2,730 miles later

Well, we did it.  David and I - and Ella! - drove our "new" (2007) Honda Accord from here in mid coast Maine to Atlanta and back, some 2,700+ miles.

First, about Ella - we had thought there was a possibility of "boarding" Ella here in Maine with a guy a friend told me about.  He "boards" dogs in his home with his own dogs and that sounded like a neat idea.  No crate, no kennel.  But my friend was out of town for 3 weeks and I couldn't reach her until just before we were to leave town.  When I did, I learned that she ended up not boarding her dog with this guy because she didn't like how he addressed the dogs getting along together.  So she didn't recommend him after all.

My cousin Melissa (same cousin who, with her husband and son, visited us last year for a delightful few days) offered to keep Ella at her home in NC - where we had planned to stop on our way to Atlanta - while we went on to Atlanta.  This seemed like a great plan as it would allow us to do things in Atlanta with Sam, Corinne and the boys without having a dog with us.  So we left for the South, David, Ella and me.

First day we drove about almost 600 miles to just past Harrisburg, PA, and stayed at a Motel 6 (dog friendly).  Turned out to be inexpensive, clean, cable TV, friendly staff, near 24-hour diner - a good choice.  Next day we drove the rest of the way to Melissa, John and Austin's in Etowah, NC (just outside Asheville).  Melissa and family have 2 dogs - a 9 pound Chigle (cross between Chihuaua and Beagle) named Rex and a 16 year old Golden Retriever mix named Daisy.  Unfortunately the first thing that happened was Ella tried to take a drink from Daisy's water dish and that pissed off Daisy royally.  That started the two ladies down a very bad path.  But Ella and Rex got along just fine; in fact they were hysterical to watch:

Melissa, John and Austin took us on a drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mount Mitchell, which we learned is the highest mountain east of the Rockies (higher than Mount Washington up here in New Hampshire).  We had a lovely picnic lunch, hiked a bit up to a heath. Here's the view:

The next day we visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, built by George (I think) Vanderbilt.  It is the largest privately owned house in the U.S.  Apart from the 2 master (his and hers) bedroom suites, there are 33 guest bedrooms, 60+ staff bedrooms and 43 bathrooms.  The home includes an indoor bowling alley and swimming pool.  The kitchens, pantries and laundry facilities were particularly amazing.  (They used a wood drying rack like the one we still use in our own basement!)

David took more photos than I, but here are a few.  First a lovely long outside corridor.  Must be a lovely place to sit in the cool evening breeze and watch fireflies.

Here's one David took of my cousin, Melissa, and me in front of one of 2 stone lions in front of the mansion:

Among my favorite rooms was the "Halloween Room" down in the basement level.  Apparently a party was held there on Halloween and the guests all took to painting the walls of the room.  I love the paintings; here's one sample:

And of course, there are the gardens designed by Olmsted (who also designed Central Park in New York and, I learned, also Piedmont Park in Atlanta, which we visited later with Sam).  We only had time to visit the "Walled Garden" and walk quickly through the Conservatory (wonderful tropical plants including orchids).  Here's one photo of the garden:

In the end, we couldn't leave Ella with Melissa.  The night before we left for Atlanta, Ella and Daisy got into it again and Daisy's nose was scratched, giving her a bloody nose.  It was superficial, but after that I couldn't leave Melissa to deal with keeping the two girls apart for 4 days at the start of what should be Melissa's summer vacation (she's an 8th grade teacher!).

So off to Atlanta we went, the 3 of us.  Ella's presence put constraints on what we could do with the kiddos, but we still enjoyed ourselves.  While Cachao worked with Corinne on a workshop she was teaching on Saturday and Sunday, Sam, Cello, David, Ella and I walked the "Beltway" - an abandoned train track that has been turned into a greenway/walking path in various parts of the city.  We walked to Piedmont Park where Cello enjoyed himself on a playground:

Ella got to make a quick visit to a fenced in "dog park" as well.  One day we visited the pool at an apartment complex owned by Sam's landlord that Sam's family can use:

Another day we managed to do a round of miniature golf (they let Ella sit with one of us under a canopy in the shade, while the rest of us played golf - Cachao won!)  Afterwards the boys had ice cream.  It was a HOT day!

We had a good visit, notwithstanding Ella!  We played board games - Yahtzee, Trouble and a new game we learned about from Melissa called Apples to Apples.  We had dinner one evening, all of us including Corinne and a friend (who surprised us delightfully by treating us all to dinner) at a Mexican restaurant near Sam's place.  We sat on the patio and Ella was able to be just outside a small fence.  The restaurant had water bowls placed strategically around the outside of the fence so it was clear that Ella wasn't the first canine dinner guest.  We were able to make a quick visit to my brother, John, the night before we left.

Then back to NC for one more night with Melissa and family and then back on the road again.



We spent the last night at a Motel 6 in Frackville, PA, which we picked based on how many miles it would leave us to drive the second day.  Turned out to be a weird motel - 3 different buildings, ours with no signage actually indicating it was a motel - in a weirder town.   I took this photo to remind us (and you, too) of the following advice:

"Do not stay overnight in Frackville, PA."

Finally, last day of the trip.  Here is how Ella did most of the journey on her new Orvis dog "hammock" - supposed to protect the backseat from dog fur.  I guess it worked - at least a little bit.  (I only spent an hour vacuuming the car after we got home, and was successful at sucking up at least 90% of the dog hair.)  Yes, that's a pillow under her head!

Now, finally, home again, and very glad to be here.  Our neighbor Melissa watered our tomatoes and cucumbers, which appear to have thrived in our absence.  Our other neighbor Lee mowed our lawn the day before we got home.  How about those neighbors!  Now Ella and I are back to our morning walks, this morning we saw a newly built and launched, very pretty little red row boat:

I think if everyone could see a pretty little red boat peacefully resting in the water early on a cool summer morning, the world would be a far better place.  I'm happy to be home.

Peace, peace, far and near.

Well...

Well, spring is finally here.  On May 6 I left home for 2 days - drove 90 miles south to Portland to attend the Maine State Democratic Convention - and when I got home, the tulips were lifting red and yellow heads in our back yard, and trees throughout the city had pushed out those lovely new pale fragile green leaves.  Two weeks later the new leaves are unfurling into darker green.

The convention was ... interesting.  I think back to being a child, my mother watching the political convention(s) on TV, all those people sitting in their state delegations, holding up signs with their candidates' names, cheering, clapping.  So fast forward to 2016, instead of state delegations, envision county delegations.  There were about 4,000 delegates, about 65% Bernie, 35% Clinton.  I heard later that 900 alternates for Bernie showed up.  (Alternates become delegates at the convention if a certified delegate doesn't show up.)  Ironically, in my view, the liveliest part of the convention were the debates on (1) a rules amendment proposed by Bernie supporters (to eliminate "super delegates" in 2020 and "strongly urge" current "super delegates" to vote in accordance with the popular vote in other words, for 3 of the 5 super delegates to support Bernie), and (2) proposed amendments to the Maine Democratic Party Platform that failed to pass the Platform Committee.  You get it?  The debate was on failed amendments.  To give you a flavor of the latter, we spent a "good" 30 minutes debating whether the party's platform position on extending Medicare "to all" should be qualified by the additional statement "starting with ages 0 to 25 and 55 to 65".

And then there were the speeches... speeches... and more speeches.  Barney Frank spoke in support of Clinton.  He was heckled by quite a number of Bernie supporters.  I personally thought he handled the heckling well, with irony and quite a bit of humor.  Which is more than I can say for the hecklers. The best speeches were Troy Jackson, former state legislator and state senator who is going to be a Maine representative to the Democratic National Party (and is a "super delegate" and very strong Bernie supporter), Chellie Pingree (my representative to Congress, also a "super delegate" and Clinton supporter) and Emily Cain, running for Congress in the 2nd district.  Here's the only photo from the convention - Troy Jackson's speech, not a great photo, but you get a sense of the "atmosphere" with 2 huge screens, bright lights, etc. etc. etc.

Interestingly, the biggest take-away for me from the experience was driving home to me the critical importance of LOCAL politics, wrenching control of the Maine state senate from Republicans and keeping and extending control of the legislature to enable override of the governor's predictable vetoes.  This year the legislature was able to override 2/3 of his vetoes, but that's not enough.  For one thing, he again (6th time?) vetoed expansion of Medicaid in connection with Obamacare.  This leaves something like 200,000 Mainers without health insurance - not poor enough for Mainecare, not enough income to buy Obamacare - but now subject to Obamacare tax/penalty.  Great system. ...

In other news...  my wonderful grandson, Cello, turned five.  For his birthday he received a telescope that is actually as tall as he is (he is an avid astronomy buff - has been for a whole year at least!) and his first bicycle:

With spring finally here, David made me a compost sifter and I began tackling the big job of sifting compost in one of our compost bins.  A morning's work earned me a wheelbarrow (see my beautiful new wheelbarrow!) full of compost:

Last weekend David wa\is off to Acadia National Park with 3 other guys.  The Park was shut down to car traffic on Saturday morning.  They drove up on Friday afternoon so they could start riding early Saturday to enjoy the Park car-free.

Finally, here is my beautiful new red kayak (skin-on-frame - actually, ballistic nylon, dyed and coated with polyurethane - Aleutian-style, on wood frame lashed together with synthetic sinew) made by my wonderful partner, David - on the shore, and  with me, paddling it.

I joined Instagram, although I can't say I understand it, but I joined to be able to see some photos that a friend only posts there.  It has motivated me to take photos of ... oddities ... and even make short videos ... to post there.  For those who haven't bowed down to the tech pressure and don't "enjoy" Instagram's world, here is an example of a photo and a short video:

Boat Bow

May the sun shine, the wind blow, the sea's tides come and go and may there be peace, peace, far and near.

How did I ever find time to go to work?

That's what I've been asking myself lately.  Yesterday was the 9th month anniversary of my retirement.  That's long enough to carry and give birth to a child.  And what have I done with these months? (Was I actually worried about being bored?)  I made a commitment to myself NOT to make (new) commitments for 6-12 months after retiring.  And I've pretty much kept to that.  

A couple of months ago I went through the 4 session training program to become a volunteer with the Restorative Justice Program here, and since then I agreed to mentor a young person referred to RJP by the courts.  That is one new commitment.  

And I made a short-term commitment to become a delegate for Bernie Sanders at the Maine State Democratic Convention - which takes place May 6-7.  It has required me to attend a couple of meetings, but will be over after the convention (and I plan to de-register from the Democratic Party and become an unaffiliated independent again.  A pox on both parties!)

Other than those new commitments, I've been continuing with life - doing a lot of reading, completed an 8-week ukulele class, completed a 6-week Tai Chi class, David and I have been meditating daily (that's been interesting--who knew how hard it could be to, as Sylvia Boorstein says, "don't just do something, sit there"), painting rocks, meeting synagogue Board and treasurer obligations, working on some poems, and most recently, beginning to work outside (turned the soil in the raised bed this week, bought pansies, only to see them covered in snow!). 

So here's some photos of life going on:

Cello's Class - can you pick him out?

Old tree we pass on morning walks - with lichen

Snow on my pansies - this was when snow first fell; we got 1+ inch; melted away quickly

Morning after the snow, these were weird ice crystals on the wooden planks of the pier we walk to each day

Sprit-rigged sail boat

Whale and sailing ship

Dog

Changes

I've been thinking about change.  I guess what started it was coming into March, with the weather warming up and seeing the first crocuses raise their heads, imagining that spring was around the corner ...

followed on the first day of astronomical spring by 5 inches of snow ...

and today it is 47 degrees again.  

Global, the gas station at the Crossroads convenience store almost across the street from us (where our street, Birch, continues and becomes Broadway, and is crossed by Main Street and Cedar Street, hence "Crossroads"), raised the price of gas again for the second time in 10 days, from $1.9599 to $1.9999, after hitting a low (for only a day or two) of $1.7499, and spending about a month at $1.8599.  

I've been driving our "new" car, learning how to use a stick shift again.  The car is so clean, and the fabric on the seats is black.  If we let Ella in there, even once, her beautiful blond fur would be everywhere.  So we bought a "hammock" for Ella from Orvis.  It has four straps, two attach around the front seat headrests and two attach around the back seat headrests, and the "hammock" covers the back of the back seat, the backseat and the backs of the front seat.  We haven't yet taken Ella for a ride in it.  (The snow is still melting and we are well into Maine Mud Season, so we're hoping for a sunny dry day.)

The upstairs hall, stairway and downstairs front hall are painted and we've begun hanging up photos and art again.  Three of Sam's Atlanta Philosophy Film Festival posters went up in the front all today:

My daughter is in Puerto Rico for 10 days or so, working on a farm of a woman she met in Haiti.  She may take a job on a farm in North Carolina when she comes back.

Yesterday we woke up to learn of another terrorist attack, this in Brussels, which immediately unleashed a wave of nativist and racist outrage in the U.S.  I was disappointed in CBS News last night, which was fanning the flames of fear, predicting attacks by ISIS here in the U.S.  Maybe they WANT Trump to be the next president (although it was Cruz who advocated cracking down on Muslim communities in the U.S.) 

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders won big victories in Idaho and Utah.  Who knew?  Clinton won in Arizona.  Arizona has more delegates. Bernie isn't giving up, notwithstanding Obama's suggestion to a room of big shot $33K donors that he should step aside.

I just finished reading a "new English version" by Ursula K. Le Guin of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching - A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way.  David had purchased it some time ago and had taken it out to read.  I swiped and read it.  (A little woo woo for Laurence Anne, I hear you ask?  Well, how much woo woo is too much woo woo?  Google that and you'll be surprised by what comes up!)  I'm going to quote here:

     46 Wanting less

     When the world's on the Way,
     they use horses to haul manure.
     When the world gets off the Way,
     they breed warhorses on the common.

    The greater evil:  wanting more.
    The worst luck: discontent.
    Greed's the curse of life.

    To know enough's enough
    is enough to know.

Peace, peace, far and near.

So That's That

Apart from the possibility that it is more evidence of global warming, I cannot say I missed the winter we didn't have, especially the snow that didn't fall, or fell and soon melted away.  But Ella did.  Ella loves snow!  On the other hand, spring is ahead and with it there will be birds to bark at, sticks and balls to chase through damp grass, dogs butts to sniff at the new Thomaston Dog Park, which we haven't visited yet, but will soon.  Here's a recent Ella shot (always the lady, but boy, those nails need a trim!):

In other news, we did indeed attend the Democratic Caucus.  It was interesting and gave me a more realistic understanding of what the Iowa caucuses must be like.  What a weird way to enact democracy!  So many people showed up, the line to register to vote snaked out of the building (our local middle school).  They opened the doors to start the process of checking in (if already registered) or registering at 1:00 and had to delay starting the caucus until 3:00 to address the numbers.  I heard that in 2008 our town had 165 attending the Democratic Caucus.  This year there were over 400 people there!  First there were speeches.  I didn't really have a sense of how lopsided the voters were until after the pro-Clinton speech.  People began asking pointed questions, and the questioners got more applause than the person speaking.  When we "caucused" - which meant Bernie supporters moving to one side of the room and Clinton's to the other, it was clear that we outnumbered the Clinton voters more than 2 to 1, almost 3 to 1.  (I found out later that the majority of absentee ballots were for Clinton, so we ended up about 2 to 1.  My guess is that the rich people who "winter" - who knew I'd ever use that as a verb? - in Florida, etc., sent in their ballots for Billary.

SOME of the Bernie Voters

I signed up to be a Bernie delegate to the Maine State Democratic Convention in Portland, Maine in early May.  I may live to regret that; I am not at all sure I care for electoral politics any more now than I did when I was a flaming radical student protester, but I want to cast my vote for Bernie at least once more.

So that's that.

I started a new ukulele class again - pretty good.  We're learning some pretty basic music theory as applied to the instrument in combination with and through playing a wide variety of songs.  So far, so good.  I see the ukulele as a long-term project, one that I find I enjoy more as time goes on.  For me, it is about the music itself, including the theory, and learning to play the instrument really well.  That's my goal.  For most of the people in my class and that I meet who play ukulele casually, it's about playing together and singing songs.  Not my thing really, except to the extent I keep learning to play, learning about music itself.

So that's that.

We bought a "new" car.  It's a 2007 silver Honda Accord, which came with 50,000 miles on it.  We bought it from a local used car dealer that was recommended by our mechanic.  Before we bought it, the mechanic checked it out.  He liked it so much, I got the feeling if we hadn't bought it, he would have considered doing so himself.  The dealer told us he could have sold it 2 or 3 times over, if it were an automatic transmission, but it's a standard.  Back to stick shift!   Better gas mileage!  Anyway, it feels like a grownup's car (okay, it's a geezer car).  Thank goodness for the geezers who owned it previously and drove it about 5,000 miles a year.  We likely will do the same, and maybe it'll last another 10+ years.   Meantime, David sold his 27 year old Volvo to a guy who had stopped by a few weeks ago to ask about it.  He gave David $100 for it, which we looked at as taking it off our hands and giving us money to go out to dinner - which we're doing tonight!  Hurrah for Cafe Miranda!

So that's that.

Yesterday David and I drove the "new" car to Augusta, state capitol, about 45 miles away, to spend the morning with Chuck Kruger, state representative for nearby Thomaston, and a classmate of mine from high school, and Pinny Beebe-Center, state representative for Rockland.  We went to the Democratic caucus, attended a session of the House of Representatives, had lunch with Chuck and Pinny and then made a quick stop at the state house museum.  The Democratic caucus was interesting; a young Black state representative, who is also an organic farmer, gave a presentation on a proposed state constitutional amendment that would enact a "right to food" for people living in Maine.  The point would be, as I understood it, to give Mainers legal grounds to object when certain big corporations and our Republican governor team up to impose food regulations that harm small farmers, consumers, etc. (like recent regulations re slaughtering meat that make it basically impossible for small poultry farmers to slaughter their own chickens and turkeys and offer them directly to customers).

The weirdest part of the day was the legislative session, which was a crazy house quilt of formal greetings ("The House recognizes so and so and so and so sitting in the gallery, guests of such and such Representative from the town of wherever. Would so and so and so and so please stand and be recognized" - yep, David and I were recognized, along with a high school civics class, a 4th grade choir, the girls' high school basketball state champions, etc. etc.)  Interspersed with all these greetings were pro forma approvals of slews of bills, which the body unanimously agreed to do away with reading out loud (except the bill title).  

It was an experience.   It made me aware of how much BS goes on in government - any and ALL government - and at the same time, how vital it is to have people willing to serve in government, willing to sit through the BS and address the real critical issues that affect people's lives.  Both Chuck and Pinny are such people, and I, for one, am grateful for both of them.

So that's that.

Today a flock of cedar waxwings came to our yard to feast on the dried remains of whatever type of cherries are on the tree in our backyard.  This was at least their third visit in the past week.  The cedar waxwings' visit lifted me, made me aware of the days growing longer, warmer, of the wider world so full of winging, swimming, running, creeping and crawling creatures, breathing plants, stones laying silent in the sun, soil so rich in nutrients and full of microscopic life, warming in the spring air, patiently waiting for seeds.  I need these things to keep living in a world where Donald Trump predicts riots if he is not elected President, where our choice for that office is likely to be between two people that almost no one - except presumably their families - likes.

Here's to cedar waxwings, feast and fly away my friends.  Peace be upon you.

You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows

But it wouldn't hurt.  Is it global warming?  Or is Mother Nature just really pissed off?  The weather has been bi-polar (no pun intended).  For example, here are the temperatures from February 4, February 10,  February 14 (check out the "feels like" temp!) and today, February 20th:

Just slightly confused.  During that time period, we actually experienced winter:

For about a week it was beautiful.  Cold, but only 36 hours of minus degree temperatures.  The rest of the time, just seasonally cold, cold enough so that when you walk, the snow crunched under your feet.  I got to wear my new coat every day for a week - at least during morning walks.

Today I wore 2 fleeces under a raincoat.  In mid-February.  Ick.  For this I moved to mid coast Maine?  I could have moved to Atlanta and been near my grandchildren.

Apart from the confusing weather, things have been generally busy and somewhat confused, at least for me.  Randomly, here's what I've been up to:

• I attended two meetings of the Maine Democratic party, one in Belfast and one in Rockland.  Both covered how to participate in Maine's caucuses.  Yep, like the famous Iowa caucuses (and the Nevada caucuses taking place today!), Maine's delegates that choose the party nominees are selected in caucuses, not in primary elections.  The whole (Democratic) caucus process is incredibly arcane and cumbersome, and very interesting.  In 2008, about 150 people turned out in Rockland for the Democratic caucus.  (I learned that caucuses are held on a municipal basis, so ours is here in Rockland.)  At the Rockland meeting, a representative of the Hilary and of the Bernie campaign spoke.   Both were local legislators, but Bernie's was inspiring. Troy Jackson is a logger from upstate Maine who's been fighting the LePage administration in the legislature over labor issues.  Our dismal governor attacked Troy by name a couple years ago, ridiculing him as not belonging in the government and telling him to go home and cut logs.  Troy is fiercely pro-Bernie.  Troy pointed to the influence of Money - in Augusta, in Washington. He said he's tired of Democrats compromising.  He said you never hear LePage or any other Republican talk about the need to compromise.  For once, he said, he wants to vote for a person whose values and policies he really believes in.  I hear you, Troy, and I stand right there beside you:  Go, Bernie!
• I decided to attend, and am now 3 out of 4 sessions through, training by the Restorative Justice Project to be a mentor or some other volunteer role.  I think I've mentioned that David went through this training the first year we moved here and has served as a mentor 3 or 4 times, in fact, is currently a mentor for a young man.  I'm not yet sure how I want to participate but I support the program and have learned from the training sessions.
• We - mostly David, but me, too - have started working on the house again.  I learned that I actually enjoy steaming wallpaper off of old walls.  So I've taken up that task, and then David comes behind and repairs the plaster - a very intense job because the plaster is old and the wallpaper has been up a long time, several layers, the bottom layer a very long time.  In fact, yesterday I found someone's signature and the date 1927 under the wallpaper in the hall - we're doing the walls by the staircase, the upstairs and downstairs hallways - here's a photo:

Appears to say: L L Rowe APR 1927

• Synagogue-related activities busier than usual lately.  In addition to treasurer tasks and Board meetings, I have attended a couple of joint meetings of the Policy and Ritual committees (I joined the Ritual committee this past year).  We've been addressing the issue of what to do about saying kaddish when we don't have 10 Jews for a minyan.  The new policy is to collect some relevant prayers and readings that can be recited by the mourner and congregation in lieu of kaddish if there is no minyan.  I offered to - and now must actually - work on preparing the readings/prayers for copying in booklet form.
• I started Tai Chi, just a 6-week course, at The Dancing Elephant, which is where I had been going for yoga (okay, okay, I hear you about the name The Dancing Elephant?? But given how klutzy I am when "moving" around the studio, I think it's a good name).   The Tai Chi classes are an hour (versus 90 minute yoga sessions) and less expensive ($10/class versus $15).  I had tried a Tai Chi class a year or so ago through a separate adult-ed program and didn't care for the approach taken by the teacher or for driving in the evening to Camden to the school where the classes were held.  I assumed the sessions at The Dancing Elephant would have a different teacher.  First session was this past week - turns out, it's the same teacher as through the adult ed program; oh well.  The class is small, 6 students, 3 women, 3 men.  Maybe it will be okay.  It's certainly more convenient, closer to home and takes place during the day from noon to 1:00. It did remind me how much I loved Tai Chi so I think I'll stick with it for the 6 sessions at least.
• I've been fairly good about regularly practicing ukulele and have decided to take another formal class at Bay Chamber Music School which starts at the end of the month.
• I've read a bunch of books - right now, reading 3:  Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, Essays After Eighty, by Donald Hall, and In The Company of Crows and Ravens, by John M. Marzhoff and Tony Angell (beautiful drawings!), plus some poetry and a book about Maine presented through a year's worth of daily entries, which I'm reading week-by-week.
• Trying to follow the permutations of Antonin Scalia's death in the media while trying not to enjoy the jokes too much.  ("You should only say good things about people who die.  Okay.  Scalia died.  That's good.")  Wishing I could deeply believe what I wrote on Facebook - that I wish he had retired, not died. I want to believe that; does that count?

.
In the narrower and now muddy world of mid coast Maine, I remind you - if anyone is still reading this blog or happens upon it - that applications are due very soon for Miss Sea Goddess for next year's Maine Lobster Festival.  Unfortunately for me - fortunately for the public - I aged out of applying some 40 years ago!

Let's see how Bernie does in Nevada, and what the hell happens in the Republican primary in South Carolina, the first state to secede from the United States, leading to the (first) Civil War, home of Strom Thurmond, the state where a white racist felt comfortable slaughtering Black people in a house of worship.  Geez, mentioning Bernie, for a second I felt a slight frisson of hope, then thinking about South Carolina and the Republicans, I think I may need to throw up.

Peace, peace, far and near - Bernie for President.

Meandering thoughts on winter and other things...

I've been thinking about winter because ... it's winter.  And although a somewhat bipolar (no pun intended) winter this year - with temperature variations in the last several weeks from 3 degrees to 55 degrees and almost no snow (knock on wood) - it IS winter.  Here is today's weather in mid coast Maine as of about an hour ago:

The big news this morning is the approaching blizzard, which the media - in their wisdom and desperation to attract viewers - is calling "Winter Storm Jonas".

I confess that although I empathize with those threatened by the coming blizzard, my main feeling about this news is one of gratitude that mid coast Maine is not in the storm's path.  The first year we lived here, we had a storm that dumped 32 inches:

David's car post-blizzard!

I figure, we've done blizzard.

It is interesting to me that the storm coverage states that governors are advising people to lay in supplies for 72 hours or even a week, expecting that people may lose power that long.  I am recalling the storm from a few years ago, not Hurricane Sandy, before that, that came on October 31st when the trees still bore leaves.  We were living in Connecticut and lost power for 11 days.  11 days!  Luckily we had a gas stove, so we could heat water, cook food.  We took showers at a gym downtown (where the power lines were underground so they didn't lose power) and at work.  And at home, we were cold!

Speaking of cold, I bought a new winter coat this year.  I wasn't satisfied with my old one from LL Bean.  Most of the time it was warm enough, but on truly bitterly cold days, even with layers, I felt cold in it.  I really looked around for a replacement, and finally settled on a coat from Lands End, the insulated Squall Parka.  Here it is:

Its only shortcoming may be that it is too warm, and possibly too heavy.  I do wonder whether I will be able to actually lift the jacket in order to put it on as I get older and presumably weaker.  The coat is so warm, that I find I can't wear it all that often, even up here, even in winter (at least, this winter).  I wear it on my morning walks with Ella, and if I take her out at night, I usually wear it then.  Otherwise I'm back to my aging LL Bean parka.

What I like about the new coat are the pockets.  There are 5 of them.  An inside one where I put my phone.  4 outside pockets where I store the following:

1) Kleenex - I can't leave the house in the winter without a large supply of tissues; the alternative would be neither polite nor pretty.

2) Dog biscuits - I can't leave the house with Ella EVER without a supply of dog biscuits.  

3) Tennis ball - this is a requirement only for long morning walks when we stop down at the Ohara's Bait yard by the water to toss the ball for 5-10 minutes - yes, even in the bitter cold (although not in the pouring rain; even Ella doesn't insist on that).

4) Poop bags - this is a requirement for every walk with Ella, and it is sound practice to carry 2 poop bags; you never know when it might be a 2 bag day!

So you can see, I need 4 pockets - and the inside pocket for the cell phone is a nice perk (although the jacket is badly designed in this area; the pocket is between the outside fabric of the coat and the inside insulation; that means the phone gets cold; the insulation should be on the outside of the pocket, between its contents and the cold).

In other news... the right wing nut jobs are still illegally occupying the wildlife refuge in Oregon... the Republican candidates are still whipping up division and hatred... Bernie Sanders creeps up in the Iowa polls... I hope to attend a workshop on participating in Maine's Democratic caucuses (actually enrolled as a Democrat - was a non-enrolled Independent) so I can vote for Bernie in the primary)... I miss my grandsons, must visit before too long... 

The sky is clear and so blue.  5 planets are aligning each night, visible just before dawn.  One night this week, I'll get up extra early to see them:

Peace, peace, far and near, soon, in our lifetimes, and forever.