New Year Thoughts

AT SEVENTY-SEVEN



When you get to be my age,

You should not wish for a Happy New Year

Instead, try for a Happy Tuesday.

Put down those green bananas,

And reach for the ripe ones.

The green bananas will ripen by Thursday;

Who knows what Thursday will bring.

If it's winter, do not long for spring.

Enjoy the bare branches and cold winds

While resting by a warm fire

With old memories.

A glass of old wine

An old cat purring in your lap

As you doze off

Into tomorrow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The tree is down and the decorations packed away for another year. It is time to think about our New Year's Day dinner. Since it never varies there is very little planning involved.

MENU:

Blackeyed Peas, the dried kind that soak all night then are cooked with ham hock, a few cloves of garlic, chopped onion and various seasonings.)

Turnip or Collard greens (ham hock and onion)

Pork roast

Rice

Cornbread

We cook the blackeyed peas with a 1940's silver dime for good luck in the New Year. The same dime each year and no one has swallowed it yet.

The turnip Greens represent prosperity.

Mix the Blackeyed peas with the rice on your plate and you have "Hoppin John", an old southern tradition. Add hot sauce,Tabasco or Texas Pete to taste.

This plain meal tastes just right after the excesses of the holiday season.


HOPPIN JOHN


"This dish is thought to have originated with African slaves on southern plantations, and is essentially black-eyed peas cooked with salt pork and seasonings, and served with rice."

"There are several theories on the origin of the name, 'hoppin-john'; a lively waiter who served the dish at a Charleston hotel; a lame cook who hopped up and down while cooking it; and finally from a custom that children must hop around the table before the dish is served. It is traditionally served on New Year's Day in the Southern U.S., and is supposed to bring good luck during the coming year."











Link

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The tree is decorated, the presents are wrapped

The table is set with the good china, silver

And crystal wine glasses.

The Christmas red candles await the match

Which will bring them to shimmering light

Falling softly on family faces,

Bright with anticipation.

For just one day in time

We are children again.

EGGNOG CHEESE CAKE

FOLLOW UP TO PREVIOUS POST
HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

DECADENT CHRISTMAS EATING
Please post your own most decadent holiday recipe.

CAUTION I have not tried this. Proceed at your own risk.


Eggnog Cheesecake

Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour Ready In: 7 Hours 30 Minutes
Yields: 12 servings

"A simple easy-to-make cheesecake served with a yummy Pecan Caramel Sauce. It's perfect for holiday get-togethers."
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1/4 cup white sugar
3 (8 ounce) packages cream
cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened
condensed milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup dark rum 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup packed light brown
sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). In a large bowl, mix together 1/4 cup melted butter, wafer crumbs, and white sugar. Press firmly on the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.

2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk. Mix in eggs one at a time, blending well after each. Stir in 1/4 cup rum, vanilla extract, and nutmeg. Pour into the prepared pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until set. Cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife blade carefully around the inside rim of the pan to loosen the cake from the sides. Cool in the pan to room temperature, then refrigerate until completely chilled. Remove from pan before serving.

4. In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in 1 cup of water. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and the cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and add 2 tablespoons dark rum. Cool. Just before serving, stir in pecans. Serve sauce with cheesecake.

ALLRECIPES.COM

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

Holiday Eating Tips


1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday
buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact,
if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where
they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine
single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than
single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year
but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories
in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an
eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one
for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole
point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make
a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy.
Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with
skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother?
It's like buying a sports car with an automatic
transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort
to control your eating. The whole point of going to a
Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots
of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now
and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have
nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which
you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a
10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet
table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size
of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have
as many as you can before becoming the center of attention.
They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them
behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of
each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and
one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have
more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with
the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all
cost. I mean, have SOME standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave
the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying
attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is
just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the
intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well
preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in
one hand, martini in the other, totally worn out and
screaming,

"WOO HOO what a ride!"

Safety tips for the holidays

From a local neighborhood news letter, here is some sound advice for the serious crime problem that plagues is all,especially during the holidays.

PS(I love the last line)







HOLIDAY CRIME PREVENTION TIPS


DON'T GET RIPPED OFF
One thing you need to remember is this: Crooks don't take the holidays
off. Nope. Business as usual....in fact it's the busy season for most..

Enjoy the Holiday Bustle - But Be Aware

The end-of-year holiday season - with all its hustle and bustle - is
fast approaching. With all the distractions and activity, we sometimes
forget the basics for maintaining our safety on the streets and at
home. Opportunity is the criminal's key to crime. By staying alert and
following a few crime prevention tips, you can ensure a holiday season
that is both happy and safe. A primary factor in crime prevention is
being aware of our surroundings and potential areas of danger - thereby
closing the criminal's keyhole of opportunity.

Busy shoppers can be targeted for purse snatching and other forms of
street robbery. The malls are full of folks with money to spend. As we
speed along, focused on getting through our treasure hunt, a criminal
can size up a potential victim.

. Outside of the mall, stick to well-lit, well-traveled streets,
walkways and parking areas - for both walking and parking.
. Don't flash large amounts of cash or offer tempting targets for theft
such as expensive jewelry or clothing.
. Carry a purse or shoulder bag close to your body, not dangling by
straps. Put a wallet in an inside pocket of your coat or front pants
pocket.
. Don't fumble for house or car keys. Have them in your hand, ready to
use when you reach the door.
Here are some additional tips to keep in mind regarding the car or house
you've left behind while on your travels.
. ALWAYS lock your car and residence, even if you are away for only a
few moments.
. Do NOT leave valuables - gifts, cell phones, purse or clothing - in
open view in your car. Take valuables away with you, lock them in your
trunk, or cover them in an unobtrusive way.
. Leave lights turned on both inside and outside your residence after
dark. Criminals don't like bright places.
. If you will be away from home for several days, make arrangements for
someone to pick up your mail and newspapers. An overstuffed mailbox is a
sure sign that no one is home, and burglars are tempted to check those
envelopes for holiday gifts that might be enclosed. E-mail
steve.rose@sandyspringsga.org or ask for a SSPD House-Check form if
you're going to be gone.

'Tis the Season: Beware Of Purse Snatchers

The holidays are swiftly approaching. The stores are putting up their
decorations and purse snatchers are practicing their skills. The Sandy
Springs Police Department wants everyone to be aware that thieves look
forward to holidays as much as everyone else. Maybe more so! The
department asks women to beware of purse snatchers because they look at
women carrying pocketbooks as easy prey and fast money. The thieves know
that during the holidays, shoppers are distracted and are not as careful
as they should be when out.

Here are some things that can be done to thwart the would-be thief.

. Keep your purse close to your body.
. If the pocketbook has long straps, shorten them.
. If possible, avoid carrying a large purse when shopping. A fanny pack
is compact and more difficult for a thief to grab and run.
. Carry only the credit cards you intend to use, leave the others
behind.
. Avoid carrying large amounts of cash. Use checks or check cards.
. Use ATMs wisely. Have the card ready before approaching the machine,
and use one in a high traffic area.
. Be aware of the environment. Don't walk or park in poorly lit
areas. Don't take so-called short cuts through wooded areas.
. Have car keys ready before leaving the office, store or mall.
. If you believe someone is following you, cross the street, switch
directions, walk into a store or restaurant. If you are really scared,
yell. Don't be embarrassed. Your safety is more important. Make some
noise and draw attention.
. If you have a fruitcake, use it as a weapon.

WALL STREET JOURNAL'S ANNUAL CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

I am posting this Christmas Message early in case I doze off and it is 2007 already.






"In Hoc Anno Domini
Vermont Royster's annual Christmas message.

Sunday, December 25, 2005 12:01 a.m.

This editorial was written in 1949 by the late Vermont Royster and has been published annually since.


"When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression--for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter's star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.


Copyright © 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Settling in After Thanksgiving.

After a whirlwind day yesterday with turkey and all the trimmings, including the 4 grandchildren and son, daughter and their spouses partaking of the feast at our table; today,the day after, is a time of sitting and resting and savoring the memories of a day well spent. So I leisurely read the New York times from cover to cover and happened upon this poem that spoke to me;especially the line about Cleopatra and aging and the asp.







November 23, 2006

Op-Ed Contributor
Black Friday Reverie


By JENNIFER MICHAEL HECHT

Thanksgiving was my birthday this year
and I find two holidays in one is not
efficient. In fact, barely anything gets
done; neither the bird nor the passage
of the year is digested. Luckily, Black
Friday offers new pleasures while remaining
a stolen day; a day after. There is shopping,
the streets, or the hilarious malls, but I will
stay home with the leftovers and use

the time to rethink, turkey leg in hand like
a king. Pumpkin pie, solid soup of
pummeled end-of-summer. Chestnuts and
sausage chunks from stuffing plucked
regally, like an ape leisurely denuding
a blueberry bush of its fruit. Maybe I mean
Cleopatra's teeth accepting red grapes from
a solicitous lunk of nubility. Same image.
The hand feeds, the mouth gets fed. You

too? Mother ate turkey in the maternity?
Imagine, you not-born-in-late-Novembers,
if every few years a bird adjoined your
candles. Think, too, who comes to eat
that bird. Those whose faces look like
yours; those nearly-yous and knew you
whens; those have your same ill eases.
How's the sciatica? Fine, how's yours?
The world is old. Cleopatra might

have liked Black Friday. It's as engaging
as a barge with a fast gold sofa. She also
might have liked aging. At least preferred
it to the asp. Yellow leaf-patterned
sunlight dazzles the wall with its dapple.
It's all happening now, as I write. This is
journalism. No part of the memoir
is untrue. Though I probably will
go to the mall, if everyone else goes.

Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author, most recently, of “Funny.”

TomKat

I am down with the nasty beginning of a sore throat and cold.

(one of the grandchildren brought it to me last Tuesday "as a present" when I kept her)

Since I am sick and desperate for blog fodder, I will
post about the "Wedding of the Century" from the Washington Post.



TomKat Wedding: Believe the Hype

Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise in Rome on Wednesday. (AP)And so the circle of life continues to turn. Make way Britney and Kevin, we must now shove the wasteland of your dying marriage aside to make room for the pomp, circumstance and overblown hype that herald the union of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

As Celebritologists, we too have a vested interest in this marriage. We will be bold with snap judgments about Katie's dress. We'll speculate about the relative merits of her going barefoot or Tom standing on a box. We'll wonder if L. Ron Hubbard's cryogenic chamber has been shipped special to Italy to witness the commingling of Scientology royalty (like Dan Snyder and J.Lo) or if he'll only be there in spirit (like Oprah).

Before we I get too carried away (because I have to tell you, I was headed for an inevitable comparison with the "Beetlejuice" wedding scene), let's ground our expectations in a little reality.


A Bracciano shopkeeper adjusts a portrait of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in her store window. PHOTO GALLERY: Prepping for TomKat (AP)First, set the scene. Peruse this pre-wedding photo gallery of the (reported) humble wedding site, an the 15th century Castello Orsini-Odescalchi, nestled in the quaint Italian village of Bracciano -- a town so beautiful that Pope Sixtus IV himself rode out the plague there. Perhaps TomKat will have similar luck escaping the paparazzi. (The castle itself has a Web site, but I'm prettily informed that it is "Impossibile visualizzare la pagina.")

Next, block out an hour to spend with Brides.com editor Theresa DiMasi, who will be online at Noon ET today to answer questions about Scientology nuptials and celebrity weddings in general.

Finally, join Oprah and the rest of the uninvited to toast the happy couple from afar. Or, if you're not in the mood, have a self-satisfied moment hoping this story about Tom being too pudgy for his wedding suit is true."


And so Mrs Cruise number three begins her 10 year reign (or so I have read.)

The baby is precious and her name is Suri Cruise. Her Dad was born in Syracuse.
Coincidence or planned?

Car Shopping

Do you remember some of the cars you have bought over the years; some that you grew to love and others you hated because they turned out to be lemons? Memories of our automobiles seem to cling to us long after they have met their maker.

The smell of a new car. The feel of driving the shiny new vehicle off the lot after you had signed the papers. The vow that you will keep this one dent and scratch free. And the disgust when you got that first scratch.

And did you have a very, very favorite car of all the ones you have driven?

I remember the yellow Buick station wagon with the "wooden panels" and the tan interior. I drove many car pools with my children and their school buddies ,delivering them one by one to their homes, lightly honking the horn to let someone inside know they were home. At times the crowd in the station wagon would get way too boisterous and I would threaten to pull over to the side of the road and just sit there until order was restored. A few times I did just that.

Many years later, when my son was grown, and we were discussing days gone by and car pooling, son said, "You know what Mrs N did when she drove car pool and she wanted to keep us quiet? She told us if we were good and quiet she would take us to MacDonald's and she did and we were. She bribed us"

I guess I should have tried the "carrot" approach more and not the "stick" :)

Then there was the green Plymouth sedan my husband and little daughter, our first child, bought when I was in the hospital after giving birth to our second daughter. Back then children were not allowed into the hospital to see the new arrival (germ conscious I suppose) so hubby drove the new Plymouth and my little daughter to the parking lot under my window and showed me the present. Kind of sad that this car turned out to be a real lemon after such an auspicious start.

We owned many Buick's, a Caddy or two. One caddy, a light blue one, hummed right along for a short while and then it started to have electrical problems and we took it in to fix the problem. The dealer's shop tried and tried to fix it under warranty and then charged us and charged us and it was never fixed. We bought another car and kept the blue Caddy as a spare.

When my hubby worked in Washington, D.C. for 4 years, we drove Ole Blue to D.C. and wheeled around the nation's capitol in it. We had tried to give it to our daughter or son when they turned 16 and could drive but they were not willing to "be seen driving a clunker."

Once I was driving our dog, Mollie, a springer spaniel, to the vet for something routine. I took her in Ole Blue because I did not want her toenails to scratch up my newer car as she propped her paws on the door and held her head out the window while taking the breezes.

We were within two blocks of the vet's office when Ole Blue stopped on a very busy road and would not start again. I had no choice but to turn on the blinkers, abandon the car, put the leash on Mollie, and proceed to walk to the vets office. After dropping off the doggie, I headed back to the car to figure out what to do.

Just then I noticed two men across the street from the vet. They both were work men who were in the lot and I asked them how I could get my car towed. They said they would help me. The older man was going to get his son to push Ole Blue with his pick up truck up the busy, busy Lindberg Drive and I was to drive and steer the dead car until we approached the service station which was across 4 busy lanes of traffic on the other side of the road. I was to quickly "TURN INTO THE SERVICE STATION", all the while praying I did not get hit. I said "No way". I rode side saddle while the young man pushed and the older man drove my car. I shut my eyes as we approached the service station with the truck gaining enough speed to push us in.

The mechanic at the service station said I would have to leave my car overnight so they could fix it. "How can I get home?" The mechanic offered to drive me home, as I lived only about 5 miles away. I told him I would have to walk up and go get my dog at the vet's. He said get in his truck and he would take me to pick up Mollie.

Mollie reluctantly hopped up into the front seat beside me and the mechanic.I could tell she thought I had lost my marbles. She was shaking and rolling her big brown eyes at me as if she thought she might have to protect me during this ride.

All went well. Mollie and I arrived home safely. I tipped the kind mechanic who had driven us. I vowed to never again drive Mollie anywhere in Ole Blue.:)
.......
PS:( some years later the electrical problem was fixed in our driveway in about an hour by our son's highschool friend who had recently graduated from MIT and was extremely handy.)

----------
With all the autos you have owned in mind, go and visit Claude and watch the video about old cars.

(click on title of this post and travel to Blogging in Paris then click "Watch This"

Where was I ?

This is what I did today. I was in the kitchen preparing to make Banana Nut Bread. I had recently used a recipe from the Land O' Lakes butter web site and I went upstairs to my computer to print the recipe again as I could not readily locate it in the kitchen.

I sat down at the computer and thought...hum...I will just check out a few of my favorite blogs and perhaps the news and read my email and fiddle around a bit.

One hour later I was merrily traipsing down the little yellow brick Internet road, enjoying many posts and comments and adding comments of my own and then;

I went back downstairs to the kitchen and remembered:

I did not even look for the recipe for Banana Nut Bread so here I am back at the computer and printing the recipe for the BN Bread

I might as well share it with you since I am here and it may be too late to bake the bread and besides. it is such a beautiful fall day here I think I will just go for a
wonderful walk instead

Oh Yes...Here is the recipe:






WALNUT BANANA BREAD


This banana nut bread is just like the one Mom used to make. It is a great way to use overripe bananas.


Preparation time: 15 min Baking time: 1 hrs
Yield: 16 servings


3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened
2 eggs
2 medium (1 cup) bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Heat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar, butter and eggs in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add banana and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Stir in all remaining ingredients by hand.

Spoon batter into greased and floured 8x4-inch loaf pan. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely.



TIP: Banana bread is best the second day. Wrap cooled bread tightly in plastic food wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

TIP: Walnuts can be omitted.

TIP: Use no-stick cooking spray that contains flour to easily coat loaf pan.

PS I use one more banana and more sugar andcome vanilla and a little cinnamon.

Small World ; Isn't it.

Some months back I had been enjoying reading Roger B's blog, "There's Always Something", when in response to something Roger posted about his home in Arizona, I commented about Atlanta, my home.

Roger emailed me and said "Atlanta?--- Perhaps you know several friends of mine who now live in Atlanta. I went to Vanderbilt University with them."

He mentioned 4 people that he knew in his college years at Vanderbilt. As you know the Internet is filled with probably a million interesting people like Roger, a retired minister. The odds of my knowing someone he knew over 50 years ago are what? A million to one? Atlanta is a city of close to 5 million souls now. And the odds of my happening upon Roger's blog among the thousands of blogs are also astronomical.



When I read the names I could not believe my eyes. My husband and I know all those Roger mentioned. One of the three men, was the father of my daughter's first boyfriend. The other is a distant cousin and a friend who belongs to the same golf club as my husband. The third, a woman, is a dear friend along with her husband, who is also a member of the same golf club.

Well, I emailed Roger and told him the news and he was speechless. He remembered one of them, BSH as the "prettiest girl at Vandy. She sat next to him in German class.
Roger later married a pretty coed from Kentucky.

None of these four long ago friends of Roger's are computer literate and have no idea what a blog is so I had not called and mentioned this remarkable coincidence to them. I did not quite know how to explain to them the sequence of events that had led me to Roger and his "blog." Then one day recently my husband was having lunch at the golf club with three of them and he mentioned Roger and the remarkable coincidence. They remembered him fondly and even recalled that Roger was the president of their fraternity pledge class.



I emailed Roger and told him how delighted his friends were to hear from him and they sent their best wishes across the miles and the years.

I still marvel at this turn of events.

What a small, small world we live in. We are all connected one to the other in some unexplainable, cosmic way.


(Six degrees of separation is the hypothesis that anyone on Earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances with no more than five intermediaries)

PS: click on Title above to travel to Roger's blog

Remember to set your clocks back tomorrow night

This article from a British newspaper should make you feel less burdened when you reset all your clocks, microwaves,car clocks, watch etc. And besides we get an extra hour's sleep. :)






LONDON (AFP) - Britain puts its clocks back one hour at 2:00 am (0100 GMT) on Sunday giving most people a welcome extra hour in bed -- but two cuckoo clock enthusiasts will have precious little time on their hands.



Brothers Roman and Maz Piekarski have more than 500 clocks at their Cuckooland museum in Cheshire, northwest England.

And the task of winding back the mechanisms in the antique German clocks is going to take them all weekend.

"It is not as simple as changing a battery-powered clock because they are antiques, with all sorts of complicating factors," said Roman Piekarski, 54.

"It can put you in a real spin after a while, and I have been known to change dozens of clocks before realising I had already done them.

"It is a mammoth task but it has to be done, and it is a labour of love."

The museum, which hosts one of the world's largest collections of cuckoo clocks, also features clocks which mark the hour with quails, trumpeters and monks.

Meanwhile, those who suffer from the winter blues as British Summer Time ends and darkness sets in during the mornings and evenings are being given something to cheer them up.

A telephone helpline of "inspiring" sounds from the mountains and shorelines of the tranquil Lake District in northwest England has been set up to help those feeling depressed as the number of daylight hours dwindles.

It includes a reading of William Wordsworth's poem "Daffodils", the sound of Lake Windermere lapping against a jetty, the crisp crunch of leaves on a country walk, and Cumberland sausage sizzling in a pan.

Parts unknown

Karr left for parts unknown, dad says

By ADRIANNE MURCHISON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 10/28/06

"John Mark Karr has apparently left his father's Sandy Springs home, driven away by pressure from neighbors, his father said Friday.

His departure came about a week after an e-mail announcing the arrival of Karr — the man brought back from Thailand as a suspect in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey — circulated through several neighborhoods in north Atlanta and Sandy Springs."


I received this email and we have all breathed a sigh of relief around here. Karr had moved in with his father who lives a short distance from two schools and near a park and children's playground. The neighborhood was truly agitated about Karr's arrival here in Atlanta. He was a short distance from my daughter and her young children and my grandchildren. Even though Karr had not been convicted of any crime, California dropped the child porn charges because they "lost the computer evidence" and, given the notoriety about the Jon Benet Ramsey case, and Karr's supposed involvement in it which later turned out to be untrue, we are all glad he is gone to "parts unknown"

Jimmy Carter

Goldendaze-ginnie has a post about a letter she sent to ex President Jimmy Carter and the gracious reply she received. Her post got me reminiscing.Click on title of this post to take you to Ginnie.


REMEMBERING JIMMY


My husband and I knew President Carter personally when he was Governor of Georgia and then later as President. Also I had made several campaign trips as a member of Carter's " Peanut Brigade, as his volunteer group was called
. .
We lived not far from the governor's Mansion in Atlanta during his years as Governor. Amy Carter, who was then just a little girl used to come to our nearby street on Halloween to "trick or treat". She was always accompanied by a state trooper, but she still looked frightened

My husband's company did some work for Governor Carter and later for President Carter so we were given passes to attend the Democratic Convention in New York City when Carter was nominated. Even from the balcony, for a political junkie like me, this was an occasion to savor history being made.

During the convention festivities we attended a reception for JC's mother and family at the "Windows on the World" restaurant in the WTC. We met and chatted with Miss Lillian and others. It gives me shivers now to remember this and the other tower were demolished on 9/11 by those suicide bombers.

We also were invited to a reception at the White House after the inauguration and to several parties during his administration..

What a thrill that was and like an out of body experience to actually stand in the East Room or the Map Room where FDR gave his fireside chats which I am old enough to remember.I had to pinch myself.

One party in particular was great. It was the Newport Jazz Festival performers . Beautiful night, wonderful jazz and Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn were hospitality itself. VP Fritz Mondale was there as was Merv Griffin and many, many others.


Another time during Carter's years at the White House was a Valentine's dance. Imagine me and Mr H dancing at the White House in the East Room.

Then there was a reception the year the hostages were being held in Iran. This was in October before the election in November. President Carter was hopeful that some good news would arrive before the election about the release of the hostages. But no. The hostages were released at high noon just exactly when Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President. I have always questioned such timing.

We also got to visit the White House once more while Ronald Reagan was President. We were in the reception line ; you told the uniformed guard your name as you approached the President. As I shook President Reagan's hand I smiled and introduced myself To President Reagan as JH from Georgia. He smiled and said "Well" That was his favorite expression back then. We have our individual pictures taken of us individualy shaking hands with RR.


Part of this time my husband was working in Washington for his company and we were commuting back and forth.This was a most interesting time of our lives and makes for most excellent memories.

How I narrowly missed the Federal Pen.

I remember when I first got my Social Security Card a long time ago. I was 14 and my two girlfriends and I wanted to work in a dress shop weekends in the summer. In order to be hired I had to be 15 so I ("lied" "yikes" )on my SS application. Back then a baby was not issued a SS number at birth as is the custom now.

OK. All the ensuing years I "worried" that when the time came to collect my Social Security and the government found me out I would be hauled off to the poky.

When the big day arrived my sweet husband took all the forms down to the local SS office for me ( he is 9 months older and had already signed up for himself, knew the ropes ). The helpful SS agent looked over all the forms and said that I could have signed up the preceding year. Hubby explained that there was a "mix up" in my birth date when I signed up many years prior. She looked at him as if to say "Yeah. Right. Your wife has been lying about her age to you all these many years?"

He produced my birth certificate and the agent corrected my DOB and all was well.

But I guess I narrowly missed the "Federal Pen


Now Hurry on over to Ronni Bennett's Time Goes By blog.

She has written a delightful piece on her experience signing up for Social Security and the significance of this act for her.

http://www.timegoesby.net/

Down memory lane

I was born in 1929, so the 1930's was the decade of my childhood. While reminiscing I did a Google search and came across this information which brought back many pleasant memories, especially of the radio shows we listened to and the movies and board games.

Do you remember any of this? I do.


"By the 1930s money was scarce because of the depression, so people did what they could to make their lives happy. Movies were hot, parlor games and board games were popular. People gathered around radios to listen to the Yankees. Young people danced to the big bands.

Franklin Roosevelt influenced Americans with his Fireside Chats. The golden age of the mystery novel continued as people escaped into books, reading writers like Agatha Christie, Dashielle Hammett, and Raymond Chandler.

Radio reached its zenith of popularity in this decade. In 1939 about 80 percent of the population owned radio sets. Americans loved to laugh at the antics of such comedians as Jack Benny, Fred Allen, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Amos and Andy, and Fibber McGee and Molly.

The soap opera dominated the daytime airwaves.Our Gal Sunday began each episode with the question, "Can a girl from a little mining town in the west find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?' Many a woman's ear was glued to her radio every day in hopes of learning the answer. The heroics of the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, the Shadow, and Jack Armstrong, all-American boy, thrilled listeners both young and old and sold countless boxes of cereal.

News broadcasts by commentators like H. V. Kaltenborn and Edward R. Murrow kept the public aware of the increasing crisis in Europe. Franklin Roosevelt used the medium in his "Fireside Chats" to influence public opinion.

One of the most dramatic moments in radio history occurred on May 6, 1937, when the German airship Hindenburg burst into flames as it was about to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The horror of the incident was conveyed live by the reporter Herb Morrison. His reaction to what was happening in front of him still enthralls today.

On October 30, 1938, a twenty-three-year-old Orson Welles' broadcast on his Mercury Theater of the Air the H.G. Wells story War of the Worlds. Despite the disclaimer at the end of the program, the tale of a Martian invasion of Earth panicked a million listeners who mistook the play for a newscast. Such was the influence of radio in this its golden age.

Hollywood turned out movie after movie to entertain its Depression audience and the 30's are often referred to as Hollywood's "Golden Age". Movie goers wanted mainly escapist fare that let them forget their everyday troubles for a few hours. They swooned over such matinee idols as Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, and Errol Flynn. They laughed at the likes of W. C. Fields, Bob Hope, and the Marx Brothers. America fell in love with the little curly headed moppet Shirley Temple and flocked to see her tap dance and sing to the song "The Good Ship Lollipop".

Busby Berkeley's elaborate dance numbers delighted many a fan. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers tap and ballroom dancing across the screen enthralled the audience. Notable writers like William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald penned screenplays.

Not all movies were fantasy and lightness. The picture version of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath brought to film the story of the Joan family and its migration from the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma to the agricultural fields of California.

One of the top money makers of all time Gone With the Wind debuted in Atlanta, Georgia in 1939. Walt Disney produced the first full-length animated movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937."

Magnolia

Isn't this a pretty flower. I created it over at http://www.typogenerator.net/

When you go there this is what happens:

"how does typogenerator work?
the user types some text; typoGenerator searches images.google for the text and creates a background from the found images, using randomly chosen effects. then it places the text, using random effects too."

I kept playing around with typo generator using the word "magnolia" until I got this image

Because of You

Can you believe Tony Bennett just celebrated his 80th birthday .He is in fine form and singing all the way to the bank. What a sweetheart Tony is.

My hubby and I go way back with Tony. Our love song in the '50's was "Because of You" by Mr Bennett and we still get a thrill when we hear it sung.

Once my husband was traveling from NYC to Atlanta and he happened to be seated next to Tony Bennett in first class of Delta. For a long time into the flight, not wanting to bother Tony, my hubby did not say anything to him but a short while before the plane landed he introduced himself and told Tony Bennett about our fondness for "Because of You." Bennett could not have been more gracious and even asked the stewardess for a note pad so he could write a note to me. It said,

"Dear J
"Because of You"

Thanks for being a fan, Tony Bennett."

Tony was coming to Atlanta to sing at Chastain Park Amphitheater that night. We did not have tickets to the sold out performance but when my hubby got off the plane he made several phone calls, then one call to a friend with connections got us tickets to the concert. We went, took a bottle of champagne and some cheese and crackers,( outdoor picnic style concert) and had a glorious night under the stars listening to many old favorites and some new ones.

Then two other times we heard Tony. Once at the Fox Theater in Atlanta which was our favorite performance and not just because he sang "Because of You" that night. The acoustics at the Fox are outstanding. Mr Bennett, toward the end of the evening, had the sound engineers turn off his mike and darken the theater; then Tony stood on stage with a lone spotlight on him and sang his heart out.

We heard another Bennett concert at a dinner at Emory University Carlos Museum. He was very good but still our favorite will always be the Fox Theater performance.

So, Because of You, Mr Bennett, here's wishing you good health and many more years of song.

And oh yes:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR TONY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.











>

Forever Young

A Bob Dylan song that expresses what I wish for all of us today.








FOREVER YOUNG

BOB DYLAN

"May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young."

Tempus fugit

The air is cooler and the leaves are slowly beginning their preparation for winter. Soon they will start turning vivid colors; fall to the ground, covering grasses, lanes and sidewalks. Then the sound of leaf blowers will fill the neighborhood as the last remnants of summer are blown away.

Before we know it Halloween will be upon us with precious little ghosts and goblins ringing doorbells. They will shout "Trick or treat" and be on their way after partaking of the candy and goodies offered them

The first frost of winter will arrive one morning and then the delicious aromas of fires wafting up from chimneys will signal the comfy, snuggling time of year has arrived.

Thanksgiving and the turkey are just around the corner. Then Christmas. Before you turn around twice it is New Year's Eve and the crowd at Times Square in New York City counts down to "Happy New Year"

Father time could you please slow down a bit for us this year so time will pass more slowly.

What's the big hurry anyway?

Get a Grip

I have saved this article by Jane Brody of the New York Times for over a year now. It is quite long but well worth the time you spend reading.





Get a Grip and Set Your Sights Above Adversity
By JANE E. BRODY

Resilience. Call it what you will - the ability to weather stresses large and small, to bounce back from trauma and get on with life, to learn from negative experiences and translate them into positive ones, to muster the strength and confidence to change directions when a chosen path becomes blocked or nonproductive.

Or you can sum it up as actualization of A.A.'s serenity prayer: "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."

Dr. Wendy Schlessel Harpham, a Dallas physician, wife and mother of three, is the epitome of resilience. Struck with a recurring cancer in her 30's that required a decade of debilitating treatments, she was forced to give up her medical practice.

She turned instead to writing books and lecturing to professional and lay audiences to help millions of others and their families through the cancer experience.

Dr. Jennifer P. Schneider of Tucson is another classic example of resilience. Also a physician, she has a lifelong history of emotional and physical traumas.

Her mother left her at age 5. Dr. Schneider weathered two divorces, a child with a mild form of autism, a broken leg that required two operations and took more than two years to heal, and most recently the most horrific trauma of all, the death at 31 of her daughter, Jessica Wing, after a two-year battle against metastatic colon cancer.

To cope, Dr. Schneider said, she focused on things she could control, her patients and her writing.

Dr. Schneider's recent book "Living With Chronic Pain" was an inspiration to me, as I mentioned in a column last month, during my bout with intense and seemingly endless pain after knee replacement.

Growing Up Resilient

Until recently, resilience was thought to be an entirely inborn trait, giving rise to the notion of the "invulnerable child," now recognized to be a mistaken idea.

Resilient children are not invulnerable to trauma or immune to suffering. But they bounce back. They find ways to cope, set goals and achieve them despite myriad obstacles like drug-addicted parents, dire poverty or physical disabilities thrown in their path.

As Dr. Robert Brooks of Harvard and Dr. Sam Goldstein of the University of Utah put it, being resilient does not mean a life without risks or adverse conditions but rather learning how to deal effectively with the inevitable stresses of life.

Herein lies an important concept: learning. To be sure, some of what makes up resilience is inborn.

But resilience can also be learned, say experts like Dr. Brooks and Dr. Goldstein, psychologists and authors whose newest book, "The Power of Resilience" (Contemporary Books), provides lessons in "achieving balance, confidence and personal strength."

They are lessons of considerable importance, as there is no such thing as a life free of losses and setbacks. People who lack resilience are less able to rise above adversity or learn from their mistakes and move on. Instead of focusing on what they can control and accepting responsibility for their lives, they waste time and energy on matters beyond their influence.

As a result, the circumstances of their lives leave them feeling helpless and hopeless and prone to depression. When things go wrong or don't work out as expected, they tend to think "I can't do this" or, even worse, "It can't be done."

Children learn to be resilient when parents and guardians enable and encourage them to figure out things for themselves and take responsibility for their actions. When Ray Charles lost his sight at age 7, his mother insisted that he use his good brain and learn how to make his way in the world. In the movie "Ray," she watched silently after the newly blind boy tripped over furniture, cried for her help and then struggled to his feet unaided.

It's Never Too Late

Children need to learn that they are capable of finding their way on their own. Parents who are too quick to take over a task when children cry "I can't do this" or don't insist that children learn from their mistakes are less likely to end up with children who can stand on their own two feet, take responsibility for their lives and cope effectively with unavoidable stresses.

The same applies to parents who provide children with everything they want instead of teaching them limits and having them earn their rewards and to those who make excuses for their children and repeatedly defend them against legitimate complaints.

But even if these lessons are not learned in childhood, experts like Dr. Brooks and Dr. Goldstein, who also wrote "Raising Resilient Children" and "Nurturing Resilience in Our Children," say it is possible to learn to be more resilient at any age. The trick lies in replacing what they call "negative scripts" that may have been written in childhood, but are not cast in stone, with more positive scripts.

People who harbor negative scripts expect that no matter what they do, things will not work out well; they assume that others must change for circumstances to improve.

'Authors of Our Lives'

So lesson No. 1, Dr. Brooks and Dr. Goldstein write, is "to recognize that we are the authors of our lives."

"We must not seek our happiness by asking someone else to change," they continue.

Rather, we should ask, "What is it that I can do differently to change the situation?" Identify your negative scripts and assume responsibility for changing them.

Nurture your self-esteem. Be true to yourself rather than trying to be what someone else expects of you. Focus on what you can do, tasks you can achieve, situations you can influence. Take an active role in your community or in an organization or activity that helps others.

Develop a new skill: learn a language or a new sport or how to fix a car; take up knitting, cooking or woodworking; join a book club; try out for an amateur production; become a docent at a museum; help organizations that feed the elderly and infirm; volunteer your services at community groups like the local Y, school, library or park.

There are myriad opportunities; just look or ask around and you will find them.

Take a chance on change if jobs, habits or activities you've long pursued are no longer satisfying or efficient.

Change is frightening to people who lack resilience, but those who try it usually find that they land on their feet, and that fosters resilience.

And if a new path does not seem to be working out well, change again.

Take a long, hard look at the people in your life and consider abandoning friends who drag you down or reinforce your negative scripts. For those - like family members - from whom you can't escape, practice ignoring their put-downs and not taking them so seriously.

Seek out activities that elevate your spiritual life and nurture your inner strength: for example, art, music, literature, religion, meditation, the great outdoors.



Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Go read this blog post

Roger from "There's Always Something" has a thought provoking post up today:

It is about mortality.

Click on the title of this post to travel there.

Hot Air Balloon

The History of Ballooning


"The caged duck looked down as terra firma slowly drifted away. Above the duck, a balloon, constructed of paper and fabric, provided the lift necessary to carry aloft the duck and its companions, a sheep and a rooster. Never before had a human, let alone a duck, flown in a balloon. The year was 1783, a milestone year for aviation—the dream of flying had finally been realized. On October 15th of that year, a few months after the duck's historic flight, a balloon, 'Aerostat Reveillon,' launched in France, carrying scientist Pilatre De Rozier, and rose to the end of its 250 foot tether. It stayed aloft for fifteen minutes and then landed safely nearby."

I was not exactly a "caged duck" on the morning I went for my first hot air balloon ride in the desert of Palm Desert California; I was no "spring chicken" either as I was close to 60 years old that day. But when I looked down I did see terra firma slowly drifting away. We had climbed into the basket underneath the balloon at about 6am on a clear,dry, desert day. There were 5 of us including the balloonist, me and 3 other ladies, wives of the men who were attending a meeting in Palm Desert. Arch,the balloonist, wore a dark grey fedora hat and looked a bit like Indiana Jones

The evening before at dinner, one of the gals said she had always wanted to go up in a hot air balloon and was anyone else "up" for a ride. No one spoke up until I said "Me. I want to go" then 2 others chimed in and we called the number for "Balloons Above The Desert" and signed up.

Our hubbies were playing golf the next day so it was just a girls morning out or "UP"

The balloon lifted smoothly off the ground as the sandbags that tethered it to earth were lifted off by Arch's brother, the ground crew man who followed us in a pick up truck.. We soared higher and higher and then Arch brought us down so close to the ground we could see the jack rabbits running away when he gave the balloon more hot air to lift us up. Women came out on their patios with a mug of coffee to wave at us and we waved back.

It was a glorious ride. Clear, and blue and beautiful. desert sand and sky. Arch pointed out the sights below. Gerald Ford's house, Bob Hope's mansion in the distance.

Too soon our ride was over and Arch gently started gliding toward land where his brother was waiting with his pickup truck and his strong back to help secure the balloon when it landed. When we hopped out of the balloon basket and settled ourselves, Arch broke out a bottle of champagne and glasses for all of us. We toasted a successful flight and he gave us a certificate saying we had indeed "broken the surly bonds of earth."

School Days

'Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic,
Taught to the tune of a hick'ry stick.
You were my queen in calico,
I was your bashful barefoot beau,
And you wrote on my slate,
'I love you, Joe,'
When we were a couple of kids."





What do you remember from elementary school.


I remember kindergarten as a time when we sat around in a circle and played on little instruments like toy drums and xylophones and tambourines. We had dolls that we put to bed and covered up with small blankets. We had nap time and each child brought a small rug or blanket from home for naps. We didn't learn anything except how to play well with others and how to be away from home for several hours at a time. Recess was great with slides and swings and children running around in the fresh air.

First grade I learned to read. "See Dick. See Jane. See Dick run . See Jane run" ***

Second grade and third grade are blurs except for the Christmas pageant in one of them. I desperately wanted to be "Mary, the mother of Jesus". The one who sits by the manger and gazes lovingly at the baby. My hair was brown so I thought I looked like Mary. Instead, they chose a little girl with blond curls for Mary. (what bad casting)!!! I got to be the "Star of Bethlehem". Wearing a white robe with a golden halo, I did look great but my disappointment was severe at losing the staring role of Mary.
Was I scarred for life because of this early rejection? Who can say.:)

Fifth grade. Each year the fifth grade class made a trip by bus to the state capitol, Atlanta. The year I was in fifth grade my teacher's husband died so our trip was canceled.

Sixth grade was my zenith year. Miss Lucy Clarke was my teacher and I was "teacher's pet" I got called on repeatedly to stand in front of the class and read. Miss Clarke said I was an excellent reader and also an outstanding writer. She entered two of my essays in a state contest and I won. I think the prize was one whole dollar but there was a banquet and an award. I was so proud and happy.

What do you remember?


*** "The famous Dick and Jane books that taught millions of children to read were first published in 1931. These primers introduced the students to reading with only one new word per page and a limited vocabulary per book. All who learned to read with these books still recall the "Look. See Dick. See Dick run."

I'm Not Rappaport

Last night I ran across a movie on cable and it was hilarious. Poignant and sad but funny too.. The movie was “I’M NOT RAPPAPORT” with Walter Matthau and Ozzie Davis. Both characters are in their 80's and they spend most of their days in Central Park. The two meet while sharing a park bench and their adventures begin.

This is a sweet film about being old and vulnerable but fighting back against the ravages of time while retaining a vivid imagination and a sense of humor.

Watch this film if you get a chance

-----------------
from Internet Movie Data Base:
“Old Nat Moyer (Walter Mathau) is a talker, a philosopher, and a troublemaker with a fanciful imagination. His companion is Midge Carter, (“OzzieDavis”) who is half-blind, but still the super of an apartment house. When he is threatened with retirement, Nat battles on his behalf. Nat also takes on his daughter, a drug dealer, and a mugger in this appealing version of a really 'odd couple'


----------------------------------
and from Walter Matthau's official web page:

"According to his family and friends, some of Walter's best whoppers were: he was in line of succession to the throne of England...his grandfather was a defrocked priest... his grandmother was a Chinese stowaway (he claimed that is how his famly ended up in America)...his father was a jewel thief and Russian spy...and that his middle name was Foghorn.
.
"Even Walter could not have guessed how many people would fall for what has been come his most global and enduring joke yet. When Walter died in the summer of 2000, newspapers around the world printed obitutaries and tribute articles stating that Walter's real names was Matuschanskayasky. Apparently no one blinked at this outlandish concoction - and Walter's impish joke slipped past all the fact-checkers."

We all need a good laugh

"In the supermarket was a man pushing a cart which contained a screaming, bellowing baby. The gentleman kept repeating softly, "Don't get excited, Albert; don't scream, Albert; don't yell, Albert; keep calm, Albert."
A woman standing next to him said, "You certainly are to be commended for trying to soothe your son Albert."
The man looked at her and said, "Lady, I'm Albert."


And these I stole from Roger @ "there's always something." check out his blog by clicking on the title above.

"I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix."
--Dan Quayle

"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
--Lee Iacocca

"Your food stamps will be stopped effective
March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances."
--Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina

"The word "genius" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." --Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.


"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very
important part of your life,"
--Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.

“The security of the civilized world depends on victory in the war on terror, and that depends on victory in Iraq.” George W. Bush in an American Legion speech this week.

"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
--Mariah Carey

Robert Brady's Pureland Mountain

Don't miss Robert Brady's post today, "A handful of Broadays", about being "Absent Minded" as we grow older. His blog "Pureland Mountain" is a delight to read.

click on the above title to visit the blog.

Tell him Chancy sent you :)



"So if you've been enjoying a well-lived life, by the time you reach my age you have a lot of there there. With so many lives in you to live, re-live and be mentally active in, it should be no surprise if you're often in more than one life at a time (especially when in one of them what you're doing has become routine...). So you might as well admit it: you're not absent-minded, you're extra-minded"

CNN -- You never know who is listening

I was mixing a meat loaf and halfway listening to President Bush's speech from New Orleans today regarding the one year anniversary of Katrina.I heard what sounded like someone in the audience speaking. Bush paused and looked confused then continued with his prepared remarks.

A few seconds later I heard very clearly a woman's voice saying something like "Well, it is difficult to find someone with true compassion." Then another person responded evidently; and then the first woman said "you know he IS married with 3 children. But his wife is something of a control freak"

I was totally mystified until I Googled "Bush Katrina Speech News" and found the answer I was seeking except I still do not know if there was a heckler or if it was all the open mike confusion

.....................................
I later found this info on the Chicago Tribune:



"A CNN glitch during President Bush's Katrina speech
The live feed of President Bush’s address at a New Orleans high school on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was marred by some disconcerting chatter that came over the live CNN feed Tuesday.

At 11:48 a.m. Chicago time, a woman’s voice, presumably that of a CNN staffer, cut in just after Bush spoke this line:

“To make sure that we keep our promises and to make sure this good area recovers, we have got to give assurances to the citizens that if there is another natural disaster we’ll respond in better fashion.”

Just after this statement, Bush’s voice could still be heard, but then a female’s voice was heard having a conversation with another person whose voice was not fully audible. What sounded like an expletive was heard, then the first woman’s voice continued, apparently speaking of a third person’s merits.

“I’m very lucky at the network [not audible], he is genuinely a loving, no-ego [not audible] just a really passionate, compassionate, great, great human being. And they exist, they do exist. They’re hard to find, yep, but they are out there.”

The second woman’s voice is heard in the background, and possibly the sound of something being sprayed, which leads to the conjecture that a CNN correspondent’s microphone perhaps somehow was activated while she was having makeup and hair done. The subject then apparently turns to family.

“Mom’s got a good vibe. Brothers have to be, you know, protective. Except for mine, I’ve got to be protective of him. Ah yeah, I have to be protective of him. He’s married, three kids, but his wife is just a control freak.”

Soon after that, the the unknown woman’s audio was cut off, and CNN anchor voice Daryn Kagan could be heard over the speech, saying, “All right, we’ve been listening in to President Bush as he speaks in New Orleans today.”

A CNN spokeswoman said she would try to find out whose voice it was that accidentally came over the airwaves.

UPDATE: At 12:43 p.m. Chicago time, CNN anchor Kyra Phillips apologized for "an issue we had" with microphones during Bush's speech."


-----------

Oh well, this open mike bit was the only thing interesting in an otherwise classic Bush dullsville speech



Too Funny!!!!!

Here is a funny comment from Youtube

"The most important thing to hear is where she calls her sister-in-law a "control freak." Someone's got some 'splainin' to do."

Healing chant

I read this prayer on another blog and even though I am Christian and the chant is in the Buddhist tradition it struck a cord within me.
---------------



Traditional Blessing and Healing Chant



"Just as the soft rains fill the streams,
pour into the rivers, and join together in the oceans,
so may the power of every moment of your goodness
flow forth to awaken and heal all beings--
those here now, those gone before, those yet to come.

By the power of every moment of your goodness,
may your heart's wishes be soon fulfilled
as completely shining as the bright full moon,
as magically as by a wish-fulfilling gem.

By the power of every moment of your goodness,
may all dangers be averted and all disease be gone.
May no obstacle come across your way.
May you enjoy fulfillment and long life.

For all in whose heart dwells respect,
who follow the wisdom and compassion, of the Way,
may your life prosper in the four blessings
of old age, beauty, happiness and strength."


Source: Holistic Living

Visit www.beliefnet.com for a source of spirituality for any religious persuasion.

click on title on the header for link

September 11, 2001

"NEW YORK - CNN will mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by replaying on the Internet the cable network's coverage of that day's events.



Viewers can watch how events unfolded starting at 8:30 a.m., minutes before the first reports of an airplane hitting the World Trade Center. The feed will run in real time, as the network showed it five years ago, until midnight"


---------------------------------

I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I read this announcement a few minutes ago. . At least CNN is not preempting their TV coverage to show films of the carnage of 9/11. That would be too much to bear.

On September 11, 2001, my husband and I were sitting in our breakfast nook talking and the phone rang. It was our daughter calling to tell us "Quick. Turn on CNN. A plane just flew into one of the World Trade Center buildings." We rushed to the TV just in time to see the second plane hit. Even now, five years later, I feel numb and scared thinking about that day. The Pentagon hit. Flight 93 crashes.

All so unreal. We could not bring ourselves to stray far from the TV even as the images become more filled with the horror of the poor people jumping from the buildings. And the dazed and shocked survivors running from the scene.
. .

I know we need to remember these terrible events but I dread the coming anniversary week surrounding September 11. The psyche of our nation has been strained. We need solace and comfort. Watching reruns of 9/11 will not comfort us. I, myself, could use a good fireside chat by FDR reassuring us that all will be well and that "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"


Where were you on 9/11?

Staying the course

Octogenarian has a post on his web site that prodded me to go googling about Iraq. Click on the link(title) above and you can visit Mort (Octogenarian). Mort is a retired journalist and his blog is filled with thought provoking information and posts. Tell him Chancy sent you

http://octogenarian.blogspot.com/

------

Top 10 Bad Reasons for “Staying the Course” in Iraq
(and One Good One)
by Jeff Huber
03 October 2005

"10. Democracy takes time. America needed 13 years to write its Constitution.
The American Revolution analogy is ludicrous. Britain did not invade the American colonies in order to liberate us, and we did not ask them to stick around for more than a decade to help us form our government.

9. If we leave now, we’ll embolden the terrorists.
They’re not exactly shrinking violets now. The longer we’ve stayed, the bolder they’ve become.

8. Withdrawing will show lack of American resolve.
Getting in a bar fight over a girl shows resolve. Waking up in jail with your nose broken shows how stupid you are.

7. We’re fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here.
If we don’t have to fight them over here, why do we spend around $40 billion a year for a Department of Homeland Security?

6. The spread of democracy in the Middle East will enhance America’s security.
"Free" elections in the Middle East have helped Afghanistan become the world’s leading exporter of narcotics and transformed terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah into "legitimate" political parties.
5. We need to support our troops.
I applaud and deeply respect our men and women in uniform for their magnificent service and sacrifice. These are my people, remember? However, comma….
In the first place, we are supporting our troops — to the tune of nearly half a trillion dollars a year.

Second, when we continue to commit those men and women in uniform to a struggle for which there is no military solution, we are abusing them, not supporting them.
Third — and most importantly — America does not exist for the purpose of supporting its military. Our military exists to support America. And if it’s not defending us at home or achieving our national aims overseas, it’s not supporting our country.

4. If we pull out now, we’ll look weak.


We’ve committed our national power to an ill-advised war and are losing. How much weaker can we look?

3. In times of crisis, we need to rally around the president and his policies.
America will not maintain or restore its power and prestige by behaving like a nation of lemmings. There is nothing noble, brave, or patriotic about following the leader over the cliff and into the sea.

2. "They tried to kill my dad."
Thanks to Mr. Bush’s policies and strategies, they’ve succeeded in killing a lot of dads, and moms, and aunts, and uncles, and brothers, and sisters ….
If we cut through the bunker mentality and frame the argument for staying in Iraq to reflect the neocons’ real purpose for the Iraq invasion, it might sound something like this:
1. We set out to establish a military base of operations from which we can control the Middle East and its oil, and we should persist until we "get the job done."
Even though it’s true, the argument’s still specious. Our "besttrained, bestequipped, bestfunded" military can’t get Iraq or Afghanistan under control. How can we possibly expect to lock down the entire Middle East?

+1. We owe something to the Iraqi people.
This is the only rationale that still holds water with me. We need to pay for the pottery we broke. But how much do we need to pay for it, and who exactly is this we we’re referring to, kemosabe"


www.epluribusmedia.org/columns

Go visit

Roger at "There's Always Something" See URL above in link. Roger is a retired minister and he is learning how to video blog. This is his second one and it is very good. He sings "All The Way" in a laid back style between Tony Bennett and "Ole Blue Eyes.

Tell him Chancy sent you...:)

PS My hubby has an excellent voice and so does our son so you can tell I am a sucker for a man who can sing...:)

Comfort Food

What are your comfort foods that you remember from your childhood? Cinnamon toast, banana pudding,sweet potato pie, chicken and dumplings, beef pot roast with sweet potatoes and; don't laugh, fruit cake. Those are some of mine.

My mother used to make the best fruitcake. Lots of pecans and candied fruit. She would soak a clean cloth in whiskey or rum and wrap the cake and leave it for a week or so. I know many people hate fruitcake but hers was very tasty. I have never been able to duplicate it.

And also I was just thinking the other day how much I missed having banana pudding. I told Mr C. that I was going to make a banana pudding for supper one day soon. That's all. We could just eat the pudding and call it supper.

Yummy.

The King died

"August 16
1977: in 1977 THE KING, ELVIS (AARON) PRESLEY died at his mansion Graceland from heart failure, probably brought on by drug abuse."

Can you believe it has been almost 30 years since Elvis died? I can't. I was not a super fan of Elvis. I suppose I was past the age where his music spoke to me. However, I have come to appreciate and love his gospel recordings. Man oh man, he could really sing gospel; especially "Amazing Grace", one of my favorites. ***

I do remember his appearance on Ed Sullivan. The grainy black and white picture that Ed censored by only showing Elvis dancing(gyrating) from the waist up.

---------------------------------------------
"Presley's first No 1 hit, Heartbreak Hotel, came out in January 1956, and his first album, also a chart topper, was released in March. As his fame grew, so did the vigour of his critics, who saw Presley as an over-sexed enchanter leading American teenagers to ruin.

But when Sullivan praised him as a "decent, fine boy" much of the storm began to subside. The praise came at the end of Presley's final show on January 6, 1957, when he was shown from the waist up only."
----------------------------------------------



What sweet simple times compared to now when anything goes in movies and on TV.



***"Amazing grace, oh how sweet the sound
That saved a wreck like me
I once was lost, though now I'm found
I was blind, but now I see

Memories

I was thinking recently about the war years during the early 1940's.

Living in a small college town in Georgia we were in no real danger and never felt afraid. You have to know that back then we were not as mobile a society as we are now. If we traveled it was usually either in the car or on a bus. Airplane travel was not an ordinary occurrence as it is now.

People on both the west and east coast of the US were more aware of the threats from the enemy. In small inland towns we felt safe.I was 12 years old when the war started and 16 when it finally ended.

My three brothers were drafted. One saw overseas duty in Northern Africa with Signal Corps and one served in England, the Netherlands and later Germany. The third had "tough" duty in the Navy in Hollywood, Florida and then he was sent to Seattle, Washington in preparation to being shipped overseas when the war ended. They all three came home safely.

On the home front we went about our lives in a normal fashion but always concerned about those close to us who were away in the service.

A brief rundown of war time memories:
Ration Books, air raid wardens, saving foil from gum, High School volunteers picking cotton, V.E. mail, gas rationing,and rationing of sugar, coffee, News reels of the war at the picture shows, one pair of shoes, no silk stockings, painted stockings with seam drawn on back of legs. VE day, VJ day .Polio, March of Dimes, fear of polio infection from swimming pool and water fountains. . We had blackout curtains, air raid sirens,neighborhood air raid warden, war bonds. .

My brother mailed me a silk parachute from Germany,brightly painted wooden souvenir shoes from the Netherlands, English Lavender soap from London.

FDR fireside chats, Churchill, December 7 1941. VE day FDR death, VJ day, DDay I wore bobby socks and saddle oxfords, the songs "Bluebirds Over The White Cliffs of Dover", "Nightingale Sang In Barclay Square."

What are some of your memories from this era?

Blog highlights for today

Blog Highlights

Don't miss "Maya's Granny" blog post today on aging children.

Tabor's "One Day At a Time" covers her grandchild's first visit to her new house.

Joy's "Joy of Six" has a lovely poem about "Angels"

Ronni at "Time Goes By" has a one act play about her deck garden plants.


Many, many more but these are just the highlights that caught my attention today.

What blog post spoke to you today?

PS: I had missed Judy's post earlier. It is the second one down on her blog and it is called "No Left Turns" It is great and not to be missed.


http://justaskjudy.blogspot.com/

http://joyofsix.typepad.com/joyofsix/

http://tabordays.blogspot.com/

http://mayagranny.blogspot.com/

http://www.timegoesby.net/

Senator Ted Stevens Internet tubes or Intertubes

Tangled up in tubes from Boston.com
July 20, 2006

"Watch your back, Nelly Furtado. An 82-year-old US senator from Alaska is looking for a cut of your dance - floor action this summer -- and his secret weapon is tubes, a series of tubes.

During a Senate Commerce Committee debate on June 28, Senator Ted Stevens described the inner workings of the Internet as ``a series of tubes." To help mouthy tadpoles such as the Google guys understand how the Internet tubes work, Stevens went on to explain that ``those tubes can be filled. And if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material."

The snickering began almost immediately, made worse by another Stevens gaffe: ``An Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday; I just got it yesterday . . . because it got tangled up." Those blasted, tangly tubes."
-----------------------------------------
and then this from

From Blaugh.com






"To better demonstrate the theory of how information travels online, Senator Ted Stevens has teamed up with research scientists from Helsinki to develop a series of InterTubes - the world’s first Internet data floatation devices.

When submerged in ethernet liquid, InterTubes will carry passengers safely across any type of digital divide. Stevens is quite proud of his invention, claiming that they took “enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material” to complete. With this new system, the young Senator hopes that your personal internets will no longer be delayed.

Stevens also claims that his InterTubes will be delivered on “big trucks” in time for the 2006 holiday shopping season. Net profits are projected to be in the gigabit range - should analysts remain neutral.

Next up for the Stevens development team: an Internet Cerfboard."

Source: TedStevensInterTubes.com
Domain: InternetTubeTruck.com

Some funnies for you.

A friend sent me these. A laugh is good to take our minds off the summer heat and other maladies

************************

My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He
asked me how old I was, and I told him, "62." He was quiet for a moment, and

then he asked, "Did you start at 1?"

***************************

After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old

slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the
children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. At
last she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting
them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the
three-year-old say with a trembling voice, "Who was THAT?"

**************************************************

A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what he r own
childhood was like: "We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made
from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We
picked wild raspberries in the woods." The little girl was wide-eyed, taking

this in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!"

*********************************************

My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know
how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo while I asked, "No,
how is we alike?" "You're both old," he replied.

**********************************************

A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather's word
processor. She told him she was writing a story. "What's it about?" he
asked. "I don't know," she replied. "I can't read."


***** *************************************************

I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I
decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was.
She would tell me, and always she was correct. But it was fun for me, so I
continued. At last she headed for the door, saying sagely, "Grandma, I think

you should try to figure out some of these yourself!"


***********************************************

When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the
lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects.
Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy
whispered, "It's no use, Grandpa. The mosquitoes are coming after us with
flashlights."


*******************************

When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, "I'm not

sure." "Look in your underwear, Grandma," he advised. "Mine says I'm four

to six."

*************************************

A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother,
"Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today." The grandmother,

more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. "That's interesting,"
she said, "How do you make babies?" "It's simple," replied the girl. "You
just change 'y' to 'I and add 'es'"


***********************************************

Children's Logic: "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said a
teacher. The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant."
The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don't you know what p regnant

means?" she asked. Sure," said the young boy confidently. "It means carrying

a child."


********************************************

A nursery school teacher was delivering a station wagon full of kids
home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the

fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog's
duties. They use him to keep crowds back," said one youngster. "No, said
another, "he's just for good luck." A third child brought the argument to a
close. "They use the dogs", she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrant."









--------------------------------------------------

The Ice Man Cometh

THE ICE BOX.

I remember when we had an ice box. Not a refrigerator but a white wooden cabinet with a big block of ice in the top .There was a drip pan underneath to hold the water run off as the ice melted.

A separate door closed the ice off from the compartment below where the milk, eggs and butter were kept cool.

The ice truck arriving on our street was a big occasion for all the children. The big burly, well muscled iceman would chip off slivers of ice for us as we waited patiently in the street barefoot with the hot pavement stinging but not burning our feet which were toughened by many summers going barefoot.

Then the iceman would take his black tongs and hoist up a huge block of ice and take it into the kitchen of the house he was servicing, place it in the ice box and then continue his rounds and the excitement of the day was over.













Link

Dirty rotten scoundrels

It was the 1930's and the medium sized college town of 25,000 people where I lived, had 3 movie theaters. They were the Palace, the Strand, and the Georgian. The Palace was decidedly upscale while the Strand was sometimes referred to as the “rat hole” . The Georgian was somewhere in between.

Saturdays I was allowed to walk to town to the picture show with my best friend Catherine and her big brother, Dick. We were given 10 cents each by our parents.This was the admission price for children over 5. Catherine and I were both 6 years old.

Catherine’s brother Dick was about 10 and he had big ideas. He took us to Woolworth’s Five and Dime Store and Catherine and I, with Dick’s help, spent our picture show money on candy. Back then 20 cents could buy an abundance of penny candy.

Then Dick proceeded to take us to the Strand box office and when they asked how old Catherine and I were, he would answer “They are both five.”

We got in free.

We sat in the darkened theater watching Hopalong Cassidy or Gene Autry ride the canyons of the wild west and dodge the Indians. Then the continuing serial with Buck Rogers exploring space would come on and we would catch up on last week’s cliff hanger when Buck and company were left hanging in some sort of bad trouble.

All the while during the movie we were gouging ourselves on our ill gotten gain of candy, candy, candy. I would leave the picture show each time with a bad headache never realizing I had a sugar overload. Perhaps my conscience was bothering me also. After all, Catherine and I were willing but silent accomplices in the candy caper.

Soon the day arrived when Dick could no longer palm us off as 5 year olds and the caper ended.

We had to pony up the whole dime to get in the picture show and our halcyon days of candy. candy. candy were over.

Dry weather, dry skin

During this heat and drought we have been experiencing this summer
I got to thinking about the products I use to stay moisturized. Of course on important ingredient is the 8 glasses of water we are supposed to drink that hydrate our bodies and skin. I learned an important lesson about the value of adequate water consumption during my recent illness when even my lips and mouth were all dried up.


Here are some products I really like and use every day, all year long:



CETAPHIL skin cleanser. Wonderful cleanser. Removes make up. Cleans face. Either leave on or rinse. Either way leaves skin feeling smooth and soft.

EUCERIN facial moisturizer with SPF 30. A good product which I use every morning after my shower. Sunblock is so important..( Neutrogena also has a similar product that I use sometime too.

BURTS BEES nail moisturizer..feels great on nails and has a yummy lemony scent.

BLISTEX DAILY CONDITIONING TREATMENT for dry lips.(SPF 20) Helps lips retain moisture and feels yummy.

VASELINE INTENSIVE CARE TOTAL MOISTURE LOTION for hands, face, feet or anywhere. a good bargain product.

What are your favorites? Any suggestions for extremely dry hair?

Do you have any favorites to add to this list?

Maya's Granny

Thursday, July 27, 2006
The Great El Paso Piss Off of 1955

I don't usually recommend another blogger's post but you must go and read Maya's Granny's post of Thursday July 27, 2006.

She has captured in a brilliant word picture the angst and humor of a 13 year old girl(herself) who did not want to grow into a woman.

Click on the link above at Maya's Granny

The doctor is in the house.

The patient is better; not all the way there but on the road to recovery. The doctor made a second house call today and diagnosed a temperature control problem which he proceeded to alleviate with some machinations and a hefty bill. He said all should be well and back to normal in about 24 hours. Patient is already getting cooler and humming right along, happy to have the worst over with. The bill was $395.00, none of which is covered by Medicare but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

Then the Appliance Doctor sat down and told us about his lunch hour which he spent eating a Granola Bar and fishing off a bank on the nearby Chattahoochee River. He said it relaxes him to fish instead of running to a fast food place and gulping a burger.

When he left the ice maker dumped its first load of ice. So recovery is assured.


Oh.
As for me, I am much better and eating and swallowing and kicking ass so I must be on the road to recovery also.

Cool, clear water

Remember those Saturdays when Roy or Gene or Hopalong would gallop across the screen dodging Indians, rescuing the girl,saving the homestead, and searching for cool, clear water?

Sons of the Pioneers- Roy Rogers


Cool Water
by Bob Nolan (Revised lyrics by Joni Mitchell)



All day I face the barren waste
Without a taste of water
Cool water
Old Dan and I
Our throats slate dry
Our spirits cry out for water
Cool clear water
Keep on movin' Dan
Some devils had a plan
Buried poison in the sand
Don't drink it man
It's in the water
Cool clear water
In my mind I see
A big green tree
And a river flowin' free
Waitin' up ahead
For you and me
Cool clear water

The nights are cool and I'm a fool
Each star is a pool of water
Cool water
But come the dawn
We carry on
We won't last long without water
Cool clear water
Keep on movin' Dan
We're still in no-man's land
Dry bones and sand
People never planned here for water
Cool clear water
In my mind I see
A big green tree
And a river flowin' free
Waiting up ahead for you and me
Cool clear water

The shadows sway
They seem to say
Tonight we pray for water
Cool water
And way up there
If you care
Please show us where
There's good water
Cool clear water.

OK, Now I am feeling well enough to tell you all how sick I have been.

Last Saturday at this time I would have given "my kingdom" for a drink of cool clear water. I was parched and dehydrated. Could not swallow even a sip of water without terrible pain; and I have a high pain thresh hold but with the awful sore throat I came down with on Friday, swallowing anything was out of the picture.(even my saliva)

I called my doctor late Friday afternoon and he sent me an antibiotic, large pill, which I had to force myself to swallow regardless of the severe pain. By Monday I was no better. Mr C took me in to the doctor who said my throat looked like a bad burn. That is exactly how it felt. He diagnosed bronchitis and severely inflamed throat and the nurse proceed to give me a shot in each hip to speed up healing process. He also prescribed a liquid throat anesthetizing medicine.

So I now can swallow, and eat light stuff like scrambled eggs and Gatorade and ginger ale.

But it is mainly the cool clear water that I appreciate the most. Most times with a little crushed ice in the water. The crushed ice comes from the water/ice dispenser on refrigerator door. Ahhh

So last night I have had a pleasant restful evening. I go upstairs and get ready for bed. I go back down to the kitchen for water and --------


WHAMO !!!

The &&%###&& refrigerator has chosen this night to go off. The water is leaking out of the freezer onto the floor. Everything is melting. Why oh why do these appliances pick the worst times to act up. Are they psychic. Anyway Mr C and I cleaned up the mess. Wiped up the water, Threw away stuff and transferred the rest downstairs to the small extra fridge in the basement.

I have been reading a book, "Gilead", when anything bad happens one of the characters, a retired minister, says

"There must be a blessing in here somewhere"



I know, I know,,,I am getting well, I have Mr C to help me. We have the extra refrigerator and and ???

I have all of you to listen to me vent.

Thanks :)

Words Women Use

Equal time with a post about WOMEN




Words Women Use

FINE

This is the word women use to end an argument when they feel they are right and you need to shut up. Never use fine to describe how a woman looks this will cause you to have one of those arguments.

FIVE MINUTES

This is half an hour. It is equivalent to the five minutes that your football game is going to last before you take out the trash, so its an even trade.

NOTHING

This means something, and you should be on your toes. Nothing is usually used to describe the feeling a woman has of wanting to turn you inside out, upside down, and backwards. Nothing usually signifies an
argument that will last Five Minutes and end with Fine.

GO AHEAD (With Raised Eyebrows)

This is a dare. One that will result in a woman getting upset over Nothing and will end with the word Fine.

GO AHEAD (Normal Eyebrows)

This means I give up or do what you want because I dont care You will get a Raised Eyebrow Go Ahead in just a few minutes, followed by Nothing and Fine and she will talk to you in about Five Minutes when she cools off.

LOUD SIGH

This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A Loud Sigh means she thinks you are an idiot at that moment, and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over Nothing.

SOFT SIGH

Again, not a word, but a non-verbal statement. Soft Sighs mean that she is content. Your best bet is to not move or breathe, and she will stay content.

THATS OKAY

This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. Thats Okay means that she wants to think long and hard before paying you back for whatever it is that you have done. Thats Okay is often used with the word Fine and in conjunction with a Raised Eyebrow.

GO AHEAD.

At some point in the near future, you are going to be in some mighty big trouble.

PLEASE DO

This is not a statement, it is an offer. A woman is giving you the chance to come up with whatever excuse or reason you have for doing whatever it is that you have done. You have a fair chance with the truth, so be careful
and you shouldnt get a Thats Okay.

THANKS

A woman is thanking you. Do not faint. Just say youre welcome.

THANKS A LOT

This is much different from Thanks. A woman will say, Thanks A Lot when she is really ticked off at you. It signifies that you have offended her in some callous way, and will be followed by the Loud Sigh. Be careful not to ask what is wrong after the Loud Sigh, as she will only tell you Nothing.



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