Bad Things Happen to Good People, or, Why I Love Girly Shit

Day 3 and I'm feeling so much better about my poor battered face. I applied my usual liquid make-up, Neutrogena Oil-Free in Toasted Honey #100. It covers the bruises somewhat--enough that I'm not so self-conscious. And that's a good thing. (oh please, don't let me channel Martha....) I've been hearing from people whom I've told, and we are ALL having a good laugh about it. But it does make me wonder about the accidents I've had in the last few years. Ack, just since we moved here last fall I've burned my forehead on the fireplace hood (there's a scar) and now this. Geez, wrap me in cotton batting before anything else happens! Swaddle me for safety's sake and never let me roam about the house again!

Could it be aging? Could it be something else? Could it be just blind dump luck? A friend of mine has already told me it is NOT cosmic payback for all the wonderful ways in which my life is working so well. Are you one of those people who tell yourself that bad things MUST follow good? I have discovered that many people have that mind set. I did and I didn't even know it. I catch myself now and turn it around; bad stuff happens. End of story.

And I love that I now embrace my cosmetics -- nothing heavy, just enough to keep me looking perky and healthy. Oh, and lets not forget about the facials at the spa. Love love love them. These are some reasons I love the girly shit.

VIEWER ADVISORY: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

It was a scene from a bad t.v. commercial. You know the one, "I've fallen and I can't get up!"

Awakened from a sound sleep by an urgent need to be sick, i made a blind mad dash for the bathroom, only to be felled by that damned, slightly ajar, bathroom door. My mate heard the blow, then the thump of my sickly bulk hitting the wood floor. I was not awake for that part. I woke up in a pool of nose blood with my love asking silly questions like, 'do you know what date it is?' "The bloody queen of england!" I replied. She called 911 and off I went in an ambulance escorted by some very hunky men asking me simiar siily questions.

SCENE OF ACCIDENT (REINACTED)

See that damned door on the right? We should take that sick, homocidal door off its hinges. Burn it on the scrap heap of all things dark and ugly. The motherf*%#*!@ broke my nose, and most likely the all-important middle finger. I'm sore from head to toe, discovering just this morning a 'new' wound on the top of my head. My teeth hurt and it is by the grace of gawd that none were knocked out. No xrays, and i don't know why, 'cept maybe the two stabbing victims who needed some attention and apparently a helicopter ride to a trauma center. Always something @ the ER.

This is not at all what a woman approaching fifty should have to endure.


I received a condolence call from Robin Andrea; she made many hilarious puns and jokes at my expense, but of course she has yet to see the terrible photos. I look like Nicole Brown Simpson after an early run-in with The Juice. Happy now, Robin?



She had the nerve to recommend I titled this post, "Why I Should Wear Depends To Bed."

Marlene

cold stone on my heart
a long road ahead my friend
the world without you

Basho

The Rose of Sharon
at the side of the road
was eaten by my horse.

Such is life. The beautiful blooms get devoured. The horse must eat. It bears no ill will towards the flower, indeed it loves the flower. It's just the nature of life, of being on this earth in this body.

I lost a friend to breast cancer last week. Another example that life just aint fair, and sometimes makes no sense whatsoever. The good die painfully while the evil ones flourish and make life miserable for many. Some cosmic joke, eh? As my sweet N. says, while stirring a pot of fragrant chili con carne, '...without the pain you wouldn't appreciate the good stuff.' I do appreciate the good stuff.

Her memorial service is next week; I'll say my good-byes and see her family whom I've not seen in many years. I'll see the children I've heard about but not met, meet again the children who are now young adults, the characters I've heard about in family lore. I'll see life going on all around me, life that was sparked by this woman, by the friends she made and the children she raised and the grandchildren she loved. Her only regret about dying: not seeing her grandchildren grow into adults. Otherwise, she felt complete about her life. A good way to go, all in all.

I am reminded to cultivate my flowers, appreciate their beauty, and expect their dissappearance from my sight. "Non-attachment, " as the Buddhists would say. I'll work on it.

Transcendent Poetry

I found a lovely new blog via the newdharmabums. Our hostess, our poet, shared a Mary Oliver poem. Gosh I love that poet. Have for quite a few years. I thought I'd share my favorite of hers:

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert repenting,
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile, the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild gees high in the clean bue air
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
The world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

I'm so glad I found "Find Me a Bluebird." What a brave and beautiful effort.

Trees

Laura's lovely post on a weeping willow reminded me of some unusual trees in my neck of the woods: the Circus Trees. It's an interesting story, and I remember when these trees were in danger of dying of neglect. They were rescued by a newly made amusement park about an hour due east of the Santa Cruz Mountains. They dug up the trees and trucked them over the winding roads to their new theme park.

The Santa Cruz Mountains are known for a lot of weird stuff: The Mystery Spot, home of Daniel (Three-fingered Jack) McCall -- first native Californian involved in a train robbery and the site of many a murder both historic and contemporary. Seriel killers Edmund Kemper and Herbert Mullen buried innocents in these hills.

For the past 20 years, the mountains have been making a name in winemaking, and are now legally declared an American Viticultural Area. I've explored many of these wineries. It's like a trip to the northern Napa Valley 25 years ago when the winemakers still poured at the tastings.

Of course, locals will always remember the great earth quake in 1989 as the Loma Prieta quake, since the epicenter was near this highest of peaks in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It wasn't the "San Francisco" quake, though affect SF, it did. It affected Oakland in the east bay even more.

One of the more lovely things to do in our Redwood studded mountains is to ride the train from Roaring Camp down through the lush and dark green forest all the way to the sea with it's harsh bright glitter on an impossibly blue bay; giddy teenagers playing volleyball on the sand while the screams from the Giant Dipper pierce the blustery summer afternoon. After a short stop here, the train heads slowly back up the mountain, past neighborhoods of Victorian houses in all states of being: restored and brilliantly painted, those painted ladies as well as neglected and fallling down with weedy yards and drawn curtains.

But back to the trees, here's what John Muir said once upon a time, and I think Laura will appreciate it:

"We all travel the Milky Way together, trees and men...trees are travelers, in the ordinary sense. They make journeys, not very extensive ones, it is true; but our own little comings and goings are only little more than tree-wavings--many of them not so much."

Those Circus Trees traveled a lot further than most.

Earth Day

Yep, Earth Day is coming up this Sunday. And as always, Mark Morford has some wonderful words to say about our efforts to save the planet. He's right, you know, that until corporations and govt. get their big giant polluting butts in line, our individual efforts could be very discouraging. Or not. Depends on how you look at. I believe that each individual change eventually affects the whole. So keep doing what you're doing for recycling, keep that compost pile going, drive cleaner cars, try and live a little more lightly on the earth. The more we purchase eco-friendly products, the more they will be made available to consumers at reasonable prices.

Toyota has stopped giving tax credits to those who buy Prius. I made it in under the deadline last June. I love, love, love this car. If I could pick it up, kiss it and twirl it slow motion through the air, I would. It doesn't get 60 mpg as advertised, but it does get 48 in the city, and that's a huge improvement over the 21 mpg I was getting before. And I feel less guilty about polluting the air. Nearly zero emissions. It drives so nicely...though it does hang low and the missus and I have scraped the front bumper underneath going in and out of driveways. But anyway, my point is this: Toyota no longer needs to provide tax credit incentives to get people to buy this expensive automobile. They put a product out there that people wanted to buy -- and we did.

If you haven't yet linked to Morford's column, GO. Now.

Peace.

How gorgeous is this young lady? She's a good friend of my older daughter, an acting student, who needed 'head shots' for her portfolio. She's young and in school = no money so I did the heat shots gratis. Also, because it's been a long time since I did portraits, and I wasn't sure how they'd come out. Well, there are so many that came out so well -- I mean, she's photogenic as all get out. Now I have some great shots for my portfolio as well. I told her to send all her theater friends my way and I'd do their head shots for half of what the going rate is.

This one is my favorite. I had so much fun working with her, and my daughter was a fantastic 'assistant' for me; suggesting shots and fetching equipment for me. A very fun afternoon, and this gal is so pleased with the product. Then we went out and ate sushi in the neighborhood sushi hang out. What a great afternoon.

Left Coast Radicals at it Again

(04-11) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- The latest attempt by a Bay Area state lawmaker to legalize same-sex marriage cleared a legislative committee Tuesday, but the fate of the bill remains in doubt with the governor likely to veto the measure.
The legislation, AB43, is about a civil rights issue that has been ignored far too long, said Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.
"The time has come for California to honor its commitment to afford the right of equality for all residents," he told the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
But opponents of the bill argued the state Legislature has no business redefining marriage especially after voters in 2000 approved a ballot initiative to reinforce the notion that marriage is an institution between a man and a woman.
The Assembly Judiciary Committee sided with Leno, voting along party lines with seven Democrats voting "yes," while three Republicans voted "no."
The bill will now be heard by the Appropriations Committee, which is chaired by Leno.
But the biggest hurdle to overcome will probably be Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vetoed an identical measure last year saying voters had already spoken with their approval of Proposition 22 in 2000.
Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, said Tuesday that the governor has not taken a position on AB43, but noted "he has said in the past that he would fulfill the wishes of California voters who have spoken on this issue, and they were not in favor of it."
Leno argued that, unlike previous years, there is growing support for legalizing same-sex marriage, both in the Legislature and the public.
So far, 41 lawmakers in both houses have signed on as co-authors and recent polls indicate more Californians are open to the issue than ever before, Leno said.
But the bill's opponents -- largely representing conservative and religious groups -- argued again that most Californians don't want to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. The critics of the bill also said the state Constitution bars the Legislature from overturning laws enacted by voters, such as Prop. 22. However, Leno argued that while Prop. 22 deals only with recognizing marriages performed outside California, his bill deals with marriages performed in the state and thus would not be in conflict with the 2000 ballot initiative that the voters approved.
Karen England, executive director of the conservative Capitol Resource Institute, said she was disheartened by the committee's vote.
"I'm thoroughly disappointed that the Bay Area is trying to take its views on marriage and force it down on the rest of California," she said.

and in Washington State....




Partnership Bill Passes in Wash. State
By RACHEL LA CORTE, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

(04-11) 02:46 PDT Olympia, Wash. (AP) --
Nearly a year after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage, the state Legislature passed a measure to give gay and lesbian couples some of the rights that come with marriage.
The measure passed 65-35 on Tuesday. The state Senate approved the bill last month, and it now heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it into law.
"It is an important step, I believe, for turning back the horrendous law that this Legislature passed in 1998, to deny gay and lesbian families the right to marry," said state Sen. Ed Murray, who is one of five openly gay lawmakers in the Legislature.
That 1998 law, the Defense of Marriage Act, restricts marriage to unions between a man and a woman. A divided state Supreme Court upheld that law last July in a 5-4 decision, overruling two lower courts, which had found the same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.
The domestic partnership bill would create a domestic partnership registry with the state, and would provide enhanced rights for same-sex couples, including hospital visitation rights, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations and inheritance rights when there is no will.
To be registered, couples would have to share a home, not be married or in a domestic relationship with someone else, and be at least 18.
Unmarried, heterosexual senior couples would also be eligible for domestic partnerships if one partner were at least 62. Lawmakers said that provision was included to help seniors who are at risk of losing pension rights and Social Security benefits if they remarry.
Opponents argued it was a "marriage light" bill that would dilute traditional marriage.
"We are chipping away at the very foundations of this institution and of society," said Republican state Rep. Bill Hinkle. "This is taking us down a road we do not need to go."
In December, New Jersey adopted civil unions for same-sex couples, joining Connecticut and Vermont. Massachusetts allows gay couples to marry, while California has domestic partnerships that bring full marriage rights. Hawaii has a reciprocal benefits law that gives same-sex partners some rights, in areas of insurance, property, pension and hospital visitation.

The Tomb is Empty

I saw above message on the sign of a church today. I was driving by, on my way to the garden store to celebrate my kind of Easter -- the buying and planting of roses, lobelia, sage and impatients.
My family was not a church going bunch -- my parents avowed agnostics. We celebrated the bunny and the eggs and treats. And the sweet little dresses mom put us in each season - complete with white patent leather shoes. My logo photo was taken on Easter in 1960 when I was almost 3. I know because I remember that Easter dress.
N. and I filled plastic eggs with candy, coin, and even socks for R. this morning. She's 12 and has been wise to the whole bunny fantasy for years, but she wanted to be indulged one last time. N. hid the eggs late Sat. night, in very obvious places around the living and dining rooms. I woke up first - we live across the street from a prime surfing beach and the surfers were out in droves this morning and feeling quite festive and loud in their exuberance that HE had risen. Though it could have been the killer sets on the bay. I padded out in my jammies to fetch the sunday paper and greeted a dog and his master who were making my cat puff up and get all territorial. We all laughed about it. Well, the humans laughed. The animals made their feelings quite known to each other.

Just an all-American family we are: Easter breakfast after the egg-hunt; sitting on the sunporch reading the paper and watching the joggers, walkers, dogs, bikes, and surfers go by. A glorious day, any way you celebrate it. Spring has sprung and that is always a much anticipated event.

By the way, for a snappy lil' tune, click the title of this post.