I was watching a fascinating Documentary on the Discovery Channel a
couple of days ago entitled "The Real Eve". It documented the wandering
of 'modern' man 150 thousand years ago from his birthplace in Africa to
points north and East and beyond. They had traced the mitochondria from
one 'virtual' woman and her daughters through many countless generations
and the subsequent cultures they left behind. These humans who came out
of Africa eventually became the semitic peoples of the Middle East , the
Asian peoples of the East and North and South America; the Middle and
Eastern Europeans and the Northern Vikings. In other words these 'first'
Africans became the peoples and races of all humans living on Earth
today. I already knew a lot of this information as I majored in
Anthropology in College. However, due to all the new advanced studies of
the human gene and DNA, scientists are learning much more to prove their
theories. I have to say that I have been a little sad lately at all the
bloodshed and violence that is going on in Israel and Palestine. Bottom
line is as long as there is hate, I can't see a Peace Settlement in the
near future. I have heard and seen many news stories over the last few
weeks. One of the most distressing of them was a picture that was
released by the New York Times. It was two pictures of two young women;
both looking amazingly alike and nearly the same age. They both had long
black hair, dark eyes and looked like teenagers you might find in a High
School Yearbook. One woman blew herself up and the woman who was walking
next to her; who was on her way into the market for Sabbath shopping for
her Mom. One young woman wanted to become a martyr for her cause and the
other just wanted to live out a peaceful life. Both their mothers had
probably wanted their daughters to live a long life. One of the most
tragic events a parent can experience is to see a child die before
themselves. I am normally a kind of a Pollyanna; hopeful and optimistic.
I don't feel that same way about the MIddle East. If there was a
settlement tomorrow and the Palestinians finally had a State or country
of their own; the terrorism would not stop. Although the majority of the
Palestinians would be satisfied with their own country ,the Terrorist
Groups would survive because of the hate and revenge that is passed on
to the very young school children. It is taught in the classroom and read
in their textbooks. And by the time they are young adults their vision
or mission would be to rid the region of the entire State of Israel and
all Israelis and anyone who stood in the way of their 'beliefs'(i.e
Americans). I am neither a Politician nor a philosopher. But I can see
what is going on in Northern Ireland. I remember Bosnia and the gruesome
pictures that came out in Time Magazine. I know about Vietnam, World War
II, and Somalia and Afghanistan. Am I oversimplifying things for you?
Have you ever fought in a War? I haven't. I have often wondered ,
reading all those news items and watching CNN, what I would do if I was
in a war and all of a sudden I am faced with a young kid who is ready to
throw a bomb at me. Would I shoot him in self defense or let myself be
blown up. It's really a kind of stupid question, isn't it? But then
again War is.......what? stupid? Not a very definitive word. Innocent
men, women and children always die in a War. So where do we draw the
line? Are all of you out there either on one side or the other. Are you
a Hawk or a Dove? Is it really Black and White. I do not think so. If
there had been no retaliation in Europe in World War II, what kind of
world would have been left for us if Hitler had been allowed to trash
the globe unimpeded? There are no hard lines to draw and no easy
solutions. Sure, we have to worry about people like Saddam Hussein and
his probability of making a nuclear Bomb. After September 11th maybe we
don't feel as secure as we once did. With all that is going on, though ,
there is still within me a small but strong essence of hope for peace in
this world. And although some Wars in the past have been fought for
economic and Political reasons, the one true hope that we all have, is
that now we really know that we are all brothers. It's been proven. If
there is hate , then there surely will always be war. That is certain.
If it's about revenge, someone has to be the first to stop the circle of
violence or it will just voraciously feed upon itself
forever............ Love to all, Peach

Running around, working, sleeping, getting up too early; tired, get up
the next day, traffic, "go to bed earlier.....no way" ;no time to watch
T.V. read or blog. Whine, whine, whine. One heck of an interesting
life.....right ? No! Not all those things. My life is really more 'fun'
than all that routine minutiae.

I would probably go crazy if that's all there was . Making observations in everyday passing of events is very interesting and enlightening. And that is only part of the whole picture.

Saturday we went to the Apple Pan. That Hamburger place has
been around long before any of us were born. It's this little hole in
the wall, that when you walk in through the antiquated springy screen
door , you are back in the 1940's. I don't think any inch of that place
has ever been changed. (except maybe for painting the walls.) There is a
u-shaped counter encircled with little black stools, that are
permanently rooted to the step-up ledge above the floor. What is really
amazing is that any time of day that you happen to enter this little
joint, it is always crowded with people lining the walls; sometimes
2-deep.

I always memorize the people standing around (there are no
'waiting' chairs) so that I know when I'm next to sit down. If you don't
take note of the other people standing around, you can't go up to someone who just sat down on a stool if you don't know if you were there first.

On this particular Saturday night I saw two guys sit down on two empty stools .
I really thought that I had been there first. So I walked up to one of
them and told him so. " No", he says to me," I saw you when you walked
in here." Whoops! Before I retreated back to the wait line, he said,
"Hey I can get rid of my friend if you want to sit here instead." I
laughed apologetically, said thanks and moved back.

We must have waited at least 15-20 minutes before we sat down to order. But that's normal. You wait because it's the best hamburger in the city, maybe in
California. You have a choice of two Hamburgers: Steakburger and
Hickoryburger. Both are out of this world. You can also order an
incredible Tuna Melt with the tuna filling so huge it spills out on the
sides. I can see why this place has been able to hang on for going on 60
years. It has built up quite a reputation and I guess the
'word-of-mouths' passes from one generation to the other.

I like to watch people, and I would look around periodically to check things out
while I was gobbling my Steakburger . This tall man walks in who looked
very cool in his sort of turned-up collar jacket and hung out at the
wall. He was probably waiting for someone. I was looking at him as I had
been gazing at others in the last few minutes. But I stared a little
longer because he looked familiar to me. Lately it seemed everyone
looked familiar to me. He looked at me and I was wondering if he thought
I was flirting with him, so I looked away. I mean Luigi was sitting next
to me and I was not flirting! His girlfriend finally showed up. I told
Luigi that I thought they made an odd couple. He had a lot of presence
and stood out in a very attractive way. His girlfriend was kind of a
mouse. Wow, Why was I being so judgmental? He kept looking over and I
started to get uncomfortable.

Eventually they moved over to the other side of the room to sit down. I walked out of there, and for the rest of the night I was trying to figure out where the heck I knew him from. I know that I know him. But from when and from where?

My mother would have said that this guy was from my past life and the reason I
felt uncomfortable was because there was something that had been left
unfinished between us and needed to be taken care of. When? She would
say "In your next LIfe." Go figure.

Ciao,
Peach

It's been way too long . My Weblog has almost become a ghost. I feel a
bit empty when my tapping fingers are not stringing all those letters
into words out in cyberspace. I have had a very rough week. My beloved
Kitty Zayna is very ill. I came home last Saturday in the early
afternoon and had to take her to the Vet. The blood tests confirm that
she has kidney disease. The Vet said it's hard to tell how long a cat
with that condition will last. She could live another two years-----or maybe only two months.

The most difficult part is trying to get her to down three or four different medications. I also have to 'administer' fluids to her subcutaneously. My apartment has become a long term care facility for cats. Luigi holds up the saline solution bag with the long tube and the most incredible long , thick needle you've ever seen. Then yours truly must inject that god-awful needle into her Cat. Ironically Zayna is very calm during this process and I was told by the Vet , as it is given just underneath the skin, that cats really do not feel any pain. But she certainly goes into Rodeo manuvers and Bronco bucking escape modes when I try to get those pills and medicines in her mouth.