But Call Me Betsy

I'm not sure what to do with today. Will be going over to Carrie and Padhraig's, but that's not for a few hours. I didn't really sleep in today--I perhaps need a new hobby. Or a baby. I told A. that if I got the Pew Fellowship, I'd use it to buy a baby just like Angelina Jolie. I think that's why people have kids, in part, out of the boring sameness of every day and then as a reason to keep waking up in the morning, a way for their life to be meaningful. Like, as long as their kid turns out okay, doesn't kill himself and others in a drunk driving accident or go on a shooting spree, if he just grows up to be a responsible adult, then life will have meant something. Does it matter that my cats are well-adjusted and friendly? (Well, and that's not entirely true. Henri still sometimes runs from me and only just got used to a guy being over occasionally. He did show himself when Liz was here a few weekends ago, which I thought was so cute. He remembers her!).

Many awesome windows in South Philly and they will only get awesomer as the holiday descends. Below, please find a snow person on the verge of giving a Bronx cheer. And then a pull back to reveal the entire window--Santa cavorting on the other side. Teddy bears are big in South Philly. This is a "click me" type photo so you can see it better. It's decorated to celebrate someone's wedding. Pretty autumn window. The two windows below are from the same house. Both are almost nice enough to qualify them for the Marshall Field's/Magnificent Mile holiday window extravaganza in Chicago. I think this family did sort of the same thing last year, but this seems like a lot of work--gigantic ornaments, lights, dolls, presents... Ma and Pa bear wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving.

These little girl and boy plastic pilgrims are quite popular. I have managed to capture two window displays using them. I like the attempt at symmetry here with the Phillie flags also in each upper pane. Devil dog peeking out of the window panels. I bet he sits there for hours during the day. On my block, I believe we have one dog owned by this hipster couple across the street from me. I am not complaining...It's better to have none than to have a bunch of barking Chihuahuas. Happy bus. Clearly, someone has time traveled from 1965. Elaborate Thanksgiving extravaganza display. Lights, turkeys, scarecrows, dead wreaths--everything you could ever associate with fall and abundance/death. Pilgrims Progress again. I remember in elementary school that we made little cylindrical place settings of pilgrims just like these out of construction paper. I don't remember hearing much about the Native Americans. In third grade, my sense of history ran something like: God created worlds, Jesu

Omigod, Brooklyn Liz sent me a link to this site where you can see what your high school year book picture would look like if you were born in a particular year. It's called Yearbook Yourself . Here I am in 1972, 1960, 1990, 1954, and 1964 respectively. 1972 turned out the best, though think I look slightly retarded. 1960 doesn't quite fit, but you could see how a bob just doesn't fit my face and 1990 is not far from how I looked in high school. In 1964, I appear a bit African American or Asian or some other ethnicity. Don't you think?

Re-re-re-realized the other day that I've been keeping a blog since 2002 and probably a year or two before that time because I used to have a xanga blog in the very, very beginning. The earlier blog(s) I wrote in even more sporadically than I do now--like maybe a few times a month. Lately, I haven't felt much like keeping up with writing here, even on the weekends when I have the extra time. I still write in my journal most mornings for fifteen minutes or so, and I used to make lists of blog post ideas at the conclusion of those entries, but I just don't feel like it so much anymore. Maybe it's cyclical and I'll come back to it soon. It is gratifying and interesting to me to go back and read old posts, you know, from when I lived in State College, especially since I have such a spotty memory and so can be surprised again and again by the same information (in fact, in another couple of months, you'll probably see another post that reads, Gee, I've been keepi

I have long thought that there must be some reason I pay $60 a month to watch TV, though before this weekend, I couldn't tell you what exactly the reason was...I don't watch any of the network shows--can't stand the crybaby face of Meredith on Grey's Anatomy and don't find Desperate Housewives with its cloying voice over narration to be anywhere near as clever as it thinks it is; don't have the patience for the humorlessness of CSI and, though I do like Hugh Laurie in House , they haven't seemed to run any new episodes in the last two years. But then this weekend, I happened to catch an episode of It's Me or the Dog on Animal Planet. Dumbest title for a show ever, but it's so a sweet little premise--this slight British woman with a long ponytail and bangs comes into houses and teaches dog owners to manage their pets and all of the peace and harmony is restored in the house. It's like Supernanny for dogs. I watched three episodes in a row, whi

The pumpkins are still happening around my neighborhood--I guess because they are a staple of fall weather. Though we are not currently experiencing fall weather--more like "global warming mid-spring" temperatures. I took this picture on election night--I forget why I was walking home from work. It must've been a nice night. Anyway, it seemed like a weighty moment in history and then I happened to be passing City Hall with poor William Penn perpetually stuck at the top like a little lightning rod, and the sky really looked purple with possibility, which was what I was hoping the rest of the night would deliver on. And it did. Just as an aside, and though I like the whole "Yes, we can" slogan, it would be a funny bit for a small, badly run business like, "Yes, we can. But not until next Friday." This is the house across the street from where I live. The first sign of way too early Christmas cheer, almost a full 8 weeks ahead of its time. Here is a sig

Many moons seem to have passed since Halloween in Brooklyn, but the pictures are finally here, posted, for your viewing pleasure or displeasure, depending on your taste. Below, please find Luke ignoring me (and everyone) on the subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan's Soho District where we had a great dinner of noodles and went shopping at this strange H&M-like, Japanese store. You can also see more of these lovely photos on my Flickr page, should you be so inclined. An artistic picture of the treats at the party taken by Miss Carrie: This is Padhraig with his mask on his head. He looks stone cold drunk, but he really wasn't. The cats were getting to him, he claims. Okay, a little out of order here, but this is us reading The New York Times Sunday paper in Park Slope's park. My legs are quite bare and freezing. I forced us to leave soon after. Liz made me the knit hat I'm wearing. Back to Halloween. This is Kathy dressed as Wednesday from The Addams Family. She&#

i like it mostly because it has lots of clips from one of my fav movies, Annie Hall . Sarah Palin Meets Woody Allen from RADAR on Vimeo .

Where am I? Who am I? Why am I? Sorry to not be posting more often. No excuses. All I can offer at this time is a link to my latest Maven piece which is called "Ruined by Han Solo." The ending is weak, weak, weak, but I like some of it.

Oh, thank God, my prayers were answered! My favorite thing about the whole night is that Florida went for Obama. Justice, finally. I've spend the last six hours listening to NPR and they are so so so slow in announcing anything and you can tell they're getting tired, so finally, at 11 p.m., I turned on the TV, just as CNN was projecting that Obama would win. Shortly after that, Florida went blue, blue, blue! I called my mom and woke her up--she's been working at the polls for the last two nights and was just too tired to stay up. And look how much by how much he won--it's a landslide. Someone on NPR pointed out that even in Obama's lifetime, his own parents would've been arrested for riding on the bus together because in 1961 when he was born, it was illegal for blacks and whites to sit together. Amazing. Carrie said this weekend that she was anticipating the election in the same way that she used to think about Christmas...nervous and excited and a little worri

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please,