As a rule, I tend to not take self-proclaimed 'feminists' very seriously.
It's particularly hard to not laugh in the face of someone who gets all hysterical over the current president's 'abysmal' women's rights record.

Five questions to ask yourself when pulling the lever on Tuesday.

I guess you've probably figured out who I'm voting for on Tuesday.
(It's too bad I'd not not had the foresight to get my cats registered - as democrats, of course - as they'd probably have voted across party lines as well.)

My reasons are prettymuch the same as this guy's.

Heck, even without the War on Terror or the fact that I'm not really happy with Bush's domestic side, I'd probably not have voted for Kerry. In my time here in Liberal Ethnic Hippie Land, I've never voted for him. Why break a streak?

Usually, I don't watch TV or listen to commercial radio, so I've been spared nearly all of the political ads, mercifully. If I'd have been subjected to more of these distortions, I think I'd have either taken my own life or moved to Canada or something.

The Kerry ad I saw didn't surprise me for a minute, as he's pretty notorious for pedalling some whoppers against his opponents here. It just really grated on my nerves, and I did have to answer back to the TV (sorry Hal).

1.) Iraq is a 'quagmire' and we were misled and rushed to war by the President.
This has all been covered by other, more knowledgable people than I am. (Take a look at Belmont Club for great, in depth analyses of the War on Terror, and particularly on Iraq.)
2.) Tax cuts for the rich are hurting the poor and middle class.
Hmm, I'm not rich. What the heck - I work for a human services agency and make just a hair over $40,000/year. This last tax return saw me get a refund that caused me to be able to both pay off a student loan (few hundred dollars) and pay off my computer (another couple hundred dollars.) I certainly don't feel like I'm suffering at the hands of the rich.
3.) The most jobs have been lost under this president's administration in 75 years.
Truly, where does he get these numbers? When Bush came into office, it was at the start of a recession. (I know that stuff started getting soft under Clinton, as that was about the time when I began a job search.) Shortly thereafter, the country was hit by the worst terrorist attack ever seen. This slammed the economy in a few areas.
Of course things were bad. (How bad, though, really? I know of no one in this part of the country who was unemployed for long. Housing costs are still going up. What am I missing?) Then, we get news like this. Inconvenient, I'm sure, and also, like most of the good news, to be ignored.

For pete's sake, if you're going to be fib, at least be convincing, for crying out loud. And don't assume that we aren't bright enough or motivated enough look this stuff up on our own.

Looks like we've got a winner here.

First, he calls the President a cokehead. Then he issues a statement regarding Israel that brings about comparisons to Pat Buchanan. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? And he was officially out representing his stepfather at this rally.

Food for thought, folks.

Hal at it again.

Hal's impressions of the city after the Big Victory.
I particularly like the Hancock Tower and the billboards...

Since I have word that we are, in fact, going to the parade tomorrow, I'm sure that some nice images of that will find their way here.

"Oh yeah, Boston, you're my home!" 

Billboards outside of Fenway 

Some of yesterday's headlines. I've got a couple other ones, too, as both the Globe and the Herald keep coming out with new 'commemorative editions.' 

"Flashing blue, skies are blue...flashing red, storms ahead"...flashing blue and red...hell has frozen over? 

Portent of world championships to be won... 

Need I say more?



Way to go, guys. You did it.
We've been waiting all our lives for this. We love you!

Rest in peace, Babe.

Update: You should hear the horns honking out there in Magoun Square!

Another Update: Pablo called from Harvard Square - it sounded like pandemonium. He was having the time of his life...

Oh, the Globe headline is sweet: At Last! Pigs can fly, hell is frozen, the slipper finally fits,
and Impossible Dreams really can come true...The Red Sox have won the World Series!

Just one more via Drudge: The last time they won the World Series... the first World War was about to end... Lucky Lindy was a teenager dreaming of flying across the ocean... John Kennedy was an infant... penicillin didn't exist...TV didn't exist... radio was just starting... "Red Sox Win First World Series Since 1918."

Good night, now. I've got to try get some sleep.

Guarda la bella luna rosa.





At 11:10 pm tonight a beautiful, beautiful lunar eclipse was visible through the branches of a pincherry tree in my backyard. The air was clear, soft, warm, calm - not what we're used this time of year up here on the Jungfrau of Somerville. Didn't want to come back in, except I had to. I needed to get back inside to check on how the Sox were doing.

Bottom of the 8th - 3-0 Sox. May they keep it up.
May I wake up tomorrow morning to very good news.

Criminy

Bottom of the 8th, Sox up by four. I'm not watching! In fact, I think it's bedtime. Que sera sera (et dum spero spero.)

Update: Fast inning. Sox are now three up. One game to go to win the series...or four games to go to lose it, as the Yanks learned the hard way last week. (Boston fatalism, theah.)

Ha.

So, it turns out that one of the books picked up at the Somerville Library sale this weekend (paid $1.50 for it) is worth around not quite 1000x that. Ha.

All I have to say to the nice lady there who felt the need to politically educate the 'great unwashed:' spend a bit more time doing your job and less time being an activist, and maybe things would work out better. Obviously you all dropped the ball here, and it wasn't going to be George Bush's fault if the glorious new addition to the Winter Hill Atheneum had ended up in a dumpster.

Lots to relate, but lately, this has been the last place that I've felt like visiting. I think I'm emotionally overloaded between hating my job, watching baseball, anticipating how the Democrats are going to turn this election into a sham.

Hopefully I'll get out a bit this week to get the knee looked at some more. Finally have the doctor appointments lined up - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be no last minute work snafu that causes me to cancel them yet again.

Anna Maria, Me and a new friend at one of Salem, MA's "Haunted Happenings" 

Today's flower is a lovely little leguminous thing from the Jasper Beach up in Machiasport, Maine. 

Had a pretty nice weekend which included more finds at a book fair, beer, pizza, a trip to Salem, MA, baseball, and some nice lazy, catnappy afternoons.

Hennaed my hair as I'd figured on going to a Halloween party as Elisabeth Siddal. Didn't happen, so I'm just the autumnal version of myself. Heck, if the leaves on the trees can change, why can't my hair do so to match them?

It's definately soup weather. Did a clean out the fridge thing that turned out to be pretty lovely. I've got some slow cooking in the crockpot right now for the rest of the week, in fact. What ended up in the pot? A couple carrots, a couple stalks of celery, a cup or so of cabbage, some chopped tomatoes, about 1/2 a dozen cloves of garlic, a half can of black beans, a few spoonfuls of spaghetti sauce, a pinch of rosemary, of basil and of marjoram. Six cubes of veggie boullion. Oh, and some shell pasta.

Boil everything together until it's soft enough. That's it.

Incredible, isn't it,

That we live in a country where we pay farmers not to produce and where libraries throw books away?

Somerville library had their annual book fair, so of course, we visited. Got a lot of nice stuff, but ultimately I was disappointed with the sale in general.
Not very well set up, sort of weird hours, rather unhelpful and not nice help.

I think that the thing that stuck out in my mind the most was the contrast between one book sale volunteer's call to us to vote for Kerry because 'the current president probably want to burn these books anyway' and a staff member's statement later on that the books at the sale that weren't sold would be dumpstered later on.

Go figure.

Go figure.

I watch the first game of the series, and they play like little leaguers.
I opt out of the second one, top of the eighth, they've a five run lead, still.
Better quit while I'm ahead.
(Until tomorrow, then, regarding baseball.)

Does this beat all or what?

Generally, the only people I've heard complain about Halloween celebrations are the staunch old Irish Catholic ladies in my old neighborhood in East Boston who objected to the pagan underpinnings of the holiday. I'd smile and nod and just go about collecting up my candy and pumpkins for the little ghouls and goblins who'd come visiting that night.

Never in a million years would I think that we'd hear of the celebration being banned due to potential offensiveness to wiccans.

About as striking to me as Damon's comeback grand slam, Timlin's steely gaze and the image of the Sox whooping it up in the middle of the field at Yankee Stadium was this gorgeous Nike ad. In general, my hat's off to the design team involved in their publicity - it's poetic stuff. This, though, really catches at the heart.

Oh My God! Oh My God! Oh My God!





At the beginning of this week, would anyone have guessed that they'd actually do it? Four games in a row they won. Two of the longest games in baseball history played (two nights ago having clocked in at nearly six hours. One Yankee player said that the couple days in Boston actually felt like a month). Gosh, they really wanted this one.

Now - this is the first time since 1986 that they've made it to the series, and what a heartbreaker that was. (I remember it like it was yesterday - I was a sophomore in high school, and the only Sox fan aside from the Korean exchange student.) Will this be 86 all over again? Should we even worry? My goodness, they not only beat the Yankees...they crushed them! After being behind 3/0. My word.

NY Times lead article

Boston Globe lead article.

I've got to go to bed now.
Tomorrow, off to find something pink hopefully.
Good night!

Mental health, or superstition?

Okay - I'm still not watching.
(Did catch a replay of Damon's *gorgeous* grand slam, though.)
I did not hear 'who's your daddy?'
I did not see Timlin pitch that beautiful eighth inning.
I'm not watching any of this.
Really.

If they win this (!ojala!), I'm getting something pink to celebrate.
And maybe I'll watch a game or two in the world series.
Maybe. I don't want to jinx anyone, though.

When life gives you crabapples....

I never really thought much about Martha Stewart,to be honest, but this story warms me up to her. Makes me think of a stylish Euell Gibbons update.

Geesh.

I heard that, though he was a bit hobbled, Schilling had an arm of steel last night. I'm still not watching the games, as it's gotten to be a bit of a superstitious thing for me now. This is amazing, though, and, I find that in spite of myself, I'm getting the hopes up.

May they win it and silence that stadium tonight.

This weekend, we had sort of a mixed bag of films.
We're still working on the Marilyn Monroe Diamond Collection: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Monkey Business were leftovers from last weekend. (We saw Seven Year Itch last week.) I think that I preferred Gentlemen, as I tend to prefer musicals (Boy, aside from being a bombshell, Jane Russell is pretty darned talented. Have to look for more of her stuff. Any recommendations?), and Monkey Business was typical Cary Grant as the Absent-Minded Professor. I do have to say, though, that Ginger Rogers was a treat in that one, and I'd love to see more of her 'on her own.' (Again - any recommendations?)

The best of the lot this weekend, however, was Crimes and Misdemeanors. Both Hal and the back of the DVD container had listed this work as a comedy. Though there were moments of levity in it, I found it to be pretty heavy fare, bordering on nihilistic. To me, it felt like Crime and Punishment, only without the redemption of the protagonist at the end. (Maybe more like The Immoralist? I'll have to think about it some more and, of course, see it again, as we do see in the film that the main character gets to questioning his faith - but in the other direction from Gide's protagonist.) Food for thought. Food for thought.

As I've said, I'm not your standard 'bouquet of roses' type of girl.


"Dear Bev,
This weeks Monday flower is a milkweed- I think it deserves flower
status even though it's a pod.
xo, Hal"

Yeah, like he's not got me figured out in some ways. 

Come on, honey, make love to the camera. No, don't snap at it, just be enticing. 

This dinosaur exhibited no such shyness towards us. In fact, I was a bit nervous at how close Hal was getting to him. He was fast, and, as you know, if a snapper doesn't swat you with its tail, it'll make an attempt to grab you with its beak.  

Yet another glamour shot. It's pretty neat when they get used to the 'glaring eye' of the camera and start ignoring you.  

Another profile. 

A small painted turtle we happened upon while wandering along the causeway. It took Hal a while to get this shot, as the poor little guy kept retreating into his shell every time Hal'd point the lens at him. 

You had to be there.

The sizing of this series of images does not do justice to the expansive feeling of the actual place.  

Back, but not totally myself.
The weekend would have been perfect, save for the half of my brain I left behind on Friday. Still in all, not bad.

Saturday, we took a trip over to Great Meadows in Concord. It was a bit crowded, as Saturday was gorgeous, but a nice little walk just the same.

Next to the Refuge, we found a very nice little farmstand that we'll try to visit next week as well. The man who ran the farm was wonderful - I picked up about six pounds of assorted grapes (mainly Concords and Niagaras) as well as a head of broccoli and an endive. Broccoli became part of dinner that night. The grapes have been rendered into juice and pulp and are sitting in my fridge waiting for me to process them tonight. The endive will eventually end up chopped up and served with a citrus vinaigrette one of these evenings.

Glorious, clear, breezy day after another migraine.
I'm hoping we'll get out and run around a bit; I really need it.

Enjoy this other gift of a day. Heaven knows how many more we'll be having.

Oh! And Happy Sweetest Day! (How could I forget?)

Here's an update on Tanya's latest needleworking project. It's coming along nicely, isn't it?  

This buycott thing annoyed me.

I got two emails yesterday exhorting me to 'not spend anything on October 19th' as some sort of way of showing the world that, though women have 1/2 the buying power in the economy, they have some miniscule proportion of upper management positions in the corporate world.

Fine and good, but wouldn't more qualified women working their way up the corporate ladder and perhaps applying for said positions be a more positive action than having some sort of 'buycott?' Maybe I'm naive, maybe I'm missing the point (after all, I am not only a dumb broad, but a blonde one to boot), but my figuring is that directing yourself towards attaining certain goals, rather than engaging in meaningless but feel-good gestures tends to be more productive.

(I forwarded the email to a friend of mine who noted that one of the alternatives to spending was 'taking in a museum.' What if the museum charges admission?)

The rest of my evening was spent knitting swatches and enjoying some new music. I'm loving my Hugh Masekela.

In a seperate but related development, Hal has really been taken by Fela Kuti's music. He's quite a powerful personnage. No doubting that. Though I do have a bit of a problem wtih some of the finer points of the philosophy - I am growing to love his work, as well. 

I feel so much better, now that I'm not watching any Red Sox games or Presidential debates.

Last night, Hal met me at work and we took a leisurely walk home. Stopped off at Reliable in Union Square to pick up some produce and other goodies, then went home to throw something together 'a la coreene.'

What did we have? A nice little soup with veggie broth, leeks and 'fish' balls.
A 'bulgoki' over steamed spinach. Cucumbers marinated in hot chili sauce. For dessert - this little treat (Sylveine) from the Bourbon Company. Goodness, they were so Japanese! (Packaged, processed, pretty.)

Unfortunately, no leftovers for lunch today.

So much for silencing the 55,000.

So, which will upset this girl more, the debate or game #2? I think I'm going to just stay quiet and knit tonight. Too much at stake on both these fronts, plus work's getting busier again, and I need to keep rested up for that.

More Images from Topsfield


This little sweetie with the bassett hound ears just loved getting rubbed behind the ears and under the chin. Languid in her mannerisms as she was, I could really see some odalisque potential here. 

King of the Hill! 

Bunny!


Don't let the cute picture fool you. They can be brutes. 

Heirloom Tomato contestants in the Produce Barn 

"There's nothing you can do - OH!" 

I'll clue you in on a little something here: You have to anger them to turn their heads blue and make them display their tailfeathers. I got eye level to this guy and said "teh" repeatedly (turkey fighting word). Instant photo op! 

Topsfield!

A wonderful time was had by all. We looked at animals, giant pumpkins, 4-H crafts awards. Got stuck in crowds, ate unhealthy food (I had a corn dog and shared an apple crisp). Tanya angered turkeys. Keith bought a top as it came off the wood turner's workbench. Heck, Pablo and his sister Anna Maria rode an elephant! Hal, of course, documented what ever he laid eyes on, and beautifully, too.

What were my favorites this time around? My first corn dog ever? The smell of the fried dough? The novelty of the vegetable bouquets? Petting the sweetie pies of llamas? Feeling the cashmere while still on the goat? Finding myself so close to semi-tame peregrines and red-tailed hawks? For a small fair, there was more than enough to see and do, and we all left tired and happy this lovely fall day.

Enjoy the pictures that follow. Hopefully there will be more soon.

Last time we met a llama at a fair, it was at the Eastern States Exposition and the poor beast couldn't get over Hal being taller than it. The resultant shots were of this enraged animal just barely being restrained from beating the crud out of our fearless photographer.

This time around, the llamas were pretty docile and didn't seem to mind being patted, nuzzled, photographed. Very calm. No worries about getting spit at. 

Beautiful, beautiful domesticated pigeons! Some were all snowy white, some were grey, some had chocolate-colored heads. Some were purple. They were all lovely.