a little red hen

Please read Good Girl, Roxie for a marvelous idea...

Have I learned anything in this very long life? I mean anything that's worth passing along to friends, relatives, and neighbors. A couple. One that's been refined in the past ten years...you know, when aging begins at 65 and you think you're just so very smart and can retire now.

Move on. That's what I've discovered in ways unsuspected. Do not perseverate--especially when it's stuff you cannot change. Today I was really pissed with more crap annoying moments from TypePad...or is it Firefox, the browser. Wrote a note to TypePad and joined others who are less-than-thrilled with their "new compose editor." At least I can let off steam there--unlike Firefox.

Moving on...back to reading favorite blogs found this one I wished were mine. Good Girl, Roxie fantasizes on the way we'd love to dump all the hate-inducing folks into ONE universe. So many who've crawled out of the cracks since this overlong campaign began. Realized how lucky I am to have another browser to use. Writing you from Safari.

Here's another button from my growing collection.

UPDATE: Linda at Good Girl, Roxie, alerted that she simply copied that great letter, did not write it.

Tortillas: Could they change my life?

Never having had much success with tortilla toasting, I was pleased to learn this easy method from my daughter-in-law, mother of Roxie. Did she discover it when they lived in Santa Fe?

Why now? A few weeks ago, my new friend Holly of Snoop du Jour, (we met in the Obama campaign) was intrigued with my description of ElderExercise. She joined us and spoke about the positive changes and sense of well-being she'd experienced by eliminating gluten, a/k/a wheat, in her diet. Oh, no, not bread! Not pasta!

Next Ron's nephew, also our dentist, spoke about similar ideas for weight loss. Corn products, brown rice were other foods he believed are better for all of us. Certainly seemed to have worked for him. So, we are creeping toward change--beyond the brown rice that's has been a staple in our kitchen for a long time.

The other day I made a "tortilla sandwich" with [details only for the adventurous reader] fresh ground peanut butter from an organic health food store and sliced bananas. That was good. Today soup and tortilla.

Since Claude of Blogging in Paris and I began ElderExercise last March, I've learned that food is an easier area for me to make change. I even eat less chocolate--most days. In my everyday diet, meat has almost disappeared, portions are smaller. I walk much more now that I have a goal of 5,000 steps a day and developed a religious connection to my pedometer. Weight loss has been an important by-product.

But exercises in my apartment, all by myself, so far escape me. And I really need to do these to tighten up belly muscles, improve balance, strengthen shoulders. Encouragement from the online group has kept my focus on this goal.

It puzzles me that so few have inquired about ElderExercise. Claude and I knew from our own experiences how difficult it is to begin regular exercise after 50. Still I thought an adventurous group like Elderbloggers might generate more who'd try it out. Because we've had recent interest from younger women, we revised our description to read those "at least 50."

Roxie's wearing the last top I knit for her. Had been off the needles for three months due to shoulder pain--which I finally realized was caused more by learning new iMac.

Knitting again.

Behold, King Bloomberg!

 It was not enough darkness:  soured economy, nasty stuff in the Presidential campaign.  And then, Michael Bloomberg, billionaire mayor of New York City--the same one whose plans to become a national candidate got no traction--  OUR IMPERIAL MAYOR has decided to (horns, trumpets, drum roll) save New York City.  

How?  By changing the rules so term limits, twice voted on by us little people, would be tossed out.  Change the rules!  Just this once.  Because we really, really need him, the ONE who knows so much about finance.

Power brokers swooped to his support-- including another  billionaire who once spent millions to support limiting the Mayor and City Council to two terms.  The New York Times also wanted him to stick around.  Did it occur to Bloomberg to offer his largess to the next mayor?  Ah, but that would require a marked reduction in/of [?] hubris.

Fortunately there have been voices here and there with contrary views.  Clyde Haberman, a longtime  Times columnist, was indignent in several essays. Under a very long title, What's the Matter at City Hall: Democracy, the Voice of the People and All That,  he begins with a civics quiz and speaks for the majority of voters here who were not happy with this end run.  Adding insult to injury, it would be the NYC Council members--talk about double jeopardy--who would decide if this could happen.  Can't you just see all the dollars flying about, the promises made?

Bloomberg also leaned on many non-profits who  had received funding from his own foundation.  Where is it that I live?  Weeks before the Council's vote, my own councilman Robert Jackson declared to the media that he was not interested in his constituents' opinions.  Guess so, he never responded to my email.

Despite an  energetic campaign with rallies, meetings, leaflets mounted by New York's progressive  Working Families Party, the Mayor's heavy foot squashed the opposition. 
 

The battle is not over;  next year Bloomberg will run for the third term he has manipulated into being.  He has offended many with his tactics.  He might lose.  Did it occur to him to offer his largess to the next mayor?   Ah, but that would require hubris.

Me?  I'm voting for Obama on the Working Families Party line--not the Democratic line.  I'm very tired of these politicians who switch from one party to another for expediency...Faux Republican Liberals.   For those who may have forgotten, we had another.   Rudy Guiliani also saw himself as New York City's saviour, wanted to change the rules on term limits at a time of crisis.  That was   September 11, 2001.  When Bloomberg was about to be elected.  

Missed Rhinebeck, October...but did OFFF in September

Life happens. We had a plan to trek upstate for the yearly New York Sheep & Wool event known as Rhinebeck. But I spent two hours in the dental chair last Friday, so we missed the chance to see local friends, faraway vendors we've come to know. We have a special fondness for Rhinebeck-- heralded spot where Ron was seized with the spinning urge earlier in the century. Oddly its explosive recent growth has not made internet connection more reliable--reason for no link here. Maybe that's a good thing?

Loyal to the fiber, we'd planned our September trip to Portland to synch with Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival in nearby Canby, Oregon. Seems to be known locally as OFFF, at least that's what I learned from Judy Becker of PDX Knitters. She is famous for "Judy's Magic Cast-On," and a tiny business card that illustrates her technique.

The photo of me is on her blog Persistent Illusion, the first online appearance of the Couverle (French for "lid") from Knitty.com, re-imagined as a Condom Amulet--with the addition of a double-knit pouch to hold the all-important Safe Sex accessory. It was Amanda Gale of the ManThong Condom Amulet who suggested the inside-out style for those wishing to be less modest. (Pretty Aaucania cotton yarn, hand-dyed in Chile, purchased at Portland's Close Knit on our previous visit.)

We also met Cindy, Bobbie Wallace, Monica in the PDX Knitter's tent provided by the Fest in exchange for free knitting advice to the public. All decked out in Obama buttons, though mine was new to them. We plan to connect with them again on our upcoming, longer visit in the winter.

[Big Apple Knitters and NYC Crochet provided free help for an event hosted by yarn companies for a couple of years in Union Square. Nothing was for sale so it was a drain on resources of local yarn stores to provide staff simply to raise their visibility. Good place for beginning knitters, mellow at the outset in 2000,then became very crowded mostly by people seeking freebies. Now gone.]

Of course Ron bought roving. I am in a not-buying-yarn mode at the moment. We found a beautiful small rug for a wall in our daughter's home. It was woven in Teotitlan del Valle, a village of weavers near Oaxaca, our favorite Mexican city. "Vida Nueva," a Zapotec Women's Cooperative formed this first, and only, all-women's cooperative to market their handmade rugs directly to buyers. Pastora Guitierrez, a member of the co-op, was at their booth with Juanita Rodriguez, their stateside supporter from Corvallis, Oregon. Beautiful designs; you can contact them to order or volunteer to bring their work near you by emailing vidanueva@comcast.net. .

More sightings at OFFF...connecting again with

Carol, the Oregon shepherd we met at Black Sheep Gathering in June, student from Oregon State University who told me all about the Agricultural Extension Service, and a couple of very Portland-style innovators.

Campaign Bounty: People Finding Voices on the Street

Why, you ask, is she writing this?  Old news from September 20, 2008.    Everyone knows that people in a democracy use the ballot to speak.  My pitch is about  the process.  How people in this mega-city used our table as a public space  to exchange ideas and information. 

Early in September Holly Cara Price and I met at the local campaign office  run by Three Parks Democratic Club (conveniently located next door to Silver Moon, French bakery started by two women, French and American).  Discovered we were both bloggers.  Hers is Snoop du Jour, quite glam, filled with events of the day, cultural events arranged around horoscopes.  Picture of her taken at Sliver Moon the day we met to talk about a combo of voter registration and cookies.  Next to her is longtime, hardworking volunteer  Arlene, "I never read blogs," but big supporter of cookie effort.

 t

Selected my favorite place, at  112th and Broadway in front of  Liberty House  the ONLY   store in the City  that sells clothes I want to buy (me and my grandchildren, too).  Been in business since 1967, great community-focused history at the link.

 Martha, one of the owners,  welcomed us.  In her hand is a copy of  the  Barackolate chip cookies free that day with a two-cookie donation...empty by 4 p.m.    Now free to you for your Election Night celebration.  We're thinking about asking our neighbor with the BIG television screen to host the party.  And we bring cookies.                                                          

Roxanne Warren, an architect who has designed an auto-free light rail for 42nd street which is sponsored by the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility.  Imagine!  More at Vision 42.  Loved her self-designed button, "Women for Obama" and wish I could recall the typeface but forgot to add on back of her card.

  Talked about Condom Amulets with Sara-- whose dog had an Obama alert on his collar.  She's a Family/HIV Nurse Practitioner at a Bronx Hospital.  Discovered wer're neighbors, will talk more about how knitting amulets might be incorporated into local programs about safe sex.

 There was an energetic musician who stopped by.  She and Holly talked music.  Then the musician and  a man  not so sure that Obama was the one had a long,  very respectful back and forth--must have gone on for 30 minutes.  People are eager for  ways to exchange with others.  

"Drive-by" voter registration was possible at the busy  corner  behind us.  Result:  14 newly registered voters, $271.00.

My thoughts go to  a table with a sign, "Institute for Rational Public Space," in front of Liberty House--in the good weather--couple of extra chairs. 

Few years ago you'd see around the City,  young people who sat on sidewalks,  offered to talk with passersby.  Could these Gen-Xers to join us?  Reminds me of  the "Lucy Booth" a couple of social workers and  I ran at a Women's Fair in Baltimore.  But that's another story--1977,  the good old days of second wave feminism when many of us found time for politics/work/family.   

Moonsnails To Share...

Over the past few months, starting with the growing intensity of the Presidential campaign, moving  downward into the failure of capitalism in the U.S., there's a darkness around my country.  For those of us inspired by the possibility of two transformative candidates, there was the hard reality: either a woman or a person of color would call forth unresolved angers in Americans.

Some of us have firsthand knowledge of that reality.  But we were hopeful.  Then the implosion of financial markets came to increase the darkening cloud hovering over our democracy.  Finally, the vaunted--by some--billionaire Mayor of New York City chose this very edgy time to announce that the City could not live without him and his financial acumen.  We needed to change our electoral rules and reward him to another term as King of the City.  Some of us believe this is an outrage.  Twice the voters  have held up their hands, pulled levers, and said, "Only two terms, please!" 

How will you and I carry ourselves through these troubling times?  Of course, on the positive side, I expect Barack Obama to become President of the United State in 17 days!  The financial picture?  I dream that wiser heads prevail to find ways to lower homeowners facing foreclosure.  King Bloomberg?  Tune in later for the ongoing, soon-to-be-resolved saga...even royalty loses every now and then.

Years ago, walking on the  North Carolina beach just after the tide had come in, hundreds of moonsnails were underfoot.  Working with beads, I'd become fascinated with the ubiquity of  eye-beads  in jewelry and amulets as a way to protect the wearer from bad things.  Always a small pouch with moonsnails is in my purse, so I can  give you one, a good-eye to ward off evil. Imagine holding it in your hand.   I hope it soothes.

The Future of My Elderblogging in the Known World

Here's the current status for this blog.  This morning I was all set to post about highlights of voter registration--my old news.  Then I'd go on to visiting Portland, Oregon, meeting Marianna of Hattie's Web while there, farmer's market, my it-could-be-worse ambulance ride .  And returning to New York.

But no.  In a weakened condition, I have been trying to master this pretty new iMac.  Been to their vaunted one-to-one classes, sat on high stools (asked where people put coats in winter), looked deep into the eyes of 22-year-olds and wondered, "Who are you...my grandkids could be your children...what connects us beyond this technology?"  [But that's a post for another time.]  Yes, the wonders of Elderblogging have visited me--concrete suggestions I can use from First 50 Words and Blogging in Paris.  Thankyou, thankyou.

Last night I made a flyer to invite others in my apartment building to join a  morning walking group our Retirement Service began as a response to a City effort toward seniors.  Thought we could be more inclusive--invite anyone who is around at 9 a.m. Thursdays.  But I no longer have Publisher, have to get one for Mac, so making a flyer was another new experience.  Feeling accomplished...

Okay.  Open TypePad to begin.  A draft post appears--in HTML (I do not know hypertext markup), yellow band across the Compose page:

Update: We've improved the way we display access to plain text (convert line breaks) and markdown. Read about this and more in our overview of the new compose editor

Expletive.  Expletive.  Turns out, as I understand these technology-crazed kids who cannot allow an hour to pass without something NEW NEW NEW, I must give up my preferred style of writing--a picture here, there...a try at boldface, italics...a change of mind.  NOW I must write my entire draft as text and when I'm all done with that--as if images do not shape what and how I write--only then may I insert pictures, links, markup the text.

And I pay cash for this privilege of social control?  It becomes clearer why Vuee at O'Folks  nudged me to consider WordPress--which is FREE.   Oh, no, just tried to Preview the page and a pop-up blocker tells me that Firefox (that's the browser that TypePad suggested when I was having trouble back in my PC life) has done that.  And I like TypePad, they answer my questions--patiently.  But not this, not now, I'm an old lady who can only juggle so many things. 

So this one is a TEST, my friends.  (Remarkable how a perfectly decent phrase becomes a joke.)  Well, my candidate is about HOPE-- the word in Korean on the button.  

And the real test, the one that truly matters in our lives, is less than 3 weeks away.  Gotta go, try out my new exercises--with stretch bands--while I listen to radio for latest screw-up by out-going administration

Before We Flew West...

First Roxie looked around.  Big crowd in Riverside Park and much entertainment for children.  She likes to dance.  As the music beat around her and her Mom,  she listened, then joined the crowd.

The last Sunday in September, we went to a children's event in Riverside Park.  Ron and I are awed by the many entertainments provided by the city and non-profit orgs in  New York City.  Children's museums, special events around town.  And always favored foods.

There are other photos from this day that belong here.  However, once again, there's a problem with inserting them. 

It's now October 12, another Sunday.  I'm off to a One-to-One session at the Apple store.  Perhaps some magical words will emerge from there so I can continue to illuminate my blog with images.

We had a great time in Portland but I did get under the weather.  Ron thinks it might be a response to the economy and the negativity of the Repubs.

 

Returning to blog soon...

Yes, I've been out of the loop.  Learning to shift from PC to Imac...visiting Portland...getting the flu. 

But that's only my little life, so much more in the public space.  Will try to catch up soon.