In just 5 days, Mom and I will be winging our way to London--a stopover before our Baltic Cruise.  Today was spent plowing through (virtual) stacks of email, (actual) stacks of work on the desk and piles of laundry.

I made a list of the outfits I'll be wearing for the various formal, informal and casual nights (3, 2, and 6), then Dan and I went shopping for a few things.  Quite a few things later (including a couple of items for Dan) we straggled back into the house.  So I'm officially set for the trip and now it's a matter of packing and getting throug the rest of the stacks that await resolution prior to leaving.

The beauty of being slightly under the weather while preparing is that I do take time out.  Last night was an example.  I settled into the couch and watched the excellent and thought-provoking Recount by HBO.  The cast was wonderful, in particular Kevin Spacey as Gore's guy in Florida, Ron Klain.  Laura Dern was impeccable as Katherine Harris.

The movie evoked some powerful emotions, reminding me just how close we came to avoiding the Bush-catastrophe of the last seven plus years.  By the Dem's count, we were 98 votes shy of Bush when the Supreme Court stopped the recount process.  By the Republican's count, it was 154.

One Hundred.  Fifty.  Four.

Heck, I have more people than that in my rolodex!  We were so very close.  In fact, if the 20,000 people that Katherine Harris had disenfranchised from voting by requesting a scrub of folks whose names even vaguely resembled felons' names, we probably did win.

Lessons learned from the movie?

1.  Sometimes the best man loses.

2.  Sometimes he loses because he acts in a more principled manner.

3.  Every freaking vote counts.

4.  We cannot afford to disenfranchise voters (listening Hillary?).

5.  We made it through a constitutional crisis without bloodshed.  It was a messy example, but a good one of democracy at work in the most difficult and contentious of circumstances.

The film's well worth viewing, regardless of which side of the aisle you're on--for powerful performances, interesting behind the scenes anecdotes and an engaging script. 

There's good news!  The Zpac worked well enough for me to keep Dan's and my commitment to play a round of golf with Tom and Renee' today.  Okay, it was the Zpac plus Dan's decongestant (Phenavent) that got me through the 18 holes.  I was pretty loopy (and hungry) by the end but managed to finish.

After lunch I had enough energy to accompany Dan on some errands but at this point?  I'm about to go put my head down on the couch and watch some movies.

So, I'd say I'm about 70%--which is a much faster recovery than the last go round with this.  Nice since Mom and I depart in 6 days for the Baltic Cruise!

Thanks for all the good wishes.  More serious blogging to follow in the coming days.  For now, it's Sleuth and Pride and Prejudice.

It's not a good thing when a doctor sticks a scope in your ear and says, "Hello!"  Yup.  I'm sick (again)...and on antibiotics and rest.

So...at least a day off from blogging folks.

Gotta get better for the Baltic!

As I blogged yesterday, we watched the movie Bobby this weekend.  It's a well-wrought drama about the day of presidential candidate and Senator Bobby Kennedy's assassination.  What makes the movie so powerful is that it's not just a rehearsal of the facts, not mere dramatization, but a careful weaving of the stories of individuals who were at the Ambassador Hotel that day.  About how their lives have been impacted by a presidential candidate who lifts them out of the everyday, who creates a vision of a country united by hope rather than divided by prejudices, violence and hatred.  And about how those lives are shattered when Bobby Kennedy is taken away by an assassin's bullet.

Hillary Clinton's reference to Bobby Kennedy's assassination was the focus of much media attention during the past week.  She has apologized for her inappropriate comments and Obama has graciously allowed that all politicians say things they regret while on the campaign trail.  (I'm sure he wishes he could take back the "bitter" comment as much as Hillary wishes she could take back the Kennedy and "hard-working white" comments.)

In typical fashion, the media pile-on continued--despite apologies proferred and accepted.  Which led to the horrific comments by Liz Trotta on Fox "News."  Discussing Hillary's gaffe, Trotta committed an even bigger offense and then laughed about it.  (See the clip below.)

Here's the quote (talking about Hillary):

"The vast right wing conspiracy blame has been undermined by her evasions, by her outright lies if I may say, by her pandering, by her race baiging, and now we have what...uh...some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama...uh...Obama...well, both if we could.  (laughs)"

Trotta goes on to say that Hillary is "tone deaf" on the issue.  Sort of the pot and the kettle, eh?

Trotta was on Fox News again this morning, still talking about Hillary Clinton--accepting her apology this time for her slip of the tongue.  In the next breath, however, she repeated a quote from political columnist Michael Goodwin about Hillary--"We have seen an x-ray of a very dark soul."

Trotta goes on to apologize but I would appreciate Trotta's mea culpa more if she didn't immediately try to excuse herself by saying (while again laughing), "It's a very colorful political season and many of us are making mistakes and saying things we wish we hadn't said."

Fine.  She wishes she hadn't said it.  But isn't what's good for the goose good for the gander?  Since Trotta feels so free to adopt Goodwin's characterization of Hillary's soul in this situation, can't we assume such judgement just as surely applies to Trotta?  We have, indeed, seen an x-ray of what appears to be a very dark character.  And it's not Hillary. 

One last comment on the odd confluence of the movie and the unfortunate comments of a right-wing pundit.  In the extra features of Bobby, there is a comment by a man who was present during the assassination.  He said that once it sank in that Bobby was gone, they each realized that they would have to pick up on his vision and march on as individual change agents in the world.

I propose that we need both.  We need a President who is a change agent.  And we need citizens who are change agents.  What we don't need are pundits who conflate our enemy with a galvanizing candidate and then joke about knocking them both off.

We picked up Dan's brother, Steve, and Steve's husband, Kevin, from LAX last night.  We are enjoying various low key activities today.  Farmer's market this morning.  Shopping for dinner and lunch food.  Watching a movie (the excellent film, Bobby).  Eating tamales and beans for lunch along with chips, guacamole and salsa.

Most folks are napping right now but after I finish up this blog-let, I'll be heading off to the gym to work of some of the tamale.

I'd hoped to be taking my Ipod with me, to watch the latest Meet The Press and This Week with George Stephanopolous.  But my two year old Ipod seems to be on its last legs.  It won't turn off and stay off.  The battery doesn't seem to be holding much of a charge either.  So my Ipod gets to stay home and nap with the rest of the clan.

Maybe a new Ipod in my future, before the cruise?

I had an amazing visit with my friend, Lynne, in Santa Clarita.  I paired the visit with a haircut (yaay Farida at EFX Salon in Canyon Country...she fixed the haircut errors of my OC stylist) and shopping for the upcoming cruise.  Interestingly, I was well provisioned with formal and semi-formal wear but my casual wardrobe looks a little...well, bedraggled.  So I spend most of Wednesday afternoon shopping.

Without much luck until Lynne arrived.  Before she got there, I had 1 shirt and 1 pair of pants.  After she arrived, I had four additional shirts, two pairs of pants and skirt and a knit top.  We enjoyed dinner at Salt Creek along with a long, catch-up chat.  There's nothing like hanging out with a true friend of the heart.

The next morning we went to our old hiking grounds, Towsley Canyon, and impressed ourselved by completing the nearly six-mile hike.  We took a bit longer than we used to, but we stopped along the way to enjoy the flowers (read, catch our breath) and once to help someone with their geocache search.

At the end of the hike, there's a tar pit and as we approached it, we saw a young man poking sticks into the tar pit.  I was about to comment that he was just like a little boy when he looked up with panic on his face and announced that there was a bird stuck in the tar.  He prized the bird free and it turned out to be a very frightened hummingbird, wings, legs and lower body covered in tar.

I tore the packaging from my emergency blanket and he deposited the bird into my hands.  We promised to let him know the status of the bird and he went off to complete his hike.  (He was going the opposite direction of us on the loop trail.)  I held the bird in my hand for the rest of the hike, about 1/2 mile.  The bird, which we took to calling "Tweeters" was alert and struggling to free its feet from the tar periodically. 

We debated what to do--take Tweeters to Lynne's house and use dish soap to remove the tar?  (That's what they use for wildlife mired in oil spills.)  Take Tweeters to a vet?  We had decided to take the bird to the ranger's office and were headed to the car when the ranger drove up. 

As an aside, he looked exactly like my brother, Darrell, except for the ZZ Top goatee he was sporting.  Lynne and I both remarked on the eerie resemblance.

Darrell's doppelganger didn't hold out a lot of hope but took Tweeters literally off my hands, saying he'd wash him with dish soap and see what he could do. 

It's the second time in a month that I've held a hummingbird in my hands.  The first came when a blue-throated bird got stuck in our house.  Dan and I blocked it against the window and I picked it up in my hands, carrying it outside and setting it free.  No worse for wear, I've seen it flying around my flowerbeds in recent days.

I hope that Tweeters recovered at the hands of the man who looks like my brother.  If the resemblance goes beyond the skin and into the heart, I know that the Ranger devoted his heart and soul to rescuing the bird.

Just taking a quick trip up to Santa Clarita.  Will try to blog later today but who knows.  I'll be hanging out with Lynne and so it may be quiet for a day or two since we haven't seen each other in months!

In the meantime, I've posted a new poem (hot off the presses!) over in Poetry.  Hope you like it.  I'm not sure about the latin...may be too on the nose.  Or too snooty.

Have a grand Tuesday!

I just got caught up, by the way, on my responses to blog comments.  Thanks for your patience!

Also, I was surprised by the deafening silence on the California Supreme Court's decision.  Apparently everyone agrees with me that it's about time?

After a very productive day, we had dinner with some friends (Chad and Kristen) and their two wonderful boys--Xander (3 ish) and Drew (18 months).  Chad prepared a delicious meal of seasoned lamb shanks on a bed of wilted spinach, topped with gorgonzola cheese.  Yummy!

After dinner and catching up...it had been a year since we'd seen them...they treated us to a demonstration of their Wii.  For those not in the know, a Wii is a wireless video game system that allows for 360 degree movement--much freer than the old, wired game systems.

Dan and Chad played a bit of Lego Star Wars.  Then Xander, Dan, Chad and I all played a couple of rounds on Super Mario Cart.  I never was much good at that game when it was wired.  So I'm proud to say that I came in next to last three times.  Twice, I beat the three year old. 

Once, I was beaten by Chad and Xander.  Coming in next to last can feel pretty good at times.

I am tempted.  Mightily tempted.

Maybe there's room for a couple of almost-50-year-olds in the Wii generation?

As regular readers know, I've been steadily modifying my behaviors in order to reduce the impact I make on the earth's (strained) resources.  My efforts have been fairly simple.  I bought and use reusable shopping bags.  I bought and use reusable coffee cups for my Starbucks purchases.  I reuse ziploc bags (after washing them). 

I buy eco-friendly toilet paper, dishwashing liquids, cleaning agents and washing machine detergent.  I use cloth napkins instead of paper and rags instead of paper towels.

Small steps but positive ones. 

But one thing that keeps reverberating in my brain is the assertion by the authors of Cradle to Cradle that "less bad" isn't good enough.  We need to fundamentally rethink the way we do things if we're going to stop trashing the planet.  Literally.

Some of the wasteful things that make me go "hmmm...there has to be a better way" lately are:

--Buying small quantities of food in plastic tubs or glass jars.  (Think whipped cream--nonfat of course, Sally--and peanut butter.)  Shouldn't there be a way we could buy these things and reuse the container?

--Using wooden sticks to stir the sweetener in my reusable coffee cup.  The solution for me is to add the sweetener first, but what else could we do...make the stirrer out of sweeteners?

--Buying vegetables in little plastic wrapped containers that have styrofoam bottoms.  Shouldn't we be able to make a container that can be reused, broken down, repurposed?

--Plastic wrap over my dry cleaning.  Is it necessary?  Do I really care if my dress rubs shoulders with a stranger's jacket?

What are the eco-flubs that make you question?  See any solutions out there?