Pope Benedict XVI impersonating Urban II?

Or, "Just in case I haven't pissed everyone off at least once, I'm posting this."

Benedict XVI is drawing fire from Muslim clerics and the leaders of predominately Muslim countries the world over today for his supposed inflammatory statements about Islam during his speech at the University of Regensburg entitled "Faith, Reason, and the University." In particular, they object to his quoting a 14th century account of a conversation between a Byzantine Emperor and a Persian scholar. The ancients were discussing the truths of Christianity and Islam... Something that, despite their nearness to the Crusades, they could do with more respect for differences of opinion than we can now, I'm afraid. Here is the quote they object to: "[Emperor Manuel II Paleologus] addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'" He goes on to say later in his speech that "The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to G-d's nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident. But for Muslim teaching, G-d is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our [Catholic?] categories, even that of rationality."

Muslim leaders in Pakistan are going so far as to compare Benedict XVI to "Hitler and Mussolini"... Uh, reality check... Sorry, but - No... The statements he's made are nothing to either of those tyrannical sociopaths. A better comparison would have been saying that Benedict XVI is like Urban II, the Pope who first preached the Crusades at the Council of Clermont in 1095. But even there, what Benedict said was not so bad as Urban II and it's not a fair comparison... In fact, what Benedict XVI said, if anything, is preaching the exact opposite of Crusade. He's calling people of all faiths to have a dialogue in order to end violence in the name of G-d because violence is wrong and against everything reasonable (and one could take his argument further to where G-d = Reason, and I think he'd agree with that... It's a pretty traditionally Greco-Roman influenced Catholic idea there...). Benedict points out with this controversial statement and some of those which follow that Islam, unlike Christianity, has explicit exceptions for when violence is good, holy and necessary in its holy writings. This is true; the Quran does discuss holy war in a frank and open manner, something that the Christian Bible does not... There are some passages in the Christian Bible and other writings that have been interpreted to justify violence in the past, but the Quran is different in that matter because it goes into the idea of a holy war in specifics. I believe that is what Benedict was pointing out. And if they argue with or take offense at that, I would tell them that they need to explain those passages of the Quran then.

Now, there is no love lost by me on the Pope... I disagree with a lot that he and pretty much every single one of his predecessors have done... There is little he is likely to do that will make me happy. ::shrugs:: I really don't care that much for Catholicism in general. And I disagree with a number of things he discusses in this speech, including what seems to be his main point here, that skepticism of religion (i.e.: Catholic Christianity) and the push for secularism is dangerous (to human society, culture, the world), and that Faith (i.e. Christianity) should have a place in Reason, that is, in the modern sciences, and therefore in the university. As a Jewess and as an American citizen, I believe in both skepticism and public secularism wholeheartedly. I believe that theology and questions of faith and G-d (as defined by any religion past, present or future) have absolutely *no place* in the hard sciences and are entirely a question of individual preference and education. (It is funny that this point has very little if anything to do with the state of Catholic-Islamic relations, and, in fact, that the statements he made that have so inflamed the Islamic communities were a minor footnote in his overall message.) I'm also offended on a number of levels by the way that the Pope speaks of "Catholicism," "faith," and "religion" as if all these words and all the ideas they imply are perfectly synonymous with one another... but he's the absolute spiritual leader of a religion which purports itself to be monotheistic (and therefore "the only *true* religion"), so it doesn't surprise me, even if it offends me. Furthermore, the statement that, "[The convergence between Biblical faith and Greek philosophical inquiry], with the subsequent addition of the Roman heritage, created Europe and remain the foundation of what can rightly be called Europe," strikes me badly in two ways that I can articulate. If I were a Turk, I wouldn't like that because it seems a dig against the Turkish desire to enter the European Union, as if he is saying in a way that Turkey, as a Muslim country, can't be a part of the European Union because it is not Christian. And at the same time, it strikes me badly because in context it equates "Biblical faith," a phrase that can be widely applied by itself, exclusively with early Christians, as if that's the highest "Biblical faith" there is... To give him the benefit of a doubt which I don't really feel, he is probably not meaning this as a slight to the legitimacy of the Jewish faith... It could just be the result of his upbringing in a society where anti-Semitism is unconscious but nonetheless pervasive... i.e. Europe... most especially, Germany... They can't help it. It's too ingrained at this point for them to realize that a statement such as this can be taken this way by someone of a different background, the same way that older white people in the South don't realize what they are doing when they do or say something that would be considered by everyone else to be grossly racist, and it doesn't surprise me anymore, even as it continues to be an irritant. So I would never go out of my way to defend any of his statements or actions arbitrarily.

I think the Muslim leaders who are angry with these statements are either, at best, being too sensitive, or at worst, trying to be deliberately inflammatory themselves, accusing the Pope of things he has not done by taking his statements deliberately out of context in order to stir up their followers to further violence and protest. If it is the first case, I can understand why leaders might be too sensitive. After all (and this might piss a lot of people off, but it's still true), Islam is not yet at the point in its development where it (as a whole) takes criticism and decent among its followers well, and you can forget about shrugging off criticism from outsiders. Islam is at the point in its development where Christianity was in... well... right around when the Crusades and the Inquisition happened. This isn't particularly good when all the other major religions on the world stage take critique much better... or ignore it altogether... But we have to deal with it anyway. ::sighs::

I think another idea of which Pope Benedict speaks here is interesting however... It is not one that he subscribes to - he does reject this idea, and anyone who knows anything about Catholicism will quickly see why... That of the trend toward "dehellenizing" Christianity in recent centuries since the Enlightenment. I find it interesting because if one was truly to "dehellenize" Christianity, it would end up looking a lot more like Judaism than any kind of Christianity that exists today... Jesus wouldn't be considered divine in any measure, Mary wouldn't be considered to have been a virgin, Christian baby boys would be circumcised as a matter of religious law, the Eucharist would be a lot more like an Oneg, pig would not be eaten with such gusto at Christmas and Easter, the idea of staying unmarried and childless would *not* be considered a good or godly thing... to point out a few... In short, there would be no Catholic Church as we know it, no offshoots from it, and Eastern Orthodoxy would not exist either. Christianity is *so* influenced by Greek thought, tradition, culture, etc that it would be utterly impossible to separate out all the Hellenized parts of Christianity and still be left with anything that looks fundamentally Christian to modern eyes. The Pope says as much in his speech and he is right in this. Seriously, if you took out all the Greek elements, what would you be left with? Like half the "New Testament" is written in Ancient Greek, for goodness sake, and the Hebrew Bible that they traditionally use is the Egyptian Greek translation, the Septuagint. And most of the stories in the "New Testament" are written with Greco-Roman literary influence and style... It was a Hellenized Mediterranean culture that produced it! So the idea of dehellenizing Christianity is the most absurd thing I've heard of in a while... Unless the goal is to not have a religion left when you're done with it. And you know, the ironic thing is that the Judaism that Christianity probably grew out of was a type of Judaism that was rebelling against the Hellenized Judaism of Judea's aristocracy and priesthood as it was being practiced right around the year 1 (by the Gregorian calendar... and we wouldn't have that calendar either since that comes out of Greco-Roman Christian tradition!)... LOL! I find it incredibly amusing...

It was nonetheless an interesting speech and so I encourage everyone to read either the entire speech delivered by the Pope, or the "key excerpts" at BBC News' website.

"Takings" Will Leave Us In Dire Straights

Please, take a minute to read this article and write your elected officials opposing "Takings."

Okay, one more thing before I go...

All of my newly dyed and dried wool together... The lightest one looks a little too light in this photo and the darkest one a little too dark, but oh, well, you get the idea...

See ya...

I'm going to Virginia tomorrow afternoon and will be back home on Sunday. No updates til then.

Pokeberry dyeing update #4

Ha-Ha! Ballet pink! I did a normal dyeing (1 hour, 160 degrees), but removed the wool immediately after the hour was up, instead of letting it soak overnight.

Pokeberry dyeing update #3

It keeps coming along... The third time I used the same dyebath, I've gotten an... almost ballet pink. It's a little darker than ballet pink, but of the same hue... just a darker tone... ya know? Here are pictures...

This is the wool from the thrice used pokeberry dyebath. My phone is wonky... It's a bit lighter than this (though not as light as below).

For comparison, this is the third result (on the left) next to the second result (on the right) that I've gotten. The left one should be just a touch darker than shown.

This is a better picture of what I got the second time I used the dyebath than I was able to get and post yesterday. It's about this color.

Pokeberry dyeing update #2

Second batch is in and looking pretty good! Here are pictures:

I tried to take a picture from far away like I did with the first one, but it came out very electric looking... it is nowhere near this bright in reality...

But neither is it quite this dull looking...

The last one comes closest out of all the photos as to what the actual color of the second dyeing looks like. It's really a kind of pinky-orange-red... almost a salmon, but a bit more red than salmon. The first batch of dyed yarn is on the right and the second is on the left in both of the last two photos here.

Primary!

Hey, all you Floridians out there, did you vote today? You've got four more minutes before the polls close! Go vote!

Pokeberry dyeing update #1

Well, yesterday I dyed my alum mordanted wool. 8 ounces of it. Enough for the stripes on two shawls. Today (as per Rita Buchanan's instructions to soak overnight in cooling dyebath), I took the wool out and have hung it up to dry. Here are pictures:
Will have to wait and see if the color changes after it dries and is rinsed. Rita says to let the wool dry completely and then rinse with plain water until the water runs clear.

I haven't thrown out the dyebath yet. It's still in the pot in the garage because I think I can dye some more wool in it. It's very dark still... might get a lighter color that's still pretty? Plan to start that after I see how the first batch turns out. Might do some cotton too, just to see what happens. This was fun, even if the dyebath smells horrible!

I also dug up some pine roots yesterday. Dad's instructions were "just don't kill the trees." Well, duh. From the sources I've found, they dye wool a dark red, garnet color... Will get to them soon, with luck. I hope we get some goldenrod before it gets too late in the season. All the marigolds have stopped flowering. I wish I'd found out how pretty they dye sooner. I would have saved them in the freezer all summer. We had hundreds! We still have some sage, rosemary and other herbs, but not enough to make a dyepot. Thinking of also trying to collect enough live oak bark to do a batch of something... and maybe leaves too. We also have dozens of Eastern red cedar. Probably should get some bark from those too while I'm at it. Need to remember about onion skins too!

Lord of the Rings News!!

Limited Edition 2-disc sets...

Theatrical version and extended version in the same set...

All three movies...

New documentaries...

In stores soon...

I'm excited!!

Pokeberry experiment begins

Well, I picked the berries approximately one week ago with Jason's help while I was in South Carolina visiting all my peeps up there. Most of the berries were *very* ripe. We put them in plastic ziploc bags and Jason froze them for me to keep them fresh until I left the Burough on Saturday. As soon as I arrived home, I put them in the outside fridge where they remained until today. I guess the freezing or the time it took for me to mess with them again, something, broke a lot of the berries because all three of the larger bags were leaking juice when I opened the pot they were in and there was a good centimeter or two of juice in the bottom of the pot. That's okay though... I figure it won't hurt the dye quality none if they were breaking and leaking juice before I added the vinegar and smashed them.

I weighed the pokeberries as best I could and I have about 6 lbs. Still doesn't quite add up to even one gallon, let alone two in actual weight measurement. I should have thought of this before. I'm confused by these vague units of measurement. 1 gallon berries to 4 ounces wool? Is that 1 gallon of just the berries, or one gallon of berries and stems? And is it meant as a weight measurement or volume? I'm just not sure. Still... From my best guess, I'm going to attempt to dye 8 ounces of wool with slightly less than is recommended by Rita Buchanan (writer of A Weaver's Garden) for 4 ounces. We'll see what happens.Worst that I figure can happen is that the dye is a lighter shade than expected. I think I'd actually like a lighter pink better with the wools I had planned to pair the pokeberry-dyed wool with, so either way, as long as it's not a disaster, I'll be happy with the result.

So I've placed them in one of my large enamel pots with enough vinegar solution to cover the berries and set it in our warm garage with the lid on it to ferment the berries as recommended by Rita Buchanan as well as several people on the Yahoo! DyeHappy list. I need to let it sit for a few days, so I won't be getting back to it until at least Friday... What am I saying? I *will* get back to it on Friday, provided I have found alum by then... I've called like *every* drug store and supermarket from Carrollwood to the county line and even a little bit into Pasco county, and no one has any. Best I could find was that all the Publixes said that they stock it from the end of September to the beginning of January... Don't ask me why only then, cause I don't know. ::sighs:: So I've ended up just ordering it online... from amazon.com of all places...

Ernesto

We've just started getting the first of our rain from Ernesto. The predicted path of the eye is still far to the east of us. The thunder is pretty bad. My little dog, Baby is cowering under the furniture. As of 8 pm, they still haven't cancelled classes. Hurricane (or in this case Tropical Storm) Days are our Snow Days. They have cancelled classes and school in counties to the south and east of Hillsborough, but still not in Hillsborough. It will all depend on whether or not the storm deflects further to the west than predicted as it comes on land in the Keys and across the Everglades. If it does, we'll no longer have a Tropical Storm Watch, but rather a Tropical Storm Warning, and school will likely be cancelled. If there's a chance that buses could be pushed over by the wind, they have to cancel school...

Classes continued...

... Unlike when I was a Freshman, I *now* know not to bite off more than I can chew. Therefore, I'm dropping my Theory of History class, which (to paraphrase Maria's reaction) is like a full-time schedule all in one class, in order to concentrate on my other classes. I just don't feel like sacrificing my GPA on the alter of expediency, cause seriously the class is ridiculous. Latin requires daily attention and discipline. Medieval Spains has 7 text books, a 7 - 9 page term paper, as well as a movie review. Theory of History required a lot of seriously heavy reading (another 7 books... *thick* books...), not fun books either, books that the prof claimed we would want to kill him for assigning, as well as a ten-page paper, and 7 2-page papers... What worried me most was the pace of the reading (a whole several hundred page book + an impossible to BS paper on said book every 1 to 2 weeks) because I don't read quickly and I have never mastered the art of skimming and retaining information. Call it a mental block, but I've tried and it just doesn't work. On top of that, the prof is the one everyone in the department warns against taking classes with because he's more than a little unhinged in Sadistic kinds of ways... He likes making things as difficult for his students as he possibly can and is extremely abrasive. He also told us that he purposely picked difficult books because he felt like it and doesn't care if his students don't like it. I hope he *never* gets tenure because it's just not necessary to be that way. I've tried to take classes with him before, but I just couldn't stand him. Theory is required to graduate, but nothing says I have to take it with him. There are other profs who are nice and human beings and pick reasonably books. Unfortunately, all other sections are packed for this semester...

So I won't be graduating until Fall 2007 now.

That's alright...

::breathe::

I have to look on the bright side. Now, I have time to concentrate on starting my business.

First day of classes

I've been to two out of my three classes for the day, and so far so good. I feel almost like a Freshman again, in that I'm cautiously optimistic. I've got an enthusiasm for something I think is going to be very, very difficult, but ultimately worth it. I think that this is a pretty good out-look. More on that later in the week...

Tropical Storm Ernesto could be headed our way, and by the time it gets here, would be a hurricane... so we might have a Hurricane Day or two the first week of school. The two profs I met earlier today are either definitely new, or seemingly new to Florida and haven't been through hurricanes before (either from what they said or the impression I've gotten from them), so it should be interesting to see what happens. Current predictions place the center of the storm almost over Lake Okeechobee on Wednesday at 8:00 am. We'll just have to wait and see where it goes as it makes its way northwest from Cuba.

Bringing it home...

The article linked below was written in August of 2002. Even then, people knew that imports were becoming a huge problem for American manufacturers and workers. Susan is from Martinsville, VA and her people have lived just up the road in the Bassett, VA area for many, many generations, so perhaps I do have a personal reason to care. Though even if I didn't, one of the saddest things I have ever see in this country is the empty shell of a factory - shut down, silent, filled with broken windows, graffiti, dead leaves, trash, and rusting, wasted machinery.

Bassett, Stanley, DuPont, Pulaski, American of Martinsville and Hooker (I'm sure, among others) have all been based in or had a major plant located in Martinsville or Henry County, VA at one time or another. Many of those factories have closed and moved manufacturing to Mexico and/or China. Those closures left a good portion of the working class people of Henry County laid off, and many people lost retirement pensions. There are many more just like them all over the country in every industry.

So please do think about these thousands of good American working people who have been put out of a job and pension by the needless shift to imports and outsourcing the next time you're buying a new bed, bureau or TV stand. Consider doing a little research first to find what products are US made before buying and go look at them first if they're anywhere near your price range. You just might get a nicer product for your dollar and feel better about where your money is going than if you just go straight for the uber-cheap at your local Haverty's or Rooms-To-Go. Let me tell you from personal experience, furniture from both of those stores is cheaply and poorly made, and begins to fall apart very quickly and with little provocation. You'll have to replace it at least twice as fast as the better made products, so might you just as well go for the nicer products first if at all possible? And if what is still manufactured in the US is beyond your price range, consider going to antique stores, flea markets, garage sales and Good Will Stores in search of furniture. Sometimes, you can find really nice, good looking things at those places at very reasonable prices. Sometimes, you can even find a total *steal*!

For raw numbers and statistics from people who know what they're talking about and are involved in the industry, go here.

This just in...

It is a sad day when I am forced to agree with the likes of Rush Limbaugh... I was listening to his radio show, not by design but because my dad also listens to the Devil Rays games on that station and he didn't want to change the channel...

Rush... or whoever was standing in for Rush... it didn't sound like Rush... was talking about the Southern Lebanon issues, the issue about Lieberman loosing his primary, and the general state of politics going down the toilet in this country right now.

He read a letter-to-the-editor from a Berlin, Germany newspaper written by a doctor who left southern Lebanon in 2002. He said that he was a Shi'ite Muslim and that he hates Hezbollah. Hezbollah is actually to blame for *all* of this (which some of us already knew). He said he witnessed first hand in his village that Hezbollah in 2001 (or there about - after the Israelis pulled out in 2000, but before he left in 2002) built a bunker for their weapons and bombs and then built a school and a residence on top of it. In this way, they figured they could not loose. Hezbollah could either bomb and kill Israelis with those weapons *or* if the Israelis bombed the bunker, Hezbollah would still win because the International Community would condemn Israel for the resulting civilian deaths. The doctor went on to say in his letter that Hezbollah really *does not* care about the Lebanese people or their lives. They use them as human shields in their terrorist activity, and once they are dead, they use them as propaganda to further their extremist terrorist cause and gain sympathy from moderates and liberals alike. He goes on to say that Hezbollah does not mind killing other Muslims because their view is that *any* Muslim who dies as part of their jihad, whether an attacker or a victim, will go to Paradise as a martyr and it is G-d's will that they die, so they don't view it as a bad thing. You cannot reason with people who think like this anymore than you can reason with a turnip.

FYI: Prior to 9/11, Hezbollah had killed more US citizens than any other terrorist organization in the history of the world. In 1983, the US Armed Forces stationed in Lebanon as part of an international peace keeping force lost over 200 men and women to Hezbollah attacks on the soldiers. That was only one of the many attacks Hezbollah has carried out against the United States and the rest of the world. They are not, in any measure, to be trusted or believed. Hezbollah will not stop until Israel is destroyed and Lebanon is under their complete control or they themselves are all dead or incarcerated. They *are* being backed by Iranian money and have been so funded for many, many years.

The lighter side of life

Food, fun and shopping! oh yeah...

I was searching today for CSA farms (Community Supported Agriculture). They're kinda like a time share except worth it and with a farm and not a house. With some, it's like a commune where you help with the work on the farm, and others they do all the work, you just get the fresh veggies in return for your money. They have one of the latter types in the western part of Hillsborough County and it's *organic*! And only $550 a year, and you pick up your produce shares *twice* a week from September to May! Fabulous deal! Mom's calling about it tomorrow...

Later, I was shopping for direct shipping mead online, now that direct shipping to Florida is legal (yay!). I'm having a difficult time deciding on what kinds of mead I might want to get... I thought Florida orange blossom, since that's my favorite kind of honey. In my search for that, I stumbling upon a site that sells honey from farms all over the country... Lo and behold it is the same site that has listings of CSA farms that I was using earlier today. I looked around their store a bit and found that they also sell rovings from all over the country at very reasonable prices. I'm going to link this site in the right hand column of my blog. It's http://www.localharvest.org and I highly recommend checking it out!

Oy vay... We need to get working NOW!

My dad is really pissed right now. He's going off at the reports on CNN of the French withdrawing their support of an international UN force in southern Lebanon to ensure that Hezbollah does not rearm once they have been disarmed. He's convinced that this is yet another symptom that the world hates Jews and that the vast majority of the world, including France, wants to see Israel destroyed... This may or may not be the case. I certainly don't believe that the vast majority of the world wants to see Israel destroyed per se, but it would not surprise me to learn that the vast majority of the world doesn't give a damn if it survives... including France... And France does and doesn't surprise me, taking this turn. They surprise me because France is home to more Jews - in raw numbers, not percentage - than any other country in Europe. They don't surprise me because they're the French, who have a history of rolling over for whoever comes knocking at their door since Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, and more than half the times that's happened since Charlemagne died. They are, after all, the fucking French, to paraphrase Eddie Izzard.

How is it that anyone can believe that, if left to their own devices, Hezbollah, an admitted terrorist organization, will not reform themselves and rearm and go back to their terror tactics against the Israeli people just because the Lebanese army is in Southern Lebanon? Anyone who does is more than naive, they are fools! But they won't be the ones to pay for their foolishness, the Israeli people who die will be the ones who pay. But I suppose they probably won't care about those who die, anymore than people who buy exotic wood, beef or soybeans from South America care that their patronage contributes to the destruction of the rainforest and the murder of innocent farmers, as surely as if they cut down the trees and put the guns to the farmers' heads and pulled the trigger themselves. It's appalling. And all the while their misplaced faith or apathy strengthens governments and organizations that free people should never even dream of strengthening, the jihadists and the extremists of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan and in smaller numbers in most of the rest of the Middle Eastern countries, furthering agendas that will mean the death of what little freedom people can enjoy under any government. And all out of ignorance and want of oil to power their creature comforts! Fools, fools, everyone! And if they don't wake up to reality soon, their children, and, more importantly to me, my children, and most certainly the Israelis will pay for it dearly!

These sycophants are lazy, and forget that they have power if only they are willing to exercise it. They forget that they are capable of impacting positive change for the ultimate good of themselves and the world. They forget that cars, electricity, air conditioning, etc are recent luxuries for the human race. We can and have survived quite well without all that... Perhaps not as comfortably as we do now, but we have survived and can do it again if we must... Though there is no reason why we must because there are alternatives for energy production all around us if only we are willing to use it and reject the oil. Then we can say to Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia, whose anti-democratic agendas fly in the face of everything every free person holds dear, "Drink your damned oil, for all we care, and eat your sand, I'll be your thrall and allow you to treat others this way no longer!" I, for one, pledge to work to this end, making myself and my family as independent of black oil as one who is not independently wealthy can possibly get with no help from big business or the government. Instead of buying fancy cars or luxury vacations, I will save my money so that I may spend it on energy efficient, solar and wind powered housing that hurts no one but the evils of Big Oil and benefits everything in the end. What money I do spend in the meantime will be on the most fuel and energy efficient cars and appliances to be had, and on food grown and produced in harmony with nature. I will drive as little as possible (already I'm down to an average 1 tank of gas per month, and in the last 8 months, I've driven under 3,000 miles total) and use alternative means and carpooling whenever possible. What is good for Big Business is no longer good for everyone. I am a proud American capitalist, and I believe in the power of free markets, but I have my limits, and that is it. When the machine of economy is heading us all for a cliff with a hundred foot drop into disaster, I choose to do everything I am capable of to stop it before it gets there and to find a safer, better road. I urge everyone who reads this to do the same.

Every citizen - that's right, every - in these United States is as capable as I am.

Start by writing to your government representatives at any level you choose, or at all levels, and tell them what you want for this country. It doesn't take much time. You don't have to be eloquent or persuasive, just informative. And together with the work of other Americans, we can take back our government from Big Business, Lobbyists and corruption!

Research the candidates' records and history, and VOTE and for who you think will do the best job (not who the media, or your pastor, or your next-door neighbor thinks will do the best job!). The right to vote in free, democratic elections is the thing that sets free people apart from those who are manipulated and exploited by those in power. That we have allowed ourselves to come to this point is a deadly shame on our American ideals. Men and women have truly suffered and died to give us all the right to cast a ballot for our chosen candidates and causes. That is an historical fact, so think about that for a moment. Would you die? Would you give up your life in order to give your fellow citizens the chance to impact their government's policy? There have been many thousands who have done just that for you, for your family and loved ones, and for your fellow citizens. So VOTE and make it count for what you think is right.

Write to the media - to newspapers and news networks - and tell them what you think of their reporting, or tell them about stories you think they should report on less or more than they do (Such as the NAIS plan of the USDA). You don't have to write to them all, you don't have to write long letters... just pick whatever source you use to get your news from (I don't think that "The Daily Show" or "The Colbert Report" will be all that effective, but if that's where you want to send your letter, go to!) and send them a letter, a quick e-mail, a post-card, anything. They will listen to the people who compose their audience. They must if they want to keep your attention with the competition in that field right now.

Be active in your consumerism! A good deal of your power in a capitalistic society is in the money you choose to spend and on what you choose to spend it and with whom. I don't say that you can't buy things that you want to buy. I only ask that you make conscientious decisions about what you buy and from who you buy it.

Compare the benefits of organics with those of non-organics, and buy what you will from whomever you will.

Consider the economic benefit to yourself and your friends, neighbors, and countrymen if you buy goods produced in the United States, rather than imports.

Consider if something you can only get "made in China" is really necessary for you to buy, and if it isn't, consider not buying it. If you must buy it, make sure that you get your money's worth and don't buy cheap junk that you'll have to replace with another purchase from China.

Write to companies that you have purchased from in the past and ask them to manufacture in America as much as possible, stating that it is important to you as a consumer that they do so, and praise them if they already do.

Buy appliances and cars that are as efficient as possible and write to manufacturers that you are considering patronizing and ask them to make their products even more efficient. Write to car manufacturers and ask them to build cars that at least have the option of running on something other than gasoline, full-time (as opposed to those that still require any amount of gasoline in order to run).

I have done all of the above at least once in the last six months. Some I have been doing regularly for even longer than that, and some I have integrated into my day-to-day life with surprising ease and little effort. I believe that all of these things are things that any American citizen, regardless of economic situation, is capable of doing - especially since in this blessed country it is free to get a public library card (to this day, not so in Russia! "public" libraries are truly a foreign concept there!) and internet access at public libraries is free for those who have a library card. There really is no excuse anymore to not get involved in some way in making a positive impact of change on our society. Take a few moments to consider all this, and do something about the negative things we all see daily on the news, in our country, in our cities, towns and homes.

Our American system is only as perfect as we are willing to make it be for us, and for our children. It can work and it does work, when we want it to work, if we are willing to work for it!

Good gracious me

So I am once again preparing ahead. I've been searching for Chanukah/Christmas gifts for the bitties and also Lara. In this search, I came across a book called 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know by Russ Kick. To be frank, it looks like something that Michael Moore might have written and for the sole purpose of pissing off the Christian Conservatives, something that I enjoy, but only if you get your facts absolutely right with no hyperbole because if you get hyperbolic, those whose heads you're hoping to implode instead get ammunition to use against you... Nonetheless, he points out an interesting thing about the Bible. He says that the Ten Commandments aren't really the Ten Commandments we think they are (but he left out one commandment, probably because he didn't understand what it meant, meaning that there actually should be *11* Commandments... this doesn't surprise me much because I doubt he's Jewish, and he's certainly not a Biblical scholar, *and* he was using the King James version for his translation, which any scholar will tell you is not worth the paper it's printed on for clarity or accuracy of translation).

Read Exodus 20-34 if you don't believe me. I'm not kidding here...

These were the rules written on the 2nd set of tablets by Moses in the Exodus story (paraphrased & with my commentary in the parenthesis):

1. You must not worship any other gods. (The Israelites at this time did not deny the existence of other gods, only that they should worship them... not that it stopped most people...)

2. You shall not make molten idols to worship for yourselves. (Personally, I would take this to mean that one *could* make idols for non-Israelites to worship...)

3. You shall observe Passover. (pretty clear...)

4. The first (male) offspring of every mother belongs to the Lord, whether human or animal. Animals will be sacrificed, human sons will be redeemed from sacrifice by donating money to the priesthood (or by joining it if they are a Levite). (To this day, if the firstborn child of a practicing Jewish mother is a boy, the child's parents will give an inconsequential amount of money - like a dollar or less - to any Jewish man who is believed to be a Levite in order to fulfill this commandment. If the first child is a girl, now, as in Biblical times, nothing need be done.)

5. No one should come to worship without a sacrifice. (pretty much what it says...)

6. Keep the Sabbath day. (no working at all, period, end of story... Building fires is included in this specifically, which is the reason some Orthodox Jewish families and probably all Orthodox synagogues employ a non-Jew - sometimes called a "Shabbos Goy" in Yiddish - in order to turn lights on and off for them during Shabbat. Others probably simply turn on any light they will need before Shabbat begins and keep it on until after it ends. All food is prepared the day before and must be ready to eat as is - no cooking.)

7. Observe Shavuot (also known as Pentecost) and Sukkot (also known as Tabernacles).

8. All the men must go to worship three times a year, at Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot (the Pilgrimage Festivals).

9. The sacrifice cannot be combined with anything leavened, and the Passover sacrifice cannot be left to eat the next morning. (Lack of leavening might recall to mind the Passover matzo - I'm guessing - and the Passover sacrifice could not be saved for eating later, it had to be consumed all in one meal or evening.)

10. The best of the first fruit harvest had to be sacrificed. (Just what it says... From what I understand and remember from class, at one time, the best of the fruit harvest had to be brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. They found that they had problems with shipping though, just as I'm sure farmers have problems today. The fruit from out-lying areas would spoil before they could get it to Jerusalem. The priests allowed these farmers to sell their fruit that they would have been bringing to Jerusalem and then travel to Jerusalem with the money and buy new fruit once they arrived... It was the thought that counted...)

11. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. (This obscure commandment is what has led to the separation of dairy and meat products in modern Kosher dietary laws... Funny thing is that was not what this is referencing. A delicacy of non-Israelites in the area some near 3000 years ago was boiling a baby goat in its mother's milk... This not only grossed out some Israelites, it was also seen as something that made the non-Israelites different from the Israelites, and as a way to separate themselves further, they forbid the consumption of that dish.)

Now, about all these commandments... They are all concerning religious cult matters, not day-to-day living. To me (again, guessing here, I could be wrong 'cause I haven't looked it up - note to self: I really need Who Wrote the Bible by Friedman), they are most clearly from the Priestly tradition (the tradition that comes from the Levite priesthood). Without looking any of this up, just going by what I can remember from my lessons on how to properly criticize Biblical text, these second set of rules are for a sedentary people, not the nomadic Hebrews at the beginning of their wandering. The traditionally known 10 commandments may very well be the *Ten Commandments*, and I would guess they are the older of the two traditions that have been combined in the Book of Exodus et al, but still if you follow what the text says today, they aren't the ones that were to have survived in tablet form way back when... Do ya follow? I would think that the second set of commandments cited by Russ Kick couldn't have come into the oral tradition until the time of the Judges at the *earliest*, possibly not until as late as the reign of Solomon, maybe later... (Didn't research, can't give time periods for sure, these are all educated guesses.)

What Russ Kick should have said was something else from the Bible that's misunderstood or not known by the vast majority of people... like Jesus probably didn't walk *on* water because the preposition used there could be translated as "on" *or* "next to"... and was probably meant as "next to"... but some over-zealous believers misunderstood it and went nutz with that interpretation to the exclusion of all others and it got spread around and pretty soon everyone was interpreting it "on" water. Or he could have used the info about commonly misinterpreted sections of the Prophets' books or Revelations, or even the fact that the story about the adulteress who was about to be stoned and Jesus is quoted to have said, "Let he who is without sin..." yada-yada, didn't appear in the text until more than 500 years after it would have occurred and is in none of the oldest copies, and so is most certainly not original and was made up and added by some scribe or particular Church group... Any of that, and a lot of other things, he could have expounded on for his "the Bible isn't the Bible you think it is" part of his book, but Russ Kick didn't do that. His book looks kinda crackpot to me.

random

Oh, my goodness, I love banana pudding!

Pokeberries

Interesting facts about pokeberries:

The United States' Constitution was written with pokeberry ink.

The ink was also used by Civil War soldiers to write letters home because it was available in the wild during the summer months... Walt Whitman is said to have used it to write dictated letters of wounded men when he was working at a field hospital.

Why I hate hot...

So, this evening, I was going to make myself an egg sandwich for dinner... And to put on this egg sandwich, I was sautéing some diced sweet onions and what I thought were mild chili peppers. Big mistake... 'Cause the peppers were supposed to be like slightly zesty bell peppers. I've cooked with them before. No precautions necessary, totally innocuous. The capsicum is almost undetectable and has never left a significant residue on my hands before. Well, these, apparently, were mutants. I mistakenly rubbed my left eye and instantly was blinded by the pain. It took over 30 minutes of alternately flushing my eye out with cold water and sugar water to get the sting to subside enough to open it and yet another 20 minutes before the burn went away completely. My fingers are still stinging, despite being washed what must be a hundred times and soaked in sugar water for about 15 minutes. My mom tasted a small piece and said they were hotter than jalapenos... Joy...

So I decided not to use peppers in my eggs. Had to dump that batch and start a new one. Onions, dill and tarragon with Swiss cheese on a French baguette. Much better.

Miami Vice... a review

Just got home from seeing "Miami Vice." It was good... I liked it... I think... However, a warning to the faint of heart: I have never in my life seen such a hard movie, with the arguable exception of "Once Upon A Time In Mexico." It is that kind of film. Hard as the most adamant diamonds. Unlike "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" where the violence is like a sarcastic ballet, refined and calculated with savage and ironic grace, the violence in "Miami Vice" is crude, rough and harsh as a wipe out on a gravel road. If you go in for that sort of thing, I think you'll like it. The tension is also very high from the very first frame almost to the very last. If I was apt to, I would have ground my teeth. Where "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" had me saying "Hell, yeah!" as the credits began to roll, at the end, "Miami Vice" had me sitting in wide-eyed silence and shock at what I had just seen. There are many people who will probably hate it... or at least, be left sour. "Miami Vice" the movie is *not* like the television show of the 1980s, not in the slightest. It is the dark, grim, ugly, nasty seedy underbelly of Miami and the Caribbean shown in harsh relief. Be warned and use discretion when viewing.

That said, I must add - though it seems obvious - Colin Farrell is *hot*... like surface-of-the-Sun hot. He seems rather melancholy at the end of the movie (I'll not say why). Maria leaned over and said, "I'd go comfort him." I laughed, "We should all be so lucky!" I've never seen, nor can I imagine, anyone making that mustache and mullet-cut look that good and right. It's kinda disconcerting how good he makes it look in fact. Judging from my reactions to his films and interviews, I have a feeling that I would totally go for the decidedly dangerous, bad-ass, yet vulnerable, Irish type if I let myself go that way. Luckily - no doubt for all concerned - I have enough good sense and self-control to say, "Oh, that way madness lies; let me shun that."

Well, I've quoted Shakespeare, so I think this brief review is done.

Short addendum: I saw "Monster House" a few weeks ago with Lauren... Both of us found it shocking that such a film would be marketed to children. We pretty much hated it. And that almost never happens. Lauren figures that they probably wanted to make a film like that live action, but knew they'd never be able to get enough adults to see it and wouldn't be able to market it to kids that way, so they did it animated instead. I got the same impression. Both of us were sure we'd have nightmares that night. I did my best to block it from my mind for the rest of the evening and was able to escape nightmare-free. It was disturbing, both visually and also because of the twisted psychology behind it. I do not recommend it... Would much prefer the real-world violence of "Miami Vice" to the horrific, psychologically-scaring, possessed house of "Monster House."

Check this out!

If you knit or spin, this lady and her husband have tools to help. They seem like really nice people so I'm passing on the link to her blog. http://www.islandgirla.blogspot.com/ They lost their home in Hurricane Katrina but still live in the area (I think) as her husband works to clear debris in New Orleans as part of the Coast Guard. He apparently brings home usable wood he finds in the debris and they make lovely hand-turned nostepindes and darning eggs and the like. They really are quite pretty and if I needed any I'd so be getting it from them. I'd actually like a nostepinde at some point, but I don't really *need* it yet... and my spendable money is a bit tight right now.

Ahem...

::pulling out my soap-box yet again::

I've refrained from commenting on the Israeli-Lebanese "crisis" so far because I realize that emotions run high with some people on this very volatile situation. But because of the shootings in Seattle today, I've got to make some comment and not just let it pass by itself. I wish that the Israeli military was more precise with their bombings, more careful in who they hit. I will not say all the things that I wish that Hezbollah would do... like die quickly... I wish that Syria would stay the hell out of it. They all use the Palestinians as pawns in this game. If the Middle Eastern world really wanted to calm the situation and treat the Palestinian people like equals in the faith, instead of sitting back, bidding their time and just watching where the chips fall, they would give Palestinians a chunk of land somewhere over there for themselves. I realize that this wouldn't appease the extremists, but then, nothing will, short of the wholesale destruction of the State of Israel, so I won't hold my breath for that.

I would like to point out that "Palestine" is the Anglicization of the Latinization of "Land of the Philistines" and the Romans gave the province that name after the Second Jewish War to punish and shame the Jewish people in their defeat... by giving the region the name of one of their most powerful historic enemies... So if the Latinized "Palestinians" hold to that name and so would indeed be "Philistines," their ancestral land would not be all of the present State of Israel, but rather would only be Gaza. The same present-day borders of Gaza were the borders of the Philistines' land in ancient times before they began their conquest into the rest of Canaan in the times of the Judges and it's what they had after the Davidic Monarchy finally defeated them... I kid you not... Personally, I'm all for letting them have their original ancestral lands back - Gaza - if they'd stop all this... But as I said before there are those who would not be appeased.

But the answer is clearly not to just go into a JCC and start shooting random people like this 31-year-old, Muslim son of a bitch did in Seattle. Six women shot, one dead, 5 critical and one had been pregnant. All they'd been doing was hanging out and being their normal groovy selves at a JCC... It's things like this that make me wish that we'd institute a Wergeld in this country. Because not only would they eventually fry that asshole - and he will fry for it and rightly so - but he would be liable to pay monetary damages to the state and to the families of these women, and if he couldn't pay it, then his family would be liable for it - not just his immediate family either, but his uncles, cousins, etc. as well up to the third degree relations, I think it was... And they'd *have* to pay it. They'd be forced to... They'd have to sell their house, cars, anything of value to raise the cash, and if they couldn't, then their wages would be garnered until the debt was paid off. The alternative in Viking times would have been for the family members to disown the guilty party and then the families of the victims would have been allowed to hunt the bastard down and kill him in whatever creative way they saw fit. But since we live in an ostensibly civilized society, that probably wouldn't be allowed in our hypothetical Wergeld laws. The Vikings also would allow the selling of family members or the guilty party into slavery to raise the funds, but obviously, that's wrong for our society and unconstitutional. Personally, I think that if we brought back some of this "familial honor" thing that we've lost due to our emphasis on individuality, where one's bad actions not only reflect poorly on them and have consequences for them, but also for their entire families, I think we'd have a lot less random crime. Sure, there's an element of insanity on the part of the perpetrator in cases like this, and as my mom said when I suggested this to her, people who commit random crimes usually don't have all that much money, but... they'd still have to pay for it. And I think that the strong familial ties that such a system engenders would probably cut the crime rate all by itself, which can be nothing but a good thing.

::putting soap-box away now::

Wow! What a week!

I've been busy. I've been on a "normal" sleeping schedule for the last two weeks, getting up between 7am and 8am and going to bed between 10pm and 11pm... That in and of itself is *amazing*!

I've gotten almost three pounds of wool entirely processed into 2-ply dk weight yarn, all of the gray and two lbs of the white, and today I started on the brown. I've been working on my needlepoint projects and the knitting projects that are currently on my needles. And I've made about a half dozen dishcloths. There is a sale at Michaels this week. Sugar & Cream for $1.00 per ball. So with mom's insistence that she wants cheap presents to give to her co-workers this Christmas, I've stocked up. I also joined a Monthly Dishcloth pattern Yahoo Group. There's some really nice patterns there.

Also, I've decided to start watching what I eat... yet again... Because I've put on some obvious weight. Only about 10 lbs as far as I can tell, but better to check it before it becomes 20 lbs than to just let it go. So I've been making sure that I don't snack between meals when I'm just bored and not really hungry... and I've been eating Special K Berries & Yogurt for breakfast, the 6" Tuscan Chicken sandwich on wheat from Subway (I usually don't like chicken sandwiches, but it's *really* good! Everyone should try it.) and a bag of Baked Lays potato crisps for lunch and whatever my mom makes for dinner... Been doing this since Tuesday. I also have been exercising. On Tuesday and today, I rode my bike up to Subway for lunch and then to Michaels for a bike basket full of yarn and back. That's about 4 miles round trip. On Wednesday, I did housework all day... Cleaned up the living room a bit, miscellaneous other things, and did 5 loads of laundry (I still have three more until all my clothes are clean... yet, I have way too many clothes apparently...) And yesterday, I went with Maria to her barn and rode her horse, Sky, for about 10 minutes before a storm blew up out of nowhere (seriously, it went from sunny and bright to black and threatening in about five minutes - we never saw it coming and it seemed to be centered right over the barn) and there was a lot of lightening too close to us so we had to go in. Got more of a workout getting Sky all tacked up and un-tacked and Maria did most of the work. But it was something...

Zinzi came over on Tuesday evening to visit, and then again on Wednesday to watch "Dangerous Beauty" because someone at work had said that Zinzi is like a Venetian Courtesan and she didn't know what that was exactly, but she knew Hollywood had made a movie about one so she asked me if we could rent it and watch it. She decided that it was indeed a compliment after seeing the film.

So yay... Been a pretty busy week... for me anyway.

Charity opportunity

Hey all you knitters and crocheters out there! Warm Up America and Save the Children are collecting caps for newborn babies in third world countries between now and January 2, 2007. They are trying to increase awareness of infant mortality rates in third world countries and empower people to make a difference, as well as get the government to do their part (don't ask me exactly what that is, but there you go...). Go to http://www.savethechildren.org/capstothecapital/ for the patterns and instructions for where to send them. Every cap that is donated will be given to a needy newborn baby in one of the more than 100 countries in which Save the Children works, including the United States. They only need one from each person and baby caps are very easy to make and require little yarn and ridiculously little time. Get some scraps out of your stash and knit one up today!

Quest for a pretty kitchen & POTC2

So on July 4th, Home Depot was having an uber-sale on refrigerators. When my parents told me of their plan to go buy one, I said, "Don't we need a new dishwasher worse than we need a new 'fridge? Since the 'fridge is still working and the dishwasher is older?" They didn't think so... So, my parents went down and bought this *huge* 6-foot tall, side-by-side stainless steel thing with ice and water in the door made by GE. It's really great! We put the old 'fridge in the garage next to my car. It now has all the stuff my brother bought to drink the last time he was home that the rest of us don't drink in it (mostly beer), as well as the proverbial jar of jam and thing of mustard, and all of our (read: my mom's ;D ) extra ice cream is in the freezer.

Well, Joe came over to help my dad hook up the water filter and icemaker the day after it was delivered. That was a week ago, last Saturday, while I was out seeing "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" (more on that later). That night, I got up to get a drink of water and noticed that there was something weird about how the floor felt underneath my feet. It was... bumpy... and making squeaky noises when I walked on it. I turned the light on and took a good look. The whole area in between the island and the sink, dishwasher and refrigerator is warped and buckled. Water was coming up from spaces between the boards. I dried up as much as I could, left a note that I didn't do it and went back to bed.

The next day when I got up my dad told me that they had found the source of the problem. The dishwasher had decided to start leaking... (Since at that point Dad had had several hours to come to terms with it and really upset anymore, I did take a moment to say, "Didn't I say you should have gotten a new dishwasher last week?" because I am just petty enough to want to point out that I was inadvertently right about something.) But oddly, not on top of the current floor, but rather between the Pergo and the subfloor beneath it. The Pergo in that area is unsalvagable. We'll have to have it pulled up and replaced pretty soon, and only about 2 years after having it put down. But, more importantly at the time, the dishwasher had to be unhooked and we couldn't use it for a week until a new one could be delivered. My parents went back down to Home Depot, where they gave them a great deal on a new stainless steel dishwasher to match the 'fridge... and almost match the beautiful Frigidaire oven we have. I wanted them to go to Famous Tate, since they usually have the best deals, and that's where we got the Frigidaire oven, and I'm amused that their showroom still looks like an old 1950s appliances shop, but they said Home Depot was a better buy... whatever. I wasn't paying for it so I can't really say...

A few days after the dishwasher was delivered and hooked up and working perfectly, my parents decided that they might as well finish the kitchen, since they had just about everything stainless steel now, and they went out and bought a stainless steel microwave at Best Buy. So now the whole kitchen is stainless steel... If only the floor wasn't buckled and warped, and the cabinets all functioned like the design lady at Home Depot had said they would, and the lighting was better, it would be a perfect kitchen. We just got to get those few little things fixed and then it will be perfect.

But as to the state of the floor, let this be a lesson to anyone who thinks that laminant Pergo floors are easier to take care of than real plank wood... they aren't! At least with real plank, they won't buckle if a little bit of water gets on them. Pergo will begin to buckle in a matter of minutes with as little as 1/4 cup of liquid spilled on it and left. And it will never go back to how it was before. Also, if you have something like a desk chair with wheels on it, like the chair I'm sitting on in front of my computer screen, it will in about 6 months begin to rub off the picture of the wood that is printed on the surface of the Pergo. Pergo says that this will not happen, but it does... I know from experience. You can't sand away and refinish problems on Pergo like you can with real plank... And I don't mean that thin, practically veneer stuff that they're selling in home centers and calling "real wood." It is, but it's not... Now, Pergo *is* *much* cheaper than real wood, and looks better longer than most carpet does (barring things like water spilling)... but really, it's the linoleum version of wood. Just like tile looks *way* better and is more durable than linoleum, real wood looks way better and is more durable than Pergo. Same goes for Formica vs. granite for counter-tops. I just don't like laminants...

On to "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"! I loved it! I thought it was not as good a story as the first one, in that the first one was a much tighter story, and this one seemed a wee bit sloppy to me. But I still loved it! Johnny was amazing, Orli was amusing... I hated what they did to Norrington's character, and I thought Captain Jack was a bit more toned down than he was in the first one... but those are really minor issues. Though I know some people had real problems with those changes. I can't wait for the third film to be out. And I made a killing on the Hollywood Stock Exchange! Cleared over H$2,000,000 on the moviestocks alone, plus several hundred thousand on the weekend call and seasonal warrant. If only it were real and not hypothetical money...

I also saw "Superman Returns." I adore Brandon Routh. He's *lovely*... And Kevin Spacey did an admirable job. Though the psycho-without-reason Lex Luthor of the comics and movies cannot hold a candle to the tortured soul of Smallville/Michael Rosenbaum's Lex and never will... ::sighs::

Creeping frustration

I have been really busy most of the summer... most of the year... most of the last several years, if I'm to be honest. I seem to have very little time for artistic things. Now, knitting *does* get out some of my creative energies, but it's not quite the same.

I've been looking back at my old sketchbooks. I don't use my sketchbooks the same way that a lot of other people I know use theirs. I use mine to sketch out ideas for bigger projects, to record them until I have enough time to focus on them and actually do them. I'm no good at drawing... at least, it doesn't come easily to me. It's really hard to paint or draw realistically. It used to be easier, my freshman year of high school, but the drawing teachers at Blake kinda squashed all the desire to even attempt it right out of me with their restrictions and harsh, unyielding criticism. So I generally don't draw. I'm too methodical for it. So yeah... looking at my sketchbooks. I found several projects that I sketched out years ago. One is for a a water vessel called a "Miriam's Cup." The concept is a fairly new one in Judaism, to honor the part Miriam played in the Exodus. I want to throw it, or at least part of it with the rest being done with coils, in porcelain because porcelain has the proper plasticity. It won't fall apart the way stoneware, raku or terracotta would. Believe me, I've tried already with all these other types cause that's what Blake stocked. Unfortunately, it took until the last day of my Junior year to figure out what it was I needed to try it with and during my one semester Senior year, I had no time for the ceramics room. At home, I have no wheel, no money for a wheel and no way of getting my hands on porcelain. I have yet to find a supplier that will ship it in small enough quantities and none of the art supply stores carry it anymore. I checked during the later half of my senior year, having planned to buy a block of it and go over to Blake during after-school hours and work in the art rooms then... but couldn't do that... So I still want to make Miriam's Cup... But now, in addition to Miriam's Cup, I want to do some other biblical art.

I'm fascinated by the concept of the well and its connection to modest, yet surprisingly independent women. Rebecca, Rachel, Tzipporah, Miriam... all are mentioned in connection with drawing water from their wells. It wouldn't be a far leap to say that Sarah, Leah and Yocheved had connections to the same common domestic task, so necessary in the arid lands of their birth, but I can't recall the text being explicate in their cases. I want to explore that further, but as I write this, I really don't have time 'cause I really need to get back to my spinning. But I want to explore it artistically and soon.

There is a cross-stitch at Scarlet Quince of "Jacob and Rachel" at the Well by William Dyce. I think I have to buy it and stitch it. I think I really *have* to... I'm frustrated by lack of time which seems to creep up on me. I need to get a proper tapestry loom to stitch it on, and I really should finish the three cross-stitch projects I have going before I start on this one.

Eventually, I want to do art projects centering on each of the Matriarchs, as well as all the other major female figures from Deborah to Huldah (I know, she's obscure... somewhere in Second Chronicles, 22-23.27), fictional and historically accepted alike. It's gonna take awhile...

Elusive painting

I got caught up in a cross-stitch pattern website that I found a little while ago. http://www.scarletquince.com/ Their patterns are gorgeous! I've never seen patterns so detailed! And they ask for suggestions for patterns if what one is looking for is not on the site already.

Well, there's a painting... I know it's out there somewhere... It's of a woman walking down a short flight of stone steps, starring straight ahead, with a jar balanced on her head, and at the bottom of the steps there is water... like a pool or something. She has dark hair and she's wearing robes. I can't really remember any other details. It's a Pre-Raphaelite painting, I think... and very similar to Leighton or Blair-Leighton or Dicksee or Waterhouse in style... I thought that it was called "Rebecca" or "Rebecca at the Well" or something like that, but I'm pretty sure that something would have come up in my searching if it was. If anyone has any clue what painting I'm talking about, I'd be most grateful for a message from you.

Environmental, Health & Agricultural News for July...

Brought to us all by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Find out more about them here.

Most important first: Due to lobbying by the big commercial food companies to make their job easier and our food less healthy and regulated, the House of Representatives has passed the National Uniformity for Food Act. This will wipe out state and local food safety laws, including laws concerning the sale of shellfish and milk, bringing everything across the country under lowest common denominator of Federal control, and making it more difficult for small family-owned farms and restaurants. The bill is now in the Senate for consideration. Please write to your Senator as soon as possible asking them to oppose the National Uniformity for Food Act. Click here to learn more about this bill and to write to your Senators.

I'm not necessarily concerned about this per se, but I do find it highly interesting. Apparently, the use of Bovine Growth Hormone to increase milk production in non-organic cows has been linked to human women conceiving twins more often than they normally would. The rate of the births of twins is twice as high in the United States than in Great Britain where the use of BGH in milk production is banned. The rate of births of twins is also *five times* higher in women who eat animal products in their diets rather than women who eat vegan diets exclusively... (Personally, I'm not sure how much I care for that statistic, since I cannot be convinced that vegetarian or especially vegan diets are necessarily healthier than balanced traditional ones. My first instinct would be to believe that women who eat animal products as a part of their diet are more fertile than women who eat vegan diets because of the proteins they get, rather than the BGH to which they *may* be exposed. I'd be more likely to believe this statistic if instead of comparing vegan women to non-vegan women, the study compared women who eat organic dairy, which does not contain BGH, to women who eat non-organic BGH-containing dairy, and the statistic was found to be the same. Because comparing vegans to non-vegans compares not only the consumption of dairy vs. those who don't eat dairy, but also the consumption of eggs, meat, etc. as well as other habits that go along with the vegan lifestyle, *none* of which are taken into account by this study.) BGH has already been linked directly to a higher rate of twin births in cows. It increases an insulin-like growth factor called IGF, a protein produced in the milk of both cows and humans, that promotes ovulation and may help early-stage embryos survive, according to the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. More information can be found here.

There are now 350 organizations who support the passing of the "Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), a bill to ban the use of seven classes of medically important antibiotics as feed additives for livestock and poultry that are not sick," including the Infectious Diseases Society of America. (Learn more about PATMA.) In related news, a bill funding the FDA to study the link between antibiotic use in food-stock animals and antibiotic resistence in humans was passed in the House of Representatives. It is now awaiting consideration in the Senate.

The Union of Concerned Scientists using the Freedom of Information Act has uncovered the failure of the USDA to enforce laws concerning the production of crops for pharmaceutical and industrial use. They found that the USDA did not do the manditory inspections and oversight in North Carolina pharmaceutical rice fields, even after the active hurricane season last year when other crops could have been contaminated. Read more about it here.

Two new reasons to eat your vegetables fresh and locally grown! According to the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, if people in Iowa ate their five servings of fruits and vegetables a day every day for just three months out of the year, eating produce that is grown in Iowa, it would mean an extra $302 million and 4,000 new jobs for the Iowa economy. Now, apply the same principle to the state you live in... Do you get where I'm going with this? You can read the entire report here. In related news, a health insurance company in Wisconsin called Physicians Plus is currently paying people up to $200 a year to subscribe to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, which supplies them with local produce. Read more about Physicians Plus program here. And go here to find out more about CSA programs and locally grown food in your area.

More Reasons Not to Like China

::clears throat, taps microphone in preparation of PSA::

China is refusing to pay import "dumping" tariffs which it is required to pay for exporting agricultural goods from China into the United States. For every $5.00 that US Customs collects, China owes yet another $15.00 to the United States. The purpose of this tariff is to inflate the price of Chinese grown and produced agricultural goods so that the American farmers and producers can compete with the overall cheaper product that China produces. Customs says it can do nothing about China's refusal to pay until Congress enacts legislation enabling them to do so. Congress says "they're working on it"... Aren't they always? But until they get it worked out, US producers of these goods are loosing money at a staggering rate.

Most especially effected are honey producers, who have seen the price of honey fall from $1.50 per pound to $0.80 per pound in a very short amount of time. China is using Walmart-esque tactics, lowing the price of honey so much that they put their American competition out of business. The US producers are paying their workers $9.00+ an hour and their profits have hurt severely for it. So please, do *not* buy honey that is *not* labeled that it was produced in the United States. If it's not labeled that, more likely than anything it comes from China. China is stealing from America and does *not* need your help! The same problem is happening for American mushroom growers and crawfish farmers, although nothing has dropped as drastically as honey prices.

Chinese imports have also dropped the prices on other agricultural goods in the US though, not just honey, mushrooms and crayfish, so please read your labels on all fresh food, meat and seafood to make sure that your money is going to American workers and only buy good that are produced in the United States.

Thank you... ::stepping off my soap box::

new knitty.com

The new issue of knitty was published July 5th. Unlike with the last issue, there are *a lot* of things I like in this one.

The Lacanau "shoes" (although I hate the colors...)

The Fetching, Capathia, and Knucks mitts...

The Perdita bracelets look awesome! Definitely on my list of things to knit soon.

The Muff

Lickety-Split and Dancing Lady socks

Tulip-Toes baby shoes

This Swell hat and this Sock Monkey too...

And these Manresa legwarmers are by far my favorite legwarmers I've seen on the net so far...

Allete angel wings and knitted calla lilies are both pretty nifty patterns...

That's almost every pattern they published in this issue... Don't know which ones I'll end up knitting, there's still so many other things I'm working on.

Mabry Mill

So my parents are actually getting into looking for real estate in the mountains now. Mom's looking for 10+ acre pieces and says even up to around 80 acres wouldn't be out of the question if the price was right. We want meadows as well as wooded parts and some water would be nice as well. As per Susan's suggestion, Mom's been checking in to Floyd, Henry and Patrick Counties. She told me she found several good looking options in Floyd, which sounds good to me. So I went to see what I could find on the web about the county in general, just because I was curious. And lo and behold, what do I find, but that the Mabry Mill is located in Floyd County!

Now, this probably is a moment (if they hadn't already) when most people would give a blank stare and ask, "So?" ...

So! When I was a small child, and actually right up til I was about 20, before we started work on the remod and rearranged the furniture in the living room for the first time in... well, almost 20 years... we had a pointillism drawing done by my parents' good friend Beecher of the Mabry Mill. Now, I had no idea that it was the Mabry Mill or even what the Mabry Mill was, but that's my favorite of all his pointillisms that we have, and actually the only one I could really stand. Most of the others are of owls, which creeped me out with their large, blank staring eyes when I was younger. Anyway, it's still around here somewhere, but don't ask me where. I wish I could find some of his work on the web, but we haven't seen him since before he and his wife devorced about 10 years ago, I can't remember his last name and my parents are asleep so I can't ask them... Oh, well... another day...

Was also checking up on the weather in Floyd and it looks like it so beats out Boone where the snow is concerned... We're talking mere inches on average as opposed to the 5 feet Boone gets every year! Definitely a plus!

AP article on Organic Dairy controversy

Organic dairy growth raises concerns
By STEVE KARNOWSKI, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday Jun 27, 12:54 PM ET

JORDAN, Minn. - The cows on Pam and Jeff Riesgraf's farm chomped happily away on lush green grass on a warm, sunny afternoon. Their milk would soon find its way to grocery stores, where organic dairy products are a hot item.

The Riesgraf farm represents one vision for organic dairy — small- and medium-sized family farms where the cows have names and spend the growing season on pasture.

A different kind of organic dairy farm is emerging out west — corporate-owned feedlot operations with thousands of cows that are fed organic grain but, according to critics, get little chance to graze.

Fears that big operations will muscle out family farms have produced a backlash, including a boycott by the Organic Consumers Association against the country's biggest organic milk brand, Horizon Organic.

Organic farmers and consumer groups are hoping the U.S. Department of Agriculture will level the field. The agency is considering whether to mandate that milk bearing the "USDA Organic" seal come from cows that have significant access to pasture, a move smaller producers say would give them the protection they need.

Chris Hoffman drank Horizon milk until she learned about the dispute and switched brands.

The Sherburne, N.Y., woman said she'd thought she was buying milk from "family farms with happy cows." To her, feedlot milk does not follow the spirit of organic farming.

"I just think it's patently dishonest. And it just really ticked me off," she said.

Horizon, part of Fort Worth, Tex.-based Dean Foods Co., sells about half of the organic milk in this country, through retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Its president and CEO, Joe Scalzo, said Horizon is a strong supporter of family farms, helping hundreds make the transition to organic. Horizon is just trying to meet the "exponential" growth in a market where demand outstrips supply by some 20 percent, he said.

However, Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst with the research group Cornucopia Institute, countered, "There's been a near consensus in the organic community that these factory farms are repugnant to the consumer and put organic farms at a disadvantage."

Kastel said organic milk consumers are willing to pay more because they believe it's produced to higher ethical standards that benefit the environment, the animals and family farmers.

"They don't think they're supporting rich corporate investors who think organics is a great way to cash in," he said.

The Organic Trade Association says the U.S. organic dairy sector racked up $2.1 billion in sales last year, up 24 percent from 2004. The OTA says organics now make up 3.5 percent of all dairy products sold in the U.S.

While Scalzo said the boycott has had "very, very little" effect, he acknowledged Horizon has had to spend time explaining its position to stores.

While Broomfield, Colo.-based Horizon has taken the most heat, the critics also slam Aurora Organic Dairy, of Boulder, Colo., which provides private-label organic milk to chains including Costco, Safeway, Giant and Wild Oats.

Aurora says it milks about 4,100 and 3,500 cows at its farms near Platteville, Colo., and Dublin, Texas, and will open a 3,200-cow operation near Kearsey, Colo., this fall.

The company says its approach is unique in the organic dairy sector, allowing it to keep prices affordable while producing the highest quality milk. Aurora says its cows get a balanced diet that includes organic grain and hay, as well as grazing on organic pasture.

Aurora spokeswoman Amy Barr said organic standards shouldn't be based on an "image of Old MacDonald's Farm" held by people who may never have been on a farm. Pasture is important, but it's not the only measure of animal welfare, nor is an all-grass diet necessarily the best for a cow's health, she said.

Horizon milks about 4,000 cows at its farm near Paul, Idaho, and about 450 at its farm near Kennedyville, Md. But Scalzo said Horizon gets over 80 percent of its milk from 340 family farms, all but three of them with herds of 500 cows or fewer.

"Farms of all sizes are going to be needed — at least for the foreseeable future, the next two to five years — to meet demand," Scalzo said.

Executives with Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market Inc. recently toured Horizon's Idaho farm and were pleased with improvements made there, said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of communications and quality standards.
"The cows looked in good health. They were certainly curious, which is always a good sign. They're being taken care of," Wittenberg said.

Whole Foods was not impressed, however, by Aurora's Colorado farm.

"It remains unacceptable for us," she said, declining to elaborate.

The USDA is now drafting a proposed rule that will likely come out this fall, and there will be another comment period, spokeswoman Joan Shaffer said.
Horizon supports the key proposal, which would require that organic cows spend at least 120 days a year on pasture, Scalzo said.

Aurora opposes that standard as unscientific and told the USDA eastern Colorado gets only about 45 to 60 days of significant edible grass per year.

The nation's largest farmer-owned organic dairy co-op, the Organic Valley Family of Farms, based in LaFarge, Wis., says its 572 family-owned dairy farms nationwide already exceed the proposed standards.

Organics have been a lifeline to many family farmers because organic milk fetches a higher price than conventional milk, allowing dairies to stay small. The Riesgrafs, who milk about 55 cows near Jordan southwest of Minneapolis, credit Organic Valley with keeping them in business.

"We have a stable price, and we've slowly been increasing our price," Jeff Riesgraf said.

A few miles away, near New Prague, Dave and Florence Minar have carved out their own niche, producing and bottling organic milk at Cedar Summit Farm, which milks about 160 cows.

Dave Minar and the Riesgrafs said they're confident they can compete as long as the USDA requires meaningful access to pasture. They don't back the boycott, and sympathize with the smaller organic farmers who supply Horizon.

"We're trying to farm our land and our livestock in the way nature intended," Minar said.

*****
On the Net:
Organic Consumers Association: http://www.organicconsumers.org
The Cornucopia Institute: http://www.cornucopia.org
Horizon Organic: http://www.horizonorganic.com
Aurora Organic Dairy: http://www.auroraorganic.com
Organic Valley: http://www.organicvalley.coop
Cedar Summit Farm: http://www.cedarsummit.com
Whole Foods Market http://www.wholefoods.com
USDA National Organic Program: http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/indexIE.htm USDA National Organic Standards Board: http://www.ams.usda.gov/nosb/index.htm

Back from vacation!

I returned from vacation with my parents late yesterday afternoon. We had gone to a place called Seven Devils near Boone, NC and rented a three bedroom, three bathroom + sleeping loft cabin for a week...

As I may or may not have mentioned before, Appalachian State University is at the top of my list for grad school and remains there. We toured the school and talked to some of the staff there last Wednesday. It was a good experience. The area is very nice, if more than a little tourist-y... But after living in Florida all my life, I think I can deal with tourist-y... ;D

Susan, Jason and the bitties also came up for a day or so and it was wonderful to have them there. I hope they had as much fun as we did. Jason makes great hamburgers. I'll be posting photos as soon as I get them back from Walgreens.

Ohio is joining South Dakota...

The crazy conservatives are at it again!! This time in Ohio. An abortion ban has been preposed which will ban all abortions for all females at any time, even in cases of emergency to save a woman's life, in the great and sovereign state of Ohio. No questions, no consulations, no considerations for anyone, period. I'm utterly disgusted.

The bill's sponsor, State Rep. Tom Brinkman (need I mention that he's a Republican?), would rather play politics with his constituents' lives than get serious about preventing unintended pregnancy... because of course he's against another proposed Bill in the Ohio State House that would expand the availabilty of contraceptives to the women of Ohio. ::rolls eyes:: He doesn't find this in the slightest bit ironic.

Anyway, extremists in Ohio hope this ban will become a "wedge" issue that will get right-wing voters to the polls in November. National attention is the best antidote to these underhanded tactics can you imagine mainstream Americans supporting a bill that could make it a crime to save a woman's life by performing an abortion? I'm hoping that such issues will actually polarize the right evenmore and get moderate and liberal voters to the poles in record numbers to vote against the crazy conservatives... but this could be wishful thinking on my part. All I know is that any and every time I'm presented with an opportunity to cast a ballot, I'll be casting a ballot! Never let it be said that I take my right to vote, participate in government and shape public policy for granted. No siree!

I recommend checking out the Planned Parenthood Action center page to see what you can do to help out with fighting this ban.

Do not make the mistake of believing that if such a ban passes in Ohio that it will stop there. The rights of women and all persecuted minorities will be chipped away at until there is nothing left unless everyone stands up and objects to such laws when they are first proposed. The South Dakota ban flew under the radar until it was too late. Don't let that happen again!

K... off my soap box...

Interesting news

On TBO.com, currently, there is a little thing in the interactive section about a new ringtone that teenagers have begun using to get away with getting phone messages during class. The tone is at a pitch that cannot be heard by many middle-aged to older adults, but can be heard by younger people. It's quite interesting. If you've not heard of this, and it's still up on the site, you may want to check it out. It's in the lower right-hand part of the page with a title of "Can you hear this sound?" They're taking a poll... Might not be there anymore if too much time has passed and not everyone can hear it... It's not much anyway, just a very, very high pitched tone that is somewhat irritating. I could hear it in my left ear quite clearly, but could just barely hear it in my right due to the decreased hearing acuity in that ear.

Another interesting thing they talked about on the local news tonight was that there is a sinkhole developing in southern Lakeland this week. It's in the bottom of a private lake, surrounded by million dollar homes. One house is crumbling due to the shifting ground, and a dock, boat ramp and gazebo have also bit the dust. More may follow and the lake itself may disappear altogether as the ground settles. Because the land (or, in this case, lake) where the sinkhole has developed is private property and not public, the reporters said that home owners must pay for any repairs that are necessary all by themselves. Word to the wise, people, don't just buy property cause it looks pretty or the house that the developer is building on it looks prestigious. Check flood patterns, yearly rainfall, the distance above sealevel, and find out of what the soil is composed, as well as the bedrock... There might be other things to check for too, but that's what I'm thinking would be a prudent start off the top of my head. I know that developers sometimes do not disclose pertinent information when they know that the property could be unstable to the people who are buying the property from them... One reason I dislike developers in general. :D

1864 shawl totally done!!

:D I finally did the fringe. Since my wrist is protesting spinning, I figured I might as well finish up the first of the 1864 shawls. It is currently being blocked on my bed. Here are pics:

Tropical Storm Alberto

How's this for ironic?

We got skirted by at least half a dozen Cat 1 to Cat 3 hurricanes in the last two years, never had any damage to the house or property, thank G-d. A few tree limbs, a lot of leaves, some mistletoe got knocked into the yard, but that was about it. We got skirted by the first Tropical Storm of the year, Alberto, and two panels of the pool screen got ripped off the frame and tossed into the pool... which I just fished out with a tomato plant support post... along with a little green frog who apparently got out of the frog pond and into the pool during the storm, silly thing. The frog is now safely back in the frog pond. I also had to get some posts and prop up the tomato trellis, which blew over during the storm. The tomatoes are so thick on it that they are acting like a sail, and with every little breeze, it falls over now. Most frustrating...

On the up side, the lawn has instantly become completely green over night. Don't you love St. Augustine and Ba'hia grass? Two days ago it was all brown and dry as can be and now it's all green and lush... You can't get lower maintenance than that!

::sighs::

I've spun two solid pounds of my four pound stash of white Corriedale wool in the last two weeks (see the photo of most of it)... That might not sound like very much, but today my left wrist started to kill me, and even now as I type, my right wrist is not feeling quite right. ::sighs:: I've got a wrap-around ice pack on my left one now. I'm hoping that they don't fail entirely until Saturday. We're leaving for vaca on Sunday, so Saturday is mostly last-minute laundry, packing and helping Joe outside with getting all the plants in the yard settled for the next week, and I probably won't have much time for spinning. I want to get as much as possible spun by then. After I've got the white all spun and ready to knit, I'll do the brown and the gray, not necessarily in that order. While I'm spinning those, I hope to also have the dyestuffs collected and able to dye some of the white wool to make pretty colors.

HPV Vaccine

(Now, I feel the need to note that I'm not a doctor or medical official of any kind. The information that I've written below has been gleaned from various articles at various media sites around the internet, and while I think it's correct, there may be errors of which I'm unaware. Always consult a medical doctor about any health concerns.)

Don't know if you've all heard or not, but Merck (the drug company) has come up with a vaccine against HPV (the leading cause of cervical cancer). They've been working on it for several decades, and another HPV vaccine, by GlaxoSmithKlein, is currently being tested in Europe. The Merck vaccine doesn't protect against all strains, only 4 (two - #6 and #11 - known to cause only genital warts and two - #16 and #18 - known to cause 70% of cervical cancer cases) and will not (apparently) eliminate the need for Pap tests entirely, but it will drastically reduce the chances of contracting a strain of HPV that causes cervical cancer. There are 13 strains of HPV which are not covered by the vaccine and are known to cause the other 30% of cervical cancer cases. The GlaxoSmithKlein vaccine targets only strains 16 and 18.

In any case, the vaccine is currently recommended for all girls ages 9 to 12. The FDA has approved the vaccines' use for females only ages 9 to 26 if they do not have HPV. If a woman has one of these strains of HPV and gets the vaccine, it will only aggravate the virus. Males who are not infected with those strains should (after the FDA approves it) also be able to get the vaccine because, while HPV is not known to cause any cancer in men, they can spread the virus very easily. Apparently, it protects better if people are vaccinated before age 13 because the immune response to it was stronger at the onset of puberty in all test subjects, but will be effective no matter the age in the targeted range of 9 to 26. I'm definitely going to look in to getting vaccinated and suggest everyone else who can look into it for themselves and/or for their daughters (and sons too, once it is FDA approved for males).

The vaccine requires three different shots, each approximately six months apart, in sequence. Each shot will cost approximately $150 for those without insurance, which I realize is a real kick in the ass. But because it is a "FDA recommended vaccine" now, insurance companies *should* cover the full cost.

There are some organizations, such as the "Christian Medical and Dental Association" and other elements of the "religious right," who think that younger girls should not be allowed to get the vaccine because it will reduce their fear of having sex. ::blink, blink:: I wish I made that up... and will not go on to explain all the things wrong with such thinking as I believe they are readily apparent to anyone who would have as much a problem with that kind of thinking as I do.

Eventful Week

Done a lot this week...

The garden is just about done for the season. I'm waiting for the last of the black-eyed peas and lima beans to dry on the plants so I can pick them, finish drying them out and then put them away to be used in soups, etc. for months to come. Other than that, only the eggplant, tomatoes and pepper plants are still producing. I've been working on clearing everything else out and planting the herb beds and clearing the new flower beds around the addition on the East side of the house. Dad pulled out the dead corn stalks today...

Meanwhile, I went horseback riding with Maria today in Plant City... She has a very old (23 years old) Thoroughbred named Sky... She's a sweetie, but can be quite moody... She spooked while I was on her, and Lord only knows how I didn't fall off... I guess because I didn't panic for some reason... When I got off (very carefully!) after only about half an hour or so, I had to swing my right leg over Sky's head because, for the life of me, I couldn't get my leg to move the other way, over her back... just would work, got a cramp in my hamstring when I tried... Then, when I swung down, I crumpled all the way to the ground because my legs just wouldn't hold me up... They were about as effective as cooked spaghetti. But I didn't get hurt, just laughed, and Maria laughed too because it was just so sad, I guess. LOL! I'm just so out of shape for horseback riding. I also got to learn some about preparing a horse for riding, brushing them, and putting the saddle on, all that... and washing them down afterward, and also about shoveling dung... It was fun (even learning how to use a pitch fork was fun). But hot!! About 94 degrees today. Thank G-d for cross-breeze and dog-trots!! We'll have to do it again soon...

Yesterday morning, Mark, the yard guy, came to mow our lawn... He also mows the next-door neighbors' yard, the yard of the neighbor across the street, and two others further down the road... He does them all at the same time, single-handed and very early in the morning. He's usually all done by 9:30am. Anyway... I was actually awake (miracle of miracles), and as I sat down with my breakfast at the computer to check my e-mail, I looked out the window and what did I see but a family of raccoons racing up one of the 40-foot wild cherry trees. Apparently, Mark had disturbed their rest and the mother thought it prudent to move her four babies out of their hiding place and up a tree until he left. I told Dad (and Mom... she screamed and threatened to poison them... raccoons scare her...), grabbed my camera and telephoto lens and raced out the door. I think I got some good pictures. They'll be posted as soon as I get them back from Walgreens.

Other than that, I've been spinning like a mad woman. Considering that I only have one bobbin until the other 5 arrive next week, I'm a bit impressed by the amount I've been able to spin this week. I've cleared about 22 ounces of wool, 2 ounces at a time. I still have 4.6 lbs left to spin, and then it's on to plying and dying...

I've been putting off adding the fringes to the shawl I finished knitting. I figured we're going to be out of town in two weeks and I should work on the stuff I can't take with me, like the spinning, while I'm still at home. So until the spinning is done, I'm going to be focusing on that as much as possible.

Fed up with Big Oil?

Check out the 12 Steps program for reducing or eliminating oil dependency... http://www.ran.org/12steps

Super Mario Bros. Live!!

This is very amusing for those of us who played the game on the original Nentendo game console... Super Mario Bros. Live From what I can tell, it's the whole entire first level of the game acted out on stage... I am very amused...