humboldt fog

ok, so......at the wild oats store i heard the words that mean so very much.......from the lady in a white coat behind the cheese counter.........'i would love for you to try that cheese'........yes, ma'am and i would so love to try it.......make that one taste for each of us.....the first we tried was a semi-runny goat cheese called humboldt fog.......a very thick round cheese about 6 inches in diameter......with a crust, then a blueish streak, then a soft runny section, then a soft white middle.......every bit of it is marvelous.......we bought the biggest hunk that was available....and then we tried a brie-sort of flat cheese called fromage daphinois......also tasty.......and we bought not only a hunk of that but the spanish almonds that she suggested as an accompaniment......such bliss........oh my....does someone as mean as me deserve the heaven-on-earth that is....cheese?...........

greasy grannies in insurance fraud...

ok, so this from cnn.......LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Undercover detectives watched the blind man climb into the suspect's car and start writing on document after document. They worried he was signing his life away.

As 74-year-old Josif Gabor would later tell it, he was walking to the bank when a woman he had met briefly before offered to drive him and translate some banking documents into his native Hungarian.

Once inside, Gabor thought the woman was just trying to be helpful when she asked: Could she buy him some life insurance?

The woman, 72-year-old Olga Rutterschmidt, is now accused with a friend in a macabre scheme to befriend vulnerable men, insure their lives for millions of dollars and then cash in after they died in mysterious back alley hit-and-runs.

The women have been charged with insurance fraud in two cases involving homeless men -- and police are investigating whether they played a role in those two deaths and duped a half-dozen other men who are still alive.

swath of destruction......

ok, so.......there is a swath of dead and dying grass down the edge of our property........that matches the deadzone that is my mother's yard, and our across-the-road neighbor's yard........coincidence, you ask?.....why no.....our neighbor kindly offered to apply a broadleaf weedkiller.....that turned out to kill more than just broadleaf weeds.......our main lawn was spared only because it consists almost totally of weeds.......our neighbor is really upset about his mistake, because he is into lawncare...the decision has been made to wait until fall to resew grass seed, because new lawns require significant watering, and watering grandma's acre alone would require sigificant resources....and physical labor......which means that nobody from our household will have to mow grandma's yard, or our strip by the road.......the entire summer.....the downside is that the grass is yellow on its way to brown.....good thing none of us smoke.....or there would be an old-style prairie fire........

from the onion.....

ok, so sometimes the clever onion verges on brilliant.......TERRE HAUTE, IN—Music and DVD mail-order giant Columbia House is offering a new direct-mail subscription drug program for the estimated 10 million senior citizens who have not yet signed up for the government’s Medicare prescription medication plan.

"This is the best way to enjoy all the top medications by today’s pharmaceutical superstars at a low, low price," said Columbia House spokeswoman Sandra Farrell. "There’s no more waiting in line for the latest releases at the pharmacy, and because Columbia House sells directly to the consumer, you can kiss Dr. Middleman goodbye."

The Columbia House program, which was launched in January, offers a wide array of AARP chart-toppers and many popular prescriptions from the past through its supplementary color catalogue conveniently found in more than 400 Sunday newspapers nationwide. Qualified seniors may choose either 12 generic drugs for one cent, or five brand-name medications for 49 cents each, plus shipping and handling. Members are then obligated to buy five more brand-name medications over two years at their regular price, ranging from $12.99 to $549.99.

s. dakota.....

ok, so this from the dailykos.....Today, the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families announced the filing of nearly 38,000 signatures on petitions to repeal the extreme abortion ban passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Mike Rounds on March 6. Petitions will be filed with the Secretary of State at 2 pm today.

At press events in seven South Dakota communities, supporters of the repeal announced the tremendous support they received circulating petitions across the state.

* 1,200 volunteers from 138 cities and towns circulated the petitions.
* All petitions were circulated by volunteers as opposed to paid staff used by many petition drives.
* People from every county in the state have signed the petitions and are calling for the repeal of this extreme measure.
* Business leaders and homemakers, ministers and doctors, nurses and teachers, students, construction workers and store clerks joined our effort to ask the voters of South Dakota to repeal the extreme ban on abortions.

"This abortion ban was pushed by radical groups who want our state to be the center of the national legal battle waged in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade," said Jan Nicolay, Co-Chair of the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families. "Defending this extreme law, that is clearly unconstitutional, could cost the taxpayers of South Dakota millions of dollars and drag the good people of South Dakota into the center of the national abortion debate," Nicolay continued.

"While the South Dakota legislature refused to let voters have their say on this important issue, we will offer them that chance," said Dr. Maria Bell, the official sponsor of the petition drive. "We are so proud and humbled today, to announce that 37,846 South Dakota voters have signed the petitions and are calling for the repeal of this extreme ban on abortions," Bell continued.

cute haircut

ok, so.....i saw a really cute cut this evening......and felt immediate angst....for my hair is still several inches from a major trim...and i have put up with too much to give up now.......10 inches......who would have guessed that my head would take an eternity to produce the requisite length required by locks of love....in the meantime i look dowdy and dated, with my hair pulled back....like a greasy granny who doesn't know when to let go of her youth or how to age gracefully....at least what hair i have isn't grey....that would be mean.....donating grizzled locks for a child who is aging much too quickly....?.......but back to cute hair.....i want cute hair.....and i want it......really,really soon....

a very special tony danza show......

ok, so i have stooped so low as to watch bits and pieces of the view, the tony danza show, montel, days of our lives (or was it guiding light?).....a veritable vacumn in morning tv-land....i could almost hear my senses being sucked out through my retinas.......i am so glad that this is buy a vacation from work, for if i was at home all day......omg.......i would have to put a padlock on the television to keep myself from being drawn into the world of daytime television.....

waiting patiently......

ok, so i spent the bulk of my day waiting today......in dentist and doctor's offices.......in the barbershop.....at the pharmacy.......mostly entertained with my current book....j.c.oates we were the mulvaney's which nicely handled flashbacks, btw........there is a tie for most amusing moment while waiting....between the 2004 nascar 'classic' reruns on the television at the barbershop......and the 80-year old woman who sat next to me at hall's and explained to me her current list of prescription medicines, and opined that she didn't understand how someone as healthy as she could possibly need to take 20 pills a day.......i tried to remain unmoved by her attempts at conversation.....but the elderly are so downright persistent.......making new friends while waiting at the drugstore........but i digress from reading j.c. oates.....yet another goodwill purchase......this book is thicker than most of the harry potter series.....and at this point (1 inch from the ending) i am fearful that j.c. oates is is planning to kill off or disable just about every mulvaney, including the daughter's cat (named muffin)........this book has its moments of brilliance......it is a sort of dramedy.......or tragicomedy........i would have preferred a bot more humor and a little less down-and-out.......please, god...let the cat live on.......

no tampons for the pope?.....

ok, so from salon.com.....

Sweet Jesus. Pope Benedict is going to Poland, and in his honor various municipalities are showing just how fun devotion can be by banning the sale of alcoholic beverages and certain desserts. Also banned: TV ads for lingerie, contraception and tampons. Yes, tampons -- those harbingers of hedonism, those lascivious reminders that vaginas exist -- will be hidden from papal sight.

Zbigniew Badziak, the state-run TV network's head of advertising, told the Associated Press that "there is always the risk that the faithful may feel hurt if programming devoted to the Pope's visit is interrupted by frivolous ads." Not that they banned all advertising -- just frivolous ads for contraception and feminine hygiene. Still OK: useful, important advertising like car commercials.

As our tipster noted in an e-mail, "Apparently the female reproductive cycle and its consequent necessities are somehow evil and offensive to the Church hierarchy? Oh wait, somehow I think I already knew that."

I mean, did the Virgin Mary not menstruate? Or is it just that the church prefers pads?

joke of the day....

ok, so my brother sent me this joke....

A guy is driving around and he sees a sign in front of a house: "Talking Dog For Sale." He rings the bell and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a Labrador retriever sitting there.

"You talk?" he asks.

"Yep," the Lab replies.

"So, what's your story?"

The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA about my gift, and in no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running."

"But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security wandering near suspicious characters and listening in."

"I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.

I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired"

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

"Ten dollars," the guy says.

"Ten dollars? This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?"

"Because he's a liar. He never did any of that shit.

std's out of control

ok, so this is just too funny.....this was lifted from arianna huffington's blog...but it is allover the web.....

Doctors said sexually transmitted diseases among senior citizens are running rampant at a popular Central Florida retirement community, according to a Local 6 News report.

A gynecologist at The Villages community near Orlando, Fla., said she treats more cases of herpes and the human papilloma virus in the retirement community than she did in the city of Miami.

miffed......

ok, so i was going through my usual routine this morning.....putting the coffee on letting the dog out, walking to the box to get the newspaper (lexheraldleader)......when i glimpsed the frontpage enalrged color photograph.......and was immediately overcome by a swell of anger.....the story was focused on the continuing movement of illegals over the southern border....in lonely desert areas sometimes within sight of border patrols....and 2 illegals were pictured as they waited a signal to come across......but it was not the illegals that made my blood boil......it was the guy on the right (as pictured) talking on his cell phone......in the desert........and that really pisses me off......given that i cannot use my cellphone in the comfort of my own home because there is unreliaable coverage in this particular spot.......sometimes a call will come through, sometimes a missed call message pops up on the screen without so much as a ring......but mostly there are no bars and no calls can be made until the caller walks up toward the mailbox.......not that i rely on my cell at home....i usually turn it off.......this situation only really bothers me when i want to make a long distance call using my calling plan for free longdistance...and the phone numbers stored in my phone that are not on my landline phone.....which is old and holds only 10 numbers.......so what does it take to have good cell service in the middle of america?.......how many cell towers looking presumably like tall cacti must they have along the 2000 miles of southern border to allow for better service?.........these are the real issues at hand........not the illegals.......these folks are not coming to america to take our jobs....they only fill the slots that we ourselves feel are beneath us to do.......the hard, risky backbreaking labor.......and in this area of horsefarms and tobacco fields.......the economy depends upon them.....so lets not pretend that our disdain for this workforce is one of justice and following the rules........

a memorial day reminder.....

ok, so this is from the daily kos.....

They are known, affectionately, as Chicken-hawks:

* President George W. Bush - served four years of a six years Nat'l Guard commitment, some say after daddy's friends pulled some strings to keep him out of Vietnam. The circumstances of his early separation from state-side service are still controversial (details)
* Karl Rove, occasional Deputy Chief of Staff and alleged full time smear artist, escaped the draft and did not serve
* VP Dick Cheney - several deferments, by marriage and timely fatherhood
* Former VP Chief of Staff I. Lewis Scooter Libby - did not serve
* Secretary of State and former NSA Condaleeza Rice - did not serve
* Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - did not serve.
* Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - did not serve.
* Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay - did not serve
* House Majority Whip Roy Blunt - did not serve
* Majority Whip Mitch McConnell - did not serve
* Rick Santorum, third ranking Republican in the Senate - did not serve.
* Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott - did not serve


Recently while stammering out a convoluted apology for avoiding service, one budding Yellow Elephant mentioned in part that he 'can support the Yankees without wearing their uniform.' Not too far off: Your average Chicken-hawk does not play for the Yankees because they lack the physical skill required to walk out on that field and compete; likewise, maybe they do not serve in Iraq because they lack the simple courage required to walk into a recruiting office and sign up. But how about his role models?

* Rush Limbaugh - did not serve
* Sean Hannity - did not serve
* Pat Buchanan - did not serve
* Ann Coulter - did not serve
* Ralph Reed - did not serve
* Bill O'Reilly - did not serve
* Michael Savage - did not serve
* Bill Kristol - did not serve

The 101st Fighting Chicken-shit Keyboardists and assorted neocon shills may be conspicuously absent when their country is in need, but they're always at the ready to order other people's sons and daughters into the meat grinder. They sure seem to pop up on the Quad when the battle is over and the band is a'playin. And they're always on duty, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to smear any survivors with vicious accusations of cowardice or worse when Neoconia calls. Just a couple of examples of their bipartisan handiwork include smearing Democrat Max Cleland, triple amputee, awarded both the Silver and Bronze Stars for valorous action in combat. The same treatment was shown to Republican John McCain who won the Silver & Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross and spent over five years being tortured in the Hanoi Hilton.

In another time and place, some of today's not-so-brave might have elbowed little old ladies and children out of the way to secure a berth on the last lifeboat on the Titanic, or maybe they''d have ratted out resistance fighters to the Gestapo in WW2 France. But today is the eve of Memorial Day and this is America, 2006. Ergo, present day Chicken-hawks will pay their respects by milking the courage of war heroes. They will then churn it into buttery lubrication to help coat their lies and incompetence, so as to slip more easily down the collective gullet and penetrate deep into our national psyche.

To a Chicken-hawk on Memorial Day, a bronze plaque inscribed with the names of the fallen is more than an earnest reminder of ultimate sacrifice. It is a convenient shield to protect the latest revelation of bloody negligence or deadly deceit. It matters not if the entombed accept the wisdom of a specific conflict or respect those that dispatched them: After all, dead men tell no tales and thus cannot voice dissent, or refuse to enable neocon affectations.

The current crop of chicken-shits are by no means the first to brandish ideological armor made of hastily fashioned flesh and bone taken from their needless war victims. They did not invent the vicarious pose, wreath in one hand and flag in the other, or write the first poetic speech spoken in the safety provided by such profound tragedy. They're not the first to conflate questions over a massive cluster-fuck with attacks upon those who's shattered remains lay beneath the brass and marble props making up the background of each shameless photo-op. Today's Republican Chicken-hawks are not the pioneers of bloody combat blunder.

climber left for dead found alive.....

ok, so......i don't know how i missed all this, but there's trouble a-brewing on mt everest.......

Climber rescued after being left for dead on Everest
By Chris Bryant
Published: 29 May 2006

Left for dead near the summit of Mount Everest, Lincoln Hall, an Australian climber, looked set to join a lengthy list of mountaineers who have perished in the pursuit of the ultimate challenge. A statement was issued on Friday stating that he had died.

But later, an American climber stumbled across Hall's body, half-undressed and hatless, and then heard a voice saying: "I imagine you are surprised to see me here."

Nearly 24 hours after his fellow mountaineers had left him unconscious in the snow, Hall walked back into camp to greet his astounded colleagues, aided by a party of sherpas.

The expedition leader, Alexander Abramov, said Hall called his wife, Barbara, from the camp to tell her he was alive. "He told her that he has bad frostbite in his fingers. Barbara answered that she would love him all the same even if he lost them all," Abramov said in a message on the website MountEverest.net.

Yesterday Hall was making his way back to Everest base camp on the back of a black yak, accompanied by sherpas and a doctor. In addition to frostbite, Hall was suffering from a chest infection and cerebral oedema, a potentially fatal swelling of the brain which occurs at high altitudes.

A close friend, Simon Balderstone, who spoke to Hall, described the moment the climber was given up for dead. "When they got to the second step, Lincoln by this stage was hallucinating, he was all over the place, he was very unco-operative with people trying to convince him to keep coming down."

After hours trying to resuscitate him and in danger of losing their own lives, the sherpas abandoned Hall to a night alone on the mountainside where temperatures fell as low as minus 38C.

Last week the British climber David Sharp, 34, died on Everest when up to 40 climbers walked past him on their way down the mountain. Sir Edmund Hillary branded their actions "horrific".

Left for dead near the summit of Mount Everest, Lincoln Hall, an Australian climber, looked set to join a lengthy list of mountaineers who have perished in the pursuit of the ultimate challenge. A statement was issued on Friday stating that he had died.

But later, an American climber stumbled across Hall's body, half-undressed and hatless, and then heard a voice saying: "I imagine you are surprised to see me here."

Nearly 24 hours after his fellow mountaineers had left him unconscious in the snow, Hall walked back into camp to greet his astounded colleagues, aided by a party of sherpas.

The expedition leader, Alexander Abramov, said Hall called his wife, Barbara, from the camp to tell her he was alive. "He told her that he has bad frostbite in his fingers. Barbara answered that she would love him all the same even if he lost them all," Abramov said in a message on the website MountEverest.net.

Yesterday Hall was making his way back to Everest base camp on the back of a black yak, accompanied by sherpas and a doctor. In addition to frostbite, Hall was suffering from a chest infection and cerebral oedema, a potentially fatal swelling of the brain which occurs at high altitudes.

A close friend, Simon Balderstone, who spoke to Hall, described the moment the climber was given up for dead. "When they got to the second step, Lincoln by this stage was hallucinating, he was all over the place, he was very unco-operative with people trying to convince him to keep coming down."

After hours trying to resuscitate him and in danger of losing their own lives, the sherpas abandoned Hall to a night alone on the mountainside where temperatures fell as low as minus 38C.

Last week the British climber David Sharp, 34, died on Everest when up to 40 climbers walked past him on their way down the mountain. Sir Edmund Hillary branded their actions "horrific".

meanmamma notes:.....ok, so the last bit gives me chills........40 world-class athletes with so little regard for their own that they would leave a man to die....on their way down...not even on their way to glory........but after the requisite photos of triumph have been taken.....how will they sleep soundly again at night after this?.......

seamless use of flashbacks.....

ok, so i am impressed by the book i have been reading today...gilead by marilyn robinson......it is at the same time sweet, unsettling, and moves forward despite the necessity of remembrances........flashbacks that would make even faulkner proud.......i mis-spoke in an earlier blog about chapters.....this book has no chapters...it is a single letter written by a dying preacher to his young son......and though it covers a lot of family history......it is done so cleverly as to not come off like an extended obituary.......

on not taking a sunday afternoon nap.....

ok, so......i snuggled down on my upstairs loveseat with a book, and the intention of taking a nap......the book was more interesting than i had intended a pre-nap bit of reading to be......gilead by marilyn robinson....i was well into the 4th or 5th chapter before i remembered that i desired quality slumber....and so i pulled up the coverlet and took of my glasses.....and.....then....the interuptions began.......i'll not go into the details.......suffice it to know that it was the last one......my dear spouse yelling up the stairs that he was going into town....that sucked the energy right out of my plans to fall asleep....i was this.........close to dreamland......and so after i get all of this down on....paper.....i'll go back upstairs to read some more, perchance to drift off.......

what the davinci code got right.....

ok, so this piece was on the npr website....and available for your listening pleasure....i include i here because i so like what she said about the subject.....

The Truth at the Heart of 'The Da Vinci Code'

by Elaine Pagels

Archbishop Angelo Amato, a top Vatican official, recently railed against The Da Vinci Code as a work "full of calumnies, offenses and historical and theological errors.'' As a historian, I would agree that no reputable scholar has ever found evidence of author Dan Brown's assertion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had a child, and no scholar would take seriously Brown's conspiracy theories about the Catholic group Opus Dei.

But what is compelling about Brown's work of fiction, and part of what may be worrying Catholic and evangelical leaders, is not the book's many falsehoods.

What has kept Brown on the bestseller list for years and inspired a movie is, instead, what is true – that some views of Christian history were buried for centuries because leaders of the early Catholic Church wanted to present one version of Jesus' life: theirs.

Some of the alternative views of who Jesus was and what he taught were discovered in 1945 when a farmer in Egypt accidentally dug up an ancient jar containing more than 50 ancient writings. These documents include gospels that were banned by early church leaders, who declared them blasphemous.

It is not surprising that The Da Vinci Code builds on the idea that many early gospels were hidden and previously unknown. Brown has said that part of his inspiration was one of these so-called Gnostic Gospels as presented in a book I wrote on the subject. It took only three lines from the Gospel of Philip to send Brown off to write his novel:

The companion of the savior is Mary Magdalene. And Jesus loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often... The rest of the disciples were jealous, and said to him, "Why do you love her more than all of us?''

Those who have studied the Gospel of Philip see it as a mystical text and don't take the suggestion that Jesus had a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene literally.

Still, by homing in on that passage and building a book around it, Brown brought up subjects that the Catholic Church would like to avoid. He raised the big what-ifs: What if the version of Jesus' life that Christians are taught isn't the right one? And perhaps as troubling in a still-patriarchal church: What if Mary Magdalene played a more important role in Jesus' life than we've been led to believe, not as his wife perhaps, but as a beloved and valued disciple?

In other words, what Brown did with his runaway hit was popularize awareness of the discovery of many other secret gospels, including the Gospel of Judas that was published in April.

There have long been hints that the New Testament wasn't the only version of Jesus' life that existed, and that even the gospels presented there were subject to misinterpretation. In 1969, for instance, the Catholic Church ruled that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, as many people had been taught. The church blamed the error on Pope Gregory the Great, who in 591 A.D. gave a sermon in which he apparently conflated several women in the Bible, including Mary Magdalene and an unnamed sinner who washes Jesus' feet with her tears.

But even that news didn't reach all Christians, and it is the rare religious leader who now works hard to spread the word that the New Testament is just one version of events crafted in the intellectual free-for-all after Christ's death. At that time, church leaders were competing with each other to figure out what Christ said, what he meant -- and perhaps most important, what writings would best support the emerging church.

What we know now is that the scholars who championed the "Gnostic'' gospels are among the ones who lost the battle.

In the decades after Jesus' death, these texts and many others were circulating widely among Christian groups from Egypt to Rome, Africa to Spain, and from today's Turkey and Syria to France. So many Christians throughout the world knew and revered these books that it took more than 200 years for hardworking church leaders who denounced the texts to successfully suppress them.

The copies discovered in 1945, for example, were taken from the sacred library of one of the earliest monasteries in Egypt, founded about 10 years after the conversion of Constantine, the first Roman emperor to join the fledgling church. For the first time, Christians were no longer treated as members of a dangerous and seditious group and could form open communities in which many lived together. Like monks today, they kept in their monastery libraries a very wide range of books they read aloud for inspiration.

But these particular texts appeared to upset Athanasius, then archbishop of Alexandria; in the year 367 he sent out an Easter Letter to monks all over Egypt ordering them to reject what he called "illegitimate and secret books.'' Apparently, some monks at the Egyptian monastery defied the archbishop's order and took more than 50 of the books out of the library, sealed them in a heavy jar and buried them under the cliff where they were found 1,600 years later.

In ordering the books destroyed, Athanasius was continuing the battle against the "Gnostic'' gospels begun 200 years earlier by his revered predecessor, Bishop Irenaeus, who was so distressed that certain Christians in his congregations in rural Gaul (present day France) treasured such "illegitimate and secret writing'' that he labeled them heretics. Irenaeus insisted that of the dozens of writings revered by various Christians, only four were genuine -- and these, as you guessed already, are those now in the New Testament, called by the names of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Irenaeus said there could be only four gospels because, according to the science of the time, there were four principal winds and four pillars that hold up the sky. Why these four gospels? He explained that only they were actually written by eyewitnesses of the events they describe -- Jesus' disciples Matthew and John, or by Luke and Mark, who were disciples of the disciples.

Few scholars today would agree with Irenaeus. We cannot verify who actually wrote any of these accounts, and many scholars agree that the disciples themselves are not likely to be their authors. Beyond that, nearly all the gospels that Irenaeus detested are also attributed to disciples -- some, including the Gospel of Thomas, to the original 12 apostles. Nonetheless, Athanasius and other church leaders succeeded in suppressing the gospels they (and Irenaeus) called illegitimate, won the emperor's favor and succeeded in dominating the church.

What, then, do these texts say, and why did certain leaders find them so threatening?

First, they suggest that the way to God can be found by anyone who seeks. According to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus suggests that when we come to know ourselves at the deepest level, we come to know God: "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.'' This message – to seek for oneself – was not one that bishops like Irenaeus appreciated: Instead, he insisted, one must come to God through the church, "outside of which,'' he said, "there is no salvation.''

Second, in texts that the bishops called "heresy,'' Jesus appears as human, yet one through whom the light of God now shines. So, according to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus said, "I am the light that is before all things; I am all things; all things come forth from me; all things return to me. Split a piece of wood, and I am there; lift up a rock, and you will find me there.'' To Irenaeus, the thought of the divine energy manifested through all creation, even rocks and logs, sounded dangerously like pantheism. People might end up thinking that they could be like Jesus themselves and, in fact, the Gospel of Philip says,

"Do not seek to become a Christian, but a Christ.'' As Irenaeus read this, it was not mystical language, but "an abyss of madness, and blasphemy against Christ.''

Worst of all, perhaps, was that many of these secret texts speak of God not only in masculine images, but also in feminine images. The Secret Book of John tells how the disciple John, grieving after Jesus was crucified, suddenly saw a vision of a brilliant light, from which he heard Jesus' voice speaking to him: "John, John, why do you weep? Don't you recognize who I am? I am the Father; I am the Mother; and I am the Son.'' After a moment of shock, John realizes that the divine Trinity includes not only Father and Son but also the divine Mother, which John sees as the Holy Spirit, the feminine manifestation of the divine.

But the Gospel of Mary Magdalene -- along with the Gospel of Thomas, the Dialogue of the Savior, and the Gospel of Philip -– all show Peter, the leader of the disciples, challenging the presence of women among the disciples. We hear Peter saying to Jesus, "Tell Mary to leave us, because women are not worthy of (spiritual) life.'' Peter complains that Mary talks too much, displacing the role of the male disciples. But Jesus tells Peter to stop, not Mary! No wonder these texts were not admitted into the canon of a church that would be ruled by an all-male clergy for 2,000 years.

Those possibilities opened by the "Gnostic'' gospels -- that God could have a feminine side and that Jesus could be human -- are key ideas that Dan Brown explored in "The Da Vinci Code,'' and are no doubt part of what made the book so alluring. But the truth is that the texts he based his novel upon contain much deeper and more important mysteries than the ones Tom Hanks tries to solve in the movie version that opened this weekend.

The real mystery is what Christianity and Western civilization would look like had the "Gnostic'' gospels never been banned. Because of the discovery by that Egyptian farmer in 1945, we now at least have the chance to hear what the "heretics'' were saying, and imagine what might have been.

Elaine Pagels, author of The Gnostic Gospels and Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, is a professor of religion at Princeton. She wrote this article for the Perspective section of the San Jose Mercury News.

will pat robertson go to hell?

ok, so slate.com had this funny piece about leg presses.........n a New York Times Magazine interview last month, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright mentioned that she can leg press 400 pounds. Now evangelical sparkplug Pat Robertson is shilling protein shakes by claiming he can leg press 2,000 pounds. That's right, one ton—about four-fifths the curb weight of a Mini Cooper.

Are America's aging public intellectuals getting buffer? Possibly. But before they start shooting their mouths off, Albright and Robertson need a primer in gym etiquette. Only wusses brag about their leg press.

Dropping your leg-press numbers in casual conversation is like bragging about how fast you can do the TV Guide crossword puzzle. Simply put, the leg press is an ego boost for the beginner lifter. There's no easier way to move a large amount of weight. When I was in college, I witnessed many a meathead pick up girls from the elliptical machines by inviting them over to the leg press machine, loading up four plates, and marveling at how easily they could do 180 pounds. Gosh, was this really your first time?

Let's get Pat Robertson's bonkers claims out of the way right now. As CBS Sportsline's Clay Travis reported earlier this week, there's no way the 76-year-old Robertson broke the leg press record—by more than 600 pounds—of a former Florida State quarterback. Check out this video, in which Robertson claims he's legpressing 1,000 pounds. It appears as if 16 plates are loaded on the machine. Four of them look like 100-pound plates, and the rest are 45s. That adds up to 940 pounds. What else are you fibbing about, Pat?

meanmamma notes:.....well, yeah...there was much more to the piece....i only cut and pasted to the part where it was obvious that pat robertson was lying......seems to me there is a specific section in the 10 commandments about lying.....bearing false witness....i'm sure that pat's got them posted in his front yard.......for all the world to see.....too bad he neglected to read them first.......

shiloh pitt-jolie......

ok, so while i was entertaining guests, angelina jolie had her baby....not that i was on a stalker-sort of watch...what with the players being in africa.....but i will admit to concern over the youngin'.........a hyphenated youngin'......there are not enough of those arund these days.......parents who embrace the hyphen......i expect that angelina will be a poster mamma for breast-feeding..........it is the least that she oculd do with all of this publicity.........

ok, so this rose is called rosa mundi......and rose that dates back to the 1500's......it is quite lovely.... 

taking the easy way out.....

ok, so the meanmamma might just be lightening up...at some point in the next few weeks.......i have chosen to take hormones.....to blunt the nastier of the peri-menopausal symptoms...shortterm memory loss, bone loss.....and abject meanness.....i have been told to expect no results for at least 3 weeks......so the vigil starts now.......

ok, so i am a bit bummed that the popemobile, shown here in warsaw, poland, won't be making an appearance anywhere near here......heck, the pope doesn't actually have to be in it......i just want a glimpse of the vehicle......btw.....i wonder if the pope liked the davicni code?...... 

oooops......

ok, so i was amused at this piece.....COLUMBUS, OH, United States (UPI) -- The winner of the $1 million prize at the end of CBS` 2004 'Survivor: Vanautu' may be fired from his job at the Ohio Department of Transportation.

A hearing in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday concluded Chris Daugherty, 35, submitted a bogus doctor`s excuse citing stress and depression last fall so he could go on a CBS-sponsored 'Survivor' tour of Europe, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Friday.

Daugherty did not have enough paid days off to legitimately take the trip, the hearing officer said. Because of the doctor`s note, Daugherty ended up being paid $8,000 by ODT while he was gone.

Daugherty reportedly told an ODOT investigator the 'Survivor' tour helped cure his illness.

'Daugherty`s claim that he had an illness which just happened` to coincide with his Survivor` tour is simply not credible,' ODOT chief investigator Les Reel wrote in his ruling, as reported by the newspaper.

meanmamma note: ok, so....2004 winner....hmmmm.....so these ODOT is just now figuring out that their boy played hookie.........

ok, so....the alias finale was less than 7 days ago but i am still surprised that the season is not yet available on dvd........can i pre-order!!!?....... 

dogwood, locust and maple.....

ok, so bruce et al cam to put in the window.......which required major demolition in that the front room was originally a log cabin......made of dogwood, locust and maple it would appear from the log sections removed from the corner....curious about the dogwood, which we have never been able to grow in our yard....bruce told me that that sort of tree does better in the woods rather than in an exposed yard........so maybe it was our positioning rather than our alkaline soil that was the undoing.......i will pass along this bit of info to my mother, who wants to cut down her bradford pear and out in a dogwood......i suggested another redbud...as they love whatever soil conditions we have got going in our little bit of paradise.........the hole in the wall has already lightened up the front room tremendously.....my husband was right and this shall be noted publically.......because the wall is so thick the window will have a sill wide enough for the cat to sun herself...and watch the birds on the feeder........the stereo is cranked up with running on empty......bruce works best with the oldies as backround......our daughter seems to be the only bothered by the loud music....go figure.......

the corrections

ok, so the corections movie might just get made......



Director Robert Zemeckis' last big-screen literary adaptation was children's book The Polar Express. His next one sounds a lot more ambitious, even though it'll have a lot less computer-generated imagery and effects shots. Variety reports that he's working on a draft of a screenplay of Jonathan Franzen's sprawling dysfunction-family saga The Corrections, with an eye toward directing it.

A version of Franzen's 2001 bestseller has been in the works for three years; it was initially set to be adapted by the team behind The Hours: producer Scott Rudin, screenwriter David Hare, and director Stephen Daldry. Variety reports that Rudin and Hare are still attached to the project; with Forrest Gump Oscar winner Zemeckis on board, Daldry is apparently no longer associated with the film.

A National Book Award winner, Corrections was the source of a notorious literary flap when Franzen expressed ambivalence about his novel becoming a selection of Oprah's Book Club, saying that being honored alongside some of Winfrey's more middlebrow selections wasn't exactly a compliment. The snubbed Oprah rescinded her invitation to Franzen to appear on her show, though his book remained a club selection.

No word from Paramount about who might play the Lambert family in the Zemeckis adaptation, though Franzen has his own suggestions for the roles of Parkinson's-afflicted patriarch Alfred and sexually befuddled daughter Denise. Talking to EW two years ago, Franzen said: ''If they told me Gene Hackman was going to do Alfred, I would be delighted. If they told me they had cast Cate Blanchett as Denise, I would be jumping up and down, even though officially I really don't care what they do with the movie.''

meanmamma notes:.....supposedly franzen actually did a little dance when he heard that joaquin phoenix was to star as chip in the movie.......

pride and prejudice......

ok, so i bought the soundtrack.....and was surprised to learn that every piece was original..wirrten and produced by a dario marianelli and performed on the piano by jean-yves thibaudet........it is just lovely......not just because it was a film soundtrack, but more for the mood it inspires.......the opening piece dawn is so very chopin-like for being a new piece......and so very dawn-like......yeah, i also bought the dixie chicks new cd....and while i like those songs, too........they don't inspire relaxation like good piano pieces do........

career staudent.....

ok, so i was amused by this piece online....

May 16, 2006

HAYS, Kan. (AP) -- Matt Larsen has done a lot of things during his years at Fort Hays State University.

He edited the student newspaper, hosted a radio show on a campus station and joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He was even the school's costumed mascot, "Victor E. Tiger," for two years.

One thing he hasn't done? Completed a degree.

"My life has sort of developed into a really sad version of the movie 'Groundhog Day,"' said Larsen, who transferred to Fort Hays State after two years at Barton County Community College in Great Bend. He graduated high school in 1992.

The 33-year-old Larsen, who has skipped only three semesters since he began college, has accumulated almost 200 credit hours. Most bachelor's degrees require only 124 hours -- but Larsen has never been able to put together the right combination of courses.

Larsen, who lived in the same dorm for almost a decade, now lives in Manhattan and works in customer support for a phone company. He went into the spring semester needing only one online biology class to graduate.

But because of the time constraints of his job he didn't pass the course -- and his degree in general studies remains at least another semester away. He said he plans to retake the course over the summer or this fall.

His long college career is really based on one thing, he said.

"I didn't ever really have a true game plan," he said.

ok, so this about joan online.. A veteran of 40 years of demonstrations, the American folk singer's latest campaign involves camping in a tree to save a 14-acre farm from the developers. Andrew Buncombe reports
Published: 26 May 2006

If the words of the song came easily to Joan Baez it was because she has been singing them most of her life. Standing in front of an ageing walnut tree threatened - along with the land on which it stood - by developers in Los Angeles, the veteran folk singer jammed her hands in the front pockets of her jeans and sang: "No, no, no nos moverán. No, no, no nos moverán."

For the mainly Hispanic farmers and gardeners hoping to prevent the 14-acre site known as South Central Farm from being sold to developers, the presence this week of the silver-haired Baez and her Spanish rendition of the protest anthem "We Shall Not be Moved" has boosted their efforts to save their community garden. For Baez, now aged 65, it is just the latest protest in a lifetime of demonstration and campaigning.

"At the moment it is absolutely extraordinary. It's one of those things that just take off," Baez yesterday told The Independent by telephone. "Two days ago it was very iffy - there were just a couple of people [here]. I thought it would either fizzle out or else take off and it's taken off. It's such a morale-booster - everybody is bustling to work."

.. 

it had to happen......

ok, so....today i met up with a baby named after a......video game character....one of those big-breasted scantily-clad chicks who saves the world........not lara...something much more exotic....and bizarre for the area.........and of course i was not with it enough to recognize the context....to which the mamma rolled her eyes in disbelief.......

tv for the under 2 set.....

ok, so yesterday my mouth must have dropped......when my client's grandmother made a comment about the television in his room.......him being not yet 2.......and i was
shocked./....until the nytimes ran this piece this morning...an excerpt...

Parents Making Use of TV Despite Risks

Published: May 25, 2006

WASHINGTON, May 24 — Sure, Sharae Sharp knows pediatricians say children under 2 should not watch TV. But the advice feels less than practical when she needs to scrub the bathroom floor or has a migraine and is craving an hour of silence.

"Sometimes you just need some time," said Ms. Sharp, 29, unapologetic about the 13-inch television she placed in her 3-year-old daughter Taelor-Shanel's room more than a year ago.

"Sometimes you just need some time," said Ms. Sharp, 29, unapologetic about the 13-inch television she placed in her 3-year-old daughter Taelor-Shanel's room more than a year ago.

Jennifer Beck-Wilson, 36, tends to agree with the Academy of Pediatrics. But with a 3-year-old son, a 15-month-old daughter and a full-time job, best intentions fall by the wayside. "There's my philosophy and then there's real life," she said.

The two are hardly alone. A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, in which both participated, found that despite increasing debate over the potentially harmful effects of television on young children, many parents believe that the benefits of a little tube time — whether for their children's development or their own sanity — outweigh the risk of raising a generation of crib potatoes.

On a typical day 61 percent of babies one year or younger watch TV or videos, with average viewing of more than an hour, the study found. A third of children under 6 have a TV in their bedroom. And more than half of parents surveyed said their main reason for putting a TV in their child's room was so that they or other family members could watch their own shows.

a.i.

ok, so having not watched a moment of a.i. before this evening........i sat through the finale.....my workmates are taylor-fans......and consider my a.i.-free lifestyle a bit strange....i watched mostly to hear carrie whatever sing the song by the dhs guy...who graduated with my workmate jane's daughter marybeth.......it was very sweet......and i also enjoyed dionne warwick.....most of my life has had burt bacharach as backup......ah well......congrats to taylor hicks......

permanent record.....

ok, so i want it noted on my permanent record that i re-installed itunes and quicktime....and successfully changed my browser to allow me to download mp3 files to winamp .........life is good........

the air that i breathe....

ok, so i heard that good old song on npr yesterday.......while out and about at lunch....sung by kdlang......she does the song differently than the original group....that i cannot seem to recall......the moody blues?....the hollies?.....but her version is much more evocative and heartbreaking than i recall from my younger days.....i don't have access to that particular lang album...we do have her tribute to canadian songwriters......i especially like her version of neil young's after the goldrush......ah well.......

angels and demons.....

ok, so....columbia pictures was so overjoyed by the box-office success of the davinci code that it is committed to making dan brown's angels and demons....no word on whether tom hanks will reprise his role as professor langdon....or whether dan brown will write another book featuring langdon as the harvard sumbologist so that there can be a trilogy........trilogies fit so nicely into little 3-part dvd slip cases, now don't they?........angels and demons was quite a thriller in it's own right, even if it was written before the code but read after by folks like me........and if ya want real thrills.......brown's digital fortress is his best.......it involves breaking into the cia......i am amused to read headlines about how bad the code was.......given that i liked it.......but then many a critic has called rank films good in the past....so it only goes to show..........

if ya got nothin nice to say.......

ok, so...i really do not have anything nice to say.....and so i have deleted every word that used to be in this space...........

your amazon order has shipped......

ok, so these are the 5 little words that can add a lift to one's step...the email from amazon advising me that my goodies will be arriving shortly.....this time my shipment includes the newest dixie chicks cd......i pre-ordered as to be supportive of their continuing fight for justice and the american way.......and while country radio appears to have shunned their awesome single 'i'm not ready to make nice'.....i'll play it as often as i can to do my part........i just love that song........they are on the cover of time......which i allowed to lapse...but i will go out and buy a copy......just doing my part.......

a very special alias.......

ok, so......alias checked out after 5 seasons.......and as promised....all the ends were tied up......well....almost all the ends....sark appears to have escaped unscathed....as per usual.......and sloane is living forever trapped under a cave-in in mongolia......fitting......since he so wanted immortality...and irena is dead, because of her own greed, not because of sydney........and jack is dead, because he sacrificed himself to doom sloane.......and it is jack's passing that is most to be mourned.......that is the heartbreaking part........as promised.......but sydney and vaughan and their children and dickson walked out into a lovely sunset....and that is how things should always end....with a lovely sunset........

more on the afghan.....

ok, so i am finishing the afghan that i am making for stephan to give as a hospitality gift to his russian host family........having sewn together all of the strips i made previously, i decided that i would need one more...at least......and so i started in knitting....except it had been long enough for me to forget the exact pattern....and i couldn't locate the printed instructions in my knitting bag.....and it was then that i recalled blogging those knita and purls......hoo-ray!......by the way.....my family suggests that we find another name for this tribute to be taken to russia......given the russians bad experience in afghanistan, they may not appreciate the name of the ....what?.....knitted coverlet?.........shawl?........and this time i am leaving off the fringe......much too fussy..........

vigil......

ok, so our family was most distressed by barbaro's injury yesterday in the preakness stakes......and we have checked in on-line numerous times today hoping for news.......rather....wishing that he will survive for a life as a stud rather than...well....y'all know the downside of the racing industry........keep your fingers crossed.....

more on the davinci code...

ok, so rich copley at the lexington herald leader had this to say.........

the davinci code....

ok, so we went to see the film this evening.....a lot of people we knew were there......including several from our church.......the reviews i have read were mixed.....with one critic noting that the crowd said nothing when it was over.....no applause....and this void was seen as proof that the film was a failure.......having seen the film i disagree with this line of reasoning....there was no applause because the end of one of reverence......and silence and quite contemplation was the only response......ron howard's film was nearly faithful to the book.......he took liscense with the last 15 minutes or so....but the details that he added enhance rather than detracted from the basic premise......it is a film i would see again....it was lovingly filmed and far from profane.....god and jesus take no hits....only those humans who do evil things in the names of god and/or jesus take the brunt.......and great care was taken to keep central themes.....on message....about the loss of the sacred feminine witht he rise of the church as empowered by peter....and the notion that mary magdelene as jesus wife.....what is so wrong about a great man being a husband and father?........and it is a premise that i believe more rather than less possible having seen the movie.......another critic commented that the book had been so much better than the movie.......i cannot go that far......reading the book took away most of the surprise, obviously........the plot was so driven as to keep me up most of the night to finish......i am not sure that any film could mimic that sort of reading experience......but this film did a credible job of putting faces to the Dan Brown's characters.......i may go see it again.....just to do my part at a respectable box office......wouldn't want the religious right to think that their calls for a boycot were heeded.........

ok, so this spoof on brit's nearly dropped baby was just too funny to pass up....... 

oooops......she did it again.....

ok, so britney spears made news again this week...not because of her singing or dancing or even her shopping...but because she nearly dropped her baby......she was carrying him out of a hotel toward a waiting car..with her entourage....babe in one arm and a filled glass in the other....and she tripped and stumbled.....upon regaining her footing and composure she commented something about that was why she needed a gun.......what?!!!!britney's lack of parenting skills have become legend.....and fully photographed.....driving with her child in her lap, which she deemed safer than in a carseat....then later the child was pictured flopped over in a car seat, apparently not fastened in correctly and facing the wrong way....and then there was the trip to the er when he 'fell' out of his highchair.......all of us parents have made mistakes...some minor, some downright dangerous, but britney has yet to figure out that she has access to the best parenting advice money can buy.....one would think that after the drivingwithbabyinlap incident that she would have taken steps to stem the tide of toxic press.........if she had a lick of sense she'd lay low for awhile...no more driving about with baby in convertibles.....no more shopping trips with baby.......and this business about needing a gun.......please god don't let her buy one because given her track record that couldn't be a good thing............

countdown to alias finale.....

ok, so i stayed up last night to watch jennifer garner on letterman......just to hear what she had to say about the finale.......and she did give a few clues.....such as theat a ghost will play big in the last episode (nadia's ghost?) and that someone thought to be dead will be play a role (francie's double allison doren?) and that all of the plot lines will be neatly tied up with a bow (garner's words.....)......as last we knew....both sloane and irena are working independently to complete rambaldi's endgame, both having bolted from the group prophet five......i predict that they have already teamed up to pool their resources...but these two never trust each other fully....and that distrust will certainly be their undoing......and so sydney, jack and vaughan will somehow outwit sloane and irena......and kelly peyton, allison, and sark?.......who have not yet been eliminated in the closing episodes.........and how will rachel, thomas, and marshall fit into the endgame?.......i have amused myself this morning looking up the characters on wikipedia......someone with much more time available that me has gone to great lengths with the wikipedia entries....going so far as to identify plot loopholes with regards to dates that conflict...ie bill vaughan couldn't have rescued nadia because he was already dead before she was born......so.....monday evening....2 hours...i cannot wait.......

on English as our national language.....

ok, so.....i am amused at the congressional debate of the adoption of English as our official language.......humored, because so few of us spell it well, speak it correctly......a top-down criticism if ever there was one......when our own Yale-schooled president cannot quite make heads or tails of the finer points.....how can we expect the hoi-poilloi to do much better.......

ok, so npr did a piece on tiny houses last week......and i meant to blog about the concept, but never made the time until now........pictured is the floor plan for the 100 square-foot home...the one that fits on a trailer....and one of the models being offered by an entrepreneur in louisiana for those who want to live on their lot until they are ready to rebuild........what is not pictured in the queen-size bed in the sleeping loft......reached by a ladder that slides out of the way...all this place needs to function at peak is attachment to a waterhose....the toilet is composting.......the guy who started the tinyhouse movement has previously been featured on npr........he actually lives in a similar model in his dad's side yard.......for a time he shared this space with his girlfriend, but she has since moved on.....go figure............while i have ranted extensively in the past about those who build multi-thousand square-foot homes after the children have move away......i am not ready to swing to the polar abode....one that is so stripped down as to incite homicide amongst the best of friends.......the company happens to sell models with 2 times to 5 times this squarefootage.......i could tolerate the largest of these options if the scenery was spectacular, the bathtub was deep, and the wine was cold and tasty........... 

baby-naming hits an all-time low......

ok, so i thought i had heard it all when it came to baby-naming....but this piece from the nytimes goes beyond my wildest imagination

Chances are you don't have any friends named Nevaeh. Chances are today's toddlers will.

In 1999, there were only eight newborn American girls named Nevaeh. Last year, it was the 70th-most-popular name for baby girls, ahead of Sara, Vanessa and Amanda.

The spectacular rise of Nevaeh (commonly pronounced nah-VAY-uh) has little precedent, name experts say. They watched it break into the top 1,000 of girls' names in 2001 at No. 266, the third-highest debut ever. Four years later it cracked the top 100 with 4,457 newborn Nevaehs, having made the fastest climb among all names in more than a century, the entire period for which the Social Security Administration has such records.

Nevaeh is not in the Bible or any religious text. It is not from a foreign language. It is not the name of a celebrity, real or fictional.

Nevaeh is Heaven spelled backward.

The name has hit a cultural nerve with its religious overtones, creative twist and fashionable final "ah" sound. It has risen most quickly among blacks but is also popular with evangelical Christians, who have helped propel other religious names like Grace (ranked 14th) up the charts, experts say. By contrast, the name Heaven is ranked 245th.

"Of the last couple of generations, Nevaeh is certainly the most remarkable phenomenon in baby names," said Cleveland Kent Evans, president of the American Name Society and a professor of psychology at Bellevue University in Nebraska.

The surge of Nevaeh can be traced to a single event: the appearance of a Christian rock star, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., on MTV in 2000 with his baby daughter, Nevaeh. "Heaven spelled backwards," he said.

Among the many inspired by Mr. Sandoval's appearance was Jade San Luis, who named his first daughter Nevaeh two years later. "It felt original," said Mr. San Luis, 26, of Cerritos, Calif. "Now, not anymore."

Today Mr. Sandoval is introduced to and photographed with baby Nevaehs all the time. His own Nevaeh, now 6, skateboards and, when introduced, pipes up that her name is Heaven spelled backward. Does she understand the meaning of heaven? Mr. Sandoval replied, "She knows that is where her grandmother is."

bonds and the record-chase

ok, so......in my newly discovered fascination of baseball...i am appauled that barry bonds, he of recent connection to performance enhancing drugs.....still thinks he deserves to beat babe ruth's homerun record...this, from the nytimes...tuesday's game

Russ Springer's first pitch would have hit Barry Bonds in the buttocks if Bonds had not dodged it. The next pitch was headed for Bonds's ankles. The third one was so far inside that it caromed off the knob of Bonds's bat. The fourth pitch was inside, too. Springer's fifth and final pitch bounced off Bonds's right shoulder.

Barry Bonds was hit on the shoulder when he batted in the fifth against Russ Springer, who was ejected along with Manager Phil Garner.

In a brief, testy and telling at-bat in the fifth inning Tuesday night, Springer kept coming closer and closer to plunking Bonds, and he finally did. Springer, who had been warned, and Astros Manager Phil Garner were immediately ejected. Bonds did not say anything to Springer and seemed a little confused and a lot agitated.

When Springer walked off the mound, he received a standing ovation from the fans at Minute Maid Park. The San Francisco Giants were leading the Astros by eight runs at the time, so seeing Bonds — the player the crowd of 35,286 came to hate — being drilled with a fastball was enjoyable to them. The Giants eventually won, 14-3, but the Bonds-Springer confrontation dominated the postgame discussions.

the perfect rose......

ok, so.....my roses are at their peak....amd those who care to look upon them might want to make time between now and sunday evening.........won't take long.......the best rose so far is the queen elizabeth rose......blooming in back of the deck....longstemmed and far from reach....but perfect in the way we think of perfect roses.....the trellis......is awesome....with 100 blooms...thoug city of york blooms in a floppy sort of way...shortstemmed.....with few blooms available for a vase.....that is the way of the old-fashioned rose....lovely to behold but hard to bring in the house.......the aroma of the yard is...wonderful.......

alias almost over......

ok, so...tonight was the next-to-last episode of alias...produced by jennifer garner but using a baby stunt-double rather than her own child.......rats...i would have enjoyed the moments more had she been her own...but the scene was right.....syndey and vaughan laying on either side of the babe....holding her hands and hanging on her every move/breathe/snort.......that is how parents of first-borns worship their...first-borns.......and yes..... even unto the second-borns.....the parental shock-and-awe when they behold their offspring......there was a moment this evening when i was certain that my prediction....that rimbaldi himself would be present at the end....would come true...but the old guy was only...somebody rimbaldi meant to be there if he should survive...which he did not/could not......and so.....sydney is poised to fight the final battle with slone, her mother, sark....and the evil folks of prophet five..........the only folks who appear to be left standing........5 years of devotion to a single television program......won't likely happen again.....but it was worth the journey..............monday 8-10 pm.......

election over.....

ok, so.....we were pleased that the election results were posted online at the advocate's website around 7:30 or so......the clerk candidate not backed by the incumbant won handily, much to our delight, given the rumored identity of her opponent's financial backers......the winner had more experience and less potential for conflict of interest so justice was served......wilder won over his evil electrician opponent for the right to run against the republican retired surgeon in the fall.....and the field of city commisioner candidates was narrowed from 10 to 8.......not much reason to have this election....with the bulk of the decisions to be made in november.......but we did learn how to manage absentee ballots, so in november at least 1 more vote will be counted from the electorate.......now...on to work, where my way will be hopefully sign-free......

voter's remorse

ok, so on election days that involve heavily contested city races......i sometimes feel a bit of remorse that i live outside the city limits and therefore have no vote say in those decisions.....having a danville address is not the same as having a vote......as it was, i was only able to vote for clerk, constable jailer, and county-judge executive.......i used the new voting machine, which requires a code provided by the poll worker.....and works on a turning dial that lights a sequence of numbers (for your perosnal voting code) or voting choices......so......one turns the dial, hits enter, and eventually pushes record vote......and then it is over......i had earlier chatted with the older poll workers, the same over these past 24 years of voting in this precinct.....until the young guy asked me for my i.d......and the littlest of the ladies had to tell him that he could mark personal acknowledgement because she knew me personally......and then home for the rest of the afternoon......a lovely term.....the rest of the afternoon........mostly because it includes the word rest.......and i took that directive seriously with a 2-hour nap.....interupted only by the old dog crying because he lost my scent and thought he was alone in the house......poor thing.......

voting day......

ok,s o in public health, time off for voting is given commensurate with the importance of the election........a primary day warrants 4 hours off.....and given that tuesdays are 9 hour days for us, i cannot leave until 2:00 pm.......which means that i have to get pry myself from this chair and get ready for work......but i am so very tired...i watched all three episodes of grey's anatomy last night.......and didn't get to bed untilafter 11:00 pm....which is not enough sleeptime for the mm....now is it?.......i will be glad that this election is over, as it has been frought with nastiness....or at least more than usual.........we heard a tale from the neighbor across the street about who was secretly funding the more visible half fo the clerk's race......and i was not surprised........though puzzled abit about what one has to gain by trying to buy somebody a clerk's job........ah well....must get ready for work......

a denial by bellsouth.....

ok, so this email was in my box today...

News Release Issued: May 15, 2006 5:52 PM EDT

BellSouth Statement on Governmental Data Collection

ATLANTA, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement regarding media
reports about U.S. governmental agency data collection may be attributed to
BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS):

There has been much speculation in the last several days about the role that
BellSouth may have played in efforts by the National Security Agency (NSA)
and other governmental agencies to keep our nation safe.

As a result of media reports that BellSouth provided massive amounts of
customer calling information under a contract with the NSA, the Company
conducted an internal review to determine the facts. Based on our review to
date, we have confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk
customer calling records to the NSA.

BellSouth has built a successful business because of the trust that our
customers have placed with us. We will continue to take our obligations to
our customers seriously.

SOURCE: BellSouth Corporation

many, many thanks

ok, so many thanks are due for the timely tip about LibraVox...i like to listen much more than i like to read......i have downloaded the first five chapters of jane austen's northanger abbey to my pc....and now i can hopefully figure out how to download it onto my pda....i may have to give up a few of my songs....but then again.....snows falling on douglass mountain may be out of season......and thanks for the logistical update...i was worried...........

ok, so this from the world of news......maybe scientific american.......confirmation of something i already suspected........JUGGLING a career along with being a wife or partner and parent may help to keep women healthy, scientists said on Monday.

After analysing data from a study that tracked the health of Britons born in 1946, they found that women who had multiple roles were less likely than homemakers, single mothers or childless females to report poor health or to be obese in middle age.

"Women who occupied multiple roles over the long term reported relatively good health at age 54," said Dr Anne McMunn, of University College London. "It looks like women are relatively healthy as a result of combining work and family life."............ 

the fountainhead.....

ok, so this blog isn't about ayn rand.....but about an older bound copy given to someone for graduation 1965.....the book was one of many brought into the guest room in plastic bags....likely purchased while my eldest browsed the goodwills on his way home for mother's day.......the inscription wasn't the most interested detail of this book...it was the two letters tucked inside.......from someone named dan to somebody named judye........the name written in a scrawled cursive that had me thinking it was sent to a judge rather than a judye........both missives were handwritten on the lined paper used by stenographers .......both dated in 1966......many references to people who got married but are already getting divorced....not something one would expect from 1966.....but also not the sort of letter that one might think to keep if one was going through one's own things.......judye has probably passed on, and her heirs went through her things unceremoniously.......too bad judye didn't take to keeping $100 bills in her old books.......that would have been a tad sweeter than old letters....but decidedly less entertaining.....so......judye's things have been dispersed....the original copy of the atlas shrugged in another bag was possibly hers as well........maybe i will be able to get through that thick tome if i read judye's 6th printing copy rather than the weighty paperback.......then again...maybe not.......maybe judye never finished it either........wait, wait....there is an owner's manual for a g.e. alarm clock at page 723....a bookmark, perhaps......marking where judye moved on to something more....readable......

frou frou.......

ok, so my eldest presented his mother's day tribute last evening after dinner.....a burned cd of the best of frou frou......gentle readers....i do deserve credit for knowing the imogene heap used to be half of frou frou.....but i didn't remember that the name refers to the sound of silk rubbing against itself......who knew there was a term for that....frou frou's music is so imogene heap in its smooth but edgy quality....a thoughtful gift......i also received a long distance happymothersday call....phone calls may be the new gold standard to the mother with outoftown children........always a heart-beat skipped when one hears ones child's voice after the answering hello.......we are grilling out for lunch......despite the curiously chilly weather.....and we will have the raspberry cake that wasn't quite ready for grandma's birthday yesterday......she had to make do with a birthday streudal.......i am sure that there is more i could say about mother's day......but i have to teach sunday school and i am not quite ready with the lesson.......hopefully when i dart downstairs to iron my church clothes there will be no water spurting from the pipes in the storage closet...not like last week.......this mm does require a mother's day void of irritating mishaps.....

unattributed.....

ok, so i found this on thehard drive.........each of the usual suspects has had a chance to take credit for these sweet lines...but no takers.......it has languished in my secret blog til now...the eve of mother's day......

Mom


In the kitchen, at the stove, making potato latkes (her favorite breakfast). Brown hair falling onto her large spectacled glasses. She wears a brown jacket and a houndstooth skirt. Conspicuously showing on her heart is her “Ephraim McDowell Wellness Center” I.D. badge. The skillet scrapes against the grille in a sooth rhythm that reminds me the foods almost done. I hand her the olive oil she sent me down to the basement to get. It sizzles and cracks as it is poured onto the gray skillet. It colors the potato pancakes in a golden lather. When they are finished, she always heaps on sour cream. I do too. Without her, I would never have tried it. I love my mom.
I also see my mom in the side yard. Wearing her worst jeans and a paint-stained flannel shirt. The glasses are off. Sweat tinges her hair. The air is humid and the sun is shining a bit too brightly. She is gathering up dead plants from her garden beds and placing them in an old, rusty, red wheelbarrow. She smells faintly of the wild onions that have invaded her roses. In a heavenly voice, she hums the tune “In the Garden.” She can’t sing, but she can sure hum. She always told me that gardening is a good way to relax. I thought gardening? That’s for sissies. But you know what? I tried it one day, and I did enjoy it. Without my mom, I would have never tried it. I love my mom.
Besides the obvious reasons to love my mom (e.g. bringing me INTO this world), I can not thank her enough for how she has expanded the horizons of my world. Trips to Paris, London, and other far-away lands. Taking a visit to the philharmonic. Reading Moby Dick to me at bedtime when I was 7. All of these things helped me to see that there was more to life than what lies in Danville, Kentucky. So I guess, in a way, this memoir is my way of thanking her for all she has done… for making me into the person I am today.

dubya's library-to-be.......

ok, so this piece was sent to me by someone who knew i would get a chuckle out of it

DUDE, WHERE'S YOUR LIBRARY?
Apr 27th 2006

Texan universities are vying to display George Bush's golf clubs

IN COLLEGE STATION, a quarter of a mile up Barbara Bush Drive on the
outskirts of Texas A&M University, a huge concrete edifice replete with
American flags announces the George Bush Presidential Library and
Museum. Inside, as patriotic music softly plays, starry-eyed visitors
revel in the bric-a-brac of the 41st president: his fishing rod and
Yale baseball mitt; Barbara's designer gowns; a model of the sub that
plucked Lieutenant Bush from the ocean after he was shot down in 1944;
and much else besides. There is lavish praise for everything that
George Bush senior did, and even some kindly words for his hapless
vice-president, Dan Quayle.

Presidential libraries are good at puffing up reputations, and this is
something that George Bush junior badly needs right now. A decision on
where his library will find a resting place is expected any day soon.
Texas is abuzz with speculation. Southern Methodist University (SMU) in
Dallas is seen as the front-runner. Also in with a chance are Baylor
University, in the dreary town of Waco, and the University of Dallas.
Two other Texas universities were eliminated last month.

SMU, set in an elegant, tree-lined district of Dallas, has solid White
House connections. Laura Bush, later a librarian, was Class of '68, and
she still sits on the university's board of trustees. The Bushes are
also members of a nearby church. Other eminent alumni include Harriet
Miers, the White House counsel once nominated for the Supreme Court,
and Karen Hughes, the under-secretary of state in charge of the
president's international image.


But SMU is battling a lawsuit that could be related to where the
library goes. Two condominium owners are suing the university for
trying to force residents out by declaring the condos obsolete. "The
library is coming right here," says Gary Vodicka, one of the litigants,
as he wanders around the mostly-deserted residences. A spokesman for
SMU, which has not yet disclosed exactly where it wants to put the
library, insists that the lawsuit has nothing to do with the library
proposal.

The lucky campus that eventually becomes host to Mr Bush's legacy will
be hoping for a windfall. The model is Bill Clinton's library in Little
Rock, which opened in November 2004. Despite being ridiculed for
"trailer-home chic" architecture, the library saw attendance in its
first year soar to more than 500,000--well above the projected 300,000
annual visitors. Put another way, that is nearly three times the
population of Little Rock.

Skip Rutherford, head of the Clinton Library Foundation, gives credit
to the site; the library is visible from Interstate 30, and an easy
drive from Memphis. Built in a warehouse district for $165m, it has
paid off handsomely, already bringing $1.2 billion in economic
development to the city. The Bush library may cost more. There are
reports that a bid led by Texas Tech (one of the universities to be
eliminated) promised to raise $500m for the project, though $200m-300m
seems more realistic. Mr Rutherford advises Mr Bush's would-be hosts to
"do whatever it takes to get it".

The Dallas press is gleeful at the prospect of a George W. library. In
a column last month, Steve Blow of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS reckoned
that the exhibits would include "The Frat Boy Years", "The Failed
Business Years", "The Figurehead Baseball Job", "Cool, I'm Governor!"
and "Holy Crap, I'm President!!". As for the archives--a mainstay of
every presidential library--he predicts that just about everything will
be classified.

doing flowers.......

ok, so........i made the rounds this morning in search of plants perfect for spots that i failed to fill with the plants i bought yesterday.....and last week....and the week before......few things thrill me more than plants that live long enough to bloom in the space in which i envisioned them.......gardening is an essential component of my persona....and so it was a shock to hear the comment/question at the hospice plant sale i didn't know you did flowers......this from someone i have known for years.....go figure......i have pondered the term doing flowers as i planted my purchases this afternoon......it sounds faintly like doing time, or doing drugs, or doing the dew.......certainly captures none of the pleasure one finds in digging in the dirt....and the possibility that i had failed to mention gardening to someone i felt i knew well......go figure........makes me wonder what we did talk about if it wasn't plants...............

emotional support dogs.....

ok, so the nytimes had a piece this morning on emotional support dogs...the first section follows......curiously, this trend has prompted an unlikely opponent...the people who train dogs for the blind.......ON a sun-drenched weekend last month, cafes from TriBeCa to the Upper West Side were swelling with diners, many of whom left dogs tied to parking meters in deference to Health Department rules that prohibit pets in restaurants. At French Roast on upper Broadway, however, two women sat down to brunch with dogs in tow: a golden retriever and a Yorkie toted in a bag.

"They both said that their animals were emotional service dogs," said Gil Ohana, the manager, explaining why he let them in. "One of them actually carried a doctor's letter."

Health care professionals have recommended animals for psychological or emotional support for more than two decades, based on research showing many benefits, including longer lives and less stress for pet owners.

But recently a number of New York restaurateurs have noticed a surge in the number of diners seeking to bring dogs inside for emotional support, where previously restaurants had accommodated only dogs for the blind.

"I had never heard of emotional support animals before," said Steve Hanson, an owner of 12 restaurants including Blue Fin and Blue Water Grill in Manhattan. "And now all of a sudden in the last several months, we're hearing this." 

mean mamma

ok, so...i spent most of this day with my own mm....and i came away vexed with both guilt and despair.......isn't that the universal union of mothers goal?.....to make us daughters feel at once the lack of appreciation for all these women had done for us.....but also the difference between our achievements and their expectations.......?......at lunch...at red lobster...the only acceptable lunch destination.....i mentioned my offer to teach personal health and wellness to eku students at the danville campus......and she abruptly changed the subject to my brother's business trip to california........fear not....i feel no rivalry between me and and my sibling.......but i do so deeply miss my father at times like these....who believed in me so faithfully...who always took the time to ask me what i was up to ........inquiring minds want to know.......and it is times like these when i worry that i have failed my children as a parent........that i have made it all about me rather than all about them.........and that would have been terribly mean of me............

growing old gracefully.....

ok, so i picked up my new glasses after working the day in stanford and shopping the aldi....and before driving back to mercer county to present a short program on eating well to feel one's best at the weekly meeting of a black women's walking group .....and as it happens the last meeting was cancelled because of a hs track meet...but the cancellation was not posted on the door of the meeting place.......and when folks showed up this evening an altercation ensued............that is a making nice way to describe an embarassing place for the mm to be on the job.....i come from a family that never, ever battled in public or in private....what we had to say to each other went totally unsaid....so i have no experience dealing with discord of any kind in public....let alone in the meeting room of my workplace........these women were......not nice...to each other....buy managed to rally for me to speak for 45 minutes with at least 30 more minutes of questions and comments....at which the woman who was the most vile in her earlier attar asked everyone if she didn't look her age..........yeah...i know attar isn't the right word.....but i am too old for this madness.............

french day dreams.....

ok, so the next posible time i can see myself traveling to france is spring break 2007 with my daughter.......maybe a short visit to paris, then train to the dordogne, then on to barcelona for the jealosies........my daughter will surely fuss the entire trip....but i can live with that....i find that i can ignore many things...........

alias.....

ok, so wednesday was my alias night......the show which will end in its 5th season has only 2 episodes left......and yesterday was brimming with plot twists and shedding of characters......at least 2 folks heavily involved in the current plot were killed off.......when added to those killed off last week it would seem that this is to be a to-the-death grudge match at the final hour.......but......vaughan was able to see that anna-transformed-by-dna-therapy into sydney was not the real sydney.....but sydney has taken anna's place with prophet 5 so that she can get to the bottom of the 5 years of nystery......got it?........i watch every week and i barely get it.......the light at the end of the tunnel for me is the people magazine photo of a beaming sydney and vaughan walking on the beach at santa barbara with their baby daughter, supposedly filmed as a finale shot for the show.....going to santa barbara was something that sydney and vaughan always planned to do together....and while this may turn out to be some teaser-dream sequence....i have a hard time believing that the producers (which include jen garner) would end things on a downer note.....and so.....2 episodes....and those characters yet to reappear include the lusciously good looking bad guy sark, and sydney's own mean mamma irena.......and maybe the davinci look-alike who is the prophet in question.........i cannot wait........

back to the basement.......

ok, so......remember my glee in clearing out all of the junk in the basement damaged by the water leak?......about how these files had just sat there since i left the hospital at least 6 years ago?........well........i got the call today asking me if i would teach a fall session of a required intro-level personal health class at the danville eku campus......and i could probably have used many of the items that i recycled....but the way i choose to see things.....had i kept it all....eku wouldn't have called.......so discarding it was my only option.....i am thrilled to be back in the teaching mode.....mostly because all teaching funds are fair game for travel.....i am planning trips in my mind as i type.....life is good.............

awaiting may 19......

ok, so.....i am anxiously awaiting the opening of the davinci code on may 19.......maybe not enough to camp out infront of the new cinemas....but eagerly anticipating this film event......i was amused to read yesterday that the catholic church is going to great lengths to get the faithful to boycott the movie......in india the church has asked for a hunger strike......how that will help keep people from seeing the film is anybody's guess........especially since catholics in italy and such places are prebuying tickets to the extent that the first few days of release are already sold out........how's that for the pope thinking he's in charge?.......and certainly having no understanding of human nature......you tell people what they should not do or say or see......and that is precisely what they will bend over backwards to do, say or see........happens every time.......and so more people have read the book than might have done so before, and will likely see a movie in the theatres that they might have waited to watch in the privacy of their own homes......and this is a good thing, i think......

from slate.com

ok, so as a mother i should be shocked....but as a formerly young person, i am not surprised at all about these stats.......just another reason why the right-wing just say no bologna doesn't work in the real world.........the young need accurate information and birth control, not virginity pledges......Teens who take virginity pledges can't be trusted, according to an analysis of follow-up surveys. Findings: 1) 52 percent of pledgers denied a year later that they'd pledged. 2) Among pledgers who later admitted to having sex the year after the pledge, 73 percent denied they'd pledged. 3) Among pledgers who conceded in the first survey that they'd had sex, nearly one in three claimed a year later that they'd never had sex. 4) Pledgers were four times as likely as non-pledgers to recant previous admissions that they'd had sex. Researchers' conclusions: 1) Teens lie. 2) Pledgers lie more. 3) Born-again pledgers (those who pledge after having sex) lie the most. 4) Pledges fail. 5) We have no idea what works or what the truth is, because all this revisionism makes the data worthless. Conservative objection: Stop dishonoring pledgers by questioning whether they honor their pledges. (For the risks of French kissing, click here. For the superiority of intercourse over masturbation, click here. For Human Nature's take on anal sex, click here. For sex with teachers, click here.)

and if you want to click here, you must hunt up this piece on slate.com.......

mammas meaner than me......

ok, so after reading this piece from the nytimes......i am saddened at the knowledge that many mothers in nature selectively raise the fittest in any given litter.........

the indigo bunting of happiness.......

ok, so this evening at suppertime, an indigo bunting appeared on our feeder.......such a brilliant blue......yeah, well.....i know that only the male is so lovely, but he was still a sight that gave my heart a lift......... 

what will you do when your looks are gone?

ok, so driving back to danville i chanced to hear an npr interview with paul simon, who is releasing his first album after 9-11/turning 60....and the interview focused on those two issues.......it was not until they played one of the new songs that i literally erupted in a loud guffaw......the song's refrain was what will you do when your looks are gone....and i immediately thought of a few folks who i have known in the past and a few i know now who do seem to trade upon their looks to make up for whatever else is lacking in their general skills bundle.......i mention those who i used to know because i do wonder from time to time how things worked out for these men...probably making millions and retired early for all i know.......those with stunning looks that came to mind from my present.....well.....they are not all men.....and i so wonder how things will turn out for them.......in a perfect world looks should only account of part of a person's success, right?.......yeah, well....this is sour grapes speaking to some extent.......never having the burden of drop-dead gorgeous looks myself.......and it was only after i ticked off my mental list of folks doomed to faded looks...that it occured to me that the guy in back of me in the kroger checkout line could have been flirting with me.....he was nearly 7 foot tall....with the kind of hair that is popular with men who grace the covers of romance novels.....and he kept trying to talk to me...going so far as to comment on the laniard that holds my name badge......which states something about babies being born to breastfeed......and he started in telling me how long his kids were breastfed and that he attributes their intellect to the natural act......for the record....those were mostly his words.......attribute, natural act, intellect...i suppose if ever i was in the mood to be flirted with, in or out of krogers......words like that wouldn't hurt.......maybe i look like his mother, and the attraction was organic.....that is the only explanation i can come up with...........ah well.......what will he do when his looks are gone?..............

water, water everywhere.......

ok, so remember how pleased i was with myself for cleaning out the garage and my closet?.......add the basement storage room to that list....not by deliberate intent......because of the waterline leak....oy!....when i trotted down to the basement to iron my church clothes this morning......my left foot splashed in water......atfirst i thought that the green beverage refrigerator has shut down, causing the buildup of ice in it's little freezer to melt......nope....the storage room was soaked....from a sputtering water line from the hotwater heater........and everything on the ground or within spitting range was wet......including most everything i had taken out of my office at the hospital 6 years ago.......books, folders, stuff........mostly outdated stuff....checks from accounts i no longer have...paid utility bills....new releases from food companies with recipes that i might want to print were i still writing a regular column.....lots and lots of expendable stuff.....which we dragged up to put with the garage junk going to the dump.......the luggage is stored in this room....and should the rain ever stop we can dry it all out on the deck.......the boxes and boxes of trophies were falling apart.......no idea what to do with all of those trophies......running/soccer/tball/swimming/academic.......for three children and 1 spouse............some things escaped......like the boxes of slides from my childhood and my dad's camera equipment......and a basket of recipes/articles from years and years of gourmet magazines....that i intend to type up into recipe cards one day........or at least organize to a usable state.......but i digress from the leak.....a neighbor down the road is a plumber.....and he graciously came over with his tools to stem the tide.......for a price...but at that point we would have paid more than he charged to fix the leak.....caused by the recirculating water heater system that was supposed to lower our electric bill........over the past 9 years the overuse simply eroded the joint that burst open.......so now the water is back on....the the storage room has been cleared of over half of what was there.........storage areas are by nature sleeping dogs......i have intended to clean out this space for ages,.....and could have gone years without doing so.....but now that the worst is over and the damaged goods cleared away.......there remains that cozy feeling of closure......thanks be to god for that..........

upon cleaning of the garage.....

ok, so.....yesterday morning i opted to clean the garage rather than walk the shakertown run at 7:30 am.....i am so not a morning person.......my half of the garage workbench was piled up with stuff that didn't sell at last summer's yard sale, gardening stuff......even stuff brought back from my office when i quit at emrmc 6 years ago....and a box of cookbooks i brought back home when i left the restaurant....i say my side to refer to all that isn't tools, painting equipment, or otherwise stuff that my spouse calls his own....but i digress.......my concern in pulling out the pots and cans underneath was the possibility that i would find more of the opossums that my spouse found the night before....hissing and carrying on........and so i wore heavy rubberized gardening gloves just in case.......but after all of rearranged or loaded either into trash cans or the cartrunk for the goodwill...no sign of the critters......i was in such a throwaway-mood that i moved on to my closet.....and managed to find 73 items of clothing that i could live without...between the hanging clothes, drawers and storage bins for opposite season things......mostly i was discarding clothing in sizes i will never manage to wear again...not because i have given up hope, but because should i ever wear single digit sizes again i will surely deserve newer things, right?....gentle readers.....should you ever see me attempting to buy black pants.......silk, linen, wool....doesn't matter......remind me that i have more pairs still in my closet than i could ever wear out......i did find a nice brown summer pants and top outfit that i had completely forgot i bought at the big goodwill in lexington on new circle..........wow...clean garage, clean closet.......closure is such a nice emotion for a saturday evening.......and so i was mighty surpised when my spouse bolted in the front door after dark, exclaiming that there were possums climbing up in the gardening tools that i had carefully arranged.....and that it appeared that they were living in the upstairs of the garage with their hissing mamma.......so....we must now figure out how to get them to move out of the garage...and i must be on the alert for possums in the dogfood........pesky little creatures.......