it’s norse mythology and christian-fearfully based. friday is the goddess Freya’s day. Freya rides a jeweled chariot pulled by a - black cat or panther (hmmmm). the aurora borealis is known as Freya’s Necklace and is the jeweled dust trail her chariot wheels leave behind her across the sky. she is the goddess revered for magic, so associated with witchcraft, and 13 is her number, because of the old 13 month, 28 days a month, pre-julian calendar. friday the 13th is considered unlucky because of the perceptions put forth when they used to burn ‘witches’ according to the dictate of the catholic church’s Malleus Maleficarum(see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum). I tell everyone who crosses my path on Fri the 13th, that it’s really lucky, not unlucky! it is the day associated with the most powerful female figure of one of the oldest known and recorded societies. this is the same mythology/original language, etc that gives us thursday - from Thor’s day, thunder god (not just a muscular comic book hero!), wednesday from Odin, the Father god of the norse, etc. and my father was born on friday the 13th…..

not since 1995. except the occasional wedding, come to think of it even that, not since 2004. and that was a rare appearance of sticky, sweaty, running, binding, ….. not quite the level of chinese footbinding, but same male aesthetic torture for us that we bought into, eh? high heels next to go anyone?

buy local

oh, wait! it looks like pics and captions are mixed up!

lovely. i’m a big pet lover, won’t go into all of them i’ve lived with years, or what i live with now, but i will say, lily and jane’s orange roddy reminds me so much of an old cat no longer with us, nacqi. he loved curling up in paper boxes, too, and had that regal presence of a mountain lion, so much so, i usually called him, “pumasito”. and i agree with josie - looks more like part poodle, part horse to me! that’s the biggest “little dog” i’ve ever seen! bichons and king chucks are lap dogs.

i’ve been lying around for the better part of a year, so i’m getting up and out this weekend to see friends and meet some new ones. then, sat eve, i will lie around and watch big brown win the belmont and triple crown! won’t that be a thrill!

a few i think about from time to time, more out of curiosity: how are they, where are they, what is their life like now and how well did they age? happy with the one i have now. think i’ll keep him. ;)

usually, i have a glass with dinner 1-2x per month, but i’m breastfeeding a 2 month old and was obviously pregnant before that, so it’s been and will be a loooooong time until the next one.

obviously there are many posts that have gone many directions in this thread. it is an important discussion and goes to the core of what it means to be american and how freedom is defined. i have been a strong advocate of gay rights since i’ve been able to be such. not at the moment, but i was a long time resident of MA, was when we first legalized gay marriage. i am a proud church acquaintance of the *woman* town clerk, margaret drury, who performed the first gay marriage in cambridge city hall. shortly after, gov romney stripped whatever he could from it, denying anyone who wasn’t a resident access to the freedom to love who, not what, they choose. for isn’t marriage about the commitment to love one individual differently, more deeply than all others? and legally, isn’t this about the rights and access of insurance etc for the children of these couples? my sons, when we lived in MA, were friends with many children who had 2 mom families and 2 dad families, too. we even knew a young boy whose family was 2 moms, one of whom was transgendered. i can’t wait to see how long general society will take to accept that!

even if it is his gross editings of tawdry girl. ;)

um, great article abut a year ago in the new yorker about the fever with which universities pitch huge money at authors and their estates. when mailer’s letters went to texas, that was why. that one library is hoarding loads of great works and barely allwing viewing, while they digitally catalogue their “finds”. i find it obscene. don’t we want to go view, touch smell the originals? poor harvard was left to bid for the sloppy seconds surrounding mailer. at least they have SOMETHING of their alumnus.

omg, yes! taxi! andy kaufmann and christopher lloyd were geniuses to play those oddballs. danny devito - loveably despicable, too!

oh and carol burnett!

oh yeah - twin peaks!!!! and dick cavett!

m*a*s*h before it got too lessony. necessary to laugh under those circumstances and for viewers during viet nam era….though pretending korean conflict. all in the family, same. carroll o’connor was a genius to play such an ass so loveably, and of course, jean stapleton whose edith was the backbone of that family. how about barney miller w/abe vigoda as fish…. these were staples of my childhood. murphy brown was the only thing i watched on tv during those years. i literally went 8 years w/o tv, though you’d never know it now, except for my serious lack of seinfeld trivia.