Giving Up People for Lent!

Lent is a time of preparation for Easter - and, a time of giving things up to heighten our focus on Christ.  Lent, or "Lint," as my 12 year old keeps calling it by accident, then correcting himslef - can be a challenge for even the most well-intentioned Catholics.

I, in the past, have given up People magazine; why in the world do I need even a few minutes a week of celebrity gossip?  What is that bringing to my life?  Well, in a sign of the times, I am giving up People.com this year; I now read People online.  It may seem a small thing to give up, but it is kind of important; in a society where celebrity no longer has anything positive, on the whole, to offer us, not a moment should be spent idly perusing pictures and articles about people who seem more and more to be in their own version of hell.

Kids are amazingly good at sticking to their Lenten obligations; one year my youngest son gave up video games, and I never heard a thing about them for 40 days - while I was at the check-out line of the grocery store cocking one eye at the magazine rack and deep-breathing through the screaming headlines and "fun and flirty" fashions being worn by air-brushed stars that I could "copy at home - myself - even on a budget!"  Oh no - was one of my favorite stars having a breakdown, taking pills, or having an affair?   It's funny, but once you are actively giving something up - cigarettes, caffeine, sweets, a relationship, celebrity mags - you begin to see in high detail their pull on your life; the exhaustion and stress even seemingly innocent things can cause.  In this way, Lent frees you, instead of imposes on you.

So, I will continue to avoid People, and when I want to read it - or, more accurately, when I, like a zombie, move to my drop-down bar on my computer to select People.com in a break from work  - I will pause and say a prayer to be better, to give more, to thank my lucky stars for everything I have, everyone good and fine I am blessed to have in my life.  And my son will be quietly and steadfastly giving up all soda for the next 39 days, without a word of longing or complaint, fulfilling a promise he has made to God.  Amazing, energizing, and something to emulate.

How To Look Like Ryan Gosling

Oh my gosh, so funny...I LOOOVVVEEE "The Notebook"!! Can stop and watch it any time!!!

Whitney Houston - Didn't We Almost Have It All

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I have two wonderful memories of Whitney Houston's music, although I have a great familiarity with most of her songs as her music was my generation's music, and she was part of the soundtrack of my young adulthood.  The first memory is of dancing to Whitney's I Want to Dance with Someone who Loves Me with my young husband at a friend's wedding, and being so happy that I was dancing with someone who loved me.  I can still remember it well; bee-bopping around and thinking, "Wow, I'm married!"

The second memory is of this song that I've posted, Didn't We Almost Have It All.   Back when I had my first  two little boys, I took an aerobics class every day, and at then end of the class the teacher would lower the studio lights and we would stretch and relax soundlessly, listening to this song in the dark, tired and open to the music.  There were more than a few eyes glistening when the lights came back up.

Thank you Whitney, for being a big part of my soundtrack back in the day.  Rest in peace.

Can Santorum Swell be turned into Conservative Tsunami?

I would be all for a Santorum Swell in the Republican race for candidate for President of the U.S. of A.  Is the time right for this Catholic to feel some faith from the voters?

Santorum needs to fix a few things if he is to continue, in my opinion, but they are things easily fixed.  He can be whiny, as a debater, and does a little too much pleading, and not enough commanding of the debate stage.  This is easily overcome with the right debate coach and a little practice - in front of the mirror, in front of his wife, , his team, his kids...whomever.  It is imperative that this be corrected, or Obama will mop the floor with him in Presidential debates, should it come to that. When speaking to a crowd Santorum is much better - he is passionate, and can clearly crystallize a cohesive conservative message for the masses.  Interestingly, he was the best, and most relaxed I've seen him, when he returned from his very ill young daughter's bedside to comment on his campaign; he was relaxed, unruffled, and speaking with the insight of one who has just had his priorities re- aligned by the health of a child.

One of Romney's senior strategists compared Santorum's three-state sweep on Tuesday night to a
"student body election," effectively dismissing the importance of Santorum's victories - even an embarrassing, to Romney - victory in Minnesota, where Romney has Pawlenty stumping for him, and is a state he won in 2008.  Of course in 2008 he was a conservative state's conservative choice against McCain...and now in 2012 there's a new conservative kid on the block in the sweater-wearing, clean-cut, unabashedly Catholic Santorum (we have heard precious little about Mitt's Mormonism - for good reason, he must feel.  Voters are as a whole way too unsure about what Mormons believe - which equals a potential weakness for the Romney campaign in the general, I would surmise.  Although in a general election, you would fight one "Mormonism" with a Reverend Wright comeback, and come out ahead.  Of course, all of this would be un-spoken, and in the mind of the voter, but faith may be a real factor in the general election, because Church and State is becoming a hot-button issue in the country.)

Santorum's biggest asset, right now, is the backward movement of the government, the courts, and the "Boob Group," Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer "Race for the Cure."  I call them this not because I disrespect breasts - I have two myself, have had two biopsies in the last ten years as a result of mammograms, and care about everyone's breast health.  But SJK acted like boobs when they walked back their cutting of ties to Planned Parenthood - a group under Congressional investigation, and an organization that is a "pass-through" in the breast cancer fight; they issue referrals for mammograms, but do not offer mammograms directly.  Why is it wrong, Komen, to only offer grants to organizations that do offer the mammograms themselves?  (Note: Check out the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for an alternative to Komen when donating; Komen CEO makes $450,000 per year in salary, funded by you.)

Santorum can take the outrage of conservatives over 1) Komen, 2) the California court's over-ruling of the will of the people - a ban on gay marriage, and 3) the White House's recent decision to make Catholic Charities provide "health services" (morning-after pill, birth control) and bundle it into a perfect storm for a real conservative candidacy to be backed by both the Republican establishment, and conservative America.  He can stand up forcefully - skip the whining - and speak from the heart, and from his record.  He can fight the vast moneyball of the Romney campaign as best he can, and give conservatives a true choice with which to battle Obama. ( Romney is not a good debater, and I think that we are in trouble right there if he gets the nomination.  Can you see a flustered, high-octave, bumbling Romney agains the King of Slick and Cool?  C'mon, he can sing!  Marvin Gaye and Al Greene!)  Plus, Romney's money, his tactics and his faux-conservatism irk me to no end.

Is the Santorum Swell a tsunami in the making, or just an errant wave on a low-tide sea?  Time will tell.

What of Art? What of Longing? Where Is My Head?

Okay, so I remember when I was posing for this sculpture...(nah, just kidding.  I have never had, nor will I ever have, rippling abs.  I also have my head, and all extremities too, as of this writing.)

Anyhoo, this sculpture lives in my yard. About seven years ago I was in a garden shop and I saw this sculpture and I said to myself, "You know what, Self?  You have three sons and a husband - you are drowning in playoff games, fart noises, and Axe deodorant. The last intellectual thing that went on in your house was a game of online Solitaire.  But what of Art?  What of Culture?  What of Man's Longing for that Which Is Indefinable Yet For That Which Is Still a Part of the Search for That Which...oh, never mind, Self.  Just grab that statue and let's go."

Well, my sons, at that time, ages 5, 15 and 18, were horrified when I put my statue in our old backyard.  They immediately wrapped her in a beach towel, and begged me to throw her away.  (I privately named her Clothilde; classy, mait non?)  For boys that snickered endlessly about "boobs," when presented with two plaster breasts, they had precious little to say, but did a lot of blushing.

Oh, I forgot to mention - she had a head back then - a cute Greek head with those precious short Greek curls; one can imagine the subject of the sculpture gently sawing off her curls by the Aegean Sea with a seashell when they became too long.  Anyway, she moved with us to our new house (I remember she was hanging out of my husband's window, looking expectantly down the highway) and recently I glanced up into the garden to the side of the driveway and noticed that dear Clothilde was...headless.  What?  I stormed in and demanded, "Where is the head of my statue?"

My youngest son James, who is 12, and has been vehemently opposed to Clothilde since she came, said, "Oooh,  about that, Mom.  I, well, I accidentally kicked a soccer ball when I was out with the guys, and it knocked her head off."  I was distressed; Clothilde did not remind me of all that is pure and fine and desirable in Society with no head; instead she reminded me of...well, she just wasn't herself.

And yet, she was herself.  I do still like to look up in the garden and see Clothilde turned gracefully to look out to sea.  I still like how her plaster has aged, and how she reminds me of that day's persistent internal response to a piece of plaster gracefully rendered.  And as any friend would, I've looked for her head, but it was apparently thrown away in fear; right into the back of the trash truck as it rumbled away.

Ah, Clothilde, together we still search for that which is nameless and yet pursues us like wind as we walk...ah, forget it.  But rest assured; headless and ever beautiful Clothilde knows just what I mean.

Not By My Chinny-Chin...chilla?

This cute little fella, pictured at left, is a chinchilla.  Basically, a very large mouse with a squirrel's tail and the attributes of a superhero - chinchillas can run off walls, never touching the floor, they can move at lightning speeds, and they jump pretty fiercely, reaching some pretty surprising heights.  And I am putting all my efforts into not becoming attached to one.

We are chinchilla-sitting right now; my husband, my 12 year old and myself.  My college son's girlfriend has been away, so the job of chinchilla-sitting fell to him...which means now it has fallen to me.  And I love animals, and this animal presents a whole new world of excitement: chinchillas take dust baths!  (You buy dust at the pet store - no kidding - and they roll around in it!  Seriously!)  Chinchillas are soft!  (They used to make fur coats out of them.)  Chinchillas often like people, and bond with them!

So, I have been instructed to avoid this chinchilla's adoring gaze, ignore his soft fur, and turn away when he is jumping around appealingly, inviting me to observe his antics.  You would think it would be my 12 year old my husband is worried about - it's me, instead.  "Peanut has to go home soon," he said gently last night, as I was gazing into (our) chinchilla's little red eyes while I cleaning his cage.  "He has a real mommy.  We are just baby-sitting.  This is not a forever pet, just a visitor."  (Then he hands me my binky and my blanky and I toddle off to bed.  Come on; I'm a grown-up.  A grown-up that has to have a chinchilla or I'll just die!)

I know, I know.  You would think 2 dogs, a tortoise and a horse would be enough.  But...is there ever enough cute jumping softness in one's life, I ask?

P.S.  These cuties live a long time, so if his real mommy takes more trips or needs a sittter...Aunty is waiting!!

Iowa Primary Results...Veddy Interesting

Wednesday AM, Post-Iowa Caucus:

Such an interesting race to the GOP nomination this year!

I stayed up as long as I could to watch the results in Iowa, and ended up hanging off the couch almost upside-down (which makes the cadidates' faces look very long, in an interesting optical-illusion aside.)  The rest of the fam had long gone to bed, and after 11 PM it was clearly shaping up to be Santorum's night, a tie being a win in this case. (I think Romney was 3 votes ahead in the end.)  Who would have guessed just a week before, when it looked like Newt Gingrich would be the big opponent for Romney?  Newt is now calling people liars and looking utterly exhausted.

I think that Romney is vulnerable to Santorum in a way he has not been vulnerable to the others because a) Santorum has no baggage, like the other contenders (Cain, Newt, Perry's early debate flubs), and b) Santorum is truly conservative in a narrowing field.  Mitt has had to play the game by switching positions to move ahead, which I don't entirely oppose - views do change, and you must be pliable, let's call it, to move forward in politics.  But Santorum is who he is, or seems to be who he is (does that even make sense?)

This election is so important, that in the end, the candidate must be able to beat President Obama.  Period.  If the jobs numbers look up, the President will gain swift traction, even though he is currently boasting Carter-like numbers of the approval-type.  Yikes!  The Republican nominee must be a good debater, have no "buzz-phrase" weaknesses (Romneycare), and must be able to connect with independents (I think this ultimately goes to Mitt, with his business experience.  It will be a JOBS referendum.)

There is something seemingly made of steel about Romney - he just presses forward, from election to election, debate to debate, and now primary to primary.  There is a forced-jovial doggedness to him that is both impressive and scary.  Remember the scene in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" where Butch and Sundance are being chased through the plains, and they keep looking back, and then at each other, and saying "Who IS that guy?"  His name is Mitt Romney, boys.

The next two debates will tell so much; buckle your seat belts and grab your score cards!

**I am assuming this is goodbye for Bachmann; good job, girl.  Good effort.**

Shadowlands and a Great Big Fire

Okay...photographed just now, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, waiting for a movie I've wanted to see to begin on TV...a movie called Shadowlands, based on the life of C.S. Lewis.  Just got back from the barn where my horse is, and I'm freezing!  The temperature started dropping while we were at the barn, and is now much more winter-like.  Fun, relaxing day, though, with the horse and two of my three sons.

Tonight is one of those nights that rarely happens...I just learned I will have several hours alone.  Completely alone.  It is so rare that I don't know what to do!  I am stunned; deer in the headlight time. 


I love movies, so that was my first choice; usually it is too late or we are too tired by the time we can sit down to watch one, and we end up watching  an episode of "Hawaii Five-O" (now there's a re-make!) or one of the CSI's.  Or I could clean our room with my free evening, which looks like a crime scene and was "wrapping central" before Christmas.  Or I could do some work...hey, did I say that? Ugh.  Dishes?  No way - besides, the hubs did them while I was up at barn. 

So, it's a movie, and it's just me, and I'm really content.  Just one thing...how do you work the fireplace flue, and how do you search for movies on FIOS?? I forget...

Celebrate the hours you can claim for yourself, and don't always clean or work them away.  These hours all strung together and these "tiny, inconsequential" choices about how to spend these rare hours make up the quality of your interior life.

Merry Christmas 2011

The dinner has long been eaten, "Elf " has been watched, the cookies polished off and the stockings gone through (two out of three made it back to the mantle.)  My family is all around me, and everyone is sleepy, well-feed, and just glad to be together.  It is the state of being called Christmas.

You don't know, from year to year, what changes wll take place in your family, and as you age you learn to appreciate the precious faces around you even more.  Judgement fades, as you realize that acceptance is a big part of love.  If you are lucky enough to have no illness, no death, and no calamity visit your door, you have every reason to count yourself lucky and blessed, especially at holiday season.  Around the globe there is so much pain, anxiety and death that we in America are lucky to have the kinds of strife we have - even a bad economy and political divide pales in comparison to starvation, natural disasters and genocide.

At Christmas we are reminded to help the poor, and Jesus meant constantly, and as a mission in life.  It is actually about the poor among us.  Jesus asked us to help widows, orphans and the poor.  I am reminded  to see how I personally can do more for the truly poor; why have so many other things gotten in the way?  Is there any more important work?  As our parish priest pointed out today at Mass, we come from the ages of saints whose work was the poor and the state of our souls...this is our inheritance.  What will we do with it...squander it, or live up to it?

May peace and joy stay with you this season, and throughout the year.  God bless us, everyone!

The Christmas Horse

Here is my horse Nello's "official Christmas photo - 2011", and he is anxious to share it with everyone!

As you can see, Nello is adorned with a Christmas decoration affixed to his halter - which he tried to eat - and the photo was challenging because Nello likes to close his eyes when stationary, his theory being that it is never a wrong time for a nap.   The only reason that he is looking at me with eyes open is that I crinkled paper near him - which sounds like a bag of carrots opening.

As you can see, he is fuzzy, having grown his winter coat.  It keeps him nice and warm on trail rides or just standing in his paddock, enjoying the sun.  Nello's current favorite pasttime is trying to stand as close as possible to a mare named Allie, whom he is in desperate love with.  He moons over her, standing pressed to the fence, watching every move she makes.  (She likes him too, thank goodness!)

We have been together for 8 months now, and we are enjoying every minute.  Nello is happy at his new barn, and is affable to anything I might have planned - except for getting on his back.  He has a new maneuver, when I am attempting to mount up; swinging his hind quarters away from me.  This started when he had a terrible bout of arthritis, and was trying to tell me he couldn't handle a rider.  Now that he is better he has adopted this move as a permanent one, so we are working on it - it is important, in the horse world, for the rider to "win" every argument, so I have exhausted myself trying to climb aboard this fellow.  He is slowly getting better.  The funny thing is, he swings his head back at me while he is doing his signature move, as if to send his regrets about his behavior.  I'm not buying it, Mister.

He is my Christmas present, my source of relaxation, my down-time, my investment in myself.  I am grateful every day that I took the plunge and bought this carriage horse who had never had his own person until now.  Nello was always a "throw-in" in a sale of other horses, or part of a carriage team, with no identity or recognition of his own.  He was almost put down a few years ago, as he was on a working farm and he was not serving a purpose, due to an old injury that was quite serious, although it healed well, thank goodness.

So, he has a sweet attitude of compliance and gratefulness that many animals who get a second chance have - and makes himself a pleasure to be around.  The people and horses at his barn love him, and he is truly spoiled with treats, pats, and baby-talk (which he melts at, when he hears.)  He loves carrots, apples and cookies, is fussy about hay, is afraid of trailers, gets energized by wind, and loves to have his back scratched. 

He is perfect for me.  Merry Christmas, boy.  Thanks for the amazing ride we're on.

$10,000 Bet? C'Mon, Mitt!

Well, instead of being out at a party or out shopping and mingling among carolers and revelers, Saturday night found me happily stretched out in front of the fire, anxiously awaiting the latest Republican debate, on ABC. 

The race for the Presidency is my Superbowl, as I often remind my husband Fred, in an attempt to show him the importance of these debates - and happiness they bring to me - as we near the first primary.  He just shakes his head and throws another log on the fire for me, and freshens up my hot chocolate.

Here is my question: why does Mitt Romney always look so uncomfortable?  I do believe that he will be the nominee, and I will volunteer for his campaign locally if/when he gets The Nod.  But why does he look so stiff and uncomfortable?  Is it because he is not a politician right now?  He was our Governor, and did not look uncomfortable at press conferences back in the day, speaking on any range of issues.  What is it about the campaign trail that makes him itchy/sweaty/unable to respond?

I cringed when he offered his hand to Rick Perry and asked to bet him $10,000.  Mitt...what he heck?  Do you know how much money that is to us regular folk?  If we had $10,000 to run around betting, we would probably stick with the President we have!  (Just kidding).

Advice to Mitt:  a) practice not smiling at the candidate who is speaking, but looking stern.  b) please write this on your hand: everyone is not wealthy!  Keep it real!  c) argue and go after other candidates; it's "Go Time" now.  No more fawning smile when Gingrich is speaking. We are beginning to picture each candidate arguing with China, or Iran, and we need to see focus and will, and a little something called gumption.

Mitt, please find your center.  And no more betting...except on yourself, as President of the United States of America.  And let that confidence shine through!