Celestial bodies

Using the night mode trick in black and white this time. I found some interesting shapes emerged from my tree lights. Some are even a little suggestive? And, I will stop right there.

Neat

It was neat to see what the picture would come out when I did this. I put my camera into night mode where the shutter stays open longer and took a picture of my tree. I think my camera takes this picture with the shutter open for 10 seconds. I move the camera in slow circles while it is in that 10 second phase of shooting the photo.

Tree and tacky and a rock star

The tree is finally up. It is done being my garage air freshener. It is a monster. If I had to do over again, I would trim the scraggly branches off the bottom and cut it off more at the stump. It was a chore to get it up and in the stand, so this will do. It will be rough getting the lights on all the way at the top. It tickles the ceiling. I was gone all day yesterday, but my daughter was home. I was hoping she would decorate it, but she cleaned instead. That is okay by me. I must dig out the lights and decorations today. This is the tree part.

Now, for the tacky. I am still shaking my head. Never in my 48 years. My sister (1944) couldn't believe the tackiness either. She and I went to a luncheon yesterday. Out of town. We had sent in our reservation weeks ago. We paid $12.50 at the door. We sat with a group of folks my sister went to school with. The lunch group totaled 40 in all.

Most of the folks here are my sister's age. I started to go with her to the meetings because it has to do with genealogy and to help with the technical parts of the workshops. Digital photography for example.

One couple came from the north, just to meet up with my sister and a few of her school mates. They had not seen one another in 46 years since graduation. This is where the rock star part comes in, and I will get back to that.

Our table was the last to get up and get into the food line. There were about nine people behind me in line when I looked at the food. 3 chicken breasts left and one steak floating in gravy. Hmmm. The two folks ahead of me passed the meat up. I did also. I was getting my salad when the president of the group found out the meat ran out.

Get this.

She put her chicken back into the pan. She said "I didn't touch it. You can trust me." She then gathered chickens and steaks from folks who had not "touched" theirs yet. Prior to the meal, the group was instructed that they could take one chicken and one steak each . I guess they took that to mean it was required to take one of each, I don't know.

Is that just unreal?

I booked it out of the line and muttered to myself "I am NOT taking food off of other people's plate." I was shaking my head in disbelief. I sat down and ate my vegetarian lunch. The rest of the meal consisted of salad, green beans, noodles, corn pudding and a roll. My sister was so wrapped up into talking with her friends she was totally unaware of what went on around her. She had passed the meat up also. I told her on the drive home what had transpired.

She was in complete shock. They took food off of people's plates and put it back? I nodded. She had been talking to the people in line with her and was oblivious.

Never in my life have I witnessed such vulgarity at a luncheon. The proper thing to do would have been to give a refund to the folks at my table and apologize. This is the society where I won a membership for a year. The next meeting is in March. I have until then to get over this and decide if I want to continue to meet with this group. It is over a 50 mile drive for me to attend. It has to do with the genealogy from the county I grew up in. I don't know. I was doing it for my sister and to get more involved in things that interest me. I'll have to think about it.

I have six lunch/dinner functions to attend this month for the holidays. I am certainly not going to miss one piece of chicken. It is a story to tell and laugh about at future functions, so I guess it makes for good fodder. That will make it all worthwhile.

Now, back to the rock star. The fellow that my sister went to school with is a Presbyterian preacher. The entire family is musical. One of his two sons is a member of the rock music group Isis. I didn't know this until the drive home. I am not familiar with the group but I have heard of them.

Wee one

What does a person with five tiny yorkies get? A tinier dog, of course. A tiny teacup chihuahua dog. I think I spelled that right. This is my brother's dog.

My daughter had a blast playing with this wee one back in March 2006. She didn't grow much. The dog, that is. My daughter grew and her hair got shorter.

This makes post number 1,400 for me. Woot! I'd celebrate, but I am going to bed. This Ohio weather today is flippin' nuts and I have half a headache. I haven't taken any medicine and I don't want to so I am banking on sleep to take care of it. Hope, hope, hope. I hate waking up with a headache.

Some winter days

In Ohio, in early December, when there was no snow.

This was taken last week on a drive to a school many miles away from home. I have no idea whose home it is. Just something I see on the ride. It was the middle of deer hunting and I saw lots of hunters out and about that day.

I don't know about you, but the Christmas specials and movies just don't seem the same since cable plays the same ones over and over again and videos and DVDs let you watch them any time you want. They have lost that "special" significance. Yawn.

This reminds me of a childhood trauma. Small trauma. But, to an eight year old it was pretty significant. Picture it. The year is 1968. It would be almost 10 years before VHS tapes were available to the public and another five before most homes were able to afford units to play them. Cable stations that currently play holiday movies over and over were also unheard of.

My oldest sister (1944) was getting married on the 27th of December. A friend of the family held her wedding shower on a cold winter night in early December. I was in the wedding and I was to attend the shower. The friend's children were grown and gone. The television sat in the corner of the room that held the crowd of ladies from around town. We ate little cucumber sandwiches and my sister unwrapped her gifts.

It just happened to be the one, the only night in a long year of 365 days that the one little television station would play the favorite classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I looked longingly at that dark television screen many times during that shower knowing it would be another 365.. no, make that 366 days (1968 was a leap year!) before I would be able to watch my beloved Rudolph again! Horrors! That is a long time to an 8 year old.

I see that the movie only came out in 1964. Given the circumstances, I may have watched it once or twice before the year I didn't get to watch it. It was something I looked forward to. Sigh. I wonder how many times I have actually watched the movie. My daughter never got excited about the movie because we could watch it on Halloween or Thanksgiving 100 times over because we had it on video tape. It just isn't the same. Kids these days have no idea.

Window dressing

The curtains have been washed and re-hung. The lights are on. They are just waiting for the tree. We moved the furniture around yesterday. Before we went to get the tree. It used to be that my daughter and I would walk the few blocks to purchase the tree and carry it home through the snow. You know, like families do up on Walton Mountain or something like that.

Last year my brother happened to be there and drove my tree to my porch. This year I really thought I could do it. Forgetting that moving the furniture around gave my lower back a good thumping over. I would have made it, but we got stupid and decided to take the dog. She was so excited by all the people she was almost unmanageable.

Walking home we were freezing. My daughter had the top of the tree and I had the trunk and the dog. It was cold. We must have looked pathetic because my neighbor stopped with his bright and shiny new red truck and put the tree in the back and drove it to my back porch. We were halfway home. I thanked him and put the tree in the garage for safe keeping overnight. My Mom had a tree stolen right off her porch before.

We will cut the trunk today and get it into water. We may get it decorated by tonight, I don't know. My daughter wants to practice backing into the orange cones today so that she can be ready to take her driving test. Ugh. It's going to be cold. Then she is meeting some new guy at the mall. She is so excited about this, she is over at her computer dancing to her hip hop. She said she wants music today, but not Christmas. I've been playing the holiday music for a few days, now.

I've got a real cat problem. Not poor Titten who got both eyes infected. We took her to the doctor and they gave us drops to put in three times a day. She is getting better and fortunately no other cat seems to be affected yet. No, this is a more serious problem.

Moose has always been picked on by the other cats. I try to let them work it out for themselves. My big male cat, Casper won't let her go downstairs. So, she ends up going to the bathroom upstairs. This is not acceptable. I tried taking her downstairs myself but she ran back upstairs as soon as I put her down. She is always scared. She has the long fur but barely weighs five pounds. She is so light when I pick her up. She is the one that vomits, too. Not very often, though.

Sigh. I don't want to get rid of any of them. I will not get rid of Casper. He is my baby. I am torn. This bathroom problem started happening this week. She is using my nice pink area rug in the bathroom. This last time there was blood in her stool.

I may get a litter box, food and water dish and begin putting Moose in the back bedroom by herself during the night. We do pick Casper up and put him in the backroom for some "time out" when he picks on her. He chases her. The other cats have started to pick on her too. What to do, what to do. I've talked to the vet when this happened before. We talked about shaving her to get ride of the mats still embedded in her coat. Maybe she is in pain. Maybe there is something wrong with her that the other cats sense and they don't want to be infected. Maybe animals know this stuff.

The paper is full of "free kittens" for Christmas. We have a cat shelter. The last time I was there it smelled so bad I couldn't stay for more than 10 minutes. They have dozens of cats. I don't want it to come to that. I will try the separation technique until the first of the year and then deal with it. This may be the reason she was put out by the people who owned her before. She was already fixed when she came to our back door. My daughter snuck her into the basement without my knowledge.

Well, it's time to go and get that tree up.

Kind of scary

If I were a kid, I think this would just scare me.

Taken from Tis the Season 2 years ago.

Last Year's stash

A display from the museum in 2007.

22 years

Way back in 1986. The picture on the wall behind the group is my grandmother holding my father and his twin brother dated 1915. The lady on the left is my father's sister (born 1901). The lady on the right is my sister (1954) and her son.

Summer drive

A drive from July 2007. Warmer days are just around the bend. Given six months or so.

Poor baby

She goes to the doctor tomorrow. I have to go and clean it, now. She doesn't like that. Not one bit.

Barely tolerating me

Here Moose is on a sunny morning, trying to tolerate the woman with the camera. She did get fed up and left to the other side of the couch. I couldn't resist with that sunshine streaming in through the window and back lighting her. We must move the furniture around today to make room for the tree. I like to put the tree up in front of that big window.

One of our other cats, Teton (a.k.a. Titten) has what I think it conjunctivitis. It got bad yesterday and our vet was closed. I was out at the mall shopping when my daughter called me. She said she had been washing it with a warm wash cloth. I told her to call our vet. No answer. I drove past the office later and it was indeed closed. I guess I've never needed them on a Saturday before, or maybe it was because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

It got much better last evening. I'll watch her and clean her today and tomorrow we will call the vet's office. The one cat that we picked up with her when we found them was washing her eye for her. Mr. Tibbs. He always seems to take care of her.

I guess we will get the tree today. I don't know. Is it too early? Will I be tired of it by Christmas? Will it dry out to a brown, prickly mess by then? Do I want to decorate it? No.

This holiday week-end we watched WALL-E. I had seen it at the theater but my daughter had not. We also watched Nim's Island and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2. Of course we enjoyed WALL-E and I liked Nim's Island. The Travelling Pants sequel was good as well, but I was making dinner during the movie. I did the roast beef and mashed potatoes. I can't believe I actually got sick of looking (and eating) mashed potatoes. Ugh.

Cranberry ring

I didn't make this. A co-worker did at the company get together a couple of weeks ago. Nice!

Giving thanks

A shot of an arrangement from the museum display of trees/wreaths and table centerpieces.

I love silver and blue together. The white from the candle and the green from the pine needles set this display off very nicely, I think.

My Thanksgiving started out with a call from my sister (1954) in prison. My nephew (her son) was here so she was able to speak with him. A lot of the younger generation do not have land lines, so it is difficult for her to reach him at his house so she tries on holidays or times that she figures he will be at my house. Her daughter was staying over at a friend's house so she didn't get the chance to speak with her.

Another sister called (1956) shortly afterwards to brief me on who was coming to the dinner. We headed to my eldest sister's house (1944) and spent the afternoon and evening there. 24 out of 34 showed up. It was a fantastic time.

My house is full of warmth, food, family, pets and love. I am tired but not exhausted. I did not do the "shopping" thing again this year. I never have. I suppose I will have to experience it at least once in my life. My sister (1949) goes with her children to get some specials, but mostly for the entertainment. They watch the other people fight, push and shove on the escalators for one example. Uh, no thanks.

The wind howls outside and the wolf taps at the door (he ain't knockin', yet.). I drink my coffee and pet my cat. I hear purring. Is that me or the cat?

Yes. Put it all into perspective. Shake off the pesky worries. I may dump the coffee and go for the hot chocolate. Read the paper while family sleeps. Just me and the critters are stirring. Three more days of no "get up and go to work". And I am going to enjoy them.

Christmas tree display

I made it to the tree display at the museum. I had taken a few pictures before I realized that I had the camera on the wrong setting. One of the flaws in my point and shoot is that the letters on the top control dial wear off after a few years of use. I rely on the display window to tell me the setting but with my failing eyesight, sometimes I don't catch the fact that I have the camera mode set on movement instead of Auto. My pictures did not come out as well this year. I processed the heck out of the one pictured here because I just was not happy with the original.

I use Irfanview, Jasc Paint Shop, Paint Shop Pro and MS PowerPoint. I really messed with this photo by using all of the above programs and some of them twice.

I have the day off and it will help when I prepare the appetizers for the big dinner tomorrow. I am travelling about 40 miles north to my sister's house and I am taking my usual cheese ball and tray which includes pepperoni, trail bologna, hot mustard, various slices of cheese and crackers and my cheese ball which includes 2 ingredients. Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Old English jar cheese. I roll the ball in crushed walnuts and top it off with a maraschino cherry. This year I have hot pepper jack cheese, brick cheese, mild cheddar and Colby jack. I tend to like the white cheeses better than the orange. I don't like sharp at all because it cuts the roof of my mouth.

I am also making a very simple hot pepper jelly over Philadelphia cream cheese and served with crackers. This was a big hit at the office party. One thing I don't like is stuffed celery. I am making and taking that. My niece loves it.You stuff sticks of celery with Philadelphia cream cheese (I can't recall what my Mom always mixed it with, I'll look up the recipe) and topped with slices of black olives. It is just something I have never liked, but since I am on this Phila cream cheese kick, I decided "why not?"

Last, but not least is the little sausage wieners rolled up in crescent rolls and baked. I might add the brown sugar mix to the batch and I may leave them plain. Maybe I'll do half and half. I like both. I like the plain so I can dip them in the hot and sweet mustard.

I go early so that the hungry folks who are milling around before dinner eat my appetizers and stay out of the kitchen. Oh, yeah. Devilled eggs. Hmm. Maybe I better get started now. LOL!

I had to get a new sump pump. I don't know anything about that stuff so I had a plumber come in and do this. It cost me more than what the average American is going to spend on Christmas this year. Depending on which article you read. I was depressed (for a day!) and then I got over it. I usually don't stay down for very long. Why let it ruin my week/month/holiday? You can't let it.

In over our heads

Do you think my daughter got in over her head when she told me she wanted a jigsaw puzzle? Heh, heh. We went to the library and were looking at some magazines. There are a few jigsaw puzzles strewn on the tables. We got busy putting pieces in one. It was a 500 piece photograph of a warm and cozy inn with people sledding and building snowmen.

She picked this one out herself. 750 pieces and oval shaped. Not a good starter puzzle. Speaking of starters. We are looking for a starter car for her. It is kind of interesting to teach her about used car salesmen and their sly little tricks. I am brushing up on the psychology since it has been 13 years since I purchased a car.

An older gentleman in the library parking lot barked at me "Your car wasn't even made in America!" I admit that back in the 70's and 80's my brother forbid me to purchase a foreign car. He works in a steel mill. I drove Fords, Buick's and Pontiac's. Guess who had to keep coming to pick me up when I broke down. When you are young and trying to work your way up the corporate ladder, the cars are not so reliable or well maintained.

In the mid-90's he was okay with me purchasing a Honda Civic that was made in Canada. He has never had to pick me up from along side the road again. Well, that and I have Triple A. But, I rarely have to use it. Once I locked myself out of my car. It was so new the Triple A had to create a tool to open the locked car. That was miles away from home and the next two times I did it, my Honda dealer would just run a new key to me. I love this service! I have never had that with a Ford/Chevy/Pontiac. Sorry, but I have to take care of myself and facts are facts.

As a side note, before you think I am some kind of bimbo that keeps locking herself out of her car, let me explain. Normally, I throw my keys in my purse, right? Well, when you work with technology equipment and are about to walk into a school, you do not take your purse inside. In the winter, it is easier with pockets. When the weather starts to get warmer and I leave my coat in my car... well, you see what happens.

Blown it all skyhigh

I blew out the sky with this photo. Love the lingo. This was from my drive last month. I enhanced the contrast quite a bit to get more color out of the trees.

Do you get a lot of movies, jokes and cute messages in email that have been forwarded a thousand times before they get to you? I rarely (if ever) forward these on to the standard 10 people, but I do try to read them. But when I am busy (and the computer is running slow for who knows what reason!) I don't take the time to read them. I feel bad if it is a good friend and they say "Did you watch that video?"

Uh, no. I had twelve people waiting for either a phone call back or an email back and I was researching 4 separate problems at one time, so no I did not view their cute video. On a slow day and when the computer opens my media player quickly, I'll take the few seconds to watch or read.

I hate days like that.

And, since I am annoyed, how about co-workers who don't look at you before they start their diarrhea of the mouth story. She never checks to see if I am on the phone before she just starts barking. A lot of times she starts dialing when she realizes I am on the phone (shared line). I sit less than six feet away from her. How did a therapist from 1992 put it? Oh, yeah. People who cannot read their environment very well. That's it. I just call them rude and annoying.

My daughter and I went to the nearby University's open house. I keep checking things off my list. I did make a little progress. I should make her do this stuff, not me. But, she mouths off that she doesn't care if she goes to school or not. She thinks that some company is just going to appear out of the clouds in the sky and hire her. Groan.

When my daughter forgot her purse at home today I did not run home and take it to her. She cannot purchase lunch without her i.d. tag. (She can give someone the money and have them purchase food for her, though.) She tried to make me feel bad. This is the 3rd time this school year I've had to run her something because of her forgetfulness. I didn't cave in today. I didn't do it. I let her go without. She did have money. She did pay somebody to buy a pizza for her. But Mom didn't drop everything and run to her rescue. Tough love.

We have a holiday lunch tomorrow. I plan to make my cheese ball and bring cold apple cider. I also plan to bring a hot pepper jelly and cream cheese dip.

Takes a washing

And keeps on.... well, I don't know what could possibly rhyme with washing that would fit. It is a Lexar firefly flash drive. I washed a load of dark clothes and jeans last night and found it in the bottom of the washing machine. I let it dry out overnight and plugged it in this morning. It worked fine.I backed up my daughter's data (from school) and handed it over to her this morning. I said "It works after a run through the washer!"

She said "Oh, I know. I've washed it before."

Shake your booty

My brother and his lady friend. They were married for two years, divorced and got back together. She is 68, he is 51. They started dating in 1978. He was best friends with her oldest son. Her son was the one that had the surprise 50th birthday party. And was he surprised.

Nobody was dancing, so they thought they would get the party going. She ran out of breath. Smoking for 55 years or longer will do that to you. We left before the DJ played Wipeout. I didn't want to see that.

We saw some big beautiful flakes of snow today. It put me in the Christmas spirit. A little bit. Just a wee little bit. "Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes..."

Hey, lady!

My cat Jasper, is saying "Hey, lady! The washing machine (by law) must drain into a separate place than your sump pump! Don't you know nothin'? And, you better hope that the Munchkin's Mom doesn't see that picture of her drinking out of a sippy cup! She's trying to stop that, you know."

Oops.

Okay. Maybe he is just saying "Get that bleepin' camera flash out of my eyes!"

At least I can wash clothes.

It's spitting snow here. Maybe more than spitting. We travel today to a 50th birthday party. There will probably be lots of folks I have not seen in ages. My daughter wants to go to a specific car lot today and look at cars. Can we just drive around and look? I don't see any sign of the sun out there.

I have a toothache. A toothache! Where did THAT come from? It has been years. I know. I'll blame it on the new medicine.

I don't know if this is true of all headache sufferers, but I hate to take medicine when I don't have a headache. On the rare day that I don't, my back is hurting or (as in today) my tooth is hurting. I don't take the Advil. Why? I don't know. For some weird reason it just doesn't seem like pain if it isn't my head that is hurting. I can do things with a toothache and most things with a backache, or when the bottom of my foot hurts (plantar fasciitis), but when I have a headache it affects everything.

Movie Number 2

I've got the munchkin today. We have Simba and we are watching FernGully. It is our second movie. We have already watched Spirit. It is rainy and a bit chilly. Not sure we are going to make it to the park today.

I went downstairs to start a load of laundry and heard a troubling, humming sound. It was my sump pump. I did not smell any burning, but I think it is toast. I don't even know if I can wash clothes safely. I looked at the drain pipe from the washing machine. It looks to me as if it goes into the sump pump and then up and out. Darn. How about a trip to the laundromat today? And, I guess I better check the weather channel to see how much more rain I can expect.

If I get any more cats!

I'm gonna need one of these.

My oldest sister (1944) sent this photo to me. It is off the Internet. She is the only family member who has more cats than I do. I think. My daughter (who just a few years ago ooh'd and ahh'd over bringing home any little stray she saw) is ready to kill our cats. She stomps around the house stating "I hate cats! I'll never have cats!" We'll see.

I can see why I didn't post on Wednesday. I was gone from 7:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night. But, I don't have much of an excuse for yesterday. I barely touched my computer last evening.

This year I am putting the Thanksgiving dinner menu on line. ON LINE! This way everybody can see what everyone else is bringing. Now, if only they would let me know what they are bringing so I can update the menu. As for myself I am taking my usual cheese ball/tray. I want to make something new and different (don't I every year?) this year. But, we know how the new dishes usually turn out. Disaster! Stay to my tried and true favorites. Because you know family. Where is Peruby's ____? Or, why didn't you make your ____? Yep. Better to stick with tradition.

Long shadows

Driving home from a late meeting tonight I saw plenty of deer hit on the road. I saw plenty of deer standing by the road, and a few crossing. I was fortunate that I didn't hit any, or as most folks like to say these days "the deer hit me."

I even saw a car being pulled up onto a tow truck after hitting a deer. I think I'll stay off the roads after 6 p.m. until Spring.

My photos load (and display) much slower after I started uploading them in a png format. I think I'll go back to jpeg.

This is crazy!

Can you believe this! Marion Ohio at 7:30 p.m.

Gravel Road

One more photo from last week's drive over some back roads that still had some color on the trees.

The new first family must get a pet. Word is they will get a rescue mutt. One of the daughters are allergic, so that will narrow their choice. If I ever decide to purchase a dog (rather than rescue one) I would consider the papi-poo. So cute.

It would be tough though, because I found a stray in the 80's and from the research I've done, I determined she was a gray Dandie Dinmont Terrier. It would be hard to turn one of them down.

I would like to take a moment to thank the makers of anti-migraine medicine. Prior to lunch I was as sick as a dog. I thought I would have to go home and go to bed. I took my medicine (currently am using Imitrex, but all have worked for the most part) and some ibuprofen. After a couple of hours (slowly sometimes) I was feeling a heck of a lot better. This evening I am free from pain and can do normal things. It is great to have my life back and not live like some drunk on the couch where sounds and lights irritate me, with a cold washcloth on my forehead or over my eyes, and a bucket by my head.

Quiet

It's quiet here. Sunday morning peaceful. No paper. We seem to have a new carrier for paper and post. Both come later than they used to. Sigh.

I was a paper carrier in my youth. First thing after school. I delivered about 50 papers around town. Collecting was always dreadful. Took most of the Saturday. I didn't deliver the Sunday paper back then. I'm not sure I even remember why.

I am fixing turkey and the trimmings today. Not a whole turkey. Oh no. Just the breast. It is delicious, it is quicker, it is easier, there is no mess. Everybody is happy.

I've slacked off the reading. I finished "Our Iceberg Is Melting". I have not moved on to any others except for the Web Designing one I have been using at work. I've had a houseful this week-end but they are all sleeping, now. I am treasuring it because I know that one day and it won't be long before I am puttering around this little house all alone. I chose a small house because I knew that it would be just me someday. I'll try not to turn into the cat lady. LOL!

The calendar is filling up for the holidays. A party here, a dinner there, shopping in between. Meet us here and meet them there. Then there are the appointments. We look at starting another round of mole removals soon. We took a break for about a year. My daughter has noticed three that have changed and we see her dermatologist this Wednesday. Never fun.

The side of the barn

The sun's rays can hit the side of a barn.

What would you do?

My scheduled appointment was 9:00 a.m. I was way early. It was a beautiful sunny morning. I filled the gas tank ($2.04 per gallon), cleaned all the car windows and my camera was in the front seat with 2 fully charged batteries. What would you do? Yep. That's what I thought. Backroad central here I come!

My daughter and I have determined that a new medication I started Tuesday is causing a bit of mental hyperactivity. My posts (such as yesterdays) may come across a bit weird until I adjust to the pills. Goofy talk.

Giggling, grinning, girls

I wonder how they will remember this event. If they will remember it. I have memories from when I was four and there are images that I can recall but I don't know from where or when. It was as if somebody had taken me somewhere and the room or the building was etched into my memory but I was far too young to recall where I was and what the event was. Perhaps some of the images of the wedding will etch themselves in the minds of these young girls. A color, an image. Hopefully they will be good memories.

Weddings are beautiful things. I have attended many of them. None of them mine. I recall thinking about marriage but if I am honest with myself, I realize I never really wanted that lifestyle for me. I have had four sisters and two brothers marry. Three ended in divorce and three are hanging in there. None of them are pretty. I wouldn't want to be in any of the relationships that I see. I can't name one. Inside or outside the family.

I hope things smooth out before the girls get to the dating age. I am just having a devil of a time with my daughter and her dating woes. I try not to be negative, but she sees what I am exposed to. My sisters complaining about their marriages. Constantly.

A few years ago she was all for getting married. Now she wants nothing to do with it. Hey, it isn't for everybody. Maybe we are selfish, maybe we are controlling. I don't have any married friends. Divorced or NBM's like me (never been married).

I hear people speak of "I don't want to grow old alone" or "I don't like to be alone." Not much of a problem for me. I suppose I'll have a sister in one form or another living with me someday. We are a close (and large) family and there is always somebody needing a place to stay.

Back to memories, though. I had one memory that just haunted me for years. I finally got to the root of it. Back in the late 60's my older brother took me and another brother to see "2001: A Space Odyssey" at an old theater. It had these beautiful lit lanterns on the wall in red and blue. I was probably 8 since that is the year the movie came out (1968). And I remember pieces of that movie. Now really. You've seen the movie. Can an 8 year old grasp the concept of it? It just left me thinking "What is this about?" And it probably scared the bejesus out of me at the time.

One day (years later) I was watching the movie and I said "I've seen this movie!" And my brother said "Well, yeah. I took you to see it..." Oh. It left me feeling very strange until I unravelled the mystery. Come to think of it I still ask myself "What is this about?" when I watch the movie. LOL! "Daisy, daisy...give me your answer do."

Ah. I believe my mind is going. I can feel it. Dave! My mind is going.

Fun in the leaves

Live it up!

Museum foyer

There was a richness to the woodwork that doesn't seem to be as beautiful in the photo as it was in real life. You could tell that the gentleman who gave us the tour was very proud of this house and all of it's artifacts.

I voted days ago and I am SO glad.

My daughter has been stopping in at my office every afternoon after school to attend her driver's training classes in the evening. She is getting first-hand exposure to my co-worker and her odd behavior.

Lips

If you have experienced seeing The Rocky Horror Picture Show, you will understand the above photo.

Now, about RHPS. People actually do this? I thought trekkies were bad. Watching the movie at home is one thing. Going to a production as to where they show the movie in a theater and quite a few members of the audience dress up as one of the characters in the movie was another thing.

You can get a prop bag and sort of participate with the show. For example, when the character says the phrase "Great Scott!" the audience throws their toilet paper into the air from their prop bag. There are also water pistols involved. I prayed that nobody filled their pistol up in the bathroom with any liquid other than water. You get a newspaper to put on top of your head.

It may have been better if I had actually seen the movie before I went to the show because for most of the time you cannot hear the actors. It is very raunchy. Not at all tasteful. It is gross, quite sexually suggestive and sadly sets one's mind to wondering if people actually do behave in such a perverted and obtuse manner. And if they do, I am so glad I don't know them or about them.

It was an experience and I will leave it at that. It certainly isn't for everybody. I knew the gist of the event and I was prepared for some raunchiness. It was absolutely bizarre.

At the beginning of the show the emcee asked for the youngest members of the audience along with the oldest. There were two young teens. One was eleven, the other thirteen. I felt sorry for them. At that age I may have been horrified by the movie.

In following the cult-like fashion of this showing, I am not longer a virgin so to speak. This is somebody who has never seen the movie. Well, it was on target in that respect. As some women do after their first sexual encounter, I was asking myself, "Is that it?" And you come away feeling disappointed and wondering what all the hoopla is about. There certainly were a lot of folks enjoying themselves. Perhaps as in the act itself, it takes time to get really good at it. I'll pass on seeing if that experience works for the show, thank-you very much.

Cotton boat

I love the way they used gray colored cotton for the smoke and colored some blue for the water on this model of a boat at the museum. They even left the cotton behind the boat white to make it appear as churned up water. I have no idea if the red and green Christmas lights actually worked.

Reflection

Here is a time piece of a bridal/wedding arrangement from the historical museum. A wedding dress (not this one) was on display that was supposedly sewn by Dean Martin's aunt. This town is the birthplace of Dean-o.

Presidential candidate McCain was very close to my house today. He spoke at the local High School's ball field. The Principal made it clear that the school was not endorsing either candidate and it was not mandatory for students to attend the event.

I am on my way to the theater tonight "Rocky Horror Picture Show." Ooohh. So Halloweenish? Cripes. I haven't even seen the movie. How lame is that? I will be getting me a prop bag, though. Hey, I'm cool. I "googled" the event. No surprises for me. Well, maybe no surprises. I'll let ya know.

Crisp air

I added some enhancement to this photo to make the colors pop a little bit more. It was a bit dreary the day I took this picture. I enjoy the fall. I am very fortunate that I don't have any allergies (that I am aware of) that inhibit me from going outside and taking in all of the leaves turning colors.

My post yesterday was a bit dramatic. We are not eating cereal and eggs. I made a huge pot of chili and I find it quite good. My daughter is not one to eat soups. Except for tomato soup with a toasted cheese sandwich. One of our favorites.

But, the part about my co-worker was not fabricated. In fact I toned it down. There is so much more. It is comforting to know that I am not the only one to put up with it.

I am currently reading a plethora of books. One in particular "Our Iceberg Is Melting" is interesting. It is about change and dealing with it.

Run and hide

Here is the park from the other evening when I took pictures. Today was a "run and hide" day. It certainly was not my day. Good grief.

My co-worker began her usual banter. I didn't want to deal with her diarrhea of the mouth, so I reached in my desk drawer to pull out my (personal) head phones. Except they weren't there. I think the last time I saw them was a little over two weeks ago. I looked everywhere. I racked my brain trying to remember if I had taken them somewhere. There would be no need to take them home as I have another set there.

I hate the dinky ear buds that come with today's equipment and work only gets you crappy stuff, so I brought my own in. Our office door has not locked in years (brand new building, crappy construction). I don't dare complain because the company that I work for does not pay this office rent for me and my co-worker. We are there only by their good graces. A few years back a certain manager at that office threw that fact up in my face and I'll never forget that sweet lady. Heh. Well, they are going to get the door fixed, now. Always after the horse is stolen, lock the barn door. I don't think it bothers me so much that I lost a nice set of headphones as the fact that we have somebody in the building who is a thief.

That wasn't the worst part. I have a folder on my hard drive where I keep all my "stuff". I could not access it this morning. It was corrupted. I never cared much for System RESTORE, but it saved my butt today. I restored my system back to yesterday at 9:00 a.m. It zapped my anti-virus, but I was happy to have my folder back.

Our office has never purchased us any anti-virus software. Doesn't that just figure? I downloaded the free AVG. My computer is so-o-o slow, now. You get what you pay for.

I had an old copy of Norton AV Corporate edition from years ago. It was such a hassle to install it, I just wasn't up to it today. That's why I went with Grisoft's version.

My system still may not be right. I guess time will tell.

My co-worker sits over there and grins from ear to ear all hopped up on her pain medication and now the doctor has given her stimulants to keep her from falling asleep at her desk (and hopefully at the wheel of her car). Now, she jumps around like a Mexican jumping bean and it has loosened her tongue up even more (as if she wasn't chatty enough!) I just want to deck her a good one and wipe that smile off her smug face.

I kid you not. ALL day today she played McDonald's monopoly game on-line. There you go. It is no wonder government employees get such a lazy, no good reputation. I can't stand her.

When she sees me rubbing my eyes or flinching she asks "Migraine?" or, "Are you in pain?" If I dare say "Yes" she jumps in with "You're lucky you don't have MY pain!" That is enough to start her torrent of "woe is me" stories and "poor, poor pitiful me" tales. This is the reason I wanted to sit and listen to my CD and block her out. It is the only way I can deal with her without wanting to strangle her.

My dog has fleas! FLEAS!!! The $100 I was going to spend in groceries just went to flea medicine for the damn pets. Five cats and one dog. It's eggs and cereal for the rest of the week, daughter dear.

Yeah. I'm going to bed now. Don't we have a beautiful park?

Light in the museum

I was fascinated with the staircase of the museum. Except it was cold in there. No money to heat it and there are not many visitors. But the best part was the train in the basement.

Kool-aid mouth

Actually it was red punch. This little girl stole the show at the six year old boy's birthday party. He did not care. He was constantly running with the older kids. Bursting balloons (much to my dismay). This time my daughter had the headache. I had been battling a headache and had taken migraine medicine earlier.

Most of the time it looks as if some folks are sissies and are "scared" of balloons. In my case, I am scared of the headache I am going to get from the sudden "bang" of the balloon popping. This is why I hate loud noises. And they had a lot of balloons to pop. Most of the games were centered around the balloons. It was an afternoon nightmare.

My daughter's headache went away on the drive home.

We went to a gadget show at our local library. We did not win the drawing for the Wii. Drat. I did learn about the Kindle and Sony's version. Of course, now I want one. I also saw an iPod speaker that I wouldn't mind having. There was one GPS. There were the usual gaming stations and Verizon had a cell phone display. I was not interested in any of those. Overall, it was rather paltry. I heard others say the same thing. We are hoping it will grow into something more substantial next year. I may call some local vendors and mention to them that they missed a golden opportunity to show some of their stuff. It could be that the larger ones are not able to display their products in such a fashion.

Sony

Kindle

The salesman with the iPod speaker talked me into participating in Black Friday. almost. I despise crowds and I despise shopping. I also don't like to get up and get moving at that early of an hour. Although with my recent early morning insomnia, this may not be an issue. Another reason I don't participate is because I am too darn tired.

I usually go all out for the dinner on Thanksgiving. If I am not fixing stuff, I am helping a family member prepare. It still (and always will) infuriate me that the women still fix and clean up the mess while the men sit around watching football and sleeping off the heavy meal. Why my sisters let them get away with it is beyond me. What am I saying? I do the same for my nephew when he comes to visit. He does not help to clean up. (kicking myself). But, is he family or a guest? So, I am guilty. I have only myself to blame for this pet peeve.

I went with a small group to tour a Historical Museum on Friday. The house (museum) was just beautiful. I took pictures. It was sad to read some of the letters from soldiers to their families.

We watched Made of Honor (blah) and What Happens in Vegas. Vegas had some funny parts. Somebody please give Kutcher a decent hair style. His droopy hair was driving me crazy. Co-stars Hater and Tipper almost stole the show right out from under the stars. Lake and Rob were a comedic delight.

Hyper drive

It looks as if this soybean field is diseased with stem rot or stem canker of a sort. I am not sure. It makes for a colorful photo, though. I am still having the early morning insomnia.

I ended up being in a state of hyper activity yesterday, probably due to sleep deprivation. It wasn't the coffee I purchased because that was basically undrinkable. By the time I arrived at the meeting I was in supersonic "ON". I was practically beaming. I tend to be funny (quite possibly annoying) when I am in this state. I tried to "check" myself many times. I would say to myself 'calm down' or 'relax' a few times.

After the meeting I went on to another job in a neighboring county. That went okay. I ate a quick lunch, then home to take a 20 minute nap.

At the dinner I was in super sonic mode again. I bounced around an overheated cafeteria chatting with small children who were complete strangers to me. That is what I do. I move around quickly so I don't come across as a freaky stalker. By the time it came for me to sell raffle tickets my hyper drive was in full force. This may have been in part to the cream stick I ate after my late lunch. Hmmm.

I kept the never ending line of folks in stitches. Again, maybe I was annoying. I didn't need to worry about the dinner falling flat. It was so successful they sold out of dinner tickets and had to start using them over again. It went all too fast and at the end I was left with a feeling of complete and utter melancholy. I walked the halls of the high school (no longer my daughter's school) lost in a wave of sadness, watching the students pump up for the pep rally. The band was in full swing as they marched through the halls to the cadence of their snare drum player (memories of when I was in the high school band).

All of a sudden I was in 1975 with my clarinet feeding off of the roar of the crowd. My daughter is not a part of this. She never was. She shuns school and her fellow students.

I watched five minutes of the rally and sadly walked to my car. I remember selling raffle tickets for a millennium quilt when she was in third grade. I had parked in the exact same spot. Nine years have come and gone. The crash had begun.

The reception

Here is the backdrop of where the wedding party sat at the event earlier this month. It was a beautiful get together with family and watching two wonderful people get together after 6 years of dating.

I woke up at 3 this morning. It is going to be a long day. I have to drive to another county for a technical meeting and after work I am helping out with my daughter's class spaghetti dinner. I get to sell raffle tickets. I probably won't be home until nine p.m.

What do you do to keep you going all day on a marathon day? I am feeling groggy now, but this is the normal time I get up so I need to go and hit the shower. Cold to wake me up, I guess. I drink coffee but I can go to sleep right after a cup, so that doesn't do much good.

I'll take my camera and drive with the window down to get the fresh cool air on my face. Staying awake during the boring parts of the meeting is the hardest part. At another meeting two days ago I had taken migraine medicine and was rubbing my forehead and I swear I fell asleep doing that.

No riding with anyone because I have a job right after at a school close by the meeting place, so I have to go off on my own. I doubt that I will get to lunch with the group, but I just did that on Tuesday so I am okay with that.

Most of the fall colors are faded, but maybe I'll find a jewel out there today. Headache is starting so I am off to drink some cool water and shower.

Backroads

I think that is one of my favorite places to be. Driving on a back country road in Ohio taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. I love it!

Senior pictures are taken. The weather was superb. A little breezy and my daughter's eyes get dried out, but the sunshine was fantastic. He took a lot outside. I get to view them Saturday. I have to squeeze it in. I have something at 11:00, view pics at 12:15, (back to the earlier event) then a birthday party at 4:00.

Photographer spoke a lot about the election. (Is there anything else?) He said the perfect candidate should be a gay, black woman. Then he said something about Condoleezza Rice, but I didn't catch it.

Valley View

My daughter is getting her Senior portraits/pictures taken today. Gah! Weather forecast: High of 53, abundant sunshine. We will be outside for half of the photos. Double Gah! I think I will stay in the car. Partly to stay warm and partly to refrain from making any comments which will certainly elicit a negative look, comment and mood from my teenage daughter. Triple Gah!

Numbers

Driving the other day I couldn't resist the numbers depicted in this license plate. 79 for the county, and the birth date of 7-09 started it out. Then I saw the number 9. I also saw the 3 + 4 = 7. If you add the remaining 2, you get NINE! Wow! When I showed my daughter she said, "Well D is the 4th letter of the alphabet..." That got me thinking. If D is the 4th, N is the 14th and P is the 16th. Add them all together you get 34, right? So what? Until you add 3 + 4 and get SEVEN!

No sunshine

Returning from a school in another county on Friday I tried to capture some of the foliage, but the sun did not shine that day. At least not while I was on the road. It is a little disconcerting for me to look to find that I have not posted in four days. I like to read back over the years to see what I was doing last October or last Easter. Things like that. When I don't post, I tend to omit things that may bring back a quirky memory for me years from now. Oh, well. Life gets in the way.

Where to next?

Just so you know. I did NOT choose the socks.

Geese

Across the lake is Canada... no, it isn't. It is still Ohio. There are just Canadian geese over there. Lots and lots of them. This was just one snapshot of the far side of the lake.

In the late 80's my brother and I rented a huge farm house in the middle of nowhere. There were two house on a long dirt lane. Our neighbor had geese. The big white ones. I was not and am not fond of geese. Mean critters. They attacked my car. They tried to attack me but I was having none of that. Purses come in handy. They were gone before my daughter arrived.

That story sounds like my brother and I were from a family of inbreds. No. His girlfriend was living with us and on any given week-end his kids were there from his previous marriage and her kid lived with us. When I had my daughter I moved out after 4 years. I had finally landed a decent job and matured enough to support she and I and create a home for the two of us.

Swimmingly

Yesterday was a beautiful day for duck feeding and playing in the park. Our park has a great new play area in the shape of a train. Wow! It was fantastic. Today was just as nice. No playing, though. Mowing.