and the Winner is....

We have a long way to go yet, but we are on our way!  Health care passed this week!  From Paul Krugman's column:

In short, unless you belong to that tiny class of wealthy Americans who are insulated and isolated from the realities of most people’s lives, the winners from that Supreme Court decision are your friends, your relatives, the people you work with — and, very likely, you. 

(snip)


But what was and is really striking about the anti-reformers is their cruelty. It would be one thing if, at any point, they had offered any hint of an alternative proposal to help Americans with pre-existing conditions, Americans who simply can’t afford expensive individual insurance, Americans who lose coverage along with their jobs. But it has long been obvious that the opposition’s goal is simply to kill reform, never mind the human consequences. We should all be thankful that, for the moment at least, that effort has failed.

Paul Krugman, New York Times, Op-Ed

The Sunday Morning Muse, June 24, 2012

Sitting on a chair outside the garage the other day, I heard a strange sound and looked up. The MetLife blimp was overhead, meandering around the sky. Not in a straight path, but instead, a wide, loopy path across the valley, giving me time to take several pictures. It's nice to take pictures of something other than cats and flowers for a change.

The really hot weather has finally left us for a while. June is supposed to be 70's not 90's. One is not supposed to suffer heat exhaustion in June, but that is was happened to me this week. Amazing how fast it comes on. One minute you are fine and the next you can't do the smallest thing.  Like swallow. The hospital people were very nice, and once again, for two times in a row now, the whole ER experience was like clockwork. Mom's last trip went great, and now this time, I got great care in record time.

While the IV bag was dripping fluid in me, I laid there and thought of people dying in wilderness. (I'd seen too many cowboy movies lately) What a miserable death it would be to die of dehydration.You and your horse out there on the Conestoga trail.  Out of water. Nowhere to go. The canteen dry. Hmmph.

Then I started thinking of the POW's, in far off lands, way back when, sitting in prisons, dependent on their captors for the basics of life.....food,  water....

I was not in good shape.

But 1000cc's later I started perking up. Started thinking about food again. Didn't want the other IV Bag, I wanted a nice big cup of water with extra ice! Maybe I'd make it after all.

Asking for a Sign

I went to Millie's grave today. It was a whim. On the way home. I just wanted to see if the perennials came up. They did. Nothing was really blooming yet, but  the grave looked nice, and I was glad. 


I looked around the quiet cemetery. A gorgeous day. White puffy clouds, a blue sky....and that little
stream of sun streaming through the branches of a tree. And I thought: Millie, if you can, why don't you send me a sign?

The thought was there. You've had those thoughts haven't you? Mostly they are right after someone died. You still feel close to them, and you think....if there is a way...could they....would they contact me? And you remember Houdini and "Rosabelle... Believe."   (Mrs. Houdini kept trying for 10 years, wanting to hear from her husband. Nothing was proven.)

She later said after she herself died, anyone who claimed to hear from her would be a fraud, because when she dies, she will be gone for good.

So I was standing there at the grave, looking at that beam of light and I actually said it aloud. I was quiet, so that no one would think I was crazy, but I said, Millie, I really need to know right now if my life is on the right track. I need a sign from you. Anything will do. Something I will KNOW.

I left the cemetery, and went about my business for the day. Actually I completely forgot about Millie. I wasn't feeling well, and all my mental effort was in trying to make myself feel well enough to attend a party later in the day. Once there, of course I felt fine. I was enjoying the beautiful flowers, good company, and delicious food, and the music.

And then suddenly there it was.

The DJ, who had played Jimmy Buffett, 80's rock, and reggae music all afternoon, out of nowhere played
Brother Louie. From 1973. Looieeee looieeeee looieee, looo- weeeee!!! Millie hated that song. I even wrote a post, years ago, about how she hated that song. "What do you young people"see in this music????" She would exclaim.

This was my sign. It's the one and only song that screams MILLIE to me anytime I hear it. (which is seldom)
I can go YEARS without ever hearing that song.

Do I really believe in such things? That Millie is up there and can hear me? That somehow we do survive
life after death?Heck, I'm not sure of anything. But it did make me smile.

And I needed to let someone know about Brother Louie. The song Millie hated.



(Photo is Me and Millie. About 1970.)

Getting to Mars

This is really amazing. I admire the creativity and brains of these people. I can't wait to see if this works!

Coco Kitty-- Inscrutable Face

The problem with cats is that they get the exact same look on their face whether they see a moth or an axe-murderer.  Paula Poundstone

The Sunday Morning Muse, June 17, 2012

Do You Know the KOOKLEE MAN?

Spending time with my Finnish cousins this week has been great fun, and one of the things I have loved about it the most is listening to their conversations in Finnish. It is a musical language, and it can be very difficult to translate. I loved to watch Mia at our family picnic struggle to keep track of who she could speak to in Finn and who she couldn't. (Some of my aunts and uncles are still fluent...but rusty.) She laughed with me, as she stopped mid sentence in Finnish and said "No..Nooo sorry, You are NOT one of the ones who speak Finnish." Then she launched into whatever she wanted to say in English, sometimes deferring to her sister
Kaisa for a special word or phrase.

Pictures were taken and beers were passed around, and I caught a phrase that seems, well really funny in an odd sort of way.

They were talking about the Kooklee man. "Do you know the Kooklee man?"

She said it as one word. The KOOKLEEMAN.

I shook my head, and she insisted.  The KOOKLEEMAN!  He come to my house!  He come to your house! He come to Salmela! I looked around the table, and indeed, some people had seen the Kookleeman.
They nodded their heads and went on with their conversations. It seems I was the only one who clearly
had no clue what this was about.

Tejho jumped up and said we must go in the house and see the Kookleeman, and off he went...and soon the
others were following. I waited a few minutes, still puzzled and then joined them in the livingroom. Tejho was
firing up the computer. The next thing I knew he was doing a search for his home in Finland. He wanted me to see his new house, the beautiful lake, his summer cottage, and also the nearby family farm, Salmela.

He was drawing down on the Google map....and I could see his country, his city....and suddenly he clicks on the "street level view" on the screen...the LITTLE MAN.  The Kookleeman! You see, it is now obvious.

Their "g's" sound like "k's"... and they knew nothing about our "silent e"...

The 'GOO-GLE' MAN!

The screen suddenly was filled with a lovely little olive house with a red car out front, and a very blue lake
visible in the back and lots of trees....the Kooklee man had been at his house!

The Sunday Morning Muse, June 10, 2012

It's another Sunday morning. A week gone by. The highlight this week? Cousins from Finland. Amazing how they can communicate in English so well...with personality and humor shining through. My cousins are wonderful, caring people and I am so glad to be able to spend time with them.

I see my grandmother's eyes in Kaisa, and I hear her voice when she speaks Finnish.Grandma has been dead since the mid 1980's and it is strange, yet warm and familiar to look at her and remember. I didn't get much time with grandma...I was the eighth of 9 grandchildren.  And grandma's health started to fail and her mind went. But I remember Sundays at a local Finnish camp, taking saunas and jumping in the river. And I can still remember her delicious coffee bread, and hearing the musical sounding Finnish language conversations she had with my dad.  And I remember her blue eyes.

I hope I can spend more time with them. Perhaps visit the local state park for a nice walk to enjoy the scenery here....and they mentioned they want to see the graves. I like that. I'd be doing the same thing if I went to Finland. 

   

And Then You're Gone

Cosmic Wheels- Donovan

"God is playing marbles with his planets and his stars...."

Venus Crossing the Sun-- My Tribute Haiku

Floaters in my eye
Like Venus against the Sun.
A black dot's journey.

The Sunday Morning Muse, June 3, 2012

It's a chilly Sunday morning with clouds, and could really be a lot worse for the the raccoon looking helplessly from the box trap.It's not raining. He is bored and out of options. He will like his new home in the State Gamelands. The meals may not be as good as what he finds around here, but at least he will get a bit of peace and quiet instead of some crazy woman screaming and yelling at him to "get out of here" every night.

That said, the cat that wandered into that same trap last night probably won't be back either. The minute the
door was opened yesterday, he took off like he was shot out of a cannon.I never minded the cat though. He was a bit skittish and it was the first time I saw him close up. Rather a handsome cat really. With a highly agitato face. He was always good for eating the leftovers of the picky and spoiled cats who actually do live here.

The other varmints who live here include a rather large groundhog and a mother rabbit with ONE baby rabbit. One!  Oh...there have to be more....but for now, just one. Every morning more of the Sweet Sultans are missing and I suspect the bunnies. Or a pesky chipmunk. I haven't grown Sweet Sultans before, and now I suspect I won't have any left to see them actually grow big enough to bloom.