Faith and miracles

I struggle with faith, (and is that so hard to believe?) For one thing, much of what I thought I knew is NOT. For example, even regarding grammar, I learned this past summer that a comma is not simply a benign pause, it is now used as a symbol for wasted, destroyed lives.

But before I get into that, just look at what's been turned up-side-down: Spinach salad makes you sick; Cher is eagerly selling all her good stuff; the squandering Democrats have become the fiscal conservatives; sanctimonious hero Mel Gibson has stumbled from grace; a smirking chimpanzee was elected President of these United States of America - twice! And everyone knows what happened to Pluto. It's all too bewildering, unsettling.

And then, this past week another Turn of events - a small miracle - happened. Shame became a Windfall, a good thing, when the (R.)congressman from Florida was found to have behaved inappropriately (however and presumably, no one child seems to have been harmed permanenty), and, sucked down down down into the maelstrom was his very protector, the (R.) Speaker of the House! (This doesn't necessarily make sense, but it's happening.)

Lest I be accused of feeling too much glee over this, remember how the Republicans have endlessly hailed their moral superiority - by redefining all morality, and therefore all shame, as sexual (which allows for the hideously immoral Murder for Profit Iraq War). And it bought them votes.

Should this Disgustion (I just made that word up) become the means by which balance is restored in our government, then YIIII HAA!! Maybe more of them votes will go Democratic in November.

Back to that comma: Never forget that Bush tried to evaporate the painful significance of all the death his regime has caused: "I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is -- my point is, there's a strong will for democracy." I don't think I have faith in Democracy anymore, now that I know what it really means.

Forget faith, I even struggle to stay gentle.

PS. The spinach seeds are taking their time.

Grow your own

Since spinach salad is my favorite, and E. coli O157:H7 (which happily lives in the intestines of healthy bovines) is apparently in the water irrigating the spinach fields (needs confirmation), and there is no fix in sight, I just planted my own this morning. Spinach seeds, that is. I'll need to plant successive crops every week or two.

I tried this several months ago and my efforts were thwarted by someone who carefully pulled up every tiny sprout. "Weeds, weren't they?" Had he not done this, I could be adding feta, olive oil, cranberries and slivered almonds to my delicious little leaves right now instead of sitting here typing.

Many people need not avoid bagged spinach, can eat it safely - those with a philosophical or religious disbelief in the process of mutation. I say this because I just read: "In addition, coli and related bacteria possess the ability to transfer DNA via bacterial conjugation, which allows a new mutation to spread through an existing population. It is believed that this process led to the spread of toxin synthesis from Shigella to E.coli O157:H7." (Thank you Wikipedia.) No mutation = no E.coli O157:H7 = no illness.

Grow your food, grow your own flowers. See the second generation of zinnias - these came up by themselves from plants I'd grown from seed last year. This was made possible by my lack of garden tidiness - I didn't deadhead them after they had finished blooming. Ditto the Queen Anne's Lace. Oops.

Seeds. I have read that the seed producers are increasingly bio-engineering plants to produce sterile varieties. (Needs confirmation.) In other words, the old tradition, "Save a third of your crop for the seed for next year's planting." wouldn't work. Endangering the world's food supply for profit is somewhat immoral so I hope this is only a rumor. (Somehow though, the above second-generation zinnias don't include some special lime green ones that I planted from Martha Stewart's seeds last year. Probably sterile so I'd have to buy new every year. That Martha...)

Day Fire: Thanks to the heavy duty fire bravery of many - the danger to residences seems to be over. Sunday afternoon at a familial gathering of folks who reside in The Oaks, the giant DC10 flew lowly and loudly over us on its way toward TopaTopa. A wonder - and many wondered Why couldn't it have been used sooner?

(And do we want to know what the effect on the environment is of that red flame retardant? Would we have preferred that Lake Pyramid water be dropped on the fire early on? And/or is it better for the environment to allow for those plant species which are propogated by heat? And/or can we afford to let a fire grow until we're desperately, finally having to throw $35 million at it? And/or couldn't we be told if the plan was to "let it burn" so that we could understand that our horses would need to be moved in plenty of time? ) So many questions. But I am thankful that there are people willing to fight it.

Andele!

It's all about the Friends

Ahh. Friends. Becky and John drove to Heather's wedding with fire fighting clothes thrown into the backseat, just in case I called for help. Sandi called and offered to let me wake her up at 3:00 AM if I needed help. Where could you find better friends than that?

In fact, one of Becky's beautifully phrased observations about friendship is this: "Friends are able to find kinship in each other among all the chaos that surrounds us in a sometimes hostile world." Yes. (And then she adds, "[Friends are] unlike family (the ties that bind and gag) who are thrown together at Thanksgiving and in front of Grandma." And thank God for that!

But yesterday while licking my feel-stupid-for-not-going-to-the-wedding wounds(since my home Rome wasn't even burning), I got a call from an old friend who said, "Uh. Hey. The Huggins have to evacuate (from Upper Ojai) so I'm heading up there now to help. They'll probably stay at my house tonight so would you do me a Big favor and go to my house and clear all the laundry off the guest bed. And clean up the bathroom and uh, sort of pick up?"

Bachelors. Actually, his house was tidier than mine except for some used dental floss on an end table. I hope he wasn't saving it.

A working man from Ojai Post sent me a link last night to a satellite / thermal something something site wherein I can now "see" heat locations (the fire) and relax. (And I wanted to thank him but couldn't somehow.) Now if someone could make it possible for the fire to revitalize the flora while leaving the fauna and pockets of civilization alone - we'd all relax.

The fresh fire picture above was stolen from space. I hope I don't go to blogger jail for using it - whoever took it would get credit if only I knew who it was.

Wedding, no, Fire Day

I am bummed. Seriously bummed. Watching the east wind blow and knowing the growing Day fire could be as little as six hours away (or not, depending on the direction/ferocity of the wind) I did some good Smokey Bear preparations. Get the dry stuff away from the house, put water on some of the orchard closer to the house. Think through what I'd grab. We've fought it three times in ? 25 years on this little slice of mountain. No fire personnel ever helped (in fact they let our water pump house and water lines burn one year - we had nothing but rakes and shovels. But I digress...)

I was doing this wind watching and cleaning out cobwebs but I was Supposed to be getting decked out for the afternoon wedding of knitting friends Heather and Dave. Finally torn TORN! between a party and being responsible, going to the party won and I threw on my good clothes, made up with my face and hair, kissed the Meli dog goodbye, and headed west down the road for the wedding. Lateish, but Going! Yea!

Sadly I didn't even get a mile down the road when I pass, pulled over along the side , three big fire engines. They were sitting there at the ready, firemen knowing (I believed) something about a fire possibly in my back yard - at least coming this way. It was a clear sign that I needed to turn my car around and go home to my dog. Off went the green and black silk top from Tienda Ho, and back on with the levis. Really bummed. Then the wind shifted and the threat lessened. (I am happy about that, but of course I could have been partying...)

Capricious, these brush fires. It is troubling for that.

Launching a blog - or is it Lunching?

This is a pre-knowledge attempt at a new diversion. Like I have Time to start a new game when I haven't returned 6 phone calls nor have I knitted all the projects promised..... Vamos a ver.