Easter Greetings

Live Red

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.



Find out what it's all about here.

Human Rights Campaign website here.

Be Red

Find out what it's all about here.

Human Rights Campaign website here.

See Red

Find out what it's all about here.

Human Rights Campaign website here.

Wear Red

Find out what it's all about here.

Human Rights Campaign website here.

Did You Get It? Did You Get It?

One of Little Sally Pumpkinhead's greatest pleasures is eating dinner right there on that mat in front of the refrigerator. Unfortunately she can be a sloppy eater and one or two pieces of her dog food can end up ricocheting off the side of her feeding dish and under the refrigerator. Usually she doesn't notice this until after the empty food dish has been picked up and then either my husband or I find her lying on the mat with her nose or paw stuck under the frig. That means one of us has to get the flashlight and the dowel we keep on hand for just this purpose to find and fish the piece of kibble out. As you can see in the photo Little Sally Pumpkinhead focuses intently on this recovery process. Once the tiny piece of food is flipped onto the mat she quickly gobbles it down and then jumps up and goes on about her business.

The Windows of My World Are Covered With Snow

Where is the sunshine we once knew?
-Hal David

Eleven Years Ago Today

My mother in Denver, 1977.
Still missing you.

Happy Vernal Equinox

Here comes the sun
(do, do, do, do)
Here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Little darling
It's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling
It feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Little darling
The smiles returning to the faces
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

Little darling
I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been clear

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
It's all right

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
It's all right
It's all right

Stress Test

Tension is who you think you should be.  Relaxation is who you are.
-Unknown

I went to the Denver psychic fair this weekend and while walking down one of the aisles a voice call  to me asking me if I was stressed out.  I replied, "No, I just ate." and stopped to look at the speaker.  He turned out to be a smiling young man wearing a red polo shirt.  He then asked me if I wanted to take a stress test.  I hesitated, on the brink of say no, and then said OK. He motioned me to sit down and sat across from me and that is when I noticed the word Dianetics written in black on his shirt right over his heart.  My first instinct was to get up right then and walk away but I thought what the hell and remained seated.  Then I looked in his eyes and what I saw there was a bit disturbing to me. I had seen that look before but could not place it.  Again I suppressed the urge to get up and walk away.

He handed me two aluminum tubes about six to eight inches long that looked like they came from a large wind chime.  Each one was attached to a wire which connected to a machine that I knew was called an e-meter.   I was curious about the e-meter because I knew it played a large part in  Scientology.  I was also very surprised by how cheesy the e-meter looked.  It was made of a 1980s style plastic which reminded me of  a  Texas Instruments hand-held calculator from that time period. The machine itself made me think of the  rock-em-sock-em robots game from the 1960s. I know that doesn't make any sense as the e-meter has gauges and dials but that's what I thought when I first looked at it.

The young man told me to hold the wind chimes lightly and then asked me to think of something that was stressful to me.  I looked at the meter and watched the gauge needle peg out.  The young man asked what I was I thinking about and I said all the people at the fair.
 And that made me stressful?
No, I  was just sensitive to all the energy surrounding me.  He remarked that that was very perceptive of me as he fiddled with one of the knobs on the e-meter.

Through all this I had been kind of playing with the wind chimes, holding them lightly, squeezing them tightly, or lifting them up and moving them around all the while watching the e-meter.  Every time I moved or twitched the gauge needle pegged out.  I banged the tubes  together. The young man asked me to just sit still and hold on to the tubes lightly as he once again fiddled with one of the knobs.  I complied and he asked me to think of anything in my life that was stressful to me.  I thought, could not think of anything,  and looked at the gauge needle.  It did not move.   I looked at the young man and then, still unsettled by the look in his eyes, looked away. 

The young man then asked me to think about something that was stressful at work.  I looked at the gauge needle and, again, it pegged out.  
What about work was stressful?
I told him I did not work. 
He thought a second and then asked, What about not working was stressful?

I stared at him.  Those eyes. I had enough and told him I was getting bored with this and handed the tubes back to him.  He took them with what felt to me like relief and I got up and walked away.   As I did I realized where I had see those eyes before, Tom Cruise.  Tom Cruise had the same look in his eyes.