Eleven - The Lines Around Your Eyes

This song echoes my sentiments. Partial lyrics:

"...there's a little thing that drives me wild
Something that happens every time you smile
I can't get over the lines around your eyes
Lines around your eyes everytime you smile
And the way you touch me darlin' just drives me wild"

My Robin has these lines that appear on the side of her nose when she smiles a certain kind of smile, usually when we have shared a moment of realization, when we both get a glimpse at the miracle of our union, the incredible blessings we share, our home, our family, our friends.

Ten - Spoonerisms and Doing Your Duty

Robin asked me if I am familiar with the term Spoonerism. At the moment, I couldn't recall the precise meaning, although it did ease my tears, er, tease my ears, as I recognized it as something akin to a Mondegreen. As I was pondering, she jogged my memory by launching into a tale about someone's FB post about Brad and Angelina's child, Shiloh Pitt. Someone followed up by asking if the parents might be unfamiliar with the term. Suddenly I was laughing out loud. The great part is she didn't have to explain the term, and my memory lapse made the joke funnier to me.

She also laughs along indulgently (more a chuckle than a guffaw) any time I announce "she said 'duty.' " And for that, my Robin is AWESOME!

CNN Announcer says "duty;" laughs ensue.

Nine - Her old sweater

Robin has an old sweater that looks like it would sell for $300 in one of those Melrose boutiques. On her it looks so comfortable and hip. I imagine a lot of folks look at her in it and don't think twice, but some folks see it and they get it. I get it. I get her. And she gets me. And my old beater truck.

Eight - Bite me!

Okay, bear with me on this one. I was cleaning out the garage the other day, getting items together to donate to charity, and I encountered some loud, crackly, spider webbing. This led me to do some internet research on the dangers of black widow spider bites, which somehow led me to this interesting excerpt from the Kama Sutra. It seems they have some very bizarre practices on the other side of the globe!

The Indian Philosophy of Kama Sutra
Chapter V - On Biting

All the places that can be kissed are also the places that can be bitten, except the upper lip, the interior of the mouth, and the eyes. The qualities of good teeth are as follows: They should be equal, possessed of a pleasing brightness, capable of being coloured, of proper proportions, unbroken, and with sharp ends. The defects of teeth on the other hand are that they are blunt, protruding from the gums, rough, soft, large, and loosely set.

The following are the different kinds of biting:

The hidden bite
The swollen bite
The point
The line of points
The coral and the jewel
The line of jewels
The broken cloud
The biting of the boar

The biting, which is shown only by the excessive redness of the skin that is bitten, is called the 'hidden bite'.

When the skin is pressed down on both sides, it is called the 'swollen bite'.

When a small portion of the skin is bitten with two teeth only, it is called the 'point'.

When such small portions of the skin are bitten with all the teeth, it is called the 'line of points'.

The biting, which is done by bringing together the teeth and the lips, is called the 'coral and the jewel'. The lip is the coral, and the teeth the jewel.

When biting is done with all the teeth, it is called the 'line of jewels'.

The biting, which consists of unequal risings in a circle, and which comes from the space between the teeth, is called the 'broken cloud'. This is impressed on the breasts.

The biting, which consists of many broad rows of marks near to one another, and with red intervals, is called the 'biting of a boar'. This is impressed on the breasts and the shoulders; and these two last modes of biting are peculiar to persons of intense passion.

The lower lip is the place on which the 'hidden bite', the swollen bite', and the 'point' are made; again the 'swollen bite' and the 'coral and the jewel' bite are done on the cheek. Kissing, pressing with the nails, and biting are the ornaments of the left cheek, and when the word cheek is used it is to be understood as the left cheek.

Both the 'line of points' and the 'line of jewels' are to be impressed on the throat, the arm pit, and the joints of the thighs; but the 'line of points' alone is to be impressed on the forehead and the thighs.

The marking with the nails, and the biting of the following things - an ornament of the forehead, an ear ornament, a bunch of flowers, a betel leaf, or a tamala leaf, which are worn by, or belong to the woman that is beloved - are signs of the desire of enjoyment.

Among the things mentioned above, embracing, kissing, etc., those which increase passion should be done first, and those which are only for amusement or variety should be done afterwards.

There are also some verses on this subject as follows:

'When a man bites a woman forcibly, she should angrily do the same to him with double force. Thus a "point" should be returned with a "line of points", and a "line of points" with a "broken cloud", and if she be excessively chafed, she should at once begin a love quarrel with him. At such a time she should take hold of her lover by the hair, and bend his head down, and kiss his lower lip, and then, being intoxicated with love, she should shut her eyes and bite him in various places. Even by day, and in a place of public resort, when her lover shows her any mark that she may have inflicted on his body, she should smile at the sight of it, and turning her face as if she were going to chide him, she should show him with an angry look the marks on her own body that have been made by him. Thus if men and women act according to each other's liking, their love for each other will not be lessened even in one hundred years.'

The Kama Sutra of Vatsayayana, Sir Richard Burton (click here to read about this fascinating Victorian explorer), translator (1883)

What a strange world this is! I guess nothing should surprise me any more, but it does.

Seven - Do a Little Dance...

When my sweet wife does a certain thing, no matter where

we are, I get all excited and I can't control myself. She can

make me do a goofy little dance just by looking at me with

love in her eyes. She protests that, from her point of view,

it is just me being silly, but I think not. My frantic reaction

is entirely in her hands, as she must know. I find it simply

amazing that she has this ability to make me dance around,

beyond my control, whenever she wants. It is my firm

belief that she does it on purpose, just because she can.

Get down, get down, get down, get down
Get down tonight, baby
Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo...

Oh, I just can't resist: