Michael the Superhero. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 22nd

This is a wistful anniversary...it seems like so many things in history are repeating themselves (Vietnam anyone?), its hard to imagine a President who INSPIRED rather than infuriates.

I have went to the gravesite, and I was struck by the silent reverence with which everyone who visited the grave behaved. I was there on Memorial Day, 2003. The current president was speaking at the Tomb of the Unknowns (went through tons of security, did not see him, did not care to). The weather was hot and humid.

Time Machine Repairs - Or, what did I miss?

Been a while, mainly cuz the world is too damn depressing to write about. Hurricanes, wars, inept government...you take your pick. And while I LOVE seeing the Bush Administration squirm, (a) not enough blame in the world will change the fact that Americans and Iraqi's are dying; (b) we still have three more years of this idiot (unless I can repair my Time Machine); and (c) winter's a-coming!

So, going with my dear old Grammie's saying: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything." I have been silent. But maybe, just maybe I can find the time to say a few things that are positive.

I will have to get back to you on that...

Cape Cod Log

Annual trip to Cape Cod was fun and eventful...will post pictures later. The weather was perfect and I already miss it...

Sunday: Met with our friends Mark and Marcy and their children, had Chinese (Moo Shoo Pork will not be forgotten, although Moo Goo Gai Pan will be).

Monday: Beach time...and WONDERFUL lobster/clam fritters at Nauset Beach...then, onto Eastham! Time in Salt Pond looking for critters...mostly hermit crabs this time. Dirt slugs very interesting. And of course, Eastham Lobster Pool, one of our favorite places to be. Husband and I had steak and 1/2 lobster. Mudslide for Mom, Coke for Dad, Cranberry juice for Michael!

Tuesday: PERSEY's (Husband LOVES you) with Mark & Marcy and kids...and then onto Pirates Cove and some Putt Putt time with the boys...ARRGH!

Wednesday: Time in the Pool! (both indoor and outdoor); Michael really went all out with his snorkel! Then Indian food for Margo's Birthday and a LATE night at the Wellfleet Drive-In.

Thursday: Ferry to Martha's Vineyard..beautiful day, and wonderful time.

Friday: Laid back time...and the Edward Gorey House (really cool!) More pool time for the Michael...

Saturday: Last day blues start setting in...saying good-bye to Grandpa and Margo; then off to Gourmet Brunch and a wonderful omelet and hot chocolate with whip topping in the glass with chocolate syrup (you pour the hot chocolate in yourself). Then one last time to a beach (remember that cash for the fee!). One last time in the outdoor pool...Michael staying in to the point of shivers... McNeery's Fish Place...wonderful fried fish (and mosquites in the night air).

Sunday: Free Breakfast at Egg & I, then off we go...home again! Whew!

Great time; wonderful company; memories for all.

All Hail the Magic Conch! Or in Praise of Sarah Vowell...

Some people think I am a bit wierd. Just cuz I like death and historical stuff, and yes, I like dragging my family with me to see said death-like places. Well, I have found a kindred spirit in Sarah Vowell, and having just finished "Assassination Vacation" I must say, I am at the very moment contemplating something I rarely contemplate....writing a fan letter...

Her writing concerning her obessions with Lincoln/Booth, has reminded me of summers when I was young when my family would visit the Lincoln Museum in Indiana, where I forced my parents to take me more than once. My treasured possessions from those times were the pamphlets from the museum and the books on the many caricatures of Lincoln. On a more recent trip to Washington D.C., my husband and I (and our son, 3 years old at the time) went on a Lincoln Assassination walking tour, guided by an assassination authority and author (Michael slept in his stroller, while we walked to Ford's Theatre and gazed at the room across the street in which Lincoln died). As Sarah Vowell describes the Lincoln Memorial in her book, I can recall vividly how awestruck I was when we visited it on Memorial Day 2002.

Reading Vowell's book reminded me of all the things I enjoyed about our trip to D.C. and made me realize how wonderful it is to be a little eccentric when it comes to those vacations. I mean, how many people can say that this past Memorial Day weekend they went to an old Copper Mine that was the first capital prison in the United States? I think Sarah Vowell would have been proud (and would have enjoyed the Civil War Encampment we went to on Memorial Day--I have pamphlets! Maybe I will send her some in my fan letter...).

I get it! We are in a Get Smart Episode!!!

I try very hard not to always put my liberal spin on things. Hey, I try to listen to the other side. Really I do. But does the other side listen to us? I mean the fact that Bush has pushed all his cronies (in other words, I mean friends who are not necessarily the "right" person for the job--or maybe they are the "right" person for the job) into jobs that keep him insulated from the outside world and the criticism. I just don't get how one could not want to hear constructive criticism or how one could put such a spin on things so that no matter what happens, its "OKAY". Its like the administration is in one of those bubble things in "Get Smart".

This rant brought to you buy this article:

Criticsm of 911

Ahhh..Saturday

Time to pretend I have more time than I actually have to do the things I need/want to do!

I have been taking an aqua areobics class on Saturday mornings, and while this morning (in the wee part of the morning time between when my son decided to jump on the bed and wake us up and when I actually got up after trying to get him to go "play quietly in your room") I did have one pang of "oh, just stay in nice warm bed, skip class", I actually have found the class very invigorating. Kinda wierd, but invigorating. The wierd part is that its with mostly women significantly OLDER than I am...and they sometimes sing to the tunes being played....hmmm...something about Old Ladies working out in the water to "Y-M-C-A!" just is W-I-E-R-D....

Now I await my brood, who after I told them I had a lunch date and could they please do the groceries while I was gone (which they volunteered to do), they procrastinated until now...scarily enough giving me TIME TO MYSELF!! (WOW!!!)

Chaos - the stuff of life.

Already the middle of the month, and I am unsure whether to be thankful that winter is almost done or worried that the year is going by so quickly...

The winter in New England has been somewhat rough (3 feet in one blizzard), but for us, not so bad. Projects I completed during the winter do not make a dent in the list I have, but when is that ever the truth?

I have been thinking about why the time seems to go so much faster the older I get, and I think part of it is the general chaos that is life. There is always so much to do, so much stuff that HAS to be done, and by the end of the day, there is often no time to actually reflect on matters. I think that sometimes I spend too much time on the processes of life rather than enjoying it.

My Morning Spit-Take...

http://www.portlandmercury.com/2002-05-02/feature4.html

Thanks from Jill!

Some fiction books I read last year...

and whether they are worth it to read:

By far the best book I read last year was: "The Time Traveler's Wife". I still think about this book sometimes. I loved the characters, I loved the premise. It was just a stunning book.

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke: long long long book. very good in some parts, and the premise was great, but not very good with character development.

"Wicked" by Gregory Maguire: started out great and I really really liked the main character (an imagining of the Wicked Witch of the West). But, towards the middle, it fell apart and it just was a let down in the end.

"Watership Down": frickin classic

"The Poisonwood Bible"
"Star of the Sea" by Joseph O'Connor: Very very interesting books, both of these dealt with cultures and time periods that were peripheral histories to me...and to their credits they both made me want to learn more about the historical time periods that they were placed in.

Books that I read that were pleasant reads, but now that I look at the list I can not remember so much about them (still, they are good to read for the enjoyment in them):


"Behind the Scenes" at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

"Daughter of Fortune" by Isabel Allende

"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Kidd Monk

"The Dirty Girls Social Club: A Novel" by Alisa Valdes-Rodriquez

"The Golden Compass"

"The Passion of Artemisia" by Susan Vreeland

"The Probable Future" by Alice Hoffman


Wonderful books about terrible subjects:

"Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold

"The Bondwoman's Narrative"

"Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens

Whatever...

So, I opened this post with the full intention to write wonderful prose on some such topic...but had to close the window of the browser to do other things...

Now I have forgotten what I was going to write about. It was going to be something about Hunter S. Thompson's passing and how I feel like the U.S. is slipping into dangerous times again and how I wish that the right people should see and grasp the implications of various signs and portents...well, whatever.

Splitting Up

So, the partners at the law firm I work for have decided to split up (amicably) and the world has wrought many decisions into my life now, specifically as they have decided that the administrative staff (me and the office manager) should be left to our own choice. Should I stay with Partner A or Partner B, should I try to look for another job (I have made faint attempts, and even been interviewed, and getting the oh so unsatisfying reply that "You were our second choice") or should I just flip a coin? I know for a fact I am underpaid, however I have had flexible hours and a family friendly environment, so I am torn between the comfortable and the unknown, the pressures and the flexibilities...at the moment I am in freefall, and I think I know where it will end up--just not sure if that is where I want to be.

Hello, Out there! or how things echo

I hate "reality shows". And not for the obvious reasons (contrived, stupid and moronic, often times staged and altered). Not because they are blaring NON-reality based, but because so many people believe the "reality" that is shown on them. For example, last night on Wife Swap (or Swap Wives or whatever) (an aside--where is this reality based?), they had switched a lesbian couple's wife with a wife of a conservative "interacial" couple (note that the producers felt that this was important to point out, like "Hey, we are not racist, and let me show you how we are not racist!" Anywho...one can guess the obvious issues generated with this...and one would hope it would be dealt in, if not the most deft manner, at least in one that showed the pros and cons of each life style. But essentially for an hour you got the conservative wife blasting on the "life style" of the lesbian couple and essentially calling the woman a sexual predator. And the lesbian wife who was swapped sounded whiney and insignificant. It did not really show either side in any rational light whatsoever and did not explore the motivations of each side (okay, so this is not PBS). Basically, what really bothers me is that I know that the show was edited heavily and that there were two sides here at odds with each other in basic ways that would make for sensational viewing but not for "reality" per say. However, as the recent election showed, 51% of the population might not make such a conclusion. And so this show was basically preying on the fears of that 51% and not necessarily showing them anything conclusive to base a real understanding on.

An Addendum by Salon: Salon Wife Swap Article