"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Sunday Salon: October 11

                                                          Final harvest of cherry tomatoes

Weather: The weather is definitely fall-ish. The rain has arrived with wind and colder temperatures.

Family  News: This week I went to Northwest Trek Wildlife Park (all animals native to the Pacific Northwest) with my daughter and grandsons. We had such a good time and saw so many animals going about their active lives: a porcupine that was very interested in talking my grandson into letting him out of his confines; two badgers digging away; two bears playing in the water; a skunk who couldn't decide if he wanted to be in or out of his den; and two river otters playing. The park has a wonderful play area for kids. Ian loved the slide. The park was decorated for Halloween, so Ian found a lot of other things to distract him, like the circle of ghosts that invited him to dance with them. It was a perfect way to spend a fall day.

Books: 

  • Finished this week:
    • The Princess Bride by William Goldman. What a fun and joyful book.
    • A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America by Rucker and Leonnig. Wow, just wow. The authors write for the Washington Post and have done meticulous research for this book which gives such a full picture of his biggest anti-hits.
  • Currently reading:
    • Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. A memoir of growing up in South Africa. Audiobook, 24%.
    • Everybody Looking by Candace Iloh. A young adult book about an African American girl who wants to embrace her own culture and make her own way in the world. E-book, 12%.
    • How to Fly: in Ten Thousand Easy Lessons by Barbara Kingsolver. Poetry by a beloved author. Print, 58%.

Good News: (Very random news this week. The polling for Biden gets better every week. It seems like people are definitely locking in Biden. Yet...eek! I am afraid to take my eyes off the news for fear that I will miss the thing that turns things upside down.)

1. Time in Trumpville, where we all live now, seems to move at warp speed. Therefore it seems like this event happened several years ago but it was actually this past week that Joe Biden gave the speech of his lifetime considered the 2020 Gettysburg Address. Listen to the whole thing. It is worth the time and will make you feel hopeful again. (PBS)

2. Pope Francis's new message could sway Catholics over to the Biden side. (The Guardian)

In this weekend’s document he [The Pope] makes it clear that populism and nationalism – of the kind Trump typifies – are damaging, warning that “a concept of popular and national unity influenced by various ideologies is creating new forms of selfishness and a loss of the social sense under the guise of defending national interests”.

3. I guarantee you will shed at least one tear over this sweet exchange...

Do it for Shamar. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/zTWwKb7H3E

4. My mom's cousin is from Norway, where they are having quite a bit of success keeping the coronavirus at bay. He sent us an interesting article about the one word that explains why---"dugnad." (Noteworthy)

Dugnad (pronounced doog-nahd); a Norwegian cultural tradition where community members work together towards a common goal, for the greater good for all.

Imagine how wonderful it would be if Americans would be willing to work together towards a common goal.

5. My hubby and I attended a Zoom meeting with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Hillary Clinton this week. During their discussion Jay mentioned that Washington is ranked as the best state for teachers in the whole nation. That was news to me and it made me feel quite proud. I told you to expect random good news! (Ranking of best states for teachers.

6. Republicans know they need to make it as hard as possible to vote if they have a chance at winning. Therefore, they have been busy all year thinking up schemes to make voting more difficult. When challenged in the courts, though, their schemes rarely hold up. On Friday night a judge blocked an order from the governor of Texas to limit ballot drop boxes in each county to one, saying it placed an unacceptable burden on the elderly and disabled to turn in their ballots. (Statesman) In this campaign video, Samuel L. Jackson tells us to vote, not because he wants us to, but because Trump doesn't want us to. (I Will Vote)

7. Forbes Magazine has an excellent article about early voting and how it compares to what happened in 2016. As of 3 PM Saturday over 9 million people have already voted in the thirty states that are reporting these stats. (Forbes)

 

 "And then there was a fly" and other funny stuff.

1. With the Vice-Presidential debate well underway, I was tempted to turn off the TV and do something, anything else. Then a fly landed on Pence's head and stayed there for over two minutes. It seems I was not the only one to be mesmerized. Social media exploded with "fly" related memes. Below is the photo I took of the TV screen. I thought adding the "Fly" poem by Ogden Nash was a snappy choice but not very political.

2. The Biden campaign picked up on the fly right away. Some guy had this cartoon up before the debate was over. Ha-ha, I never thought I'd be in league with flies.

3. Within a few hours the campaign made 35,000 Biden/Harris flyswatters available for $10 each. They sold out quickly."Truth over flies." (Get it?...Truth over lies.)

4. Other people said it was Ruth Bader Ginsburg who sent the fly. Smart fly!

5. For years I've been warning people that things fall apart quickly when bad people are in charge. I use Lord of the Flies as my proof. Read the themes of this classic book and think about our country and our elected officials. Don't you agree with me now?

 

 

6. The Tweet of God, the funniest spot on Twitter for its irreverence, posted this--

 

Enough about the fly? Here are a few other funny things---

7. Quite often I am left scratching my head at the "logic" of some Republicans. This makes no sense.

8. Twitter users take over #Proudboys hashtag with photos of LGBTQ love. (CNN)  While we are at it, let's call that terrorist group what they really are: Nazis.

 

9. It is such a shame that schools can't be open or can only to be open in some hybrid arrangement so kids can't experience the full school vibe. (Sent to me by my daughter, a middle school teacher.) Maybe, in the long run, it will work out for them. I can still recall traumatic experiences when I was in junior high.

10. It sure seems like a year's worth of events happen in only a week during 2020. On the other hand, I hardly do anything personally except watch the Internet for each day's train wreck.

I really appreciate it when you leave me a comment below or on Facebook. Thanks so much for visiting. I hope this good news helps brighten your day.

-Anne

9 comments:

  1. Well, a fly seems to know where the biggest pile of crap is...those memes are the best. I had no idea you could buy a flyswatter! OMG! too funny.

    Looks like you had a nice time with your family. It's so pretty up where you are. T

    Thanks for the laughs and have a great week!

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  2. Wow, that's quite a tomato haul for this time of year! Local tomatoes seem to have run out around here.

    The park sounds great! I LOVE watching rover otters play - they're so much fun! Our tiny local zoo had them & my boys loved them when they were little.

    Can you believe I have never read (or watched?!) The Princess Bride?? I need to fill that pop culture gap :)

    Loved Born a Crime on audio! In fact, I left it on my iPod after I finish it and still listen to chapters here and there - such a powerful, moving, funny book!

    Enjoy your books this week -

    Sue

    Book By Book

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  3. I love cherry tomatoes from the garden and NW Trek. I hope to some day take my grandson there. Sigh. I enjoyed the memes although they hit close to home these days.

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  4. Love the Vikas Reddy re-post! The trip to the wildlife park sounds wonderful!

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  5. What a fabulous harvest. We froze our excess tomatoes this year. Maybe next year I will can them.

    And look what a fun time your grandson is having. It almost makes me forget all the awfulness going on.

    I will be going out to the polls to vote next week here in Texas. Our state only allows mail-in ballots if you meet a narrow set of criteria. No one is required to wear masks at the voting booth in Texas and our early voting will be held in a relatively small room in our public library. Worrisome. Thank goodness a judge stood up to our governor who was trying to limit the number of drop boxes to one per county.

    I shared this earlier with Helen on her blog, and she replied, "I wonder why the United Nations hasn't sent in election observers." I felt like crying when I read that. We live in one of those sort of countries.

    I saw an editorial in the Houston Chronicle today that named all the terrible deficits in Trump's character and supported Biden for president. That may not sound important to those of you who live in other parts of the country, but, for me, it gave me a lot of hope.

    Thank you, Anne, for all you posted today.

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  6. So much to comment on here. Such fun for your grandson and the family. Born a Crime was one of my favorite audio books - enjoy and the FLY was the hit of the debate along with "I'm speaking". The RBG fly was my favorite. Have a great week.

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  7. Those cherry tomatoes look yummy. Looks like your grandson had a good time being out in nature. I listened to the audio of Born a Crime and thought it was hilarious.

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  8. As always, so many good things to comment on. I love the possibility of History PhDs on a single day from this year; this is exactly how it feels. The Samuel L. Jackson video is spot on! And the memes are perfect. Have a great week!

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  9. I’m glad you and the kids had fun at the park. Thanks for sharing good news! It’s too easy to focus on the depressing stuff. I went on Twitter after watching the debate, and my entire feed was the fly. It was hilarious. I hope you have a great week!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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