When Brad Pitt showed up on Capitol Hill this week, our legislators were star-struck. Amid great excitement, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said now, at last, she had something special to tell her grandchildren.
Pelosi has risen to great political heights and wields great power, and one would think that meeting a Hollywood star would be the last thing she'd want to share with her grandchildren, considering the nature of her job and the serious times surrounding it. If at all.
R.A.T. (Rose About Town)... not impressed by celebrities.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
LONESOME TODAY FOR THE SKY
Today, spring arrived if only for awhile. We have entered a string of days that seem to promise us the same warm temps and crystal skies we have enjoyed today.
It sent me back so strongly to the 1960s, and my days of wandering God's blue skies (and sometimes cloudy skies) in a small plane... first the Piper Colt in which I soloed; then a Piper Tri Pacer which I adored and would have purchased if I could have... and, very briefly, a Piper Cherokee 140.
In the late 1960s, I was grounded by serious back problems. After wearing a brace for some time before and after a tough spinal surgery, the surgeon told me my necessary surgery had left me with problems that would bar me from many activities I had enjoyed: tobogganing, ice skating (both winter sports I loved); and a number of others... AND THAT INCLUDED FLYING!
"Oh no!" I told doctor. "Before the surgery, I was checked out in a kinder, gentler modern airplane (the Cherokee) that wouldn't require so much gumption."
That didn't change the doctor's mind; and because his son was a pilot, he said he understood some of the mechanics of flying a small airplane. Among other problems, he said, taking high steps up or down (into and out of the airplane) would greatly jeopardize my unstable spine.
For a long time, seeing or hearing a plane take off with someone else's hands on the wheel and throttle, and someone else's feet on the pedals, would break my heart. But by the time I had reached middle age, I'd filled my life with so many other things that memories of piloting a plane had faded far into the background.
Still, I remained a sky person; in fact, as long as I can remember backward into childhood, the sky has held me in its power. In a 4th grade essay contest on careers, my own dream-filled four pages detailed all the reasons why "I Want To Be A Bird." It didn't dawn on me then that a GIRL could actually be allowed to fly an airplane!
Today a lonesome feeling for the sky washed over me again. I sat at my computer and googled up pictures of old Piper Tri-Pacers. I found writings by people who had restored those old planes and fly them today; and by pilots who, like myself, had become attached to a Tri-Pacer in their younger days and still remembered it as something special.
I spent hours at my desk "with" them, re-living my own air days.
I won't be returning to those days, but... isn't it wonderful that I can have such memories?
Your nostalgic R.A.T. (Rose About Town) writes this as she looks out at a setting sun and looks forward to tonight's starry skies in her bedtime walk with her dog. (Hey, I think he might be a sky "person" too).
It sent me back so strongly to the 1960s, and my days of wandering God's blue skies (and sometimes cloudy skies) in a small plane... first the Piper Colt in which I soloed; then a Piper Tri Pacer which I adored and would have purchased if I could have... and, very briefly, a Piper Cherokee 140.
In the late 1960s, I was grounded by serious back problems. After wearing a brace for some time before and after a tough spinal surgery, the surgeon told me my necessary surgery had left me with problems that would bar me from many activities I had enjoyed: tobogganing, ice skating (both winter sports I loved); and a number of others... AND THAT INCLUDED FLYING!
"Oh no!" I told doctor. "Before the surgery, I was checked out in a kinder, gentler modern airplane (the Cherokee) that wouldn't require so much gumption."
That didn't change the doctor's mind; and because his son was a pilot, he said he understood some of the mechanics of flying a small airplane. Among other problems, he said, taking high steps up or down (into and out of the airplane) would greatly jeopardize my unstable spine.
For a long time, seeing or hearing a plane take off with someone else's hands on the wheel and throttle, and someone else's feet on the pedals, would break my heart. But by the time I had reached middle age, I'd filled my life with so many other things that memories of piloting a plane had faded far into the background.
Still, I remained a sky person; in fact, as long as I can remember backward into childhood, the sky has held me in its power. In a 4th grade essay contest on careers, my own dream-filled four pages detailed all the reasons why "I Want To Be A Bird." It didn't dawn on me then that a GIRL could actually be allowed to fly an airplane!
Today a lonesome feeling for the sky washed over me again. I sat at my computer and googled up pictures of old Piper Tri-Pacers. I found writings by people who had restored those old planes and fly them today; and by pilots who, like myself, had become attached to a Tri-Pacer in their younger days and still remembered it as something special.
I spent hours at my desk "with" them, re-living my own air days.
I won't be returning to those days, but... isn't it wonderful that I can have such memories?
Your nostalgic R.A.T. (Rose About Town) writes this as she looks out at a setting sun and looks forward to tonight's starry skies in her bedtime walk with her dog. (Hey, I think he might be a sky "person" too).
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
WARMING... CHANGE... OR CHAOS?
This morning... It's 4 degrees in my northeast Ohio valley. But hey, Miami's wake-up temp is 47; it's been snowing in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Virginia... and Nancy Pelosi was snowed out of her appearance at a planned massive global-warming protest in Washington, D.C. In fact, D.C. was DROWNED in white global-warming flakes and almost blown away by cold global-warming winds!
My friends and I can speculate that our Spread the Misery campaign, a subsidiary of our Bring Back Global Warming initiative, is having some effect. But maybe not. Moments ago, I heard actress Darryl Hanna discussing the protest. She was asked about the wintry storm that put the early-March protest into such disarray. Did it dull the message? Did our cold, continuous winter belie the title "global warming" or the newly adopted title "weather change"?
No, she replied. In her opinion, the proper name is "WEATHER CHAOS."
Laugh 'til you cry; and when you cry, thank God your tears are salty and your eyeballs can't freeze!
A chilly farewell (for now) from a freezing March R.A.T. (Rose About Town).
My friends and I can speculate that our Spread the Misery campaign, a subsidiary of our Bring Back Global Warming initiative, is having some effect. But maybe not. Moments ago, I heard actress Darryl Hanna discussing the protest. She was asked about the wintry storm that put the early-March protest into such disarray. Did it dull the message? Did our cold, continuous winter belie the title "global warming" or the newly adopted title "weather change"?
No, she replied. In her opinion, the proper name is "WEATHER CHAOS."
Laugh 'til you cry; and when you cry, thank God your tears are salty and your eyeballs can't freeze!
A chilly farewell (for now) from a freezing March R.A.T. (Rose About Town).
DESIGNER BABIES
More than a decade ago, I wrote a satirical column about many things that might come to be in the future, and one of my predictions was "Designer Babies."
This morning I heard on the news that a California fertility doctor offers a significant discount for the first people to order their designer babies. This doctor helped to develop the process of babies-by-test-tube. He believes that customizing your baby is part of your right to reproductive freedom.
At least one clinic in New York also promotes custom babies. It's starting small for now, customizing in terms of sex, hair color, eye color...
Holey Moley! Do you suppose these kids will come with expensive designer labels on their butts?
Jeers from R.A.T. (Rose About Town), definitely NOT a designer baby and definitely NOT a candidate of choice for a popular model of said babies. (I don't even suppose I could be considered as a loss-leader model).
This morning I heard on the news that a California fertility doctor offers a significant discount for the first people to order their designer babies. This doctor helped to develop the process of babies-by-test-tube. He believes that customizing your baby is part of your right to reproductive freedom.
At least one clinic in New York also promotes custom babies. It's starting small for now, customizing in terms of sex, hair color, eye color...
Holey Moley! Do you suppose these kids will come with expensive designer labels on their butts?
Jeers from R.A.T. (Rose About Town), definitely NOT a designer baby and definitely NOT a candidate of choice for a popular model of said babies. (I don't even suppose I could be considered as a loss-leader model).
Monday, March 2, 2009
OLD RHYMES WITH COLD...
BLEAK is the word for the weather today;
All things around me are cold;
The snow is gone but the chill remains deep;
Winter is getting TOO OLD!
So says R.A.T. (Rose About Town), growing older and colder at noon March 2, 10 degrees farenheit. Even the sunshine is cold! RATS!
All things around me are cold;
The snow is gone but the chill remains deep;
Winter is getting TOO OLD!
So says R.A.T. (Rose About Town), growing older and colder at noon March 2, 10 degrees farenheit. Even the sunshine is cold! RATS!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
A NATURAL OPTIMIST, BUT...
I'm a natural optimist. It doesn't pay not to be, because you can get loaded down and drown in constant negativism. Whatever's happening in life, it's for sure a better thing to concentrate on and appreciate the good things, of which there are always many.
However, it might be my age, but optimism is getting harder for me these days, believing as I do in self-responsibility and private enterprise and a non-intrusive government. Still, I'm hoping I'm wrong; that the recent mighty changes will work well for the future generation, which has the most at stake.
However, it might be my age, but optimism is getting harder for me these days, believing as I do in self-responsibility and private enterprise and a non-intrusive government. Still, I'm hoping I'm wrong; that the recent mighty changes will work well for the future generation, which has the most at stake.
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