enough for today

I have been struggling a little these last few weeks.

It's around this time last year and the year before that cancer changed my life and I've been finding it hard to shake the grief and anxiety.

But today, I experienced a moment that quite literally took my breath away. I was out walking my dog in the arboretum, pretty much lost in thought when I was taken off guard by a tree, a pond, the sunset and scattered leaves in all my favourite colours. And the thought suddenly came to me, "I am grateful."

Grateful for my kids for bringing me joy, making me laugh and for needing me.

Grateful for my spouse, who is kind and gentle and who loves me even when I am crazy.

Grateful for my dog who gets me out walking.

Grateful for a lovely walk in a beautiful place.

And grateful that I am healthy and fit enough to enjoy it all.

Tomorrow remains uncertain but for today, it is enough to be grateful.

A Good Idea and Bad Leadership--A Way Out of the Entitlement Crisis Meets Partisan Politics

I call your attention to a column this morning by the Washington Post's David Broder.He tells us that there will be an important Senate hearing tomorrow on the issue of Social Security and Medicare entitlement costs.It seems that two Senators, one a Republican and one a Democrat, are trying to create a bipartisan task force that would have the power to fast track a solution to this huge emerging

Bush Ups the Budget Pressure--Shows No Sign of Compromising on SCHIP

President Bush just made a statement on the SCHIP bill and the upcoming 2008 budget votes. Standing in front of the White House with the Republican leaders behind him, he blasted the Democratic Congress, the recent SCHIP bill passed by the House, and rumored efforts on the part of Democratic leaders to couple defense and Iraq spending bills with domestic budget bills.The bottom line is that the

getting out in the world

Well, folks, I am now a "contributing author" (I accidentally typed "contributing other", which could make sense, too) over at Mommybloggers.com (how clever were they to register that domain name?).

I was very flattered to be asked to write for them (the women who founded Mommybloggers are very interesting women and terrific bloggers).

And I am not above asking you all to go check me out (and maybe even comment over there).

120

I've laid them out randomly, in order to try and figure out how to lay them out. Wishing my artist friends were handy to tell me what to do. I feel like I'm too close to it.

Thoughts?

There are a couple of squares I think I need to unravel and reknit, though:
See that one with the dark border? It's got to go.

I'm also wondering about the low contrast (light blue and turquoise) one just beneath it. There are two of those and I think they might have to go, too.

Thoughts?

I think I'm going to keep it like this for the week end and play with moving the squares around a little.

Update: I came home to find that one of the pets (not sure if it was the cat or the dog) did a little creative re-arranging while I was gone.


Sigh.

Maybe I'll just sew the squares together randomly.

House SCHIP Vote Fails to Attract Veto-Proof Majority

Yesterday evening, the House passed a slightly modified version of the SCHIP bill President Bush vetoed last week, this time by a vote of 267-142. That is still likely at least 7 votes short of the two-thirds needed to overturn the expected Bush veto.The bill now goes to the Senate.It is possible that both sides will try to work out a compromise--but not likely.Expect the Senate to pass it, Bush

Poll Shows Democratic Presidential Candidates Attracting Independents and Moderates With Their Health Reform Plans

I was struck by this conclusion in today's Los Angeles Times regarding their recent voter survey:"In one of the most politically significant results, the poll finds that independents and moderates were generally lining up with Democrats in the healthcare debate."The survey also suggested an explanation for the emerging alignment: Independents were most likely to complain about "job lock" -- the