A Disturbing Conversation.......and a Repeat of History?

I was recently with a group of women when one of them started talking about....MUSLIMS!...in an "Oh my God, the sky is falling" tone of voice. From the conversation and the way she said MUSLIMS!, it was obvious that she equated MUSLIMS! with terrorists. She related, oh the horror!, that a court in VA had upheld the right of a MUSLIM! school to teach "Jihad". Though she didn't say this exactly, the fear I sensed was that she believed that MUSLIM! schools were teaching young terrorists to take over the country.

I found her attitude really distressing and told the group, please, not all Muslims are terrorists. But what frightens me about the conversation, is that this is how prejudices take hold...in the small coffee klatches where the fear of differences can brew, where neighbors voice their contempt of a group of people they don't understand and where intolerance gels into something solid.

Most Muslims are not radicals; most Muslims are not terrorists. And though some radical extremists.....really bad guys....have perverted jihad to mean war on innocent others (in the name of God), generally, jihad is about the struggle or stiving to improve one's self and society. It's the responsibility to do the right thing.

When I was in Portland, I came across the Japanese-American Historical Plaza....Bill of Rights Memorial, which told the story of the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. I remember how astonished I was when I first learned about these prison camps as a young adult. I was furious with my mother for not telling me about this, though why this should ever come up in conversation I can't imagine. I was likewise furious with my American history classes too, for I'd never heard of it there either. But what a dark chapter of our history....where fear trumped reason.

Here are some photos of the Japanese American Monument......a monument that moved me to tears. The arrangement is like a Japanese rock garden and the boulders include poems from some of the people who were interned in those camps. Japanese Americans were taken from their homes, put into prison camps, stipped of their property, deprived of their means of making a living and removed of their dignity. And all the while Japanese American troops were fighting for American freedom. How ironic. Grandmothers and grandfathers, young mothers and children ...all were imprisoned.


Mighty Willamette!
Beautiful friend.
I am learning
I am practicing
To say your name.

Through the car window
A glimpse of pine
Oregon mountains
My heart beats faster
Returning home




Sure, I go to school
Same as you
I am an American




The Statement of Congress.....an official apology to Japanese American citizens placed in internment camps during WWII....enacted in 1988. I sincerely and truly hope we never have to make this kind of apology ever again.

Vacation Oddities

The vacation had all the great high-lites you could hope for.....beautiful scenery....snow-covered mountains in the distance, river gorges, bays, waterfalls, gardens and the Pacific Ocean with haystock rocks. Lots of walking in the cities, over bridges, along rivers, through parks, a day of biking on the ridge and through the city.....good food and drink....great weather. It was wonderful.

But there were some really unique and unusual items along the way....Vacation Oddities.

Already told is the story of the World Naked Bike Ride. Don't ya think Lititz needs one of those. Who's in? Haha. I wish I had photos, I really do, but the whole thing took us by surprise in the middle of the night. I wasn't prepared for camera action.

In Portland I had read about the Voodoo Doughnut Shop....HAD to go there, HAD to see it. It took about an hour and a half of walking, turning the wrong way, retracing steps. I figured it'd be worth it though, and it was.



The woman sitting there asked me if I wanted to share the bench. She told me the story of taking the Maple, Bacon-Covered Bar Doughnut to a friend in Seattle and it bringing tears to the eyes of her friend. Thatsa GOOD doughnut!

The Voodoo sells all sorts of oddball doughnuts. Some are covered with frootloops. There are all sorts of coverings and jimmies......on and on. There's a cock-and-balls doughnut. It's huge! This is the signature doughnut....The Voodoo Blood-Filled Doughtnut. I got one to bring back to Steve and met him in the parking garage of the hotel where he'd checked out after finishing up with work. We gobbled that Voodoo Boy down, right there on the trunk of the car. I ate an arm and a big chunk of his body......and felt positively blood-thirsty! Notice the pretzel stab to the heart. Yiyiyi!



In a northern section of Seattle we sort of stumbled on the Summer Soltice Festival of Freemont. The floats and groups were so RANDOM.....it was great. Again, a few naked bike riders at the beginning....usually body painted and decorated. This group.....a graduation-robed steel band ( what an odd combo)...and.....other stuff. Dunces dancing around the edges. Weird!


One of the biggest groups included about 200 belly-dancers, bellying down the road, all dressed in bubble-gum pink. What a hoot....no pictures of that. Rats!

This was the end of the parade....drums, bongos, grass skirts, dancing. The really funny thing here.......niether Steve nor I saw the body-painted woman right there in the middle of this photo while we were there, only later while looking at the photos...how strange, how truly bizaare! but there she was.....probably an earlier World Naked Bike Rider. Well, you get the picture.

Re-constituted Movie/Cosmo Night

Oh geez Louise, now EVERYTHING is underlined....what's with this? I can no longer move photos around either so they're not in order. Oh well, you've seen them all before anyway. Still and all, it'd be nice if there was an order. But WAIT A MINUTE!!! Why-o-why did the underline stop? Heavens!! Just enjoy the photos.....again. It was a fun night....

And now, moving on......

Sing now.....What's Goin' On......What's goin' On....

OK, what IS goin' on?......

What's goin' on?......Marvin Gaye is singing in MY ear when I look through these photos.....



Ellen and Marcy love playing dress-up!!

OK, so THIS is the photo that needs a title.....awwww....aren't they cute?!!


Actually it kinda looks like DOUBLE TROUBLE!!

How I Spent My First Week of Summer

ALIEVE
Uses: temporarily relieves minor aches and pains due to:
*arthritis *the common cold
*headache *toothache
*muscular aches *backache
*menstrual cramps
*motor scooter crash???

First week of the summer came in with a crash. Really! My new red scooter and I had an accident. I didn't even plan on riding it into work that Monday morning, but I started thinking, "I can do this". Ha, guess I COULDN”T!

I was at a stop sign at a “T” where the road had recently been oiled and chipped. No cars behind me and none coming either direction on the road I was turning onto. No pressure. Next I’m thinking, “Oh my God, I'm going to crash!" I lost it, my traction, my courage, control and MIND! There I was, flying through the Amish farmers wire fence. It happened so fast I’m not sure of the details. I got tangled in the wire causing me to turn completely around facing up the hill I just came down. There I was, in this peaceful field with these horses running to get quickly away from this “nut”, (picture me in helmet and goggles, a little scary I guess), while I'm thinking, hope they don’t bite! Shaky now, I jumped up and started working on getting the bike onto the kickstand to stop from rolling and untangling the wire fence from my handlebars. I need to get to my phone under the seat and get this helmet off my head so I can call Frank to come rescue this crash test dummie.

The farmer shows up and after I finish telling him how sorry I am for coming though his fence, he points to the swollen bumps on my legs and says, “dot’s gonna hurt”. Oh YEAH, dot was nothing compared to what hurt a few days later. Man did I feel like a dummy! The ONLY good thing was I managed to miss falling into the cow (or horse) pie!

Marcy says I need to get back on the scooter, and I will. I took horseback lessons as a kid, and after my first fall was consoled with “it takes 3 falls before you’re a “real” horsemen”. Hope the same doesn’t apply to scooters. For now I’m working on this darn summer virus that landed on me Wednesday and taking Alieve for these sore ribs and etc, etc. I also missed an opportunity to go scooter cruising with Clifford and the guy in the black top hat! BUMMER!

BEEP BEEP

Foot in Mouth

A Hero

No one walked out that Tuesday morning and thought about becoming a hero. We all just moved through the morning like it was any other beautiful autumn day with the prefect blue sky.

A freak accident was the first speculation, soon the heartbreak of our whole country and the world were recognized. The kids were released early from school. Everyone wanted to get home and hold on as tight as they could to family. The answering machine was already blinking, calls from my sisters, just checking if we were ok and to say I love you. I love you too.

Hero; a person admired for courage. The news was filled with stories of so many heroes. I wondered could I be a hero if needed? Did I know a hero? I do. Ben Portnoy.

My family lived in Levittown, Pennsylvania across the street from Ben and Helen Portney and their two children Allen and Iris. Ben was the gentle giant type. He was a foreman at a company that cleaned out oil tanks. He played baseball out in the front lawn with Allen and made sure Iris was dressed like a little princess and had lots of fluffy dresses. Ben had nicknames for people. When I would go over to play with Iris, the big bear of a guy would come to the door, usually in his boxer shorts and say, ”ah, my little chicken” and give me a pinch on the cheek. He called my dad “Cosmo” or “Cos”(the name Cosmo means order,organization,beauty). My mom and Helen had their morning coffee club and would talk, talk, talk. That’s what it seemed like to me. They would go shopping together sometimes too, Helen didn’t drive and my mom was one of the few moms back then with a car of her own. One trip they came home with matching dress (different colors), a one-piece shirt and shorts with a wrap around skirt that could be worn over the shorts. A tennis now, lunch later, all in one outfit.

There was a very bad snowstorm one winter and everyone lost their power for a day or so. Lines were down and hidden under the snow and people were killed walking on them. You didn’t want to be outside. But Ben crossed the street so we would have a camp stove to cook on. He was a good neighbor and friend. Always there to give my dad a helping hand with many home improvement projects.

One afternoon I came home from school and found Iris and Allen at our house. My mom had picked them up early from school. Their mother had to leave, there had been some kind of accident at work was all we were told. So we waited. What we didn’t know yet was that Ben had been killed in the accident. His crew was working in a tank that had high levels of fumes and two of his men had passed out. He called for help, but instead of waiting for them to arrive he went down in the tank alone to pull them out. He didn’t make it, he was over-come by the fumes too. Helen came home and walked her children across the street and my mom broke the news to us. I’ll never forget that scream that came from across the street.

Sometime later Iris was over and her and my sister and I were playing some silly game we made up under the table. I don’t remember how it went but that we were firing questions at each other around in a circle, things like, who’s your mother, what are you going to be, what’s your favorite color, and so on. When it was my turn I said something dumb like, what’s your dad do? We all froze. Iris’s face lost its color and looked like it melted off. She jumped up and ran home. I felt so so bad and stupid, but the worst part is, I can’t remember going over and saying I was sorry. I hope I did. That was my foot and mouth moment.

Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most!

I have misplaced a whole lot of things in my life, believe me, the list could fill volumes. I have recited ”St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please come down, something been lost and MUST be found”. This has worked many times, but I do get nervous he’s going to give up on me one of these days.

This passed Thursday, I had my panties all in a knot looking for a deposit slip. Oh, I was near tears, ranting on and on to Frank that I just need to stay focused and get organized. He was on his way out to the store and I’m sure was wondering if he should just keep on going and not come back. Lucky for him, when he returned I had found the darn thing. And once again I swore “I will stay on top of this stuff for now on!” HA, we’ll see about that!

As you know, I have a new red scooter. Well along with having to get out to buy a helmet, goggles and a safety vest, (oh boy, I’m sure my kids are going to disown me) I also needed to finish reading my Motorcycle Safety Manual, and go take the knowledge test. So Saturday morning I finished reading the booklet and got on the computer to take the practice test. Out of 25 questions I only got 2 wrong (and I think I was right and the test was wrong, but I won’t get into that). So off I go to take my test WOOWOO! I got there and first fumbled around in my purse for my drivers license (because I know I have one somewhere), find it, filled out the paper, passed the eye test and then went and passed the computer test (2 wrong again, but I didn’t know the answer this time). I go back to the man to write my check and get my permit. He is looking at the computer screen with this puzzled look on his face. Oh Shit, I bet he is looking at my speeding ticket and now I won’t be able to get my permit. He says, I never saw this code before, it says you have already applied for a motorcycle license? Now I am heading down the dark hole, OH MY GOD, did someone steal my identity and get a motorcycle license?? Now he’s telling me, he can’t get out of this on the computer so that he can start all over again and he turns around and calls over Mr. Man. Well then Mr. Man takes a look and says, “it says you already have one, let me see your license”. So I show Mr. Man my license. He looks at it, makes a funny face and says,” you already have a motorcycle license, see right here, the M!” Well, yes, there it is, an “M”, how about that, I guess I didn’t remember going for the motorcycle license before? Oh boy, now I am a whole lot more then a little embarrassed. So I say ok, thanks, grab my check and head for the door before Mr. Man decides I might not be fit for any kind of driver’s license period!


Oh, I was so right about the kids, when Robin saw me she asked "Mom, your not really going to ride around like that are you?" HAHA!! BEEP BEEP YOU LATER!!