Last night Jeff and I shivered and roasted beneath a sheet topped with a wool blanket, our comforter still a bit on the damp side after a ride in our dryer. The wool blanket belongs to Jeff, and it is brown with a giant beige tiger face on it. I don't think I've ever come right out and asked why he would have such an item--he doesn't seem to be the kind of person who is into big cat portraiture. Jeff: what's the story?
Anyway, we tossed and turned under this unfamiliar bedding, alternately spooning, getting too hot and lying on our backs, and curling into shivery back-to-back fetal positions before ultimately re-spooning. This made for some fun dreams for me. In one, Jeff declared my several pairs of blue jeans "irrelevant." Thanks, sweetie! Another found my mother earnestly telling me, "I don't feel good about you driving tomorrow. Something is going to break your arm [she indicated my right arm, my art arm] and your hand." I appreciate the heads up, Mom! So those were the kinds of dreams I had.
As I drove to school this morning in the wind and evil, misty rain, I followed a woman who was driving no more than 43 m.p.h. in a 55, hitting the brakes whenever she encountered oncoming trucks. Her windshield wipers were on full speed, except for about one minute when she inexplicably turned them off, even though it was still raining. I didn't feel like passing her because everything about her driving style said: OH HI I'M A LOOSE CANNON. The back of her head reminded me of Mama Cass, and for a while I was convinced that Mama Cass was going to find a way to break my arm and my hand. I breathed a sigh of relief when she turned at the post office.
This close call marks the beginning of The Dangerous Time for me. My classroom countdown-to-summer flip pad says 30, i.e. 30 school days before summer vacation. I believe that if anything bad is going to happen to me, it will be after I've put in almost a full school year of teaching, so my recovery period would happen during my beloved summer months, thus ruining them. That's just Murphy's Law. So these days I am extra alert for stupidity on the roads, my head on a swivel at all times. I'm not only on the lookout for stupidity, I fully expect it. Now it's a small miracle when a 4-way stop sign goes smoothly with no mind games and rolling stops. So please, drivers, on behalf of paranoid teachers everywhere: be careful out there.
[Above: a completely unrelated block print I made of Canadian geese a few years ago.]
The Tigger blanket, as it has always been known, was a gift to me upon graduation from high school. Yes. It is nearly 24 years old. That alone makes it worthy of respect (and a little wariness). Each year it becomes less *relevant* and more difficult to abandon. Plus, as we learned last night, it is exceptionally warm on cold, Illinois nights.
Posted by: Jeff Carroll | April 21, 2009 at 01:27 PM
Ahh. Thank you for explaining, Jeff. I now have much more respect the Tigger blanket.
Posted by: Kelly | April 21, 2009 at 01:37 PM
Kelly I'm so glad that you have a blog now!! I have been following you on @u2.com for a few years now,and I enjoy your amazing watercolors, sense of humor, and especially BUN!!
I'm adding you to my blog list.
I'm a huge U2 fan as well,and I'm so excited to see them on this tour, although I may have to wait for a while, as I do not see any tour dates for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Posted by: Elizabeth | April 21, 2009 at 07:58 PM
Thank you Elizabeth, and thanks for adding me to your blogroll! w00t!
Bun's gonna be in the next cartoon. :D
Posted by: Kelly | April 22, 2009 at 08:26 PM