It's A Family Affair

I am in Denver right now. My older sister flew in from Ohio, my younger sister flew in from The Netherlands and I drove in from Kansas. We are all staying at our baby sister's house. Not sure when I will get a chance to blog next so if I don't write anything, it's not that I forgot all about you it's just that I am too busy.

And on a technical note- I can't seem to open up my comments on this computer and so there are no replies to some of the comments left on entries. It's not that I am ignoring you it's just that I can't reply right now. Hopefully, we can fix that before I go home.

It Only Takes One Person, Doing One Small Thing, To Change The Word

Rosa Parks died Monday at the age of ninety-two.




Read the NY Times Obituary here.

Read about the Montgomery Bus Boycott here.

DIRGE WITHOUT MUSIC

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, – but the best is lost.

The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.
-Edna St. Vincent Millay

Busy As A Bee

This bathroom project had turned out to be more labor intensive that I expected. I have spend the last three days on nothing else. Today we will finally get this section of the project finished and have a carpenter come in to do the next step sometime within the next two weeks. I have reached the point where I just want this over but at the same time I am looking at other things to do-like paint the back stairwell. Does it never end?

Weekend Blog Surfing

Widescreen Museum

Cinerama, CinemaScope, Vistavision, Todd-AO, Superscope, Ultra Panavision, Cinemiracle, Super Panavision, Technirama and more.

The Hamster Wheel

Stomping out disease and learning new tricks.
I'm a surgical resident going through a 5 year training program in New Orleans

Boot Sale Sounds

A music blog , mainly featuring records and tapes found at boot sales, charity shops and flea markets. Mainly comedy, novelty and odd items that are hard to catagorise.

Find A Human

How to get past the automatic answering machines and talk to a real person at some of the nation's larger companies. (USA only)

The Museum of Broadcast Communications

Our mission is to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform, and entertain through our archives, public programs, screenings, exhibits, publications and online access to our resources.

Musically, I Prefer...

Bob Dylan's, All I Really Want To Do, to Cher's version.

Santana's, Black Magic Woman, to Fleetwood Mac's.

Linda Ronstadt's, Blue Bayou, to Roy Orbison's.

Ted Hawkins', Corrina, Corrina, to Big Joe Turner's.

Mamma Cass', Dedicated To The One I Love, to The Shirelles'.

Lena Horne's, 'Deed I Do, to Ella Fitzgerald's.

Wynonna Judd's, Don't Be Cruel, to Elvis'.

Aaron Neville's, Everybody Plays The Fool, to the Main Ingredient's.

Astrud Gilberto's, Fly Me To The Moon, to Frank Sinatra's.

The Beach Boys', I Can Hear Music, to The Ronettes'.

Bob Marley's, I Shot The Sheriff, to Eric Clapton's.

Ray Charles', Georgia On My Mind, to Lawrence Welk's.
(just checking to see if you are still reading)

Ivie Anderson's, It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing, to Ella
Fitzgerald's.

Ella Fitzgerald's, Just A-sittin' And A-rockin'', to Rosemary Clooney's.

The Doors', Light My Fire, to Jose Feliciano's.

Janis Joplin's, Me And Bobby McGee, to Kris Kristofferson's.

The Marvelettes', Please Mr. Postman, to The Beatles'.

Wanda Jackson's, Riot In Cell Block #9, to The Coasters'.

Big Joe Turner's, Shake Rattle And Roll, to Bill Haley and the
Comets'.

Snoopy's, Take Five, to Dave Brubeck's.

Rosemary Clooney's, This Ole House, to Brian Setzer's.

Joe Cocker's, With A Little Help From My Friends, to The Beatles'.

The Supremes', You Can't Hurry Love, to Phil Collins'.

Aretha Franklin's, You Make Me Feel (Like A Natural Woman), to Carol King's.

Frank Sinatra's, Nice 'n' Easy, to anyone else's- every time.

Always Happy To Support The Arts

I spent the morning applying paint striper to the bathroom door, window and trim. While I waited for the stripper to do its stuff I took a walk around town. (OK, I really walked up to the highway to get a Coke and a snack.) On the way back home I ran across a little girl of about seven years old standing on the sidewalk in front of her house waving a piece of paper in the air. She seemed to be waving it at me so I walked over to see what was going on. As I got closer she hurried over to me and held the paper up to my face. It was a crayon-colored drawing of a girl torn out of a coloring book. Lying on the sidewalk behind her were three more torn colored pages held down by small plastic chair. Handing the drawing to me the little girl asked if I wanted to buy it for a dollar. I told her I was sorry but I didn't have a dollar then reached in my jeans pocket and found two quarters and one dime. I asked if sixty cents was enough and the little girl nodded.

While we were negotiating her little sister (about four-years-old) ran over to see what was going on, heard my offer of sixty cents, and asked if she could have some (money) too. I turned to her big sister and asked if it was OK to pay only fifty cents for the drawing and give the dime to her sister. She quickly nodded her head again and I gave her the money and she passed the dime on to her sister. As I walked away with my new piece of art both little girls raced around the side of their house to where their mother and older sister were sitting. When I got a couple of houses away I looked back and saw three girls standing on the front porch. The artist was pointing me out to her older sister while their baby sister excitedly danced around them. I have a feeling that the older sister had scoffed at her younger sister's enterprise and wanted a look at the person (fool) who actually paid real money for her little sister's artwork.

Sweet Soul Music

The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan


No post today. I'd rather send you to two post written by other people this week. Both opened my heart in a way I did not expect.

First, Hands Like These, written by Kathryn over at A Mindful Life.

Then, Mistakes Were Made, written by Mary over at Fly In The Honey.

Marzipan Babies

Marzipan-a confection of crushed almonds or almond paste, sugar, and egg whites that is often shaped into various forms









My sister send me an e-mail awhile ago with these photos. I am always fascinated by what the human hand can do. These babies remind me of the photos of Anne Geddes.

Individuality- American Style

This:

is a Kansas State automobile license plate.

If you want to be a little different you can purchased what is know as a vanity plate.

If you were in the military you can pick one of these:


If not, something like this:


Or you can pick a plate that boosts your college or university- but only if it is a Kansas state college or university of course.


Now, getting these vanity plates cost extra money and (since Kansas only requires a plate on the rear of all vehicles) most people put their own plate on the front of their car or truck.

They show pride in the type of truck they drive:



The schools their children go too:



Their jobs:



They take extra pride in their state:



And in who they love:




Sometimes, they will even give you their philosophy on life:




One thing about Americans- we like to be different. As long as we are all doing it in the same way.

The Results Have Been Tabulated

The winner of this year's Who Sent My Husband The Best Birthday Card? contest is:



Inside:
(And you thought getting older was the only thing we had to worry about.)

It's Raining, It's Pouring

And don't it feel good? The farmers need it badly. (Happy Dance)

And now for something completely different....

1. Kiddie Records Weekly: Classics From The Golden Age.

"For two full years, Basic Hip Digital Oddio will be featuring weekly stories and songs from the golden age of children's records, a period which ran from the mid 1940s into the early 1950s. This era produced a wealth of classics, headed by Capitol's Record-Readers and the RCA Victor Little Nipper series. Each one of these recordings has been carefully transferred from the original 78s and encoded to MP3 format for you to download and enjoy."

2. If Charlie Parker Was A Gunslinger, There'd Be A Whole Lot of Dead Copycats: Cultural and Personal Observations by Tom Sutpen and Stephen Cooke.

"It's the way to educate your eyes. Stare. Pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long." -- Walker Evans

3. Missing In Action: The Woman Behind Televison's Golden Age.

"Missing in Action" is the untold story of the unsung women who helped to invent television in post-war New York. They were television's first directors, producers, writers, and PAs; but no one knows who they are today. This documentary turns the spotlight on these behind-the-scenes pioneers, toppling stale ideas of 1950’s Woman and of Television’s Golden Age.

4. Japan Window. Photoblog of Andy Gray an American living in Tokyo, Japan.

How To Clean Your Glasses

1. Go to sink and turn on water.

2. Rinse lenses under a stream of very warm water.

3. Gently wash both sides of your lenses with a mild soap using your fingertips.

4. Rinse lenses again and be sure to remove all traces of soap.

5. Turn down the water until you have a slow steady stream of water without any air bubbles in it.

6. Holding glasses perpendicular to water stream and, starting at either end of your glasses, slowly move the lenses through the stream of water. The water should spill over the edge of the lens frame and wet both sides of the lens at the same time. It may take you a few times to find out what angle to hold the glasses at in order to accomplish this but when you find the right angle the water just sheets off the lens.

7. Still holding the glasses perpendicular take a clean cloth or paper napkin and dry the frame around both lenses or if you do not have a frame dry the edges of your lenses.

8. If there are drops of water on the face of your lenses (and there usually are) carefully blot them off with your clean cloth or paper napkin.

The trick to cleaning your glasses is to never to wipe them dry. My sister taught me this method of cleaning glasses and I thank her.

Islam Explained

I am reading a book (Islam Explained) written by a man after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He wrote the book for his children and all children after hearing his own repeating ignorant remarks made by other people about Islam and Muslims. In the tradition of "good things come in small packages" the book is short in length but not short in content.

Some things I have learned:

Why the men who flew the planes were not real Muslims-

Allah, like the god of the Jews and the Christians, forbids killing yourself, which we call suicide. And He forbids killing other people. So those men who got on airplanes, who killed the pilots with a knife, and then flew the planes into the skyscraper in New York- those men don't understand the Muslim religion, and they are fanatics.

What really awaits them after death-

...someone who kills himself by burning will repeat this act eternally in hell. Anyone who throws himself from a building will throw himself for infinity. This is horrible! This is true if one is a believer.

A good description of what a fanatic is-

It's somebody who thinks he's always right and wants to be the most powerful. If you don't agree with him, he becomes very wicked.

What the word Islam means-

submission to peace

What the Angel Gabriel said to the prophet Muhammad-

He told him that there was one God, all-powerful and very merciful. He told him that we must be faithful to the word of God, that we must believe in His message, that there is another life after death, that man will be judged by his action, and that every member of the human race will have to testify about what he has done during his life, that good and just men will be rewarded by going to heaven and that the others, the bad men, the unbelievers, the criminals, will be judged and sent to hell. He told him that we must do good and avoid evil, that men must be well behaved and believers, and that above all we should not worship stones and believe that there are other gods than God.

Why this is the same as what Christians are taught-

...before Muhammad's religion, there were two other religions, Judaism and Christianity. Both of them worship a single God. They, too, had prophets: Moses and Jesus. The Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims were to form "a single community of the believers." Islam came to join these two religions. They are called the monotheistic religion, or the religions of the Book. The book of the Jews is the Torah; the book of the Christian, the Bible; and that of the Muslims, the Koran

.
Why if we have the same God the Jews and Muslims in the Middle East are at war-

You're mixing things up. The Muslims and the Jews are fighting over the same land, but it is not a war of religion. Islam recognizes the prophets of the Jews and the Christians.

How-

The Muslims owe their prophet Muhammad, God's messenger, their worship and love. They owe the same respect to Moses and Jesus. Don't forget that Islam appeared about six centuries after Jesus. Thus it is the most recent monotheistic religion in human history.

I am only half-way through this book and I am astonished by how little I knew about the Islamic religion. I see now that as long as we (humankind) focus on the differences between our religions and not the similarities, nothing will change. The fanatics will keep killing others and themselves in the name of religion.

I Think I Am Ready To Dump Microsoft

My computer has been running slow for awhile but yesterday it was operating at snail pace. I tried to print a photo my sister sent me and Microsoft Photo Printing Wizard opened up. In that file were 646 photos- one of them the photo I was trying to print. The rest I recognized as being from my blog, other blogs, and photos e-mailed to me. The majority of the photos were p0rn.

Now, how do you remove photos you don't want in the Photo Printing Wizard file? You could go to the Microsoft Help section on your computer but it will tell you nothing. You could go to the Microsoft website but it will tell you nothing and make it difficult for you to find out this out. You could try to find a person to answer your question at Microsoft but that will cost you $35 with no guarantee that your question will be answered. My husband found the answer at an unofficial support site, deleted the photos, and then added a program called ccleaner to hopefully keep it from happening again.

Anyway, this experience had made me realize just how bad Microsoft's Operating System really is, how useless Microsoft's product support is, and how Microsoft's last priority seems to be its customers. I know some of you use other OS's and I would be very grateful if you would drop a note in my comments box telling which one you use and what you think of it.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

Note: There is no such thing as "minor surgery."

My sister is doing well but still is not completely healed. She is doing well enough for my dogs, my husband, and me to return home yesterday afternoon. My dogs are glad to be home, my husband is glad to be home and I...am glad to be sleeping in my own bed.

Will write again after I catch-up on everyone's blog.