In Praise of Small Towns

I'm working on a freelance article about ethnic food traditions in Kansas. In the course of writing it I've had reason to talk to people in various small towns.

Yesterday was a prime example of why small towns are so wonderful. I called a cafe in Wilson to ask about Czech traditions. The woman there referred me to the lady who started the Czech festival, who gave me a wonderful interview.

When I did news, I learned to always call the grocery store, post office or bank to find things out in a small town. Whoever answered the phone knew what you wanted to know. It's a beautiful thing, really.

Moving Things Around

I've spent another day moving things around in my house. It must be my absolute favorite thing in the world to do because I continue to live my life in a way that results in doing it.

I have just some minor touch ups to do in the sun porch and it will be done. I also decided how I want to put the furniture in there but I will need help to do that. I can do lots of things, but moving a piano and a sleeper sofa by myself are not two of them.

I went out to the garage to get the Christmas tree stand out and clean it up. While I was out there I went to the shed that's attached to make sure that's where the bag 'o Christmas tree was. And, for reasons I cannot elucidate, I started cleaning. A couple of hours later, I had a pile of boxes for the trash, some Christmas dishes by the back steps to be brought in, and had located two boxes of prime Christmas ornaments.

I'm sure my garbage men are starting to wonder what in the hell I'm doing. Every week I've got a pile of boxes in addition to an overflowing dumpster. They've been very kind to take them every week. I hope that trend continues because I'll have a big pile this week. Trash day was just yesterday so I get to fight with these in the Kansas wind for a week.

The only problem with cleaning out there are the spiders. I'm not afraid of spiders. I mean, I am like 10 million times bigger than they are and can kill them with my foot. But, after my friend Diana got bitten by a brown recluse and I saw her skin turn black over the course of weeks, I've been a bit more cautious. And, naturally, brown recluse is what one finds in a shed full of stuff that's largely undisturbed. "Recluse" isn't part of their name for no reason.

So, after being out there I headed for a deep cleaning of hair and body. Terry called and we went to get some food. Well, I ate, and he was the entertainment.

As soon as I got home I started cleaning on my find of yesterday. We have a little place in town that years ago was a grocery store that people can rent out for garage sales. They had a table out front that I thought might be nice in my office so I stopped. They wanted too much for it, but I looked around and found a silver teapot for $6. It needs some cleaning so I got some silver polish and tonight started working on it a bit. I think it's going to clean up nicely. I don't generally do silver because of the whole polishing thing, but this was such a nice piece that I couldn't resist. I also got a milk glass cake plate for $2.

Since I've been on the organizing/cleaning jag I have not been going to flea markets or garage sales or anything of that nature. But, these are things I already collect so I thought I could say yes to them. But, I did not start any new collections - a very important thing for me.

Transvestites Doing Tricks

I love to watch Univision. My Spanish isn't good enough to understand any of it, but it's not like you need the language. Today it's transvestites doing tricks.

I just watched a guy with a red plaid skirt, and high riding blouse showing his tummy hair, and a fushia feather boa kick off his high heels so he could climb onto a big air mattress thing that had a hole in the middle of it from which a mechanical bull protruded. He rode the bull... for about four seconds.

Now there's a man in an impossibly bright blue dress who's working the stripper pole. The weirdest part is the hose - he has on blue hose. They make blue hose? I didn't know. At one point his skirt fell off, but this didn't slow him down.

I guess these aren't real transvestites. There's way too much facial and body hair for them to be serious transvestites. So, they're play transvestites doing tricks.

I guess they all do the stripper pole and the mechanical bull. What a bizarre combination. Of course, why should that be a surprise.

Speaking of transvestites... and weren't we just doing that... and how often can you really toss that into the conversation... so... Speaking of transvestites, I saw our local one on his bike yesterday. He was sporting a knee length black dress with sequins and his ever present cigarette.

I always find it curious that they are not interested in "normal" female clothes, which would be jeans and a t-shirt, but in things that are so over the top that no real woman would ever wear them. OK, I guess that was made for a real woman, but she was probably "working" while wearing it, if you get my drift. Either working for money or for dinner or for a date or whatever - but "working" nonetheless.

I always feel for people who are not happy with their gender, it must be very difficult to live that way. Of course, transvestites may be happy with their gender but want to dress as the other. It's a puzzle to me, but it's cool with me - as long as you're not my boyfriend. Sorry... not that liberal... my boyfriend can't be wearing my clothes. And, I'm happy to say this have never been an issue with any man in my life.

I used to work with a transvestite, although we found that out after the fact. When I imagine him dressed as a woman, he's probably like some of the guys on this show.

Did I mention the host of the show is wearing a white suit with fake fur trim? You should try to catch it. I don't know if it's always transvestites doing tricks, or if they branch out.

Running With Scissors

"Running with Scissors" is a book by Augusten Burroughs in which he details his unorthodox upbringing that had more than it's share of abuse, although he would probably not define it that way.

Throughout the book, you have to keep reminding yourself that it's not fiction. A pedophile, a crazy psychiatrist and a lesbian mother become backdrop of a most unusual childhood.

One of the things I love in a book is great character development. This has it. No question about it. On the 5 point scale, I give it a 5.

One of my new favorite fantasy dinner parties is Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris talking. I just want to listen.

On The Run

I have run like a madwoman since 7:12 this morning. And, yet, I didn't get everything done I wanted to accomplish.

I met Teresa for lunch and after that started running errands that needed to get done. At 3 I met the cable guy at the office so I could get decent internet service there. Unfortunately, as always seems to be the case with such things, it wasn't possible. So, it's rescheduled.

At 4:50 I had done everything I could do for the day and stopped by Diana's store. I had popped in at lunch yesterday but was only there for a couple of minutes. Yesterday Lily did the holding out her arms thing for the first time and then giving me a big hug when I took her. I love that stage.

This afternoon I got to talk to Diana a little bit. We never seem to have time to talk anymore.

Creative Sisterhood is next week and it will be good to get to see everyone then.

Well, I must go paint. I'd like to finish the sunporch before I go to bed tonight.

Monkeys and the Board of Education

I live in Kansas. I have lived here for 20 plus years. I still do not refer to myself as a "Kansan," and I doubt I ever will.

Why? Because "Kansans" do stupid ass things like elect board of education members who do stupid ass things like devote energy to a debate that was decided a few decades ago with the Scopes Monkey trial. I believe it was in 1925.

Mark Twain said once that when the world came to an end he wanted to be in Kentucky because everything happened 20 years later there. Obviously, he had not been to Kansas.

For the third time in six years, the Kansas board of education has spent time discussing evolution being taught in schools. Never mind that our schools are falling apart and teachers are funding their classrooms from their own meager pocketbooks, we've got time to screw with this foolishness. Evolution is science. "Intelligent Design" is a PR term to replace "Creationism," which replaced "religion."

Today at lunch I told Trish I wanted to find a list of the Kansas Board of Education members, how they voted, and when they're up for election. Six of them have gotta go. It's bad enough what that mutt, Toto, has done to Kansas' image, but must we bring more on ourselves?

Well, finding a list of Board of Education members is no easy feat. I searched, then asked for assistance from KanAnswer, where you get a live person online. About 20 minutes of time resulted in
http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdmin2.html

There are some important pieces of information missing that I have emailed the board secretary asking for - how each of them voted, and when they're up for election. We know the way some voted because they've been quoted. But we don't know others.

See the board and find their addresses:
http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdaddr.html

See a map of the districts from which they are elected:
http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdmem.html

I will keep you posted on the answer I get regarding election dates and votes.

Newsletters and Kilz

Today has been a very full day but at least I accomplished a lot of things. Not everything I would have liked, of course, but a lot of things.

I worked on the newsletter today during most of the workday and also made calls for our Christmas homes tour. I also did some work for our national office that needs to get out the door.

I was on my computer most of the day. I use my home computer for lots of things because the one at work just can't handle stuff. I realized that I don't think I've been out of the house today. I got up and came downstairs and started working on the newsletter.

Tonight I have cleaned and painted. I kilzed a couple of spots on the ceiling and painted some in the sun porch. I have washed out paint brushes all night it seems. Tonight I was putting some kilz on the kitchen ceiling and realized how dirty the upper part of the walls were. So, I cleaned them. It was overdue. Then I started wiping down all the cabinet doors. This cleaning thing is still with me. I hope it stays for awhile. It's amazing what I can get done in an evening when I'm actually at home.

I am going to cut back on some of the things I'm involved in. I just don't have the energy to devote to all the various projects I'm involved in where I'm not being met at least half way by other people. I often end up doing more than my half or my fourth or my tenth of a project. So, I'm going to look at things on a yearly basis and how much time/energy I can devote to any given thing. When I've given that much then I'm not going to give any more to that for that calendar year. It's the only system I can come up with, other than just removing myself from everything. I don't want to do that, but I cannot be in charge of any more things.

It's cold here tonight - 28 at the moment. It's been very mild so far but I'm guessing tonight is going to get the remaining green things in the flower bed.

I have some daffodils and tulips to plant but I left everything from the summer there so far, even though it had gotten burned with frost, because it was still blooming and I figured I'd let everything go to seed that would. The morning glories are still blooming, even though some of the leaves were burned. Once everything is dead, I'll clean it up a bit and then plant the bulbs.

Well... time for me to go to bed. I've got another very full day tomorrow. I'll get to spend at least part of it at my office, which I love, so that will be nice. I'm going to go turn on my electric blanket and snuggled under it for the night.

Bush Borrowed More Than All Previous Presidents Combined

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200511/NAT20051104b.html

Bush Borrowed More Than All Previous Presidents Combined, Group Says
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
November 04, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - President Bush and the current administration have borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than the previous 42 presidents combined, a group of conservative to moderate Democrats said Friday.

Blue Dog Coalition, which describes itself as a group "focused on fiscal responsibility," called the administration's borrowing practices "astounding."

According to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of U.S. history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but in the past four years alone, the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion.

"The seriousness of this rapid and increasing financial vulnerability of our country can hardly be overstated," said Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition and member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

"The financial mismanagement of our country by the Bush Administration should be of concern to all Americans, regardless of political persuasion," said Tanner in a press release.

Earlier this year, the Blue Dog Coalition unveiled a 12-step plan to "cure" the nation's "addiction to deficit spending." It included requiring all federal agencies to pass clean audits, a balanced budget, and the establishment of a rainy day fund for use in emergencies specifically a natural disaster.

"No American political leadership has ever willfully and deliberately mortgaged our country to foreign interests in the manner we have witnessed over the past four years," said Tanner. "If this recklessness is not stopped, I truly believe our economic freedom as American citizens is in great jeopardy."

Wanting

I'm thinking tonight about things I want more of in my life.

I want more afternoons like yesterday, when I went to tea and was enchanted with the place, the company and the experience.

I want more time for meditation, introspection and art. So much of my life is wrapped up in house things at the moment that it there's not enough time for those other things.

I want to explore more energy healing. My healer is coming to town in February and I've already booked an appointment with her. She will be teaching a class but I'm not sure what it will be yet.

I want more travel - some alone - for thinking and exploring in my own ways.

I want more love. Doesn't everyone? I'm still not ready for another relationship, but I need more love in my life.

I want more friends. I want more time with friends in my life. Some friends I never see enough of.

I want more money. Enough that I don't have to think about it.

I want more great books. I just finished "Running with Scissors," which I highly recommend.

I want contentment. How ironic is that?

I Have Become My Mother

For reasons I cannot explain, I have become my mother. I suddenly want everything clean. Not my kind of clean where things look pretty decent, but oh my gosh do NOT move anything or the ugly truth will be revealed. OK, the ugly, dusty - perhaps gooey - truth.

A couple of days ago when wiping down the cooking stove, I had this sudden urge to scrub until things were really clean. Not just looking clean, but really, really, really clean.

The next thing I knew, the stove was pulled out, a bucket of hot water with spic and span was nearby, and scrubbing commenced. Before I went to bed, the stove was clean, as was the cabinet next to it and the floor under it.

It's not that I never clean anything, but I very rarely clean anything thoroughly. Maybe this is a new turn in my life. It would not be a bad thing, at all. Other than the part where it's exhausting. Good grief. No wonder 1950s housewives didn't work outside the home. Keeping the house clean with other people messing it up would exhaust any human.

My theory at the moment is that if I can get it clean, that with only me messing it up, maybe I can keep it clean. Please don't burst my bubble quite yet.

More Weekend

I need more weekend. I have so much more I'd like to do on the house and at 10:30 p.m. I'm running out of weekend in which to do it.

I've been pretty devoted to working on the house this weekend, although I did have lunch with Terry and Dottie yesterday. That was fun. Then, of course there was the concert last night and the tea today. Otherwise, I've been moving things around, organizing, cleaning and throwing away.

Yesterday I did exciting things like move the cooking stove and clean under it. How do things get so nasty? I know I'm not a great housekeeper, but I always think I'm better than is demonstrated when I move the range. Yuck. But, now it's all clean.

I've also managed to get through most of the laundry piles this weekend. You know those things that just never seem to get washed, that hang out continuously in the hamper. Please tell me you have those things, too.

I always say that people do pretty much what they want to do. Regardless of what we say, we lead our lives in a way that gives us what we want. I am not sure why I keep doing things that lead to me moving things around in my house, but I do. So, I can only deduce that I'm getting some payoff from it. I've got to figure that out and stop it before I kill myself. :)

St. John Tea

This afternoon Julie and I went to the St. John's Tea. It was their 10th year, but only the third year we've been attending.

This little town does three seatings for tea, with only 30 minutes between them. In between they wash all the dishes and reset the tables.

The theme today was a Celtic Fling and we were greeted by a bagpiper at the door to the facility.

I love going and they do a beautiful job of making everything lovely. Everyone helping was dressed in appropriate costumes. After being for three years I'm starting to recognize some of the regular helpers, which is nice.






As is so often the case with teas, they're a bit stingy with the food, using salad plates instead of regular plates and all the portions are very small.

They do it as a buffet, which is not my favorite way to have tea. Today we were the last group to go through the line and the clotted cream was gone. I asked for more and the lady looked a bit annoyed and brought out just a little dollop - about enough for three people, instead of the dozen or so that were left to be served. If you're going to serve buffet, you should be prepared that people are going to take more than the little bit you might dish out on your own.

Also today, the trifle was just a watery mess in the bottom of the bowl. I love the way trifle looks on the table, but it's only pretty for the first three or four people. After that it's pretty nasty looking. That was certainly the case today.

Today they served haggis, which I did try. I am NOT an adventurous eater, so that's pretty amazing for me. If you don't know what haggis is, it's basically "parts" of the animals with spices tossed in. It wasn't bad at all, but not being a big meat eater to begin with, it didn't thrill me. I also tried mincemeat pie, which had the same effect for me.

But, as usual, I loved the cucumber sandwiches, the lemon tarts, scones and all the other little traditional tea goodies.


They had live music today, which was a nice touch. Music is always a bit distracting for me but they were very good. We were seated right next to them so it was a little overwhelming at times, but they were excellent.

We were seating with four other ladies, one of whom is from Hutchinson. They have quite the system for seating people. You can tell they've worked it all out over the previous years.

I always enjoy this afternoon. Today we were able to get into the first seating and I think I like this best. We've been to each of them now. Julie and I have gone together every year.

After tea, we went to the library where they always have an exhibit of some sort. Last year it was teapots. This year it was hats and also favors from all the previous years. I am completely in love with the one from 2001, which is the year before I started going, unfortunately. It's a hand crocheted teacup and saucer. I'm on the hunt for a pattern. I need a Christmas tree with these decorating it. I NEED it.

Sovoso

I have just returned home from a performance at the Fox Theatre. Martha called this morning and asked if I could go with her tonight. I'm so tickled she called. It was a really fun evening.

Performing tonight was Sovoso, a "vocal band." It was amazing. If this group comes to your town, make it a point to go. You won't see anything else like it and you'll be bowled over by what they do.

These five performers are their own accompaniment, all with their voices, which are some of the most versatile instruments I've ever heard. I love a cappella singing, so this was a special treat. Only true artists can sing a cappella, much less for an entire performance. I kept wondering if they all have perfect pitch.

Blues, gospel, jazz and contemporary music blended into a seamless performance that had a world music feel.

Two of the group members sang with Bobby McFerrin's a cappella group, Voicestra. At times it was hard to imagine it was only three men and two women creating all that sound.

The last song they did included a local high school group and was about a topic dear to my heart - community. The song was about building a bridge. During that performance I closed my eyes at times and let the music wash over me. It was a spine-tingling experience.

I had a revelation tonight. I often comment that I don't care for live performance of any sort, or for movies, or anything that makes me sit still for an extended period of time. What I realized tonight is that I'm content to sit still for a very long time if what I'm experiencing is enthralling. That just doesn't happen often. I had no difficulties tonight. None.

Tonight also reminded me why I was a music major for only a brief time.

The Blog Answer

Just moments ago, I realized one of the really important things about blogs, and why they're so popular. They're updated regularly. It's incredibly simple and yet powerful.

The biggest complaint people have about the internet - from inception to now - is that people put up sites and then walk away and never do anything with them again. Even though we live in a world where people are supposedly technologically advanced, most people wouldn't recognize html if it bit them in the ass. So, you find really sophisticated businesses that have incorrect hours on their websites and other such foolishness, not to mention the people who have "last updated November 2003" on their pages.

But blogs have fixed that... it's easy to update. The question is why people see blogs that way, but not websites, which are also easy to update.

Occasionally I do website updating for people who just need something very basic done - a few changes here and there - but not something they want to pay their designer to do. It's not work I especially enjoy, other than the part where people are amazed by it, but it's not work I mind either. Maybe this needs to become a more formalized business.

It seems to be a largely untapped market - reasonably priced, regular updating. Not the kind that usually comes with your package - three changes for $50 over the next year. If your page only changes three times a year, no one is going to have reason to return more often than that.

Hence the blogging concept. Of course, there are tons of programs to do webpages that are as easy as blogs, but people don't see them that way. The psychology of the internet age is a continually changing, fascinating thing.

Festival of Remembrance

Tonight I went to the Festival of Remembrance put on by Hospice of Reno County. It was a nice event. It's held at Prairie Dunes, which is a very upscale golf course. Not being a golfer, it's all lost on me, but it's a big deal. We had the US Women's Open here in 2002 and the Senior Men's will be here next year. It's consistently listed as one of the best courses in the country and was designed by a very famous golf course designer. You can read more about it at www.prairiedunes.com if you're a golfie. (Surely that's like being a foodie. Right?)

Anyway... back to tonight. There were munchies and drinks and a silent auction. Of course, the real event at such a thing is always the people watching. I'm always interested in who's there and also who's not.

Mark Treaster was there. He's turned into quite the politician. But at least in his case he's sincere in his reasons for wanting to be in office.

There was another "unannounced politician" working the room in a major way. I've seen him doing the same at a few other events recently so I'm guessing he's planning a run for office at some point. Last time he made it a point to talk to me and I was wondering why, since I'm neither involved nor do I have a lot of money to give to a campaign. Apparently he has figured this out because tonight he ignored me completely. Ah well... at least I don't have to wonder why that happened.

I saw Pat Patucek, a local artist, there. She had donated a painting for the silent auction. I sent her some copies of photos I took of her with the governor, and she said she loved them. She said the governor sent her a nice note after that event.

I visited with Molly, who was the only other CHICK there, which surprised me. I ran into quite a few people I knew, and it was nice to visit with some folks that I don't see often. I also met some new people.

I had an opportunity to chat with the Fesler family. They were my former landlords and Virginia and her daughter are both in Altrusa. Lois and Kay were there from Altrusa, too. Virginia asked about Mark and I told her about his radio show on XM. They have XM so I've got to get them hooked up so they can listen to him.

It was a good night. I had offered to help with a volunteer project before it started, so I didn't get there until about 6 and I left about 8. Maybe next year I'll get to go for the whole event.

After I got home, Terry called and asked if Greg and I wanted to go to Applebees with him and his mom. Terry's mom is really sweet and I always enjoy seeing her. He's really good to his mom.

Well, I have a breakfast meeting, so I'd best get to bed shortly. This has been a week of early events - they seem to come in groups.

I rearranged my office today and didn't get everything finished so I have to work on that some more tomorrow. Seems I always get these urges when I've got tons of other things I need to be doing.

Royals Visit

I'm not a Royal Watcher, but even I cannot get away from the "news" about Camilla's blue velvet dress she wore in NY. Please, give it a rest. They're calling her a frump. Leave the woman alone. If all you have to do is talk about someone's choice of a dress, find yourself a more challenging profession and a couple of new hobbies. And why do you care if she brought 500 dresses, much less 50. You didn't have to carry her luggage. Hush.

Food for Thought and Diversity Lunch

This morning I went to the Food for Thought series sponsored by Prairie View. Today was Marita Littauer, the daughter of Florence Littauer who wrote the book, "Silver Boxes." Marita has been here before, as well as Florence.

Today Ms. Littauer spoke about how we should all have something more than a mission statement, we should have a "power statement." As she described it, a mission statement is for your own guidance and a power statement is how you "market" that to the world.

Her challenge was for us to think about the skills, talents and interests we have instead of what we do for a job. And to take those skills and create a job that uses them. It's something that was useful for me to hear this morning.

Today was also the diversity lunch and it was nice to gather with that group. I have really enjoyed getting to know the people in that group. Today Theda, Lovella, Julie, Carlota, Carolyn and Concha were there. It was a good gathering. I invited Trish to come but she couldn't today.

Unfortunately, we got no better service today at The Blue Duck Bistro than we have on previous visits. I always hesitate to say something negative about a restaurant, especially a locally run and unique one, but this is the fourth time I've been there for lunch and it's the fourth time there have been problems.

They have what I call the "Fazoli's Syndrome." Whenever I go to Fazoli's here, there are lots of people and they're all busy doing lots of things, but none of those things seem to be related to preparing and serving my food.

The Blue Duck is the most upscale place in town - or so they'd like us all to believe. My experience while traveling is that if you want to be "it" in town, you also have to have good service. They have some of the worst - at least at lunch.

In four trips not once have they managed to get my table served without problems. It can take so long that people have to leave because their lunch hours are over. Time before last they brought coffee to people with it slopped over the side of the cups onto the saucers. I don't mean a little bit - I mean the cup was in a puddle of coffee. Once I ordered a pasta and had a tiny bit in the bowl while the person next to me who ordered the same thing had a heaping portion. Today two of us ordered French Onion Soup and it was so salty we couldn't eat it. They never came to offer a refill on drinks to any of the seven of us today.

I'm not sure where we'll go next time but I am not the only one who thinks we need to go elsewhere. We used to go to Tiffany House and never had any problems, but of course they're closed.

I popped in to say hello to Doug yesterday but he was out. But, Josh and I had a nice chat. I sure miss going there for lunch.

Well, I'm overdue for nighty-night. I went to bed about 2:30 this morning and woke up about 5:30, only three hours later, and don't even feel tired yet. But surely I must be. I've gotten a lot done today - at work and at home - but I have much more to do both places.

I got word today that an article I'm writing has been cut from five pages to two and that's a bonus at this point as I am running out of time and energy to write it.

Amazing how the world always works out for the best.

Pictures Soon

I've had a few emails from people wanting to know where things are that I've promised but haven't yet gotten online - these include, but are not limited to: tile in the sunporch, Puerto Rico trip and Route 66 trip. They're coming... really... eventually... I'm just so occupied trying to get the house back to "normal" and ready for the holidays. Maybe I can get some of these things done over the holiday break if not before. Thanks for your patience.

quote

I love this quote... although "plan" is not really in keeping with the concept.

"What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver

Happy Halloween

We had a beautiful night for Halloween - a little nippy, but pleasant.

It was so nippy this little princess was covering up part of her beautiful dress with a coat. No wonder all the kids were attracted to the cauldron. They thought it would be putting off real heat.

We had 50-60 trick or treaters, but not a major rush at any time. It would have been nice to have more. I so enjoy the kiddies in their costumes.

Part of the problem is that the only houses on my block that have their lights on are me and my next door neighbor to the west.

The neighbors to the east have four little boys so they're out trick or treating with them. Most of the other folks in the neighborhood just don't give out candy. A few have small kids, but most are just only giving out candy to those they know who go up on their porches, even though their porch lights are not on.

Greg did the setup as usual. Mark wasn't able to come this year so we did a simpler setup. As usual, we used the fog machines, which give a nice fuzziness to everything. I usually can't wait to go get a shower after being in the midst of it all night.



Teresa is doing fundraiser at the station. Geez, I always HATED doing that on Halloween. Anyway, she stopped by on her way home. My house is right on her drive, and I was out in the yard so she stopped to say hello briefly. We tried to get her to stay, but she wanted to go home and rest.


Jesse popped by a little later. We ended up going out to get a bite with him and then Terry joined us. Terry is always so funny. He said they had about 90 trick or treaters.

Greg did a tiki mask again, with the fog machine behind it. It was a cool look. I think next year we need to do more stuff.

There's something odd about thinking you need to do more elaborate things to get people come take your free candy.

Roe v. Wade

Well, we have a new supreme court nominee. And, big surprise, it's a very conservative one. The talking heads are going on about how this will most certainly be all about Roe v. Wade.

People... pay attention... NO ONE in political office is really interested in overturning Roe v. Wade. I don't care what they say - they are NOT interested - Republican, Democrat, conservative, independent or liberal. ESPECIALLY not the conservatives who talk about it the loudest.

Are you all too dense to see that no republican wants it overturned because as long as it's in place, they can get your vote, despite how incredibly incompetent they may be, as long as they blather on about how much they want it overturned.

VOTERS... we have really important things going on in this country. Stop giving all this credit to an issue that's a non-issue. When the effort is really mounted to overturn it, lets get excited about it then. Until then, lets stop giving it this much attention. Between the abortion debate, which has been raging for decades with absolutely no push to do anything real; and the gay marriage debate, which got started as soon as the abortion debate started declining - we can't seem to get anything important done in this country. Who thinks it's a bad idea for people who've made a committment to each other to have some legal rights? What kind of sense does that make? And with the hetrosexual divorce rate over 50% for decades I'm sure glad the "sanctity of marriage" is intact. "Until death do us part" is another way of saying "until something better comes along." I better stop or I'll get started a rant other than the one I'm already in.

While the populace is focused on these things we're borrowing money from China like there's no tomorrow (and, of course there's not going to be at this rate) and there's a nutburger with nuclear weapons in North Korea (we think Iraq is a security risk - please, a little reality). We're fighting a war about nothing on two fronts. (I thought it was about oil but since prices continue to rise I must be wrong about that. So, it's about nothing. It's sure as hell not about 9-11 and terror when we're not fighting those responsible.) Meanwhile, we are letting our own people die in the streets after disasters, not to mention slow deaths that happen every day in the US from hunger.

Did you know that 281 children died in Wichita last year from starvation? Yes, starvation. In Wichita - little city of less than 300,000. While you're out arguing about Roe v. Wade being overturned, you could be focusing your energy on saving children that are already here. Actions speak louder than words so I guess what that says is that it's fine for them to die of starvation once they're born - no problems there - but they HAVE to be born so they can suffer and die a slow, horrible death. How humane. No wonder you voted for people who let New Orleans residents die in the streets.

Stop wasting all this energy on this bullshit. Accept that none of the representatives you've voted to put into office because they wanted to overturn Roe v. Wade have done a single thing to make that happen. Wake up. They are not interested. They're lying to you. If anyone were really that interested, this issue would have been discussed somewhere other than in the press for decades.

And once you wake up, put your energies toward something important, something that's actually going to happen. Make your representatives deal with real problems. Oh, and since we're getting such a late start, you might brush up on your Chinese too.

Snack Trays Galore

I have been putting dishes on shelves a large part of the day, including snack trays.

Snack trays, sometimes called luncheon sets, are those little plates with an indentation for the cup. I've been collecting them for years. I don't know why, but they "speak to me." I have been putting them all in one location today. Actually, I have many more in the garage that aren't even in the house, but one thing at a time - I'm going to work on the house, then I'll get to the garage.

I also moved some shelving in my office around. I am a person who needs a lot of table space and a lot of shelving. While it's not the most attractive thing, it's the most productive thing for me. Everything I like to do requires table space and storage. I've learned that one cannot have storage without going vertical. Well, OK, maybe if you have a huge house you can, but I can't.

I'm going to work for a little bit longer and then hit the sack. I've got an early day tomorrow, kicking off a full week. And, of course, I want to enjoy Halloween.

Greg and I went to Skaets for a burger tonight and then just headed on out to Walmart to pick up Halloween candy. He's going to decorate my house and be here for Halloween, which suits me just fine. Unfortunately, Mark couldn't come as planned. But, I'm sure we'll have a fun Halloween anyway. Next to Christmas, it's my favorite holiday. It's so fun to see all the kiddos in their costumes.

America Needs its Own Petroskia

Tonight I went to hear Mikhail Gorbachev, former Russian President, speak in Lindsborg.

It was an interview format and Alan Murray of the Wall Street Journal was the interviewer. There was a chess table between them and they were playing, but Murray admitted he's not really a chess player.

I alternated between wanting to take pictures and wanting to take notes. One thing I loved was that Gorbachev was witty. Even though he was using an interpreter, he was funny and it came through.

Murray asked a few historical questions, including about the beginning of disarmament. Gorbachev said he was driven to end nuclear proliferation because "that war must never be fought."

When asked what he thought of Ronald Reagan during those talks, Gorbachev said that he was "a remarkable individual. A real person who wanted to do something to insure peace in the world." He said Reagan had "tremendous instincts" and that his profession of being an actor helped him. He said when Reagan spoke at the Berlin wall that he played that role, but that Gorbachev did not pay much attention because he knew it was a role.

When asked about today's situation, Gorbachev said,"National interests exist but now we live in a world where we need to promote peace to all people. It is a common responsibility to create a global peace."

At one point Murray asked what Gorbachev thought of the current president. Gorbachev said through his interpreter, "It is your responsibility to validate your president. Don't try to give that responsibility to us Russians." He got a good laugh and applause for that. Obviously, Gorbachev is still quite the diplomat.

One of the most interesting things was when Murray asked Gorbachev about how the world changed when we went from two superpowers to only one - the United States.

Gorbachev said we needed to be realistic about the position of the US and that much of the world is concerned about America's debt. He says it's "alarming," and that "America lives in debt to the future and to others."

He said the world worries about America's debt because they know that if the American economy collapsed it would be bad for many other economies.

He said the idea put forth that it's God will for America to lead now reminds him of the Bolshevik idea of a world empire. He said the American elite need to rethink their situation and get rid of their superiority complex. He said, "America needs its own Petroskia." And needs to understand that "no country can lead alone."

He said no country can solve everything on its own, we need international organizations "working for the common good of all people of the world." He said, "People want partnership, but object to domination."

Gorbachev's speech in Lindsborg kicks off a year long series of events dubbed, "Chess for Peace." http://www.chessforpeace.org/

It was started with the help of world chess champion Anatoly Karpov, who is a friend of Gorbachev. Karpov has started 15 international chess schools, and the one in Lindsborg is the first one in the US.

When a world leader is nearby, so is security - as one would expect. This quiet little town of about 3,300 called on multiple law enforcement agencies for help.

Karpov invited the former leader to come to Lindsborg and Gorbachev accepted with the stipulation that Karpov come with him and they play chess. All of that happened today.

In fact, this afternoon there was a match between Karpov and Susan Polgar, the women's world chess champion.

I hear through the grapevine that she won two games and two were ties. The chess aficionados who were sitting near me tonight were discussing how quickly they played.

There was tons of school kids from all over the place playing chess, too.

There was a parade, during which I understand Gorabachev walked and visited and then made an impromptu speech. My friend, Greg, was there and took these photos. I'm sure he'll be posting more at www.thelope.blogspot.com.

Lindsborg is a community about 45 minutes from here and a fascinating place to visit. I've spent considerable time there over the years.

It's a Swedish community and well known for its appreciation of the arts, particularly music. When I worked at Radio Kansas we were often at Bethany College recording events, including the yearly Messiah festival that is broadcast all over the country.

Tonight's activities were held in Presser Hall, which also hosts many other activities. It's a beautiful facility.

Bethany conferred an honorary degree on Gorbachev and ending the evening with a children's choir performance. There were numerous opportunities to see people in native Swedish dress.

Lindsborg is a testament to what a few people who are devoted to their community can accomplish. I'm fortunate to live nearby and be able to enjoy all it brings to the quality of life in this area.

It's not every day one gets a chance to hear a former world leader speak, much less the architect of the fall of communism. I'm so glad I went to hear him.

Bad Bush Admin. Week

Indictments are flying, approval ratings are dropping, and nominees are withdrawing. The Bush administration has been having a hard week, that comes right after a hard month. Could it be that - finally - people are going to come out of their stupor and see how this administration has failed the American people?

Ready for the Weekend

I worked on the MHA newsletter today. Newsletters are something I actually enjoy doing but they're one of those things that people always want to have done but they never want anyone to work on them.

I used to joke about this at my former workplace - work that no one wants you to do but everyone wants done. I think it happens in every job. And newsletters are one of those things that seem to always fall into that category.

I finally got my ticket for the Gorbachev speech tomorrow. The phone was just busy constantly but I finally got through late today.

Tonight I went to Peggy's. She fixed a wonderful supper and then she, Cynda, Deb and I talked about Altrusa things. Gary was there and fun as always. I'm trying to convince him to become our first male Altrusan here. He works for the group already, we might as well make him official.

Greg is going to Lindsborg early tomorrow. I was hoping we could go up together but I guess that won't work out. I don't want to go really early in the day.

Tonight I'm going to do some writing on this article for Kansas Country Living and then hit the hay. Tomorrow I'd like to get some things done on the house. I haven't had much time to work on it this week.

Mark was planning to come down for Halloween but he can't, so that changes my weekend plans a bit. Maybe I'll be productive with regard to the house.

Things That Take Time

I've spent today doing things that take a ton of time and show no real benefit quickly. In some ways I love projects like this - the slow, steady progress. In other ways, I hate them - because people think nothing is happening.

It seems I always have jobs that fall into these categories.

Early this morning I worked on the house - moving and rearranging things. You can't really tell a lot of difference because there are still tons of things everywhere.

During the workday I worked on the newsletter. Again - no progress is demonstrated until it's out the door. It's the nature of the beast.

I'm also looking for homes for the Christmas homes tour set for the first Sunday in December.

Tonight Greg and I had a burger at Skaets then I decided to stop by the library and pick up "Running with Scissors," that Julie had recommended. I parked beside Jocelyn and as I was walking in was thinking why she was there. Then I remembered there was a lecture by a Buddhist nun tonight. Then I was thinking why wasn't I there. Then - suddenly - I remembered - I was supposed to be at a reception at the arts center tonight. I COMPLETELY forgot about it. Just a fluke. It rarely happens to me and generally means I'm overextended. But I'm sorry I forgot it. I wanted to go. There were three things I was wanted to do tonight and I didn't get any of them done.

But, I went downstairs to the friends preview night for the library sale and said hello to Darlene and some others there I knew. Then popped upstairs and saw Jocelyn, Diana, Austin, Theda, Evelyn, John and Catherine, even though the lecture was over.

We talked for quite a while and I did finally get the book I went in to get, along with "The Mermaid's Chair." I have far too much to do to be reading, but I'm going to anyway.

Wichita for Compeer

I spent the day in Wichita today for a statewide Compeer meeting. Compeer is a program that matches community volunteers with people who are recovering from a mental illness. It has tremendous success rates.

Our new regional person arranged for a media person from KWCH to come and speak to us today. i've been out of media long enough that it was a good refresher for me.

It was a productive day.

Afterwards I went to do a couple of errands in Wichita, including a trip to the Spice Merchant. I'm hardly ever there during their opening hours so was glad to get there. They sell coffee, tea, spices and a variety of gourmet goods. I got some new spices for the upcoming holiday baking and just enjoyed being in there.

Greg was coming back from Joplin so we met for dinner at Angelo's. It was not my best experience there by a long shot but I'll just hope it was a fluke.

It has been a long day and I have another full one tomorrow so I think I'm headed upstairs shortly.

I did take some photos of trees around Wichita today. Things are starting to turn here, but few things are completely turned yet.

Sometimes I try to look at a city with "new" eyes and I tried to do that with Wichita today. It's a beautiful city in many ways.

A Milestone in Iraq

Today is another milestone in the Iraq war. The 2000th soldier has been counted among the dead.

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks is dead at age 92.

She has always been a testament to what one person can do.

I remember her being asked why she didn't get up on the bus and her answer was simple and yet so powerful, "I was tired."

I've always loved that statement because it says so much about the state of things. I never took it to mean it was only a physical tiredness, but much more a tiredness of the way things were.

Some of us are still tired.

May she rest in peace.

Beautiful Morning

I've been up since 4. I went to bed about 9 - decided I should try to sleep before all the drugs wore off from the dental work. It was 10 before I really got to sleep - so, naturally, I was awake at 4.

I have a built in alarm clock it seems - four hours after I go to sleep, and then 6 hours if I don't get up. On the rare occasions I sleep longer than that I also wake up at 8 hours.

I had a sleep study done years ago - before they were something you ever heard about. It was at a research facility. Anyway, they discovered I have some oddities in my sleep pattern, which overall I find rather convenient.

One is that I go into REM sleep very quickly. Supposedly this just can't happen, but I can start dreaming within moments of being asleep and that only happens in REM sleep.

Maybe my whole sleep is just speeded up, although I suspect it has more to do with the training my mom gave me early in life. Regardless, I'm glad to get that little bit extra out of life that isn't devoted to sleeping.

I'm working on house stuff before the work day starts. I need to be on the phone a lot today and you just can't call people at 6:33 in the morning, regardless of when you got up.

It's nippy here - 32 now. I didn't bother to cover up the plants last night. I did the night before, figuring all the extra time I could give them to go to seed would be good but it seems that fall is really here now so there's no point in continuing to do it. I hope Monday is nice for the kiddos for Halloween.

I mailed off some photos yesterday that I took at the governor's reception last week - of various people with the governor. I like thinking that people will get a little surprise in the mail today. How fun.

Well, I need to do some more house things. I'm having company this weekend and there are some things I'd like to finish before then.

I'm reaching the point where I'm going to be glad when I'm through having work people in and things are organized the way I want them and I don't have things sitting around here and there. Things get bumped around and misplaced because although I might be careful to walk around something, work people aren't the same way about it.

I'm also starting to want to booby trap bits of my house to keep people from being snoopy. I've had three instances in the last couple of months of people just wandering in to rooms in my home where they were not invited and looking to see what it looks like - once even opening a closet. The closet was empty, but I just didn't like the gesture.

I'm pretty generous with my home - at least I like to think so - but if I'm inviting you into the living room and everything is set up for us to sit in the living room, and the rest of the lights are off, that is NOT your invitation to wander in to my kitchen just to see what it looks like at the moment. It's a mess. I'm in transition. I'm trying to get a break from it by having you over and enjoying some tea. Now you're making me deal with it and explain to you what my plan is and feel like I'm not moving fast enough to suit you. Please, can you not just sit down and enjoy some tea with me. I've made a path to the bathroom, but I haven't done anything else because it never occurred to me that you'd take off to the kitchen uninvited and flip on the light just to see what it looked like.

Along the same lines, please keep your overwhelmed looks, comments about how you couldn't live in this transition, and discussions about my choices (unless asked) to yourself. I don't need any extra pressure. I have enough, thank you.

I guess I'm just in a pissy mood about that because it's happened multiple times lately. But, it's the sort of thing that irks me. Part of me is thinking geez no wonder people here don't entertain if this is the way guests act.