Clink

My grandmother loved ice. She used to have me go into the kitchen and add cubes to her already full glass just so she could hear the clink clink the ice would make when she picked her drink up and set it down.

I once asked her why she liked it so much, and she explained how she grew up without an icebox and how the ice man used to come by with a huge block, chipping off chunks for lucky families able to buy some, and handing out shavings to children lucky enough to find him at the right time in the right mood (willing to share).

Ice was a luxury as she grew up... and as she got older and the world became more technologically savvy, she embraced her ability to make and enjoy ice at her whim in the fullest way possible.

Days like today (with a heat index of 105) remind me of this penchant of hers. The kind of day where you step outside and immediately feel your body lose a pint of water. Where you step back into the house after being out and all you can think about it sitting down, turning on a fan, and drinking a tall, ice cold glass of water--secretly wishing you could pour it over your head and face without ruining the furniture or giving your 2 year old daughter free reign to follow suit.

I have a tall tumbler of water waiting for me to finish this post. I will sit upon the couch, put my tired feet up, drink my lovely water, and think of my grandmother every time I hear the ice clink within the glass.

Reliving Youth

Throw the mommy caution
to the wind. Shut down the little
voice that says "should" and "don't"
and "probably not." Don't think about
rust, toxins, dirty-bug-bits,
or nasty wintry sediment.

Instead, embrace the 90
degree sunshine beating down
like a Cuban big band in full swing.
Stick out your tongue like
a happy dog, eager and thirsty
for water with a snap of cool.

Bend your head forward
and remember days spent
chasing sprinkler shower
and running gleefulshouting
through the grass to dive -
belly first - into the pool.

This is summer.
This is two.
This is joyful...
And part of being so
alive
is drinking water from the hose.

RED

There is a small group of die-hard, star-hungry, space fanatics who have been following the Mars lander expedition. I may be wrong, but it seems we must be a relatively tiny group because there has been so little press on the whole thing... even though the Phoenix's mission is unlike anything every done on Mars before.

I'm not sure Andy and I qualify as space fanatics, but we do have a vested interest in this particular trip. One of our creative brain children has to do with Mars in the future, and so we are very interested to see what more we can learn about the planet and its history.

The latest news (which is very exciting) is the lander may have discovered ice, which means the hoped-for plan to drill for ice cores on the surface and to test the frozen water for organic materials and gases may be a go.

This could change everything we know about Mars. Which is huge. Yet, NASA has still struggled to capture the nation's interest; our collective consciousness seems to be focused on much more pressing issues like gas prices, grocery bills, and natural diasters. All more than understandable.

But a tiny little part of me still hopes for something immense and exciting - proof of water, the possibility of life, the chance of a reimagined history. Every now and then I check in to see how things are going... see what we've found out.

I find it equally comforting, humbling, and inpsiring to think about what an amazingly immense and complex universe we live in - how vast and miraculous it is. Mysterious... beautiful... and evolving. I can't wait to see what we discover next.