Why is This a Mystery and Not Common Sense?

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...In 2010 the Smithsonian Channel did a Mystery Files special on Leonardo Da Vinci.  It received about 3 1/2 stars around the web when I looked it up, and had 2 on Netflix. I thought it was informative and well put together, though there was no real "mystery" to it. The narrator was making a big point of the fact that Leonardo most likely didn't "invent" any of the technological "innovations" and engineering "feats" found in his published notebooks after his death.

Well duh! These were private notebooks, like his artist's sketchbooks were he sketched and scribbled and generated ideas and kept journal entries. They were THOUGHTS. I keep various notebooks around with notes from other sources in them and ideas expounded in them and links and notes and generate ideas and add and subtract and I'm not even particularly a genius, or am I?

My point is, the narrators were making this big point about Leonardo as if he was defrauding history. LOL And the historians were very carefully saying that he was a genius man of his times who was a member of a select glitterati and had exposure to educated and talented minds and so had the opportunity to expand upon their thinking, that's all. This wouldn't be considered strange at all today; we would still consider him a learned and wise man with far ranging interests and a "Renaissance Man", to the narrators, it seemed a shock. It disappointed me a bit in the quality of writing from an institution of the caliber of the Smithsonian. I felt that they had dumbed down the presentation with narration for a fifth or sixth grade audience when it wasn't necessary. On the other hand, the quality of their renaissance experts were wonderful and the information that THEY imparted was well worth watching the show to see and hear. That alone was worth a solid 4 stars.
from a puzzled goddess mystifying on the history

Yuletide Cheer and all that stuff...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...I love the holidays. I love entertaining and seeing my family and having people over. I always have. But I don't like the drama. I really just want everyone to get along and have a life supported by loving people. My mom was a drama Queen. She was in a tizzy any time we had people over and would clean a clean house for days. ;P

 I SO wasn't going there. I was informed by my soon-to-be-ex many years ago that I was turning into my mother. I would get all tense before we left to go anyplace and scream and have fights...I then realized it was because I was always ready 30 minutes early and he was always 30 minutes or more late and didn't have his stuff together. So on top of doing my stuff and being disabled and feeling like crap I'd be trying to organize his at the last minute and get the kids moving, because they knew that the time stated meant 30 minutes or more late, and it was ALWAYS more stress than I wanted to deal with. LOL My daughter still fudges times with us both to get us going "on time." She's starting to realize that I'm actually getting ready at the time she says and now am considering HER late. LOL My son...well...we're always walking out the door while he's still brushing his teeth or getting his coat or something 10 minutes after it was time to go and waiting for him outside.

But all of this aside, making food for people I love and seeing them enjoy it. Being able to give them some small gift of my heart even when I'm broke. Letting them know I thought of them and love them and welcome new members to the family table. No matter when the holiday is celebrated.  (and no matter how many pain killers I need to swallow to get through the day!) I'd almost  prefer Christmas or a Yule celebration in July...just to divorce it from all the rest of the crazy of the season and get the family together for some gathering time to bond in a time less fraught with stress for all. But then employers don't give time off for the Summer Soltice do they? and when you are baking and sweating it just doesn't seem as fun to get together with family as when you can go sliding through the ice and snow.
from the puzzled goddess shivering under her nice warm blankets on this Christmas Afternoon.

Why the Garbage and Litter people?

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

Civic Dr. in Gresham, Oregon
 

 This is symptomatic of a growing problem I see everywhere and hate. Our beautiful scenery despoiled constantly by garbage and litter.

I had just gotten off the light rail MAX train this particular evening following a mother and her two children and watched her throw the farthest away white sack out into this field right in front of her children as if it was the proper place to dispose of the garbage. As if it was the proper thing to be teaching her children. As if she wasn't two steps from crossing the street and half a block from a garbage can where it could have been thrown away correctly. And I could do nothing. I and my walker This is shared space of us all and they are trashing MY living space and it PISSES ME OFF!

I'd really like to see a few more littering tickets written and the laws enforced. Maybe then some of these people would get the point that their careless disregard for their environment is sickening and they are polluting the world that others have to live in.

From a pissed off goddess on a soapbox....climbing down...

Rediscovering Musicians

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

It's strange after a twenty plus year hiatus from most music because I couldn't stand the added pain to actually be able to enjoy listening to some music occasionally again. My soon to be ex-husband was a sweetheart and gave me his old ipod for my last birthday and I've been working to fill it up to listen to it during the walks I take. Smartphones just burn through battery power too fast IMO when you are also listening to music. But even when I rip the CD's I've got the stupid iTunes doesn't recognize them as music. Got to figure it out. But I am realizing that some of my favorite musicians didn't stop making music when I could no longer listen, and didn't start when I first heard of them. Like this one. Rick Springfield. LOL Some of you think he's just a heart throb. He's actually a singer, songwriter and composer as well as being an actor. And the guy plays several instruments. The Ballad of Annie Goodbody is off of his first solo album in the US (he's Australian) and I've discovered I really like it.

from a rockin' goddess

Hazards of the Walk

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...you'd think when they put in access for handicapped people they'd have disabled people help design them.

The bumpy yellow strip used on these types of ramps for traction are slick under your feet in rain, ice and snow and painful to cross for me with arthritis in my back, knees and arms on a scooter or walker. I expect to be in pain going across a railroad track, and avoid as many as I can, these they've set up so I can't avoid!

This type of  ramp however, that is actually made as part of the sidewalk causes no pain when I go over it and yet still gives me traction. The cobblestones are nasty, but that's another story! LOL

 

And worst of all...in the Lloyd District where they are trying to be hip, trendy, cool, and who knows what else....

In this light, the depression is visible. But TWICE I have managed to walk straight off the curb because it wasn't a clearly marked ramp and they were in an unexpected place. Both times were in broad daylight. It doesn't help that I have macro degeneration and can't see well. But if I can do it and end up tearing my meniscus in my knee on my walker because I fell straight on it IN BROAD DAYLIGHT at 9 AM!!! then other people can as well. I then did it a few streets over a couple weeks later. sigh.... I now know to be extra careful to look out for the d@mn fricken ramps because their beautification is more important than safety. But it's definitely the pits to remember.  Don't get me started on sloped sidewalks because of driveways, or just because whoever put them in was an @ssh@t and cracked concrete and asphalt I'm expected to navigate over and sections of sidewalk that are raised that I'm somehow magically supposed to levitate to get up on, or better yet, streets that have none at all?
 Or the streetlights near my MAX stop that are always out and since they are the new directional lighting they darken the entire block and make me feel totally unsafe to come home in the winter after 6pm.

Yeah, that makes you feel really safe when you give up driving because of your disability and how unsafe you really are on the road and how bad your macular degeneration is? NOT. I'm really happy that transit is here and available and accessible, and I know that people who pay full price get kind of pissed of at the disabled because they have to wait for ramps and give up seats and get squished by walkers and move out of the way and wait on doors so the ramps will come down, but I CAN'T drive a car right now. I have NO CHOICE. Transit or walk. If I move I need my walker and it takes some room. Yes I paid my taxes and I'm sorry it slows you down but I can't bike it. I would if I could. I had a mobility chair and quite frankly, this is healthier for me and uses less room on transit. :D So the next time you get impatient, remember that you are probably very much ABLE to drive, the person in those seats may not, probably isn't able to.

 

From a frustrated goddess on a walker...

Tie me Up, Tie me Down, Tie me all Around...

Wikimedia CSD 2

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...I was starting to read an erotica novel last night, or was it the night before? Anyway...(Oh come on you didn't think the interwebs invented porn do you? Libraries were there long before that! And still have great collections! And streaming that shit is SO much easier now. LOL) So anyway, to explain, erotica is kinda like romance novels but kinkier. In a romance, two people get together and work out the kinks in their relationship and deal with some of their baggage. In romantica, two, but maybe more or less or other deal with the kinkier in their relationship(s) and create baggage for unsuspecting readers who may need mind bleach before finishing a paragraph or two. All kidding aside there are as many types of sex and gratification as there are people. Most of the time I can flip merrily on my way and not really be bothered too much by stuff that just doesn't particularly play for me. I'm old enough that I figure what consenting adults agree to consent to do is their own business. I don't like abuse, bullies, or hypocrites and that's where quite a few of my objections come into play in the real world.


But reading about stuff? I generally have pretty strong stomach.


which is why I couldn't understand my reaction to reading about a Master/slave commitment ceremony in the BDSM world. But I'm figuring based on some other work I'm trying to do lately with facing my fears that the gut clenching knots of terror are directly tied to my childhood trauma of being abused and the PTSD I've had since. I found it strange that I wouldn't even have noticed the fear response if I hadn't been reading, a book by Ana T. Forrest called, "Fierce Medicine." Forrest was the originator of Forrest yoga and strongly believes in facing fears and confronting them in order to control our reactions to them and tome down the stress they leave our bodies under.
I can totally understand the value in this. She suggests keeping a few journal with steps you've taken to combat the few and to isolate the causes. Since this is a first realization for me. I've got to figure out if the root of my terror is really what I suspect and how I'll go about desensitizing myself to it. Maybe I'll read the book instead of throwing the thing and my phone into wall at least.
from a puzzled goddess...terrified of nothing but words on a page...

Organizing for a day

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...I finally got disgusted with digging through the drawer multiple times and not being able to find what I was looking for. You know the way it goes. You have one drawer that has several types of things in it so you always have to dig through it to find what you want.


So this entire  basket of clothing came out of a 4" deep drawer. That started out started out impossible to find anything

 With a few tools.

 Some cardboard and a little bit of time. About a half hour/s worth and no impact on my budget. I organized the snot out of it and ended up with this.


My kick ass new drawer!         From the Goddess of Organized shit you should all envy!

Catz Daze

This is Aria. She likes to be under the covers. And when she's not, she likes to attack feet!

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me..

But woe betide any human subject who wakes her furry butt up!

or not...some are just curious...

But Aria has one MAJOR kitty trait...

and can't help looking into the well, or laundry machine as it were to see if Lassie might have fallen in.

She just HAS to sniff out any possible place a D.O.G. might be.

And her human sister has one very Human trait....throw the cat down the well...

And some get pushed in by a helpful sibling who just can't resist....

HELLO? Any Doggies down here?

until Mom has pity on them and lets their poor, beleaguered, neurotic furry butts free.

 And you thought helping someone recover from surgery was all fun and games,  huh? Work I tell you, it's all work!
from the goddess of puzzling kitties....

The White Man's Burden....a conversation

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...okay, this was a phrase I had heard all of my life and kind of glossed over, "The White Man's Burden." I didn't even know where it came from. Then I had a conversation with my immensely intelligent daughter who is majoring in history and discovered it was from a Rudyard Kipling poem, written to defend Eugenics and the Euro-centric beliefs spreading at the time that the "white man" or read "western man" were somehow superior to everyone else in the world and it was our duty through imperialism to guide and shepherd other races to civilization (in our image of Industrialism and Christianity). The poem was written in the era of 1897-99, originally for Queen Victoria's Jubilee, but then replaced and reworked and written to support the U.S. conquest of the Philippine Archipelago from Spain.

I couldn't help injecting a whole load of irony, satire and sarcasm in every word of it when I read it. The plain text of it was just that strange to my modern, indoctrinated, and PC, way of thought. Plus the ignorance of disregarding civilizations that had far outstripped the complexity and sophistication of Victorian England in Ur, Central Africa, Egypt, and Middle and South America in previous centuries just because they weren't "industrialized" or "Christian" necessarily and polluting our planet to the point of unlivability for the rest of the world's inhabitants to thrive seems specious.

Reading this made me draw some very unhappy parallels with some of our extreme politicians over the last 8 years like Michele Bachmann and others who can't seem to keep their race hatred out of their comments about politics. I hate negative campaigns. Discuss the issues. Discuss inflammatory statements or stupid statements or dumb things the person or official has said or done as AN OFFICIAL or that are ILLEGAL. I don't like hate on religion. I don't care about consensual sex. CONSENSUAL being the word. If you are paying an aid, not consensual in my book. You are pandering. But I don't care what color your skin is, or what team you bat for, or how many people you are married to. if you are the President you have my respect. I took an oath and I never rescinded it. Sometimes that kind of worries me when I look at the people running...what ever happened to the Greek Golden Mean in Western thought, and Do Unto Your Neighbor? The Bible sure never said neighbors were all white. The Queen of Sheba certainly wasn't. None of the tribes of Isreal were. JESUS CHRIST wasn't! He was Middle Eastern, Duh! So was Allah. Gee! What happened to harm none? That's a good one to follow.

from a goddess who remains a very puzzled and a determined TRUE moderate on most issues...

Mint tea for me...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...
After sleeve bariatric surgery I was told to stop drinking carbonated beverages, and no caffeine. with the migraines I don't really drink caffeine anyway, but the carbonation was a BIG change. I used to never be seen without a diet pepsi in my hand. Then a diet Shasta when I realized how sensitive I was to aspartame. I now drink adult cool aid otherwise termed tisane, or herbal tea.

For a general, all around beverage that's cold, I normally drink some kind of mint infusion.
Here's what I think of the ones I've sampled.

Of the straight Peppermint teas I've tried the very cheap from the Dollar store which has almost nothing in the tea bags and costs as much as the Stash tea to buying my own loose organically grown peppermint leaves that I grind in a coffee mill. I like a smooth, light taste of peppermint that isn't overpowering that is sweetened quite a bit so I prefer the Stash peppermint. I don't know where they get their leaves, or what they do to them, but they are smooth and not harsh and nasty. The Bigelow tea peppermint has a harsh and heavy peppermint oil taste so it may be that their leaves are fresher, but I don't consider that a taste advantage in this situation.                                                                 

This Stash Moroccan Mint is one of my favorite teas. But it has green tea in it, and so it contains caffeine. I'm not allowed to indulge often. When I use this one bag is used in an entire pot so I don't overdo the caffeine allotment for the day. 

 The Bigelow Thin Mints tea is pretty good. It smells like a chocolate mint plant I had a few years ago until my black thumb killed it.  But this tea really only tastes good when it's hot. When it's cold it tastes like pretty nasty watery candy.

 

This Bigelow Plantation Mint is one of my all time favorite teas. I LOVE spearmint. unfortunately

 

this also has caffeine  in it so I can't really drink it anymore. I grind up spearmint leaves as well and that tastes good. The spearmint is less overpowering than the peppermint and so this tea is wonderful.
















The Mint Medley is a nice blend of Spearmint and Peppermint. Once again, if they used the peppermint Stash uses, the tea would be better.

From the goddess trying to keep cool with mint...

One of my favorite restaurants...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...I know it's silly to think so much of a fast food place, but this one...I just like the way they put the landscaping in, and they serve a Sobe I can drink that's not carbonated that I mix with their tea.

It's located out near where Powell Blvd meets Burnside Rd in Gresham. The few buses that go to this area only run intermittently and stop early so it's easy to get stranded without a way to head back west for those of us who can't drive. The Panda Express that is much closer to me just doesn't have the same ambiance and doesn't carry the Sobe. So it's not the same.

I like eating their kid's meal, with string bean chicken and steamed vegetables. They actually serve more vegetables than a few pieces of broccoli, carrots and cabbage. I wish some of their other entrees had an option to get sauce on the side or came without breading. I really dislike breaded meat smothered in a sweet sauce. All it does is up the calories for no real taste addition. Just slime. Uck. But the Kung Pao is okay as well.

I really stop here more because it's restful and I like the way it looks and feels...so sue me!

from a puzzled goddess scarfing fast food Chinese...num...

Things my Father taught me...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...going introspective as I and my daughter visited my parents' graves last month. I try to make it a habit to visit their graves at Willamete National Cemetery on my Dad's birthday so it's a happy memory, not a sad anniversary, like a death anniversary. I want to think of them as they were while alive.

I got thinking about the eulogy I gave for my dad at his funeral. Up until the last minute I wasn't sure I was going to but it just felt right. Dad's world had narrowed so much in his last years as his health failed and he wasn't working. He seemed to retreat more toward the past and family became ever more important to him, and I've come to understand that. The family I love and the things I had left undone for them became much more important to me after I had a heart attack scare a few years ago. I now know that my dad was told that he had a limited time to live because he had congestive heart failure and was trying to set things up so that my mom would be in good shape to be covered and okay. He always cared for her in his quiet way.

But back to the eulogy...the one huge lesson I remember from my dad is that you can learn just about anything you want to do from a book. And he put that into practice most of his life. He never let the fact that he didn't know something stop him from trying to do it. It was just one more challenge he hadn't learned about. I think some of that attitude came from his life's career (and one of mine) which was as a computer systems analyst. Which, if you are a good one, means that you intimately understand all the processes around the computerized systems you are bringing into being so that you can streamline them, design the correct supporting data structures and implement the training necessary for all people who are impacted by the system. To do this you have to have a deep understanding of the business process you are automating. Books can definitely come into play in this process. My father in fact possessed a business degree, as do I. His was in Management I believe, and he had certificates as a Data Wiring Operator (early computer programmer), and Systems Analyst well before colleges or universities offered the degrees as well as classes in COBOL, FORTRAN and a few other languages like me. My degree is in Project Management (probably following in Dad's footsteps...we were both Aries! And I wrote code in even more computer languages than he did. LOL and ended up a Systems Analyst and Computer Network Project Manager.) My Dad had also worked as a Draftsman and worked on a graduate degree in Engineering which he had never had the time to finish with his growing family.

But my Dad also was in the Air Force during the Korean War as part of the DEW line as a control tower officer and pilot. And when he got out he built a mobile home for he and my mother, and my older brother and sister, from scratch. Then a site built home...by reading about the codes and looking at blueprints and doing the wiring and the plumbing and the metal work and the rest of it pretty much by himself, or with his wife and kids help. As one of his kids I can attest to it. He had an almost endless belief in his power to learn anything, and he could. He passed that on. Before I entered high school I sweated pipes and soldered them and wired the electrical in our house and helped put up the sheetrock and do the taping, did the rebar and helped pour the cement, placed pier blocks and did rough and finish framing. The only thing I never did was lay carpet. (Thank you, God!)

 I really hope I've passed on this same type of belief to my children. I think I have. Because when something new comes up as a question that needs to be solved or done they don't necessarily turn to a book, or Mom or Dad, but the computer comes out, the internet is fired up...google is queried and youtube's brain is sucked dry. And low and behold the answer is found and the project is accomplished! So Thank You Daddy, we love you still and we appreciate your legacy!

from the puzzled  goddess of knowledge....

The lovely month of May...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...
it's that time of year, even bunnies are out to play. I saw one on my way to the MAX the other day and had to stop and snap his mug shot. Yeah, it was a really cheesy thing to do, but come on, I live in the city. How often do you see little bunny foo foo hopping out of the forest? I mean I live in the third largest city in Oregon. I was seriously looking around for the good fairy and his magic wand. No joy.

But dreams of hossenpfeffer and grilled thumper thighs followed me to bed that night. Num. He just hopped faster than I could deploy my mad skills with the folding cane and walker. Drat it!

But we've had some beautiful Oregon Spring days.

Like this one from the first of the month when I went to pick up my prescriptions 2 miles away and it was sunny, but it hailed back near where I live. That's Spring in Oregon for you. But the sun has been visiting, making us all think that we might have some warm days this year, even the flowers are approving.

I'm seeing more and more on my walks around the neighborhood. The vacant lot has nice wild weeds and the townhouses next door have lovely gardens. My own apartments are kind of blah though. But I can deal with it since I would much rather look at the pretty flowers than smell them coming in my air conditioner all the time.

These perennials are a lovely addition every year.

And these blue flowers form hedges that are waist high.

Who doesn't like Roses?

As for the last few days? It's been raining..

.It is Spring in Oregon after all....from the puzzled goddess of nature



In any color?



Flavor rant...keep your chemicals...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...
I remember hearing about a post on a blog or a story on the TV news or in the press when Starbucks made the decision to use Strawberries to color their cold drinks instead of red dye no. 40 or whatever.  It is that dye that is in everything you seem to buy with the least tint of red in it. And I thought it was ridiculous it was even a story. Starbucks should have always been doing this.

It must have been a slow news day. Somebody's cat up a tree and miraculously finding its way down on its own was a better story. But the press gave lots of time and room to...this.

     But hey, it's not as if you CAN buy natural food, made the way it should be grown. In the best way for the plant and for the human consuming it unless you make a special point of buying organic and have everything specially handled. It's amazing to me that you pay a premium to have nasty shit kept OUT of your food. Gee, I don't want you to put anything I can't spell or pronounce into my food, and Oh, here I need to pay 200% more for you to do it?! It has NEVER made sense to me. But then our food supplies wouldn't survive a nuclear holocaust and my Mother's pantry wouldn't have had food in it that was 2 or 3 years past its expiration date. Someday the cockroaches will love us, after they learn how to chew through the tin cans.

I know I'd be much happier in my life if the chemical garbage that polluted my food hadn't polluted my body as well. my theory is that those chemicals don't all leave as waste products, because that would be too clean...and just wouldn't really fit in with the chemistry in our innards. Think about the fake cheese popcorn chemical coating. If you haven't heard the story, it's why I won't eat the stuff anymore. I got an excessive craving for it the day after I brought my newborn son home from the hospital 20 some years ago as I and his father were headed to a family Thanksgiving celebration. Two days later I discovered why this wasn't a good idea. It was just wrong. What came out of the baby. I was breastfeeding. Smelled and had the SAME COLOR as the cheese popcorn coating. It was truly disgusting. This set of chemicals had gone through TWO digestive tracks and stayed together. Wow. But that to me is more reassuring than the stuff in our food that DOESN'T.

That's the stuff I worry about and wonder what it's doing in my body. What cells is that garbage changing? What inadvertent effects is it having on my brain or central nervous system chemistry? How long is it being stored in my fat or muscle tissue? In my liver? Is it all being released in a flood when I diet? With some of the effects I've noticed just watching as people slimmed down, and the difference in a few generations between what was considered a "healthy" diet and what wasn't, I'm pretty sure that no matter the number of vegetables you eat nowadays and good grains, if they aren't fresh, non-GMO, and organic, your diet is probably worse than your great grandmother's...and she probably went to bed hungry a whole lot more often then you do.
from a pissed off goddess with poison in her food supply...

Clusters and others and the menopausal migraineur meets the puzzled goddess

 Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

Fugue state is an old term for that time in the migraine cycle that you are hyper aware that a migraine will happen, expect it, dread it if you want the truth, but can't look away any more than you can at a train wreck.

Well....that's if you're a migraineur who gets "classic" migraine as I used to. Before 30 and pregnancy, estrogen, progesterone, and now testosterone all have influenced various conditions and turned classic to cluster. (I've been wondering tongue in cheek for the last twenty two years if this wasn't just a cluster f@ck of a diagnosis on people's lives. And knew it was my black humor and early bent toward the military coming through.)


I've been doing a great deal more research myself lately since large studies are finally being done, and I'm becoming involved in chronic pain advocacy, because, this is my life. There isn't any changing it now. My new normal has been here and holding out dreams for magic pills is just getting in the way. So all health topics will pretty much be moving to my new blog The Menopausal Migraineur .

And yes, I do look like a vampire in the middle of a bad attack. LOL just HAD to prove it. This is even after a sunburn and hives.

from the puzzled goddess going to do her relaxation exercises. . .

I don't have any close friends anymore, but I somehow always have conversation...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...I meet the most interesting people on the transit system, but then, I find people fascinating. I almost feel like I'm having too much fun when I commute, that it should be more of a hardship, like for my early twenties son.

 I feel so sorry for him. He invariably gets these half, (or totally) potted older women who stink to high heaven of booze, body odor, cigarettes and gods know what else that INSIST on sitting in seats next to him. And then edge closer and closer pushing their elbows and more of their bodies into him as the ride goes on. Anyone who knows him knows he's REALLY fastidious about his personal appearance and cleanliness, and then he gets the same migraines from toxic volatile chemicals as I do...and having someone shove it constantly under your nose...UcK!

But he and his sister are probably right that if he said something, being a white male in his 20's, a member of the "privileged class," that a whole scene would be started, and he would NOT come out of it well. I don't really understand why it should be so different. Though I do know it will.

 I can watch it play out in my head like one of those TV shows about moral choices and watch the strangers react badly to him when he is the wronged party.

It's taking liberalism and Political Correctness too far. Don't Get ME WRONG!
 I AM THE POSTER CHILD FOR PC AND LIBERALISM.
BUT NOT. I REPEAT. NOT---
WHEN IT VIOLATES COMMON SENSE!
And that is where that pendulum is starting to swing, both ways--- liberal and conservative, both are violating common sense and common decency, compassion and empathy for their fellow human beings.

I didn't mean to start this to lecture, just to update on how many interesting conversations I can have on the transit system going to appointments now that I had to get rid of my car.

A good friend of mine from college, Rory A. Miller, who writes the Chiron Training blog, as well as many excellent books on the subjects of martial arts and responding to violence, used to tell stories about riding the Trimet buses over school breaks and living homeless on Portland streets, and he'd make all of us see the humor in the situations that really weren't that humorous at all. But he has a special way of looking at things. I remember his slightly warped view of life as I look at my new world through my cloudy-mist eyes and talk to the people in it.

I met an older black woman who was so stylish she put me to instant shame. The turban was a kicken' 1930's look and the raccoon long coat draped over her shoulders set off her black pantsuit and leather alligator shoes. It all looked vintage. But vintage with style and flair. When I complemented her outfit we hit it off immediately, and we got to talking about our lives and her loves and her man that was still coming around looking for, "somethin', somethin'. You know how those men are. He cheated on me, but it may be worth it just to sample it again before I kick it out. Opportunities don't come by so often anymore at our age." We laughed so long before she got off the streetcar... We were like young girls being naughty in the corner and embarrassing the poor boy sitting across the aisle. I then, of course, being totally oblivious to his blushes got off at my stop 5 minutes later with my walker and a small chuckle. Bet he never makes the mistake of thinking old ladies don't giggle over old men. LOL


And then there was the young man in his late twenties or thirties buried in a book talking about sailing around the world. He thought it would be amazing to build a boat and do it. I could see the spark in his eyes. Maybe a Thor Heyerdaul, who knows?

There were the Water Engineers from England, the World Championship for track and field? I believe, where I was at the correct time to meet the families of the Australians, Germans, and some of the English, and the young Spanish émigré who thought Portland was the most accepting place she had ever lived though she laughed and said she would remember my description of being, "self consciously weird." That it fit quite a few of the Portlander's she had met...others just reveled in their weirdness. lol

I thought I would read many more books while riding transit, and I do keep a book or two with me. But far and above more interesting are the people and their stories and their lives.

....reflections of a puzzled goddess...