WikiLeaks

So Tom has been spending a few days every other week or so at Fort Meade for the Bradley Manning Court Marshall.  Tom and other members of the public affairs unit makes sure the media get on base and have everything they need, etc.  Since he was only going to be there Monday/Tuesday, I decided to go and hang out at the hotel or wander the giant mall.  Tom suggested I could sit in on the court hearing so I opted to do that instead.

 So I took Tom to the building housing the media then did a donut/coffee run for the public affairs folk. I had some time to kill before the hearing started to I just cruised the base which I'd never been on before.  As I arrived at the parking lot adjacent to the court house I could see a group of people congregating just outside.  Tom had told me Manning has a very vocal support group so I assumed it was them.  Their tie dyed and/or black TRUTH shirts and long, wavy grey hair gave them away.  Reminded me very much of the folks who we always see in Berkeley, CA.  They all seemed to know one another and seemed very much on the same page politically so I was reluctant to join them in my little sundress and a-political sensitivities.  Frankly, I didn't know much about the case but it's hard to imagine that in any kind of security job you wouldn't have signed a "non-disclose" preventing you from sharing information with the world.  Especially in a high security military job, I think there's a very fine line between "oh, I think y'all should see these 720,000 records" (which is the largest security breach in US history) vs. treason.  So basically, the US govt. is accusing Manning of assisting al-Qaida and leaking information to WikiLeaks to "gain the notoriety he craved" while the defense is describing him as "young, naive, but good intentioned".  Apparently he thought he was making the world a better place.

So.  I finally go stand in line because we have to go through security to get in.  I already had a public affairs badge but tucked it in my purse.  Interesting conversations and characters I observed:

• Gentleman asks if I've ever been to a military court marshall before.  I tell him no.  He says it's pretty boring but he tries to come for the morning session.  He'd stay all day but has a disabled wife at home.  He feels that the media is being manipulated and that the govt. is making it difficult for them to cover this important story.  I don't tell him that actually the media is right down the street in a very comfortable bldg. with a pitched lecture room lay out.  They watch the trial on the big screen so they can have their laptops open on the table in front of them (which they couldn't in the courtroom), they can get up and use the restroom whenever they need to (which they couldn't in the courtroom) and they have a military expert who comes out during recesses to answer questions and explain anything they don't understand.  They can't transmit info as the hearing is happening, but apparently it's fairly simple to get credentialed and the majority of the media there are bloggers and are pro-Manning.
• Cindy Sheehan (activist who lost her son Casey in Iraq and camped out at Pres. Bush's Texas ranch) arrives and proceeds to tell this story to our little group of 15 or so people.  I stand quietly and listen and am surprised at her difficulty as the giant WikiLeaks truck (see above) is on base every day during the trial and yes, probably has to go through the same protocol as does anyone who doesn't have military ID to get on a military base.  Her description of the in-court antics....the "Oh, I love Bradley Manning", "Isn't Bradley a hero?", "Bradley is truly one of America's heroes"  in a very big and obnoxious voice was actually chastised by Manning's defense attorney during a break.  Someone else in the group actually stood up and said "Your honor, I have a question" during an unofficial break.  The judge didn't acknowledge him but he was taken out and told he couldn't just shout out things in court. He apparently wanted to know why there were two men standing between us and Manning, thus blocking our view of him.  Turns out they're there to protect Manning.  Anyway, during a break, his defense attorney came out into the holding room and told the group he was happy for their support but would they please notice that he showed nothing but respect for the court and the judge and that anything they did that didn't do likewise was not beneficial to Bradley.
• Other interesting characters.....woman who isn't a courtroom artist but is a supporter and comes to sketch Bradley and others during trial.  She pulled out a sketch she had done of him during a break and they all oohed and awed over it.  She's apparently gathering email addresses so she can share her art with others. Another woman complaining that capitalism promotes doubt as it makes us not trust communities to care for us.  For example in her situation, she only has a "peace" community that she is a part of but has no "physical" community.  Hence, she is currently living in someone else's house who is allowing her to be there. Hmmmm, I'm thinking maybe get a job and stop being a full time peace activist.

So yeah, ultimately this probably wasn't really my crowd.  My sense was...quite a bit of paranoia going on and a group of people who consider THIS their calling.  My very moderate self kept thinking that there are probably more beneficial ways to spend their time where they could be REALLY helpful in changing the world.  Sheehan was patting herself on the back for having been arrested at the CIA offices with 5 others the day before.  She proudly announced they were calling themselves the CIA Six.    Hmm. Catchy.  Wondering how they support themselves or if others are contributing to their bike trips across the US to hit every protest.  I don't know.  Feed the hungry.  Help the poor.  

Needless to say, when the court broke for recess, I hit the road.  Seriously, I had a little bit of a stomach ache going on.  I just didn't get those people.  Felt anxious around them.  Went back to the COVERT media bldg. and shared my experience with Tom then went to visit the base commissary and PX.  Took my apple and cheese, found a beautiful place by Lake Burba to relax and read.

 Too hot to do that for long so went to library on base to check emails then headed back and sat in the car waiting for Tom.  Very interesting day. Needless to say, day two I spent happily cross-stitching in the hotel room.

Packing NJ

We have had to hurry things along because Joe and Karen are moving to North Carolina.  Joe has a new job there and is living on their boat while Karen has stayed in NJ to get the house sold and finish up her work.  We spent a day helping them paint before an open house and then in one of those awesome real estate miracles, they had multiple offers on it's second day on the market.  They had just redone the kitchen and the house did show really well so that was a great thing.  

 We spent another day helping them load u-hauls and clean the house (Karen's foot is still a problem after her stepping off a ladder onto a paint can mishap) as their closing was the following morning and they had to be out!  They had already been in a hotel for a couple of days and they have stuff in storage in NJ AND North Carolina until they find a house.  Fortunately the boat is big enough to stay comfortably there until they find a place.

We were richly rewarded at the end of that long day with burgers on the grill and Marie's famous blueberry pie.  Victor came over to join us.

 After much discussion we finally decided to pull the carpet up at their mom's home as the old carpet isn't a great selling point.  Tom and I spent the next day doing just that and fortunately, the floors underneath were pretty wonderful!  We pulled up staples all day and moved all the furniture outside for the thrift store (still sick about all the stuff that is being let go).  We did the entire ground floor and put out a Craigslist curb call where people can come and pick up stuff for free.  It worked well the weekend before! Marie came to help later in the day and I think we may still go back to paint.

          This pretty much summed up how we felt after two days of lifting, loading and pulling.

Took off for home as soon as we showered and found this little ice cream joint on the way.  NJ is known for their blueberries so we had to try their fresh blueberry shakes!  It was okay....not as good as raspberry shakes from Bear Lake.

 We had a rainy drive through Philly on the way home.  Yeah, right THROUGH Philly as Tom had us on the slowest route possible!  This sky shot was almost worth it though......

Eleanor's Final Rest

Another trip to NJ to meet the family and send El's ashes off into the Atlantic.  Because we've been doing this drive so much Tom has been mixing it up and taking different routes.  All include at least one bridge!

 We also need to visit some roadside, non-franchised ice cream (or in this case gelato) joint along the way.

You can't tell but this big ol' barn was pink

 So, I'm going to tell this story as delicately as possible given the subject matter but here's how it went down.  So Eleanor's cremated remains come to the house in a plastic bag inside a plastic box made to look like metal.  When her cat is cremated a few weeks later, he comes back in a lovely wooden box with his name engraved on the top.  And a certificate.

 Tom transfers the remains into tissue paper so the ashes won't fly all over when tossed out into the ocean.  He does choose El's favorite color pink for her's, and yellow for Bows.  At the last minute, Marie remembers she still has the remains of her dog from several years back so he gets put in as well.

 We get up early and Dennis meets us at Marie's as the four of us drive to Atlantic City to meet Joe and Karen on the boardwalk.  Now, when their dad passed away, the plan was to throw his remains over the ocean out of Victor's airplane.  However, the day they were supposed to do it, the wind was bad AND there wasn't room in the plane for all of them so they opted to walk out the long pier (it houses high end shops)  and throw them out from there.  Hence, Eleanor wanted to be in the same place.

It seemed fitting as this was the last casino we took Eleanor to when she was still able to get around.  She LOVED her casinos! Nothing like the solemnity of a casino to put you in the mood for a burial.

Sand sculpture next to the pier

 It was a beautiful morning and this pier is a good one as it goes way out over the water.  However, there is some confusion as to what is exactly legal regarding disposing of ashes into the ocean.  Probably off the end of the pier isn't quite far enough to meet legal requirements.....hence we were doing this early in the morning as to not run in to any people.  Unfortunately, when we arrived to walk out to the end, a barricade was in front of the sidewalk at the Pier Shops at Caesars because they don't open until 10 AM.  So of course, we just moved the barricade and high tailed our way down the pier.  Things were going along swimmingly until a golf cart carrying a security guy came wheeling around the corner.  Marie, Karen and I stepped aside while the men had a chat with the guard explaining that we just wanted to go down to the end to take a photo.  Which was true.  I DID want to take a photo. Joey put on his best ex-police chief negotiator voice but the guard was having none of it.  He threatened to call more security and the guys just shrugged and kept walking out to the end.  Ok, I'm a big authority figure kinda gal so this was WAY out of my comfort zone but as we WERE close to the end, we hurried and caught up to them.  By the time I caught up they were already doing the tossing.  I don't know if any words of wisdom were spoken aloud but I'm assuming their thoughts were expressed inwardly.

 Two minutes later we were hustling back towards the casino when security guy pulled up in front, another mall cop behind and one very tall gentleman who looked like he couldn't believe he was being brought out for this.  He calmly said to me and the ladies (we may have had a little more spring in our step than the guys) that we couldn't be out there.....we apologized and kept going. Assuming the guys did the same thing as they weren't handcuffed and were able to join us.

Note orange barricade

 Um yeah, it was a very special send off indeed.  Has frankly made me re-think the whole cremation thing (which would make my mother very happy) but that's yet to be determined.  We did hang on to a small container of ashes to bury next to Joe at the Veteran's Cemetery but that won't happen until Fall.

Mornings

This is where mornings are spent after walking Tom to work.  Small deck with a great devotional book, bible, last week's reading and some french vanilla creamer with a touch of decaf.

Seasonal Confusion

 I stop and check on our garden when I walk Tom to work in the morning.  A couple of peppers are on, the tomatoes are just starting and the herbs are doing well.  This week has been weird weather wise.  Overcast in the morning and then some POURING rain storms.

 This type of weather (especially when the air conditioning in the apartment gives the impression that it's much cooler than it really is outside) puts me in the mind of cooking. It felt and looked like Fall though if you stepped outside into the humidity, it was clearly very summery. Alas, still I felt compelled to spend the day in the kitchen.

Since it's Nic's birthday week, I wore this cute apron he made when he was little with his handprints all over it!

  Since we had blown through all the jars of last year's batch of salsa.....that was just the beginning of a day at the stove!  Oh, how I love my food processor for all that chopping!

Rainy days also require comfort food so tried a new recipe....a potato au gratin layered with leeks, chopped artichoke hearts and gruyere cheese.  Served that with fresh green beans and a tossed green salad for dinner. Creamy, rich and yummy!

 And since I got Eleanor's awesome Kitchenaid, I finished up with a flourless chocolate cake topped with strawberries and whipped cream.  Cute heart in the middle of that strawberry!