Award

Last Week I received the Kreativ Blogger Award from Martha of Martha's Musings.

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First, let me say Thank You, Martha.

Martha lives in California and takes us on wonderful hikes in the High Sierras.

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In accepting this award I am asked to list seven things about myself people may not know. Since I have been blogging for a year and a half, you regular readers know pretty much what my life is like now. So I'm sharing some info from my earlier life.

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1. I was the second oldest of seven siblings.

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2. I grew up on a small farm in Oregon's Willamette Valley. My Dad was a logger who later became the high school custodian. When all the kids were well into school my Mom became a cook at the high school. We were poor by today's standards. We raised most of our own food, including milk, eggs, pork, beef, chickens, fruits and vegetables.

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3. From an early age I picked crops for wages during the summers. Right after school was out we were in the strawberry field, then the black caps (black raspberries) , and then beans. If we were lucky we had a week or two off before going back to school.

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4. I was extremely shy as a child and young person. I really didn't find my voice until I was 40.

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5. I was the first person in my father's large, extended family to go to college, and the second in my mother's family. I went away to the big city of Seattle and graduated from Seattle Pacific in 1966 with a BA in English and a teaching certificate in Elementary Ed.

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6. I met my husband Tom at Mt View Elementary School, where he came to teach across the hall from me my second year there. We were married during spring break of my third year, 1969. Our fourth and fifth grade students attended the wedding.

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7. I call my teaching a "Career Interrupted". I taught for six years, 1966-1972, quit to raise our daughter and son, and ten years later went back to work as a classified "aide". I worked my way into a full time position as the Learning Assistance Program provider in our local elementary school. In 1998 I resumed my certified status and became the Reading Specialist and finally the Literacy Coach. I retired in 2005.

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When I look back over my life like this I am always amazed by where I started and how different my life is now. Yes, I worked hard, but I was also fortunate to be a part of a loving, supportive family that set high standards of achievement. That shy little girl is still within me, but what a long way we've come, she and I.

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Since I am not inclined to tag others and pass on awards, I will leave it to you if you would like to take the challenge of revealing something about yourselves.

Home Again

We're back home after a quiet weekend at the cabin on Whidbey Island.

Stormy weather was in the forecast, but our crossing at midday Friday was calm.

Late in the afternoon clouds produced some sky drama.

Snow and sleet fell on the mainland, but not on us.

All was peaceful on the lagoon, but to the southeast, the clouds were menacing.

On Saturday we donned our Norwegian sweaters and attended a Nordic Fest at South Whidbey High school.

We watched tippy-assed ducks feeding in the lagoon.

Sunday brought gale force winds and surf to Useless Bay.

We left Sunday afternoon before the Seahawks had finished losing their football game. When we collected the mail we found art from Isaac and Irene.

Now our refrigerator is decorated for Thanksgiving. And today I went grocery shopping and "decorated' the inside of it too.

It's good to go away, and good to be back. There's nothing like your own bed.

In The Garden

Tom and I have spent most of the last three days working in the garden, taking advantage of dry weather to make that final push to get the fall clean up done.

This is dirty, heavy work, clipping and weeding and editing, much of it spent crawling on hands and knees on the cold wet ground. My cranky back and arthritic hands do not approve, but my spirit does. And the results are so satisfying.

This morning I took time to notice some of the little wonders around me. They make better photo subjects than the gritty, down and dirty stuff.


I noticed the color of the Korean dogwood reflected in the bird bath.



The wisteria and magnolia created a golden bower.

Purple beauty berry against golden magnolia.

After all the dirty work, the last thing I did was rake up leaves. All those pretty red maple leaves are falling. I hate to see them go.

A stone marking the entrance to the Secret Garden.

As I finished up this rose stuck it's head out and nodded at me.

The leaves are raked off the grass and into the planting beds. Those red leaves do make a colorful mulch. The leaves will protect the soil from the pounding winter rains, decay to feed the soil, and be worked by worms which will aerate it.

All neat and tidy again, and time to sit and take a breather.

There will be more to do. Leaves will have to be raked again, and the lawn mowed at least one more time.

Some beds don't have home grown leaves with which to be mulched, like this rose bed.

For that purpose a load of leaves was delivered yesterday. Tom contacts a yard service company, which is more than happy to dump a load free in our driveway.

So, yes, there is more work to do, but the big jobs are done. Tomorrow the rain returns. The clouds are moving in now after a beautiful sunny day.

We'll be off to Whidbey Island for a couple of days to rest up.

Veterans Day 2009

American Cemetery, Normandy, France

Another Veterans Day. The wars continue.

I honor the Veterans who have served and are serving in our nation's armed forces. Thank you for your service and sacrifice. Thank you to your families, who have loosed the bonds of love and let you go to serve.

I mourn the loss and suffering that are caused by war, violence, terrorism and hatred.

I honor the soldier. I hate the war.

The Health Care Debate

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United states of America.
-Preamble, US Constitution

I have been struggling with some of the debate I hear on the issue of health care reform. I am especially concerned with the voice I hear coming from those who tend toward Libertarianism.

I take the preamble as a reminder that in order to have personal liberty we must also have general welfare, the societal conditions under which each individual has the opportunity to shape his own life. The founders felt that there was a need for a strong national government in order to promote the common good.

We have a health care system based on the capitalistic system, not the socialistic system. That makes it more difficult to promote the common good over the making of a profit. So be it. But in order to secure the blessing of liberty for all, there must be government regulations to keep the profit motive in check.

Our current health care reform move is more about insurance than medical treatment, coverage rather than care. Medical care is expensive, so we collectively attempt to reduce the risk of high cost by buying insurance.

Some say "Why should I be forced to buy insurance? I lead a healthy life. Why should I have to pay higher taxes so that moochers, lazy fat people, illegal aliens can reap the benefits of those who are honest worker/tax payers?"

I find an analogy in the fact that we pay taxes to fire districts for fire protection. Maybe you don't smoke or light candles and have smoke detectors. You don't think you should have to pay the tax. But your neighbor's house could still catch fire, and when the fire truck pulls up, they'll have to say "Sorry, you didn't pay for our protection. We can't put any water on your house."

A nation is a society in which the condition of the few affects the many. A nation has an aspect of collectivity.

The biggest block to health care reform is coming from people who are happy with their situation and are taking care of themselves. They don't want anything that can't guarantee that their premiums will go down. But satisfied as they are, they are still vulnerable, at the mercy of insurance companies.

There is no guarantee that rates will go down. But left to their own devices, unregulated profit motivated, rates have steadily gone up.

What we get from health reform is reliability, predictability, protection from being financially wiped out. And if we can also promote the common good by covering people less fortunate without raising our costs, why wouldn't we be happy to do it?

Days to Remember

Today in New York City a parade celebrated the Yankees 27th winning of the World Series.

Today in Seattle a miles and hours long procession honored and mourned a police officer shot while sitting in his police car Halloween night. The shooter is unknown.

Today in Orlando, Florida, a man laid off two years ago and out of work returned to his former place of employment and opened fire, killing one and injuring many.

Today the community of Fort Hood, Texas is in shock and mourning after an Islamic soldier apparently fearing deployment to Iraq opened fire on fellow soldiers he was trained to help. Hate talk is radiating from right wing media.

Twenty years ago the Berlin wall fell, allowing freedom to defeat tyranny.

It would be flip to say we win some, lose some. But obviously we still have much to overcome.

Skywatch Friday - Halloween Sky

As the sun was setting in the west, the almost full moon was rising in the east, as seen from the front porch of the Gibson house in Fort Morgan, Colorado.

The next morning I caught the sunrise out over the prairie, again from the front porch.

For more sky pics go to Skyley.