that was the week that was

What fun to wake up this morning and read the Facebook posts from last night. And to read the things I posted. Did I really write that? Ugh, too much prosecco. No wait. Is there such a thing as too much? Certainly not on a night like last night. Four years ago we breathed a huge sigh of relief but that was nothing compared to the deep breath I took last night. A Romney presidency would've been downright scary. McCain was Casper the Friendly Ghost in comparison to Romney's Freddie Kruger.

This morning I woke - or more appropriately I disentangled myself from election night hangover - to see my own private but very much public masturbator standing outside the gate trying to see me as I lay in bed. Last night I'd left all the roller shades up thinking that by the time I got home the masturbator wouldn't be around but now I remember seeing the glow of his cigarette outside the gate but I didn't care. So I went to bed with the shades up. The windows in this house are mirrored and impossible to see in during the day. However, I'd left the bedroom sliding glass door open about 18 inches. The masturbator was gazing into the gap trying to see my reflection in the wall of closet door mirrors. I got a pretty good look at him - average height and weight, baseball cap on backwards, white rubber boots. I've seen those boots at night. They seem to glow. Now I know the boots belong to him. I will be more diligent, have the camera ready. Strike a pose, asshole!

My emotions this week pretty much ran the gamut from joy and appreciation to anxiety and sadness.

A friend visited from Seattle - I've known her for decades - and we had a great week although I did worry she'd get bored. That didn't happen. All our nights were filled with dining and wining with my Kino women friends, our days pretty low key except for our kayak/stand-up paddle board excursion out in the estuary with seven other women - five in kayaks and four on paddle boards.

The week's sadness surrounded the eviction - which is way too nice a word for what happened - of the people from a number of barrios here. See my blog entry from November 4th for more details. And now I've learned that two good friends - my adopted son and my corazon - have to be out of their home in three weeks - a home they've lived in for years. Just writing that makes me feel like throwing up. I haven't been able to find much in the newspapers about this but there is this article which says that the Human Rights Commission is getting involved. I hope another barrio opens up for them, a place they can stay. Vanna will be available for moving services.

We were too exhausted after kayaking to go to the cemetery for the Day of the Dead festivities. My Seattle friend has a thing for cemeteries so we went the next day. All the gravesites were cleaned up, flowers and offerings everywhere. I thought this particular site was interesting because of the banners on the wall picturing the deceased.

When people visit their loved ones they bring food and drink, tequila or bacanora for the adults, Coca Cola for the kids, and often there is music. This family hired a group of musicians to serenade their dearly departed.

Of course the weather was perfect the entire week.

And now with my prosecco hangover I'm off to kayak the estuary with friends. This time I'm taking a camera. Hopefully the white pelicans will still be there.

Some good things happened last night. Let the celebration continue!

Right Versus Left

A few weeks ago I shared an email I received from an acquaintance which left me feeling disgusted and depressed. Extreme right wingers are so filled with loathing for just about everyone - union workers, teachers, immigrants, gays, retirees, the poor - I'm surprised their bodies don't burst open from all that bile festering inside them. Maybe that's the disease that caused all those zombies in The Walking Dead. Maybe hatred will be mankind's apocalypse.

Yesterday I received an email from someone on the left. The tone of those two emails couldn't be more opposite. I posted it below. The pictures didn't come over but you can pretty much guess what they are from the text. The subject line was My President Obama. Whether or not you agree with the message, you've got to admit that it's a more joyful tenor than the one from the right.

We Thank YOU For the room-lighting smile:

We Thank YOU For the mind that always thinks:

For preventing a second Great Depression:

For the humor:

For bringing the number of women in the Supreme Court to 3.:

For making the White House the "people’s" house:

For 1.1 million jobs created in 2010 alone, more than the entire 8 years of George W.Bush:

For the love of people:

For the love of family:

For America's First Lady:

For Health Care reform:

For leaving the past behind:

For the world having respect for America, again:

For quietly and calmly dealing with crisis after crisis, after crisis, after crisis, even if not being responsible for any of them:

For being so "cool":

For being fierce - when need be:

For having the intellect to be curious:

For the capacity to know that you are, as we are, imperfect….

For having the sense to not let it destroy you…

For the capacity to be compassionate:

For being an inspiration to so many:

For saving the auto industry and at least 1.4 million jobs:

For loving the troops:

For understanding the horrible price of war:

For facing the most difficult and loneliest job in the world with grace, dignity, honesty and guts in spite of so many "Haters":

For being, in spite of all the hate, pettiness, racism, corruption and immaturity around, the most progressive and ‘for the people’ president in decades:

And simply for this:

For Being...................."Mr. President!"