Kristine’s Neighborhood

My contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.

That's Maldon salt on top. The peanut butter / honey filling is poping out the cracks. Next batch will be cooked less and have either habañero, cayenne, or jalepeño.

Molten Chocolate cups w/ peanut butter & honey centers...

Today I made stew, picked the remaining flowers, took a bunch of pictures, and decorated gourds.  There are still a few random blooms in the garden and of course the herbs are still begging to be thrown into a saucepot.

I found some Nastursiums, lettuce seed, monkey grass berries, mums, and a few red Zinnias. I took a few pics with a Lalique flower "frog" and some other articles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My stew smells good and it is cold outside so it will be welcome. I spent a few hours outside staining gourds that I wood-burned designs on.  They aren't done but look neat in the state they are in so if I never get back to them I can still use them for something. What I am not sure of.

I like taking pictures but my camera has been sucking lately.  Perhaps Santa will bring me a new one.

 

 

Seen in lower haight.

Go to a Vanderbilt Basketball game of course!

 

So far both our men's and ladies teams are undefeated. That includes exhibition games.  If our team scores more than 75 we get a free crunchy beef taco from Taco Bell.  We save our tickets though so no tacos for us.

Our Lady Dores are the SEC Champions.  That is a very big deal in college basketball.  They have won 4 of the last 7 tournaments yet they only draw a few thousand spectators per game.  The men didn't even make it into the tournament yet they get 15,000 to 20,000 people per game.  We have two great teams this year and hope for a great season.  Ladies season tickets are $32.00 for the entire season and the same seats for the men's team would cost me over $1,500.00 per season.  I have nosebleed seats for the men and they still cost $75.00 per season. If you add in the free tacos for the ladies the seats are about a dollar per game when they win.  There is no cheaper form of live entertainment so I strongly recommend supporting your local ladies NCAA team. Take the kids and cheer on the ladies.  Our girls are third in attendance nationwide and that is just sad.  These kids work their hearts out, miss holidays with their families and probably won't go on to become pros. All their stats are better than the men.

So Go Lady Dores!!!!!  You are the best!  We want a National Championship this year!

Rhode Island legislators learned yesterday that Gov. Carcieri vetoed the gay funeral rights bill that passed in October.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Rhoda Perry and state Rep. David Segal, would have added “domestic partners” to the list of people legally authorized to make funeral, cremation or burial arrangements for their deceased partners. Heterosexual married couples already have these rights.

The Providence Journal reported that the bill was proposed after one man was unable to retrieve the body of his late partner from the state medical examiner for weeks because they weren’t married or next-of-kin.

Gov Carcieri’s veto message, said:

“This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue.

“If the General Assembly believes it would like to address the issue of domestic partnerships, it should place the issue on the ballot and let the people of the state of Rhode Island decide.”

The bill defined a domestic partner as someone who was in an “exclusive, intimate and committed relationship” with the deceased person and had lived with them for at least a year. The bill also said the couple had to be financially “interdependent” by joint mortgage, shared credit card or domestic partnership contract.

Gov. Carcieri said the bill would allow the decisions of a “partner” of a year to take precedence over “traditional family members.” He said a “one year time period is not a sufficient duration to establish a serious bond between two individuals.”

Rep. Segal said Carcieri took his opposition to same-sex marriage too far. He and Sen. Perry plan to override the veto.

Segal also said, “‘I think the man is heartless and this has become a bad joke that has carried on for far too long.”

Even in death we get NOTHING!

I think that gay people should leave their spouses in the morgue and let the state pay for the burials until it is Bankrupt.

Most of us call 'em leftovers. Because some people prefer not to eat food they consider "old" my mum decided to rebrand them as "plan aheads".

Homefries from Sunday, pan heated with fresh spinach and smashed garlic. It's amazing how much spinach reduces when cooked; one of my fav ways to consume my quota of green leafys.

Our nephew Shane and his girlfriend Maggie eloped yesterday in Atlanta.  We are very happy for them and will see them on Thanksgiving at Charlotte and Randy's house.

A year ago tomorrow Kevin's brother Shawn married Kim in San Jose.  Kevin arrived in California the day Proposition 8 passed to celebrate his brother's happiness.  This week we got to watch people a thousand miles away vote on the civil rights of their fellow citizens in the state of Maine.

So, since we have lived in Nashville we have celebrated our nephew Billy's wedding, Shawn's, Shane's, and in June next year Megan and Ryan will be married. My sister and her boyfriend Bob eloped also.

 

If, suppose, I died tomorrow Kevin would be left alone, lose his Medical Insurance, forfeit my pension, and have to ask my family's permission to bury me. 

Each time we celebrate the union of those we love we quietly get to reflect on just what the implications are for us.  We have only been together for 18 years. Collectively more than all our newly married loved ones combined as far as the time they have been together prior to getting married. There has been no party or anniversary wishes.  No invitations to send out or thank you notes to write.

But we have each other for as long as we are alive and perhaps one day somebody will "allow" us the same basic civil rights as the people in our lives have.

As you know we love our families dearly and support them all and share in their joy each time a milestone occurs.  It would be nice to invite them all to share in our joy but we have decided that we will wait until we can do it legally rather than do something symbolic. They all treat us as though we are married so it would really just be a technicality anyhow. Oh, and then there are the 1,200 legal rights we would enjoy in addition to a new toaster and a few gift cards.

 

by making it illegal for you to divorce!

 

I am looking into getting a Referendum on the ballot to make Divorce illegal in Davidson County in Tennessee. Marriage is a right and not a privilege. It should be treated as such.

 

In the Judao-Christian tradition, barring anyone's personal beliefs it should be illegal, based on Christianity and the tenets of most Christian faiths to divorce.

 What God has created let no man tear asunder........It doesn't matter if you are Jewish, Muslim, Agnostic, or Atheist.  Your rights will be decided on by the religion of the majority. There is no Separation of Church and State and I want to help you get into heaven when the time comes for you to meet your maker.

 

I am looking into starting a Petition Drive to get this on the ballot in Nashville. I am researching wording for petitions and the process involved in making this happen.  I will stand in front of large Christian Churches with petitions and then also go to Gay gathering spots to ensure getting enough signatures to get a referendum on the ballot.

Additionally I would like to make it illegal to remarry if you are already divorced.  If you can't get it right the first time you should not get a second chance given so many people are not legally allowed to marry.  That would be a gross abuse of a right that others are not permitted to exercise.