Thinking...

I’ve been thinking a lot. I’ve been thinking about differences and common ground; thinking about Pink Granite and my friends in the Blogosphere; thinking about why I’m still registered as a lower case “i” independent voter; thinking about growing up in a time when there were good guys and bad guys on both sides of the aisle; thinking about money; thinking about power and of people working together for a common goal, for the common good.

: : I am so very grateful for all of you who read this blog. I’m particularly appreciative of folks who leave comments. You make this whole thing yeastier and that is a good thing!

: : I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: through this blog, I have been delighted to find so many intelligent, warm, funny and well intentioned people from all around the world. You give me hope. You help me keep my sanity and my sense of humor.

: : I know I’ve been on a tear lately about politics and “The Big Republican Machine” relentlessly belching out its lies. Thanks for bearing with me if this particular election is not one you will be voting in. Many of you share my concern, as well as my hopes, but reading through the nitty-gritty details can’t be all that scintillating, unless it’s your ox being gored. Of course, when it comes to the U.S.A. the entire planet has a dog in this fight - to mix animal metaphors!

: : Growing up in Rhode Island (beginning a half century ago!) the politicians fell under a bell curve. There were good guys and bad guys and they were distributed between Democrats and Republicans. During my era, we had Senator John Pastore (D), Senator John Chafee (R) and Senator Claiborne Pell (D). We also seemed to alternate pretty regularly between Republicans and Democrats when it came to Governor. I mention this because as a kid it seemed to me that, generally speaking, the good guys got elected and reelected and you voted for the individual and his stand on the issues - not the D or the R after their name. I found the idea of “voting the ticket” a bit odd. That’s a big part of why I still haven’t relinquished my “unenrolled”/independent voting status.

: : It’s also why I’m working hard to parse folks who are registered Republicans or who vote for Republicans, from “The Big Republican Machine” as it exists today. The ruthless, win-at-any-cost BRM is an ugly thing which has evolved from eight years of Bush-Cheney-Rove, et al. I know that some of the voters who have been Republicans are dismayed, disheartened and disillusioned with the vicious, misguided, valueless, wrong-headed policies and Constitutional transgressions of the last eight years. Some of these Republicans are looking to the Obama-Biden campaign and seeing something good, thoughtful, responsible, egalitarian and honorable. That is resonating with them. They are not The BRM!

: : Which leads me to the need to get folks registered to vote. And, of equal importance, to get registered voters to the polls on November 4, 2008.
Here are some important links:
RockTheVote’s voter registration
Vote For Change voter registration
MoveOn.org’s voter registration Drive

: : Which in turn leads me to money. A few days ago I posted about sex and money. Money is a very private matter. Money is a very troubling topic these days as financial markets around the world are roiling. But it doesn’t cancel the need for us to contribute both time and money to the political process. Watch this video which Kate sent to me. It clearly spells out the scope of the challenge facing us in the next few weeks. And we mustn’t lose sight of the importance of electing a substantial Democratic majority to both the House and the Senate. As I mentioned in the comments, imagine how much more President Obama and Vice President Biden will be able to accomplish with a significant majority of Democrats in Congress!
Here are some links:
Barack Obama & Joe Biden
The Democratic Party
Democracy Bonds

: : Lastly, (You thought this post would never end didn’t you!) let me share a few images our friend Bruce sent us. These photos are from the “Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally” held on September 13, 2008 in Anchorage, Alaska. Over 1400 people came together last Saturday to say “NO” to McCain-Palin. I’ve also posted a video from the rally. If you think you’re alone, you’re not!

Lies and Language

Lately I have been feeling my anger build, as the outright lies coming from the Republican machine and their candidates for president and vice president have continued unabated. I don’t swear on this blog. I figure I have a sufficiently broad vocabulary that I don’t need to dip into my beloved George Carlin’s (God rest his soul) “seven dirty words”. I do, however, swear out loud in my home life. Some of that swearing is creative or crude or anatomically impossible or alliterative (i.e. holy Christmas crap on a crutch). Unfortunately, the expletive phrase in heaviest rotation around here is “Lying sack of @#%$” - or “Lying sacks of @#%$” in the collective. That’s what the incessesant lying of Republicans has reduced me to.

Enter Anne Lamott. Ms. Lamott is a beautifully engaging writer. Today, she combined her writing skills with her outrage and published “A Call To Arms” over on Salon. Never once did she use the phrase “Lying sacks of @#%$”. I came away from her writing renewed, revived and refreshed - still incredibly angry, but determined to make a difference.

P.S. Not that you need any further incentive, but, as a bonus, when you read Anne’s article, you can follow the link to the “Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator”. I kid you not.


psssst...Do Something!

Primary Day In Massachusetts

Please remember to vote in today’s Massachusetts primary!

Need to find your polling place? Click here.

Still need to register to vote? You won’t be able to vote in today’s primary, but, by registering, you will be able to vote in the vital national Presidential Election on November 4th! Learn more by clicking here.

By the way, I urge you to vote for Senator John Kerry on the Massachusetts Democratic ballot today.

Do you need to register to vote outside of Massachusetts? You can go to RockTheVote Voter Registration and fill out the form to receive a voter registration form via e-mail. Or you can go to Vote For Change and follow the steps to register in your home state.


Turn HOPE into reality. VOTE!

McCain is “Volatile”, “Bellicose”

BraveNewPAC.org has launched a new television advertisement. The powerful 30 second spot features Phillip Butler, a former P.O.W. with John McCain, who says: “Hell, I’m 70 years old and I’ve lived through being a prisoner of war. I’m going to tell it like it is.”

The television spot is excerpted from the four minute video posted below. I urge you to take the time to listen to Mr. Butler. As you do, think about the possibility of John McCain in the Oval Office, with Sarah Palin just down the hall.



psssst...Do Something!

Thank You SiteMeter!

Here’s an excerpt from this evening’s message from SiteMeter:

Our Apologies

Dear Valued SiteMeter Customers,
As you’re no doubt aware by now, we’ve chosen to roll back our website to the previous “classic” version. 

Based on some performance issues we were experiencing along with feedback from the community it appears we have pushed our new site live prematurely.

Our intention is and has always been to offer you, our customer’s better tools and more accurate data. Obviously we fell short of this.  The first thing we need to do, moving forward, is to roll out new product releases in parallel to our current platform.  This will give everyone a chance to try out, evaluate, and comment on our new concepts.

We apologize for the botched rollout and will do our best to make sure the next time we do this it has your full support and blessing.
Sincerely,
The SiteMeter Team

Thank you SiteMeter!

I’m impressed with how quickly SiteMeter turned things around and went back to the “classic” version I knew and loved. I have to imagine an enormous amount of work went into creating the new version and it must have been quite disappointing to hear the collective boos from the Blogosphere. Good for SiteMeter for dialing it back and responding so quickly to their customers!

Message To SiteMeter

WHY???
Your site and service were just fine, thankyouverymuch.
Today’s migration is NOT an improvement!

I can’t yet vouch for the site or the service, but I just added SiteMeter’s competitor StatCounter to this blog.



Dear Readers,
If you are not both a blogger and a reader, I apologize for this technical, inside-baseball of a post. SiteMeter, which helps bloggers know if they are just posting for their own amusement or if people are actually stopping by and reading, changed their site today. What used to be simple to use, loaded with data and easy to read, is now ugly, limited and complicated. That’s why I’m cranky about it. That’s why I added StatCounter.
As always, thanks for reading - no matter the topic!
- Lee/PG

Tracking The Pattern

Today’s New York Times must-read cover story gives a clear, behind the scenes look at the political career of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The above-the-fold article chronicles Sarah Palin’s consistent pattern of cronyism, secrecy, punishing her critics and working her personal and religious agendas from within the government. The Times coverage ranges from her position as a member of the Wasilla, Alaska city council through her current twenty month stint as governor of that state.

Sex & Money

Back in the early 1990s, I was contacted by a university about participating in an interview survey. The survey was about sex. I didn’t believe the letter was genuine. So I dialed information and called the University of Chicago directly. I actually believed that I would be reporting some sort of outrageous scam to them. Imagine my surprise to learn it was legitimate. I had majored in psychology in college and was both familiar with and appreciated the importance of all kinds of research. I talked it over with Chuck and then I agreed to be interviewed.

The female interviewer came to our home, set up an audio tape recorder and proceeded to ask me lots of questions. I felt it was much easier to be answering the questions than it would have been for me to ask a total stranger such detailed, personal and truly intimate questions! Right near the end of the process, the interviewer handed me an envelope. I had to open it up and answer just a few more personal questions in writing and slide my responses back into the envelope. What, pray tell, after all those sexually explicit questions, could they have asked me which would require such secrecy? Money. They wanted me to spell out what my financial circumstances were! Apparently, money was the only topic deemed so personal, that a sealed envelope was necessary to guarantee truthful and accurate answers.

Growing up, I had no clue what my parents earned. I knew we weren’t millionaires and I knew we weren’t poor. But dollars and cents on a pay stub? No way on God’s green Earth would that have ever been revealed. It wasn’t until my Dad was approaching retirement and I still had a couple of years to go in college, that my Mom pulled out her stenographer’s notebook. In it she had all the monthly bills written down, one page for every month. Mom quickly summarized what flowed in and what flowed out for our family. The next day I went down to the bank and signed on the dotted line for a college loan. For my mother, that conversation about money was second in anxiety only to the “birds and the bees” talk we had many years earlier!

I really threw her for a loop on that one. I came home one day to announce that my parochial school had taken all the girls in my class into the auditorium to watch a film strip. I immediately heard the strain in her voice. After dinner that evening, Mom wrestled through her own version of “the talk”, which distantly echoed parts of the filmstrip. At the very end, she asked if I had any questions. “Yes” I replied, “what about the pituitary gland?” Mom was nonplussed. “Pitui-what?” she asked. You see, in the filmstrip, they illustrated the pituitary gland as a little dot in the brain which sent out what looked like radio waves. It was those radio waves which somehow told the body that all these interesting and mysterious things should start happening. Clearly, the pituitary gland was the key to all the excitement and I wanted to learn more.

Funny, I don’t think the University of Chicago asked me a single question about radio waves and my pituitary gland.

Hmmm...

You know how on automobiles, the steering wheel looks like a steering wheel and the accelerator and brake pedals look like you expect them to look? Perhaps more importantly, those critical items are pretty much where you expect to find them, right? One may have to look to find the wiper controls or the radio tuning buttons, but the really important things are pretty self evident.

O.K. So why aren’t digital cameras equally obvious and intuitive? True, unlike cars, there’s no safety issue. But it’s interesting how often folks offer to take a photograph of someone, using the subject’s camera, and the first question is: “What button do I push?” Frequently the second question is: “Where do I look?”, unless the oversized screen is staring right at them.

I know this isn’t an earth shattering line of inquiry. But as I thought back over Carrie and Al’s various celebrations, I did notice this recurring theme. And if one can’t ask the odd, niggling question here, well, what’s a blog for?

September 11th

It was a day very much like today; blue skies, crisp clear air, puffy white clouds; lovely in its ordinary beauty.

I appreciate the proverb, perhaps found on an Irish headstone, which New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg quoted today:

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal;
love leaves a memory no one can steal.

Peace...


More thoughts can be found here.

Pink Granite Productions

View from Ocean Drive in Newport, Rhode Island

The “Carrie & Al” DVD was transported to our local post office by Chuck (Hero/BFF/Wonder Hubby) this afternoon! My Mom/Nana-of-the-Bride might have it as soon as tomorrow or Friday at the latest.

The process was pretty darn cool. Apple’s iDVD is part of their iLife software package. iLife is where iPhoto lives, which is where we upload and organize all of our photographs, scans and JPEG copies of digital scrapbooking layouts. I usually make a new folder in iPhoto for each event. In this instance I had five Carrie and Al folders: Al & Carrie’s Wedding (this is where every uploaded photo related to all their happy occasions lives), the bridal shower, the rehearsal, Carrie getting ready and the wedding (which includes the photographer’s shoot and the reception). So when it came time to upload the photos to our family’s private web page or to create the slideshows in iDVD, I could turn to the pre-existing folders to help streamline the process.

I still had to learn iDVD. But between what Chuck gleaned by actually reading the directions(!) and my watching the video tutorials over at the Apple iDVD support pages, a DVD now exists. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a huge kick out of hitting “play” on our DVD player and reliving those wonderful events. And yes, I did shed some more happy tears, but that’s O.K. too.

I wish I could share more photos with you, but way back in 2006, when I first started this blog, I promised my family I would respect their privacy by not publishing contemporary, identifying photos of them - nor their home addresses and maps to the where they keep the silver!

“Nothing But A Chromosome”

Gloria Steinem has written an excellent and very thoughtful piece for the Los Angeles Times. The title of the essay is “Palin: wrong woman, wrong message”. Subtitle: “Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.”

Many thanks to Chuck’s sister Carol for alerting us to the article. You can read it by clicking here.

Borborygmi

It’s still very noisy in here. But, happily, I am making progress. From fits and starts all the way to to slowly and steadily, I am getting better at iDVD. In fact, the final version of “Celebrating Carrie & Al” is burning in the background as I type this. I’ve been simultaneously loving the process and tearing my hair out.

I’m sorry I haven’t gotten around to visit any blogs recently. Just as soon as I get belched out and away from the digital beast, I promise I’ll stop by!



P.S. Hi DMM - Why is your blog suddenly private? May I have a secret decoder ring? ;o)

Digital Dispatch

Help! I’ve fallen into my computer and I can’t get out!

Well, that’s a slight exaggeration. But I have been swallowed up by iPhoto, Photoshop CS3 and iWeb. Yup. I’m in the belly of the digital technology beast. And that ain’t no hyperbole neither!

Ever since Al and Carrie’s wedding, Al and Carrie’s wedding is all we talk about. Those are some pretty happy conversations, though! Also, much of my time has been spent looking at the photos I took starting at the rehearsal Friday afternoon, all the way through to the last chorus of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” late Saturday night. A last minute problem with the professional photographer afforded me the honor of being invited to photograph Carrie, her attendants, her Mom, her Nana and her future mother-in-law all getting ready over at Carrie and Al’s home before the wedding. Due to the “whither thou goest” nature of our relationship, that meant Chuck was included. He was a little nervous about being the only guy there, but Carrie and Kate have known him more than half their lives, so it all was fine. Although there were a few moments when Chuck put his hands up to the side of his head saying he thought there were probably some things guys just shouldn’t be privy to! Of course Uncle Chuck was also pressed into service for all sorts of manly tasks - like moving cars, loading cars and holding umbrellas over the heads of beautifully gowned ladies!

All the gals were good sports and quickly got used to my snapping away. They also got into some posing and vamping for the camera - Carrie in particular had fun in that department. They allowed me to do a bit of suggesting, directing and “hold it right there-ing”. I had a great time and gained an even deeper respect for the work professional photographers do. Some moments I felt as if I had been dropped into a photo shoot, other times as if I was a stalking paparazzo, but throughout I felt lucky to be there.

Since then, I’ve kept busy uploading photos to our private family photo page. I had to overcome my perfectionist streak and send most of the pictures up onto the ether in their original SOOC form. Yes, it was hard not to edit out the stray elbow in the corner of a shot; to not brighten and sharpen some indoor pics. But I had promised Carrie they could see them before she and Al left on their honeymoon this morning. I did take a few moments to rummage for a picture of Kate’s husband Phil - the one who recently had knee surgery. He was unable to attend because of his knee. So I plucked him out of a photo I had from his wedding day with Kate and then had him “join” Kate and the wedding party in a couple of photos!

The only problem with all this internet communication and photo sharing is that my Mom, the Nana of the Bride, doesn’t have a computer. But then my sister Karen had a great suggestion: make Mom a DVD. Duh! I had never thought to try and Mom has the exact make and model DVD player we have. Well, several attempts of me muddling through pushing buttons in iDVD and Chuck actually reading directions, we burned a rough first attempt. Dang if it didn’t work like a charm.

Tomorrow I’ll come back to the DVD project with fresh eyes and better rested brain cells. I hope to have a disc winging its way to Mom A.S.A.P. I guess I’ll be in this leviathan’s digital belly for a while longer. But that’s fine because the photographs bring all the happy memories rushing back and that’s a good thing. The tears of joy are a challenge, but I’m trying to get better about that!

Hard Hearted - Kind Hearted Hanna

Well, she was mostly kind!

The wedding ceremony was held indoors due to Hanna's rain. But just after Al and Carrie exchanged their vows, when the photographer was assembling the bridal party for the portraits, Hanna, bless her heart, took a breather. Soon after, the rain began again in earnest. And later in the evening, while everyone was out on the dance floor, the windows had to be lowered because the rain, blowing in nearly horizontal sheets, was making the floor too slippery!

Carrie was a stunning bride; Al a handsome groom. The ceremony was thoughtful, moving and celebratory - everything one could wish for. Kate, Carrie’s sister and Matron of Honor, had us in stitches with her toast. Mike, Al’s Best Man and friend since childhood, had us near tears with his toast and remembrance of Al’s late father.

It was such a fun group of guests - all 120 or so of us. Everyone was in high spirits. The food was delicious, the decorations charming, the music was toe-tappingly-irresistible. Chuck and I had a wonderful time. At the end of the night, voices hoarse from talking and singing; feet tired from dancing; cheeks aching from smiling; we all gathered our belongings and headed back out into the tropical storm.

After driving through torrential rain and dodging storm debris littering the roads, Chuck and I arrived home at about 2:30 a.m. today to find high winds had felled a tree on our street. We were without electricity, but not without resources. We donned the headlamps we had thrown in the car “just in case”, unloaded the car, fed the cats and headed to bed. Visions of rainbow colored disco balls danced in our heads as we fell asleep.

Thank you Al and Carrie!
We wish you good health, joy and contentment with one another, forever!

To Heck With Hanna!

The "aisle" to the ceremony

Where the ceremony will be held

The only sort of uninvited guest allowed!

We just got home from the wedding rehearsal and dinner, down in Newport, Rhode Island. Carrie and Al couldn’t have chosen a lovelier setting to celebrate their marriage! Mind you, it’s possible that Hurricane Hanna may crash the party. If that happens, I’m ready to Photoshop the wedding pictures onto this afternoon’s sunny, seaside shots!

The wedding is tomorrow afternoon, with the reception to follow at the same location. So, hopefully, I’ll have some more photos up on Sunday. Thanks in advance for your good wishes!

Increasingly Happy Homeowners

This may be one of the most boring photographs I have ever posted here. Unless of course you are the owners of the home with this ever improving roof! Our wonderful roofer has stripped the old layers of shingles off the worst of the five surfaces. New plywood was placed over the original boards, followed by the layer of roofing felt and then the new shingles. True to his promise, despite heat and humidity, he will have this side ready before the rains come this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, our niece Carrie is marrying Al on Saturday! We’d appreciate it if you would send a little dry energy toward Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hanna. She’s headed up the coast toward Rhode Island and nobody likes wedding crashers, right?

More From the Colosseum

I just listened to Governor Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention. Aside from the folksy introduction of her family, it was more of the same condescending bombast which marked the rest of the evening’s speakers. She was less vociferous, but no less vitriolic - albeit a sugary vitriol, cheerfully delivered.

After viewing tonight’s spectacle, the following is clear to me:

We are a country deeply divided.
We are not divided into red states and blue states.
We are divided on culture, principles and values.
We are divided on the issues.

Make no mistake that the national election on November 4th is important - not just for who we elect as President and Vice President in the Executive Branch, but for who we elect to Congress in the Legislative Branch as well. And the results of those elections will determine the population and course of the Judicial Branch for decades to come.

At The Colosseum

I shouldn’t be, but I am flabbergasted by the extraordinary lies that the Republicans are spewing at their convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. They seem to take great delight in their viciousness. It seems to fuel their self righteousness. I wonder when they will be bringing out the lions...

Thank Heaven For Harry’s

Harry’s Restaurant on Route 9 in Westborough, Massachusetts is a classic. It has the casual, comfortable, homey feel of a diner. The waitstaff is great and the folks in the kitchen know what they’re doing. You can get breakfast, sandwiches, seafood and a whole range of dinner specials. Harry’s opens early and closes late. It’s been around since 1946 and Chuck and I have been going there together for more than two decades. Over the years we’ve enjoyed all kinds of tasty meals, but for quite a while now, our go-to comfort food at Harry’s is the Matzah Ball Soup. No it’s not what you expect to find on a menu generously graced with fried whole belly clams, bacon and sausage. But it’s delicious. The chicken broth has a rich, double-stock depth to it. The chicken is tender. And the matzah balls are perfect. Yes, perfect - firm, yet light; dense, yet tender and very flavorful. Try it, you’ll like it!

What We’ve Been Up To

We’ve been busy around here the last several days. Friday we headed north to the Peterborough Players Theatre up in New Hampshire to see Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”. Chuck read a review in the Wall Street Journal, of all places, which prompted him to check on tickets. We were in luck. They had two seats on the aisle available. The 200 seat theatre in a converted barn is air conditioned, has comfortable seats, which most importantly are staggered and well raked. I doubt there is a bad seat in the house. The play was very well done. I have read “Our Town” several times and, as a student, played “Mrs. Webb”. The play is as important to me as the book “A Lantern In Her Hand”. They each deal with the sweet, simple details of living a life across the full range from birth to death and beyond.

Saturday, Sunday and today we continued the de-jungle-fication of our property. This intense push was prompted by our previous successes, our desire to continue to make improvements and the impending arrival of our roofer (Yay!) and a building wizard who will help even up our front porch (Yay!). So, we’re tired but happy and now have a huge truck parked snug up against the house to receive the old roof. We also have staging in place and all the roofing materials have been delivered. This summer’s rainy weather has been tough on our roofer’s schedule, but he’s confident he’ll have the worst of our five surfaces cleared and newly shingled, before the vestiges of Hurricane Hannah arrive this weekend.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 17th wedding anniversary! We are fortunate that today is just as sunny, dry and breezy as it was seventeen years ago. We had a small wedding, with both the ceremony and reception taking place in our home at the time. It was a sort of well organized pot luck, in that we had folks sign up and let us know what they were bringing. We supplied the corned beef and the lox from the purveyors on Water Street in Worcester. My Mom, our nieces Carrie and Kate and their parents Gail and Ron, ferried the flowers up from a rendezvous point in West Boylston. Then they served as cheerleaders and caterers as they helped us get everything set up. Gail molded the cream cheese and cut out pickles to spell out our initials on top!

There were just a couple of glitches and hiccups, including an uncle locked in our only bathroom, which required Chuck to remove the lockset from the outside! But a smiley face was drawn on a paper plate (was that you Carrie?) and hung over the opening left in the door and all was well. It was a great day. It continues to be a great marriage. We've said before that we work hard at our marriage, but it never feels like hard work. May it always be so!

First Thoughts

Today, Republican Senator John McCain, 72, chose the Republican Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, 44, to be his running mate. I’m not surprised he chose a woman. He has been hungry to attract any disgruntled supporters of Senator Hillary Clinton. And it’s good that another woman will be on a national ticket. The first, Geraldine Ferraro, ran for Vice President on the Democratic ticket in 1984.

But my initial thought was that John McCain must think women are irrational and reactionary. Why? He probably thinks some women will ignore the Republican platform and Governor Palin’s equivalent position on the issues, just so they can cast a vote based on the gender of the Republican vice presidential nominee.

No thanks.

Hope Becomes Action

Tonight was the final night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Tonight Barack Obama accepted his party’s nomination for President of the United States of America.

It was a wonderful convention and a wonderful night. 84,000 people gathered from all over the country and the world to see history made. On the 45th anniversary of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, Barack Obama stood on another mountaintop and clearly spelled out his vision for America. It was not the same excited, crackling speech he had delivered four years earlier in Boston, in his first heart stopping moment on a national stage. That speech electrified the audience, captured our imagination, fanned the dying embers of hope and catapulted Barack Obama to prominence. That younger man of 2004 said what needed to be said in that moment.

Tonight, the same man, but a man who has grown along the journey of this campaign, spoke to the crowd at Mile High Stadium and to those of us watching and listening at home, as the next Commander in Chief, as the next President of the United States. He spoke with passion, clarity and wisdom. He gave us facts and figures. He shined a bright light on the difference between an Obama - Biden administration and four more years of the same old Bush - Cheney administration, reincarnated under John McCain. He still brought the people to their feet, but this time ready to move forward, together, toward a clear goal.

Barack Obama inspires us and moves us to action, yes. But Barack Obama can and will lead us out of the darkness of the last eight years. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will work with Congress and the citizens of the United States to get this country back on the right track, back to our democratic roots and our constitutional core.

Vote!

Hope is important. So is enthusiasm. Hope coupled with enthusiasm plus action is what brings about change.

The most important action we can take is to vote in the national presidential election on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. That’s less than ten short weeks away. In order to be able to vote, you need to be registered.

Are you registered to vote?
Have you moved recently and need to register?

Type “Voter Registration” plus the name of your state into a search engine like Google. Soon you’ll be following links to get yourself registered.

Or go to RockTheVote Voter Registration and fill out the form to receive a voter registration form via e-mail.

Are you already registered to vote? Good for you!
Do you know where your polling place is?
Have you thought about voting early?
Many states allow early voting without cause. Check with your election authorities.

And if you’re already registered to vote, help someone else to get registered!

Want to help on a larger scale? MoveOn.org is launching a campaign to register half a million new voters.


Turn HOPE into reality. VOTE!

What A Night

Forty years ago we were living through the summer of 1968. It was a terrible year for all Americans. Two fine men had been assassinated. Protests were raging. President Lyndon Baines Johnson was turning sixty years old. The Democratic National Convention was being held in Chicago. That convention served as the crucible for the concentrated pain of a nation being torn asunder by the Vietnam War and buffeted by the sea change of the Civil Rights Movement. As riots raged on the streets of Chicago, inside the convention hall Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie finally secured the Democratic nominations as president and vice president. But only after a divisive and politically bloody battle.

Tonight, as Chuck and I watched the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, I couldn’t help but think back to that awful summer of 1968. As we listened to wonderful, inspiring, thoughtful, creative and hard hitting speeches from former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, former President Bill Clinton, Senator John Kerry and Senator Joe Biden I knew we were once again in the fight of our lives. But this time instead of the chaos and violence which marked a generation, we were working together.

Not everyone in the convention Hall in Denver holds the exact same set of beliefs nor agrees on the exact same strategy to right the wrongs of eight years of the Bush - Cheney administration. Not even Chuck, the registered Democrat and me, the registered “independent” agree on everything. But the Democrats in the hall and all like minded citizens at home, felt hope rise up in us tonight. As Senator Clinton called for the rules suspension to make the roll call vote one of acclamation for Senator Barack Obama, all the uneasiness over dissent fell away. As President Clinton, Senator Kerry and Senator Biden made the clear case why a vote for Senator John McCain is a vote for more of the same, we applauded. As Barack Obama’s strengths were called out, we cheered. And as Barack Obama stood shoulder to shoulder with Joe Biden, we committed ourselves to working together to make hope a reality. We committed ourselves to electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden as the next President and Vice President of the United States of America.

Give ‘Em Hell Harry

Senator Harry Reid gave a powerful speech at tonight’s Democratic National Convention. Here are a couple of memorable excerpts:

"For the past eight years, the man in the Oval Office has tipped his hat over his eyes, kicked back his chair, and snoozed at his desk. Charged with protecting our national interests, he slept on duty while his vice president conspired with oil industry cronies. Tasked with cutting off funding to terrorists, he slept on duty while oil shortages worsened, oil prices soared, and dollars by the ton were delivered to terrorists’ banks in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Faced with a new kind of war, this president and his vice president helped their friends the old-fashioned way:
through war profiteering, tax cuts for billionaires, and in many cases out-and-out corruption."

and

"When doctors screen out the quack nostrums and phony remedies we call snake oil, they use two fundamental principles: the maxim “first, do no harm” and the question “is it safe and effective?”
 
In Congress, as in medicine, when we are offered snake oil as a remedy for the nation’s energy ills, our question should be: “Is it safe and effective? Does it do more harm than good?”
 
Senator McCain and the Republicans have centered their answer to our vital energy needs on one solution: off-shore drilling. Senator McCain calls for it in every speech; his party has demagogued the issue in both houses of Congress.
 
So, is off-shore drilling energy policy or snake oil? Let’s review the facts. White House analysts, congressional analysts, and the oil industry all agree that off-shore drilling won’t add one drop to our energy pool for at least ten years. The way things are going now, in another ten years we won’t need more oil; nobody will be able to afford it.
 
T. Boone Pickens said it right: “We can’t drill our way out of this crisis.”
 
But even if Doc McCain’s magic off-shore oil elixir won’t work, will it do any harm?
 
The answer is, we just don’t know, and neither does he. It might not ruin tourism in the Gulf or on the California coast. It might not destroy vital fisheries. It might not pollute our waterways. Nobody really knows.
But kindly old Doc McCain would like to sell it to you anyway."

I love it! I liked it so much I made this:

Hillary Rocked!

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton just rocked the hall at the Democratic Convention!
It was a rousing speech and did everything it needed to do!

“You haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.
No way. No how. No McCain!”

and

“This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.

How do we give this country back to them?

By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.

And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they're shouting after you, keep going.

Don't ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going.

I’ve seen it in you. I’ve seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses and police officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women of our military – you always keep going.

We are Americans. We're not big on quitting.

But remember, before we can keep going, we have to get going by electing Barack Obama president.

We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare.

Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance.”

Thank you Senator Clinton.

Family Ties

Last night, the first night of the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado was great. To me it was family night; a combination of a family reunion and meet the new in-laws. Senator Barack Obama’s sister Maya spoke beautifully about their mother and her influence and inspiration in their lives. Then Caroline Kennedy, daughter of slain President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, introduced a Ken Burns video tribute to her uncle Senator Edward “Teddy” Kennedy. Wondrous to behold, Ted Kennedy himself, currently battling brain cancer, gave another of his brilliant, inspiring and moving speeches. This one all the more poignant because of his own battle and the unspoken but palpable fear that this could be his last great moment before us.

Soon after, Michelle Obama’s mother, Mrs. Marian Robinson, narrated a video introduction to her daughter called “South Side Girl”. Following the film, Michelle’s brother, Craig Robinson, introduced his “little sister” to the Convention. Then it was Michelle’s turn to speak. And speak she did. She has always impressed me with her ease and eloquence, but this time she was particularly terrific. As the crowd roared its approval, her daughters Malia and Sasha joined her onstage. Then live via a video connection, we saw Barack Obama speak to his wife and daughters from the living room of Jim and Alicia Girardeau, in Kansas City, Missouri.

See what I mean? Family reunion and meet the new in-laws. All that was missing was the cookout, complete with potato salad, three bean salad, Jello molds and blue ribbon desserts. Perfect for a summer evening in August.

If you’d like to read any of the speeches click here.

Convening Hope

When I was a kid, the only times I was allowed to stay up as late as I wished was during the National Political Conventions. Watching the flickering images on a black and white television was tremendously exciting. Listening to the speeches was inspiring. And when the roll call votes were cast from “The great state of...” fill-in-the-blank, it was exhilarating.

I have never stopped believing.
I have never failed to be moved to tears by positive collective actions of groups of well intentioned individuals.

I have been discouraged.
I have been saddened, fearful, dismayed and furious over the feckless, reckless, despicable actions of the administration of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney and their scoundrel minions.

But I have never stopped believing in The Constitution of the United States of America; in the dreams of the founding fathers; in the constant, if inconsistently paced, incremental improvements on those dreams.

I have been discouraged over the last eight years.
But I have never stopped believing, never abandoned all hope.
I believe in America.
That’s why on November 4, 2008 I will cast my vote for Barack Obama and Joseph Biden.
That’s why I still have hope.

Let’s Be Clear

Presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee Senator John McCain has overturning Roe v. Wade and ending legal abortion at the top of his agenda.

I’ve posted my position on abortion here before. I stand by my statements. But as the new television ad featuring Debra Bartoshevich, a former supporter of and delegate for Senator Hillary Clinton, who is now campaigning for Senator McCain rolls out, I needed to raise this issue. Ms. Bartoshevich threw her support behind Senator McCain, apparently operating under the mistaken belief that Senator McCain, once known as “The Maverick”, was pro-choice.

Senator John McCain is not pro-choice.

Jiminy Cricket Update!

Phil came through his knee surgery with flying colors! We wish him well as he begins his recovery and rehabilitation!

Taxes

It’s a bit of a dirty word, taxes. During election season it gets turned into a weapon. A heavy, blunt object used to bludgeon an opponent. A hot button word to strike fear into folks who are working hard to make ends meet.

The topic of taxes is the only issue that Chuck and I have had to declare off limits. We both agree on the need for taxes; the importance of pooling resources for the common good. We absolutely agree on paying our fair share. But it’s how taxes are calculated that leads to rows. That is until now.

Today we ran some errands. While I drove, Chuck read the New York Times Magazine cover story aloud: “Obamanomics”. It provides an overview of Senator Barack Obama’s economic plan. Part of that plan includes taxes.

Many of you have probably seen and heard the television ads from the McCain campaign that claim Senator Obama will raise taxes on the middle class and senior citizens. They are lying. Here’s an excerpt from Section Five of today’s New York Times Magazine article by David Leonhardt:

“The Tax Policy Center, a research group run by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, has done the most detailed analysis of the Obama and McCain tax plans, and it has published a series of fascinating tables. For the bottom 80 percent of the population — those households making $118,000 or less — McCain’s various tax cuts would mean a net savings of about $200 a year on average. Obama’s proposals would bring $900 a year in savings. So for most people, Obama is the tax cutter in this campaign.”

It’s important to note that if your household income is less than $250,000 (yes, a quarter of a million) a year, your tax situation will improve significantly in multiple ways under Senator Obama’s tax plan.

Here’s a link to the economy section of Senator Obama’s website. His plan is equitable, comprehensive and understandable.

But for you visual learners (like me) here’s a link to a video of Brian Deese, Deputy Economic Policy Director on the Obama campaign, fact checking the McCain attack ads related to taxes and the economy. Mr. Deese has a couple of other videos up and they are very clear and concise.

As for Chuck and me and the topic of taxes, I don’t want to overstate this, but I believe we’ve reached detente. That’s right, the only subject which was too dangerous to discuss, which threatened the harmony of our married life, has been resolved. And we owe it all to Barack Obama!

The Veepstakes Results

Welcome Aboard Joe!
Learn more about Senator Joe Biden here and here.

To learn more and get involved in the Obama - Biden campaign click here!

Veepstakes

I’ll admit it. I kept checking our e-mail all day. Why? Well, the new parlor game of course: “Who Will Be The Next VP?” It’s fun for all ages and for one or more players, but it is not a fast paced game!

For several days, my gut has been telling me Senator Joe Biden would be the winner. But as today wore on and new-to-me names were tossed into the mix - like Texas Congressman Chet Edwards - I began to think there would be a truly big surprise. But not the kind of surprise that has us running to Wikipedia to look up the name of the new Vice Presidential candidate. No, I began to wonder if it might be Senator Hillary Clinton. Or, wait for it, former Vice President Al Gore.

My crystal ball is cloudy. My tea was steeped from a bag, so I have no leaves to read. And sadly, Carnac the Magnificent is now living in an entirely different dimension. So we’ll just have to wait until our e-mails ding, our cell phones ring or Senator Obama and Vice Presidential candidate ______________ stand together at the Old State Capitol, in Springfield, Illinois tomorrow afternoon.

Senior Moment? Out Of Touch? In Denial?

Senator John McCain was asked a simple question: “How many houses do you own?”. He couldn’t answer the question. He and his wife Cindy own eight.
Hello?

Another odd fact is that Senator McCain’s wife Cindy repeatedly states she is “an only child”. She’s not an only child. She has two half sisters. One is the daughter of Cindy’s mother from a previous marriage and the other is the daughter of Cindy’s father from a previous marriage.
Hello?

Just for the record, Chuck and I (and a bank) own one house.
I have two sisters.
Easy peasy...

Oil At Home

Our heating oil company mailed out their winter heating contracts. I appreciate that small, independent oil companies are in the unenviable position of delivering home heating oil to consumers, billing them for it and trying to collect the payments from them. I realize that they are at the mercy of the huge oil corporations, oil commodities markets, speculators, politics and international cartels. But the 2008-2009 lock-in price is over $4.50 a gallon! And the non-refundable downward price protection insurance fee has doubled and is up to 40 cents per gallon - pushing the price up to nearly $5.00 a gallon!

I know the recent drops in the price of a barrel of oil cannot and should not be construed as a trend, but Chuck and I are loathe to lock in. And we can’t imagine locking in without the downward price protection. So, I think this year we’re going to roll the dice and pay the cash price all winter - no guarantees, no up front insurance fees. It’s a risk. But this year the contract feels like too much of a high stakes gamble.

We already keep the thermostat set low; no higher than 62-64 F (16-17 C) during the day and no higher than 54 F (12 C) at night. The furnace has just been serviced, cleaned, tuned up and evaluated. We have our big down comforter we bought during the winter sale at IKEA and my Mom suggested nightcaps - fabric not alcoholic! Thanks Mom! She also said we should pack up the cats and move in with her for the winter! Ummm... thanks Mom! It’s nice to have options, but we’ll stay here and keep our fingers crossed for a mild winter and lower home heating oil prices - and a Democrat in the White House come January. That good news alone will warm the cockles of our hearts starting the day after the election in November!

Tanglewood Tradition

As this long, hot, stormy summer has rolled by, we have been waiting for an opportunity to head out to Tanglewood. Yesterday was the first good Sunday, so we packed up and made the trek out to the Berkshires. Our trip last summer should give you a clear idea of what an afternoon picnicking on “The Lawn” listening to classical music spilling out from “The Shed” is like.

It was a lovely afternoon. Mostly sunny, with a enough of a breeze to keep one cool in dappled shade. These trips are an annual event for us; a rite of summer if you will. The family tradition goes back on Chuck’s side to his parents. Milton and Betty would drive up from their home in Westchester County, New York and various branches of the clan would meet under one of the trees on The Lawn for a communal picnic. That was in the years before Mom and Dad relocated to Washington State and before the entire right side of The Lawn was created; the side where Chuck and I now go.

Naturally, we reminisced about those previous trips and larger gatherings yesterday. But those memories only sharpened the poignancy of the call from Chuck’s sister Carol last night. She let us know that one month shy of his 94th birthday, Dad’s health has declined such that he will now begin receiving hospice care. We are grateful that he will continue to live in the wonderful home he has been in for many months. We are especially grateful for all the times he is still chipper and funny on the phone with Chuck. Mostly, we’re grateful for Dad and Mom and the great job they did as parents and all the memories we share as a family. Some of the most relaxed and peaceful were spent on sunny Sunday afternoons, at Tanglewood.

Another Outrage

Thankfully, President George W. Bush has just a few months left in office. But that doesn’t mean he and his administration aren’t continuing to do long term damage.

I just received an e-mail from MoveOn.org. It read in part:

It seems unbelievable, but the Bush Administration is quietly trying to redefine "abortion" to include birth control.
Can you sign an emergency message to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, whose department is considering this rule change right now? Tell him: "Contraception is NOT abortion. The Bush Administration's proposal to change the definition of abortion and reduce women's access to birth control must be stopped."

Click here to sign the petition.
We have to remain vigilant.
Thank you.

Tech Tip Two

Corey Barker does wonderful “Killer Tips” video tutorials for Photoshop Elements. Clear, clever and easy to follow, I always have an “Ah hah!” moment or two while watching them. You can find many of them on iTunes and at Elements Village.

You can also find his excellent Photoshop video tutorials over on Planet Photoshop.

The learning curve with Adobe Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS3 is steep. So it helps to have an easy going and knowledgeable guide to help you along.
Enjoy!

Unlucky 13th?

A little while ago, I realized that I had taken hardly any pictures recently. Therefore, my blog was sorely lacking any new visual interest. Today was sunny, dry, with blue skies and a few puffy white clouds - perfect for photo ops. But in a moment of Puritanical/Roman Catholic logic, I felt I should do a little yard work first. Then I could “reward” myself by wandering around the spruced up yard, taking some photographs.

Truth be told, the yard had taken on the look of a jungle. Weeks of precipitation will bring about a rain forest effect. And everything had benefitted from this unusually wet summer. So I convinced Chuck to join me in this plan. Misery loves company and all that. We began with a rose bush that had been slammed in a recent storm and was splayed in an ungainly, unattractive and worrisome way. By “we” I mean Chuck donned the heavy work gloves and wrestled with the thorny canes, while I wrangled two rakes to lift the roses up at a safer, less prickly distance.

Chuck did a great job. I got swarmed. Not by bees, but by mosquitoes. As I gingerly stepped into the wildly overgrown flower bed in front of the rose bush, I disturbed something. I was wearing a pair of shorts, not my usual bundled-up-against-the-ticks-and-skeeters gardening ensemble. No, I had been seduced by the lovely weather. I felt something on my legs and glanced down. At first I thought they were seeds or petals or leaves. Then some of them moved. Still holding two rakes to help keep thorn filled, woody canes from crashing down and nailing Chuck, I began a running commentary on what was running through my mind. “Something’s on my legs!” “Ow!” “What the heck is that?” “Oh $#&@!” “I think it’s mosquitoes!” “Chuck!” “I need to drop one of the rakes!”

(In my own defense, let me point out that here in New England, we have all manner of unpleasant insect worries. Ticks carry Lyme Disease. Mosquitoes are responsible for the spread of West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis. To aid in my prosecution, I had absolutely no business being out in shorts, with no insect repellant on.)

As the mosquitoes continued to land and bite, despite my vigorous one-handed slapping, I finally had to abandon the other rake and my post. Knees to ankles I received better than two dozen mosquito bites - all of which stung like crazy. I’ve never felt that sensation before, but I’ve also never received that many bites at one time. You’d think that a half century of living would lead to an increase in my common sense. Obviously, not so much.

And that, Dear Readers, is why I have no photos to share with you today.

Good news? Chuck went on to make significant improvements on the yard, was bitten by nary a skeeter and was impaled by only one small rose thorn.

Tech Tip

Jessica Sprague has put together another great video for using Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. She made it for Creating Keepsakes. As always, her directions are very clear and I never fail to learn something new or a slick shortcut.

To view Jessica’s free tutorial called “Make Cool Digital Circle Elements” click here and then follow the links to her “Video Tutorial”. The techniques are well worth learning and easily transferrable to other projects.
Have fun!

Electric Bikes & Scooters

I’m not sure we live in an area where it makes sense for us to own one of these nifty machines. It’s rural, hilly and the winters are pretty darn long. Still, we’ve been thinking about them for a while. But we haven’t sorted out the intersection of price, speed, battery life, carrying capacity, charging costs and so on. They are definitely on our radar and I wanted to see if they are on yours. Here’s another good link with lots of useful information.

On a similar note, Jeff over at Wormtown Taxi posted about a local fellow who converted his gas powered car to electric. Recently? No. He did it back in 1973 at the height of the last oil and gasoline crisis!

The Way He Liked It

I was talking with my Mom today and she mentioned cabbage. That, of course, reminded me to ask her about Rumbledethumps, Colcannon and Bubble and Squeak. She had never heard of any of the aforementioned dishes and thought her youngest daughter had gone off the deep end! I quickly explained about Rumbledethumps. That triggered a memory for her. When my Mom was a girl (back in the 1920s and 30s), her mother Marion, my Gagee, would make a “New England Boiled Dinner”, which is corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots and onions all cooked together in one pot on top of the stove. Marion’s father-in-law, an angel of a fellow named Jody, would ask her to make it “the way he liked it”. Gagee would reach into the icebox for the bacon drippings and put a little in a frying pan. Then she would scoop out some of the cabbage from the big pot and fry it in the bacon grease. Next she would lift out a potato and add that to the frying pan and mash it in with the cabbage. Gagee would serve it to Jody and he would add just a splash of apple cider vinegar to it.

Now if that isn’t the kissin’ cousin of Colcannon and Rumbledethumps I don’t know what is! Jody was of Irish, not Scottish descent. And he was, in fact, my Gramps’ stepfather. The Scottish branch I wrote about recently is my paternal grandfather’s side. Be that as it may, it cements that strong feeling I had about Rumbledethumps being a connection to something deep and old in my family’s culinary heritage. I need to keep browsing Maw Broon’s Cookbook to see what other chords get struck!

Team Handball

The 2008 Beijing Olympics are now in full swing. I want to recommend that you watch a sport I used to play in high school: Team Handball. It is a bit like basketball, but with a soccer (football) net instead of a hoop. It is also a fast paced, wildly under-appreciated sport! In order to learn it, my classmates and I had to watch films of the U.S. Army competing against the U.S. Navy. We girls were loving the sport and once played "boys against the girls" at the boys laughing-up-their-sleeves request. We kicked their butts! All these decades later, I can still vividly remember slamming the ball so hard into the net that the big, burly, football player of a goal keeper ducked!

Here’s a schedule of the Team Handball matches being held over the next two weeks in Beijing.

Rumbledethumps

Tonight I made Rumbledethumps based on the recipe in Maw Broon’s Cookbook (U.K. link). Oh my goodness! It was delicious! Rumbledethumps is a cousin of Colcannon and a few other regional dishes, all of which are based on potatoes and cabbage. I had never made, let alone tasted Rumbledethumps before tonight. But both Chuck and I found it delicious and satisfying.

Before cooking, I Googled Rumbledethumps and Colcannon to see about the range of variations. There are many! But the following is what I did:

One pound of Potatoes - boiled, drained and mashed

One pound of Cabbage - cored and sliced finely
one large Onion - sliced finely
a little crushed Garlic (that’s all me!)
Olive Oil
Butter
Crumbled Bacon
Salt
Pepper
a splash of Light Cream

Grated Cheddar Cheese

While the potatoes are going in one pot, start the onions and garlic in a large open fry pan with some olive oil, butter and a pinch of salt. Add the finely sliced cabbage. Cover and cook until wilted. Add some crumbled bacon to the cabbage and onion mixture. You don’t want the veggies to brown nor do you want them to be soggy, so let them finish cooking with the lid off. Season with pepper and salt to taste.

Drain and mash the potatoes along with some butter, salt, pepper and the splash of cream. Combine the mashed potatoes with the cabbage mixture. Spread the potatoes and cabbage in a baking dish. Cover with grated cheddar cheese (or cheese blend of your choice). Bake in a hot oven (I set mine to 450 degrees F on convection) until the cheese on top is golden.

I had been wanting to try this hearty cold weather dish ever since I first read it in Maw Broon’s. I am so glad this afternoon came in unseasonably cool and drizzly!

Do You Have A Plan?

The tornado warning was announced this afternoon. We were fortunate that by the time the storm with the tornadic cell in it made its way east over the Quabbin Reservoir towards us, it had broken down. We felt very fortunate as we watched the bright red and orange of the radar collapse down to solid green and the tornado warning was lifted. But before that happened, we had to think about where we would go - the cellar. And what, if anything, we would bring down into the cellar with us.

Back in 2002, there was a terrible fire out in the southwestern part of the United States. It was called the Show Low fire in Arizona. I vividly remember a television interview with a resident who had been ordered to evacuate as the flames raced toward her home. She spoke about that awful moment of not knowing what to grab and throw in her car as she fled the inferno.

I sat down that same day and made a list. The limitation was it all had to fit into our Subaru wagon. Obviously, if your home is on fire, you get your family and yourself out, everything else is secondary. But if you have sufficient warning of the need to evacuate due to an approaching fire or flood or severe weather, it’s much better to be prepared. Take a few minutes to make a plan and a list of what is necessary to have with you.

Here’s a link to the American Red Cross Disaster Services Page. You’ll find lots of tips and checklists to help you be better prepared for any and all possibilities. Here’s hoping that doing your homework now, will be like carrying an umbrella keeps away the rain!

“And Things We’re All Too Young To Know”

Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields wrote the song “The Book of Love”. A cover of the song was performed by Peter Gabriel and used in the soundtrack for the 2004 movie “Shall We Dance”.

We were flipping around the television channels the other day when I happened upon the last few moments of “Shall We Dance”. I was captivated by the song playing behind the final scenes. I Googled the lyrics and found the songs over on YouTube. The original Magnetic Fields version is available on iTunes. But the Peter Gabriel version can only be downloaded there as part of the entire soundtrack.

In honor of Carrie and Al’s wedding day, just a month away, here are both versions of “The Book of Love”:

Jiminy Cricket!

The Jiminy Cricket used as the title is meant to substitute for inappropriate expletives, not to refer to the conscience dude that hung out with Pinocchio!

“Jiminy Cricket!” is also better than what any of us said when we heard that Phil had injured his knee while playing basketball. The injury will require surgery, crutches, a brace and months of rehab! Phil is our niece Kate’s husband. Does that make Phil our nephew-in-law? No matter, he’s family and an incredibly nice guy! Oh, did I mention that they just moved to a second floor walkup apartment?

We send Phil our best healing thoughts and wishes for a speedy recovery.
Be careful on those new stairs Phil!

Sometimes We Lose Things

Sometimes we lose things, especially as a family.

Many of my ancestors came to America from Ireland in the middle of the 19th Century. In the years leading up to and following The Great Famine, family on various branches left their Irish homeland to seek better for themselves and especially better for their children. Another branch of my family left Scotland in the late 19th Century and found their way to America. But it is possible that many of their roots can be drawn back to Ireland, perhaps in one or more of the waves of immigration that happened between the two areas. One more branch apparently left Denmark, also at the end of the 19th Century and settled in Massachusetts and then in Rhode Island. Still another branch probably originated in France and first emigrated to Canada and later to the United States.

A surprising number of my ancestors all found their way directly to Rhode Island. They may have come from rural or urban areas back home, but most lived and worked in the cities. Many of the men and some of the women found work in the factories of Rhode Island. Their lives were difficult. Their education was minimal. It took multiple generations before a high school diploma was the norm. Another generation beyond that before college educations were possible and eventually routine.

So it’s not surprising that things got lost along the way. Religion stayed intact because the Roman Catholic Church was thriving here in the United States. But other traditions fell by the wayside. Language, while predominantly English, lost its native accent as brogues and burrs were replaced with New England regional accents. But within contemporary accents and expressions, one can still hear echoes of the influence of myriad Irish and Scottish voices who settled here.

Sadly, within my family, oral histories also became truncated. By the time I sat down with my father and my maternal grandparents in the 1970s, they could sketch out the stories of relatives they had known personally, but ancestors beyond a certain point of recognition, were already hazy. I have to assume that the daily responsibilities and challenges of keeping body and soul together, left little time for stories from back home. But it is just as likely that back home may have been fraught with pain. We also had our fair share of estrangements, including a multi-generational one of vague origin from my Scottish born relatives. What Dad, Mom, Gagee and Gramps knew was the countries their families had come from. But even there, errors would eventually be found. Gagee used to tell me I had German ancestors. That was because her stepfather, the only Dad she had ever really known, had been of German descent. The family story of my paternal grandfather Alexander was a memorable one, which unfortunately proved apocryphal. We had always been told that Grandpa had been conceived in Scotland and born in the United States. Turns out, his parents and older siblings emigrated from Scotland to America two years before he was born.

Besides language, accents and oral history, other traditions such as cooking changed. Sometimes this was due to a lack of availability of ingredients from home. But it seems likely that more often than not, poverty dictated what could go in the soup pot and in the lunch pail. I also imagine that there was the typical desire to assimilate with the larger, dominant culture. Within my family, there was a strong theme of putting our best foot forward to the world. Members of my parents’ and grandparents’ generations often referred to folks both within and outside of our family as ”Lace Curtain Irish”. It meant folks who didn’t have two nickels to rub together, but hung lace curtains in their windows to give the appearance of prosperity to the neighbors. They may have used the term dismissively, but I felt there was a whole lot of the pot calling the kettle black in their usage!

By the time my parents were raising up a family, their children, my sisters and I, were minimum third generation Americans. First and foremost, we were a thoroughly mid-20th Century, just barely middle class, all American family. Tied for second, we were decidedly, absolutely, Roman Catholic. Thirdly, we were of Scottish, Irish, Danish and French descent. The family recipe box had recipes clipped from American magazines, newspapers and off the backs of packaged products from grocery store shelves. Meals ran the gamut from corned beef and cabbage to meatballs and spaghetti to hot dogs and hamburgers to all kinds of seafood. We weren’t just part of the melting pot, we were eating out of it!

So it was with great delight that I learned about “Maw Broon’s Cookbook”. The discovery was serendipitous in a way possible only in this technologically advanced, early 21st century time. A few weeks ago, I was reading Sue’s blog. She and her son Jake were traveling on an extended vacation from their home in South Africa to a number of countries. One part of their journey brought them to visit family in Glasgow, Scotland. While the entire trip was fascinating, greater Glasgow is where my paternal great-grandparents lived before coming to America. One of the photos Sue uploaded to her blog showed her and Jake standing in front of a Borders Bookstore in Glasgow. In the bookstore’s window was the “life size” image of a cartoon character called Maw Broon. I did some Googling and learned that “The Broons” (The Browns if spoken without the Scottish accent) were created by Dudley D. Watkins in 1936, during the depths of The Great Depression. The Broons were a Scottish family living in a fictional town, inspired by Glasgow and Dundee.

The typical internet search led me link by link to Maw Broon’s Cookbook (United Kingdom link). The description alone intrigued me. Holding the artfully aged and cleverly created book in my hands left me smitten. The conceit of Maw Broon’s collection of recipes is that it was a gift from her soon-to-be mother-in-law on her wedding day. The book has been digitally ”tattered” and “stained” and contains recipes and tips held in place by yellowing “tape”. The period script penmanship is sometimes difficult to decipher, especially as the recipes are also written in dialect, but that just adds to the charm.

Maw Broon’s Cookbook doesn’t heal my family’s estrangements. Nor does it tease out any more truth from my beautifully gnarled family tree. Reading Maw Broon’s recipe for Fish Pie reminds me of the recipe I created for Finnan Haddie Pie. But not even Maw Broon’s Cookbook can transform my own family’s recipe box filled with tips and recipes from Better Homes and Gardens and the Providence Journal Bulletin. But reading recipes for Porridge, Beef Tea, Stoved Tatties and Black Bun makes me feel connected to members of my family named Mary, Elizabeth and Madelyn. Holding this cookbook, reading the recipes and notes aloud in my best Scottish burr, enables me to cleave a bit tighter to part of my family and its heritage. It has helped me to find, something we lost.

Coconut Chicken

Perhaps it is unfair to discuss food or even approximated recipes here (sorry Sue!), but this dish is very good. It was loosely inspired by a curry dish we’ve had at a Thai restaurant up in Bar Harbor called Siam Orchid.

As always, I can’t tell you much about amounts. And really, despite the name, this is an excellent vegetarian dish. Just leave out the chicken and swap in veggie broth for the chicken broth. You can also add beans.

Olive Oil
Sherry
Onions - medium dice
Garlic - crushed
Potatoes - medium dice Yukon Gold
Red Peppers
Mushrooms - I like shiitake
Carrot - grated
Chicken Broth
Chicken
Coconut Milk - 1/2 to 2/3 of a can
Grated Unsweetened Coconut
Curry Powder - to taste
Hot Sauce - I like Frank’s Chili Lime
Sesame Tahini - couple spoonfuls
Salt - to taste

Start with a large saute or frying pan. Add the olive oil, onions, garlic, sherry and a little bit of the curry powder and cook over medium heat until onions have softened. Add the potatoes and some broth. Cover and simmer until potatoes are near tender. Then add the other veggies.
Note: I’ve used lots of different vegetables including zucchini and summer squash. I’ve also used sweet potatoes instead of white or yellow. What you want is a nice assortment or colors and textures.
Reduce heat to a simmer and add the chicken. Then add the coconut milk and the Tahini. Sprinkle on the grated coconut. Season with the remaining curry powder, hot sauce and salt. Cover and simmer until done.
If you need to thin it, you can add a little more broth or some milk.

I like to serve it over a Thai rice which is seasoned with lime and lemongrass. Or add lemongrass and a little lime or perhaps orange zest or ginger to the coconut veggie mixture and serve over brown rice.
I’ve also served the leftovers as a chilled soup.
Enjoy!

Red Sox Nation Welcomes Bay

The down to the wire trade which sent Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers and brought Jason Bay to the Boston Red Sox, has turned out quite nicely. It already looks as if young Mr. Bay is doing exactly what any player brought in to replace Mr. Ramirez should do. But here’s my hopefully happily redundant advice:
1. Play hard.
2. Be nice.
3. Remember to tip your hat.
4. Run like the divil hisself were chasing you as you take off from home plate.

Welcome to Boston Jason!
So good, so good, so good!

In The Deep End, But Swimming!

You may remember I’ve been wrestling with whether to upgrade to Photoshop Elements 6.0 or to take on the 500 pound gorilla which is Photoshop Creative Suite 3. CS3 is now living on my laptop! In order to prove to myself that I would be able to work in it right away, I attempted to create a quick and simple digi-scrap page. First step: Choose a Color and use the Paint Bucket to pour the color on the page. Easy-peasy right? Not so much. My Crayon Box and Color Wheel were missing. In it’s place, I found a dizzying array of color options, which will no doubt eventually be very cool and useful. Then I couldn’t find the Paint Bucket. I looked and looked and queried “Help”. No dice. Chuck looked for the Paint Bucket. Eventually, I Googled “paint bucket CS3” and that’s when I found the mother lode of information about Photoshop CS3. Here’s the link to said mother lode. Turns out, the Paint Bucket is hidden behind the Gradient tool.
Sigh...

I also went rooting around and found a table which provides a key to most but not all of the CS3 tools, their icons and where they have been hidden live on the workspace. Here’s the link to that treasure trove (click on “About Tools”).

As I continued to work on the digi-scrap page, I repeatedly returned to those Adobe Help Resource Center pages to figure things out. At this moment, I miss, what in retrospect, were the user friendly aspects of Photoshop Elements. Of course, when I first started with Elements I nearly went crazy from how non-intuitive and illogical the program was!

Patience, Grasshopper, patience...

“Equal Means Equal”

That’s how Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick put it when he signed the measure repealing the 1913 law which was the final impediment to same-sex couples from other states marrying in Massachusetts! The repeal of the 1913 law (which most likely was originally enacted to prevent interracial marriage) took effect immediately.

The tourism slogan may be “Virginia Is For Lovers”. But imagine all the lovely places in Massachusetts folks could get married and then honeymoon!

Power of Language

Senator Barack Obama is the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. He has been ever since the final primaries on June 3, 2008 and Senator Hillary Clinton’s concession speech on June 7th. Recently, Senator Obama has increasingly been described as being presumptuous; as suffering from hubris.

In my opinion, there is a current of racism inherent in this criticism. To me it smacks of the old idea of the “uppity black” “exceeding his station” in life. Nor do I think it is an accident that “presumptuous” has become the word of the day. Not long ago Senator Obama’s critics were describing him as elitist. That didn’t do the trick for them. So the crowd who brought us “death tax” as a replacement for “estate tax”, settled on “presumptuous”. In that word they found a way to strike the old chord of racism, while maintaining plausible deniability.

Summer Harvest

Before I headed off to Carrie’s shower on Saturday morning, Chuck went to The Country Hen in Hubbardston to buy eggs during their farm store hours. He also stopped by the Farmer’s Market in Barre and brought home some zucchini and summer squash. Tonight I cooked up the squashes along with some olive oil, onion, garlic and artichoke hearts. I added some rosemary and a little bit of crumbled bacon. A few more veggies, such as tomatoes and eggplant and I would have been in the neighborhood of a ratatouille. But it was just fine as is.

I once described some recipe I had concocted to my nephew J.R. and his wife Lorrie. As I listed off sherry, olive oil, garlic, onions, a splash of cream, etc. J.R. got a grin on his face and said: “You could cook shoe leather in those ingredients and it would taste good!” Yup. Cooking is not rocket science!

Sunday Night

- More wild thunderstorms and rain, but all is well.
- I’m bleary eyed from processing Carrie’s Bridal Shower photos in iPhoto and Photoshop Elements 4.0. But I sure did learn a whole lot!
- I also had to figure out how to use Apple’s iWeb for the family photos, because I couldn’t get create and upload access to Apple’s HomePage! Ever since Apple made the big switch from .Mac to MobileMe, there have been hiccups and glitches. I can’t complain too much because from early 2005 until a couple of weeks ago it had been incredibly smooth sailing.
- Hope your weekends were everything you wanted them to be...

So Good!

The upcoming nuptials between my niece Carrie and her fiance Al are now just weeks, not months away. We love Carrie like a daughter and we are very happy that she found such a great guy. There’s just one very, very serious problem. Al is a die hard New York Yankees fan. Egad! So, here in Boston Red Sox Nation, it’s a mixed marriage. That fact, however, was difficult to discern today at Carrie’s Boston Red Sox themed bridal shower!

Lots of behind the scenes planning and plotting by Carrie’s sister Kate, their Mom (my sister) Gail and Carrie and Kate’s Auntie Linda made for a great afternoon hosted at Auntie Linda’s home in Rhode Island. Gail flew up from Georgia to surprise the bride-to-be, laying low at our Mom’s home until the shower. It was a fun wing ding and a good time was had by all!

Good News

Not sure if it was my icky illness or the wild weather earlier this week or something else, but I’ve been at sixes and sevens for several days. I’ve still been ticking things off my to do list, but I haven’t felt very zippy.

I did find some good news though:

Jeff not only survived, but blogged his way through his recent medical adventure!
PoetMama is expecting her second child, another daughter!
Barbie2Be has launched her new business!
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has figured out which jalapeno peppers we should avoid. So that means if we can figure out where our jalapenos come from, we can make this yummy appetizer - maybe with a bit of pineapple.

Also, something nice is happening to someone nice, tomorrow, but I can’t post about it yet. You never know who might be reading Pink Granite twixt now and then!

Say When:

WHEN!!!
I’m sure some other parts of this planet would be happy to have some of this torrential rain.
Because we’re all set for now - really.
Please?


Screen shot from WBZ4 Weather Radar

Probably Not What George W. Had In Mind...

Thanks to Papamoka, we have this video created by his circle of extended family and friends on the northern shores of the Quabbin Reservoir. Percussionist Doug Plavin clearly knows how to get people movin’ and groovin’!
Do pay close attention to the funding source credit at the end of the video...
;o)

Silver Plus Paper

Happy 26th Wedding Anniversary J & K!

Under The Weather

Actually, sick-as-a-dog. Hopefully, I will be 100% in no time.
The good news is that the last 24 hours guarantees Chuck will be the first person to be canonized while still alive!

This & That

:: Thank you to everyone who has been clicking off to sign the petition urging the U.S. Census Bureau not to edit the 2010 Census. (See July 18 - “Call For Action & Accuracy” below.)

:: I am very much enjoying the television series “In Plain Sight” on the USA network.

:: The New England region has the highest consumption of ice cream per capita in the United States. It makes me proud to be a New Englander! We eat ice cream year round. My favorite since childhood is coffee ice cream (regular churn, not soft serve) in a sugar (not a waffle) cone. These days, the best I can find is at Friendly’s. It used to be Newport Creamery, but nowadays, they’re almost exclusively in Rhode Island.

:: I have the opportunity to purchase Photoshop CS3 for better than half off the exorbitant list price. But I could also upgrade from Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac to the recent Photoshop Elements 6.0 for Mac, for about a quarter of the CS3 sale price. Chuck is a patient man. He’ll probably be fast tracked for sainthood after he dies just on the basis of living with me. And the me he is living with right now is incessantly wrestling with this CS3 vs. PSE 6.0 decision.

:: Summer being in full swing means I am in my seasonal country music phase. I’ve never lived south of 41 degrees latitude (or west of 93 degrees longitude), but how can I not enjoy music with lines like Brooks & Dunn’s “I shaved my legs. I paid my money. Play something country.” Or Sugarland’s “Friday, payday, Lordy gotta get away, had it with the wife thing; livin’ on a shoestring.” Or Toby Keith’s: “I ain't as good as I once was, but I’m as good once, as I ever was”!
Toe tappin’ bliss..

The Ultimate Happy Dance

It was through DancingMorganMouse that I found the ultimate happy dance video. It’s definitely worth a look. I smiled all the way through.
Click here to see the video.
You can learn more here.
By the way, feel free to join in as you watch. That could only be a good thing for you and the planet in general!