My City

I don’t know if you would have heard this news in other cities, but we sure did in Portland. There are so many things I love about Portland – it’s a city ahead of its time in so many areas of social change – but this is not one of them. Once again, a member of our police department has killed an unarmed person – in this case, a young black man. I think if we were in the middle of a very hot summer, the African-American community in Portland might have broken into all-out riot. As it is, I believe we are just inches away. The last time an unarmed young woman who happened to be black was killed by police here there was a shake-up in the department, making a long-time veteran of the force (who happens to be African-American) the new police chief. Apparently, this wasn’t enough of a change. Looks like the FBI is being called in, and once again, I say bring out the klieg lights and let’s see what shakes out.
The Headline: The fatal shooting of James Jahar Perez, 28, (pictured upper right) this past weekend at the hands of a Portland police officer is prompting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct a civil rights probe and the Multnomah Co. District Attorney to schedule a public inquest and a grand jury investigation.
Deep Thought: One day Dad asked me to go fishing with him. I got scared. I had the feeling he was going to try to drown me. I don’t know why I thought that, because so far he had never tried to kill me. But he had never taken me fishing either, so I was suspicious. When we got to the lake, he walked right up to it. “Hey, son, come here,” he said. “Look at these minnows.” “Nice try, Dad – if that’s your real name!” I yelled. Then I ran back to the car and locked myself in. Dad never took me fishing again. So I think that proves my case.
Today I am grateful for: Fingernail clippers

FYI

Below are the links to the RNC, and the DNC web sites. Clicking on them will bring you to those, and allow you to see what their parties platforms are.

http://www.rnc.org/
http://www.democrats.org/

The Shake-up

I must admit I don’t know quite what to make of it yet. It’s so hard to form opinions from media comments when your trust level has been reduced to getting the only worthwhile news from comedians like Jon Stewart and Al Franken. However, I observe Richard Clarke (repeatedly now), and he doesn’t seem to flinch or blink. I kept trying to figure out who his face reminded me of, and this morning it came to me in a flash – Gore Vidal (a man of much more wit but similar solidity in his opinions). He also reminds me of the guy who shook up the tobacco industry (can’t think of his name right now – Russell Crowe played him in that movie, The Insider). So I keep watching and listening, and I wonder how many Woodward and Bernstein’s are ferreting around trying to get the Real Facts in this case. Isn’t that how Watergate all began – who said what to whom when? I think it’s good for the country to get a little shake-up now and then. It sure eases my mind a bit just when I thought fascism was right around the corner. So I say bring out the klieg lights and let’s see what turns up.
Deep Thought: I don’t think I received enough love when I was a child. And not just from my parents. From my other relatives, and my friends, and from strangers and from all the creatures of the world, including bugs.
Today I am grateful for: Humor

The Ladykillers

Haven’t reviewed a film in a while. Got persuaded to see the modern version of the wonderful Alec Guinness film, this time starring Tom Hanks, an actor of great talent and likeability. I wouldn’t have thought to see it on my own because in the trailers Hanks looked so, well, slimy. And unfortunately, I found the entire film, well, slimy. For starters, there was a great deal of over-the-top foul language (which I would expect in a gangster drama, but not in a cheeky comedy). The other characters were not only poor caricatures, but in my opinion, offensive and in bad taste. There were even “poop” jokes in the form of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. So, while I can forgive Hanks a misstep like this, I must say that all you have to do is watch the classic original version of this film (which you would probably have to check out at your local branch library) with its wonderful English character actors (including the great Peter Sellers) to see how this movie could have been done. The friend I accompanied to the movie seemed to think it was quite funny. Hmmm……
Deep Thought: I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I don’t pretend to even know what the questions are. Hey, where am I?
Today I am grateful for: Richard Clarke

THINGS THAT REFRESH MY SOUL

Eating

This is a very dicey subject for me and many people. We have become a nation of overeaters, it would seem, and eating is a truly difficult addiction to treat, as one cannot simply stop eating like one can stop drinking alcohol or taking drugs. Apparently, we are a nation in need of comfort and food is one way to attempt to get it. On the other side of this coin is the fact that eating within healthy boundaries is a requirement for a healthy soul and body. It is also intertwined with so many lovely experiences in life – the preparation and tasting of food we have grown ourselves in our own gardens, the sharing of a simple meal with a friend, the first meal with a new lover, the holiday gathering of families around dinner tables, the experience of tasting a new cuisine in a foreign country or in our own. And there is always the awareness that while we eat for whatever reasons many in our world are starving. We may also be aware that some of the food we eat was produced by animals who were treated brutally for this purpose. We now can read labels and become more educated about all the preservatives and carcinogens that are present in much of the food we buy in stores. Endless books are written and diets created to deal with this complex part of our lives. There are whole stores full of nothing but cookbooks. Each of us must find our own path through this maze of information and take responsibility for our own health, both physical and spiritual. Recently, I took my grandchildren for a drive in the country and we stopped for lunch at a small-town diner. The walls were covered with photographs of happy local customers, the tables were busily occupied by them as well, and the staff was warm and hospitable to we three strangers. I chose a vegetarian omelet, as I’m drifting toward becoming a total non-meat-eater in the last part of my life. It was good, being with my grandchildren on a sunny day in the country was good, being part of the daily camaraderie of a small town restaurant was good. At that moment, eating was refreshing my soul.
Deep Thought: When I think of all the hours and hours of my life I have spent watching television, it makes me realize, Man, I am really rich with television.
Today I am grateful for: Taste buds

Nature

So it’s 1:39 a.m. and I’m not in bed in my room, I’m typing this and here’s why. About 15 minutes ago, I woke from a sound sleep to some kind of unusual noise in my room. After getting up, turning on the light, and seeing nothing but one of the cats, I went back to bed only to hear the noise again – that faint fluttering noise I’ve heard on occasion in the past when one of my cats has caught a bird and brought it in the house. To make a long story short, I got up again and discovered that indeed there was a small bird in the space between the floor and my bed and up against the wall under my bed where the cat could not quite get in to get it. Swearing, I got up and got dressed and got a towel, hoping I could pull the bed away from the wall and get near enough to drop the towel over it and carry it outside. But of course it moved further under the bed. So now I’ve opened the window in my room wide, closed the door, and left it alone to see if it can find the window. It’s probably having a small bird size heart attack and still sitting in the same spot. So I’ll probably have to go back in with my towel and a broom and try to scare it into the open where I can do the towel maneuver again. I hate this. And don’t even ask how mad I am at the cat.
Update at 6:54 a.m.: And that’s what I finally had to do. Went in with a towel, the bird fluttered into a corner by the window on the floor, I dropped the towel on it, gently picked up the whole bundle and let the bird fall out the window. Then I had the expected poor sleep for the next 3 hours or so and will probably nod off all day today to catch up. I hope it’s a long time before this scenario happens again.
Deep Thought: I think a good movie would be about a guy who’s a brain scientist, but he gets hit on the head and it damages the part of the brain that makes you want to study the brain.
Today I am grateful for: Not having to go to work in 4 hours from now

Friday Five

1. What was your most memorable moment from the last week?
First of all, I have the perpetual senior moment at this point in my life, so it really has to be spectacular for me to remember it, and this was not a spectacular week, but I guess seeing the sun finally come out for spring was the topper.
2. What one person touched your life this week?
Yesterday morning early I got a call from my 8-year-old granddaughter at my desk at work. She had discovered a baby squirrel that had fallen from its nest and was essentially knocked out just outside her back door. She remembered that last year I had been asked by my across-the-street neighbor to help rescue a similar baby squirrel laying helplessly in a puddle by the sidewalk. A little searching in the phone book for vets that treat wild animals brought me the phone number of a true saint. There is a woman in my metro area whose calling in life is rescuing squirrels. A phone call to her brought her right away from a distance of 15 miles or so. She scooped up the squirrel, named it Baby Joe, and I discovered it still thrives all these months later under her care. My granddaughter also called the Squirrel Lady with the same result. She came immediately (at no charge I must add) and took it away with her to be treated with great love until she can reintroduce it to the wild. We tend to think such people are eccentric, crazy, bizarre in our assessment of the world around us – in my estimation this woman is perfectly sane, has an extra helping of goodness, and just happened to pick squirrels to lavish it on. Knowing she is out there makes my heart sing.
3. How have you helped someone this week?
See #3.
4. What one thing do you need to get done by this time next week?
Much more yardwork. I’m grappling with trying to find the appropriate helpers this year to do some of it – like cleaning the gutters, pruning, hauling away yard debris, etc. In the spring in Oregon, you have to move fast to keep up with the growth. Plus you keep getting halted by the bursts of rain.
5. What one thing will you do over the next seven days to make your world a better place?
I’m getting together with a woman friend on Sunday partly to have fun (movie,lunch) and partly to hang flyers for starting a group for women our age. There are so many new transitions at this age and many more reasons to enlist support and share wisdom.
Deep Thought: I’ll never forget the time the president came to our town. When I saw him go by, he looked so much older and sadder than I thought he was. Also, why was he driving an ice cream truck?
Today I am grateful for: Perennials

Serenity

No matter what else is happening in your life today, this will help.  Click on the picture.

 

 

Deep Thought: If you ever go temporarily insane, don’t shoot somebody, like a lot of people do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you’d really be surprised.
Today I am grateful for: Knowing someone to call when my granddaughter finds a baby squirrel.

Simplicity

TheNeverwhere was talking about the extraordinariness of ordinary people. It made me think of this poem:

The Illumined
The illumined with us keep to
their own path. Transmigrants of an almost
vanished race, they stand aloof
and where the custom of the house
is to perceive an oddity among the
guests, remain unnoticed. Fragile in its length
and lightness
is the world their eyes reveal to the imagination
- but it is extended, like a simple meal
of salt and onions, to the
mind which grasps it openly and
leads it in to sleep on honest straw.

Deep Thought: If you were a gladiator in olden days, I bet the inefficiency of how gladiator fights were organized and scheduled would just drive you up a wall.
Today I am grateful for: Fingers and toes

The Burbs

One thing about spring in my neighborhood is all of a sudden you see the neighbors out in their front yards doing yardwork. I doubt if the neighbors in a big apartment building in New York City do this, but in the suburbs people (well some of them anyway) watch the landscape of their block and judge. I’m not just being paranoid. I know this because I’ve met some of my neighbors (another thing that doesn’t always happen in big cities). I’ve listened to them discuss who lived where when and how things have changed. Now there’s a good side to this. Last summer one of my cats brought in a live mouse and dropped it in front of me. I ran to open all my doors, meanwhile yelling “Out, Out, Out” at the top of my lungs and grabbing the broom. Within seconds a neighbor was at my door to see what was going on. So embarrassing. So it’s a mixed bag. This year I’m taking out the flower borders along my front sidewalk so I can spend less time in front and more in my back yard where I have some privacy. This is partly because I’m getting older and creakier and the work is too much and partly because while I’m so glad my neighbors would come running, most of the time when I’m home I “vant to be alone.” Most of the time.
Deep Thought: One afternoon, when I was about ten, I decided to walk over to the “wrong side of the tracks.” At first I was a little scared. But then I noticed that the yards were nice, and so were the houses. In fact, most of the houses were better than those on our side of the tracks. A lot better.
Today I am grateful for: Oases