Hey World

Hey World (Don't Give Up Version)

tell me why the grass was greener
year ago
I swear it used to grow here
but no more here

tell me why
on this hill
all the birds they used to come to fly here
come to die here

and tell my why i need to know
sometimes i wish i didn't have to know
all you show me

hey world
what you say
should i stick around for another day or two
don't give up on me
i won't give up on you
just believe in me like i believe in

tell me why on the corner
all the kids that used to come to run here
load the guns here
and tell me why
it's okay
to kill in the name of the gods we pray

tell me who said it's okay
to die in the name of the lies we say
tell me why there's child soldiers
tell me why they closed the borders
tell me how to fight disease
and tell me now won't you please

the only thing i want to do
is to be in the arms of someone who believes in me
like i believe in you
i try try try try
i try try try try for you
don't give up on me
and i cry cry cry cry
i cry cry cry cry for you
just believe in me
like i believe in you

Michael Franti And Spearhead

The Meaning Of Existence

Everything except language
knows the meaning of existence.
Trees, planets, rivers, time
know nothing else. They express it
moment by moment as the universe.

Even this fool of a body
lives it in part, and would
have full dignity within it
but for the ignorant freedom
of my talking mind.

Les Murray

Health Care Beware

This past week women's health care has taken a big blow. A panel of Dr's and healthcare professionals are changing the recommendations for mammograms and pap smears. The findings discovered that for women over 40, one life was saved for every 1800 mammograms. For over 50, it was one life for every 1300 mammograms.

CBS news is trying to spin this as not being related to cost, yet these findings come at a time when the government is trying to overhaul healthcare and the rising cost of health insurance.

A comment was made by the Dr. being interviewed regarding reducing the frequency change from one to every two years for both mammograms and pap smears including pap smears... the easier- to- cure breast and cervical cancers are slow growing, so waiting two years won't affect the treatment and survival rate. The opinion continued with the statement that if you have an aggressive cancer you will die from it anyway.

This type of thinking really bothers me. So do we just give up on treating aggressive cancer because it is costly? Because we really don't want to find a cure?

One senior I knew had a stroke, from which he recovered(mostly). Although he never regained his former abilities, he still had quality of life. He then had open heart surgery. He was discovered to have prostrate cancer, but it was decided not to treat him because the docs felt his heart would do him in first. Guess what he died from? Cancer that spread from his prostrate.

(Yes, he was on medicare.)

CBS is still on a health care propaganda roll. Last night on 60 minutes they did a segment about ICU's and prolonging the inevitable. (death) They had one person showing medical bills for her mother which had 24 specialists billing her insurance in her last two months of life- despite the fact that her mother wanted no extraordinary intervention at her life's end. They must have looked long and hard for that case.

They also interviewed a man in his 60's that needed and wanted a liver and lung transplant. The doc was trying to get him to face reality, that he was not going to get the transplants or get better, and asked him if he wanted CPR if he should need it? The man was adamant in replying yes. He said that was better than second place.

At the end of the segment, the interviewer commented that the man's condition had worsened and the family had decided to institute a DNR order=do not resuscitate-and he died.

I know we all end life with death. I understand end of life care can be expensive. But who should decide when we have lived long enough? Or when we need a health screening that could save our life? Why not just say that no one needs a physical until they are 40 because if it picks up anything serious by then it would cost too much to save your life?

If you can't stay healthy until 40 you might as well die because you're just dragging down the gene pool..Is that where health care in a capitalistic society is heading?

Market Square

I had a penny,
A bright new penny,
I took my penny
To the market square.
I wanted a rabbit,
A little brown rabbit,
And I looked for a rabbit
'Most everywhere.

For I went to the stall where they sold sweet lavender
("Only a penny for a bunch of lavender!").
"Have you got a rabbit, 'cos I don't want lavender?"
But they hadn't got a rabbit, not anywhere there.

I had a penny,
And I had another penny,
I took my pennies
To the market square.
I did want a rabbit,
A little baby rabbit,
And I looked for rabbits
'Most everywhere.

And I went to the stall where they sold fresh mackerel
("Now then! Tuppence for a fresh-caught mackerel!").
"Have you got a rabbit, 'cos I don't like mackerel?"
But they hadn't got a rabbit, not anywhere there.

I found a sixpence,
A little white sixpence.
I took it in my hand
To the market square.
I was buying my rabbit
I do like rabbits),
And I looked for my rabbit
'Most everywhere.

So I went to the stall where they sold fine saucepans
("Walk up, walk up, sixpence for a saucepan!").
"Could I have a rabbit, 'cos we've got two saucepans?"
But they hadn't got a rabbit, not anywhere there.

I had nuffin',
No, I hadn't got nuffin',
So I didn't go down
To the market square;
But I walked on the common,
The old-gold common...
And I saw little rabbits
'Most everywhere!

So I'm sorry for the people who sell fine saucepans,
I'm sorry for the people who sell fresh mackerel,
I'm sorry for the people who sell sweet lavender,
'Cos they haven't got a rabbit, not anywhere there!

.A.A.Milne

Star Struck

The Willow and I just came in from an early morning rising to observe the Leonid meteor showers. Willow shouted her first sighting just as we went outside- to the east over the low constellation of Leo.

The frost was thick on the cushions of the papasan chair, so I flipped them over and relocated it to a more central location on the lawn, and threw on some blankets and we huddled down to observe.

We alternated sightings; first Willow, then me, then Willow, then me, until we both finally saw one together.

The dog actually got up and went out with us, and curled up under the blankets keeping our feet warm while we watched. We also spied Saturn and Venus along with the easily identifiable Big Dipper.

We gave up as the sky was lightening, and came in for bagels and hot cocoa for Willow and coffee for me.

A Million Candles

A million candles fill the night,
they glisten in the dark,
and though by day they hide their glow,
now each displays its spark.

Amidst them all, there is one light
that has a special shine,
and that's the one whose name I know...
I think that it knows mine.

Jack Prelutsky

Flying Fish

I HAVE lived in many half-worlds myself … and so I know you.

I leaned at a deck rail watching a monotonous sea, the same circling birds and the same plunge of furrows carved by the plowing keel.

I leaned so … and you fluttered struggling between two waves in the air now … and then under the water and out again … a fish … a bird … a fin thing … a wing thing.

Child of water, child of air, fin thing and wing thing … I have lived in many half worlds myself … and so I know you.

Carl Sandburg

Afternoon and Sunset

Tree111309

Dawn and Afternoon

Tree1109

Shaking it UP

Usually my eye favors landscapes untouched by the hand of man. I have a couple of different offerings today:



"Burning the Blueberries"




"Hauling Rock at 3pm"



Tree1109

Skunk

Wood Mouse has recently blogged about skunks naturalizing in England. Without visas, even.

Here in my backyard I am naturalizing skunks, who are normally not afraid of anything, to be afraid of my voice. I have been accomplishing that with vocal warnings, "what are you doing?" followed by a dousing with a pitcher of icy water.

This has been met with much success and only one spray, which caused us to chuckle and "ewwww" vociferously for a couple of hours. Big skunk and medium skunk now flee at the sound of my voice, running back into the woods or tumbling under the deck.

Last night Peko was sniffing by the back door and I knew before I looked. The dog has joined us in the skunk deterrent operation, choosing to bark furiously in the middle of the night when he hears one on the back deck. I don't let him out after dark so he has not met the business end...yet.

Anyhow, we looked out the window and here was "tiny skunk". He was just too cute to douse, and apparently has not yet been treated to a cold shower- since when I opened the door and asked, "what are you doing?" he just looked at us and continued eating the cat food.

"Awwww"

This pic was about two feet from the camera-the kids wanted to go pet him! I am going to try macro setting on the next skunk pic to see if that helps the blur. I used night setting auto focus with no flash, since the batteries need recharging.

First Accumulating Snow 09-10

Tree1109

Accident Update

I found out that the elderly gentleman who took the fall at the local store received seven stitches in his forehead, but was driving again within a week.

I was happy to hear that he appears to be recovering from his nasty fall.

It Takes a While to Disappear

The city purrs, it hums along, the morning hardly risen.
A well-dressed drunk smears her finger across a doorman’s lips and whispers.
Someone stumbles. Someone curses. Someone hoses down the pavement.
We must have made a mess of things again, all fuzzy black and white
and greenish at the corners. Some final thing
that put us in our places.
You’re still standing in your winter coat alongside
everything you wanted and deserve. But you were thinner. The desk clerk
looked right through you. The cabby didn’t listen. You were
out of sorts back then, you say, but
you’re still frowning!
In vain a shrieking siren repeats itself
and fades. The quiet idles there, a crosswalk signal chirping. You’re still
standing in your winter coat, but I don’t know you. Someone
scrambles down a fire escape, his shirt a flag
that’s shredded. A boy
salutes. And then his mother, too.
She stoops to smooth his collar. She makes a sculpture of her packages.
You’re a different person now, you say, but
you will never happen.

Ralph Angel