Another lovely, if lonely, cool but sunny day in San Francisco. Chilly winds according to my substitute home care worker. Ah, yes, Ana is 'ill' so I am training a new one. I think Ana is planning on getting 'the big money; for being an 'on call' worker. I really hate to disillusion her, but it takes hard work for that particular job, as I know one of them... she is the kind of person who comes in, looks around, 'gets' what is to be done and does it... FAST. Ana hasn't worked fast in years and is slowing down to almost stop these days. She also doesn't read too well and her English is almost gone. She also 'can't lift that' so I have done a lot of the quick, heavy lifting myself. She couldn't lift the sewing machine to close the closet door, so I did it. I got the bin of YARN from hall to living room and put the bin I had here where the other was... and I have no balance and can't walk across the room without holding on to something. I rather gather that Ana is 'taking the training' for this 'big money, as ythe woman who schedules said, "She'll be out all week, ah, er, the doctor note said she would be out until the seventh." Sure it did. Well, I guess all these years of Ana flopping a on chair and saying, "I'm tired" or "I can't lift that" or "You wanna go in the garden" or ""Should I go to the store," meaning I have to cash my check, or 'You need medicine from drugstore?" meaning I want to do some shopping at the drugstore and stop at Safeway on the way back -- arriving to quickly drop bundles into her huge bag and say, "Oh, time to leave, goodbye." Anytime Ana goes to the store for me, she always gets back JUST in time to leave. But... she is perfect in a lot of ways. She LOVES Sylvia and even though her company says NOT to do anything for our cats or dogs, she is kind enough to make sure Sylvia is well cared for... I think she likes Sylvie more than she likes me. She will feed her, talk to her (Sylvia has Spanish speaking friends in the building and understands both English and Spanish) And best of all... clean out the litter box, a no-no with the company. I do it sometimes, but Ana watches it and does it more often. Sylvia, in spite of the special treatment, acts like she expects it... and even gives Ana the nasty swat to the ankles ahe gives everyone but me, as she sits in the middle of the hall, a place where everyone must go by to get anywhere in the apartment. Anyone who walks by her, or I should say tries to get around her, gets the Sylvia grab around their ankle region. Sylvia loves the scream and jump she gets out of all the women who try to get by... if you know her and say, "OK, Syl, can I please get by," she casually gets up and leaves, but she does love to scare all others. Men, particularly young, good looking ones, get another treatment... she greets them at the door, with a sort of "Purrr-eouw." (She's a California girl, so that rises into a sort of question.) Then she follows them, tail held straight up, still questioning. If they sit down in the recliner, she immediately jumps into their lap and circles around. If they are 'cat people' they pet her and she settles down to purr." She went nuts over a very young, gorgeous guy from L.A. who stopped in to visit me once... leaned on the door and whined when he left. If they are not cat people and either say "Get down," or push her at all, she jumps down, gives them a dirty look and stalks off in anger. My friend Jack once said, "She is very regal looking," as he saw her sitting in the window, as in my photo on the blog... she is, and she will let you know she is the head of household and Princess of the Castle here. So, of course Ana is just another of her adoring subjects in her eyes. We wait on her...First! Ana does a lot of things above and beyond what most of the others I have had in and out of here during all my joint replacements and since I can't walk because of complete lack of balance. Tommy... since you seem to be one of the few who read this... keep exercising as long as you can. You 'kids of Bets' seem to be quite lucky... you didn't get 'the Cartwright Knees" as every one of us who look just like Daddy's family did (oh, goodness... Bets and Georgie looked like Jessie (George more like Mama), but they still get bad knees... that is a tough gene! My son is having knee trouble, and his two girls have already had serious problems and bad knee operations... so don't over-exercise like they did. Poor Callie was a big athlete and played volley ball, and Bella has been taking loads of dance lessons since around age 4. I am reduced to doing arm exercises and have bone spurs growing everywhere inside, and a couple outside on my shoulder now. My poor body seems to think it should be helping me... I sometimes wish it would quit, but I guess it likes living. Ah but back to the other things most "don't do." She goes to the bank and gets money for me... she gets quarter for the laundry... she buys beer or wine for me (are OLD people not supposed to drink? She even grabbed an almost new office chair for me that was being tossed out somewhere across the street, to replace my crummy old desk chair. I do hate the thought of trying to train a new gal, but hell, I do it all the time now... if they can just find me someone who will learn and then let me alone, who speaks, reads and understands English and will get me money and wine, I'll be OK.

Have We Perhaps Gone Too Far???

Have We Perhaps Gone Too Far??? When we lost Al Franken as a Senator (one of the better ones), I cried. He was young and foolish and with enough ‘fame’ to think he could get away with his insulting manner, all the time making others uncomfortable (the others being primarily women). When Los Angeles gave Stormy Daniels (or whatever that person is called now) the key to the city and made a big fuss over her, I wondered if we have not gone a bit too far. Granted, I was pleased when S.D. and a few other brave women, gave us their stories about the nastiness and filth we now have in the White House, Of course, we have all seen (ignored by the hyper religious nuts of the country who love our piece of trash there now) this lying member of the rich white trash, in action telling a ‘friend’ about the very active, and often illegal, personal life he feels he is heir to because he has the money to demand it. Do we need a school for men who have acquired a bit (or even a lot) of money and/or fame to teach them that women do not admire, or condone, men who grab them, paw them, suggest sexual moves, kiss them in an uncouth manner, show up nude for a ‘business meeting,’ or any of the disgusting ‘moves’ suffered by women in the past. The recent disclosures by a group of brave women has opened up a storm of protest from the not-so-brave who also have stories to tell of their attacks by the same or other men. And it will probably go on, into the news and the courts for some time, probably leading to not only truths, but also lies and tawdry little suits by some women, merely for the cash they see in it. (i.e., she got plenty, now I need to get some, too.) We are already known as the country with too many lawyers and far too many court cases. To quote Google: -- According to a study in 2006, America has more lawyers per person of its population than any of 29 countries studied (except Greece), and it spends two to three times as much on its tort system, as a percentage of GDP, as other big economies (except Italy, where things are nearly as bad). -- The U.S. has ONE lawyer for every 300 people. Would that a few who are in it for the money would realize that if they simply moved to Singapore, Australia, France or Japan, they could make a lot more, but I guess they might be too stupid to learn to operate there. There is a lovely article online (http://nationalpost.com/opinion/f-h-buckley-a-better-country-with-fewer-lawyers) comparing us to the much happier, better living, rising up as we fall in everything, Canada. (I suppose because they have an educated, intelligent population, who elected an intelligent man who will to listen to them and govern as they wish... well. Now I shall wail on my feelings: Why can a fool and a disgusting attacker of women, liar and generally slimy man stay in our top office, primarily under the protection of the republican party and the religious-right-evangelicals, while poor Al Franken, a good, thinking, intelligent Senator, is forced to resign. And further... I want Charlie Rose back. We have too few intelligent, charming, kindly people on TV now, or at any time. Charlie was the ultimate interviewer. He asked the right questions and he then LISTENED to the person he was interviewing. He never yelled or ranted or tried to make himself the one who must be seen and listened to. He made his guests feel comfortable, even if he might disagree with them, he let them do the ranting while he merely listened and perhaps asked a few questions to make sure they had shown their ignorance. I have found no one to fill his place on TV. I never enjoyed watching Johnny Carson, as he was often a mean guy, I remember his breaking an ant farm, I think quite deliberately, because the man he was ‘interviewing’ had begun to bore him. I sincerely hope that we do not return the airwaves, either radio or TV, to the ‘Fox-News-type’ of ignorant screamers and yellers. Those who do not know how to interview, but simply scream their little one-track, mindless viewpoint and never listen to the person they are interviewing. I shall never miss the vile Bill O’Reilly or Glen Beck at his strangest, or the worst of all Rush Limbaugh or even the whole Fox News, which I have never watch, except to check on a foolish bit I have been told or read about. Or perhaps to look at the girls in short, short skirts with overdone hairdos -- the silly smiles of all the fake news readers, male and female, such as that stupid boy, Sean Hannity, one wonders if he will ever grow up. What are we growing in this god forsaken country. Well, perhaps in the case of Fox News, this god-fearing and probably evangelical, “I-believe-everything-he-says” branch of this country, that backs t rump and Fox News and probably thinks PBS News (the one I watch) is a creation of the devil, as they have no doubt been told by the latest ranter, the latest to be selling not only fake news, but also questionable ‘products,’ the idiot on YouTube whose name, happily, I cannot even remember. Ah me, yes, 'just another screamer' a great name for all of them.

Alas & Alack

And what does Alack mean? And why do I have to type in this dreadful typewriter type in pale grey? And man do I do a lousy job of proof reading... the last post is FULL of mistakes and I can't remember how to get the old stuff back so I can correct it. Ah, me, alas and Alack, oh goodness me, and a few more ancient expressions...I do not write in this place, nor in any of the other places I 'should' be writing, like my 'diary' or even the letters I used to turn out to everyone... I owe many, but do not write them. Ever since I lost Kirk as a constant 'companion' corespondent, I don't seem to have the time to write to everyone else. So strange. Of course, my fingers hurt now (lack of exercise?) and they have become quite bent and arthritic... amazing that they are just now getting bad... and my left shoulder is trying to 'fix' a displacement that I apparently ignored when it happened. Now they can't just 'put it back' as the damned bone spurs are a mess there, working on building up, so I have a bump on the shoulder and the docs at UC/SF (who all look like teenagers) tell me that the only way to fix it is to have another replacement. Silly children... at my age I wouldn't get the use of the shoulder back by the time I'm 100, so why bother. Just like Jessie, I have learned to live with pain. No way do I go under again... no hospitals... no new doctors (mine are all retired) everything in me now goes to the oven with me (I do hope they sift out the metal before handing my ashes over to the kids). I am upset about one thing that the arthritic fingers have done... I cannot seem to write anything with a 'y' in it without hitting the "i" just before it. I think I have corrected all the ones in this, but I miss some and it annoys hell out of me. It used to be the 'l' that I hit all the time because of my weak ring fingers, but now it is the i, And to think I did so much proofreading on the job. I suppose it might be as this miserable type us such a rotten one and so light. I far prefer Arial which is readable and good looking (well, I kinda prefer Comic Sans, but they don't use it here on this blog site, which is sad. Amazing but t rump is still president... when will it all end? What idiots we have in Washington. I pray (even though I don't believe in it) that the whole House of Representatives (well all that are left as many resign) is simply voted out in the next election... all of them. Actually Senate too... let them all try to get real jobs... and make the new ones take tests to see if they can read and write and understand what they are there to do. Help, help, I do not think we have anyone who even wants to run for president except the moron who is there now.

Through a headache Darkly

Late... very dark and with only a cat to talk to... and that a complaining one. You are old, Mother Sylvia, the other old woman said / and yet you continuously stand on your head / do you think at your age that is bright? I loved Lewis Carroll and his lovely rhymes, and have used them as a basis for many of mine. Oh, good lord, I made the mistake of hitting the photo booth... I guess it is best never to use Skype... Poor Jackie... I rail at him for not combing his hair and not getting out of his nightshirt all day... and I do the same. I had forgotten to comb my hair, and it is far, far longer and more untidy than his! Today, after watching '60 Minutes' with all the lovely people who used to do it back again... I wanted someone to talk to about all of them... all dead and gone long since. Dreadful old Mike Wallace who used to scream at people. I remember him in Chicago when he was still the kid yelling "When did you hit your wife, senator?" and other charming phrases. I even remember when he had a program with his wife... oh, what was her name... a blonde... of course. All the rest were my darling friends every Sunday... Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Bob Simon (my favorite) and funny Andy Rooney. So far they haven't been replaced. The new talking heads are good... but oh, they are not those great men. And now I shall make a little confession... I SO MISS Charlie Rose... I can't imagine him doing anything bad enough to take him away!! Where will he go... what will he do? Will he ever return? I do miss him so much. And on those notes, I was amazed to find that if I have the strength to stay up and listen to him, James Comey is almost a good replacement for Craig Ferguson, whom I thought would never be replaced... and whom I thought should be the one to replace old what's is name... oh.. Letterman, whom I never could stand... as I adored Craig. He was such fun I stayed up. Comey is a rather ugly, fat, little man, but he is kind (something Carson & Letterman never were) and a really good interviewer, letting the people talk and not topping them, as some of the interviewers do... even Colbert, whom I like, tends to do that... of course he can top drumpf!! Then of course there was 'Victoria' tonight. I love this series... the BBC has it all over our TV series makers. I actually cried tonight... I had a terrible time after I had Whitney... went into a rotten depression and she cried all the time as I was trying to nurse and couldn't, so she was hungry constantly... so I made bottles, but she wanted to be held and rocked and fed... I will never forget the saint next door who was the oldest of 10 or so, and hearing both Whitney and me crying every night, came over and taught me how to be a mother. My mother couldn't do it... she had nurses and mother's helpers and the works during all her pregnancies, so only saw dry, fed children (of course, she nursed us... she said she could have nurses triplets) for a short time each day. Then when we settled in Memphis, she had our Mammy Mary to care for us. When I think back to those days in Memphis, Mary was more of a mother than Jessie. Losing her was like losing a mother and I still tend to tear up when I think of her, but then 'I'm a sentimental sap, that's all / what's the use of trying not to fall / so turn me loose, you cooked my goose / 'cause you took advantage of me... another of my favorite tunes from way, way, way back when. I believe it was an early Bing Crosby tune... sung before my time, but taught to me by Ned Travis, a San Francisco guy, and a great jazz drummer, who knew Bing and many other musicians out here. Another confession... I really miss driving my dear little blue Chevette all over the Chicago area when I was designing things for the homebound handicapped at Easter Seal... and singing all the old songs at the top of my lungs as I drove. No one could hear me, or criticize my voice as Whitney always did. Well, I'm off to bed now, so I shall sing myself to sleep and if Sylvia doesn't like it, she can go in and eat the food she wouldn't finish tonight!

At Least a New House

I find it very interesting that the people (mainly men) who were elected to make our laws seem to have forgotten how. When they present a supposed new law with chicken scratches of unreadable hand written changes at the end, that no one can read, I think it may be time to toss them all out and try to find individuals who can at least read and write. Maybe make a new law that anyone wishing to serve as a legislator must first take the test given to people applying for citizenship, then a timed one on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, in English, of course. Then perhaps, an essay on why they wish to serve, what they have in their background that makes them a fit, knowledgeable candidate for the job, presented with a 10 year copy of their tax records and any amount collected to help in their campaign with a list of donors who contributed over $1,000. These tests will of course be timed and taken in front of a judge and a group of twelve citizens in government offices across the country, It will then be read and checked out by two members of the Democratic and Republican parties. Those chosen to run will then be awarded money for their ‘run’... half of the money collected ($1.00 from each taxpayer) from citizens of their state. Perhaps, while we are at it, let’s clean up a few other errors. In future, all legislators will be paid like other citizens, with Social Security deducted from their pay, and paying taxes each year with the rest of the country. They will be in their seats in either the House of Representatives or the Senate at least four hours a day, and allowed only one trip outside the U.S. a year, with no trips paid for by donors anywhere. It’s a job, being a good legislator and will have to be treated as one, boys and girls. Of course, all of these rules and tests must be given to all persons being paid by the U.S. government. That includes the President and all of his cabinet, with each job having a special test related to the particular work to be done by that member, and each person chosen must present an essay explaining his/her background and reason for serving, and will give up ties with any company or work for the time served with the government. With any luck, Universities will catch on and begin teaching classes in government, with emphasis on how laws are made and how legislators serve in various other countries, and perhaps how they should be made in this country.

What Has Happened to My Country?

It can’t be that I went to sleep one night having spent the day talking to some reasonably intelligent people at the bus stop, at the store, along the street, then I wake up the next morning and seem to be surrounded by either drug addicts or people with trumpian brains (the ‘lack of’ sort). I live in San Francisco. This is my spiritual home, has been since I was 16 years old. I moved here for not only the lovely cool weather, but also for the cool people… the liberal, charming, kind and intelligent people I met over the years I visited, hoping to move here. Thrity-five years ago, even though my husband had stolen all the money I had saved to buy a home here, I came to live perhaps in less comfortable circumstances than I had hoped, found a tiny apartment in the Mission, the only place I could afford, worked at temp jobs until age sixty-five. Sadly all the rest of my IRA went to replace a knee so that I could still keep walking… that was done before, then after I hit sixty-five, I had the other done. So one knee ate up the whole of my savings, then Medicare gave me the other. With enormous luck I managed to get a low number in a low-income drawing and now have a home in the Mission for life, and have learned how to ‘live poor.’ A necessary evil, as Social Security seems to think that a cost of living raise means around $5 or 6 a month. Guess they haven’t bought bread and almond milk lately. Then came the day when, in spite of my vote and all the others in CA., we have a ‘leader,’ a man who is called our ‘president’ in spite of the fact he got millions of votes LESS than his opponent, who is trying to split our country in two. He lies and cheats and claims ‘the other side’ is so unpatriotic… that we all were not supporting our wonderful fighting men… etc., etc., and yet he avoided serving the country during the Vietnam war on the flimsiest of excuses, a ‘bone spur’ in his foot. Hey… I had one of those and my foot doctor gave me a simple shot in the heel… I’ve never felt pain of any unease since, and it’s been years. This man simply REFUSED to serve his country and went back to his slimy cheating and stealing and running after women he could ‘get’ because he had some pocket money from his daddy. I’m sick & tired of hearing how patriotic that bum in the White House is when NO ONE in his family has ever served our country - he is not serving it now but is deliberately dividing it. He has done nothing for, nor does he even notice the enormous number of homeless, almost crowding us out with their tents in my city. He speaks only to the smaller and smaller groups of his old white men who are the only ones who really support him and his views. The young people who need help, the troubled, the jobless young and old black men, those before mentioned hopeless tent dwellers are all ignored in the money raising yells organized constantly by the trumpian horde. And of whom do they complain? The players in the NFL. He has decided to twist their simple way of showing their wish to protest the lack of understanding of the treatment of just the people I mentioned above into some crazy notion of lack of patriotism by the players. This from a man who is really unpatriotic, who has never done anything for our country. If he has, I’d like to know about it. Colin Kaepernik, and all the other brave protesters… be it known that I am with you. I fear for my country, for it is being taken over by the wealthiest people in the world. They are trying to separate us into groups to fight each other and distract us all, so that they can retain the ‘top,’ keep all of their money and add to it, making sure they can leave it to their children in toto and also keep all of the power of governance. In this way they can let us fight and they can clean up for good and take their money out of the country and educate their children in better private schools, set up by dear Betsy so the government pays for them, while their so-called ‘experts’ ruin the public schools for the rest of our poor children. Fight on, oh wonderful athletes and I guess all you 'Millenials'. You became strong in body and worked your way up to an important ‘place’ in the country, struggling to make a good living to care for your family in the few years you remain in such good shape. Just remember to keep your family close, save your money and put your children in good schools to learn how to invest it well. And above all, help your community to grow and learn how to do good like the Kaepernik kid is doing. He’s on his way to becoming a strong, good and kind leader of the sort we need to defeat the lying, cheating and double dealing of the sort trump and his badly chosen cabinet of billionaires are doing now. Go, go, go kids… this old crone is with you all the way!! With love to all…. Peggy Cartwright

Now One Just Rambling to Me

For the last couple of years, because I have been alone and bored, make that horribly alone and sad, I have made up a list of the people I would like to have with me for a Christmas dinner (the sort of which Dickens wrote). I suppose I choose the kind of people who are great conversationalists, including people I have known and people I would like to have known, or know now. So I shall sit her on a very boring Sunday, following my 93rd birthday, alone as I was for the birthday, and make up a new list. No relatives this time, I think, although I know both Jessie and Betty Rae would be enormously welcomed by all the others for their bright comments. Even Daddy would be great, or Papa, they were so full of charm and stories. What a family I had and how I miss them now that I am completely alone, the last of the Michigan Cartwrights, except for Kath and maybe somewhere a cousin named Jeannie Jefferson Bock (spelling?) and perhaps a couple of others if the ones I knew had children. How lost I feel, and how alone now that my sister (and nemisis) is really gone. Ah, but back to the list... let's see: I almost always want Noel Coward (and a handy piano), so I suppose I should include Gertie also. What fun they must have been at a party, as they had known each other most of their lives and had so much to talk about. (And I could sing off-key with Gertie, for I know all their songs.) I had considered Bernie Sanders, but it is too close to an election and Politicians can get rather one-sided at those times. Ah... women first, how about both Queens Elizabeth of England... The Great Queen was brilliant and the dear little newer one a charmer with a good sense of humor. Now to match them with males, odd, I never put Dickens on my list, lets choose him and Mark Twain, there's an odd, but interesting match. Perhaps a match for me... no, not Kirkie, he doesn't go with this bunch. I get Orson Welles, as I have always wanted to talk to him. With Steve gone, this year I shall pick Tim Cook and pair him with Rachel Maddow, both of whom I would love to talk with. And, because I simply adore them and they are also pushing on toward their ends, I shall choose Judi Dench and helen Mirren. now, what gentlemen could come up to match with this pair? Ah, why not Billy Connelly and Mel Brooks, as those ladies do appreciate men with a sense of humour. Now that's twelve and I shall go to bed early on Christmas and dream about my wonderful dinner... for I shall have none that day, but probably just spend my whole day trying to get poor old Sylvia to eat if she is still alive.