L is for....

Looks like L is a rather long list for me. What a surprise - not! It hasn't been quite a week but I'm trying to pick up the pace a bit, catch up with the forerunners. Don't worry, this isn't a race. Don't anyone think they have to hurry through the alphabet on anyone else's schedule. It's just quirky, competitive me, wanting to be in the front of my own game. Tee hee. It bothers me that I can't read the folks who are ahead of me because then I get influenced by their lists instead of coming up with my own. So, on with L:

Linda - the name on my birth certificate

Laume - the name that I evolved into, took as my own. I get asked about it a lot. It's Lithuanian. The Laume is a mythological figure, sort of half witch, half fairy. She can be compassionate and helpful on occasion but, trust me, you really don't want to piss her off.

Lisa - my baby sister

Laurie - my other younger sister. My mom did that whole same letter thing with her kids. In fact we have not only the same first initials but also the same middle ones. Linda Jo, Laurie Jean, Lisa Joan.

lighthouse - my dad loved lighthouses. Now that he is gone, when I see a lighthouse, I think of my father still there, guiding me through my life

Little League - I can't tell you how many hours we've spent sitting on the bleachers watching our boys play baseball. I suppose I could try to figure it out, but let's not bother. If you want, you can do the math - four boys, t-ball starts around age five, senior majors goes to 8th grade.

lavender, lilacs, love-in-the-mist, larkspur, lantana - five of my favorite flowers

La Leche League - I was a LLL Leader for over a decade, even spent a bit of time in the higher echelon of the organization. I knew it was time for me to move on years before I could finally say goodbye to something that had been such a big part of my life for so long.

late bloomer - I like to think I'm not a procrastinator, I'm just a late bloomer

Lithuanian - I'm a solid 50% this on my dad's side. I don't know much about the country, shamefully, except that they're known for their amber, they were under the control of the USSR, and that it was the last European country to officially move from paganism to Christianity (and that they did so for political expediency)

lattes - my main Starbucks drink of choice (although I may be moving into the cappuccino camp)

labor coach - one of my many caps, I've had the pleasure of welcoming many wee ones into the world. And humbleness aside for a minute, I'm happy to say I'm pretty damn good at it

landlady - I was one for a few years - hated it

laugh - as often as possible!

lentils, leeks, lobster, legumes, linguini - some of my favorite L foods

lazy - I like to be lazy. I wish I could be lazy more often.

laundry - with a family of seven, you can only imagine how much of my life I've spent doing laundry. I remember there was a time when a friend was talking about sorting her laundry into lights, darks, and whites. I thought about it and realized I had so much laundry that I was regularly sorting it into blues/greens, oranges/yellows, pinks/reds, whites, sports clothing, bedding...... I think I figured out that to keep up, I had to do at least five loads a day. Now I'm down to one to three loads a day, plus the type of stuff that's occasional like blankets. That seems like a lot for only three people but remember my hubby has a huge amount of work clothing and William does sports. And the cats. Don't forget the cats.

linens - I have a rather large collection of antique and/or collectible linens. Kitchen towels, hand embroidered pillow cases, old high thread count cotton sheets, tableclothes, tatted doilies.... I pick them up from thrift stores on occasion, but mainly I got them from my mother, who also had an affinity for them in years past. I try not to save them, instead I use them and enjoy them for as long as they last, which is sometimes quite a long while and sometimes not. I figure, why have them if I don't really use them. The only time I'm frustrated when one is ruined is when it's because my husband can't figure out the difference between a "good towel" and a "rag" and thinks it's a good idea to mop up grape juice or wipe down the car with one. GRRRRRRR!

learning - I'm sure you've seen a pattern with this sort of word - I love to learn things. Brain is a sponge. Of course, that also implies that some of it drips back out again. At least it feels like that the older I get. And there are a few things I'd really rather not have to learn and only do out of necessity - cars and computers fall into this last category.

liberal - I've always thought of myself as a moderate politically but with the current political climate, and the fact that I live in a fairly conservative community, I've been labeled a liberal by others and I have come to think of myself that way as well. I took one of those online tests once and it came as no surprise to me that that I'm socially VERY liberal where as I'm more balanced in between the extremes on fiscal issues.

loons - I love loons. No, not crazy people, although I guess I love a rather large assortment of those as well. I mean the birds. I grew up in the North Woods and can remember the sound of their laughter floating out over the water at dusk. I've seen them a couple of times up here on some of our larger mountain lakes, but I don't think they're common in this area.

labyrinth - have you ever walked a labyrinth? If you ever get the opportunity, do it. Don't think about it, don't worry about what will happen, just keep walking, thinking "this is sort of silly" or "I probably look stupid". Trust me, by the time you've finished, you'll understand why I suggested it. Google "labyrinth" on line. You'd be surprised at how many communities have public labyrinths available for the walking.

library - Our family are library junkies. Wherever we've lived, we've always been on a first name basis with the librarians (or in recent years, since our town doesn't think it's necessary to hire an actual librarian, library workers). When I was a young teen, I was a library volunteer for awhile, just for the pleasure of spending more time at the library. One of my sons worked at our local library, and both my husband and I have worked in the past to keep the children's reading hours or special events happening. I'm frustrated at the level of library service we currently have in town but at least we have a library - the county said it couldn't afford to keep a library and for the past decade or so the town has to foot the bill to keep it open. They hardly ever have new books available (and when they do they're usually the latest Danielle Steele or similar fluffy reads) but they do have a great inter-library loan program and I use that service regularly.

language, letters - I'm a writer, what can I say. I love language. I like the way you can make it sound soft, melancholy, brass, dirty, bitter, raucous, suspicious, juicy, sibilant, joyful, full of impending doom...... Language can freeze a single moment in time or it can create an entire world between the pages a book. It can explain and help us. It can move us to emotional extremes. Even the letters themselves become important symbols to people, hence the lure of Wordplay for those of us participating.

lap - laps are one of the nicest inventions. I rarely have an empty lap. A child, grandchild, dog or cat usually claims mine. We have an unwritten rule in our house that if someone is providing a lap, they get special privileges in order to not disturb the lap sitter. For instance "Mom, can you bring me a soda?" "Get your own soda." "Charlie is sitting on my lap." "Oh, okay, what kind do you want?"

latitude and longitude - I'm fascinated by what an impact these two words have on a place. For most my life I've been the type, when given a choice, to always chose to go farther north. My first real experience with any southern latitudes came when we were living in San Diego. And I know, that's not very south at all. We draw immediate assumptions and images of what happens when one moves up and down in latitude. The same thing for longitude, most people culturally divde the world into east and west. Of course it's far more complicated then a simple grid of four directions, but north, south, east and west have a huge first impact on how we respond to a region and how it's culture develops.

Leicester Square - one of my new favorite places in the world. I'm not sure what the whole thing is about Picadilly Circus - just a big traffic mess as far as I can tell. For me, Leicester Square is the heart of London.

London - a town that apparently never sleeps, has great bus and tube service, theatre, art, and eccentricities galore. One needs to learn the skill of using an umbrella without putting someone's eye out. It's one drawback, all this fun and rain doesn't come cheap.

leaf/leaves - I wait anxiously for the leaves twice a year. Once in the fall, I look forward to the autumn display of orange, red and yellow, although recently it's sort of a bittersweet pleasure because I know once the show is over, the leaves will be gone for a very long time. Secondly, in the spring, I hold my breath in anticipation of the first blush of green in the tree tops that heralds the return of the leaves. We are blessed with two huge sheltering silver maple trees in our yard and I can get lost in the summer, laying in a hammock and watching the leaves flutter and dance in the breezes above me.

love -

"All you need is love". ~ Lennon/McCartney

"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave". ~ Mohandas Gandhi

"And remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others". ~ Professor Marvel in The Wizard of Oz

"And think not, you can direct the course of love; for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course". ~ Khalil Gibran

"I've made the most important discovery of my life. It's only in the mysterious equation of love that any logical reasons can be found". ~ John Forbes Nash in A Beautiful Mind

"Love not what you are, but what you may become". ~ Miguel de Cervantes

"Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of growths". ~ Mark Twain

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love." ~ I Corinthians chapter 13

And so on and so on.....Love.

loudmouth - sometimes

lice - sigh. I wish this plight on no one. Well, okay, maybe a few people who really piss me off. But no one I like.

Louvre - I just returned from visiting this amazing collection of inspiration and creativity. Not once, but twice. It's hard to come up with anything to say except - Wow. If a meteor ever wipes out this planet and all the amazing art we've created down through the eons, it would be a real shame.

luminescence - just a cool word, doncha think? Cool phenomenon as well.

lunar - I love the moon and her monthly cycles. She wasn't quite full but you wouldn't know it to have seen her last night - all round and buttery yellow, low in the sky. I love how even in a city full of neon signs, bright windows and flashing traffic lights, the moon still manages to draw my gaze to her up in the sky. I love how she can make a lonely desert or snow covered hill as bright as day under a full moon. I love how she reappears each month, a tiny sliver of possibilities to come. I love how she reminds us of the.... no she is the ebb and flow of life.