Another word for freedom....

Wednesday, July 4th is tomorrow... a day off for me and scores of other people. However, the men and women of the US armed forces guarding our borders, shores and honor (?) will not be having a day of rest, nor hot dogs or ice cream with family or friends - their fireworks will be much louder and deadlier, and some may not see another July 4th. Lets also remember that millions of people are starving, livinig in poverty and have no voice - no freedom.

It's also my grand-nephews 4th birthday...HB2U - Ben !!!!

Yep, that's me and my guy. We took a flight around Mt St Helens on Saturday last. Then, having circled the crusty gray monolith twice, while marveling at the rough terrain, the 26 year old log jams, and the deep ravines from molten lava - we flew west into the setting sun up the Columbia River to Astoria and south to Seaside, OR before heading east and home. It was a great day to be aloft, although a bumpy ride over the Coastal range, it was great to be in the air again. I acquired yet another 20 min of flight time for my log book....I love flying, wish I did more of it.

Yes, I'm at work, and writing on my blog. It's lunchtime for me - my boss is out of the country, the stacks of folders and tasks to do are slowly receding. I am enjoying the quiet and solitude of the office and looking forward to being off.

To get back to my topic...freedom..seems the prez believes in it too...especially for his kiss ass buddies. As one of the late night comics noted...even Paris Hilton had to serve her time. I mean really, the man lied! Bill Clinton was up for impeachment for lying...it is just unbelievable that the man who is suppose to lead this country (well, now that I see those words - HA, I laugh!) and who has proven time and again that he is just the front man for those who are really running our nation - the power group from the former bush presidency - has not also been subject of a congressional inquiry. Amazing! simply amazing, he is such an idiot stick figure. He can not put two clear, concise, coherent sentences together, even when they are written down for him. It's embarrassing....and oh so wrong.

Enjoy your 4th, I'm sleeping in and taking a moment to remember how I got to where I am today.

June 2 2007

Summer has arrived early! It got to the low 90’s this week with no rain in sight…Rose Festival and the parade usually brings rain but so far, not a drop. The photos are from late April early May when most of it was just beginning to bloom…I’ll add a June 2 photo soon just to see the difference….

The birdhouse hanging from the arbor is the home of 2 BlackCapped Chickadees and their newborns! Oh my gosh, it is so fun watching them fly in with food and out again in search of it! I love my yard! I saw a Monarch butterfly today, cut 5 gorgeous Billy Graham roses for the dining room...the hummingbirds are stopping by the rose arbor, the foxglove and fire pokers as well as the feeders we have out...it's great, but just too early for the heat wave that we have going on....

Work is a four letter word...although I am more comfortable in my position it is still exceedingly stressful. I have discovered that I am not that enamored with doing this type of work...I did not go to school for 4 years to be doing this job..yet I have not a clue as to what it is I do want to do...

I still dream of writing, yet I don't take the time to do that...I dream of retiring....yes, that would be the best and I also dream of going back to school and getting more educattion! Not enough money or time -

I just celebrated 29 years clean and sober ....now that is something to be proud of! And I am. I have a great life. I have some great friends, I have a wonderful sponsor in Doris, some nutty women that I sponsor and a husband who loves me and whom I love. I needlepoint, read and go to the movies....life is great!I just wish I had more time to do those things...but for the time being I must work...it could be worst - I could be unemployed, drunk and loaded...so NOT!

World Hunger - World Peace

This photo is from "thehungersite.com".... I visit this sight each day and click on the bar to add my cup of food to the daily total, (Behavioral reward system of training definitely in place here) then I head to the breast cancer tab and click there for a 'free mammogram' for some low-income woman, then to the literacy tab, click and I've sent a book to a child.... I haven't yet succumbed to the rainforest and animal rescue tabs....but I started with just the hunger tab and look where I am today!!! I click on hunger because I can not imagine what it must be like to be hungry, truly-unbelievably-rack-o-bones-dying from lack of food in a world of plenty. I now click on breast cancer because my family has experienced that and it is treatable if one can be screened and in this man's world --- where males are, by simply being males - entitled to many health insurance covered screenings/tests/exams that women are still unable to obtain unless they have extremely good insurance --- and if they suffer from breast cancer, lose a breast or die from it BECAUSE they couldn't afford the screening, then SHAME on US (as in the United States of America)....so I click the bar. I've just recently started clicking on the literarcy tab because I believe education is the key to self-empowerment....for EVERYONE....not just white european males, but white/black/brown/red, males/females, rich/poor or in-between. I can not imagine my life without books...knowledge is power, but books can take you anywhere you want to go, regardless of where you are when you read them. When I was a child, books were my escape from a childhood filled with horrors, in the middle of the night - I was Nancy Drew and Clara Barton (civil war nurse). As I got older I saw the horrors of racial tension and divide in our nation through the eyes of Southern blacks (oh, to rember the title of that book- I'll remember)

Sorry, I digress. The point of the photo at the time is the saying - "It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace" - Aristolte....a brilliant man....organize peace - if that were the simple thing to do in today's world...currently the government is lead by a man who can not string a coherent sentence together on his own....the man is an imbecile...today the news reported more soldiers killed in Iraq. When will it end?

We have absolutely no business fighting a war in Iraq or any place else. Why are there not more people speaking out about the war and the need to bring these boys home....? Why is the news playing it down?

I say, lets organize peace here at home and keep our sticky fingers out of the country pie somewhere else....do we not already have enough problems to resolve right here at home?

Peace......