What I would like to see are equally fashionable flats for those of us that cannot or will not wear heels. Having broken both ankles, at different times and years apart, I cannot wear heels and have a hard time finding nice looking dress shoes. I have even had discussions with shoe clerks who insist that this or that shoe would really be fine, until they see the surgery scars and then say they have nothing. I am pleased to see ballerina flats back in, but surely there is some designer somewhere that has the ingenuity to come up with beautiful flat shoes.

Remember the victory gardens? My grandparents always had large vegetable gardens and grew enough to “put up” besides eating fresh. I think that some of my lawn, which is a water eater, will become vegetables, a much better use for the water. I never was very good at gardening, but the prices may just be the push I need.

BOOKS!!! They can be borrowed for free from the library, purchased inexpensively at yard sales or paperback exchanges, or the sky is the limit for special or rare editions. The contents can take you anywhere at anytime, literally the sky is the limit, or not. You don’t have to plug them in, they use no gas and if you want to reread them, it is as simple as opening a page. You can time travel to the past or zoom ahead to the future. You can visit exotic lands all from the comfort of your easy chair, hammock or porch swing. Now excuse me while I read the latest issue of National Geographic’s story on Stonehenge, I am going to the past in England.

Health care, the economy, education, ending a senseless war.

I have been married 32 1/2 years. Not always happy, but we have worked things out. I come from a long line of non-divorced people. My parents had been married 52 years when my mother passed away. My father’s parents had been married 70 years when my granddad passed away and my mother’s parents had been married 60 years when my grandpa passed away. On the other hand all my children have divorced, one twice. One is happily remarried, one is happily single and the one who has divorced twice thinks she has to find another man to marry to be complete. I don’t understand her—she keeps finding crazy people and thinking that she can “fix” them. I just worry about her children. Oh, well. I’m just a mom and what do I know?

Definitely a Grammy for best vocal duo. I sing duets with my radio all the time (an occasionally a trio or quartet with a friend—but always accompanied by the radio).

I don’t think it should be over until every state has had it’s primary or caucus. Every person should have the right to a meaningful vote and not a rubber stamp. I don’t think that prolonging the season will have anything to do with the outcome in November.

My mother!!!! She could stretch a pound of hamburger to feed 6 and have leftovers. She could listen to four budding musicians practice four different instruments on four different pieces at four different abilities for half an hour every afternoon after school so they would be done when Dad got home and not go nuts. She knew where we were at all times, who we were with and whether or not we were doing something we shouldn’t. She dealt with my hot tempered father with finesse and psychology and kept things on an even keel. She taught us to use the encyclopedias and dictionaries and how to read road maps and bus schedules—good resources for everyone. She gave us a sense of worth, a basis for our beliefs in God, and made each one of us feel that we were the most important person in her life. Most of all she did it without raising her voice. We were taught respect, how to live economically and to love unquestioning. Mom was definitely a superhero!

It is situational and can be a mixture of any or all of the choices, or none of the choices. Even procrastination requires the action of putting things off and there are times when I just want to sit and veg out.

I think both should remain in the contest until the convention. I remember the times when the convention was NOT a rubber stamp for the first few states. Every other state has become a moot point in the recent history and I am insulted that my vote has not counted for anything. This is the first year in decades where the election actually means something. Granted it began a lot earlier than I would have wished, the super delegates are a cruel joke on the voters and Florida and Michigan have been disinfranchized because they wanted a share of the spotlight that usually only shines on Iowa and New Hampshire. Thank goodness there is a rest of the country where everyone’s vote is courted this year. Wyoming, where I live, hasn’t counted in a Presidential election since they put JFK over the top in the convention—if I remember right. I say let it play out to fruition, at least we aren’t being bombarded by the same religious right conservative platitudes as in the recent past and there is real discussion of all the issues—the economy, health care costs, education, and what was the other thing … oh, yes, the stupid war.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful pictures of a beautiful, smart woman with us. I met Gov. Richards in April of 1992 at a 1st Amendment conference at the University of Texas. I had been a fan of hers long before and she just reinforced my belief that she was not only a savvy politician, but a funny, delightful woman. She would have been a good President!!!!

It was always the government’s problem—the need to protect those who could not protect themselves. It became more important when the girl called and said that she was being abused. The state had every right and obligation to remove the children from those circumstances. To reiterate the quote, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. These sects are all about power and when the power is threatened those in charge become irrational. There are many examples of this from the followers of Jim Jones to the Branch Davidians to the UFO group in Nevada. The women only continue to follow the only life they have known since they were children. They give birth as children and their children enter they cycle of abuse. They fear condemnation to hell for rebelling because they have “been carefully taught”.

1) My husband, 2) My husband’s hobbies, 3) My husband’s “toys”. But after almost 35 years, I guess I am stuck with his quirks because he will not change.

I know that to begin with this may sound selfish, but I would like to spend it alone. This is why. I have a very busy job in a university library, a husband who is obsessive compulsive and demands all my waking hours when I am not at work, and long distance calls two daughters that are single mothers—because they dumped their jerks of husbands, but that is another story. I rarely get alone time—even the dog figured out how to open the bathroom door and showed the cat, so there is not even privacy in the tub. I would like to just go outside and sit under the starlight and not have to converse with anyone—one hour would be heavenly. However, I know that in less than five minutes my husband would be checking to see if I was all right, had not left and got to the store without him or that I had not left something open or touched something that he might have to double, triple or quadruple check. Yes, one hour alone…..

Choosing is so hard! It is like saying you are a little bit pregnant. You either are or are not. None of these have shown good character. As for their wives, they have to make up their own mind about what they are willing to put up with and looking in from the outside, who are we to say what or what not is happening. I think personally I could put up with the infidelity (along with a std test) more than I could the lying. As for them continuing to perform their jobs, that is another question. Many business men and women continue to do their work and have their affairs. Just don’t use my tax dollars to support your “habit”—that went out with concubines.