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Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Ten-Minute Birthday

What the... ?It's -6ºF this morning---my coldest birthday morning by far, ever in my now 54 years! Usually it's cold spring weather, not cold winter weather. One weird year, it was 70º.I must leave in ten minutes to catch the bus.

I was going to make spumoni ice-cream with the folks at work today---mash in strawberries for the red layer, almond essence in the white, and mint in the green---but I don't feel like ice-cream nor am I going to bike to the store (poor prior planning means there is no ice cream on hand), and there's no store nearby.Also, this morning we're joining the kids downstairs for the Children's Museum guest talk about dinosaurs... So there isn't time.And that's the theme of this birthday: feeling squeezed for time.I did quit the thrift store Grant Committee (they got back to me that they saw no problem with having a grant seeker on the grant giving committee, so what's the point?), but immediately I suggested to the store managers whom I like and respect that I help set up a Social Media Plan for the store, which has none.So, that's way more fun and fitting, but it's no less time.

I'm not complaining---it's nice to be busy after many, many years of not, but it does make me realize (again) how much I like to have large open spaces of time, time to do nothing, and time to sleep. If I don't, I get kind of mentally backed-up.The WONDERFUL thing about this age is that I'm pretty good at saying No to things---like, I probably would not have quit the committee so soon when I was younger---I would have thought there was something wrong with me.Ha!I am definitely well on my way to being a Tough Old Broad, the competent, assured kind who doesn't dither and apologize and second-guess herself. I've heard other women talk about this transformation and I'm amazed and pleased to see it happening within myself. A whole new kind of winged insect. Nothing so ephemeral as a butterfly---more like a winged little rhino?(Ha! again.)

ViaAnd now, off to the bus! Thank you all for your blog-friendships! XO--Francesca

Thanks, everyone! I had a really lovely birthday---being at work with fun people was great.

ZHOEN: I thought this was very interestin--verified by Nat'l Geographic: "Many archaeologists have recently decided that most cave paintings were probably made by women. How the hell can they possibly know this, outside of finding ancient signatures scribbled on the backs of charcoal mammoths? Well, on average, female hands have a ring finger that is shorter than the index finger (whereas in men, it's the other way around), and this difference is believed to have been more pronounced among ancient people. Applying this rule to the handprints left on cave paintings, scientists have come to the conclusion that nearly three-quarters of them were made by females."

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Quote of the Moment

“We are not angels, we are merely sophisticated apes. Yet we feel like angels trapped inside the bodies of beasts, craving transcendence and all the time trying to spread our wings and fly off, and it’s really a very odd predicament to be in, if you think about it.”