Monday, November 12, 2007

Ode to War

My Grandfather went off to war
Fighting Japanese who'd bombed our shore
Hiroshima, Nagasaki paid the price-we dropped the bomb
Grandparents, mothers, and children burned and gone
The cost too high? Yes to be sure
I know what we were fighting for

The world as one had gone to war
Families murdered, burned, the horror
When it was over Hitler was dead
No price too much upon his head
Far across the distant shore
I know what they were fighting for

My Uncle Bruce went off to war
Navigating spy planes o’er the shore
The Chaplin said, "Your son is dead"
Granny sadly hung her head
My uncle went away to war
Don't know what he was fighting for

My Daddy went away to war
Scouting runways by the jungle floor
He came home but had lost his smile
I've looked for it all the while
My Daddy went away to war
Don't know what he was fighting for

Our soldiers going off to war
Mothers, fathers, sons and more
On desert sands, dirt in their eyes
For oil, my God please hear their cries
They’re brave and strong right to the core
Not sure, what are they fighting for?

My friend’s son returned from war
He knew just what he would endure
When they brought him off the plane
A cold, wooden box with his remains
A mother’s heart broken, on her knees fell to the floor
“My God what are we fighting for?”

Deborah Jean 11/11/07

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

California FIRESTORM!


October 22, 2007, 05:43:52 PM

Isn't it funny how when you want to write, every situation can be a story? Therefore, you have to pick and choose what to write. At times, we are compelled by an event, situation, emotion, or simply a desire to try to reach our audience, share with them, and put them in the moment. It all boils down to story telling, the conveyance of words.

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Right now, here in California we have this terrible firestorm in the middle of the windiest days and driest year we have had for as long as I can remember. Wind is blowing at a steady 20 to 45 mph with wind gusts of 80 mph! Branches busted to the ground and smashed on the occasional, unfortunate vehicle and debris strewn about everywhere.

We have three major fires, one to the southeast, another five miles east and, the other 20 miles northwest of us. School is cancelled for tomorrow due to the possibility of a mandatory evacuation in our area. Our little town sits in a valley swirling with smoke and dust with fire closing in on two sides. I shudder to think about the 1100 homes lost in San Diego due to the 2003 firestorm.

Firefighters are attributing some of these fires to arson. Why would anyone want to deliberately cause such destruction? Such a thought process is beyond my grasp. Can they blame negative ions and the effect it has on the psyche? I doubt it.

The last news update I heard, Malibu's governor is worried that the entire city may succumb to the flames. A few celebrities have lost their mansions, many homes are still threatened, and a castle has burned to the ground. I thought this odd because it seems castles made of brick would have more resistance to fire on the exterior walls. Castles seem impenetrable to me. The way the wind is blowing embers and ashes around, every home, castle, and doghouse is at risk. Malibu Beach is bracing for a possible evacuation.

Yesterday at noon, the sun was totally shrouded by reddish-orange, grayish, black smoke, whipping about ferociously in the wind. The sky wore a sinister veil in the middle of the day with the reddish glow of a solar eclipse but much more menacing, dark, and foreboding. It looked like Armageddon!

Still, the firestorm rages on. Ashes with a texture more like gritty sand pelt your skin when you step outside. Breathing actually hurts because the smothering smoke filled with odoriferous, particulate matter hangs heavily in our lungs. We have suddenly become a bunch of smokers with a raspy smoker’s cough. The mere act of breathing burns your throat. Singing? Forget about it. With all of the moisture sucked out of the air from the hot, dry, relentless winds, skin feels parched, stretched to the limit, and cracking. We are now the possessors of chapped lips, dry mouth, and worry. Should we prepare to evacuate?

They have closed the roads and requested a voluntary evacuation for neighborhoods within a half-mile our house! Want to hear how the city fathers have planned for this one? The shelter they are asking voluntary evacuees to stay in is a building within one block of the actual evacuation area! Oh the irony! Since the shelter is also a block away from our home, I guess we are safe. I feel so much better now.

If our home survives, I’ll be thankful that the only thing I have to complain about in my everyday life is the thick layer of ash everywhere inside and outside, including the swimming pool and the vents of our cars. I made the mistake of turning on the air conditioner this morning and a cloud of dust sputtered into my face and eyes. Ash was sandblasted in every possible nook and cranny. What a mess to clean up! But hey, I’ll be happy to have a home to clean no matter how much I loathe housework! After all, housework, especially after a firestorm, is a pain in the ash.

-Deb

Monday, August 27, 2007

Heavenly Occurrences Make for Earthly Delights


Are you a star gazer? I am, so lets move on to more interesting things in the universe. Well, in our galaxy anyway. The spirits in the sky have a way of lifting my spirits.

There is expected to be a meteor shower on September 1st, around 11:37 UT (plus or minus 20 minutes.) Earth is expected to pass smack through this one-revolution rubble trail from Comet Kiess. It remains to be seen whether this will produce anything really spectacular but I'm willing to drag the family out, just in case.


Don't forget that a total lunar eclipse will occur Tuesday, and will be visible in the Philippines, the United States, the Pacific, eastern Asia and Australia. Hope for clear skies, low light pollution and a good spot for viewing.
These things make wonderful memories for your children, even if they do balk a little. My kids and my wonderfully patient husband are used to me dragging them up to the mountains in the middle of the night to get the best view possible of a celestial event if I think it will be worth it. The last two meteor showers we attempted to view were less than stellar, so I need a good one before my star gazing reputation goes the way of a supernova.
Go get something comfy to recline on, a warm blanket and grab your significant other, your children, a few good friends or your neighbor and watch the magic happen. Enjoy!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

What Was I Thinking?


Hello Fellow Bloggers and Blog Readers! Welcome to my very first blog entry, ever. Exciting huh? Try to contain your excitement. How's the water? I'm diving right in here and hoping the waters aren't too shallow or the current too swift to navigate and, Heaven forbid, there should be any undertows. Will I sink or swim?
Like the photograph? I was going for a calming effect in hopes of enticing sleep - mine. In case you're interested, I took the photo in Ventura, California on Valentine's Day. Goes with the wet theme. Wet behind the ears.
So what am I doing signing up for a blog account at 2:00am? Your guess is as good as mine...
Insanity? Clearly a possibility.
Practice? Perhaps. For what, I'm not sure but writing is always good for something, right?
Clarity? HA! Like that's gonna happen.
Focus? See above.
Bored? Hardly.
Insight? Hmmm...sounds good to me.
The question I ask is why are you reading this? How did you happen upon this particular blog and what would keep you curious enough to keep coming back? I wonder. Seriously, I do.
Now for the big anticlimax to my first blog entry...One of the natives has awakened another in the tepee and the smoke signals are going up. Looks like I'll have to get my oars and play whack a mole until everyone is peacefully sleeping again. Then I'll quietly sneak down stream in my canoe with my dream catcher and hope that my circadian rhythm will return. Hardly the romance and whimsy of a ship of dreams but it beats being up the creek without a paddle.
So much for making a big splash.