I have a small confession: I am a trekkie. Not really of the ilk to travel with pointed anointed ears to a Convention, but enough of one to watch ST Next Generation over and over (well when I find it on TV and there is nothing else outstanding on). I usually dislike Lwaxana Troi because she is scheming and loud and gets married in the nude a lot (her open sexuality is designed to make us uncomfortable). I found an episode that she played beautifully-- "Dark Page" is the title. Lwaxana recovers the memory of loosing a child and tries to deal with the guilt and sorrow of the event. Beautiful and full of life with a little melancholy in the beginning.

She reminded me of my Grandma. I think it was more than just the performance, because I saw all of these episodes when she was alive and still vibrant in 1993. I was in high school and Grandma lived alone in a big house down the road we got along well. We loved watching action movies and eating popcorn. She loved the coast and her shiny red Buick Riviera.

My Grandmother also gave me the love of listening to people sing who cannot sing. I love it because it means they really love the music. She never sang for anyone but herself. It is just refreshing. I think that is why I loath the first round of auditions in American Idol because those people can't sing and they are singing for people.

I wish I had more things, more profound things to say about my Grandma. I love her. That'll Do.

Beloved Dentri, Casseroles and Cadillacs. Love for the American Proletariat

This looks like a communist baby to me. He is Russian ( I can tell because of his facial muscle structure). He only has snow and rocks to play with because the toys had to long of lines. My Dentri explores the alley immune to cold because his passion for snow warms him tip to toe.

It would be a wonderful life lesson for all of us to be passionate about what we have. Like me-- I love casserole. I love long drives morning and night.

Seriously I don't love casserole. And this is our American baby in our back alley. Those are our neighbors "pet" Cadillacs. They are pet for the exclusive purpose of re-routing the alley and to avoid having to haul them away.

Speaking of Cadillacs and my recent language jag. When I was a child on the ranch "Cadillac" was a very bad word. I always heard "here comes her old Cadillac" as "here comes the old Battle Axe" really for my grandmother the terms where interchangeable. I don't have a picture of her, and this lady looks much nicer than she ever did! Here is a strange coincidence though. This lady is named Bernice and so was my grandmother! They also live in Springfield, Oregon. That is 5 minutes from my university and 45 minutes from where my beloved grandmother lived! My beloved grandma preferred a ruby red Buick Riviera. My beloved grandma's name was Jan.

Snacks for Champs

My mother and mother-in-law visited me in my little home today. I showed them the re-arranged rooms and we went out to lunch. We also visted the little store here. I tell you there are some really stupid people in the world. The checker was right up there with the best of the popped light bulbs. My mom bought 2 NECCO wafers at $.59 each. This should ring up as $1.18. The checker rung one up on the touch screen fairly easy to use cash register and requested that my mother pay $.59. My mom pointed at the other NECCO treat she was trying to buy. The woman said $.59. My mom said loudly hoping some other employee would hear "Oh its a 2 for one sale?" and gave the $1.18. The cachier gave $.59 back to my mom. She decided it was time to move on.

My mother-in-law found a good deal on peaches $.69 cents a pound. She had about 20 peaches and each peach was large probably over a quarter pound. The above mentioned cachier carefully weighed the plastic bag of peaches and looked at the flat screen and said "$.69 please." Of course my mother in law questioned that the bag was only one pound. The cachier said, yes it is "$.69 please." My mother in law finally talked her into acctually charging what they were worth.

We went for a drive through the countryside and enjoyed the blues and yellows and whites. The Crazy Mountains have a fresh dusting of snow. It was lovely. lovely lovely. My mother offered me one of the aforementioned NECCO wafers. I took it and got an orange and grey wafer. I tried the orange one. PUKE. it is a disgusting chaulky nasty chemical tasting chicklet of shit! I gave the otherone back. My mother-in-law ate it and a putrid black licorice rank odor filled the car. It turned my stomach. I felt like I had just gone from zero to 10 G's. I rolled down the window and the crisp fall air helped my ralph-reflex. As I am not shy about how I fell both women got to hear how I felt. My mother said "My mom taught me to love NECCO wafers" This was my beloved grandma of course and I mentioned that she also loved Pinkies and Marshmellow Peanuts. Both of which I hate with the passion of 45 devils!

When I went back to the store for spuds for our dinner I decided that I did like some things my Grandma loved. I love homemade baked macaroni and cheese with peas. I love popcorn (just not with milk). I love the smell of Ciara. I love traveling. I love my mother. I love buttermints and peanuts. Which i am eating tonight. I love you gradma. I miss you. You would love my son and the young man my brother is becoming.