More about my mother's rose. . .

My mother was a fine gardener. But I think that her love of this rose had only partially to do with its "roseness" ~~ more to do with her life. When WWII was declared, it was a foregone conclusion that my father would go: he'd gone to college because ROTC paid. He was already a Lieutenant j.g. No matter he had a year old baby. My uncles decided quickly to sign up for war industry jobs, so I had uncles in my young life, but no Daddy.

In letters between my parents from that time, both said that if they'd known how long the war -- and their separation -- would last, they couldn't have borne it. Peace became not only an ideal, but the hope for it something very loving and personal between them.

My mother, the gardener, always managed to get slips and seeds and daughters from other gardeners. She composted. She never paid for what she grew. If it cost, she didn't have it. The two exceptions were the Madonna Lilies that Daddy gave her every Mother's Day, and the Peace Rose, bought that summer, six months before he came home.

I can't tell you how many times I saw her standing, face in the rose, dreaming. It never lost its enchantment for her.


~~ below, some more information about the Peace Rose ~~


The name "Peace" is a trade name; its formal cultivar name is Rosa 'Madame A. Meilland'. The adoption of the trade name "Peace" was publicly announced in the United States on 29 April 1945 by the introducers, Messrs Conard Pyle Co.. This was the very day that Berlin fell, officially considered the end of the Second World War in Europe. Later that year Peace roses were given to each of the delegations at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco, each with a note that read "We hope the 'Peace' rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace".


On Mar 28, 2001, lantana from Era, TX (Zone 7a) wrote:"This is the 'Peace' rose, which was christened by the Pacific Rose Society exhibition in Pasadena on the day Berlin fell. We hope the 'Peace' rose will influence men's thoughts for everlasting world Peace." -Provided to forty nine delegations of the United Nations with a single bloom. 1945 Introduced in 1945 to commemorate the end of World War II. A beautiful rose, it's color is pale yellow tinged with pink, reminding me of a sunrise. Wonderfully fragrant. Height: 6' Tall, 3' Wide Zones: 4-9. Hardy to 15 degrees. A fast grower.


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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR PRESIDENT!! AND THANK YOU!!

This was my mother's favorite rose

This post at Howard Empowered People, got me thinking about evil. When I was young, about 12, and discovered the Holocaust, I worried a lot about what it was possible for human beings to do to each other. Could my parents? My brothers? Could I? Could anyone?

There seems to be reason to suspect that Yes, anyone could.

So the next step here, because this blog is at least partly political, is to wonder about those that let this happen. Indeed: Caused this to happen.

No supervision, no oversight, no caring? Fits.


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Who *ever* told Bush, Rove, Cheney that what they were doing was NOT okay? That to do what they've done all their lives to other people is NOT okay, has NEVER been okay, and WILL NEVER be okay?

"Those of us who know McCain or have dealt with him know him to be the single worst human being any of us have ever met in the political world – period! He is nasty. He is rude. He is condescending. He is cruelly sarcastic. He treats people like dirt."
NewsMax.com

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno." ~~ John McCain, 1998. Chelsea was 18 years old.


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BTW ~~ this is Chelsea today. . .

The faculty of self-deception, (is an) essential requisite for anyone wanting to guide others. - ~~ Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

A gaggle of girls

Puppet Master Rules. . . .

REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)

Hat tip DU

First Ladybug today. . . .

(Newsday Photo/Bill Davis)

Who *voted* for this man. . . .?

Somehow, this is just, erm, funny. . . .

	Goddess For Less Looking for Goddess? Find exactly what you want today. www.eBay.com

Okay: I'm damned proud of this. I'm in the 17% on both tests. Take 'em.

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

Actually, I'd rather suspected this. . . .

You are a GRAMMAR GODDESS!



Congratulations! If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be. You can smell a grammatical inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is revered by the underlings, though some may blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just jealous. Go out there and change the world.


12076 other people got this result!
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What Spelling or Grammatical Error are You? (new)
Too many !!!!!!! You're lively, exuberant and an overall PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!
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A Parliament of Owls

A Kindle of Kittens

A Band of Angels

A Giggle of Girls

Speaking of which. . . . click here, too

click the pic!

Thanks to D and R ♥!

Ode to Sheriff Chuck

Results 1 - 20 of about 755 for sheriff chuck. (0.08 seconds)




Anytime you run out of luck
you can count on Sheriff Chuck
to come to the rescue!

He don’t give a fukk
if you’re Republican or a Demoncrat,
Or even a Witness of Jehovah-bat

he’ll be there at your door
with his smiling, slightly ruddy face,
beer-belly held in place

and beefy hand held out
to clasp your own. He’ll rout

the blues and with his smile like a torch
will melt them from off your porch.

~~ Alyosha
from my poetry forum
(Thanks Jer! ♥)

Tanner Update

picture from this time, last year. . .

March 23, 2007 at 03:26 PM MST Time really seems to be flying! I'm trying to think what has happened in the last 2 weeks.

Tanner had an audiology appointment, which we've been having about every 2 weeks. Yikes! Last time they got a pretty good idea of where his hearing loss is, so this time they tested him while he was wearing his hearing aids. There was a big difference! They adjusted them, a little more, and told us to come back in 3 months. wow. I've been making a real effort to get him to wear his hearing aids more. He's doing pretty good, once they're in!

Tanner's latest EBV level came back as "not detected", so they've given the ok to stop the valgancyclovir that he's been on since transplant. It's always exciting & scary all rolled into one when we stop a med. That leaves Tanner's list of meds really short compared to what they've been at times. He's down to iron/magnesium/zinc (which we are trying to switch to half a centrum jr. vitamin), prograf twice a day, prednisone once a day, and prevacid. Oh, he also gets septra (antibiotic) on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I have to say I'm quite lucky, Jason gives Tanner his morning meds every morning before heading out to work and we tend to share the night time duty. I have obviously given him all his day medicine, but other than the septra, he doesn't get meds during the day anymore!! YIPPEE. Big change from almost every hour, huh?

Tanner also had a cold with a really nasty runny nose that he just could not shake on his own. He ended up getting an antibiotic which took care of it. But, within 2 days of stopping it, the runny nose was back. Do you know how much I hate runny noses?

Tanner's next liver clinic appointment is April 9. This is the longest we've gone without doctor's appointments. This will make 2 months between appointments. I'll probably take him next week or the week after for labs.

Tanner is so sweet. His language has exploded, he's talking so much. I love it. Yesterday I was fixing my hair and he said "Mom, doing?" He wanted to know what I was doing. It's pretty sad when my almost-3-year old doesn't know what it looks like when I fix my hair! Anyway, I told him I was fixing my hair. He said "you bootiful." Talk about melt my heart. Then one time I told him I love him, he looked at me and said "I love you, too." I love that he added "too."
Sometimes, just to be silly, I'll blow in his face. He'll crinkle up his face and say "Don't blow me down!"
When you ask how old he is he'll say "2...3 on my birthday." He tells us that for his birthday he wants Grandma to bring balloons (he loves balloons) and a brown (chocolate) wiggles cake.

I know how blessed we are. Last year I didn't know if he'd even be alive to turn 2. Now, he'll be turning 3! (may 4) I remind myself how much Tanner's come through and how lucky we are to have him everytime he does something naughty...which is a lot!

Thanks for checking in...

and to ALL our friends still in treatment, or nearing the end of their journey on earth...know that we LOVE YOU and you're in our prayers...
Megan

At last!! The first peeper!

Surprising things to do with vanilla. . .

Quick Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 28-oz. can whole or chopped tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups rich beef stock
• 1 c. chopped onion
• 1/4 c. finely diced carrot
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract*

Directions:

1. In a two-quart saucepan melt butter.
2. Add onions and sauté until translucent.
3. Add flour and stir to blend.
4. Gradually add beef stock, stirring constantly.
5. Add tomatoes, breaking up whole tomatoes if used.
6. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer 30 minutes.
7. If a smooth texture is desired, puree the mixture in a blender.

Serve hot. Serves 4.

*Mexican or Tahitian Pure Vanilla Extract may be substituted according to individual taste.


.

Her Voice

THE wild bee reels from bough to bough
With his furry coat and his gauzy wing.
Now in a lily-cup, and now
Setting a jacinth bell a-swing,
In his wandering;
Sit closer love: it was here I trow
I made that vow,

Swore that two lives should be like one
As long as the sea-gull loved the sea,
As long as the sunflower sought the sun,--
It shall be, I said, for eternity
'Twixt you and me!
Dear friend, those times are over and done,
Love's web is spun.

Look upward where the poplar trees
Sway and sway in the summer air,
Here in the valley never a breeze
Scatters the thistledown, but there
Great winds blow fair
From the mighty murmuring mystical seas,
And the wave-lashed leas.

Look upward where the white gull screams,
What does it see that we do not see?
Is that a star? or the lamp that gleams
On some outward voyaging argosy,--
Ah! can it be
We have lived our lives in a land of dreams!
How sad it seems.

Sweet, there is nothing left to say
But this, that love is never lost,
Keen winter stabs the breasts of May
Whose crimson roses burst his frost,
Ships tempest-tossed
Will find a harbour in some bay,
And so we may.

And there is nothing left to do
But to kiss once again, and part,
Nay, there is nothing we should rue,
I have my beauty, -- you your Art,
Nay, do not start,
One world was not enough for two
Like me and you.


~~ Oscar Wilde

Timetable

Four days before Spring

I saw the first spider

Next day the second

then the third.

12 hours before Spring

I saw the first fly

then more.

12 hours after Spring

the first fly

caught and trussed

is dinner

When the Spider is ready

the Fly will appear


.

Spring, the First Girl. . . .

On March 20, 2007, at precisely 8:07 P.M. EDT

Of all our life together

I have just two regrets --

The times I left you sleeping

in the wing chair,

stopping only to kiss

your sweet spot

and whisper, "Don't be long."

And that I never accepted

your offer to fill our room

with candles' light

as we made love.

How you did love candles. . . .

.

Maha speaks. . . .

Friday I caught a little bit of a CSPAN program in which Brian Lamb took calls discussing the recent “confessions” of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Several callers declared that the confession proved that “torture works,” thereby displaying the critical thinking skills of moth larvae. Some of the callers clearly had no idea who KSM was and were under the impression he was someone the FBI nabbed inside the U.S. recently. One caller demanded to know how “these people” are getting into the U.S.; Brian Lamb helpfully explained that the CIA probably had flown him to Guantanamo from wherever he was before on a plane.


.

THIS is what war does to our children. . . .

By Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post

It's one thing to fight a war to protect the motherland. It's another to start a war for unholy dominion and to line the pockets of your friends. And worse when it bankrupts your country to do so.

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

BTW, if you click the title below
at Ah, Peace
You'll get the story about the Friday night
Christian Peace marchers. . . .

peace. . . .

"Too many people have died and it doesn't solve anything," said Ann Bonner, who drove through snow with her husband, Tom O'Grady, and two children, 13 and 10, from Athens, Ohio. "I feel bad carrying out my daily activities while people are suffering, Americans and Iraqis."

Police on horseback and foot separated the two groups of demonstrators, who shouted at each other from opposite sides of Constitution Avenue in view of the Lincoln Memorial before the anti-war group marched. Barriers also kept them apart.

But war protester Susanne Shine of Boone, N.C., found herself in a crowd of counterdemonstrators, and came out in tears, with her sign in shreds. "They ripped up my peace sign," she said, after police escorted her, her husband and two adult daughters from the group. "It was really pretty scary for me."

Protesters walked in a blustery, cold wind across the Potomac River with motorcycles clearing their way and police boats and helicopters watching.

Police no longer give official estimates but said privately that perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 anti-war demonstrators marched, with a smaller but still sizable number of counterprotesters also out in force.

A gathering of Eagles

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Mar 4 2007, 04:12 PM Post #1

Administrator Group: Root Admin Posts: 79 Joined: 6-February 07 Member No.: 1

March 17th: - Washington DC rally by the organization Gathering of Eagles to protect the Vietnam War Memorial from pro-terrorist radicals click for info (external site) Anti-American pro-terrorist protesters are planning on marching to the vietnam war memorial on March 17th, a group called the Gathering of Eagles is organizaing a rally to protect the memorial from these vile pro-Islamist enemies: What: Gathering of Eagles When: March 17th, 2007 0700-1600 (7 AM to 4 PM) Where: The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall, Washington D.C. Why: To stand silent guard over our nation's memorials, in honor of our fallen, and in solidarity with our armed forces in harm's way today. Read the Gathering of Eagles' mission statement.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

March 17th, 2007 | Category: Briefings

What an outstanding day! The Eagles soared!

You should be very proud of your fellow veterans, families, and supporters. There’s so much to tell, and we encourage you to post your experiences in the the comments.

In the meantime, two items of business: 1) we have a gallery open for you to upload your digital photos to the website. That way you can share your photos with others. See the tab in the top right corner of the site. 2) the first unofficial estimate of the Eagle turn-out today…

30,000!

That figure may be adjusted upward as more figure are tallied during the week. Fox News reported today that the anti-war protesters had significantly less than they expected. However, they are erroneously reporting that the Eagles were there in “equal numbers”. The truth is that we outnumbered them by at least three to one!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anonymous said...

Only 3k? I thought that they were going to get 20,000 but I guess ANSWER once again lied.

You did forget to mention the 3K to 5K who participated in the Gathering of Eagles Rally. Those are the true patriots of this country.

11:21 AM, March 18, 2007

And the lion shall. . . .

That’s very unfair because most men are totally clueless about women. I explained how things really work to my boys with this Aesop-like fable I called the “Lions and the Antelopes”. The lions don’t know that [they're] actually disguised antelopes whereas the antelopes know they’re really lions in disguise. Hence I told the boys no point in chasing women. Just stand still so they can more easily find you.

— Posted by MARK KLEIN, M.D.

Ther shal dwelle the wlf with the lome, and the parde with the kide shal leyn; the calf, and the leoun, and the shep togidere shul dwelle, and a lytil child shal dryue them.
~~Isaiah Chapter 11, Verse 6

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Ah, Peace. . . .

Jordan Schmidt, of Leesburg, Va., an anti-war protester, holds a candlelight vigil with others outside the White House in Washington, Friday, March 16, 2007. An estimated 3,000 protesters march from the National Cathedral to the White House to protest the military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

Since I was a child I've always loved St Patrick's day. Partially for that bit of Irish blood I carry, but more because it has always been *my* holiday because it was the day before my half-birthday. Now, of course, that has changed forever. It will now always be the half anniversary of Edwin's death.

I've been feeling that all week. Feeling it grow and gather energy, somehow. Something, not irony, feels almost the fitness of it: How he loved the Irish. How many hours we talked about living there. As artists, we were both eligible for "special" visas. When he was in Dublin, he was looking around for areas, neighborhoods, and getting a sense of what it would cost. It was a lovely dream.

♣