In The Studio With Barbara

Visited KUCI this morning with Barbara to watch her do her show, Writers on Writing. I'd never been in a radio station before. So much music and I LOVE music.

Barbara told me to bring my headphones. I told her I hadn't owned a pair of headphones since I'd plugged a set into my 8-track player in 1982. She loaned me a spare set.

I'm learning to be a DJ at KUCI in Irvine. I'll give you a moment to quit laughing.

One Mississippi

Two Mississippi

DJing is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. The tasks themselves are quite simple. It's the number of tasks, the importance of priority and order, and the multitasking that might be a problem. Barbara assures me it will become second nature. I'll let you know.

1,000th Visitor

Earlier today -
Ms Pam Espinosa from Scottsdale (internet from Scottsdale at least) marked the 1,000th visit to Judy's Jabberings.

Proof of Life

For proof of just how much I love these kids, I took photos of my house while they were out to dinner their last night in town.

My living room sofa turned into guest bed / playroom.

And the loft - Even George is speechless. It's unrecognizable. Jeans - blankets - beach bags - shopping bags - makeup - underwear - shirts - bras - jackets...
If a teenage girl uses it, it's there - on my floor.

Auntie Judy loves you Alexa, Meghan, Emilie, and Maddy.

Obligatory - Disneyland

Mommy, Meghan, and Maddy riding Pirates of the Caribbean. Poor Maddy is finally old enough to be scared - but who knew. She loved the ride last year.



Emmie brought her friend Maddison. What's one more girl when we already had 5. Here they are on the Pirates ride. Emilie's the pink Smurfette.


A photo moment at Big Thunder Mountain. The older girls were off on their own but for the life of me I don't know where that baby is in this picture. Maybe she's off riding the train?

Back Bay Science Center

At the Back Bay Science Center the girls got a hands on experience in oceanography. Here's Emilie skimming the water for samples to examine under the microscope. She also helped sort the mud samples taken from the bottom of the bay.
We didn't get pictures but we also were allowed to hold sea stars and measure fish. We couldn't touch the Rays since they still had active stingers but we got to see them up close.

The Hike

At 6:00 pm we set out into the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park for our Full Moon Hike. We had a guide - we're city girls but we're not stupid. Our hike was led by a docent from the Laguna Canyon Foundation. I thought I heard her name was Flora but I thought that would be too convenient so I refrained from calling her by name. Emilie talked her ear off and was excited to learn that we would be examining coyote and deer scat - POOP Emilie whispered to me mischievously.

We carried flashlights, water, and a snack and wore sturdy shoes. We were ready for almost anything but were a little surprised at the amount of poison oak. Luckily no one came down with a mysterious rash.

Plein Air Artists are Born

Emilie at Plein Air painting class.
While the rest of us wait inside at the Muth Interpretive Center. Maddy puts on a show for Meghan.

Home Invasion

July 18th, they arrive. The brood. Emilie and Maddy pictured here with Mommy (Pam).

Babs in Bookland

My very famous author friend Barbara DeMarco Barrett has a local appearance this Sunday July 12th in Fashion Island.

Many of you saw her in the new issue of Orange Coast Magazine listed as Orange County's #1 literary magnet. Quite and honor.

Savannah the Lion Hearted

It's that time of year.

Savannah had a few matts, she was shedding and scratching and quite miserable so I had her cut.

She loves her lion cut. She struts around the house flicking her tail at me. She thinks she's beautiful.

First Tomato at Judy's

First Tomato at Judy's
Originally uploaded by judykay.

July 4th. First Tomatoes on the Roma.

Finally Tomatoes on my balcony

June 27, 2008
Originally uploaded by judykay.

Pictures from June 27th. My earthbox arrived late but the Beefsteak and Brandywine were doing a great job catching up to the Roma (on the left) which was planted 2 weeks earlier.

My Mind's Eye

Bridesmaid at Lisa's Wedding
Originally uploaded by judykay.

Going through some old pictures on Flickr today and came across this picture of me as a bridesmaid 10 years ago.,

FYI - This is what I think I look like now. When I show up in my dreams I look just like this - minus the over-bleached teeth which was a phase in the late 90s.

"What Tim Knew" - Tim Russert

From NBC's Meet the Press:

June 15, 2008 - Remembering Tim Russert

MR. MIKE BARNICLE: ...1977, he (Tim) goes to work for Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who he idolized in the United States Senate. And Tim arrives and is surrounded by charter members of a Mensa society--Yale Law, Harvard Law. And Tim is from Buffalo, and he was always from Buffalo. And Daniel Patrick Moynihan sensed it in him, and they were having a conversation about, you know,

"Don't worry, you're not going to be intimidated by these Mensa members who you're working with."

And Tim acknowledged that. And Pat Moynihan told Tim that day, as Dick Eaton...told me, he told Tim... "You know," he said,

"what they know, Tim, you can learn. But what you know, they can never learn."

___________________________________________________

I was a HUGE fan of Tim Russert. In my opinion, he was the BEST in political journalism.

Fair
Thorough
Clear
Smart
Meaningful
Relevant

His reporting was refreshing, full of content, masterly presented in an easily understood format. Tim took you from A to Z and you actually got it. He was the everyman - Never meant to be on camera. He didn't have the looks nor the slick wardrobe of the network anchorman. It just wasn't his style. He was a boy from Buffalo with a passion for politics, his family, and his country.

Remember Tim the next time you're tempted to get your political FACTS from a blog or a mass forwarded email.

Tim, you will be missed.

Fruits and Veggies

Finally have the first tomatoes I grow at my Mom and Dad's house. I've been able to keep the horn worms off of them so far this year

Tomatoes

It's that time of year again. I go overboard with the tomato plants. This year my 9 year old friend Emilie helped me tear down the old plants and since there were so many left over tomatoes on the Super Cherry plant, we tossed them into the soil and ground them up a bit. We must have had 100 volunteer plants. I've been transplanting and giving away seedlings. They don't look like much now but need I remind everyone what our Super Cherry plant turned into last year...

That's mostly one plant. The Cherry plant grew out of it's cage. I had to tie it to the patio cover and it continued for almost six feet across the patio. Needless to say we had more than enough tomatoes.

California Wildflowers

I've never seen wildflowers like I've seen this year in Southern California. I kept meaning to stop along the side of the road to take pictures and I finally did last weekend - Easter Sunday - probably the last day for wildflowers this year.




I shot these pictures in Canyon Lake, just off the side of Railroad Canyon Road.











Lucky Me. I was there. I had a camera. I didn't break an ankle.

Dalai Lama

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

- Dalai Lama

Miss You Mattie

You may have read his comments on my posts. He was the one person I could count on to read my blog - in addition to my Dad that is. He was my friend Matt Hallstrom and I will miss him.

We're both much younger here but it doesn't matter much since we both thought that we still looked like this. Pretty good looking - huh?

Matt - You were loved by so many and you will be missed.

Talk Radio defines Conservative

I just voted. On my drive home I turned on Sean Hannity to hear first hand what all of the McCain bashing news was about. My polling place is only a mile away so I only got a few minutes of Mr Hannity to my surprise he was NOT bashing Senator McCain, he was bashing Governor Huckabee. Apparently, according to Mr Hannity, Governor Huckabee has been involved in some vote suppression (who knows what he means by this - read on) targeted against Governor Romney. You see, Romeny is the true conservative in the race and Huckabee is too liberal for what Hannity defines as the Republican party. Therefore, Huckabee and McCain have conspired against all conservatives in this primary...

HUH?

I was confused. How could these so called 'experts' and self appointed mouthpieces of the Republican party - my party - say that a Baptist minister is too liberal? How are they getting around the facts?

Here are some of the highly conservative views held by Governor Huckabee that I find far too right wing for my tastes:

1. Support for Constitutional amendments outlawing abortion and gay marriage
2. Belief in Creationism - only. end of story. No primates involved.
3. First Governor in the country to have a concealed handgun license.
4. Consistently opposed banning assault weapons and opposed the Brady Bill.
5. Opposes research on embryonic stem cells

These views are too liberal for:

• Rush Limbaugh
• Ann Coulter
• Sean Hannitiy

and other highly paid lobbyists - ooops, I mean talk show hosts. I'm NOT a listener so I don't want to misquote anyone. These three I've personally heard say that Huckabee is too liberal.

No wonder they say McCain is Liberal. It must be the label they through around for anyone that threatens their pocketbooks. Kind of like when the ultra leftist call anyone to the right of them a fascist.

Let's stop the name calling.