Trying to look at the bright side

So, I've been making calls for Obama, but every time I see the news I just want to scream. As art begets art, I'll let the Goo Goo Dolls do the talking, or singing (or crying) for me. Please. Vote.

Winter shivering in and sadly loving Mary Oliver

There are Canadian geese in my yard. They've stopped off, I think, on their way south, or this is south for them, and I'm glad to have them. They honk and flap, and attacked the cat, who, in fairness, attacked them first.

I love it that they're here, but sad, too. Soon, the monarchs will come, a stop over for their winter nest in Mexico. I've planted butterfly bushes for them. They will come and the hummingbirds will leave, and winter will shiver down from the north and will settle over the lake in a cold, gray fog, and I will be another year older . . .

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

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 geese, high in the clean blue 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.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver
published by Atlantic Monthly Press
© Mary Oliver

Sarah Palin is stealing my words & my sleep

Ya know, I always respected John McCain until he pointed at Palin for his VP pick. And I'm insulted that he thinks Palin can "replace" Hillary, as if women are as interchangeable as the stick figure on the bathroom door.

I can't even describe the disrespect I have for this woman, and every time I see her, I have nightmares.

And then, one of my readers wrote to tell me she thinks Palin is quoting "folks-isms" from Cauley. Would that she were, maybe she'd make sense.

The thing is, our country is in deep trouble, and we need change, for ourselves and our children. But not the kind of change McCain/Palin would bring--the kind of change that will drive us deeper into war, deeper into debt, and deeper into depletion of our planet, our home.

The only good thing that has come of Mrs. Palin's pick is Tina Fey.

Meet Atticus the Meany Cat

So, my writer pal Jan Yonkin called me almost two months ago and said, "Hey, do you want a kitten?"

My first thought was, no, not really. We just moved out to the country and I'm still missing Tahoe so bad I can't stand it. But something compelled me to come get him. Jan found kitty out in the garden, yowling his little head off, and he was emaciated, dehydrated and completely feral.

Well, Jan's guy, Dale aka "The Cat Whisperer," never met a cat he couldn't cajole, and soon the little kitty was eating out of butter tins and letting him hold him.

The deal breaker was when I heard kitty-boy purring over the phone. I was a goner and he found a new home.

He's not the timid puss hiding in the petunias. He is adapting well, and has taken over the house, yard, block and neighborhood. I had to put a jingle on him so he would stop terrorizing the wildlife. He's doubled his weight, but is still small, but he pounces the deer and the dog and me and anything else he can get his little paws on.

My thanks to Jan and Dale--Atticus is a lot of fun to play with. I named him Atticus, hoping he would take on some of the attributes of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, but I suspect he might be taking after Baby Stewie on Family Guy . . . out to take over the world . . .