five generations: a letter to my mother

Dearest Mama,

See the woman in the purple coat?

She is being sworn in as the first Madam Vice President of the United States of America.

Her name is Kamala Harris and if I had not borne witness, I might not have believed it was real.

But I did...

and it is...

and I am in tears because I am so proud of how far our nation has progressed in just five generations.

I had to come out to Greenwich and tell you about this incredible event!

And, looking at the dates on the headstones,  I suddenly realized that Grandma would have cast her first ballot in the 1936 General Election - just a year before she had you.

She was born just a few years before the 19th Amendment the the U.S. Constitution gave women the power to vote.

That Amendment was ratified by Congress in 1920, just one hundred years ago.

She would have known all her life that she could vote when she came of age.

Frank and his first wife, the one I knew as the Jenkins High librarian, were born within a few years of Grandma, so they would have also grown up knowing they could vote when they came of age, which would have been for the 1940 General Election.

But here's the thing: Frank would have been able to vote then anyway, as a white male.

For Lorena Lee and Zaida Barry, voting was a brand-new right as an American citizen.

You would have grown up knowing that voting was a right, too.

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had given the right to vote to men of color.

By the time you were born, citizen women of all ethnic backgrounds had been eligible to vote  in four Presidential elections.

Now, a woman has been elected as the Vice President of the United States!

I would have loved for you to have witnessed Kamala Harris taking the Oath of Office with me today, as I watched the proceedings on C-SPAN.

Yes, I know... me watching a news channel???

And for the second time this month???

As I said then, I felt compelled to see it for myself, to make sure I hadn't dreamt it, to verify the event was real.

And it was real and I watched for almost ninety minutes, from 11 AM until nearly noon30, before I even made coffee.

Breakfast was after all was done, so that meant 1 PM.

 

And I sent the photo of the new Vice President of the USA to important women in my life: Christina and her mom, my outlaw Melinda; to mi tres amigas Barbara and Carolyn and Sandy; to Christa, the zoom queen; to Lynn and Lauri, my baseball friends; to sisters-in-law Laura and Mary; to cousins Penny and Lynn and Sharon; to Sam and Morgan, my bff and her darlin' dancin' daughter.

I also shared the photo with men I love: Paul, out in California; Jeff, up in Michigan; Jeff the bfe physicist; Scott, the tall cool one; and Kevin, the bfrb.

How wonderful it had been to hear back from them all and discuss the events!

 

I had selected the superhero Miyah mug for my late breakfast and decided to use it as my new profile pic on fb.

Here's the message I posted.

"Rejoice, rejoice, all young girls! 

For the first time in 232 years, since George Washington was sworn in at the first inauguration, a WOMAN is Vice President of the United States of America! 

Anything, and everything, is possible!"

Within moments, the post had already gathered a collection of thumbs-up and hearts.

But I still felt the need to share this news with you.

Even though our visit was less than fifteen minutes, it made everything more real -

and provided that insight into the meaning of the 19th Amendment to the you and to your mother, my Grandma.

Thank you for that.

Thank you.

 

with much love always,

your one-and-only, ever-loving, daughter

263

That's how many lives in Savannah, Georgia, have been lost to COVID since the first person in the USA was diagnosed as infected by SARS-CoV-2 on January 21, 2020.

I have known two of those people, one from my extended family (Lee MacEwen), one from my classmates at Jenkins High (Janice Hammock Johnson).

In addition, I have known three people who were infected but recovered.

Now that the Moderna vaccine is available here, I know one person - Cathy MacGowan, a fellow professor - who has been fortunate enough to snag a shot when someone else canceled at the last minute.

The most surprising thing, to me, is that I have not known more people in those three categories, especially as rampant as the disease has been in the Peach State.

That dark blue line with the squares? That's the number of new cases per week for Georgia, seen here rising to greater heights than during the November election. That's because of the Senate run-off election, in which more people voted than had in the General Election.

Yes, that's right: more people voted for the two Senate seats than had for the President.

Because of that bit of lunacy, Georgia has had more than sixty thousand new cases per week for three weeks now. 

Yes, I said Georgia.

I would expect such shenanigans from Texas, the brown lead dog with the triangular spots; they just flat don't follow instructions.

I would even expect those exorbitant numbers from orange-laden Florida, home of theme parks and other tourist draws, during the holidays and regular days.

As for sunny California, I had to omit their data from this graph, else it would have so swamped out the numbers that nothing useful could have been discerned.

But, such ridiculous values from Georgia?

Then again, given the R-rated, ultraviolent, political ads during family and children's Christmas programs, I guess it was to be expected that the voters would turn out in droves, driven from their homes by the threat of being thought un-American if they did not go to the polls.

At least Michigan's dark green triangles and Tennessee's dark blue circles are both shifting in a continuous downward direction.

Surely Georgia will follow their lead, soon.

Mask up, y'all.

Wash your hands well and often.

Keep your alligators patrolling your perimeter.

We can do this, together.

Tonight, I will be participating in the honoring of those who have died from COVID.

I'll be standing on my porch, light on at 5:30 PM, ringing every bell I own.

I already have them at the door, waiting to be sounded.

Now, though, I need to do laundry, then go to the grocery store.

Chores still need to be done, maintaining the groove, pandemic or not.

In a way, that's reassuring.

falling behind on my A*List

I only saw two movies at the AMC this four-day weekend, but I promise it wasn't for lack of trying or lack of interest on my part.

Here's the thing: I've seen everything that's playing at least once already.

If not for "The Marksman" this week, there would have been no new movies to draw me in.

The studios need to start releasing more of the movies that are languishing in vaults during this pandemic.

Last weekend, the only one I watched at the AMC was "The Croods: A New Age", and that was because my first niece wanted to see it.; I'd already seen it weeks ago with her brother.

The weekend before that - Week 19 and the first week of 2021 - saw my A*List dance card completely filled! 

That was due to my seeing an oldie, as well as second viewings of the second Wonder Woman as well as the new Tom Hanks movie.

My first-time viewings of those two movies were during Week 18, which was the tail end of Christmas weekend and continuing on into the following week.

That week I'd also seen a new movie, "Promising Young Woman", which was a warning of the price of revenge on the person exacting it; very good, but not one for multiple views.

"Fatale" falls into that same "one and done" category; good acting, but a bit harsh, being a tale of "what happens in Vegas" not staying there but following one home.

So, for Week 21, I've seen two movies and left a slot open on my A*List.

I could have seen a movie for a third time... but, no, it's cold outside. 

I'll stay in and watch Sam as a deejay again.

Here's hoping that Week 22 will bring some new movies to the silver screen.

sunday groove thing - i hope!

Head 'em up!

Move 'em out!

Load em' up!

Rawhide!!!

I don't know why that song popped up on my mental jukebox, but there ya go!

I snapped this as we were preparing to leave the GTC Pooler, having spent two hours there watching "The Emperor's New Groove".

Hard to believe that movie is 21 years old!

The good thing is both my first niece and my nephew were old enough to remember the voices in it, so that made it a nice walk down memory lane.

I really loved hearing Tom Jones singing one of the few songs!

Oh, yeah... love his voice!

And here's a note to myself for next time: get the seats in a two-row block, rather than everybody in the same one row.

That worked beautifully for separating the four kids from the four adults, as well as keeping all of us well away from anyone else.

Plus, as we were in rows B and C, that made it easy for us to move in front of the screen during the credits to do our dance, do our dance, yeah - word up!

Good to get out some energy before popping into the car for the next big thing!

Plus, it let's everyone else in the cinema safely get out before us - winner, winner!

This is the second time I've danced with the girls after a movie and I love it!

I think that is part of my new groove for 2021; yes, what a lovely habit!

After the movie, we were early enough able to snag a table for eight at Jalapenos.

Most excellent!

That meant shrimp ceviche for me!

Even better - Christina surprised me and paid for my meal!

Muchas gracias, mi corazon!

Here we are, nearing the end of our second hour there, with Grammy Melinda helping to get coats on Chloe, Leila, Alyssa, and Miyah.

We'd already had the bathroom rounds, so with full bellies and empty bladders it was time for all to hit the road...

well, after another thirty minutes or so talking in the parking lot and multiple hugs all around!!!

Now, I am safely home in Savannah again, with my odometer reading a mileage of 21 57 57...

Melinda and Michael have Leila and Alyssa home in Guyton again...

and Christina has Chloe home in Hinesville again.

What's that?

Where's the littlest girl?

She went to Guyton to have a sleepover with her twin cousins.

(smile!)

wide open spaces

I had hoped the movie would have lots of nice scenery, and I was certainly not disappointed.

I'm so glad I opted for the BigD view!

 

"Well, that's a bit blurry, but I'm sure it was pretty on the big screen. 

Nice to see the Wicked Witch of the West there in the clouds! "

 

Yeah, I noticed that when I took this shot, from the online preview. 

So maybe she was meant to have flown in from Oz just for me!

 

"Right place, right time, you mean?"

 

You got it!

You have to admit it's a pretty odd coincidence that she should be present in this modern Western, filmed in the southwestern USA, and her realm is the West.

I think I was meant to see her, even though I didn't notice her in the movie.

 

"Sure, sure, I get that.

After all, you were busy paying attention to the story, not looking at the clouds drifting by. "

Yeah, that's right, especially as this was my first time seeing it.

 

"And just what movie was it this time?"

 

"The Marksman", the brand-new one with Liam Neeson. 

I had expected the usual: someone does him wrong and he goes kicking butt.

However, that's not how this one played out.

Its tone reminded me quite a bit of "Gran Torino".

Here, the 68-year-old actor plays a retired Marine veteran of the Vietnam Conflict, living on a failing ranch in Arizona and helping his Border Patrol step-daughter with illegal aliens along the Mexican border.

The problem arises when he spots a mother and son cross over into the US through a hole in the fence, with the drug cartel hot on their heels.

The mom dies and the widowed rancher is the one stuck with getting the recalcitrant kid to family in Chicago.

In that way, the story parallels "News Of The World", in which 64-year-old Tom Hanks' widower is stuck with transporting a cantankerous girl to distant family.

Surprisingly, the movie tonight really didn't have any more violence in it than that one!

"Yes, that is surprising."

 

I'm not saying folks didn't die, because they did... but it was all off-camera.

Know what I mean?

Not close-up and grisly and in your face.

 

"I wonder if that was to keep the rating out of the 'R' range?"

 

Perhaps, as that would draw a larger portion of the audience.

Both movies paint a pretty vivid, non-romanticized, realistic, portrait of life back in the old West as well as today in the marginalized areas of the current southwest. 

You can tell that not much has changed in that region, even though more than a hundred years have past.

"That would make it good for a field trip for a history class."

 

Or for a social science class, or even geography.

Folks who don't live near deserts or mountain ranges would be unfamiliar with that landscape.

I had thought I'd like to visit out there, especially the Sedona area, but I'd like to make sure it was soon after a rain, so I could see some flowers.

Plus, that would hydrate the air so it wouldn't dry out my sinuses.

I remember how bloody my nose got when I was in Tempe many years ago, and just two years ago in Las Vegas during the summer months.

 

"I remember that!

You had to breathe through a wet wash rag that first time! "

 

Yeah, that was pretty hard, but we were there to visit my boyfriend's folks.

Tempe had some pretty cool architecture, seems it has a university for those studies.

I could never live out there, but that's where I got my raspberry unicorn bust.

Definitely some good memories from thirty-seven years ago!

 

"You have had that ceramic unicorn that long and it's still whole?

That's amazing! "

 

It really is, given my propensity for breaking such things.

 

"Well, you must value it quite a bit."

 

I value the memories that it represents.

Yes, I think that's the truth of it.

David was my last boyfriend from my days in the Navy, and that was all during the last year or so of that time, when I was stationed in Imperial Beach.

Now, that last duty station is not even there anymore, destroyed six years ago.

 

"The end of an era, dear.

Those huge antenna arrays are not needed and beachfront property is at a premium, especially out there in California. "

 

You said it!

Now, I have figure skating to watch on tv!

You know one of the reasons I like it so much?

 

"Because you can dance to the music with them? "

 

Absolutely!

(smile!)

musicians = food puns

Jay Sinclair, former deejay at various radio stations in town, posted this meme of Fleetwood Mac & Cheese on fb. 

It all got pretty well heated between him and his friend, Keith, and I was just glad to be in the audience!

Keith Deal
Opening act- Hot Tuna

Jay Sinclair
Keith: You’re making me hungry.

Keith Deal
Jay Sinclair, with Meat Loaf and Bread and ya got yourself a sammich.

Jay Sinclair
Keith: Now I’m literally starving!!

Keith Deal
Jay Sinclair, I want Cake!

Keith Deal
May go Bowling for Soup later. Ok I'm done (mic drop)

Jay Sinclair
Keith: Please stop interrupting me while I am literally gnawing my own toes off in famished hunger.

Keith Deal
Jay Sinclair, have a nice slice of Humble Pie.

Jay Sinclair
Keith: I’m spent.

Keith Deal
Jay Sinclair, have a piece of Phish in a light Creem sauce made in a Skillet.

Keith Deal
I'm through!

Faustina Smith
Hahahahaha!!!!

***   ***   ***

Here's another meme Jay posted.

I truly loved Raul Julia - he was one of the sexiest men ever.

Period.

So, here it is: Important life lessons that I learned from Raul Julia's Portrayal Of Gomez Adams.
 

1. Show the same affection to your spouse upon each meeting that you would had you been separated for years.

 

2. Boundless enthusiasm for life is best expressed through sincere mustache growing.

 

3. Treat every encounter as an adventure.

 

4. Assume the best in everyone, even when proven wrong (especially when proven wrong).

 

5. Hobbies give you a measure of control when you find it slipping away in real life.

 

6. Nurture the passions of your loved ones, even when those passions are weird.

 

7. The books you keep on your shelves have the meaning to which you ascribe them.

 

8. History is horrible, and easier to love for it.

 

9. Your home is a reflection of your personality.

 

10. Every social interaction can be made more memorable through the introduction of swordplay.

 

***   ***   ***

Yes, yes, yes!

(smile!)

leaping about with Sam and Marty and the Doc

Time travel here,

time travel there, 

in movies and on television

multiple times this year!

How's that for a bit of poetry?

True, it has the same meter as the other, but when inspiration strikes first thing in the morning - yes, even before coffee - I make sure to jot it down!

As long as it rhymes, it's a poem!

(smile!)

And just what, if anything, brought this about?

Well, Marty McFly's antics on stage started it, with this scene in both "Back To The Future" and "Back To The Future, Part 2", shot in 1985 and revisited in 1989.

Quite a bit of footage was reused in the second film, to allow two Docs, two Martys, and two Biffs.

Plus I had this bit of eye candy!

That's my man, Dr. Beckett, glistening with sweat in the afternoon sun, post post-hole digging in a contest with a cowgirl to win her heart.

He can leave those boots under my bed any time, as I may have said before - oh, yeah!

Love that hair on his chest!

Those bits of time travel were on Sunday and Monday.

Tina Tuesday found me at "Back To The Future, Part III", in the wild, wild West, with Doc Brown's chitty chitty wooo wooo train!

There's something about that man, too, that's quite charming -  it's his optimistic attitude and his towering stance and that lovable grin!

But he's a good deal older than me and I tend to prefer someone within a few years of my age.

Scott Bakula is just four years older than me.

So, when I have sweet dreams tonight of this beau in a bubble bath, I can easily imagine our 1989, 30-something, selves together... and I already know he can dance.

(smile!)