birdsonawire
  • Blog
  • Chirps
  • About
  • Contact

Blogger Meet-Up!

6/29/2011

1 Comment

 
Picture
Blogger Elaine Magalis of Late Fruit, and I met for lunch at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont, this afternoon for some serious blogging talk. We also broke some good bread together.  

She and I are both at a crossroads in our cyber careers. She has to decide which is more important at this point in her life: Writing novels or keeping her blog fresh and vital? And, as you know, I have to decide whether or not to run for president.

It’s a tough decision for each of us.

If you haven’t visited Late Fruit, you’re in for an intellectual treat. Not only is Elaine a delightfully literate and lyrical writer, she has a sharp eye for strong visuals. Some are quirky, others are just plain beautiful.

Elaine uses her blog to focus her thinking on the role of art and creativity in a full life. She also ponders the inevitability of aging and death, and seems ready to accept both as part of the bargain we strike for a rich life. Hers has been a winding spiritual journey, one that took her to exotic climes then dropped her down in three feet of snow in a tiny town nestled against the Canadian border. Even though Elaine is a country girl today, she says New York City will always be her spiritual home. She thrives on the diversity and inherent energy of that city.   

If you go to Late Fruit here, you might want to leave a comment to let Elaine know you want her to come back someday and share more of her thoughts.



1 Comment

Happy Bloomsday to ye!

6/16/2011

2 Comments

 
Picture
James Joyce, 1938

2 Comments

How did we get in this mess?

6/15/2011

2 Comments

 
Here's a must-read special report from The Washington Post, published June 4, 2011:


Votes that pushed us into the red

In the debate over the nation's rising debt, rhetoric trumps reality. In January 2001, the U.S. budget was balanced for the first time in decades and the Congressional Budget Office was forecasting surpluses totaling $5.6 trillion by 2011. A decade later, the national debt is larger, as a percentage of the economy, than at any time in U.S. history except for the period shortly after World War II.

So what happened?

In classic Washington style, neither party wants to take responsibility. “Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in April.

“Republicans made the contradictory promises that cutting taxes would lead to higher revenues and would force lower spending,” House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer shot back in a speech later the same month. “They did neither.”

The reality falls somewhere in between. In fact, 75 percent of the members currently serving in Congress voted for at least one — and in most cases more than one — of three policies that contributed to fully one-third of the $12.7 trillion swing from projected surpluses to real debt: President George W. Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and President Obama's 2009 stimulus bill.

A new take on the overlapping priorities that led us to record deficits, and who voted for them.

__________________________________________________________________________

Click here for a fascinating graphic that shows us, clearly, who got us where we are today. 

Thanks, guys. Have you learned your lesson? If not, let's hope voters see fit to send you packing, next year. 

2 Comments

Congratulations to the Class of 2011

6/6/2011

4 Comments

 
Picture
Clip art courtesy of DailyClipArt.net
Hats off to all grads!

Here’s what I wish someone had told me when I graduated:

1. Read everything you can. 
2. Don't believe everything you hear. 
3. Keep yourself clean, healthy and alert to what's happening around you. 
4. Find something you love and stick with it. 
5. If you long to take risks, choose something that has the potential to make life better for yourself and others, at the same time.


4 Comments

Who ever heard of tornadoes in Massachusetts?

6/2/2011

0 Comments

 
Three-foot blizzards?
  This is New England.  
Crippling ice storms?
  Par for the course.
Devastating spring floods?
  A-yup.   
Republicans elected to Senate?
  Once in a blue moon.  
Yankee fans in Red Sox Nation?
  Not if they value their lives.
Tornadoes in Massachusetts?
  No way!

Yesterday, Dave and I slogged through a hazy, hot and humid morning, waiting for the cold front to move in so we could breathe. Around 3, the skies opened up, and rain fell by the bucketloads.

He came in out of the rain and switched on the afternoon Red Sox game, rescheduled so Bruins fans would not miss last night's Stanley Cup game. A little after 4, all hell broke loose.

First, an Emergency Alert System message took over the television, warning that tornadoes were in the area and may have touched down. A similar message was beeping on radio and when I looked at my Blackberry, there it was on my default browser. Since we live in a second-floor apartment, we weren’t sure what to do, so we waited for more information.

We actually have three television network affiliates based in Springfield, the only real city for miles around. It’s 45 miles to our south. We also rely on New England Cable News out of Boston, which will go outside the city once in a while to cover something big. And, they did!

All four news operations took over the afternoon and evening schedule, giving minute-by-minute reports on tornadic activity, hail, severe lightning strikes, damage, emergency shelters, road closings  and the like. Reporters who have gotten comfortable reading scripts from behind desks were forced to perform real public service under all-but battlefield conditions. Those in the field had to race out in torrential rain, wind and lightning, to small towns that are hard to find on a good day. Since so many roads were closed, some crews had to hike in while the storm was in progress. 


At least 19 towns took damage from the tornadoes, including the city of Springfield. A woman was hit by lightning up by us, and so were barns and buildings scattered around our county. To our north and south, tornadoes were popping up, dancing over the interstate, picking up water from the Connecticut River and dumping it wherever it wanted. One minute those rotating cells were visible, the next they showed up only on meteorologists’ Doppler-radar scanners.

Picture
When the tornado warnings were issued, many people seemed more curious than anything, at least until they saw their neighbor’s roof flying toward their head. Some ran outside to photograph the twister on cell phones. Others saved their lives under staircases and in cellars. One woman heeded the warning by climbing into her bathtub, then got out to retrieve her pet fish and barely made it back in time. Plenty of people sat in their cars to watch funnel clouds cross the road in front of them. Some ended up upside down. At least one ended up dead.  Since it hit at the end of a school day and shift change, many people were on the road, hurrying home to safety. What they didn't know was, there was no safe place. 
Picture
I guess we were due a major hit in this part of the country. I mean, New England is one of the safest places to live if you want to avoid natural disasters. We rarely have earthquakes, and when we do, they’re small. Forest fires could be a problem, but we plenty of rain to curb that possibility. We’re too far inland for hurricanes to hit with full force, although they sometimes sneak in through Connecticut. I suppose our biggest natural threat is the much-hated Black Fly. 

At last count, there are at least four people dead, many left homeless, streets blocked, businesses and schools closed, cars, trucks and buses totaled, power out in many areas, hundreds injured.  Whole forests were reduced to rubble. Road surfaces were ripped off, leaving some neighborhoods unrecognizable.
Aside from Springfield, this is a sparsely populated area. Four is a big number here. True, this tornado did not kill as many people as did the one in Joplin, but it was a very big wake-up call to a state that’s usually on the giving -- and not the asking -- end of disaster relief. Gov. Patrick was out here in a flash last night, promising search and rescue teams and other emergency services. Sen. Kerry promises federal aid, and I don’t expect a poor city like Springfield to be too proud to accept it. Nor will the dozens of small towns throughout western Massachusetts and southern Vermont that saw damage. 
Picture
Tornadoes in Massachusetts? Never say never, 

Strangely, what happened yesterday in our state tied us in a new way to the other 49. I just hope that storm buys us another 100 years of peace and quiet around here. Let’s not stir up the flies any more than necessary.    

0 Comments
    Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

    NOTE: Scroll down the page. At the bottom, click on the word Previous, to continue to another page. 


    Blogger Profile

     

    Retired reporter, writer, wife, mother, stepmother, grandmother, photographer, singer, knitter, kayaker, cook, swimmer --  not all at the same time
    songbird@birdsonawireblog.com


    Follow @phbehnken

    Blog Awards
    Honest Scrap
    Kreative Blogger

    Click here for
    Swimming as Meditation



    click here for
    Martin Luther King:
    Ordinary Acts,
    Extraordinary Courage


    click here for
    Photo Postcards


    click here for
    The Day JFK Was Shot

    click here for
    The Fall of the Berlin Wall
    series 

    Archives

    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009



    Posts

    All
    1960s Sit Ins
    2010
    2010 Photos
    911
    9/11
    A Cappella
    Adirondacks
    Advice
    Age And Beauty
    Aging
    All Things Swimming
    Amazing Stories
    American Idol
    Anne Frank
    Ann Mcneal
    Anti-intellectualism
    Archer Mayor
    Art
    Arthritis
    Audacity To Believe
    Author
    Authors
    Autumn
    Babyies
    Bastille Day
    Beach
    Bears
    Beauty
    Benefactor States
    Berlin Wall
    Bill Campbell
    Birds
    Birds' Books
    Bird Sightings
    Birthday
    Bloggers
    Blogging
    Blogs
    Blue
    Bob Dylan
    Bollywood
    Books
    Bruce Hartman
    California
    Cancer
    Cell Phones
    Change
    Chile
    Chirps
    Christmas
    Circus
    City
    Civil Rights
    Civil Rights Movement1
    Civil Rights Movement2
    Civil Rights Movement3
    Civil Rights Movement4
    Civil Rights Movement5
    Civil Rights Movement6
    Civil War
    Clips
    Coffee
    Coffee Party
    Connie Wilson
    Contraception
    Contracetion
    Daisy Mayhem
    Dance
    Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness
    Dartmouth Aires
    Dealing With Physicians
    Death
    Dirty Sparkle
    Disasters
    Diversity
    Divorce
    Dixie
    Domestic Violence
    Earthquake
    Elaine Magalis
    Enjoy Yourself
    Evolution
    Fair
    Fall
    Fall Of The Berlin Wall
    Family
    Fashion
    Films
    Fish
    Flood
    Flowers
    Fourth Of July
    France
    Freedom Riders
    Freedom Rides
    Friends
    Fun
    Future
    Generations
    Genetic Testing
    George Rhodes
    Getting Had
    Getting Older
    Girls
    Going Home
    Good News
    Graduation
    Grandmothers
    Great Blogs
    Growing
    Growing Older
    Guest Art
    Guestbook
    Guest Photo
    Guest Post
    Guest Posts
    Guns
    Haiti
    Happy Birthday
    Healing
    Health
    Health Care
    Health Care Reform
    Heat
    Henrietta Lacks
    Heroes
    Hip Replacement Surgery
    Home
    Honors
    Immigrants
    Immigration
    Inauguration
    Injustice Anywhere
    James Reeb
    Jour J
    Kansas
    Kayaking
    Kennedy Assassination
    Kiva
    Knitting
    Legacies
    Leigh Russell
    Like A Mighty Stream
    Looking Backward
    Loss
    Make A Career Of Humanity
    Malaria
    Map
    Maple Sugaring
    Martin Luther King
    Martin Luther King Quotations
    Martin Luther King Quotes
    Material World
    Medicare
    Meditation
    Melting Snow
    Mentoring
    Mindfulness
    Mlk Memorial
    Mlk Quotes
    Mlm Memorial
    Mother
    Mothers
    Music
    Must Reads
    Mysteries
    Nairobi Trio
    Navigation
    New England
    New England Winter
    News
    Normandy
    Occupy Wall Street
    Overriding Loyalty To Mankind
    Pain
    Pamela Chatterton-Purdy
    Panama
    Panda
    Parenting
    Paris
    Party
    Paula Dumont
    Peace
    Photo Postcards
    Photos
    Politics
    Postcards
    Poverty
    Protests
    Ptsd
    Queen Medley
    Race
    Racism
    Rain
    Rani Arbo
    Rape
    Recession
    Relationships
    Religious Bigotry
    Rihanna
    Road Signs
    Rules Of Dreaming
    Sabrina Cohen
    Sarah Palin
    Secession
    September 11
    Service Projects
    Shakespeare
    Shine On
    Shopping
    Site Map
    Sit Ins
    Skiing
    Sluts
    Snakes
    Snow
    Social Security
    Spring
    Summer
    Surgery
    Surviving The Sixties
    Survivor
    Survivors
    Survivorship
    Susan Boyle
    Swim Group
    Swimming As Meditation
    Switched At Birth
    Tea Party
    Technology
    Ted Kennedy
    The Arc Of The Moral Universe Is Long
    The Band
    The Civil War
    The Day Jfk Was Shot
    The Great Depression
    The Sixties
    Time Goes By
    Toys
    True Peace
    Turning 65
    Tweets
    Twitter
    Unions
    Vegetables
    Vermont
    Vincent Van Gogh
    Visitors
    Volunteering
    War On Women
    Water
    Weather
    Weddings
    We Shall Overcome
    Where We6444ab37d9
    Where Were From171c5aacf5
    Where We Stand
    While We Were Sleeping
    Wilmington Vt
    Winter
    Wisdom
    Women
    Women As Consumers
    Women Bloggers
    Womens Blogs
    Womens Issues
    Writing


    Blogroll

    A Little Red Hen
    Arts & Letters Daily
    Blog of Ages
    The Boomer Chronicles
    Cab Drollery
    Can It Happen Here?
    Cogitamus
    Common Weeder
    Darlene’s Hodgepodge
    Fifty Shift
    Health Matters
    Hill Country Mysteries
    Just A Song
    Kevin MD
    Late Fruit
    Mature Landscaping
    Mindful Living Network
    Montpellier Daily Photo
    Parsley’s Pics
    Really Relative
    SW Dunn
    Switched at Birth
    The Third Third
    Time Goes By
    Two Seeds on a Blog
    Weekly Wilson

    Womens Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory
    Personal Blogs

    Paulah's bookshelf: read

    A Scattered LifeMurder in the MaraisA Girl Like YouThinner Thighs In Thirty YearsBy NightfallMurder in Passy

    More of Paulah's books »
    Book recommendations, book reviews, quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists


    Local Food and Local Farms

    free counters