 Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans, cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of. Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net . . . . . . . . . .
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» Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Spooks' Night...
 Only Tricks Today
The vet trimmed Pidge's beak and claws, but was concerned because the beak looked abnormal; he does have what looks like scratches near the tip. She also noticed something I couldn't see: he has a little growth on the very underside of his lower beak.
She examined his right leg and found no signs of a break or swelling in the area. She did show me the underside of his left foot and there is a raw spot on it. This may explain why he was favoring the leg Sunday before last. It's at the very bottom, and is probably caused by his perches being too flat and even; uneven and rougher ones are better. It's so ironic because I was glad to see the wood perches in the new cage because I was told plastic perches weren't good, but we could never get wood perches to fit Bandit's old cage! I had tried to get the uneven perches when we first got the cage, but all the pet stores were out of them. After that, he was used to the wood and he had the smaller plastic perches and was out on top of the cage and other places a lot, so he wasn't spending all his time on the hard wood. I'm worried about the beak thing, though. It certainly could be a tumor on the lower beak. And lameness is often the first sign of internal tumors. He still has an appetite and wants to do his normal things, including preening, despite limping around. I suppose that's a positive sign. For now I've put some facecloth around one of his wood perches. He doesn't like it and is glaring at it from his upper perch between preening. Sometimes life hands you lemons and all you can do is bear the sour taste... Labels: Hallowe'en, pets, sickness » Monday, October 30, 2006
Worry Beads
This afternoon I made an appointment to have Pidge's beak trimmed and also will take Wil with me to have her claws clipped. Since I was leaving early tomorrow anyway due to Hallowe'en and still need to vote, I asked for annual leave for the day.
I got home to discover Pidge was very heavily favoring his right leg. He's been fine otherwise tonight, especially cooing sweet nothings to "Girlfriend," his favorite toy. But he is quite lame on the leg. Good thing I made the appointment. Poor chickie... Leaf Peeping and Clothes Washing
We drove to Chattanooga yesterday in a combination ride to see the leaves/visit to A.C. Moore and the game shop at the Hamilton Mall. I was rather disappointed that, although we did see some nice patches of color, it seemed to be uniformly more muted as we went further north. The trees right around my route to work are brighter.
I find it a bit depressing that we can drive all the way to Chattanooga in the same time (or quicker) that it takes me to get home from work on Thursdays. <wry grin> I bought some new shirts at Moore's to replace the ones now pilled by the old washer. I never thought I'd enjoy appliances so much as I do the front loader washer. Our water bill hovers between $14 and $20 per month, usually more toward the former. The dryer is working out nicely as well; I usually set it for less time, pull out the pants and tops, then reset it to the proper time for that type of load and let it go again. After a few minutes, the timer drops from over 40 minutes to less than fifteen, so the clothes only dry for the amount of time they really needed. The pedestals are worth the money, too, just not to be bent double loading either machine. Only drawback: nothing can be stored "loose" on top of the washer. That 900-r.p.m. spinout speed simply shakes everything off.
Monday Madness
1. From bev: Small town or big city? Ideally, a small town near a big city so you can hit the bookstores every few weeks. 2. From turtlemoonwave: Do you have a favorite childhood memory, and if so, would you share it? Not one distinct single one, but I remember some great seasonal things: drives to the reservoir when the leaves changed and having my dad chase me around the field (it's the only time I ever saw him play) and playing in the snow. I used to make paths through the backyard with my feet and then gallop around on my "dobby horse" (you know, the stick with the horsehead on it) pretending I was Joey riding Fury (or Ken riding Flicka or Velvet riding King...whatever the horse du jour was). 3. From cat: How do you calm down when something has really upset and/or angered you? Do you swallow it? Call a friend and rant? Go in the bathroom and cry? Punch a wall? Walk around muttering to yourself, complete with scary hand gestures? The latter, mostly. 4. From dna princess: What attratcs (sics) you to memes? If the subject sounds interesting. And by now it's a habit. 5. From mads: How reliant are you on computers to get through your day? Well, let's see, I solicit bids through the computer, have to look up companies to make sure they are registered on the CCR, check GSA Advantage to see if anyone has the product(s) on GSA schedule, look up products to see if anyone sells them, look up vendors to get missing info, etc. A lot. 6. From tizzie: In a crisis, are you calm or do you panic? Depends on the crisis. First time Pidge had a blood feather break I was a wreck. Second time I could cope with it. » Sunday, October 29, 2006
Painful
I hope Hugh Laurie got paid a lot of money for hosting Saturday Night Live. Because this thing is darn painful. (Although his protest song was funny, just like almost every other 60s protest song. Everything's going to hell, but it will be fine if we just have sex.)
Labels: television » Saturday, October 28, 2006
Cutest. Puppy. Ever.
» Friday, October 27, 2006
Compensations
Per the traffic map, my route home was a solid mass of reds, oranges, and yellows on the map (clear sailing on Georgia Navigator shows up as green), so I went home through surface streets: I-85 to access road, across Buford Highway to North Druid, right and left again to cross Peachtree, right on Brookhaven to Mabry, left to Windsor, etc, etc, through Chastain Park past the stables and up Jett to Mount Paran which got me to Cobb County and the usual route home. Much better than this morning as it was only raining lightly, and came with a bonus: there was no bright blue sky and white clouds and deep shadows to detract from the turning trees, and, as it often is on these cloudy days, the colors show up vividly against the gray and mist. I was almost sorry to leave Mabry and Windsor and Mount Paran, which were dotted with golden and pumpkin, scarlet and pale red, burnt orange and purplish crimson, pale yellow and mottled green. One bright orange-yellow tree turned my head from a distance. Because of the bad weather, Chastain Park was nearly deserted rather than being clotted with joggers and sports-playing and moms strolling their kids, so more of the landscape could be seen.
Yet the ride post-Mount Paran Road that wasn't bad either: pretty gold-green-shading-to-orange maples outside the IBM complex, the overhang of orange-red-yellow cutting through Spring Street, and the glorious bright carmines and oranges shading back to green behind the Smyrna Community Center. I had the XM Audiovisions channel on; the music ranged from somber to lilting to complement the scenery—it took me 70 minutes to get home, yet I've had worse rides. Labels: autumn Drowsy Day
You've heard of "Foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadephia" (from 1776)? Well, this morning was the soggy, soppy, slippery, slithering, soaking South. Some tropical storm remnants have come racing north, bringing bucketfuls of water and later a warm front. It was a delightful combination of pouring rain and pre-Eastern Standard Time darkness this morning. I held on to the steering wheel and prayed.
What it is is a perfect day for sleeping. I haven't had much success sleeping when I get home this week; I think I did go off last night, sleeping on the sofa with all the lights off but one, TV down low in the background and Pidge chirbling gently in the background. I can't imagine why it's so hard since my eyes itch and burn all through the drive home and I'm usually drowsy by the time I get in. Maybe it's going in the yard and "chopping down" all those saplings, although I thought that would just make me more tired! :-) Well, I have all the saplings. It could be that I'm doing too much when I get home. I've been walking Miss Wil (necessary) and getting changed (also necessary), then having some nuts and milk (so the hunger pangs don't keep me awake) and reading e-mail. Maybe I should warm the milk and eat the nuts and skip the e-mail until later. It's so quiet here and warm and rainy outside that if I had a pillow I could go right off. Maybe I'll come home through the park tonight; it's so rainy only the most dedicated of the joggers and none of the stay-at-home moms and kids will be out... Labels: weather A Bad Week for Good Actors
Owen Marshall Actor Arthur Hill Dead
In one of my favorite movies of all time, The Andromeda Strain. He had the most wonderful voice. Labels: obituary
Last week's Friday Five
1. How do you deal with stress? Mainly I get indigestion. Of course, with the acid reflux I get indigestion even when I take a pill. But when I'm stressed it's worse. 2. Do you have a favorite "comfort food" and what is it? Campbell's chicken broth with rice. (Not their premade chicken rice soup; not enough rice. <g>) 3. Do you have a "comfort activity" and what is it? Snuggled up with a good book (with budgie song and some Christmas music in the background). 4. What days depress you and why? Every single stinking hot summer day. Summer sucks. Suck, suck, suck. 5. What days excite you and why? Crisp cold breezy days. Long-sleeved sweatshirt with a open jacket weather. Makes me want to fly. Good days to do a little yardwork or take a walk. Speaking of yardwork, I have (I think) finished pruning down all the saplings I intended to prune from the back yard. There are still branches sticking up that I cut on Tuesday, not to mention yesterday, so until Mr. G rakes more back there, not sure if I got it all. But it looks much neater already. When it gets chilly again (we're supposed to have a warm spell next week, of course just in time for Hallowe'en and my costume has long sleeves), I'll start sketching out the nook in the back. I've already raked where I want it to be and will pick up some of the rocks back there to make a border around the area.
Thursday Threesome
From book reviews elsewhere Onesome: Sasquatch-- Big Foot? Yeti? "Harry and the Hendersons"? Maybe? No way? Sure, we have the entire family over for dinner every Thanksgiving? Whaddaya' think? I believe that there are still things out there we don't know about. I'm not sure if it's a big hairy guy or what. But there are still mysteries. Twosome: and Haunted-- It's All Hallow's Eve next week; are you haunted by little creatures in your neighborhood extorting goodies from you? ...and do you do your part to provide an entertaining experience for them? ...or do you lock the doors, kill the lights and hide from the horde? We used to hide from the horde when we were in the apartment, but we've given out candy ever since. After seeing the kids at the neighborhood get-together. I don't think 70 bars will be enough, since we'll probably get the children from the condo neighborhood across the street and the kids at the house on the corner. Oh, well, will shut down at eight no matter what. House is back Tuesday. Yippeeeeeee! (Remember, Hugh Laurie's on SNL this week...) Threesome: Homeland-- ghosts and spectres: do you have any local stories of 'haunted' places. ...or are there roads you grandmother told you to never travel alone, especially when the moon is full? Just askin'... Nope, not that I know of. My Italian grandmama just said not to kill spiders because it was bad luck. But I do remember hearing Leia's collar tags jingling for a week or two after she died. Labels: meme Mucking About With Time
Clocks Fall Back, But Daylight-Saving Time Getting Longer
The clock change switches an hour of daylight from evening to morning...Well, isn't that the way it's supposed to be? Light in the morning, dark at night? A big raspberry to whoever proposed this bill, those who supported it, and G.W. for signing it. Wish they'd cancelled the entire crap instead. Labels: news » Thursday, October 26, 2006
Brevity is The Soul of Wit, and All That
Two and a Half Hours Later...
...they tell us there's a problem with the server. :-) If all the sites had not come in, I would have known it was a server problem. But the fact that some sites were coming in and some not...unsettling.
I know it sounds silly, but I'm always wary after 9/11. Labels: news Weird Again
So it does publish, but you can't see the page. (So Blogger works, but Blogspot does not.)
Time.gov comes in, CCR.gov does not. ECATs, which is a .mil page, won't come up, but MyPay.mil does. Ebay works, Amazon doesn't. But the shortcut is back. Maybe they're working on it... Labels: online This is Weird
This morning the Earthlink mail server wasn't working, either by download to Eudora or going to webmail, but I got to the Weather Channel and Georgia Navigator fine. Didn't think anything of it until I got to work.
If this is some sort of web outage here it's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I can get to CNN, but not Fox. Zap2It, which is usually pain-in-the-neck slow, but not goverment sites I use in my work. Xanga but not Blogspot or Live Journal. I got the Weather Channel and Kevin and Kell when I got here, but that's gone now, too. What type of web outage takes most sites but not all? Not to mention that the most important shortcut on my desktop has completely disappeared. Not even sure this will publish... Labels: online » Wednesday, October 25, 2006
I'm Sure She's Warmly Received At Family Reunions
Consigned to the Trash? 30,000 Mile Checkup: $$$, Happy Car: Priceless (And What Came of It)
Monday I called CarMax to arrange the 30,000 mile service; the car was only at 29,568, but the next week and a half of driving to work would bring the requisite miles and I wanted it serviced before vacation. I was originally going to arrange it for Friday until the serviceperson told me it would take at least four hours! The idea of spending 4 hours cooped up in CarMax's waiting room with a bleating television was loathsome, so instead I had them arrange it for yesterday, when James was off (since he worked Saturday, he got a day off during the week). So I left work at 12:30 and James, having had his eye exam and swapped tales with the guys at the hobby shop, came to pick me up.
I wasn't in great shape, having had frequent bathroom visits that morning. I stuffed myself with PeptoBismol, and ordered a grilled cheese sandwich at Waffle House, which did help. After lunch we drove up to Discover Mills, which is a huge outlet-sorta mall off Sugarloaf Parkway. I say "outlet-sorta" because DM is rather a mixed bag of things: there's the usual food court, department store outlets (including a Neiman-Marcus outlet), several interesting specialty stores including a Books-a-Million, American Greetings, a Lego Store, an "As Seen on TV" shop, a Plaid Craft store, a calendar shop, and one of the huge Bass Pro Shops, which has a big waterfall in the middle with a climbing wall on the back, and a fish tank with bass, trout, gars, etc. in it, and also the Georgia Country Music Hall of Fame, a movie theatre, and Medieval Times, which is a dinner theatre where you watch knights jousting and crossing swords. (We went to one long ago in Orlando.) This is a huge mall—it's at least twice as big as Cooney Field across the street from my mom's house; the latter's walking track was a half mile around so this one had to be had to be at least a mile around—and we made the complete circle. We got some Christmas gifts in various stores (including one in a very unexpected place) and I bought a Lego turkey [more later] to match my Lego Easter bunny and Christmas figures (Santa and a snowman). Our feet were quite sore when we finished! The calendar store was great. I got another New England scenic calendar for my cubicle (bought solely for the October photo, which is a path cutting through a great arch of pumpkin-orange and flame-color leafed maple trees) and also noticed that they had small calendars of both Linda Nelson Stocks and Charles Wysocki this year (Stocks also has a lovely datebook with prints I've never seen before.) When we stopped at Books-a-Million (I was still looking for a crosspatch/krisskross puzzle book), James caught me petting the stuffed Rudolph they have (his nose lights up and then blinks when you press his left ear) and bought me one for our anniversary. (Yes, Mom, another stuffed animal... <g>) I also picked up a sale book of Advent devotionals at the Bible Outlet store. Finally we headed back to the Gwinnett Mall area, stopped at JoAnn to spend coupons (so now I have another gift finished), had dinner at what may be the only Ryan's left in Atlanta (no "just steak" order anymore; it's all buffet), and then briefly stopped at Fry's, which we were too tired to do anything but briefly limp around. I did get five more RAM disks, though, since House starts up again next week. The car was actually done before we hit JoAnn, but neither of us wanted to drive home during rush hour so we just took our time finishing up. The car purrs like that proverbial kitten now. I have to mention the Lego turkey because it was too funny. I sat assembling it while watching Whose Line is It Anyway? and when it was done, placed it on the little sofa table. Now, at night I usually take "Girlfriend," Pidgie's little saucer toy, from the cage and place it on the sofa table and let him toss it on the sofa or to me, pick it up, let him sing to it and then toss it some more, etc. Playtime. Well, Pidge eyed this turkey and at first wouldn't go near him. He and the finished product are about the same size. Then he forgot about it while pecking at "Girlfriend." As a joke I put the toy near the turkey. Pidge eyed it some more, then pecked at "Girlfriend." Finally he pecked at the turkey, then grabbed "Girlfriend" by one of the little projections, and tossed "her" away from the turkey! LOL! "Leave my girl alone, you masher!" I put his toy back near the turkey a couple more times and each time he would peck at the turkey's "beak" and then toss "Girlfriend" away from the interloper. Too cute! » Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Heads Up!
Hugh Laurie scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on October 28.
Yeah, I know SNL is a sad shadow of its former self and all that, but it's Hugh Laurie... :-) Labels: television Good-night, Miss Wyatt [Eyes Roll] Department
Football Dad Pulls Gun on Coach to Get Son in Game
Gee, and I thought playing games was supposed to teach kids about sportsmanship. Silly me. Why are six and seven year olds playing football? I can see tossing a few balls with dad, but organized games? with equipment and all that? Why can't they just play like kids are supposed to? Labels: news » Monday, October 23, 2006
Grrr...
I didn't sleep as well as I wanted. My neck was hurting so much I wasn't comfortable. I just sort of hunkered down and kept my eyes closed. Once I was almost asleep and the dog started to bark. My stomach kept growling.
And the radio on the alarm clock in the spare room doesn't work, so I didn't get up until James got home. So much for making a side dish. Had the steak with a biscuit instead. Notes for Wednesday: feed dog, feed self (cashews or a rice cake). Labels: sickness Sleepy-Time
James starts his new shift today, noon to nine.
As I told people the last time he had a shift like this, I didn't get married not to see my husband. So what I will do in a few minutes is go to sleep for a couple of hours, which is what I did last time, and then we can stay up later. I'll set Jeopardy to record on timer, take a couple of arthritis-strength Tylenol (because when I got home I went out into the yard and cut down more saplings for a half hour—I got most of them) and go rest my hot-shower-relaxed muscles. I have a secret weapon this time: the futon in the spare room. It's always been a good sleepy-time friend. It's gonna be hard tonight, though, since I got my copy of Christmas in New England. I do need to read the book to make certain (and it looks yummy!!!!), but just looking through it and especially the index...how on earth did she manage to write a book about Christmas in New England and not mention Edaville Railroad? It's like writing a book about New York City sites and not mentioning the Chrysler Building. Sterling ::cough:: Craftsmanship
They're remodeling our bathrooms at work, which means they're putting up new wallpaper, sink tops, and fluorescent lights that look like rejects from the set of The Jetsons. I have no idea if this means they've fixed the toilets that constantly clog up or the sinks that don't drain, but by God, there's new wallpaper. :-)
For soap dispensers, they are using the little metal pump handles that are set into the counter next to the sink. The usual practice is to make the opening of these pumps position so they are over the sink. As installed in our new bathrooms the opening is over the lip of the sink instead, so when you wet your hands and then go to get soap you pump part of the soap and splash water all over the edge of the sink and the counter. Easy to see a woman who has to clean the bathroom didn't design that setup! Labels: work "Oh, The Weather Outside is Delightful..."
Sky is a bright, bright blue and it's not even hit 50°F, with a brisk breeze. What a beautiful day to be working in the yard! (So of course it's a work day!) I want to go out to the stand of trees and finish (or at least cut more) of the saplings that grew out there during the summer. There's not really room for most of them, but I am leaving several of the maples.
Incidentally, even though it dipped into the thirties last night, we didn't put on the heat. I had the shades open to the sun all day yesterday with the windows closed. When I got up at six it was still a nice comfortable 64°F by the thermostat. Good insulation! :-) I left the shades up and the windows closed in all the rooms today (well, except our bedroom, which I want cold), and the sun should do its own heating job nicely. I wish we could put solar panels on the roof (not sure if [a] we could afford it and [b] if the covenants allow it). For some reason, even after two Prilosecs, my stomach was a mess yesterday and I was sick most of the evening and after bedtime. I slept in for a few more hours this morning because when I got up at six I was so exhausted I couldn't focus my eyes and they kept blobbing up. I did get back to sleep, but slept wrong and now my right shoulder is being a pain. I wouldn't mind so much if it also didn't give me a headache and make my right arm hurt. My right shoulder's been a mess since I had the thyroid cancer out; the doctor had to scrape nodules off tendons in my neck and shoulder and it's hurt ever since. Can't do much about it. Willow's leg seemed better this morning. She is still holding it up if she stands still, but James says she is only favoring it slightly when she walks and she is trotting more or less normally. Pidgie looks as if he's putting weight on his leg again, too. Perhaps he turned it a bit after getting out of his swing yesterday morning.
Monday Madness
This week, 5 more questions from our fellow participants! Thank you all for playing, AND for offering suggestions. Have a fabulous week! =) 1. From: cassie: Dramas or comedies? Depends on which dramas or which comedies. Right now I guess it's dramas. Wish BBC America would have more of Waking the Dead. Oh, BBCA will begin showing Doctor Who in November. Wonder if we'll get them uncut, unlike the Sci-Fi broadcasts. 2. From: nutmegnine: Your neighbor has frequent noisy parties on nights before you need to get up early. Do you confront him directly, call the police, call your landlord, join in the debauchery, or seethe quietly and do nothing? Been there, done that. It was the folks behind the house next door to us, in the apartment complex. Loud music, whoopin' and hollerin', even gunshots sometimes. We called the cops. 3. From sherle: Are you more comfortable in big crowds or small groups? Small groups. Unless it's something cool like First Night. 4. From zeno: Do you prefer Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox? Firefox!!!! (Microslop! Ugh!) 5. From briar: They say you learn something new every day. What new thing did you learn today? Nothing new yet, but it's only 12:34... I expect to learn something new when I get home. James said my copy of Christmas in New England arrived. (Wow. I still can't get used to a mailman who delivers in the morning. At the old house he/she came sometimes as late as 6 p.m.) Labels: meme Counting Down to Get Smart
Here's the DVD Information for the Get Smart release. Less than a month now. (As much as I hate to wait, they should have made the release November 16, since that's Max and 99's wedding anniversary. <g>.)
Labels: DVDs, television » Sunday, October 22, 2006
One of Those Seesaw Days
James made biscuits this morning, and as always, we ate at the table. Pidgie came to claim his share—he loved the gravy James had poured over the biscuit-and-ground beef—and we noticed he was limping a little. His left leg looked a little bit swollen right where his toes and his leg met. He didn't seem much quenched by the situation; just annoyed with his foot, but I put him in the cage and half-covered him so he would rest during the afternoon. The foot still seems a bit swollen but it's not bothering him; right now he is mugging "Girlfriend" [his toy] and singing happily.
Willow, on the other hand, is a bit under the weather. She was watching us get dressed to go out and when I said, "Do you want to go out?" she gave a little happy leap into the air as always. But when she landed she yipped and has been limping on her left foreleg since then. We've both felt the leg and the shoulder and nothing seems to be swollen and she doesn't cry out or flinch in pain when it's touched. So we're keeping her quiet and seeing what develops. On the other hand, we had a nice afternoon. We had to go to Sam's because BJ's isn't carrying our variety box of granola bars for work lunches again. Then we drove up US 41. I had been wanting to go to Books-a-Million this or next weekend and had looked on their website to figure out if the store was up at Mall of Georgia or at Discover Mills. To my complete astonishment, I plugged in our ZIP code and it said there was a store in Acworth, on North Cobb Parkway! Indeed there is, past the WalMart and Lowe's that were brand new two years ago there is now a big shopping center that includes a Super Target, a Petco (we were able to find two more "Girlfriends" for spares, as Pidge loves to toss his toys to the floor and they frequently get stepped on), and the Books-a-Million (plus a Michael's that is opening soon). I like Books-a-Million because they have the best magazine selection I've seen in years (or since Oxford Books closed) and they carry magazines I buy in the fall and winter, like Country and Country Woman, because I like the photos, which no one else carries (WalMart used to carry Country, but they quit, and of course Media Play, which carried both Country Woman and Reminisce Extra is ::sob:: gone). I also got a Reminisce Extra, Good Old Days, and the Christmas issue of Early American Life. Had a good time perusing their Christmas books. We came home through Mars Hill Road and, along with a bunch of new developments and a couple of new shopping centers, saw some colorful trees—one maple was a blazingly brilliant poem of orange, yellow and green—against the increasingly cloudy sky. We'd never gone this way before and it was a delightful ride. We ended up coming out at Macland Road at the Kroger. Used a coupon at Border's for a free drink; had something called "Cocoa Trio" which is cocoa with a whipped cream topping, a squiggle of dark chocolate, a semi-sweet bar, and white chocolate shavings on top (hence the "cocoa trio") and looked through the new issue of Real Simple. Willow's still a worry, though. » Saturday, October 21, 2006
Hallowe'en Comes to ...
Today's Finds... » Thursday, October 19, 2006
Thursday Threesome
From the Finance Department Onesome: Payin'-- Hey, 'they' tell us fuel prices are down! What are you payin' this week for a gallon of gas? Er. Won't know until I get to the gas station. I paid 2.049 on Monday because I didn't go out over the weekend to get gas. Last time I looked, Costco was $1.939. Knock on wood I can go up there tomorrow, or Saturday while James is at work. Twosome: the-- heck you say! There's an election coming up here in the US; do you plan to vote? No, no need for your soapbox. ...unless you want to <g>. I always vote. You've got no damn right to complain about who's running your country or your county or your city if you don't go vote. Don't like the Dumbocrats or Repulsivecans? Go vote 'em out of office. But don't whine about it if you don't. Threesome: Bills-- Which bill(s) do you absolutely dislike paying? ...and by that I mean the one you "have to-have to" but wish you didn't have to. Tuition/books? Power? The newspaper? Well, if we didn't like to pay it, we'd get rid of the service, right? The only thing I can think of is the long distance charge on our landline. Need to have it taken off. Why pay it if we don't use it? Long distance on our cells is free after nine and on weekends. Labels: meme » Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Typo Redux
I guess book publishers are totally relying on spellcheckers now—either that, or their proofreaders have limited vocabularies. I just finished reading a mystery novel which featured an elderly man. He was described as having "a waddled neck." Egad. I can just see it walking like a duck! The word is "wattled," guys, having a wrinkled neck like a turkey.
Later in the book that other spelling mistake turned up again—our heroine is so drenched with water that it's like "Niagra." Geography class, folks. Elementary school. NiagAra Falls. ("Slowly I turn...") Yeesh. Now if it were "sesquipedalism," I might understand... Labels: books In the News: A Familiar Voice Gone
Just in from one of my lists: Christopher Glenn Dead.
Those "In the News" segments were pretty cool. Sorry to hear what happened to him. Labels: obituary A Little Traveling Music, Please
Looking around for some other sites to see in DC and have been reading about the National Postal Museum. Supposedly they have air mail planes and stagecoaches, and "Owney" is even there. I read about Owney years ago in a little paperback called The Strange World of Animals and Pets, which also had the story of Bobbie, the Silverton collie, who did a real-life "Lassie come home" in 1924.
A Good Shopping Recipe » Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Ugh!
Missing in Action
The lady at Tuesday Twosome hasn't updated in a month. Hope it's just busy and not something more serious.
Labels: meme "...When Skies are Grey."
It was overcast yesterday, but with a small breeze. One of those perfect days for me—long-sleeve fleece shirt weather, with jacket on but open. It was cool enough when I got home to do some raking around the trees where I want to put a "nook": a couple of lawn chairs and the different stepping stones, lawn statues, and inspirational stones and wind chimes. I also got out the tree lopper and cut down at least a dozen of the saplings that have grown between the trees, since I want to keep a couple of them, but not all. Didn't get all of them yet because it finally got too grey to see what I was cutting.
This morning's commute was dreadful. The temperature went up during the night since a warm front is coming up from the south. It wasn't even 60°F yesterday and it's supposed to be 82 tomorrow. Ugh! Drove to work in a steady rain, surrounded by smoky blackness except for car lights and street signs. People driving erratically and too fast for conditions, all quite claustrophobic. Definitely miserable and depressing. To top it off James is home with a cold, possibly a fever, and I've been coughing all morning. And we can't even blame it on Harry. :-) » Monday, October 16, 2006
Oh. My. God.
Monday Madness
This week's challenge comes from trista. Thank you, Trista! Have fun with this one, and let's make it our goal to MAKE more time for ourselves to have fun! Thanks to all of you for playing! =) 1. Name 10 things you would do if you had more time. They didn't say "more time and money," which cuts down on one of the things I'd like to do, travel! But: 1. Cross stitch 2. Paint crafts 3. Fix up the laundry room more 4. Work on the nook in the garden (but only when it gets cold) 5. Read 6. Write 7. Walk 8. Make more homemade gifts 9. Scrapbook or make cards and especially 10. Sleep! Labels: meme » Sunday, October 15, 2006
Grand Opening
Incidentally, all the Borders stores, apparently to compete with the Starbuck's outlets at Barnes & Noble, have replaced their coffee shops with Seattle's Best Coffee shops. Unfortunately this means they no longer have the mini-chocolate bundt cakes that were so good.
However, they sent us coupons for a free small drink, so we had our dessert there today. The only thing they have that's not coffee—I can't drink it for health reasons and James hates coffee—is something called a "Cocoa Trio." It comes topped with whipped cream with white chocolate shavings and a "stick" of bittersweet chocolate. I ate mine but James put his in his cocoa. We also shared a chocolate mudpie cake. Whoa. Very chocolate but almost too sweet. I think I still prefer the little bundt cakes. Not to mention the pumpkin bread at Starbuck's... Perhaps Pidgie is Contagious...
...which may explain the nesting impulses in Autumn Hollow.
Incidentally, we noticed that Ikea now has our china cabinet in a dark red, what the decorating magazines call a "farmhouse red." James pointed it out and said it was a pity they didn't have it earlier in the year, as it would have matched the decorating scheme in the house. Labels: Autumn Hollow, decorating » Saturday, October 14, 2006
Enjoying the Fall Before It Goes Away Again...
...and goes up to 80°F next Wednesday. Grrr.
Finally time to enjoy some outdoor activities, so we did: played a round of miniature golf (despite the fact it was cool, James still got sunburned, thanks to his meds) at Mountasia. We took the "Giraffe" course—there's also a Zebra and Elephant—and on the 10th hole, which was a 45° downward slope, my ball bounced off the rock surround and rolled down into the largest of the numerous pools of water on the property. It was impossible to get it out, so we both played using James' ball for the rest of the course. Plus we took Wil for a walk through the complex when we got home. There is one house left unsold. It's a small house and I think that's part of the problem with selling it. A couple with a small child or a single parent would probably do well in it. Otherwise we treated ourselves to "endless shrimp" at Red Lobster, walked around Old Time Pottery immersed in the Christmas things, and scoped out both Lowe's and Home Depot for a gas log. I was getting sticker shock from Lowe's, which doesn't have a gas log under $144 for an 18" wide unit. Granted when we bought the gas log for the old house, we got it on sale and with a gift card, but wow. Home Depot's price for the cheapest unit is a lot better, $99 for a 21" unit. (I just measured to see if it will fit, and it will.) » Friday, October 13, 2006
Friday Five
1. What job do you have, and why do you like/hate it? I'm a purchasing agent and no I don't really like it. I enjoyed doing support work, except for filing, and I hate numbers. I'd rather be a typist. But I didn't have a choice on it, so here I am. (I guess that's what bothers me the most, is that I was never given a choice.) As a co-worker said this morning "It pays the bills." That's the important thing. 2. As a kid, what did you want to be when you "grew up?" When I was a kid? Well, like every little girl back then, first I wanted to be a nurse. Then I wanted to be a vet or a vet assistant, but I turned out to be allergic. Then I wanted to teach elementary school, but I was talked out of it by my junior high counselor. It's hard to believe now, but there was a glut of teachers for the elementary school market in the 70s. There were something like 20-30 teachers to every job. The guidance counselors either talked you out of it or at least tried to get you to train to teach high school where the glut wasn't as bad. My mom worked with a young lady who got her teaching certificate and then couldn't find a job. They told her jobs were more available for high school teachers, but you had to have a master's degree for that. It took her several years to get her master's as she had to work at the same time, and by the time she finished there was a glut on the high school market as well. She applied for some elementary school teaching positions and they told her she was "overqualified" and because she had a master's degree they would have to pay her more. She told them she'd take the pay of someone without a master's and they said they couldn't do that. So she ended up as a dietician's assistant at Rhode Island Hospital instead of being a teacher. 3. Is the job you have now anything like what you imagined as a kid? Obviously not. :-) 4. Do you have a five-year career plan? Yes, it's called "Survival." 5. In order to get the job of your dreams, is there anything you wouldn't do? Why? You mean like "kill"? Uh, no! I've thought about going back to school, but the idea of fluorescent lights for more hours a day...shudder. I come home with a headache now as it is. Besides, the government doesn't hire people any longer for what I want to do; that's all being done by contract employees. Labels: meme » Thursday, October 12, 2006
"I'm Lost, I'm Lost, Find Me..."
Color My World
Thursday Threesome
From the Homework Department Onesome: Up-- to no good? Are you the Halloween prankster sort of person? ...or do you just avoid that kind of thing? Never have pulled a prank on Hallowe'en, especially as a kid—I would have been punished! Pranks are mean; why would I want to do something like that? Twosome: too-- many toppings! ...or not? What goes on top of your ice cream or frozen treat? I mean, chocolate may be a given for some people, but... I tend to eat my ice cream straight; I don't even like jimmies. There is simply too much ice cream in an ice cream sundae for me to eat; I can't finish them, even if it's a flavor I like. I've only had a sundae a couple of times in my life, when we had a "buy one, get one free" coupon and the time I had a sundae at Chandler's Ice Cream in Danvers (Peabody?) in Massachusetts with my cousin Irene. (It was near Northshore, that's all I remember—wonder if it's still there?) Threesome: Late-- sunrises are here with the changing seasons (except for those Down Under <g> ); are you finding it harder to get up and get moving in the morning? I have to get up at six, so I always find it hard to get up and moving, as it's pretty much always pitch black when I get on the road due to the time being messed up by Daylight Savings. I do miss the sun rising earlier like it did in Rhode Island; at least when it's light I don't have the urge to crawl back under the blankets! Labels: meme » Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Drat...
Knew things were going too well. They don't have enough people to work a later shift so James is going to have to start working noon to nine.
Back to the naps after work, I guess... Labels: work NYC Plane Crash
A small plane has crashed into the side of an NYC condo building. They don't consider it terrorism related, but still...spooky. At least two people have been killed.
Labels: news Whither the Weather
Gad, it was almost too warm last night to sleep, but it has been in the mid to high 70s today with a nice breeze and cool in the shade. When I went out at lunch and walked past the grove of trees behind my building there was the delightful scent of fall in the air, the leafy, earthy scent that comes when the trees start to shed.
They are predicting 30°F for tomorrow night—zoweeee!—and states like Minnesota and the Dakotas are expecting a snowstorm. Labels: weather » Tuesday, October 10, 2006
A Collection Comes to a Conclusion...
Monday Madness
1. From amaranth: Name three people you would pick (and why) if you could choose who to be stranded on a deserted island with. Well, James, but that goes without saying. :-) If it's a survival situation I would like to have Oreta with me; she's practical and savvy. Not sure about anyone else. 2. From julie: What is your favorite genre of film and what is your favorite movie from that genre? I don't think I have a favorite genre; I like films in most genres except for horror/slasher and films that are "art" films for the sake of being "art" films. 3. From tiffany: Which country would you like to visit and why? England, because I've been an Anglophile all my life. I love just looking at British maps just to see the real places where all the books I've read have taken place! 4. From wil: What are you driving these days? What's it's (their) good and bad points? Would you buy another one, and why or why not? I'm driving a 2004 PT Cruiser, which I love. The mileage isn't bad, it rides comfortably, there are times it's practically a TARDIS inside, and it's tall enough for James to sit in comfortably. I'd buy another, but not if they make it larger, as I heard one rumor about them considering. I wish they'd make a hybrid version, though. If it were a bit larger to fit the batteries for that, I wouldn't mind. 5. From cindy swanson: "Lost," "24," or both? Neither. Never been interested. 6. From lady starlight: You've been very good this year. What should Santa bring you for Christmas? (the sky is the limit) First I want the mortgage paid off. Then I want a fence around the property and a stairway down from the deck (and a concrete platform under the deck). Then I could consider having fun, like a cruise to Alaska or a a trip to Canada and Europe. Labels: meme » Monday, October 09, 2006
Linda Takes a Holiday
James was off to work, so I was on my own. I got up not long after he left for work and did some housework and also put up the other two posters in my craft room: the Star Blazers wedding scene and an old, drawn map of Newport (I know it's old; the Brick Marketplace and the stores at Bowen's Wharf are there, so it was after they reclaimed Thames Street, but Newberry's was still open). ::sniff:: Miss Newberry's. There was a box full of assorted junk that I culled out, too.
Went out for a while—picked up a book called The Thanksgiving Ceremony with a half-off coupon and also did a bit of grocery shopping—then came home and properly installed my XM radio antenna; it's been sitting on my dashboard since I got it. It was cool enough today to take the Sirius antenna off and put the new one on, although the sun was a bit much after a while. After tossing more laundry in the washer, sat down and watched Bambi II and was pleasantly surprised. Nothing can match the craftsmanship of the original, but it didn't fall into the pitfalls of some of the other Disney direct-to-video animated movies like Scamp's Adventure, with this big conflict between the older and younger generations, and Thumper's sisters were just pesty little sisters, not brainless goofheads like Scamp's sisters. The opening winter scenes were very beautiful and the chase at the end exciting. I noticed they also took a few things from Salton's original novel, including the obnoxious Ronno (although he sounded more like a modern obnoxious kid), Man's deer lure and Bambi hearing his mother's voice, and Mina (who I believe is killed by dogs in the book, but I haven't read Bambi in ages). Happy Thanksgiving, Canadians! » Saturday, October 07, 2006
"Let's Do the Time Warp Again..."
We went to a small, one-day fan gathering called "TimeGate" today, out at the Elk's Lodge off LaVista Road. It was dedicated to Doctor Who and Stargate SG-1, a bunch of our friends were there, and we had a blast. Attended two panels, one discussing the longevity of both programs, but especially Who, which premiered in 1963, but had a lonnnnnnng hiatus between 1989 and 2005 (with one movie in between), and the other about Who companions (Sarah Jane seems to have won for "best companion," although James votes for the newest one, Rose), then went offsite for a quick lunch.
Upon returning, we went to the panel about Doctor Who fandom in Atlanta. James and I remember those great Sundays meeting at White Hall at Emory University, watching episodes and chatting with other fans, and also meetings at the old library in Virginia Highlands which was then across from the Science Fiction and Mystery Bookstore. We then sat and watched "School Reunion," or the return of Sarah Jane Smith, which is going to be shown on Friday, but we got to see it in proper form as broadcast by the BBC. Our final panel was one about Who/Stargate on the internet, and then we all went to dinner: one of the perks was that they were serving a dinner: salad, penne pasta or lasagna with steamed veggies, and dessert (either strawberry shortcake or tiramisu). When dinner was over the Atlanta Radio Theatre did three presentations: an episode of Rory Rammer, Space Marshall about time travel, and Brad Strickland's A Glitch in Time (you guessed it, more time travel—very appropriate for a convention centered on two time travel series!). The last offering was more appropriate to the event occurring at the end of October. :-) This was an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "Mark of the Beast." I had never read this story and enjoyed the production very much. We had thought about staying for Team Trivia, but we'd already been away from the house twelve hours and were worrying about Willow having to cross her legs. :-) Additionally, I'd forgotten to take my Prilosec this morning and by the time we got home I was in a bit of pain. Anyway, again, we had a wonderful time. We've both missed these smaller conventions. And I have to admit it was fabulous to have some interesting conversation aside from that which ensues when we get together with friends! Get so sick of sports, what the idiot thing some politician has done, reality TV and workspeak. Labels: conventions » Friday, October 06, 2006
Geez Louise, Is Dal.net Dead Again?
Good Food, Good Exercise
For supper tonight we stopped at the Atlanta Bread Company. I had something called a "Chopstix Chicken Salad," which is pretty close to the salad I used to love at Rockford's when we went for trivia. Rockford's salad had grilled chicken breast on a bed of lettuce with chow mein noodles and mandarin oranges. You could ask for romaine lettuce instead of that insipid iceberg and that's what we always did. The dressing was this wonderful oriental dressing which we have yet to find in any store in the area, although the waiters told us it was just store-bought.
The ABC version has the chicken breast, chow mein noodles, and mandarin oranges and the romaine lettuce comes standard, plus there are diced tomatoes and slivered almonds included. Their sesame-ginger dressing was not the same as Rockford's, but was quite good. On the way to supper I had noted when we passed Hurt Park, which has four baseball fields, four tennis courts, and a basketball court, that the baseball field closest to the road seemed to have a walking track (gravel paved, but level) around it. So we stopped on the way back and had a nice brisk walk around the field. Now that we know it's there and it's cool enough to walk, we can go more often. It's still several miles from home, though. It's a beautiful night, some cloud spotting, with a big full moon flooding silver light over the trees and roads and roofs. Ironically the Doctor Who episode aired tonight had to do with full moons and werewolves. Owoooooooooooo! (LOL.) Seeing Spots
Just before James got home, I was tapping out things on the computer when Willow began barking frantically. I thought she was just reacting to the kids playing outside, but as the barks reached a fever pitch, I walked over and looked down at the foyer to see what the racket was about. I had the front door open and the screen closed...
...wait, it wasn't closed and there were a couple of black and white blobs in the foyer! About a week ago we made the acquaintance of one of the neighbors' two Dalmatian puppies, a male and a female. They are just coming out of the fat puppy stage and going on to leggy adolescence. Well, apparently they got loose today, wandered on our porch and got inside the house! By the time I made it downstairs the little girl had come up on the porch and was apologizing. I shut the screen door behind them and the little female turned around, gave the edge a paw, and it popped open again! So I shut the front door till they were safely home. Labels: dogs Enjoying That Cold Front... » Thursday, October 05, 2006
Photos
Wanted to scan these two before I put them in a frame.
I've been meaning to find a couple of these and put them in frames in the foyer, but it's been hard to go near the photo box. So many memories... Mom and Dad, 1970s sometime:  Mom kept everything. I found that blouse she is wearing in this photo, darned but still intact, in the closet downstairs with all the rest of her clothes when we cleaned out the house. This I know definitely is 1976. Since it was the Bicentennial, I said we had to go somewhere historical. So we went to Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. For a bit more fun we went to Busch Gardens in Virginia; back then it was known as "The Old Country." This is the German area. 
It's Columbus Day Weekend and You Know What That Means...
... autumn leaves in Holiday Harbour!
I remember when I was old enough and we finally started venturing away from my aunt and uncle's homes for our vacation, we usually drove up through New Hampshire and into Vermont to go to Queechee Gorge on Columbus Day weekend. Queechee was just a little place "off the beaten path" in those days, with a gift shop and a woolens store. Now the gift shop is huge and the woolen store has been joined by a wine store (there's a local vinyard) and an outlet mall. Tempus fugit and all that... Labels: autumn, Holiday Harbour Speaking of History... The Latest History Festival
It actually started several weeks ago when we tuned in to watch This Old House and found them remodeling a brick rowhouse in Washington, DC. Between replacement of just about everything—the house literally was gutted; even the mantelpieces and the doorframes had been stolen—Kevin O'Connell visited with historians and learned about the home, the occupants, and the neighborhood. It seemed to finally go back to the roots of This Old House; lately they seem to be spending time making old homes into overpriced McMansions.
History Channel also showed another hurricane special recently, the story of the 1935 Florida storm that killed so many members of the former "Bonus Army" who had been sent down to the Keys to build a road from the mainland to Key West to bring the "auto tourists" out to these areas. Narrated by Edward Herrmann (glad to see he's got a thriving career narrating history programs!), it followed in the wake of Isaac's Storm and Violent Earth: Killer Hurricane (1938). I'd read Willie Drye's book, also called Storm of the Century, but it was fascinating and chilling to see the film and stills of the actual footage along with the re-enacted pieces. Since the cables have all been restored I can now watch America again after work, which I've been doing as well. Along with the audio-visual support I've been enjoying several historical-based library books. One of them was the second book in Anne Perry's World War I series, Shoulder the Sky. Frankly, I didn't enjoy the first one all that much; too much narration of people thinking or wrestling with consciences and what people were wearing, without much action. The mystery is slight in the second book, but Perry does do a good job of portraying life in the trenches. At times her prose is so vivid you don't want to be reading it at mealtimes. I was looking for a good book about the Pilgrims (the real ones, not the cardboard cutouts we have learned about in legend) and settled on Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower, which has had excellent reviews. I reserved along with it Heart of the Sea, Philbrick's book about the saga of the whaleship Essex and her shipwrecked crew which inspired much of Melville's Moby-Dick. I picked up Heart first and was immediately immersed (pun not intended) in the story of the dangers and privations of Nantucket whalers and the survival story of the remainder of the Essex crew. I've read whaling narratives before but Philbrick's is particularly vivid, especially the description of the sights and smells of whale butchering. Mayflower is more a tale of political intrigues leading up to the wars between the English colonists and the different Native tribes. It's reminded me that much of the story takes place not just at Plymouth, but in the areas I grew up near: Bristol, Portsmouth, Taunton, Swansea...noted on one of the maps in the latter part of the book (which I haven't read yet) is "Colonel Almy's house" in Portsmouth, which I assume is either the same home or on the same site as "The Old Almy House" where we used to stop on the way home from Newport. Reading this book made me realize that I had very little Rhode Island history in school—my mom was always surprised that we didn't learn RI history; she had it when she was in school in the 1920s—aside from the basic things like Roger Williams founding Providence and the burning of the Gaspee, so I'm wondering if there's a good RI history book out there. In searching just now I found one volume on Amazon.com that had an excerpt with a fact that I had never heard before: Roger Williams lived in Salem, MA, for some years and built what was later known as "the Witch House" (which my friend Liz worked at for several years, playing either Rebecca Nurse, an elderly woman accused of witchcraft, or the woman accusing her). Labels: books, DVDs, history, New England, Rhode Island Who Knew It Wasn't You?
Baby Sitter Picks Up Wrong Kid, Triggers Alert
Let me get this straight: this child's parents/caregivers/whatever hired a babysitter to take care of their child and never introduced the babysitter to the child? Never let her see the child she'd be taking care of? Labels: news
Thursday Threesome
Onesome: Fall-- (ing) into "The Decorating Season"? How about it: do you have your Halloween Tree up and decorated yet? ...or maybe just a plastic pumpkin sitting on the table <g>? ...something in between? Inquiring minds and all that... LOL. Don't do Hallowe'en trees. Even though I bought some extra decorations I'm not that crazy about the holiday yet. I have bought a few spooky things for the porch, plus a cute stuffed cat in a witch hat (beanie baby) and also a ceramic owl in a witch hat, plus a really cool pumpkin which is opaque-painted glass. I don't know what they painted it with, but under lights it darn near glows on its own. I'll put them up when it gets a lot closer to Hallowe'en. Twosome: Harvest-- time? What crops are grown in your area (call it fifty miles) that are coming out of the fields this Fall? Darned if I know. Fifty miles is still within the metro area. :-) I haven't seen crops growing since we went to Anderson and then they were so small I didn't know what they were. Threesome: Festival-- Do you have a County Fair or Harvest Fest happening in Autumn? ...or do you wait until the sap flows? The North Georgia State Fair was over on October 1. Never did get there. I wanted to see the performing dogs... Labels: meme » Wednesday, October 04, 2006
A Few More Photos...
...in Autumn Hollow.
Incidentally, I was quite "chuffed" by something the repairman from the builder's company said: he complemented me on how the house looked and that it looked very pretty and "homey." He said he'd been in other houses that just look bare or sterile. Made me feel very good! Labels: Autumn Hollow » Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Angel Songs at Avonlea...
Urgh
Betty asked me last Friday at lunch if we were having any trouble in my office with some "creeping crud" that was going around. I said I hadn't heard of anyone being sick.
Apparently I spoke too soon, since my throat is sore, it's hard to swallow, my teeth hurt, and my sinuses feel like some type of pincer is on them. I have a cold sore on my lip and what feels like a pimple on my upper palate that hurts like the dickens. And my oatmeal is coming up on me, which is really sad... All I can say is I'm glad I'm leaving at noon to wait for the garbage disposal repairman. Otherwise I'd think about going home anyway. I took some ibuprofin about a half hour ago, but it has yet to kick in. Labels: sickness » Monday, October 02, 2006
A Missed Childhood?
TCM did a super special tonight with Robert Osborne interviewing four former child stars: Darryl Hickman, brother to Dwayne who did Dobie Gillis but who I remember best in Disney's Johnny Shiloh; Jane Withers, originally known for tormenting Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes and later "Josephine the Plumber"; Dick Moore, "Dickie" way back when and among all his credits that of the voice of Pinocchio in the Disney classic; and Margaret O'Brien, who I confess I watched this for. I love Margaret O'Brien, who despite the fact that "Tootie" in Meet Me in St. Louis makes me want to spank the little brat, is probably the old child star I'd have most wanted as a little sister. Someday I'll catch Lost Angel on TCM!
They all had interesting stories, whether sad or happy, and it was a great 80 minutes. The one obvious thing was that the women seemed to have had a more positive experience. Perhaps it was because little girls were more sheltered then while little boys were expected to be tough. They all seemed to have some amazing stories about Shirley Temple, who none of them were allowed to be friends with; she was protected like she were a piece of crystal. They couldn't even say anything to her that wasn't a line of dialog without incurring the wrath of someone. I also got a big kick out of Margaret O'Brien talking about her numerous crying scenes (the writers always seemed to have her crying). Those were all real tears—because she wanted to cry better than June Allyson, who was the other champion "cryer" at MGM! Labels: movies, television
Monday Madness
1. From amanda f: What do you do when somebody complements you? a. Smile and say Thanks b. Ignore it and change the subject c. Complement them back d. Turn red in embarrasment at the attention and look around to see other people's reaction e. Take it as your due! D, definitely! 2. From shelly: What color are your eyes? Plain old brown, just like my mom and dad's were. 3. From kia: What do you like most about yourself? You mean physically? My feet. 4. From julie: How do you spend Christmas? Well, we have a tree and all the trimmings and either eat at home or go out to dinner if invited. We used to go to my mother-in-law's, but the four-hour round trip drive wasn't very conducive to relaxing. So now we go visit on the Saturday after Christmas so we can relax and enjoy the time, and that extends the holiday a bit. On the Saturday closest to January 6 we have a Twelfth Night party so that we end up celebrating all the 12 Days of Christmas. 5. From wide imagination: When do you normally blog? Day or night? Like Mr. Ed, whenever I have something to say. :-) 6. From rach: What song can you relate to your personal life? Share a line or two of that song. Hell, I don't know. I hate these types of questions. 7. From sherle: What is your favorite color for a sleeping environment? Light blue. Labels: meme » Sunday, October 01, 2006
Thinking Ahead...
...of lights and trim in Holiday Harbour. It's consolation for today; we had to turn the A/C back on since it is going to be in the 80s for the rest of the week. I was doing okay as long as I sat still under the fan, but who wants to sit like a lump all the time? The heat was also affecting James, so we reluctantly shut the windows and cranked up the cold.
Labels: Holiday Harbour, weather Nostalgia
Several months ago I commented about the photo of an Italian laborer I had seen in a book called The Italian Americans. I had a discount coupon several months back and bought the book, but just scanned it today (since I want to put the book where it belongs!). The notation says "Street Types of Chicago--Character Studies" and on the bottom "In the employ of the gas companies."
 This is the same job my grandfather (Dad's father, my "Papá) did for the Providence Gas Company for so many years. I can imagine I am looking at a younger version of my grandpa, who was a little more stocky and so far as I know, had a shorter clipped moustache (from what I can remember from the old wedding pictures in the dining room of what is now my uncle's house). Look at the high-waisted trousers and the worn leather suspenders! They worked hard, at least twelve hours a day six days a week. This is a bit more recent. The photo was a bit blurred and I can't correct it that much without it looking extremely grainy. I was able to straighten it and get out some creases. This is 1958.  I would have been about 2 1/2. Looks like summer due to Mom's sleeveless blouse. The color of the house back then was a pale yellow. Check out "those damn Venetian blinds" as Mom used to call them; eventually we got shades. Right behind Mom's left elbow is the cedar bush that was later transplanted in the back yard. I think my godmother or godfather took this photo. Their house is in the background. It was a light grey back then with the area around the cellar windows painted a dark green. In front of the house they had a big catalpa tree that I called "the cigar tree" because its seed pods looked like giant string beans or long cigars. In the spring it had white blossoms that looked like old-fashioned ladies bonnets. We girls would put them on our fingers and pretend they were a crowd of women going to church. |
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