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

Flinty

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

Are you following the Republican caucuses? One pundit I could listen to for hours is Chris Matthews, and this morning he described the New Hampshire voters as “…flinty.” Although not familiar with this adjective, I knew exactly what it meant when he said it. Of or pertaining to flint, “…unyielding; unmerciful; obdurate: as in ‘a flinty heart.'” Anyone who digs in this Albemarle red clay dirt knows a thing or two about flint; and having lived in New England for over a decade, I knew the Hardball host was spot on.

Let’s look at the positive side of flint. It is an extremely hard and opaque piece of quartz that can be used to make a fire, just in case you find yourself lost in the woods. It’s not decorative like chalcedony, it’s useful. Humans have fashioned tools out of flint for centuries. When your ancestors have forged a living out of such rugged terrain, you’d better believe the New Hampshire voters are made of strong stuff. And if you happen to love covered bridges, and who doesn’t, you can take a virtual tour of over 50, like this one @ Happy Corner, here: http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/bridges/table.html

Enough about New England, and on to Old England. The second season of Masterpiece Theater started out this week with a bang – right through that lying, villainous valet’s hand! I’m officially an old codger because I adore Downton Abbey. I’m sure we Boomers are leading the American addiction to a period series about WWI era landed gentry and their servants. And some are asking why? As much as I love our native son, (Grisham’s new legal series The Firm was opposite DA on Sunday night), I just can’t look away from these characters. Maggy Smith being one flinty example!

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I’m All Yours

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , on January 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

From the sublime use of social media, to the ridiculous but still entertaining, Facebook has been asking people to post the top song from the year of their birth. So here goes – “Buttons and Bows” by Dinah Shore! Shimmy shimmy shake girl!!

And thanks to the Bride for encouraging me to dance again. Just left the downtown Mall with endorphins churning from a magical Nia dance class at Studio 206. Could the New Year get any sweeter?

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Indefinite Detention

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on January 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Something happened on New Year’s Eve that not many national news networks picked up on; instead they reported the latest celebrity divorce and weight loss strategies of the stars. And the adnauseum chronicle of pre-Iowa caucusing. This is where social media is filling the gap. I noticed it on a news feed, and then got an action alert in my email –

“President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. It contains a sweeping worldwide indefinite detention provision. And it has no time or geographic limits. It can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield.” It was signed by the Executive Director of the ACLU, Anthony Romero.

And snap, being the third charmer to reinforce the insanity of this bill, Jon Stewart did a bit about it too! “…Destroying Our Own Way of Life Before Terrorists Have a Chance to Do it For Us.” You have to love the little red Gitmo, right?
http://gawker.com/5866210/jon-stewart-bashes-obama-for-backing-indefinite-detention-bill

We’ve been through this before, detaining Japanese Americans during WWII. Ronald Reagan apologized for that blunder. Now we can hold Americans abroad without trial as long as the hostilities exist? I don’t pretend to be a lawyer, but I know when freedom shudders. We Americans are supposed to be free from fear, but passing this bill while everyone was busy toasting in 2012, or sleeping, was a cowardly act. To read more about it: http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/three_myths_about_the_detention_bill/

Want to sign a pledge to defend freedom?
https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?s_subsrc=120103_NDAA_redirect&pagename=120103_NDAAGOLAsk&JServSessionIdr004=ifa1ufc8c1.app217a

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And No Religion

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on January 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Let’s just admit it. We are usually asleep by the time the ball drops in Times Square. But these last few years we’ve had a hospital gala on New Year’s Eve and it just keeps getting better and better. Which means we end up staying later and later. Still, determined to see Gaga and Kathy Griffin with our man Anderson, I managed to get home just in time to see Kathy in her bra and listen to Cee Lo Green singing John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

Imagine my dismay! The outright sacrilegious audacity of the man to change “And no religion too,” to “And all religion’s true.” I was furious. I kept saying to Bob, who was trying desperately to fall asleep, let him change “F*#^” You” to “Forget You,” but WHY WHY WHY impose his religiosity on the rest of us? And it seems, I’m not the only one…http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/cee-lo-green-outrages-john-lennon-fans-by-changing-lyrics-to-imagine-20120102

This comes on the heels of a small road trip through TN right before Christmas. If you’ve never listened to conservative talk radio, which I never do, you would be absolutely astonished at the amount of Islamophobia that comes over the airwaves in certain parts of the South. There had been a demonstration at Memphis Airport because two Muslim clerics had been thrown off a Delta flight for acting suspicious. Interfaith groups went to this peaceful protest to support the clerics, and this particular radio station, which caters to Christian Fundamentalists, sent their representative. Oh the scathing links to Bible passages and doomsday scenarios.

One might think the religion that brought us the Inquisition, was preparing a holy Crusade to keep the flag of Islam from flying over the USA!

And here I was, on New Year’s Eve, back in the birthplace of Jefferson – who btw built a library at the center of his university and NOT a church for a very good reason – trying to reconcile this lyric debacle. Words have meaning to this word nerd, and you can’t try to make a classic song into a pop, feel good everybody’s OK and religion does no harm song Cee Lo. Read your history books, and keep your paws off my Beatle.

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Letting Go

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , on December 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It’s that time of year again. Not Chinese New Year, or that Rosh Hashana one, but the all American time to dress to the nines and drink to 2012. Cheers! And if you live in the South, it’s time to soak your black eyed peas.

Bob tells me that the custom of making Hoppin John for the New Year with rice and bacon is actually a Jewish thing. Well not the bacon part. It seems that in the Talmud, there is a story of God giving in to his people; along the lines of “OK if you must keep a good luck charm, keep black eyed peas in your pantry.” Sephardic Jews brought this tradition to Georgia, and a meal was born.

So Happy New Year you’all! Out with the old and in with the new. The Bride wanted to know what resolutions I’ve made. I don’t normally make them, why set yourself up for disappointment. If I’m going to make major changes in my life, I’ll do it when I’m good and ready. Not by some arbitrary calendar date. But here are my top 2 mini-resolutions:
1). Resolved to live in the present. Let go of past grudges. Let go of hope for the future. If you don’t get this, read more about Buddhism.
2). Resolved to celebrate more, for no reason. Like making latkes when it isn’t even Hanukah.

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Walking in Graceland

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on December 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Two movies of two very different women have captured my attention this week – Marilyn and Maggie. On Christmas Day, when Bob was saving lives, I went to our local art theatre, Vinegar Hill, to see “My Week with Marilyn.” Michelle Williams embodies Marilyn Monroe, she doesn’t just play her. It’s a marvelous bit of film making, made even more special by my husband’s distant relation to Arthur Miller (her husband at the time). Stranded in Britain to film “The Prince and the Showgirl” Marilyn is at her most vulnerable.
When she asks her young 3rd assistant director, “Who’s side are you on?”, we are offered a glimpse into her psyche. A not so pretty side of a sexy, movie star on the brink of fame who cannot help but view her life and loves as one continual battle for survival.

A female warrior of a different kind, Margaret Thatcher will be portrayed by our grande dame of tinsel town, Meryl Streep, in the upcoming “Iron Lady.”

The year was 1979 when a British grocer’s daughter stormed the House of Commons. Women’s Lib was fairly new across the pond and Maggie ignored it, preferring to joust with the her male opponents wielding her rapier wit and a pocketbook. Like Marilyn, she was an outlier who forged ahead despite a cultural inclination to keep her in one place. Say what you will about her policies, and she was a Conservative of the first order, Maggy was a relentless and formidable leader.

I was riding on top of one of those open-air, red London buses when I sensed her power start to slip. Thatcher made a deal with Reagan to allow our planes to take off from British air fields and bomb Libya. It was the first time I felt like an ugly American abroad- fear was palpable. The British people didn’t want to promote war. “I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another,” Thomas Jefferson

Thanks to the Flapper, I’ve been a pacifist my whole life. I saw enough of Vietnam. Thank you President Obama, for ending the war in Iraq. Let them have their civil war, we had to have ours. And I think I’d get along famously with Meryl, another Jersey Girl. What I didn’t know is that she is fighting to build a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, DC.
http://www.nwhm.org/

We may not be able to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, but we private citizens can sure as hell put our blue suede shoes on the ground to build a museum!

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24/7

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , on December 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Some places are always open, even on Christmas. Thank you to all the Emergency Physicians working this weekend – please try and stay safe out there and out of their departments.

And if you’d like to know where some of the best Emergency Medicine residents are trained, take a peek at this Vandy video – you might see the Bride if you look close enough!

http://www.emp.com/we-vandy-2011-video-challenge

And just a reminder, don’t drink and drive, or get on an ATV or do anything fairly complicated. Happy Everything you’all.

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Angels Welcome

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , on December 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Imagine you are traveling over the holidays. Added to the hustle and bustle of ornaments, caroling, wrapping, and eggnog let’s just say you find yourself checking into a hotel, alone. You’ve been reminiscing with family; maybe finding out something new about the siblings who grew up without you. They each have a story, and you’re not in it.

The Salvation Army came to the house Christmas in 1948 and Mike was mad. He was 11 and decided to get a paper route in order to support us. Self- reliance was a skill we all learned early.

Then an angel appears. There’s no sound of bells, no trumpets. Just a girl at the front desk with a name tag, “Angel.” Or maybe it’s a nurse named Van And you know that despite it all, life continues. Even now, especially now when illness strikes and we switch to a running game. When everyone wishes you a Merry Christmas. Love survives. Travel safe

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Lists

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on December 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Are you a list maker? Or do you try to just wing your way through December? I was in the mall yesterday with the Bride looking at shoes. Well boots actually. When a woman next to me hit panic mode; I feigned looking away. Her friends were all helping her search for something. They reassembled their shopping bags and purses, preparing to soldier on through the Christmas crush as the less panicked slightly disheveled woman caught my eye.

“Oh good, you found your phone,” I said to her with a cell in hand. “No,” she replied sorrowfully and then imploringly said, “I LOST my LIST!” To which we all fell out laughing.

And this is why I am not a list maker. Making a list implies you must actually follow a plan, cross things off, check boxes. Making a list means you won’t forget it. You are an organized, resourceful person, the kind everyone relies on to get things done.

There can only be one list maker in a relationship. If there are two, you run the risk of paddling two separate canoes down the river of life. Which is why Bob keeps our Christmas card list in an excel program and this year we did it all online with just the slightest twinge of guilt. Thank you Shutterfly.

So Santa Baby, go ahead and check your list twice. You don’t scare me.

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The Irish Connection

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , on December 17, 2011| 1 Comment »

We’ve been to Ireland twice. The first time right after I survived my bout with West Nile, and the second time was to take the newly graduated Bride on a trip to our ancestral homeland. It was my brother, Michael E, who dug up the Lynn Family tree. The original Michael J Lynn has his portrait on a wall in some bank in Pawley County, PA. It is said he was a “…Democrat, broad and liberal in his views, …filled the offices of collector, an overseer of the poor, and overseer of roads.”

He was a son of a cattle dealer in Ireland, who came over from Mayo to Scranton, PA in 1854 with “…four pounds sterling.” Or about $20. Starting out in the coal mines, he built a mini-empire of farming, lumbering and a butchering business; he owned over 200 acres of land. Michael H Lynn was the second born son, one of 15 children. My Grandfather took over the cattle business. I believe it was frowned upon when my Father, Robert, decided to study pharmacy instead of the meat business. And it was doubly frowned upon by his family when my Father married the Flapper. A widow with 2 children. She may not have been born high enough for their Irish Catholic tastes.

The Irish Cousins


Mary Gilboy is our remaining cousin in Ballina, Ireland; she is a beautiful woman, a widow in her 80s. She was a teacher of Irish who lives on the sheep farm her Husband worked with her son, John. They have a black and white border collie who likes to wind down a day of sheep herding by watching TV in the evening. She has 2 daughters, Deirdre and Fiona. Deirdre owns the “Wild Haven” youth hostel on Achill Island, and Fiona’s family make rugs in the Gaelic way: http://www.ceadogan.ie/.
Mary has brought us to see the Lynn Family Homestead and been wonderfully hospitable on our visits.

The Irish Christmas package is speeding along across the ocean with my long letter and a few CDs of “Dogs” for the kids. And now I can feel the ancient pull of family, the tidal yearning for belonging. No matter the separation, we Lynns are a strong and brave breed.

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