william shatner reads palin as poetry

ok, so....

god mend thine every flaw.....

ok, so.....despite carryover exhaustion from a 12+ hour drive from the middle of kansas and a full day's work......i dragged myself out the door to attend the summer singers concert.....mostly because our friend sarah was singing, but also because i love the sound of a large well-directed choir.....the selections were part of a tribute to america.....given the size of the ensemble i'd have preferred the chorale portion of beethoven's 9th......a lusty interpretation of germanic joy could would have erased many of my frustrations....but instead we were treated to spirituals, folk songs, stephen foster selections, a medley of fiddler on the roof tunes, and patriotic standby's......i was struck by the lyrics to america the beautiful....having just passed by amber waves of grain on my way home.....and witnessed first-hand the many flaws that need healing.....lonely conservative men who dine in plains state kfc's who see things so very differently from me......the conversation comes back to be every couple of hours....i suppose because i dwell on things i should have said that were wittier/bolder/wiser than my actual retorts....i am hopeful that should america (the beautiful) even be under real threat we could put aside our differences long enough to steady ourselves on what we share.....it may take me awhile to recall just what those things are.......i will get back to you....

conspiracy theory(s)

ok, so i am somewhere in kansas, heading toward home as early in the morning as possible......dropped my eldest off at a lovely community park in newton that featured a walking path along a brick-lined river, a huge play area, and tennis courts......not just run-of-the-mill tennis courts....tonight must have been mennonite women's league.....i grew up in an amish/mennonite community, but the sight of so many women in long cotton dresses playing any sport gave me pause.....but i digress from the park.....the community allows cross country bikers to camp overnight and use the round brick restroom facility complete with lighted men and women signs.....while we were searching for the park we traveled on several brick side-streets....wow.....there were brick streets remaining in my original home town.....we passed by the first mennonite church......also with a lighted brick sign out front...and this made me wonder if there was a second or a third mennonite church.....i mention the mennonites not only because the community was founded years ago by mennonite immigrants from germany.....but because the man sitting beside us in the kfc( it was this or a truck-stop diner that likely lacked a nonsmoking section....) at supper just down the road opened up his conversation with us with a sally about immigrants taking over america......or maybe the immigrant thing was after he announced to anybody who would listen that the democrats were looking to replace obama....i turned from my overly dry chicken to proclaim that i was quite proud about all the obama had done to bring the country back from the brink that dubya had taken us to .....he seemed taken aback by my reply and countered that he hears it differently on focus on family or from his cousin who knows about these things.....we really did try to disengage from the confrontation,,,,,but we could not help ourselves when he started in about how we will all be paid in merrils now that the govt runs wallstreet....or was it going to be c-am-euros that would be issued when the usa joined with mexico and canada......but that wouldn't happen until the secret american union voted on it.....my eldest was quick to recognize this as a string of conspiracy theories...and said as much.....and then tis guy had the audacity to say that obama was having an affair, to which i laughed loudly and reminded this graying guy with the tractor supply hat that this was a foolish notion, but if he wanted real scandal he should look no further than republican stanford of s.c. who so publically slept with a woman not his wife, and traveled to these trysts on the taxpayer's dime...al the while spouting about just how deep was his christian faith........seems wingnut radio shows failed to cover that scandal.....because he seemed clueless to the story that captured headlines for so many weeks...next he ranted about taxes and how family farms were going under.....but then he strayed into a line of (dis)reasoning that showed just how clueless he was.....he stated that young girls wouldn't get pregnant if schools stopped giving poor children free meals at school...wtf?....i skipped the pregnancy part and dove right into the free lunch program...which was created as an outlet for commodities such as milk, cheese, wheat, corn, soy, etc.....these are produced (under price-support circumstances)) by family farms, and discontinuing these programs would......cause family farms to go under.....he just stared at me .....the good news about the encounter is that i both failed to finish a regrettable meal, and succeeded in avoiding seconds....we did manage to avoid the birther busines.....if only because i got up, tossed out my plate, and headed out to the car....hoping that i could remember enough of the banter to record it later on.......i have never met such a specimen close-up......and i suppose i should not be surprised that he fails to see the contradictions in so many of his positions....then again.....maybe is just a lonely cuss who drives in to town for all-you-can-eat fried chicken and pretend mashed potatoes, and a bit of conversation with the randon public.....bless his sunflower-pickin heart.....

on the road again

ok, so...i left home around 2:00 pm yesterday, heading toward st. louis....i had forgotten thaqt this drive is a straight shot on i-64...long but straight.....i had come upon eureka as a destination when i was trying to find trader joe's in the st louis area......there are 5 locations.....a few off of the interstate though off of my projectary....and so i figured that if i could find a motel nearby i could justify the off-route stop.....but the st louis motels were at least twice of those on down i-44......eureka's other claim to fame is a 6-flags park, which meant ample crowds and dining choices as opposed to a lonely stop along the highway.....my motel is family-run and 3 doors down from an applebee's......which was rocking last night when i was tired and starving, and somewhat cranky from getting lost trying to find the access road where the services promised by the interstate signs were located.....ah well.....i ate quickly and made it back to my motel in time to watch mystery in pbs.....a miss marple that was a tad too confusing for a weary traveler to follow.....i may have to find the original story to figure out why the siblings masquarading as other people tried to kill the lady of the house with snake venom.....yikes.....so now i am plotting my route on mapquest.....i could turnback a bit and take i-70 to the kansas city area, and then head southwest toward wichita (7 hours).....the city nearest to the cycling route i hope to locate...this option cuts several hours off of my day.......my planned route is on locally accesses roads and i could expect at least 9 hours as my cyclist expected to be beyond wichita at the end of the day's ride.....ah well.....i am enjoying the extra hour that i gained by going west.....and because i am considering this trip an adventure rather than a chore i am in no hurry....especially because there is at least 1 trader joe's between me and the interstate leading to kansas......

getting ready....

ok, so i am getting ready to drive to kansas....a trip that could take 10, or 12 or 14 hours depending where i will meet up with my eldest child along his transamerica bike route.....yeah, i would drive that far just to give him a big hug.....but there is more at stake here than maternal urges.....he has to apply for his austrian visa by the end of july, and kansas city is the nearest consulate.....and as this location is well off his route......it seemed easier to ferry him there than worry over his other options (hitch-hiking, etc)....and so i have several books on cd from the library, and a few snacks...and a borrowed gps unit in addition to mapquest driving directions....and i am good to go.....well not quite yet.....probably tomorrow after lunch....

birds, bunnies and squirrels....

ok, so my morning commute was more like driving through an obstacle course than a simple morning drive to work.....between the bunnies in the road thinking about crossing over completely, or the squirrels nosing something flattened on the pavement, or worse...the indigo bunting that flitted a bit close to my bumper from it's roadside perch......i am pleased to say that i managed to avoid all of these furry/feathered friends.....leaving raod kill in my wake would certainly put a damper on my day......

ok, so heaven help me remember to show this condom ad when my class syllabus cover such things.....

harry potter 6

ok, so our tickets said harry potter 6, rather than harry potter and the half blood prince...i suppose at this late date there is no question as to the movie i came to see......i wasn't going to confuse this movie with any other shown at a similar time slot......i must say that i consider this the best 6th movie in any genre.....or at least the best movie that anticipates 2 sequels before all threads must be thoroughly tied off.....i have picked up deathly hallows to re-read......while i am in the mood.....not sure i can wait until 2010 for harry potter 7.....or 2011 for harry potter 8......even though i know that it all ends (exceptionally) well.......

on its last legs.....

ok, so we are NOT going to pay another $75 to figure out why my desktop on the family pc will not sustain an internet browser.....i was able to download firefox onto my spouse's desktop.....and i am back in business until we replace this ancient computer.....ancient by modern standards...in that this pc is less than 10 years old......our refrigerator, and washer/dryer combo are each far older......the internet is only the tip of the iceberg in this scenario.....my mother is recording the tour de france on her new dvd-player/recorder....and the disks will not play on any equipment we currently possess....our own dvd player, our pc......nada......it is one thing to refuse the cable service that could allow us to watch the tour directly, but when we cannot watch the taped replay.....a speedy resolution is in order.......by the way, our ancient stereo system components will not play a ripped cd.....but we can play those cd's on our current dvd player....go figure......

ok so this from jezebel.....Marine One pilot Major Jennifer Grieves lands Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on her last day in her rotation as pilot of Marine One, on July 16, 2009 in Washington, DC. She is the first female Marine One pilot, and today�s Marine One crew is made up entirely of all women in honor of her achievement. She was designated the helicopter aircraft commander of Marine One in May, 2008. AFP PHOTO / Tim Sloan (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

gum shaped like raspberries....

ok, so a large open bag of gum balls shaped like red raspberries figured into my dream sequences last night.....a uniting theme if you will.....hard to imagine i had a dream sequence given that i looked at the clock several times last night when i woke up either hot or cold.....

bastille day.....

ok, so.....today is bastille day in france.....a day on which french cyclists riding in the tour try extra hard to win the stage out of national pride.....when one gets down to it, bastille day is about revolution, and while both the usa and france are where they are today because of revolution, i am of the opinion that there are far less violent ways of making change.....

agonizing in my sleep.....

ok, so i worked the night shift in my sleep......mostly over the menu for dinner guests this evening and over the option of preparing the tortilla espanol ahead of time so it could set up or just in time for dinner in hopes it would slice well and come out of the pan easily......of all the world's problems i could try to solve in my dreams.....i worry over a dinner entree......curiously, i woke up several times in either a hot sweat or a cold chill.....and went right back to the same potato casserole lamentation.....go figure.....

whiney-baby

ok, so i am back from book club selection thursday....and given that not one of the three books i put forward were selected....i am feeling small and petty....in that i have been asked to go ahead and provide dinner with next july's selection thursday......gentle readers.....i have put together a 'theme' dinner with a book selection for a decade at this point.....and for the life of me i cannot think of a suitable theme for selection thursday.....for 'to the lighthouse' i made boeuf en daube....naturally....lentils and mussels for lord of the rings.....baked onion soup for colette.......ah well.....i did not vote for any of the selected books.....same as last year's tally.....am i so off-kilter in my reading preferences that i could completely miss 8 selections out of 27?.......pouting doesn't get one anywhere....so i am moving on.....

mashed potatoes....

ok, so......my dream life got a tad curiouser last evening, when monday night's dream of mashed potatoes decided to replay into tuesday nights dream about buying silverware in a department store.....the mashed potatoes i was making were not from scratch,,,,,and there was an authority figure in the background who was directing the mixing of the dehydrated potato granules with the milk and margarine.....and this faceless person insisted that there needed to be more milk...which made the mixture too runny, at which point i would have to add more potato granules.....during last night's potato reprise, the faceless figure directed me to go into the silverware store immediately, because the ralph lauren patterns had been deeply discounted.....gentle readers, i have no idea if ralphie makes silverware, and no notion of what preppy silverware would be distinguished from the rest of the stock.......having never shopped for silverware......my mother gave me our silver(plate) as a wedding gift...and the everyday came through the savings of betty crocker boxtops.....it is serviceable as silverware goes....no clue why i would dream about selecting more....... and sadly, at no time during these mashed potato dreams did i ever get to taste-test while i cooked....

ok, so.....i was prepared to let the whole spectacle pass without comment.....until i chanced to watch a very short clip of the finale.....and i saw mj's daughter onstage...singing along with the throng of gathered friends and family to 'we are the world'.....she clearly knew the words......and i was touched with the sweet notion that mj sang to his children.....much as i sang to my own before bedtime....i do admit that this was not the song that brought tears to my eyes as i have briefly reviewed the coverage of the service.....my favorite part was (little) stevie wonder singing 'i never dreamed you'd leave in summer'.....oh, my.....that brought back memories.....

4th of july.....

ok, so.....i spend time yesterday reading a piece by a colonial historian about how nothing much actually happened on the 4th of july, 1776, depending on whose letters one reads....the writing, voting, and signing on the declaration may well have taken place over a stretch of time....but i suppose what really matters is that the deeds (writing, voting, and signing) were done by true patriots and that is how we got to this very moment in time.......

amen, amen, and amen....

ok, so the hard-drive that appeared to have been wiped clean by a virus has been restored ($75) by an expert....and i purchased and installed a portable hard-drive this evening (250 gig for $79 at office depot) and i am elated at the data that has been saved from oblivion.....like our collection of the intro music for darkwing duck and goof troop in numerous languages (priceless).....yeah...and there were all of those pictures i had neglected to upload to flickr(double priceless)......