Question: How Can You Tell?

US Sen. Frank Lautenberg dies at 89

If there was ever an argument for term limits, this guy was it. Good riddance to bad rubbish. This is not to say he won’t still be voting. He was is a Democrat, after all. He did build himself a nice train station, though.

The senatorial pustules of NJ: one down, one to go.

Now comes the fun – guessing who Governor Christie will likely appoint to fill in until the next election. Candidates include:

• Mrs. Frank Lautenberg
• Cory Booker [honest to God]
• Tillie
• Head of the NJ teacher’s union [this would be a pay cut for him]
• Eric Holder

I give up. I was trying to be funny but there was nothing funny about shattered faith in your state’s governor. The  jolly photo-op camaraderie with Obama not only contributed to Obama’s reelection but also has created A LOT of questions about party principles and loyalty.   Granted, those actions resulted in a boatload of money headed into NJ but its Democrat money and payback – you may have heard –  is a bitch. And now there’s a chance to pay back by appointing a Democrat bitch to fill FL’s seat. This is the watershed moment for Christie.

Neither is there anything funny about the recently departed loaded diaper. He is being touted all over the internet now as an advocate for women’s health where “women’s health” is code for all abortion all the time with no room for dissenting opinion. He is famously remembered as pro-claiming that pro-life people do not deserve the freedoms in the Constitution. I would imagine that his senility led him to leak that tactic ahead of the party schedule for that particular assault on the citizenry who dare to differ. How soon until the petition to rename your fabulous train station starts?

I fully recognize none of this is of any interest at all outside of NJ.

That Lovely Month

May 1st already?  Time for Occupy Gazebo.

The bundle on the table is my painting stuff. The bundle under the table is a filthy corgi.

At the risk of repeating myself, these roll-up blinds were a brilliant idea. Sometimes I like to do this half-way thing and let the lookyloos get only a partial glimpse. The blinds have helped me to understand that it’s not so much them seeing me that bothers me – it’s me seeing them that disturbs me. So halfway is good enough for privacy purposes. They go all the way down when the sun makes it unbearable to sit there.

I was going to work from the official office today instead of  from my extra bedroom, but why should I waste my time driving up and down the parkway? I can have lunch on the deck and then go buy bright red geraniums for the stoopscape.

Question: Do the commies still parade on May 1st? Related: little known fact about Suzette: I have an obsession with an Al Stewart CD called  Between The Wars which *deep breath* is  themed around of world events from 1918 to 1939. Each piece is done in a different style but one that suits the particular subject matter of the track. I am amazed at how much history I knew and forgot and remembered again when I first listened to this. Listen to any part of this work and see if the brilliance doesn’t take your breath away. Where else are you going to find a pop music piece meant for general audience that makes a quiet allusion to how the Japanese takeover of southeast Asian rubber tree plantations away from the French and the resulting global shortage impacted  European supply? I just reread that sentence and it sounds so dry but it’s not. It’s brilliant. I just used 4 times as many words as the complete reference in the song lyric:

“Far away, figures bend to tap the
Endless seas of rubber trees
To coat the wheels of Paris taxis”

I know the hipper parts of the interwebs are busy today with Jonathan Colton’s First Of May but they don’t even know. And so for May 1st, I present to you Joe the Georgian.

lyrics here

[Editor's note: If only I could think of a post that would include a reference to A League of Notions, even though I do not care for that cheap shot at the Pope at the end.]

But What Isn’t Improved By The Addition Of Baby Goats?

This is our favorite local Nativity display:

The kids were small when we first started to visit. The barn had only that central portion and the fence was post-and-rail, making for some interesting goat/child finger interaction. That didn’t happen much because the goats were busy chewing on the clothing of the mannequins. Now the central characters are behind goat-proof wire and the whole thing has been enlivened by the addition of baby goats who spend their time jumping on and off the donkey’s back. We suspect that the wise man with the heavy beard is a lady mannequin but we can’t prove it. Also, I’m not really sure where Joseph is in this scene. Is he kneeling next to the manger wearing a black vest? Or is he standing behind Mary draped in a brown cloak?

Wintry Mix

Last night the DIL said to me that this is one more thing about NJ that is crap – “wintry mix” sounds like its going to be something good. When you first hear it, it’s like “Oh -something sweet and tasty?” but no -it’s crap. NJ better wise up – we keep telling her that it’s worth sticking it out through the non-SoCal-ish times but I’m afraid a few more hurricanes, floods, blizzards, droughts or heat waves might just prove us wrong.

Hey, did I read this right? Petula Clark is 80? If yes, then that means that she was 75ish in this video. I stopped saying that I hope I’m in as good a shape as [insert name here] because i’m already halfway to the glue factory. Whatever happened to that Riverdance guy?

I’m working from home today. Whenever I have a big WebEx day, I set up both my work laptop and my home PC s I can skim blogs and mail and still be able to know what we’re talking about if they call my name (although I am far less smooth about that than I used to be). Now I’ve added my iPhone so I can watch you tube videos at the same time.

just imagine an iPhone at the end of that white cord

Of course, if I signed into the WebEx on my iPhone, then I could turn around and wrap Christmas presents on the daybed while the phone was propped up on pillows. I am enjoying the hell out of this phone so far.

This was a very thrilling twitter interaction for me this week:

I don’t really like to drop names but I happen to be a pal of the Vlasic Stork.

Over and out.

Blog Wait Repeat

Oh, how disappointing that none of you care to wish a happy birthday to Florence Nightingale. It breaks the heart. Well, if you didn’t like that, then I don’t think you’re going to like what looms ahead.

That’s right -  we now commence repetition of the same seasonal posts that I make every year at this time, starting with my rhododendron in bloom. This year, something new has been added: they’re dying.

woe!

Some branches here and there are dead as door nails. I’m hoping it’s from the weight of all the stupid ice we had this winter and not that they are weary from dragging their 25-year-old asses into bloom every year. In the top left view, you can see that I’ve outlined in blue a gigantic poison ivy vine that’s making itself at home in there.  As if things weren’t bad enough.

Now that we have this one out of the way, I’ll tell you how it’s going to go for the rest of the warm weather:

• plants in flower pots on the deck – new this year! herbs on the deck
• little dog posing next to big hostas
• rose hedge in bloom, followed shortly thereafter by mildewed rose foliage
• outdoor lighting inside gazebo
• close-ups of single day lily blossoms
• birdhouse, but in a new location this year

I’ll understand if you go away until I’m over myself and start posting new content. If previous years are any guide, that’s pretty much going to be it until September.

Or is it?

I’ve got a cheery tomtato planted in a big pot on the landing of the the deck stairs. And I might decide to show you iced tea in my eBay’ed green Anchor Hocking glass pitcher. Maybe I’ll veer away from this topic altogether and talk about how my knee hurts.

And guess what? Small pieces of yellow paint have started to peel away from the sides of the urn. Wouldn’t you like to see that?

Here.  Treat your retinas to some light pollution: