recently on the turntable

cat power
what would the community think

guided by voices
alien lanes

the go betweens
16 lovers lane

league standings for my basketball team (cavaliers) with six rounds to go before play-offs

Debbie and I have divided our backs into six zones. A,B,C run lengthways down them, and 1,2,3 run horizontally. When either of us has an itchy back, we go "B2", or "C1" and the other knows exactly where to scratch. Well, Deb gets a little hazy which way the numbers and letters run sometimes, but apart from that it works great.

When we go to bed, we start off in the "Lie-On" position. I lie on my back, Deb puts her head on my shoulder, her leg over mine and her arm over my body. After a while we switch to "cuddle up around", or "cua", where Deb lies on her side, back to me, with her legs tucked up. I curl my legs against hers hers, my arms around her, and cuddle up close to her back. Finally we move to "holding ritual position", or "hrp". In it's essence, this is reversal of cua, except I have one leg lying straight down the bed. This is the position we fall asleep in. These positions have been developed over number of years.

I almost always take first shower in the morning. About once every two weeks I manage to inveigle Deb into doing so.

When we make pizza, I make the dough, make the pizza sauce and grate the cheese. Debbie chops the vegetables.

When we do the dishes, I wash and Debbie dries.

In the weekends we try and have a morning tea ritual. One of us gets up and puts the water on to boil. The other then gets up and makes the tea and brings it back to bed. We draw the curtains, prop up the pillows and sit and talk and drink our tea.

I put out the garbage.

Deb does the tax returns.

To spin a metaphor, little rituals are like the thread in the quilt of your relationships; they help hold it together.

This entry was brought to you courtesy of my keyboard. It has two space bars side by side. One adds a space, one deletes a space. I have spent a year getting used to this. Today, the keyboard swapped around the functions of each space bar. Mysteriously. Without warning. My fingers haven't coped very well.