Monday, September 18, 2006

The Greens of Wrath

Once again, my adopted hometown of Salinas gets press--and once again, it's not good. This time it's not gang violence or the threatened public library closing. Now it's killer spinach. The #7 crop in the Valley, pulled from shelves across the country and implicated in at least one death and the illness of over 150 people. My favorite green, and I'm quite nervous about buying it again when it does reappear. Maybe it has something to do with that "healthy" Asian salad I bought at a Jack in the Box on my way to one of the camps this summer--the one that was supposed to be much better for me than those evil fried-in-transfat things, but which resulted in my seeing more of the inside of the festival Porta-potties than anything else that memorable weekend. Guess I need to, ahem, grow my own.

Steinbeck or Woody would probably write something.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Packin' up again...



...and it's off to another festival with Michelle! This time we're headed to Bluegrassin' in the Foothills, where we'll see a lot of great acts like Cherryholmes and Dan Paisley and Southern Grass. This promises to be a really fun weekend, if I can get my tent up and the canopy doesn't blow over like last time. It'll be really cold tonight (39F), which might put a damper on the jamming, but I'm taking along my Uggs and gloves with the fingers cut out just in case. You just can't keep a good grasser down.

Monday, September 11, 2006

This is George Simmons


An average businessman, a regular flight, an ordinary day--nothing appears unusual and his about George Simmons from his picture. He and his wife Diane were on their way to Hawaii from Great Falls, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C. What was he wearing on the plane that day? Maybe a nice pullover sweater over casual slacks with sensible loafers. Did he bring a book, or was he reading the Wall Street Journal? Did he eat breakfast before they left that morning? Did he have the window or aisle seat?

George was aboard Flight 77, which terrorists hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001--no ordinary day. George didn't ask to be remembered today. He didn't ask to be #2412 on the 2,996 Project list. The man a friend called "cheerful, positive, and engaging" by a friend and "one nice fellow who deserved a few more years" by a co-worker wanted to go about the business of retirement, perhaps reading or golfing, eating out, driving, living the rest of his life. Instead, he is part of the montage of honored victims of the horrible crimes which left three gaping holes in the American topography and millions more in the hearts of decent people here and around the world. None of the 2,996 men, women, and children who died that day would have wanted their face there. Like George, they'd have chosen blissful anonymity and life with their families and friends. Like George, they were the human beings whose ordinary but valuable lives were snuffed out by calculating, merciless enemies they never knew.

What went through George's mind as that plane fell towards the ground and then veered madly into the Pentagon? Surely he thought of his loved ones, to whom he wouldn't have a chance to say goodbye. Did he and Diane hold hands and say goodbye? Was he calm? Perhaps he thought of God and eternity. Did he pray? I doubt his thoughts were of bills, money, traffic jams, politics, dry cleaning and what he saw on TV the night before--the thousand details which make up our ordinary lives. One thing is certain: he didn't get up that morning knowing that five years later, a strange woman from California would be writing about him. His was an unexpected and unwanted notoriety.

I most likely wouldn't have noticed George Simmons in an airport crowd, and I doubt that our paths would have crossed in this life; but I'll never forget him now.

Further:George Simmons tribute at Legacy.com



Update:Looks like the host site of the 2996 Project, for which I signed on to remember George, is temporarily down, probably due to overextended bandwidth. Please keep trying. I'm sure it'll be up again soon. In the meantime, here is a quote I saved from the site which explains its mission.

"2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggers
will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11.
Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.

We will honor them by remembering their lives,
and not by remembering their murderers."


Update 2: Thanks to Michelle Malkin there is a mirror site listing the 2,996 Project memorials and the participating bloggers. Looks like the original site is completely down.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

The Eyrie stays put for now

We thought we were moving this month to another nest a little lower down the cliff, but the eagles have landed and are not scrabbling for another perch in the rock right now. Looks like I'm taking over on-site management of the current roost. This being California, we've been inured to some of the other more costly habitats. This was brought home to me yesterday when Irish and I were out walking and saw a lovely little cottage for sale, reduced to a mere $439K and thought to myself, "Wow, such a deal!"

Shoot, we just painted the bedroom after ten years. The least we can do is look at it for awhile.