From Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale

People disappear when they die. Their voices, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living mempry of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continut to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humour, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic.

--Diane Setterfield



Friday, February 29, 2008

A Story

I'll have to find it...
Once upon a time there was a little bunny that loved the rain. He’d hop and twirl among the raindrops.

He lived in the desert so he didn’t get a chance to play in the rain very often. No one else would play with him because they were afraid of the rain.

One day as he was hopping through the shadows of a desert scrub, when he heard the sky crakck and huge raindrops pelted down. He ran home to let his mom know it was raining. Then he jumped and twirled right back into the rainstorm.

He danced and played for longer than ever, but the rain never stopped. He grew tired of so much hopping and frolicking, so he just started lippity lopping from soggy mound of sand to sandy mush.

The puddles between the sand dunes got bigger and bigger. But the little bunny was not afraid. He was curious why this rain shower was so much longer than any other rainstorm.

As he hopped and trotted further and further from his burrow he met another bunny that was traversing the storm. She was looking up and around with wonder. They sniffed each other’s noses and ears before lolloping through the dunes together.

After ages and ages and more rain than the both of them had ever seen they came across another strange sight. A massive dark shape loomed up from the soggy desert sand.

“This much be what is causing the rain,” thought the bunny and he hopped up to ask it to stop. The bunny could find no face to talk to and he hopped around the shape with his new friend right at his back. They came to a bridge from the ground into the dark shape.

The bunnies sniffed and sniffed the wooden bridge. As they sniffed they started climbing in to the bridge. When he was done sniffing, the bunny thought it was time to go. The bridge was just wood and not tasty wood, at that.

He looked down and almost tripped over his friend bunny in surprise. The rain had covered the ground all around them.

The bunny’s friend jumped into the lake that was swelling around them. She swam until the bunny almost lost sight of her. He was lonely now and hunched against the never-ending rain.

He heard some splashing and saw his new friend paddling back. He watched with wonder as she scrambled onto the bridge.

They were stuck alone and drenched on a bridge from the lake that had been their home to the dark shape above them.

After a while the bunnies got restless. They sniffed at the dark shape and took a step towards it. Then another step and before they realized it they were inching toward the dark shape.

The closer they got the wider and darker it became. The bunny looked around him once or twice but all he could see was rain falling into the depths around him.

His friend stopped suddenly and sat up. She turned one eye toward the dark shape, then the other. The bunny followed her lead. As he looked at the mass before him he saw something that had not been there before.

A light shone from the midst of the darkness in front of them. It was a welcoming light, like the sunshine on a new day.

The bunnies started moving infinitely faster. Then they heard a voice above them then. It was an old voice and kindly, but they could not understand it.

They started to hop to the light and the voice. Presently they came to the end of the bridge. The light shone into their eyes and they could see a doorway into the darkness.

Inside were all sorts of animals. The bunnies felt the warmth from dry hay and crowds of other animals. They were tired of being wet and they hopped in the arc just as the water rose high enough that the bridge fell from the door.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

A love note from my brother:

Or rather a subtle threat...

Oh, you'll have to wait to see it... I've got to upload it :P

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

I love my visiting teachers

They asked me, before they left tonight, if it bothered me that we never get together for less than 3 hours.


It TOTALLY does not! I love these girls.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Yesterday my sister came to Grand Prairie for a Winterguard competition.

We went to watch her of course, but it was a LONG day. Grand Prairie is not that far away but getting up at 6:30 or 7 on the day I am supposed to be able to sleep in was hard on my body... nah, not really. I could care less about that.

We met Dad at the High school, but first we needed cash for the tickets. So we ran out to the car and drove to a gas station to use their ATM. Only it was out of order!! Dad called and we met him at the ticket counter / folding table. He fronted us the money and we had to RUN in to the gym. A group had just started and they woun't let you walk to a seat while someone is preforming. Lucky us! It was the group BEFORE Emma's. So we got there RIGHT in time to see her.

She was very good and never dropped anything (saber, gun or flag). I was not. I BAWLED through the whole performance. I saw her walk onto the floor, waved to her and started to cry. I have no idea why. As I type this I am starting to cry again. *I wish I was a little more aware of my actual feelings and emotions rather than what they do to me* We stayed to watch other teams compete, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I was proud of myself for not crying when the other Clement's team competed and did REALLY well. I saw Nelli Morton and thought I would cry again, but I held my stupid tears in check. I recognized a lot of the school names and we stayed until the Coppell team competed.

Then we dashed like bandits. Well we walked all over the building and found the Clement's team and said "hi" to Emma and Nelli and Kelly Mecham. Brother and Sister Mecham sat next to us and it was fun to see them and talk to them again. I know Leslie was a guard, but I was not quite sure why they had come to watch until I saw Kelly.

We went to find the Kimball Art Museum. Along the way we passed the 'special' campus James was at as a child. We found the Arlington Museum o Art. It was closed! So we had a picnic outside.

The Kimball museum was super. I loved looking at the pictures and sculptures and was SO happy when there was more to see than the African Tribal masks downstairs. I walked around until my stomach hurt, which is a weird physiological phenomenon known only to occur in me. My stomach hurts if I eat and stand up for any length of time. If I don't hurt my back hurts. So either way I can't stand for long periods of time. I get weak and would probably pass out if I don't sit down when I start to hurt. Anywho. When i was sufficiently in pain. I got Scott and we sat down and when Dad came to join us, He was our excursion accomplice, we decided it was time to go. But Scott had no way of showing we were there THEN. We only went to a of cultural interest because he has a school assignment to go. Se we perused the gift shop. I found the COOLEST thing. There was SO much I could have taken home with me. Most of it was architectural/ horticultural books at a gajillion dollars each. Or pictures of famous art. Or cool architecture. Or other novelties or sketch books or whatever. But I got something completely useful.

It was suggested that I send it to Miles, in Brazil. But I'm not going to. It is mine. I'll get him another one.

Then we drove back to Grand Prairie. I only turned us around once and then navigated us RIGHT to the school. Yea me! Dad left to drive back to Houston. Scott got grumpy because, I dunno why. I got upset that he was grumpy. Once again we made it JUST in time to watch a group that Emma and Mom said were Really impressive. Meh, they were OK. The group after them, from Colorado were much better in my opinion. We watched more performances and were kicked out for a hour while they got ready for finals. I was upset about that because I had planned for us to come back right AT finals so Scott could just watch and not be grumpy. I knew he had a short attention span for all things scholastic / competitive, and I was trying to maximize my fun and enjoyment while minimizing his reason to complain. We got to watch four or five of the finals. They were all amazing. The Coppell team was very good. Perfect run and beautiful costume. Horrible 'floor' it was so distracting! My favorite was ... mumble mumble... the preformed to Habanera and it was amazing! my other favorite were the Alians, and um I'd have to look at my program again...

We left at 7 something PM and drove straight to ;Frisco to work on one of Scott's clients. They are amazing and I was disappointed that we left before Clement's competed again, but was slightly consoled with the knowledge of who we were going to see. Had a good time there. Felt like a ten pound weight was tightened to my mouth. Partly because I have a massive sore on my lip and partly because My wisdom teeth started to pound and throb. So We left when Scott was good and ready. I looked at the clock and got real mad. It was 3:30 in the morning!!!! No wonder I felt tired. No wonder EVERYONE else was asleep! I think it's rally unprofessional to overstay your welcome like that, not to mention RUDE!

Then I woke up at 9:50 this morning.

The end.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Yesterday I got play at the Skembo's. Happy Birthday Issac.

I also actually did my hair and it looked nice and I got compliments.

That's about it.

Tomorrow I'm going to watch Emma at her Winterguard competition in Grand Prairie.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

072

Octi Grey.Sharkmouth cousins-once-removed.

He had to do a hand stand to get the helmet on, it was heavy...LOL. "hey dad, I fell down and it didn't hurt because I had my helmet on!"
At the Zoo.

You will have to click on these strange boxes to see the pictures... I don't get it...
Grey.
Grey. Close up.
Octi-Aidan.


072
Originally uploaded by jameswwquigley
My cute boys. Playing it up in Washington, they've been there for 6 months. It's crazy!
You may or may not be hearing more from me in the near future.

Scott is teaching the night classes at the Carrollton Massage institute. So he leaves when I come home and Comes home right in time for me to go to bed. I have the house all to myself. It's dangerous. I get stuck doing things that make me smile but ultimately make me gloomy and when I get gloomy from too much computing I get a little
masochistic . it's not a good place to be. So yesterday i went to the library and picked up some books. The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Charlotte by Jane Austin and Tracker by Robin Cook.

So mow I am set for a week or so. I started into the
Hitchhicker's Guide but when the library closed and I came home I grabbed my journal and spent the rest of the time, besides eating dinner, writing in my journal. Then Scott came home and James called and I stayed up WAY too late.

I was planning on making activities for myself so I won't fall into the computer/mutilation trap. It was very much lik when i was home by myself all day and had to come up with things to do. I'm limited in that I have no vehicle... I would totally crash some parties at friend's houses if I could get there :P

I think my journal may become filled up sooner than I thought it would. Except that I left it at work today. Boo! and we are in a time crunch handing off the car, so I couldn't make the 10 minute round trip back to pick it back up. I really feel as though there is something missing. I may have mentioned before but I take that journal with me everywhere a kid takes a security blanket.

Ummm, lemme see. No incredibly funny stories from work yet. Well none that anyone would understand... I can try to explain. When we submit a work order request and get e-mail confirmation, the "from" field says "bpam". So I was getting our Regional Controller a blackberry set up today, and as I was explaining the order of events before he can read e-mail on it... we have to wait for IT to call with a password. He asked if he should wait to her from B. Pam. And I totally didn't get it ... and then when I did I laughed real hard.

See, not so funny.

Last year for our anniversary we bought a peace lilly. it was pretty-er than the bouquets we saw and would last a lot longer too. Now it is on it's last leg. It died off and then started to grow again, and then it died again and I found out that it had root rot really bad. So I cut off the offending roots and stalks and re potted the two healthy leaves. They wilt before my eyes. Sigh. It has almost made it a whole year, and I'd say that is better than any bouquet I've had!

E-gad! It's not even 8PM yet... I think I will go read some more.

Call me, if you feel like a chat. I know I will feel like one.

Infinity

Looking up into the night sky is looking into infinity - distance is incomprehensible and therefore meaningless.

Isn't it enough

to know the garden is beautiful without having to believe there are faires at the bottom of it as well?

Thoughts?

Anyone?

Saturday, February 16, 2008

I need to update my blog more often....

"Currently I am watching my husband and his friend play a stupid game. I hate them both. Of course I am just paraphrasing."

LOL!!

Thanks Mike, for reminding me to update and giving me such a sweet entry!


Things are crazy busy. I am working at Lennar as the Regional Executive Admin and backup personal assistant to the Executive VP.

I have most of my filing set up and I am feeling a little more settled. I did have a partial melt down as I was talking to Jamies the other day. He said something interesting. I was all 'blah blah blah, whaa whaa whaa' and he said 'Arren, we had this same conversation when you started at UAMC. You were overwhelmed and didn't know what your job desciption was and how well you'd do at it.'

Now, I totally don't remember that conversation, but I trust James and I was so comforted that I felt the same way about UAMC, and when I left I was nearly indespensable... nearly, because they would have had to right-size me if I had not gotten the promotion. But everyone was sad that I was leaving and they love to hear how much I miss working with them and how much cooler they are.

So now when I am stressed I find comfort that it is just part of the learning curve of any new job.
In other news, Mom called the other day to wish me a happy Valentine's and proceeded to tell me how hurt she was about our behavior in Hawaii, and everyone thinks we hate them nor are they interested in having us at other family functions. OUCH!

We were rather selfish vacationers, we went out and did our own thing and made sure that we had fun while we were there. Our style was not to glue ourselves at the hip to the group which had a hard time working with everyone because the ages ranged from 3 - 80's. And Scott was defensive about Mom controlling our activities. My cousin even mentioned Mom's attitude, but evidently that is okay for a parent to be controlling, because none of the other parents had a problem with it and DID have a problem with our not dealing with it.

I wrote them an apology. I truely did have an awesome time. It was perfect.

Mom responded to my e-mail and said she had forgotten that we were mourning family members on the Quigley side. Megan died less than a month before we went out, and in fact Scott came straight from the funeral to Hawaii. So, yeah, he was a little distressed and not the best and most gracious guest. I was mourning Megan and James leaving. And the boys. And Jen. I have officially no family around now. And it sucks!

Well I hope that is a good enough post, Mike. I'm still a little raw from talking with my Mom, although I don't think I allowed myself to feel guilted. Just hurt.