Category: Commentary

Equality Rant

The graphic above prompted me to go on a rant on Facebook yesterday. First, because I agree wholeheartedly with the author, but mostly because I’m sick and damned tired of the inequalities present in this country.

How will we ever measure the loss of the intellectual contributions of women and people of color over the course of history? Has anyone ever made an attempt to calculate the costs of misogyny, racism, and xenophobia?

The patriarchy, in all its glory, has not only managed to restrict the rights of those who are non-white and non-male, but in the process of doing so, managed to literally rob society of the potential residing in countless members of their non-privileged counterparts.

Certainly there have been outliers who’ve transcended race and gender to succeed in this predominantly white male-dominated society, but just imagine what we could be as a nation if everyone was valued. Just maybe we should begin looking at this issue from an economic position rather than a humanitarian one. After all, money is pretty much all some people care about.

Snapshot #238

Happiness is finding a nail salon where the pedicure chairs have a “buttock” button.

I’m calling this one either, “That Hits the Spot” or “Is This Too Much Information?”

Peace, people!

Counting on Haiku

As someone who occasionally tries her hand at writing haiku, often with lackluster results, I had to share this:

Mermaid Tuesday

I’m wandering around Apalachicola on this beautiful Tuesday morning.

Saw a bunch of mermaids,

a pirate,

some surf boards,

and other sea-themed paraphernalia.

I chatted with a seagull,

and enjoyed a mimosa with my brunch,

before driving to St. George Island for a short walk on the beach.

I bought each of the cats a catnip stuffed pillow in Apalachicola, and now I’m home watching them go nuts over their new toys.

What a great day!

Peace, people.

Around Doright Manor

Sometimes I like to wander aimlessly around outside. This morning was one of those times.

And sometimes I run into the coolest stuff:

I believe she’s laying eggs. Later I’ll go out and put some protective cover over the spot.

Peace, people.

Octopus’s Garden or Spider’s Web

https://youtu.be/De1LCQvbqV4

If you had to choose between living in a world filled with hyper-intelligent spiders or one ruled by PhD level octopuses which would it be?

https://youtu.be/7912LZ_OPws

Would negotiating with arachnids be preferable to appealing to a mollusk’s better nature?

Why, you might ask, am I entertaining such thoughts?

I just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky’s, Children of Ruin, the sequel to his groundbreaking novel, Children of Time, that’s why.

Good sci-fi should force readers to contemplate the imponderables, to think beyond previously constructed boundaries, and Tchaikovsky has given me more to contemplate than my little brain can handle right now. My mind is blown, and that’s a good thing.

Peace, people.

High School Senior Year

I found this questionnaire on Facebook today, and after completing it, I thought it was worth sharing here. Totally narcissistic, but hey, isn’t everything about me anyway?

How would you complete the questionnaire?

It is graduation season, so let’s talk about your SENIOR year in High School. The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!

My Class was 1975 (yes, I’m ancient)

1. Did you know your spouse? Yes

2. What kind of car did you drive? 1957 Ford Galaxy (army green, I called her Poopsie)

3. Where did you work? Didn’t work my senior year

4. Where did you live? Dumas, Texas (my family moved to Dumas from Floydada, Texas, the year I was a junior in high school.)

5. Were you popular? Bwahaha! 😂🤣 no.

6. Were you in choir? No

7. Ever get suspended from school? No

8. If you could go back, would you? No

9. Still talk to the person that you went to prom with? Every day. I even sleep with him 😉

10. Did you skip school? Not even once.

11. Go to all the football games? Yes

12. What was your favorite class? English

13. Do you still have your year books? Yes

14. Did you follow the career path you wanted then? No

15. Do you have a class ring? Yes

16. Who was your favorite teacher? Janice Shipman (Demon Tale advisor)

17. Did you letter? Yes, in Forensics

18. Did you graduate with a 3.0 or higher? Yes

19. Did you graduate? Yes

Could there have been a worse senior photo? I was NOT happy about the feather boa tradition at Dumas high school.

Shazam, Shazam

One would think that a movie titled Shazam would make a certain impression upon one’s mind, and if one had paid money to see that movie, the impression would be even deeper.

I knew I’d seen it. It was a fun little movie, but wasn’t something I’d pay money to see again. Studly Doright, though, insisted that he had not seen it, even though I was fairly certain that I hadn’t seen it alone, and kept conjuring up memories from the movie to convince him.

He was adamant, though, and eager to watch Shazam while it was still in the theatre, so being the acquiescent wife I am (stop laughing!), I tagged along with Studly to a 7:15 p.m. showing.

We watched some great trailers for upcoming films. The newest installment in the Men in Black franchise looks good, and there’s one film I have to see when it’s released in August. Titled Blinded by the Light, it tells the story of a young Pakistani man whose life is transformed when a friend introduces him to the music of Bruce Springsteen.

After all the pre-movie material played, we were admonished once again to turn off our cellphones and to refrain from talking. The movie opened with a pre-teen boy riding in the back seat of a car while toying with a Magic 8 Ball. Within five seconds, Studly whispered to me, “Oh, I’ve seen this!”

I just nodded, patted him on the arm, and said, “shhhh!”

Peace, people.

Finnegan Gets Around

Sitting outside on this beautiful May morning in Tallahassee, Florida, as I waited for my scheduled appointment with my esthetician, I realized I was at a table reserved for patrons of a local pub.

The pub, Finnegan’s Wake, won’t open for a few hours yet, so no one seemed to mind my presence. If they were serving, I’d order a Guinness and be certain to take a nap during my upcoming facial.

I’ve never been inside this bar, but it looks pleasant enough. As I sat here with my phone I wondered if Finnegan’s Wake might be a common name for such an establishment in the United States. Thanks to google, I now have a fairly good idea. While I didn’t get a chart showing the number of bars named after the James Joyce novel, I did get a good many search results:

There’s one in Springfield, Missouri

Another in Pickerington, Ohio, tucked between a Drug Mart and a pizzeria.

The one on the Upper East of NYC didn’t offer a photo of the establishment, but it earned 4 stars and is affordable.

Philly had one, but it closed.

Here’s one in Winston Salem, NC:

Rockville, MD

And many, many more.

I’ve never read Joyce’s book, but if it inspired so many drinking establishments it must be worth exploring. Right?

peace, people!

Natural Florida on a Wednesday Morning

Yesterday morning I was feeling a little low. Studly Doright had been out of town for a couple of days, and I was lonely. The news, both national and local, was depressing as hell. The book I was reading couldn’t keep my attention, even though it’s an excellent bit of almost poetic mystery. My first inclination was to go back to bed, pull the covers over my head and cry.

But some little niggling thought wormed its way into my head. “Girl, get outside,” it said, so I washed my face, pulled on my favorite jean capris and a comfy old t-shirt, and drove straight to Wakulla Springs State Park.

As soon as I arrived I purchased a ticket for the boat ride, but had about 45 minutes to wander around before time to board.

Below is the diving platform into one of the springs that gives the state park its name.

Above and below are photos of the outside and inside of the lodge. I visited with a young couple who were staying at the lodge and they said the rooms are lovely. Maybe some day Studly and I can spend a night out there.

Doesn’t it appear that the butterfly is hovering above the walkway outside the lodge?

About 15 minutes before the boat was scheduled to leave I hurried back to the dock and was first in line, a decision that paid off as I noted a school bus disgorging teenagers out on a day trip while I waited patiently to board.

I believe the vegetation pictured (above) beneath the water’s surface is eelgrass.

My early bird status in the boarding queue paid off, and I found myself in the front row with a couple of families and a smattering of young couples in the seats beside and immediately behind me. The teenagers and their chaperones were herded to the aft section of the boat. Yay! Although, I have to say they were extremely well behaved and seemed to enjoy the experience as much as I did.

The trip was immediately rewarding as we literally passed directly over this manatee mom and her calf after leaving the dock.

You’ll think I’m silly, but I got a bit teary eyed.

Can you spot the alligator nestled in his hiding spot? He was the first of several we saw that morning.

Above, framed by the boat’s scaffolding, is one of my favorite birds, the anhinga. Anhingas swim quite well, but they have to spread their wings to dry them upon leaving the water; otherwise, they’d be unable to fly. When anhingas swim only their heads and slender necks appear above water, giving them the appearance of snakes and earning them the nickname, snakebird.

This guy, above, was one of the larger gators we encountered.

Below, are just a couple of photos that made me happy. Our boat captain turned off the motor and let us experience the beauty around us in silence. It was like being in a true church.

Now, this guy below was one of the highlights of the tour.

Prior to us seeing him, a couple of small male alligators came shooting out of a grassy area to our port side. Our captain told us it was mating season, and the males were likely establishing territory. Then the guy above came swimming directly towards our boat, hissing as if to scare us away, before he claimed the spot the other two males had just vacated. If I’d been a better photographer I’d have captured the whole thing, but I was too busy watching with my mouth wide open as nature’s drama played out in front of me. It was incredible.

We also were privy to hearing a bull alligator’s mating call. That was quite an impressive sound. I tried my best to capture it in a video, but it didn’t come across well. The ride was a bit anticlimactic after our gator standoff, but everyone was buzzing about what we’d witnessed.

I left the park feeling so much better than I had earlier in the day. My spirits were refreshed, and world events didn’t seem quite as dark and scary as they had just a couple of hours earlier. Plus, Studly would be home soon, and I couldn’t wait to tell him about my morning.

Peace, people!