I still get inspired listening to audio of JFK's speeches, even though we all found out years after his death what a womanizer he was. Same goes for Clinton, although the reveal came much sooner! I believe even as good and Christian as Jimmy Carter was painted, he had to be just a little bit crooked or compromised to make it all the way to the Oval Office.
I think there's good and evil in most of us. The proportions might be different, and some of us might hide the evil (or the good) better than others.
All this to explain why we see so many examples of people spewing ignorance and hate. Videos show rampant name calling, rumor spreading, and lying at political rallies. Internet searches for political posters for my candidate yielded anti-propaganda results that are disgusting and immoral, not to mention untrue. I'm almost afraid to read articles or view videos anymore because it's so nauseating to witness the naked hate expressed by women, men and even children. (I could link to examples, but won't because they were just so offensive.)
I know my candidate is not perfect. Neither is the other candidate. Both of them have good and evil inside them, because they are human.
In the midst of all this negativity and cynicism about our country and our fallen nature, I still hold on to (cling to, even) the following ideals: * my vote matters * there is hope for this country * things can get better * we can unite to help bring about change
I'm going to vote first thing next Tuesday, and stay up late waiting for the returns to come in. If my candidate wins, I'm sure tears will be shed. (Probably the same would be true if the other candidate were to win, God forbid!)
God Bless America. God bless our democratic process.
Three words: Siesta. Key. Beach. Rated the #3 most beautiful beach in the United States for 2008.
Just south of Sarasota, it's home to sugar sand, which is incredibly white, soft, and doesn't get hot in the sun, so it's lovely to walk on.
We spent two lovely hours there, enjoying the breezy day, watching the pelicans and gulls nosedive into the surf for fish.
People watching was also good - we saw people building sand castles, flying kites, swimming, fishing (and throwing lots of fish back, causing a small feeding frenzy among the gulls), parasailing, and just generally enjoying themselves.
On the way home, we stopped off (of course) at Nokomis Groves for more citrus ice cream. I had another orange / vanilla; my friend tried the orange / pineapple. (Both received top marks!)
I decided it would be fun to take a walk in the actual groves, to see the fruit trees up close. It was cool until my foot started stinging from dozens of teeny tiny ants biting me furiously!
Meanwhile, I did get in a shot of the melon-sized grapefruits. (ED. Found out the next day that this particular species is called Chinese grapefruit, they're really meaty, and delicious!)
Once it was approaching dusk, we headed out again, this time to the Venice Audobon Center Bird Sanctuary to watch the birds come home to roost for the night. I'm coveting a nicer camera about now, one with better zoom, better color filtering, and ability to take photos at dusk.
This one blurry shot was actually quite interesting - a couple of egrets seemed to have a disagreement over a certain branch...
There were tons of egrets, blue heron, anhingas and some others I couldn't name. We got some lovely close shots of one great blue heron who really liked a nearby tree. He didn't seem to mind as we snapped photo after photo.
Home again, we're trying to bunk down at a decent time, to get ready for another full day tomorrow!
Tonight my friend and I are two tired vacationers! We are all worn out from... erm, sitting in the sun at the beach. Oh, yes, we floated in the waves, too! And we ate ice cream.
But first things first. On the advice of my sister, we ate at a wonderful and charming Mexican restaurant in Venice called Mi Pueblo. Our food (chiles rellenos for me, tacos de camarones for her) was delicious, but the ambiance was what made it a very lovely experience. The building is kind of mission style architecture, and shares a quaint courtyard complete with fountain with several other businesses. Inside, murals on the wall framed with brick, warm colors, lots of plants, interesting lighting fixtures all make you wonder if you didn't step across the threshold into Mexico. Thanks, sis!
After lunch, we headed out to Venice's Casperson Beach - the Sharks' Tooth Capital of the WORLD! We followed the time honored tradition of vacationers (and locals, for that matter), and walked around bent at the waist, peering intently at the sand, in search of prehistoric teeth from prehistoric sharks.
We were honored for our search, as our reward is pictured here. 26 teeth, from teeny-tiny to larger than my own teeth, was our total haul. Not bad, actually, considering we spent way more time sunning and swimming than searching. It does get addicting, though. Once you're on a streak of finding teeth, you can't bring yourself to go. Like playing slots or drinking, you keep thinking "just one more, I'm sure the next one will be a big one, let me find just one more tooth." (Maybe if I go back real early tomorrow, ...)
Floating around in the Gulf of Mexico, letting the waves lift me up and bring me back down again, is very relaxing, yet somehow draining. Must be all the sun. It sure did feel good just bobbing about (like a cork on the wave, to quote a former ECC president). I did wonder just a tiny bit about the sharks whose teeth will wash up in ten thousand years or so, and whether they might be bobbing around in the currents like I was...
Back on land, we cleaned up and headed back out in search of treasure of a different kind: Nokomis Groves homemade citrus ice creams! (On the left is lime & chocolate; on the right is orange & vanilla.) This place is fabulous. It doesn't look like much, but their ice cream, made from oranges, lemons, limes, and pineapples, not to mention chocolate and vanilla. Their main store is closed for the season, but they keep the ice cream stand part open all year round. Lucky for us!
A visit to Nokomis Groves has become a tradition in my family, often one we take seriously enough to observe more than once during our visits here! (I think we're going back tomorrow - market research, you see, to find if orange/pineapple is better than lime/chocolate.)
On our way home, we had intended to shop for new swimsuits, but alas, the lycra gods were not in a flattering mood today. We did each end up with groovy new beach footwear, however - mine are pictured.
Home again in time to watch a DVD before heading off to bed. It's been a long day.
Today was filled with Myakka River State Park and a visit to the South Jetty here in Venice.
Now I'd been to Myakka several times with Mom and Dad on previous visits, but had only ever taken the boat ride on the chuck-full-o-gators Myakka Lake and the tram ride.
Today, we started by going on the nature walk through partially swampy ground - walkways kept us out of the muckier parts - to the Canopy Walkway.
First you climb the 'short' tower to the swinging bridge, 25 feet off the ground. Then you climb the 74 foot tower, and get an eyeful of beautiful country.
My friend had to talk me up, since I'm so scared of heights. I hung back on the next to the highest level for at least 10 minutes before I had the nerve to go all the way up to the top. We saw an amazing array of birds: hawks, vultures, cranes, egrets, herons - nesting, flying, screeching, whirling. It was pretty awesome.
Back on the ground, we went back to the lake. Too late to take the boat ride, we found out that today wasn't a good gator-viewing day, so we weren't too disappointed.
Right alongside the boat, we got a bit of a treat. One of the rarer birds in the park, the Limpkin was wading around looking for food, so we got a nice close look. From there, we went over to the little dam, where we were about as close to a gator as you can get and keep all your body parts intact.
After brats and floats, we decided to go over to the Birdwalk, which extends a ways out into the swampy land, almost to the lake, and saw lots more birds and lots more beautiful lake.
By the time we were heading back to Venice, it was getting later, so we decided to go straight to the South Jetty to see if we could spot any dolphins as the tide was coming in.
In all the many times I've been out dolphin watching on the Jetty, I've never seen as many at once, and as playful a bunch of dolphins as today.
They weren't just breaching and swimming around; they were blowing, jumping a little bit and coming down with a big splash; they were slapping the surface of the water with their tails. It was really fun!
Trying to take pictures got a little hard, because there so many off in several directions.
While we were there, we saw two bridal couples taking wedding shots, and what was probably an engaged couple getting their photos taken, too.
We were there for almost two and a half hours, just watching people, dolphins, waves, and the sunset.
All in all, a great day spent in the beauty of West Central Florida!
Hooray! After months of thinking we were coming to Florida in October, agonizing over what dates to select, only to have a false alarm thinking that my boss didn't want me to take this particular week off, we have arrived in the land of sunshine!
We landed in Tampa yesterday around noon, and took advantage of our proximity to Clearwater to visit the attractions there before heading south to Venice. While we weren't able to visit the US's number one rated beach at Caladesi State Park because of the ferry hours, we did check out Honeymoon Island State Park (so named for honeymoon bungalows built there in the 30s).
What a pleasant surprise! We walked along the Osprey Nature Path. We did see one osprey flying away from us, and a couple of giant nests up high in the trees. Our walk was hurried along by the carniverous noseeums, unfortunately.
Escaping the bugs, we took a walk along the beach and cooled off in the waves a bit. Then we drove down and visited the ferry landing, where we saw lots of water birds and jumping fish. This really is a beautiful area, and we may be back to visit the beach when we leave.
At my folks' house now, I wonder if I'll ever be able or want to retire down here. The pace of life is slower, that's for sure. But there are lots of things to do - it's not like the streets roll up at night.
Of course, there are the hurricanes to consider...
You can go in for a tasty cup of Joe (can I call ya Joe?), and come out supporting your candidate for President!
There's an arrow pointing to the UPC symbol that says "this is how we count your vote!" And you can see how the candidates are doing, by checking 7-Election.com.
They have an online political java-map, which is looking encouragingly blue these days. You can also read results of 7-Election 2004, which came out eerily similar to the national results!
Yes, I do love my 7-Eleven and my Obama coffee cup. I just wish they had it in the 24 oz. size!
(ED. 3 days before the election, and it seems like all area 7-Elevens are out of the blue cups! Gobama!!)
I've found a great website for polling results. Every day their US map is updated with whatever polls have been conducted. One of their links has an animated history of how the polls place our candidates, beginning with June 2, 2008.
Today I received my first three meals prepared by My Very Own Chef!! I had my son pick which one he wanted to try. He decided on Ratatouille. I was a little less than completely enthusiastic, because it has eggplant, right? And I'm not enthusiastic about eggplant, but still wanted to try the dish.
Well.
First of all I was starving because I worked late again today, and didn't get home till almost 7:00. So by the time we talked about it, decided what to eat, then cooked it, it was about 8:00. Then bit by bit, the house started getting infused with the most delicious smells.
When the food was ready, I served up our two plates. Son was less than enthusiastic about trying goat cheese, but he decided to be brave.
(Fred Astair song/dance break)"Heaven, I'm in heaven. And my mouth's so full that I can hardly speak! But I seem to find the happiness I seek, when there's ratatouille stuffed inside my cheeks!"
The flavors were so yummy, and so good together. Between the slices of veggie, the sauce it's cooked in, the tang of the goat cheese, and the basic goodness of the couscous, I really did feel like I was in heaven.
My son loved it. He expressed himself weirdly though. Here was our conversation:
Me: So, did you like it?
Him: Yeah, it was okay.
Me: Okay?!!
Him: Yeah, I mean it's not like my normal kind of food I eat every day. But it was delicious. But I wouldn't eat it every day, you know? But I really thought it was delicious!
Me: Um. Okay.
As I'm writing this, he hollered at me from his room, "Hey Mom, is it okay if my girlfriend comes over to try the ratatouille?" There's actually still enough for two servings in the pan. I said yes, but I'll make sure there's still enough for me to have another serving!
HANNITY: Senator Barack Obama yesterday was attacking Senator McCain for saying that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Do you believe that the fundamentals of our economy are strong?
PALIN: Well, it was an unfair attack on the verbiage that Senator McCain chose to use. The fundamentals that he was having to explain afterwards, he means the work force, he means ingenuity of the American people. And of course, that is strong, that is the foundation of our economy. So that was an unfair attack based on verbiage that John McCain used. Certainly, it is a mess, though.
Verbiage. Dumb old me, I didn't realize it could be pronounced with three syllables (Merriam Webster says 'ver-bee-age' and 'ver-bage' are both correct). I also didn't realize how negative a word it was until I looked it up for the pronunciation and spelling confirmations. Hmmm. Sarah's talking about her running mate, her potential boss and commander-in-chief's (God help us!) "profusion of words usually of little or obscure content."Do we give her too little credit for her insights?!
Speaking of a profusion of words of little or obscure content, the other night I listened to the debate (sans Bingo card, unfortunately), rather than watch it. I've been watching it online today (and forgot to use my Bingo card AGAIN!), and the difference is incredible. Body language adds a whole new dimension to the conversation. Biden has been called to task for appearing condescending - I was astonished to see Palin acting like that a number of times toward him! As my sister said to me, "she's a little too condescending for a relative newcomer."
You know, it's so easy to make fun of her, to celebrate the latest SNL skit, but the video clips I like are from various news shows, because so many of them are including SNL clips in their newscasts! CNN, Fox, MSNBC are all including Tina Fey's impersonations in the regular news! The clip below gives Gwen Ifill's (and Queen Latifah's) reaction to the VP debate.
And just so all you grammarians can have fun, too, here are a couple of sites that address her rather, erm, unusual oratory style: Palin Grammar and Palin Poetry.
What can you say about Tina Turner that hasn't been said before? Well, this is what I can say: I WENT TO SEE HER IN CONCERT LAST NIGHT!!!!!
(*significant* happy dance pause here)
Here's the thing about Tina: she gives a kick-ass show. She lights up the stage all by herself. Granted, she isn't quite as frenzied a dancer as her four "flowers" (her term, not mine, sorry) are, although their moves are strictly Tina's dance moves.
Yes, they did the rapid-butt-shake; yes, they did the arms-extended-360-turns; yes, they did the dizzying-head-flip (yes, I was exhausted just watching them!), and more! Whenever Tina joined them in the more energetic dance moves, the crowd went crazy.
It was a love fest. We loved her. She loved us. We chair-danced within an ounce of our lives. We sang - the entire crowd at the United Center sang - WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? at the top of our lungs and Tina loved us for it! We sang our hearts out for BETTER BE GOOD TO ME, PRIVATE DANCER and SIMPLY THE BEST, too. It was wonderful.
Before the concert actually started, we heard this big "Eeeeee!!" coming from down on the main floor. Oprah had arrived, and was making her way to her seat. The ladies in front of us lent us their binoculars, with which I saw Steadman, a whole lot of hands holding camera phones, and the top of Oprah's head (I think).
During the intermission, we heard an even bigger "EEEEEE!!", from a bit closer to us. We hung over the railing to gawk at Tom Cruise on the level below us, signing autographs for those lucky schmucks who happened to have seats close to his private box. (These photos are proof that I was standing close enough to Tom Cruise to holler out his name with a bunch of other middle aged women, causing him to turn his head, look at us, and wave meaningfully at us... If you can't see him clearly, then buy me a better camera phone!!)
The sets were beyond cool. Her basic set had two storeys with staircases that people jumped on, flounced down, or draped themselves upon, depending on the song. At one point, this half steel cage thing came down, guys were acrobatically fighting in it, the screens were showing clips from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and Tina comes out in her alien queen looking costume to sing WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER HERO, with some totally huge scupted practically naked man standing behind her just looking pretty, while pyrotechnic flares went off behind them. Yeah, that's showmanship!! :D
At the end, when she was singing NUTBUSH CITY, she had run over to the edge of the stage, where there was a kind of circular rail. Next thing we knew, a long section of the stage lifted up and became a huge arm that swept her out into the audience, and she kind of hung over that rail, communing with her fans and pointing her mic at them, encouraging them to join in the "Nutbush - Sing it Again" chant.
Okay. I've got to say something about sensuality here. It's no secret - Tina oozes sensuality, sexuality ("it's physical, merely logical"). Last night, watching her in her many spangly skimpy outfits, seeing video images of her costumes over the years, watching her and her women dance so provocatively, whether live or on video, listening to some of the lyrics, I had the feeling that this was a celebration of the total woman, in all her glory. Woman are sexual creatures, women have beautiful bodies, and the celebration going on last night - while sexual - was not untoward or vulgar by any stretch of the imagination. It was provocative; it was empowering; it was playful; it was fabulous. And I feel better for having experienced it.
It should come as no surprise that the best moment of the night was PROUD MARY. That was her final song, except that she came back and sang two encores. Wow. Even though it was originally CCR's song, you can't think of it without thinking of Tina Turner. And, yes, she did it nice... and rough!! It seemed like they made it last 10 minutes long. The crowd went crazy when she did a long dance to it with her four dancers. We sang for her, we cheered for her, and we hollered long enough when she left the stage for her to come back and sing a little bit more.
Unquestionably, PROUD MARY was the highlight of the night. Here's a clip of her performing it at the 2008 Grammys with Beyonce. I dare you to watch without singing or dancing along!
Yeah, girl, you should be proud! Tina, I love you! Thank you for my Quality Friday!
Not tremendously controversial, not tremendously deep, simply stuff I think about and don't want to lose on my way...
Thanks for your visit, and I appreciate any comments you feel like leaving behind. :)
Sherlock Holmes, in A Study in Scarlett, explained to Watson why he didn't know the composition of the solar system and several other things that were considered common knowledge of educated people. He compared our brains to attics that have a limited amount of space:
"Depend upon it - there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
I'd like to have a place to remember all the things that get elbowed out of my brain by new information. Either that, or I'm just emptying out my brain to make room for more!
Can a cynic also be an idealist? I think so.
