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Archive for the ‘Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country’ Category

Clouds in my Coffee

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , on April 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »


Good Morning Everyone! Who knew that “Red Flag” warnings meant absolutely glorious weather. Not a cloud in sight! I didn’t even know what it meant; blue skies, 70’s, a good breeze and no rain? Seems perfect to me, but the weather folk want us to watch out for fires. So instead of red, let’s call this a Fuchsia Flag day! Miss Bean spotted 4 deer grazing down the hill and started her day with a romp and a good barking session. Her work is done.

And speaking of work, are you a procrastinator? I’ve noticed lately that due to my never-ending need to stay on trend, or with-it, I get to my actual writing later and later. First it was the Bride talking me into joining Facebook, and I must admit I was more up-to-date on the Egyptian revolution via Facebook than any other news outlet. Then, the Rocker told me that Facebook is over and Instagram is next. So snap, he took our picture with my iPhone and now I’m thinking visually all the time. Guess Facebook got that message cause they bought it for a Billion yesterday! http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57411451-93/instagram-how-to-go-from-zero-to-$1b-in-under-two-years/?tag=fd2010TopHeadlines.0
And you know about the tornado and Pinterest.

The promise was that I would check all these things in the same way I check my emails in the morning. Coffee, 20 emails, coffee, cousin gathering Easter eggs, coffee, cool pic of niece’s baby in pink forest, coffee, who just pinned my Celtic Barbie? Great! Only if you tend to be just a tiny bit ADD, one thing leads to another and you’re starting to write around lunchtime. Well hold on to your hats, cause I’m streamlining my tech-life, yesterday I took a bite out of the forbidden Apple! Goodbye ancient, ten year old desktop Dell PC, hello Mac Pro. You look marh-ve-lous!! No more rebooting every time I upload pictures from my camera… or every other day for no reason. Now wish me luck in learning how to speak this wonderful new language and can anyone explain the whole “in the cloud” thing to me? “There’s no need to dock or sync to your computer. With iCloud, it just works.” Exactly!

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Mockingbird

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on April 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The annual pilgrimage to Grandma’s house was capped off last night by a special tribute to the great American film classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. We were transported back to the deep South of the Depression with one of my favorite heroines, Scout, and her heroic Father, Atticus Finch. President Obama introduced the film on its 50th anniversary to an exceptionally large TV audience, by distilling the story – it’s about doing the right thing, even when it’s difficult.

And talking about the future with healthy, active octogenarians was one part of the weekend festivities. Change is always hard. Living in the same house for 45 years means that more than memories reside in every corner. And for some, like Atticus’ neighbor, Maudie, knitting on her porch in front of her beautiful garden, aging well, in their own home is the answer.

Here is a picture of the Rocker in a highchair and the Bride in the middle, happily enjoying a Seder years ago. This year the newlyweds were in Italy, but the Rocker was home from his tour and paying attention. He said he’s watching what we do with his Grandparents. Like Scout and her brother Jem were watching Atticus from the Colored balcony as he spoke about injustice and all men being equal, we parents model more than we’ll ever know.

20120408-100624.jpg

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Over the River

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on April 5, 2012| 2 Comments »

Today is a day of travel. It’s time to wipe the yellow pollen off the car windows and set our GPS north, to Grandmother’s house we go! Once you marry a Jewish doctor man there are 2 things that will reoccur every year: 1) the Passover pilgrimage to his Mother’s house for a seder; ie ritual, ancient foods (like chicken soup and matzoh) that you must smell for hours before you can actually eat since everyone has to wait for the sun to go down. Oh, and you all have to read this book about being slaves in Egypt, while sitting at the table, waiting for the food…and the sun….What do we learn besides our Jewish history? Patience, and how to make a great chicken soup, which will cure anything btw. 2) He will always be working on Christmas.

So goodbye Bean:

Goodbye flowers blooming:

Goodbye mountains

I’m packing my knitting and wishing you all a peaceful and serene Passover and Easter holiday filled with chocolate bunnies, happy colored eggs, and coconutty macaroons. Let’s dream about SCOTUS upholding the Affordable Care Act for all Americans. I know I am.

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Neil Simon I’m Not

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on April 3, 2012| 2 Comments »


Feeling Spring in the air and a bounce in my step, I decided to April Fool myself and sign up for Script Frenzy. What is Script Frenzy? Well it’s kind of like a national stop smoking day, only instead of being one day to make a pledge, it’s a whole month of frenzied writing – 100 pages in fact – of a screenplay or a stage play that you may have had dancing around in your head for years. At the Book Festival I met a few other Cville writers from Writer House (a cooperative of literary types) and that combined with this script challenge led me to writing stage directions and downloading Celtx!

If you break it down, it’s only about 4 pages a day. You know the plot already:
1) An ADD Blogger bemoans her empty nest
2) Tornado appears
3) Mishaps ensue

Meanwhile back in the blogosphere. Yesterday I got around 300 hits on my “Parenting Old School” post. I can only guess I was “pinging” around because I created a link to the original author’s blog my friend Polli posted to her newsfeed. Normally I might get 20-50 new hits, so I was excited and terrified all at once. Who are all these people?? To which Bob said, “Well are you only writing for your friends?” Smart man. I kept thinking about what my Great Aunt Bert asked me years ago – “Where does your blog go?” And according to Word Press, it’s been around the world a few times. Thanks for visiting everyone!

Here’s to all us “bad” parents out there – sending our kids to Paris alone and letting them find their way home via the NY subway system. And here’s to this febrile feeble attempt at play writing! They didn’t write “Broadway Bound” under my yearbook picture for nothing!!
Go Go 1966 dancer

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Parenting Old School

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , on March 31, 2012| 1 Comment »

Thank you to my friend Polli for uploading this article onto her Facebook newsfeed this morning:
http://mobile.theweek.com/article/index/96342/the-last-word-advice-from-americas-worst-mom

Now you have to know Polli. She’s one of those moms with 6 kids and a clean kitchen. I could never figure out how she did it. Plus, she threw great parties and was the most welcoming hostess ever. The neighborhood adored her, and for some reason, she decided to befriend me. I was ecstatic to help her with flower arrangements for beach weddings and to call on her at anytime for parenting advice. I remember distinctly complaining about not being able to get the Rocker up for school, despite 3 alarm clocks, and she matter-of-factly said, “If he misses the bus, he walks.” Brilliant. I remember using this same philosophy many times. My motto was ‘to learn responsibility, you must give them some responsibility.’ Was I a bad parent? And BTW, we lived about a half mile down a dead-end street and the kids had to ride their bikes to the main drag to get the school bus. At some adolescent point – that being before they got a driver’s license – riding bikes was just not cool. But no parent drove their kids to the bus stop or waited for their return, unless it was sleeting freezing rain. I wonder if they are doing that now?

And I wonder, would I allow my 9 year old to ride the subway? Well since I can’t fathom the NY subway system myself, probably not. But if we lived in NY, maybe? The Bride was once reminiscing to a friend and said that I had told her never to smile at anyone. Stunned, I said I did no such thing. Then she reminded me of a trip by train into NYC. Walking through Penn Station, some seedy looking guys at a pizzeria were smiling and waving at her. Then I saw my eleven year old daughter smiling right back. Indeed, I grabbed her hand and told her NEVER to do that again! It was the start of suburban parenting meets city gorilla parenting, we needed to teach our daughters – don’t dawdle, walk straight ahead, don’t look up at skyscrapers, don’t act like a tourist, etc etc… I was not a Tiger Mom, and I tried not to be a Helicopter Mom, but we all want to know if we did a good job at parenting. Sometimes we get to ask them what they thought, and now on the eve of becoming a grandparent myself, I’m starting to reflect.

I did send the Bride at sixteen with her Maid of Honor and BFF to Paris alone one summer. Here they are hamming it up at the wedding.

You see their Duke University group was stranded at the Raleigh-Durham airport by a sudden storm, so they would miss their Kennedy connection. There we were, waiting at Kennedy in NY, and the BFF’s Mom and I made the executive decision that the girls were old enough to fend for themselves. And they did, riding the Metro, finding their housing, and spending one of the best weekends of their young lives in Paris unsupervised (all pre-cell phone). It’s a good thing nobody from the Today show called me! I might have been drummed out of the Corps of Good Parents.

Back to the recalcitrant Rocker. He was taking a sailing course at about age 9 in the land of Two Rivers, and one day they had to swamp the boat and get back in. I wrote about it in the newspaper. I said sometimes boats sink. Because that’s what parenting is, teaching our kids how to survive until they have their own IRA. How to be resilient, and move forward no matter what obstacle they may encounter. How to get themselves up and ready for school. How to get home on a subway, by themselves.

Here’s my advice to new parents – stop swaddling your children in cotton wool. The goal is to get them out of the house eventually, not to chew their food for them. Hello! And to that end, here are a couple of very good references:
Bringing Up Bebe, by Pamela Druckerman
The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, by Wendy Mogel
“Free Range Kids” Blog by Lenore Skenazy

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Probable Cause

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , on March 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

How many of you are the parents of boys? When the Rocker was born, Bob inexplicably started calling him “Sport” and sailing him through the air as if to say, ‘tough it out, you’re a boy!’ When my baby boy turned ten, he refused to smile for pictures anymore. For the life of me, I couldn’t get him to show his pearly whites. I was also informed he would never cry at a movie; “Never,” I said? Nope. Pre-adolescent boys are trying to figure out what it means to be a man, and with the right guidance, most grow into kind and caring, tax-paying adults who will dutifully smile for the camera and change their own baby’s diaper.

Trayvon Martin will never get that chance. He went out for some Skittles and got shot point blank in the chest. There are too many unanswered questions about this FL case: why was he tagged a John Doe when the ME knew his name and address; what was the “conflict” that made the initial prosecutor step down, and why did he ignore the lead homicide investigator who recommended that his killer, George Zimmerman, be charged with manslaughter that night; who leaked Martin’s school records;

…and most importantly why on the day of the killing, when the Sanford FL Police formally requested that the prosecutor charge Zimmerman, did the then Chief of Police, Bill Lee, state publicly that there was no “probable cause” to arrest or charge him. We can see in the newly released video, that Zimmerman, in handcuffs, is not in any distress and shows no bruising.

We all, and I mean all Americans black, white and brown, teach our teenage boys different variations of the same theme – stay safe, carry condoms, and please don’t jump off the roof cause your buddy did it. Yes, be respectful of police authority. One difference in our affluent NJ community was a history teacher, who was also a lawyer, and told her students that when they are stopped by the police – and believe me the Rocker was always getting stopped by the police – and asked if they could conduct a search of your car, that you had the right to ask if they had “probable cause.”

This is the Rocker at 17, post-dreadlocks and pre-Prom in our garage, or should I say his band’s music studio. He did have occasion to ask the police in our small town those two magic words. Because being stopped when your tail light was out, or your inspection sticker was overdue, or you were wearing a hoodie was never a good enough reason to search your car.

And carrying Skittles with your hand in your waistband is not probable cause for killing a teenage boy.

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Penalty or Tax?

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on March 27, 2012| 2 Comments »

Excuse me for waxing constitutional, but I’m one of those wild Americans who fought for Health Insurance Reform – meaning I signed petitions,marched and asked perfect strangers on the historic downtown mall to sign petitions, and regaled anyone I knew with its necessity. Granted, we progressives didn’t get everything we wanted, but leave it to VA to bring one of the first constitutional challenges to bear on the Affordable Care Act. My in-Laws arrived just in time to hear my complaints, and they left this morning while the Supreme Court continues to hear their own arguments.

So what better place to bring Ada and Hudson than to the birthplace of the Constitution itself! This living, breathing document first began life in James Madison’s mind right here in Orange, VA at Montpelier. Our fourth President was born in the foothills of the Blue Ridge but studied at Princeton (then called The College of New Jersey). He spoke and read many languages, including Greek and Hebrew and studied the history of the first Scottish Parliament from 1297. Most have heard of his beautiful wife, Dolley, but by all accounts his intellect and capacity for the politics of persuasion simply put, forged those 13 states into a democracy. Well, maybe Dolley’s idea to throw open the doors of the White House every Wednesday night to everyone who wanted to catch the ear of the President helped!
http://www.montpelier.org/explore/james_madison/constitution.php

Now the question the Justices must answer is whether Congress has the power to require “almost” all Americans to secure health insurance or pay a penalty. The penalty for those intransigent enough to not acquire insurance would be payed to the IRS, so does that automatically make it a tax? Should Congress compel its people to purchase a product? All of us, at one time or another, will need some health care. Not all of us will need to purchase broccoli. We are required to buy car insurance when we drive a car, or pay a penalty. We are all driving our bodies through this life. All of us end up paying for those who cannot afford medical care anyway…for me, it hinges on our core American values. And I believe every American deserves health care, just like the rest of the civilized world!!

Madison wrote a document that was broad enough in scope to be amended when our country outgrew things, things like slavery. “The quest for a Bill of Rights helped to merge the two traditions of the Founders, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. After the adoption of the Bill of Rights, both camps were able to give their support to the new Constitution. The Bill of Rights provided the mortar that helped cement the new relationship between the states, the people, and their new national government.” In the First Amendment we read “…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” We did this 2 years ago. Now my son and daughter’s young friends can purchase health insurance. We cannot be denied insurance for a pre-existing condition. Don’t deny the American people this fundamental human right to health and wellness. Dolley would be very disappointed.

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Evergreen Stories

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on March 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »


Some tales just beg for retelling. Anita and I attended a Book Festival forum titled “Fiction: Retelling the Tales” which included Margot Livesey (The Flight of Gemma Hardy), Sharyn McCrumb (The Ballad of Tom Dooley; Ghost Riders), and Hillary Jordan (When She Woke). In some Jane Eyre was the starting point, but in “When She Woke” we are reminded of Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter. Politics and women’s bodies collide as they seem to do over centuries, and I bought the book about a woman named Hannah (like Hester) whose skin was dyed red because she had an abortion.

Then I woke this morning to a discussion about the new Tennessee ruling that will allow a science curriculum to include discussion of different theories on climate change and evolution. You got it. Evolution may be challenged by Tenn students who may want to talk about ‘creationism’ oh and maybe tell their teachers that the stork delivered them as Richard Dawkins so wryly put it. There is no room for real science in Tenn, the state that brought us the 1925 Monkey Trial; it’s a brazen retelling of the teacher, John Scopes, who was accused of violating the Butler Act. Yet again, teaching evolution in a public school is a dangerous business. And remember, they too want to brand publicize doctors’ names and women who seek abortion.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/03/22/tenn-senate-oks-bill-to-allow-anti-evolution-talk-in-classrooms/

Anita and I left the Jefferson Library in 83 degree heat and saw a young woman sitting outside the frozen yogurt store. Her head was completely wrapped up in a fashionable plaid scarf so that only her eyes were visible. I thought about Sister Mary Claire who smacked me on the knees for chewing gum in mass, one of my oldest memories. At least I could see her mouth as she humiliated me. Then, believe it or not, I saw 3 very happy looking male monks, wrapped in white robes, holding pickets about the Affordable Care Act and Freedom of Religion! Maybe we do need to question our politicians more about religion. Hey Rick, do you really think you are drinking the blood of your saviour at mass? And Mitt, how do you feel about baptizing dead Holocaust victims?
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2012/mar/23/scores-protest-federal-contraception-mandate-charl-ar-1790006/

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The Real Deal

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on March 22, 2012| 1 Comment »

“Women’s rights are human rights.” Do you know who has made this the mantra of her life’s work? Well today, I looked out my windows at extremely dense fog, just barely glimpsing the evergreens that stand guard against the mountains. And as I walked upstairs to the aviary office, I began formulating today’s post in my mind about Cville’s glorious Festival of the Book; it began yesterday and the plan is to meet cousin Anita in town for an author’s program. Instead, Anita sent me an email with this link:

http://www.care2.com/causes/meryl-streep-on-hillary-clinton-video.html

We all know Meryl can act, but she’s also a darn good public speaker. Sometimes it’s hard for an actor to play themselves. Witness Mitt doing laundry, trying to seem like everyman. But seeing the genuine love and admiration for our Secretary of State, hearing the praise and accolades of the women Hillary Clinton has touched, had a calming effect. Being totally ADD, I changed course from books to being real…and then back again. In the children’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit, the Skin Horse who was always truthful, explained to the Rabbit what Real really is: “Sometimes, when you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

Real means getting a country to care about fertility rates, and women’s reproductive health, while her own country is slowly and deliberately cutting away women’s rights state by state. Real means having the media focus on what you are wearing, or how your hairdo differs from last month, instead of her speech at the US Afghan Women’s Council where she stated: “Any peace that is attempted to be made by excluding more than half the population is no peace at all. It is a figment that will not last.” The room burst into strong applause. Clinton admonished the Taliban for walking away from peace negotiations saying, “What the Taliban do is up to them.” She said it is their choice, in very much the same way our mothers might have said “I’m disappointed in your poor choice.”

On some days, the world gets foggy. On those days it’s good to know we have “The Real Deal” speaking for our great nation. Now, should Anita and I attend a reading by Award-winning foreign correspondent Kimberly Dozier from her memoir “Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Survive, and Get Back to the Fight?” Or a discussion with author Charles Flood on his book “Grant’s Final Victory: Ulysses S. Grant’s Heroic Last Year?” How to survive a war, or how to win one? Of course I’d love to go to one about how not to start a war in the first place. It’s our decision.
http://www.vabook.org/index.html/

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Despondent Housewives

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on March 20, 2012| 2 Comments »

It’s official, the vernal equinox has arrived, and how do we know? Because Google tells us so with a happy doddle design by Marimekko. Known for its bright/big/bold prints, I happen to love this Finnish textile company. When the Rocker was 2 years old, I ordered blue and white sky fabric to make cloud curtains for his bedroom, desperately hoping that would help him to sleep through the night. And it did help, that and not being quite so desperate for sleep myself.

Two famous housewives are in the news lately. First there’s Nicolette Sheridan aka Edie Britt; her wrongful termination trial was thrown out of court. The jury was hung, so they quit in a life imitates art moment. Was she struck forcefully and intimidated then summarily fired by Marc Cherry, the creator of Desperate Housewives? Or was it all a playful swat, just a pattern of reckless hand gesturing that accidentally hit her up side the head after he had decided to kill her off anyway? We’ll never know, but chances are there will be a very nice settlement for Ms Sheridan.

Raising money is on the Spring to-do list of another hot TV mama. Eva Longoria has been named President Obama’s newest campaign co-chair; “Obama, for me, is the only one that understands that the success and the future of America is intricately tied to the success of the Hispanic community.” In the midst of celebrating her 37th birthday, Ms Longoria is also hoping to appeal to women voters.
Well Hallelujah!!

The latest attacks on women have seen New Hampshire Republicans putting forth a bill that would condone a doctor’s “right” to lie or withhold information on genetic abnormalities in a fetus from its mother. Kind of hard to believe isn’t it? Well of course it’s OK to sue for CP, but not for lying about a positive genetic test?!

And now for your further enjoyment, the great state of Tennessee has decided it would like to make the names of abortion providers – and the women who seek their services – public!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/tennessee-abortion-bill_n_1363410.html#comments
Honestly, sometimes I think the GOP would like to go back in time and just brand us with a letter. Come on ladies, lets all wear the big “S” on our arms and emblazoned on our shirts. If you haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale in a while, it’s time to pick it up again. Here is my well worn copy, next to a picture of my Father’s family. He is sitting like the sun on a table, with his 4 sisters and a brother in orbit around him.

 
Celebrity star gazing is fun, but the trajectory of our democracy is in peril. Tonight the sun will begin to come back across our Blue Mountains and arrive at its other intersecting point in the middle of our ridgeline. We may be able to predict the sun’s path across the sky, but can we predict how we women will vote? Let’s not be despondent ladies, let’s organize!
https://www.facebook.com/notes/unite-against-the-war-on-women/links-to-state-events-and-state-organizational-groups/305009332893946

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