Friday, March 23, 2012

Dealing With Pollen

     It is Spring, the birds are singing, time for planting and harvesting.  Flowers are for sale on store fronts.  The cats like to be outside.  It is not cold and it is not hot.  You can walk, go for a ride and you may even fall in love if you are lucky.  You may be inspired to work on projects like paintings and writing and music or sewing.  You might want to play basketball, volleyball or go for a boat ride.
It is a nice time for walking dogs on the beach before it becomes illegal and too hot and crowded during the day.  Plus, the traffic is not bad yet.
     The only drawback about Spring is the pollen, especially if you are allergic and I do not think I know anyone totally immune to pollen.  Some have hay fever worse than others.  I have to be careful about my eyes mostly.
Some find themselves needing a shot to help with it.
     So, I thought I would write my thoughts on pollen and ways to deal with it.  For one, everyone knows washing down your vehicle, golf cart or motorcycle, not to mention bicycle or moped,
but I have a few helpful ideas.
     One, if you have heat and air, do not open the windows.  Before you know it, the pollen is in the house.  Take your shoes off when coming in so as not to track it onto carpets and flooring.  Vacuum and change AC filters frequently.  Wipe down garden and patio furniture daily.
     I used to love planting flowers, but I seem to have lost my flare for it.  I look at flowers to plant, like gerber daisies, but I think to myself, it will be one more thing to take care of and I do not have outdoor water, so when I do have anything growing, I need to bring water outside.  I realize that this is an issue that can be solved, and I will when I get around to it.  So, right now I have not much to say about gardening.  I only have one outdoor plant and one indoor plant right now, unless any annuals return, like the one on my orange tabby and white cat, Tiger's grave sight.  He was my favorite.  I used to have three.  He died two years ago.
     Some people will tell you that the pollen only lasts a week, but of course we all know this is not true.  It would also be nice if our Summer would be as mild as our Winter.
     So, Happy Spring to everyone and good luck with the pollen, and by the way I do think it would be fun to grow some herbs such as basil, oregano, chives, parsley and of course my namesake sage!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Funny Story About My Pets

     As some of you know I have two cats, a light orange tabby named Simon and a black one named Bhaghera who is very old and has a bad paw that needs expensive surgery.  Sometimes it is worse than at other times.
     I decided to bandage it.  I also had to switch by a friend's advice to Yesterday's News because it was tracking litter throughout the house, his paw.  Regular bandages would not stay on.  I finally rapped some electric blue duck tape around white paper towels.  As long as I was home it stayed on.  The dog kept barking at his leg with the bright blue duck tape like it was freaking him out.
      Every time I came home the bandage would be gone, but I could not find it.  Yes, I am visually impaired but the area the animals are in is not that big, just kitchen, living room and bathroom, and I have a small house.  Plus, as I said this duck tape was electric blue.  Very bright!
      I shared about how once I gave up keeping a bandage on his foot, the dog was licking Bhaghera's foot and whimpering, barking and lying right next to the futon on the floor that I had laid out a towel on for the cat so as not to get the Indian bedspread dirty, where the cat Bhaghera hangs out lounging, on Facebook.
     With my inventive in a bad way mind, which another writer friend recently corrected me that it is imaginative, although I like words like concur, concoct, etc..  I have a British friend who always intentionally uses the wrong proper names, ex: people: Martie  -"Madge", Bridgeway - "Bridgeport Ferry."
     I was out with a friend.  When he dropped me home, I said "can you come in and make sure something scary didn't happen, like Rubin ate Bhaghera's foot?"
You see I read way too much Stephen King.  Pet Cemetary is one of my favorite books.  In fact Bhaghera reminds me of Church.  I said, "I don't want to be alone to find something scary and shocking."  
     Well, nothing of the kind.  In fact Rubin was lying next to Bhaghera and Bhaghera's foot was actually a little better from the dog licking which seemed to work better than the anti-biotic ointment I had been applying and the tiny pieces of penicillin I had given him.  The light bleeding had stopped as well.  Rubin was like a baby-sitter, a nanny dog for a cat.  How very sweet.  I had shared this on Facebook and women friends especially liked it, since we are all gushy about animals.
     Okay, so do you want to know where the electric blue duck tape and bandages went?  I think you might have guessed already.  When I walked the dog, and I had to bring my little scoop bags, bright electric blue tape came out here and there.  And, there is surely more to come.  

Thursday, March 8, 2012

More About Clothes and the Lighter Side of London

     I just wanted to let you know that I took Kendra's advice partly.  I got the jeans in red, but not the yellow.  I will have to think about that for a while, but to my surprise my mother liked my red jeans.  She said they looked like good quality although I got them at a discount store of course.
     I have mentioned in another article about the pink Betsy Johnson jeans I had years ago.  Obviously, I have a thing for colored jeans.  
    If you read my article about loneliness in London, I want to tell you the good things about London, such as how nice, friendly and helpful the British can be.  The other thing is no sales tax although of course pounds are worth more than U.S. dollars of course.  
     In London, in the ninety's when I was there the one time, in fact my only European experience whatsoever, used American Levi's were sold in cool vintage stores.  I got a pair of black ones.  I long ago gave them to the Salvation Army since they got to be to small for me after a while, but I enjoyed them while they lasted.  I also bought two beautiful patchwork dresses from India.  The purple one I still have.  It is long and fits the bodice like a glove.  It hangs in my closet and when I where it, I get compliments.  Then the green one with the attached vest, I wore out completely.  
    I bought a pair of navy suede clogs from Sweden for fifteen pounds which were later stolen, but that is a long story.
    Another beautiful item I purchased was a batik embroidered navy blue top from India.  They were sold on the streets of London everywhere.  I still have that in my closet.  There was also a long skirt which I wore on the plane to India the last time I went in the nineties. That wore out as well.
    We did go out to dinner with some friends of that guy I was with in London.  It was sort of fun, some Japanese lawyer he was selling guitars to and his friends.  The other guy asked him the nature of our relationship.  My friend's reply was, "it's complicated."  That does not say much for the relationship I suppose or me.  The woman said, "he just wanted to know if it was alright to hit on her."  Of course she had a lovely English accent.  They all did.  
     Then we accidentally went to a gay bar which was interesting.  I recall we did go to pubs for drinks and dinner a lot, and always tomatoes with everything.
     Now I will tell you about shopping in the bazaar in Amednagar, India, where Baba's Ashram is located.  I went in a rickshaw with friends from the Pilgrim Center.  First you took a bus to the trust and everyone yelled, "Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai", which means victory to the Avatar Meher Baba, Avatar basically meaning Messiah or Savior.  Then at the trust you could rent a rickshaw driver to take you to town to shop.  Amednagar is kind of a hick town.  People say "Jai Baba", but I think they might be being sarcastic, I have heard, like making fun of all these westerners who come.
     One day I got separated from my people, and I was scared.  I found a guy who spoke English and asked where King Street was, because I believed that was where our rickshaw was parked and he told me how to get there and I did.  We all met back up there and all was well.
     As far as shopping in India, I bought a light blue scarf with silver thread which I no longer have but now have a dark blue and an aqua blue one, so that is alright.  I went to Amrit's boutique.  Amrit is married to Baba's nephew Dara, who has RP like myself and my children.
     From Amrit, I bought a blue velvet skirt and a patchwork skirt as well as a white dress with a black print that flowed.  I no longer have any of these.  They all wore out long ago.  
     When my son David went to India for Amartiti 2010, he got some clothes made and bought some as well, and bought some guitars.  He ran out of money though and had to sell his computer.  I hope I was not supposed to tell that.  He came home with a shiny rock star shirt, pastel dress shirts and nice fitting dress slacks.  I guess this thing about clothes runs in the family.  LOL

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Politics or Clothes

    I would rather talk about why it would have been more interesting if Michelle Bachman had stayed in the race or how Herman Cain thinks he is more articulate than President Obama, according to the Barbara Walters interview I watched.  I do not think anyone in the world is as articulate as Obama.  LOL  The truth is I have nothing to say on any of these things, which is why I wanted to talk about the 'deep' topic of clothes again.  Yes clothing.  Well, clothing has to do with politics too, right?  Remember Sarah Palin's wardrobe allowance?  Remember how The First Lady Michelle Obama only wears clothing from less expensive companies like I cannot remember, was it like Banana Republic?  No I know that is not right.  I think it is something even sportier like L.L. Been or something.  Update:  As a friend corrected me (see comment below), the brand Mrs. Obama likes is J. Crew.  It had just slipped my mind.  Thanks Kendra for reminding me so that I could be more accurate.
      I once took my son shopping for jeans.  I will not tell which one, because I have to protect his privacy.  However this is the one I used to buy Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin shirts for when he was about fourteen and I had more money.  Those shirts are expensive!  I guess that gives away which son it is.  My other son likes surf brands like Volcom, Hurley and Quick Silver, skate brands as well or he used to anyway.  Thank goodness they both buy their own clothes now that they are grown men, which is hard to believe for me.  'They grow up so fast', can't you hear me say.  My mom only let me get real cheap stuff when I was that age, so I would say indignantly, "you have no taste."  Back to the jeans.  We were at Tanger, and I kept suggesting stores like Guess, Old Navy, Kalvin Klein, The Gap, American Eagle..., and he un-politically correct as most kids of fifteen or so said back then that everything was 'gay', that is just a term teenagers used for everything then, worse than sophomoric by far.  Finally he agreed to Banana Republic, and a friend my age or older said he thought that was...  I realize it is messed up to say that.  
     I asked my mother (yes I still have to ask my mother what to do, no just kidding) if I bought some bright red or yellow jeans for spring, which I saw on sale would that be ugly.  She said "yes".
However, I may get some anyhow, just out of sheer spite.  LOL
     OK enough nonsense for one day.
I hope if nothing else you might find this little piece of writing amusing.  "I amuse you, like a clown???" from Good Fellows.  

Monday, March 5, 2012

Budget Cuts and Politics

     According to a friend of mine who is very intelligent, the governor of a state is the one who vetoes where money would go or not.  Thus, not wanting to make anyone mad or anything, and I should probably write to one of my senators, like Lindsay Graham, but I am very disappointed in Governor Haley.  I liked Mark Sandford better, leaving alone his marital infidelity and running off on Father's Day, when he had four boys at home and a lovely wife, which goes without saying, Jenny Sandford. 
     I am by no means a Republican, although I think both parties have certain  good points.  I think it depends on the individual politician, although for the record I am a registered Democrat and have voted in every presidential election from the time I was eighteen and in college and helped vote in Jimmy Carter.
My boyfriend at the time was going to vote for Ronald Reagan, but I talked him into voting for Carter, not that Ronald Reagan was bad or anything.  In fact he is responsible for amnesty at the time for Mexicans and for earned income credit on tax returns for single parents. This definitely effected my life when I was working, in a good way.  President Obama said he modeled himself partly after Reagan and also Abraham Lincoln, but of course we all know the parties were different back then.
     Yes I realize Reagan did some really goofy things like visiting an S.S. Officer's grave in Germany, although he did also visit the concentration camps.  The other bad thing was selling arms to Iran I believe.  I know I am preaching to the choir, because I doubt many conservatives would like my political articles.
     The reason I am upset with my governor, is because this is the first time ever that budget cuts have effected the Commission for the Blind, where I spent five months of my life adjusting to blindness, so that they can no longer pay for the lenses for blind people's already charity, gift of sight, lion's club donated frames.  Of all the things to cut spending for, blind people.  This is outrageous.
Next they will be making blind people pay for their own cane for the visually impaired or their own UV protection sunglasses that rap around, etc..  This saddens me.  There are children in this state that are blind as well, many of them.
     Well thanks for letting me vent a bit.
But, I will say it again, we were better off with Sandford, and I hate to admit it.
This reminds me of Sarah Palin wanting women to pay for their own rape kits.  This is why I love freedom of speech.
     I just would like to add that South Carolina is a poor state, and the more poverty, the more blindness.  However, retinitis pigmentosa, which I have, has nothing to do with social economics. Yet, I will say that a lack of education which poverty causes, and lack of knowledge about a particular eye condition can very well cause the condition to be worsened by for example allowing too much sunlight into the eyes causing the atrophy of the retina to occur even faster, or not being fitted with the correct prescription to correct the eyesight as much as possible for the individual, which would cause eye strain, possible migraines and thus more rapid deterioration.  Another example would be a case of bacterial or viral conjunctivitis gone untreated too long.  
     Another example would be a lack of prenatal care, causing premature birth, causing R.O.P. a type of blindness caused by the light of an incubator.  Although this has improved over the years, premature birth care, I have met at least two blind people, both women who are only in their twenties who have this condition.  
     Also, a lack of prenatal care could cause a vitamin deficiency, such as folic acid, a very necessary vitamin B supplement during pregnancy, causing the eyes to not develop fully and properly, causing legal blindness in some cases, because the eyes do not develop past the newborn stage in their seeing properties, although the eyes would look normal to the outsider.
     The possibilities are almost endless, and I know that blindness must seem like the most depressing thing in the world, but those who are visually impaired learn to adapt, and I being one of those, enjoy the topic of blindness.  I would like to think of myself as an advocate, not a victim of circumstance.  Everyone has a cross to bare.  I hate that expression so rather I should say, everyone has problems I suppose.
     These are all the more reasons why the poor need Medicaid.  When my children were in school, I was given forms to apply for Medicaid for my children and they qualified due to my low income.  However, some parents either cannot or do not read these, and their children end up without health care.  If things remain as they are, poor children do have access to these things, such as health care.  Sometimes, parents need more information.
     If my son becomes a rock star, one of them, he can talk about his trials and tribulations as a child in the poor south, etc., just as long as it is not like I'm Sorry Mama, by M&M.  LOL  Or else my kids might be really mad at me one day for letting everyone know our trials and tribulations.  Just kidding.  I think they will be fine.