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 |  Here's to bloggin' around the block--one word at a time. |
| Writer’s Digest has a feature page near the back for “Celebrating 90 years of WD.” Last issue was Pop Culture. They had various pictures of magazine covers such as November 1956 with a picture of Elvis Presley and July 1979 with a caricature of Dolly Parton. They had a quote from an autobiography piece by A.A. Milne (creator of Winnie the Pooh) in June 1922: One day about three years ago, I thought of a rather good way of murdering someone. Instead of leaving it at that, I went on thinking about it, and finally decided that it would make a good story. In the current issue the “Celebrating” page theme is American History and there is a clip from January 1932. Dear Editor: I cannot understand how you carry an article on radio writing and promote such an un-American base influence as radio is in the American home. There are cursing and socialistic things said over the radio every day. I don’t want your Digest any more if you carry such articles. Mrs. Evaline Chapman Harrod, Indianapolis, Ind. I’m not sure what Evaline was talking about, but I’m pretty sure she’d be apoplectic over things she heard and read today. (I bet she wouldn't even like Marilyn's quote.) “It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.” – Marilyn Monroe |
| “Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around.” – Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) Last night I dreamed I was standing in the street waist deep in snow. A car sped past me and I started yelling at them, “I hope you land in a ditch!” They did. The driver got out and I kept yelling at him. I woke up trying to make him repeat whatever stupid thing he said. I have a lot of anxiety dreams but this is the first angry dream I’ve have in quite awhile. I don’t know what I’m mad about or even if I am. But I’m not in a very good mood and I have a headache. I suppose I need to look at what’s bothering me. It could be that it’s about seven months since my mom died and her birthday is this month, although I don’t feel sad. It could just be that stupid people put me in a bad mood. Like George Carlin said, “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” I warned you.  (Actually I feel a little better now. I guess Watterson is right.  ) |
| I got an email this morning telling me that today is the beginning of Fiction is Fun Month. They suggested I “Read a good novel, short story, science fiction novel, mystery, Western, or other fiction today!” They didn’t have to tell me twice since my plans already are to be Reading 50 plus Novels in 2009  If you look at my list you’ll be able to tell that reading is pretty much all I’ve been doing. I think Jane was speaking to me:  It is books that are the key to the wide world; if you can't do anything else, read all that you can. -- Jane Hamilton |
| Although I just learned that I could have taken the day off since the May blog calendar doesn't have a day 31, I decided to end my blue month with this quote. I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance. ~Reuben Blades |
| Last night we watched the movie Stir of Echoes with Kevin Bacon. It came out in 1999, I think, at the same time as Sixth Sense and kind of got lost in the shuffle. I thought it was pretty good. It was kind of a cross between Ghost Whisperer, Medium and Cold Case , all my favorites. I’ve been struggling through a novel by Anne Lamott titled Joe Jones. I promised myself I wouldn’t struggle through anything while I’m reading my 50 in a year, but I usually like her stuff so I kept going. Today I realized at least part of the problem. The book skipped from page 89 to 149 then later began with 149 again! It’s going back to the store. There’s a new restaurant opened near us that has both Japanese and Chinese food. We’re going to try them tonight. Take-out two nights in a row. I am so spoiled! Today is the birthday of the Ice Cream Freezer. William G. Young patented the first ice cream freezer in 1848. Right now my favorite ice cream flavor is Peach. How about you? This is the next to last day of my blue blogging month. (Z.˚rz  too.) It’s been a challenge, but I think it’s been good for me. Maybe I’ll keep going in June. Maybe not. |
| “Try to be like the turtle -- at ease in your own shell” Bill Copeland Yesterday I got an email that caused my body to respond in the ‘fight or flight’ mode. It was a simple question about my old job. I answered the question easily from off the top of my head. It was no big deal. So why was I reacting that way? I guess I just haven’t recovered from the stress of last year, especially those last few months. Lucky for me that today was beautiful, and we could spend it in the park again. First, though, we stopped at Jack’s dad’s house. He won $100 in the Lotto and wanted to split it with us. That was a pleasant surprise. In the park we found a little painted turtle on one of the trails. Jack almost stepped on it. Instead we carried it to one of the smaller ponds and turned him loose. He was a spunky little guy, waving his legs, trying to push off Jack’s hand. When he sensed we were close to the water he wind-milled his front legs like he was doing the butterfly stroke. He took off in the pond and didn’t look back. On the way home we stopped at the salad bar in the supermarket to get take out. We want them to go with the pizza we’ll get tonight with our Lotto dough. I used a Styrofoam container and Jack put his in a clear plastic one. We were just about ready to take our salads to be weighed when we both discovered the beets. Jack spooned some onto my salad then tried to put some on his. Too bad he had already put the lid on. I laughed for an hour. He told me I couldn’t tell anyone, but I couldn’t agree to that. Now I just realized I was supposed to order the pizza about twenty minutes ago. Have a nice evening! |
| I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. ~Woody Allen A couple of hunters are out in the woods in the deep south when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, and his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls 911. He gasps to the operator, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator, in a calm and soothing voice, says, "Alright, take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is silence, and then a gun shot is heard. The hunter comes back on the line. "Okay. Now what??" ***** An explorer in the deepest Amazon suddenly finds himself surrounded by a bloodthirsty group of natives. Upon surveying the situation, he says quietly to himself, "Oh God, I'm screwed." The sky darkens and a voice booms out, "No, you are NOT screwed. Pick up that stone at your feet and bash in the head of the chief standing in front of you." So with the stone he bashes the life out of the chief. He stands above the lifeless body, breathing heavily and looking at 100 angry natives... The voice booms out again, "Okay....NOW you're screwed." **** Laughter is an orgasm triggered by the intercourse of sense and nonsense. ~Author Unknown |
| ..I don’t have to make any sense. Tonight when I opened a new bar of Ivory soap, I noticed on the back of the wrapper the words Bar/Pain. When I was working for a nonprofit we held our quarterly board meetings at Au Bon Pain. According to the online translator that means To the Good Bread. That may be about the only thing I miss about that job so far. I guess I haven’t been gone long enough. It got to the point that I couldn’t have even done everything I had to do if Jack hadn’t been helping me. He was my best volunteer since I couldn’t pay him because the budget was so tight. His dad couldn’t understand that. He doesn’t believe in volunteering. He said if an organization doesn’t pay you then tell them to “go to hell.” Jack and I both dreamed about his ex-wife’s family last night. I wonder what that means. Dreams are so weird. That wasn’t the worst dream I’ve ever had. In fact I haven’t had any really bad dreams for quite awhile. I imagine I just cursed myself with that statement. Does that ever happen to you? You’ll brag about something like you haven’t had a cold in a long time and in a couple of days you’ve got a cold. A rotten cold that makes you feel awful. I’ve done that more than once. It’s thundering and supposed to rain tonight so I think I should quit and go to bed. I love to sleep when it’s raining. I saw a TV movie once about W.C. Fields and in one scene he couldn’t sleep and said he wished it would rain. His wife (or girlfriend) went outside and sprayed the hose on the roof. I think Rod Steiger played W.C. and Valerie Perrine played the woman. Remember her? I don’t know if I spelled her name right or not. It’s a good thing that the month is nearly over because I really have gotten desperate trying to blog every day for a blue month. The evidence is in this entry. Except for making myself blog a blue month, May has zipped by at a pretty good clip. Have you ever used the Office Assistant with MS Word that looks like a moving paper clip with big eyes? His name is Clippy. Clever, huh? I think I can quit now since I have written over 400 words of nonsense. I’ll leave you with the link to this radio station called, what else? Common Nonsense. ishttp://www.commonnonsense.net/id1.html |
| me•an•der•ing: To move aimlessly and idly without fixed direction Our friend Tom recently told us a story from when he was in high school. There was a teacher he did not get along with well at all. Once she said to him, “You wouldn’t be too bad looking if your mother dressed you right.” Tom shot back with, “You’d be pretty if you weren’t so ugly.” He soothed her ruffled feathers later with the excuse that he’d “been under a lot of pressure lately.” There’s a store on the corner of one of the many strip malls on this side of town. It’s a women’s lingerie store called Pricilla’s. Apparently the store is under new management because the name has been changed to Cirilla’s. Aren’t they resourceful? Just drop the P and move the letters around you don’t have to buy a new sign. Looking for something different to read? In Japan a new horror story is printed on a roll of toilet paper. Evidently bathrooms there are scary places, hidden in dark corners for religious reasons. So the author of The Ring has written a nine chapter Novella set in a public restroom titled “Drop.” The story sells for about $2.20 per roll. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090524/ap_on_re_as/as_odd_japan_scary_toilet_paper Okay, I’ve meandered long enough. ’Til tomorrow. I may blog a blue month yet! |
| The story of the first Memorial Day (Decoration Day) in 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina Charleston was in ruins. The peninsula was nearly deserted, the fine houses empty, the streets littered with the debris of fighting and the ash of fires that had burned out weeks before. The Southern gentility was long gone, their cause lost. In the weeks after the Civil War ended, it was, some said, "a city of the dead." On a Monday morning that spring, nearly 10,000 former slaves marched onto the grounds of the old Washington Race Course, where wealthy Charleston planters and socialites had gathered in old times. During the final year of the war, the track had been turned into a prison camp. Hundreds of Union soldiers died there. For two weeks in April, former slaves had worked to bury the soldiers. Now they would give them a proper funeral. The procession began at 9 a.m. as 2,800 black school children marched by their graves, softly singing "John Brown's Body." Soon, their voices would give way to the sermons of preachers, then prayer and — later — picnics. It was May 1, 1865, but they called it Decoration Day. On that day, former Charleston slaves started a tradition that would come to be known as Memorial Day. There’s more here. http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/may/24/the_first_memorial_day83450/ |
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So glad to see your blog again, and I like the idea of a 'new' Clean Slate. I may just do that myself! I look forward to reading more from you! 
