Sunday Reflections: Anti-Choice Terrorism

The wheels of the anti-choice movement have been set in motion once again with the election of President Obama. The protests at Notre Dame and the murder of Dr. George Tiller this morning while he was serving as an usher in his church are reminders that terrorists walk among us.

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, issued this statement:

George Tiller was a Mass-Murderer, says Randall Terry -- We Grieve That he Did Not Have Time to Properly Prepare his Soul to Face God
Contact: Sandy Veritas, 904-687-9804

WASHINGTON, May 31 /Christian Newswire/ -- Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, led protests against George Tiller's late-term abortion clinic in Wichita in 1991.

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue states, "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

"Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."

Randall Terry is available for comment at 904-687-9804

This was not an isolated incident of terrorism against women's clinics. These clinics had been receiving envelopes of white powder long before 9/11. What would happen if Al-Qaeda had a "watch list" on a website that targeted specific US citizens? Why do "Christians" turn their heads to this kind of violence against women and those who serve them?

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Dr. Tiller; the church members who were traumatized by witnessing this vicious, premeditated murder; to the staff in women's clinics across the country; and, the US Marshals who will be protecting these clinics as ordered by Attorney General Holder. Tonight I will pray for protection from God's believers and followers.

Southern Reading 2009 Challenge

Last night I was watching a C-SPAN Book TV discussion by publishing company CEOs on the challenges presented by digital books....Wait. I realize for a single woman this is just shy of being caught at the grocery story on a Saturday night with a cart full of ice cream and cat food. With that acknowledged...

Some of the CEOs were not confident that many books were actually sold through recommendations by people on the Internet. This morning, Pam at Sidewalk Shoes introduced me to the Southern Reading 2009 Challenge and, with that, I chose three books to purchase from the suggestions posted by Maggie Reads and the other participants. Therefore, I must politely disagree with those CEOs, at least where I am concerned.

Born in Mississippi and living in Alabama, I am excited to expand my reading list of Southern writers with the selection of these three books:

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson




The Help by Kathryn Stockett





Black Boy by Richard Wright










Other books of interest by writers from the South:

To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise by Bethany Moreton
A Family's Affairs (Voices of the South) by Ellen Douglas
My Cat Spit McGee by Willie Morris

Read about Southern Reading 2009 Challenge here.

Weekend Cat Blogging #208

Oh, no! Yoga class is in 20 minutes. ~Vincent

This week's Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by Sir Tristan Tabby Cat Longtail at Tabbylicious.

Feel Good Friday

I H8 Math

Calvin and Hobbes is copyright © Bill Watterson and
Universal Press Syndicate. Calvin and Hobbes are registered
trademarks of Bill Watterson and Universal Press Syndicate.

Numbers cause me to progress quickly from shiver to convulsion. My mind goes blank and my palms start to sweat. My heart races and I develop a migraine aura. I can become immobilized.

I can tell time, I can count change, I can keep up with the scores in a football game, and I can calculate clothing discounts in multiples of ten (I believe that is at about second grade level), but that is about it. I truly believe I have a better grasp of the universe than I do of mathematics. As Calvin eludes to above, it may be a faith thing and I lost my faith a long time ago.

Take "I H8 Math". It may sound phonetically clear but the number just looks so pathetic, as if it is trying to crash a literary party when it only reads tabloids. I H(eight) Math doesn't work, either. There must be letters, I say!!

Marty and Moose

Presenting, the many faces of Moose....



Educated Moose, Masters degree












Beach Moose, the hotter the better!











Happily married Moose









Angel Moose










Aviator Moose, with a barf bag










Smooching Moose








Good Friend Moose
(This stuffed moose is named Marty Wide-Eyes.)










Vacationing Moose - - Okay, that's an ass not a moose but Moose can be an ass about taking a vacation:-)








(Moose dolls may be purchased at Mooseville!)

WTF?

This could actually become a weekly post, my attempting to answer once again the question by my GOP friends of why the current GOP and their followers are made to look like "blathering idiots" by the media. From Think Progress today:

Krikorian: People should stop pronouncing Sotomayor’s name correctly.

Mark Krikorian of the right-wing Center for Immigration Studies blogs on the Corner today about his outrage over people “[d]eferring” to Sotomayor over the “unnatural pronunciation” of her own name:

Deferring to people’s own pronunciation of their names should obviously
be our first inclination, but there ought to be limits. Putting the emphasis on
the final syllable of Sotomayor is unnatural in English (which is why the
president stopped doing it after the first time at his press conference), unlike
my correspondent’s simple preference for a monophthong over a diphthong, and
insisting on an unnatural pronunciation is something we shouldn’t be giving in
to. [...]

[O]ne of the areas where conformity is appropriate is how your new
countrymen say your name, since that’s not something the rest of us can just
ignore, unlike what church you go to or what you eat for lunch. And there are
basically two options — the newcomer adapts to us, or we adapt to him. And
multiculturalism means there’s a lot more of the latter going on than there
should be.

What’s next? Should people with “unnatural” names “adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with“?

I think I could safely respond that reporting what is actually said and/or written by the people remaining in the current GOP needs no help from the media. They can just sit back and let them blow.

Defining Happiness

Untitled, ca. 1948-1949
Jackson Pollock

"If there is a state where the soul can find a resting-place secure enough to establish itself and concentrate its entire being there, with no need to remember the past or reach into the future, where time is nothing to it, where the present runs on indefinitely but this duration goes unnoticed, with no sign of the passing of time, and no other feeling of deprivation or enjoyment, pleasure or pain, desire or fear than the simple feeling of existence, a feeling that fills our soul entirely, as long as this state lasts, we can call ourselves happy, not with a poor, incomplete and relative happiness such as we find in the pleasures of life, but with a sufficient, complete and perfect happiness which leaves no emptiness to be filled in the soul." (emphasis by blogger, Simon Critchley, NYT)

~~ Jean Jaques Rousseau Reveries of a Solitary Walker

Ocean of Dharma - Love's Fool

Love.
What is love?
What is love.
Love is a fading memory.
Love is piercingly present.
Love is full of charm.
Love is hideously in the way.
Explosion of love makes you feel ecstatic.
Explosion of love makes you feel suicidal.
Love brings goodliness and godliness.
Love brings celestial vision.
Love creates the unity of heaven and earth.
Love tears apart heaven and earth.
Is love sympathy.
Is love gentleness.
Is love possessiveness.
Is love sexuality.
Is love friendship.
Who knows?
Maybe the rock knows,
Sitting diligently on earth,
Not flinching from cold snowstorms or baking heat.
O rock,
How much I love you:
You are the only lovable one.
Would you let me grow a little flower of love on you?
If you don't mind,
Maybe I could grow a pine tree on you.
If you are so generous,
Maybe I could build a house on you.
If you are fantastically generous,
Maybe I could eat you up,
Or move you to my landscape garden.
It is nice to be friends with a rock!

8 July 1975. TIMELY RAIN, pages 112 to 113.

Teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, taken from works published by Shambhala Publications, the Archive of his unpublished work in the Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.

A Big News Day

I needed to remind myself of sunshine; I haven't seen any in my town for awhile.

Don't you love to open your favorite news website and something is actually happening in the world that you care about? From Huffington Post.......

President Barack Obama tapped federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court on Tuesday, officials said, making her the first Hispanic in history picked to wear the robes of a justice.

Obama had said publicly he wanted a justice who combined intellect and empathy - the ability to understand the troubles of everyday Americans.

Intellect and empathy? Must be code words for socialism and abortion. Cue the alarmists.

California's Supreme Court on Tuesday will issue its ruling on whether the state's gay-marriage ban will stand, but the decision likely won't mark the end of the highly divisive matter.

Gay-rights groups and organizations that support traditional marriage have plans in place to press their case no matter how the court rules. Should the gay-marriage ban stand, some gay-rights groups are planning a ballot initiative to once again legalize gay marriage in either 2010 or 2012. If the ban falls, groups supporting traditional marriage say they will likely appeal to federal courts.

Oh no! Somebody call the Mormons and Fred Phelps. Cue the same people who hid behind the Bible and opposed women's rights and civil rights. The sky is falling.

From David Lightman/McClatchy (from May 5th):

Sen. Jeff Sessions is one hard-nosed Republican, and now he's going to be his party's chief spokesman grilling President Barack Obama's first nominee to the Supreme Court.

Looks like I'll be busy phoning his office this summer, as I have the pleasure of having Sessions as my senator. Wouldn't it be amazing if he actually did the right thing to help move the Republican party out of crazy land and back to what they could be?

Wait! I must be suffering from rainy seasonal affect disorder - not enough sunlight!

Intimacy Revisited

The second season of In Treatment ended tonight. Having been in therapy myself, I can say it is a fairly accurate depiction of therapy except with better dialogue, less tears, and a more handsome therapist.

Still.... I believe Paul had it right when he commented to Gina, his personal therapist, that people were only in therapy because they just needed to be loved. We need to know everything is going to be okay, that we're going to be okay. Honestly, we want those therapists to save us and they can't. It must be as frustrating to them as it is to those of us on the couch.

I related to Mia this season. She began talking about wanting a husband and a child to feel complete. What she really needed, of course, was emotional intimacy. A physical relationship, i.e., sex, is easy to find. I suppose I'm stating the obvious but emotional intimacy is so much harder for most of us.

My nirvana would be a sense of belonging. So many weeks were spent trying to find that comfortable place where I could just be me together with someone else who was important to me, a place to feel completely accepted, compassion if needed, support if needed, and be able to give it in return. I wanted that place with somewhere else where I could just exhale and it be okay.

I know I don't need someone else to complete me. Wherever I live, I make a comfortable place for me, a place for me to exhale. Why is it so hard to make that place with someone else?

Does a couple these days ever really achieve this? Maybe Paul will address this next season with some other lonely soul spinning their wheels when, in fact, they are just looking for someone to love and someone to love them in return. If we can't have this in reality, maybe we can have it in fiction. Maybe someone like Paul can "walk with us for a while".

Memorial Day 2009

"All we are saying is give peace a chance." John Lennon

"Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm dreamer, but I'm not the only one." John Lennon

"Some folks inherit star spangled eyes
Yeah, when they send you down to war
Well, when you ask them how much you should give
Yeah, it's always more, more, more " John Fogerty

This Memorial Day takes on added significance in light of recent history. As an example of how the War Party operates – unloading a fusillade of lies followed by a massive cover-up – the Iraq war is only the most recent in a long line of American interventions across the globe that were based on systematic deception.

During World War I, Americans were told that the Germans were bayoneting
babies, and Western newspapers were certain that the kaiser was plotting to parachute German troops into Montana. In the run-up to World War II, FDR said "the Yanks are not coming" – while working tirelessly behind the scenes to drag us into the conflict. The wars in Korea and Vietnam were supposedly fought for democracy against "godless communism," in spite of the fact that the authoritarian regimes we supported were brazenly repressive of their people.

Not much has changed since then. Today, we are told that we must fight
the "terrorists" – defined as anyone who opposes the U.S. government and its
plans to manage the world – and that this must be a war without end, without a
definable enemy, and without the moral and legal constraints that have governed
warfare and international relations in the modern era.

To buttress its case, the War Party claims that the 9/11 attacks changed everything, thus anything is permitted: torture, preventive detention, denial of habeas corpus, obsessive secrecy, spying on American citizens – the list of abuses disguised as defensive measures goes on and on.

Throughout our long post-9/11 nightmare, we've heard very little dissent from the American media, which has been cowed by our hectoring rulers into virtual silence and, often, active complicity. But Antiwar.com has been exposing the lies of the War
Party since 1995 – and it's essential that we continue our work as the "war on
terrorism" escalates, albeit under a new name.

Remember the war dead this Memorial Day, and recall the lies they died
for. ~ http://www.antiwar.com/

Remember the war dead. But, also remember the dead in spirit, the missing limbs, the extensive burns, the post-traumatic stress disorders, the nightmares, those robbed of their youth and promise, the broken families, the parentless children, those raped, those killed by friendly fire and by those pushed to beyond their brink of sanity, those discharged despite their qualifications because of who they love, the grieving parents, spouses, and children, and the promises of generations.

Honor the fallen and those in service every day by helping bring them home.

Work for a peaceful world.

Faces of the Fallen: Iraq and Afghanistan

Sunday Reflections: Typewriters

Religious sermons, high school term papers, college research papers, and letters home were typed on this old Underwood manual typewriter. I suppose this is why I take it with me every time I move.

When I was a child, I taught myself to type on this typewriter. I would pretend to be a secretary just like my older sister; it didn't occur to me at the time that I could be the boss. Later, I would help my father in the summer, typing church bulletins or just contributing noise by banging on these keys. I'd get on my bicycle and ride across the yard to my father's office, always pretending I was traveling to my terribly important job. If only I could have maintained that level of enthusiasm!

We had two electric typewriters in my high school typing class. I'd ease up to the head of the line just so I could have another week on the electric typewriter. My favorite keyboard is still the old IBM Selectric; it had just the right feel for me and I could race through any text or dictation. I've yet to find a computer keyboard with that easy touch.

I made a career out of my skill for typing and my knuckles are beginning to show the years of abuse. Yet, I still enjoy the process. It is my piano and I use my sense of hearing as much as touch when I'm typing. If this old typewriter could talk, I wonder what it might say. I'm sure it was ready to be retired. It probably would ask to finally to stay in one place but I doubt that will happen. It's a product of my father's profession, too.

Weekend Cat Blogging #207

Another one bites the dust. ~Vincent, resident mouser

This week's Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by Samantha Black & Mr Tigger at Life From a Cat’s Perspective.

Feel Good Friday

Marty and Moose

Shifting the Sun

When your father dies, say the Irish,
you lose your umbrella against bad weather.
May his sun be your light, say the Armenians

When your father dies, say the Welsh,
you sink a foot deeper into the earth.
May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Canadians,
you run out of excuses.
May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the French,
you become your own father.
May you stand up in his light, say the Armenians.

When you father dies, say the Indians,
he comes back as the thunder.
May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Russians,
he takes your childhood with him.
May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the English,
you join his club you vowed you wouldn't.
May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Armenians,
your sun shifts forever.
And you walk in his light.

~Diana Der-Hovanessian

Recipe: Corn and Black Bean Salad

Wait! Don't skip over this just yet. I too have had corn and black bean salads in the past that have had absolutely no taste. Giada De Laurentiis has solved this with the addition of a basil-lime vinaigrette and fresh mango. Don't leave this out! It adds a different texture to the dish and is also a delicious addition in flavor.

This colorful salad is not only delicious, it fits my new vegetarian regime and adds good sources of protein, complex carbohydrates, monounsaturated fat, fiber, and vitamin C. With attention to reasonable portion control, it would not be particularly high in calories.

Corn and Black Bean Salad with Basil-Lime Vinaigrette
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis, 2008

Ingredients

Salad
2 ears fresh corn or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 mango, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Vinaigrette
2 limes, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

For the salad: Preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Peel back
the corn husks. Remove the silks and replace the husks. Soak the corn in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain and place on the grill for 10 to 15 minutes. Cool completely and remove the husks. Using a sharp knife, remove the corn kernels. In a medium bowl, mix together the grilled corn, black beans, garbanzo beans,
bell pepper, and mango.

For the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, combine the lime zest, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, basil, and cumin. Slowly add the oil, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens. Season with
salt and pepper, to taste.

Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss well. Refrigerate for 1 hour, and toss again, before serving.

Weeds: Season 5

Season 5 of Showtime's series, Weeds, premiers Monday, June 8th, at 9 p.m. CST. To catch up, Showtime will begin running Season 4 on May 25 or go to the official Weeds site for a breakdown of each season.

Until then, enjoy the video.



Oh, what a tangled web.

Allowing My Inner Child To Rock

Photo by Chad Batka for The New York Times

Admitting I still enjoy some music that generally attracts adolescent boys and the girls who love them can result in looks of horror or pity or both in the faces of those I tell. I did not graduate to Josh Groban just because I received my AARP card. Granted, Groban has an amazing voice but he doesn't make my inner child want to turn up the volume and rock like back in the day.

The guitar riffs from Guns N' Roses and Nirvana in the nineties gave me that feeling, as did the music and lyrics of REM. I get that feeling from Green Day, whose music I hope can continue to improve as they age. Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer and guitarist, reminds me of a cross between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards only with more energy and some justified anger at the world. Armstrong is the epitome of why girls love the boys in the band - sexy, energetic, talented, just the right mix of punk/glam/pop, and he really knows how to hold a guitar. (Am I going to be arrested for this?!)

Green Day released a new album, "21st Century Breakdown" last week. Seeing their performance on SNL, I don't think I'll be disappointed. Read about their performance in NYC Monday night here.

Note the parental advisory: Not recommended for parents:-) Their kids will like it, though. I imagine they are already acutely aware of the environment in which they have inherited. Music is good for the soul and reflects what we need. It probably wouldn't hurt for some kids to experience that.

Divorce - Five Years Later

This photo came to me in an email with the subject line, "What Barbie really looks like". I assumed this was taken after her 2004 divorce from Ken.

This may be the first time in the life of Barbie in which I can truly relate.

Rummy's Poor Judgment

No one denies a person's desire to have a personal relationship with God or to claim to be a Christian in this country. The declaration by some that the United States is a "Christian country", 1) doesn't always coincide with its actions, 2) implications could put the security of the nation at risk, and 3) isn't quite true.

On Sunday, GQ magazine posted an article written by Robert Draper on how the Defense Department under Donald Rumsfeld's leadership cost American lives and compromised national security. Robert Draper is author of the 2007 Bush biography, Dead Certain:The Presidency of George W. Bush, a biography done with the cooperation of former President Bush and his top advisers and loyalists.

Draper revealed a collection of daily cover sheets approved by Rumsfeld for the Secretary of Defense Worldwide Intelligence Update and distributed to a highly-classified group, which included the president. The cover sheets, allegedly designed to appeal to President Bush's love of quoting the Bible, showed triumphant war photos together with biblical verses.

Draper writes, "If these official daily collages of Crusade-like messaging and war imagery had been leaked, they would have reinforced the Muslim world’s apocalyptic fear that America was waging a religious war. As one alarmed Pentagon hand told Draper, the fallout “would be as bad as Abu Ghraib.”

The article and slideshow of the cover sheets may be seen here.

Comments:

"He was cynically playing the religious angle to seduce and manipulate a president who frequently quoted the Bible. But the secretary's actions were not just oily; he was also taking a risk with national security. If these official daily collages of Crusade-like messaging and war imagery had been leaked, they would have reinforced the Muslim world's apocalyptic fear that America was waging a religious war."
New York Times columnist Frank Rich does not mince his words in his assessment of the Defence Secretary.

"I wonder what's worse: a defense secretary who puts Old Testament quotes on progress updates on an invasion of a Muslim country or a defense secretary who thinks this will add to his president's knowledge and expertise."
The Atlantic Monthly's Andrew Sullivan questions Mr Rumsfeld's wisdom and judgment.

We may rewrite history textbooks with sunshine and lollipops but we need to remember that other nations do not and their memories are long. Me.

I wonder if this was truly Rumsfeld's idea or one of Bush's Christian college appointees. Either way, Rumsfeld reportedly approved it.

Sunday Reflections: Practicing Vegetarianism

Hello. My name is Judi and I have been a vegetarian for seven days. While I'd like to say I'm trying this for my health or to be mindful of all living things, I am mainly trying it just to see if I can and for how long. Better health and living more consciously aware will be the benefits of my effort.

What better time to start eating healthy than in the summer? Fresh vegetables and fruits abound plus the desire for refreshing, cold dishes requiring little to no effort and no kitchen heat will make the change easier. By the time football season rolls around, it could be possible that ribs and wings won't taste so good to me.



Okay, not very hard but absolutely delicious! Plus, I got to use my new restaurant bowls from Crate and Barrel.

Cold Cucumber Soup

2 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and grated with a box grater or food processor
1 garlic clove, finely minced
Fresh dill, about a small palm full
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup Greek whole-milk yogurt
4 ounces chicken broth (I used vegetarian.)
Salt and white pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, stir to blend, and chill. Serve topped with any or a combination of the following: fresh dill, fresh mint, a dollop of sour cream, a dollop of yogurt, chopped cucumber, snipped chives and/or green onions. Serves 4.

Today I ventured way out of my comfort range to make strawberry jam. This recipe came from Ina Garten and was incredibly easy.

Fresh strawberries were rinsed, cored, sliced and placed in this heavy-bottomed pot.
The strawberries were glistening after the sugar began to melt. I didn't have any superfine sugar so I pulsed regular sugar in the food processor, as recommended by Garten. She stated this was also a good idea when needed for mixing cocktails. And, as we all know, nobody does cocktails like Garten! Is anyone else unable to stand up after one of Garten's cocktails?!

I liked this photo because of the steam rising from the boiling berries. My apartment smelled so good all afternoon.
Two Southern biscuits left over from my last breakfast feast were perfect to test the jam. It was different than I was expecting, but was very good. My mother would have been shocked. Actually, my mother would have never believed it!

Easy Strawberry Jam

3 pints fresh strawberries
3 cups superfine sugar
2 Tbsp orange-flavored liqueur
1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and small diced
1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1) Rinse, drain, and hull the strawberries, cutting the larger berries in half or quarters and leaving the smaller berries whole.
2) Place into heavy-bottomed pot, such as a Dutch oven, and toss them with sugar and orange-flavored liqueur.
3) Bring the berry mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Add the apple and blueberries and continue to keep the mixture at a rolling boil, stirring occasionally, until the jam reaches 220 degrees on a candy thermometer (approximately 25 to 35 minutes). Skim and discard any foam that rises to the top.
4) Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature and then store covered in the refrigerator.

It will keep refrigerated for at least two weeks. Yield - 3 cups

Recipe by Ina Garten
Food Network's Barefoot Contessa
Episode: Breakfast Party

Weekend Cat Blogging #206

"The smallest feline is a masterpiece." -- Leonardo de Vinci

Jules' in my entry in this weekend's Weekend Cat Blogging hosted by Amar and Luna at Catsynth.

Feel Good Friday

Marty and Moose

Seven Inspirational Films

When I was in college, I went to the movies almost every Saturday. I frequently saw one of the TV/film/new media professors there so I tried to sit close so I could observe his reactions. I needed validation from this complete stranger I had anointed movie expert.

It took me awhile to realize that we all bring our different experiences, baggage, and needs into a theater. Our most basic response is based on how the film mirrors ourselves.

The films I have listed are ones I find inspirational. Common themes are family, friendship, loyalty, hope, freedom, hardship, redemption, forgiveness, change and renewal. Another recurring theme are the chance encounters leading the characters to places they did not expect to go.


The masterful performance by Richard Jennings in The Visitor drives this deeply moving story of a recent widower who encounters a young couple, victims of a post-9/11 real estate scam. Their energy and friendship bring a renewed sense of joy and purpose to his life.

One never knows where a chance encounter might take us.




In The Straight Story, Richard Farnsworth plays Alvin Straight who is determined to see his estranged brother before one of them dies. His journey allows him to meet and inspire others and ends with him sitting on the porch, drinking a beer, and making peace with his brother. (Not a spoiler: The film is about the journey, not the destination.)




The Shawshank Redemption was taken from a Stephen King novella and set in a prison. In this scene, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) locks himself in the warden's office and plays an opera over the prison intercom:

Red (Morgan Freeman): [narrating] I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.

Andy: That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you... Haven't you ever felt that way about music?

Red: I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here.

Andy: Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.

Red: Forget?

Andy: Forget that... there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours.

Red: What are you talking about?

Andy: Hope.




Pieces of April is one of my favorites movies. The family relationships are central, yet it is April's encounters with her neighbors that I love the most.

On Golden Pond is a beautiful movie about an aging couple who spends their summer on the lake. Their only daughter arrives with a new boyfriend and his son to celebrate her father's 80th birthday. Again, there is family conflict and forgiveness, but also an unlikely relationship between the aging father and the new boyfriend's son. It is the strength of the aging couple (Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda) and their bond that I find most compelling.

Mr. Holland's Opus is a nostalgic trip through three decades of music, history, change, and budget cuts. Mr. Holland (Richard Dreyfus) is a composer who begins teaching high school music to pay the bills while he works at night on his opus. He writes a different life symphony than he plans.

"Life is what happens while you are busy making plans." John Lennon, composer

In America may have been the saddest movie I have ever seen. yet it has all the themes I listed above - family, conflict, survival, forgiveness, friendship, change and renewal.

I highly recommend these films, if you haven't seen them. What reactions do you have? Do they inspire you too? Could you identify the recurring themes? Are they meaningful to you, also?

Vicarious Gardening

I have become obsessed with the idea of gardening ever since a friend told me about square foot gardening. I have the book but I don't have any available sunlight I can call my own so, as of this date, I am having to stick to a few herbs in my kitchen windowsill.

(Pause for the uncontrollable laughter of my friends and family and to allow them catch their collective breath.)

Granted, it is the idea of gardening I love so much. I'm always interested in gardening in the spring and I always lose my interest once the temperature hits 90 degrees which, in my area of the country, has usually happened by now. I don't like bugs or mosquitoes or gnats. I don't like planting, weeding, watering, or gathering. But, the wonderful vegetables and flowers that come from such an endeavor make me very happy.

While driving by an incredibly convenient park with a walking trail I occasionally never use earlier in the spring, I spotted stakes for what I feared would be another gas station or fast food restaurant. My curiosity got the best of me so I stopped to see what was happening. Lo and behold, they were garden plots! The Tuscaloosa County Parks & Recreation Authority (PARA) provide garden plot rentals for $60 per plot at the Community Garden Plots, located in Sokol Park. Each plot is 30’x50’ and has a 2-foot walkway. Even better is that water is available on site. Not bad!







What a great.....idea.

Barber Motorsports Park

While I was visiting with my siblings the first weekend in May, AMA Pro Racing returned to Barber Motorsports Park for the 7th Annual Superbike Classic. As far as sports go, I am only interested in the race to the goal line for six. However, I am very proud of the beautiful Motorsports Park and Museum just outside of Birmingham.

The weekend was wet with scattered thunderstorms and tornado watches, but it didn't appear to slow the participants as they raced around track.



How wide and long is the track?
- 2.38 miles long
- 45' wide
- 80' of elevation change
- 17 turns

How fast can a car or motorcycle go on the track?
It varies due to conditions and types but the fastest in each case is about 150mph.

What are the track records?
Fastest lap - Car
1:20.613
Average speed - 102.713mph
Set by Max Papis in October of 2004

Fastest lap - Motorcycle
1:25.047
Average speed - 97.358mph
Set by Mat Mladin in April of 2005

Motorcycle fans would probably like to know that the leaders were riding Suzuki motorcycles.

Upcoming Events at the Park include:
1) WERA Regionals
May 23-24

2) Barber Sportscar Classic
May 30-31

3) Porsche 250 presented by Legacy Credit Union Grand-Am Racing
July 17-19

4) Barber Vintage Festival and AHRMA Historic Motorcycle Racing
October 9-11

If uninterested in actual racing like me and if you have no interest in learning to drive either a motorcycle or a Porsche at the Park's driving schools, you would certainly enjoy visiting the Park to see the landscaping, the metal sculptures of ants and spiders, and especially the Museum.

The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum reopened at its new location on September 19, 2003. The collection now has over 1000 vintage and modern motorcycles. Many of those have been exhibited at the Birmingham Museum of Art and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City (see article here). There is also a substantial collection of Lotus and other race cars. It is considered the largest in North American, possibly the world. There are approximately five hundred motorcycles on display at any given time. These bikes range from 1904 to current-year production. There are bikes from 16 countries that represent over 140 different manufacturers.

Photos by Thad Touchton: motorcycle enthusiast, scooter driver, and Vols fan