I think Spring is coming, after all.

Gads, it's been a month since I've said anything on my very own blog. I guess I've been busy doing the laundry and finishing the wall that was torn up from a window remodel (that is putting in drywall, mudding, texturing, trimming,primming, and painting)and plowing through all the cat hair that is accumulating in piles around the house. We keep having wierd little storms roar through and then they are melted and gone in about 20 minutes....but all the heaps and shelves of snow are gone, thankfully, and the grass that is around is delightfully green. There is a threat of snow still, but at least there is promise of it being only a temporary inconvenience and the hope for warming temperatures is not just a pipe dream any more...it was actually in the 70's last week! Halllllleluyah. I'm getting ready to head south to see the darter, and really warm up... and then all the frostbite will heal and I'll probably grow some new toes down there by the border. Anyway, I am growing some interesting little plants and we are delightfully munching down greenhouse lettuce, and the Prince is delightfully munching down catnip and catgrass. So life are good.

Well, geez

It is very annoying to be so ready to show y'all the new shelves and growing things in the greenhouse, and lo, there is a freakout with the computer and the pics are not available because they are some sort of threat to the security of the dang cyberplace...the how and why that is happening is but a mystery, even to the master mind of our computerworld, who went sorta biblical and made some sort of reference to cutting off the left hand of that which annoys you and "blip" the whole folder of pictures was removed to whence it came via the thumbdrive and then transfered to another computer and so...yes, I have "no bananas" to show you how I am very pleased with the state of how things are doing out west...(of our living house). I can however give you another photo which has nothing to do with anything I just wrote about. SSSSSSSSo, there.

Bully bully, no pissin' on me.

Ok I think I can write a little something about why the movie North Country/and the book has chewed at me so hard. I have been studying the bully's ways with a professional PHD sort of friend, and she has very gently lead me through all the bullying that has happened in my existance. Now that I have awoken to it , I am damned sick of it. Back off, I say!! No throwing water on me to wake up, no greasy turkey legs stuck in my face, no whipping me with a belt for wearing too many colors, ETC!!! I've had it up to here (way up tp there)with all of it. I will not stand by silently and wonder what the hell is going on. I will call whomever on it. It is not good for me heart. That is all I can say about it on this fine Martin Luther King's day. He knew a few things about Bullying, I know he did. 

Sexual harassment on the planet

(This post is actually older than it says, because I was all blotto[means outraged, incensed when I first wrote it and didn't want to blurt out something I would regret later. Now that I have thought about it I can say what I want to say without a doubt...and throw some shark teeth in to boot!)
I have watched North Country (great movie that daughter recommended) in the last week. It struck some raging cord in me that had me bawling by the end of it. The man, B., was fairly stunned by the emotional outpouring, I think, because of his pragmatic(?) approach to life. That is to say emotional responses to most stuff is not common with him, and when I am  hit like with that movie, he is truely mystified. [Not wanting to explain myself, I wish I could disappear into thin air and not then have to try to talk and cry at the same time.]
I was harassed on the job by my "boss" once and I told him he had better leave me alone in the bathroom I was cleaning or I would scream so loud it would break his eardrums. It backed him off, but the atmosphere where I worked became icy and wierd because of it.
I realize that is just a smidge of what women have experienced around the planet, and truely women are amazing that they don't go on eye gouging episodes of total insanity as a result of harassment, and often just suck it up...but I am weary of the fact that this is common behavior.

We have started to listen to the book that the movie was depicted from Class Action:the landmark case that changed sexual harassment law by Clara Bingham (and some other author.) I will have to do this over several sessions or face total depression I fear, which is big enough in January without the topic at hand!!

Greenhouse update, some ranting, and a techno date

Here are some little lettuce plants(as of a couple of weeks ago...), and we are getting some siding on the North side of the greenhouse! How lovely is the handyman, for he can measure, cut and screw colorful and weathered boards into place!!

For awhile it was warm out today and we had designated today to work on the greenhouse, so we did. It was a spirit lifter, as I have been twisting in the wind over the book I have been listening to which is "Class Action: the landmark case that changed sexual harassment law" by Clara Bingham and another gal that I can't quite remember her name. Anyway, it is astounding to me, goddamned astounding, that women have to fight so hard and long that they literally have to donate their bodies and sanity to get something like that addressed properly and it took 15 years of this hard grueling bulllll-ony to get it done. It really reminds me of what women went through to get "the vote" and similar rights to pass. It seems stupid stuff is easily passed, like how telemarketers are all in the groove to call any flippin' time they want, how people can abuse and neglect kids and not be bothered too much by the law, and oh so many things.

Aside from all that, I just figured out how to get some of the photos that I was interested in publishing, so onward and upward...into the techno adventure of the evening. Oh yeah, I wanted to also show you how fuzzy (and plump)the Prince has gotten in mid winter having his outside palace.... he does love those moments in the sun...playing otter somtimes, playing sphinx others.

Sticky Picky Icky

Drat!! This aging thing gets a little sticky sometimes. As many of you know I work with alot of "older adults"...(as opposed to young adults and regular adults...whom I also see in my line of work) but these folks have a set of issues that are somewhat specific to their age group, and that would be the over 70 crowd. It seems,that they are closer to the end of life, and that might not be true...we know not when our last moment on Turtle Island will to be.

Having said all that, I am aware that depression is huge, as are a variety of physical mishaps and maladies. It appears that the later brings on the previous, and the more depressed one is, the less likely they are to move around or "exercise", or want to eat, or even drink water...and that is an engine to a powerful downward spiral.
There is also a bad habit that crops up which I like to call "The Wall of Resistance". This means that what happens is that any new idea...such as even listening to music... and moving ones hips to that music (I'm talking big band music here, that lends itself to such an activity) is shot down before there is even the slightest chance for that idea to come to fruition.(Even without the suggestion of movement, I've noticed, it can be disregarded as worth anything...) I can understand that if a body feels like crap(or worse) it is hard to get inspired. I also know that if a brain can jump that track you might be surprised what a gain in strength might do to lift the spirits and help with the simplest of activities.

I have a client and friend who is now 95 and loves exercise (and competition.) She says that the reason she wants to stay strong is so that she can do stuff like open jars and turn over in bed. Very pratical indeed!! Another client who is 90, often is horridly depressed when I arrive at her house and because we have a good time giggling and talking as we do the exercising,(and then a little massaging) feels better after just one hour of time together.

People who are not strong often sit in a heap and shuffle along dragging their flesh from one place to another, and grumble about it along the way. Arghhhh#%^*&+

I just had a thought, and that is: perhaps with some of the clients that are so resistance to moving around we could start with isotonic movement, which means to just tighten the muscle(s), hold for a count of 5 and then move on to the next part. I might try this suggestion, of course with no expectation of results and not taking it personally if it is shot down, (and that is not necessarily easy)but perhaps we could encourage some circualtion and blood flow to those muscles that get tightened and released and that would be a start. As a matter of fact, I do this kind of thing before we do out meditation in yoga class and it does enhance the relaxation of the body....I'll let you know if I have any results that are positive...or not.

Good bye cruel winter

I've just had it with winter...and it's still December. What is a wombster to do!!!???  I spoke with my elder neighbor today and she, too is disgusted by this crappy snow/ice and the threat it poses to the upright, and those who would prefer to remain that way.

I am amazed at kittens, however, and that is because I went to T.'s house again today under the guise of massaging her and her mom....and there are 6 kittens in the bathroom. These kitties were apparently very sick with diaherra and T. was wonderful enough to see them through it. She came out of their bathroom this morning, declaring there was half solid kiity poop in there, (and saying maybe that was a sign that she was crazy cat lady because she cares about stuff like that.) But really, for someone who is as young and lovely as she is, it is truely a wonder that she donates so much time to giving her all to felines of all sorts, even babies who are on the brink of death. But there is something about baby kitties that melts me to the core(and perhaps makes winter ignorable). One in particular was so loving, just purred so easily and wiggeled and was a little slut that I fell in love. I know better than to even think of bringing any home, because of many reasons...but I may have to go back with just the intent of sitting and loving babies(I'll have to take my camera), but I think I will wait until there is no question that they are good and healthy.
I have done a tiny bit of remodeling to the Prince's palace and put a cardboard front on it that cuts out a bit of the wind I think and he now has more of a cubby hole to burrow into...but the racoons I think have taken to tearing out his bowl to look for food...it was evident that somone had gone and thrown his bowl on the ground and trundled onward...everyone has to eat I guess.

faces faces faces

     I am thinking back on the         fantastic face images I saw in Bisbee and how I was so engrossed with the artistic way of the town. I am being pulled there, if not in body, in spirit.  I know that I have some ancient history in that area from my own life(with my parents having been stationed in Ft. Huachuca, and having left their existance on the planet there) but there is something deeper that pulls me, maybe it's the land and how familiar that is, but the fabulous creative drive there also frees a part of me that is held in check most of the time...I feel that most folks don't understand how much it means to me to have full expression, but I felt a comfort in Bisbee that has been growing as I reflect upon it. Anyway, here are some of the faces that pulled, impressed, intoxicted and are some of my favorite libations I can guzzle and swizzle!! In fact I could be a total dipsomaniac;                                 swilling,   swigging,    and tipplerizing on art.

Triumph in the computer skill world!!

I am so darn proud of myself!! I somehow(I don't know really how) got photos from my trip to be in a folder that I can access for my blog. For people who have had computers in their lives since kindergarden(or before) this is no big deal. But for those who have only been working with computers for a decade or less this is not minor.
So what this means is that you will see more of the pictures I took, so you may want to go back to previous postings to see the pics that go with the text...hee hee.

I am excited to share, with who, I don't really know...but if you find yourself snooping around check out some of the photos...I think they are pretty cool.

merry flipping christ

It's the 25th of Friggin December and I'll be blown with the snow if it isn't just miserable out...all day. My friend from high school came over and watched us drink some sparkling apple cider and eat some really hard biscotti (he wasn't too hungry/thirsty...not a noontime party-er, I guess...)
He is now working for a (business that has several residences) home that has some mentally/emotionally unstable folks living there, I think he said three of them... and was up a good deal of the night cleaning this one fellow up from pooping on himself and  inable to sleep and being highly aggitated...which put him (my friend) on wake-up patrol. Apparently if a careperson can be at the home and sleeping they are paid minimum wage, and if they are up and dealing with the residents, then they get waking wages, (which seems like another example of employers taking advantage of employees and paying the absolute lowest they can think of. GGGrrrrr. Of course the caretaker has to sleep with one eye open anyway, in case something is brewing...I know because I've done that work before!! It's not such a lovely a piece of cake as one might think...and in fact requires limitless patience and observation as the residents are highly medicated and are apt to do some rather strange behaviors, even on good days.This is not to mention that the waking pay is under 10 bucks an hour and I'll be@)# $(*&)!#$%^ed  if some CEO at a hospital [or any other high income facility]...(and makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year) ever has to do anything that is remotely as stressful or gross in some instances....GGGGGGGrrrrr some more!!!!!) Anyway, my friend has been promoted to full-time work and will not be spending the nights with the residents, and that is good news. Finding employment even vaguely related to his socialwork degree has been way difficult. We really need to think this out more carefully as a society. We are very quick to fund any number of wars at exorbitant cost, but when it comes to being there for people with special needs, or really ordinary needs for that matter, we fail time and time again.

I wonder if Jesus was actually as compassionate as he is reported to be, what he would think of this whole situation and how he would change stuff so that it was keeping everyone's best interest at heart. Don't get me wrong, I don't pretend to know Jesus on a personal level,(however I have gotten the basics on him), but I often wonder about all the masses of folks who think he's the cat's meow and want to live in his example, (and they seem to be every flippin' everywhere), why are we not doing a better job taking care of one another?!

'twas the night before Christmas...

I am listening to the poor Prince who is down in the basement bathroom, being protected from the 2 degree low that we are forecast to have tonight.(When I called at 11PM it was exactly zero, and then the wind began to howl about 1:23 precisely!) He is very sad and yowling, which is odd for him. He is a very quiet guy. I sat and brushed and talked with him for a long time, but he still didn't seem to quiet himself. I may have to go read him a story after a bit. (He fell asleep when I read the Weight of Water...it's not a very riveting book...)
It has been a cold day all day and it seems like a great time for some vegtable rice soup. That would be a great thing to have for the carpenderman I share (heart and house)space with, since he has been busy doing a bathroom remodel for the last few days...
I have had a nice day of baking, and cleaning and having Lynx, my good friend over for some tea. We listened to Pandora for awhile and talked about Juda and what is going on with all our kids. Family tensions are running high for her and she is rather upset by all that, understandably. Family can be most delightful and trying at the same time. It is a good time to do some meditation and yoga I think. It is hopeful that the days are getting longer now ...life will be brighter in the coming months.

Morning Mist

I leave(Texas)tomorrow. This morning I got up and had some of that rocket fuel coffee and went out walking, further than perhaps I have before. I was attempting to find a place that has not been covered by concrete and pavement, and I did find a place like that a fence that has markers along it to indicate that it has been surveyed for future building. Fudge!! I did also find a big owl in one of the remaining trees very patiently waiting for a tastey morsel to show it's face. The mist and rolling clouds were lovely and nourishing until I turned to face the wind which is decisively bone chilling....but not too bad. I know I have to toughen up to survive at home, I think they are warming up at a bit, at least I hope. ( I also saw a coyote trotting along the fence early this morning, only this time it was on the house side of the fence and not the other side...looking for some cat for breakfast, perhaps. Someone's declawed cat has been missing for a couple of weeks, and I am supposing it was a good meal for those who are out on the prowl.)
Anyway, I found a little frog pancake on the road on my way home. Tires had rolled over it enough to make this once perky anphibian into a leathery chunk of debris on the concrete. One of the problems with autos is that the machine can roll on top of something smooching the life out of it and never know what it has just done. I sometimes wonder how badly the animal population has sacrificed it's memebers so that we as humans can travel as quickly as possible from point A to point B. I shutter to think what those numbers are...the body count would be worse than any ethnic cleansing that we have waged on each other. I wonder sometimes if I might be from another planet to give a flying thought about it. Hmmmm.

More Bisbuzz Photos from My Trip

No pink houses in this Texas

I miss the colors of Bisbee ...                

(But this is not Bisbee, folks.)

Here I am landed someplace near Denton, Texas  and I re-commit that I will hopefully never live in a gated community where all is the same and predictability rules. Yuck. Give me the open range, thanks. I am here to help with my father-in-law who is fairly self sufficient, but gets dizzy( light headed he calls it... I'm not very sure I know the subtle differences of that topic) and needs maybe a check on once in a while more than anything.

The house where I am staying oddly backs up to Ross Perot's ranch and there are coyotes and bugs out there.( I found a perfect dehydrated little frog in the Kentucky blue grass sod that seems to go on forever...thrilled to find it however.) The other night I went to see a film (called Cookie's Fortune which I enjoyed very much!!) and when I was going into the "clubhouse" there were coyotes howling up a storm and singing to the nearly full moon. I was very appreciative of them and  appologised to them for having the humans smack dab in the middle of their paths that their families have had most likely for hundreds of centuries. There has been a recent bulldozing of trees and shrubs to make room for oil drilling that is happening all over the borders of this little "safe haven." I am glad to hear there has been some public outcry on this issue, but the economy has been the wrench that controls that activity more than anything, I think.  There is heavy machinery resting within a couple hundred yards of the back fence and that is grating on the nerves and sensibilities. There are big piles of woody vegetation that have been wrecked for this project. Thoughts of horrible little vigilanty activities bubble up in my mind...am I really made of criminal material? HMMMMMMMM we'll have to study that one carefully. The jury is still out on that one. (Depends on who you talk to I think.)

Anyway, word from home is 10 inches of snow and a high temperature of under15 degrees. That makes this misty and cool weather much welcome and not that bad. I will be back in the winterish stuff soon and so I need to go out and soak up some more of this southerly weather, and I think wearing two pair of pants from the airport to my house may be an option.The Soltice will be here in about two weeks or so and then, magically the days will grow longer and the time will come to start seedlings and get all excited and ansy for the coming spring, right? Right.

BusyBustlingBoilingBisbee

TODAY is called Black Friday. Yikes, all that was quiet about Bisbee was taken away today...the hordes are here. It became apparent that it is indeed a tourist town, and what keeps it alive are tourists, and it's true that I am one,(and I did buy some jewelry and honey and postcards) but I am not much of a fan of the crowds. We have canceled plans to eat out tonight and nibble on left overs, of which there are plenty. I have been scooting around taking pictures of patterns that catch my eye and different ways folks have decorated their yards and stuff I might see that has many conjugations. Tomorrow we have plans to venture off to Benson, which I believe has little or no appeal to the masses, but our main purpose is to hook up with some folks from Tucson and are good, good friends. I think we can manage to have a picnic and  a place to have conversation. Here's some of the photos, I am having the best time taking them!! We had a lovely (but massive) baking and eating day yesterday.It's SO fun to have this time here and to hide away at the J&R hotel...

I'm going to try this again. I am not having the best luck with my posting, but if at first you don't succeed...

I am loving the diversity of the natural and the human inspired creations, and it is apparent that the"juice" is flowing here. I am also nourished by that blue in the sky, and the transformation of an old mining town into a dig for the artist types. People seem friendly and fairly down to earth. I was thinking that mostly there were young folks here, but today, I saw some of the elders tromping around with walkers and canes(these are my people!!) Today is the last of the way warm days before I leave on Monday. The forecast is mentioning cooler temps with chances of rain and ...snow(?!!!) I'll just have to run away to Texas.

Bisbee

I landed into this funny place called Bisbee on Monday evening. I've been here before but not for about 45 or 46 years. Things were a bit different then and I was only 7 years old in January 1964. I went to the courthouse today and somehow it was a tiny bit familiar, but a lot of what I remember has been modernized.

I came to see my daughter Juda who adopted me some time ago. She(and the side kick dudefriend,R-man, and dogis) has an adorable house(all decorated with shells, rocks and shells) and works downtown at the coffee roasters. We walked up and down the hills earlier today and very ingenous and bold that humans have figured out how to stay on the sides of canyons and build all sorts of constructs to dwell in, many of which have disappeared with the wind and dust, but some whispers remain, steps that go nowhere...a wall here or an ore car that was used as a crapper there.

There are quite a few creative folks who have painted bright designs or outrageous colors on random houses...some murals and sculptures and contageous energy. I stopped by the chocolate shoppe and asked about their hours. ( I didn't buy anything there, yet...)I guess they are just opening after a bit of time off...

Anyway, it's refreshing and invigorating to visit a fun community like this and see how the kids are doing down here. Looking forward to having a great(buttered up) holiday and then blasting off to my next stop in Denton, Texas!! Word to y'all eating tomorrow...pace yourselves and keep some time for walking in your day, you may need it for more than one reason. Love to all you friends and fellow inhabitants of the planet.

The brains that study the brain

After shoveling and scraping and shivering for awhile, I drove slowly over to the Hilton Hotel to listen to those who know more about aging than I ever even thought about...(it was a conference about aging) about how the mitochondria has bits that have markers of aging parts, how older skeletal muscle recovers compared to those of the young adult...and grafts and charts after charts of data collected for many years. It's interesting to hear scientists talk of their fields, especially when you have little or no idea of what it is that obviously has them so absorbed and thrilled...it is evident that the passion is there and that they have formed their world around this little aspect of life that they have dived head first into researching. I was hoping for more stories, but there was very little of that; although some had little quirky stories of other researchers or each other...I think some of them haven't really had much of a social life with many other beings than mice. It also made me think of how mice, and maybe other species, have been giving of their bodies and minds so that these types can make their grafts and charts. (This is not to say that I am particularly fond of mice, but after I looked at many slides of their sliced and stained brains... stained with dye so that we could see that they had Alzheimer's or Parkinson's ...it made me think of their supreme sacrifice.)

Anyway, tonight might just be our coldest night yet, and I'm thinking it was not long ago I had taken pictures of sunflowers blooming in the yard. Ahh, how time marches on!!

Marble, farble, garble

Marble is supposedly compressed clay, and, indeed, when you cut it globs of clay form on the saw blade.(we did cut off one edge) It is seductively smooth and tantalizingly gorgeous in the colors and patterns it holds in it's body. I'm in love.

This piece has many flaws and a crack...did it get dropped? Don't know anything of it's history, but the beauty prevails, for sure. There are many variations of red, black, grey and even some orange and green. There are shapes of two eyes in the designs, which is difficult to capture in a picture, (and even more difficult for me to get on this post apparently, but I will keep trying as I learn more about how to do this!) It is a wild aspect to see that in the rock.
I'm also impressed by the weight of this slab we carefully rolled and walked, scootched , jacked, and finally slid into place. It is a pleasure to glide the hands over it and feel how smooth and cool it is. WOW; it's a way out experience!! The diversity of what the earth/universe provides is mind boggling and humbling to know we are made of the same stuff, actually.