Memorial Day String Tree

"Oregon" Sue Maxwell and I have become friends over the Internet. She is part of a small group who have our first cup of coffee "together", leaving each other chit-chat- starting with the weather, our thoughts and almost always talk about shopping and food.

Sue sent the above photo with her morning missive.

"You have heard of 'string cheese'... have you ever heard of a 'string tree'??? LOL Well, every day or so I cut a bunch of lengths, about 12" of string and hang it in the tree next to the house. The birds come along and take it to make their nests with. "

The photo takes my imagination to the ancient oaks in the hot and humid Southern states. Where nature dangles moss hanging from ancient oak forests. Only Sue lives in the Rogue River region of Oregon, where it was 40 degrees the Memorial Day morning.

I admire Sue's creative spirit. This is a close up of the earrings she crafted for the first Tea Party up in her area. She hung a tea bag from each of the beaded red white and blue earrings she wore to wear with her hand lettered sign, "Taxed Enough Already".

The earrings pretty much sum up the lack of understanding in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement that the April Tax Day tea parties were "funded by high end... we call it Astroturf... not really grass roots of America..."

I have a file full of photos from well-attended tea parties. None of them looked "Astroturf"- a term which is a bit ironic the Speaker used, since the government of our California would like homeowners to replace real grass lawns with manufactured substitute due to the ongoing drought- which has three components- real- political- and court mandated.

Astroturf is lovely to look at. It has its place. But it doesn't smell like grass. It doesn't feel like grass. It doesn't feed the birds seeds like grass. Lack of water doesn't grow crops to feed people.

My wish this Memorial Day, is the politicians simplify their work on our behalf. Instead of throwing insults and demeaning people who love this country as much as they... instead of trying to do for us what we can do for ourselves... please- support our military... cooperate to bring cleaner power and replenish and deliver fresh water supplies. Then show us, by your personal actions, not legislation, how we should live.

My single favorite Obama moment so far isn't a speech. It isn't legislation. It was when a portion of the White House grounds was dedicated to a vegetable garden. I hope this change doesn't end with planting. I hope to read about how the produce is used- about how delicious it tastes.

God Bless America. The people who live here. The brave men and women who serve in the military to protect our right to free speech and our privilege to garden.