IRAQ IS BACK!!!

IRAQ IS BACK. How can it be? Didn't we leave that country years ago after we had saved it for democracy and built the biggest embassy in the world in Bagdad? After all those 4500 men klled and all those horrific injuries and billions of dollars spent? How could it be? Obvio. usly it didn't work out. Maybe the problem was that all the protests and marches that my husband and I did at the start ere not strong enough. I am sorry we didn't do a better job- I can recount them al and I se we e ittle bit feeble but we were in our seventies and we didn't have quite the energy the job required. Lets see, the first protest was in Davis, California where we living in an retirement home. Davis was a very progressive town and their anti-war activity took the form of a silent protest on Saturday mornings, lining the main street of Davis carrying appropriate signs "NO BLOOD FOR OIL" and the like.Cars would drive down the street and honk and wave. I thought all of the waves were encouragement, but my husband said a few were bad hand gestures which did not mean to be encouraging at all. At any rate, I was scolded and almost had to leave the protest, because the leader said I was talking and making noise. Did I tell you the protest was organized and run by the Quakers, and they take that idea of silence seriously. Neverthe less we went on to other protests that spring. We spent time in Santa Barbara and that city had its own protest- a march up State Street every Saturday, from the farmers' market to the Art Museum. The signs were more sophisticated but it was a lively crowd. My husband fell farther and farther behind in the march, because it was a long way and we couldn't keep up. But the worst is yet to come. We went to a big march one Saturday that was to take place in San Francisco and it was big. We went on chartered busses and as we left Davis it looked like rain, but no one was deterred by this. We should have been, because when the bus drew up to the starting oint in the city it began to storm, with lightning and thunder and sheets of driving rain. My husband and I didn't have any raingear or umbrellas, and we got out into a maelstrum of wind and buckets of water. The group was supposed to march to Mission Delores and it was obvious to us that we couldn't make it. Normally my husband would duck intoa little bar or restaurant and have a dry martini, but that was not available and we were buffeted up against what seemed to be a Chinese movie theater. So we went in and watched a Chinese movie (I didn't understand a word) and wiled away two hours until the bus came back. The rest of the party had made it to Mission Dolores, all excited and virtuous. The storm had let up when they were halfway there. I am sorry to say that we acted as though we had made the trip, and no one questioned it. What a sorry and cowardly showing. I still feel guilty. Perhaps the whole terrible invasion of Iraq would not have happened if we had not been such wimps.

WHAT DO BIRDERS DO?

Just back from a stay with the Birders- that is, a few days at a B and B dedicated to birding in southern Arizona. To tell the truth I am not a birder, I don't really know what birders do. I know they have kind of neat clothes and little packs over their backs, and field glasses, and bottles of water (if you don't take water in southern Arizona you will be a dead birder). I know birders get up way too early in the morning, stay away an uber long time, and then come home and talk about all the wonders they have seen. All the birders I have known are very happy with this, although it seems to me to be a little bit boring. Part of my problem with this is that I am utterly incapable of using my bird glasses - I've tried and I can't focus and then all I see is the building across the street, or the ground. Maybe if I could do this I,too, could be a birder. I would like to. The B and B is wonderful. It is owned and run by a fine couple, Karl and Patrick, very skilled at this. They are gourmet cooks and the building is wonderfully furnished and comfortable. The interior couryard is an oasis of plants and fountains, with birds everywhere. This is on the banks of the San Pedro River, which I have been told that the river's banks are what is a veritable Route 66 for birds, who use it to travel to wherever thay are going - and who knows where that is. My daughter and I were the only guests at this time - because it was the very hot season (104 while we were there)so we didn't have to sit at tables and talk to perfect strangers while we are eating. I suppose to dedicated birders that would not be problem, however it"just that that aspect of B andB's is not appealing to me. So Karl ate with us and Patrick cooked his eggs Florentine, and fresh peach poached in a berry coulis, while we looked out the window at a thousand birds. A problem. My daughter and I can no longer share a room while on a trip. Why two related people cannot do this, or share a bathroom is beyond me.She says I snore. I want to make this perfectly clear. I DO NOT SNORE. I HAVE NEVER SNORED. DO YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE IT IS TO HAVE TWO ROOMS, WHEN ONE SHOULD BE PERFECTLY ADEQUATE? Years ago houses only had one bathroom. We used it for children going to school and the husband going to work and we had absolutely no trouble. Americans are getting weak. Goodbye- have you ever seen a summer tananger? Happy birding.

The Lone Ranger

Let's see, it has been FIVE years since I last posted on this blog- November 2009 to be exact. I'm still alive, but my life has changed a bit and generally for the better. When I last talked to you my husband had just died and I was trying to adjust to doing thngs on my own, things like buying a car,pumping gas, opening jars, and not having someone to laugh with every day. I'm over that now. I gave up driving, have a new technique for opening jars, and moved into a retirement home where I can have coversation when I want it, but not of course as much fun as it used to be. I'm going to call my new home "the Heights" although that's not its name. When you are writing in a blog you try to preserve a bit of anonymity or no one will ever speak to you again. Not that anyone here at the Heights is likely to follow- this is not a tech savvy place and most people are very leery of cell phones, do not do streaming, and have to wait until the grandchildren come to visit to do simple Emails. My generation lives in a different world. It is a nice world, though. The Heights is on a mountain, up about as high as you can go in this part of town. What I particularly liked about it when I first saw it was the carved and imposing gatehouse (this is an elegant neighborhood). You drive up a long winding way through an arroyo. I thought, "I may be old, but God wanted me to live in a spot like this." Apparently the wild animals think so too, because we have a nice variety of desert dwellers. I have seen a lot of javelina - do you know them? They are like a large pig or boar, but of a different family, ugly as sin. They are dark grey or black and I have been told they smell very bad, something I cannot confirm because I usually stay far away. They travel in packs- sometimes as many of ten and take the babies with them. They are not considered dangerous, but sometimes charge if they feel threatened. Could you eat javelina? I doubt it. Today I saw something unusual. It was a huge javelina, all alone, in the middle of the day. He (I am sure it was a he)walked slowly on my sidewalk, in front of me, crossed the road and casually disappeared down the arroyo. I have never seen one javelina . It is an impossibility. They always travel together. Where was he going? And why? Does he have a lady friend down toward the gatehouse?Is he going to Safeway or Walgreens? Other residents have seen him and he is known as the Lone Ranger. It made me happy to see him so cocky and independent. Carry on, Lone Ranger!

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

We went to the procession for the Day of the Dead in downtown Tucson. It is a wonderful thing but I don't want to talk it up too much, because it was perfect just the way it was- very low key and Tucson, and we wouldn't want it to be a big spectacular. People just show up to walk in it, most of them dressed in costumes and masks (see the pictures above), some are walking on stilts, most have a skull motif, some are beating a mournful drum. The rest of us stand along the siidewalk and watch. There has been little or no advertising, the procession just starts.

I have been told that the Day is Mexican in origin. It is meant to commemorate those souls who have died in the year, and to remember all the dead. Families decorate the graves, and bring little festive meals for the departed. Some in the procession carry photographs of the relatives and somehow it all seems just right. My children do this for their dad, without knowing of the Mexian custom. He loved a good dry Martini. So whoever is in San Francisco at the time drives up to the gravesite and takes two Martinis and puts them on the stone and talks to him a little. When we leave we pour the Martini on the ground, and leave the olives on the stone for the animals.

This year we didn't walk to the end of the Day of the Dead procession, because we didn't know what wonders came then. I saw a clip on the TV that night, so I know what I missed. They light a big cauldron, which had led the procession, and it is filled with papers that people had written to their loved ones, and they light it. Big flames come up, and all of the messages are consumed. Very pagan, but satisfying, I think. It reminds me of the Burning Man festival in Nevada.

Don't tell anyone about the Day of the Dead in Tucson, because we want it to stay just the way it is. Some things should be left alone.

THE DAY OF THE DEAD

INNOCENTS ABROAD

Well, I'm back now from our trip down the Danube. Unfortunately it is with the obligatory illness - have you noticed how people come home from exotic trips with a disability of some sort? Usually it is a bronchitis type of infection, but mine is a strained or torn tendon in one leg; very painful and requiring physical therapy. But was the trip worth it? Yes, yes it was wonderful to be in all those fairytale cities and to float down the beautiful Danube on a luxurious boat.
From the very start you feel unusual. Passengers you meet on the trip to Europe ask where you are going and it's a thrill to say "Budapest" which is a place I never imagined would be any destination of mine. What a wonderful city it is! Apparently every nation to pass here thought so too - Attila, the Goths, the Romans all recognized the site was meant for a city. It must have been a Paris-like city at the turn of the century, its elegant buildings that line the streets still standing and handsome. It is hard to realize that 600,000 Jews disappeared during the Germans' stay here. Unbelievable.

Bon Voyage!

Today is packing day. I never go on trips so I'm not an old hand at this. I know that if I find myself in a strange eastern European country where I don't speak the language, and I don't have my stomach medicine or enough underwear, I'm in real trouble. So this carry-on piece is very important because people have told me that British Airways is notorious for losing luggage. That doesn't sound like the Brits to me, you know how they are always pictured in Africa in formal dress eating on safari. But I want to be ready.

The main thing to me is my over-the-counter supply. I am big on this. I have ibuprophin, aspirin, anti-acid of two kinds, bandaids, antiseptics, gauze pads because you never know what can happen, and more. After all I won't see a Walgreens for twenty-one days and that can seem like forever. Then I have my meds - all in their original bottles and accompanied by my prescriptions. Finally, the underwear. By now the carry-on will be filled to the brim. Everything else can go in the checked bag which British Airways is getting ready to lose.

Sound like fun? I am thinking of it as an adventure. I'm off to Europe this weekend with my daughter, we'll let you know how things go. Bon Voyage!