Thanks Mother!!

It's my birthday today :)

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photo by Little Bitty Tam

Best Wishes K.C. and David!

My cousin David is getting married to the lovely K.C.!!

If I have my story right, he met her while he was researching the Great Wall in China. Actually it's not a wall, it's a line...well, a series of lines...fortifications...ok maybe better to read the New Yorker article where he explains it all.

Congratulations and wishing you guys much happiness!

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photo by sci-figal

Birthday Babes

Happy Birthday and a day to my dear Laura! Not surprised to hear you say you were about to go out boating -- with Grandma on a ship and me swimming in the Pacific, we had three generations of Mc's on the water today.

Happy Birthday Aunt Ruth -- 80 today!

One more joyous occasion coming up Thursday, where I call my mother and thank her for the great gift of my life. I was a pretty strong-willed child and cannot have been easy to raise :) Thanks Mother!

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photo by Jessica Driver

Cruisin

My mother and sister Marilyn are on their first cruise. Bon voyage and much happiness!

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photo by mezzoblue

One Good Year

Challenged myself to come up with a list of good things that have developed since last July 22.

1. Courage/face fears
2. Live in a place with perfect weather
3. Shed bitterness
4. Own resources/choices
5. I like my new little place
6. Friendlier to everyone, store clerks, etc
7. Live near mountains
8. Humble to accept love and help
9. Help my mom more
10. Work on progressive infrastructure
11. New friends
12. Great neighbors with kids and dogs
13. Really fresh food
14. I am writing at last
15. Closure on my russian work
16. Finally off meds
17. Being given more responsibility at work
18. More honest relationships
19. Time spent on beauty and health
20. Open to the next steps in my life

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photo by bensonkua

The English: Patient

Summoned up my courage and went to yet another dance venue: English dancing.

Ok we didnt wear costumes but the dancing was similar. Much fun had by all!

They made a deliberate attempt to welcome new people and help them learn the dances. This works well for the new and the shy. I will return.

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photo by Michael R. Perry

Daughter + Dog = Happiness

One of my daughters got a dog -- they came to visit and were surrounded by all the neighbor kids. What a sweetheart!

The kids came back the next day, I had to break their hearts and tell them the dog doesn't actually live here. Hopefully daughter and puppy will visit again soon.

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photo by orchidthief

Contra Dance!

Thanks to all who provided encouragement, support, wardrobe advice, stern reminders, and threats of physical violence if I did not actually go to this dance thing Saturday night. It was fabulous and I am looking forward to going again. You guys rock.

Update: this is what twolf thought it would be like

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photo by greensh

Lost Earring: Found

You know how you look just everywhere for something with no results?

Once we turned the house upside down for an item that we just HAD to find. It was in a drawer -- found it the third time. Was it invisible the first and second tries? This gave rise to a concept I taught my children:

"Never say it's not there, say you don't see it."

Weeks after losing my earring, I found it. Pretty happy about that.

The funny thing is I had been wondering if I should spend a little more time on either getting my clothes organized or on cleaning. So I went to mop the kitchen floor and heard a little clink. Good multitasking, yes? Or at least good synchronicity.

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photo by emmiegrn

Happy Birthday Looseheadprop!!

Happy Birthday dear Looseheadprop!!

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photo by pinkcakebox

Landing Gere

Richard Gere smiled at me at O'Hare. So who cares if the plane was 3 hours late taking off?

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hattip for title to twolf
photo by spaceodissey

Travel Day

Travel day tomorrow. Isn't this a lovely way to fly?

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Photo by Guacamole Goalie

An Inconvenient Death

Grew up being the piccolo player for Stars and Stripes Forever. Great music, but....

There is a jarring disconnect between the upbeat military music and the reality that cold dead bodies of warm loving children will be sent back to parents today and every day for a long time to come from Iraq. And don't get me started about Iran.

We had damn well better have a good reason for telling a mother that her son has been taken away. Forever.

Yo, Democrats: This is How it's Done

crossposted 3 july 2008 at firedoglake

Dear Democrats, this is how it’s done:

Froomkin = One. Of. Us. quoting Robert Brodsky, on Webb’s reaction to Bush trying to drag his feet on the Webb-McCaskill Truman Commission on war profiteering:

“Shortly after signing the defense authorization, Bush issued a signing statement that said he did not have to abide by four provisions in the legislation, including the one creating the commission.

At the time, Bush said the provisions could inhibit his ‘ability to carry out his constitutional obligations to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to protect national security, to supervise the executive branch, and execute his authority as commander in chief.’

“Webb immediately pushed back, criticizing the statement as an ‘impingement on the rights’ of Congress and said the Senate would ‘march forward in an expeditious manner’ to create the panel.

Webb’s office said the White House seems to have dropped its objections and plans to cooperate with the panel. . .”

Any questions?

photo by waldoj

A Common Enemy

Forest v trees. We all need to pile onto one end of the seesaw thru the elections and then we can scatter into our many respective points of view.

The current administration has been responsible for killing a million innocent people in Iraq. I cannot type that without being sick. I have spent my entire life working to save a mere few thousands of lives, and in the meanwhile, my government has killed a million people. May God forgive us, for the rest of the world will not.

I truly cannot contemplate the NEXT big thing which is aggressive war against Iran. I came into blogging because Washington insiders who opposed Bolton were horrified about this next step that would truly take our country off the cliff.

This administration is responsible for the shredding of our Constitution. The degrading of our planet. The justification of the unthinkable -- torture, the abdication of the Geneva Conventions, and starting a war of aggression. Our country.

Eyes on the prize folks. We have a real enemy in common. We are fighting evil, the Biblical kind of evil. Money versus human lives. Power versus human rights. It is ugly and wrong.

Can we please, please, please get behind the only chance to turn things around in the short term, and then argue the fine points and the frankly hurtful points of division, after we have given it our best effort, our one big push in November?

We need a Democratic president and we need to help elect as many progressive Senators and Congressmen as we can. It is a race against time and a race against insanity. Let us work together to fight against this insanity and not attack each other. There is an enemy, and it is not us -- let's stand together for now and work out the fine points later please? The Germans went down because the left dissolved into bickering factions. Let's do better, ok?

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photo by pagedooley at Santa Monica Beach, one cross for each American killed in Iraq.