Dickinson and More

I'm happy to report that I'm feeling practically normal today. Still tired, but I've not had a nap today, for the first day in awhile.

I did sleep in this morning. It's the first night I've slept really deeply all week and it felt good.

When I went to bed last night it was raining - for the first time in months. It was only a little bit of rain, but it was welcome. I had practically forgotten what thunder and lightning was like. I love to sleep when it's raining - love to listen to it. Makes me feel all cozy inside.

I've got a ton of flowers blooming. I had snapped some pix a couple of days ago and more have popped up since then. While some should be coming up now, I don't think any of them should be blooming yet. Our weather is all screwed up.

Greg and I went to lunch when I finally got up and then I went to a performance at the Civic Center. Mark does such a great job finding wonderful things.

This was a tea with Emily Dickinson. The woman portraying Emily Dickinson was fabulous. The "tea" was not fabulous and not even really tea. OK, that beverage was served, but it was not what one expects when they hear "tea." Lets just say styrofoam cups, paper plates and paper napkins were involved.

I was so disappointed. A local company doing "Tea Celebrations" was hired to provide tea. The commission paid her per person to provide tea. I was not the one who made the arrangements for this, but I certainly expected more. The food was bits of scones that were cut up and placed on a three tiered server. If you want to serve small scone, bake them small - don't just chop up regular sized ones. It's tacky and unattractive. Better yet, make small cookies or something else.

There was a paper plate/bowl full of whipped cream, and some tea. I couldn't have any tea because of the caffeine so can't speak to what that was like. It was all served with paper plates and napkins and styrofoam cups. I was very disappointed and would certainly not hire this company to do tea if this is what they think tea is supposed to be. I've done teas as fundraisers, and a nice event requires considerably more effort than this. I wish I had known, I could have brought my china cups and saucers and we could have had a lovely tea.

Fortunately, the main entertainment was fabulous. Pity the tea part of it wasn't up to the same standard. But, the Dickinson part of the afternoon more than made up for the lackluster tea part.

Dr. Sandra Calvin Hastings, who teaches literature at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, portrayed Emily Dickinson and did an amazing job. She was fabulous.

A local antique store provided a small desk and chair. The event was held in the Civic Center. It will be so wonderful when it is restored. I'm planning to do teas there when it's done. But, at the moment there is no heat/air and no running water. However, events we've held there have been successful despite these things. There was a good crowd today.




She gave the audience an opportunity to ask questions of her as Emily Dickinson and then also to ask questions of her as herself.

It was a really interesting afternoon. She said that almost everything she said was something that Emily Dickinson had written - either in a poem or letter or whatever, and that it was different every time.

She had a wonderful, free flowing style - even when answering questions as Emily Dickinson.

She said she first got interested in Dickinson when she moved to Kansas as a 15 year old. She had come to Kansas on the train and so Dickinson's poem about the Iron Horse really struck her.

About this time, she saw a photo of Dickinson that was taken when she was about 16 - it's the only photo they're certain is Dickinson - and was struck by the similarities.

In addition, Dr. Calvin-Hastings said that her grandmother had died shortly before she moved to Kansas and that the photo of Emily Dickinson reminded her even more of her grandmother. That started a lifelong fascination with Dickinson. As she read more about her, she realized that there was a lot written about Dickinson, but she was "still a mystery." That appealed to the scholar.

She was also struck by Dickinson's poems and that there is "so much value in her work for someone experiencing pain and loss."

Calvin-Hastings says she loves research and she loves Dickinson, so this is a great synthesis of the two.

Dickinson wrote 1776 poems in her lifetime, 366 of them in one year - 1862 - the year after the civil war started. Only seven of her poems were published during her lifetime.

She also wrote thousands of letters. It was the custom of the time to destroy correspondence when someone died, in order to keep confidences. But, many people kept Dickinson's letters so they provide more clues about her life.

She lived from 1830-1886, and starting writing poetry at about age 20. She never married and lived as a recluse most of her adult life. She apparently always wore white and bound many of her poems into little booklets called 'fascicles', which she bound herself with needle and thread. She said, "publication is the auction of the mind of man."

Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a family well known for educational and political activity. Her father, an orthodox Calvinist, was a lawyer and treasurer of Amherst College, and also served in Congress. She was educated at Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary.

Dickinson was largely removed from the community, preferring to spend her days writing. She admired Shakespeare, Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Elliott.

She died of Bright's Disease, but had refused to let the doctor really examine her. When she died, the headline in the local paper the next day was, "The Myth Has Died."

From her poem: Because I could not stop for Death

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

After her death, her poems were collected by friends and family and published. In six years, 11 editions were done because they sold so quickly.

After the event, Teresa and I went down to Diana's store. Just so happened that Taylor, Tom and Lily came in just as we did. Diana was blowing bubbles with Lily and she was quite charmed by them.

Teresa, Diana and I decided to go get some dinner. I called Andrea and Jocelyn to see if they wanted to join us. We also invited Martha. Andrea was able to come so we had a nice foursome.

I spent the rest of the evening doing a little hunting and gathering at Wal-mart and then went to chat with Greg while he ate dinner. I'm just so happy to have been up and about all day, much less to have had quite an interesting afternoon and fun evening.

Better

I am finally feeling better tonight. I've been sick with a cold the last few days and although I keep thinking I'm feeling better, everytime I do anything - like walk 20 steps - I find myself back in bed. I am NOT a nap person. I had a six hour one yesterday. Obviously, I'm ill. But I think it's more that I'm tired because I can't get enough oxygen because I'm so congested than it is the cold itself.

I'm not a very good patient, so I hope I am finally on the mend. I'm just pissed that I'm sick. And nothing makes me want to do the crappy jobs I've been putting off than not feeling like doing them. Suddenly, they're the most important thing I can imagine doing.

I am very behind at work after not being very productive this week but I just couldn't help it. I tried to do the essentials but anything more than that was beyond me.

I finally got my podcast done tonight. I sounded too awful to do it last night. Tonight I'm sounding pretty normal. I wanted to sound decent since it's the first week of the HBO ads, and yesterday I was just way too nasty sounding.

Well, I'm about ready for another long nap. At least it's bed time this time. Hopefully I'll wake up feeling even better in the morning.

Art of Gracious Living #12

Click here for the Art of Gracious Living PCN #12
Hearing Astronaut Jeff Ashby talk about the space program this week, and how space has been inhabited for seven years with the international space station, made me think about how our world can change in dramatic ways without us realizing it.

Our world changes, and our lives take twists and turns, that we cannot foresee and sometimes don't even recognize at the time. It makes it all the more important for us to live in the moment, appreciating the beauty of that time.

Click here for the Art of Gracious Living PCN #12

Big News about Big Love

I have Big News about "Big Love," the new HBO series coming March 12 - they're advertising on the "Art of Gracious Living" podcast. I'm very excited about this. It's a cool thing for me, especially since my podcast is so new. www.artofgraciousliving.com or http://www.podcasternews.com/details.php?N=792 to listen on your computer or portable device.

I haven't gotten to see the show yet, but have watched a trailer. You can see it by going to www.hbo.com/biglove. Time magazine says Big Love "may prove to be... the next cool thing on TV." It's certainly an interesting concept - a man with three wives who live in adjoining houses. It sounds like "Desperate Housewives," but with fewer husbands. Of course, HBO gave us "The Sopranos" so they obviously know a thing or two about interesting concepts.

I'm thrilled to have one of the podcasts they're advertising on. Podcasting is one of the parts in my plan to make a living being me, so I'm tickled to have an advertiser so early in the show's history, and really excited it's a well known company. Obviously, my show is far too new for this to generate tons of money for me, but it's a big step in the right direction.

It's also exciting that a company of HBO's stature understands the value of podcasting. Podtrac and PodcasterNews have been instrumental in making this deal happen. Podcasting is going to be a driving force in the advertising market, and it's gratifying to see that some companies are already grasping that.

That has been my big news for a few days but I couldn't announce it until this week. Needless to say, I'm tickled pink.

Ramblings

I have spent a large part my free time the last 24 hours at the computer. I've been working on websites I already have and also getting some new domains I'm interested in. I'm also trying to move one of my sites to a new server and that's not going as smoothly as I'd hoped.

I'm contemplating a couple of new podcasts and decided I should go ahead and see what domains were available before I picked a name. That's getting to be a necessity these days.

It was gorgeous here today. My neighbors were barbecueing when I got home from the office tonight. That may seem odd in February in Kansas but it was in the 70s today. It's supposed to be 80 tomorrow. I have more flowers blooming.

I took advantage of the weather to hang out clothes early this morning. It was a bit cloudy but already warm. I also got the numbers on the mailbox this afternoon. I don't suppose it's really necessary as I've never had them before, but I bought some small ones and put them on anyway.

I went up to see Terry's mom again tonight. She was sitting up and had been up for about an hour. They moved her out of intensive care today. I'm so tickled she's doing so well.

I'm thinking about scheduling another journalling class. The last one I taught went pretty well. I think there might be interest in another one - maybe with a different bent.

I'm trying to get motivated to work more on the house. But I just don't seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything done I need and want to get done.

I'm getting a lot of questions about podcasting these days. So, I'm going to attempt to answer the basics about doing a podcast.

One really important thing from a listening standpoint - anyone can listen to a podcast. You don't need an iPod. You can listen on your computer.

Podcasts are sort of like TIVO or VCRs for audio.

Please realize I'm a novice at this, so if you're really interested in getting into the podcasting business, it might be wise to invest in a book that gives you some details. Todd Cochrane is the head of the network I podcast with now and he wrote one of the first books about this format.

Here's what you need to do a podcast:
*computer that has a place to hook up a microphone - anything produced in the last few years will have that
*microphone
*software to record with - I use audacity - it's free - and it will convert to mp3 files, which you can use online
*somewhere to store your files - I used my own webspace until I started with the network, now they handle that - libsyn is a popular place for doing that - you upload your files just like you'd upload a photo or anything else
*if you want to take it a step further you'll need an rss feed - google for instructions on how to do that - I did it and I'm no technical whiz - but you don't have to have that

The other thing you need is a topic. There are lots of podcasts, and more every day, so spend some time listening to what's out there. Decide how much time you want to invest in this, and schedule yourself accordingly.

Art of Gracious Living is only five minutes long, but it certainly takes me more than five minutes to do it every week. I update every Friday but I think I'll move to Saturday because in my category on the network almost everyone updates on Friday and its too much content all at once in that category. So I'm going to move mine, I think.

There are lots of people who are doing this for "the fun." I am not. I'm doing this as part of my long term plan to make a living being me. The idea of doing it for fun is the same as people who get radio jobs because it's fun. It is fun, but I've never had any job that wasn't fun on some level. I've been paid for my voice work, producing and writing since I was in college - so more than half my life now - and I don't intend to start giving it away.

What many people who don't have a broadcasting background are going to find out a few weeks or months from now is that this is work. There are already podcasts that have mysteriously disappeared after a few episodes. So, be prepared that this is an extra job you're taking on. There's a reason people get paid to do radio - it's work - fun work, yes, but work.

I have a couple of other podcasts I'm considering, and bought the domains just today. But, at the moment, I have very exciting news about Art of Gracious Living. HBO has purchased some advertising on about 30 podcasts and Art of Gracious Living is one of them. I will be sharing more details in the near future, but it's for their new show, "Big Love." I could not publish this information until midnight EST on Feb. 27, but it's now officially public. Needless to say, I'm very excited about this development.

Ruth is Better

Ruth, Terry's mom, had surgery this morning. She is doing so much better it's amazing. She had a bowel obstruction in the small intestine, which I guess isn't uncommon - especially in older people.

She was awake only a couple of hours after surgery, lucid, talking and joking. I popped in to see her for a few minutes tonight and she looks so much better than she did yesterday.

I'm so relieved for everyone - especially for her. I hope she continues to feel better with each passing day and can come home soon.

It's amazing that an 87 year old woman kicked pnuemonia in about a week. Now she has been through surgery and seems to be doing quite well. It's good news all around.

Art of Gracious Living #11

Click here for the Art of Gracious Living PCN #11
When Diana, Jocelyn and I "played beads" this past week it made me think about resources.

I noticed each of us did the same thing - we got out the beads we had so we could examine everything at once. It was only when we had everything out that we could consider different combinations.

I was struck that this is something we must do in all areas of life - understand our resources, talents and energies - know what we have to work with.

Click here for the Art of Gracious Living PCN #11

Mailboxes and Beads

I went to the post office this morning for the MHA and also picked up my own mail. Now, you might be asking yourself, why would that be? Well, because since my mailbox disintegrated a few weeks ago, I have had my mail held and picked it up at the post office. You'd think this is a great solution. And it would be if the postal service cared about customer service at all.

They will hold your mail for only 30 days. After that, they will return it to the sender. If you're having your mail held, they will delight in pointing out the power that they have to return it after 30 days each time you pick up your mail.

I love the postal employees here who work at the counter - well, with one exception - but overall they're great. Friendly, charming, pleasant - I love to visit with them when I pop in. They're really nice. The carriers have become another story. Their favorite pasttime seems to be putting slips in the mailbox saying to not park on front of the box. Do I look like a person who controls public parking? What leads you to believe that I possess this power? Do I have rights of which I'm unaware? It's an old neighborhood. Lots of people don't have driveways. Of course they're going to park on the street. Where else would they park? I have graciously offered to put my mailbox back on the porch, where no one is EVER parked. But, they're already so lazy they don't want to walk up to the porch, which is why they want to be able to ride along and stick the mail in the boxes. My neighbors have never put theirs out at the street and I remind them to not do it. Once you do, you're screwed.

I purchased a new mailbox just a day or two after mine fell apart under suspicious circumstances related to the people working at my house. I wasn't there when whatever it was happened, but came home to the handyman announcing that it had "fallen over." That may be true, but it seems odd that gravity suddenly overtook it with no provocation. The fact that people were parked near it was probably more related to its demise.

I wasn't too upset because it needed to be replaced anyway. The wooden post had split and been repaired, the box had been banged, etc. etc. etc. If I'd had ANY idea what an ordeal this would turn into, I would have raised hell when I found it on the ground when I got home.

This is the fourth time I've had to do something to the mailbox since I've moved in. Ask me if I enjoy it? OK, don't. It will just remind me of how pissed off I am at the whole process.

The new post I purchased - plastic, which supposedly lasts longer than anything else - was impossible to assemble. Three of us tried at various times. Yesterday I took it back to Lowes and told them it was not possible to assemble this. To top it off, its design flaws were so numerous I don't have the fingertip power to type them all. Lets just say it must have been designed by people at Rubbermaid who have never been in the wind - much less Kansas wind.

Lowes took it back without blinking an eye, as if they'd done this very thing a few times. I went back to purchase something else that was more durable. I didn't want another wood one - they rot - in a pretty short amount of time. This left me with one option - a metal post. So, that's what I got. At least it has some materials in it that seem a bit sturdier. Greg helped assemble it and pound it into the ground. Yes, pounding. Lots of pounding was involved.


What I've learned is that all mailbox posts readily available on the market in Hutchinson, Kansas are crap. They're poorly designed and complete crap. Crap. I have NO experience designing such things and I'm certain I could do better. Parts that fit and are made of sturdy materials would be a good start - not to be too obvious.

Finally, before 6 p.m., the new mailbox was in place. I was so relieved. I had told them today when I picked up the mail to resume delivery, so I had to have a box to put the mail in tomorrow. I'm sure my carrier has been counting the days until she could send my mail back.

When I picked up my mail today, I had two wonderful surprises in it. It was just as well I got it at the postoffice because one of them was something that couldn't be bent. Well, shouldn't have been bent. Although, for all my complaining about my carrier, she is good about that sort of thing. She has never bent anything that shouldn't be.

Anyway, it was this big envelope - more than a foot square. I had no idea what was inside.

When I opened it up, it was a beautiful Scotland calendar from my friend, Trevis. It's gorgeous and I now want to visit Scotland - if only the exchange rate weren't so awful between the dollar and the pound.

Trevis and I met through GAMIAN conferences and we just bonded immediately. I really adore her. We didn't get to see each other this past year and I really missed her.

This was completely unexpected and just made me smile.

Looking at the photos of Scotland make me really want to visit there. I'm sure the photos are "the best" of course, but there are 12 gorgeous views. Plus, if I were in Scotland I'd get to see Trevis, which would be a huge bonus.

I had another surprise in the mail, too. It was a package from Chacra Music. I wrote on here a few days ago that Chacra music had given me permission to use Tino Izzo's music in my podcasts. Today was the first one I did with music at the end of the show and it really adds to it.

Many podcasters just use music without permission, but I wanted to make sure I had permission so there was never a problem. They were very generous in letting me use the music. I'm using "Elusive Memories" from the Foreign Skies CD. I have had that CD for many years and loved it from the first time I heard it. When I was looking for music for The Art of Gracious Living, I knew it would be on that CD. I'm so tickled they gave me permission to use it.

The owner told me he wanted to send me Tino Izzo's other CDs in case there was something on them I wanted to use in the future. That's what arrived today. It was so very kind of him to do that. I haven't had a chance to listen to all of them yet, but "Four September Suns" is in my laptop right now.
I always enjoy seeing French, and being able to read a bit here and there so the packaging was an additional treat for me.


After getting the mailbox up this afternoon, Greg and I went out to get something to eat and then went to the hospital to see Terry's mom. They had just given her some pain medication so we didn't see her but did visit with Terry and his sister and brother in law.

Diana and Jocelyn were coming over tonight to play beads again. We had a nice evening and actually accomplished something tonight. I made three pair of earrings. Jocelyn did about seven pair, although she still has to put the wires on them. Diana made a couple of necklaces, including the one she's wearing in this photo.

Mia, Greg's girlfriend, who is a beader extraordinaire, emailed tonight that she thinks the rocks I showed the other day that Diana has are turquoise. I told her they're not heavy, but apparently the density of turquoise can vary depending on where it's from.


Jocelyn is making things for an upcoming show in mid March. She's taking stock of what she has as far as paintings, jewelry, etc.

I made brownies tonight and we had some tea. We have gotten out of the habit of gathering for creative nights and we need to get back into it. We learn from each other and it also helps all of us to get started on new things.

I was thinking tonight that I didn't even know how to make jewelry until Jocelyn taught me a year or two ago. I bought some lapis a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure what to do with it but I've always loved it - it's very Egyptian - so I need to think about that.

Leah Organizes Me

I've had a really long day today. It was a rewarding day and a trying day. I'm exhausted and after I finish this and get my next podcast done I'm going to bed.

Leah came up to my office tonight and helped me organize some MHA things. She's a GREAT paper organizer and she generously gave me some of her time to work on things.

I'm great with the computer, but not so good with hard copy. She worked on things for a few hours and it was also just nice because we could chat while we worked. She made some great progress.

I had a speech earlier today and then after lunch with Teresa and Jocelyn, went to the hospital to see Terry's mom. Jocelyn went with me and did some Reiki on her. She's doing better tonight.

On the way back to the office, I noticed a buggy going down 17th street. Although the Amish do not like to have their photos taken, there are no issues with taking photos of the buggies as far as I know. I thought you might enjoy seeing the scene.


It's one of the things I love about living here. It's not uncommon to see a horse and buggy tied up at Walmart. Today was Aldi's but the same principle is at work. I'm not sure why I enjoy it so much, but I do.

I guess we're drawn to anything that's out of our normal every day activities.

Yesterday I noticed I have another flower blooming. At the same time, the daffodils that were a few inches tall and now bent over, having frozen in the single digit temperatures we had last week. The weather is very odd. It was in the 60s today - very nice.

Playing Beads

Last night Jocelyn, Diana and I got together to "play beads." It had been a long time since we had gathered to make jewelry - so long that in fact all we really did was look at our things.

Jocelyn had these really cool beads that were Hawaiian Pussywillow beads. Diana and I couldn't stop feeling them - there were fuzzy and very soft.

Jocelyn had thought we were going to meet at the store and had made arrangements to give Andrea a Reiki treatment there. But, eventually we all made it to my house and Andrea had her Reiki treatment on my couch instead of the massage table at the store. Diana and I played beads while they were doing that. We tried to get Andrea to stay, but she had some work to do.

Jocelyn also had some very cool African beads. I love the bright, clear colors of African beads. I bought some when I was in Egypt that had been brought up to Cairo from the Sudan. Very interesting.




Someone had come into Diana's store with lots of interesting beads, including these blue ones that have that Betty Rubble look to them. Such interesting shapes and color combinations. I'm eager to see what she comes up with.

It had been so long since we'd gotten together that we had to reacquaint ourselves with all the things we had.

I couldn't even find all of my things. My studio is still not back to normal and they're in there somewhere.

Busy, Busy Day

I got up about 6 this morning and at midnight I'm still not done.

Tonight was my first board meeting of the new year. It's always an important one to get ready for. I was running around all day gathering things - no matter how organized I think I am, I can always find more to do.

I got to have lunch with Julie on the spur of the moment. After lunch it was so beautiful and sunny that I took a little drive outside of town. I only drove about 10 minutes out of town, but it was nice to see the bright sunshine.




I also ran across this very cool structure. At the top it says Thos Rayl 1919. I'm not sure if it was built originally as a grain bin or a barn but it's very cool. I've driven by it dozens of times, but for some reason today it struck me that it would be cool to share it here so I snapped a photo.




After the board meeting tonight, Jane Holzrichter of Horizons did a presentation for us on Bullying Prevention. It was really good. Jane is the local expert and had some suggestions to share with us.

It was about 8:30 when we left and I still hadn't had dinner so met Greg out and we had a quick bite.

Afterwards, we went over to visit Terry and his sister. Their mom is still in the hospital and we wanted to check on things at the hospital. I've been trying to do a little online research since I got home but haven't been successful.

I'm just about worn out. I don't have anything time specific tomorrow until 2 and I'm going to sleep until I wake up in the morning. I've had a whole bunch of 12 and 16 hour days lately. I think a morning of comp time will do me some good. I also need to do a couple of things around the house that are becoming urgent - like get my mailbox replaced. It has been a long time now.

Beautiful Morning

The rising sun is bright this morning, although it's still chilly. But, it's early yet, maybe it will warm up as the day goes on. It looks like we'll have sunshine and plenty of it, which makes me feel good.

I'm up early to prepare for my board meeting tonight. Always seem to be more details to take care of than I can juggle in my brain. And, much paper to generate. It will be a busy tree-killing day.

Relaxed Weekend, Frantic Monday

I had a very relaxed weekend. Last night Greg and I had a three hour plus dinner and it was nice to visit with him. That was after a very laid back day.

However, today that had to come to a crashing halt with a Monday looming. I did have lunch with Andrea and that was good. We don't do that often enough.

Tonight was Red Hat, although we've pretty much given up on the hats - none of us were wearing the "appropriate" clothing or hats. We just have dinner. It was good.

Since dinner I've been working on things for tomorrow's board meeting. This meeting will be the first one for new board members and this time of year there's a lot to deal with. So, it takes a lot of time and effort to prepare for it.

I'm exhausted and headed up to bed. I just can't seem to get enough rest these days, which is very unlike me.

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo on Route 66 Trip

Here are some more photos from my Route 66 Trip last summer.

The Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo is a beacon to art and kitsch lovers everywhere. You can easily pass by it on I-40 if you're not paying attention, but if you're on the lookout, you can't miss it.

I've made a trip - or shall we say pilgrimmage - to the Cadillac Ranch before. When Greg and Mark and I went this summer it was HOT. Who would have guessed? Late July in Texas... hot... what a shock.

I must admit I do like Amarillo. It's a cool town.

When we went through, on the way to California, we added our own bits and piece to America's great collaborative art project.








When I came back through alone a couple of weeks later I had not planned to stop but the ladies at the MidPoint Cafe in Adrian (a must stop with cobbler made with fresh peaches) told me the Cadillac Ranch had been painted Pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness so I had to make another stop.









This young man was part of a family of dad, an older brother, and grandma and grandpa. Mother was ominously missing.



I left a message honoring another mother, who would have been about my age, who lost her fight with breast cancer more than a decade ago.

Saturday

I had planned to take down my Christmas tree today but that didn't happen. I didn't even leave my bedroom until 1:30. Yes, in the afternoon. I lounged and slept and lounged some more. It's really unlike me but it was so very cozy under the electric blanket. The last time I looked at the temperature last night it was 3.8 degrees.


Jocelyn was doing massages today. She wanted to practice for the class she's taking. So, I went down to Diana's to be a willing participant. Her granddaughter, Lauren, was there. I also got to see Lily for a little bit. She was there with Taylor and Tom. Austin and Amy came in after a bit and so I got to see them too.

Lily had wallowed her ponytail out and was having a bad hair day.



Taylor managed to tame it, but had to do it on the run.



Of course, then she was looking just as adorable as could be.

I don't think Lauren stopped for a second. She played with Tom until they left, then Amy and then Austin.







I call this "gymnast Austin." Lauren just looked puzzled. He couldn't get her to try it.

I'm watching yet another story about how insurance companies are refusing to pay for losses as a result of Katrina and Rita. What in the hell? Storm surge my ass.

Yeah, there was a storm surge. Yeah, it did a lot of damage. It also washed away some of the evidence of what the 120 plus MPH winds did before then. Do they really think we're all stupid enough to believe that 100 MPH winds did NO damage and all of that is from the flooding?

We all pay our insurance premiums, assuming we're "covered." I have State Farm and I have always been very pleased with them personally. But, the horror stories I'm hearing out of the Gulf Coast with a variety of companies are terrible. As if people have not suffered enough, there is this indignity to add to it. Pay the damned claims. Charge each of us an extra few dollars next year to make up for it if you have to, but pay the damned claims. Because it's what we're all banking on when we pay our premiums - that you'll pay the claims. And next time it could be me or my neighbor, or my brother or his neighbor, and the people who've rebuilt on the gulf coast by then will pay an extra couple of dollars so our claims can be paid.

Don't be assholes about it. You're spending enough time and energy to get out of paying it, it would just be cheaper to pay the claims.

And don't think we're too stupid to figure out that it's been a very long time since we've heard of an insurance company going out of business. We know you're being tight asses to line your pockets, not to protect your other customers. And, hey, just like you always tell us to buy more "just in case," this time you got caught holding the bag - you were betting on not having a disaster this big - you lost this time. Pay the damned claims.