Forever A Fangirl

Merry Thanksgivoween! #thanksgiving #holidays

Let the non-stop consuming begin!

True Blood Season 4 Series Premiere Date Confirmed But...! #trueblood @HBO @trueblood

 

What About the Holidays!?! What's Up For the Fourth & Labor Day?:

This ^^^ is putting a serious crimp in my summer plans!

Put a (blood) red X on your calendar: HBO has set the premiere date for the fourth season of True Blood. The fangtastic vampire drama returns Sunday, June 26 at 9/8c. The new season, which promises to delve even deeper into witchcraft and faeries, will once again run for 12 episodes.

Source: TVGuide

The question I have is, True Blood generally skips the Sundays that fall near holidays. In this case Episode 2, which will air on July 3, (based on this announcement) falls on both the Independence Day (Monday, the 4th of July) and Canada Day (Friday, the 1st of July) weekend. Poor timing, I would think. So then, will True Blood delay it's second episode of season 4 until July 11th?

With 12 episodes to be aired, True Blood will also run into Labor Day so the second question is: Will True Blood air on Sunday, September 4, which is during the Labour Day weekend?

If True Blood skips the 4th of July and Labor Day it will literally take this summer series' finale into autumn!

GRAPHIC: Pick Your Cupid by Ji Lee (HUMOR)

Source: NYTimes - The Opinion Pages - Pick Your Cupid Op-Art

Very clever. I'm hoping that my spouse does not succumb to the V-day hype and buy me chocolates. Please, don't let him buy stoopid chocolates. Lunch at Berghoff's in the city couple of days ago was perfect. It goes without saying (but) I'll say it anyway: No card, either!

Californication - Episode 4.04 - Monkey Business - Promo - 2 Sneak Peeks - Synopsis - Promo Photos @SHO_Cali #giveaway

 

 

Californication 4.04 - 'Monkey Business' Synopsis:

Hank learns from his lawyer (Carla Gugino) that he will be going to trial for statutory rape. After Hank finishes the F & P script, Charlie (Evan Handler) drags him to a meeting with the director (Jonathan Kasdan), the producer (Stephen Tobolowsky) and an eccentric financier (Fisher Stepens). A dead billionaire caps off the meeting.

Official CALIFORNICATION Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Californication

Official CALIFORNICATION Twitter: http://twitter.com/sho_cali

 Official CALIFORNICATION Series Site: http://www.sho.com/site/californication/home.do

Do you like free stuff/giveaways?

How 'bout your very own, super-awesome, let's celebrate Californication getting-picked-up-for a-5th-season, Californication official poster art?

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me one thing you like about the show Californication on Showtime and you are in the running. An announcement of the winners will be posted on Sunday, February 20th. Good Luck!

New Year's Wishes

"Fireworks Over Manhattan"
Art@Progressiveart.com

Best wishes to all for a happy, healthful, peaceful, and prosperous New Year!!!
Kisses,
Cyn

The Kid's Table - Feliz Navidad, Photographs and Memories

 Download Jose`Feliciano - Feliz Navidad - 01 - Feliz Navidad

Above: Me and Canadian dept. store Santa, 1962.

 Not a bad Santa, tho'  he  looks as if he's a tad warm in that suit.

Below: A family Christmas get-together from about 1967. I have cousins and an aunt (my dad's sis) and uncle and my dad as the adults in this pic. There's me, my brother, and my cousins after that. No one in the kitchen one looks happy. My brother, the 2nd littlest, looks fearful. We may have just gotten yelled at by the host (not kidding!) It is after all, the kid's table.

So bring us some figgy pudding, but not TOO figgy, because we get gas.

 

                           


  
Merry Christmas!!!

... Have you been naughty or nice this year?  

 

'O, Christmas moose ...'
Dave Barry (c) 2005 Tribune Media Services
Published December 4, 2005

Today's holiday topic is:  Christmas Tree Care.

The Christmas tree is a cherished holiday tradition that dates back 500 years, to the early Germans. What happened was, one night right around Christmas, a bunch of early Germans were sitting around, and one of them, named Helmut, said: "I know! Let's chop down a perfectly good fir tree, drag it inside, and see if we can get it to stand up again!"

     "Why in the world would we do THAT?" asked the other early Germans, who also happened to speak English.

"It's a cherished holiday tradition!" replied Helmut.

This made sense to the other Germans, because they had just invented beer. So they went out, chopped down a tree, dragged it home and spent the next four days trying to make it stand up. We now know that, under the laws of physics, this is impossible. Nevertheless, the tradition of trying to erect Christmas trees continues to the present day.

We should be grateful that the early Germans didn't decide to drag home some large forest organism that is even LESS appropriate for interior use than a tree. Imagine what Christmas would be like today if they had used, for example, a moose. We'd have millions of families driving home with a dead Christmas moose strapped to the roof of the car; and then Dad would spend hours trying to get the moose to fit into a cheesy $4.99 drugstore moose stand; and then the whole family would decorate it; and then, as everybody gathered around in admiration, it would topple majestically to the ground. So it would be essentially the same as what we do now, except that Dad would not get pine sap in his hair.

But the point is that the Christmas tree is a cherished tradition, as reflected in the lyrics to the classic Christmas carol "O Tannenbaum":

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum,

Something something something,

So bring us some figgy pudding,

But not TOO figgy, because we get gas.

Now let's talk about caring for your Christmas tree. According to the American Association Of Guys Without All Their Teeth Selling Christmas Trees From Tents, the major varieties of Christmas tree are: pine, spruce, Douglas fir, walnut, fake, balsa and Douglas Firbanks Jr. Once you have gotten the tree home and set up in its stand (allowing six to eight weeks) you will want to take measures to prevent it from shedding needles all over your floor. The best way to do this, according to the Association, is to "remove your floor." If that is not practical, you can make a mixture of four cups of water, two tablespoons of bleach and one tablespoon of sugar, but it will do you no good.

When decorating the tree, always use strings of cheap lights manufactured in Third World nations that only recently found out about electricity. Shop around for light strings that have been pre-snarled at the factory for your convenience.

OK! Now that we've covered tree care, it's time for this:

SPECIAL HOLIDAY SAFETY TIP: If you're staging a Nativity show, and you're thinking of using live animals, you had best think again. This tip is based on an alarming newspaper story from the Annapolis, Md., Capital.

The story, which I swear I am not making up, is headlined: "Huge camel fleeing live Nativity scene is killed on Route 50." It states that on the night of Dec. 21, a church was preparing to stage a Nativity show featuring live animals, when a 6-foot-tall, 600-pound camel named Ernie escaped, ran onto a highway, was struck by a car and went to That Big Zoo in the Sky. The article quotes the driver of the car that hit Ernie as saying: "How in the hell is a camel on Route 50 in the United States of America?"

These are words that we would all be wise to remember. But let us not let the threat of colliding with escaped camels dampen the joy we feel during this special time of year, as expressed in the traditional carol "Deck the Halls":

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly!"

Fa la la la la, la la la (crash).

 

Happy Winter Solstice Week

Stonehenge on Winter Solstice morning

What the scientists say:

As the Earth travels around the Sun in its orbit, the north-south position of the Sun changes over the course of the year due to the changing orientation of the Earth's tilted rotation axes with respect to the Sun. This QuickTime movie illustrates the tilt of the Earth's equatorial plane relative to the Sun which is responsible for the seasons.  The dates of maximum tilt of the Earth's equator correspond to the summer solstice and winter solstice, and the dates of zero tilt to the vernal equinox and autumnal equinox.

In the northern hemisphere, the Winter solstice is day of the year (near December 22) when the Sun is farthest south. However, in the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged so that the winter solstice is the day on which the Sun is farthest north.  The winter solstice marks the first day of the season of winter. The declination of the Sun on the (northern) winter solstice is known as the tropic of capricorn (-23° 27').

The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, respectively, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year.  Of course, daylight saving time means that the first Sunday in April has 23 hours and the last Sunday in October has 25 hours, but these human meddlings with the calendar and do not correspond to the actual number of daylight hours. In Chicago, there are 9:20 hours of daylight on the winter solstice of December 22, 1999.

A more spiritual perpective:

Winter solstice was overlaid with Christmas, and the observance of Christmas spread throughout the globe. Along the way, we lost some of the deep connection of our celebrations to a fundamental seasonal, hemispheric event. Many people--of many beliefs--are looking to regain that connection now.

I gain inspiration from the universality of the ancient idea--winter solstice celebrations aren't just an invention of the ancient Europeans.

Native Americans had winter solstice rites. The sun images at right are from rock paintings of the Chumash, who occupied coastal California for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived. Solstices were tremendously important to them, and the winter solstice celebration lasted several days.

In Iran, there is the observance of Yalda, in which families kept vigil through the night and fires burned brightly to help the sun (and Goodness) battle darkness (thought evil).

Winter solstice celebrations are also part of the cultural heritage of Pakistan and Tibet. And in China, even though the calendar is based on the moon, the day of winter solstice is called Dong Zhi, "The Arrival of Winter." The cold of winter made an excellent excuse for a feast, so that's how the Chinese observed it, with Ju Dong, "doing the winter."

I'm certain there are other examples...I'm just starting to collect them. Candlegrove visitors have told me of celebrations among the Hopi and Iranians, among others.  Know of any others you'd like to share?

And what of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights that occurs around this time every year? Is it related to other celebrations of the season?

The placement of Hanukkah is tied to both the lunar and solar calendars. It begins on the 25th of Kislev, three days before the new moon closest to the Winter Solstice. It commemorates an historic event -- the Maccabees' victory over the Greeks and the rededication of the temple at Jerusalem. But the form of this celebration, a Festival of Lights (with candles at the heart of the ritual), makes Hanukkah wonderfully compatible with other celebrations at this time of year. As a symbolic celebration of growing light and as a commemoration of spiritual rebirth, it also seems closely related to other observances.

Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm 2005 - 2010 FUN Times - Farm Photos: Family, Animals of Many Stripes - Gourds! - Haunted House - Corn Maze

Update Oct 22, 2010 Goebbert's Farm, 40 W. Higgins Rd., South Barrington, IL, USA -

We go every year because it is a local, fun outside thing to do. http://www.pumpkinfarms.com/

We started going to Goebbert's prior to the common use of digital cameras--so I have tons of photos--in boxes that I should scan to add to this bunch which only cover the last five Octobers.***

We always try to pick an Indian summer-type day to stroll around Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm. The best day to go is a weekday for the thinner crowds--and you save $ on anything that takes tickets.

I guess because I'm not a farmer's market get-up-at-dawn-type, I really savour being able to pick through the many mini gourds at Goebbert's until I find the right colour and texture combo for my cornucopia, now on the table in the living room. The kids have always liked finding the weirdest or ugliest ones they could find, too. Just a really pleasant, relaxing couple of hours, always finished off with yummy baked apple or pumpkin goods.

***Found a bunch. As soon as I have a better than Blackberry connection, they'll be posted, say by Sunday.

LOVE: An 'Alien' Concept - Happy Valentine's Day, Ripley!

Thanks to my brother : DocQuest

Happy Yule- Shadows Stretch Longest, Daylight Hours Shortest of The Year

Winter doesn’t officially begin in the Northern Hemisphere until around December 21st. Known as the Winter Solstice, this is when for locations north of the equator the Sun is the lowest in the southern sky making it the shortest day of the year.

Skywatchers will notice that throughout the fall season, the Sun’s midday position in the sky slowly sinks closer to the horizon, making for ever-longer shadows. Meanwhile, the Sun appears to move toward the south day by day, rising farther from the east and setting farther from the west as we approach the winter solstice. During winter the Earth's northern axis is slightly tilted away from the Sun and so the Northern Hemisphere receives less sunlight.

On the first day of winter the Sun rises as far south of due east as it gets for the year and for the next few days the Sun appears to rise at the same place on the horizon. This moment in the year is when the shadows stretch their longest, and we get the fewest daylight hours. After the solstice the Sun’s pathway across the sky appears to head back in the opposite direction until it reaches its northern limit during the summer solstice in June.

The exact date and time of the winter solstice, while always occurring within a day or two of December 21, changes from year to year because of the difference between a calendar year of 365 days, and the solar year of 365.26 days - the exact time it takes for the Earth to make one trip around the Sun.

 

Source: Weather Network.com

LOST Holiday Fan Video *Spoilers* (Scenes and quotes involving Season 5)

Penny and Desmond

When season five begins, Desmond and Penny are living happily ever after, but by the end of the first hour their fairy-tale bliss is interrupted by a message from...?

Charlotte and Daniel

Absent-minded professor Daniel Faraday has a crush on Charlotte (aka the girl Sawyer calls "Ginger" for her red hair), and she's definitely going to appreciate his affection in S5.

Sun and Jin

Sun believes that Jin is dead... In the premiere she forges a questionable new alliance designed to help her wreak vengeance.

Kate and Sawyer

As far as Sawyer knows, the freighter blew up with Kate on in it. Two quotes form him in the premiere: "I wanted to make sure she—I wanted to make sure they got back to the boat. Doesn't matter now, does it?" and "Everybody I care about just blew up on your damn boat. I know what I can't change."

Kate and Jack

If you've been watching this show from Season One you know that the only satisfying conclusion for many viewers is to end in S6 with Jack and Kate or "Jate" as a couple.

Juliet and Jack

I think "Jacket" has run it's course and Season Five will feature lots of sexual tension between Sawyer and Juliet.

Source

From the show runners: 1. The four-toed statue will be revisited in season five, and explored more extensively in season six.

2. They killed Alex because, says Carlton, they were "looking for a way to create a moment of sympathy for Ben."  (In other words she served as a plot device.)

And Ben is out for revenge. ('Ya think?)

Source

Glad Tidings- Happy Festivus! Plus BSG: Webisode 5,"The Face Of The Enemy"

Now that I've bid you good tidings for the remainder of this year (and beyond, of course) I'm leaving you with the nuggets that I've come upon today. They are Battlestar Galactica-related beginning with a short clip of Bill Adama and his nearly life-long friend Saul Tigh, his XO on the Galactica. Bill seems to be drunk and he is certainly angry as he challenges Tigh to "go on--just do it."

On the heels of the short promo is Webisode 5,"The Face Of The Enemy," in it's entirety. This episode is the best since the first FoTE 'sode, in my opinion. Put together these 'sodes are playing out much as a Galactica full-length episode would so yay! for Christmas pressies from BSG.

Big thankies to galacticasitrep

Webisodes cast and crew credits

Happy Yule- Shadows Stretch Longest, Daylight Hours Shortest of The Year

Winter doesn’t officially begin in the Northern Hemisphere until around December 21st. Known as the Winter Solstice, this is when for locations north of the equator the Sun is the lowest in the southern sky making it the shortest day of the year.

Skywatchers will notice that throughout the fall season, the Sun’s midday position in the sky slowly sinks closer to the horizon, making for ever-longer shadows. Meanwhile, the Sun appears to move toward the south day by day, rising farther from the east and setting farther from the west as we approach the winter solstice. During winter the Earth's northern axis is slightly tilted away from the Sun and so the Northern Hemisphere receives less sunlight.

On the first day of winter the Sun rises as far south of due east as it gets for the year and for the next few days the Sun appears to rise at the same place on the horizon. This moment in the year is when the shadows stretch their longest, and we get the fewest daylight hours. After the solstice the Sun’s pathway across the sky appears to head back in the opposite direction until it reaches its northern limit during the summer solstice in June.

The exact date and time of the winter solstice, while always occurring within a day or two of December 21, changes from year to year because of the difference between a calendar year of 365 days, and the solar year of 365.26 days - the exact time it takes for the Earth to make one trip around the Sun.

Source: Weather Network.com

Carving up our jack o' lanterns

Happy day. It was top down weather as I took my big drive out to the country to get the works (colour and highlights). Tomorrow--Halloween is supposed to be 70F! One last little bit o' decent weather. So happy about that.

Carved pumpkins last night. I snapped a few shots of the guys.

 

The guy's jack o' lanterns.

I don't carve. I'm a bit phobic about knives (yes, I had an accident once) and I hate the smell of pumpkin guts. I used to paint one--but I have no artistic talent what.so.ever.

Spouse still buys me a pumpkin though. ("They were on sale!")

Goebbert's Family Farm Fun

Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving. We went to Goebbert’s Pumpkin Farm,  a tradition of ours for close to 15 years. It’s much the same each year. Run by the Goebbert family, it’s farmland full of pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks and Indian corn and if you must, on the second floor of the barn, sort-of Halloween stuff. (Click Goebbert’s link above for directions to farm.)

It was a ten or 15 degrees F above normal day and humid. Today was much the same only less humid. We are supposed to have a drastic downturn in the weather and probably according to the weather dude, not recover before next spring(!)

Sometimes it's good to put down the mouse and back away from the computer. I have in the past couple days while I a. waited about 12 hours for the Internet* to start working again, b. finally lost it over the inability of my Logitech MX 3200 mouse to function within any semblance of normal parameters and most enjoyably did Canadian Thanksgiving at Goebbert's Farm with my family.

Monkey making "stew" (look closely)

White-collared Ravens

Photo album in left-side column

*which was Comcast, until last night. Now it is my son's company, a local Schaumburg telecommunications service. I'm so happy to be able to buy local--and it's a family-run business. For sheer heart-warming goodness, the story of American immigrants making very good is one I love to hear/be a slight part of.

Labour Day Forecast : Awesome!

Spouse and I will be driving north tomorrow and will be at Lake on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. If I didn't have responsibilities you could not pry me away to come back home. However, from the perspective of being home my biggest responsibility--my family--is also the one that I get the most joy from.

I have a feeling that September at Maple Lake Ontario is going to rock!

At least spouse and I get to enjoy 3 days of it! Woot!

Wait 'till you see the Moocards I ordered today-almost all have Haliburton cottage country scenes that I photographed. They are beautiful and now are updated since my sample pack--which I don't want to give away the last of, is really outdated and the contact information is outdated as well (one of ways to customize Moocards is as mini-business cards).

NOT A PAID POST~

Aren't you glad it's only virtual trash?

Ah, long weekends. People seem to yearn for them but come time to go back to work lament that they have so much work that they are behind on, often phrased as number of "emails to catch up on."
It's like email has a life of it's own. You've got to catch up on it because it's waiting for you. :)
As for me, I never catch up. I'm happy to get the number of unread emails down to 25 or so. Baby steps are what it's all about. Hitting the delete button is a good option as well as screening your emails so no "Fwd's" make it through.
I figure if I'm not special enough to receive email addressed specifically to me then it's not really important that I take time to read it. And if it was important that I read the email they'll contact me again--maybe personally this time. If anyone gets her nose bent out of shape, I can explain that I use the "forward" filter and it must have gone straight to the trash.
On that note--a reminder. Sometimes your filters are too stringent and email that is not trash gets sent there so it's good to periodically go through your trash just to make sure.
Aren't you glad it's only virtual trash?

Played some mini golf over the weekend:
Mini golf place is bordered by a golf course and a forest preserve. (That is unnaturally blue water.)  

Daylilys at mini golf

Fourth Of July Fireworks, Hoffman Estates, IL~2008

Spouse took this approx. 2-minute video of the 2008 Hoffman Estates Fireworks show on July 4. We go to see them every year, spreading  out a blanket on the grass on a sort-of hill,  but our dog Raven had been stressed out for days by our densely-populated area's residents celebrating pre-Fourth of July. So I stayed home with her as I wasn't feeling tip-top, either. As it turned out Raven was even spooked going for her nightly walk on July 5 'cos well, you never can get enough fireworks, right?
The truth is that I love a live fireworks show, emphasis on "a". Once a year. On the Fourth.

The returns diminish as everyone seems to have illegally brought fireworks back from our neighbour to the north, Wisconsin. I'm not singling the States out as in Ontario too for their July 1 Canada Day, the fireworks are blasting away on many days not Canada Day. I would very much appreciate it if everyone would grow up now 'cos I know it isn't ten-year-old's hauling the big bangin' stuff back here. The video was shot with our Canon Powershot, which isn't fancy but is functional enough for our needs.

Here's Raven when she's in a happier place--Maple Lake:

Canada Day Reminder, First of July, Fourth of July

 

"Hi Cynthia, just a reminder that
Canada Day is just one week away!
Canada Day: July 1st
........
What was the original name of Canada Day?
Canada Day was originally called Dominion Day."

Cool, huh?

It truly was, especially if like me you dug sparklers.

I remember being there for a couple of them before we came here and started watching fireworks on the Fourth of July. Now Canada does fireworks _all_the_time--like the US does.

Not an improvement for either country. Too many big, noisy celebrations too often times a year. Yeah, I know. There's nothing more exciting for a certain subset of boys-to-men than fire/works and risking losing a finger. Sheesh. It's started here already in prep for this Fourth of July. My dog hates it. We close the windows but she still hears quite well.

Contemplating the "big" storms coming. We'll see how the cable and Internet hold this time. Should be interesting.

Cheers!

Oh yeah, the rest of my "Canada Day" reminder.

"Canada day celebrates the creation of the dominion of Canada, or the uniting of 3 British territories- The provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single federation. The name was not changed to Canada Day until 1982."

Time to find your party hats and get ready to celebrate.

Eggs No More

Fuzzy

Easter means different things to different folks. I may have gone to church as a kid on Easter Sunday but the Sunday that is called "Easter" now means Easter baskets filled with chocolate bunnies, Reese's PNB eggs, jelly beans, and plastic eggs with surprises within. Easter also means colouring hard-boiled eggs. We've done egg colouring since my oldest son was a child and even though my youngest son is now 15 when spouse asked prior to last weekend's grocery run if we were colouring eggs this year, son answered with an unequivocal "yes." Ditto for me. Just as we still fill stockings for Christmas we still colour eggs for Easter because we enjoy the process of a shared family activity. We call it "tradition" and I cannot see why we'd stop just because we've hit a a particular age. It's fun having
fun together.

Pattern

Eggs No More

Eggs: Coloured and Photoshopped

Pastel Fuzz




Basket Full
Mother Nature Fooled
Secret Meeting

I Need To Be Walked!!!

Hi there.

I'm trying to get caught up on so many things that have fallen by the wayside in the past 8 days. That's right, it was a week ago Friday that I first felt the weakness that morphed overnight into a full on case of The Flu.

As I was sitting out in the living room today, enjoying my morning cup of coffee (I can taste it again!) I read up on the current strains of flu that are sickening many folks. Unfortunately, the scientists who each year "guess" what the following year's flu will consist of, guessed with only 40% accuracy versus the 60-70% range that they usually nail.

The article went on the say that February, not April "is the cruelest month" as there is more flu now than any other time of year and therefore more misery.

I have to agree.

Sick or not and I'm usually not, I do not like February one bit. I can talk myself into at least semi- believing that there is a reason to be optimistic about the Midwest's winter weather but with February I come up with nuthin'. But it wasn't always so.

Until this year I looked forward with great anticipation to Groundhog Day. Why? Not because I care about shadows or lack thereof. No, I had a much better reason. My little bro and his lovely wife would spend days baking all manner of confectionery treats and each year's seemed more scrumptious than the last.

We'd hear a buzz at the door and there they'd be with a plate brimming with exotic cookies and brownies--all bakery quality--and then off they'd go making more deliveries. For me, it made Valentine's Day seem not all that important. I'd already had all the best treats I was going to have for the year and bro and sis-in-law only did their bake-a-thon annually--always for Groundhog Day. Alas, they have moved on to more arid climes. <sigh>

This year, Valentine's Day coincided with my flu so no lunch date with spouse. It wasn't much of a V-Day at all. I managed to make some cards for the three guys and sent some e-cards to some friends but being really sick pretty much puts the kibosh on anything fun.

The day after Valentine's Day however, I had an appointment with my cardiologist. I had rescheduled it once before so felt I had to go and at 8 days gone with the flu--no temperature, dizziness at a bare minimum I thought it be okay to go.

Ireland Park: public.fotki.com/HighPlainsDrifter/places-1/ireland-park/

Photo: HighPlainsDrifter

It was only about 20F outside though spouse parked the Mustang in direct sun (yes, we had sun!) so the car was cozy. After the 20 minute drive I arrived at the huge doctor's office building next to a hospital and got my first real experience dealing with the large amounts of snow we've been socked with. On the way there I'd passed dump trucks hauling snow away...and the hospital parking lot could have used  their help as I only was able to park upon manoeuvring into my second snowbank.

This was my second visit with this cardiologist (heart failure specialist) after being given orders for lots of tests previously. His colleague, whom I'd seen for many years moved to the east coast.

So all my tests results were "great." My blood pressure was high normal and he wouldn't accept my reasoning that maybe the flu had something to do with that?

Instead he found the one area where he has absolutely no clue about me and he began to tell me everything I already know.

I could/should lose weight (though I’ve dropped a couple pounds since last visit).

He asks me the most insane question ever. What do I want to weigh? I want to LOL. I’ve been “a big girl” All My Life. I typically put on 5-10 lbs. each winter and then take it off in the spring/summer. Very much like the bears. Even so, I should probably lose another 20 pounds on top of that but him having me keep a “weight diary” is not going to do it because I’ve tried that oh, 20 times before and it worked and then when I stopped keeping the diary because it is an obsessive behaviour which I couldn’t stand–when I stopped being on a diet my weight came back. Can we go back to how my numbers are great? I thought all this--didn't say it--just chuckled slightly at the idea of pick a number for my weight and go for it!

He blathered on. He knows nothing about the mentality of a fat girl, though I caught a sympathetic look from the nurse that was with us in the room. Here in the dead of winter having not exercised in over a week I weigh four pounds more than I did when I took off forty pounds ten years ago. I did that because I was newly into heart failure and radically changed my diet from typical American to low sodium and relatively low fat.

Mr. Fancy Heart Specialist Guy has no idea about how much I have obsessed about my weight in my lifetime. About how devoted I am about sticking to the low salt/fat thing and regular exercise. He just dispenses his “wisdom” like Pez candy. Specialist: stick to your area of expertise because when you wander away from it you sound like a stoopid-head and you offend me. I know I should drop more weight. I will continue to work on it every day for the rest of my life. Can I go now?

So to today. Energy levels are returning. Head is de-clogging though it's a funky feeling--like there's bubbles popping in my ear canals. Nose is still running clear (normal for me) and the cough is still there, though not painful any longer. And I did a 40-minute set of yoga last night.

All in all I am feeling optimistic and hopeful that I can go outside tonight with spouse and Raven for a brisk walk. Please temperatures, do NOT go all super frigid, OK? I need a walk!

Johnny Depp An "Avatar of Rage" In Sweeney Todd

Over 200 blog entries on Cyn City featuring Johnny Depp

Mrs. Lovett the pie maker played by Helena Bonham Carter

Today spouse, son and I used our Loew's Christmas gift cards to go to the movies. We were following the guidance of the experts whose holiday advice was "Give cash." However, they continued, if you are "unfortunate enough" to be the recipient of a gift card use it tout de suite!

How better to celebrate the beginning of a new year than watching buckets of blood spurting, then cascading downward and finally pooling on the floor? And how often are you going to have a chance to see a film that is both a musical and a horror film?

I highly recommend Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet St. The blood is almost a cartoonish shade of red if you are weak of stomach. I've read that it was deliberately coloured lipstick red and thickened. It's truly not as hard to watch as it would've been if Burton had more realistically rendered the results of the throat slashing(s). And coming from me--a big wuss about stabby things--that's says a lot.

As far as the cannibalism--no one ever knew that they were eating humans save for one person near the end of the film so there weren't scenes of people getting grossed out by their meat pies. :p

Besides, Depp and Bonham Carter completely rock. As do some very good younger singers playing small in-scene-time, but pivotal roles.

Depp's voice was known prior to this because of his involvement in about a dozen rock bands but

I was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed Helena Bonham Carter's performance as I'd read a rather harsh criticism of a song she does (forgot title, sorry)  and her vocal delivery in general. The movie critic criticized Bonham Carter's vocal coach for not correcting her delivery of the song. I don't really get this because I was sort of looking out for a singing part where she was weak and there isn't one--though that could be partly attributed to her excellent rendition of the Mrs. Lovett character.

Sketches from Sweeney Todd  (from the NYTimes online story)

Mrs. Lovett the pie maker is played by Helena Bonham Carter, a witchy fixture of (director Tim) Burton’s cinematic universe as well as the mother of his children. If the director has an alter ego, or at least an actor consistently able to embody his ideas on screen, it would have to be Johnny Depp. He was the hurt, misunderstood man-child in Edward Scissorhands, the cracked visionary in Ed Wood and the cold, creepy candy mogul in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in each case giving form to an emotional equation that had never quite been seen on film before. As Sweeney, his hair streaked with white and his eyes rimmed in black, he is an avatar of rage. NYTimes.com

Hilarity Ensues (Christmas Day)

A rarity: Acting like sibs--though they are shooting each other with Airzookas. :)

 

Early Christmas a.m. at our House/ Feliz Navidad

My son and I were marvelling at how catchy this old now Christmas standard  is. Go Jose!

(There's a more Las Vegas-y version of him in the video after the jump.)

We made sugar cookies tonite after dinner at Friday's and I Am Legend after.

Want a cookie?

Pink Fuzzy Bathrobe? Nooooooo!

I just dug out a bunch of gifties to wrap for under the tree and behind my stash I saw, quite by accident (that's my story and I'm sticking with it) an open bag with a pink bathrobe of the "middle-aged lady" variety.

I know how this happened. I brought it all upon myself.

Due to the extreme markdown on EVERYTHING I've been on a bit of a buying binge with a few items for me included.

One was right up my alley of dressing for comfort. I ordered what was supposed to be a cornflower blue velour track pants/hoodie combo for half price. The colour wasn't my first choice but since I've graduated on some days to getting dressed--a track suit counts--I was being quite practical about the whole thing.

However, spouse no sooner saw me in it than he exclaimed, "Paris Hilton!" to which I said "Whaa"? "You look like like Paris Hilton," said he. I was a bit unpleased with the comparison but I realized that what he was talking about is her penchant when going casual to wear track suits in pastel colours--even though I'm quite sure her track suits cost 10X more than mine even when mine are not 50% off.

Friday night spouse took son to do son's Christmas shopping and at this point I don't know whose idea it was to purchase pink fuzzy. All I know is that a) it's horrid and b) I'm going to have to act like it's not.

Besides, clearly they have not been paying attention to the fact that at least 50% of the time I put on a track suit--not remain in my unfuzzy, cream-coloured, worse-for-wear bathrobe. Hmfpt.

Were your holiday cards store bought, handmade, online, TBD or MIA?

None of the above--erm, maybe a couple were thrift-shop bought. I still have an almost-full box.

The rest--and I finished the box off--were from the Mercy Home For Boys in Chicago. They gave out cards for donations--they just mailed 'em to me so I figured I'd use them. It helps that my spouse is one of seven sibs from a Catholic family. I used all the overtly Christian ones for them. hee.

Talking Turkey

I moved to the states from Toronto when I was six years old after my father was transferred here by his company. We drove the 500 miles to Toronto for most every holiday--Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and to the Lake in the summer so in hindsight, we kept one foot in each country. My grandmother passed away when I was 10 y.o. and after that we may have made the trip to Canada another time or two for Canadian Thanksgiving but what is more clear in my recollection of growing up is that we celebrated two Thanksgivings each year.

One in October for Canadian T-Day and one in November for American T-Day. We never had anyone over to eat with us as the whole family was so far away. (People really didn't just up and fly places like they do now, not as much anyhow.)

In the tradition of replicating one's family of origin's behaviour the family I've made doesn't do much for American Thanksgiving, either. I'm Canadian so even if I felt like being polite--it wouldn't mean much. I have a spouse and two children and it appears that they too think very little of T-Day.

I've heard Christmas described as a lot of work but Thanksgiving--for the cook anyway--is too. I'm on the fence about it but since we have turkey at Christmas plus have turkey products throughout the year I'm just not feeling the need to do it up.

I don't mean it in a downer sort of way but I think I'm continuing a tradition just for the sake of...tradition when in fact Thanksgiving Day is just another day to me.

One thing that does get me excited about Thanksgiving is pie. Specifically, pecan pie. I'm going to check that spouse bought some. edit/ He got Dutch Apple--and it was my idea 'cos he and younger son eat apple. Bah. Pecan pie at Christmas, then!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that celebrates! If you don't, well cheers just the same. :)

Just say "No" to holiday spirit.

As you can see at left it is raining today. It is about 40 degrees F--my favourite weather. <insert heavy sarcasm>

I really struggle to stay centered with my moods when this shizz starts. The "experts" I believe, took far too long to figure out that less sunlight = more low moods or SAD or depression--whatever.

I suppose part of the reason is that in the "olden days" people still had to go outside and work, bad weather or not. The butter still had to be churned, chickens fed, animals slaughtered, wood gathered. Perhaps lack of "fresh air" goes hand in hand with SAD. I have no idea. All I know is that outside, the thermometer is just above and to the right of the pumpkin which will sit there until American Thanksgiving, then usually we get a hard freeze and it is unceremoniously plunked into the Dumpster. Pretty wasteful I suppose, though less so than all the artificial Halloween crapola and now, Thanksgiving/Christmas stuff.

Not to be all high and mighty, but WTF is wrong with people who feel the need to Christmas shop the day after Halloween?!? If you didn't buy that crap, the ridiculously early sales would stop. But you do, then you boast about how you have all your shopping done and that tells me either you have more money than brains or you have such a low sense of identity that decor-bloody-ations make you feel like you count more somehow than me. No? You didn't realize you come off that way? Oh, frak the hell off, you did so.

See, no holiday spirit here.

Let me ask, how does one maintain Christmas or "holiday" spirit for two solid months? Isn't there a point of diminishing returns?

Hallowe'en 2007

We had fun. Raven not so much until we came upon the dog-loving folks giving out...doggie treats.

The penguin got shout outs everywhere which surprised us all. He was both a chick and little kid magnet, lol. And there were folks giving out candy who almost bust a gut laughing when he showed up--and gave him extra candy just for the costume! Really surprising.

I'm wanting to go raid the penguin's pillowcase o' candy before he gets home from school.

QotD: Happy Halloween

How are you celebrating Halloween today?

Halloween-graveyard

By leaving our sad little condo complex and walking across the street to the "rich neighbourhood" for candy.

Going to put a skeleton outfit on the dog and get a photo before she tears it off--as despite the fact that it is no more bothersome for her than a doggie sweater--she'll have that sucker in shreds in minutes.

My son bought his first costume in years--he'd been Skulltor (not Skeletor) for at least three years. This year he's a penguin. What can I say? He likes penguins. So spouse and I will walk the dog whilst son goes on his own, then we'll meet up, ditch the kid, the candy, and the dog at home and go lap swimming.

Oh, and I'm colouring my hair purple for no particular reason.

QotD: Halloween Costume Prep

Have you figured out what your (or your kids') Halloween costume will be this year?  What's it going to be?

 

If I were going to do anything to honour the tradition it would be more in line with the:

"many European cultural traditions that hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent (according to, for example, Catalan mythology about witches and Irish tales of the Sídhe)."

I think I could dig the whole commune-with-the-spirits- Samhain/Pagan festival celebration.

Snap-Apple Night, painted by Irish artist Daniel Maclise in 1833. It was inspired by a Halloween party he attended in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The caption in the first exhibit catalogue:

 

There Peggy was dancing with Dan
While Maureen the lead was melting,
To prove how their fortunes ran
With the Cards ould Nancy dealt in;
There was Kate, and her sweet-heart Will,
In nuts their true-love burning,
And poor Norah, though smiling still
She'd missed the snap-apple turning.

On the Festival of Hallow Eve.

That looks and sounds like way-more-fun than anything I've seen or heard of going on now.

However, this is where Hallowe'en as it is celebrated here, loses me completely--C.:

Halloween is now the United States' second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes are also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike. According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular Halloween costume themes for adults are, in order: witch, pirate, vampire, cat and clown. On many college campuses, Halloween is a major celebration, with the Friday and Saturday nearest October 31, hosting many costume parties./endquote

Like Christmas, Halloween, instead of being what it was meant to be has morphed into a way for retailers to make big bucks--which means that consumers are spending big bucks. Consumers, you are very stupid! Halloween though inclusive of adults and children was celebrated differently, depending on the age of the individual. Not so now--the lines are so blurred that they just look like a black and orange smudge. I'm afraid I've become so curmudgeonly due to the vast quantities of Hallowe'en goods being proffered from July onward that my attitude, if I had to chose from just one country, is much like the Australians--C.:

A visitor from overseas expecting to enjoy an Australian or New Zealand Halloween will need to prepare in advance, since most events are private parties. Trick-or-treaters are usually supervised by adults and remain in their own neighbourhoods for safety reasons, a practice often prearranged with neighbours. "Tricks" are not played in Australia, and "treats" of wrapped/sealed lollies (for safety and hygiene purposes) are generally given only by known neighbours and friends; strangers providing treats may be greeted with suspicion or hostility among parents, and discouragement among Australian law enforcement.

If trick-or-treaters venture beyond these culturally accepted norms, it is mainly in the form of antisocial behaviours by small groups to cause havoc, similar to that which occurs on Halloween in the United States, and, more recently, the United Kingdom. Destructive acts have little to do with the community spirit of Halloween, and perhaps reflect unpleasant societal realities such as unemployment, boredom or lack of social responsibility. Antisocial behaviour associated with Halloween have fomented hostility among some Australians, who see "trick-or-treating" as the mindless imitation of American customs, and a tool of an American cultural neo-imperialism conveyed by popular media. Their aversion to Halloween reflects a wider refusal to accept "senseless or commercial Americanisms."

More history of Hallowe'en courtesy Wikipedia

Scotland, having a shared Gaelic culture and language with Ireland, has celebrated the festival of Samhain robustly for centuries. Robert Burns portrayed the varied customs in his poem "Hallowe'en" (1785).

Halloween, known in Scottish Gaelic as "Oidhche Shamhna", consists chiefly of children going door to door "guising", i.e., dressed in a disguise (often as a witch or ghost) and offering entertainment of various sorts. If the entertainment is enjoyed, the children are rewarded with gifts of sweets, fruits or money. There is no Scottish 'trick or treat' tradition; on the contrary, 'trick or treat' may have its origins in the guising customs.

In Scotland a lot of folklore, including that of Halloween, revolves around the belief in faeries. Children dress up in costumes and carry around a "Neepy Candle" a devil face carved into a hollowed out Neep, lit from inside, to frighten away the evil faeries.

Popular children's games played on the holiday include "dookin" for apples (i.e., retrieving an apple from a bucket of water using only one's mouth). In places, the game has been replaced (because of fears of contracting saliva-borne illnesses in the water) by standing over the bowl holding a fork in one's mouth, and releasing it in an attempt to skewer an apple using only gravity. Another popular game is attempting to eat, while blindfolded, a treacle-coated scone on a piece of string hanging from the ceiling.

Independence Day Fireworks Photographs/Album

Fireworks in Hoffman Estates~

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day !!!

It's rather odd here in the States with Independence Day 2007 falling mid-week. A day off in the middle of the week just seems a bit disruptive, hence the celebrating has started now (as per the sound of illegal fireworks going off in my neighbourhood) and will continue right through next weekend. Americans like to do things big.

--Cyn

article source         

Background

On June 20, 1868, a proclamation signed by the Governor General, Lord Monck, called upon all Her Majesty's loving subjects throughout Canada to join in the celebration of the anniversary of the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a federation under the name of Canada on July 1^st.

The July 1 holiday was established by statute in 1879, under the name Dominion Day.

There is no record of organized ceremonies after this first anniversary, except for the 50^th anniversary of Confederation in 1917, at which time the new Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, under construction, was dedicated as a memorial to the Fathers of Confederation and to the valour of Canadians fighting in the First World War in Europe.

The next celebration was held in 1927 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation. It was highlighted by the laying of the cornerstone by the Governor General of the Confederation Building on Wellington Street and the inauguration of the Carillon in the Peace Tower.

Since 1958, the government has arranged for an annual observance of Canada's national day with the Secretary of State of Canada in charge of the coordination. The format provided for a Trooping the Colours ceremony on the lawn of Parliament Hill in the afternoon, a sunset ceremony in the evening followed by a mass band concert and fireworks display.

Another highlight was Canada's Centennial in 1967 when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II attended the celebrations with Parliament Hill again being the backdrop for a large scale official ceremony.

The format changed in 1968 with the addition of multicultural and professional concerts held on Parliament Hill including a nationally televised show. Up until 1975, the focus of the celebrations, under the name "Festival Canada", was held in the National Capital Region during the whole month of July and involved numerous cultural, artistic and sport activities, as well as municipalities and voluntary organizations. The celebration was cancelled in 1976 but was reactivated in 1977.

A new formula was developed in 1980 whereby the National Committee (the federal government organization charged with planning Canada's Birthday celebrations) stressed and sponsored the development of local celebrations all across Canada. "Seed money" was distributed to promote popular and amateur activities organized by volunteer groups in hundreds of local communities. The same approach was also followed for the 1981 celebrations with the addition of fireworks displays in 15 major cities across the nation.

On October 27, 1982, July 1^st which was known as "Dominion Day" became "Canada Day".

Since 1985, Canada Day Committees are established in each province and territory to plan, organize and coordinate the Canada Day celebrations locally. Grants are provided by the Department to those committees.

HNY

 

Hope it's a good one for us all...

Happy Festivus!!!

We'll have a relatively quiet morning here then we are headed up toward the Wisconsin-Illinois border to have Christmas with my spouse's family. For Roger's sil & brother it is their first Christmas in their first house with a new-this-year baby! So there should be good cheer right there.

                              

 

On Boxing Day I'm catching a red eye to Baltimore with my brother and his wife to go see my parents for a few days. My dad is struggling caring for my mom since her stroke (not her first) and fingers & toes crossed they'll consent to letting us help them move here.                                

 

                               

I'll be back home Friday and glad of it, I'm sure.

                               

 

                               

Happy Winter Solstice (week)!

                               

love,

                                 

--Cyn

The Christmas Spirit

After a over-nighter my son Jim and his little friend awake.

Suburban Halloween Night

There was a shortage of healthy pumpkins here this year due to disease. At the pumpkin farm  we saw quite a few white pumpkins.
This one looks pretty cool all lit up.

"Tommy's house"

more here

Madonna ~ Edvard Munch

As much as I prefer Madonna rather than The (overexposed) Scream, both by Munch, she's a little tame for  October 31.

How 'bout this one instead? Anyone know the artist?

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.

.

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It's by Munch as well--The Vampire.

Independence Day Parade, Palatine Illinois, 2006

It was Canada Day as well. I thought the Americans were very nice to celebrate with us. ;)

So that's essentially a link which should take you to yet another download. 
I get so perturbed when I go to play a file with a funky extension and I gotta do that.

Christmas Recap

My brother & sis-in-law
Hello again, Here is the much anticipated recap of my Christmas. It was nice. More detail? Okay, if you insist. It was low-key. My only sibling and his wife came over as they do every year. In surprise gesture, my eldest son (yes, the one to whom I was "dead" a few days ago--he's such a drama queen--wonder where he gets that?)   brought over his gf of four months and introduced us, finally. That was probably the most enjoyable aspect of the evening--very lighthearted. At the same time it was bittersweet for me as I know that she battled Hodgkin's disease, it went into remission, and now things seem to be going amiss again with both a brain & spinal surgery in her immediate future. "L" is such a lovely, funny, poised young woman--exactly the type of person that my not-really-mature-for-his-age son should be with. She's the first woman he's brought home that I think can lift him up rather than the opposite. It's hugely ironic to me that her future is so uncertain. Anyway, I'm trying to take whatever life throws my way just one day at a time and I hope my son and "L" can do the same as they grapple with the hurdles that await. Santa was very good to me--to us all really--with our first laptop in the form of a Inspiron 9300 with mega media goodies. It's for not just me but the other family members as well. I'm especially looking forward to having computer access on the very long haul to the cottage and after we get there attempting to run my home business from, well, away from home. The 12-pound dog that survived being hit by a 2000 lb object (car) got more loot than she's ever gotten. She went absolutely ape-nuts over her goodies (and everyone else's--as long as there was some food component involved). I think we were just glad that she was still here with us for the holiday so we probably went a bit overboard.

We butchered a pumpkin tonight

I'd say the highlight of a not-at-all-bad weekend was early Friday night driving west to drop my eldest son, dressed as a Revolutionary-war guy, off at the train station to take the Amtrak to Western Illinois State Univ. ( Halloween party w/ gf who goes to school out there).

So there was a pleasant, unstressful ride with my eldest son and a truly awesome autumn sunset for the ride down. I was driving southwest, then due west and really got to enjoy it for an extra-long while.

Today the youngest had one of the now doubled-up choir practices. I chauffered, volunteered at Clearbrook, and chauffered some more. Yay. I think the director, a/k/a The Diva, plans on really working with (on?) this group of kids. I hear rumbles that the newbies don't seem to get it (even though they've been at it a while now) so she's whipping everyone into on shape.
This current group all (unless a kid chooses to quit) are going to be singing in St. Peter's Square during the Tuscany trip. :shrug:

Other good stuff: Chris made honour role in school (grade 8). Lots of really nice A's, a pair of B's, then a C+ in band because he's missed too many band practices and he was sick their first concert & missed it, too. Band decimated his otherwise high honour status. meh.

We butchered a pumpkin tonight (carved the jack o 'lantern).
Chris designs and does the glop extraction/ removing of the "guts," Roger executes the carving, and I snap the requisite pics.

Cheerio!

--Cyn

Happy Canada Day! Happy Independence Day!

 

I feel like my life is on fast-forward. I'm barely keeping up with most of it.
I'm not a big fan of holidays--this one brings a freaked-out dog for several days due to illegal, Indiana-bought fireworks blasting off from all directions, every 15 minutes or so.

It's coolish and the windows are open and I can't say I really dig all the noise, either.  I mean it's cool on the actual holiday and maybe even the day after to finish 'em off but fireworks were going off last night. Are we celebrating Canada Day now? (It's weird enough that we both choose the same weekend this year to have our national holidays.) Somebody is stealing someone else's thunder. 

Every summer in the city we have a two week-long food-fest called Taste of Chicago--there's lots of live music and other stuff but it's mostly about consuming vast quantities. It's always very crowded and almost always very hot. And expensive. So most years my spouse and I take a pass on it, opting to spend too much money closer to home. But this year, feeling kinda bummed about not being able to any live shows whilst in the right state/country, I preused the Friday (entertainment) section of the Tribune saw that John Hiatt, who IMO put on the best live show I've ever seen (well equal to, anyway) is playing for free just across the street from the new Millennium Park--where we were trying to figure out when to go next as we dig it so much--with this nutty summer pretty well mapped out already. All this and the display of the fireworks off of Navy Pier over Lake Michigan. If we plan well enough--which I'm trying to do right now--but I'm having connectivity issues with the...connection (not sure if it's modem or router). . The day shouldn't be awful. Unfortunately a couple million other people are thinking the same thing--so it'll be a challenge to see how best to pull this off.

I have redoubled my efforts in the book-selling biz as the baby biz as great as it was, became fubar overnight due to a person I'll not make comment on other than to note that her greed brought her down. It was all fun money for me as I was always above-board and honest so never had anything to worry about. While I was at it I did let my book business just kind of float, though (I collected but didn't really post many and pulled many, "housecleaning"). For the past 6 months whilst selling all things baby--paying about half for Hawaii, and most all for the California meet-up trip (and Ontario, but in my mind since we own a place there I don't count it--the exchange is in our favour so no complaints about the cost of petrol--though I'm sure it'll seem steep on the 1500 mile round-trip).

Soooo, for the past three nights I've been writing copy for and posting books.  But I have a ton that may be collectible and I have to "chase down" info on them (they are not catagorized in a modern way using the traditional ISBN number that came to be in the US in 1974). Otherwise, I'll try to snap a few pics and throw them up on eBay--maybe--I'm kinda burned out on eBay and deeply curious what Google has up it's sleeve to counter-it in the near future.

Chris got contact lenses yesterday, came home wore them, did well. Couldn't get them in today. Confusion reigned when I offered help (I wasn't pushy--honest) and we lost one. So now we wait until Tuesday and off to the optometrist to get a spare lens. Since they are disposable (and delicate) and it's the long holiday I can't believe they didn't give him two of each...just in case. Even in this is a higher-end eye place though (it's the only place that will take our eye care semi sorta coverage from Motorola) the behind the counter people are starting to look and behave as if any moment they'll ask if we want fries with our order.
_________________

Everything. Everyone. Everywhere. Ends.

~Alan Ball

Over There/"In Memoriam, Part I"

Is this guy right? Do Americans no longer care about the Iraq war and who gets killed or maimed ( physically/emotionally)??
Because he had me nodding by the third sentence, "Most of the time, we don't even notice anymore."
You should at least care.You should at least "notice." This is your country. These are your people. You are financing this awful situation.
You should at least care.

Op-Ed, NYTImes
May 30, 2005
http://tinyurl.com/dxdzc

Over There

    By KEVIN C. JONES  

Carmichael, Calif.

ON this Memorial Day, more than two years after the invasion of Iraq, American troops are still fighting and dying. Their deaths have become a staple of the evening news, a permanent column on the front page. Most of the time, we don't even notice anymore. Until death touches someone we know, or someone we used to be.

On the morning of Jan. 26, while I rush my daughters through their bowls of cereal, brush their hair and get them ready for school, I learn that a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter has crashed in western Iraq, killing 31 men. Twenty-six of them are part of my old unit: Company C, First Battalion, Third Marine Regiment, stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay.

Later, at work, I struggle to explain how surreal it is to learn that marines from the infantry company I served with in the Persian Gulf war have been killed in this one. I sit at my desk, processing insurance claims, surrounded by gray cubicle walls instead of sandbags and dirt, behind a computer instead of a machine gun, thinking about the business card from the recruiter tucked in my wallet. He says there's a slot for me in a reserve unit if I want it, and that I'd get a chance to go overseas again, to be part of something larger and greater than myself. To go to the war. I think about what my daughters would say if I told them that I'm leaving, and that I might not come back. I wonder how to justify it to myself if I don't go.

My co-worker looks over at me from his desk and says, "Did you know any of them?"

No, I didn't know them.

What I know is the base where they lived. The way they ran up K.T., Kansas Tower, this giant hill in the middle of the base, gasping all the way to the top. I know the view from the apex, overlooking the vivid blue of Kaneohe Bay, a rainbow in the background. I know how good a cool breeze felt when they reached the top, after running past the flight line, beyond the beach where their leg muscles burned and their feet sank into soft, warm sand. I know what drives a marine, at the end of his endurance, choking back vomit as the battalion runs in a huge formation, to suddenly break ranks and run to the man carrying the Colors, the battalion flag, and take it from him, sprinting around 800 marines in a giant circle before returning it and dropping back in line. I know what they smelled like when they were sweating out the beer they drank the night before.

But I didn't know them.

I know what they felt like when they were released on liberty at 1600 on a Friday afternoon. How much time it took to iron their clothes and clean up for a night out. I know how many guys can be squeezed into a subcompact car, piling on top of each other for a ride down to Waikiki Beach and Kalakaua Avenue. I know what it's like to spend an entire paycheck in 48 hours, buying drinks for impossibly beautiful women from all over the world who all seem to be in the same bar on the same night.

I know the feeling of being thousands of miles from home, afraid because war is coming soon, and then a girl smiles and, for a moment, everything is O.K. I know how a woman like that can make the toughest marine feel 16 again, kissing a girl for the first time. I know how to get all the way across the island back to the base from Waikiki, or Honolulu, with no money and only the other guys in my platoon to help me. I know what it is to become brothers with men you never would have met in the civilian world, and to remember them for years after they're gone.

But I didn't know them.

I know what it feels like to patrol for days without sleep in Molokai, and at Schofield Barracks and Camp Pendleton; in Okinawa, and the Philippines and Saudi Arabia. I know the industrial claustrophobia of being on a ship, packed in with 40 other marines in a space the size of a studio apartment. The smells, the jokes, the way the surface of the helicopter flight deck cuts into your palms when you do push-ups. I know what it's like to comfort marines when their wives or girlfriends leave them with only a note and a bogus explanation and they want answers, but there aren't any.

But I didn't know them.

I know what it's like to ride in a CH-53 helicopter. The way it shimmies as it thunders over the terrain below, a crouched panther waiting to strike, marines in the back, heads bowed, trying to catch some sleep, never knowing when they might get another chance to rest. Marines dreaming of their families, of home.

No, I didn't know the marines who died, but I miss them just the same. I go to work each day, safe in my cubicle, checking the news for word of the war dead, looking for friends and thinking about that recruiter's card in my wallet.

Kevin C. Jones served as a marine from 1990 to 1994.