Weekend Open Thread

more animals

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Question of the day

If you could spend a day just hanging out (as a welcome companion) with any person in history--or any famous person of the present time--who would it be?

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Return of Open Thread

more animals

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Open Thread

more music charts

(Decided to go with a GraphJam image in honor of Daughter having a math competition in the morning.)

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Smile

Smile

When the song in this video segment started, I was wondering if my heart would ever smile again since my dear wife passed away. But thinking of Jackie always made me smile. You'll see it on the right side of the screen. Just watch the peaks nearest to the rectangular control panel.

Subway Serenade

link to comments

The night sea journey

I've started reading Dark Nights of the Soul, by Thomas Moore. I was really struck by this particular metaphor, and thought I'd share it tonight...

A dark night of the soul may feel amorphous, having no meaning, shape, or direction. It helps to have images for it and to know that people have gone through this experience and have survived it. The great stories and myths of many cultures also help by providing an imagination of human struggle that inspires and offers insight. One ancient story that sheds light on the dark night is the tale of the hero swallowed by a huge fish. The hero, or better, antihero - he is the victim of circumstances - simply sits in the bowels of the fish as it carries him through the water. Because the story is associated with the sun setting in the west and traveling underwater to the east to rise in the morning, this theme is sometimes called the "Night Sea Journey." It is a cosmic passage taken as a metaphor for our own dark nights, when we are trapped in a mood or by external circumstances and can do little but sit and wait for liberation.

Imagine that your dark mood, or the external source of your suffering, is a large, living container in which you are held captive. But this container is moving, getting somewhere, taking you to where you need to go. You may not like the situation you're in, but it would help if you imagined it constructively. Maybe at this very minute you are on a night sea journey of your own.

I think that understanding may be a helpful one for me right now. I don't know if it "speaks" to anyone else, but like I said, I just felt like sharing it.

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Open Thread

Mom turned in Bart today. Now he's going to "college" (advanced training).


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Shameless self promotion thread

Hope I can be forgiven for a bit of shameless self promotion, but I haven't done a new design in forever




Spreadshirt Market Place Design

Mardi Gras Cat

Also at Zazzle and Cafe Press

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LINCOLN and LEAHY ~ A Few Honest Men

Photo is from a Biography of Abraham Lincoln

A letter from Honest Patrick Leahy, Senator from Vermont:

We have just emerged from a time when White House officials often acted as if they were above the law. That was wrong and must be fully exposed so it never happens again.

That is why I proposed the idea of a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate abuses during the Bush-Cheney Administration. These abuses may include the use of torture, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, and executive override of laws.

During the past several years, this country has been divided as deeply as it has been at any time in our history since the Civil War. It has made our government less productive and our society less civil. In this week when we begin commemorating the Lincoln bicentennial, there is need, again, "to bind up the nation's wounds." President Lincoln urged that course in his second inaugural address some seven score and four years ago.  (Letter continues below)


Honest Abe would surely want us to sign Honest Pat's Truth petition
http://ga3.org/campaign/btcpetition

COMMENTS

Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened. The best way to move forward is getting to the truth, finding out what happened, so we can make sure it does not happen again.

Please sign my online petition at BushTruthCommission.com -- and urge Congress to consider establishing a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the Bush-Cheney Administration's abuses.

The Obama Administration has already made huge strides to restore the Constitution and renew our commitment to international law after eight corrosive years. But we must read the full page on this dark chapter in American history before we can turn it for good, which is why I feel so strongly about investigating what really happened.

I hope you agree.

On Monday, I delivered a speech at Georgetown University where I outlined my ideas about why we need a truth and reconciliation commission and how it could work. You can click here to watch some of my remarks.

A truth and reconciliation commission would be tasked with seeking answers. It would provide Congress and the American people with a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past, so we do not repeat them in the future.

Please sign my online petition at BushTruthCommission.com -- and urge Congress to consider establishing a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the Bush-Cheney Administration's abuses.

Thank you for taking action to prevent history from repeating itself by supporting the creation of a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the misdeeds of the past eight years.

Sincerely,

Patrick Leahy
U.S. Senator


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Spring Update!

Well, well!  Remember me saying I wondered how long it would be
until a Robin showed up in the cherry tree in my own backyard?

It happened this morning!
Also present were the first Pine Grosbeaks of the season!
(This is the same species of bird that I rehabilitated in December of 2007.)

Plus!  I heard a Cardinal make its first tentative attempt at Spring Song this morning!
Then we had rain this afternoon...in February...in NW Vermont!

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Hope of SPRING

A large flock of American Robins visited while we were working
at our Daughter's house over the weekend.
(We look forward to seeing them show up in our own backyard!)

I got a similar feeling when I learned that Rep. Peter Welch D-VT and Sen. Bernie Sanders I-VT have joined those publicly endorsing Gov. Dr. Howard Dean for Secretary of HHS~!


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Darwin Day

Just thought I'd pass this along...February 12 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.

http://www.darwinday.org
http://www.defendscience.org

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Friday Open Thread

Waldo has been found. (Picture taken by Daughter's friend at last weekend's anime convention.)


Also...

...love us like a son and daughter. And never smell of barley water.

When I heard those words in the song from Mary Poppins, I had no clue what barley water was. Something British children didn't like the smell of, apparently.  I thought maybe it was some sort of cooking by-product. It wasn't until a week or so ago that I discovered it was actually sold in stores, in bottles.



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Sen. Daschle has removed his name; SUPPORT HOWARD DEAN!

Photo is from this site with recent article on this subject.

Okay Dean People!  This is time critical!  Therefore I have posted this now,
but please do not miss Renee's midday front page (below) about Blogroll Amnesty Day!


PLEASE CONTACT PRESIDENT OBAMA TODAY
Remember that Howard Dean would have accepted this position had he been asked

Email President Obama (limited to 500 characters):
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Here's what listener sent:

Dear President Obama, As Senator Daschle has withdrawn his name, I beseech you to again consider, and nominate, Gov. Howard Dean as Secretary of Health & Human Services. As a Vermonter, I am well aware of Dr. Dean's capability, honesty, bipartisanship and fabulous leadership on healthcare issues. As a blogger I am aware of his large following of actively engaged Americans willing to donate resources and energy. I am grateful for your leadership and keep you & your family in my prayers.

HERE IS WHERE TO CALL (It is busy; keep trying!)

White House Phone Numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

TTY/TDD

Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121

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Blogroll Amnesty Day 2009

On Saturday afternoon, I received the following e-mail from Jon Swift. Had every intention of reading it right away when I got home, but after spending a long day trying to keep up with my 13 year old daugther and her best friend at Ohayocon, I was too mentally and physically exhausted to remember anything by the time I got home. Anyway, better late than never, I hope...

Please join me, skippy, Blue Gal and a number of our friends in celebrating Blogroll Amnesty Day this year. The official holiday is February 3 but we'll be celebrating from now until Tuesday. Blogroll Amnesty Day is a day when we celebrate smaller blogs by linking to a few that deserve some recognition. Here are a few links explaining what this holiday is about:

Blogroll Amnesty Day Redux

Bad Days Are Here Again

Blogroll Amnesty Day is Next Tuesday

And here is some more background if you're not familiar with the history of this day:

Blogroll Amnesty Day

If you post something about the day email me or skippy at skippybkroo@aol.com and let us know.

Happy Blogroll Amnesty Day!

Jon Swift

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C A N D L E M A S

Every year on Candlemas I hand dip candles.
It takes about 100 dippings to make one pair.
This is a tradition my family has done since our early days of home schooling.
Now that the children are grown, I have a friend come over or work alone.
This year I'm on my own. I don't mind at all.   
How many pair do you think I can make today?


According to an old English song:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.

According to an old Scottish couplet:

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be twa (two) winters in the year.
Another variation of the Scottish rhyme:

If Candlemas day be dry and fair,
The half o' winter to come and mair,
If Candlemas day be wet and foul,
The half of winter's gone at Yule.

Pennsylvania's Earliest German settlers recited:

For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,
So far will the snow swirl until the May.

American 19th century farmers, recited:

Groundhog Day - Half your hay.


Anybody got a Farmer's Almanac?  :-)


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At 2:00am on February 2nd listener prognosticated that
Punxsutawney Phil would NOT see his shadow today
thus declaring an early Spring.

So there will not be 6 more weeks of winter,
only a month and a half!

Was listener a good weather prophet?  
Click here to find out at Punxsutawney Phil's website


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Dare 2...make things harder for the rest of us

While at the anime convention with Daughter, I received this message from Demetrius:

A couple of nice Christian kids came to the house with the "Dare To Share" program to ask 1) if I had any canned goods we'd like to donate, 2) if I had any prayer requests, and 3) if I died tonight did I know where I'd go... I almost set (our vocally atheistic son) upon them. But, even I'm not *that* mean.

And then I saw some signs at the convention center and realized that Dare 2 Share was the "Christian group" that was holding a convention in the same space. One of these Dare 2 guys was talking to a young woman at the anime convention who was playing chess with anyone who wanted to play. Though, this was before I knew anything about the group. The guy was telling her about Jesus, but making the point that he's "not one of those Christians who will tell you you're going to Hell" and she responded something to the effect that he was less creepy than some religious people she'd encountered. After the guy left, I quietly commented to her that she most likely encounters plenty of religious people who seem even less creepy because they don't come right out and tell you what they are.

More thoughts on this later, but I'll leave you with this. Apparently, we had been warned--if only we knew where to look:

Dear Columbus,

Here we come. We know you’ve had ice and snow storms earlier this week. We know you can be one cold city. But, through God’s power, we will not be stopped. We expect somewhere between 5,000-6,000 teenagers this weekend no matter what you bring weatherwise. These teens will melt your ice with their worship and set your streets ablaze with evangelism. They are invincible to your temperatures through the white hot might of their Savior. We heard the sun is supposed to be shining this weekend. Either way the Son will be shining through thousands of teenagers.

Get ready. Here comes the heat!

Sincerely,

The Dare 2 Share Crew

Update: Elsewhere, I was asked how the Dare 2 Share people make it harder, so I'll answer that question here as well. While Son has been a nonbeliever essentially from birth, my daughter used to go to church with me sometimes, and was in a church youth choir. At the moment she is "off" religion. I'm sure the reasons are many. I know that some of it is the usual "who am I, and what do I believe?" questions of adolescence. But it's at least in part due to some of the "in your face" type Christians she has encountered. She really doesn't want to talk about the subject at all right now, so I can't yet have a heart to heart with her about what I believe and why. But I do hope that the way I live my faith is registering on some level for her, and I hope that can eventually counteract the yuck factor that is currently associated with religion in her mind.

Oh, and I may as well add, something about this section that tells the kids how to evangelize to different "types" just rubs me the wrong way.

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C'MON GROUNDHOG!

I took this photo in April of 2007 when Thankful came to visit.
It's of the Old Red Mill in Jericho, Vermont.
I passed that scene today, and the river is covered in deep snow.
How deep is the snow?
Well, there were squirrel tracks running across it!

C'mon Punxsutawney Phil~!!
Give us some good news!

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Weathering the Storm Together

         Pine Siskins, Redpolls and Goldfinches



Dear Dean People,
We are in hard economic times that promise to get harder.
How can we help one another weather the storm?
What if we shared with one another some idears about how to "get by"?
Hubby and I are planning a large vegetable garden this summer with lots of fall canning.
Meanwhile, we are logging every penny spent and seeing where else we can cut corners.
How about you?  Got idears that have been handed down to you from your grandparents
or ways to scrimp along that you have discovered over the years?
Please share. ♥

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“On This Day We Gather” - Inauguration of President Obama

by Holly Johnson

 
“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”
President Barack Obama - Inaugural Address, Tuesday, January 20, 2008 source

Jan. 2004-New to politics, I decided to attend the ’04 IL senatorial forum for 6 candidates in Rockford IL. I seriously listened, took notes, and as each candidate spoke, my friends, Elaine and Karen thumbed up or down each candidate. Finally, the last candidate, who came almost too late to speak, strode into the room. He was tall, slender and elegant. He spoke with such eloquence and knowledge I put down my pen, I knew I was witnessing not just the next IL senator but also the future president of the United States. ---

I was not going to go to the inauguration. It would be too far, too crowded and too cold. Then the week before Jan. 20th, I received a call from Sen. Durbin’s office informing me I had 4 tickets for the inauguration. Everyone else already knew it before I did; I could not stay away from the inauguration of President Obama.

My husband, Bob, and adult son, Mark hopped in the car and headed to my daughter, Erin’s efficiency apartment in DC. As we drove across Indiana and Ohio, the rest stops began to fill with people wearing Obama stocking hats and pins. In Pennsylvania there were busses of students and activists. We all had the same destination- Washington DC.

I knew this event was not for the faint of heart. They media had warned us - millions of people, no cars in the city, congested transportation, long lines for security, hours of standing and worst of all record colds in DC. I figured that I would be dehydrated due to no water, no food and no restrooms. All would be proven true, but we went anyway.

We unloaded our car at my friend Lois' son’s condo in the suburbs of DC and she took us to the public transit. The metro gave its passengers commemorative tickets with a picture of Obama. Pepsi got into the act by plastering the walls of the subway with their altered trademark resembling Obama’s rising sun symbol.

Underestimating the time it took for city transportation (and frustrating my daughter) we missed the Sunday Inauguration Concert by half an hour. We walked around the DC Mall at night among the lit memorials and the beaming faces of the newly enthusiastic Americans. We just wanted to soak up and recover the love for America that we all had regrettably lost over the last 8 years.

The long lines started on Monday morning when attending Sen. Durbin’s open house at the Library of Congress. We were rewarded because as we waited, Sen. Durbin walked along the line shaking hands and taking pictures with his constituents. Our next line was several blocks long before entering the Hart building where the senators distributed tickets. There was an adjacent line for the congressmen’s tickets. We knew we could just send my daughter but all 4 of us wanted to take part in every aspect of the event. After security, we took the elevator up to Durbin’s office. Cold and tired all 4 of us sat on the floor outside the office to examine the packet- a letter of announcement, the six-page program and the 4 much sought after tickets. We each had to touch the tickets to confirm, that yes they were real and yes we were actually here going to the inauguration.

On Tuesday we left at 7AM, already the news told of lines starting at 4AM. We were able to board the metro for the 40-minute ride. Passengers were smashed together separated only by our bulky clothing. The cars were filled to capacity not allowing more passengers in for the remaining stops. Spontaneous singing of “America” and the national anthem were interspersed with shouts of “yes we can”.

At the capital- mass of people, more lines, more confusion, and a cursory security check of patting through our thick clothing before entering the silver ticketed area. We chose the farther back location behind a group of short students but in front of the big screen. The section just behind us was for the general public. Like those sitting in the bleacher seat section at Cubs baseball games, they appeared to be having more fun- waving flags, singing along with the projected concert and spontaneously cheering.

Six hours of standing, frozen fingers like ten little popsicles and numb feet were all worth it. Being short, my view was basically the back of heads or the bottom of people’s noses. Twice my husband lifted me like a child to see the breathtaking view of 250,000 people in front and 1.5 million people behind.

The big screen showed the parade of officials and celebrities and the crowd gave you their opinion of each. This was a partisan group- cheers and jeers as you would expect. The crowd went wild when Obama walked down the steps to the podium, which was followed by a reverent silence as he spoke the oath of office. The shouts of joy resumed following the cannons proclamation of our new president.

Dazed by it all, we wandered trying to find the exit. Just as we got to the backside of the projected TV the crowd let out a gasp- Keillor http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0121keillorjan21,0,4812049.column
describes best what happens next.

The crowd stopped and stared, a little stunned at the reality of it. They saw it on a screen in front of the Capitol and it was actually happening on the other side. The Bushes went up the stairs, turned, waved and disappeared into the cabin of the Marine helicopter, and people started to cheer in earnest. It was the most genuine, spontaneous, universal moment of the day. It was like watching the ice go out on the river.

The helicopter did a single loop over our heads and around the Washington Mall, Bush left leaving DC to those of us left on the mall and Obama.



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Random Sunday afternoon musings

It is freezing outside. I did make myself go to church, in spite of being tired, and feeling wimpy about the weather. I know I'm going to miss next week, so I decided to go to the effort of dragging myself out of the house. (Dragging myself to church, by the way, is much like dragging myself to the gym. I don't always succeed, but I'm always glad when I do.) On the way back, it started snowing, which made the roads really slippery. So I'm happy to be home.

Earlier this week, I checked the DVD of Othello out of the library--the one with Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh. I actually grabbed it by mistake, thinking I was getting the one with Orson Welles (which I was getting for the "camp" value of such a distinguished actor doing blackface.)

After a bit of Googling about adaptations of Othello, I learned that Patrick Stewart actually played the role once, in an example of "photo-negative casting". I thought that was interesting. And then as I continued clicking about on the interwebs, I found this picture of Stewart as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Brave man.

Anyway, I did start to watch a bit of the Fishburne Othello DVD. Not sure I really want to watch the whole thing, but I might at least skip to the end to hear the final speech. At some point in high school I had to memorize it. I can't remember any of the actual words, or even the name of the character who uttered them. All I remember is that the gist, roughly paraphrased was, "Look at all the dead people on this bed--that's just messed up!"

We have discovered once again that Son is way behind in homework that we didn't even know he had. So the challenge of the day will be to actually keep him on task to get some of it done. That kind of rules out spending this cold Sunday making some popcorn and watching a (non-Othello) DVD together.

That boy had better take good care of us when we're old...


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Jessica's Trip to the Inauguration

On Sunday, January 18, 2009, I woke up at 4:30am, threw my suitcase in the car and headed off to the inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama! First I picked up my Aunt Jeannette in Southern Vermont. There are no bus stations in Central or Southern, VT, so from there we drove to Albany, NY to get on our Greyhound bus. It was windy and snowing the whole way there, but we made it safely. We had a transfer in New York City and then arrived in Silver Spring, MD (just north of DC) that evening.

We stayed at a friends house that night and left there very early the next morning to go to our hotel in Downtown DC where we would be spending the next 2 nights. It was too early to check in so we left our luggage with the front desk and walked to the closest Metro to get to Bernie Sanders office where we needed to pick up our tickets. When we arrived at the Senate office building, there was a line around the block to get in, but that was OK, we knew we would be standing in lots of lines during this trip. We got in and got our tickets. Unfortunately Bernie wasn't there himself, but the person handing out the tickets was someone I knew, so that was cool because I didn't even know he worked for Bernie now!

We were starving at that point so decided to look for a restaurant. That was a lot harder then it sounds! We walked up and down streets for about 2 hours before we found a restaurant (where do all those people who live and work in DC eat?), but while we were walking we saw lots of monuments and buildings, so that was cool. After lunch we took the Metro back to the hotel, checked in and took a nap. We had dinner at the hotel and decided to go to bed "early" (11pm) so we could get up early the next day. We had planned to take part in a service activity that day as Obama had asked everyone to do, but it just didn't work out...I did give a homeless person my pack of cigarettes that morning, so I'm counting that ;-)

We had set 2 alarms for 3:30am and neither of them went off! Luckily we also put in a wake-up call for 3:50, just in case, so we jumped out of bed when that rang, threw on almost every piece of clothing we had brought, and headed off for the inauguration at 4am! This was the 3rd morning in a row that I had been up before dawn, but who needs sleep ;-) The Metro was packed! We did get on the first train we needed, but we were squished right on there!

We arrived at our gate's line about 4:30am. It was a single file line and we were about the 200th people in it. We were in that line about 1/2 hour, and there were probably about 500 people in line at that point when one of the security people yelled for everyone to move to another place to line up. This of coarse made everyone start running to the new place in a totally disorganized way. The new line was about 30 people wide and we were about 20 people back, so we ended up a little farther back, but that was OK. This was our home for the next 3 hours until the gates opened at 8am. It was 19 degrees and felt like 8 degrees with the wind chill, but as I overheard 1 person say on her cell phone "I can't feel my fingers or toes, but there's no place I'd rather be!" So we sang, and chanted, and marched in place to keep circulation in our feet, and bid on imaginary cups of coffee, and sang some more. We finally resorted to Christmas carols because everyone knew the words. LOL.

I've waited to talk about the most important part of this trip until now because I took a picture that sort of puts what 2 million people were feeling for 2 straight days and nights into a visual image.

This picture was taken about 6am in that line for the gates to open. At this point most of the people around me had sat down for a while on the cold pavement to huddle together for warmth. This is a picture of me and a girl from California. I don't know her name, or really anything else about her, but we were huddled together for warmth with huge smiles on our faces.

It was like this the entire time I was there...The happiest place in the world! Everyone had a permanent smile on their faces, and if you were passing someone on the street, you made eye contact, asked how they were doing and cared that they were great too! If you had the opportunity, you struck up a longer conversation like you had been friends forever. It didn't matter what race that person was, or what religion, if they were young or old, rich or poor. We were all Americans, there together at a defining moment in our country's history. You could literally feel the hope and happiness in that city's air the entire time. It was truly amazing.
After the gates opened and we went through security, we got to our section which was the blue south standing section. It was on the capital lawn, but still a ways back. Maybe 100 yards? There were also a lot of trees so you couldn't see the podium from most of the places. We found a pretty good spot, but tall people stood in front of us, so we found another good spot, but tall people stood in front of us (this was not their fault. There were a LOT of people in that section and they had to stand somewhere...), so we found another good spot behind the port-a-potties, but then people climbed on top of the port-a-potties and we couldn't see again, so we found a 4th spot (behind some different port-a-potties LOL) where we could see and that's where we stayed! Here’s a picture of people climbing into the trees so they could see.

Howard Dean appeared on the SuperTron and we hooted and hollered. I heard some other people cheering too. Lieberman appeared and the crowd booed! This was uncharacteristic for the good karma of the crowd, but it was funny as hell! Bush was also booed when he appeared :-) There was dead silence when Obama took the oath and then massive cheering afterwards. People were crying and hugging. It was great!

We decided there was no way we would be able to get on a Metro train so we walked back to the hotel, and saw more monuments and important buildings on the way. We had planned to take a nap that afternoon before getting ready for the ball, but there were 2 million people literally partying in the streets, so we couldn't sleep through that! We went back to the hotel, warmed up a bit, ate lunch, and celebrated with everyone around us. "It's a new day" became everyone's favorite greeting to each other.

Then we went to the Artists' Ball that evening which was totally fun! It was in 3 buildings, 1000 people (just at that 1 ball), dancing, art gallery, belly dancers, comedians, fire performers. Great time. Here’s a picture of my Aunt and I just before we left for the ball.

We stumbled back to our hotel and fell asleep. Got up fairly early Wednesday morning, ordered room service, packed and then almost missed our bus! We got there 2 minutes before it left. LOL. So basically, it was a completely exhausting trip, border lining on physically torturous at points, and 2 of the best days of my life.

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My Good Angel

The Rev. Sharon E.  Watkins, preaching at the prayer service on President Obama's first full day as president, urged Obama to "hold your ground."

"We need you to feed the good wolf within you, to listen to the better angels of your nature, and by your example encourage us to do the same," Watkins said.

Renee, it might be time to break out your wolf gravatar again.  

Meanwhile, above is my good angel.  Some of you have seen a photo of it before.
I thought it appropriate today because when this angel was created for me 13 years ago,
as a Christmas present from my family, I named the angel Hopeful.

I got to tell the artisan, Greg Gorman of Lyme NH that the theme I wanted him to work with was that of an angel, by which I meant: "The movement between God and the soul and God."

Sweet to think that movement is Hopeful.
Sweet optimism.
I feel like that today...

H O P E F U L


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GOOD MORNING! IT REALLY DID HAPPEN!

This is a photo I took while watching an ABC News clip.

You didn't just dream it.  Barack Obama is your President.

GOOD MORNING!


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IT'S A NEW DAY ALL AROUND THE WORLD

 ♥ AT LAST! ♥ AT LAST! ♥

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HollyJ's Tickets to the Inauguration!

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Found this note from Charlie on listener's thread. . . . Hiding in plain sight, so to speak. . . .

Charlie said...

Thank you, everyone, for you support, caring, and concerns.

Just knowing that you are there helped keep my sanity and kept my spirit from dying.

I originally turned down the "offer" - because I was not guilty of anything, and it was 100% certain that the jury was ready to find me not guilty on all charges.

In fact within the first minutes of the trial they were already showing signs of frustration and anger with the prosecution.

It was, however, also 100% certain that although being found not guilty - the prosecution was going to KEEP me in jail.

My attorney strongly urged me to accept the "deal" - which I stated I was opposed to in principle to the very concept. He also was certain of acquittal. But the issue was the need to shift to defending against the other charges and the State trying to compromise my defense by holding me in jail.

I stated I would do what my supporters (a packed house - standing room only - in the court room) said was the right thing to do. I had hoped they would strongly say don't give in - I was prepared (although not wanting) to go back to the jail and fight.

But this is what I reluctantly decided. I will have more to say later and just wanted to stop by and say hi and thanks.

Charlie

1/16/2009 10:39:00 AM

WE ARE ONE

{{ { YES WE CAN * YES WE ARE  } }}


COMMENTS

Cold and Hungry?

Bluejays vying for seeds. (Note the cardinal waiting for a turn.)

This cold snap is very hard on wild creatures and the homeless.
Help feed someone in need today,
and help the world be more non-violent
and feel a little warmer.

COMMENTS

FLY CHARLIE FLY!

Charlie Grapski has been released from jail!

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OPEN ARCTIC THREAD

No need to move to the Arctic
since the Arctic as moved to us!

Brrrr.

At least when it gets this cold, falling snow crystalises
resulting in sparkly snow!  ♥


COMMENTS

Open Thread

Not only has Cat Girl mastered the art of lounging, she also knows the value of finding an important looking spot to do it.

On the other hand, she was recently foolish enough to "challenge" the collie from her perch. She hissed and pawed at him, and the old boy surprised her (and me) by jumping up and coming back at her with both paws.

I'm pretty sure Brady thought he was playing with her, but I doubt that was Cat Girl's view of the experience...

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Cake

So I thought to myself, I bet somebody's written a song about cake that can accompany a picture of the birthday cake Demetrius made me.

Yep--

If you ever want to have the very best day of your life
the memory of which will see you through in times of strife
you only need the knowledge that there's someone who will make
a really really lovely tasty tasty tasty cake

I like cake cake cake cake cake cake cake yeah
I like cake cake cake cake cake cake cake yeah
I like cake cake cake cake cake cake cake yeah
I like cake cake cake cake cake cake cake yeah
Gimmie some cake cake cake cake cake cake cake

Except, it turns out, I wasn't able to get a good picture of the actual cake.

It looked sort of like this, though.

The point is, it was yummy. And my husband is the best.

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Open Thread

see more puppies


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Roughage party??

You have no idear how many times I take a picture of something amusing, thinking that I might post it here. Often, by the time I get back to my computer, I decide the thing wasn't all that funny, and I end up not posting it.

But it's late night, and, what the heck--maybe it will give somebody a smile.

I was at a local Asian market the other day and spotted all sorts of oddly named food items. But the one I seem to keep snickering about is this one, which, as best as I could tell, appeared to be a bag of individual wrapped rice cake type snacks. Except that there seemed to be other grains involved, like maybe puffed wheat.

Called "Roughage Party".

Heh.

Yep, I'm pretty sleepy. Time to summon Brady and Winnie and head into the "cave" for the night.

Take care, everyone.

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Need one more reason to come to Deanfest this summer?

I painted this for Hubby's birthday last year.
His birthday is in April, so this is Vermont in April.

It's a view of Lake Champlain as seen from the Causeway in NW Vermont.
The first section shows Mount Mansfield in VT.
The second section shows Camel's Hump in VT.
The third section shows Whiteface Mountain in NY.

If you look closely you might find a Robin in a tree,
a seagull (yes we have seagulls), a pair of mallard ducks,
and a sailboat which has Hubby's birth date on the sail.
Vermont...well worth the trip. ♥

(Click on photo to enlarge)

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There's still a little more time for Cake, Catreona...

YUMMY!


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FOR THE BIRTHDAY CAT ~

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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HAPPY EPIPHANY from VERMONT

Only TWO WEEKS left!
May Grace carry us all the way there. ♥

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♥ HAPPY EPIPHANY BIRTHDAY, CATREONA! ♥

A little King's Cake, anyone?
(Or, shall we say, Queen's Cake? ♥)


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* A BRIGHT TWELFTH NIGHT ~ ! *

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Happy Birthday, Renee!

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ALMOST...

The Wise Guys are almost there.

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Alas, poor Yuri...

Ran into the grocery store the other day to pick up the last couple ingredients I needed for dinner, and saw this...



In case you can't read the words on the box, this is apparently one of the "Planet Heroes" by Fisher Price.

Uranus "Yuri"

• Uranus tilts over so far on its axis, it rotates on its side.
• 7th planet from the sun

"Planet Heroes"? I didn't see any other Planet Heroes on the shelf. Just Yuri. Poor guy...for some reason, he's the last one picked!

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~ May Peace Be in Every Heart ~

This wooden ornament is of a Pine Grosbeak
which is a very gentle and peaceable bird.

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* LET IT SNOW! * LET IT SNOW!! *

More ornaments from listener's tree this year.
After all, Christmastide doesn't end until Epiphany.

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♥ H A P P Y * N E W * Y E A R !!! ♥

This ornament has been on our tree each year for the
past 26 years (so far) in honour of our son's birth.

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= OLD and NEW ~ Celebrate! =

Here are listener and a little friend
donning their Paris hats to celebrate!

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Open Thread

While in Chicago, I visited a 7-circuit (classical style) labyrinth (as opposed to the 12-circuit Chartres style labyrinth) for the first time. Hard to tell, though, because it had snowed. :)




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