Povey Prattle

Funny. M. is a woman I see most Fridays when I go with Zion to an Assisted Living facility. M is in the memory unit.  She has periods of lucidity and wit, and is very fond of Zion. The other week she said  "he is adorable".   I agreed and asked  "what about me?".    She looked me up and down, and with a smile she said  "well, you are O.K."   She knew that she was being funny. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sad beyond words. As I was leaving the facility last Friday I encountered an older woman resident.  She wanted to caress Zion, and as in many other encounters she began to talk about the dogs in her life. I asked "where are you from?" meaning "did you live in another State before you came to Sarasota?" Her face darkened. "From Germany" she said. Then she went on to tell me that she and her family were able to leave Germany in 1938 when she was thirteen years o...

And returns with a gift for you from Murano Wow and thanks.

TRJUMP/MAY   Classic British Humour https://youtu.be/Zdn5WJNNTwk

Hoisting a Flag Do you know or use the phrase "hoist by his (her) own petard". It's used in situations such as this: 1. When I told my friends S and R that I hated the use of the b..ch word in reference to women, and a bit later referred to a woman I know as a b..ch.  S and R  caught me  -  rightly so. 2. When a vociferous republican anti-gay politician is "caught" soliciting gay sex (it's happened more than once). 3. When a liberal democratic  politician is so very firm in his support of battered woman,  only to be exposed as a batterer. ------------------------------------------------------------ I'd thought for the longest time that "petard'  referred to a Naval Flag (such things are "hoisted").  When visiting my friend Jack Chrisman (USN Captain Ret.) I asked him about this.  He had no idea. Jack and his souse  Donna have a daughter Ashley L. who looked up the phrase vi...

Some eleven to thirteen Wood Storks have taken up temporary residence at my neighbouring Glen Oaks Manor community, here in Sarasota, FL I delight in these birds with their pink feet and long bills.  I've never before seen so many in one place. I took my real camera with me this afternoon to try to get some better shots than with my smart 'phone.  My digital camera has a screen but no view finder, so taking photo's in bright sun is  difficult.   This is the best I could do.  (Noel Bailey, I need you!) Wood Storks look great in the air.   With a dog leash in one hand and a camera in the other I couldn't snap one in flight today .   These are from the web. More about wood storks here: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wood-stork

Since I knew nothing about her I went on line to discover that Samantha Bee is a comedian. She's the Samantha Bee who recently described Ivanka Trump as a c... It was at the least a cheap shot at a sitting target. An attack on Ivanka Trump because of her last name. At the most it was the employment of a horrid and vile word; a word always used to degrade and demean women.  You know that I am no fan of the Trumps and their politics.  But I am horrified and disgusted that the President's daughter has been demeaned by the use of this reprehensible word.  Inexcusable. One of the responses from people on the left is that the foes of  Hillary Clinton also used this word to describe her. I will not reproduce photo's of the tee shirts which some right wingers wore; tee shirts which bore the c... word above a picture of Hillary Rodham Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign.  That too was disgusting and demeaning of  Hillary Clinton....

As you may have read in an earlier blog I disdain the word "racism" since it is rooted in the White Nationalist perverted notion that there is a black race and a white race.  Not so.  There is but one race, the human race.   Nevertheless I will have to use the word in this blog since it has (sadly) entered common currency). ------------------------------------------------------------- By now unless you live under a rock in a remote part of Alaska you will have heard of the horrible incidents in a couple of Starbucks coffee houses. You will also know that Starbucks closed all their (U.S.A.?) joints for a day of anti-racism training for their employees. All well and good.  But I give the effort a B not an A. This is for a couple of reasons: 1)  I need to be sure that Starbucks offers a just and living wage to its employees. 2) I need to be reassured  that Starbucks employment policies include active and determined affirmative a...