Wisteria on Melrose

On Thursday evening, Kelly and I were driving home from shopping - what else? - when we passed this sight. Kelly asked incredulously, "Is that a wisteria tree?"

"No, Sweetie," I said, "take a closer look." But I just had to bring my camera back to get a photo for my "album"...and, inspired by Pam (a far better plant photographer than I), a macro shot.

Anointed by Joan

I've been anointed by the famous Joan! Well, actually she only spilled her cup of tea on me yesterday at lunch, but I've been milking it. I too was so glad it wasn't iced or boiling hot...as it was, I was walking bowlegged for an hour. Heheh.

Whenever I try to leave a comment on her blog, I always get an error message that tells me if I want to try re-posting my comment, I should simply cut and paste the message as it shows below the error message. This morning, this was the message I was told to cut and paste.

http://c711.com/?oafV manga sex [url=http://c711.com/?oafV]manga sex[/url]
http://c711.com/?S73L hentai porn [url=http://c711.com/?S73L]hentai porn[/url]
http://c711.com/?zOiL ebony porn [url=http://c711.com/?zOiL]ebony porn[/url]

Hey Joan, what kind of outfit are you running here? Girl, I am going to tease you about this one today! :)

Culture of Fear: Red, Orange....

My daughter brought to my attention an excellent article by Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor for President Carter, in Sunday’s Washington Post, “Terrorized by 'War on Terror': How a Three-Word Mantra Has Undermined America”.

Mr. Brzezinski says "...fear-mongering, reinforced by security entrepreneurs, the mass media and the entertainment industry, generates its own momentum. The terror entrepreneurs, usually described as experts on terrorism, are necessarily engaged in competition to justify their existence. Hence their task is to convince the public that it faces new threats. That puts a premium on the presentation of credible scenarios of ever-more-horrifying acts of violence, sometimes even with blueprints for their implementation."

An article well worth the reading time, asking the question, ”Where is the U.S. leader ready to say, ‘Enough of this hysteria, stop this paranoia’?”.

Lauren the Birthday Girl and the Little Weasel

Yesterday was the party for LaLa's 7th birthday. As usual, there were lots of kids running around and having a great time. My favorite part was having Patrick sit on my lap with his bankie and B at the end of the evening, sucking his thumb and watching Parent Trap - oblivious to the rest of the world.

(This photo doesn't do LaLa's eyelashes justice. They are to die for!)

Poor barn is dead .... or is it?

On Thursday Jennie wrote:

“The barn is down.

The ranch that witnessed history through the eyes of one of Missoula's oldest families is now ready for 104 homes. But, like my mother taught me--don't ever give up. I still have hope that it will go back up; if not on it's original 1865 spot, then at the very least, next door on the 40-acre conservation easement parcel where the original brick home sits.”

"Bloggers are Thinkers"

So I found this link for xkcd over at Pam's blog, and just had to copy the current comic for Kathie. You see, Kathie told me about a month ago that bloggers are thinkers. (I was so flattered!) And right now I'm thinking that in fifty years when Kelly is 70 and Jessie is 78, they'll both be talking about how their mother and AK were blogging fools!

You'll probably have to go to the source to be able to read the writing in the comic strip. It's worth the trip. (Uh oh - that rhymed. Wonder if I'm having a relapse of limerick-itis...)

Thanks, Pam!

Through the Happy Glass(es)

Kelly speeding by on her Trikke, and

Sam My Man looking weirded out...

as usual.

Happy Glasses

My kids think I'm a kibble or two short of a full bowl, but I just love my happy glasses. I got them at WalMart for ten bucks. They don't make me look like Jackie O or Sophia Loren, but no sunglasses are going to do that for me anyway. What I like about them is that they're polarized in such a way that when I turn my head a certain angle in the springtime, I see bright pink azaleas and intensely yellow forsythias under trees laden with pale yellow-green baby leaves against a deep, deep blue sky. Just driving down the street makes me smile. The coating's starting to peel off the frames, but I can't give them up.

I wonder if there's a lens like that for my camera...

With a Shield on her Arm....

Last weekend I was in Missoula, Montana, making one of those frequent trips to see the grandbaby. My elder daughter - would she cringe at that description? - is a city planner for the city.


Missoula is the city where The River Runs Through It - yes, from the book and movie of the same name. Indeed, this photo was taken downtown. It has names like Hellgate High School, and the University of Montaners call themselves Grizzlies.

Jennie may have felt California cities were beyond planning when she left Berkeley for Missoula. Now she works with a people who didn’t have a speed limit until recently, when threatened by the federal government to take away their highway funds. Not that Montanans are into speeding. They just feel the individual is best qualified to determine the best speed for the conditions of the moment.

Ted Kaczinski wrote his Manifesto on runaway technology and industrialism in the woods of Montana. Not that Montanans would support his methods. They just feel he made some interesting points.
While I was visiting, the issue for debate was whether these historical buildings from the late 1800s could be torn down to make way for a development.

The original farm acreage has been subdivided among descendants, the barn sitting on property just across the fence from the original homestead and more modern family homes. Two sets of cousins taking opposite sides, the city planning office, lawyers, and the developer are involved in court battles over whether the barn can be torn down for the housing development. In fact, when I went to check out the site, the roof of the barn had been taken off the day before. To his credit, the owner of the demolition company was taking the time to take it apart piece by piece, labeling so it could be reconstructed on another piece of the farmland rather than destroying the buildings should the situation be resolved to preserve the buildings. He didn’t have to do that, but that’s how Montanans are, I guess. The developer was from Idaho, and that always makes for interesting interactions. When I left, the city and a set of cousins were still going to court to stop the tear down. Well, it's even more complicated than that, having to do with county and city jurisdiction and permits.

My daughter is in the middle of it all. She e-mailed me this week to say she had been called the Che Guevara of the planning office. She said she didn’t know much about Che but she thought that would make me a proud mama.

Damn right I am.

Jorge Drexler: Dos Besos y Un Abrzo (Two Kisses and a Hug)

How often do we get to reach out and touch one of our heroes? Jorge Drexler, an Uruguayan (OK now, how many of you know where Uruguay is located in South America?) singer-musician-poetic songwriter played this week at an intimate venue in San Diego on his tour of Europe, the US, and South America, already receiving glowing reviews in the LA Times and NY Times among others. I counted myself lucky to be there to hear his unique and beautiful music. Even more lucky to meet and talk with him after the show where he greeted every woman with two kisses and bid goodbye with a hug.

Well known in Europe and Latin America, Jorge is just catching on in the United States after winning an Academy Award two years ago for the best original song, the first Oscar to go to a Spanish language song, Al Otro Lado del Rio (To the Other Side of the River) from Motorcycle Diaries. More on that story later.

His current tour coincides with the release of his most recent album, 12 Segundos de Oscuridad (12 Seconds of Darkness) - already a best seller in Europe - whose title song was inspired by a lighthouse in a small town on Uruguay’s Cape Polonio where he had retreated to escape the demands of post-Oscar success and the break-up of his marriage. 12 Seconds refers to the darkness between beams of light needed for sailors to navigate, and in our lives the need to have darkness between light, to have patience rather than attempt to escape uncertainty, doubt and restlessness as we look for our path.


For our evening, Jorge sang accompanied only by his guitar and yes, believe it or not, his laptop computer. Amazing what these techno-pop artists can do. He talked with the crowd between songs explaining, for example, the meaning behind Hermana Duda (Sister Doubt), that doubt can be better than self-confidence as it leaves the mind more open.

Midway through the evening he set down his guitar and explained his next song would be a capella, that one evening about two years ago and one and a half hours north of San Diego he sang this song a capella - no mention that this was the Oscars night - and, finding he liked the song better this way, he has sung it only a capella since.

The song was Al Otro Lado del Rio, the Academy Award winner, and we all knew the story behind the a capella. Although acclaimed in Europe and South America, Jorge Drexler was an unknown in the US when the song, composed and sung in the movie by Drexler, was nominated for an Oscar in 2005. With Drexler an unknown, Antonio Banderas and Carlos Santana were asked to perform Al Otro Lado del Rio amid protest and petitions from the Latin music industry. Gael Garcia Bernal, who played young Che Guavara in the movie, stayed away from the ceremonies in protest. Jorge handled the snub with graciousness, but when his name was called as the Oscar winner he used his ninety seconds to sing verses of the song a capella. Continuing to sing this song, his most famous, a capella has been his protest.




With men such as Jorge Drexler in the world, I think I could change my Men Like War thought to Most Men Like War.













Videos of four songs from the most recent albums, Eco and 12 Segundos de Oscuridad, can be watched at his official web site

Haikus from Kelly

I'm cleaning my office at home today. It's quite a project - I started yesterday and got so involved that I had to ask Pennie if I could take today off to finish!

What usually takes me so long is all the distractions..."I'd forgotten all about this!" or "Wasn't she cute?" or "Hm, wonder what I can use this for now". The treasures I found today are below, written originally by Kelly back in 2004 when she was a senior at Bishop England.

worker bees lay their nests
they work all day
and come home to crazy kids

dogs are super cool
they come in all forms
Kel really wants one today

Mustangs are even cooler
yes, they sure are
please get one for Kelly

Poor kid. She's still waiting for the dog and the Mustang. Hopefully, the crazy kids never materialize (kids - yes, crazy ones - no).

Beer haiku blog

Clicking on the links to blogs other people list in their sidebars usually lands me on something fun. I think I got to this one indirectly from Janet's blog.

The haikus are cute, even if they are about beer (ick - I can't stand the taste of it)! Some of them are even Kelly-quality.

A class in the "Causes and Prevention of War"?

Ever dreamed of taking classes at MIT? You can, for free, online. Well, not for credit, of course, but by the end of this year, the contents of all 1800 of MIT's classes will be online. I was particularly intrigued by the handout for "Causes and Prevention of War". (You and I would like this class, Kath.)

Go here to see the courses that are available. From the Astronomy link, I found this very cool site - Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Isn't the Internet amazing?

Deal Me In

Kelly was tagged by Sonnjea to do an iPod shuffle kind of game. Interestingly, neither of them has an iPod. (Kelly does have a fake iPod that I bought for her last birthday, but it only holds 60 songs. How was I to know 60 songs wouldn't be enough?)

In fact, the only person that I know who has an iPod is Kathie, and she doesn't have a clue how to do an iPod shuffle. Go figure.

Now Kelly has suggested I do an iPod shuffle and I guess if Kelly and Sonnjea can fake it, I can too. So here's my imaginary iPod shuffle playlist:

You're No Good - Linda Ronstadt
Mandolin Wind - Rod Stewart
Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
When Doves Cry - Prince, formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince
Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones
Wah Wah - George Harrison
I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band - Moody Blues
Suffragette City - David Bowie
Streets of Philadelphia - Bruce Springsteen
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

Weird evening, this. After work, while walking out to the mailbox I noticed a quarter on the ground. Usually I find pennies.

Shortly after, I found a $20 bill hanging out of a Wachovia ATM. (I gotta call Wachovia tomorrow and turn it in or my karma'll go right down the toilet. A quarter's one thing, but a twenty? I'm not messing with that one.)

Then the nice server at Andolini's gave me a drink for free. Whoo hoo! Where's the roulette wheel when we need one, Kath?

It's that Girl Scout cookies time of year again

Heather and Sonnjea (and one other blogger I can't remember) wrote recently about Girl Scout cookies. I have to admit I had a run-in with a box of Samoas last week. It was a short-lived run-in - the Samoas lasted almost a day on my desk, with me eating most of them of course. :{

Speaking of sweets...this recipe, adapted from Recipe Goldmine, was served at our hospital board's retreat last weekend. I hear it's to die for. Someone cook it up for me, ok?

Blueberry Cream French Toast Casserole (serves 8)
1 loaf challah, cut into cubes (or Texas toast or egg bread)
8 ounces cream cheese, slightly softened and cut into cubes
1½ cups fresh blueberries, tossed lightly with flour (I'm told the flour tossing is optional)
cinnamon
8 large eggs
1½ cups milk
¾ cup maple syrup
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Coat a 13”x9”x2” baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Layer one half of the bread cubes in the baking dish. Scatter the cream cheese cubes over the bread and cover with the blueberries, then cover the blueberries with the remaining bread. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon.

Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over the bread. Press the bread with a spatula to help soak up the mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight, then bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.

Call me when you've got it ready and I'll come right over!

Ode to My King Street Vase

Walk This Way posted a picture of King Street, Charleston, on February 26, and I thought of the Roseville vase bought in the King Street Antiques store during a visit to Charleston. A beautiful little guy, and now he sits on the West Coast. I asked Patty to write an ode and she gave me an ode and a haiku, but what I wanted was a limerick. So she gave me a limerick, too.

"Pick one", she said,
And only one, was what I read.
"Don't be wishy-washy, make up your mind."
I thought, "That is unkind!"
On a sister's feelings she should not tread.


















O Vase divine! Curvaceous and fair,
Thee grace my shelf
Like a house elf
Caught dancing in midnight air.
Mere words cannot describe!
Your beauty I imbibe
As thro’ the eyes of a lover.
Quick, run for cover!
Porkchop is on a tear
And has not a care
That my vase he might knock to the floor.
Sadly, I must escort him out the door.

Children of Cuba

These are some of the children, hanging out after school and watching the progress on their playground built by It's Just the Kids, and at the end of the week when the playgrounds opened.

With a Shield on My Arm: Americans in Cuba

Yesterday afternoon, "Anonymous" posted the following comment on “Americans in Cuba: It’s About Time”.

"I agree that anyone wanting to go and visit cuba should have the right to do so as a free citizen from any country.
I do have one question for you and that is : Did you visit any of the many political prisoners in the many cuban prisons just for daring to express what they feel?
Did you meet any of the thousands of mothers, wifes and sisters who have lost their loves one in the florida strait?
See is very easy to express your admiration for a system that you are not affected by, what you consider good is nothing more than adoctrination of the cuban children by the illegitimate goverment of the castro brothers."

When we traveled to Cuba to build our playgrounds, we did so with instructions to remain apolitical in order not to jeopardize our license. I was mindful of this in writing about the travel restrictions and, reading the article again, I believe I have held to this agreement. If admiration was expressed in my article, I hope it will be seen to be for Bill Hauf, the founder of It’s Just the Kids, for his initiative, courage and persistence to take goodwill ambassadors directly to the peoples of Cuba.

I am unsure what section of the article seemed to express admiration for the Cuban system. I will say this, though - I cannot but have admiration for the Cuban people who are resourceful, hard-working people let down by misguided governments. I’m not even sure “misguided governments” is the best way to say what has happened between neighbors.

There is no right on either side, only wrongs, with what has happened over the last 47 years between the American and Cuban governments. One does not have to visit the Cuban prisons or meet the grieving relatives to be “trembling with indignation” at the injustice and disservice to both peoples.

I would ask the reader to consider other questions here:

What has kept the U.S. travel and trade restrictions in place for almost a half century when clearly this approach has not achieved the expressed goal of bringing a democratically elected government to Cuba?

Have we learned anything from the US policy toward Cuba to keep history from repeating itself, or indeed do men like war?

If we are interested in seeing the Cuban children less indoctrinated, would this purpose be better served by a free exchange, travel and trade, between the peoples of the two countries?

How long would Castro have remained in power if the Cuban people had free access to American travel and trade?

What could happen if American peoples traveled to struggling countries with the shield on their arms of playgrounds and teachers and schools?

Americans in Cuba: It's About Time

Since a US travel and trade embargo was imposed in 1960, Americans have been restricted from travel to Cuba without a license from the US government issued only for charitable or humanitarian purposes. Americans have traveled to Cuba illegally by going through other countries but in recent years the Bush administration has enforced restrictions even on licensed travel, cutting the flow of Americans to Cuba to a trickle.

If HR 654 co-sponsored by Charles Rangel, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, passes the House and Senate in the next couple months, Americans may finally have the right to visit this enchanting island. The bill won't lift the trade embargo or allow American citizens to bring back souveniers. President Bush has threatened to veto any legislation weakening the travel ban or the embargo against Cuba. But finally, there seems to be bipartisan support as well as popular American support to end the travel ban.

We have made peace with Vietnam, Germany, and Russia but we can't seem to make peace with our hemispheric brothers and sisters. It has become a pissing match between the US Government and Fidel Castro. Indeed, this billboard posted on the north shore of Havana, facing the US reads, "Senor imperialists, we have absolutely no fear of you".

Every other citizen of the world has the right to travel to Cuba. If caught traveling illegally to Cuba, Americans can be levied up to $65,000 in fines. Indeed, a San Diego woman who traveled to Cuba with a Canadian bicycling group received a fine of $10,000. Even with a travel license, it is illegal for Americans traveling to Cuba to bring back anything except original art. Not even a T-shirt. Bringing back a Cuban cigar is a felony.

In 2005, I traveled with 48 other Americans to build playgrounds in Cuba. It’s Just the Kids obtained a license to be used from 2003 to 2007 for trips to Cuba for this sole purpose. (Bill Hauf, a San Diegan, had noticed on a trip to Cuba that the children had little in the way of playgrounds and things to play with, and It's Just the Kids was born.) Volunteers built three state of the art playgrounds in 2003, four playgrounds in 2005. The Treasury Department interfered with the license in 2004 such that the group was unable to go. Again, when we planned to build three more playgrounds in 2006 the Treasury Department placed restrictions that made the project unfeasible. It took 49 of us to build four playgrounds in a week in 2005. At the last minute in April 2006, the US government would allow only nine volunteers four days to build three playgrounds, of course an impossible task and the trip was canceled.

The 2005 trip was in incredible people-to-people project for all of us. We had to sign an agreement with the US government to work every day to ensure we wouldn't have time to spend money in the Cuban economy. We worked our butts off in the sweltering heat to finish early and have time to see the beautiful, albeit crumbling architecture and take in the nightlife. But it was the experience with the people that was the most amazing.
















In each community a piece of vacant land was donated for our project, and Cubans were selected by the community to work alongside us.



With this piece of land and raw materials shipped from the US, working together with the Cubans, we assembled beautiful playgrounds. They prepared our lunch of good Cuban food every day and brought out the music to play while we worked.











At the end of one of our projects, the community held a program attended by the people and children of the community. The American and Cuban flags were set at the same level and the American anthem played following the Cuban anthem. There wasn't a dry eye on either side that day. The Cubans made it clear they had no issue with the American people, only with the American government and policy.


Best of all were the children.


They came after school to watch the progress of their playground, let us take pictures, bring flowers to the volunteers, and sing.



And when we opened the first playground, they rushed in to enjoy. It was another day of teary eyes for many of us adults.

So let us hope those who represent us in Washington will deliberate this current bill beyond politics and at least lift the travel restrictions.

Shame

When I was in high school, I remember hearing Huntley and Brinkley reporting every night on the day's "body count" in Viet Nam. As some of us realize now, those numbers didn't include all of the casualties. After reading a post over at Mother Jones' blog, I'm thinking that our government is (gasp!) misbehaving again. Hope she won't mind my quoting her:

"One of my friends won’t be going into DC anymore. She’s a nurse, and she was forced out of her job because she asked a pertinent question about the war in Iraq while she was at work. She worked at a military hospital, and asked a forbidden question behind closed doors away from the patients and their family members. She asked a group of military nurses why the Pentagon does not count the patients that die in the hospital as casualties of the Iraqi war. The numbers we hear in the media only include those who were killed on the battlefield, and not those who died in hospital beds as a result of their injuries. My friend is a civilian, and her question was not well received. She was summoned by her boss at the end of her shift, and she was basically asked if she was Un-American. The writing was on the wall and she eventually was asked to resign. She won’t have trouble finding a new job. General William Sherman said, 'War is hell.' The man knew what he was talking about."

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I'm ashamed that my generation learned so little from our experience in Viet Nam.

Oh, one more thing - that's a lucky hospital that has so many nurses it can afford to let one go because she asked such a question. And shame on those military nurses - sorry, Vicki! - for ratting her out/not asking the same question themselves. (Guess that was really two more things, hm?)

It just boggles my tired and bleary mind.