Between innocent and not guilty

I've spent some time editing my photos, getting them printed and hanging them up. Zion from a moving bus

Also buying art while looking for frames

I liked these dog collages made from pieces of maps and documents

do I need more glass plates? But these are so pretty

The newly cold weather means some plants had to come inside. The  hibiscus hates cold

We have her for the whole weekend as her dad is training somewhere and her mom works. She loves putting on my boots and shoes

We visited Chewy the hamster but Maya was so excited to see her cousins, she ignored him

Years ago, I had jury duty for district court. Before we would be empaneled, the judge would ask each of us three questions to make sure we understood the difference between guilty and not guilty. The third question: If the preponderance of the evidence does not overweigh any reasonable doubt, how do you find the defendant?

Correct answer: Not guilty

Fellow juror's answer: Innocent

The judge told him that it wasn't correct. The juror said: innocent, not guilty...same difference. The judge tried to explain the difference but gave up. And yet this guy was empaneled with me. He had been complaining bitterly how much showing up there was inconveniencing him. You'd think not understanding a simple premise would get him excused but no. And once he was on the jury in which I was appointed foreperson as I was the only woman just to see what the judge would call me (who speaks for the jury? as it turned out), it turned out he knew the defendant and his family, another no-no. He told us fellow jurors that the whole family was rotten. Of course we were asked in advance if we knew the people in the case and he lied. As the foreperson I suppose I had the duty to report to the judge that we were poisoned by this man but then I polled the jurors to see if this changed their minds. Not really. One man said he had a criminal brother himself and would hate to  be judged because of that.

But my stupid fellow juror probably didn't have the advantage of his rich daddy buying him an Ivy League education so he might be excused on not understanding the difference between innocence and not guilty. Do I think Kavanaugh was guilty? Yes I do but not in a legal sense as it boiled down to he said-she said so no preponderance of evidence as the book his friend wrote about that and similar incidences was hearsay but he is hardly innocent as the Orange Clown kept trumpeting. And his demeanor as a blustering teenager caught in a lie should have shown he was not judge material.

The new these days is so depressing but the worst part is so many drinking the Kool-Aid.

Sad.

Fall has began with its cold mornings. OK for running but hard to bicycle. Usually Sunday mornings are my long bike ride days but I will have to wait a bit or get frost bit. In the meantime, we have Maya who is very sweet but very demanding.

I did finally have the opportunity to wear one of my fancy dresses the other night (the one pictured in the About me section though I wore some fancy black fishnets with it and red heels) at a Thank-you dinner for supporting the Cancer Support Center. Steve chose to wear a t-shirt so we were a bit mismatched. I thought I would see some of my fellow classmates there but no except a man who comes to help the   instructor cut up vegetables. His wife has stage  4 lung cancer despite never smoking. He did bring his wife though. When I met to meet her, it was clear we knew each other. She was the mother of my son's first wife's best friend so she had been at my son's wedding and the wedding shower before that. Small world. First wife: Julia Second wife: Julie. Confusing?

Also there and on the board for the organization was the husband of my yoga instructor Momma Sunflower who died of breast cancer. I told him how much his wife meant to me.

We were to have a lantern launch but it was too windy. I do have a lantern to set off one night to amuse the grandkids. Meanwhile it was nice to be out dressed up.

When life imitates art

the baby pictured here is my aunt with my grandparents. This is the only photo I have of my mother's father. This aunt died last week at age 97.5. She was lucid to the end but her heart gave out. How did I find out? Facebook. I called the daughter of the only remaining aunt to get details. No one had told her or her mother. Are they having a funeral? Who knows. I feel bad because I didn't see her this summer. I kept dropping broad hints to my cousin but stopped short of inviting myself.

Allie turned five and had her party at a place full of playground equipment. 

the birthday girl looking the clone of her mom. Baby Hannah is more like Josh

We made our annual pilgrimage to Grand Rapids for their art competition. Every year less and less art. Now they will have it every other year. Still had fun walking around

these amethysts were part of a huge art work

This hand woven top was in a museum shop and is pricy. Still I want it. I am always buying thrift store stuff. Shouldn't I have something nice? I have plenty of black outfits to throw it over

Looks like a painting right? All embroidery with silk thread

some art was along the streets; some in the museums. Hotel lobby art

They had ten or so plastic crocs along the water. Art?

A MeToo political statement This is that pig Weinstein who forced himself on actresses if they wanted jobs. The lady in black has pepper spray at the ready as he tries to seduce the young one in white while grabbing his crotch

I haven't seen a praying mantis in 20 years or so. She cocked her head quizzically as I tried to take her photo. Where was she?

on the nearest joint of this praying mantis sculpture. Embiggen and maybe you can see her

this is as close as she will get to Poppa Steve

apple orchard time. I will have Maya all weekend. We will go here

I've been back nearly two weeks now from our SW adventure and trying to get back to normal. Still uncomfortably hot. I was dripping in sweat long after I finished running this morning. The days are shorter so I have to leave much later especially while biking. It is now been two years since I decided to do something about my obesity. How am I doing? Not as well as I would like but I guess it is a minor miracle that I was able to pull it off. Still people's first guess is that I must have some sort of scary wasting disease, not will power. As I type, I am 3 pounds over my lowest point last year. I would like to be 4-5 lower than I am now and I will shut up about it. Should be easy right? I was close before our vacation. Even though meals were far between, I couldn't exercise at my usual intensity.

Last week I had my 'welcome to Medicare' physical in which I had to answer all sorts of questions. Can I dress myself, feed myself? etc. My favorite: do I practice 'safe sex'? I left that one blank. I was asked to draw a clock complete with hands indicating a specific time. Also I was to memorize 3 words to recall 5 minutes later. Had an EKG. They said I had bradycardia. What's that? She said slow heart beat. I knew that: what's the cut-off? 50. Mine is 45. Well then you can't accuse me for being hyperthyroid (my TSH was low). Other than a low white blood count (???) I am the picture of health. Still I discussed genetic testing. Naomi's doctor thinks I was remiss for not testing for the BRAC1/2 deletion which is associated with the type of breast cancer I had especially as she is Jewish (and I am not) This partial test indicated that I may be a carrier for the BRAC2 gene which scared the life out of me but then I read about all the false positives. This will  be settled once and for all.  The BRAC1 is more associated with Jewish people but the BRAC2 with Scandinavian. Ancestry just refined its testing and as it turns out, I am much more Scandinavian than Irish. BRAC2 is an autosomal dominant gene which means one of my parents had to have it. It appears that if they did, it didn't manifest itself. If I do have the gene, each of my kids has a 50% chance of getting it from me. I could say they are all Steve clones with nothing from me but with their luck, they got this. And they could give it to their children. If they had it, what would it mean: 70% chance of breast cancer (and the aggressive kind I had) and 40% chance of ovarian which is impossible to detect until it's too late. The men are on the hook for the aggressive type of prostate cancer and somewhat of a risk for pancreatic.

I didn't fit the guidelines when I was first diagnosed as I was a bit too old but now they changed the guidelines.

Today I went to a fashion show at this club for rich University women that my grandparents belonged too. My grandfather was a successful physician and did teach at UM Medical school. I hadn't been there since he died. We were the youngest women there by far. We sat with a woman who was a neighbor of my grandfather's . Small world. They were just reminiscing about him lately. He would have been 128 years old if still alive. They called his house Mount Vernon not Tara as I had read about it. All of the other houses in their fancy neighborhood were designed by innovative architects whereas my grandfather made a house out of sugar cubes and told the architect to make it like that.  As for the clothes, they were nice but pricy. I do buy them at the fancy thrift store as they seem to have some partnership deal with them but I wasn't going to share that with the rich ladies.

Who do hoodoo love

A full moon early in the morning. I had gotten up to pee at 4:30 am, when I returned to our bedroom Steve had already packed up and was ready to go. I made breakfast and we were on our way for a very long day

more antelope than people

hoodoos of Bryce

It was quite chilly in the morning. We were at 9000 feet. In a single day we went from 34 to 100

this is Red Canyon about 10 miles from Bryce

the road in Arizona on our way to Las Vegas

Vegas

bathroom inside the Paris Casino. We also ate there (not in the bathroom)

saw the dancing fountains at the Bellagio

a whole store devoted to rice pudding

on our way to the airport

Of the National Parks we visited last month, I had been to Bryce, Zion, and the Grand Canyon as a child though I can't remember which rim we visited. I know we stayed in Flagstaff before near the south rim but I can't believe we'd go to Zion without going to the North Rim. I think I would have remembered Arches. I do know my father has several photographs of it. I do remember going to the Petrified Forest in Arizona too. No time for that on this trip though I think I found some small pieces of petrified wood at Goblins.  I remember liking Bryce the best with all its bright hoodoos. Zion was boring except for its tunnel though it is much more popular than Bryce. I think mainly because it is closer to Las Vegas. So Bryce still remains my favorite.

It was a few hours before sunrise that we left on our long, long day. Lots of miles to travel. How to get to Bryce. I could see a much shorter path but I was cautioned online against it as the road was at very high elevation and involved lots of passes and twists and turns though it was purported to be beautiful. Not so much in the dark. So north we went to catch a straighter, faster road south. No one was out but as the sun came out, numerous critters ran in front of the car bothering Steve. At one point, the road was blocked by twenty antelope. Photo op!  I had seen antelopes on this and our other trip to Arizona but Steve kept missing them. These he could not.

We got to Bryce before it opened. No problem except the bathroom was locked up. Went to a campground to find an open one. Then we did the long but beautiful hike to the bottom of the canyon though they say it isn't really a canyon (no stream) but an 'amphitheater'.  Very nice. Then we took the car to a variety of lookout points.  Lots of bicyclists on the road with various touring companies. Probably hard to ride so high above sea level. My next big ride in May will be at sea level if not below.

We ate lunch at some boring place in Bryce Village and we were on the road again. Next stop: a hike through Red Canyon. Also pretty. Then the freeway to Vegas with the temperature steadily climbing as we dropped in elevation. From no cars for miles to a huge traffic jam as the major freeway was being rebuilt. We stayed a long block from the Strip. As the sunset, we did our long walk to the Strip and on it. Due to all the traffic at intersections you had to cross at bridges. Some had working escalators but many times we had to climb stairs. My watch keeps track of all the floors I go up. Between Vegas and climbing out of the Queen's Garden in Bryce, it was 70 floors. We ate at a cute bistro in the Paris themed casino. Lots of costumed showgirls walking around wanting you to pay them for a photo with them. I wish I got a better photo of these two obese showgirls wearing only tiny pasties on their huge udders going up an escalator while checking their phones.

We were plenty tired.

Next day: back to Michigan