spring cleaning
Vacuum lifters.
Organizers after spring cleaning.


Things to see and do
Check out the ladysfinger, chilli , tomato and eggplants. Few of them are for aesthetic enhancement.
Gallery of found, gifted objects, decorations on the walls.
Rare books from the library sale.


Places to Eat
Indian, Indian with Italian ingredients

Night life
The leaking and hyper flush will be your constant company.

Sports and Outdoor activities:
Laundry, Gardening, sunbathing

Excursions
In few years, baby can give a guided tour of her room

Mule Rental
If you are an infant or a toddler, you can get a rocker or a stroller ride. 

Wildlife
Chatty hummingbirds, wild cats that have been self potty trained to poop in our backyard.

real Stories from those who make them up

Kurt Andersen in Going south brings up Depth charge wile talking of a drink. Drinks and Car Bomb. The author admits that he is not able to recall all the details. with that, he lends credibility to an age old memory even though its a big no to say that you dont remember anything to your reader. But you can wake up and find yourself in  The Mountain mine and not recall where you are. All those vacation places, where you wonder what would it be like to stay there, assuming that place is not open to the ravages of modernity. I have thought of a life in Nainital. 

Among Saudi sands, Keija Parssinen finds the yard and house of her childhood smaller than she remembered. After college, when I went to my grandparents place, the long walk that the fields seemed to be at, were all very close. No wonder the old game goes on Are we there yet and its few more steps away. I have seen an aerial view of Dubai landing in. Does that count towards knowing the place from the most vantage point possible? And from there, I saw the Fountain Hills in action. 

The travelers at some point relate to the places they have been to like they would with lovers.

You cant go to that country (India) and not have your relationship to colour change.- Sophie Cunningham

A review

To those who would awaken makes you want to round up your whole writing into a one, continuous flow.

hone after something

Description

Page 14 of Barely south April 2012,
and grip my open palm like landing along
with the image of doves just released that take to flight
express more than the sum of words.

The motion would be hard to explain, but once you think from the bird's action and put in all that you know about a perch, it becomes vivid.

While reading the beginning of Regeneration at Mukti, it pulls the reader in with all the details of the house. As a reader, you give all your senses to build that picture in your mind.

When I read a short story by Steve fisher in Triquarterly, when the narrator talks of windows opening around, my scene had tiny windows opening out of the narrators biceps.

Adrienne rich on love loss happiness creativity

Constrain that tap

100 word story  challenge.

I tried writing a small story of an incident that the photo prompt of bed sheets reminded me of. It was launching into a bio while what i wanted to capture was how gifts aid in categorizing memories. I managed to kill the project and realise that it s hard to write in 100 words.

A bedsheet fading. Maroon in color with thread work from Rajasthan. From a best friend in college. Before I left to USA for higher education. But I havent been to her hometown in college. No, its from the time we were roommates for about a year and less. Week days only. Weekends were when I put the Encyclopedia of Great Literature from the office library to work. 

But the format is a good exercise to make your journaling and memoiring spiffy.

How the world came to be

The world is a sphere

Did it begin as the splice with

the biggest radius

And then

a faux garden well

The igloo with no door

closing in

The upturned basket

now ready to bear

The rest of the world

Based on the Mitch Fry's process of wooden spheres.

Making your cardboard tree

I have been into too much Family art lately with family away - soon to reunite. I wonder if I should spend time with family or go for that How to write for a special occasion of a family member workshop. And then Tempe center of arts offers:

Family Art Workshop with Mitch Fry

Cardboard Trees

TCA exhibiting artist Mitch Fry will bring recycled pieces of wood and cardboard for children and adults to create small tree sculptures reminiscent of his own work. Fry began a career as a designer and manufacturer of custom residential, commercial and retail furnishings which has spanned more than 33 years. Today he works on large and small scale sculptures and commissions and especially enjoys working with wood and found materials.

Mitch fry

On the left is my tree having blown in the wind. On the right is my sister's interpretation of tree. When I entered the gallery, I could see all the material for the workshop on a table and then works on the walls by various artists. When Tempe rubber dams burst, they didnt know they would be becoming placeholders for artists. Julie Anand's Long print with white background matching the wall lent the found objects a 3D quality. If you are a walker, hoarder of things you find on those walks, then you will relate to her work. I have a stone, a seed, a five rupee note (now that put the meaning right back to 'Early to rise, early to bed  makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise.). Some other works broke out of their medium by installing a partly burnt wood from the recent largest fire, here in AZ. Local artists rose to the Green revolution challenge.

The piece that looks curly headed is my sun/clouds all in one. Today is Shivaratri. In Rudra, Lord shiva is said to be sun. My sister wanted blue for the water. And 'Purple' sheet was added to the materials for sunset. Lord Shiva is depicted purple/blue.

While reading Julie Anand's Q&A about 'What do you learn from students', I was reminded of the meaning that I had just read of shanti mantra om sahana vavatu that we recited everyday at school.

What they say

On writing
Some more on writing
Novelists-ebooks challenge fiction rules - Wow. No chapter book. GPS aware books reminds of Chandramukhi Tamil movie with its 'ra ra' Telugu song. When adapted into other regional language, the foreignness of the song was maintained wrt to the language of the whole movie.
There is a joke in Telugu about an object bought in foreign where it only turns out to be 'made in India' brought from a foreign country. Or how about that broken time translation I do to the 'what time is it now in India'. I get the numbers right but not the am/pm.

A persian saying - Dont misjudge pepper by its size.

Writing is like cooking
Writing tips
How to write
Liberating the essay
To spark creativity
Seven rules for managing creative people
Author website tips
Writing tips
blogging tips for authors

Find the total area

A Survey officer,
a maths problem continued:
found an irregular land
He had split the place
into parts with axial
and spines each forming
a shape whose area
could be easily calculated
by the basic formulas
Then you add them up.

Dictionary

I like tea. More tea, more like. There was some left in the kettle. I waited for my cup to finish. And then there was none. All evaporated by the heat the kettle was on

Boustrophedon.

The Indian plough
rectangular a has
wooden base
on sit to
kids and tired
it on squat teenagers
while the ox
on carry

A colour for a thing

Why are the barks green
or sky blue
Rainbow eucalyptus
would make them all alike
and  that we would not
like

But there are
rainbow trees
in places you havent been
labs of the nature

Gone

My dad knew that the
money was in the
downtown
At one of the buildings
he just ducked into it
It wasnt a door or a
window
Not a welcome hole

(Dream)

On dream and writing

Doing your thing

There are books about how people make it big.
1. Skip College. They are just one in a billion. And so are billionnaires.
2. Street smarts(Jim Rogers), Playing to win, Digital Disruptors.

I was thinking on these lines of a person who thinks about making the currency. What about a character who does the opposite. One who investigates all the ways of taking money out of others. Like a tax collector. I am thinking of Pale King.

Glad to wake up

It was raining.
I'm in the town I grew up.
I wanted to tell some people
who I was
To see if they could recognize me
I hadnt changed, still a child

A miscreant next to us
My husband snatched his phone
and another device and dropped
it into a well.
We dropped him too.
some fellows were helping us
One of them turned against us

I am on the run and hiding
in a hospital
in the rooms of doctors
a helpful acquaintance

alas, I have to leave
I reach the edge of a building
contemplating falling
and then I glide down

All around the building trained women
are looking for me

Then little dogs catch my scent
I enter into a farm house
and they fall into the dung



PS: Essay staiger odyssey. For times when you itch to write a long essay.

In the dictionary

are the answers.
Metastasize has now entered the non medical lexicon.
Greeks knew the word centuries ago
But only after the English knew cancer

While questions take time to form.
Jeopardy.

Which tree?

No leaves on trees
Tiny black pellets 
seeds of a tree 
nature has its way of 
getting into into your living room 
without knocking the door

Spirituality

A friend recently said that she fast for 6 months of which the first 4 months stint is called Chaturmasya. She said it helped with her spirituality. In NAMTA Journal Vol 27, Number 3 of Summer 2002 titled Montessori Spiritual: God, Evolution and the Natural world, I saw the definition of Spirituality by Csikszentmihayli - "when a person invests energy in trying to connect and go beyond the self, that is what we usually call spiritual". (Recognise the 'flow' guy)

AmritaBindu Upanishad. When/how does desire start? 

Things you can take for granted

A while ago, my roommate recommended this book. The book sat on the shelf for some years now. Into it, I related to the author's confusion of age during his college years. 

When the old dying asks the author to breathe and count to show his decreasing abilities, I was reminded of Randy Pausch demonstrating his fitness before his imminent death.

Another writer with ALS

When you punish someone, what/who are you punishing - the soul? Where is the permanent world?

Related books:

,

PS: Things you can take for granted

Gap between God and man

When we hear of a controversy like misrepresentation of accepted idols or the Tum Hi Bandhu song from cocktail movie where some of the line shave been appropriated from sacred lines. Hindu gods and goddess have to fight not just evil and demon but their mischaracterization in art. Our thought and idea bin is formed from the roots of our culture. That common language will be used to express the modern/current life. If you say your love is as sacred as god, we have to accept the change that has happened to 'god' in your mind through time.
There is the eternal god that we accept that we still dont know much about and our own understanding of god that is coming of our daily experiences of love and society. These two may meet.

Is our life stage wrt understanding the eternal, like the childhood of man - where we dont know or understand all things yet.

Beauty of mess

Havent we read enough of Americans travelling to Asia? But still, we read on expecting a different arc. In Unquiet Americans essay she notes that her husband is physically transformed. What a traveler is open to? Let the place change him.

other country's cash referred to as monopoly cash in the above essay.
reverse pioneering in 'Joan Didion'.
Shell game - A similar game can be seen in Telugu movies from earlier decades.
Joan Didion article is continued in the book. 

Family tales

Today Tempe library had a workshop .

Following from their site:

How to get started writing about family members, events, and places

Family History Series

Duane Roen will discuss the family experiences that offer rich material for writing and will share strategies for beginning the process, including an easy hands-on activity that will get participants writing about a memorable family member, place, or event (so please bring paper and pen or laptop). Participants will respond in writing to a series of questions designed to generate concrete details about family stories. After recording these details, participants will be invited to share their writing with the group. In turn, the group will be encouraged to offer constructive feedback that will help writers develop their writing further. This is the first in a series of three writing workshops focusing on journaling and personal and family history. Each workshop has a different focus. You may participate in one, two, or all three. There is no charge for this program.

Duane Roen is Professor of English at Arizona State University, where he serves as Assistant Vice Provost for University Academic Success, as well as Head of Interdisciplinary and Liberal Studies in the School of Letters and Sciences. He also coordinates the Project for Writing and Recording Family History (http://sls.asu.edu/humanities/familyhistory/). Throughout his professional life, Duane has taught students how to write more effectively—how to tailor their messages for specific audiences and for specific purposes. He has published nine books, and he has authored more than 250 articles, chapters, and conference presentations. 

I was in tears. Well I was in tears in a birthing class too. It was an interesting format of writing down and then sharing your work with the rest. I saw how family stories are similar in some ways - displacement and different in other - sometimes you are leaving your best friend off and sometimes you are the one left behind.

Writing down, I realised that my first memory has me and my sister. Some curried favour with repetition. I realised why my grandma was my favourite person, may be because I was with her during KG.

Old norms

RSVP. While this beast has a variation 'regrets only'. Why not be more accomodating and say 'accepts only' need to reply. Why cant the norm get modern and take it easy on those who havent learnt the power of saying 'no'.
Besides if it all started in the King's time - Wasnt there enough food? And did the subjects ever refuse?

Missing the big picture

With all the colorful birds and butterflies around, I didnt realise that the bunny in 'I am bunny' is actually enjoying all the seasons. Like this picture where a same motif is presented in different formats. Hint: Food/pig. 

Things to do before buying a home

You would read The Wall Street Journal: Complete Homeowners Guidebook by David Crook, if you didnt want to buy a house. Reminds me of a quandary I had about who to talk to single or married about not marrying. 

Lack of support aside, it is good to wash the veils off your eyes on some generally accepted things floating around new home buyers talk - deductions on the interest, Imputed rent, is buy or rent the right question.

What is Amortization? Thats a good place to start if you are thinking of buying a home.
I didnt know that Fairway was a golf related term. I have once been to apartments by that name close to a golf course.
Cachet

Best American poetry 2012

Long poem.
While reading 'wax' by Paisley Rekdal , I was curious about how such long poems are written. inspiration and time - 8 months went into that poem. To pull off a poem with such simple title.

The Gods - A theater experience

As a new mom
I went with my infant
to a reading by Michael Ondaatje


My daughter dropped a toy giraffee
A fellow reader pointed it to me


While I was waiting
the assistant offered to stow
away the stroller
"Theres no room inside"

While the gallery was filling up
I excused ourselves when
she started crying
"Theres a directors room"
No one will hear her cry.
You can still attend the reading

In the Directors room.
Dark and lonely.
Quiet.
I couldnt get the volume up.
Does the director only see?

We reached home one sock less

God is there because we know we can be better.

A dream

She was eager to please me
I was happy
wanted to please her too
Friend became a lover

google books

Proper Noun

Nancy Willard

Tall man in a small place. Do the plants miss the gardener, I wonder of the plants that I am watering for my husband. My sister tells me of an acquaintance who watered their plants - cardamom in their absence with used milk packets dripping water. The poet asks the gardener :

" or are you the pupil

they your examiners"

With teachers too I wonder who is the pupil. With the task of helping the child, they are the examined.

Tree House

A very still life

Walking with glass. Recently at a Pulla Reddy sweet shop, I walked to a tiered display of sweets and banged into the glass.

In Legend of the tangerine, the poet says 'never hurry a tangerine'. Tangerines may be off the hook but the raw green bananas better hurry up.

At the foundry. The poet finds improbable things found only by artifacts. Once she finds them, her ambitions want to overcome the frozen state of the metal and behave like the life of our world - animated, whole and mobile. Her fascination with the magic is reflected in poems like The mirror, Flying Carpet.

Losing compass and Deer in winter - Weather and deer.
Hummock
Foamflower

Poetry exercise
1. The Mirror. Begin with a noun and let a famous quote about be the springboard. Many poems in this book have a clear beginning. Noun or Proper Noun.
2. Some things should never be written down. A title in the book. What are those according to you?
3. Elementals. 'Put on my cap of air..... Put on my shoes of fire...' like the gifts given to Perseus.