BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy I have a hard time figuring out what to say about Ted Kennedy and his passing. On the one hand, my like my own Dad of blessed memory - he was all about his family. He proved to be a supportive father to his children and friend to other family members. His funeral Mass in Boston was very reminiscent of things about my own Father's Funeral in April 2003. But like my Dad, Ted had his problems. But Ted Kennedy's were much worse. I don't think there is any forgiveness for a man who leaves someone in a car to drown off a Chappaquidick bridge. Mary Jo is said to have lived for 2 hours in that car - enough time to get help. Yet Ted went to bed and didn't report it until morning. I am grateful for the bills he helped pass for Mental Healthcare Parity and helping the disabled. But his personal conduct? One could say he was "just a human being" - but I don't know too many human beings...

Millions to be Spent on Kennedy legacy in Mass. from FEDERAL EARMARKS More than one out of every five dollars of the $126 million Massachusetts is receiving in earmarks from a $410 billion federal spending package is going to help preserve the legacy of the Kennedys. The bill includes $5.8 million for the planning and design of a building to house a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate . The funding may also help support an endowment for the institute. The bill also includes $22 million to expand facilities at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum and $5 million more for a new gateway to the Boston Harbor Islands on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a park system in downtown Boston named after Kennedy's mother and built on land opened up by the Big Dig highway project. A spokeswoman for Sen. Kennedy, who at 77 is battling brain cancer, said he hadn't requested the money for the library and institute, and that there are dozens of other earmarks in the spending...

AS REAL AS IT GETS Wherever I turn my eyes, around on Earth or to the Heavens, I see You in the field of stars I see You in the yield of the land In every breath and sound, a blade of grass, a simple flower An echo of Your Holy Name. - Abraham Ibn Ezra As a gardener, I see the effects of weather and other factors on the environment. My Nana taught me about gardening - mostly through simply doing. Gardening is always, at best, an experiment. When I moved into the home I am in now almost 4 years ago it was a disaster. Every year another project, another set of construction people in the house for a couple months. Little by painful little, the home is being restored to some of its 1930s beauty. The electrical has been updated and brought up to code, a kitchen has been remodeled, my kids' rooms are completely remodeled, my bedroom just needs some repair in one corner but that remodel is mostly done. The backyard was a jungle. The first weekend in the home I hired a gardener an...