Venice USA (New Orleans)

l think it is time to forget the levees, put steel and concrete posts in the ground and frames under existing floors NOT under water - pour concrete floors and turn Bourbon St. into Bourban Canal. The town should have never been built below sea level in the first place. It may cost a lot now, but this tragedy would never happen again therefore SAVING any future expense. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

MININUM WAGES for SOCIAL SECURITY recipients !!

l am SO sick of hearing "social security" when formed was not meant for people to live on.....DUH

MANY THOUSANDS of us DO have to live on it. l am 65 1/2 yrs. old, alone, disabled and must try to live on $696/month - would you believe this, after working no less than 2 jobs at a time and as many as 11 part-time jobs simultaneously since AGE 12???

Take heed ladies - often l was self employed and my profits were credited to a former husband's social security number. HE now has full benefits plus VA pension AND is working at a lucrative position - age over 70 so no penalty!!!

Thank goodness at the moment l also have a small business to supplement my SS However, for 4 more years l need $371 for my personal bankruptcy (which came about when husband 'walked' after l got so ill l needed open heart surgery...leaving me $60,000 in debt in MY name only). l am selling the business (an Employment Agency in St. Petersburg due to my many illnesses) MAKE AN OFFER!!!!!!

l doubt if there is a politician alive who could live on $8,352 a year - and be able pay his medical co-pays, food, lights, car, insurance etc. AND GASOLINE!!!!

l think its HIGH time that the MINIMUM paid to someone on SS be the minimum wage. l could almost manage on $12,792/month.
WHAT TO YOU THINK?????????

One of a kind movie star photos!

fOR YOU MOVIE BUFFS...I have pics of Betty Davis (before stroke), Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Loretta Young, Dudley Moore, Charleton Heston, Dinah Shore with Wayne Rogers, Henry Winkler, Robert Stack and his wife, June Allyson, Peter Graves and and Eva Gabor with husband......these were all taken by the asst. WHITE HOUSE photographer (who was taking video at the same time) when Queen Elizabeth visited the then Pres. Reagan in L.A. on a 'red carpet' affair. Some pictures are better shots than others, l had them all put onto 2 pages to preserve them as the originals were a bit worn....(l may have them too somewhere in this house.)..

l also have an original print of a photo taken by Peggy Casey, mother of the man who wrote GREASE......she was my moms neighbor in St. Pete Beach Florida. It is of Olivia Newton John and John Travota. These can be cut and sold individually or as a complete set. send your offer to me at first.daniegirl@verizon.net

Danie talks, & talks, & talks

Danie talks, & talks, & talks
Irish roots

l just returned from my first trip to Ireland and was fortunate to have a cup of tea in the very kitchen my grandmother (Mary Ann Towey-Towey) grew up in (with 13 siblings) She came to the USA in 1906 as a domestic worker, married and had 3 children...then she died in approx. 1920. She was from the Barnaboy section of Ballaghadereen.. l found this lovely poem written in 1930 which referred and seems directed to those who left dear eire' - the following is an excerpt:

"I've read your sweet songs and sensed the deep longing
That has filled your fond heart all the years in between
The loves and the mem'ries your soul ever thronging
Of each childhood friend and each youth imaged scene.

Few here are the friends who your memory are keeping
For many have gone far away o'er the wave,
And many,alas! Their last sleep are sleeping,
From troublings and strivings at rest in the grave.

They who remain yet send loving greeting
To you who have wandered far over the foam
And cherish the hope that they'll soon be meeting
The friend of their childhood again coming home.

Then come! leave the street and the mad and the fretting
Come back to the scenes that you trod long ago:
Rekindle your soul in your life's early setting,
Reward your heart in the old friendship's glow!"

Francis Davy-August 23, 1930..

l hope you enjoyed that.

lWhile in Ireland, I met a cousin of my father.....a lady closer to my age because Great-Granny Towey had the 13 children between 1887 and 1912. Anyway, Cousin Eva was truly, immediately a kindred soul.....felt like l knew her all my life....what wonderful woman, likewise her son...
She took my picture in a heather field.....l had a daughter named Heather who died when she was 28 and l had ordered for her headpiece and bouquet when she had married, live heather from Ireland.....the beauty and the smell of that wonderful little flower meant a lot to me that day in Ireland.

My dad called me Danny girl often and l spelled it that way until l got older and the mail would come as Mr. Daniel whatever....so l changed it to Danie....the reverse of Diane which had to legally be put on a birth certificate in those days. l have more relatives in England, both from dad and mom's family. With a little luck l shall go back someday.

Danie's DOWNSIZING..

No, l personally am not (even tho l NEED to downsize my body) l recently had
to move to a mobile home (yes, l'm a Florida gal)

..l have a Janis Joplin on stage doll.... 3 of her books, the Pearl etc... Anyone who knows me will be very surprised l even HAVE them.....a flower-child l was not.!!
A neighbor needed some money at time when l had a little so l bought them from him as an investment.
.
There is a VERY OLD bible....a 1926 Farmers Almanac....a new shower chair (mobile home showers aren't big enough for a chair)......antique jewelry....a numbered pewter mug...porcelain egg with handpainted EAGLE..........avon bottles......Special ..collectible only Camels cigarettes (2 packs)....1994 S.E. Wheaties box cereal (unopened)

l will part with some swans from my collection..including Lenox and a Casades (Spain) and a Capodimonte........a Wedgewood small bowl............James Gerard/London souvenir dish. I even have a 'signed' #23 player's hockey stick from the TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING hockey team.

Available also are new shoes and a few new clothing items. If interested in any of these items, contact me at first.daniegirl@verizon.net

living longer - then what?

The medical and research geniuses are finding ways for us to live longer but virtually no one is making the changes necessary to accomodate us when we do. ie: an average 65 yr old has some knee or back or leg problems that will never go away, making walking and standing for a short time a problem. Do the post offices have benches so you can wait in line? No....if there is more than two people in line l have to go back to the car. Are the phone numbers in your neighborhood phone book easy to read? NO.........
Not only do we for one reason or another having trouble getting up off a chair or couch, but worse than that a toilet! They are all still built for the 1900 sized people. Add to that our bad knees etc. and in the case of us women, no stomach muscles left from having large babies....we have a VERY difficult time getting up without a 'handicap' bar.
And the airports!!! they are the worst (but they do have nice handicap toilets with doors that open out and have seats high enough to get up off of.)
One thing that really gripes me is, lets say a woman has a size 10 or 11 size shoe - that would mean she is a big girl, and if she is an older big gal with aches, pains, and mobility problems.....why do the college graduated marketing people put the largest sized shoes on the lowest rack??? Back to ordering by phone! They do the same thing with bras and other items.......poor marketing l would say. Thanks for listening. Danie girl