Morning Light In the Little House and Things To Do

I have been up early finishing some bill paying, a bit of cleaning and list making. I'm getting ready to make my once (I hope) weekly trip to the stores. One of the few department stores I shop at (mostly due to it's close proximity to home) is going out of business--it's a sign of the times. They are one of the few places that sell bedding where you can buy single sheets rather than sets. They're having a sale, and it will be a long damn time before I buy more sheets, so before they close their doors, I will buy one top sheet, two king sized pillow cases, a new bra, some undies, and some winter boots.

While I'm in Sugar House, the location for this particular shopping trip, I'll go to Big Lots, to buy some cookie tins for mailing cookies to Phillip. (Since I have become your cookie making, care-package sending friend, you might want to tone down the snark a tad dear.)

And my last stop, out in the world today will be the grocery store to buy chocolate chips, more flour, more butter, and more organic vanilla for your cookie loving pleasure. Are you listening dear? I'll also try to find a box I don't have to buy to pack this care-package up for shipping.

Once home from this adventure, I'll spend what's left of the day baking cookies and getting Phillip's cookies tinned and packed and taken to Kinkos where they have a Fed Ex center for shipping these cookies to Phillip. So next time you have something harsh to say to me, please remember who bakes your cookies.

Take a Look at This

The link is in the title to this post. This came to me in an email from my smart young friend Rachel, who lives in New York.

Thank You My Dear Ms Liberality

Liberality, my favorite librarian, (sorry Randal--I hardly think of you as a librarian, but more a bon vivant. Must be the monocle) and a librarian who loves her job, unlike some librarians, one of whom I just called a Frenchy name, has been one of the most encouraging of blogging friends. Lib gave me my first award ever. Ever, ever. It felt like it was an Oscar, or a Pulitzer. Go ahead laugh. I don't care. That's just how it felt. Mythic, monumental, as if I had arrived at last. And now she's done it again. At that time I didn't know how to even pick up my award and bring it home--it took days and help from my IT friend to get it home. I knew so little I couldn't link or embed, or label or anything. My site was very primitive and slapdash. But with help from all of you, I'm learning a thing or two. And in this (almost) year of blogging Liberality has given me the bookends of two awards. First was the E for excellence in blogging, and now The Superior Scribbler Award. I can't thank you enough for this, and as I sit here typing, tears pool in my eyes at your kindness and generosity.

Along with receiving an award like this is the responsibility and pleasure of getting to pass it on to some of my favorite bloggers.

Dcup of Politits is the tits. Even before I'd ever heard of Dcup, I used that expression to call something great--"It's the tits." Her site Politits, tickles me just to say it. Like Liberality, Dcup is a wonderful writer and a generous blogger who gives even those we don't agree with the opportunity to share their views in a potentially hostile environment under her sheltering kindness. She's a better woman than I in that respect. She is also a blogger with the soul of a serious creative writer. She will publish a book someday. She may even beat me to it. And she's sensitive enough to know when an email is in order. I trust her to tell me if I've lost my mind and am writing gibberish. Unlike some of you. You know who your are.

Non Je Ne Regrette Rien is my favorite Expat. Her writing is superb despite her disclaimers. And she is chronicling her adventures in remodeling an old house in a village in France. When she gets all the hard work done, we should all drop in. She's doing what I wish I had done when I was young enough to have that kind of courage. She's taking pictures of the process, as well as writing about the details.

Dusty, of It's My Right To Be Left of Center, is one very ferocious political writer. I often look to Dusty to find the story no one else is writing about. And it's always something that needs a closer look. She is a collegial blogger, kind enough to host a site for those of us who want to work on new or ongoing creative projects. And she has great technical skills, and is willing to share her knowledge with those less skilled--like me.

Stella of Swiftspeech was my first reader willing to leave a comment. You can't imagine the thrill of that first comment. Her comments are often so intelligent and insightful they often deserve their own post. She read a bit of my fiction, and compared me to Dorothy Parker. You cannot imagine what a thrill that was. I had never read any Parker, but knew of her reputation as a wit and stature as one of the greats of her generation. Some day I want to gather with these women at the round table at the Algonquin. I'll wear red lipstick for the occasion. See you there Stella.

Diva Jood of Journeys with Jood, our own personal travel agent is also one hell of a political writer and a woman who shares her passion and her pain with us. She was our nominee for President and many of us were counting on her taking us with her to the White House. I had plans to be her Big Chief of the Supreems, but even though we lost this time, we are not giving up our ambitions for the future. And needless to say, we are thrilled with our rival's success. We like change, we like hope. And we will continue to scrutinize our government and try to keep it honest. yes, I am an optimist, and so is Diva Jood. She is a friend of mine. Here's to you Diva!

Linda Sama The Ageless Hippie Chick gave me the Rebel Grrrl Award. This was the validation I'd always wanted and I was 63 when it finally came my way. New to blogging, woefully under skilled in computing sense, and thinking my time was so far past--to find myself finally called The Rebel Grrrl and finally getting an award for it, make me feel hipper than hip. Linda is my fierce and righteous spiritual adviser. I can attest to the wondrous workings of karma. And since I did not skydive, learn to ride a Harley Fat Boy, get a tattoo on my ass before I reached fifty, I felt I was a bit of a fraud as a Rebel Grrrl. But that doubt lasted only a moment.

These are my sisters of the traveling pants.

There are so many other great bloggers that deserve praise and awards, but I can hear the music starting to play and the guy with the hook is waiting in the wings. Besides that, when these five get through passing out awards and they pass out awards, well... You know you'll probably be next. So start working on your acceptance speeches.

Rainy Monday Morning

Check Out This Site

Change.Gov is the best sign of good things to come. I found this link at Big Yellow Forehead's place.

What Stella Said

Stella said...

On behalf of California, I apologize. We have a lot of non-Californians in our state that don't understand our culture and values. Of course I voted against banning gay marriage.

Attorney General Jerry Brown, who was our governor and may be running again in 2010, said that he would stand by the voters' choice, but anyone who got married when the California Supreme Court sanctioned gay marriage would continue to be recognized married. He was against the measure.

Ghost dancing is absolutely correct perhaps the issue of Church-State separation is what truly needs to be examined here. What got voted in were Christian values. Our Founding Fathers were Deists, particularly Thomas Paine, George Washington, and James Madison.

So, I am particularly angered by this proposition and consider the entire matter unconstitutional in violating the Fourth Amendment. The wonderful Margaret Cho stated: I am totally disgusted and furious that now there is a ban on gay marriage in California. So my happiness about Obama is tempered by my anger about Prop 8. Still, we cannot give up on the struggle. This is just a reason to fight harder to make gay marriage legal again. We can overturn the ban. We lost this by such a narrow margin. It was only a few votes. We could take it back.

I feel the same way.

There is already a lawsuit pending by the ACLU and LAMBDA, among others, appealing the vote. Last night, there were 3,000 people in the streets protesting the Yes on 8 win and strong support to overturn this mess: Numerous public figures have spoken out against Proposition 8, including President-elect Barack Obama, Vice President-elect Joseph Biden... It's not over.

And then Stella said this...


Blogger Stella said...

Last decent Republican:

At 85, after a life in politics spanning five decades (he retired from the Senate in 1987), Mr. Conservative has found himself an unlikely new career: as a gay rights activist. While that's not his sole pursuit – he returned to Capitol Hill yesterday to testify in favor of scenic overflights of the Grand Canyon – in recent years he's championed homosexuals serving in the military and has worked locally to stop businesses in Phoenix from hiring on the basis of sexual orientation. This month he signed on as honorary co-chairman of a drive to pass a federal law preventing job discrimination against homosexuals. The effort, dubbed Americans Against Discrimination, is being spearheaded by the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the influential gay lobbying organization.

"The big thing is to make this country, along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions, quit discriminating against people just because they're gay," Goldwater asserts. "You don't have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. And that's what brings me into it."

Her comments were in response to this post by me:


I'm furious that in a moment when we made history by proving to ourselves and the world that we have overcome our racism enough to elect a black President, we want to rescind the civil rights of gay Americans who live in California, a state we like to think of as progressive. I know there were several other states that passed similar measures to prohibit the marriage of gay couples, but they are not states with the reputation for tolerance and inclusion that Californian has. Rachel Maddow pointed out that there were also measures on many states ballots that made the use and possession of small amounts of marijuana legal. But not gay marriage. We are now more afraid of "the gays" having the same civil rights as the rest of America's citizens than we are of the pot smokers. We have a long way to go baby.

I remember a time when it was not legal for a black person to marry a white person in many states. This is no different an issue. It is an embarrassment and shame to all of us that we tolerate this kind of intolerance in our state constitutions.

Marv Fleming Now

Marv might be single.

The Sheltering Tree Is Bare

Only a couple of weeks ago the leaves on the green ash tree were brilliant gold. It is now a bare and fragile looking skeleton of a tree, towering over the big house. It takes several days to get all those leaves raked and bagged and carried to the curb for the city leaf pick-up. So we have one tree bare and cleaned up after, and about thirty to go.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

The official info on Roy Jefferson is linked to the title.

The young man I called the Washington boy, was really the Jefferson boy. Roy Jefferson to be precise. He and Marv Fleming were both Texas boys and both had football scholarships to the University of Utah. Roy and Marv were both handsome young men, smart, charming and kind. I had made a vow early in my high school days never ever to date an athlete or a frat boy. I stuck to my guns on that so I was always the friend of the girl who dated the athlete. Frat boys were beneath contempt in my book, so I wouldn't even have a girlfriend stupid enough to date a frat boy. But my only friend in early admissions who didn't live on campus briefly dated Roy Jefferson. Marv and Roy nominated her as the girl with the best legs and she was unanimously given that honor by the U of U football team of 1962. She was a ballet dancer.

Roy played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Baltimore Colts and the Washington Redskins. He played in two Super Bowl games. I think the first was a Colts victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Then there was a Super Bowl VII victory for the Dolphins over Jefferson's Redskins.

Roy married my friend,Victor Gordon's little sister, Candy, and I think she and Roy stayed married and raised a family. My movie matinee date, Nick emailed me to correct the record on Roy. I don't know why I thought his last name was Washington but I knew it was one of those early President's names. I never ran into Roy after he left Utah.

Getting Ready for the Next Storm

The Grape vines have been pruned, the roses too. Time to cut the remaining tall mint, take the gazebo furniture cushions to the storage shed behind the little house. Get as many leaves off the deck as possible. I'm hoping for a long enough stretch of time to let the deck dry to get a coat of linseed oil or Thompson's WaterSeal on it before it's too late. It might be already. It wouldn't be the first time I let winter slip up on me. I hate the preparation. I hate cleaning rain gutters, hate raking leaves, hate taking the cushions in because it means I have resigned myself to winter. No more evenings sitting in the gazebo, listening to squirrels and chickadees and crickets. Short days, long nights. Shoveling snow. Oh yes, I know how you sunbirds love the snow you don't have to shovel. But it's enough to break an old woman's back. If it's really deep and staying, I call the teenage girl across the street and she runs over to shovel for me. She's a most ambitious little entrepreneur, helpful and prompt for the right price. Good girl, Alex. It's nice to know you dear.

Ghost Dansing Left This Comment in Response to This

(Original post is linkied to Title)
Blogger Ghost Dansing said...

the arrogance of humans to think Caesar decides what is bound together in heaven and on earth.......

perhaps there is insufficient Church-State separation in the first place..... let the Churches marry, and the State takes license fees to establish civil unions for legal purposes for all its citizens.....

why should the State recognize the action of any Church? why should the State perform any function in lieu of a Church..... like marriage?

perhaps the State should deny corporate status to businesses involving gays? the Churches don't like gays, so perhaps the State should prevent them from having business licenses or forming corporations.....

are they not applying legal sanction to a social group because some Churches don't approve of them receiving the same equal rights under the Law?

what is marriage from the perspective of the State other than a contract between two people?

is the State recognizing a Religious sacrament? does a Church require the State to recognize a religious sacrament in order for it to be valid?

does God require a Church or the State to unite two people spiritually in heaven and on earth?

are there Churches that will marry gays?

if the State bestows on marriage a special legal status of contractual union, on what basis would that special status be denied a gay couple that was married in a Church.

or if the State insists upon performing Church ceremonies like marriage, to which Church's dogma will it comply?

perhaps the issue of Church-State separation is what truly needs to be examined here.

Marv Fleming Was a Friend of Mine

Yes, that's right Randal, Marv Fleming. Five Superbowl wins! Greenbay Packers and the Miami Dolphins. I've linked the wiki site in the title of this post for those of you who are new to the geekatude of FOOTBALL as we so quaintly call the game of gladiators we know of as tackles, point guards, line backers and tight ends. Oh how I loved those tight ends. There was a Washington boy who grew up in the neighborhood who dated the little sister of another friend of mine when I was first at college who was also a Superbowl winner. Marv Fleming dated a dorm friend of mine, Mary... I'm sorry Mary, I just had a bowl and my short term memory is shot for the moment, but it will come back to me. Mary and I used to drive the little sissy girls in our dorm crazy by pretending we were lesbian lovers. She and Marv, who was going to school at the University of Utah on a football scholarship, were great dancers. They entered dance competitions and won prizes. He was a great guy and when I last saw him, about ten years ago in a bar in Salt Lake, he was charming as ever.

The Washington kid's first name escapes me now too, but he played for the Redskins and the Dolphins and had two Superbowl rings. He was, I believe, a wide receiver. One of those flashy players. The kind who cross that line and score. My third husband and I had two things in common--a love of football and great writing. We mainly watched football and then retreated to our corners for the serious reading. It was a strange marriage. But I won millions in monopoly money bets.

I did have the dream about the NFL Baby Farm. I was driving alone along one of those winding forest roads in the Willamette Valley of Oregon on my way home. And as I am a driver who speeds I came upon the taillights of a white van. It's back doors were not properly closed and as it went around a curve one door flew open and out rolled a bundle. I slammed on my breaks and managed to miss the bundle. I got out and discovered that the bundle was a baby a few months old. It was not crying and didn't seem hurt. I took it home with me and decided it was a fine baby and I would keep it. As I was unwrapping it I noticed, stitches here and there and healed scars. This was without a doubt the beefiest baby I had ever seen. And then the doorbell rang. When I opened the door with the baby in my arms, Rosie Greer said, "You have one of our babies. That baby belongs to the NFL Baby Farm."

Let Bigotry and Exclusion Ring

I'm furious that in a moment when we made history by proving to ourselves and the world that we have overcome our racism enough to elect a black President, we want to rescind the civil rights of gay Americans who live in California, a state we like to think of as progressive. I know there were several other states that passed similar measures to prohibit the marriage of gay couples, but they are not states with the reputation for tolerance and inclusion that Californian has. Rachel Maddow pointed out that there were also measures on many states ballots that made the use and possession of small amounts of marijuana legal. But not gay marriage. We are now more afraid of "the gays" having the same civil rights as the rest of America's citizens than we are of the pot smokers. We have a long way to go baby.

I remember a time when it was not legal for a black person to marry a white person in many state. This is no different an issue. It is an embarrassment and shame to all of us that we tolerate this kind of intolerance in our state constitutions.

Changeling

This is the best movie in the old film noir tradition I've seen since Chinatown, by Roman Polanski. Eastwood has become one of our best directors. Every detail was perfect. And several performances were superb, but Angolina Jolie and John Malkovitch were terrific, inspired casting, and gave great performances. I loved the casting, lighting, costuming, set decoration, musical score and directing. The were no car chases, no special effects, not explosions, no sex, no nudity. So some of you may not think much of this film, but for old movie buffs it will be a treat. I'm thinking Oscar buzz. And if you're old and going to an early matinee on a weekday in Utah it's only $5. a piece. We smuggle in treats and drinks. I'm a good cheap date.



For more on this film click the title and you'll get all the Wiki details.

Matinee Movie Friday

Well, I've recovered from my medication screw up Tuesday night and am now as back to normal as I ever get. It isn't snowing, but it's cold. I must now face taking a shower in my cold bathroom. Even with the sun shining in my greenhouse roof, it hasn't yet warmed the room, but this is a look at blue sky and a few gold leaves on the glass above my head. I think we're seeing the movie directed by Clint Eastwood, Changeling.

Snowy Morning

This was what I awoke to November 5th, the day after the election. The solarium or greenhouse is open to the bathroom and technically the room is passive solar with a small electric heater built into the wall in the greenhouse. On a dark snowy morning, with the tile floor, and the south wall and ceiling of glass it's a bit of a shock. Early on a snowy morning it might be in the mid to high fifty degrees. But on a sunny morning it's lovely.

A Peaceful Frame of Mind

I am not peaceful. I'm relieved and thrilled that we have elected Barack Obama. I'm happy with his choice for Chief of Staff. I'm glad he's getting briefed and has learned from the mistakes of others about setting priorities for picking cabinet level posts. But I'm furious that BushCo is going to waltz out of town whistling Dixie on the way to a peaceful obscurity somewhere in the south, maybe somewhere without extradition laws.

I want all the war criminals to stand trial at the Hague and eventually to have that bunch of crooks do time--preferably at Gitmo, getting waterboarded every morning before a breakfast of whatever they hate most, with weevils. Forever.

Other than that, I'm completely in favor of peace.

Michelle Obama and the Fashion Police

Women don't seem to like Michelle Obama's choice for an election night dress. I have to admit it was a tad bit disconcerting to see our next First Lady in a dress that was so... We'll, I have heard it called "The Lava Lamp Dress," "The beam me up Scotty dress," "the these are the mommy parts dress." but so far, my favorite comment came from Phillip in a brief unsolicited email last night. I liked his comment best: I thought it was fabulous. She was on fire! When the sweater thing fell down, shoulder appeared ... wow! I hope she doesn't change.

So here is a review from the American Press:


If you click the title of this post you will see the Brit's response.

Crazy or Just Euphoric

I'm out of my mind with joy. That's a bad sign if you're bipolar, but if your country had just pulled its head out of its ass for the first time in your memory you'd be euphoric too. Yes, I did forget to take my bipolar drugs last night. But the moment I figured it out this morning, way too early by the way, I took my antidepressant and half my missed dose of mood stabilizer.

I called Nick and told him my dilemma. We rescheduled our matinee movie day to Friday. And then I set my alarm for 2:00 so I'd make it to my doctor's appointment at 3:30. But I couldn't stop watching the news. So I fell asleep with visions of a happy world cellebrating our waking from the slumber of the profoundly stupid.

I somehow missed your emails of concern about the malfunctioning comments thingy until late in the day yesterday. I'm sorry that I didn't get back to you, but I was by then into watching returns with my breath held and tears streaming down my face. But I am moved by the kindness of bloggers. You are a very generous group of people. It seemed I wasn't the only blogger missing in action yesterday due to technical difficulties. Good thing I'm not paranoid.

I'm still unable to talk intelligently about what this election means to me. I think it's gong to be a sea change and not just because eight years of Dubya ruined us. We will be in for hard times. It will take time to turn this wildly off course ship of state around. But I believe we are up to the task.

And just in case I'm talking gibberish, I'll stop now and try to get to bed early tonight.

It's a New Day In America

I was so exhausted last night I forgot to take my bipolar meds. So far from what I can tell this morning, it is the biggest win since sometime in the '60's. It's a landslide and that's what we needed to make it clear to those who were so opposed to "THAT ONE" that there will be no question of the legitimacy of this election.

For some reason, sometime yesterday Utah Savage was unable to leave herself a comment and neither apparently could anyone else. So with three posts up and zero comments on all three posts, I thought maybe you'd all decided you didn't like me anymore. I went visiting blogs everywhere looking for crowds and found them here and there, but not a soul at my place. Randal seemed to be missing in action, and so far this morning he still is. I hope Randal didn't get lost in the throngs of voters. Even Ohio voted for President Obama. Yea Randal. Now where is he?

You have to say this for McCain. That man sure can lose well. He seems to take more pleasure in losing than anyone I've ever seen. His most graceful moment of the campaign was his concession speech.

Tucker Carlson had a tantrum on Morning Joe--I'm usually not up early enough to catch the bully that is Morning Joe. But I did awake to a pouting, upset Tucker Carlson. Maybe he's really upset about all the weight he's gained since last we saw him, and is blaming his binge eating on THAT ONE.

It's 9:45 AM and I need a nap.