Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo

Dragon Mood? -- trying to yodel and not spit fireballs at the same time

Well, it's official -- S and I have entered "old folks-hood." Instead of going out and Christmas shopping last night, we opted to stay in and excitedly discovered that "The Sound of Music" was airing on a local channel. Oh boy, oh boy, we're gonna watch The Sound of Music!

We have a joke in our family about the puppeteers in The Sound of Music being Wendish, a wonderfully playful falsehood imagined by Yosh and perpetuated by the rest of us, me in particular. I LOVE the idea of Wendish puppeteers, especially in The Sound of Music.

S and I sat in our little TV room, singing, smiling and bouncing along to the delightful, joie-de-vivre song, "The Lonely Goatherd." I woke up this morning with the yodeling still reverberating in my head. I googled it and found many sites with the lyrics. I reprint them here for your and my amusement.

Come on, come on, I bet you can't read it without singing along:

The Lonely Goatherd

Maria:
High on a hill was a lonely goatherd
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
Loud was the voice of the lonely goatherd
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Folks in a town that was quite remote heard
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
Lusty and clear from the goatherd's throat heard
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

the Children:
O ho lay dee odl lee o, o ho lay dee odl ay
O ho lay dee odl lee o, lay dee odl lee o lay

Maria:
A prince on the bridge of a castle moat heard
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
Kurt:
Men on a road with a load to tote heard
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

the Children:
Men in the midst of a table d'hote heard
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
Maria:
Men drinking beer with the foam afloat heard
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

One little girl in a pale pink coat heard
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
Brigitta:
She yodeled back to the lonely goatherd
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Maria:
Soon her Mama with a gleaming gloat heard
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
What a duet for a girl and goatherd
Maria and the Children:
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Maria and the Children:
Ummm (ummm) . . .
Odl lay ee (odl lay ee)
Odl lay hee hee (odl lay hee hee)
Odl lay ee . . .
. . . yodeling . . .

Child:
One little girl in a pale pink coat heard
Maria:
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hoo hoo
Child:
She yodeled back to the lonely goatherd
Maria:
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Maria:
Soon her Mama with a gleaming gloat heard
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hmm hmm
What a duet for a girl and goatherd
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Maria and the Children:
Happy are they lay dee olay dee lee o . . .
. . . yodeling . . .
Soon the duet will become a trio
Maria:
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Maria and the Children:
Odl lay ee, old lay ee
Odl lay hee hee, odl lay ee
Odl lay odl lay, odl lay odl lee, odl lay odl lee
Odl lay odl lay odl lay

the Children:
HOO!

I think, in the spirit of aspiring to be an eccentric, I may just take up yodeling as an elder pastime. Whaddaya think???

Odl lay ee, old lay ee
Odl lay hee hee, odl lay ee

Which reindeer are YOU??

Dragon Mood? -- dragons EAT reindeer as hors d'oeuvres!

Being silly on my last day of work --for the year-- I took THE test ..........

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

You Are Blitzen

Always in good spirits, you're the reindeer who loves to party down with Santa. Why You're Naughty: You're always blitzed on Christmas Eve, while flying! Why You're Nice: You mix up a mean eggnog martini.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

Turning 53

Dragon Mood? -- celebratory

Yesterday was my 53rd birthday.

I woke up sleepy and cotton-headed. I moved slowly. S wished me "Happy Birthday" with a sweetness rarely heard so early in the morning. I fixed coffee and hot oatmeal for us, a morning ritual that I'm growing to love.

I dressed carefully, putting on my red turtleneck, my brown cashmere sweater and my fiery, oh-so-Sagittarinan scarf from Ruth. I spent extra time with my hair. I rubbed moisturizer into my face to ease the dry tightness of my skin and hopefully diminish the increasing number of wrinkles. I looked good, I felt good.

My first phone call was from Yosh. (Actually, Lina called earlier but I missed her call.) My first received phone call was from Yosh. Did he sing to me? Yes, I think he did. Then Ruth called. She sang Happy Birthday to me in her smiling, soprano voice and offered lots of loving, congratulatory thoughts.

I got a lovely sotto-voce call from mijita, Lina, and we laughed heartily about my not recognizing her cold-induced baritone voice. I heard from Dad and Evelyn; from S at midday checking on how my birthday was going; from Don, a former boss; from Ron, a sweet guy (who I know is just dying to find out how truly good my omelets can be!); from Trice, my knitting buddy, with a silly, naughty e-card; from my cousin, Brenda, down in Texas who will always be four days older than me(!); from (in the most surprising call of the day) S's mom, Sally, and Grandma; from a former co-worker, Dennis, in California who never forgets my birthday; from my dear Uncle George in Texas; and finally, from our very own hurricane-survivors, Doris and Hemie, in Port Arthur, Texas.

By the time I left work, I felt remembered, lifted up and truly celebrated! Life can be wonderful and my birth day was definitely a wonder of love and care.
----
UPDATE: I also received a form letter from the car salesman (make that used car salesman) that I bought my Mazda Protege from this summer, wishing me a Happy Birthday. At the bottom he wrote, "No table dancing!" But of course!

Imagining a new kind of spiritual community

I read Real Live Preacher on a fairly regular basis. There is something about RLP's writings that moves me beyond my cynical, secular self and opens me to deeper, more tender ways of seeing people and the world.

He recently wrote a posting entitled "If We Could Do Church." I read his words, growing more and more excited as he outlined so many of the objections and concerns that I have felt about the direction of American "churchdom." I want to repeat some of his posting here:

First of all, we probably wouldn’t call ourselves a church. That English word is rather tired, I think. It really doesn’t communicate very well, and it’s not a biblical word in any case. We might call ourselves “A Gathering of Friends,” or perhaps, “A Community Living in the Way of Christ.” I don’t know what we would call ourselves; maybe we wouldn’t have a name at all.

I don’t think we would concern ourselves very much with what individuals in the community say about Jesus or even believe about Jesus. It’s not that what we say about Jesus doesn’t matter, but this community would begin with real living. There will be time enough for pretty Jesus words later on.

We would begin with between five and fifteen people who are committed to following in the way of Christ, confessing their weaknesses and turning their lives over to God as they understand him or her. We would make certain commitments to God and to each other:

We would meet once or twice a week to worship together. This meeting would be a very high priority in our lives.

We would make these friendships intentional ones and make it a point to spend time together.

We would agree to pray and study the scriptures together and on our own.

We would nurture each other and care for one another, especially if one of us was hurting or in need.

We would simplify our lives to the point where we could give 10% of our income to the community. Some who have been on the journey longer might give more.

Each of us would find a personal and fulfilling way to serve God by serving the world. Finding your joyful place of service would be a central part of being in this community, for we would agree that Christianity is a way of living more than a set of doctrines.

We would never pay anyone to be a professional Christian. There would be no staff, no paid ministers, no salaries, and no overhead. If there were even ten wage earners among us, our collected offerings might be between twenty and fifty thousand dollars. With no salaries, buildings, or other administrative costs, almost all of this money would be used to do good things in the name of Christ.

Maybe once a year we would sit around a kitchen table and say, “What do you want to do for God this year?”

There would be a little money left over to buy coffee or even a guitar if someone wanted to play it during worship. Maybe twice a year we would all go on an extended retreat together. Those with limited funds would never have to worry about being able to afford that sort of thing.

If there were children among us, they would sit on our laps and worship with us. We would not have children’s classes. We wouldn’t need them. We would teach the children ourselves and let them be a part of everything we do.

We would never purchase or rent a place to worship. Homes would suffice. If and when the gathering became too large to meet comfortably in a living room, we would divide into two groups. Perhaps the two living room churches would meet together once a month at a park or in some borrowed space. We wouldn't worry about what will happen someday. These things will work themselves out. I’m of the opinion that there is far too much planning in churches nowadays.

We would never advertise our faith community. Advertising tends to cheapen things, and I think we wouldn't want to start going down that road. We would bring friends with us as we felt led. I’m sure some would find us in very mysterious ways. We would trust that those who are ready to find us would find us. Anyone would be welcome to meet with us in the living room, of course. Some might join the community when they felt ready to embrace our commitments.

If there is preaching, it would be done by everyone. All who feel ready to share would take their turn. You would have weeks or even months to read your passage of scripture prayerfully. Then you would simply share the wisdom you found in the scriptures with your good friends.

The best news of all is that we would lay down the terrible burden of planning and strategizing for the business of church. Large budgets, buildings, and programs require business plans and outreach strategies. But you see, the big picture would not be our concern. The future would be left in the hands of God. We would content ourselves with our simple lives of service and devotion. What happens beyond that would be God’s business and not ours.

It sounds refreshing, does it not? And vaguely familiar. Even if you’ve never been a part of something like that, your heart knows that it would feel like going home.

from the inimitable Dr. Seuss

• "From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere."



• "How did it get so late so soon? / It's night before it's afternoon. / December is here before it's June. / My goodness how the time has flewn. / How did it get so late so soon?"



• "Today was good. / Today was fun. / Tomorrow is another one."

-- from Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, 1904-1991

A lamb's wool sky here ...

... in beautiful mid-Michigan for the next SEVEN days!

Geez, we can give Seattle-ites a run for their money when it comes to gloomy, depressing weather!

'Tis The Season To Be Broke

I heard Robert Reich's commentary on NPR's Marketplace last night as I was driving to my physical therapy appointment. I don't usually get too excited when listening to economists, but this guy hit the nail on the head! Read on ...

'Tis The Season To Be Broke

'Tis the season for retailers to be jolly if American consumers empty their wallets over the next three weeks. But how can we empty our wallets if our wallets are already empty?

Consumer confidence appears to have bounced back from the low brought on by the hurricanes and subsequently high gas prices. But it’s still below what it was before Katrina. And last week’s survey by the Conference Board showed something of a drop in shopper enthusiasm. Households say they intend to spend a bit less this holiday season than last.

Consumer spending is now more than three-quarters of the whole national economy – a record high. There’s nothing left to spend. Yes, gas prices have settled down a bit, but so have paychecks. General Motors, Merck, and major airlines are laying off tens of thousands. Job growth is anemic and pay is lousy. American families have exhausted all the coping mechanisms we’ve been using for years to spend more.

The first coping mechanism, which began decades ago when mens’ hourly wages first began dropping, was for spouses to go into paid work. But now that most adult women are on payrolls – including even the mothers of toddlers – this strategy has generated just about all the cash it can.

How else to pay for more spending? The second coping mechanism has been to work longer hours. This past year, the typical working American put in two full weeks more at the office or factory than was the case two decades ago. Americans are now working harder than even the notoriously industrious Japanese. But we’ve reached the limit. I mean, we have to sleep.

Which brings us to the third coping mechanism – taking equity out of our homes. Last year alone, Americans pulled out $600 billion through refinancing. But this cash machine is also about depleted because housing values have leveled off and mortgage rates are rising.

Where else to find the money? The final coping mechanism is to go deeper into debt. For five years now, American households have spent more money than they’ve earned – pushing their debt to a record high. But we’ve hit the wall here, too, folks. Interest payments on all that debt are exploding.

On top of that, there are tens of millions of baby boomers within sight of retirement. They have to start saving, or else their twilight years will be spent in darkness.

Put it all together and you see why we’re running on empty. We’re busted. We’ve exhausted all the coping mechanisms for spending more. Our buying binge has to come to an end.

The only question is whether the binge stops before Christmas shopping season, or American consumers make one big, final, irresponsible splurge over the next three weeks, and then call it quits.

Scary, scary and too damn close to the truth!

Thursday morning

Working.

Listening to Missa Gaia / Earth Mass with the Paul Winter Consort. Glorious sound!

From the CD cover:

A Mass in celebration of Mother Earth recorded live in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the Grand Canyon.

I've never been to the Grand Canyon but I did have the opportunity to attend St. John the Divine one Sunday morning with my good friend Carol T., as we visited NYC. For such a large and imposing cathedral, the congregants were particularly welcoming and warm. Good memories!

November Wendishday

Dragon Mood? -- tired, yet excited

It dawned on me today that today is the last day of November ... and it's a Wendishday!

Today is my last day of so-called 'bachelorhood.' Tonight, S is joining me at the pied-a-terre after 10 weeks (is it?) to return to work. She is fairly well healed (on the outside, at least) from her surgery. Healing on the inside continues and she is still prohibited from picking up heavy objects.

While her reproductive system slowly returns to some semblance of equilibrium, her thyroid is quite out of whack, exacerbating the ups-and-downs of her hormones. Our doctor has prescribed a new prescription hormone replacement for S. And this morning, she finally got an ultrasound of a nodule in her thyroid; we're hoping it proves to be nothing.

I am looking forward to us living together after this forced separation of convalescence. We've had more than our fair share of forced separations over these past two-and-a-half years, you know?

We are both excited about the coming holidays, spending time with family and being away from work. Imagine that!

Re-filling the well -- or -- doing for yourself

In response to the question, "What are you doing for yourself TODAY?"... I answered with these:

• I woke up without an alarm this morning. That is always a pleasure rather than being jArRReD out of bed!



• I did walk on the treadmill for fifteen minutes -- a little shorter than I should, but certainly better than doing nothing!



• I sat and slowly drank a cup of coffee even though I knew it would make me late for work!



• I lovingly made myself a bowl of hot oatmeal with iodized sea salt, a teaspoon of brown sugar, crumbled walnuts and half a banana. I ate it slowly. Even more late.



• I used rosemary/mint shampoo this morning simply for the pleasure of smelling it. I stood in the shower and enjoyed the hot water hitting my upper back. Even later still!



• I wrote a brief thank-you note to our mail carrier and posted it inside the mailbox for her to find -- because it felt like a good and random-act-of-kindness thing to do. She had held our mail just by my talking to her, not running to the post office and filing any pieces of paper or anything. A thank-you note felt like the least I could do.



• I made myself a cup of tea after lunch -- Celestial Seasonings Moroccan Pomegranate Red -- just for simple sipping pleasure.



• I called Ruth this morning for a brief chat. Doris and Hemie left Roanoke early this afternoon for their trip back to Texas. I think we're going to talk more tonight.



• I think I'm going to crack open my last bottle of Crane Lake cabernet sauvignon this evening and sip on it while I make myself some dinner and do a little laundry.



• And .... I'm considering swinging by either a nearby Rite-Aid, a Target or the closest World Market just to do a little random Christmas elfing -- see what may grab my fancy.



• Funny .... I just realized that I brought a bunch of Christmas CDs from our 'other' home to work for my listening pleasure (including several that Lina and Yosh have burned for me over the last couple of years) and I haven't even DIPPPED into them yet!

So ... that's my day so far. I am feeling better today. But I have lots more serious TAKING CARE OF ME to do. I feel like I've filled the well up to about my ankles right now! :-) Lots more well-filling to do!

Sunday blues, Monday blues

(hum a bluesy tune)... "I got the Monday mornin' blues ..."

... that reared their mournful faces on Sunday, the blues that hunkered down with the gray skies on Saturday, even Friday and if truth be told, the ones, the very same ones that lurked in the shadows even on Turkey-lurkey Thursday.

I've been feeling blue since Thursday! Dammit!

I missed my kids, I missed being with my sister and her kids, I missed being with my family, with my people. I was with S's family, her kids, her family and that was good, that was fine. But it wasn't the same. And I missed being with people who make me feel special.

Pat, our therapist, for years and years -- his voice is now embedded in my head -- he's asking me what I've been doing to take care of me? Because, you see, when I don't do a good job of taking care of me, I start nit-picking at S, criticizing her, judging her in my all-too-familiar-critical-father voice, "She's not doing that right!" and generally trying to make her miserable enough to match my misery.

Dammit! That's not good!

So .... my goal, no, my MISSION ... is to take very good care of myself this week, EXTRA GOOD CARE of myself this week so that I can push, push, PUSH these inky staining clouds of blueness and sadness and depression right out of my skies. My skies want to be filled with deep, warm sunshine and periwinkle-blue clearness and white puffy clouds that shift and make shapes and swooping bluebirds singing their happy-bluebirdy songs.

That's my mission!

Overheard

Dragon Mood? -- amused

Overheard in the baking section of the local grocery store yesterday:

I just can't cook with crappy oil ..."

Bring on the extra virgins!

Three days to Turkey Day and counting

Dragon Mood? -- in the groove, listenin' to a new CD, "Quantique" by Yves Leveille

Havin' a pretty good day.

I heard my cell phone alarm go off this morning without that heavy-headed, cottony-feeling I've been experiencing. Instead, I woke up right away, thankfully clear-headed.

Dressed casually, jeans, wool socks, Birks, drove into town to buy just a couple of dollars worth of gas. Surprise -- gas was selling for $2.03 a gallon, so I filled up. Then I went over to the little coffee shop run by an ex-Baptist preacher (or so the grapevine says) to buy a latte. He looks tired, worn, a little thinner. I bet that's a hard job to do. I bought my latte and headed down the two-lane highway.

I made the 75-minute drive in about 70 minutes thanks to fast-moving traffic. Swapped my jeans out for some navy blue slacks and headed to work.

Slipped quietly into work, buckled down, and earned my salt (a pinch, at least!). Picked up my scrip at Sam's over lunch and finished out the day.

Now, it's back to the pied-a-terre to put my jeans back on, head to physical therapy for my ever-so-slowly-thawing frozen shoulder and then what? Probably, I'll buy a bomber soy chai at the handy-dandy Starbucks, jump on the freeway and head back to our home in the tall pines. Whew!

What a crazy, peripatetic gypsy life this is!

Let it be noted ....

Dragon Mood? -- dragons like looking at, not raking, falling leaves

.... last Friday, I raked leaves for two solid hours in 30-degree weather at the pied-a-terre. ArrghhHH!

It was harrrrrd work, matey!

fancy-schmancy; a pilfered conversation

Dragon Mood? -- laughing, laughing some more, laughing out loud

A "fancy-schmancy" Thanksgiving slide presentation from a national gourmet cuisine retailer came to me by way of email. I forwarded it to several other family members and it snowballed from there:

Nothing like celebrating Thanksgiving the traditional way the pilgrims did. With Cheese Straws and Onion Tarte Tatin.....

(laughing) Geez, S and I are always f*cking thrilled if we get the damn turkey cooked properly! One year we tried grilling it and that was a disaster . It was half-raw. Josh was totally grossed out! I say, anybody who has time to make Cheese Straws and Onion Tarte Tatin, f*ck 'em! Give me plain ol' Turkey Day food ... and lots of alcohol, of course!

I think that’s my new favorite Thanksgiving quote: “I say, anybody who has time to make Cheese Straws and Onion Tarte Tatin, f*ck ‘em!”

Exactly, Mary! A six-course Thanksgiving Day meal should look like this:
1. Bloody Marys
2. Beer
3. Turkey subs from Cousins
4. Football
5. More Beer
6. Irish Whiskey

Well, the half-raw turkey, no matter how you spin it, was pretty disastrous! I think the next year we were still so distressed about it, we had grilled new york strip steaks and flipped Matthew, S 's oldest son, out -- he's quite the believer in tradition! He still talks about that.

And speaking of drinking on Thanksgiving, ask Lina about the year (I think she may still have been in college here on this side of the lake) when she literally passed out at the dining room table, her head nodding and dangerously close to hitting the wild rice stuffing. I couldn't believe it! My beautiful daughter, the drunk! We had probably killed at least three bottles of wine while cooking that day. She got a little warm food in her tummy and bit the dust! (laughing some more)

Hah-hah-hah-hah! Lina hits the wall in between the cranberries and pumpkin pie!

I think, at the time, we called it something more like Stupid Turkey Goddamnit!

Although, we almost had another fiasco last year with the turkey roaster, placed out on the porch so we could keep the oven free for side dishes. We got the bird all prepared, lovely and nice with her rubbing of butter and dousing with lemon and orange juice, her cavity lovingly stuffed with said citrus fruits. And we put her in the roaster to cook…and, only about three hours later, realized we had the temperature a couple hundred degrees too low…DOH!

Yeah, well that was TOTALLY my fault. I misread the instructions and didn't THINK about what I was doing. Thank goodness we discovered it early enough to recover. Whew!

Yes, I did start falling asleep at the table, but I was fully coherent up to that point…Mom thinks anytime I fall asleep after I’ve been drinking, it means I’ve PASSED OUT. Now, me at Matt and Sarah’s wedding, with my feet up on whatever they were up on, and my dress hiked up, THAT was “passed out.” :)

Mom, even though we won’t be there for Thanksgiving, will you still make me some of your wild rice and pork sausage stuffing at Christmas? That stuff is soooooo good…I don’t even need any turkey to go with it…

We can certainly make some, if you want. We also can make our traditional beef stew OR smooshed potato soup for Christmas Eve OR another hoisin sauce-covered pork tenderloin .... AND whaddaya think about making some of your childhood Christmas cookies, the red-iced Santa Clauses and the blue-winged angels?

Speaking of which, you and I NEED to make some more wild Wendish Christmas stockings this year. We have THREE new members of the family: Sarah, Ell and Preston. I know, I know, you hate Ell... but I was thinking, maybe we could put gray felt lumps of coal on her stocking ... and make a hole at the bottom of the stocking ... so all the goodies fall out? (hee-hee)

Hah! Wendish Christmas Cheer at it's best!

Mom! You’re a wicked, wicked wench! I LOVE that about you! :D

Sure, we can make some more stockings! I think Cisco and Dakota need at least one to share, too, as long as we’re at it. And when Mr. Ronbo Delicious decides he wants to come join our party, we’ll make him one, too. Maybe with a semi-naked female elf with big bazongas on it… ;) Mom will put an omelet in it the first year…

Outstanding! but, don't take it personally if I check the bottom of the stocking for holes.....

You BET! It'll be the BEST, the JUICIEST, the HOTTEST omelette you've ever SEEN, SMELLED or TASTED!

And, isn’t it funny that, even though Mom says I “hate” Ell (which I don’t REALLY…but I would like to give her the occasional swift kick in the ass sometimes), the idea for the gray felt lumps of coal and “bottomless stocking” idea was ALL HERS? The wenchiness doesn’t fall far from the tree…

Okey, Miss Smarty-Pants -- what's the difference between falling asleep at the dinner table and PASSED OUT? Huh?

Well, there is some correlation between falling asleep and being at the table when said action occurs that leads oneto term it "passing out," I guess.......

YUP, I'll own up to my share of Wendish Christmas Cheer and Wenchiness. And I love that MY little girl's wenchiness came (at least in part) from me! :-D

Mom, are you coming on to ...?

Uhh .... uhh, NO! I just got carried AWAY with the sensuousNESS of it!

If she is, this will be the first time I've ever heard of omelettes used as a pickup mechanism!

You are just the cutest Mom ever. I can honestly say that’s the first time I’ve ever seen the emphasis put onto the “ness” part of “sensuousness.” That takes cojones!

Good news, bad news

Okay, the bad news first. It rained yesterday. A lot. I walked the 70 yards or so from my car to the building entrance at work and my feet were wet. Not on the top, but on the bottom. I sat down and looked at the soles of my brown leather shoes. Big cracks! No wonder my socks were positively squishy! Damn! Now I gotta buy some new shoes. There's a hundred bucks I wasn't counting on spending. That's the bad news.

The good news is that I talked to my benefits rep yesterday, and without going into gruesomely detailed details, I am entitled to more "free" days of pay than I realized. Like about FOUR MORE! Whoo-hoo!

you're a true Spartan if ...

As the college football season comes to a close (tongue-in-cheek) ...


You're a true Michigan State Spartan if ...

................ Michigan was playing against al-Qaeda, you'd root for al-Qaeda.

(It's a darn good thing hardly anyone looks at my blog, cuz this posting would probably get me in trouble. It's definitely not politically correct!)

the last day Ruth is 50

Dragon Mood? -- loving my sister

Tomorrow is my sister, Ruth's 51st birthday. Wow!

Ruth and I talk regularly. At least once a week, sometimes more. We are sisters, confidantes, sharers of family history, reminders of family events ("I just wanted to remind you that Josh is taking his test tomorrow") and chief cheerleaders for one another as we each face our challenges.

We do a lot of remembering and reminiscing. We remember our mom and her mom, Nana, laughing at some of their foibles and antics, waxing philosophically on some of their troubling behaviors. We talk about how we miss them. I tell her how I recall a certain event and she tells me how she saw it. It's always an amazing thing, what people remember, what they don't and even how different our perceptions of a shared event can be. Ruth remembers little details that, if I ever noticed them, I have long since forgotten. I can recall environments and physical layouts of places. She remembers things and objects far more than I do.

We talk about aging parents. We talk about how people change as they age, some gracefully, some not so gracefully. We question each other on our own aging. Will I be like that? Promise me you'll tell me if I ever do that! We talk about all the aunts and uncles that formed this hallowed circle around us as children, who are now in their late seventies and early eighties. Mom and Aunt Flora are gone. Who will be next?

We listen to one another about our fears, our annoyances, our jobs. Neither of us is particularly happy or challenged in our current jobs. We listen empathetically to one another about our partner/spouse and the challenges of long-term relationships. She offers advice to me about S and her stress-filled job. I encourage her to be patient with Paul as he struggles in a depressing job that was supposed to be "laid back."

We encourage each other to eat healthy, exercise regularly, take care of ourselves -- "go get that checked out by the doctor, promise me?" And, when we're both feeling particularly vulnerable about our health and unknown lifespan, we joke about Dad outliving us both -- and laugh heartily.

We tell each other things that no one else knows. Sometimes, the questions and their answers feel disturbing because they're just so damn intimate ... can they bear the light of day and potential for scrutiny? Can these confidences bear being voiced out loud?

That's when the essence of sisterhood becomes clear. I trust Ruth with a deep, implicit trust that really has no bounds. She's always been there, she's always been my ally and I know that she always wants the very best for me. She loves me in a deep, knowing way that I experience as true and profound. God blesses me with a sister like Ruth. Not all people have sisters or siblings who care like she does. I don't take her for granted. She is a gift to me.

And so, on this last day of my dear sister as a 50 year-old, I give thanks for her presence in my life. Happy Birthday, Ruth! I love you!

An uncelebrated birthday

Dragon Mood? -- snorting out celebratory puffs of fire

Last week, a birthday slipped by, quietly, uncelebrated. It is the 15th anniversary

"...of Tim Bernier-Lee's idea that there could be a worldwide web, linked not by spider silk but by hypertext links and transfer protocols and uniform resource locators."

The author of this article, James Boyle, goes on to say that the web is more amazing than we may realize. Why? Look at what the internet now contains: Google and Wikipedia and newspapers from around the globe; national maps, Project Gutenberg and blogs galore.

The worldwide web was created through the "conjunction of unlikely technologies." The web is reached by (deep breath for geek-speak)

"... general purpose computers that use open protocols – standards and languages that are owned by no one – to communicate with a network (there is no central point from which all data comes) whose mechanisms for transferring data are also open."

And ...

"The web developed because we went in the opposite direction – towards openness and lack of centralised control."

A third amazing thing about the worldwide web is that, were it to be created today, it would likely be crippled by special interests, if not downright illegal. According to this columnist, the web became too popular too quickly to control. The lawyers and the politicians and the copyright holders were not there at the time of its conception. If they had been,

It would have looked more like pay-television, or Minitel, the French computer network.
... Allow anyone to connect to the network? Anyone to decide what content to put up? That is a recipe for piracy and pornography. [Yeah for pirates!]

So, let's hear it for openness and lack of centralized control! And let's all celebrate the amazing thing -- imagine, in our lifetimes -- that is the worldwide web!

Pirates making a comeback?

Dragon Mood? -- pirates, as in Wendish pirates??

From various news sources including the Washington Post is this surprising "modern-day" development:

Pirates armed with grenade launchers and machine guns tried to hijack a luxury cruise liner off the east African coast Saturday, but the ship outran them, officials said.

Two boats full of pirates approached the Seabourn Spirit about 100 miles off the Somali coast and opened fire while the heavily armed bandits tried to get onboard, said Bruce Good, spokesman for the Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. The ship escaped by shifting to high speed and changing course.

"These are very well-organized pirates," said Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program. "Somalia's coastline is the most dangerous place in the region in terms of maritime security."

The attackers never got close enough to board the Spirit, but one member of the 161-person crew was injured by shrapnel, cruise line president Deborah Natansohn said. . . ."Our suspicion at this time is that the motive was theft," Good said, adding that the crew had been trained for "various scenarios, including people trying to get on the ship that you don't want on the ship."

Daily Kos makes this piquant comment:

I knew talking like pirates was all the rage. But actually being pirates?

And what will that ol' pirate princess, Wild Wend have to say about all this? Hmmm?

from Scarlet Letter's blog on MAKING ART!

Dragon Mood? -- dragon energies stirred up

Here's an interesting article that I found via many Firefox tabs, Scarlet Letter, on making art. I am reprinting these notes in their entirety, mostly for my reference:

1. Quality through quantity. Don't get hung up on making this one piece good -- make ten and one will certainly be pretty good.

2. Do NOT mix generating and editing. When you're making a piece, don't stop and get judgmental half-way through. If it's a piece of crap, get that piece of crap out of your system -- don't try to fix it mid-flow. Finish it, move on.

3. When to judge: After you've completed a piece, look at it and decide what direction you want to go in next. Or if you're selecting pieces for submission to a show, apply your critiquing mind then. Make a piece of art; look at it; make another.

4. Don't be afraid to re-use elements. If each piece has to be unique, then you're going to get hung-up when you create some bit that you like. But if you can re-use bits, then you can keep moving.

5. How to have "lots of ideas": permute. Start anywhere. Once a piece is done, try varying some aspect. Think of all the variables that could have permutations.

6. "Get through your first 50 failures as fast as you can." I don't think that we should be shooting for a place where we no longer make crappy art. A good artist is one who's in motion making lots of art -- you only think they're so much better because they produce so much quantity that their pile of "good art" has also been able to accumulate. For every piece of crap you create, you're one step closer to getting something you really like.

7. Don't even bother "fixing" pieces. Making art shouldn't be a struggle. You're simply "thinking out loud" onto the page, photo-paper, or canvas. If a product seems confused, leave it confused. Make another piece where you contemplate whatever issues you were wrestling with. Try something different. When clarity arrives, it will come in one living piece -- not be Frankensteined together out of a single infinitely re-worked, mangled corpse.

8. Work fast. Creativity is exciting. If you're not judging while you're making, then you can just throw things together as fast as your mind can move. You're smart; if you don't like what you've made, you'll know immediately. You might not know what to do about the problem you perceive... Don't "think", standing there cogitating -- try things. If your hands are in motion, you can be generating new permutations. The one that you want to pick will come out on its own time.

9. Let your level show. Let the world know that despite having years of investment in your art form, you're still a beginner who doesn't know it all. Rather than hide your thought process, let your questions be present in your work. You are a fundamentally more interesting artist if people get to see what it is that you're struggling with, rather than just your final answers. Show your work. Talk about what you still can't understand (unapologetically).

10. Don't hide your failures. If you are only willing to show those perfect pieces that you are aspiring towards, you're never going to display / publish your work. Show everything, the worst of the crap included, and let your ego be humbled -- and goaded to create more.

Good morning, world!

Good morning, world! It's Saturday morning, probably my favorite morning of the week, I'm home among the pine trees and with my sweetheart. All is well with my world!

S and I watched the final episode (for this year) of Bill Maher's Real Time last night. He had Joe Scarborough from MSNBC's Scarborough Country, as well as the former president of Ireland and now the United Nation's High Commissioner of Human Rights, Mary Robinson. I thoroughly enjoyed hearig her speak about the world's perception of the United States under George W. Bush's watch. Profoundly disturbing to the point of being tragic!

And ... I am writing this post from Writely once again, testing out the software. I think I might like this.

Make a wish

Dragon Mood? -- startled, excited

Tuesday evening, I was sitting outside, in the driveway of the pied-a-terre, talking to Lina on my cell phone. I noticed the sound of a plane flying overhead, so I looked up. The blinking lights of the plane passed by. Lina and I continued to talk.

And then, what to my wondering eyes should appear but ... a shooting star!?! I watched it from the right side of my view ALL-LLL the way across the sky. As it streamed across the darkness, it slowly burnt itself up in the atmosphere. Silently, arcing! Then, nothing. It was gone!



"Ooh-ooh, I just saw a shooting star!" I exclaimed.

"Make a wish, make a wish, Mom!," Lina prompted.

"What should I wish for?" I asked.

"Oh, you should have those wishes lined up!" she answered knowingly.

"Well, give me a second," I answered a little panicky. I certainly didn't want to blow my chance for a completely unexpected bonus wish!

Wishes, wishes? What should I wish for? S came to my mind. I'll make a wish for us both? No, I'll make a wish just for me. Oh, that's so selfish! Make a combined wish! Oh, okay!

So I did. A wish that incorporates good things for both S and me.

Let's hope.

I am hoping!

Testing Writely's blogging chops

Dragon Mood: this Dragon loves exploring new tech-y things!

I am drafting this posting inside of Writely, an online word processing application (if I'm understanding what this thing is doing at all). I ran across a reference to Writely the other day, but didn't have time to explore it. Now, it's Friday afternoon, the week is winding down and I thought I'd check it out.

one	two
three	four

Wow, Writely can even put a table in this posting for me. I'm rather impressed.

I think I'll post this now and see what it looks like.

Disgruntled on Halloween

Dragon Mood? -- a little embattled

It's the morning of the last morning of my four-day weekend ... and where has it gone? Sadly, I don't know.

I arrived about two hours before S's mom and grandma arrived here late Thursday evening and since then, the time has either flown by or been sucked up by the big family-of-S time Hoover. Do I sound bitter? I'll try to keep it under wraps.

Friday, S and Grandma and I made a fun trip to Horrock's for coffee, beer, gourds and flowers. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and I think we all enjoyed the trip. Sally went to her doctor's appointment. I didn't feel like cooking Friday evening so Sally bought us some pizza for dinner.

Saturday was a slow-moving day. I fixed a big pot of creamy chicken-and-vegetable stew. Mark and Lindsey arrived around six with Preston in tow. They dressed here for their Halloween party while four "grandmas" hovered over the baby.

Sunday was a blur because we were all sleep-deprived from having a seven-month old baby in the house. I took almost a two-hour nap late Sunday afternoon because I was tired, cranky and resentful of all the people in the house. Last night, we played four-handed rummy (even 89-year-old Alice played), which was lots of fun.

As a social Sagittarian and water Dragon, I enjoy people, but .... then GO HOME! I need my solitude and quiet! I am NOT fun to be around when people are here non-stop with no end in sight! (The only exception to that rule seems to be my wonderful dragon-kids, Lina and Yosh!)

Today is Halloween and I don't even feel like carving pumpkins! That's practically sacrilege, in my book. Who doesn't want to carve pumpkins, for crying out loud?

Thankfully, as I write this, the house is quiet and I am alone. Thank you, God! Believe it or not, I am actually looking forward to heading back to our pied-a-terre where I can hear myself think ... and do what the hell I want!

Saturday morning

Dragon Mood? -- pooped and winding down

I was shocked to realize that I haven't posted anything for eight days! Yikes!

I was also shocked at how fast-paced this past week seemed. I drove to the pied-a-terre Sunday evening, and before I could believe it, it was time to drive back to our home in the pine trees.

Why so fast? That's what I've been asking myself. I worked four long ten-hour days at work. I went to a meeting on Tuesday afternoon that I left from so pissed off, I promptly went back to my desk and posted my resume on Monster.com.

Even more surprising was the fact that within an hour (maybe even a half hour), I got a reply from a corporation telling me that I had "passed" the first round of screening and would I please respond to a second "pre-screening" document of only about twenty essay questions. Yikes! Talk about surprised!

So ... in hindsight, I think the 20-question essay exam definitely accelerated the pace and the pressure of this week. I decided that I wanted to respond no later than Friday, that is, yesterday. Thanks to Lina, my daughter and resume-writer extraordinaire, who helped me on four of the toughest questions, I met my own deadline. I laughed at the automated reply I received saying that I would hear a response back from the corporation no later than 30 days from now! Hah!

Today, I want to do some Christmas elf sewing, some for-fun sewing, watch the Michigan State homecoming game (even a little bit!) and maybe even take a nap. Our elderly neighbor, Bill, is coming over later today to drink some celebratory champagne with S and I, and maybe even play a little euchre.

S and I talked about guests last night. She had a good and lengthy phone conversation with her mom and grandma, who I think will be visiting us next weekend. Sally has a doctor's appointment next Friday, so she will be "down" anyway. We also talked about houseguests for Thanksgiving and even beyond to Christmas. I think we are going to have lots of family and new family around. I don't think S could be happier. As for me, I could be happier only if Lina and Yosh could defy the laws of physics and be in two places at one time! I have sweet memories from last year when Lina cooked up a storm and Yosh carved the turkey like a pro! Oh, well!

Doris & Hemie Update

Dragon Mood? -- thankful and relieved

Three weeks ago, hurricane Rita was pounding the Texas/Louisiana coastline. I know because it was the day before Sarah and Matt's wedding, Lina and Yosh had arrived from Wisconsin early on Friday morning and Sally and Grandma were here, too.

But Doris & Hemie were on our minds, as well. They live in Port Arthur, Texas, a fading refinery town right on the coast. I had called them late Thursday night; in fact, I woke Uncle Hemie up (Hemie is a nickname for Herman), scolded him about staying even for the night and encouraged them to leave.

Thankfully, they left within an hour and made it safely to the farm.

Now for the update part. I called Aunt Doris Wednesday evening, trying to locate them. I had no luck then, but happily, Aunt Doris called me back yesterday morning. We had a rapid-fire exchange for over 20 minutes, me asking questions and her answering them just as quickly back.

They got back to Port Arthur sometime late Sunday. Their house is still standing, the roof is still on (minus only ONE shingle!), the big old live oak in their backyard is alive and standing. Even the single-car carport on the hurricane-side (the east side) of their house was standing and in good shape, while Doris noted that 95% of nearby carports were damaged, if not destroyed. She thanked God while I sacriligiously noted that the standing carport was a testament to Hemie's superlative carpentry skills.

They didn't escape completely unscathed. Their step-down den, an addition sitting on a lower slab of concrete, and an adjoining "patio" which is a rustic, closed-in porch had both been inundated with six inches of water. Aunt Doris reported that the water was gone, but there was plenty of black mold, high-water marks on the wood furniture and carpeting still squishy with moisture. She said it smelled. And we didn't linger on the topic of all the frozen foods, good ol' farm sausage, shrimp and other meats they had to completely throw out -- after nineteen days of no electricity for the freezers. I told her all that can be replaced.

She said their yard was filled with debris. She briefly alluded to the fact that they spent a couple of days cleaning that up. She also credited the debris with channeling the storm surge away from their house, sparing the main living areas. (After spending a few days with them last spring though, I'd say Doris and Hemie do most of their living IN the den and the "patio." Ironic!)

As she talked, Aunt Doris expressed frustration at how long it is taking to get an insurance adjuster to the house to assess the damage. I guess not just one adjuster, but several. She noted that they had flood insurance (which I was very thankful to hear!) which requires a separate assessment. We never talked about their car or truck.

They are spending evenings and nights with Hemie's nephew(?) and wife, Doug and Sharon. Again, thank you, God, for caring family! Doris commented on how nice it was that Sharon is fixing meals for them. She also mentioned that the chemicals she's been using to clean are causing her body to itch. She said she's tried a bunch and had settled on Lysol for cleaning and removing the odor. I cautioned her on breathing that stuff too much. Her body's itchiness is already a VERY CLEAR sign of warning!

I asked about their church and their pastor. She reported that Pastor Dinger is "up" in LaGrange at Camp Lone Star. I presume he evacuated there, but we got sidetracked before I could follow up with her on that.

Just for all the folks who might be reading this, their house phone is back up and working (thanks to Uncle Hemie's sweet nature and asking the phone man "n-ah-ce and friendly"). Aunt Doris says she'd love to talk on the phone. But she also knows they've got a mighty mess on their hands and she's gonna be plenty busy for awhile.

Let's all give thanks that we still have our Aunt Doris and Uncle Hemie.

an excerpt from, "I'm at your service, Mr. DeLay"

I am unabashedly in "like" with Garrison Keillor. I like how the guy thinks and writes and exclaims!

Here's a wonderful open "letter" to Tom DeLay from GK:

This country was not built by nervous Nellies and Sunday school teachers but by bold marauders, dodgers, Sooners, buffalo hunters, forty-niners -- people who saw what they wanted and took it. You're one of them. Politics is about power. You grabbed hold of it and became King of the Republican Hill, a majority leader who knows that one can never have too much majority. I am disappointed by your attempts to beautify yourself. It's pitiful, sir, and demeaning to blow-dry your hair and try to project warmth through those drill-sergeant eyes and belt-sander voice. You're the man, sir, who redrew the map of Texas to squeeze more Republican congressmen out of it, and got Indian tribes to pay for you and yours to fly to Scotland first class and play golf, and who paid his wife as a consultant, etc., etc., etc. Personal warmth was not what got you to the dance. The rest of us tiptoe through the tulips, fearful of giving offense, but you, sir, are one brass monkey.

learning about RSS feeds

I am constantly amazed at how the web is growing, morphing, expanding.

I consider myself fairly computer-literate, but up until recently, I didn't really get the significance of RSS feeds. Maybe I still don't get them completely, but the ol' light bulb is starting to glimmer and glow.

Today, just today, I realized that I could get RSS feeds from Monster.com on job listings! As my sweet mijita will tell you, my looking for another job, well "that is a very good thing."

I'm hoping with all fingers crossed that this will help make that happen!

from USAToday: about those ol' Spartans

"QUOTE TO NOTE: 'We're not as good as what people thought we are. That team down there [referring to Michigan] still has five recruiting classes that were in the Top 10 throughout the country for the last five years. We're getting better and better, but if we don't execute to the best of our ability we're not a very good football team.' — Michigan State head coach John L. Smith on his assessment of his team during the bye week.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
THIS WEEK'S GAME: at Ohio State, Oct. 15 — There may have been time for a breather in the bye week, but there can be no let-up in intensity as the Spartans face one of the tallest tasks in the country in trying to win at Columbus.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:
QB Drew Stanton — He took the loss to Michigan hard and had an extra week to think about it before playing Ohio State. If Stanton can come through with an outstanding performance vs. the Buckeyes, he should be a serious Heisman Trophy candidate for the rest of the season.

WR Kyle Brown — Caught four passes for 53 yards against Michigan. Brown knows how to get open and is dangerous when he catches the ball in stride. He has caught 21 passes for 315 yards and two TDs.

RB Jason Teague — Freshman stud Javon Ringer has 404 yards and averages 7.9 yards per carry, but Teague can still get the job done. He had 72 yards and looked solid vs. Michigan.

DT Domata Peko — His 74-yard return of a fumble in the fourth quarter for a touchdown allowed the Spartans to tie the game and send it to overtime. Peko plays with fire and is very stout in the middle of the defensive line. He has 26 tackles, one TFL and one sack."

ROSTER REPORT: LB David Herron Jr. is still getting dizzy after coming out of the Sept. 24 game at Illinois, while fellow Kaleb Thornhill has "chronic knees." They should be ready for Ohio State. ... DL David Stanton and RB Javon Ringer are expected to recover fully from slight shoulder injuries. ... CB Irving Campbell and WR Aaron Alexander, who have spent considerable time on the bench with injuries, also are expected to re-join the team shortly.

Be outrageous ...

Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?

Good advice from Oprah's Mission Calendar Inspiration

I don't usually post about football BUT ...

Dragon Mood? -- dragon eyebrows lifted in surprise!

...Yesterday was a BIG upset day in the Big Ten.

First of all, Minnesota beat U of M. That's a reason to celebrate for any truegreen (as opposed to trueblue)Spartan! Minnesota won the game with a field goal in the last second of the game, 23-20.

Northwestern beat undefeated Wisconsin, 51-48. That's a BIG surprise!

And the biggest shocker of them all, is Penn State. Nationally-ranked #18 Penn State beat #6-ranked Ohio State in what sounds like a defensive slugfest, 17-10. Wow, Joe Paterno can still remember how to coach a winning team. Penn State is now LEADING the Big Ten with a 6-0 record! Let's hear it for the geriatrics!

Michigan State was idle yesterday. They travel to Columbus, Ohio, next week and hopefully will whoop the Buckeyes for a second time in two weeks.

Go State! Beat the Buckeyes!

More on Ms. Miers

Dragon Mood? -- the choices are what?

I found this in the Houston Chronicle, written by Ellen Goodman from the Boston Globe:

The one thing we know for sure is that the Texan is a certified FOG, Friend of George. In this case, the acronym is all too apt.

In the last days, she's been described as the president's "work wife," "pit bull," "fixer," and "a capable indentured servant of the Bush family." The word that has now attached itself to her hem is "crony." As one Republican strategist griped to Slate, the choice was "Crony or wing nut? Crony or wing nut? OK, this time we'll go with the crony."

It's progress of a sort when a woman can be called a "crony." It's better than being called a crone. [I beg your pardon!] But I am reminded of what Ruth Bader Ginsburg said last week when asked whether she wanted another woman on the bench. Yes, she said, but "any woman will not do. ... Some women who might be appointed would not advance human rights or women's rights."

Well said, Ms. Ginsburg!

Bush and SCOTUS nominee Harriet Miers

Dragon Mood? -- is there no limit to this man's audacious stupidity?

from Daily Kos:

Cheers and Jeers: Thursday
By Bill in Portland Maine

Harriett Miers, meet the late-night crew...

"Big news this morning at the White House, President Bush defended his nominee, Harriet Miers, calling her 'plenty bright.' Not only that, but then the president said Miers has 'real purdy hair.' Then he got on a mule and headed south."
-- Conan O'Brien

"She's never been a judge before...never served on the bench. This is part of President Bush's strategy of surrounding himself with people who are also in over their heads." --Jay Leno

"Welcome to the 'Late Show,' ladies and gentlemen. It's like the Supreme Court, anyone can get in here."
--David Letterman

"As you might expect some people are criticizing the pick, especially conservative Republicans who worry that Harriet Miers is too liberal. Other critics say she's not a good pick because she hasn't been a judge before. Uh, had Paula Abdul been a judge before? Nobody had a problem when they picked her."
--Jimmy Kimmel

"Well, certainly the president can claim executive privilege. But in the this case, I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can't play, you know, Hide the Salami, or whatever it's called."
--Howard Dean on Hardball

And, as usual, the political cartoonists waste no ink. [See below for an example.]Y'know, it's just too easy. Like shooting cronies in a barrel...

------------------- ~ -- ~ -- ~ ------------------------

On a more serious note, I was stunned to hear about this comment from George F. Will, the conservative columnist:

... It is not important that she be confirmed because there is no evidence that she is among the leading lights of American jurisprudence, or that she possesses talents commensurate with the Supreme Court's tasks. The president's "argument" for her amounts to: Trust me. There is no reason to, for several reasons.

He has neither the inclination nor the ability to make sophisticated judgments about competing approaches to construing the Constitution. Few presidents acquire such abilities in the course of their pre-presidential careers, and this president particularly is not disposed to such reflections.

Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that Miers's nomination resulted from the president's careful consultation with people capable of such judgments. If 100 such people had been asked to list 100 individuals who have given evidence of the reflectiveness and excellence requisite in a justice, Miers's name probably would not have appeared in any of the 10,000 places on those lists...

Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle!

Dragon Mood? -- Confusion; what's blogging again???

The last time I blogged was Monday, September 19th. Today is Wednesday, October 5th. That's two weeks and two days!

Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle -- that's sixteen days without blogging!

So much has happened in the past couple of weeks, where to start?

Sarah and Matt are now an old married couple. They were married on Saturday, September 24th. It was a wedding with:

• humor (a "unity" candle that refused to light!),
  
• elegance (a ballroom replete with pearly pillar candles encased in hurricane lamps, red rose petals, hundreds of twinkle lights and finally, jacquard-sashed white-covered chairs),
  
• tolerance (S and I danced as a couple with the other "parental unit" couples) and
• loads of fun (mugging for the camera, drinking, smoking cigars and dancing til our feet ached!).

We partied until after three a.m. Then we crashed.

Sunday was more partying, hugging new "family" members, watching Matt and Sarah open wedding gifts.

For some, Sunday was hangover recovery time and/or travel time. Sadly, Yosh and Lina had to leave and head back to the "other side of the lake." (insert sad, frowning Mamacita emoticon here.) Lina avowed she was feeling fine and then hurried into the bathroom to puke her guts out. Then she again vowed she was fine! What a lying, denying wench!

Sunday evening was crash time, sleeping, wakening with that heavily drugged feeling, and then falling back to sleep for another twelve hours! It's safe to say I don't function well on four and five hours of sleep for three or four nights running!

Monday was all about preparation for S's surgery. Last minute errands, phone calls, handling details. Monday afternoon we spent with Sally and Grandma, including seeing the film, An Unfinished Life, with Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Lopez. It was an unhyped film, but I liked its quiet, reflective feel. Themes included the idea of family and forgiveness.

Tuesday was S's surgery. Without going into a lot of detail, it went well. Better than I had dared hope. Thank you, God!

Wednesday, she was inundated with visitors. Fourteen to be exact, including me. Too many!

Friday, I brought her home, feeling like a mother bear who needs to protect a weak, vulnerable cub. Stay away! Leave us alone! OR I'LL RIP YOUR FACE OFF!

This past Saturday was the big game: Michigan State up against its arch, instate rival, U of M. (Heavy sigh) Suffice to say that MSU's field goal kickers blew not one, but TWO chances to win the game. Final score: UofM 44, MSU 41. Now we have to listen to all those blowhard asshole fans for yet another year! ArrrghhhH!

Yesterday, Matt and Sarah came out to visit and have dinner. Matt, bless his heart, cleaned the ubiquitous pine needles out of our gutters, and used the leaf blower up on the roof. He also clipped away some tree branches that were brushing the roof. We fixed burgers and a nice, mixed-greens salad for dinner. They left by 7 p.m. because they're in the middle of a big painting project at their house.

I downloaded 70 to 80 more wedding photos from friends and family of Sarah and Matt. I've got plenty of photo fodder for Photoshop. On-the-job training is how I'm looking at it!

Which brings me to today.

Relaxing, drinking coffee, surfing the web, and what else, posting to my favorite blog, calypsoDragon13!

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Hey, I'm Wendish and we know all Wends have a little pirate blood in their veins. To that end, check out this site:

Talking like a pirate is fun. It's really that simple.

It gives your conversation a swagger, an elán, denied to landlocked lubbers. The best explanation came from a guy at a Cleveland radio station who interviewed us on the 2002 Talk Like a Pirate Day. He told us we were going to be buried by people asking for interviews because it was a "whimsical alternative" to all the serious things that were making the news so depressing.

In other words, silliness is the holiday's best selling point.

ArrrgghHHH! That be the truth, matey!

Sunday morning catch-up

Dragon Mood? -- catching my dragon breath! Whew!

I can hardly believe that I haven't posted since last Sunday (the previous post really doesn't count). I guess it has been a busy week!

Since last Sunday ...

• I worked 40 hours.
• Requested time off for S's surgery ... and now, there's some question as to whether it will happen (gulp!).
  
• Received 3 physical therapy treatments, including ultrasound and wonderful deep heat for my upper back.
• Took a three-hour lunch to accompany S to a local eyeglass store to supposedly pick out frames. She got an eye exam and three pairs of glasses; I got a cholesterol-laden lunch at Wendy's. Oh, well (...sigh). I guess that's what love is all about.
  
• Sat with my honey in our favorite plastic Adirondacks and watched the moon approaching, approaching, approaching its full moon status.
• Worked on Prelude III from Bach's English Suites. I have a long way to go!
• Assembled four (count 'em, four) pages of jokes and funny stories to regale Tom, the birthday boy, with at our evening out. Thanks to Lina and her friend, Ron, for those!
  
• Went to dinner with our pied-a-terre neighbors, Jan and Tom. We celebrated Tom's 59th birthday and (choke, choke) I bought our dinners.
• Struggled with my iPAQ, which is still not functioning very well. After its week-long strobe light activity, the battery seems anemic and doesn't hold charges for very long. I MUST call Hewlett-Packard customer support.
• Enjoyed a lovely, quiet evening with S on Friday night, replete with leftovers from our birthday dinnner the night before, watching "What Not to Wear" and Bill Maher's "Real Time;" AND ... taking a moonlit bicycle ride with the dog around the pine tree neighborhood. What a gorgeous night! The sky was this graduated color of surprisingly light blue to deep, dark blue. The moon donned her brightest dress for the occasion! It felt like a gift witnessing it.
  
• Bought cute, crafty little glass bowls and floater candles for the upcoming rehearsal dinner. They will be sitting onvery proper little white paper doilies and enhanced by floating red glitter sequins. Stay tuned for the post-rehearsal update!
• After three weekends of procrastination, we filled the entire bed of the truck with empty beer bottles and returned them all! I have yet to tally the final total but it was definitely over $30.00. That's over 300 beer bottles, folks!
  
• Watched a heart-pounding, chest-clutching football thriller between our beloved Spartans and Notre Dame. In an overtime that I still don't know or understand the rules of (and since when does college football have overtime???), MSU beat the Fighting Irish, 44-41! Hurray!!!
  

Now, as to what's coming up this week, here's a short list:

• Today, I give the dog a bath. The silly girl rolled in some "doggy perfume" and she stinks! Then, laundry, tidying up and some much-needed vacuuming and dust bunny-chasing, in anticipation of our house guests.
• I return to the pied-a-terre and work for 3-and-a-half days. S is on vacation this week, sadly chewed up by pre-op and CAT scan procedures for her thyroid.
• Two more physical therapy treatments.
• A haircut and styling Thursday afternoon. I want "soft and feminine" this time, not "summer short."
• Welcoming Lina and Yosh home late Thursday night after a nine-month long absence! I can't wait to put my arms around them.
• Also welcoming Sally and Grandma Thursday evening. We always have fun with them.
• Friday is the day before the wedding. Some last-minute stuff like taking the dog to the vet's for boarding, but I want to spend what little precious time I have with my sweet kidlets.
• Friday evening is the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Hopefully, that will go smoothly, the candles will float and burn, creating an intimate, "en famille"* feel and everyone will have a good time.
• Saturday is the BIG DAY! Matt and Sarah's wedding! We will caravan over to the hotel, settle in, and get ready for the big day.
• Camera, coffeepot, bloody Mary-fixin's, hangover bread ... I need to make a list! Don't forget band-aids for blistered feet not used to sexy, dancing shoes!
  
• Wedding at three, hors d'oeuvres at five, reception at six!
• Hopefully, next Sunday I'll post about S's upcoming surgery.

~ -------- ~ --------- ~

* I had to check my spelling and usage. From The Free Dictionary:

Adv. 1. en famille - in a causal way; at home; "we'll have dinner en famille"

Digital photography tips

From Top Ten Digital Photography Tips by Derrick Story:

You have a digital camera and have taken the typical shots of family and friends. Now what? Here are ten tips to make your next batch of digital images so impressive that people will ask: "Hey, what type of camera do you have?"

Guess what? It's not the camera.

post-bachelorette party

Dragon Mood? -- chuckling with amazement

Last night, I went to my first, my very first bachelorette party. What an experience! I told Yosh this morning on the phone, now I know what it feels like to be an anthropologist in some far-off place like Papua New Guinea, observing some exotic tribal rituals!

S and I got to Jody's house, the maid of honor, late. There were at least 20 or 25 women there, a much larger group than I was anticipating. Sarah, the bride, was opening "dirty" gifts, things like edible underwear, penis shot glasses and penis lollipops. By the time she was finished, Sarah was wearing a white fur-trimmed tiara with flashing lights, some other flashing-light thing around her neck along with several shot glasses on strings, a black feather boa and a bumper sticker saying something about cowboys and cute asses. Oh yes, and she had a hairband thing with two little red glittery penises swinging about on top of her head. Funny and amazing!

As all these women piled into a Big Daddy taxi van, S and I followed in our car and we headed to a country-western place called Cactus Juice. There were all of ten people in the joint when we walked in. But I was amazed to watch the cowboy bouncers and cowboy staff as they watched all these young, nubile women enter. I told Yosh it was like watching bees around a bunch of new flowers. They practically began buzzing with energy. (laughing) Sorry, that didn't sound very anthropologist-like, did it? The men staffers at this bar definitely took notice and an interest in all the young women.

The dance music was a little on the lame side, although S and I did dance to one Elvis song and another one where we tried to do the two-step. Jody and one other girl rode the mechanical bull which elicited everyone's interest. Sarah's mom bought two rounds of apple Pucker shots, which thankfully S and I bypassed. I stuck to Mich Ultra and S drank Coronas with limes.

Then we headed to a place near campus called the Silver Dollar. Any student who's ever attended MSU will know that name. As dead as the other place was, that's how jumpin' the Dollar was. It was crowded and got more crowded as the night went on. The band was awful. In a word, everyone said, "This band sucks!" When the band finished their set, that was when the real dancing began!

S and I danced, all the young women danced, everybody danced. There was dirty-dancing with lots of hip grinding, arm waving, butt thrusting and what I would call mild groping. Men who were strangers came up to women and began dancing, not face-to-face but behind them. S actually rescued Sarah's aunt who got groped by some young stranger.

One of the most memorable dances was towards the end of our evening. I had gone outside with one young woman, Carrie, who is about six or seven months pregnant and needed some air. So did I. I needed air and a reprieve from the loudness of the music. When we reentered, my mission was to grab S, say our goodbyes and leave. Instead, the dance floor was packed and everyone was singing along to some song that ended the chorus with "Pussy Control." And everyone dancing seemed to know the words, "pussy control."

Amazingly, I woke up with that music and those words in my head this morning: "pussy control." I since looked it up online and found it's a song by TAFKA (the artist formerly known as) Prince. Here's an excerpt from here:

... Now say it, Pussy Control (Are U ready?)

Aaah, Pussy Control, oh
Aaah, Pussy Control, oh

And the moral of this motherf---er is
Ladies, make'em act like they know
U are, was, and always will be Pussy Control (Are U ready?)
Peace and be wild (Aaah, Pussy Control)

Say what, huh? (Oh)
Oh no, don't U think about callin' her a ho (Are U ready?)
U juvenile delinquent
Best sit your ass down
Talkin' about Pussy Control
Huh, can U dig it?

Aaah, Pussy Control (Are U ready?)
Oh (Are U ready?)

Aaah, Pussy Control (Are U ready?)
Oh (Are U ready?)

So, I'm no longer a bachelorette-party virgin and I can say I had a damn good time. Better than I ever anticipated!

Early Saturday afternoon

Dragon Mood? -- Body-check: dragon system thrumming with energy!

I've been sitting here at the computer for TOO long.

I need to get my sweet dragon ass in GEAR!

I have one large, scrumptious zucchini quietly waiting in the vegetable drawer of the fridge. I want to make zucchini bread!

There are five turkey Italian sausage also in the fridge waiting to be made into my version of Zatarain's Jambalaya with fresh tomatoes, zucchini and yellow summer squash and of course, some heat!

The Spartans are taking on Hawaii on TV in a couple of hours. I'd like to catch at least a little of the game!

And ... it's a simply gorgeous day outside. I want to sit out on the deck!

In the infamous words of a ubiquitous bladder-control meds commercial: "Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now!"

I hope this is true

Dragon Mood? -- disappointed but stalwartly hopeful

I know that all the media pundits are saying that Schwarzeneggar is going to veto the same-sex legislation that passed both houses of the California legislature ... BUT, some day it will happen.

Here's an excerpt from an article that made me feel better ... and more hopeful:

Social conservatives in California are feeling pretty cheerful now that the governor has said he will veto the same-sex marriage bill. And yes, across the country, 11 states, including California, have passed bans on same-sex marriage.

But here's some advice: Enjoy it now. It isn't going to last.

The right wing is missing a powerful, building undercurrent. Simply put, at this point, much of the younger generation has probably gone to school with openly gay peers. They also see them in the workplace and even in their neighborhoods. And they don't seem that scary.

...[from] Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who wrote the same-sex marriage bill...

"Those over 65 oppose same-sex marriage,'' Leno says. "But those under 35 support it -- and more strongly than those over 65 oppose it.''

While the battle for legal same-sex marriage may rage for years, it seems clear there is a general shift toward support of committed relationships between same-sex partners.

I hope sooner rather than later. It can't happen too soon as far as I'm concerned!

More on Backpack

Dragon Mood? -- dragons love to COLLECT THINGS in backpack!

I find that I use Backpack most at work. S bought me a very nice iPAQ which I use when I have an "Aha!" moment all the other times. The iPAQis currently still in recovery from an almost terminal strobe-light attack (more on that some other time).

So, let me recap:

• I like to use Backpack at work because I'm already at the computer and online.

• I like to use my iPAQ for all the other times I need to capture something to remember, brilliant ideas to explore and/or just to play with the software. And, it needs to be said, the iPAQ definitely has its limitations, especially on data input.

Currently in Backpack, because I have a free account, I'm limited to five pages. For now, that is sufficient. I DO appreciate that the folks at 37signals allow people like myself to explore and play with their product. If it was a "pay only" thing, I know that I wouldn't.

My pages now include a page on medical prescription costs (which I'm trying to track for next year -- another post), a page of quotations that I like, a page on future job dreaming and envisioning and finally, a page on an imaginary world (when reality REALLY is getting to me). I think that is four pages. It seems like I read somewhere that the 37signals folk don't count your home page, which is very nice and generous of them.

Backpack also enables you to email stuff to each of your pages. Each page has an individualized address like "frederic78cynthia@calypsodragon13.backpackit.com" I've tested that functionality out a bit and it works (hurray!) and is useful (even better!).

I use to have an account at Squarespace which I have allowed to lapse. The creator of Squarespace has his own blog and he posted about Backpack. I'm not going to quote it here, but he did question whether Backpack is functional when you're working fast and furious and want to note something for future reference. He admitted that he usually uses Notepad for quick and dirty notations.

Bye Michael! Hello, Thad!

Dragon Mood? -- happy

Hurray! FEMA national director Michael Brown has been sent packing ... back to Washington D.C. In the words of Michael Chertoff, he has been relieved of his duties relative to Katrina and sent back to Washington to focus his attention on national duties of FEMA, including preparing for the next natural disaster or terrorist attack.

Replacing him is Coast Guard Chief Vice Admiral Thad Allen. I watched him at a news conference, and believe you me, even in that short five minutes, I felt like here's a person who can DO THE JOB!

The folks of the Gulf Coast deserve no less!

Comparing the blog looks

Dragon Mood? -- scratching my dragon temple

What do YOU think?


...or THIS one?

To strike or not to strike

Dragon Mood? -- ???

I just re-enabled added the ability to strike through text and I want to see if it is now enabled it works.

Dershowitz on Rehnquist

Dragon Mood? -- troubled dragon

S and I had just finished watching a video Saturday night. She had the remote. She was channel-surfing and landed on Fox News. YeeechhhHH! I hate Fox News! They were doing a phone interview with, of all people, Alan Dershowitz, the well-known, champion-of-the-underdog Harvard law professor. The ticker at the bottom of the television screen was announcing Rehnquist's death. Dershowitz' comment that caught my ear was "he was a Republican thug." I listened more, fascinated by Dershowitz' comments.

I wanted to hear more so today I googled Dershowitz Rehnquist fox. I found this posting on Ariana Huffington's website, again of all places!!:

My mother always told me that when a person dies, one should not say anything bad about him. My mother was wrong. History requires truth, not puffery or silence, especially about powerful governmental figures. And obituaries are a first draft of history.

So here’s the truth about Chief Justice Rehnquist you won’t hear on Fox News or from politicians. Chief Justice William Rehnquist set back liberty, equality, and human rights perhaps more than any American judge of this generation. His rise to power speaks volumes about the current state of American values.

Let’s begin at the beginning. Rehnquist bragged about being first in his class at Stanford Law School. Today Stanford is a great law school with a diverse student body, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it discriminated against Jews and other minorities, both in the admission of students and in the selection of faculty. Justice Stephen Breyer recalled an earlier period of Stanford’s history: “When my father was at Stanford, he could not join any of the social organizations because he was Jewish, and those organizations, at that time, did not accept Jews.” Rehnquist not only benefited in his class ranking from this discrimination; he was also part of that bigotry. When he was nominated to be an associate justice in 1971, I learned from several sources who had known him as a student that he had outraged Jewish classmates by goose-stepping and heil-Hitlering with brown-shirted friends in front of a dormitory that housed the school’s few Jewish students. He also was infamous for telling racist and anti-Semitic jokes.

The young Rehnquist began his legal career as a Republican functionary by obstructing African-American and Hispanic voting at Phoenix polling locations (“Operation Eagle Eye”). ... In a word, he started out his political career as a Republican thug.

Rehnquist later bought a home in Vermont with a restrictive covenant that barred sale of the property to ''any member of the Hebrew race.”

Rehnquist’s judicial philosophy was result-oriented, activist, and authoritarian. He sometimes moderated his views for prudential or pragmatic reasons, but his vote could almost always be predicted based on who the parties were, not what the legal issues happened to be [my emphasis]. He generally opposed the rights of gays, women, blacks, aliens, and religious minorities. He was a friend of corporations, polluters, right wing Republicans, religious fundamentalists, homophobes, and other bigots.

Rehnquist served on the Supreme Court for thirty-three years and as chief justice for nineteen. Yet no opinion comes to mind which will be remembered as brilliant, innovative, or memorable. [my emphasis] He will be remembered not for the quality of his opinions but rather for the outcomes decided by his votes, especially Bush v. Gore [again my emphasis], in which he accepted an Equal Protection claim that was totally inconsistent with his prior views on that clause. He will also be remembered as a Chief Justice who fought for the independence and authority of the judiciary. This is his only positive contribution to an otherwise regressive career. ...

Day Four of my four-day weekend

Dragon Mood? -- lamenting

... lamenting to S that not having to go to work is so nice! Not that I wouldn't work; just not having to.

Saturday was a lovely day. Irene gave me a massage which I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated. Actually, I truly appreciated and gave thanks for the ability to take a hot, hot shower before getting my massage. I swung by the township's friendly farmers' market and bought some tomatoes for S; she LOVES sun-ripened tomatoes! I made a big pot of navy bean soup Saturday afternoon while S visited with our neighbor, Bill B. out on the deck. He's elderly and lonely and we enjoy talking with him.

Saturday night, we watched a couple of videos: newly released, "Guess Who," with Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher (it made me laugh); and the classic, "Anatomy of a Murder" starring James Stewart, Lee Remick and Ben Gazzarra. It was directed by Otto Preminger and featured music by Duke Ellington. The movie was rather long, but I thoroughly enjoyed the musical score.

Yesterday, Sunday, was a long, languorous and lovely day. The weather was as perfect as one could ask for: sunny, about eighty degrees and just a little breeze. S and I sat out on the deck until it got too hot. I spent time sitting here at the computer, playing in Photoshop. I had a ball! You can see some of my work at flickr.

S went over to Mark and Lindsey's house to help Mark with a wood-repairing project. I finally talked with Dad and Evelyn around six. We had been playing phone tag for a week, trying to make contact!

Last night, we ate second-day bean soup (even better than the first day!) and watched two more videos: the infamous "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next" with the incomparable Jack Nicholson and "Ocean's Twelve" with George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. Loved the first one (I had forgotten the rather dramatic and sad ending) and was disappointed in the second one. I hope to Betsy there isn't an "Ocean's Thirteen!"

Today, I need to haul five 50-pound bags of water softener salt in and down to the basement. That will be my upper body workout for today! I want to shred a whopper of a zucchini and make some zucchini bread. I want to sit out on the deck and listen to the fountain some more!

Maybe talk to mijita and mijito?? I miss their smiling faces and how much we laugh when we're together!

Tonight, S and I will head back to the pied-a-terre for a short work week. Back to work and the salt mines!

Times-Picayune editorial

Dragon Mood? -- embarrassed by our Administration

Let me say, I wouldn't have been so kind. Or non-sarcastic.

As reported by CNN,

"The Times-Picayune of New Orleans printed this editorial in its Sunday edition, criticizing the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina and calling on every FEMA official to be fired:"

An open letter to the President

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we're going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It's accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city's multiple points of entry, our nation's bureaucrats spent days after last week's hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city's stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don't know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city's death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren't they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn't suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn't have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn't known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We've provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they've gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don't get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You're doing a heck of a job."

That's unbelievable. [my emphasis]

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We're no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn't be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.