Before the Weekend

I just had a wonderful weekend in San Diego. Before I did that, I had a good couple of weeks, meeting with friends and working on my needlepoint. The picture above includes all my tools. The directions are on the right, the cloth I'm filling in is on the left. And the magnifying glass I now need to read some of the directions. Yes, my distance glasses won't work, my computer glasses won't work and my reading and needlpoint glasses don't always work. What will I do when the magnifying glass doesn't work? It is very relaxing, anyway. This picture is of a woman in her garden. I've been working on her flowing shawl for some time. Relaxing AND slow.

I had lunch at the Los Angeles Farmer's Market with Rachelle. We have had so many OMG meals together we usually try to find something exciting. My bad. I selected DuPar's because I've heard about it all my life. What yuck. The good thing is that I could focus all my attention on Rachelle, not the food. Great time.

Then last Sunday our old Times' group met. No really, we are all old except for Idalia and her husband. I'm not sure how they like hanging around us codgers, but I enjoy seeing them. And I was feeling really good because I finally registered to vote. Remember, that was on my lists of don'ts. Don't forget to register to vote. I registered as a Republican again. It was the Reps who were at my local farmer's market on Saturday. I was really good, behaved myself and didn't ask them a million questions about how they could be so.... Oh, yea. I'm going to find that out in my class starting in October.

I'll write about my fabulous time in San Diego very soon. I have to develop my pictures first. :)

Don't

Don't read Dexter is Delicious, even if it is on sale through Audible. Sure, the show on, what? Showtime? is really good. But this writer does not care about cutting up folks, especially live folks. With Dexter, that can be okay because you know they are really bad guys. I also realized I'd never listened to one of these books before so I could skip over yucky parts. But this book is beyond worlds yucky. You might like that. I don't.

Don't forget to register if you have moved from state to state. I missed the primary. Sure, those Republican broads would have won without my vote, but I would have felt I was doing my duty. Now I feel unAmerican. Mr. Fox-what's-his-name would not like me to feel unAmerican. Oh, yea, Beck. So I will mail in my registration this weekend. But here's what I'm thinking. Tell me I'm wrong, because I'm sure I am. California is screwed. Screwed. SCREWED. SCREWED. Grey Davis was expelled for failure and now we have Ahnold, doomed to failure from the beginning and failing big time. I want the EBay lady to try her hand and fail. Failure is on the horizon for these coming years. We won't do well no matter who is there. Why not let the rich lady fail like the rich man did? If there was hope, would the voters have put Brown on the roster? I like Jerry. But this is an accident ready to happen or continue to happen. Unless we repeal the property tax initiative, we will remain screwed for eternity. OR tax business property on a different schedule.

Don't vote for the Fiorino witch. Yucky, pucky. AND there is only hope if the dems keep the Congress. What do you think about that wonderful Elizabeth Warren who is on the side of us middle class folks. Love her. Let's make sure she can be elected to head the consumer finance protection agency.

Don't forget to live life where you are. I am attending 3 classes, beginning in October, most for 6 weeks. Two are book groups discussing "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Help." I'm re-reading Mockingbird. It's been a long time. The last one is "Scrutinizing Conservative Thought During Fall Elections." Oh, I'm going to love that one. AND my old boss is leading the discussion. He's a little mild-mannered. I will try to be the same. For a while.

Don't forget to send your love to your niephews who keep in touch with you. Mark called, Natalie and Julie wrote. It's all good. AND I even love those not in contact. Go figure. Going to see all the folks in San Diego next weekend with Karen and Peter. Coolness. Don't ever forget family.

Lazy Days of Summer

One Sunday in August, Maggie came to visit Eric and I in Arlington. Cindy was working at home on a proposal that knew no end. Eric and I took Maggie to a bookstore so she could get a free book that she earned because she read many books. We went to lunch and the Trader Joes to pick up some groceries for the Heins' house.

Then we got to play. Cindy suggested we play in the sprinkler in the back yard. I loved playing in the sprinklers at our next door neighbor's house when I was growing up. There seems to be nothing more cooling, even a swimming pool. Maggie did not have another child to run through the sprinklers with, so she tried to find out how to manipulate the water to go over the fence to water the neighbor's yard. She also washed a doll's house and her aunt. That last was the most fun. For both of us.

Isn't this a beautiful setting? The garden is behind Maggie. Even though those lovely lawn chairs were low, I was able to get my big butt out of them easily because they are sturdy and have good places for me to push myself up. Because of that, I was able to change the water direction on the sprinkler every now and then. That meant we got to think of a lot of ways to get Auntie Peggy wet.

We had a wonderful time in the yard. Then we dried off and played with Katie's Beanie Babies until it was time to go home. We should have counted, but I think Katie has about 50 BB's. We looked at and named every one of them then selected our favorites. Maggie's favorite fell behind the couch. She does love to torment her auntie, wanting to see how she manipulated this body to retrieve the dog. I was even more clever and retrieved it when nobody could watch.

I do believe a wonderful time was had by all.

Watery Memoir

Just finished reading John Waters' book, Role Models. No, I just finished reading the negative reviews on its Amazon page. One reviewer said she blamed getting this book on Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air. That's funny because I got this book because I too listened to John Waters on that program. Terry is great interviewer. And the books always sound so interesting.

Waters reads his book for Audible. Nobody else could do it. Dry, drool, totally self-aware. On Fresh Air he talked about the first chapter, which is about his admiration for Johnny Mathis. That chapter was fascinating. Unlike the reviewer mentioned above who hated the Leslie Van Houten chapter, I liked that chapter. I worked with one of her brothers, the one who was adopted. When I met him, he had changed his name back to his Korean birth name, although it seemed more Japanese to me. I don't blame him. There is a lot of hate associated with those Manson folks. What Waters does so well is to help you understand more about these people than what is on the surface. Van Houten went to a very bad place in herself, thanks in large part to drugs and the times. There but for the grace of fate could have gone many of us. Fascinating reading.

My hairdresser in Virginia had just come back from a vacation in Provincetown, MA. I never knew this was a gay hang out. Tennessee Williams hung out there, so did John Waters. You know how I love these connections.

You must have guessed there was some chapters I didn't love. The perversities at the end almost undid me. To each his own, I always say, as long as they aren't hurting other people. But I really don't need to know about it. Really. Do not. Need. To know. But now I do. Yippee.

Would I recommend this book? Sigh. How curious are you?