Fun and game in The Yard

One of the best, if not THE best, part of living so close to Baltimore is Camden Yards home of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.Hubby was born and raised in New York City so he's been a Yankee fan his whole life. Since I had grown up with the Astros all those years when they were like Michael Jackson and wearing a glove for no apparent reason, I easily moved my loyalty to the Yankees. I had planned before we moved here that I would try to embrace the Orioles then Robbie Alomar spit in the umpire's face and that was it for me. Too much too early in the relationship.

Above is Jeter at bat. So we always try to make it out to "The Yard" when the Yankees are in town. Sad for the Orioles fans in that when the Yanks are in town there are at least twice as many Yankee fans at the stadium as Baltimore fans. It's the only time the games sell out.

I have long wanted a pink NYY cap and, low and behold, they had 'em for sale outside the stadium as we walked in. Yippie!

This was the Orioles last game of the season so there was a grand fireworks show after. The whole night was so fun...got into a good-natured back and forth with a loud, funny Orioles fan...drank THREE beers (flashback from Texas)...ate peanuts...got hat...had lot of fun with hubby...fireworks...the winner...not all it's about.

Update On Lucas...He's Like Nailing Jello to the Wall

To clear up the confusion about where Lucas resides, it's College Station, Texas. The pictures further below were from last year in California and the most recent he had sent me until yesterday when he finally sent me this recent photo of him, his girlfriend, Kristen, and her brother, Brandon. Oh boy, this is the first photo he's sent me of her and I'm tickled to finally get a look at her. She just left last week to study for a semester in England. They miss each other terribly but Lucas will go for Christmas and maybe another trip while she's there and hopesully the time will pass quickly and easily. These would be considered newer photos because they are so recent as to be from last year when Lucas was living on the Monterey Peninsula and going to school. Here's one from surfing at Andrew Malera Beach in Big Sur. After a tough bout in San Francisco and a great recovery in Oregon, Lucas decided on Monterey as his landing point for the time being last year. He attended MPC just as I had 30 years earlier! It takes Lucas about 30 seconds to make new friends and with the help of Tasha he quickly fit in with the Big Sur campers and surfers.

It was a perfect follow up to recovery. They did a lot of hiking and camping in Big Sur, he's most comfortable in his skin in this kind of setting and he soaked a lot of it up. He still really misses it living in Texas but he'll be back to Monterey. It took me four tours to get it out of my system, he's only on his third...

It Might Be a Little Safer/Saner to Get Up This Morning?

Yahoooooooo! Finally some good news! Remember to click onto the article image to make it bigger so you can read it. At least some things make a little more sense today, we gotta have these days to get through the previous ones. Mychal Bell released from prison, it's like waking to a dream rather than a nightmare!

But lest we think we can rest our resolve and grow complacent, there always seems to be something needing attending to or to be pondered deeply...

...with liberty and justice for all? Nope.

It was all I could do to wait for part two of this story before blogging and sending a letter to the editor of the newspaper. If you can't read it as is, my bff, Julia, let me in on a secret...click on the "picture" and it will enlarge. I'm assuming and hoping it works here. "We think it's absolutely unjust.", the public defenders' office comments. Ya think? Heinous, insane, ummmmm, someone please, we need more adjectives for some actions occurring in this world lately. Unbelievable. Just like Jena 6. It reminds me of the judge who wouldn't let the woman have the restraining order against her husband then he doused her with gasoline and set her on fire. That judge couldn't be bothered either. How are these "people" allowed to be judges? There are too many incredulous questions for me to ask . Please just read and allow me to make suggestions on how to help this young man. I was so hoping and praying that part two would be about how the ACLU or someone stepped in, got him out, straightened it all out, or that I woke up and it had been a bad dream. Alas, no.

Next I shall write my letter to the editor. I very much appreciate Mr. Olesker's work and The Baltimore Examiner's printing of this information bringing this unreal situation to the light of day. If you feel so moved, please do the same.

Caveat to "Rot roe Rorge" Post

Further explanation seems to be needed in my previous post saying I was dreading Fall coming. I love the cooler temps but things happen suddenly here. We had a couple of sweater days recently which is my clothing preference, but having moved here from California where the growing season is year-round, I always dread the cool weather coming right on the heels of just when I feel like the plants and flowers are maturing beautifully. If you look back at my Mother's Day post you'll see a lot more of this gate than you see now. I love that it's a full trellis now.A view from the other side showing Lampchop.

And Lampchop surrounded by mature vines and the fig tree which produced figs the first time this year.

And my favorite, Lantana. It's the last to be brought into the retail nurseries and the first to go, they are very cool sensitive.

And here's that culprit when I was looking for who dropped that first red leaf in the yard. I love the reds and oranges that our trees turn out here in the East but the pessimist in me knows that the next step is that they fall off and the trees are bare for several months. Living in California I missed the obvious changes of seasons but I still don't care for winter and snow. But this is beautiful, right?

Happy plants full of blooms have no idea what their soon-to-be-fate is.

This tree and the Crepe Myrtle really jumped up this year. Nice, full trees are our view out back with a field between them and our home back yard.

At least I've got it on record and can look back on these in the dead of winter. That's what makes Spring here oh so sweet.

...with liberty and justice for all.

Yesterday was quite a day. I turned out perfect. Since I was getting no interest from the grown ups about going to DC to march and rally for the Jena 6, I decided to ask Matt to go. When I reviewed the story with him (we have had a running dialog about this ever since it came to our attention several months ago) the night before he cried and said of course he wanted to go. Right from the get-go we made new friends walking into the Metro station. One girl came from New York, the other from Alabama. They were better prepared with info than we so we followed them to the action.

Young and old, there was a very large turnout, one to be very proud of. One woman preached as the crowd yelled along, "We're here in City Park with the Capitol as the backdrop because...enough is enough!!!!". The "..." was a series of recounting the injustices that had brought all these folks together in one place at the same time.

This young man below (I'm sorry I didn't get his name) spoke in rhyme regarding the challenges in his life as a young black man. "I can't read, I can't write, I don't know my left from right. But as long as I can dribble and put 13 points on the scoreboard I get passed right along. The colleges are coming around, scholarships are offered. Then one night I get hit, as I hear my knee crack, I think of what my future might look like. I can't read, I can't write, I don't know my left from right...". I'm paraphrasing but it went on like that for quite a while with the above as the refrain. Very moving.

So many different ways of hearing what we know but need to hear in new words. "We are a people who were brought to this country against our will 200 years ago and still...". I'm only 49 and I long ago lost patience with this fight. Enough is enough. What is it going to take for us to evolve as a country? as a world?

This is us. We each made our signs according to what was called in our hearts. I bet Matt was asked to have his picture taken at least 50 times. A young white boy taking a day off from school (the ultimate sacrifice!) and going with his mom to stand for a cause that he also believes in moved many folks.

As if we needed a bonus, we found this little brick pavilion next to the Capitol building. It's a small red brick circular structure, partially roofed, but mostly open-air with built-in concrete seating all around the interior. On one side was this grate and the view you see here through it. It was stunning. It looked to be very old and a place created to mediate and/or pray. Good location, it should probably get more use.

God bless America, the world, and all citizens of the world. Peace on Earth...with liberty and justice for all.

Tomorrow, Sept. 20th, Support the Jena Six

If you don't know the Jena Six story click here to see the full story and what you can do in your area to help support them: http://colorofchange.org/jena/message.html . Above are their parents who, in addition to the boys themselves of course, need all the voices and bodies of support they can get. Tomorrow is the sentencing of the second young man, they are going for 22 years in prison. The first boy received an 18 year sentence. Outrageous is such a weak understatement for this situation, although I do feel outrage. I wanted badly to go to Jena at the last sentencing trial then again for this one. I have prayed so very hard about this asking God to guide me, use me for His will as I have felt strongly called by this unbelievable turn of events. On Sunday our pastor preached and quoted, "Let what breaks God's heart break your heart, then act.". Wow. The whole sermon seemed to be just for me. I came away even more determined to go to Jena and stand up in person for these young men. My husband was adamantly against it (because of safety not the issue) and no one was stepping up to commit to go with me. I kept thinking that if even one person offered to go, I'd do it. I even had several generous friends offer cash donations to help support my trip. So I prayed harder and harder and told God he'd have to make this decision because I couldn't. Then Monday night I checked my email and had one from ColorOfChange announcing a march tomorrow, September 20th, from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol in DC. PRAYERS ANSWERED!!! So I'll be there in my black outfit and sign and feel that I am doing the most I can do to try to help correct this awful behavior, I beg that you do what you can also, they have an online petition that all you have to do is go on and sign up (last trial they had 43,000 online signatures). We've done this already, we've done this decades and centuries before, we should not be fighting the same battles, this must end.

Check it Out

Check out our new blog for The Pink Cabbage at www.thepinkcabbage.blogspot.com . Let us know what you think...

New shtuff at the Pink Cabbage

Boy have I been busy the last few days! I worked at the Pink Cabbage Saturday and part of Sunday and we were so busy and made so many sales I thought I'd better get moving on my "to do" projects and get 'em in there. Here are just some of the fruits of my labor: Anyone out there 50 or so? Remember these little school desk chairs?

Crazy Aunt Esther is all dolled up and ready for adoption for some lucky family.

Another "inanimate" object dressed up, Mr. Bottle.

Making lamps is one of my favorite things to do, here we have an antique Sunbeam mix master lamp...every kitchen needs one.

A WHITE vanity, are you kidding me? I know that neutral colors sell better but I can't help myself.

What I like to think of as my "signature" artwork, antique figurines incorporated...well...with anything.

And, just in case a mix master lamp is not strange enough, here we have doll beds and heads. There's more but you'll have to make the trip to see the rest...

Shameless

You may have noticed that I like attention. Just having a blog is a bit of a tip-off. I'm a public attention hound, not to the point of being the star of Cops...yet. I happened to be at the Historic Ellicott City Show House on a consultant basis last Friday when the chairwoman received a call saying that they needed more phone answerers for Sunday's Baltimore PBS money begging. Of course I jumped. Our three hours were as representatives of Historic Ellicott City benevolently giving our time to help our local public t.v. Here I am posing but ready to go for a real call. Shameless as always, I ran into the studio to get the best seat, front center. I then quickly figured out that the camera panned to those who were actively on the phone so every time we were live I picked up my phone and acted as though I was taking a call. We had been "lured in" by being told that we would be on from 4-7 p.m. Well that's when the portion of the programming was on. Durrrrrr, most of the time the PROGRAM IS SHOWING. So we were on in four segments during our last hour so I HAD to make up for lost time. Paul recorded all 3 hours and, with a short rewind, we got to see all my hammage. It did work, I got most of the face time during the segments but still have not had to screen any agent calls.

Here's our group from HEC, fortunately a fun group and very tolerant of those trying to jump-start a late modelling/acting career.

Me with part of the group. Can you say cheese?

Home improvement near...dare I say?

If you look back to my previous posts you'll see the photo of the disaster this room was LAST WEEK. I've been hard at it as I've had a deadline, which I usually find helpful . Paul's friend from high school and undergrad school is coming to stay with us this weekend following a conference he's been attending in Baltimore this week. He's a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic. Great guy and I wanted to get our new guest room up and running for him. I always use company as a good excuse for really cleaning. It's not that I'm that vein or insecure, I truly need the motivation to really get it together.

So here are the fruits of my labor. It's like the Lincoln Bedroom, special guests are always welcome.

Okay, CHECK THIS OUT! I ran out of time and space to clean my supplies out of the small closet in the room so I had to pad lock it. So, OF COURSE, I had to have somewhere that Tom could hang his clothes. Tammy of Sweet Finds, new at THE PINK CABBAGE, had this shutter/mirror/hooks/box assemblage that fit the bill perfectly. It had been painted perfectly-chippy pink and green but I had to paint it a charcoal gray for it to pass muster with the guy with the wallet. Still too cute, eh?

Look at this area rug I found at Target for $25. I just covers all the bright pink paint I'd gotten all over the carpet when it was my work room.

And remember all those great pictures I posted of my new, fab studio? Well the bomb from the guest room blew up in the studio. The first room I finished now has to be re-done!!!!!! Door closed for a few days.

The Shift

ttp://theshiftmovie.com/index2.html

If you haven't clicked on the link on my blog to view the movie The Shift, you can click the above link to watch it. Contrary to what I was saying previously about how the battle here in the streets at home was taking up my front burner, I still get discouraged by the seeming apathy regarding the war in Iraq around here. I know there are small groups that gather and do the best they can and there are certainly large groups of folks in DC who are working very hard as well. But when I visit the West Coast there are bumper stickers, signs, t-shirts everywhere with people speaking their minds and getting the word spread. I've felt intimidated here about bumper stickers. I have my one little "If You Want Peace Work For Justice" bumper sticker. My very conservative husband "approves" of that one. He was mighty unhappy with the one I used to have that said, "What's Our Oil Doing Under Their Soil?". I always think the snottier the better. Sooooooo, recently I've been seeing more and more cars with great stickers, this one yesterday was one of the best. I just happened to be at a red light behind her and got the pic. The day before I'd seen an older woman with "A Village In Texas Has Lost Their Idiot", a classic which I like 'specially 'cause they could also be referring to me just in a differn't way. Anne Lamott mentioned one in her book, "It's About 1/16,000,000,000th About You". I want to get that one, I love it. All these sightings have caused me to think about THE SHIFT, I really seeing it happening and today I'm encouraged. Check it out.

Rot roe Rorge, fall's a comin'

Fall has always been my favorite time of year especially having grown up in Texas where summer was the longest season. We could finally get out our sweaters even if it was just for the walk to school not after. Texas A&M football season started, Halloween was coming and was a favorite holiday for me. We had the best carnivals at school for Halloween. So the other day while I'm out sweatin' like a pig cutting the lawn, I saw this leaf. I had just mowed in that very spot which meant I'd have ground it up had it been there a few moments before. I have no idea where it came from as none of the trees in the yard have red leaves, so it seemed like a whisper. I don't like the heat but the growing season here is so much shorter than Texas and California that it's a hard transition for me now. Everything is in full bloom and is just flourishing, then the sign; enjoy it now 'cause it's gonna change real soon...