Something to Think About

"Please be responsible for the energy you bring into this room." (quoted from Jill Bolte Taylor)

-
Just do it. Let in the thought. Observe others when they enter your room.Be aware of yourself when you encounter others in their space. Just "noticing" will make a huge difference in your day.

Peace in the Valley

The Sunday Morning Muse, August 28, 2011

Sunday once again. Not much going on so I watched some more wall to wall hurricane coverage. In this age of 24/7 news the reporting skills are really suffering. You almost feel as if you want to see the storm rage against the weather man and send him flying into the surge, just because you are tired of hearing him chatter on and on repeating the same stuff while standing in 30 mile an hour winds and talking about how no one should be outside.

-

No, I don't mean that, but in a movie it would be satisfying to watch if it were a particularly irritating weatherman. Not Al Roker or anyone we "know."

-

I must say the preparation for the storm, if you are to believe the talking heads, was excellent. You can't have more advanced notice. And it seems that the Coast Guard emergency responders and the Red Cross are all ready and willing to help, supplies all streaming in the direction where they are needed.

-

We did learn something from Katrina after all.

-

The Bees are Getting Mean

The bees are getting mean, Al said. I wasn't paying much attention at the time, as Al can ramble a lot and my own thoughts took over for my ears. I just wasn't listening anymore.
-
Huh?
-
All summer the bees have a lot of food, but now the nights are getting cold, and it's going to be cold soon and the bees will have trouble finding food so they tend to bite people more.
-
I'm still not getting it.
-
But mom was bit by a bee today.

Not So Nice- The Vespers

I'm Back...

I was offline for awhile because of some storms that came through this week and destroyed some kind of card in my computer. I spent a few sleepless nights berating myself for putting off getting an external hard drive and fearing all of my life's work was also fried inside my computer. But 50 bucks later, I'm back.

-

Have spent a lot of time watching Hurricane Irene coverage. Looks scary for the whole coast, but New York concerns me the most. I'd hate to be there right now. I hope for the best for them all.

-

I didn't feel the earthquake here in the East this week, but a few people did. Strange days indeed.

Here Come the Rain Again

The Sunday Morning Muse, August 21, 2011

The web worms have invaded. They appear to be everywhere this year. As you drive along you see hundreds of them in trees along the highway. Here, a huge web has taken over a main branch of my nearly dead anyway lilac bush in the back. What to do?

-

Nothing, at least according to this.

-

I remember my old neighbor, when I as a kid, burning them off with a blow torch. That looks pretty satisfying, but I suspect he burned off quite a few branches doing this, which can't be good either.

-

I skeeve them. Makes my skin crawl thinking about them. I won't even get close to it.

-

Strange thunderstorms this week, with lots of wind and heavy rain. The web worms won, as they are still here. NO damage to the web. Pretty strong stuff.

-

I see the sun this morning as a glowing orb on the horizon that appears every now and then through shroud-like cloud cover here. I read where there is going to be some kind of solar activity happening that may disrupt communications, not necessarily today, but for awhile things up there could be a bit more active, and satellites could be affected.

-

Speaking of satellites...I've spent a lot of time on Google Earth lately. Download it if you don't have it already. Cool stuff. Fly anywhere and look at the terrain. Amazing.

Dear Dead Delilah

It defies odds, but this movie came up twice this week. I hadn't thought about it in years...since my freshmen year in college probably when I first saw it. I think it was on Chilly Billy or something. Agnes Morehead was in it, too. It was bad, it was campy, creepy...and fun!

Links and Things of Interest Today

If you need a good laugh, here it is. Anderson Cooper 'losing' it over the Depardieu Peeing on Plane story.

-

On a completely different subject, Suki sent me this link of one of the profs at her grad school on CNN discussing the whole "be submissive" to your husband thing this week. This issue came up with regard to that strange and dangerous Bachmann woman whose eyes completely freak me out. I "get" that she totally respects her husband and all...but I still don't "get" the whole submissive thing. Either you are or you are not. If she is, then I wish he would tell her to give up on this Presidential nonsense and to volunteer for a mission in the Congo.

-

Oh... before I digress too far....the Professor is really nice...and Suki says he is smart.

A Socialist? Right.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
World of Class Warfare - Warren Buffett vs. Wealthy Conservatives
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

I love Jon Stewart so much. Pretty soon he is going to be my only source for news.
I pity all the Faux news watchers. You live in a terrible world. You gotta laugh.

To End All Wars

The day I got this book in the mail was the same day I heard the author on Fresh Air talking about it. I know it seems strange I'm reading about World War I. Not the summer hot romance book or anything about vampires.

-

But I was reading about Haller's Army on the internet, and thinking about how my grandfather left America to go back home and fight in the war for the sake of his homeland, Poland, and I realized I didn't know all that much about the war. I think now he was gone about 3 years. I found the ship he came back on in 1920. The government commissioned the ship to bring them back home, and according to some accounts I have read, the men had to "wait it out' a long time

to get home after the war was over. I'm glad he made it back and met my grandmother. The men were given the choice to stay in Poland...but Poland wasn't the same, they said. So much was lost in the war. An epic scale of human deaths, devastated land, and loss.

-

This book is different than a lot of books on the war, because it gives light to those who opposed the war at the time and some their stories as well as others who faught in it and held deep convictions in favor of it.

-

To tell the truth, the interview on Fresh Air was easier for me to understand than the book. Not that it's the author's fault. I think I need a primer on the basics, so I have some context in which to read the stories the man has researched.

Kittywood Studios

The Sunday Morning Muse, August 14, 2011

I've never had the car I wanted, only the car I could afford. Not that I'm the type who pines over the latest, hip, fancy cars. But I heard Ford is going to make a car with solar roof system. I'd look into something like that. It's like the FUTURE IS NOW. I'd be able to wave at the high priced gas station signs as I go by...and ease on down the road. Never have smelly hands from pumping gas again.

-

I remember when I was a kid old man Carl had a gas station at the end of the street. You ran over a tube and a bell went off in his office and Carl, who was perpetually 80 years old to me, would walk out to the car, never in a hurry, and wipe down your windows, ask about the family, mention the nice weather, put in$5.00 worth of gas, and then you would be on your way. It was a pleasant experience. Sometimes I'd go in and get a coke, or buy my mother her cigarettes inside his little "store" which was nothing more than two glass cases in his small room, with candy, and tobacco. An old Coke machine was against the wall. And a table with two chairs, if you felt you wanted to sit down and chat with Carl.

-

Now I pull into Sheetz, jump out, swipe a card, pump my own gas, wait 20 seconds for a receipt and I'm outta there. The money isn't real anymore. I just fill it up and whatever it is, it is. You have to have it. And I don't talk to anyone. Of course, the bright side is I could go into Sheetz and get a coffee, a sandwich, play the Lottery or bring back donuts for work. I think even Carl would have liked that.

-

An electric car with a solar roof. I'm putting it on the list for "someday." When I can by the car I want....and it is still the car I can afford.

Down and Out- Janis Joplin

With a nod to the Stock Market...

Pink Martini- Sympathique

The Sunday Morning Muse, August 7, 2011

Sometimes when I am out in the yard and it isn't all burnt out and ugly like it is during this hideously hot weather, I look around for four leaf clovers. I haven't found one in ten years. I know this because I put it in a little frame and dated it and kept it on my dresser for the longest time.

-

Putting away books onto shelves once again today, after the big painting job, I got distracted reading a short story, Getting Along, in an old Harlan Ellison compilation called Again Dangerous Visions. I've had the book since high school, and am at the point where it is like I am reading the stories for the first time. It's been awhile. This particular story was about a series of creepy letters found in the bedroom safe of an old bordello and it was very amusing. (I read this stuff while I was in high school?) As I switched positions to keep reading, a slip of paper fell out of the book. All it was said was "4-leaf clover, page 477."

-

Hmmm. So I looked. And there it was. A four leaf clover found me.

Links and Things of Interest Today

I'm all about finding new features for this blog and liven things up a bit. Yesterday was the stream of consciousness thing, and today is the debut of "Links.." I'll share links of different places I visited on the Internet today, and thus spread infinite knowledge.

-

This is an amusing little find. Rick Perry's college transcript. Quite a few C's and D's on there. My personal favorites are the 'D' in Shakespeare , the 'C' in History of the US, and the 'D'

in Principles of Economics. Okay, I'll forgive him the lack of knowledge of To Be or Not to Be, as I figure he is a "Not to Be" anyway. As for the others I cited, if only he were a Democrat this would be the headline for weeks on Faux News. That said, you don't need brains to run for President, you just need money. So now you know.

-

Cat-World was a helpful link today. Sambo was crying out quite a bit, and suddenly decided she didn't want to use her litterbox, instead she wanted to use Sweet Pea's. Sixty-six dollars later, I have cat antibiotic in my fridge next to the jello, and cat stool softener on the counter. Also a not- happy-to-take-medicine black cat who is hiding from me. She is doing better, though.

-

Jump into the Stream of Consciousness

Been such a long week...unplugged because of the painting project. Didn't really miss the internet as much as I thought I would but caught myself a couple of times wanting to check on something...like why is Jerry Lewis not doing the telethon this year... and what are the new pictures of Lucille Ball that everyone is talking about...and how did Tiger Woods do in Akron this week...and I went into the room and everything is hopelessly unplugged and the desk is covered in plastic and nothing is where it usually is.

-

I wondered about Somalia. Stoic people with deep despair. Famine. Sickness. Death. How many people live there? How many are starving? Why is it like this? Why didn't their society advance and get out of there long ago? Life is just not sustainable there. Was it ever? So many questions.

-

Here, it is the same news everyday. Imbeciles in Congress. It's not the debt, people. It is JOBS.

People need to get off their butts and do something. Seriously. At one end we have the ne'er do wells living off welfare for generations. The other end is the super rich who control a higher portion of the total economy than ever before. And in the middle?

-

Here I am. More concerned about day to day living than any sort of future. The stock market goes up and down and it doesn't affect me...right now. I can pay six bucks for two stuffed cabbages. I have enough gas in the car. I don't owe anyone anything. I don't have much, but it's mine. I have meager investments that go up and down, but it doesn't seem like real money to me right now. Some day it will, but even that is not certain. Nothing in life really is.

-

Neighbors and friends in and out of the hospital this week. A local hospital. In a small town. Struggling with bills. Hospitals struggling with reimbursements. More cuts on the way thanks to the imbeciles in Congress. Communities need these hospitals. Just in the past week...services used by my friends...knee surgery, ER for sun poisoning and exhaustion, kidney problems, radiation treatments, heart related tests. These are real people who need care. We need to streamline costs and get this health care situation under control, so local hospitals are sustainable.

-

Wish I had something good to say. I'll try. My flowers are pretty. Phil Ochs said, in such an ugly time the only true protest is Beauty.