Around The World

Today's Seeger moment. Enjoy!

Pete is Turning 90! Kein Ahora!

The father of the modern folk music will be celebrating his 90th birthday next Sunday May 3. How does one ring in a brand spanking new decade? How about a musical party for thousands of your nearest and dearest? As such, Pete will be celebrating his 90th on stage at a sold-out concert benefiting Clearwater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Hudson River Project has long been a passion for Pete, and he managed to convince a few of his friends like Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Paxton, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, John Mellencamp, Emmylou Harris, Tom Chapin, Richie Havens, Roger McGuinn, Steve Earle, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Cockburn, The MacGarrigle Sisters to join him in raising money for his cause. (The list of performers goes on and on!) I desperately wanted to be in NYC for this once-in-a-lifetime event, but time and cost precludes it. I will have the chance to see Paxton here in TO on Monday before he treks to the Big Apple for the party. I felt like I owed Pete a bit of a gift so I will count down to Pete's big day by presenting a series of videos of The Old Folkie through the years. Check back in this space over the next week for some special music from the master. Now if I could only pluck my banjo the way he does!!

Here's Hoping that Other's Find the Passion

I am a passionate, devoted, somewhat masochistic, yet always believing in miracles Toronto Blue Jays fan. I have ranted on at length in this space before of how truly painful and difficult it is to be a Toronto sports fan of a certain generation. I am a middle-aged woman and yet, I have no memories of the last Stanley Cup paraded down Yonge Street. The Raptors are still a work in progress, but to be honest have yet to capture my imagination. I loathe Canadian football! (I am certain that there is a post in there somewhere, but suffice it to say that any sport that awards a single point for a missed field goal, is not a real sport in my books.) As such, the Argos have never been worthy of my support. But, baseball is a whole other ball game. I love everything about the sport. I love the quiet pace and the lack of a clock. I love the intricacies of the match ups of pitchers versus batter and I love watching the defenses reset from hitter to hitter. No two plays are exactly the same in baseball and there is nothing quite like the feeling of a walk-off home-run. And ever since a snowy day back in April of 1977, the Blue Jays have been the object of my affection. (In the spirit of full disclosure, my passion for baseball started long before the Blue Jays inception. I was a truly bad Canadian patriot as I hated the Expos. I was and to a certain extent, still am, a Dodgers booster. The whole history of the franchise tweaked my interest as a kid and I must have been among the few Canadians who cheered Rick Monday's homer that knocked the Expos out of a possible World Series appearance back in 1981.) But, the Blue Jays are my team. I have cheered through the great times and sobbed through the low points. I have caps from various generations, and I have been privileged to witness a World Series game in person. I watch when they win and I watch when they lose, which has been the norm since the strike of 1994. 

This year, my beloved boys of summer entered the season with absolutely no expectations of even a .500 season. This is a team that saw their starting rotation decimated with long-term injuries and is fielding a starting five that has 2 full rookies, a kid that misses the rookie designation by 5 days, and a number 2 man that has 2 years under his belt. (And he is now on the DL!) The everyday players are also very young and would require career years and then some for this team to have any hope of getting past the powerful big-spenders of the American League East. No, this was a team that the pundits called for 4th in the division, and even that was a gift. And yet, nobody told the guys that they were losers. The Jays have had a wonderful and truly surprising start to the season and, while it is very early and nobody is planning the parade, this is a team that plays hard every day and deserves to be seen. Still, Fox sports didn't think enough of them to schedule the guys for even one appearance this year, and the fans of Toronto have acted as though the players have a communicable disease and have stayed away in droves. 

Last night, The Husband and I were gifted with a pair of tickets by a friend for our first in-person look at the 2009 version of the Jays. The tickets were part of the Jays $5.00 Tuesday promotion and while we sat in the upper decks, we were directly behind home plate and could view every call. Doc was on the mound, the guys were coming off of their 4th consecutive series win, several of the players are off to torrid starts, there is no playoff hockey in this town for the 4th straight year, $5.00 tickets are practically a giveaway, and still the SkyDome (yes, it will always be the SkyDome to me Mr. Rogers!) was mostly empty. The game was exciting, as fast-paced as a baseball game can be, filled with every sort of offensive and defensive gem imaginable and for an added bonus, saw the beaning of an umpire. True, the Jays lost 5-4 to the Rangers, but they never quit and had the tying run in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings. Where were you Toronto? Watching first round hockey blowouts of other cities teams on the tube?  We have the best starting pitcher in the American League, a superstar in waiting at 2B, young studs who can pound the shit out of the ball, a bullpen that is amongst the stingiest in baseball, and if Alex Rios and Vernon Wells ever realize that the season started in April and not May, these guys might make it interesting this summer. I implore you!! Give baseball a chance. You will be glad you did. Check out the dismal attendance at the Dome last night and my new boy-crush at 2B, Aaron Hill. 

The Doctor was a bit off the mark last night and gave up 2 2-run home-runs, but he struck out 9 and went 8 strong innings.
My new crush is Aaron Hill. The man is short, compact, and plays every ball as if it were the 9th inning of the World series. Right after this picture was snapped he lay full out to snag a liner to right and threw out the runner. He also homered and doubled. I think I am in love!
For shame Toronto!!

Regaining Order from Disorder

I do not have a daughter. For most of the last 22 years, I have lived my life in the exclusive company of testosterone. It has been my hope, and certainly a life goal of mine, to raise men who are sensitive to the needs of the women in their lives and for them to see equality regardless of gender. As a result of not having daily contact with young girls, I have become slightly amnesiac as to some of their constant issues and problems. I have watched as my friends with teenage daughters have struggled through adolescent stuff, but always at a comfortable distance. Today, something happened that made me realize that it isn't always right or easy to stay silent. 

A young teenage relative posted the following item on her Facebook page. Basically, it was an inane quiz entitled "I prefer the term "Naturally Anorexic"... but yah..this note lies". The idea of this stupid test was to assign point values to all the various foods that the taker has eaten in the last week, total up the score and assign an offensive label to said score.  Under 16-you're anorexic or close to it, 17-50-you're normal, and 51 or over-sorry you're a big fat fatty! Now I am absolutely certain that my young buddy was only playing around and thought that the note in which she tagged a variety of her friends, was something amusing; a way to kill a few minutes on a boring Sunday afternoon. I saw it as something much more disturbing. I saw in the note the continual patterning of dangerous body imaging. 

Our young women are constantly bombarded with unrealistic body images every single day. Media, television, movies, magazines and newspapers are continually showing our daughters, nieces and friends the way society believes that they should look. They never show the airbrushing, eating disorders, illnesses and psychological damage. Scarlett Johansson has a wonderful blog piece on Huffington Post this weekend that describes her constant harassment by media types over her weight. Check out this hideous ad for a fitness firm in The Netherlands.

At a time when real-woman Susan Boyle has reminded the entire world that true talent is not measured by hair styles or the scale, I find it necessary to educate my young cousin on some of the real world facts about body image and eating disorders. These statistics come from The South Carolina Department of Mental Health.

• Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
• One in 200 American women suffer from anorexia
• 2-3 in 100 American women suffer from bulimia
• The mortality rate associated with anorexia is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15-24 years old.
• Anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness among adolescents.
• 95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25
• 50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see themselves as overweight.
• 80% of 13 year old girls have attempted to lose weight.

There is much more, but I am certain that the point is made. I understand the obsession with weight. I have spent a good portion of the last 30 years trying to lose 10-15 pounds. It is only recently that I saw the ridiculousness in my behaviour and chose to live a healthy lifestyle and let the scale fall wherever it may. If we are ever going to see ourselves as strong, independent and healthy women, we need to impress upon our daughters, nieces, cousins and young friends that the images that they are overwhelmed with every day are fallacies. They need to find comfort in who they are and discover where their strengths lie, and to understand that somewhere in the jokes, is real pain. In order to learn more about positive female imaging, I urge you to check out The Illusionists. 

And It Isn't Even Grey Goose!

It seems that a Canada goose and his mate have taken up residence in front of The Husband's and Twin Son's new distillery. (We pause briefly for this commercial message. A wonderful new malt vodka will soon be available from Still Waters Distillery. Their website will be operational soon, but in the meantime, you can follow their progress on Twitter. You can also keep up with the guys at Premium Bottlers  or on Facebook. Please do! I have a family to support and it would be nice to be able to pay for Younger Son's college tuition next year.) Back to the geese. The feathered pair have apparently decided to construct their dream house directly in front of the distillery building. Mother Goose has come to the conclusion that it is a great parenting plan to birth and raise the little ones in close proximity to a den of alcoholic production. One can only imagine her next rhyme.

The Husband and Twin Son have gotten together to whip up a new batch of booze

"The vodka" they cried has become "scotch"ified

So pick any poison you choose! 

Anybody who has ever been up close and personal with a nesting Canada goose knows full well to stay the hell out of her way. This little lady is no exception. She has apparently developed a nasty attitude when any person approaches and makes quite a racket when pissed off. For the last couple of days, the boys noticed that 2 eggs were dispatched from the nest. One is now gone, probably as a result of a nocturnal visitation from a local fox, but the second one remains, orphaned by its parents. After a bit of research, I have discovered that this is common practice for a goose if the egg is no longer viable, or if there is no more room at the inn. In other words, if the nest is overcrowded as a result of an overly fertile and sexually active goose, the mother will actually push a few of her children out of the house early and nest on the remainder. (An interesting idea that might have real human world applications!) She is still quite protective of the orphaned egg and nips actively at onlookers. Older Son took these photos, and was quite concerned about being kamikazed by a tight-assed, hormonal and behaviourally challenged she-goose. I thank him profusely for his service to the cause. Enjoy the photos.

Maybe she wants a taste. She really does seem to be begging like an alcoholic in front of a bar window.

Poor little orphan. We have been told not to touch it, just in case Mama and Papa decide to repatriate it.

Spring Haiku

I was feeling a bit creative today, so please forgive me if you hate poetry. A few verses of Haiku to help usher in the spring season. These are all mine (for better or for worse!) so please don't pass on without credit. Thanks. 

Pesach ends tonight

Matzah clogs finally ends

Enjoy your pizza!

Sounds of Spring abound

Leaf blowers and lawn mowers

Grass-guy back at work

How'd you know it's Spring?

The Jays are back playing hard

The Leafs are golfing

Ducks in dirty water

Geese nest on eggs with venom

Shit is everywhere

It's cold, it's hot, it's...

Tough to dress for the climate

I'm still wearing gloves

Kids on bikes and blades

Tank tops, cut offs and no socks

It's still cold, dumbass!

Intoxicating

Smells like tulips and lilies

Not awakened skunk

City comes alive

Hibernation is over

Ass-whip apathy

Fresh fruit and veggies

Going organic this year

Wish I could garden

Enjoy the season

Spring reawakens the soul

Summer almost here.

Old Friends Revisit

My friends Daffy and Daisy are back. I know that I presented something very similar last spring, but I am just so enthralled by the fact that these special creatures keep revisiting us year after year. I think that Daffy is searching for a place for Daisy to lay her eggs. Wouldn't that be thrilling? I will keep you all updated if the little ones join the family. Enjoy the magic of Pete and friends in the musical selection. Pete will be a robust 90 in May and if any of you are near Madison Square Garden on May 3rd, try and join him for a special concert of celebration.