15 More Views Of Childhood Poverty In The United States

Mississippi Pot Roast

What starts out like this:

Eight hours later ends up like this!

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Week ~ December 23rd to December 29th

10 Views of Child Poverty in the U.S.

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Week ~ December 16th to December 22nd

New Lego Building: Belles Femmes!

From humble beginning to....complete concept.

And now some images of it in the larger context.

Interiors reveal commerce like this couple examining wedding rings.

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Week ~ December 9th to December 15th

Rendered again with the addition of Dr. Louie Crew...born on this day in 1936. Happy Birthday!

Fiscal Cliff 101.01

As we approach the "Fiscal Cliff," something that virtually every politician thinks is a bad thing, I am compelled to ask why Republicans are so intransigent when it comes to accepting a broad solution that distributes the pain of reconciling our books in an equitable way? What is their bottom line?

In the Senate, they are led by an ideological fool, Mitch McConnell, who shames the great politicians from his state like, Wendell Ford, by being nothing more or less than a partisan shill. In the House, where the action actually is, you have John Boehner, a career politico who changes colors as quickly as he applies some new bronzer and can't control is party and so caves with every tea party whim or command to dance that comes from his Majority Whip, Eric Cantor. The Republicans are just one Hot Mess.

So what do we need to get past this fiduciary abyss? A leader! And finally, get that again, FINALLY, we have one. I applaud you President Obama for rejecting the REPUBLICAN faux plan. Why they insist on solving our crisis on the backs of the poor, elderly, and weakest segments of our society is just wicked. The rich have too long enjoyed their advantage. They have taken and taken and taken without the slightest sense of shame. What was a gift for them has become the status quo and that's just not right. Too few have too much at the very expense of the viability of the nation. It's time to pull back on these reigns, come what may.

What I'm Reading #51

Descent is a collection of poems from the poet Kathryn Stripling Byer. Byer writes in a style that is accessible and often autobiographical telling us the stories and meanings of her life. Her poems are lovely in their intimacy and familiar in the way they take a moment, a memory and tie it to something larger, something universal. I really loved this book and would wish that everyone had a chance to walk with me through the quiet woods of its pages.

What I'm Reading #50

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson is another tour de force of ideas ostensibly and sometimes tenuously attached to the idea of his country house in England--but never-mind because it's classic Bryson all the way with more wonderful anecdotes and fascinating ideas that any one sitting with the book will allow you ponder comfortably. You will want to savor this one, hopefully in the company of a computer with google at the go!

Ginger Bread Lives!

16 Views Of Sligo Creek Park

Jonathan Hardy 1940-2012 ~ RIP

Just learned today of the passing into ancestry of New Zealand actor Jonathan Hardy. He died back in July. I knew him as the voice of Dominar Rygel on the Sci Fi television series "Farscape". May his legacy continue to live on.

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No Tree Like A Purple Tree

Happy Holidays!

Soup Saturday

Made soup today! Tuscan Bean & Rice Soup with Sweet Italian Sausage and Shrimp.

Add to this Onion, Green Beans, Jalapeno, Tomatoes, Carrots, Celery, Zucchini, Shallots, Portobello Mushrooms; with Thyme, Sage, Rosemary, Oregano, and Basil. There is Rice and Red Beans, of course.

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Week ~ December 2nd to December 8th