She talks in her sleep! Listen!! " ...each yet?...mumble ...impeach .....Is it ... peach yet....Is it time to impeach yet?...Is it time to impeach yet? ... Is it time to impeach yet? ... Yes, it is! ... Let me go! It is time!...zzzz.....(snore)....zzzzz"
Bloggers, if you don't know about content theft yet, here's a link about how your hard work and identity can be taken...
As the warm breeze makes me want to head for the beach, like I did as a child, I hesitate. Things are very different.
There was a gang fight this past week (another one) along one of the busiest streets in town. It is the street which runs along the beach from the Four Seasons Biltmore in Montecito all the way to Santa Barbara City College to the west. The fight began outside of a pizza parlor, went inside of the restaurant, where it was broken up by police. Fifteen minutes later, another call went to the police about a second gang fight about 5 minutes away, toward the middle of downtown. One gang member was taken to the ER with 3 knife wounds. He refused to say anything to the police so he was released. No arrests were made.
When I went to the grocery store this morning, I heard sirens roar out from Fire Station #1 across the street from Ralph's Grocery Store. Amateurish graffiti was on the walls and windows of the elevator going from the underground parking lot up to the store's main entrance.
The gangs don't fight in the "bad neighborhoods" my parents warned me about years ago. They fight in the main areas of this tourist and resort town! I think of the families that come here for vacations during the summer. And I remember the way the city council put up such a fight against the police department when the subject of pay increases came up. A compromise was made, but the number of police officers has decreased. What are you people going to do about this gang problem affecting our streets, our schools, and our businesses?
Summer is a fun time to relax and, maybe, try something new! Young people tend to grow physically quite a bit during the summer months because they get a lot of rest. We used to push the limits to see what new skills we could learn and how good we might get in those few months. Things have changed.
Different limits confine.
Once I stepped on a purple sea anemone I didn't see in the bottom of the ocean where my friends and I played. I spent that afternoon getting the sharp spines pulled out of the bottom of my foot! It hurt so much! But young people are having to deal with different types of sharp objects piercing their skin these days.
When I heard that siren and saw that graffiti this morning, the only song I could imagine capturing the beauty of youth and summer as well as the attempt to control something much bigger than ourselves, and failing, only to be devoured by that monstrous system, was Stevie Wonder's 'Living for the City'.
This week I heard the exquisite sounds of an unbelievable drum solo during a Santa Barbara High School music concert and the jubilant cheers from the graduation ceremony a few blocks away! But there is a hint of sadness and anxiety in my heart that was not around in the summers of my youth. The city I lived in is no longer here; in it's place is a 'big city' with 'big city' problems. I will see my children grow up in this version, if I can handle it. Although I love living here, I think more about moving away as the days and years go by.
This
is a photo of Fairmount Park in Riverside, California. We lived very
close to the park until I was about 6 years old. I remember going
there to feed the mallard ducks.
I'm
getting "homesick" lately, probably because my mom has moved to
Riverside because of health reasons. I haven't been in Riverside for
years. I'd love to go back to see how our old house looks now. We
used to sit on our balcony to watch fireworks at the lake/park, my
brother, one of my sisters, and I would have 'snail races' down the
driveway (with real snails), and we used to buy "Orange Juliuses".
Citrus groves were the most noteworthy thing about Riverside, and
orange juice mixed with milk in a blender were what was an Orange
Julius. My mom tells me there is another ingredient which I will do a
search on after I complete this.
I
remember the muggy weather and the heat vividly! And it was getting
smoggy back in the late '50s. I found a satellite image of Riverside
so I now see there is a riverbed running along through the area. I had
some neat memories of my years there. I consider Riverside my "born-in
hometown" and I was transplanted to Santa Barbara (like so many others)
at an early age. I've lived here 'forever'.
Many Blogstream members are there
already! Quotes from members: "It's like blog lite!" -- "I like the instant
gratification!" -- "Stop spectating, get in the game!"
If you have not joined in, you are really missing out!
