Coffee Break?

ROFL!   Now that was a pretty funny line and she delivered it well.  I think it pains me to say this but…sitting here pondering last night’s convention coverage then what I saw during the national news tonight may just get me to the polls come November.  Ordinarily I make no excuse or bones for having turned to Libertarianism in recent years.  Having seen and lived through even the years I have, that philosophy makes more common sense to me than anything else.  Strikes me as a way we can live our lives without too many distractions and interferences yet maintain some order.  John McCain has been a non-starter for me from day one and none of the other Republicans fit, either…(a posse of ancestors…including my mother…would haunt me if I voted Tory (equates to REP)..)  The Dems have basically been the  disappointment of the millenium (one way or another) and that leaves little else in which to have much faith.  It could have been an apathetic toss-up were I not adamant that I’d have no part, small as it would be, in the possibility of another four years like the last eight.  I was determined I would again abstain…still wishing I could be much more vocal and obvious about it.  Anywaaaaay………………………….

As I read somewhere today, had Hillary conducted her campaign as she spoke last night there surely would have been no question to whom the Dem nomination would go.  But much credit goes to her for swallowing whatever disappointment she surely must have felt and giving the speech of her political life.  I even cheered!  At the same time, while I’m not a fan of  some of Obama’s views or promises, this is surely an historic moment for all of us…especially we who witnessed the struggles for equality, saw the marches, the assassinations…the first Black American to be nominated for the highest office in the land.  And about time.  I’m not sure he can take the election but this really is a momentous occasion and I’m glad to be here witnessing it.  He could…they didn’t think John Kennedy could be elected…for one thing being an Irish Catholic.  “In the White House?”  Obama is doing for our kids/grandkids what Kennedy did for us…allow us to see that all things are possible if hopes and dreams are large enough.   I don’t think Hillary is done furthering her political aspirations…perhaps we’ll see her in 2012, possibly 2016.  I hope I get to see her nomination also…and THEN maybe we can rest easy knowing the Declaration of Independence is being lived up to…(All Men (and Women) Are Created Equal).  I might not vote for her but appreciate the fact that this country has finally grown up; can find it not only possible but do-able to nominate…maybe even elect…a black President, female President.  In fact, I do have to wonder…and hope it in no way looks as though I diminish Obama’s success thus far…if his nomination came from the fact that we are more ready to accept a black President than we are a Madam President.  To be the forward looking, most advanced country in the world, we are still behind when it comes to giving  women credit for having what it takes to run a country. Others beat us in that respect long ago.

Still…Ms. Clinton, you have been the shining light of this convention and whether contrived, planned or not, you carried your part off with aplomb, dignity and eloquence.    

Welcome back, AGT!  (And other programming besides sports and repeats every night).   I don’t watch daytime tv but rarely and has to be something of very specific interest but I don’t mind admitting to enjoying being entertained…whether by Jeopardy, House, Nova or AGT.  Had enough of the Olympics to last me…umm…four years, maybe two…though have to say the closing ceremonies were totally impressive.  Loved them…for more than the obvious reason and think London is going to find it a hard act to follow (sorry!)  But I digress…although a fairly decent segue back to AGT and more specifically, Hasslehoff.  What a nimrod!  To be honest, I never find his critique or comments of much value but so far, tonight, one was sheer idiocy! 

Second act, The James Gang…they were good, unique, had to agree with Piers and Sharon.  And then ‘Hoff who opened his mouth saying “You are as American as….the Olympics!”  Excuse me???  The OLYMPICS?  American?  Since when have the Olympics been synonymous with America, Mom, Apple Pie?  The Parthenon, Delphi, moussaka maybe.  I suppose it doesn’t help that I don’t care for Hoff anyway…as a stooge for the star of Knight Rider, K.I.T.T., he was…er…okay and since then a slow fizzle (nope, not even Baywatch or his European venture into voice)…but I just don’t see how he has earned a place as a judge on AGT.  Anyway…I would suggest that he might think a bit before he just opens mouth, inserts foot and looks like a nincompoop.

Probably not a question one would be asked at the local Mickey D’s but you could be getting them with your burger, anyway.  The following video came across my email today…more disturbing than interesting.  Besides the steroids, anti-biotics, BGH they pump into our cattle, now it’s chocolate and sugar?  Uh-huh…farmer Nissley says it’s a little but do we know for sure and, even if it is, how long will it be ‘a little’? 

I’m a gnat’s posterior away from denying myself all red meats but admit to craving and enjoying a steak or a burger, a lamb chop, on occasion.  Those occasions I buy organic when and where I can…organic range fed…as it’s supposed to be.  Bad enough they drop the other junk in but M&M shells and ‘other’ by-products?  Well, at least…so far…we aren’t getting plastics, collars, cremated and treated remains of euthanised peers to munch on as many of our canine companions are fed.  Oh…you didn’t know this?  Check it out…where it says animal ‘by-products’ on your 10 (or 50) pound bag of kibble…what do you think that is besides the ‘acceptable’ chicken feet, beaks etc.?  (Rec. reading “Foods Pets Die For” by Ann Martin).  In addition to that, did you know that…at least in PA, the one place I know for sure…there is no law against using remains of puppy mill dogs on growing farm fields?    http://www.lcanimal.org/cmpgn/cmpgn_pasecret.htm    We tout ourselves as the richest and greatest nation, lately we’ve been bombarded with the dire situation of obesity being one of our greatest health problems…and these things are not only what we…but our companion and farm animals…are ingesting?  Isn’t this just as worrisome as the daily reports of starving nations?

In this video (http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid452319854?bctid=1667996405) the second farmer does admit that his profits are non-existent to marginal but I loved his comment “It’s self-satisfaction”…his raising of free range cattle.  I’m not a farmer but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand it’s a tough career choice…hard work and hard living with a struggle to make any sort of return but I also hear that farming, for many, is a way of life passed down through generations for the love of it.  We could help the farmer such as number 2 by demanding better policy and procedure on what farmers bring to our tables.  Buy a cheap cut of meat and that’s exactly what you get…cheap beef.  The farmer may not agree it’s cheap to raise but your body will know in the price IT pays.  You get what you pay for and, think about it…at least you know what is going into your body if you buy beef that is largely unmedicated and not fed by synthetics.  Did you ever stop and consider that when you eat the purest meat possible you can cut down on health problems and health costs?  I can’t prove it but somehow it makes sense.  For how long have we heard and read that antibiotics are just not effective any longer and they are striving to come up with a stronger ‘model’…that even the super-antibiotics aren’t what they hoped they might be in fighting infections?  Ever stop and consider that for the length of time such drugs have been pumped into and fed our livestock and the beef we eat, the milk we drink we have been building immunity to the drug?  How can it NOT be possible, if not probable?  A number of years ago we made a conscious decision to feed our domestic companions a much better…and yes, a bit more expensive…pet food.  We have fifteen pets so that did increase our food bill for them by quite a bit.  But as we suspected and expected, that’s been off-set by lower to no vet bills.  Our dogs/cats don’t suffer food allergies (often evidenced by chewing/licking their paws, stomach upsets, hyper-activity etc. nor do they have diabetes, bad breath, ear or skin problems).  Oddly enough, we did have one of our dogs to an emergency vet visit over the weekend, initially unsure if it was his heart or something he’d eaten that he ought not to have.  The prognosis is that he is basically fine though a little overweight and a possible environmental allergy.  This was our Pug…he was born a big pug to start with but with a change to a lower calory diet we can take care of the weight situation.  The allergy…again, he’s a Pug; the have long soft palates which tend to cause problems under the best of situations and the pollens etc. will aggravate this.  It is so unusual for any of our animals to show signs of so much as lethargy, let alone sickness, we panicked at the outset.  Vet bill was $700.  He did get wonderful care and treatment and, in fact, the vet has been more considerate, more conscientious about checking on him this week than my previous cardiologist was with me but who can afford such bills on a regular basis?  We can’t and I’m glad that what we have chosen to do for our companion animals prevents such worry, for the most part.  How then, can we not do this for ourselves?  Our children?   As a society we are being encouraged, if not trained, to ‘read the boxes, packets, packages…check the ingredients, eliminate the fats, the sugars, the salt (and hopefully the preservatives!) as we do our weekly shop but yet we never think to wonder how that chunk of roast, juicy steak or package of hamburger meat lived and ate before we tossed it into our shopping cart.  So now we can go get a burger and eat dessert at the same time, not even knowing that we are……………..            

And that wouldn’t be the athletes, the medal winners or even any of the sports.  Never been much interested in sports at all…guess it wasn’t built in to my ‘design’.  Come to think of it, I believe I’m the only person I know who failed PE during my entire school years.  Couldn’t…wouldn’t jump the buck or the horse.  I’d make an effort, albeit a weak one, but I’d get as far as bouncing on the spring-board then jump off…no way was I going to try to lift myself high enough to swing these little legs over or through, knowing I’d be kissing the gym floor.  The beams?  :)  Ropes?  Yeah, right!  I could grasp the rope, wrap my ankles around it and immediately stuck.  I think my biggest problem was not that I was physically unable to do any of those things but had too active an imagination for I foresaw each ending in pain and disaster….two things I took great pains to avoid at any cost.  Sports were no better.  Why run track when I could sit down and read?  Swimming…HAH!  I couldn’t even float successfully.  And ‘they’ tried…they really did.  My mother would take Sis and I to the city pool during the summer…Mum could swim (and dive when she was younger), Sis at five years younger than I could swim…while I cowered in the furthest corner of the 3′ depth screaming I was drowning.  PE teachers tried…they tied a rope around me, then a life-belt…nope.  Soon as water hit my chin I was done…and heaven forfend water should get in my eyes!  So they moved me on to field-hockey.  Now, I actually loved hockey…until someone snagged me round the ankle and my potential to be a star was ended.  (Star…LOLOLOL…riiight!).

These, I guess, are reasons enough for me not to be too excited about sporting events, more especially the Summer Olympics.  Winter Olympics held my attention when Torvill and Dean did their “Ravel’s Bolero” (the music was enough for me to be mesmerized but their skating was poetry in motion), likewise John Curry and Robin Cousins on ice.  Then came Eddie the Eagle…an underdog and deserved to be cheered on (see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_%22the_Eagle%22_Edwards).  Or maybe it is that Olympics in general have ceased to be of interest once professionals could participate, politics tend to interfere…neither of those are in the true spirit of “The Games”, are they?

At any rate, I do concede to watching the opening ceremonies and their fanfares so Friday, the 8th, found us glued to the big screen.  The show was impressive…and those 2000 drummers totally incredible…loved it.  Then came the procession of nations which, I admit, began to get boring until I heard it…a pipeband playing “Scotland The Brave”.  Well…that woke me up, mostly because I was wondering why a pipeband was playing at all.  Scotland did get a modicum of independence a few years ago but to my ex-Pat knowledge not enough to get us into the Olympics under the Saltire (St. Andrews Flag) or even the Royal Standard (eeuuww! lol).  Then again, maybe the powers-that-be hadn’t been gracious enough to notify me of this (tic).  But I waited patiently to see a group come swaggering out, kilt swinging.  Nope.  The music changed back to Chinese music (beautiful in it’s own right) after about four melodies only to return periodically throughout the entire procession of nations.  I had to find out…maybe, as with past occasions at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo ( http://www.edinburgh-tattoo.co.uk/tattoo-experience/index.html), it was being played by Ghurka Rifles for some reason…so off I went to my trusty pc.  After some searching, there was the surprise…and the reason I won’t soon forget the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

I hail from what used to be the 3rd largest city in Scotland which, by the standards of larger countries, was not a huge city…and as with most, has it’s various suburbs of council housing.  I learned that a group of twenty-six from one of the suburbs….known as Fintry…had formed a pipe-band.  Amateurs, something to do, something for kids to do, helping keep them off the streets, be involved in their community etc. and the ages of the band members range from thirteen to sixty-plus.  They had been playing in France  last year when spotted by the Chinese Olympic ceremony organiser who then wrote to invite them to play during the opening.  ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7549580.stm).  And I was thrilled!

I wrote my sister demanding to know why she hadn’t told me about this…she wrote back asking me to please tell her because she had heard nothing.  I had read that they had to keep the thing a secret but I guess that was up to the very last minute.  The more I learned the prouder I became…not just because they are from my home town (which most people here…and probably no-one in China…hadn’t even heard of) but because to me this embodies the spirit of the Olympics. People giving their best, playing their best…be it a sport or a pipe or a drum…coming from little or nothing.  This band didn’t even have full or proper uniforms and the local businesses, community groups etc. got together to fund their kit, travel etc. 

So…that has been the highlight for me (not to diminish the achievments of every sports man and woman taking part, be they medallists or not…they all worked hard to get there which surely requires no small effort) and I am very, very proud of this small group who never expected such an honour.  

Not only where but…how?  I’ve been an animal lover all my remembered life even though my sister and I had to wheel and deal (at ages 9 and 6 years, respectively) to get so much as a budgie (parakeet).  Our parents…cruel as we imagined then probably kinder and more sensible than most nowadays…as the saying goes “would not be bad to any animal but don’t want the responsibility which comes with a pet…”, particularly the canine variety we both wanted.  Now, I had seen them feed a stray, make sure no-one ill-treated street cats or dogs etc. but couldn’t understand the fuss of not wanting to take them in.  I did learn when I was raising my own family…promises of walking a dog, changing a litter box, feeding, bathing, training a pet go by the wayside when there are two-legged friends begging you to go ride bikes or roller skates, long days in the hot summer sun tempting you to go play without the dog tagging along then too tired to take it for it’s nightly walk, can’t get up early enough for the morning constitutional.  Been there…done that.  But it was never cause for any animal to be considered ‘disposable’.  My daughter brought everything home from toads to lizards to cats, dogs and everything in between.  Her father was no better.  We won’t discuss my own proclivity to do likewise but through the years of military travel from country to country we took in strays, adopted cats, dogs, sick or well, got them medical care, fed and housed them, even shipped them home from whichever country we happened to adopt them….when we could that is (but…that’s another story for another time).  Just my luck to meet and be with a partner who is worse than all three of us put together where animals are concerned and, to date and over the last eleven years, we have taken in and adopted fifteen animals…dogs, cats, birds…plus fostered sea-gull, a loon, tortoise, goldfinch and, currently, a little black and white cat which appears could be feral.  Could be a kitten but we remember when we took in Lizzie we thought she was about four months old due to her size and weight though the likelihood is she was more like four years, had been someone’s cat but not at all well-treated.  This masked marauder who now knows to come for food but won’t let us near him/her looks to be in the same predicament.  I might add that of the fourteen we have adopted we still have all of them but one who, sadly, died of cancer three months ago.  And just what are we supposed to do with any of them now or in the future if we can’t keep them, care for them and love them?  Oh, yes…take them to the Humane Society.

This morning while listening to WGMD, I heard Dan Gaffney read an email he had received from a listener.  She related how, like many of us in this area, had first fostered then adopted several kittens.  I think she said seven in just this last year.  Like many, she tries to find permanent homes for these creatures but, at a guess, I’d say she has probably depleted her list of permanent homes and people should, rightly so, only take as many as they know they will keep and not tire of them.  Seems recently she rescued…by whichever means…a young cat and related how none of the community of six homes with whom she checked claimed the cat to be theirs.  She called Kent Co. Animal Shelter/Animal Control and, as I heard it, someone there told her she had two choices…bring it in or “take it to another area and let it loose (or let it go, drop it off…all same difference).  Let it go???  An intact cat, no shots, nothing.  Take it to the humane society and if not claimed or adopted, what happens then?  Certainly any animal, forgive me for the seeming brutality of this, is probably better off being euthanized than being ‘let go’ or, often, being adopted, tired of and then dumped out unfed, uncared for and unloved.  But as she said, no-one suggested they look to see if anyone had reported a lost cat, asked no questions, nothing.  The woman…presumably in disgust…did not take this shoddy advice and still has the cat, has had it neutered, gotten it it’s shots and continues to look for a home for it.  Frankly, as I heard it and I don’t doubt the truth of it, she may well end up keeping it but as she stated she had done all of these things to help a helpless creature from her own pocket…as many of us do…while paying taxes, being asked for donations etc. etc. to support Humane Centers who do what, exactly?

At the time I had no idea what elicited this listener to send the email to the station but when I later called my partner to tell her about it, she enlightened me.  Apparently earlier this morning she had heard a guy call in to the same station, talking about having found two dogs in the Bridgeville area.  He called the Georgetown shelter who were even less help than the Kent Co. one.  He was told he could not take the dogs there and turn them in without paying $10 each dog to do so, because they were not his.  Later in the day, after taking the dogs home, he called Animal Control again and was informed that if they came to pick up the dogs it would cost $11 each dog.  The sad thing is these are not isolated incidents.  We’ve known people to have lost a dog, cat…searched for it and, finally, when having contacted the shelters, their pet has already been euthanized with no effort made to contact the owners;  we’ve had friends who, conscientiously seek to adopt from the shelters and, having done so find they have sick puppies, sick cats on their hands.  Not days later but within hours of getting the animal home.  How come we cannot do better than this?

Oh, yeah…we ARE having a No Kill shelter here in Sussex Co.  Question is…when?  I’ve been hearing about this much needed facility for…three years?  More?  Rumours of financial problems, board difficulties, whatever…if they would just get the egos out of the way and do what it was designed to do…help and house homeless and unwanted animals in the county…it’s a very safe bet more of our countians would be inclined to help get this thing to reality instead of just a hope or a dream.  We don’t need beautifully landscaped scenery, nothing fancy, no showpiece…I’m damn sure the animals who will, eventually I hope, benefit from a safe and secure ‘home’ could care less as long as they are fed, warm in winter, cool in summer and treated when sick.  Take a poll of all our residents who have taken in and adopted strays or what many seem to consider “throwaways”.  They make do with what they have, share what they’ve got with whatever creature to whom their hearts go out, who need somebody, someplace.  There are a number of angels in Sussex Co. alone who conduct amazing work with ferals and unwanted pets…their time, their money, their homes, garages, whatever they have for yes…there is a problem with cats (particularly) let loose on the environment…even those who have homes but are allowed to roam and run their communities, not neutered or spayed, and ultimately increase the communities of feral kittens.  It was recently ’suggested’ that one division of animal control wanted all cats to wear collars and those owners not in compliance, if their cat was running loose to be caught, would lose the pet to euthenasia.  I’m not so sure such owners don’t deserve those threats but the animals don’t.  I’ve never understood why we, in this country, can’t or won’t do as they do in the UK or, those areas which have begun to do so came late to the party….trap, treat, neuter, release.  And even after such animals are taken care of in this manner, should anyone report a sick feral they are again trapped, treated until well and released again. 

So, while I am on this soap-box here’s another suggestion…or, at this point, a question.  How many would be willing to sign a petition which would try to improve the lot of all our fur, feathered and finned friends.  Ban all owners from carrying their dogs in the back of pick-ups…even a harness there is not infallible.  Not only is this a detriment to the pet but to other drivers.  Ban dog fights with not just heavy fines but incarceration for those who participate in this ”sport”.  Fine…at the very least, those who ”keep pets”….chained to a hot box in the yard all summer and an ice-box during winter.  Tell me…why does anyone have an animal only to leave it outdoors 24-7  and chained?

Okay…that’s my spiel for today and yes, I’m furious and frustrated with this awful attitude in regards to animals…particularly from the very organization whose name belies it’s actions.  It should be better.  It can be better.  Hopefully one day it will, at least, improve.  Humane = compassion, consideration;  but how compassionate or considerate is it to tell someone doing what they believe to be the right thing, to go dump an animal off in some other area from their own?    And for those who decide they want a puppy, a kitten, a parrot, but fail or don’t care to understand or accept doing so is means caring for it as long as it lives…forget ‘live’.  Go to the arcade and play to win a stuffed one.  

I’m thinking he should find a new job or go back to the one he had.  What’s with this Bill he wants passed for spaying and neutering of all pets to be mandatory??  And how/when would it be enforced if it is?  We have laws governing licencing of dogs and cats, laws preventing dog fighting for sport/money and while our laws pertaining to cruelty to animals are too weak, how often do any of them get enforced and how stringent are the consequences/penalties?  Pretty poor if you ask me.  But here he is looking to have yet another ‘ineffective’ law passed and left just sitting on the books, a bunch of black letters on a white foolscap meaning nothing.

I’m aware of his love of and caring for animals, I understand and agree with his reasoning (we have five dogs, four cats and had every one of them spayed or neutered)…but government getting in my face is becoming constant and extremely annoying.  Seatbelts, smoking, child-rearing, airbags, trans-fats forbidden (not yet nationwide but…wait!) and that’s only to name a very few.  Sure, most would argue that seatlbelts and airbags have been a good thing and maybe they have…for whom?  Not necessarily me although I will admit that hasn’t been proven yet…I just hope in my case they are never called into use.  I’m short…short enough that I figure in an accident a seatbelt will either decapitate me or, being a woman, provide an instant, unwanted and unnecessary mastectomy.  At better than middle-age what do I do…get a booster seat?  Airbags…I drive a compact vehicle (and now the sub-compact) and only a few inches prevents me from having the steering wheel branded on my torso.  Bad enough in my Corolla with just front airbags.  In the Smart I’m surrounded by them…great concept but should I live through their activation can I sue for assault and battery?  ”They” say sit with ten inches between steering wheel and breastbone.  Okay…but they didn’t tell me where I could buy a pair of platform-soled shoes with which to do this.  Pedal extensions?  I’ve had pedal extensions put on a van I once owned…the van was a necessity in my life at the time hence no choice but pedal extensions.  They worked well…except when, every once in a while driving down the road one of them would loosen (usually the brake pedal) and fall off.  Scary experience.  Short people are at high risk of fatality or serious injury with airbags in particularl but can we disable them?  Well, yes…and void my insurance.  Rock and hard place.

Child-rearing….were I to be raising a child now I’d be an automatic criminal for I believe a well-placed, one shot whack on the rear end (and rear-end ONLY) serves a very good purpose.  The law doesn’t think so…nor do nosey neighbours.  Or, come to think of it, shoppers who are already irate with a screaming, misbehaving child but have no problem reporting someone for taking matters in hand and a mom then being accused of child abuse.  And the child grows, gets older, non-manageable at home or school, then what?  Taken into govt. care…or custody…and the same nosey neighbours whisper “I blame the parents…they let them just do what they liked…”     

Trans-fats…not good, I’m the first to agree and if I put them in my mouth it’s very, very rare but to make a law restaurants are banned from employing their use?  So people who indulge in such foods are not stupid…they are making their own choice which they, surely, have every right to do.  Someone who owns a restaurant surely has every right to have the kind of restaurant he or she wants and if that means using trans-fats what right does anyone have of telling them they can’t?  A bit like the smoking bans…people decide where they want to eat or drink and they decide for a myriad of reasons.  They are at just as much liberty to choose NOT to patronize an establishment if it isn’t to their OWN liking or needs…not big brother to be an equalizer.

And now the cats and dogs.  Yes, great concept and even better if everyone had access to either free or very low cost spaying/neutering services but it’s NOT anyone else’s business to decide that for them and their animals.  It’s NOT anyone’s business to demand that I…or anyone…do this to our pets.  We did…for puppy control and health reasons as the dogs age and become prone to illnesses specifically affecting those organs.  We advocate doing so…key word being advocate   but a law requiring it?  Wonder if, lo those many years ago, when Mr. Barker was breeding dogs himself, he would have agreed to such a law affecting his right to make such decisions?   And the best of British luck to anyone trying to enforce this.

We aren’t quite living “1984″…yet.  Won’t be too long, though.

She arrived just over a week ago and we expected to bring her home around the middle of August.  During dinner Thursday evening we got the call and heard the magic words…”When can you come pick her up?”  And the next 24hrs. were a frenzy…okay…it seemed like they were.

“She” is our brand new (in more ways than one) Smart car, reserved over a year ago.  At the time of reservation we didn’t know how soon to expect delivery though aware it would take some months.  The company…SmartUSA…were really great about keeping us informed, up to date with progress etc. and their most recent timetable for delivery was a 90-day window, sometime between August-October.  We understood…reluctantly…and just hoped it would be the sooner of that ninety day period than the later.  And then, a few weeks ago, correspondence from what will be our dealership…the car was ‘on the water’!  Yaaaaaaaaayyy!  Couple of weeks or so later…it’s now in port.  So I’m thinking around the middle of August we’ll get the call…she’s ready.  To get that call Thursday evening was more fun, more exciting than winning the lotto…well, okay…a barrel of monkeys.

Yes…we wanted to run get her first thing Friday but that was out of the question.  I had my session at “cardiac college”, my other half had work and it was just too short notice, seemed like, to cancel one and get her assistant manager to fill in for the other.  We had to arrange a car rental.   Knowing we’d either have to go to Maryland or PA dealership, I’d suggested we simply rent a car for the one way trip.  We had friends who volunteered to take us either place but then, if they would be on their own driving back that didn’t seem right and we knew one of us would choose to ride back with her.  At the same time, we both wanted to ride back together in the new ‘baby’.  Rental at the time seemed the only option.  Hah!  Easier said than done.  We checked the various car rental companies and found most closed at noon on Saturdays…that wouldn’t work for us because we couldn’t get up to Annapolis before 4p.m.  Ooops…All Change!  How about Friday…the dealership would be open until 8pm Friday, car rental agencies later also;  I could keep my appt. and S/O could maybe make alternative arrangements at work.  Sounded like a plan but could do nothing to solidify it til Friday morning.

On my way to Beebe I called my other half…she had called the dealership and we were good to go for later in the day.  That was the good news.  The bad news was she had found no-one would rent us a car for the one-way, short duration rental.  My groan followed by silence forced her to give away the surprise she had decided on…a limo!  LOLOL!  Cool!  It was coming for us at 12:30.  So I rushed through my cardiac rehab session…telling them ahead of time my BP was probably going to be as scattered as I was about that time (it was)…on my home by 11:40 and munching on the sandwich waiting for me at home by noon.  The limo arrived early and when the driver/owner asked what model car we were going to get first thing he said when we told him was…”I know this is presumptuous of me but can I drive it round the parking lot when we get there?  I love those cars but never driven one!”   Anyway, we had a luxurious, stressfree ride to Annapolis, arriving to see our little beauty sitting by the showroom entrance.  Hard to miss…apart from the unique design she is bright yellow with black.  The limo driver was actually first to drive her, then S/O, paperwork completed, last minute tips and advice then off we headed homeward.

The most peculiar thing…the Smart car is only 8 and 1/2 feet long (actually shorter than a Mini though certainly taller) but riding in it sure doesn’t give you the sense of driving in a small car.  I drive a Corolla and my sense of size and space was actually greater in the Smart.  Mind you, when we’d get out and gaze fondly at her we had to laugh like maniacs…she is dinky.  We took a pic of her next to the limo we took up there…hahahahaha!  Had that limo had side sliding doors we could easily have loaded the Smart inside (with lots of room to spare) and carried her home!  Coming off the Bay Bridge there was just one ‘moment’ when we were between a big panel truck and an eighteen wheeler and felt like we were the mustard in the middle of the sandwich (or could be) and yet it was nothing like either of us thought it might be.  We started out from the dealership with three quarters of a tank gas.  Arrived home near Long Neck, DE and the needle hadn’t even moved.  Now THAT is worthy of ROFLMAO…really.  It took us almost twice as long to get home as it is to drive up to Annapolis. Almost four hours on the return. First, of course, there is no smoking in the new car but, since we are quitting anyway, that wasn’t much of a hardship at all.  Next rule…NO eating.  Can’t have it smelling of greasy burgers, fries or tacos.  This meant we made stops and making stops meant making new “friends”…:).  And we never had to field…or hear…one negative or mocking comment.  I have to say that was a big part of the fun…not prone to inflated ego yesterday we just let it rip for a day.  We were waved at, grinned at, given umpteen “thumbs up”.  If there was any disappointment it was this (and minor)…there are three models of Smart…the Pure, Pure Passion and the Pure Cabriolet.  We opted for the Passion and the extra ‘niceties’ then added a few more but the Passion has a moonroof which we have sorely missed since the demise of our Fore-Runner.  Only problem is this one doesn’t open.  Not a big deal and maybe just as well…and at least we can still see the moon and stars above us on night drives.

 I did stop and pick up a few odds and ends of groceries at Trader Joe’s which amounted to two bags filled.  Didn’t think we had room to load them in the car….nah, of course we did.  Geez, we had two bags of groceries and a  beach bag in back with room to spare for at least another two grocery bags…who needs more? 

Anyway, far as we know, there is one other yellow Smart in the Rehoboth area and a black Smart in Lewes.  Should you see us driving by looking like we are having way too much fun, wave!  We are thrilled to wave back!    

All we can say is “Thank you for the music”, Abba!  My partner and I did something almost unprecedented last night…went to a movie, a real movie.  Well, I’ve wanted to see the Broadway production of “Mamma Mia” since feet hit the boards but not the easiest thing for us to do.  I remember a couple of years ago wishing aloud…upon hearing another great review of the musical…that one day soon they’d do the movie.  Not the same thing, quite…but enough.  I have to confess I really don’t even care for musicals.  Love a great movie, love theatre when it’s drama, farce, anything but musical but this was ABBA!!  LOLOL…I’ve loved Abba’s music since I first heard “Fernando” in the mid-70’s, bought all their albums (remember those big black vinyl discs before CD?)…even a second, Spanish, version of their gold hits.  When I finally heard about the movie version it was a long wait but, finally, last night was THE night.  

As I said, we don’t go to movies.  We buy or rent DVD’s…or choose “On Demand”…sit on our comfortable furniture with popcorn, beverage of choice (for me a ‘biggie’ since the cinemas haven’t gotten round to selling coffee) in front of our own big screen…usually seeing two movies for the price of one at the theatre.  We’ve heard the horror stories of what it costs to go to a movie theatre these days and it just never seemed like a better value than we had at home.  It actually wasn’t quite that bad, though.   Afraid we’d have to stand in line forever and then the movie sold out, I bought our tickets online before 8am yesterday morning (THAT’s new!! Technology at it’s finest!), we got there as had been suggested…forty-five minutes before showtime to collect our tickets and get in line.  My other half so excited about ‘finally going to a movie theatre’ she refused dinner before leaving so she could enjoy the appetite for a junk food nosh…buttered movie popcorn (B-I-G!), a drink she could swim in and she did get me a box of  Dots and Milk Duds since I couldn’t decide which I wanted.  (She didn’t even mind that she was going to see “Mamma Mia” instead of “The Dark Knight”!)   I really leaned toward the Milk Duds…choc covered caramel/toffee has always been a favourite of mine but Dots a close second and I hadn’t had either in yonks.  I soon found out why…remember the recent post on Affordable Dentistry??  After popping two Milk Duds in to savour…and spending the next half hour trying to ‘unstick’ them from my new teeth…ahem…I said a sad, silent farewell to ever enjoying those morsels again.  The Dots weren’t much better.  At any rate, prices weren’t as bad as we’d anticipated.  Vanity, at times, keeps me from taking advantage of a senior discount.  I mean, for one thing I just barely make senior status chronologically and mentally….ummm, probably never…but I figured it might be worth it yesterday so getting the tickets online cost $18.  The dinner of popcorn, soda and unchewable candies was $12.50….less than we’d expected…so for thirty bucks we had a fine evening out.  And it was worth every penny and more!

The story line was insipid but the music and the ’camp-ish’ style more than made up for that even if it wasn’t the collective voices of Abba.  My particular favourite scenes involved any which featured Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski and Julie Walters (especially Julie Walters).  I laughed and lip-synched my way through almost two hours of delight…would have sang along, loudly, but couldn’t quite face the embarrassment of being thrown out by an irate audience.  Had my fellow movie-goers been up dancing in the aisles, however, I certainly would have joined them.  As it is, as the curtain call was being shown during the final credits, we got up to leave and I just couldn’t…so I stood at the end of rail going towards the exit, still lip-synching but adding some fancy footwork.  Soon I was joined by a woman about my age doing likewise and next came another woman who had looked around, saw us there, joined in.  It was really hard to leave…lolol. 

So…if you know who Abba is (or even if you don’t) and ever enjoyed their music, go see the movie.  Just a couple of hours spent watching a movie…or, as in my case…reliving moments in a life where an Abba song is embedded with personal memories of time, place, events, special moments and having so much laughter (and a few tears) doing it.  Now I’m waiting for the release of the DVD to add to our collection but, in the meantime, I have my own dance party to attend.  Last night I didn’t come home to look out my Abba collection for nothing.     The Dancing Queen is reborn!

UPDATE: 07/20/08

Listening to a couple of reviews of the movie and seeing it’s being seriously panned, I’d just add this.  If you were/are an ABBA fan and would feel cheated not hearing their voices…don’t go.  Serious critic of “Dancing With The Stars”?  I’d stay home.  And in the words of one reviewer “definitely for you…if you are seriously seeking anti-enlightenment”.  You know what…every once in a while two hours of fluff is good for the soul;  it’s entertainment.  Sheer fluffy entertainment with a capital E.   That’s all it is…nothing more, nothing less than “feel good”.  Uplifting gives us pleasant respite from enlightning, n’est pas?  ;)    

Thought I’d like to share this web-site with you, today.   http://www.karmatube.org:80/        I subscribe to the email newsletter and was interested in the lead story/video which then linked to the Friends Without Borders site, providing a little more information.  Terrific idea and a concept with which I’m not unfamiliar.

I was part of a career-military family for over twenty years, raising a daughter in this interesting…sometimes challenging…environment.  She was born into it, which meant her childhood was changing schools, friends, cultures, countries every two years or so.  Some may think this is difficult, hard on a child to accept the making and leaving of friends and most times knowing they will never encounter those friends again.  Very little of such a life ‘lives into perpetuity’ but, you know, it really is not a bad thing if you have the right attitude…and most of those kids do if we, as parents lead a positive way.  Sometimes, however, it’s our children who lead us.  By the time our daughter was five years old she had lived in three countries and just arrived in a fourth where she was about to attend kindergarten.  Aside from the last four years of her education, every school she attended was a DoD school, (an American school on the military post at which we were stationed) but, for the most part, her after-school activities were with our neighbour children…none of them class/school mates…for we chose to live in the communities of our host country.  So I watched this video of Friends Without Borders and reran the ‘video’ in my mind of my daughter’s childhood and friends.  How easy it is for children…how easy it can be for us to learn from them that a smile, laughter, generosity and the willingness of children (perhaps even the necessity?) to have and be friends with one another.

Within only a day or two of our arrival of these countries I watched as two 5 year old children, neither speaking each other’s language, approached each other, communicated and played happily for several hours…becoming each other’s ‘best friend’ before that day was over.  It began with an honest, open look;  a smile.  One word spoken in English the other in Italian, two shakes of the head with confused looks then a shrug of the shoulders as they began to play.  Oh, they chattered back and forth, laughed a lot…and I learned.  It wasn’t long before each was learning the other’s language, arguing, best friends becoming “I don’t like her today” but, as children do the fall-out lasted all of ten minutes, maybe an hour at most.  Other local children were soon pulled into the camaraderie, the families became friends and we shared birthday parties, family celebrations, traditional holidays.  We didn’t share religious beliefs but we were privileged to be invited…and accept…to participate in each other’s holy days observances, traditions and celebrations. 

Leaving our friends, their culture and country was always a sad occasion for all of us despite the fact that we adopted and took with us many of their traditions.  We never saw any of them again and certainly never will, now, but we have never forgotten them or the feelings we have for them.  These days I hear a great deal of criticism, sometimes mockery, often patronization of other countries, their way of life, what they “have” or “don’t have”, and it’s just sad because those with the biggest voices in that respect have probably never taken real time to get to know our fellow travellers on our life’s journey.  Maybe never watched two 5 year olds, strangers and literally foreign to each other ignore all of that and become instant friends.            

We have Doctors Without Borders, Friends Without Borders…wonder what the chances are that someday Nations (Humans) Without Borders might be a reality?  One can hope.      

Aha!  Proud owners, tired users, of the new Wii-Fit.  Apparently, just as with the Wii-Sports, we were fortunate having pre-ordered before the release date…arriving two days following it’s release.  I was actually frustrated when it came while I was in hospital, not knowing when I’d be able to try it out but I did, about two weeks later.  Now, besides tennis, bowling, golf and baseball it’s running, walking a tightrope, hula-hooping (my favourite…lol), yoga postures, headering soccer balls (and shoes and panda heads!).  I have tried a little of the push-ups but I stall…not my forte although I probably will force myself eventually, once I get over the fear of being stuck forever in a jack-knife or wrists buckling on a simple push-up.  Worst problem is the rhythm exercises.  Hey, I can dance, beat out a rhythm on imaginary drums but this exercise gets my feet all tangled.  It does, however, afford great exercise for the lungs…at least for my partner who finds watching my attempts hysterical.  Umm…well, that and my Sonny Bono impersonation as I fly down the ski-slope, not just missing every gate but hitting all of them.  My pay-backs are her attempts at hula-hooping and yoga.  ROFL!

This does appear safer for the furniture, dogs, cats…and us…than the Sports edition.  No spills…physical or otherwise, no bumps or bruises, yet.  And you really do get something of a work out…perhaps not the same as a gym.  I wouldn’t know as a gym is the last place you would ever find me but an hour’s worth of this and you can break a pretty good sweat and enjoy a pleasant tired feeling.  That’s not even going by me…but Ms. Activity (my partner) who can’t sit still for five minutes at any time, more athletic than I am (way more!) and never seems to wear down.  Plus…plus…never breaks a sweat because no matter the weather, unless it’s 90 degrees never even feels anything but cold.  One thing’s for sure…the balance board (the integral component to this ‘game’) is a very interesting piece of equipment…figure an hour to actually exercise and fifteen minutes to marvel at the technology.  Seriously, while checking the web recently for Wii-Fit reviews (and not finding many, probably since it’s so new) I did find quite a number on the Wii-Sports and many by rehab centres.  One is actually calling it’s programme Wii-Hab and has the real elderly…into their 90’s, in fact…being more active than they’ve been in years plus enjoying things they’ve been unable to do for a very long time.  Hey, it’s better than Richard Simmons!     

Anyway, we’re thinking it might be time to consider the Olympics for 2012.