Current location:	Over The Rainbow, Still Looking For The Elusive Pot Of Gold
Current mood:	confused
Current music:	Black Box Recorder - The Facts Of Life

This And That

On Blogging:

I know I haven't written much here, recently, and I keep meaning to write more, but it's so easy to fall into Facebook/Twitter mode (yes, I have an account with both) and just post little blips of nothing to those sites, and it all seems so pedestrian, but then again, that's pretty much real life, too, innit, just a collection of meaningless events, connected by more of the same. Maybe that's why I still like blogging, cause it's only in backing away from the canvas and pondering it all that I can see how the pretty and ugly little pixels actually make up a larger picture.

Or something.

So, anyway, I'll try to write more. I promise. Yeah, know you've heard that before, but you'll see, it'll be different this time, baby. I've turned over a new leaf. I'm a new man. I've changed.

Or something.

Meh.

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On Matters Political:

It's strange, when I started this blog four years ago, it was September of the American Presidential election year, and I wrote and posted almost exclusively on political stuff for the first few months, but this time I've not written much at all on the subject.

It isn't that I don't have opinions about such things, but I just don't know that anyone gives a rat's posterior about what I think. H*ll, I'm not sure *I* even do. But I'll break with my silence, here and now, and just lay down a little something, for the record:

I am predicting a land-slide win for the Obamessiah come November, as it was foretold in the First Book of Hesitations, that 'the Elephant will stumble and fall, and the Donkey shall take assume control. Thus sayeth the Lord.'

Okay, there's still a chance that McCain could pull off a victory, but let's be honest, it's not likely, and in fact, there's about as good a chance of me winning the big lottery prize as John Mac becoming the commander-in-chief of the the armed forces of these United States. It's just not going to happen, but maybe it's not all bad.

I mean, the Annointed One's policies are more-than-socialist, and will cause great mischief and damage to this great nation, but then again, the Republicrats have had control of the White House and the Senate for years now, and have squandered that mandate, so maybe the other side should get the chance to mess things up for a while.

To be fair, in 2001 Dubyuh was handed an economy already sliding towards recession, the 9/11 attacks sort of took the wind out of the country for some time, and the whole debacle of the Bush/Gore Electoral vote fiasco hampered him, from the get-go. But other than prosecuting the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, I'm hard-pressed to think of anything he did in his eight years that were of any real consequence, any more than I can think of anything of any real consequence that his predecessor did during *his* tenancy, other than being impeached for lying under oath to Congress about the whole Monica affair.

And lest you think otherwise, I am not one of those who thinks that it was wrong for the US to oust Saddam Hussein, and I *am* one of those who supported the troops *and* the mission. But it's also an undeniable fact that most Americans do not agree with me at present, and it's that very war - and the state of the US economy, which despite the nonsense spewed by the likes of Michael Moore, is hardly W's fault - that has so hindered McCain's efforts to gain a toehold against The Obamessiah. Well, that, and the huge numbers of first-time voters, legal and otherwise, who have been whipped into a frenzy by the Mainstream Media, which is wetting itself to see That One elected.

What scares me, and leaves me feeling very sad, is that That One is running on the Change Platform, which in some way kind of makes sense, because Liberals and Progressives honestly believe that not only is change inevitable (it is) but that they have the best solutions for effecting that change (they don't).

But see, there are millions of people who really do believe their lives will be better under a President BHO, and I fear for them when they are confronted with the reality that life goes on, and that all change isn't good, and that there are very real consequences that flow from the Big Ideas that God gave their guy on the Mountain.

So, the Republicans will hand over the keys to the White House to a Democrat for only the third time in forty years, and hopefully by becoming the opposition party the GOP will go to the wilderness to do penance for their sins of commission and omission, and as the hoi polloi become disillusioned with the failures of the new administration, the Republicans can begin their Long March Back to power. And maybe next time they will do a better job of actually remembering what they stand for: limited government, lower taxes, personal responsibility, and the right to arm bears.

Gawd, it's going be a long next four years!
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In The Keen-Sense-Of-The-Obvious Department:

Something that has struck me a lot over the past few months is the utter impermanence of everything. And yes, I mean *everything*.

In the past few months I've seen:

My job duties change, a couple co-workers die, my daughters become increasingly grown up and independent, my car break down, several close acquaintances and friends drift off, my body develop aches and pains and injuries, my hair fall out in greater amounts, my various pieces of electronic equipment stop working, my retirement accounts lose 40% of their worth, and my values being rejected in the marketplace of ideas. And that's just for starters.

It's unsettling, really, cause life feels like it's just all elusive, and slipping away, like sand thru an hour-glass, like quicksilver, and there's nothing I can do to change all that, or to anchor it all, and thing is, it's not like this is some great revelation, cause it's been like this all my life, and all of most everyone else's life, too, but see, when I was a young skullfullamush I somehow managed to buy into the fiction that I might be the exception to the rule, that there was such a thing as Eternal Youth, and BFF's, even though I knew better, I really did, but there was still the nagging notion that I might be the first person in history to beat back the odds, and never grow old.

Hah.

Yet underneath my bravado has always been a foundation of insecurity, set in place by the sudden death of my little sister when I was nine, which turned my young world on its *ss, and left a her-sized hole in my psyche. As a consequence, I guess I grew up deeply suspicious of uncertainty and change and danger, making sure to try to stay aloof, to try keep others at bay so they couldn't get close enough that I would be hurt if and when they died or moved or whatever.

Thing is, even the very act of allowing myself to enjoy life has often felt like little more than a prelude to bad things, and I suppose I've felt intuitively that steeling myself against it all will just keep it from hurting as much. Of course, throwing off that kind of vibe greatly increases the odds of the very outcome feared, and often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, but at least I'm in some way still In Control Of Things, right?

Well, that's an illusion and delusion, cause I'm in control of virtually nothing. I mean, there *are* some things I can control, and I should strive to take ownership of them, but most of life is what happens while I'm busy making other plans, to paraphrase John Lennon, and at any time I can and will be impacted in big and small ways by anything and everything, from the cars that swarm around me on the streets and roads, to the viruses and bacteria that conspire to rob me of wellness, to the inevitable agendas of others, to the very process of aging and decay - it's all out of my control.

Hmm, parenthetically, it's just occurred to me, maybe that explains my early fascination with photography, and later video, which has stayed with me to this day, the idea that I could take a slice of the reality of any particular moment and freeze it, like an ant caught in million-year-old amber, as if somehow that heroic act of preservation would give me some small measure of control over the past, and over my future memories. And maybe that explains why I've made a habit of journaling the events of my life, writing down accounts of jobs and places and many of the people I've known.

Look, it's not something new for me, all this existential musing, nor is it new to any of the sons and daughters of Adam, and indeed, it's been part of all of human experience, something pondered by The Preacher of Ecclesiastes, by Camus, Sartre, Woody Allen, and the dudes in Pink Floyd, and in the end, I suppose every one of us has to work thru it for ourselves.

Anyway, it's something that's been rattling around in the excess space of my oversized cranial cavity a lot in recent weeks and months, and I ought to know better than to indulge myself too much of that, because it only draws me back to The Dark Places of which I've often spoken, but I'm just keeping it real, y'all.
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On How I Spent The Weekend:

I was on Daddy Duty this weekend, and I started out Thursday night feeling rather bleh and down due to a number of things, big and small, a couple of which are that I've been suffering the ravages of an infection in my left ear, and a rather nasty case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot that has left me unable to get out walking as often as I'd like, at least when it's flaring up. (I've tried to ice it, and take the NSAID's, and to rest it, but it seems to have a mind of it's own, and it attacks me as it wills, without regard for my plans or wishes or desires. Meh.)

Anyway, a number of things converged on Thursday to leave me feeling really down, and I was very not looking forward to the weekend, but since the girls had Thursday and Friday off due to some teacher conference I wouldn't even have the respite of a few hours to myself during the day, so I decided that it's like Momma used to say, if life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and I decided that if my foot weren't in too bad a shape, I'd try to make the best of it and take the girls On Adventures on Saturday.

It actually turned out better than I'd hoped.
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Friday

I got up to very little pain in my foot, relatively speaking, at least compared to the weekend before, when I'd spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday whimpering on the futon.

The morning was a bit chilly, but the weatherman promised it would get warmer The girls and I went out for breakfast to McDonald's, and then to a couple of garage sales before going out On Proper Adventures.

What did we do? Well, since you asked:

We first headed out to Hastings to the Apple Junction, a family-run apple farm that charges customers for a bag to take up and down the rows of the orchard, picking as many of the various varieties of pomme as will fit in the bag. The girls had a blast, and later took a ride on the tractor-drawn trailer thru the orchard, and wandered the corn maze, climbed the observation tower, and hung out in Playland. It was nice, and we now have a fine assortment of apples in the fridge.

After apple-ing, we drove into Hastings, had some snacks, then crossed the river to the Wisconsin side at Prescott, where we spent some time at the Great River Road Visitor Center overlooking the Mississippi River, before driving down some of the most beautiful country I've been through in a long time, down the east bank of the river, to the Red Wing crossing.

We made it to the Goodhue County Historical Society Museum by 4 PM, had just an hour before closing, and while we were there I became quite ill, the ear ache flared up, and I began feeling vertiginous, and had to sit down for a while before we could head back out.

After leaving the museum the girls were so tired and frazlled they nearly had a meltdown, but I convinced to hold on for the best part, so we drove up to the top of Soldiers Memorial Park and then back down and across to climb up Barn Bluff, where we ended up taking the nearly mile-long trail on the north side of the Bluff, which in retrospect was a big mistake, what with a five year-old in tow, and me with a touch of vertigo, because at some points the trail is barely two feet wide, and the drop is a nearly-vertical 300 to the base. It was scary for me, but thank gawd the kids weren't too spooked. Do I need to note that we came back the much easier west side? At least my foot wasn't hurting as bad as it is today.

(Some photos here, and a great shot of the west side of the the bluff here.)

Night falls quickly round these parts this time of year, and as it happens we were barely off the steps to the parking area before it was almost too dark to see. I shudder to think what would have been of us if we'd been stranded on the East Trail after dark. But all's well that ends well, I guess, and the girls pronounced it A Grand Adventure!

We had a quick supper at McDonald's - yeah, I know we started the day at Mac's, but it was a Day of Adventure, and calories were burned - and then headed back for the hour-long drive to the Twin Cities, and after a bath and bedtime snacks, the girls fell fast asleep. I however, was so wound up on caffeine and adrenaline that I wasn't able to get to sleep until nearly 3 AM.

Meh, indeed.

Saturday

After all the action on Friday, we just hung out on Saturday, didn't do much, picked up some, cleaned a bit, in the afternoon ended up driving across town to the Brazilian store to buy Guarana' and chocolates, and then went to Delicious for a very early supper, chatted with the wait staff for a good while, had pasteis, rice and beans and forofa and guarana', and then brought home flan for dessert later. It was, well, Delicious.

Sunday

Woke up a kiss on the cheek from a snuggle-bunny, five year-old LK, who is by turns adorable and exasperating, got the girls dressed and fed and to church in time for SS, afterward they played for over an hour, till everyone else had left, and I'd promised them we'd go for a walk in Reservoir Woods, but my foot kept getting worse and worse throughout the day, to the point where I could barely walk on it by later afternoon. I guess 9 year AE must not have cared too much, cause she disappeared to her friend's house next door, and didn't come back for a good 2 hours. It was the usual running around at bedtime, trying to get backpacks ready for AM, checking the homework assignments, finding the lost pair of glasses, separating the fighting daughters, video taping them hugging and laughing, reading bedtime stories, saying bedtime prayers, telling them again and again that, yes, really, they did have to go to bed. When they were babies I used to be able to get them to sleep, and have the evening to myself, but that hasn't happened in a very long time. Sigh. Then again, it's the impermanence of it all, again, because I know full-well that in a few short years they will be gone out of the nest, and I will find myself missing all the stress and headaches of dealing with them at this stage of their young lives. Oh h*ll, I miss them already.
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Okay, that ought to hold the teeming dozen who read this till next time. And thank you for reading.


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