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.