wild oats

ok, so i went to lexington today to redeem a gift card from wild oats....and spent far more than the designated amount.....naturally......on such wonderful fancies as baba ganoush...goat cheese....kefir milk....blood oranges.....many kinds of sushi.......ah...this stuff is for two meals, by the way...the asian tonight and the middle eastern tomorrow.....and on the way home a dinner guest materialized........as if we needed a reason to fix a nice dinner...........looks like an interesting nyeve after all......good thing we were planning on staying home.......

more bad news for martha

ok, so you have got to feel bad for martha these days....not only in prsion for dumping stock that could have made her a fortune if she had hung onto it....but she is no match for a christmas decorating contest behind bars.........

plans

ok, so our nyeve plans have fallen through...the folks we usually spend nyeve with.......have all decided to go to the country club dance instead.....and being the only couple in this crowd that does not belong....well......i must admit we were invited as guests, but my spouse graciously declined because we don't do country club........if we had wanted to join, during all of our years in town......we would have done so long before now...the our feelings on the subject both come back to social issues.......there is the basic premise about contry clubs being exclusionary.......and that notion goees against our very nature.....and then their is the illusion that clubbers have about golf...that it is exercise.....exercise that takes up so much of their free time that they have no time for real fitness......that is what golf is to me...a whole lot of money spent to knock around a little white ball......so........we no longer have plans further than buying some sushi at wild oats, drinking a little champagne.....well...sparkling wine from the loire.....and maybe playing monopoly......and that is just fine by me..........

horoscopes......

ok, so last night at supper we had a fairly interesting conversation about horoscopes, that included the youngest child.....the one who fusses that she is never included in the conversations despite her lack of effort to follow along and jump in when ever she has an opinion that contributes to the collected train of thought that is conversation.......we ended up reading each other's.....both the version from the lexington herald leader.....which lists 'today's horoscope......and the danville advocate messenger, which arrives late in the day and prints 'tomorrow's' predictions.......according to the d.a.m......for friday january 31........for pisces, the best sign for dreamers of dreams.......you don't want anyone telling you what to do today...you feel independent and very much your own person. you want to call your own shots........well.....duh......isn't that basically everyday for the mm.............so let's compare with the lexherleader's horoscope that came this morning........about a spur-of-the-moment gamble that i will resent.......hmmmmmmmdoes that mean that my planned trip to wild oats for sushi and other nyeve treats will be a gamble,....or will i come up with some other hair-brained digression from the original plan........hmmm....the day is young....and i do not have to go to work....and there are so many alias episodes that i could watch while i make up my mind just what gamble to take today......ha!

another afternoon off

ok, so today i was blessed with yet another afternoon off....i cannot say for free.......as i suffered through a cold catered lunch on paper plates without a plastic knife to cut my turkey.......ex-caterers hold all caterers to a higher standard, especially given full knowledge of the likely invoice for the event........ah well.....the meal was supposed to take place last thursday, but the snow day postponed the festivities......no matter....i got home 4 hours early, and used the extra time to download songs...legally...off of subscription napster....not as thrilling as illegal downloading...but far less expensive than buying whole cd's for the individual tracks i desired....... at least i have just the music i want.......my own alias mix........compeling melodies.....most are from artists that i had never heard of....this is all good......

pale male is back.....

ok, so the displaced hawk in manhattan is back.......

the former ferral cat.....

ok, so our cat, phillida.....who turned so decidely ferraL when scw was at governor's scholars over the summer.....has rebonded into the most shameless of emotional slaves.....she will bound up upon any still lap.......such as the lap of someone innocently blogging in the computer hallway.......a neverland between mamma's bathroom...the one with the jacuzzi bathtub....and the retirement bedroom....the one we will use when we ar too feeble to climb stairs.....the cat is content to lay in a vertical position...rather than horizontal...as long as she is snug and petted......i know exactly how she feels...................of course....whilst she is cozying up to you she has one eye on scw's door....ready to defect into his haven at a moment's notice....she has no shame.......

ok, so i like this one even more....... 

ok, so i really like the sentiment in this cartoon.... 

mamma's stories

ok, so watching alias episodes has gotten out of hand.....to the point that they are now referred to as my 'stories'...like they are soap operas....and i am some teary-eyed matron who cannot bear to see her vicarious aquaintances in mortal danger.......it is a thriller/spy show, so the mortal danger comes up every episode...at least once.........i can barely get in 1 episode a day, let alone 2.....and i have to walk the 50 minutes on the treadmill while it is playing to justify the intrusion into the personal non-alias space of others.........ha.........that's what i get for not requesting a personal dvd player from santa..........then i could be the hermit in the bathroom who only comes out to eat...between episodes.....i am only on episode 9 of season 1......on the second dvd of 18.....lots more to see........

aromas

ok, so now that christmas is over, and i am thinking about taking down the tree......the aroma of the frasier fur has amplified from barely there to quixotic...like someone sprayed it from an expensive can of home scent...the kind marketed to upscale martha-wannabees.........i am now considering leaving the tree up til epiphany.....at the very least....or until somebody else dismantles the lights and stores the ornaments.....that seems fair, doesn't it?

liberal oasis

ok, so i found this site....and i am so excited........http://www.liberaloasis.com/.......literally everything i might just want to read ot know or want.......i am not alone

reading material.....

ok, so holiday weeks in public health are molasses-in-winter slow.......i have entertained myself by locating and reading nutrition continuing education material.....most for actual credit toward my license........and at this point i should have something interesting to read for the next few weeks......i have printed off at least 1 ream of paper today with numerous articles from a variety of sources.......some of this stuff is esoteric....that only researchers, or researcher's family members......would find fascinating...while selected items are especially compelling things to know.....such as the article on nutrition and depression....and the one on polycystic ovary syndrome......and while i do not personally have pcos......i have never read anything about it........i also read the local paper today in hopes of finding some volunteer/service ideas......i have forgotten that there are service clubs, like kiwanis......that might be a good start to getting involved in harrodsburg......though i do not actually live here, i might as well do something useful in the commmunity afterhours.......maybe i could locate the county democrats...that would be interesting...if they are not already gone to canada, that is.........

wow......

ok, so this is one way to become a grandmother.......i would have to think long and hard.......

back to blue.....

ok, so here is one more site that exposes the blues and reds of our everyday money stream...fyi..... www.choosetheblue.com

even more evidence......

ok, so i have spent my spare time of late trying to download music.....legal music...from amazon......off the list of songs played during alias's first 3 seasons.....the soundtrack cuts always have a haunting and/or emotional edge, and i am in need of some new music anyway......trapped in the 70's as i seem to be......so...i have discovered thus far.....somebody named dar willaims, the hives, catie curtis, and luce........what i really want is beth orton singing ooh child......a song from.......the early 70's remade.......but i suspect i will have to pay for it....drat.......i could get into this free downloading thing......

proof positive that i waste too much time online......

ok, so i read this on-line.......(www.fark.com)

Instructions on cat grooming product, simplified for your convenience:

1. wet cat thoroughly
2. apply product and comb through cat.s wet coat.
3. keep cat from grooming for 10 minutes.
4. rinse product thoroughly off of cat.
5. dry cat to make sure (product) is completely off cat.

Actual sequence of events:

0. cat senses you.re up to no good, hides under table.
0.2 cat runs under couch.
0.4 cat resists being picked up.
0.6 cat realizes it is being brought towards the sink.
0.8 mortal komcat!
1. wet cat thoroughly
1.2 put cat back in water and get another 1% of cat wet before cat gets out again.
1.4 amazingly, cat has managed to writhe into a position where she.s holding herself away from the faucet with all four legs, her head, and her tail.
1.6 reassure kitty that everything.s okay, yank head back to avoid claw in eye.
1.8 wet cat the rest of the way.
2. apply product and comb through cat's wet coat.
2.2 apply product with one hand while holding cat with the other
2.4 cat lunges for freedom, hides in bedroom.
2.6 find cat in box, continue grooming.
2.8 box falls to shreds, cat.s coat is fully combed through.
3. keep soaking wet cat from grooming for 10 minutes
(no, really. these people are insane.)
4. rinse product thoroughly off cat.
4.2 carry festival of whirling sharp claws back to bathroom.
4.4 put cat near stream of water.
4.6 every movable object in the bathroom falls to the floor as cat struggles in matrixesque bullet-time and attempts to propel herself through ceiling.
4.8 cat gets washed.
5. dry cat thoroughly.
5.2 chase cat around apartment with towel.
5.4 wrap cat in towel, fluff dry.
5.6 cat gets out of towel.
5.8 see 5.4
6. cat stares balefully from the top of a bookshelf.
6.2 cat stares balefully from the top of a bookshelf.
6.4 cat stares balefully from the top of a bookshelf.
6.6 cat stares balefully from the top of a bookshelf.
6.8 cat stares balefully from the top of a bookshelf


clearly, any person who has the time and the lack of reason to wash a cat also needs more important things to do.......

emotional exhaustion

ok, so i went to the funeral of a fellow that we should have known better, given that we went to church together for so many years........and having listened to what his close friends and family had to say, we really missed out.....this was by far one of the most unusual funerals i have ever attended...for starts, it was in our home church...packed to capacity.....with a rotation of deaf interpretors.....for his wife taught at the deaf school, and his in-laws were both deaf...and they had many deaf friends.....they had an open mike at one point during the service, with each speaker interpreted by sign or by voice, so that everyone in attendence was included.....even the songs were interpreted...and gentle readers, there are some songs that are lovelier when watched than they are when heard.......lots of stories were shared......lots of laughs, and lots of tears.......and some feelings of pure joy......there are not many people for whom a rousing rendition of 'shout' seems appropriate, with 400 people clapping and waving of hands.......my church will never be the same....

buy blue.....

ok, so the following wines are produced or imported by ernesto and julio gallo of sacremento, california...who donated over $225,000 to the democratic party in the last election:

Anapamu Cellars
Bridalwood Winery
Marcelina
Mirassou
Frei Brothers
Indigo Hills
Louis Martini
MacMurray Ranch
Turning Leaf
Rancho Zabaco
Bella Sera
Black Swan
Ecco Domani
Red Bicylette
McWilliams
Hanwood Estates
Whitehaven
Redwood Creek
Gossamer Bay
Peter Vella
E&J Twin Valley

many of these i have never heard of......but i will keep my little list in my purse and buy accordingly from now on........

spring break.....

ok, so while i am still off-work i have finalized spring break plans.......which may or may not include the following:

Philedelphia..including the Liberty Bell; Barnes Foundation, ?Valley Forge
Greater Delaware/Philly area- Longwood Gardens; Winterthur
Princeton- 3 days at Nassau Inn....train trip(s) to NYC- the new MOMA, Statue of Liberty, a nice lunch somewhere.......

the Nassau Inn in Princeton is only reasonable when booked online and in way-advance.....i wanted to stay there because it is right across the street and within walking distance of everything....and on the on-line way-in-advance price wasn;t much more than the semi-in-advance price we paid at the holiday inn many miles down the road......ah well.......having no trip to europe afoot makes spring break my raison d'etre, n'est-ce-pas?...tomorrow i will apply for visitation to the barnes foundation, which has strict limits on the number of folks who may travel to its residential locale......and then i will start planning that little day trip or two to nyc.......i am sure that we can find the train timetables on line.....both coming anf going.......but these things always take more time than they should...and i do not want to anticipate more sights than can be reasonably done....as cayle is going and she lacks the bataan death-march tourist gene......

lexington........

ok, so we are back home......6-7 later....after a grueling trip through traffic, long checkout lines, and other assorted waits.....as per usual, my mother insisted on taking us to red lobster.......as if it is the only restaurant worth our time and money........and as always there was a wait at the door, and a wait for our beverages, and a wait for the food...each course.....a truly starving person must bring a small snack just to tide oneself over during the timelapse.......so we went did search through leftover christmas goods.....i did not find any christmas cards i liked enough at 50% off to bother.....and at the mothership....joseph-beth bookseller...i could find nothing i wanted to read.......it was just one of those days when the convergence of bargains/great buys was not smiling generously upon me......nop music i cared to buy at cd central......the highlight was the last stop...at liquor barn, where i was delighted to find that my new favorite sauvignon blanc r h phillips, comes in a 1.5 liter bottle....and i did grab the last slice of bourcheron.....so life IS good, after all.......

yet another day off....

ok, so i have yet another day off.....this makes 5 in a row......quite astonishing for a new job.....and i only work tuesday, wednesday and thursday....as friday begins another 4-day holiday weekend.....i have actually had quite a bit of time off this year, mostly unpaid, but still away from work.......i had 2 weeks off last january, part of which was used to go to paris with clara and cynthia......and then there was spring break's swing around the eastern seaboard......and the wedding in washington dc in the summer, and the 2 weeks off between the restaurant and my new job......and then usual 3 day weekends, like memorial day, labor day.....and the odd days off, like election day, veteran's day......the christmas party day......i am beginning to see my life as too leisurely.......and i am considering my volunteer options......of course, the first things that come to mind are the ones that my mother dabbles in...bandages for haiti......a dubious product....scraps of cloth turned into bandages....even in haiti i am certain that doctors would use sterilized bandages rather than nonsterile strips of cloth if they had the choice.....further...i am also sure that the haitians would prefer uncut cloth than strips...if they needed strips they would have the option of cutting them...or the option of making the cloth into useful clothing.........so i have ruled out the whole haitian project that my mother is involved with......through her old church back in ohio......so what causes do i feel passionate about?......habitat for humanity...........planned parenthood.....the democratic party.....maybe i should email howard dean and volunteer my time in the rebuilding process.......that is something i feel strongly about......my sunday school class is gathering together toiletries to send to trooops in iraq....this so reminds me of a girl scout project we did in the late 60's....we made ditty bags and filled them with toiletries to send to our troops in viet nam.......wow.....maybe i should make ditty bags this time, too.....and embroider them with messages of peace and tolerance.......so much more time on my hands...so many options.....

alias.....

ok, so i have watched the series pilot, and episodes 1-6 of the 1st season........i did not actually see the beginning few episodes, so seeing them now clarifies a few little details.....my family has asked if i plan to watch them so thoroughly as to memorize dialogue.......this is not quite up to pride and prejudice standards......i will admit that much.....but i do enjoy the jetsetting thriller aspects if not the spy versus spy parts........ah well.......i did walk on the treadmill for the 1st 75 minutes.....then felt justified in sitting through til my family forced me to 'watch something else'.....granted....i go back to work tuesday...and i cannot watch all three seasons in that time.....i suppose...unless i pulled 2 allnighters........hmmmmmmmmmm

wi-fi

ok, so this afternoon our family went wi-fi.......which is impressive in that my spouse and my middle child spearheaded the entire operation themselves, with a little help from a help-desk somewhere in the greater bombay area.......they spoke bbc-brand english with the cadence peculiar to that subcontinent.........but the deed is done and works......now we have to figure out just where in the house the signal goes....and work on all of those security issues...lest we have a hot spot that enables internet junkies to park in front of the rose trellis...it could get crowded out there....and invite litigiousness......the roses are deadly if you get too close and your clothing and extremities will resemble those of professional cat-herders......lots of deep scratches.......and snags........maybe i better post a warning sign...beware of roses...just as a defensive precaution.................

finds.....

ok, so in the continuing search for the lost christmas book, i continue to find things i didn't know i had lost, things i didn't remember i had, and things i wish i could bring myself to throw away......one curious find.......a minibook of shakespeare quotations that i appear to have purchased from the Shakepeare's birthplace in Stratford-on-Avon......i was there is 1972 with my parents and my brother......and i have no recollection of buying this little book for 30 pence....but here it is, and i have enjoyed reading through it....the 1st installment is Ben Johnson's euology, done as a preface to a First Folio of Shakepeare's Works, published in 1623.......

To draw no envy on thy name,
am i thus ample to thy book and fame,
while i confess thy writings to be such,
as neither man nor muse can praise too much,

soule of the age,

Thou art a monument without a tomb,
and art alive still while thy book doth live,
and we have wits to read and praise to give

wow........ben johnson is almost as good with a turn of the word as the bard himself.....

lotr-extended......

ok, so most of us sat through all 4 hours of the extended version last night.....and such extra scenes!.......the best was the one with gimli and legolas in the great hall of rohan...during the big memorial celebration.....they are having a 2-person drinking contest......and as gmili is falling backwards off his chair from too many mugs of ale, legolas comments that he feels a slight tingle in his fingers......and then proclaims...'game over'...it was great fun......the romance between farimir and eowyn is really fleshed out int he extended version.....and includes their time at the healing place as well as a scene after the rohan feast where eowyn professes her love to aragorn only to have him turn her down.....so does peter jackson have any more unused clips.......so that he could release the even longer extended versions of each film in the trilogy........maybe call it the directors uncut version or some such...the exhaustive version......i would be a sucker for it......i can't seem to get enough.......happily we have so many new movies on hand after christmas that i will not be watching all 12 hours of extended versions any time soon.....but that day will come....maybe i will save for my next snow/ice day.......oh how i love public health..........

the wise man from the east....

ok, so my brother left this morning........and it has been a good visit......at dinner last night, with each child thanking him profusely for lavish gifts....they joked about him being the wise man who came from the east.......like a three-in-one wise man......gold, frankensense, myurh (sp)...on this trip turned out to be a dell laptop,a flatbed scanner/printer, a dell jukebox (like an ipod only dell), a nice cd player with detachable speakers, a 3-season alias box set,.........you get the picture....and though the classic spend-the-same-on-each rule was not applied, the receivers of each were thrilled despite the disparity.......scw is now set-up for college.......with computer equipment at least.....that's a hefty expense out of the way, and not from our pockets......now all we have to do is figure out the perfect graduation gift that will complement these fine gifts...maybe a palm that plays music and has wi-fi capability.....that would be cool for school, i suppose....though i must admit to a decided lack of coolness...ah well......maybe that is a gift for my list next year......

tear-jerking stories....

ok, so i am a sucker for a tear-jerker story........

ok, so i received all three seasons of alias on dvd....thanks santa...... 

more on michael.....

ok, so i foudn this article humerous....especially the part where mr moore has offered doctors big bucks to plant hidden cameras so they can catch on film corruption with regards to drug reps and prescription pharmaceuticals.....there is much truth to this....sadly so.....

beyond contempt....

ok, so somehow i was under the impression that reality tv had sunk as low as it could go....but i was wrong.......

ok, so boston has not only signed varitek for a nother 4 years, they also made himt he captain...that qualifies as a merry christmas gift...... 

frozen....

ok, so the turkey that i bought tuesday is still basically frozen, despite a 4-day thaw in the fridge.....so it is in the oven on a low temp anyway....with its little giblets affixed inside until such time that i am able to yank them out.....appropriate for the day...quite a chill has descended on central ky.....most of my family has settled into...watching the new bird feeder, which promised a squirrel-free haven for our little finches, chickadees, titmice, cardinals, etc.......this is a family (mostly) obsessed with keeping squirrels off the feeder...to the point that there are those who will throw open the windows and scream at the squirrels to startle them and cause them to fall off/jump off the old feeder.....but this new feeder guarenteed its anti-squirrel features.....we shall see....or rather...they shall see....the only reason the computer is free is because many of the potential internet users are watching the feeder........ah well.......better get myself another cup of coffee and take the chill off of my own cold old bones........

whatever happened......

ok so we sat up last night watching whatever happened to baby jane......a classic movie that we had never watched......wow....what a thriller......and poor joan crawford.......well, i guess she wasn't too innocent when you really got own to it......not quite the classic CHRISTMAS movie, but entertaining nevertheless.......

ok, so to all merry christmas........or happy holidays, whichever you prefer........at some point we will open presents...there is not a soul out of bed but the mm...go figure..... 

napoleon.....

ok, so we just laughed our way through napoleon dynamite.....which was so retro hilarious that we were in stitches........thinking back to the 80's...or was it supposed to be the 90's........the tater tots in the pocket was my favorite part........that, and the raw steaks...and the llama.......

obits.....

ok, so we are not supposed to open up the daily local paper and read about people we know....let alone people our own age......and thus it was a shock to read that mike z. age 49, plowed into the back of a garbage truck on his way home from work last night, and was killed instantly.....he never had time to brake....and surely never knew what hit him......omg......his children went to the other school district, and none were the exact age as any of ours.....but they did attend our church....and we have known them for 20 years.......goes to show that life is too short to waste our days.....

ok, so my eldest presented my middle with a small selections of cheeses as a gift...including a nice slice of boucheron.....and it is all i can do to keep my hands off of it......oh my but i love aged goat cheese...... 

ok, so i stole this picture from a bog....montmartre in winter......reminds me of this time last year....i was in montmartre for dinner during the first week of january.......not the best dinner i have had in paris....memorable because others had food i wish i had ordered...and my own choices were disappointing....the mussels i recall were overcooked and the frites were hard......but it was paris.....and i had many fabulous lunches on that trip...so all was well from the big-picture perspective......and we took the bus back to the hotel, right past the eiffel tower decked out in lights with a huge 2004 across the midsection...... 

ok, so this is my artful photo looking up the staircase at shakertown's main building...i am not sure if this was the men's or women's staircase.......nifty, eh? 

shakertown

ok, so last night my extended family gathered for our annual dinner at shakertown, a restored shaker village 9 miles away that has a nice dining room and good food. The Shakers did not necessarily endear themselves to the locals........most notable is the time when they fed the Union army as they headed Southwest toward Perryville, the site of yet another Civil War battle that draws reinactors on a yearly basis. The architecture at Shakertown is distinctive albiet segregated.......the Shakers so believed that the end of the age/return of Christ was coming any day, so they beleived in strict separation of the genders as a protecttion against procreation....no use having more children if the world as we know it was expecting upheaval any moment......therefore every structure has separate entrances for men and women, and every multistoried building has dual staircases.....and the food is simple but tasty....using original recipes......i am a big fan of the sweet gherkins and the pickled okra that they always pass with the relish bowl.....and the egg in aspic on anchovy toast appetizer.....the rest of my family leans toward the tomato celery soup....but last night scw ordered the egg as well......a proud moment for a parent.....several of our party ordered the country ham......thinly sliced smoked then boiled then baked ham that is salty and decidedly lean and firm. I had the catfish, mostly because i had never ordered it and i do so like fried fish.....i brought home the leftovers for acw.....i was somewhat disappointed that they didn;t serve the salsify casserole.....i really like salsify, a root vegetable that is quite unique....ah well......maybe next time.....we have enjoyed a pre-holiday dinner for years.......way back to the days when one or both children were in high chairs......it is a pleasure to see them move away from the kids menu on to more interesting fare......and then there was the potential d-i-l.....she looks so enamored of my son, and this is also reason to smile....she is bright, articulate, witty, and decidedly beautiful....what more can a mother want....... so today, i begin my shift as the cook for this clan....best get to work......

nap.......

ok, so on this stolen day i felt that a nap was appropriate........a nap timed to coincide with time that i would have been working......had i not been scheduled to work in the lone health department that closed today.....such a lovely nap it was, too.........but then, is there such a thing as a bad nap?.......

the sit-down kind of news.....

ok, so there is news that one reads in christmas cards...trips, job changes, the dog's new tricks........and then there is the sit-down kind.......the kind that our friends mary and john have.....they live in bozeman, wyoming....and have always spent their spare time training for marathons, hiking, skiiing, and the like.....and they are, as we speak, finalizing paperwork for their adopting 2 children (siblings aged 6 and 8) from kazakstan......omg.....these folks are in their early 50's,and have never had children.....this is BIG news.......but not that they want children or could manage to raise them well...not at all....the shock is in the timing....why now rather than years ago.......exciting stuff.....6 and 8......wow.......by the time that cayle graduates from high school i will be 59......somehow i doubt that my nest will feel so empty that i will start thinking of kazakstan....but i guess you never know....now THAT would be real sit-down news........

ok, so the following includes a woeful tale of a rotator cuff.......presumably my mother did not injure hers in the same manner....Red Sox Finalize $1.5M Deal With Miller
Thursday, December 23, 2004 1:30 PM EST
The Associated Press
By HOWARD ULMAN
The Boston Red Sox finalized a $1.5 million, one year-year contract with free agent pitcher Wade Miller on Thursday, one day after completing a $25.5 million, three-year deal with right-hander Matt Clement.
Miller can earn an additional $3 million in bonuses based on innings and roster time.
"They were his first choice," said Miller's agent, Bob Garber. "They were very aggressive. They outworked the other teams."
Miller was 7-7 with a 3.35 ERA in 15 starts this year before going on the disabled list June 29 with a season-ending rotator cuff injury.
 

ok, so my middle child had the wherewithall to prop up the narled redbud tree so that the coming icestorm would not cause it to break.....the curiously bent branch sprung from an ice storm years ago.......and we have grown fond of it's unusual shape......if you look closely you will note that a mop is holding up the middle portion.......thanks, scw..... 

the village voice.....

ok, so on my extra day off i have time to play....and so i am reading the village voice.....anticipating a trip to nyc....i enjoyed this little blurb from the 'best of' pages......Best pet communicator - GRETCHEN KUNZ
A self-proclaimed "interpreter between humans and their animals," GRETCHEN KUNZ uses her skill in "interspecies telepathic communication" to "tune to the right frequency" of problematic pets, including horses, fish, raccoons, and minks. For $35 per 20-minute phone session, she will explain to you, for example, why your cat urinates haphazardly. Although she establishes connections with animals via Reiki, shamanic training, and body scanning, she says, "In an ideal world I wouldn't be needed because people would be communicating with their animals all the time . . . "

pet communication is an art, just like origami and strudel-making........but for $35 for 20 minutes i really do think i could problem-solve any pet difficulties close enough for gov't work........maybe that can be my next career.....and then on snow days i could call in the tv stations with .....kcw's pet communications hotline is open despite the weather..........just put the mink's mouth up to the phone......

ok, so this story is interesting to me.....in that one really had to be thinking confederate flag when one saw this dress.....i think of the finnish flag, or some such.......LEXINGTON, Kentucky (AP) -- A teenager is suing her school district for barring her from the prom last spring because she was wearing a dress styled as a large Confederate battle flag.
The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court claims the Greenup County district and administrators violated Jacqueline Duty's First Amendment right to free speech and her right to celebrate her heritage at predominantly white Russell High School's prom May 1. She also is suing for defamation, false imprisonment and assault.
"Her only dance for her senior prom was on the sidewalk to a song playing on the radio," said her lawyer, Earl-Ray Neal.
Duty, 19, is seeking actual and punitive damages in excess of $50,000.
She said she worked on the design for the dress for four years, though she acknowledged that some might find the Confederate flag offensive.
"Everyone has their own opinion
 

kathy c-w doesn't have to go to work today

ok, so it finally happened...or close to it.....i finally work at a place that actually closes when the weather is bad.....and has enough sense to call the closing in to the television stations......this morning when i dragged myself out of bed.....and turned on the tv just in case...there it was...l.county health department closed thursday....wow!!!a 5-day vacation rather than just 4 days........of course...the ice and snow may prove nasty for our dinner plans, which involved andrew and michelle driving down from lexington to join us at shakertown's dining room......and my brother was driving in overnight....lord knows where he is in this scenario......surely he is safe and sound at some hotel and not trying to drive in an ice storm.....and cayle will be disappointed, as there is not really any snow, just ice and fine ice pellets.....not really suitable for sledding.....but i will take it just as it lays, with an extra paid day off.....with coffee in hand and broadband.....life is good......or at least while everybody else is asleep.....

harry potter....

ok, so i have marked July 16 on my calender.....and i may just have to take the next day off...so i can go ahead and read the newest addition cover to cover.......jkrowling has reportedly promised that the 6th book in her series of 7 will be shorter than the last...amen to that....and that someone major will get killed off......reminds me of bambi's mother, i suppose.....literature for kids with a major player killed off.......hopefully rowling has already started on the last book....so we can get on with the rest of our lives in peace......the waiting is driving my crazy.....who will get killed?...will harry end of up with Ginny Weasley (that is my prediction)...will Ron and Hermione end up together.....will Harry kill Voldemort in the end....will Harry survive to tell the tale.....will he graduate from Hogwarts?.......so many questions....for those who have neglected to read these books......they are not just for kids.....there is a lot of depth to each of them......i am a big fan....

alias.....

ok, so i am eagerly awaiting the return of alias on january 5...a 2hour special, by the way......the beginning of an abbreviated 9 episode season.......which i hope has already been filmed, as jennifer garner is reportedly expecting........with ben affleck.....they do make a cute couple, but my desire to see as much of the alias season as possible has me quite concerned.....as does the notion of jennifer garner having a baby without virtue of wedlock...she doesn't seem the type to settle for less than the wedding ring and the picket fence.......

contained hysteria

ok, so public health can really get things in high gear........when the weather COULD turn bad at any moment.......there is already a call list for people who are intending to work tomorrow....and i have been advised to contact l.county's director today to make sure that she knows how to contact me tomorrow should she close her clinic due to trecherous road conditions.......the deal is this...if the state tells you NOT to come in, they still have to pay you.....if you decide not to come in, you have to use vacation time.......so the ball is in their court, so to speak when such issues come up.......gentle readers, being from the north i am less of a nervous nelly about driving than most.....BUT all of the closing-in-on-hysterical talk i hear all day does wear down my resolve to come on in under any and all circumstances.......especially when the internet is easier to access than at home........no lines...no waiting.....all well, i will keep you posted on the gathering storm.....

wireless.....

ok, so over christmas we will be investigating all that goes into becoming a wireless household...now that at least one of us has a wireless-capable computer....the move seems justified.....as i understand it will allow more than one user on-line at a time......and with more than 1 user in the house at any given moment....well...you do the math.......so i am reading up on firewalls, routers, passwords, encryptions, and the like........oh my.......too much to know......reminds me of a book we discussed in english class way back in 1974...future shock it was called......the author predicted that technology would change our everyday lives so quickly that we could not emotionally keep up...hence the shock aspect......so what does one do for shock?.....medically one should keep warm and consume something sweet........i say amen to that cure.....

back to baseball.....

ok, so it seems that at least part of the red sox will be sold, traded, or free agented away to the new york......mets.....at least not the yankees...pedro martiniez has already committed, and now it seems that the mets have just enough money left over to trade for doug m.....the guy with the long slavic last name who the red sox just obtained from minnesota?.......my oh my...but things seem to change in the off-season......and so differently than in college sports, where you expect the seniors to move on (no longer do i believe that they actually graduate....) but in professional sports there seems to be little loyality, going in either direction.....is it too much to hope that spring training will reveal that the core of the world series winning team remains?........

madness......

ok, so the hours is playing on dvd.....and i am always amazed that more women did not go mad in the repressed eras that we claim to be passed.....the women at home eras and the women who are at home but write eras.....and the women who live with other women but mourn the man that got away eras.....so many eras....so few women that go mad......relatively, or overtly......or bonafide......so little madness, so much time.....that book, like that movie.....one of my favorite books is virgina woolf's a room of one's own....it makes me want to be someone who puts words to paper......heaven knows that i have many rooms i can call my own....i could take over the basement radon roon as my personal writing realm....and crown myself queen of all i see......wow...i like how that sounds...maybe i just needed to declare myself as ruler over all that i survey...how was it that seinfeld described it.......ah well....i have no plans for madness as long as i have decent white wine and a tolerable book to read.......

back in black...

ok, so we are back on line......fast and furiously so.....i came home to my middle child listening to the news en francais just streaming into our little computer room.........and to celebrate....the kroger had lox salmon 3 ounces for $2.36.....wow....scw and i polished it off before anybody else suspected it had been in the kitchen at all.......did i mention just how much i love smoked lox salmon?........with a bit of goat cheese on pepper crackers with a glass of crisp white from where-ever.......life is good......which reminds me.....i plan to use as many dot-dot-dots as i damn well please in the coming year, in case you were wondering.......

depoprovera......

ok, so the state of ky has panicked (sp) of late, given reports about the risk of bone loss in women who take the depoprovera-injection form of birth control for longer than 2 years........our clinic must decline to give the injection to any and all clients who have surpassed the 2 year mark....regardless of circumstance....such as girls who are taking the injection without parental knowledge......i have a hard time with this...as there is substantial risk of bone loss with young girls having babies......in addition to other irreversible side-effects and ramifications.......it is much easier to keep quiet about a 4-time a year injection than it is about pills...which can and will be forgotten and could be found by family members who do not approve/understand....etc......we really need a male version of depoprovera.....although the likelihood that men could be persuaded to take it is another subject altogether.....that reminds me..i have tasken over the task of filling up the basket in the lobby with condoms.....must make sure that everybody who wants them is stocked up for the holidays......

the winter solstice....

ok, so today is the winter solstice, which i shall celebrate with my friend gail, over a bottle of sauvignon blnac that i only bought because the store clerk suggested it to the lady in front of me at the check-out...we shall see......i am cheerful today despite having no vacation time that would allow me to not be here at all.......blah day...might as well get paid for being at work rather than laying aroudn the house waiting for christmas guests to arrive....neither my brother nor my eldest has arrived......not that my eldest will stay around long...as his girlfriend has family in both lexington and nicholasville.....and both have apartments in lexington.....we shall dine together once at least- thursday at shakertown...where the shaker lemon pie is tart to my liking....and the egg in aspic on anchovey toast is always a welcome appetizer.......

the red state to the north....

ok, so i heard from a friend from my home town......about what his triplets are doing these days.....and about his trip to the white house for the lighting of the christmas tree....he went with a good friend who used to be married to my next-door neighbor, which i suppose didn't work out if he took rob to the lighting and not his wife...... ..i suppose i knew rob was a republican......and i suppose i am not suprised that such a loyal OHIO republican would find himself at such a festive event......knowing the guy who used to be married to my neighbor.....he certainly didn't give enough money to warrant an overnight stay......HA...the thought makes me laugh.......

the new yorker

ok, so my spouse has reupped my favorite magazines.......an appreciated gift.....including the new yorker.....i was wondering if our subscription had already lapsed, though it is always renewed at christmas....because the doulbe year-end issue had not arrived....until yesterday......i had a good cry over this article despite the particulars being so different from our particulars.......cayle's birth mother not only knows where she is, she visits and calls.....unlike the adopted-out daughter in this bio......her mom seeks her out....and then it is her dad that she hasn't met, and will seek out at some point......the story is so emotional, maybe only so stirring to folks who have adopted, or have been adopted, or who relinquished custody.......there is a 'scene' in which the author, who is a published author, is signing her newest book at a bookstore, and her birthmother shows up unexpectedly........and the author asks her to leave because her adopted mother is there, and she has not yet figured out how to have 2 mothers in the same room........of course, i was already teared up by that point int he story......i have beentheredonethat...and will surely do it again....and it is neither easy nor desirable from my standpoint.....but curiously so for our daughter who seems to relish all the attention she can get.....from every parent she can muster......i suspect that she fantasizes about her birth father.....about where he is and what he looks like...and hopes beyond hope that he will come looking for her before she looks for him.....hope springs eternal, and it is these hopes however farfetched that get us out of bed in the mornings........at this point in our mutual relationship, we are getting along better than we ever have, so one can consider this tome as looking at a glass half empty when it is really half full.......as these tales go.....

those cable guys.....

ok, so those cable guys have yet to show up.....partially because they were waiting on us to call them back after they did a site evaluation......one would think since the cable cokpany was the party who had to make a move, that they would have called us....go figure....and the price they quoted was assuming that we were wired for cable already......imagine their shock to discover that our home is NOT wired for cable....the lady on the phone was reportedly close to speechless at the thought that someone in america did not have cable.........we will not be getting actual cable service out of this deal......we took a vow, and we are sticking to it......bottomline..we credit our family of readers to the lack of distraction from junk television.......

buy blue...

ok, so i heard about this site on npr.....



I knew there was a reason why i couldn't bring myself to shop at walmart.....

the party...

ok, so saturday night my spouse and i ventured out to one of those crowded holiday parties......only to find that it was catered by TRC........and the bartender was none other than my friend Gail....and the soon-to-be-owner was hostessing.......well, i rounded up my spouse and we introduced ourselves to her directly......and encouraged her to move forward with the deal asap.....she seems perfectly decent....and young....and attractive in the ways that a person vying for business in a competitive market needs to be......she will do fine....and i will sleep better...when the ink is on the signature line.......we did have a nice time....several of our closer friends were there, as well as parents of classmates to each of our children.....we had received a christmas letter from friends in columbus, ohio...who worked very hard on kerry's campaign, and whose letter reflected their abiding disappointment....in speaking of them to danville friends....and mentioning that these columbus friends are the most liberal people we know......the comment was made that we are 'the most liberal people' that the commenter knows...i take that as a complement, by the way.......ah well....it was good to get out.....and good to go home without overeating....i didn't touch a thing on the buffet.....mostly because i have prepared said recipes so much that i am immune to their charms.......gentle readers, pray for closure in this restaurant sale.......

cold turkey.......

ok, so not having internet access at home...until the cable guys come.... has forced me to make other arrangements.....so far i have not gone back tot he office to get online...but that may cross my mind tomorrow morning when i am in my jammies and witchy to blog......of course, having children who also like to be online has cut back on my access......which is why i get up early...to have a bit of time without...mom, when can we get on....?.....ah well.....those cable guys will surely show up soon.....

potential trips.....

ok, so i am again amusing myself with the planning of potential trips.......for spring break.....i am comtemplating another eatsern seaboard jaunt.....beginning with philedelphia......the barnes foundation as well as the liberty bell, then on to longwood gardens and winterthur......and then maybe a short stay in princeton with day trips to nyc by train.......i want to see the newly rennovated moma.....ironically, i have never been to philly.....despite having been to 46 of the 50 states and paris too many times to admit at this point.....but never to see the liberty bell or freedom hall......i had planned on seeing winterthur and longwood last spring break......but seeing schools took precedent....and my fantasy sidetrips just didn't happen........i will have to make reservations now for the barnes...due to the daily limit on visitors...i have seen a traveling exhibit of selected paintings....at the musee d'orsay...but relish a trip to the mothership, especially since the controversy over staying in the original building or moving downtown has gotten so much press.......ah well.....i can visit the barnes collection in philly, and wish i was in paris......

devil's haircut....

ok, so on my way home from stanford yesterday i decided that i really needed a haircut...i dropped into a 'drop-in' place and was immediately treated to the full haircut experience by a 50-ish woman with aubergine highlights.....who carried on a conversation with a guy from the sherriff's office about drug busts at the other local high school...while she resisted cutting my hair as short as i intended.......her attention to me came in short outbursts...such as 'you don't have near enough grey to start coloring..i only a few strands from this end'.......gentle readers, i had not asked the question about grey, having enough issues to worry about already without the reality of growing old added to the list......ah well......maybe i will just get the same aubergine highlights to cover those pesky grey hairs......

happy birthday....

ok, so today's is jane austin's birthday.....jane, my favorite author.......oh how i love her sense of irony, satire, and wit...impressive for a turn of the 19th century author......i am hard pressed to say which of her 6 published works that i love the best.......or which of her numerous characters........i must reread each just opne more time before i commit something so difficult as a favorite austin.......

more poor timing....

ok, so timing couldn't have been worse for this art dealer....
Forged Gauguin exposes artful dodger

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Wednesday December 15, 2004
The Guardian


Double trouble... the scam was exposed when both the original and the forged versions of Gauguin's Vase de Fleurs came up for auction at the same time

It seemed the simplest of scams. Art dealer Ely Sakhai, owner of a respectable New York gallery, purchased paintings at auction, concentrating on the impressionists and post-impressionists. He then had forgers copy the works by artists such as Renoir, Gauguin and Chagall.
The copies were sold as originals to buyers in the far east before Sakhai disposed of the originals at auction. It was a lucrative arrangement for the dealer, netting him an estimated $3.5m (£1.8m).

But the 52-year-old Iranian-born dealer's scheme came unstuck when both the original and a forgery of the same painting came to auction at the same time.

This week he pleaded guilty to the fraud and agreed to pay $12.5m in restitution and to forfeit 11 paintings. He also faces up to five years in prison.

"He has decided to resolve his difficulties with the government and get this behind him," Sakhai's lawyer, Frederick Hafetz, said. Sakhai, who will be sentenced in July along with his office manager, could have faced up to 20 years in prison.

The fraud spanned 15 years and involved works by artists including Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Klee and Paul Gauguin. Sakhai is thought to have perpetrated the fraud with 25 paintings.

Two dealers confronted him after he sold them an alleged forgery of Monet's Le Mont Kolsas. As compensation he offered them nine paintings by artists including Renoir and Cézanne. These were also fakes, it is alleged. Sakhai then offered a genuine Chagall - Le Roi David dans le Paysage Vert, having allegedly sold the forgery to a dealer in Taiwan.

But Gauguin's Vase de Fleurs proved Sakhai's undoing. The dealer bought the painting in the 1990s and had a copy made, according to court documents. He sold the copy, using the original documentation as proof of its provenance, waited a few years, then sold the original.

But in 2000, both the original and the copy came up for auction at the same time: the fake at Christie's in New York and the original, offered by Sakhai, at Sotheby's. Christie's withdrew the fake from sale, but Sotheby's continued with the sale of the original on behalf of Sakhai. It fetched £169,000.

Although Sakhai closed his Manhattan gallery following his arrest, he has since opened a new gallery in Long Island, offering a range of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings for sale.

lack of overlap.....

ok, so we have committed to cable highspeed internet, just as our dial-up contract ended.....and alas......there is that little problem with timing......the cable poeple have yet to arrive to install said cable...which is only a problem for families without cable.......and our dialup contract ended at midnight last night.......so we have internet access only at work/school/bike shop for the foreseeable future.....forgive me, gentle readers.....

that christmas feeling.....

ok, so i barely slept a wink last night, i was so keyed up about the marvelous college acceptance letter....and i was reminded that one rarely feels this way anymore......that really positive angst that one used to have the night before christmas...anticipating all good things to the point that sleep was impossible......ah....such a good feeling to recapture, if one didn't have to work the next day........

ok, so i won't be going across this bridge any time soon, and this has everything to do with my fear of heights, not the fact that i am not in france.......MILLAU, France (AP) -- Piercing the sky above the verdant hills of southern France, a stunningly modern roadway bridge hailed as the tallest in the world was officially inaugurated Tuesday.
Celebrated as a work of art and an object of French national pride, the Millau bridge will enable motorists to take a drive through the sky -- 270 meters (891 feet) above the Tarn valley for a 2.5 kilometer (1.6 mile) stretch through France's Massif Central mountains.
Designed by British architect Norman Foster, the steel-and-concrete bridge with its streamlined diagonal suspension cables rests on seven pillars -- the tallest measuring 340 meters (1,122 feet), making it 16 meters (53 feet) taller than the Eiffel Tower.
The bridge, which has an airy and fluid appearance, was designed to have the "delicacy of a butterfly," Foster said in an interview with regional daily newspaper Midi Libre.
 

elephant's graveyard.....

ok, so the cupboard above the pantry has turned out to be the elephant's graveyard.....where both new and used gift bags, tissue paper, partially used packages of cocktail napkins, odd notecards...and the like have gone to pss their collective days....not necessarily to die.........when i removed them to the official gift bag/wrapping paper are of yet another closet.....there was lots of room, but no book........i also my little brother's christmas gift, a really cute picture album that i must have purchased for cayle and then stowed away......and several unused cookie tins.......i also removed all of the boots, bags, and umbrellas from the bottom of the coat closet......no book.........i bet the princeton library has a copy....maybe the boy can wait a few months.........

amen, amen, and amen

ok so i am the parent of a student in the princeton class of 2009. amen, amen, and amen.......

cocoon.....

ok, so last night i dragged out the feather comforter.......anticipating the cold weather that descended as promised.......when i get home today i will stuff it into the duvet-cover........but for at least 1 evening it was on top of everything else.....and made the bed into a virtual cocoon...of cozy proportions.......too cozy to get up without a strggle this morning........hard to imagine that the comforter has held up so well....it was made out of several of my grandmother's feather ticks......when we got married 23 years ago......so the feathers are at least that old and possibly 50+ years old, if my grandmother started her own housekeeping with them....though i suspect that she simply saved chicken feathers over the years, and made ticks as she had enough to fill each adequately.........such a luxury...a feather comforter.........

optimistic answer......

ok, so i spent most of sunday searching my house for the lost book........still in its padded mailing bag......opened to make sure that it was something i had ordered, then hidden til birthday/christmas...........i thought i would focus on what i DID find while i searched, rather than what i didn't locate......so here goes.....i DID find stocking stuffers that i bought while in princeton, NJ's campus art museum......i had forgotten all about those......just like i had forgotten about the matted photograph that i had purchased way last summer.....and the needlepoint pieces tat my aunt finished for me that have yet to be blocked and put on te dining room chairs........i also found the missing pearl earring (yipeeeeeee) which has alluded me for months......i also got together a bag or 2 of stuff for the goodwill.....and straightened up mu closet.....noy a bad day in that light............and...if i go ahead and buy another book online...it still has time to arrive bu christmas.....and that purchase will assure that i find the lost copy......probably a cheap solution at the price......

extended versions......

ok, so i am a devotee of extended versions......and having ordered the 3rd as a gift...i cannot wait until christmas to watch the final installment of extra scenes..........this afternoon most of us watched the 1st extended version of the lotr..........i suppose we will watch #2 sometime this week, and maybe do it all again before the gift in question is unwrapped and inserted into the player.......is this not a time-honored scam/strategy......buy for others what you really want for yourself?...........

amarcord......

ok, so last night we gathered with a small group of our friends to watch fellini's amarcord........a curious film made in 1974, but set in 1937 italy, complete with fascists........i liked the mamma....miranda was her name........and she could be especially touching and curiously mean.........well, that is a combo i am said to understand quite well......we watched with english subtitles....and i enjoyed istening to the brisk italian almost as much as the film's action about life in a small town.......but at some point the subtitles disapeared and we couldn't make them come back....and we were forced to watch the remainder of the movie with dubbed english........dubbed english never matches the lips of the actors.....and that obviously detracted......oh well.......i also liked the part when the 15 year old son of the featured family, as well as his friends, are led into some sort of 'open' confession with the parish priest.....and the priest basically questions them each relentlessly about just what parts of their bodies they have 'touched'........that probably happpened to somebody, so i suppose it is only funny if it never happened to you.............

thoughtfulness.....

ok, so our eldest came home yesterday long enough to celebrate the middle's birthday, and he brought along a thoughtful gift........a cd of poetry read by the original authors........like gertrude stein reading a poem to/about picasso......james joyce reading something i was not familiar with....there are numerous others....i was especially touched that he included robert frost reading the poem that inspired my soon-to-be-ex-business name 'two roads'..........two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry i could not travel both......you remember, don't you.........it was special to hear it from the lips of the man who created that sentiment........

getting to be sooooooo old.......

ok, so i consider myself officially old when i buy gifts early, then forget where i have hidden them.....not necessarily alzheimers, but adequately ancient......i went so far as to confirm the purchase, which was done on-line.....because even though i can recall opening the brown padded paper mailing bag, i had my doubts that the memory was real or imagined......maybe i could describe the book because i had seen it on display at joseph-beth....but mostly i can recall being in a hurry to stow it......so that means i must search every nook and cranny big enough to hide a book in a padded bag......and gentle readers that is a lot of places.......all is not lost...the book can still be given for christmas......but that is not the point, is it?..........

raspberry cake...

ok, so while i sit waiting on the birthdaycake to come out of the oven, i thought i would go ahead and share the recipe....

1 box white cake mix
1 small box raspberry jello...the regular kind/not sugarfree
1 12-oz bag frozen red raspberries
1 cup oil
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a mixer, and beat on medium speed until the raspberries are crushed and the mixture looks like blueish-red muck......creativity is not for the squeemish.......pour into a springform pan that has been coated with cooking spray, then dusted with flour. Bake for just about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.....this takes forever.....be patient........remove from oven and let cool completely. If there is time, remove carefully from the pan, wrap in plastic and freeze....this cake frosts better when it is really cold.....we prefer cream cheese frosting....the kind in a can is just fine.....enjoy!

ok, so this is just one more reason to book a flight to paris...PARIS -- Holiday on ice takes on new meaning when you're high above Paris doing figure eights inside the Eiffel Tower.
In the Eiffel Tower's 115 years, it has added refreshment stands, trinket shops and fancy restaurants -- but nothing quite matches the skating rink in the sky that opened to the public Friday.
On an observation deck 188 feet above ground, the ice rink adds a new dimension to the breathtaking views from the French capital's best-known landmark.
''It's just magical. You see the whole city differently,'' said Finnish guest Hanna Patila, 20.
The rectangular rink is a little larger than a tennis court. It holds 80 skaters at once. Part of the idea behind it is to boost interest in Paris' candidacy for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
 

ok, so i enjoyed this article about the valuable carving used by the couple as a memorial to their cat...A 1,000-year-old limestone carving which lived at the bottom of an elderly couple's garden as a memorial to their cat has been sold for more than £200,000.


Johnny and Ruth Beeston had no idea of the value of the historic piece which marked the resting place of Winkle, a stray tabby they adopted.
Mr Beeston, a stonemason who found the slab in a quarry years ago, thought it would make a nice headstone and nothing more.
But today the medieval carving soared way above its estimated asking price of between £40,000 and £60,000 when it was bought by a private collector.
It was sold at Sotheby's auction house in London for £175,000, but with the buyer's premium added it cost £201,600.
The Oolithic limestone carving shows a half-length figure of St Peter with his right hand clasped to his chest and two fingers raised in benediction.
It is thought to be part of a larger panel
 

you say it's your birthday.......

ok, so today, december 11 is the 18th birthday of my middle child.......it is a mother's perogative to be wistful on such days..especially when it seems that time gets away from us so quickly....i especially enjoyed the horoscope for today's birthday in the danville paper: You Born Today: You are an intense, thoughtful person whi is serious about what you value. You're extremely goal-oriented and purposeful. You are also physically energetic. This is a powerful combination and makes you influential in your world. You always recover from drastic setbacks because you have an indomitabel spirit. Focus on your closest partnerships this year. Wow....that is our boy in a nutshell.....and may I mention that our child shares this day with another December 11 birthday boy...Senator John Kerry, who also resembles that lofty description......we as a family joked at supper last night that if Kerry's closest partnership is with a rich ketchup heiress, then maybe there is a rich mustard heiress out there waiting for our boy........

tedium....

ok, so it is friday night, and i am spending my free time downloading adobe reader version 6.1...just so i can download the results of the knowledge master open......a computer-based academic competition that occurs worldwide in december and march for elementary, middle and high schools.....for the record.....danville high school's team of 15, from a school of 490 students......placed 8th in the nation, as well as 1st in the state.........i only know this because it is posted on the school marquee.....when i tried to cut and paste the results, i found that my version of adobe reader was lacking.....and with dial-up it will take over an hour to download....you understand the depth of my frustration.......anyway...i was not surprised that this feat was not reorted by the local paper, which must make room for the dual losses in football at the state level......ironic, in that highlands, which beat boyle county soundly on saturday...only placed 8th in the state in this academic competition......but we will not see this anywhere in print, due to the logistics of adobe version 6.1......and a local press interested in selling sports over brains.......i am biased, but this is the status quo.....i would tell you how the team placed globally, but i must wait another hour at least for adobe to download.......

ok, so is this cabinet worth as much as the recent auction price?.....LONDON, England (AP) -- The 18th-century Badminton Cabinet has broken its own record as the most expensive piece of furniture sold at an auction, fetching more than £19 million ($36 million) at a sale.
Johan Kraeftner, director of the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna, Austria, paid £19,045,250 ($36,829,704), including the buyer's premium, at a Christie's auction in London Thursday.
Kraeftner bought the cabinet on behalf of Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein, for the museum.
The Badminton Cabinet set its previous record when it sold for £8.58 million ($16.59 million) at a Christie's auction on July 5, 1990.
It was offered for sale Thursday by Barbara Piasecka Johnson, the billionaire widow of a Johnson & Johnson heir. She has homes in Monaco and Princeton, New Jersey.
 

laptop warming...no warning...............

ok, so this on-line news story was intriguing.......
New medical research is about to hit the technology industry below the belt; a provocative U.S. study has concluded that the last place any male should use a laptop computer is in his lap. Research published yesterday in the journal Human Reproduction has found that laptops, combined with the thighs pressed-together posture needed to balance them, give off enough heat to raise the temperature inside testicles by nearly three degrees celsius.

This increase, researchers warn, could endanger the production of healthy sperm and lead to infertility.

"Some people don't use laptops on their laps, but a lot of young men, or boys, have all these wireless services and they do use them on their laps to play games or do all sorts of things . . . and this is a continuous heat exposure. . . . But in 10 or 20 years, when they try to have a family, they might have problems," said study leader Yefim Sheynkin, a urologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

So where should men put a laptop?

"Use it on a desk," he said. "Anywhere but on the lap."

alias....

ok,so in the midst of my l.county cohorts describing their perfect christmas gift ideas.....i disclosed that what i really want is the 3 seasons of alias on dvd....at which point the only non-nascar clerk stood and applauded...and said...i knew there was something about you i liked......it turns out that she is a huge alias fan.....and we dabbled away the rest of the work day discussing potential plt lines...and whether or not we believe lauren is really dead.........which brings me to alias, as in other name....andrew called tonight....and cayle announced him as andy.....which caught the rest of us off guard...as he is NEVER andy........we have gone 20 years without noticable deviation from the given name.....and we are not about to start now.....no alias no nicknames nothing but what is written on the birth certificate.......or so we would like to think........even andrew admits that he allows his roommates to call him c-dub.........

nascar gifts......

ok, so i spend i day a week farmed out to a sister health department.......in l.county....and today the topic of conversation was.....nascar gifts....where to buy what for the holidays......gentle readers, i must explain from the get-go that l.county, ky is gag-ga over nascar.....even the mcdonald's has a nascar theme........and so it was not surprising that the clinic clerks started in talking about nascar driver-themed fishing poles ($19.95) at the danville walmart supercenter......with instructions as to which aisle in the store.........there was even discussion as to which earnhardt....the father (who is dead) or the son (who is not) was on the fishing pole in question.....oh my......

ok, so this story is upsetting....NEW YORK (Reuters) -- He was a movie star who resided on Manhattan's tony Upper East Side, drawing a devoted crowd of followers who gathered daily to catch a glimpse of him.
But on Tuesday, that star -- a famous red-tailed hawk known as Pale Male who built his nest above a cornice of an apartment building overlooking Central Park and was the subject of a documentary movie -- was evicted.
The nest where Pale Male and his companions had resided since 1993 was removed along with the metal spikes that provided support for the nest and protected it from the wind.
The action outraged bird lovers, including actress Mary Tyler Moore, who lives in the same building as the hawk.
"I am just amazed at the insensitivity ... of people who have torn away a nest that had been used for 10 years by an extraordinary red-tail hawk," Moore said.
Moore attributed the decision to complaints over "the occasional bird droppings" that the hawks produced.
The building's management company said of the nest removal, "It was a researched and thought-out decision on the part of the building."

 

ok, so i appreciated the loyal opposition's online publishing of this photograph, which i took at the chapel of ronchamp in january of 2002.......the dove is a peace memorial to the opposition foeces who fought the germans during the occupation and the war......i recall the day as bucolic.....despite the tight squeeze through the medieval gateways and the icey roadways....it was also the day when we found the classic beggars sign that promised that the bearer would microwave one's dog if money was not donated forthwith (en francais, of course....)......this sign was found outside the musee unterlinden (sp)..........and is now framed and hangs in andrew's apartment........for the record....scw is on the left, petra is in the middle and rachel is on the right.... 

mm's morning off....

ok, so i had the whole day off, but there was no illiteration to be had in whole versus morning.......ah well.........i had an incredibly productive morning of cleaning, exercise and catharsis......swept several bags of stuff into the donation area awaiting transport off premises.....lunch took longer than i had planned.....but was enjoyable.....a 'country style' buffet in a restored 'high school' in lawrenceburg...must have been a private school circa 1900 or so........there was a historical marker commemerating wwI dead in the yard........i did have a lively conversation with my boss, who is a black northern liberal originally from philedelphia.......he is secretly working on his ph.d....and we do not expect him to stay for the long haul........i hit 2 out of the 4 goodwills that i had targeted, and the liquor barn and the kroger.......before heading home......i especially enjoy perusing the wine racks.....deciding what the markup must be on these bottles having spent time studying wholesale pricelists.....at some point one must just buy something because one cannot get the pricing retail that one could get in the trade........today it was sauvignon blanc...i have tired for a bit of chardonnay...it happens.......and then it was home to watch the bourne supremacy.......a compelling film despite the deriliction from the book.......one wonders just where the bourne millenium will go as to plot.....that is the next possible installment.....which cannot go as written given that the wife whose children are kidnapped in book 3 is killed off in movie 2........obviously the screen writers didn't have the sense to read the series before launching into kill-off subplots......but i digress........i have great belly laughs over signage today....as i drove into lawrenceburg, there was a small cemtarey on left called woodlawn hills.....and it was completely flat.....what a hoot.........but then i am easily amused.....

yet another day off............

ok, so i have today off, except for lunch with my workmates.........at a historical bed and breakfast in lawrenceburg......the morning off...and the afternoon off......not bad....i plan to walk this morning....and take in a few far-flung goodwills in the afternoon......you just never know what you will find in a goodwill, because people throw out the most outrageous things.......often with the original tags.......why not take advantage on an extra afternoon away from work in pursuit of quality clothing priced at $2.50 per piece?..........i am tired of christmas shopping...though my home audience values a bargain almost as much as i and would not be disappointed to receive a gem from a goodwill.....heavens sakes...it was andrew who got me interested after all of the years i resisted my mother-in-laws suggestions that i shop there regularly.......she seemed to bring home junk, but andrew appeared to find polo shirts and structure sweaters.....big difference.......and the endgame is worth repeating....every dollar i do not spend on clothing is applicable to travel.......amen....by the way, i read online that the american diabetes association is sponsoring a 3 day study/workshop in orvieto, italy that focuses on the mediteranean diet and the control of diabetes.....it is being held near/on an italian government sponsored research 'farm'.......sounds like a tax deductible trip worth investigating........

ok, so i thought i have been doing,my part.....with tubes of colgate in 3 bathrooms, plus a 4th in lexington......4 tubes per family should add up over time....it is the only toothpaste we like...so it is with distress that i read that colgate s laying off 10% of its workforce in a move to be more competitive against proctor and gamble......whose toothpaste flavor (crest) i will not even buy on deep discount......now in these parts it is considered somewhat heretical to fail to support p&g...they are based in cincinnati.....much at u of c where both of us went to grad school was funded by generous grants from p&g........the gambles actually owned a farm here in boyle county...the very one now owned by rick dees.....but that just brings us back to a consumer-driven market.......the customer still gets to decide.....and so here's one consumer hoping that her favorite toothpaste can survive the current shakeup...... 

rose bowl....

ok, so something is wrong with the system when texas is set to play michigan in the rose bowl on january 1......nevermind that michigan is playing...they earned the right by winning the big ten.....but texas......?........the big ten champ is to play the pac 10 champ.....end-of-story......not anybody else.......of course i must cheer for texas.....as any team that beats michigan is a worthy opponent in my eyes......but...there is tradition to uphold...and it should be southern cal in that game.........

small favors.....

ok, so serial readers to this blog might note that historically i have been in near hysteria at this time of year over the impending visit of my youngest child's birth mother.......well....this year she opted not to come before christmas......and thus i have 1 fewer issue over which to obsess.....and that is a wonderful gift.....one less obsession.......for so many reasons........mostly because the lack of a visit allows us to have a seamless season......from thanksgiving to christmas to new years without disruption of any kind.......without drama......without the disneyland parent stuff....oh my.....you have no idea unless you have actually been there.......i change my original notion...it is a mighty big favor indeed......

glimpse of the future?.......

ok, so today i worked with a mother with 2 children...the youngest was a heathen....about 1 years of age,blonde with mischief in his eyes and the speed to get into every drawer and cubbyhole in my office before i could stop him.....his older sister was strawberry blonde with fair skin...bright disposition...who looked to me just like my older child's girlfriend must have looked as a child......and i experienced a feeling that i have never felt before....like i was looking at the future....like i could have a grandchild just like her at some point....my........and i had these feelings without the notion that i must be getting old.......and certainly without the wish for the future to be now...........it was just a feeling...and i have gotten over it..........of course, glimpse of the future was the basis of the movie we watched last night...family man with nicolas cage and tea leoni....i really like that movie...being in the homebody state myself rather than the nyc bigwig scenario that cage discovers was shallow at best........there is nothing like family life to add meaning to one's existence......

cake......

ok, so we got on the subject of birthday cake at lunch yesterday........stephan has requested raspberry cake for his birthday (saturday 12/11.......18 already....). Cayle asked if i could guess the kind of cake she likes on her birthday....that one is easy...carrot cake......of course, with my spouse, i know that he likes yellow cake with white icing.....and sometimes i deviate and make lemon cake with white icing.....because lemon cake IS yellow........and then there is my preference...i asked who could guess my favorite cake......trick question that fooled nobody.....'mamma doesn't care for cake' offered Cayle........it is not that i don;t LIKE cake, i will certainly eat a bite or two or three......i just prefer to spend my calories on different things......like a nice birthday bag of salt and vinegar potato chips..........now, that is a real celebration food........

alice, let's eat....

ok, so it's the birthday of author and journalist, Calvin Trillin, born in Kansas City, Missouri (1935). Trillin attended Yale, and, in 1963, became a staff writer for The New Yorker. Trillin's wife, children, and parents are often the subject of his lighthearted reflections. His books, such as Travels with Alice (a travel journal of a European tour taken with his wife), and Family Man (a celebration of Trillin's life as a son, father, and husband), are hysterical and touching accounts of the world as Trillin sees it. His father, Abe, ran a restaurant, and often wrote humorous aphorisms for the menu: "Don't sigh, Eat Pie." When asked what his late father would have wanted for him in this life, Trillin responded with the following: "He thought any American boy could grow up to be president, so there was some presidential pressure. His fall-back position was that I not be a ward of the county........trillin wrote one of my favorite books on food....alice, let's eat.....a series of essays that includes an endearing one set in western ky, where he is searching for both mutton barbeque......and trying to avoid being given a crusty country ham......i don't much know about mutton barbeque, but a crusty ham prepared well is a wonderful thing.......and as an entertainer, trillin put the a in ascerbic..........just the kind of prose i prefer......

ok, so while Jason Giambi testified about his use of steroids and faces a future with his reputation tarnished, Giants all-star Barry Bonds has managed to keep his mostly intact, as well as preserve the records he has set......despite his steroid abuse......so how fair is that........if bonds performance was/is tainted by illegal drugs.........i say that his records must reflect that taint......of course, mlb is also to blame, for not requring the same random drug testing that all other sports require.......particularly in light of the poor example they are setting for youth.......
 

disbelief.....

ok, so we arrived early for my mom's appointment....and were forced to shop for an entire hour at a joann fabric outlet......in which a woman presented a thin bolt to the clerk and aked for 3 yards.......there was a gasp from the crowd....as those in attendence who sew knew instinctively that there was not 3 yards on the bolt........martha would have known......has life as we know it gone sour now that martha is behind bars............

wwjd.......

ok, so today.....i passed by no fewer than 3.....bible book outlets......and i ask you, gentle readers.....wwjd......well....he'd pass by the cut rate outlets...because if you are not willing to pay full price for jesus........

baseball schedules...

ok. so i have combed through the 2005 schedules.....and the lcosest that the boston redsox will be to danville, ky is.....cleveland or st louis........the cincinnati reds play boston...in boston......and nobody in chicago plays boston at home.......so..do i want to drive to cleveland this summer.................

petra....for three more weeks.....

ok, so imagine my surprise,...driving douth on i-71...just past walnut hills high school...the alma mater of my spouse.....a billboard.....with the photo of a carved woman's face....and the larger than life words.....petra....3 more weeks.......of course....it was an exhibit from petra...in jordan.......and had nothing to do with the petra we know.....but it still gave us pause......

there.....and back again.....

ok, so today i drove to columbus, ohio.......and back again.......on a single tank of gas......and numerous shopping digressions.....the highlights are as follows.......seeing the newly rennovated osu horseshoe stadium....complete with a new upper deck......it was really neat to see, although the likelihood of me scoring a ticket to any future game is in doubt unless i endow a chair or make some other major contribution.........the west side of columbus that i really never saw when i attended school on the 'high street'....midtown.....the coolkids lived there.......and that happens to be where my mother's surgeon practices.......well.....now i know just what is in upper arlington.........lots of stores that look just like stores everywhere else........the surgeon's office was down the street from a starbucks, a home depot, an office max.....you get the picture.......another highlight was the pottery barn outlet in washington courthouse (not jeffersonville......those are NOT the best outlets....)..if ever i have need of reasonably priced stuff for a new apartment....i would drive back there in a heartbeat......great prices....neat stuff.......i didn't buy any of the neat stuff........and i actually talked my mother out of buying me a set of christmas china because..........christmas is the only time i get out the german china i inherited from my grandmother.....and though i do not like it i do enjoy talking about how much i dislike it on a yearly basis..........i also mediated on the buying of ill-suited christmas gifts...for which my family SHOULD be eternally grateful.........if i was truly as mean as advertised i would have gone along with these choices and had a good laugh on christmas morning.....but even i am not that mean..........the downside of the trip was the traffic.....and having to cross the little miami bridge twice........it is a really high-above-the-water bridge.....and it terrifies me each and every time i have to cross it....i am certain that my blood pressure goes up....and my pupils dilate........and i clutch the wheel........few bridges get that much of a rise out of me.........ah well........i am back home....and have a glass of australian white in hand....and life is good.......until she has her surgery in january.....i'll keep you posted.....

rightwing lies......

ok, so this was online this morning....and sadly there may be some right-wingers who believe their own propaganda....

Abstinence only sex education courses lie to youngsters with scary ‘facts'
03 Dec 2004


Some federally funded abstinence sex education courses tell youngsters that 50% of all American teenage gay men are HIV positive, touching someone's genitals can make you pregnant and abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, says the Washington Post. This is according to a congressional staff analysis.

The study was ordered by Henry Waxman, Californian Congressman. It studied 13 abstinence sex education courses - all of them federally funded. Millions of children throughout the USA have been on these courses (aged 9-18). The Bush administration is injecting $170 million into these courses during 2005.

According to the Washington Post, 11 of the studies contained information that was completely untrue and made subjective conclusions from these false statements.

The courses stated that ‘condoms fail in 31% of cases of heterosexual sex'. Some of the courses went on to say that a fetus is a thinking person when it is just 43 days old. Many of the courses claimed that you can catch HIV from a person's tears.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Waxman said he is not against the idea of abstinence courses, but he is against using lies.

In an email received from Medical News Today, a health expert wrote ‘Are we going back to the days when priests told young boys not to masturbate because you could go blind? Is this the kind of sex education we want for our kids?”

columbus......

ok, so today i am driving to columbus and back.........ferrying my mother to a surgeon's appointment near osu........she seems determined that her shoulder surgery must be done in columbus.......and happily the state of kentucky allows direct relatives to use sick time for such medical occassions.......we will probably stop at the outlets on the way up and/or the way back....their are really nice outlets in jeffersonville, ohio........gap/ralphleauren/eddiebauer etc.........the drive will be challenging, but as long as i stick to safe topics.....the weather, the health failings of relatives, my brother's workaholic nature, my mother's health, her pets, and geneology......and avoid politics/religion/sexualorientation/popularentertainment
we will get along just fine........the nice thing about traveling with my mom is that there is little need for me to speak at all......just a nod now and then is sufficient......or at least until she runs out of script.....it is like she saves up every opinion for the outing..........i love her dearly, but i am preparing myself mentally for the journey anyway.........

goodbyes.....

ok, so iwas saddened to read in the church bulletin that one of my favorite couples has moved to missouri to be closer to their son.....the elfranks must be in their late 80's, but faithfully attend all church functions come rain or shine.....and seem to glow with brotherly love at all times.......of course, it is mr elfrank who is dearer to my heart.....he never fails to address me as kathy crown......not the fuller, more official name but the name i was born with.....as if he just knows down deep who i am to the core........and while i am quick to correct everybody else who misspells/misprounounces my full name.......i never once considered setting mr elfrank straight..........i shall miss the friendship......

ok, so king tut is returning to america....in 2006.....i saw the original exhibit at the british museum in 1972.....with my mom...after a morning long wait in line (queue) for tickets........my brother and my dad went to the imperial war museum instead.......and my dad regretted not seeing the antiquities.....so he and my mom and assorted relatives drove all night in 1976 to see the field museum exhibit.........if you've not seen it...make an effort....... 

advent.....

ok, so tis the season of waiting......and the mm is waiting on so many things........most of which cannot be disclosed publically so as to not jinx the outcomes.........but it is safe to say that as i grow older, the things that i wish for/feel a need for/fret over......have changed essentially from the material through the practical to the ethereal........tangible things no longer make me happy......having far too much stuff to keep track of at this point has become more of a burden than i ever dreamed that it would be.......the things that i wait for this 2nd week of advent involve closure........closure would make me very, very happy indeed.........in at least three areas of my humble existence.......and so i wait..........praying for patience.........

nerves of steel.....

ok, so i was impressed by the woman in this article

Woman Performs C-Section to Save PuppiesUtah Woman Perform C-Section on Her Dead Chihuahua to Save the Lives of Three Puppies

The Associated Press

CEDAR CITY, Utah Nov 30, 2004 — A quick-thinking EMT performed a Caesarean section on her dead Chihuahua to save the lives of three puppies. Carolyn Shaw was at work two weeks ago when she received a call from her husband, saying their long-haired Chihuahua, Annie, was in labor and whimpering under the bed.

Shaw asked her ambulance partner Kori Baker, who also is her daughter-in-law, and a student intern riding along if they could stop by the house and check on the dog. "After I did a quick check I realized she was dead," Barker said.

Shaw's instincts as an EMT and nurse kicked in. She pulled out her stethoscope and listened to Annie's heart to search for some sign of life. There was no heartbeat but there was movement. "I felt the babies moving inside of her," Shaw said.

Shaw rushed her pet into the kitchen with Barker and the student right behind.

"After she grabbed the knife I knew what she had in mind so I grabbed a few towels out of the drawer and handed one to the student," Barker said.

Shaw had a general idea of how to perform a C-section from watching physicians many times in the obstetrics unit at the local hospital, she said.

The first incision was like cutting leather. It took a second try to cut through the layers of skin and into the dog's belly to pull the amniotic sack out, Shaw said.

"I popped the sack and pulled the first baby out and handed it to my daughter-in-law, who had a kitchen towel ready," Shaw said.

She repeated the process with the second puppy and handed it off to the student. She kept the third puppy and all three of them began vigorously rubbing the tiny, limp bodies.

"It was like they were dead but we kept scrubbing and rubbing them to stimulate them and soon they started to open their mouths and began gasping," Shaw said. "I gave my little puppy CPR with little breaths and chest compressions and as they all began opening their mouths, I checked them all, and they all had heartbeats."

The pups are now at home, where family and friends are caring for them. All three pups already have homes when they are old enough to leave.