‘A pornography of pessimism’

The beauty of having your own blog is that I can put anything on it I want. I do not exercise that privilege often, and besides, I do not see how anyone can get their panties in a wad over this one. Colleen and I are friends for a reason and I get reminded of that when I read her articles in the Greene County News online and this is a prime example. Thanks, once again Colleen, for writing exactly what I was thinking.

Barb B.

’A pornography of pessimism’

March 2, 2016 Greene County News Online

~a column by Colleen O’Brien

David Brooks, talking head, columnist and political know-a-lot, calls this election year a “pornography of pessimism.” Gotta love the English language and one of its superb wordsmiths, however you might disagree or agree with his politics.

With a cast of thousands running for president and other offices, all of them yelling about the dire state of affairs in this country, Brooks is right on.

Enough already. Or tone it down, or something. A tad of pessimism will creep into our lives now and then, but expecting a surfeit of it is indeed pornographic. The idea that evil predominates in this world and that we should expect the worst is a way of life to some, a probability to others.

But, honestly, I can’t go there for very long because it makes me lie down on the floor and stare at the ceiling. If I had to be expecting the worst from people, books, nature, television, movies, conversation, songs, food . . . really, it’s just a depressing, dumb way to proceed.

There is bad stuff out there, including bad weather; there is bad behavior, there are greedy folks, angry people (boy, are there), but I think they get trained in pessimism and become stuck there, mouths shouting, eyes blazing, fists pumping. Nobody’s reminding them about the optimist side of the coin. They could be living on a garbage float in the middle of the Pacific; let ’em think about that if they’re so crazy about pessimism.

It’s normal to be disgruntled about politicians, although those who make a living asking about things like this tell us that we really like our own politicians but dislike all the others. That makes about as much sense as believing in Santa but dissing the Easter bunny — a definite lack of common sense to begin with and real inconsistency to end with. You may hate all Martians and Haitians and Parisians, but how can you be crabby about getting to eat a Hershey bar? Find something to be optimistic about! It seems to be a normality to get impatient in traffic, but what about if you were in a wagon advancing a whopping 10 miles a day? You may get crabby about having to wait so long at the eye doctor, but you might get happy if you think about all those centuries people just grew old and couldn’t see their own hands.

Buck up, folks. Get some happy in there. Quit being crabby about stuff that the media exaggerates. Turn it off. Or at least mute the political ads or watch reruns of Benny Hill or Friends or Milton Berle. Get creative, think of ways to jettison pessimism and move in on something fun to do.

Or think of solutions. I like the idea of no longer requiring attendance in Congress and all of us twittering our opinions, wants and needs to a major computer that will tell the Prez, whoever she or he will be, that we do want a Supreme Court judge nominated, or not; that we are adamant about fixing the 66,000 about-to-fall-down bridges in this country, or not; that we are in need of political reform, or not.

Just think, we could be a pure democracy, not just a representative democracy.

Maybe you’d rather be a pessimist; in your world, it might be cooler to expect the worst possible outcome to all things.

However, I’ll be going down this other path, the Polly- one, not the pissy one.

Friday was a day of rest

Marlene and Bernard are here for the month of March so we ventured over to Harlingen for a visit. We got caught up on family news then played some cribbage before having a scrumptious lunch at Los Asados. We returned home late afternoon  and on Friday that can be a deal. But we made it. I was still exhausted from Thursday so I didn't do a thing till bedtime....again!

So now that I am caught up on both blogs, I can stop feeling guilty. I wish there was some way to stretch out the multiple events in this month but I have a feeling I can keep on wishing!

Nearly forgot to tell you about Butch and his phone plus camera. He had his phone in his pocket and kept hearing clicking sounds. He finally investigated and discovered he had been taking pictures of the inside of his pocket. We had issues with this before so I removed his camera from his home page. That took care of part of the problem. Then we started deleting his pocket pics. I would click delete while he dealt the cards and then he would hit delete while I dealt. I am guessing we deleted in excess of 300 pictures. Marlene and Bernard are our witnesses!
So then he says, "But how do I take a picture?" I said, "You don't."

Thursday held 5 events

And I made 4 of them. I had a dental appointment for a cleaning in Harlingen at 8:20 am. No, I do not go to Mexico for that because I have two dental implants that I have had for 18 years and I am not taking any chances with them. So once that was done it was back here to catch the Costco Thursday bus for a quick trip over to McAllen. Then we came home and rested for about an hour before going to a birding center. The whole story of the birding center excursion is on the magnolia blog found here: www.magnolianews.blogspot.com. Then we hurried home for the hamburger supper at the pool hall.
I took a corn salad that I have made before and it was easy to prepare ahead of time.

Recipe: CORN SALAD 12/26/2006 Category: Side dish 
3 cans Mexicorn (whole kernel corn with red & green bell peppers), drained
8 oz dairy sour cream
8 oz small curd cottage cheese
3 tbsp prepared mustard
Dash hot pepper sauce(optional)
3 green onions, sliced
large bag Fritos corn chips (regular curly size, NOT Scoops ; probably 6 or 7 oz bag)

Pour the corn into a large serving bowl. In a medium bowl, combine dairy sour cream, cottage cheese, mustard and hot pepper sauce. Pour over corn in large bowl and add green onion slices. Stir to blend well. Just before serving, crush Fritos and add to salad, stirring to combine. Makes a lot! ________________

I returned to the date listed above on the Magnolia blog to retrieve this recipe.
I will put it on the recipe page of both blogs.

So once I was sufficiently fed with delicious food I came home and collapsed! I did not make it to the dance but I heard it was another great one by the South Texas Whiskey Band.

Busiest week in the season

We are into the busiest week of the season and as age creeps up on us I find it less easy to deal with. Tomorrow we have an appointment for me to get my dental implants cleaned at 8:20 AM in Harlingen. Then I need to be back here for Costco Thursday at 10:30 AM followed by a wildlife outing at a nature reserve at 1:30 pm till 4:00 pm and then a hamburger feed at the pool hall after 4:00. Taking corn salad. And this is followed by a dance in Allen Hall that I may or may not be awake enough to attend.

And that takes care of Thursday!  Sister Marlene called today and she and Bernard are in Harlingen. So much want to get over to see them! I set it up for Saturday and then found out Butch is in a pool tournament that day. It could work out if he loses quickly enough. But watch that not happen!!

Saturday is also the park garage sale. That isn't a factor in my plans.

Sunday is show and tell (3:00pm) and the talent show (?)  and at the very least I am expected to take pictures. It is always a fun time.  Now if I can remember what time it starts it might happen for me. Oh, and by the way, it is my birthday.
This week needs to be two weeks long!!

And the beat goes on...

So hard to believe that next month at this time we will be preparing to leave the Rio Grande Valley. The plan is to go to Canyon Lake and the Terry and Lisa Linder residence so Butch can electrify their two-site mini RV Park in their yard.
Our plan is to spend a few days there then head north to Big Cabin OK. to get some servicing done on the motorhome and from there we are not set in cement but most likely headed for Peculiar MO to spend some time with the Missouri kids.
This winter has been wonderful weather-wise. We can only hope to repeat a few of these in the years to come.
One of the projects we have plans to tackle when we are back in Iowa is to remove the carpeting from the motorhome and replace it with tile. The carpet is 12 years old and has become impossible to keep clean. I am not sure it ever was possible to keep it clean. I have had it professionally cleaned every summer for several years but it seems that two weeks on the road and you cannot tell it has ever been cleaned. The floor tiles we installed in our 3 season room were so easy we have decided that is what we will duplicate as much as possible in the motorhome. I know I will love it!