rory returnz with a ramblin' post, after wandering off the path

Hard to know where to start after a few days. in this wacked high speed world bein' gone for even a short time can make you feel a little like rip van winkle.



rory posted on the Easter Egg Roll at the House of Death and then internet access died for a couple of days. rory doesn't believe in such things necessarily, but it was almost as if it was meant to be that way. Like that was all rory had to say for awhile. Like rory had to sit with what that little post meant to him. cause rory is more of a what's happening to one human child guy than a big picture policy guy. rory really made himself feel his sorrow with that post. and such warm, beautiful comments came in from beautiful denizens of the blogosphere, a bunch while rory had no 'net. Meanwhile the White House bomb makers prepared for the Egg Roll:



or wuzit:



in the meantime, I heard that W was gonna give a press conference on global warming and his vision for protecting momma roundrock.



but then rory heard another rumor that he was gonna make another victory landing on the lincoln with several pairs of donnie rumsfeld's dirty socks stuffed into the crotch of a more colorful flightsuit with corporate endorsements explicity printed right on it:



with no 'net, rory had no way of telling whether these were just rumorz.

meanwhile, roryz hand which had gotten banged up at work a couple weeks ago was gettin' better. it had served as a reminder to be thankful for a body currently working and in possession of two hands and ten fingers. a reminder not to take it for granted. a little corporeal post-it note that made me think of kids missing arms, fingers and hands due to the CLUSTERFUCK. when rory sez kids he means all the kids suffering amputations and other maimings at the hands of bushcheney and yankee-fuckin'-doodle-w-has-confidence-in-his-wrinkled-white-mass-killer's-ass-rumsfeld -- all the kids, the ones in uniform from the US and the ones who should be playing and going to school in Iraq.

the banged up hand took rory to the doctor a couple times. the last time was to get clearance to get off "light duty." so as rory leaves the doctor's office he spies this skunk. In a driveway behind the strip mall where the doctor's office is:



the little critter, this member of the weasel family, is lying on the pavement eating some crusts that some of the immigrant kitchen workers at a pizzeria have set out for her. I get pretty close to her, because I can see that she is nearly unconscious. not rabid, rory doesn't think. just very, very old. life ebbing from her cells, as they say. the day not too hot. not too cold. a breeze ruffling through her lovely fur.



rory talks to the kitchen workers. they say a cop had just been there, but said he couldn't do anything about it. they had thought he would shoot the skunk. a woman walks by headed for the nail salon paying little attention to the skunk. when a skunk is down and out it becomes invisible in plain sight just like a person. rory goes to the nearby veterinarian's office in the same strip mall. they know about the skunk. nothing they can do. animal control is not interested in the situation. it's up to the landlord of the strip mall and the landlord doesn't want to deal with it. rory feelz happy. nobody is taking jurisdiction over the skunk. nobody is trapping it or killing it. it is being allowed to live out its last few hours with a breeze blowing through its fur and a little bit of food to munch in the presence of humans treating it with kindness and respect. at least that's how it looked at the moment. somebody might have done something later. or maybe rory got the whole picture wrong. rory hopz not. there is nothing wrong with letting a wild animal die a natural death. even in an unnatural place.

all that for some reason reminded rory that sometimes it is better to do nothing. don't just do something. sit there. people are doing way too much out there these days. often doing nothing does the least harm. so no net. a bum hand. a sad post. and a message to do nothing. an absence of few days for rory.

Then there was a birthday celebration for one of roryz sisters-in-law. prepare a gift rory. don't blog. prepare a gift. rory prepares a gift:



a "mask" rory made. a silver tongue painted. a mask that reminds one to stick one's tongue out at the world. an agate third eye to conjure vision through the shitstorm raging out there. shit like that.

a quick walk by the river before the birthday dinner. an oh so brief checkin with the clock of living nature. easter sunday. the dutchman's breeches are blooming along the edge of the woods.



every once in awhile, rory likes has to take the advice: don't just do something, sit there. not that I've been sitting. far from it. my body has been a movin'. but my brain, it's been sittin'. meanwhile the internet access got fixed, maybe right this time, 'twas a problem up the pole across the street, rory appreciated the comments from the beautiful souls who checked in with the last post, and roryz copy of Baghdad Burning arrived from the Feminist Press. rory hadn't spent any time to speak of at Riverbend's famous blog from occupied Iraq until recently. Baghdad Burning ... such eloquence. such a capture of the reality of life in Iraq for one intelligent, brave, scared, heartbroken young woman. rory'll be reading the collection in the book and following her blog. in spare moments. rory is already worried about her. funny how this blogging world works on your mind and soul. riverbend hasn't posted since April 2. where are you riverbend? there must be so many who want to kill this beautiful heroic spirit. but then her internet access is sporadic, with electricity coming and going, among other problems. her sorrow and depression must be overwhelming. and indeed there must be many days now in Baghdad where the safest thing an educated woman blogger can do is ... nothing.

To those of you who missed rory during this brief hiatus, know this: rory missed you as well. rory has much catching up to do. rory will be visiting his blog neighbors. the hour is late and tomorrow will be a long hard day. so most visiting will have to wait just a little bit longer. brothers and sisters rory luvz you.