Camden (Maine) is fortunate to have a wonderful Teen Center which is open free of charge to 5th through 12th graders here. It is mostly enjoyed by the middle school kids and younger teens (and it happens to be located a short walk from the middle school), my oldest son among them. They have had a fun fund-raiser the past year or two at least, and this year I got to be a part of it. Folks donate chairs or stools, which artists of various sorts then gussy up for sale at the auction. When I went, there weren’t a whole lot of options… I wanted to do something larger than a stepstool, so this tall stool was about it. Alas, I forgot to take a picture of it in its initial dark brown stain, which I sanded. I then painted it with the same aqua that I used on my new fabric shelves (shelving seen here — note, all photos are clickable to view larger).

Then I got out my craft paints, selected as many fun colors as I could find (bright blues were gone, and the fuchsia, alas, was solidified beyond using…sob!). The palette above is lovely, don’t you think? Here is a view of the chair while being polyurethaned (and does anyone know why my craft paints might have smeared a bit when coated????):

And a view of the front when done:

And the back:

And a close up of the seat (that light spot in the center is just that, a light / reflection):

Near Fort Cronkhite, on the south end of the beach, is Point Bonita. The point juts out into the water forming a corner of sorts between the bottom of the headlands, which head east to the Golden Gate, and the northward turn of the coast which goes beyond Fort Cronkhite up the coast to Point Reyes and more. When they started to develop the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, they opened up parts of the headlands that had previously been forbidden territory housing missiles and (later) falling down bunkers. On the headlands, there is the Point Bonita lighthouse (trust me…it’s out there….also, these photos are click-able to become larger).

At a certain point, the road becomes a one-way, narrow, twisty, white-knuckle driving experience of breathtaking beauty with the sunlight nearly blinding you reflecting on the water. Luckily, there was no one behind me, so I was able to snap these photos through the windshield…with emergency brake ON! The first part of the one-way road is a VERY steep downhill; as you look over the hood of the car, all you see is the guard rail and the ocean beneath…the drop-off is SO steep that you couldn’t even see grasses!

And to offset the sheer magnificent beauty of this scene, was this sign near the roadway that crossed the lagoon:

Well folks, it’s that time of year again: WRESTLING season for the middle schools in Maine. And coincidentally, I’ve had a couple folks ask (thank you!) how Joshua is doing after that nasty accident last summer (if you’re new to my blog, he was on his bike, got hit by car, 3 weeks in hospital with badly broken leg etc–lots of blog posts after July 17…). Well, I’m thrilled to say, not only is he healed, but he WON BOTH of his first two matches of the season! WOOOT WOOOOOT WOOOOOOT!

You could tell by the look on his face from the moment he walked on to the mat (photo above, start of first match) he was determined to win. (As an aside… if you look at the side of Joshua’s left leg in the photo above, you can see the shorter of the two scars he has on both sides of the lower leg…wicked!) Before he left the house (it was a home meet so we had an easy day getting there!) Joshua said he WAS going to win all his matches today, and he did! The first one was fairly easy—here’s Joshua pinning the other boy (who was clearly younger and less experienced)

But the second match was supposed to be a tough one–The Camden-Rockport coach said he knew Joshua’s opponent and it should be a good match. As you can see, the boys are similar in size and build, tho I thought the other boy looked a bit more muscular than Joshua.

Hah! Here’s my boy (typed proudly) moving in straight away:

Joshua pinned BOTH opponents in the first round (matches are 3 one-minute rounds, scored on points, unless someone gets a pin sooner).

I must say, it does reduce a mom’s stress level to see a pin in round one versus a win on points at the end of round three! And after three seasons, I FINALLY got a good picture of Joshua with the hands-up for the win pose!

Thanks again to all who sent good wishes and good thoughts our way during Joshua’s ordeal last summer. The blocks many sent are waiting for me to have time (after  my mom is moved to Maine and the book is done) to make his new bed quilt (will be ready in time for cool fall weather I’m sure, I hope…..famous last words?), and we are all so incredibly grateful that he is alive and well — and rocks at wrestling!

There was a lunar eclipse on Wednesday night at a reasonable hour (10 ish), and fortunately my husband remembered! I saw him hustling the kids down the stairs late –after having woken Eli up– and asked what was up… the eclipse they chorused. So I grabbed my camera. This was a first attempt:

Then I got smart and ran inside for the tripod, and got these shots… the one is remarkably sharp given my skill, camera and COLD conditions (probably about 8 degrees outside). I used my Panasonic FZ30 which has a 12x optical zoom, so I was happy!

For the most part, I try to stay away from politics on this blog, but I’m about to break that self-imposed sorta-rule. To give away my leanings at the start, here is a wonderful YouTube clip, which I saw on Deb Lacativa’s blog, and she had seen it on Terri Grant’s blog….:

“A Woman’s place is in the House, and the Senate.”

Back then, it was still a radical concept…I’m pretty sure the only women senators were either widows of sitting Senators who died in office or Nancy Landon Kassebaum, daughter of Alf Landon and heir to his political legacy. There were a few women in the house, but FEW.

The other t-shirt read “God Bless Chocolate City and its Vanilla Suburbs” with a picture of an ice cream cone with one scoop of chocolate and two scoops of vanilla. There were still burned-out buildings down in the H-street downtown area from the race riots that scorched our country in 1968. I was stunned–as a middle class white girl from California–when on the bus from Dulles Airport to downtown DC the black bus driver announced “now you smokers, you got to sit at the back where I used to have to sit.” I had never encountered overt racism in my life, and here was someone who had lived it, and fairly recently.

So I have to confess, I am bursting with pride. We have not one, but TWO non-white-middle-aged-male candidates who are the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination for President. Who would have thought than in 33 years from the time I arrived in DC for college, it could happen. Of course our country still has a long way to go, but my how far we have travelled!

I had uncharacteristically thought of writing to Obama….but instead I’ll write here what I would have written to him….

I am happy that the three leading contenders for the presidency at this point are all honorable people who have chosen to serve their country. Although my politics differ markedly from those of Senator McCain, I respect him and his dedication to our nation: he could easily have chosen a different path, but instead he served in the military, survived years in a North Vietnamese prison and triumphed over those years, and has continued to serve the people of the United States. So I give him my thanks and respect.

Senator Clinton served this country in her role as First Lady, first of Arkansas and then in the White House. Although it is an unpaid position, there is no question about how much is asked of the First Lady (or First Gentleman, one of these days), and that it is a position which serves the people of the United States. She then went on to fulfill some of her own political ambitions. If she becomes the Democratic nominee, I will be happy to vote for her.

But I really want to vote for you in November, I want to vote for someone that I truly believe can LEAD, can inspire, can bring us together. Presidents are always held to a higher standard, and being who you are, who will likely be held to an even higher standard. I believe and hope that you can not only meet those standards, but exceed them. As with any administration, there will be the inevitable errors and stumbles, but I want to vote for someone who can lead, inspire, and help restore our country to a position of respect in the international community. I want to be able to speak of my President with pride, not shame and disgrace for what the incumbent has done to destroy our economy, our pride, and our international standing. I believe that you are the person who can best do this, so I’m looking forward to voting for you, and to having a small part in a sea-change in the course of our country. You embody the saying “be the change you want to see.” Thank you!