Another Milestone!

Tom the Turkey is getting to be a big boy. Although he does not turn 3 months old until later this week, he is already wearing 6 months- sized clothes. Additionally, he rolled over for the first time today! He's a happy little monster man who is making progress towards sleeping-through-the-night, much to his parents' delight. Thomas would like to say hello to his second cousins Rebekah and Nick! Maybe someday they can come together in a sandbox somewhere.

It's come to this

While it was good to have the "rock on" support of many of you, this blogger has a serious case of writer's block. Constipation of the brain. Whatever you want to call it. But it's more serious than that. It's not like all kinds of things are roiling around in my head, begging for a chance to be expressed. It's that almost nothing is going on inside my head.

It's partly because I'm back on my meds and I've increased them. Kind of kills any creativity that might be there.

It's also that blah time of year, rainy and chilly and gray as a tombstone.

So this is a post to say there's nothing new to tell.

How's that for a conversation stopper?

Time to move on?

While Loie is somewhere in Texas today, heading for the border, I'm planted in my chair, musing about the future of our meeting place here on Ajax Rock.

She and I have wondered if it's not time to pack up and move on, close up shop and think of another way to keep in touch.

Maybe this little blogspot has done its job. Maybe it hasn't. But we're hoping that if you ever stop to visit here -- or if you have taken the time to share your point of view or your thoughts -- you'll let us know what you think.

We could start another blog, maybe one that's more inclusive. Or we could go back to e-mailing each other individually. Or not. As long as technology pervades our lives, though, we may as well figure out how to use it to keep connected, not to the larger world, necessarily, but to the people and places that have given us our identity, our security, our sense of belonging.

To rock or not to rock: That is the question.

Peck and the beanstalk

One thing our dad had in abundance was curiosity. Even into his ninth decade, he kept some of his boyish playfulness.

Take this tree at the edge of the road in front of their house. When it got to be about nine feet tall, Mom wanted him to prune it so it didn't look like a beanpole. He, as usual, resisted, insisting that he just wanted to see what it would do if it were left alone. He wanted to see how tall it would get, whether it would fall over in a storm, or if it would one day reach the sky.

I thought of it as Peck's beanstalk and wondered if it was magic.

When he died last October, it was Rita who took a piece of his beloved tree and tucked it into his casket. The tree, after all, spoke volumes about our dad. While our momma cared a lot about what the neighbors would think, Dad just plain didn't give a rip. He thought his tree looked grand, and, you know, when I'd visit the house and look ahead for the place I'd make my turn into the driveway, that tree became my marker.

Rita and Don took this picture when the leaves turned this fall, and I have to think that Dad would be quite proud of his beanstalk. Looks to me like it's going to reach the sky after all.

Meet the boys...

Well, I'm hitching the wagon tomorrow morning for my journey to the Yucatan. Remind me to carry cold Cokes for these boys who will stop me periodically to check to see if I'm carrying drugs. I am, of course, but not the ones they are looking for, I assume. It's pretty hot wearing those clothes and standing all day in 95º heat. They appreciate cold Cokes. No problema. Cokes for them, no problemas for me.

Another little bud on the family tree

Meet baby Rebeka Ann Kovaleski, the newest little twig on our tree. She's lucky to have Rita for her grandma, and though it may be a long time before I meet her, I'm her great-auntie.

That's her mama, Regi, with her. Regi is married to my oldest nephew Don, and they live in Tennessee. Gee, I can remember when Don was born. I was so excited to become an aunt in the sixth grade, and now he's a daddy to three girls.

Rita is just about the best grandma in the whole wide world, and she'll get to hold this little chubby-cheeked bundle at Thanksgiving. That's a lot to be thankful for, isn't it?

Nicky, Thomas and Rebeka: three little second cousins, separated by many, many miles, just like the first cousins are. Yep, we've scattered our seeds far and wide in this family, for better or for worse.

Welcome to the big family, little girl.

A picture worth thousands of words

It has been a long time coming, but today millions of people are walking with their heads a little higher, with a little bounce in their steps, with a lot more pride and the assurance that what's always been just out of reach is now possible.

I know that there are many, many people who are disappointed, angry, even afraid. For them, embracing change is like drinking the Kool-Aid. I haven't forgotten what it feels like to be on the losing side. But I do believe we want to be better than we are. That we need to look for the best in each other. That only in looking will we find it. That every single one of us is called to work for a better future for our planet and every living thing on it.

I hope for healing. I pray for reconciliation. I cannot get Gandhi's words out of my mind: An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Let's set an example for the world and put down our weapons, pick up our tools and get to work for the greater good.

A new day dawns...!

A new day is dawning in this country!! Let's all roll up our sleeves and go to work with him to make it better for all of us!!!

Hallelujah!! There IS a Santa Claus!!!

All I can do at this point!

Johnny and gang are probably out there at the 4-way stop with their huge sign, yelling and cheering, and Ms. Moon wrote a wonderful entry in her Bless Our Hearts blog, but I'm just sitting here frozen, sign in my yard, with my fingers crossed and jumping out of my skin...how about the rest of you?

Man of the Hour

I'm standing on my Ajax Rock today, looking backwards and forwards.

There have been a few times in our history when certain men have been called as president because the set of circumstances and times called for their special talents. I think of FDR who told the country, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." If ever a people needed to hear those words, it was the desperate people living through the Great Depression. Having FDR at the helm lifted them up and gave them hope, and the country was able to move forward. When FDR signed the GI Bill in 1944, he basically created the foundation for a middle-class in this country. The GI Bill was a genuine attempt to thwart a looming social and economic crisis. Yes, Franklin D. Roosevelt was indeed a Man of the Hour for America.

Then when I was 14 years old, I recognized another Man of the Hour in John F. Kennedy. All that talk about the pope taking over the country I knew, even at that young age, was not what it was about. Within the next few years, the social unrest of the 60's became quite serious with a long-dragged out war which was killing and maiming too many people, a civil rights movement which was long overdue, and the threat of nuclear war hanging over our heads. As a teenager, this was very scary and I  felt quite powerless. But I recognized in JFK another Man of the Hour, a man equipped to deal with problems in a rational, intelligent way rather than an egotistical or hot-headed way, and who would not stick his head in the sand. Yeah. A president smarter than most of us!  

And this year, after 8 years of the disaster this country and government have become (and I never used to equate the two), Barack Obama is our Man of the Hour. We really do need serious CHANGE in Washington and Obama, like Kennedy, is smarter than most of us. I know many people don't like and even fear change, preferring the pile of warm crap they're already sitting in, but I believe most of this country knows that once again, we don't need or want someone who's worked his way to president via the Peter Principle. When a Man of the Hour shows up, the people recognize him, and this Tuesday, they will elect Barack Obama as our Man of the Hour in this new millenium.

And for an excellent read, check this out: Give him the @#!% ball

P.S. Those of you who read this entry and don't agree are reminded that this entry is MINE and I get to speak my mind on my own blog. I've suffered 8 long years with your guy, and this really matters to me. I am not in the mood for spamming or trashing me or my candidate so just move on and find your own rock on which to express your opinion and don't crash my party. ≈