Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 52

This is week 52 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Well, I think I'm climbing out of my hole. My 10 word and mini were written while I was still in the cave and are incredibly incredibly BORING. I kind of overcompensated on the last one and I'm not really very happy with it, but so it goes.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: Netflix, mortgage, skunk, flagrant, the New York Times, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, perpendicular, geometry, crabby, shoveling snow Mini Challenge: pragmatic, crystal ball, laundry, safflower oil, Gregorian chants

Here's my ten-word offering for this week:

There was a skunk stinking up the neighborhood the other night, but even with the occasional unwanted critter (I wish my skunk had come by day and let me photograph him or her), I love my little house with it’s affordable mortgage payments and it’s kind neighbors who help me out by taking care of shoveling snow in the winter months. I do miss The New York Times living here in the country, though I probably couldn’t have afforded it if I was still in the city. I loved those crossword puzzles, the Op-ed page, and the Sunday magazine. Such is life. I get my news on line these days and my entertainment from TV and by downloading free 1-hour game tryouts on the computer. I do a cyber crossword but they let you know if you’ve made a mistake which takes some of the challenge out of things. Today’s puzzle had a geometry theme with world like area, sine and perpendicular. It was kind of easy but at least it keeps my brain going. I’ve been so crabby lately that I really don’t like myself very much. I have a pile of books to read but have mostly wasted my time on the aforementioned computer games even though if I pushed myself a little, I have flagrantly absurd Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy sitting right here on my desk just waiting to make me laugh out loud… and a Netflix movie called “Miracle at St. Anna,” which I believe promises to make me cry. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and hopefully I will make better choices.

And here's my mini challenge:

I hate laundry, house-keeping, budgeting and all things pragmatic. I should have been born some kind of princess so that others could handle the nasty details of life and I could meditate to the sound of Gregorian chants or spend my days gazing into a crystal ball, reading tarot cards and being wooed by handsome princes. Kindly, well-treated housekeepers and chefs would tend to my needs and prepare healthy but incredibly delicious meals with safflower oil and only the freshest vegetables and fruits. I would wear lovely dresses and write and read and sing and do kind deeds for my subjects (free citizens by my decree), who would all be so well treated, prosperous and happy that they would love me forever. Alas, only in my dreams… and maybe in my next life.

And for the mega challenge:

Gangalor Gringalorian of the planet Netflix was crabby at the best of times but today he was so apoplectic that he hurled the rare and precious bottle of safflower oil he had acquired on his intergalactic travels across the room hitting Skunk, his pet wunglefargon (similar to a dog), so named because he looked rather like his Earth namesake except for the fact that he was green and orange instead of black and white and walked perpendicular rather than on all fours. The source of Gangalor’s flagrantly dramatic behavior was not something mundane like a difficult geometry problem or pragmatic like an unyielding stain that doing the laundry had not solved. It was not even the annoying – to Netflixian ears – sound of his mate experimenting with Gregorian chants. In truth, he would rather be plucking narglefs (the Netflixian equivalent of shoveling snow) than listening to that particular sound. But I digress. The reason for this morning’s ill temper was that scanning the universe using his inter-galactic crystal ball he – the most renowned travel agent/guide in the entire galaxy – had happened on a disturbing article in the Earth zone’s New York Times alleging that some feeble backwards earthling named Douglas Adams had allegedly written something called A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Absurd. No human – a moronic if fascinating species – was going to horn in on his territory. He had not been planning another trip to Earth until 2015, but now he would have to nip this impostor in the bud. “Flarpinda, my burgeoning blogglewort,” he called. Pack your bags. We’re going to Earth to replace the Safflower oil and make sure Mr. Adams learns his place in the universe.” So saying, he felt better, especially since his words had quickly silenced his wife’s horrendous chanting. Picking up a small earth globe, the tossed it across the room and smiled contentedly as Skunk luched off in an energetic run to fetch it back to him.

~~~~~~~~~~

My friend Dan decided to play this week and did the mini. He has no blog, so I'm posting his contribution here:

Joann always lived a simple life and had a pragmatic way of looking at things. Her sister Rita however, would gaze into her crystal ball and try to predict the future. It was laundry day for the two of them and Rita always brought her wash over to Joann's house. They would hang their clothes out on the line and lay back in a lounge chair, while conditioning their legs with safflower oil (an old family beauty secret). The CD player would pipe out the relaxing sounds of the Gregorian chants. Summer was always best at the little cottage.

~~~~~~~~~~

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: chopping block, reading list, bangles, oracle, plan, fandango, spelling bee, calendar, utilitarian, flower pot

Mini Challenge: Siberia, citrus fruit, roofer, shamrock, twinkle twinkle little star

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Twofer:Rising from the Ashes and Lust (Sin of the Week)

There ARE signs of SPRING! There are!

Well, I'm not sure I'm 100% back but I think I'm ready to give it a shot again. It doesn't hurt that there are several big splotches of green outside my window and that the back roof snow is dripping like it might finally come down. It also doesn't hurt that I had pretty awesomely exciting news yesterday. Last summer (courtesy of the great tree tragedy) I applied for and received a grant from a place called Delaware Opportunities as part of something called their "Access" program. I had wanted help making it easier/possible to come and go through my front door. At the moment it's about a 3 and a half foot drop to a narrow log. I can do it (or I could a couple of years ago which is the last time I tried), but it's not easy and it's even difficult for delivery people and friends. Anyway, the kind gentleman who does site inspections and supervises the process came yesterday and it turns out I'm not just getting a new accessible entry - I'm getting a walk-in shower, a taller ADA (Americans With Disabilities) approved toilet and a sink to go with it. They're also going to move my washing machine from where it is now into my kitchen which means I'll be able to use it. How cool is that! So it's kind of like Christmas on steroids here. With paper work, bids and approvals, it will all happen anywhere between May and September. Yippee! Of course now I can sit around being anxious about who's coming and how I'll manage the cats and will it all be ok, but.... it's pretty exciting.

~~~~~~~~~~~

On another front, Kay, over at Perhaps We Learn has decided to try her hand at a meme and is offering a Friday sin a week for the Lenten Season. She is starting us out with Lust of all things, which is a tough one for me.... but I'll give it a try.

Lust is not my best sin. When I hear the world lust, I think about sex which immediately throws me into a state of complete panic. I may have mentioned that my mother was a little crazy in some ways. She was raised by crazy people and she passed the crazy along. Not on purpose. She couldn't help it. When her father found her talking and laughing with a friend of one of her brothers, he called her a whore and refused to speak with her for several months until he needed his shop cleaned at which point he deigned to converse with her again. She didn't mean to pass this kind of twistedness on; she simply couldn't help it. The fact that I had a body made me a threat. I was pathologically naive and innocent. Really. I thought kissing was sex. I didn't know that men had penis's or that I had a vagina. In my twenties I thought kissing was sex and when I finally achieved my first kiss was terrified of getting pregnant and mortified at my immorality. I was one screwed up kid. Over the years I've come to know that I'm not stupid, so the fact that I could grow up even in the 50s and be that out of the reality loop says there was something really messed up going on with me. But anyway... back to lust. When your mere existence makes your mother think you are promiscuous, when you live in a world with no touch, when anything that might make you even modestly attractive to the other sex is viewed as whorish, it gets really confusing to know what's what. In my world thinking some guy was cute was the virtual equivalent of having ripped my clothes off and hopped into bed. I was so afraid of being lustful or promiscuous that I don't think I actually got as far as lust very often. Not that it never happened and not that I never acted on it, but I was so messed up (and probably still am) that I never got to enjoy it. And that is truly sad.

All of this tempts me onto my soap box about how Americans as a society are really screwed up about sex. We give kids such a mixed message. In soap operas, sit coms and movies, people hop in and out of bed with reckless abandon, little or no shame and lots of guilt and ill consequences. This at the same time a large segment of our society is proposing abstinence mixed with ignorance, a sure-fire prescription for STDs and unwanted pregnancies. We ask our kids to do as we say, not as we do. In a society supposedly as prudish as ours, one of the most popular TV shows is Desperate Housewives in which (I have not watched the show, though from bits and pieces I've seen/heard, I can tell that the writing is really good) one of the women has sex with a young teen age boy. There's little outrage about that, though in real life, we'd send her to prison. Anyway.... We are a society that glamorizes lust and sex out of one side of our mouths while conveying to our children out of the other side that it's a "bad" thing for them to be interested in. Hmmm... I wonder why kids like Bristol Palin get pregnant.

So this is a lot of verbiage that doesn't say much. Lust isn't a big issue for me these days. I never leave the house and I don't know any straight men. I will say that if I were going to lust after someone, the actor Mark Harmon who plays Jethro Gibbs on NCIS or George Clooney are the kind of men I would lust after. Or does the fact that I can say that mean that I DO maybe have a little lust left in me? On a less sexual front, I lust after a new TV, new flooring for my kitchen and a new sofa.... but maybe that's a sin for another week.

That's it for the moment. I wrote my 10-word and mini wordzzles a couple of days ago and they are incredibly boring. Hoping my new found spirit of life applies to my imagination too and will grant me some inspiration for the mega. I'll try to post them by 6:30 at the latest.

I've missed everyone. Will try to pop around and catch up on what you've been up to, though I may pace myself and do it over the next couple of days.

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 51

This is week 51 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. As you'll see from my 10-word, I had a bit of a struggle with this week's words, but I have a feeling I may be lynched for next week's collection. I just put them down as they come into my head and I try not to censor them.... but maybe I should have. They are really awful. When you think of killing me, remember that I have to work with them too... and I'm really, really sorry.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: spring fever, coyote, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, birds of a feather, broken camera, artificial flavoring, cane, garage, ask and it is given, gay Mini Challenge: glorious, sugar and spice, premature baldness, gargoyles, campaign trail

Here's my ten-word offering for this week:

“Bah humbug,” Raven muttered bitterly. “Ask and it is given my ass.” Although she knew that this was Spring fever speaking, it did not lighten her mood, which was anything but gay. If she had been a coyote she would have been howling. As it was, she felt like a cranky old curmudgeon wobbling around with her cane in search of somebody to dump her negativity on. “Birds of a feather,” she muttered with no idea what exactly she meant by it as there were in fact no people around… or birds either for that matter. “Who came up with these stupid words?” she ranted on…. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Garage? Broken camera? Artificial flavoring? Stupid, stupid stupid! There ought to be a special place in hell… Oh, wait… it was me, wasn’t it,” she realized. "Damn. Well, there probably still ought to be a special place in Hell… but hopefully there isn’t. Damn, I hate being cranky."

And here's my mini challenge:

She was in love and it was glorious. Truly glorious. Love made Samantha feel all full of sugar and spice. Nevermind Max’s premature baldness or the fact that he looked like a gargoyle. He was a good man, intelligent, funny and profoundly honest. It was wonderful being on the campaign trail with him. His every word was inspiration and gave her hope for the future, her own and the nation’s. Life was good.

And for the mega challenge:

Photo-journalist Harold Hudworthy was not having a good day. His Spring fever was so bad he felt like howling like a coyote, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at the edge of the cliff – only without horses. Stress was causing premature baldness; his glorious head of rich wavy hair was falling out in massive clumps and he felt hideous as a gargoyle. His much anticipated sugar and spice cake had tasted bitterly of artificial favoring and his garage was empty of his beloved but now repossessed roadster. To make matters worse, his apparently broken camera hung useless around his neck and his back-up camera had been towed away in the aforementioned roadster. His editor was going to kill him (or fire him, which would be worse). Around him other cameras clicked away as Willie “ask and it is given,” Carmody blazed a new path on his faltering campaign trail, waving his elegant cane with dramatic flare. Desperation had clearly taken hold. Referring to his opponent’s openly gay campaign manager,” his voice redolent with the dreadful implications of what he was saying, Mr. Carmody announced grimly, “birds of a feather flock together. Alas, instead of the hoped for gasp of horror from the crowd, Carmody’s words were greeted with hoots of laughter. “Well,” Harold muttered to himself, “even the worst ever day has it’s up side.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: Netflix, mortgage, skunk, flagrant, the New York Times, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, perpendicular, geometry, crabby, shoveling snow

Mini Challenge: pragmatic, crystal ball, laundry, safflower oil, Gregorian chants

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Peeking out of the Black Hole

Hi Everyone (if anyone is still out there listening),

I apologize for just disappearing and not visiting anyone. Not sure what has been going on exactly, though I think it is probably a depression triggered by eating too much pasta and breads. I tried some variety in my rather routine diet. Getting all your food processed has serious limitations as far as variety goes. Or maybe it's just too much winter and too little Spring. Or maybe it's.... Who knows. For whatever reason, I fell into a deep ditch and have been wallowing in cranky self-indulgent pity. Pity-ish, maybe.

Thanks for kind words on my last whining post. I am still counting my blessing every day and I'm really ok, just needed to withdraw for a bit, I guess. Anyway, I'm still not quite ready to come out of my cave, except for a quick peek and an "I'm not dead" notice. I will post a wordzzle tomorrow (hopefully). Still haven't thought about writing it.

Did have a way cool dream the other night. I was moving into a big space with this handsome young man. Most of it's pretty vague, but my new roommate had a "pet" hawk and three crystal balls at least one of which was purple. Angel and the hawk seemed to be striking up a friendship. It was all very odd.

So anyway, I'm not dead. I will visit everyone again soon. But I must go back to the cave now. I love you all. I just need to hibernate now that Spring (despite 3 new inches of snow) is coming. (I know, that's backwards, but...)

See you soon, I hope.

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 50

This is week 50 (can you believe it?) of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. I hope you all enjoyed my goofy idea of using your blog names or special things about those who are our most regular posters as this week's words. Seemed like a good idea at the time I did it.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: ubiquitous, do you see what I see, getting a word in edgewise, wild goose chase, grandmother of five, Freemasons, Pacific Paradise, everything and nothing, insanity prevails Mini Challenge: shortening the distance, it’s all about bloggers, the Fortress at Pigeon Falls, finding Pam, a raven’s nest

Here's my ten-word offering for this week:

Do you see what I see? Me, Rebecca Gargola Remmington, living the good life in beautiful Hawaii. Who would have thought I’d end up as a grandmother of five living in a Pacific Paradise and as happy as a human being can be. My husband Fred is a dedicated Freemason and such a good man. He’s an expert on everything and nothing, kind, generous, curious, open-minded. What with four kids and six grandchildren all sharing the same household, insanity prevails as often as not, but it’s a creative fun-filled insanity full of wild good chases and lots of unexpected adventures. Except for the ubiquitous presence of large and small people everywhere I look and and the difficulty some day of getting a word in edgewise, I’d say my life is as good as it gets.

And here's my mini challenge:

Imagine finding Pam – who I hadn’t seen in about 20 years - at the Fortress at Pigeon Falls of all places. I mean I didn’t think any body much had ever even heard of Pigeon Falls, let alone knowing about the Fortress so running into an old friend was a real and delightful surprise. Pam, it turns out had married, divorced and was now running her own business. It involved something about shortening the distance people had to travel between locations… even obscure ones like this fortress. She kept saying it’s all about the bloggers or something like that. Was kind of over my head to tell the truth. Still, it was nice to see her and to share my big excitement of finding a raven’s nest. I’m an avid birder – always have been. I don’t think Pam really understood what I was talking about any more than I understood what she was up to. Still, we stopped for a great lunch at the Fortress Café and had a grand trip down memory lane. It was a great day.

And for the mega challenge:

Shortening the distance between the town of Freemason and the Fortress at Pigeon Falls seemed to me like a bit of a wild goose chase and an absurd waste of eight million dollars, but as with all things political insanity prevails more often than not. This was one of those cases where the ubiquitous and sometimes criminal Mullaly clan (who owned both the Pacific Paradise Shopping Center and the Raven’s Nest Nursing Home) saw some kind of big profit. I think they owned much of the land on the projected route of the new highway and they were pushing it through the town council with all their might. No chance of a grandmother of five like myself getting a word in edgewise or even getting a chance to try. Finally finding Pam, my best friend, a lawyer and one of the only people who had a chance of outsmarting the Mullaly clan, I whispered to her “Do you see what I see? To which she responded, “It’s all about bloggers.” This made no sense at all to me until I realized that she had not said bloggers but LOGGERS… Suddenly it all made sense. It was a done deal. If he loggers and the Mullalys were in on this together, there was money to be made and no amount of logic would stop the destruction of 60 miles of beautiful woodlands between two places that nobody with a lick of sense cared a whit about getting to faster. But there would - it seemed inevitable now - be a Freemason/Pigeon Falls short cut. Even Pam, brilliant as she is, could not stop this one. Insanity would indeed prevail. Pristine wilderness would be destroyed for the short term profit of two families and they would con everyone in the community into thinking that they had done them a big favor. Some days life stank.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: spring fever, coyote, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, birds of a feather, broken camera, artificial flavoring, cane, garage, ask and it is given, gay

Mini Challenge: glorious, sugar and spice, premature baldness, gargoyles, campaign trail

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Fighting the Blues

Struggling with a major attack of the blues and I don't know why. Life is pretty good. My friends came last night for an Inkspot Society meeting and we celebrated my friend Rosalie's birthday. My computer really works again. Yesterday was damp and gloomy but today is beautiful. The sun is shining and the tree branches are showing the first subtle shift that says that there will be a Spring in a month or so. There are spots of green showing where my yard was shovelled and by the tree where the squirrels like to sit. I got some grocery groceries - not frozen stuff from Schwans - (Soy Silk I have missed you) for the first time in quite a while. I should be feeling on top of the world but instead I just want to crawl back into bed and stay there. I have wordzzles to write and I don't feel like it. I barely managed my one single worzzle for yesterday's meeting. I missed Quilly's new challenge this week. Wrote the words down. Looked them up and then just forgot about doing it. I didn't visit anybody yesterday. I'm in a MAJOR funk. What really concerns me is I can't see a cause. I haven't (well until last night's birthday cake... which was EXTREMELY yummy), I haven't done one of my sugar binges. They often put me into this place when I indulge in stupidity. But this one seems to be looming out of nowhere.

So anyway, I'm whining. It's all I'm capable of at this particular moment. I'm pissed at the Congress. I'm glad that the snow is melting but I wish it would melt faster. I'm way glad to see some little birds returning but I can't even seem to get myself too excited about that. I know this will pass. It helps that the sun is out.

Sorry about whining. Sorry about not visiting. I know this will pass. Was going to post the branches to show the first sign of the Spring awakening, but my camera won't unload for some reason. Was going to post about prayer flags but it will have to wait for another day. Even though it's only 11:00 am, I think I'm going to go back to bed and take a nap. I still have wordzzles to tackle. Just a warning... they may be late.

Thanks for listening. Sorry about the whining.

And the Greatest of These is Love....

I don't understand why any of us think it's any of our business who gets married to whom. Two of my dearest friends are gay and committed to one another. They would marry if it was legal in my state. I don't understand why anyone would begrudge them that happiness... or think it's their right or business to take marriage away from someone else. I find it puzzling why anyone thinks that allowing people of the same sex to marry one another in some way diminishes their own relationship. That seems to me like fear and judgment talking. It seems to think that The Divinity can't handle His/Her Universe without self-appointed values police who ignore the deepest teachings of the faith they profess to believe in. It always intrigues me that the people who talk the loudest about big government needing to stay out of things are the ones who are most inclined to push for it's intrusion in places where it truly does not belong and it's exculsion from areas where it genuinely can and should serve. But anyway, I thought this was a lovely video.

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

And this seems like a good place to respond to Mary/the Teach's Valentine's Day Love Contest. The idea is to make up a "love" quote in one of three formats. I've chosen form two:

Like God, love is beyond definition or limitations and speaks uniquely to each individual soul; it is personal, private and ineffable. One cannot love wrong.

Ruby Tuesday: Heartless Random Reds

Ruby Tuesday - hosted by Mary/the Teach at Work of the Poet - is here again. Between computer and other problems, it has been a while since I've been able to join in for Ruby Tuesday. You would think I'd have tons of reds piled up but mostly I have snow, snow shadows and more snow. Will Spring ever come? Anyway, I know it's Valentine's week, but I don't have anything hearty or Valentine-like (how sad...) and I don't even have anything particularly good to share. My friend Dan did hang my prayer flags for me so they are blowing in the wind now, but that's about as exciting as it has gotten here. Not to happy with this collection, but....

Obstructionism vs Hope

I don't know if the Republicans in Congress are being sincere (some of them are) or simply obstructionist (many of them are), but I think they are doing themselves and the nation a disservice. Most seem to be clinging to the wrong-headed and failed idea that the only solution to any problem is to cut taxes for people with money who will then allegedly let it drip down to the rest of us. I've always thought that was a false premise and history seems to continue to prove that it doesn't work. I'm not saying that we can't offer some help to small businesses.... and I emphasize small... but if the poor and middle class can't feed their families or keep a roof over their heads or afford even basic medical care, they are not going to be spending big bucks keeping small businesses going.

And like many spoiled rich kids, the Republicans in Congress (with some notable exceptions) seem unable to grasp the concept of long-term gains or the concept of compromise. It's all instant gratification in their world or it has no value. They can't see the value in creating jobs modernizing government buildings so that they are more energy efficient, benefiting the environment, providing short-term jobs and saving money in the long term. They apparently continue to think the infrastructure can be allowed to deteriorate. They don't want to help the states (although I thought the power of the state and states rights are central to their philosophy... isn't that true?) . As far as I can tell, Republicans only think things are bipartisan if they get everything they want. They also seem to have a scorn and disregard for the poor and middle class which borders on the pathological. Any money spent on us is money wasted. We are meant to survive on the crumbs nobly dribbled out to us by our better, richer brethren and then to be judged for wanting to eat and thrive and live. How dare we! Being a responsible, caring society in Republican world is socialism. The seem incapable of accepting the idea that having a social conscience is not the same as being a socialist society and that creating a tiny elitist upper class of the super wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle classes is neither true Democracy nor good capitolism.

On parallel ranting front, I continue to be annoyed by the way the media covers things. It just annoys me. And I watch PBS and CNN and I'm still annoyed. They report Republican talking points as though they were fact rather than opinion. There is no in-depth analysis of anything, just rote recitation of the dumbest and most reactionary voices on both sides of the aisle. This puts us as citizens at a major disadvantage because rather than giving clear analysis of what all the disputed issues are about, we get "drama."

I hope the American public will speak up and let both the president and the Republican party know that we are behind him, that we elected him and that we are willing to do what he has invited us to do - participate. Check out the new government website: Whitehouse.gov, which includes an invitation to particpate through the Office of Public Liaison. Check out Care2.com's petition site and let your government (and others) know where you stand on a wide range of issues.

I think something else most of us could do is reclaim our power to think. Does what some politican or news reporter is saying make sense? Does it add to our knowledge? Or is it just words and slogans intended to inflame us, stimulate a knee-jerk (emphasis on jerk) reaction, or numb us with fear and anxiety. Questionable as the first stimulous package was, do we really understand it or what it was supposed to do? Was the problem with the the bailout (I believe much of this bail-out money was in the form of loans for which we may eventually be paid back) the concept or the way what we did was managed (mis-managed)? I don't understand economics enough to have an informed opinion about the first bailout, though I certainly find obscene the junkets, fancy jets and large bonuses given to failures. That said, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot or burn my own house down because the guy who built it made some construction errors. We are all on this ship so if it sinks we will all drown together.

I hadn't thought about it before, but I think one of the things I like most about President Obama is that is is FOR things much more passionately than he is against them. This goes to a deep belief of mine (which I often fail to live by) that there is much more power in putting positive energy into what we want and believe in than in spending all our thoughts and happiness on grumbling (as I'm doing here) about what we don't like.

So I am FOR taking steps to help the poor, to rebuild schools and failing roads and bridges. I am for keeping people in their homes - but not just rich people. If the Congress can't come up with stimulous package that does these kinds of things, I go with Jon Stewart's idea. Just take a trillion dollars and give it to the people. We can use it to pay off our debts and our mortgages and spend it on things we need. This will solve the housing crisis, buck up the banks and make everybody's life much nicer. Seems like a pretty sensible plan to me. Maybe he should run for office. I'd miss him though. He's one of the best news people we have in the country, even if he is "only" a comedian.

Not sure if I have just rambled mindlessly here or if I have said something. I'm going to post it anyway and not go back and re-read.

On a happier note than politics. Weather has warmed some here. Snow is melting though my surroundings are still almost completely white. The birds are dancing in the sky. Squirrels seem to have running around with lighter hearts... (ok... maybe that's my imagination). In any case, I know this isn't a very good picture, but I love the way their wings look as they take flight....

Happy Monday!

Shadow Shot Sunday

It's time for Shadow Shot Sunday. Afraid there are lots of snow shadows again. This winter has been relentlessly bleak. There has been no melting of the snows at all, though today promises to be warm for the first time in forever. There is hope for melting and there is hope for Spring. This week I've seen some birds other than the crows.... one I didn't recognize, a woodpecker, and yesterday a blue jay and a cardinal out back. I'm so sick of the whiteness, that I decided to go into my photo "archives" and add some reminders that there are other seasons and that my world will have color again in a month or so.

Shadow Shot Sunday hosted over at Hey Harriet's blog and if you like shadows (as I do), check out all the wonderful posts featuring shadows of all kinds.

Happy Sunday! May all your shadows be beautiful.

Saturday Videos

Our new president is a very smart man... and hopefully he is teaching us to take our government back into our own hands. It's so easy to blame Congress while we sit back and whine and don't vote or put our own two cents into the process... I'm glad he's reminding us that we have a say and asking us to use our voices and participate. I like him better all the time, even though I do worry about the Afghanistan thing.

And I always enjoy Olberman.... this is a rant about the evil Dick Cheney.




And then there's Jon Stewart's genius. I don't think anybody could say it better.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Why Are You Such a Dick? - Audio Tape

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 49

This is week 49 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works.

I'm really happy that Wordzzles has fallen on my one-year anniversary of blogging and grateful to all of you who play regularly. I don't know if it was a good idea or not, but I did a little something special (I hope it's special) coming up with the words for next week's challenge. Can you all guess what it is?

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: author, Wall Street, rage, lemons, channel changer, cookies and milk, candelabra, Pine Cone Motel, illusory, fluffer-doodle And the mini challenge: war, wooden shoes, flabbergast, chimera, vodka martini

Here's my ten-word offering for this week:

Frank Johnson, financial broker turned author, sat in his hideout at the Pine Cone Motel, where the police had stashed him for his own protection, mindlessly clicking from station to station with the channel changer and scanning the Wall Street Journal for news. He nibbled nervously at a meal of cookies and milk. He had expected some anger, but was stunned by the unbridled rage his former colleagues, several of whom had made death threats against him. He missed his beautiful, witty wife Sarah and their sweet life together. She was his heart and had encouraged him to go public with all that he knew. He missed her voice calling him Fluffer-doodle (it was their little joke because of his problem with excessive flatulence). The strength – the miracle - of her love and support had given him the courage to speak out about the illusory nature of what he had called in his book the “candelabra boom” – prosperity that was all flickering shadows and profits built on quicksand. So many lemons passed off as lemonaid by people who knew what they were doing. He had named names. The names were out to get him. He was scared. But Sarah was out their waiting for him. That knowledge kept him going and fed his spirit as cookies and milk or even bourbon could not do.

And here's my mini challenge:

I was totally flabbergasted when I woke up and saw a giant rabbit wearing armor, carrying a lance and shouting, “I declare war on foxes,” but then I realized it was a chimera born of a half dozen vodka martinis foolishly imbibed in quick succession. What still confuses me, though, is that the wooden shoes it was wearing were at the foot of my bed when I woke up the next morning. I’m still trying to figure out where they came from.

And for the mega challenge:

Sipping her third vodka martini, best selling author Miranda Muggleson was beginning to realize that fame was both fleeting and illusory. Her first book - Chimeras and Rabbits in Wooden Shoes - had been all the rage for about six months. She had done the talk show circuit. At one point you could click the channel changer to almost any station and you would have found her there. She had shared lemon meringue pie with Oprah, and enjoyed cookies and milk with Ellen DeGeneris, and even been wined and dined by Charlie Rose. The world had been her oyster. She had it made. Then she had taken most of her massive profits and invested them with a well know broker on Wall Street, dreaming of a future of mansions, candelabras and limousines. Now she was flabbergasted to discover that she had been taken. Her fortune had shrunk to a pittance and she was once again a nobody. Worst of all, she had gone from penthouse living to a room at the Pine Cone Motel. Time, she guessed to write another book. Maybe she would call this one: Fluffer-doodle Wars.

~~~~~~~~~~


This is the last week I'll be doing a Vanity Wordzzle. This is the first one I posted almost a year ago when Wordzzles started. It's one of my favorites that I ever did.

This week’s vanity wordzzle: Napoleon, Zeus, underpants, Madonna, cellulite, 47 flavors, Arnold Schwartzennager, Barbara Walters, "Don't come near me or I'll call the police," power

Strange dream. Being interviewed by Barbara Walters, dressed only in a bra and underpants, the cellulite rippling over my whole body in hideous, rolling waves of flesh, shame and humiliation numbing, but I had to be brave, to not show my embarrassment. That would be worse. She was interviewing three of us at once: Me, Napoleon Bonepart, and Zeus. Why I had to be with them, I don't know. Just to make my insecurity even deeper, I guess. Anyway, Barbara asks each of us to name someone we admire and tell why. Napoleon picks Arnold Schwartzenagger because he's strong, relentless and determined. Zeus says Madonna because she reminds him of Artemis only she's really sexy. I pick (I don't want to be predictable) LynnAndrews because she consistently manages to be simultaneously dim-witted and profound. Then she got personal and we each had a tearful catharsis just before the commercial break. The sponsor was Baskin Robbins so we each had to name our favorite of the 47 flavors. I picked Chocolate Chip, Zeus liked peach, Napoleon said Rocky Road, and Barbara said Strawberries 'N Cream. It was all so odd. Outside, a woman's voice shouted, "Don't come near me or I'll call the police," but we were taping, so instead of checking on her, they just closed the window. I started to protest but Barbara had asked her next question, her voice redolent with its profundity: "I'm curious, given your respective lives, how would each of you define power?" Zeus said it was control and authority and manipulating events. Napoleon thought it was military superiority. I said I thought those were illusions of power, that real power came from trusting and loving yourself, because then no one could threaten your inner peace. Needing to control others was just a response to the belief that otherwise they would control you. Power wasn't about control, it was about being. Napoleon just snorted when I said that and said I was a jerk. Zeus threw a thunderbolt and left the room. Barbara Walters said, "How interesting," in a nervous voice which made it clear that she felt she had lost control and didn't know how to get it back. Then inspiration struck: "Tell me, do you always do interviews on national TV in just your underwear?" Outside, the woman's screams grew louder.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: ubiquitous, do you see what I see, getting a word in edgewise, wild goose chase, grandmother of five, Freemasons, Pacific Paradise, everything and nothing, insanity prevails

Mini Challenge: shortening the distance, it’s all about bloggers, the Fortress at Pigeon Falls, finding Pam, a raven’s nest

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Celebrating

This cake was the one my niece Cindy made for her daughter's first birthday.

Yippee! I'm back! Nathan the Magnificent fixed my computer! All sorts of wonderful things that weren't showing up before are now visible and the screen no longer dissolves into mush every 20 minutes or so. There is much joy here in Hancock.

Not only am I restored to my version of normalcy, but today is my one year anniversary. Yup! I've been posting almost every day (until recently) for a full year. Yeee ha! I had made a failed effort in 2006 and given up and then my niece Cindy's friend Linda (snoopmurph) nudged me gently to try again. And I did. I titled my blog's rebirth Laying Another Egg. I'm so grateful that I have stuck with it and met so many wonderful people along the way. I enjoy the photo memes (though I get sort of overwhelmed by them sometimes) and am so grateful for the faithful crowd that plays wordzzles every week. This evening I'll post the 50th wordzzle post... oops... 49... I'm so confused. But still, 49 isn't bad!

A number of people asked about the Peruvian Whistling Vessels I mentioned in my last post. So here's a little information about them and how I ended up in posession of a set of my own.

The vessels were rediscovered by a man named Daniel Stat, a businessman who purchased it at an estate auction and one day on impulse blew into it. His experience blowing into that one vessel changed his life and sent him on a quest to discover more about the vessels and their history and how and why they were made and used. One thing he discovered was that they were buried with their owners, not passed down from generation to generation and that they were kept secret from the Conquistadors. Eventually Mr. Stat studied and explored and figured out how to recreate them and over time passed that knowledge on to a man named Don Wright, who is the person who made my vessels. Each vessel contains some part of the clay from all the vessels that went before it. They are cast in molds and hand burnished by Mr. Wright. Here's a link to some photos of that process. But how did I wind up with a set of these strange and rare creations?

After my sister's murder and more so following the death of both my parents and the injury to my legs two years later, I pretty much imploded emotionally. I went on something of a healing quest. I was already deeply in love with reiki. At a workshop I attended, I was introduced to a Whistling Vessel experience. I fell in love with the look of the vessels first. And the experience of a "blow" was quite amazing. The originals which I saw were all terra cotta colored, though the design is the same as mine. The vessels are a group experience. They come in sets of eight. They are NOT musical. Individually, they sound like tea kettles whistling. Blown in unison, they create a strange and inexplicable (at least by me) harmonic which induces a state of what is called "synesthesia." When they blow in unison, it often (for me) sounds like the wind blowing in my ears. It can be a very intense experience. Some people have been taken to past lives, some have "heard color" or "see sound." Before I left the city, I managed to share the experience 4 or 5 times with groups of friends and others, but while I was on the road and during all my moves, I have not been able to share them yet. My friends and I have talked about it, but so far haven't been able to act on the idea. But writing about it, makes me want to push forward with the idea. I've already talked about setting a date in the Spring where some folks from New York and my friends in Oneonta might be able to come and share the experience. We'll see, I guess. I'd say to everyone out there, that if you ever get a chance to experience this, go for it.

Guess that's enough for now. Here's hoping I last another year.

25 Things about Me and Some Other Stuff

Thanks for the prayers and good wishes. We seem to have had some kind of healing. Computer only dissolved into pixels once yesterday and I was able to get it to restart before I had to go through the whole cut off the power and wait and try over and over again to get the screen and the computer to talk to each other routine. I was afraid to do anything meaningful, though, for fear it would dissolve into mush. Spent some time researching the cost of video cards vs the cost of a new computer but am hoping maybe I won't have to buy either one, though I did see a computer for as little as $279. My friend is going to see what something comparable to what I have now would cost. If I can spend as little as $279 (or maybe less, re-manufactured), then it might be smarter than putting an expensive video card into a 6 year old computer. But hopefully I won't have to do anything.

I'm hoping my friend Nate can fix whatever the video problem is. I used Windows System tools and apparently there are "no drivers" for the video. Hmmm.

But anyway, I'm hoping that your prayers and mine have led to a cure and that I won't have to buy anything.

On another front, I was hoping that Congress would act like grown ups, but seems that's not in the cards any time soon. Or maybe they are and I've just become jaded. It may just be possible that the Senate is functioning constructively at present, culling junk out of the stimulus package... I just have some concern that what will get culled out is help for the poor and thing which are visionary.

Well my early optimism was a bit premature. So far the computer has fuzzed out three times as I tried to post this. My niece Diana tagged me with a meme at her Facebook account: 25 (25? that's an awful lot, she grumbled) random things about me - so I guess I'll see if I can manage that before everything goes wonky again. Going to try not to tell you things you already know.

1. I love to laugh.

2. I love crossword puzzles. I really miss the New York Times which I used to do in ink. Little secret about people who do the Times in ink... it's easier that way. Writing over mistakes works better than trying to erase newsprint.

3. I have written a number of children's books which remain unpublished. Maybe I'll be one of those people who becomes famous after they are dead.

4. I have an idea for improving futons which I wish I knew how to patent and market. I think it's simple but clever and would make for a much better product.

5. I used to do a really good Wicked Witch of the West imitation when my sister's kids were young.

6. Someone once read the poems of Rabindrinath Tagore to me in Bengali. It was beautiful and would have been very romantic if I had found him attractive and had not been running a high fever at the time. Still, it was pretty cool to hear Indian poetry in the music of it's native tongue.

7. I was going to be an English teacher at one point in my life. I wimped out.

8. I type 90 words a minute.

9. I was a clarinet major when I first started college. Before I was going to be an English teacher I was going to be a music teacher. Sense a pattern here?

10. I got to meet Pablo Casals and sing in a Chorale conducted by him in my sophomore year of college. I was also in the New York Choral Society briefly and sang with Peter Paul and Mary in Carnegie Hall.

11. I once worked in the Mammology Department of the Museum of Natural History. Among the things I got to do there was to number and catalog the bones of bats and rats and other small rodents from Southeast Asia. It was tiquite fascinating to be behind the scenes. The people in the tannery (yep, they had one) had a pet ferret and a bunch of creepy little bugs that cleaned bones in no time.

12. In 1978, I spent six months travelling across the US by train and bus. I spent time working in Minneapolis and Seattle. I was already somewhat agoraphobic so this was a major feat for me and a genuine adventure. Would have been much easier if I had a license and a car. But I'm still glad I did it.

13. I once worked in the advertising department of Macy's Herald Square. Awful job. I had been looking for Christmas work. While I was on line waiting to apply, I met a man who was born in the same hospital as me one day earlier... my almost twin.

14. I own a set of Peruvian Whistling Vessels. (pictured below)


15. I love playing Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble and Clue. I almost always win at Clue for some reason. It's a mystery as to why.

16. Writing random things about yourself is not that easy.

17. I never got to go to a prom. I used to feel very sorry for myself about that. Didn't have my first date until I was 20 at which time two guys I worked with asked me out. I thought they were making fun of me and said only if we all went together. So we all went together. I ended up dating one of them for a while. His name was Lou and he was from Wappingers Falls which is where my sister's children grew up years later. He was a herpitologist and had a pet snake named Speedy who used to sit on my lap. Speedy seldom moved.

18. The problem with my legs was diagnosed as "ataxia." I don't think that's really what it is, but I don't suppose it really matters in the end.

19. I love rocks.

20. For my 60th birthday, my niece Diana gave me a cool drawing/analysis that is also a ticket to the mother ship should Mother Earth begin to implode. I keep it on my bookshelf for easy access.

21. I was a vegetarain for about 5 years, but living house-bound doesn't lend it self so well to vegetarianism.... or anything else.

22. I learned to drive in my 50s and have owned two cars - a 1986 Oldsmobile named Car-Car and a 1988 Dodge Daytona called True Blue. I like driving as long as there is no traffic on the road.

23. I love the smell of roses. My grandfather, who died when I was very young, used to grown them on a tiny plot in Kew Gardens, Queens. He kept them in the refrigerator.

24. I love Afghanistani food. A friend in NYC lived across the street from an Afgan restaurant and we would eat there from time to time. It was never crowded and the family that ran it were very nice people.

25. I love New York City but I don't really miss living there... except for delivery. Delivery was very cool, especially because you could get just about any kind of food there is delivered... and just about anything else too. Delivery is an agoraphobic's friend.

That's it. Long and boring, but I'm posting it anyway. My computer dissolved into pixels about 4 more times as I was doing it. Sigh. Here's a picture of my pass to the mother ship.

More Computer Troubles

Hi,

In case I seem to be neglecting people, I apologize. Still having trouble with the computer. New screen keeps breaking up into fragments and then freezing and then when I try to boot back up, the monitor says "no signal," even though I can hear that the computer has booted up. Turning the power completely off from everything seems to help but it takes varying amounts of time for the fix to take. I'm moving int being pretty cranky now. Pretty darn cranky. Very cranky. Like mega cranky. I'm not sure how well I'll survive another week or more without my computer. It's like asking a junkie to go cold turkey. Not pretty.

I was going to try to add a picture to this post but I had to shut down twice so I think maybe I'll just post words today. Sigh.

Pray for me. Pray for my computer.