A Fun Meme About Meme and Now About Youyou

I've been tagged by Deborah with six random things about me, hmmm, well, like with Deborah, I’m pretty much stuck at home not so much because the weather is bad but because I’m battling asthma, so I figured why not see what I could come up with.

1. In my mid twenties, living in Dallas, Texas I studied acting with Sidney Lumet’s father and ended up performing for over a year with a group he put together.

2. At twenty-eight I decided I wanted to teach school and returned to college. I paid my tuition that first year by working with a musical group that performed six nights a week in one of the local bar/coffee houses in Dallas. Not getting to bed until two in the morning surely made it hard to get to my seven o’clock classes on time since I lived in Dallas and went to school at the university in Denton – about thirty miles away. It was still fun though. Needless to say, I only did it for one year.

3. I’ve become a photography freak, can’t get enough, it’s a wonder I don’t sleep with my camera – my son’s camera that is. Good thing he doesn’t use it that much because I do. Most fun I’ve had in years! Fortunately, the cameras these days only require that you point and shoot and that’s about all I’m capable of, but it’s still fun!

4. I love to write, have ever since I was a little girl and cut pictures out of my mother’s magazines and wrote my own stories to go with them. I published a few things during my life, nothing major. But I did get carried away and enter the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest last year and managed to get to the semi-finals. I was pretty pleased with that because there were 8,000 entries.

5. I love to cook, but these days both my son and I watch our diets and the fun things to cook are not necessarily low-fat or terribly healthy. Ah, but with the holidays coming up, I bet I cheat – just a little!

6. When my kids Dad and I were living in Europe, he participated in a fencing tournament sponsored by the French Troops in Germany. The American team won the tournament and at the party later that evening I was asked to lead off the dancing for the evening with the Commander of the French Troops in Germany. One of those giggly fun moments.

So, now come the rules for Six Random Facts, they're pretty straightforward:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Okay, now I'm going to go on my on tagging spree. And, as Deborah told me, this can be Tagging Without Obligation, so don't worry if you're busy and want to pass. I'm sure there will be

another one.

Kate at Shambles Manor

Kay Travelers Wife

June 70 Plus and Still Kicking

Dianne Forks Off The Moment

Glinda Soaring With Glinda

Judy Living on the Other Side of the Hill

Wish a Soldier a Merry Christmas and Say Thanks

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL

If you go to this web site, http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.
Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

Worth Reading

We heard so much BS regarding Obama and Bill Ayers during the campaign, but little or nothing from Bill Ayers himself. He has spoken out today in an Op-Ed piece in the NYT today and it is worth the read.

Recent Information

I just learned, as many of you may have, that Darlene Costner of Darlene's Hodgepodge, fell and
broke her hip the day before Thanksgiving. She has had surgergy and is in a rehab center. If you would like to give her a call or send her a card, I know she would appreciate it. She does hope to be home for Christmas.

The phone number in Darlene’s room at the rehab center is 520.881.4875 if you would like to give her a call. If she doesn’t answer after several rings, she is likely in therapy, so call back later as there is no message machine.

You can snailmail a note to her at:
Room 625B
The Forum at Tucson
2500 N. Rosemont Blvd.
Tucson, Arizona 85712

Inner Peace

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can get going without pep pills,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor, If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

...Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!

The Pros and Cons of Exercise

I find myself frequently looking at the pros and cons of getting old, never mind exercise and I find that there are plenty of both -- okay, okay, maybe the cons have the lead much of the time. But whatever, I do try to look for the humor in aging because laughter is always good for you -- whatever age, whether you exercise or not. But I found this the other day and decided to sandwich it in between all the downers I've been writing about lately.

Walking can add minutes to your life.This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $7000 per month.

My grandpa started walking five miles a day when he was 60. Now he's 97 years old and we don't know where he is.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

The only reason I would take up walking is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.

I have to walk early in the morning, before my brain figures out what I'm doing.

I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks. Haven't lost a pound. Apparently you have to go there.

Every time I hear the dirty word 'exercise', I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

I do have flabby thighs, but fortunately my stomach covers them.

The advantage of exercising every day is so when you die, they'll say, 'Well, she looks good doesn't she.'

If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country.

I know I got a lot of exercise the last few years, just getting over the hill.

We all get heavier as we get older, because there's a lot more information in our heads.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

AND -- every time I start thinking too much about how I look, I just find a Happy Hour and by the time I leave, I look just fine.

You could run this over to your friends -- on second thought, just e-mail it to them!

No Secret Pardons for Bush!

I recieved this from a friend this morning and thought I should pass it on for you to read.

The link here won't work, but you can contact your Representative/Senator to tell them not to let these pardons be given. You can also check with the American Freedom Campaign website
at http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org/ and this web address should work.
You also might want to check out this article about Mukasey. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/us/04justice.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&ref=us&adxnnlx=1228403046-2aQ/oCwoqU00FsD9UqrrGg

Secret Pardons

We may soon be seeing one of history's greatest examples of adding insult to injury.

For eight years, we have been forced to sit by helplessly as President George W. Bush and top members of his administration eviscerated the Constitution, broke federal laws, and defied the will of Congress.

Now, President Bush is poised to give each and every one of his accomplices -- from Dick Cheney to Karl Rove to Alberto Gonzales -- a full pardon, ensuring that they will never receive the punishments they deserve for their activities.

Worse, Bush may issue a preemptive "blanket" pardon, covering all officials within his administration without disclosing either the names of the officials involved or the crimes for which they are being absolved.

If this kind of secretive pardon seems wrong to you, please take a moment and send an email to your representatives in Congress immediately:

http://www.blogger.com/

The American Freedom Campaign strongly opposes the issuance of preemptive blanket pardons for administration officials who sanctioned torture, rendition, warrantless wiretapping and more. First of all, if these individuals believe they were acting within the law, they have nothing to fear. If they broke laws, then they should suffer the consequences.

In addition, we believe the American people deserve to know which members of the administration were involved in illegal behavior. Should Bush issue a blanket pardon to all administration officials, it will set a precedent under which future presidents may direct illegal behavior for four or eight years and then give all participants in the illegal conduct secretive free passes on his (or her) way out of office.

Congress can, however, stop this most objectionable action before it occurs. The American Freedom Campaign has proposed a Pardons Disclosure Act*, which would force the president to specifically name any political appointees for whom pardons are granted along with the crime or crimes for which they are being pardoned.

To tell your representatives in Congress to support a Pardons Disclosure Act, click on the following link:

http://www.blogger.com/

Once you have sent your message to Congress, please forward this email widely to friends and family. In the alternative, you can use the "Tell-A-Friend" option on the AFC Web site that will appear after you have sent your message.

Thank you so much for taking action.

Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund

* The following language could be the heart of a Pardons Disclosure Act:

"Any pardon issued by the President under Article II, section 2, clause 1, of the Constitution of the United States, if granted to the President, the Vice-President or any political appointees in the President's own administration, shall specifically identify each individual to whom a pardon is being granted along with the crimes committed or acts taken in the course of his or her official duties for which that person is being pardoned."

A New Face for America?

The past eight years has seen the United States drop to the bottom of the list as far as many other countries are concerned – one more “gift” from the Bush-Cheney reign. But few have been as destructive as America’s refusal to join the world’s first permanent war crimes court at The Hague. That snub has become a symbol of U.S. contempt for the rule of law.

In one of his last acts as president, Roger Cohen writes in an Op-Ed piece for the NYT, Bill Clinton signed the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court, but the signature never led to U.S. ratification. On the contrary, President Bush withdrew the signature. Why doesn’t that surprise me? And that unbelievable “unsigning” was followed by an aggressive campaign to oblige countries to make a formal commitment, under threat of U.S. reprisals, never to surrender U.S. citizens to the court.

The effect of U.S. rejection of the court, combined with the trashing of habeas corpus at Guantanamo Bay, as been devastating. Allies from Canada to Germany that are court members have been dismayed by the U.S. dismissal of an institution they see doing evident good.

Other smaller nations from Latin America to Africa, browbeaten by the U.S. on the issue of the court, have looked elsewhere for lost military or financial support. The American idea, grounded in legal, has been undermined.

Obama recognizes and supports the I.C.C.’s efforts to investigate and prosecute those responsible for atrocities in Sudan. That is, according to Cohen, a good start and a good signal. To be sure, only by our aligning America again with international law can the damage inflicted on America’s image and appeal by the Bush administration be undone.

We have a long way to go to repair the damage done to our country’s world image by the Bush/Cheney regime, but this would be a start.

Sky Watch #20

Click on the banner to join us and show your skys!

Ever changing and beautiful skies in Seattle. They don't need any words from me as they speak for themselves. How blessed we are with so much beauty to offset the ugly that floods the world, to remind us of what is important.

Summary of Life

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED

1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.

2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.

3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.

4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.

5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.

6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.

7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.

8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.

9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:

1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.

2) Wrinkles don't hurt.

3) Families are like fudge..mostly sweet, with a few nuts.

4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.

6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.

GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD

1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.

4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.

6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.

7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:

1) You believe in Santa Claus.

2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.

3) You are Santa Claus.

4) You look like Santa Claus.

SUCCESS:

At age 4 success is . . . not piddling in your pants.

At age 12 success is . . . having friends.

At age 17 success is . having a drivers license.

At age 35 success is . . having money.

At age 50 success is . . having money.

At age 70 success is . . .. having a drivers license.

At age 75 success is . . having friends.

At age 80 success is . . not piddling in your pants.

The New Naked Fireman Calendar Cover

Fooled you, huh?

Now for a Bit of Humor

Since I started off the day with such a grim, angry post, I felt it was time for a bit of humor.

Too Many Stories Like This One

The battle over birth control has been going on for years and probably will continue for years more – if the moral majority and Catholics have their way. Stories like the one below are so common these days that many people don’t really pay that much attention any more. This was reported this morning on a Seattle TV Station. I couldn’t bring myself to include the entire story here because it is one of the most horrific ones I’ve read in a long time, but I had to try, once again, to bring attention to this outrage. And, by the way, the mother just had another baby eleven days ago! Oh, by all means, bring more children into the world to be treated like this!

“A two-year-old girl lies in a coma after she was reportedly beaten while her mother’s boyfriend tried to train her to go to the bathroom on command.

Witnesses say Idriss Turner treated the girl like a dog and beat her “like a slave,” and that he and the mother abandoned the baby as she lay comatose.”

Joy Brannon says she saw the girl beaten 30 times over 10 weeks.

“Slave beatings. Held by the arms off the ground and just whipped, whipped, whipped,” said Brannon.

Brannon, by the way, was in a three way relationship with the mother and the boyfriend and was afraid to report it before the child was dropped off at the hospital. They were arrested finally as they tried to board a plane.

I know that my ranting on this blog is not going to change anything, but how can you read something like this and not speak out? What does it take? Granted, people who do things like this probably could care less about birth control and what does that say about our world today?

Guess my mood this morning is as dark as the clouds that hide the sun here in Seattle.

Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter

Our temperatures in Seattle are not as extreme as in other areas of the country and we slip a little more slowly into each season as the months go by. The red leaves linger until the winds pick up over the Sound and strips the trees, but even then a few stubborn ones hold on for a bit longer.

I drove around the neighborhood and the park above the harbor on a foggy day this past weekend and got some shots I thought I'd share with you.

The benches are empty.

Fog, mysterious, ghostly.Still holding on.
A touch of color, red amongst the evergreen, a few bare limbs.

Some Simple Home Remedies

1. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.

2. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE TIMER.

3. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.

4. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.

5. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.

6. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.

DAILY THOUGHT: SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES - NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.

Ruby Tuesday

Another version of the Japanese Maple. I drove by this house earlier today and the beautiful red is gone, replaced with brown. It looked as sad as the rest of the trees and bushes throughout the neighborhood -- fall has definitely slipped into early winter.

My World for Tuesday #6

Click on this and see many more and join the rest of us to show your world!

Soon after I moved to Seattle I became fascinated by the seaplanes that were always flying overhead, around Seattle and surrounding areas. On my birthday this past August my son, Adam, surprised me and my visiting niece with my hearts desire -- a flight on one of those seaplanes! So, I thought I would share this part of 'my world' with you today.
Here is my niece and I getting ready to board the plane.

These are just various shots that my son took from the window of the plane. I hadn't started using his camera at this time and that's too bad because I had the best seat on the plane -- the co-pilot's seat and I had a better view than anyone!

More random shots. Here, if you click on the photo you can see thevarious depths of the water off shore.

This shot is a park above the harbor near our house. We came here after having lunch at my favorite restaurant. I spend a lot of time here at this lovely, peaceful place.

Above is, of course, the Space Needle near downtown Seattle.

And here is the Seattle skyline. As you can see, we are surrounded by a lot of water -- almost everywhere you look.

To Spend or Not to Spend? That is the Question

As an individual on a limited income the answer is quite obvious to me, but what about the bigger picture? What about the government? As one who has little understanding or comprehension of what our country needs right now to help it move out of the ditch it finds itself in, I find myself turning to those who do have answers – and whom I feel comfortable listening to. One of those is Paul Krugman, Op-Ed Columnist for the New York Times and Nobel prize winner in Economics. He has a great piece in the Times this morning and it’s well worth the read. I almost felt smug – at least for a few minutes because not only did I understand what he was saying – for a change, but it was what I’ve been saying to friends lately. I shall urge them to read it, if for no other reason than to prove to them that I do have at least a few functioning brain cells left.

According to Krugman, the deficit worriers have it all wrong. Under current conditions, there’s no trade-off between what’s good in the short run and what’s good for the long run; strong fiscal expansion would actually enhance the economy’s long-run prospects.

Under normal circumstances there’s a lot to the argument that budget deficits make the economy poorer in the long run is based on the belief that government borrowing “crowds out” private investment – that the government, by issuing lots of debt drives up interest rates, which makes businesses unwilling to spend on new plants and equipment, and that this in turn reduces the economy’s long-run rate of growth. But, let’s face it, our circumstances these days are anything but normal. Imagine what would happen next year if the Obama administration gave into the deficit hawks and scaled back its fiscal plans.

The idea that tight fiscal policy when the economy is depressed actually reduces private investment isn’t just a hypothetical argument: it’s exactly what happened twice in history. The first in 1937 when Roosevelt heeded his own era’s deficit worriers and sharply reduced government spending, cutting the Works Progress Administration in half and raising taxes. There was a recession and a steep decline in private investment. The second one, I remember all too well, took place in the late 1990’s in Japan when the government there tried to balance its budget, cutting spending and raising taxes. There, too, was a recession that led to a steep fall in private investment and one of those that suffered was the company I worked for, Komatsu.

What we need to do is increase fiscal expansion which will be even better for America’s future if a large part of that expansion takes the form of public investment – building roads, repairing bridges and developing new technologies, all of which, according to Krugman will make the nation richer in the long run.

But the bottom line is that people who think that fiscal expansion today is bad for future generations have got it exactly wrong. The best course of action, both for today’s workers and for their children – for our country, is to do whatever it takes to get the economy on the road to recovery.

The Men in Maxine's Life

I am seeing 5 gentlemen every day.

As soon as I wake up, Will Power helps me get out of bed .

Then I go to see John.

Then Charlie Horse comes along, & when he is here, he takes a lot of my time & attention.

When he leaves, Arthur Ritis shows up & stays the rest of the day. He doesn't like to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to joint.

After such a busy day, I'm really tired & glad to go to bed with Ben Gay.

What a life!

Oh, yes, I'm also flirting with Al Zymer.

And I am thinking of calling JACK DANIELS or JOHNNY WALKER to come and keep me company.

Now remember:Life is like a roll of toilet paper...the closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes...so have fun, think 'good thoughts' only, learn to laugh at yourself, and Count your blessings!!!!!

Thought for the Day

"Life is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one."

Why Can't We?

If you don't already think animals are far more spiritually advanced than we humans, think again.

Stuart Brown describes Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear coming upon tethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada 's Hudson Bay .
The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his dogs when the polar bear wandered in, but he was amazed -- so was I!
The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs.

Considering the horror of this past week and in particular the sad picture I posted yesterday, I found these photos all the more amazing. I seems we could, indeed, learn something from animals.
May you always have love to share, health to spare, and friends that care

If you want to see another amazing example of the love animals can feel check out this video that was sent to me after I posted this originally by my friend Kay in Hawaii . Check out her site at http://travelerswife.blogspot.com/

The video can be viewed at: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=10849410