3six5 link

It's up... Posting the link for now: 3six5 post
update: ok, here's the post. It's getting more attention than I imagined so I'm not going to make a new post for it. Feel free to read it, comment if you want... I enjoyed writing it, enjoyed thinking about what I'd write. I've really enjoyed following along with the other posts, too... but I should say that, obviously, not all of them reflect my own thoughts, ideas, beliefs. I think (hope) that you already know that. I think it's good for us (for me, for sure) to remember that we are not islands isolated from other people. But we don't just jump in and swim in the polluted water, either.
ok- here's the text and the pic that accompanies it on the 3six5 site. Enjoy! :)

I thought I’d be in Kyiv, Ukraine. Instead, I’m near Warsaw, Poland. My stay has so far been completely overshadowed by the death of the president and too many other high-ranking officials 3 weeks ago while en route to a memorial service for Polish officers massacred in Katyn, Russia, 70 years ago. Poland went into shock then mourning.

All around Warsaw are black posters: Smolensk 10.04.2010 We will remember! Yesterday, we visited a friend. Talked about the tragedy. There are all kinds of rumors afoot: The pilot was forced against his better judgment to land; Terrorists were involved; Russia did it.

In Ukraine, home of my heart for 10 years now, the new president just made a deal- Cheap gas for the Ukrainians; in exchange, the Russian Black Sea Naval Fleet stays in Crimea for 25 more years. This has sparked a cry of outrage. Selling out to Russia! Ukraine’s losing her sovereignty! Parliament ratified it 2 days ago…but not before the 2 sides fought- literally. One MP received head injuries; they wrestled and fought like angry 8 year olds, threw food, set off smoke grenades and super-glued the voting machines.

We live in the shadow of Russia, in the shadow of real life chess games we don’t understand; nor do we see the game board or the hands that move the pieces.

But- it’s spring. Time to throw off the heavy cloak of mourning. Time to look beyond the shadow of the past. There’s blue sky above. A beautiful flag flying. The trees are budding. Time to go forward into the sun. Poland is. Ukraine is trying to.

Me? My gas bill will likely go down.

But more than that, I have a love in my heart that no conspiracy theory can shake or touch. Life is a wonderful thing. Hope is alive and well.

re the pic: the pic, btw, is of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. Built by the Soviets, interesting bit of history at wiki: Palace of Culture and Science

I personally like the look of it but for some, it represents something else.

today and tomorrow

Today is 3six5 day... and apparently it's Tom's Bday, too! Happy Birthday, Tom!! Do you guys still have a stash of Mtn Dew in the garage? You've heard of the Keeper of the Keys? Well this one's the Keeper of the Bees. :)
Tomorrow is Derby Day!!

I'll post my 3six5 here when it's up on their site... ;)

Miss B's brothers and M&M's and Whipped Cream

Last Weds we had supper with Miss B and most of her family. And then we had dessert a bit later. (First, however, we declined to jump on the trampoline with the kids and felt horribly guilty about it. A made hound dog sad eyes; Miss B mostly just bounced out and jumped with or without the Big People in her life; H? H sat on the steps and pounded his head in his hands and led me to believe that his life and happiness would soon be over all due to the trampoline refusal. You’ve heard of the Drama Queen? Well, she has her counterpart in H. The Drama King. Cute, though… unbearably so.)

 Well dessert happened, too. Fresh (very yummy, I might add) strawberries with freshly whipped real cream on them. A wanted his sans strawberry with M&M’s. Possibly H, too. But the pic is of A’s bowl of M&M’s with whipped cream.

And he thought I was strange for putting whipped cream in my coffee.

The pix are for Lindsay- we took them for you. When 2 year olds get you down… look at H sticking out his tongue and A licking off his spoon (and What? No pic of Miss B? Nope. How’d that happen? No idea.) It’s good for what ails you! xo

Choc Pudding

                           

Once upon a time, there were 2 young ladies, Deb and Anita, who lived together. They were roommates in college and 2 summers. They had some adventures, none too outrageous, several memorable. Those were happy days, good days, days to remember and smile at. They had a pact- food costs evenly divided and the preparation of said food- when there was no dorm cafeteria around- shared.

So one day, they got some chocolate pudding. They both loved pudding of any kind and chocolate of any kind. They made the pudding and then poured it into a cake pan- a 9x5 cake pan. And then they stared at it for 30 seconds while it cooled and set up. And then they put the pan between them, took a spoon each and set in to eating from opposites ends of that pan. And they met in the middle, looked at each other and agreed that it was a wonderful batch of pudding.

Burp. Grin. Wipe mouth. Lick spoon.

The end.

IN shout out! (sort of)

Have you ever been in Muncie, IN? I most certainly have! :)

 

I remembered that I can do mobile blogging from my inbox… so I don’t have to go open up web pages…which is a big deal when you don’t have unlimited internet. (And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, actually.) So- some recent funnies…

speaking of Mutts, speaking of Miss B

That whole conversation with Little Miss B the other day was a follow up of my question to her: How are you B? Are you feeling lucky? Are you feeling lucky like a ducky? That made her grin and say Yeah.

 

(Her bros were gone for the morning, so I thought she maybe was, in fact, feeling a bit lucky.)

Miss B

I love kids. Who doesn't? 

I love when they're babies and you can hold and hold and hold them. All they want (if their tummy's full) is to be held for hours. And hey- I can oblige! 

And then when they're a bit older and are so busy learning about their surroundings- they're exploring with their eyes and then with their hands and legs as they crawl. They have so much to find out, so many things to run into and touch. 

And then the walking! That's a blast! They bang into things and hurt themselves and tip over and crawl up on and get into and on and on and on.

But when they start talking- that's when it really gets exciting. I remember having a phone chat with my oldest nephie way back before I had high speed internet or skype or a web cam. He was about 2 1/2 and I was really trying to engage him in a conversation. Asking him questions. Trying to think of something- anything- that would ring a bell in his mind. Like- Are you getting a baby at your house? Are you going to be a big brother? There was a whole lot of silence in answer. But then, boom, this: I love you, too. Good-bye. And he dropped the phone and took off. I cracked up! I loved it! The next one I remember was after I landed back in the States and he was officially 3 years old. His mom and dad and 2 month old baby brother were accompanying us up north. The AC was on in the van. But F was hot. Unbearably so. He peeled his shirt off. I turned around to look at him and said F you're going to freeze, you're half naked! And he said I yike being half nake-ed. 

End of discussion. 

Then there's my niece who starts off every conversation with Aunt Nita, I'm 5. (And actually, she says it I'm F-I-V-E.)

It's so neat to see their thought processes, to watch them apply what they know to their current situation and try to make some sense out of it.

Today I had this conversation with Miss B (she's 4 1/2): So and so's going to Ukraine. They are so lucky. So very lucky. 

Really? Lucky?

Yes. For instance, have you ever been to Ukraine?

(Long pause, thinking) I go to kindergarten. There's a swimming pool there.

That, folks, is about as lucky as it gets, I reckon! :)

good food

I’m actually writing letters tonight… and believe me, this is a good thing and something I love to do but have done little of for awhile. And I’m finding things from very good friends. I’ve said a few times in various places that I have better friends than I deserve…and it’s really true. These people know me, have known me for years (many of them)- and here’s the thing: they like me well enough to write and to write and yet again- when I have been completely out of sight and sound and in hiding in a postal way for too long. There is no accounting for the generosity and kindness of some people. I’m glad that there is a Bookkeeper at work Who makes no mistakes, ever.

 

And here’s something I found in a letter just now: Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Ok then- let’s do that.

tales of a digital housekeeper

Back in Jan, I packed up and headed south... that morning, my iPAQ just died. Totally. Wouldn't charge, touch screen wouldn't respond, nothing, zippo... couldn't reset it, couldn't do a thing. Except cry... but I was too busy to do that. So I packed it and took it with me as if its completely dead presence would somehow reach out and touch me, making me feel loved...
Next morning, unpacked. Did a bunch of yakking. Told Karen my iPAQ woes. My contacts. My dictionaries. My concordance. My mobile internet. My calendar. My e-books. The bubble bursting game. Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh
You can use mine, she says. I haven't used it in months.
Really (big eyes and surprised)?
Oh sure. Here.
K leaves and I stay and make nice with her iPAQ. It's perfect.
Until it had an allergic reaction and sneezed and fell out of my pocket and (REALLY BIG EYES) landed (OH MY GOODNESS) ummmm (let's just say it splashed as it landed and leave it at that). I mean, it didn't spend a whole lot of time there but.... The.Damage.Was.Done.

<--that's me there

I dried it out good, had a nervous breakdown, fussed over it and loved on it... and after 2 or 3 days of drying, I plugged it in, it charged... and worked. Oh Joy!

But I soon realized it wasn't perfect. It had little nervous breakdowns. And then it had them a lot. 

And then my little iPAQ just sort of *boom* started working again. I have no idea what got into it or why I rattled its chain, but there it was. So, K's was retired, mine was brought up for active duty. 

Only various features just didn't work. boo hoo

Go visit Trude and Ange. They know a repair guy. Drop my baby off (and K's too... oh- and somewhere in there, I confessed all my iPAQ-related crimes to K... gulp... who was really nice and said something like Oh, well I gave it to you so it's yours.) And as I'm leaving T's she says I'm not using my iPAQ; you want to take it and use it? 

Ummm- do you trust me with it? 

Oh sure. So, off I go.

After 2+ weeks of inactivity, I lit a fire under iPAQ-fixer Man... who sent mine back (via T)...

and here's the kicker- it's No Different At All than it was when I took it in. I'm looking daggers at him from somewhere west of Warsaw even as I type.

Ahhh- and in all that iPAQ swappage I ummm synced my comp with mine and K's and T's- with 3 different iPAQs in other words... and never once thought about the contacts... or the calendar.

Now I'm getting reminders about Tante Inge's bday (ok, I made that name up) and Mr & Mrs X P Greatness' anniversary. 

And I suddenly have 5000 (or so) contacts. People I've never even heard of. In languages neither my comp nor I recognize. And the people we all know? Ha- I have each one times 3 times all 3 variations for each of us. 

Oh, and then you come to the Ukrn contacts- transcribed into Latin letters. And here's something: 3 people will do it 3 different ways. 3 spellings for each one. And then sometimes you forget how you spelled it the first time and do it all over again. 

And in spite of the fact that I know exactly 3 (or 4, 5 maybe, 6 max) people in Cali... I now have a contact list with 500 Cali addresses. 

And entries like Uncle Joe

and PK

and 1800546....

and Sasha-the-Hacker (that's not made up) 

And as fascinating as it might (theoretically) be to dig into the privacy of someone else's WHOLE COMPLETE contact list (I mean! Did you even KNOW that Mr JK Firebucket has 10 different email adds and 50 telephone numbers... and 35 kids?! Whoa) Guess what- it's not even close to exciting.

And then there were all the casualties of pocketmail and compuserve... and the 25 new addresses everyone got to replace those defunct ones.

And then there are the people who move every 2 1/2 rotations of the earth and get a new email add each time... which each warrant a new entry.

Well- tonight, I finished plodding through my new and expanded contact list. I think it's nearly back to perfect. Probably better, in fact... I did some cleaning out all right. 

ok- enough.

 <--We didn't actually have this for lunch but we did have Chicken stir fry... marinaded the chicken in soy sauce, 3 cloves of garlic, a bunch of grated fresh ginger, salt and honey and a tbs of oil at the end. Stir fried it with a lot of black pepper and at the end added peanuts. It was good. Yum.

 in closing- how did the Mutts people do it? The strip's RSS is published 2 weeks after the actual strip runs... and it perfectly coincided with the mess Europe just went through with flight delays due to the volcano. 

ps- Yesterday it rained, hailed and snowed. Tonight there's a mosquito whining around my room. Go figure.

Talk about a birthday!

See this lady? The squinty one? She's my Trude friend. Otherwise known as Slim. Well, she's celebrating her 50th birthday in a day and a half. And would you like to know what she got for her birthday? (I'll give you a hint- it's about the coolest birthday present ever. Hands down.)

Ok, I'll tell you. I hear that she and Ange got a call- Uncle D- I have a package for you, can you meet me out front? Out they go. T hears a voice- someone calling her name... 

Guess who it was...

I don't have a pic... I wish I did... it must have been amazing.

Her bro and sis-in-law must have caught one of the only flights that made it into Europe the past few days. Someone went to Kyiv to meet them and brought them to her front door. I reckon she's surviving the shock and joy of it all!

I can tell you this much- I wish I was there right now. How completely cool is that, anyway?

Happy Birthday, Friend!! 50 is going to be great! 

FYI

In case you're interested and haven't seen enough yet, here is a link to some of my and T's pix (from my f/b), taken in Warsaw this last week. Mostly just the crowds of people that were there to pay their respects to the dead.
Today is a gloriously sunny and warm day. The state funeral for Pan Kaczynski and his wife is today... every 30 min all morning, there were trains from Warsaw to Krakow. It's all most people are thinking about. And it's good that people are reminded of how fragile life is, how suddenly it can end for anyone.
But- I can feel that it's time to welcome the sun again. It's time to turn our faces to the sun and let it warm our cheeks. It's time to soak it up and move forward. Mourning is good for us... but it cannot last indefinitely. It's heavy and humans must move on. Poland must move on. There is yet life to be lived.
But the lessons we learn at the cost of others... let's remember them well and learn from them.

more on the Polish news from this past week

good videos, slideshow and article from the past week
and another good one
slideshow from today's memorial service
video clip from memorial service
audio clip
article (Deutsche Welle)

These are just a few more links from this past week. There are many many (squared) more. We came into the city tonight to spend the night with our (dear dear) friend (Hi Amy- did you find this?) :) 

Transportation was still all free- that was done for today only. The memorial service was from 12 pm to 4 pm today. There weren't a lot of people in the center when we were there at 5.30... but everyone that was there had the look of having been at the service. Dressed in black. Carrying flags with the black stripe across the corner or a black ribbon hanging from it. Carrying sleeping mats and bottled water. Lots of boy and girl scouts- they were officially involved in caring for the flowers and candles. What a thing for a pre-teen... or a teenager. 

And some pix

Looking for the Russian consulate the other day, I came across this display outside of a Polish government office. Photos of all the victims. There were 2 soldiers on duty next to a book in front of this building. In retrospect, I'm sure it was a book of condolence and I could have signed it... and there was no line at all... and  it never dawned on me till hours later. I'm such a dunce sometimes.

looking across the highway to a bridge lined with people waiting for another escort of crash victims' bodies being brought from the airport. I wanted to stand and wait a bit but we were running on a tight schedule... we found out later that the entourage was over 3 hours late and we'd have had a long wait. Good thing we kept going. Just next to center you can see one of the black big screen tv's that had info about the tragedy on it. 

The metro today. People going home from the memorial service. This little boy, his flag and his mom were just next to us. 

And lots of police everywhere. 

oh and Ps- the funeral. The state funeral for the president and his wife is tomorrow in Krakow. In case you somehow missed it, there was a major volcanic eruption in Iceland this week... and that has shut down air travel throughout much of Europe. Initially, we heard that the fun'l would be postponed so that foreign dignitaries could come. Today we saw that the family has insisted that the fun'l will be tomorrow, period, no matter who can or can't come. A smart move, I think. Why drag it out? And there are cancellations. Planes just can't fly. For one, President Obama sent condolences a few hours ago with official word that he won't be here.  

Giving up Chocolate

Giving Up Chocolate

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, 'If I give you this money, will you buy chocolate with it instead of dinner?'

'No, I had to stop eating chocolate years ago', she told me.

'Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?' I asked.

'No, I don't waste time shopping,' she said. 'I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.'

'Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?' I asked.

'Are you NUTS?!' she replied. I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!'

'Well, I said, 'I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.'

The woman was shocked. 'Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.'

I said, 'That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and chocolate.'  

Found this tonight lurking in the depths of my inbox. Your life, of course, is much improved for having seen it, too.
;)

Poland in mourning

photo essay of Poland in mourning (Gdansk shipyard) page 1

those are just a couple links to the same photo essay showing some of the mourning in Poland these days. I'm tired tonight after a big day and don't have the energy to do this post justice. The 5 days I've had here in Poland have been completely overshadowed by Saturday's tragedy. I have not yet heard why so many high-ranking government and military officials were on the same plane. Nor have I heard why it went down- I mean besides that it clipped trees in heavy fog and broke apart. There's speculation that someone onboard the plane ordered the pilots to land in spite of the weather conditions. One thing is certain- they were advised multiple times to go either to Minsk or Moscow where the conditions were better.
Monday, Tammy and I went down to the presidential palace (I'll try to post pix this weekend) and wove our way through the throngs of mourners there. There was a long long line waiting to sign the (guest?) book. Yesterday, Tammy just missed seeing the entourage bringing back the remains of the president's wife. The bodies of both the pres and his wife are lying in state now and you can go to view them. The line was 3 km long earlier today. Today we saw the crowds lining bridges and streets waiting for the remains of the other victims. Traffic was incredibly heavy and there were, once again, crowds of people but near silence everywhere. The silence has been eerie. Seldom do you see that many people gathered in a public place so silently.
But the weekend ahead will be unreal. There is a memorial service for all the victims Friday (I think); the state funeral for the president and his wife is Sunday in Krakow (Cracow)... and the list of heads of state planning to be there is endless. Everyone, it seems. And not just heads of state, but other big names and high officials. And so you begin to wonder- Just how does a not-too-wealthy and not-too-big and not-too-important (if you understand what I mean) country suddenly, with less than 7 days notice plan, put together and pull off such a major event and keep it secure? It's mind boggling. Normally, a country, a city would spend weeks or months preparing for such a gathering of heavyweights. Poland has had about a week.
There are big screen TV's all over the city- normally they play all manor of stuff, mostly relatively unimportant. All of them now have displays of the Polish flag with the black ribbon in the upper left corner, a black screen with names of the victims in white and info about the memorial services and official days of mourning. And one of them tonight said- Krakow will be the most secure city on the planet Sunday.
I certainly hope so.

follow up on an earlier post

just a little follow up on March 28's post. I thought when I took the pic that the subjects of the photo shoot looked suspiciously 'down and out'... and, well, they had that long-term alcoholic look about them- bleary-eyed, puffy eyes, puffy face, shuffling walk... they just didn't look good. At all. (For one thing, the guy in blue was using that rake to help himself stay upright.)
About a week later I ran across an article detailing how the mayor had gone out and rounded up homeless people and pressed them into 1-off service cleaning up the city. I'm pretty sure my 2 were part of that brigade.

I wonder if they got paid? I wonder what they did with the $$? I wonder if this is ethical.

Back in Poland

Over the course of the last 10 years, I've spent quite a bit of time in Poland. And know what? I really do love Poland quite a lot, too. We're not into making too many comparisons... but well, I do really like Poland a lot, too. So, it was really great yest to see this little clown again. and he really is a clown. He's full of it. always good for getting the dog completely wound up.  But, he's an absolute teddy bear. His dad's been working in England for several years now- comes home a couple times a year. They're all going to join Dad this summer. I have a feeling Poland will miss him sorely. Along with Mom and Big Sis. I'm glad they're still here. 

oh- and the Dog? The dog goes, too. I saw her passport yesterday. How do you positively identify a dog? She has a microchip in one of her ears. Well wow...

a day to remember

Long silence from me... you should be getting used to that (and it's rather pleasant, right? Admit it...)

Well it's because things have been fairly busy. Pretty much really so. Last weekend involved 2 all night bus trips "туда и обратно" (there and back) plus some great (and full) days in between. Then there was a period of sorting, stashing, packing and trashing. Those times are always so great... when they're over. Today, I woke up on the train just outside of Warsaw, Poland. I was glad Tammy was meeting the train- as usual, I had about 200 pounds more luggage than I could manage on my own. Met another train and then went to McDonald's for an egg McMuffin. And then got an sms- there's been a plane crash. Up in Russia. The Polish president (and too many other important Polish gov't people) are dead. There were no survivors. 

This news is stunning. Even for me. What does a country do when it's president, his wife and a bunch of other politically powerful and important people all die in 1 crash? 

We gathered our stuff and went back to the train station platform where there are news monitors. For once, the station was dead quiet. Not a sound (except for the train announcements). Oh there were people around. Lots of them. All clustered around the various tv monitors, looking up and listening in shock as the announcers went over and over the few details they had. There'd been a crash. The president was dead. And a whole lot of other important people. 

We finally left to catch our train to go home. The pix are from that station. Lots of people there, too, doing what they always do. Chitting and chatting. No TV monitors there. They didn't know yet. 

I'm sure they know now. Who doesn't. Many of the neighbors here are flying flags with black ribbons on them. They say there is a crowd and a growing mound of flowers at the presidential palace. And the streets are far emptier than usual. The nation is in shock... and beginning to mourn. 

I arrived in Poland the day the president died. Not a day to forget.