Random Musings

I don't understand.......
        * Preschools and daycares that "don't use negative language" around their charges. Can't say "no", "don't do that", "stop that".  The civilized world is full of nos, don'ts, and stops... of boundaries and limits to behavior.  When are children supposed to learn those limits, boundaries and words?
       *  The rudeness I see in so many people of my generation. A sense of entitlement. A lack of basic tact and civility.  Just because I am over 60 doesn't change the way I should behave toward others.  I am sick of people who take up the entire space in a grocery aisle and are put out when I say "excuse me" to get by. I am tired of seeing senior citizens glare at the giggles of teens, the loud laughter of toddlers.... anyone who is expressing their joy in life.I love the sound of laughter...from anyone of any age.
       *  The sudden explosion of mass killings in this country.  The nursing home victims, the Binghamton massacre, the church killlings in several places and the killing of police officers on both coasts.  The 2nd Amendment is outdated when it comes to handguns and assault rifles and the NRA needs to shut up about our rights to won such weapons. No one hunts with handguns and assault rifles unless they are hunting down other human beings.  When will we learn?
      *   The attacks on breast feeding mothers in the media.  Breasts were meant for feeding babies. They were not created as sexual objects.  With the article I saw yesterday on the presence of rocket fuel in baby formula(http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/04/03/Rocket-fuel-component-in-infant-formula/UPI-50271238774876/), scares the hell out of me. As an adoptive mom, I had to use formula but it did not contain all the chemicals in the seventies that are present in formula now.  Women who make the choice to breast feed should be supported... it is safe, it is economical, and it is the best protection a mom can provide her baby.

I used to wonder why my parents mourned the safety and sanity of their pasts. I now understand.  More and more I understand that, and less and less I understand the world around me.

I have been knitting, a lot.  I finished my project for the charity knitting group and I am about to begin a new one.  I have done a couple of bibs for the expected grandchild, almost completed one sock for B, finished a sweater for Katie and have a dress and a sweater on other needles for her. 

A white cotton bib for the next grandchild

A pale blue cotton hooded blanket that could be used as a towel for the next grandchild.

I have another bib done but it is not photographed yet.  
Keeping my hands busy keeps me out of trouble!!

Got this one from mimiboo......
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Put in a note with your total in the subject

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen X+
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams *
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling x
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee X+
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne X+
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell X
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë X
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë X
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier X+
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger X
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens X+
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott X+
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell X
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling X+
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling X+
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling X+
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll X
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez *
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett X
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens X
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson x
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen X
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery X+
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald X
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell X
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens X
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnet X+
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy X
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell x
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky X ( ok...I gave up 1/2 way thru)
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens X
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough X
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding  1/2X
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding X
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce X
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar X
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac x
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo x
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel X 1/2
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez *
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

The ones I starred, I own but have not yet read

Glaring headlines of business failures, store closings, layoffs, and weak sales in every sector.  Why do the media heads express surprise over this? We are being told on every news and talk show how gloomy our economy outlook is.  We are being given constant "hints" on how to manage our money.  We are constantly warned not to spend foolishly.

So we aren't spending.
At all.
We are saving.
We are observing and being cautious.
We are waiting for good news and a turn around.
We are angry with the speculators on Wall Street. We are angry at the oil companies for their outrageous profits at our expense. We are angry with the automakers for not building the cars we need for fuel efficiency, just offering the same old, same old.  We are angry with Congress for their inaction and lack of oversight.

Why are the print and broadcast media  so surprised that the economy is going no where?  They are the ones scaring the hell out of us.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/   Senate to Middle Class: Drop Dead

Worth reading

It is alright to give bailouts to banks and insurance companies that are partly responsible for the economic downturn and rotten economy but not to save a major industry in this country.  Just proves how out of touch and elitist the Senate is.

So .. more small industries and businesses will close. The small plants that make parts for the auto industry are suffering already and will face bankruptcy.  The mom and pop stores and restaurants surrounding the plants will lose their business.
Some school systems in this state are bankrupt or near bankruptcy, forcing school closures and massive teacher layoffs at the end of the first semester.  If people aren't working, they aren't paying taxes and without taxes, schools can't be supported.

But the bankers and insurance companies will go on their spa trips and gather their bonuses.

And the "little" guys will pay for it.

Thanksgiving is three weeks from today. I have decided each day, I will consider and post one thing I am grateful for.  I am a fortunate person who has much to be grateful for but often don't take the time to consider all I have.  I came across the following while reading last night:

         "Thou that hast given so much to me,
           Give one thing more, a grateful heart"
           George Herbert, 17th Century poet

It made me think..and acknowledge my gratitude.

First, my family. They are my joy, my heart, my soul.

We began our day by delivering our ballots to the City Clerk.  Certain sense of relief about that. It is done, locked away until the polls close at 8 PM on Election Day.

Later, after our walk, I re-learned to knit with a dog on my lap. We have had Libby for two weeks today and she is really settled in. And misbehaving on a minor scale, like carrying my walking shoes around in her mouth and stealing tissues out of the wastebaskets.  Nothing major, she really is housebroken.  But today, instead of laying next to me, she insisted on laying in my lap while I finished two projects. 

First, I finally put the buttons on a sweater I made for KTG.  It is knit from Leisure Arts Knitted Seamless Raglans, one of my favorite pattern books. No sewing together!  I used Red Heart Cotton in Blue Mist.  The buttons are tiny multicolored butterflies.

DSC04050

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Then yesterday I cast on leg warmers for KTG. I used Red Heart Eco Cotton, 75% recycled cotton and 25% acryllic. It was the first time I had used this yarn and I love it. The color is Midnight Marl, and it has tiny shades of purple and green in the midnight blue. 

DSC04049

In our state you can vote by absentee ballot if you are over 60. We decided to take advantage of that this year for the first time. So, this morning I filled in my ballot and have it ready to take to the CIty Clerk's office on Monday morning. I can't imagine anything changing my mind between now and Election Day.  And now, it is DONE!

I feel a certain sense of relief!