Put A Bird On It Portland

New things for the shop in honor of Portlandia

I Remember Her

 Maddie's Portrait by her Mother Heather Spohr

Today I am honoring the big, bright, too brief life of the lovely  Madeline Alice Spohr? I am thinking of her Mama and Daddy. Two years. They should not have to be without their darling girl. No one should suffer so. And yet, every day, everywhere we do suffer such unimaginable loss.

I look at life differently. I look closely. I wish things were different for all of Madeline's loved ones. I know it never gets better. I rememeber Maddie every day. She is indeed with the stars.

Cesar Chavez National Holiday & Week of Service

Today kicks off the Cesar Chavez Week of Service. Cesar Chavez worked tirelessly his whole life. Never earning more than $5,000 dollars in a single year. He believed justice was our natural state, that human beings sought it and that it was the expression of our highest, best self.

I can not bear the news of persecutions, union witch hunts, repuliwhore rapes of our labor movement, our unions. Sadly, the agrofratards amongst us cheer the right wing on, forgetting that their $12.00 an hour job was built on the backs of people who accept the toughest, least paid work and still found energy to work for justice, workers rights and safety, and a fair wage. 

You may resent that your tax dollars pay a state employee 3 dollars an hour more than you can swing at your place of employment. Seeing teachers loll around free as birds on their summer "vacations" (FOR WHICH THEY ARE NOT PAYED BITCHES!!!) may really yank your chain. Guess what! When our unions and labor movement fall, the prospects for all workers dim. And you my friend are not an agent, you are a cog, a worker, hand in hand with Cesar and every field worker. The grapes you're picking may not be poisoning you right now, but they surely will when no one stands between you and the overseer.

Honor Cesar's life and work. Tell your government you do not accept the republihate agenda of demolishing the rights of workers. Ask president Obama to demonstrate that he is not a ringer and explain why it is OK to wage so much war and destroy our culture in the process. Lobby to raise the minimum wage. Remember to buy organic grapes. Instead of snarling when you pass the guys waiting for day labor on the corner, thank them for coming to a place of such cruel judgements and for their willingness to risk our irrational wrath just to complete jobs we can  not soil our fingers by touching. Tell a teacher, a flagger, the dude who is working on the sewer improvement in front of your house THANK YOU. Visit the UFW, sign the petition to have March 31st made the National Cesar Chavez holiday (it is currently a state holiday in California, Colorado, and Texas) and buy a t-shirt, read a little, write a letter, remember you are not alone.

Irresistible Mayhem

"She was irresistible mayhem."

     
                                         Joel Rosenthal,a jeweler, on his friend Elizabeth Taylor.

Women are the real architects of society. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

Despite appearances to the contrary ( the entire planet's sick obsession with an aging, washed up, drug-addled fool who has a lengthy history of abusing the women around him-ask Kelly Preston who he "accidentally" shot), today is International Women's Day.

Ladies I love you.

To me the fact that it is only the 100th anniversary of the event is ridiculous. Who better to celebrate than those who bring life to fruition, those who are the center that holds, those who make the magic.

Spring Me

 

Source

Dear reader I wait with bated breath.  'With bated breath, and whispring humblenesse.'  Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice i. iii. 125

This week I notice that the sky holds light longer. Just fully dark now after 6. We have had sunny days and less rain than one could expect.  I crave bright sun, a warm, soft wind, and the smell of lilacs in my garden.The problem with January is that it's hard to hope that spring will come. So much grey. Then comes the month of sunshine that is an Oregon February. Really! Still cold, sometimes snow, sometimes rain. But sunshine. And the blossoms peeking out to inquire "is it time?"

My best beloved, my beautiful child born 23 years ago this month came home with me on a late February day of bright sun and warmth. February always gives me the best gifts. The gifts I dare to hope for in winter.

Supercilious Sarah is a Hate Monger

"For example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action," Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC.

 Looks like that target she painted on Gabrielle Giffords work a charm.

Someone should prosecute the wicked witch from Wasilla for murder.

News media note that the bitch removed her SarahPac graphic calling for the slaughter of people that don't agree with her crazazy-assed, morally bankrupt political positioning. Yeah republitard, let's split hairs. You will whine, "She only targeted their political campaigns."

We will watch and see you for what you are as you desperately try to distance yourself from the obviously insane person who committed these acts. Crazy is as crazy does and The Tea Bagstress and her strap-on legion of un-patriotic, un-American sycophants should be put away some place where they will be unable to hurt others. A little too late for the young girl, the federal judge and the 16 others reported killed or injured.

Fuck all y'all who scream about the right to bear arms. GUN CONTROL NOW!

I wanted to blog about making and cooking and the sweetness of life, because there is oh so much sweetness. I suppose my grief over the state of my "homeland" (in parenthesis because it sounds so 3rd Reich-esque) is what calls me to write about the great shame that is amreeka these days. So incredibly sad that in a nation filled with gentle, loving, engaged people working for the improvement of humanity our crazy feckers outshine us all.