Sister of the Bride...

Pondering....how would it feel to be the sister of the bride today? Does she get a title? Anything?

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I hope so. I know I'd hate to be the sister of a future queen if all I got to do is hold her skirt, and try to make everyone believe it was just wonderful that she gets the title, the man, the tiara, the castle, etc.

Lao-tzu Said...

"The violent do not die a natural death."

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Lao-tzu, from the 42nd verse of the Tao.

Pray for Good, Look for Worse

And thou shalt own a gun and shoot to kill if someone tries to steal your television set. So sayeth the Lord.
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New Booty Newty was at the NRA convention today pandering to the gun faithful-making the contorted argument that gun rights come from God.
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Hmm. The same one with the commandments? Thou shall not kill? Probably a loophole in there somewhere I don't see. I don't have a problem with the self defense arguments. I don't care if you want to own a gun. But tying the whole religion thing with it...God? Really? A God given right? What about "turn the other cheek?" I'm just sayin'. Howzat all fit in with this argument?

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Tornadoes in Alabama destroy homes and businesses and kill hundreds of people. The first interview I see is with an old woman who crawled into a hole and survived, and is now praising the Lord she is alive. (Kind of unfair the woman's dead neighbors can't be interviewed to hear what they thought of the Lord's decision on their behalf.) Either the Lord heard their prayers too and killed them anyway, or He had no choice in the matter at all. So some died and some lived. Can't have it both ways. I honestly don't know what good prayer does at this point. People suffer. People lose everything they have. People die. Some people don't. It seems awful random to me. Aunt Millie always said "pray for good, look for worse." There was 80 years of wisdom behind those thoughts. She was onto something.

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Finally...the beautiful wedding of William and Kate. A happy occasion and a good time had by all.

Blessed by the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. I don't really know what the Holy Ghost is, even though I had to spend all those days in Sunday School. It was a three in one thing. That's all I remember. All three... in one.

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The Big Day

Much Ado Bout Nothin'

I'm just so annoyed by so many things that I can't write at all today. And to force myself to write something light and fluffy or deep and inspiring is just not in the cards. Maybe it's all the idiocy going on. It just sucks the caring part out of me.
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Let's just breathe.

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Born in the USA

Really Into Spring

I'm really into Spring today. I wandered the lawn and garden section looking for tools, planted more seeds in the greenhouse, took pictures of the tulips in the rock garden. Boiled onion skins to dye eggs.

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Put an Easter ham in the oven, gave some kolbassa to the neighbor, got great apricot bread and nut bread in return.

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Went outside for a while when the sun came out for a few minutes, and just sat. It's 60 degrees.

It's not snowing. It's still pretty cloudy. And there 's been too much rain. But it is NOT snowing. It's a start. And the cat is happy, rolling in the violets.

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It's thoughts of spring that got me through the winter. I didn't even mind running outside to

chase the squirrel away from the bird feeder four times yesterday.

Happy Earth Day

Good Friday Buns

Something was really off about today. It doesn't feel like a holiday. I worked today and we got mail today. Everyone at Giant Eagle was working. And there were at least a thousand people in the grocery store, maybe they aren't working today. But they aren't in church, either. More people could be working...I refer to the "one" lane of 12 items or less with 10 people in it. I would have bought more, but I took a stand. I wouldn't pay 3 dollars for 8 buns. So now I have my Manwich, but nothing to put it in.

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I'm not cheap. Three bucks... who cares? But I don't need eight buns. It's a stupid thing, but now here I am. I'll have to make another trip somewhere else, and risk maybe that store only selling eight buns. Which they normally do. I used to get mad when I had to buy eight buns when I only needed six for hotdogs. It's a damn conspiracy.

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Right. Well I didn't plan to eat them today anyway. I picked up fish dinners. Not for any reason other than you can get GREAT fish dinners on Fridays during lent. It has nothing to do with sacrifice. Truly. I think that whole concept is lost to even the churches. Eating really good fried fish and french fries instead of my Manwich- which I'll eat tomorrow anyway, is not sacrifice.

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And just think, if not eating meat on Friday, particularly Good Friday really is a requirement for Heaven somewhere along the line, it would be a pity if I turned up in Hell just because I couldn't

wait a day for the Manwich. Hedging my bets I suppose.

Go Dennis Go

The Daily Show - Dennis Kucinich's Improbable Success
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

This is very funny stuff. But it is sad that the Republicans used redistricting tactics to eliminate his seat. They couldn't beat him, so they went around him. I predict he will be back.

I love you Dennis!

Guy Davis

I just love this guy's music. Lots of great stuff.

The Sunday Morning Muse, April 17, 2011

Here it is Palm Sunday. Spent part of the morning putting in a few more seeds. . . hoping that we'll have no more frost. Tithonia, Castor Bean, Zinnias, and later, nasturtiums and snapdragons. My uncle gave me some super big size pepper seeds yesterday. This, after I decided in my head to scrap the pepper garden this year. Change of plans. Looks like another summer of carrying water.

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The amaranthys I started a few days ago is up already, inside, here on my desk. (photo) I grow them every year...big plumes...4 and a half feet tall. And after just a couple days I can already see the purple color. I grow the other kind, too. It's called Love Lies Bleeding. Hmmm. Have to look up just why that is.

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Whoa...just found out the Catholics cut off people's hands who grew them back in the 1500's.

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From Kokopelli Seed Foundation

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In 1525, the Catholic church threw itself into a campaign systematically to destroy the ancient pre-Colombian religious practices, and six years later a bishop brimming over with zeal claimed to have destroyed 20 000 idols and 500 places of worship. Those who continued to practice the Aztec religion were either whipped, or reduced to forced labour in the monasteries or they were executed. When certain gardeners defied the interdiction upon growing Amaranthus in their gardens they were punished by having their hands removed. The Indian population estimated in 1519 to number 11 million was by 1540 reduced to 6.5 million, victim of brutal exploitation and European disease.

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Yikes, the Catholics were pretty brutal. And that's all I have to say about that.

Happy Birthday Aunt Millie

I often think of you Millie. Today on what would have been your 101st birthday, you'd be pleased that the forsythia bushes your brother planted are in full bloom and the same daffodils and hyacinths are still coming up where they always did in the yard...after all these years. Some of those bulbs must be 50 years old.

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Every year I look--and sure enough, even the ones that used to line the steps where the old "bum" school was...are still there, partially hidden, in a straight line up the hill to where the school once sat. Though the school was demolished way before my time, and the steps are gone, too, but you can see the pretty yellow daffodils in the now overgrown lot.

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One of your neighbors managed to make it to 100 years old.

They played the Helena Polka on the radio this week for Helen. I saw her walking the street up until a few years ago.

Now she is in the nursing home.

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I remember our days picking blackberries when I was a kid, and I especially miss the home made pierogies every Friday during Lent. I picked up a dozen from the Polish Church today.

Seven dollars a dozen! You'd be appalled. A little flour, some potatoes. But who has the time now to make them yourself?

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I remember how you used to tell me to "live forward" not "backwards." That's as good of advice as anyone has given me. But sometimes I do look back...at old pictures. I think about how

life changes so quickly...and suddenly the people you care about are just gone.

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And you miss them forever.

Things I Don't Want to Write About Today

It's one of those days. I don't want to write about the federal budget. Or that clown Trump and his birther nonsense. Or that imbecile politican attacking Planned Parenthood saying 90 percent of that they do is abortions. Oh... it wasn't meant as a factual statement. Right.

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And I'm tired of ranting about the evils of Faux News. Even though I feel sorry for the manipulated souls who watch it. Really. I even pondered whether the Anti-Christ, could take the form of a TV network, instead of Barack Obama, which is propagated on too many web sites to count. A lot of idiots out there.

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This, after I walked into the other room and saw yet another red dressed, bleach blonde woman spouting anti-Obama hate. That message reaches plenty of neanderthals out there who are pretty close to the edge already. Interesting to me only in that I see Faux News "by accident" maybe for a total of a minute and a half a week and I have yet to see anything other than red clothed blondes spouting various nonsense.....and oh the way they say the word "librul"-- with a special degree of hate and loathing....but that is another story. Yet even hardened me...used to the daggers and arrows hurled daily from Faux's minions in the form of talk show hosts who still manage to permeate my life... when I flip the car radio, or change stations on the TV--I still get taken aback by the pure venom directed at.... who? exactly. Half of us here in America? I'm not a bad gal, for a Librul. Get to know me! I really love music, flowers, golf.... And it's a shame the Blondies on Faux and her clones are encouraging such unabashed hatred for sweet, free thinking people like me. Hey, I'm blonde, too!

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I would find it amusing, if it wasn't so dangerous. It's a sideshow to me, but when I read some of the "posts" on the internet that people put up on various political sites, it is apparent they

spout out the same dung with consistent themes. Parrots, all. But it is, uh, "bad parroting," when the hate comments spark people to hurt others. Hate breeds more hate. And I certainly don't feel the love there Blondie-clone.

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Finally today, I find it interesting that women fair far better in countries that are more liberal thinking. The worst are the extreme "conservatives." So many women have suffered in the name of clinging to old ideas and religious ways. Women who are dominated, humiliated, and even mutilated. It's all so...awful to think that humans all over haven't risen beyond this.

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Once Again I Turn to Comedy for Real News

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Pink Martini...Lilly

And now for something completely different....I heard this song on Pandora, and looked it up and someone put the music with some great paintings. They sure work well with the song. I want to share them.

Why Sleep? You May Miss a Party. . .

Janis Joplin, who was known for not missing her share of parties, actually said that. Though it may be fine for the party set, missing sleep is a real downer for people who actually have trouble falling asleep.

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(No, the picture isn't Janis. I couldn't find one of Janis sleeping.)

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I did find a great method for falling asleep. Certainly sounds like something that would work. Just relive every moment of your day. Every blessed moment starting from when you opened your eyes.

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I tried this and I couldn't get far without skipping simply because I must go on "auto-pilot" a lot.

And I multi-task CONSTANTLY, so that becomes a memory issue as well. It amazed me at how much I just plain forget. Maybe I'm just screwed up.

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Take for example the way I shop. Normal people may just walk into a store and search for an outfit. A shirt, pants, maybe some accessories. Or a skirt.

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Not me. I have no chance of recollecting a recent shopping trip.

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I flit from rack to rack... and pull out this and that...nothing that goes together, but things I think I may be able to make "work" with what I have. I take reckless chances to match colors from memory. It rarely works out. I came home with four shirts and a pair of what I would call optimistic tights-type pants. Turns out there is a big difference between my hopeful optimism, and what actually works on me. I'll just leave the big shirt-with-tights look in the 80's where it belongs and quietly take them back.

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Sad thing is, the three other shirts.... pale green, pale grey and black, were cut "funny" and didn't fit, so all I'm left with is a plain white shirt.

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The Way It Was... Ireland 1905 ish

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Old film like this is mesmerizing. Real people. This is how it was. I imagine my own ancestors getting on one of those steamships heading for America at the turn of the century like millions of others. I am struck by how dressed up everyone is. Contrast that with the "people of Walmart" photos that go viral on the internet.

Maybe If I Start to Cry He'll do it My Way

Okay, this is the last straw with me. He's crying again. "..but only briefly."

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Put your big boy underpants on and let's get this budget done. And No, Tea partiers.... shutting government down is not in the best interest of the country. I saw estimates as high as a billion dollars in unneeded costs associated with the last shutdown in 1995.

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Grow up people. Others have real problems out there. The Japanese had another earthquake today. Maybe he's crying because he just found out that GE paid no taxes last year. Probably not.

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Note to Obama: Don't make him sit in the back of the plane. We all know how it teed Gingrich

off when Clinton did it. Gingrich told the reporters it was the reason why he shut the government down rather than work with him. These men and their egos. I swear we would all be better off with a country run by monks.

‎"Our thoughts are a field of energy cycles, a mind field, and just by our thoughts alone we impact not only ourselves but those around us as well."

- Dr. Wayne Dyer

Who'll Stop the Rain

The Sunday Morning Muse, April 3, 2011

Wow, here it is another week done. The Masters is here already. That means Spring to me. Magnolia Lane....Amen Corner, the beauty of that golf course! Oh to live in Georgia!!!!

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I watched a lot of golf last weekend. Several times when the leaderboard flashed across the screen it occurred to me that I no longer knew anyone at the "top" at that moment.

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The young bucks are taking over. I used to enjoy watching Tiger and Phil, Vijay, Rocco Mediate, Fred Couples, Jose Maria O., Retief Goosen, etc. And way back when, before all his troubles, Big John Daly. I heard Daly's 4th wife is writing a tell all book that claims Daly's antics will make Tiger look like a saint. Here it is. It's out this week. We won't see Big John at the Masters. I just checked the list.

Lions and Tigers and... a Dinosaur?

Today I got a slick invitation in the mail inviting me to a "Prophecy Seminar." I took a picture to show you. Multi headed leopards with wings, a dinosaur with strange points shooting out his head, a bear with ribs in his teeth and a winged lion in full color on the post card. Scary Stuff. The Key to Your Future!"

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It is all FREE! Free admission, Free study materials... Nothing to buy at all. Seating is limited.

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The return address doesn't inspire any credibility. "Seminars Unlimited." The address is in Texas which makes me even more suspicious. Not much good has come out of Texas lately. I digress. It also says it is sponsored by
Signs of the Times, whoever that is.

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The post card goes on to say that when I complete the seminar, I will "really understand the Books of Daniel & Revelation." Specific and dramatic revelations of things to come...not from

psychics... but from the unfailing Word of God.

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Hmmm. Last I tried to read the Book of Revelation it appeared to me that it was open to quite a bit of interpretation. I doubt if anyone will ever "really understand" it. Way back in Catechism

days the teachers didn't dwell on it much. I think it was way beyond us kids. It was billed as the confrontation between good and evil. I remember thinking I just wanted to live a normal life and then die without having to be around for all the crazy stuff.

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No real point in all this. I don't plan to attend. I hope they are not unscrupulous people who are taking advantage of those who do go. Maybe selling "End of Times" kits or something. Or scaring them. "Rousting" people up. ( I was once accused of rousting. It had to do with complaining about the bad water at an apartment where I lived. I "rousted" the other tennants.)

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Just live a good life, people. Treat others well. The Golden Rule. If you do that, your religious beliefs (or not) don't really matter. Even if that final battle comes along. I don't have a chance against the winged lion anyway.

Cue the Blame Game

With about two weeks to go to avert a government shut down, suffice to say that whatever happens, when it is all said and done us normal folks will feel the pain. Not the lawmakers, and certainly not the rich.

Why do we continue to see headlines like this past week... where it was revealed that GE paid NO TAXES AT ALL. And Marcellus

Shale drillers here in PA also get a free pass when it comes to our state taxes. "Fledgling" operation here you know. Meanwhile they are spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions in propaganda advertising EVERY NIGHT in prime time. And paying out just as much in campaign contributions.

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Summing it up....companies that actually make money don't have to pay. The bottom feeders never pay either. That leaves me-- Miss Middle Class with my taxes going up, my health care costs going up, and my pay going down--if you believe headlines these days. Yeah, it's us middle class union people bankrupting the country. One military plane that went down recently-it cost thirty million dollar dollars. And 750 thousand dollar missles thrown like confetti? Pay no attention to those costs. The military has an endless supply. But we can't educate people properly here or protect the environment. Those are frills.

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And now they are saying the government could shut down? Cue the Blame Game. Reps are already blaming Dems, Dems are calling out the Reps. How did this end last time?

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Something as simple as a seating arrangement led to the shutdown of the Government back in 1995. Let's go back in time and recall how THAT turned out...

Wikipedia

The Republicans blamed Clinton for the shutdown, and Clinton blamed the Republicans. Public opinion favored the president; Clinton's approval rating rose to the highest it had been since his election. The Republicans' support was further diminished two days later when Gingrich made a widely-reported complaint about being snubbed by Clinton; Tom DeLay called it "the mistake of his [Gingrich's] life".

DeLay writes in his book No Retreat, No Surrender:

"He told a room full of reporters that he forced the shutdown because Clinton had rudely made him and Bob Dole sit at the back of Air Force One... Newt had been careless to say such a thing, and now the whole moral tone of the shutdown had been lost. What had been a noble battle for fiscal sanity began to look like the tirade of a spoiled child. The revolution, I can tell you, was never the same."

Gingrich's complaint gave rise to the perception of his behaving in a petty egotistical manner, and Clinton defended the seating arrangement as a courtesy to Gingrich, the back of the plane being closer to his pickup car.