I'm now famous in Backwoods, SC. I'll spare you the whole 'news' story, but here's the photo of me, Dad and Jean hauling wine out of wine country for an SPCA benefit.



I love how they put 'Wine Country' in quotes.

My sister is flying out here for our traditional pre-xmas shopping expedition. We started that ritual years ago so my grandmother would know she had dedicated shopping time with us marked on her calendar. As long as Grandma got all her shopping done that weekend (which she always did, and wrapped by the next day) the trip was a success. Otherwise she would have worried about it all season.

Usually my sister, Mom & Gram would fly up to either Boston or NY, and my sister-in-law or I would drive to the designated point of operations that year. It was hard to keep doing it after Mom died, but we wanted to make sure more than ever that my grandmother had that chance to be with us. She and Mom were so close.

I feel lucky to have been so close to my grandmother too. She was truly amazing. We had a family reunion on Fire Island for her 90th birthday in 2001. Her special request was to go shopping at Sak's while we were in NY. So the "girls" took the ferry/subway to NYC and tried to get on the Today show (no luck - got there too late), went shopping and saw 42nd Street on B'way. That was fun.


Hanging with the great-grandkids on Fire Island.


My sister and me holding the sign over Gram with my two sisters-in law.
Should have been on TV!


Visiting me in SF, August 2002


Family sailing trip in Grenada, 1994

I guess my whole freakin' family is pretty close.

This'll be the first xmas shopping expedition since my grandmother died. I wasn't sure if we'd still try to do it, but I guess it was as much for us all along. I actually hate Christmas shopping. (Darn! I was staying so positive up until now!) But I can't wait to hang out with my sister.

This pic showed up on the November page of the family calendar. It cracks me up. My niece loves to dress up. She's also got a thing for shoes and bags.

It's hard to describe the little island I live on. One of the local bartenders wrote this song. It's at least 1/2 a stanza too long to listen to if you don't live here.

Alameda, Alameda, you're the jewel by the bay.
Full of life, full of spark, from Webster Street to Park,
From Crab Cove out to Harbor Bay.

Island City, oh, so pretty, surrounded by the sea.
You're the best in the west, Alameda
You're the grandest place to be.

The sun smiles down on Neptune Beach and Crown.
Children play by the shore.
Trees so green can everywhere be seen.
Who could ask for anything more?

Alameda, Alameda, it's a fact that's plain to see.
You're the toast of the coast, little city with the most.
You're the only place for me.

So pure and clear the atmosphere.
Blue skies stretch out for miles.
People ride from far and wide, to see our beautiful isle.

Alameda, Alameda, our jewel by the bay.
Over bridge or the by ferry, I will cross the estuary.
And in your arms I'll stay!

Listen

So, between the mini-vacations to [c]secondlife[/c] and [c]there[/c] plus my usual loitering around the 'strip, I've been spending a fair amount of time directly or indirectly with (e:paul) lately. Now he's actually crossed over to my dream state in kind of a weird way. Maybe I shouldn't admit this but I've had (e:strip) dreams before, and that didn't alarm me. But this is different. Apologies to all the dream diarists out there that I can't remember details of the dreams themselves, but the thing that was weird is the formatting of the dreams. In the lower right-hand corner of my imaginary field of vision was a fixed, semi-transparent, scaled-down userpic, kind of like the station ID logos you now see watermarked on all the TV stations. Except this was (e:paul) 's blinking eye userpic. I can honestly say I don't remember ever having a dream formatting issue like this before. It was freaky and comforting all at the same time. I have no idea what it means.

Not surprisingly, quite a few people biked to the Green Festival. Between 9AM-1PM we valet parked over 200 bikes.




(low-res cell phone pix)

The SF Bike Coalition organized the valet parking. I didn't realize this before, but all major outdoor public events in San Francisco are required to provide attended bicycle parking. Cool!

There were seven guys and me on the morning shift. These guys were serious bikers. One guy works for the Santa Cruz Hub for Sustainable Transportation and travels all over the place with his Brompton folding bike. I have to get me one of those.

I bike mostly just to get somewhere, and to get the hell outside. I haven't changed my biking style much since I was a kid except now I'm allowed to ride in traffic. It's a wonder I haven't gotten myself killed, come to think of it.

The Green Festival was super crunchy. I think my favorite exhibitor was the guy who makes stuff out of recycled chopsticks.

I "heart" midi.

Happy Together / The Turtles

::DOWNLOAD MEDIA::

Historical note: I'm busting out the seven midi's originally in this post so IE won't crash. I'll string 'em along in a midi-of-the-month plan so too many won't show up in the same journal listing display. Wanted to keep this one here where it started. Moved Brandy [inlink]twisted,29[/inlink] back to an unpublished post I horded from October. Am I over thinking this?

So much for unchained melodies...

Not everyone living in the South is a conservative. My Dad's been sending this around to his Dem buddies (most of them also native NYers, though):

The Republican National Committee announced today that the Republican Party is changing its emblem from an elephant to a condom. The committee chairman explained that the condom more clearly reflects the party's stance today because a condom accepts inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually getting screwed.

I must be moving through the seven phases of grief. Is gallows humor one of them?

I am utterly devastated. I couldn't believe it four years ago, and I can't believe it now.

Once again the popular vote is split down the middle with the gap between each side wider than ever. How can one-half of the country swallow another four years of "leadership" from GW Bush when we're so polarized on issues? Especially now that he has no motivation for even feigning bi-partisanship (if he ever did).

I can take some comfort in living on the (politically) left-coast. But four more years of a Republican president, Senate and House - not to mention the likelihood of Supreme Court nominations during that time - scares the b'jezus out of me.

So what do I do? Leave the country? Seems crazy that it could come to that, with all the checks and balances the founding fathers put into the system. Yet I have to say it's tempting. (Damn Toronto's cold weather!)

At the same time, I know 55M people feel more or less like I do. Doesn't that count for something?

I hate politics and god knows I have no answers for how to change things at that level. It kills me to see how money, negative campaigning, powerful lobbies and the media have more impact on the final outcome than anything substantial like issues or core values. It doesn't pay to play fairly.

For now, all I can do is not give up on what I believe in. I can't just roll over for four years and hope things will get better then. I keep thinking about how Newsom brilliantly orchestrated the same-sex marriage watershed moment in SF . Even though the lawsuit was later overruled, the impact of seeing 4,000 gay couples publicly wed was undeniable. Although for a brief moment after hearing 11 states passed same-sex marriage bans I thought maybe we had pushed too hard to soon. But no, no, no. You can't wait for the time to be right before doing what's right. Not these days. Civil disobedience may be the only way to go.

Anyway, stick together (e:peeps) .

Maybe I'll become a philosopher. Think there's any money in that? hahaha.

(If things don't go well tomorrow.) Not really up my fjord, but might be of interest to some peeps.

Hash smokers' heaven gets grounded / Denmark out to corral commune
But after 33 years as a hash smokers' sanctuary -- with its own radio station, newspaper, clinic, bakery, post office and open-air hashish market -- this extended commune of nearly a thousand people, more commonly known as Christiania, finds the normally tolerant Danish government breathing down its neck.

Hmmm...my grandparents skipped this part of the tour when we visited relatives in Denmark.

Ok, back to the propositions. If things don't go well tomorrow maybe CA will secede.