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Let me begin by saying Happy Mother’s Day to all of our readers who are mommas.  It’s a grand day here at the Smith household, and I’m expecting breakfast in bed followed by much pampering followed by…awww, hell, who am I kidding?  Here’s the line-up for the Sunday Talking Head Shows — read ‘em and weep:

Meet the Press (NBC):  Newt Gingrich, John Harwood, Jon Meacham, Judy Woodruff.

RH notes:  And doesn’t this sound like a zesty way to spend your Mother’s Day?  Nothing like half an hour with Newt, who I once vowed to track down in DC just so I could kick him in the shin (mercifully for my husband’s sake, I was unsuccessful — and this lot of asshats in the WH has made me forget just why I was so angry with Newt at that point), followed by another half hour filled with Timmeh, the WSJ, a self-important historian who feels like he sees into the soul of our nation’s leaders, and a stick person who never has an opinion of her own.  Priceless.

This Week (ABC):  Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Laura Bush, Donna Brazile, David Brooks, George Will, and Reese Witherspoon.

RH notes:  Hmmmm….someone’s ratings must have hit the skids, they are trotting out Pickles with an ABC video entitled (and I kid you not) "Laura Bush: A Feminist and Mother."  Special times.  Reese Witherspoon will be talking about Katrina kids, fyi, so at least someone out there seems to remember that folks in the Gulf Coast still have a long, long way to go to get back to normal.  Think Donna Brazile will bring it up — or will she be too busy trying not to piss anyone off?

Face the Nation (CBS):  National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA). 

RH notes:  Well, at least this is an intriguing line-up, depending on the questions asked.  And Schieffer sometimes pulls out a zinger in his folksy, you didn’t see it coming, way.  So, here’s hoping…

Late Edition (CNN):  Stephen Hadley, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), Abdel Ilah Khatib (Jordan’s Foreign Minister).

RH notes:  Also, a potentially good show.  Brzezinski is always good for a zinger or two, and he’s been particularly sharp tongued about the Cheney Bush Administration of late.  Why Frist though — unless someone pulled in a favor for the big fat lousy failure of a Republican Majority Leader to get him so face time after last week’s health care humiliation.  But, gee, does Wolf seem like the kind of guy who would work his schedule that way?  *snerk*

Fox News Sunday (FOX):  Unique interview with first lady Laura Bush, And, Mary Cheney on her life, her sexuality and what she really thinks about the Bush presidency.

RH notes:  I left the writing exactly the way that the Fox people had it listed.  Okay, what’s so unique about an interview that Pickles also granted to This Week?  They really are desperate about the poll numbers, aren’t they?  And who wants to take the first stab at the questions that Chris Wallace will be asking Mary Cheney about her sexuality?  Can the man even say "lesbian" without twitching?  There’s also some sort of note that they will discuss the NSA mess — I’m guessing it will just be the roundtable folks, unless Pickles wants to weigh in abotu having her phone calls recorded, too.

Today’s lovely bird photo is of a momma house sparrow feeding her baby chick.  I’ve been watching a momma house sparrow feed her three newly fledged babies for the last few days, and it’s been a treat for Fiona and I to see it up close.  Thought it was a perfect shot for Mother’s Day, and I found it at a lovely wildlife website with a few great bird and garden pix that have some amazing detail to them — truly great photography, so bravo!

I’ve positioned a couple of feeders very near our kitchen window — and I generally do my writing at our kitchen table, so I can get a good view of the acrobatic squirrels as they leap from my flower pots to the top of the feeder roof, and then cling by their toes to get to the seeds, and the cranky birds, chattering away at the squirrels for interrupting their free meal.  Well, and be able to shoo off the neighbor’s cat when it decides to hide under my car and stare longingly at the birdies.

We’re thinking about adding a bird bath or a fountain this year, but I haven’t decided yet because it would take up space from my plants.

The rhododendron are blooming up and down our driveway, and I promise to get a good shot of it this week to share with everyone.  It’s amazing — like a wall of blooms this year — and we’ve been enjoying them popping out just as our pink dogwood began to fade.  Am hoping to get some more flowers in the ground and get my vegetable plants this week.  It’s time to put in my salad garden and herbs, so we can have some fresh tomatoes and peppers and basil and all this summer.

My granny always used to say that nothing beats a fresh, sun-ripened tomato with just a little salt and some fresh basil.  Amen to that — can’t warm up soon enough, I say.  Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday, and a wonderful Mother’s Day.

Just a quick note on the "is he or isn’t he" indictment reporting, and all the resulting speculation, I have heard nothing to independently confirm or deny the stories — so I’m hopeful (who doesn’t want Rove indicted?  Well, other than the entire GOP hierarchy…), but it’s really impossible for me to comment on anything when I know nothing more than what everybody else has read.  Sorry, I know that’s not very satisfying, but it’s always been my personal policy to try and independently verify things where I can before commenting on something this important and I’m coming up with nothing other than everyone’s interested to see what happens next week.  As always, I’ve got champagne chilled and at the ready…just in case.