Adieu, Adieu, Caribou Barbie

Caribou Barbie,
Bye! Bye! Bye!
Caribou Barbie,
Why? Why? Why?

Caribou Barbie off in a snit
Never been told that
Winners never quit
Hasn’t a clue that
Quitters never win

Caribou Barbie,
Gov no more.
Caribou Barbie,
Out the door.

Caribou Barbie,
Bye! Bye! Bye!
Caribou Barbie,
Why? Why? Why?

Black Friday

Greed is ugly whether manifested by greedy bankers and businessmen or greedy shoppers, whipped to a frenzy by advertising and the lure of Black Friday"bargains."

I am appalled. The fact that a horde of "Christmas" shoppers would trample store employees like pilgrims in Mecca is shocking. Well, Christ left Christmas years ago and not only that but the true spirit of giving is gone, along with fellowship and charity. Now I guess all those shoppers were "holiday" or "seasonal" shoppers. They were rampaging clods and to an extent you have to blame retailers for creating this kind of a climate. This whole season and economy reminds one of why the moneychangers were driven from the temple.

Retail was my unwilling corporate home for years. I always hated it. Loved manufacturing--"fulfillment" was somewhat short of fulfilling, but oh god, retail was detail, and the people in the back offices were often not my type.

Retailers bitch and moan about everything. Too hot. Too cold, Too this. Too that. Of course this year they have the economy to bitch and moan about. You could not pay me enough to stand in line at 4:00 a.m. to get into a retail store. Are these people crazy? The so-called bargains will be just as good in two-three weeks. Maybe better. We don't need them anyway.

This frenzy for consumer goods is really getting to me. My friend, when we were discussing the wardrobe malfunction of Caribou Barbie, said, "Well, any blouse costs $400! "
Excuse me? Last winter I found a very nice shirt at Brooks Brothers outlet and it cost nowhere near that.
Of course my friend lives on Fifth Avenue and shops on Madison Avenue, and I know she shops the sales, but nonetheless.

If I bought a $400 blouse you can just about bet that it would have a grease stain on it before you can say "spot remover!"

I am thinking of a Christmas boycott this year. Books, yes, magazine subscriptions, yes. Maybe warm socks or pajamas. Flannel shirts, the soft warm kind. Mittens. Cat toys.

But all this consumption is disgusting. Really.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?em

Bah humbug.

Grapeshot

Stumping for Obama in New Hampshire

This is the first election ever when I have given money to a candidate. This is the first election ever that I have actually got involved.

Today, for the second time, I drove up to New Hampshire, this time with three other women I had never met. We had a ball!

The enthusiasm for Barak Obama is so contagious, so real, so heartfelt, that I feel like I am a part of something pure and good and forward moving. How often does that happen?

At campaign headquarters in Nashua, as in Salem, the people were organized, pleasant, and snacks and water were handed out, we were given good directions--it was like clockwork, but clockwork with a heart.

In the neighborhoods, the first man we spoke with said his family was for Obama all the way and they were voting a democratic ticket. Which mean Jeanne Shaneen would also get a vote. Seniors told us they had already voted for Obama. A man who said he was a Republican was voting for Obama. O.K., it wasn't all beer and skittles.

Someone announced he was for Sarah Palin, who is obvious getting the "babe" vote. Someone else told us he didn't like Biden. We said, as to the Palin person, Palin/Biden is not running for president. Some people watch too much Fox TV. Whatchagonnado?

Overall, it was a positive experience, and some people had already voted. Some were prepared for long lines. The weather was cool but pleasant and the sun shone most of the day. I walked a lot and talked a lot, and for all the people not home, we left literature.

It feels good to be doing something positive, making a contribution to change. We heard Obama was ahead 10-12 percent in New Hampshire, and if that's true, I feel just a wee bit responsible.

To be truthful, I am a basket case about the election, and just want it to be over and for my candidate to be the victor. Then we can move on and forward. Everyone is totally paranoid, thinking the Republicans will steal another election. Like the did in 2000.

I'm hoping all the young people vote. They were at HQ today in droves. Clean cut, too, not a bunch of bearded socialists and anarchists and whateverists. This is so great.

Tired and windburned, but happy,

Grapeshot

Wardrobe Malfunction

The limericks just keep spinning in my head. Readers are invited to submit their own. Nothing porno or inflammatory please. Grapeshot runs a clean blog.

Caribou Barbie at Neiman’s and Saks
Shopping fiendishly off the racks.
The RNC put up the dough.
Caribou Barbie, way to go!

Caribou Barbie’s suits are pricey
Undivine Sarah’s politics are dicey.
Caribou Barbie, working class mom,
The 150,000 dollar wardrobe is going to bomb

Caribou Barbie, why not Kohl’s or Sears?
Caribou Barbie, better change gears.
Caribou Barbie, hockey mom and huntress
VP Candidate, how you do affront us!

Thisbe Remembers That She is A Cat and Other Tales

Thisbe loves to see the sparrows on the feeder take off when she steps onto the front porch. The doves fly away with outrage and noisy wings, and the chipmunks and squirrels dive for cover. Such power. Such respect.

If some small creature comes back, Thisbe is ready to pounce, so long as the neighborhood is free of people, other animals and cars, along with any unrecognizable noise. Discretion is always the better part of valor in Thisbe's feline life.

She endured an entire week without catnip while I was gone, and yorked up a hairball in retribution. I like to think. In the meantime, we've had lots of Mommy/Kitty time.


Yesterday, on the march thru Salem neighborhoods for Obama, I saw some weird sights. Curtains so shabby they hung in shreds. People sitting at the kitchen table and refusing to answer the doorbell. A woman who would never vote for a Democrat again because of "how they treated Hilary." A haunted house, (almost).

For sure a lot of houses had no doorbells, and it was obvious to the casual observer that no one ever used the front door. Lots of cars in the driveway but no one home.

Is it true that if someone gives two excuses, that person is lying? Such as "I'm eating lunch and I have company." Dunno. Human nature is infinitely various.

Grapeshot

Doggerel for an October Day

I went to New Hampshire to work for Obama and the Democrats today, a beautiful fall day when most people were out or did not answer the door (so few doorbells, so many inaccessible front doors) or whatever. To the brave souls who dared confront a slightly pudgey not-very-young campaigner with a big smile and an Obama button, you rock!

Last night, I composed a bit of doggerel inspired by the debate and the web and all the hoop-la.
It's not great poetry and I could do better if I spent more than 20 minutes but hey, doesn't spontaneity count?

Caribou Barbie, Vice-President Wannabe

Caribou Barbie flying in low
She hails from the state of ice and snow.

Caribou Barbie making beaucoup waves.
Mooseburger and Caribou are menu faves.

Caribou Barbie on climate change:
Polar Bears must find a new home on the range.

Caribou Barbie so colloquial and homey
On a clear day from Wassilla you can see a few commie.

Caribou Barbie standing on a ridge
Scouting out a site for the infamous bridge.

Caribou Barbie hockey mom and mayor.
For Rape Kits in Wasilla, the victim is the payer.

Caribou Barbie cooks with polar bear helper
While she shoots at wolves from a helicopter.

Caribou Barbie reads no papers or books
She scorns all those elitist hooks.

Caribou Barbie, McCain’s weird pick
Caribou Barbie, our Northwoods hick.


Here is a link to a couple of interesting photos that claim not to be photo-shopped.
http://loc.rousefamily.com/leftofcentrist/?p=1198

Make up your own mind.


Grapeshot

Barbie Doll

So, Caribou Barbie didn't flub anything big last night, spouting the party line and sounding, yanno, like a "real" person, using the vernacular to the max and smiling all the while like a Stepford wife. No, that's Mrs. McCain. Got to keep the roles, straight, ladies.

When she didn't have an answer or want to answer, she talked about something else, usually the Democrats raising taxes. Hammering it home. Hammering it home.

Yada. Yada. Well, that's what a Barbie doll does, is repeat things, right? Remember when Barbie said, "math is hard," and there was a big flap?

Of course the greedy bad men on Wall Street are all Republicans, so I don't know how that goes over. Maybe it plays in Peoria. Granted the financial crisis is hard to understand, but the New York Times had a good understandable article on it this morning. Too bad Mrs. Palin doesn't read newspapers.

I guess she just sits around and waits for someone to tell her what's happening. What it the "someone" lied? Jeez, this is kind of scary.

I'm having my writing group for dinner Monday. This is the menu. Someone is bringing an appetizer, but I don't know what.

Chicken Marbella
Green Beans with Walnuts
Rice

Joan’s Salad

Stuffed Baked Apples
Joan’s Cookies

Come on over if it sounds good. I cut most of the bad fats so nobody will freak out.

Tonight we're having tuna and noodles. I don't use cream of mushroom soup but make a white sauce from scratch and season with onion, green and red peppers and hot pepper flakes. Seasoning is all. We put crushed potato chips on top and bake for a spell. Sounds like a down home recipe hockey moms would go for. I was a hockey mom once, but we didn't call them that, just a mom. We raised kids and didn't "parent." Different world.

Tuesday, I begin a class on Food Writing at Brown University in Providence. And so it goes.

Grapeshot

Maureen Dowd is right on!

Maureen Dowd's column in the New York Times today has humor, irony and sticks it to Sarah Palin on any number of issues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/opinion/10dowd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Wish I would have said that. Now if only she had mentioned polar bear helper. . . .

Grapeshot

Look Ma! No Interviews

I am aghast that Ms. Palin has yet to be interviewed. Am I crazy, or does everyone else think it's incredibly weird that a vice-presidential candidate cannot participate in an interview. Tonight S.O. mentioned that lots of guys are planning to vote for her, and my reply was unprintable in a family blog like this, but a little hint is what would the guys be voting with, and another hint is that it wasn't their brains.

Seems incredible to believe men are as stupid as women. The Hilary loyalists were hard to understand, There is an old saying, "cutting off your nose to spite your face," and it seems to happen every day.

I know my sex to be emotional, that being one of the bats I used to be beat over the head with on one job. Practically daily. "You're too emotional."

But guys? Voting for Caribou Barbie? Fantasies of the hunt? Goin' fishing? Fantasies of her coming on to them? I mean really. More people should have a life.

Today in Boston, you would have thought the Pope died, with all the caterwauling about Tom Brady. Now I love Brady and Belechik, something about their intensity is really appealing, but the man is injured, not dead, and football is a game of injuries, and the Pats have had their days in the sun and no one seems to want to take their lumps, as it were.

Grapeshot, your humble blogger, has been heard to say, "bah, humbug!" any number of times.

And today, again, the rains came.

Tonight, dinner was a pick up affair, with my own take on eggplant parmesan. We have three ripe tomatoes, garlic, onion, and a bit of green pepper. We had fresh fettucini, and one medium eggplant. Some parmesan and a modicum of mozzarella. And always basil, parsley,oregano and sage. Herbs make the meal.

It was incredibly tasty. I cooked everything in one skillet (except the pasta) and put it under the broiler for a minute or two for the cheese to melt. Vegetarian is good, but this was not low fat or low calorie. We can fight over the little bit left for lunch.

No polar bear helper or caribou helper or evern salmon helper involved. Would you shoot a caribou? Would you leave the polar bears to drown when the ice all melts? Such great creatures, and some politicians would write them off without a shrug.

I don't know. I don't know.

I wouldn't.

God, Mother, Country, Apple Pie, No, I mean Plum Tart

So this election is beginning to look like there will be scant discussion of issues and lots of God, mother and country talk. Are these issues? I don't think so.

I'm tempted to stand on the corner and scream, "you're a nation of sheep! and the wolf is coming to the fold! " But what good would it do? I may set my hair on fire.

In the meantime, there is food. No, not apple pie, but plum tart. Yes, the prune plums have arrived. They are hard to find. Also known as Italian prune plums, and where are the little Italian grandmother (nonas) of yesteryear?

Not shopping where I do. We cleaned the prune plums out of Stop & Shop. Most of them were hard as gourds, but a few days on the counter did ripening miracles, and this morning I made the crust by hand out of flour, sugar, butter, and an egg. The photo is the result.

We haven't tucked into it yet. The nuts are hazlenuts, because I was out of almonds. The top is also sprinkled liberally with sugar into which a soupcon of cinnamon and nutmeg have been sifted.

Mega yum! Now I have to work on my novel, always a pleasure. Did you watch Mad Men last night? The plot thickens. I like that. Good conflict. We like that, too. Some of the characters aren't very nice. In fact, are any of the characters nice? Some of the women are rather like Sarah Baracuda, don't you think? Isn't it weird they won't let her talk to the press? A VP candidate who isn't allowed to talk? A woman, yet? I dunno. It's like she has to be brainwashed and primed and pumped by the handlers. And people are going to vote for these two?

I forgot. People won't vote for them. Sheep will. Are you man or Merino? Baaaa?

God, Mother and Country

After much internal dialogue, I decided to listen to Sarah's speech last night, but finally turned it off because it was a god, mother and country speech and the best one, by far the best was delivered in the Riverwoods Village Hall about a million years ago by Barb Carmen, and after that impassioned rhetoric, none of them passed muster. Sorry. Sarah.

I will watch McCain's speech tonight. Wonder if he will mention the so-called issues in a way that will tell us his plans. The Republicans seem to be learning hard on God, mother and country. I don't think those are the issues. Well, maybe they are.

Sometimes, one thinks of emigrating, not seriously, but nonetheless, the thought intrudes. How can it have come to this?

Since most of us have families of some sort, or did at one time, no matter how dysfunctional, I fail to see how having a family qualifies one for much of anything. If someone could please explain, I promise to listen.

Sarah Who? Oh, the Polar Bear Helper cook

When S.O. told me the name of McCain's VP pick, I asked, "any relationship to Michael Pallin?" because it seemed like a true Monty Python moment.

I mean, how short-sighted and cynical can you be, going after those fragments of the Hilary vote with such desperation? And the far-right, too, beyond the fringe, as it were. And two Westerners, but not those calculated to appeal to California, not the new frontier but the lost frontier.

I don't know. I don't know.

Does no one think anymore? The Hilary backers rather worry me. So shrill. Bad sports. Bad losers. God, when I was in school back in the stone age, being a bad sport was really de trop.

How many languages does Sarah speak? What does she know of anything outside Alaska? I was in Alaska, the last frontier, last summer. Great place for scenery and critters. We understood where the Bridge To Nowhere that Sarah supported and then flipflopped on went to. Nowhere. Talk about pork.

She likes wildlife. To shoot. Screw the polar bear. Screw the environment. Jeez, John. What have you unleashed? A snowmobiling hockey mom? Just what the country needs. And you being such an old coot.

I don't know. I don't know.

Of course two old white men, old white rich men, wouldn't work. Are the Republicans so bankrupt they have no suitable candidate for Veep? Guess so. Mitt was gov. here and no great shakes. Flip-flopped after he left too.

Well, it will be interesting, but my great fear is that the fringes, the flat-earthers, the world-enders, those who watch reality shows and think they have some connection with reality, the drones, the gullible, the non-thinkers, the whiners, and the polar-bear helper people may win this election and it just scares the sh__ out of me. Those who believe we belong in Iraq to bring "democracy and freedom" and those who think global warming is a communist plot, those who still live not even in the last century, but in 1500, will they have their say?

I don't know. I don't know.

Isn't is scary to think so?

Grapeshot, who is trembling in her flip-flops. Did someone say Flip Flop? Aiiieeeee!