Maggies!

Life has been fast and furious lately. Here's a quick snippet about the last day and a half! We drove up to Seattle on Saturday. We'd hoped to visit our old friends Dave and Nancy, but they were on the road. We had made arrangements to crash at their place, which was in walking distance (2 mi) of the Convention Center. I got all dressed up, down to hose and shoes (amazing). Silly me, Aerosoles that were comfy standing and short walking on flat surfaces were NOT good for walking 2 miles that included up and down steep hills. Let's just say there is no skin on my last two toes on each foot. Good thing we could take the bus home!

The Maggie Awards event was great. We started with an official photo session for award winners with former Rep. Dick Gephardt and retiring Rep. Norm Dicks (I'll share when we get the link) followed by the VIP reception area, where I had a lovely glass of a WA State Chard. Our fab man behind the camera Al Garmin documented the evening as well; he got some great shots posted on Flickr. Our dinner seats were with State Party Chair Dwight Pelz and his wife Beth. A video played with nominators telling stories about the nominees.

They'd asked us for 5 photos to summarize our lives. Wow. When you are 60 that's tough! I used this one of our fam (before Carol was born, but it kind of summarized early life). I love it. My Uncle Bill took it at their house in Concord at Christmas time. I'm the happy camper on the far right, with Linda, Mark, Annie, Mary and Janet in order to my right. Mom and Dad look a little weary.

Then I used this one, taken by John Dohrmann, a fisheries friend, when I was a Northeastern Coop student on a research cruise.We were on Georges Band aboard the Albatross IV out of Woods Hole. I worked for NMFS in Narragansett, RI from 1973 through 1981, then at the Galveston TX lab from 82-85. I didn't know this one existed until it appeared for the Albatross IV decommissioning last year.

I needed a Texas era photo, so I sent one of a defining moment of my emerging political life, when I was copilot to Marsha's pilot, driving Spanky around Sugar Land to shame Tom DeLay. Ben and Jerry's True Majority sent a Crown Vic and Spanky trailer around the country to highlight Tom DeLay's misdeeds. We even drove through Tom's neighborhood. I learned a lot from my friends at Fort Bend Democrats!

I added one of me playing marimba...of course. I needed to show my musical side, right? This was taken at Ruins Tuesday this past July.

 Finally, one of our family, after bottling wine last December. That's Alina, me, Keara and Lloyd with Springhouse Cellar's syrah. We are rarely all four together, with Keara in Austin, Alina in Boston, and us out in Washington.





Dwight did a very good job of making the narration humorous...I wouldn't want it any other way. We Dems in the Red Zone are required to have a funny bone. But I was honored and humbled to be in the company of the other award winners. Folks who live in hugely populated counties, working on a scale that blows me away!

I listened to Dick Gephardt and Norm Dicks talk about a Congress that actually worked together. I finished Ted Kennedy's autobiography on our camping trip this week. True Compass was a good read. While Gephardt lamented the lack of willingness to compromise to effect legislation for the good of the country, he talked about having majorities in the Senate and Congress making a difference. Kennedy, however, observed that congeniality broke down when Reps and Senators started leaving town every weekend, and didn't 'mix' after hours. Kennedy could work across the aisle, which used to be considered a 'good thing'. It is impossible to have compromise when half of the leaders refuse to engage, and actually RUN on the fact that they will not engage. Yet people elect them. Amazing.