Politics Aside . . .

I try to keep most of my political opinions on Facebook and that's where I discovered a link to Margaret and Helen,  Best Friends for Sixty Years and Counting. 

This witty blog is too good to miss -- though I'll warn you that it is liberal, feminist, and not afraid of 'language.' (The F word and the N word are banned.)

Then I found out that there's some on line discussion as to whether this blog is really written by a pair of octogenarians.  Hmm. These ladies definitely don't fit most folks idea of eighty-somethings... these ladies rock! 

And while I can't vouch for the reality of this particular pair, I will say that I have no trouble believing that older women can be articulate, liberal, funny, and that they might use a bit of 'vulgar' language. It smacks of ageism to suggest otherwise.   

And speaking of ageism, I'm still fuming over something I heard on an NPR interview  with former poet laureate Donald Hall.

Hall, who is in his eighties and physically frail,  told Fresh Air's Terry Gross of being in Washington, D.C., to receive the National Medal of Arts. Hall and his companion, Linda, decided to visit the National Portrait Gallery and they stopped in front of a sculpture created by Henry Moore, the subject of a 1965 New Yorker profile written by Hall.

"I can't stand for long, so my friend Linda was pushing me in a wheelchair, and at one point the guard came over and told us that this sculpture was a Henry Moore," he recalls. "My friend Linda thought of mentioning to him that I knew Moore pretty well, but we didn't ... and we went onto other things."

After lunch, they ran into the same guard, who asked Linda if she had a nice lunch and then leaned in closer to Hall's wheelchair.

"And he had an idiot grin and pointed a finger at me and said, 'Did we have a nice din-din?' " recalls Hall. "It was amazing. ... He talked baby talk at me. ... I was taken aback, totally taken aback and amused that he should make such a mistake. I wouldn't talk baby talk like that to a baby. Here he was, talking baby talk to an 82-year-old."

Appalling. But probably all too common that age and/or disability are equated with a lack of intelligence. 

Next time, Mr. Hall, I'd suggest a quick upward thrust of the cane where it would do the most good. And then a quote from Monty Python.

"I'm not dead yet!"

Spring Blog Cleaning

Time to put, if not my house, at least my blog in order. The critters don't track in so there's no need to sweep but the lists of blogs over in the side bar needed some updating and reorganizing.

I've begun by putting the international blogs into one group. This is a cheap way to travel and I've added a few, including Marilyn (My Magpie Collection) and Joan (Sempiterna Me) in New Zealand, where the leaves are beginning to turn ...

And a special welcome to Desiree (Driftwood Ramblings), whose birthday it is, in South Africa!

Closer to home, I've added a collection of links called My Neck of the Woods --over there at the top. You can find out more about the place my fictional Marshall County is based on...

 

And even about the real life realtor who inspired Elizabeth's friend Sallie Kate!

Oh, I've fiddled and tidied-- the writing, publishing blogs are in one place, the food-related in another, the country/Appalachian in yet another. . .


I think it's time to emulate Miss Suzie and relax.

 

A Smaller World

As I've mentioned before, this blogging thing really does make the world seem smaller.  I commiserate with blog friends in the UK, France, and Austria about the dreary weather and am cheered by the sight of spring blooms in Turkey. But now, news of an earthquake in Chile has me concerned about two blog acquaintances. 

Maria Cecilia  of the beautiful blog  Casa Dulce Hogar (the roses below are hers) lives near Santiago and tends what must be one of the most romantic gardens ever. I slip over there for refreshment on these bleak wintry days.  She hasn't posted recently -- on vacation for all of February, she said.  Santiago was well beyond the epicenter of the quake but even so, sustained considerable damage.

I'll be glad when Maria Cecilia posts again.

UPDATE!! Maria Cecilia has just posted to say that she and her family are fine. She asks for prayers for her countrymen who have lost loved ones and homes.

A more recent blog acquaintance is Pamela of Vanellus Chilensis and  Recorriendo la Patagonia.  She, too, is in Chile -- and, if I read the Spanish correctly, she's okay. 

But my point is this: a year ago, I would have heard about an earthquake in Chile and thought oh, how dreadful and moved on.  Natural disaster is everywhere. But now, I'm worried about people I've actually communicated with.

Do you suppose, in time, as the blogosphere expands, we really will begin to feel like everyone is our neighbor?  That no man is an island?  That we're all in this together and what affects one will eventually affect all?

It would be nice to think that blogging could put an end to war -- but man's ability to make war on his neighbors is well documented.  Still ... it's a thought.

And Patagonia seems closer than ever.