Friday, August 9, 2013

No Ones Fool

I finally relax in your arms, trust the warm and safe feelings that I so rarely feel these days. It's been a rough week. I'm actually surprised that you are open and soft and inviting. It's easy to feel loved or at least liked, in that moment.

But I have been a fool or made a fool of.

I must remember this. I am always on the verge of being made a fool and I am not falling for it again. Not again.

I am a steel cage.Words may pass through me but no one can breach the barrier.
I am invisible. I make no impressions and cast no shadow.
I am smoke. I can't make a ripple in a pond; i glide along the surface.
I am nothing and no one and I can't be touched without being burned.

And when I'm in that space... you know the one. The space that must be entered from time to time. Space that is required to be visited. I will be there but not there. I float away. I am with the birds. I am among the flowers. I am surrounded by the pink and green, down the river with the otters, far far away.

And I am alone.

But alone is better than a fool.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Feet That Glow in the Dark

A little radiation never hurt anyone.

Unless you're a child and it's your feet and you grow a crazy mutant toe.

While in Phoenix, my mother in law pointed out her feet while we were discussing shoes and specifically her 2nd toe. (You know, the piggy that stayed home.) On her right foot, it was much longer than any of her other toes and it was twisted and crooked. She said it was because when she was a kid, when her mom would take them shopping, her and her siblings would always run to the shoe store and stick their feet into the fluoroscope at the front of the store.

What the hell is a fluoroscope? This.

Isn't that just the coolest looking thing-a-ma-bob? I want one.

Back in the 20's (and all the way through to the 70's in some places) these bad boys were installed in shoe stores. You stand on it, stick your feet inside and flip the switch to see how well your feet fit inside your new Buster Browns. And it was great for checking for broken bones, since you could see your bones. So it was pretty obvious that this thing was puking xrays all over your feet/body and after the big bomb and cold war, the use of such devices declined heavily. Also, some experience radiation burns. (One salesman had it so bad it resulted in amputation.) Most though, did not suffer ill effects.

I'm not so sure the fluoroscope gave her that crazy mutant piggy, but it's a fun story. I wonder if it glows in the dark...

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Check out more at the Smithsonian's website, along with other really amazing things... Don't you just love museums??