Good morning, Green Ones. I “submitted” this diary and only then looked at the news. Now I feel like crying. I’m going to get my coffee now and read about what happened in London.
We come here to Cafe for all sorts of reasons, and one of them is to comfort each other. Are any of you worried about anybody you know over there? Has anybody talked to someone who’s there? Or does anybody have wonderful stories of London or Londoners you want to tell?
Please talk about anything you want to, of course, London or not. And, if you would, instead of recommending this, put it on your Hot List by clicking on the circle with the plus sign next to the diary title.
Ah Kansas, it is very comforting to see you here today. Let’s start with some coffee and I have a good listening ear so chat away. . .
I have a friend in Denver whose daughter is in London doing Graduate studies. She got a call early this morning to let her know she was all right. One less to worry over.
BooMan put up a chilling comparison this morning, in one of the threads, of the timing of the various 9/11 attacks and the timing of these new ones. I’m afraid people are going to miss it as the threads disappear down the page, so here it is:
9/11 vs. 7/7 Local Time
8:46 Flight 11 hits North Tower
8:51 Norwood explosion
9:03 Flight 175 hits South Tower
8:56 Aldgate explosion
I saw something about this on tv this morning — other attacks i.e. Madrid, Japan subways were also around 8:50 to 9 a.m. Commentator thought it was timed for commuters. It’s hard to even type that thought completely, you know what I mean.
I just read through a large part of your diary/comments zander. It was great that you got right on it so people would have a place to talk.
I guess it’s only human, but I just can’t help but feel sadder about a place I’ve been to several times and about people I “know” than I do sometimes about places I don’t know at all. All people are equal, and this would be tragic anywhere it happened, but when things happen to ones we know it hits harder, it just does.
On wry comment. . .first time I’ve had on the tv news in months, I think. They’re good at this, at least. Until the political analysis starts, of course.
I know what you mean – I don’t know London well, but I have been, and it does make it harder.
The good news is that there was very little panic, the response was well-organized, and Londoners seems determined to remind themselves that they’ve been through this before and survived….
i have a dear friend in london…. am very concerned about him. don’t have a phone number, left him messages via yahoo messenger and email and hoping for the best.
First time in the cafe. I’m guessing this is just an open thread?
Welcome, welcome JLongs. It’s good to see you here. Yep, this is kind of like a perpetual Open Thread only probably less political than most of those. This is where people come to be political if they want to, but also share their photos, the personal stuff that’s going on in their lives, their joys, their frustrations, their fav jokes, drink recipes, just about anything.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your friend. Let us know when you hear.
He’s OK, just heard back from him. He said its a lot calmer than you’d expect. Most people are worried about how they’re going to get home. He moved recently, and one of the stations that got hit is the one he used to use. Thank goodness he moved.
jlongs, glad you found your way into the cafe. And I am so glad that your friend is okay. Feel free to hang out here and chat about anything whenever you want to. It is just a free and easy place where we can share all the things that are going on with us and have some company.
Hey JLongs, nice to see you here! I only occasionally wander in, but I’m thinking I may have to spend some more time here. For one thing the soft drinks have real sugar, and no calories (great for us diabetics).
It’s a sobering event in London. It brings up all kinds of questions in my mind, besides being horribly upset about the deaths and injuries.
How will the Bush administration use this to their advantage? Will people rally behind him again thinking that we are doing the right thing in Iraq? Will they again link the WOT to the war in Iraq? Will this godawful war ever end?
For my part I am completely certain that our actions in Iraq have created more enemies than we had on September 10, 2001.
It’s so strange. If Blair and Bush come out and say, as they will, some version of “we have to get them!” will people finally look at them incredulously and think, “In Iraq??”
I was planning on starting the Cafe and then going back to work this morning, because I have a deadline to meet (or not, as the case may be). Now I think it’s going to be hard to leave here.
I woke up this morning, and headed in to work without turning on the TV (as usual). Sat down at my desk to the terrible news out of London. After nearly 2 hours of trying to come to grips with what has happened, I need to just…chill for a while.
A special thanks goes out to zander, for the initial London diary and all your helpful updates throughout the morning.
Hi,ejmw. It sure is nice to have the Cafe (thanks, Diane). It feels like friends sitting around talking, a refuge in the political storms.
I’m struck by your comment that you headed “in to work without turning on the TV (as usual).” Isn’t that the truth? They have lost us. I’ve got BBC on right now, thanks to the front page advice.
They sure have lost us. When the most observant purveyor of news is on Comedy Central as opposed to any of the myriad 24/7 news networks, you know there is a problem.
I heard the news about 3 AM my time, when I woke up for a few minutes and my always on radion was reporting the news. I was going to spring up and start blogging, but I knew that Zander and those on the far side of the world would do so and I managed to go back to sleep. So thanks to you all, esp. ms. Zander.
I want to calm some of you who are so worried this will somehow back up Bush and Blair and “their course was right theory.”
I think you will find the opposite to be true when the dust settles on this. According to Alquada, what I have seen so far this is the result of their warning to get out of Iraq, as in the case of Madrid.
I think this will go against war plans and bring up the need to get out of Iraq, I am sure the British will be pounding their governments to get out after this. Just as we should.
Thanks for the reassuring words, and I do so hope you are right. I am still afraid of how they will try to spin this through fear manipulation. Lot and lots of talk in the diaries about the correct response from the left.
If there is any message here it is that terrorists are small groups. Invading countries and starting general wars will never, ever solve the problem.
Very glad to have an FBC to hang out in today, it’s the only place I can bear to be right now.
I was also up quite early this morning — about 5:00 AM. I couldn’t sleep so I went online and saw the news. Sometimes I wonder at these events and how we all seem to be connected through them in some collective consciousness that seems to permeate our individual feelings and dreams. There has been an unbearable tension in the air the past week or so, and now this happens, like a great thunderstorm or lightning bolt — a tremendous build up, then a strike.
A good point to remember, that has been brought up on other diaries is that Iraq citizen go through this every day. And I as a friend of an Iraqi go through this everyday with her, thinking about her and wondering if she is still alive. I am sure military folks do as well…
All I know for sure is that we just have to keep on with what we are doing and work for the impeachment of the president and company and end of our involvement in war in Iraq.
Here is an interesting article in Aljazeera today, also check out this site as it has other stories not widely reported here. http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8818
In a report on EU-Iraq relations, Greek conservative Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos said the key to reversing the disastrous security situation two years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein was to phase out the western military presence.
“The problem is that foreign troops are still in the country. I think it is going to be critical that they be replaced by a UN peacekeeping force,” he told the EU assembly, while he acknowledged that such a feat could not be done overnight.
On a good day (i.e. clear and no clouds) I’ll be going across the 520 bridge, having just passed Lake Union and the Space Needle with the Olympic Mountains in the background, and I’ll look out over Lake Washington at Mount Rainier and I’ll think . . . “Damn, I’m in Seattle! How cool is that?!”
It’s been over 13 years now and I still haven’t gotten over the feeling of being somewhere so beautiful, the only place in the world I can really imagine myself living. Pictures like the one you posted are yet another reason why.
Where are you located, anyway? I know it’s around here someplace.
Last night, the spouse called work and took a sick day; he wasn’t feeling great and needed a mental recharge day. When he told me he was calling in sick, I thought, “Shit, there goes the routine”; now I’m glad to have him home and safe, at least for today.
I got up at 7 and showered; he was still in bed. When I came out of the shower, he was out of bed and changing the batteries in the remote so he could turn on the TV; “there’ve been some explosions in London,” he told me; he’d turned on the radio and heard the reports.
I’m eerily reminded of 9/11 — again, the first news I had was from the spouse (though he was heading out the door to work that day), and again I’m glued to the TV, far away in distance yet strangely connected; as a transit rider and spouse of a bus driver, I take these attacks personally — and not very well. If the spouse and I lived in England, he could have been the driver of that bus that was bombed…or I could have been on the Underground heading to work or shopping or what have you.
Sorry for the length of this piece — I need to vent, and the spouse hears it too damn much every day…
that Homeland Security chief will speak at 11:45 EDT (8:45 PDT); wonder if there’ll be even more regulations for the spouse to put up with when he gets back to work tomorrow…
You picked the right place, so vent away. These things are always so filled with our disbelief, shock and then the reveberations of the what ifs. We all go there.
So vent all you wish to, for as long as you need to. That’s what we are here for.
I’m actually coping a bit better than on 9/11 — been watching BBC America and the calm voices of the British newscasters are having a good effect…much more so than the American “The world is coming to an end!” attitude. Perhaps the British have a more balanced view, since they’ve been through terrorism before with IRA bombings and such. (“Shocked but not surprised” is one reaction I’ve heard from British police.)
Alert level raised to “orange” for transit systems; there’ll probably be a notification in the spouse’s pouch (where important stuff goes, like the schedule paddle and the daily defect card to fill out) when he pulls out tomorrow morning…so I’ll hear all about it tomorrow afternoon…
We were talking about tv news above. There was a period, maybe 25 years ago, when I stopped watching tv news because of the “world is ending!!” tone of American broadcasts. I can’t even remember what the crisis was that meant the world was ending at that time, but I guess it didn’t end, after all.
It’s so great now to be able to get news from THIS medium and from other countries, too.
i was a bus driver for nine years here in pittsburgh. Its not an easy job under the best circumstances. my best to your husband-from one who understands the stress very well.
as of this past January — actually still enjoys the job fairly well, since he’s got decent seniority and can take some less-stressful runs (especially now that we’re close to having all our bills paid off), but is seriously considering retirement in 9 years. (He could technically retire in 6 years when he hits 55, but if he waits till I’m 55 as well we both get lifetime medical coverage; extremely cool in this economy!)
I did enjoy having him home today, even though we didn’t get much done today; just a few errands, and went to Sweet Tomatoes for soup/salad. It’ll be good to have him back at work tomorrow though… 🙂
Just to add a note of love an warmth contained in this pic, of my daughter Jessica at about 13 and her dog Buster, just a pup.
He was just the cutest dog, no longer with us, but I still think of him every single day.He was a Chihuahua.and just loved my daughter to the exclusion of all else except me when she was not around.
He used to run away from me all the time and even jumped out of the car and ran miles home with me chasing him afoot, thru apartment complexes, shouting, stop that dog, and no one did. He was so fast for being so little.
I have Oxford friends who have to go into London for business quite regularly. While chances are that they are OK, I am eager to hear from them. Just thought I’d put that out there on this my first visit to the Cafe, with warm hopes for all in these crummy times.
Hi, librarylil, and welcome to the FBC. I really hope you’ll stick around and then come back lots of times. We love it here.
Let us know when you hear that your friends are safe, okay? I’m going to assume they are!
Does your moniker mean you work in a library or that you read a lot of books from libraries? We have a Cafe denizen who is getting her degree in library science and another one who works in a library, and at least one or two other library people, too. Not to mention all the compulsive readers. 🙂
Thank you Kansas, I will keep you posted. It’s nice to have pals here! I work in a library, have been in this line of work on and off for about thirty years. I’ll be happy to tell you more about it some time…. right now I’m in the middle of coordinating the shift of about a thousand bound government documents in the stacks upstairs!
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I confess to 7-7 as my birthday.
But only info you get is my badge number and time interval of birth:
a booming baby born after the end of WWII in Europe and …
My son’s birthday is today also. I’m getting off work a bit early to meet up with the rest of the family and he’s going to go try to put an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet out of business.
I have a condition called viral labyrinithitis. It’s an inflammation of the inner ear and causes tinnitus, temporary hearing loss, and vertigo. It recurs in a non-sensical fashion, now and then I just get dizzy. The attacks have lessened but it seems like once a year or so I get a real corker of an attack. When I went to the doctor he prescribed Antivert which is kinda like an industrial strength dramamine that I’m to take when I feel a dizzy spell coming on. The problem being that it knocks me right the heck out.
I had to take one last night and I’ve been in a semi-stupor ever since.. didn’t go to work today. Last night and just now I’ve had some extremely vivid, weird, detailed dreams which has not been my experience with antivert until today.
First dream, I dreamed I quit smoking. It was so vivid that when I woke up, I was actually disappointed that I hadn’t actually quit.
Second one was weirder and much longer. I’m 44 years old and have been married for a month, I have 2 grown (19 and 21) daughters. I dreamed that Bob and I had a baby, and that I was carrying her around in some park festival or something. We had a picnic, met up with some weirdos, some other weirdos tried to kill me for interfering with one of their rituals, scratched the baby with a knife at which point I became enraged and tried to kill them. Met up with the first weirdos who were cool ones, kinda like hippies, were smoking pot and helped me take care of the baby. At some point Bob and I got separated and when I tried to call him, someone else had left a voice mail message on his phone, so I figured he’d lost his phone. It was really weird and disjointed, and none of it makes dream-interpretation sense.
Not yet anyway. I’ll have to mull it over a while. I just think it was a massive brainwave dump from the meds. Or having MSNBC on while I was sleeping.
Sounds like a recent Sunday afternoon I had here in NC. I went to this organic market/salad bar/hippie hangout. It was like stepping back into the 70’s! Everyone is sitting out on the lawn, listening to folk music, most of the guys are bearded and barefoot, the women (some well into their 60’s) are braless…there was one women who just absolutely transfixed me. She had on a tank top and yoga pants and was doing this hula hoop thing where she gyrated slowly and kept stepping through the spinning hoop. There was a drum circle and lots and lots of Birkenstocks. Weird and cool at the same time.
My layman dream analysis; your dream with hus. baby and then thinking of killing, sounds to me like you are trying to create something (perhaps with husband) and you feel it is in danger, does not have to be a real baby, but you want your ‘creation’ to be free from attack and will protect it at all cost. Does any of this corelate with your real life or awake life.
Sorry about your illness, it seems many of us suffer from ills on this site.
Sorry to hear about your flare up. I have a friend who has something similar and it causes her to miss out on certain things at times. It must be a drag!
About dreams, Have you heard of Patricia Garfield? She has written alot about dreams. She even came up with a system where you could track your dream symbols and come up with a whole personal dream language. Then you make a mandala of your dream symbols. It’s fun stuff, I keep saying one of these days I’ll have more time to devote to dream tracking and such.
I’ve read one of Patricia Garfield’s books on dreams and I thought it was terrific.
JLongs, maybe at some level you tapped into some knowledge about the violence that was going to happen today. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that a whole lot of people around the world had weird dreams last night.
Has anybody ever had a lucid dream, where you “wake up” inside your dream and then manipulate it as you wish? I’ve had two of them. . .very briefly, and I feel back into regular dreaming before I did much. . .but try as I may I can’t seem to repeat the experience.
Lucid Dreams are great. Stephen LaBerge has this technique where you wake yourself up a few hours before you regular waking time, say 5:00 AM if you get up at 7:00 or 8:00. Then you stay up for an hour doing something lightly stimulating, nothing too arousing but enough to keep you awake. Then you go back to bed, and as you drop off you give yourself the suggestion that the next thing you experience will be a dream.
I found, by accident, that this actually works. There was a time when I was not working and I would often retire to have a nap a few hours after I got up. I had some vivid lucid dreams this way. Staying asleep after you become lucid is hard. I find it works best if I don’t get let myself get too excited, but instead try to remain calm until I can firmly set myself in the dream. Then after that I would try to explore.
I can relate to your veritgo, labrinthitis problems. Been there myself a few times. It is really weird to wake up in the moring and not be able to get out of bed because you can’t find a place of balance. Antivert has been pretty helpful, at least it seems to help me navigate when I have to take it.
It sounds as if your dreams were influenced by the meds. I wouldn’t put too much energy into trying to figure them out.
Nice to have you hanging out here. Glad you decided to stay for a bit.
I have Mineart’s disease, an inner ear inbalnce with no cure but would have severe dizzy spells that started with a numbness in the back of my head near the neck. I could actually feel it coming on. Antivert was prescribed and helped alot. Never experienced the dream connection with it though.
I will however fall asleep watching television and several times what ever is on tv is incorporated in my dreams. Really bizzar ones at times.
The spouse had some sort of vertigo-like problems several years ago; it put him off work and on sick leave for a couple of months while they did all sorts of tests to try and figure out what was causing them. They disappeared as suddenly as they appeared, so they think it may have been some sort of virus.
Post-9/11 anxiety hit him (and our marriage) a lot harder, but that’s another story for another day…
Hi everyone, my mom had a minor surgical procedure that has turned into something a little (not too bad) more serious. So, I’ve been at the hospital all day. And I’m supposed to be resting a little before going back for another hour or so.
I’ve never been to London, but have read so many books that take place there, I feel like I know it. (please don’t tell me I’m wrong — that delusion is all I have)
In our family, we don’t wake people up for bad news. So, I had an hour of watching the BBC by myself until everyone else woke up. At one point I thought that this would be a good day to be in the surgery waiting room — I thought I’d be able to watch the news. Wrong! First it was Regis, then it was The View, at that point we moved into the hall.
I thought about how you were all doing. Kansas, did you meet your deadline?
I’m still aiming for that deadline, thanks for asking, but I think it was always impossible. Instead of tomorrow, I may be finished on Monday and that’ll still be okay.
Thanks, Cali – I will. It’s a complicated thing involving blood infections, kidney stones, infected artificial knees, and (I think) a fair amount of exhaustion. Oh, and she’s 81 with 4 stints in her heart.
Luckily my dad is a systems guy, so he’s pretty good at keeping track of what happens next.
into the “planned obsolescence” category, especially with that age. Then again, I never really conceived of my mom as being old, at least not till the last few years of her life when she got beat down by cancer, emphysema, and just general exhaustion catching up to her. I’m still having a little trouble with the fact that I have no living parents…
I hope everyone is doing well this afternoon. It’s been a horrible day hasn’t it. It puts the small annoyances in our lives into perspective. I’ve been so busy at the office today I haven’t had much time for news and such. My husband has been instant messeging me to keep me up to speed. It seems to me that the people of London as much better prepared than we are and have much better copeing skills than we do. I haope that everyone that has family and friends over there has heard from them and all is well. Blessing to all.
YUM cake…I love cake..I would have ice cream to but in this heat it would melt in a second. It’s so dry here I blew my nose this afternoon and had a half hour nose bleed..gross…
Geez, now THAT’S one thing I never think about when I’m whining about our humidity. I’ll feel more grateful next time! Oh, heck, no I won’t. I’m never grateful for humidity.
It’s been so humid the past couple of weeks that just stepping outside to retrieve the paper feels like when you walk into the bathroom and someone is taking a really really hot shower. It’s like you can see the moisture just hanging in the air.
We’re due to get some thunderstorms from Cindy but it doesn’t look like it will cool us down any. Possibly just make it more humid? Great.
If I’m reading the NOAA records correctly, we haven’t has rain since May 29 – six weeks or so? 104° yesterday. I overwatered the veggie garden this morning (set the timer but I think I turned up the soaker hoses too high).
And look what I’ve done! (I’ve always been able to make it rain by watering – especially when I water too much.)
From my front porch.
ManEgee will be so jealous.
I’m going to make pickles now. The World is too much today. Rain, pickles.
Thanks for sharing your rain, Janet. Nothing quite like a summer rain, except it is funny to see it falling straight down. We have so much wind here in Idaho it is always at an angel. (please refrain from all the jokes about if I would keep my mouth shut once in a while there wouldn’t be so much wind here. . .I think I’ve heard them all. LOL)
However, this has been a fabulous and unusual year for us so far we had an actual Spring and we had frequent rain for April, May and June. I have been loving it. We don’t get rain very often here in the high desert mountain valleys.
So I am enjoying your vertical rain with you. And Rain and Pickles. . .what could be better!
I miss wind! For some reason we don’t get very much here in Raleigh. I’m used to lots of wind growing up on the north shore of Lake Erie; quick summer thunderstorms with 50 or 60 mph gusts and then the temperature would go down 20 degrees and it would be great sleeping weather.
As I’m writing this there is some thunder and lightning, but so far no wind and very little rain. I’m hoping for both. I’m a storm freak.
I grew up sitting on the screen porch during severe storms…so my kids threw up thinking that a tornado watch means you go sit on the porch!
Oh Laura, I somehow knew you were a storm nut too! I used to drive my mother crazy with my insistence of running out into the thunder and lightening downpours we had. I still do it. I just absolutely love it. The rolling thunder just does something grand in me. The flashes of lightening are the best fireworks in the world!
I remember being down at the lakefront when a big storm was rolling across the water from Canada. I’d sit there with my notebook, writing bad, angst-ridden teenage poetry and playing chicken with the the lightning and wind. At the last possible second I would jump onto my bike and race home so my mom wouldn’t ground me. But it always excited and inspired something in me.
I grew up sailing the south shore from Cleveland to Sandusky & Put-In-Bay.
It was Mom who taught me to appreciate storms. I weathered a number in small open boats in open waters variously sailing or instructing. They’re wild, easily hitting 50 knots, with several well into the 80 knot range as we later found were clocked by nearby freighters.
It’s one of the prime things I miss in Puget Sound, which has lighter winds than Lake Erie and almost no seas to speak of. Weather-wise, it’s like being given a rotary heart–the steady mild weather here in contrast to the weekly Midwest pulse of hot Gulf air, storms, Canadian cold air, and period SW desert air bringing dry wind.
Akron, Massillon & several western suburbs of Cleveland. It’s all very similar weather of course, from much of the east coast through the midwest and out to the Rockies, wherever the Gulf and Canadian air can mix.
Except in parts of spring and fall, right down near the Lake. Temps could be 20 degrees colder along the beach on some warm spring days, due to the cold lake water, and sometimes in the autumn it could be warmer. All the Great Lakes have weather zones around them.
People often forget Great Lakes geometry when they look at weather of central Ohio down to Columbus. Going NNW of Columbus is western Lake Erie and then the whole length of Lake Huron. There are times when winds push a lot of moisture down through Ohio.
It’s odd about the West Coast, when you think that Gulf of Mexico air pushes 1500 miles and more up to Hudson’s Bay, but Pacific Air barely makes it 50 miles over the Cascades and Rockies before the mountains wring it dry. It’s hard to exaggerate how different our weather would be if for example the Rockies stretched from Texas to Georgia and it was flat from the Appalachians to the Pacific shore.
But if you take a 1 foot globe of the earth and want to model the atmosphere to scale, the entire space for our weather is confined inside a coat of varnish over the surface.
“it is always at an angel, from your comment above, was that a freudian slip, by any chance.
How are you doing up there in Idaho, shirl, writing and happy I hope.
YeS. . .ROFLOL. . .my fruedian slip is showing. . .I should know better than to use the word angle, because it always comes out angel. . .too funny!!! (Calling all angels. . .Shirl has foot in mouth yet again!)
Yeah, me and the angels have been playing solitare. . .I know that sounds funny, but this is a pretty funny group of angels. . .heheheheh. . .No, really, yes I am writing and happy and debating over fixing a real meal or a sandwich or just some cottage cheese and peaches. . .too many choices, it seems.
Missing some time again this week, so I am a little confused about what day it is, although I am pretty sure it is Thursday. . .but it doesn’t feel like Thursday. . .
And don’t anyone read anything like “old timers disease” as my friend calls it, into that. . .just a little floaty this week. And at my physical size, floaty is a very good thing, if not miraculous! LOL
Remember, I claim my space as resident weirdo here, and this note should be proof enough of that.
Cucumbers peeled, sliced and sitting in salt and ice, so I’m taking a little break. AC off, back door open, listening to the rain with thunder rumbling in the background. Ahhhhh.
Recipe for this round of pickles – “faux watermelon rind” pickles. I love watermelon rind pickles but they are so much trouble, peeling that hard rind. So I’m going to try the recipe with cukes – but not the long cooking. If anyone has tried this and knows it doesn’t work, don’t tell me. It’s too late now. It’s not like I don’t already have plenty of the usual varieties. Check out my cabinet. (Note to self – next time, more beans, fewer cucumbers.)
It’s past 7 in Kansas, which means the east coast is already well into their second martini and the west coast is thirsty. I think we’ll keep this thread running until we get closer to 100. And that would be Comments, not degrees.
Not very well, I’m afraid. I didn’t check the news before I left this morning, so I had my first inkling that something somewhere had happened when getting on the DC Metro. The Red line was crawling with security, with automatic weapons across their chests and dogs on short leashes. The only other time I’ve seen that was after the Madrid bombings last year.
Haven’t been able to bring myself to post before now; I’ve started probably a dozen comments in various discussions but haven’t finished them. For some reason I just haven’t been able to find the words.
Actually I think a good pint of bitters or something else British would do me well right now. I’m going to watch “Shakespeare in Love” (or maybe “A Man for All Seasons”) with my housemate and have some Cadbury’s. Tomorrow if I have the afternoon free I plan to hike over to the British Embassy on Mass. Ave & sign the book (if they have one). If it’s not entirely inappropriate, I’ll sign on behalf of the FBC Regulars.
Hey Feld. . .we understand if you aren’t feeling quite up to your regular self today. We are always just so glad to see you and it just feels good having you around whether you have words to say or not.
If you are a summer rain nut like some of us here, Janet Strange has brought some along for us all to share. I would love to have you along for a walk in the rain if that appeals to you.
Get comfy, sit awhile. We’re here if you need or want something.
Ha! We’re actually under a flood warning tonight because the remnants of whatever tropical storm it was are cruising up the East Coast. I had to make sure the drain in front of my basement door (half below street-level) was clear of the usual detritus, so the basement doesn’t flood. Thanks for the kind offer, though!
It’s showtime, so I’ll take my leave for the evening. Blessings to everyone here!
good evening. i didn’t even find the diary today. i thought no one made one. i searched using FBC. i’m so down today i’m not much fun anyway. hope everyone is doing well.
What do you mean you couldn’t find the cafe,, it’s right down there on recent diary street…I guess the lights were not turned on bright enough and it’s kinda quiet in here right now.
Why are you down, the news or personal?
both, is’t that the way it always works? last night, and today, i’m haunted by an image and then today, i wake up to london. and then sometimes i really try to do something and end up with nothing. nothing with me though, not really. just trauma. most of the time i’m very hopeful but then i’ll have a bad day.
i missed the diary because i was doing a “find” for FBC. too lazy to type frogg!
You don’t have to be fun, bayprairie, even though you usually are. You just have to be here! I’m so sorry we were hard to find today of all days. (The day version of it was titled, “Thursday at the Foggy Bottom Cafe. I think. I’ve already forgotten.)
The last couple of days we’ve been encouraging people to put the cafe on their own hot lists instead of recommending it, so that may have been why we were hard to find.
I wonder if that’s going to be a problemo. We need that special Cafe button!
Maybe the diaries should start with Froggy Bottom as some don’t even recognize the fBC yet, shockingly surprising I have to say.
Rec or don’t rec, its hard to say…it doesn’t really need a tab, it could be a separate box, like world and recent diaries, but I suspect that may be not that easy to do, and booman says it is down his list…of to do items..
Did I say Hi Kansas and time today….i have been sorta out of it today.
I think you did say hi, Diane. If you didn’t I heard it anyway! 🙂
You may be right about needing all these diaries to start with Froggy Bottom Cafe. Also, I agree that a lot of people still don’t recognize FBC, plus newcomers won’t.
I understand what people mean about seamingly more important diaries deserving the recommended slot more. But I really don’t think our Cafe is less deserving.
I think it’s one of the features of this site that makes it special. It could be said that it’s just another Open Thread, but it isn’t really. It’s a virtual cafe, with all the informal chattiness that implies.
I’ve used the hotlist and not recommended it for a day or two — But, I really think the latest one should be on the recommended list. Because it’s something I’m proud to participate in.
And I do also think that it has to start with Froggy Bottom Cafe (with whatever subtitle you want) for it to stand out.
(but I’ll keep hotlisting/not recommending until we decide otherwise)
Hi katiebird, I just posted something to this effect on the group site. I agree with you, is this diary any less important than any other diary. Consider diaries that just have a pic, and they get on the rec. list and stay there.
Yes I also think it should start with Froggy Bottom Cafe and Not FBC. So please ( all team members) go to yahoo group site and lets decide about this.
I am always glad to see you here whether you are funny or not. You are just good company. Come and sit a spell. Talk if you want, or be reflective, you know it is all good with us.
OR. . .we could all run out in the cool rain that Janet Strange brought us and get soaked and just feel how great it is that rain makes you feel. . .Ah, one of my favorites. . . standing in the rain!
i’m actually on the receiving end of the very same set of storms as i type this :::neaking on at work::: i heard about fifteen minutes ago that people are pullling off of the roadways to the side of the roads because they cannot see, its raining so hard.
Good morning, Green Ones. I “submitted” this diary and only then looked at the news. Now I feel like crying. I’m going to get my coffee now and read about what happened in London.
We come here to Cafe for all sorts of reasons, and one of them is to comfort each other. Are any of you worried about anybody you know over there? Has anybody talked to someone who’s there? Or does anybody have wonderful stories of London or Londoners you want to tell?
Please talk about anything you want to, of course, London or not. And, if you would, instead of recommending this, put it on your Hot List by clicking on the circle with the plus sign next to the diary title.
I’m really glad to see you all today!
Ah Kansas, it is very comforting to see you here today. Let’s start with some coffee and I have a good listening ear so chat away. . .
I have a friend in Denver whose daughter is in London doing Graduate studies. She got a call early this morning to let her know she was all right. One less to worry over.
BooMan put up a chilling comparison this morning, in one of the threads, of the timing of the various 9/11 attacks and the timing of these new ones. I’m afraid people are going to miss it as the threads disappear down the page, so here it is:
9/11 vs. 7/7 Local Time
8:46 Flight 11 hits North Tower
8:51 Norwood explosion
9:03 Flight 175 hits South Tower
8:56 Aldgate explosion
9:37 Flight 77 hits Pentagon
9:17 Edgware explosion
10:06 Flight 93 crashes
9:47 Explosion on bus at Tavistock Square
I saw something about this on tv this morning — other attacks i.e. Madrid, Japan subways were also around 8:50 to 9 a.m. Commentator thought it was timed for commuters. It’s hard to even type that thought completely, you know what I mean.
Hey Kansas – thanks for the cafe – I need it.
I’ve been following London since it started… don’t have much to say though..
I just read through a large part of your diary/comments zander. It was great that you got right on it so people would have a place to talk.
I guess it’s only human, but I just can’t help but feel sadder about a place I’ve been to several times and about people I “know” than I do sometimes about places I don’t know at all. All people are equal, and this would be tragic anywhere it happened, but when things happen to ones we know it hits harder, it just does.
On wry comment. . .first time I’ve had on the tv news in months, I think. They’re good at this, at least. Until the political analysis starts, of course.
I know what you mean – I don’t know London well, but I have been, and it does make it harder.
The good news is that there was very little panic, the response was well-organized, and Londoners seems determined to remind themselves that they’ve been through this before and survived….
Truer words were never spoken. Londoners have been through hell and survived.
i have a dear friend in london…. am very concerned about him. don’t have a phone number, left him messages via yahoo messenger and email and hoping for the best.
First time in the cafe. I’m guessing this is just an open thread?
Welcome, welcome JLongs. It’s good to see you here. Yep, this is kind of like a perpetual Open Thread only probably less political than most of those. This is where people come to be political if they want to, but also share their photos, the personal stuff that’s going on in their lives, their joys, their frustrations, their fav jokes, drink recipes, just about anything.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your friend. Let us know when you hear.
He’s OK, just heard back from him. He said its a lot calmer than you’d expect. Most people are worried about how they’re going to get home. He moved recently, and one of the stations that got hit is the one he used to use. Thank goodness he moved.
Super! As a Brit might say. 🙂 Thanks for giving us the quick word.
It the most mundane level, this is going to make everyday life hideously inconvenient for a lot of people.
Or is it Corgies? I just saw the photos of your babies, over at Keres’ dog blogging diary. What sweethearts!!
It’s either corgis or corgwyn.
They’re a pain sometimes, like when we want to go out of town, but all in all very rewarding and sweet dogs. Fairly low maintenance, too.
jlongs, glad you found your way into the cafe. And I am so glad that your friend is okay. Feel free to hang out here and chat about anything whenever you want to. It is just a free and easy place where we can share all the things that are going on with us and have some company.
Hey JLongs, nice to see you here! I only occasionally wander in, but I’m thinking I may have to spend some more time here. For one thing the soft drinks have real sugar, and no calories (great for us diabetics).
It’s a sobering event in London. It brings up all kinds of questions in my mind, besides being horribly upset about the deaths and injuries.
How will the Bush administration use this to their advantage? Will people rally behind him again thinking that we are doing the right thing in Iraq? Will they again link the WOT to the war in Iraq? Will this godawful war ever end?
For my part I am completely certain that our actions in Iraq have created more enemies than we had on September 10, 2001.
It’s so strange. If Blair and Bush come out and say, as they will, some version of “we have to get them!” will people finally look at them incredulously and think, “In Iraq??”
I was planning on starting the Cafe and then going back to work this morning, because I have a deadline to meet (or not, as the case may be). Now I think it’s going to be hard to leave here.
I’m off to read news. Back soon. Love to all.
Just a reminder–this is a good morning to check into European Tribune.
I woke up this morning, and headed in to work without turning on the TV (as usual). Sat down at my desk to the terrible news out of London. After nearly 2 hours of trying to come to grips with what has happened, I need to just…chill for a while.
A special thanks goes out to zander, for the initial London diary and all your helpful updates throughout the morning.
Hi,ejmw. It sure is nice to have the Cafe (thanks, Diane). It feels like friends sitting around talking, a refuge in the political storms.
I’m struck by your comment that you headed “in to work without turning on the TV (as usual).” Isn’t that the truth? They have lost us. I’ve got BBC on right now, thanks to the front page advice.
They sure have lost us. When the most observant purveyor of news is on Comedy Central as opposed to any of the myriad 24/7 news networks, you know there is a problem.
I heard the news about 3 AM my time, when I woke up for a few minutes and my always on radion was reporting the news. I was going to spring up and start blogging, but I knew that Zander and those on the far side of the world would do so and I managed to go back to sleep. So thanks to you all, esp. ms. Zander.
I want to calm some of you who are so worried this will somehow back up Bush and Blair and “their course was right theory.”
I think you will find the opposite to be true when the dust settles on this. According to Alquada, what I have seen so far this is the result of their warning to get out of Iraq, as in the case of Madrid.
I think this will go against war plans and bring up the need to get out of Iraq, I am sure the British will be pounding their governments to get out after this. Just as we should.
Thanks for the reassuring words, and I do so hope you are right. I am still afraid of how they will try to spin this through fear manipulation. Lot and lots of talk in the diaries about the correct response from the left.
If there is any message here it is that terrorists are small groups. Invading countries and starting general wars will never, ever solve the problem.
Very glad to have an FBC to hang out in today, it’s the only place I can bear to be right now.
I was also up quite early this morning — about 5:00 AM. I couldn’t sleep so I went online and saw the news. Sometimes I wonder at these events and how we all seem to be connected through them in some collective consciousness that seems to permeate our individual feelings and dreams. There has been an unbearable tension in the air the past week or so, and now this happens, like a great thunderstorm or lightning bolt — a tremendous build up, then a strike.
A good point to remember, that has been brought up on other diaries is that Iraq citizen go through this every day. And I as a friend of an Iraqi go through this everyday with her, thinking about her and wondering if she is still alive. I am sure military folks do as well…
All I know for sure is that we just have to keep on with what we are doing and work for the impeachment of the president and company and end of our involvement in war in Iraq.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8818
In a report on EU-Iraq relations, Greek conservative Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos said the key to reversing the disastrous security situation two years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein was to phase out the western military presence.
“The problem is that foreign troops are still in the country. I think it is going to be critical that they be replaced by a UN peacekeeping force,” he told the EU assembly, while he acknowledged that such a feat could not be done overnight.
The teacher will keep appearing until we get the lesson.
Morning fog spilling through Deception Pass and over the bridge between Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands, WA.
Ahhh. Thank you, Gooserock.
On a good day (i.e. clear and no clouds) I’ll be going across the 520 bridge, having just passed Lake Union and the Space Needle with the Olympic Mountains in the background, and I’ll look out over Lake Washington at Mount Rainier and I’ll think . . . “Damn, I’m in Seattle! How cool is that?!”
It’s been over 13 years now and I still haven’t gotten over the feeling of being somewhere so beautiful, the only place in the world I can really imagine myself living. Pictures like the one you posted are yet another reason why.
Where are you located, anyway? I know it’s around here someplace.
Last night, the spouse called work and took a sick day; he wasn’t feeling great and needed a mental recharge day. When he told me he was calling in sick, I thought, “Shit, there goes the routine”; now I’m glad to have him home and safe, at least for today.
I got up at 7 and showered; he was still in bed. When I came out of the shower, he was out of bed and changing the batteries in the remote so he could turn on the TV; “there’ve been some explosions in London,” he told me; he’d turned on the radio and heard the reports.
I’m eerily reminded of 9/11 — again, the first news I had was from the spouse (though he was heading out the door to work that day), and again I’m glued to the TV, far away in distance yet strangely connected; as a transit rider and spouse of a bus driver, I take these attacks personally — and not very well. If the spouse and I lived in England, he could have been the driver of that bus that was bombed…or I could have been on the Underground heading to work or shopping or what have you.
Sorry for the length of this piece — I need to vent, and the spouse hears it too damn much every day…
that Homeland Security chief will speak at 11:45 EDT (8:45 PDT); wonder if there’ll be even more regulations for the spouse to put up with when he gets back to work tomorrow…
You picked the right place, so vent away. These things are always so filled with our disbelief, shock and then the reveberations of the what ifs. We all go there.
So vent all you wish to, for as long as you need to. That’s what we are here for.
I’m actually coping a bit better than on 9/11 — been watching BBC America and the calm voices of the British newscasters are having a good effect…much more so than the American “The world is coming to an end!” attitude. Perhaps the British have a more balanced view, since they’ve been through terrorism before with IRA bombings and such. (“Shocked but not surprised” is one reaction I’ve heard from British police.)
Alert level raised to “orange” for transit systems; there’ll probably be a notification in the spouse’s pouch (where important stuff goes, like the schedule paddle and the daily defect card to fill out) when he pulls out tomorrow morning…so I’ll hear all about it tomorrow afternoon…
the Battle of Britain.
There are still millions of British with life experience understanding the difference between genuine war against their home, and hype.
We were talking about tv news above. There was a period, maybe 25 years ago, when I stopped watching tv news because of the “world is ending!!” tone of American broadcasts. I can’t even remember what the crisis was that meant the world was ending at that time, but I guess it didn’t end, after all.
It’s so great now to be able to get news from THIS medium and from other countries, too.
i was a bus driver for nine years here in pittsburgh. Its not an easy job under the best circumstances. my best to your husband-from one who understands the stress very well.
as of this past January — actually still enjoys the job fairly well, since he’s got decent seniority and can take some less-stressful runs (especially now that we’re close to having all our bills paid off), but is seriously considering retirement in 9 years. (He could technically retire in 6 years when he hits 55, but if he waits till I’m 55 as well we both get lifetime medical coverage; extremely cool in this economy!)
I did enjoy having him home today, even though we didn’t get much done today; just a few errands, and went to Sweet Tomatoes for soup/salad. It’ll be good to have him back at work tomorrow though… 🙂
Just to add a note of love an warmth contained in this pic, of my daughter Jessica at about 13 and her dog Buster, just a pup.
He was just the cutest dog, no longer with us, but I still think of him every single day.He was a Chihuahua.and just loved my daughter to the exclusion of all else except me when she was not around.
He used to run away from me all the time and even jumped out of the car and ran miles home with me chasing him afoot, thru apartment complexes, shouting, stop that dog, and no one did. He was so fast for being so little.
Two adorable puppies!
I have Oxford friends who have to go into London for business quite regularly. While chances are that they are OK, I am eager to hear from them. Just thought I’d put that out there on this my first visit to the Cafe, with warm hopes for all in these crummy times.
Hi, librarylil, and welcome to the FBC. I really hope you’ll stick around and then come back lots of times. We love it here.
Let us know when you hear that your friends are safe, okay? I’m going to assume they are!
Does your moniker mean you work in a library or that you read a lot of books from libraries? We have a Cafe denizen who is getting her degree in library science and another one who works in a library, and at least one or two other library people, too. Not to mention all the compulsive readers. 🙂
Thank you Kansas, I will keep you posted. It’s nice to have pals here! I work in a library, have been in this line of work on and off for about thirty years. I’ll be happy to tell you more about it some time…. right now I’m in the middle of coordinating the shift of about a thousand bound government documents in the stacks upstairs!
.
I confess to 7-7 as my birthday.
But only info you get is my badge number and time interval of birth:
a booming baby born after the end of WWII in Europe and …
before new millennium!
Sven’s sauna – darn privacy
Lots of good wishes to you on this day and may you have many years of good and fruitful days…
So how old are ye…!!!!!!
My, but our Sven is a hairy one, isn’t he?
Nice haircut.
My son’s birthday is today also. I’m getting off work a bit early to meet up with the rest of the family and he’s going to go try to put an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet out of business.
<singing> Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Oui, Happy birthday to you…..and many many more…….HUGS
My response when people ask how old:
“Old enough to know better…
and too cute to care!”
Topsail Island

I, for one, am hoping that tomorrow is a better day.
well.
I have a condition called viral labyrinithitis. It’s an inflammation of the inner ear and causes tinnitus, temporary hearing loss, and vertigo. It recurs in a non-sensical fashion, now and then I just get dizzy. The attacks have lessened but it seems like once a year or so I get a real corker of an attack. When I went to the doctor he prescribed Antivert which is kinda like an industrial strength dramamine that I’m to take when I feel a dizzy spell coming on. The problem being that it knocks me right the heck out.
I had to take one last night and I’ve been in a semi-stupor ever since.. didn’t go to work today. Last night and just now I’ve had some extremely vivid, weird, detailed dreams which has not been my experience with antivert until today.
First dream, I dreamed I quit smoking. It was so vivid that when I woke up, I was actually disappointed that I hadn’t actually quit.
Second one was weirder and much longer. I’m 44 years old and have been married for a month, I have 2 grown (19 and 21) daughters. I dreamed that Bob and I had a baby, and that I was carrying her around in some park festival or something. We had a picnic, met up with some weirdos, some other weirdos tried to kill me for interfering with one of their rituals, scratched the baby with a knife at which point I became enraged and tried to kill them. Met up with the first weirdos who were cool ones, kinda like hippies, were smoking pot and helped me take care of the baby. At some point Bob and I got separated and when I tried to call him, someone else had left a voice mail message on his phone, so I figured he’d lost his phone. It was really weird and disjointed, and none of it makes dream-interpretation sense.
Not yet anyway. I’ll have to mull it over a while. I just think it was a massive brainwave dump from the meds. Or having MSNBC on while I was sleeping.
Sounds like a recent Sunday afternoon I had here in NC. I went to this organic market/salad bar/hippie hangout. It was like stepping back into the 70’s! Everyone is sitting out on the lawn, listening to folk music, most of the guys are bearded and barefoot, the women (some well into their 60’s) are braless…there was one women who just absolutely transfixed me. She had on a tank top and yoga pants and was doing this hula hoop thing where she gyrated slowly and kept stepping through the spinning hoop. There was a drum circle and lots and lots of Birkenstocks. Weird and cool at the same time.
sounds like my kind of place. 😀
My layman dream analysis; your dream with hus. baby and then thinking of killing, sounds to me like you are trying to create something (perhaps with husband) and you feel it is in danger, does not have to be a real baby, but you want your ‘creation’ to be free from attack and will protect it at all cost. Does any of this corelate with your real life or awake life.
Sorry about your illness, it seems many of us suffer from ills on this site.
Sorry to hear about your flare up. I have a friend who has something similar and it causes her to miss out on certain things at times. It must be a drag!
About dreams, Have you heard of Patricia Garfield? She has written alot about dreams. She even came up with a system where you could track your dream symbols and come up with a whole personal dream language. Then you make a mandala of your dream symbols. It’s fun stuff, I keep saying one of these days I’ll have more time to devote to dream tracking and such.
I’ve read one of Patricia Garfield’s books on dreams and I thought it was terrific.
JLongs, maybe at some level you tapped into some knowledge about the violence that was going to happen today. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that a whole lot of people around the world had weird dreams last night.
Has anybody ever had a lucid dream, where you “wake up” inside your dream and then manipulate it as you wish? I’ve had two of them. . .very briefly, and I feel back into regular dreaming before I did much. . .but try as I may I can’t seem to repeat the experience.
That should be “fell back,” though “feel back” is maybe more interesting!
Lucid Dreams are great. Stephen LaBerge has this technique where you wake yourself up a few hours before you regular waking time, say 5:00 AM if you get up at 7:00 or 8:00. Then you stay up for an hour doing something lightly stimulating, nothing too arousing but enough to keep you awake. Then you go back to bed, and as you drop off you give yourself the suggestion that the next thing you experience will be a dream.
I found, by accident, that this actually works. There was a time when I was not working and I would often retire to have a nap a few hours after I got up. I had some vivid lucid dreams this way. Staying asleep after you become lucid is hard. I find it works best if I don’t get let myself get too excited, but instead try to remain calm until I can firmly set myself in the dream. Then after that I would try to explore.
I can relate to your veritgo, labrinthitis problems. Been there myself a few times. It is really weird to wake up in the moring and not be able to get out of bed because you can’t find a place of balance. Antivert has been pretty helpful, at least it seems to help me navigate when I have to take it.
It sounds as if your dreams were influenced by the meds. I wouldn’t put too much energy into trying to figure them out.
Nice to have you hanging out here. Glad you decided to stay for a bit.
I have Mineart’s disease, an inner ear inbalnce with no cure but would have severe dizzy spells that started with a numbness in the back of my head near the neck. I could actually feel it coming on. Antivert was prescribed and helped alot. Never experienced the dream connection with it though.
I will however fall asleep watching television and several times what ever is on tv is incorporated in my dreams. Really bizzar ones at times.
The spouse had some sort of vertigo-like problems several years ago; it put him off work and on sick leave for a couple of months while they did all sorts of tests to try and figure out what was causing them. They disappeared as suddenly as they appeared, so they think it may have been some sort of virus.
Post-9/11 anxiety hit him (and our marriage) a lot harder, but that’s another story for another day…
Hi everyone, my mom had a minor surgical procedure that has turned into something a little (not too bad) more serious. So, I’ve been at the hospital all day. And I’m supposed to be resting a little before going back for another hour or so.
I’ve never been to London, but have read so many books that take place there, I feel like I know it. (please don’t tell me I’m wrong — that delusion is all I have)
In our family, we don’t wake people up for bad news. So, I had an hour of watching the BBC by myself until everyone else woke up. At one point I thought that this would be a good day to be in the surgery waiting room — I thought I’d be able to watch the news. Wrong! First it was Regis, then it was The View, at that point we moved into the hall.
I thought about how you were all doing. Kansas, did you meet your deadline?
Katiebird, best wishes to your mom.
I’m still aiming for that deadline, thanks for asking, but I think it was always impossible. Instead of tomorrow, I may be finished on Monday and that’ll still be okay.
Thanks, kansas.
I went back for that second visit and she doesn’t look good. She’s always been the Miracle Mom, but how often can someone keep bouncing back?
to you and your mom, katiebird.
Keep us posted on how she’s doing…
Thanks, Cali – I will. It’s a complicated thing involving blood infections, kidney stones, infected artificial knees, and (I think) a fair amount of exhaustion. Oh, and she’s 81 with 4 stints in her heart.
Luckily my dad is a systems guy, so he’s pretty good at keeping track of what happens next.
into the “planned obsolescence” category, especially with that age. Then again, I never really conceived of my mom as being old, at least not till the last few years of her life when she got beat down by cancer, emphysema, and just general exhaustion catching up to her. I’m still having a little trouble with the fact that I have no living parents…
Cali, I’m so sorry — I don’t want to imagine that state. It’s funny that we both mention the exhaustion. Mom looks exhausted, even asleep.
I hope everyone is doing well this afternoon. It’s been a horrible day hasn’t it. It puts the small annoyances in our lives into perspective. I’ve been so busy at the office today I haven’t had much time for news and such. My husband has been instant messeging me to keep me up to speed. It seems to me that the people of London as much better prepared than we are and have much better copeing skills than we do. I haope that everyone that has family and friends over there has heard from them and all is well. Blessing to all.
Hi, sweeterish. Glad you took a mo to check in. So far we don’t have any bad news about anybody the BooFrogs know, or at least not that I’ve heard.
Have some birthday cake upthread!
YUM cake…I love cake..I would have ice cream to but in this heat it would melt in a second. It’s so dry here I blew my nose this afternoon and had a half hour nose bleed..gross…
Geez, now THAT’S one thing I never think about when I’m whining about our humidity. I’ll feel more grateful next time! Oh, heck, no I won’t. I’m never grateful for humidity.
It’s been so humid the past couple of weeks that just stepping outside to retrieve the paper feels like when you walk into the bathroom and someone is taking a really really hot shower. It’s like you can see the moisture just hanging in the air.
We’re due to get some thunderstorms from Cindy but it doesn’t look like it will cool us down any. Possibly just make it more humid? Great.
The weather man has been promising rain all week and all we get it the lightning..started 2 forest fires around here.
If I’m reading the NOAA records correctly, we haven’t has rain since May 29 – six weeks or so? 104° yesterday. I overwatered the veggie garden this morning (set the timer but I think I turned up the soaker hoses too high).
And look what I’ve done! (I’ve always been able to make it rain by watering – especially when I water too much.)
From my front porch.
ManEgee will be so jealous.
I’m going to make pickles now. The World is too much today. Rain, pickles.
Thanks for sharing your rain, Janet. Nothing quite like a summer rain, except it is funny to see it falling straight down. We have so much wind here in Idaho it is always at an angel. (please refrain from all the jokes about if I would keep my mouth shut once in a while there wouldn’t be so much wind here. . .I think I’ve heard them all. LOL)
However, this has been a fabulous and unusual year for us so far we had an actual Spring and we had frequent rain for April, May and June. I have been loving it. We don’t get rain very often here in the high desert mountain valleys.
So I am enjoying your vertical rain with you. And Rain and Pickles. . .what could be better!
I miss wind! For some reason we don’t get very much here in Raleigh. I’m used to lots of wind growing up on the north shore of Lake Erie; quick summer thunderstorms with 50 or 60 mph gusts and then the temperature would go down 20 degrees and it would be great sleeping weather.
As I’m writing this there is some thunder and lightning, but so far no wind and very little rain. I’m hoping for both. I’m a storm freak.
I grew up sitting on the screen porch during severe storms…so my kids threw up thinking that a tornado watch means you go sit on the porch!
oops…my kids grew up….not threw up!
Oh Laura, I somehow knew you were a storm nut too! I used to drive my mother crazy with my insistence of running out into the thunder and lightening downpours we had. I still do it. I just absolutely love it. The rolling thunder just does something grand in me. The flashes of lightening are the best fireworks in the world!
Here, I’ll share with you all:
Ooooh! Be still my heart.
I remember being down at the lakefront when a big storm was rolling across the water from Canada. I’d sit there with my notebook, writing bad, angst-ridden teenage poetry and playing chicken with the the lightning and wind. At the last possible second I would jump onto my bike and race home so my mom wouldn’t ground me. But it always excited and inspired something in me.
Still does. Thanks for the beautiful photo.
I grew up sailing the south shore from Cleveland to Sandusky & Put-In-Bay.
It was Mom who taught me to appreciate storms. I weathered a number in small open boats in open waters variously sailing or instructing. They’re wild, easily hitting 50 knots, with several well into the 80 knot range as we later found were clocked by nearby freighters.
It’s one of the prime things I miss in Puget Sound, which has lighter winds than Lake Erie and almost no seas to speak of. Weather-wise, it’s like being given a rotary heart–the steady mild weather here in contrast to the weekly Midwest pulse of hot Gulf air, storms, Canadian cold air, and period SW desert air bringing dry wind.
I meant the south shore…but everyone calls Cleveland, the North Coast. I guess as in the North Coast of Ohio.
I think I remember you’re from Akron or thereabouts? I do miss those midwest thunderstorms and wind. Nothing but heat heat heat here in the summer.
Akron, Massillon & several western suburbs of Cleveland. It’s all very similar weather of course, from much of the east coast through the midwest and out to the Rockies, wherever the Gulf and Canadian air can mix.
Except in parts of spring and fall, right down near the Lake. Temps could be 20 degrees colder along the beach on some warm spring days, due to the cold lake water, and sometimes in the autumn it could be warmer. All the Great Lakes have weather zones around them.
People often forget Great Lakes geometry when they look at weather of central Ohio down to Columbus. Going NNW of Columbus is western Lake Erie and then the whole length of Lake Huron. There are times when winds push a lot of moisture down through Ohio.
It’s odd about the West Coast, when you think that Gulf of Mexico air pushes 1500 miles and more up to Hudson’s Bay, but Pacific Air barely makes it 50 miles over the Cascades and Rockies before the mountains wring it dry. It’s hard to exaggerate how different our weather would be if for example the Rockies stretched from Texas to Georgia and it was flat from the Appalachians to the Pacific shore.
But if you take a 1 foot globe of the earth and want to model the atmosphere to scale, the entire space for our weather is confined inside a coat of varnish over the surface.
And people think the pale blue dot was tiny!
“it is always at an angel, from your comment above, was that a freudian slip, by any chance.
How are you doing up there in Idaho, shirl, writing and happy I hope.
YeS. . .ROFLOL. . .my fruedian slip is showing. . .I should know better than to use the word angle, because it always comes out angel. . .too funny!!! (Calling all angels. . .Shirl has foot in mouth yet again!)
Yeah, me and the angels have been playing solitare. . .I know that sounds funny, but this is a pretty funny group of angels. . .heheheheh. . .No, really, yes I am writing and happy and debating over fixing a real meal or a sandwich or just some cottage cheese and peaches. . .too many choices, it seems.
Missing some time again this week, so I am a little confused about what day it is, although I am pretty sure it is Thursday. . .but it doesn’t feel like Thursday. . .
And don’t anyone read anything like “old timers disease” as my friend calls it, into that. . .just a little floaty this week. And at my physical size, floaty is a very good thing, if not miraculous! LOL
Remember, I claim my space as resident weirdo here, and this note should be proof enough of that.
Enjoy!
Cucumbers peeled, sliced and sitting in salt and ice, so I’m taking a little break. AC off, back door open, listening to the rain with thunder rumbling in the background. Ahhhhh.
Recipe for this round of pickles – “faux watermelon rind” pickles. I love watermelon rind pickles but they are so much trouble, peeling that hard rind. So I’m going to try the recipe with cukes – but not the long cooking. If anyone has tried this and knows it doesn’t work, don’t tell me. It’s too late now. It’s not like I don’t already have plenty of the usual varieties. Check out my cabinet. (Note to self – next time, more beans, fewer cucumbers.)
Yes, Janet… more commin’

I think . . . (?)
Right before sunset. We had quite a light show. (He lives near me.)
the cactus growing outside my door? Our monsoons need a kickstart 🙂
mmmmmm, pickles.
It’s past 7 in Kansas, which means the east coast is already well into their second martini and the west coast is thirsty. I think we’ll keep this thread running until we get closer to 100. And that would be Comments, not degrees.
So how’d you make it through the day, Froglettes?
So how’d you make it through the day, Froglettes?
Not very well, I’m afraid. I didn’t check the news before I left this morning, so I had my first inkling that something somewhere had happened when getting on the DC Metro. The Red line was crawling with security, with automatic weapons across their chests and dogs on short leashes. The only other time I’ve seen that was after the Madrid bombings last year.
Haven’t been able to bring myself to post before now; I’ve started probably a dozen comments in various discussions but haven’t finished them. For some reason I just haven’t been able to find the words.
Dear BFS, I’m just glad you’re here. No need to talk if you don’t feel like it. Psst. . .I put back some good German beer for you.
Actually I think a good pint of bitters or something else British would do me well right now. I’m going to watch “Shakespeare in Love” (or maybe “A Man for All Seasons”) with my housemate and have some Cadbury’s. Tomorrow if I have the afternoon free I plan to hike over to the British Embassy on Mass. Ave & sign the book (if they have one). If it’s not entirely inappropriate, I’ll sign on behalf of the FBC Regulars.
cheers, pip pip, etc etc.
Hey Feld. . .we understand if you aren’t feeling quite up to your regular self today. We are always just so glad to see you and it just feels good having you around whether you have words to say or not.
If you are a summer rain nut like some of us here, Janet Strange has brought some along for us all to share. I would love to have you along for a walk in the rain if that appeals to you.
Get comfy, sit awhile. We’re here if you need or want something.
(((Hugs)))
Ha! We’re actually under a flood warning tonight because the remnants of whatever tropical storm it was are cruising up the East Coast. I had to make sure the drain in front of my basement door (half below street-level) was clear of the usual detritus, so the basement doesn’t flood. Thanks for the kind offer, though!
It’s showtime, so I’ll take my leave for the evening. Blessings to everyone here!
I know exactly what you mean. I haven’t found words that sound worthy — of either with they’re going through, or what I’m feeling.
good evening. i didn’t even find the diary today. i thought no one made one. i searched using FBC. i’m so down today i’m not much fun anyway. hope everyone is doing well.
What do you mean you couldn’t find the cafe,, it’s right down there on recent diary street…I guess the lights were not turned on bright enough and it’s kinda quiet in here right now.
Why are you down, the news or personal?
both, is’t that the way it always works? last night, and today, i’m haunted by an image and then today, i wake up to london. and then sometimes i really try to do something and end up with nothing. nothing with me though, not really. just trauma. most of the time i’m very hopeful but then i’ll have a bad day.
i missed the diary because i was doing a “find” for FBC. too lazy to type frogg!
You don’t have to be fun, bayprairie, even though you usually are. You just have to be here! I’m so sorry we were hard to find today of all days. (The day version of it was titled, “Thursday at the Foggy Bottom Cafe. I think. I’ve already forgotten.)
The last couple of days we’ve been encouraging people to put the cafe on their own hot lists instead of recommending it, so that may have been why we were hard to find.
I wonder if that’s going to be a problemo. We need that special Cafe button!
Maybe the diaries should start with Froggy Bottom as some don’t even recognize the fBC yet, shockingly surprising I have to say.
Rec or don’t rec, its hard to say…it doesn’t really need a tab, it could be a separate box, like world and recent diaries, but I suspect that may be not that easy to do, and booman says it is down his list…of to do items..
Did I say Hi Kansas and time today….i have been sorta out of it today.
I think you did say hi, Diane. If you didn’t I heard it anyway! 🙂
You may be right about needing all these diaries to start with Froggy Bottom Cafe. Also, I agree that a lot of people still don’t recognize FBC, plus newcomers won’t.
😉
My sense is that traffic dropped off significantly when we went to hotlisting it and using the nickname. I think it cuts down new participants too.
I understand what people mean about seamingly more important diaries deserving the recommended slot more. But I really don’t think our Cafe is less deserving.
I think it’s one of the features of this site that makes it special. It could be said that it’s just another Open Thread, but it isn’t really. It’s a virtual cafe, with all the informal chattiness that implies.
I’ve used the hotlist and not recommended it for a day or two — But, I really think the latest one should be on the recommended list. Because it’s something I’m proud to participate in.
And I do also think that it has to start with Froggy Bottom Cafe (with whatever subtitle you want) for it to stand out.
(but I’ll keep hotlisting/not recommending until we decide otherwise)
Hi katiebird, I just posted something to this effect on the group site. I agree with you, is this diary any less important than any other diary. Consider diaries that just have a pic, and they get on the rec. list and stay there.
Yes I also think it should start with Froggy Bottom Cafe and Not FBC. So please ( all team members) go to yahoo group site and lets decide about this.
I am always glad to see you here whether you are funny or not. You are just good company. Come and sit a spell. Talk if you want, or be reflective, you know it is all good with us.
OR. . .we could all run out in the cool rain that Janet Strange brought us and get soaked and just feel how great it is that rain makes you feel. . .Ah, one of my favorites. . . standing in the rain!
Have a Hug
((((HUG))))
i’m actually on the receiving end of the very same set of storms as i type this :::neaking on at work::: i heard about fifteen minutes ago that people are pullling off of the roadways to the side of the roads because they cannot see, its raining so hard.
It was so nice to spend this day with all of you. Now if you would, please mosey on along to the next cafe which you will find in the Recent Diaries.
Thank you, one and all.