BARACK OBAMA STORY?I received the

BARACK OBAMA STORY?

I received the following from a good friend the other day. I am guessing that she and I disagree politically! LOL! She may have meant it as a joke, however.

"RICHARD EARL FOR PRESIDENT!

From the mouths of babes...

Barack Obama, the Presidential Democratic Party candidate, is for banning all guns in America. He is considered by those who have dealt with him as a bit more than just a little self-righteous.

At a recent rural elementary school assembly in East Texas, he asked the audience for total quiet. Then, in the silence, he started to slowly clap his hands once every few seconds, holding the audience in total silence.

Then he said into the microphone, "Children, every time I clap my hands together, a child in America dies from gun violence."

Then, little Richard Earl, with a proud East Texas drawl, pierced the quiet and said: "'Well, dumb-*ss, stop clapping!"

I immediately looked this piece up on Snopes, but I couldn't find it. I tried every set of key words I could and still no luck. So I wrote to Snopes and received an answer a few days later, saying that it was on Snopes and to look under "What's New" or the hottest 25 rumors. Finally, I located it, and I also saw the problem: The Snopes version doesn't include the reference to "Richard Earl", which was what I had thought would surely be an easy couple of words with which to search in Snopes' search engine.

The genesis of this story is quite interesting, and another reason that it was hard to find. It begins with Bono, of U2, segways into Hillary Clinton, and ends with Barack Obama.

The Bono story from Snopes is as follows:

"[Collected via e-mail, 2006]

Bono, whilst playing a gig in Glasgow, got the whole crowd to be silent and then began slowly clapping his hands. He got the crowd to clap along for a while, the stadium quiet except for the rhythmic clapping...

After a short period Bono spoke, saying that everytime he clapped his hands a child in Africa died...

Suddenly, from the front row of the venue a voice broke out in thick Scottish brogue, ending the silence as it echoed across the crowd, the voice cried out to Bono "Well stop ****ing doing it then!!"


[(South Australia) Sunday Mail, 2006]

IRISH supergroup U2, due to play in Adelaide next month, recently held a concert in Glasgow, Scotland.

Halfway through the concert, lead singer Bono stood in a spotlight on stage and asked the audience of 30,000 for complete silence.

Gradually the auditorium fell quiet.

Then Bono began slowly clapping.

The audience was spellbound. Was this the beginning of a song? Did he want everyone to clap with him?

He took the microphone and said: "Everytime I clap my hands a child dies in Africa."

The spell of silence was broken when a wag in the front row shouted: "Well, stop clapping."

I was unable to copy and paste the "Update" on the Snopes Bono article, where -- down the page -- it refers to Hillary Clinton and then Barack Obama, but it is easily found by following the link in this sentence.

I guess any political figure is vulnerable to jokes such as these, but they have a way of turning my sympathies even farther towards my chosen candidate.

*****

I was able to change my bedding the other night for the first time since injuring my arm. (There was a time when even pulling the covers up at night was impossible with the right arm; it just hurt too much.) As usual, I had my helper, Silver, who attacked the sheets as I put them on. Here he is with the top sheet, which he has just bunched up:



My Flickr friend Cynthia (Philosopher Queen) commented on what a darling expression he has on his face here. I have to agree -- I think he looks awfully cute.

CHARLIE WILSON'S WARLast

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR

Last night, I watched the movie "Charlie Wilson's War", which I hadn't realized was rated R, and I discovered early on exactly why that was. Even the generally squeaky-clean Tom Hanks (in my opinion) used an occasional F-word. There was some nudity as well. Hanks played Texas congressman Charlie Wilson, and Julia Roberts was his wealthy married supporter in more ways than one. Here is a picture of the two of them in the movie:














The movie was based on the true story of how Congressman Wilson developed a deep concern for the Afghan people during the invasion by the Soviets. He learned that the Afghans had primitive weapons that were no match for the heartless Soviet soldiers, who committed horrible atrocities against them. The Soviets would even scatter items that looked like candy or toys so that when children picked them up, the "candy" or "toy" would blow up and thus there were many little children who were amputees.

Together with a rather oddball guy named Gust, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson was able to call in enough political IOU's to come up with a budget enabling the U.S. to supply the Afghans with weaponry that could shoot down the merciless Soviet helicopters and jets.

It was quite interesting to watch the portrayal of the political wheeling and dealing that went on in order to assist the Afghan people. Also, it was a good explanation of what might make the subject of another movie: How the Taliban came into power and the ultimate turning of some Afghans' aggression against the United States.

Charlie Wilson himself was quite easy-going morally, and there is a description of him in the movie that is very on-the-mark. Still, he had a big heart when it came to the plight of Afghanistan.

I would recommend the movie to mature adults who are interested in recent history and can disapprove of Charlie Wilson's foibles while still appreciating the good that he did for an oppressed people.

*****

I was very glad to hear yesterday that Barack Obama had quit his church. I don't see that he had much choice due to the continued political lampooning of Hillary Clinton from that church's pulpit, this time from a guest preacher. In doing this, Obama proved that he is truly a person who will make peace with Clinton when the time comes to do so and also that he is not just talking the talk but walking the walk. I didn't sense a lot of rancor, either from Obama or from the church leaders, in Obama's taking this step. I think Obama has a lot of wisdom for so relatively young a man on the political scene.

HANDSOME GRANDSONSAbove are

HANDSOME GRANDSONS

Above are this Spring's school pictures of my grandsons, Alex, 7, and Michael, 9, the sons of my youngest son, Tony, and his wife, Kamie. Alex's hair is a lot blonder right now due to being outside and playing a lot. Michael's hair is quite a bit shorter.

I'm not proud of them or anything by titling this entry what I have. ;-)

*****

I have more pictures in NowPublic.com articles! Several of them feature my cat Silver with the mouse he caught a month or so ago and also one of him going after a toy mouse. There are about 142 images as of right now with the article, but there is a search feature on the site so you may be able to find the pictures using that, if you're interested in tracking them down. The article is about a 72-hour blackout that was caused by a cat-mouse chase.

*****

Perhaps I should have titled my entry today: OBAMA WON! He did so here in Oregon, anyway. A few people that I didn't care for also won their primary races, but then a couple that I did like made it. The General Election in November is going to be very interesting.

*****

I am trying to keep my typing brief today as I was in a lot of pain due to my sore upper arm last night and the pain radiating down to my hand. I am quite sure I typed too much yesterday in attempting to catch up on my e-mail.

BACK FROM BENDI got home from Bend, Oregon, yesterday

BACK FROM BEND


I got home from Bend, Oregon, yesterday morning after a mixed weekend. The drives there and back were uneventful and pleasant -- I love the scenery along the way. I used up 1/2 a tank of gas each time, which isn't too rough considering that it's 160 miles or so one way from here to Bend.

I got to the motel Friday afternoon and tried to avoid calling Tony's cell phone number, as it was long distance, so finally got in touch with him at his work at Majesty's Animal Nutrition in Redmond, which is about 18 miles from Bend. He said that Kamie and the kids should be home by then so I went to their house, where I found Kamie packing and the Michael, 9, and Alex, 7, outside with friends.

Kamie and I chatted for a while until Tony got home, when it was decided that we would go out to dinner as a late Mother's Day celebration for me, and we went to Greg's Grill Restaurant in the Old Mill area of Bend, along the Deschutes River. It was lovely there. I was given my choice of whether to eat in the air-conditioned restaurant or out on the terrace. I chose the cool of the restaurant -- it was very hot there -- although I think Kamie would have preferred the terrace. She was generous and didn't complain. ;-) I had an oriental chicken salad, which was delicious, and Kamie offered me a taste of what I believe was a lemon drop martini. It was good. I am unable to drink alcohol but it was refreshing to taste the drink as I had never had vodka before (having been raised Mormon and with limited experience with drinks after leaving that religion, plus now being forbidden to drink with my diabetes medication).

It was so nice to see how the boys have grown up. Alex was in the house more when I was there, as a general rule, than Michael was, and he had plastic toy "laser swords" that he and I dueled with. It made my upper arm an little bit sore later but how do you say no to a sweet 7-year-old? Here are a few pictures of various people playing with him (his dad, my son Tony and his mom, Kamie).







The photo immediately above was of Michael coming through the door, as well.

Below is a shot of Michael, who has a shiny spot on his cheek where Kamie had put ointment on an area where he had been cut by a rock a couple of weeks ago and had somewhat of a scar. Kamie said Michael didn't care much about that.



Kamie and Tony gave me directions to Michael's soccer game the next morning, and it wasn't far from my motel. The only problem I had finding it was in the fact that there were many fields of both soccer and baseball, resulting in my wandering around in a rather lost state until I found the field that Michael's team was playing on -- of course, way back at the back. The only reason I found it was that it was half-time and Tony was out on the field playing a bit of impromptu soccer with some of the other dads. It was terribly hot and Michael did his best but was overheated. I felt for the little guy! Their team lost, after having been unbeaten all season. I did get just one picture of Michael playing; he is in the white shirt below.



I wasn't feeling real good and my arm was aching so, after the game, I went back to my car and ate the lunch I had brought in my cooler; then I went to T.J. Maxx to shop. (Tony told me later that T.J. Maxx isn't a store. LOL!) I got some items for Jeff, Steph, Noah and Emily for taking care of my cats and house while I was gone.

Tony had brought home a trailer and they used it that afternoon to move from their old house to the one in which Kamie's mom and step-dad had lived in, just 1/4 mile away. I had made arrangements for Tony to call me at my motel when they got to a point where they were winding down a bit and I could come over.

I bought a couple of sandwiches at the Shell service station just across the parking lot from my motel, and ate one for dinner. About 45 minutes later, Tony called and I went to their place. Kamie was very tired so I stayed for about an hour and arranged to have them call me the next day after they had moved the heavy items in the trailer to the new house. I planned to drive down to Sunriver, Oregon, on Sunday, as I had never been there.

So Sunday morning, on the way to Sunriver, I stopped at Fred Meyer's and found some shirts for the guys and a top for Kamie. While there, I kept having to dash to the bathroom. Finally, I felt better and headed south, to Sunriver. I stopped in the area where the shops were and walked around a little, but I didn't see anything that interested me, so I went back to Bend, and made a quick stop in Safeway, where I got a small container of tapioca pudding and had to rush to the restroom again. I went right back to the motel, where my room was made up, thankfully, and I remained sick off and on while trying to rest there. (I had to throw the tapioca pudding away as it was runny and didn't taste good -- all I needed.) I left a message on Tony's cell phone (deciding to go ahead and pay for the long distance) about how I felt and for him to let me know when they were ready for me to drop off the clothes and say goodbye.

Tony called at about 6 and said they were all moved out of the old house and into the new. When I got there, he was still unloading the trailer he had brought from work to use in moving, and I felt for him when he said how tired his legs were from all the going up and down stairs. Kamie had gone to get dinner as the boys were very hungry. The shirts that I had bought them got mixed reviews; Tony liked his, while Alex felt his was too small (it was a 7; he said his mom always got 8's for him). I had brought over the receipt so she could exchange it. Michael only seemed a bit astonished and amused that I had bought them more shirts, as I had also given each of the boys one that I had brought from home the day before.

I had a chance to chat with Tony while he kept unloading boxes from the trailer, and he thought maybe my Shell service station sandwiches were what had made me ill. I had to agree that it could be a possibility. Fortunately, I had brought over-the-counter medication with me. I left after about an hour as I didn't want to take a chance on giving the boys what I had if I was contagious, catching Kamie as she turned into the housing development and saying goodbye to her there.

It turned out to be quite a busy weekend for Tony, Kamie, Michael and Alex, but -- as Tony says -- they are always busy. I'm glad they got moved in and I wish I could have helped them more. (As it was, I seemed to be a distraction for their big black lab, Buddy, who truly loves me and gave me lots of attention, resulting in my pushing him gently away with my arms, making my sore one a bit sorer for a while.)

Yesterday morning, somehow I had managed to set the alarm in my room for 6 a.m., so I decided to get up then and get ready to go. I got home at about 10:30 a.m., still feeling very rocky. I basically rested during the day, just doing some easy stuff like uploading the pictures and ordering them from Snapfish and getting pictures from the birthday/Mother's Day dinner ready to send to family members, which I will do tomorrow.

Today I am better. I don't need to go to Costco today as Jeff needed to get heavy items. Tomorrow I will run errands while Norma is here cleaning. I think I'll be up to that.

I slept well in my bed last night, loving the feeling of Silver in his usual spot at the end of the bed. The cats were well cared-for; once again, though, I had to hunt for Stevie, and I wound up pulling her out from under the office bed. She was fine; just had been spooked by Jeff's heavier footsteps, I suppose.

I am not back on a couple of lists, but I suppose I can remedy that. I didn't feel like doing correspondence yesterday, while today I have probably half of that done.

It was interesting to come home to election day today in Oregon. It is predicted that Obama will win. I probably didn't help him by basically throwing away my Republican ballot via writing his name in. ;-)

I don't know when I'll be able to see Kamie and Tony and the boys again. It depends a lot on the price of gas, among other things. Michael and Alex are going to visit their other grandma and grandpa in Florida after school is out. I can't remember how long they're staying but it seems like it may be 6 weeks. It was worth the trip this last weekend to see them, despite my illness.

So there you have my travelogue. I hope it wasn't too boring. ;-) It's good to go see family but it's also nice to be back home.

*****

My sister Kathy's oldest daughter, Teddi, is graduating later this week from San Francisco State University. I have been debating what to send her. I tried to order a Target gift card for her but I couldn't get the ship-to information to type in. I think I will get her a card tomorrow and send her a check. I'm very proud of her. She has always been a very intelligent girl.

*****

After 5 days of heat, it has cooled off here and it was rainy this morning. I'm glad for the relief from the hot weather. It still is nice enough in the house to keep the heat off; in fact, the air conditioner here in the office is on "low." There is no way I'm burning propane until fall. I am so totally dreading how much it's going to cost for more of that when it comes time to make out the budget agreement again. At least, gas prices seem to be staying about the same (unless I just haven't noticed and am in the throes of wishful thinking).

GUESS WHAT THE SNOPES VERDICT IS?!I received the following

GUESS WHAT THE SNOPES VERDICT IS?!

I received the following from a friend, who I will not name, today:

"and he wants to be president?

Can you hear me now!!!!!!!

This makes Bush Look Intelligent! We better all start Praying for Help!

Too funny not to pass along!



When you are faking a pose for a camera photo opportunity, at least you can get the phone turned in the right direction!
And he wants to be President??? ???























SHARP AS A BAG OF OATMEAL!"

Of course, as I support Barack Obama, this bothered me but it wasn't until tonight that I thought to look it up on Snopes.

Here is where you go to get the facts, as Snopes assures us that it is FALSE!!! (I was going to make a snide remark about wondering if my readers could guess which church she belongs to, but I will refrain from doing so.) ;-) She is a very sweet and kind lady but she has a blind spot when it comes to checking out forwards before she sends them on. I have asked her to let her mailing list know the above is false but I expect she may have too much pride to do that. It's unfortunate that such lies are being spread by otherwise-innocent people. Barack Obama doesn't deserve that.

MICHAEL CLAYTONI watched

MICHAEL CLAYTON

I watched the psychological thriller, "Michael Clayton," starring George Clooney, last night. Unfortunately, closed captioning didn't work with it so I had to turn the volume way up in order to get what was happening. (It's amazing how much noise interference there is to the ears when munching on popcorn.) ;-) I especially enjoyed watching Clooney, however, as I have always liked him, starting when I saw him on Sisters (a TV show back in the 80's that I don't believe he lists on his resume due to its sentimental and temporary nature; it was a show which my late husband Steve hated).

In "Michael Clayton," Clooney's title character is up against some evil corporate forces in addition to concerns and problems of his own. He also has to deal with a colleague who appears to be falling apart mentally. I won't say a whole lot more about the plot as I don't want to give it away. I recommend the movie highly, with the reminder that it is rated "R", likely for some language but I didn't find that overwhelmingly offensive as I did in "A Death at a Funeral." George Clooney continues to be nice eye candy, even for a little old lady like me. ;-)

*****

Hillary Clinton was in Oregon yesterday. I didn't rush out to Hillsboro (a Portland suburb) to greet her. I did watch some of the telecast of her speech there. I didn't hear anything new.

On CNN, there was also a broadcast of some of Barack Obama's recent speech in Pennsylvania. I still like Obama the best of the three prominent candidates, but I was concerned by the dollar figure he gave as the cost of one of his campaign promises. (Unfortunately, I don't remember which one.) I believe our government is in enough staggering debt as it is.

I also saw a Soledad O'Brian interview with Mitt Romney (on CNN again) a couple of days ago where Soledad asked Romney about whether John McCain will have enough money to run a long-term campaign. Romney was very definite in saying that McCain surely will have the money he needs; it made me wonder what Romney knows that I don't know. ;-) I won't be surprised if Romney is picked as McCain's running mate. I did appreciate Romney's refusal to say anything regarding the Obama/Rev. Jeremiah Wright issue except that he takes Obama at his word in distancing himself from Rev. Wright. He repeated that twice, with quite a bit of emphasis.

This catches me up on political thought, and I am hoping these thoughts last me for a while. ;-)

*****

On another subject, Jeff did get my lawn mowed the other day and it is lovely to go outside and smell the aroma of cut grass. It reminds me of what my late husband's mother Lola, who passed away in 1980, said were her two favorite things in the world: a fresh haircut on a man and newly mowed lawn.

TODAY, AUSSIE TIME, IS

TODAY, AUSSIE TIME, IS LYNNE'S DAY!

It is my privilege to know and to write here about another remarkable woman, Lynne, who is an Aussie who has touched my life in very special ways. I have referred to her before because she sends me the fun Ziggy cartoons, and I well know her enjoyable sense of humor. Today I am devoting much of my blog entry to her, because since it is the 29th there, she will be getting up in a while and then readying herself for a ceremony that symbolizes a great accomplishment: graduating with her Bachelor's Degree in Theology. She talks about this in a blog entry that is eloquent and beautiful, which I could never paraphrase, so I would hope you will go to the link at the beginning of this sentence to read what she has said about attaining this honor and what has motivated her to do so.

Have a wonderful day, Lynne!

*****

The Ziggy is funny to me because it has seemed like there was a Starbucks on almost every other corner in the big cities. Even in my small town, there is a Starbucks store in a strip mall and then just across the parking lot from it, there is a Starbucks bar in the Fred Meyers superstore so you can get a latte while you shop, if you so desire. I have heard that Starbucks was having some trouble but I'm not sure exactly what that is. Perhaps over-expansion?

*****

I heard the funniest line on CNN last night, and I wish I knew exactly who to attribute it to, but it was from one of several panel members who were, I believe, on Anderson Cooper 360, although Larry King had a similar discussion. Because I have to be so vague about it, I will just paraphrase the person, who said -- in essence -- that Hillary Clinton's comment about Barack Obama where she said you couldn't pick your grandmother but you could choose your pastor (referring to the retired Rev. Jeremiah White) could also be turned back to her, saying that, yes, you couldn't pick your grandmother but you could your pastor and your husband. The person making this comment elaborated that Clinton chose to stay with her husband despite the obvious problems he has had, while Obama chose to be loyal in some ways to his former pastor.

*****

I want to get this posted before too much more time elapses and then go downstairs to see if my sleepiness will produce much of a nap today, which hasn't happened in the last couple of days.

NO RESERVATIONSI was really looking forward

NO RESERVATIONS

I was really looking forward to watching "No Reservations", as I like Catherine Zeta-Jones a lot, so I was happy to settle down with a bag of smart-pop popcorn Saturday evening and start watching it. I had seen previews but they didn't prepare me for the sadness at the beginning of the movie. It hit a bit close to home and so I had to take a break from watching it after a while before I could get back to it.

I was glad I continued viewing the film after my time away from it as the character of Nick, played by Aaron Eckhart, was a very enjoyable one and played very nicely off of Zeta-Jones' well-acted character, Kate. And Abigail Breslin was great as Kate's young niece, Zoe.

Kate was a chef who became confronted with a close family tragedy as well as her own feelings and actions in the restaurant where she worked, especially after her boss hired Nick to work there as well.

It ultimately was a rewarding movie and I enjoyed it very much. I recommend it highly.

*****

There has been a lot of fuss about Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and some very controversial comments he has made in sermons in the past 6 or so years. I have been debating whether to write about my own opinions regarding what Rev. Wright said and Obama's response. For some reason, I feel too tired today to get into it. Maybe tomorrow, or next week, or -- if it remains an issue -- next month. I still support Obama, and that is, I suppose, the bottom line at this point.

*****

Many years ago, when I was a Mormon, I attended temple ceremonies where I took death oaths, agreeing by my affirmation and acting out, various ways in which I would suffer my life to be taken if I ever revealed what I had experienced there. (In my own defense, I had no clue before I got into that situation what was going to take place.) I left the Mormon church in 1984 with my late husband, who had also gone through these ceremonies with me, and my children, who didn't go through the ceremonies -- thankfully, the endowment ceremonies were only for adults.

I had basically forgotten about the ceremonies, especially as my mother wrote me in 1990 and I also learned from an ex-Mormon newsgroup I was on that the death oaths had been removed. This was a great relief to me, mainly as far as what my Mormon relatives were now experiencing in the temple endowment ceremonies, as by then I had no desire to go back to the Mormon church, even though that change had been made.

At the time we left the church, there was a family in Salem, Oregon, who also left, and they were interviewed and a large story about them was published in the Salem newspaper. In it, the husband said that he was afraid for his life, due to having taken the death oaths in the temple. He was worried that a fanatical Mormon might want to make him pay for breaking that oath. I thought he was probably being quite paranoid, although I could see why he might have those thoughts and feelings. (He worked as a prison guard, BTW, so he was not generally a fearful guy.)

Fast forward to the other day, when I took my mail out to the mailbox and a man with a tightly-tied hood was walking up the road not far from me. I looked at him briefly and smiled slightly, but his responding look was one that made me feel that he held nothing but ill will towards me. I looked away and got my newspaper and hurried back into the house. It had been hard to tell who he was, but I thought he looked like a Mormon neighbor from down the way. I felt quite scared and actually totally creeped out. Paranoid? Maybe. But I felt my aloneness here at home more keenly.

I have started locking my doors during the day, rather than only at night. That probably is just good sense, anyway. Most likely, if it was that neighbor, he was harmless. However, there are some nuts out there and I have wondered if a fanatical Mormon who was a bit off his rocker and who had taken those death oaths and knew that I had, as this man would have known about me, might not take it upon himself to make me live up to the oaths that I had taken in the temple those many years ago.

I know this probably sounds like a story fit for a Dan Brown novel, but if this guy was trying to scare me, he succeeded. I will likely not be writing so much about Mormonism, at least by name, although I might still allude to experiences I have had without naming the church.

(It's kind of interesting -- I was feeling sleepy, but in writing about this, I must have gotten my adrenalin going, as I am not feeling tired now at all.)

I was wondering, too, if the new LDS church president inherited a Nixon-like enemies' list from the one who just passed away. I am just kidding about that, though. Likely no one in the Mormon hierarchy knows or cares about my little blog. Still, I am going to act prudently and try not to give a reason for anyone to hate me because of what I am saying about a religion.

*****

Socks is up on the monitor right now. She has been a lot better since that one episode of scratching and biting the other day. I am going to be getting off here and taking her downstairs with me in a little while, so she doesn't have a chance to start getting aggressive like she does sometimes due to causes unknown. (Perhaps she can't resist my flying fingers as I type on the keyboard?)

IS THERE A CAT

IS THERE A CAT PSYCHOLOGIST IN THE HOUSE?


The other night, past both Socks' and my bedtime, Socks was here in the office with me. She wandered around for a while, then settled down between my keyboard and monitor and started going after my typing fingers with her extended claws, which stuck into my skin. I tried to get her to stop and she started biting me. I had time to end the e-mail I was writing to a friend with the comment, "Socks is being a monster," after which I picked her up as she continued to claw and bite. I set her on the office bed, turned off the light, went out and shut the door.

The next day, I mentioned the above episode to several of my online friends. This isn't the first time I had complained about her biting, I might add. An online friend suggested in response that since Socks continued to bite, it might be a good idea to take her to a cat psychologist or animal behaviorist of some kind.

I thought about it but I had to conclude that Socks has in general gotten better and it is rare that she attacks my hands like that. Also, living out in the country, there aren't cat psychologists in the area, and in fact my even broaching the subject with my vet might easily bring a reaction of amusement.

I think I can figure out on my own why she reacts like she does, and it very likely could go back to her being abandoned by her mother when she was so tiny, and having to adjust to my household with two established cats in it, especially Stevie, who acts like she's queen of the roost and started off disliking and showing her displeasure towards Socks from the very beginning. These are just my ideas, though -- if anyone has any other good ones or any solutions, please let me know.

I have thought about trying to give Socks away but I am attached to her and I have seen great improvement in her, and especially, I wouldn't want to inflict her biting episodes on anyone else.

*****

There is a great deal of significance to me in the cross graphic above, as I have been thinking a lot about today being Good Friday and what that means in the Christian world. There are various ways of marking it in different churches, especially with a service. My church, Zion Mennonite, will be having a communion and foot washing service. I attended this service once many years ago, and although I understand the meaning behind the foot washing (as Jesus washed his disciples' feet), I found that I wasn't real comfortable having someone wash my feet. I guess that was my own particular quirk -- it just felt too personal to me. Also, it seemed like most of the women had arranged in advance to do the foot washing with a friend, which hadn't occurred to me, so I wound up with a lady who I thought was nice but who I didn't know at all well. Being a rather shy person, I would have felt better if I could have done the ceremony with a person that I knew and considered a friend. I had a Catholic friend tell me this morning that Catholics also do foot washing, which I had never known. It's all very interesting and meaningful, but I prefer to observe it from a distance.

*****

The following picture was sent to me by my son Jeff and is the original of a copy that he sent to Shutterfly to have thank you notes made up for gifts from granddaughter Emily's 2nd birthday party on February 23rd. I had scanned in the shot from the thank you as I thought it was so cute and sent it to a myriad of friends, thinking that I wouldn't be able to blog it since it was a Shutterfly-produced card. I mentioned this to Jeff via e-mail and that's when he sent me this original, which he said would work fine on my blog, so for those of you who didn't see it, here is the picture of Emily with her thank you sign:
























I was happy to receive a lot of responses to my mailing it out last night, with e-mails coming in from family and friends I haven't heard from in a while. Answering them will keep me busy for a while!

*****

Sen. Barack Obama was in Portland for a rally this morning. I watched a little bit of his speech during times when I was taking brief breaks from being on the computer. I like him a lot. He is the only political figure I can think of in recent years who I would have even considered attending a rally to see and hear. However, I do get bored with political subjects quite easily, so at least -- here at home -- I can turn the channel if I find my interest waning quickly. LOL!