Archive for January, 2009
Ok, I’m pretty sure Dr.T isn’t up till next Wed, but apologies if someone was supposed to go in between.
1. I’m moving up my plea so people can see it: “Can everyone in their next comment put down their b-day? I’ll put it together in a list. (No, no, not the yr, unless you want for people to say “happy 50th!”, just the month and day). Or just email me*”
2. And just so you see it, Wapa wrote: “Anyone that wants me to buy a book and have the lovely ladies sign it please email or report in here. I’ll send it to you. I think I have all the addresses but will confirm with OH” (She also answered a car question)
3. Not that this group needs a topic (I’m still very proud of the level of comments we got to on Bob’s blank post, go us), but I’m kind of curious: How did you find your favorite authors? Not necessarily Crusie & Mayer (though did anybody know Mayer before Crusie?), but any of them.
January 29th, 2009
Sally: And I’m gonna be 40!
Harry: When?
Sally: Someday!
Every once in a while, I like to listen to the Oldies radio station in the car. (By Oldies, GatorPerson, I do not mean Baroque; I mean Motown.) If I can’t find anything else on the other stations, I don’t mind a little Smokey, or Beach Boys, or Otis Redding, or Beatles, or Elvis.
But lately, I’ve noticed a change in the station, and it is not good. Oh, it’s probably fine for the station, but it doesn’t bode all that well for me. I was bopping along the freeway when the station started playing the Eagles. Well, OK, I guess that’s not so bad, I suppose. Fleetwood Mac was next. Hmmm. I didn’t realize that song was that old. Here and there are peppered more such songs from the late 70’s, and then the early 80’s, then further into the 80’s. Bruce Springsteens’ Dancing in the Dark? The Police? Bryan Adams?! Seriously? I start yelling at my radio. “Bryan Adams is not an Oldie! I have that album on cassette at home!” Drivers swerve into other lanes to avoid the crazy woman. Then, the cruelest cut of all: the Oldies station played Rio by Duran Duran.
I love Duran Duran. They were the band, my band, when I was in high school. I have all their records, knew all the words to their songs as well as vital personal information about each band member by heart, repeatedly watched all their videos like the obsessed fan I was, and plastered their posters all over my bedroom walls. I saw them in concert. Twice.
And now they are on the Oldies station.
Which must mean: I am an Oldie. The fact that my 38th birthday is next month makes it all the worse. I mean, I didn’t think 38 was all that old. Until now. If someone thinks a song from 1984, a mere 25 years old, is worthy of the term “Oldie,” then I must be an antique.
25 years? Oh my Bob, has it really been that long?!
And can I just say, the quote above is from a movie (When Harry Met Sally…) that’s 20 years old?
When did you first realize you might be old? Or are you ignoring that fact?
January 26th, 2009
I’ve been thinking about my post for this month and what I should write. Should it be something fun and lighthearted like my trip to the stock show and rodeo last Saturday? Should it be something bizarre like going to Casa Bonita this weekend? (They have cliff divers inside the restaurant) Insightful? I could do something about my attempt at actually keeping up with my new year’s resolutions and how it’s almost February and I’m still on track. The weather? It’s unseasonably warm here today so I raked leaves that have arrived since I raked leaves in the fall.
No. I think I’m going to talk about what is most on my mind right now. The hamburger I made for dinner yesterday. It was perfect!!
I started with hamburger from the local market that grinds their own and grabbed a couple of sausage patties to mix in. This gives a little flavor and fat to the meat. I mushed everything up with a little salt and pepper and W sauce (you don’t really think I can spell it or pronounce it do you?) I got out my handy dandy Pampered Chef slicer, and used the hand guard, to slice three onions thin. The burgers and onions got cooking. Sharing flavors and becoming brown and yummy. In a seperate pan I put some burger drippings and a little butter and a container of mushrooms (I cheated and got the sliced ones) which got all toasty and yummy and were made even yummier with the addition of some red wine. For a bun I picked up some Kaiser rolls. I buttered one, placed it in the pan I had cooked the burgers and onions in, and let it get all toasty and brown. I thought about adding pickles or other stuff to it but decided that a little mayo and mustard with the onions and mushrooms were all it needed. And I was right. I drank a bit more of the red wine while sitting on the front porch. Talk about a perfect burger.
I don’t always work this hard to make a burger, but sometimes it’s just the right thing to do. What is like that in your world? Something you do or create that is not too bad most of the time, but sometimes you go all out and impress even yourself?
January 21st, 2009
Something to think about… rules. Why they exist – how they either ease (or not) our lives… hummm…
January 20th, 2009
I’ve been sorting through old paperwork and finding some interesting stuff. If only I could bear to part with some books my house would be significantly less cluttered. Soulless but neat. I value a great many things that prevent my house from being featured in a magazine. But I keep thinking that if I could only keep one thing and all of my animals were a given, then I’d take my great Grandpa’s trunk.
It is amazing to me*, the woman who had to build an extra room in her attic to hold all her crafts and stuff, that Grandpa Fenton loaded all of his worldly possessions into this trunk. Then he boarded a boat and set sail from Scotland to emigrate to Canada.
As a young girl I used to sit at his feet and listen to his stories. I don’t remember much of what he said. I remember his voice. That Scottish brogue. The way he looked at Grandma. The taste of the butterscotch candies that sat in the wooden candy dish on the sideboard. The same sideboard that is in my kitchen. A few of Grandma’s cups and saucers are in there now. I love the memories from that sideboard but its voice isn’t as compelling as the trunk’s.
The trunk has a deep storage compartment. Wool and stuffing surround Christmas balls. A tray rests on top of four metal hinges. My beads fill the tray. Less than half of my crafts in a container that started my Grandpa’s new life – on the other side of the world. It boggles my mind.
I can’t imagine leaving my family, and all that is familiar, behind. At the very least I’d take a U-Haul. My hat’s off to Christina and Theresa for exhibiting that sense of adventure.
I also have an old hatbox from Grandpa’s attic. It houses manuscripts. And is darn heavy thanks to all that paper. But the trunk is my most prized possession. It’s full of adventure, hope, excitement and the sense that “a change is as good as a rest.”
I don’t need to remember what it was that brought about that change. I remember the man who sat in his living room sixty years later, happy with all that change had brought him. He took risks to improve his lot in life. Had a good career. Married a lovely woman. Lived to see his grandchildren have families of their own.
Do you have anything in your home that speaks to you as The Trunk speaks to me*?
January 14th, 2009
It remains to be seen whether this will be a good idea or not.
I think you can click on the puzzle and bring it up larger in a seperate window. As answers are provided, I’ll add them along side the clues. I don’t think any of this will be too hard, but I can put up a partially solved puzzle at stages if needed.
Here goes nothing.
Across
3. a gathering of CBs
4. Nero’s heiress apparent
5. A favorite super hero (2 words)
8. If the question can be argued, it’s …
11. Ms. Lake’s namesake on four paws
12. a drink for all seasons
14. a unique lethal weapon
16. A shade of pink
17. A favorite CB mode of transp, especially to Hawaii
20. He wrote Lost Girls under this pen name
22. They walked the terrain here with Wild Ride in mind
23. a herd of weather
24. It was summer in the PNW for this event
25. One of the few things GP and McB don’t have in common
Down
1. a food group all to itself
2. Our favorite Factory
6. what the chicken gets soused with
7. lost in the hotel fire (2 words)
9. Her
10. Him and Her met Here
13. She and 4 Across were a team in BOL
14. You could say it’s PRE-vaulting
15. What we like our men in
16. Shane’s buddy
18. Let’s shelve this topic, hmmm?
19. Him
20. Where we attacked first
21. Min’s engagement ring
January 13th, 2009
I’m experimenting for the first time in my life with keeping a journal. It’s mostly a mental health journal — a place to write down all my worries and fears and other insane thoughts that travel around in my head.
At first, I was really worried that I would absolutely hate it. Writing, well, it’s not my favorite thing, and I was worried that it would be really difficult to make myself put things on the page. Typically, writing is just agonizing. But I’m finding that it’s really ok. It doesn’t really matter what I write. No one’s going to read it or judge me on it, unlike the stuff I’m required to write for work.
I’m also finding it really useful as a means of getting the thoughts out of my head. Otherwise, they tend to wallow around there, helping me to fixate and worry. It remains to be seen whether in the long term journaling will help me to keep things in perspective and better achieve my goals, but I’m hopeful. If nothing else, it’s much cheaper than a therapist.
So have you ever kept a diary or a journal? Why or why not? Was it about anything in particular? Was it theraputic? Was it easy or hard to write down your thoughts? How long did you keep it going?
Inquiring minds, ok, my mind wants to know.
January 8th, 2009
We’ve been recommending books and authors all along. Shall we give it a concerted effort and consolidate our recommendations to each other here? Well, at least for the first twenty or so posts.
I’m rereading Dorothy Dunnett’s Niccolo series of 8. Takes place in the mid 1400s all over Europe, especially Scotland, Italy, and France. Start with Niccolo Rising. ADVENTURE and INTRIGUES.
I’ve just reread Judith Ivory’s Angel in a Red Dress. Anything Ivory writes is great. She wrote 2 as Judy Cuevas, Bliss and Dance, the only ones that are a series, but don’t have to be read that way. And hard to find. ROMANCES, early 1900s, Regency, etc.
What do you recommend?
January 4th, 2009