Outta here.

Not gonna lie: When I read this story, I could not help but think of our dear old Coozledad:

SILER CITY, N.C. — In Raleigh, conservative Republicans may be running North Carolina like they own it, but go almost anyplace in the state, even to this former textile town that looks like a movie-set re-creation of an older, more traditional South, and the political picture quickly blurs.

At Chatham Industrial Supply, a hardware store here, its owner, Richard Kernodle, grumbled recently about what he called the “liberal artists” who have moved to this city of 8,100 — opening galleries, throwing pottery and generally bringing the kind of lifestyle and politics one might expect 45 minutes away in the progressive college town of Chapel Hill.

Mr. Kernodle, 56, said that some of the newcomers wanted to paint murals on downtown buildings without securing the proper permits. They want gay rights taught in the schools. And he has heard a rumor that some of them tend their gardens in the nude.

The story was about how this red state is turning purple, and if anyone is a nude gardener, it’s you-know-who. Seriously, though, I guess this is what it’s come to — red states, blue states, and a lot of pissed-off people living in the purple areas. As well as nude gardeners.

This Gin & Tacos post about the recent poll showing a healthy support for individual states’ secession sort of touches on that. I don’t want my own to secede, but if it does? Expect the price of cherries to go way up, and don’t be thinking any more silly thoughts about coveting our water. We’ll be the Saudi Arabia of H2O.

Oh, and this story, about a student strike/walkout in Colorado, is incredible. There’s hope for us yet.

The week lurches on. Hope you’re enjoying yours, if you aren’t lucky enough to travel with MichaelG.

Posted at 10:25 am in Same ol' same ol' |
 

47 responses to “Outta here.”

  1. Dorothy said on September 24, 2014 at 10:46 am

    Nude gardening?! The next thing you’re going to tell me is they have horns growing out of their heads, I guess!

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  2. Heather said on September 24, 2014 at 11:06 am

    Pottery and galleries?? That is Satan’s work, my friend.

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  3. Joe Kobiela said on September 24, 2014 at 11:08 am

    Nude gardening, a whole new meaning of planting your seed.
    Pilot Joe

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  4. Judybusy said on September 24, 2014 at 11:41 am

    An early thread win from Pilot Joe.

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  5. Deborah said on September 24, 2014 at 12:00 pm

    The Colorado school board story reminds me of a recent This American Life piece about a school district in NY that was taken over by Hassidics who didn’t even send thier kids to the public schools. It’s an interesting story too.

    We’re canning tomatoes today, I finally found a place to buy them in bulk in a small town on our way back from Taos. I bought 30 lbs for $35, which I thought was a good deal, and they were picked yesterday morning.

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  6. Judybusy said on September 24, 2014 at 12:39 pm

    This isn’t related to anything in the post today, but we are all in the habit of sharing pet losses on this site. We had a pretty traumatic loss of our cat on Monday evening. Here is the story taken from my FB post: “[By my partner, Melissa]: My sweet Gabie-boy was attacked last night by a dog whose owner allowed him off leash in the front yard. My poor little guy was so severely injured that he was beyond the care of the emergency vet services and I had to say good bye to this wonderful cat that has been a part of my life for the past 18 years. I will miss him dearly.” (My add: the owner of the dog has routinely let his dog off-leash. A few years ago, this resulted in the dog being hit by a car and burned by the exhaust pipe. He has continued to do this behavior and now we have lost a dear, innocent cat because of this bonehead. I am so angry. It’s one thing to lose a cat to old age and disease, quite another due to another person’s negligence.)”

    The dog owner is at our next door neighbor’s house a lot, as she relies on him for help with her own dog. She has told him very sternly many times not to let him off-leash to no avail. She also feels horrible, but it’s not her fault. He has yet to contact us to apologize or offer help with a substantial vet bill. Of course, he’s pretty irresponsible financially, so we have little hope we’ll see any money. I am thinking of contacting animal control. I do not want the dog destroyed (I see the owner as completely culbable) but want some consequences for the owner. Any thoughts?

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  7. beb said on September 24, 2014 at 1:03 pm

    The North Carolina story is confusing because after stating that conservative Republicans run the state like they own it, it suggests things are different on the local level, only to then quote from a conservative who hates the “liberals moving into town.” Exactly how this differs from State level politics I don’t know.

    Moreover you would think the JC-types would be happy that business – any business is moving into their community. And nude gardening? Who does that? Next thing you know they’ll be complaining that dem hippies ain’t married and white gals are dating colored boys.

    Great Lakes water is controled by international treaties. Michigan will never become the Saudi Arabia of water unless Canada lets us.

    Speaking of secession. If Chuck Todd really wanted to stir things up (which, obviously, he does not) he should have foregone the Starbuck/chick-fil-a thing and put up a map of maker and take states. That would have been educational since it would show what a great swath of the United States live parasitically off liberal states like New York and California.

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  8. Sue said on September 24, 2014 at 1:30 pm

    If Michigan secedes, the UP will secede from Michigan and there will be a huge Michiganderland/Republic of Yooperstan/Wischeesestandia war for lakewater and beach access on beautiful Lake Michigan (because some lakes are greater than others). Illinois and Indiana won’t bother to secede but they will send in mercenaries to protect their interests, having gotten the idea from Bill O’Reilly. First casualty will be the Mackinac Bridge, blown up by uber-separatists headquartered in Fort Michilimackinac.

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  9. Sue said on September 24, 2014 at 2:14 pm

    Judybusy, I just read your comment, and my condolences, that’s awful.
    In making your decision to call animal control (and all that that will entail to the dog and your relationship with your neighbor and the owner), remember: the dog killed your pet. It’s now established that when off-leash it will attack. You’ve had no indication from the owner that anything will change. Where else is it allowed off-leash and who or what will it go after next?

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  10. Scout said on September 24, 2014 at 2:15 pm

    So very sorry for your loss, Judybusy.

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  11. Dexter said on September 24, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    I am much too shy to garden nude, but I did take a piss in the lonely woods this morning as I walked the dogs…do I get any compassion points ? Or just hatred? 🙂

    You folks know what puffball mushrooms are, right? Most are edible around here, but I don’t eat them anymore. Yesterday on the banks of the Tiffin River near Stryker, Ohio, I found a cluster of them, then I noticed the cluster-field was endless…puffballs everywhere, some already dried to black dust, but many ripe for eating, so I left them for true foragers. Visually I accounted for a hundred twenty puffballs. I am sure there were hundreds more further upriver. http://phranksphotos365.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/img_4565.jpg

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  12. alex said on September 24, 2014 at 2:55 pm

    Judybusy, my condolences. And I agree with Sue, that dog is a menace and should be reported.

    Haven’t seen any puffballs yet this year, Dex, but I get them in my yard. Mostly seeing those hideous honey mushrooms, the kind that portend the death of trees.

    Surprised we haven’t heard from Brian Stouder yet today. Doris Kearns Goodwin made a local appearance yesterday and I thought for sure he’d be in attendance and commenting upon it.

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  13. coozledad said on September 24, 2014 at 3:06 pm

    I’ve been naked in a garden, but I wasn’t working. About the time I was comfortable with it a crop duster hired by one of the neighboring farms flew over and I could almost tell the pilot was wearing Ray-Bans.

    The little towns around Chapel Hill always had a lot of hippies, especially during the back-to-the land movement. Some of them settled out along the Eno River toward Durham. Hal Crowther and Lee Smith bought Burnside, an antebellum Georgian house in Hillsborough. I think hippies are richer now, and Duke has undergraduate (maybe even graduate) programs in small scale and sustainable agriculture.

    All I can tell the yokels is, it’s going to get worse, and then you will die.

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  14. brian stouder said on September 24, 2014 at 3:50 pm

    Alex – even despite that my fine young son is a freshman at IPFW now – and that we had him stop into the ticket office less than 5 days (I think at day 2, but who knows) after the tix became available – we missed out!! It was the first Omnibus lecture I’ve missed in several years; I guess I cannot complain, given all the genuinely wonderful Omnibus events we’ve enjoyed up ‘til now.

    Upon further review, we played it all wrong. You can reserve tix in advance via internet, which we absolutely WILL DO – on DAY ONE of their availability! – for the upcoming lecture by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

    Aside from that, this loose talk about secession votes is yet another example of invincible ignorance on the part of so-called “conservatives”. Such a thing is precisely and definitively the antithesis of “conservatism”, no?

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  15. Deborah said on September 24, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    Judy Busy, I’m so sorry to hear that. How awful. I’m on the side of reporting the incidence.

    About halfway through with the canning process. We got 13 qts out of the 30 lbs of tomatoes but we lost one jar because it broke during the processing part. I have no idea how that happened. We have 6 more qts left to process, it takes longer because of the altitude. I’m quite pleased that we got 12 qts out of it I was expecting only 8. The tomatoes were great, hardly any bad spots and no bad tomatoes in the bunch at all. Usually when I buy a box like that I can expect to have to throw out at the least 10%.

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  16. Julie Robinson said on September 24, 2014 at 4:04 pm

    Judybusy, what a horrible ordeal to go through, and I’m so sorry about losing your sweet Gabe. If you don’t want to go through animal control, maybe a civil suit in small claims court? Alex, you know a little law, what do you think?

    Dexter, no hatred, just envy. The last time I did that I got scratched.

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  17. Deborah said on September 24, 2014 at 4:09 pm

    Brian, I love Neil DeGrasse Tyson, you absolutely must not miss that one!

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  18. Joe Kobiela said on September 24, 2014 at 4:11 pm

    Dex,
    Off topic but wonder if you tried the restraunt/ brew pub in Bryan yet, or heard anything good or bad. It was reviewed in the paper Sunday and sounded good. Also come on over to Auburn, street fair going on, wife and I are working the Methodist church booth in the industrial tent tonight 6-8 pm. Molly Hatchet on stage Thursday for free. I’ll buy ya a donught.
    Pilot Joe

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  19. Deborah said on September 24, 2014 at 4:15 pm

    And Dexter I pee in the wild all the time when I’m out on our land in Abiquuu and it’s much harder for women. But they have products now to make it easier, I haven’t tried any of them yet http://go-girl.com/index2.asp?utm_expid=14210237-1.D_VmMjcwSm-nvgexLKaQog.2&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.urinecolors.com%2Fwomen-pee-standing.php

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  20. MichaelG said on September 24, 2014 at 4:19 pm

    Thank you, Mary. That was a really nice thing to say.

    Kind of a slow day. I woke up late feeling a tad fragile after talking late with a lovely Irish couple. Had a late breakfast and took another bus tour. Among other things, this one took me past the Congress where they are (I think) debating easing abortion laws. Tons of security with those guys in the deep blue almost black uniforms with the pegged pants and combat boots and automatic weapons. Traffic was heavy and slow and I watched some important white haired guy being interviewed by a TV crew. Pretty thrilling.

    I’m sitting in the bar at the hotel again with the inevitable soccer game on the tube. ATM leads ALM one – zip at 42:57 in the second half. Another guy fell down with a grievous injury but recovered miraculously and is now going full speed. ATM just won.

    Some news stories say the AF strike is set to end on 09-30 and others say the whole thing is up in the air. 09-30 does me no good since I’m leaving on the twenty ninth. Up in the air doesn’t work either. So I spent an hour and a half this afternoon with a very nice desk guy here at the hotel working out an alternative way home. This will be Delta from Madrid to ATL and ATL to SMF. I checked Delta’s web site back in my room and there are only two or three seats on each flight. I’m sure they will be gone by Friday. Glad I decided to change flights now. If I waited until the weekend I’d probably be screwed.

    Now it’s Malaga vs. FC Barcelona – ‘Barca’. I understand they are supposed to be one of the best teams. Seems like 24 hour soccer (futbol) here.

    I was watching BBC news earlier. I swear that their whole deal was designed and produced by some Las Vegas show guy. They have a huge circular set with the anchor person in the middle and giant screens around the periphery. The anchor is actor as much as news reader, gesturing and waving his/her arms in the most theatrical way. They are long on features and short on hard news. However they do it, the world situation is depressing.

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  21. MichaelG said on September 24, 2014 at 4:20 pm

    Judybusy. What a horrible thing. Absolutely report that jerk. I’m very sorry about your beloved cat.

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  22. alex said on September 24, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    Julie, it’s my experience that claims are always taken more seriously when they’ve been substantiated by incident reports to the appropriate authorities and that the absence of such reports tends to raise doubts about claimants’ veracity or intent. But I’m talking about personal injury accidents here. No police or medics called? Didn’t go to a doctor until a month later? Represented by counsel from a billboard on a bus?

    I imagine a judge (or small claims magistrate) would probably question why someone didn’t report a dangerous animal to animal control. But recovering damages for those emergency vet bills sounds like a great idea and appropriate punishment for that idiot in addition to being reported and fined for disobeying leash laws.

    Pilot Joe, I was at the fair last night and will probably make it down there again this week before it ends. You probably know Nora, the secretary at First United Methodist. She’s a real sweetheart and so’s her husband, also named Joe.

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  23. Sue said on September 24, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    I know there are a few Terry Pratchett fans out here in Comment Land. He cancelled an appearance in July, and now this perfect and sad piece by Neil Gaiman. Neil, like Terry, is careful and caring about words even more than a ‘normal’ writer, so I wonder about his choice of the word ‘imminent’.
    http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/24/terry-pratchett-angry-not-jolly-neil-gaiman

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  24. Joe Kobiela said on September 24, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    Alex,
    My wife works with Nora, small world. How do you know Nora?
    Pilot Joe

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  25. alex said on September 24, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    Nora and her husband are occasional drinking buddies with me and mine.

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  26. Joe Kobiela said on September 24, 2014 at 10:06 pm

    Alex I’ll probably see her Thursday I’ll tell her you said hi.
    Pilot Joe

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  27. Minnie said on September 24, 2014 at 10:40 pm

    Judybusy, I’m so very sorry about Gabe.

    Sue, Neil Gaimon’s use of the word “imminent” is ominous.

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  28. alex said on September 24, 2014 at 10:54 pm

    Please do! Tell her hi for Harry too! He was supposed to be home tomorrow from Connecticut but his work is gonna keep him there until Sunday so now he has to miss the fair this year.

    I might make it down there tomorrow. There was one booth selling some nice muscle car models, and they also had a yellow Solstice just like ours although it wasn’t the most finely detailed of their offerings. I was grooving on a ’65 Goat and a ’72 Buick Skylark GS like you don’t see every day. Really want a ’70 Monte Carlo like my first car ever.

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  29. Dexter said on September 25, 2014 at 3:47 am

    Joe, you must mean Father John’s, set in the basement of the old Baptist church building and owned Dr.John Trippi, the local Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Specialist, unless he’s retired now…most people have heard of his buffalo farm up by Clear Lake or Fremont, Indiana…the restaurant features buffalo meat and craft beers I hear. It’s just one block west of the SW corner of the Bryan court square, very restrictive hours. Friends tell us it quite a treat, but not priced for the working man…it’s a little expensive they said.

    I have not been to the DeKalb County Free Fall Fair for probably 25 years. It always ended in October. Isn’t this a week early?

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  30. Jill said on September 25, 2014 at 6:54 am

    Judybusy, I’m so sorry about your cat. I think irresponsible pet owners should be reported. That won’t help you much but it might prevent another incident.

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  31. beb said on September 25, 2014 at 7:54 am

    Sue @23: Sadly, I think ‘imminent’ means exactly that. It will be sad that there will be no more Discworld novels but having had my mother in a nursing home for a couple years with Alzheimer’s I can understand Pratchett’s desire to go before he becomes a burden.

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  32. Charlotte said on September 25, 2014 at 9:47 am

    Judybusy — what a traumatic and awful experience! I think you have to report him, what if that dog went after a small child?

    And Deborah — canning jar failure is alas, unpredictable and all too common. I heard that “crack” the other day when I was doing this odd Asian pickled greens recipe I like. Managed to salvage most of the contents since the jar floated up and flipped itself over, but makes me grumpy every time. All of which reminds me, I have several gallon bags of Principe Borghese tomatoes in the freezer I have to do something with — weather’s supposed to cool off later in the week so maybe I’ll make sauce.

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  33. Heather said on September 25, 2014 at 10:32 am

    Judybusy, I’m so sorry to hear about your cat. Such a traumatic ending–how horrible. Definitely report it. I think they only put dogs down for biting people, but I’m not sure. You should get some recompense for your vet bills at least. After the shock has passed, try to remember the many good and happy years your cat had with you.

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  34. Deborah said on September 25, 2014 at 11:10 am

    AG Eric Holder is resigning, what’s up with that?

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  35. Jolene said on September 25, 2014 at 11:22 am

    He has been planning to resign for some time, Deborah. He has already one of the longest-serving AGs in history. I think GWB had three AGs during his two terms in office.

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  36. Sue said on September 25, 2014 at 11:37 am

    beb, yes I have heard that he is keeping his options open but he’s been careful to present a choice to leave as a very important and personal decision. He’s handled a controversial topic very well, I think, and kept his focus (and fury) on lack of research into the disease itself.
    I understand Discworld will continue in some capacity as he has brought his daughter on board. So we shall see. I feel about Discworld the way kids feel about Hogwarts and already miss my native guide.

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  37. Dorothy said on September 25, 2014 at 2:11 pm

    So Nancy – I did a search here for “cataract” and reminded myself that you had surgery for it last December. I presume everything is great now? My husband found out today that he has one of the “fast growing” variety, and the doctor wants him to have surgery. He asked if it could wait until early December and she said yes, so it’s on 12/2. He’s going to have a new lens put on his eye. This is all new territory for us. He is type 2 diabetic, so he already was at a 60% higher than usual chance to develop cataracts in his life. He said he won’t be able to bend over or lift anything heavy for a couple of weeks, I think. And no traveling for 4 weeks. He will be able to drive fairly soon after, but he thinks he might take the whole week off, mostly because he’s so busy at his job he can’t take any vacation time. And this would give him an excuse to use up some days rather than lose them.

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  38. Connie said on September 25, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    I had cataract surgery on both eyes in May, one with new lens. Had almost no impact on my daily life except to greatly improve my vision, and the only time I needed off was the two days of the surgery. I was able to drive the next day. The whole thing was so easy. And my vision continues to amaze me. I was a little kid with big thick glasses. Now I am driving with no glasses. My only restriction was on lifting.

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  39. MichaelG said on September 25, 2014 at 5:01 pm

    Disclaimer:
    I ain’t got no training or edumacation about art but I know what I like.

    The Prado is a very large museum housed in a beautiful old building in a lovely park like setting surrounded by other beautiful old buildings. It’s been an art museum for hundreds of years. Each story has a long central hall with dozens of rooms off it. It’s organized pretty well. There are stairs, potties and elevators. Seating? There are boxes here and there for your seating pleasure. I mean boxes. Like stuff comes in. The first floor has the inevitable café and the gift shop which is full of art related stuff. No trinkets here.

    I hate to pass out advice as it makes me sound like I know what I’m talking about and always sounds arrogant but if you are going to a popular attraction, get your tickets on line. That would have saved me a half hour of standing in line today. It would have gotten me into the Sagrada Familia last week when I had to settle for just seeing the exterior.

    I was lucky in that there was a temporary El Greco exhibition going on. It closes on 10-04. I have no idea who created, who designed this exhibit but he or she deserves a big cheer. This is an extremely well done, extremely clever show. There are lots of those huge, monumental El Grecos on view. I had to wonder how they move those things around and how they hang them and more to the point, how they did it hundreds of years ago. The slick stuff is that they showed El Greco’s influence on succeeding generations of artists. An El Greco would be hung and on each side would be a painting (most from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.). There had to have been a couple of dozen of these later artists and juxtapositions. Especially there were lots of Picassos. One trio showed an El Greco painting of a guy with short hair, a spade beard, a white ruff around his nick and a black shirt. It developed as I moved through the museum that he had painted lots of portraits of Steve Jobs with a ruff and a spade beard. The second painting was in an impressionist style done by Modigliani and a third was a cubist offering by Picasso. The similarities were astounding. So it went. I probably should have bought the book that accompanied the exhibit. This was a truly unique show. A lot of thought and organization went into it. They didn’t just throw a bunch of the star’s stuff up on the wall.

    El Greco pushed the envelope that existed at the time. He seems to me to have done a lot of impressionistic stuff (forgive me if I’m abusing terms, I’m not schooled in this business). He tried a lot of what looks like it had to have been new stuff at the time. I’m guessing that he may have liked to go further but he had a living to earn and knew that the clients would accept only so much. Above is conjecture.

    There are zillions of individual and family portraits in the museum. I suppose that was one way these guys earned their livings. There were some by Goya that tickled me. Most of his portraits were excellent stuff, flattering to the subject as I imagine was desired. There was one of a hunter that portrayed the subject as a stupid looking, pin headed geek. Another showcased a husband, wife and four kids. The wife and kids all had these identical, really strange eyes. I can’t believe Goya wasn’t sneering at those people.

    Then there were his clothed and naked majas which hang right next to each other. He clearly spent more time and energy on the naked one than on the clothed one. The notes posted on the wall confirm this. One school claims that the woman who posed for naked picture was the Duchess of Alba, another claims she was Goya’s girl friend. I find the coyness curious since all of Goya’s other subjects are so clearly identified. Whoever she was, she was a lovely, curvy, sensuous girl. She radiates a warm, post coital bliss. I’m sure Goya made a thorough brail exploration before committing paint to canvas. I’m also certain that whomever she may have been, she and Goya were lovers. How many days of her posing like that could either of them endured before the inevitable happened?

    There were a couple of curious, decidedly un virgin like pictures of the Virgin. In the first one I saw she was standing bare breasted above a bunch of tortured souls. Her feet were indistinct. In her left arm she held the Christ Child. Her right hand cupped her right breast and two fingers touched her nipple forcing out a stream of milk which fell at her feet in the inferno consuming the poor souls. The Child had the fingers of one hand on her other breast causing a second stream to arc into the inferno. The description stated that she and her son were providing relief to the souls burning in hell with the cooling affect of her milk.

    I ran into the second one a few rooms later on. I had to laugh when I saw it. I hope nobody saw me. In this one, the again bare breasted Virgin was a statue come to life. She stood on a small shelf up on a wall and a guy, identified as St. Bernard, (the man, not the dog) wearing a gray hoodie, knelt below her with his head thrown back and his mouth open. The Virgin held the Child in her left arm and with her right hand was directing a stream of milk from her breast in a perfect arc down to the waiting mouth of St. Bernard below. There’s some kind of curious eroticism at work here. Lord knows what went through waiting those peoples’ minds.

    Then there are those Reuben’s nudes. The paintings are huge. Like 10 X 10. Feet. The girls certainly have plenty of what it takes. More than would be fashionable in a present day runway model. Yet there’s an overweening sensuality there. The knowing smirks on their faces (I’m covering four or five paintings here) and the obvious message that they are happy, sensual girls, proud of their bodies and would be happy to share with you to your everlasting delight is clear. There are some really fetching details that I won’t go into. It’s also evident that Reubens knew him some sexy girls. At least it’s certain to my fevered brain.

    There are tons of other paintings. There’s a whole genre of little cherubs floating around in the sky. Tortured souls is a big one. Old ladies taking Christ down off the cross. People being brutalized. Overall, there were many paintings that simply dropped my jaw. Portraits of a stunning quality and representation, including character. Self important cardinals, princes, generals and the rest. There is amazing photographic realism and surprising forays into what, for the lack of a better term I am calling impressionism. Most of these guys display an amazing talent, a few not so much. There’s a lot of fanciful stuff. So much that I got a sneaking suspicion that the artists were painting whatever their patron wanted to see. “OK, asshole, you wanted another crucifixion, you got it. You’re paying for it.”

    One thing that struck me throughout the whole museum was that nobody on canvas was smiling. It must have been illegal to smile while sitting for an artist.

    OK, that’s enough. I could go on and on about the Prado. Once again the reality exceeds the expectation. The Prado is one of the great museums in the world. Don’t miss it.

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  40. MichaelG said on September 25, 2014 at 5:10 pm

    Deborah, I had cataract surgery a couple of years ago. They replaced both lenses. Kaiser wouldn’t do both eyes on the same day, they make you wait a month between eyes. Which, I suppose, is prudent. Other than that I had the surgery one day and the surgeon took the patch off the next. No muss, no fuss, no pain, no restrictions no nuthin’ except amazing results. Tell your husband to go for it soonest. There’s no down side. He will be very pleased with the results.

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  41. MichaelG said on September 25, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    Sorry, Dorothy. I mistyped. With all the restrictions you mention, it sounds like there is something more than simple cataracts at work here. Best of luck. I hope everything comes out OK.

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  42. Deborah said on September 25, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    Speaking of surgery, we just found out today that Little Bird will be having surgery on Oct 8th to de-bulk a tumor she has on her left thigh. This is a really good thing because this tumor has had an open wound on it since March and she went to 5 doctors previously who had no idea what to do about it. We finally found some doctors in Albuquerque connected with UNM who know about her condition, neurofibromatosis and have had experience with people who have it. It’s relatively rare, 1 in 4,000 some say 1 in 3,000. Statistically that means there are only 25 or so people in Santa Fe who have it and about 185 people in Albuquerque. So it’s understandable that Drs might not have any experience with it. Little Bird and I were so relieved to talk to these Drs today who could actually have a plan of action about it, that we both cried. They can’t remove the whole tumor because it’s hyper vascular and goes deep into her thigh and is involved in her muscles. If they removed all of it she’d have mobility issues for the rest of her life. The reason that there has been this open wound is because the skin over the tumor is very thin and is eroding. The surgeon who will be doing the surgery seemed really concerned about the scar she will have from it, and Little Bird wanted to say, “dude I’d rather have a big old scar than a big old tumor”. Of course surgery is kinda scary and it will take 3 or 4 months to heal, but we are just so happy that something can be done and it is going to be taken care of. This is a benign tumor, by the way, or at least we damn well hope so. There will be a pathology report about that. This will be the 6th surgery she’s had on her tumors and the first one that won’t cost me a dime. Thank God for Obamacare!!

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  43. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 25, 2014 at 9:06 pm

    Benign is a beautiful word; may you hear it often and with emphasis over the next few days!

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  44. Dorothy said on September 26, 2014 at 5:53 am

    Thanks Connie and MichaelG! (I keep forgetting to thank you for your wonderful comments lately, Michael. I almost feel like I’m sitting beside you on your adventures! Or walking in step with you, I guess). Also Deborah – best of luck for Little Bird in the upcoming surgery. I’ll be thinking of all of you.

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  45. Judybusy said on September 26, 2014 at 8:36 am

    Best wishes to Little Bird on the surgery–I will think of her on the 8th!

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  46. Little Bird said on September 26, 2014 at 10:32 am

    Thanks guys! Words cannot express how relieved I am to have answers and a plan. Yes, surgery is scary, but not as terrifying as the unknown.

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  47. Minnie said on September 26, 2014 at 2:27 pm

    Little Bird and Deborah, it’s good to have found a doctor you can rely on. The surgery will make a big difference in LB’s comfort and health.

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