Yeah, Well, Good and Bad Stuff Happens

Yeah, well, good and bad stuff happens. The bad has been the hurricanes to the Islands, Jamaica and Mexico this week. If I was a shaman maybe I could have changed their course. I suspect that some real shamans did, so that while there are still dead, the toll is smaller by geometric proportions than what was expected. Thanks you beings of light for that.
The bad was also the earthquake in Peru last week. The death total is at about 550 as I write this but I expect it to be much higher once things are investigated. And nearly everyone I know in Peru has family affected. Aunts, cousins, people who used to live with them.....the extended family has long arms, and in a situation like this, where most are too poor to help, the arms reach out to gringos like me, friends of the family. We do what we can....I'm already stretched pretty thin. But if you want and don't know where to contribute, I'll do the legwork and find out which outfits are really getting aid to those who need it. And there are a lot of people on the Southern Peruvian coast who need it. Unfortunately, there are already--and there will be more--more than enough phony groups collecting money that will go no further than the local bar. And while I support my local bar, I don't do it with monies given in the name of someone else's tragedy. So don't do it either. Contact the Red Cross or someone like that: WHile they probably use too much on overhead, their heart is in the right place.
Now here at home, Chepa was due for another sonogram. Not really due, but she hasn't been sleepng well and the baby hasn't been kicking hard during the last week so she was frightened. Well, her doc charged her $500 for a visit and sonogram last time and that's simply not possible, so che called me, freaking, and I told her I'd look into it. And three hours later I found a clinic in Weatherford, Texas, that gives free sonograms to anyone. So I jumped on that and the good news is that Chepa is going to have another in her incredible string of beautiful babies.
I wish it was mine, but I don't really care: I care that the fetus is healthy and jumping around inside her water sack like a dolphin. Two arms, two legs, one head. All good signs.
Even better, My Madeleina got to watch the sonogram and see the little thing jumping around. Afterward I reminded Madeleina that I had footage of her doing a series of front kicks that turned her completely around and around in the womb, making a fantastic mandala in slow motion, like a nautilus fossil.
Sierra, on the other hand, had to be removed from the sonogram room because she kept trying to touch the million buck equipment and I couldn't afford to replace it. Instead, I let her slide off the roof of my Ranger and into my arms for an hour. She loved it. I loved it too, but my healing stomach is still not certain if that wasn't more than I should have been doing.
Then I was thinking about a few of the meals I made this week: Last night was grilled marinated chicken thighs, sweet and smoked sausage with grilled broccoli, tomatos and onons; the night before it was mussels--in garlic, onion, fresh tomatoes and white wine with good garlic italian bread and fresh steamed spinach; the day before that it was roasted country stle pork ribs with garlic with basmati rice and kidney beans along with fresh asparagus and fresh corn off the cob seared with garlic, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.
Tonight I'm alone so I made a quick putanesca: garlic, onions, diced tomatoes, black olives and capers over bow-tie pasta. I might have a piece of left over chicken parmesan we made a few days ago and some of last night's left over grilled broccoli, onions and tomatoes.
So today was about sonograms and the food you can afford if you can find a sonogram that doesn't cost you $500.
Ain't we lucky sometimes?
Anybody who's hungry, we generally eat pretty good over here and have enough left overs to feed a couple more. So if you're in the neighborhood, do drop in and we'll see what we can fix you up with.
What a world, eh? I mean, I was going to write something sour and I wound up writing a "YeaH God!" type of piece. Who'd a thunk it? Guess there's a part of me that is still simply amazed that I am allowed to be part of this sideshow called Earth.
THANKS EVERYBODY!
G