RUTH: i do have readers....

when i was a petulant adolescent, i would sulk around the house and pretend that my mother and i were not cut from the same cloth. one time, she and i, on different floors of the house, watched "thirtysomething." in this episode, the protagonist's mother visited. mother/daughter drama ensued. this particular episode hit a little close to home. miscommunication, misunderstanding, mis-fill in the blank. hope's mother was named ruth. she wore a warm pink maroon sweat suit (exactly like the one my own mother sported) and hassled hope while she tried on an ann taylor suit in a changing room. (perhaps j.b.w. you can picture this better if i typed tahari suit?) at any rate, hope did not appreciate her mother's gestures of love and admiration and concern; she heard criticism. perhaps you are familiar with this script? when i padded downstairs, at 9:56 p.m., after the show, my own mutha was keen on conducting an ovular.* i feigned total ignorance about the plot and narrative as she explained the material. at the end of her analysis, i probably corrected some trivial detail and i burst her balloon because i was a cruel and self-ish so and so: i bid her goodnight and closed by calling her ruth.

she exclaimed: oh! you! did! watch it. i knew it!

still, i call my mutha ruth. and for a long time, i thought it funny to answer the telephone, "house of ruth." that joke tired quickly especially after i started actually working at the house of ruth, a domestic violence shelter for battered women in bmore and beyond.

but ruth: this is a note that i received from one of my "imaginary" friends... [about writing daily entries on my blog] "hey...that was Wednesday...are you incognito or unavailable? Your posts really do inspire my day....and make me giggle or laugh...and definitely SMILE!"

dear friends, sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for. i have been run off my feet over the long weekend with a visit from isa, my colleague and pal from maryland. she is in town to conduct research on campus, and staying on spring break street with us.

dear me, she is a talker and as many of you know, i require a lot of quiet and alone time. but still, i am happy to have her company and to have her here in ann arbor. it is fun to show people around the "city."

i was busy at the end of last week doing something neurotic i am so sure. on saturday, i visited with my cousin gene. he and i hung out at his home that he owns. he fixed me a meal in which every food group was well-represented. he used to be a little boy, and now he is a home-owner who is contemplating moving to germany.

isa arrived early on sunday. we have had a busy and fun time, including a cook-out at my place on sunday and a trip into detroit yesterday.

it is beastly hot and i have been gardening like mad. i mean really "like mad." except not just "like." on saturday, i chewed through 60 gallons of evergeen. i felt like my dad. come to think of it, i also went way overboard buying liters of seltzer water and pounds of deli products the other day. (i guess i am cut from his cloth too)? anyway, i absolutely could not help myself from pruning the tree on and on and on. it's pitiful now. and i have made it look worse by hanging bottles on the stripped stumps. thank goodness sarah thinks i know what i am doing with her landscape.

i must work on my lesson plan. i am making the students contend with site and unit planning tonight. look out.

and madeline, i have absolutely no idea about what you type regarding secret admiration.

*(thanks amber and julia for that handy term).