http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091016/ap_on_re_us/us_boy_in_balloon;_ylt=An7EOltDcU3ZBoOd4TDmlYJpaP0E;_ylu=X3oDMTJrbDlnaGgyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDE2L3VzX2JveV9pbl9iYWxsb29uBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2JveWZlYXJlZGZsbw--
And a little child shall lead them. I'll say. On a wild goose chase? Oh my! Now Dad, poor Dad, feeling a little sad but hugely relieved at the same time- oh maybe a trifle embarrassed and apologetic towards his six year old Petit Prince- can go back to playing at designing and flying dirigibles. Well, medium sized balloons. What a bore compared to riding in one.
So where do the Wild Things really take us? Into a cardboard box in the garage.
I wish for all of us who have some anxiety- some fear about what the future holds, a nagging realisation that we are not really in charge of our own safety- a two hour flight of fancy and delight, a short escape from the horrors of our earthbound fantasy. Have a good day, as it were.

Some of us work at what we do all year round. My trash and recycling is being collected as I write because Monday is always Monday where I live- and this work is done on Christmas Day or any other holiday as well. True, it's a private company, not a state or local government funded operation. That said, the men who work at this are so spiffy, so polite, so cheery in greeting me as I race out with the last little bit of recycling you would think that we were at a cocktail party.
The bridges in San Francisco are maintained all year round as well. When I moved here the first time, I learned that the Golden Gate is always being painted. Surely, those workers get this weekend off? But we know that the Golden Gate is an Icon, as Icon's go. It is a lovely color. And it is a stunning structure to look at. I see it from my bedroom window here in the East Bay, when the fog is not between me and it. I have come to love the fog as well, but the fog is another story. This one is about labor devoted the well being of others.
Caltrans shut down the other big bridge, the East Bay Bridge, for the weekend on Thursday at 8:00 in the evening so that a span on my side could be sliced away and replaced, just part of a seismic retrofit which is scheduled for completion in 2013. The Bay Bridge allows travel for a quarter million commuters everyday. That quarter million is in addition to those who use the rapid transit system known as BART, which from my side travels underneath the Bay to cross it. A 50 foot span on the Bay Bridge collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake; thus the necessary commitment to a seismic retrofit. A very good thing California is able to afford this infrastructure project, don't you agree? Or was, at the time that it was planned. I love the nickname of the huge sea going crane employed to raise the heavy steel for this project: The Left Coast Lifter.
When inspection on Saturday revealed a crack at a significant distance from the site of the  span replacement, a crack halfway through a span-supporting steel link- a crack large enough to close the Bridge by itself!- the news now became that the Bridge had to remain closed for some indefinite period. The two inch thick piece of steel functions within a series of eight links. But a link cracked all of halfway through, and discovered only when the opportunity to inspect so closely presented itself with the Bridge empty of traffic?  Well, that is something to shudder about. So we were braced for days of crowded BART trains, late arrival at work, delayed returning home and a general condition of frayed nerves and headaches. We were  told to expect at least one additional day without the Bridge and perhaps much longer, perhaps a couple of weeks.
But this morning bought news of American Labor Day Weekend heroics. A steel contractor in Arizona has been hard at work throughout the weekend. The repair materials are now complete and were flown during the night by charted plane to San Francisco and then moved onto the Bridge with police escort. I wish I could have been there to cheer the parade.
As the crew work frantically up there in the sky, the rest of us plan our grilling of food and our gathering of loved ones. My husband and a couple of our brood are meeting just now at the Rockeridge BART station or beyond to bike up Mt Diablo. It is a gorgeous sunny day. I am planning to cook a menu for both vegetarian and carnivore family members. Have fun, my husband and I say to each other as he leaves to ride to the BART station. I will walk the dog and get ready to make Italian sauce for meatball and non meat meatball hoagies.
And the crew continues, laboring as fast as they can, putting our almost Humpty Dumpty Bridge back together so that we can carry out normal lives beginning Tuesday morning. Happy Labor Day.

Like many others here most likely, I received this from David Plouffe today.

(lefty) President Obama is holding a live strategy meeting on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time for all Organizing for America supporters. I hope you can join us, online or by phone.  The President will update us on the fight to pass real health insurance reform -- what's happening in D.C. and what's happening around the country. He'll lay out our strategy and message going forward and answer questions from supporters like you. And we'll unveil the next actions we'll organize together. This is a critical time in this President's administration, and in the history of our country. I hope you can join us. Here are the details: What: Organizing for America National Health Care Forum When: Thursday, August 20th, 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time RSVP and submit a question for the President. The President wrote to us a few weeks ago to ask us to go the extra mile this month in the fight for health insurance reform. And so far, you've stepped up in a big way: Last week, an astounding 60,000 Organizing for America volunteers stopped by representatives' and senators' local offices. You told your health care stories to staffers and members of Congress -- of losing insurance after getting laid off, of being denied coverage upon finding out about a serious illness. And you thanked those supporting real health insurance reform for all the work they've done so far. But these local office visits were only part of the story. The D.C. media has been trumpeting coverage oftown halls disrupted by angry opposition to reform. But the reality on the ground is very different. Organizing for America supporters are showing up in huge numbers at these meetings all across the country -- outnumbering opponents of reform, often by overwhelming margins.  You've organized 11,906 local events in all 50 states -- from press conferences to community discussions -- since we launched our big campaign for reform in June. And you've made hundreds of thousands of calls to Congress.  Your work so far has been incredible. But the special interests and partisan attack groups who oppose reform will not let up, and they will tell whatever lies they can to spread fear. There's a lot more work for all of us to do. This Thursday's meeting is our chance to huddle as a team, get the latest information and talk about how we're going to achieve this victory. You don't want to miss it.  Click here to RSVP and submit a question for President Obama: http://my.barackobama.com/forum  Hope you can make it, David Plouffe This is nice. David does a good job. I appreciate that he helped to get our President elected.  I think  we helped too. But is this also an opportunity, e.g. for those feeling a tad wistful about LBJ's reputed Oval Office charms, to inquire about  the vigor of the bully in the bully pulpit? I  am guessing we can submit one question. Today. Mine, in process of development,  might have to do with removing health care benefits from all members of Congress if there is not health care for all, on the principle that members of Congress get to pay taxes and to vote. What's yours?

Why oh why, DD, do I get this error message now, whenever I attempt to visit your blog? I am on mac and one assumption could be it's nothing to worry about, hey just click on Ignore warning. On the other hand, I do like my mac and it's my only computer. So I always go back, missing Arthur.

Two things happened Saturday, November 1st, All Saints Day.