I intended this to be Friday Funday, but then I saw this...

This ties into a charity event that just happened last night that benefitted The Bean's Cafe and Children's Lunchbox. I've talked about these wonderful people before, but I guess more can always be said.

I've heard some people talk, with utter disdain, about "filthy homeless" people. Wow. And calling them drunks or drug addicts and losers and a string of other terrible, nasty things.

(The main issues are actually people - FAMILIES - losing their homes because we bail out banks and not people and then there's the mental illness issues that go untreated.)

I've heard ignoramus people refer to black people as "thugs" and hispanics as "lazy." Frankly, those are some of the nicer terms I've heard. I've heard people say Indian people are "dirty" and Native Americans have "a genetic propensity to drink."

All of those things? Are bullshit.

I have black friends, hispanic friends, Indian friends (who are, by the by, collectively some of the loveliest people I've ever come to know) and Native American friends. I've even got friends from Australia, the Northwest Territories in Canada, New Zealand, The British Virgin Islands, Honduras, Scotland, Ireland, England, Germany, South Africa, The Sudan, Peru...you get the picture.

The world is really a cool place and, in general, 

people are really decent and kind except for the assholes. 

And assholes come in every color and ethnicity. 

But so do GOOD people come in every color and ethnicity.

But it certainly doesn't define an entire race or group of ethnic people. 

How many of you have been to Africa? Asia? Europe?

Most of what you may perceive or believe about a certain collective group of people? Is bullshit. Until you've traveled or made the effort to actually get to know that person you work with or your neighbor who wears weird clothes or those guys that are holding hands because they love each other?

Until you do that, sir or madam, you do NOT get to form an opinion of someone just because some FOOL on Fox News or wherever you get your "news" or  so-called "information" tells you that black people are thugs or that hispanic people are lazy. Good LORD. So stupid.

I was talking with this ignoramus jerk who I met at the Millenium Hotel bar (it's beautiful and overlooks the seaplane port here - super neato), who, of COURSE, was hitting on me because he's an idiot and liked to ignore the fact that I wear a wedding ring and was COMPLETELY uninterested in him.

Well, this noodlehead continued to try to impress me by showing me a picture of his good friends, Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller. I think Dennis Miller is brilliant but the other one there? He's a f*cking clown and a dangerous one at that.

So, Mr. Ignoramus continued talking to me and spouting his vitriole about one group of humans after another. Then we got on the subject of gay people. Do you know what this assh*le had to say? Well, you can imagine that it was not nice and I of course shot him down pretty swiftly with my liberal tongue armed with several sharp talking points, informing him about the fact that the loosely 100 of my closest buddies in Massachusetts are gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer and questioning. And that there are people who are completely asexual or a little of both sexes due to some twisty bendy strange things that our chromosomes can do in vitro.

People. Are. Born. That. Way.

It's not a "lifestyle choice." What the fuck does that mean? Am I female because of a "lifestyle choice?"

Grow up people. Chromosomes make your body and brain do things with these nifty things called GENES and then we have these other things called HORMONES that direct our behavior along with NEURONS. Yes, there are environmental factors that play into this stuff, but if you've not read E.O. Wilson's work on Sociobiology, then you kind of don't get the whole picture.

Science works. Give it a try, jerk face.

See, when you know people and you are nice to them and you don't give a flying F*CK WHO they f*ck or HOW they f*ck or what color they are, it kind of puts you on equal footing.

I don't go around announcing the odd things that my husband and I do in our bedroom. (Hi Mom and Dad!) My Mother's hair would curl or stand on end. And my Dad? He'd probably have a heart attack. (Sorry Mom and Dad!)

In any case, I do NOT care what color you are, what your past was like (people actually CAN change), and who you have sex with. As long as everyone's on the same page, as it were, and there is mutual consent going on - most importantly the consent part - then that's all fine and dandy. If people love each other, they should marry them. Remember, it used to be illegal for a white and a black person to even SIT together much less marry each other. My Momma is married to a black man. If she's happy and he's happy, who is anyone else to tell them what they can or cannot do? Same rule should apply to everyone. It's right there in the Preamble of our Constitution.

And it's not just race and stupid stereotypes and gays that are being given the proverbial shaft.

Women are STILL. TO THIS DAY. Fighting for our personal rights, equal pay and equal treatment under the law.

Well, let me tell you, we all have a common "enemy" and I don't like using that word. We all have a common "oppressor" and that is rich, white, ignorant America.

I used to jokingly attribute anything bad that happened to "The MAN keepin' me down." I don't think it's funny any longer. It's gone too far and it's turning dangerous just for a black person to fucking even leave their houses. NOT because of street violence, but because whitey can shoot you dead for absolutely no good reason. That's fucked up.

From Eric Zuesse, an Investigative Historian, writing an article I found in the Huffington Post - and he is quoting from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Data book:

"The United States has such an unequal distribution of wealth so that it's in the league of corrupt underdeveloped countries, no longer in the league of the developed nations, according to the latest edition of the world's most thorough study of wealth-distribution."

You can Google the statistics if you want, but it'll make you nauseous. It makes me nauseous and I'm not poor by any standard.

So my rant can end now, as it's Friday and I'm tired of the bullshit. I'm really tired. Smarten up, people. Be nice to each other, and for the sake of all that is holy and good and whatever you do or don't believe in during this holiday season, stop voting for rich, white assholes who have nothing better to do than screw the middle class, the poor, the homeless, women, LGBTQ people and people of color.

ENOUGH with the Dan Sullivans and Don Youngs and Ted Cruzs and these laughable jerks that we give power and and more money so that they can turn around and screw up our environment and take away our "inalienable" rights. We have to fight for ourselves - We The People - because it turns out the corporate guys like the Koch Brothers and Walmart and Donald Trump? 

They clearly don't care about the rest of us. We the 98%...

The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States has CLEARLY been forgotten by many in our Congress and they are abusing their power and it just ain't okay...

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,^{[note 1]} promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Enough.

Thank you for reading and commence being kind.

Thirsty Thursday and a word from Hank

Sunrise in Grand Teton National Park. Shared via Instagram:http://instagram.com/wildernesssociety. Photo by Chip Phillips.

The title up there is in honor of my friend, Bob, who recently lost his Papa. They are a wonderful family and each Thursday the whole clan of them would get together either at someone's house or one of the many great places downtown and they'd have a meal together and a few pints.

Families like theirs are what we all saw in those paintings when we were kids - grandparents, parents, kids, grandchildren and even sometimes great-grandchildren if you were lucky enough to come from "good stock!"

Well, I was one of those lucky ones who got to meet and know both my maternal and paternal great-grandparents. Can you imagine? I remember them clearly and I was just a mere peanut of a thing when I met them all. I remember them all to be so much larger than life - they knew so much and had done so much.

My paternal Great Grandparents came over from Germany during the war. They were the "good" Germans. Picklemanns and Foresters - picklers and forest people. No wonder I like vinegar and trees so much - it's in my blood!

On the other side they were far more demure, but also farmer people. Some of my relatives still farm the land. They emigrated from places like Ireland and England, went to Michigan and that's the end of that story! Michigan is totally in my blood.

My parents were childhood friends, which I find so interesting, since I've been pretty much a vagabond my entire life. I've never really "settled" anywhere. Wanderlust has also always been in my blood. I love traveling, seeing new and exotic places, meeting new people, learning about other cultures and food and art.

Since I was a fetus I was raised to be kind of odd. My parents were not part of the 9-5 "normal" people. My Dad was a radio announcer-personality, the morning man on the most popular radio station in our region. My Mom was an outspoken, smart lady who ran her own advertising agency. It wasn't unusual to turn on the radio and hear a commercial written by my Mother, produced by my Father and sometimes even had all of our voices broadcasting over the air!

It was an idyllic childhood filled with mischief, mud pies, fishing, cavorting until dark (and sometimes well after dark), camping, building snowmen or sometimes snow "warts." Hot chocolate, mulled cider, pumpkins, donuts right off the press, hay rides, lots of presents and good friendships.

There were many concerts, plays and visits to museums. Symphonies, ballets, golf, tennis and softball tournaments. I kind of marvel at my childhood given the fact that my parents were children themselves when they had me. My Mom was merely 20 and my Dad only 21 when I came into this world. When I was 20? I think maybe I knew how to tie my shoes. Good gravy! Having a baby when you're that age is completely nuts!

Neither of my parents went to college, but that is not a bad thing. They really had their shit together (as much as a person can at 20 and 21). I would have had NO business having a kid when I was that age. Shit, I can barely keep it together these days and I'm knocking on 50 this coming May. How do people do it?

I briefly talked to my good friend yesterday. She's a single mother, she's only 43, SO smart, so incredible, high-powered sales job, makes SIX figures, manages to work from home most days, has a gorgeous house, beautiful garden, nice car, an involved Father to her child - you get the picture. She's one of those "has-it-all" type women. Well, no wonder this amazing woman has insomnia and drives herself so hard that she just has a meltdown every so often...How is anyone supposed to keep all those balls up in the air like that?

I'm lucky if I shower, get dressed and make a few dollars each day. Not to mention keeping up with cleaning, laundry, the garden, food shopping, cooking, dishes, taking care of the dogs, trying to do my writing each day, promoting my new business and then the social stuff that is necessary to maintain some semblance of "normalcy."

And I don't even have a kid! That's another whole ball of wax, there! Feeding them, getting them off to school, caring for their emotional well-being, coordinating their pick-ups and drop-offs, play-dates, social time, alone time, reading, writing and arithmetic...I do not, for the life of me, understand how you parents all do that shit and then have any time left for anything else?!! It amazes me.

When I visit my friends who have children, I generally have a fabulous time with the kids. I tend to find kids far more interesting than most adults. Kids have wondrous imaginations and, for them, the sky is the limit - and these days, the sky ISN'T the limit. My own amazing little cousins are out there in hyperspace all the time, flying giant planes and going places that test the imagination.

In any case, kids are super cool and I do have some regrets that I didn't test out my maternal skillz by having a child. However, I DO know that when I'm with my friends' kids I'm EXHAUSTED after about 3 hours. I don't know how parents do that stuff full time! Again, amazed by the parents out there who are doing their damndest to do it up right. Amazing.

So, the moral of this story (is there?) is that I'm giving mad props (terrible saying) to my 'rents and to the other parents out there. Kudos to all of you.

For today, I will leave you with a funny email from my good pal, Hank! Happy holidays to you and yours and thanks for reading:

STUDENT WHO OBTAINED 0% ON AN EXAM

Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die? * his last battle

Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? * at the bottom of the  page

Q3. River Ravi flows in which state? * liquid

Q4. What is the main reason for divorce? * marriage

Q5. What is the main reason for failure? * exams

Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast? * Lunch & dinner

Q7. What looks like half an apple? * The other half

Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become? * It will simply become wet

Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ? * No problem, he sleeps at night.

Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand? * You will never find an elephant that has only one hand..

Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have ? * Very large hands

Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a  wall, how long would it take four men to build it? * No time at all, the wall is already  built.

Q13. How can u drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it? *Any way you want, concretefloors 

are very hard to crack.

A picture of Antarctica from NASA. Amazingly beautiful, our Earth.

Death, taxes and disappointment

So, there's a happy little title to this today!! The three things we can depend upon in this life!

I've been dealing with such utter bullshit in the last week - fraudulent charges from Sprint on my bank account (someone lifted the numbers from my debit card - nice), fraudulent charges from a skin care company (false advertisement on Facebook) and another false charge at some gourmet grocery store in Kansas.

I've never been to Kansas.

And then my day began anew with a phone call from my favorite garden center in Massachusetts, Marblehead Garden Center (MGC). I've been utilizing their fine products for 20+ years and I adore them and appreciate their incredible part in making my business flourish when I opened Fox's Flower Boxes about 800 years ago!

I've always loved the people there and I even worked there for a few summers (what a blast!). Being surrounded by flowers is pretty much totally awesome!

So, then my day started with a phone call from their billing department. There was a $140 charge incurred this summer on my charge account at MGC. Well, this summer I was, as you may well be aware, in a car driving across country AND I was coming to Alaska to stay here and open my NEW business, The FlowerSmith.

Well, it turns out that this "person" who used to work for me (heavy lifting and designing - he was talented as all get out) had used my charge account (his name is on the slip) to buy himself some flowers for his yard this past summer.

Hmmm.

Nope. Not cool.

So, of course, I confronted him about via email (it's always best to have written record of these things, by the way - phone calls go into the mist unless you record them). A few hours later, I of course get this from him (this is the exact email he sent me minus his name because I'm not an asshole like he is):

"On Dec 3, 2014, at 3:21 PM, A*** W****** wrote:

Lisa,

I only used your Foxes Flower Boxes for the discount, as you said I could.  I have NEVER charged anything to

that account!

You need to grow up and learn how to talk to people. You have issuse still can clearly you need to have more

therapy Lisa. What is shitty Lisa is how you communicate!

A***"

Can you imagine writing that to a person who had been in intensive therapy for a year? I can't imagine ever speaking to another person in that cruel way. And if I'm the shitty communicator, why am I paid for my communication skills? I was the Communications Specialist and a Public Affairs Associate at two world-class museums (and I wasn't fired - I left those two jobs!).

I don't think my communication is the issue. I think someone doing something fraudulent and illegal is the issue.

He's mad because he got caught and I am not gonna bail his ass out! Not my job. Never has been and never will be.

There's even more to the story - he also apparently told the people at MGC that he "took over" Fox's Flower Boxes. Well, up there in his email, he doesn't even spell the thing correctly. He spelled it "Foxes" which has never been the spelling.

So this dumbass was going around trying to drum up business for himself by telling folks it's now HIS business. Nope. Not the case.

Then, of course, I had to get on the phone with all the people with whom my OLD business was associated to let them know that this person is in NO way connected to or representing me.

Oy to the vey with this bullshit all day.

Luckily, I've got really really good relationships with my old clients and all the vendors I used, so it was a blessing in disguise to get to talk to all of them after two years of my absence! Everyone was happy to hear from me (which sounds cocky, but it's true! I love these people!), so it was fun catching up with everyone and then to have to tell them this unfortunate turn of events - well, they were all very understanding and kind.

I guess the lesson I learned here is be very careful who you trust. I have known this guy for more than 10 years. Totally trusted him. Had him in my home. He even supported me on one of the worst days of my life. But, MAN! What the heck?

I guess we never really ever can completely know another person. 

Trust yourself and protect yourself. (Isn't there a song like that?)

I luckily listened to my gut a few years ago and sort of cut him out of my life and now I totally understand why. Turns out other people also did the same thing after he showed his true colors.

Also turns out he left Massachusetts and is in Texas now, likely finding another "friend."

With a "friend" like him...

And on it goes! I'm good and healthy and happy and married to a wonderful man. Some pipsqueak in disguise cannot hurt me...I just hope he leaves the nice people of Texas alone. 

Black and white and gray

So, this is gonna probably be inflammatory to some of the people who may decide to watch the below Jon Stewart recent broadcast regarding Ferguson and the "reporting" by Fox News.

If you don't want to see it or hear it, I'd suggest you don't watch this because it truly points to the racial divide that still exists here in the United States.

And you probably don't want to read the rest of what I'm about to say here. Nobody's forcing you to come here and read this, remember...So I don't want to hear it if you don't agree! It's my opinion and my blog and frankly, I only really write this to get it out of my head.

Also, too? My Mom is married to a black man. When I was growing up Sidney Poitier was the high standard to which all other men were compared. And I love me some Denzel and Lenny Kravitz? Good LORD Lenny is so damn sexy it sort of hurts. Obama ain't too shabby either (but I love Michelle more so she needn't worry).

I've dated me men of all sorts of nationalities and colors. Jamaican, Norwegian, Irish, Jewish, Swiss, Peruvian, Scottish, Kenyan...I really don't care what your color is if you treat me well, have a good sense of humor and a good brain, I'm probably gonna give you the time of day.

I find men of every color very enticing, so I get to blab about this.

Here comes the ranty part - just as a warning:

If you think for ONE minute that black people and white people are treated equally everywhere in the USA? I'd suggest you take off your blindfold and pay attention. Go visit the deep south and see what you find.

Al Sharpton and Obama and Eric Holder are NOT the problem. They are not racial inciters or racial "arsonists" whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

They are pointing out a continuing issue in the United States which is racism and bigotry.

The white person talking head on Fox News calling this kid a thug? And who the HELL cares what Donald "the rug" Trump has to say about racial relations? Since when do we care what that self-congratulatory noodlehead has to say?

Who the hell are these people to judge Michael Brown like that? Did you know him? Do you know his parents? Do you think that killing a kid after he stole petty things from a convenience store is justified?

Is taking a life the same thing as stealing a pack of gum? 

Was he armed? Was there any evidence that he harmed or threatened that police officer who, by the way, gets to just go on with his life? Some people contend that he will be haunted by "having" to take the life of this young black man.

Well, didja see his interview? He's got ZERO regrets. Said he'd do the same thing all over again.

It was chilling watching him be interviewed by George Stephanopoulos. He was just so matter-of-fact about killing an unarmed kid. Here's the interview in case you wanna fact-check.

It sure doesn't seem that he's feeling all that scarred by killing a teenager.

If your kid - yes, you there WHITEY - if your kid stole something petty from a convenience store (I did that when I was a kid, too) and the "justice" is that some adult person with a gun SHOOTS your kid dead, wouldn't you be upset? Wouldn't you demand that that adult person may have had other options? Wouldn't you want "justice" for your dead child?

Well, this is not just a race issue is it? It's a justice issue. And if we can't CLEARLY admit that this kid died because he is black then we're all more blind than I thought.

I'm afraid that discrimination is alive and very dysfunctionally unwell in the United States.

Here's a nice link that details the extent of the racial divide in the United States.

Tackle a campaign to make the world suck less

Here's Jon:

The Daily Show
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Another Monday to Amuse or A Muse?

It's officially winter in Alaska! It's dark for 18 hours a day (not really, it's actually quite bright starting at about 8am until about 6pm), it's snowy and icy (I'm liking this part) and the moose are wandering the streets of Anchorage regularly now.

I'm in hibernation mode in a big way. I slept until 10:30am!! Slightly different than a few months ago when I was wide awake at 4 or 5am on a daily basis. Even the DOGS slept until 10:30am. They didn't ask to go out or for food or anything. We all turn into a bunch of bears up here in the Great White North.

Even during this sort of snowy, icy time there is still much to marvel at in Alaska. There are loads of birds frequenting our yard and our neighbor's feeders. We have Mountain Ash, Crabapple, Wild Cherry and giant spruce trees filled with cones - all of which attract a wide array of feathered friends - magpies, Bohemian waxwing, juncos, chickadees, titmouse, pine siskin, huge flocks of redpolls...

I decorated for the season a couple nights ago - put out lights, some select ornaments and pretty, sparkly silver, woven ribbon. I'm doing old school except for the candles - I really don't want to burn the place down! I'm gonna go take a picture. Hold on.

BRIEF INTERMISSION. 

Enjoy these recent pictures while I go outside:

Isn't this the coolest cloud? It looked like an angel.
Sort of an inversion/lenticular cloud with some high moisture.
Interesting clouds abound here in Alaska. 

Along the coast about a mile from our house.

Cute lichens.

Bract fungus on a birch.

A littany of lichens!

Beautiful day in the Chugach State Forest.

Alrighty then. I'm back. I was outside and got the mail and braved the cold snow! It's actually gorgeous outside. The snow here is light and powdery because it's so darn arid. The mountains that surround Anchorage sort of "steal" all the heavy moisture, so it's crispy and the snow is light and lovely. It's a bit icy today - there's an ice storm supposedly coming toward Anchorage, so tomorrow will probably be a day to stay in and avoid driving altogether.

So, here are the pictures of the front of the house and some of the cute ornaments in the lilacs and roses out front:

Someone recently asked if this is where Santa lives! It kind of looks like it, doesn't it?
 Note the half-eaten pumpkins on the corner there. The mooses still have some snacks waiting for them here!

Mailbox with the remaining ribbon. 

Chickadee ornament.

Icicles, ornaments and the bell that my Aunt Sis gave to me when I got married.

Neato wire snowflake ornament.

Happy panda in the snow!

Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. Thanks for reading today and ciao for now!