I have been annoyed with the nightly news for many months now, who pander to the manipulators who are directing the political machinery. And I have no doubt we are being manipulated.
I do not believe the political news is the foremost, more important news in the country--ever. Well, maybe on election day. Maybe.
And tonight because of the devastating damages resulting from Hurricane Sandy colliding with a storm from the west, the weather took precedence over the political scene. The governor of New Jersey, which has been hard hit by the storm just made a very sensible statement. At this moment he couldn't care less about the election.
I found this interview, which wasn't the one I saw, but it's almost as good.
Just click Here:
I'm not trying to beat the drum for any candidate. I'm only wishing I could reclaim some of the lost news that got overlooked in the last six months of blather. I hate that I have to go to the BBC to find out what's going on in my own country and elsewhere.
This day, and Governor Christie, just put the frosting on the cake for me, so to speak. Not only today is other stuff more important. It's always more important.
Whew! Thanks for listening----if you're still there.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Just Another Friday
It's always good to reach TGIF day, broom in hand, to gather the unruly bits together to dump upon your friends. Join up if you have stray thoughts to share which don't quite merit a full post of their own. (Though I have to say that I often post things that probably don't merit a full post.)
Thanks, Mrs. 4444 at Halfpastkissintime!
1. I completed some of my "assigned" work while Good Guy was listening to music and riding the bus in The Big City. I didn't get everything done, but I made a long list to keep myself on task.
2. I finished piecing this quilt top, to "use up scraps". This is a euphemism of sorts. Unless one has the self discipline to actually throw some bits away, you end up with more scraps---they're just smaller. But this is my result:
3. This is the weekend of a family tradition in which Good Guy and the Photographer bet on the outcome of the college football game between a selected Michigan university (this year Michigan State) and the Mighty Wisconsin Badgers. I have never actually seen any money change hands...but the pride factor is enormous.
4. The Tigers are down two games in the World Series to the Giants, after sweeping the Yankees. If you're a fan you know that. If you're not, you can skip over this. I am disappointed, but not devastated. (I'm not that much of a baseball fan.)
5. On Tuesday night, I got to be a part of an online book club, meeting on Skype! That was really neat and when the technology works right, it is amazing to be able to do that! (Thanks Auntie Pam!)
I bid you good day, and hope you have a great weekend. It looks like we will be freezing our tootsies off now that the weather has changed. But we had a gloomy week with lots of rain. Maybe our lakes will fill back up again. Hope, hope.
Cheerio!
Thanks, Mrs. 4444 at Halfpastkissintime!
1. I completed some of my "assigned" work while Good Guy was listening to music and riding the bus in The Big City. I didn't get everything done, but I made a long list to keep myself on task.
2. I finished piecing this quilt top, to "use up scraps". This is a euphemism of sorts. Unless one has the self discipline to actually throw some bits away, you end up with more scraps---they're just smaller. But this is my result:
4. The Tigers are down two games in the World Series to the Giants, after sweeping the Yankees. If you're a fan you know that. If you're not, you can skip over this. I am disappointed, but not devastated. (I'm not that much of a baseball fan.)
5. On Tuesday night, I got to be a part of an online book club, meeting on Skype! That was really neat and when the technology works right, it is amazing to be able to do that! (Thanks Auntie Pam!)
I bid you good day, and hope you have a great weekend. It looks like we will be freezing our tootsies off now that the weather has changed. But we had a gloomy week with lots of rain. Maybe our lakes will fill back up again. Hope, hope.
Cheerio!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Something in Common
He will be honored on a special day this year, (if the Lord tarries, and just shortly before the Mayan calendar had to end for lack of space) on December 12, 2012. Nudge, nudge. Get it?
12/12/12.
By the most amazing good luck, that is also the Banner Birthday for three people in my family!
My cousin, Beth, my dear daughter-in-law, Robin, and I share this anniversary of our birth.
I am pretty sure that the Packers and Mr. Rodgers don't care about that. So far I haven't even called it to their attention. But it'll be a pretty big day in Green Bay, I think.
I may go and call it my birthday party. Only we will know.
(Photo credit: agtimm on fanpop.com)
Monday, October 22, 2012
To My Deer
Years ago, when Good Guy and I were writing letters to one another, he sent me a beautiful poem in the autumn months.
We both love poetry and this has become a favorite of mine.
The author is Robert Francis, and the title is Fall.
Leave the bars lying in grass.
Let the wanderers freely pass
into the pasture now.
Gone are the fawn-shy heifers, gone
the little calf almost a fawn,
And the black two-year cow.
Leave the bars lying where they are.
Let each black-triangled birch bar
be white and triple warning:
One for all tender things that go,
One for the near and ultimate snow.
One for frost by morning.
In that first snow a frightened deer,
Swifter than snowfall, swift as fear,
May pass here flying, flying.
What if no fence could foil his speed?
Spare him the leap, spare him one need
of leaping. Leave the bars lying.
We both love poetry and this has become a favorite of mine.
Leave the bars lying in grass.
Let the wanderers freely pass
into the pasture now.
Gone are the fawn-shy heifers, gone
the little calf almost a fawn,
And the black two-year cow.
Leave the bars lying where they are.
Let each black-triangled birch bar
be white and triple warning:
One for all tender things that go,
One for the near and ultimate snow.
One for frost by morning.
In that first snow a frightened deer,
Swifter than snowfall, swift as fear,
May pass here flying, flying.
What if no fence could foil his speed?
Spare him the leap, spare him one need
of leaping. Leave the bars lying.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Three People
Okay, I admit it. I am not insecure.
On numerous places this week, exactly the same message has popped up. "Three people have unfriended you." Then I can click here to see who and why. Well, maybe not why, but who.
The first time I was tempted to check it out, but then I remembered that my sister had closed her Facebook account. I don't need to be FB friends with someone I talk to pretty regularly.
Then another person told me they were getting exactly the same message. "Ignore it", I told you. It's the same garbage that pops up and wants you to see who is "looking for you".
I'm in the phone book, easy to find----and I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as privacy any more.
So if a real person has "unfriended" me, so long, it's been good to know ya. Mostly I think it's baloney. As unrelated to me as the message to check out singles in my area. (muffled laughter.)
On numerous places this week, exactly the same message has popped up. "Three people have unfriended you." Then I can click here to see who and why. Well, maybe not why, but who.
The first time I was tempted to check it out, but then I remembered that my sister had closed her Facebook account. I don't need to be FB friends with someone I talk to pretty regularly.
Then another person told me they were getting exactly the same message. "Ignore it", I told you. It's the same garbage that pops up and wants you to see who is "looking for you".
I'm in the phone book, easy to find----and I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as privacy any more.
So if a real person has "unfriended" me, so long, it's been good to know ya. Mostly I think it's baloney. As unrelated to me as the message to check out singles in my area. (muffled laughter.)
Friday, October 19, 2012
This and That
Friday Fragments time once again, and I am more than ready to unload my backpack into the Friday Frag melee.
You can do the same thing, by putting those nagging little bits, too small for a whole post into the mix for the rest of us by linking up with Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin Time.
1. I thought I'd enjoy exploring new radio stations on our XM radio while Good Guy is gone. One thing I've discovered is that there are (roughly) 50 Hip-Hop stations. We have a great many CDs I have been enjoying.
2. To keep from wasting a week, I made a list. The quilt top should be completed today, and I've turned the heel on the sock.
3. My book isn't done, yet. But I have until Tuesday. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
4. I got the bill from "anesthesia"---and I am coded as a person of extreme age. I'd like to be annoyed about that, but it just makes me laugh. At what age does "extreme age" begin? Do any of you know?
5. My yarn arrived this week for the October project from Anne Hanson's Knitspot club, Fall in Full Color. A really nice, generous person would be considering what to make for Christmas gifts with this luxurious yarn. Fergetabboutit! That would be the golden and green variegated yarn above. It is named Belgian Wheat and the picture doesn't do it justice, believe me!
6. My friend, Carole, just had a knee replacement on October 10th, and she went home three days later! I was happy to languish, getting nursing care and therapy for a whole week. I feel like a wimp now!
7. The sock is for my dear nephew who is considering learning to knit. He said-----so he could have some warm hand knit socks. I think knitting is a good pastime for people who live where there are long cold winters, because then TV time isn't just a dreadful waste of a season.
8. And last, but not least, Go Tigers!
You can do the same thing, by putting those nagging little bits, too small for a whole post into the mix for the rest of us by linking up with Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin Time.
1. I thought I'd enjoy exploring new radio stations on our XM radio while Good Guy is gone. One thing I've discovered is that there are (roughly) 50 Hip-Hop stations. We have a great many CDs I have been enjoying.
2. To keep from wasting a week, I made a list. The quilt top should be completed today, and I've turned the heel on the sock.
3. My book isn't done, yet. But I have until Tuesday. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
4. I got the bill from "anesthesia"---and I am coded as a person of extreme age. I'd like to be annoyed about that, but it just makes me laugh. At what age does "extreme age" begin? Do any of you know?
5. My yarn arrived this week for the October project from Anne Hanson's Knitspot club, Fall in Full Color. A really nice, generous person would be considering what to make for Christmas gifts with this luxurious yarn. Fergetabboutit! That would be the golden and green variegated yarn above. It is named Belgian Wheat and the picture doesn't do it justice, believe me!
6. My friend, Carole, just had a knee replacement on October 10th, and she went home three days later! I was happy to languish, getting nursing care and therapy for a whole week. I feel like a wimp now!
7. The sock is for my dear nephew who is considering learning to knit. He said-----so he could have some warm hand knit socks. I think knitting is a good pastime for people who live where there are long cold winters, because then TV time isn't just a dreadful waste of a season.
8. And last, but not least, Go Tigers!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
So Many Choices
This week in New York City, certain cabaret lovers and musicians gather. At least, that's what Good Guy tells me is going on there, and it's where he is this week. I'm not a Big Apple fan, so I get to stay home and Do As I Please.
I really look forward to this perceived freedom, only to discover that, basically, I always do as I please and having the house to myself doesn't make much difference in my activities.
Other years, though, I have goofed off for the entire week, and not accomplished much. So this time I made an ambitious list for myself. Anytime I'm wondering what to do next I can work on something on the list.
I have a book to finish, I'm piecing a quilt top, I have a sock in progress, I have to quilt the Words quilt on the sewing machine.
Thrown in as interruptions are book club (yesterday), dinner with my daughter, bible study, and catching up with friends by letter writing, phone calls, or visits.
Yesterday we enjoyed discussing a book that was published first in 1943, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Some of our best reads have been older books that are "re-reads" for many of us. I don't recall ever reading this before, though one of us had read it in high school as required reading. Oddly enough, there are many parallels between this book and another that I'm reading, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo.
Prejudice, corruption, and using chemicals to escape from the realities are probably universal truths, as sad as it may be.
Have a great Thursday! Or Friday!
I really look forward to this perceived freedom, only to discover that, basically, I always do as I please and having the house to myself doesn't make much difference in my activities.
Other years, though, I have goofed off for the entire week, and not accomplished much. So this time I made an ambitious list for myself. Anytime I'm wondering what to do next I can work on something on the list.
I have a book to finish, I'm piecing a quilt top, I have a sock in progress, I have to quilt the Words quilt on the sewing machine.
Thrown in as interruptions are book club (yesterday), dinner with my daughter, bible study, and catching up with friends by letter writing, phone calls, or visits.
Yesterday we enjoyed discussing a book that was published first in 1943, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Some of our best reads have been older books that are "re-reads" for many of us. I don't recall ever reading this before, though one of us had read it in high school as required reading. Oddly enough, there are many parallels between this book and another that I'm reading, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo.
Prejudice, corruption, and using chemicals to escape from the realities are probably universal truths, as sad as it may be.
Have a great Thursday! Or Friday!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Pride Goeth Before...
I am not stellar about finishing my own projects, but when I am entrusted with a task of great importance, I really do my part.
I mentioned earlier that Sis #2 went through town last Thursday gifting me with fabric and yarn. At the same time she left a project for me to work on. Here's a little background.
Her second oldest grandson has been patiently waiting for her to finish his quilt. And it has been talked about for a very long time. First he thought he wanted a "Cheetah Quilt", which was a daunting prospect, indeed! She looked for ideas, she talked about it with quilters, graphic designers, artists, fabric folks---you name it.
When she was all geared up to start, she hears him say, "Grandma, I think I'd rather have a dog quilt."
Dogs, thank goodness, she's all over that! Then you shop around deciding on colors, finding dog fabrics that will go together, and finding the pattern to use, and about twenty things that must be done before you can begin.
When that part was nicely done, and the top was mostly put together, she decided she wanted to quilt dog faces into the larger squares. Back to the artist for dog faces the right size----and over the winter she left it with me and I did some of them.
Another season of the year passes. It's a hot summer. The kid doesn't need a quilt when it's 90 degrees every night. But by last weekend, the faces and some other things are quilted and it is time to add outer borders, and put on the binding.
When she left here an hour ago, that puppy is almost ready to present to Patient, Long-suffering Ryan just in time for a long cold winter on the shores of Lake Superior. It is nice and big and puffy and warm and I may just have to drive up to watch the Big Presentation. (If I go, I'll take some pictures, and I promise to share.)
I helped with it, and I'm Proud!
I mentioned earlier that Sis #2 went through town last Thursday gifting me with fabric and yarn. At the same time she left a project for me to work on. Here's a little background.
Her second oldest grandson has been patiently waiting for her to finish his quilt. And it has been talked about for a very long time. First he thought he wanted a "Cheetah Quilt", which was a daunting prospect, indeed! She looked for ideas, she talked about it with quilters, graphic designers, artists, fabric folks---you name it.
When she was all geared up to start, she hears him say, "Grandma, I think I'd rather have a dog quilt."
Dogs, thank goodness, she's all over that! Then you shop around deciding on colors, finding dog fabrics that will go together, and finding the pattern to use, and about twenty things that must be done before you can begin.
When that part was nicely done, and the top was mostly put together, she decided she wanted to quilt dog faces into the larger squares. Back to the artist for dog faces the right size----and over the winter she left it with me and I did some of them.
Another season of the year passes. It's a hot summer. The kid doesn't need a quilt when it's 90 degrees every night. But by last weekend, the faces and some other things are quilted and it is time to add outer borders, and put on the binding.
When she left here an hour ago, that puppy is almost ready to present to Patient, Long-suffering Ryan just in time for a long cold winter on the shores of Lake Superior. It is nice and big and puffy and warm and I may just have to drive up to watch the Big Presentation. (If I go, I'll take some pictures, and I promise to share.)
I helped with it, and I'm Proud!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Seventeen Cities
Last week on the right side of my Facebook page, there was an interesting factoid which said that "the average person has been to seventeen cities".
At first I just scratched my head in wonderment that anyone would say that. How would you do research to determine that? What constitutes a city?
My house is about a ten minute walk from the border with Wisconsin, yet my next door neighbor admits to having been in only two states. I have a classmate from nurses' training who loves the U.P. and has rarely left Michigan. We've talked about this and she claims to be blissfully happy here (with the help of her antidepressants), but I claim she has no idea if/what she's missing.
I know there are many reasons to remain at home. We couldn't travel much while we had to show up at work every day. (Darn work.....it really cuts into your free time!)
But for others, fear of the unknown is a factor. Finances always play a part as well. Left to myself I probably wouldn't have seen much of the world, but Good Guy loves to see new things. I am afraid of getting into situations where I can't communicate, so I don't want to see Asia, but he has no qualms.
While you're knitting today, count your cities. I think we will raise the "national average".
Note to self: Dubuque and Omaha count.
Happy Monday!
At first I just scratched my head in wonderment that anyone would say that. How would you do research to determine that? What constitutes a city?
My house is about a ten minute walk from the border with Wisconsin, yet my next door neighbor admits to having been in only two states. I have a classmate from nurses' training who loves the U.P. and has rarely left Michigan. We've talked about this and she claims to be blissfully happy here (with the help of her antidepressants), but I claim she has no idea if/what she's missing.
I know there are many reasons to remain at home. We couldn't travel much while we had to show up at work every day. (Darn work.....it really cuts into your free time!)
But for others, fear of the unknown is a factor. Finances always play a part as well. Left to myself I probably wouldn't have seen much of the world, but Good Guy loves to see new things. I am afraid of getting into situations where I can't communicate, so I don't want to see Asia, but he has no qualms.
While you're knitting today, count your cities. I think we will raise the "national average".
Note to self: Dubuque and Omaha count.
Happy Monday!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Friday
It's the First Friday of October and the anniversary of the day I first became a Mom---which has been my most important and satisfying job (so far).
Here in the U.P. it is windy and cold, our leaves are blowing around and there is no doubt that the seasons have changed. But on this day so many years ago in Chicago is was a golden day with a certain Fall smell in the air that always makes me smile now. (It was probably some combination of leaf smell, car exhaust from Lake Shore Drive, and breeze off Lake Michigan.)
That was Fragment Number one. We are gathering here today on this solemn occasion to share our week's end bits with one another. Thanks to Mrs. 4444 of Half Past Kissin' Time.
This whole going to the hospital gig is getting old. I've had my heart checked out (okay). The gall bladder is gone. And this week Good Guy had carpal tunnel surgery on his right hand. (He's a southpaw, needs both hands done--so opted for the right hand first---after he was done golfing for the summer.)
I feel like one of the old ladies who used to elicit an eye roll, when they would gather for lunch and discuss their doctors and surgeries. To paraphrase the poet, "I am not resigned."
Fragment Number Two: Sister #2 and Daisy spent an afternoon with us yesterday en route to a reunion in Wheaton, Illinois. She came bearing gifts, and that's always fun. One bag was full of scrap fabrics, one was full of two kinds of yarn, and the last was a project for me to work on over the weekend. Which is what I will do when I'm done sweeping here.
I have had a number of people mention that making yogurt seems.......silly, I guess, would be the best word. Like a lot of bother for something you can easily buy. That's the way I feel about making marshmallows. Why bother? But I eat a lot of yogurt, and it isn't cheap---and it isn't always that good. Sorry, commercial yogurt makers who shall remain nameless....
Anyway, somebody asked and that's why I posted it.
It is really much more fun to anticipate baking a lovely apple pie instead of a birthday cake.
I did a really stupid thing this week. Well, maybe more than one, but the one I'm willing to share is that I must have thrown my stack of envelopes containing checks and billing stubs away with my paper recycling. I have to remember not to do those two chores at the same time. I got to thinking about my day, and couldn't remember ever mailing the checks. So I called the cardiologist's office and they never got my check.
I take comfort in the fact that the recipients will surely send more bills. I never thought I'd say that. I mourn the loss of my five stamps, though. Boo-hoo!
Four Friday Fragments. That'll do for now. Have a great weekend!
Here in the U.P. it is windy and cold, our leaves are blowing around and there is no doubt that the seasons have changed. But on this day so many years ago in Chicago is was a golden day with a certain Fall smell in the air that always makes me smile now. (It was probably some combination of leaf smell, car exhaust from Lake Shore Drive, and breeze off Lake Michigan.)
That was Fragment Number one. We are gathering here today on this solemn occasion to share our week's end bits with one another. Thanks to Mrs. 4444 of Half Past Kissin' Time.
This whole going to the hospital gig is getting old. I've had my heart checked out (okay). The gall bladder is gone. And this week Good Guy had carpal tunnel surgery on his right hand. (He's a southpaw, needs both hands done--so opted for the right hand first---after he was done golfing for the summer.)
I feel like one of the old ladies who used to elicit an eye roll, when they would gather for lunch and discuss their doctors and surgeries. To paraphrase the poet, "I am not resigned."
Fragment Number Two: Sister #2 and Daisy spent an afternoon with us yesterday en route to a reunion in Wheaton, Illinois. She came bearing gifts, and that's always fun. One bag was full of scrap fabrics, one was full of two kinds of yarn, and the last was a project for me to work on over the weekend. Which is what I will do when I'm done sweeping here.
I have had a number of people mention that making yogurt seems.......silly, I guess, would be the best word. Like a lot of bother for something you can easily buy. That's the way I feel about making marshmallows. Why bother? But I eat a lot of yogurt, and it isn't cheap---and it isn't always that good. Sorry, commercial yogurt makers who shall remain nameless....
Anyway, somebody asked and that's why I posted it.
It is really much more fun to anticipate baking a lovely apple pie instead of a birthday cake.
I did a really stupid thing this week. Well, maybe more than one, but the one I'm willing to share is that I must have thrown my stack of envelopes containing checks and billing stubs away with my paper recycling. I have to remember not to do those two chores at the same time. I got to thinking about my day, and couldn't remember ever mailing the checks. So I called the cardiologist's office and they never got my check.
I take comfort in the fact that the recipients will surely send more bills. I never thought I'd say that. I mourn the loss of my five stamps, though. Boo-hoo!
Four Friday Fragments. That'll do for now. Have a great weekend!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)