HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

THE GIFT OF AUTUMN
O’ gates of Heaven that raineth down thy bounty
Of crimson leaves and hazelnuts against a golden sky,
What nourishing fodder befalls this fine autumn morning
As Thy radiant beauty is gracefully revealed before our eyes?

Rusty corn tassels wave in the crisp, fresh breeze
Beckoning all come forth and partake of Thy harvest;
Ripened fruits, corn, and bread loaves nurture feeble spirits
That have lain unsown like fallen seeds on the granary floor.

Long after the magnificent rainbow of autumn has withered,
Our hearts remain kindled with love and light from chestnut fires;
We raise our dipper gourds brimming with the cider of everlasting life
And give thanks, praise, honor, and glory unto Thy holy name.
-Carolyn E. Scott
© 11/10/04

A Halloween Tale (You know, to scare the children!)

By Carolyn Scott
© October 2002
© & Revised October 2003, 2007 and yet again, October 2010
(One of these days I’ll get it right!)

WARNING: Some readers of this story have experienced panic, diarrhea, insomnia, and a nightly fear of bogymen hiding under their bed. Others have suffered mild to severe boredom. May cause paper cuts if used as toilet paper.

The tree limbs cast eerie shadows across the deserted stretch of narrow, graveled roadway running alongside Mossy River. The wavy silhouettes of the branches beckoned like long, black fingers snaking across the lane, patiently waiting to snare a victim in their grotesque tentacles. For 15 year-old Sally Jones, the reflections cast by the low-hanging harvest moon seemed like a macabre omen on this Halloween night. Sally, together with her Golden Retriever, Buddy, had safely traveled this road hundreds of times during the late evening hours to visit nearby friends. Tonight, however, Sally had an unsettled feeling as she and Buddy walked home from her best friend Jan’s house.

She had spent the evening passing out candy to groups of shrouded Trick-or-Treaters at Jan’s front door. Afterward, she watched a video of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Jan and her brother, Timmy. Even as a small child, Sally did not spook easily by monsters, witches, and ghouls running helter-skelter on Halloween night. Up until a couple of years ago she had enjoyed disguising herself as one of them and performing the annual ritual of running about trying to scare people into giving her handfuls of candy. But on this particular All Hallows Eve, she felt something unnatural in the chilly breeze rustling through the dead, fallen leaves. The swamp frogs and hoot owls seemed to utter whispered warnings of impending doom as they stirred restlessly in the dark. She noticed how the curling fog rose up from the riverbed and draped itself around the trees, taking on the form of a phantom’s cloak.

Chill bumps popped up on her skin. “I’ve seen Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween one too many times.” she muttered nervously to Buddy.  “My imagination is getting the best of me.” But one glance at the dog and Sally’s uneasiness turned to fear. The playful canine usually relished these nighttime excursions as opportunity to run wild and scour the underbrush for elusive possums and raccoons. But not this night.

Buddy tread close by his master’s side. His normally wagging tail was pointing stiff straight in the air, his ears peaked high, twitching from sounds only he could hear. He kept sniffing the air like he was picking up some fresh, unknown scent and faintly growling now and again. “Let’s pick it up Buddy,” Sally encouraged, her sneakers churning up dust and gravel as she began running down the road.

Just as they neared the swinging footbridge they had to cross to get home, Buddy stopped suddenly and began to growl louder than before.  Sally skidded to a quick stop and fell to her knees in the gravel. She sat there catching her breath, watching Buddy. He stood completely still at attention staring toward the river, his fur bristling up and down his neck and back.

Creak, creak!

Sally jumped from the eerie sounds coming from the footbridge. She looked in that direction and froze, paralyzed with fear! She wanted to scream but couldn’t open her mouth. Her eyes fixed with fright upon the sinister image slowly looming up before her. It floated across the bridge, coming in her direction. Buddy growled menacingly, as if he understood that the approaching form only meant one thing...danger!

Sally gasped. Her heart beat so loudly she thought it would explode in her chest! She knew she would faint if she didn’t pull herself together. With her gaze fixed on the frightening figure, she cautiously slid her hand across the gravel toward Buddy. He was barking furiously now, jumping and pawing at the dirt. His lips were pulled back showing his perfect set of teeth as he growled in preparation of a fight to protect his master. Sally grabbed onto Buddy’s fur but in a flash he bolted from her grasp and ran toward the approaching image!

She watched helplessly as the figure continued to float closer, closer towards her, unmindful of Buddy’s fast approaching attack. He was racing toward the figure now! His barks and growls became more menacing than ever as he readied himself for the encounter. Buddy leaped through the air in an attempt to knock the spooky creature down but it glided right through him! The retriever yelped from fright and confusion as he hit the ground. The figure paid him no mind at all and continued along its trail toward Sally. Larger and larger it loomed above her until it was right in front of her-- within her reach! She wanted to scream more than ever now, but she felt almost hypnotized by it. She slowly looked up at the form and her spine tingled at what she saw! It's fur was dark and it had a cone-shaped head with a long mane of yellow, prickly hair running Mohawk style down the center. A set of devilish ears stuck straight back and narrowed to sharp points on each side of its head. Its eyes were big and slanty, fiery red in color and glowed like hot coals. It had a long, slender wolf-like nose and its open mouth showed gleaming, shark-like teeth protruding from within. It was gigantic in size, with long, skinny arms and dangling hands with spiky fingers. Instead of legs, it had a mermaid shaped trunk. Sally gasped!

“Oh m-man!” she stammered as she looked up into its face. “I’ve n-never seen anything like thi-this in the m-moo-vies!”

Buddy growled ferociously and ran back to protect Sally. Just when the dog approached, the creature slowly began to raise its arms. Its eyes started glowing even brighter red than before. Sally covered her face in fear as the creature rose its head toward the sky and began howling unmercifully -- a howl that could wake the dead! Buddy whimpered and tucked his tail between his legs.

“Please, please go away!” Sally cried helplessly as the “thing” continued to howl. She uncovered her face and reached for Buddy. Just then, the moon took on a dim, yellowish glow. The wind became deathly quiet and still. The trees were pulling their branches inward, as if even they were shrinking from fear of this frightening creature. The river suddenly stopped flowing and stood still without a ripple. The clouds stopped drifting and appeared pasted in the sky. A bat hung in a frozen silhouette against the moonlight!

A fresh surge of fear washed over Sally. She frantically scrambled to her feet and ran wildly past the monsterous beast toward the swinging bridge from which it had first appeared. Buddy caught up with her just as she managed to grab hold of the ropes that anchored the bridge to the bank of the river. She quickly looked back as she clambered onto the bridge. It was chasing her, its howls growing louder and louder! The noise was deafening. She covered her ears with her hands but could hardly block out its savage, beastly wails. Just when she thought her head would surely split open, the howling stopped. Frightened, she turned to look back at the figure. As she did so, a bright, bold flash of blue light penetrated the sky. With a whip cracking sound, an orange ball of fire loomed up from the earth and snatched the strange form within it, hurling it high into the sky! As it slowly vanished from sight, it appeared to glare down upon Sally. Its eyes glowed so brightly it lit up the entire forest!

All that had ceased minutes before suddenly came vigorously to life again! The wind blew fiercely. Sally grabbed tightly to the hand ropes running along the bridge as the wind recklessly tossed it about. The river abruptly began to flow again, its currents swirling and foaming wildly. The water rose and spewed forth so high that it covered the bridge, completely soaking Sally, forcing her to gasp for air. All at once the earth violently began to rumble and quake. Frightened to the core, she forced herself to continue across the bridge. When she finally got to the other side the ground opened up beneath her, exposing a deep, dark pit. She stumbled and frantically grabbed for the ropes on the bridge but they were so wet and slippery she couldn’t hold on to them. She lost her balance and began to tumble down into the vast blackness of the deep hole!

Desperately she screamed and called out to Buddy. She kept her eyes tightly closed and continued screaming as she spiraled downward-- downward. She thought she would never reach bottom when all at once she realized she was no longer falling but instead felt like she was lying on soft hey. She lay there for a moment and then, with some hesitation, she slowly sat upright. She cautiously opened her eyes to see what new horror lie before her, but could not believe what she saw!

As she blinked and looked around her, she realized she was in her own bed, in her own room at home! She wiped the sweat from her forehead and after a minute or two, she giggled nervously as she thought of the terrible nightmare she had just had. Looking around, she spotted Buddy lying on his rug beside her bed. She softly called him up to her and ran her fingers through his warm, soft coat as he snuggled on the blanket next to her.

“Boy, Halloween can sure bring out an overactive imagination. It seemed for sure we were about to be eaten by an ugly, vicious monster, Buddy. Thank goodness, though, it was all just a dream… just a dream.” She sighed deeply and snuggled back down under the covers, relieved now from the nightmare she had just experienced. Buddy snuggled in alongside her, his head sharing her pillow and tail wagging from the pleasure of getting to sleep upon the bed. She put her arms around him and smiled.

Within minutes, Sally and Buddy both fell into a deep sleep, neither of them aware of the dark furry, grotesque looking creature just outside the bedroom window. With long, spiky fingers it softly scratched on the windowpane, its sharp fangs gleaming in the moonlight as it peered in at them--------

through a pair of large, glowing,  fiery RED EYES!

ALL WRITTEN MATERIAL CONTAINED HEREIN IS COPYRIGHTED & MAY NOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR.  THANK YOU.

Walking outside, I can’t help but think how similar the cool, crispy clean air and bright blue cloudless sky is strangely similar to the way it was in New Jersey this same morning 11 years ago; moments before the inconceivable vastly shattered so many innocent lives, bored a hole in our country, and left the entire world in a sense of disbelief and shock. 

We watched a movie on HBO the other night.  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close .  It came out in January this year but we hadn’t seen it yet.  I highly recommend it.  The story begins in NYC on September 10, 2001, the day before what 9-year old lead character, Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), calls “the worst day.”  After his father (Tom Hanks) is killed in the World Trade Center, a heavy gloom hangs between him and his mother (Sandra Bullock), until one day Oskar peeked in his dad’s closet (still left exactly as it was on 9-11) and accidentally finds a blue vase containing an envelope with the single word “Black” on it.  It contains a key, similar to one fitting a safe-deposit box. Oskar is determined to find out who or what the key belongs to.  This obsession finds him having to work through his personal obstacle, borderline autism/Asberger syndrome, to become friendly with his grandmother’s border, an elderly man (Max Von Snydow) who cannot speak but wishes to help him on his quest.  We follow their journey through the 5 boroughs of NY as they locate and call on all the people named Black to see if anyone can shed light on the mysterious key.  While some parts of the story tip toward ‘fantasy,’ (for instance, Oskar still finds hidden messages to him from his father around Central Park, etc. from a game they used to play) overall it is a very captivating and heartwarming story.  And if you’re prone to a tear or 2, have a box of kleenex at hand ;-) 

By the way, for a newbie actor, Thomas Horn did an outstanding job playing Oskar!  I understand his only prior TV experience was winning Kids Week on Jeopardy once and acting experience limited to playing Grasshopper in his school play, James & The Giant Peach.  He’s pretty amazing! 

Trifling with Lamb Chops

Yesterday I was in the mood to prepare Lamb Chops.  I don't know why since it's probably been 5 years since last I served them.  My husband has never cared for them so that's probably been my overall reason not to add them to my shopping list.  The last thing I enjoy is spending time in the kitchen, carefully cultivating a gourmet meal complete with a pared wine and dessert, then having him sit down at the table with that 'look' that says he'd rather have had burritos and beer! Again!  But since it was Saturday, I decided to serve dinner earlier than we normally have it on a work night.  If he didn't like or want it, there would be time for him to order up some burritos from the Mexican restaurant close by.  Ha! 

The aroma of the chops as they baked in the oven was very enticing, even to Bob.  He decided to give my efforts a try and sat down to dinner, eagerly sinking his chops into a lamb chop.  His expression quickly became one of delight, much to mine!  He actually loved them and asked that I prepare them more often, at least once a month.  Wow!  They were delicious, if I do say so myself.  I served them with steamed broccoli, buttered ciabato bread, and a malbec wine from Argentina (which pares quite well with duck, roast beef, & lamb). 

I didn't forget dessert either!  It was a fruit trifle easily made with layers of fresh mixed blueberries, strawberries, raspberries & blackberries,  alternated in a tall crystal glass with french vanilla yogurt and granola.  And of course more malbec wine!  The fruit finished off the lamb chops perfectly!  Of course I could have added bits of pound cake or other sweet roll to the trifle and upped the calorie intake, but chose to keep this one simple.  The recipe for the chops is below, and I just gave you instructions for the trifle.  Please excuse my bad photography of the main dish & dessert.  I had a hungry husband with a growling tummy waiting to sample the goods!  ;-)  

Breaded Lamb Chops

with Rosemary & Maple Glaze

3/4 C Plain bread crumbs

1 Tbsp fresh rosemary (or 1 tsp dried)

1 Clove Garlic finely chopped

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/4 lbs. boneless lamb

1/3 C ham glaze*

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1.  Preheat oven to 450

2.  Combine bread crumbs, rosemary, garlic, & black pepper in shallow dish.  Brush lamb with ham glaze on both sides.  Coat both sides with breadcrumb mixture.

3.  Heat olive oil in large, non-stick skillet over med-high heat.  Add lamb.  Sear on both sides for 1 or 2 minutes or until coating is golden.  Transfer to baking sheet.

4.  Bake 15 - 20 minutes or until lamb is no longer pink in center.  Serves 4

*Ham Glaze (This is my personal recipe.  You can also add a pinch of cloves if you like)
Melt 1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp  unsalted butter in small saucepan.  Add 1 or 2 Tbsp brown sugar, just enough to make it a little thick.  Add 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup and stir while mixture comes to a boil.  (It's important to stir to keep from scorching).  Remove from heat & let cool enough to thicken down.  Use basting brush to  glaze lamb.  

UNRESTRAINED VORTICES

This is a poem I wrote several years ago.   Poetry is subjective, so please feel free to share your own ideas as to what, if anything, you take from this.  I'm always open for improvement :-)

UNRESTRAINED VORTICES

Time nurtures a wounded heart

Veiled in its outstretched hand.

A Redbird held in a tender grasp

within the eye of a hurricane

shields its wings from unseen fury,

blowing fairy dust from windowpanes.

It cannot stay in one place too long,

the heart has no choice in the matter.

Rendered in motion by the wind it glides

fluttering gracefully, but now less content.

It took a free-fall once on an awkward chance

now bruised, its trust, virtue, stripped and spent.

It landed here once not so long ago,

you heard it from your kitchen window.

It sang to you from the tall pine tree

while you smiled and sipped your chamomile tea.

It gave you cheer for a moment in time

through happy verse in poetic rhyme.

But aloft is fate to spiral down,

happy rhythms transpose to mundane.

A heart is plunged through a vortex of grief

by impetuous scribblers of judgmental words

who care not why they annihilate.

Damn the Vultures, damn the Crows,

and damn the Mockingbirds!

--Carolyn Scott

(c) 03/06/01

Triggering Thoughts on Gun Control

     First, my heart goes out to all those hurt & killed in the theatre shooting last night in Aurora, CO.  They were there for the premier of Dark Knight Rises, sitting quietly inside, hurting no one, & a freaking lunatic destroyed what began as an innocent evening for some adults & kids!  Apparently they have the suspect in custody but now they’ve discovered he booby-trapped his apartment.  Jeesh!  They’re everywhere these days it seems.
     Just last week a shooting took place at a local mall in my town; fortunately in the parking lot so at least no innocents were involved.  It was reported as a drug & gun deal gone badly.  I’ve only lived here 3 years but apparently this is the norm in these parts due to increasingly high population & not enough police.  To worsen matters, Virginia just passed a law where its citizens can purchase guns in bulk as opposed to the one gun per month law previously.  (Who in heck even needed a gun/month??)  Now, this gives unscrupulous gun buyers a chance to buy/sell them in parking lots & resell them to other thugs across state lines. Ugh!!  I realize some would have us blame crime these days on the unemployment factor.  There are some cases I’ve seen in my area where folks stole food due to unemployment & they were not receiving public assistance.  But the way I see it, drug & gun crimes are not primarily due to unemployment.  We've all witnessed what havoc people with guns have wreaked in years of higher employment & prosperity, (Columbine for instance) so that argument is out the window.  If someone’s unemployed & strapped for cash, they shouldn’t have $$ for drugs & guns.  If they do, those items are not what they should be spending savings or unemployment on!  

     There’s an NRA slogan saying “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”  {Their point being guns usually don't fire without human intervention, and that the real solution to violence is not in making any certain potentially lethal device unavailable, but in changing basic human nature from violent to peaceful.}   Yeah, well good luck with THAT!  I’m sure we’ll all breathe a lot easier when the NRA comes up with that happy pill to turn the world around.  But ‘till then, what if we applied the NRA attitude & slogan towards cancer.  “Cancer doesn’t kill people, people kill people.”  That way folks can continue smoking, drinking, drugging, abusing their bodies & when they die it’ll be called a suicide!   After all, they were the ones putting the bad stuff in their own bodies, just like the shooters put the guns in their own hands, right??  But wait..  what about those who don’t deliberately abuse themselves and still get cancer due to issues beyond their control?  What about those who don’t pack a pistol & still get shot due to people with no self-control?  Which one of these scenario’s do you think could be cured the quickest, cancer or gun regulation?  It’s mind boggling isn’t it?  And yet I have to say I’ve never heard of anyone being robbed, raped, kidnapped or otherwise held up by someone threatening them with cancer.      
     Sadly, our government officials and political candidates often look the other way regarding the issues of gun control.  They make grand solemn speeches offering comfort to the families of shooting victims, but if that were your relative, would a “comfort speech” really ease your pain & make it “right?” The NRA complains that non-gun owners want to hold the gun manufacturers liable for crimes.  I think it’s the criminals who are allowed to continually purchase them who should be held accountable along with the legislators & gun lobbyists who support their right to do so!  Unfortunately, each time a criminal goes to jail for using a gun illegally, it’s the taxpayer who must pay for his/her daily keep in prison.  Prisons are overcrowded as it is now, and some inmates are paroled early to make room for others going in.  Those convicts paroled back on the streets, getting public assistance & returning to their life of crime, sneaking around public parking lots after dark to buy more guns & drugs either for personal use or resale are not the victims here!   Personally, I don’t want or plan to be a victim, but especially not a victim of “irony!”  I hope this never happens to you or me, but… we never know--  the gun that may be pulled on us in a theatre or mall by some thought depraved criminal may very well have been purchased by our own ‘tax dollars at work.’  

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http://www.kcautv.com/story/19074253/aurora-co-shooting-update-on-victims-and-investigation

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57476737-503544/gun-control-debate-returns-after-colorado-shooting/

Are You “Pretentious” or “Atypical?”

I can't "share" a link on this since I don't recall who I heard talking about it on TV or what show it was, but I thought it was interesting and probably quite true.  They were discussing “pretentious egotistical type thinkers”  versus “atypical original type thinkers” on social mediums like Facebook. 

They described the pretentious ones as those who 
misleadingly paint their lives as a Disney Movie, all sugar & spice, no worries, showing off their stuff to get attention.  They usually receive agreeable comments or 'likes' on their posts from their like minded followers. (The sheep or brownnose response.)  Rarely ever does a self-absorbed thinker comment or offer solace to anyone who posts something other than fun or likewise pretentious. 

The atypicals were described as those who also post enjoyable statuses, but will intermingle somewhat melancholic posts of a personal nature or life in general that don't always paint such a glamourous, exciting picture.  They’ll receive agreeable comments from others who identify or commiserate with the subject, but they catch negative comebacks as well.  Occasionally, if they respond to a pretentious thinkers post with a different slant or imply they don't agree, it throws the pretentious for a loop.  In some cases, the pretentious will either delete the atypical's comments or the person altogether because they don't fit in with the rest of the brownnose, fairy dust covered responders in their pack.   

After thinking about it, I seriously hope I’m mainly an atypical! While I do like it when others agree with me, or share a post or status update of mine, I also appreciate a different viewpoint.   Besides, I’m a bit like a dog when another dog sticks his nose to his backside--  it’s best you keep your cold brown nose to yourself, ha-ha!   I’ve received lots of different feedback on subjects I’ve written about over the years, and I've often learned and expanded my horizons from them.   I’ve rarely deleted anyone or their comments unless they were foul in language or their arguments were off-subject or personally attacking.  (Like calling me or another commenter names, etc.  Unfortunately that HAS happened before!)  Sometimes I've posted comments to others indicating I didn’t quite agree, or I’ve shared my own similar thoughts/feelings regarding their subject.  For the most part my comments have been accepted and either further discussed or just left at that.  But yes, I’ve also been deleted by some of those pretentious kinds for my non- “baaa” response.    How truly boring their lives must be, ya think?!  ;-)

THOSE LITTLE THINGS

Do you often find yourself feeling happiest during the grander times in your lives (such as weddings, births, falling in love, job promotions or other happy occurrences that leave a lasting impression; feelings of pride, excitement, glory…) ?   That’s certainly not a bad thing, but how do you feel when those times are over and the euphoria just isn’t quite the same as it was before? Do you find yourself feeling low, blue, bored with life and perhaps somewhat depressed?   I think all of us go through that.  It’s natural to want to hold onto the good feelings we experienced during positive times in our lives because not only were those times the more memorable ones, the ways we reflected that positivity (through feeling genuinely happy, feeling the love, excited to wake up that day…) gave our bodies a healthy boost of energy, a stronger healing power, and an overall feeling of well-being.  But life isn’t one big continual party, and most of our grander times are interspersed between, by comparison, more mundane daily living.  So how can we keep our spirits up to par? 

Take notice of the ordinary moments.  You may discover the smaller picture of your life has a lot to offer in regards to keeping you upbeat and happy.  I find that paying close attention to little “pleasure treasures” as I call them, often lift my mood and elevate my sense of well-being.  For me, there are many, but here's a few that give me a personal high:  Singing along with a favorite song; a resonating choir of tadpoles in early Spring; waking up to someone serving me breakfast;  the smell of fresh cut grass; rainbows after a warm summer rain; having my feet massaged; arrays of beautiful flowers; colorful Fall leaves; Sunday afternoon naps during football season; the lull of rippling streams & gently rolling ocean waves; playing hide & seek with my dogs; knowing everyone’s inside safe & cozy; the yummy smell of stuffed turkey and other favorite foods cooking in my kitchen; the first blanket of sparkly snow; Christmas carols; …     

Just recently my husband & I were driving along a country road when we came upon a farmer mowing a field of grass.  I made him slow down to a crawl as I immediately lowered my window, allowing the fresh grass bouquet to seep into my senses.  As it did so, I was momentarily whisked back to when I was around 10 years old, playing with Nibbles, a black & white spotted rabbit we’d adopted from a local Fair.  Nibbles lived in a rabbit hutch in the back yard.  Each day throughout the summer I’d take him out of the hutch to the clover field farther back of the house so he could snack on his favorite 3-leafed treat and get his exercise.  I would lie down amidst the clovers and watch the clouds drift along the pale blue sky, reshaping themselves into whatever my imagination’s eye willed them to be.  Although my attention was on being a cloud artist, my subconscious apparently picked up the smell of fresh clover and the rustling sounds Nibbles made as he hopped around through the bright green grass.  I felt happy and at peace there.  Now, when I smell fresh cut grass, I’m reminded of those days in that field with my little rabbit friend.  And I feel good. 

The same thing happens in the Fall while driving along and allowing myself to become immersed in the colored beauty of changing leaves.  The colors themselves are considerably enough to lift my spirits!  Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll be on a long drive where my senses are attuned to a mixture of mood elevators.  Example:  I love the Smokey Mountains during the Fall; soaking up the colors as they hug me at every bend in the road or path; marveling at how easy the vibrant hues poke through the early morning fog stretching across the purple mountaintops; the smell of wood smoke curling up from a chimney mingled with the crisp clean air, even the raucous sound of a crow flying off in the distance…  It all intoxicates me in a happy way.

These things are not of a personal congratulatory nature, nor do they focus on any achievement, status, or major occurrence in my life which gives the kind of ‘high’ mentioned above.   Nevertheless, the good feelings they do impart, when combined with other little things that may occur on any mundane day, can, if I open my mind and senses to them, keep me in a pretty good mood J

What are some ‘little things’ that work for you? 

Nora Ephron,  1941 - 2012

When Harry Met Sally was/is one of my favorite movies of all time.  At its release (1989) I was still single after an 8-year marriage that ended in divorce in 1985.  Contrary to what some people think, I didn’t exactly blaze a trail in the relationship department during those years, but I did make some good friends with the opposite sex.   I've never thought there was anything wrong with that.  Sometimes those friendships would take an uncomfortable turn, however, when a male friend would reveal feelings that indicated an interest in taking our friendship to the next level.  I remember how my heart would sink, thinking that not only would it not work out, but our friendship would end.   I’d already spent 8 years married to someone I had considered to be my best friend and a high school sweetheart (although we went to separate schools).  That one obviously didn’t last.  My first try at a new relationship after the divorce was a nightmare (literally, and another story), and to say I was a little gun shy about the whole dating thing was an understatement.  I was comfortable just having male friends to chat with, commiserate with, laugh with, and hang out with sans any messy strings attached.  Just like having girlfriends but no clothes or nail polish was exchanged.   

When I saw the movie Sally’s character hit home with me.  I could so relate.  Yet, unlike in my own real life, I could sit there in real time and watch Sally make her mistakes, easily seeing that Harry was the friend she should break the rules for, and silently urge her to take that risk.  At some level I believe that movie gave me that pinch of extra courage I needed to try another relationship, for better or worse.  I did remarry and now, after 22 years, it’s been both better and worse.   Ha-ha!  (Kidding!)

Thank you Nora Ephron for writing that movie.  And thank you for those subsequent movies that also touched millions of us;  those timeless classics (Sleepless in Seattle  and You’ve Got Mail) proving no matter how much things change, matters and concerns of the heart stay the same.  And thank you for the more recent  Julie & Julia, proving  passions of common interests can weave us across time and place and connect us to those whom we admire.   May you rest in peace but your humor never die.

NOW THAT’S BULLY IN THE BANK!

Please don’t get me wrong--  I despise bullying and believe it should be a punishable crime if results in someone’s injury or death.  We’ve seen too much news about bullying and the horrible affects it leaves.  But let’s discuss the case of Karen Klein, the 68-year old bus monitor from upstate NY, whose video showing her being bullied by teenagers on a school bus went viral last week. 

Because of that vid, Mrs. Klein has received well over a half million dollars in donations from strangers around the country who felt bad for her.  Someone actually set up a donation account on her behalf and people actually contributed their own money to a “cause” I’m still not convinced IS one.  It supposedly started out as a $5,000 fund to send Mrs. Klein on a needed vacation, (I thought bus monitors get summers off).  And yet, a few days and a half million dollars later this lady’s now living as if she won a lottery?  I’m in total awe!!

I saw her interview this morning with Ann Curry on The Today Show.  Yes, she’s very much a grandmotherly type, has a good personality, appeared to have a pretty good sense of humour when speaking about her family, and in all likelihood, if I met her, would probably like her and enjoy her company.   So why do I feel so skeptical about her sudden charity windfall?  Why can’t I feel like others do and agree that she deserves such high compensation for being bullied by those boys on the bus?

Well, first of all--  she’s a bus monitor.  Isn’t her job as such to monitor kids on the bus and handle any bullying that may occur?  Why didn’t she take a firm stand when they started on her?  Had they bullied her before?  Did she ever report them?  I have to wonder if she let others on the bus be bullied and maybe that’s why the bullies knew they could away with it.   

Second of all--  The bus driver is heard talking to her.  Why didn’t the bus driver stop the bus and help her deal with the bullies?  Did she not believe it was all that bad?  She’s heard asking Mrs. Klein if she was crying, yet she did nothing to dissuade the bullying or help relieve Mrs. Klein’s stress.

In her interview this morning Mrs. Klein stated "I keep thinking, 'What have I done?' It's like I almost don't feel like I deserve it."   When Curry asked what she might do with all that money, she responded, "What would anybody do with that much money?" She added that she’d invest some of it and donate to charity.  Her daughter, who was sitting next to her during the interview, also chimed in that her mom would donate to charity.  At that point Mrs. Klein laughed and pointed at her daughter, saying, “Charity, yeah!”  Then she went on about her kids, explaining how they all need cars, that it was always something.  "They need, they need, they need," she said.   Ok, I wouldn’t begrudge her taking care of her family’s needs, but are they going to be her only ‘charity’ recipients?  What about setting up a fund to help victims of bullies or pay for mandatory classes bullies would have to take to learn better behavior.  She only mentioned that she hoped the people who set up the trust for her were being paid somehow.  She didn’t say she’d donate back to them though. Throughout the interview she didn’t tremble or seem too upset when retelling her story or seeing footage of the video.  I didn’t catch any mention she had to now seek ongoing psychological help for her torment. Sooooo…  was she truly harmed?

I can’t think of a valid reason why this lady is monetarily compensated for something she should have been able to handle as part of her job. Maybe I could see it if she were riding a public bus every day to get to and fro, and some mean teenagers who rode the same bus tormented her for days/weeks on end.  Shucks, I wouldn’t blame her if she knocked the snot out of them or beat them to a pulp with a cane!  But as it is, shouldn’t she of reported the kids and let the school take care of it?  If they continued, she could have taken it up with the school board or sued the kids and their parents.  Compensation should have first been sought through her job. I’m not aware she tried that.  Maybe she did though.  Maybe the video of her school board meeting didn’t get air play.  Maybe she won’t return to work in the Fall now that she doesn’t need the money. Maybe the school system will realize they were paying her for a job she clearly wasn’t properly trained to do. Maybe other school systems will take note and up the training for their bus monitors.  Maybe other bus monitors will cry bully in hopes of gaining like Mrs. Klein did.  Maybe someone will set up a fund for anyone and everyone that’s been or being bullied.  After all, shouldn’t other school kids, teachers, homeless people, wives bullied by their husbands, kids bullied by parents, employees bullied by bosses… shouldn’t they be compensated for their torment?  Tell us where those donation trusts are so the good hearted can send them money too! 

I know it isn’t Mrs. Klein’s fault someone set up a fund and all those people sent her money. But if it was me under the same circumstances, and I truly wasn’t scarred for life or suffered long-term injury, I’d feel very guilty about taking it.  I would hope I’d give it back or put it to some use for the greater good of the cause.

I wish her well with her newfound fame and fortune.  But where’s the lesson here? How is Mrs. Klein’s’ windfall teaching the bullies that their actions are bad??  Was this really a cause for compensating someone who, although clearly was bullied by those kids, worked where bullying is always a risk and it was her job to deal with it?  Isn’t it plausable that Mrs. Klein was having a bad day over other things like we all do sometimes, and those few minutes on the bus were her breaking point?   

Now before you judge me as some sarcastic, unsympathetic person for questioning this issue, please understand that I am the way I am due to some excessive bullying in my earlier years. But I’m sure if you send me some money I can overcome my ways…  ;-)

WHO’S SOURCING WHO?

By Carolyn Scott

06/24/12

Earlier on CBS Sunday Morning, a segment was aired featuring Katherine and Jared MacLane, who manufacture Polo shirts.  (Link provided below) The objective of this segment, as far as I could determine, was to justify why their shirts are better than other Polo shirts, & why they can sell their own brand for $155.00 as opposed to the $90.00 price tag other brands retail for.  They explained about the quality of cloth they use (purchased from France), how much it costs/yard, the buttons, thread, other paraphernalia, the paper it’s wrapped in at sale before placed into the embroidered bag given the customer at end of transaction…

Now while the price for the combined materials used was higher than those from say, China, by my not so remarkable math calculations, the retail cost still shouldn't meet $90.00, let alone their $155.00 even after markup.  However, since they were not made in China, but instead here in the USA, I thought about the higher wage base to workers here; perhaps insurance for them; the cost of leasing factory space & meeting US regulated safety standards, etc.   That overhead could indeed dictate a small privately owned business to mark up their product considerably higher.  More so, the fact they were putting Americans to work was somehow ‘settling’ to me, although I will probably never afford one of their shirts unless they have the sale of all sales on them!  That aside though, another reason I feel I may never be a customer of theirs is because of what I saw in the video clips of their factory.  Or better still, what I didn’t see.  As the clips rolled, aside from the blonde haired, blue eyed all American looking Mrs. Maclane, I didn’t see any black, white or American born looking folks aside from her.   I won’t say for sure there were no Americans employed there since I have no idea at this time of the actual size of their operation, number of employees, or status of citizenship of them on the whole, but it still bothered me that the workers featured in their clips more closely resembled the look of those employed by our outsourcers.    

This brought to mind a few questions:   Are their workers natural born or legalized citizens of the USA or are they only working on a Green Card basis?  If it’s the latter, why were they hired over out of work Americans?  Did any Americans apply?  Have Americans lost touch with such ‘hands-on’ type work that they won’t apply for labor jobs anymore?  Even if their employees are legal citizens, are they the only ones who, perhaps gained through our outsourcing to their countries, have the skill for those manufacturing/labor/technical jobs requiring hands-on abilities?  Do they not expect as much from the American business owner as US born citizens do? Do folks who buy their shirts at $155.00 even care about the reusable bag it comes in?  Believe me, I have more questions but I already feel I’m drowning in these! 

While getting in some ‘retail therapy’ last week, I stumbled across a lady’s Izod Polo shirt.  While Izod originated in London, 1922 & launched in the US in the late 1930’s, it, like so many other manufacturers now, outsources to other countries.  So granted, my new Polo was made in India, & it didn't come wrapped in paper inside an embroidered cloth bag, but I only paid $12.99; pretty easy on the change purse.  I even had $$ left for a nice cold ice-tea.  I’m pretty certain that, even if the tea was imported, it was brewed on the spot here in the USA ;-)

CBS Sunday Morning (link) http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57459467/how-the-cost-of-a-shirt-adds-up

Another interesting read:  http://www.mddionline.com/article/high-cost-outsourcing-china