Boy is an absolute hurricane of activity/usefulness! Garbage burned, light socket fixed, floorboard shimmed, first coat of plaster on the outside wall, dogfood in keeper, leaves blown away, floor vacuumed, dog walked/played with and generally entertained, skylight cleared/washed, weatherstripping to three doors and skylight--I can't have birthed this chile--must be a changling, lol! And hasn't got water yet, even.
29º with a predicted high of 32º. Low tonight of 14º, so the tightening is welcomed.
Beau loves having him around; boy adores boy, grin.
And in and around all this, some sweet conversations.
yay puddle - just in time! it was lovely in the 50s here for a few days but will be 20s and 30s for a week or so - it will probably just drop from here.
Seeing as how HE did alla work, don't see why I am so tired. Gotta clear my bed off before I can even lie down, lol! But: the desk is downstairs, after a couple of years of wishing it so, going to transfer the computer over, and use this library table for a kitchen table -- it's about 150 years old, and I truly love it, but it's just getting too fragile for the heavy duty use I give it!
oops--that anon was your GSO friend. Still punch drunk from a fabulous concert at Puddle's favorite theatre --The Triad. Lauralynn Dosset, Rhiannon Giddens of Carolina Chocolate Drops, Mike Compton from forever and Joe Newberry old time Piedmont area composer, banjo player. The most amazing music--these four make based around Thanksgiving and Christmas themes.
I am NOT moving from my perch above Elm street in the middle of GSO.Planted here like a tree--in brick and cement :)
Complainers are still at it on various blogs--"WHY should WE pay for Hurricane Sandy clean-up?" No hope for them.
Good night all--glad work is getting done by Puddle's Kiddle. Every Mother should be so lucky as to have a Kiddle--or a Brenda!
What joy to have grown children who love and help their parents. Thank you for sharing, Puddle, Shirlee. Warms the old heart cockles, it does.
Thanksgiving was a pleasure, four grandgirls, two sets of grandparents. What an amazing life we've all had and to be alive and interacting now, just wonderful.
Still so grateful and thrilled that we have President Obama and more Democrats. The latest Newsweek magazines analyze the Republican Party, and if they don't "enlighten up" they are moribund.
Paul Begala talks about the disrespect they have for the American voter with their lies, repressive and backward policies. Frankly, I'd like to see a sane, moderate, and vital Republican Party. A variety of perspectives and diversity can improve us.
Also, an article on our infrastructure to which we contribute less than 2% of our budget. Germany contributes 7% and China 9%. If we don't begin the repair, rebuilding, and renovation, we will see more and more destruction and the cost to repair that is many times what improvement now costs.
The old no taxes mantra is delusional. Nothing is free.
Guess I'm pontificating, but I'd so like to see sanity, reason, and thinking about the future in our politics again.
Another wildfire about 20 miles from us, the Carter Lake fire (not sure if that's what they'll call it), and the air smells smokey.
The drought covers 60% of the country, 80% of crops. I wonder, will we become desert like Iraq?
But, today is a new day, and it is great to be alive, to have friends, to have the generosity of this blog.
Just a note: I retired at 62. I would have tried disability, but hadn't worked enough in the previous decade to qualify (I'd taken several years off to build this house so I *could* retire at all. . . . When the Congestive Heart Failure made it impossible TO work, I really had no choice.
Wait!!! I don't get it--DFA NOW wants to start a BLOG? We had one, they let it slide and be degraded and eventually abandoned it. What's with this? I'm sticking with Jo!
This morning Ally was rushed to the hospital in the back of an ambulance. Just before eating breakfast Ally went limp and was unresponsive. She was spending the night with Grammie and Grampa Schulte, so they called 911 and the ambulance was at their house quickly.
They remembered when Ally was unresponsive with us over a year ago, so they thought to make the EMTs check her blood sugar right away. It was 39. The paramedics pulled into the driveway soon after that and transferred her over to them. They gave her an IV and a big dose of dextrose. By the time they were off Grammie and Grampa's road Ally was coming around.
She ended up spending around 2 hours in the ER (her shortest time in the ER ever). The ER doctor called up to DHMC (He was very impressed with Ally's oncologist!) and we will need to call the endocrinologist tomorrow and set up an appointment.
Ally is doing fine now, and I think Grammie and Grampa are going to be okay too...she scared them something fierce. They did everything right, and we have a plan for her next sleep over.
Hopefully the rest of the month will be less dramatic. I will be sure to update after our endo appointment and when I know more about the procedure to take out Ally's port.
Listener--was just following Puddle's link to DFA--came to her via Tom Bearse I think. Yep it looked like they HAVE a blog and are urging people to participate. Link is in Puddle's post earlier today "to the Organizers."
The mountain is hidden in clouds, and we need moisture so badly. Yet, only a 10% prediction of snow.
Irony is sweet, or is that my shadenfreude? I am so thankful. We escaped more than a bullet, a disaster in the making. When Reagan's old budget director said in a Newsweek article that Romney wasn't fit to be President, and when Edward Kennedy said that Romney would say anything to get elected, that told me that Romney was a dangerous man, more so than Bush W. who didn't have a brain.
David Stockman: Mitt Romney and the Bain Drain - Newsweek and ... www.thedailybeast.com/.../david-stockman-mitt-romney-and-the-bai... Oct 15, 2012 – Ronald Reagan's budget director takes a scalpel to Romney's claims ... Ronald Reagan's budget director, David Stockman, takes a scalpel to ...
Well, y'all don't blame NC non 50% on me! Everyone I know here is a Dem--and even the jewelry store owner below voted Dem for the first time in her life!
Lovely, sunny day here but seemed cold last night.
Ah, Pat, what a difference 10% more makes...apparently:
Well, I was supposed to lead my peer group meeting and meet with my spiritual guide today in Concord NH. It was snowing here ("20% chance of snow flurries") pretty heavily, though not windy and the weather in Concord was sunny and in the 40's. As I was packing up to go, my husband Bill (who'd left for his half hour drive to work about an hour before) called to say he was sitting in stopped traffic on the Interstate. It had been stopped for so long that some people were getting out of their cars. It turned out that the roads were coated in black ice and many cars couldn't make it up various hills. There were a number of accidents, and last I heard one death. It took him two hours to get to work, so I called a Concord member of the peer group, and he kindly lead in my stead. None of it was predicted, but with ice all bets are off. Bill said eventually a police cruiser came up through the middle of the two lanes of traffic, and everyone skooched over, so a sand and salt truck could come through and salt the hill. It was the only truck of the sort he saw, all the way to work. Bleah.
Oh, I am doing fine--just finally recouped from a busy week-end. Sunday Brenda found a bit of a leak under the disposal. E-mailed the manager, and yesterday the maintenance man was right here--and tightened a couple of screws--no leak!
At this point in my life I love not having to prod someone--hubby or landlady to get after it and then paying for it. This is heaven--2nd floor!
Off to walk across the street and get my scraggly hair cut. Stay warm all.
...and did spend a good chunk of yesterday with a book I had pulled off my shelf. "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick. I think I picked up from a Daedalus catalog. It is a well written, accurate, weel told story of the Pilgrims from the time they left Holland. Excellent.
Just watched president Obama's speech in Iowa given the day before the election. What a speaker, visionary, man, PRESIDENT! I have not felt this happy with a president since John Kennedy.
Kimmy came excellently through her surgery today! wOOt!! <3
"Off to walk across the street and get my scraggly hair cut."
LOL! Why would you want a scraggly haircut? ;-) I'm getting mine cut on Friday. I do so every 5 weeks and it's not the 5th week until the 13th, but already the bangs are way too long. It's hat weather!
Somewhere just past thirty years old, I got tired of training new beauticians to *ACTUALLY* do what I asked, and learned to cut my own dang hair. At first, it involved a large mirror and an easel. . . But finally learned to do the back just by feel. One of the more freedomfying things I've ever learned. But for the last twenty, only cut my bangs. The rest just falls out on the gene-programmed schedule, lol!
Shirlee, I agree about getting stuff done when one needs it. Without nagging, grin. That was one of the bigger problems in my first marriage: I could *eventually* get done what needed doing, but I *hated* who it was turning me into. Dealing with passive aggressives can drive you krezzy, no kidding.
Never doubted kimmy would do just fine: with that endlessly excellent attitude, how NOT to?
The President is at 50.88% and Mitt's at 47.40%. In the best of all possible worlds for me, the President makes it to 51%, and Mitt doesn't drop below 47% -- in fact, a *perfect* 47% would be perfect! He should have that number hung around his neck till he dies. No one deserves it more.
In the lists of people the Republican have alienated, but not often mentioned is Muslims. . . .
Was listening to early Charlotte radio last night. The two hosts were asking WHY people were buying guns and bullets? None of the answers was less than nuts, and the hosts gently treated them as such, without just laughing out loud. Nice to hear, it was. Reason one: since it's his second term, and he's a lame duck, he's going to come and take everyone's gun away. Number two: when he's ruined the economy, and everyone is starving, all your friends from New York and Richmond are going to come to take what you have. So you have to be able to kill them. All answers were variations on those two.
Good Afternoon, Friends. Yes, for the Prez to achieve 51% of the vote would be sweet indeed.
I just finished reading my friend Joyce Gellhorn's memoir, Aspen Dreams. It is so well done. It's almost like hiking with her in the Rocky Mountains. I learned about a variety of species but particularly the aspen, my favorite tree. They are called the Mother Tree, the oldest species on earth and more widespread than any other tree. That's not to say they are the longest lived, like the Sequoias, but they've been here longer than any other.
I'm reminded of Henry David Thoreau's words: “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”
That was Joyce. Despite tragedies in her life, she was resilient, generous, and in love with nature and friends. It's worth reading for the feel of a whole life, an honest recollection and nature as an integral part.
Well, off for the movies. Tony Kushner (Angels in America) wrote the screenplay and Spielberg produced it, Lincoln.
Just a note before I take my tired body off to bed.
I know we all know this--but what would have happened to the Democratic Party and our chance to have a President Obama without Howard Dean and all the Deaniacs? It was an amazing movement.
Lincoln the Movie Directed by Steven Spielberg, Screenplay by Tony Kushner
I remember watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind in a movie theater in Boulder. When the spaceship became visible, began to land, the theater went silent. You could almost hear the indrawn breaths, the awe as if we were watching a miracle. There was a temple like quality to the theater that afternoon, as if we were experiencing something so deep, so longed for that all we could do was look and wonder.
Carl Sagan called us “Star Stuff,” and human history is a record of exploration and discovery. I’ve read of the Mars Society planning for when the sun grows too hot for sustaining life on earth and we need to move to the planet Mars. The ongoing efforts to discover livable planets, to analyze the soils and chemical makeup of Mars are indicative of humanity’s longing for understanding, for knowing who we are, what the universe is made of and our destiny.
There was a similar response of indrawn breath in the audience, a moment of stopping time in the movie Lincoln. It was not mainly about the battles and firestorm of war, but of an extraordinary personality and time in our history. Lincoln has just been re-elected. He insists on Congress passing the 13th Amendment which outlaws ownership and subjugation of human beings, of slavery and serfdom.
Many in his cabinet, and initially his wife Mary, are opposed. They want him to end the war and let Congress deal with freeing the slaves after the war is over. But, Lincoln is insistent. He says that if the slavery issue is not resolved, there will be no peace with the surrender of the South.
What we see is the personality of a man deeply ethical, with a vision for the future of the United States and humanity. He is philosophical and religious, tells stories rather than engage in harsh rhetoric or argumentation. And, as we know, racism is engrained; the whole economy of the South is built on the labor of slaves. Congressmen cite the Bible for justification of slavery and can’t seem to muster the courage to stand apart from their party.
Interestingly enough the Republicans are the party in favor of abolishing slavery, are referred to as radicals, and it’s the Democrats who are unable to accept the idea of equality among races.
What we see in the movie is how Congress works, given a momentous time in history that will affect this nation as long as it endures, how polarized, how difficult the issue is, and how the President and his supporters respond. The vote is so close, the audience is riveted.
The hostilities, arguments, and conflicts continue, and then there is that moment when we hear the President has been shot. The audience in the theater is utterly silent. You can feel the shock and grief.
Daniel Day Louis is magnificent as Lincoln, totally believable. Sally Fields as Mary Lincoln is also wonderful. Tony Kushner who wrote the play, Angels in America, has written a screenplay so real, so absorbing that you feel as if you are witnessing history and observing a President unlike any we’ve had before.
Since schools don’t teach civics much anymore, I’d recommend every student, every citizen see this amazing movie. It tells us who we are and how we are, and how close we come to choosing between moral decline and justice.
A young friend of ours--one of Brenda's employees is alover of all things Lincoln. She just saw this here in GSO--loved it and declared it accurate. Thanks, Pat.
I wonder how much snow we have now. When I got home from work at 8pm we had 6" of snow, and it was still falling. Beautiful! But oh so cold...17.4F presently.
♥♥♥ Shirlee! Your words were "hair cut" and I read it as "haircut." I was just making a silly statement based on a play on words. Not intended seriously at all!! ♥♥♥
Bill has been a little concerned about the movie Lincoln. His concern is that it might not be a good thing to show a movie in which a President is assassinated given all the death threats against our current President.
Those of you who have seen the movie...tell me why we don't need to feel concerned, because I really want to see the movie.
hi listener! I understand Bill's concern, but the movie is out there, good or bad. I don't really understand why you 'don't need to feel concerned' in order to see it. GO! it is a wonderful piece of history and hopefully it will move people who see it to care more for this country, maybe understand the working of their gov't a little better. GO! ;)
Agree with Jo here--the crazies are out there no matter what--and this is not a rabble rousing movie. I take great comfort in the fact that President Obama is well and thoroughly protected. My grandson-in-law has worked for the SS--they take their jobs VERY seriously. If you see photos of crowds around the Prez you will always spot several SS men--watching, watching, watching.
Yay, indeed! Brenda was here this evening for our usual Friday night dinner and agreed to try and teach me a new way to do e-mail--involving cutting and pasting which i have never been good at--but might make it with some practice!
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration summarizes October 2012:
The average temperature across land and ocean surfaces during October was 14.63°C (58.23°F). This is 0.63°C (1.13°F) above the 20th century average and ties with 2008 as the fifth warmest October on record. The record warmest October occurred in 2003 and the record coldest October occurred in 1912. This is the 332nd consecutive month with an above-average temperature.
Emphasis added. If you were born in or after April 1985, if you are right now 27 years old or younger, you have never lived through a month that was colder than average. That’s beyond astonishing.
The average temperature for Nov. here in Colorado was 20 degrees above normal. The Fern Lake Fire in Rocky Mountain National park has doubled to 4000 acres. The air is smokey. The southern entrance to the park is closed.
Puddle, I agree with you. The Republican Party is crazy. A total lack of integrity,lack of perspective, irresponsibility, and ignorance I hope will cause them to implode, dry up, and disappear. They have done such damage to the system, to the common good, and to truth that I see no repair or renovation possible.
While they could have and sometimes did in the past represent a perspective from a business point of view, that has been so corrupted, so deceptive to the public that I am not only aghast but also sad. How anyone could put the likes of McConnell, Boehner, Hatch, Graham, McCain and others in office I don't know.
Rupert Murdock's ownership of Fox News, News Corps, and the Wall Street Journal has so polluted the knowledge base of our country that somehow there will have to be a comeuppance, a truth telling that becomes a standard.
Yes, I'm disgusted and sad, and how anyone could vote Republican I don't understand: ignorance, prejudice, delusion, greed, malevolence, alienation???
Well, hope your day is good.
I heard on NPR about the Harmonic Convergence approaching Dec. 21, 2012, when 6 of the 8 planets will be aligned at the apex of a triangle. It's supposed to usher in a time of cooperation and peace. The last occurred in 1987. It's also a national day of Meditation. Will be interesting, I think.
Funny -- when I was in China, I struggled to present business/businessmen as fairly as I could: because I realized that they were *never* going to hear it from a Republican, lol! I left a $20K year job to work for the Chinese at $3K, and I just knew somehow that no rePublican would ever do that.
You are right, most business people wouldn't consider leaving a $20,000. salary for 1/7 of that.
When we left for Samoa, I took a $6000 cut in salary, and the experience was priceless, life changing, probably the greatest gift of my life.
When we taught in China, we received our Boulder salaries and knew wealth for the first time in our lives, and you know what, it didn't make a difference. The wealth was in the people, the experiences.
The greatest gift of hospitality I've ever observed was a woman cooking for 15 of us in a one room hutong, making the meal from scratch, we all sitting wherever we could find a place, and people translating back and for from Chinese to English and vice versa. It was incredible. The food was delicious, the courtesy and warmth poignant, and my gratitude, forever.
Thanks for keeping track of those numbers, Puddle--still moving in the right direction.
Just read the A.C. statement. Abominable.
If I weren't such a kind and gentle person :)I would add hate--or maybe it is just fear of the unwashed 47% to the list of some Republican's traits. Or maybe it is just fear that manifests itself in hateful statements etc...
Too dense for me..gotta go and get ready for a Sunday outing with Brenda.
Just surmising: AC isn't a human, isn't a person, isn't a woman. She's a golem, an alien sent to foment a takeover of the planet.
from Wikipedia: In modern Hebrew golem is used to mean "dumb" or "helpless". Similarly, it is often used today as a metaphor for a brainless lunk or entity who serves man under controlled conditions but is hostile to him under others.
just a quick pop in ladies, to let you now that my father passed away today. they've been expecting it at any moment for almost 3 weeks now. he was pretty lucid, having slow but good conversations. the last couple of days he could hear but not respond, it must have been horrible for him, he's such a talker. I guess he just wasn't ready to go until my 93 yr old stepmom took his hand today and told him that it was okay to let go, that she was going to be okay and then he took his last breath. always worried about others, right up to the end.
thank you for the wisdom, love and laughter that you share here. it keeps me going thru the good and the bad. xoxoxo
have I told you what wonderful brothers I have? we don't agree on a number of things but we don't let that get in the way of good talks and the love that we have for each other. that wasn't always the case - we almost had a real break over politics during the Bush years. it took me being insistant that we talk things out and a lot of hard work, but yes, I am blessed with my brothers.
today is also my older brother's birthday. we had talked about how he would feel if Dad died today and he is at peace with it, he says it just means that now he will celebrate Dad's life with each new year. bless him! not everyone would feel, that way. xoxoxo
Jo, my second son was born on the second anniversary of my Dad's death. I was very worried about how that would affect my mother. . . She brought it up before I did: Now I'll have a happy thing to remember on this day instead of just a sad thing. I so loved her for that.
From a Canadian friend of mine (who does channeling)
Oakendell Our Challenge for December 2012 is a tough one. Stay centered, stay in the flow, be good to yourself and everyone else, and use every trick you know to keep yourself in the highest state of vibration you can!
Prayer, Gratitude, Affirmations, Friendship, Music, Dancing, Exercise, Sunlight, Good Food, Meditation, Forgiveness, and all good habits that you have used in your life to keep yourself uplifted may need to come into play as we transition through to the next world.
Very interesting chickie -- she's one of those who kinda was born living in two worlds. She spent most of her childhood believing she was bonkers. And the rest of her life learning how to use it as a gift. Amazing woman.
I realized, Puddle, that yesterday was the Harmonic Convergence. I woke up at 1:30 this morning and saw the stars lined up. They were brilliant.
Yesterday the Fern Lake Fire doubled in size. The air was smokey and brownish and red, the worst since this summer. They closed Rocky Mountain National Park, the first time in my memory. They evacuated 500 homes.
Today the air is better, but still not good.
Here's a review I wrote from my friend Joyce Gellhorn who died recently. I hope you all don't mind my posting it here. I thought that maybe some might be interested in her book.
Here it is:
Aspen Dreams: A Memoir, November 28, 2012 By Patricia A. Maslowski (REAL NAME) Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Aspen Dreams: A Memoir (Paperback) Aspen Dreams: A Memoir By Joyce Gellhorn
Joyce's memoir reminded me of Henry David Thoreau's words: "I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived."
To know someone who has loved nature as has my friend Joyce is life changing. Most of what I know about the Rocky Mountain ecology has come from hikes with her.
Every hike we took brought new experiences with the flora and fauna: for instance, Calypso orchids, gray jays, bristle cone pines, marmots, and especially aspen. She taught us about where we lived and the part different species play, bringing the landscape to life as a world we were learning to see in ways we never had before.
A generous, kind friend, she had tragedies in her life and disappointments; yet, a hike and conversation about nature were as healing and renewing as any commiseration over coffee. She had a resilience and consciousness of nature that despite loss and pain, she continued on, optimistic, always curious, learning and sharing. She worked hard and made it feel like play.
Her memoir, Aspen Dreams is a direct and clear record of her life as a scientist, teacher, someone who had a deep spiritual connection to nature, and as a loyal friend who shared her life and her dying with us. Joyce's life is a whole, a deeply honest recounting of her experiences, values, and passion for nature. It is a gift that like her teaching brings experiences and insight.
Thanks, Pat--I am glad you posted your full review. It is always so wonderful to find new authors, new thoughts--and more wonderful to hav had her as a dear friend.
This was not my favourite day. Went to the dentist for a cleaning and to have a chipped tooth repaired. I figured an hour tops. Turned out the chipped tooth revealed my first cavity in a couple decades, so 2.5 hours later, I emerged still numbed up and super hungry. So I went to the supermarket for a healthy snack at the busy commuter hour, and just as I got to the register the check of the woman before me got hopelessly stuck in the register. It took them a few minutes to discover that it wasn't going to be an easy fix. In all the years I have been buying groceries I've never even heard of this happening. So I got to go stand at the end of another line. So now I'm sitting at home with my feet up, grateful for dental insurance and working on not sweating the small stuff. ;-)
My heart is with you as you grieve and remember your Dad. It sounds like your family is handling this well, and what a comfort that must be to you...and what a tribute to your Dad.
Thank you,Pat! She sounds like a jewel of a friend. You words reminded me of how my son the Wildlife Biologist/Ornithologist went on hikes as a teen with a local naturalist, who gave him many tips about how to identify birds. That matters so much!
A busy day here. The air still bad, but the Fern Lake fire contained at 40%. We need rain, mist, snow, anything that has H2O in its composition. We are at 40% of average for snow this year.
Well today, after 7 months, I had my manuscript, Retreat and After: A Journal of Poetry on Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in Rocky Mountain National Park rejected. Oddly enough, I'm happy. I think I sent it to a publisher that wasn't a good fit for it.
So, onward. I remind myself that Van Gogh, my favorite artist, sold very little in his lifetime. The point is to give our best, to enjoy what we do, and maybe someday, someone will find solace or inspiration in it.
I'm really feeling the freedom of not having it published. That's strange.
I'm enjoying the stance the Prez is taking. After so much effort to reach out and being derided, opposed, rejected, that he's standing firm is a real pleasure. The Republicans are now fighting among themselves. Yea.
Pat, I completely agree with you about the President's stance and that the Republicans are fighting amongst themselves. Does the heart good, doesn't it? Starts as a warm glow in the chest. ;-)
It's good to hear that the fire is getting somewhat contained. We don't have big fires up here, and the idea of them scares me very much.
I'm pleased to hear that you feel freedom upon having your work rejected. Can you believe that Madeleine L'Engle's famous Time trilogy was rejected 8 times before it was accepted? The BEST writers have more rejection slips than successes. When I see some of the drivel that is being published today, it makes me shake my head and wonder what is wrong in the industry today. How long is you manuscript? Is it mostly poetry or prose? Is it largely of a spiritual nature? Vermont publishers accepting manuscripts include: http://myperfectpitch.com/vermont-book-publishers/ I recommend Inner Traditions and Jewish Lights Press in particular, from my years working in a bookshop here. All the best to you!! XOXOXXX
50.95% 47.32% “The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, but It Bends Toward Justice.”
Pat, at the most active of my publishing, mid-thirties, I was keeping my rejection slips in a shoe box with the plan to, sometime, wall paper a bathroom with them. . . . Don't know where it is, just now, I know I never tossed 'em on purpose, lol! But it's definitely a numbers game. The most published writers I know were simply the ones that kept at the submission game the most seriously. I finally felt that when submitting came to take more time, more energy than the writing itself, I was getting out of balance. Somewhere along the line I just stopped caring. Don't know when it happened, but it opened up the way wider.
The Teahadists, talking among themselves, are agitating for investigations, ACORN, the Dems, or *someone* stole this election, and they want a Congressional Investigation. Meanwhile they're out buying up all the guns and ammo they can get their hands on. Distressing to realize that a good quarter of the citizenry is batshit krezzy. . . .
I kinda hope there IS an investigation: might stumble across *this*....
Thank you listener, Puddle, Shirlee, and Barb for your comments. Listener, I'll copy your post and save it.
My last conversation with my friend Joyce included her giving me advice as to a local publishing company here. I wrote the woman who designed Joyce's book and she has encouraged me to write the publisher. Who Knows?
But, I'll save the address you sent, listener, and we'll see what happens.
Yes, Puddle, I agree. When the sending out and rejections take from the joy of writing, then something is out of balance. That may be why I feel liberated with the rejection. I'd waited for 7 months, replaced a lost manuscript, and received at most three emails with respect to it. So, done, and am glad to be done with it.
Listener, thanks for asking. The book of poetry, Retreat and After is divided into before (the motivation for going on retreat), the six days of retreat at the YMCA in Rocky Mountain National Park, and the period after. The poetry varies from haiku, to blank verse, to free verse, to prose poetry. There are 142 pages, 6 inches by 8 inches and photographs of Thich Nhat Hanh and the monastics, retreaters, animals, clouds, sky, mountains.
My purpose was to give the experience of a retreat to those who might be interested, and to reflect the needs, thoughts, questions, and skepticism of an ordinary person. For instance, I couldn't understand how Sidartha could leave his family in the middle of the night without a good bye. One poem deals with that.
Here's a sample of the poetry:
Mantra
We walk in dark before the dawn solemn, silent, moving slowly. The soft voice of the Buddhist nun echoing like ripples on a lake.
Each of us calling to mind the breath of being, breathing in and out joining the land, the rocks, the trees recognizing we are the same and unique. Thoughts are slow, sluggish from sleep they don't dance and interfere, not yet. We repeat, should they arise, the phrase we've learned to quiet them:
“Breathing in and breathing out”. But for me today, my mind repeats The signs on the cottage doors: “Keep doors shut because of bears.”
“Keep doors shut because of bears.” “Keep doors shut because of bears.”
PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.
49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore.
Some GOP voters are so unhappy with the outcome that they no longer care to be a part of the United States. 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union compared to 56% who want to stay and 19% who aren't sure.
One reason that such a high percentage of Republicans are holding what could be seen as extreme views is that their numbers are declining. Our final poll before the election, which hit the final outcome almost on the head, found 39% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats and 37% as Republicans. Since the election we've seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%.
PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.
49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore.
Some GOP voters are so unhappy with the outcome that they no longer care to be a part of the United States. 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union compared to 56% who want to stay and 19% who aren't sure.
One reason that such a high percentage of Republicans are holding what could be seen as extreme views is that their numbers are declining. Our final poll before the election, which hit the final outcome almost on the head, found 39% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats and 37% as Republicans. Since the election we've seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%.
90 comments:
Love this Puddle and Jo. Time to de-stress!
Thanks, Jo! Wish I were being more useful -- but all entreaties to the god of google go unanswered.
And Howard's first, too!
*This* is scary. . . . .
http://truth-out.org/news/item/12845-anonymous-karl-rove-and-2012-election-fix
So glad to see a new thread! Thanks! :-)
Boy is an absolute hurricane of activity/usefulness! Garbage burned, light socket fixed, floorboard shimmed, first coat of plaster on the outside wall, dogfood in keeper, leaves blown away, floor vacuumed, dog walked/played with and generally entertained, skylight cleared/washed, weatherstripping to three doors and skylight--I can't have birthed this chile--must be a changling, lol! And hasn't got water yet, even.
29º with a predicted high of 32º. Low tonight of 14º, so the tightening is welcomed.
Beau loves having him around; boy adores boy, grin.
And in and around all this, some sweet conversations.
Life is good.
Sounds just wonderful, Puddle. Keep warm.
XOXO to all.
yay puddle - just in time! it was lovely in the 50s here for a few days but will be 20s and 30s for a week or so - it will probably just drop from here.
so happy that we are all here together!
Seeing as how HE did alla work, don't see why I am so tired. Gotta clear my bed off before I can even lie down, lol! But: the desk is downstairs, after a couple of years of wishing it so, going to transfer the computer over, and use this library table for a kitchen table -- it's about 150 years old, and I truly love it, but it's just getting too fragile for the heavy duty use I give it!
14 degrees! Yikes--a bit warmer than expected here--50's today. Personally I am waiting for December 21 and longer days and hope of warmer weather!
Sounds like Kiddle should be plumb worn out--he sounds like a keeper :)
oops--that anon was your GSO friend. Still punch drunk from a fabulous concert at Puddle's favorite theatre --The Triad. Lauralynn Dosset, Rhiannon Giddens of Carolina Chocolate Drops, Mike Compton from forever and Joe Newberry old time Piedmont area composer, banjo player. The most amazing music--these four make based around Thanksgiving and Christmas themes.
I am NOT moving from my perch above Elm street in the middle of GSO.Planted here
like a tree--in brick
and cement :)
Complainers are still at it on various blogs--"WHY should WE pay for Hurricane Sandy clean-up?" No hope for them.
Good night all--glad work is getting done by Puddle's Kiddle. Every Mother should be so lucky as to have a Kiddle--or a Brenda!
Good Morning,
What joy to have grown children who love and help their parents. Thank you for sharing, Puddle, Shirlee. Warms the old heart cockles, it does.
Thanksgiving was a pleasure, four grandgirls, two sets of grandparents. What an amazing life we've all had and to be alive and interacting now, just wonderful.
Still so grateful and thrilled that we have President Obama and more Democrats. The latest Newsweek magazines analyze the Republican Party, and if they don't "enlighten up" they are moribund.
Paul Begala talks about the disrespect they have for the American voter with their lies, repressive and backward policies. Frankly, I'd like to see a sane, moderate, and vital Republican Party. A variety of perspectives and diversity can improve us.
Also, an article on our infrastructure to which we contribute less than 2% of our budget. Germany contributes 7% and China 9%. If we don't begin the repair, rebuilding, and renovation, we will see more and more destruction and the cost to repair that is many times what improvement now costs.
The old no taxes mantra is delusional. Nothing is free.
Guess I'm pontificating, but I'd so like to see sanity, reason, and thinking about the future in our politics again.
Another wildfire about 20 miles from us, the Carter Lake fire (not sure if that's what they'll call it), and the air smells smokey.
The drought covers 60% of the country, 80% of crops. I wonder, will we become desert like Iraq?
But, today is a new day, and it is great to be alive, to have friends, to have the generosity of this blog.
Thank you, Jo, Puddle, and contributors.
Courtesy of Tom Bearse (and very very very sad)
http://democracyforamerica.com/blog/527-a-toast-to-the-organizers
From the rePublican intelligentsia (obviously pre-election)
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/332377/prediction-romney-beats-obama-handily-michael-barone#
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/24/1164336/-Ezra-Klein-Why-rich-guys-want-to-raise-the-retirement-age
Just a note: I retired at 62. I would have tried disability, but hadn't worked enough in the previous decade to qualify (I'd taken several years off to build this house so I *could* retire at all. . . . When the Congestive Heart Failure made it impossible TO work, I really had no choice.
Wait!!! I don't get it--DFA NOW wants to start a BLOG? We had one, they let it slide and be degraded and eventually abandoned it. What's with this? I'm sticking with Jo!
Ally's Mom wrote this afternoon:
This morning Ally was rushed to the hospital in the back of an ambulance. Just before eating breakfast Ally went limp and was unresponsive. She was spending the night with Grammie and Grampa Schulte, so they called 911 and the ambulance was at their house quickly.
They remembered when Ally was unresponsive with us over a year ago, so they thought to make the EMTs check her blood sugar right away. It was 39. The paramedics pulled into the driveway soon after that and transferred her over to them. They gave her an IV and a big dose of dextrose. By the time they were off Grammie and Grampa's road Ally was coming around.
She ended up spending around 2 hours in the ER (her shortest time in the ER ever). The ER doctor called up to DHMC (He was very impressed with Ally's oncologist!) and we will need to call the endocrinologist tomorrow and set up an appointment.
Ally is doing fine now, and I think Grammie and Grampa are going to be okay too...she scared them something fierce. They did everything right, and we have a plan for her next sleep over.
Hopefully the rest of the month will be less dramatic. I will be sure to update after our endo appointment and when I know more about the procedure to take out Ally's port.
Shirlee...DFA what?!! They killed the Blog. Are they hoping for a different outcome this time, or do they repent of their folly?
This evening we saw fire trucks next door. No scent of smoke, but there were fire folk walking around in our neighbours' yard with flashlights.
Turns out it was carbon monoxide! Everyone is okay (they have two little children too!), but we haven't heard yet what the cause was.
Listener--was just following Puddle's link to DFA--came to her via Tom Bearse I think. Yep it looked like they HAVE a blog and are urging people to participate. Link is in Puddle's post earlier today "to the Organizers."
Hugs and love for Ally.
Mitt is *officially* at 47%!! 47.49%
The President is over 50% in 11 of the 12 swing states. All except NC.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AjYj9mXElO_QdHpla01oWE1jOFZRbnhJZkZpVFNKeVE&toomany=true#gid=19
I don't think there are enough votes yet to be counted to drop him below that 47%. . . .
The mills of the Gods grind exceeding slow, and exceeding fine. . . .
Good Morning,
The mountain is hidden in clouds, and we need moisture so badly. Yet, only a 10% prediction of snow.
Irony is sweet, or is that my shadenfreude? I am so thankful. We escaped more than a bullet, a disaster in the making. When Reagan's old budget director said in a Newsweek article that Romney wasn't fit to be President, and when Edward Kennedy said that Romney would say anything to get elected, that told me that Romney was a dangerous man, more so than Bush W. who didn't have a brain.
Well, errands today. wishing you all well.
Her's the article if anyone is interested.
David Stockman: Mitt Romney and the Bain Drain - Newsweek and ...
www.thedailybeast.com/.../david-stockman-mitt-romney-and-the-bai...
Oct 15, 2012 – Ronald Reagan's budget director takes a scalpel to Romney's claims ... Ronald Reagan's budget director, David Stockman, takes a scalpel to ...
Well, y'all don't blame NC non 50% on me! Everyone I know here is a Dem--and even the jewelry store owner below voted Dem for the first time in her life!
Lovely, sunny day here but seemed cold last night.
Ah, Pat, what a difference 10% more makes...apparently:
Well, I was supposed to lead my peer group meeting and meet with my spiritual guide today in Concord NH. It was snowing here ("20% chance of snow flurries") pretty heavily, though not windy and the weather in Concord was sunny and in the 40's. As I was packing up to go, my husband Bill (who'd left for his half hour drive to work about an hour before) called to say he was sitting in stopped traffic on the Interstate. It had been stopped for so long that some people were getting out of their cars. It turned out that the roads were coated in black ice and many cars couldn't make it up various hills. There were a number of accidents, and last I heard one death. It took him two hours to get to work, so I called a Concord member of the peer group, and he kindly lead in my stead. None of it was predicted, but with ice all bets are off. Bill said eventually a police cruiser came up through the middle of the two lanes of traffic, and everyone skooched over, so a sand and salt truck could come through and salt the hill. It was the only truck of the sort he saw, all the way to work. Bleah.
Some trubble getting on line today (lol! So what's new?
Did NOT get our snow. Did get rain. And temps have been falling since this morning. Right at freezing now.
Pat, the Stockman article is dense, but surely has the ring of someone who *knows* -- have save it, and thanks.
Hoping Shirlee is doing good despite being so quiet. . . . Hugs and good vibes heading that direction!
Oh, I am doing fine--just finally recouped from a busy week-end. Sunday Brenda found a bit of a leak under the disposal. E-mailed the manager, and yesterday the maintenance man was right here--and tightened a couple of screws--no leak!
At this point in my life I love not having to prod someone--hubby or landlady to get after it and then paying for it. This is heaven--2nd floor!
Off to walk across the street and get my scraggly hair cut.
Stay warm all.
...and did spend a good chunk of yesterday with a book I had pulled off my shelf. "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick. I think I picked up from a Daedalus catalog. It is a well written, accurate, weel told story of the Pilgrims from the time they left Holland. Excellent.
Just watched president Obama's speech in Iowa given the day before the election. What a speaker, visionary, man, PRESIDENT! I have not felt this happy with a president since John Kennedy.
I agree Shirlee!
for your entertainment, it gets worse for Romney - hee hee! he was voted GQ's least infulential person for 2012!
http://www.politicususa.com/worse-mitt-romney-named-influential-person-2012.html
Kimmy came excellently through her surgery today! wOOt!! <3
"Off to walk across the street and get my scraggly hair cut."
LOL! Why would you want a scraggly haircut? ;-)
I'm getting mine cut on Friday. I do so every 5 weeks and it's not the 5th week until the 13th, but already the bangs are way too long. It's hat weather!
Excellent for Kimmy!
Somewhere just past thirty years old, I got tired of training new beauticians to *ACTUALLY* do what I asked, and learned to cut my own dang hair. At first, it involved a large mirror and an easel. . . But finally learned to do the back just by feel. One of the more freedomfying things I've ever learned. But for the last twenty, only cut my bangs. The rest just falls out on the gene-programmed schedule, lol!
Shirlee, I agree about getting stuff done when one needs it. Without nagging, grin. That was one of the bigger problems in my first marriage: I could *eventually* get done what needed doing, but I *hated* who it was turning me into. Dealing with passive aggressives can drive you krezzy, no kidding.
Never doubted kimmy would do just fine: with that endlessly excellent attitude, how NOT to?
The President is at 50.88% and Mitt's at 47.40%. In the best of all possible worlds for me, the President makes it to 51%, and Mitt doesn't drop below 47% -- in fact, a *perfect* 47% would be perfect! He should have that number hung around his neck till he dies. No one deserves it more.
In the lists of people the Republican have alienated, but not often mentioned is Muslims. . . .
Was listening to early Charlotte radio last night. The two hosts were asking WHY people were buying guns and bullets? None of the answers was less than nuts, and the hosts gently treated them as such, without just laughing out loud. Nice to hear, it was. Reason one: since it's his second term, and he's a lame duck, he's going to come and take everyone's gun away. Number two: when he's ruined the economy, and everyone is starving, all your friends from New York and Richmond are going to come to take what you have. So you have to be able to kill them. All answers were variations on those two.
Good Afternoon, Friends.
Yes, for the Prez to achieve 51% of the vote would be sweet indeed.
I just finished reading my friend Joyce Gellhorn's memoir, Aspen Dreams. It is so well done. It's almost like hiking with her in the Rocky Mountains. I learned about a variety of species but particularly the aspen, my favorite tree. They are called the Mother Tree, the oldest species on earth and more widespread than any other tree. That's not to say they are the longest lived, like the Sequoias, but they've been here longer than any other.
I'm reminded of Henry David Thoreau's words: “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”
That was Joyce. Despite tragedies in her life, she was resilient, generous, and in love with nature and friends. It's worth reading for the feel of a whole life, an honest recollection and nature as an integral part.
Well, off for the movies. Tony Kushner (Angels in America) wrote the screenplay and Spielberg produced it, Lincoln.
I'll report back.
Yay for Kimmy!! I always enjoyed her comments when I was reading the early DFA blog.
Listener--what I meant was I had to go have my scraggly hair cut!!! Sorry for the poor wording.
Today was once every six months dental check up--all OK!!
These cleanings always wipe me out--bad immune system--off for a nap.
Hanging Mitt at 47% would be frosting on the cake, wouldn't it?
Love this new word from Booman (it's what the puritopians are addicted to): poutrage.
LOL! Great word. I'll have to pass that on to Burt. He'll have a good laugh!
Just a note before I take my tired body off to bed.
I know we all know this--but what would have happened to the Democratic Party and our chance to have a President Obama without Howard Dean and all the Deaniacs? It was an amazing movement.
Good Night all-sleep well, stay warm. Love you.
Good Morning friends,
Here's review of the movie Lincoln.
Lincoln the Movie
Directed by Steven Spielberg,
Screenplay by Tony Kushner
I remember watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind in a movie theater in
Boulder. When the spaceship became visible, began to land, the theater went silent. You could almost hear the indrawn breaths, the awe as if we were watching a miracle. There was a temple like quality to the theater that afternoon, as if we were experiencing something so deep, so longed for that all we could do was look and wonder.
Carl Sagan called us “Star Stuff,” and human history is a record of exploration and discovery. I’ve read of the Mars Society planning for when the sun grows too hot for sustaining life on earth and we need to move to the planet Mars. The ongoing efforts to discover livable planets, to analyze the soils and chemical makeup of Mars are indicative of humanity’s longing for understanding, for knowing who we are, what the universe is made of and our destiny.
There was a similar response of indrawn breath in the audience, a moment of stopping time in the movie Lincoln. It was not mainly about the battles and firestorm of war, but of an extraordinary personality and time in our history. Lincoln has just been re-elected. He insists on Congress passing the 13th Amendment which outlaws ownership and subjugation of human beings, of slavery and serfdom.
Many in his cabinet, and initially his wife Mary, are opposed. They want him to end the war and let Congress deal with freeing the slaves after the war is over. But, Lincoln is insistent. He says that if the slavery issue is not resolved, there will be no peace with the surrender of the South.
What we see is the personality of a man deeply ethical, with a vision for the future of the United States and humanity. He is philosophical and religious, tells stories rather than engage in harsh rhetoric or argumentation. And, as we know, racism is engrained; the whole economy of the South is built on the labor of slaves. Congressmen cite the Bible for justification of slavery and can’t seem to muster the courage to stand apart from their party.
Interestingly enough the Republicans are the party in favor of abolishing slavery, are referred to as radicals, and it’s the Democrats who are unable to accept the idea of equality among races.
What we see in the movie is how Congress works, given a momentous time in history that will affect this nation as long as it endures, how polarized, how difficult the issue is, and how the President and his supporters respond. The vote is so close, the audience is riveted.
The hostilities, arguments, and conflicts continue, and then there is that moment when we hear the President has been shot. The audience in the theater is utterly silent. You can feel the shock and grief.
Daniel Day Louis is magnificent as Lincoln, totally believable. Sally Fields as Mary Lincoln is also wonderful. Tony Kushner who wrote the play, Angels in America, has written a screenplay so real, so absorbing that you feel as if you are witnessing history and observing a President unlike any we’ve had before.
Since schools don’t teach civics much anymore, I’d recommend every student, every citizen see this amazing movie. It tells us who we are and how we are, and how close we come to choosing between moral decline and justice.
Sorry, I misspelled Daniel Day Lewis' name. Lewis is correct, not Louis.
A young friend of ours--one of Brenda's employees is alover of all things Lincoln.
She just saw this here in GSO--loved it and declared it accurate. Thanks, Pat.
thank you for the write-up on the movie Pat! I'll see it sometime, I promise!
Good night all--sleep well--after our labors, anxieties,etc. about the election!!!
how is Mitt doing with his 47% tag?
I wonder how much snow we have now. When I got home from work at 8pm we had 6" of snow, and it was still falling. Beautiful! But oh so cold...17.4F presently.
♥♥♥ Shirlee! Your words were "hair cut" and I read it as "haircut." I was just making a silly statement based on a play on words. Not intended seriously at all!! ♥♥♥
Bill has been a little concerned about the movie Lincoln. His concern is that it might not be a good thing to show a movie in which a President is assassinated given all the death threats against our current President.
Those of you who have seen the movie...tell me why we don't need to feel concerned, because I really want to see the movie.
hi listener! I understand Bill's concern, but the movie is out there, good or bad. I don't really understand why you 'don't need to feel concerned' in order to see it. GO! it is a wonderful piece of history and hopefully it will move people who see it to care more for this country, maybe understand the working of their gov't a little better. GO! ;)
Agree with Jo here--the crazies are out there no matter what--and this is not a rabble rousing movie. I take great comfort in the fact that President Obama is well and thoroughly protected.
My grandson-in-law has worked for the SS--they take their jobs VERY seriously. If you see photos of crowds around the Prez you will always spot several SS men--watching, watching, watching.
Counting is becoming glacially slow. Prez it up to 50.91%, Mittens down to 47.36%
YAYYYYYYY!!! likin' those numbers, Puddle.
Yay, indeed! Brenda was here this evening for our usual Friday night dinner and agreed to try and teach me a new way to do e-mail--involving cutting and pasting which i have never been good at--but might make it with some practice!
Thanks to Puddle for the idea:)
Still glacial, but in the right direction. . . .
Obama:50.92% Romney 47.35%
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration summarizes October 2012:
The average temperature across land and ocean surfaces during October was 14.63°C (58.23°F). This is 0.63°C (1.13°F) above the 20th century average and ties with 2008 as the fifth warmest October on record. The record warmest October occurred in 2003 and the record coldest October occurred in 1912. This is the 332nd consecutive month with an above-average temperature.
Emphasis added. If you were born in or after April 1985, if you are right now 27 years old or younger, you have never lived through a month that was colder than average. That’s beyond astonishing.
http://grist.org/news/if-youre-27-or-younger-youve-never-experienced-a-colder-than-average-month/#.UKaXtgpQo5o.twitter
Hope the numbers creep down just a lttle more for what's his name.
Sweet Justice--but might yet stick.
Maybe Republicans are simply batshit crazy?
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdlba5RP1m1rkd8gso1_500.png
BTW, so glad there is no war on women.
Good Morning,
The average temperature for Nov. here in Colorado was 20 degrees above normal. The Fern Lake Fire in Rocky Mountain National park has doubled to 4000 acres. The air is smokey. The southern entrance to the park is closed.
Puddle, I agree with you. The Republican Party is crazy. A total lack of integrity,lack of perspective, irresponsibility, and ignorance I hope will cause them to implode, dry up, and disappear. They have done such damage to the system, to the common good, and to truth that I see no repair or renovation possible.
While they could have and sometimes did in the past represent a perspective from a business point of view, that has been so corrupted, so deceptive to the public that I am not only aghast but also sad. How anyone could put the likes of McConnell, Boehner, Hatch, Graham, McCain and others in office I don't know.
Rupert Murdock's ownership of Fox News, News Corps, and the Wall Street Journal has so polluted the knowledge base of our country that somehow there will have to be a comeuppance, a truth telling that becomes a standard.
Yes, I'm disgusted and sad, and how anyone could vote Republican I don't understand: ignorance, prejudice, delusion, greed, malevolence, alienation???
Well, hope your day is good.
I heard on NPR about the Harmonic Convergence approaching Dec. 21, 2012, when 6 of the 8 planets will be aligned at the apex of a triangle. It's supposed to usher in a time of cooperation and peace. The last occurred in 1987. It's also a national day of Meditation. Will be interesting, I think.
50.93% 47.33%
Funny -- when I was in China, I struggled to present business/businessmen as fairly as I could: because I realized that they were *never* going to hear it from a Republican, lol! I left a $20K year job to work for the Chinese at $3K, and I just knew somehow that no rePublican would ever do that.
Thanks for the date correction, Puddle.
You are right, most business people wouldn't consider leaving a $20,000. salary for 1/7 of that.
When we left for Samoa, I took a $6000 cut in salary, and the experience was priceless, life changing, probably the greatest gift of my life.
When we taught in China, we received our Boulder salaries and knew wealth for the first time in our lives, and you know what, it didn't make a difference. The wealth was in the people, the experiences.
The greatest gift of hospitality I've ever observed was a woman cooking for 15 of us in a one room hutong, making the meal from scratch, we all sitting wherever we could find a place, and people translating back and for from Chinese to English and vice versa. It was incredible. The food was delicious, the courtesy and warmth poignant, and my gratitude, forever.
Thanks for keeping track of those numbers, Puddle--still moving in the right direction.
Just read the A.C. statement. Abominable.
If I weren't such a kind and gentle person :)I would add hate--or maybe it is just fear of the unwashed 47% to the list of some Republican's traits.
Or maybe it is just fear that manifests itself in hateful statements etc...
Too dense for me..gotta go and get ready for a Sunday outing with Brenda.
Just surmising: AC isn't a human, isn't a person, isn't a woman. She's a golem, an alien sent to foment a takeover of the planet.
from Wikipedia:
In modern Hebrew golem is used to mean "dumb" or "helpless". Similarly, it is often used today as a metaphor for a brainless lunk or entity who serves man under controlled conditions but is hostile to him under others.
Wow, Pat--Thanks! You found just the right
description. Love it.
just a quick pop in ladies, to let you now that my father passed away today. they've been expecting it at any moment for almost 3 weeks now. he was pretty lucid, having slow but good conversations. the last couple of days he could hear but not respond, it must have been horrible for him, he's such a talker. I guess he just wasn't ready to go until my 93 yr old stepmom took his hand today and told him that it was okay to let go, that she was going to be okay and then he took his last breath. always worried about others, right up to the end.
thank you for the wisdom, love and laughter that you share here. it keeps me going thru the good and the bad. xoxoxo
Jo, thank you for letting us know. Beautifully told. Tears here for you.
♥ Jo ♥
have I told you what wonderful brothers I have? we don't agree on a number of things but we don't let that get in the way of good talks and the love that we have for each other. that wasn't always the case - we almost had a real break over politics during the Bush years. it took me being insistant that we talk things out and a lot of hard work, but yes, I am blessed with my brothers.
today is also my older brother's birthday. we had talked about how he would feel if Dad died today and he is at peace with it, he says it just means that now he will celebrate Dad's life with each new year. bless him! not everyone would feel, that way. xoxoxo
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/02/1165438/-No-raising-the-Social-Security-retirement-age-is-not-a-good-idea
Jo, my second son was born on the second anniversary of my Dad's death. I was very worried about how that would affect my mother. . . She brought it up before I did: Now I'll have a happy thing to remember on this day instead of just a sad thing. I so loved her for that.
Love to you Jo--and your wonderful brothers. Extra hugs!!!
Time for bed folks. Nice to stay up late and read--but sooner or later---
Sleep well, love to all.
50.94% 47.33% !
Morning Campers! Line is being gorgeous this a.m. -- may it stay so. . . .
From a Canadian friend of mine (who does channeling)
Oakendell
Our Challenge for December 2012 is a tough one. Stay centered, stay in the flow, be good to yourself and everyone else, and use every trick you know to keep yourself in the highest state of vibration you can!
Prayer, Gratitude, Affirmations, Friendship, Music, Dancing, Exercise, Sunlight, Good Food, Meditation, Forgiveness, and all good habits that you have used in your life to keep yourself uplifted may need to come into play as we transition through to the next world.
Very interesting chickie -- she's one of those who kinda was born living in two worlds. She spent most of her childhood believing she was bonkers. And the rest of her life learning how to use it as a gift. Amazing woman.
Good Morning,
I realized, Puddle, that yesterday was the Harmonic Convergence. I woke up at 1:30 this morning and saw the stars lined up. They were brilliant.
Yesterday the Fern Lake Fire doubled in size. The air was smokey and brownish and red, the worst since this summer. They closed Rocky Mountain National Park, the first time in my memory. They evacuated 500 homes.
Today the air is better, but still not good.
Here's a review I wrote from my friend Joyce Gellhorn who died recently. I hope you all don't mind my posting it here. I thought that maybe some might be interested in her book.
Here it is:
Aspen Dreams: A Memoir,
November 28, 2012
By Patricia A. Maslowski
(REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Aspen Dreams: A Memoir (Paperback)
Aspen Dreams: A Memoir
By Joyce Gellhorn
Joyce's memoir reminded me of Henry David Thoreau's words: "I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived."
To know someone who has loved nature as has my friend Joyce is life changing. Most of what I know about the Rocky Mountain ecology has come from hikes with her.
Every hike we took brought new experiences with the flora and fauna: for instance, Calypso orchids, gray jays, bristle cone pines, marmots, and especially aspen. She taught us about where we lived and the part different species play, bringing the landscape to life as a world we were learning to see in ways we never had before.
A generous, kind friend, she had tragedies in her life and disappointments; yet, a hike and conversation about nature were as healing and renewing as any commiseration over coffee.
She had a resilience and consciousness of nature that despite loss and pain, she continued on, optimistic, always curious, learning and sharing. She worked hard and made it feel like play.
Her memoir, Aspen Dreams is a direct and clear record of her life as a scientist, teacher, someone who had a deep spiritual connection to nature, and as a loyal friend who shared her life and her dying with us. Joyce's life is a whole, a deeply honest recounting of her experiences, values, and passion for nature. It is a gift that like her teaching brings experiences and insight.
Well written, absorbing, and memorable.
Beautifully said, Pat. You have a gift with words.
Thanks, Pat--I am glad you posted your full review. It is always so wonderful to find new authors, new thoughts--and more wonderful to hav had her as a dear friend.
Thanks, Barb. A smile here.
This was not my favourite day. Went to the dentist for a cleaning and to have a chipped tooth repaired. I figured an hour tops. Turned out the chipped tooth revealed my first cavity in a couple decades, so 2.5 hours later, I emerged still numbed up and super hungry. So I went to the supermarket for a healthy snack at the busy commuter hour, and just as I got to the register the check of the woman before me got hopelessly stuck in the register. It took them a few minutes to discover that it wasn't going to be an easy fix. In all the years I have been buying groceries I've never even heard of this happening. So I got to go stand at the end of another line.
So now I'm sitting at home with my feet up, grateful for dental insurance and working on not sweating the small stuff. ;-)
♥♥♥ Dear Jo ♥♥♥
My heart is with you as you grieve and remember your Dad. It sounds like your family is handling this well, and what a comfort that must be to you...and what a tribute to your Dad.
♥ AllForLove ♥
Aspen Dreams: A Memoir
By Joyce Gellhorn
Thank you,Pat! She sounds like a jewel of a friend. You words reminded me of how my son the Wildlife Biologist/Ornithologist went on hikes as a teen with a local naturalist, who gave him many tips about how to identify birds. That matters so much!
So, when are you going to write your memoirs?
Agree with both Barb and Shirlee. And thank you for bringing it here.
Jo's on my mind as she works her way through this time.
Tried to post that last night, but alas, no line could be had.
50.94% 47.32%
Seems slow has become slower. . . .
Still good, Puddle--the further down the drain the better!
Listener--I think there is nothing worse than not being able to get home and recoup after a dental appt. Hope you are feeling better today.
I'm mean, lol! I'd like it to stop at a *perfect* 47%. But doesn't look like it will. Guess I'll just have to be happy with rounding.
Hi friends,
A busy day here. The air still bad, but the Fern Lake fire contained at 40%. We need rain, mist, snow, anything that has H2O in its composition. We are at 40% of average for snow this year.
Well today, after 7 months, I had my manuscript, Retreat and After: A Journal of Poetry on Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in Rocky Mountain National Park rejected. Oddly enough, I'm happy. I think I sent it to a publisher that wasn't a good fit for it.
So, onward. I remind myself that Van Gogh, my favorite artist, sold very little in his lifetime. The point is to give our best, to enjoy what we do, and maybe someday, someone will find solace or inspiration in it.
I'm really feeling the freedom of not having it published. That's strange.
I'm enjoying the stance the Prez is taking. After so much effort to reach out and being derided, opposed, rejected, that he's standing firm is a real pleasure. The Republicans are now fighting among themselves. Yea.
Rounding is good, Puddle--we did win!!!!
Hugs for Jo and the right publisher for Pat--if she wants it.
70 degrees and sunny today in GSO!Perfect!
Good night all--sometimes wish my body didn't need sleep--think how many more books one could read or other fun things!
Pat, I completely agree with you about the President's stance and that the Republicans are fighting amongst themselves. Does the heart good, doesn't it? Starts as a warm glow in the chest. ;-)
It's good to hear that the fire is getting somewhat contained. We don't have big fires up here, and the idea of them scares me very much.
I'm pleased to hear that you feel freedom upon having your work rejected. Can you believe that Madeleine L'Engle's famous Time trilogy was rejected 8 times before it was accepted? The BEST writers have more rejection slips than successes. When I see some of the drivel that is being published today, it makes me shake my head and wonder what is wrong in the industry today. How long is you manuscript? Is it mostly poetry or prose? Is it largely of a spiritual nature? Vermont publishers accepting manuscripts include: http://myperfectpitch.com/vermont-book-publishers/ I recommend Inner Traditions and Jewish Lights Press in particular, from my years working in a bookshop here. All the best to you!! XOXOXXX
50.95% 47.32%
“The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, but It Bends Toward Justice.”
Pat, at the most active of my publishing, mid-thirties, I was keeping my rejection slips in a shoe box with the plan to, sometime, wall paper a bathroom with them. . . . Don't know where it is, just now, I know I never tossed 'em on purpose, lol! But it's definitely a numbers game. The most published writers I know were simply the ones that kept at the submission game the most seriously. I finally felt that when submitting came to take more time, more energy than the writing itself, I was getting out of balance. Somewhere along the line I just stopped caring. Don't know when it happened, but it opened up the way wider.
The Teahadists, talking among themselves, are agitating for investigations, ACORN, the Dems, or *someone* stole this election, and they want a Congressional Investigation. Meanwhile they're out buying up all the guns and ammo they can get their hands on. Distressing to realize that a good quarter of the citizenry is batshit krezzy. . . .
I kinda hope there IS an investigation: might stumble across *this*....
http://truth-out.org/news/item/12845-anonymous-karl-rove-and-2012-election-fix
Good Morning,
Thank you listener, Puddle, Shirlee, and Barb for your comments. Listener, I'll copy your post and save it.
My last conversation with my friend Joyce included her giving me advice as to a local publishing company here. I wrote the woman who designed Joyce's book and she has encouraged me to write the publisher. Who Knows?
But, I'll save the address you sent, listener, and we'll see what happens.
Yes, Puddle, I agree. When the sending out and rejections take from the joy of writing, then something is out of balance. That may be why I feel liberated with the rejection. I'd waited for 7 months, replaced a lost manuscript, and received at most three emails with respect to it. So, done, and am glad to be done with it.
Listener, thanks for asking. The book of poetry, Retreat and After is divided into before (the motivation for going on retreat), the six days of retreat at the YMCA in Rocky Mountain National Park, and the period after. The poetry varies from haiku, to blank verse, to free verse, to prose poetry. There are 142 pages, 6 inches by 8 inches and photographs of Thich Nhat Hanh and the monastics, retreaters, animals, clouds, sky, mountains.
My purpose was to give the experience of a retreat to those who might be interested, and to reflect the needs, thoughts, questions, and skepticism of an ordinary person. For instance, I couldn't understand how Sidartha could leave his family in the middle of the night without a good bye. One poem deals with that.
Here's a sample of the poetry:
Mantra
We walk in dark before the dawn
solemn, silent, moving slowly.
The soft voice of the Buddhist nun
echoing like ripples on a lake.
Each of us calling to mind the breath
of being, breathing in and out
joining the land, the rocks, the trees
recognizing we are the same and unique.
Thoughts are slow, sluggish from sleep
they don't dance and interfere, not yet.
We repeat, should they arise, the phrase
we've learned to quiet them:
“Breathing in and breathing out”.
But for me today, my mind repeats
The signs on the cottage doors:
“Keep doors shut because of bears.”
“Keep doors shut because of bears.”
“Keep doors shut because of bears.”
Good news (for us). . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Republicans not handling election results well
PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.
49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore.
Some GOP voters are so unhappy with the outcome that they no longer care to be a part of the United States. 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union compared to 56% who want to stay and 19% who aren't sure.
One reason that such a high percentage of Republicans are holding what could be seen as extreme views is that their numbers are declining. Our final poll before the election, which hit the final outcome almost on the head, found 39% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats and 37% as Republicans. Since the election we've seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/12/republicans-not-handling-election-results-well.html
it is going to be an interesting time as they sort this out. hide the tinfoil!
there's a new thread puddle!
Good news (for us). . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Republicans not handling election results well
PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.
49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore.
Some GOP voters are so unhappy with the outcome that they no longer care to be a part of the United States. 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union compared to 56% who want to stay and 19% who aren't sure.
One reason that such a high percentage of Republicans are holding what could be seen as extreme views is that their numbers are declining. Our final poll before the election, which hit the final outcome almost on the head, found 39% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats and 37% as Republicans. Since the election we've seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/12/republicans-not-handling-election-results-well.html
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