Dearie
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Comfort Me
By: Dearie Wednesday February 1, 2012 10:37 pm

It’s getting a bit heated out.

I’m rather an introvert, so the heatier it gets, the more hunkered down I get.

Part of that nesting is devoted to cooking comfort foods. Yes, I know I cannot go back (look forward not backward) and I know that the past is the past. But when times get squirrely and dangerous, I just like to reach for some sense of comfort.

It started, I think, with a round of deviled eggs. So familiar. So delicious. So comforting. Lovely surprise was that my grandbabyboys and their dad love deviled eggs, too. Comfort.

Then meatloaf…..just because. Something simple and delicious and reminiscent of the 1950s and early 1960s.  I even made one small meatloaf with a hard boiled egg in the middle, just because it looks so pretty and seemed kind of special. Comfort.

Chicken soup is on the stove right now.  An inexpensive natural 5 pound chicken cut up by me. Carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, a clove of garlic or two, a bit of dry white wine….simmered for hours.  The chicken will be used for enchiladas (a comfort favorite) and curried chicken salad. The broth will be incorporated into a home made chicken and dumplings comfort fest.

I can’t make Mitt Romney a more decent person. The man is a Ken doll. A rich version of vapidity with nothing to recommend him. The man who will make me vote for Obama again. Oh, shame! Newt Gingrich is a disgusting person and the idea of his mistress being First Lady is more disgusting.  Rick Santorem is a joke supporting the Pope. And Ron Paul is ….. well, Ron Paul. The only word I have for Obama is “disappointing”….. the worst vote I’ve ever made. And I’ve voted for almost no one who ever won. It’s been a long time in the wilderness.

The game is rigged…..and probably always has been. Amazing, really, to be in mid-60s and just discovering that reality.

And so I hunker down and cook comforting foods and take care of the people I care for and hope for the betterment of my country. Well, I don’t have a lot of hope, but I never give up hope.

And, meanwhile, while I can, I eat comfort foods.

And I wish for a better America for my children and grandchildren.

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Occupy Oxnard — More Than Just a Pretty Name
By: Dearie Monday October 17, 2011 1:20 am
Day 9 Occupy Wall Street September 25 2011 (Photo: Shankbone, flickr)

Day 9 Occupy Wall Street September 25 2011 (Photo: Shankbone, flickr)

I am innately shy….not prone to stepping out in the public eye. I wanted to be involved in the Occupy movement, but it took the stories of other FDLers to encourage my enthusiasm…..and I wasn’t sure that my community would/could be organized to Occupy anyway.

Imagine my surprise when while driving to drop some bills at the post office I saw a big “Occupy Oxnard” sign in our city park.

I dropped the bills in the slot and circled back around to the park and walked over to the crowd of mostly older white folks. People were very welcoming and enthusiastic. We had speakers before the march. A Rabbi who had walked with Martin Luther King, Jr., for civil rights encouraged us to continue the good work and reminded us that MLK was about social justice for all.  Several older folks spoke about marching against the VietNam war and how that had empowered them for a lifetime.

A member of our City Council spoke about the need to reach out to the Hispanic population….almost 70% of our community. A member of our School Board encouraged us to speak out against the devastation of NoChildLeftBehind and other intrusions that are damaging our school systems…..and also taught us how to say “This Land is Your Land, This Land is Our Land” in Spanish…..and he’s  a white guy of Irish descent.

We had a contingent of young Oxnard Police to assist us as we walked on Oxnard Boulevard (Pacific Coast Highway).

When I sucked down my shy and joined the group there were about 25 people…..by the time we were ready to march there were about 100.  It’s a start.

I thank the many FDL folks who encouraged me by their own actions.  And, yes, I’ll be out there again and will bring friends and neighbors.

If you know California at all, you’ll be amused that my son-in-law told me that he saw that there was even an Occupy Lompoc group going on.

If you haven’t overcome you own inner shy, do it!

When I first came to FDL those many years ago I had to ask, “What does ‘DFH’ stand for?”  Walking with the Occupy Oxnard group, I feel that I finally earned my cred as a DFH.  And I will never give it up.  I stood up and I’m glad that I did.

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My Community……Closing Up Shop
By: Dearie Monday September 19, 2011 11:40 pm
"Closed" by Jasoon on flickr

"Closed" by Jasoon on flickr

I bought my daughter a birthday card at my local Hallmark Card Shop… and then I was out of town for a couple of weeks. Recently I had some errands to run and saw that the card shop was gone…..signs down, shop empty. If there was a ‘going out of business’ sale, I missed it.

But that wasn’t the only surprise.  My local flower shop, owned by one of my former legal clients, was simply gone. The shop had been successful for years.  And the day spa when I’d sent my daughter for a massage after she came off the Pacific Crest Trail many years ago….. simply gone.  When did that happen?

I live in a big town in a big county. My county has more people than the whole State of Alaska….or the whole State of Montana. We don’t get any particular notice, but we do have folks. And something is happening here.  Things seem to be closing down.

Before the screechers come around, YES, I know that this is purely anecdotal. Sure, shops close down now and then. But these were places that had been around for 15 years or more.

I’m thinking that maybe people are being careful about what they spend….and that’s not bad. Except a lot of people lost jobs when these shops closed. And I’m in a community that is near the beach, that has people with money, that used to support such establishments happily.

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