Man of the Year

By now I'm sure you've heard about the NSA, the mindblowing scope of surveillance being set up on We the People and the guy who blew the whistle.

Here's the guy who blew the whistle

His name is Ed Snowden.
Here's his explanation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-interview-video

And here's the surrounding story
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance?

He's given up everything he's ever had, to tell you the truth. Because he doesn't want to live in that kind of a world. Nor do I. Do you? And what should we do about it?

Moooovement

A friend keeps saying we're "middle age". Middle? I suppose if you plan to live to 115, we're middle age. Me, I believe (and since both my parents died at 72 and the oldest-lived of my siblings is 63 now, I think it's right) that I passed middle age sometime in my 30s and am firmly in the winding up age. Not that it matters all that much. The middles I am in are the writing and the projects that never end around here. Everything in life has become that can of soda story now, and so nothing is ever done. Things get moved, things get added to or subtracted from, goals change, sometimes everything changes all at once, and nothing is ever finished. Personally, I think that's cause to lighten up. Because none of it matters anyway. All that matters is the ride. We all wind up at the same station and it doesn't end there either. We just move on. One thing leads to another.

Last night I saw this article,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jun/06/black-sabbath-cocaine-private-plane
which made me think of  the "Absolutely Fabulous" episode where Patsy says, "Who dies choking on their own vomit these days, darling?!!" Which led me to look up the old AbFab clips on YouTube, which led me to Joanna Lumley (Patsy) going in search of Noah's Ark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTAre7EcW9I

Which then led me to Rosslyn Chapel,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KKhOAghLeE

and from there to the Story of God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zBakH-6uiU
after which I sat and stared into space, thinking.
And suddenly it was 4 a.m.
That's how things go these days.

Our town once again turned out for the heifers, or as we call it, "the Cow Parade". http://www.vermontviews.org/vermontviews.org/Home.html

While I'm overcome with pride, let me slip in what my old grammar school has done. It's come a long way from the very very very white school it was in the '60s. Good on them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgEBpAL2ieA

Oh- I want to recommend this site for Amy's pennypinching smartness. She's a girl after my own thrifty heart. Skip among the product endorsements and find "How to make peanut butter" or "How to make cream cheese" or any number of make-it-yourself items for the household from fabric softener to cheese crackers to face toner..
http://pounds4pennies.com/

And if you're in the mood for some uplifting, "carry on" inspiration,
http://www.upworthy.com/stop-being-perfect-practice-gratitude-love-wholeheartedly-youll-be-so-glad-you-did-4?c=ufb1

There. That much is done. On to the next.

A Dorkic Column

After a mix up involving 2 Lauras writing for the same magazine and a publisher who's annoyed and distracted today, things have straightened out. Here is this week's column, about Stephen Fry and bipolar disorder.

http://www.vermontviews.org/vermontviews.org/Stones_of_Years.html

The Cows are Coming

This is the big weekend in Bratt, the Strolling of the Heifers. I worked on the first one, back in the Dark Ages. That was a simple sweet parade of little cows and their proud, mostly child age, handlers. Now it's a huge deal with promotions and corporate sponsors and thousands of people showing up to eat dairy products. I'll watch the highlights on our community tv station.
http://www.strollingoftheheifers.com/

Speaking of dairy products, my old pal Wendy has gotten her cheese shop back up and running! Yay! She does do mail oder, and has the most incredible knowledge and selection of cheeses (local Vermont cheeses and worldwide). She's an old-fashioned cheesemonger:
http://www.brattleborocheese.com/

And my friend Susan's book is in paperback at last!
http://www.amazon.com/Flashes-Lemonade-Susan-Flett-Swiderski/dp/148489071X/ref=la_B00CX8191G_1_1_title_0_main?ie=UTF8&qid=1370313827&sr=1-1

In other news, there's a wondrous bunch of photos of the universe here:
http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/events/visions-of-the-universe

If you click on the site button, you can feed a shelter animal here:
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/ars/home
and you can go click that every day!

It's Bilderberg Week
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/02/week-ahead-bilderberg-2013-watford

Here's proof that the more things change the more they stay the same, in a musical way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwqPBlSxb-0

How come there are so few Maryanns and Donalds these days?
http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/610-would-smell-as-sweet-geo-popularity-of-given-names

I'm going to go nurse away the rest of this headcold. Please hold a thought for us that we don't get the flood they're threatening us with again, this weekend. The cows are waterproof, but they'll throw us out of here if there's any flooding at all and I'm just not up for all that again. Fingers and hooves crossed.

And It Makes Me Wonder...

A judge rules something unConstitutional. Then turns about-face and orders it be done. I'd love to know the whole story...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jun/01/google-ordered-hand-over-data-fbi

...but we never will.