WAIST DEEP IN THE BIG MUDDY

Friends Patricia Relf and Bill Hanavan made it to the demonstration Saturday, along with friends Caleb and Rachel and other friends and family from Kalamazoo. Pat sent these pictures of the crowds.
The saddest picture was taken behind the speakers' platform. You can make out Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins on the platform in the background; the man in the foreground, Carlos Arredondo, lost his son Marine Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo in Iraq. He was killed in An Najaf on his father's birthday while on his second tour in Iraq.

The broadcast towers set up around the stage were so big, they blocked the commoners' view of the stage. Bill was disappointed that there weren't more angry signs.

And I've been wondering if someone would remember or rediscover the song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy", even more relevant now than when it was first composed by Pete Seeger in 1967, and here it is:
It was back in nineteen forty-two,
I was a member of a good platoon.
We were on maneuvers in-a Loozianna,
One night by the light of the moon.
The captain told us to ford a river,
That's how it all begun.
We were -- knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.

The Sergeant said, "Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?"
"Sergeant, go on! I forded this river
'Bout a mile above this place.
It'll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We'll soon be on dry ground."
We were -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.

The Sergeant said, "Sir, with all this equipment
No man will be able to swim."
"Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nellie,"
The Captain said to him.
"All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I'll lead on."
We were -- neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.

All at once, the moon clouded over,
We heard a gurgling cry.
A few seconds later, the captain's helmet
Was all that floated by.
The Sergeant said, "Turn around men!
I'm in charge from now on."
And we just made it out of the Big Muddy
With the captain dead and gone.

We stripped and dived and found his body
Stuck in the old quicksand.
I guess he didn't know that the water was deeper
Than the place he'd once before been.
Another stream had joined the Big Muddy
'Bout a half mile from where we'd gone.
We were lucky to escape from the Big Muddy
When the big fool said to push on.

Well, I'm not going to point any moral;
I'll leave that for yourself
Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking
You'd like to keep your health.
But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on;
We're -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.

Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep! Neck deep! Soon even a
Tall man'll be over his head, we're
Waist deep in the Big Muddy!
And the big fool says to push on!

PAT AND BILL'S ANNIVERSARY

Pat and Bill's 25th wedding anniversary celebrated with Bollinger champagne (we made them pay for it) and Indian food, with Caleb on their left as designated driver. Also Doris' birthday (at right, with If-Only-She-Were-Thirty-Years-Older Maggie on the left). In Canada, birthdays are celebrated over several time zones, so Saturday Doris has invited 200 people to a bar holding a maximum of 60 while telling them to expect 20. I am arriving early enough to have my Guinness well in place before the fire starts. Also my first introduction to the Reverend Doctor Erika's beau and new fiancee, social activist Mike (shown here with beard and Opti-Grab) which makes, at last count, seven or eight Michaels of various ages, consanguinity and sexual proclivities in our circle of friends, with myself and Michael M., one of us Marvel and the other DC, Batman and Spider-Man, gay and straight, cozy as a pair of gargoyle bookends. So far the record is five at one table during the Medieval Congress. The single photo of myself at this fete will not be posted. It was taken by Patricia in that lovely Guinness moment when you're delighting yourself with a profound poetic or philosophical insight even if no one else thinks so, and my face looks like Billy Gilbert as Joe Pettibone in a performance of Ionesco's "Rhinocerous".

Provence, Three

Photos by Patricia Relf Hanavan with exception of the Alpine marmot; look for her books at Amazon.com.
1) Yelling at beggars from the window of Michel and Maureen's house in Vergons. Built in the 1700s along a winding street.2) "Ils sont fou, ces Americans." 2) Former Congo bush pilot Gilbert supervises truly dangerous animals: Americans moving a sleeper couch. This room had been used as a smoke room for hams; Michel, Bridget and Maureen cleaned, painted, papered, and dug out the beams, floor installed by Michel et moi.
3) People all around the world, they'll be dancing in the gitte...
4) Wedding gifts: every home should have one.5) Maureen teaches Bill the forbidden Nipple Dance.
6) Mike Martin on the Fossil Hunt, wearing Ann Anson's hat against the sun; a touching Victorian moment, posed in a meadow as "The Flower Fairy".
7) A complaint was made about the profound lack of nymphs and dryads bathing in the ancient springs; Louise attempts to make up for this.
8) B., Pat and Bill, with a Provencal marmot in an Alpine hat that yodels when you squeeze it.