A tragedy at S.F.O airport~~~

Dear Sweet Things,

First to Roger Dodger,  Yes Joe and I plan to travel as much as we can as time and finances permit,  I've listed places we want to see and places we'd like to go back and see more in depth.  Already I have a photo album (yes I know old fashioned) with post cards and pictures.  It helps when we find a place like a Walgreens that does one hour photo developing, that way we have it on CD and in print with negatives.  Just another way to bore guests of our travels  (LOL). 

What I would do on our trip in the evening is put the post cards and pictures into the Album and label them, then do a brief diary of what we saw.  Again much more fun than watching Television in a Motel room.  And it is quickly organized.  Joe has looked at some of the photos and has remarked "I don't remember that, it was there?"   So there are places we will visit again.

But we did have something happen yesterday which I'm sure has been on all the news channels,  we went to the San Fracisco Airport to pick up a friend of Joe who had just flown back from the East Coast,  I was at an observation area watching the places come in, while Joe went to meet his friend Hank at a pre-arranged meeting spot.   And I saw it.

The cry and then stunned silence in my area was terrible and then people started talking, some crying, I even heard one lady praying.   It was strange because I thought something was wrong with the plane when it came in and then it looked like it wanted to climb again, I thought it had lost power then regained it, and then the back end clipped the ground, and it did a horrible slide on the landing strip, already we could see emergency crews heading towards the plane, then terrible black smoke rising, billowing to the sky, it seems like ages before the smoke turned white.   I was frozen to the ground just staring at what I saw, much like Tippi Hedren in "The Birds".

Joe and Hank came up to me, I didn't have to tell them anything, Joe pulled me away and said "Let's go, those Souls are in good hands right now".    He was right, I felt helpless but I am not a professional emergency staffer, all we could do was pray.

Hank is staying with us for a few days so he can make arrangements to go to Los Angeles, he and Joe will visit and talk but Hank said he's going to take the Train to L.A.  I in the mean time will go back to work.

Last night we ordered Chinese but hardly ate, we were glued to the Television it was a miracle, there were 309 people on board, only 2 died, 180 injured only 12 or 16 critically,  the 2 who died were Chinese Nationals but their bodies were found outside the plane which has us puzzeled, it is possible that when the tail section broke off they were flung outside the plane.   It was a Boeing 777, Hank said that they are tough planes, there was only one other 777 crash at Heathrow he thought and he thought everyone survived.

The fact that only 2 died is sad but that 307 survived is a miracle.  I looked at Joe and said "Unless its an emergency when we travel we are taking the Train"  Joe said that considering how many people are moved around by airplanes the rate of death and injuries is small, but then he looked at me and said "But Train travel is more relaxing and we can see the sights"

It will take a while for the "after image" to fade from my mind, but gently fade it will, to be a memory of a horrible event.   Now Joe is bringing me to the here and now and we have things to take care of while the Morning is cool.

Kisses Sweet Things

Film Noir once again~~~

Well Sweet Things,

I am going to have fun for the next week,  it will be the 11th San Francisco Film Noir Festival and Peggy Cummings will be there for the first evening,  I've bought my "passport" and special ticket well in advance and indulge in the "dark side" of films.  

Some are available on DVD some are not---yet---but for me it is once again to search for "the black bird", to find my Sam Spade again of my imagination, of my dark and distance dreams.

It rained beautifully yesterday, leaving the sidewalks wet and gleaming, I felt even a slight thrill as I was heading towards to the Ferry building.   I felt that I was not in the San Francisco of 2013 but of 1943.

I turn around and check the way I came to make sure I'm not being followed, and I watch carefully every person walking on the sidewalk, some I can easily ignore, some I become suspicious of, but it turns out they are not a threat.

I stop to give a homeless man with a dog a few dollars, his sign says "Please help me feed my dog, I can take care of myself".  He says to me "God Bless you, they don't take dogs in the homeless shelters."  I give him 5 dollars more, and tears form in his eyes and he whispers "thank you".   His dog wags a friendly tail wag and raises his paw and I shake hands with the four legged companion then checking around continue to the Ferry Building.

The Ferry takes me across the bay as I see my City of light and dark receded from view, as I reach the dock and dis-embark and walk to the bus stop a car pulls up, it is Joe and he says "Get in Sweet Heart" in a way that only Bogie could do.   My Sam Spade has shown up to take me in search of a new mystery ----and to make plans for the weekend and the following week for the Film Noir Festival.

The picture that I have posted is Dashill Hammett's Apartment in San Francisco, several film noir buffs and currently a writer lease it and have restored the apartment to approximate how it looked when Hammett lived in this apartment on Post.

I find that this is a good way to kick off the new year, and I am going to enjoy it.

Kisses Sweet Things.

The Characters of San Francisco "Tales of the City"~~~~

Hello Sweet Things,

I have been busy with work, and life, I'm trying to make a serious decision about quitting my job.   Not that there is anything wrong with my job or the company I'm working for or the people I work with.  They are all wonderful.  But I've been considering having "ME TIME".  I have a very good independent income, I don't really have to worry about a depression, ression or whatever.

My needs and wants have been simplified by many things, I'm just thinking about making a move, not out of the bay area, but just "finding myself".  But I think after todays events leaving my job might be a good thing.

Joe is doing fine, so is my family, so are my friends.  So it's really within me, Joe said he will support any decision I make, because even he feels the same way as well as a number of his friends.  Perhaps I'll become involved in an organization dedicated to preservation, or go into a business for myself, I really don't know but I have time and plenty of funds.  So I'll think upon it.
I’ve been scanning the news and there is so much to consider and rant about I don’t know what to chose from, I think I would prefer local news, after all we all know what is happening and not happening that should happen nation wide and internationally.

Work has been a “bit insane”, my friend Yoshi and I, as well as several others feel that with our strange weather cool in San Francisco but blazing everywhere else, it brought out the ‘nut cases’ or as I prefer to call them “51/50’s”.  (Frankly I think anything will bring out the 'nut cases')

There were just too many incidences to even begin to tell you,  early this morning there was this man who said Yoshi was staring at him when she was really looking at me as we grabbed a cup of coffee at our favorite coffee stand this morning; of course this man was never in Yoshi’s line of sight as he was standing 5 feet behind her, then this crazy fellow said “everyone-is-staring-at! ME!’ so I said to him with an evil look on my face and in my best strange voice  “You better watch out, "   then I tilted my head and said to him ala Boris Karlof ‘they’re coming to get you Barbara’” and gave him my best wide eyed zombie star.

(I soooo loved the original “Night of the Living Dead” the one in black and white)
Well he spun away from me as if the demons from hell along with Cerebus were chasing him down the street.   We laughed when he  ran away. Ahhh but dear sweet Yoshi said “It can’t get worse.” It did.

 Several of us went out for an early lunch from work and this one man right off the street comes to our table accusing my fellow co-worker John of impersonating a police officer, and poor John was dressed in a business suit.  He kept ranting at John so I told John ignore him, and we pretended he didn't exist, the man kept yelling at John and we continued discussing what we wanted on the menu, until the wait staff brought a uniformed police man to our table who escorted him out.

But the finishing touch came this afternoon we were finishing up things early at work when there was a commotion just outside our conference area, we stopped what we were doing and went out into the main area and was surprised to see this naked man (not the same one from this morning) wearing only tennis shoes (they may have been Michael Jordan’s’) and a idiotic smile on his face, running through and around the office area, generally was frightening the younger women, then he made the mistake of bouncing up to me.

Ahhh sweet things I can be soooo evil; he stopped in front of me (which was his 2nd mistake, his first was being naked), I suspected he thought that I would blush or scream, but instead I slowly looked him up and down,  in my best imperialist manner and with my well-manicured nail, pointed to his shriveled magic wanger and said “Is that all you’ve got? That IS pitiful.” And laughed.

It was enough to totally throw him off stride so that Security captured and handcuffed him; I never saw such a deflated look on a persons face. After Security marched him away, to be arrested by the Police, Dan came up to me and said “Remind me to never get on your bad side.”
One staffer asked if they were doing a re-run of the “Bay to Breakers” run, I could only shake my head thinking that there maybe something strange  in S.F drinking water., Yoshi, reminded of the "Bay to Breakers" remark  told me that she was thankful that she seldom goes to see the Bay to Breakers Run, at first she enjoyed it for the clever costumes, and interesting floats, but after seeing 3 naked, overly fat men running who were in serious need of a Richard Simmons intervention, was enough to give her nightmares for weeks and swear off French fries. Poor Yoshi, all those jello rolls of fat ala Homer Simpson, I'm getting a queasy feeling thinking about it.

BART was running slow, there were some problems on one of the track lines, I overhead that there had been a shooting or a stabbing at one of the stations, it seems like something is happening at one of the stations,  if not some deranged person, then a suicide or Occupy S.F. or Oakland or a fire.
I was grateful to get home early, and relax for the weekend.  And thinking what to do for dinner
I just set my things down when I heard a noise just outside my door, opening it I discovered my elderly neighbor Lillian had dropped one of her shopping bags, fortunately it only contained can goods, so I helped her get her things into her home and told her to sit down while I put things away for her. She's lying down now on the couch resting, I took her blood pressure and it's good,  Baby the little beast is lying next to her.

She's invited me to dinner since Heather is visiting a friend,  and her slow cooker has made her wonderful stew, so I promised I'd be back to cook the rice,  after I do a mini-catch up on my blog.  Sweet Things I just love her zest for life, her overwhelming desire to learn new things, her mind just as sharp as ever.

And I know she is going to love my version of "Tales of the City", I just hope she doesn't laugh so hard that her drink doesn't fly up her nose, that would disasterous, but then I know she'll tell me an uproarious tale when her husband was on the Police force.  I'm looking forward to that.

So now I'll finish my blog, and look out my window to  the City by the Bay, and think upon all the characters that make up the City; about Mr. “they’re staring at me” and “the naked runner”, Millie the 85 year old woman who takes Polaroid pictures of people, the twins so identical to wearing the same outfits, the Bush man, Tommy the escape artist who escapes out of chains at the cable car turn table at fisherman’s wharf, the old man who rides the cable car playing “Camp town Ladies” on his harmonica while his dog ‘sings’, the elderly lady whose dog carries her purse (her dog is a Rottweiler ), Judy the Hooker who wears hot pink Daisy Dukes’ even though she’s 70 years old, and so many more, each one who does something to be distinctive in a gray city, to break out of the drabness of the world.

Each has their own niche, painted upon the psychic canvas of the City, some to be remembered for a long, long time, some who will become distant faded memories, like Emperor Norton, but all not quite forgotten as long as there is at least one person to remember them.

And now my sweet things dinner at Lillian's, a fun chat then to bed, to sleep, perchance to dream, sweet dreams to all of you.

"When the Lights Go Down In The City..."

Friday was a day of very mixed emotions' Day Sweet Things.

Thursday I was excited, yes, excited to see the rain coming down and once again washing my City, creating a misty haze for the neon lights to blur into and be defused from their gaudiness to soft accents in the twilight, the buildings lined in red to celebrate the 49er’s win.

As the ferry pulled away from the dock taking me home to my refuge, droplets of rain and the spray of the bay made a further soft distortion of the city skyline, rendering it to a fairyland of lights that hide the grittiness of it’s streets; a promise on its lips like lies on a well paid hooker’s tongue.

Like that song “When the lights go down in the City….”

It was comforting to return home, although silent, but warm, lived in by both our lives, Joe once again pulling a late night shift, his cell phone message about grief on the streets, and his thoughts knowing I am his support to get through another night in our own ‘naked city’.

Then Friday morning as he returned from duty, my own knight, giving this ‘sleeping beauty’ an awaking kiss and the smell of coffee perking in the kitchen, even as the night had not yet given away to a rain drenched over cast dawn.

Seeing his face drawn in sadness and hearing softly in the back ground Etta James singing “At Last”….

I asked him “hard night?” and he nodded saying “it wasn’t made any easier after I heard Etta James passed away.” Etta is one of Joe’s favorite female jazz singers.

“It’s like when we lose one of them that we grew up with, we lose a part of ourself too.” he said. I could only hug him; I knew the night had been tough on him and that he always likes to relax with one of his singing ladies. I told him “It may not seem like much but at least she was recognized and we have a large body of her work preserved, she’ll never die.” And I was rewarded with a smile.

Only when things had been difficult or funny would he unload what is on his mind, a young 11 year old Asian girl was kidnapped in the very early morning hours from her parents home by a 40 year old Asian man who was acquainted with the family, a shooting at a undercover officer, the funeral of a 5 year old boy who was shot and killed and his murderer still not found, Joe sent a donation to the family to help with the funeral, he told me a number of officers sent something.

The Occupy Oakland group protesting against the police and vandalizing property along the way. Joe warned me that the Occupy S.F. group was going to be in the financial district, he was worried for me, and I assured him I had my tennis shoes and pepper spray already packed.

But it’s the children that prey on his mind. More than once he’s said “what kind of society shoots, kidnaps, rapes, murders little children? What have we become?”

“When the lights go down in the City….”

He fell asleep on my bed, exhausted as he was reciting the nights event’s, I removed his belt and shoes and covered him with a comforter, set the timer on the coffee maker for when I know he’ll wake up. Seldom has his internal clock failed him.

Fortunately I didn’t have a problem getting to work; my connections were fine as the Ferry plowed through the Bay to my City, even the rain felt so good on my face.

Everyone seemed to want to go slow and be careful in what they were doing, tying up loose ends, dotting I’s and crossing T’s. Making sure that nothing was going to delay their leaving to go home.

“When the lights go down in the City….”

My assistant was worried about getting home, so we planned on leaving together, which turned out to be a good thing. A hundred or so protestors were being an annoyance, I saw one man just upset talking to police, I was told he was parked in an alleyway out of the Occupy’s way and some dozen or so of them surrounded his car and told him to move, he wasn’t even in the car just watching the parade of protestors, until some of them threw paint on his car, it wasn’t an expensive car, it was a working man’s car, part of the 99% and yet they vandalized it.

My assistant and I came to the conclusion that this so called Occupy Wall Street West is nothing more than an excuse to do damage and be vandals under the disguise of being protestors. They have lost any and all creditability with me.

We were wondering how we could get down to either a BART station or the Ferry, in the rain and the wind, so we looked at each other and started singing “Love Me Do” a Beatles song, and sort of danced with briefcases in hand doing our 2012 version of “Laverne and Shirley”, then we switched off to “It’s a Hard Day’s Night” followed by “5 O’clock World” (the Vogues), flipping to “She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”, I was surprised my Assistant knew so many of the songs, but she’s a 60’s rock fan. So singing and dancing our way down towards the Ferry dock in our now soaking tennis shoes, people made way for us, even the Occupy protestors, the police officers that were there just smiled, yes we were harmless, we kept it up until we arrived laughing at our destination. And no one stopped us.

Using her cell phone she contacted her Grandparents to tell them where she was going to be when we got on the other side of the Bay. Using the time waiting and riding the Ferry we exchanged our thoughts on the City, on work, on our dreams, she is ambitious and she has smarts, in time when she moves up in the company or takes a better position at another company we can be friends instead of Manager and Assistant.

She was feeling the pull as well as I saw her looking with longing at the City as it receded into the distance.

“Oh I want to be there in my City…ohhhh”

Her Grandparents, met us at the dock, and taking advantage of their kindness they drove me home; I thanked them and wished them a good night and a good weekend.

Joe was still asleep, he was more exhausted than I thought, at least when he woke up it was to good news, the 11 year old Asian girl was found unharmed, they captured the suspect who shot at the police officer, I wish I could have given him more.

The coffee was warm but being so long on the warming plate it had turned bitter, I washed it out and made a fresh brew, dinner was baking in the oven, a simple shepherds pie.

As the coffee dripped through, the dinner baked, and Joe taking a shower, I went out onto the covered balcony and looked out at my City, partially hidden by rain and clouds, the early evening darkness surrounding me, and my City….

I realized I could never leave here, the pull is too strong, I’ll keep my country home but until I can no longer walk those streets, with it’s rain and fog, it’s bustle and hustle, it’s crowds and smells, it’s noise and it’s hidden silence, it’s light and dark, with all it’s contradictions, my eternal hunt for “the black bird”, it’s magic, for all it’s grittiness, has me entwined to its heart…

“For when the lights go down in the City,

And the sun shines on the Bay….

Oh I want to be there in my City…

Oh, oh, ohhhhhhhh”

Later Sweet Things, Kisses.

Am Healing but Bored! Bored! Bored!~~~

Hello again Sweet Things,

I am getting better, but I have to say that I have developed a strong craving for War Wong Ton Soup, so much so that my poor Mother is learning how to make it and doing a remarkable job as well.

I worry that because she is taking care of me that it’s boring for her, so I’ve asked Lillian to take her to some of those cute vintage shops that she likes to keep Mom occupied

I’ve had a chance to talk to Dad and baby sis on the phone and they are doing well, baby sis said it’s been fun testing her culinary abilities. I can understand, it’s been so easy to let Mom do the cooking, that one can get lazy.

I’ve been to the Doctor and things are progressing the way they should, and my friends at work have been taking care of things for me and keeping me in the loop. They now regard Ralph as a bit of a hero, taking charge the way he did, I know he has a weakness for Starbucks, so I sent him a $100 dollar Starbucks card to him saying “Coffee is on me.” If it wasn’t for his quick action recognizing the symptoms there might have been a delay which would not have been good for me.

I’m finally catching up with the news and I can’t believe it! A fire at Tiffany’s in Union Square! Well not in the store itself, but they did get smoke. What happened is some sort of electrical fire occurred in the basement utility closet, and the smoke raced up one of the elevator shafts, not the one that connects Tiffany’s to the rest of the building, but to business offices that are located above Tiffany’s. I have no idea if it’s open again since the store itself was not involved, but the smoke.

My friend Frank checked in with one of his buddies in the fire department and told me that 9 firemen went to the hospital as a precaution for smoke inhalation, but they are fine. I’m glad, the buildings in San Francisco and in Oakland especially the older ones are so dangerous, it takes a special kind of person to be a Firefighter. I know I don’t have that type of strength of will.

And the former BART police officer that allegedly killed Oscar Grant, his trial is going to be moved to another county and I’m glad, I knew that police officer would not get a fair verdict from anyone in Alameda County, they have already judged and condemned him and I say unless you can prove it was pre-meditated, unless you can show that he was not in danger, he is not guilty. And I also have to look at Oscar Grant, he certainly was no angel or innocent, and may have acerbated the situation.

My greatest fear is that no matter what the outcome there will be rioting in the streets of Oakland, I wish that they were going to hold the trial in Sacramento instead, far enough away yet close enough to get there. This is one trial that is going to have to be closely watched

The Govenator vetoed the bill banning gun shows at the Cow Palace---Yea! BUT he passed the law limiting Ammunition sales---Booo! A few years ago the Federal Government tried that system and found that it didn’t work and discontinued it. The NRA is working with Assemblyman Hager (?) I can’t remember his name, on a bill that he is proposing to streamline the handgun process and include on banning or rescinding the previously passed limited ammo sales----YEA!! As soon as I look up who is the right assemblyperson I’m writing a letter supporting his efforts.

And then we had an unexpected down pour of RAIN and winds that were so bad that it flooded the Streets of San Francisco, with gushers pushing up through the storm drains and manholes like they were fountains under Niagara Falls pressure, with waterfalls of water flowing down the steps into Bart Stations.

On one city block it was so bad that there was something like 3 to 4 feet of water, which flooded businesses and homes, and to make it worst, the city claims they fixed the drains to handle heavy down pours, but they still had a sewage problem. Oh someone is going to be in trouble with that

And as a topper, Joe and Frank told me that there is one S.F. police sergeant that is going to have a hard time living down the fact that he flooded his police cruiser. It seems that a Mother took her PT cruiser down Moss Alley, and thought that the water was only a few inches deep----try 3 feet. The Alley dips down about 3 feet, in a panic she opened the car door, more water came in but she managed to get herself and her children out. She called 911 for help. The Sergeant showed up, saw a truck parked to one side in what appeared to be two inches of water, didn’t think anything about it, whoops up to his waist in water coming into His cruiser.

I saw it on the news, and I have to say, I heard the rain coming down so hard it woke me up from my nap yesterday afternoon, unbelievable! But then Lillian told me that from season to season there are times when there are extremely heavy rain ‘cells’

I saw my Doctor today and she was please with how I’m healing up, I should be able to go back to work, right after Halloween. And I have to say that each day I’m feeling better and stronger, it’s just that the stitches itch, and every now and then I feel a sort of ‘ping’. She told me that they were dissolving naturally but to not stress them, ‘let the flesh heal’. I’m trying to do that but I am not a very good patient.

Mother says I’ve reached that “healing but bored” stage where the mind is active and wants to do things, but the body says “not today, Girlie”.

And yes, Dear Sweet Fram I am taking care of myself, but I am getting restless. I can read only so much; I’m bored with T.V. except for “Perry Mason”, “Streets of San Francisco” and “The Wild, Wild West”. Fortunately Mom LOVES the cooking shows, so she is writing down the recipes. She loves “Cooks Country TV” and has done some of foods from it, and everyone is getting well fed. I watch them too, not that I have time to do all the things they do but there are some that are simple that I can eventually employ into my busy schedule when I’m well.

I am getting so restless being confined at home but Lillian is proposing that Joe take me for an afternoon drive tomorrow, with Mom ‘chaperoning’, perhaps up to Redwood Regional Park or some place. Joe said he’s going to surprise me, so we shall see.

Well Sweet Things, I’m getting tired again and Mom insists that I take a nap, being the good nurse that she is. Yoshi is coming by this evening, she’s been busy the last week or so with her work, it will be good to see her and we can catch up.

And yes Fram I will take good care of myself, I promise you and Thank you.

Until later Sweet Things, Kisses

A Grey Day in S.F.

Hello Sweet Things,

Well it is once again overcast, grey and dreary here in the S.F. Bay Area, I'm at work right now and taking a very well-deserved coffee break.

It's a little eerie being here in the office with only just a few people, not all of the lights are turned on, but within 15 minutes it will become buzzing again. I came in early to sweep away a far amount of back log and be totally caught up, it also gives me a chance to see what the markets on the East Coast are doing and how the Continent has fared.

I'm not going to comment on the state of affairs it's too much of a muddle for me to even properly articulate.

The San Francisco Bay Bridge is once again open, and they were only two hours late, originally they thought they would be one whole day late, but it only goes to show what a "can do" effort can pull off.

I'm glad that they found that crack in the beam, as they say it must have happened a year ago, so what might have been a nuisance has been a blessing.

Because of the commute difficulties I had changed my tactics getting to and from work, I usually take the W trans bay commuter bus as it is closest to my home, and depending upon how long I'm at work take the same line home or alter to the more common O trans bay bus, or if I feel reckless Catch BART then transfer to the homely 51 and walk the 4 or so blocks to my home, tennis shoes a necessity and a good exercise.

But last Thursday I did something a bit different, I took the Ferry home, and with Lillian picking me up it felt just wonderful. The transition over the Bay through the waters, watching the city recede into the distance as the Ferry travelled closer and closer to home felt so relaxing and meditative and the travel time was less than taking any of the other means.

But the Ferry is not cheap. And it has to be timed just right to catch the bus away from the Ferry terminal if I do not have someone to pick me up.

But I'm adding it to my means of transportation.

This is "over-the Hump Day" Wednesday and anything I get done or set up today will put me further ahead in my job. I love Wednesdays, I use this day to work longer to be in a better position for things. Of course it means that Dinner is left overs, but frankly who cares, I use the evening to make my shopping list, plan my meals for the following week and go over my "to-do" list---Thursdays are for bill paying and laundry---I get home early, balance the check book, pay the bills, mail them off.

Of course it does mean that those two days I don't go to the gym, just some exercises at home.

So why am I "talking" about those things? I really don't know, it's just that looking out my office window it's a grey, dreary, some what foggy day here in San Francisco, not even a bit of mysterious glamour on the streets.

Where are you Sam Spade? In your hat and trench coat looking for the 'Black Bird', where are you? You seem to be eluding me this day, no sign at all.

Except for the smell of fresh coffee.

Must go, a co-worker has brought me a fresh cup of coffee to lift my spirits. And a devious smile on her face, something is up---I wonder if a "message from Sam Spade has arrived".

Until Later Sweet Things---Kisses.

News Links and Gun Shows~~~

Mmmmm my sweet yummy things I've made a few tiny changes here.

I have to admit, I'm a "news junkie". I think it's because my mind simply buzzes with demands for information, (slight shrug of shoulders) and also it's part of my job to be on top of things.

So what I've done is separate the News Links from Links I Like, so all you sweet, yummy things can get a glimpse of the news from my end of the world. (meruoo---deep throaty purr).

I attended the Gun Show and did take an informal look at the attendees, predominately White with lots of families thrown in, followed closely by Hispanic, mostly fathers with sons in tow, many Asian couples (husband wives, or boyfriend/girlfriend) and all very, very serious, but of the African-American group, I could count the couples and singles on one hand.

I asked Mr. "Sweet" Daly City Policeman (when he was taking a break for a cup of coffee---sorry sweet things, not a donut to be seen---and I really wanted to get my teeth into an 'old-fashion')
why the low turn out from the African American group and he replied---"too many of them have some sort of criminal record and are unable to purchase guns and the one's that are here we watch them for "straw purchases", watch two or three of them, they are looking at knives. Big knives. Of course our Licenced Fire Arms dealers watch for straw purchases too, if there is anyone making too many purchases from different dealers within the same month that's a red flag for us.

He did point out to me one African American man, and said "Now him I know, he's a bounty hunter, works for several bail companies, but he tries to work with our police department and he does tip us off from time to time on possible drug activities. He works with disguises, makes himself look different, he's good, he use to be a cop, put in 20 years, retired, then went independent---he's not like "Dog the Bounty Hunter" all flash and show, this guy is very steady."

I looked at this man, older, unassuming, you'd think he would be working on his car or growing roses or playing street football, it's the unassuming ones you have to watch for.

Then what happened is he came up to me, sat down, smiled at me but said "Hey Frank, how's it going?" All the while looking at me--and Frank replied not looking at him and hiding his mouth behind his coffee cup "Doin' good, you working?" and the man replied "Yeah," then to me " I hope you don't mind if it looks like I'm talking to you?" and I said no, it was fine "The guy is here, on the far side, I can see him he's with some hommies---I'll e-mail you" then he hands me his card and says "Now please stand up miss and make like I said something real nice and then as I leave watch me leave like your interested" (Purr)

Which we did, so as I sat down, keeping my back to Frank I heard him say "That was nice of you, you played that good" then I turned sideways on the bench seat, not looking at him and said "Why not, the man is working and it's dangerous work" and my new friend Frank said "Yeah, his wife worries about him but she's good, very supportive" I smiled at Frank and told him about my friend Joe with the S.F. police dept. seems they are acquainted---Frank is divorced, one child in college studying forensics "I guess it runs in the family, the ex and I are still friends"

So we exchanged cards and maybe we'll have coffee sometime, Daly City isn't that far for me.

Hmmmm but I must go for now sweet things, it's time for our meeting---(pooh) and it can be such a bore.(small growl)

"The Road Less Traveled~~~"

(Growl!)

Ohhh my sweet, yummy things, this has been a very loooong and hectic work week for Moi. I won’t go into what happened at work, none the less it was a “putting out fires” type of week, and I hoped that the mid-week news would act better than a fire hose.

It seems that Mr. Obama’s talk to congress on the stimulus program has worked a little magic in calming some people, but I am glad that I had recommended my clients to look to long term, and they are holding fairly well. And yes my sweet, yummy things, I am doing just fine as well, even though some of my investments have decreased in income, I’ve always stayed well within my means, so I am not hurting.

But frankly sweet things, I felt that Mr. Obama’s speech was all talk to make people feel good. The fact that he had stated about new regulations seems to give some people hope to prevent, the wild spending as seen on the news by certain corporate peoples. It was his way of putting out or at least damping some fires. (a cat-like snort)

But I read somewhere by someone “Credit does not drive the economy, it’s the economy that drives credit” and that makes a great deal of sense, for if the economic situation is good, then credit will be extended, but there is always the flip side. Some of my friends are thinking that maybe going back to the gold standard instead of the credit or fiat standard would be a good thing, put everything in real perspective, it might be good, but there is a very real economic danger to that.

There is another “Diva” who talked about this in one of her postings, now sweet things if you think I’m ‘windy’ you should see her blog. On and on and on, but I do enjoy it.
If I can find her web log I’ll post the link for you to read. I am concerned though she hasn’t posted for a while. She does admit to being older, I just hope she’s alright.

No, what is happening now is that people are holding on to their wallets, and watching their spending, which is something which should have been done ages and ages ago.

I was taught (which is one of the few good things that happened in my childhood) to make do, carefully consider your purchases, and apply the rule of 10 to it----Ooohhh now what is the rule of 10? You say. It is a rule that is very good to apply, if you’re angry, walk away and take 10 minutes to calm down and think things calmly; wait for at least 10 hours before replying or responding, by that time you may have more information. If it’s something that you desire, walk away to take 10 minutes to think, will it be useful/in style, etc., in 10 weeks, 10 months, 10 years? I find that it always works.

I’m not sure if this has appeared in your areas on the news but it seems that certain businesses are finding their businesses increasing not slowing, auto mechanics, seamstresses/tailors, shoe repair, bicycle repair, they may not be building homes but if you are a good contractor/carpenter you will get work, because houses need repairs, even the farmers markets, yard sales, give away exchanges, bartering---all these things are not necessarily recession proof, more like recession-resistant.

I have always use of repair people, make a pair of shoes last longer, your car keeps going, fixing the refrigerator, repairing the washing machine, it’s cheaper in the long run, until it just can’t go any further.

Now more people are thinking very, very carefully, and I even encourage it, it does save having to be a “Fireman”.

And speaking of fires, in our City by the Bay, there is someone who has an “I-Hate-Porta-Potties” vendetta against the said items. So far this fire-bug has rendered down into mis-shapened globs of industrial plastic 27 of these blue or green portable necessities of dubious ‘odor’ but of needed use.

Of course the big joke is “why porta-potties”? Does someone feel that they are a blot on the scenic landscape of this fair city? Or is it someone with an abnormal fetish and instead of burning buildings (and endangering life) has chosen these plastic necessities as their abnormal target thereby achieving a ‘thrill’ without harm to life and limb. (Growl claws out)

The problem is that some of them were close to buildings and if it hadn’t been for some alert people it could have escalated into something worse. (Snarl)

Now contractors have to be creative and hide the “necessity” as well as placing it where it will not endanger other buildings. But part of the problem is that there maybe a ‘copy-cat’ porta-pottie arsonist, or as my police friend Joe would say “Double Groan”. (Poor sweet thing)

To add a bit of icing to the “insanity cake” one of our legislators wants California to legalize selling “pot” and tax the heck out of it. Could make a billion dollars a year---Hmmmmm---there is good and there is very bad in this idea. (Mewrol?)

I’ve had a few of my sweet “secret” followers ask me “What ever happened to those bones found in Alameda?”

Well darlings, it seems that the bones were of a child but---and here is where I’m sure Fram would appreciate this---but the bones were more than 800 years old. Yes sweet things, the little child was an ancient Native American of the Olone tribe of California.

It seems that there was a burial mound some several hundred feet over from where the little one’s body was found, but he or she (too young to tell) was for some reason not buried in the mound. Some of the forensic archeologists believe that a new mound was going to be started but instead the location was placed in a different area. There was no way to tell how the little one died, it could have been an illness, and there was no trauma to the body.

So the little one’s body (bones really) have been given to the closest living relations of the tribe for proper re-burial. But some of the people living right were the body was found put a little memorial with flowers and burned candles for the little one’s spirit. I think that was very touching.(Meruw)

I stayed last night in the City, again at the wooonderful St. Francis Hotel, they are getting to know me quiet well there, and they treated me very well. (Purr)

And the reason for me staying? Well sweet things, it seems that several hundred protesters were protesting Oscar Grant’s death on the day of his birthday, at several BART stations, of course the news people say it was a “peaceful” demonstration, but what the news doesn’t tell you is that it disrupted service on and off during the evening and night and that there were several shootings as well at BART stations that didn’t have the demonstrations---Hmmmm why do I feel that it was planned----take most of the police man-power away and have them focus at certain stations making it difficult to respond to emergencies at the other stations.

And why about Oscar Grant? (Snarl) The person was at the beginning of his criminal career, but oh no, they talk about him as if he was a ‘saint’---Sorry Sweet Things, he wasn’t, no matter how they try to re-write his biography, he was in and out of prison 5 times by the time he was 20, AND he just got out less than 3 months before. (SNARL)

But they are putting him up for sainthood just like they’ve put Obama’s picture on a glass candle that usually depicts Martin De Pours, as if Obama has come down off the mountain with the 10 commandments. (The priest from the local Catholic Church is not exactly happy about that)

And when I watch the news if it’s about something from the White House they have this image of the American Flag behind an image of him looking so determined with the words “The Obama Presidency”

They never did that with Bush, Clinton, Bush Sr., Ford, Carter, Regan et al. But they are doing it with Obama—is it because he’s, dare I say it, ‘Black’?---that is why I am so disgusted with Television news reporting, biased, biased, biased! (Roar)

For the last few days we’ve been having lovely sunny weather, I’ve been enjoying my neighbors cherry and plum trees blooming, the little sparrows going quickly over them looking for something to eat, and even better, I’ve see a dozen bees, pollinating the flowers, there has been fear that the honey bee population is collapsing which could seriously affect our ability to produce crops, but seeing these little creatures doing what they are doing makes me feel happy and gives a sense of hope. I know sweet things, that is a strange thing to say, but even the smallest of creatures affects our lives.

Tomorrow I’m going to the gun show at the Cow Palace, I was planning to go today, but because of the protests, that changed things as well as getting called back this morning for an emergency (work, work, work—Growl I need a serious vacation!).

I enjoy going to gun shows, I never know what I will come across or who I will meet, but I am going to see if there is a difference in demographics in the attendees at the Cow Palace. I am curious.

Fram has put to me a question about what is adventure in my life but according to his definition, I cannot give a ready answer because I really need to review things that I’ve done, and why I did them.

I know, it sounds silly, but I’ve found that within an adventure there are challenges, and within a challenge there is adventure.

For example, some years ago when I first visited Santa Cruz I saw people surfing, I’d never learned to swim, never saw the Ocean until I was an adult, sad in a way, but I wanted to ride those waves. Now in comparison to many other places those waves would seem tame, but for me I had to do it, I had to see what it was like.

First things first, I had to learn to swim; I found that I loved swimming, the feel of gliding through the water, in an element other than air, was just wonderful almost silken. Next was getting use to swimming in the Ocean, totally different, it was an alive element that has it’s own rules, I learned to “body surf” just catching it right and riding it in but staying on top of it, oh it left me exhausted but feeling so alive.

Then learning how to surf on the board, getting the feel of balancing on something, I can’t tell you how many times I fell off just trying to pop up at the right time floating on the water, but I learned, it was a good thing I had it leashed. And I used a wet suit, I didn’t want to get a sand rash, and at times I couldn’t be sure about the temperature of the water. Again exhausting but fun, I would catch baby waves just for practice, my friend who taught me thought it would be good, then I was finally able to read the waves and catching and riding the really good waves, everything totally attuned to the feel of the wave under me, I felt like I was riding a horse, it’s foaming mane arching before me, trying to buck me off, riding that first really good wave successfully I couldn’t stop smiling.

Of course to the ‘old timers’ , well some of them could understand my feelings, but there were some who acted like “a nice goin’ kid” but to them you are a kid, nothing like Freddie Aikau, Rell Sunn, Fred Van Dyke or Greg Noll. I didn’t care it was just exhilarating just doing it.

Those that can do, those that can’t become critics, my friend would always say.

I did it for almost three years and got pretty good at it (Meuw). And then one day I caught a wave that changed everything. It looked like a really good wave and my friend had just paddled back from an earlier one, I was just floating catching my breath and I wanted to catch one really great wave before finishing the day and there it was, so my friend said “Go for it” and I did, but it was different.

You’ve heard of rogue waves, well what they don’t tell you is that they can come in all sizes, I caught it but I was so focused on riding it that I didn’t see that a number of other surfers quickly shook it off, I was riding it having the ride of my life, all right it wasn’t Waimea Bay but it was the wave for me and I was riding it “home”; then it “bucked me off”, I found myself fighting to get out of the wet powerful massive hand that was threaten to pull me under forever, my lungs fighting for air, me fighting the fear that I might drown and then a pain that drove that fear out of me, I don’t really remember what happened next except I had the strange sensation that the wave was gently carrying me to shore, and gently depositing me on the sand.

When I finally woke up and had an idea of where I was, I realized I was in a hospital bed, my left leg broken in two places, the tendons around my left knee damaged, and a couple of broken ribs and a concussion, it seems my board hit my head and knocked me out, my friend saw I was in trouble and quickly followed me in, he was afraid I had drowned until he saw the wave putting me on the shore. He’d never seen a wave like that, the others had quit it but I was riding it, came close too.

My board was finished and I was laid up for a while, I went back to work as soon as I could but on crutches, my co-workers made arrangements to transport me, the leg and ribs healed, but the tendons around my knee was never the same, but I was glad that a lung wasn’t punctured.


A year later, I tried to surf again borrowing a used board from my friend, I could paddle, and I could pop up but the strain on my legs and that knee was too much, it swelled up again and I was limping, but I managed to catch one good wave and ride it home.

I looked at the Ocean and said “O.K. at least you brought me home”, my friend said that some of the local surfers who are really good didn’t want that wave that I caught and rode until I wiped out, I discovered how alive the sea could be and how unforgiving, but on that day it was kind to me, it had given me a gift and I gave it a lot of respect.

My doctor told me that surfing, skiing, ice skating was not good for that knee, even running, but I never gave up swimming, hiking, bicycling or even ball room dancing, I enjoy swing, the waltz, but there is something so passionate about the tango, not too many men can do a good tango, but I’ve encountered a few that could do it reasonably well, and strangely enough always older men.

So if adventure is doing something that has a certain amount of risk and feeling exhilarated at its completion, then I’ve done it to a certain extent. I’ve done whitewater rafting as well with friends and a few very good guides, watching the next boulders and heavy waters coming up, paddling like mad to prevent crashing, bumping and bouncing, and getting very wet, then gliding along the quiet stretches seeing the scenery and even wild life, then camping along the shore, taking just a few steps away from the fire to see the night sky, people in the city really don’t know how full the night sky is with stars, just lying there in your sleeping bag and feeling the immensity of the Universe, and you wonder just really how important are you? Here under the night sky, someone is showing to you a magnificent greatness, larger than one can possibly imagine and you feel your heart slowing and almost stopping in wonder, that you want to be a part of it.

Then the tiredness from all that paddling begins to overtake you, and you find yourself being lulled by something so heavenly, that you don’t realize you are
falling asleep to the night sounds, then waking up to the smell of coffee boiling over a camp fire in the morning, and hearing the sound of “Skreeeee” high up from the eagles that claim the sky as their dominion.

Other times and other places you hear Coyotes barking and baying at the moon in the desert in the late spring, taking shelter as thunder and lighting make their demands, and watching from a safe place seeing lighting ‘skipping’ on the water of a lake, walking along a trail and coming upon a rattlesnake and waiting very carefully for him to be long gone, every turn of the trail, every bend of the river every curve of the wave was and is an adventure.

But within that adventure is a challenge, the question is meeting that challenge with an understanding of the elements and knowing that you are just a little thing in Nature’s grasp.

So for me Adventure and Challenge are intertwined. And they can come in all sizes, all situations, I really don’t feel the need to climb Half Dome or El Capitan at Yosemite, but there are hiking trails that make demands on you and the reward at the end is wonderful. And yes I have paddled a canoe along the Russian River with a friend and enjoyed seeing the river life, herons, egrets, ducks, snapping turtles, sometimes the water is murky if it’s churned too much but I’ve seen it so clear to see fish swimming near the canoe, unafraid as if they know we do not carry fishing poles, but a picnic basket.

I’ve wanted to learn how to shot a gun, so I learned and took classes, I find it gives a certain satisfaction firing it and being accurate. I’ve also taken classes in self defense street fighting; forget the karate and judo, if you are going to fight, fight dirty. I’ve only had to use those skills only once, and I’m glad to say ‘he’ got the worst of it and gave up trying to steal my purse.

But for the past few years my adventures and challenges has been in the canyons and hills of San Francisco, work makes that many demands, my swimming has been in a pool, during the winter indoor. My exercise has been at the gym, the self defense classes or the rifle range, with some dance classes to keep my skills up. But recently one of my co-workers had asked for a few extra days off, seems he and his wife had to go to a Cowboy re-enactment and competition shooting. I asked him about it and he told me about SASS, the Single Action Shooting Society, or Cowboy Action competition shooting. I have their web site posted as a link, I’ve been to several of their competitions, I find it very interesting, taking my desire of shooting to a different level. (Purr)

Hmmmmm maybe I can dress like Jane Russell in that movie “Son of Paleface”, I think I’ll sleep on it. Who knows?

There are times when I think of that other Frost poem~~~

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

Sleep well my sweet, yummy things, sleep well.

The Characters of San Francisco~~~~

Well you sweet luscious, yummy things, the situation here in California “heated up”. They did a “lock down” on the house and the senate at the State Capital to finalize a state budget.

Hmmmm and they did, Republican Maldonado, waited until he knew that the vote came down to him and he made his demands. Oooohhhh I just loooove his strategy, the democrats had to give in or they would be stuck there, without showers, until the budget passed, and what Maldonado demanded made very good sense. (Rowl)

A spending cap, no raises for law makers in budget deficient years, no per diems for law makers if a budget does not pass, elimination of the 12 cent per gallon tax on gasoline, the Comptroller’s office could forget all new furniture, put to the voters on the ballot for 2010 if they want open primaries, of course sweet things that is something that most democrats hate, but he got it. Although he thinks it could cost him his political career, but I think that he just might improve it, because he thought the way most reasonable people, like Moi, think. (Merowl)

After all why should those idiot, knuckle draggers get paid, when the rank and file are being laid off. Even I know that the threat to lay off the rank and file would do NOTHING!! (Rowl) But oh threaten their own pet projects coming to a stand still and THEN watch them hustle (Growl)

It’s not perfect, but it’s what everyone is going to have to face for the next 18 months, the question is will what California receive, in its portion of the stimulus package be enough? Of course it won’t, even I know that you have to do more to bring businesses here to California and I’m talking big corporations, not just small businesses.

Creating almost 500,000 jobs here in California is not enough, when we are closer to being several million unemployed. (Flicking a speck of dust off my sleeve)

But enough of that sweet things.

I’ve been scanning the news and there is so much to consider and rant about I don’t know what to chose from, I think I would prefer local news, after all we all know what is happening and not happening that should happen nation wide and internationally.

Work has been a “bit insane”, my friend Yoshi and I, as well as several others feel that when the rain stopped and we had a few ‘blessed days’ of sunshine, it also brought out the ‘nut cases’ or as I prefer to call them “51/50’s”.

There were just too many incidences to even begin to tell you, like one man accusing John of impersonating a police officer, and poor John was dressed in a business suit, or the man who said Yoshi was staring at him when she was really looking at me as we grabbed a cup of coffee this morning; of course this man was never in Yoshi’s line of sight as he was sitting behind her, then this fellow said “everyone-is-staring-at! ME!’ so I said to him with an evil look on my face “You better watch out, ‘they’re coming to get you Barbara’”

(Merowl) I soooo loved the original “Night of the Living Dead” (the one in black and white) we laughed when he quickly got up and ran away. Ahhh but dear sweet Yoshi said “It can’t get worse.” It did.

This afternoon (Friday) we were finishing up things at work when there was a commotion just outside our conference area, we stopped what we were doing and went out into the main area and was surprised to see this naked man (not the same one from this morning) wearing only tennis shoes (they may have been Michael Jordan’s’) and a idiotic smile on his face, running through and around the office area, generally was frightening the younger women, then he made the mistake of bouncing up to me.

Ahhh sweet things I can be soooo evil; he stopped in front of me, I suspect thinking that I would blush or scream, but instead I slowly looked him up and down, pointed to his shriveled magic wanger and said “Is that all you’ve got? That IS pitiful.” And laughed.

It was enough to stop him so that Security captured and handcuffed him; I never saw such a deflated look on a persons face. After Security marched him away, to be arrested by the Police, Dan came up to me and said “Remind me to never get on your bad side.” (Purrr)

One staffer asked if they had started the “Bay to Breakers” run, I could only shake my head thinking that ‘Spring Fever’ has started early in S.F., Yoshi told me that she was thankful that she seldom goes to see the Bay to Breakers Run, at first she enjoyed it for the clever costumes, and interesting floats, but after seeing 3 naked, overly fat men running who were in serious need of a Richard Simmons intervention, that was enough to give her nightmares for weeks and swear off French fries. Poor Yoshi. (mew)

BART was running slow, there were some problems on one of the track lines, I overhead that there had been a shooting or a stabbing at one of the stations, this evening I found out it was both at two different stations.

When I finally got home, the sky was turning its wonderful Maxfield Parrish Blue with pink and gold at the edge of the skyline, but it was still too bright to see any stars, I heard that more rain was on the way, but at least we had a chance to dry out a little. (purrrr)

I just set my things down when I heard a noise just outside my door, opening it I discovered my elderly neighbor Lillian had dropped one of her shopping bags, fortunately it only contained can goods, so I helped her get her things into her home and told her to sit down while I put things away for her.

Poor sweet thing, she’s going to be 92 this Thanksgiving, and she does have an interesting story to tell, having lived a very interesting and unconventional life, she lives alone, is still active and can still play 9 rounds of golf.

She invited me to dinner and we had a lot of laughs as she told me about the things she did in her life and I told her about what happened today. Ooohhhh sweet things I just love her zest for life, her overwhelming desire to learn new things, her mind just as sharp as ever.

The one thing that does trouble her is that her eyesight is slowly deteriorating, she sees well enough during the day to drive, but once it gets dark it’s impossible for her to drive, I said that if there was some place she had to go to in the evening I’d be happy to take her. I felt that she shouldn’t feel trapped in her own home. Not that she is without family, she does have children, grandchildren even great grandchildren but they all live out of town.

I really like Lillian, I said that if she wanted me to, I could check on her, if she liked, and if there was any emergency I could contact her family. I could see that my suggestion brought a look of relief on her face, she admitted to me that it was one thing that worried her, she had out-lived most of her friends, but to know there was someone close by made her feel much better, so we made arrangements. I also knew that once baby sis moved in with me that we would be able to keep an eye on Lillian even better. I knew baby sis would like her as much I do.

So now I finish my blog, and look out my window to the lights of the City by the Bay, and think upon all the characters that make up the City; about Mr. “they’re staring at me” and “the naked runner”, Millie the 85 year old woman who takes Polaroid pictures of people, the twins so identical to wearing the same outfits, the Bush man, Tommy the escape artist who escapes out of chains at the cable car turn table at fisherman’s wharf, the old man who rides the cable car playing “Camp town Ladies” on his harmonica while his dog ‘sings’, the elderly lady whose dog carries her purse (her dog is a Rotwiler ), Judy the Hooker who wears hot pink Daisy Dukes’ even though she’s 70 years old, and so many more, each one who does something to be distinctive in a gray city, to break out of the drabness of the world.

Each has their own niche, painted upon the psychic canvas of the City, some to be remembered for a long, long time, some who will become distant faded memories, but all not quite forgotten as long as there is at least one person to remember them.

And now my sweet, yummy things, to bed, to sleep, perchance to dream, sweet dreams to all of you.

More about family~~~

Once again my sweet things, I’m sitting at my computer, having had a busy, freezing afternoon of taking care of things, such a cold, wet, gray day that I find myself looking forward to the sunshine.

But if there is one thing that cold, rainy evenings do is to bring out the sense of contemplation within me. Someone once said that four dry logs have all the elements of creating 3 to 4 hours of conversation, I may not be getting the quote correct, I’m going to have to look it up. For me I have candles and the warm flame they produce along with the sounds of rain and wind, they have me “talking.”

The wind and rain is splashing against my window next to me, creating rivulets of water down the glass, the lights of San Francisco like watery diamonds. Where I am now reminds me of the window in my bedroom where I could look out onto the street of my Father’s house, I’d set up my chair and table to do my homework when I couldn’t go to the library; on rainy days with what free time I had, I’d look out to watch anything and everything. I’ve never lost that habit, now I have a window the looks across the bay to S.F. and I can see everything passing by, but this time I know I can come and go anytime I want.

I’m going back down that dark path, with my candle to remove the shadows to tell you about my Father’s church that figured into my early life, but on reflection I can’t really call it a church, as least not in the proper sense of the word.

I had the dubious advantage of my Father and Grandfather being ‘officers’ of this church and somehow Father became the ‘church historian’ and even now keeps several file cabinets of the church documents in the garage away from cold and damp. When I was a teenager and having access to this information I was able to get an idea of how this abomination of religious belief got started.

I discovered that the person who created it was never ordained by any recognized ministry nor received any training by any legitimate school of theology, his father was a traveling itinerant Pentecostal preacher from back east, who preached to fundamentalist people in the backwoods areas. So the founder received his training from his father.

Then in the 1950’s when the Universal church started ‘ordaining’ people by mail (and still does only over the Internet), for free, but you need to buy the certificate for a small fee, the man put in for his paperwork and founded his ‘church’ and create his ministry to meet the needs of the small group of followers that thought the way he did. Warped and sick in their mind and filled with hate and rage at their own impotence at the changes in the world and in the beginning at ‘godless communism’. It was not a problem to recruit more followers in the early years and especially during the “Summer of Love” period; it was their reaction to the “Woodstock” generation and their expression of ‘free love’.

I discovered copies of the sermons that were preached each Sunday, the original drafts and then the copies transcribed into print format for when the ‘minister’ was ‘consumed’ by the power of the Lord (or improvising). Someone knew short hand and took it down during the early days then later they purchased a tape recorder to record the sermons and then transcribe it.

It is a fundamentalist form of church, but not Southern Baptist fundamentalist, nor Jehovah Witness, 7th Day Adventist or a splinter group of Mormon, although I would run as far as I could from those.

Sorry sweet things, if you are a member of any of those groups I do apologize, but their beliefs are not mine and their insistence of ‘cramming their belief’s’ down one’s throat until you believe is not my idea of religion.

The ‘church’ was first started in one of the members homes then eventually when the congregation grew, was like a number of other store front churches that one sees cropping up, in which the congregation is just that church, but not part of any wider group.

Eventually they got a place of their own, when one of their late parishioners died and left them their house with the intention of it being designated as a church for tax purposes, I discovered the news clippings about this, it seems that the children of the woman who died were attempting to contest the will saying that their mother had been coerced into signing over her home when she was very ill. But since there was no one who witnessed the ‘alleged’ coercion the church won.

The building is an expanded one level house with all the interior walls knocked out, the bathroom remodeled by removing the bath tub, but the kitchen was kept for the various pot luck dinners. I remember on Saturdays Father would go there to help with the remodeling and Mother and I had to go to take some sort of pot-luck dinner item and dine with the other members.

How do I describe them? A band of frightened people who feel that their twisted beliefs are being attacked by what they perceive as the godless liberalism as promoted by the Democratic Party and even by some Republicans.

They have a literal belief in the reading of the Bible, they say that the Jesus in the New Testament was only a preacher and not the messiah of salvation, so they take their teachings mostly from the old testament, but that some of the events that happened to Jesus they will refer to on occasion, to demonstrated the power of faith in the will of god.

They do not believe that Jesus was resurrected as described in the New Testament, but was a plot by the apostles and later perpetuated by Paul to create a separate belief and that the message was watered down, they refuse to have a messiah that is meek and mild, but prefer one that welds the fiery sword of the righteous. They forgot that Jesus chased the money lenders and all that 'commercialism' out of the temple.

They are in their own way prejudice, racist, insular, that any expression of beauty is outside the norms of their own thinking---to them the world is gray, that this earth and civilization we live in is hell and the only beauty can be found in the glory of heaven that we are unworthy to attain. We are meant to suffer the cold and heat, that modern things such as air conditioning and central heating were not used by the elder prophets and therefore should not be used even if it bring a measure of comfort to anyone, we are not meant to be comfortable.

Medicine is to be viewed with suspicion and only used if it is the only course of treatment, if you have a headache you must suffer with it, it is the punishment of the Lord for some sin. Toothaches were the worse, and that suffering under the dentist’s drill meant that you had done something wrong.

I remember when I would have a headache Mother would give me a tea to drink, it was sweetened but had a bitter aftertaste, what I didn’t know is that Mother had purchased a small bottle of aspirin and would crush the tablets up into a powder and stir it into the tea, it was the only way of getting it past Father.

Women to them are the temptation of Eve, and are to be modest and obedient to their Fathers and husbands. There is no such thing as adornment for the body, the home or the church. And strangely enough they would use on occasion the teachings of Paul to help emphasize this point---although I think Paul was either afraid of women or a closet homosexual.

It was easy for them to accept the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, it was god's way of destroying the godless heathens. When 9/11 happened baby sis, just a child then, called me and said that the entire congregation had gone crazy and were holding up in the church because they thought the world was coming to an end.

The only reason she could get a hold of me is that she somehow persuaded Father to let her return to the house to get more provisions from the refrigerator and pantry and more blankets. She “borrowed” a shopping cart from a store and walked home and back with those provision for their “end of the world, and from home she called me to warn me and to hear my voice. Brave baby sis. Of course a month later Father punished her for the long distance call, but she told me she didn’t care, if it was the end of the world she wanted to talk to me one last time.

I remember that day, in a way the world did come to an end, the world that we felt we were so safe, it was our “Pearl Harbor” and our wake up call.

Mother was originally brought up Catholic, and I must confess even with all the legal, political and financial problems the Catholic church faces, with all the so-called edicts handed down by the various Popes, when she took me to the Catholic church those many years ago when Father was out of town, I felt my heart open up to a warmth that I thought didn’t exist. I am not saying that the Catholic Church is perfect, no church is, but it was one of many doors or gateways if you will, that helped me along my path to my freedom.

When I finally had established myself away from the influence of my Father, there were times when I would return just to see how Mother and baby sis were doing, and I could walk into his church without any fear of being sucked back in just to be accepted or struck down by the god that they believed in. I was and still am proud to be the “Jezebel” that they think I am.

This last Christmas I felt a certain ‘evil, perverse’ pleasure going into Father’s church, my face adorned with ‘paint’, my hair falling in styled waves behind my neck and down my back, a stylish hat with feathers on my head, gold jewelry (not too much), high heels to make me even taller, a smart well cut suit in suitable deep royal electric blue, and wearing Gurlian’s ‘Insolence’ perfume.

The looks of displeasure from the shrinking congregation’s older members, and the looks of astonishment from the few younger ones as I, "the whore of Babylon" sat among them, it made me very, very happy.

For the sake of privacy for them and for my family I will not mention the town or the name of this church. I can tell you that it’s in one of those towns in Southern California; I know, why should I protect them?

Only because with each passing year their congregation is growing smaller and smaller, and the son of the original founder is having a hard time attracting new followers, as a matter of fact it was my late Grandfather’s job to go to other fundamentalists churches as a guest speaker not only to speak but to recruit new members and persuade them to move to our town and join the church, he managed to gain a few, and until the last 6 months of his life he was still active in recruiting. But unless someone comes in and revitalizes it then it will slowly die its own natural death.

And from what I saw this last Christmas, it is dying.

There is more to this than what I’ve already told you; there was an incident that I instigated to shake things up in church that day, and a aftermath; I did it deliberately for I had had enough.

I need to clear my thoughts and find a letter that baby sis sent me, she is now the transcriber for the church and had to transcribe that days’ sermon and professed ‘sins’ but was told to excise out the incident from the tape recording of the service, but she saved it for me and has it in her hidden diary, she said in her letter that it has only strengthened her decision to leave, and she’s not having much trouble of keeping “geek-boy wanna-be boyfriend” at arm’s length. Good for you baby sis.

There is a sharp chill in the air tonight, brought by the rain, I’m hoping it will help the drought situation; I’ve lit a few candles here and there to get a sense of warmth, drinking hot chocolate to warm the chill inside of me. No, no Merlot tonight.

There have been waves and waves of rain and snow down to 3 thousand feet, we desperately need it here. Earlier this month the groundhog saw his shadow so there will be 6 more weeks of winter, then why do I see the beginning of flower buds on some of the trees that are planted nearby, small sparrows are seeking food and the scrub jays have been making their squawking sounds. It heralds something new and wonderful (Merowl)

I’m looking forward to it, this coming resurrection of the earth and all its beauty (Purrrr)

I turn my head and look out at the diamond lights of San Francisco, and it just happens that Shirley Bassy's song is playing on the radio~~~

Diamonds are forever,
They are all I need to please me,
They can stimulate and tease me,
They won't leave in the night,
I've no fear that they might desert me.

Diamonds are forever,
Hold one up and then caress it,
Touch it, stroke it and undress it,
I can see every part,
Nothing hides in the heart to hurt me.


Diamonds are forever, forever, forever.

Sweet dreams my sweet yummy things.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day~~~

Mmmmmm to all you sweet luscious, yummy things~~~~

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and although it's going to be cold and very rainy I've got my day planned out. First I'm going to a Gun Show and see what wonderful delights catch my eye. You never can tell what one might find (Merowl).

Then in the evening a dear, sweet friend of mine is treating me to dinner at a wonderful little spot we know that has the most wonderful music from the 30's and 40's excellent singer and musicians and they are going to have a comedian that I've enjoyed in the past. (purrr)
And it's going to be a wonderfully long weekend, but I don't feel like traveling anywhere, an excellent time to catch up on things. Hmmmm?

I've been having some fun reading the newspapers, but it's much of the same news, are they any closer to voting either at the State Capital or in Washington? No. The politicians are dragging their knuckles in the dirt as usual and 10's of thousands of people suffer from their "pig-headedness".

Does "Da Arnold" think he can whip the State congress into passing a budget by laying off 0ver ten thousand state employees? That won't matter to the politicians, they could care less, but the one's who get hurt are the rank and file. (Snarl)

I can guarantee that many of them will be voted out of office and don't count on "Da Arnold" getting voted back in.

And S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsom, "testing the waters" to see about running for Governor of our bankrupt state? He can't even run San Francisco. He caved into the Unions when they demanded raises, huge raises, and he gave them the money knowing that it would put the city into serious financial trouble, much like Mayor Dellums of Oakland, he who really has the office run by his virago of a wife. (Growl)

And then wimp Mayor Newsom asks for the money back, sorry Gavi-boy not if you got down on your knees and shaved your hair off. And he wants to run for Governor? If it wasn't for the fact that I have an excellent job and good friends I'd move to Deadwood, South Dakota. Hmmmmm maybe sweet things I just might in the future.

In the mean time my friend Yoshi and I are going to treat ourselves to our favorite Chinese Restaurant to celebrate a happy completion to a worrisome situation.

And to you sweet, luscious, yummy things Many Kisses to you for Valentines Day.

One last thought before bed~~~

To Fram~~~

Before I fall asleep.

Yes I do want you to be on here, that is why I’ve added that “gadget” I have a few who do follow this blog, some ask not to post their comments, and some I felt were too “private” or immoderate in their comments, and some like Mean Kitty are just right there.

If you look you will see that I have added a link to your blog (yes an ugly word) so others can find it. I enjoy your thoughts.

I’ve been reading your postings, your thoughts, there are other ways of being cut off from the world than by nature, but I think nature does it because “she’ has to, it doesn’t make it any less acceptable, but that is when it is good to think re-group, and re-asses things.

The half time silliness of the Super Bowl? I thank the powers above that I always deliberately miss it. I think it was George Carlin who said (and I’m paraphrasing) that football was an act of war, the act of stealing land, something that we (I believe he meant the government and robber barons) are ‘pretty good at’. And I would never attempt word games with that man, even a Contessa knows her match.

Drive 250 miles to a gun show? I would do that in a heart beat, damn the gasoline costs, no one but no one denies me my right to use, pack, shoot, and own a gun, not by rising costs, distance or idiotic legislature. (Snarl)

I like what Charlton Heston said, although a bit melodramatic, “From My Cold Dead Hand.”

Hmmmmm riding a ship over moonlit waves, do you know ships are always referred to as “she”? I’m sure you do. I love the description Mmmmmmm I can picture it.

I too sometimes feel the need to up and leave, go someplace else, but until I find another place that has that ‘special feel’ that San Francisco does, I shall stay here as home.

Now back to bed and sleep to unravel the cares of the day, Sweet dreams you luscious, yummy, sweet thing. (puuurrrrrr)