Last Day of the Year

A New Year is a time of new beginnings, resolutions, auld lang syne and all that. I suppose if I have to pick something, I've made an attempt at dressing a little better. Suki introduced me to skirts and boots. Aside from
a day at work being called Pocohontas, I'm managing to pull off a nice colorful skirt, plain top, more jewelry
and a jacket, with my new suede fringe boots.
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That said, I've let my hair grow, colored it darker and make an attempt each day to say at least two nice things. That is enough change for now.
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I don't know whether the new year will bring a Kindle. I like the physical act of holding a book and reading it in bed. A kindle doesn't have all that much appeal to me right now. I had a panic moment last night when I ordered Arguably, by Hitchens, and the Kindle version autopopulated and poof!  I thought I was out 14 bucks.
Bottom line is I dared to try their HELP CHAT to fix the situation and an awfully efficient man (?) named Nahdeep was instantly about to credit me and I was credited in mere seconds.  Try that with Verizon.  Another story.
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For those who know me, I have spent years of my life on hold or in endless menus with Verizon, and have managed to raised my blood pressure more than a few points.
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I hope the New Year brings me less frustration, and more relaxation.  I hope the election year doesn't force me
to give up TV altogether.  (the attack ads with the lies/distortions/half-truths, etc.) I hope the stock market continues to climb...(5.5 percent this year!) and I hope that we all are healthy, relatively speaking, next year and that my pets are safe from imbecile neighbor's dogs.
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Christians and Pagans

Celtic New Year

Who is Looking Back

...so I glanced up from my desk to look out the window, and something was looking back.

Holiday Random Thoughts

Two old men were talking at the bar. "You know, a lot of people used to come in here." His friend didn't miss a beat. "A lot of people are dead."
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That pretty much said it all. They sipped their beers in silence for a few moments, and I really didn't catch much else of what they were talking about. It's true though. A lot of people are dead. I found myself thinking of Crazy George, now dead, who used to come busting in just about every bar I ever cared to sit at on a Friday night. It didn't matter where you went, George made the rounds and passed through most places in town. Though he was always "on the way" to some German club in Ohio, so he never stayed long. I miss old George. I got his Christmas card the day after they found him dead. That felt strange. No one was ever sure what he died from. Everyone should have an eccentric, unpredictable friend, just to keep life interesting and have good stories to tell. He will live on through stories for many years. Like the time he caught the bar on fire doing flaming shots. That sort of thing.
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It's nice to see people from out of town at the holidays. Catch them up with what is going on here. See what life is like "out there." Wherever "there" is. One thing is for sure, a lot of people, (the ones who aren't dead), left here for jobs. I miss those people. Sometimes I think about what the town would be like if they had stayed, found work, built homes, had children here, etc. Continuing the cycle. We have a dying town. And, though we love it, the underlying sense of loss is always there. You can see it in the eyes of every parent who has to take their grown children back to the airport. Or trudge off to the Post Office to mail gifts to rarely seen grandchildren.
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The ham is in the oven. The house smells good. I'm done shopping. All good things. - Some of us are still here.

Calvin and Hobbes Christmas

Blind Kitten with Christmas Tree

The Longest Night

The big fire at Solstice was higher, brighter and more lively than ever. A big weather front came through just as we were starting to light the fire this year. The winds whipped all around...first from west to east...then east to west. Sparks shot higher than the tallest trees in the nearby woods. I was just thankful it didn't rain a bit. This after a good half inch soaking that occurred most of the day. Good timing, and a good time. - Next year is 2012. And the world is supposed to end on Solstice next December.I hope not. - For now, let's just get through this longest night.

Happy Solstice!

Cat Commercial

The Sunday Morning Muse, December 18, 2011

 No sunrise today...just a dusty snowfall on the rooftops with lots of cloud cover.  I watched a Jon Stewart/Christopher Hitchens clip from the Daily Show back in 2005, talking about the Iraq war. The site has a few interviews up with Hitchens because of his passing this week. I enjoyed hearing these two men talking about their positions. Funny how a truly intellectual discussion about the war, a real discussion, not platitudes and talking points splattered about, is actually on a Comedy Channel.

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The war is over now. In time for Christmas. Cue up John Lennon. I lament the loss of life, and the huge cost. It is time to move on. And I don't mean to the "next" war.

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I ventured into the stores yesterday. Don't think big mall, think local stores. Don't get me wrong, I like to shop, but mostly I like it better when I go in and know exactly what I want to get someone. Not aimlessly float around. I waste so much time. I was distracted by space heaters of all things. Didn't actually buy one, and went through each and every one trying to find something for the porch. I lost a lot of time doing that. 

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And instead of wrapping things when I got home, I managed to devote a good hour looking up all kinds of tabloid articles on the Van Morrison/Gigi Lee/Love Child headlines. The story gets sadder and sadder. From it's bizarre beginning two years ago with the birth of a child. To the cancer death of the mother, and now, this weekend actually, the world finds out the baby died eleven months ago. All this without a word.

Christopher Hitchens Tribute

The Pale Blue Dot, Again

Once again I find myself fixated on Voyager I. I can't get the image of the earth, taken from 4 billion miles away in 1990 out of my mind. Just a speck. Now Voyager is approaching the end of our solar system...the edge between the system and what is really the space that exists out there among the stars. The camera onboard was turned off years ago...because there is nothing to see. Voyager is measuring the solar wind and still sending back useful information. Because until now, we could only guess at where the "outer" space really begins.
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This little man made contraption has travelled about 33 million miles a year, since 1977 and is out THERE further than anything has ever been. Ever. And everything we ever were, are and maybe ever will be...is that little speck.

Christopher Hitchens is Gone

One of the greatest intellectuals and provocateurs of our time. Christopher Hitchens has died. My first thought: I feel really bad that I can't read what it felt like for
him to do so. He would have described it so well.
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I'll miss reading his column.

Today's Thought

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

Cicero

Pink Martini

The Sunday Morning Muse, December 11, 2011

A cold Sunday morning with smoke coming out of chimneys all across the valley. Today I'll just do a quick mental rundown of things which crossed my life in some way this week. First off, I read Christopher Hitchens latest column, Trial of the Will, dated for January in Vanity Fair. Compelling reading, to say the least. He re-examines the notion that what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. I look at the phrase in a whole new way now. Hitchens, in a life or death struggle with cancer, still summoning up the strength to write. It's because that is who he is.

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A close family member had a heart attack this week. He is a miracle of modern science already with two shoulders replaced, a knee...several back surgeries, a prior bypass surgery. A six million dollar man. His record shows his ability to fight back. To see him he still looks every bit the truck driver he once was, retired now. He is big in my thoughts today.

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Politics seemed less important this week. It's like I've become bored of the circus acts and am watching the crowd instead. The crowd yesterday in Moscow on the news, estimated at twenty five thousand! The people are upset with Putin, and determined to expose election fraud. People speaking out in Russia...against the Government. Wow. I think this brings the whole Arab Spring concept to an entirely different realm. The "internets" and I phones and all this technology has let the horses out of the barn. The oppression of people, the control of people...that dominated so many nations/cultures is reaching a critical point.

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Entropy...increasing state of disorder, is a concern, as the world economy is not in great shape. Everywhere change is occurring that will play out in ways no one can really predict right now.

Scary, but exciting stuff.

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Decorating at Home

A small manger set on an accent table. One of the three wise men are missing. Mom says he ran away. I think it was probably the one with the gold.

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I found a water candle to plug in. It is a cheap kind. Not sure if he works, or if it is so old it could

burn the house down if it does work. I'll plug it in where I can see it for now. My infamous oil candle collection lies in boxes...unopened for many years. Long ago I lived in a little house with a closed in porch that had these wonderful long shelves and was all windows. I had them all lined up out there. I've lived several places since then and never anywhere that I could display all of them. They do tend to smell from the kerosene...even the stuff that is not supposed to smell.

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We have four spinners left. They look like little plastic bird cage ornaments with metal spinners

in them that spin when they get warm. My grandmother had them on her tree long ago. We put them on the tree every year. I don't have many items that belonged to Mu. I think I have one of her candy dishes and some Finnish table runners and a blanket. Oh and her God-awful fake fur hat. I'll never wear it, but I'll never part with it.

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I put up these vintage plastic bells on either side of the garage door. They are easily 1970's, and they aren't anything special. Probably someone would throw them away, but I put them up every year somewhere. My mom had a step uncle....or perhaps he was her father's cousin, we were never sure...who married a woman who lived up on the hill. I never met the woman until she was 95 years old, and I was searching out people who may have photographs of my relatives from mom's side in Poland. Her name was Anna. And she did have plenty of photographs from her late husband's side which no one would want, and happily gave them to me. Pictures of my grandpa and his cousins during World War I. Sadly, I didn't get to spend more time with her. She was ailing...and she thought she would die before Christmas so she started giving me her Christmas stuff. Thus, the bells. She lived to see another Christmas, but not much longer after that. I was very grateful for the photos.

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Ironically my own baby picture was among them.

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Well, I better get back to work.

Reponse to Newt's Get a Bath Statement

Reg Henry was spot on today. Well said.

Freddie Mac is probably no longer hiring historians at a consulting fee of at least $1.6 million—the job Newt managed to swing for himself—and it would be a waste of a good bar of soap if an ex-Occupier were to get his hopes up.

Catch the Wind

Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame announcements today! Congratulations Donovan!

The Sunday Morning Muse, December 4, 2011

Well, it looks like the sun is coming up again, a particularly pretty sunrise as you can see.... and life goes on without the Herman Cain sideshow to distract us from our hum drum lives. He finally quit yesterday. What will drive the big 24 hour news cycle now?

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It makes me nervous when people refer to themselves in the third person. Cain did a lot of that. It's like that Seinfeld episode...Jimmy. A little ego goes a long way. You gotta have a certain amount just to aspire to anything, really. But normal people get put off by arrogance, especially when it seems like you have set yourself up as the great OZ, and now someone has shown us a little of what is behind the curtain.

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Sometimes things don't go as you want them to. He wanted Ginger White to stay hidden. When their relationship was exposed...he tried to find something to blame. After all, this wasn't part of the Herman Cain plan. This isn't the "Herman Cain" he has invested so much time "creating." The is a small compartment of his life, and he couldn't "control" it. Imagine!

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I find it isn't the world conspiring against us, so much as it is our reaction to the world. Even if it seems the world is conspiring against us. Politicians have met stranger fates. Think Howard Dean. One scream...audio taken off a mic while he was addressing a crowd. A moment of exuberance... broadcast infinitum on all the right wing talking head shows, until they created the image of a madman. A short lived moment, unplanned. Changing his fate. He had no control over that either, but the perception...remains. But I digress. I was never really a Howard Dean fan anyway.

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Oh well, politics aside, I'm still not much in the ho ho ho spirit. Neither is Sambo, sitting here on my desk casting furtive glances toward the door behind me. yyyyyyyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuuuuu

(That was the cat on the keys.) She is constantly on the lookout for Sweet Pea. They still haven't forged a loving relationship in all these months. It's a source of stress. Perhaps more cat toys need added to the holiday shopping list. Diversions.

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Onward. Another pot of coffee to brew. The sun is up.

On Being Cocky

Kinky Friedman once said, if you have a choice between being cocky and being humble, always pick cocky. There will be plenty of time to be humble later when everything goes horribly wrong. Then you won't get the chance to be cocky.

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That pretty much describes the rise and fall of Herman Cain. Today is the day of his "big announcement," according to the media. He plans to say whether the Cain Train has derailed. I suspect it was a long night at the Cain house last night. The self proclaimed soft-hearted man probably engaged in a very thoughtful conversation with is wife about his secret, very troubled friend.

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And now the spotlight falls on Newt. I won't even delve into the sexploits of New Booty-Newty and his tendency to trade up on wives and dump them for newer models when they get sick. Nor the 300 thousand in fines in ethics violations, and all his other baggage. Lobbyist? He isn't a lobbyist...he is an Historian. That's worth millions of dollars. I guess you could say he is an historian, because he is trying to rewrite history.

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But here we go. I wish I had his million dollar credit line at Tiffany's. At least the jewelry is portable....for the next time Newt "trades" up. He married a smartie.

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The Sunday Morning Muse, November 27, 2011

Thanksgiving Weekend is winding down. I think the T-Day story of the week is a wild Turkey that smashed through the front window of an Eat'n Park down in the 'Burg right on Thanksgiving Day. The video of the bird on the floor of the restaurant surrounded by glass with it's feet sticking straight up is priceless.

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I'm pretty much done with turkey for awhile. Two days of Turkey soup after the big day are enough. I'm making baked barbeque spareribs today.

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And so "The War on Christmas" season begins. Every year it is the same thing.I get tired of the "Happy Holidays" versus "Merry Christmas" discussions. It's clearly not the problem. When you see people fighting over discounted underwear at Victoria Secret, maxxing out charge cards to try to buy unneeded things for people who oftentimes don't even want those things... you have to ask yourself...what is going on here? Are there really two holidays? The commercial one....with Santa and all the hype...and this religious holiday that happens to fall on the same day to celebrate the birth of a baby in a humble manger?

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Saturday Stream of Consciousness

The scene at some Walmarts on Black Friday, the uprising of the people in streets in Egypt. The drought in Texas, the icecaps melting. What is going on today? In the world. If some intergalatic consciousness peered in on us, what would it see? Spinning the globe around and around like playing with Google Earth and zooming in, at any given moment on any given thing? What is new in the world? What has remained for centuries (pyramids)?

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Who is eating leftovers? (me) Who is walking the long ago paths of the maids in Druid Hills, Georgia, taking lovely photographs and pondering on the words of Mary's Magnificat? (Suki)

Words that have endured and been translated in many languages.

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Who is fighting for freedom? Who is just trying to get through another day, and not paying attention to the struggles going on?

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I watched an old Leonard Cohen interview this week. He was asked about his poetry. "As the world becomes more baffling and bewildering, one is thrown back on one's own shabby little story."He explained that is what produces his work."If one or two poems remain out of a man's work... he is considered a major poet.....generally nothing remains of our work."

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Who we are, with the transience of our lives...why do anything? Why build a pyramid at all? Asked Alan Parsons. And it remains. Poetry, art, music, architecture, literature... all not necessary for existence, yet here we are, for our own reasons, trying to explain, trying to be understood, attempting to build something that will last. Leave something behind.

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And what we really have, all that we can actually say with certainty, is that one day we won't be here. So we may as well make the best of it.

Alan Parsons Project- What Goes Up

Thanksgiving Turkey Drop

Happy Thanksgiving

Don't assume you're always going to be understood. I wrote in a column that one should put a cup of liquid in the cavity of a turkey when roasting it. Someone wrote me that the turkey tasted great, but the plastic cup melted.
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Heloise

The Sunday Morning Muse, November 20, 2011

Sunday morning, coffee in hand, and little Sambo sitting on the desk looking out the window at the crow on the telephone line. A cloudy but relatively warm morning. 58 degrees in November. Sweet.

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Yesterday I visited the local library book cellar. Scanning the shelves, looking for bargains, I didn't find anything I really wanted, but ended up buying a couple of hunting magazines for a quarter a piece. Funny, I felt obligated to explain to the older lady volunteer checking out my purchase, that it really was NOT for me, I was just thinking of my neighbor. "Rack" Magazine with big horned antlers on the front. Hopefully no porn inside. I didn't really look through it much.

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I worked at the library when I was 14 years old. A couple of years of Monday to Thursday night 5 - 9 shifts and an 8 hour stretch on Saturdays if I could get the hours. I was so excited to have that job. It was a chance to get out of the house and actually see people. Once in a while, other than simply putting away books and magazines, or refiling them, I could substitute for the front desk check out person and that was the high profile, more grown up type work. At least from a 14 year old's perspective. I liked library work so much that in college I also worked in the library, mostly in Periodicals. I got to look at all the new magazines and separate them, and in winter I'd look forward to having morning tea with the lovely library lady who supervised Periodicals downstairs in the basement. I learned a lot of life lessons from that very intelligent woman. Thank you Shirley, looking down from above now.

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It is in this frame of mind I came home from my library trip yesterday to see that Newt Gingrich wants poor children to clean schools for money.

"It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in child laws which are truly stupid," Gingrich said. "Saying to people you shouldn't go to work before you're 14, 16. You're totally poor, you're in a school that's failing with a teacher that's failing."

HOLD THE BUS! Did he really mean he wants children younger than 14 to work? All this in the midst of dissing teachers...and later...suggesting we fire all the janitors (union, of course) and replace them with poor kids?-Pause for outrage.-Really. That's going to make America so much more on par with China. Really. Let the 10 year old's scrub toilets, while the ones from "better" families sit around and make fun of the poor kids in their spare time.

"Hey Toilet boy? Wassup? you missed some funky stuff around the urinal..."

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Newt, this is one of the dumbest, cruel, out of touch ideas I have ever heard. Yeah, I worked at 14... and I wanted to do that. But I also remember my dad telling me, "Are you really SURE you want to do this? Once you start working, you will work for the rest of your life." He said that with a touch of sadness. Almost like he knew my fate beforehand....or something. Knew that I wouldn't hit the lottery, or marry a rich man. Wanted me to have a few more years of timeless days. Not having to be somewhere in the summers. Time to read, paint, enjoy my youth. Because adulthood hits too quickly and the responsibilities are endless.

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Yeah, dad. You were right. I'm still working. I somehow wish I could relive that 13th year's summer, knowing what I know now. That was the last real summer.

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Newt, little kids should be little kids. Maybe instead of a 250 thousand dollar credit line at Tiffany's you could

be using your money to help disadvantaged kids. Instead of bashing teachers, help come up with incentives that work to make schools better.

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Reading is Fundamental... Pass it On.

The Herman Cain Art project gets freakier and freakier. Quoting the Simpsons? Really?

Reading is soooo overrated. Humph.

Stay Out of the Water

Remember the terror of having to do a book report? Imagine what it felt like to get called upon to go to the front of the sixth grade class and talk for five minutes about a book you haven't read.

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Well...the book is called Old Man and the Sea. It's by Ernest Hemingway. It's about a man...and a fish. But I can't say I agree with the way he caught the fish. I would have analyzed it more, got more intelligence. No, I can't really say I know what intelligence the old man had, but I would have analyzed it better. And the sea is a nice place. I've been to many seas...and I think water is a good thing. What did you ask me again? I can't say I agree or disagree with the old man. But there is a lot of things swirling in my head.

Now watch Herman Cain.

That's all for now.

The Sunday Morning Muse, November 13, 2011

Sunday morning bluejay frenzy at the house. Each day, as predictable as the sunrise itself, at least 10 peanuts are put on the stump and the birds know this. Ten peanuts for 10 birds. I suspect it never gets divided up that way. I should take a video, because within five minutes they show up en mass...swooping and diving. Here are just two.

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A big blackbird got shut out. He didn't get the message, apparently, that you have to move fast or lose out.

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Birds are family here. Woodpeckers on the suet. Finches and sparrows at the bird feeder. Eight turkeys in the woods near the dump this week. Someone said wild turkey really isn't worth the trouble to eat. The birds taste better from the store. Who'd pluck it anyway?

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I confess I am someone who has a disconnect when it comes to food sources versus what is on the table. Sometimes I look at a McNugget and wondered where the chicken came from. Really. Then I realize they are Processed Meat...that is meat mixed with other stuff and bent and mixed into the form that is needed. Much like the McRibs. (follow this link at your own peril. You may never eat one again.)Then I wonder how many chickens are really in a McNugget? And what else is in there?...and then I don't want to think anymore. I just dip it in the honey sauce and eat it.

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Saturday Morning Sunrise

The sun just started to peak at me through the window and it is another Saturday morning. I take for granted the view I have because I've lived here so long, but it really is a beautiful horizon as I peer out and see the east side hill over the river. The wide bridge over the river, the rows of little homes on the other side staggering up the hill...and in the middle...the steeple of the old Polish church. The trees have lost their leaves now and the sun is a very bright glowing orb causing spots in my eyes if I look off the edge of the computer screen. With the west side hill behind me I never see the sunset. Unless I am out somewhere.

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Yesterday it snowed...the first snow with any covering power. I felt sudden sadness. Is this it? Is the long winter here now...no more color? Thankfully today, no snow. What few leaves remain on the Japanese maples out front still cling and the piles of leaves underneath are still there. It looks like fall again. Even if it isn't prime. Like the woman of a certain age with fading hair color, just before it turns all gray. Suki says November in Atlanta is like October here. Beautiful.

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I was looking at pictures of 30 celebs who are aging with grace. To their credit most look believable when they say they aren't going the botox route or attempting to turn back time with some surgery or other creative means. I can't ever see myself doing that. My favorite of the bunch has got to be Julianne Moore. She is exuberant and her inner beauty shines through. Helen Mirren is amazing. But I admit seeing Lauren Hutton startled me a bit. More like a wake up call to me that time is moving on, because my mental image of her is forever in 1980 with Richard Gere. American Gigolo. Sheesh. A long time ago.

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Well, on that happy note, I think I'll go look at the clouds in my coffee...and try to remember just how old Carly Simon is these days. Then again maybe I won't.

Rainbows and Robots

Jethro better go home to the cement pond and help Ellie tend to the critters. It is pretty obvious he can't cut it on the national stage.

We just barely got over the lively video of him yucking it up with the conversatives...slurring his words. (drunk???) And now this week, he is abolishing cabinet departments he can't even name. Where are the Rhodes scholars? It's getting sad, people. Right now if you put a robot out there and program it to say "I won't cut taxes," and "I love Ronald Reagan," you are halfway to a nomination. Give lip service to the pro-lifers and the anti-Mexican wall builders, and there ya go. Oops, almost forgot, and "Drill baby drill."

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If you haven't seen the meltdown video, here it is. It is pretty obvious he's been cramming lists in his head. Nothing more than dry talking points. It's not like he has any real plan to solve America's problems. Something he has given considerable thought to that would be second nature to describe. Reminds me of when I memorized Roy G. Biv to remember the colors of the rainbow for eighth grade science. (red orange yellow green blue indigo and violet)

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The Sunday Morning Muse, November 6, 2011

"If you want to hang out, you've got to pay her out, Koch's Cain"

(sung to the tune of Eric Clapton's, Cocaine.)

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In a turn of a phrase, this comment posted at a news website pretty much tells you more than most news organizations out there. Of course I am referring to the Herman Cain sexual harassment turmoil from this past week, but, and I think more importantly, the lesser story of just who is financing this man. What details haven't made national news about his funding by the Koch brothers? And what about the campaign laws that he ignored by getting money from sources not disclosed to start his campaign? The MSM has largely given a pass to all this.

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Can a pair of zillionaire brothers essentially pick a candidate, finance him and ignore the traditional campaign strategies, buy their own air time to bolster a campaign, and do whatever the hell they want while the media focuses on decades old picadillos? Uh huh. Because "sex sells." It sells newspapers, it boosts ratings, it heightens the "give a hoot" factor regardless of truth or lie. (And thanks to the Supreme Court-- Corporations Are People, Too! So they can write all the checks they want to, so cue up those negative ads....and really crank 'em in the swing states!) C'mon media you can do better! Dig a little.

Meanwhile, while you, John Q. Public, is out there salivating over the next sex scandal details in the news, take a minute to watch the commercials. Americans for Prosperity. Sounds like a great name. These are the wolves in sheep's clothing. Watch for it. You will see it in tiny print on millions of dollars in campaign ads attacking Democrats and Barack Obama for the next entire year. It's the Koch Bros. Members of the one percent. Guys who inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from their old man (a founder of the John Birch Society.) Now they are using it to try to buy the White House. (As an aside, their chump change... goes to funding studies that attempt to disprove Global Warming, and perhaps some Tin Foil Hats.)

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That's why I love the Occupiers. They are the real deal. With all their flaws and warts. Are there people causing trouble here and there? of course. Are some people littering? Yeah, but look at the ones with brooms cleaning up, too. As much as the right wingers want to portray them as dirty smelly jobless people looking for a handout, they are not a group you can easily "label and negate" although Fox News tries so hard... Seriously.This uprising is a melting pot of people who feel they are getting a raw deal. They can't write checks to buy political influence. They are a hodgepodge of old, young, middle class, poor, white, black, hispanic, etc. with the same feeling of just wanting to be heard. And they are doing it by getting media attention with non violent protests springing up all over the place.

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Something is striking a chord in people. All kinds of people. Something is HAPPENING. Here is a great summary, I think, of what people are really upset about. This movement is not about Jealousy or envy or hating the rich. It's about getting a fair shake, playing by the same rules!

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I'm just happy to see people showing up. Apathy is the biggest enemy we have right now. Judge them at your peril. This is Democracy at it's best. It's how it is supposed to work. The people are rising against the powerful who control a huge majority of the wealth of this country, and have destroyed the middle class. Mill workers, teachers, health care workers, etc. These people are the backbone of America. They are hurting. They are not the enemy. Unions are not the enemy. People like the Koch Brothers are the real problem with America. And their "Americans for Prosperity" hit ads, which will go further to divide us as a country than unite us. Remember that when you see these ads and also remember the "monopoly money" that is paying for them. Pun intended.

Just a Reminder...

So Long Andy

When those waiters ask me if I want some fresh ground pepper, I ask if they have any aged pepper.
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Andy Rooney

Richard Brautigan Said...

“I will be very careful the next time I fall in love, she told herself. Also, she had made a promise to herself that she intended on keeping. She was never going to go out with another writer: no matter how charming, sensitive, inventive or fun they could be. They weren't worth it in the long run. They were emotionally too expensive and the upkeep was complicated. They were like having a vacuum cleaner around the house that broke all the time and only Einstein could fix it. She wanted her next lover to be a broom. ”

― Richard Brautigan

Are you Listening?

Tom Waits and Pink Martini have new music out this week. Can't call them albums...can we still

call them CD's? How soon will EVERYTHING be digital?

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I heard Waits on Fresh Air with Terry Gross this week on NPR. I like him, but he can be hard to listen to with that gravelly voice. With Waits, the stuff I like I really, really like, and the stuff I don't, I really...don't. There is no inbetween. Pink Martini is a group I like to think that I like, but the truth is I don't. I like a few songs and that is about it.

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I'm getting to be an impatient music listener. Listening to Pandora...I get exposed to all kinds of music but I never really go all that deep into it. I just flick around... and flick and flick...it's like when you are watching TV and a whole half hour goes buy and you didn't "watch" anything.

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When I was a kid it would take me two weeks to save up to buy an album. They cost $6.35. As soon as I got it home I disappeared into my room with my headphones and that is pretty much

where I stayed until I listened to the whole thing over and over again. I can still tell you the order of songs on some classic rock albums, because I was used to hearing them that way. And, in my head at least, I knew every guitar riff, every nuance in the lead singer's delivery, just where a chorus kicked in, all the verses, etc.

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Now when I listen to things I punch around....I listen to stuff I know until I'm bored with that, then delve into something new until I tire of it and then I'm just done. Is everyone getting like this? Is my mind so fast paced now that I can't listen to an entire song without feeling this inner impulse that I could be listening to a "better" song...I just need to punch this button one more time?

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Maybe I need to hook up the turntable again. It was awfully difficult to switch songs if you are

on the floor with headphones on. You had to get up...open the cover, drag and drop the needle...

or flip over the album...or find another album...put the first one away...etc. Life was slower. Listening was...more like listening. Does that make sense?

The Sunday Morning Muse, October 30, 2011

He puts the Goober in Gubernatorial. Rick Perry. A bad debater? Hell, just skip the debates. Notices Cain's 9-9-9 plan get's a lot of air time and thinks maybe some similar gimmick like this will pull in votes. Well-- just pull out a card...any card...step right up. Put your name on it, write a check and thar ya go. That's MY tax plan. And if you don't like it...well, uh, just keep doin' what yur doin'.

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Are there no credible Republican candidates out there? This whole debate thing has become reality television, in the sense it is something to make fun of rather than consider part of a deliberate political process. The world is watching now. Fledgling democracies out there.

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Bachmann is a joke, Cain isn't educated about politics enough to understand the very nuances that everyday bloggers understand simply by paying attention to what is going on. In his blunders this past week he doesn't seem to "get" you can't court the far right prolifers and at the same time say it isn't government's business what a woman decides. Huh uh. Doesn't fly. Both sides end up thinking you are against them. Or a complete imbecile.

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Mitt. Seems like a nice guy with a lot of money but he is like this straw man....bending and changing his opinions as he is called down on them. Don't get me wrong, I actually hate the word flip flopper. I personally think that when people learn and grow and find out new things they OUGHT to be able to change their opinion. I just know that whether it is on healthcare or union rights or any other hot topic out there, we need someone who at least understands what is at stake on all sides of the argument. And not just shouting out what the fringe people want to here. What I hate about past Republican leadership (or lack thereof) is that sense that everything is black and white...for us or against us. How they have tried to make compromise a bad word. It is disgusting, and very low minded. Not to mention unproductive. You guys can do better.

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I wasn't even going to mention Rick Santorum, but I must- just incase people aren't paying attention out there. He is so far out there in the planets that he doesn't "get" we have 7 billion people on this earth already. Many of them starving, or without access to clean water. The last thing we need is a nutburger trying to keep people from using contraception.

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First Snow and Other Thoughts

The state is getting it's first snowfall today. I have my thoughts on that, which anyone who knows me will likely be able to guess. But I'll not whine and drink wine instead. Later because it is still morning.
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Mum turns 81 years old today. Survived one year at home on my cooking. I looked up the newspaper from her birthdate, and must say the local paper was far more diverse and entertaining back then. On the front page the headlines ranged from WORKMEN INVADE SILENCE OF EMPTY CLOCK CHAMBER IN STEEPLE...to KIDNAPED(sic)BANKER RETURNS HOME.Also on the front page is a list of "Old" people who got hunting licenses. Among them a 90 year old man.It could be a record, but the paper didn't go as far to check. Just pointed it out to people that it might be so. They also list the "tallest" hunter being from Ellwood. (You had to put your height on your application.)Under a separate heading of GIANT GETS LICENSE we find that the poor gentleman was 6 feet 5 and a half inches tall. "Several" women got licenses, too and that was a big deal because all of their names were printed.
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The clock story is a gem. The biggest church in town got their new clock on this day in 1930. It can be seen from Everywhere.....it's still there. Now I have to see if it is still keeping good time...It cost $5000 dollars back then.

Vincent

Jump into the Stream of Consciousness Again

I just don't get enough of the fall air. Outside. I just want to take it all in before the dark, cold miserable winter is upon us. The neighbor shook one of his trees to get the leaves to fall faster today. I wasn't here to see it, but I can imagine it was an odd site. Today was his day to rake. He couldn't wait anymore.

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I went on a bulb frenzy. I knew I would. My mind is wired differently than most. I have no idea at all now where anything is planted. I just have vague recollections of "most" pale Easter tulips are over there...some red ones are over here...behind those...no wait...in front, I think are the daffodils...what was left of them except for what I put in the side garden.... etc. and so on it goes.

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Getting close to a news black out again. I've gone through this before. Too damn depressing. At least Coffee is on the good list of studies this week. Two cups of coffee helps to fend off some kind of cancer. The other bright spot was a vaccination for HPV that prevents some cancers in men as well as women now. I wish the damn right wingers would give up on their crusade against these shots. They are really getting tiring. It is a shot. It's not a license to go have sex. And...duh...at some point your kids are going to have sex anyway. Ask Sarah Palin. Two of her kids so far did the dirty deed before marriage despite her ravings.Get over it. Get the shots, I say. Cancer is a terrible, horrible thing.

And while they are at it, make them wear seat belts and no texting and driving. Period.

The Sunday Morning Muse, October 23, 2011

Putting up Holiday lights in October. I suspect there will be a few others out there doing that today. Why wait till the snow flies? Other decorations will wait, though. We still have to get through Halloween.

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Driving around yesterday, I couldn't help but notice all the houses covered with spider webbing with ghosts dangling from porches and pumpkins everywhere. It seems despite the bad economy the poorest of neighborhoods manage to be festive for Halloween.

I don't get any Halloweeners, and it is kind of sad. When I was a kid we all went around here....hitting all the local streets and trying to make it up the big hill after that to even more streets before "time ran out" and Halloween was over. Porch lights went out, and you had to go home with your flashlight lugging a pillowcase or plastic pumpkin or whatever you had to put all the candy in.

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Now parents drive kids to better neighborhoods for better candy. I know people in the city who get hundreds of kids....from all over the place. It has become a financial burden if you want to have enough for everyone. That was never what it was about. It was about having FUN. See your friends and neighbors...sharing a good time. And Aunt Millie was always the last house when all the porch lights were going out. Because she wanted the kids to come in and sit down, have a treat, something to drink, and get out of the cold for awhile. She always made cookies. And you had to take your mask off if she couldn't guess who you were. Because she wanted to know...in a friendly way...so she would know that Frankenstein was so and so's kid, or perhaps

she wanted to know whose mother could sew that impressive bird costume.

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And safety is much more on the minds of parents these days, too. Can't really let the kid go out alone with other kids in the dark to roam the neighborhood anymore. Megan's Law Sex Offenders, meth houses and gun totin' drug dealers get a lot of publicity these days. And some communities just do away with trick or treating hours altogether in favor of a neighborhood or church party instead. Which is nice..... but...it can't match the Halloweens in my mind...back when the neighbors and I would run house to house in the dark with flashlights and pillowcases...casting furtive glances around us to glimpse other kids dressed as zombies or hobos...and little witches with green faces and long underwear under their clothes.

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T.E.A.

The Sunday Morning Muse, October 16, 2011

I feel bad for people who don't have a dump. I have a nice one, as dumps go. It's not a dump in the sense of a garbage heap. It's just woods with a low section that we constantly fill in. I can put leaves, weeds, brush, old flowers, crass cuttings and just about anything back there. It is really great when you have to clean the yard and you have carts full of leaves and yard waste.

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I would hate to have to bag stuff up or depend on others to haul crap away. Yesterday was a blustery day. Leaves everywhere.

When I was outside debating whether to wait till ALL THE LEAVES fall, or get a start on things, a huge bird flew over head. Could be a turkey buzzard. It was huge. Bigger than a hawk. Unfortunately the camera is an older digital one with a very long shutter click time. Let's just say turtles can be a blur if they were walking past....so when a bird soars overhead and I click the button...It took three shots just to get the bird in the frame for Pete's sake.-

Anyhow...

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Oh, I know this does the bird no justice. For all you see here with no perspective at all it could be a black bird. But no. It was huge. And he is around here somewhere. I'll catch him again someday in a better photo, I'm sure.

Caravan Palace - Suzy

My Imaginary State Dinner

Michelle Obama really made a splash at the State Dinner this week. She has such a fashion sense. And I love the way that she is able to uplift the career of a new or less known designer just by wearing their clothes. Instead of going with the "big names."

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I never get to go to state dinners so I decided today to pick an outfit I WOULD wear if someone asked me. Blue is a great color. Simple, understated...but perhaps if I could use some fancy jewelry on loan from Cartier's...sparkly. But less is more. Think Audrey Hepburn. A few good pieces. Bangles and diamonds.

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I probably wouldn't eat much, packed into a dress like this. But it would be worth it. There is always ice cream in the fridge when I get home.

The American Dream

What would George Carlin think about the Occupy Wall Street people?

Today's Thought

“When my cats aren't happy, I'm not happy. Not because I care about their mood because I know they're just sitting there thinking up ways to get even.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley

Black Cat Blues

The Sunday Morning Muse, October 9, 2011

7:22 AM as I start to write this. Looking out the window the sun hasn't come up over the east side hill yet but there is a hint of orange and I heard it is going to be another perfect fall day. Sunshine and warm temperatures...leaves just turning. I found a lot of great spring bulbs at Lowe's so I need to find space for over 70 more tulips and another 50 odd daffodils and mini irises and crocuses. And I'll probably pull up all the old gladioli bulbs in the rock garden and put them in the basement. Last year in the garage they went to mold and I lost a lot of them.
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As usual nothing is organized.I found about 30 bulbs in the garage I dug up when I planted annuals this year. I pulled out 50 ferns in hopes of freeing up space for them. I figured any old bulbs I have laying around will just go there. Willy nilly. Hope for the best. It will be a suprize. But I suspect there will still be ferns. You never get rid of them. Or ivy. That is another story.
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Thinking ahead till spring gets me through the dark, confining, and unreasonably long winter. I have gotten to hate snow and cold more and more each year. There have been years where I tempered my remarks about winter (oh it can be pretty sometimes, or snow is nice on Christmas, etc.)...but last winter's heavy snowfalls and horrible ice accumulations turned me off to it completely. Bah. Winter is a barrier to everything I do, making for extra work I don't want. Period.
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But for now the sun is up, the temperatures are warmer than normal and all is well.

A Little VM for an Autumn Saturday

Nice...If You are a CEO

The Centrist View has a great post on this. Here's a snippet.

Well, the greatest thing the republicans ever did was to convince 14% of the american population that protecting the rights of the rich was somehow good for poor and middle-income people. The reason I say 14% is that one-third of eligible voters (33%) actually vote and one half of them ( 16% or so) vote republican. Take out the top earning 2% and you’re left with 14% of the population that have been brainwashed into protecting rich people contrary to their own self interest. It’s like these people are saying to themselves, “Maybe I’ll be rich someday so I’m not going to vote for things that are against the interests of other rich people.”

Obligatory Steve Jobs Post

Too young to die. We hear that phrase all the time. Somehow it means more when applied to Steve Jobs. If he had lived another ten years...another twenty? What crazy/practical/fun/innovative/marvelous things still in his head would the world see?

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The future doesn't seem "safely dreamed of." People with great imaginations are the energy that propel us all forward. Now we have this great technology thanks to Steve, and hopefully more people can share their great ideas. I see him as someone, like the story, who didn't give us fish, but taught us how to fish. His creations will enable humans to expand knowledge exponentially...

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And it sounds all great. If all people had noble motives. Therein lies the problem. The technology that brings together great minds and caring people, also unites the ego-driven idiots and zealots.

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But it all comes down to this. We either fear the world or embrace it. There is no other decision, really.

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But Let's Not Get Too Cold Yet

Governor Bacala

I think it's time for you to start to seriously consider salads. -- Tony Soprano

Abigail Washburn

Watch the full episode. See more Sound Tracks.

The Sunday Morning Muse, Oct 2, 2011

Sunday morning...again. 'Tis Gandhi's birthday today, and thus people will celebrate Non-Violence Day. Funny but the people who probably do know this are the people who aren't going to be violent today anyway.
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Ran into a guy who had a cow valve put in to replace his bad heart valve. He has lost 20 pounds in 4 weeks and cannot even look at beef let alone eat it. True story.
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The first Peanuts cartoon ran in the Sunday Comics today back in 1950. I love them. Every fall who doesn't think of Lucy and Charlie Brown, who never gets to kick that football?

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Tonight is Andy Rooney's final commentary on 60 Minutes. I always looked forward to Andy's segment on the show, especially when the rest of the show featured pretty "heavy" stuff, as the other investigative reporters tend to delve into. He has my ideal job. HELLO 60 MINUTES, I'M OUT HERE.

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And I'm available for the next 40 years or so.

St. James Infirmary

Caught Hugh Laurie on PBS Friday night. Enjoyed every minute!

Not Sure About This Stuff

Would you want to know if you are predisposed to rheumatoid arthritis? Or if the Plavix your mother has been taking for 2 years is actually working.... or is it inhibited by some gene mutation?

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Or maybe you want to know your risk for certain cancers, or how your body best metabolizes food?

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All this knowledge is out there. All you have to do is get a kit at Walgreen's and send in your saliva. Send a company a couple hundred dollars and you can get your results online.

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Just like that.

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I've spent entirely too much time reading up about this. Not that I wanted to, but we got a call from a company doing just such a test. After a series of phone calls and verifications it was determined that our doctor didn't initiate it, the insurance company did. Faxed a note to doctors who have patients on certain drugs...said they would pay for the test.... just sign off on it and there ya go.

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In this particular instance it was a gene test to see if a certain drug metabolized properly. Gee,

how nice of them to wonder, I thought at first. How caring. Really?

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Well.... as I always say, follow the money. So I tried. I put them off. I honestly didn't know what to do.

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It was a long strange trip, but somehow, cost savings was tied into these genetic results. Plavix is going generic next year and it will shake up that class of drug. Other drugs are trying to fill the void. Position themselves as the NEXT BIG THING. Providers are looking for ways to save money and they really want people on the generics. Limit any market hoggers with big costs.

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I don't understand a lot of it yet. There is a lot of talk about preserving market share....yet results are results. If your genes don't process a drug right, it is what it is. Inevitably a percentage of people will have to go another drug.

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Makes me nervous, all this genetics stuff in general. So many issues. Confidentiality.... future denial of coverage...the stigma of knowing what may be ahead. Just the issue of handing over all that information to a big, impersonal company of faceless people with power.

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I don't know the future of all this, but it most definately ahead. It's already in Walgreens.

Coco Defends Porch

It's been a scary past few days, but I am so happy to report that Coco Kitty is doing much better.
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The little cat was in the breezeway awaiting her supper when she was viciously attacked by two dogs on Sunday. She is a very fortunate kitty...as she sustained only soft tissue injuries and no broken bones or worse. She and I both used up a few lives that day defending the porch. I wasn't hurt, but I thought my heart would explode when I chased after those dogs swearing at the top of my lungs.
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Riki Tiki Tavi

Congrats to Donovan for his nomination into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame!!

The Sunday Morning Muse, September 25, 2011

Someone sent me this link of 1940's photographs, many taken from color slides, that depict the lifestyle of the men, women and children of that era. Having seen so many photos in black and white from that time period, it is striking to see the colors of real life...long ago.

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This week Facebook announced big changes. Something called a Timeline. The gist of it is that Facebook wants to stay relevant to you. Keep your memories. Become a 'home' to you on the internet. Posting pictures on Facebook and sharing day to day observations is a way of life for a lot of people. I enjoy it myself. But I think it is a huge step to say I want to post my baby pictures on there...keep a journal of my life, or let it pop up snippets of my conversational posts at whim.

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I don't know what Facebook will look like in 20 years from now, but I guarantee you there are a lot of stupid things people post with no thought in mind that it may come back to haunt them. Why take the risk? And why let some huge company have access to, let alone keep control of, all that information? A lot of hard questions need to be asked.

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Food for Thought

So there was this Polish take out place, and it finally opened. No joke here, really. They had Polish food. Stuffed cabbage, pierogis, haluski, etc. You just don't see that anywhere.

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I once learned that if you are trying a Chinese restaurant for the first time, order Moo Goo Gai Pan. If they screw that up, don't go back because it is probably the easiest thing to make.

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Along those lines, my corollary to that is, in a Polish take out place, start with the stuffed cabbage. I'm sorry to report it was awful. So bad, that if I myself made stuffed cabbage, which I don't, like on the first try, I'm sure mine would be better because I have eaten so many good stuffed cabbage rolls that I would at least have a target to shoot for. I know this is petty, especially since the people really are from Poland, but the cabbage shouldn't be green and tough. I mean like escarole-green. The cabbage needs to be cooked so much with grease that it falls apart with a fork and turns into a washed out non-color.

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Next... tomato soup is the sauce of choice. Not an ala-vodka orangish type heavy sauce. And I do like a lot of rice. Rice is not only a good filler, but it gives a meaning to the dish. Not just stuffed with meat with a little bit of rice. The rice helps it to fall apart nicely and make a big mess on your plate. That is part of the experience of eating a stuffed cabbage. It shouldn't be perfectly uniform and firm and packed to the point you have to get up from the table and get a knife to cut it and then really spend time chewing it. You eat much less that way.

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That's just a start.

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I feel bad. These people need someone to let them know that we all have had grandmothers and aunts who made/still make this stuff. And we like it our way.

The Sunday Morning Muse, September 18, 2011

Summer is waning, and the flower garden has been in better shape. But I like it anyway. The weeds are winning, but overall at a glance you can't tell because of so many sunflowers and giant marigolds bursting in yellow. The hardy red colored marigolds drape over the rock wall and my late season asters are like colorful pom-poms above them in pink, purple and white.

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The huge castor beans, so mighty and leafy will die with the first frost...but for now they look they belong here...like rubber tree plants that never die. The amaranthys drape over some recycled yard sign holders...the wires are great for that. And last but not least the mini dalias are blooming along with a few stray roses that came back twice this year.

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My gardens are hodgepodges of flowers.... mini zinnias and snapdragons, impatiens and cleome... it's always been that way here. Sometimes we just throw seeds in and see what grows. Last year we had sea of blue bachelor buttons that came up in late spring that no one remembers planting.

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Tulip bulbs get planted and forgotten, and until they open in the spring it's anyone's guess as to what color they will be. Years of hoarding bulbs and getting them mixed up with other bulbs caused this. Labeling things isn't a strong point. Martha Stewart wouldn't be happy here, but we could certainly use her help.

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There is a difference between landscaping and gardening. Driving around I see these perfect little beds of dianthus or petunias, sticking up prettily surrounded by nice colored mulch. Pre-made baskets of various flowers draping on side porches. . . Yeah, it's all pretty. But there is something magic about a garden. It changes everyday. Something long forgotten pops up...like this years black holly hock... Black? Well....it looked black. But maybe it was really really dark purple. A conversation piece.

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Or the Magic Lily that pops up the first week of August. Out of nowhere. One day nothing is

there...then the next there is a stalk....and right on time...the first week of August it bursts into a lily, lasts a week and is gone.

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There is joy in a garden. Even today, when I really do need to get out there and deadhead and tackle some of those weeds.