Fall...slowly browning off to a close, now. In a couple of weeks the trees will be bare. Already we are getting a taste of winter-to-come. Pulled out my brown leather and it is creaking like a saddle. Must pick up some conditioner soon.
Wednesday was a huge day for Chris...who bought his first new-off-the-showroom floor car...ever.
Even had the forethought to get a shot of the mileage at less than 100 miles. I wish I had done this in 1978 with my Oldmobile Starfire.
He is taking me out soon for Brunch and a drive to Turkey Run! Can't wait! He and Tina and I went for a short drive the night he bought it and it just glides. The dashboard looks like you could land the Space Shuttle.
Spent yesterday enjoying Almost Home with The Shelburn Bank Gang.
Yes...for a fleeting moment over 35 years ago...when we were young and invincible (and stupid..did I mention stupid)...we had the insane notion we were going to "knock over" the Shelburn Bank. With only one Marshal for the entire town...one bank guard...no surveillance cameras back then...and both an intricate plan and an escape route...it seemed...with enough alcohol...like a GREAT idea.
(...it is only with age that you begin to absorb the entire weight of the word "felony, I guess...)
Well, we were Nearly Notorious...remain un-incarcerated...and still live on to laugh about it today.
The building still bearing Shelburn Bank now sits abandoned. Closed.
We waited too late.
World Class Procrastinators.
Also was thinking a lot about the 1970's, in general, last night. I have been watching as so many many people are now coming out of nowhere (after 30-40 years) claiming sexual harassment.
And this certainly is NOT giving a pass to Roy Moore or Kevin Spacey or even Al Franken or Trump. Especially if you have a 14 year old (male or female) accuser.
At 14...even if you LOOK like you are 19....you are still a CHILD.
But I think the thing we are missing from The Big Picture of 1970-Something accusers and their 2017 targets is this...
It was the 70's.
Sexual Revolution.
It wasn't ALL Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll...but a lot of it was.
There are probably guys out there who could honestly say that woman (even me) grab-assed them, too.
"Respect you in the morning....hell....I don't respect you now."
I actually remember laughing and using this line once...okay.?
It wasn't I'll love you for ever and ever and ever...it was more along the lines of
"I'll love you this weekend...or this month...or tonight."
And all parties involved were cool with that.
(...yes...and I did just use the word cool in a sentence...sigh...)
It was a completely different time.
We had free love and communes for god-sake. We shunned material "stuff" and were far from PC. And nobody had the "ohmigod I am a victim" mentality that is prevalent today.
Love was amorphous...rules and commitment being tossed aside and for a short while nobody tried to own anybody. We prided ourselves in not trying to OWN anybody else. Children were conceived as part of the group and raised by everyone. BC was available and sometimes even used. HIV wasn't part of the scene yet.
It was on our Bumper Stickers. Seriously.
It truly was a different time.
Then eventually we grew up. Left communal living for various and mostly valid reasons. Stopped calling each other Sunshine and Rainbow, Goat, Bear and Dewdrop. Walked away from the drugs for the most part...some bearing tattoos that they found themselves lying to their children about
"No honey, that is a Japanese Maple Leaf...why on Earth would I have a pot leaf tattooed on my arm?"
We paid our mortgages, worked our day jobs, raised our children, and little by little the day to day life erased the 70's.
But (as recent news events have reminded us) even if we have forgot them...they haven't forgot some of us.
We laughed our asses off at Dan Ackroyd- SNL saying
"Jane, you IGNORANT slut"
and her quickly retorting
"Only a Reactionary Ass, as yourself, Dan..."
Can you imagine her coming forward today to claim she was
"Verbally Abused and a Victim"
Context was Everything...and the 1970's should be taken in context.
We watched Archie Bunker...and we laughed. We weren't offended. We knew he was outrageous...and stupid...and wrong.
Kind of like most of the 1970's actually.
Just saying.
It is a slippery slope.
The next finger you see might be pointed toward you.
This week's book..newly released
If you are/were ever a Kurt Vonnegut Fan (and I certainly am) this is a wonderful...not to be missed collection.
Outstanding!
The news du jour
Yeah...this sums the whole business up pretty well.
More anon...
