For Mom: The Headstone of your Great Grandmother

Catheryne Faulkner Mill, whose first name I have always thought was spelled with a "K", came over to Salt Lake City in approximately 1879, as a widow with her two youngest daughters, leaving her newly married oldest daughter behind in Germany.
Later she sent for her young son, who was brought to Salt Lake by one of her brothers.

(The small square in the fore ground is Catheryne's grave)
About ten years later the oldest married daughter Elizabeth came to Salt Lake City with her husband and first three daughters.

A few years later my grandfather was born, my mom's dad.

My grandfather and his mom and dad and brothers and sisters traveled back to Germany a few times...some of the children were born American, others were born German.

The Salt Lake City Cemetery is about a mile from where I work. I was able to look up death and burial records on a Utah government website, and discovered Catheryne was buried in the old city cemetery. By taking a long break at work and and asking a few questions of the knowledgeable cemetery staff, I was soon looking in the right area of the grounds, expecting to see the older style upright headstone.

At first I was disappointed because I didn't see her name. Then I went up another row and saw a marker half buried in the lawn. An indentation in the lawn caught my eye; I swiped at it and there was the name I was looking for.

I wonder when her marker had been crafted, and by what family member. It is clearly a newer marker, as the letters are clearly cut.

Next time you visit Mom, we'll go by and maybe your cousin who lives here will come too. Perhaps she will have some answers for us about that.
And perhaps one of you might remember a story or two that you might have heard about the Great Grandmother from Germany that you never had a chance to meet, as she had been gone eleven years or so by the time you were born.

Maybe we can even do some research and find someone who is a great grandchild of hers by her youngest daughter...and maybe she or he will have a photograph of her to add to our family pictures. Seems likely, doesn't it?

In Jeff's Garden

Oh was I ever jealous to learn that a California quail had nested in Jeff's flower bed while he was on his honeymoon! I saw pictures he took of the little mama on her nest...and was eagerly awaiting the news of fluffy little baby quail exploring amongst the flowers.

The big day came...Jeff watched the babies hatch, got some pictures...and then as he put it "Rachel scared them away."

She adamantly denies this...but as soon as the chicks hatched (I believe there were sixteen eggs, and a few didn't hatch and a few chicks didn't survive) Mama bird moved her little family somewhere else.

Somewhere without a big old Iraq gray cat...and people going in and out all the time. I'm sure Mama Quail was pretty dismayed to learn that the quiet garden had only been a temporary state of affairs.

There have been lots of Mr. & Mrs. Quail couples around our neighborhood this spring, and I am hoping that a least of few of them will eventually take their families for a stroll through our garden, just to modestly show off their adorable offspring.

(Jeff has a history with rescuing baby quail, you can read about it here. Recently he rescued baby ducks that had washed into a storm drain too. Yes, he is a legend in the avian world...)

In other garden views: the pods left behind from the blue Lily of Nile bloom. Nice structure!

A blue iris, with spent blooms also adding their beauty to the view.

Yellow snapdragons sorely needing childish fingers to help them bite.

White, pink and red strawberries demonstrating riping progression.

Jeff brought a large ziplock bag full of his strawberries to us the other day. They are a small variety, with abundant fruit; his two plants are providing more than enough berries for them, and are sweeter than any of the large berries being offered in the stores.

Ummm...berry season!

Last night I went to bed right after work, around 6, and slept until six this morning. Maybe I will finally stop being exhausted from all the preparation work I put into the party.

Maybe this weekend I will finally just be able to relax and enjoy being home. (Especially if it will quit raining...this has been an amazingly rainy June according to all reports. I am hoping for an equally amazing wildflower season because of it.)

One thing I really do need to do around here is read all my new appliance manuals. Especially my microwave oven, that has more options that I can understand and works as both microwave and regular oven. Frozen pasta meals remain brick hard, while frozen chicken comes out wonderfully moist and tender. Clearly I am missing some technical detail!

I am also missing a new rug. The fabulous orange rug was to arrive in 7-10 days. Yesterday I called the company we ordered from, and quizzed the person on the line.

When we ordered, we had explained that we had already spoken to the company who is the vendor for that rug and that they were TOTALLY out of the rug...and that we were interested in ordering the rug from the company in Oregon ONLY IF they actually had the rug in their OWN warehouse.

We were assured that yes indeed they did own that rug, and that it was in their own warehouse, and it would be shipped immediately.

Yesterday's conversation revealed that actually they don't have their own warehouse, that instead they order from the rug vendor (the folks who we know are totally out of the rug...forever....) and that they were sorry for the mis-information and would refund our money.

Fercryinoutloud.

What is wrong with people these days???

So we are back at square one on the rug hunt.

Except I just don't feel much like hunting right now.

In other news: Our contractor has now removed all his tools from our garage....a clear sign that at last all work is DONE!

Well, almost done. The heated tile system isn't working...he'll still have to trouble shoot that before getting paid.

Every room still has one or two little details that we personally will need to address.

Maybe someday I will have the energy to actually want to do something about those little details.

But for now...I happy with things just as they are.

The SLC wedding reception

The garden was beautiful. The deck was neatly arranged for guests to enjoy. Downstairs there were new colorful pillows on the couch.
The guests arrived...and the rain arrived...and everyone crowded into the living room and dining room instead..

More people were in the kitchen....

I guess I'm losing my blogger touch...these are the only pictures I took that came out half way good.
Pity I didn't get a picture of the Hawaiian pulled pork, Macadamian chocolate cake, fruit kabobs, Maui Onion Potato Chips, Asian Chicken, Asian salad, Brown Rice....
Or of some of the guests down in my hat room discovering what wearing a great hat is like.

When the rain stopped we got another family picture on the deck...this time the engaged couple have become a married couple...in fact the party was held on the one year anniversary of their first date.

A good time was had by all!

And boy am I glad that the "getting the house ready" is now FINISHED!

The Devil is in the Details...

It was years ago that I first heard the expression: "The Devil is in the details."

At the time it meant that small details can de-rail the truth, and de-rail good plans.

I appreciated reading commentary that points out details that reveal important truths lurking beneath the surface of a global address by Mr. Obama.

For instance: I appreciate the commentor noting that true Christians never speak of Jesus as being currently dead.
The fact that He arose from the dead is what Christianity is all about!

Also that Christians speak of only the Bible as "Holy."

All political and academic institutions refer to the Holy Bible as simply "The Bible." Students are taught to do the same in our public schools.
They supposedly are also taught to refer to all religious writings sans the term "Holy"-and that to apply the word "Holy" indicated that the writings are sacred and true to the individual speaking.

Yes... once again I had missed a few details that definitely had the devil in them....
In case you had missed it...here is the article for your benefit:


America's first Muslim president?
By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/

During his White House years, William Jefferson Clinton — someone Judge Sonia Sotomayor might call a "white male" — was dubbed "America's first black president" by a black admirer.

Applying the standard of identity politics and pandering to a special interest that earned Mr. Clinton that distinction, Barack Hussein Obama would have to be considered America's first Muslim president.

This is not to say, necessarily, that Mr. Obama actually is a Muslim any more than Mr. Clinton actually is black. After his five months in office, and most especially after his just-concluded visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, however, a stunning conclusion seems increasingly plausible: The man now happy to have his Islamic-rooted middle name featured prominently has engaged in the most consequential bait-and-switch since Adolf Hitler duped Neville Chamberlain over Czechoslovakia at Munich.

What little we know about Mr. Obama's youth certainly suggests that he not only had a Kenyan father who was Muslim, but spent his early, formative years as one in Indonesia. As the president likes to say, "much has been made" — in this case by him and his campaign handlers — of the fact that he became a Christian as an adult in Chicago, under the now-notorious Pastor Jeremiah A. Wright.

With Mr. Obama's unbelievably ballyhooed address in Cairo Thursday to what he calls "the Muslim world" (hereafter known as "the Speech"), there is mounting evidence that the president not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself. Consider the following indicators:

Mr. Obama referred four times in his speech to "the Holy Koran." Non-Muslims — even pandering ones — generally don't use that Islamic formulation.

Mr. Obama established his firsthand knowledge of Islam (albeit without mentioning his reported upbringing in the faith) with the statement, "I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed."

Again, "revealed" is a depiction Muslims use to reflect their conviction that the Koran is the word of G-d, as dictated to Muhammad.

Then the president made a statement no believing Christian — certainly not one versed, as he professes to be, in the ways of Islam — would ever make. In the context of what he euphemistically called the "situation between Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs," Mr. Obama said he looked forward to the day "…when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them) joined in prayer."

Now, the term "peace be upon them" is invoked by Muslims as a way of blessing deceased holy men. According to Islam, that is what all three were — dead prophets. Of course, for Christians, Jesus is the living and immortal Son of G0d.

In the final analysis, it may be beside the point whether Mr. Obama actually is a Muslim. In the Speech and elsewhere, he has aligned himself with adherents to what authoritative Islam calls Shariah — notably, the dangerous global movement known as the Muslim Brotherhood — to a degree that makes Mr. Clinton's fabled affinity for blacks pale by comparison.

For example, Mr. Obama has — from literally his inaugural address onward — inflated the numbers and, in that way and others, exaggerated the contemporary and historical importance of Muslim-Americans in the United States. In the Speech, he used the Brotherhood's estimates of "nearly 7 million Muslims" in this country, at least twice the estimates from other, more reputable sources. (Who knows? By the time Mr. Obama's friends in the radical Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) perpetrate their trademark books-cooking as deputy 2010 census takers, the official count may well claim considerably more than 7 million Muslims are living here.)

Even more troubling were the commitments the president made in Cairo to promote Islam in America. For instance, he declared: "I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."

(Note from Jill: Where was that found in his oath of office???? And how about negative sterotyping of conservative Christians and Jews? When is he going to take on that?)

He vowed to ensure that women can cover their heads, including, presumably, when having their photographs taken for passports, driver's licenses or other identification purposes. He also pledged to enable Muslims to engage in zakat, their faith's requirement for tithing, even though four of the eight types of charity called for by Shariah can be associated with terrorism. Not surprisingly, a number of Islamic "charities" in this country have been convicted of providing material support for terrorism.

Particularly worrying is the realignment Mr. Obama has announced in U.S. policy toward Israel. While he pays lip service to the "unbreakable" bond between America and the Jewish state, the president has unmistakably signaled that he intends to compel the Israelis to make territorial and other strategic concessions to Palestinians to achieve the hallowed two-state solution. In doing so, he ignores the inconvenient fact that both the Brotherhood's Hamas and Abu Mazen's Fatah remain determined to achieve a one-state solution, whereby the Jews will be driven "into the sea."

Whether Mr. Obama actually is a Muslim or simply plays one in the presidency may, in the end, be irrelevant. What is alarming is that in aligning himself and his policies with those of Shariah-adherents such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the president will greatly intensify the already enormous pressure on peaceful, tolerant American Muslims to submit to such forces — and heighten expectations, here and abroad, that the rest of us will do so as well.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I'm "borrowing" a picture from daughter LauraRN's blog.
This ring and the month of June just go together.
June is the month when this ring was given, and given, and given again through three generations of graduates.

My mom received the ring for her sixth grade graduation.
When I graduated from sixth grade, some years later, the two side diamonds were added, because I was born in April, and diamond is my birthstone.
Ten years later I wore it as my "something blue" on my wedding day. My mom still wonders why she didn't think to wear it on her wedding day.

I only "owned" the ring for 24 years. When Laura graduated from sixth grade, the ring became hers. She still has it, after traveling for work all over America.
(She wisely left it in storage during those years.)

The oval shaped cabochon sapphire brings back so many happy memories. Next time I visit Laura, I think I will have to borrow it back for the day.
Just for old time sake.
After all...I can't possibly wear my wedding dress to her "everyone comes in their wedding gown" party without that touch of blue on my finger, now can I?

Oh yeah...my girl knows how to throw a party. It is set for August, and brides of three months and brides of 30+ years will be there in their gowns, to admire each other and play guessing games (who did have the longest train? The LOWEST cut front? The biggest bow on their butt???)

I read about a group of women who have such parties, and now their daughters are thrilled to also come to the party after they get married, just to wear their gowns too! It is all in fun...tank tops are worn under dresses that don't quite fit anymore, so the back can just be left open and pinned together with a ribbon if needed.

I mentioned the article to Laura, who mentioned it to her friends, and the next thing she knew...EVERYONE wanted to come to that kind of party too!

Modern brides often have their gowns cleaned and sealed up to await a special day in the future when some other young woman will decide to wear the dress. I personally have only known two brides who have done that...two sisters who both wore their mother's glamorous 40's style satin gown.

It is understandable that a sealed up gown should really be left in its pristine state.

On the other hand...instead of waiting to thrill an imaginary future bride, you could get your thrill now, by wearing your gown to a party with similarly attired friends.

I'm pretty sure no one will be wanting to wear my gown in the future...and Laura herself has TWO wedding gowns (one for the wedding and a matching less poofy one to wear to the reception) gowns that were purchased for the wedding that she later backed out of.

A few of the guest are no longer with their grooms...others are still happily married and at least one person will be wearing a dress that didn't actually make it to a wedding.

What ever.

In this case...it is all about the dress anyway.

If you think you'll be in San Diego in August, let me know...you are welcomed to come to the party too!

Or throw your own party. Maybe we can start a new holiday:

National Wear Your Wedding Dress Again Day.

Wouldn't that be fun? Women in white at work, in the grocery store, at parties, in court, riding subways, hanging out at the beach, working at construction sites, dancing in fields of springtime grass on their blogs (Hi Lovella!)

Whatever, wherever the mood strikes.

Maybe I'll start a petition. If you would like Congress to declare such a day, just leave a comment on this post. Once I get enough signatures, I'll send the idea along.

It certainly is not nuttier than anything else that Congress has pushed through, right?
Of course right!
Let's do it!

Gullywasher and More Errands

Out running errand (will it ever stop???) to pick up two pictures I had framed....and that took about 10 minutes, tops.

Just long enough for the sky to open up with a Texas style gullywasher to cut loose as I was about to leave the store.

These shot were taken about five minutes after the storm started. I was waiting with a few other customers for a break in the storm. No sense heading out into a rain storm with newly framed water colors!

When it started hailing, I got pretty jumpy. A brief hail storm can ruin a car's exterior. The biggest hailstone was about the size of a dime, definitely big enough to whack a paint job.

Thankfully, somehow my car was unblemished. I was planning on running a few more errands that night, but seeing as how the sky was turning black in every direction I headed home instead, 'cuz my Mama didn't raise no fool!

Besides, watching a storm is much more interesting activity from the deck.

To make up for missing that bit of errand running, I took a long lunch break the next day.

I was prowling around, out on another area rug hunt.

I already own several great area rugs, the problem is that they are all the highly traditional oriental/persian murky-muddy colored rugs.

I loved them in Houston where the walls and the flooring were all cream.

But here in the lap of the Wasatch Mountains...in a 50's style ranch house...something different is needed.

Way different.

As I mentioned in a prior post, we had fallen in love with a rug that turned out to be unavailable.

Ever noticed that trying to find a second choice that you liked as much as your first choice is almost impossible?

I liked the rug above, but it only came in 5'x8', and I need a 8'x10' rug.

I liked this one's design, but not the brown in it.

Liked this one, but don't want that much red in the room....

I like this one, and it is the right size. Trouble is I feel like it should be in a pre-school classroom.

Love this one...but want more orange in the rug and a brighter shade of green.

Great design though.

Convinced that once again I was either crazy or ahead of my time, I returned to searching the Internet in hope that maybe the rug I wanted could be found somewhere on line, some obscure online shop that I had missed before.

I think I have found the rug we originally wanted. We talked to the shop in Oregon (GO BEAVERS!) and they said they had it in stock.

I have heard that line before, but they assured us that it was true, and the rug pictured below should arrive in a week to ten days. That would be in time for the party.

Can you believe THIS is the rug we are crazy about?

Believe it!

What they said, what I say

Re: Abortion rights rhetoric concerning killing unborn children:

I wouldn't have an abortion myself, but I wouldn't want to impose my moral values on others.
If you don't believe in abortions, then don't have one.

An interesting spin on those lofty thoughts: Pro-life rhetoric concerning those who butcher full term infants:

I wouldn't kill an abortionist myself, but I wouldn't want to impose my moral values on others.

If you don't believe in shooting abortionists, then don't shoot one.

(The last two phrases above are by Ann Coulter...who is regularly spoken of a being "mean." )

As I have mentioned before, I do not agree that is a "right" for anyone to kill babies, born or unborn.

Killing bratty teenagers and child molesters...I am willing to consider the option case by case.

As I have also mentioned in another post, the Old Testament does direct the stoning of disrespectful children. My personal belief is that God allowed this so parents could think about doing it without sinning, knowing full well that most parents are too tired to round up enough stones to get the job done.

Gathering stones would give everyone time to cool off and re-thing what was happening.

But I would never agree to killing bratty teens or child molesters by burning their skin off with saline solution, hacking them apart (without anesthesia!) or slicing open their heads and sucking out their brains like the abortion rights folk routinely sanction.

I guess I am just a wuss. I could never imagine doing that to another human being.

Born or unborn.

Unlike those who think it is a perfectly fine freedom of choice option.

Look to the sky and observe which way the wind blows.

While I was running errands this past weekend, I spied what I believe was a tornado in the distance. The sky was black, and you could just barely see streaks of light streaming from left to right, while the twisting area slanted from right to left. There was no pinhole of light above it either. You can see both of those features when you enlarge the picture!

Secretly I have always wanted to see a tornado. Maybe it was, or maybe it wasn't...only a weatherman would know for sure. But based on what I know about tornadoes, I'm pretty sure that was what I was seeing.

Yesterday's post was about the errands I was running when the clouds formed over head. I saw the lightening and heard the thunder, and dodged a few raindrops too. Even though I was very busy that day, I still could see what was going on around me in terms of weather and the world.

At the end of that post I concluded with an article about Islam and why Islam is more interested in war than in peace. If you are a busy person (and who isn't nowadays?) the article will quickly explain why peace negotiations in the Middle East seemingly go nowhere.

Understanding that article...then add the following information to your awareness. I think you will find it quite interesting.

Thursday Mr. Obama is to address the world concerning the American view of Islam.

The choice of the date for Obama's address indicates his attention to detail. It coincides with the anniversary of the start of the first battle between Islam, under Prophet Muhammad, and Christendom in the shape of a Byzantine expeditionary force in AD629.

The “address to Islam” also marks the 30th anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini's demise and the appointment of Ali Khamenei as the new “Supreme Guide of the Islamic ummah”.

More importantly, it also coincides with the rebuilding of the Ka'abah, the stone at the heart of Mecca, which had been destroyed in a Muslim civil war.

From http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6410051.ece
Interesting, no?

Interesting as well that Mr. Obama now is quite open about his family ties to Islam, and the years he spent in Muslim countries, including Islamic countries that America had banned. How Mr. Obama entered those countries with a US passport is quite puzzling.

I do think Mr. Obama should address the Islamic world. After all...our soldiers have died defending the rights of Muslims to live as they choose, so I believe America is entitled to have an opinion about this topic.

The address that Obama should (but assuredly won't) deliver in Egypt is the following text, as penned by Dennis Prager. See if you agree with my opinion!

The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt
By Dennis Prager

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/

This week, President Barack Obama is scheduled to give a major address in Cairo to the Muslim world. He is likely to reiterate what he has stated previously to Muslim audiences, that America has no battle with Islam, deeply respects Islam and the Muslim world, and apologizes for any anti-Muslim sentiment that any Americans may express.

Here is what an honest address would sound like:

"Thank you for the honor of addressing the Egyptian people and the wider Muslim world.
I am here primarily to dispel some of the erroneous beliefs many Muslims have about America and to thereby reassure you that America has no desire to be at war with the Muslim world.

To my great disappointment, many Muslims have come to believe that my country has declared war on Muslims and Islam. Because of this widespread belief, I said in an interview with al-Arabiya a few months ago, that we need to restore "the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago."

"Let's look a little deeper at that relationship. For the truth is, as noted by the Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist for the American newspaper the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer, in the last 20-30 years America did not just respect Muslims, it bled for Muslims. We Americans engaged in five military campaigns on behalf of Muslims, each one resulting in the liberation of a Muslim people: Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as the failed 1992-93 Somalia intervention to feed starving African Muslims — in which 43 Americans were killed — were all humanitarian exercises. In none of them was there a significant U.S. strategic interest at stake. So, in fact, in these 20 years, my country, the United States of America has done more for suffering and oppressed Muslims than any other nation, Muslim or non-Muslim.

While I recognize that gratitude is the rarest positive human quality, I need to say — because candor is the highest form respect — that America has not only not received little gratitude from the Muslim world, it has been the object of hatred, mass murder, and economic attack from Muslim individuals, groups, and countries.

Just to cite a few of many examples from the last 40 years:
In 1973, Muslim terrorists attacked the American embassy in Sudan and murdered our country's ambassador, Cleo Noel, and the chief deputy of the mission, George C. Moore.

Later in 1973, the Arab oil embargo against America sent my country into a long and painful recession.

In 1977, Muslim militants murdered the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Frances E. Meloy, and Robert O.Waring, the U.S. economic counselor.

In 1979 radical Muslims violently attacked my country's embassy in Teheran, and for 14 months held American diplomats hostage, often in appalling conditions.

In 1998, Muslim militants bombed the American embassy in Nairobi, killing 12 Americans and 280 Kenyans, and bombed our embassy in Tanzania, killing another 11 Americans.

Then, on Sept. 11, 2001, 19 Muslims who had been living in America slit the throats of American pilots and flight attendants and then flew airplanes into civilian buildings in New York City, burning 3,000 innocent Americans to death.

So, my friends here in Egypt, between America and the Muslim world, who exactly has been making war on whom?

I have enormous differences with my predecessor, President George W. Bush. But please remember that less than a week after thousands of Americans were slaughtered in the name of your religion, President Bush went to the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., and announced that Islam was a religion of peace.

Moreover, in a country of 300 million people, of whom only a few million are Muslim, there is virtually no recorded incident of anti-mosque or other anti-Muslim violence despite the butchery of 9/11 and the popular support for Osama Bin Laden that we saw in the Muslim world after 9/11.

I ask you to please ask yourselves what Egypt's reaction would have been had 19 Christians, in the name of Christianity, slaughtered 3,000 Egyptians. How would the Christians of Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East have fared?

As it is, because of persecution by Muslim majorities, Christians have been leaving the Middle East in such great numbers that for the first time since Christ, there are large parts of the Middle East that have become empty of both Jews and Christians.

Yet, at the same time, millions of Muslims have moved to Western countries and to America. It is fair to say that the freest, and often the safest, place in the world for a practicing Muslim is the United States of America.

Muslim-Americans are treated exactly as other Americans are treated. It is exceedingly rare to hear any anti-Muslim bigotry in my country. And while there is some criticism of the Muslim world, but there is far more criticism of Christianity in America than of Islam.

Unfortunately, in much of the Muslim world today anti-Jewish speeches and writing are frequently identical to the genocidal anti-Semitism one heard and read in Nazi Germany. This is a blight on your civilization. How can you seriously charge that America is at war with Islam when in fact it is much of the Islamic world that is at war with Jews and Christians?

I know that you would like me to announce that America is abandoning its support for Israel. But every president since Harry Truman, Democrat and Republican, has been passionate about enabling Israel to defend itself from those who wish to destroy it. And that, dear Muslims, is the issue. America will continue to support a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli dispute, but the issue has never really been about two states. It has always been about Palestinians and other Arabs and Muslims recognizing Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.

As a friend of Egypt and of the Muslim world, I want to say something from the bottom of my heart: The day the Arab world ceases obsessing over the existence of a Jewish state the size of Belize will be a great day for the Arab and Muslim worlds. Your obsession with Israel has cost you dearly in every area of social development. This is easily demonstrated. If Israel were destroyed — and the so-called "right of return" of millions of third-generation Palestinian refugees would ensure that outcome as effectively as would a nuclear device from Iran — what difference would that make to the Egyptian economy, to Egyptian lack of freedoms, or anything else that matters to Egyptians? In my opinion, none whatsoever. Preoccupation with Israel has simply enabled the Arab world to not look within for 60 years.

Finally, my fellow Americans would feel more confident in American-Muslim relations if they had ever seen a large demonstration of Muslims anywhere against all the terror committed by Muslims in the name of Islam — whether in London, Madrid, New York, Bali, Cairo, or Mumbai. The mark of a great civilization — and Arab civilization was indeed once great — is a willingness to criticize itself.

Thank you again for this opportunity to address you. I could have patronized you by exaggerating American misdeeds and ignoring yours. But I have too much respect for you.

Shukran jiddan.

Mad I say...screaming mad.

So here's what's been going on:

Friday my stager (who is also named Jill, isn't that fun?) came over to give me some help with arranging pictures, furniture, drapery, accessories etc. We had a lovely time...and I have renewed vision for pulling the house together. She saw the area rug we were thinking of buying on line and LOVED it too.

The rug was ordered, and scheduled to arrive in 7 to 10 days...just perfect timing to arrive before the June 13th when we will host a party to celebrate Jeff and Rachel's wedding with their SLC friends.

Saturday I headed out to run errands. That would be SEVEN hours worth of errands, with fourteen stops. When I say I RAN errands, I meant as in sprinting as I returned items, shopped for candles, glassware, throw pillows, rugs, picture frames, drapery, cleaning supplies, etc etc.

I am running with a smashed middle toe. It hurts, but I'm not stopping. I'm tough.

I also had to stop and have a terse little talk with the folks that have made my glasses prescription wrong. Again. Seriously wrong. For the THIRD time.

No wonder my eyes have been feeling so odd. I will be getting new lenses in a week. (Squinting as I type this.)

Unbelievably, as I attempted to match (more or less) our tea green wall paint color, I found five different drapery styles in that color at four different stores.It is pretty amazing to find so many "off the shelf" draperies in that color don't you think?

Exhausted, I returned home, put the up all the different drapes on the current single rod currently installed above the picture window. We were thrilled that they all looked great!

Then the sun went down and the drapery in artificial light all suddenly became split pea soup colored.
A horrible clashing color with the wall.
I tried true color light bulbs...nope, still soup.

Back to the drawing board.

The contractor came by for awhile while I was out running errands. Our contractor is flaking out. He knocked over my African violets and just left them spilt on the floor. He left his power tools on my kitchen table. He measures things, but nothing is done.

I still have no floor or door moulding. I have done without knobs on my bathroom drawers and cabinets for over a month. The air conditioner is installed but not up and running, and it has been HOT the last few days.

Bernie is becoming increasingly irritated with the man. The job was to be completed in March...and here were are in June, and still we wait for work to be done.

(Aside: If you have ever wondered how well you would survive remodeling...try this free at home test:
Remove all the knobs in your house for two months, designate only one bathroom as "working" and make sure it is the most inconvenient one in the house too, and sprinkle sawdust and drywall chalk all over. Allow people you have never seen to come into your house at will...with no forewarning. Let those same folks re-arrange things randomly so you will have to guess where things you need are to be found.

If you can still be civil to your contractor, spouse and pets at this point, then also move your refrigerator outside, your dishwasher outside, and have no washing machine for another month. Remove all switch plate and outlet covers. Add cardboard boxes to the floor. Have your spouse invite business associates stay over. (Thanks V. for that one.)

If you are able to still be congenial and stay out of the cookies/liquor cabinet/drug cabinet, then I say go for it...you are a perfect candidate for remodeling your home. You are also probably a perfect freak.)

But enough about that.

Sunday I headed out at 11 am for MORE errands. Painting supplies, (two trips for that) plus this time I'm looking for white drapery. Seven hours later I'm back home and again...exhausted.

Monday: Off to work. Get an email confirming that our rug has been ordered. Then another email stating that they no longer have any of that rug in stock and won't be getting any more either.

Drat. Start searching for other sources...seems everyone has sold out of it. And if we did find it, it probably wouldn't arrive before the party.

After work I vacuum, mop, and do other basic housework. A big storm outside is brewing. B. and I take a break on the deck to watch the lightening. We decide all the aggravation has been worth it as we enjoy the amazing view.

Later I cajole B. into putting up the curtains on the new double rod, so we will have both sheer and regular drapery over our HUGE front window.

We've been without drapes in this room the whole time we've been in the house. Our neighbors must think we are into performance art...you can see all the way through the house and watch every move we make in the dining and living room at night.

B. is tired and trying not to be negative and grouchy as he sighs and grunts as he puts up the drapery.

Thank heaven the white drapery looks fine. We can cross that miserable detail from our ever growing list of things to do 0n the house.

Tuesday: I don't have to be to work until 11:30 am. I plan on a leisurely cup of coffee with my breakfast but instead get a call a little before 9 : the contractor is ON HIS WAY and will be working in the bathroom installing knobs.

I race to get showered and dressed and make-up put on so the bathroom is clear and available for his presence.

At a little after 10 I leave the house...no one has arrived to work.

I still need to get picture frames. Find frames on sale! Whoo HOO! Something good!

Except, of course, the store only has THREE of the frames I want. I'll need to drive to another store to get one more, and of course actually I need a total of seven. Looks like more driving errands around town is in my future.

No more time to do that this morning; I still need to get to work.

Once at work a student hands me a hundred+ sheets of printed paper. Seems he needed to print some of his homework and since the printer didn't seem willing to do the job, he just kept hitting print...over and over and over again.

Eventually the printer came back from its lunch break (?) and it began to do as it had been asked. As many times as it had been asked.

At ten cents a page...not good. He turned off the printer after it printed most of that, not finding any other way to cancel the print job.

The next student went to print and guess what? The printer is apparently determined to continue the first print job. After it finally finishes another couple hundred pages, it goes on break. This second student needs her print job RIGHT NOW. Thankfully the printer returns from break and does her print job.

Meanwhile I am to supply a list of all the books owned by three campuses to an accreditation agency. These lists are 80 page documents, with each book title having 7 pieces of information associated with it: Dewey number, Library of Congress number, subject, ISBN #, Publication Date, Author, Price.

One campus has the list saved electronically. The other two lists are only on paper.

The list must be provided in electronic format.

I am NOT going to type these lists into electronic format.

Maybe they can be scanned as picture and saved as a picture, but the information will never be able to be updated.

So what is the point of that?

I have no idea.

Meanwhile, while I am frazzled over such mundane things as green drapes that turn pea colored at night and printers that don't care about save saving trees, all around me the big world is continuing on in its usual alarming fashion.

Is it just me, or does it strike you as being really odd that Mr B. Obama is heading to the Middle East to tell the Muslims that we are not and never will be at war with Islam?

Or with Mormons, Catholics, Buddhist, Jews, Druids, Mennonites and Wiccans either I suppose.
We always want to be inclusive...so let's hope these groups get equal assurance of our passivity.

The assurance that Mr. Obama offering the Islamic faithful is comparable to two sports teams meeting to play for the Super Bowl, but one team has walked on the field announcing that they are not going on the offense, but instead will hope that both sides can just agree to get along.

Imagine how that would play out.

I'm guessing the other team would say "Best news EVER!" and run up the score to win.

Duh.

Am I out in left field with this analogy...to use another sporting metaphor?

Well, consider this article, and then you decide.
Maybe things will have change for the better by Thursday's address to all of Islam.
At least knowing what is really going on makes finding all those little household items seem a whole lot less important!


May 28, 2009, 0:00 a.m.

The War Against Modernity And Why Islamists Are Not Tempted By “Peace.”

By Clifford D. May

The war being waged against the West also is a war against modernity. For nearly a thousand years, Islam reigned supreme in much of the world. But with the coming of the modern era — generally seen as beginning in the 18th century — Christendom outpaced the Muslim world by almost every measure.

Islamists believe the destruction of modernity is necessary if Islam is to regain the power to which it is entitled.

“Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war,” the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni wrote back in 1942. “Those [who say this] are witless. Those who study jihad will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world.”

More than three decades later, Khomeini would put theory into practice, leading a revolution not just against the Shah of Iran, but also against America and other modern liberal democracies.

Modernity went hand-in-and with the Industrial Revolution — the development of a vast array of mechanical, technological, and scientific inventions. Islamic societies did not demonstrate great aptitude in this area. That was among the reasons they were left behind economically, with the notable exception of those regimes that had oil underfoot. It was the Industrial Revolution that made oil valuable. Westerners found it, pumped it, refined it, and have used it to fuel Western-produced machines ever since.

An important component of the Industrial Revolution was mechanized weaponry: guns, cannons, tanks, and missiles. Initially, this also advantaged the West. Early in his career, Winston Churchill battled a variety of radical Islam in the Sudan. In 1899, he wrote that this “militant and proselytizing faith” should be seen as a grave threat, and “were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science . . . the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”

Recent acts of terrorism — a passenger plane manufactured in America becomes an Islamist missile, a cell phone made in Europe detonates an explosive device in Afghanistan — have turned the technological tables; to what extent, it’s too soon to predict.

Throughout most of history, war was seen as glorious — at least by kings, generals, and others who wielded power. No one expressed this view more eloquently than Genghis Khan, who conquered many Islamic lands in the 13th century, and who rhapsodized:

“Man’s highest joy is victory: to conquer his enemies; to pursue them; to deprive them of their possessions; to make their beloved weep; to ride on their horses; and to embrace their wives and daughters.”

To modern people, such sentiments sound absurd. The terrible conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries caused most Westerners to treasure peace, and to regard war as hellish, a last resort. But it is mirror-imaging to assume that all cultures have come to see war the same way.

Khomeini explained what he interpreted to be the proper Muslim perspective: “Islam says: Kill [the non-Muslims], put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]. . . . People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to paradise, which can be opened only for holy warriors! . . . There are hundreds of other [Koranic] psalms and hadiths [sayings of the prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight.”

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are committed Khomeinists. If you understand this, you understand that it is senseless to attempt to engage them by holding out the prospect of “peace.” As the scholar Fouad Ajami recently wrote, for militant Islamists truces and negotiated agreements are “at best a breathing spell before the fight for their utopia is taken up again.”

It is unserious to say — as former National Security Council staff members Flynt and Hillary Leverett did in a recent New York Times op-ed — that America’s problems with Iran derive from Tehran’s “legitimate concerns about American intentions,” and that what appears to us as hostility is actually a “fundamentally defensive reaction” on the part of the regime.

Only self-delusion can explain their insistence that President Obama be “willing to work with Tehran to integrate [Hamas and Hezbollah] into lasting settlements of the Middle East’s core political conflicts.” Settlements based on compromises, rather than conquest and victory, are not what militant jihadists want. And these “core political conflicts” are not that — they are symptoms, not the disease.

There is no reason — other than wishful thinking — to believe that Iran’s rulers and other Islamists seek cordial relations with what they view as the decadent and Satanic West. Nevertheless, one American administration after another has acted as though the truth were otherwise. On his final European tour as president a year ago, George W. Bush said Tehran’s rulers must end their drive for nuclear weapons if they want closer ties with the U.S. and Europe.

“They can either face isolation, or they can have better relations with all of us,” he said.

One can imagine Iran’s rulers shaking their heads in bewildered amusement. What they seek is not our friendship. It is our submission. We confuse the two at our peril.

Similarly, this week, the White House responded to the test of a nuclear device by North Korea — a regime that has supplied missile and other technology to both Iran and its client, Syria — by saying “such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolation.”

Were North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il a modern man, he would weep salty tears over that prospect. But like Iran’s rulers, he’s not, so he won’t. He will go on his merry way until and unless someone stops him.

— Clifford D. May, a former New York Times foreign correspondent, is the president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism.

Dreams coming true

Last year around this time I had a dream.

I dreamed I would live and work in SLC, and come home each evening to a house in the mountains, with a deck where I could prop up my feet and enjoy the view.

And the dream came true!

I dreamed where I lived could have a rushing stream nearby.

And it does!

(at least for right now...it is seasonal mountain run off, flowing through the easement at the end of my back yard.)

Sometimes reality improves on dreams.

Last Tuesday I looked up and there was a rainbow in the scene as well.

I thought my mountain with a rainbow would look better without telephone wires and cables in the view.

Since this was MY dream I went ahead and choppped down all the nearby utility poles.

(Just kidding... I used Picassa's new Re-touch feature and edited them out of the picture. Good hint to know...you can blur out anything with Re-touch; I had thought it was just for correcting skin flaws.)

So there I was, up on my freshly painted deck, listening to a rushing stream while looking at a rainbow arching over a mountain named Olympus.

Let's see....what else will be needed to make this a perfect dream come true?

Every paradise needs apple trees, right? With fragrant pink blossoms in the springtime.

Clouds of pink blossoms would even be better.

And then there could be apples to pick in the fall.

(The apple tree is on the property of the neighbors behind us. Plenty of apples will be on our side of the fence. The neighbors are happy to share.)

Let's see...what else do I need to make this place perfect?

Grapes.

Grapevines producing lovely bunches of grapes.

The baby grapes are soaking up both the sunshine and the rain.

We should have plenty of grapes by mid summer.

Oh, and how could I forget?

There needs to be catnip growing throughout the yard as well. I like the lavender flowers, and the cats can saunter through the garden whenever they want to enjoy getting silly on the leaves.(And we can meet the neighborhood cats that way too...)

A few other are flowers scattered about...

These are just a few of the flowers that have bloomed so far.

I think Mt. Olympus...home of the mythological Greek gods...is a great name for this area.

Except I haven't seen any guys looking like gods, or demi gods, like Hercules or Hermes or Apollo yet.

Wait a minute....

I think I see one heading up to join me on the deck now.

Right on cue...there he is ...my very own Zeus...Apollo...um...what were some of those Greek gods called again?

Hercules?

I think I will call this one "Bernie."

Or maybe "Hon." That's short for "Honey."

Yes...sometimes dreams do come true in sweet ways that get better and better with each passing day.

Visitors, visiting around and modern bridal sensibilities

Recently I was asked to compose a list of thirty things that I wanted to live for.

The first thing that sprung to mind was that I wanted to live so I could continue to sit in our kitchen breakfast nook and watch the birds feeding outside the window.

(Most women my age say "My grandchildren are what I want to live for." I don't have grands yet, so I usually ask "if you didn't have grands, then what would you live for?" Most of the women fall silent after that. I find that vaguely troubling...don't they want to watch the birds feed too?)

Lately our dinners have been eaten while watching Mr. California Quail perched on the tree outside our window, while he watches over Mrs. California Quail down below.

He is a dutiful little guy...and after he keeps watch for a bit he flies down to the ground and then he and the Missus stroll around our yard, he with his funny little top notch bobbing away, and she always within a few feet of him.

The above photos is rather blurry. That's because we were so excited to see a peacock blue bird with a rust colored neck, gray chest and black wings with bars.

A Lazuli Bunting was feeding at our feeder! They are pretty rare, and absolutely beautiful. You can see a better photo of a Lazuli Bunting here.

Humming birds are now zooming by too. It is time we start putting out a feeder for them too.

In addition to the feathered friends, we also view deer walking up the seasonal stream behind our house. Hart was out once when one deer came through. He hunkered down and watched, but then when a second deer joined the first, Hart cleared the yard in three bounds, raced upstairs to the deck and threw himself at the kitchen door.

We about fell off our kitchen chairs laughing at him!

And then there is another regular visitor to our garden: Larry the Cable Squirrel. Larry races back and forth on the telephone cable line that stretches across our yard. When we are relaxing we like to note how many trips back and forth he makes.

Yeah, we are definitely rusticating here in the lap of the Mt. Olympus.

Rusticating, and liking it just fine.

Now the lizards in our yard are spectacular too....

(Just kidding...these lizards are in the children's area of Red Butte Garden. Pretty cool, huh? They are in an area that every Grammie should be required to visit to see great giggle inspiring ideas for their own home gardens. Oh to be three feet tall again...the little ones especially have a ball exploring this part of Red Butte garden!)

Two weekends ago we were at Red Butte gardens for a Bonsai show. I left B. inside amongst the table top sized trees and went outside to see the giant sized trees instead. The tall skinny pine tree caught my eye. Very Seuss-like, and it would look great in the snow, without hogging a lot of room in the garden like most fir trees tend to do.

Then I noticed the fir tree pictured above. (B.'s was inside the building in the background.)

I had never seen a tree with pink pine cones before. Aren't they wonderful?



Naturally I want one for our yard, and naturally I will need to make another trip to RBG because I forgot to write down the name of this fir tree.

While I was standing around enjoying the sunshine, a Princess wearing her tiara raced by. Isn't that the way it always is with visiting royalty? Royalty always seem on their way to somewhere else.

I wanted to study the flower bed combinations, hoping for inspiration and guidance for when I plant my own flower beds in a week or so.

While I was snooping about the flower beds, a bridesmaid and groomsman strolled by. I thought black satin was a bit heavy choice for a morning garden wedding, but I did admire the pretty turquoise green sash on the girl and the matching vest on the guy.

Moments later the bride came down the pathway. She looked so fresh and happy...and I thought her turquoise shoes and matching webby lace turquoise stockings were quite innovative and fun.

Who says a bride has to wear white shoes anyway?

The blue flowers scattered about seemed to be saying "Let me be the something blue in your wedding today!

The wedding party was headed towards the glass atrium where the wedding reception luncheon was being held. I discreetly walked nearby, hoping to get a glimpse of the inside decor.

Most of the wedding party had not yet gone into the reception, taking a smoking break before heading inside. As I walked around, it dawned on me how and why the wedding colors were chosen.

The bride, the groom, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen all had extensive ink work done on various places on their bodies. The backless dresses frames elaborate mostly turquoise tattoo designs, the bride's feet, now in turquoise flip-flop sandals now revealed that the webby lace design was merely an overlay of her turquoise colored foot, ankle and leg tattoo

The men all had hands tattooed with names and numbers and designs as well...

Maybe this ah-HA! moment for me has already been covered in Tips for the Bride in magazines and websites:

"Before deciding on colors for your wedding, first survey the guys and gals that you plan to ask to be in your wedding to determine the predominate color of their tattoos. Use that information to assure that the colors you select later will compliment their tattoos appropriately."

Bernie was done with his bonsai show about that time so we decided to take a walk around the garden to see what else we could see.

Spring time undergrowth....

A daffodil that looked like more like a rose...

Bees a-buzzing in the forest floral spangled glade (which we skipped because of the bees.)

Another daffodil that had a white cup and a band of white at the base of the yellow petals.

That created quite an interesting halo effect.

Speckled violets...

And striped violets as well.

There were lots and lots and LOTS of flowers and scenes well worth photographing...but we actually were trying to get a brisk walk in as we went. Laura gave me a year's pass to the garden so I will be back for camera play another day.

Later in the same day we visited another garden:

Where the tulips were rioting...

Strange and interestingly shaped tulips...

Frizzled tulips is what I decided they should be called.

As they were blooming in the garden of the absentee honeymooners, I wondered if the frizzled look was the result of growing amidst the hectic pace in which the gardener had gone about planning his wedding.

I felt bad that they bloomed while he was gone...at least he'll be able to see my pictures.

Don't you think the pictures are almost as good as being there to see them in person?

Almost...but not quite.

But I think he will think his Maui honeymoon was well worth missing the chance to see the tulips blooming in his yard this year.