How many of us are of the elite--the elite persons who have served their country--in war, or in peace.
The fact of one's service in the Armed Forces is an honorable action that deserves the recognition that is finally being given to some of those whose service was given, and yet not really recognized.
Service to the nation allows the rest of its citizens to enjoy the freedoms that are so often taken for granted.
We enjoy the rights and obligations of a free people, in a free nation--and some people enjoy those privileges without having personally "paid" for the privilege.
That's what we have done--we've served, so that all of us could enjoy the privileges of the rights guaranteed to us as citizens of our country.
So, while many people critize our nation--please remember that our service allows you to make that criticism, without the fear of being jailed for it. We serve so that you can be free to enjoy the privilege, and the right, to free speech, and the many other things that we enjoy as citizens of the greatest nation on the planet--the USA.
Lila
Monday, May 25, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Memorial Day Weekend 23 May 09
Outside my window there's a slight breeze--and the breeze brings closer to me the branches of my cherry tree, with its not yet ready cherries. the cherries are still green and turning slightly yellow--those farther from the shade, in the sun, have pink tinges on the sides that are in the full sun.
We usually pick cherries early in June. Last year was an abberation--the spring was so cold that the tree bloomed late, and the cherries didn't ripen until mid-June. The scratching of the branches against the windows reminds me that I need to cut the branches back after the cherries are picked.
We'll pick most of the cherries, and the birds will feast on the rest.
Lila
We usually pick cherries early in June. Last year was an abberation--the spring was so cold that the tree bloomed late, and the cherries didn't ripen until mid-June. The scratching of the branches against the windows reminds me that I need to cut the branches back after the cherries are picked.
We'll pick most of the cherries, and the birds will feast on the rest.
Lila
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday 13 May 09 Petunias
Today I bought Petunias to plant out front.
Purple Petunias. Purple Petunias, Pink Petunias, Red Petunias, any Petunias remind me of being a child at the Beach. We stayed at a place where Petunias were planted around the small cottage. In the heat of summer, the small of the Petunias wafted up whenever someone walked past them.
I always loved the Petunias because they were pretty--and didn't really think much about Petunias and summers at the Jersey Shore until I was an adult.
So, today I bought Purple Petunias to plant in pots outside the front door of my house. And maybe if I close my eyes as I pass by them in the summer breeze, I'll be taken back to some summer days when I was smaller, and at the Jersey Shore; days on the beach; days playing cards, days knitting, crocheting, and days spent near the boardwalk....
Lila
Purple Petunias. Purple Petunias, Pink Petunias, Red Petunias, any Petunias remind me of being a child at the Beach. We stayed at a place where Petunias were planted around the small cottage. In the heat of summer, the small of the Petunias wafted up whenever someone walked past them.
I always loved the Petunias because they were pretty--and didn't really think much about Petunias and summers at the Jersey Shore until I was an adult.
So, today I bought Purple Petunias to plant in pots outside the front door of my house. And maybe if I close my eyes as I pass by them in the summer breeze, I'll be taken back to some summer days when I was smaller, and at the Jersey Shore; days on the beach; days playing cards, days knitting, crocheting, and days spent near the boardwalk....
Lila
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Stardate 62820.2 ?
62820.2 is the date of a StarDate calculator for today.....
I wonder how many methods there have been for calculating time, and segments of time, throughout the ages. The Egyptians calculated time, as did the Mayans, Aztecs, the Chinese, and every civilization known and probably those unknown to us.
Stonehenge? We can speculate....
Saturday 9 May 2009.
How do these things measure in an infinity.
Lila
I wonder how many methods there have been for calculating time, and segments of time, throughout the ages. The Egyptians calculated time, as did the Mayans, Aztecs, the Chinese, and every civilization known and probably those unknown to us.
Stonehenge? We can speculate....
Saturday 9 May 2009.
How do these things measure in an infinity.
Lila
Friday, May 8, 2009
Friday 8 May 09 Star Trek Movie
The Star Trek movie is out today!
I've been hearing about the new movie for the last few weeks, and truthfully, I can't wait to get out to see it.
It's unlikely that I'll get out any time soon to see it, but I will hear about it from those who are going to see it today.
The original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, is in the movie too.
Live Long and Prosper!
Lila
I've been hearing about the new movie for the last few weeks, and truthfully, I can't wait to get out to see it.
It's unlikely that I'll get out any time soon to see it, but I will hear about it from those who are going to see it today.
The original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, is in the movie too.
Live Long and Prosper!
Lila
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Lily of the Valley Saturday 2 May 09
Greetings!
I have Lily of the Valley growing in my front yard! For the past several years I've watched as they've multiplied each year, and this year, they're all over the front side garden next to my front stoop. I love the scent!
When I walk past the Lily of the Valley plants, the scent swirls around my feet as I walk by to the front stoop.
I look forward to the Lily of the Valley blooming every year...it's too short a season--they bloom and fade away too quickly, until next year, and next year, there will be more of them.
Besides the Lily of the Valley flowers, there's been a lot of pollen. The pollen is like a green powder that covers every surface. It's rained; the pollen has been washed away; it's come back again.
Another event is happening in the background--the Swine Flu is hanging over the population of the earth as a potential pandemic. Will it happen? Or not?
"We", the population, don't know what's going to happen. We have to wait to see how things evolve. I think that we'll see another mass vaccination of the population in the US--just as soon as the vaccine can be manufactured.
And that's a good thing--we have a reasonable expectation that we won't succumb to a flu pandemic--because we have science to provide us with a solution. Scientists all around the globe are working on vaccines that anticipate how the flu viruses will mutate. The vaccines will protect us, and all the while that we are protected, there's ongoing research to anticipate the next version of the flu.
We live in an age of wonders.
Lila
I have Lily of the Valley growing in my front yard! For the past several years I've watched as they've multiplied each year, and this year, they're all over the front side garden next to my front stoop. I love the scent!
When I walk past the Lily of the Valley plants, the scent swirls around my feet as I walk by to the front stoop.
I look forward to the Lily of the Valley blooming every year...it's too short a season--they bloom and fade away too quickly, until next year, and next year, there will be more of them.
Besides the Lily of the Valley flowers, there's been a lot of pollen. The pollen is like a green powder that covers every surface. It's rained; the pollen has been washed away; it's come back again.
Another event is happening in the background--the Swine Flu is hanging over the population of the earth as a potential pandemic. Will it happen? Or not?
"We", the population, don't know what's going to happen. We have to wait to see how things evolve. I think that we'll see another mass vaccination of the population in the US--just as soon as the vaccine can be manufactured.
And that's a good thing--we have a reasonable expectation that we won't succumb to a flu pandemic--because we have science to provide us with a solution. Scientists all around the globe are working on vaccines that anticipate how the flu viruses will mutate. The vaccines will protect us, and all the while that we are protected, there's ongoing research to anticipate the next version of the flu.
We live in an age of wonders.
Lila
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The Economy still hasn't hit bottom yet...
Today is Sunday 19 April--and no, the Economy still hasn't hit bottom yet....
If you look around, you'll see that things have changed--slightly in some cases, more so in others.
Last year the cost of homes was a bit higher perhaps than it is today--however, those homes that were on sale last year, might still be on the market, or may have sold for far less than the owners would have wanted.
The nuances of what "change" means, is getting difficult to sort out.
I know that some changes that often come to mind are for job security, being able to pay one's mortgage, being able to pay one's bills, being able to afford "extra" things, not necessarily luxury things.
Change can also mean an adjustment to a different standard of living, spending, doing things.
The other day I went to the US Post office to mail a large envelope, and the postal clerks were talking to each other and to some of us who were customers at that time.
A woman sleeps in the lobby of the post office each night--after the building closes for business for the day. She comes in, goes toward a corner that can't be seen from the door (in the part of the building where P.O. key boxes are located, sort of hides herself and her stuff behind/in a huge garbage can, and then goes to sleep.
The Postal employees describe her as being in her mid fifties, clean, polite, and a victim of circumstances.
I wonder what her circumstances have been that she is alone, and sleeping in the Post Office lobby?
Some of the postal employees took up a collection of some cash for her around Christmas time.
Again, I wonder--how does one wind up in such a circumstance--how does a person become homeless. Alone. Without property, without possessions.
Several weeks ago, I visited my daughter at her university in a City several hours away from home. We did a few things during the day, one of those things being a trip to a nearby Starbucks for some coffee.
This Starbucks was a bit different than others I've been in, yet, I imagine that it's not all that different after all, just that the homeless people who occupied a couple of tables, plus a chair or two, were there, meaning that they were there and not somewhere else, while we who are not homeless, were there too, during the day time.
At least one difference too--these homeless were not clean, they were scruffy and dirty looking. They were wearing numerous layers of clothing; their hands and faces were dirty with sooty looking black stuff, their clothes were dirty too. And, they used the restroom at the Starbucks which made at least one very clean looking woman decide to find another restroom to use--somewhere else.
Over the years, I recall seeing Bag-Ladies in restrooms in train stations, in supermarkets, in department stores, attempting to take care of their personal needs and grooming. I remember too that "other" people using the facilities gave them lots of room.
Then too, some years ago, I also remember seeing a woman lower her pants in a corner of NYC's Penn Station to urinate and defecate in plain view of the hordes of people who were passing through to their trains.
While I have been very fortunate to never have gone without the basics that I assumed were necessary for my standard of living, I can't help but wonder about how the homeless "manage" their lives. The people in the Starbucks seemed to have some connection with each other, possibly some kind of helping arrangement. Maybe I just want them to be helping each other.
I know that I can't fix the world, I can't even help the few random people who approach me to beg when I go to these places where the homeless inhabit open spaces, and public spaces.
Always though I wonder, how close am I to this kind of life. Could it happen to me someday--to my family, to my children. What would I do?
Lila
If you look around, you'll see that things have changed--slightly in some cases, more so in others.
Last year the cost of homes was a bit higher perhaps than it is today--however, those homes that were on sale last year, might still be on the market, or may have sold for far less than the owners would have wanted.
The nuances of what "change" means, is getting difficult to sort out.
I know that some changes that often come to mind are for job security, being able to pay one's mortgage, being able to pay one's bills, being able to afford "extra" things, not necessarily luxury things.
Change can also mean an adjustment to a different standard of living, spending, doing things.
The other day I went to the US Post office to mail a large envelope, and the postal clerks were talking to each other and to some of us who were customers at that time.
A woman sleeps in the lobby of the post office each night--after the building closes for business for the day. She comes in, goes toward a corner that can't be seen from the door (in the part of the building where P.O. key boxes are located, sort of hides herself and her stuff behind/in a huge garbage can, and then goes to sleep.
The Postal employees describe her as being in her mid fifties, clean, polite, and a victim of circumstances.
I wonder what her circumstances have been that she is alone, and sleeping in the Post Office lobby?
Some of the postal employees took up a collection of some cash for her around Christmas time.
Again, I wonder--how does one wind up in such a circumstance--how does a person become homeless. Alone. Without property, without possessions.
Several weeks ago, I visited my daughter at her university in a City several hours away from home. We did a few things during the day, one of those things being a trip to a nearby Starbucks for some coffee.
This Starbucks was a bit different than others I've been in, yet, I imagine that it's not all that different after all, just that the homeless people who occupied a couple of tables, plus a chair or two, were there, meaning that they were there and not somewhere else, while we who are not homeless, were there too, during the day time.
At least one difference too--these homeless were not clean, they were scruffy and dirty looking. They were wearing numerous layers of clothing; their hands and faces were dirty with sooty looking black stuff, their clothes were dirty too. And, they used the restroom at the Starbucks which made at least one very clean looking woman decide to find another restroom to use--somewhere else.
Over the years, I recall seeing Bag-Ladies in restrooms in train stations, in supermarkets, in department stores, attempting to take care of their personal needs and grooming. I remember too that "other" people using the facilities gave them lots of room.
Then too, some years ago, I also remember seeing a woman lower her pants in a corner of NYC's Penn Station to urinate and defecate in plain view of the hordes of people who were passing through to their trains.
While I have been very fortunate to never have gone without the basics that I assumed were necessary for my standard of living, I can't help but wonder about how the homeless "manage" their lives. The people in the Starbucks seemed to have some connection with each other, possibly some kind of helping arrangement. Maybe I just want them to be helping each other.
I know that I can't fix the world, I can't even help the few random people who approach me to beg when I go to these places where the homeless inhabit open spaces, and public spaces.
Always though I wonder, how close am I to this kind of life. Could it happen to me someday--to my family, to my children. What would I do?
Lila
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