MOOD BOARD

Monday morning is an expression that can refer to the time of day just before sunrise or the period when the sun appears above the eastern horizon. It can also be used more figuratively to describe the return to work after the weekend, often with a sense of starting fresh or beginning, from the distractions or biases of the weekend. I don't know about you, but I'd rather the biases of the weekend!!!! Garden time and a happy hour Saturday with friends. Our bartender Stacy, who is insistent on hooking me up, asked me what my type was. I said anything with three legs, a pulse and willing to buy me a gin and tonic honey! The handyman here this weekend might have been a good start!!! Moving on and upwards this Monday....

Happy Hour at 4:30???? Happy Monday kids!

MIDSUMMER GARDEN

 
What a simply beautiful weekend! It was nice to have a weekend at home and before the next vacation in ensues. While I had a handyman at the Casa installing a new exhaust fan and light in the bathroom and then he repainted the ceiling and did wallpapering, and not bad on the eyes I may add, I spent the time outdoors in the garden, pottering and dead heading. I was a good host though and offered up some refreshing beverages. New stars of the Mexican sunflowers, coneflower, salvia, hellebore, and the Datura Ballerinas, Justicia Carnea or flamingo flower now all in bloom. I know it is August now. I also have a family of cardinals take up residence in the moss bird house, which I didn't know about till I saw the fledglings popping out of the hole and all over that backyard. Which meant the murderous Sophie  has been monitored while outdoors. She did attempt to make some carnage but luckily her plan was foiled. I haven't seen them lately. I just hope the neighborhood cat didn't get them, who sometimes sneaks into the garden at night. It is simply amazing how the garden still to grow and change almost overnight, I swear.

The Mexican sunflowers are now up over my head and over the white fence behind it!!! Over 6ft! To think in May I just planted them as seeds! And it you look close, you spot the surprise I finally captured!!!

I also spent some time getting the seed from spent Hollyhocks. We will have many more next spring to plant.

The perfect toadstool.

Double bumbles!

A passionflower gift to me from a friend.

Dalhia and zinnias are coming in to take center stage next.

The Justicia Carnea

The murderess 

Sitting and waiting. Don't let the demure, cute face fool you.

And if you don't spot what it was in the above picture at the start of the post...it was indeed one of the hummingbirds!

IN THREE WORDS

In this feature, I'll share a weekly guest with you all, and you tell me in only three words what comes to mind.

In Three Words...

Karen Black 

GAY PRIDE

 This week two stories tickled me.

You might have heard the name. A congressional  primary on Long Island probably isn't the kind of story that usually goes viral, but this one, I have been watching. Chris Gallant has just won in a huge margin the democratic primary in New Yorks 1st congressional  district, and again not endorsed by dem leadership....  and will now face its republican incumbent  Nick LaLota in November. Gallant is wildly popular...a black hawk pilot, Army National Guard veteran,former air traffic controller, a union leader and a volunteer fire fighter.  He also happens to be gay and engaged to his very handsome fellow soldier.

What makes the story interesting isn't that hes running as a LGBTQ candidate. It's that much of the coverage barely centers on that at all. Instead the focus has been on his experience  and military  and public service and his attempt of flipping a longstanding red seat to blue. For many LGBT that's a sign of how much things have changed. There was a time when this would have been unthinkable. It's just a good person running..as it should be, and thats a milestone worth nothing.

And then in other news...

 Drag queens aren't staying silent after that wacko Rep Nancy " Crazy" Mace put their faces on display during an anti- drag congressional hearing in July. After Mace used photos of drag queens Kandy Muse and Willam to push anti- drag rhetoric, claiming it's not natural for men to dress as women, and that drag sexualizes childern, and confuses them. Needless to say Kandy Muse and Willam were not happy, along with Joey Jay...and jokingly but also with some seriousness...said if Mace doesn't stop the with the rhetoric and using of their images for negative use...they will take legal action...with Muse asking Can I sue?  While I'm not the biggest fan of Muse...I'd loved to see her and Willam put this bitch in her place. I'm guessing Kandy Muse and these queens would make mince meat of Mace.  I'd get tickets to that. 

AUNTIE AMEX

 I know just how she feels...it makes you want to go postal.

STOP THE CAR

 

The ignorant Bitch this week. Dem Leadership. Troy Jackson replaced Maine Senate candidate Graham Planter in a seat to take on squidbilly Susan Collins, after all his scandals emerged in his campaign, and he stepped down.  Yet Chuck Schumer and Dem leadership won't endorse Troy because he is a true progressive. All our Dem leaders seem to be conservative and hate progress. Schumer and Jefferies also refused to endorse Mamdani when he ran and he was in their own areas!  Why isn't there a movement to get rid of unpopular Dem leaders??? Because... most Dems couldn't even admit for months on end that Biden was suffering with failing health. When are they going to see that they are not in step with what their voters want??? That last several elections have proved that the true progressives are winning...and the ones that have gotten in are keeping and completing campaign promises...there is a novelty.  Schumer in 2016-" For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western PA, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia." Just like Harris campaigning with far-right Liz Cheny, Democrats have abandoned the left and now want GOP voters instead.  This isn't a purity test--it's an ideological shift towards the right since Bill Clinton. The Democrats party needs to start LISTENING. The voters are tired of them being beholden to AIPAC, yes you Crockett and others, and the Isarel war, and to others not keeping promises and getting things done, but yet want a photo-opt with Nettanyahu. We're not stupid, That moral duplicity does not work for our base. Schumer, Jefferies, Booker, and many, many others, and in the House too, are the ones who need to leave the party and call it MAGA -Lite. Because the Mamdani and others getting elected are where it is at, are where the voters want to be...and guess what these people can do? They can do the one thing you want...so desperately... but because you're so fake, and you don't mean anything you say you will do, or believe you'll get anything done, all you care about is getting lobbyist money...they can get someone who was a trump voter, to vote for them and win... because the voters are looking for authenticity and trust, but when your bought and paid for by AIPAC you're not authentic...you're the GOP's and Netanyahu's bitch.

Let's face it...there is a war brewing in the party with newly elected Democrats with center Dems and leadership. Let's be clear- these center Dems are angry that 35 progressives with grassroots funding were elected nationally. And they are mad that they are winning also with voters who once voted Trump. and on platforms for Medicare for All and other simple platforms. Many are already gaining power and helping people by actually freezing rents, funding public pools and libraries, opening city run cheaper grocery stores, and paying for childcare. It's still beyond me why they aren't embracing Hassan Piker more. The man is brilliant! He revealed that hundreds of Democratic candidates all across the country have reached out to get help promoting their campaign. Abdul El-Sayed's campaign recently saw an increase of 29% in volunteer sign-ups and a 20% increase in donations following a rally he did with Hassan...and it paid off, he won his primary election for Senate.

Wake up Dem Party....get with it, or get left behind, or voted out. The voters are speaking and taking action, and you still don't see it. 

SEEN IN NEW HOPE

I have always loved my get-a-ways to New Hope and mourn missing it a couple times a week after living there for 25 years, with it being a very liberal area. We had a getaway last weekend to New Hope and Doylestown. New Hope is so popular because it combines a extremely bohemian vibrant arts and LGBT culture with scenic Delaware River views, historic colonial charm, a colorful, racy and historical history, storied residents past and present. and a prime location, roughly perfectly positioned between Philly and New York. It has always been famous for an art and writer's colony and still draws creatives. Its inclusivity is very important in New Hope...has a long-standing reputation as a safe, welcoming and progressive haven for the LGBT, drag, and other minorities. The sheer natural beauty of the area was first seen and appreciated by the Lenni-Lenape people so many thousands of years ago. It's also what attracted the great Pennsylvania Impressionist school of artist like Daniel Garber and Edwin Redfield, writers from the Algonquin round table, Dorothy Parker and Oscar Hammerstein were longtime residents, furniture maker George Nakashhima created and has his studio in New Hope, now run by his daughter, and has hosted a long list of singer and actors at the Bucks County Playhouse...some notables, Geoge C Scott, Bea Arthur, Helen Hayes, Betty Buckly, Elaine Stritch, Robert Redford, Hugh Jackman and too many others to mention and still continues great talent. And then there is our distant relation on my mother's side, Aaron Burr, who was the sitting Vice President at the time, fled the scene and hid out in New Hope after he stabbed Hamiliton in a duel who later died.  Then there is the natural beauty...looks like a European countryside, and all the witches, and hauntings...yes, New Hope is one of the most haunted towns too. Some scenes this weekend...

Dinner at Zoubi's...always a favorite and what a courtyard to dine in.

My dinner that night, a crabcake with corn on top and two sauces on the side with coleslaw. And yes, edible flowers. I hated to eat it it was so pretty.

Our hotel, and my breakfast one morning at a vegan restaurant.

Fonthill Castle in Doylestown. 

Never tire of seeing this place. I used to live about 8 minutes from it.

An entrance to Fonthill Castle from the Woods.

The home of Bradley Cooper...minutes form my old place. To think we could have been neighbors!

And then there was our pool boy, and bartender Dan. 

He moved here from Russia 15 years ago. Me OH MY! So there was that.