The Day After

The elections have come and gone. As I expected, things did not work out ideally. Massachusetts has it's first Democrat Governor since Dukakis (or is that Do-Tax-Us) back in the early 90s, so of course taxes will be on their way back up. Plus Deval Patrick is in favor of giving driver's licenses to illegal residents (I won't use the term "immigrants" here because it would be insulting to legitimate immigrants who played by the rules and worked hard to come here). These same illegal residents would be given reduced tuition to state colleges - yes, this would be the very same reduced tuition that should only be going to legitimate (and legal) residents of this state. This guy will make the Clintons look like Republicans!

On the upside, Massachusetts has elected it's first African-American Governor - most historic indeed, and all well and good in-and-of itself; I just wish it had been someone else (couldn't we have found someone a bit more conservative - sheesh!)

And good 'ol Teddy (cough) is still our Senator - why should I be surprised? He is a Kennedy after all...

At least I can take solace in the fact that we didn't have a hand in re-electing Hillary to the Senate.

But somehow life will go on.

I suspect I'll be in a proper frame of mind tomorrow to start doing normal blogging again. Until then, I will continue banging my head on the nearest wall.

Happy Election Day

Well, at least as happy as it gets. I did my civic duty this morning and voted, however unthrilled I was over the selection of candidates. Ok - I was very much in favor of one of our gubenatorial candidates - I won't name names here of course, but our choice is between:

1. Someone who is in favor of giving driver licenses and reduced college tuitions - which are best reserved for legal residents of this state - to illegal immigrants. (Sorry Jack - I shouldn't have to pay for someone else's gravy train, thank you.)
2. An independent candidate who's only running out of spite against one of the other candidates.
3. A Green party candidate who isn't even a faint blip on the political radar (The "what" party? Let me know when we have a candidate from the Plaid party).
4. Our current Lieutenant Governor.
   

None are the perfect choice of course, but IMHO one clearly rises to the top.

I am not terribly optimistic that the person I voted for will be elected - our lovely commonwealth is far too liberal to see straight, but so be it.

Beyond the race for Governor, the pickings were mightly slim for all other offices with elections. For example, our useless, no-op, loudmouth senator will still be in office, all because of his being a member of a certain family (and our state's penchant for voting out of 'tradition' without any real consideration of the person being voted for).

Ah well, at least I voiced myself in the form of my vote. If you didn't vote in whatever elections are being held in your particular locale, then SHAME ON YOU. We (at least for the time being) still live in a free society, and voting is a right (for citizens only, thank you) and a privilege. If you are going to reap any of the benefits of our society, then you should at least do your duty and vote.

That's it for now. Happy voting!

Rest Area Ahead

Need for Speed 1, originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

20 days is way too long to go in between blogs. I hate being this busy - I'm really not the type of person who does well going non-stop for long periods of time. I don't think anyone is, actually - it's not healthy at all to maintain that kind of pace.

Oh sure - maybe some people can go longer without stopping or even slowing down. But just like cars, you have to watch your speed - you can only go so long before you either run out of gas or crash.

It has been a busy and - fortunately - productive 20 days, but I do hope that I can slow down a bit now.

I'm gonna cut this short for the time being - it's 7:45am on a Sunday, and it's time to get the kids up so we can all get ready for church. Now there's a great rest stop to pull over at for a while!

It's a Girl!

Brianna Afghan, Originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

I have a new grand-niece! Her name is Brianna, and she was born on September 12, 2006.

Over the weekend, this very proud grand-uncle finished crocheting a baby afghan for her, along with a matching scarf (for when she's a little older).

Pic of the Day: The Duke

I haven't had much time lately to put together an actual blog entry. But I did receive this pic in email today from a co-worker, and thought I would share it with you. I know John Wayne really didn't say this, but if he were still alive he probably would, and I'd agree with him whole-heartedly!

Until next blog, Pilgrim...

Pondering

Today would be a good day to just sit on a park bench someplace and just ponder. The past 16 hours have been somewhat surreal for me. At around 9:00 last night, I had gotten word that a friend of mine has cancer. Not just has cancer, as in "it's a small tumor that we caught early", but cancer as in "it started in one place and has already spread to a number of other organs".

I've known Tony for a little over five years now. He sang bass in Z Street (the quartet that I sang baritone in for three years) during its tenure, and we were both in the Sounds of Concord (he started a couple of years before I did, and he is still with them). He, along with Paul (who sang lead with Z Street) and myself would hang out a lot - we three of us still get together for breakfast on the occasional Saturday morning.

I keep thinking back to when my mother-in-law died of cancer back 2003 (shortly coming on the third anniversary of that) - though "anniversary" is a strange word to use for that.

Speaking of which, today also happens to mine and Patti's fifteenth wedding anniversary. Money's been really tight lately, and I've not even been able to get a card...

Things are just too disjointed and weird for me right now. A lot of mixed emotions that I'm having a hard time making sense of. I'm somewhere between numb and nauseous. Based on past experience with this kind of thing, the inevitable full emotional breakdown will happen at some undetermined point in the future.

Right now all I can do is ponder... and pray (and especially, pray).

Photo Friday: Bright

Here is this week's entry for Photo Friday. The theme for the week is "Bright".

I took this during a walk a couple of weeks ago, and decided I would attempt a macro (really close-up) shot of this one bright pinkish, purplish flower I saw alongside the road. I'm not sure how I managed it, but as you can tell, the center of the photo picked shows a very bright reflection from the flash. So I guess this count twice for bright, yes?

Just for Fun: How Liberal or Conservative Are You?

Just for fun, I thought I'd do a mini-post containing the results of one of those blog 'quiz' things from blogthings.com, with my results. It pretty well lines up with where I stand on things.

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 85% Conservative, 15% Liberal

Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Ethics: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Reflections on Rest

Reflections on Rest
Originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

Where, oh where, has the summer gone? Didn't the weather finally get warm, and now it's cooling off again? Didn't I have a big to-do list and didn't get around to half of it?

I know I've been busy - I have the tiredness to prove it! But yet, somehow, it doesn't feel like anything been done. And I'm now back to five-day work weeks. So much for getting stuff done around the house.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a nap.

Are You A Happy Hooker?

No - it's not what you think (shame on you!)

This is crochet we're talking about, an age-old craft that uses little more than some yarn, a hook, and a few free evenings.

I first learned to crochet from my mom when I was... oh, boy... that long ago? 9 or 10 I think. Anyhow, mom used to crochet all the time. I would watch in utter fascination as she would do her handiwork (afghans mostly), and asked if she could teach me. She handed me a book on it, which I proceded to read through it (this was when I discoved that I liked being self-taught and that I really enjoyed how-to books), and with some guidance from mom, it wasn't long before I had the chain stich and single crochet down pretty good. Next came double, half-double, and treble crochet.

I stopped doing crochet after a while (don't remember why - maybe part of that whole teen angst business, who knows?), but picked it up again after getting married and while Patti was pregnant with MJ, our oldest. Managed to keep at it long enough to make a baby blanket for MJ, another one for Bethanie when the time came, and completed most of a lapghan (a smaller version of an afghan) for Patti before I got distracted by a bazillion other things. Never did get around to finishing that lapghan, nor did I make a baby blanket for Thomas (I somehow doubt he'd want that baby blanket now that he's almost 10).

I have only this past spring started up crocheting again, and am still at it. I've made afghans (plus coordinating pillows) for all three kids (a picture of Bethanie's is up at the top of this blog entry), plus 2 afghan/pillow sets for Patti (the most recent set, the one I finished over the summer) is shown, right.

Additionally, I just completed an afghan for mom for her and Bernie's (my stepdad) place down in Florida where they spend their winters. We'll be heading out to New York this afternoon for Labor Day weekend, and I'll be giving her the afghan then - kinda a "thank you" of sorts.

And since we're heading out shortly, I'll just wrap this up for now.

Happy hooking!