I understand that frequent posting here is important and an essential component of OS decorum. Forgive me. As you know, life gets in the way. Kids, dogs, home upkeep and finances get in the way. My paying job gets in the way. I get in my way.

So much has happened in the last 25 days...

In that relative blink of an eye, I did a stint as an ice cream vendor. I started a home-based pet care business. I spent hours walking the banks of the Truckee river and watching the water recede almost before my very eyes. I heard some great live music. And a beautiful friend took her last breath as a sneaky reocurrence of breast cancer dealt her a fatal blow. Her bravery was absolutely awe inspiring.

My youngest started eighth grade. My oldest couldn't get the classes he needed to graduate from college because of the screwed up Cal state university system, so he's home working this quarter instead. My other son changed his major from film studies to viticulture. Salud.

I re-watched all five seasons of The Wire, again. A once a year ritual. Best show ever made. Period.

I'm savoring the bittersweet moments of the final throes of summer at 6,000 feet in the Sierras while trying to maintain an even keel. I've been having an internal debate about whether I'm content or actually incredibly lonely. I designed and produced a cookbook...I've submitted a resume or two and some job bids, written pieces about the drought, the movement for a citizen's constitutional convention and about a tragic accident at a local affordable housing complex. There has been a disproportionate amount of death around here. Today I'm going to another memorial.

God, I'm tired.

We also adopted a dog. A beautiful Catahoula leopard hound who was abandoned by her owners when they lost their home to foreclosure. Bright light in our lives. Happiness.

Concerning the news of the day, the health reform debate rages on and instead of being involved as a concerned lefty Liberal with relevant things to add to the discussion, I can't seem to muster up the energy to take a stand against the idiotic opposition.

Serena Williams' outburst at the US Open really offended me and I don't think she was judged unfairly and I don't think her behavior was anything like McEnroe's used to be.  I was there for McEnroe and Nastase and all of that. As a junior tennis player in the 70's I lived for the US Open. JMac and Connors were rude and obnoxious and they ranted and raved but it wasn't aggressively threatening behavior, just bad behavior. Am I a deluded racist?

I yearn for a return to finesse and serve and volley and manners in the tennis world and the rest of the world. Hitting the ball hard isn't the least bit poetic or beautiful. And saying fuck over and over has no place on a tennis court or on Top Chef, for that matter. What is wrong with us? Bleeping words out doesn't make them disappear. It illuminates them.

Of course Joe Wilson is a racist, but that's not the point. We can't legislate people's internal beliefs but we can have standards for their outward behaviour. What's wrong with enforcing decency and civility in public just for the sake of decency and civility?

Kanye West's little episode was a simple publicity stunt to get people to watch him on Leno. It was bizarre and rude, but it worked out well for Swift in the end. Taylor Swift is a force to be reckoned with. Just watch.

And I'm not ready to throw away a nationwide non profit organization because of a couple well orchestrated but amateurish undercover frames shot by a right wing film maker. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon, but I want more information. It was just too easy. Nothing's that easy. Does anyone else feel that way? Is Michael Moore trying to hard? I guess he's just tackling infinitely more entrenched obstacles.

Meanwhile, the universe swirls around and throws out its barbs and jabs along with occasional joys and pleasures. I hope to be back for a while now that I've tested my toe again.

But who knows what tomorrow will bring?