Friday Fill-in

1. My stomach full, again.
2. Crash potatoes is what I ate the most of on Thursday.
3. The yard is full of fallen leaves.
4. Home is where I'd rather be at any given time.
5. The smell of Chanel No. 5 reminds me of my mother.
6. A good book is what I need right now!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sitting, tomorrow my plans include cleaning up the woods :-) and Sunday, I want to bead!

20 Questions

Self-tagged from Ronnie.
The rules:
A) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs & replace any question that they dislike with a new question.
B) Tag 8 people to answer the questions. I don't follow rules very well. Sarah might play if she reads this. I'd love it if she got answers from John and the gkids, too.
1. How many songs are on your iPod? I don't have an iPod. I do have an mp3 player but it needs charging, so I can't give a track count or even a guess.
2. What music would you want played at your funeral? I would want my family and friends to play music they think of when they think of me. If anyone wants to tell me, that would be fun.
3. What magazines do you have subscriptions to? None at the moment, but I love magazines.
4. What are your favorite scents? Oleanders, lantana, moonflowers, the Pacific, Rick's shirts, babies, green chiles being roasted, popcorn popping, campfires, salt marshes, crushed pine needles, Hawaiian Tropic tanning lotion, corn tortillas, pot smoke, horse barns, simmering pots of beer grains, grass being mowed, port, leather, myrrh.
5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it?
Remodel the house, hire a personal trainer and a chef.
6. What is your theme song? Dear Prudence or No Mermaid.
7. Do you trust easily? Yep.
8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think? Think before acting.
9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days? Finding out that my dad thinks that Sarah Palin is "pretty sharp." *shudder*
10. Do you have a good body-image? Nope.
11. Which would you rather see on vacation? The Eiffel Tower, a whale shark, hippos. I'd love to see a whale shark up close!
12. How do you spend your social networking (Facebook, etc.) time? Mostly e-mail. I read blogs, but get bored with my own blogging.
13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately? Job hunting.
14.Original: What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? Frank's: Why do people still believe in the supernatural? Mine: Why is boxing still considered a sport? It's disgusting.
15. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head? It's a Small World. AAAAAAAAK!! This happened a few days ago when I was looking for a picture of Disneyland's carousel. It persisted for a couple of hours, so I found a midi version of a song we're singing for the Christmas concert and listened to that for awhile, thus purging the aforementioned ear pollution. Many years ago, I got a Fresca commercial stuck in my head for two weeks. I thought I would have to get medical help to get rid of it.
16. What’s your favorite item of clothing? Sarongs.
17. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? Not particularly. And Rice Crispies treats are vile.
18. What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground? Pick it up--return it if the obvious owner is present. If there are no claimants, then I'd put it in the travel fund.
19. What items could you not go without during the day? Internet access, water, peanut butter.
20. What should you be doing right now? Sewing bugle beads onto Piper's Christmas stocking.

Friday Fill-in

1. Please feel free to recommend your favorite books.
2. When I stir the grain for a batch of Rick's beer I can't help sniffing it occasionally. Well, okay--the whole time.
3. My favorite thing to cook is whatever I have the energy and ingredients for.
4. Reading is something I can't get enough of.
5. That's the thing I love most about it. what the heck??
6. A Shetland pony always makes me think to myself, what the heck would anyone want with one of those nasty little creatures?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending time with Rick, tomorrow my plans include sewing beads onto Christmas stockings and Sunday, I want to keep doing that!

Thursday 13

Thirteen impressive beadwork objects

Leaf Lei by Rebecca Brown.


Mardi Gras flag boy.


Modern Native American bead art. Kiowa, I believe. Very cool.


Anita, a female human skull adorned with Swarovski crystal beads by Quinn Gregory. His skull art pieces contain somewhere between 8500 to 12500 Swarovski crystals.


Not exactly beadwork, but this beady ET was untouched during Katrina.


Night and Day. A mask by Wendy Seaward, who makes other lovely, lovely things.


Until I Can Breathe Again. Shelley Nybakke said that this is the project you make after your husband of 34 years walks out with the lame excuse that "we have nothing in common."


Beaming Up. Star Trek art by Devorah Sperber. Each figure is made of at least 25000 semi-transparent beads on monofilament.


Imperial Kimono by Madelyn Ricks. Inspired by a Noh costume in the Tokyo National Museum. Want it? $15000 and it's yours. Photo by David Solins.



A wedding purse. Nonyas (Chinese Peranakan women) are well-known for their skill in embroidery and beadwork. A nonya bride was often judged on her needlework before she was fully accepted by her new family.


This puma was crafted by the Huichol in west central Mexico. It is made of individual seed beads embedded in wax.


Anemone. A freeform work inspired by the life of a coral reef.


This nursing charm, an "isixhoxho," adorns Xhosa women and broadcasts that the wearers are nursing mothers.

Introducing the Newest Representative from Crazy and Off-base: Paul Broun

My thanks to Keith Olbermann.



What a pinhead. Of course, he's sorry. But he's likely always been a sorry pinhead.
Wait! He's sorry, but it isn't an actual apology.
And there's more! The other Georgia Republicans say what??

I hear that Rachel Maddox had a few words to say about the paranoid and sour-grapey Mr. Broun, too. Sorry to have missed that.

I am an Ingrid

I am an Ingrid. I am unique.

Ingrids have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.

How to Get Along with Me
* Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me.
* Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.
* Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.
* Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.
* Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!

What I Like About Being an Ingrid
* my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level
* my ability to establish warm connections with people
* admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life
* my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor
* being unique and being seen as unique by others
* having aesthetic sensibilities
* being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me

What's Hard About Being an Ingrid
* experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair
* feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved
* feeling guilty when I disappoint people
* feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me
* expecting too much from myself and life
* fearing being abandoned
* obsessing over resentments
* longing for what I don't have

Ingrids as Children Often
* have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original games
* are very sensitive
* feel that they don't fit in
* believe they are missing something that other people have
* attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.
* become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood
* feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)

Ingrids as Parents
* help their children become who they really are
* support their children's creativity and originality
* are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings
* are sometimes overly critical or overly protective
* are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed

You can take the quiz here.

We go (went) adventuring, part 2

As it turns out, Georgia has its own mini Grand Canyon. Of course, it has a much grander Georgiafied name: Tallulah Gorge. In addition to being quite lovely, it was made briefly famous in 1970 when Karl Wallenda walked across the gorge on a tightrope. *shudder*
Our visit was spur of the moment and it was well worth the short drive from Anna Ruby Falls.
These photos start at the rim and descend to the suspension bridge across the gorge. I didn't think I would be able to go onto the bridge, but I did it! My only shaky moment was when I reached out and grabbed one of the cables. *another shudder*
Of course, the view was spectacular in every direction and was enhanced by the fall color everywhere. I'd love to go back, but I'm not looking forward to coming back up those stairs again!

Nothing in the Verse Can Stop Us!!

I am still Dua Khalil

From Somalia Online

31 October 2008
Contrary to earlier news reports, the girl stoned to death in Somalia this week was 13, not 23, Amnesty International can reveal. Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was killed on Monday, 27 October, by a group of 50 men who stoned her to death in a stadium in the southern port of Kismayu, in front of around 1,000 spectators. Some of the Somali journalists who had reported she was 23 have told Amnesty International that this age was based upon a judgement of her age from her physical appearance. She was accused of adultery in breach of Islamic law but, her father and other sources told Amnesty International that she had in fact been raped by three men, and had attempted to report this rape to the al-Shabab militia who control Kismayo, and it was this act that resulted in her being accused of adultery and detained. None of men she accused of rape were arrested. “This was not justice, nor was it an execution. This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo,” said David Copeman, Amnesty International's Somalia Campaigner. “This killing is yet another human rights abuse committed by the combatants to the conflict in Somalia, and again demonstrates the importance of international action to investigate and document such abuses, through an International Commission of Inquiry.”Amnesty International has learnt that: Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was reported as being 23, based upon a judgement on her physical appearance, according to one of the journalists who had reported the stoning. Her actual age was confirmed to Amnesty International by other sources, including her father. Her father said she had only travelled to Kismayo from Hagardeer refugee camp in north eastern Kenya three months earlier. She was detained by militia of the Kismayo authorities, a coalition of Al-shabab and clan militias. During this time, she was reportedly extremely distressed, with some individuals stating she had become mentally unstable. A truckload of stones was brought into the stadium to be used in the stoning. At one point during the stoning, Amnesty International has been told by numerous eyewitnesses that nurses were instructed to check whether Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was still alive when buried in the ground. They removed her from the ground, declared that she was, and she was replaced in the hole where she had been buried for the stoning to continue. An individual calling himself Sheik Hayakalah, was quoted on Radio Shabelle saying:``The evidence came from her side and she officially confirmed her guilt, while she told us that she is happy with the punishment under Islamic law.'' In contradiction to this claim, a number of eye witnesses have told Amnesty International she struggled with her captors and had to be forcibly carried into the stadium. Inside the stadium, militia members opened fire when some of the witnesses to the killing attempted to save her life, and shot dead a boy who was a bystander. An al-Shabab spokeperson was later reported to have apologized for the death of the child, and said the milita member would be punished.

I AM DUA KHALIL. AND YOU ARE, TOO
http://iamduakhalil.blogspot.com/