Morning Christy. Thanks for the beautiful picutres (Greece, kitties, flowers) that you post to cleanse the pallette from all of this discussion on Torture.

Morning, Christy – yes, everyone concentrate some powerful healing energy toward katymine….

Hey, Christy – any seeds up Chez Reddhead? I sowed some over last weekend and they just jumped out of the soil. Up and ‘rarrin’ to go.

Thank you for reminding us again today….Keeping Katy and Elmore in our thoughts & prayers….

Good morning, Christy, RevBev, TobyWollinand beguiner. Katymine, I’m thinking of you.

katymine – best of healing thoughts to you.

Morning everyone. Who has the coffee… *YAWN*

George’s rose bush is bursting with buds. The passion flower vine is blooming and everything else is either blooming or getting ready to bloom.

There’s coffee?

We have a few up — radishes, a few carrots, and just about all the sugar snap and snow peas. I need to pull out some lettuce plants that got waterlogged and foundered and pop in seeds in their place. It’s been a wee bit rainy thus far, and some of my butterhead lettuces didn’t like that. No big, I’ll just put in some mesclun mix instead.

Will have to get a picture of our little garden and show you guys because it looks really nice at the moment. *g* Who knows if it will stay that way as it heats up…

btw, Lindy — we’ll be in NOLA from May 17 through the 23rd. I was thinking about a koffee klatch at Cafe du Monde (I know, could I be more of a tourist? *G*), but then wondered if something scheduled during the day while folks were working was not a good idea.

Any thoughts on a better evening spot for drinks or dinner or something instead? That might be better to get to say howdy to a few folks. There are some NOLA bloggers that I’d like to meet, too, so I’m trying to figure out a good time/place for something like that. But, having never been to NOLA before, there are so many good choices that I’m having trouble narrowing something down.

If anyone else has thoughts, please chime in…

Anywhere there’s CHS, there’s bound to be coffee. *g*

Sad, but true. *G* Having some Sumatra blend here this morning.

I got your coffee Christy.

I prefer a good French Roast fresh ground and brewed in a french press. It’s Dean’s Beans for me…
http://www.deansbeans.com/coffee/aboutus.html

Today i’ll be planting a few Native Plum and Native Hazelnut trees on my property. Exciting stuff for me. Though digging all those “$100″ holes is messing with my back (15 trees in all). Once they’re in the ground, it’s back to work on seeding flats and planting starts!

Yay! I’m glad i got laid off ! Now i can garden all the time!

:)

(((katymine)))

I don’t recall having exchanged comments directly with katymine, but have read and liked her input many times and thought she sounded like a very nice, intelligent, and caring person. My thoughts and best wishes are with her and Elmore.

These last few years have been too hectic for me, but it promises to settle down in about six months. I’m in Butte, MT for another three weeks. The light is that lovely early and late northern light already, but the temp this morning is18 degrees with snow possibilities for the next week. There are birds singing, though, as a promise that this won’t go on forever.

Then I go to Fargo and Minneapolis for visits, see the dear son whom I hate to leave, in Des Moines, try to sell a house in Lawrence, KS, and then move back to NZ for five years, should I live that long. Maybe a garden there? My goal is to get to Lawrence while the peonies and iris are still blooming. Here, spring still feels like more of an idea than a reality. It is a pleasure to read of seeds sprouting.

You want to hang in the quarter? There are lots of good places there with outdoor tables (which I love) but there are good spots also in the Fauberg Marigny (close to the quarter) and in the uptown area. I’ll ask around and e-mail you. I would have been asking before, but I thought you’d already settled on Cafe du Monde.

Anybody need some lettuce? Buttercrunch and red speckled……none of the weekend neighbors are here and there’s GOBS! that need to find a home.

I turn 40 in June, and both my parents ar turning 70. My bro just finished another round of chemo for Hodgkins disease. So in October, we’re taking a family trip to Poland, Hungary, Austria, and Czech Republic. Hope it really happens.

Our coffee’s ready. A local fair trade roast dubbed Midnight Oil. Tasty.

I learned this fall that I share a birthday with katymine and have been pulling for her especially hard so we can celebrate the next one together online as well.

Thinking of you, Katymine, and praying that you will back to commenting with us real soon.

Keeping katymine in my thoughts and prayers. As the last 8 years has proved, us dems have had to have a constitution of steel and a great ability to fight back against intolerable odds. that should serve katymine well.

haven’t been around here much. Just watching and reading. I live in Minnesota, the greatest political soap opera of recent days. That dang Supreme Court … why give normy that much time. Oh yeah, there are pawlenty holdovers.

With Minnesota turning warmer, sometimes, I am out riding and trailering my very much loved horse, Jodee, out to the parks. We have become quite an attraction out this way. I am the old, gray-haired lady (used to be a redhead), riding the old red mare, driving a beat up red suburban, and pulling the very faded red trailer. I go alone most times. just Jodee and me. (mm, maybe I will paint that on the trailer).

Speaking of vacations, I might end up visiting NOLA too. Mr.Solai and I are starting to plan for a winter vacation. December has always been the ideal month for us to vacation (business-wise) but we never have since I was always too involved with holiday matters. But now the kiddies are adults (need grand children desperately) and no one seems to notice whether I do all that extra stuff or not. So, for the first time, we’re taking off the first week in December. Started talking about Cancun but I’m not booking anything till I see how that virus plays out. Our second choice is NOLA, which we’ve never been to and has always intrigued us.
‘Course, this all depends on my husband keeping his job. *g*

(((((katymine))))

GM Christy. Thanks so much for your big heart and for making sure everyone gets to hug katymine this morning. I hope you can take all the squeezing, katymine.

Hopefully by that time, Casa de Lindy y George will be less of a construction site and I can invite you both over for dinner :)

(((((Katymine)))))

Lots of positive energy directed your way, hon. I hope you can feel the hugs through the toobz. We’re with you every step of the way. ;->

Due to my bad back and and injection I had on Thurs to help the pain, I am missing my Aunt Florence’s Memorial service today. Could not sit in the car to go 5 hours. I wrote a tribute that will be read there today.
So here is my tribute to Aunt Florence and my Uncle Howie.

I love you and miss you every day. Thank you for all you did for me!

We are hitting 80 today, the highest so far and sunny!!!

We’re supposed to be in the 80s this weekend, too. Weird weather thus far this year, but I’ll take a little sunshine and warmth, thanks. *g*

Great choices…nothing agst. Cancun. New Orleans is so unique and vibrant, it is a great place to visit. Maybe another time for Cancun.

IRT, Cancun. I really have the bug to go there (no pun intended). My daughter went to Playa del Carmen in January and was in awe over the beauty.

Redd, I know your beautiful little Peanut is sweet and precious. But just you wait. Some of them (both of ours – we are so-o-o fortunate!) just keep getting sweeter every year right on into their own adulthood.

Our younger recently gave a dynamite solo recital assisted by some of his friends/colleagues last week. We’re still glowing. Oh, and as we were sitting there in the audience waiting for the fun to begin, in slips his older brother who somehow suspended his own busy schedule to come sit with us and plump up the family support crew.

The recital was amazing (disclaimer: this is mom talking), and the crowd not only ample but very enthusiastic. During and after and always, sonny is gracious and seems to know all the right things to say and do. Where he got THAT talent, I have not a clue. I’m alternately tongue-tied and babbling nonsense in public, as you’ve probably noticed, ahem.

The kids. Maybe they will save the world. We can dream…. Meanwhile, I still have little tunes and big ones swirling around in my head.

True: the beauty is there and the ruins…great choices.

OT: UT put up statute yesterday to honor Barbara Jordan. It has gotten good coverage, including only statute for a woman…..progress here. Isn’t she missed?

I’ve been at TripAdvisor a lot this week looking at Cancun forums. There’s a whole forum about people getting harassed by family and friends angry that they’re going to Mexico. One person even wrote that the patriarch in her family threatened that anyone going to Mexico would be ‘out of the will’. I didn’t want to inject politics into the travel forum but I wanted to ask if the harassers are all FoxNews viewers.

How fun for you and the mister. Will be fun to see where The Peanut takes her gifts going forward…right now, they seem to revolve around stories with her stuffed animals.

(((((katytmine))))))

Good morning everyone. I’d love to do some gardening but being unemployed has left me strapped for cash. I was walking around the garden center the other day to get a sense of where prices stand this year, and it’s just now in the budget. I’ll put some seeds down and see where it goes.

Too much family drama here on top of the unemployment situation here. As I posted on my Facebook status, who needs lemonade, just stop with the lemons.

((((((Katymine))))))
Hot here in OK as I watch the grands and to think we had 18″ of snow last weekend in CO. It has been in the 80s there too since then. Normal spring would be nice.

I was thinking about Barbara Jordan’s leadership through the Watergate years. And wondering what she’d be saying these days. I’m missing the scholarship and speaking of yesteryear of late, I think…but, as Mr. ReddHedd said to me, when you think about it, the true leaders have always been far too few and far between.

So sorry it’s been so hectic and icky for you of late. Here’s to better, calmer days ahead. And a big job offer to boot.

“In his spare time,” sonny sent us copies of these old gems, so I share the nonsense:

“Confucious said, ‘Individuals who perforce are constrained to be domiciled in vitreous structures of patent frangibility should of no account employ petrous formations as projectiles.’”

and

“Hail the prudent avis, who matutinally deserts the coziness of his abode, for he shall ensnare the vermiculate creature.”

I have really tried to think who the statesman may be right now….and who would be a great Senate MajorityLeader. With Kennedy less on the scene, who does one even want to hear speak. Thinking about Vitter, Newt, etc…..I really do not want to hear about diapers or a wide stance. What has happened to our debate?

… as well it should be. So many people strive so hard, they often forget to let the children have their childhood. Good on you, mom & dad Redd!

She is sorely missed in our household. What a grand lady! We need more strong compassionate voices like hers.

Thanks Christy, it is what it is. It’s just disturbing to see what I’m related to family wise.

No big, I’ll just put in some mesclun mix instead.
PUAC is my favoratist time of the week! But, I really shouldn’t start reading until I’ve had my first cuppa. I thought you said you were putting in some mescaline.
Maybe, because I’ve been thinking of Katy so much and how she lives in Arizona and…oh, you guys know how my weird brain works. Anyhoo.

It was always really sad to see the worst of family come out at the most stressful times for clients when I was in private practice. You’d think people would pull together. But that’s not always the case.

And it always makes a bad situation that much worse…usually for incredibly stupid and craven reasons. Sorry you are having to deal with some of that.

Can you believe how much coverage there has been of the demise of Pontiac…I think Ive missed something (else)

It ain’t going to get better. The moderates in the rethug party have deserted it and all that is left there is the rabid & stupid. To be nominated someone has to cater to stupid. See Arlen Spector.

Morning, all — first time in a long time I’ve made it to PUAC before everyone else had already left. :)

Sending more good thoughts to katymine, and all our Pups.

Just got word that a H.S. sweetheart spent 2008 in Iraq, having been “unexpectedly” recalled. He’s fine, but was away from teenage daughters for a year. We’d lost touch for a number of years and I knew he was out of active duty (Navy) so never really thought about it. I know there are thousands of stories, many that are unspeakably sad. But this hit close to home and brought all the horror back in a big rush. The horror of these wars, including that they’re still going on. The horror that American leaders did everything they did.

Sorry to bring a sad thought to the party.

There is much to celebrate in life. Daffodils & tulips coming up here in MN and the beginning of the brilliant green on the trees. The thought of Christy meeting friends in my hometown, wishing I could join in. And having a place to come where folks are understanding and kind.

Good Morning Katymine and Elmore – got ya both in our prayers – mad love to you and yours

I think of the current leadership vacuum among the pugs, and all the pretenders jostling for access to the mike to make fools of themselves.

Reminds me of the old character (from the Munsters??) “Lurch”.

Hey, MM. Yes, put in some seeds. That’s a fairly economical way to go.
I’ve had some good plant-getting karma lately. Last weekend, I sat through a pot planting class at the local nursery and they had a drawing to win the nice planter with herbs that the leader used to show us how to do correctly. I won! And, then, yesterday at the gym, someone had brought in a big bucket of cala lilly bulbs that they had thinned out from their garden. Grabbed some. I like free plants. :)

Was anyone passing out ginger beer? I did locate another source ;)

((((((katymine))))))

Bahrain Grand Prix tomorrow at 8am ET. Sure wish F1 would live stream it.

We kid and joke, but yes, the sadness is still there in the back of the mind, always. The present circumstances in the world did not have to be. If the previous leaders who chose errant paths are not ashamed and stunned by what they have wrought, they should be.

So, we try to stay healthy mentally and physically, but it’s there. The underlying sadness will never disappear.

This is not meant to be a downer either, just an admission of truth, and a reason we will never give up trying to work toward times of sanity and compassion, and good old fashioned friendship.

Thank you Nola Sue. ;->

After having to clear out the private papers of two relatives who died and seeing first hand the out right lies and schemes they pulled on me and others, it just boggles my mind. And to keep a paper trail with such detailed notes pretty much seals the case that they knew exactly what they were doing and didn’t care.

katymine, a big hug from San Diego. Hope the chemo zaps the bad C stuff and you soon are feeling well enough to comment again at FDL and Christy’s….. I have been keep an eye out for you.

I am sorry about your h.s. friend; good that you could reconnect, n’est pas? And yes, kind and understanding surely go along way to ease the path.

Hi demo, great to hear you won! I love cala lilies, especially the kind with the spotted foliage. Have fun with them.

When they told me that they were there, I went into my Kate Hepburn routine, The cala lillies are in bloom again. I carried them on my wedding day and now I carry them in memory of one I loved. Complete with accent. I forget which movie that was from. They all fell out. I crack people up everywhere I go. It’s my gift.

mornin’

was awakened by oldnslow listening to the whine (the only good kind) of qualifiers this am – had no idea you were a fan as well

and hey, did I see some good news coming out of the sunshine state on voter suppression pushback ?

Off to rob Peter to pay Paul. Next month it will be robbing Paul to pay Peter. Perhaps I should get Peter and Paul together, let them hammer out an agreement to pay each other and be done with it.

Enjoy your day folks.

Wow, that’s good….I hope you recall the source. Thanks

Adie, thank you. I agree with your sentiments completely. That’s why I remain grateful and hopeful that there are so many with good hearts and minds who have voices that are being heard. Even if still not enough. :)

Just add Mary and that should give you alittle harmony…Good day to you, as well.

I love the scene that also. It’s a classic like Kate.

Good morning, pups. I have been away far too long.

((((((((((((((katymine)))))))))))))))) I’m pullin’ for ya, hang in there girl!

I am trying many new things in the garden this year that I’ve never grown before. Potatoes, French canteloupe, New Zealand spinach and edamame (soy beans).

Milleneryman, check your facebook… I have lots of leftover seeds I’d be happy to send you.

(((((katymine)))))

Okay, you made me do it. The google says Stage Door, 1935. I love Hepburn. Why I named my daughter Katie.

katymine — you concentrate on kicking the cancer’s ass like Christy says, and we’ll concentrate on kicking all other ass for you, okay?

Right now I’m working on translating Spanish-language training manuals from the School of the Americas for Marcy. It’s tedious, it’s ugly — I shudder every time I read the words interragacion, interragador, interragatorio — but it’s going to get done and we’re going to air it out in the sunshine.

You do the same with that cancer, katymine, look forward to seeing you back here soon.

Nice post, Christy, thank you.
(((katymine))))……if it’s any consolation, I’m here lurking with you. I don’t say too much, but I don’t miss a post either, hardly ever anyway.
I consider all y’all my friends and some day hope to make an FDL meet up.
That has just got to be a total blast, putting faces with names and some of the more thoughtful and even brilliant comments on the www’s.
Hat tips to everyone here at the Lake. I really believe we as a group make a difference!
I’m proud to be a part of what goes on here.
Thanks, all!
:)

Yes it is good to reconnect, Rev Bev. Thank you. Pay my respects to Barbara Jordan, please. Thinking of her makes me miss her and Ann and Molly.

Glad to see you. Wondered where you were. Have you been reading all the fun we have had with the past Glorious Leader and his chums?

I’m the fan you thought foothillsmike was couple weeks ago.

Yep. The combo of public outrage and Crist saying he’d veto the bill put the kabash on that nightmare, at least for this session. They’ll try again next year. They’ve really done nothing with the state’s economy but the Senate’s got time to put in proposals for license plates with pictures of Jesus, etc. There are some pols here in for a rude awakening next year.

Thanks. Interesting that they are such giants, isn’t it? And all gone at a pretty early age. Peace.

((doodle))

Lurking now and then, but always thinking about everyone here whenever a new revelation hits the MSM. You know… stuff we figured out years ago that is just now getting to see the light of day.

Did y’all see the coverage 2 -3 weeks ago about doodling being a sign of intelligence? Not being distracted, as usually thought. FWIW

I’ll have to tell my boss. She could fill the Sistine Chapel during an extended phone call.

(((demi))) Hey girl!

heh ;)

Saw the picture of the new Barbara Jordan statue in the AAS the other day. I like it a lot more than the one at the airport because she is standing up and not sitting in a chair.

Good point, wdd. As much as I’m glad they honor Jordan whenever and wherever possible, I always had issues with the airport statue.

That said, my immediate mental picture of Jordan is of her seated, during the Watergate hearings. Plenty of power in that image.

They still live through their good deeds and their shining example of truly living well. But yes, I miss them terribly. Life isn’t fair sometimes. It just is.

So I still lean on them, and it helps. Too stubborn to stop trying. That’s a good lesson from them all. Fit your own personal style to it and go forth if and as you can, without fear. ;->

What about making and losing countless lists!?! Got anything positive on that, other than having a sympathetic hubby who just chuckles. Please? Help! *g*

Morning, Adie.
Yes, M’am. One way we can have revenge against the evil of the last eight years is to live without fear. Isn’t that what they’ve been pushing? I can’t go for that. Nooooo can do.

From far away across the Pond. The people on FDL and its partners have felt like my friends ever since my dear wife passed away. The ether dissolves frontiers. Get well Katymine, get well.

Off to do the marketing, y’all take care.

drive-by note to self:

“learn to doodle.”

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/b…..172405695/

First off, katymine, you’ve got some Mennonite prayers headed your way too.

My six-year-old son and I just made some waffles from scratch with our own, freshly-gathered eggs and real maple syrup made just up the road. You’re all welcome to enjoy them vicariously.

I haven’t been very regular around here lately because life just gets too busy, but I check in more than I comment and I definitely appreciate being part of this community.

Thanks for being my ballast in these turbulent times.

Hi demi. Yeah. No greater weapon in the universe sometimes. A total non-reaction to a toothless bully. I luvs doing that. Their frustration is palpable. Heh. Just call me evilAdie. I don’t play fair with bullies, because I won’t play their game – any part of it.

Risin’ late — katymine, sending you all the healing and love possible from up here in the tall timber. Keep drinking and flush all those toxins out of you system so you can get back here with us as soon as possible.

Jumping down to the end to send my warmest wishes to Katymine. Hang in there!

Here’s the Kate quote:

Terry Randall (Katherine Hepburn): The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day and now I place them here in memory of something that has died.

http://www.clown-ministry.com/…..ille_ball/

Never seen that, but sounds hilarious.

—–

Katie Casey was base ball mad.
Had the fever and had it bad;
Just to root for the home town crew,
Ev’ry sou Katie blew.
On a Saturday, he young beau
Called to see if she’d like to go,
To see a show but Miss Kate said,
“No, I’ll tell you what you can do.”

“Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don’t care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game.”

Katie Casey saw all the games,
Knew the players by their first names;
Told the umpire he was wrong,
All along good and strong.
When the score was just two to two,
Katie Casey knew what to do,
Just to cheer up the boys she knew,
She made the gang sing this song:

“Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don’t care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, your out,
At the old ball game.”

Kate’s all over the place.

Warmest thoughts, katymine.

Speaking of Swedes, where’s our Barbara?

I’m deeply sorry for your loss. Sometimes I try to wonder what I would do. It’s unthinkable. So we try to make the most of each day as it comes. I figure it’s a given that, the stronger the bond, the greater the sense of loss will be. That’s the only way I can twist the thought around to a positive, albeit a misty-eyed one. You shared a great love. May you heal some with time.

You have good friends here. Please don’t be shy. ;->

707 jayt. you’re hopeless. just make the great plunge and do it, wuss.

Good morning all. Thanks for the post Christy. Katy, you’re in my thoughts and prayers.

I’m here less often these days since I am running the beach house solo, working three jobs, and raising some as-yet-undetermined number of kids on any given night.

At the beach house this week, we are mourning the loss of our beloved Persiflage. Several posts in her memory up already and Toby Wollin will provide an educational post this weekend on women and the signs of heart disease.

you’re not MStewart in disguise, are you?!? a physicist?? someone who obsesses about keeping the house dust-free? that hideously malapropped breed of being who responds to stress by going on a house-cleaning binge???
aaarrrrrrgggghhhhhh!

One of the elementary schools on my summer curriculum project is named for Barbara Jordan. That’s a great thing to see.

((((TexBetsy))))

Right now I’m working on translating Spanish-language training manuals from the School of the Americas for Marcy.

wow. thank you.

a ‘real’ manual ? like paper ? wondering if it would be easier for you to scan them and then use google translator

not to take anything away from your bilingual skillz, just thinking about the tedium

Welcome…it’s an interesting group. Nice you can join us.

Adie, Im with you….Ive a daughter who has worked very hard to teach me about lists; it’s all right brain/left brain stuff. Like you, I can start a list that is always left somewhere where I am not….and so it goes.

I’d never trust google’s translator (or yahoo’s) for anything of importance. single words maybe.

Good on you. If there’s one place that needs a lot of sunshine on it SoA is it.

That’s exactly what I’m doing, have converted PDF’s to DOC format, and eventually translate from Spanish to English.

But the scanning process is not clean, especially because of the accent marks in Spanish language. I am manually comparing the DOC output to the PDF to clean up the converted document; at least 15 percent of the document is jacked up and needs this attention.

The next step will be translation, and I am using Google Language Tools. I’ve had good luck with it (the tool is definitely improving with time, much better now than when first released), but there are still words which require additional attention and will probably have to have the attention of an expert in Spanish.

“Enlace“, for example, converts to “link” in English; the usage means connected, but not in the same sense we mean in English. Looks more like it should be “related by network” or something like that. Otherwise about 95% of the conversion is pretty clean and makes sense, if a bit halting (it’s a manual, likely a bit halting to begin with and conversion/translation makes it more so).

Only 130 more pages to go…[sigh]

So far nothing earth-shattering, but the cold, dispassion of these professionals comes through clearly, in spite of the multiple layers of conversion/translation.

(((((katymine)))))

Wishing for the best for a fellow Arizonan! Get better and stronger!! Someone besides bmaz needs to keep Sheriff Joke under fire!

Late as it is, my wishes for katymine’s swift and complete return to good health are spinning swiftly toward her. This community is a refuge like no other as it offers love, sanity and knowledge in a world gone amuk.

My thanks to you all.

(((((katymine)))))
See ya on the Late Late Nite Circuit (:>))

((((katymine)))

((((Katymine!)))) So enjoyed meeting you at YKos 1&2. Pamper yourself and indulge in the healthful herbs!

Our trouble here is that he likes to have schedules and operate methodically whereas I, being a grown hyperactive “child” thing, cannot NOT multitask.

We get along surprisingly well. Awwwww. ;->

((((katymine))))

So sorry to hear that. Her good cheer and optimism have been great; always look forward to her posts.

(I’ve been away, too – computer died again – it’s waiting for a part to come in. Miss you all desperately. If it weren’t for Rachel and Keith, my politics jones would be terrible.)