| Annual Christmas Wreaths on Union Station, Washington DC 2013 |
Saturday, December 07, 2013
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
Tracy and her rellies on L.I.
Last month, my dear friend Tracy and her spouse, Rabbi Lisa Edwards, from L.A. were visiting D.C. Shortly after they left, I found a photo of Albert Einstein (AE) taken when he was on Long Island. I emailed it to Tracy and asked if the other person were one of her relatives. Not quite. He was the proprietor of a local store and the grandfather of one of Tracy's cousin Jeff's best friends.
That's David Rothman, who owned Rothman's Variety Store in Southold.
There's a famous story about Einstein coming in and asking for sundials.
After some confusion, it turned out he was seeking sandals. Al was an
eager sailor, though not a good one. You may recall the stories of Aunt Connie
and Betty J... pulling him off the shore when he ran aground.
There he would be, contemplating the universe, with his head in a paper bag.
(In addition to sandals, he lacked a hat, so he would tame his wild locks
in a paper bag cinched with a rubber band. Imagine finding the smartest human
on the planet aground with his head in a bag.)
David Rothman's grandson, Ron, is a buddy of mine and a fellow guitarist.
He now runs Rothman's, and sells vintage guitars there, as well as sundries.
I buy guitar strings from him, and recently bought a guitar too.
I have a few more Einstein stories from my years as the newspaper guy out here,
but I'll spare you for now. [the following link will have more information on
Einstein and his sojourn in L.I. You can sign up for the newsletter, too.]
http://www.southoldhistoricalsociety.org/Einstein%20%26%20Southold.htm Saturday, November 30, 2013
Chip Out!!
OK....when in history has it been necessary for voters to follow up their votes with cash donations? In the past few days, I've received three pleas from those representing progressive causes to "chip in" $80 so that others will contribute two matching dollars for every one of mine to fight against the massive infusion of Koch Brothers millions as they seek to whatever....just what are they after, these Koch Brothers? Electing Republican Senators or Representatives? (Are the Koch brothers all that dumb, for all their money?) The Republicans have done NOTHING to earn their fat salaries. Is this why they need money to put them in office??
Eighty bucks?? Excuse me, dear progressives, but right now I don't even have EIGHT to spare for anything. The Republicans, if they had their way, would take even that away. Bah humbug!!
Eighty bucks?? Excuse me, dear progressives, but right now I don't even have EIGHT to spare for anything. The Republicans, if they had their way, would take even that away. Bah humbug!!
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Peace in the Middle East?
Juan Cole lists the various positive reactions to the recent U.S.-Iran agreement among virtually all the countries in the Middle East but Israel. Which Middle Eastern country actually has nuclear weapons? Israel. Let us pray.
Remember Nevil Shute's novel On the Beach? (Or the resulting movie starring Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck?) Amazon calls the book, "Nevil Shute’s most powerful novel—a bestseller for decades after its 1957 publication—is an unforgettable vision of a post-apocalyptic world." Post-apocalyptic, meaning after nuclear World War III. The New York Times said it was “The most haunting evocation we have of a world dying of radiation after an atomic war.”
Congratulations to all parties who contributed to the past week's agreement.
Remember Nevil Shute's novel On the Beach? (Or the resulting movie starring Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck?) Amazon calls the book, "Nevil Shute’s most powerful novel—a bestseller for decades after its 1957 publication—is an unforgettable vision of a post-apocalyptic world." Post-apocalyptic, meaning after nuclear World War III. The New York Times said it was “The most haunting evocation we have of a world dying of radiation after an atomic war.”
Congratulations to all parties who contributed to the past week's agreement.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Dream Board
UP:
Thought of personal commandment #2. (In case you've mercifully forgotten, #1 was Keep on Learning.) #2 is Keep a Dream Board. If eggplant (my first learning-about project) is gonna help me live longer, I want the rest of my days to be more fun. So where does this start? By visualizing what more fun will look like. And keeping a record of things I see that feel supportive (oh, god....it's come to feeling and using words like supportive). It's not about HAVING THINGS--see, this is where it starts....any time I think of something I'd like, my own personal Greek chorus sings "THAT'S NOT GOOD! Fine. I'll get around the Greek chorus by putting up pictures of things I'd like and enjoying those.
Aside: One of the things my dad had when he died was one of those automatic smoker things--for
game and fish. It looked like the automatic cooker my mother used to use on weekends at the lake.
But it not only cooked the items, it smoked them, too. My dad's smoker looked unused--brand new, a gift from one of my brothers. So she gave it to me when she was clearing out the cottage before she sold it. I brought it home with great excitement: we could use it to make smoked turkey! My husband was enthusiastic about it, too. Came the divorce, however, and the smoker was still unused. So I kept it. Finally, the kids and I landed in Iowa in our own house, and I decided, egged on by some of my coworkers, to smoke a turkey one Thanksgiving (when turkeys were cheap). So I did. Have you ever had smoked turkey? You can buy slices of smoked turkey in some delis, and it costs more than slices of just plain cooked turkey. For sandwiches, etc. But a whole smoked turkey? Nobody wanted to eat it, especially not me because I was so shocked that this big turkey had that smokey taste all the way through. No stuffing, no gravy=fail! Imagine....my tastes were formed at an early age when I could sneak down into the cellar at night and pick at the turkey carcass. I didn't LIKE smoked turkey. Ish. I gave the smoker to the chief egger-on-er at work, and said, no, I don't want a smoked turkey in payment. You keep it. You're welcome.
Believe me, a dream board can avoid this very thing. If there's something my little heart thinks it wants, I can pin up a photo: a house with a big garden? a place by the shore? Fine. there are tons of
magazines and advertisements and emails arriving chez XE regularly, and I can clip/print out pictures of appealing items and put them on my dream board. After a few months of this, we'll see what happens. A dream board is a good way to move things into my life OR get them out of my system.
DOWN: Not much down today. Except a big load of laundry waiting to be done, and it's Sunday. Don't want to run the washer and dryer on a Sunday and disturb the quiet. (Maybe I can do it this morning while my neighbors are at church. Ha.)
Thought of personal commandment #2. (In case you've mercifully forgotten, #1 was Keep on Learning.) #2 is Keep a Dream Board. If eggplant (my first learning-about project) is gonna help me live longer, I want the rest of my days to be more fun. So where does this start? By visualizing what more fun will look like. And keeping a record of things I see that feel supportive (oh, god....it's come to feeling and using words like supportive). It's not about HAVING THINGS--see, this is where it starts....any time I think of something I'd like, my own personal Greek chorus sings "THAT'S NOT GOOD! Fine. I'll get around the Greek chorus by putting up pictures of things I'd like and enjoying those.
Aside: One of the things my dad had when he died was one of those automatic smoker things--for
game and fish. It looked like the automatic cooker my mother used to use on weekends at the lake.
But it not only cooked the items, it smoked them, too. My dad's smoker looked unused--brand new, a gift from one of my brothers. So she gave it to me when she was clearing out the cottage before she sold it. I brought it home with great excitement: we could use it to make smoked turkey! My husband was enthusiastic about it, too. Came the divorce, however, and the smoker was still unused. So I kept it. Finally, the kids and I landed in Iowa in our own house, and I decided, egged on by some of my coworkers, to smoke a turkey one Thanksgiving (when turkeys were cheap). So I did. Have you ever had smoked turkey? You can buy slices of smoked turkey in some delis, and it costs more than slices of just plain cooked turkey. For sandwiches, etc. But a whole smoked turkey? Nobody wanted to eat it, especially not me because I was so shocked that this big turkey had that smokey taste all the way through. No stuffing, no gravy=fail! Imagine....my tastes were formed at an early age when I could sneak down into the cellar at night and pick at the turkey carcass. I didn't LIKE smoked turkey. Ish. I gave the smoker to the chief egger-on-er at work, and said, no, I don't want a smoked turkey in payment. You keep it. You're welcome.
Believe me, a dream board can avoid this very thing. If there's something my little heart thinks it wants, I can pin up a photo: a house with a big garden? a place by the shore? Fine. there are tons of
magazines and advertisements and emails arriving chez XE regularly, and I can clip/print out pictures of appealing items and put them on my dream board. After a few months of this, we'll see what happens. A dream board is a good way to move things into my life OR get them out of my system.
DOWN: Not much down today. Except a big load of laundry waiting to be done, and it's Sunday. Don't want to run the washer and dryer on a Sunday and disturb the quiet. (Maybe I can do it this morning while my neighbors are at church. Ha.)
Thursday, November 21, 2013
"He's makin' a list, checkin' it twice..."
Santa Claus had the right idea: make a list! Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project fame also counsels us to make lists--"Write Your Own Set of Personal Commandments." (Rubin comes up with 12!) What? the 10 big ones aren't enough? The wacky nun/ex-nun Karol Jackowski came up with "seven more commandments" in her book Ten Fun Things to Do Before You Die:
it's worth your time. Or keeping track of whether you keep your personal commandments or not. Except you. That would pass for fun here in chez XE.
My personal commandment #1 is Keep on Learning! There is so much I don't know, and with bloggers supreme Cop Car, Ole Phat Stu, Hattie, & Little Red Hen as my inspirations, I'm gonna dig
into topics I don't know much about. #1 is eggplant. What the hell good is eggplant for but soaking up calories when you fry it? We all know that kale is a fountain of good health & vitamins, but eggplant? Well. You get my drift. Cop Car and Stu are the engineers/physicists/pilots--there's hardly
anything they don't know about math (urk). Hattie stays ahead of the game from her far outpost, and LRH provides a feast of information, often about baking bread, weird crafts, and other topics relating to Home Ec.
Anyway, following nun other than Jackowski's "other seven," I won't work too hard on this, and I'll share my findings (ha--fancy word for results?).
Don't work too hardSo what's fun about that? Well, you can take your own sweet time to find just the right personal commandments. And nobody is gonna be standing over you until you do it or give advice on whether
Share
No hitting or hurting
Have a real good time
Always let conscience be your guide
Forgive and forget
Let it be
it's worth your time. Or keeping track of whether you keep your personal commandments or not. Except you. That would pass for fun here in chez XE.
My personal commandment #1 is Keep on Learning! There is so much I don't know, and with bloggers supreme Cop Car, Ole Phat Stu, Hattie, & Little Red Hen as my inspirations, I'm gonna dig
into topics I don't know much about. #1 is eggplant. What the hell good is eggplant for but soaking up calories when you fry it? We all know that kale is a fountain of good health & vitamins, but eggplant? Well. You get my drift. Cop Car and Stu are the engineers/physicists/pilots--there's hardly
anything they don't know about math (urk). Hattie stays ahead of the game from her far outpost, and LRH provides a feast of information, often about baking bread, weird crafts, and other topics relating to Home Ec.
Anyway, following nun other than Jackowski's "other seven," I won't work too hard on this, and I'll share my findings (ha--fancy word for results?).
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Sunday, 11/17
UP:
1) Going to see the Van Gogh Repetitions exhibit at the Phillips Gallery today, then have dinner
with pals. No formal event today for the VG--just the pictures hanging in the galleries. VG has two famous repetitions: the road builders and the plane trees. First time they've been exhibited together.
Always love to visit the Phillips gift shop, too. I always get good ideas, if not gifts.
2) Cleaned--vacuumed, washed the cushion covers, aired the cushions on the porch) and reassembled Cathy's former sofa (many thanks, Cherie). Got rid of all evidence of the hound (hair, dust/dirt, odor) who had captured it for his napping place. Perfect size for human napping, too. Adds another place to accommodate visitors overnight.
3) Just saw a very interesting video clip: Visualize with Cynthia--about a woman who won $112 million in a lottery, and she says her secret to success was to VISUALIZE it! Well, I can do that. I think. Hard to imagine having 112 million bucks in the old exchequer, but why not? One thing she did was to write that figure down and leave it around her house in various places where she could SEE it and accept its place in her life. We all can do that, too. Why the heck not?
DOWN:
1) With all the opening and shutting of the porch door yesterday (see above), another big fat house cricket got in. I know they are outside bugs, but this variety is the brown & grey HOUSE cricket, not the shiny black FIELD cricket. This a.m. at 4, when I got up, there was a VERY big cricket on the bathroom rug. When I stepped across it (not on it, I don't like to kill bugs), it vanished into thin air. Have not seen it since, and I have been checking my pjs frequently to make sure it didn't hop onto me! Brrr.
2) Gonna visualize seeing that big cricket out in the open (not in my pjs or in my bed!!) where I can invite her to the dustpan and give her a ride to the outdoors!!
1) Going to see the Van Gogh Repetitions exhibit at the Phillips Gallery today, then have dinner
with pals. No formal event today for the VG--just the pictures hanging in the galleries. VG has two famous repetitions: the road builders and the plane trees. First time they've been exhibited together.
Always love to visit the Phillips gift shop, too. I always get good ideas, if not gifts.
2) Cleaned--vacuumed, washed the cushion covers, aired the cushions on the porch) and reassembled Cathy's former sofa (many thanks, Cherie). Got rid of all evidence of the hound (hair, dust/dirt, odor) who had captured it for his napping place. Perfect size for human napping, too. Adds another place to accommodate visitors overnight.
3) Just saw a very interesting video clip: Visualize with Cynthia--about a woman who won $112 million in a lottery, and she says her secret to success was to VISUALIZE it! Well, I can do that. I think. Hard to imagine having 112 million bucks in the old exchequer, but why not? One thing she did was to write that figure down and leave it around her house in various places where she could SEE it and accept its place in her life. We all can do that, too. Why the heck not?
DOWN:
1) With all the opening and shutting of the porch door yesterday (see above), another big fat house cricket got in. I know they are outside bugs, but this variety is the brown & grey HOUSE cricket, not the shiny black FIELD cricket. This a.m. at 4, when I got up, there was a VERY big cricket on the bathroom rug. When I stepped across it (not on it, I don't like to kill bugs), it vanished into thin air. Have not seen it since, and I have been checking my pjs frequently to make sure it didn't hop onto me! Brrr.
2) Gonna visualize seeing that big cricket out in the open (not in my pjs or in my bed!!) where I can invite her to the dustpan and give her a ride to the outdoors!!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
pasta bolognese!!
OK, having seen the prize-winning French movie, "Blue Is the Warmest Color," I, like many others, am craving the pasta featured in this movie. Which turns out to be plain old Pasta Bolognese. I'm making some right now. Wot th hell, This is something I've made all my life, but now I'm using the Barefoot Contessa's recipe, as this has been recommended by others who have sought to make this glorious family-type dish. Mine never had any nutmeg in it, and from the looks of it in the movie, the recommended recipe has no saffron in it (doesn't it look as if it has saffron in it??) it does to me. It's very YELLOW in the movie, but not so much in real life.
I did LOVE this movie--it portrays the loneliness of love better than anything else. and I guess I'm getting old, the 7-minutes of heavy breathing did not seem erotic to me. It was a wonderful movie, though, and I look forward to tonight's pasta bolognese!! All it lacks now is a bit of cream and parmesan cheese!! wow.
I did LOVE this movie--it portrays the loneliness of love better than anything else. and I guess I'm getting old, the 7-minutes of heavy breathing did not seem erotic to me. It was a wonderful movie, though, and I look forward to tonight's pasta bolognese!! All it lacks now is a bit of cream and parmesan cheese!! wow.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Bob Would Appreciate This....
UP:
"The email of the species is deadlier than the mail."--Steven Fry
My brother Bob always preferred what he called "Dmail": handwritten communiques that circulate via the USPS. The "D" is for his last name. He refused to own a computer or participate in email, which often irked the rest of us. His longtime friends used to thank him for never moving house--same address, same phone number since the early 1950s. Every year on Valentine's day, he'd send out those little grade school valentines, signed "love, Bob." Now he's gone, and those little cards with him. For my birthday, I'd get a long letter telling all his news--of his children, grandchildren, and so far, one glorious great-grandchild, the neighbors, his old friends whom I knew, and the Minneapolis weather, which involved, usually by my birthday, lots of snow shoveling (which he did himself with a shovel, not a blower). Even in his 80s, he loved to ride his bike over to St. Paul to visit his daughters there.
Dmail, indeed! He lived a Dlife!!--his own and under his own power until the very end.
"The email of the species is deadlier than the mail."--Steven Fry
My brother Bob always preferred what he called "Dmail": handwritten communiques that circulate via the USPS. The "D" is for his last name. He refused to own a computer or participate in email, which often irked the rest of us. His longtime friends used to thank him for never moving house--same address, same phone number since the early 1950s. Every year on Valentine's day, he'd send out those little grade school valentines, signed "love, Bob." Now he's gone, and those little cards with him. For my birthday, I'd get a long letter telling all his news--of his children, grandchildren, and so far, one glorious great-grandchild, the neighbors, his old friends whom I knew, and the Minneapolis weather, which involved, usually by my birthday, lots of snow shoveling (which he did himself with a shovel, not a blower). Even in his 80s, he loved to ride his bike over to St. Paul to visit his daughters there.
Dmail, indeed! He lived a Dlife!!--his own and under his own power until the very end.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Feliz Lunes-y
Thoughts of the Day So Far:
DOWN: There will be a special place in hell for whoever invented those incessantly whining leaf blowers!* Lazy guy outside blowing leaves from one side of the driveway to the other. Then where do they go? I think he blows 'em into the street for the city to pick up. Grrr. Better than stuffing them in plastic bags, I guess, but a lot of them wind up in the Anacostia River, which doesn't need our debris. How about mowing over them so they make mulch? Then you can just let it stay on the grass over the winter. With the right kind of grass, it'll work just fine, don'tcha think?
*Ditto for whoever invented spraying lawns. Boo. When I was a kid, "perfect" grass lawns were not sacred. Every lawn had its own bald patches, ant hills, and wild flowers.
UP: Got a great recipe for mushroom-barley soup from Sally via email today. I think I'm going to change the broth from chicken to beef. Why? I have drippings from last night's steak that I hate to throw away.
Stayed overnight at pal's house so I could watch "Downton Abbey"--except, ha. DA doesn't start a new season till January! "Paradise" didn't do much for me. Oh well. I watched "Foyle's War" and enjoyed it. Especially the relationship between Foyle and Sam, his driver.
MEH: Wot would the Britcoms do if there were no such thing as war? Lionel and Jean would have been long married, and Foyle would have been a private eye, spying on or for the royals. Your turn.....
DOWN: There will be a special place in hell for whoever invented those incessantly whining leaf blowers!* Lazy guy outside blowing leaves from one side of the driveway to the other. Then where do they go? I think he blows 'em into the street for the city to pick up. Grrr. Better than stuffing them in plastic bags, I guess, but a lot of them wind up in the Anacostia River, which doesn't need our debris. How about mowing over them so they make mulch? Then you can just let it stay on the grass over the winter. With the right kind of grass, it'll work just fine, don'tcha think?
*Ditto for whoever invented spraying lawns. Boo. When I was a kid, "perfect" grass lawns were not sacred. Every lawn had its own bald patches, ant hills, and wild flowers.
UP: Got a great recipe for mushroom-barley soup from Sally via email today. I think I'm going to change the broth from chicken to beef. Why? I have drippings from last night's steak that I hate to throw away.
Stayed overnight at pal's house so I could watch "Downton Abbey"--except, ha. DA doesn't start a new season till January! "Paradise" didn't do much for me. Oh well. I watched "Foyle's War" and enjoyed it. Especially the relationship between Foyle and Sam, his driver.
MEH: Wot would the Britcoms do if there were no such thing as war? Lionel and Jean would have been long married, and Foyle would have been a private eye, spying on or for the royals. Your turn.....
Saturday, November 09, 2013
photo albums, continued.....
Well, XE seems to have bitten off a lot more than she can chew with this photo thing. The biggest challenge has become finding photos of previous ancestors. That will involve contacting lots of people with whom I've NEVER been in contact before. And people with whom I once lived but who now are far away.
We have no photos to speak of of my grandsons Ian's & Sean's father. We took a few photos of him in Iowa when his oldest was born, then they all went back home to California, then Missouri. And now he's gone, may he r.i.p. But he was grandfather to two of the cutest little guys on the planet, and he deserves to have his image in the family album. The little guys deserve it. It's possible that the V.A. might have a photo of him, as he was in the army (marines??). There has to be more of a photographic record of him than we have.
I have despaired of finding any photos of my maternal grandparents. I didn't even see their pictures until my mother's funeral. We had none at home. Fractured families, wars, they all take their toll on keeping records.
We have no photos to speak of of my grandsons Ian's & Sean's father. We took a few photos of him in Iowa when his oldest was born, then they all went back home to California, then Missouri. And now he's gone, may he r.i.p. But he was grandfather to two of the cutest little guys on the planet, and he deserves to have his image in the family album. The little guys deserve it. It's possible that the V.A. might have a photo of him, as he was in the army (marines??). There has to be more of a photographic record of him than we have.
I have despaired of finding any photos of my maternal grandparents. I didn't even see their pictures until my mother's funeral. We had none at home. Fractured families, wars, they all take their toll on keeping records.
Monday, November 04, 2013
Photo Album of Your Own Life.....
Who was it? Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, who wrote in Positively Positive the other day about, among other things, taking tourist photos of your own life. Why? Because the places and people will change, and when they've done so, you will have pictures of them, and it will help you stay connected with your past. So Rubin has taken photos of the bench on the Yale campus where she was sitting when her future husband first passed by and attracted her eye. Things like that.
And I thought it was a splendid idea. My background has been photo-challenged from the beginning.
Although my parents had lots of pictures of my brothers when they were growing up in Nebraska and visiting my dad's parents in Michigan, but I am not in the crowd, usually. I came along about 7 years after the pack, and there are a few pictures of me with Mom or Dad, but hardly any of the five of us kids.
When I was in elementary school, the camera was no longer functioning, and with WWII upon us, there was little money for things like camera repair or film. The day I got out of the hospital after having polio, however, Mom did take a picture of me and my brother Bob, second oldest and in his AAF uniform, waiting for the bus back to his base. He had been home on leave to visit our brother Gene, the youngest of the boys, who was still in the hospital recovering from the surgery necessitated by the paralysis.
I'm thinking of the vast contrast between then and now, when every day I get new photos--often video clips--of my new great-grandsons (see "new boyz on the block" on the right-hand side of the page). I can't quite keep up with them in terms of posting, but they are all saved. I also am becoming fonder of still photographs, which are easier to nail down than the little videos. It's given me a whole new perspective on all the photos I do have in my "files." They need better organizing, for one thing. Time to get with it!!
And I thought it was a splendid idea. My background has been photo-challenged from the beginning.
Although my parents had lots of pictures of my brothers when they were growing up in Nebraska and visiting my dad's parents in Michigan, but I am not in the crowd, usually. I came along about 7 years after the pack, and there are a few pictures of me with Mom or Dad, but hardly any of the five of us kids.
When I was in elementary school, the camera was no longer functioning, and with WWII upon us, there was little money for things like camera repair or film. The day I got out of the hospital after having polio, however, Mom did take a picture of me and my brother Bob, second oldest and in his AAF uniform, waiting for the bus back to his base. He had been home on leave to visit our brother Gene, the youngest of the boys, who was still in the hospital recovering from the surgery necessitated by the paralysis.
I'm thinking of the vast contrast between then and now, when every day I get new photos--often video clips--of my new great-grandsons (see "new boyz on the block" on the right-hand side of the page). I can't quite keep up with them in terms of posting, but they are all saved. I also am becoming fonder of still photographs, which are easier to nail down than the little videos. It's given me a whole new perspective on all the photos I do have in my "files." They need better organizing, for one thing. Time to get with it!!
Saturday, November 02, 2013
Grammar and all of that.....
This morning, Herr Savory (aka Stu) emailed me two cartoons about the rules of grammar, apparently found in facebook's Grammarly page. Here's my favorite:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfsPt3yoVEk6paVZXJnkt93BAMXZcRXJNU0Ql7F9jSGJb_M25TNCsSu3VQK1_bnGhRu4i6GPPr6to3r9rAnAoq4OR-zHs6y3l6IvB-2vzz5WIK39MjM3brRmdyhrOmNyTlhsjfVw/s1600/1ancient+gramam+p;olice.jpg
Here's the other:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42OI9IYvMCA7_ODvoT_F5XBBEvW-itr4E6gWPOYecBoOf_X7nYexIMzdE_o42XZgCQP64IFzKxrn3WMMLO9rKnptsP93o5bIEOz7IMo6owm5BR9UQxRi1xbp4YrDxzJudaTh-BQ/s1600/1wit+to+whom.jpg
I also found, when looking into the Pali language (in which many Buddhist texts are written), that the word quiddities struck me on a number of charts, "Quiddities of Laoti/an/Cambodian Pali." Quiddity is one of those words I THINK I know, but can't describe in 25 words or less. As luck would have it, my OED compact, volume II, P-Z, is right on the table here instead of in the case, ditto a magnifying glass. The Qs take up very little room in this volume, and the Qui words hardly any at all. Quiddity means "the real nature or essence of a thing; that which makes a thing what it is." And quiddity represents all the things our German scholar's blog comprises. I think. Right, Stu??
And not to worry, Stu. I'm not getting all academic on you. I was looking up the Pali language because it was a clue in the impossibly quirky City Paper crossword that comes out here every Thursday. A four-letter word beginning with "P" for the language in which many Buddhist texts are written?? Hindu is 5 letters and no p, and Sanskrit is eight letters and no p. That's all I could think of, so I googled it.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfsPt3yoVEk6paVZXJnkt93BAMXZcRXJNU0Ql7F9jSGJb_M25TNCsSu3VQK1_bnGhRu4i6GPPr6to3r9rAnAoq4OR-zHs6y3l6IvB-2vzz5WIK39MjM3brRmdyhrOmNyTlhsjfVw/s1600/1ancient+gramam+p;olice.jpg
Here's the other:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42OI9IYvMCA7_ODvoT_F5XBBEvW-itr4E6gWPOYecBoOf_X7nYexIMzdE_o42XZgCQP64IFzKxrn3WMMLO9rKnptsP93o5bIEOz7IMo6owm5BR9UQxRi1xbp4YrDxzJudaTh-BQ/s1600/1wit+to+whom.jpg
I also found, when looking into the Pali language (in which many Buddhist texts are written), that the word quiddities struck me on a number of charts, "Quiddities of Laoti/an/Cambodian Pali." Quiddity is one of those words I THINK I know, but can't describe in 25 words or less. As luck would have it, my OED compact, volume II, P-Z, is right on the table here instead of in the case, ditto a magnifying glass. The Qs take up very little room in this volume, and the Qui words hardly any at all. Quiddity means "the real nature or essence of a thing; that which makes a thing what it is." And quiddity represents all the things our German scholar's blog comprises. I think. Right, Stu??
And not to worry, Stu. I'm not getting all academic on you. I was looking up the Pali language because it was a clue in the impossibly quirky City Paper crossword that comes out here every Thursday. A four-letter word beginning with "P" for the language in which many Buddhist texts are written?? Hindu is 5 letters and no p, and Sanskrit is eight letters and no p. That's all I could think of, so I googled it.
Friday, November 01, 2013
More on Walking & Pedestrianship....
Here's a good one:
I've also added "Where the Sidewalk Starts" in my Blogs I Love. Scary bidness! And yes, I'm going out for my daily 30 minute walk right now.
I've also added "Where the Sidewalk Starts" in my Blogs I Love. Scary bidness! And yes, I'm going out for my daily 30 minute walk right now.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Visiting the Past and the Future.....
UP:
1) A whole day and more of swanning around Gotham City with le Jack! and his 'rents and great-auntie. So wonderful and so surprising. I have never felt worthy of being anyone's ancestor, but there i was. Can't beat that with a stick.
2) Enjoying the chaos in Eataly, and experiencing the travails of getting a TAXI to anywhere. It used to be so easy. Is not now.
DOWN:
1) Taxi-getting, as mentioned.
2) Realizing that I am a VERY QUIET PERSON, which drives a lot of people nuts. Sorry about that, but that's me. And when I try to make conversation, people misinterpret it, and if I try to set the record straight, all hell breaks loose.
3) I also am not a jolly person, and that doesn't go over well, either. Eff that, I say.
MEH:
1) So what, etc.?
2) I do like a good medium-rare hamburger (without cheese or bacon) but with good crisp lettuce, pickles, and tomato. and with "fence fries," as my glorious niece used to call them.
??\
3) Jack does like pancakes!
4) What is the secret of LIGHT, FLUFFY pancakes? Aunt Jemima mix? extra baking powder?
5) Ver vaist??
1) A whole day and more of swanning around Gotham City with le Jack! and his 'rents and great-auntie. So wonderful and so surprising. I have never felt worthy of being anyone's ancestor, but there i was. Can't beat that with a stick.
2) Enjoying the chaos in Eataly, and experiencing the travails of getting a TAXI to anywhere. It used to be so easy. Is not now.
DOWN:
1) Taxi-getting, as mentioned.
2) Realizing that I am a VERY QUIET PERSON, which drives a lot of people nuts. Sorry about that, but that's me. And when I try to make conversation, people misinterpret it, and if I try to set the record straight, all hell breaks loose.
3) I also am not a jolly person, and that doesn't go over well, either. Eff that, I say.
MEH:
1) So what, etc.?
2) I do like a good medium-rare hamburger (without cheese or bacon) but with good crisp lettuce, pickles, and tomato. and with "fence fries," as my glorious niece used to call them.
??\
3) Jack does like pancakes!
4) What is the secret of LIGHT, FLUFFY pancakes? Aunt Jemima mix? extra baking powder?
5) Ver vaist??
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
"Entitlement"?? Wrong Word....
When VA Sen. Mark Warner declaimed recently that "the Democrats are going to have to give on entitlement reform," I saw red. And what does it mean to "see red"? Red in this case is not a code word for indebtedness or the loopy political bent of the Tea Party states. It's anger. Why? Because Social Security is NOT some entitlement, not some giveaway we're didn't earn but are "entitled" to because FDR felt sorry for old people at the end of the Great Depression. We've already paid for the Social Security checks we'll get in our old age. That money has come out of our paychecks, starting with the first, bite by bite, and it has been invested in a special trust fund to be used for no other purpose.
I hope Warner considers the "reform" needed to be stopping the raids on the SS trust funds to finance the idiot wars and tax cuts for the wealthy visited upon us in recent years. It's hard to believe he is a Democrat and not some mean-spirited Republican in disguise.
I hope Warner considers the "reform" needed to be stopping the raids on the SS trust funds to finance the idiot wars and tax cuts for the wealthy visited upon us in recent years. It's hard to believe he is a Democrat and not some mean-spirited Republican in disguise.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Feliz Lunes-y
DOWN:
1) I can't believe they're really gonna shut down iGoogle. In my pitiful experience, it's the ONE THING GOOGLE does that actually WORKS! No wonder they're getting rid of it. Rats! And what can replace it? I've looked, but the advertising assaults are too much for me. I don't want to spend
time watching idiots look for new cars or see them eat some kind of hypersweetened boxed cereal. Keep it to yourselves is what I say.
2) They are going to resurface our parking lot today, and a big tank truck of stinky stuff is parked
right across from my what...porch? patio? terrace? ha. It's a balcony kinda thing. And now they
are making such a dreadful racket even I can hear it. I just looked...apparently they're sawing off
the top step. Sweet Jebus..... The city not only never sleeps, it spreads its scary nightmares around in the daylight.
UP:
1) Never mind about that. One of my favorite blogs (Belgian Waffle) started out with this phrase a few days ago.
2) When La Waffle's youngest returned from camp, he also said the food was "épouvantable." That bit was in French (Walloon??) (Belgians are at least bilingual, but in Waffle's case, her kids are trilingual or more, studying German, Chinese, or what-have-you.) "épouvantable" means "appalling."
3) Only an hour & 15 minutes till breakfast! And I won't have to eat eggs again (and my mama is not around to pay me cash money to eat oatmeal).....I got some hot dogs last night at Giant. "épouvantable," you say? I likes 'em. If you boil them they're not so bad.
Boiling dissolves out all the dread chemicals, doesn't it?
1) I can't believe they're really gonna shut down iGoogle. In my pitiful experience, it's the ONE THING GOOGLE does that actually WORKS! No wonder they're getting rid of it. Rats! And what can replace it? I've looked, but the advertising assaults are too much for me. I don't want to spend
time watching idiots look for new cars or see them eat some kind of hypersweetened boxed cereal. Keep it to yourselves is what I say.
2) They are going to resurface our parking lot today, and a big tank truck of stinky stuff is parked
right across from my what...porch? patio? terrace? ha. It's a balcony kinda thing. And now they
are making such a dreadful racket even I can hear it. I just looked...apparently they're sawing off
the top step. Sweet Jebus..... The city not only never sleeps, it spreads its scary nightmares around in the daylight.
UP:
1) Never mind about that. One of my favorite blogs (Belgian Waffle) started out with this phrase a few days ago.
Er is een meeuw in mijn stapelbed
You don't know Dutch? It means "There is a seagull in my bunk." Be nice if there were a seagull in my bunk. That might mean I was by the sea!!
2) When La Waffle's youngest returned from camp, he also said the food was "épouvantable." That bit was in French (Walloon??) (Belgians are at least bilingual, but in Waffle's case, her kids are trilingual or more, studying German, Chinese, or what-have-you.) "épouvantable" means "appalling."
3) Only an hour & 15 minutes till breakfast! And I won't have to eat eggs again (and my mama is not around to pay me cash money to eat oatmeal).....I got some hot dogs last night at Giant. "épouvantable," you say? I likes 'em. If you boil them they're not so bad.
Boiling dissolves out all the dread chemicals, doesn't it?
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Simpling down....
(Is that title even grammatical? One of this former editor's hobbies is playing with language--including misspeling, odd syntax, and wotever else appeals.)
UP:
1) Among my many books is Cooking for One by Nancy Creech. It's got just about any recipe I want to make and in portions that mean I won't be eating it nonstop for three days. Today it's applesauce, since I bought three Granny Smith apples t'other day at WF, and well, if I don't make it today, the apples will begin to shrivel. Not so much the Granny Smiths, though. They're quite sturdy. This recipe takes about 10 minutes (after you get the apples peeled & chopped), and I'm
looking forward to having this tonight after it sits a while. I did NOT add the raisins called for, since I don't really like raisins in applesauce. This, to me, is THE joy of cooking. You can cook what you like and in the way you like it.
2) The painting I want to do came to me in a dream last night. And since my benefactor wants
the colors of dusty rose and pale blue, that's what I'm gonna do the whole thing in. Save for a
few terra-cotta pots, green foliage, and pink flowers. There is hardly any sunshine in the scene except
where it sneaks in up at one corner. A challenge.
DOWN:
1) That recipe does not produce enough JUICE to suit me. I grew up dining on home-canned applesauce that had lots of glorious juice. Looks kinda gummy.
Hmm....May require another modification, though the taste will be more important.
MEH:
1) I was saying yesterday how much I like not eating until 11 a.m.--"I can eat anything I want until 7 pm, and I love it." The g.f. said "But you don't know that's good for you!" And I said I never claimed it was good for me, only that I like it. And she said, "Well, your pants are falling off without dieting, so I guess I should keep my mouth shut."
2) Also, I am having long, elaborate dreams about important things, and that hasn't happened in a long time. Is that an UP? meh.....
UP:
1) Among my many books is Cooking for One by Nancy Creech. It's got just about any recipe I want to make and in portions that mean I won't be eating it nonstop for three days. Today it's applesauce, since I bought three Granny Smith apples t'other day at WF, and well, if I don't make it today, the apples will begin to shrivel. Not so much the Granny Smiths, though. They're quite sturdy. This recipe takes about 10 minutes (after you get the apples peeled & chopped), and I'm
looking forward to having this tonight after it sits a while. I did NOT add the raisins called for, since I don't really like raisins in applesauce. This, to me, is THE joy of cooking. You can cook what you like and in the way you like it.
2) The painting I want to do came to me in a dream last night. And since my benefactor wants
the colors of dusty rose and pale blue, that's what I'm gonna do the whole thing in. Save for a
few terra-cotta pots, green foliage, and pink flowers. There is hardly any sunshine in the scene except
where it sneaks in up at one corner. A challenge.
DOWN:
1) That recipe does not produce enough JUICE to suit me. I grew up dining on home-canned applesauce that had lots of glorious juice. Looks kinda gummy.
MEH:
1) I was saying yesterday how much I like not eating until 11 a.m.--"I can eat anything I want until 7 pm, and I love it." The g.f. said "But you don't know that's good for you!" And I said I never claimed it was good for me, only that I like it. And she said, "Well, your pants are falling off without dieting, so I guess I should keep my mouth shut."
2) Also, I am having long, elaborate dreams about important things, and that hasn't happened in a long time. Is that an UP? meh.....
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Meanwhile.....
While our own H of R drives us into the ground, Pepe Escobar at Asia Times shows us another view of what's going on by quoting an article in Xinhua. I was struck by this paragraph, especially:
Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies.Asia Times Online :: The birth of the 'de-Americanized' world
lovely day....
Tis the Ides of October!
UP:
1) Soft, sunny day. Made a big batch of pesto. Found wonderful organic basil at Safeway, of all places! Enough for 5 cups of fresh basil leaves for $3.49! Can't buy that much at WF, and what they have (half of that) is like $7.
2) Have the sliding door open, and the crickets are singing.
UP:
1) Soft, sunny day. Made a big batch of pesto. Found wonderful organic basil at Safeway, of all places! Enough for 5 cups of fresh basil leaves for $3.49! Can't buy that much at WF, and what they have (half of that) is like $7.
2) Have the sliding door open, and the crickets are singing.
DOWN:
1) Out of wine. Eff that.
2) That blankety-blank projector does nothing. Wot a waste of $$.
3) SEND IT BACK, says the g.f.!! NO, i says, I JUST HAVEN"T LEARNED HOW TO USE IT!
Sunday, October 13, 2013
shaving corners.....
Starting with DOWN again todayI
1) Ran into an old neighbor today on the sidewalk outside of Biddys. (Biddy's is not the name any more, but it's still my favorite place.) I don't know how we got into this, but she told me that I could get a TV setup from Radio Shack to watch all the Britcoms for nothing. The plug-in thing costs about $40, and then one can watch all kinds of free cable channels for zip. I told her that this is my path to hell. If this is true, I could get a TV and watch all day every day, and that'd be it. I of course gave away my TV set bout 5 years ago, but one can always get a new TV for not much from Amazon or Craigslist or a freakin yard sale. I dunno. Everyone is always going on about how WONDERFUL the programming is on cable and all that. And NO advertising!! Jaysus. There is so much advertising now when you try to watch TV on your laptop that it's hardly worth it.
2) The old neighbor is a professional painter, and I ast her how that was going. She said she was "taking a break" and "thinking of writing a book." Fiction or nonfiction, I says, and she said, "I don't know." Have we heard this before anywhere? There is nothing more popular, it seems, than wanting to "improve my (one's) life." My own life could be improved 1,000-fold and not make a dent in my contribution to humanity. Or is this just the crap my unconscious/subconscious/imagination throws at me hourly?
3) Anyway, I don't wanna watch TV alla time. I want to have FUN doing things I like. Such as cooking and painting and taking photographs of the neighborhood and so on. And having LUNCH with my pals. I do love having LUNCH with my pals. Except I'm finding it very expensive to do this these days. It's far cheaper to cook and eat at home!! Here's a good one: Get a nice loaf of whole-grain/seed bread and toast a couple of slices. Take half an avocado and smash it on one of the slices of toast, then scoop some cottage cheese on top of that, plus some grated parmesan cheese, and there's lunch! Pretty tasty. Lots of salt & pepper. Consume with a couple of good glasses of white wine (recently, I found a good white Sicilian for $8 a bottle, and it's lovely. Forget the name.)
UP:
1) The girlfriend returned from visiting her sister today, and the whole town seems full and joyous, despite wot the Republicans are doing to wreck everything. Eff them.
2) I am figuring out how to work this projector, which arrived yesterday. I also learned that Van Gogh used something called a perspective screen, which I don't have.
3) I also discovered that Politics & Prose has a room in the basement for REMAINDERS! I didn't buy any, but OMG, I enjoyed reading through them.
MEH:
1) Got tired of riding the bus today. I get really pissed off at the rudeness and selfishness when people don't help others who need seats, etc. Couldn't take it any more, so I got off at Columbia Heights and switched to metro, rode that to Fort Totten, then switched to the red line for the brief ride to Takoma. At least I wasn't stewing and passing judgment. There's hardly anybody around, anyway, now that the Repugs have shut everything down. EEjits!
1) Ran into an old neighbor today on the sidewalk outside of Biddys. (Biddy's is not the name any more, but it's still my favorite place.) I don't know how we got into this, but she told me that I could get a TV setup from Radio Shack to watch all the Britcoms for nothing. The plug-in thing costs about $40, and then one can watch all kinds of free cable channels for zip. I told her that this is my path to hell. If this is true, I could get a TV and watch all day every day, and that'd be it. I of course gave away my TV set bout 5 years ago, but one can always get a new TV for not much from Amazon or Craigslist or a freakin yard sale. I dunno. Everyone is always going on about how WONDERFUL the programming is on cable and all that. And NO advertising!! Jaysus. There is so much advertising now when you try to watch TV on your laptop that it's hardly worth it.
2) The old neighbor is a professional painter, and I ast her how that was going. She said she was "taking a break" and "thinking of writing a book." Fiction or nonfiction, I says, and she said, "I don't know." Have we heard this before anywhere? There is nothing more popular, it seems, than wanting to "improve my (one's) life." My own life could be improved 1,000-fold and not make a dent in my contribution to humanity. Or is this just the crap my unconscious/subconscious/imagination throws at me hourly?
3) Anyway, I don't wanna watch TV alla time. I want to have FUN doing things I like. Such as cooking and painting and taking photographs of the neighborhood and so on. And having LUNCH with my pals. I do love having LUNCH with my pals. Except I'm finding it very expensive to do this these days. It's far cheaper to cook and eat at home!! Here's a good one: Get a nice loaf of whole-grain/seed bread and toast a couple of slices. Take half an avocado and smash it on one of the slices of toast, then scoop some cottage cheese on top of that, plus some grated parmesan cheese, and there's lunch! Pretty tasty. Lots of salt & pepper. Consume with a couple of good glasses of white wine (recently, I found a good white Sicilian for $8 a bottle, and it's lovely. Forget the name.)
UP:
1) The girlfriend returned from visiting her sister today, and the whole town seems full and joyous, despite wot the Republicans are doing to wreck everything. Eff them.
2) I am figuring out how to work this projector, which arrived yesterday. I also learned that Van Gogh used something called a perspective screen, which I don't have.
3) I also discovered that Politics & Prose has a room in the basement for REMAINDERS! I didn't buy any, but OMG, I enjoyed reading through them.
MEH:
1) Got tired of riding the bus today. I get really pissed off at the rudeness and selfishness when people don't help others who need seats, etc. Couldn't take it any more, so I got off at Columbia Heights and switched to metro, rode that to Fort Totten, then switched to the red line for the brief ride to Takoma. At least I wasn't stewing and passing judgment. There's hardly anybody around, anyway, now that the Repugs have shut everything down. EEjits!
Saturday, October 12, 2013
MEH?
In addition to my DOWN and UP categories, one (favorite, faithful) reader suggested I add MEH. I hope she wasn't suggesting it should all go into MEH. But maybe that's where it all should go. I have a hard time coming up with DOWNs, though the current political meshugaas provides ample, though tiresome, content. As for UPs, nature and humor have always lifted my spirits. Generally, I guess I'm just a MEH person....taking things as they come, not getting too exercised one way or another. I think I'll reverse the order, though, and start with UP.
UP:
1) Learned about the Salon yesterday in my reading about Vincent Van Gogh. My actual knowledge of impressionists and impressionism has been scant, to put it kindly. The Academy, the powers that be in the Paris art world of the time, disliked and often mocked such artists as Cèzanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Morisot (Berthe! a woman!!), Pissarro, Renoir, and Sisley. And Van Gogh. The Academy sponsored one big art show in Paris every year--the Salon--and all artists strove to be included so as to solidify their reputation. It was a huge show, with so many paintings they were hung on four levels. Nobody wanted to be hung on the highest level, up near the ceiling, but the impressionists, if they were accepted at all, wound up in this "sky," where nobody could see them. The impressionist artists, however, believed in their work, and so in 1863, 30 of them got permission from Napoleon III to hold their own art show, Salon des Refuses--Salon for Rejects. These nontraditional impressionist artists banded together and helped each other, even sharing food if necessary. What courage! and what passion for their work!
2) I've got my blinds open so I can see the front door in case the UPS/USPS truck shows up with my projector as promised. The new fob system makes a nice LOUD racket when somebody enters the building. Many residents have complained, but not me. I like it.
DOWN:
1) As usual, I lost the thread for Van Gogh--how he connected with the impressionists (through Cezanne? Gauguin?) and when and if he succeeded in having any of his paintings hung in the Salon des Refuses (or even in the high-falutin Salon itself?). I'm always in a hurry to put things down, and I forget just where and what I've covered even though I've read all about this recently. This blog format especially requires condensing things. Wish I could organize my time or take actual notes when I'm reading wherever.
2) The DC library has no books at all specifically about the Neanderthals. I did discover that the center for their presence in Germany is practically on top of where my mother's family lived. And her side of the family has always had big heads (by dimension) and there's lots of red hair here and there (both said to be characteristic traits of Neanderthals). But some studies say Neanderthals and humans missed each other by many centuries and did not interact. Others say this is nonsense, and I'm inclined to believe it. There are a number of people I've known personally who look very much like the sketches purporting to show what Neanderthals looked like. Minus the long hair and animal-hide garb.
3) Hulu and Netflix have that abominable system whereby they discern what KIND of movies you like. So if you watch some movie merely out of curiosity, they skew your choices to this type forever after. Nuts to that.
MEH:
1) The bathroom sink is plugged up, and I'm out of drain cleaner. I'm also out of cherry jam, not that this has anything to do with the drain.
2) Nobody is using the washers this morning. I try to do my laundry during the week when most of the other residents are at work, but I'm "behind wit' the ironing," as my dear sister-in-law Joyce's sister used to say. Not that I iron at all except very occasionally. I mostly gave that up in 1965.
UP:
1) Learned about the Salon yesterday in my reading about Vincent Van Gogh. My actual knowledge of impressionists and impressionism has been scant, to put it kindly. The Academy, the powers that be in the Paris art world of the time, disliked and often mocked such artists as Cèzanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Morisot (Berthe! a woman!!), Pissarro, Renoir, and Sisley. And Van Gogh. The Academy sponsored one big art show in Paris every year--the Salon--and all artists strove to be included so as to solidify their reputation. It was a huge show, with so many paintings they were hung on four levels. Nobody wanted to be hung on the highest level, up near the ceiling, but the impressionists, if they were accepted at all, wound up in this "sky," where nobody could see them. The impressionist artists, however, believed in their work, and so in 1863, 30 of them got permission from Napoleon III to hold their own art show, Salon des Refuses--Salon for Rejects. These nontraditional impressionist artists banded together and helped each other, even sharing food if necessary. What courage! and what passion for their work!
2) I've got my blinds open so I can see the front door in case the UPS/USPS truck shows up with my projector as promised. The new fob system makes a nice LOUD racket when somebody enters the building. Many residents have complained, but not me. I like it.
DOWN:
1) As usual, I lost the thread for Van Gogh--how he connected with the impressionists (through Cezanne? Gauguin?) and when and if he succeeded in having any of his paintings hung in the Salon des Refuses (or even in the high-falutin Salon itself?). I'm always in a hurry to put things down, and I forget just where and what I've covered even though I've read all about this recently. This blog format especially requires condensing things. Wish I could organize my time or take actual notes when I'm reading wherever.
2) The DC library has no books at all specifically about the Neanderthals. I did discover that the center for their presence in Germany is practically on top of where my mother's family lived. And her side of the family has always had big heads (by dimension) and there's lots of red hair here and there (both said to be characteristic traits of Neanderthals). But some studies say Neanderthals and humans missed each other by many centuries and did not interact. Others say this is nonsense, and I'm inclined to believe it. There are a number of people I've known personally who look very much like the sketches purporting to show what Neanderthals looked like. Minus the long hair and animal-hide garb.
3) Hulu and Netflix have that abominable system whereby they discern what KIND of movies you like. So if you watch some movie merely out of curiosity, they skew your choices to this type forever after. Nuts to that.
MEH:
1) The bathroom sink is plugged up, and I'm out of drain cleaner. I'm also out of cherry jam, not that this has anything to do with the drain.
2) Nobody is using the washers this morning. I try to do my laundry during the week when most of the other residents are at work, but I'm "behind wit' the ironing," as my dear sister-in-law Joyce's sister used to say. Not that I iron at all except very occasionally. I mostly gave that up in 1965.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Arrest the Idiots!
I don't know why we're not talking about arresting the Republicans in the House of Representatives for not doing their job and keeping our government open and serving our citizens. The potential damage to our country's welfare from their shutdown and debt ceiling shenanigans is mounting by the hour and is worse than an attack by any enemy.
DOWN:
1) See
http://www.nationofchange.org/tea-party-republicans-biggest-mistake-confusing-government-our-system-government-1381499588#comments
2) http://youtu.be/4laZ1K1H9JY
UP:
1) There is such an animal called a "Red River Hoglet." Who knew? It's some kind of wild pig found in OTHER COUNTRIES, not here except in zoos (does Cleveland ring any bells?). Again, my source (and thanks to) http://www.belgianwaffling.com/2013/10/hippo.html
2) The projector I ordered yesterday is now sitting out at Landover, MD, for delivery "early tmw morning." Goody! It's been parked at Landover since early this a.m., and I'm not sure why they can't deliver it today. After all, I used to LIVE in/near Landover, and it was a mere 20-minute bus ride to the DC border, but I'm not complaining....yet. I won't as long as it shows up tomorrow a.m.
3) Another wild dream last night....this time about Antarctica! With lots of children and ICE, both of which were safe! Wot could this mean?
DOWN:
1) See
http://www.nationofchange.org/tea-party-republicans-biggest-mistake-confusing-government-our-system-government-1381499588#comments
2) http://youtu.be/4laZ1K1H9JY
UP:
1) There is such an animal called a "Red River Hoglet." Who knew? It's some kind of wild pig found in OTHER COUNTRIES, not here except in zoos (does Cleveland ring any bells?). Again, my source (and thanks to) http://www.belgianwaffling.com/2013/10/hippo.html
2) The projector I ordered yesterday is now sitting out at Landover, MD, for delivery "early tmw morning." Goody! It's been parked at Landover since early this a.m., and I'm not sure why they can't deliver it today. After all, I used to LIVE in/near Landover, and it was a mere 20-minute bus ride to the DC border, but I'm not complaining....yet. I won't as long as it shows up tomorrow a.m.
3) Another wild dream last night....this time about Antarctica! With lots of children and ICE, both of which were safe! Wot could this mean?
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Rain Kachina settling in....
My youngest daughter, in her earlier days, spent a lot of time in Arizona. She studied at two universities and also worked in/at/for the Grand Canyon. (One of her jobs was selling tickets for the Grand Canyon sightseeing flyovers. The job also included boarding the passengers, loading the plane--don't think they would have much luggage, but maybe--handing out refreshments if that was part of the tour, and cleaning up the plane after the flight. Cool job, no?) She also hung out with Native American friends and acquired a favorite saying for rainy days: "The Rain Kachina* has come to bless the day!" I've always loved this since I first heard her say it. I love rain. I must have been a plant in a former life. (see UP* below).....
DOWN:
1) This is not much of a down, but it's about two hours before 11 a.m., which is when I allow myself to start eating for the day, and I'm starving! I was starving an hour ago, too. The longest hours in the day are from when I get up until 11a. I've already had my coffee, but clear liquids don't count as eating. I can have all the water I want, so maybe I'll just get a glass of water and squeeze some lime juice in it. I did have half an orange left from yesterday's dosage of drops in 2 oz. of juice, but that has disappeared. Hope a rodent didn't cart it off. Not that we have any rodents here, but one must avoid tempting fate, I think my mother called it. A more likely explanation is that my luncheon guest, who did the dishes yesterday after we ate, either ate it herself or put it away in the fridge, where it's hiding now. Hmmm.
2) Oops....the cushions on my porch chairs are getting wet again. Dang. Not soaking wet....I moved the chairs away from the railing and farther under the overhang day before yesterday, but the rain is splashing on the various solid objects in its path, and sending a nice mist up over the chairs.
3) My wall calendar ran out 10 days ago. Have I mentioned this before? Haha...of course. Somewhere. Anyway, the thing about most of these DOWNs is that they challenge me to
fix something. And so rather than dash off to Staples to buy another 18 month calendar, I want to
find a good perpetual calendar that I can hang on the wall here and adjust it every month and every year. I dunno. As I type this, however, I'm thinking that I do love the big paper wall calendars because I can write on them. Always handy to write things down where I'll see them. Anyway....I also could learn how to create and then print out my own wall calendars with this futeless All-in-One. (Shall I call it the All-in-None?) I could do it in several colors, too. Hmm....
UP:
1) The Rain Kachina (mentioned earlier) is here and is scheduled to stay for the next two or three days! It's chilly out, too: 55F! And I'm loving it. This is because the place where I grew up was often about this temperature in the summer! So it feels very comfy and familiar to me.
2) I had a wonderful dream last night just before I woke up. I was with a friend who was visiting a woman who sold paintings for local artists. She had just sold a painting by the friend's friend for $1400!! My friend (not sure who she was) told the woman that I painted pictures, too. So she asked to see some, and then the scene changed to my place, where I showed her two or three different items. She liked them and offered to show them for me. Ha! I woke up with a start and a happy feeling. Yes! Now, of course, I'll have to get my butt in gear and produce something! I ordered a projector so I can add proper architectural details to a current project. Looking forward to doing this!!
DOWN:
1) This is not much of a down, but it's about two hours before 11 a.m., which is when I allow myself to start eating for the day, and I'm starving! I was starving an hour ago, too. The longest hours in the day are from when I get up until 11a. I've already had my coffee, but clear liquids don't count as eating. I can have all the water I want, so maybe I'll just get a glass of water and squeeze some lime juice in it. I did have half an orange left from yesterday's dosage of drops in 2 oz. of juice, but that has disappeared. Hope a rodent didn't cart it off. Not that we have any rodents here, but one must avoid tempting fate, I think my mother called it. A more likely explanation is that my luncheon guest, who did the dishes yesterday after we ate, either ate it herself or put it away in the fridge, where it's hiding now. Hmmm.
2) Oops....the cushions on my porch chairs are getting wet again. Dang. Not soaking wet....I moved the chairs away from the railing and farther under the overhang day before yesterday, but the rain is splashing on the various solid objects in its path, and sending a nice mist up over the chairs.
3) My wall calendar ran out 10 days ago. Have I mentioned this before? Haha...of course. Somewhere. Anyway, the thing about most of these DOWNs is that they challenge me to
fix something. And so rather than dash off to Staples to buy another 18 month calendar, I want to
find a good perpetual calendar that I can hang on the wall here and adjust it every month and every year. I dunno. As I type this, however, I'm thinking that I do love the big paper wall calendars because I can write on them. Always handy to write things down where I'll see them. Anyway....I also could learn how to create and then print out my own wall calendars with this futeless All-in-One. (Shall I call it the All-in-None?) I could do it in several colors, too. Hmm....
UP:
1) The Rain Kachina (mentioned earlier) is here and is scheduled to stay for the next two or three days! It's chilly out, too: 55F! And I'm loving it. This is because the place where I grew up was often about this temperature in the summer! So it feels very comfy and familiar to me.
2) I had a wonderful dream last night just before I woke up. I was with a friend who was visiting a woman who sold paintings for local artists. She had just sold a painting by the friend's friend for $1400!! My friend (not sure who she was) told the woman that I painted pictures, too. So she asked to see some, and then the scene changed to my place, where I showed her two or three different items. She liked them and offered to show them for me. Ha! I woke up with a start and a happy feeling. Yes! Now, of course, I'll have to get my butt in gear and produce something! I ordered a projector so I can add proper architectural details to a current project. Looking forward to doing this!!
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
COOL weather!
After yesterday's rain, the temperature has fallen! 55F now at 8:19a. That's 20 degrees down from yesterday morning. But that's an UP around here. Sweatshirt weather!
DOWN:
1) My All-in-One (copier/scanner/printer/fax--though I don't have a landline to use for the fax option) is very disappointing. It uses so much ink that I'm constantly having to pay a bundle to replace the high-volume (it says) black cartridge all the time or else it won't print at all. I'll never buy this kind again. What kind? I forget. But it's not Epson, which I used before and liked--and still have--but was hard (for me) to program so that it would print from any computer. I wish I were one of those techie geniuses who could make any of this stuff work. Or not. Maybe I should just simplify my life and use Kinkos (or whatever they call it now that it's fed-ex). or or or.....something.
2) It's time to bring in the rubber plant. While I'm at it, I need to get a pot that's not made out of cement so that I can lift it without popping my stents. The cement pot can stay on the porch/balcony/wotever as a permanent receptacle. I can stick a nice rosemary shrub in there and have a constant supply. It'll look like a wee christmas tree, which will be seasonal soon, and nice.
UP:
1) Made my first visit to the "new" or "enlarged" Politics & Prose bookstore up in NW DC (on CT Ave, just up or down from the Van Ness metro stop) a few days ago. Zowie. Talk about a mother lode! This is what a bookstore should be. They had at least one copy of every book that was featured in that Sunday's NYT and WSJ!! And lots of interesting items: puzzles, games, t-shirts. A poetry reading was going on at the back of the store, and there's a super cafe downstairs, and a parking lot out back, and benches out front. If you worship at the altar of books, Politics & Prose is the cathedral! They even have one of those Espresso Book Machines in its own big room. They've given it a cute name, like "Bobo"* or something, and it was busy turning out books all the while we were there.
2) That's enough.....already mentioned the nice, cool weather!! Happy Tews Day!!
*It's "Opus." Fair enough.....
DOWN:
1) My All-in-One (copier/scanner/printer/fax--though I don't have a landline to use for the fax option) is very disappointing. It uses so much ink that I'm constantly having to pay a bundle to replace the high-volume (it says) black cartridge all the time or else it won't print at all. I'll never buy this kind again. What kind? I forget. But it's not Epson, which I used before and liked--and still have--but was hard (for me) to program so that it would print from any computer. I wish I were one of those techie geniuses who could make any of this stuff work. Or not. Maybe I should just simplify my life and use Kinkos (or whatever they call it now that it's fed-ex). or or or.....something.
2) It's time to bring in the rubber plant. While I'm at it, I need to get a pot that's not made out of cement so that I can lift it without popping my stents. The cement pot can stay on the porch/balcony/wotever as a permanent receptacle. I can stick a nice rosemary shrub in there and have a constant supply. It'll look like a wee christmas tree, which will be seasonal soon, and nice.
UP:
1) Made my first visit to the "new" or "enlarged" Politics & Prose bookstore up in NW DC (on CT Ave, just up or down from the Van Ness metro stop) a few days ago. Zowie. Talk about a mother lode! This is what a bookstore should be. They had at least one copy of every book that was featured in that Sunday's NYT and WSJ!! And lots of interesting items: puzzles, games, t-shirts. A poetry reading was going on at the back of the store, and there's a super cafe downstairs, and a parking lot out back, and benches out front. If you worship at the altar of books, Politics & Prose is the cathedral! They even have one of those Espresso Book Machines in its own big room. They've given it a cute name, like "Bobo"* or something, and it was busy turning out books all the while we were there.
2) That's enough.....already mentioned the nice, cool weather!! Happy Tews Day!!
*It's "Opus." Fair enough.....
Sunday, October 06, 2013
Change My Way of Thinking.....
Another hot day here, no progress on the government shutdown.
DOWN:
1) I think the rubber plant needs some fertilizer. The new leaves are quite small. Also, it'll soon be time to bring it inside for the winter. I've been told by those who know that the rubber plant is a houseplant, not an outdoor shrub. It has seemed to enjoy being outside for the past few months, though. But the days are getting shorter and the temperatures are, however infinitesimally, falling.
2) It's spooky not having many people on the metro these days. The mobs of federal employees are missing! About the only people in the cars now, especially during rush hours, are restaurant workers, school kids, old people, and street people. I fall somewhere in the latter categories. If the Republicans are paying attention to the warnings now coming from people in their own party about how the shutdown will affect their chances in the 2014 elections, they don't seem to care.
UP:
1) Despite the heat, today was a lovely day. There has been a lovely soft breeze all day, making the new spacious picnic tables on the terrace outside the Dupont Circle Hotel a favorite spot for people who enjoyed having a cup of coffee with their friends this Sunday afternoon.
2) To ease the ongoing weekend track work for its passengers, the Metro provided free shuttle buses today from Dupont Circle to NoMa/Gallaudet and stops in between. This is my favorite thing when the red line especially is being slowed or closed on weekends. The shuttles arrive in a constant stream to take us to and fro the various closed stations, there are lots of friendly Metro employees to answer question and give directions, and it's FREE! It would be wonderful if Metro were free, easy, and helpful, with nary a wait--all the time!! Thanks, Metro folks! You're the best!!
DOWN:
1) I think the rubber plant needs some fertilizer. The new leaves are quite small. Also, it'll soon be time to bring it inside for the winter. I've been told by those who know that the rubber plant is a houseplant, not an outdoor shrub. It has seemed to enjoy being outside for the past few months, though. But the days are getting shorter and the temperatures are, however infinitesimally, falling.
2) It's spooky not having many people on the metro these days. The mobs of federal employees are missing! About the only people in the cars now, especially during rush hours, are restaurant workers, school kids, old people, and street people. I fall somewhere in the latter categories. If the Republicans are paying attention to the warnings now coming from people in their own party about how the shutdown will affect their chances in the 2014 elections, they don't seem to care.
UP:
1) Despite the heat, today was a lovely day. There has been a lovely soft breeze all day, making the new spacious picnic tables on the terrace outside the Dupont Circle Hotel a favorite spot for people who enjoyed having a cup of coffee with their friends this Sunday afternoon.
2) To ease the ongoing weekend track work for its passengers, the Metro provided free shuttle buses today from Dupont Circle to NoMa/Gallaudet and stops in between. This is my favorite thing when the red line especially is being slowed or closed on weekends. The shuttles arrive in a constant stream to take us to and fro the various closed stations, there are lots of friendly Metro employees to answer question and give directions, and it's FREE! It would be wonderful if Metro were free, easy, and helpful, with nary a wait--all the time!! Thanks, Metro folks! You're the best!!
Saturday, October 05, 2013
Hair on the Bus....
When I first arrived at Gallaudet more than 20 years ago, we all had to take orientation classes, and some of us stayed in touch after that and became friends. One of my first friends at Gallaudet was a woman who grew up in Minnesota and married her middle-school sweetheart, also and obviously, from Minnesota. If you've ever been to Minnesota, you'll know that many of the residents have roots in Scandinavia--Norway and Sweden, mostly, but also Finland and Denmark--and many many are blond. My Minnesota Gallaudet friends had a 6-year old blondie, Carl, who got his introduction to black hair when he arrived here. Carl was not happy. The kids with black hair had intricate braiding, often incorporating trinkets, and Carl's hair was fine, flat, straight, and blond. His hair would not support braids and trinkets, and he was bereft.
I've always been fascinated by the black hair styles, too, especially on the bus, where people don't pay attention to old women with cameras. This woman had gold dyed hair woven in with her braids. And this couple had magnificent long hair--his dark brown & braided, hers reddish blonde and straight.
Too Orange....
It's not just He Who Should Not Be Named* these days that's too orange.
DOWN:
1) I have hit a wall on this one painting, and I can't get past it. The person I'm painting it for says it's "too orange." This is an early stage, of course, and it's nothing that I've imagined it could be--the focus is all off--but the orange is there, all right. Orange happens to appeal to me. In fact, I think I'll eat an orange today for breakfast.
2) The newest version of my cochlear implant processor is out now, and I would love to think about getting it, but I haven't finished paying for the current version yet. Naturally, this is not covered by Medicare. Neither is dental work. If I wanted a motorized wheelchair or new knees or new hips--or cared whether I could smile without looking like a jack-o-lantern--it'd be a different story.
*Not the unnamable one in Harry Potter. The one in the House of Representatives.
UP:
1) There ARE autumn crocuses in the park by the metro. (Note the fetching red leaves!)
2) Open Culture's lead article today says that "Study finds Reading Tolstoy & other great novelists can increase your emotional intelligence."
Which one of Tolstoy's novels haven't I read? Turns out it's most of them!! There are 12 books by Tolstoy listed in Wikipedia, and I've read two: War and Peace and Anna Karenina.
3) It's Saturday! and the library is open!! I can go see how many of Tolstoy's other books are available!!
Good quote: "Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray." -- Jalaluddin Rumi, Essential Rumi, versions by Coleman Barks
DOWN:
1) I have hit a wall on this one painting, and I can't get past it. The person I'm painting it for says it's "too orange." This is an early stage, of course, and it's nothing that I've imagined it could be--the focus is all off--but the orange is there, all right. Orange happens to appeal to me. In fact, I think I'll eat an orange today for breakfast.
2) The newest version of my cochlear implant processor is out now, and I would love to think about getting it, but I haven't finished paying for the current version yet. Naturally, this is not covered by Medicare. Neither is dental work. If I wanted a motorized wheelchair or new knees or new hips--or cared whether I could smile without looking like a jack-o-lantern--it'd be a different story.
*Not the unnamable one in Harry Potter. The one in the House of Representatives.
UP:
1) There ARE autumn crocuses in the park by the metro. (Note the fetching red leaves!)
2) Open Culture's lead article today says that "Study finds Reading Tolstoy & other great novelists can increase your emotional intelligence."
Which one of Tolstoy's novels haven't I read? Turns out it's most of them!! There are 12 books by Tolstoy listed in Wikipedia, and I've read two: War and Peace and Anna Karenina.
3) It's Saturday! and the library is open!! I can go see how many of Tolstoy's other books are available!!
Good quote: "Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray." -- Jalaluddin Rumi, Essential Rumi, versions by Coleman Barks
Friday, October 04, 2013
90F!! Uff da
That's right....it's October, and the predicted highs for the next couple of days will be in the 90s. Be that as it may....
DOWN:
All the hatred flowing in the air is distressing! Who doesn't hate anyone these days? Republicans, conservatives, Democrats, liberals, white people, black/brown people, gay/straight? Rich/poor? --though the poor (at least the street people) don't seem full of hate...they're just hungry and exhausted and sad from rich people sneering at them.
Dropped a casserole while de-fatting it. Thanks be, it landed on the bottom (didn't spill) or break (cast iron) and only the spoon and the fat flew across the kitchen in gobs. Easily taken up, though, and the floor needed washing anyway. And my shepherd's pie is heating now--minus all the fat that rose to the top overnight in the fridge. Is that an UP?
Tried the new entry system yesterday: fob works fine and is FUN. But they entered my number wrong, so I couldn't activate the remote opener. BUT the guys were right outside, and they called the office, discovered the glitch, and fixed it on the spot. (Another UP? Yes, nothing is perfectly perfect.)
Gonna be in the 90s today AND tomorrow. Hello? This is October. But soon it'll be November, and the 90s will be gone for another few months.....
UP:
Discovered "Blancanieves" in the library, so I checked it out and started watching last night. Fell asleep just prior to midway, but it's fabulous. B&W! Written and directed by Pablo Berger. Gonna watch the rest in a moment...almost at the part where Carmen (Blancanieves) runs off with a troupe of dwarves and becomes a famous matador like her father. Roger Ebert LOVED "Blancanieves."
Thinking of educational activities--like how do I print my own designs on t-shirts? Like this for DC residents: "We don't always get along, but we're not CONGRESS!"
Checked my Pepco bill today and discovered that if I bought an energy-saver fridge, the savings in electricity costs over the life of the appliance would more or less pay for it.
Capers are actually BUDS of caper flowers, and sometime they're the actual berries. Love capers, whatever they are.
DOWN:
All the hatred flowing in the air is distressing! Who doesn't hate anyone these days? Republicans, conservatives, Democrats, liberals, white people, black/brown people, gay/straight? Rich/poor? --though the poor (at least the street people) don't seem full of hate...they're just hungry and exhausted and sad from rich people sneering at them.
Dropped a casserole while de-fatting it. Thanks be, it landed on the bottom (didn't spill) or break (cast iron) and only the spoon and the fat flew across the kitchen in gobs. Easily taken up, though, and the floor needed washing anyway. And my shepherd's pie is heating now--minus all the fat that rose to the top overnight in the fridge. Is that an UP?
Tried the new entry system yesterday: fob works fine and is FUN. But they entered my number wrong, so I couldn't activate the remote opener. BUT the guys were right outside, and they called the office, discovered the glitch, and fixed it on the spot. (Another UP? Yes, nothing is perfectly perfect.)
Gonna be in the 90s today AND tomorrow. Hello? This is October. But soon it'll be November, and the 90s will be gone for another few months.....
UP:
Discovered "Blancanieves" in the library, so I checked it out and started watching last night. Fell asleep just prior to midway, but it's fabulous. B&W! Written and directed by Pablo Berger. Gonna watch the rest in a moment...almost at the part where Carmen (Blancanieves) runs off with a troupe of dwarves and becomes a famous matador like her father. Roger Ebert LOVED "Blancanieves."
Thinking of educational activities--like how do I print my own designs on t-shirts? Like this for DC residents: "We don't always get along, but we're not CONGRESS!"
Checked my Pepco bill today and discovered that if I bought an energy-saver fridge, the savings in electricity costs over the life of the appliance would more or less pay for it.
Capers are actually BUDS of caper flowers, and sometime they're the actual berries. Love capers, whatever they are.
Thursday, October 03, 2013
summer returns
DOWN:
Day two of the shutdown, and the streets are largely empty. Even Starbucks by the Archives metro stop was closed early. With all the Smithsonian museums closed--all that glorious art locked up--it feels like an emotional ghost town. The Phillips and the Women's Museum--both private--were open and free yesterday. Dunno about the Corcoran. The tickets for those over 65 at the Newseum were like $18!! (Do you think the greedy barons of broadcasting could spare a freaking dime?) They say that's for two days, but I don't want to go back. All those fakey, misleading headlines out front just spoil my outlook.
It's hot again (mid to high 80s). I know, I should not complain (and always brag that I'd much rather be hot than cold--true). But it's still uncomfortable when the calendar tell me I want to be wearing a sweatshirt.
Have been listing to port a bit these days when I go out to walk. Even just to take out the trash. no problem with starboard....just port. Need to get serious about this.
I think the Republican Leader in the House of Representatives often is bombed out of his skull. An intervention, please!!
My old friends leave today. Snif!
UP:
Lovely advice yesterday online: "Buy whatever you want at the grocery store: it's always cheaper than eating out." So true. It's always less fattening than restaurant food, too. Lots of data on that.
I think I have the most wonderful friends in the world. What a huge blessing they are and have been. Brilliant, compassionate, fun & funny, warm & loving, accomplished, unpretentious, not a repug among 'em!
The new entry fob system is fun. I love all the loud buzzing and instant access!! As long as the power holds....
TEA & CAKE:
Dandelion root tea at home, though I ate the cake out: a brownie--not precisely cake, but delicious--with chocolate sauce, a very small scoop of vanilla ice cream, and 5 raspberries. Yum.
Day two of the shutdown, and the streets are largely empty. Even Starbucks by the Archives metro stop was closed early. With all the Smithsonian museums closed--all that glorious art locked up--it feels like an emotional ghost town. The Phillips and the Women's Museum--both private--were open and free yesterday. Dunno about the Corcoran. The tickets for those over 65 at the Newseum were like $18!! (Do you think the greedy barons of broadcasting could spare a freaking dime?) They say that's for two days, but I don't want to go back. All those fakey, misleading headlines out front just spoil my outlook.
It's hot again (mid to high 80s). I know, I should not complain (and always brag that I'd much rather be hot than cold--true). But it's still uncomfortable when the calendar tell me I want to be wearing a sweatshirt.
Have been listing to port a bit these days when I go out to walk. Even just to take out the trash. no problem with starboard....just port. Need to get serious about this.
I think the Republican Leader in the House of Representatives often is bombed out of his skull. An intervention, please!!
My old friends leave today. Snif!
UP:
Lovely advice yesterday online: "Buy whatever you want at the grocery store: it's always cheaper than eating out." So true. It's always less fattening than restaurant food, too. Lots of data on that.
I think I have the most wonderful friends in the world. What a huge blessing they are and have been. Brilliant, compassionate, fun & funny, warm & loving, accomplished, unpretentious, not a repug among 'em!
The new entry fob system is fun. I love all the loud buzzing and instant access!! As long as the power holds....
TEA & CAKE:
Dandelion root tea at home, though I ate the cake out: a brownie--not precisely cake, but delicious--with chocolate sauce, a very small scoop of vanilla ice cream, and 5 raspberries. Yum.
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
New Regime.....(just here at XE, not in the longsuffering US of A)
Belgian Waffle has instituted daily posts starting with down and up, in that order. She also has taken to having afternoon tea and cake, with photos and reviews on the cakes. The Waffle is one of my favorite curmudgeonly posters, with bonus points for being a Brit living in Belgium. She exhibits all the best points of being a curmudgeon: prodigious sense of humor, not an angry person.
Well, ok.
DOWN:
The National Gallery is CLOSED today, thanks to Republican idiocy. This means C and I can't get
the lebetzin the birthday gift we had decided upon yesterday. We didn't buy it yesterday because I
had no $$ in the bank and was waiting for my annuity to arrive today. (It did, thank you very much,
annuity people.) I guess I'll just have to make her a homemade card and let it go at that.
There's some truck outside belonging to an "electric security system" who are gonna install our fob-operated entry system. I call it "operation lockout," cuz when the power goes out, as it does every winter here when a big storm knocks over a bunch of trees and the branches take out the power lines as they fall, the fob system won't work. They call it "secure," but I call it lockout. They could have changed the locks and gotten us all new keys for way less than they're spending on the lockout.
UP:
An old friend finally sold her condo, which she has been thinking of selling for years! She's not particularly ancient, but we've known each other for a long time. She is delighted and planning to visit Iceland!
I can go another week or two without a new haircut. I like cutting it myself, but every now and then,
I go turn myself in to the SALON.
TEA AND CAKE:
No photo yet, but I plan to brew a nice cup of genmaicha and make my own cake.
Well, ok.
DOWN:
The National Gallery is CLOSED today, thanks to Republican idiocy. This means C and I can't get
the lebetzin the birthday gift we had decided upon yesterday. We didn't buy it yesterday because I
had no $$ in the bank and was waiting for my annuity to arrive today. (It did, thank you very much,
annuity people.) I guess I'll just have to make her a homemade card and let it go at that.
There's some truck outside belonging to an "electric security system" who are gonna install our fob-operated entry system. I call it "operation lockout," cuz when the power goes out, as it does every winter here when a big storm knocks over a bunch of trees and the branches take out the power lines as they fall, the fob system won't work. They call it "secure," but I call it lockout. They could have changed the locks and gotten us all new keys for way less than they're spending on the lockout.
UP:
An old friend finally sold her condo, which she has been thinking of selling for years! She's not particularly ancient, but we've known each other for a long time. She is delighted and planning to visit Iceland!
I can go another week or two without a new haircut. I like cutting it myself, but every now and then,
I go turn myself in to the SALON.
TEA AND CAKE:
No photo yet, but I plan to brew a nice cup of genmaicha and make my own cake.
so much for hiatus....
Here's a thought (from Informed Comment today):
Karl Rove’s permanent Republican majority evaporated in 2008. The next stage of American political development may be a shift of the Democratic Party toward a genuine democratic socialism. If private insurance companies can’t provide us proper health insurance, we may have to go to single-payer. If power plants are endangering us, we may have to nationalize them and close them down in favor of solar coops. The prevailing order is not the only possible one, and by taking thought and by peaceful social action, the 99% can change the rules of the game.We gotta THINK and DO right (not right wing).
Monday, September 30, 2013
That's Our Girl! You Tell 'Em, Cathy!!!
http://nyti.ms/1fUEgNY
Sometimes even scholars and grandmothers have had enough. You tell 'em, Cathy!
Status Update--P.S.*
Today's post is by Jim Feeney. I know I'm on hiatus for important things, but Jim asked his readers to pass this on, so here it is--and thanks, Jim.
*P.S. Informed Comment has an excellent post this morning: a Ghoul's Glossary for the ShutdownYou're a 19 year old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in
the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .
It's November 11, 1967.
LZ (landing zone) X-ray.
Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out.
Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.
You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.
He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.
And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!
Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.
He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise , Idaho
May God Bless and Rest His Soul.
I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch about Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods
and the bickering of congress over HealthReform.
Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman
Shame on the media !!!
Now... YOU pass this along.
Honor this real hero.
Please.
Friday, September 27, 2013
...OW!
Thanks for the above image goes to Belgian Waffle.
Today begins the author's hiatus in US political and other pressing topics. If you want to read anything significant in that respect, please go to Informed Comment.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Meanwhile....
Juan Cole hits it out of the park today: "Why Ted Cruz Should Sit Down and Shut Up!"
To wit:
To wit:
In a performance that the rest of the world could not even comprehend, a wealthy, Ivy League-educated Texan talked until he was blue in the face to prevent poor children from seeing a doctor.Ivy league, yet? Princeton, Harvard Law. Who knew?
Well.....
So is Pope Francis for or agin' gays? He can't be saying "who am I to judge" regarding gay people, and then excommunicating a pro-gay priest in the same week. Of course, you can't believe everything you read. Stay tuned.....
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
October 11--Historical Events on This Date*
First ten historical dates cited:
732 - Battle at Tours: France under Karel Martel beat Moors
1138 - A massive earthquake struck Aleppo, Syria.
1521 - Pope Leo X titles King Henry VIII of England "Defender of the Faith"
1531 - Battle at Kappel: Swiss Roman Catholic kantons beat protestant forces of Zurich
1531 - Huldrych Zwingli Swiss reformation leader is killed at the Battle at Kappel
1540 - Emperor Karel names his son Philip, Duke of Milan
1573 - Battle of South Seas - Dutch rebels beat Spanish navy
1614 - Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.
1634 - the Burchardi flood — "the second Grote Mandrenke" killed around 15,000 men in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
1643 - Battle at Wincebt: English New Model-army beats royalists.
Last ten historical dates cited:
1995 - O J Simpson cancels a TV appearance on Dateline
1996 - Ford buys rights to named Detroit domed stadium for $40 million
Basketball Player Dennis Rodman
1997 - Dennis Rodman returns from 2nd longest NBA suspension (11 games)
1998 - A Congo Airlines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 people.
2000 - The 100th Space Shuttle mission (STS-92) is flown.
2001 - The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.
2002 - A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.
2012 - A further 83 people are killed throughout Syria by the Syrian army
2012 - A US appeal court overturns a district court ruling banning the sale of Samsung
2012 - Mo Yan, a hallucinatory realist writer, wins the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature
Hmm...It seems we in modern times have a fairly limited notion of history. Ya think?
* Cited on HistoryOrb.com
732 - Battle at Tours: France under Karel Martel beat Moors
1138 - A massive earthquake struck Aleppo, Syria.
1521 - Pope Leo X titles King Henry VIII of England "Defender of the Faith"
1531 - Battle at Kappel: Swiss Roman Catholic kantons beat protestant forces of Zurich
1531 - Huldrych Zwingli Swiss reformation leader is killed at the Battle at Kappel
1540 - Emperor Karel names his son Philip, Duke of Milan
1573 - Battle of South Seas - Dutch rebels beat Spanish navy
1614 - Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.
1634 - the Burchardi flood — "the second Grote Mandrenke" killed around 15,000 men in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
1643 - Battle at Wincebt: English New Model-army beats royalists.
Last ten historical dates cited:
1995 - O J Simpson cancels a TV appearance on Dateline
1996 - Ford buys rights to named Detroit domed stadium for $40 million
Basketball Player Dennis Rodman1997 - Dennis Rodman returns from 2nd longest NBA suspension (11 games)
1998 - A Congo Airlines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 people.
2000 - The 100th Space Shuttle mission (STS-92) is flown.
2001 - The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.
2002 - A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.
2012 - A further 83 people are killed throughout Syria by the Syrian army
2012 - A US appeal court overturns a district court ruling banning the sale of Samsung
2012 - Mo Yan, a hallucinatory realist writer, wins the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature
Hmm...It seems we in modern times have a fairly limited notion of history. Ya think?
* Cited on HistoryOrb.com
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
5 things.....
I suspect that....
1. My laptop is leaving BROAD HINTS with all the junk mail arriving on "assisted senior living" and "local senior living options." Hmph.
2. I shall soon come to truly, truly DISLIKE all the freaking advertising that has cropped up in the past week on any video clip I should be so silly as to open (especially from newspapers)! This even happens on one of my favorite blogs of late, though not on the other one. And so far, the blizzard of videoclips of my great-grandsons are ad-free! Thanks, y'alls, for not succumbing.
3. The people doing the hiring for the contractors at the Navy Yard have their heads up their butts. They hired a guy who had been discharged from the Navy for a gun-related offense and apparently gave him a special card that lets him get into the building through the only door that does not have people (marines and the like) watching and allowing them to come in and out--or not. Yesterday, he walked in with a shotgun, used it to shoot a security guard, and took the person's weapon (weapons? they still haven't figured out how he also got one of those nasty automatic rifle things), and used those to shoot and kill almost a dozen people.
4. The guy who threw the firecracker over the White House fence at suppertime (nice touch, turistico!!) yesterday was a tourist. Did you see the outfit? Maybe he was just from Virginia or Murlan'.
5. Yes, we do have brave men, and they do work for the SS. The SS guys, in the photo* I saw of firecracker guy's capture, managed just fine without major weapons displays and fancy black protective gear with white lettering. One of them, however, was big, standing way over firecracker guy and the two other SS guys holding FG's arms in a steely grip. (Well, at second glance, he was not ALL that big.)
*Believe me, I wanted to link to this, but I got a) ADS and b) Fox News, which is a nono in chez XE!!
1. My laptop is leaving BROAD HINTS with all the junk mail arriving on "assisted senior living" and "local senior living options." Hmph.
2. I shall soon come to truly, truly DISLIKE all the freaking advertising that has cropped up in the past week on any video clip I should be so silly as to open (especially from newspapers)! This even happens on one of my favorite blogs of late, though not on the other one. And so far, the blizzard of videoclips of my great-grandsons are ad-free! Thanks, y'alls, for not succumbing.
3. The people doing the hiring for the contractors at the Navy Yard have their heads up their butts. They hired a guy who had been discharged from the Navy for a gun-related offense and apparently gave him a special card that lets him get into the building through the only door that does not have people (marines and the like) watching and allowing them to come in and out--or not. Yesterday, he walked in with a shotgun, used it to shoot a security guard, and took the person's weapon (weapons? they still haven't figured out how he also got one of those nasty automatic rifle things), and used those to shoot and kill almost a dozen people.
4. The guy who threw the firecracker over the White House fence at suppertime (nice touch, turistico!!) yesterday was a tourist. Did you see the outfit? Maybe he was just from Virginia or Murlan'.
5. Yes, we do have brave men, and they do work for the SS. The SS guys, in the photo* I saw of firecracker guy's capture, managed just fine without major weapons displays and fancy black protective gear with white lettering. One of them, however, was big, standing way over firecracker guy and the two other SS guys holding FG's arms in a steely grip. (Well, at second glance, he was not ALL that big.)
*Believe me, I wanted to link to this, but I got a) ADS and b) Fox News, which is a nono in chez XE!!
Thursday, September 12, 2013
About Syria....
Juan Cole's post today starts with this:
Ambrose Bierce is said to be the author of the saying “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” Despite the vigorous national debate about intervening in Syria, there is some reason to think that most Americans could not find it on a map. Here are some key points about Syria that this blog has been trying to underline.I recommend this post if you are not well acquainted with the actual country of Syria. I certainly learned a lot--about its size, for one thing, and its cultural makeup to name just two items. My thanks to Juan Cole for his contribution to our knowledge. Cole's post has two helpful maps: Syria in relation to all the other Mediterranean and Mideastern countries and Syria's Balkanization.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Cop Car's Post for today, September 11, 2013
Just as I groaned at the prospect of reading more about September 11, 2001, Cop Car, one of my favorite brilliant bloggers, published this:
Visible from space, a smoke plume rises from the Manhattan area after two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center. This photo was taken of metropolitan New York City (and other parts of New York as well as New Jersey) the morning of September 11, 2001. "Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people there, and everywhere else," said Station Commander Frank Culbertson of Expedition 3, after the terrorists' attacks.More in this Incredible post.
The following day, he posted a public letter that captured his initial thoughts....
Commander Culbertson was in space, yet this letter brings back many memories of this day. I was
at the dentist, and when I arrived, they had set up a TV set on one of the dental chairs. We all watched, unbelieving.
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