Ban and Bust; Read, we Must

 As a Girl Scout and my family, Christian,

I got the book from "American Girl", 📚

And I read from her diary that had been missin'

Of a girl my age, with whom I had no quarrel.

A couple years later, I had an instructor,

Who came from her same upbringing, 

And who inspired me further, 

Where I learned Not "To Kill a Mockingbird" 

                                         who'd been singing.

"King" Richard walked the White House halls,

Conversing with the pictures on the walls.

Even took his valet to the Lincoln Memorial,

Then, resigned from the Country to dispel the turmoil;

Since he valued his Country institutionally.

In music, we sang how "Huck Finn" and Jim 

     rowed on a river raft,

And when someone asked, Huck felt "Black like Him",

So he lied (despite Hell), and Jim, relieved, laughed.

Then, they kept rollin' down the river, outsmarting them.

I continue to read, due to Education. 📚

After "Catcher in the Rye", I pick up "The Help".

Rewriting History impedes our nation.

I refuse to be their "Hand Maid", 

Despite their ill-got wealth.

"King" Richard walked the White House halls,

Consulting with the portraits on the walls.

The protesters told him he was not royal,

So, resigned from the Country to dispel the turmoil,

Since he revered Our Country...Constitutionally. 📜

Our Liberation, Please

 I had to go get some clothes under the Shute. So, I had to pass by a portrait of my dad in chaplain's uniform, who helped liberate Norway (his own people) from the Nazis and was also hired to clean up Europe after the Nazis pillaged them.

I grabbed the book from the pantry on the way back about the tyrant who did that to Europe. Keeping informed.

So, this is our reward? I don't think so.

Cuckoo Review

 Remembering "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" today. Jack Nicholson enters the asylum pretending to be "off" and tries to transform the thinking of the inmates. He's the visionary, telling them they don't have to endure the rules of the evil head nurse. He even tries the impossible feat of lifting the water fountain as a means to escape the asylum.

The Native American in this crazy white mans' world observes. He is tall and strong. He appears to be sane and stable. When Jack is finally defeated by the backward electric shock treatment, the Indian, out of deep compassion, performs a mercy killing. Probably out of rage, he has the power to use his strength to pull up the fountain, crash the windows, and run like a deer to freedom.

This asylum is now the theft of America. Which role will you take?

Become as a Little Child

 When I was small, I saw my dad and brothers intently watching the McCarthy hearings, facilitated by none other than Roy Cohn who helped shape the foreboding Donald Trump. Being a child, I glanced at them, went up the stairs, and played with my toys located in a pink and blue painted ammunition chest at the very top. I'm sure they paid no mind as I was 1) a girl and 2) the youngest.

But there's a lesson in this story. My attitude at the time was, I was the one at peace, and I'm pretty sure they were on the edge of their seats, wondering what more damage McCarthy would be allowed to do to our country.

If at first You don't Succeed...

 My shepherd's pie

was a colossal failure today. Everything was being done the right way, and it required concentration, like doing math in my head. I read instructions, cut everything in fourths, made the necessary substitutions, and I was so focused that, when Bill sneaked up behind me, I yelped. (He said he didn't sneak up. He was just there, because he lives here.) Doing exactly as I had been told online, I remembered what someone advised years ago, "Can you read?" "Yes." "Then, you can cook." Oh Contrare! The problem was I put it in the Slow Cooker for exactly as long as it said to, on the right temperature. Much later, it was time to boil and mash the potatoes and grate the cheese. I kept wondering why it seemed as though the cook pot was OVER doing the contents, as far as the aroma was concerned. I put the mashed potatoes and cheese atop the meat and vegetables, anyway. Would that I hadn't! The rest of it was totally charred, and the potatoes got mixed in too much to separate. I suppose I could have a sense of humor about it as my mother did. She was required to make a "fairly stiff batter", which stayed (stiffly) on the spatula, so she could carry it to my dad and ask if it was, in fact, a "fairly stiff batter". But instead, I'm disappointed, because I was really excited about this project. Guess I'll stick to writing and such things which have stood the test of time.

The Gulf of Cheaper Eggs

 White knuckle driving today.

Saw a man at the store, who looked like my late brother Alan; he noticed me and said, "You're a smart shopper", as he remarked that I had a pen and paper. I said, "You have to be...even here!" (Aldi's) On the other side of the store, a lady complained to me about the high price of eggs; I looked, and sure enough, it said, $5.42. So, I was right; you have to be economical, even at Aldi's. Bird flu, they say, is responsible. I skipped the eggs.

The Farmer in Yesteryears Corn Field🌽

On our way out to Colorado, as we didn't know we were going there, we stopped in the Stoughton/Madison area, and I re-employed myself as a nurse assistant at Skaalen Home where I'd previously worked for my mom. The newest procedure for dementia patients, I found out, was some kind of reality therapy. If the patient claims it's say, 1910 and he/she needs to go find her/his mother, you don't just let that go, you'd say, "No, your mother is dead, and it's day, month, 1977 (when it was 1977). But searching my memory banks, I remember there was a cute housekeeper with an infectious laugh, who watched an old farmer reaching several times toward the floor. She'd address him by name, encouraging him to "plant that corn" (giggle). It didn't occur to me until now that encouraging him to think he was out in the field years ago was contrary to the new "reality" approach and could unravel our intentions.