Stars

One of my favorite things is to look at the heavens and look at constellations. When I worked for a non-profit, I did astronomy programs with a portable planetarium. For 4 year olds, the biggee was accepting that the lights would be turned down. I would do their program with a little light. It was too scary otherwise.

My favorite poem about stars is by Carl Sandburg and is aptly titled "Stars"

The stars are too many to count.
The stars make sixes and sevens.
The stars tell nothing--and everything.
The stars look scattered.
The stars are so far away they never speak when spoken to.

Interesting enough, the constellation Orion is a hunter in all the cultural constellations that I encountered except for Egyptian constellations where Orion was Horus the God. My study was not exhaustive so I am sure there are other myths or story for this Constellation.

photo by Igor da Bari from Wikimedia Commons

Raison d'etre

I like French phrases that have crept into the English language in that they say so much. My problem with them is that I can't spell them right.

Raison d'etre means a lot to me in that if we don't have that internal motivator; life is not meaningful. I have an 89 year old mother and yes she has slipped some. But she is amazingly perceptive in many ways. I have two handicapped siblings and she still is a mother to them.

Living with my mother, I think of that book "My Mother, Myself" printed in 1977 when I was 21. At the time I thought I was so different from her. Living with my mother these past 17 years, I understand her better and know that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Things I learned at my mother's knee.

1. Avoid an argument anytime. Climb a tree if possible.

2. We love children. I worked a summer science camp. Since I was in charge, I let the pre-teens be as loud as they normally could be when they came in from playing outside. It did not bother me. My mother was with me that day. My first thought, was I'm sorry about all that racket. My mother turned around smiling. It sounded good to her too.

3. I save things long beyond their use. I hold onto things because they look like they could be useful.

4. We love animals and nature.
I have a cat and her four babies. We have a guest cat that I have been feeding. I know that cat had babies about two weeks ago. Where they are. I don't know. I heard the coyote last night. But I try to go outside without dogs everyday for her to visit with me. My mother tells me sternly that we will need to give these babies away.
Long story short, mom asks about those babies every night. If they make it and come out of the woods with mom, they will get a name, a trip to the vet for rabies vaccination and neuter/spay. Of course they will call this house home.

One thing I learned about my mother.

My mother always wanted you to eat. She will nag you about eating. Even now, I prepare the food. She is concerned we all eat well. I hate it.

She tells me how she took care of her younger sister when her mother was in the field working. My mother would take the hungry baby out to my grandmother so it could be fed. My grandmother would make her take the baby back in. She was too hot to make milk. They had what is called food insecurity today. Add to that, my grandmother was a sparse eater. I had two brothers, a cousin and my grandmother's sister who was like that. They were reed thin and just did not want to eat much.

This story explains my mother's obsession with having everyone eat. I bring her chihuahuas a small plate of food when I bring mom her meal. This doesn't stop one of them thinking they should have some of my mother's food too. My mom will ask why I brought her so much meat.

Buzzards on a Cell Phone Tower. They cover the garbage way station across the road after the workers go home. There is plenty of road kill on the rural highways.

Quark, Querk, Quirk

Interesting how one vowel can change the meaning of a word.

A Quark is a subatomic particle that makes up protons and neutrons. Protons and neutrons make up the nucleus of an atom. Protons and neutrons are composite subatomic particles in that they are made up of a combination of up Quarks and down Quarks.

Interesting enough, electrons a negligible mass compared to protons and neutrons. An electron is a lepton



Photons are particles of light and move as a wave and as particles. Photons can be proven to energy, proven to be matter but never proven to be matter and energy which is cool as all get out to me.

Querks

According to Merriam Webster this is a variant of Quirk. Online dictionaries say it means to throttle, choke or to become very angry.

What it doesn't mean is Twirk. I thought that was what the word meant. So Miley Cyrus is not known for Querking but for Twirking.

Quirk

But Miley Cyrus is known for her Quirks. I've often wondered what was put on for publicity and what was real. I have never cared for the big tongue thing. But I see so many who get their picture taken with their tongue out. I can think of better ways to be immortalized.

A quirk can be facial expressions with involve raising and lowering your eyebrows.

A quirk can be something unique about an individual.

Politics

Bald eagles have brown heads when young; so when they fly in the wrong territory, adult eagles give them a pass. Although I started working at 16, it wasn't until I started working in earnest during my twenties that I became acquainted with workplace politics. During a brief time when I worked for a non-profit after I retired from teaching; I discovered another area of politics and that is the female power structure.

Suddenly, I learned why all my co-worker friends were usually male. I had a few female friends. I thought it was because I grew up with brothers and lived in a largely male neighborhood. Add to that, my mother was a tomboy and her mother was also a tomboy. Well we are three generations of feminine tomboys.

I was never good at "brown nosing" so I gave up on that quite early more due to ineptitude than from a nobler motive. I went to a fortune teller who told me that I was not a follower or a leader. And you know that is true.

I always followed my father's advice. Do a good job at work. They have to keep so many that can do the job. My big thing as a teacher was I was not picky about who they placed in my classroom. A principal may not care for you but they do appreciate that you will not complain about or expect them to discipline an unruly student. I always considered a difficult child job insurance.

What makes me think of politics would have made a good post for I which is Intrigue. I watched the movie about Queen Anne called "The Favorite". The movie was not good, nor did I enjoy the liberties it took with it's description of any of the people in that historical period. It was supposed to be a comedy. So you guessed it, it had a lot of references to lesbian sex involving the three characters.

I didn't laugh at anything. This is where I know I am a different generation. There was a movie that I have forgotten the name of that was a comedy that I did not find funny at all.

Historically Lady Marlborough fell out of favor with Queen Anne in that she brought to court a bawdy poem that implied Queen Anne was having a lesbian relationship with Lady Marlborough's rival, Abigail Hill. Lady Marlborough, Sarah Jennings Churchill, was a childhood friend of Queen Ann. Lady Marlborough was five years older than the Queen. Abigail Hill Marsham was five years younger than the Queen. The jealousy was based on Power. Lady Marlborough had a lot of influence on Queen Anne which she was losing. Lady Marlborough was a Whig and Queen Anne had Tory sympathies.

The irony is Lady Marlborough's bawdy poem which was meant to intimidate the Queen led to her dismissal. And in a movie, she is portrayed as a lesbian as well as the Queen and Abigail Hill Masham.

When I watched the movie, I looked on the Internet about the three women. Lady Marlborough lived the longest and became the wealthiest. She was very aggressive.

Besides just not thinking the screenplay was that good; what bothered me was the portrayal of all three women as either, witchy, petty, cunning and other stereotypes of women in leadership.

Juvenile Bald Eagle =Michael Gäbler / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

Adult Bald Eagle - Lewis Hulbert / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Oh, Organizing, Oy Vey

Today is the day I have realized that I will never get it all done.

Oh.

The reason I did A to Z was to get my mind back to writing. You do have to make some things important. I fell behind this week doing taxes and paying bills. I normally do fill a form with the IRS because it is free. I did not get my refund from GA last year. I have to resubmit an amended tax form for 2018. They say I was disallowed my senior deduction because I did not include Schedule 1.

So I decided to get with the program and file electronically. For my mother and I, that is $100. When I finish with my sister, that will be another $20. Not a King's ransom, but that is why I have what I have which is I cut expenses when I can. I will say, it saved me some time.

This weekend is going to be full of paperwork and organizing. Walking in the house from walking the dogs this morning, the grass needs to be mowed again. I mowed four days ago. This does not include where I try to branch out and mow a bit more.

Oh my.

Forget mowing until Monday. My mother is desperate to go grocery shopping. So Monday at 7 am, we are going. My gut says tell her absolutely no. My heart says let her have a bit of fun. I hate being a grown up at times.

But this weekend, I will stay in the house and straighten as much as possible.

Next Tuesday, I hope to go to my brother's house. My eldest brother died March 2nd of this year. We need to do probate but everything is closed. I got his death certificates in the mail and sprayed them with a disinfectant. To say I have felt miserable about this is an understatement. My brother was my best friend.

My brother has a nice neighbor who is being a pain in the arse. He is so concerned with my brother's yard. My brother lived in the country. The neighbor cannot understand that I have living breathing people who come first. The other thing I hate is he is in my brother's house rifling through things. He is not stealing. Just being nosy.

He is from California and affluent at one time. I couldn't have a better person looking out for my brother's house. I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. But he gets on my nerves. Some of it is cultural. We live in a jungle at time and having plants a little unwieldy is more normal. Those from colder and/or drier climates battle them. Most people from California want to cut down trees. One acquaintance from California said the towering Pines was creepy. Towering pines are money in my mind. They do cause a problem in April when we have bad storms. But the smell when one is downed by a thunderstorm is heavenly.

There is a part of me that does not care whether I get anything from my brother's estate. And actually, I do not. My brother died without a will and according to the law in GA, my mother inherits all. My brother was divorced and had no children. This is great. I have three handicapped siblings of which two I have guardianship. Being a conservator of money is an enormous hassle. This is why I am hoping my sister who had a stroke gets a grip. I really don't want to manage her affairs.

My mother is so paranoid I am spending money on my sister who had a stroke which I do and have. My sister is not going hungry or not having her lights on in her home as long as I can afford it. I know she blows her money as soon as she gets it. She lives in her own house due to parasites wanting her there so they can exploit her better.

Add to that, friends and acquaintances urge her to live independently without knowing how handicapped she is. I have resented Facebook in that my sister has chatted freely with people who are overly generous with advice. It is a shame that don't understand their advice is worthless. They need to come over to her house and clean up after her. They need to visit with her. They need to bring her food.

One of her friends said my sister's house was in good shape around Christmas. I told her the truth. Yes I had caught up with a great deal of her house cleaning at that time. But my sister does not allow me in her house until it reaches a critical mass. This makes it impossible to catch up with the mess. This same friend now wants to know why I don't have my sister in a personal care home.

Because of busy bodies like you. My sister has lost a lot of abilities living in her house. I constantly worked with her to keep her abilities where they needed to be. Now she has gotten so difficult, I don't think I can bear to have her back in my home. But I don't say anything. This is a real friend and has helped my sister.

With Covid, I'm glad she is not in a personal care home. I am not happy with her situation. I have been trying to work with her. My dentist tells me my gums are in better shape. Do I tell him I actually have time to shower, groom and brush my teeth in a leisurely manner now.

Which brings me back to taxes. I'm glad there is an extension. I've got to do my sister's taxes.

And then I watch the news. People are having a hard time managing with unemployment, no money, children who need to be fed. My problems are nothing compared to them. I think of the woman complaining about her hair roots needed a touch up and the "stay at home" orders were a big problem for her. Maybe my problems are a hair root problem in comparison.

I'm grateful for these problems. I could be the teary eyed woman on television being interviewed as she accepts a food handout.

I need to think about how I can help someone else.

Take care my friends. It's a busy day and I have a lot to be grateful for. I'm off to cook dinner. We all need to eat an antacid. My sister in law posted a taco casserole I'm making. The house is a mess. It's all good.

Flint river flooded out of it's banks up the boat ramp into the parking lot on HWY 96 about two weeks ago.

Naw, Nope, No

Just say No.

In the English speaking world, we have more than our share of eccentricity. As an American, it is almost a required state of being, especially at your funeral.

There is a joke going around Germany, what borders stupidity? Canada and Mexico is the answer. The problem with English speaking countries, I suspect they like the idea of being difficult or intransigent. Canadians are probably chuckling at the joke and then going, "I resemble that comment." Canadians are more polite than Americans. But they can be rambunctious too. I don't know about Australians or New Zealanders. But from the newspapers online from Britain, they certainly have their cast of characters.

Well we got an enormous number of people with Covid and people are chaffing at the "stay at home" request. We got a whole group of people who are worried about restarting the economy which will need to happen. Meanwhile, they don't seem to understand there is no restarting an economy with a tsunami of disease and death.

Italy is having some success with reducing the amount of cases. New York City is a densely populated area, and they are finally getting some success with the "Stay are home policy." With 30 percent of the world's Covid cases, the USA needs to make some smart moves and stop being so critical of elected officials. They are going to make mistakes. The hardship of Covid's aftermath is going to make people play the blame game.

The amount of people in my state who have Covid are still at manageable levels. Before the stay at home request, I had noticed that shopping areas were not bustling at their usual levels. This was around March 10th. One thing about being a Southerner, we know what poverty is. Pestilence is not poverty but it is it's close cousin. We got a few carrying on about it being fake news; but, the deathrate from Covid is a somber reminder that it is not just like having the flu. We are mouthy but compliant people.

In my hometown, a man who was incredibly popular and an outstanding athlete at my high school died on March 25th from Covid. He had been tested for Covid and was told it was negative two or three weeks before his death. The testing was so unreliable a month ago. And that is the crux of Covid is the unknown. When will we develop a vaccine. When will we develop a good testing policy and follow-up of potential carriers.

One reason Germany has a much lower death rate is that they monitor people more intensely in the beginning. I've always heard that Germans will complain loudly about things until they hear the words, "It's the rule (law)."

I actually have a bit of confidence that we will get a grip on the situation. I also think the world economy will be stronger afterwards. We will be redirected. And like most people, I hope we will have a better tomorrow because of this crisis. I remember my dad talking about the depression. It was a terrible time. But people lived through it.

The reason why I labeled this post Naw, Nope, No was an unusual sight I saw.

I take food to my sister who is in a wheelchair. We live in the blackbelt where there are many more African Americans than whites. There was a white pickup, extended cab with a huge, weathered Confederate Flag flying from a big stick. The occupants were black people. If I looked around, there probably were very few whites. Like I wrote, there are many more black people than white.

The Confederate Flag is considered hurtful by most black people in that hate groups appropriated the Flag. But we still got people who say heritage not hate which would be true for many Southerners. I would never display the flag in that it belongs in a museum. It has been misappropriated too badly by some monstrous thinkers. The Confederate Battle flag is considered racist. There was a parent who complained that her child could see a cotton field from the elementary school they attended. There are a lot of unresolved feelings about the racism and discrimination that black people received.

But the flag is also flown as defiance by someone white and/or from up North. I looked at the kids in the truck. They weren't kids. A working class man, his wife and another working class man in the back seat just out going about their business. I would guess their age would be in their thirties. They smiled at me. No doubt they never considered why I would be looking at them. Culturally we smile and say hi to everyone.

Go figure. I'm not encouraging anyone to fly a rebel flag. I would have loved to ask them about why they had a Confederate battle flag. But the light turned Green. I turned left and they went on down the road. I suspect they were aliens from another planet. That would make sense.

Cotton field. They make more money from the cotton seed than the cotton fiber. When they harvest cotton, it looks like bed stuffing scattered on the side of the roads. My grandfather would fuss if the kids left what he called a gooselock behind when they picked cotton. 

Murgatroyd

I discovered I did not spell this word or name correctly. I formerly spelled it murgatrode. The word became famous with Hanna Barbara's character Snagglepuss, a discriminating opera buff of the comic model. Snagglepuss would say, "Heavens to Murgatroyd" which is a variant to "Heavens to Betsy".




Murgatroyd is also a woman's name that was derived from a surname. It is related to name Margaret. I think naming your daughter Murgatroyd is up there with the poem by Shel Silverstein of "A boy named Sue" which was made famous by Johnny Cash.