Kids, I am in vacation mode. Tomorrow, it’s sister road trip time.
My sweet husband is sending us for some grand silliness at Walt Disney World for my seventieth birthday (January) and Christmas gift, . We’ll mosey south to visit a dear friend in North Carolina, then cruise on to Savannah, arriving at WDW in a few days. I’m ready!
Here’s a photo of us from the trip my mom treated us to five years ago. We’re just a little older but absolutely no more mature. I’m lucky to have a sister who’s an interesting, smart woman who (still) loves me.
My gas tank’s full, the suitcase is packed, and there are snacks in the car. Look out, Orlando!
Disclaimer: I have stayed away from politics, but, after hearing about former Representative George Santos’s lawsuit against late night host Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, and parent Disney for “deceiving” him . . .
Welcome to the inaugural (and possibly final) issue of PAULITICO, the e-pub that dares to dive into the rabbit-hole of all things U.S. government-adjacent.
(OVER THE) TOP NEWS
By Ima Nutt, Staff Reporter
After George Santos’s brave salvo, the lawsuit against Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, and Disney, accusing Kimmel and company with some shady shenanigans regarding Santos’s professional acting work with Cameo, we’ve unearthed several other issues that might lead to more suits filed by Mr. Santos, among them are:
Santos v Belichick – Personal Injury stemming from improperly deflated imaginary volleyball when Bill Belichick (as we all remember) was head coach at Baruch College.
Santos v Rue Paul – Discrimination from that time when he wasn’t allowed to appear on Drag Race just because he has no talent.
Santos v Luxury Retailers – Fraudulent Misrepresentation because his Prada was really Pravda, Hermes was Herpes, and Gucci was Cuchi (and Charo’s now suing him!)
Santos v Congress – Unequal Treatment Under the Law because “They kicked me out for lying to them but who hasn’t lied to congress?”
We’re not sure when or if any of these potential lawsuits will be filed, but we’ll keep you updated as the year progresses. Heaven knows there’s nothing else happening on the political stage worth “reporting.”
This image of the reclusive Santos was shot with an extreme telephoto lens at great risk to the photographer. PAULITICO takes pride in our ability to professionally invade everyone’s privacy.
I mean no disrespect to the chocolatiers. florists, jewelers, stationers, and restauranteurs for whom today is a Very Big Day, but, for me, it’s just a day like all the rest of ‘em. Why am I so happy that Valentine’s Day isn’t a big deal in my house? That’s simple:
I feel loved and respected and appreciated all the time.
I know many lovely couples who have fabulous relationships, and they still do big showy Valentine’s gestures. They enjoy that stuff, so – as they should – they do it. I also know many couples whose relationships are not so great, but who try to rectify a year’s worth of hurt feelings, boredom, disappointment, or just plain meanness by checking off the list: flowers/candy/ jewelry/dinner and believing that makes it all better. (It makes it better for the florist chocolatier, jeweler, and restauranteur, of course, but that’s about it.)
Let’s not wait for the FTD and Ghirardelli folks to tell us to be nice, okay? Show your love every day. Relationships aren’t always hearts and flowers, but it sure takes more than one day to make them good. If you enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day, by all means, go for it! I’m not saying it’s bad to do the roses and champagne thing; I’m just saying these gestures need to come from your heart, not Hallmark.
Happy Valentine’s Day! I wish you all a peaceful and loving heart – and chocolates, if that’s what makes you happy.
After a few unseasonably warm days, some of my more optimistic – and impatient – plants poke their heads out only to have February’s true self come stomping back in to remind them (and me) that Punxsutawney Phil is not the boss. These botanical miscalculations, I have learned, are nothing to worry about. My plants simply take a gamble that they might get a jump on the growing season. If it doesn’t pay off, it’s no big deal; they regroup and try again.
A few of the scores of narcissus shoots looking a bit chilly. More will come later. No worries.
I can see many times where I have made false starts – my relationships, my career, my diet . . . lots. Yes, it moves me back from my goals, but not so far as to be insurmountable. Now that I look back from this comfortable and happy place in my life, I see that those penalty flags were just lessons to get me where I always wanted to be – here.
I will admit to having the whistle blown on me more times than some other folks might need to achieve their own happy life. I take solace from all the fase start yardage I’ve lost in the process by accepting that I’m more like another of my season-ignoring flowers – the late bloomer. Yep, just when any hope of blossoming was almost exhausted, SURPRISE! We made it and life is beautiful.
This is a “Thanksgiving cactus” but this evening, it’s simply beautiful blooming on it’s own timetable.
Yes, I know that Taylor Swift has brought tons of new viewers to the NFL. I am one of those oddballs, though, for the NFL has brought me to Taylor Swift.
Since her cute little 2008 ditty, You Belong with Me, I don’t think I’ve listened to an entire Taylor Swift song. That’s not because I don’t like her; we’re just (2 generations of) different demographics. Seeing her with the Kelce family, cheering for the Chiefs – not just her beau, but being into the whole game – made me remember sitting in the high school bleachers, not cheer captain, but loving every play of every game.
Good job, Taylor Swift, for showing real everyday-fan emotion, for not worrying how you look when screaming your head off, jumping up and down with genuine excitement, and just being a regular woman who enjoys regular things (albeit in a skybox). Good job, Kelce family for raising two great football players and apparently two nice people.
I know I am (self-imposed) not to get political on this little blog, but this time, I am making an exception:
Esmerelda is a Mahomes fan, but she thinks Kelce’s pretty good, too.
I am irreligious. I am not without morals. I am not without empathy. I am not anti-religion. I am without religion. That said, I have come to realize that I participate in a few activities that seem to me to offer some of the benefits that faithful acquaintances tell me they get from church.
My friends are my pastors, each one bringing something necessary and wonderful to our little congregation. I am better because they are in my life. While there is no gospel, no sermon, no liturgy, there is a certain rhythm to our interactions that allows us to be ourselves without pretense. Being able to allow them to see me, I am better able to see myself as I am.
Cheryl and Dan and Karen and Donna. I try to see these fine friends every week.
At home, I spend time every day observing the birds and squirrels I feed dutifully and delightedly; my little landscape that is now asleep under frozen ground, promising to burst with energy and beauty in a few short (not short enough) weeks; my houseplants whose vigor amazes me; and my family whose love is surely a miracle.
One of the regulars at the daily seed buffet on the deck.
I am irreligious. I am also awestruck by the great gifts in my life. I am thankful for every one of them. I am irreligious. I am not ungrateful.
We are self-centered animals. It’s not natural for us to consider what happens in the lives of most others who come into and go out of our lives. It’s not a criticism. It’s just an observation. With the advent of social media, we can more easily – and at times, more frustratingly – see how those bit part actors in our epic saga are conducting their own stories, but there’s still a lot that goes unnoticed.
We can’t worry about every detail of every life we brush up against, but I would suggest that there are some lives more affected by the interaction than we might know. Sometimes it’s unpleasant and causes us pain or anxiety, but sometimes, it makes magic. That’s what happened when someone who was a friend of a coworker spent a few days planting some things in the sad little yard at my first little house.
I knew nothing about gardening but there was a little bare patch of dirt in the middle of that yard. When I mentioned that I was going to get some petunias for the space, my office mate said, “Oh, don’t do that! My partner is an expert plantswoman. She’ll help you.”
And so, she did.
Her knowledge of plants, her love of growing things, and her generous gift of time and muscle opened a door into a new passion for me. In the thirty-ish years since she helped me plant a chamaecyparis gracilis at my front door, a handful of perennials, and a magnolia stellata between the front windows of that tiny rancher, I have grown in my appreciation for the craft of gardening and I have also planted (and moved and replanted . . . ) a small forest of trees and hundreds of perennials at my forever house. My gardens are a source of peace, optimism, exercise, and beauty. All it took was a casual office conversation to set me on this glorious path.
This is for all of you who have taken a minute or a day or a week to help someone. It doesn’t matter how much energy you spent doing it; you don’t always know what you have unlocked for another person. There are many pretty seeds, dormant, just waiting for some light.
I’m grateful to all of you who shine so brightly.
Speaking of glorious paths, I had this one done so my trees could “eat” the old one close to the porch.
I love watching artists in their studios. I was appreciating the work of potter Dan Pearce https://www.instagram.com/danpearceknowsnothing/ when the vessel he was working on – well, I’m not a potter, so I don’t’ know the right word – exploded. The large and multi-stepped piece simply screwed him but he posted the video anyway.
This guy put his failure right out there, just like his successes! He explained that he did it to show that it’s okay for artists to fail, to keep trying, to keep learning. He posted it to debunk the myth of perfection that social media so often presents.
While I appreciate that sentiment, I’d like to offer another good reason for this posting of the errors, missteps, and frustrations artists experience with some regularity and that reason is to let the non-arty folks, especially the ones who wonder – often aloud and directly to the artist’s face – why a work costs “so much.”
I’d like to encourage everyone who posts their art on social media to show their work, including the occasional WTF moment, so everyone who’s interested can see that there are many steps along a guardrail-less path between “I have an idea” and “I did it!”
So, after an hour of fretting, false starts, and fumbling, here’s my finished bit of prose for this week. Ta-DAAAH!
Yes, that is my very unmanicured thumbnail under that needle.
Thanks to a little article I read earlier this month, I have changed my attitude toward the whole idea of New Year’s Resolutions. The author called out resolvers for our tendency toward self-inflicted punishment – you know, all those habit-breaking, weight-losing, exercise-regimen-loaded, finger-wagging screeds we always pen to ourselves and then feel bad about for weeks as we inevitably fail. They suggested that resolutions be more positive and encouraging, so here I go.
In 2024, I resolve to:
Protect my schedule for things that are fun.
Revel in my friendships.
Enjoy being in my old, but still working, body.
Share more of the good things that come to me.
Nurture my optimism.
Oh, I also resolve to keep writing on Wednesdays for as long as I want to do it. Thank you for wanting to read it.
Scorched Eyebrow Studio 