Saying Goodbye, Saying Hello

It’s been puzzling to me that 2012 is already over. I’m not sure I was ready to say goodbye to it. Not that it was a particularly spectacular year for me (though I did find that four-leaf clover). On the contrary, pretty much NOTHING happened—no personal tragedy or loss, no personal monumental achievements or failures. It was a year of the Small and the Quiet. I can’t recall another year like it.

Sure, the world around me swirled with unrest and catastrophe, and it affected me emotionally. But for the first time in this millennium, I have no personal high or low points to report, no milestones, no markers that will forever chisel 2012 into memory.

Instead, I have moments with insects, trees, horses, and family to cherish. And then came this:

This is a Mountain Bluebird, “adopted” through the National Audubon Society for us as a Christmas gift. (You, too, may adopt one and become a member of Audubon.) We haven’t named him yet, but I like to think of him as our Little Bluebird of Happiness. And with the Bluebird of Happiness at my side, how can 2013 NOT be a splendid year?

May your 2013 be all you wish it to be. And if not that, may it at least be filled with the Small and the Quiet.

[Goodbye pic from V3; bird photo by David Speiser.]

Congratulations!

If you’re reading this, then you made it through 2011. And that’s something for some of us.

I’m glad you’re here and I hope you keep coming back.

What Do Alexander Calder and Lull Have in Common?

ME!

I am a longtime fan of Calder’s work, and we share a milestone today: It’s Calder’s 113th birthday and Lull’s 500th post.

[Note for puppetry aficionados: Please check out Calder’s circus performance on YouTube.]

I created a little Lull word jumble for you to play today. It has 39—a random number, really; or you can think of it as Jack Benny’s favorite number (more randomness, I know)—surnames of people who have been quoted on Lull this year.

TO PLAY: Click-and-drag the jumble to your desktop and print it out (or open the JPG first to enlarge the puzzle). Then circle or color the names you see. The words may be read left-to-right, right-to-left, up, down, up diagonally, and down diagonally. If you need any hints, you can select “quotes” from Lull’s topic list (at the right of the screen), which will bring up all the quotes and the people who said or wrote them. To check your work, come back to this post for the link (below) to the answer key.

Click “answer key” to see or download it.

Oh! And don’t forget to grab some pie to celebrate.

Count Down (Up?) to 500: Lull Hits Another Milestone

ull started two years ago with a whisper into the void—and has spluttered and splurched forward until this week, when I’ll be writing the 500th post.

Five hundred is not a hugely impressive number—it’s not infinite like pi and doesn’t come close to our national debt. But it’s substantial enough that I believe something special should occur alongside the 500th entry of Lull.

Maybe we should all eat pie. Mmmmm…

[Here are my top 10 favorite pies: pecan, lemon, coconut cream, chocolate, strawberry-rhubarb, rhubarb cream, blueberry, peach, pumpkin, custard.]

I’m Ba-aack

I’m back. Sort of. It seems ages ago since I last wrote anything of consequence.

April and May marked several milestones in my life that I’ve not discussed but want to, once I figure out how. June and July promise to be especially busy as we wrap up our final months north of the Mason-Dixon Line. So I’m afraid Lull will continue being Lull Lite for a bit.

Note: As in the past when there’s been a break in Lull posts, I tend to write several posts at once. So any time you see fresh content here, scroll down—there might be more to read.

And if you’re new to Lull, poke around in the archives. Lull is already approaching its first birthday so there’s a lot of content you missed. (However, I noticed yesterday that something funky happened to the formatting; typefaces and sizes are all askew in the 2009 articles. Please ignore.)