I'm Baaack

I am here, just for the weekend--pay some bills and catch up on laundry. I return to my daughter's house Sunday night and stay until Friday night. I actually feel like I am on vacation there, since I don't do anything but play with the baby and help with some light housekeeping. I am actually getting quite a bit of reading done!

But now for the days prior to visiting x-man---our anniversary trip. After a drive of five hours, we checked into the park lodge which was quite nice and at a $60-a-night special rate, a good savings. On the Saturday afternoon of our arrival, the lodge was busy with the activities of a summer festival. There were lots of people in the huge swimming pool, kids on the rock climbing wall, and some bungie jumpy thing. Inside a newly built shelter at the foot of the hill behind the lodge there were arts and crafts tables with of all kinds of things for sale. People were sitting at picnic tables eating food, dogs lay at their feet and children were running in and out. It was sort of like a family get-together. A wonderful Celtic music group of four was singing and playing for the crowd. We liked their music so much we bought the CD, "Wolf Creek Session - Between Two Shores." We also bought some honey made from the tulip poplar tree.

In the early evening we took a very short walk around the grounds of the lodge which has several easy trails. We came upon this deer grazing in the high grass. It clearly had some health problem, as he did not try to avoid us and had terrible mange.

The next morning we headed out to one of our favorite areas in West Virginia, Dolly Sods. This is a misnomer based on the name of the Dahle family which owned the area. This German family raised cattle on the high rolling hills before it became a nature park on one side and a private hunting area on the other. It is a unique ecosystem in that the climate is much like that of Canada with places as high as 4,000 feet. Weather is quickly changeable at that height and so you have to be aware when camping or hiking. This place has special memories for my husband and I as we have been hiking and camping here when the children were younger.

We selected one of many trails...all of which are fairly level at the end of the road. Our trail which was a combination of several numbered trails ended up being 4.5 miles in and 4.5 miles out. I know this, as my husband is enamoured of his gadget GPS. This is the trail head labeled Bear Rocks Trail #522, which we didn't exactly follow. We stopped and talked to some young campers that had just come out and they provided us with a map they used and recommended a good day hike. We were passed by three horseback riders and their little beagle as we reached the trees at the end of the picture above. But that was really the only people we saw the whole time.

We were surprised that the park provided snacks this late in the season. There were two types of blueberries. The blue ones were the sweetest, but the darker blue berries had a pungent flavor like fine wine. We felt very healthy eating them and were sorry that the horseman missed this stop.

Once we cleared the first set of trees the trail becomes less clear as the tall grasses cover our footprints. Thus the value of the GPS so at least we can get back to where we have been.










That square thing on hubby's head is the GPS---he likes to wear it that way. He always was a fashion maven. We still have to make it over the next knoll in the distance before we can justify a rest.
At the top of that hill it was so lovely and ended up being a perfect spot to take a break. The breeze was gentle and the weather had not yet heated up by mid-morning, although the afternoon of our return was quite hot. We were high on the hills and the breeze was so welcome as were the clouds that drifted between us and the sun.

We came to various steel posts at times, some with directions and some just posts to indicate the trail. But it took careful observation to make sure we did not get lost on some other footpath. This area is so open and beautiful that one can hike for days.

The terrain changes from rolling hills to marsh/bog valleys that support the blueberries and cranberries. It can get quite muddy, so you have to wear good hiking shoes, which we did. We spotted the footprints in the mud below. Seemed to be too big for a mink or martin and probably not a raccoon. Where is Daniel Boone when you need him?



Finally--the crest of the ridge and our reward is the view. Time for lunch, a break and we head back out.

4 day vacation

Just got back from March of the Penguins...Morgan Freeman does a terrific narration and the documentary itself is lovely and moving and makes you COLD! It totally amazes me that these emperor penguins are not extinct. But then we do have global warming which may improve their survival chances. See this movie if you like animals or documentaries.

Heading out to the mountains for our anniversary tomorrow...can't remember which anniversary...it's just a number folks. Anyway, we will do some hiking and I will bring back some pictures of the natural beauty. BUT I will be babysitting for the rest of the week and all of the next week after that. Hopefully, I can do some blogging on the weekends when I get home, but I am not making any promises. I know, you will miss me.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

As an update for those who do not have a life and are curious---WE GOT TONER YESTERDAY! All things come to those who wait....and wait...and wait.

Tokyo After Midnight

Many many (many) years ago ( probably before you were born) my husband and I spent some time in Japan on business. We spent several days in Tokyo and being the young adventurers that we were, we stayed out late and visited hotel bars, etc. It amazed us that in such a large city at 2:00 A.M. one would see a few drunken men in business suits stumbling down the street, but never see any scuzzy or threatening people. We never felt in danger at any time, as we might have in a large American city during that time. We weren't even concerned if we got a little lost in trying to find our way back to our hotel. I haven't been out late in Tokyo recently, so don't know if that culture has changed. I think the lower crime rate there has to do with the homogeneity of the population.

In reading my latest issue of Newsweek, I came across this article. The photo itself is certainly compelling. I cannot imagine how any mother could send a six-year-old across a city by him or herself on a public train. There would be so many what-ifs in my mind that I just would NOT send my kid to school until I lived closer. It seems that this is a somewhat common thing in Japan.

Beauty Can Be Deceiving

Five years ago in the spring of the year I took a day's walk down this lovely road below. Enjoying the spring weather and the company of others. It was one of those perfect days when the breeze was just right, the walk was not challenging and the natural beauty was everywhere. The end of the road led to a grassy knoll and this view of the ocean.



The grassy knoll was probably the home of the enemy. The enemy gave no sound and was never seen. 24 hours later I found a tick on my thigh and 48 hours after that I got sick. In three days I had the bulls-eye on my leg and my neck glands were sore and swollen. Yep, Lymes disease. Fortunately, we caught it in time because I had the textbook symptoms. But I went to a seminar a few months later on Lymes and was told that I could get it again in another bite with or without the symptoms showing up. That was reassuring.

Work It Baby!!!

I have been sluffing off. I used to be so good about exercising 30 minutes most mornings and 60 minutes on the weekends. This came about because of some back difficulties that I had about 8 years ago. I went into therapy and then, being the type A person that I am, I decided to bump it up a notch when the insurance company stopped paying for the therapy. I got DVDs, video tapes, weights, benches, etc. and WORKED it baby... My back pain completely went away! It was such a good reward after a year of debilitating pain, that I committed myself to never returning to the slug mode I had been in. I had been spiraling into a depression (and since I had never been depressed in my life it was both fascinating and frightening).

My posture has benefitted and even a dance teacher noticed. I also lost a 'little' weight and my clothes fit better, which was also a reward since I could justify buying some new clothes. So exercise became my mantra.

Well, this final move to the apartment (maybe it is just the aging process as well) has changed my exercise routine. There is not so much room ( I HATE PUBLIC GYMS) and I can't be as aggressive in exercising since my husband is usually still sleeping. These excuses are preventing me from exercising as much and as regularly as I used to. Oh well. Oh hell.

Remember that baby a few weeks ago?

This from CNN today.
I am so glad that people don't grow this fast!

My new lifestyle

I am learning to live like many Americans live in the city.

This apartment has only one washer and one dryer on each floor, and while I can usethe laundry room on other floors, the thought of carrying a basketful of laundry, the keys to the laundry room, the money card for the machines and all the cleaning supplies into the elevator and out only to find that the machine on that floor is busy, has convinced me that it would be easier to use the appliances on my floor.

The laundry room is just across from the kitchen door to the hallway, so I can easily check to see if the laundry room is busy and then run like a crazy person pulling sheets off the bed, towels outs of the bathroom and small rugs from the floor. In addition, I have learned to set the kitchen timer so that I will be reminded when to pull the stuff out of the washer and into the dryer, etc. (Don't want anyone to steal my clothes or throw them on the floor in anger because I am busy drinking wine and blogging!) This whole process is a big change from the luxury of having my own washer and dryer. I no longer have the luxury of doing a small load of delicates. All loads cost the same--$1.50--so I tend to clump stuff together that I hadn't previously. Doing hand laundry and hanging unmentionables in this small apartment could be disastrous. (At least I bought a bunch of new underwear a year or so ago!)

But, I am still better off than my daughter. In her intelligence to bite off more than she can chew (much like manababies methinks) she has decided to gut and remodel her basement. This decision occurred when her baby was less than two months old. What this means is that she had the 'guy' come in and gut the basement--take out all of the bathroom fixtures down there and the new washer and dryer she had purchased a few months ago. The 'guy' is not licensed, but has done some work for them that they liked and so now she or her husband have to go to the permit office to get the permission to do this so that they can be sure the plumbing is done correctly. Therefore, weeks later she is still without a laundry room and is running next door to do her laundry (wonder how long the neighbors will be friends?)

I am so glad there is a hole in my lot! Counting the months.

HANGING ON

Some days I feel just like this old tree at the edge of an abyss.

Due to lots of leave taken during the summer by our public services staff, I am pulled from the privacy of my office to staff our public desk a day or two a week.

While sitting at the desk I noticed that the FAX machine would ring and then nothing would print. When I asked a co-worker she explained that it had probably run out of toner. Thus the scenario that followed in text below. (Note: You have to read it from the bottom of this blog up now, since that is the chronology. Note: Yes, you are paying the salary of these idiots who do not understand English. Note: that this whole process has now taken a month and the FAX machine is still out of toner!) Go the end of the blog post now.

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Updated by Who Me...I don’t WORK here Tue 2 Aug 2005 16:43:37 -0400 from IP address.

I checked up here and we do not have any cartridges for your fax. When I and (other named worker) installed the fax we gave your everything related to this fax. I will check on Wednesday if I can purchase some cartridges.

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Updated by Co-worker Tue 2 Aug 2005 12:49:50 -0400 from other IP address.

Samsung SF - 5100 Fax -- SF-5100D1 (XAR)

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Updated by Co-worker Tue 2 Aug 2005 12:48:15 -0400 from other IP address.

Note, we don't need anyone to service the fax machine, I just need for you to order the toner cartridge, and then I can replace the cartridge.

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Updated by Who Me...I don’t WORK here Tue 2 Aug 2005 11:01:42 -0400 from IP address.

We have never served fax machines for the PUBLIC OFFICE. We will check out as soon as time allow this week.

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Altered by Tabor Thu 21 Jul 2005 13:50:53 -0400 from other IP address.

Change monitors from {person a, person b, person c} to {person a, person b, person c, Co-worker, another co-worker}.

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Updated by Tabor Thu 21 Jul 2005 13:50:21 -0400 from other IP address.

It appears that a request for toner replacement for this FAX machine was sent out by Co-worker (https:link here ticket #8980) on July 11th that is identical to this help desk request.

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Altered by Tabor Thu 21 Jul 2005 07:32:58 -0400 from other IP address.

Change monitors from {person a, person b, person c} to {person a, person b, person c, Co-worker }.

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Updated by Tabor Wed 20 Jul 2005 10:42:39 -0400 from another IP address.

I am including Person b to determine the next step in this effort as both Idiot #1 and Co-worker are out today.

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Altered by Tabor Wed 20 Jul 2005 10:41:40 -0400 from IP Address.

Change monitors from {Person a to} to {Person a, Person b}.

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Updated by Who me…I don’t work here Wed 20 Jul 2005 09:55:49 -0400 from IP Address.

Please check with Co-worker or Idiot #1 for servicing. We are responsible for procuring the consumables.

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Updated by Tabor Tue 19 Jul 2005 14:37:12 -0400 from IP Address.

Sorry, I meant to type CAN'T route this stuff elsewhere.

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Updated by Tabor Tue 19 Jul 2005 14:34:41 -0400 from IP Address.

Haven't heard from anyone on this ticket even though it is a priority at our end. Please note that offices across the nation are faxing reports to us via this machine and that researchers and staff are waiting to pick these up. Once the memory buffer is full, we will have lost reports and will need to identify what was lost and what needs to be re-requested. Note: we can route this stuff elsewhere. Help please.

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Created by Tabor Mon 18 Jul 2005 09:40:31 -0400 from IP Address.

The fax machine at the public desk - Samsung SF-5100 - is now out of toner (appears it may have been out late last week). Co-worker is not in today...don't know if our office has to supply our own toner or if upstairs office has supply for this machine. Machine receives several reports daily, so would like it fixed as soon as possible.

A meme from Colleen

1. What are the three stupidest things you’ve ever done in your life?

a.) As a Freshman in college, in order to act ‘cool,’ I made fun of someone I didn’t know very well in the cafeteria and then found out she was sitting right behind me. b.) Rode in a car coming down a canyon in the Rocky Mountains late at night with a date that had been drinking and we spun out. c.) Hired an old lady real estate agent to sell my house. She should have retired years ago.

2. At the current moment, who has the most influence on your life?

My husband because is has good common sense and is still pretty naive.

3. If you were given a time machine that functioned, and you were allowed to pick up to five people to dine with, who would you pick?

Erma Bombeck, Gandhi, Bill Clinton, Leonardo Da Vinci and my great, great, great, grandmother…With a little wine and some atmosphere we could talk all night.

4. If you had three wishes that were not supernatural, what would they be?

Everyone I loved would have great health until they died in old age, people of the world would be more open minded to others ideas, and the earth would be returned to a ‘healthy’ state.

5. Someone is visiting your hometown/place where you live at the moment. Name two things you regret not having in your city, and two things people should avoid.
   I regret that the area I live in is not more crime free and I regret that it is not quieter. My visitors should definitely avoid rush hour and certain parts of the city at night.

6. Name one event that changed your life?
The death of my middle sister at age 54 from melanoma.

I'll think about who to tag on this later.

Holding on to junk

I got a kick out of reading manababies struggle to simplify her life while preparing for a move and the sale of her house. She was writing about how old things (that are totally worthless) have memories attached that make you want to save them, instead of tossing them out. Manababies memory was attached to a piece of clothing -- a pair of old boxer shorts.

This is amusing to me because my daughter went to an O.A.R. concert the other night with our young cousin. While at the concert she remembered an incident when she was a pre-teen. One of the OAR singers stayed at our house with my son as a ten-year-old many years ago. He accidentally left his boxer shorts. Boxer shorts were all the rage then for 12-year-old girls, which my daughter was. So she put them aside hoping Marc would never ask for them, which he didn't and she decided to keep them. She would have been too embarrassed to go into the boys/men's department and buy male underwear of course.

Well, as one would expect, she no longer has these shorts--nor post pregnancy could she fit into them if she did-- but her cousin, who is a very young twenty-something, was most impressed when she learned this at the concert and wished that my daughter had saved the shorts. One person's treasure is frequently another person's junk and that is probably one of the primary things that keeps E-bay going strong.

A Typical American Sunday

X-man saw very little of this nature behind bars, but he still was tired at the end.

Time is a-wasting

Today is another 'free' day for me. I actually think if my retirement comes about like this I will love it and be able to adjust. Early this morning before I got up, Hubby disappeared on a canoe/fishing trip with the boss on his favorite river. I have this small apartment to clean--should take only a couple of hours--finished laundry yesterday. After that I need to run some errands. I have a baby shower coming up and while I ordered stuff from the new mother's registry on-line, I really want to add some personal items myself. Any unique ideas from you new mothers?

Then I will go to the wine store and stock up for the next few weeks. I have been really neglectful with my wineblog, but I haven't not had reflective time to do it justice---just lots of drinking time while I pour over the blueprints.

Then, my 'sweet' daughter called yesterday to "see how we were doing" on our new house errands. At the end of the conversation she got around to why she had really called. She needed a babysitter for Saturday night so that she and hubby could take the cousin who is now her daycare person to a concert as a break. Fortunately, I have no real nightlife, so told her I would come down and babysit with my favorite person in all the world tonight. Somehow my first day of the weekend is chock full and I have only finished my second cup of coffee...so guess I better get to work.

Some Respite from the Heat

Took a trip after dinner on Sunday. It was still warm here, but cooling breezes came across the water and we got a break as the sun began to set. Small kids were throwing rocks at the lazy turtles swimming in the shallow areas of the river. Fish coming to the surface for a breath of air. Even wildflowers were still blooming..black-eyed-susan, trumpet vines, closed morning glories, and wild mimosa. Nice break in the summer heat.

Who has the Stomach for It?

(Finally got a chance to post this during a late lunch.)

I Don’t Have the Stomach for it Anymore

A few weeks ago I was surfing television looking for something to distract me and help wind down the day. I came across “Into the West” on TNT. This short series was produced by Steven Spielburg which certainly lends some cache in terms of credibility and entertainment. So, even though the series has started the week before, I was intrigued and decided to watch Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. Beginning credits were attractive and set a gentle western scene. Everything is filmed in gentle sepia tones creating a historic mood. Costumes and props are clearly made to look authentic. The actors themselves are well cast and in some instances represent actual historic characters. The actors’ faces, for the most part, are not common to television viewers and so the character is allowed to come through. The history of the development of the western territories is told following the lives of two families.

OK, enough background. Why didn’t I finish watching Chapter 4? I frequently stop watching a movie, TV Show, sports game when I think it is getting late and I need to go to bed, old grandmother fart that I am. It drives my husband nuts that I can get up in the middle of a show and head to bed without wondering how the episode ends. (Of course most of television is so derivative that there is no time lost pondering the ending on my part and I’d rather get to my book.) But, this is not the reason I didn’t watch the finish of this show. I turned off the set because I was crying so hard, I just couldn’t watch any more. The blatent violence and loss of innocent elderly and children just kicked me in the gut, and, Spielburg makes it all so real…the fact that is was real history…just couldn’t do it. It was a beautiful and tragic story of our history. I really wanted to watch it all, but I couldn’t.

I don’t know if this has to do with aging or just the years of images that have been burned in my mind, or 9/11, but I don’t have the stomach to watch such violence—even in the news anymore. I was watching BBC last night, because they actually report the news (not just the stories about beautiful white girls that are missing or pedophiles gone amok) and they were showing the genocide and starvation happening in Darfur. I looked for 10, maybe 15 seconds, and I had to change the channel. I could not bear it. Switch to “Friends” or “Everybody Loves Raymond” as something totally mindless to cleanse the palate.

It just seems that my nerves are raw and fringed these days or there is too much reality on TV. Psychologists say that “Violent programs on television lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch those programs. I wonder what it leads to in baby boomers such as myself?

Nothing to say

The sweet M-I-L of my daughter joined us on a beach outing a few weekends ago. She is a deeply religious Catholic and if all Catholics were like her the Church would be a shining example of what Christiantity is supposed to be. You cannot help but love her. But here is the conversation that left my tongue bleeding as I oh so carefully bit it...!

My daughter: "Mom, you need to tell me the words to Hail Mary so when my son is in school or church I can help him with it."

M-I-L: "It is really pretty easy. You need a rosary. Do you know about that?"

My daughter: "Yes.'

M-I-L: "You know, I say the Rosary every single day. I made a promise to God years ago, when I wanted my first child . (M-I-L went through a NUMBER of miscarriages before the birth of her first.) I promised God that if he gave me a child I would say my Rosary every day after that. Of course, some days I am too busy so I make sure to say it twice the next day. I am afraid that God might do something bad to my child if I didn't"

???? God Help me, please????

Woke up too early this morning!

Discovered this exercise on Kenju's blog (which is a very good read by the way). I welcome any and all readers who have missed this to share their list if they are so inclined.

10 Things I have done that you probably haven’t.

1) Weaned a calf

2) Physically restrained a 14-year-old who had pulled a knife on a teacher the previous year

3) Eaten dog with farm workers on the island of Mindanao

4) Slept in a grass hut on the island of Babledaup

5) Lived on the side of an active volcano

6) Traveled half-way around the world with a six-week old baby.

7) Played the front end of Rudolph-the-Red-Nosed Reindeer in a play I wrote

8) Been bitten on the heal by a wild monkey

9) Been taken out to dinner by my hotel wait staff

10) Paddled out of the living room of my house by canoe

A Lot of Miles on the Old Dog

I think I save too much. All the memories. Only three of these are active. There is a fourth now in Korea.

Organizing Your Life

Here it is early on Saturday. I have an entire weekend to do what I want...or need to do being the Puritan Work-Ethic person. My hubby was off for a two-day trip to Louisiana. He came back in the middle of Tuesday night and left at 5:00 Wednesday for a week-long trip to Korea. So I am on my own. OK, I admit it. I love him and I really like our time together. But I especially LOVE being alone as well. So, I am actually looking forward to these next days when I only have to answer to my needs.

But being the Puritan that I am, here is my list of 'to-dos' (in no order) that I made sleepily last night while surfing the TV before bed--there is nothing on television.

1)Exercise at least 60 min. on Saturday and Sunday (I have totally fallen off my exercise routine since we moved.)
2)Go through the four-drawer file cabinet and weed, weed, weed.
3)File all the stuff in the plastic bin that sits in front of the file cabinet.
4)Clean the apartment.
5)Organize all the piles and boxes still in the bedroom so I can get dressed in the morning!
6)Create two spreadsheets. One to track the financial activities on the housebuilding and one to track the actual actitivies on the housebuilding.
7)Laundry(?) if I can get the washer.
8)Organize the bookshelves where I just piled stuff during the move.

And, of course, per Carol's last entry, What am I doing right now? I am blogging first thing.

My daughter called last night to see if I wanted to do something with her and our cousin on Sunday. So that removes half the weekend. My daughter is a sweetie and gets people to do stuff for her that amazes me. She had to go back to work on July 5. Her future babysitting arrangement can't take place until September. So she got her mother-in-law in to drive down from three states away to babysit for the last two weeks; she is paying to fly in a distant cousin of ours from Michigan ("Studying nursing and knows how to give a baby CPR.")for the next two weeks; and then I take over for the first week and the last week of August. They still need someone for the middle of that month and it looks like hubby will have to take a week off and she herself will have to also take another week of leave.

At least she and I know how to organize our time.

Potter Passion vs. Wusthof

As lover of books I have to admit that I haven't read a single Harry Potter book (apologies to Hedwig)! I have so many other books still on my list to read and I am an anal retentive so must read from number one in any series and that just hasn't happened. Besides, I hate pressure to read a book before the movie. Amazon.com said it was planning on selling 50,000 copies per hour! A lot of hype out there.

Of course if you peruse the news you will see there are all kinds of stories about who to, when, where, and how these copies will be delivered. And then just type "Harry Potter" in Google's news engine and you will get a bunch of interesting stories surrounding this passion. It sort of reminds me of the passion for the tulips years ago....;-)

What is it about us that makes us push to be the first to read the book, see the movie, buy the fashion statement? Does it lose it's value if we don't get it at the earliest?

My rush usually ends up in a sale item issue. Overstock finally got one of the few brand names of knives I was looking for! I put in an order for the "high likelihood of early sellout' item ( see photo) for my new kitchen. My current knife set is 30 years old and incomplete along with a lot of bits and pieces of knives from elsewhere along the way. NOW one complete set! AND at 50% off. Who can beat that?

Music Meme

1. Total volume of music files on my computer:
I downloaded some stuff a long time ago…can’t find it. So don’t really have any music on my PC!

2. The last CD I bought was:

Since I have been moving, I haven’t been shopping. But two months ago I bought Mediterranea by Johannes Linstead.

3. Song playing right now:
”Street Sounds” by Brazil Chill

4. Five songs (tunes) I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

(Yes, I AM CHEATING. Sorry I have to do albums or CDs and not in any order because I am all over the place in my moods! And I could go on and on.)

1) Cool and Unusual - Artist: Martin Simpson (for afternoon dreaming)

2) Amici - Artists: The Opera Band (for creativity or [on low]after-dinner conversation with friends)

3) American Deluxe - Artists: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (for house cleaning)

4) Slowing Down the World – Artist Chris Botti (for, well, you know)

5) Graceland – Artist: Paul Simon (for the memories)

5. Five people to whom I'm passing the baton (if they haven’t already received it!):
Manababees

Danny

Jason

Chris

Sis

Carol at the Outpost

Hooters

There is news this morning that the Panda couple at the National Zoo appear to be future parents...at long last. These huge animals will have a baby that weighs about 4 ounces and is the size is a little larger than a golf ball. The zoo keepers said that after the birth, they were going to leave the first-time mom and baby alone and let nature take its course rather than try to guide the nursing process.

This started me thinking about 'nature taking it's course.' If I was living in the wild, had never had a baby, had never seen a mother and baby and gave birth to my first child, would I naturally know how to nurse? Society intellectualizes the process of nursing. We don't like to think of ourselves as biological animals and we certainly like to think of breasts as sexual organs and not feeding organs.

We hide the nursing process, by making mothers go into dark corners or cover their bodies as much as possible when they nurse in public. My daughter purchased two "hooter hiders" so she can live a somewhat normal life and feed her baby boy when among friends or in public.

Having lived for years on a tropical island where natives went topless and where nursing was the same as eating, I grew very comfortable with this biological function of ours. There were stories where years ago missionaries came to the islands to convert the 'heathen' natives and one of the processes was to cover the top of the women with blouses and shirts since boobies had something to do with sin. The story goes that this lasted a short while as the women (those nursing) soon cut holes in the shirts at exactly the most useful place so they could feed their babies easily.

Today I am off to my grandson's baptism...a process that comforts some in the family and which has a little bit of an unsettling effect on others.

It is a Scary City, Blogdom

I have a few dozen blogs that I try to read on a regular basis and share my limited-intelligent comments and unrequested advice. This past week two of my bloggers (both ‘young folk’) seem to be dealing with serious crises in their lives. I know the details of one but the other has dropped off the blogosphere. In Blogdom, you really get to know some folks pretty intimately. You cannot read their eyes and their smiles, but I am realizing that it is not fun when you can’t take someone out to coffee, hold their hand, bring them a cold bottle of wine, or just let them know you are there for them and will pick up the mail and feed the pet!

Please keep good thoughts, prayers, some good Chi going for these two Blogger friends of mine!

Wrong Number!

As much as I hate to admit it, something happens as your reach the ‘Golden Years’ in terms of getting a good night’s sleep. I have always been a light sleeper, but every few nights I am rewarded. I actually do not wake up every two hours and drift back to sleep…instead, I actually SLEEEEP deeply through the night. Well, last night was one of those wonderful nights until 1:30 AM when the phone rang.

This was the first call we have gotten in the apartment bedroom, so it took hubby a short while to think about where the phone was and then answer it, but not before he said ominously…Uh Oh. (He was thinking it was our son with a problem of some kind. You can tell the teen years have left their scars.)

Well, as you can guess from the title of this blog, it was a wrong number. I couldn’t get back to sleep for hours! I actually think that wrong numbers after midnight ought to have a fine attached to them!

The Dream House

Several people who now know that we have broken ground on the lot are asking how the 'dream home' is coming. Being the exacting soul that I am, I keep thinking of putting on the brakes for a minute when they say this. This is not my 'dream home.' A 'dream home' means to me that I could have everything I would want with no compromises. I am a perfectionist and I could have it exactly the way that I wanted it, if it was a 'dream home.' Instead this home will be my retirement home and filled with lots of compromises...liveable compromises...but compromises just the same due to geography and money limitations. This doesn't mean that I am not excited about all the possibilities ahead. It just means that I am a realist and will always be holding my breath for the next surprise compromise.

Jim Blandings : “It's a conspiracy, I tell you. The minute you start they put you on the all-American sucker list. You start out to build a home and wind up in the poorhouse. And if it can happen to me, what about the guys who aren't making $15,000 a year? The ones who want a home of their own. It's a conspiracy, I tell you - -against every boy and girl who were
ever in love.”

Here is the view we get from the dining area table. I think winter snow storms are going to be breathtaking.

The view from my 'living room' window five floors up. Nice. Doesn't seem like the city at all.

Our First Free Day in a LONG Time.

We have only a few boxes and things to sort. so we took the day off and went out in the boat. Hubby has waited 25 years to own such a boat, and we really don't get out in it often enough. Of course, you can save years for a boat and then every year it costs money to run and maintain. I posted a traditional picture of the osprey and the little cove that we disappeared into to eat our store-bought lunch of ham sandwiches and chips. (I still have enough trouble finding things in the apartment kitchen! The only thing I have lost so far is one of my re-chargeable batteries for my digital camera)

The day was gently overcast in the A.M. with temps in the low 80's. Perfect for boating. Winds were at least 15--so we stayed out of the Bay and in the river. We would have liked to take some friends, but the apartment move made it a last minute decision.

It is still an effort to get out in the boat, since all the boat gear and coolers have to be stored at the old house, which is a mile away. Landlady was very generous and let us keep the keys to the garage door.

Today is the last of the unpacking--where to put and/or store dozens of lighbulbs, cleaning supplies and sorting out two of the three tool boxes we own. I even got my roots dyed (which were starting to look like a really bad hair day), and I cut hubby's hair. I have cut my husband's hair since we first got married and lived overseas and found it hard to get a barber. I think he has been to a real barber less then 10 times since we were married.

And I have added some photos to the housebuilding blog.

Now off to run a few errands. Can't seem to get into the laundry room on a Saturday. Something I will have to adjust to while we live here.

A quiet cove for a nice lunch.

An osprey which we inadvertantly disturbed as we passed the boat marker.

Moving is a nightmare. But I knew that.

I do not have internet or cable at the apartment, but I can write this in MSWord on my PC and then paste when I get to work tomorrow. It is late Sunday night after dinner at the absolutely BEST Chinese restaurant—and I have eaten in a lot of them. It is only a block from my new apartment! I am surrounded by boxes, boxes, boxes and some furniture that needs to be reassembled. But the bed is done and made.

Of course, the day we moved the high hits 91 degrees with a relative humidity varying between 39% and 66%! I guess we either got this type of weather or rain. Thank goodness ( or God or the Gods) we did not get rain. We hired William – an ex-husband of a friend. He was recommended as hard working and strong, but not the brightest bulb in the room—so says the X-wife. Well, he did just fine and seemed bright enough. Then Hubby drove by the Duron paint store (this is another blog) and picked up a 38-year-old from El Salvador (Alessandro), who spoke no English, but was also very hard-working. My husband speaks a reasonable amount of Spanish. My son and his friend, both strong, also showed up. With Hubby’s back surgery and all the strain and pushing he has been doing these past weeks, he was smart and didn’t do any lifting.

We were going to try and make both the trip to the apartment and the trip to the storage in one rental truck load. But this proved to be too ambitious and we ended up having to make two loads. We even threw away two wooden chairs and some other stuff along the way.

The first trip to the apartment, they didn’t have the pads in the elevator as promised, Hubby went to get that arranged while the rest of us started unloading boxes unto the dolly. On one of the trips, as we were waiting for the elevator, a middle box started buzzing like an angry bee or a bomb waiting to go off. Alessandro looked at me a little startled. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders not having a clue what the noise could be. When we got to the apartment I tore open the box to get the irritating noise to stop. It was this !! I’m sure when Allesandro saw it, he thought it was something else.

I had wisely made a floor plan on graph paper of all of the furniture so that they could place boxes in the middle of the room and the furniture in the correct area. Even with this good planning, after everyone left, I realized that we would have to move the computer desk next to the TV or the cable guy would make me run all the cable across the room. Which, like dominoes, meant we had to move some boxes to clear a path to move the smaller book case to the former desk area so that the light switch and thermostat are not covered, which in turn meant moving the large bookcase into the small bookcase place, etc., etc.

Since this is neither my permanent nor long term home, I only care about efficiency not aesthetics in getting the furniture in place. I do still have a little feng shui thing going each time I move. It IS sort of in my soul and I don’t consciously think about it, but I can sense an uncomfortable feeling when things are placed incorrectly and try to move them.

Well, enough for tonight. I am going to sleep the sleep of a baby boy grandchild.

Ok, so Imelda and I went to the same school!

I am busy packing today and took a short break to blog. Since I will be unplugging the computer tonight and unable to get internet access until next week at the apartment, I will not be blogging anytime soon unless I do a little from work on the weekend. (I will soon be living across the street from work...what AM I thinking?)

Anyway, we have started clearing the lot down near the water and so most of my blogging and picture loading is at that site today, since we are so excited that things are actually moving in a forward direction.

We have been packing and hauling boxes every single afternoon to the apartment which is only a mile away and to the storage unit which is about a mile in the other direction. This Saturday we will hire some day help and get the furniture moved to each of these locations. I was getting some snarling from my hubby in the packing of our clothes yesterday. It appears that I actually do have about 40 pairs of shoes, boots, sandals, etc. But, you know what? I actually wear all of them throughout the year. Well, he has at least 100 duck-bill caps! So there!

We are raising oysters under the dock. We sampled some this week. They are very nice and put the more expensive restaurants to shame!

Here is the same room after paint and new furniture!

Putting the cable at son's new pad. Note the newly finished walnut stained floors!

Fecundity of Inanimate Objects

Please note that the following items reproduce when you are not looking:
Hangers
Garbage bag wire ties
Plastic shopping bags
Jars of fingernail polish
Jars of salsa
Rags
Types of wire connectors
AND
Wine corks

A Quickie.

What is the best age to be and why?

26. You are at the beginning of everything important in life and
actually have control as an adult for the first time and you have freedom if you are unattached. This doesn't mean that my
age now is not good to answer all those stupid fifty-something articles.

What is your strongest virtue?

It’s probably a toss-up between honesty and discipline…but I have become
less honest and more introspective as I have aged. My discipline is a
standing joke in the family. I think they call it anal-retentive.

What virtue do you wish you had?

Again it’s a toss up between faith and patience. I have to work at both.

What is the most creative thing you have done this year?

A poem I wrote for my grandson (which I have yet to deliver) and some
photography work from a few trips I took.

What do you least like about people you hang out with?

Their narrow view of life.

What do you like most about the people you hang out with?

The fact that they love me and want to hang out with me.

Why do you answer these questions?

To help me understand myself a little better, perhaps. But probably because I don't have a life!

My son says he takes off his shoes in his new condo to protect the freshly re-finished floors. I take off my shoes also!

Movin on.

We are moving. Took 5 loads of boxes to the storage unit. We now have 7 shelves full of stuff in the 10X15 foot unit. We have also taken a small load or two to the rental apartment. I now have to inventory furniture and decide what can fit in the apartment, what can fit in storage, what is able to be stored in the non-climate controlled shed and what goes to Goodwill tomorrow.

First, I have to pour another glass of wine!

Sound or Noise?

Moving from this rental house will mean leaving behind some familiar nightly noises. I won’t call them sounds because they really are noise. We live exactly one house away from two gas stations (Yes, they are side by side.). At approximately 4:00 A.M. several times a week, at least one of the stations is getting its underground tanks filled. This means the sound of a large truck backing with its warning beep going off. This is followed by very loud clanking, which I think must be the tank covers being removed and set on the concrete beside the hoses. Sometimes I can even smell the fumes as they drift over to my house!

We also sleep only two blocks from the fire station. Their alarm and the sirens from their trucks are usually heard at least one night a week heading to the nearby freeway or into the neighborhood.

The local hospital is about six blocks on the other side of us and their sirens can also be heard frequently.

In addition to all of this noise, we get the rush hour evening and morning traffic sounds as we are two blocks from a MAJOR intersection.

The apartment we are moving to will have some of these sounds, but I am hoping with less intensity and frequency. I think the traffic outside the bedroom window will be the worst. But we are on the fifth (top) floor of the complex with large trees outside the window, so I am hoping that will be a buffer.

And, when we move to our retirement house in the ‘Four-Acre-Woods” and on the water, I am hoping that the primary noise will that of birds, insects and wind. (Of course, across the water there is a guy who has equipment to install docks!)

I am adaptable for the most part to changes in my environment. When we lived in Indonesia, our bedroom, which had jalousied (slatted) windows, was directly behind the local Mosque. The rooftop speaker faced our bedroom window and at sunrise every morning the call to prayer came in loud and clear. After a few weeks we slept through it!

I do think that noise does cause stress on our physical well-being even if we adjust and adapt. A few weeks ago, Newsweek published a lengthy section on hearing loss. The article included a statement that hearing loss in the twenty-thirty something generation may be greater as they get older because of the wide-spread and lengthy use of earphones for listening to music. While they addressed volume that also said this has an adverse effect on our hearing since it screens out background noises and wider range noises. I am hoping they are incorrect.

My son, who is an audio engineer, once said that audio engineers have a working-life-span of about 20 years, because after that time their hearing is not as discerning and they have to move into management or do something else. It is interesting that the technologies (visual and computer) for sounds cannot replace an engineer’s biological ears totally.

I have not discussed at all the use of sound for control of people. NPR did a program on that use by the Israeli Military…ugh.

I will miss this backyard view when we move from this house. This tree has seen many moves I am sure.

ZZZZZZZzzzzzz

After the long drive up to Connecticut the males on the trip needed a break while daughter and I unpacked. Precious photo I thought.

Buiilding my house and moving on at the same time

Settlement for the construction loan FINALLY went through. So I have been blogging there and since clearing of the road, etc. actually starts next week I will probably begin the diary of that process on my other blog. This means weekly trips to the land 70 miles away.

This weekend I will start to pack the miscellaneous in the kitchen (all those huge platters and casserole dishes that I have not really used since we moved into this tiny house.) We drop off the rent deposit to the apartment today as well. Maybe we will be able to move in clothes and small stuff on Sunday. I am so eager to get this move over with as it is the third in as many years!

I am one of those anal types that do things way ahead and then regret the exaggerated efficiency. For instance, on May 24 I sent in an address change card to the Post Office and marked that I wanted mail delivered to my new address starting June 24. Those of you smiling know exactly what happened. The person at the post office stopped delivering mail on May 24! My husband told me I was too efficient. I just want some lead time. So it took me an entire week to get my mail back...it will be interesting to see if it stops coming on June 24. We will be out of the house, but still checking the mail until the end of the month.

We also have to get out of here because I started buying nice linens and towels (all my stuff is 20 years old) and my boss gave me a Pack and Play and needless to say, things are filling up here again after my clean out. MUST STOP SHOPPING! This is probably displacment for all the gardening I can no longer do.

I will try to stop by Son's condo and post a picture. I am eager to see how it looks since he got some new furniture.

OK. I Now Accept That My Job has Died

I think I mentioned a while back that my job was morphing. I am slowly losing my budget. What actually happened is that another department has now taken on the mission from the department that funded me. While I have spent the last few months kissing butt, spending hours finding ways to assist, working on committees and using higher ups to encourage continued funding, I think I need to accept that my retirement years are going to fizzle out like cold water on a sparkler. "They" are re-inventing the wheel and I had hoped that my years of experience would save them some time and mistakes...but they want to do this on their own. (This department has the reputation of being controlling and secretive even among their own staff.)

I realized it this week when I was pretty much eliminated totally from a big push for a press release on something that we have worked on for years before this new department took control. I was 'accidentally' left off the list for meetings and while told the announcement would be on my website, I now find that because I was out at a doctor's appointment today, they were going to put the link up (tomorrow) on their department's website. When I emailed between doc visits I was generously told I could link to their page!

In an email earlier this week "they" emphasized that they would need lots of help in distributing packets, setting up panels, etc. at various venues and when I volunteered to do ANYTHING they needed, I was pretty much ignored and sent a schedule via email if I wanted to attend.

This doesn't mean I will lose my job, just that I have a few years of boring activities to fill before I retire. (I actually could BS my time and no one would probably get concerned.) Unfortunately, I need to be doing something useful and intellectually demanding...so...that is the challenge for my future. Fortunately, my boss likes me and is on my side.

If I was younger, this would be a devastating blow to my ego and career. See, getting old has its benefits.

Also, and MORE IMPORTANT, the mole was a benign keratosis which doc froze like the gum commercial.

At Loose Ends

Been busy...just got back from a weekend babysitting in Connecticut while my son-in-law and daughter went to a wedding. Really nice weekend and not too many rough spots and probably worth some blogging just for the memories when I have more time.

Hubby is now in Maine at a meeting and since Son has moved out I am ALL ALONE in my house for the next 4 days. Weird feeling. I don't mind being alone after the intense weekend of people and babies and confined car traveling...but still a little odd.

I have a doctor's appointment with the dermatologist tomorrow to get a mole removed. It has started growing like mad and both itches and is tender, and since my sister died of melanoma, I am a little concerned. But, just a little. It is not the Buddhist way to worry about things you have no control over. I tend to have lots of moles and as I have aged, lots of strange skin changes. Lost my fear of ugliness a long time ago when I could not longer hang on to my youth ;-).

So, I am now going to unpack, go through my weeks mail (which just arrived yesterday--this is another long blog about being too efficient) and then a long relaxing bath.

Question for Twenty-somethings

This post may be a little racy for some...no not THAT way. I found an extra bathroom rug at my house and took it to my son's place and decided to store it under his sink in the bathroom while he was helping his dad with the AC unit. (As background he has slept in the house one night thus far.)
As further background there were some of his things, like TP under the sink already.

I had to move somethings to squeeze the rug in the back and saw a small strange box. Being the curious snooper, I turned it around as I placed the rug behind it. It was a box of tampons. Any ideas? Is this something I don't want to know?

Two Women Driving in a Car with a Baby in the Backseat

"Hey, Mom, how would you like to go to St. Kitts in November?"

"I don't know, Hon, I am taking two weeks off in August to babysit your boy."

"It could be fun at that time of the year."

"Yes, dear, but, on top of that, we will be in the middle of building our house and need to be nearby for construction issues."

"Oh."

"Also, it costs money. We just don't have that to spend right now with the house and all."

"But it would be for free."

Thought crosses Mom's mind that someone else will be paying for this babysitting...?

"We will be staying at a Marriott and you have all those Marriott points and Dad has a lot of United miles for travel, right?"

Right, have fun at your friend's wedding, Honey.

Things I will Miss and not Miss

I will miss those spontaneous conversations in the late afternoon when our paths crossed before he headed out to work at night.

I will miss his help in lifting, moving, mowing.

I will miss the young people who occasionally dropped by to go somewhere with him.

I will miss the smell of his aftershave.

I will miss his hugs.

**********************************************************

I will not miss scattered pennies on every floor of the house.

I will not miss turning lights off that have been left on all night or the refrigerator or microwave or dryer door that gets left ajar.

I will not miss two months of laundry piled high on the floor.

I will not miss dirty glasses EVERYWHERE.

I will not miss dirty dishes in the sink.

I will not miss having to be quiet on Saturday mornings until noon.

Saturday May 28

4:45 awake--can't exercise because basement is full of son's junk
5:30 need coffee so I get up and make some
6:00 do some blogging waiting for others to get up so I can make some noise
7:00 hubby is up, change sheets (son is taking our bed to his condo--long story) and take apart bed frame as quietly as possible
7:30 breakfast
8:00 start laundry and fold son's clothes from the pile on the sofa and the pile in the dryer
8:30 Husband backs out trailer and starts to work on connecting to car--lights don't work since this is a new car--requires getting electrical cord son threw out and splicing and taping.
9:00 Son's friend shows up to help (son still in bed, of course)
9:05 wake up son and remind him he has reserved condo elevator from 9:00 to 1:00
9:15 crazy people moving furniture, boxes, yelling at each other
10:00 start loading car and trailer, I make some iced tea for everyone
11:30 hubby, son and his friend head to the condo--twenty minutes away
11:45 I start to finish cleaning carpets in sons bedroom and living room (have to return carpet cleaner by 1:00!
12:45 I head out to the supermarket to return carpet machine
1:00 I take package to post office to mail gift for dad on father's day--dozens of little children running around, people from Asia and Africa trying to communicate in English
1:30 Starving, heat up some leftover Cornish game hen and eat two chocolate covered graham crackers and drink a quart of sparkling water--now feeling very full
1:35 Big ugly storm clouds forming--hope they get the stuff inside!

My son is moving out this weekend. Can you tell?

One for the Books

I work with books everyday since I deal in information, education, and outreach with my webwork. In addition, I love books. They are an addiction for me. I never travel without one or two in my backpack. I keep one in my purse to read while waiting for people. I have the hardest time weeding my book collections each time we move.

I grew up with a mother who read to us each night. We were not well off in terms of money, so sometimes she had to read adult books to us for entertainment. I am sure that she cleaned them up as she read them to us, we as children would never know. I remember a time when I was about six and we were in transitional living status while my dad was changing jobs. We were in this cute little house in a small mountain town with very little to keep us (me and my brother and sister) entertained. On the shelf were some books that the prior owner/renter had left behind. One was a western about a cowboy named Red Ryder. My Iinternet research found at least one book written by S.S. Stevens that has Red Ryder in the title. Well, each night my mother would read us a chapter from this book before bedtime. I am not a big fan of westerns and I actually cannot remember the story at all today, but at the time we sat on the floor glued to her knees to get every word.

Yesterday, my daughter called half laughing and half crying. She said her newborn son was just like his father. When I asked her to explain, she said that every time she picked up one of the many childrens books that she had in the baby room and started to read to him, he would cry. She tried reading while looking at him, while looking at the book, with expression, without expression, soto voce, etc. Each time he would crinkle his face up and cry. She could sing to him, listen to all kinds of music with him, dance with him, and all of these activities brought him joy…but the open book thing he did not like. Her husband does not read so that is why she compared the baby to him.

“What are we going to do, mom?”

I answered that we would keep on trying and just wait until he can start to understand words, focus on pictures, etc. Her response was, “I want you to come down to the house this weekend and try to read to him. I want to see what he will do.”

I just couldn’t help laughing. What a joy he is going to be.

The hyper spazz society I live in

I headed to the office kitchen today for a break and saw someone was there ahead of me using the microwave. I wanted to heat some tea water and waited. Below her (the someone) and in front of her on the floor were two crumbled paper towels that had missed the wastebasket which is tucked beneath the counter under the microwave.

She proceeded to avoid them and after removing her food, I bent over and picked up the paper towels, tossed them in the basket and then put my cup in the microwave.

She looked at me a little horrified and said she hadn't wanted to touch the towels and that is why she left them there. I explained to her that I planned to wash my hands, which I did. Now, please note, these paper towels had no visible food or stains on them. They were just white crumpled paper towels.

Someone help the American people. They are not long for this world!

Don't Get Dooced.

Yes I am blogging at work, but it is now my lunch hour. I have been working 6 hours straight and I am wiped or whipped or whatever. Too many meetings and too many small projects and programs to justify my existence. That is another story, but probably not for blogging because of the following reason: I sent some advice (unsolicited which is what I always provide) to Hedwig-the-Owl regarding her job interviews and then I found more support for my advice. Urban Dictionary actually has the definition of this phenomenon where your blog can cost you your job! Poor Heather B. Armstrong.

Bloggers talk about their family and work relationships, this personal stuff goes out to the Web where potentially millions can read it and then it will be archived somewhere forever...it will be baaack to haunt them someday. It is amazing what people will share with the world, myself included.

This parallels another phenomenon. Celebraties willing to share intimate details of their lives with their fans and virtual strangers. I remember an interview Oprah had with Sting's wife where she talked about them trying Tantric sex to strengthen their marriage. I mean get a grip!. You are telling all of these strangers in Oprah's audience about your married sex life. And she is not the only celebrity. What about that nightmare hodge-podge of homemade videos from Brittany and her husband? (I'll admit I haven't seen it...I really have no interest in her life. And, yes, I realize the money machine was behind this.)

Is this a reflection on the isolation we all are feeling due to the busy structure of our lives? Does it reflect something else in the culture that we need to share this stuff with people we don't know and says something about our inability to communicate with people we do know? Or is this just a byproduct of our high technology society?

Condo mania

This is the condo that I spent all of Saturday and most of Sunday painting. This photo was taken before we started. What is shown is the wall between the dining room and the bedroom--I think the bedroom was a sunroom porch at one time. There are three open window frames and some weird gauze curtains for privacy. Clearly the prior owner didn't know how to sew or they would have hemmed the curtains. They even put some elaborate valance in navy blue on the dining room side! Something really heavy and totally inappropriate for the space. This picture was taken looking out from the small bedroom looking out into the living area. 600 square feet and all this luxury at a price you wouldn't believe!

Early Sunday Morning

I think I will have to change the Weekly Wino to Monthly Wine Musings since I haven't entered anything since mid-April. I've been putting away the wine, but not contemplatively. Just squeezing in a nice respite at days end before the million things I do before and after dinner. I now have 4 (yes 4) plastic bags filled with my clothes to donate or throw out. This is surprising since I have already done this same exercise twice before and cleaned out closets. I guess I have a lot more stained, torn, out-of style-clothes than I thought.

I am sitting here waiting for my spouse and son to drag themselves out of bed so that we can go painting again. H. and I put in 8 hours yesterday on walls and trim in the boy's condo. C. (the boy) stayed about 6 hours later to continue the project. Floors are being sanded and refinished on Monday so we are on very strict timeline here. Wish those males would get up...we all went to bed about the same time...!

Decorating Da Vinci style??

What makes life so great is NOTHING stays the same

It is an interesting time in my life and the lives of my children. About two to three years ago when my son was too busy with college and friends and my daughter was too busy with a weekend social life and her husband, my husband and I made a conscious decision that we had to go forward with our lives. We would have to fill our weekends with our own interests and hobbies because our children were busy with their lives and could not fill ours. We knew that we would have to settle for seeing them every few months, even though they lived very close.

Therefore, on weekends our project was to find a quiet country place to which we could retire. It had to be on the water for my husband’s comfort. I only needed a view…mountain, stream, valley…didn’t make a huge difference to me. Waterfront property on the other hand is very, very, very expensive…even if found in remote areas of the East Coast. So it took many weekends to find something. With some compromise we found a narrow, very expensive lot and decided that this would be our retirement home. It was a little more than an hour from where our children might be living, but we wouldn’t get to see them much anyway with their busy social lives.

Well, here is my warning to all of you who have very social children in their early twenties. When they reach their mid-twenties to late twenties, they suddenly need you. They need your expertise on financial matters; your free time for babysitting; your weekends for socializing when their spouse is gone and baby is the only company. And, perhaps most interesting, your male child will suddenly want your opinion on furniture, wall colors, floor refinishing, and kitchen cabinets! It seems as if my entire life has changed its focus in a matter of weeks.

My weekend—THIS weekend—I am probably going to be keeping my daughter company shopping for something…don’t know what the errand is yet. I have also learned that I will be helping my son paint his condo as well as check out a furniture module he wants to purchase. I sat with my son just now discussing a “da Vinci theme” with warm colors. We were learning how to pick and match and discussing whether a natural floor stain would look better rather than a walnut stain after he refinishes his condo floors. My free time on the weekend is gone. And, of course, since I love them both and want to spend time with them, I will find another way to get my errands done. I know that this ability to spend time with each of them can change in the blink of an eye.

By the way, you would have to know my son to realize how outstandingly strange this is to be discussing ‘da Vinci decorating themes”.

Brittany Spears Look-Alikes

I have often felt that our culture is in demise in terms of art and style. The one commodity that we export in surplus to the global economy is our entertainment industry. They gobble it up in spite of the fact that it has become mediocre and thus lacks uniqueness, lacks depth, lacks introspection, lacks surprise, lacks insight and of course lacks truth.

I do firmly believe this. We will eventually find much greater art emerging from India, Afghanistan, and wherever else it is encouraged to flourish and wherever money does not drive it to death.

And even though I believe all of the above is true, we still have those cultures that are in love with our culture. They are fascinated with us.

I was reminded of this today when I got on the elevator with two young Asian girls. They were in their 20's and dressed casually as girls dress in this country. Yet something about their body language, their smiles, told me they were visiting foreigners to our campus. The real give away was evident as I turned to face the mirrored elevator door. I clearly saw them check out my new shoes and slacks and evaluate my clothing style. Only girls this age from another country would be checking American styles this closely. I am too old for our American girls to care what I wear.

God is Truth

Well, I learned my lesson a few days ago and am composing this blog in MSWord…instead of online. I did several blogs which disappeared into thin air with a Blogger response something like…’Houston, we have a problem, we know it, we are working on it, we won’t get back to you on it…so try again later.” I was so irritated having spent so much time on the blogs. Then I saw that most of my posts to other sites also never made it…although I got no such error message! It is sort of like being in parallel worlds, but we don’t know when the lines converge.

I was reading on of manababies blogs regarding her relationships with close and distant relatives and the death of her grandfather. I have had so many of the same feelings. I am the one blood relative of my immediate family (now that my younger sister passed away) that lives on the East Coast, all the rest of them live in Colorado. They have gone through various stages of their relationships with each other. I have missed it all being out here living my life. I miss that, and while I have tried to keep my children close to them through expensive plane visits over the years and picture exchanges, etc., it is not the same thing as living within driving distance. I often wonder what I have missed and how my feelings for them would be different if we shared more of our lives.

I do know that the death of my sister a few years back really brought us all much closer together. It was the big neon sign on the wall that said ‘Time is passing…How are you living out YOUR life?’ We started emailing more often and trying to make plans together. Then the recent death of my mother brought my sister and I much closer as we went through the process of obituaries, dinners, etc. I began to realize that my sister is a very unspiritual person. She gets irritated by religious myth and really irritated by people who practice religion on holidays and family funerals only. She got into a little spat with my sister-in-law who was raised as a Catholic but doesn’t attend church anymore and hasn’t for decades. My sister-in-law at the last minute wanted to have us ‘light a candle’ for mom at a church in downtown Denver. She clearly wanted us to go with her. I am pretty anti-Catholic…but only for myself. What others believe, what ‘myth’ they follow, that is their choice. Clearly my sister felt this was very hypocritical of my sister-in-law and said she was going to stay home and finish the obituary for the newspaper. This was not a word fight—just subtle tension one notices under the service. I saw my sister-in-law’s request a little differently. I didn’t see it as my sister-in-law trying to take control of stuff or being hypocritical, just maybe a calling deep inside her from a prior Catholic life to do something symbolic. I went with her and actually felt it might be good for me in some spiritual way. Unfortunately it was Sunday with back to back masses and so we sat through a mass and didn’t get to light a candle as we had to leave early. (The sermon was on the ‘dictatorial relativism’ that was pervading our society…the priest was clearly talking to all the liberals such as I at the service.)

My brother (the conservative one) was with Mom when she died. She passed in a matter of an hour or so, he and Dad were the only ones there. He says that she squeezed his hand and looked up at him, briefly and smiled just be fore she died. I am assuming that she actually did that, as I don’t think he would be trying to make it easy for us. Mom was cremated at her request. We had a small viewing at the funeral home for immediate family but no funeral or memorial service. The big family dinner was mostly people looking at pictures and reminiscing. It was not a formal sit-down but a buffet at my brother’s home. There was no real opportunity for words to be spoken in memory of my mother. Clearly some of the old Italian relatives there were confused about the informality of it all. My dad was probably relieved as he hates ceremony of any kind. I wished there had been an opportunity which forced me to say something…but I am getting more Buddhist and realize that the center of me is at peace and what surrounds me and what decisions are made outside do not need to be fought over. Not in this instance anyway. My mom knows I loved her, my family saw me give six weeks to her care and they know I loved her, I spent many hours with her, so I am at peace and do not need symbolism to solidify it. On the other hand, if we would have had a funeral Mass, I could have dealt with that process also. The priest would have called my views here dictatorial relativism…nope, it is truth. An as Ghandi said, God is truth.

Man and the Center of the Universe

I am currently reading "Ismael: An adventure of the mind and spirit" by Daniel Quinn. It was featured in book stores back in 1992 when I bought it and I am just now getting around to reading it after finding it on the bottom of a book shelf. (Amazing what packing your household belongings will unearth.)

The story premise is sophisticated, but the dialogue between the two characters and the character development is not, so I am a little disappointed. The theme appears to be all about Man seeing himself as the Center of the Universe and the problem with that premise.

Along these lines, I attended a lecture today by a scientist from the Smithsonian Institution who works with dingoflagellates and other small stuff in the marine environment. His research is all about the algae that causes algal blooms (i.e. red tides, etc.) in the bays and oceans. This research has uncovered through the years new knowledge that what was once thought as cellular parts of an algal organism is in reality a parasite that later emerges (Alien style) and takes over the algal organism. The speaker showed an actual video on this process and it does emerge exactly like the Alien did from the human gut!! (This is, of course, an oversimplification of his decades of research, as he has discovered lots more interesting stuff...but my point and I do have a point...)

Ok, what is my point here? Well, one of the questions from the audience was 'how can we use this information on algal parasites to control the growth of the "bad" algal blooms' and this question was coupled with another question about the new research on non-indigenous oysters also being introduced to the Chesapeake Bay for much of the same reason--control of algal growth. This scientist, in spite of his love of research and desire to culture the parasites and watch them interact with the algae, made a clear and important point. This control approach was all about treating the symptoms of the disease in our oceans and not preventing the disease.

And I guess my statement here is that mankind causes much of the earth's problems and then spends much intellectual effort trying to control the universe to fix these problems which he alone has caused. All he has to do is stop causing the problem in the first place.

(For those of you not into science, we need to control the agriculture runoff, cattle allowed to wade into streams, building and development inland, toilet flushing, car driving, global warming etc. and the algal problem in our oceans will diminish greatly. Of course, this does mean some economic sacrifice on our part--duh.)

The Bible says that man was put in dominion over the plants and the animals. I don't think so. They seem to get the rhythm of life without our interference. We are the ones that keep screwing up!

OK. Enough blogging. Just glad to get access back after days.

Just a sleepy smile.

It is a weakness, I know.

Ok, only one little story. Daughter, C, called this evening to tell me that Xman was smiling in his sleep, which he sometimes does, only this time he 'giggled, chuckled' a little. He is only four weeks old, now. He definitely has the personality of my daughters mother-in-law. She is such a sweet upbeat person! I will post a smiling shot soon. I will also keep these cute stories under control. Think back to that first love affair where you doodled in your notebook, you paced in your room and if you were driving you had to drive by his/her house whenever possible. (Unless you were a really lost soul and your first love affair was with a celebrity.) Anyway, you can forgive me.