The Burrow

Apparently, Liz Cheney is putting her money where her mouth is.  Her PAC is dumping oodles of dollars into tv and radio ads in Arizona, urging voters to avoid casting a ballot for the Republican candidate for Governor, Kari Lake.   I don't believe I have ever voted for a Democrat, but if I lived in Arizona I am certain that I would this year.   Kari Lake has thanked her for her "anti-endorsement", claiming to have raised $300,000 since the ads began. Ms Lake is a former tv news anchor whose claim to fame seems to be that she can read from a teleprompter.  She and TFG have an unabashed love affair.  She's wildly enthusiastic about her plans - solving our water crisis by building a pipeline from the Mississippi, sending the National Guard to the border to stop the wave of immigrants who are bringing fentynal in to poison our young, and approving of the armed drop box watchers to secure the vote. Let's see.......  The Mississippi has gotten so low that shipwre...

Thanks to JannyLou for noticing that there was no post today.  Yes,  dear friend,  I am healthy,  sane,  and feeling fine.... if somewhat forgetful. As she said in her followup message,  we are having too much fun.  We spent yesterday listening to her colleagues compliment our daughter.  She is,  as they noted,  a wonderful human being who is capable of turning chaos into a fully functioning,  well organized,  smoothly humming machine.   It was lovely seeing that her Oh, Mom attitude regarding my messy desk,  my impossible closet,  my overreaction to a seemingly impossible situation is as effective in the workplace as it is in the family. Without judgement,  without snark, without blame, she sees through the mess to the solution. Even better,  she is able to translate that into actions which empower and enlighten and delights those who thought there was no hope.  Her boss said that he was ...

Do I want to type about the progressive wing of the Democratic Party urging Joe Biden to negotiate with Darth Putin?  Joe Biden, who has more foreign policy experience than all the members of that coalition put together, ought to sit at the table with Vlad the Invader?  What should he say, when it's not his country that is being bombed to smithereens?   Do I want to type about Kari Lake, our MAGA Republican candidate for governor?  She vacuumed the carpet before tfg (the former guy.... although I can come up with a lot more descriptive terms using those letters) stepped onto the stage in Arizona.  There are lots of places to take that, but do I want to go there? Do I want to type about drivers who cannot negotiate a left turn in the rain?  In Arizona, I blame all traffic disruptions on snow birds and the elderly.  Here in Indiana, it's young women who seem to think that turning on the windshield wipers immediately puts a damper on the gas pedal.  ...

We walked in through a side door and were confronted with this: A fellow behind us heard me wonder what and why and kindly volunteered that is where they store the host.   I couldn't get close enough to show all the detail; believe me when I say that it is stunning.  The whole thing became more impressive the further in we walked. TBG asked for a photo of the light fixtures.  His face was swathed in happy memories as he told me that  those are the same fixtures that were in Trinity Cathedral, the Episcopal place of worship in Cleveland when I met his family.   The stained glass windows were bright and the University obviously ordered up a sunny afternoon so that we could be awed.  It worked. The architecture was matched by the paintings.   But it was the organ that impressed us the most. The short program was called Thunder from the Sky.  It was an appropriate moniker.  There was an audible intake of breath with the first note.    

It was the last day of Fall Break for the students.  Only the band and the football team remained on campus, practicing without the distraction of others.  The results were marvelous - the team won and the band played on... and on... and on. Football Friday included an organ concert in the Basilica (come back tomorrow for photos) and a preliminary band performance in front of the Main Building.  We were up close and personal for the whole thing. First, there was a percussion extravaganza. FlapJilly and I wormed our way through the crowd (I'm old and she's cute... it was a no brainer) and watched the drummers play the cymbals with their drumsticks, watched the xylophones tinkle, and clapped with great enthusiasm when they finished. The band began to form into a line after that.  All the instrument groups were color coordinated. The percussionists were in white, with made up names above made up numbers.   There was t...

Hello! FlapJilly here! I have my grandparents here.  We are about to go to breakfast and have Fun!! We'll go to the mall and get books and mostly have FUN! We are going to Notre Dame to see a parade and music before the football game tomorrow. FlapJilly out.

At first, it was just the two of us.  We worked hard on figuring out how to open the packets of paint; Miss M had more success than I did.   We squirted two colors on the plate and swished it around with the piece of the tree she would  When it was just the two of us, she could use as many plates as she wanted. Once the other scholars joined us, it was every man for himself. There were those who took a more tactile approach to the process. There was sharing and much smiling as we used pieces of our soon to be gone tree to say goodbye. I didn't know what these two were doing with their dotting. Turns out, they were making leaves on the tree they drew.  That also explained why there were so many questions about what to mix to achieve the perfect brown - tree trunks. In the end, we had three long messages of love.  The littlest painters used their whole hands to smear the paint around (and were quite upset when they realized just how dirty their palms were). T...