Old women of the week

You just know those two old women facing the camera are up to no good. And that's why I love them.

I'm all about equality, so here's 20 women I admire

I already did 20 men I admire so it's only fair that I do a post about 20 women I admire. Here in no particular order are 20 women I admire:

1. Vanessa Redgrave-Outspoken activist and the greatest living actress ever.

2. Mindy Kaling-Writer, actress, and producer.

3. Vanessa Williams-She went from being Miss America to being an outcast to being a hit singer and wonderful actress. They tried to ruin her but she had the last laugh.

4. Sonja Henie-Movie star, contemporary art champion, and greatest Olympian ever.

5. Diana Spencer-One time Princess, mother of a future King of England, and activist. RIP.

6. Mother Jones-Labor activist and hell raiser. RIP.

7. Michelle Obama-Wife, mother, and soon to be First Lady.

8. Nancy Lieberman-First woman ever drafted by an NBA team.

9. Julie Taymor-Artist, film and stage director, and writer.

10. J. K. Rowling-Went from being a penniless single mother to being the author of one of the most loved literary franchises in history. Those who malign her can kiss my monkey butt.

11. Jennifer Saunders-Comedian, actress, and writer. She's done more for women in comedy in modern times than anyone.

12. Helen Mirren-Gold standard actress.

13. Frida Kahlo-Painter and visionary. One of the all time great Americans from another American country. RIP.

14. Naomi Klein-Writer, intellectual, and current imaginary celebrity girlfriend. Her book The Shock Doctrine should be required reading for anyone who calls themselves liberal or progressive.

15. Jane Goodall-Anthropologist, activist, writer, and long time inappropriate crush.

16. Grace Lee Boggs-Community organizer and activist.

17. Shirley Chisholm-Congresswoman and one time Presidential candidate. RIP.

18. Tracey Ullman-Comedian, writer, singer, actress, all around great gal. Without Tracey we would never have The Simpsons.

19. Joan Baez-Singer with the voice of an angel. She's an unapologetic activist for all kinds of liberal causes and she's still gettin' it done, hubba hubba.

20. Billie Jean King-Sports legend who inspired a nation of young girls and one impressionable bespectacled young boy/monkey.

Those of you who did the 20 Men I Admire meme, I tag you to do this meme. And I tag Delia Guzman, FranIam, MNMom, Kirby, Liberality, Little Merry Sunshine, and the Quaker Vixen Suzy.

Up your apples!

Yesterday we decided to escape all this house buying and selling business and get out of town for the day, so we went over to the 62nd annual Apple festival in Hendersonville, NC, North Carolina it turns out is the 7th most apple producing state in our nation and most of those apples are grown in the Hendersonville/Henderson county area. This was the first time we've been to the festival, we usually go to the beach around Labor Day but since we're in the midst of all this real estate business we decided to stay home this year.

So off we went across the mountain to the fruit based fete in the little, yet growing, town of Hendersonville. We like Hendersonville's downtown area and luckily that's where the festivities took place so I knew where to go and where to find parking.

Once we got to the big "do" we hit the ground running.

Gratuitous apple shot.

Despite the sunny and mercilessly hot weather the streets were packed with all sorts of people. To my surprise there were many people in the crowd who were openly supporting one Presidential candidate or another. I'll admit I was worried when I saw a slew of people wearing McCain stuff. But my fears calmed down when I saw just as much, if not more Obama stuff being sported by all sorts of people. What struck me was that this is what average McCain supporter looked like:
But us Obama people looked more like America does. We looked more diverseand braless than the Bush McCain supporters did.

Of course Sparky and I slapped on an Obama sticker each and we also bought nifty "Obama '08" bumper stickers as well. And despite her longstanding prohibition against it, Sparky actually had me put one of the bumper stickers on the back bumper of her car later that day. And let me tell you it looks damn good on there.

Sprinkled through out the crowd were some celebrities. Fat Elvis perched under some shade and sang to all of us.

Rudolph the red nose reindeer also showed up but some dumb ass redneck shot him.

And hypocrite evangelist Billy Graham showed everyone his nudes:Speaking of Christians, no outdoor festival would be complete without a bunch of those wacky folks spreading their message of love for their fellow man
and the good news about the return of Jesus.
Ah, there's nothing like a good jolt of religious insanity to remind me why I'm an atheist. It made my heart happy to see a gaggle of goth girls ferociously baiting and debating these idiots about what is and what isn't wicked and sinful. You go girls!

There were all kinds of booths set up at the festival. Some were informational, some charitable, but most were filled with people selling everything from hand made crafts to art to food. These gals in the Scandinavian products booth were cute as buttons. We purchased a few small fish and fishing related prints, we got a print of a rainbow trout for Saprky's dad and I got a small print of some fly fishing flies. Sparky also bought a hand made piece of local pottery. And yes, we also partook of some of the food that was for sale. We tired an apple slushie and some of this crazy gal's fudge.

I wish I could say we tried this:
Or had some of this:

But we had neither and since we didn't I probably won't have to have another coronary bypass for a few more years.

We only hung out for about two hours because the heat was so oppressive but all in all we had a nice time and I'm sure we'll do this festival again some time in the future. And if you want to do it as well it runs through Labor Day. It's held on Labor Day weekend every year so mark your future calendars as well.

And now I'll give the last word on the 2008 Apple festival to this blue GOAT:

"Baaaaaa."