jardinero

Happy New Year, Shellon! Cool video. Hope 2009 is a wonderful year for you and your family! J.

Penworks ~ Yes they did graduate and moved to Tempe, AZ (outside of Phoenix) where they had their 5th child. Last I heard, they were still living there, but that was over 5 years ago. Jardinero

Ah, dear sweet Adios ~ So good to see you here and beginning a new life. So sorry to hear about your great loss but it appears you are working through it and are moving forward. Death is such a hard thing to deal with with someone who was such a great part of our life. My love to you, dear one. Much love, Jean (from your Tempe days) aka, Jardinero

Happy, happy day, Rummie! J.

Pretty shi*ty analysis, socksie J.

OMG Andy! Nearly missed this one since I don't check in as much any more! Happy Belated Birthday wishes to my favorite Dodger's fan! I hope your day was special and you celebrated it with your fun friends. May this coming year be a fabulous one and full of surprises for you. Hugs! Jean

OMG, Bow. So happy for you (and Bow, Jr., of course) Love, J.

Hi Raf ~ I don't get in here much any more because of my travel schedule, but had to send a hearty congratulations and best wishes to you and the bride-to-be. I'm so happy for you, my friend. Enjoy every minute! Hugs, warm wishes and happy thoughts for your wedding day! J.

Hi David ~ I WAS THERE!!!! We got tickets at the last minute and sat right near the start/finish line about 14 rows up from the track. We were right across from Ed Carpenter's and Michael Andretti's pits. Great seats and loads of fun - - even with the rain, but Oh! wouldn't it have been great to have had it go the entire way. Very close at the end when they called it with Tony Kanan, Danica, Helio and Marco Andretti in and out of 1st, 2nd and 3rd - - and Michael Andretti up there too! Would have loved to have seen any of them win. Luck of the timing of the pitstops in the end and Dario won - - although he did run a good race. We had been at the track for the rookie qualifying, time trials, pole day and bump day the past few weekends. Then, Sat. night went to the "Little 500" in Anderson, IN (sprint cars / 500 laps). What a blast that was! What a great month of May and then RAIN on race day, darn it! :( Anyway, nothing like spending this weekend at the Indianapolis 500. Worth the 2 hours in traffic to get home! Hope all is well with you, David :) J.

Hi The Highway ~ I agree. That re-telling of Deborah with Jones on the back of the bus gave me the willies. I posted my thoughts and comments on the Jonestown thread that's going on the Open section and don't know how to link it here. I thought PBS did a great job providing background, context and a matter-of-fact telling by the survivors (even by Jim Jones, Jr.) of what transpired - - so to see the amount of emotion at the end by each one of them as they re-tell about the mass suicide and who in their families died is just simply mind numbing. I just sat there at the end staring at the TV. J.

I watched the entire program and thought it was very well done. It was hauntingly eerie and left me with chills and reminders of so many of our discussions/dissections of our own personal cult experiences. I thought PBS did a good job of providing a solid context of regional religious influences (1950s tent ministries, the 1960s disillusionment with mainstream religion, etc.), the idealism that came out of the 60s that effected, not just youth, but a diverse group of people who really wanted "more"; wanted to reverse the injustices of the past, who felt like a better society - - the "heaven on earth" references (which really creeped me out) - - was possible. There was a lot I had forgotten about the story's timeline (and my own "parallel universe" of sorts that was following a very similar timeline and pattern!) . I forgot how early on Jim Jones started the People's Temple. I knew about his Indiana area stint (living here in Indy, the house they occupied was thought to be haunted and was left vacant for years), but didn't realize his group was so racially mixed and what had prompted the move to NoCal. I remembered quite a bit of the Calif. story (interesting recounting of the number of hours worked, the number of meetings, etc. and how exhausted they were until they "could not think for themselves...it was easier for Jim to think for us..." Scary!). The interview of Deborah Layton (the young girl who Jones "did" in the back of the bus) - - what he said to her, what he said about the "privilege", what his wife could not provide him with - - wow, was that a MOG script from the time or what???? I can't even imagine one of our ex-twi "MOG" motorcoach victims being able to watch that scene. I had totally forgotten after all these years, about Congressman Ryan. Wow, to see that footage and Jones' paranoia by that point, the fear of the people to speak up, the repercussions when they did speak up, the man's story who slipped the note to the reporter (then watched his wife and baby die - - WOW! Shocking!) - - very disturbing....the agitation of the entire group as people voiced the desire to leave. I remember reading that Ryan was shot by members, but the footage that was preserved and so well presented really made an impact. I think the most haunting part of the entire program was the ending - - the letter read that the female member wrote (knowing she was probably going to die there) - - and her chilling warning to preserved all the records, the tapes, all the footage as a testimony and so the story was not forgotten. And yes, I agree with you George. Somewhere there is a line that is majorly crossed between a well-intentioned idealism of sorts and where it goes seriously wrong, abusive, and controlling into paranoid insanity a la this group, David Koresh, and twi, etc. Much to think about and digest.

Tell her???? She was flying in front of the dragon on Chinese New Years!!!! J.

Oh, dang, Shell! I HATE it when that happens. We're getting a ton of rain and have been under a tornado watch all day. Good news is that the rain has nearly melted all the snow!!!! But, more coming on Fri and Sat!!! I'm ready for spring! I hope Kel found something else fun to do, poor thing! J.

Aw, great pics and congrats to the lovely couple! Wow, Baby K is all growed up!!! What a doll still! Thanks for sharing and happy belated, Samantha dear! J.

I already wished you one, but hope you had a great day, CA Dreamin! J.

Hey! It's the YEAR OF THE PIG!!!! Pigs all year!!! Woo hoo!!!! Happy Birthday, dear Psalmie!!! J.

Awwwwww, thank you all for your warm wishes. I did have such a nice day. Received greetings from all of you and then my family from all over (even Korea!), notes and calls from friends, etc. (and beautiful red roses!!!). Goofed off most of the day, got my driver's license renewed (yes I'm still 5'2" and that same weight from 5 years ago) (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha) then went to dinner with a friend and my son at the Cheesecake Factory. Had some yummy appetizers (to save room for dessert) and then the Godiva Chocolate Brownie with hot fudge, whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. The three of us barely made a dent in it and I woke up this morning still with a sugar buzz!!!! Thank you for the greetings! (and all you private messagers!) (((((((Tonto, T-Bone (cool pic), QT, Bill, StrangeHombre, Cheffie, Shell, Rocky, Robin, Dr. Sudo (thank you for the song), David and Onion)))))))))) Love to you all! ....and Rocky - - I await each spring with my VERY FAVORITE FLOWER OF ALL - - the beloved cherry blossom (see my avatar) - - so thanks for the lovely cherry blossom garden!!!! xoxoxo Hugs, J.

Hey Miss Dawn! Happy belated, sweet lady! Hope this is the beginning of a wonderful year for you! Love, J.

Another 5 inches today J.

Hi Cheffie ~ I hear ya. I didn't mean for it to sound like I risked our lives. We were just in our neighborhood on a couple of streets that were plowed. It wasn't snowing when I dropped him, but started coming down on the way home. Got stuck turning in her (unplowed) driveway/street and the deep pile at the foot of my driveway where they had plowed (thought I could barrel through) But thanks for your concern. I wouldn't take a chance on doing something too stupid in that kinda weather. Tonto ~ PM J.

Calflor ~ I've lived on the north side since I moved to Indy 5 years ago and love it here, though I miss the ocean (from NoCal). In all that time, we've only had two bad storms. The rest of the winters have been mild to normal with a few inches of snow here and there, but not for long! J.

Well, Indiana got hit pretty hard - - lots of ice storms with snow and power outages in the south. Central IN (where I am in Indy) rec'd about 8-12" depending on the city. We had 8" here at my house. Tuesday was our first snow day in the 8 years we've been in the Midwest, so Joseph was soooooooo happy! It dropped about 4 inches, then we had sleet for about 4 hours, then a few more inches of snow. We made a quick trip to his girlfriend's house in the treacherous, nearly blizzard portion of the day, so they could "see each other" before Valentine's Day when we knew the roads would probably be closed and only got stuck twice, gunned it and pushed a little and just barely made it home and up the driveway. Yesterday was snow day #2 and most counties in Central and Northern IN were closed to traffic, emergency vehicles and snow plows only til about noon while they cleared the main arteries. The boy and I spent about 6 hours digging out from the overnight "drifts" that wildly blew from rooftops, increasing our 8" to about 2". My poor Jack Russel Terrier, Oliver, who loves the snow went out yesterday and came back in whimpering "I can't go anywhere" as the snow buried him, so I had to dig him some paths in the backyard so he could "go". :) I'll tell ya, shoveling front walks, mailbox paths, long driveway and backyard made me feel every bit my nearly 52 years. Can you say "sore back"??? It was nice and sunny all day though, a nice reprieve to the gloom we've been having. Side roads finally got plowed enough for company to arrive for Valentine's Day dinner Roses, nice dinner, a fire and a good Merlot. Boy, I LOVE winter ;) J.

Will do. We're all geared up for it You be safe and warm too, Kath! J.

Here in Indianapolis, we're due to start in a couple of hours and continue for nearly 24 hours. They are forecasting 8-12" here and 12-16" about an hour north of us. We are just coming off of 6" from last week (which was really our first significant snow this year that "stuck"). The salting and snow plow crews have been set up for hours. We're hoping for enough overnight for Joseph's first snow day (cuz Mom sure doesn't want to drive in it tomorrow morning!). I had to pick up in the 6" we rec'd last week (which dumped right at commute time) and it was 2.5 hours round trip for something that normally takes 40 minutes. J.

Happy belated, dear lady. How very sweet of Kelly! I love it! So happy to hear you were remembered by so many special people in your life! Hugs, J.