Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? This week’s theme is all about St. Patrick’s Day – what are your thoughts and if you do celebrate, do you have traditions or do you just wear green?

How do I celebrate St. Patrick's Day?  Well...I don't, really.  No green beer, green milkshakes, no wearin' o' the green, no soda bread or corned beef.  I will gleefully do cabbage though..lol.  And before I go further it certainly isn't due to any imagined rivalry.  I might be by myself in this thought but to me there is little difference between Scots and Irish...we are all Celts.  I go so far as to say a Celtic soul is a Celtic soul whether it be Scottish or Irish...and the similarities between us are endless.  But...St. Patrick's Day...probably due to my upbringing in Scotland...is, to me, more of a Catholic recognition than anything else.  Not being religious I have no problem with that, either.  The big thing is...this is the only country in which I have lived that celebrates St. Patrick's Day in the manner described above.  I never saw a St. Paddy's Day parade until I came to the US and found almost every city...and perhaps town...has one.  I used to watch them on tv...I think Regis used to always have a big thing on the day but I have to tell you...having watched  just a couple I found them confusing!  They pipers played "Hielan' Laddie" (Scottish) on the Scottish bagpipes as they marched down Broadway swinging their Scottish tartan kilts!!  And I still haven't figured that one out, yet.  Mind you, it is quite likely that the tune most often played could just be a variant of "Hielan' Laddie" belonging to the Irish.  Then again, could be I'm just ticked off that it has taken centuries for us Scots to get a parade here.   (That would be on our patron saint's day...St. Andrew..tic) 

But no...unless maybe it is a hold over from childhood when our educational institutes were divided between church and state.  Everyone but Catholics went to state schools while most, if not all, Catholic children attended Catholic school, usually (at least elementary level) attached to their area chapels.  St. Patrick's Day was certainly recognised  and celebrated...Catholic kids wore something, anything, green but on that day all non-catholic children wore something...anything...blue.  There's a fashion ditty..."Blue and green should never be seen" which, when we were kids was the chant of kids on  St. Patrick's Day and it was played out.  No matter how many BFF's we had of the opposite persuasion, on that day none had any.  Days before the threats went from one side to the other..."Jist wait...St. Paddy's Day is comin'...".  And on the day itself, each side terrorized the other after school...me, I was terrified of both...LOLOL!  Such a wuss...such a coward.  Of course, Mum didn't help that much with her warnings of ..."Mind now...come richt hame...an' keep clear o' onybody thowin' stanes (rocks)..."  You can bet I flew like the wind, heart pumping, the minute school let out...after first peeking out the school doorways and gates to see how big a gang there was I'd have to run a marathon through.  Not being a runner to start with my odds of making it without incident were slim to none..hahaha. Safely home, we. would all..okay, that "all"  most likely only be me and my sister...did not venture out again until next day for school for we knew what was out there.  I've mentioned before that my earlier childhood we lived in one of two very large tenement buildings with a horde of kids between them all similarly aged...5-10yrs. old with a few slightly older thrown in.   Three-hundred and sixty-four days a year we were the proverbial "village", all got along, played, had spats...nothing serious.  But that one day best friends wouldn't look at each other unless to make a threatening face and ask  "Catholic or Proddy?" (Protestant).   Depending upon who asked the question it's was often worthwhile...and forgiveable...to lie.  Of course the parents didn't subscribe to the shenanigans but then again they had all lived through the same in their childhood.  Catholic/Protestant mothers yelled at their kids...and just often, yelled at the Protestants, then they'd all yell at the collective for fighting, chasing (oh, yeah...that's right, that was the worst for me...being chased and threatened.  the threats didn't worry me but knowing I couldn't outrun my chaser did..a lot!), threatening, spitting.  Then all would be dragged upstairs and inside for bed.  Next morning, we were knocking on each other's doors asking if our friends were ready for school and off we'd go...laughing, pushing, shoving but in a much more benign fashion than that of the day before.  All forgotten and forgiven...if even thought about.  That's how we used to celebrate St. Patrick's Day...and to all my Irish/Catholic friends and acquaintances I wish you a wonderful day with many blessing but this one in particular:

May your glass be ever full.

May the roof over your head be always strong.

And may you be in heaven

half an hour before the devil knows you're dead

Anyway, while we were out at Lowe's we...well, she...stopped to check out shower stalls.  Been thinking and talking of ripping out the guest bathtub and just putting in a smaller footprint stall.  We've had a plethora of ideas discussed, discarded, back into the discussion but happened to see one we both really liked.  KW wanted to order delivery there and then...I suggested (after looking at the entry to the shower and visualizing this bathroom) that we should wait until we measure, see if it would fit.  Seemed to me that how this stall would have to be set we'd be climing up onto the commode to climb down and into the shower.  Not that we use that bathroom but, still.  Soon as we got back home it was duly measured...nope, wouldn't work so onto plan B...a stall of a slightly different style where no climbing would be involved.  Being Friday night...game night...we left soon after for our friend, D's.  We were barely out of the garage when I heard KW ask her..."Hey...want to come over Sunday and help me rip out a bathtub?"  Eh????  THIS weekend??  Needless to say D was game, sounded like a blast...yeah, to whom?  "Now wait a minute..." I said.  "You guys are going to rip out the tub and do what, exactly?  We haven't ordered a shower stall yet and when we do, most likely not have it until middle of the week and THEN it has to sit around waiting for next weekend...."  (I hate clutter!)  ROFL was their response.  "But we don't use that tub or shower so...big deal.  We can get the tub out Sunday and what's a few days?" I was asked.  And then D broke in with "Yeah, I'll be there...but what are we going to to do with the tub once we get it out?"  Blank stares at each other, those two..."I'll cut it with my Sawz-All...no problem.  Oh, wait...we DO know that it will burn...!"  (Gales of laughter).  Yes...we do.  Some time last year...or year before...you remember Frankie, the big ol' tortoise KW had adopted for her store?  Yes, well...he came home on furlough one weekend but having no pen for him, she lines the bathtub and places him in there.  Safe enough...he can't escape to chase, or be chased by (and he DID chase), the dogs or cats.  He'd be warm "if I put a heat lamp above him..." (he's a South American yellow legged/footed/something tortoise and needs that rain forest environment)...and that's what we did.  No...correction...SHE did.  Well, at some point the lamp fell out from it's anchor and I was alerted by the aroma of something burning.  Like the Keystone Kops we, dogs, cats, all bolted towards the bathroom.  Sure enough...bigger than dirt an ugly scorch mark on the tub...which is really why we knew it had to be replaced.  And THEN...D fully aware of the inherent nature of KW...her eyes lit up.  Before she could utter another word I nixed the idea of using the old tub as a planter for veg..or any other living thing.  Nope, not a fish pond either...we have three little ponds...sans fish...we don't need another and least of all one obviously a burned bathtub.  I mean our outdoor electricity use in winter has to be as much if not more than our indoor.  Three ponds, home to bull frogs and little frogs so...tarps to cover with water heaters to protect our amphibians;  heat lamp set up under our deck to provide some little comfort to our feral kitty friends and a pet heating pad in an igloo on the deck for the one cat the others have snubbed so he can't go under the deck.  We aren't even sure he goes in the igloo for the minute the front door opens, they all bolt.  No more ponds.  And then here came the solution of what to do with the bathtub.  "OOH...set it to one side of the yard..in the trees...get a mannequin to put in it and we'll come up with fake bubbles, plaster or something...we'll come up with something.  Your neighbours will love it!"   Somewhere between mannequin and fake bubbles I lost my eyebrows.  They both turned to look at me...probably for my approval but you'd think THEY would have learned by now.  I had only one thing to say...looking at KW..."Should I pack now or later?"   Because, believe me...we are all surprised she didn't think of that idea first.  Her eyes sparkled, she hooted in glee, that charming grin which would usually have anyone agreeing with whatever she said.  The bathtub comes out tomorrow, I'm going into nervous hiding and having a quiet breakdown.  We shall see what happens with the old tub but my hope is that the suitcase by the front door will at least give someone pause for thought!   

No..don't run off!  This isn't a vendetta against those whom others may think "too thin", "too heavy", "too fat".  Personally, as far as I'm concerned the most important thing is that we are all...or will become...(regardless of weight, shape, build or height) happy, comfortable and healthy in our own skin and not set store by what friends, media or anyone says to the contrary.  Just a couple of observations about what we eat (not how much or how little) and the insidious manner in which strange and not so wonderful things end up in our daily diets affecting our wellness.

For example, watching the national news a week ago CBS ran a series of farming questions.  How the farmer's...not all but likely most...feed their cattle and dairy herds with cocktail of grains mixed with anti-biotics and hormones.  Have to admit I was gratified that, finally, this was being brought to the public attention because I have long been opposed to this practice.  A decade or more ago we began hearing how a super-drug was needed...and being researched...because standard anti-biotics were no longer very effective in fighting infections.  Wasn't too much later we began hearing of MRSA, C-Diff and even lesser infections being difficult to combat.  Well...seemed to me all those years ago and more, not so surprising that we'd begin having difficulty with what were then standard treatments.  Pumping our beef and dairy cattle full of antibiotics surely can't help any more than the over-prescribing of them for even just a sniffle.  Animals being fed in this manner aren't necessarily (or usually) sick but expected to have rapid growth and get to market much sooner than range/grass fed.  Which is when I switched to organic, free of such additives.  Only problem is organically raised beef is still not easy to find in this area.  Poultry...yes;  some dairy (mostly milk)...yes, although one does have to be careful for not all "organic" milks are equal (read that...as they promise or the word "organic" implies).  Eggs...oh, the dilemma!  I can readily find organic eggs free of  the additives;  great!  I can also find organic eggs free of additives but with Omega-3's and even those plus "cage free".  But look closer...and that you have to really research for most still are not free range.  Of course free range may have a new definition...they aren't in little cages, all squashed up and unable to move, just in a huge chicken house vying and jostling for a square foot of space with thousands of others.  But they aren't caged!!  Are any of you young enough to remember going for the groceries where mother would buy a dozen or so eggs in a variety of shell colours, some speckled, several often found to have double yolks or, better yet, to a nearby by poultry farmer who would go to his henhouse and collect however many eggs needed for Mum's order?  And they came from hens running around the yard eating what nature intended...plant life, bugs, grit and some grain tossed around several times a day, roosting where they felt like it and not regulated by artificial light/music but the crack of dawn and dusk.  (Good grief...occasionally you'd even break one to find it rotten!)  To yearn for the days when a bottle of milk would have two inches of cream sitting on top for the kids to fight over...and, should it be a hard, cold winter, you had an instant iced-cream "popsicle"?  How about when a steak or even a burger had a succulent flavour without having to season with salt, pepper, garlic, steak seasoning or steak sauce?    European farmers have ceased and desisted using those chemicals over the last decade or more and while our farming community tell us this would greatly increase the price to the consumer...well, apparently not by that much and certainly, a few pennies more paid at the check-out is infinitely better than hundreds at a hospital or pharmacy, yes?  Take a look at this:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6191894n

Why can't we take a leaf out of their books...or off their farms...and do likewise instead of mocking or sniping at the methods?  The govt. won't necessarily change our way of producing our essential food supplies but consumers can by demanding first that these practices be stopped and then by supporting farmers who are willing to change.  One thing which has always puzzled me, though...with beef, poultry and dairy plus all the chemicals and preservatives added to packaged and canned staples...why, when they are omitted and gone back to "organic"...should they cost more?  Seems to me the more we add the more it would logically "add up", the less we add the more cost effective but apparently it's cheaper to add toxins etc. than it is not to.

Then we come to genetically modified practises...I'd heard a few years ago that it was looming but only fairly recently did I realise how extensive it already is.  I don't want GMO's in what I eat or drink.  I don't want irradiated produce or meats.  Hydroponic I'm happy about but, again, stick to organic where and when I can find it or grow my own.  I will admit I'm still behind on gleaning information on GMO's so I'd rather you checked this site which is much more informative than I can be here.  But it IS worth while and here is a preface:  "If you're just starting to learn about GMOs, you might not know quite where to begin. These links provide an introduction to the issues, players and politics of the GMO controversy. Once you're a little more familiar with the issues, you can search the site or visit the yearly update pages to find additional information".  And here is the link:

http://www.saynotogmos.org/

And also:  http://gmo-watch.com/pages/hfcs.asp

One thing I was very interested to read the other day was how to at least identify whether produce is conventional, organic or GMO (although I don't believe there is any law mandating those labels have to be applied) so here's a little tip:

If the label # on your fruit is five digit and begins with 9 it's organic

If the label # on your fruit is four digit and begins with 4 it's conventional in origin and herbicides/pesticides have been used

If the label # on your fruit is five digit and begins with 8...as they say, "RUN!"...it is genetically modified

All I can tell you is of the choices I've made and exercise where and when I absolutely can and hope you might find enough here to check/consider further what you may find for yourself.

My second thought for Tuesday is this.  If you have HBO (and if not, run and by this DVD!) and not only if you have children...do a quick scan to see if you can still find a listing for "Classical Baby:  The Music Show".  It is amazing...yeah, really!  I came across it by channel surfing a week ago while performing drudgery...hanging up and putting away a pile of folded laundry..lolol!  Sure made the time and chore fly but since it was already showing...and I already loved it...I had to find a future showing so I could DVR it, see it in it's entirety.  Success on a plate for me...I did find it, DVR'd it and now am saving it.  Watched it late one night when, off to bed I really didn't want to watch my usually bedtime sitcoms repoeats for the umpteenth time.  Put on my wireless headest, laid back and was enchanted.  A lover of classical music myself, the animation accompanying these pieces was adorable...I could just imagine sitting with...well, now it would have to be a grandchild or even (!!!) great-grandchild...a tiny tot, enjoying and hopefully encouraging the beginnings of appreciation for classical music.  It makes me go "Awww...", makes me smile, makes me laugh and sing...and even with all of THAT activity, lulls me to slumber!        In fact, over the weekend KW and I both watched it...initially, I think she was sure "Oh-oh...her second childhood is here...now what!" but we both really were so tickled at both animation and music.   Check it out...this is merely a series of short clips taken from the show.

Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday...and rest of the week!

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Hmmmm...where I live, eh?   Well, there's my home.  Nothing fancy, not to everyone's taste but big enough to house us and our motley crew (and still have room to swing at least one of the cats).  It serves every need we have, dry, cozy and comfortable.  As much..or more..than that we are surrounded by trees.  Okay, so not quite...two sides and behind us.  Hickory, Black Walnut, pines (assorted), oak, larch, maples, bamboo and a few others I don't quite know plus all the shrubbery...hollies, rhodies, Jane magnolia, Japanese red maple, butterfly bush, jasmine, wild blueberries, blackberries, weeping cedar, Minnsota Mock Orange, Scots Broom, lilacs.  All of this is an extension of the woods behind...which once upon a time extended to where the house now sits.  What developers took away, we've tried to put back over our twelve years here and still working on it.  We don't do much with underbrush...that's where the wild berry bushes grow and where the feral kitties, wild birds, tree frogs etc. find habitat and foods.  Shortly, the little patches which don't have trees or shrubs will be ablaze with  'hosts of golden daffodils", purple and saffron crocus and...lucky us!...one very small but growing cluster of Lady Slipper;  soon we will uncover the three small ponds for the bullfrogs, salamanders and the raccoon family to utilise for dampening their buffet  (but no fish...the Great Blues would finish them off sharply!)  the bird feeders, tables and houses will be as busy and noisy as a mall on Black Friday and the half-dozen windchimes will lull us to sleep on balmy nights.  This is what I like most about this home....it is our sanctuary.    

But then there is this State.  We moved here February of  '98 to get away from the Minnesota chill...even though I knew winter here might be much more damp and, thus, feel colder.  Damp cold will do that...cut right through the layers and layers that would protect you in a  Minnesota winter to freeze the marrow!  The summer's are obnoxious...well, yes they are for me.  Too hot, too humid and interminable..lol.  But...the people are kind, friendly and welcoming (for the most part, anyway).  Despite the fact that the growth of the area has exploded since we arrived it still has a rural feel and, only twelve miles away, we can partake of all a thronged summer resort by the beaches has to offer.  Not that we do this much...but Saturdays, Sundays..late afternoon on an  occasional weekday...we pack the goodies, the fishing poles, bait (and my Kindle) to take off out in the bay on the pontoon, away from the hurly burly of summer traffic and noise.  Might even bring home a couple of flounder, croaker, for dinner.  And life is good, it can even be marvellously slow here in Delaware...which is what I love most about this State I now call home...or, in less than two hours we can take a day/weekend trip to VA, MD, PA, NJ or NY to be citified for a while.   (Of course, having had the worst couple of Nor' Easters the area has known or seen..or felt...in much longer than we have been here, that put a different slant on things.  I loved it more, in fact...some (and we won't mention any names...) considerably less!)

And then there's my head.  I've often said  I live there 70% of my waking hours even if some say that's a low guesstimate.  But I like it there...probably because it does my bidding without question or rancour...LOLOL!  Days there are so many things going on, so busy, it's like Times Square on New Year's Eve and I revel in the frenetics...others I choose quietude, put everything else on a "time out" so all retreat into the grey matter and leave an unbusy hayfield where I while away an unfettered hour or two ...some call it meditation...refreshing and recharging.  This is where ideas are born, perpetual questions are asked...and sometimes answered, where memories of days, years past  jostle each other to be enjoyed, inspiration flows and plans for the future take shape.  I love the external places where I live but, most of all, that last...the internal.  And I'm prepared to say that at this wonderful, freeing age I find myself...I'm allowed that indulgence! 

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I will say that Mr. Brooks sees things he feels needs to change and seems intent on making those changes.  And he did take to task one of his managers who so disrespected his staff it was disgusting, reprehensible.  He insisted the manager would apologize the the girls...in fact, it was at this time he mentioned he would have no problem his daughters working in Hooters "but NOT for a manager like you...".  The guy, I felt, got a knuckle rap.  I'd have fired the SOB....particularly when he actually tried to justify his behaviour when he had to meet with the CEO as CEO and not as potential employee.   When the credits were about to roll at the end of the show it did say they guy apologised.  Big deal...at the end of the work day he asked his wait staff who would like to leave early...and to determine whom would do so he devised a contest.  Brought out plates of baked beans, girls had to place hands behind backs and head face down into said beans to clean the plate.  It was evident the girls did not think this fun or funny...but they did it.  The episode ended and left me wondering if any serious changes will be made in this franchise. 

Now, next week's show is infinitely better.  I know because I caught a preview of segments of it on Oprah a couple of weeks ago.  This is one that won't leave a bad taste and it's the CEO of  7-11.  Some really nice surprises in this one.  Sunday nights at 9pm.  I should add that I think the series is a good one...great idea and it does say a lot for those bosses to expose themselves and their companies in this fashion...even with editing and maybe picking and choosing what they want shown.  Who knows how it might help further employer/empoyee relations if more would do it without lights, camera, action.  Come to think of it..lolol...one does have to wonder if they are "undercover" and going in as a potential new employee, how do they explain the camera person following their every move?  At any rate...just like to add here there is one group of professionals I would dearly love to see do something like this as part of their training....doctors.  Let them be patients for a week, in a hospital bed, subjected to the tests which they would likely later profess to "being a little uncomfortable but not painful.."  or "this will only sting/take a moment/you won't feel a thing";  being a patient who, after a gruelling day of tests and procedures an finally falling asleep is awakened to be given "something to help you sleep".  Can't you just imagine how these lessons, this part of a doctor's education, would improve real patent's lives?    

I love the premise, the concept and will probably continue to watch this series for a while...until I get tired of the similarity of theme which, I'm afraid, won't be very long into the series..particularly since I don't usually watch anything of a violent nature (prefer to be entertained and violence doesn't do it for me....).  I had said I hoped it would not be solely yet another crime series...with a twist...but it sure looks that way.  Especially having  just seen the previews for next week's episode...another crime.  There is so much more they could do with this!

Mind you, I have to confess that I'm not sure which is sadder...watching them straining to perform as they did thirty-five years ago or thinking "Good grief...that long ago?"  Some things are best left to our memories, the "oldies but goodies" on such as Cool 101.9 in Milford, DE and visual strictly in our mind's eye.  We can go on listening for years more to come but I don't want to see it in action.  KW was lauging at me, surprised that I was "so mad at them!!  What would you rather have...Janet Jackson and her faux-pas??"  Well, Beyonce?  Leona Lewis?  Green Day?  Backstreet Boys?  (lol...they are still young enough to pull it off...) and, yes...Janet Jackson!!   While I'm here...question.  I was wondering why Queen Latifah sang "America The Beautiful" instead of the national anthem.  Ms. Underwood was okay but Queen Latifah could have done it more justice, I thought.

So...that was the Superbowl...the team I was rooting for won;  the ads were a huge disappoinment...even the Bud Clydesdale ad was not as good as usual, cute..but lacking and the half-time show...well, I've probably said 'nuff on that.  The food, though, was amazing so all was not lost.  Hope next year's is better or, friends or not, I'll have to just go back to finding a quiet spot and lose myself in a book. 

So not for us the bread, milk and TP expeditions.  Oh, no...SuperBowl is tomorrow and we're all getting together for the game and my oft-requested chili so Thursday evening KW and I did a shop for those last minute essentials...you know, chips, dips, drummies and wings to supplement, beer.  Too bad I forgot bread, huh?  LOL!   And extra milk!  Then last night we went to D's for the usual game night...it's just round the corner so weren't concerned about the roads getting home except, after we got there found we had a curfew...State of Emergency had been declared and going into effect at 10pm.  Afraid my Corolla would turn into a dog sled at the witching hour, we sped home around nine.  By then, true...roads were well covered, wind blowing and a goodly amount of snow stacking up.  By the time I went to bed around 1a.m. the wind was howling as it does around those little research shacks in Antarctica and with accompaying creaks, groans, bumps and thumps.  Again with the trees around the house...this was/is a very wet snow and I fell asleep  wondering if, this morning, I'd awaken to having been impaled on one of the 50' pine trees.  You might have figured out already...didn't happen.  I was, however, startled awake by a very loud series of three beeps...totally unknown to me for a second then I heard KW ask what in the world it was.  The security system...main terminal being on the wall above my head.  I said I assumed the power had gone off...didn't know but no other explanation and when I glanced around the room all the electronics lights were gone into blackness.  She jumps up and heads for the living room...fortunately, we had not shut off the gas log fire before going to bed last night.  We had figured if we did it would be the devil of a job getting it lit manually so we left it on low...cats loved it.  All their birthdays had come at once.  This was around 4a.m.  Back to bed, me yet again cussing the electric blanket...why is it that these days they don't stay on indefinitely but will shut off after ten hours (for one thing) and, of course, no power no cozy.  KW was up early, I'm up just after eight and, of course, we have no power at all.   And the worst thing of all??  NO coffee!!  As she said, we do keep instant on hand but only for a special coffee I make...it doesn't and can't replace fresh brewed BUT...aha...I remembered I had a French Press somewhere.  Never mind that I had about forgotten how to make a pot of coffee this way...we had the real thing, ugly or not.  Checked on our friends...they had no heat but of course they were more than welcome to bring their pups and join us.  Called our older neighbours to see if they had heat and make the same offer...they too had a gas fire so were okay.  The radio station kept insisting on telling us that given all the power outages in the county the electric companies were saying it would probably take days to restore all lost power...trees, poles, lines were down all over, circuits out and even road conditions were so bad, from time to time, the road crews were being called back  in.  Too hazardous even for them.  Time to make further plans.  All our birds are kept in the kitchen.  All but the little parakeet have big cages..luckily on wheels.  Temps are to go down into the teens tonight and that being very unhealthy for our feathered friends, we decided we'd bring them into the great room to enjoy some comfort from the fire.  For a while it looked like all eighteen of us would be bunking there tonight.  Eleven o'clock this morning we lucked out... power was restored and a happy dance and cheers occupied all of us for about ten minutes.  Then it was a run for showers;  I decided to do my chili and get it going now then it would simply have to be reheated on the gas stove tomorrow; we put the cell phones on charge ...all just in case the energy gods were getting a jump on April Fools Day).  First, of course, was get a pot of coffee on.  KW went out and started to dig a pathway but, thank heavens, gave it up after about twenty minutes.  Then she went out to get some pics...then to make sure the Puppy Truck would start up "just in case we had an emergency and needed to get out".

And then we had an absolutely lovely day watching tv.  I watched about half of the England v. Wales rugby match then we watched two movies.  "Capricorn One"...oooh, great stuff for a skeptic such as myself!  And "City of Joy".  Guess that's when we gain proper persepective.  When you remember the people of Haiti or the teeming masses in Calcutta...loss of power and missing a pot of fresh brewed pales into nothing.  The snow has pelted us and blown about all day, still going...it's actually up beyond KW's knees (she's 5'5') and that's not a drift.  Trees are creaking and groaning and swaying like feathers in the wind, weighed down by  huge white, wet, clumps.   But we are warm and cozy inside with fire (which again, we will leave on overnight), candles, just having finished a hot meal...we have lights;  we will have our blanket tonight, food in cupboards, fridge and freezer (no bread though..lol) and, most of all, not only are we safe and happy but, according to reports all day, almost everyone is. 

Thanks to the DelDot crews for their untiring ministrations to get roads cleared and open for those who had no choice but to be out.  Same to the electric company crews for putting themselves on the line to be out working as hard and fast as they can to ensure as many as possible were as comfortable as possible in as short a time as was possible...and not forgetting all of their families who, I'm sure, worry about them being out there in such conditions.  No doubt they would have preferred to have their loved ones safe at home, too.  Then, something I had never heard of before...Beebe Hospital, besides the head honcho himself being amongst the crews out shuttling necessary staff to the hospital, offered to have those who were to be discharged today just stay put if they wished at no additional expense.  That's a kindness in and of itself.

But now I'm thinking I best go check on KW.  This long day has turned into night and while we were at dinner she decided she was going next door to dig our elderly neighbours out.  The snow seems to be diminishing and we both know that they will be out there first light tomorrow to dig at least a pathway to get their pup out for his walk and, of course, they shouldn't be doing that.  Now she's been out there over an hour..........yet, knowing her, probably built herself a snowman or an igloo.............       And...relief.  Of our three feral kitties we have seen two today...Mama Cat is snug on the straw we put down for her, under the deck...and huddled next to the lamp we put in there to provide at least a little warmth;  Patches, KW saw prowling for a few seconds.  Ginger we haven't seen but that's not unusual in severe weather conditions...he makes himself scarce.  We give him the benefit of the doubt, saying he's a smart cat and probably holed up under the house, in the crawl space.  We opened a couple of the vents especially for the ferals at the beginning of winter so they could get themselves out of storms etc.  But the credit given Ginger might be misplaced...I often suspect he isn't feral at all, just loves variety in his diet and on day's such as today he is probably AT HOME, in front of his own cozy fire enjoying a comfortable nap...while we worry.

Oops...sorry Ginge!  I misspoke...KW, finally back indoors, tells me she just saw him hunkered down in the dog igloo we have on the deck...that we bought for any/all of the ferals in the Fall and then, towards winter, she brought home a pet heating pad to plug in and put in there.  Well...they have been fed and looks like all are safe and warm for the night, thanks be.

But here's the thing...six inches or twenty (turns out that's what we, in this immediate area, got this weekend) take heart in knowing that, even now the Spring bulbs are already sending up their shoots...snowdrops, daffodils, crocuses all anxious to greet the light and I have hope that when this wonderland has melted into grey,  mushy slush we can scrape it aside to find the green of new life.  Really...Spring is not so far away.   

So we did the ports of call, excursions etc. now to the cruise itself.  Let me first of all say this...if you've never done a cruise before, DO.  We never had and while it was our first, won't be our last...no idea when we will take another one, of course, but the seed was planted and now thriving.  Only one thing we would do differently...next time it will be a balcony stateroom instead of an inside cabin.  We thought about it the last week or so...well, actually, when we made our final payment for the trip but we assumed that since we didn't expect to be in our cabin much...for other than sleep, shower, dress...it didn't matter and why spring for the extra $100 or so?    I'll tell you why...we very quickly realised we missed seeing daylight...or even dark!  No matter the time of day, when we were in our stateroom we had no idea of whether it was daylight, dark, sunny or not so that was a tad strange...and basically we had either go two decks up or five-six down to find a window and determine those facts.  Additionally, having a balcony cabin we could have tied or jammed the french door open, or at least ajar, for fresh air.  Not that there was a thing wrong with the air in the cabin...there wasn't...but we'd have enjoyed listening to the waves and wind.  Otherwise, the cabins are really very nice...perhaps a shade smaller than a normal hotel room but you still have all the amenties...very nice bathroom with shower, lots of storage between three closets and a bank of drawers;  tv, safe, mini-bar.  And the bed!  Obviously can't speak for anyone else but we found the bed to be one of the most comfortable besides our own...and KW loved the pillows!  Room service is available and it was very good, very prompt.  We only used it once for the Continental Breakfast but it was most enjoyable with quite a good selection to suit most tastes.  Mine was smoked salmon (with lettuce, capers, tomato, onion) and a toasted bagel with cream cheese, yoghurt,  juice and a pot of coffee.  KW had cereal with milk, yoghurt, juice and shared the coffee.  You could get the same...and more...in the dining room except for the pot of coffee.  Not IHOP..lolol.  Some mornings we ate there, others we went to the breakfast buffet topside where they had just about anything one would wish for, for b'fast.  We realised the last day we had never eaten lunch in the dining room...we either skipped lunch or had something from one of the many buffets topside.  KW happened to really love their hot dogs..lol.  The dessert buffet was decadent...an yummy as was the fruit bar.  Those vacationing with kids...particularly the adoloscent and teen boys...those children must surely have been in hog heaven for they could have pizza and  ice-cream  into the wee sma' hours of the morning.   Alcoholic beverages you pay for...they are not included as the food is.  Same with soft drinks.  KW being a soft drink fan, we got her a seperate card for those which would provide unlimited soft fizzy drinks for the duration of the cruise.  With the drinks costing $1.75 a whack we figured it would be in our best interests.  Wrong...we probably wasted around thirty bucks given the soft drinks card is around $42...lol!  She might have had a Coke a day, much less than we thought...and I don't drink soft fizzy drinks.  Bottled water you buy, too.  But there is lemonade, juices, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and iced tea 24/7 that are not 'extras'. 

These extras (unless you spring for the unlimited soft drinks card) are paid for with your Sail and Sign card.  Now when you embark...or prior to it...you can provide them with your credit card number and everything extra is charged to it...bar drinks, soft drinks, items in the gift shops , Bingo cards and anything else where there is a fee.  However, you can go to Guest Services on board and give them cash for your Sail and Sign.  I assume with the credit card they just keep charging as you go.  Paying cash, they do likewise...same as a debit card...then when you approach whatever limit you gave them on the first day they do let you know so you might add to it.  On your last morning you get your statement delivered to your stateroom.  If you haven't spent whatever you deposited there is a cheque attached to the end of your statement.  Should you have exceeded the amount you gave them, your bill is attached for payment as soon as possible.  About the only place I know...or saw...cash being used was in the casino but, at the same time, you can transfer money from your Sail and Sign account for their slots.  Personally, we preferred doing the Sail and Sign with cash.  Two reasons...one, you can keep better track of spending when it's done in increments and, two...less people having my credit card number.  I just don't like it floating around anywhere.  And here is a suggestion for you...something we didn't do or even think about doing and, fortunately, it did not affect us but there were a number of people having problems with their credit card on the islands etc. because they did not notify their bank(s) they were going out of the country (I understand, though, that this happens with many banks even if only going out of State).  I mean it's a good thing for deterring identity theft etc. but it was also frustrating for those whose banks froze their cards.  This was something of which neither of us were aware...didn't even think about it.  Fortunately, ours didn't subscribe to this measure. 

There is always something going on aboard a cruise ship.  Seemed like every half hour to an hour a different activity, show, games and they make it very easy to keep track of things you might want to do with their "Carnival Capers" daily, delivered to the staterooms every evening for the following day.  There is absolutely no reason for anyone to complain of boredom on a cruise.  From the time we left Port Canaveral, too, we had excellent weather...suddenly going from heavy leather jackers and scarves to shorts and tees or tanks....many in swimsuits...and instead of marching up and down the outer decks to keep warm we'd opt for a chaise and bask like a couple of seals..lol.  We each had our Kindles and MP3 players although 'someone' snoozed most times we planted ourselves on the chaises...and it wasn't I!  True to my speculation, soon as we left Freeport we went like the clappers up the east coast and then it happened.  Ship going 24kn while the wind was coming from the north at 25, often a smidge more and the Pride rocked, rolled, pitched back and forth.  I think all of us got some sun colour on our winter white cheeks, arms and legs but by Saturday morning so many of the cheeks had an eery green tinge.  Stairways were closed off, part of the topside deck cordoned, considered dangerous.  We sat huddled in our heavy hoodies sipping on a cuppa, smoking a cigarette and watching the horizon r-i-i-s-e and then f-a-l-l...steeply at times.  KW felt no ill-effects.  Me...stomach was fine, just my equilibrium off a tad.  I kept asking KW if she was certain it was the swells and the boat...just to be assured I wasn't stroking out or something but once convinced I was fine...if a bit wobbly.  I've had a couple of bouts of vertigo...this was really no different.  Well, actually it was for the vertigo I had no logical reason...this I knew from whence it came so not worrisome.  And it worked well for me.  Just before dinner the last evening they held a farewell cocktail party in the ship's theatre...free cocktails to boot.  As a friend observed, the following day they would be stocking pantries and bars for the next trip so this was likely their way of dumping half full bottles of liqueur and spirits!   Now, neither one of us drink much at all and I rarely do.  Maybe four or five times a year I'll have a small Scotch, nursing it all evening.  That night KW and I had a Screwdriver.  When the wait staff made a second round there was only one Screwdriver on her tray and, knowing KW enjoys them, I let her have it while I...daring soul...had some melon concoction.  Pretty good...so on the third pass of the bar staff, she had another Screwdriver and I opted for another melon something.  And then my nose began to numb up...a sure sign that I've gone over my limit and something which has maybe happened about five times total in this long life.  I told KW...she started to laugh...and laugh...and laugh (as I also did) saying "Aww, geez!"  But what a revelation!  "Hey...at least with the ship pitching as it is, nobody else will ever know or guess...hahahahahaha".  You see, now we had to walk the entire length of the ship...to get to the dining room and it so happened that particular night I wasn't so hungry and for myself didn't care about dinner but it was Prime Rib night...one of KW's favourite meals.  So off we went...now it is fair to say that around that time the swells were very heavy...stage lighting was swinging like an chimps in a Jane Goodall documentary, decks rising up to greet each footfall and I found myself being pitched into a wall.  Blame it on the rough seas...I did but I turned to see where KW was in the throng accompanying our walk to the dining room and there she is, bent double laughing like a fool at her usually tee-total companion.   Even the stewards and cruise director commented on how rough the waters were, some of the stewards not having quite found their sea-legs yet.  My little friend in the casino, he was having a little difficulty so I took off my PSI bands and gave them to him.  Just a word about that, here...a number of people wore little trans-dermal patches for any rough sea or weather.  We opted for PSI bands which are an updated version of Sea-bands and I honestly couldn't tell you if they worked as well or not.  All I know is KW didn't wear hers at all, I wore mine for two days...just in case...but even without them I've never suffered from motion sickness.  Perhaps they did keep me from the sickness and I was left with ony the spacey head feeling...guess we'll never know...but they are worth having and you cannot buy them on board ship.   And, if you can help it, DON'T lie down...keep moving if you can.

The meals in the dining room were wonderful...we had most b'fasts there and all but one dinner.  And the only reason we chose to do that singular buffet dinner was because we hadn't done so and figured we should, at least once.  The stewards...both wait staff, housekeeping, bar staff...everyone was so friendly and while I do realise that this is their living, you could swear they were having as much fun as their passengers were.  We went with a good size group...over 100 I believe...but until we were on the ship we knew we only knew two people...that was Mike and Beth Butts.  Mike is the morning DJ at Cool 101.9.  He and his lovely wife are very nice people and were kept busy the entire trip...seemed more of a working vacation for them but they did a fantastic job of making our trip the success it was.  I sort of figured that we'd find KW would know more people going on the cruise than she even considered and, sure enough, she probably knew a third to half of the group and they knew her..."The pet lady!!!" from a few, by name from most others.   But in the dining room we were seated with five women we had never met before...a finer group of ladies we couldn't have hoped to meet or with whom to share the breaking of bread.  Esther from Milton, Nadine from Bridgeville, Tina from Gumboro (I think), Juanita and Sandy from Dover.  We thoroughly enjoyed their company, their wit, their friendship. 

There was just one snafu...there had to be at least one, don'tcha think?  One evening KW really didn't want dinner...she had spotted someone taking a meal back to their stateroom on our deck and the meal was....grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  Her favourite.  "Ooh...that looked really good. I'd like one of those..."  Okay, so let's go get her one...and we did....around 5pm so of course she wasn't hungry for a proper dinner.  No matter...she said she would come to the dining room with me.  I assured her it wasn't necessary...to go do something else and I'd catch up with her when dinner was over.  She kept asking me if I was sure, would I be okay etc. and then she said "Well...if you're sure.  I mean the girls will be there so...are you sure?"  Yes, I'm sure...sure, the girls will be there and it will be fine.  HAH!  Guess who didn't show up for dinner that night?  ALL of them!  And there I was sitting at a large round table all by my lonesome.  Our steward was concerned, the people at the table behind us were concerned.  I did get some funny looks from a few others.  But I sat there and had my full dinner.  I was NOT about to miss it...rack of New Zealand Lamb?  Not on your life!   Dinner over I went in search of KW...actually walked right past her for she had taken the opportunity to go shower and change clothes...lol.  First thing she asked..."How are the girls?  What did they do today?"  Me..."Dunno...couldn't say..."  The look on her face was priceless..."What do you mean you don't know?  They were there, right?"  Me..."Nope..."  Poor thing...I was having entirely too much fun with her with this for I knew as soon as the girls didn't show for dinner what KW's reaction would be when she found out.  So I just stood there...hair shirt in one extended hand, whip in the other...LOLOLOL!    Oooh, she felt so badly but I finally convinced her to stop...I really had no problem for, you know...sometimes it's nice to eat alone.  It was a chance for me to mull, ponder, enjoy my meal solo.  Of course...had I chosen to dine at one of the buffets I'd have taken my Kindle and read.  But they weren't serving rack of lamb.

Really...if you can ever take a cruise, do it.  The same radio station are doing another cruise next January...this time to Grand Cayman, Jamaica and...can't remember the other port...and for around the same price for seven days.  We'd love to go but Auntie D...who cares for our menagerie and does the best of anyone we know...well, she probably would rather put us under house arrest first...that soon.  Joking aside...we know just how fortunate we are to have friend/family like her and don't want to push our luck.  Losing the best pet sitter we know would be bad enough...losing a friend would be worse!  Nah...think we need to give her a couple of years to get over this trip.  Maybe it's like childbirth...the pain flies from the memory as soon as it's over so in a couple of years she won't remember having done this week.  Besides, the next trip anywhere in the near future will be to Scotland.  Maybe we could find a freighter going east..........................    

We'd never taken a cruise before so curiosity and an element of excitement were palpable as we sat waiting for the coaches to get us from Milford, DE to the port in Baltimore.  The day was overcast, wet, just ugly in general but spirits were high in the over 100 of us making the trip together (and the difference returning home yesterday didn't go unnoticed!).  The ship itself was amazing...the decor a little 'darker' than would be my taste but it was beautiful.  Weather first day or two out was grey, very blustery and yet even while KW hates the cold, we spent a good deal of time out on the open decks just listening to the waves, engines, revelling in the sea breezes.  Had hoped to see stars but the first two nights we were out of luck.  When we got up and out early Wednesday, prior to our first port of call...Port Canaveral...we found temps. a little more balmy and the sun was shining.  Before leaving and having gone over the various excursions available to us, we had opted...and already made reservations for an Airboat ride with alligator spotting through part of the central Everglades.  A coach took us to Lone Cabbage Fish Camp where we boarded the airboat.  First time for this also and my first time in Florida, to boot.  We sped over the St. John River at up to 40mph...noise-reducing headsets giving us a skewed Mickey Mouse look.  The week or two before (we were told) the cold had somewhat hampered alligator spotting but with a few recent warm days they were slithering into activity again so the odds were good we'd see something.  Sure enough...we were fortunate to spot several good size fellows sliding off their banks into the river and balefully eyeing the boatload of would-be papparazzi. We were well armed with digital cameras, binocs, cam-corders...I figured if nothing else, and had we had to, we could fling all of them at any marauder but...none were that interested.  I was impressed to finally see such a pre-historic creature in the flesh...speaking of which, when our boat ride ended (all too soon) back to the camp where they had already prepared platters of fried alligator tail for us.  I told ya it would taste just like chicken!  Still, there was a slight difference to the palate and the texture was NOT chicken-y...as it was described to us, more chewy a la calamari.  But, since I love calamari and chicken, I enjoyed more than just one or two...or three...bites.  We also had the opportunity to meet and listen to a young woman who has a foundation to rescue exotic animals...you know the story, people buy them when babies then find they should never have even considered such an in-home pet.  She brought three along to show us...a young anaconda, a runt alligator and a year old possum which had been found in a wall.  All were interesting and we had our photo op with what we two deemed to be the star of the show...Polly the Possum.  And yes...she WAS cuddly and very cute as she snuggled in, sliming us on the way.  We'd already been told the sliming was her way of showing affection so we really felt privileged (okay, so it doesn't take much..lolol).  Back on board the Pride we all shared our day's  'adventures'...some having taken the NASA tour(s) while others opted for Cocoa Beach to melt away the Delaware winter chills.  A few even chose to visit WalMart...lolol.  Hey...whatever floats your boat.   It was interesting...and funny.  When I'd studied the itinerary it was noticeable that it would take us two and a half days to reach Port Canaveral while, after enjoying our two other ports of call, it would take us a day and a half to get back to Baltimore.  I figured we'd be going like the clappers on the return trip and KW already suggested the first few days out they'd get most of our spending money before reaching the 'tourist traps'.  True...with beer from pennies short of $7 a bottle (Coors Light, for instance) and cocktails all the way to $15, if one's pleasure was imbibing you'd best spread it out!  In fact, we did hear of one little group who visited the aforementioned WalMart...bought a case of bottled water and a bottle of vodka;  dumped the water and refilled the bottles with....you guessed it!  Party hearty, maties!!

Our call at Nassau was fun but, honestly, the highlight of our day ashore there was a horse and buggy ride.  Yes, we paid too much for the short ride but our driver was worth the money with his comedic running commentary and observations.  We'd been told to make sure of a visit to the Straw Market so once the buggy ride was over that's what we did.  It was interesting to see although neither of us were interested in the usual souvenir stuff...tee-shirts, knock-off Gucci and Fendi bags, jewellry etc.  But I do have to say (having our own experiences in the tourism industry) their kitsch was no worse than one will find in Rehoboth Beach, Ocean City or the like and was, in fact, cheaper.  Try buying three tee-shirts for ten bucks here.  We walked the market but were glad when our tour was over...though we didn't need or want any of the wares for sale we both felt badly repeating "Thank you...but not right now.  We are just looking at the moment but may be back...enjoy your day..."  The 'being back' was a fib and left a bad taste.  However, at the edge of the Straw Market were wood carvers and we admired their beautiful work enough to bring a few home.  We found ourselves strolling through a few very quaint, picturesque lanes and alleys...photo ops more than anything else.  Pause for thought...which was one reason we had little interest in most of the souvenir items.  One little store was taking delivery of new stock and we'd to stop and wait to let them get a stack of boxes into the premises...each of them marked "Made in Korea".  Of course I know why but it's still a little sad that, rarely, when we take our vacations and want to buy mementoes, they are made "in country".  Guess that's why most of our mementoes are pics we take ourselves and made a stop at the fishing piers to pick up a couple of  conch shell...sans the scripted "Bahamas" emblazoned on the lip (or anywhere).  It was, all in all, a gorgeous day and having grown up with the Bahamas part of UK history (I well remember all the headlines in our newspapers when the islands were granted independence) found some of their everyday things more  fascinating;  the ultra-smart and most courteous policemen (with no guns!), the British spellings still in general usage, driving on the "other side" of the road (despite the fact that many if not most of the vehicles were left-hand drive..lol).    To paraphrase one of my favourite pop songs of the moment..."Today was in fact a good, good day..."   

Anyway, organizational skills to the fore...the packing is done (I think!), except for....ummm...well, check the list.  Dogs blankies and beds get washed Friday, cages cleaned Saturday.  Mark which bird gets what food...now there's a thing for a pet-sitter-friend.  The African Grey gets specific seed to his species;  the Ring-neck gets a some  Conure and the Grey's food.  Tiels get tiel food, the parakeet is the easiest...smallest bird, smallest seeds.  Henry, the big guy...he doesn't like Cockatoo food and will not eat it but chucks it out of his dish to the floor...where Buddy the Pug is happy to pull second duty as a vacuum cleaner.  A big No-no.  Henry doesn't much take to the Grey's food, either so he gets only a little of that, a smutch of the tiel's and for the most part, Conure.  Our friend...bless her...loves all our 'kids' as they love her but she has seen Henry's handy work on my knuckle, KW's foot (through a shoe!) and his beak can be intimidating but she has devised a way of ensuring he doesn't go hungry...makes a funnel over his seed dish and pours from the outside of the cage, in.  Cats are fine...they are cats...except one of the brood has this curiosity for the outdoors and tries to blend in with the dogs when they head out the door.  This poor woman...not only am I amazed and grateful that she doesn't even wait to be begged to pet sit...(she actually volunteers), especially am I amazed and grateful that she has remained our dearest friend!

And then we heard the news of poor Haiti last night.  First concern was, of course, for the poor people of the island...like their lives weren't hard enough.  Then crept in the thought that "I hope after shocks etc. are over before next week!"  When I fly...which is as seldom as I can possibly make it...my eagle eye is on the global skies for weeks before my flight  and heaven forbid there is an accident or something else worrisome.  Didn't think such a thought would ever cross my mind before hitting the high seas.  Then there is the weather...I packed my ice skates just in the event the pools ice over before we get back.

But packing...well, I thought that was a fait accompli just before dinner this evening.  Not so fast.  While we were debating going to get another suitcase from our storage I first decided to go through that which was already packed and whittle down the attire.  I've said before I'm not a clotheshorse by any stretch of the imagination BUT...leaving my comfort zone, away from my closet where I have choices...tend to pack let's say eight days x three or four choices, plus 'dress up'...just in case and, of course, appropriate shoes for casual, comfort, dress up.  That's capris, jeans, shorts (which I rarely wear anyway so why now...????), swimsuit (Eh?  last time I wore one of those was...ummmm...maybe twenty years ago?  But it's packed!);  I have the driving up clothes I'll be wearing on Sunday but...what if that's a little too much later...we're talking heavy corduroys, sweater, polo neck under sweater and heavy leather bomber jacket....?  Fine...take a heavy hoodie for evening on-deck strolls.  Okay...but maybe that will be a little much once in Nassau and...what if it rains?  Throw in a rainproof windbreaker.  With me it's not a simple case of  "this or that?".  It's "This...but what if...okay, that too...then again maybe...something else".  Quick question here...whatever happened to the steamer trunks of yore?  They surely would be big enough.  At any rate, figured I'd better check on baggage regulations again...Whoops!  Now I see that we can't take an iron.  We had planned to take a travel iron...summer clothes were laundered to refresh them, KW said "Iron?", I said "Nahhhh...lolol..."  Well...besides the fact that I detest ironing of all household chores...you know what packing clothes into a suitcase does for them.  Nothing.  They come out looking like rags and far from wrinkle free.  And when we've gone on business trips there is always an iron in the room, these days so why wouldn't I assume a cabin would be no different?  But I didn't see irons listed, hence the travel iron going with...except not now.  Unpack again, get the shirts that would need ironing (thank God for my polos and her Tees!..which don't!), set up the board and make them pretty, fold them delicately, pack them carefully and fingers crossed.  Of course we laughed about it...albeit rather cynically.  KW says she wonders what they thought we would do with the irons...smack someone upside the head?  Me, I'm a bit more cynical...they want to keep their laundry in business.  Bring on the irons and that means you won't have the need to pay $1.25 to have a handkerchief ironed.  Or $3.50 for a blouse.  And horror of horrors...they don't even iron bras and undies!!!  ROFL!  Well, that doesn't worry me...that's akin to ironing the bath towels...hahahaha.  Yes, I do know some folk do this...not I.  Ironing, for me, is akin to going to the dentist or delivering a baby...under duress, kicking and screaming and, ultimately, not without drugs.   But we ironed...KW most of it and I, last couple of pieces due to guilt.  So now we are all packed again...this time cases zipped shut (although I still have clothes in the laundry that I MIGHT want...).  Last minute stashing will be my Kindle, Flip vid-cam and MP3 player....want to ensure all have a full charge before we leave so that's a last minute thing.

We did already sign up for one excursion...frankly, the only one to catch our interest.  Sure...at our first port of call...Port Canaveral...there are choices of any of the Disney theme parks.  We nixed those...some I wouldn't even attempt the rides and the rest, I'm probably under the height requirement.  Actually, none of them excite us much.  There is the Kennedy Space Centre/NASA...not all interested.  There is an all day Space Camp...kidding, right?  My head is a space camp...no need to confuse.  No!  The most exciting thing we saw...and trust me, for us it IS exciting (or will be) is an airboat ride through the Everglades...alligator and other wild life spotting and shooting...with a camera, of course.  I think we will probably find a few more "friends" for KW on her FB page.  I had suggested the other day I should try to find a couple of mouth-guards and she wanted to know why.  Why?  I should have thought that obvious since I'd told her the airboats are said to drive us at 40mph through insect infested swampland!!  Still...having dentures should make it a lot easier to get them out of one's teeth, wouldn't you think?  Or else just don't smile.  Joking aside, we fully expect that to be a great way to spend a few hours ashore.  They say you get to sample alligator tail...I'll try it.  Bet it tastes "like chicken".

Oh, let me just give a shout out to Cool 101.9 in Milford/Eagle and Mike Butts.  He announced this cruise early last year which is how KW came to learn about it and, I gather, about 100 of we locals signed up for it.  Mike and his wife, Beth are going..of course...and no doubt a few known faces to KW.    Should be fun! 

So...speaking of chickens, time this went to roost for the night and hope to be successful.             

Yes, the underwear bomber.  I have a question for our screeners, security staff, whomever should have been but apparently wasn't diligent enough to arrest his even getting to board the plane.  What did you not do that failed to detect what surely was unusual 'endowment' under trou??  See, I ask only because just the other day I read of a man stopped at another airport, trying to transport 44 lizards out of New Zealand in his tighty whities.  Seems he had done some additional tailoring...adding eight pockets...to accomodate the little wigglers.  Geckos and skinks they were...neither species being anywhere close to "large".  Perhaps it could be argued he was behaving a little uncomfortable but then how comfortably could the bomber have behaved with a six-inch, somewhat anatomically correct explosive hugging his true anatomical correctness?   Of course, I guess the screeners and security could have been embarrassed to ask...possibly thinking the guy had OD'd on Viagra.  No...I certainly don't think it's a funny situation given a planeload of passengers barely escaped a potential catastrophe and, initially, I suppose I did feel a little sorry for all the blame zinging around airport staff (instead of at our esteemed intel people who, it turns out, had been given a heads up but did nothing to follow through) but on reading the reptile carrier not so much so.  Somebody...or several somebodies...were on the ball (oops...sorry, no pun intended), alert and diligent.  So when do we send our people to New Zealand for training?

Nope...it isn't at all funny but it sure is worth a few shakes of the  head in disbelief.     

Much like now...almost the entire country has been fettered by an unusually cold and snowy spell over the last couple of weeks or so and really earlier for even most than usual.  Asia has been stricken, Northern Europe, including the UK, has been covered in snow for more than the last week to ten days with no let up.  Yeah, I know...most people, when they suss I'm from Scotland seem to think I've lived something akin to the Inuit in my childhood and teens when, the fact is, from the mid-Atlantic to Maine, Minnesota and much of the central belt get much colder temperatures and a lot more snow in the winter months than Scotland generally does or has done.  And yet, believe it or not, most of those areas are south of our latitude.  Edinburgh, our capitol, is actually fifty miles north of Moscow's latitude which makes my home town a tad over one hundred miles north of Moscow.  Granted, it's the Gulf Stream swirling around the island which keeps us temperate although this year something seems to be amiss!

So we were just wondering...and thinking of granny and her atom boombs...wasn't so long ago we "bombed the moon".  Sure, light was made of it and assurances given that it would have no effect on the moon, the working of the moon, tides and times etc. or us down here but...I wonder.  With so much garbage floating around in the atmosphere and this lunar 'attack'...is it not possible for weather patterns to get confused?  A volcano erupts and whatever it spews forth is known to affect the environment hundreds, even thousands of miles away.  Chernobyl goes amok and half of Europe was affected by the fall-out;  nuclear rain fell as far away from it as Ireland.

Global warming...or warning?  Just something for you to think about...and while you're doing that I'll get my tinfoil hat on.  :p

I first heard of some of the problems a few years ago when  young friends of ours adopted a puppy from one of our local shelters.  Assured it was in good health they were excited to take the new companion home...within less than two days he'd to take a rather sick little pup  to the vet.  It took almost two months for the little guy to become healthy despite the fact that what ailed this puppy was not exactly serious....it was a series of many ailments.   Had it had treatment sooner...like before they sent it home...this didn't need to happen.  It could be said this was a one-off.  I know for a fact that it was not...more and more, through the intervening years, I've heard more stories similar to this...a few worse...and it frustrates me.   I know these shelters have at least one vet on board.  I know they can medicate but all too often seems they would rather euthanize...needlessly... but the very least they can do is be honest with the potential adoptive owners.  Today I heard of one of the worst in a long time.  An acquaintance is a fosterer.  Two dogs she became quite attached to and decided to adopt them, herself.  She notified the shelter in question, asked them to hold both dogs for a few days and was promised they would be held for her.  Both dogs were companion animals to each other and she was fully aware...as was the shelter...that both dogs were to find a home together.  The appointed day she went to get what she was assured were her dogs.  One of the dogs had already been adopted.  Of course she wasn't happy about this...which animal lover would be?  If you have ever had the privilege and joy of having two or more pets share a household, you know that each is smart enough to know when a companion is missing and, believe it or not, animals DO become stressed and depressed when this is visited upon them.  However, this woman did all that was necessary to take the left-behind dog home.  But not before asking about it's general health.  Discharge and bleeding from it's nostrils she was told it just had a slight cold...nothing to worry about.  They went 'home'.  Middle of the same night dog was quite sick and coughing so hard it was almost human-sounding so, first thing she took the dog to her vet.  This poor animal already had bronchitis and was developing pneumonia...one sick little dog.  After, no doubt, paying approx. $100 to adopt a "healthy" animal she paid $250 further within 24hrs. to bring this poor little guy back to normal health (aside from his obvious despondency at missing his companion...which, rest assured, probably helped make him sicker in the first place).  And by no means is this the first or only story I have had recounted to me by my many animal loving friends and acquaintances who are more than willing to adopt a homeless animal rather than support a puppy-mill or the so-called 'designer dog' breeders.

We get up in arms to rage and sign petitions about abuses to these animals so dependent upon us for shelter, food and compassion...who look to us to protect their very lives.   Our penalties for those who abuse and/or perpetrate criminal activity against an animal are negligible.  But what of shelters or organizations who, in their own way, don't do much better?  Sure...I know, particularly these days, space to shelter the supposed 'discards' is at a premium but surely we can spend the donation dollars, the fund-raising coffers to provide better than we do.  Animals do NOT care whether the grounds of their temporary (hopefully) shelters or accomodations are pristine, well-landscaped with florals, trees, shrubs and benches or beautifully kept lawns.  They rarely, if ever, get the opportunity to enjoy even a roll in those grasses.  I used to donate heavily to SPCA's, particularly my local services.  No longer and not for some time because I just have to take a trip to any one of them to see the misappropriation.  Were it not for the donations of blankets, towels, toys all those creatures would have would be a cell with cement and wire surroundings...and I DO know that even with those aforementioned donations of 'creature comforts' most are barely even put to use but tucked away in a storage area.  For what?   For whom? 

My S/O...animal devotee that she is...offered to help one of our shelters by taking in the senior cats who stand much less chance of finding a new, permanent home.  She brought them to her store, set up crates, pens, beds for them (she would have anywhere from two to seven aging kitties);  often they would come to her with minor respiratory problems, some were emaciated (but fair to say this was how they were brought to the shelter), not all of them in the best of conditions.  She medicated them, they got the best of food, freedom to run when the store was closed, hugs and cuddles throughout the day from her and her staff.  On holidays, when the store was closed, one young employee volunteered to go in and check on them, make sure food and water was plentiful.   Over the fifteen months she offered this service all but two were happily adopted (including the first one which came home to us...and she named them "Second Chance Successes", even to keeping a photo gallery.  Most of the adoptive owners continue to stop in and give updates.   These weren't kitten...more than a few were over twelve years old...one we remember quite well was an 18yrs. old cat whose owner had died.  There was no need for the cat to follow and, indeed, someone was very happy to adopt this senior Kitizen.  Around Thanksgiving she had to get the cats out of the store...it took some work on her part but all but two of the cats were adopted.  Those two were accustomed to being together and it was preferable that they would find a home together.   It didn't actually happen that they found a permanent home initially but one of the staff did find a foster home for them both.  After only a few days we learned that the foster Mom so loved both cats she had decided to adopt them.  Guess what?  Someone with the so-called clout decided she didn't want this person to have the cats, removed them from that home and placed them in another  foster home.  Today, this foster Mom called the store to find out when "those cats" can be returned there.  Why were the cats removed from someone who obviously loved and wanted them?   As much as we have been told, personality conflict between staff members at the shelter.  But who cares?  Aren't those people there to serve the needs of the animals relegated to their care and best interests...not personal agendas?    Things need to change...and how, exactly, can we get them changed to the best interests and welfare of the animals and not for those who dictate their fate?

Honestly?  Made me queasy.  Sure...not the first time I'd been aware of these baby pageants...and yes, it's a personal opinion that I've never thought positively of any 'beauty' pageant.  The older ones are meat markets and the children's pageants...well, you tell me.  What exactly IS the difference between Little Miss Perfect and kiddie porn?  I watched in horror as 3-5-7 year old babies were spray tanned, made over, told by mothers, mentors and the show host (Michael Galantes) to swish, 'sass' and sashey across a mini-runway.   Galantes began with the interview...little girls obviously well-schooled in the appropriate answers.  Next the "Wow factor"...judged on what they were wearing, dance steps etc.  There were two female judges and one male.  Tell me...PLEASE...what exactly could be a 'wow' factor to three supposed adults watching fifteen baby girls simper, pout and display?  Maybe...just maybe...I MIGHT get my stomach back if all three judges were women (though probably not) but what exactly can a wow factor be for a guy in his...40's?  I am, by no means defending paedophiles but if, for whatever reason, some guy sitting at his desk had pics of these children on his computer he'd be on a sex offenders list in a NY minute...not to mention the six o'clock news.  So why are these pageants acceptable under any circumstance...let alone  shown weekly on tv?  As far as looks go...miniature forty-year olds.  One little girl of seven...Mom ordered a bikini...$400 worth she said.   Another family, once all the accoutrements and accessories were bought, were in the kitchen making chocolate somethings for the girls to go to the nearby grocery store, park outside and sell them like Girl Scout cookies to pay for the couture, hotels etc. for the upcoming pageant...which the would-be competitor hated doing.   At least two of the children in one show, when talking to the camera (and at a guess I would say without Mom's...or Dad's...presence), admitted they didn't like pageants, were nervous about being on a stage, that it was 'hard' while another segment had the parents raving over how much those same little ones loved and lived for them. 

Yes, I stuck around for the second episode...this was Little Ms. Perfect and her mother...a team effort.  One mother had won a couple of pageants herself...a Mrs. Rhode Island and something else and, I will say, at the end of the show she did admit she liked the process better than her daughter did.  Sure...just listening to her it didn't take much to believe she was living her missed opportunities in life through this child...or hoping to.  Dad was serving in Afghanistan and it so happened he was flying in a day or two before the pageants (not, I hasten to add for that purpose...simple rotation) and there was Mom and daughter waiting at Tampa airport sporting their  previous winner sashes for the entire airport to admire.  Two days prior...since this was the team effort of this pageant...Mom heads to the Cosmetic clinic to get a botox treatment.  For one horrifying moment...when she mentioned botox treatments, I thought she was taking the kid along!  Why would that suprise me?  And the very sad aspect of this programme is, while watching those children one little girl in particular came very much to mind for they all resembled her...little JonBenet Ramsay.  

Something like this programme would anger me under any circumstance but was particularly poignant at this point in time.  Ten days ago a little 11yrs. old on our peninsula was found dead...on Christmas day...after having been abducted four days prior.  They have someone in custody, a known sex-offender.  Only two weeks before this atrocity and a little closer to our personal home, one of our paediatricians was arrested as an alleged paedophile ( and I say alleged because obviously he has not been to trial yet...you know the ropes, innocent until proven guilty...).  In the last few days the parents of at least 100 children have surfaced with complaints against him and the ages of the children involved range from 3mos. to 13yrs. of age....as far as I know..and that isn't a surety...all of them girls.  Sick, depraved, abhorrent...but tell me, are the head shots, pics and video of little bodies in bikinis..clothes and make-up and hair-dos outrageously twenty years too old for them... switching and swaying at the teaching of pageant operators and/or promoters less so?      Or is it just me being too moralistic?   Sure, as I'm the first to tell anyone else...there is an on/off switch on every television, there are hundereds of channels I could have turned to but why be an ostrich...?  Given that we here on the Peninsula are now frantically trying to change laws, initiate new ones to protect our childrens lives from predators, seems to me pageants would be a good place to start.  Hey, have children's contests if you must...but let the entrants BE kids in their natural innocence.  Or maybe just stick to spelling bees.

It was always fun and exciting "going home" regardless to which family and, of course, when we would arrive we were immediately back in the family fold with all their daily activities ...but a vacation where travel plans were set, accomodation reservations were made and all we had to do was be there with everything done and seen to for us, all we need do is relax and enjoy? Never had that...and I should say I've never missed it, either. And now that's about to change...a new experience is on the horizon. We are going on a cruise!! Always wanted to do that, never have. We're going to the Bahamas...never been! Eight days, seven nights...WOW! Our stops include Cape Canaveral, Nassau and, I think, Freeport. I know...sounds like Granny Clampett heading for Beverly Hills, huh? LOLOL! Well, you know how it goes...there are always other considerations and for me, vacations were the least of them. Then KW came home last Spring and declared "We are going!" She has had vacations but never a cruise, either. For me, I have to admit, the best part of it all is we don't have to fly to get to the departure port...yaaayyyy! Soon as I heard we leave from Baltimore I was there!! (Yes...I really would have had to think hard and twice if we had to fly anywhere to find the ship...). We can drive up! Wooo-hoo! Except we're not. A coach has been made available (at actually cheaper and probably safer than parking fees would be to leave our car close to the cruise terminal) which we board forty miles from home. We have a place for the car up there until we get back...easy as pie, no hassle, no fighting traffic, no stress...especially if (as I am beginning to wonder) we happen to get snowstorm either the weekend we leave or the one we return. Not our problem!!   So I think this IS, probably, my first real vacation...certainly our first together. Of course we do have to leave the menagerie behind which is very sad...NOT!! LOLOL...well, in a way it is but I think we have to make a rule that once we drive away from the house we can't discuss them. I don't think the cruise line would take kindly to us demanding a helicopter two days out, to bring us back home. Oh, the 'kids" will be fine...I stocked up on treats I'll scatter around, rip open a 50lb. bag of dog food and one of cat food, place tubs of bird seed and water jugs in each cage and fill two bathtubs with water and they will be fine until we get home.

Really?? You really believe we would do that??? Hmmm...well, with sixteen of them we are damned lucky we don't have to. No...we have a dear friend...a very special person...who has actually been encouraging us to take a vacation "even if just for a few days time out" for the last few years with promises of seeing to the 'kids'. When we've had minor work-related trips she has been there, when we needed to go back to MN when KW's Mom wasn't doing so well, she was there. She is the only person we don't even have to think about trusting to take care of them as we do ourselves...and we thank God for her. Given the alternative, no doubt the 'kids' do, too!

Yep...THIS is a vacation and we almost can't wait. Almost, I said...funny about leaving home. Looking forward to 'going', 'leaving'...not so much...lol.

And then we come into December...which is proving to be a test of my very patience and which begs the above question. A couple of weeks ago I suffered what appeared to be a potential health emergency. This time, not at all sure whether it was another cardiac 'event' or the old gall-bladder kicking and screaming, KW called 911. Long story short, it was determined to be the gall-bladder. I got over it...amen for painkillers...but pretty much decided I can't play around with this thing anymore and probably should really get it removed. Since the initial diagnosis a couple of years ago or so, my credo has been "I came into this world with every organ intact...I'm leaving with same..." The other night, when I explained this to the paramedics, KW (as usual!) had her smart-a** response. "Fine...that's what you want, honey, when you get it out I'll have them save it in a jar and it can STILL leave with you..." I suppose she has a point...except I don't think glass will burn well. That aside, I made an appointment with my "primary care' physician. It was for ten days hence, no problem. Now, I hadn't been to see him in almost two years and for what I considered a very good reason. I had to get over my "mad at him/his office" for the very off-hand manner to which I'd been treated when my cardiac problem surfaced. It was unnecessary, dispassionate and, in a way, frightening. This was when a dear friend went to battle for me after listening to me relate what had come about. Without telling me, she went to the doctor's office and gave them hell (professional hell...she had worked in cardiology for over thirty years). Some amends were made later in the day, my problem was taken care of and everything is pretty much 'great'. I'd been advised...then...to change doctors. I didn't...I just didn't feel any need to visit this office for a while. Been seeing my cardiologist, vascular surgeon, doing the meds and all the other right things and, basically, I still consider myself in great, rude health.

Tuseday of this week I kept that long-delayed appt. Arrived early...twenty minutes early with Kindle in hand. I knew the ropes. Check in, sit for a few minutes, be taken back to a small, windowless examining room for BP, pulse and then told "Doctor will be in in a few minutes...". I was prepared. Nurse leaves, I kick the Kindle into high gear and read...for fifteen minutes (which is about when Doctor usually will show up and usually about fifteen minutes after my appt. time). Listen...I don't have a problem with a doctor running a bit over time with another patient. The way I see it, if he does that with one patient he does it with all...everyone benefits and nobody need feel they are being given the bum's rush out of the office. Then twenty minutes, thirty, forty. At that I got up, opened the door to find a silent, empty hall...not a sound. Closed the door and sat back down thinking to myself "I wonder how long I should sit here before I check to make sure they DO know I am here? How long before I can logically assume they may have forgotten there's a little old lady behind this closed door?" And at forty-five minutes after my appointment time...fifty-five after I had been taken to this room...I got up and walked out...livid. As I closed the door behind me the same nurse came around the corner and just looked at me..."Sorry...I am not waiting any longer...it's been close to an hour and I've seen no-one. I'm leaving..." The response? "Oh...I'm sorry..." Sorry?? How about she could have come along at least once and explained "Doctor" was held up. Or, come along and said she didn't know how much longer he would be, would I want to reschedule? No-thing from no-one. Now, maybe I just don't have enough patience although this would certainly be the first time I've ever been accused of THAT. I AM a patient person, always ready to give another the benefit of the doubt, make an excuse for even bad behaviour but this absolutely torqued my jaws. At that moment I decided I will find another primary care physician so, perhaps, this was a lesson I needed make that decision instead of just accepting what they care to dish out. Think about it...every doctor's office asks that you arrive a few minutes before your appt. time and, at worst, at the appointed time otherwise you are cancelled, possibly "fit in" at their convenience or, if you can't make your appt. and don't cancel in a timely manner, you are billed for it, anyway. Meanwhile, these people whom WE hire to work for us, keeping us hale and hearty productive members of society, can play fast and loose with OUR time?? I don't think so. Time was when I, too, would accept this behaviour and say or do nothing. Not any more. The kicker will be if I get a bill for his time...and rest assured, if I do I will respond in kind. He will be receiving a bill for MY time.

I would say "That's ONE..." but it's not. A week ago today I had to report to my cardiologist's office for a nuclear stress test. Had to be there at 8:30am. Prior to that, had to go for a blood test. Now, for the stress test I was made aware that I could not partake of any caffeine products for at least 24hrs. prior to the test. OMG! Anyone who knows me...this terrifies them. "Her without coffee??? Be afraid...be very afraid. In fact...RUN Away!" Additionally, no food or drink after midnight and, at least, until the test is part way through (they did say to be sure to bring a snack and three bottles of water for my use during the testing). Friend came to pick me up at 7a.m. and off we went to the Lab, first. That done, on to town. Checked in...waited. We had to be there at 8am and were actually there about quarter of. Somewhere around 8:20am. one of the staff called me over and asked when I had made the appt for the test. That had been made on Monday...soon as I had seen my cardiologist. "Hmmmm...well, just have a seat and wait until she comes in..." I didn't know which 'she' she meant but took my seat and waited. Few minutes later the same woman called me back over and said there was a chance they "would not be doing my test today"...but no reason given. Sitting there with D...my friend...I was kinda joking that, that being so maybe I should just volunteer to leave. I was starving, coffee-deprived, hate waiting...instead we just laughed. A bit giddily. Shortly thereafter in comes the "she" previously referred to. Pretty soon she called me over and I honestly felt very sorry for her...she apologised most sincerely as she explained she had given me the appt. the paperwork etc. but she had not written it in the book nor had she put it in the computer and...they could not do the test today. I assumed because they have to get the nuclear drug from the pharmacy in order to do the test and they did not get enough to include me, that day. Hey...mistakes or oversights happen and this was the first to have done so with this group. I assured her it was no problem and, yes...I would come back 'next Friday'. Had to tease her, just the same...asked her if she would like my delicious snack of very dry Ryvita spread with gummy peanut butter and a bag of fresh raspberries. No...she didn't relish that, either. Gleefully, we escaped the confines of the office and beat a path down to IHOP, coffee and breakfast! Yaaaayyyy! Had to the best breakfast I've had in a very long time and having escaped some mad pedalling on an exercise bike...I was on such a high! Then we shopped for a couple of hours. It was a WONDERFUL day all of a sudden.

So yesterday...same garbage, different week. No caffeine etc. etc. the only difference being I didn't have lab work to get done so we didn't have to leave home until 7:30am. Arrived at 8a.m. and me, as is my wont bemoaning not having coffee for the last twelve hours. Okay, okay...I cheated. I only stopped my coffee after dinner last night, around 8pm. And maybe...just maybe...I had about a quarter cup at 5am this morning. Don't remember...lololol. NOT that it mattered in the long run. Three other people came in behind me for the same test. All were sitting with our little lunch bags...again with the yummy snacks and water. I was the lucky one...I had company in the form of the faithful and wondrous D. She and I always have a good time...she is my lunch date every Friday and we talk, debate, discuss and laugh...a lot....all the time. And that's what we did until around 8:30 when one of the other patients asked when he would be taken for his test. He was told (and despite the fact that D and I were giggling about something my ears DID pick up) "...and something wrong with the camera so she is trying to fix it..." Eh??? WHAT??? How long??? Nobody knew. A few minutes later a bulletin...now this new 'she' is waiting for a call from the repairman. Uh-oh! We all looked at each other and I burst out laughing...I could see breakfast (as opposed to a very late lunch!) looming in my near future. Few more minutes and another patient went to ask how much longer...by now it's around 9a.m. and I'm thinking of leaving, anyway. Lookit...to wait further, regardless of when they finally got the camera fixed and came for us, the test (we'd been informed) is 3 and 1/2 to 4 hours long. An entire day in a doctor's office? I don't think so. The receptionist went to check further then came into the waiting room. Camera still not fixed...could be another twenty minutes or so before we get a definitive 'you might as well leave' and, besides, listening bewteen the lines I got an understanding that all we were now waiting for was the doctor to come in and authorize our leaving...a mere formality by then. So I asked if it really seemed like we would all be sent home. Answer: yes. Basically we are waiting for the doc's arrival so you can tell us this? Answer: basically yes. Okay...so would there be a problem if I took it upon myself to leave now...and will I then be charged $125 for not keeping the appt." Answer: no...and no. (Because the nuclear medicine used...I assume...is essentially wasted when a patient doesn't show up we are also advised that if we do not give them 24hrs. cancellation notice we will be billed accordingly...$125.) At that I smiled...with enormous glee, I might add...threw on my jacket and said "We are OFF!" Deja vu all over again as he said. Down the highway, into IHOP, another high...and the day suddenly turned beautiful again!

I will say I did feel badly for the one particular receptionist who was playing messenger this morning...she was the one who had to tell me to leave last week. Fridays don't seem to be her best day of the work week and she is a very, very nice young woman. So...since she refused my snacks last week, this time I gave her a pocket angel. She really needed one and I hope it made her feel better. Especially when I had just told her not to make another appointment for me until after New Year. Yes, yes...I know it needs to be done but I'm thinking if I give myself a couple...three..how about four weeks prep I can get to the gym and pedal like the clappers, work out on my Wii and who knows...pass this test with flying colours!

Now...to laugh or not to laugh...what would you do? And I have to say, given the week that was I am still more angered by the primary care office than I am about the test. In fact...methinks I might have had a stress test to last me a while this week...without the nuclear (well, except for that dust and smoke exiting my ears...). And to tell you the truth...my next appt. for this test (whenever it is...) I'm taking with me a disposable camera and...if anyone has a kid's trike I can borrow?....there will be no excuses. Have the trike, camera that works, bag of icky snacks and water (with a thermos of coffee stashed somewhere) they cannot send me home!

Two Things On Tuesday

This is week #31 on Top Sites Tuesday and we have had a blast doing this! Bring fellow bloggers along to join us and have some fun, it’s all about networking, gaining new readers and comments on your blog! To get on the Blogroll you must participate a couple times and to stay on it you must participate at least once a month.

First thing is an apology for my absence.  No excuses and reasons hardly seem logical but I am in the process...yet again...of quitting smoking and spending time at my desk has been an irritation.  Only because the ritual of smoking is, for the most part, missing.  I haven't quite quit yet although KW says she is very proud of what I've achieved so far.  Me...I'm just grumpy!  I don't want the smoke, the taste or the smell...just the ritual of,  when I am concentrating, taking a cigarette out of the pack, lighting up and then resting it in the ashtray (to burn out).  That I miss.  So spending less time here in the office for the moment.  Along with that, just taking a bit of break in some respects.  Perhaps it's the change of season...I love this time of year and find it...find me...in a reflective mode.  Not unusual...happens every year and when it does...like I've similarly said before "the lights are one but nobody's home".   :-)   The hayfield calls!!

Which then ties into  the second thing on Tuesday.  I've said before that with compromising  the tv is usually on when I go to bed.  Playing a meditative CD is better but the tv was fine until I went through all the sit-coms on at that late hour (several times!) and then found nothing sooo, now I have the wireless headphones.....the other night I ran up the tv Music Choice channels to find Soundscape.  It's my favourite "quiet time" channel...new age stuff such as Steven Halpern, Enya, Kitaro.  Soon as I switched to that channel I heard the most beautiful music.  Well...I should qualify that...for me it is.  I love classical music and have sometimes wondered where are the Mozarts, Chopins, Albinonis of today?  Not that I don't appreciate today's music...I do and most of it but the sort of pieces that burrow inl and elevate the soul don't seem to come around often enough.  For the most part, Enya does it for me.  A number of years ago I bought a cassette the title of which I cannot recall...only remember that it was the 5th. Harmonic Scale...hummed.  I still have it...can't find it.  At any rate, I heard this music the other night and after a couple of minutes jumped out of bed to go see who and what. ( One of the petty annoyances of maturity is not being able to read the playlist on such channels from fifteen feet away...:roll:  )     Got back into bed, loving the serenity, but afraid I'd forget by morning, up again and headed for the pc and good ol' Google...still wearing the headphones.  Let me say here that if you have ever considered a set of wireless headphones...get 'em!  I bought a set of Sennhauser and they are amazing.  We have the transmitter and charger set up in the master bedroom (at one end of the house) and I can trail all over, continuing to listen (the other night that was about 72').  So I found the music.  It is Liquid Mind (perfect description!) aka Chuck Wild.  Once I found it, I sat there and sent the link to a dear friend and my sister.  Not sure Sis will enjoy it as much...not really her genre of music.  And I had the smarts to DVR the segment so...back to bed, tv off but could still listen.  And I was off!   Purists might argue that it's "only a synthesizer".  I don't care...it's serene, meditative, emotive, elevating and yet healing.  Of course not something I'd listen to while sweeping and mopping floors, taking out the garbage or doing a load of laundry!  But for a quiet few moments, taking a time out...or for sleep...perfect.  So I thought I'd share it with you today.  Since Saturday night I have downloaded three of Liquid Minds albums to MP3 and I'm a happy camper!   I wish I could post the video instead of just the link but for some reason I can't so hopefully you will check out the link.

Dream Messenger on youtube

And the web site you will find here:

http://www.realmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91&Itemid=149

As the header to this post says...."Have a Beautiful Tuesday", a wonderful week!

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I'm not suggesting banning marriage or ceremonies or an excuse for a big fancy party but why is marriage and only marriage so important to 'us'?  Is it the title we want, the certificate...or simply the legal standing (which, again, a civil partnership would certainly cover).  Can't be the religious aspect for we all know that a marriage in God's house, in the sight of God by a priest or minister doesn't hold up any better than a civil ceremony in a courthouse before a JP ...(or, for that matter, a plain old co-habitation)...for those who can't fully commit and figure "Well...if it doesn't work out there is always divorce".    So the question is...would I marry this beloved KW?  If it became legal in all fifty States I suppose I would...even if against my beliefs and only if it is the only way we could ensure her being my lawful, legal NOK where no-one could ever deny her and vice-versa.  But it would be a kicking and screaming couple heading for the courthouse....a business arrangement if you like.  See...the lifetime  commitment of hearts and souls has already been made.  Years ago. Without marriage, without a certificate, without anyone's blessing but our own. 

Two weeks ago KW ordered a new book cover for my Kindle electronic reader.  Gawwd, it is beautiful...even has a beautiful name.  'Roof of Heaven'.  Actually, the name really appealed to me before I even looked closely at the design.  Plus it is hand-tooled leather and I have a strong weakness (Huh??? ..lolol) for anything leather.  Love the feel, love the smell.  She had actually won a Kindle, 2nd. generation, at a business event a few days prior, affording our household the luxury of owning two of them.  The new one, unlike my original, came without any kind of protective cover and since I had been drooling over the leather one for my own, decided her need was greater than mine.  I decided on FedEx shipping.  It had to come from CA. and I wanted it to be here before she took her trip to Chicago.  It didn't arrive on time so we had to make do with wrapping 'her' Kindle in padding etc.  When it did arrive, we were even more in love with this cover and she ordered one for mine...for my pending birthday.  I suggested that rather than pay the higher price for FedEx and since there was no immediacy for mine, have it sent USPS Priority Mail.  Wednesday of last week we were notified the cover was finished (they make each one to order and it takes about three days) and shipped.  I expected it this week.  Friday last I went to pick up the mail from those community mail and package boxes in our development.  Hurrah!  A key for a package box was in the mail box so I skipped merrily down to the bank of boxes to pick up my cover.  Not so fast...the key would not fit into the lock.  I tried countless times...no joy.  Several neighbours were standing by the mail boxes chatting and they offered to give it a go.  No harm in trying...they did with no more success than I.  Seemed like the key was slightly bent at the end but I was not gaining access to my package that day.  Decided to be up there when the mail lady arrived with the  Saturday delivery and get my gift.  We never know when the mail person will be there but she never come before noon so...noon, Saturday, off  I went.  Even noon is early for them and, since I needed stamps, I sped over to Food Lion to get a book, picked up a magazine and...good thinking on my part...also got a cup of coffee and a sandwich.  Back to the mailboxes, I parked my car, read my magazine, had a 'picnic lunch' while I waited...and waited...and waited.  Some time around or shortly after two, I'm still sitting there when KW drives up, home from work.  She said she would wait and I could go home but, just then, up drives the mail lady.  Our Saturday delivery is done by a different person than the weekdays.  Explained the problem to her, she said she would make a note of it and let the supervisor know.  Eh?  What about my package?  She couldn't get into the package box so I'd have to wait until next mail delivery.  That wouldn't even be on the Monday, I realised...being a holiday.  Tuesday, soonest.  Neither one of us pleased, KW muttered that she could get into it if she went home for the sledgehammer!  Sure...great!  Interfering with federal property...a huge fine and I'd be visiting her in jail.  Not a chance!  Not that she would have...but I was frustrated, she was empathetic.  Paying for Priority, the thing was here in only two days and it mattered not a jot.  Returned home and I decided to call the post office to let them know and...who knows, perhaps they could do something to expedite.  Of course...it also occurred to me to call Geraldo but I was in no mood to be on tv...lolol.  At any rate I spoke with the supervisor there...he assured me there was nothing he could do until Tuesday and then I would get my package.  I was also to get a phone call letting me know when it had been retrieved.  I just had to wait.  At the same time, a horrid thought occurred to me...my prescription meds are covered by the military and recently, they have been sending me all sorts of materials encouraging me to get them to send them via mail instead of me going to a local pharmacy.  I have declined so far and glad I did...what if those had been meds in there?  So this all nipped at my head over the weekend and when I'd go reach for a cigarette...nothing!  Grrrrrrrrrrrr!  Well, this too shall pass...she thinks. 

Tuesday, I had decided to take five  jars of coins to the bank.  Thought about taking them where I always used to...Rehoboth...but decided I didn't want to do that so just make a run to Millsboro branch.  Luggs the bag carrying all the coinage into the bank and had to stand and wait...several times the tellers would tell me someone would be with me in "just a moment".  All I could think was if the bottom dropped out of this bag a few tellers would be helping me get all those coins off the floor.  Eventually, I was called to a teller and as soon as I stopped at her cubicle she said "Oh...coins?  I'm sorry, we don't have a coin machine.  If they are wrapped we can take them but otherwise...Rehoboth or Georgetown...."  Hmmm...last time I took coins to a bank they WERE wrapped and rolled and they told me they needed to be loose!  Fine...I didn't really want to head into town but I did.  Lugg the bag out of the car into the RB branch.  At least there they didn't have me wait but just said "I'm sorry, we don't have a change counter..."  Okaaaayyyy...what now?  She said "Georgtown or Lewes".  Back to the car, slightly worn out.  The heck with Lewes...I was going to Safeway Starbuck's for a coffee...I thought I remembered seeing a coin changer there.  Yes!  Sure...they charge where the banks do not...I had no idea what they charge, nor did I care.  Had enough running over the county, just do it!  Went out...lugged the bag once more.  Last time!  Wrong!  I read the instructions then began pouring coins into the tray.  At that, a cashier came over to tell me "It's not working...out of commission because it won't print...".  Aaarrggghhh!  Not only lugging back to the car but had to get all those stupid coins up and back in the bag.  No...I didn't empty the bag onto the tray but there were enough!  Fine!  Lewes it is.  And off I go.  This time the lugging was worthwhile...and I thanked God.  Talk about  cardio-strength training?  Two hours...two hours it took to take care of this little matter that wasn't even necessary but when I start something I finish it.  And I have no idea why the Rehoboth bank no longer has a coin counter.  The Millsboro branch said they had one but it didn't work "so we had them take it out".  Maybe the Rehoboth branch is too fancy in their new building and all new staff for a coin machine.  I could have taken it to any bank, probably...but I don't do business in any of the others so didn't know for sure which one had a coin machine and I'm really NOT a glutton for physical punishment.  So from there I had one more stop then home.  Pull into my development and swing into the mailbox circle.  Check my box...no substitute key, no package...maybe dropped at the front door.  Nope.  Called the post office..."Where is my package?"  Tells me the box had been checked and apparently vandalized "have to get maintenance out...tomorrow".  Great...we were heading up to Annapolis to get our Smart serviced (another pain in the derriere...means a full day off work, at least a three hour return trip and a three hour wait for the job to be completed).  Barely a sorry...still no smokes.  Did you happen to hear a blood curdling scream around four last Tuesday afternoon? 

Tuesday night, around 10pm. KW gets a call  from her keyholder...an SPCA cat missing.  Huh???  Sick kitty, KW had moved into the employee restroom for quiet, isolation etc.  It was nothing more than a URI but it wasn't eating either.  She had left instructions...all over the store!...to be watchful of cat, do not let it out of the bathroom because it is timid, scared and it does not come to anyone.  Okay...he lost it and was unwilling to stay to find it soooooo....we looked at each other.  She decided to go up to the store and find the cat while I would stay home with our lot since we were to be leaving them all day, next day.  That's a two hour round trip.  Add finding the cat etc. and we were supposed to be up at six to head for MD...maybe yet another service to be cancelled?  She found the cat within half an hour, home by just after one, cup of coffee then bed.  Six came really early.  Left at eight arriving at ten to run the car over for it's obligatory oil change and service.  Meanwhile, they ran us to Annapolis Mall to spend the waiting time.  Ughhh!  We aren't shoppers so even in a Mall that size you can only go into Spencer's, Brookstone, Teavana and Borders how many times?  And THEN KW said..."Gawwd...I'd love a cigarette!"  Ooops!  Me too...figure the odds on finding any in that mall so we decided to go check for a mini-mart or such.  I'd say I'd hate to be addicted to an illegal drug, trying to come off it but I'm here to tell you even though I don't know that experience, cigarette addiction doesn't seem to be much better.  Heaven knows how far we walked...sans jackets (we'd left them in the car, back at the service dept.).  Before we left the mall I'd mentioned I probably should find a restroom before doing so.  I didn't...I should have.  Half way on the trek I made KW promise not to make me laugh and prayed we'd find somewhere...cigs or not...with a restroom before the same walk back!  We found ourselves on the main highway...something of a back road...and eureka...a gas station!  Bathroom, cigarettes.  By then, truth?  Neither of us really wanted the cigarette but having come that far on foot, threatening rain and a chill wind...what the hell.  One pack each.  One pack between us would have sufficed had it not been that we each smoke different cigarettes.  She hates menthol and I only smoke the minties.  I know what you're thinking...get the kind nobody likes and it will help the quitting.  True...except for the fact that now we were seeking a 'reward' and it's only a reward if you enjoy it.  My logic and I'm sticking to it.  (I will say we probably only smoked about half of our cigs before stubbing them...tasted awful).  Back at the mall we sat with coffee and our magazines for a short time then...yep, went outside for a smoke with what was left of our coffees.  I know there has to be a leper colony somewhere around the Annapolis Mall...we had stepped all the way from the mall to the roadway and I swear the looks we were afforded from people going in and out...I think they all probably had masks, gowns and rubber gloves on.  Only visible to smokers, of course.  We got the call asking if we were ready to be picked up...the car was ready.  Yessss!  Back at the shysters...sorry, service dept....we got our bill.  Now, this car is under warrantee and other than oil change and whatever warrantee service the only thing to be done were, apparently, a couple of upgrades from Smart...free of charge, of course.  So why was our required service costing us $410???  We had already questioned them when we dropped the car off and the agent gave us the "cost of this service" as being $340.  Our first 10,000 miles servcie cost $240 which we were a little surprised at given the warrantee agreement.  But where did the other hundred come from in six months"?  There WERE no repairs required!  And the kicker is...I had written SMARTUSA to ask if and when a service centre would come to Delaware.  We DO have Mercedes dealers and service centres here so what's the problem?  Had a response...no plan now or for the foreseeable future to put one in Delaware.  Lesson ONE...no matter how cute or great a car is, if it's new to this country do NOT buy it until you find out exactly where the services will be done.  Of course we knew there were none in the country when we ordered the car but we assumed that once they began coming in those centres would be popping up.  At least a couple in each State.  Yes, I know it won't change the exorbitant charge for services but at least it won't take a full day off work into the bargain.  KW has done car repairs, oil changes of course...but on these computerized-to-the-max vehicles, these days?  Hardly.

Back home sometime after six...checked the mail.  No package.  Apoplectic now.  Thursday, went up to park at the mail box and found the usual mail lady there, putting out mail.  She saw me pull over and I saw her shake her head no...and I cannot tell you what thoughts were running through my frazzled mind by then!  However, in retrospect it must have been her response to the stormy weather.  She gave me my package.  The guy had just been down there Thursday morning (no explanation as to what happened to him on WEDNESDAY!) and dismantled the locks.   Ya know...if I'd just had the darn thing sent FedEX it would have been there the same day but delivered to my door!

And that has been the week that was...crummy, to put it politely.  The smoking?  Nope...have not started back as a habit, still struggling.  It's not the smoke I miss, it is not the taste.  I miss the ritual...taking one out of the pack as I type here, lighting up, taking a drag...while making a face for I haven't liked the taste for a long time...and setting it in the ashtray where it will burn out.  And I repeat the process.  That's what I miss.  For some reason it gets my head together.  Or keeps it together.......    I am quitting this time and, at the moment, KW tells me several times a day how proud she is of me.  Yes...she too is quitting and doing well...better than I am...but (in my defence..lolol)  she also smoked less than I have.           

This may be the only blog from me for yet another week but for the moment I can only vent.  Have a great week!

“What was your first car or Favorite car?”

My first car....the first and only one I chose, test drove and bought myself is "Priscilla"...1996 Toyota Corolla DX.   Since I felt it quite an accomplishment (and I'd just seen the new movie release, "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert") I felt like queen of something, hence the name.  I'm still driving her and, all things considered, at coming up for fourteen years old with only 85k miles, she's been...and is...something of a favourite.

However, #1 favourite we've owned was our 1967 Ford Fairlane.  We were second owners, she was five years old when we bought her and had 6k miles on the clock.  Imagine...we bought her because the brand new car we had shipped to Italy for our tour there was written off in an accident and Italian insurance companies just don't do well on pay out so this car...besides being about what we could afford at the time...seemed like a good choice.  My husband's colleagues didn't think so, especially since only a few months after we bought her we were planning a Christmas trip to visit my family in Scotland.  "She MIGHT get you there but you'll be flying back!" seemed to be the consensus.  I guess mostly because it was a Ford..."Fix Or Repair Daily" they said.  HAH!  Well, we drove Betsy (I know, I know...lol) to Scotland.  And back...from Italy.  We shipped her to the US and she was driven from Philly to Oklahoma then stored at my in-laws for thirteen months while he was in Iceland and our daughter and I in Scotland.  Then we drove her to Marin Co. CA. and daily for two years.  Back across the US to Philly to ship her to Spain where we drove her daily for just over three years and, during that time, made two road trips to Scotland...one for leave and the other transferring to a base there for supposedly three years in 1980, turned out to be almost five.  By the time we left Spain she had completely new upholstery.  Wasn't really necessary but paint jobs and upholstery were inexpensive not to mention beautiful.  We had her painted from original bronze to electric blue with a tiny metal flake.  Upholstery was in naugahyde and velour...two shades of blue.  The front bench seats had been taken out and two seats from a 1972 Volvo took their place (before re-upholstering, of course!) ...great seats with the lumbar support found on very few cars at that time.  A new transmission had been installed...let me rephrase that...it wasn't new just different and now it had four on the floor gear-shift instead of the factory column.  She had not only a wiper but washer installed on the rear window...something else that wasn't yet on newer cars.  Once back in Scotland she continued to be driven for about a year then taken off the road for a complete engine rebuild.  Still she didn't need it, my husband just wanted to do it as he had done everything else to this car except the paint job and upholstery.  She was off the road most of the time in Scotland...690hrs. he put into the engine and, while he was at it, put in an automatic transmission we had brought with us from Spain.  In 1985 we shipped her back to the US...Maryland.  There was some fine tuning to be done so we had her in the carport.  He never did get around to the fine-tuning...and when he became so ill that would be the end of Betsy.  She sat there, gathering dust until my nephew came to visit around the time of his 21st. birthday.  This car meant a lot to him, he had a 'history' with it, spending many hours with his uncle at the auto hobby shop, cleaning parts, getting diry and oily as only a nine year old lad loves to do!  He'd spend weekends an holidays with us, much of it spent "working on the car".  I often thought they just would smear oil and grease on his little face just so they could prove his help was much needed and I wouldn't stop him from going...especially after the times when his uncle would forget all about time until one or two in the morning!    He loved that car as much as we did so...nothing else for it but to arrange to ship it back to Scotland for him.  He no longer has the car although he kept it for a few years but last I heard it had not gone to the scrap yard.  For many years, it was no longer a Ford but a Fred.  I didn't always love it, either!  So many hours, money went on this toy that, from time to time I did consider blowing it up beyond fixing and yet...she was good to us.  The miles she took us, the mountains she climbed...in winter with no tyre chains;  the deserts she sped us through...in high summer with no air-conditioning.  On a military budget, when we travelled she was our hotel, diner...we slept in her, ate in her very comfortably.  Well, the short ones of us did...but the third managed pretty well and without complaint!   Oh...and the reason they laughed and said she would never last...besides the fact she was a Ford?  We paid $895 for this energizer bunny which, even 'back in the day', was almost a give away.  

This is week 28 on Top Sites Tuesday and we have had so much fun doing this! Bring your fellow bloggers along to join us and jump in and have some fun, it’s all about networking gaining new readers and comments on your blog!

Yeah, right...of course you are going to get ONE favourite from me!

Really, this is a tough one...I love a good movie and so many are my "favourites" about the best I can do is give you my favourite of the favourites.  Or...maybe a couple...three?  Aw, c'mon...three??  Oh, alright...let's see what I can do...

Overall and sappy as many people believe it to be "It's A Wonderful Life" is probably the most memorable and, no...I'm not THAT old!  I just love this movie.  Apart from the fact that I always liked James Stewart (and if you have to ask me who he is I'm not telling...just so you know)...I love Clarence, the angel.  More than all of that, though, I love the philosophical bent to this classic.  Just from a personal perspective, I do believe it tells it like is.  Haven't you ever looked back on your life...regardless of age...and pondered "what if I hadn't done this but chosen that", "what if so-and-so hadn't done this with/for me, where would I be now..." .  I know I've done so many times and this movie illustrates that no matter how or what we choose, it's right and we are not the only ones affected by our choices...even though we may never know who else was.  And it's funny...no matter how many folk I hear laugh or mock this movie there is as many of them to be heard saying "Ooh..there's a bell ringing!  EVery time a bell rings an angel gets it's wings..."  And you wonder why our yard is filled with windchimes.....!

"Bells of St. Mary's" is another favourite because from childhood...and because Bing Crosby had the starring role, Dad would always watch it on tv.  I still do.  He was such a fan of Bing.  I've seen this movie so many times I could probably act out Bing's, Barry Fitgerald's and Ingrid Bergman's roles without a flaw...and I'd rather be Ingrid Bergman.  Having a number of Catholic friends who went to pariochial schools, had nuns as teachers...and me not a Catholic...maybe I am one of the very few who thought she made a beautiful nun and I wanted to be her...lolol.   I did, briefly, think about convent life because of her, too.  A long, long...long time ago.

"Steel Magnolias"...aahh.  This movie is an odd favourite but a dear one.  It hits very close to home for me so, one minute it will have me devastated and the next...laughing my heart out.  I love Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis in particular.  This is another movie I have watched so often I could "read" it but my most favourite scene in this movie is when Sally Fields (Mom) and the women friends...Dukakis, Parton, MacLaine, Daryl Hannah were at the grave side following the burial of Shelby (Julia Roberts)...Sally Fields 'daughter'. Fields was fussing about how her hair looked when Ouiser (Maclaine) said something to her...I think about tee shirts...and Clairee (Dukakis) yells "Slap her!" (Ouiser).  First time I watched this movie, just after it's release on video, I was lying on the floor of the tv room just sobbing.  Elbow on the floor, chin cupped in hand, the tears were running down my cheeks and actually filling up my left ear and I was thinking maybe I should just switch this off when that scene played.  First time...but since then not the only...I knew what it was to cry yet laugh so hard at one and the same time.  I watched it through and I knew whomever wrote the screenplay had written this from a personal event.  Some time later a young friend of ours told me this was indeed the case.  No surprise at all.

The last favourite I'll list here is "Shirley Valentine" with Pauleen Collins.  This is a British movie and she is a wonderful, funny actress.  I think every housewife, wife, mother...if not every woman...could find something to which they can relate.  This was another I rented as soon as it was released on video and when I returned it, asked to buy the copy.  They only had one...the master...and not cheap.  I didn't care...had to have it.  This is a woman fed-up with her humdrum life, humdrum marriage, bored...so much so that when she comes home from work and starts preparing dinner she talks to the walls, the kitchen sink, tries to talk to her husband who only wants to watch tv and eat.  Then she goes to Greece..alone...on vacation.  THEN she finds herself and comes into her own.

Well...so that was four.  I cheated.  I still have a long list of favourites and I bet as I make my rounds of the bloggers participating I'll find at least a couple that are on the self same list.  Given a couple of the movies I plan to see this Fall, I'll be adding a few more.  I just might have to make a list on a blog post....hmmmmm......

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So...summer.  Well, usually at this time of year she has a few business trips to make and there was one to Atlantic City about two-three weeks ago.  When she came home two days later she called as she was making her way to the ferry and said she had a surprise for me.  Wouldn't say what it was but "you will really like it...."  My first guess was she had won one of the cars being drawn for...and that was a silly guess because how would she get it home.  We weren't even done laughing over that one when I said "I know...it's a Kindle!"   She stopped laughing like a faucet being shut off.  "You guessed it..."  I don't know which of us was taken aback most for again, I was joking.  One, why would I even seriously think of a Kindle at a trade show for pet suppliers?  Two...why would I even think of a Kindle, especially since I've had one since last Christmas.  But...Kindle it was. The second generation.  And yes...I was thrilled!  A spare, a back-up without having to find another $300 should mine meet an early demise.  But when she arrived home and we had time to check it out, better yet.  This one has a few differences from mine, one of them being the most amazing thing...download a book and sure, you can read it but if, say, you are driving you can switch it in the "Text to speech" on the menu!  Wow!!  Now, I've found most voracious readers don't like being read to...I know I don't.  I want to read the words, make my own "movie" in my head to run simultaneously and being read to is a serious distraction from that.  However, my other half won't take the time to sit and relax and read...has no patience with it...but she does love audio books.  Tah-dah!  And yippee!  Three weeks later she is still reminding me that "this is yours...it's not mine and I don't have time" BUT...she did have me download two books from my reading list, has already used the conversion mode (you can switch back and forth) and, better yet, took it with her on this latest trip...this weekend, to Chicago.  Not that they ever have much time to sit and read but on the plane, a 'bedtime story'.  This is so cool...at least for me.  One of the books she wanted was Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol".  I had pre-ordered it for download the day of it's release and had already begun (umm...there is something like 53 chapters...or is it 153??).  Oh, goody...I said.  You listen, I'll read and then we'll discuss.  The look of joy (NOT!) on her face was enough to scare the tog off the lines.  But listen...we have made such strides in that direction since we met...there IS hope...hahahaha.

So she is in Chicago...well, for the next hour or so when they catch their return flight.  They had the usual thing...the trade show, being feted at dinners by their distributors, all go and today was a free day so, as is his wont, the boss treated them to something special.  Sometimes a show, tours, a couple of extra days where they are.  This time today was a football game...Da Bearsss!  He bought twelve tickets.  They were going to have to leave during the fourth quarter so they'd get to the airport on time but all were excited and KW is as raging a football fan as any I've seen.  (At least she says she is and gives that appearance but it's funny...football Sundays when I pop into the tv room occasionally, seems to me like she is constantly checking for pin holes in her eyelids.  No doubt so she doesn't miss a thing in the games...Ahem!).  And she isn't a Bears fan but going to the game was a treat.  She called me this morning around breakfast time...the boss had had the tickets tucked away in a jacket pocket.  Back at the hotel last night he had taken the jacket off and put it in a bag at the bar.  The bag was stolen...went missing, I should say and the desk did not have it turned in there.  Ultimately, it magically reappeared in the hands of the manager...bag, jacket...tickets gone.  Twelve of them.  Now while they were trying to cancel them, trace or report the theft to police etc. they were also figuring out what they were doing with the rest of the day until evening flight.  I just heard...they decided to go to the game anyway and try to get tickets.  And it all worked out beautifully...thanks to a young lady at the ticket booth.  KW spotted it on her walkabout looking for someone selling tickets, went over to tell her this possibly 'unbelievable'  story.  She did some checking and saw that it was, indeed, genuine and gave them twelve new tickets.  Gave them...I'll never listen to another bad word about Chicago!  So that summer episode ended very happily.

Meanwhile, back at the menagerie.......we have had a wonderfully selfish weekend.  I could live like this if  I had to...it wouldn't be my choice...but once in a while a selfish couple of days every one needs and since I am woman I'll venture to say especially women.  It's inherent in us to nurture, to care for those we love...not that we do every little thing for our other halves but honesty dictates that we be honest with ourselves.  We do most things...because we 'know better how to', 'it's my job', 'can't help myself'...and we put the others in the household first.  But leave us alone for a couple of days and look out!  It's "ME, me, me..and me..."  I've read, I've played computer games, I've watched movies and caught up on taped shows.  I ate dinner at 4pm yesterday because I wanted to eat chips and peach salsa in the evening!  Yaaaayyy!  And dessert!  Whoooooo!  (Normally I don't do this...dinner at six or later, who needs snacks?)  I haven't stepped outside the door since Friday...unless you count feeding the ferals who come to the deck or taking a trash bag out to the garbage with all my evidence...lolol!  Housework you say?  What about housework?  Nah, nah...this is my weekend off, too!  Truth be told, I'm tidier than she is...one mug, one ashtray and since I don't do projects under the best of circumstances unless forced...by KW...the only thing I drag out are books.  Now I don't even do that since all of my newest books are on the Kindle so it's ONE book-like thing and always goes with me...from living room end table to office to bedroom to living room. (I have a chunk of velcro glued to every robe and caftan so I can just slap it on and go...hahahaha...no, really...I don't).  And she would be totally amazed at how quiet I am at such times...lolol...well, what choice do I have when there is nobody to talk TO?  Even the 'kids'...they know who they have in charge...I'm the alpha (at least when KW's not here...and she's only the alpha female because she's "Party Mom").  They know full well I'm the one with boundaries and expectations of behaviour.  She has none.  On the contrary...with her at home THEY have expectations of behaviour from her and they get it realised...need I tell you that those are very, very different from what I want from them.  But at least when it's just us..I get it.  They have all been very, very good at letting me do my thing, whatever it might have been.  And now, later on tonight the entire neighbourhood as far as Seaford (look out, Wolf and Trina...this means you too) will be startled awake with the raucous partying, barking, baying, yipping, squawking and meowing as Party Mom walks through the front door.  And that's just ME...I hate to try to describe the cacophony of the animals!      :)    

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, as in the United States, Canada and Europe, Fall began on September 22, 2009 at 5:18 pm EDT. So this weeks theme is another finish this sentence:

“My Favorite thing about Fall is…”

This is week 27 on Top Sites Tuesday and we have had so much fun doing this! Bring your fellow bloggers along to join us and jump in and have some fun, it’s all about networking gaining new readers and comments on your blog!

We Brits call it Autumn although I have no idea why...just something I'm used to...but Fall or Autumn, this is one of my favourite seasons.  What's not to like?  When my sister and I were kids Dad used to collect sacks of leaves to use as mulch for his garden.  We lived at the edge of a suburb and just a few yards away was "the country".  We could see the forest of a large estate from our living room and just out of sight was a little stone bridge over a burn (creek).  The bridge would literally fill with leaves and every time we went to fill the sack we'd have time to play in the leaf piles, crunching, snapping, flinging ourselves down and around.   That's one of two distinct memories I have of  past Falls.  The other very different.  Living on Guam and there was no "four seasons".  Only two...the rainy season and the dry.  Difference between them was (well, as we used to say) it rained only three times a day in the dry season while we could count at least five times a day in the rainy.  There was too much sameness, sun shone almost all of 365 days and temperatures dallied around 87 degrees year round.  While I enjoyed being there I was more than ready to leave when the time came...and, it so happened, we left in time to greet the Fall in a more northern clime.  Couldn't have timed it better!

Everything about it is 'favourite'.  For me, though, it's the harbinger of cooler weather readying for winter.  At the moment we are continuing to have warm days but when there is a breeze it carries a slight chill and a fresh, cooling smell of the earth.  I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the pine needles are laying a crunchy, scented carpet on the driveway and deck, leaves beginning to turn shades of gold, red and brown.  That brings  me to my least favourite aspect of Autumn...not enough that I sweep floors umpteen times a day, now it's also the deck.  I don't mind the scents and crackle of the leaves but no sooner have I swept the deck clear of one pile another has already begun!  I love the daylight pulling back bringing an early dusk, lighting the lamps and life is cosy.  And the moon!  There is nothing quite like a harvest moon rising...golden orb glimpsed through the tree-line.  Well...I say nothing quite like it but perhaps even better is the setting sun turning the wisps of clouds to molten gold.  It's a beautiful time of year...much like a beautiful time in life.  It's easy, much more content, slowing down.  Not necessarily physically but surely mentally, taking the time to appreciate the colours of our lives as much as we do those of nature.   Spring is busy, summer frenetic but autumn is gentle...time to take a breath.  That would be my favourite thing about Fall.

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