Happy Weekend! The blues show has been great. I decided not to drive to Portland (an hour's drive) and listen to the best blues gigs around on the radio, instead. Steve Miller, Too Slim and the Taildraggers, Paul Delay, Curtis Salgado, and the incredible Etta James are only a few of the performers this holiday weekend.

In Season: borage, hollyhocks

"Bring It On", says our brave and fearless Bushmaster. I am reading the news Sunday evening and hear that another soldier died today. Is a loss of a life worth this democracizing we are attempting? My nephew is still stationed in Iraq. I'm afraid one day I will read he is the next soldier killed. I don't know how many tragedies I can survive in my life but a tragic death now would be devastating for my family. Realistically, my nephew can be ambushed or shot in the back at any moment.

The gain of stopping terrorism in our country is worth something. However, that is hardly what is happening. Terrorism is now the "only" politically correct way to get a message across. Whatever happened to negotiaitions or compromises? We have abortion clinic terrorism, religious terrorism, racial terrorism and probably a few more my tired brain can't think of, yet all we practice is extremism when making, deciding or changing important world issues. It seems to me that extreme acts of terrorism are acted out because the enemy is not listening. As I perform my daily tasks of babysitting, cleaning and gardening, in my microcosm, I realize that to keep life smooth is to have a constant dialogue. As I interact with my three year old neighbor's child, I make many complex maneuvers that, I'm sure, can be enlarged to a larger picture. When to eat, bathe, use the bathroom, play and have quiet time are always being negotiated with a 3 year old. It's a constant dynamic that is "in the moment", yet responsive to immediate problems. Perhaps Resident Bush, the un-elected politician, can learn how to run the world if he went back to pre-school.