Trump Tried To Mansplain The Midterms To Women

I thought this was a good bit to accompany the Mike Luckovich political cartoon in my previous post....what do you think?

#Me Too, Now What?

In February, a new limited series debuted on PBS called #Me Too, Now What? and it has been very thought provoking. There are five 30 minute episodes, and if you didn't happen to catch them when they aired, the links below will take you to the website to watch them all.

Executive editor and host Zainab Salbi goes beyond the headlines about sexual harassment to ask how we got here and how we move forward. All episodes now streaming.

St. Patrick's Day

I saw this article yesterday on The Detroit Free Press online. Dan Margulis created this social experiment to bring attention to the issue of immigration by going back to the past when Irish were treated like a plague on America. Unfortunately the people that really need to have their eyes opened, will just sneer at this. 

The Human Race

Photo by @paleyphoto (Matthieu Paley). "We hate because we are taught to hate. We hate because we are ignorant. We are the product of ignorant people who have been taught an ignorant thing which is that there are 4 or 5 different races. There are not 4 or 5 races, there is only one race on the face of the earth, and we are all members of this race, the human race. But we have separated people into races so that some of us can see ourselves as superior to the others. Maybe we thought it would work, but it hasn’t... it has been bad for everyone. There is no gene for racism, there is no gene for bigotry. You are not born a bigot, you have to learn to be a bigot. Anything you learn, you can unlearn." Wonderful and clear words by Jane Elliott. In our lives as photographers, we have the incredible luck to frequently be exposed to cultures, beliefs and lifestyles that are often wildly different from our own. I can honestly say that there is nothing more enriching. Happy New Year everyone! @natgeocreative #JaneElliott #discrimination #racism #prejudice #openminded

A photo posted by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Jan 6, 2017 at 5:08am PST

Every day I am upset, angry, frustrated, you name it, with our new president. I am not only all of those things and more with him, but also with the folks who blindly excuse all of his behavior.

I was watching a segment on NBC Nightly News late last week with Gabe Gutierrez interviewing some Trump supporters and asking them what they thought towards the end of his first week in office. The subject came up of the impending Muslim ban, and the response of one woman in particular really made me want to scream. She was talking with an accent that was definitely not native to any region of the U.S., and she was saying that she supported the ban. She went on to state that she didn't want people coming to America and bringing their different cultures. I about fell of my chair!

I am so sick of the people who either directly came from other countries, or whose ancestors came from other countries saying that we should be banning anyone! Just because you or your grandparents got to America before now doesn't mean that you have more 'right' to be here. The only group of people that even remotely have the right to complain about 'foreigners' are Native Americans. I'm wondering if that woman eats tacos, egg rolls, or pizza, because honey, those didn't originate in 'Merica. 

What's happening right now goes against everything this country stands for and has been since it was founded. One week in office and look at the damage he has done.

Happy Easter 2016

Happy Easter!

Of course I saw this video on Colossal.com, where I find everything cool. The video is from Jiri Zemanek, check it out, it's a lot of fun!

Egg courtesy of Babs

So this month has been a bit crazy, and I realized just how crazy when I looked and saw that my last post was over a month ago. By this time next week I will be in a new home. Still renting; the house is not new, but it's new to me.

My sister in law messaged me on a Tuesday asking if I could be home to show the house to three realtors on Saturday, and it's been a whirlwind ever since. It's been a bumpy ride, and I was originally under the gun to get things ready for an open house on the 26th, but thankfully due to circumstances with things that had to be repaired before it could be shown, all of that will be happening in April.

The biggest surprise was that I was able to find a place to move to fairly quickly, and I can have the cats. HUGE thanks go to my boss Kelly for helping me find it. It was probably a good thing that I made a big push at the beginning of the month to get things packed and into a storage unit and out of the house so I am not doing all of it at once.

I am doing better than I thought at looking forward and not looking back too much. For as many things that frustrated me here over the years, there are still things I liked about this house. There are pros and cons to everything it seems like, but I am going to make the best of it.

I am going to miss the hens from next door. It was really funny - Friday when I came home from work I found an egg on the front porch. I took it over to Teggart and we were pretty sure it was from Babs, the little Bantam, and my favorite. He gave me an egg from one of the other hens, and I made an omelette for breakfast yesterday. Then in the afternoon she laid another one on my porch! It was just as perfect and small as the first one, so I knew for sure it was her.

Breakfast!

The other funny thing from this weekend was yesterday morning when my friend Jo and I came back from taking a load out to the new place and saw this garage sale sign taped to the light post across from Haggen on Meridian. It reads "Our crap, could be your crap!" Jo spotted it first, and we both cracked up! Big thanks go to Jo for emailing me two Saturday's in a row asking if I wanted some help, because I still feel too guilty and awkward asking for it.

Our crap, could be your crap!

I always knew I had a lot of stuff, but having to pack it up and move it just confirms it! So this next week is going to be crazy, and by the end of the day next Sunday I should be completely out of the house on Queen St. and into the new place. Hopefully it won't be another month before I post again, but I know I will be busy unpacking and figuring out where everything goes!

Real Estate

So this week everything just got real. Tuesday my sister in law Cindy messaged me that she wanted to know when I would be available for a few realtors to walk through the house.

Yesterday morning realtors from three different agencies came to the house. I was reminded of the experience of buying a car for the first time with my dad guiding me. He taught me how to tell who wants to work with you and who doesn't. It turns out the husband and wife that first arrived were the ones that Cindy has chosen or vice versa, because I honestly don't know exactly how that goes. But they asked the most questions and to me that's a sign of interest.

At the end of their visit I realized this whole situation is going to be more involved than I thought - and I really wish I had found a new place to live already so I don't have to deal with it. I have zero desire or intention to let people enter my home while I'm away at work. It's a scary prospect for the safety of my cats and my privacy.

I'm also facing a rental market and system for finding a place that is vastly different than it was 20 years ago. The last time I had to look for a place was that long ago, when I moved to the apartment in Ferndale. I was there two years I think,  when my brother Mark asked me to move into his house. He and Cindy were finally moving in together in Seattle, and he didn't want to sell his house.

Back then everything was in the newspaper, now most of it is online - but not all of it. I'm unfortunately finding that the small apartment units that are rented by the owner are not online, not even on Craigslist. Pretty much all of the larger rental companies have a two pet limit - so I'm screwed. I don't even have a car to live out of. ...

So hey, let me know if you see anything!

Another Sad Day

Alan Rickman

So sad today - just found out that Alan Rickman died, he was always one of my favorite actors, in roles too numerous to recount. Both he and David Bowie dying in the same week, at the same age of 69 from cancer is freaky. David Bowie was a favorite singer of my oldest brother Mark. Rest in Peace boys, you will be missed.

Jingle Bell Run 2015

For the first time I participated in the Jingle Bell Run here in Bellingham. I walked it - 3 miles in 58 minutes & 55 seconds.

Of course the weather was crappy but I did the whole course and was soaked to the skin by the end. I have blisters on the bottom of both feet. But hey, now I know what to wear if I do it again next year! To greet me both coming and going was Ginger, one of the chickens from next door.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A quick note wishing everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day, now that it's almost over (long day for me). I started my day a few minutes early this morning to get a corned beef in the crock pot to greet me when I got home. I enjoyed that with some baby rainbow potatoes, including white, red and purple! It was all yummy, topped off with some Walker's Scottish Shortbread for dessert ☺

The quote above was from my co-worker Jen K. from the stand-up meeting at work this morning. I just finished watching "The Secret of Roan Inish" from John Sayles; one of my favorite directors, and one of my all time favorite films, to round out my day. Spring is in full swing here and we had a decent day today, I hope it warms up enough and stays dry long enough for me to mow the lawn soon, because it's a jungle out there!!

Christmas in February?

A lone bloom for February on my Christmas Cactus to brighten an otherwise gloomy weekend, at least weather-wise. We are on the northern end of the Pineapple Express that has been hitting the San Francisco-Bay area pretty hard since Thursday. We had really strong winds but warm temperatures, and then the heavy rain started yesterday. A good day to stay in to say the least.

WTA Seahawks Bus

Superbowl Fever is all around the Pacific Northwest, and Bellingham is no exception. I had read in The Bellingham Herald that there was a bus decked out for the Seahawks and I got to ride it not once, but twice yesterday ☺

Even though I don't watch football, I am excited for the team and the fans and of course hope they win tomorrow. Like last year, for the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, WTA (Whatcom Transit Authority) has had GO HAWKS alternating with the route name on the reader board of every bus. This year they decked one out for the Seattle Seahawks and alternated it on different routes. Yesterday it was the bus that takes me to and from work from the Cordata Station. It's kind of a kick to ride on it, just like the one they decorate for Christmas.

For several reasons I want the Seahawks to win. I think that Seattle sports teams don't get respect, and I respect Pete Carroll as a coach and that he has gotten the team to this level is a validation of his style and his hard work. GO HAWKS!!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

New Year 2015

True to form I fell asleep in bed reading a book last night around 10pm and woke up to the sound of fireworks around midnight. Made my biscuit/cinnamon roll hybrid again for a treat to start the new year. I'm going to make pork baby back ribs for dinner.

I am going to try and continue the momentum to self improvement in 2015 and hopefully stop repeating the same mistakes and break the negative mindset I've had for too much of my life. But don't expect too much too soon - I'm a work in progress!

Happy New Year

Like the rest of the country we have frigid temperatures to ring in the new year. It was 22 degrees when I went to work this morning,  and 36 right now and will drop into the 20s again after the sun sets.

I'm going downtown to Steve & Naomi's for a party she is putting on for Steve's 60th birthday today. We were joking about it on Christmas Eve that she is having it early so they can get back out to Lummi Island and settle in before it gets too late!  On that note,  I found this meme and thought it summed my life up pretty well. Happy New Year everyone

Downton Abbey - Text Santa

It's finally out - The Downton Abbey charity parody with George Clooney. Oh, it's worth the wait, and I wasn't expecting the other guest actors, but honestly they are funnier than he is. Oh man this is good, enjoy!

R.I.P. Joe Cocker

Sad news today of the passing of the legendary Joe Cocker from lung cancer. My favorite song of his happens to be the song from this skit from Saturday Night Live back in the day. I remembered the parody, but am kind of blown away that this was the song; man that's like over 30 years ago. 

Cookie Party 2014

WTA Christmas Bus 2014

I'm not sure when they started the tradition, but Whatcom Transit Authority decorates a couple of buses for Christmas, and I've managed to ride on one of them at least once these last two years since I've been car-less. Today I got to ride on this bus twice. It's kind of fun and makes you smile.

Susan & Don, Denise and Naomi (in the background) and Barb

Dot, Susan & Don and Denise

Denise, Naomi, Barb, Steve and Glenn

Naomi & Steve and Glenn

Jo and Maria take a selfie

Today was the Cookie Party at Denise's house. It was our normal crowd of Don & Susan, Steve & Naomi, Jo & Glenn and Jo's mom Dot. This year Barb made it again, along with Steve & Naomi's grandson's Chase and Sam. Jo is as camera shy as I am, but I pretty easily convinced her to take a selfie with me for a good cause - to send to Debra in Florida. We all miss Debra, she will always be a part of the Around the Corner Gang, but moved to Florida over a year ago to be near her mom.

We were talking a lot about old books and how they came to be acquired, when Denise told the story of buying an old trunk at the local auction house years ago, and inside the trunk were a couple of  local school annuals, one of which Steve had drawn an illustration in! Talk about serendipity, that blew me away. And of course, the end of our conversation ended up being about food! That's what brought us together, and keeps us together ☺

Slow Jam The News with Brian Williams and Jimmy Fallon

OMG this is hilarious!

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

RIP Elizabeth Pena

Elizabeth Pena in John Sayles' film "Lonestar"

I was very sad to see in the news online tonight that one of my favorite actresses Elizabeth Pena died yesterday at only 55. The article said she died after a brief illness. She had a great voice and presence and natural beauty, that seemed to be inside as well as out.