Two new friends visited my yard this week. One gives me an idea of what very large prehistoric creatures must have looked like and the other a colorful, almost unreal looking lizard that I have never seen before.

China Exposed

Now that the Olympics are being played in Beijing, I fondly recall my trip to China. It was in 2000 and the Chinese were already beginning the long process of making the city presentable
for large crowds of foreigners. Men in white shirts, ties, dark trousers and dress shoes were digging in the heat to open ditches for footings for new bridges and highways. Everyone worked for the government and only a handful of people were allowed to own their own businesses.


The Forbidden City is right across the street from Tiananmen Square where some of the reporters have been broadcassting to the U. S. You can't see it in this picture but to the right and down about 3/4 of the way is a Starbucks.


This is is one of our group marching in the opposite
direction from the patroling soldiers in Tianamen
Square. We were not allowed to look at or approach the soldiers.















The marble boat you see on the left was built by the "Dragon Lady" who was Empress for a short time. The story goes that she spent all the money allotted to the army on frivolous things and when her advisors asked for ships she built this marble boat. This boat is permanently located in the lake adjacent to the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing (then known as Peking).














This is what we called a Chinese Harley with
trailer and the one on the right is a two seater
Chinese Harley.


We visited Beijing first, then Xian, took the
Yangtze River Cruise down the river just before
they finished the dam which flooded many, many old villages causing those people to find other places to live. We went down the Li River and ate lunch on the boat after which 95% of the people got deathly ill. I took peanut butter and crackers having been warned ahead of time that the dishes that were 'sterlized' in the unplugged dish sterlizer had been washed first in the Li River. We finished the trip in Shanghai where we saw lovely gardens and rockeries.

All Living Things

As I was on my way to the pharmacy I happened to glance to the side of my car and there was a rabbit, listening, but not a moving millimeter. I decided to sit and see how long he stayed there. He and I both sat for about 15 minutes without moving although the sun worked it's way around the tree beside him. I don't know if the grass in his mouth was for dinner or to soften the sides of his/or maybe her hutch. Just beyond him/ her is a garden just filled with lettuce that it has never touched.

I drove into the parking lot of the pharmacy and happened to look up and saw the "Sparrow Apartments" complete with playground. I was so glad to see sparrows instead of the usual "gang" of grackles that I had to take a photo. Who knows how long we will have these little birds with all the construction going on, new malls and houses being built and highways cutting through the countryside. Almost all of the song birds that I had in my yard within the last seven years have disappeared and been overtaken by huge crows, starlings and an occasional blue jay.

These little sparrows looked so happy just to be gazing out looking things over instead of shouting and arguing with each other like the grackles.

Memorium

As our American Memorial Day weekend comes to a close, I remember all the members of my extended family who fought in wars, both overseas and within our own country.

My Dad emmigrated from Ireland in 1908 when he was 17 years old. His sister had already immigrated to the U. S. earlier and she became his sponsor. She lived in Springfield, MA and therefore, he settled in Springfield. In those days, the government offered citizenship to anyone who joined the Army and fought in a war. He joined the Army just before World War I started and served in France. He survived without physical injury, came home and was sworn in as a citizen in 1918. He did suffer from Post Traumatic Syndrome, a mild case, which made him retreat to his home suffering with anxiety. It was rare during my childhood to be taken anywhere except to visit relatives in Springfield or his cousins in Hartford. This picture was taken around 1919.

Long before the World War I, my mother's great grandfather served in the Civil War, was wounded and got a pension from the government. His family had been here since the early 1700's and he felt it his duty to fight for his country. He died in his 40's and his wife remarried and had twelve children by her second husband. I remember going to visit the descendents of this second family, my distant cousins in Waterbury, CT where my great great grandmother eventually settled. My mother was descended from his first family.

My brother served in the Army during the Korean conflict but was stationed near home at a Nike installaton because my father had had a heart attack and my brother got a dispensation to stay near. My brother's picture shown here was taken in 1983.

My late husband also served in the Korean Conflict from 1950 to 1954 but chose to join the Marines. He came home unharmed long before we eventually met in 1957. His family was Czech and had years before become citizens when his grandmother and grandfather immigrated to the U. S. Here we are on our wedding day on October 26, 1957.

In consideration of these loyal citizens,my family, I would like to ask a question of our government. What is wrong with giving the illegal aliens a chance to become legitimate citizens by requiring them to serve in our armed forces for a period of time? I believe this was done in World War II as well, before the draft was put into place. Doesn't Israel required that both men and women serve in the armed forces? What a great opportunity to increase our armed forces as well as give the people who want to come to the U. S. and take advantage of our way of life, to give back to the country that has given them so much. Our country deserves their loyalty and in exchange they get to have the honor of becoming citizens who revere our American flag.

My family is gone now but I will never forget their part in making our county free.

The King

Several weeks ago I posted pictures of the turkey harem that runs through my yard daily. We haven't seen the King for a long time but today he came by all by himself. No harem around. Maybe he was looking for the 'lost' girls.

Ohhh Shoes!

I just love shoes, don't you? There was a time not too many years ago when I owned 300 pair of shoes! I had shelves especially built in my closet to store shoes so I could group them by color and by style so it was easy to choose a pair to wear to work with any outfit.

About two years ago I got rid of all those shoes since I don't go back and forth to the office anymore and now I have about 50 pair, mostly lower heels. I miss those days of shopping for shoes just because I liked them and then buying clothes to match the shoes.

I did keep some because they were such fantastic looking shoes even though they don't fit anymore and I look at them once in a while and wish I could wear them.

Neiman March sent "The Book" last week and as I was paging through I found some shoes that I coveted. No, I won't buy them but I did scan them and will look at them once in a while with that old yearning to go shopping and buy, buy, buy more!

The lime green pair is my favorite and if I could just get my feet to work for more than two seconds walking in those shoes I'd buy them!

More politics

It's getting closer to March 4th and I am still considering my choice of candicate. The closer it gets to voting time the more nasty the discussions become. I expect that there will be more to come. It's interesting to read what the candidates say to each other during debates and what great charisma Obama has. But unfortunately he doesn't have the experience.

I have not heard how he stands on illegal immigration and what he intends to do about the immense costs these illegals cost American citizens. I am disturbed about both Hillary and Obama voting NOT to make English our national language.

McCain is sounding better and better even if his stand on Iraq mirrors Bushes. I don't think we can leave these people after we started this unending war without trying to keep out the insurgents but I would like to have our boys returned home as soon as possible. Irregardless about what is done, some country in the Middle East will take advantage of Iraq's weakened state and try to take over the country if we leave. The Middle East just doesn't have a democratic state of mind in my opinion.

I would also like to hear what will be done about national health care without the pharma lobbyists putting their two cents (or in their case million of dollars) in. Even for the people who can afford individual healthcare, the costs are amazing.

Fighting crime is another issue I haven't heard anyone mention. In Texas, the crime rate is rising and no one is safe.

I grew up in a time when we could leave our doors unlocked without worrying about someone burlarizing our house, when the children could play outside unminded and just come home at a certain time. I walked to school for 12 years and never worried about being picked up by someone. A generation late when my children were growing up they were free to wander the neighborhood with other children, playing at each other's houses, building forts in the woods and riding their bicycles down the street without supervision.

Will those times ever come back?

I wish I could believe what each of these candidates are promising. Even in the Clinton years (Bill and Hillary instead of Hillary and Bill) we were promised healthcare for everyone and that collapsed.

Anyway we vote we are taking a chance that the person we vote for will do the right thing.