The Special Bunny

"You're tough, Mom."  It was both compliment and reassurance, and also hard to accept. Accepting compliments and care don't come easy when you've put on the tough act for so long. I come from a long line of tough women, but a touch of pampering would be ... well, hmmm.  What would it be? Difficult to allow through my impermeable membrane?

My stress level has been a little high lately. Thanks to sons and dear friends offering me a fuzzy ear of the Special Bunny.

1982 Fisher Price Security Bunny

© 2013 Nancy L. Ruder

Regenerating stubs

• LIZARDS  Many lizards have the ability to drop their tail and grow a new one almost as nice as their original.    Autotomy is as self-defense mechanism, a self-severing of the tail or other limb. Watching green anoles on my patio over the years, I've been amazed at their ability to rebound from their tailless condition in just a few weeks.
• LETTUCE AARP suggested regenerating romaine lettuce from the stubs of store-bought heads as a money-saver. So far I haven't regenerated enough for a salad, but have grown some tasty new leaves to put in sandwiches.
• CELERY  Another successful windowsill regeneration resulting in a few bites of fresh stalks.
• TICKETS  I'm saving stubs in a glass on the windowsill just in case! I'm so grateful for generous friends who treat me to cultural outings
• NO LUCK growing Franklin, Lincoln, Jackson, Grant, Hamilton, Jefferson, or George in glasses of water in sunny windows. I've tried all the windows!

Tomorrow I'll pick up two reserved books at the library. I'll wish I could regenerate enough hours in a week to actually read them. They are both well recommended:

• The Elixir of Immortality, by Gabi Gleichmann. "A Dan Brown novel done right, full of wit and mystery. Memorable and sure to be one of the big novels of the season." --Kirkus Reviews starred
• Book of Ages: the Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin, by Jill Lepore. “Book of Ages is the name of Lepore’s extraordinary new book about Jane Franklin, but to call it simply a biography would be like calling Ben’s experiments with electricity mere kite flying….The end product is thrilling—an example of how a gifted scholar and writer can lift the obscure out of silence. In so doing, Lepore enriches our sense of everyday life and relationships and conversational styles in Colonial America….The brilliance of Lepore’s book is that plain Jane’s story becomes every bit as gripping—and, in its own way, important—as Big Ben’s public triumphs.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR

© 2013 Nancy L. Ruder

Tucked in

It seemed right to cover the last blooming patio plant with the small comforter before the first freeze of the fall. Thirty years of tucking-in prepared the little blanket to shield the mistflower from cold until temps could invite bees and butterflies to return.

Fritzi made the little yarn-tied comforter for her visiting grandchildren sleeping in a playpen or napping on a mat. A couple decades passed and the blanket became an extra layer of warmth for my frail, fading father in a series of nursing homes. The room numbers were crossed out, overridden, overlapped, and generally ignored by laundry staff.

Most of Howard's final possessions went straight to Goodwill. For some reason the little blue comforter survived to become an emergency car trunk picnic blanket, then a floor refinishing project knee pad.

Last night the blanket comforted the mistflower, hanging over a clothesline to make a tiny tent.

I don't believe The Velveteen Rabbit is a story for young children, but neither is Peter Pan. Tonight I do believe the small blanket sewn by my mother became a well-loved real true comfort.

© 2013 Nancy L. Ruder