Stepford Wives?

Ahhh! Spring! My neighborhood is particularly wonderful in the spring! We have flowering chestnut trees that line both sides of the street and arch gracefully overhead. My neighbors are avid city gardeners so each house has an array of blooms that begin before the snow is completely melted [Yes, it melts eventually!] and continue until the first frost. Even the empty house that belongs to the survivalists up the block has a riotous spring garden, albeit unkempt. Snow drops, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, forsythia and soon, lilacs. The other sign of spring in our neighborhood is more concrete. I knew it was truly spring when I raised the living room blinds the other day and saw my across-the-street neighbor pounding a cheery orange sign into his front lawn. Ubiquitous as the Siberian Squill in our neck of the woods, CasiNO! signs can be found on most lawns, including ours. The controversy du jour, well one of them anyway, continues to be casino gambling. The tireless Western New York search for the silver bullet that will jump start the economy, make everyone taller, smarter, happier and richer continues. I am convinced that this is not it. So my neighbors and I will continue our efforts on this one until the next hare-brained scheme comes along. I am not worried; this place cooks up more half-baked schemes than http://www.lucylibrary.com/Pages/lucybarbie7.htmland has similarly successful results. At least Lucy was funny. These guys? Not so much. So, until the balance of our elected officials begins to see things our way, repeat with me the motto of our street “I am not a crank!”

Mona Lisa, The Sprite and I will soon be spending some time in Arizona with Chloe & Co. This will be the girls’ first time to the Southwest and my first time to Arizona. We are planning to spend Easter weekend at The Grand Canyon, a place I have always wanted to see. Actually, Chloe has long been a fan of the Southwest and spent three summers working with SCA.[ Insert footnote: Neon Moon (f/k/a The First Born) will be doing the SCA thing this summer in Lake Mendicino, California. How jealous am I? Very!] So one of Chloe's life-long and dearly held dreams, prior to her actual move West, was to see The Grand Canyon. Shortly after the family settled in to their new home, a three-day weekend presented itself. This, she thought, was the perfect opportunity to visit the Canyon. They loaded the kids in the car and drove up. It was, she said, everything she had hoped and more, truly an awe-inspiring sight, worthy of her long years of anticipation. After a wonderful weekend, they returned home and the next day at school, nine-year-old Katie had to write a theme on what she did over her long weekend. She wrote, “We had nothing better to do last weekend, so we went to The Grand Canyon.” Kids! I have given Mona Lisa my well-worn copy of Colin Fletcher’s The Man Who Walked Through Time to give her an opportunity to prepare for this event. Even if she doesn’t read it before we go, I hope she reads it after. Something tells me she will. If not, at least I know where it is so that I can reread it.

OK. I stand corrected. The girls are of the opinion that I was too harsh on Barbie. Actually, the word they used was "wrong." "Barbie is not a bimbo", said Mona Lisa. "She is an astronaut and a teacher," said the First Born. "And a vetrinarian" the Sprite chimed in. I guess the passage of time has allowed Barbie to have it all. She has a challenging career, great clothes and a phenomenal figure. Wow. This is what we have been striving for. Who would have thought that Barbie..Barbie! would be the symbol of success for our daughters. Weird.