Stoneleigh Gardens

Stoneleigh Gardens

Villanova, PA

July 2018

Signs are popping up all over the area to save these gardens that are unknown to me.  Then someone told me that the Stoneleigh family left their 44 acre estate to the township for the purpose of offering their neighbors a free garden spot to explore.  The National Land Trust Foundation has been working diligently over the last three years to make this place accessible to everyone.  The gates opened up for the first time just within  the year.  And then the local school board announced that it was considering taking this property as eminent domain and making it a football field for its middle school team.  Needless to say, the community is in an uproar over the arrogance of this school board.

So I went here to show my solidarity to the movement. 

Praise Her

Praise Her


My friend, Kevin, is very religious.  He spends all day Sunday in church and then he is right back there all evening on Wednesday.  His faith brings him great comfort and community.  As for me, I loath any affiliation  with a structured religion.  But to each his own.

One day, our mutual friend made a comment that Kevin was very tolerate for a religious person.  Kevin didn't understand that Sue was saying and I found her sincere comment to him to be affirming to me.

"But all Christians are tolerant, aren't they?", Kevin asked.

He looked to me and I spoke my truth to him.

Somehow the conversation moved on to what I believed.

"First, my god is a woman", I tell him.

He laughs and accepts my statement without judgment or defense.

"Praise Her," he responded, "Praise Her."

1980

1980
Woodbine Avenue

Overbrook

Philadelphia, PA

   And then

State College, PA

My age: 24-25

School: I started a full time graduate program at Penn State University. I was studying to be a high school guidance counselor.  This experience was a boost to my confidence.  I graduated with an eagerness to start my professional career.

Work- I didn’t work this year and lived on very little money.  I borrowed $6000 in student loans. I was really poor.

Music- I listened to top 40 pop music. And disc was creeping in to the air waves

• Call Me - Blondie- I wasn't a fan of hers.
• Another Brick In the Wall - Pink Floyd- I was never a fan of this group.
• Magic - Olivia Newton-John
• Rock With You - Michael Jackson
• Do That to Me One More Time - The Captain and Tennille- OMG, they were dreadful.
• Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
• Funkytown - Lipps, Inc.- no, I didn't like this song.
• It's Still Rock and Roll to Me - Billy Joel
• The Rose - Bette Midler- I loved this song and this movie.
• Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes- I hate, hate, hate this song.
• Cruisin' - Smokey Robinson-I really lied him but I didn't like this song too much.
• Little Jeannie - Elton John
• Ride Like the Wind - Cristopher Cross
• Upside Down - Diana Ross- she moved from Motown to disco and I didn't like the transition.
• Still - The Commodores- I thought this group was very soulful.
• Yes I'm Ready - Teri De Sario With K.C.
• Sexy Eyes - Dr. Hook
• Steal Away - Robbie Dupree
• Don't Fall In Love With a Dreamer - Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes
• Sailing - Christopher Cross
• Longer - Dan Fogelberg
• She's Out of My Life - Michael Jackson
• Fame - Irene Cara
• Fire Lake - Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band- Mr. Rock-n-Roll.
• How Do I Make You - Linda Ronstadt
• One Fine Day - Carole King- she peaked with her Tapestry album.
• You May Be Right - Billy Joel
• Hurt So Bad - Linda Ronstadt- she started sliding form the limelight around now.  She was a huge hit a few years back.
• Off the Wall - Michael Jackson
• Stand By Me - Mickey Gilley 
• Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar- I loved every song on this album.
• Sara - Fleetwood Mac- a lot of songs were coming from this band at this time.
• JoJo - Boz Scaggs- I don't know this song. He had a super album in the early 70's and never matched that success again.
• September Morn - Neil Diamond- he's old fart but I like several of his songs.
• Tusk - Fleetwood Mac
• I Wanna Be Your Lover - Prince- this man could produce hit after hit and he could discover talents in the r people.
• Refugee - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
• We Don't Talk Anymore - Cliff Richard- I liked this sad, desperate song.
• Heartache Tonight - The Eagles
• Against the Wind - Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
• On the Radio - Donna Summer
• Emotional Rescue - The Rolling Stones- I don't like the Stones per se but I do like many of there hits.  This is one of them.
• Romeo's Tune - Steve Forbert- this guy had one sensational album and then he disappeared from the main stage.
• Daydream Believer - Anne Murray- she is squeaky clean but I like a few of her songs.

Movies- on weekends, movies were shown for $1 in one of the auditoriums on campus. Ni alcohol was allowed so we had to sneak it in.

Books- textbooks, textbooks and more textbooks.  I didn't buy most of my books just because they were too damn expensive and I didn't have the money.

Travels- I went nowhere because I didn't have any damn money.  I did get to my parents' house at the beach for a long weekend.

News events

• Ronald Reagan was elected president of the USA.  I voted for Jimmy Carter.
• Mount St. Helen erupts and we all got to watch this magnificent flow of destruction.
• The Rubik’s Cube showed up on the market and frustrated most of us.
• The Iran-Iraq war began in September of 1980 and we are still dealing with the fall-out of this war.
• CNN (Cable News Network) began broadcasting and we would forever be saturated with breaking news.
•  The 3M company begins sales of  Post-It Notes 
• US defeats Soviet Union in ice hockey in the "Miracle on Ice" game.  I didn't watch the game but I  did see the movie about it.
•  John Lennon was shot to death.
• The latest census revealed the US population is 226,504,825.  
•  The Killer Clown ( John Wayne Gacy Jr ) sentenced to death for the murder of 33 boys. He was one sick pup.
• The Winter Olympic Games are held in Lake Placid, New York, United States 
• Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, gained independence but I missed this story.
• There was a failed operation by US to free our hostages in Iran.  That was a big blow to our pride, ego and sense of security.
• Yassar Arafat was elected the President of the Palestinian National Council> I always thought he was creepy.
• Terrorists seized Iran embassy and hostages in London leading to the British SAS storming embassy and releasing hostages.  The Middle East was a war zone for us.
• Japan became the worlds largest auto producing country. Up to this point, we had views any product by Japan tone cheap and of poor quality. 
•  US leads boycott of Moscow Olympics in protest at Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. I felt sorry for our athletes who had to forfeit any chance of winning a gold metal. 
• Everyone tuned into the TV show, Dallas, to learn who shot lead character J.R. Ewing.  I  didn't watch the show.

Family and friends

• My friend's brother was killed in a freak car accident.  He was only 23 and the whole neighborhood cried with his family.
• I became an aunt.  Kathy had a baby boy in December. This was the happiest day of my life.
• I don't have a car so I have to bum rides from friends, hitchhike or take the bus through life.

The Fire Has Been Put Out- CO

The Fire Has Been Put Out
Southern CO
July 2018

The road was closed all last week as fire fighters worked endlessly to extinguish this massive fire.  And on the day we left Boulder to drive to Pagosa Spring, this road finally opened up again.  It was eerie to drive through these burnt woods.  The presence of death and defeat was everywhere and when we opened our car windows, the smell of the fire permeated our surroundings.

Images of Wales

WALES (UK)

Three Days in September 

2018

Welsh Rare Bit- my reason for coming to Wales

Images of the UK

UK 2018

London, Cardiff, Poole, Jersey

September 17- 23, 2018