ok, so after an entire day in lexington, mm came home with only the following: a mini-hairdryer ($9) a pair of drop earrings ($1), a pair of black brushed cotton pants ($17) a white cotton blouse meant to be worn out rather than tucked in ($16) replacement spanish phrase book (i never reveal what i spend at jbeth.......) and a flannel nightshirt ($16) i will be packing all of these items into my suitcase, of course. the flannel nightshirt may be overkill, but after last year's trip i would rather be too hot than too cold...

the conversation was, of course, the human cloned baby- by the group that believes that all humans are alien clones...i find this laughable- that short overweight aliens decided to make make identical reproductions of themselves in northern europe....to be slowly descended into my personal gene pool.....we did here this interesting songwriter/poet in worldcafe named lizzie west, who wrote a book of poetry(self-discovery style) then published 1000 copies with her own money, then took off with a filmmaker and her dog to sing in small clubs and promote it as well as make a cd and a documentary.......her words sounded better than her actual singing voice, in my humble opinion.....

speaking of dogs, i finished the lewis and clarke book for my bookclub's 1/14/03 meeting. i was shocked to discover that the expedition ate as many dogs, purchased from indians, as they did elk and buffalo.......they also had to contend with indian mothers selling their daughters to them for 'favors' as well as a ritualized buffalo hunt ceremony in which warriors offered up their naked wives to the tribe elders, as well as the white visitors under the impression that power and/or wisdom can be transferred by sex- through the female partner....i.e.....if the female partner has sex with the wise tribal elder, then with her warrior spouse, all of the elder's wisdom is transferred to the warrior.........one of l&c's group reportedly transferred power 4 times that evening.......of course, the tribe already had syphillis caught from french fur traders, so the expedition had to go on a remedy based on a mercuric compound.......oh my... i don't recall the time cover article detailing this particular episode.....also intriguing was the whiskey situation- the group took 100 barrels along, and still managed to run out before reaching the mouth of the columbia.....so much for 'we did it all without alcohol......'