Happy Halloween, Saturday Komeekz, and everything Saturday9: "Thriller"!

I loved all the halloween cartoons today...

but had to settle on just two.  I think they are great!

Now!  For Saturday Nine!
To PLAY along go to SAM'S Blog and Go for it! We hate rules so we don't have any.  And, if you want visits,  be sure to use the Linkey at the bottom of her page so we all can go Blog Visiting to see your jottings!

Saturday 9: Thriller (1983)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this video, Michael Jackson is transformed into a "werecat," with fangs, claws, yellow eyes and whiskers. What  monster or ghoul frightened you the most?
To be perfectly honest, Psycho humans frighten me more than any monster.  I suppose the frightening idea that aliens might not be benign but might want to hunt us down and eat us sort of scares me.

2) Michael sings that evil things that will be lurking "close to midnight." Where will you be at midnight tonight?
I hope I'm asleep but we'll see.

3) Horror movie icon Vincent Price does the voice over on "Thriller." What's your favorite scary movie?
That would be, "Pitch Black".  It's really horrible!

4) Mr. Price's House of Wax, made in 1953, was one of the first 3D movies. What's the most recent 3D movie you saw?
I've never seen one.  I know, so dull of me....

5) Horror fans might be surprised to know that, despite his sinister image, Mr. Price enjoyed very genteel and relaxing hobbies, like cooking, gardening and painting. What would we be surprised to learn about you?
Since I've written a blog for almost 11 years, I'd be surprised myself if anything was a mystery to any of you.  You do know that I liked Ike, and thought he was about the best president we've ever had.  I totally respect the man as POTUS.  That might be surprising but I doubt it.  Everybody liked Ike.

6) A Halloween tradition is the jack-o-lantern. Did you carve a pumpkin this year?
I will carve two plastic ones if I get the time to do it.  I've found some lovely faces that will enhance the collection.

From HERE

This comes from HERE, the Disney Family fun page

7) According to Yahoo!, the most popular costume of Halloween 2014 was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Will you be in costume this Halloween? If not, who or what would you most like to dress up as?
I hand out candy and usually don't dress up.  It scares the dog.  hahahaha  But, really, I have two things I do: Witch/hag or Gypsy Fortune teller with gobs of old trash jewelry.  It's fun.

8) When you went trick or treating as a kid, did you usually wear a store-bought costume, or was it DIY?
I was always in a costume my mom made me, or later, one I made up myself.

9) When trick-or-treaters show up at your door, what candy will they get?
Their favorite little mini choc bars.  That way, if there are any left over..............lol

Oops, this is friday5!

Friday5 can be found HERE


We just do this for the joy!  Thank you to the host! 
 

1. What animal, not normally ridden by humans, seems like it would be really fun to ride?
That would be the Zebra, although there are very few rideable Zebras that I know of.  They hate having anything on their backs.  I don't think anyone has succeeded in making a pack animal out of them.  So, I'd like to ride a Zebra. 

Sheena is riding a well decorated Horse
And, in defence of Sheena's riding, that's a very short bodied horse.

 
2. What’s a food you’ve always wanted to try but still haven’t?
There isn't one.  Sorry, I cooked all sorts of ethnic foods when I was cooking and I cooked and tried anything that was tasty sounding to us.  I still won't eat raw, dead animals.  ugh

3. What’s stuck to your refrigerator door?
A few handy magnets are stuck up there -the groomer, the poison center, the Health clinic, the Veterinary Hospital both the emergency one and our vet's.  There's a little teddy bear magnet and one that's cracked but still readable that says something like when God closes one door he opens another one, and there is a heart that says, "Two hearts make a home."  Actually, since I don't think it's possible to live without a pet canine, that one's not quite true.

4. Assuming your needs for food and water were taken care of, how do you think you’d do if you had to  live houseless for a year?

I could live in a nice tent, with comfy beds inside, these are sort of his and hers..

http://www.zegarkus.com/2008/11/tree-house-tent.html

or in a van, I assume that you would let us have a vehicle?   I would not like to have to live in a motel, hotel, hostel, or, rough, under a bridge.  I'm sure if the climate were good, it would be much more possible to live in the rough, in the vicinity of mango trees, and other fruits,  with access to edible weeds, clean water,  a cooking fire or camp stove, and are these meals catered?  Will they be tasty?   
5. What geographical location that’s not already a person’s name (that you know of) would make a pretty good first name for someone?
The city of Laredo.  I think that's a very nice name.

Thanks for participating, and have a lovely weekend!

Doctor wars as I see them.

I am exhausted but not sleepy at.all!!   So there, Dr. G.  So there!!!

Worldless Wednesday: Central Cal Beach in Winter

I can't figure out how to comment on worpress blogs...

So, this might be a good alternative until I figure out a more integrated way.  The way worpress has set it up is just not working.  I tried posting to your blog this week..not go!

@Stacie. I was 16 when the music died, and it was a terrible time.  It's something that informed my young life and for ever after, it has done so.

About writing:  Just keep writing and you will find  your own unique abilities as a wordsmith (your style)  emerging,  and your "voice" growing clearer.  My creative writing teacher in the late 50's told her students the above, and this was before the internet grabbed "Authentic voice" up as a marketing strategy.   She was right.  Humans are natural story tellers from the time we were all keepers of tribal oral traditions.  Boy did this get long!

Spanish and Italian are pretty close, but as someone pointed out, French is much more complicated.  They elide so much.  Of all, I like Italian for it's amazingly passionate delivery.  I think you'll like Italian.
So many of us picked the Bible

From Sunday Stealing this week, in reply to your post.

Everyone who has commented to the wordpress blog, thank you!  , I just found all your replies on the wordpress blog, from probably three years(!) under an icon I'd  never seen before...  Sorry I didn't seem to be reading them, I never knew they were there!  Now that I do, I'll read them!

Have a great week and I'll see you later on.

25 for the 25th... Sunday Stealing! And what happened next, Mommy?

25 Fun

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from. We also provide a link to the victim's meme in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from this new meme or recently asked questions from a previously featured meme.
Cheers to all of us thieves!!!

25 Fun Meme

Stolen from: My Random Randomness

1. If you were trapped in a room with the person who asked this for 24 hours, what would you do? The answer cannot be romantic or sexual.
A.  We would talk, and if it were a hotel room, we'd go forage for some food or drink the whole mini bar.  We'd create a deck of cards if there were none in a drawer somewhere.  Every hotel room should have a deck of cards in the drawer.  And. we would read our books which you know that neither of us travel without, as long as there was electricity. 
Or, we'd  tell fortunes with the cards, funny and maybe even serious ones.  You can do a lot with a deck of cards.  Maybe we could play battleships or War but we'd try to play Cribbage, and maybe she could teach me Hearts.

A Thriller,  The Gift, with Cate Blanchett, using cards like this.

We'd take showers and curl each others hair.  
If we were trapped in a barren room, we'd get that damned door open with our mighty superhuman powers, and my handy  Leatherman.  Yah!

2. If you could learn any language instantly, what would it be?
A. I'd pick Latin.  It's like a promise I made to myself and never kept.  Esperanto, also.  Never kept it.

3. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I'd want that to be, The Jerusalem Bible, the annotated scholar's' edition.  That's where all the nice bits of this and that are.

4. Favorite song lyric?
A. It is absolutely impossible to answer this question in the singular.  I love literally THOUSANDS of lyrics to songs, from arias to Country western.  I do. not. listen. to. rap. ever. though.

5. Favorite album?
A. See answer 4.  But the one that comes the closest to being THE favorite is my Boston album.

6. Which time of day would you say is best for you work-wise?
A. All day, fifteen minutes at a time.  I'd rest at night.

7. Favorite city that you’ve visited?
A. San Francisco.

8. Favorite city that you haven’t visited?
Cannes, France

9. If you could donate $10,000 to charity, what charity would you pick?
A. Women for Women  but then I'd give that much to the Humane Society, too.  I can see that it would be possible to do both.  One would have to be "over time, like monthly or something.  I wouldn't want to leave out the Other Earthlings. 

10. What is one book you wish you could get all your friends to read?
The Greenlanders, by Jane Smiley.  It's huge, contains much factual information along with the fictionalized parts of life; it's fascinating, and it's lots better than War and Peace, imho

11. What is one movie you wish you could get all your friends to watch?
A. This is sort of impossible because I know how different all my friends are.  Having said that, I think, "Food, Inc" - a documentary- , is close to what I would wish everyone to see - some from a "know thine enemy" point of view, and some from an "I thought so" point of view. 

12. What do you think people assume about you from first glance?
To look at me you would think that I'm ordinarily rumpled and disorganized.  But I'm not.
My mind is pretty darned organized, and I used to love to dress up and go out.

13. If you could play any musical instrument, what would it be?
Other than the ones I already play, I'd like to play the piano, and play it reaaaally well.  You can play that one longer than the others.  We gave ours to a man who fixes them up and gives them to students in need.  It was a wonderful little piano.  I loved decorating the heck out of it on holidays and anytime, really.

14. What is your favorite item of clothing?
My stretchy, grey sweat pants.  They are soooo comfortable!  Sorry no pictures!

15. Who was your first follower on your blog? Do they still follow you?
She was a knitter, and no, because she has passed away.

16. If you could create one thing, what would it be?
A. A dominant gene that turns off aggression in every human and forever.  All it would require humans to do would be to stay away from the habitats of the animals on the earth to whom aggro is a necessity of life, not just a leftover useless bit of evolution that creates The 1% in every society without fail!

17. Favorite superhero?
A.  I really don't have one, besides God, who could come and end all this crap and clean up the place in a "twinkling" of an Eye.  I guess it would be this guy for superhero, because he dances and has a lot powers and arms.  This is not a joke, it is how I see things, meaning that we all don't really know everything here in the states, and there is room for a lot more under the sun.  After all, who or what first mentions the Big Bang?  Not the world's Physicists. 

18. If you were to write an autobiography, what would you title it?
A.  I think I'd call it, Up From the Ashes

19. If you were to have a band, what would you call it?
Hmmmm....  I can't remember what I called it. Anyway, maybe my new band would be called, "Simian Nightmares"

20. What is your favorite card/board game?
I love LOVE LOVE Cribbage.

21. What was the first IM service you used? Who was the first person you talked to on it?
After IRC, there was the layered domain of Yahoo Messenger, and the first people I talked to on it were a group of spinners and  knitters who did a group meet-up on YM.  I'm not on it anymore, the group or the service.  This is because I shortly then found Knitter's Review.  Heavenly stuff!!

22. If you could give a friendly hug to any one person, who would it be? Cannot be your romantic/sexual partner if you have one.
I'd hug Meffie because that would mean that we'd FINALLY met up after some 50 years had gone by!  This meeting would be more than just writing and now, through the marvels of modern technology, sending emails.  This, of course, was monumentally better than not being able to stay in touch at all! 

But really, there are legions whom I would hug.  Everyone here, everyone in my email list, girl friends, male friends, just thousands of people.  I'd also like to hug every hurting little kid, and tell them that I survived and so can they.

23. Have you ever won any sort of contests? What kind?
I won tickets to a Janis Joplin concert, over the radio be being the X number caller.  The DJ was thrilled, and so was I.  We had become sort of fast friends over time, because I always called in requests, and we chatted a lot.  To Skip,and all the nutty others, wherever you are, I love you!

24. Who was the last person you hugged? Cannot be your romantic/sexual partner if you have one.
My sister, on Wednesday.  Three times.

25. If you could be skilled in any one activity, what would it be? Cannot be romantic or sexual.
I would love to be a Jujitsu master.

Sorry, I lost the linkie to the page.  Sorry!

Saturday9- Ringo stikes again!

It Don't Come Easy

 
Come on over and join the Fun!  We don't have any rules, because we all hate rules but we all LOVE Memes!

Here the song HERE

 
1) This was Ringo's first big hit as a solo artist. Who is your favorite member of his old, very famous group, The Beatles?

George Harrison. 

He was a great musician and the most creative, and I loved that some of his songs got included at least some of the time.

2) In this song, Ringo sings that you have to pay your dues. Do you belong to any organizations that require you to pay dues?

No.  I am completely "free range".

3) He also sings, "you don't have to shout." When did you last raise your voice?

I have to raise my voice nearly every day.  But not in anger.  I do it for the sake of clarity.  Actually my favorite Ringo song is, "Act Naturally".  I love to sing harmony with this one!

 

4) Ringo has two piercings on each ear and one tattoo on each arm. Do you have more piercings or body art?

A. I have three piercings in each ear.

5) Ringo gave his first wife, Maureen, a one-of-a-kind birthday gift. Frank Sinatra made a recording of "The Lady Is a Tramp" personalized to her. Tell us about one of your most memorable birthday celebrations.

Picture from Ebay seller site

I think that would be the year I got a tea set, complete tea set, from my mother.  It was "Moss Rose" and only two cups and a saucer are left.  Sometimes it upsets me to think that I lost a lot of things dear to my heart along the way.

6) Ringo appeared as Mr. Conductor on Thomas the Tank Engine. He recorded the narration for the entire first season in just a week. Tell us what you did last week.

I did blog posts, watched Netflix, answered a bunch of questions Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which was fun.  I went to see my sister and snagged a head's up for some fantastic candy to make for Christmas, and then I threw out more junk here at home.  The ceramic mags are no more.  

Oh, and I ate three meals a day except one day I forgot to eat lunch.  I killed things in a game we play to get giant pumpkins, and the kits to carve them.  I also watched the birds take baths in the bird baths.  I chased a cat out of the yard.  Let's see, I think that's about all.

 
7) Ringo also did the narration for Ladybird children's books. Do you like audiobooks?

Yes, and no.  I like the single one that I've bothered to get out of the library but, so far, I can live without them.  I've got more books than I can read, officially went over that mark about a year or two ago.  So, I'm good.

8) As a boy in Liverpool, Ringo loved watching American westerns. His passion for the genre is reflected in the outfit he's wearing on the sleeve for "It Don't Come Easy." Do you like cowboy movies/shows?

I like Westerns, or Oaters, as they are sometimes called.  I did not like "Lonesome Dove", just cannot STAND that thing.  

I like to watch episodes of "Longmire" and can't wait 'til the next season hits Netflix. 

9) You know what else don't come easy? Nine questions every week. Crazy Sam has heard it all: this meme asks too many movie questions, too many questions about sports, too many questions that sound familiar ...  OK, now it's your turn. Help a tired meme mistress out. Contribute a random question that is not about movies or sports (pro or collegiate) and has never been asked before on this meme. Sam will compile these for an all-random Saturday 9 in November. That way she'll get a much-appreciated week off. Thanks for your help!

 Really Sam, I think you do a great job but....  I'll try...

Right now.... 

Ok.  Have you ever been faced with the challenge of having to tell a lie to save a friend from the consequences of a bad decision?  Too brutal?  

Ok, let's see.  When was the last time that you bought an expensive food item that you found tasted so bad that you took one bite, spat it out, and put the rest into the trash?  Ok, still too unpleasant.  

Three's the charm?  What would you do if you were given the chance to go back in time and remove all the Quarks from the Universe?

 

Let's Eat! Friday5 for October 23

Friday 5 for October 23: Consumables

Linkie is in the sidebar under Memes.

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer them there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

What dehydrated foods (meant to be consumed that way) do you enjoy?
Well, potato chips, and other root vegetable chips, I guess.  And I like raisins, apricots, mangos, prunes, berries, cherries, pears, and powdered cream.  Yum!

What’s your favorite dish made by stuffing one food with another?
Kibby!

What’s your favorite dish made by rolling something up?
Egg Rolls and wonton

What’s a meal you frequently consume primarily because the cleanup is quick?
Take out. hehehe  Really easy.

What’s a food that’s made much better because of what you sprinkle on it?
Salad.  There is no way in heck I can eat an undressed salad and say it's better without dressing.

Thanks for participating, and have a tasty weekend!

I wish all the friday5ers  a delicious and unharried weekend!

Thankful Thursday: Protecting California's Deserts With New National Monuments

I was involved in the original successful attempt in the 60's to bring the San Gorgonio Wilderness into being.  Now we have a chance to set aside, in the new Sand to Snow National Monument, lands that will ensure the future of big horn sheep and other species in a corridor of their own.   I am THRILLED!  Color me Grateful and Thankful, for all the effort that went into this!  The link goes to a place where you can add your voice.  Two other new Monuments will protect other species, not the least of which are California Desert Tortoises and the Chuckwallas.

Protect California's Deserts With New National Monuments

I hope that you will understand how monumentally important these tracts of what used to call "Waste Lands" are to the unique animal which reside within the new borders.

To President Obama, this is a solution that cannot come soon enough to our state. For the  Churchy, Poco, Lucky and Babies thank you!

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tails. Cornell Hummmming bird Cam! Wolfie report. Tort Report.

HERE is a new hummingbird cam in West Texas.  The camera host is West Texas Avian Research, Inc.
They are getting some interesting species via this cam, and have put up clips of the visits.  The link goes to the Cornell's School of Ornithology site.  When I checked this morning there were no birds, of course!

Speaking of hummingbirds, Sis found this on her garage floor a few weeks ago.  She keeps a feeder up at all times.

It's a flight feather from a Hummingbird

Our little Wolf went to the vet's for his shots a week ago.   He is now a 17+  pound doggie.   He looks an acts like a puppy sometimes, one of the nice things about dogs, cats, and happy humans, is that they play like pups, kittens, and kids even into old age as long as they feel good.  His looks are changing.  Or else the groomer cut his facial fluff shorter.  My sister thinks he's cuter.  I'm thinking he's not.  To me, he has always been adorable, but now he's gained in a certain dignity of expression, shall we say?

My favorite scruffy look, taken this morning

And his tail is truly magnificent now.  It's prettier, and fuller, than my own ponytail, and I'm jealous!

Taken a few weeks ago while he snoozed in my lap
during "Midsummer Murders" episodes

The Tort Report:

We brought the babies in during the hottest days of this seemingly Endless Summer.   The larger ones went into their tunnels to stay cool enough.  Soon, when it's almost Thanksgiving, they will go into hibernation, which lasts until Easter.  This is how it's been for some forty-five  years that we've had  Churchy, the Papa.  These event times may change because so much is.

Overnight temperatures are the problem in winter.  They need to stay around 55 degrees at all times to maintain themselves in their torpor state so that's why they go into tunnels in the wild in the winter,  They use them in summer to cool down because their body temperature goes too high in that baking desert- and that's starting to be more the case now, here in the coastal region.  They are native to the high desert where it sometimes gets a dusting of snow in winter.

I've been out there with the rock hounds and boy does it EVER get cold out there at night.  Tiny Jazzie wobbled over to me at sun-up of  after one particularly cold night, and snuggled up under the covers right next to my body.  That little baby was freezing!  After that we always made sure that he had a therma strip under him as well as a fleece coverlet pinned down over it.  He always slept with us but never under the covers.  Too dangerous!

Our torts have temperature controlled boxes in the garage but it's not been getting cool enough at night sometimes, so they will stir around when the sun heats up the still air of the garage.  We just might have to dig them a "bunker" somewhere in the back 40 so that they can decide what to do with their lives! Lol

This summer was brutal.                                                           

Eating dogs in Vietnam. Just in case you thought it all was over. Very graphic

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/27/eating-dog-vietnam-thailand-kate-hodal

Sickening.  I think this may be happening here,too.

This is purely evil.

Look what we swiped! Sunday Stealing!

Sorry,  I had to do this on the net book and just linked the photos rather than copying them.

 October 17, 2015

Swiped

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from. We also provide a link to the victim's meme in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from this new meme or recently asked questions from a previously featured meme.

Cheers to all of us thieves!!!

Swiped Meme

Stolen from: Love Me Some Surveys

1. Did someone die in that last movie you watched?
Oh ya, big time.  We watched, "Pitch Black" three nights ago, and there was a lot of dying going on. 

2. Are the trees pretty colors outside for you now or at all?
No, here it's late November when the trees turn color.  We have Liquid Amber, Carolina Cherries and Sycamores that all change around then.  But Yosemite goes off a little earlier...

3. Have you ever made a bad first impression on someones parents?
Once, when I was in grammar school, I inadvertently mentioned something I'd been told about a toddler who was adorable and chubby and big for his age.  Apparently my little school friend was immediately in trouble for having told me this "something" on earlier visits.  It seems the dad of the baby would give him beer from time to time.  Heck, my own dad did that, too!  My friend's mother took one look at me, and that was it!  Persona non-grata! As for my friend and I, we didn't know quite what had hit us.  I was never invited back, and it was pretty sad, because we were BFF in school..

4. When's the last time you video recorded something on TV?
Well, it was ages ago, I can tell you.  I would habitually record "Nature", "Nova", "Frontline", "Quilt in a day", and similar shows off of KPBS.
 
5. What is a career you wanted to have when you were younger, and still kind of want to have now?
I've probably said it a hundred times, but I'd still love to earn money painting seascapes, I'd also like to be a portrait painter.  Attempting to become a  Paleontologist is just far too hard now.
 
6. What are your views on sunflowers?
Yes, I like them, and would paint those, too.
 

SOURCE This is a Tuscan sunflower farm

7. What is your favorite incense or candle scent?
Patchouli.
 
8. Caramel apples or candy apples?
I like candy apples best.
 
9.  Have you ever walked into a wall?
Like flat into a wall?  No.  I have walked into the corner of a wall many, many times.  I think it's bad eyesight.  Or maybe balance?  Or maybe it's my inner Ditz?

10. Would you ever or do you make your dog wear a bandanna?
For the safety of a dog, a collar is both good and also a bad risk. The link goes to a discussion on the Dogster.com site. A bandana for photo ops is cute but, no, I take them off Wolfie right away.  He wears a quick release collar, because we know enough about this to not have a buckle type on him. He's also micro-chipped.
 
11. Do you find dandelions when they're gone all white pretty?
I think Dandelions are gorgeous as seed heads.  On this blog somewhere is a photo of a gigantic seed head we found while staying in the Lagunas one year.   Our back and front yard ones don't get as far as seeding, because all the tortoises hunt them down, mow them over and eat them.  We have even come to cultivate this wild food for them as well.  For torts dandelions are a great source of calcium.  I might toss some kale seeds out for them too this fall..Thanks for the reminder!
 

I'd have a whole backyard of these if I could.

12. What makes you laugh?
Comedy, Irony, Satire, The Onion spoofs, Spy Spoofs, Jackie Chan movies, slapstick comedy, kids playing as long as they are having fun, Wolfie running around the house like a mad dog after coming in from a walk, and Mr.Z.  Videos of cats and dogs being frisky and cute.
 
13. The scariest moment of your life?
When I thought the twins had gotten caught inside the caves along the coast by an incoming tide.  I was so parallelized by fear that I dropped to my knees and couldn't speak.
 
14. What’s the coolest thing you’ve bought lately?
Some lighted, basket like- can't describe them- pumpkin decorations.  They are really pretty, and cool looking, at night, when lit.

15. What’s the worst you’ve had to do because of losing a bet?
I'm such a stick in the mud that I never bet on anything.  Bet you can't guess why I'm that way.   :-)

Saturday 9!

Join in HERE
It's lots of fun! 

Saturday 9: Beyond the Sea (1959)

Bobby the Wonderful Darin!  Yay!

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song mentions golden sands. When do you think you'll next visit the beach?
It will be soon.  We live quite close, and the summer crowds are mostly gone.  "Goodbye and thanks for all the Cash!"  Even though I personally didn't get any of it.

2) Shortly after "Beyond the Sea" hit the charts, Bobby Darin  met and married movie sweetheart Sandra Dee. Her squeaky-clean image is spoofed in the song, "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee," from Grease. Can you name another song from Grease?
Not off the top of my head.  I've never even seen the movie,"Grease".

3) Years earlier, Bobby had an ill-fated romance with singer Connie Francis. According to Ms. Francis, Darin wanted to marry her, but her father forbade it. Have you ever had a relationship that your parents disapproved of?
Wow, I would have thought that Connie Francis would have been well out from under her daddy's thumb by that time.  Anyway, to answer  the question, yes.  But only The Psycho-dad disapproved. But, :p to him, with a little Italian salute.

4) Bobby was a Renaissance man: Grammy-winning singer, Oscar-nominated actor, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and an excellent chess player. Are you good at chess?
I've tried.  I just can't play that game.  All I can think of is WAR when I do.
 

Therefore, it never gets off the ground with me.  Now, I do love to play Parcheesi.  And Cribbage.  They are very fun and no rough stuff!


5) A car buff, he drove a 1960 custom car that was so unique and spectacular it's now in a Detroit museum. The bright red paint was mixed with ground diamonds to ensure that it sparkled in the sun. Each of the four bucket seats had its own ac/heat control and radio speaker. The steering wheel was slightly squared for easier handling. What features would your dream car have?
It would use nothing but solar power, and be able to reach speeds of 120 mph.  This would come to be because the lost notebooks of Nikola Tesla had been unearthed, and made it all possible.  And I would like my dream car to have dark tinted windows and be metallic-silver with an awesome stereo system.  I don't care if it's small and semi aerodynamic.  I say semi, because one would not want a car going that fast to leave the pavement in tight turns.
 

Sodahead.com

or this one...

6) Beyond the Sea is also the name of the 2004 screen biography in which Kevin Spacey played Bobby Darin. Who would you choose to play you in the story of your life?
To be honest, my story is far too mundane for a screen bio.   No actress worth her salt would want to play me.  I'm one of the lucky humans to have such an adult life because of the "tension of the time" as an old acquaintance used to say.  And I wouldn't dramatize my first 19 years for ANY amount of money.  

7) When he was just 8 years old, Bobby Darin was stricken with rheumatic fever, and the disease left him with a dangerously weakened heart. Did you spend much time in the hospital when you were a kid?
I was healthy as a horse until a real horse threw me and broke my back.  So, I didn't have to be in the hospital as a child, or an adult because I was TOO DUMB to know you could walk around with a broken back.
But, poor Bobby Darin.  Sick little kids are just so darn brave. *takes off her hat to all the kids out there who are fighting every day to just stay alive*

Source page

8) In 1959, when "Beyond the Sea" was popular, Alaska became our 49th state. What comes to mind when you think of Alaska?
You do not want to know.  Trust me on this.  But I am working on it.  All I want to think about when faced with the word, "Alaska", is an image of Mount Denali and/or the park that it's in.

9) In 1959, Conair introduced the first hair dryer developed for home use. Is there a hair dryer in your bathroom right now?
No, and since this is a random marketing question, I'll tell you that I've never had much use for a hairdryer, even in the winter.  It's SoCal after all, and hair driers are for, like, the Arctic.  There is one in the craft room for random jobs, though.  It's very good for crafting and drying just poured ceramic molds.

Friday5: Goings On, but firstly, a Skywatcher post: Sunrise on Wednesday

When I woke at around 5am, I looked out toward the north and all was gray.  Then, over the half hour or so, the sky lightened.  The first pink started to arise in the small drift clouds seen from my bedroom window.
So, determined to capture what might be a sweet looking sunrise, I got the camera ready very quickly, and trotted out to the raised bed, which is about three feet higher in places than the house.  It is an excellent "altitude" from which to catch sunrises.  The cool air felt wonderful to be out in, and the sweet air that early in the morning sets a very pleasant tone for the day.  It was still the coolest part of this new day, and long before what was to be a high of 95°F at about Noon.

This was the perfect time for feeling thankful and rejoicing in beauty!

Make this Puppy BIG!

And now for Friday5!

Friday 5 for October 16: Goings On

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these question to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

Thanks for participating, and have a splendid, healthy weekend!

What’s an issue you wish more people knew about?
The meat dog trade in Korea, China and indeed many parts of Asia.  There were people caught and punished in our country, and if memory serves, in my city,  for carrying on that odious habit.  Like dog fighting, it's hateful to me.  I hope that it can be stopped! 

When were you last outraged about something?
Outrage?  See above.  I'm boycotting ANYTHING made in those countries until that trade is stopped!  I thought I'd like a new Hyundai  until I learned about what's going on in Korea.  Yes, I feel that strongly about the issue.  To be fair, many who do this in Korea are trying to stop it, and they are getting help from the international branch of the Humane Society to do it.  The people who are trying to stop, because they actually hate what they have been having to do, are getting assistance to switch to growing food for the markets.

When you were a kid, what was the first news story to make an impression on you?

When toddler Kathy Fiscus fell down an abandoned deep well.  I didn't realize how close this sad event was occurring to where we were living at the time.  My parents sat for entire evenings just listening to the radio, and of course, so did I.

 What’s getting far too much media attention lately?
"The Donald."  Oh UGH!

What’s a consumer product you’d recommend to others?
I would recommend the Otter Box for cell phones.  It's been great!  And, it comes in two shades of Pink!  It probably comes from China or Korea.  Dang!  I forgot to check!

Thanks for participating, and have a splendid, healthy weekend!
 

Thankful Thursday: I'm grateful for the amazing tiny moments Butterflies provide ..

Firstly, the picture yesterday was of a bloom on a black sage bush at the Nature Interpretive Garden a couple years ago.

Yesterday, while I was watching a Cloudless Sulphur butterfly flitting in the garden, I saw it make a maneuver I've never seen.  It was swooping all over the rose bed, which is now into dormancy, and as the butterfly went low across the raised bed, it suddenly swooped up and nearly disappeared in the foliage.  It disappeared mid flight!

If I hadn't seen it do this, I'd have never known where they must all try to go at night to roost.  Last year, we had another butterfly roosting, a Gulf Fritillary, which happily settled into the massive Geranium that is growing just below the roses in the pictures.  It roosted there for almost two weeks.

But, back to the Sulphur....

What garden bed looks like from where I was watching, inside the house.

And then:

In a little more...

And....

Nearly right in the center, you can see a
 Butterfly hanging like a dead rose leaf.

It's these beautiful little secret things that make life on earth so very interesting and Beautiful.

Have a Happy Day!

Wordless Wednesday

The Alphabet is more than a collection of letters.. What does that mean? Sunday Stealing...that's what!

October 10, 2015

That Alphabet Thing

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes.

Cheers to all of us thieves!!!  Button in the side bar!  Come on in, set a spell!

Fellow Thieves, I will visit just as sooon as I can!  I promise!

That Alphabet Thing Meme

Stolen from: Songs of innocence and of experience

A: Accent -- Californian, so my Texan friend tells me, and that she likes my accent, too.  I love Texas accents.

B: Breakfast -- Yes, I'd like that, Please!

C: Chore you hate -- scrubbing floors.  Boy do I hate that.  The only way I'd like it is if I could look as hot as this Chica. 

Source

D: Dad's name -- Psycho Dad, and he's hardly spoken of.

E: Essential everyday item -- Hair brush

F: Flavor ice cream -- Jamoca almond fudge.

G: Gold or silver -- I like both and wear them together.

H: Hometown -- was gobbled up and doesn't exist anymore!

I: Insomnia -- if I didn't take a combo of  prescription and herbs and over the counter meds, I would sleep every third night.  

J: Job title -- Our Lady of Perpetual Motion.  Yes, I was actually called that by quite a few people.

K: Kids -- Four.  All beautiful and delightful!

M: Mother's birthplace -- Maryland

N: Number of significant others --  I'm not sure what is that?   I'm married.  Ok I'll give it a go.  Let's see, 7 and a half billion?  That's not counting the other sentient beings outside of the humans.  

O: Overnight hospital stays -- Nine, more or less.  I've lost count.

Never again, well, not anytime soon!

P: Phobia --  I don't know what that means.  To insects? No.  To Wild Dogs, no. To any animal, no.  To Ethnic gangs?  To overzealous police forces dressed up in black?  I've Sort of got it bad there.

Q: Quick at -- catching falling things.  Lightning fast.

R: Religious affiliation -- Quaker Meeting- not the Church, but the meeting.

S: Siblings -- I have three.  Sadly our very sick little brother died when he was five.

T: Time you wake up -- Around 7am if I get to sleep by 1 am.  8 am if not.

U: Unnatural hair colors --  I like pink hair but never put any in. I like blue and magenta, too.

Gorgeous! HERE'S the source.  You'll like it!

V: Vegetable you refuse to eat -- I like every vegetable that is in America or has made it to our shores.  I just can't eat the hot chillies anymore.  Darn!

W: Worst habit --  Answering  Memes?  Buhahahahaha!

 X: X-rays --  Hundreds, so I always worry about leukemia developing, because I've seen what it does to Elders.  They are then guinea pigs for science.  

Who could do that to this little darling?

Photo from News Dog Media

Y: Yummy -- French Chocolate Silk pie, but I'm willing to try that thing that Mair talked about to see why she likes it even better.

Cook's Country Recipe

Z: Zodiac sign -- Capricorn and Sagittarius.  I'm in a cusp like enclosure, by an hour or so.  Talk about confusion.  It's called the Cusp of Prophecy.  

Sort of a heavy deal, baby. The link goes to a Tarot card place.  Hmmm, Tarot Cards sound like an interesting pastime.  But I got into trouble when a jolly friend and I started exploring the dynamics of a Ouija Board once, so I'll pass on the cards.

Gimme an M! Gimme a K! Saturday night Live!

Cheerleader

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Cheerleader (2014) 

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Homecoming and football make this an important time of year for cheerleaders. Were you a cheerleader, or did you date one? 
A. No.  I was lucky to make it to any games at all.  The ONE game I went to one of my "crushes" on the team suffered a broken leg.  I guess our little car full of girls cried all the way home that evening.  So emotional, that moment.

2) Beyond cheerleaders and the big game, homecoming is a time for parades. Have you ever ridden on a float?
A.  No.  It would have been fun though.  

3) OMI sings that his girl is always there when he needs her. Who do you know you can always count on?
A.  That would be my dearest hubby.  (Well, and my dog, too.  He's a "who" to me too, and is always happy to see me!)

4) This video features a sandy beach, a rocky shore and palm trees. What do you see outside your window right now?
A. Sorry to be so dull.  It's nighttime, and the only thing truly visible-in the neighbor's security light- is the fence.

5) In the lyrics we hear that his cheerleader girlfriend is "like a genie in a bottle." Who would rather hang around with? Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie or Samantha from Bewitched?
A.  I have to say, I'd rather hang with Jeannie.  

6) OMI is from Jamaica. Have you ever visited that island country?
A.  No, but, I've seen some movies about it.  I liked the Jamaican bobsled story.  So cool.  I have so many reasons for loving Jamaica.  *waves across the acreage*

7) Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica in 1494. Columbus Day will soon be upon us (October 12). Is it a big deal in your community?
A.  Not that I ever saw, and, frankly, CC should have just stayed home, the brigand.

8) Queen Elizabeth is Jamaica's head of state. Her Majesty is now 89 years old and a great grandmother. Who is the oldest person in your life?
A. My MIL, who will - I hope - live to be 100.  It would be very nice to celebrate the birthday of a family Centenarian!

9) Her Majesty was named Elizabeth Alexandra Mary after three of her relatives, who also were queens. Were you named after anyone?
No, I just have my mother's nickname for a first name.  And, I'm so glad she didn't saddle me with all her first names!

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Thanks Sam!  Everyone, I am so far behind in the visits but promise to catch up.