Warmth

We were fooled a little last week that Spring was here.  This morning I woke up to 63 degree weather in my part of the world and the birds singing outside my window.  I know it’s here now.  I rushed outside as soon as I dressed to look at my bee hive and sure enough they have started hatching.

I am trying Mason Bees this year for the first time.  Last year, my honey beekeeper friend took me to a bee seminar sponsored by the Pennsylvania Backyard Beekeepers Association and I learned all about bees.  I learned that Mason Bees are native to this country and that they are even better pollinators that our honey bee friends.  They are a lot less work and don’t produce honey and with my time as small as it is, I decided to go this route.  So I went online and order a nest and house.  It arrived last week and I put the nest outside and today, as I said, I went outside and several of the tubes have been broken through.  These are the males and they will fly around a while and then when the females hatch, mating will occur and then the males will die and the females will spend the next few month laying eggs and then they will die.  It is a short life for the bees, but a productive one.

I will be anxious to see what happens.  I tried to get my husband to hang the nest under the overhang of the roof yesterday but he didn’t.  I told him it has to be done today and now he knows that it does.  If they can’t find the nest then there will be a problem.  But if only a few have hatched and he gets it done today, maybe we will be okay.  

Culture

Ah, Spring!  It is finally cruisin’ weather.  The temperatures are mild enough now that I can have my windows down and crank up the music.  I have a varied taste in my listening repertoire.  For example, just yesterday I was coming home from the grocery store and a song named Indestructible by Disturbed came on my iPod followed by Chopin. I love riding through town with something like Beethoven, Wagner, or Chopin on my sound system because it keeps people guessing.  One normally doesn’t hear that kind of music full bore.  They hear a variety of rap music with bass that makes ones windows rattle, so why not hear the classics that way?

I think that most people in the place where I live don’t know about music because all they know about is what they hear on the radio or Internet Radio.  There are very few classical music stations around anymore so the appreciation of the classics is not available on a daily basis.  Children are not always exposed to classical music in schools as they should, and if they are, it is small amount and not generally heralded as important.  But then again, I am not a teacher or have a school aged child any longer, so maybe I am wrong here.  I suspect though that I a not.

Culture is not just the music, or customs, of your ancestors, but music and customs of everyone’s ancestors.  Like history, I believe we need to know where we come from a musical standpoint as well as from a sociological standpoint.  The basis of what we are listening today is as important to understand as knowing how our fore parents lived.  That way we can understand and appreciate how far we have come.  

Update

I have not blogged in quite a while I know.  I have a new job which has kept me very busy during the day, even during my lunch time when I previously blogged before.  Today I decided to do it and realize that it is not as easy to do from my work computer as it was before at my other job.  The  I decided to do it on my tablet and the keyboard was dead.  Not too discouraged, I am using the virtual keyboard on the tablet, which really isn't the easiest thing to do, at least to me.  Maybe more practice is needed, but that is not here or there.

As I hinted above, I have a new job. I basically took retirement from the financial firm I was working at for 30 years and am working full time in politics. I absolutely love it. I know many of the people I work with and have for many years from being involved in local politics, so there wasn't the same awkward feeling on the day that I started as I have experienced with past jobs. It was a little strange working in this office because in the past I have worked here just for a few hours at a time so being here full time was a little strange. But now I am fully integrated and it is a wonderful experience.

The other new thing in my life that is keeping me really busy is running for Municipal Council. There is one seat open, because the Council person currently there is term limited and can't run again. The other At-Large member is able to run again and is doing so. There are four others vying for this one open seat so I need to get my candinancy out there! Since I was a district Council member before and this is for the whole town, I have to introduce myself to a whole lot of new people. But I am very excited to work to get on Council again and work on issues that I feel are important to the town. There will be more on this topic but for now, just know that I am very busy around the clock. It is gratifying though. Thanks to those who can help me in this journey.

Why?

A friend of mine and I were having a discussion about why there are so many young people involved in crimes – like murder.  We had each gotten text messages about two arrests in Norristown of two kids who were arrested for murder.  One was a murder by an 18 year old and the other was a murder and arson by a 20 year old. We each had different opinions on what is happening.  I hope there are people out there looking into this to find out why these things are happening.

It seems like violence, gun violence in particular is epidemic and the perpetrators of these crimes are young men, younger than 21.  Not all of them are mentally unstable as in the case of Adam Lanza who killed all those children at Sandy Hook School, or at least that part hasn’t come out.  I am not under the theory that violent games cause this type of behavior.  I know plenty of people I work with who play those games are not prone to violent actions.  My friend subscribes to the theory that modern technology causes it and I am under the theory that the American diet is the culprit.  All that sugar and high fructose corn syrup makes us crazy. 

Whatever the issue is, I hope that someone gets a handle on this.  This killing spree that these young men are on is jut not right.  Not only do I feel bad for society in general, but I feel so bad for their families who will never see their sons again or will have to visit them in prison for the rest of their lives. 

Academy Awards Controversy

I didn't see the Academy Awards this year, and in previous years I have become increasingly uninterested about the whole thing.  I used to like to watch the red carpet coverage because I love fashion, but this year that didn't even interest me.  I am sort of glad I didn't see it, but then again there was a scuttlebutt about the "I Have Seen You Boobs" song that Seth McFarlane performed which made me sort of glad I didn't watch.  From what I have read, it would have made me angry. 

As a woman I have always been very concerned about the sexual culture in our country.  Seeing a woman's breasts is always such an outcry whether it is for the natural act of feeding one's child or for sexual stimulation.  As the linked article states, we do not have a healthy culture and therefore any mention of a sexually charged event causes such a commotion. 

I personally feel the whole thing was in bad taste, but then again most of what Seth McFarlane does is in bad taste.  I do not really find his animated cartoons amusing but then again I don't really watch them that much.  The bottom line is until the US takes a healthier view of ourselves and our bodies these kind of sophomoric attempts at humor will spark controversy.

Victim

I am a victim of another crime.  A few weeks before a local jewelry store was robbed in my area, I took a bracelet to be fixed. The clasp had come apart and the  bracelet had fallen off several times, so I finally took it to the store to get a new clasp and at the same time had a small puffed heart charm soldered on to it.  This bracelet, while not expensive was very valuable to me because my son had brought it back from Mexico when he was there in the fifth grade.  I had been wearing it ever since.  I had not heard back from the store and I feared the worst after hearing the news of the robbery. Sure enough my bracelet was one of the items taken. I was heartbroken when I heard the news.

I hate, hate, hate criminals.  Not only was the crime a horrible experience for the jewelry store owner, but now the owner has chosen to close the business.  When I spoke to him, he told me that they have had three robberies and it is just too much.  They have been in the Norristown area for many, many years and now they are leaving.  They are the only jewelry store in the town and because of some stupid criminal they are shutting their doors forever.

Sure they are replacing the bracelet, but it is not the same. And, yes, I know it's just a material item but it is an emotional thing for me because it has high sentimental value.  I am sure I am going to get over it but for now I am thinking about it over and over again.

A Tale of Two Cities

 The other night my husband and I attended a meeting given by the Montgomery County Commissioners held in Pottstown.  It was one in a series of meetings designed to be a listening tour of sorts to hear from the citizens of the county.  The first part of the meeting was all about what the commissioners are doing and a little information on what is being planned at the county level.  The last part of the meeting was all about the residents.

Since we were not able to attend an earlier meeting due to scheduling conflicts, we attended this meeting and it was great that we did.  Pottstown and Norristown are very similar in age, architectural assets, and socio-economic population.  We vary a little in racial makeup, but generally there are similar issues in both municipalities.  The main topic of concern that evening was Section 8 and the administration of the program.  As you may know, this is a Federal program which is administrated by the county so any changes to the law, or any compliance with the law has to be done on the Federal level.  It was very interesting to note that some of the comments that came up sounded as if we were sitting in a Norristown audience.  There are the same frustrations about the holders of the vouchers, or perhaps the assumed holders of the vouchers because due to privacy laws everyday residents are not able to know that a particular house is in the program.

There were no solutions given that night, but there is a lot of follow up that needs to be done.  The person who chairs the department took a lot of names and supposedly will follow up with the complainants.  It was of interest that 92% of the municipalities accept vouchers, and the idea is that voucher holders can go anywhere in the county but the reality is that they gravitate to one or the other locations maybe because they have family or other ties to those municipalities.  It remains to be seen where this program goes or if the problems associated with them go away.