Philosophy of language and eclectic overdue love songs

Harper Valley Not the Noble Elementary PTA

The interwebz have returned at my house! So it is Wednesday, what can I say?

Monday saw O hyperventilating from the stress of basketball practice (emotional and physical), but then by the time we sat down for dinner, he and his sister were having a debate about which comes first thought or language. O insisted quite emphatically and eloquently that language must come first because it is the thing which gives shape and therefore meaning to the chaos of sensory information. Z just as emphatically took the opposite stance, emphasizing the fact that thought grows associatively in the brain in ways that have nothing to do with language, and that language is merely the package we give it in order to make it known to others. I tried to stay out of the way.

Tuesday, I got to re-appreciate the other PTA mothers at O's school. I am not as involved with them this year, because Z is at a different school, so my focus is split. I feel a little homeless as a result. But, man, these are smart and funny women. And I don't know exactly what it is I thought PTA ladies were like, but it wasn't this.

And tonight, I worked late and came home to play hide and seek with the kids and Sarah, our sitter extraordinaire (who used to practically be our nanny, and before that her sister Kelly was our nanny ... really, we have claimed them. They may never leave the Thayer-Hansen vortex.)

Reading: Getting on with the Nalo Hopkinson still. I keep falling asleep putting thev kids to bed, so ... slowly.

Had lunch today with my father-in-law, and by chance also the proprietress of the fabulous Loganberry Books, at which we discussed Alison Bechdel, CS Lewis, and the Cleveland father-son preachers, Otis Moss Jr. & III, the meaning of Obama's Seneca Falls/Selma/Stonewall sentence, whether or not various rights movements are working together, the nature of the true self, and Toni's beginner's tips on meditation technique.

Writing: It proceeds, but not at the pace it needs to for me to be satisfied that this will ever be done.

Dinner: Ah. Good week for dinner.

1. The return of pizza monday - this week using the leftovers from a pot roast Sarah and the kids ate last Friday while David and I were out, I made a browned onion, mushroom and beef pizza with smoked gouda (just an olive oil and garlic base on the dough) It was fantastic, if I do say so. If I weren't feeding the kids,, I would have added some blue cheese. And some fresh thyme would have also been good.

2. I was looking for a way to use up the leftover tomato soup concentrate after the pasta sauce on the weekend, and I found in this crazy "Cooking with Soup" book that I took from my mother-in-law when she was weeding her shelves, a recipe for red french dressing using tomato soup concentrate as the base. So, Tuesday, we had a giant salad bar, with french dressing.

3. Today, I had David put together a veggie rich meatloaf (beef pork and chicken with celery, green pepper, and grated carrot) in the morning, and Sarah cooked it, and some rice for dinner, along with a chopped salad of yesterday's leftovers.

Soundtrack: Damn, I owe you all some tunes.

On Sunday, I was going to post this, but forgot.  It is not precisely "love" song, but it is about empowered female sexuality, which we like.

And in a COMPLETELY different vein, this mp3 recording of the melancholy "Because of You" from the show The World Above Us, by Greg D'Alessio w/ Charlie Cheney & Quinn Sands (I'm not sure which wrote this song, but they all perform in it.


Then there is "Lovesong" by The Cure ... and, let me tell you, shocking as it may sound, I was not into The Cure in the 80s, I thought Robert Smith was too much of a poseur, whatever that tells you about me, but the songs do grown on me, and then I heard a cover of this song (David says maybe it was Adele, but I think I would like Adele better ... felt more Nouveau Vague) at the grocery story yesterday, and it reminded me how poignant the original now feels to me.

And finally, in honor of all the time I spend with Radio Disney playing, my favorite contemporary teeny bop love song:

Random thing: This morning, I left the house early when it was still dark and no one else stirred in the neighborhood. On my front sidewalk in the thin coating of new snow were the dainty tracks of an animal -- cat? -- who carefully stepped its hind feet exactly where its front feet had landed.