Rick and Terry Danko Live At Soundstage

Because it is a good day to put on some fine fine music.
Missing Rick's clear upright style.
What a guy.
Thanks for the link on YT

Kate Russo-Mercedes Benz w/Rick Danko in Woodstock, NY

Great youtube link for NY Eve...
Awesome!

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve 2012

and the snow makes everything brighter and fresh.

The Last day of 2012

finds us in the US on the edge of a fiscal cliff
on the edge of our ability to comprehend how us as individuals can ever hope to make it better.
Hoping is a place to start and recommended however, do not take it personally
if it all goes to H*ll in a hand basket.
Guess that is a consolation.
If you are not responsible, it is not your fault.

Meanwhile Fred has renamed Girly Girl, "Antithesis".
All she will say, is "NOOO" in her whiny cat voice.
She is so like Tommy, her brother or cousin, we are not quite sure.

I did not have the energy to get out and snap photos.
Shoveled for awhile, then rested.
The storm did produce considerable snow.
Looked a bit like these archival photos.
Happy New Year's Eve.

 

Rick Danko and Professor Louie 1999: Book Faded Brown.

One more for Sunday.

Pachelbel vs. Chopin -- GlassDuo

Beautiful music for a Sunday snowy morning.
Another 6-8 inches snow overnight.
For skiers looking for perfect New England Powder,
Today is a good day to begin!

Psalm Challenge 86

Psalm Challenge 86

David's Prayer,

Soft and sweet,
Telling of his being saved,
brought up from the depths
of Hell.

Having faith
evermore,
Believing his Trespassers
will be halted,
by an invisible hand
of God.

Every day,
on his knees in prayer,
on my knees, every day,
at least figuratively.

Thanking God,
in advance,
for the bounties
we receive
and
having to trust
His judgement,
me the human
hoping
the bad guy gets it in the end.

Later,
Forgiveness,
Reassuringly,
it is possible,
for me, the human, in a weak moment
who descended briefly and was
pulled up by the
invisible sure hand of
God.



**************************************************
for the host of Psalm Challenge

Link to Daily Athens

Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa- I'll Take Care of You- LIVE

Great song link for friday night music...
tgiff
mg

Recap 2012

Recap 2012

We lost so many.

Mom, Levon, The Captain, other friends, our cat Gigi just died 12.23.12.
It seemed Mom brought Captain and Captain called up Gigi (she was his #1 cat girlfriend).

The world did not come to an end

and I told you there is no end and no beginning anyway.

I still am loyal to my preferred blogger list

With so many to choose from, just stroll through my blog list for friends around the world who will keep you in the know and challenge your senses.

Yes Dad, we are still working

He turned 90 and has been retired 30 years. He tells me he should have kept working.
So he wants to make sure I keep working
and he can't see me and will always worry that I am falling apart
and yes, that is as sweet as chocolate.
He hates ms as much as i do.
He was a marine and after watching ncis+ncis-la, i feel i understand his grit a bit better.

The garden was pretty good

Wish there was more time in the day, more energy, less disease, bugs, weeds
and H20 supply-demand mismatch.
Wish the blight had never shown it's ugly face here.
Last year was an extraordinarily warm, mild snowless winter in Vermont.
Hope the cold snap we just had killed some of the bugs.

The Election

was over publicized, over politicized, under relevant to my betterment. My weak attempts at questioning local political entities have become an energy suck, bad for MS. Will I stop typing?
You will have to pry my keyboard from my cold dead hands.

My Favorite blog post 2012

Ageism and the Empty Chair.

My latest Blog challenges

Have tried to post daily, keep content mildly fresh, demand that it please myself first and also not to wait until I feel it is perfect and polished. I take inspiration from all those bloggers who I follow.

Entering weekly Psalm Challenge hosted by Daily Athens.

The continuing adventures of Alice Karma in Interview with a Clone, serial blog novel.

Next concert on my list

Midnight ramble once the spring comes

Most surprising thing I did this year

Like my Mother, I started painting. She started oil painting after her mother died. The images that came to me may have been from past lives or just my free imagination. When I mapped a timeline of our family and key events, I could better see my parents as people, pretty amazing people who held it together. I got a more 3 dimensional view of my grandparents I scantly recall.

Hope for 2013:

peace,prosperity,happiness for all.
mary

 

 

Snow

Snow coming

6-15 inches

predicted in the VT/NY Champlain Valley
maybe more in the mountains
depending on where in the Northeastern US you are.
So the Ski industry is salivating, the plow truck drivers are resting up,
we are taking what comes and rolling with it as much as we can.

Christmas was nice and quiet,
quieter without Mom on the phone,
recapping where everyone was and what they were doing.
Every Christmas forever was connected with Mom somehow,
We actually trimmed the tree before
so I could tell her on our Sunday call.

When we visited once,
Mom told me, "I hope you are taking notes!"
It surprised me, said with almost a threatening tone.
She was always so tolerant of circumstance gone south,
plans gone awry, expectations failed.
Now I realize she was a victim of institutionalization,
even my ultra tolerant Mom. Even the strong but quiet woman
who bore 7 children without a whine or a wimper.
Reminding me we have to completely revamp our eldercare before the baby boomers need it.
Oh wait, too late.

First step,
At Adult day programs, call it the "Club", serve faux drinks,
replace all the Glenn Miller with Steve Miller and
look at truly multigenerational centers.
Next step. Do you know it is up to each of us to create the milieu that meets the needs of our individual community? I like the idea of a virtual adult day,
we could attend from home and avoid the bumpy upland travel.


Finally, thought I would post a storm photo from 2010.

 

ALEXIS P.SUTER & GARTH HUDSON

Wonderful link from you tube...

Merry Christmas 2012

##Christmas finds us 

White Christmas Vermont

 

Finally snow in the Champlain Valley

and a photo from last week sunrise

Jim Weider w. Anton Fig, James Mongomery and Les Paul's Trio "Amazing Gr...

Christmas Eve music link...
Amazing Grace, the music is the words...Beautiful...
From NYC

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Testify 25/08/84

SRV Music videos posted this beautiful gem of Stevie Ray Vaughn & Band.
I was so sad once I discovered SRV, he was already gone. Perhaps that is why he
left too soon, like some other truly gifted artists.
Happy Christmas Eve for those who observe.
For those who do not, turn up the volume and enjoy the show.

Daniel Goodman - Keys To The Kingdom

take a few minutes to listen and watch this link......

Psalm Challenge 85

Psalm Challenge 85

Christmas is coming,
Daylight growing,
Gifts are flowing,
The tree is up.

The Sun above us, 
a good provider,
shines his gifts of
warmth and power.

In the Heavens, all around us,
lies the home of all the Justice.
We Pray for Peace.
We ask for Mercy,
We want Salvation,
to rise up through our feet from the earthen ground.

Rainy days, brings flowers, food,
We take time out to nap.
Later gather the bounty in our garden,
We know no money could ever buy.

We ache for our country,
Sometimes afflicted
with the opposite of
truth and peace.

We pray salvation,
comes on swiftly,
slaying the greedy, evil and arrogant beasts.

how else would peace be possible except by the death of evil?
Can we pray for such a death sentence to evil?


Link to Psalm Challenge website

Interview with a Clone

Interview with a Clone,
by Mary E. Gerdt 2012
all rights reserved


Chapter 20

The Letter…Part 2

On Earth, in a little beach house, slept a normal human, non clone named Alice Karma. She slept very deeply tonight, after being hit by a freight train of new information. She was the victim of an overzealous mother who did what she thought was right at every junction. Perhaps it was right.

In the beginning, Susan Wolf suspected that cloning was becoming more than science. The politics was a part she was removed from, until she stumbled onto the plans of certain powerful people living in Switzerland. She found out their true motivation was not for good, but for creating slaves for labor, and organ donors to harvest. They pressured her to say she was successful and they saw the child who was the result. Susan gave the leaders phony documents loaded with math and scientific jargon. She then returned to the US to begin planning her next phase of undercover island living and dabbling in science.

Susan never wanted to put Alice in the middle. She did bear and rear Alice after all. Alice had a deep affection for her Mom and vice versa.

So why did Susan feel compelled to maintain the lie?

Alice woke up in a start. Her eyes stinging from the sunlight streaming in her window. She shook her head and breathed deeply.

Her life was being clarified, normalized instantly without knowing what normal is. And it felt fine, another breath, cleansing out all the oddity of being a clone, no one else knew right now. It was a secret she held with her Mother, her biological vehicle mother and environmental/nurturing/mentor mother. Alice would never again question her mother’s motivations about what she did, lying, posthumous confessions. Her whole life was coming into focus, instead of the old blurry Alice.

Alice shared the letter with Georgia. Georgia was visibly shaken which in turn shook up Alice. Georgia was more like a mother than Susan. When she implanted the embryo, Georgia was certain she was doing the first clone birth. Even still, she was resistant to doing the procedure. Susan basically bribed Georgia with a long term commitment and a very high salary and expense account. In turn, they could only leave the island at prescribed times. Security was tight.

As it turns out, there was no clone, no documents, no miraculous wonder of modern science in the 2060’s.

There were criminal elements afoot, who trolled constantly for the clone data. There was a bounty for who brings any information forward.

Meanwhile, on Mars, Gigi Fairweather stopped by the infirmary to check on her niece, Dawn Fairweather. Dawn was delirious and sick with fever. They were down to their last antibiotics. Dawn had a kidney infection which threatened to shut down her kidneys. Gigi knew Dawn’s father Tommy would be furious Dawn was here, on Mars. Another disastrous outcome with Gigi, Tommy’s sister. The problem is, Dawn stowed away against Gigi’s advice. Once they took off, she was on her way too.

Gigi looked at her watch and had one more solar Earth day before her next show with Alice. She grew to enjoy the discussions and back and forth debates over the air (and space) waves punctuated with laughter and applause from Mars.

Gigi still did not know the truth about Alice, why she looked an awful lot more like Gigi than like Susan Wolf her clone mother, but not.

A supply ship was due any day. A day later, the transport rescue ship would take them all home.



　

　

Happy End of Times!

Thanks to Ann & her Angels for this link suggestion for today....
Best wishes to you on the other side of the mayan calendar.
mary

 

and another wonderful inspiration with the angelic voice of
Teresa Williams & the Levon Helm band

 

And just in case we all survive to take a dive off the "physical cliff",
watch what the senate is doing to rob you of privacy:
take action, dudes, and dudettes, this is
Your Privacy!!!
Wake up!

Wiretapping millions of Americans? It’s unconstitutional & illegal. And it's up for a vote in Congress. https://eff.org/r.2asn

40th Anniversary Celebration | Events | Institute of Noetic Sciences

40th Anniversary Celebration | Events | Institute of Noetic Sciences

Thought I would put up this link
then Instantly,
the message will go around the world
not possible 40 years ago

Wonder how many might see it
and Leap
at the chance to be a part
of early space travel

Why did we not go back?

12.20.2012.  wanted to point out this is one of the three shortest daylight days in the northern hemisphere

I kept thinking about the shortest day.
Then, expanding my thinking, it was natural to see there were 2 days just a little longer on either
side of the shortest day

soon days will be longer...it will be welcome
 

Summer memories

mom' s painting

Winter Memories

 

Winter Memories. Vermont

 

It really is beautiful when it snows.

We have suffered a longer than average stick season.

It was nice to see even a smidgen of snow,

not as much as in this memory,

and rain will wash it all away in the valley.

 

 

G.G.

and Tommy

3 23 09 Frank Glover Jazz Kitchen

Wondeful link on you tube for Sunday afternoon...
We saw a documentary last night on public tv about Frank Glover and Claude Sifferlen

My 2 new favorite Jazz artists.
And one has already left us.
My judgement of Jazz is if it makes me feel without cringing, shaking my head, wondering where they came up with that beat.
Good jazz to me never makes me wonder who is playing...
It is all about the feeling

Psalm Challenge 84

Psalm Challenge 84

The swallows found a home here,
in our back shed,
we never had the heart to shut them out,
when they come back after flying
thousands of miles to their temple of life,
their nests where they have 2-3 consecutive nests full of babies,
they chirp their relief and gratitude, their faith tested.

They are grateful for the bugs that
annoy us and get in our eyes and bite us.
We are grateful they eat as many bugs as they do.
We wonder if, after we are gone, will someone bulldoze the old shed,
failing to see the significance of swallows?

I saw the sunrise
I am in awe.
Our total, our being, our bodily temple, all comes
From the Sun.

It rained, My faith tested,
again and again,
failing, rejected, dejected, dismayed, disowned, disoriented.
Adrift, a rolling stone.

In the end, there is a rainbow,
a reward for our faith.
Like trusting swallows, we hope we find
our home and will be here with our Father Sun,
until the end
if there ever is
an
end.



for the host of psalm challenge
Psalm Challenge

Upstairs Cat Downstairs Cat

That is just how it ended up working when Girly Girl moved in.
Tommy,Gigi and Sean are downstairs,
Girly Girl is upstairs mostly, occasionally strolling
or running through the downstairs to
surf for food,
or nap.
About Girly Girl: we took a couple fuzzy pictures that are not worth sending.
We wanted to show Girly's Meridien's Mom how she is blending in with the pride, her first family,
by the fire in harmonious bliss, and that has not happened yet. The blending may never quite happen but at least they all have their respective "places" as cats and people will do.
Instead of photos, thought I would write this post and dedicate to the Photos not taken category.
Girly Girl is never still, our camera and phone always somewhere else.
Then I thought, Girly's Meridien's Mom knows all too well what she looks like, her soft white and black furry head charging at you full speed at an inopportune moment,
or her picky claws saying pick me up, then she says no, then she squeals no,
and then starts purring loudly.
I remembered how I secretly wanted to keep her when we gave her away.
Glad to have her back. She is so sweet.
Her obnoxious little whiny habits,
irresistible.




 

Puss n Boots Hill Country NYC

Levon Street Team is on the prowl on you tube looking for a great Friday night music link.
It did not take me long to find this great tribute song to Levon Helm.
I envisioned Levon startin' up the GTO with his little woman & they take off for the city.

For Ramble tickets in Woodstock, NY or merchandise for last minute shopping...

levonhelm.com


help "keep it goin"


travelogue notes...
p.s. we got a very cool card from Singapore...thanks all :-} no snow here either <3 data-blogger-escaped-="data-blogger-escaped-" mary="mary" p="p">

Ex Parte Communications and More Town Attorney Shenanigans

Ex Parte Communications and More Town Attorney Shenanigans


I really like this link above that is part of my core curriculum for understanding town politics,
rules and procedures. Sometimes people throw around terms. Law is particularly
snarly with such words, and strings of words: Latin, English and the like.
of course medicine is similar but i can speak and feel comfortable in that world
i understand the order, the protocol logic
Some things are common sense and they are also rules of law.
At the end of the day, with infractions and Shenaniganzas, the common man or woman can do little to affect town fathers' behaviors.

Friday finds us in extended stick season in Vermont at the height of darkness...
Today is a week, 7 days before, you know, the end times and when the daylight gets longer again.
The end times could be an event or just a shift, a schizm, a bump in the road.
As I have surmised before, end times or not, we are always suffering, sustaining, rejoicing and accepting changes, always and for ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Roger Waters & Eddie Vedder Perform "Comfortably Numb" - "12-12-12" The ...

From the Sandy Relief concert on you tube....

Sandy Relief Needed

Sandy Relief is needed and this group is a good one to donate to...

http://www.robinhood.org/

They  are helping those around the storm ravaged areas.

We watched part of the incredible concert last night 12.12.12

Spread the word, help that wonderful city heal from unimaginable wounds.

 

12-12-12

12-12-12

only happens once

well that is true of other dates too

if you want to get picky about it.

 

12-12-12

will mean nothing tomorrow or next week

but still it is

kind of cool.

 

12-12-12

12 to the third power

12 months

12 years since we all had to buy new computers

because they were going to crash

and they didn't

 

12-12-12

wasn't it just yesterday when we thought

wonder if I will ever make it to the new

milennium

now we are here

12 years later

 

There were 12 of these,

one for every month

1-1-1 in 2001

2-2-2 in 2002

3-3-3 in 2003

you know and so on

 

So it is the last one of this series

Hope your 12-12-12 day is grand.

 

 

 

Our

Interview with a Clone Chapter 19

Interview with a Clone

By Mary E. Gerdt 2012

All rights reserved

Chapter 19

The Letter… Part 1

　

Alice woke up with a dry parched mouth and a pounding headache. She spied the empty brown bottle. One Japanese beer was all she could stomach any more. Maybe that was for the best.

She must have passed out next to the letter that started a crying jag that shivered the timbers of their island beach house. Alice strained to recall anything but Margo, the name, Margo, what did it mean, who was she?

She realized she never really even made it to the letter, just the envelope, just the thought of her mother, her clone mother, would write her a letter, make her carry it around and put that load on Alice, too. Secrets, on top of secrets. Alice wanted to burn the damn letter, the one that had her off her game, emotional, out of control…with…feeling.

Georgia checked in earlier, left some cold cereal, juice, fresh towels. She never saw the letter, and would never have known about it if Alice had just burned it, right then, as she impulsively wanted to do. Alice waited a split second and blew her chance to be a daring, cavalier gambler. Instead, she is calculating, scientific, like her Mom, predictable, objective, boring.

Alice rubbed her eyes, took a swig of juice, and read the letter.

This time the Dear Alice thing didn’t even garner a sneeze, let alone tears.

She looked at the empty beer bottle and swore to herself, “never again!”.

Dear Alice,

You have been the shining light in my life, my everything, my purpose, my chance to make my parents proud, my country, my sciences that I loved more than a spouse, or my parents.

As I grew as a scientist, there were certain boundaries I had to consider, evaluate, analyze.

(of course, Alice thought, cloning? The ultimate ethics challenge-never seemed to bother Mom)

When I was in basic training, readying for the space program, I was in the program with Gigi Fairweather. (Alice’s interest perking up).

Before we went to space, we had the option of saving embryos.

It was generally accepted that we might be rendered sterile in the radiation of the trip and the risks associated with the early settlements. So they gave us a catalog of likely sperm donors and we ordered up children to be frozen if we made it back.

(Alice is more puzzled than ever)

I never made it to outer space even though I flew plenty. Gigi wanted to go all the way to Mars, even back in school. I preferred cloning plants and monkeys and trying to make humans. Switzerland offered me a great deal of money and a state of the art research lab. We worked for 5 years.

Alice heard this all before.

We failed.

Alice’s heart skipped a beat. Like a flip flop. She paused breathing. Then began again. She checked her own pulse. “I am alive.” she thought.

She read on.

We knew we failed. Yet we could not show nothing to the Swiss government, they were so on edge, too hopeful and insistent. By then I had developed arthritis and had terrific pain in spite of treatments. I knew even if I wanted to clone, I could not give you, or any child, what I knew would be a painful condition.

So my faithful midwife Georgia, thinking she had planted a clone, actually planted an embryo I had removed from Gigi’s cache. No one knew.

Not one single person.

Alice dropped the letter, stunned now, past emotions, past understanding, her life based on a lie, a white lie, or a terminal ego or the well meaning of a caring mother surrogate.

Gigi was her mother. Alice was being interviewed by her mother living on Mars who does not know it. Alice’s mother Susan lied. Alice was more alone than ever. Once unique and suffering being the only one, and isolated. Now she is like the rest of the human race, finally like everyone else, and no one to tell, no one to care.

　

Next stop: Mars

Next Stop: Mars

The red planet,

did we get so bored with the moon 40 years ago?
or did someone want the funding more?
On the radio, I heard an astronaut for Apollo 17 talk about the last trip to the moon
40 years ago...
He said Some kids don't even know we went to the moon...

Well, private contractors are fixing that...

A few cool billion U.S. dollars will get you to the moon.

Next stop: Mars
 

Black Country Communion "Cold" Live Over Europe

Fred just got me this album as early Christmas present.
Cold...gives me shivers and is truly incredible....

Psalm Challenge 83

Each week I am trying to be more inquisitive about the Psalm coming up.
At first I wondered how I would keep track of the number, could I even understand those mystical sounding songs written by Asaph? or who really? How can thousands of years go by and something is not lost in the translation? Especially with the inherent bias of the translators.
It helps to read the other entries, hosted on the website below. The photos, extraordinary.
The songs after all, will mean something different to all of us as individuals. They leave some mystery for us to be inquisitive about. Clever, of course, since we humans so often ignore the obvious or direct communication.
This week I managed to research on Monday and have pretty much thought about the meaning, the various interpretations, the co-occuring modern wars, conflicts, uprisings and random acts of senseless violence near and afar on our fair planet. Wish me luck with my poem.
for other entries:
Psalm Challenge...

In my tribe

i saw my father buckle

under the weight of poverty
created by too many children
not enough to go around,
well,
nothing much extra i should say
we never knew we were poor
in my tribe

my mother worked like a dog for men
who took credit for her know how and skill
and they smiled at her
and that was enough for mom
i love her so

in my tribe
we came from the old country where
the bastards drove us out
took our land
killed our men
for religion, land and money
oh and
power

in my tribe
we got stronger
with each passing blow
each setback,
each
hungry moment

i saw the photos of jews
killed by nazi's,
read the stories
of germans gone bad.
my relatives
my father was caught up in WW 2,
sailing the South Pacific while his brother and
other neighbors fought
against the people who drove his grandfather
from prussian farmlands.
we were danish now i know
it can get confusing sometimes
whose tribe you are really in

in my tribe
i sometimes imagine how genghis khan conquered
some of my people.
is he also my blood?

Blood aside,
in my tribe
we were taught to respect and love
honor and obey,
fight against oppression, poverty, hunger and shame.

I read the story of Ezekiel and foreseeing nazi plunders
fearing the end of abrahams children
i finally started to see the blending of judaism and christianity
and why it is so despised
by
the despicables.
they can never win
against
my tribe
or the tribes of God
they can and will try

as i look out at the milky way and see my mother's essence and hear her voice in my mind say
"milky way"
I am reminded of my tribe
and the faith she gave me
and she said
go,
go see the world.

she studied jesus
and mystics
and the bible
in my tribe



 

The Chocolate Party

The Chocolate Party

Political leaders fail to control themselves

or

gas prices, taxes, ooc spending, regulations,

 

and yet,

they manage to keep track of what donors give them

in tidy bank accounts

they funnel to advertisements or give back to the party

for another political battle.

 

I propose

The Chocolate Party

because it has a nice ring to it,

hey, are you not drooling right now, just thinking about it?

 

Just think, candy bars for votes.

Sugar coat all the promises,

Simplify the diet of Rhetoric,

Sweet success!

 

The party of Chocolate,

even if small and simple,

or gives you a pimple,

it will stick in your mind,

and make you rethink

old stale political agendas.

 

Hot chocolate?

Candy bars?

Ice cream?

It is all OK

 

In The Chocolate Party

Dave Brubeck - Dave Brubeck - Legacy Of A Legend

Great video link and tribute to this wonderful jazz artist who I bonded with as a young girl when my brother put Take five on the family wooden console record player. Warm and fresh, delightful, unforgettable.

December Views

Montpelier
Capitol of Vermont


December sometimes brings crisp blue skies
and
sometimes cloud patterns with the low light of a sunrise

 

Appearances

These two handsome horses posed nicely for a photo opportunity.
Now we know the sign is a little puzzling perhaps,
so remember,
Appearances can be deceiving,
and horses cannot read.

Technorati Tags: Appearances,Horses

Interview with a Clone Chapter 18

Interview with a Clone, Chapter 18

By Mary E. Gerdt

All rights reserved 2012



The Envelope

Alice knew today was the day, the day the envelope would be opened. Alice carried the envelope all over and now, seeing the name of the nameless clairvoyant through a tiny tear, she knew there was no turning back.

Her mother always said the clairvoyant had no name, adding to the mystery of the story.

In fact, Alice strained now to remember the story she heard when Susan was tired, feeling vulnerable, down on her work. Susan would say, “It was meant to be, the Seer said.”

The Seer, now Alice knew as Margo, was nearly as mysterious with only one name.

The commercial break was nearly over.

Normal could wait.

Alice was going to stick her neck out, gamble, for the first time, well, ever.

Her heart pounded, she made a conscious effort to breathe deeper, as she went off script,

into the ozone of uncertainty.

Gigi‘s voice beamed, “We are back.” Applause…music…

For a pilot turned radio host, Gigi was fully competent and clearly loved the attention.

Alice jumped in, ”I have a surprise.” and she paused, eager to continue but looking for the nod from Gigi. It was her show after all. Alice was respectful of that much. They were the ones stuck on Mars, that red desert island.

Gigi shrugged. Looking puzzled at her microphone. She closed her eyes, as if that could help her explain the mystery that this clone girl was cooking up. Gigi did not like surprises. She preferred as few variables at any point in time. Zero or less was her preference. “Go ahead, “ Gigi said hesitatingly.

“I have an envelope from my clone Mom, Dr. Susan Wolf. Today I am going to open it. (Alice cannot hear the applause on Mars) In these years after Mom is gone, well they have been very difficult, like anyone losing a Mom, she was my Mom and Dad in one. It is hard to explain, like I have told you before.”

On Mars, a mesmerized crowd shared a private moment, the envelope they imagined. It had been so long since they had seen an envelope, and the emotions it could contain.

Gigi was equally as mesmerized, and what of this surprise, why now, why open the envelope here, now?

Alice thought the same thing.

Alice ripped open the envelope so the Mars contingent would have no doubts.

“My first discovery is that my mother reveals a fortune teller’s name who Mom knew and who predicted my birth as the first clone.

Gigi plays along, “And her name is…?”

“Margo” Alice answered.

The Applause went on until the signal split up, solar flares and static took over, and Alice and Gigi signed off.

Alice, relieved by the interruption, took her envelope to her room where she planned to read it with another Japanese beer. She savored the moment, and at the same time it was part of her growth and development. Her Mom wrote her a letter. So rare even on Earth here. Handwritten, in the old cursive style, hard to read at times.

Dear Alice, she read quite plainly, and unexpectedly burst into tears…..

On Mars, Gigi thought about Alice’s discovery.

Who was the fortune teller named Margo?

What did the rest of Susan’s letter say? Gigi was uneasy a little. Trying to recall what she and her old roomate Susan might have shared. Was it coming out in a posthumous note? Gigi shook her head, no, there would be nothing incriminating. After all, Susan and Gigi went to college in 2040, not like the kids of today, 2064 that was more like Alice’s generation.

　

Bob Dylan - Duquesne Whistle

Link to a very interesting, entertaining, foot tapping
a tad bit violent, might want to be ready to close yours eyes briefly,
tune will stick with you 4 ever,
cool Bob Dylan creation.
 

My 1000th Post Psalm Challenge 82

The girl looked over the ridge at the gathering of tall images standing around a glowing fire in the pitch dark.

She lay on her stomach, close to the ground, hoping she could merely watch, intrude,
take in this strange and magical ceremony.

God appeared as a giant golden energy lightbeam.

The girl felt warm, connected, mesmerized.
The other figures, tall, but not tallest like God.
Powerful, but not powerful-est.

God gathered the crowd, seemingly ever expanding,.

Was the world really this complicated?

The girl shielded her eyes at times, evil, devilish, mean, malicious entities snarled her way,
smelling the defenseless orphan girl, poor and homeless, desperate, hungry and afraid.

God reeled in the slithering fallen angels, who are powerful and yet lacking in compassion.
As the powerful fallen angels looked for their purseful of rewards,
they were handed great heavy trunks and they revelled in their deception.

The young girl was saddened as she surveilled a transaction, was it corruption?
God pulled her aside and assigned her a special angel, who washed her, fed her
and rested her mind of where will I sleep? eat? be nurtured?
She asked God why he rewarded the fallen angels, cold greedy sinners.

God smiled at the simple misunderstanding so common among earthlings,
It was not gold young lady,
It was a sack full of your sadness, your hunger, the heavy weight on the mind of a young orphan girl.
She smiled as she nodded off.



for other Psalm Challenge links, click psalm challenge

999

999

is just

666

upside down

 

and 4 me

 

it is my 999th post

on this, my travel blog,

my MS blog,

my self expression/outlet/

social connecting

sharing images, music,

misery and happiness,

weird quirky observations,

travel and music reviews.

 

Was not sure how 999 would be written.

I am here to tell you how it got written:

tiredly.

After working 3 days last week, 5 seems like an eternity

Crappy weather, cold descending in an arctic blast,

test our resources.

My 999th post is dedicated to my husband of 28 years today,

FCR,

I'll ride the river with you any day,

MEG

 

 

 

Next post is Number 1,000

 

 

 

The Band - Atlantic City - 1994

Posting a link to a great one for Friday...
and the people of Atlantic City

For Levon, if you are anywhere near Woodstock, NY
go buy tickets to some great concerts coming up.
Click below...
Buy Levon tickets and merchandise in time for your favorite holiday of darkness and hope

Stick Season & Still Art

Stick Season, Vermont



&

Still Art

Who are you? The Gator, The Frog, the Cat or the Tractor?

King Crimson - I Talk to the Wind (1969) (HD)

Great video-music link on you tube...

Grandma’s Idol

 

Wallace Reid,

Famous actor of the ?20’s?

This is a tin my Grandma Fanny had.

It holds old sewing notions, needles, thread.

I have used this tin since “appropriating” it from Mom’s stuff.

Later she smiled as she told me of her Mother’s crush on Wallace Reid.

Privacy Matters

 

Privacy Matters

to you and to me,

and

not between you and me

and

the government.

 

It is natural for the

Government

to want to make it easier

to eavesdrop

innocently,

when it is just

for your own good?

 

Wait,

no, I told you,

it is wrong for a government

or other entity

to violate your

Privacy.

It matters.

Subroutine Girly Girl

Our "new" old cat is settling in,
though I am observing
Subroutines are not easy to create or re-create.

Girly Girl, as we now call her,
Is implacable at times, briefly inconsolable,
then it passes.
I remember that is how she was when she was Whitney,
When she lived here as a fledgling kitten.

I watch as she circles the edge of a room,
scanning,
eyes open,
taking it all in,
where are the things, other cats,
circle again.

We pet her as much as we can
and reassure her,
still she is not to be reassured except by herself.
She is all cat.

The subroutine, the new routine of Girly Girl
Is evolving as we speak.
She develops new areas of tolerance, daring to go a little farther each day.
Tommy is jealous and yet he too, is adjusting,
(having known her once as Whitney, his sister, 12 years ago)
now he is never quite accepting
of Girly Girl.

Les Paul's Trio featuring Nicki Parrott - Autumn Leaves - IridiumLive! 9...

Very Nice version from The Iridium Live...

Psalm Challenge 81

Psalm Challenge 81


We revelled in the sound of song, tambourine, harp, drums, lyre and horn.
A song we had never heard before, angelic, a celebration, satiety for our souls.

We searched for reasons, was it our fate, or a blind gift, a random act?
The song sang out an end to slavery, hunger, hatred, and sins against others.

There were those in the audience, inattentive, impertinent, downright rude,
I could not understand their alien language. What planet did they come from?

They worshipped things, and stuff, and weird animal shapes.
They thumbed their noses at songs of hope being practised by our choir.

We learned a lesson from being out in the cold.
We should have, would have, could have had the faith.

Learning now the moral of an ancient song from long ago,
Your faith is rewarded, tested, abandoned, returned to,
bringing us back to
Must we never stop learning?

 

When will we eat honey from the rock?









Psalm Challenger host: Psalm Challenge Host Link

 

Transparency

Transparency

I was looking for the invisible transparent thing,
Harder to see than a needle in a haystack,
It was like looking for a hay blade in a haystack,
Everything blended as one.

Open Transparent meetings would be the law of the land.
Did you see through that one too?
They would pay your lawyer, if you win,
Guess that means the lawyer gets paid either way,
Hey, why do we need a lawyer anyway, if it is so
Transparent?

Do you remember school before I pads and DVD's,
We had Transparencies, They still use them.
Transparencies were an interesting concept too,
You put words and images in a transparent film.
What gets through makes the image. It is not 100 percent transparent.

I want the 100 percent transparent government.
Not the one where I have to go haystack to haystack
wondering what I am even looking for,
its bewilderment obscuring any
transparency.

 

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee: Two More Songs

I was looking for music for Friday night
and was looking for who Sonny Terry really was,
then I found this on you tube
Red River and Crow Jane...Masterful Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee...

November Light

November Light,
Sun Rays low and long,
Stretching to reach us.
Clouds the norm in November.
We have actually had a lot of sunny days,
Black Friday an odd phenomenon,
Selling stuff to ready consumers
willpower weakened by the
November Light.

Shine the Divine: Creativity IS a Spiritual Practice: Mega Mobius Gratitude Quilt 2012

Shine the Divine: Creativity IS a Spiritual Practice: Mega Mobius Gratitude Quilt 2012


Visit Laura's site where an amzing thing happened.
We are grateful for this opportunity to say what we are really grateful for.

Wow...

Thanksgiving (U.S.)

Thanksgiving

I will never forget
The grade school images, crayon smells as we colored images of Thanksgiving
turkeys, pilgrims, native americans, leaves, corn stalks, pumpkins,
then we pasted them up on the giant windows of Columbus school.
we were told they all sat down at one table, long ago
peacefully,
coexisting.
The pilgrims in our school stories never got sick, or died, nor did their
native american guides. Nobody fought or struggled, or was really real.
Those story pilgrims were as 2 dimensional as the colored construction paper.
I want the real story,
the sickness, death, the struggles extreme, the interpersonal struggles
over power, property, money or love.
How quickly did the native americans contract deadly illnesses because they had no natural immunity?
Were there pilgrims who secretly prayed for return to European civilization of the day?
How many did they bury of the pilgrims before they had the Thanksgiving harvest?


Fast forward to today:
I give thanks for all we have and hope you have a wonderful feast per the tradition in the U.S.
mary

 

Joe Bonamassa - Mountain Time LIVE at Carre Amsterdam

Rounding out the short work week with Joe
and
Mountain Time

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate
Here is a link for free Joe music in case you wondered,
He is a Blues Titan, gifted guitarist, singer, collaborator, historian, all around nice guy who loves music and he really knows those blues...

Free Music link by Joe

Photo from NASA History twitpics...

Love the NASA History Twit-pics...
like this one.

 

X-15 mounted on B-52
Photo by NASA


last night is NCIS x 2 night
CBS has options to watch online too
well we still watch the shows a second time to get
the whole plot figured out...mostly.
Then Vegas is on which once again we will watch re runs later online.
abc cancelled Last Resort for which I am deeply disappointed
We will finish watching all 13 shows. It is a masterful
political science military civilian thriller.
other than that, after cancelling our satellite tv, we watch pbs cooking shows,
you tubes and the cats and blogging
Twitter has been fun for me, randomly landing on photos like this one.
 

31 Days

31Days

until heaven knows what

might happen on Earth,

according to some

the calendar ends.

 

 Do you believe

in Santa Claus, Tooth Fairies,

Easter Bunnies,

God or an equivalent Deity,

or

can you accept those who do?

 

Can you accept that humans have

differences

and yet some traits are similar?

Would they all look alike

and flawed

as they face

Judgement Day?

 

31 days

until the day light hours gain again,

that alone is worth

celebrating,

with or without

the end of the world,

heaven only knows.

 

 

 

 

 

Monday

Monday

back to work.
cats revert to all day naps,
after a can of this and can of that, scoop of this, petting, treats.

Yesterday we were encouraged seeing Tommy tearing out at full speed,
behind him, on his heels, was Meridien aka Whitney aka Girly Girl.
She apparently impressed Tommy so much he pretty much stopped stalking her yesterday
(these are cats i am talking about).
I unconsciously called the "new" cat Girly Girl.
She always was, well, Girly-like. Pretty white and black cat. Soft fur, affectionate.
I really started to think about cats having subroutines in their brains,
like Whitney had one subroutine when she lived with us, then Meridien had another for the majority of her life. She responded more to calling her Whitney here, but still not as strong as Girly-Girl. She likes this new name, to go with this new subroutine.

Fred dug a few more carrots last night and pronounced the garden closed for the winter.
Thursday is Thanksgiving (U.S.) and time for feasting and celebrating,
giving thanks to the harvest, to God, and the forces that give us our bounty.
The cats will give thanks for scraps of turkey.
For now we go to work to earn the bread,
it is
Monday
 

Interview with a Clone, Chapter 17

Interview with a Clone

by mary e. gerdt

All rights reserved 2012

Chapter 17

The Humdrum of a New Day

Alice woke up that day a little late. She missed the breakfast that Georgia served. Now Alice was on her own.

She rummaged through the food storage unit, nibbling, grazing on loose fruits and a bag of nuts she found. She had to hurry to get ready for the live interplanetary radio show with Gigi. She washed it all down with a swig of Japanese beer. ‘Whoa!”, Alice shook her head as the bitter powerful brew bit her all the way through. She took another drink, this time, immune to the bite.

The interviews had become more routine now, a masterful choreography by Gigi and brilliant follow through by Alice. From the beginning they both added details from life: life’s lessons, heartaches, triumphs, and sharing their Normalcy.

“Normal is good,” Last interview started with Gigi setting the subject. Ok, thought Alice, normalcy is the subject, I can do this.

“Absolutely,” Said Alice, and she proceeded to do a dissertation on Normalcy, Humdrum, Routine-isms, Boring lifestyles that lead to long and fulfilling +/- boring lives, “There can come a day, Gigi, when your life returns to normalcy, and you will be grateful.”

Gigi replied, “Affirmative.”

Even though Gigi felt she really wanted more challenges, like being the first long term woman occupant of Mars.

They broke for commercials.

Alice had been fondling an envelope all day. It was the one with the letter from her mother, written long ago, perhaps meant to be not so public?

She peered in the ripped corner of the envelope…the..unknown..fortune teller…she could see no more…Alice pried a little more.

"The unknown fortune teller has a name,"

Alice read in the letter.

"Her name is

Margo."

Psalm Challenge 80

am thinking of the people of Israel hoping for peace,
as I read this Psalm,
about hoping God will come soon,
with only tears for food,
I thought of this poem I wrote awhile ago.

Link to Psalm Challenge


After Awhile
first draft
by Mary E. Gerdt
After Awhile

After Awhile,
Things will be better,

Time will have passed,
Regrets will have faded,

Sorrows will dry after
The crying,

You will feel better,
Not like your dying.

After while,
When your back home

And safe in your place
Where you can roam,

And be one with nature,
Feel carefree again,

After awhile,
When we are older,

And we are settled,
And we are bolder,

We’ll reach for the sky,
Like we did before,

We’ll lose all our fear,
That closes the door.

After awhile,
The sorrow will fade,

That tugs at our heart strings,
That God alone made,

To keep us as humans, not a machine,
Who is hurt by a word, or an unkind deed.

Who heals when times get better and then,
Who bleeds and cries when losing a friend.

No mechanical device, we are flesh and blood,
And tears that we cry,
Rain down from above,
And fall from our faces down to the ground,
And wash off the fairies who watch us and frown,
Sad at all of our earthly emotions,
They stay close at hand when you’re feeling so lonely.

Never think you are alone in the middle of the night,
Or think your small world is causing a fright,
Open up and see the rest of the world
Is on your doorstep and ready to right,

All the bad ills and bad feelings you have,
May you see a world not so bad.
When you are feeling fear and evil intentions,
Look at a flower and its simple invention,

It is not so simple after all,
The flower can lift spirits after a fall,
The scent takes us to places long gone,
With the passing of time,
After while,
Sorrow will be done.
 

Bonamassa performs at the Home of Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll!

very cool video...history of rock and roll
and
the blues
@The Fabulous Fox...
always good music to be had in and around st. louis
here is an important part of the history, the source of rock and roll

click here for free music download from joe bonamassa



meanwhile, in 1967, my mom painted this pic of downtown edwardsville,
20 miles east of st. louis
i just imagine a blues piano man playing at the blue note lounge

 

Joe Bonamassa Woke Up Dreaming Live From Royal Albert Hall

Joe Bonamassa...link for a free song

Happy Friday!

Random Friday Post

 

as i looked for random photos to post,

i kept coming back to this panoramic of

a covered bridge in addison county

 

then it would not load :<

 

just as i gave up on the covered bridge loading,

i decided instead on the empty chair

 

 

 

 

then they both came up and

voila :->

random friday posting

 

for your self directed homework,

what would you say to the chair?

 

happy friday

Legacy

Legacy

is a powerful concept.
Ideally must be
simple,
condensed,
to the point,
and yet
it takes a
Lifetime
to
create.

Judging by the
bad boys in the news
(you know who-why waste ink on their
creepy name/image),
a
Legacy
can be ruined
by
one or more bad acts,
or deeds and or
a scandal,
that becomes public.
(ethics ? does that mean if no one knows, legacy unscathed?)

Also certain,
If one at first hears
Scandal
and it is later
retracted...
The impact of the Scandal
sears a pathway in the observer's head,
never to be undone by
retraction....

Is that powerful?
 

Joe Bonamassa - Slow Train LIVE at Beacon Theatre

Link to Joe's channel...

Steve Stevens - Rebel Yell - with Shawn Pelton & Les Paul Trio - Iridium...

Link to what's happenin'
in
NYC

Winter's Horizon

winter's horizon

Arlo Guthrie & The Dillards

Fred got 2 free tickets to see Arlo Guthrie in Rutland, VT last night
at the Paramount,
a stately old friendly venue
where we got to see the son of Woody Guthrie do a tribute
to his Father and life in general,
a rambling fantastic journey,
I started 37 years ago when I saw him and Pete Seeger at the Mississippi River Festival.
I was 17.
Tonight seat #17.
He was great tonight, his music disciplined, precise and loose at the same time,
His dad's tunes, tunes of his dad's era, tunes of Arlo's era,
stories intermingled, a biography,
and understated, perhaps as a shield,
he lost his wife a few weeks ago,
and they were so infinitely close,
so rarely perfectly matched,
it would seem he would be paralyzed by this,
and yet, he performed as I am sure she would want,
the music that they shared.
This video link is one she filmed and I found on you tube.
So if you get a chance to see Arlo's show, you will be truly enthralled
with his music and musing.
Thanks to Seven Days Newspaper for 2 tickets to this great show!

Psalm Challenge 79

Psalm Challenge 79

Thanks to Daily Athens for hosting the Psalm Challenge
Am attempting to be more disciplined about participating and posting according to
Mediterranean time

Daily Athens...Psalm Challenge

Psalm 79

Again I find myself at the graveyard of my ancestors,
Only a generation away
Still a forever lost opportunity,
They died at about the time I was born
My Grandfather died 28 Years before I was born.
I wanted to sit them all down,
What was life like then?
What did you sacrifice?
How was your faith tested?
I knew my Mother's sacrifices,
although,
even her,
Sometimes mysterious,
what did she give up?
How was her faith tested?
I remember a book she wrote in during WW 2. It held men's names,
Later I realized, they were boy's names, boys whose names she met at the USO
in St. Louis., the big city just north of Fort Leonard Wood.
Many of the boys names were crossed off.
I knew that meant they died,
Who of them might have died clutching a photo of
sweet Betsy?
I read Psalm 79.
My mother's words again to me,
Do not die without faith,
Trust me she said.
Her mother, Fanny, died without faith, she said.
The band song, The Weight, in my head again,
"Take a load off Fanny."

Mom said Fanny was having a heart attack, dying.
She was terrified without faith.
So take it from my ancestors, even if your days look dim,
Have Faith,
Mom always knew best.
 

Joe Bonamassa Supports Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Asking Around for...

Another great version on Joe's channel,
This download helps support Breast Cancer Awareness.


Posting late, slept late,
hate the time change,
love the new old cat,
Savoring Joe's music,
Hoping you do Too
Free song
How can U go Wrong?

Free Song by Joe Bonamassa, Did U Say U Luv The Blues?

Joe Bonamassa - Asking Around For You

Above:  Link to a live version of my favorite Joe Bonamassa tune.


Joe is into keeping blues alive, using the styles of many vintage blues guys.
Joe also help students keep their enthusiasm for music.


Below: link to free Joe tune for signing up for his newsletter.
Joe Bonamassa Free Song
 

Consciousness

Friday

is probably a good day to talk about
Consciousness,
although Today,
being the end of the traditional work week,
I am running out of
Proverbial steam.
thought I would post a link to interesting
research and discovery about

Noetics,

http://noetic.org

read the website and give if you can,
you will see it come back,
10 fold??

it all started with a man flying to the moon,
                         walking around,
                                  then flying home, without tether, Free, yet
                                           Connected and he felt that tug at his heart strings,
                                                                          pulling him, pulling him along.

 

She is back...

 

These photos are from circa Y2k

Meredian

alias

Whitney

has moved back home where she was born.

She is still shy and not ready for photoshoot

so thought I would post these

She is as delightful and soft as I remember

she and I are reaquainting ourselves

in small doses

she is scared of Tommy

who stalks her even though

she is bigger than he is

I have been picking her up and then she needs a break