And Ellen is getting married

Well, I had a crush, so BL will be happy. Actually I'm happy and really happy she announced it on national TV!



Congratulations and Best Wishes to Portia and Ellen.

Congratulations to the California Supreme Court for their common sense

Friday Five Grand Tour

Friday Five: Grand Tour
One of our original ring members, jo(e), wrote yesterday about a trip she and her sisters are taking overseas with their parents, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Many other RevGals are headed for the Festival of Homiletics in the coming week (click here for information on a RevGals meetup!!). In honor of these upcoming trips, herewith your Grand Tour Friday Five.

Picture: (That would be me in the Red Dress)

Name five places that fall into the following categories:

1) Favorite Destination -- someplace you've visited once or often and would gladly go again
That would have to be the Southern Coast of Italy where BL and I traveled to last Spring. It was very bella. You can see the pictures here. http://web.mac.com/jordanash/iWeb/Bene%20italia/Italy.html

2) Unfavorite Destination -- someplace you wish you had never been (and why.)
Hmmm, there must be SOMEPLACE. Once to an AA retreat in Queens, NY. based on the teachings of Catholic Matt Talbot who apparently when he got sober, became very religious and wore a clice-a penitential chain with little spikes that bite into the flesh. I was very glad to get out of that place! (I am not into mortification of the flesh!)

3) Fantasy Destination -- someplace to visit if cost and/or time did not matter:
I think the Grand Tour, maybe by ship, to Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Bali etc. but I'm not greedy... Because I've never been there. And Bali because I've recently read Eat, Pray, Love

4) Fictional Destination -- someplace from a book or movie or other art or media form you would love to visit, although it exists only in imagination.
Probably Cold Comfort Farm because it seems like such a funny place, I'd like to meet the cows and I want to know what happened in the woodpile.

5) Funny Destination -- the funniest place name you've ever visited or want to visit
Probably Idora Park (an amusement park in Youngstown Ohio) now long closed. Where my mother used to take me. I loved it especially the roller coasters-the old wooden ones.

And Sometimes You Lose

And Sometimes You Win

From amNY.com

Lesbian, Village eatery settle lawsuit
The Associated Press
4:16 PM EDT, May 13, 2008
A popular Greenwich Village restaurant has settled a lawsuit with a lesbian who said a bouncer chased her out of the women's bathroom and forced her to leave because she looked masculine.

The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund announced the settlement Tuesday on behalf of Khadijah Farmer.
The Caliente Cab Company, while denying the allegations, has agreed to pay $35,000. Caliente also will add gender identity to its non-discrimination policy; amend its employee handbook with a section on customer restroom use; adopt a gender-neutral employee dress code; and train workers on the new policies.

Farmer said the incident occurred last June 24, after she attended New York City's annual Gay Pride march.

"The Caliente Cab Company has been a prominent member of the West Village for many years," the company said in a statement.

"An enlightened attitude and progressive thinking is woven into Caliente's culture and in its efforts to promote the social welfare of all members of the community."

"Caliente, while disputing the portrayal of the events as reported by the plaintiff, is happy the matter is resolved amicably without engaging in protracted litigation," the company said. "We believe the changes implemented will serve all the members of the community well in the years to come."

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

For those of you who aren't privy to the foibles of NY politicians

BY MELISSA GRACE AND TINA MOORE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, May 12th 2008, 4:00 AM
Vito Fossella built a career as a staunch "family values" pol, polishing his image in his predominantly Catholic district with a string of anti-gay votes.
He even shuns his gay sister, Victoria Fossella, refusing to go to family events if she and her partner attend, a source close to the family said.
His double life is now exposed with the news he has a 3-year-old love child with a divorced Air Force colonel, and critics are calling him a hypocrite.
"Has the Catholic Church now sanctioned adultery?" asked John Adrian, a 64-year-old gay activist on Staten Island.
"That just makes him that more hypocritical."
As congressman, Fossella voted to prohibit any funding for joint adoptions by gay couples.
He has voted for the Marriage Protection Amendment, a federal prohibition on gay marriage.
He also demanded housing funds be held back from San Francisco unless it repealed its domestic partnership law.
Victoria Fossella is openly gay and marched in Staten Island's gay pride parade with her partner, according to an article published in Gay City News.
She adopted twins who were delivered by her partner, according to the story.
"She is known in the gay community and she is known in the gay community as an out lesbian," Adrian said.
A man who answered the door yesterday at Victoria Fossella's house refused to talk to a reporter.
"Nobody in the gay community likes [Vi

Mothers and daughter

My Aunt Julie who will be celebrating her 90th birthday this August. We're planning a big party in Girard Ohio or nearby. She was like a second mother to me. We lived on a family compound and shared backyards and had an orchard and lots of space to play outside. Cherry trees with beautiful white cherries to pick and eat off the trees, Mulberries, peaches, quince, apples, Italian prune plums on and on. My aunt is the and always has been the peacemaker. She still drives well!



My real mother who passed away in 1988 She was an enthusiastic smoker and died of lung cancer, although her father who only smoked a pipe also suffered the same fate. My mother worked her whole life, taking over the family store, shown below with her sister shown above, when my grandfather passed away cutting meat, and delivering to the neighboring farms. (this was pre-supermarkets.) My cousin Judy and I would sometimes go along sitting in the spare tire which served as the passenger seat 'smoking' candy cigarettes and playing. 
During the war, she worked in a muntions factory. First making bullets-she always said "keep your powder dry." But then taking a 'promotion' to secretary which paid less. Women's work.

My mother was intelligent although she never went to college, She was politically astute. She had a quick temper.



Me in front of the family store. We had huge snowstorms in Girard, Ohio which was in the lee of Lake Erie. Lake effect snow (or is it the windward side?) They closed the store when I was seven. After fits and starts I seem to have turned out ok.