Past Blogs

Now is the quintessence, the epitome and the apex. Summer is at its fullest, and I intend to luxuriate in every day of it.

Look around wherever you go. Summer is announcing its presence with flamboyance. From our vantage point, tucked between the lake, the fields and the pines, the scene is a feast for all the senses.

My promise to limit my weekly blog to a minute read precludes a complete inventory of high summer symptoms, but here is a start:

• The Purple Martins are swooping, chirping and feeding their babies from dawn to dusk.
• Ice cream has never tasted better.
• All the cats have extended their afternoon naps, and Taj sleeps on the cool marble table.
• The day lilies are a riot of orange and yellow blossoms.
• Farmer Dennis’ glossy green corn field across the road grows visibly taller each day.
• Monarchs are omnipresent in the yard, flitting from blossom to blossom.
• The sun is still setting late allowing for long after dinner porch sitting.

The marketers who constantly tell us to buy tons of stuff do not want us to live in the moment. Huge  profits can be made if they can train us to buy things in anticipation of future events.

I plan on saying “no” to the current back to school promotions. I’m simply too busy enjoying summer.

At times, I fantasize on things that should be invented. These thoughts usually are triggered by a messy, dirty or frustrating experience.

My latest idea is a winner for us klutzy people: car upholstery with a camouflage pattern of coffee stains. Fabric in shades of brown and tan with subtle overall splotch designs would ease the pain of all those car coffee spills.

My next proposed invention is for drivers who live in climates with masses of bugs in summer and tons of snow, slush and salt in winter, places where cars stay clean and shiny about ten days a year.

The solution is obviously the home garage car wash. Just drive in your own garage and press a button as you leave. The car is washed and blown dry, ready for a gleaming exit the next morning. Why owners of McMansions have not demanded this as a standard feature is beyond me.

My last suggestion is for a small, inexpensive yet desperately needed invention, a glue bottle that doesn’t glue its own top shut every time it is used. This is a minor frustration for everyone that uses glue. For us art teachers it is a major and dangerous frustration. Imagine 30 kids all excited to start an art project of cutting and gluing. Now imagine 30 glue bottles solidly glued shut. We teachers resort to scissor blades, bent paper clips, knives and other sharp and ineffective weapons to open the bottles as quickly as possible.

The biggest educational initiative in our schools now is S.T.E.M. – science, technology, engineering and math. Get going on some inventions, kids. And remember, we don’t need more stuff in America. We just need stuff that works.

My husband and I drove from Denver to Taos last Friday. After flying to Denver, we unfortunately got the rental car agent from hell, resulting in a late start for a long drive.

We arrived in Taos, the counter culture Mecca of America at 10:00 P.M. We were both hungry and looking forward to dinner. To our amazement, the hotel reception lady told us only two restaurants in town were still serving food. The first one we tried was already closed. When we walked into the second one, The Taos Ale House, the bartender was announcing the last call. We quickly decided to order wine, thus getting more alcohol in the one drink we were each lucky to be served. The available dinner turned out to be French fries.

While we were eating, a middle aged hippie couple with their quiet dog beside them came in and ordered two beers at the bar. They got their beer but were informed that “The dog’s got to go.”

As the trio passed our table on their way to a bench by the curb, I said, “Wish your dog could have stayed.”

The man gave me a smile and said, “People are the only kinks in the universe, the plants and the animals are all good.”

That Taosano made our day. His remark was completely nonsensical but true. In the vastness of the universe, humans are beyond insignificant. But in our human universe, our lovely, blue planet, his remark hit the target.

A dear friend just gave us a marvelous present. It weighed five pounds and was in a plastic bag secured with a twisty tie. Our gift was a bag of sand.

Many of you know that my husband and I live on a beach. We have tons of sand in our front yard, 150 feet of sandy beach and a 70 foot high sandy cliff. Isn’t giving us sand akin to giving Eskimos ice?

Good friends know each other well, and our friend knows that we are sand connoisseurs. We feel that every beach is unique and every beach is worth exploring. So a present of Sanibel sand, the Cadillac of sand, was a treat. We were as happy as kids with a new sandbox.

Since Sanibel Island is among the world’s top shell beaches, we knew that our sand held treasures. Here’s what we found when we got out the sifter.

For anyone who finds this all unecological, relax. Sand is just little itty bitty rocks, and as part of the rock cycle it is constantly moving and changing. Shells (many of which turn into sedimentary rocks) are a renewvable resource. Consult a mollusk if you are in doubt.

I don’t know if it is a blessing or a curse that I am a realist. I am not able to whitewash facts, be a Pollyanna or pretend the real world isn’t there. Those bread and circuses don’t work for me.

I have faced the fact that my favorite holiday, The Fourth of July, has ceased to be my favorite holiday. I cannot celebrate democracy when it has been replaced by an oligarchy.

Since I have no desire to wallow in negativity or write a dismal blog, I will share a thought provoking question.

My husband and I were at The Carter Center this spring. President Jimmy Carter, ninety years old and filled with vigor and hope, was addressing our group. He asked us, “How much money do you think I raised for my 1976 Presidential campaign?” Almost everyone in the room had lived through that year, but no hands were raised.

“I’ll tell you,” President Carter said. “I raised nothing. We had a dollar donation on our taxes then, and both Gerald Ford and I opted to take that money.”

America can be saved if everyone of us starts screaming loudly and voting clearly that we do not define “freedom of speech” as a few people spending billions to buy themselves a President, Senator or Representative.

We can get out the word, like President Carter did, that there used to be a better way to do things. We have not yet reached the stage when speaking truth to power lands us in jail. I will offer that as my positive thought for the Fourth. Spread the word and light a sparkler.