Where, oh, where......

have the tree decorating fairies gone? We still have a bare tree in the house! Will they be here in time for Christmas???!!! It's such a beautiful tree, actually, that it's a shame to cover it with glitz....Not!

The faster I go, the behinder I get.....

Wow! More than three months since the last post. Incredible. Blogging is hard work, I guess, and I haven't been up to the task. A lot has happened in that time. At the end of Sept. we lost my father-in-law. RIP, Ted. In October I went to Pittsburgh for a needlework seminar and to see three grad school classmates. A good break, a lot of fun, and great to reconnect with special friends. The guys are looking good! Then it was back to reality - working and trying to encourage the building of a new library. The Red Sox bowed out of the playoffs too easily. A new season for the Maineiacs came about - with a lot to forget in the first part of it. Good luck to the new coach and welcome back Jeff.

Bobby had kidney stones blasted and is now waiting for a second round to begin. We had a big crowd here for Thanksgiving - so much fun! I'm now a bit greener after getting a new Nissan Altima hybrid. (Can't wait until we can go all electric.) Charlie Weis has left Notre Dame and Brian Kelly himself is now ready to take over the reigns. Unfortunately the ND Women's Soccer team are not the national champs. Now we're on to Christmas - the tree is up but the tree decorating fairies haven't shown up yet. Bruins are doing me proud and the Pats are on shaky ground.

Yet, in all of this is a great deal of excitement. My cousin Bernie's son is a member of The Beezlebubs, a phenomenal a capella group from Tufts University. They're currently appearing on NBC's "Sing-Off." They've led the competition for three nights straight. Now it's time for everyone to pitch in and make them number one in the land. Check out the show and vote at www.nbc.com/sing-off/index.shtml. Go Bubs!

I am ashamed, embarrassed, disgusted, furious, angry, enraged....

I am ashamed, embarrassed, disgusted, disgraced, furious, outraged and so much more with what has been going on in our country these last couple of weeks. I cannot believe that America has sunk so low. Shame on the politicians and shame on my fellow citizens. Shame on all of you - the media, too! Shame, shame, shame!!! (Can you tell that all that's been going on has hit a raw nerve!!??)

I cannot believe that having the President speak to school children to urge them on to do a good job has become such a political brouhaha. Our children need all the encouragement they can get. When I was a kid, it always seemed to be a dream of all of us that we could grow up to be President of the United States. My god, who would want that job now?

While listening to a local radio station this morning, a woman by the name of Catherine called into the show. She said that having kids listen to President Obama's speech was the equivalent of indoctrinating children into Hitler youth. She said that the documents (workbooks, lesson plants, etc.) to compliment the speech that had been prepared by the U.S. Dept. of Education were filled with Nazi-style propaganda. One of the show's hosts asked her if she had seen the materials and she said no, but that she knew what was in them! Excuse me? Excuse me!!?? You've got to be kidding, woman. Shame on you!

Then there was the man interviewed on the radio news this morning. He said that he didn't want his child listening to the speech because the President's urging to do well in school to keep our country strong would be too much pressure on the kid. Hello!!!?? Are you for real, Mister? Your kid's going to have to face a lot of pressure situations in his/her lifetime, so he/she might as well start preparing for the real thing now. Shame on you!

Where did all this ridiculousness come from? I blame the media for a lot of this. There is so much rancor among newsmen/women. Just look at the long running feud between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly. Such nastiness. No one has any respect for anyone else. Shame on all of you!

What can be done about this? It's all left me feeling pretty helpless, but I'm thinking about things that we can do. I'm not going to give up on my country. Any suggestions???????? Let's get going before it's too late.