AND.....WE'RE BACK

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for putting up with me and my rants. I'm not sure when it happened exactly, but my threshold for bulls*** seems to be getting lower and lower as I get older and older. I finally came up with what really bothered me so much about The Small Airplane Incident of 2011:

All this time I've been flailing about, griping over the lack of common courtesy we seem to be experiencing in these here parts. It's not just the fact that our political and social rhetoric gets so nasty...it's that everybody seem to be living in these tiny little bubbles that extend just as far as the screen on their tiny little smart phones.

I kept telling Aunt Chrissy that the problem we're having getting along with everybody is that people are so glued to what technology is directly in front of their eyeballs, that they seem to forget that there is a real live breathing human being standing four feet beyond the stupid technology they're glued to.

But that's not it.

I mean, come on. How can somebody who lives her life on a blog have any integrity at all whilst bitching about the Internet?

I think what's got me in sixes and sevens is the fact that it seems like (more and more), people are making decisions for me that dramatically impact MY life, yet there is no regard for the fact that it might ultimately do so.

I'm not just talking about the idiot in the plane. I'm talking about the idiot on his cell phone, with ciggie butt in hand, wife in the passenger seat on HER cell phone, weaving down Main Street yesterday as Aunt Chrissy and I nervously followed behind. Why is it that HIS life and HIS conversation were more important than MY life or that of MY little sister? Shouldn't I get to make that decision for myself? Shouldn't I get to decide when I want to take risks or act dangerously or push the limits of what the human person can achieve?

Why is HIS conversation and total lack of attention OK? When I drive my car, I do so with the knowledge that there is an implicit agreement that I won't try to kill anybody in the process and that I'll pay attention, keep it on the road, and not endanger me, my passengers, innocent pedestrians, or anybody else that happens to be doing the very same thing at the moment. Can't I get that same commitment from my fellow drivers....at least?

That guy in the plane made a decision that his fun was more important than the lives of the people below him. And that's not OK with me anymore. If all of the people had climbed on board the plane with him and said "Let's go, dude!", then so be it. But we didn't. We just stood there in our driveways wondering how the hell you control and/or avoid something larger than a Volkswagen careening around up in the sky.

To summarize....I think it sucks that we've gone beyond forgetting please and thank you and that we're now stuck with "I'm going to do whatever I damn well please and there's not one thing you or your little dog can do about it."

(End of pondering.)

One of the things I love about Aunt Chrissy is that she continually surprises me with fabulous gifts. I mean, come on. Who wouldn't love a little sister who calls you up and giggles that she "did something bad today" but that "once it gets here you're going to love it"? Here's the latest little surprise that she gave me (and she says that it's "just because"):
I've loved all things Liberty Hill from the moment I laid eyes on them, so this will be a lovely addition to my little collection. Isn't it swell?

Despite all evidence to the contrary, I have done a little stitching (while catching up on what's happening in Charlie World):

Spring Quakers

Rosewood Manor

Rainforest Crunch

Needle Delights Originals

(my own colorway)

And finally, Stewey wanted you to know that all of this navel gazing, hard thinking, and general lunatic ranting has left him exhausted. Here he is working on his tan for his upcoming Spring Break. (He's asked to go to Monte Carlo this year, but methinks he's more likely to go to the backyard instead.)

That'll do it for a Tuesday. I hope that you are off to a fabulous start to the week and that you find a really special way to celebrate "International Women's Day". (I just saw that on my little Peanuts calender and realized that I forgot to get my cards in the mail. Drat.