Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Thanksgiving In Texas-
No, I'm not going to Texas for Thanksgiving, although my sister who lives there is coming here.
No, this entry is about The President and his family heading off to the ranch for the Holidays and the reception the protestors got when they followed.
I've been of the mind that the current administration is a bit out of touch with the Public. It was something I saw in Papa Bush as well, but at least he had the excuse that he was out of the country for so much of his political career. (being an Ambassador) No, The current president has gone to great lengths NOT to encounter the general public. His public speeches are either from Military bases or closed Republican party fund raising events. There are no protestors allowed anywhere near the locations or on the way TO the locations. Sure, you can protest, but you must do it over here, out of sight of the President.
Which brings me to the current issue with the road to the ranch. No protestors are allowed there now, so they don't have any publicity like this summer and the President doesn't have to see it.
Some may argue that the ranch is his private residence and he should be allowed that. But, I don't recall a president ever using a private home to conduct so much Public policy before. Seems to me, that's why we pay to have Camp David. That's where sitting Presidents go to relax and get away from Washington DC. They even have informal meetings with others there. And all of it is public record..... OH! Could this be why President Bush conducts HIS business at his own Private residence? How much of what is discussed at the Ranch becomes Public record?
In any event, if a President chooses to conduct the Country's business from his home, then I believe he gives up some of his Privacy there. If he's going to spend weeks and weeks there, then if you want to speak to the President, if you want to get his attention, if you have something you feel he strongly needs to know, then you must go where he is. What is the purpose of protesting HIS war in Washington DC if he's not there?
incidentally, I have written to the President, but got no reply. I've added my name to a form letter and sent it to my Congressman, and I got the reply that he does not respond to form letters from people other than those he serves. I wrote back that he IS my congressman and He DOES serve me. I received no mail back from that letter. Of course, when I say "letter" I'm meaning email. Apparently, Republicans don't read email. I guess they think it's not real mail, so it doesn't count. I did get a reply from a democratic congressman once. Of course, all it said was the issue was a complex one and then went on to try to tell me why it was so complex. I'll give them an "a" for effort, but I was a little pissed off that they wrote so condencendingly to me. I've got an IQ of around 140, so I understand what the issues are. Hey, I'm not saying it was easy, but I was saying what was the right thing to do. (according to me- but it was my letter)
Ironically, things have changed on that issue and have moved in the direction I thought they should be heading in, so maybe I'm not so stupid afterall.
I am tired of red and blue states. I'm tired of public officials NOT listening to the people they serve. I am tired of people in office doing what they wish and the people we never elect being in power. I'm tired of grand Juries spending too long to investigate and I'm tired of presidential Pardons that clear wrongdoers of all charges before we really know what they did wrong. I'm tired of it always being about who you know and not what's best for the people of the country. I'm just tired.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Fall craft Show report-
Our small town seems to struggle with getting community events off the ground. I believe the only things that have worked well have been the 4th of July fireworks and the Christmas lights and parade. I don't understand why this is so.
A case in point was this new fine craft and fine art show. I know the person who organized it and I know she did everything she possibly could to get the news out that the show existed. I know it was in the papers and on the radio. I know she had visions of so many people attending with children that she offered me a free space to sell in exchange for having story hour to entertain the kids while their parents shopped. We had 5 kids all weekend in there. (and we did offer to read stories to all of them) I know she contacted the local schools to have kids in caroling, but none of the schools wanted to participate.
In the end, we had very few people who even came to the show, let alone buy anything.
The vendors spent most of their time talking to each other and sometimes buying from each other as well.
I always find the mix at these shows to be interesting. There are those who are dedicated craftspeople who do several shows. They have lovely displays well thought out, a system of set up and tear down that's a marvel to see, and they expect sales.
Then there's someone like me. I might do one show a year and it's a local show, so I don't have a professional approach to any of it. I truly enjoyed meeting everyone there and getting the chance to chat with them. We all talked about how to try to break out and become well-known and shared tactics we've tried. One crafter did a White house ornament and even was part of the gifts for the oscar nominees, but beyond some nice press, it didn't result in sales increases.
My attempts haven't either... Yet.
So, for this show, I had a good idea how it would go and I decided it would be much better to try to use this as a way to get some future business by showing them the possibilities of personalizing a few items I make. I did sell a few small items and then I sold a quilt to someone who was visiting from Memphis. Wow! That made my weekend.
I feel like I enjoyed the fellowship of some new and old friends this weekend and that was very much worth the time spent.

Saturday, November 12, 2005


Photo shoot with 4-H
Today, The 4-H club was holding a bake sale/craft sale. Originally, I think all the funds were to go to helping with supplies for the pets rescued from Hurricane Katrina and being cared for by a humane society not far from here. Since the idea for 4-H is for the members to make as many decisions as possible, the final say so of the money raised will be by the kids. We had a great turnout of members and had a good sale as well.
I took my sub group of photographers out on our first photo shoot. We were in search of Fall colors but Fall really hit here last week, so we were photographing the stragglers. It was a rainy day. I had told them that we'd go on shoots, no matter what weather, because beautiful photos can be found in all lighting situations. Today was perfect for beautiful close-up portraits. Which I'd love to show you, but not sure I can since they weren't my kids. Instead, I'll show you this cabin. I had seen it as I drove by in the late Fall and winter. When the trees are leafed out, it's hidden from view.
So, we decided to see if we could find it today. It's a wonderful cabin but it looks new. It's made authentically, with logs and chinking, split wood shingles, etc.. But there's a new lock on the door. (Which is puzzling because there's also just a wide open space for a window. ) Inside, there was a bed and I'm not sure what all, because it was so dark. Outside, there were lovely, rustic chairs.
This seemed like a prize for me, because I had driven past it so often and wanted to find my way there, and today was the day. It was a good day and I'm looking forward to seeing what they captured. I plan on showing my successes and failures at our next meeting. We'll learn from that discussion and go out on another photo trip.

Friday, November 04, 2005



More fall photos-


Fall Inspiration-
Today as I was driving to the Dr. Appointment with Delaney, I saw that Fall had finally HIT here and the world was ablaze with color. I hurried home and grabbed my camera. I took Maura with me while we explored the lake front. The lake is very low and these rocks, typically are under or very close to underwater most of the time. We were thrilled to be able to explore them today. Maura is a rock lover and so, while I wandered through the nearby woods, she remained there, finding smaller treasures to bring home.
I went on to find some lovely treasures of my own. Beautiful leaves in several shades. I even saw some wild grasses that had turned silvery brown with purple highlights. Other than catching the season at it's peak when I can, I don't see I'll be using these pictures for inspiration for my next quilting project. But, maybe another one.