Facebook - Keeping me sane while driving me nuts

"And now I really, really, really am going to bed."

This is how I ended my evening at Facebook last night.

Well after my normal sign-off time.

Yesterday brought highs.

It also brought lows. 

The extremes are exhausting.

I feel like we're a country at its most crucial point.

I feel, like many of you, that what we'll wake up to the day after the election will be either a bright, calming light of kindness, good sense and hope, or a darkness we may not come out of in my lifetime.

In the meantime, I'll rant a little at Facebook.

I'll cry some.

I'll look for art that inspires me, or makes me smile, or brings tears for the sheer simple joyous beauty it gives me.  

And I'll post some of those pieces at Facebook.

I'll listen to music that does the same.

And I''ll post some of those pieces at Facebook.

And I'll count on smart, kind, like-minded friends at Facebook to help keep me sane by doing the same.

We'll continue having our rants, yes, but we'll include some beauty.

Some art which helps pull us out of the mud while the hateful bigots who are also there drive us all jointly nuts with wild-ass conspiracy theories and a determination to vote for a crazy man as president of this country for no other apparent reason than their hatred of the Clintons and the Obamas.

I'm sorry - I just don't get it.

But it seems an odd way to run a country.

A destructive self-defeating way of attempting to rise above the things that are eroding the good things that we are all capable of being.

So  -  today I will sing songs I love.  

I may sing them badly, but by God, I will sing them loudly.

And I will enjoy beautiful works of art.

I will read perfectly written words of prose and poetry penned by talented people who know how to ease a body's tired ol' soul.

And I will hold on to hope.

Today - From Rock Stars to First Ladies. From Brilliance to Ignorance.

So.


Bob Dylan wins the 2016 Nobel prize for literature.


http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/13/world/nobel-prize-literature/index.html




This makes me happy.




But - it doesn't make everyone happy.




But instead of debating this issue, I'll just simply say this.




I don't care.




It still makes me happy.




My reasons aren't going to be any different than all the reasons you can find elsewhere.

Bob Dylan wins the Nobel prize for literature.


Rod Stewart knighted at Buckingham Palace.

And that's just this week.

Seems many of the rock stars of our youth are turning into a pretty fair group of well respected elders.

Who'da thunk it?



Sir Paul McCartney
Sir Mick Jagger
Sir Cliff Richard
Sir Tom Jones
Sir Elton John
Sir George Ivan Morrison (Van Morrison)


Yep. Who'da thunk it?



Certainly not parents, including mine, who would shout over the music playing on our little portable record players in our bedrooms - "Turn that down! That's not music!"


You know what they say.


One man's junk is another man's treasure.


The same can be said of music.



And - if you're really willing to stretch that, I suppose it could also be said about politics.



I, however, am just not that generous.



This year - the junk politics is way worse than "normal" junk politics.



It's nasty.


Pure and simply.



Irrevocably nasty.

Also in today's news was this video of one of the most admired women in the world giving a speech for which she will long be remembered:





I wish people would watch this.


I wish they could watch it without the "politics," but with an open heart.


With minds that might recall history, and eyes that might just give them a clue as to what we could possibly face with Donald Trump as the leader of this country.


It frightens me.


And what do some Republlicans have to say in response to the outrage many of us feel about Trump and all that's being said about him right now?



This -







How dare you ignorant people?!


How dare you?


First - this is just not going to happen.


Foolish people underestimated the women who came before us who made this happen.




Foolish people underestimate women today.



Do you think, even you women who dare turn your backs on what we've achieved,  -  do you think for one minute, that we're going to give up our rights that our mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers fought for?



You are delusional if you do.



I think there's a major sea change going on in this country right now.



I think November will bring changes.



Much needed changes.


And more changes will grow from this upcoming election.


And they're not going to be changes made under an ignorant bigoted bully named Donald.


We are much too smart for that.


We are much too good for that.


We are moving forward.


Donald Trump and his ilk will, with our help, fall off the radar of even minuscule importance.

Hillary and me - and the rest of us "women of a certain age"

For a very long time I refused to believe there is such a thing as being invisible because of my age. 

Maybe it's because I've always been, depending on my mood, happy to sit quietly and listen (okay - so that's rare, but it "does" happen), or I'm in the middle of things in a raucous kind of way. 

But, as I've aged and have begun purposely observing how I'm treated in group conversations as well as in one-on-one conversations it's become pretty easy to notice when I've been tuned out by the young man OR woman across the desk from me in a Customer Service situation. 

It's become glaringly obvious when the 2 or 3 men in a group have stopped including me in the conversation at hand. 

For you young women out there, be prepared. 

However. 

There's still a lot of young women who recognize that there are things to be learned from older women. 

And, there are men who recognize that we fierce older women can, by golly, be vibrant, interesting, compelling, fun, funny, smart, sassy and sexy.

This is an interesting read from The Washington Post - enjoy and take heed.  It contains a great deal of truth and substance:

"Hillary Clinton is a 68-year-old woman. And plenty of people hate her for it."

Hillary Clinton speaks during a fundraiser at the Capitol Hill. She’s 68, and younger than Donald Trump. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/hillary-clinton-is-a-68-year-old-woman-and-plenty-of-people-hate-her-for-it/2016/10/06/fac46ee8-8bd9-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html?postshare=2681476026925978&tid=ss_fb

Some women are angry - others?? God help them, not at all

This morning I've seen some Facebook posts from people rationalizing why they're still casting their vote for Trump. 

And damned proud of it. 

Way to go, people. 

You women who are so determined to stand by your man? 

Oh yes, do go tell the world you think it's fine for a man to call you names and trivialize who you are. 

And you'll still vote for him to be the president of this country!! (you're an idiot - what can I say?!) 

Destroy in one fell swoop the things women before you fought for. 

But do not, do not, do this in the name of patriotism. 

Do not dare do this in the name of God. 

And LordAMercy - can we leave Bill Clinton out of this - he is not running for anything this year. 

And the next time you act outraged over how women, or anyone other than privileged white men, are treated in other countries? 

Please just shut up. 

Look in the mirror and know you're a hypocrite of the worst kind.

https://driftingthrough.com/2016/10/06/an-open-letter-to-donald-trump-from-some-angry-women/

PumpkinFest 2016

After a two-year hiatus, our annual neighborhood PumpkinFest was back in full swing.

Thanks to Brian and Jill from the rest of the neighborhood.


Enjoy a few photos -