There are some people who just have to question everything, usurp and hijack everything too.

If you request that people pray for an individual, there are people who question minute things about the request.

They question the diagnosis, as if they have medical degrees, they question the motive of the family, the timing, whatever.They pull focus off the individual and hijack the request so that they and their pseudo intellect become the prime focus .

People reading their rants lose sight of the request and the person in need falls by the wayside.

These kinds of people must always be in the limelight. It is always about them. Every situation, every thing revolves around them and their thoughts, their actions. And, if it isnt about them they will make it all about them.

Sickening and I am fed up with a certain one who does this consistently.

When requesting that people pray for a child with "swine flu" they take off on a rant about how its probably "not" swine flu.

Focus now is on them and their "opinions" rather than the toddler who is very sick.

Who cares what the disease is, a toddler a tiny baby is suffering. That should be the only focus.

What is wrong with these kinds of morons?

Water seeping under the back door as the rain continues to fall like a tropical storm.
The rain of tropical storms is a different kind than normal rains. It is somehow thicker.
I don't know any other way to describe it. It's drops fall closer together than other rains and faster. There is an urgency in them.

The gutters are not in good shape and I am moneyless so, cannot fix them.
I will try to save up and see what occurs,but, it looks grim.

I do hope that the winter will be warmer and with little snow and rain for the most part.
I guess this storm came up from the south, which got a very bad drenching last week.

It remains to be seen how the gutters on the house will hold up.

Autumn in Full Swing

Blogger problems now! If it isn't one thing it's another. HOpefully they are now solved and posting can resume.

The end of summer is usually not as abrupt as it was this year. But then, spring was more like autumn and summer was long in coming and had a short stay. It left abruptly one day and autumn seemed in full swing.

I find I miss the "Indian Summer" we are used to when leaves are red and gold and temperatures climb to the low 70's. It is a gift as it dries out the wet autumn leaves that produce mold and mildew and make you sneeze.

No Indian Summer this year .

In years gone by summery temps could pop up until Halloween with children sweating in costumes. Other years children went begging in frigid temps.

Thanksgiving has been warm and summery.... or sub zero. You just never knew.

Thank goodness for the Farmer's Almanac which gives a hint of things to come.

Today was rainy , dim and gray. Lights needed through most of the daytime hours and soon even the daytime hours will dwindle as we reach the end of October already! Didn't it just begin?

Next weekend is the end of Daylight Savings Time when clocks "fall back" to their original settings.

Autumn will soon give way to winter...

Computer problems have kept Summerplace quiet for a while, unable to post.

Summer sun is past and the windy autumn with its nor'easters has really arrived. We are on the way to Halloween with it's scary dark nights and little candy eaters making the rounds door to door with parents in tow.
Many towns have programs for the holiday to ensure the safety of the children. They hold parties in the schools and organize walks for treats.
It's a shame they even have to, a shame that some adults are so uncaring of kids that they would even think of making things difficult for them.
Sad to live in such times when even children have to beware of danger to such a degree.

A brand new Walmart has opened complete with grocery store inside. Super they call it.
Where it stands there was a farm. The farm had sheep, a lovely home and orchards.
Now it is a black ugly parking lot with a generic brick walmart looming over it.
The street is a small two lane country road.
The town is small.
Across the road is a family owned hardware business that has a wonderful garden center.
Will they get hurt?
Maybe, though their quality and service will be better. Their employees far superior to Walmarts.

Family businesses was once a way to make a living for an entire family. Some got rich, most just were able to live a decent life from the earnings of the store.
Today it is nearly impossible to have a family business because laws and regulations tax you to death, make it nearly impossible and the mega store corporations run you out of business.
It's really sad but it's been allowed.

Another thing that comes with it is blighted landscapes with ugly stucco and steel buildings that look like junk from the start.
Gone are the charming store fronts of yesteryear and in their place we have mass produced junk architecture. Housing has gone that way too with the McMansion craze.
Big 3,000 sq foot homes on postage size lots. All of them brick with a garage jutting out in front.
They all look alike, feel alike.. are bland and well.. uninspiring.

Its what the traffic allows, though.

Had to turn on the heat a bit in the last few days because it's been chilly especially in the late afternoon ,early evening.
Once the house gets up to 72 I turn it off and it stays nice for the rest of the day/night.
I don't want a huge gas bill this early in the year and gas is too expensive thanks to government tom foolery.

Its a rainy day today. In fact it was rainy yesterday and last night there were some gale winds. The pond is over it's banks, the bay is wild and I went out for a walk. There is something comforting about being bundled up inside a warm coat and hat on a blustery, rainy day. Yes, inside a house is better, but, being outside makes you feel alive and appreciative of the house waiting for you on your return. I walked along the roads seeing gold light spill out of homes onto soppy lawns and imagined the people inside huddled at the breakfast table having hot, steaming cups of coffee and thinking how dumb it was to be out on a day like today. Lake Bayside(not a real lake, just the juncture of 2 roads that floods and we call it lake Bayside) was up to its imaginary banks and its eastern most side flowed into the very real creek that reaches out to Barnegat Bay on its short journey. How fast a tiny creek widens into a mighty course of water! That thought took me off on thoughts of how small incidents ( national or personal) quickly broaden into huge ones if damage control isn't quick in coming. I had no companion on my walk except for Gordon the Mallard who often walks alone now that his life long mate Gertie has passed on to duck heaven. Its kind of sad to see him wandering along without her. For a long time they were a constant couple and raised many little Gerties and Gordons. It was nice to have him join me for a block or two. We ambled along at a slow pace since Gordon likes to take time to smell the roses as it were. I think he stays so long into fall out of reluctance to leave places he holds dear, if indeed ducks can do that. But somehow, it must be so or he would have flown off south by now. I suspect this was his final walk around "his" property before he goes this year. It's nice to have someone to chat with, even if that someone is a duck. And his friendly nature and inquisitive eyes make him a jovial companion. His constancy and faithfulness are a lesson in keeping on keeping on. I was telling him how nice his green neck was when I spotted a lone daisy blooming by the side of the road! Yes, in November!! A lovely Shasta Daisy!! All alone also, like me, and Gordon, the daisy was just blooming like crazy. No thought to the chilly air, no thought to approaching winter (they say snow on Thursday..brrr). That daisy was blooming itself silly!! And out of season. I felt pretty good about that as I often "do myself silly" in some things..sigh. There is a lesson there too ..... don't let anything get you down for long, and keep blooming! So, the people with the steaming coffee mugs at the cozy kitchen tables thinking how dumb it is to be out on a day like this were wrong! G-d provides a day's worth of lessons all around us if we just will keep our eyes open and look at all the possibilities. As we reached the lagoon by the marina, Gordon waddled down into it where a larger group was waiting and together they flew off. I was happy to have escorted him part of the way on his journey. Another good day begins on the bay.

(Post set to automatically post)

Too Cold!

Cold and chilly weather!
What happened to a nice warm autumn? 36 degrees already and just Oct 2?
No, this cant be.
We usually get weather into the 80s until we are thoroughly sick of it!
Not this year though, it was not to be.
I hope it warms up a bit though. Too much to put away out in the yard. havent had the chance yet.
Hoses, pond equipment. No.. I need a bit more summer
Summer was late.. fall is early.
no way.. no how.. uh uh!!

There is a boardwalk nearby that is really just a neighborhood sidewalk. Summer homes and year round homes come right to its edge and the river leading out to the bay opens wide before it and laps the white sandy beach.

You can see the Victorian town on the other side, and the lights of the Barnegat Bay Bridge in the distance leaving trails of light in the waves on the open bay. People love to walk those boards all year long. Both natives and people from surrounding places because of the peace and the calm there. You can see into some of the homes as you go by, and its not unusual for the owners to wave a friendly "Hi" as you go by.

It was cold tonight but, it was a good night for a nice walk along the boards. Its another world to see the lights on the water and hear the gentle tapping of the rain on it too. I passed by homes warmly lit. People sitting around tables talking, others entertaining in the evening....its the thing to do ..to share your home and its view with others. One home in particular struck me as I passed by

Gentle jazz streaming on the night air from the house, men sitting and drinking cocktails, while the ladies sat at a card table playing bridge and eating "petit fours" and sipping cocktails too. The ambiance was wonderful you could sense it so strongly. Light laughter mixed with the smooth jazz filtered out along the boardwalk and although not many were walking, just the odd one here or there.. their faces reflected what I was feeling.

The people here are different. They live in a nice place really and they truly appreciate it for what it is.

I have never walked that boardwalk that I havent seen someone entertaining quietly in their home sharing the ambiance, food, and that never ending gorgeous view. I can't invite you for cocktails or coffee....but I can share this with you. Good night.

Computer Down.. etc...

Computer has been down for a while...but back now for blogging!



There is something about summer that seems to attract funerals. Maybe it's the heat. Maybe it's the humidity. Maybe it's the television reruns, but a larger than normal amount of people seem to die in summer. Particularly famous people. Lately it seems as if you can hardly pass a newspaper without seeing a famous person's photo splashed across a tabloid cover with a sentimental headline bidding him or her farewell.

In my own honest opinion, a death is a family tragedy, not a public occasion, and there is something tacky and grasping about newspapers, gossip columns and television newscasts that are so desperate to include us in a family that we were never actually a part of. And is the death of a famous person really more tragic than the everyday ordinary deaths that happen all around us and still go unmourned? What is it about fame that makes human life seem more important and more valued anyway?

Famous people seem like a kind of virtual family sometimes. We know all about them, sometimes we know more about them than we do about our own families. The trivia of their personal lives, their marriages and pregnancies, their breakups and relationships, their adulteries and drama, are in the air all around us. But a virtual family, is not a family. Though you may think you know a famous person, you are only an observer in the drama of their life and their death. And an observer is not family.

Every person's death is tragic. Each man's death diminishes me. But why value tragedy based around fame. When all is said and done, famous people put on their shoes, do their hair and go off to live their lives. And when their time is up, it's up, just as it is for any other man and woman. Nothing is immortal or undying in the end. Not even fame.

Weather reports don't really tell you how hot it really will be.
So there.

There are times when you want to feel the sunlight on your skin, to let your eyes soak in the rays of sunshine and to be able to look clearly at the world around you. And then there are times when you want nothing so much as to sit in a dark corner, hidden by shadows, and let the world pass you by. Call them visible and invisible days. Days of light and days of darkness. Just as the day and night cycle have their shifting periods of darkness and light too, so does the human mood. And there are times when you want to see and be seen and times when you want nothing more than a dark corner to sit in, and cry into a glass. Maybe it's the pressure of the sunlight, as fun as it is to be out in the sun, each ray of solar radiation comes with its own invisible sense of pressure as it touches you. So much so that the cool darkness can be relief from its light. And then there is such a thing as seeing too much, too much noise, too many crowds and too much tumult, that it can be a weary pleasure to find refuge from them in the peace of silence and darkness. And that dark corner too brings its own flavor and brand of peace, an easement of the soul from the strains and pressures of the sheer packed masses of humanity. That is why it is always good to have a corner of your own to retreat to, a place in which to sit, sip and regard the night.

I was off for a holiday. Back to posts now....

Should politicians be career men? I mean, should they make a career out of politics?
I think strict term limits are better so that men can't make it a career and just do pretty much nothing.
I would love to see citizens in the government with term limits rather than career politicians who arent good for the nation.


Well today is the first day of autumn and already some trees are turning colors.
A few seem to do that ahead of the crowd.
Willow turns a bit yellowish and seems to be one of the first to drop it's leaves.

Lovely cool sunny sharp bright weather....
Who invented seasons when this is so perfect and should never be changed at all?
Cool, even chilly nights, but the sun fiercely shining by day with just the merest hint of breeze at times ..the right times only you see.
We don't need the fridgid.
We don't need the beating down hard sun that burns and makes you pant for water.
We don't need cold, wet springs.
We need only this, the perfect , lovely days.

Rainy Day Images.

Sometimes when it rains the streets become like little lakes.
Early falling leaves float down the gutter streams to their final destination , a "lake" at the end of the street.
There they join the floatilla that sails all over the rippling surface. Bumping into one another here and there they bounce off and float someplace else for a while til ,at last, they bump again and about face to find their own way.

At it's height of power the gutter stream runs along like the great rapids of the large rivers.
Moving in a blur at times, stopping only to splash up on some obstruction , or move around it in circles it slows as the rain comes to a stop. Little by little it finishes its course and then there is a lake to show for it's efforts.

Deer come out to drink from the new lake, emerging from the woods with wide eyes. Dry, having hid under trees. They walk slowly to the edge of the new lake and sip up the fresh rain water , content and happy.

Caesar's Ghost

Great Caesar's Ghost. And I mean Sid Caesar of course. With the proliferation of channels, television is more haunted than ever by the past. Where is that MGM line now you wonder. Where are all those people who were laughing, screaming, jokes and tweaking each other's noses in black and white. As the time between the early days and the middle age of television stretch out further and further, the television programs of the past turn into black and white ghosts haunting our monitors and TV screens.

It wasn't always that way but the passage of time has kept the past alive as a faint shadow of itself, mocked by the latest generation of Plasma TV screens, HDTV crispness and Blu Ray technology. The past seems positively unreal compared to the latest rollout of computer generated special effects in the latest forgettable big box office summer spectacular. But in some ways the past is much more alive, much more vivid and vital, despite not being widescreened or having the right resolution, or being equipped with computer generated special effects that determine to make everything seem impossibly larger than life.

Maybe that is because vitality doesn't come from a computerized army of ghosts and shadows but from life itself. If the past haunts our TV screens, if there is an entire cable channel dedicated to reruns of classic television shows, and more channels still dedicated to classic movies, that is because the past holds a special place out of more than just sentimentality toward past ages and past experiences, but because in the absence of lazy vulgar shortcuts and easy computer rendered tricks, the past had to do it the hard way. The pioneer way. Great Caesar's Ghost. Some days the past seems more alive than ever.

Waves

It is amazing sometimes to think that we live on a world that is mostly water, oceans, rivers and streams are not the aberration, but the norm. It is solid land that breaches the surface of the water, rather than the water breaching the land. And when the icebergs melt, even if we don't find ourselves playing through our own version of Waterworld, we may as well move to Holland as to Iowa. And with all that water, is it any surprise that people have been using it as their own private liquid telegraphs for thousands of years.

I'm talking of course about messages in a bottle. The concept is simple enough. Just toss a bottle in the water. Put a note inside. Do the second thing before the first, or you may find the process a little confusing and awkward. Then wait for the tide to take it up. Who will your message reach it? A better question is who can't your message reach. With most of the earth filled with water, with so many thousands and thousands of miles of coastline between and around the continents, why your message could end up positively any place at all.

And that is the appeal of the message in a bottle. It is a message that is likely to reach no one, but can in theory reach anyone. It is an open statement, an open appeal, an open message, an open ended venture. Today people may stick to Twitter and blogs and bulletin boards, but there is something refreshingly daring about the courage to finish that old fashioned glass bottle of Coke, scrawl your message to the world on a piece of paper, tuck it inside the neck, making sure to get rid of the straw first, and let is sail on the waves.

Merry Flamingo Day!

It is interesting that every time archaologists dig something up they label it a god.


I can imagine that in the future salt and pepper sets made in the shape of animals or people will be declared gods by someone who digs them up. More than that they will say that they dispensed incense or something.



Lawn gnomes and 1950s yard flamingoes will be the gods we worshipped as they write their long tomes about us.










Look, these people worshipped the great Flamingo god at one point but then, suddenly and unexplicably his worship fell out of favor and they began worshipping small funny little god in a pointed hat. His statues were worshipped in gardens and front lawns of homes until , just as quickly as the Flamingo god , he too was relegated to obscurity. What a fickle people they must have been!



Here is the great Flamingo Religious holiday! Everything pink and spiffy for the honor of the great Flamingo god!







"Oh, how did they ever lose site of these wonderful traditions?


When did it fall into disfavor and the happy sound of Merry Flamingo Day become disparaged?" is what the text books of the future will say.

"People sent one another Merry Flamingo cards and decorated their dwellings with pink fairy lights and pink tulle, pink glitter and all things Flamingo pink!"the book will declare.


"Pink foods were eaten and special music played to honor the day of the Flamingo".


Actually, it would make a rather pretty holiday wouldn't it?

Lazy Day

I am having trouble rousing myself today.
Last night I had the littlest hint of a headache resulting from stiff shoulders but it was enough to make sleep difficult as lying down made it worse.So, I sat up in bed reading til early in the morning.
I slept til 2:30 and now I am functioning in a groggy manner. Ugh.
Coffee makes no difference at all. I should get myself together and head out to the shops for a bit of wake up call.
Sometimes walking around does the trick when nothing else will.
The weather is fine, cool, sunny and a good day to be outdoors.
The fact that it is early evening makes it worse though for going out, since shops close early on Sunday, those which are open that is.
Maybe tomorrow...sigh.
Well, next time it will teach me to sleep so very late into the day no matter what.It really goes put off the schedule and make you feel yukky.

Autumn Almost Here

The light is different in the autumn than in summer. No one seems to know what I mean by that.
Well, its less intense, gentler, more filtered somehow. The angle is different too.
Whatever, it is different.
I guess I enjoy the lighter intensity of autumn a bit more than the direct dead on harshness of summer light.
There is a difference , they say, between autumn and fall also. Autumn being the whole season but fall being the time when leaves begin to drift down to the ground.

I used to enjoy the piles of leaves in fall and when people could burn them the smell was wonderful and so traditionally "autumn". Burning leaves, soft afternoons with gentle breezes and that hint of increasing chill in the mornings and evenings.
Some mornings you wake to a hint of frost on things...other mornings have that bit of extra dew.
Makes me think of the Folgers Coffee commercial that used to play.
"The best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup".
It was a very effective campaign for them I bet. The tune was catchy and the films that went along with it were nice and homey.
Anyway it's a lovely day today. Cool enough to open windows.. breezy enough for it to fill the house with lovely aromas of outdoors and just sweet.
Almost Autumn now...................

Tempus Fugit

Today is 9..9..09. And as I begin this post it is 1:11.
How cool is that?
Its interesting how we are curious about sameness in numbers and some ascribe all kinds of magic meaning to them
Ask around if people seem to see the same numbers on a clock over and over and so many will say, yes, they do.
I am not sure what that is about. I don't believe it's anything magic or mystical though, just an interesting thing that happens to us from time to time.
Look, it has to be 1:11 twice a day !! So nothing mystical there.

What does amaze me is how short summer was and how we perceive things as being short or long even when the time is the same.
Summer was the same length as always but it was rainy and cool for a significant chunk of it and made it seem more early Spring than Summer for a long while. I believe the temperatures have a lot to do with how we see things.
For instance, it is not yet autumn. That has to wait until September 21, yet, since temperatures are cooled off a bit, after a hot spell in August, people are already calling it autumn.
It seems that Labor Day also is a cut off period as well as return to school and these make people perceive Autumn even if it really isn't.

I am not a fan of cutting life short by saying seasons are over or by wishing them gone. It's like wishing your life away.
Each season of life has something nice about it and it's time we all thought in those terms rather than moaning and complaining how bad things are all the time.
Just saying........