Silent Sunday

Interacting Spiral Galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163

Ode to the Cat

I like this poem. It is a bit long & I was just going to post a little of it but you really have to read the whole thing. I've read this to my cats and they were not at all interested. Right now I'm housesitting for Stephen & Kiko so I thought I'd try it out on their cats. They weren't interested either. This has led me to some conclusions: 1) Cats don't like poetry. 2) Cats like poetry but they don't like Neruda. 3) Cats like poetry and Neruda but don't like listening to me read. 4) Cats (like many people) enjoy messing with my mind. I'm thinking that number four is most likely correct. Anyway I hope you all enjoy the poem. Try reading it to your cats - I suspect you'll get the same reaction I did. 

Ode to the Cat

The animals were imperfect,
long-tailed,
unfortunate in their heads.
Little by little they
put themselves together,
making themselves a landscape,
acquiring spots, grace, flight.
The cat,
only the cat
appeared complete and proud:
he was born completely finished,
walking alone and knowing what he wanted.

Man wants to be fish or fowl,
the snake would like to have wings
the dog is a disoriented lion,
the engineer would like to be a poet,
the fly studies to be a swift,
the poet tries to imitate the fly,
but the cat 
only wants to be a cat
and any cat is a cat
from his whiskers to his tail,
from his hopeful vision of a rat 
to the real thing,
from the night to his golden eyes.

There is no unity 
like him,
the moon and the flower
do not have such context:
he is just one thing
like the sun or the topaz,
and the elastic line of his contours
is firm and subtle like
the line of a ship's prow.
His yellow eyes
have just one 
groove
to coin the gold of night time.

Oh little
emperor without a sphere of influence
conqueror without a country,
smallest living-room tiger, nuptial
sultan of the sky,
of the erotic roof-tiles,
the wind of love
in the storm
you claim
when you pass
and place
four delicate feet
on the ground,
smelling,
distrusting
all that is terrestrial,
because everything
is too unclean
for the immaculate foot of the cat.

Oh independent wild beast
of the house
arrogant
vestige of the night,
lazy, gymnastic
and alien,
very deep cat,
secret policeman
of bedrooms,
insignia
of a 
disappeared velvet,
surely there is no
enigma
in your manner,
perhaps you are not a mystery,
everyone knows of you 
and you belong
to the least mysterious inhabitant,
perhaps everyone believes it,
everyone believes himself the owner,
proprietor,
uncle
of a cat,
companion,
colleague,
disciple
or friend
of his cat.

Not me.
I do not subscribe.
I do not know the cat.
I know it all, life and its archipelago,
the sea and the incalculable city,
botany,
the gyneceum and its frenzies,
the plus and the minus of mathematics,
the volcanic frauds of the world,
the unreal shell of the crocodile,
the unknown kindness of the fireman,
the blue atavism of the priest,
but I cannot decipher a cat.
My reason slips on his indifference,
his eyes have golden numbers.

Pablo Neruda

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

10 Commandments of Google

I found these on a blog & thought they were funny.

The 10 Commandments of Google

1. Thou shalt have no other Search Engine before me, neither Yahoo nor Lycos, AltaVista nor Metacrawler. Thou shalt worship only me, and come to Google only for answers.
2. Thou shalt not build thy own commercial-free Search Engine, for I am a jealous Engine, bringing law suits and plagues against the fathers of the children unto the third and fourth generations.
3. Thou shalt not use Google as a verb to mean the use of any lesser Search Engine.
4. Thou shalt remember each passing day and use thy time as an opportunity to gain knowledge of the unknown.
5. Thou shalt honor thy fellow humans, regardless of gender or race, for each has invaluable experience and knowledge to contribute toward humankind.
6. Thou shalt not misspell whilst praying to me.
7. Thou shalt not hotlink.
8. Thou shalt not plagiarise or take undue credit for other’s work.
9. Thou shalt not use reciprocal links nor link farms, for I am a vengeful but fair engine and will diminish thy PageRank. The Google Dance shall cometh.
10. Thou shalt not manipulate Search Results. Search Engine Optimization is but the work of Microsoft.

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Poetry Day

Mary Oliver was born in Ohio in 1935. In 1984, her collection of poetry, American Primitive, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Influenced by Whitman and Thoreau, she is known for her keen observances of the natural world. This is one of my favorites although it makes me cry every time I read it.

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Which Pooh Character Are You?

I took this quiz to see which Pooh character I was. Below is my result. I'm sure this is wrong because I KNOW which character I am - I'm Eeyore. Anyway you can all take it & see who you are but don't assume it is correct. Feel free to ask me who you are - I've been categorizing people as Pooh characters for years.


You always know what to do in a tricky situation and by helping others you have a firm handle on your own life.
You enjoy the finer things and are perfectly content in quietly relaxing in your thoughts.

My trip to Europe — Prague

I thought that it's about time I told you all a bit about my trip to Central Europe. Today I will focus on Prague, which is the first city that we visited on our 10-day driving tour. For those who don't know, I met my friend Patrick in London (he is on sabbatical from his law firm and he and his wife are staying in Bristol, England for two months. His wife is a visiting professor and is, therefore, working. Patrick is goofing off and traveling around Europe with people like me. Anyway, back to Prague. Prague has always been a favorite city of mine despite never having visited until this year. The history and power of the city has always intrigued me and I was thrilled to start my journey there to see for myself the place where the Prague Spring was born, lived for a glorious time and then was snuffed out by brutal aggression. So, to wit, below is Wenceslas Square, the site where, in January of 1969 (I don't remember the date), Jan Palach, lit himself on fire to protest renewed suppressions of free speech. This heroic act came at the end of a period of tremendous hope that began in early 1968 when the Soviets backed off of threats to oust reformer Dubcek only to relent later in the year with a crushing military invasion that squelched any hope of freedom for the next 21 years; until the Velvet Revolution of 1989.

The statue below is of Tomas Masaryk, philosopher, statesman and humanitarian. Masaryk became the founder and the first president of Czechoslovakia, and served as an inspiration for generations to come who fought against repression.

The photo below is from a courtyard outside Hradcany Castle on the hill overlooking the Vltava River, which runs through Prague (now the capital of the Czech Republic).

Hradcany Castle, undergoing repairs, as were most of the castle and palaces that we saw throughout Central Europe, oddly. 

This is the famous Charles Bridge over the Vltava River. The Charles Bridge was constructed between 1357 and the early 1400s. For more than 400 years it was the only bridge connecting the two sides of the river, and served to establish a link on a very important trade route between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. The bridge is decorated by some 30 or so statues that date from the mid 1800s and depict various saints and folks of that nature. You can't tell form this photo, but the Charles is nearly always overwhelmed by tourists (mostly German, of course) cruising across the river. It turns what could be a beautiful and scenic walk into a stressful and annoying fight for personal space and room to breathe.

Well, that's all for now. Next week, if I stay on topic, I'll post some pictures of Krakow, my favorite city in Central Europe. Thanks for reading.

Silent Sunday

This is Paris. A picture taken with my own two hands. Wow - I went to Paris (still astonishes me sometimes)! Pretty cool.

Murder Update

We had some interesting comments in response to the post - hopefully more of you will read it & comment.

Here is a link to a quiz that Dad sent me to find out whether you could kill someone. My result was a 64% chance that I couldn't.

Someone significantly wiser than I pointed out to me that no matter what you think you'll do, you never know until it happens. We can plan and prepare and know for certain that we are going to act a certain way and when it happens respond in an entirely different manner. The other thing - for those of you who think I'm nuts - when I say I've thought about these things, I have, however that doesn't mean that I'm being logical or reasonable (yeah I know that no one really thought that). My responses are entirely emotional and, like most things I do, have nothing to do with what I am may believe is the best thing.

Anyway if you haven't read the post below - read it! Comment! Post!

Robin, the lonely (but not homicidal) blog mistress

Some Murder Questions

I found an interesting discussion at the Poe's Deadly Daughters blog. Sandra Parshall asked the question, What would make you kill? This is an interesting question and one I think about quite a bit. That should worry some of you. Actually I think about it because I'm writing a mystery novel and you have to kill people off in mysteries (well, not always but most of the time it makes for a better story).

I'm sure we can all come up with the obvious - I'd kill to protect my children. But what else? To protect your spouse, friends, other family members, a stranger? Could you only do it if you were angry or protecting yourself or someone you loved? Do you think you could plan a murder and carry it out?

The other thing I've often wondered about - don't ask me why - is how many people would protect someone they loved who had committed a murder. I don't mean just not turning them in, but actively working to hide a body and/or evidence and lying to keep it from anyone else. Would you do it? How far would you go - would you just lie to the police, would you help move the body? Manufacture evidence?

So tell us what you think! I'll bravely start. Certainly I'd kill without a qualm to protect my child. There are a number of people I would probably kill to protect instinctively if I had the means and someone was going to kill them. Plan a murder - definitely. Actually carry it out - No.

As far as protecting someone who had committed murder. Yes, I would. There are a number of people I would be willing to do that for. I don't know what that says about me but I've thought about this over the years (I really don't know why - I just think about strange things) & would be willing to do it. Would I be willing to go to prison to protect them? For at least three people, yes I would. Others run a close second but I still have a few doubts. You'll notice I'm not naming names. If you're going to kill someone and expect my help in the cover-up you might want to check first to see which list you are on.

There you have it - my deep dark secret. Let's hear from the rest of you now!

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Of Filing Cabinets & Car Windows

I have woven a parachute out of everything broken.
--William Stafford (when asked why he wrote poetry)

Losing weight is hard. I think that anyone who has ever tried will agree with me. One thing that makes it easier is support. A month or so ago I posted about my Accountability blog where I’m keeping track of what I eat every day. I don’t know how many of you have looked at it (well, actually I do but I’m trying to be subtle) but I’m really hoping that if you read this you’ll click on the word Accountability and take a look. Actually what I’d really like is if after reading the fascinating entries, you post a comment!

I’ve been doing this for 163 days now – wow that is a long time! – and have had a small but dedicated group of supporters. I’m afraid that I’m wearing them out though. I’m a very needy person and need lots of comments - come visit me!

One reason I’m writing a second post begging asking for supporters is because I haven’t been doing great for the last month of so. I’m kind of slipping on eating and exercise & really need people to yell at encourage me. As I started out saying, losing weight is hard. It is even harder when you’re depressed and going through some really difficult personal stuff. I was thinking the other day that I picked a pretty bad time in my life to make such a major change. But as I write this I’m realizing there probably is never a good time. We all have stress every day and if you wait to make important changes until you are stress-free you’ll never make them.

That said, and in my defense, in the past year I’ve made some pretty significant changes in my life. I changed jobs, moved, went to England & Paris (pretty cool, huh?), ended an 8-1/2 year relationship, changed my eating habits, cycled in and out of depression, started writing, lost 45 pounds, and um, I think that’s it. I’m stressed, I’m actually way beyond stressed so be nice to me, visit my blog & leave me comments! Oh yeah, also I’ll be starting school again next week – very nervous about that!

I am 99% convinced that no one is reading this blog. Oh I know a couple of people are but I sometimes feel that I’m just writing to myself. Prove me wrong! Visit my blog, leave me comments. Think how good it will feel to say, Robin was wrong! Just imagine what a good deed you’ll be doing. Every day I get up & the first thing I do is turn on my computer & look to see if anyone has left me a comment. Pathetic isn’t it? You’d think I’d have something better to do. Another benefit? If you leave me comments I might explain the title of this post to you!

The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal.
Elia Kazan

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Lavender

I promised to tell you why I posted a picture Sunday of a lavender field and I'm sure you've all been anxiously waiting to hear. Last Saturday Jill and I went to the 9th Annual Sonoma Lavender Festival. It was a nice day and I learned a lot about lavender. I also got to eat a lavender chicken sandwich, lavender salad and a lavender brownie. We bought some neat lavender items: lotion, salt scrub, a sinus face mask, sachets and a lavender bear. Isn't he cute! Oh & of course Jill bought a couple of lavender plants.

Lavender is a natural antiseptic, anti-depressant and sedative. It can help you sleep better, manage stress and relax (which you'll be doing if you are asleep). It is also good for headaches, healing cuts and burns and soothing insect bites. You can use it as a mosquito and flea repellent. Also as you'll have deduced from our lunch, you can use it in cooking. On top of everything else, it smells really nice!


Robin, the lonely blog mistress

A Birthday Party for Our Friend Jessie

Well, I had intended to spend today's blog posting writing about something from recent trip to Central Europe that was a bit  more upbeat than the previous posting. Instead, however, I am going to write a bit about the party that Kiko and I had at our house this past Saturday evening. 

As some of you no doubt know, I am very fond of having parties at my house, and Kiko and I try to have one at least once per quarter. This party was to celebrate the birthday of my friend Jessie, whom I've known, now for about six or seven years. Jessie and I dated for a few months some time before I got together with Kiko, but, like most sensible women, she got out while she could. We have, of course, stayed dear friends ever since. Here's a picture of Jessie.

Now Jessie is a very artistic person (in addition to being a therapist who works with deaf and hearing impaired substance abusers) and has been involved in the dance and music community for years. And, not surprisingly, many of her friends are as well. Needless to say, by the end of the evening, there were several guitars out, a cello, singers and dancers. Our small living room was sorely tested. Here is a picture of some of the dancers.

We ate lots of Thai food, at Jessie's request, and Jessie's sister Alana made two cakes (that is what Alana does, make cakes). All in all, it was a really fun evening. I even made a new best friend by the end of the evening, Isaac. Here is a picture of Isaac (she's a girl in case you can't tell). Isaac is looking for work if anybody knows of anything. I couldn't quite get out of her what exactly it is she does, so I'm assuming that anything would be acceptable. 
Well that's it for now. Kiko is sound asleep (she has to get up at 5:30), so I should probably stop making so much noise typing. I'll see you all next Monday (if not sooner) with an even more interesting post. Maybe then I'll get around to telling you more about my trip to Central Europe. And then maybe a post about the rest of our trips planned for this year (has anybody out there been to Ushuaia?

Reminders

Today, at 5:01 pm, same-sex marriage will be legal in California.

Tomorrow, June 17th, is Firefox Download Day. Don't forget to participate!

Anyday is a good day to post on the Texeira Life blog. Get busy!

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Silent Sunday

A field of Lavender. The reason for this picture will become clear on Wednesday!

A Fable

A young girl was trudging along a mountain path, trying to reach her grandmother's house. It was bitter cold, and the wind cut like a knife. When she was within sight of her destination, she heard a rustle at her feet.

Looking down, she saw a snake. Before she could move, the snake spoke to her. He said, "I am about to die. It is too cold for me up here, and I am freezing. There is no food in these mountains, and I am starving. Please put me under your coat and take me with you."

"No," replied the girl. "I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite me, and your bite is poisonous.”

"No, no," said the snake. "If you help me, you will be my best friend. I will treat you differently."

The little girl sat down on a rock for a moment to rest and think things over. She looked at the beautiful markings on the snake and had to admit that it was the most beautiful snake she had ever seen.

Suddenly, she said, "I believe you. I will save you. All living things deserve to be treated with kindness."

The little girl reached over, put the snake gently under her coat and proceeded toward her grandmother's house.

Within a moment, she felt a sharp pain in her side. The snake had bitten her.

"How could you do this to me?" she cried. "You promised that you would not bite me, and I trusted you!"

"You knew what I was when you picked me up," hissed the snake as he slithered away.

So what is the moral of this fable? Don't pick up snakes I guess. Or perhaps, don't walk to your grandmothers house in the freezing cold? Don't look down when you hear rustling? Look before you leap? Oh, I think it is in the last line, don't complain if you knew what you were doing?

Jill says rattlesnakes hibernate during winter and if it were hibernating it wouldn't be talking. I guess it would talk otherwise. Also if a nearby hospital has anti-venom it really isn't a big deal if it bites you, so long as you are a healthy individual. But what if you aren't healthy? Ah ha.

There was a song about this which you can listen to if you are so inclined and have nothing better to do (I love this YouTube thing & yes I do need more to do).



Not a filing cabinet, maybe half a drawer?

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Why Read Blogs?

Take a look at this posting on the Femmes Fatales blog. Yep, that's me, I won a signed copy of a new book by Julia Spencer-Fleming called I Shall Not Want. Pretty cool isn't it! This is the 6th entry in a mystery series she writes. If you like mysteries I would suggest you pick up the first in the series , In the Bleak Midwinter which was the winner of numerous mystery awards.

The stories take place in Millers Kill, a small town in upstate New York. Clare Fergusson, a newly ordained Episcopalian priest is assigned to St. Albans church in Millers Kill. A former army helicopter pilot, Clare is not exactly a typical priest. An abandoned baby and a murder lead her into a crime-solving partnership and romantic attraction with the married police chief, Russ Van Alstyne. Future books explore their growing relationship and, of course, solve mysteries. I've read all the books (except the newest one) in the series and highly recommend them.

You'll note that the title of this post was Why Read Blogs. I won this book because I read about the give-away in a blog. Free things are just one of the many benefits of regular blog reading. I would like to say that I have something to give away to encourage you all to come back but unfortunately I don't. I guess I could offer Jill but I'm afraid we might lose readers that way. I'll keep thinking about it.

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

John McCain

I thought you'd all be excited to hear that John McCain has started a blog. It is called The McCain Report A Blog You Can Believe In. This is from the spread the word section of his website:

Help spread the word about John McCain on news and blog sites. Your efforts to help get the message out about John McCain's policies and plan for the future is one of the most valuable things you can do for this campaign.

In the spirit of cooperation, I thought I'd help out by spreading the word and making sure you all were aware of his blog. I think there should be an 's' on plan. Anyway I do have to agree that it is important that everyone be aware of what his policies and plan(s) are. That way you can vote against him!

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

Robert Hershon

Robert Hershon was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He is the author of eleven books of poetry including Calls from the Outside World and The German Lunatic. I suspect that any of us with adult children can see ourselves in this poem.

Sentimental Moment Or Why Did The Baguette Cross The Road?

Don’t fill up on bread
I say absent-mindedly
The servings here are huge

My son, whose hair may be
receding a bit, says
Did you really just
say that to me?

What he doesn’t know
is that when we’re walking
together, when we get
to the curb
I sometimes start to reach
for his hand

Robin, the lonely blog mistress (the only person who gave me feedback said they liked this & since I do, I guess I'll stick with it)

My First Monday

Well, I apparently made a commitment to being responsible for this blog every Monday. So, here I am. As some of you may know, I just returned from a trip to Central Europe (Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Levoca, Vienna). It was a wonderful trip, and I hope to have photos up soon. I wanted to tell you briefly about one aspect of my trip, and that was a side trip we made whilst in Krakow to visit Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was the largest of Germany's concentration camps, and was the site of the systematic degradation, dehumanization and murder of between 1.1 and 1.6 million people, 90 percent of whom were Jews from throughout Europe. The remainder were Catholic Poles, Gypsies (Roma) and homosexuals. Never before had a civilization been so efficient at extermination. During the years of its existence, some 700 prisoners attempted to escape. About 300 were successful. In late 1944, there was a revolt by some of the Jewish workers at the camp. Using homemade weapons, they overpowered their guards at two facilities and burned down the crematorium. Many of those revolting escaped, but all were eventually captured and executed. 

The camp is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is visited by several thousand visitors daily. Based on the one day that I was there, the majority of those visitors are high school-age children on field trips from within Poland. There are, of course, other visitors that I saw, including German tourists and not a few old Jews. It is hard not to wonder what is going through the minds of each of those last two groups as they tour the grounds and read the signs and see the camp and see each other.

The gate to the camp reads Arbeit Macht Frei or Work Sets You Free. Of the more than 1.5 million people who entered the camp, fewer than 10,000 left alive.

Perhaps the most famous survivor of Auschwitz is Elie Wiesel. Wiesel entered the camp at the age of 16 with his father, mother and three sisters. He and two of his sisters managed to survive. His father died just a month before the camp was liberated. Wiesel went on to become a writer, professor and political activist who spoke and wrote frequently and eloquently about his ordeal during the Holocaust. In 1986 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. The Nobel Committee called him a "messenger to mankind" and noted that through his struggle to come to terms with "his own personal experience of total humiliation and of the utter contempt for humanity shown in Hitler's death camps" Wiesel had delivered a powerful message of "peace, atonement and human dignity" to humanity. 

We are not all Elie Wiesel, nor should we be. And we have not all suffered how he and others suffered, and that is a good thing. But we should all keep his messages foremost in our minds and the lessons from that time and place foremost in our minds. There is not now, nor will there ever be, a time to take things like liberty and freedom for granted.

Now, having written a much starker message than I had intended, I promise that next Monday will be more uplifting and not so much of a history and moral lesson.

Firefox Download Day

Notice the banner on the right hand side? Click on it & you can pledge to support the Firefox Download Day. They are aiming to set a Guinness world record by having the most downloads in 24 hours. Kind of a cool idea but the best thing is you'll get Firefox 3! I don't know how many of you are using Firefox now but if you aren't I'd definitely recommend it.

I've been using Firefox for a couple of years now and like it much better than IE. I don't get the pop-ups I always get with IE. The tab system is much better (I think IE stole the tabs from Firefox). Also there are a lot of add-ons you can use to customize Firefox.

Click on the banner and it will take you to the official Firefox Download Day site where you can pledge to download. There is not a date set yet but if you pledge they will notify you via email. Make your life easier, download Firefox!

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who responded to my post about keeping this blog. I feel somewhat better and convinced that enough people are interested so that we should continue. One of our illustrious family members has agreed to accept the challenge of doing a weekly post. It is supposed to start tomorrow but since this particular individual is ill, it may be late this week. Notice how I'm not giving away who it is - that is so you will all come back to find out! Keep reading, commenting & posting everyone!

Robin, the blog queen (no one has told me if they like this title - I'm not sure I do so I'm open to suggestions. I was fond of the lonely blog mistress but think it is time to move forward & go with a new title.)

Silent Sunday

Spirograph Nebula

Grants Pass in the evening

Bill-Linda

Bill-Linda

Yes we want the Blog to continue. I am working 10 hours a day as a model, and spending 14 hours a week on the City Council. So when my term is up I will be able to post more.

Love all of you

Grants Pass

Please Read Me

Ok folks, pay attention, this is an important post. I have three blogs and I was totaling posts today and this post will be #405. That's a lot of posts. Now admittedly some on this blog were done by other people which I really appreciate. BUT the point is I shouldn't have to appreciate it - this is supposed to be a group blog. Group means more than one person, actually more than two I think. Well maybe two can be a group. I don't know - I'm getting sidetracked. Back to my original complaint.

I posted earlier asking for volunteers to take a day of the week but I guess all the responses got lost in cyberspace. Only one real person has voted in my poll (the other 2 were me & Jill). I'm getting rather discouraged. I really like the idea of this blog but if no one else is interested it seems kind of pointless. While I'm fascinated with my life and the trivia I come up with, I do have other outlets for it.

So here is my plan: I'm going to keep this up through June and at that point if people aren't interested I'm going to stop posting on a regular basis. I certainly won't delete the blog but I'm not going to make a commitment to updating it regularly unless there is significant interest. I don't know what I mean by significant - I get to decide at the end of June!

Lest you all think I'm just a grumpy evil person, I'll explain my reasoning. Keeping a blog up-to-date takes time. As noted, I have other blogs that are important to me personally (not that this one isn't important - it just takes more time/energy proportionate to its importance) and I'd rather put more energy into those. For some reason, a certain person keeps expecting work out of me which takes time. I also have many other fascinating, exciting things to do - ok not fascinating or exciting, nevertheless they are things I want to do. Everything takes time and hard as I've tried to stay awake 24 hrs/day, it just isn't working. My body insists upon sleeping and I'm running out of hours.

My idea when starting this blog was that it was a way for family/friends to communicate and share what was going on in their lives. I've shared my life guys - this is as interesting as it gets! I'd like to hear what the rest of you are doing, I'd like participation. It is kind of pointless for me to keep talking about my cats and weird things that I find interesting. While that is the point of many blogs, this one had a different purpose that I don't think has been fulfilled.

Let me know what you think!

Robin, the lonely blog mistress

More Banned Books

Absolutely incredible. In the comment I left for the secret poster on banned books, I wondered if Lord of the Rings had ever been banned. I decided to search & this was the first thing I found:

Lord of the Rings, By J.R.R. Tolkien: 2001 - Burned in Alamagordo, New Mexico outside Christ Community Church along with other Tolkien novels as satanic.

The same site had this:

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: 1976-Removed in school libraries in Anchorage, Alaska, Cedar Lake, Indiana, Eldon, Missouri (1977), and Folsom, California (1982), due to “objectionable language.” 1993 - Challenged, but retained, in the Churchill County, Nevada, school libraries. The controversy began after another dictionary was removed due to “objectionable language.” It was removed from, and later returned to, classrooms in Washoe County, Nevada.

Burning Lord of the Rings? I don't know, maybe Tolkien would have gotten a kick out of it. And banning a dictionary. That's really amazing, do people just not have enough to do?

I think this wasn't on the list I originally posted but I found it on another list: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Challenged at the Baptist College in Charleston, SC (1987) because of "language and sexual references in the book."

And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

While I disagree with the last time in history part, you don't ban someone who writes like that. What do you think, is fresh green breast a sexual reference? Interesting how I found that so easily!

Why, you may wonder, do I disagree with that last time in history part? Or you may not wonder, but it's late (or early depending on your perspective) and I'm bored so I'm going to tell you. I love looking at pictures of galaxies and planets. If you go to Nasa's site you can see some great pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope.

When I look at them I'm reminded of those words from the Great Gatsby - face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. I wouldn't go so far as to say for the last time because who knows what the future will turn up. For now, these, along with everything I saw in England, will do for me.

Robin, the blog queen (what do you think of that for a new title?)

BANNED BOOKS AGAIN!!

Hello all you fellow blog readers first of all i wanted to state this is not RMT. You have to guess who this is and Robin you cant tell them! I just wanted to post about the banned books and give you the info i have about it (which isn't much). So I'm probably just going to ramble so here's the list of banned books Ive read:

*Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

* Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

*I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

* James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

*Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

* Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

*Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig

*Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

*Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Most of these books were banned for political, religious, or sexual and social reasons. Here's a list of other books that were banned but not on your list:

*The Lorax by: Dr. Seuss Banned in the Laytonville, Ca School District on grounds that the book "criminalizes the forestry industry."

* A Wrinkle in Time by: Madeline L'Engle was one of the 1990's most-challenged children's authors. This book was banned because it "challenges religious beliefs"

* Harry Potter by: J. K. Rowling All 4 Harry Potter books have been banned for their depictions of "magic, sorcery, wizardry, witchcraft, Satanism, occult, and sheer evil".

*Black Beauty by: Anna Sewell Banned in South Africa in 1955 because of the title, even though the book is about a horse

*The Giverby: Lois Lowry A Newbery Award winner, this book was banned for "sexually explicit and occult themes, violence, and references to euthanasia." A quick note Little House on the Prairie was banned because it was considered "racially offensive". I also wanted to point out how contrary this is that Fahrenheit 451 by: Ray Bradbury was banned for being "dangerous", the book is set in the future, when all books are banned and people called 'firemen' enforce the laws against them. 451 degrees is the temperature that paper catches fire. Explain to me how you can ban a book about book banning?? Sorry I'm a little late about the whole thing but i figure better late than never. So i want to challenge all of you to read one list one the banned list and tell us what its about why was it banned? Is it inappropriate? In what way?

Here's a link to the top challenged books of 2007 http://www.lita.org/ala/pressreleases2008/may2008/penguin.cfm

Have you read them yet?

Marge Piercy

Marge Piercy is a poet and novelist. She is the author of over 17 volumes of poetry including The Moon is Always Female and The Art of Blessing the Day. Her poetry tends to be highly personal free verse.

The Low Road

What can they do
to you? Whatever they want.
They can set you up, they can
bust you, they can break
your fingers, they can
burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you
can't walk, can't remember, they can
take your child, wall up
your lover. They can do anything
you can't stop them
from doing. How can you stop
them? Alone, you can fight,
you can refuse, you can
take what revenge you can
but they roll over you.

But two people fighting
back to back can cut through
a mob, a snake-dancing file
can break a cordon, an army
can meet an army.

Two people can keep each other
sane, can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope, sex.
Three people are a delegation,
a committee, a wedge. With four
you can play bridge and start
an organization. With six
you can rent a whole house,
eat pie for dinner with no
seconds, and hold a fund raising party.
A dozen make a demonstration.
A hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;
ten thousand, power and your own paper;
a hundred thousand, your own media;
ten million, your own country.

It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again after they said no,
it starts when you say We
and know who you mean, and each
day you mean one more.

Hug Your Cat Day

Today is Hug Your Cat Day! Be sure that first thing in the morning you hug each one, at lunch time, and in the evening before bed. Ideally you'll also hug them spontaneously throughout the day. If you follow this schedule a few things will happen: 1) Your cat(s) will think you've lost your mind. 2) By the 2nd or 3rd hug they'll run when they see you coming. 3) You will probably have a lot of scratches at the end of the day.

Seriously, hugging your cat is a great idea but remember that some cats just don't like it. Pippin will tolerate being picked up and hugged but just for a short minute. Mellifera protests loudly if you pet her so hugging is not the best idea. I usually wait for her to come sit on my lap and then she'll cuddle and be sweet. Anyway, have a fun day hugging your cats! Here are pictures of the cats I'll be hugging today.

If you would like to send your cat a card you can find some here. I'm planning to send one to both of my cats. They both like the computer but generally Pippin makes me do the work for him & he dictates what he wants said or the sites he wants to visit. Mellifera will usually do it herself. Since they are both computer literate I thought they'd enjoy the cards. FYI: I have the word of numerous mental health professionals that I am NOT crazy.

Obama

Obama is going to be president...and that's a really big deal. For the first time in 40 years, we have a presidential candidate that is giving us hope instead of despair; a candidate who is getting young people to vote; a candidate who speaks his mind even when the ideas he espouses might be unpopular. Barack Obama is an anachronism. He is a throw back to a simpler time when believing in something was enough, and having the courage of your convictions made you stand out from the crowd. Lately that type of courage has been mocked, but no more.  Obama is also a breath of fresh air in that for the first time in decades we have a presidential candidate who is not an anti-intellectual. I'm not saying we haven't had smart presidents, surely we have, but they have generally tried to hide their intelligence under a folksy guise. Everybody wants to be the cool guy at the barbecue rather than the nerdy guy in the study hall. Obama may not be a brilliant intellectual, but he values them. He values science and scientists and that is going to make a big difference for all of us.

Oh yeah, he's black. The United States has chosen a Black man to run for president. Don't forget to tell your kids what is what like when it happened for the first time, because they and their kids will be reading about it in years to come. 

A Posting How-to

I started thinking that maybe some of you have forgotten, or never knew, how to post. There are two ways:

1. Log in as me. Go to https://www.blogger.com and sign in. You should have the user name & password in an email - if you can't find it let me know & I'll email it to you. Once you've logged in, you'll see New Post in the top right corner. Click on that & start posting!
   
2. Log in as yourself (preferred). You need to be invited by me which I believe everyone has been. If you can't find your invitation I can send you a new one. This way you'll be able to post and it will show up as being from you.

So now you know how to post but you still don't know what to say, right? I'm going to make it very easy. Copy and paste the following paragraph and replace (blank) with your own information. Wasn't that easy?

Hi. My name is (blank) and I think this is a terrific blog. I can't say enough about the wonderful person who came up with this idea. She must be very smart and very bored. I live in (blank), an interesting little town. My family includes (blank). They are sort of strange people and nowhere near as interesting as the person who started this blog. I like to do (blank). A really interesting thing happened to me today/yesterday/last month/10 years ago. It was (blank). One of my goals in life, aside from contributing a lot of money to the Bury My Sister at St. Paul's fund, is to (blank). I am 10%/25%/50%/75%/never going to happen% on the way to achieving my goal. I plan to post to this blog on a regular basis because I want to put a smile on the face of the lonely Blog Mistress.

Note: You should feel free to edit the above to suit your own circumstances. However, all wording which refers to the creator of this blog must remain in your post.

The other way you can contribute if you don't want to post is by making comments. Comments are easy - at the bottom of each post it says 0 comments (or more but usually 0!), click on that and you'll go to a comment screen. You can comment anonymously if you want but it is nicer if we know who you are so your name can be removed from Christmas lists if necessary!

Robin, the lonely blog mistress (with high hopes)

A Nun's Prayer

17th Century Nun's Prayer

Lord, Thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject on every occasion. Release me from craving to straighten out everyone's affairs. Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all, but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing, and the love of rehearsing them is growing sweeter as the years go by. I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me endure them with patience.

I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memory of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I can be wrong.

Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to live with - but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.

Demotivators

I found this site mentioned on a blog & thought I'd pass it on. Called Demotivators, this company produces posters, t-shirts and other exciting, demotivating items. I'm sure it reveals a significant flaw in my personality that I thought they were pretty funny.

Here are a few of my favorites from their posters:
Power

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. But it rocks absolutely, too.

Challenges

I expected times like this - but I never thought they'd be so bad, so long, and so frequent.


Mistakes

It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.
Pressure

It can turn a lump of coal into a flawless diamond, or an average person into a perfect basketcase.

What I liked best was this shirt:

Silent Sunday

Hampton Court.