Blowin' in the Wind

Wowee! Wild and Windy!!! This is starting to remind me of the Azores. Well, at least the windy part.

I am looking out the window, watching my neighbor's carport flapping to beat the band, as our 102-year-old Granny would say, waiting for it to break its moorings and come crashing through our bedroom window. Oh, wait, that's not going to happen until later. Sometime after bedtime, I'm guessing. That way it can kill us in our sleep.

Surprise! Here comes FedEx. YES! It's sorta like Christmas when the FedEx truck shows up. You never know what you're gonna get. I run to the door and throw it open, only to have the wind rip it right off its hinges. The FedEx lady is nowhere in sight, and even worse, no evidence of a package. Huh?!

Oh, look! There she goes! "STOP!" I shout. But it's too late. She is Gone With the Wind, helped along, no doubt, by a vicious tail wind. But where's my package? Another look around, and behold! It's been swept off the porch, down the sidewalk, and across the yard, where it is finally stopped by Nellie, our little red Cavalier, valiantly standing guard in the driveway.

Well, I guess I better go catch it before it sails off again. I take off across the porch and the yard, and...Success! I retrieve a small bubble-wrapped package with my name on it. I can't wait to see what's inside! I bring it in the house, and the guys gather 'round. We peel it open, and there inside, is...a free sample of tick and flea killer for the dog! I shoulda let him chase it down.

Adventures With Grandma

Whoever could have imagined that a week with two little old ladies would have provided such ex-treme entertainment for a just-turned-20-year-old young man?! Some things are better left untold.

...and on Hillary

Looks like Hillary is going to throw in the towel. Interesting, isn't it, that those who vote for Obama because he is black are racists, while those who vote for Hillary because she is a woman are...nope, not sexists... enlightened! What's up with that?!

(Non)Summer

Here it is, the 3rd day of June, and the not-yet summer has long worn out its welcome. I wish the seasons would respect the calendar, but noooooooooo...It's already in the record-breaking 90's, with humidity to match. I have always aspired to live by the calendar instead of the clock, but with calendars like these, who needs clocks?

Sooo...Why do I live in Texas again? Oh, yeah, I remember... because, to quote my darling daughter, "Texas is the place to be."

Computers and Moms

Well, then... I went to "Moms and Computers" class this afternoon with an empty brain. Not knowing what I don't know, I found it sorta difficult to discuss intelligently, or even to ask an intelligent question. I did have an epiphany or two along the way, though, so if I can manage to remember what they were, I will practice, practice, practice... Remember, practice makes perfect. Well, perfect practice makes perfect. Mediocre practice probably just makes mediocre.

Ponderings on Ted Kennedy

"Ted Kennedy Has Surgery For Inoperable Brain Tumor" proclaims the headline. Huh?! Surgery? Inoperable? Sounds like an oxymoron to me. But what do I know? "I'm not a doctor," and certainly not privy to the rarefied level of first-class health care to which his high-ranking position entitles him.

According to Dr. Allan Friedman, "...his patient was awake during the 3 1/2 -hour procedure...," suggesting, perhaps, that he is, ummmm...already brain-dead? There again, what do I know? I'm still not a doctor.

"Forty-six years is, indeed, a long time to be a senator," says Ron Mills, the Shoeshine Guy. Yeah, no kidding. Lots of people don't even live that long. Ted Kennedy has owned that seat in a way never intended by the founding fathers who set the whole thing up, which means that the man has never had time to hold an actual job. Imagine, a lifetime career on the dole. Now there's something for the whole family to be proud of.

"I might not be in the Senate had it not been for him...," Obama said on MSNBC...One more strike against Ted.

"Ted Kennedy and the Kennedy family have faced adversity more times in more instances with more courage and more determination and more grace than most families have to," said Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) Shame on everyone who thinks the Kennedys' hardships trump everyone else's hardships. The fact is that many, many families have faced similar adversities, with only their own private resources to depend on.

I don't actually wish this sort of misfortune on anyone, not even a Kennedy. I am not really happy that Ted has a brain tumor, but don't get me wrong, it's nothing personal. Just sympathy with a fellow human being who, despite every imaginable trapping of wealth and privilege, is now facing the uncertainty that ultimately comes to every human being. Everyone gets one turn, and no one gets more than one turn. At last, equality.

Happy Birthday, C!

A good lot of water under the bridge since I became a mother 33 years and 6 minutes ago. Thirty-three years...can that be right? If it's true that "Time flies when you're having fun," I must be having a lot more fun than I know about.

We went, Blue-Eyed Boy in tow, to C's birthday party, one hour away. How many times did I hear, "Poke, are we almost there?" I can't say with certainty, but one thing I'm sure about: regardless of what all has happened in the years since I confronted motherhood, some things just haven't changed at all.