Category Archives: photos

Stuff Like This Totally Makes Me Cry

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I’m often moved by the plight of homelessness. More often than not though, I’m not really prompted to DO something. I give on the freeway off ramps when I can – water, money, food. I always smile to let the folks know that they’re not invisible. I donate our food to local foodbanks (which reminds me that I really should go through our cupboards already).

But whenever I see an indigent person with a dog, it just breaks my heart. So much so that I’ve gotten in the habit of keeping dog food samples (from my local pet shop) in the glove box so that I can hand them out. This picture, and the caption, just brings me to tears.

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Excuse me, I must go love my boys and feed them a couple of cookies right now.

All This For $3.00!!!

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Seriously. Everything you see cost only $3.26. This same stash would cost about $15 or $20 at my local farmer’s market.

Those bananas there…$1.07! That head of romaine…only $.69! Romaine cost me about $1.50 at the farmer’s market (usually for a smaller bunch) and $1.99 or so at the grocery store. That orange pepper…usually $3 or so a pound (why orange cost more than red or green I just don’t know). I paid $.79!

The only drawback is that it’s not organic, whereas nearly everything at the farmer’s market is. But to be honest, I rarely buy organic fruits & veggies at the grocery store because it never looks this good.

Looks like I found a new place to buy my groceries. And don’t worry, I’m still only buying what’s in season and grown here in the US. Next time though, I’m picking up a jar of that dark chocolate peanut butter that just sounds insanely good!

What a Powerful and Amazing Day

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The tide has turned
Image by La Belle Province via Flickr

I just wish I had the ability to put my feelings and my thoughts into words.  You see, I’ve never really been much of a political person and I’ll admit it here, I don’t read the news (in my defense, I don’t read gossip either, so it’s not like I’m reading something trashy in its place). As much as it might seem like it, I don’t bury my head in the sand either.

I’ve always found the news, both in print and on TV to be too damn depressing. They rarely focus on the positive and the good that’s happening in the world.  Instead, media (Liberal or not) tend to rely on scare tactics and negativity. I don’t like dwelling on what’s wrong or what some “expert” tells me will go wrong in the future and how it will manage to screw up life as I know it.  I’m more of an optimist than that.  And I truly do believe in the power of thoughts and that whole where you focus and put your energy is what you attract belief.

All of that said, I don’t think I’ve ever watched so much news or listened to so much political commentary (I have a bit of a girl crush on Rachel Maddow if you must know – I could totally see being friends with her) than I have in the past year.  This past week, the build up to the Inauguration was intense.  I couldn’t wait.  I was so excited.

Today I was just filled to bursting.  So much pride.  So much hope. So much anticipatory excitement for all that lies ahead.

But still I just don’t feel that I have the words to express where this all comes from.  I’ve never been political in the past, so why now?  What makes it such a big deal this year?  Of course, the obvious answer is the Bush Debacle.  But I think deep down, in my own heart, there’s a different meaning.  Maybe it’s that Pollyanna in me…that faith that things are all about to change is strong in this one 😉

I’ve been telling friends for the past three years that something amazing is going to come out of this Bush mess and I believe that Obama will be huge part of that (but only the beginning with so much more yet to come).

And I can’t wait.

I think that bloggie friend and fellow twitter gal,  WriterJax may have put her finger on yet another reason…this is just so true.

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What do you think?  For those of you that are excited about this new President and the amazing experiences that are to come, what resonates with you? Or are you at a loss for words as well?

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Some Photos From Belfast

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I have to say, probably one of my favorite things that we did this entire trip was the political mural tour in Belfast.  Our driver was great and had a wealth of knowledge.  You could just feel his pain when he told us about life on the Protestant side of the Peace Wall growing up.

It’s just amazing to think that it’s only 8 years after the Trouble’s ceasefire in 2000.  According to him, the city is an entirely different place.  Yet at the same time, the Peace Wall is still up and the gates are locked shut each night.

While there’s not too much fighting going on, it’s still not completely peaceful.  There was talk in the news just yesterday of a pipe bomb going off that was meant for an IRA official.  That will probably take generations before the hatred dissipates.  So sad.

According to our tour guide, these murals take 2-3 weeks to go up. As the older, more discriminatory and threatening murals start to fade and peel, they’re being replace by the city with more friendly, cultural morals.

Here are a couple of photos from that tour. This first batch are taken from a Protestant housing project.

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This one is creepy as all hell. That gun follows you as you walk by. The entire time it’s pointing at you. I must’ve been quite freaked since that’s actually the only shot I got of this mural and it’s not even a full-on shot.

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One of the many myths depicting the story behind the red hand of Ulster.

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This is the Peace Wall – it locks in the Catholics and keeps the Protestants out. You’ll notice that it’s built in three stages. Turns out, it was never quite tall enough to keep out the bombs and the rockets from the Protestant side.

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This is one of the many sets of gates into the Catholic area. Each gated entrance actually consists of two sets of gates – one further in. The Peace Wall entirely surrounds and encloses the Catholic town and extends fully into the mountains beyond. They’re all locked down every night.

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This is on the side of the IRA headquarters. It’s a mural of Bobby Sands, one of the first IRA prisoners to lead a hunger strike while imprisoned. I remember hearing about his when I was a kid.

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On the Catholic side, they have an entire wall dedicated to the international causes that the IRA supports (in some cases, schools the local terrorists) and opposes. This is an example of what they oppose about the US and (soon to be former) President Bush. You’ll notice that he’s sucking the oil out of Iraq.

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Fascinating stuff, all of it. I wish the tour could have been another hour longer still. But really, that alone made the drive into Belfast so worth it.