From the top: Mono Lake, Sunset over Pacifica, Michael shows him how .....

Thanks to Ayla. I think I was too impatient, and the result was two (2) nearly identical posts without the photos I tried to send. So here are the photos (I hope). Love to all, Gramma
p.s. May I just be Virginia to everyone? I'd like that. Please, please, pretty please .....

Chin up, Vern! Winning is standing up and speaking the truth. Some day, that will be the norm. And that is the day we win the war! If peace is the way, then truth is the way and justice is the way, too. We have to give credit where credit is due... We are proud of you!

Hey mom. Sounds like you are taking your little victories where you can find them! You have always had your fingers in every pie, and now the drain too, I take it...

Like a river: you're either on it or in it! Sounds like you are on it...

love you guys
mary

PS i posted a comment on your duplicate entry that hasn't shown up yet... maybe the boogie man is out to git us!

Here I am again, saying Hi again to my near and dear. I wish I could write as well as the M&M's, pouring forth my thoughts with elegance and candor. However, I will just plog (blog?) along, doing whatever I can.

It is now 6 a.m. on Sunday and I rejoice that I have finally solved a problem that kept me sleepless last night and really cranky and disturbed yesterday. I mean really mean and bitchy. The pop-up drain in the bathroom sink came adrift some while ago. I tried and tried to fix it yesterday afternoon and I failed. In the great universe of fixing things, this is not permitted. So I went to bed, drainless and insomniac. At four this morning, I completely disassembled the dang thing and compared all its gubbins with the diagram I picked up from the net and behold(!) a washer was missing. Now, leakage was not the problem: a lack of pop-up-edness was the problem. I found a washer to fit, reassembled, and viola -- it works. Bear in mind that the sink is fitted into the cheapest, smallest cabinet that the builder could use, so that I had to work with my left hand only and mirrors to see the clevis screw attachment thing. Now I feel quite jubilant and accomplished.

Our position here continues precarious. So far, there has been no further information. Vern has not been informed what he is being 'investigated' for -- not a sound. A school board meeting is scheduled next Thursday, but there is no indication that Vern's matter will be on the agenda -- or even if there will be a meeting. The previous three scheduled meetings have been cancelled, and a special meeting was called and held in secret to authorize the travel expenditures of school board members. Nothing has been heard from the state auditor about putting the district into receivership. So ---- here we are, twisting, twisting, in the wind. It's possible that this uncertainty may continue indefinitely, since two other staff members who were put on administrative leave more than two months ago 'pending outcome of investigation' have not yet been cleared or dismissed and summoned back to work. Those 'investigations' involved the same school board member who is out to get Vern. Such is life on the rez. I've about had enough and I've been here long enough to understand that it's probably not going to get better in the long run. As long as federal money rains down with no accountability, graft and corruption will prevail. It is important to understand that the primary purpose for the existence of the school is to create jobs for the locals and create a phony sense of entitlement and power -- plenty of overpaid, do-nothing jobs and lots of perks for the school board. Students and teachers are incidental to that process and would be eradicated from the system if board and administrators could get away with it. If I sound bitter and cynical, it's because I am. In spades.

Vern is considering taking some time off and enrolling at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff to get a Special Ed endorsement which would put him in the most preferred hiring category anywhere in the country. I fully approve and would encourage him to enroll at Kearney if he could be eligible as a resident. Flagstaff will do very well, however. If he is summoned back to his class here of course he will finish the year. But I think it is time to move on. It's really up to him -- but I hate seeing him go through this dark period with so little hope of justice in the long run. One cannot give up hope but if you could be certain that the good guys would win in the long run, it wouldn't take as much courage to stand up for the right things. I am so proud of him.

I was feeling so angry yesterday -- at the sink drain failure of course. I used my iPhoto slideshow to cycle through my California trip photos with a background of music from Nebraska Public Radio and found that it eased my anxieties a great deal. Kind of like meditating in a beautiful dream. Which reminds me of the one ray of hope from yesterday: our computer guru came to the house and reinstated my internet connection, giving me back the great wide world. Nothing was said about why I had lost it or why he was restoring it: don't ask, don't tell.

Happy Daylight Saving Time Ends Day.

Gramma, Mom, whoever I am today.

hey all, just touching base. Southern Illinois has a case of the drears. Sopping wet neath a thick gray ooze. Everyone complains. But everyone complains if the wind blows, if the sun is too hot or the air too humid. We have about three days a year when people don't complain. And those are never on the weekend. Ooops. There I go: complaining.

Lord, give me a tall enough pogo stick, and I can transcend anything, including gravity, if i'm not careful!

Maya, Michael said that the alternator is the sort of thing that is stocked on the shelf, and that he probably won't have any trouble putting it in for you. So you get a free (not easy) education on the mysterious mechanics of internal combustion. Lucky you. All I could ever get was "ok, pump the brakes, no stop, no STOP!) Never learned a damn thing.

Ayla had a flat tire yesterday, and caught a ride with a stranger because she forgot the phone. She said it was scary, but she feels good that she survived. And she learned how to change a tire, and to remember the phone, and these are good things. Ayla, I don't know whether to hug you or smack you!

Mom and Vern, hang in there. It sounds stupid to say that it will work out for the best, because we don't really know what that is. But it is fair to say that around the bend will be different, and you guys have been around enough bends to have faith in your ability to go around bends.... Sometimes it's all a-tumble, though. And it is never fair when the good guys get rode out of town.... But to stand up for justice, wow. WOW. Bad guys never get to do that. What a pity. Love to see their epitaphs: Here lies a bad guy who thought they were getting away with something. RIP.

I could write a lot of sad songs if I had the energy, right now.

Oh, good news! My agency is paying for a two-day seminar on complex trauma in St. Louis for me Nov 10-11, including hotel and everything. Well maybe not everthing, but enough. I am so happy if I was younger I would do a snoopy dance. At my age that would be testing fate.

BroMichael: if you read this, post something. It ain't fair that you get to be mysterious and I have to be whatever I am for people to see and have opinions about without getting any feedback, is it? So, out with you! Out of the dark, I mean....

You too Fran. I don't understand what you have against blogging. Is it like my husband, who has decided that computers are evil even though he's never used one? I hope not, because that is delusional. Just try it, you'll like it! Blogging is fun! And it's hard to do wrong, and people, me especially, would love to hear from you. We haven't actually spoken since our long conversation on my way back from Kerrville, when I ran out of cellphone juice, remember? If you read this, I want you to feel sorry for me, all alone in the wilderness, and be nice to me. Cause otherwise I might cry....

Hi to Chuck and Rosie too, if you happen by. Every time a fire breaks out in SoCal I get flashbacks, and I can't imagine how you are feeling Chuck. Talk soon, ok? Rosie, check your email, I think I got lost in the spam folder....

Well, so much for me today. I will sleep a lot this weekend. Then my tone will improve.

Love yall. Keep climbing! mary

Wild weekend at the VultureFest. (correction to previous post: the spring festival is not called Springfest, it is called MakandaFest) Saturday was a beautiful as a day could be, the fall colors at their very peak: a perfect exercise in perfection. The air was so clear it sparkled, room-temp, calm. Sunday was a turnabout: stinging frost, scudding clouds and a wind that picked the bones of the trees. Another perfect day! I looked up to see a huge flock of vultures swirling like a drain. I wondered out loud why we always see vultures in the sky over Makanda, but never smell anything dead. Someone offered that the vultures are gathering for migration to South America. Cool, huh?

Anyway, lots of music. I "troubed" all day Saturday and Sunday. People remembered me from last year, lots of compliments and support. I didn't get to play officially because they actually booked bands for two-hour slots instead of local itinerates for one. Bands tend to show up, unfortunately for me, but hey, they were great anyway!

Danny Dolinger is amazing. He is a water spout of genius and an ocean of heart... There was a jam afterwards and I crawled home very late. The next night it was Danny O'Keefe, of Good Time Charlie's got the Blues fame. He was very polished, urbane. He tried to be friendly, but only a handful of people showed up. I wondered what it was like to be so famous, and to fall so low. He probably has a low opinion of us hicks out here in nowhere-ville. Sad. I wish him better luck in future. I was really surprised and disappointed at the low turnout, too. Michael stood me up because he was too tired and irritable. After I had talked him up and everyone was expecting to see him! Some people don't even believe I am married, cause I can't drag him off the property....

I did meet a man who is a Johnston City home-boy, about my age, who has been playing professionally for forty years. We hit it off pretty good, and he said he jams around here all the time. Maybe Michael will venture out if the music were a little more local. Carbondale is a long ways from here, and none of my music people circulate in this area, so our house is very quiet.

So, I am still recovering from not enough sleep. Hopefully this weekend will bring me more sleep. Sleep is really all I have on my mind right now...

Love you all, see you soon Maya!

mary

here are some photos from the desolation canyon trip gramma and i did. it was very very fun. on our next to last night we saw (and heard) a peregrine falcon hunting bats. you know, upon looking, i realize that i have some even more remarkable photos from this trip. i will post these later.

i am coming home next week! this is for sure. if i drive i will be home on sunday. if i take the train i will be home on monday. i'll have to coordinate. if i come home on sunday i have to find someone to work for me on sunday, which i will gladly do. but i could use the money y'know.

um maybe i will be printing today. i have a grand idea that involves paper bags. so mom, please save your paper bags. oh and if i drive do you think i'll be able to fix the alternator in the van? i guess thats more a question for michael.
ok, love you all! see you soon!
maya

Cool to hear from you mom, and maya too! Life on the reservation sounds HARD! The pictures are great, mom. What an experience that must have been!

Love you! Glad you are home safe, with sense of humor intact. That is truly an act of civil disobedience, eh?

mary

hey, what happened to my post of 10/21? any ideas? I had a picture and nd now it's gone, and the type is all blue.... WhaHoppen??? mary

Hi everyone. I am in Farmington at Fran's house so I can read the latest posts. I do not undertand one word of how to make scrambled eggs. But since I have been so thoroughly protected by the Red Mesa Patriot Act against leaarning anything new or learning anything at all, perhaps it doesn't matter. I can sign up for broadband at home for $60 a month but Vern is against it (Anti-Wife Patriot Act) so until the dust settles, I'll postpone that. We will know this week (a) how successful the Red Mesa administration's effort to fire him will be, and (b) whether or not the state is moving in to take over the school. That's about 90% certain at this point. But until we are clear on those points, I need to fly very low below the radar. Watch me: I'm invisible. What a place to live. Love to all. Call me up sometimes. Bye

Hi all, I'm posting these for gramma. Apparently the school doesn't want her to view anything that might offend/corrupt her so they have established a complex system of firewalls on her internet in order to protect her. I think they are calling it the Red Mesa Patriot Act. So, on her behalf, here are the pictures of her drive back from san fransisco. these are seals and condors and zebras,these things being normal in california, much like squirrels, pigeons and pitbulls in chicago. love you!!! maya

A shot Michael took of his picnic table

hey folks. Not much here, well, lots of music this weekend. Cousin Andy's with Greg Klyma was a hoot last night. He is a mix of silly and cool. Pat and Rod Capps were there for special guest, and they were great too. Pat plays an amazing Gibson Jumbo and she has great moves: rough 'n tumble as her beau is beautiful and dreamy, and tall, with big brown eyes and an easy smile. What an unlikely pair, until you see them play together: she is so strong, outspoken, and he adores her. They play beautifully together.

Today I am going to the Vulture Fest, the semi-annual gathering of a tribe I call the Makanda Natives. This tribe consists of music lovers, artisans, educated folk, hicks and drunks, all shook up together for two days. In the spring there is the Springfest, which is really just another of the same, and a great excuse to party.

I am not partying much these days. I will go today, play a bunch of music, maybe even on stage if somebody doesn't show up for the garden stage, which is booked in one hour slots all day for two days. I've learned that if I take my guitar, they might need me... Otherwise I cruise the boardwalk and the stalls and pretend I am in Kerrville: a wandering troubador. Lots of fun!

Unfortunately, Danny Dollinger, the amazing Danny Dollinger, is having a CD release concert at the RedBud Hill House Concert Series in Murphysboro. So I will head over there about six pm to play music with Danny, Randy et al until the show, then drag my sorry but home, to get up tomorrow, back to Makanda, then out to dinner with Ayla and Michael, before we all go to see the very famous Danny O'Keefe, again at the RedBud Hill House in M'boro.

hey y'all... guess who wants santy claus to get her a digital camara. I guess I could find a boyfriend but hubby-Michael might take exception!

On a more serious note, I have been thinking about Bro-Michael and Fran a lot, also Chuck and Rosie. I realized (duh) that we maybe still have lots of hurt feelings in some relationships. I forget because I am dense or disconnected or self-absorbed or some variation on that theme. But I really want to have a forum where everyone feels welcome. I really, really do. I could use a little feedback on this issue, because for some reason I feel as if I am treading in dark and dangerous waters.... (Can we tread on water, or is it in water? Or is that more like walking, even though we do tread water... On water does sound a little grandiose...) But I love and miss all of you.

mary

BLOG UPDATE:
I have added a link to the right for my blog. I think you'll be able to figure out which one it is.

To add our own links, go into the "Template" tab and scroll down, down, down to where you see the html code for the links. Change it from "Edit Me" to whatever you want, add the url in the appropriate place and voila. a perfectly scrambled egg.

love you all!
MAYAVNASH

guess who got a digital camera!
well, more accurately, has bought a usb cord and begged the owner to find his battery charger for old digital camera belonging to her boyfriend. yes me.
usb gets here this week, and then i will clean the aprtment and then take pictures so you can see where i live and other things...

i just posted a new print on my blog: www.mayavnash.blogspot.com

cool! maya.

(oh mom, also, i am tutoring this monday and cannot cancel so i wont be home next weekend. i will try for the weekend after though. I want to come home!)

Hi everyone. This is a photo of the Pacific from Coast Route 1 south of Big Sur. Yes, I drove the entire route from Monterey to Cambria (where I am now staying) without once falling off. It was somewhat tense, but so worth it. I drove in beauty. Today I will drive back to the beach where I did actually glimpse some elephant seals. Then I'll go east over the mountains and far far away. Actually, I'll be headed for the Mojave Desert proserve to look at Joshua trees. Love to all. Gramma v

Here I go again. I'm leaving this morning for a leisurely trip down Coast Route 1 with a few little byways thrown in to keep it interesting. Perhaps there will be elephant seals on view near San Simeon. I plan to wind up near Moonstone Beach near Cambria tonight. I may check in to the Sand Pebbles Inn or I may camp. Depends. I'll be taking plenty of pictures.

By the way congrats to Michael on a beautiful photo. Please keep them coming. I've always felt he has an unusually sensitive and poetic persona somewhere inside that oh-so-manly exterior.

Hi Maya. Sorry about the pigmeat and all. This seems to be your year to be afflicted with the grosser aspect of carnivory, which you so sweetly abhor.

Persephone: great name.

Michael and Amanda are (forcing) giving me a cell phone for the trip. The number 916 425-0616. I'll check in from time to time so that no one need worry.

I've had beautiful adventures: the Pumpkin Festival, Bonfante Gardens -- more on that later -- the Renaissance Faire. And now its time to go a-wandering again. Love, love, love to all. Grandma V

New pix! Michael took this one. Isn't it stunning? No picture of Persephone yet, but she just gets cuter by the day! mary

Hi wanted to share this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

Watch at your own risk if laughing and crying at the same time is a health concern! We need a lot more of this! Mary

Hi yall! We are having kitty adventures, too. I was able to coax a young female into my car last night on the way home. I know husband-Michael wishes I wouldn't try so hard! It was almost a mile from any settlement, where people dump there trash illegally, so I figured hey. Actually, I figured nothing, I just did it. I guess I come by it honestly, huh Mom? She wanted to come to me but she was soooo scared. Finally she allowed me to pick her up, and I noticed she had a puncture wound on her back near the base of her tail, and another about two inches up her tail, so I knew she wouldn't survive the night, radiating yummy smells like that. So home she comes, and she turned out to be, under the light, healthy, intelligent and playful, maybe six-months old, sleek gray speckled with orange and an orange snip on her nose, and Huuuuuuungry! So we fed, and fed, and fed her and she rubbed up against us until she found her bed and slept all night.

This morning, she had milk in her tender little mammaries. Ooooops. She is so young, I didn't think that she might have kittens. So Ayla and I took her back out to find her babies. She took off like a rifle-shot and I thought we had lost her, but Ayla, who actually has ears, heard her and we coaxed her back to us, but we couldn't find her litter. It froze hard last night, so I have a sinking feeling about them, and I feel soooo bad. So Ayla is out there even now scouring for them, because this morning we were a little rushed for time, having to get to work and all. I got to work with everything below my knees covered with caked on dirt etc., poison ivy too no doubt!

Anyway, I pray for forgiveness and will give this kitty a really good home. She has really taken to Ayla, and Ayla has been mourning Snickers since he died last spring. That was awful for her. She cared for him and nursed him through the disfiguring injuries from when Dakota kicked him in the face that year, then cared for him since after finding that he was FIV positive and forever after confined to quarters. So sad for her to lose him.

Anyway, Ayla is very happy, and I caught Michael playing with the kitty this morning, so it looks like she a keeper! Pictures soon, no doubt.

Enjoy yourselves! Mom, I missed our phone call this week, but I am glad you are having a good time.

Mary

Hello people. I am in the computer lab at San Francisco City College watching fog drip from the pines outside the window. Pretty. Today I'm hanging out with Michael, also tomorrow. Saturday to the pumpkin festival at Halfmoon Bay and Sunday to the Ren Faire somewhere else. I'm planning to leave on Tuesday probably. I am stopping by Salinas to visit Phil Duetschle if we can hook up and then I'll be south on Coast Route 1 to Cambria and then east to Mojave Desert to view petroglyphs, on to Needles to look at the restoration of Los Garces -- one of the old Harvey House hotels -- then home on Interstate 40.

Michael decided to adopt the kitten since said kitten has become his old cat Alvarado's pet toy. It had to happen. That baby cat is mega cute.

Hang in there Maya. Mary I love your dissertations. Keepitup. I sent Fran the addresses and hope she gets on our blog real soon. Love to all. VBT Gramma Mom

Family Etc.

Dearest Daughter: Failure is a null concept, because all concepts are null practically by definition. Except when the map is important, then we like to follow rules that we make up in our heads. Then concepts are relevant but extremely complex and full of contradictions and mitigations.

When we bit the apple of knowledge of good and evil, we began to believe that our maps were actually more important than the territory, which is an affront to reality. That made us unruly and we got kicked out of the garden, not because we are evil, but because we are simply unable to see clearly enough to avoid trampling god's petunias, so to speak...

When we get confused about how to tell the map from the territory, I like to ask the Cat. Cat says HHHuh? Failure? Silly little hominids.... and continues to patiently watch for the mouse that got away....

When the map is more important than the territory, the weight of opinion is enormous. And it is not the opinion we fear from others, because when we truly reach for understanding and consider the source we can forgive them their limitations. It is really the opinion in the mirror we are so afraid of, so we deny it in ourselves because, when we are afraid, we are too afraid to look and see what the truth really is, because the truth might be all the awful stuff we imagine other people are thinking about us, when it is really just our own shapeshifting fear adopting an outside face, where it is actually safer to experience because we can always fall into bitterness and curse other people for being stupid, if that is our wont, or curse ourselves for not measuring up to some inexplicable estimate of perfection, which is really just another null concept. Really! Just ask the Cat! (That's a heck of a run-on sentence, forgive me!)

So, I like to remind myself frequently: "Drive the road you are on, not the one you think you are on!" I believe that driving the map and cursing the territory for not following the rules is the root of all suffering! And so very human...

the territory, or truth, or reality, or whatever that is out there in the fog, is perfectly what it is what it is what it is. It is the creation, and we are a magnificent potential in that field. It is in the act of creating that we are in our full flower, made in the image of that perfection!

I am soooo proud of you: updownbackwardsforwardsrightsideinandinsideout... Bigger than the whole world!!!

Your Mom (mary to the rest of yall!)

snow in chicago.

no joke, i just saw it. it was small and sneaky and now it is gone. but it will be back, i'm sure. and sooner than later i'm guessing.

other news, i just signed on as a tutor with a in-home tutoring service here in chicago. i don't have any assignments yet but it sounds like i am one of the few tutors that can teach upper level math. (i am needed...it feels nice.) i have an interview wih another tutoring company as well. technically, i am an independent contractor so i can work with as many companies as i want. anyway the pay is more than i thought but it looks like it won't be much of a time commitment, no more than 8 hours a week or so. on a less wholesome note, i started bartending at smoke daddy and as much as i'm not really excited about the kind of work, it's better money than serving. and that is an understatement.

otherwise, just drawing a lot and trying to get three more prints done by this weekend. can i do it? you know what i realized is that i'm not too good at finishing things. i'm intimidated by the finished product. why? how do i get over this?

ok glad to see rosemary on here. Hi rosemary! Hi raymond! how are you?

l, maya

hey all,

just thought you might be interested that it is my sister's birthday today, and I haven't a clue how to get hold of her. I have a string of phone numbers and emails that are nonoperational... my mother is wandering somewhere along the west coast, so the family nerve center is out of commission. I haven't actually spoken to either of my sibs, or Chuck, or Rosie in ages and ages and ages, and I miss them... what gives with this family!

This blog actually makes me feel lonely sometimes, cause where is my familyetcetera? I keep thinking, are we the victims of forces in this society that divide and conquer: to focus on our own needs, to avoid intimacy and truth between us? Or are we just pooped? I know I am! Anyway, I hope, I fervently hope this blog will change that!

Well, Fran, anyhoo, HAPPYHAPPYHAPPYBIRTHDAY!!! I hope you see this soon! Before you get too much older than me.... teehee!

call, write or post: hope to hear from you soon.

love you, mary

PS: I am sad that the news about Jeb Bush being ushered into a utility closet while democratic protesters were being tasered in Pittsburgh last Friday joins the reams and reams of stuff that never makes the major media outlets. I thought we lived in a Democracy, but another myth of my youth is stripped and my innocence yields before yet another harsh outcrop of reality: We are not who we think we are, are we?

Makes me wonder, if the truth were out, how could we even live with ourselves? I am reminded of the schoolyard: one contingent bullies and takes what they want because what they want is more important than anything, another giggles and chases after pretty things while secretly judging, comparing the worth of one human being against another based on accumulations or appearances; yet another has learned to blend like chameleons in fear, poverty, ignorance and disgrace. There are adults around too, but they are outnumbered... And there, in the corner, the Buddha club! Yay!

The worst taint is ignorance. Destroy this one taint and become taintless. - Buddha

I really boils down to the duality of subject and object, with supremacy granted to object, at least in our Western Mind. The same parallels can be seen between left and right-brain, male and female-specific organizations of brain, the energies of giving and recieving, the hunter/gatherer dichotomy, the strong and weak nuclear forces with gravity the mediator... We are suspended over the crevasse between them all....

Later! Got to wash off the gloom and go to work. Fortunately, it's no problem, cause I love my work!

Mary

Monday in Sacramento. Michael and Amanda are both off toe work, Michael as the Ladder Guy and Amanda making desserts at Bennett's Bakery. Saturday I rode to San Francisco with Michael to a day touristing in the city. It was Fleet Week, with a huge aerial display by the Blue Angels, tall ship sailby and etc. I mostly walked up and down the Embarcadero, admired the gulls and pelicans, and visited the Farmers Market.

This evening we will have dinner with Kent and Terrill, old friends from Mini days whi live in nearby Carmichael.

The photo I am attaaching is actually of Yosemite Falls, which has next to no water in it right now. I'm trying to post Bridalveil falls as well. Also of El Bandido, who is a rescue kitten Michael and Amanda rescued from the engine compartment of their neighbor's Honda. He has a high cute factor, has ben vet-checked for health and needs a new home. I will deliver anywhere west of New Mexico to anyone who provide a great home. I want him myself, but I already have lotsa cats.

I will plan to leave Monday next 9or Tuesday) and plan to wander down the coast to Salinas, Monterey, down Coast Route 1 to San Luis Obispo, visiting the occasional Mission along the way. The east-ish, up Kings Canyon to look at sequoias (and camp, maybe) east across Death Valley in the cool season and finally to pick up Interstate 40 to go home. It's a long wandering, but I may not come this way again .....

Love to all from Gramma V.

P.S. This machine loads slowly, so I'm only including one photo. Bye now.

Hi yall! This here is a shot of Camel Rock at Garden of the Gods, down in the Shawnee Nat'l Forest, about 30 miles from here. I think the colors are a lot prettier this year, but I am socked in without time to enjoy what there is to enjoy around here. But don't worry! I am enjoying lots of stuff that are not specific to this geographical setting.

Not much going on, sitting here with my barf bag listening to the media hype and political furor over Foley. Not that I am not enjoying the turmoil in the Republican party, but I am sick to death of the hypocracy and lies, lies, lies... Meanwhile, countless nameless die... the dominoes fall in the Middle East, millions die of world neglect in Africa, and we continue to breeeeeeed, watch reality shows and buy all the pretty little sparklies to make us feel important, or at least better. All while giving lip-service, at least on Sundays and special occasions, to family, community, integrity, honesty, loyalty, generosity, compassion....

PS: if it were a Dem problem, I would say the same thing. I'm even a little madder at the Dems because they neglected to speak the truth when it could have actually prevented this mess because their political lives were on the line. What price courage? And is it marketable?

The main thing about Foley, besides the above tired old story, is that we need leaders we can trust. Character really does count.

I don't mean to offend anyone. In my family we have many good Christians, and many of them are staunch Republicans. If I were Christian I would be a good one, too. But not being raised in a church, I do my best to extrapolate the principles and to liberally (no pun intended) apply them to my life as organizing principles. After all, Jesus was trying to teach us something, right?

But I no longer pander to parties or proselytize for anything but what I see as Truth. I think that if the majority of both parties really looked, they would see lots of common ground: we all want to raise our families, provide for their needs, educate them and keep them safe. We might differ on ways and means, but we are much more alike on these important issues than we are different, don't you think?

Hey, enough for my Sunday morning quarterbacking!

Mom, the San Francisco Fleet Week is actually being shown on CBS this afternoon. WAVE! Can't wait for pix!

Isn't this fun! MomboQ.

hi all,
i just want to say that this site has turned into exactly what i had in mind. i love the pictures AND i'm learning how to type. next step...get more people on here! vern? michael? well maybe not, but there are others! and we will get them!

so i printed yesterday for the second time and i learned a lot. I printed three small images on the same sheet of paper. cityscenes. different colors. I had a blast but i'm starting to realize where i'm going wrong. its not my ability, its that i worry too much. and my images suffer for it. I'm making them somehow too conservative because i'm picturing them with other people in mind. does that make sense. anyway, i am working on posting my artwork on my blog today. that's my goal. so if you are so inclined, go to www.mayavnash.blogspot.com. it should all be up there by tonight. sooner maybe. any feedback would be welcomed from my extremely smart, talented and loving family.

in other news, i have a job interview with an in-home tutoring company on wednesday. i applied on a whim but i think it would be fun. i've just been having such a wonderful experience tutoring at my volunteer job that i thought tutoring for money might be more rewarding than feeding people dead pig and coming home smelling like said dead pig. plus it pays twenty an hour i think. and i'll get to do math again, which is fun! next time you all see me you are going to say, "wow maya looks different. what is it? oh, she is so Well-Rounded." just wait.

what else what else, oh here's a tidbit. my good friend drew (from holiday, gramma's met him) is leaving chicago to live in salt lake city. and emily's still not home. and nick has a job managing a doggy day care called dog-one or doggone or something funny and is looking for people to hire. (Ayla?) i'm just going to sayit. i wish ayla would move to chicago, work for nick playing with dogs all day, take a couple classes with me and car in the city, let alone a speedometer, and internet's cheaper here if you can believe it. ok, i've stated my case.

oh i need a picture. here. a picture of me and my friend jason in westwater canyon. which is fun. i can't stress that enough.

goodbye.
love, maya

Thanks for the lovely comments. That is a photo of Half Dome at Yosemite at sunset from the meadow just opposite the place where I camped. I thought it was pretty classic and no it's not a postcard. I have it on my desktop, too. Now I will try to send one of Bridalveil Falls. I think falls are more impressive when there's water in them, but hey, who am I to criticize? Love to all. Gramma V

hey guys, I don't know why this is underlined or if it will post this way, but hey, I just discovered that if you click on grandma's picture it is really astounding, awesome, amazing, beautificus, well, just click it and see for yourself!

kudos to you, grandma. (please don't tell me it's a postcard...)

At last, at last. I went back over the family archives and found Maya's original instructions, followed theem, and here I am. Hooray. Sacto is terrific. Yesterday I went to Michael's school and looked around while he taught class. Today I'l be going to a scrapbooking group with Amanda. I camped out at Yosemite Monday night. Wow. Yes, Mary, I am wandering again. I don't quite know when I will be wanderiing east again, but prolly next week sometime. We're going sailing this weekend. I'll try to load a picture of Yosemite here. (Every picutre possible of Yosemite has already been taken, but what's one more?) Love to all. Gramma

hey ya'll, this is a picture remin- iscent of recent storms. Reminiscent because the other pictures on the roll look like Christmas of 1998.... But it really did look a lot like this! The next picture, from the same roll, looks a lot like it did after the storm this time too. Both look to the west-ish from our boundary-line , where Michael can be found most times gazing into, well, hey Michael, what are you gazing into, anyway? I am married to you, I ought to know! but what I don know is that we love this view. Without it, 20 years in this forsaken land would have been unbearable!

I am very proud of these pictures. It is hard to cut nature off at the knees, I guess. Lucky for me!

Fear is the shadow cast when your back is to the sun.

Later! MomboQ.

hey maya, cool prints. love to see you so excited. Of course, i always love to see you, but your happy is sunshine to me! You are on fire, girl!

Anyhoo, this is yer beau'... Ain't he fine! Got more pix on snapfish, which has a share feature. I just need to put addresses in. Now you are home off the river and have access again, I will, by golly....

I just noticed I was standing far away and cut him at the knees. If I was a photographer, I might have noticed that faster.... Unfortunately, this is one of the better ones.




This is Maya and Emily, of French Farm fame... Sure, they are cute on the outside, but, hidden from the auspice of casual surveyance, deep, deep, deep down are really awesome kids! or Grown ups... It's hard to tell through these darn bifocals!

I am having a horrible time at work. But I have to go because, even though I don't start till later today, the boys are blocking off our road to put some improvements in. I hate to tell you this Maya, but they are going to fix the drainage problem that was always so exciting when it rained. Too bad I never got a picture of that! What fun it was, to gauge the swell and flow, the height of your chassis, the extent of possible consequences... Which were nil, really, we'd wash off the road into the six-inch ditch. Actually, come to think of it, the six-inch ditch was probably the problem all along... So.

Do you know for sure it's an alternator? I guess you would if the battery charger thing works....
I'm kinda girly on that stuff. Engines are to go. Or not.

This is me trudging off:

momboQ.

hi everyone. so here's what i'm up to. This is a rough draft. I am going to be printing on Saurday and this is an ink drawing that i will probably use along with some other images. I was thinking really Big and then hank suggested really tiny and I kinda like that idea. they are big subjects. I am drawing mostly from photos i took years go. the photos i like in themselves. ( by the way. mom, i really like your photo) They are simple, silhouettes, pretty colors, desolate. I guess growing up in the midwest gives you an eye for the subtle. For the record, i probably won't include the circle. there's an idea there but maybe not a good enough one. anyway, i'll include finished product later. I'm excited to print. It will be my sophomore effort, which makes me cautious. The second try always seems to end poorly due to overconfidence and underexperience.
other stuff going on. my cool van has a not so cool alternator. still. so i bought a battery charger and the battery is now charging (very slowly) in the basement. sounds a bit sketchy to me but whatever works. besides, getting it fixed would be too easy. i recently learned that the hard way.
Emily was supposed to be returning from europe this saturday but i was just informed that she will be staying on a farm of sorts in france for another month. A bit selfish if you ask me. i mean what am i gaining from this situation? nothing. that's what. and nobody even asked.
ummm... i think that's all, well not all. i'll keep you posted on the printmaking. yay!
love,
maya

Hey all, I can see this is a happening place! I am getting ready to leave work. That is exciting. This is my first day up in our DuQuoin office on Mondays, so I am a little frazzled. Love those long rides home, to regroup, or plan my attack or just let my hair down... and, well I do drive, too...

Mom, you are evidently wandering again. I don't know if we let you out enough or too often... Say hi to BroMike et al... Hope all is well, actually, hope I see a post or two from him here, or there...
Mom, this is a picture I took on the way home from Chicago after that fabulous visit where I had luxury accommodations and great fun for my and Maya's birthdays. All my angels were smiling on me! Anyway, notice the steering wheel.... Do you take pictures while you are driving? I hope not! You are too old. Nobody who learned to drive after horses should take pictures while driving more than, say, twenty-five miles an hour, ok? Promise?

Thank you BroMike for donating a cell phone! You have extended my lifespan at least forty years! We are going to rope this pony in somehow...

later, momboQ.