Last Two weeks of August 2008

Cutie and I did a few things this summer
We went to the waterfalls. Before my grandma Ida died she lived in the apartment building right next to the Brooklyn Bridge. She would have had a gorgous view of the waterfalls. Unfortunately, the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall was not working when we took the boat.
Even thought last year I finally got installation art and I was inspired by Olafur Eliasson at MOMA this past June. I'm sorry to say nexay on waterfall thing.

The other video was taken at Masthope, PA. We went for the weekend. I'm happy to say Yesay on the Masthope Day.

McCain is An Idiot

I don't think he wants to be pres. His pick for VP kills any chance he may have had. Now Bloomberg or Pataki - he had a shot.

Perhaps he's thinking long term. Yes, she's now on the national stage and a Republican Women as a choice for next election. But why? If she was that good she could have done it on her own - when she was ready. But I guess he's hoping for a cabinet position in the future. NOT.

The Democratic Convention

I was an intern at the DNC midterm convention in 1982. My issues back then as they are now are simple. Equal Rights for all and the right for a women to choose. Back then both political parties agreed with those things although the shift in the Republican party away from those values was in the toddler stage.

I like the profound shift from "The American Dream" to The American Story" is forefront and center. The problem I have with the Democrats are the stories. So Hilary talks about a women who adopts two autistic children and doesn't have health insurance when she finds out she has cancer. Am I the only person who sees a problem with this story? The story should be about the high occurrences of autism in this country. Not about a stupid decision to want to help children when they haven't planned for themselves.

And what's all this crap catering to "families". What about those who don't have or want families? Do they not vote?

All the Republicans are in a mess. They will feel the backlash of the evil social conservatives.

The Democrats are going to win this election. The Democrats will mess up and it's now time for some young and socially progressive Republicans who grew up poor, worked very hard to get their piece of the American Dream to begin their ascent.

There is a reality about why most people are poor. They make stupid choices when they are young. They give up on education. Look at all the people in the Democratic party. They grew up poor and made it. They think that making it easy for the poor will help. It will help get the Democrats elected. The end product is we will have a country of people who don't want to work too hard. I see this with high school students. They want life to be easy.

And did you see that STUPID guy on PBS from Brandeis University. I was truly embarrassed for Brandeis and I lost respect for them. I hope they fire the idiot. Oh they can't - he's a minority.

The Problem of Public Education

So I'm looking for a babysitter and thought it might be a good idea to contact the Nyack High School guidance counselor. I'm on the website and start visiting pages. I came across this doosey about attendance.
http://hs.nyackschools.org/www/nyack_hs/site/hosting/ATTENDANCE.pdf

They use terms like legal and illegal to be absent from school. What crap is that. I feel bad for the next generation. No tolerace for learning, growing and gaining wisdom from errors. We will have the most boring generation ever.

Fair Oaks Bungalow Colony Reunion

On Sunday, Cutie and I went to my Fair Oaks Bungalow Colony reunion. It was great to see everyone. People looks the same just 35 years later. It was so nice to see everyone. I was at the bungalow colony for 2 years with my family in the mid seventies. Everyone at the reunion reminisced about the great times we had and how our children would never have the opportunity to know such summer freedom of running around unsupervised at such young ages. (I was 12-13). People remarked on how they watched my younger brother (and me) on "Queer Eye" and were upset he wasn't there. He didn't want to go because he said he didn't remember anyone or anything. They remembered him.
The reunion idea started with a visit in 1975 to the now run-down place. Renee rock still existed with LEE spray painted on the top. You could see it from the highway. I remember Renee rock as the make out place.
I had my first boyfriend that summer. He wasn't at the reunion, but his brother was. I inquired about him. Did he become a Brain Surgeon? No, an Oncologist - but now he plays Texas Hold-em. It's funny. 27 years later I married Paulo. Paulo is very similar to the first boyfriend I had. Paulo has a PhD in Astrophysics and in now into telescopes. I liked to compete in sports with the first and I can't wait for Paulo to recover from is seemingly never end of sports injuries so we can compete once again.
Cutie was so patient as I played Volleyball that day. She is ready to watch Paulo and I do sports. With the Olympics on TV this week, we are teaching her the value of sports. And it's working.

Color War song sung to Scarbourough Fair.
The summer is over the war is all done
Green and Red teams united as one.
The mountains are round and the waters so clear
Fair Oaks Camp we'll see you next year.

Listen to laughter of children at play
They enjoy their last summers day
Good times had we tranquility
Fair Oaks Camp how far can you be.

The Reality of the Olympics

Reality shows are popular. I'm afraid to admit I really like "You think you can dance". The Olympics is a global reality show. Why won't it be popular?

Tired of Making Dinner

When Paulo and I were hanging together I pretty much made dinner every night. At some point I stopped. I just ran out of things to make. Last week in the dentist chair I came across a recipe for Caramelized Black Perpper Chicken '98 from Food & Wine Mag and made it for dinner.
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3TB fish sauce
1/4 water
3 TB rice vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic
fresh ginger
1 ts ground pepper
2 Thai chilies
1 TB canola oil
1 shallot thinly sliced
1 lb chicken breast
cilantro

I had most of the ingredients and Paulo has this aversion to cilantro. It was actually quite good. But I'm off the whole cooking thing. We eat a lot of pasta and salad.

Cutie swimming at camp

Mommy you need that.

Last week I desparately needed to get my hair colored. Yes, I'm going gray. My color was awful and I don't really like the way my hair feels when I do it myself. I made an appointment at the salon and Cutie came with me. They gave her a haircut and I got a haircut and color. She was thinking about coloring her hair pink and I just wanted to cover the gray. She was fabulous for the 2 hours at the salon. Of course I did bribed her with a piece of chocolate cake from the French bakery.

This morning Cutie was watching TV while I'm doing her hair. A commercial comes on for a hair product that helps you get rid of your gray.
"Mommy you need that."
"Why?"
"To get rid of your gray".
"Thank you for letting me know".

Super Yummy

Cutie has a new expression. Super. So not only do I make the best salad ever, it's super yummy.

These are the little things that make my life happy. This summer we decided to renovate a few bits of the house. I'm in construction and picking out colors hell. I'm thinking of contacting a decorating show.