Lost Again......

So I must start over... and it was so good. But only I shall know this. Behind me 'Downton Abby' is playing, a new "Upstairs Downstairs" replaying over this summer. I believe this is the end. Rebellion, rebellion. What a lovely time for it to come... for now is the time we need another revolution in this country. A revolution against the fools in Congress... the dreadful so called 'tea party' ruled by people who have no idea why this country was founded, or by whom (oh sure, Jefferson freed the slaves) and have never read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, I am sure. Ah, my poor old ancestors are spinning in their graves back in New England. For this they fought and died in the revolution and every other war in our 'run-by-the-men' past. I fear we are too often 'run' by cheney types who do so love rounding up the children and sending them to be killed. Each time I read the PNAC writing I am sick that the people of this country could be so ignorant that they would vote in a patsy chosen by men who worked to ruin the country for their own power-mad schemes. Now those same people, with no idea why we are a country, or what we originally stood for, are backing these ignorant tea party people, who have no more intelligence than they do, and certainly do not know much about running a country. And so, we begin to sink into the morass, becoming more and more like the third world countries, run by greedy dictators. More and more we have two class of people: the very rich and the poor, so many now the poverty stricken, homeless and starving. I suppose my two children are among the very few left in the 'middle class' although they may be only a few paychecks from joining me in the lap of poverty. Ah, what greed has done to my blessed country. Perhaps we will all move up to Canada, to my daughter's house there and a better life. Or, perhaps they will move to the Netherlands, as I wanted to a very long time ago. A possibility, for this country has little to offer these days. England does not seem to be much better. Oh god... where to hide? Any place without the Wallmart children, cheney and bush (all the rich-white-trash bush family and friends). Oh, is there anyone who can save my once beautiful, once happy beloved country.

So here's a prayer I sent to a friend... a prayer for my poor (literally) country:

OK, god... you are supposed to be so great... how about you wipe out all of the U.S. Congress, and send us a bunch of really good angels to rewrite the rules, so that the people who are in Congress from now on are on Social Security, have worked at real jobs and are planning on going back to them... and while you are at it, make sure the people are half from minorities and a good divide between men and women. That's my atheist prayer for the day.

Can't Let June Disappear.....

without a little note on nothing. And since it seems no one reads this but me, I suppose I should address my note to myself:

Self, get busy, instead of sitting here writing nothing, you should be doing your boring and seemingly useless exercising. So, make a lovely cuppa homemade latté, soothe Ms. Katt, who just had a miserable nightmare, and I'll give you permission to write a bit as you drink your latté... made even better by a slug of Irish Creme creamer (don't read what it is made of, you'll be shocked!). At least the homemade foam on top is simply some powdered milk mixed with an equal amount of water and put into my super hi-speed blender... oops, don't forget the vanilla and fake sugar flavoring. After a few minutes of sitting in the blender glass in the fridge, the foam is firm and flavorful, ready to spoon out and sit on top of the coffee in soft little peaks in my nice new, fat little Pfaltzgraff mug that seems to hold the heat in the coffee down to the last foamy bit.

One more thing to do. Call George and find out what we are to write about for tomorrow's poetry meeting. Seems we are still doing the Gertrude Stein shuffle, and must write the end of "If we're always the same age inside then....." And "We're always the same age inside, so....." five to seven words each.

Ah, what do I care about Gertrude... now I have just seen the beginning of '60 Minutes' about the children being so hurt in this depression generation. I certainly cry for them, poor little things. What a disgusting thing George W. Bush and his dreadful 'leader' cheney did to my country. So many starving and dying... and children losing their childhood and what can I do about it? All those greedy billionaires... I cannot reach them. If only they cared, but they only care to have more and more lovely mansions and yachts and cars and toys of all kinds... while the poor little children lose not only their toys, but also their lives. And who cares? Well, thank god some of the poor middle class people who have tried to help them, while the rich build museums to house their second class junk art, or make sure they have a symphony to entertain them. I no longer long for a Victorian in San Francisco, but merely wish I could somehow help the poor children of this beleaguered country, as I try to do by sending as much as I can to "Feeding America. There is no god... perhaps those strange Jesus freaks will look into the eyes of the poor starving children of this country, of this world, and see that, although I doubt it, for they do not see anything but what they believe, whether it be true or false... what do they care... "I got mine, go get your own..." just like bush and cheney and their whole rotten gang, who stole my country.

But, on a note of triumph... next came Wynton Marsalis and his tour of Cuba... one of my favorite places. I do not pray, for there is no one to pray to... but I hope, oh how I hope, that we renew our diplomatic ties with Cuba and soon... perhaps within the few years I have left so I could return and walk again through Habana again, listening to the music, eating from street vendors... even going to see the Hemingway cats. Oh, what a joy that would be... and oh, if only I could walk those streets again with my darling Selwyn Jackson, Day Manager of Mother Clancy's House of Joy. Ah, where are you Selwyn... probably gone with all the rest of my friends........

A whole day to write this... in between the little chores like comforting Ms.Katt and answering the phone, or quizzing George and Pat on what to write for tomorrow. Now I have a few minutes to do just that... write something. It must be done... so I shall.

A Quick Cry and then to bed...

There is one singer who can make me weep to hear his lovely music always, and he is Joao Gilberto. His 'Girl from Ipanema' is of course known to almost everyone, but my favorite, and the one that brings tears to my eyes (and I do not know if they are of joy or sadness, or some combination of those... for with me nothing is black and white, but always soothing shades of grey... is 'Aquarella do Brasil' and can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7DzHrKpbKA&feature=related

I do not try to place it here, as every time I do that it is snatched back by some watchdog who will not let me have it on my blog (copyright? I suppose so). But you can go to youtube and see and hear Gilberto playing his guitar and singing in that lovely voice in his language that he makes as soft and sweet as warm chocolate syrup, while in other's mouths it sounds like their tongues are wearing sandpaper. Gilberto makes me long to go to Brazil. Ah, perhaps I shall ask the Brazilian cab drivers of Luxor Cab if they sing... and be seranaded one day by one who can achieve the warm tones of Gilberto on my way to the doctor or my poetry group. Let's hope so......

I wonder why I can no longer change the type on my writing... or the color, or size???

Tues, March 8, Important for Two Reasons

Having just lost the whole post I wrote, I shall now try to rewrite it; I may fail.
Reason 1: It is the 100th International Women's Day, a day always celebrated by my mother, Jessie, the old Suffragette, who worked so hard to get the women's vote and yet was never allowed to become a V.P. at Norge, the company she did everything but run completely, yet had to sign a patent release, and was paid only $1.00 for each patent she designed. During her lifetime we women were paid only 65¢ for each $1.00 men earned. We have done a bit better since, and now earn at least 75¢ for the man's $1.00. Hopefully by the time my granddaughter is grown, we might get up to the equal status. I am proud to say that Callie was tested in her fourth grade class and is in the top two percentile of students in the U.S. Jessie would be so proud of you Callie, and impressed.

Charlie Rose had a discussion of Women's Day with three women, Tina Brown, now the editor of Newsweek, the head of Women 4 Women, and Diana Powell, who searches out women to back with small businesses for Goldman Sachs (not my favorite co.). They talked about the fact that women must be treated as equals in all countries across the world, and that they should become equal to men at the bargaining table... and certainly be part of any war or peace discussion in all countries. That is it: EQUALITY in all things. EQUAL women at the table with an EQUAL vote.

The second thing about this day is: Mardi Gras in New Orleans, all of Louisiana and in many other places on earth. I was happy to see on the news that New Orleans was full of people celebrating their biggest holiday. N.O. needs the tourists and they need to be remembered, I'm so glad they are having a good Mardi Gras. And I hope Whitney and Mike have a good time in their little LA town and good weather... at least I haven't heard any news about hurricanes or any more tornados. So next comes Lent. Does anyone even acknowledge Lent anymore? Ah, remember Roman C. school and fish, fish, fish? So Happy Mardi Gras tout le monde... hope you all caught lots of beads and had fun. I merely had a glass of wine with dinner and toasted all the celebrants. I often wonder if Father Pauli and Father Mickey, the only Roman Catholic priests I've ever loved, really believe in God or just treated the whole thing as a good job and retired happy.

Let's Stop Them In Wisconsin!

As an old union person, I insert this by a man I admire from a site I admire also:

It won't let me copy and paste, so here is the site name, with headline of article.

Exposing the Republicans' 3-Part Strategy to Tear the Middle Class Apart -- Let's Stop Them In Wisconsin

By Robert Reich, RobertReich.org
Posted on February 20, 2011, Printed on February 22,2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/149981

The Republican strategy is to split the vast middle and working class -- pitting unionized workers against non-unionized, public-sector workers against non-public, older workers within sight of Medicare and Social Security against younger workers who don't believe these programs will be there for them, and the poor against the working middle class... (much more at site address above)

Now is when we need to come together and let Congress know that the U.S. is not owned by the top 1% or 2%, but by us... the people of the U.S. Dubya made us a debtor nation, but cutting help to the poorest will not put us back on course. We the people need to learn how to live poor for awhile, and to see that some of the burden is finally put back on the shoulders of the super-wealthy, given a complete pass by the bush gang administration.

Read...Learn...Act Call and write your Congressmen/women.

My Views on Congress

Hopefully people will find my blog and read this:

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds)
took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people
demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell
phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or
less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

I'm asking you to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people
on your address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will
have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. Term Limits. 12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two Six-year Senate terms

B. Six Two-year House terms

C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no
pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social
Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social
Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional
pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in
the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American
people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective
1/1/11.

The American people did not make the current contract with members of
Congress. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go
home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only
take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.

MUCH OF WHAT WE FACE IN TERMS OF PRIVILEGE AND SELFISHNESS IN THIS

COUNTRY MIGHT BEST BE CHANGED STARTING FROM THE TOP DOWN. If you agree
with
the above, pass it on. If not, just delete

You are one of my 20. I INVITE YOU TO KEEP IT GOING. WHATEVER YOU
CHOOSE -- THANKS!

The Land of Lost Paintings...

I was pleased today to hear that a great-nephew has, and I guess admires, an old painting I made in 1952 (or maybe earlier?). It looks like it might have shed some paint (no one... of all the art teachers I had, and I had many... taught me to glaze or any way in which to guarantee the painting would last)... but I am on one side of the continent in San Francisco, while he lives on the other, so I hope it lasts a bit.

Amazing that I, the family 'artist,' have become just one of the family writers. I do not own any of my artworks anymore... they are spread out among the relatives... the majority are with my daughter, and I only own one tiny embroidery I made and framed when living in Eastern PA, entitled "Poppy on a Red Rug." It is a drawing of a dog we had who dearly loved to annoy us if we went out and left him, by peeing on one of our rugs. I don't even have the large book of drawings I made of family and friends. I think my sister took it with many of the things my mother had that were really mine.

Now I plan to do both... write and paint. I am reading my poetry in Yerba Buena Gardens tomorrow, and will break open the box of paints and canvas I ordered later in the week. Too bad we have no great musicians in the family, as I would dearly love to have some music playing as I read my poetry... so many of the poems are like songs and need music. I must start painting before all the flowers in our gardens disappear... Hell, this is California, we never run out of flowers... besides, I want to get back to painting people once more -- or maybe a few birds... who knows!

Ah, Phroggy... if you were only here, I should paint you. I miss you!