suz's muses

blast from the past

2009-11-16T05:35:55Z

look at my brother keith from back in his hairband days!

he's the one on the far right.
:) khairete
suz

an opus

2009-11-09T02:26:33Z

thanks to daleth93 i was able to offer this culinary masterpiece at samhain.....

and cooked

the men were so squicked out they couldn't eat the fingers, and abstained until i revamped it as meatloaf sammiches.
success!
:) khairete
suz

wow, so disappointing

2009-11-05T04:45:07Z

please go sign if you are not a friend of monsanto

Dear Friends,
Speak up to stop Big Ag.
President Obama has found himself with some strange bedfellows lately.
While on the campaign trail in Iowa, Barack Obama boasted, “We’ll tell ConAgra that it’s not the Department of Agribusiness. We’re going to put the people’s interests ahead of the special interests.”1 Despite that promise, it seems that ConAgra’s friends at Monsanto and CropLife are still finding their way into the USDA.

Last month, President Obama nominated two “Big Ag” power brokers--Roger Beachy and Islam Siddiqui--to key agency positions, putting agribusiness executives in charge of our country's agricultural research and trade policy. Please join us in telling the President that this isn't the change we voted for. We don't want Big Ag running the show any more.
Siddiqui's confirmation hearing is set for next week. Please help us reach our goal of 50,000 signatures to make a real impact.
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/65?akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1
Obama’s first agribusiness selection is Roger Beachy, to be head of the USDA’s newly created National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Beachy is the founding president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, MO. It may sound innocuous, but the Danforth Center is essentially the non-profit arm of GMO seed giant Monsanto; Monsanto’s CEO sits on its board, and the company provides considerable funding for the Center’s operations.2

As the head of the USDA’s new research arm, formerly known as the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CREES), Beachy is responsible for deciding how U.S. research dollars will be spent in agriculture.3 Translation: more research on biotech, less research on how to scale sustainable and organic agriculture.

Unfortunately, Beachy has already started work at the USDA, but the next nominee—Islam Siddiqui—still must be confirmed by the U.S.Senate. Siddiqui, the Vice President of Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America, was recently nominated to be the Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the Office of the US Trade Representative.4 Amazingly, when Michele Obama planted her “organic” garden on the White House lawn, Siddiqui’s CropLife MidAmerica sent the First Lady a letter saying that it made them “shudder”.5

During his career, Siddiqui spent over 3 years as a pesticide lobbyist, an Undersecretary at the USDA and a VP at CropLife. In defending Siddiqui, the White House has stated that he played a key role in helping establish the country’s first organic standards.6 What they neglect to mention, though, is that those original organic standards would have allowed irradiation, sewage sludge and GMOs to undermine organic integrity! The standards were so watered down that 230,000 people signed a petition for them to be changed, which they eventually were.7

Fortunately, the organic community stopped Siddiqui and his cronies then, and we need your help now to do it again. If Siddiqui’s nomination is allowed to go through, then agribusiness will continue to control the seeds, the science, and the distribution of global food and agriculture.

Please join Food Democracy Now! and a broad coalition of other groups, in calling on President Obama to keep his campaign promise of closing the revolving door between agribusiness and his administration.
Please click here to add your voice.
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/65?akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1
Thanks for standing with us and our coalition partners from across the country, including: The Pesticide Action Network (PAN), National Family Farm Coalition, Food & Water Watch, Farmworker's Association of Florida, Institute of Agriculture & Trade Policy, Greenpeace and the Center for Food Safety in calling for President Obama to live up to his promises to put people's interests ahead of special interests
Sustainably Yours,
Dave, Lisa and the Food Democracy Now! Team.
If you'd like to see Food Democracy Now!'s grassroots work continue, please consider donating. Your donation of $5 or more will help us continue our work. We appreciate your support! http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/25?akid=26.68892.bFCOSY&t=1&akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1
Sources:
1. Obama slams corporate agriculture, two Illinois firms, The Chicago Tribune, November 10, 2007
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/58?akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1
2. Another Monsanto man in a key USDA post?, Grist, September 24, 2009
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/59?akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1
3. A New Direction on Research at the USDA? The Experts Weigh In, The Huffington Post, October 15, 2009
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/60?akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1
4. Obama’s attempt to tap an agrichemical-industry flack runs into trouble, Grist, October 10, 2009
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/61?akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1
5. Michelle’s green garden upsets pesticide makers, The First Post, April 23, 2009
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/62?akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1
6. Agriculture nomination steams greens, Politico, October 10, 2009
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/63?akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1
7. USDA Enters Debate on Organic Label Law, The New York Times, February 23, 2003 http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/72?akid=35.10384.ZTlj2b&t=1

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khairete
suz

devouring edward butler

2009-11-05T01:07:45Z

edward has been striking gold with me a lot lately, and since he recently gave me permission to post his stuff...er....without asking his permission, i've got to pass this one along.
may be something all of you polytheists have always just assumed, but for me it's something that for some reason i've felt but never really been able to work through. then when it's put so clearly like this i want to thump my forehead and quaff a V-8.
this was in response to a question about whether an egyptian god (i think it's horus but i get lost in the egyptian pantheon very quickly) with two similar titles is two distinct gods or the same one.
'My encyclopedia is called a "theological" encyclopedia for just this reason; I don't distinguish between traits deities displayed earlier and later in Egyptian history, because I assume at the outset that the Gods revealed different aspects of themselves as historical circumstances provided the opportunity for different aspects to be experienced.'
i don't know how to change fonts for emphasis, but this part 'I assume at the outset that the Gods revealed different aspects of themselves as historical circumstances provided the opportunity for different aspects to be experienced' is what i lurve.
i've been inundated lately with folks who get angry because i don't share their belief that the gods are flawed and evolve like humans, and point to differing mythologies and interpretations to prove their point. my belief is more than edward's explanation, but that gives me a firm footing from which not only to explain, but explore.
khairete
suz

happy samhain!

2009-10-31T02:18:53Z

or halloween or whatever you celebrate.
we've been invited to a few delightful parties, but i think i'll end up staying home. david and brian will both be here, and dylan wants to go to a party when he gets off work and may need a DD so i should be here for that. and it's the proto-demos ritual on sunday.
the last time i stayed home on samhain i got horribly lonesome, something so rare for me as to be almost never, but this time i'll have guys. i'm busy enough right now that a day at home, both for my own devotions and to hang out with the menfolk sounds utterly divine. i've got a huge pork shoulder marinating, and at some point will do an ancestor ritual and some divination, maybe carve a pumpkin, and get a lot of couch time with movies and/or boston legal (my latest addiction, i'm finally over house.)
bo had a bad week, but has been WAY better the last two days, enough to be naughty, sassy and obnoxious. it's awesome to see, even if he caused me to get up in his grill last night and holler 'goddamn it, i'm busting my ass trying to fix your friggin' feet, you can stand IN THE BUCKET FOR FIFTEEN GODDAMN MINUTES you lousy piece o' shit pony!' he put his foot in the bucket and stood tensely with his body strained away from me, one wide eye and one nervous ear trained on the crazy woman with the pitchfork cleaning his stall and muttering.
hee!
i started macbeth with 9-12s today. one of them informed me solemnly that there is no such thing as a good witch. i smiled benevolently while several of the other kids protested indignantly. one of them even informed him that there are still witches today, and i added gently that they might even look just like me. it is good to have small people fighting the good fight whilst i sip a caramel latte. even if their perspective is based on harry potter and glinda. i'm loving my 9-12s this semester. my teenagers are inexorably silent, but my 9-12s are dynamic and excited and loving me back.
off to see what trouble mr pony's going to give me tonight!
:) khairete
suz (thrilled to finally get to use this awesome icon yoinked from brigidsblest. frank langella!!!!!)

pant pant

2009-10-27T03:25:30Z

even with my ancient greek theater class getting cancelled, i'm still runnin' with my tail straight out!
bo had several good days in a row, so yesterday i turned him out for half an hour with his kewl new boots on. nik went after him and he fell getting away from her, the vile heinous bitch. today he is really sore again. gah!
came home from utah to find a new closet organizer in our bedroom closet, all the doors weather-stripped, and the pony beautifully cared for. my men rock.
yesterday i got some of the garden cleared out. not put to bed yet, but some of the jungle weeds that (as always) overtook me during summer got yoinked.
tomorrow i start at the retirement home, which lindy is quick to inform me is an 'assisted living center' and not an old folks' home as i carelessly referred to it. my bad.
once the holidays are over i'll get back to my bermuda saga. i might even remember a thing or two by then.
i R pathetic!
here's the announcement i've sent out to several lists in case there's anyone who's here but not there......

dears, the hellenion proto-demos of potomac valley palladium will be
> holding a ritual at 1pm on sunday november 1st in lovely shepherdstown
> WV. we'll be meeting around 12:30 at the blue moon cafe
> http://www.bluemoonshepherdstown.com/
> and then proceeding to a lovely little park a block or two away.
> the ritual will be very short and simple, a Pompaia in honor of Zeus
> Meilikhios. the focus will be on petitioning Zeus and Hermes for
> protection as the days grow short and cold, and purification for any
> who feel they may need it. please bring any offerings you feel
> appropriate, which can occur as hymns, prayers or petitions offered in
> ritual, or food, flowers, incense or written materials which will be
> taken back to my home and consigned appropriately to the flames.
> after the ritual we'll probably bop into the blue moon for a drink.
> the lost dog coffee house in shep'town has amazing coffee treats but
> is too small to accommodate more than a couple of people. if the
> weather is uncooperative the ritual itself will be simplified even
> further into a gathering in the cafe where we will offer prayers,
> praise and libations into a communal vessel.
> parking can be a challenge in shepherdstown. if there's nothing by the
> restaurant, go back about two blocks behind it to the train station
> where there is always plenty of parking. and unless the weather farks
> us, the walk is lovely. shepherdstown is utterly charming.
> please email me at ridetbredatgmail.com if you have
> any questions.

:) khairete
suz

happy!

2009-10-12T00:51:40Z

i was not so happy yesterday. bo was lamelamelame, had been hobbling miserably for the last few days, barely able to touch his left forefoot to the ground let alone put weight on it. the vet is pushing hard to put shoes on him, my gut (and the advice of several friends who've dealt with founder) says not to, although i would as a last resort. my feeling was that i HAD to unwrap his feet and then walk the nail-biting line between that friggin' coffin bone needing support and his feet softening and decaying inside the wraps. i knew that he would be sore without the wraps but he was SO miserable. the bute and the thickly-bedded stall seemed to give him no relief at all. then this morning i went out to a different pony. still lame but bearing weight, walking on his own initiative, and feeling good enough to be impatient with the meds-and-fussing routine. i had dylan prepare and administer his meds this morning, david did it this evening, and both are ready to take over while i go collapse in linda's utah haven for a week. tonight he was better yet, able to bear enough weight on the bad foot to pick up the other, so i could soak both of 'em in hot water, epsom salts and apple cider vinegar. as a bonus he got a mane and tail trim and all over groom to keep us both occupied while his feet soaked.
thanks and love to Hekate, helpful to horsemen, and Hermes Nomios.
off to make offerings.
khairete
suz

myth question

2009-10-05T00:01:13Z

i asked this over on neokoroi but there are lots of faboo brains here who ain't there, so i'm asking again with apologies to those who are seeing it twice.
while working on class stuff, these questions come floating up. i don't think i'm going to include this in the lessons (i have to keep whacking myself over the head with reminders that these folks are here for classical mythology, not for theological minutiae) but the questions are insistent enough that for my ownself i'd like a little help.

i'm working to unpack a few different myths these days, and as usual my cumbersome brain doesn't seem agile enough for the task. i'd love to hear what others have to say on some of these.
the conflict between hera and artemis during the trojan war. they have quite a blowup over apollon declining to fight poseidon. what are some of the deeper resonances to this, beyond who's on troy's side and who on greece's?
next, in hero mythology we often find that the overtones to the tales are psychological. many heroes like herakles have big adventures and sorrows but grand apotheoses at the end, or theseus who dies old and respected even if he's not always an exemplary human. but how about the guys who end up dying terrible lonely sad deaths, bellerophon and jason? what is it that we can learn and glean from their sordid ends?
thanks in advance!
khairete
suz

full mooniness

2009-10-04T15:51:21Z

the full moon of october was spectacular last night, as i offered milk and *truly amazing* chocolate chip cookies to the nymphoi. it was a welcome break from teh intrawebz dramatiques.
bo is not improving much. i tried unwrapping his feet for a night and by morning, even with 2 grams of bute and a well-padded stall, he was dead lame. he can't keep healthy feet if they're duct-taped 24/7, but it looks as if going barefoot or any time turned out are just not viable options yet. nik would probably just bite and chase him anyway. she's such a twat.
i'm not licked yet. i have other things to try and there's still time for him to rally. but being perpetually stall-bound, doped up and with wrapped feet and a severely restricted diet is no life. i have to face the possibility of letting him go.
the men are prepped to stand and deliver the ultra-care while i'm in utah, which is good because he's not going to be out of the woods as i'd hoped. it's a lot for them to do as they're all super-busy right now too, but they're good guys, my men. there has been zero heavy sighing or pouty lips as i outline to them the degree of oversight mr pony will require.
gorgeous day here. i should probably post something about the ugliness currently polluting the lists, but at the risk of being labelled apathetic or complicit or whatever the latest outrage is, i'm not going to think about today. scarlett and i shall just do some pony care, a little gardening, and some much-needed lesson plan work and let the nose-bashing go on without us.
khairete
suz

bo update

2009-09-27T17:37:57Z

the vet has been here, given him many pain-relieving shots, packed his feet and left me with more meds and instructions. she took radiographs of his feet which do indicate moderate rotation of his coffin bone, which is not reversible so we'll be micro-managing him for the rest of his life. this means very strict diet with NO sugar, not even apples or carrots, a grazing muzzle when he's turned out, and probably staying in a cushy stall whenever the ground is hard. the good news is that we can probably slow the progression to a crawl and keep him comfy and happy (or as happy as you can be on a restricted diet *G*) for a long time yet, and maybe even ride him gently when the ground is soft. i'm a little unclear on how long i need to keep his feet packed, but the vet and i are playing phone tag so i should have that figured out pretty soon.
i'm glad i got that goofy little jumping session in a few weeks ago, it'll likely be the last time i can do that with him.
but i'm cautiously optimistic that i've got some years yet with that sweet face nosing at me for treats when i come out in the morning. must go get some sugar-free mints for him.

i cannot express to you all how much your thoughts and prayers have meant to us. i have truly honestly felt it and i truly honestly believe it has helped immeasurably.
you guys are wonderful.
khairete
suz

prayers for my pony

2009-09-24T13:41:13Z

bo is foundering (a condition in which the connective tissue in his feet become agonizingly inflamed) and it seems to be pretty bad. vet is coming this afternoon, but there's not much he can do beyond what i'm doing other than give me a prognosis. it's not the death sentence it used to be. i can think of several horses i know who recovered reasonably well from founder, the main one being our beloved april. but not all do, and most who do aren't ever really sound again.
i'll be sad if i can never ride him again, but i'll gladly nurse him and be grateful to have his adorable face nickering at me in the mornings when i go out there if he can just not be in pain.

all prayers and mojo gratefully accepted.
khairete
suz

quick! (yes, again)

2009-09-24T13:22:06Z

what's the most exciting, dynamic, riveting roman myth? leave out ovid (i'm looking for myths that are identifiably roman not greek derivatives) and virgil, as the aeneid needs its own entire course. i'm going to push to do an 'epics' class down the road as i simply cannot bear to try and dispense with homer in a single lesson.
thanks as always for your INVALUABLE help, dears. you have no idea how much i rely on you to create my syllabuses (syllabi?)
khairete
suz

blogginess

2009-09-24T13:18:09Z

the faboo new grammateus at hellenion is creating something called a 'blog roll', which is packed full of awesome blogs in various venues by hellenic folks. here's hers....
http://helleneste.wordpress.com/
i dunno from blog rolls, but it's always nice to have kewl blogs to read. even if i have too many of 'em these days!
khairete
suz

quick eleusinian update

2009-09-06T03:12:08Z

sorry to be so not-here, dears, and i'm just sick that my bermuda updates have halted. by the time i get back to 'em the vividness will have faded somewhat and it won't be the same. but something is better than nothing, and i've HAD to get to work on classes, hellenion has been incredibly time-consuming of late, i owe the exegete program of the neokoroi several essay if i'm going to proceed, and....yes, i always have excuses.
but i'm scribbling tonight because this is day 2 of this year's 9-day celebration of the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries. normally i just do a single day, but this year it feels imperative to spend the same amount of time that the mystai spent steeped in the rituals, even though my meager daily devotions don't approach their experience. and since real life doesn't stop, i only spend a brief amount of time each day in ritual, although i try to hold an awareness of the sacredness of the event throughout the day.
yesterday, day 1, i created the kiste mystika, the basket of mysteries (and i always have rolph's wonderful poem in my mind while i'm working on this, it's printed out and taped above my computer). a couple of days before i had cleared the path from the grove paddock through the woods to my telesterion area, a difficult task as the faint path is always being blocked by fallen limbs and the incredibly prolific multiflora rose thorns. yesterday i took the basket, some frankincense, water for libations and lykeia's hymn to demeter to the sacred place in the woods, and began the festival. after making the offerings and prayers i processed with the kiste back to 'athens', my hearth, the center of my community, and placed the kiste on my mantel.
today is for lustrations and offerings on behalf of the community. i did the lustration ritual in jennifer reif's 'mysteries of demeter' and later tonight i'll do a full ritual bath with sea salt to commemorate the mystai bathing in bay of eleusis with their piggies. (i have a pork shoulder from a locally-raised piggy marinating in the fridge, i'll cook it tomorrow. can't help thinking of pelops!)
i made the offerings under a gorgeous rising nearly-full moon, with a good fire in the chimnea. i decided to attempt divination by fire to see how the offerings were received. the first, on behalf of ancient hellas, the millions who experienced the true mysteries revealed by trained priests and priestesses at the sacred site, of athens who has bequeathed our modern democracy to us, to all of the demetrieoi who beheld the epiphany and have since gone to the embrace of the Two Goddesses, and all who have passed the knowledge of worship to us today and those who will come after us, was extremely well-received, huge bright flare and busy crackling flames. the next, on behalf of the US, for our leaders that they might receive the wisdom and justice of Apollon and of Demeter, that we might carry on the bright beacon of democracy and fair rulership and wise leadership, there was zero flare, no reaction from the flames at all. the next was for my local community, local farmers, teachers, co-workers, friends, neighbours, and people whom i don't like so much but with whom i share community. a bit more of a flare but not much. my next offering was for the hellenic community, the neokoroi, hellenion, NA, the kyklos apollon, all the other hellenic groups to which i don't belong, and for the queen of heaven group and the pagan community at large, thanks for my having such a large available community considering how scarce we really are, and for the non-hellenic pagans for providing support and appreciation. this offering was quite well-received and burned merrily. the final one was for my own oikos, and to my relief it got a great reception.
tomorrow i'll carry the hiera back to 'eleusis' with a representation of iacchos, shouting (well maybe not too loudly) and telling myself dirty jokes.
it's so odd being a solitary sometimes.
tomorrow also begins my equinox fast, convenient as i'll be fasting lightly throughout the day anyway (i'm just doing a 3/3/3 fast, not the dire master cleanse). i've got mega errands to run after that, then will chill out for a while as the mystai rested after their trek to eleusis and then break my fast with the kykeon.
okay, off to burn a bay leaf to apollon, and hit the hay.
happy karneia to those who are celebrating it (one can only do so many rituals in one day), happy EM to my fellow demetrians, and happy labor day weekend to all!
:) khairete
suz

more on healthcare

2009-08-21T19:40:02Z

my beloved and much-missed wendy, who deserted me to move back home to the UK, recently sent out this thoughtful breakdown of 'socialized' medicine and its pros and cons. wendy's one of the clearest thinkers i know. she gave me permission to repost it in its entirety here, including a follow-up comment.
here's wendy!

'I was tickled to see a news report last Thursday that talked about opposition to Obamas healthcare reforms and they'd attended a rally/speech in Hagerstown.

Just to explain the good & the bad about the UKs National Health Service

On the whole if something is seriously wrong with you the nhs is brilliant. With more chronic complaints or nebulous matters the picture is not so clear cut. Children under 16 are covered for everything they get free dentistry free opticians free (a voucher for glasses is given but if you want a more expensive pair you pay the difference and it doesn't cover contacts generally) vaccinations and free meds. Pregnant women get free check ups and ante natal screening and free dentistry from pregnancy and the year following their childs birth. Alsonew mums have a midwife who visits them at home until the baby is 10 days old and after that many areas have health visitors who can help give advice if you want it (they can also be bigoted and interfering busy bodies but thats seems to be the luck of the draw!) and who perform hearing tests and advise you on vaccinations (yes they are usually biased) Those on benefits or the highest payment of Working Families tax credit (like me) get an exemption from nhs charges. Everyone else gets free visits to their GP and if they receive a prescription they pay about £8 for it. Dentists are about £25 for a check up fillings range from 12-50 and more complex work mirrors US costs. Opticians cost £20 and glasses are an open ended cost Mum paid about £120 for hers. I think if you have glaucoma you get screening free. There are also family planning clinics that give out free contraceptives of every type including the morning after pill you can of course buy these things at chemists.

My 2nd cousins daughter(14) was diagnosed with bone cancer 3 years ago and has received excellent treatment has had chemo and they put 1 of her parents up at the hospital as she went to a specialist centre about 2 hours from home. She's had reconstructive surgery on her knee and all the follow ups. Recently they discovered another tumour near her liver and heart. They have removed this and she is now undergoing an experimental treatment at a London paedeatric hospital to try to increase her immune system so they can give her more chemo. I suppose the long term prognosis is not good but they are certainly doing everything you could hope for. None of this has cost the family anything nor have they had to fill in onerous amounts of paperwork.

My friend recently went to her doctor to try to find a reason for some issues she'd been having with IBS/period type stuff. turns out she had a growth on her ovary she was in hospital within 2 weeks stayed 4 days and was released with painkillers and is signed off work for 12 to recover from surgery. The growth was a benign cyst I believe. None of this has cost her anything.

Brandons tooth was rebuilt by the dentist after his skateboard crash - it cost us nothing (mind you in a couple of years time it may have cost a few hundred!)

There are issues with some cancer drugs... new drugs take a while to come to be approved by the body that overseas such things and they may not endorse a product if they feel the cost would be more than is reasonable to pay for the result ie it won't cure you but may prolong your life by 6 months in a third of cases.
IVF is another dodgy area some places you get 3 attempts others only 1 or none if they've used the funding they have allocated. This can be annoying if you can't get something in Frederick county but your friend in montgomery county can.
Transgender operations can also be done on the nhs in certain circumstances as can plastic surgery though there has to be a pretty compelling psychological reason not just the fact you fancy bigger boobs!
It can be hard to find an nhs dentist as after the recent changes to funding structures many dentists only take private patients now. :-(

All this comes at a cost our taxes work out between 22-33% of annual salary. That covers defense education health roads everything. We thought if theres nothing much wrong with you then you are slightly better off under the US system than the UK one however the problems that happen once you have a chronic complaint or a genetic history of problems then you are worse off. I guess as you age your premiums rise too so over a lifetime nhs may well work out better. If you are implementing a system from scratch clearly define the upper boundary of what the state will cover. New procedures and drugs come along all the time... so do new diseases and mental health problems so describe what is a health issue and what isn't and encourage people to insure themselves against the more unlikely or extreme issues that could occur. basic care is basic care and its all most of us ever need. Yes we should ensure that those affected by catastrophes aren't left blowing in the wind but do limit your exposure to whackier entitlement claims. EG investigate what is wrong but if the result is not life threatening or seriously debilitating then (infertility say) surely the state has done enough at that point if you have the means to go for IVF great if not thats really sad butts the way the cookie crumbles. If you need a liver transplant but you are an alcoholic than you won't get one unless you stop drinking. If you are diabetic you need to control your diet as well as receive medication etc etc.'

and in response to my request to kype it.....

'You can but I was also thinking of the other areas it is weak.

My mother in law needs to see a physiotherapist for an arthritic knee it will take in the region of 6 months to see wone which is obviously unacceptable. In those circumstances people who can afford to often go private (cost around £40-50) just to get the exercises to do at home if nothing else.

Homeopathic and other alternative therapies are rarely available although many areas do have acupuncturists these days and some GPs are also homeopaths. Chiropody is done on the nhs although my mum sees someone privately for some reason.

On the news today someone was told that Alzhiemers disease was not a medical condition but a social one so they wouldn't get a full range of services. There is an issue around elderly care and who pays for what. If you go in a nursing home and your only asset is your house then govt may insist on you selling it to pay for your care. And in some homes the nursing care is covered but the social care isn't (eg brushing hair & teeth, food etc) That said if you have few assets then you are eligible for benefits that will cover these things. The big problem is not the genuine poor or the truly wealthy its the middle classes that resent losing their inheritance when people have paid in all their life and then everything they worked to build up goes in your final years (nursing homes cost between £400-£1000 a week) and I see their point.

Thats about it. I am now late for work cos I'd far rather chat to you than do what I should...'

i still like this prospect much better than our current state of 'hang onto it with a death grip if you've got great insurance (like i do) and screw the millions who are falling through the gaping holes.'
khairete
suz

techie question

2009-08-20T14:57:47Z

vile hughesnet dictates that i can only download Big Stuff like mac updates etc during the hours of 2am-7am, which means i need a download manager. i've been googling to find one both simple and effective enough for my idiot self, and every site assumes way more savvy than i've got.
can anyone recommend a download manager that works with mac and won't boggle my tiny brain?
:/ khairete
suz

ritual at UU church tomorrow

2009-08-14T15:31:41Z

dears, sorry for the late notice, but i've had satellite woes of various stripes this week and it's got me all discombobulated.
anyone in striking distance is invited to a heroic ritual at the UU church of hagerstown tomorrow. here's the descrip....

Our August ritual will be an heroic festival. In ancient Greece this month heralded the celebrations of feats of heroism, both mythic and historical. We'll be telling tales of mighty Herakles, and of the gallant last stand of the Spartans at Thermopylae. This is not the time for modesty and self-effacement! Stand forward boldly, look within and discover your own inner hero, and celebrate him or her! Ritual boasting, uproarious laughter, outrageous tales and prodigious feats of feasting will be called for! Please bring a feasting mug and a beverage to pour into it! Please bring a canned food item to donate as well as a potluck item to share.

and the website addy for directions.....

http://queenofheavencircle.org/contactus_page.html

:) khairete
suz

bermuda 3

2009-08-12T02:47:08Z

well, hughesnet has had its fun farking me up the bum for the last week, but finally gave in and fixed my satellite connection, and after reducing me to a shaking sobbing mess, even allowed that they wouldn't charge me for the privilege of them fixing the enhanced service they broke and that i had just got done paying for.
all of you who hath cable, send timai and kleos to the communication deity of your choice.
so, way past the anelisseia, here comes the next in the sloooooooow procession of bermuda posts, with LOTS o' pics in this one.
i slept like a baby and woke up feeling like a million bucks on thursday, still trying to convince myself that this state of ecstacy wasn't a dream or visualization or wish. david had the coffee going while he walked out to the dock, and i got my running stuff back on and headed out into the sweet bright already hot oleander-and-exhaust scented morning. as i slogged out i met richard, and we did the sandy's community center together. richard runs intervals so it's hard for him to stick with my agonizingly slow jog, but it does mean that we got lots o' reminiscing and blissing over birds, ocean, flowers, bermudian accents, crabgrass, lizards and EVERYTHING while we ran, then he galloped off ahead of me when we hit the main road again, and i contentedly oodled in for my coffee. val was getting ready to feed the bream off his dock so i grabbed my mug and went to watch. he whistled and just like a herd of cows, in came a huge school of bream, silver-blue, and he dumped in buckets of restaurant glop and the feeding frenzy began. gar come in too, all ominous and sinister, but they're shy and wait for the bream to allow them to feed. makes the water all icky and oily, but 15 minutes later it's back to crystal perfection again.
we all conferred over various breakfasts and decided that we would take the bikes to dockyard and grab the ferry to st. george. dockyard is the farthest point of bermuda's west end, although the island does its fishhook curve so it's not actually the westermost point, if you see what i mean. st george is all the way on the other end, a long drive (for bermuda, have i mentioned it's not much more than 20 miles long?) but the beach we wanted for this day, our first glorious sunny hot traditional bermuda day, is out on that end.
a quick word about NASA beach, whose real name is, i think, cooper's island beach. when we lived there big daddy worked for bendix, which was doing the space program tracking for NASA, and the NASA station was out at the tippity-top end of island on what was then the american military base. the US has pulled out, leaving an airstrip and a bunch of appallingly ugly metal buildings, and NASA is gone too, but back in the day we had access to the most beautiful private beach in the world, and even the military wasn't allowed to wander in. we went there almost every weekend in the summer, and the american NASA families were pretty tight. we snorkeled, had lots of incredible pig roasts, the grown-ups drank like fish, and it was about as perfect a way for a kid to spend summers as you could get. the beach is back in the public domain now, but since there are still imposing fences up no one knows about it. i'm sure this state of affairs won't last and within a few years there'll be resort hotels and condos there, but at the moment it's still bermuda's best-kept secret.
so i loaded us up with sammichy goodness and grapes and bottles of water, and we all toodled off to dockyard, where a very harassed steward informed us that the ferry would only take 6 bikes. so we shrugged and set off to drive. richard and gail and karl and aimee and jeff all ended up going separately...i can't remember why now, isn't that awful?....which actually works because trying to keep a group as big as ours together on those leetle windy roads is a challenge. it took us well over an hour and my arse hurt by the time we got there, but oh how amazing it was to go down ferry reach where i used to watch tweetie and boo boo moran and the other boys race their motor boats, past the entrance to st george and the old military guardposts where unlucky marines had to salute every vehicle that entered the base, past the old movie theater, pizza joint, the softball field where BD pitched, then down past clearwater (the most unpleasant beach on the island in my opinion) then turtle bay, then finally parked in front of the gates, with the old satellite tracking dishes looming over us. we walked in about a quarter of a mile, and there it was. our beloved old NASA beach.
what had been two beaches has been realigned into one long one, and there were only a couple of other people on it despite the perfection of the day. the water was as calm and clear as a swimming pool, with the reefs stretching out promising amazing snorkeling. and if that's not enough, right on the other side of the road is yet another beach, a small pristine jewel, this one facing the open ocean, so with enticing sparkling laughing waves.
i think i moaned out loud.
we all hit the water as soon as we could throw our stuff on the sand.

the boys were probably dying to get to snorkeling to get away from me shrieking 'have you ever seen water like this? have you ever dreamt there could be water like this? don't you JUST LOVE THIS FRICKIN' WATER?????' and so after the initial ohmygawdthiswaterisunreal dip we all hauled out our snorkel gear and started exploring the reefs.

for my money, this was the best snorkeling day of the entire trip, and we didn't have any bad ones. it was sunnier, the beach was more private, and the fish at NASA are completely mellow. the reefs i used to scamper over thoughtlessly when i was 8 and weighed 55lbs are now way too sharp and vicious for my hefty self, even with flippers on, but that was okay because i never wanted to leave the water. i barely got out to snarf down a sammich. it was so quiet in places that you can hear the parrots grazing on the rocks, alarming scraping noises with their imposing beaks. oh, such glorious fish.
we got pretty worried about the others (richard never did make it to the snorkel beach the day before, he's the family's worst procrastinator) but just about the time we gave up on 'em they made it. they had actually been at turtle bay and we didn't see them, but they decided to brave the imposing gates (they dont' say 'keep out' but they imply it) so the whole round of 'you've got to come out and snorkel these rocks with me!' started again.
i got dylan and aubrey over to the other side to swim in the 'rough' water. here they are....

okay, all you can see of aubrey are her two toothpick gams, but you get the idea.

we romped there until i noticed something beautiful, glistening, purple and ominous about 10 feet from my baby. i hauled the kids outa the water, and sure enough, mr portuguese man o' war came floating in and got beached. aubrey got some pics of it but hasn't sent 'em to me yet, i'll post 'em when i get them.
i went back into the water and didn't see any more, but it did the kids in and they sensibly went back to the other side. my parents, keith, ciara and jeff all lit out for lunch earlier, but the rest of us stayed until late in the afternoon, and i don't think i left the water for 15 minutes the whole time. brian cooked his tattoo like a doof...

.....but the rest of us managed to get burned very well even without leaving the water, thank you, and even despite repeated applications of SPF 70.
but all wonderful things must come to an end, so we finally packed our sandy shit, dragged our happy, waterlogged, sunburned, sandy, salty selves to our bikes and began the long trek home. we went along the north shore past the aquarium, and i tried to stop at richard's and my old school whitney institute until david growled at me. we stopped at the graveyard where mom is buried so i could confer with richard how best to get to harbor road, as i wanted david to drive it since we hadn't on our last trip. we couldn't remember the number of mom's grave, and the plate with her name is off so we couldn't find her, but knew we'd be back. (land is so precious in bermuda that people are actually stacked in graves, so families can have headstones but loners like mom don't get markers. we did weasel a nameplate but since it fell off we can't locate anyone with the authority to let us put another one up.)
this put us going through hamilton at rush hour, and therefore it was a pretty shitty time for my bike to decide it would start stalling out at each stop. i didn't think i'd make it through the roundabout at crow lane (where i used to wait for the bus to take me to the riding school on saturday mornings, and where there used to be a bakery that smelled better than heaven, but is sadly gone. it's right by waterville, rolph, remember that?) i somehow got aubrey and me home, but knew that bike had to go. oh, i forgot to mention that i already traded in my first bike the day before after keith claimed it nearly asphyxiated him and ciara riding behind us.
our asses hurt like hell by the time we got home.
however, showers and dinner perked us up...or some of us anyway.....and as the twilight fell i mentioned that the moon was only a couple of days past full, and the skies were clear, and the weather reports iffy, so we should take advantage. to my delight, big daddy, richard, gail, keith, aubrey, ciara, karl, aimee and dylan all agreed to come night-swimming at horseshoe with me. brian was asleep, and somehow i got it in my head that he didn't want to come, which is so sad because he wanted to go and it was a glorious missed opportunity. i guess there have to be some regrets.
if there's a more beautiful beach than horseshoe bay in the entire world, i'd like to see it. of course, it's the one i don't have a picture of. gail got some of the moon over horseshoe, i think, i'll get her to send 'em to me, and she's a much better photog than i.
it seemed to take way too long to get there, but my memory was just off cuz we made it, although they've built a big amenities building there by the beach which i hate even if it is useful, i suppose. but once we hit the beach it didn't matter. the moon was hovering over the eastern horizon, the water was so clear that the moonlight actually cast a shadow even when we were 10 feet deep in it. it was magickal. it was breathtaking. i don't have words for how wonderful it was. big daddy was, of course, first in, and before we knew it he was barely visible, way out on the quiet silvered waves, bellowing 'come out here!! it's great!'
my family is loud and raucous and if anyone was there having a spiritual experience, i apologize to 'em. but oh my gods, i cannot describe how amazing it was to be at horseshoe, in the moonlight, with my brothers, my baby and my dad. and aubrey, who is another amphibian and has yet to see an adventure she won't leap into.
some of my brothers headed next door to a wonderful secluded cove, and then we all invaded it. no one else there, just us and the moonlight and the warm sweet ocean and the stars and the tree frogs. and it was there that i had a wonderful experience, a message from my gods that was so special and incredible and affirming and welcome that i can't even talk about it.
we stopped at the amenities building to rinse our feet before we got on the bikes, but the water was off. a lovely bermudian fellow turned it on for us, assured us that yes we ARE allowed to swim at night, the beaches are for everyone to enjoy, who on earth would stop us from night-swimming? (take that, ocean city!) bermudians are wonderful.
and finally back home, through the scented night air. during the day the roads are so crowded that most of what perfumes the soft damp air is exhaust fumes, but at night the flowers shake their perfume loose and you drive through wave after wave of incredible scents, frangipani and oleander and fennel and sweet peas, intoxicating.
and when we got back, the final miracle. these had bloomed.

as my beloved hewet_ka_ptah said, this was totally mom welcoming her brood back home. and the kids all got to see something they may never get to see again.
just one more before i go....

wow, i'd better get to doing the rest of the trip too. some of the details are already slipping, and i want it down chronologically even though it's not important, really. the memories come and they're amazing and don't need organization, but part of me still craves being able to go back to it and go through it moment by precious moment.
:) khairete
suz

happy thalusia!

2009-08-06T01:38:13Z

i cooked some stuff from local farmers and bought a bottle of local wine, and made offerings to demeter and dionysos back in the dark woods, donating much blood on the way out through the raspberry canes and multiflora rose. am currently bumming that the full moon eclipsed is totally obscured by clouds, but will drink some more wine and swim nekkid in the pool and that will fix it.
tomorrow is the anelisseia, a hermes logios festival. i shall celebrate by writing up bermuda 3!
:) khairete
suz

huzzah!

2009-08-03T14:33:42Z

you guys rock! i've almost got the fall semester's syllabus ironed out, with a good start on spring's!
thank you all so much.
and keep 'em comin' if you haven't already!
:) khairete
suz

quick poll

2009-08-03T02:29:27Z

your top 3 greek myths!
don't think too much.
thanks!
khairete
suz

bermuda 2

2009-08-01T03:04:28Z

such a useless day i've had! i did go pick 9lbs of blueberries (thanks to brian's only semi-unwilling help). then i took him out to lunch at stone soup in shepherdstown, where dylan was working prep and NOT thrilled to see us giggling and pointing from outside the kitchen. the coconut split pea soup was strange but yummy, and the hazelnut fudge cake (divine) with homemade vanilla ice cream (disappointing) put me in a sugar coma. i have accomplished nothing else of worth today, so maybe if i get day 2 posted i can feel at least something less than a total wastrel.
after sleeping like a lambie, i woke up to kiskadees crying outside our apartment, and thought i'd faint with joy. david was up and had coffee going, so i jumped up, shifted the boys over to the bed, and got my running things on. the sun was coming up over the island, and the ferry stop outside our apartments was packed with commuters waiting to get hauled over to hamilton. even at 7:30 in the morning the heat was intense, the kind where leetle beads of sweat instantly pop out on your forehead and upper lip. i power-walked over somerset bridge and then went into my almost unbelievably slow jog toward dockyard, in a near-trance of ecstacy at the incredible turquoise of the water even on the overcast morning and the friendly blips of car and scooter horns (bermudians don't use their horns as warnings or 'fuck you's', it's just 'hey b'y!' running on the roads there is scary because there are rarely shoulders, and they're incredibly narrow and windy, but bermudians are used to them and soon i was around the corner, past a bus stop where everyone greeted me like i was an old friend, and on into a lovely neighborhood by sandy's community center. it was a hard run even as slow as i go in that heat and humidity, but you just can't be unhappy about it when you're surrounded by pastel houses, oleander trees breathing sweetness when you brush past them, brilliant hibiscus, beautiful limestone walls, and everywhere, everywhere, the breathtaking aqua water. i met richard running as i headed back, and keith going out. these are my obnoxiously fit brothers. they were actually running, hard, the bastards.
got back to the best cup of coffee i've ever earned, and the joy of having various family members wandering in and out, and wandering in and out of their places to greet (or pummel) them. karl, the only one of us who didn't live there but who ironically knows bermuda as it is now better than any of us due to many visits, told us about a snorkel beach out at dockyard as we mulled over what to do with our first day there. since it was cloudy with rain potential, we decided to go this closer beach rather than the big south shore beaches, which we kind of wanted the folks who were first-timers to see under ideal conditions. i was a little nervous about going tandem with aubrey, but keith reassured me that she is an ideal passenger and he was right. after a practice trip to dockyard i felt much more comfy with my scooter, and aubs sits quiet and balanced and didn't give me a second's concern.
when we lived in bermuda, dockyard was a moldering hulk of decaying buildings by her majesty's prison on the ass end of the island. it's been transformed into a lovely harbor for the big cruise ships, complete with shopping mall, a museum with dolphin swimming, ridiculously expensive restaurants, and a snorkel beach. i've never cared much for it, too touristy, but we went to check out this snorkel beach which is indeed touristy, palm leaf umbrellas, a beach rental booth, a booze bar and snack bar, but it was really close and the beach was very quiet and protected, a good one for the rookie snorkeler. because the weather was dicey it was fairly quiet too.
then we got in the water, the beautiful incomparable bermuda water, and the magic began. snorkels are a pain in the ass until you get used to them, and when david and i were there two years ago we had a double handicap, chilly rough-ish water and his agonized back. this time he was fit and fine again, and this water was crazy warm, crystal clear, and calm as could be. even on a cloudy day the clarity of the water just can't be over-stated. and the snorkeling! at first it was just 'ooo, a fish!' then out to the first reefs and 'oooo, more fish!' then 'OH MY GODS! LOOK AT THESE FISH!!!' not just little bream and pretty sergeant-majors and squirrel fish, but the big beauties, intense blue parrots, princess, triggers, a ton more i don't even know. purple sea fans, waving anemones, gorgeous coral (and sadly, lots and lots of dead coral). my boys were in shock, i didn't even see david hardly at all he was so intent on exploring, my brothers and i were blissing, and best of all was when big daddy and mumsie showed up. my 'rents are so dang cute. he's in his late 70s, mumsie in her early 70s, and they're just so fit and fearless and ready for anything. they always approach the water the same way, holding hands, then they step in and dad starts talking about how warm it is while mums eeps and eeks about how cold it is, he exhorts her to belly flop in then demonstrates, she protests that she has to go slower, he starts bellowing 'get DOWN joyce just get the hell DOWN!' which alarms everyone nearby, and then they're in. mums generally stays close to shore and is soon back on her towel, but big daddy is our natural sire for sure, and doubtless has a hidden set of gills. his snorkel was on and he was gone. here's what he looks like beached.

it takes me a couple of trips to get my snorkel right. i have a tiny pointy narrow head so i'm hard to fit anyway, water glubs in, or it doesn't and i fog up, my sinuses start to hurt, and i think 'okay, this is cool but i'm done.' i slosh out and put my shit on my towel, then a brother will holler 'there's a HUGE school of parrots out here!' and i can't resist. and after a couple of forays i get it right and then i feel as i could just live there, if only someone would bring me an occasional milkshake.
brian, jeff and i went so far out we were past the huge towering walls of the old fortress and in open ocean, currents and all, but oh we saw some great fish. jeff is a big man, but even without flippers he can outswim just about any of the rest of us. when he was little he got swept out by an undertow at grape bay, wailing and waving while mums and i sat on our towels and waved and smiled back, until we realized how tiny he had become. i went after him (i was about 11 at the time) and reached him but wasn't strong enough to bring his panicked self in, but fortunately we kept each other afloat until some guys got a floatie ring out there and towed him back in. now he'd be the rescuer...he's an incredible swimmer.
anyway. snorkel beach was awesome. for being a beach so insignificant that no one but the cruise ship folks without transport generally use it, we were pretty dang happy.
i left early cuz it was my night to cook and i needed to hit the grocery store again. jeff and gail came with me, and we scootered on back to the market. while we were there a wall of water hit the island. seriously, that rain was so hard you couldn't see out the windows or hear yourself speak over the noise. we waited for it to abate, but it didn't, so finally we got a cab (a private 'mini-bus' that cost us $12 not including the tip to go about a quarter of a mile!) back home. i banished everyone from the apartment next door (the kitchen in ours was too small to cook for 14) except those helping me drink, cracked open a bottle of pre-made rum swizzles, and got busy with my baked stuffed potatoes. i'd hoped to have 'em done by 6:30 so we could go to harbor nights in hamilton but for no reason i can think of (i'm sure the swizzles were not guilty) we didn't get finished until closer to 8. oh well, it gave david plenty of time to walk to the store and retrieve my scooter for me.
as you can tell, i didn't take any pics on day 1. so here's a random picture of richard and keith mugging on the patio, even though it took place much later during the trip.

harbor nights is a big ol' shindig that takes place in hamilton (bermuda's capitol and seat of industry) on wednesday nights. businesses stay open late, there are gombey dancers and food vendors and it's a big ol' touristy thang. david and i went last time and were underwhelmed, but we figured it would be fun with the whole gang. rather than take our bikes i suggested we take the bus to dockyard and the ferry from there. there's a bus stop right outside our apartments, so we went and sat there...and sat there....and sat there, while i endured unrighteous and unkind abuse from my kin. a bus driver headed in the other direction tipped us off that harbor nights had been cancelled because of the weather. being intrepid adventurers we continued to sit at the bus stop, and eventually our patience was rewarded and we were whisked off to dockyard and thence to a ferry. it was a beautiful trip over hamilton harbor, the huge party ships receding in our wake, while hamilton harbor's many lovely inhabited and wild little islands loomed up ahead. we sat outside, humidity and sea spray making everything we were wearing stick to us.
this is a constant in bermuda. you are ALWAYS sticky. and it's worth it.
we thought hamilton would be fun even without harbor nights. it wasn't. nothing was open, and while for my brothers and me it was a delightful walk through a gazillion memories (gosling's liquor store! oh no, the blue moon cafe is gone, but the kit'n'caboodle (recently referenced in rolph's wonderful blog) is still there! eek! A KFC ON REID STREET!!! WTF????' and from my boys 'transformers is playing here! yay!!!') for the kids it was pretty dull. brian sprung for a tiny popcorn chicken and drink and is still gasping from it setting him back almost $20. even we nostalgia buffs wore down, and we caught the ferry back to dockyard and thence to a bus, whose driver was a wonderful bermudian lady in the lovita vein, with crazy fingernails and a salty attitude, who abused big daddy all the way from dockyard to watford ferry. we were charmed.
as we headed off to our various dwellings for the night, richard noticed something on the wall of our abode. it was a huge cluster of the exotic cactus night-blooming cereus, and not only that, the huge fat buds were just about to open.
now, this is more exciting than it sounds. NBCs only bloom on one night per year. one night. and there's a hill family story to 'em. one of the houses we rented was a gorgeous plantation house called somerville. we rented the main part of the house, while the local sportscaster (bermuda only had 2 tv stations when we were kids) rented the apartment behind, and a family with several dozen children had the servants' quarters next door. there were two living rooms and two kitchens (i'm not sure why), a trap door in the bathroom (ditto) and marks on the walls in the basement where the slaves had been shackled. it's supposedly haunted too, although we spent many spooky nights in the basement with our ouija board and raised nary a boo. there are two mirrors sunken in the living room walls that were taken from the original white house. jackie kennedy tried to buy 'em but the owner refused to sell. i suppose they're still there.
big daddy could have bought it for $20,000 but backed out at the last minute, feeling the price was too steep. it's probably worth 20 million today. i can't think about that.
more pics to come, but here's one......

anyhow. as you can see, there's a little yard close to the house, and a bigger one that sweeps grandly below. being a spectacularly creative lot, we referred to them as 'the little yard' and 'the big yard.' and in our big yard, along with a gorgeous calabash tree, the oldest rubber tree on the island, and a glorious wall of morning glory that has sadly been swept away, we had night-blooming cereus. and when we could see that the huge fat buds (the blooms are as big as your head) were ready to pop, my folks would invite a bunch of people over, the grown ups would all get tanked, and we kids would run around delirious with night-madness, and we'd all stay up and watch the NBCs bloom. it was a magic night, and just the sort of cool ritual my mother loved to create.
i actually didn't believe that these were NBCs that richard spied outside our dwelling. surely that would have been noted on the webpage. surely the media would have been staked out, waiting. surely our innkeepers would have said something. richard's a doof. what does he know about desert flora (just cuz he lives in the mojave)? it seemed unlikely that anything like this.....

could occur during our narrow little window of time there. at least that's what i told my nieces. we were already so dang lucky, what were the chances that this could happen?
and so we headed off to bed, to dream about tomorrow's odyssey to our beloved NASA beach.
:) khairete
suz

bermuda 1

2009-07-28T15:31:41Z

alrighty, dears, the time has come to begin my series of voluminous bermuda updates. i put 'em under cuts for the comfort of those not interested, as they'll be long and peppered with pics.
we set out at o'dark thirty, with much flapping by david to get us out in time, and much nail-biting by yours truly who needs time to drink coffee, check email, feed the surprised ponies in the pre-dawn dark, shower and stuff the last minute stuff into the suitcases. driving out of here felt like a dream. i just couldn't believe it was really, finally, happening. i remember telling the guys 'it's not in the future any more! starting RIGHT NOW we're on our bermuda adventure!' we got to ronald reagan in plenty of time, despite it being rush hour, breezed through ticketing, and found my older brother richard and his wife gail there at the gate waiting for us, having arrived from vegas an hour earlier. we were joined shortly by my parents and brother jeff, and became the Loud Obnoxious Laughing Family to everyone sitting nearby. the plane was surprisingly not full, so jeff and richard did much seat-switching and thoroughly annoyed the flight crew. it was pretty cloudy flying into the isles so we didn't get the full 'there's the jewel in the turqouise!' impact flying in, but my boys were still pretty impressed at how the water changes color as you get close and then shazam! the world's most beautiful island appears. jeff and i were sitting together and got a little misty as we saw home materialize underneath us.
it's strange to get off a plane directly onto the tarmac and hoof it into the terminal. bermuda's hot damp air hits you like a wet towel. even the bermudians were complaining about the humidity that first day, so it had to be over 100%, and i must say i found it difficult too, but by day 2 it had settled into its more familiar 90%+ and i was totally acclimated to it.
breezed through customs (brian got searched at ronald reagan and bermuda, that's what happens when you have tats, multiple piercings and a bright blue mohawk i guess) and into a series of cabs. our cabbie was surprisingly reticent for a bermudian, but david said he was listening intently as i warbled ecstatically 'here's turtle island, see the cable car you use to get back and forth? that's an oleander, wait til you smell it up close! listen, kiskadee! there's crystal caves! there's the swizzle inn where grandpa got thrown out the door when he challenged the guy three times his size! there's our old church! there's devil's hole! that's where my old friend diana lived! beverly and i used to ride through that park!' driving on the left on those crazy narrow little roads is so disconcerting at first. big daddy had his cabby take them a longer route, then they overshot the apartments in sandys where we were staying so their cab cost considerably more than ours. we got there for a little under $50, which considering that sandys is on the opposite end of the island from the airport, was pretty dang good.
our apartments were a sweet surprise, bigger than they looked on the webpage, cool, pretty, welcoming. my youngest brother karl and his wife aimee were already there, having decided to get a few days of quiet vacation in before the fambly invasion.
here's watford ferry apartments.

there was some shopping and changing.....we took the apartment originally meant for karl and aimee so they wouldn't have to leave the one they were already living in, jeff moved into the biggest one already occupied by my parents, richard and gail as that way he would at least have the living room couch to himself, and we settled into what i now think was the best one of the bunch, an efficiency in that the boys slept in the living room area while david and i had the big bed in what was basically one big room, but had a separate small kitchen and bath. the boys ended up not pulling out the sofa bed, which they found uncomfortable, but took turns sleeping on the couch and lounge chair, then hitting our bed for another hour or two of more comfy sleep when david and i got up (which we did much earlier than they.)
here are my sleeping beauties.

we had planned on just walking or taking a cab to the grocery store on day 1 and picking up our bikes the second day, but it was early afternoon and we were unpacked and ready for adventures, so on big daddy's suggestion i called oleander cycles and spoke to the wonderful lovita who sent a van to pick us up (we didn't all fit, i had to lug richard's bony ass on my lap) and bring us to her to get our bikes. i must say i was REALLY nervous at setting my babies loose with these potentially lethal machines (several tourists die every year on bermuda's insanely crowded roads and many many more are injured) and the prospect of riding tandem with my precious niece aubrey after the minimal instruction we were given. lovita was a hoot, designating jeff as 'retard', big daddy as 'cutie pie', david as 'the good looking one', dylan as 'small fry' and brian, whose mohawk prompted an alarmed 'i don't have a helmet to fit THAT!' as, not surprisingly, 'mohawk.' she abused us all cheerfully and relentlessly, and only later did i hear from david that she said to him privately 'i hope i didn't offend anyone' and we adored her.
the boys LOVED their scooters, and we all got used to 'em surprisingly quickly, even the left-hand drive. oleander has old bikes, and i had to trade mine in twice, as did richard, and poor brian got stranded at one point, fortunately just a quarter mile from the shop where he had to push it in to get a replacement. but oleander is quick to put things to rights, even rather alarmingly cavalier about it. 'oh, your bike don't start? here, take this one. no no, no need to sign anything. it's all right. go 'long, now, b'y.'
after we got back several of us walked to the grocery store, spent heart-stopping huge bundles of cash on alarmingly small bags, and took a cab back. david took the boys up to dockyard where they checked out the shops and cruise ships and got ice cream, and got to know their scooters better. my brother keith and his girls ciara and aubrey arrived, got settled in and he picked up his bike. karl and aimee fixed dinner the first night, and i can't remember what we did that first evening other than eat! isn't that awful? for posterity's sake i'll post it later if it hits me.
there is a small dock there at the apartments, not a sandy beach but still a nice place to swim if you're careful to avoid the coral (aimee cut her foot badly a few days in.) the owners of the apartments, val and kathy, who also own a restaurant at dockyard, keep the restaurant's thown-away food and use it to feed a huge school of bream that lives near the dock and comes to val's whistle. here's karl, aimee and me on the dock getting ready to swim.

okay, that's it for now. day 2 to follow soon.
:) khairete
suz

gah!

2009-07-26T17:43:37Z

i'm not watching much news these days, and when i do i get all knotted up. wtf is with these cushy-assed complacent fucks telling us that we can't have the G getting between us and our doctors? how is that worse than what's happening now, when some harassed over-worked under-paid drone at an insurance company is forced to inform me that 'for the good of my child' his medication, prescribed by his doctor, won't be covered? at least the bungling inefficient government isn't in the deal for profit, and cold-bloodedly deciding to deny us. and we have 'good' insurance. what's with these idiots informing us that the rolls of the uninsured are inflated to include illegals and those 'choosing' to be uninsured? sure, numbers are tweaked on all sides, but if these ignorant barfbags think that millions of american are just cavalierly deciding to pass on check-ups, meds, and going to the hospital during crises because they just aren't bothered about it, they haven't been out of their ivory towers and talked to the seniors cutting their pills in half or lower income working parents trying to cope with whooping cough at home. 'we're moving too fast' they shriek. 'let's take our time and do it right' they caution. where the fuck have you people been? this crisis didn't develop since obama took over. i'm not happy about a whole lot of his program, i don't think it goes nearly far enough and is far too equivocal, but it beats the befucketies out of what we've got now. until we get insurance out of the equation, and someone has the big brass balls to stand up to the AMA and its determination that qualified medical students should be denied, keeping the numbers low and the paychecks high, we're fucked. we need a complete overhaul, and bleating that the administration is moving too fast is specious and vile. most of these cretins have been in washington for generations now and haven't done diddly-fuck about it, and now all of sudden obama's giving them the bum's rush.
okay, must go pull weeds and OMMMM for a while.
khairete
suz
khairete
suz

home again home again jiggity jig

2009-07-21T03:57:05Z

bermuda was utterly marvelous. the perfect vacation, setting the bar ridiculously high for the rest of my life. i'm still dealing with the blues and homesickness for kiskadees and oleanders, but that's simply a testament to what a wonderful time i had. day-by-day update complete with ridiculous plethora of photos to follow soon.
came home to a house, barn and ponies cleaner than when we left. kailee is now my favorite barn/critter sitter, and dee dee is the perfect person to have stay in your house when you go anywhere. all of you should call her for this.
as soon as we got home everyone scattered their separate ways, and that was hard too. one of the beauties of this vacation was having all my men close at hand, without the frictions of daily life and responsibilities, and i miss them terribly even though they're buzzing in and out on an almost daily basis. when i woke up this morning and david was gone to work i got terribly lonesome. fortunately my foo was there with me.
i miss my brothers and my wacky sweet big daddy, and mumsie and my sisters-in-law and even my nieces, especially aubrey who shared my scooter and was thus perforce my partner in crime.
it's lovely here, but too cold. i want to float in my pool under the stars and i can't. therefore i whine.
i rode bo today, jumped him (badly) and then went for a trail ride. then off to costco, and home to salad with costco baked chicken, and 'house.' that's a good day. tomorrow i shall pick multitudes of blueberries to freeze.
okay, that's it until i start the vacay journaling.
:) khairete
suz