Yes, there still are wild turkeys, out and about, believe it or not.
See for yourself....
Why did the turkey cross the road?
(the road is just up from me...)
maybe to get away from Pocohantas?
(granddaughter, Evie...)
hopefully, they were pardoned and escaped the hunters out and about...
The other hunters out & about for 'Black Friday' did not include myself. I shopped nowhere, boycotting this new tradition I care nothing for.
As someone on Facebook posted: Only in America do people spend Thanksgiving celebrating all they are thankful for; and then rush out early the next day to buy more stuff they feel they are lacking....
Grandpa S and Sofia with the as yet, unnamed baby on her birthday, 11-13-12.
Great Grandma Sauer
with her newest great- granddaughter... 6 girls in 6 years:
Sofia 2007 *
Evelyn 2008
Astrid 2009
Violet 2010
Frances 2011
Olivia 2012
* Orion Cupid Davauer
our first grandchild, a boy...born too early, spent his short life in his parents' loving arms. Remembered now, lovingly, in the celestial realm.
Papa Nat (or as Evie calls him, Dadah...) (the photographer of the professional photos in the link above :-)
Olivia at home with Violet and Evie... a new chiquitita to love!
Well....still no baby news to report, but can't be long now...I'm pacing with anxiety, just as I was running up to the election. That had a good result, in my eyes... My state came through..and is now identified as a purple state. Purple, because they went for Democrats on the national scene, but went Repub. on the local level... be prepared for more teacher & union bashing, & diminishing benefits from the statehouse...But, anyway, I am happy with the overwhelming support for Obama, as well as electing the country's first openly gay senator, Tammy Baldwin. Really put some people in their place...So...since I'm awaiting news of the next arrival, will fill in with a trip we took to NYC in October to celebrate my aunt's 80th birthday....What fun...Kind of on a whim, but it came together in a good way. It was a whirlwind trip...an appropriate adjective, esp as we beat the winds and rain of frankinstorm Sandy just by a few days. Whew... but sorry for the New Yorkers who had to suffer through it, and are still coping with the fallout.
Here are some highlights from that NYC trip in mid to late October.
My Aunt Joyce, and myself, sitting on steps on the upper West Side, awaiting a Metro Bus. Joyce got the senior rate!
Here we are at our hostel. Hey, I give Joyce credit for doing a hostel with us. As she said, I can well afford a hotel...I know...I know...but, come on...you gotta push the envelope. It was really fine. Equity Hostel, owned by a Barcelona group, well situated near Times Square. Mostly all Europeans & a young vibe there. We did okay. Good rates. We had to take a female dorm room for 4, but lucked out with two Australian girls, over our 3 days, both of whom we liked. This awesome creamy yellow leather sofa was the one really good piece of furniture in the place (don't forget...we had bunks...pretty minimal in the sleeping spaces...) Anyway, we tried to get a space on this sofa whenever we could...esp. during Happy Hour. We appreciated the touch of luxury.
Here is the birthday girl, on her actual birthday, Oct 16, being served a special cake by the wonderful servers we got to know well at this Japanese restaurant my brother found in Korea town, where he stayed. The owner, Mai, is Korean.
Joye and Carole outside our hostel...as we prepare to go to see the Broadway play, Evita.
During our stay, we made it out to my nephew Adam's loft, in Brooklyn. It is very spacious. And he is an artist, and somewhat of a minimalist... My son had shared this apt with him, after living on the lower East Side, which I got to know better by visiting him there. Brooklyn seems so spacious compared to anywhere else, esp lower E side, in Manhattan.
Adam also teaches grad students at the NY School of Visual Arts...something about computers, graphics, art, etc. You notice he is wearing camouflage. He has developed something which maintains one's privacy by carefully placing obstructions around a face/visual which block a camera from identifying a subject...a bit complex...but...very cool.
My Aunt Joyce, & sister, Carole...regrouping, or looking for next subway fare? sitting in Adam's loft. Adam scored that cool vintage sofa from my sister, Dawn. He is very opposed to buying new stuff. He absolutely rejects 'Black Fri' & any other day devoted to shopping.
This was an odd place to eat, and very cutting edge in Brooklyn, Fette Sou. All about pork cuts. See the 'Wall of Meat' behind sister Carole & brother, Bruce. You get your tray, go to grill station, get your meat, & then your beer. and dig in!
I see they also had this cool drawing on the cement wall --
'no goat left behind'
maybe on some special days, they also served goat? do not know....
as with many things in NY...we just tried to go with the flow, and not ask too many questions...
Here we are on the NYC subway...always a treat. I find it fascinating. It was my sister's first time; My brother did a great job getting us around. I love the feeling of being in the mix of the energy of the largest city in the US...and what is cool is that New Yorkers on the subway are always reading stuff... often, the classics. It's like no other city. Strangely, this is a photo without other passengers. On one trip, there was a guy singing darn good opera.stuff... for tips, of course, later...one never knows what one will see or hear. On the subway, or in the underground terminals... it's unique.
Ground zero. well, I suppose a 'must do' and of course it was packed. Personally, I liked it better when they projected 2 beams of light, up into the sky, after the towers were gone.
Now there is this new glassy, reflecting tower, which doubles itself in a reflecting pool below. It's okay I guess. Not to my liking; But, I'm not a 'monument' person. The other photo, The Fraunces Tavern on Pearl St. near the Battery, is much more authentic...it's where Gen Washington signed famous documents, and there were secret meetings, and slaves hiding about... the upstairs has a museum, and it is an operating Irish pub now. The reason I knew about the place, is that I had to help 5th graders read a novel, some years back, in which this place figures big into the history of the Revolution....an awesome place...and very Dutch architecture.
And here we are having NY cheesecake...yum...the best!
and then going to the Broadway play, Evita....
with Ricky Martin.
WOW.... it was fabulous.
Great storytelling & music on stage.
so... a fun week... and I didn't even mention the weekend in PA... so...there's more! But, it's hard to go to NYC and not be awed.
It's election day in the USA. Feeling anxiety, kind of like expecting a newborn, which in fact, we ARE! Our next grandchild, #6 in 6 years, is due today or the 9th. (Kind of weird, yes, but there are 2 due dates...Nov 6 and 9. Would be cool if it were today...but, we'll take him, or her, whenever!
Stay tuned!
But, meanwhile, like one pacing in a delivery room, I feel that urge to do something; post something.
Haven't gotten back to getting more travel posts together; sometimes it's just easier to go travel, than to gather up thoughts, find & organize photos, and reminisce about those various places...now history. But, they are always in my thoughts, yes. I will get to it soon. We are an amalgam of our travels, experiences & interpersonal connections, I do believe; back to that later.
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So, for today, an election day political piece. A fun thing my son wrote for Scooter magazine, out of NY. And, I'm loving anything out of NYC lately, as I was so recently there; love that vibe, and it's been so in the news lately. My son is still in Shanghai of course, but still very connected to NYC as he lived there for some time, so think he has a good feel for their politics, & this apparently ran well there, knowing how they lean. My own state, WI...is one of the borderline red/blue states which both candidates are vying for. On Moday my son in Milwaukee saw Obama with Katie Perry, who his daughter was eager to see, and yesterday, friends saw Obama in Madison with Bruce Springsteen--wish I'd gone to that myself! (Am sure Romney was somewhere, but I didn't pay attention...) Anyway, it feels good to get press, even though much of it is the 'make fun of the cheeseheads' type.
That's okay. All press is good press, right?
---------------------------------------------------
Explaining Campaign 2012: How To
Talk To Your Kids About Republicans
Because sooner than later, they are going to
form their own opinion
By Abe
Sauer9/20 4:50pm
Julia
Ewan/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Truth is, your kids may be experimenting with it long before you as a
parent are ready to have ”the talk.” Four years ago, maybe the only
thing you associated with “hope” was the hope of three hours of
uninterrupted sleep. “Change” was most commonly followed by “diapers.”
But it’s 2012, and your children are older and dangerously vulnerable:
science has demonstrated that children begin toying with Republicanism
far earlier than previously thought.
Thanks to technology, cable news, and a trend toward increasingly
uninhibited (if not unhinged) political expression, children are
regularly exposed to the kind of extreme views once associated only with
Thanksgiving dinners and ”that uncle.” Fortunately, parents can use a
number of early strategies to ensure their children are politically
balanced and do not fall victim to the simple-minded seduction of the
far right.
Just as Joe Camel once enticed children into tobacco addiction, the
two parties’ cartoon mascots are an early gateway. With its kid-friendly
(if lumbering) elephant, the GOP has the edge over the Democrats’
donkey. Your kids will view Republicans as the party of Babar and Dumbo:
joyous orphans who faced the hardships of life on their own, without
assistance from any central authority.
Meanwhile, the only donkey in most kids’ lives is Eeyore, Winnie the
Pooh’s compatriot who never stops whining about his lot in life. While
Eeyore does exhibit a glum, enjoyable humor, it is of the sort most
associated with adult characters like Woody Allen. And there is only one
child in the world who has ever loved Woody Allen.
To level the playing field, well-known nursery rhymes can be adapted
to deliver basic messaging to inoculate your kids from what they’re sure
to overhear this overheated fall campaign season. Whether it’s the
telltale red rings of scarlet fever or early substandard bridge
construction capabilities of London engineers, children have always
learned well through these simple verses.
Here’s a helpful example: Head, shoulders, knees and toes (Knees and toes!) Head, shoulders, knees and toes (Knees and toes!) And eyes and ears and mouth and nose, Head, shoulder, knee and toe injuries are all now covered by
Obamacare!
Or: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again or pay off his student loan.
Or: Twinkle, twinkle, little star How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high Like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star How I wonder what you are but will never know because the Tea Party
cut funding to NASA.
Of course, some critics will find these rhymes lacking in policy
specifics, much like certain convention speeches. So we’ve prepared a
few talking points to help your little pundit master the hot-button
issues they’re sure to hear about between now and November 6. What is Medicare? When mommies and daddies get very
old, even older than now, they sometimes get sick and need help.
Medicare helps old mommy and daddy stay alive. What is a super PAC? Well, when a very, very rich man
and a candidate love each other very, very much, they touch each other
in a special place called a 501c(4) while gazing deeply into each
other’s eyes because they are forbidden by law to communicate. Not long
after, a big fat independent-expenditure-only committee is born. What are family values? Well, sweetie, that’s a term a
mommy or daddy uses when one of them married the wrong person. If you paid lower taxes, wouldn’t you have more money to spend
on toys? Years of data now prove that the Laffer Curve theory
supported by supply-siders is little more than voodoo economics, with no
measurable impact on workers’ incentive to maximize potential output or
save that can be tied to cuts in marginal tax rates or capital gains.
Also, did you know Ronald Reagan smelled like Bubbe? He did. What is abortion? Hey, who wants some ice cream?!
Above all, adults should be sure to speak to kids about politics in
the same patient, positive and reasonable manner they use when talking
about politics with other adults.
Remember, Republicans are not born. They are made, after being born.
As a parent, you have the power to shut that whole thing down.
Seems I have done a fair amount of
traveling this year; will try to review a few of those trips. In July, we siblings went to my father's birthplace, Algoma, WI on L Michigan...now called the sportfishing capital of the Great Lakes-king salmon, brown trout, walleye and more. Feel like I'd like to do that sometime...it's quite more affordable than sportfishing on Isla.
When I stayed there in summers with my grandparents, I have good memories of the foghorn blasting away, day and night; now, they only use it in bad weather...suppose with all the new technology, boats can maneuver better on their own....but lighthouses on the Great Lakes are charming and each one so individual. This is one of my favorites.
There's a nice boardwalk all along the beachfront, with benches and lovely streetlamps. One is in honor of my grandparents, and I love to go visit it each time I come--keeps me connected...
I see they are trying to keep the beaches clean. They have these plastic beasts set in the sand to scare away the sea gulls, which are a bit too plentiful here. My sister & grandkids were walking the beach at night, and when they first came upon one of these guys, they kind of freaked out. I think their eyes even gleam!
One unexpected occurrence was running into a famous personaltiy--Susan, from Seinfeld (which we all watch in reruns...) Imagine!
She is a singer/ukelele player with the Sukey Jump Band. If you google her under her real name, Heidi Svedberg, you can find fun stuff, a lot relating to her teaching and playing ukele.
I love her persona, and in real life, she is the warmest, friendliest person. What is shocking is her voice, her laugh, mannerisms, etc. were just so familiar to us, and we just could not separate the real person from her character in Seinfeld.
She agreed to pose with us...what a treat.
She was in Door County for much of the summer, I think, as artist in residence, or with the band, performing small gigs.
All in all, a fun vacation, one we take annually to stay in touch with our roots. It occurs to me that my early introduction to spending time near a large body of water led to my wanting to be by the sea.
Who knows...maybe that's why I now have an Isla connection!
And the good thing is... no winter there! While L Michigan doesn't quite freeze over, it's darn cold.
Yes, there still are wild turkeys, out and about, believe it or not.
