Stick Horse Cowgirls

Could it be that our heat wave is over?  It has been one long, hot summer here, dry as a tinderbox.  The only upside has been very little mowing.  Our grasses have struggled this summer,and I am thankful I no longer have horses in need of winter hay, because the price must be sky-high.  We’ve had rains now, and we’re only the the 90’s during the day, which is feeling like a cold snap! But early last week, the heat was still on.  I’d come home from work at 6 p.m. and my little car would still be registering over 100 degrees. On one of those mornings as I traveled to work, I noticed that at 7:30 a.m. it was already near 90 degrees.  My drive takes me along a four-lane, divided parkway, the two sides enclosing a wooded area which has paved pathways.  In the mornings I see health-conscious folks out walking, jogging or skating there.  This particular morning, I spied a young mother in her exercise shorts and tank top pushing a stroller.  ...

Oh, dear me!  My sister has recently put me onto Netflix, and I am so loving it.   Yes, I can get some pretty good, pretty current movie s through Netflix.  And I am a sucker for documentaries of all stripes, so I’ve done quite a bit of learning through those this past week.  But what has really done it for me is the ability to see all my favorite BBC series. I have rewatched all the Upstairs, Downstairs episodes.  I have worked my way through the first series of Downton Abbey , which I had not seen before.  Both of these reawakened my great longing for staff: A parlor maid to keep my house “tidy,” a cook to prepare and serve delicious meals so that I actually have  time to “dress for dinner,” and a butler to iron the creases out of my morning newspaper.  Sigh .  I love this escape. I have gotten two-thirds through the House of Cards trilo gy, and it’s just the best!  I love the smooth evil of Francis Urquhart (so ap...

We have a graceful bridge over the Arkansas River, uniting the North and South of our metropolitan area from its western side.  I don’t travel this bridge very often—maybe three or four times a year—finding that my travels take me more east-west and, if I go north, I usually travel on the Eastern side of the loop. But this week I had court in another county, and the logical route home brought me by way of this bridge.  It was on that day (last Thursday), that something occurred to me.  Never —not one time, I’d venture to say—do I traverse this bridge without thinking of an incident that occurred there in 1999.  Yes, 13 years ago, and the incident is still in my mind every time I cross the bridge.  I told V about this, and she c onfirmed that she, too, often thinks of it. This young lady’s name is Carson Prince.  In 1999 she was  the nineteen-year-old daughter of two attorneys, one of them the former mayor of our city.  In April 1999 drivers...

Good, job, Louis Freeh!  He was hired by Penn State to do an investigation, and he has not spared his employers.  Freeh has released the results of his Penn State investigation.  It seems that all the “higher ups” who knew that Jerry Sandusky was sexually molesting young children knew about it fourteen years .   Fourteen Years! Yes, Fourteen Years. During those fourteen years, these fellas saw Sandusky most every day (Freeh said that Sandusky’s offices was “steps away” from Paterno’s office).  These tough guys stood by and watched as Sandusky was honored by politicians and service organizations for his wonderful work with youth (some awards recently rescinded), they attended sports banquets and functions with this man. I ask you: Could you so much as shaken his hand knowing that he was raping young boys?  Ewwwww —wouldn’t you have wanted to scrub up if you did?  Could you have slept at night knowing that he had done such a thing and was daily...

I have seen two news stories within the past twenty-four hou rs which have inspired me to write this post.  One was the interview of Melinda Gates (wife of Microsoft's Bill Gates).  The other was a news clip about the execution of a  woman in Afghanistan yesterday. If I have a political-issue passion it is women’s issues.  I care about American women issues, but my real passion is global issues.  If you really look at things in depth, I think you will find that women are the class of people who are most deeply oppressed and against whom the most historically-sustained, egregious treatment is inflicted.  I believe it has been this way for a long, long, long, long, long time.  We American women have our challenges, but most of us never consider how our sisters across the world fare—much, much worse than do we. If you are interested in this topic as every thinking/caring person should be (spoken like a true fanatic), then you might want to read Half ...

If you’ve followed this blog for long, you will know that my husband of (then) thirty-six years left me and our entire family for a twenty-nine-year old.  You know, too, that it was a shock that this seemingly-perfect husband, elder of church, fine-upstanding-citizen would do such a thing. It was not only a shock to our family but to all who knew us….seemingly for a while…but now it appears not so much. Please indulge me with generalities here…I know there are exceptions to any generalizing. I have heard of the “bro [brother[ code.”  What I have read in my attempts to understand the adultery dynamic is this: Men do not generally squeal on one another in the area of marital infidelity.  Men who are close to their wives—who confide everything else—generally will not tell wives if a male friend is cheating because we women do tell as a rule.  Telling her would violate the Bro-Code. The literature (yes, real literature from social scientists) tells us that your...

There’s a new book out. Please don’t buy it.  Don’t download it to your Kindle; don’t pollute your bookshelves with a bound copy.  You can glean all you really need to know about this subject free from the internet and television. Let’s don’t line this wh**e’s pockets, please. I’ll synopsize the highlights for you here for the twin purposes of letting off steam and perhaps costing Rielle Hunter a book sale or two. I’ve written about this woman before.  I’ve also written about Edwards.  Neither posts are flattering and Hunter’s televised interview last night did not change my opinion.  Hunter says she didn't give in easily to sleeping with a married man.  Apparently it took “Johnny” telling her about his three other mistresses in order for her to crawl into bed with him  that first night they met. This thought pretty much stuns me.  Let me get this straight: Being told that he is a serial adulterer—that you will be just one in his string--...