Where am I?

Hello world - 

A lot has happened since I posted.  Mostly it's been Donald Trump winning the election as President of the United States.

How the fuck did this happen? We can blame it on so many things, but I blame it on fear.  Fear and deep rooted hatred has taken over this country.  We've allowed a narcissistic jackass to rule over the greatest country on earth and he is breaking it down to it's knees.  He incites violence, racism, antisemitism, anti- equality.....anti anything that isn't about making money and ruining our natural resources.

Even larger than that...the Republican party has become the party of greed.  The party of "What is mine is mine and I will not share with my fellow Americans". They want to deregulate and ruin our natural resources.  They want to strip away Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to hurt some of the most vulnerable people - the poor, the elderly and the sick.  They call these programs "entitlements".  They are not.  How about we get rid of your healthcare and salary once you leave or are voted out of office?  I think that would improve some deficit issues.

:::sigh:::

I sit here some nights and I just wonder what has happened to a country who used to pride itself on helping others.  Now we are turning people away.

We are a nation of immigrants and on their backs we built this country.  Without them we do not exist.

From the arms of one of our most cherished icons is this:

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Now we push them away.  We tell them they are not wanted, not needed.  We feel threatened by their presence.

My Grandparents experienced signs like these: 

I thought we had come so far.  I had hope with President Obama, but I also had dread.  I heard the "Monkey in the White House" jokes and heard the "N" word for the first time in so many years.  

I remember a conversation with someone who said to me, very honestly: "Do you think this country is ready for a black man as the President?"  

My answer was, probably very naively:  "Yes...absolutely! Why not?"

He shook his head and just said to me that there were too many people who don't like it at all.

That was in 2008, ten years later we have fallen farther backwards then we have ever fallen before.

Please tell me there is hope for a better America.  An America that I grew up with that believed in taking care of each other and that we were all created equal and that if there is someone who is struggling....help them.  

Please...let me know this America still exists. 

Nevermind

I had wanted to write a post about my trip to NYC yesterday, but after a few glasses of wine my thoughts are a bit muddled.

SO - instead this will be Random thoughts which is what I am best and and one of the reasons for the title of my blog anyway.

Why do people on trains feel the need to carry out conversations as though no one else can hear them?

Quote that I overheard from a 20 something young girl to the guy she just met on the train sitting in the seat across from her. Which by the way she talked the entire 1 1/2 yours to - but who's counting: "So like to get anywhere you would like have to work the old fashioned way from the bottom up. Can you believe that? I was like No way!"

(Ok...this may not have been the "actual" words, but it's close.)

Old fashioned way? Like "earning it"?

Heaven forbid!! (is this a republican statement or just an older person's view on things?)

Next - why do people feel the need to talk about their personal lives to perfect strangers?

Is it loneliness? The need to unburden oneself? Anyone? Please help me to understand why a grown woman would tell a perfect stranger (not me thankfully) about the staff infection she got while visiting someone in the hospital which landed her in a quarantined section of a different hospital for 7 days?

Also - does talking loudly about a potential business deal while you are on a train make you important or just really annoying to everyone else who could care less?

Lastly - if you are sitting on a train and you smell something foul and there is only one other person around you and you know that that foul smell didn't come from you - should you ask them to at least say "excuse me?"

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh....so many questions - so little time.

And so inconsequential compared to what is happening in Haiti.

How many people have perished? Over 50,000? Maybe more?

And we are subjected to Acts of Stupidity like this from the moronic idiot Rush Limbaugh: "I do believe that everything is political to this president," Limbaugh said on his radio show yesterday. "Everything this president sees is a political opportunity, including Haiti, and he will use it to burnish his credentials with minorities in this country and around the world, and to accuse Republicans of having no compassion."


or this from TV Evangelist Pat Robertson:

"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," he said on Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club." "They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal."

I ..... am without words.





P.S. - If you find any typo's or grammatical errors, oh well!

I really don't give a flying fig! :)

Beautiful weekend

We had a little warm spell here in the northeast this weekend. Today it was like spring outside. All of the snow has melted and everyone was outside enjoying the break from the typical winter doldrums.

After our little jaunt to visit farms yesterday we decided to have a lazy day today. So we slept in a little, took the pups for their walk, ran a few errands that just needed to be done and then I lit a nice fire in the chiminea on the back deck and we proceeded to sip wine, dream about our little farm and relax.

I love days like this!

I love weekends like this!

Later I fired up the grill and cooked some tender and juicy london broil and marinated asparagus . mmmmmmmmmmm...mmmmmmmmmmmm....good stuff.

Now M and I are on our nicely padded middle aged asses...each armed with a lap top and a cute little dog sleeping by our sides and enjoying the quiet.

Life is fucking awesome sometimes!

I hope where ever you are you had a similar weekend!

Peace all.