Monday, May 30, 2011

My Memorial Day thoughts! I have a sadness in my heart when I think of Memorial Day and all of the men, women and even children who have died in past wars. What exactly is wrong with human beings that they cannot settle differences any other way. I have a great respect for those who have willing served or who do serve right now in the military, to do the things that their government asks of them.

We like to talk about our military defending freedom and our country, so often that is not necessarily the case, but at any rate they do carry out the desires of our government. These are dedicated people who work harder than the average person and who put up with working conditions that are generally severe. I have a great-great-great grand father who gave his life fighting in the U.S. Civil War, my father and father-in-law both served in WWII, I have one son-in-law who served in the National Guard, and a Godson who served in the U.S. Army in more than one "conflict" area. I am proud of these men and honor them .

Within a few days of the September 11th attack on the U.S., I had the opportunity to visit The Little Big Horn National Memorial (Custer's Last Stand) where there is a large Military Cemetery adjacent to the Battlefield Site. At this time the U.S. Flag flew at half mast in a salute to those who had died in New York and Pennsylvania, there were smaller flags on each grave. I will never forget the haunting feeling that permeated this place at that time. It was as if the ghost of every soldier buried their including Custer, his men and the Americans they fought against wailed in protest; "don't you see, in war there are no victors; only the dead".

On this Memorial Day I want to say again that I love, honor and respect the men and women who put on the military uniform of their country and are willing to follows orders to the death. I am grateful for their service to both their country and to it's citizens, including my self. I have no doubt that they do a job that is required and that none of us wants to take their place. BUT........

On this Memorial Day 2011 I want to say that I sill stand unequivocally against War and pray that all might come home safely and their be no further need of their valuable service. Being against war, does not mean you are against the men and women who must fight in it.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

My thoughts for today. Well.....today for our Fifth Sunday lesson at church we talked about our conversion to the Gospel. Just about everybody in our little Branch are Adult Converts, my personal belief is that we are all converts, even those born into the church and baptized at 8 years of age, you still have to be converted someday. It was an interesting and enlightening discussion, some of the testimonies of these people are incredible.

This got me to wondering. How many of us really GET IT! I mean get the meaning of life, the why are we here, where did we come from and where are we going. Yeah pretty heavy stuff. I for one, am still working on it. I think it's a life long process, perfection that is. If you GET IT,or even think that maybe you are working on it, what are you doing?

On another subject, I have to express how proud of my husband, I am. He has been the unofficial acting Branch President here on St.Croix for the past three weeks when our Branch President was in the States. Certainly I'm biased, but I think he showed an incredible amount of maturity and love for these wonderful people. There are a lot of hard things here and it's even harder to try to get even a fraction of them done, while also working full time and seeing to the needs of your family. Today, more than one of the Sister's expressed to me, what a good job they thought he did, and how much they have come to love him for the help and time he devotes to others.

I am generally the first one to point out his failings (to him, not to the world) and this is in an effort to help him be better, trust me, he does the same for me, but I have to admit he did rise to the occasion. Another reason to be grateful, is that maybe he proved that he can it, so that he will never have to. You know the old "lessons learned".

Tomorrow we're invited to a BBQ, have to go back out to Cane Bay to check out the annual Sea Kayak sale and I was hoping to spend some time at the beach at Cane Bay, also Rick has to go into work in the morning and I have a Visiting Teaching Appointment at 10. All this and I'm obsessing about my "day off" from my book. We'll see what we actually fit in tomorrow.

Saturday, May 28, 2011



Posted that short story in my writers group for comments and even let Rick read it. I appreciate your kind comments, but it's obvious it fell short In other words nobody really got it. I did learn some valuable lessons from this experience thought. Primarily, when you working within a very tight framework (I can't even say Hi in less than 500 words) you have to leave in what is important and get rid of some of the prose,no matter how much you love it.

This VSS was excerpted from my book where it is a conversation between a mother and her teenage daughter. Obviously, in that context it would read a little differently and I have no word constraint, but interestingly enough, today when I finally wrote myself up to the point where this conversation should go,I don't think I'm going to use it, I came up with something better. Still want to make a distinction between love and sex and with an emphasis the importance of women's true roles in life. Oh and you can "just shoot me" if you don't like my viewpoint. It is only my viewpoint and this is my book and my blog after all.

Anyway...Rick had to go into work this morning for a few hours but we are planning a beach Memorial Day Weekend. He reminded me that this is the first Memorial Day Weekend we've had in a long time when it wasn't either, cold, rainy or snowy. Yeah! It's about 82 and sunny here in the islands.

OK now I've Facebooked, Tweeted and fooled around here. I think I've taken distractions to a new level, so it's time to finish up one more chapter before Rick comes home and the weekend begins. Before I go let me see if today blogger will let me post the pictures of Rosie and E. Bunny. OK, the pictures are added, but E. Bunny is a little cock-eyed, I didn't rotate the picture, but he'll have to stay that way, at least you get the idea, I'm out of time.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I'm so mad I could spit. Yesterday, I told you one of my main distractions was work on my story, well all week I have been distracted by a "very short story contest", that I wanted to enter. this morning I got up early and took an excerpt from my book and reworked it into a "very short story" (less than 500 words) for this contest. I'm sure it was a good exercise, BUT when I went to post it at the contest, they stated that "due to the vast number of early entries they closed the contest early". ALRIGHTY THEN, is not exactly what I thought but it's what I'm comfortable writing here. (and now I can't figure out why this won't stop writing in italic, except for the fact that I have decided that blogger hates me)/

Anyway....I'm going to publish that very short story here, so any of you who are still reading my blog, feel free to comment, but be gentle, I'm a little insecure about my writing. Go figure!

GENUINE WOMEN

“Hey Benni, thanks for lunch, I’m so depressed, I need you to talk to me,” Clare said, as she slid into the booth.

“It’s about him, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, you know he was a photographer?” Clare said.

“Yes, I knew that.”

All that adventure and the beautiful women….He would be alive today if….” Clare said.

“Clare the world is full of beautiful women, what is needed is more genuine women. Women who are not afraid to accept their true callings as mothers and wives, women who are willing to learn and grow into those callings, women who want genuine feeling and emotions, not cheap counterfeits.”

“Don’t you think I want those things?” Clare asked.

“I don’t know. Look, you wondered why there was no man in my life for almost twenty years; well it was because I had a true love. After he was gone I was angry and heartbroken, I thought about looking for someone else, but I realized another man was not going to replace him. Although, I might fall in love again, it would not be the same love. So, I made a decision to cherish the genuine love that I had and not accept a cheap imitation.”

“I can’t understand why he went to that place. Everything was good between us, even the sex,” Clare said.

“It always comes back to sex. Sex and love might be bound together but, don’t mistake one for the other. While sex might be an expression of love it can’t create or replace it. Love can stands on its own, but sex alone will eventually leave you feeling hollow and unfulfilled. True love doesn’t require any payment; it’s free and unattached to the physical.”

“I feel so alone and afraid, I need someone to fill my life,” Clare said.

“You have a choice, you can replace the photographer with some guy, you can replace love with sex and you can replace your potential for genuine happiness with things or; you can live in peace knowing that you have experienced true love, let that settle into your being, and see what happens. Time really does heal all wounds, but we like to pick a scab, thinking it will speed up the process. In reality that only creates more of a scar.”

“So where do I go from here?”

You stand at a crossroad where pain, loneliness and sorrow meet peace, tranquility and devotion. Only you can decide to turn the corner and accept your life.”

“So you’re telling me I’ll never have that kind of love again?” Clare asks.

“Not at all, but in order to find a worthy man, you have to be spending some time making yourself worthy.”

“Will you tell him? Can you do that?” Clare said.

“He already knows.”

“Miss are you waiting for someone, or do you want to order now,” the waitress said.

“No I’m alone and I’m ready,” Clare said.

There you go, that's it, at least I had the courage to submit it somewhere.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

For weeks, no maybe it's more like months now, I have been just about begging those of you who have not yet signed up as followers to do so. Then I go and disappoint everyone by being such a slug. My first line of defense is that it has not all been my fault. Blogger has been on and off the blink over the past few weeks, so there have been some times that, I simply could not get onto the site Primarily the fault has been mine.

Some of you may know that I have been working on writing a book. Well it's going very well but due to the obsessive nature of my personality I have been consumed. It's funny how you start with an idea and then you create a few characters and suddenly the whole thing has a life of it's own. I mean seriously, my characters have actually refused to say certain things that I thought they should be saying, then there is the scene that I have pictured exactly in my head and it just won't translate. This along with the nights that I'm up until three or four AM because I can't stop yet. Compare those to the days that I sit at the computer and procrastinate, because I just can't get going. Well you get the idea. I'm enjoying this venture immensely but it is work. All this is happening while I'm taking classes,so.....some days I have used up all my words and I can't stare at this screen for one more minute, let along remember how to spell one more word.

Also, I'm the Young Women's President at Church, so every Tuesday we have an activity for the Young Women. Having an activity means that we drive 2/3 of the way across the island to pick up one of the girls whose mother works nights, and without a ride she wouldn't be able to attend, anyway then we come back to the church which is mid-island, then we take her home and then we finally get home. I really don't mind, it's just time consuming.

Anyway, we had a combined activity tonight, that's the Young Women and the Young Men, it was a success. We simply had a game night, meaning the kids came together played a few games and ate pizza. These are some really good kids, who are into their school work and trying hard to do the right thing, but all the same I would not go back to High School for anything.

Finally, I'm hoping that blogger will cooperate and let me post the picture of Rosie that I have been promising. There's also a picture of the other half of my Easter gift from E. Bunny. Rosie is a big help with our garden and you will all be glad to know that we are eating our lettuce daily.

Well that's all folks. Once again I have repented and will try to write daily, but we'll just have to see how that works out.

Sorry guys,no picture tonight, between blogger and what we simply call "islands" it ain't gonna happen. I'll try again tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

I have fallen into the awful habit of NOT blogging. When I do log on and see how many days it has been I feel bad, but apparently not bad enough to just sit down and write something.

We have had a lot of rain the last week or so, some days it remains overcast and cloudy all day long, some days we see a little sun but then the clouds and storms move in. Last Saturday night it was terrific. There has been a lot of flooding on the island. Last Sunday one of the Branch members was called in to work at one of the High Schools to try to clean up the flooding before Monday morning. Things are a mess, but so far there doesn't seem to have been any serious harm to life and limb (well at least not human limb).

Yesterday, was my hectic day. Get up by 6 take Rick to work, stop on the way home and do a little shopping, come home and put groceries away, go back out and pick up one of the Sisters and head to the church for Auxiliary Council Meeting, finish up meeting and stop at another two stores, come home and put groceries away,make and eat lunch, have a small visit with Delbert (the bug man, Terminix comes in once a month to spray) race back out the door to go pick up Rick, to to Subway for salads, go the West end to pickup one of the Young Women then back to the church so Rick can attend Branch Presidency Meeting, and I can go to YW Activity,now back to West end to take Young Woman home and finally home by 9. This is not my idea of a fun day, but some really good things came out of all of that:

First of all, there have been some changes to the Auxiliary Council, we have a new Primary President Sister Andrea Williams, Sis.Williams is here on St. Croix from the Dominican Republic working on her US citizenship, her English is improving but still a challenge, fortunately there are other members of the A.C. who are fluent in Spanish. This was our first meeting with Sis. Williams and everyone was relieved to hear that she wants more teaching (real Primary classes) and a little less singing (up to now, Primary has consisted of almost all singing time). She is on track to call two Primary teachers, one for Jr. Primary and one for Sr. Primary, an Achievement Day Leader and a new Nursery Leader (she was the old Nursery Leader). Right now there is one teacher in Primary, who really doesn't teach but is a great music leader. Sis. Williams may release her and start completely over, not sure, but the Branch Presidency has been looking for a complete revamp in Primary for awhile and it looks like it's finally happening. Everyone knows that Sis. Williams days on St. Croix are limited, but apparently she is the person the Lord has the confidence in to make the necessary changes.

There is a lot of concern because Primary only has one child that regularly attends. Sometimes there are up to 7 or 8 but that's on an occasional rotating basis. We are all working on enough faith to increase the programs and lovingly invite the families with children to come back and show them that we are ready for them. I think it will work.

The main reason that I think this will work in Primary is that I'm finally seeing it happen in Young women. Prior to my being called as the YW President, they had been having successful activities by taking the girls places and doing things and meeting in some of the Sister's homes. I have a nice enough place and big enough to have the girls over here at the condo and one of the other families has a really nice, really big house that they were happy to share, but I worried about this. I know I'm not in Idaho anymore, but it still felt like YW should primarily be at the church, with activities that are fun but centered around the Gospel, with a trip to the beach or someones pool on a more occasional basis. So I set it up to have a YW Activity every Tuesday evening from 6:30 to 8:00 and tried to get all of our three girls (two members and one non-member who does attend seminary) to come. The Branch Presidency changed their meeting night to Tuesday, so we would have Priesthood with us in the building and transportation would be a little easier on Rick and I. Well we had two activities with myself and one of the girls and one night we cancelled altogether, just as I was feeling pretty discouraged one of the girls mother's finally agreed to let me pick her up and we had our first successful YW Activity on a Tuesday night at the church. The girls were even excited about it and seemed to have a good time. It was pretty simple, we, the two YW members and I have been asked to speak in church on Sunday and they decided to fill up some of the time by singing a song together. We met last night to pick a song and practice. They wanted to sign "As Sisters in Zion" and I tried to persuade them to sing something else as that one is more a Relief Society type song, but we couldn't agree on anything else, so I said I'm sure this is your song. As we practiced, I felt the Spirit so strong, I had to keep hiding behind my hymnal,so the girls wouldn't think I was just a silly boob, because I could clearly see that they are Sisters in Zion. The girls are excited to speak and sing in church (of course, they don't directly admit it but you can tell). They even planned a "Combined" activity for next week, that's combined with the Young Men, it's simple and at the church, but we're going to have a game night (all their idea). Maybe this sounds silly to some of you but for me, it was a real "if you build it, they will come" moment for me.

The second good thing that happened yesterday at the AC Meeting was that we changed the meeting date to Thursday. That means I won't have to be a nut on Tuesdays running all over the place.

Rick has been the Acting Branch President (our President is in the states for three weeks) now for a week and a half. He can't imagine why anyone would aspire to this calling,he has been run ragged, but I know he feels goo. He can see the people have learned tot trust him and they are not afraid to ask for his help and in turn they are doing the things he has asked them to do. That is incredibly gratifying and a confirmation that this really is the Lord's work. Through some very simple means two adult daughters of some very stalwart sisters in the Branch have been reactivated, we know this is the result of the efforts of many people over a long period of time but it feels great to be the person at the end of that line actually seeing it happen.

This may not be one of the more exciting blogs for you guys to read but these are things that I wanted to record for myself and believe me these are exciting times for me.

I didn't forget Rosie, I'll try to post those pictures tomorrow.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Tonight we had the satisfaction of eating salad from our garden. Yeah, I live in a condo but I have two huge decks. This spring I decided to plant a container garden, particularly lettuce (we eat a lot of it and the stuff from the store just doesn't keep well). Anyway...I bought one of those long (about 3ft.) window box planters and a few clay pots. I planted a row of lettuce in the long planter and some other leafy things in the clay pots. I also have some herbs. A friend who moved to the island of Dominica gave me a tomato plant and a basil plant and two pots of leafy salad things so I'm all set. Today was my first harvest. That salad tasted so good. There is nothing better than growing your own food.

I used to be an avid gardener when I lived in Illinois, after all I come from farmers. Then in Colorado, living at 10,000FT above sea level it just wasn't happening. When we moved to Idaho I tried and tried but didn't get much support from the family. For two years we did live at a place with a marvelous greenhouse and I had a fantastic garden. One of the years when we had the greenhouse was the year I went through cancer treatment. My blood pressure was so low all of the time, that I was constantly freezing, so I used to go and just sit in the greenhouse and enjoy the warmth and the smell of the dirt and growing things. I miss that greenhouse but of course here in the Caribbean you really don't need it. Today Rick showed me two little blossoms on my tomato plant and you know what that means. TOMATOES.

Tomorrow I'll post a picture of Rosie. She was a part of my Easter present (you know, from E. Bunny). Rosie is a great help with the garden, essential really. You will have to wait until tomorrow to see why.

Finally crossed the 10,000 word mark on my WIP (that's writer talk for Work in Progress or the book I'm working on). You have no idea how good that feels and how hard it is to write 10,000 coherent words even for someone who yaks all the time, like me. My goal is to hit 25,000 words before the end of May. I'll keep you posted.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Just a quick blog to complain about "blogger", it has been broken for a few days. Seriously, this is the truth, it is not a simple case of me being a slug. I tried to get on yesterday and nope it just wasn't there. Instead I spent the time working on my book, it's coming along nicely, I have almost 10,000 words. That's a lot even for me. Anyway....I'll be back tomorrow with something more interesting, I promise, but it's late and I was just checking to see if "evil blogger" had returned my blog page, so I thought I should write a quick note.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Been AWOL for a few days, so I feel like I should say something. Woke up this morning with a terrific sinus headache, took some meds and went back to bed for a few hours, woke up with pain on only one side of m face. Think it might be a sinus infection, YIPPEE! We had an incredible storm pass through yesterday, afternoon, so maybe it's just the drop in pressure. I hd the car so I had to go pick rick up and I was driging through water that was almost three feet deep. It was incredible, and it all came down in about thirty minutes. Life in the tropics. I sure hope this is not the glimpse of what to expect this Hurricane Season!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Sorry about the Saturday Night rant, I made it through Mother's Day just fine, it was actually a very nice day. Church was really good, almost as though everyone knew I didn't want to hear the syrupy Mother's Day stuff, so they did herald Mother's but in a more real way. I enjoyed it.

On another note...I started another diet (sigh) on May 1st, don't really want to bore you with the details but it is working quite nicely, thank you very much. I'm not hungry, have more energy, and basically feel really good. It's pretty strict for six days a week and then you have one day when you can basically eat anything you want (yes anything and in any amount). Well I decided to save my "binge day" for Mother's Day and today I actually feel sick, you have to learn to pace yourself. I mean it was a Holiday and all and we had a special meal but I really over did it on things that I only thought I wanted. It is amazing what you can do without and not truly miss. There are a few things that I ate yesterday, that today, I feel as though I never want to eat again. Thanks a good thing, right?

So far today only able to choke down some Apple/Cinnamon Herbal Tea, anxious to get back to my slo-carb diet, it really felt so good, but I have got to get my stomach and intestines settled down before I put ANYTHING into them. It's overcast and humid today, so I'm going to do some housework, sit here and write and try to feel better. Pool later on. Aren't you glad you asked?

Saturday, May 7, 2011


Saturday, May7th, Mother's Day Eve and I am reminded how much I dislike Mother's day. My Mom has been gone for thirty-two years, so at this time I only miss her more (funny how you never get over missing your Mom) and I think Mother's Day is just another day that ends up being more about everybody but Mom.

I really miss my granddaughter Macy. Tonight is her dance recital and I'm heartbroken to not be there. It's funny that this would mean so much to me, but I know how important it is to her. I have to say that I love her so much and I love how she loves me. Completely unconditionally. she never tells me, maybe or well see, she listens to me and I know how much she wants to please me and in return I want to do everything to make her happy and do what I can to see that she has a wonderful life. I know I'm not her parent and that raising her is not my responsibility, but I still want to do what I can to grant her every wish. At Mother's Day, I really miss her.

I had a whole vent planned that would probably only hurt the feelings of my family and I really don't want to do that. For years we used to go to Yellowstone National Park on Mother's Day. It was great, we had a nice dinner up there at the Old Faithful Lodge, we didn't know anybody except who ever was with us, it was different, most of those Mother's Days at Yellowstone we didn't even go to church. I used to feel a little bad about that, but then we missed all the Mother's Day talks that only made me feel bad anyway.

Here on St. Croix the church has a big dinner for the Mother's on the Saturday before Mother's Day (tonight). This year Rick is in charge. All of that proved to be so much fun, more fun than I could stand actually, so you will note he's at the Mother's Day dinner and I'm at home writing this blog. It's not really his fault, but all the rushing around, so he could make it perfect for everyone and all the hustle and bustle for me, not to mention that he told me he wouldn't have time to get me anything for Mother's Day, so why didn't I just pick something out in the store we were at (Gee, Honey how thoughtful), was more than I could take. It's not about presents but about thoughtfulness.

On a happier note, I was down at the pool working out and a man came through the gate heading for the Italian Restaurant. I said "Good Evening" and he returned the greeting, then he asked me "how I was doing", I lied and said good and returned the question. then he told me that he wasn't doing too good, he was at a real downturn in his life, but that he knew it would get better, that there had to be balance in life and we had to feel down to know when we were up. We talked for a few minutes and I thanked him for his message and told him that I needed that. He told me that was strange and that talking about it helped him to feel better too. His parting words were to never give up, no matter what.

I have know idea who he is and why we interacted, but after this conversation I do know that God loves me.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Well here it is Cinco de Mayo and it's not a big deal down here. I was surprised because there are so many Hispanic people, but then I realized that Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican Holiday and these Spanish people here are just that Spanish and not Mexican, so in the VI it's plain old May 5th.

BUT, here we are into May and only ten followers. I am glad to have made it into the double digits, but come on folks in order to have the drawing for the contest we need to get to twenty-five (25), is that too much to ask. I know your reading, just push yourself and sign up to FOLLOW!

I posted on Facebook a while ago that I was reading "The Hunger Games", a few people asked me to tell them what I thought when I finished so I decided to do that here. I'll try not to include any SPOILERS, so it will be more MY general impressions. I had resisted reading these books for awhile; I mean come on I could not imagine being entertained by stories about a civilization that resorts to the gladiator ring with children. This was a real big Are you kidding me?, for me. Alas, I gave in. I might add that I was the same way about the Harry Potter Series and he Twilight series.

I have only read one other book that should have come with a MENTAL HEALTH WARNING, that is "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, I do not recommend this book to anyone. I still have nightmares about it if I think on it for too long. It was probably one of the most disturbing things I have ever read,(not the least of which, is that it relates directly to some very real prophecy) so now that I have mentioned it be warned and take my advice and DO NOT READ "THE ROAD". I mentioned that because I was feeling a little the same way when I finished the first book in the "Hunger Games", (Mental Health Warning, not a direct warning not to read) once I got through all three and had some time to digest them, it was not as bad, but still somewhat disturbing.

By the time I finished the whole series I was a little horrified to think that this is 'young adult fiction" as in kids. The protagonist is sixteen at the onset of the book and since in YA Fiction that would mean that the readers are generally about two years younger or fourteen, I'm thinking "oh my"! I've also heard of many parents reading it with/to much younger children. To me this was NOT a bedtime story, but then neither are most Fairy Tales.

At the end of the trilogy I felt like I was wading around, at least, knee deep in pure gore but then I was reminded of the scene in "Parenthood", the movie with Steve Martin when he dresses up as Cowboy Bob the balloon man for his son's birthday. He gets a round of applause from the kids when he tells them that most days after lunch, he shoots a few bad guys and then likes to slip around on their guts . OK, I get it, kids love this stuff and it's not as real/horrifying/nightmarish (supply whatever word suits you) as it is to parents or "gasp", grandparents

I will admit, I read all three books in less than a week (thank you kindle). No matter the subject Ms.Collins knows her stuff and it was riveting. The last night I was up until 2:30AM and the battery had died on my kindle, so I was finishing it up while plugged into my computer for a recharge. The characters were vivid and just real enough to get you involved. The lying, plotting, completely controlling governments on both sides were believable to me (that may just be me, see my earlier posts) and the ending was inevitable, if not scary. A damaged world filled with damaged people. I just felt so little hope through it all. I'm tempted to mention something abut the ending, but I promised no spoilers.

I would be hopeful if stories like this and Orson Scott Card's "Ender's" series really made a difference in future generations but only time will tell on that one. If it's pure entertainment and fun your after, I'm not sure it's here. I know some of you loved these books and about this time, might want me to be sent to one of the outer districts. I can't say that I loved them, but I won't say that I'm sorry that I read them and all things considered I would give the series a 4 stars out of a possible 5 (and I only subtract that one star because personally, gore bothers me, a lot more than most things) on the babs-o meter.

REMEMBER ~ Just my opinion. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you thought of "The Hunger Game" series. I am wondering how all of this is going to play in a movie and keep a PG-13 rating to satisfy most of the readers. One interesting thing about the movie. Suzanne Collins the author, is also a screenwriter, so she is writing the screen play for the movie. That should be interesting, as so many good books are butchered by the screenwriters.

ONE LAST WORD: All through these books I kept thinking of a popular phrase from the 60's; "Don't trust anyone over 30".

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

I didn't post yesterday because I was too distracted with everything. Mondays seem to be like that, I start out with a mental list of everything I want to do and I don't get any of it done. Maybe I need to have a written list, that I make out on Sunday night and just stick to it. Anyway.....

Yesterday, about 9:30AM my husband called and asked if I had been on the computer yet, answer; NO. Had I turned on the TV, answer; are you kidding me? so he says, get on the computer and turn on the TV, the US finally got Bin Laden. OK, I'm somewhat obedient, so I did both. The TV was awful, mostly revisiting with survivors of the victims of 9/11, maybe some closure but also a whole lot of heartbreak all over again. the Internet was similar bu a lot more of the "news". I'm reading all of this stuff and thinking, well it sure seems sad that so many people are so jubilant about a persons death, but then again this was one pretty sick dude. I'm reading along and wondering when we're going to get to the gory pictures of his bullet riddled body when I come to the big ARE YOU KIDDING ME? They buried him at sea, within about twenty-four hours of this whole thing happening.

Now I ask you,just for the sake of argument, if say I and a few of my friends were independent commandos, and we traveled to Pakistan undetected and happened to pull of the same sort of raid and the same sort of "burial at sea" and we came back to the US Government and said; "hey, we just took out the baddest due around and want some sort of reward", don't you think they would want something more than our word. Burial at sea? I can't get over it. I mean I frankly would still be skeptical but would have expected some sort of fire storm that took the whole building up in flames and he was identified from dental records or something like that but "burial at sea"???

Now most of you know me pretty well, and I can just hear you thinking; there she goes again, but I am not alone.

This morning’s headline that Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight in Pakistan and quickly buried at sea. We must take it as more evidence that the US government has unlimited belief in the gullibility of Americans.

That was a post on my Facebook page by a friend in Ireland. Are you sure? Are you really confident that this happened and they don't want to offer up any proof other than their word? I'm having a hard time with it. I have to admit that I want it to be true. I want this not to be just one more lie, but please give me something more to go on.

One last thing; today on the Internet I saw and article that said we could expect one more broadcast from OBL. Apparently they have intelligence that he recently made a tape to be aired in the event of his death. The article I read was suggesting that it should not be aired because it could either (1) make him seem more of a martyr or (2) fuel the thought that he is not dead. One more time; ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Sunday, May 1, 2011


Happy May Day! What images does that conger up for you? I think of two very different things; First, lovely little girls with flowers in their hair dancing around a large pole stuck into the ground with ribbons and flowers streaming from it. Each little girls hold onto a ribbon and sings as she dances around the pole (May Pole). Second, the annual parade of weaponry in the former Soviet Union. This was a time when they held their annual May Day Parade, with all of their military might including tanks, huge missiles on flat bed trucks, and hundreds or thousands of armed,uniformed soldiers.

Two pretty diverse images, don't you think? Personally I prefer the first, the little girls. The second image always scared me half to death. It sure is nice not to have the nightly news filled with it but then does that mean we have nothing to worry about.

Do you think that our "nightly news" is pretty sanitized? That we really don't see these things because there are people in charge who want them to be "out of sight and out of mind". I often get the feeling that we are being led down the garden path and lulled into complacency, so that these people in charge can do whatever they want.

So, just because we don't see the missiles and other military might, does it mean it doesn't exist? Do we really feel safer because we think the primary threat comes from individuals and not an organized group big enough to be called a country? Personally, I think the real threat comes from within. Within each of us and the things we are willing to put up with. Everybody complains but does anybody do anything about the things that they are complaining about. Most people don't want to "rock the boat". As long as they are well fed, can afford the toys that they want and have a comfortable roof over their head, why make waves. Interesting, that this seems to be changing in our world.

I don't have the answers, but I do like to think about what those answers might be because I'm afraid that we're really going to need them pretty soon here. Let's put our heads together, keep our minds open to possibilities and try to find the answers. Our future may depend on it.