Joie’s Neighborhood

We visited the Berkshires this weekend, it was lovely. We grabbed some lattes, looked for hiking clothes and ate at a small-town pub after.  The region is more mountainous and forested than our region, the Valley.

We drove past an incredible home. It was white with silver shutters, and it was traditional yet semi-modern. I wish I knew the name of house styles so I could have identified it.  

We have a creative artist neighbor who does sidewalk chalk art every day. One guy calls it "The Gallery" because we all see her fabulous drawings when we walk to the breakfast place on weekends. I'm looking forward to having more artistic space on our new property.

People in the Berkshires live a much more cozy lifestyle, the forests are right outside their windows, along with the rushing river and mountains. Fireplaces and faux-fur hiking boots in mudrooms are the norm.

I found a cool example of a modern home, south-facing windows, in Natural-Home Magazine. It's a Zen Ranch Colorado Straw Bale Home. I'd love a place like this!

We shopped for hiking boots this weekend, I overheard the funniest conversation. A woman and her mom were trying on some clothes, lamented that the sizes were all wrong.

"These clothes aren't made for American women. (Looks at label) See? 'Made in India'. Women over there are made differently. That's why all our jobs are gone, because the were all sent over there".

I had to laugh. Haven't we gotten a grip on a global economy yet? When will we get with the program? Other countries have a prospering population, universal health care. Other nations are united to solve climate change issues. Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands allow gay marriage.

There's an exceptional article in the Boston Globe this week called Why Fundamentalism will fail.

In Christianity, the fastest-growing wing of the church is the Pentecostal/Charismatic wave...accounting for one in every four Christians. One writer has called them “main street mystics.” Among Muslims, it is the gentle but ecstatic Sufi version that is growing fastest, not the suicide bomber cults. All these movements...represent a fatal threat to fundamentalism.

 

Surveys have shown that the rapid growth of evangelical Protestantism in Latin America has not produced a replication of the American religious right, but rather a moderate leftward tilt. A majority of Brazilian evangelicals, for example, voted for President Lula, who ran as a Workers Party candidate.

ANOTHER REASON WHY fundamentalists are faltering today has to do with the world outside. The fundamentalist world view is unbending and monochrome, but today’s world is variable and multi-hued, and the plurality is more and more visible. children live every day with a heightened, web-enhanced awareness of a diverse world.

I'm encouraged to hear this. Because while the far right-wing may be making a lot of noise, they are clearly in the minority. They've even caused some Republicans to switch parties - and I'm a huge supporter of the Working Party. 

I don't think it's about being the loudest, I do think it's about forming communities.  

 

As we all know, real change takes time. News reports are saying today that the single-payer health care plan is off the table. The real news is, it's a very hot topic. It has energy. Thousands of grassroots organizations and nurses are supporting the idea.

Bernie Sanders is introductiong S703 to Healh Care Reform.

Please write to the White House and support Universal Health Care for the 37 to 47 million Americans without insurance. It will save us money! And tell them we want the bill delayed if it doesn't have one.

This is what happens.
I'm going to get the mail and I hear or think I hear "Magnet & Steel" coming out of a passing car.

And then the song is stuck in my head.
And then I remember that the song is prominently featured in the movie Boogie Nights.
So I pop in the disc and watch the movie. Cuz, hey, what else am I going to do today?
So I finish the movie and I remember that the directors audio commentary is maybe the best audio commentaries every recorded.
So I watch / listen to that.
Then I say, hey, I'm still not doing anything and have some time to kill so I'm just gonna go ahead and watch the other commentary track featuring many of the actors in which Marky Mark is drunk and discusses having broken his penis (not the prosthetic in the film but the real thing.)
So I watched/listened to that.

And that is how I ended up watching a very long movie three times today because I may or may not have heard a song coming out of someones car.

(On top of that I watched One Flew Over The Cucukoo's Nest. Which damaged me for life when I read the book and saw the movie as a early teenager.)

It was a big day for Penny yesterday as she completed and graduated from her Family Dog I class.  For the past month and a half or so, we’ve been working on sitting and staying and heeling and coming when called – all the things that are needed to be a good dog citizen.
 

I will have to say that Penny didn’t really love the classroom environment, because she couldn’t quite conceive of a place where there were half a dozen nice dogs and that she wasn’t supposed to play with them.  What else could they be there for???
 
Still – when called on to do her series of behaviors, I have to say that she did really really well and passed with flying colors.  After the final class, there was a little graduation ceremony and all the dogs received their diplomas to everyone’s cheers, though I’m pretty sure Penny was everybody’s favorite (not that I’m biased or anything).
 
After the class, Penny got an extra treat and then got to go play with her BFF Roxy the Vizsla at dog beach.  They ran and ran and ran together and just had a great old time.
 

Afterwards, we all tramped over to a dog-friendly café in Del Mar for a late breakfast, relaxing well into the early afternoon over good food, pleasant conversation and tired pups.
 
Good job, Penny!

Well I thought that I was set with the toolboard until my big tool order arrived but I got a little antsy about it and said ta hell with it and decided to hang the board with the tools that I have and just add as they arrive.

So I cut some 2x8's to length and coaxed them tight between the ceiling and floor.  Then I had to hang that sheet of 3/8 plywood by myself, which isn't easy, then I put some of the tools on and put the bench back.

So until my new stuff gets here this is what I have:

Another angle of the cycling room.  That's a new cable and housing set on the bench ready to go on the Colnago.

And finally:  That's Shawn's cool little CIOCC in front there.

I'm still trying to minimize our posessions. Even my email box was horribly clogged. I had 124 emails on my private account. Most of them were from nonprofits. During grad school I did a newsletter signup frenzy. I must have been lonely or something!

 

I unsubscribed to almost all of them. Wow! What a difference. Our house is also filled with things we can't seem to say no to. Gifts from family, my mom sends me boxes of junk.

 

Last night I made a list of things I want vs things I need.

 

Need: Clothing, food, shelter. Medicine and cleaning products. Safety items (phone, flashlight)

That doesn't sound like a lot until you remember that clothing alone is shoes, shirts, fall coats, winter coats, boots, gloves, jogging clothes, agh!

 

Want: Art and supplies, amenities, furniture, books, cat toys, modest decor, some electronics. Girly things.

 

That is still a lot of stuff, and it doesn't even include sentimental things. Very hard to choose. On a somewhat unrelated note, I love this clothing site called Prana. They make great yoga clothes and they are partnered with Conservation Alliance, a wonderful nonprofit.

 

And they don't brag about stuff. I love that.

 

 

 

Going to my favorite semi-local market today. Finding products that aren't wasteful gives me a raging migraine. Companies brag about all sorts of things that are weak or completely meaningless. Like "made from sustainable materials". Says who? Oh yeah, the company who makes the product.

Fortunately, the Federal Trade Commission has finally decided to step in. ABC news had a good story on the matter. As they point out in the story, a few good labels exist already. Terrachoice mentions Ecologo and Green Seal.

Here's a quick and dirty eco-guide:

** Items that will be tossed in days or weeks are wasteful, period. The "biodegradeable" label is not regulated by law. Packaging should be minimal.

**Plastic is evil. The end. Try glass or metal.

**As our beloved Alton Brown says, we don't like Unitaskers. If you buy a glass bottle of milk, or whatever, think of ways you can Reuse the item. Put candies in it as a Christmas gift. That way you'll also avoid gift wrap for the holiday.

**Paper can be biodegradeable, but habitat loss and deforestation are, in my opinion, the most serious environmental problem these days. Buy used furniture, use a cloth bag. Be happy and dance.  

 

:)

 

Xkcd is usually pretty good -- but this is genius.

Happy Friday!