Both Sides of the Fence
A Tosa resident since 1991, Christine walks the dog, cooks but avoids housework, writes and reads, and enjoys the company of friends and strangers. Her job takes her around the state, learning about people's health. A Quaker (no, they don't wear blue hats or sell oatmeal or motor oil), she has been known to stand on both sides of the political and philosophic fence at the same time, which is very uncomfortable when you think about it. She writes about pretty much whatever stops in to visit her busy mind at the moment. One reader described her as "incredibly opinionated but not judgmental." That sounds like a good thing to strive for!
Celebrating a life: shamrocks and soljes
The Norwegian solje pin commemorates special occasions. This is a wedding solje, given to a bride by her husband on the morning of her first day as a wife.
My mother, Doris, died on April Fool's Day, also the birthday of her oldest grandson, Casey. As deaths go, this was a good one: more about that later.
What isn't lost
Americans don't much like to talk about death. Which is odd, because it is both huge and universal. So I will write once more about my mother's dying.
What women really want (no boys allowed)
Let's face it: what women really want is jeans and bras that fit. Also swimming suits, but that may be beyond the realm of the possible.
If you haven't discovered zafu yet, you're in for a treat. It just takes a few minutes of answering questions about how clothes usually fit (too loose here, too tight there) and you'll get a report ranking your best fit brands in a whole range of prices.
Wasting our time: tonight's presidential debate
It's 45 minutes into the Democratic debate between Clinton and Obama, and not a single important question has been raised.
Instead, Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulus have continued to grill the candidates about their ministers, their faulty recollections, and their failure to wear flag pins.
When words don't mean much
Liz and I were watching the news. The story was about preemptive reduction of cruising in the streets of Milwaukee--stopping it before anything bad actually happens. A police officer intoned seriously into the off-screen microphone, "The problem with cruising is that it leads to stopping."
We looked at each other and burst out laughing. That's sort of like saying, "The problem with life is that it leads to death." It's true, I guess, but what can you do with a comment like that?
Politics: write your own caption
I love this photo of Wauwatosa Mayor Jill Didier's swearing in. It's so . . . lively and unconventional. And it practically cries for inventive captioning.
Judge rescues woman from attackers
Child, husband, try to stop mom
The Grandmother Hypothesis
What are you supposed to do you do when you’re not raising kids anymore, anyway? The easy answers to that question aren't always very satisfying, as I was reminded today listening to a Wisconsin Public Radio call-in show.
