Off to Paris

Well, not sure how much I will be writing over the next couple of weeks, we are off to Paris this morning!!! There is always so much more to do than I think when preparing for a trip. Oh, well here we go....

Dog Guy

Michael Keenan is the San Francisco man that ran back into a burning building to save a friends dog that he was dog sitting. The dog survived, he just died. This was not the first time Michael saved someone, a few years ago he jumped into the bay to save a stranger whose car ended up there. I never met Michael, but I think the world might need more people like him.

5 Random Things

Scobie chick has thrown down the gauntlet. Five random things about me. What is the point? To learn more about me? Do you really want to know? OK, here goes.

1. I grew up on a small island in the middle of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. Jamestown is 1 mile wide by 9 miles long. My mother grew up there, her father before her, his family before that. While growing up I could not wait to get off that rock, now I wish I could afford to buy a summer house there.
2. I moved to California because it snowed one day in May! I sat on my couch for three days and cried. When it was over I went into a job I had for almost 10 years, gave my notice, sold my house, had a party and sold my furniture, got in the car and drove. When I first moved out here, I would only go to Rhode Island in February, cause I wanted to remember why I left. That lasted for a long time, then I went back one year in July, big mistake.
3. On July 3rd at 1:45 pm it will be exactly 12 years since I had a drink - I don't miss it too much! Actually I don't, I sometimes miss the smell of a really good glass of merlot, but I sure do not miss the day after. Do I consider myself an alcoholic? No, but I fear I could be.
4. When I was four, my family moved back to that island I grew up on and I met my oldest friend. Jolie Love Clarke. We were friends from the moment we met, we had our issues, don't get me wrong, but I always thought some day we would be old together. Nearly four years ago Jolie died from colon cancer. While we may have had years go by that we did not see each other, a birthday never went by without a card or a call. I miss that.
5. I am obsessed with the Knights Templar. I wish I could live their battle cry every day - BEAUSEANT! Not that I want to fight a war or carry the word or the Lord everywhere to everyone - I just want to be glorious every day in all I do.

Scobie Chick, this was difficult. I am not sure I liked it, but wanted to try. So many things I wrote and deleted, so many other things I could have written. What does what I did write say about me? Hmm.... Beauseant people beauseant!

Group of Goats?

After seeing my cute little goats today, my beloved asked "What do you call a group of goats". And since she thinks I know everything, she was quite surprised that I did not know the answer to this question. So, I had to look it up: a group of goats is called a trip. Makes the goats even funnier in my head. For those of you that must know more: horses=team, larks=exaltation, crows=murder and cats=clutter. I do not make these things up, really check it out.

Concentration

I am having a very difficult time concentrating - only three more work days - after today until we leave for Paris! I'm sure you can tell since I am writing this from work - bad Margaret.

Goats!!

I finally saw the goats this morning. Driving down 580 and right there by the Oakland Zoo - I spied hundreds, no maybe thousands (ok, so maybe just a couple of hundred), up on the hill eating the grass. I don't know why I like to see them, but I do. Still have not read if the found the asshole that was shooting them, I guess I am just happy that whoever owns the goats did not take them and go home! And speaking of shooting, saw on the news this morning 4 dolphins washed on shore down in San Diego - all shot. Again - some asshole - with a gun shooting something that can't shoot back. Probably has a membership in the NRA - go team!

Smile

I notice the people don't smile very much, while this may be a generalization, watch and see for yourself how few people actually smile. I was watching the news this morning and a guy was on, an expert in whatever he was talking about, and no smile at all. Just this dour look, sure the content might have been non-smile stuff, but he just looked like he never smiled.

I saw my neighbor last night. She is 10 months old and every time she looks at me she smiles from ear to ear and that always makes me feel better. While a smile might not change the world, it changes the recipient for a couple of seconds and maybe that is a start. So, smile more today.

Flag Day

Today is flag day, why are there so many "days" in our life? Assistant's day, father's day, mother's day, who made them up? Anyway, back to flag day. June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed an act establishing an official flag for the new nation - I would think they might have had more important things to worry about right then, but what do I know?

I try and fly my flag every day, not because I am more patriotic than anyone else, but because every day I put it out there as a weird little ritual to keep my brother safe. I hang it up on the side of my house and while I straighten it out I whisper under my breath "stay safe". For those of you that don't know, my little brother David, is a Marine. David is handsome, has perfect teeth, abs that women swoon over, a beautiful wife and two crazy kids. I love him and I am proud of him and I say my little prayer every day. The Colonel has been in Iraq since March, not as long as some and yet far too long for us. He does share his views on this war with me, I will not share them here, except to say you might be surprised.

What I will share is this. When David was deployed the first thing I thought of was my mom. My mom sending another son off to war. My older brother Michael was in the Army and was in Vietnam. How many families have been in this same situation? Two sons, two wars, so many years apart. I remember dinner during the time Michael was in Vietnam, the television would be on and my parents would both be watching. The look of terror in their eyes, watching yet, not wanting to watch. Hoping to catch a glimpse of him somewhere. Waiting and waiting for a letter from him. Praying not to have some stranger in an Army uniform show up at our door.

Now we have e-mail and I hear from David a couple of times a week, it makes it a little easier. Now if I could only stop watching and reading the news.

This is healthcare?

Can you even imagine going to a hospital for treatment and having doctors and nurses just walk around you. That the only person that came near you was the janitor to clean up the blood you were throwing up onto the floor? I think what is bothering me the most about this situation is the lack of compassion that I keep hearing in words and seeing in actions. Were the 911 operators really so uncompassionate or could they just not comprehend that someone in a hospital would need an ambulance because they are being ignored? The police that came and loaded her into a wheelchair to arrest her on a parole violation, were they not concerned about her medical condition? The doctors and nurses that are supposed to take care of us, walking by and doing nothing? How is that possible? We as a community are outraged about this, but for how long? When a certain blond non-talent socialite is the leading story for days cause she has to spend a couple of weeks in jail for a parole violation what chance does a poor woman with no health insurance have to maintain our attention long enough for us to really care enough to make changes?

Count down to Paris

Eight more long days until a plane takes me to my favorite city in the world. Yes, Paris. City of Lights, the place the keeps calling me back again and again. This trip is very special and I have been planning it for over a year. Now my usual planning for a trip to Paris takes about as long as it takes me to get on line get a ticket and grab my passport. This trip is a birthday that ends in a zero and will include a dinner cruise for twenty. I am a lucky girl!!! Before my first trip I was afraid to go anywhere where they spoke a different language, since I knew they were all talking about me. Well thanks to Bubba I went and keep going back and back and back....

Anonymity

In this world-o-blog I have discovered that you need to refer to the people you are talking about in code. In one way I really like the idea, making up names for friends, family and strangers (most importantly strangers) and having them figure out who they are. It makes me work really hard because I want to give my friends and family really nice nom-de-plumes, but more importantly I want to give mean strangers really ugly noms.

My first nom-de-plum is for someone I like, so I’ll do a nice one… hmm…Scobie Chick, maybe. Will try that on for a while. Scobie Chick taught me how to add a link to my blog today, she is taking pity on my lack of bloging skills. Thank you Scobie Chick

Parental Love?

I read every day about parents that love their kids, parents the hurt their kids, parents that maybe should not have had kids. But man, nothing beats parents that cut the kids in for a piece of the family pie. Feel the love...

This is more difficult than I thought!

Hmm.. I just thought that I would simply sit every morning with my cup of coffee and put my fabulous thoughts out on this blog. Well fabulous to me, but to you? I think about 50 times a day, I shout (to myself, or else people stare) I should blog about that. Then I sit down to write about it and it just does not come out right. So, I apologize to those of you reading if you don't think I am as smart and entertaining as I think I am. Anyway...

Goats:

I am looking for the goats. If you live in the East Bay you know about the goats. Every year or so the hills around the Oakland Zoo and I am sure other places, get covered with goats. Hundreds of them brought in to eat the weeds and tall grass to help prevent fires. The first time I saw them I think I laughed for an hour! Hundreds of them covering the hills, so cute. This year I have been looking for them, I know they are somewhere because some asshole killed 18 of them. Can you even believe that? Killing 18 little goats just because you can, not because they are eating the beans in your garden or jumping on your car or even eating your tin cans that you were saving to get money at the recycle place, they were just there eating grass.

The Obits

I read the obituaries every Sunday. It is not just because I am old now and waiting to see my own name. I do not know why I read them, except to say “he liked pickles”. I was reading one day and there was an obit about a man, he seemed to have lead a regular life. Worked at the same place forever, had been married for 50 years, had kids that said nice things about him, had a dog and he loved pickles. I don’t know why this stuck in my head, it just seemed a wonderful thing to remember about someone, that little tiny fact, it just seemed like every time they eat a pickle they will be thinking of him. This last week I read two that have become stuck in the place in the part of my brain that does not shut off.

The first was a woman, she was old, in her early 90’s. She had three children and had just died of old age. This in itself was not extraordinary in my mind, but it was the line that said “she was a devoted wife to her husband" again not out of the ordinary, but the fact that he died over 60 years ago, when she was 31 got me thinking. I just thought man, that must have been one big love or did he sour her so much that she just could not stand to expand the energy it takes to love another person? Did she just throw herself into raising her children? Questions, not answered in the obit.

The other one was a man, again nothing spectacular, school, marriage, kids, job. He also was old and had been married for a long time. He seemed to be the best salesman in the world, one of his proudest accomplishments was that he “sold California sand to Saudi Arabia” Huh? Isn’t Saudi Arabia sand? Seems to me there is a lot of desert there, why did they need our sand? Is California sand superior to the sand in Saudi Arabia?

I do wonder sometimes why you never see obits that say mean things. Not everyone can be nice and wonderful. There have got to be some out there that are mean miserable bastards, why do you never see that? He beat his wife, he left his kids, he was lazy and drank too much? You know they have to exist. Do you just not put an obit in about them or do you just play nice because they are dead? I know for a fact that you just don’t forget the person was a rat bastard, so what is the answer?

Since When Did Fried Apples Become a Vegetable?

While in Georgia a few months ago I was in need of some comfort food and I picked Chicken and Dumplings! Yum. Well, it sounded good anyway. I got to pick three vegetables to go along with my meal. So I picked green beans, carrots and fried apples. Who knew?

Trying this out

I don't know why, cause I always wonder what in the world do you talk about on a blog? Who has a life interesting enough to have one. Well, I thought I would give it a try, not because my life is so interesting, but because life can be. So here goes.