Does anyone besides me want to slap the so-called “analysts” on the cable news networks upside the head?

I’ve been watching much of the Democratic National Convention this week and am thoroughly disgusted by the truly deranged commentary.    Rather than journalism, they are all about creating conflict and drama – even if it isn’t there.

The MSNBC team turned into mind readers…  especially Pat Buchanan who apparently knows Hillary better than she knows herself.    He told us what Hillary was really thinking while giving her speech – and the journatlists who should KNOW BETTER did the same, or asking everyone they interviewed to take a shot at reading her mind.  Never mind what she actually SAID in her speech – they know better what she’s thinking.

And Fox is the worst of them.  I was swtiching through all of the news channels to get a feel for the coverage after the speeches, and was shocked by the nonsense I heard there.  Were they watching the same speeches?????  

If FOX news would come out and admit it they are simply a mouth piece for the GOP I could accept that – but their ABSURD moniker of being “Fair and Balanced” makes me want to throw up. Or take a gun and shoot myself.  No, take it to the studio and shoot all of them. 

Anyone who would hire Karl Rove (evil incarnate) to be a news analyst should be shot.  OK, maybe I’m taking that too far.  Should be sent to an assylum for the truly deluded and deranged.  But Karl Rove should be shot, or imprisoned and tortured for all his crimes he’ll never pay for on this earth. It never ceases to amaze me how many people turn off their brains and believe the partisan crap on this not-news station.  I can only figure they like hearing stuff that feeds into their existing world veiw – rather than the way things are.

What has happened to real, objective journalism???

Thank heaven for PBS and C-SPAN.   I watched Bill’s speech last night (which was incredible, by the way) on CSPAN – and when I turned to PBS afterward, I heard intelligent analysis without all the invented drama.

Frankly, the only sources I trust for news are NPR and PBS – and of course Jon Stewart (one of the most trusted journalists in America, by the way) thrown in for a comedic take.  Viewers of his “fake” news show actually get more accurate information than on those who watch Fox).

Who do you think are the worst (or best) journalists/analysts and commentators?

I had such a great time traveling around the Northwest with Brandon and family. 

We enjoyed some great activites and saw beautiful sites.  One of the favorite activites was exploring the tidepools at Salt Creek.   

We had previously been to the Seattle Aquarium and and saw fabulous sea life – but there’s nothing like experiencing it out in the natural setting.

Tidepools are cool - and we all had fun touching the anenomes and finding the hermit crabs.   

The girls LOVED it…

I was a bit surprised (but delighted) that Emily wanted to hold the little, recently deceased, crab I found.

I think if we hadn’t had to run to catch the ferry to Victoria, we could have spent hours here.

Come visit again and let’s go see more tidepools!

Yes, apparently banana slugs CAN chew a hole in the plastic bag you’ve imprisoned them in….   leading to a mass escape of 7 giant slugs and 2 snails.

Fortunately, if you notice they’re making an escape soon enough, they’re not hard to catch.

On a happier note, this cute little garden snake slithered across my patio the other day (about 8″ long).  (Sorry Michelle).

I hope he eats lots of spiders for me.    I wonder if he’ll scare away the slugs…

With a roadtrip planned to the Olympic Peninsula with Brandon (my son) and his family this past weekend, it seemed like the perfect time to finally start reading the Twilight Saga.  So I ordered the first two books from Amazon and they arrived the day before we left. 

My brief review:  I really enjoyed it.  I, like Michelle, wish it had been written as an adult novel rather than for teens – would have enjoyed more depth and less filler.  Neverthertheless, I think Stephanie Meyer has crafted an original and compelling story.  And reading it in the book’s setting made it come even more alive for me, so to speak. 

I finished up Twighlight while lying in bed at the Forks Motel on Sunday night, after a visit to the Hoh rain forest.  Started New Moon the next day and stayed up til 4:30am Tuesday night to finish it – just couldn’t put it down even though I was exhausted.  Ordered Eclipse and Breaking Dawn from Amazon today…

Of course I took my camera with me and captured a few images of this breathtaking country.  I created a special page for you to view them.  I think I live in the most beautiful state in the nation… 
 

then come back and share your thoughts.  Do you recognize any scenery described in the the book?  Can you spot any vampires?

*The page may take a few moments to load.

OK, so I’ve been seeing these Bluefly commercials for awhile now – you know the ones…. where the woman is looking in her closet for something to wear to the dinner party downstairs and just decides to go nude.   Or the newest one where some gal wearing nothing but shoes and carrying a magazine goes through airport security, while the announcer says,…

 ”Bluefly – Always there when you have nothing to wear.”

These commercial makes no sense to me. If Bluefly is always there, why didn’t she go to bluefly.com and get some clothes???

My son and his family are here visiting for a few days.  We spent Thursday in Seattle with a stop at the aquarium.   There are lots of cool things in the aquarium – but my favorite are the jellyfish.  So of course I had to try and caputre them as they glided around the circular tube, back lit with different colored lights.

 
These funky little eels were pretty cool too.

Maybe it’s just because I’m a Pisces, but I really think sea life is cool. You?

**Note to Ashley & Chris…. I’m in Forks tonight, finishing the first Twilight book………..

Anyone else watching the spectacular show China is putting on for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics? 

I have found myself getting emotional on more than one occasion as I watch the artistry, beauty, creativity and awesome precision of the performances.  

15,000 individual performers, the worlds biggest LED screen on the floor, fireworks as only China can do them – and moving, moving art/dance/song.   Probably the most original, inspired and amazing opening ceremonies ever.  What an incredible undertaking.   

Can you just imagine how excited and proud the Chinese people must be about this?  It makes me teary.  

The only sad part is that the athletes didn’t get to see it : (  

Did you have a favorite performance?

Over the years Paris Hilton has received little more than eye rolls from me…
And yet here she is being all clever and making me laugh, in her response ad to John McCain’s moronic (and false) “Celebrity” ad. 

What a pleasant suprise.  

The goldfinches are back!

A pair of these cute little birds (Washington’s state bird, come to find out) found my feeder in the spring and I was so delighted by their vibrant yellow color and beautiful song.  But they sort of disappeared during June and July – so I was excited to see a whole family of them today.  I actually heard them before I saw them.   Listen…

I decided to explore a nearby empty field/wooded lot that backs onto a wetlands park, just to see if there was anything interesting (before someone sells and builds on it).    A few pines and maples, a couple of apple trees, lots of wild blackberries, scotchbroom, yarrow and and such…   even some wild pink roses climing over a tree.   But the pink that really caught my attention was the wild sweet peas.  They are everywhere right now.

  
As I came to a clearing near the edge of the wetlands, I a hawk started crying out. I could see him way at the top of a tall pine…. he kept up the noise – I don’t think he liked me wandering back there, because he made a big swoop around the field, circling me (staying up high) and landing back in the tree.

I tried to catch a good picture of him in flight but they were all a bit blurry. He sat there yelling at me some more, and then made another cirlce around, so I decided to leave him in peace…. and as I left his view, he was quiet again. It’s not lilke I was going to grab his lunch or anything….

So that’s what I saw today.  You?

I don’t know what the heck happened to trigger this, but for the past day and a half I haven’t been able to get this song out of my head.   Any suggestions???

However, in my head it not quite as performed in the clip – what I’m hearing is some mormon general authority’s middle-aged daughter perfoming this as a solo at general conference years ago (ET Benson, I think).  That she was a GA’s daughter is the only explanation I can think of for why she was given a solo spot. Oh, the warbly swooping up to each note was so very painful…

Perhaps you heard it and shared my pain…

Perhaps you’ve heard me imitate/mock it over the years…

Perhaps you are laughing right now thinking I deserve this.   Well stop it – because when you heard me imitate her you laughed too.

Please offer new song suggestions for my brain - this is cruel and unusual punishment!