My knickers are not in a stitch!

I just got back from England and the time change is catching up to me. I might fall asleep as I write this...

My very good friend, Veronica (see blog here), asked me to take part in listing 8 weird things about myself as she did in her blog. I am not so sure I can contain it to 8 but I will take the best of the bunch. I'm going to stretch the definition of 'weird' to include 'anal.' Sometimes I think I am more anal than weird. But you be the judge.

1.) I prefer to sleep during the day and stay awake at night (well, maybe not tonight). I might have been a bat in my last life, or maybe an owl.

2.) Loading the dishwasher and getting the most in as possible is a fun challenge for me. I will wait and wait to run it until I think every spot that could possibly hold a dish is taken. (See! Anal!)

3.) I happen to think women's breasts should be able to see the light of day the way a man's can.

4.) I notice people's teeth. Probably because I am so self-conscious of my own smile.

5.) I love washing my hands with sand. You've never felt a clean such as this.

6.) Someone playing with or doing my hair is the ultimate for me. That's why I love George so much; he always runs his hands in my hair and shakes it to see how it will look after he has cut it. He does this a lot. It's wonderful! He will shake my head so that my boobs jiggle which is okay because George favors men so it's just funny.

7.) I hate guns, violence, and war. I know that is not weird but it is something that is deep with me.

8.) I like to sing but Hannah always says, "Hey, Mom, who sings that song?" And when I answer with the name of the artist she says, "Let's keep it that way!." (I'm thinking of 'The Baby-Rocking Medley' by Rosalie Sorrels. It is a song of finding patience with children. I tried to find a link to it to post here but came up empty. ITunes, you don't have everything!)

By the way, I'll be posting soon about my trip to England. Maybe tomorrow.
Yawn.

Bara Bröst!

This translates to 'just breasts' and 'bare breasts' in Swedish. This article in a Swedish newspaper reports on exactly what I've been ranting about for a long while now: a woman's right to be bare chested where ever a man can be without the threat of being arrested. My point has always been one of equality. From the article:

"It's a question of equality. I think it's a problem that women are sexualized in this way. If women are forced to wear a top, shouldn't men also have to?"

A lot of women that I have discussed this with think that women shouldn't be allowed to walk around shirtless. But do any of you truly (and I mean TRULY) believe that it is okay for a man to be topless without any repercussion but a woman should be thrown in jail for it? That is discrimination, cut and dry.

I know that it would take this country many, many generations to shed the stigma of women being topless in public. We are a society that views women's breasts as sexual objects, not as the life-sustaining glands they truly are.

Americans have a few too many hang-ups in my opinion. Let me share a story on this topic. It will prove my point about how breasts are viewed.

I was shopping at IKEA with my daughter and her boyfriend a few years ago. We encountered a woman sitting in the cafe nursing her child. My daughter's boyfriend was disgusted with the sight of this, "She shouldn't be doing that here!" He and I then engaged in a heated discussion. Of course I told him that I thought women should feel free to nurse their babies in public without any second thought. That's what breasts are for. And that's what I did. But he was so appalled.

Later, as we were walking around IKEA and the subject long gone, I brought up the fact that some day I wanted to visit the nude beaches in Greece. I told him and my daughter that I would like to experience being on a topless beach where it was no big deal, not like here in the States. Well, my daughter's boyfriend piped in all enthusiastic saying that, yeah, he would like to check that out, too! (Ah-ha! I got him!) I said to him "So, you think it's okay to look at a woman's breasts on a nude beach, drool over them in sexual fantasy, but to see a woman nursing her baby is disgusting?" I told him how demented that point of view was.

I don't think I will see this change in my lifetime here in the States. We need 'hippydom' to become all the rage again; you know, open minds. By the way, did you know that it is legal for women to go topless in New York? And Ontario's topless equality laws have been tested a number of times and remain on the books. There's also a social movement called 'Topfreedom' that is all about equality.

That's what it's all about: equality.

Look what's to come....

It's in the works...I'll be posting all about it!
http://www.thegrove.co.uk/

It's been six wonderful years!

This past weekend Richard and I celebrated our '6-year anniversary of meeting.' I surprised him with a weekend in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, just north of Niagara Falls.

We started out on Friday by checking into the By the Courthouse B&B then headed south to have dinner over the falls at Skylon restaurant.

There was a fantastic view of the falls and of the surrounding area. We ordered a bottle of 2002 Merlot from a local winery, Southbrook, and drank every drop. It was very good and whetted our taste buds enough for us to search out that winery the next day.

After dinner we headed to the Niagara Casino where I shed my no-luck-charm and Richard showed me his magic at the craps table. He managed to turn $100 into $240! He had a super-long rolling stretch when it was his turn, the longest he's ever had. Usually he loses if I am standing next to him but not this time.

On Saturday we walked through the cute town, walked a bit by the water, and then started our wine tasting tour. Lailey vineyards was our first stop with Inniskillin next. Then we tried wines from Marynissen, organic at Frog Pond Farms, and finished at Southbrook. And we didn't even get tipsy! Well, maybe a bit hummy in the head.

Of course we had to check out one of the locks along this river. And it was our luck that there was a ship just entering the lock so we were able to watch the whole (really cool) process. Richard was in his glory!

I made dinner reservations at another winery, Strewn vineyards. The dinner was good and the wine was okay. Richard actually ordered a different vineyard's wine! One thing that Richard and I both agreed on was that the wines from this area taste watered down compared to California (or other) wines. We liked Southbrook the best and that one had the most ummpf. But I will say, I enjoyed drinking wine without heavy tannins; it was quite refreshing.

From there we headed back to downtown Niagara-On-The-Lake to laugh our way through 'The Circle,' a play written by Somerset Maugham, at the Royal George Theatre. Quite a delightful play. The actors were all very good at the tiny details that made the dialog almost continuously humorous: from injecting a rolling grumble to body and facial expressions that made you giggle. I can't wait until next season. Now that we've found this place I know we'll be back over and over.

I have to thank Veronica for suggesting Niagara-On-The-Lake to me for Richard's surprise. Her husband took her there for her birthday this year and, yes, they DID get tipsy!

To cut or not to cut: OUCH!

I found this story on reddit that, to me, is a bit humorous and quite serious at the same time. I didn't wrestle at all with this decision when I was pregnant. If I had had a boy he would have been left 'in tact.' I think this notion of cutting for cleanliness is as outdated as the belief in witchery. And just as crazy.

An ideal running 'mate'

Here's what I think Hillary ought to do. She should pick Bill as her running mate. Anyone else think of this?