Hazards of Old Age or just Mercury Going Retrograde??

I've crossed another milestone on my path to senescence.  Last night I went to bed to read, and I was still wearing my earrings.  These silver earrings are from Scottsdale, and I love them.  Each one has a shamanic hand imprinted on it.  When I'm wearing both earrings, I tell myself the hands ward off evil spirits.

So there I was in bed, reading Book #1 of Harry Potter, and I felt one earring fall off.  I reached up, and sure enough, the right earring was lying on my shoulder.  The back, however, was gone from behind my ear.  It couldn't have gone far, right?  I'm checking the bedding, no back, and then I checked through the various layers of items I wear to bed in lieu of a pajama top:  tshirt, cashmere sweater, hooded sweatshirt--and I saw the back under my sweatshirt, but in my excitement, I bumped it, and it disappeared again.

I got up, put the backless earring in a safe place, shook out my sweatshirt, and searched through the blankets a little more with no results.  So I went back to bed, finished last Sunday's NYT Xword puzzle, and fell asleep.  This morning when I woke up, I could not find the backless earring!

Please be assured that I do not lose my earrings often.  In fact, I can't remember the last pair of which one went missing.  It was years ago, back in my working days when I wore earrings daily in an effort to be, as Emma Donoghue's character in Landing" said, "tediously well groomed."  When I retired, I installed a set of pearl earrings and have pretty much left them in until last month, when I got my hair cut very short.  In the past, store clerks here have tended to call me "sir," even with the pearl earrings and a modish (often curled) bob.  So now I've taken to wearing bigger earrings and even a bit of makeup to counteract the skinhead look.  Now they don't say anything.  Good.

Anyway, I have never before lost a whole earring while I was in bed reading.  But the lost is found.  I'm reminded that today is when Mercury turns retrograde until March 17, and during that time, the best laid plans of mice & men gang aft agley.  It'll all straighten out next month, though.  Maybe this is the universe reminding me to just take a deep breath and not panic, no matter what happens with the sequester, et al.  The Pope, too.  This wasn't a good for him to retire--schedules can go awry--but maybe it was best he did it before the planet began its retrograde pattern.

Downton Abbey, um......

Not Matthew!!!???  So freakin sad.

Now what?  Mary... and Branson??  She can pick up where her late husband left off on running the estate, and the two little cousins can be like siblings.

Thomas and Mr. Carson???  Don't forget....the more homophobic they are, the more likely they are to be homo!!

Pope Quits!!

First time a pope has resigned in 599 years!  The Pope announced his resignation yesterday.  Better folks than I have commented on this event, so here are some pertinent links:

First, Juan Cole in Informed Comment talks about the possibility of Catholics and Muslims creating greater cooperation once Benedict 16 is gone.  One the commenters to Cole's wonderful post dissents a bit and says,

Yes, it would be better if the future pope is open to all religions and works toward a better understanding between different religions, of course, but I don’t hold my breath.

Amy Goodman on Democracy Now had a wonderful interview with Barbara Blaine, president and founder of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, and Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice group.  You may recall the Pope coming down hard on the American nuns in Network, and the resulting "Nuns on the Bus!" tour.  The link includes the rush transcript.

Then there is Ole Phat Stu, who is hardly a champion of things papal.   I want to borrow this photo, which has run a couple of times in his column recently.....but OPS is doubtless dining out on his attitude.  Take your time, Stu....It's never a good idea to wolf down German food.

Top Ten Surprises of the Brennan Hearings

Juan Cole makes some excellent observations on the Brennan Hearings in Informed Comment. I especially like the last line about the Drone policy:

The entire thing is a definitional, constitutional and legal mess, and Obama should end it all before going out of office.

Remember the Election?

Just what was it we were arguing about? All those months, all those dollars and marches and phone calls and letters.... I don't think it was about electing a president who would cut social security & medicare, close down USPS deliveries on Saturday, or allow/devise this extralegal, unconstitutional DRONE b.s. What's going on with that? And I thought we made it clear to the Repugs that their ideas are NOT what we want. 1984, anyone?

What Next?

Thanks, Greenpeace, for taking on this.

Signs of Getting Older.....

If it doesn't hurt, it itches.....

Getting along without....the Super Bowl??

So the Super Bowl (via the 49ers) is rolling out the old homophobia, eh?  Let's boycott it.  Just don't watch.  (Go, Ravens!!)

I'm only too happy to add the SB to my list of boycotts--places I don't even miss now that I've crossed them off my list of places to spend my money.

Denny's (my first, for their treatment of black patrons);

Target (next, for the CEO's contributions to right-wing political candidates in MN--hey!  This is Minnesota we're talking about!!  Home of Sen. Eugene McCarthy and VP Hubert H. Humphrey. Now they're electing the likes of Michelle Bachmann? Gwaaan!);

ATT (a hard one, since my dad and one of my brothers worked for ATT--but ATT has been a big contributor to right-wing causes);

Chick Fil-a (next, abominable attitude toward gay persons--since backed off a bit, but...);

Whole Foods (WF moneybags CEO Mackey said Obamacare was worse than socialism--it is fascism!  Huh?  Fascism's the big buzzword now in the media.  If there's something the right wing doesn't like, such as sharing or health care, they used to call it "socialism."  Now they're calling it "fascism."  Bah, humbug!  Mackey is all in favor of capitalism.  Maybe he can establish a WF credit card so we can get loans to shop there.)

Remembering words from that old song we used to sing in college,

"Got along without you before I met you,
Gonna get along without you now.
I met somebody who's twice as nice,
and I don't love you anyhow.

Go, Ravens (I've already said that)....