Koyaanisqatsi - A Life Out Of Balance

On Sunday I watched a movie of a very different sort. The movie is named Koyaanisqatsi. As I began to watch it I wondered how to pronounce the word. The music began and soon I could tell I was listening to chanting. Eventually it dawned on me that they were chanting Koyaanisqatsi. That was a big help in knowing how to pronounce it. At the end of the movie, the chanting started again with the same word - Koyaanisqatsi. Now, all day, I've had that chant running through my mind. There was other music in the movie but it was all instrumental. In fact, no words were sung or spoken throughout the movie except Koyaanisqatsi. The movie shows scenes from various places and often uses time lapse photography. You have a film of a beautiful rock formation and you watch the same rock formation as morning dawns, through the day, and into the night. Sound boring? It wasn't. The appearance changes so drastically and so quickly with the time-lapse photography that you can hardly look away. There were many nature scenes. After that there were many unnatural scenes. I saw pictures of mining equipment, power plants, manufacturing plants (like Oscar Meyer wieners and Hostess Twinkies), building being demolished with dynamite, other explosions, cars moving on freeways, people walking on sidewalks or going through Grand Central station, people lining up to go through revolving doors, and people walking on the street with a bus and a plane going by. All these scenes pass by you, some in fast motion and others in slow motion, and there is no connection except the ones you make in your mind. I watched, enthralled, and feeling more and more insignificant as the movie progressed. I know that I am one of those tail lights on the freeway five nights a week. At the end of the movie, these words are on the screen:
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."

What a strange movie. I liked it. Maybe if I spent less time being responsible and more time identifying purple finches in the back yard, my life would be more in balance.

Project Feeder Watch Update

Saturday: none, actually there were some birds because a good quantity of food was gone but I was also gone so I don't know who came.

Sunday: Black-capped chickadee-6, Junco - 3, Cedar Waxwing - 1, White breasted nuthatch - 2, Purple finch - 5

I am so excited to have identified a new bird, the purple finch, for the first time in my yard, or anywhere for that matter. I saw 3 of these sharply striped sparrow-type birds. I had my binoculars trained on them with the bird book in the other hand. Then the 4th and 5th bird of the same type showed up and one of them was a male. Having a male there made the entire group much easier to identify because he has more of the raspberry coloring than the females.

Full Appreciation of a Gift

I got a gift from a parental unit that I really liked - a doormat like the one in the picture. It's nice on several levels. There is a hint of approval for my adventurous ways in the gift. It's funny because this parental unit always threatened us kids mightily if we parked in his/her spot. The other nice part of the gift remained undiscovered until today. I found this label on the back of the doormat as I was spreading it on the floor for the first time (and I am not making this up): This is a perfectly fine, if not certainly adequate door mat made from 100% Olefin Indoor/Outdoor carpet and printed with color-fast inks. Wash with hose and brush. Dry flat. Do not machine wash. Important things you should know about your new doormat Warning: Do not use mat as a aprojectile. Sudden acceleration to dangerous speeds may cause injury. When using mat, follow directions. Put your right foot in, put your right foot out, put your right foot in and shake it all about. This mat is not designed to sustain gross weight exceeding 12,000 lbs. If mat begins to smoke, immediately seek shelter and cover head. Caution: If coffee spills on mat, assume that is is very hot. This mat is not intended to be used as a placemat. Small food particles trapped in fibers may attract rodents and other vermin. Do not glue mat to porous surfaces, such as pregnant women, pets and heavy machinery. When not in use, mat should be kept out of reach of children diagnosed with CFED (Compulsive Fiber Eating Disorder). Do not taunt mat. Failure to comply relieves the makers of this doormat, Simply Precious Home Decor, and its parent company, High Cotton, Inc., of any and all liability. High Cotton, Inc. 401 Easy Street hardeeville, SC 29927 www.highcotton.com

At the bottom of the page is a photo of Earnest "Bud" Crowley, Chairman of the Board. He looks like he resembles Winston Churchill but it's hard to tell because his round, brimmed hat covers his hears and rests on the tip of his nose, completely covering his eyes.

Taboo - Saddam Hussein

I am still cleaning up the house after the holidays. I find things out of place all over the house. I find marbles on the carpeting, marbles in the bathroom, marbles in the laundry room. I swear, I never knew we had so many marbles. Besides marbles, I am also finding cards from our Taboo game. Do you know the game Taboo? Each Taboo card has a topic or word at the top and then a list of 5 words you cannot use in getting others to guess your word. The Taboo card in the bathroom is about Saddam Hussein. I think it's obvious that the game is old because the five words you cannot use for Saddam are these: Iraq, Baghdad, Dictator, Kuwait, and Gulf War. Some of these words are still appropriate. Iraq and Dictator still seem to fit but the other three are questionable in my mind. What words could I put in their place to make the card more current? How about Ba'ath, executed and spider hole?

Pet Peeve Of The Week

This week I've picked up 5 pop cans out of the trash and put them in the recycling bin for cans THAT IS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO THE TRASH. Recycling one can saves enough energy to run a television set for 3 hours. Soda cans are recycled and returned to the store in as little as 60 days. Technically you could buy and use the same can 6 times a year - but ONLY IF YOU BOTHER TO RECYCLE IT! Aluminum never wears out and can be recycled forever. Go here for more information: http://www.cancentral.com/recycle/facts.doc. Please excuse my all capital letter words. These improperly discarded cans rattle me.

Rise And Shine

If you're looking for something quick and easy to read, this is the book for you. I laughed aloud in the first paragraph when the author described those who "wore the dirndl skirts and dangley earrings of a socially conscious woman of a certain age." I was wearing a skirt and dangley earrings when I read that line. My skirt was cotton. I actually don't know what dirndl means. The story is a tale of two sisters and I always enjoy fiction about family relationships. Rise And Shine is the name of a fictional television morning news program and one of the sisters is the star of the show. The other sister seems to be forever in her shadow, never quite measuring up. Whether one sister measures up to the other one all depends on the angle you choose to take. I identified more with the younger sister; the one with the dangley earrings.

Fast Food On Highway Ten

Coming home tonight I was westbound on Highway 10, just approaching the Lowe's Hardware store off Main Street when I spotted drama in my peripheral vision. A large bird, possibly a hawk, much larger than a blue jay anyway and brown and grey in color, swooped down with feet extended and landed on something in the snow. Dinner perhaps? It's hard to see when you're traveling over 60 miles per hour. If I was the passenger I could have seen the scene more clearly.