 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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» Sunday, April 05, 2015
A Happy Easter to All!
 » Friday, April 11, 2014
Thank God It's Friday
 Sleeping late is the best reward. :-)So next there was breakfast with Snowy, and it wasn't until 10:30 that I finally got out the door. I tried going the "scenic route," but sadly there was a very...slow...train going through Vinings, so I turned around and just went through West Paces Ferry Road. The early blossoms—Bradford pears, plum flowers, daffodils, and forsythia—are gone and both the pink and the white dogwoods are in full riot, and the azaleas with flowers so bright; juicy red and pale purple, bright coral, peppermint pink, and icy white are everywhere. Violet phlox dots the edges of lawns and multicolor tulips bob in rows and pansies smile from plum and saffron faces. Stopped at the Buckhead Barnes & Noble for a nice browse. They had the March "Best of British" and I got the 30th anniversary issue of "Country Sampler" as well. Picked up the first book in a mystery series about a Los Angeles bicycle cop. I don't usually like police procedurals, but I was intrigued by the feminine lead, who is of mixed white and Japanese ancestry. Still debating about a mystery series set in Vermont. I do want to get a copy of Your Inner Fish, though. Drove down Peachtree Road to Richard's Variety Store. I love wandering through here; it's the closest I'll ever get again to an old Woolworths or Kresges. They have a lot more books than they used to, and I love their children's area, which is full of old classics like Blueberries for Sal, Lois Lenski's "Small" books, Dr. Seuss (I was really tempted by a copy of The 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins, my first Seuss), The Five Chinese Brothers, and others of that ilk. Headed home but was growing quite peckish, as it was 2:30 by that time, so I detoured after passing Cumberland Mall and went to Panera to have a cup of soup. When I handed the cashier my card, he said, "You have a free bowl of soup coming. Do you want to use it?" Why, yes! Sat sipping soup and reading 1913, and then arrived home to check out this week's episode of The New Lassie and read the "Country Sampler" until James came home. He was feeling a bit under the weather, so we ordered in. I just had some chicken wings. Later in the evening we watched the news, and I watched the Dateline about the Boston Marathon bombing last year, and then we both watched Hawaii Five-0. Labels: books, food, shopping, spring, television » Friday, March 14, 2014
Errands on Friday
Remember all those naps you didn't want to take as a kid? Me, too. I want to recall them. I liked the eight hours of sleep this morning.After breakfast I mailed a package at the post office and then went through the covered bridge neighborhood. All the trees and bushes are in wild bloom: white Bradford pears like giant snowballs, pink cherries and plums, pink and white waxy magnolia blossoms, bright yellow forsythia spikes, waving daffodils in both yellow and white, and even touches of purple phlox at the edge of concrete walls. This trip there weren't any 7 1/2 foot tall trucks going through seven foot clearance. There was no putting off the Walmart trip today. I needed shorts for hanging around the house in the summer, since my old ones were literally fraying, on my right leg where I pull them down to use the mouse. Lucked out and they already had shorts out. Also had to get the rug for the foyer: check! And more wild bird food—yay, they had finch food! The birds hate the Pennington "classic" mixture with the big coarse seeds. A couple of small things and I was outta there. While I was out I also detoured to Office Max and bought two sets of bookends. Came home and took the winter decorations off the porch (::sigh::) and replaced them with the spring/summer things: grapevine wreath with purple flowers and a goldfinch and nest and bees, the basket with purple and blue flowers, and all the farm critters (cows and sheep). Put up the spring flag and that was done. Had started taking down the winter decorations in the dining room earlier and at least got everything down and put the year-round fall things back, and the St. Joseph's altar on the china cabinet. Replaced all the apple/cow decor in the kitchen as well. Watched The New Lassie during lunch and did things here and there until James got home. We had supper at Ken's, picked up a new cylinder for the Soda Stream, stopped for James to use a coupon at World Market, and picked up a couple of things at Michaels before heading home, so I was able to add a "lime" to my St. Joseph's altar, and put a couple of artificial butterflies on the porch wreath and bouquet. Finally, since we were making a fruit salad for Hair Day, we went to Kroger and finished the shopping for the weekend. It's supposed to pour all day Sunday; sure don't want to do the grocery shopping in that. Labels: decorating, nature, shopping, spring, television » Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Easy Being Green
While we were driving my car home from the dealership yesterday—horrible "hmmmmmm" from the worn rotors now gone, making the ride much pleasanter—I waved my arm toward the windshield. "James, look—it's green."
The green has come out of nowhere. Ten days ago it was still chilly and except for some brave tree blossoms, just buds were visible. Now the trees in the back yard are lacing pale green from tree to tree as I look over the deck and the bird feeders. The pine pollen is out in full force. When they finished with the car yesterday, they parked it next to a wall under a line of trees. It probably wasn't out there two hours and it is covered with a fine yellow dust all over; there's even some inside. This morning, after breathing in even that little amount, I feel headachy and congested. Bleah. I'll have to take it out to "Mr. Clean" and get it vetted. Even the bird feeders are gritty. I noticed that, although they are identical, the birds are patronizing the new squirrel-proof feeder more than the old one. The newer one is up much higher, as high as it can be and me still be able to reach it to refill (I have to balance on tiptoe), and I wonder if that is why it is favored. So I swapped the poles around so that the other feeder is almost as high as the new one, and the little copper feeder is the lowest. They only eat out of the copper feeder if there is nothing else in the others. » Saturday, March 20, 2010
First Day of Spring...
» Friday, April 10, 2009
And When the Sky Was Opened...
We had a twofer coupon for Ruby Tuesday, so we went there for supper, listening to the weather report as we drove. We were hearing reports of hail and at least one tornado touchdown.
Tell me again why I'm supposed to enjoy spring? We had a quiet supper watching the banks of dark clouds descend and raise, with faint flashes of lightning popping off eventually, but as we exited the restaurant, both the Marietta siren and the Smyrna one were going off, as if echoing each other. We drove toward home, only to finally determine from the radio that it was only a severe thunderstorm warning, not a tornado warning, that had set the sirens off. So we went on to BJs. It was quite a spectacular storm, bright forks of lightning, thunder, glowing clouds, and big gobs of cold raindrops as we ran into BJs. Luckily "Georgia Monsoon Season" happened while we were inside. We had three or four rumbles of thunder as we towed the damp items upstairs and then as I ran around wiping off the windowsills, and it was finally over. Still chaos east and south of us...watching radar as I post. » Friday, March 27, 2009
Flower Power
Spoke too soon on Wednesday; the dogwoods are blooming. Tree upon tree appeared in that odd moon-shine color that the blossoms have as I drove to the library during lunch hour to pick up the new Anne Perry book I reserved at the library. Stopped at Dollar General on the way home hoping to find a couple of cheap plastic measuring cups; no luck but did pick up sugar-free ice cream bars at Food Depot.
We are having a break in the rain, supposedly more to start about seven. » Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Magic of Pine Pollen
These can speak for themselves, so I won't creeb about the coughing and sneezing and itchy eyes. :-) (And this isn't even the pollen that causes those reactions—but it is dust!)
This was the deck a couple of days ago; look at the nice splotchy pattern you get after a rainshower!  Twilight models his spring coat—front...:  Closeup of hood:  ...and rear:  The porch has that golden glow!:  Even the trash can sports a springlike yellow:  Dusty doorlock: 
» Sunday, April 01, 2007
Shopping and Sleeplessness
It was one of those weekends where I felt all we did was shopping for groceries.
We had a second night of sleeplessness. Willow barked again all Friday night/Saturday morning as she had the night before. It was her "fly" bark, but there is no fly here. Our neighbors tend to leave their porch lights on all night, so maybe she is seeing some type of movement or shadow from outside. So we weren't up and out until late in the morning. Had the usual trip to the hobby shop, then we dropped in JoAnn to get something I needed for a framed item. We also bought new chairs for the yard and a new side table for the deck using our Linens'n'Things coupons. We didn't see any of the dark green chairs like they had last year (the replacement seems to be bilious lime green ones), despite trips to two different LNT stores, so we got the beige ones, and a blue table to match the blue chairs on the deck, which are at present green. The deck was a gritty, grimy mess of pine pollen on Saturday. I didn't even want to touch anything. After supper at Spaghetti Warehouse, we apparently suffered from a spasm of insanity, because we made the needed trip to WalMart, which we usually save for Sunday morning when there are fewer people. It was aggravating because many of the things we needed were not there; the shelves with my oatmeal, for instance, were practically stripped. But it was the lines that were the usual annoyance: ten and twelve people in each line and only six open. So we patiently waited the time as did the people in the line next to us. In front of me was a woman who looked like she was with the man and little girl in front of her. But when they checked out, she did not go with them. Instead, she turned around to the line next to us and motioned to two women who had a cart crammed full of stuff! James said aloud "Well, I like that!" and I could hear the people in the line behind us muttering; there were at least five other carts back there. The three ladies looked around and then one of the ladies with the cart said to us, "You have less than us, go ahead." The elderly lady behind us asked us, "Were they in this line?" and James told her no, they had been in the line next to us. But they insisted they had been in our line; the lady in front of us was standing in line for that purpose. Uh-huh. I think what they did was they couldn't decide which line was going to move faster. So one lady got in our line and the other two with the cart got into the other line and they figured whoever got to the cashier first would take the turn. Maybe it would have been okay if there were only a couple of folks in line, or if the ladies with the full cart had been in line and invited a friend in the other line with one or two items to join them. But I thought this "well, we'll wait in both lines" was just plain rude. Thankfully, Willow only barked a few times last night and we could catch up on a little sleep. We hit Trader Joe's today for our Easter dinner (lamb) and stopped at Walgreen's to pick up a couple of Easter chocolate eggs. Last year they had several different choices of Russell Stover sugarless Easter candies. They had absolutely none this year except for marshmallow eggs. When we got home I took the hose and blasted the rest of the pine pollen off the front porch so that I could put up the Easter decorations. James made a wire hook from two coat hangers and hauled the hose nozzle up to the deck and completely cleaned it off. The cover for the grill was especially bad; the dust had gotten thick and clotted into the folds. We had had some rain while we had brunch and went out to Trader Joe's, but not enough to rinse the thick yellow from under the eaves and the rubber mat, so he took care of that, too. So the porch and various points in the living/dining room are now "Eastery." Meanwhile, the Doctor has made a triumphant return to Georgia Public Television, and, as their commercials assert, it's about time! It will be nice to see the episodes intact and not interrupted by inane commercials. As a bonus, they are showing the Doctor Who Confidential documentaries at the conclusion of the episode, albeit, I believe, in an edited version. Plus a new Dresden Files. A pleasant end to the day. Labels: decorating, Easter, food, shopping, spring » Friday, March 30, 2007
The Yellow Lawns of Georgia
Pollen Coats Southern States in Yellow Sheen
There was even a feature on the news about this last night. Right now our lawn guy is on the front porch, blowing the pollen off with his leaf blower... » Wednesday, March 28, 2007
EEEEEEK!
» Sunday, March 25, 2007
Where Was I?
Oh, yeah, Fry's, lunch, stop at JoAnn and Barnes & Noble and Michaels.
I bought a new Uno game, it's the American Kennel Club version and you can pick out your favorite dog group, although B&N only had herding, nonsporting, and terriers. You can guess which one I bought. I must remember to bring it to Atomicon. Amy should get a kick out of it. It was okay sleeping last night, but the day progressively got worse and worse, which is why we popped on the A/C. It's probably for the best, since the pine trees are pollinating and the dust that comes in during that period is always horrendous. Everything is coated with a fine yellow dust; the fans pull it in and it scatters everywhere: window sills, the furniture, the fan blades...ugh. The allergist has always told me not to keep the windows open during this time of the year. We did pass a milestone today: we have finished the last of the original upgrades we wanted to make to the house by installing a ceiling fan in the second bedroom that is my craft room. Next we have to think about getting the yard fenced, and it's a consideration since it won't be just the expense of the fence itself. When our neighbors next door put up their fence, I think they didn't use the entire width of their property because there is no way to tell the property lines, so they played it safe. (Supposedly there are marks—red ties on trees—near the back fence that defines each side of the property boundaries, but only one tree has a red marker in our back yard. So if we want to properly bound our property before putting up a fence we will need to call a surveyor. $$$) We're also considering—and please don't faint anyone who has heard me complaining endlessly about the lights at work—putting in some compact fluorescents in various places in the house. I still refuse to have them in the reading lamps since fluorescents give me headaches and make me light-headed. However, I think they could be useful in places like the garage and anywhere that has a frosted cover like the room lights. (My main problem with the lights at work is that they are not diffused in any way—no frosted covers as many offices have—and have reflectors on the fixtures; the light is very glaring. About half the people who have offices keep the overheads off and instead use lamps with incandescents, so I'm not the only one who has problems with them.) I'm willing to try, not just for the sake of the electric bill, but to be more "green." » Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Spring is Sprung
I can tell, since my joints ache, my nose runs, and my eyes itch. :-)
The Bradford pear trees are approaching "giant snowball" stage, and all the flowering plums, cherries, and other fruity combinations are abloom in varying shades of pink, violet, and white. Here and there a bright yellow patch of forsythia or daffodils announce the season, and the magnolias are also doing their thing in vivid purple-and-white. Next it will be the tassels on the pine trees and it will "snow" yellow and the dogwood blossoms will open up to glow pale white in the moonlight. Today's "almost record high" is supposed to be 81°F. Oh. Joy. Incidentally, I don't know if the earlier-observed DST is saving energy, but it has sure generated more traffic. Yesterday it took me 75 minutes to get home and it was only Monday. Everyone has exploded outdoors in their cars; I haven't seen traffic like that on Interstate North Parkway since last summer; the turn lane on Windy Ridge was backed up almost to the Weather Channel building and the right lane at Hargrove was backed up past the entrance to Heritage Pointe shopping center. And this is the least crowded of the ways I have to get home. In-credible. Just realized that since it is now pitch-dark again when I drive to work, I won't be able to watch my favorite patch of trees bloom. This is on the side of I-75 south near the I-285 split, a lovely little grove where the trees are all shades of the spring pink, violet, and white with additions of red from the redbud trees. I really hate driving to work in the dark. To me dark means I should still be asleep and I miss the morning sky telling me it's time to begin the day, and the beautiful colors of the sunrise. |
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