Snapshots from the Week

Yesterday I went to San Francisco for a haircut, and who was standing at the desk paying her bill but Nancy Pelosi.   She was wearing bright-blue heels with a gray-blue pantsuit, and she had a Secret Service agent with her.   My hairdresser says she is a very pleasant person who is on her cell phone at all times.

Loved the bright blue shoes. 



                                                                        2.

I'm bogged down on the quilt I'm working on, so I stopped by Britex after my haircut to check out fabric possibilities.  Nothing grabbed me, but I recommend their shopping bags, especially in these days of bring-one-or-pay-for-another.

I carried an old one around with me all day with my lunch  (dried fruit, almonds, carrot sticks, and half a peanut butter sandwich--what would Nancy P. say?).  Later,  I added small things I bought,  like overpriced hair conditioner and pink goop cover the bags under my eyes.

These bags are sturdy, with cloth handles, but you have to buy a certain amount to get one of these nice ones.  Being a fabric-o-holic helps.

And with a snappy red interior

                                                                      3.

It's hard to describe how charming this movie is: "Romantics Anonymous."

Cover of the French-release DVD

Years ago, my friend Debbie said it was hard for "two shys to get together."  This is about two endearingly neurotic shys who happen to be chocolatiers trying to connect.  Jerry really liked it, too.  You watch it with a smile on your face.


                                                                          4.

                                                                             

In April, we're going to Texas for a week. I've been checking out airfares, and the idea of flying Economy with no leg room, no crammed overhead bins, and my elbows tucked to my sides for 3-1/2 hours is very off-putting.

 Jerry can rise above the discomfort and hassle,  but I get bogged down and very cranky.  Not a good start for a trip.

One of my favorite New Yorker covers sums it up:

                                                                                5.

This week was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and I had a thought after reading several blogs written by young Catholic mothers who deplore that decision.

I wonder if underlying all the philosophical, religious, and moral arguments for and against abortion, it's a very personal fear of loss.  I include myself in this. 

It's loss of potential motherhood (infertile couples who want children to adopt), loss of their own children (as mothers look at their babies and try to imagine a world without them), loss of control over their lives (pro-choice advocates who don't want anyone else to control their fertility).  I've read profiles of male leaders in the pro-life movement who, it turns out, where almost aborted by their single or troubled mothers; for them, it's near-loss of their existence.

I wish everyone could be reassured:  No one's going to take away adoption or a beloved child.  No one--I hope--is going to take away a woman's right to control her fertility.   I don't know what to say to the nearly-aborted, and maybe that's part of the problem.  Choice would seem to allay so many of these fears, but that's not an acceptable idea to many.

Nobody's neutral on this topic

                                                                                6.

A buck-up on these winter days when the garden's full of weeds but not blooms:

A pot of miniature daffodils on the kitchen window sill.  I've nursed them along for two weeks.  Those, plus the ritual of lighting a very lightly scented candle each night while we're cooking dinner, have been very soothing.  I'm turning woo-woo.