Go ahead,
make my day.
make my day.
In 1972, I finished university in Montreal Canada, immigrated to the USA and moved to California. I was so anxious to go that I had even attempted to defect -unsuccessfully- two years earlier. See 'Taking a stroll down memory lane: The defection' Click here The epistle, October, 2009
California was the epitome of being on the bleeding edge of technology, was light years ahead in lifestyle and had killer weather. Over the years the politics deteriorated but I could put that in a mental box of sorts and just carry on. Lately, that has become difficult. There is an old joke that says that California is the land of fruits and nuts, but the nuts part is becoming less funny every day.
Don't get me wrong, wild horses could not drag me out of here permanently, but some elements of life here have become more taxing. We may have to turn our home into a safe space to help the feds keep the mongrel hordes from breaching the wall. The state has become a land surrounded by reality and has done things and taken positions on some national issues that are quite vexing.
Unless you have been stuck on the back side of the moon, you can't have missed the fist-a-cuffs between our Golden state and the federal administration. In wild twists back and forth, they have sniped at each other, trying to gain the upper hand at every turn. Admittedly, California has come up with some pretty creative ways to circumvent Washington's decrees. The creativeness has worked both ways though, as seen in the signs some citizens have put up.
There have been a number of cities all over California (and elsewhere of course) who had declared themselves 'sanctuary cities' and the federal government has been cracking down on them. Not to be outdone, our Mensa leaders declared California a sanctuary state on January 1.
When the federal government sought to arrest illegal aliens, who had committed new crimes after the initial felony of being in the country in the first place, our governor began issuing pardons. This made them ineligible to meet the federal criteria for deportation. He said that he refused to
do anything humiliating, which is ironic since he’s already a Democrat. (Oops, that slipped)
When the new federal tax laws that were recently passed limited some deductions, the state began working to pass work around legislation to declare state taxes a 'charitable contribution', making them fully deductible.
After a proposition to make growing and selling marijuana legal after January 1, the feds warned that they would flood the state with agents to enforce the law prohibiting it. Then the state announced that it would prosecute any law enforcement official that cooperated with federal authorities in the identification and deportation of illegal aliens in the state.
Had enough? No? Ok, how about this. Our legislature has introduced a bill to stop sit-down restaurants from offering customers straws with their beverages unless they specifically request one. A waiter who serves a drink with an unrequested straw would face up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 to mitigate the environmental damage done. Our town of San Luis Obispo is one of only two in the state to have passed the no straws policy a year ago.
Meanwhile, all state government forms now allow anyone to self-identify themselves as either male, female or "X"...(!)
This is the land of OZ.
After a proposition to make growing and selling marijuana legal after January 1, the feds warned that they would flood the state with agents to enforce the law prohibiting it. Then the state announced that it would prosecute any law enforcement official that cooperated with federal authorities in the identification and deportation of illegal aliens in the state.
Had enough? No? Ok, how about this. Our legislature has introduced a bill to stop sit-down restaurants from offering customers straws with their beverages unless they specifically request one. A waiter who serves a drink with an unrequested straw would face up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 to mitigate the environmental damage done. Our town of San Luis Obispo is one of only two in the state to have passed the no straws policy a year ago.
This is the land of OZ.
Not to be outdone, there is a new movement afoot to declare a large portion of the state "New California", creating the 51st state and splitting it like North and South Carolina. The rural eastern part is far more conservative, while the western more populated coastal area is rabidly liberal. We love where we live (coastal) but politically, we are like fish out of water. It is not an easy life we lead.
Our system is being hijacked by folks whose idea of utopia is a place where you have free housing, free medical care, free food, free clothing, free education, no taxes, no bills of any kind and only law enforcement have guns. Before you scoff at such a ridiculous notion, I can tell you that there is such a place. In fact, I spent 30 years there. It’s called prison.
Needing to escape to a 'safe space', we thought it might be a good time for a little trip out of the continent for a spell, while they figure things out.
Our system is being hijacked by folks whose idea of utopia is a place where you have free housing, free medical care, free food, free clothing, free education, no taxes, no bills of any kind and only law enforcement have guns. Before you scoff at such a ridiculous notion, I can tell you that there is such a place. In fact, I spent 30 years there. It’s called prison.
Needing to escape to a 'safe space', we thought it might be a good time for a little trip out of the continent for a spell, while they figure things out.
As we get older we might not get smarter, but hopefully we just run out of stupid.
The transition
Yup, it's that time of the year. The swoop-down-on-the-grandkids (9 out of 10 of them) in the Northwest [Oregon and Washington state] before making the hop over the pond for our season in Europe.
In our first 5 days, we...
...loved up the 1 year old (you would smile
too if you had nothing in your pants)
...toured a fire station and a police car with the 4 year old
...went on water slides and to the maritime museum with the 9-year-old
...then drove 200 miles north to the next batch of 6 kids to wash, rinse, repeat.
The activities there consisted of playing board games and building a bird house with the little ones, playing hide-and-seek with the medium sized ones and taking the teenager and her boyfriend to visit a former mental asylum and roam the haunted buildings where they had performed lobotomies on patients (when in Rome...) By now, I was ready to be checked in and undergo one myself.
Thing 2 and 3, teaching grandma the moves.
Thing 4-5 and 6 keeping grandma company.
Scientists in training
Next came Janice's absolute favorite activity.
Boarding our flight to France
Daughter Amy is the principal of the very successful local home school group, which were putting on a science fair competition where Megan Grace and Christopher gave it their all.
Next came Janice's absolute favorite activity.
Boarding our flight to France
What else is new?
We are home in Europe, so we have begun our routine of visiting cool new places, hanging out with friends and of course launching our projects for the season. The plan this year is to seriously upgrade the entrance area to the villa, finish a second lower level dining and living area and a bedroom. These areas, you might recall, currently look like WWII concrete bunkers. Think cement walls, ceilings and floors.... with no electricity. Janice's laborer has his work cut out for him.
Those areas are part of our summer rentals so getting it done is not only what we want but is now not optional. We jump at any excuse to temporarily walk away from it but fill our in between time with the fun of pushing that ball forward.
Happy Valentine's day from Saint-Tropez
