A Halloween Saturday Six

http://journals.aol.com/pattboy92/PatricksPlace/

1. What is the most clever Halloween costume someone you know has worn (that you wish you'd have come up with yourself)?

When my daughter was around ten, she put together a costume that featured her head being served up on a plate as the main dish.  She had it all--table, tablecloth, placemat, utensils, napkin.  I believe she even made construction paper "lettuce" to surround her head as garnish.  It was somewhat awkward to trick or treat in but she managed.  I thought it was very creative and clever.  Sixteen years later, I still use those adjectives to describe my daughter.

  2. You're invited to a Halloween party that begins in one hour.  You have to make a costume only from what is already in your house.  So how would you dress up?

I'd grab a plastic laundry basket and cut a hole in the bottom big enough to fit around my waist.  I'd then put in an assortment of clean clothes around myself in the basket and add a box or bottle of laundry detergent and/or an empty bottle of bleach, box of fabric softener, etc.  For an added touch, I'd drape a provocative article of clothing over the side.  Voila!  I'm a basket of dirty laundry.

I've got to give credit to my husband for this idea.  Many years ago, he had to scramble and pull together a costume just before leaving for work.  This is what he came up with and he returned home that evening with a bottle of wine he'd won as a prize.

3. What is the amount of the last check you wrote?

$30

4. How many keys are on your keyring, and are there any that you've forgotten that you even had?

I have four keys on my keyring; all accounted for and none forgotten.

5. Who was the last musical performer you saw live in concert, and was it worth the admission price?

The last musical performer I saw was Ray Charles.  The ticket price was definitely worth the show and evening.  We went with several other couples, rented a limosine and made quite a night of it.

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #29 from DaBabysBack:  What is your favorite day of the week and why?

My favorite day of the week is Monday.  This is one of my days off from work.  My son goes to school, my husband goes to work and I do as much or as little as I like depending upon how I feel.

A Bicycle Story

As it so often happens, my husband and I discovered the fun of going on scenic bike rides with my brother and sister-in-law a bit late in the year.  This past Sunday was only the second time we got together for a ride this year and due to the early arrival of the rain, I doubt we'll get another opportunity until next year.

The experience of going on a long, leisurely bike ride with my brother has brought me full circle in my recreational biking.  I learned how to ride a bike embarrassingly late in life and it was my brother who took on the job of teaching me.  He is the oldest of my siblings, 11 years older than I, and I have always adored him.  You couldn't ask for a kinder big brother.  I was given a second-hand bike on my 10th birthday and why it took me so long to get and learn how to ride one, I can't tell you.  I wasn't known for my exceptional skills of coordination and perhaps that had something to do with it.

He taught me how to ride in the classic method; holding the bike and running alongside as I pedaled furiously.  When I turned to ask him how I was doing, it was only to find he'd let go of the bike some some back and, of course, I immediately fell off.  And so it went until I could start off, ride and stop on my own.  I recall that for some strange reason, whenever I stopped I would slide off the seat rather hard and hit the front of the bike between the handlebars.  For the longest time, I had an ongoing bruise in various stages of color in the area of my pubic bone.  Ouch!

In the short period between my birthday in the middle of August and the start of school in the beginning of September, I learned to ride well enough that I became over confident and, ultimately, too cocky.  One evening after an early dinner, I rode over to a nearby development with lots of lovely smooth roads and nice hills.  I got myself to the top of one and readied myself for the glorious descent.  Oh, I descended all right--right into the curb at the bottom of the hill after being tossed over the handlebars.

I remember gathering myself up and sitting on the curb for a while.  I knew I'd hurt myself because I could feel that stickiness that you just know without looking is blood.  Eventually I looked at my bike; it was totaled and as sad a looking sight as I'm sure I was.  The handlebars were twisted and the frame was bent; the bike was unridable.  I walked the sorry thing back to the house and I still remember distinctly the "pinging" sound of the broken spokes hitting against the wheel.  I got as far as the end of our driveway and just stood there, bleeding, until my mother found me eventually.  I was unable to provide an answer to her query about what happened to me.  I couldn't remember a thing past leaving the house after dinner.  My mother who had once been an R.N. hustled me into the bathroom to clean me up and put things to right once again.  These procedures were carried out very proficiently and almost always involved a bottle of iodine.  Mother was a great believer in the stuff.  I would begin to scream and carry on at the mere sight of the bottle but she persevered despite my protests.

I ended up with a deep, nasty cut under my chin which my mother pulled together with adhesive tape.  To this day, I have a small scar there as a reminder.  My forehead and cheeks were bruised and cut and these were cleaned up and bandaged as well.  I still couldn't tell her what happened so she put me to bed in my room with a fan blowing cool air and it wasn't until I woke up a few hours later that I was able to tell her I must've hit a big rock while going downhill.  She diagnosed my short lapse of memory as a minor concussion and seeing that I was none the worse for wear, the episode was over.  The true fact of the matter, however, was that I didn't hit a rock in the road at all.  When my briefly- interrupted memory returned, I remembered that I had been putting the tip of my shoes in- between the spokes of the front wheel while zooming downhill because I discovered it made a "neat" sound.  I never told my mother or anyone else in my family that this is what I'd been doing.  My penance was having to endure the misery and total embarrassment of starting 5th grade in a new school with new teachers with my head wrapped up looking like something out of "The Mummy"!  Served me right!!

There I was with no bike to ride.  My brother took pity on me and bought me a beautiful, brand new bicycle.  He told me that none of us kids had ever had a new bike and he wanted to change that.  It was new, purple and sparkled in the sun.  I loved it and wasso proud and pleased with it.

There we were, this past Sunday, and I found myself turning around to look back every once in a while to make sure my brother was safe and doing fine.  Of course he was, but it struck me as a bit of a role reversal and I rather liked that.

This is a picture of my current bicyle, a Bianchi Avenue.  Sweet! 

 

 

 

The Saturday Six...on a Saturday. Gasp!

http://journals.aol.com/pattboy92/PatricksPlace/

1. Think back to your years of Trick or Treating:  Which one of your past Halloween costumes are you most proud of?

I think it was when I was in second grade, 7 years old, my mother made me a fantastic devil costume.  It was perfect, from the horns on the hood on the top of my head to the long red tail which finished with a point.  One of my older sisters agreed to take me trick-or-treating that year and either volunteered or was mildly coerced into wearing a devil costume as well.  She was 14 years old and wore a costume identical to mine.  I remember a lot of people getting a kick out of the big and little sister "devils" and being asked into houses to have our picture taken.  This, of course, was back in the days when entering a stranger's house in your own neighborhood wasn't possibly taking your life in your hands.  Ah, those were the days.

2. What is the format of your favorite radio station?  (In other words, what type of music does it play?)

I listen to the KRSH, an adult alternative station which offers a mixture of blues, folk, Americana, world music and rock.

3. What is the oldest thing in your medicine cabinet?

Whoops!  A container of Tinactin for athlete's foot which expired Sept. 1994.  Hmmm...I guess I need to check my medicine cabinet just a little more frequently.  Truth of the matter is, there's not much in there.

4. What kind of book do you most prefer:  hardback, paperback, audio or library?

My favorite kind of book is a hardback.  However, books are so expensive today that I generally buy used paperbacks.  If it's a book that's very special to me, I look for (and usually find) a used hardback version in good condition.  And God bless the library; a most wonderful resource.  Thank you, Ben Franklin!

5. What is your favorite comfort food and when was the last time you felt bad enough that you needed a big helping of it?

My favorite comfort food is macaroni and cheese (didn't we have a question similar to this some time ago?).  I don't resort to food, comfort or not, when I feel bad but if I did, I would've had a big, heaping plateful this past week.

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #28 from Tara:  
Dust off your high school yearbook.  What was your Senior quote and/or what were you voted ''Most...'' or ''Most Likely To....''?

We didn't do these "fun" things in my senior yearbook.  I will share that my senior picture was so terrible that to this day, it makes me cringe to look at it.  It was one of those pictures that one writes all over when signing a friend's yearbook in a feeble attempt to obliterate it.  Yes, it was that bad.

Assignment Time!

"Assignment:  What gone, but not forgotten, TV series do you miss the most?

Extra Credit:  If you had to be on a game show or reality show, which one would it be?"

Every morning when I went into Room 36 around the same time each day to tend to that resident's needs, the strangest program was always on the television.  I could never stay in the apartment long enough to make any sense of it; it was like nothing I'd ever seen before.

Many years later, a mutual friend of my husband's and mine who lived with us for a while introduced me to a TV show.  It was Northern Exposure and I instantly recognized it as the curious program I'd seen before in fleeting bits and pieces.

This is the show I miss the most but I wouldn't want to see it resurrected or worse yet, redone.  It played itself out and ended with a grand finish.  I came to love this quirky hour-long show and the characters within.  It was many things but most of all, it was different and highly imaginative.  This program often took the viewer to the left and quite a bit sideways from the norm.  The ensemble cast was excellent and I really cared about these people.  I always got a little charge from the fact that I had seen John Cullum, the actor who portrayed "Holling" in the title role of "The Man of La Mancha" on Broadway way, way back when.

Northern Exposure hasn't appeared on TV for a while now but thank God for reruns.  It will be back again some day, some time on some little channel.  For my birthday this year, my daughter gave me a gift of four Northern Exposure episodes on tape.  It was a great present and a real surprise.

 The cast of "Northern Exposure"

For my "extra credit", if I were to pick a game show to be on, it would be "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire".  I would never never, ever appear on any reality (and I use the term very loosely) show at any time, for anyone for any price!

And So It Continues

Next up in the fall lineup of things to do is dealing with the property taxes.  We always try to pay the entire amount rather than opting for the two-payment plan so we can get it out of the way.  I want to know who the incredibly shortsighted idiot is who determined that the first installment of property taxes should be due before Christmas and the second, right around income tax time.  I would call that very poor planning.

The taxes being handled brings me to Thanksgiving preparations.  We have been hosting Thanksgiving for at least the past twenty years.  For years, we did it all and slowly but surely over the years we have welcomed assistance with food and drink from our guests.  Being from the east coast originally, this has been a hard lesson to learn.  When one is extended an invitation in the east, it's expected that the host will provide all the amenities.  When an invitation is extended in the west, the first words out of the invited's mouth are, "what do you want me to bring?"  Of course, down through the years our guests have offered to bring food and such but we've always wanted to make everything ourselves.  At long last, we've come to our senses!

We've had anywhere from eight to twenty-six people for Thanksgiving dinner.  Over the years, my husband and I have handled the meal preparations.  We do a lot of work ahead of time.  I've been known to make as many as four pies (and I'm not talking the heat and eat variety here).  This takes some doing but we always seem to manage.  Our house isn't tiny but it's far from huge.  Seating two dozen people can be quite a challenge but we've learned how to do it.  By the time everything's ready and the time has come to sit down to dinner, our living room resembles something along the line of St. Anthony's Dining Hall.  It's cozy and somewhat cramped but the result is a Thanksgiving of intimate proportions.

The date Thanksgiving falls on determines how soon we get our Christmas tree.  Thanksgiving is on November 25th this year.  Oh my!  Just one month before Christmas.  This means we'll probably venture out the next day in search of the perfect tree.  This also depends upon whether or not I get the day after Thanksgiving off from work which I requested but haven't had confirmed as yet.

There are lots of Christmas tree farms in the area and a freshly cut tree properly cared for lasts an unbelievably long time.  One of my favorite parts of the season is my Christmas tree but that's another story.

 

The Saturday Six

http://journals.aol.com/pattboy92/PatricksPlace/

1. What was your favorite Halloween candy to receive as a child?

Mounds was my favorite candy bar (still is) and I always loved the look and taste of candy corn.

2. Of cities you've visited (that you don't live in), which is your favorite and why?

San Francisco is my favorite city.  It's a beautiful, walkable, fun city with much to see and do.  I must confess I did live there for about 3 years about 28 years ago.

3. What is the oldest appliance in your kitchen (and how old is it)?

That distinction goes to my Oster blender which is somewhere around 50 years old; for my needs, it works just fine.

4. How many broken bones have you suffered in your life time, and when was the most recent?

None so far...touch wood.

5. Check your caller ID:  who is the last person to have called you?

My son

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #26 from Nettie: What would you say is your biggest "character flaw?"

I think my biggest character flaw is my lack of ambition.

A Necessary Evil

Do you have a favorite pair of shoes? A pair that you wish you could wear for everything because you like how they look or you like how your feet feel inside them? They can be a pair you have now or had when. Tell us why they were so special.

Extra credit:  A picture of them!

Let me start out by stating that shoes are probably my least favorite articles of apparel.  If I had my way, I'd remain in sandals in the warmer weather and cozy slippers in the cooler temperatures all the livelong day.

I do, however, own a pair of shoes of which I'm particularly fond.  These are a pair of high heels I bought when out shopping with my husbnad in preparation for our 25th wedding anniversary trip to Jamaica.  They are open-toed, gold/clear colored with ankle straps and 3-inch heels.  They make me feel like a vamp, a scamp and a bit of a tramp (remember that Cher ditty?) and I like that!

If I'm lucky, I get to put on these beautiful shoes once or twice a year.  My feet have long since rebelled against wearing high heels for any length of time past an hour or two.  Mine is a job that keeps me on my feet and on the go all day long and comfortable shoes that offer some suggestion of support are necessary.  Most of my shoes for work come from Payless Shoe Source.  My shoes tend to get pretty wet when I give showers to my senior residents.  It's not worth paying the big bucks for shoes that meet this soggy end.  I would like to personally thank the person(s) responsible for making this venue possible.  I've always found shoe salespeople carting boxes of shoes hither and thither and fiddling with my feet in the interim incredibly annoying.

I wish I had a scanner (and instructions on how to operate) to share this pair or shoes with you.  Trust me, they're pretty darn cool! 

And So It Begins...

http://clip-art-pictures.com/

Have you ever noticed that once the calendar page flips to October, the remainder of the year seems to zip by faster than the past nine months?  There's so much going on that gets crammed into a relatively short span of time.  Every year, I make a solemn vow to myself that I won't be caught unprepared for what's ahead and every year I manage to break that vow.  Coming in second to my serious case of pragmatism is a bad case of procrastinationitus.  The good news is that each year, I get yet another chance to redeem myself.

Five coming events loom heavy on my mind from now until the end of the year.  They are, in sequential order, a) Halloween, b) paying the annual property taxes, c) Thanksgiving, d) Christmas and e) my husband's birthday.  Over the years I've tried to take these events in stride.  At times it's not easy. 

I don't like Halloween very much.  Over the years I've been trying to wean myself away from using the word "hate".  Hate is such a strong word that carries a great deal of negative passion and wasted energy.  Who needs this?  Certainly not I.  Closer to the truth would be to say I dislike what Halloween has become over the years.  The very idea that parents have to check the contents of their childrens' bags of loot for hazardous items such as razor blades or homemade treats laced with a harmful substance is so sad.

I've become afraid to open the door on Halloween night in these times in which we live.  Anyone could be on the other side of the door concealed by a mask.  Once the door is open, it could be too late.  When my children were of the trick-or-treating age, I always opted to take them around town, leaving my husband home to answer the constant summoning of the doorbell.  The fact that I feel this way is a grim reflection of our current society.  I spend all of Halloween waiting for it to be over and breathe a welcome sigh of relief when All Saint's Day arrives and we made it through another year.  It distresses me to feel this way and makes me feel not just a little guilty.  When I was a child, going out to trick-or-treat on Halloween was right up there with birthdays and Christmas as one of the best days of the year.  I'm so sorry such a fun, child-oriented holiday has become an opportunity for some misguided wretch to turn it into a possible nightmare. 

A Play Date

Weekend Assignment #28: The United States Congress (or appropriate legislative body in the country in which you live) has vested in you the power create exactly one National Holiday, celebrating anyone or anything you want, no questions asked. What is the name of your holiday, what does it celebrate, and how should we celebrate it?

Extra credit: Name the holiday that already exists that you'd like to see have a higher profile.

Here's an old saw:  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  I heartily agree.  My suggestion for a newly instated national holiday is an official Play Day to be observed by people of all ages.  Imagine!  A holiday free from the usual trappings of gifts to buy, feasts to prepare, cards to send.  Plenty of retailers across the country wouldn't want to support this day because there'd be no monetary gain for them.  That's okay, they'd be playing too.

This would be a free day for children and adults.  It would give freedom from school, homework, chores, work and all responsibilities save the safety and welfare of yourself and loved ones for one entire day.  Some people play too much and some not at all.  This day would allow everyone the opportunity to have a guilt-free day to spend however they wished.

I think a lot of adults have forgotten how to play and in my business I see the end result of this departure from some kind of frivolity and it makes for a grim picture.  Kick up your heels a little while you still can.  All too quickly, you'll no longer have the physical ability to do so.  You might want some memories of play that don't stretch back as far as childhood.  This day could help provide some of them.

A holiday I'd like to see get more recognition is Earth Day which is celebrated on April 22nd.  Yet, I wouldn't want it to turn into another commercial opportunity which seems to overtake most of our holidays to the point where the original purpose of the holiday gets lost.  Also, considering one of the many reasons for observing this special day; i.e. concern for the environment, it would be counter productive to destroy even more of our beautiful planet creating more cards, wrapping paper, gift tags, etc. to further celebrate this day which you know would happen.  On second thought, better to keep the existing low profile on this "holiday" and just continue doing whatever each of us can to help our planet.

 

 

The Saturday Six

Saturday once more and here we go:

1. What is your favorite cartoon show?

I have to agree with Patrick here.  The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Show (or any other show featuring Daffy, Bugs, Yosemite Sam, Pepe and the rest of the gang) is my favorite also.  It truly doesn't get any better than this!

2. I found this on Wil's journal:  Take the quiz...What natural disaster are you?

3. What was the design of the last postage stamp you used?

The American flag

4. What was the last pill you took?

Lovastatin

5. It's your ultimate breakfast:  what's on the plate?

Ah, breakfast.  My favorite meal.  If I were to throw all health and caloric caution to the wind, I'd have a cheese and mushroom omelet, sausage links, an english muffin, cranberry juice and coffee with real sugar and half and half.

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #26 from SpringsNymph and Neil:
a) When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
b) Are you anywhere close to that dream now?
c) Now that you're in the "real world," is your current job now really what you want to do for a living?
d) If not, what would you ultimately like to do?

All I ever wanted to be was a homemaker with a devoted husband and family of my own.  I realized that goal quite nicely, I think, and had the wonderful opportunity to be a stay-at-home mother for almost 12 years.

I never wanted any kind of job or career at all and I certainly never gave a thought to doing what I have been doing for the past 14 and a half years.  I take care of the elderly having discovered, much to my amazement, that I have a real knack for it.  My job is certainly not one of those jobs that people dream about when they say, "when I grow up, I want to be......."

I would love to sing for a living; specifically in a nightclub or lounge, wearing beautiful flowing gowns, singing classic torch songs.  The option to drape myself over the piano at will would be written into my contract.  Also, I would love to have some sort of writing job. 

My talents are minimal in both areas and I lack that very important drive of ambition.  Therefore, I don't foresee a career doing either of these things.  It's pleasant to daydream about sometimes though so I'll just keep singing for myself and regaling you all with my assorted journal entries.  That will have to suffice.

 

A-Ranting I Will Go

It's time for a mild rant which is something in which I rarely indulge myself.  When was it, exactly, that drivers stopped using their turn signals?  When did it become too difficult or too much of a chore to flick a lever to indicate which direction their car was about to turn?  Did I miss a nationwide mass implantation of  nifty new psychic microchips that alert us automatically as to which way a driver plans to go?  Does anyone else wonder about this?

These are rhetorical questions, of course; except for the last.  Over the past several months I've noticed that more and more drivers have all but stopped using their turn signals.  It's maddening, rude and more importantly, dangerous.  One would think that these people have to actually roll down their window and use hand signals.

I'd also like to know why on earth folks are so reluctant to turn their headlights on when traveling during early morning hours when it's dark, foggy or rainy or all three?  I leave for work early every day and I am amazed--and annoyed--by the number of cars with no lights on whatsoever.  It's important to have them on so that other drivers can see them.  They're necessary to make one's car more visable.  What do people think they're saving by not using their cars' headlights?  What they need to think about is saving lives from a potential accident by turning those headlights on!  It also astounds me how many drivers think it's perfectly legal to drive with only parking lights on.  It isn't.

If anyone recognizes themselves here, I hope I've given them a little food for thought.  If anyone can shed some light on why signalling and using common sense when driving in the dark have disappeared, please do so.  Shine some light on something!  Just call me amazed, annoyed and astounded.

Animation Rumination

Animation is one of the interests I chose to include in my AOL profile yet it's a subject I haven't touched upon to date.  With this entry I wish to try to convey my love for animation.

Many of my childhood memories coincide with the early years of television.  I grew up watching cartoons; some were awful, many were mediocre and a great deal were outstanding.  One of the reasons I love animation is because anything is possible and the most ridiculous scenarios are accepted without question because these are drawings and, obviously, not real.  I remember the awe and admiration I felt when I discovered just how many drawings were necessary to create even the smallest action of a character.

Attention to detail and well drawn characters and backgrounds are very important to me.  Some of the animation to be found on television today is so badly drawn and ugly that I cringe when I happen to get a glimpse of it.  I'm probably spoiled because, of course, I have seen almost all the animated Disney features and love many of them.  I've always been partial to the works of Max and Dave Fleisher, too.  I loved watching their version of "Gulliver's Travels".  For me, the creme de la creme of cartoons has always been the efforts from Warner Brothers.  Looney Tunes.  Merrie Melodies.  These represent a marvelous cast of characters invented and brought to life by so many talented artists.  These cartoons are funny, some hysterically so.

My animated hero is Daffy Duck.  I adore Daffy.  He's often depicted as an irascible, selfish, greedy little miser but in earlier cartoons this was not always the case.  It isn't these qualities about Daffy that endear him to me; he just makes me laugh.  In some of the cartoons from the late 1940s through the '50s, he was the leading character and carried himself quite nicely:

Yes, I'm a devoted fan...and just a leetle bit crazy.  I also think one of the choices in the drop-down menu of moods offered in the "Add an Entry" to Journals format should include "daffy" or at the very least, "daft".

As I got older, I was thrilled to discover that there were animated films for adults as well.  So many people automatically equate animation with entertainment for children.  Mention animation and the instant reaction is, oh yeah, Saturday morning kiddie cartoons.  This is far from the truth.  I remember when "The Flintstones" was about to debut on the new fall season lineup.  I recall one of my sisters making it very clear to me that this was to be a show for adults, not children.  It came on around or after my bedtime for heaven's sake.  Can you believe this?  It was years before I realized that "The Flintstones" was merely a redo of "The Honeymooners".

I often think animation is an under-appreciated art form.  It amazes me that I can be reduced to tears of empathy and sympathy over a bunch of drawings.  That is quite an achievement for an animated production.  Several films I've experienced and enjoyed over the years come to mind.  My first taste of adult animation was "Heavy Traffic" by Ralph Bakshi.http://www.sundancechannel.com/popup/index.php?ixFilmID=2388.  I found this to be simultaneously shocking and sometimes amusing.  An entertaining, beautifully drawn film is "Fire and Ice" featuring much of Frank Frazetta's art (his work is fantastic).http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1007350-fire_and_ice/.  Check out "Heavy Metal" for good old seventies rock classics and a vignette of stories threaded together with the time-honored plot of good versus evil.http:/http://www.dvdcc.com/review.php?heavymetal.

I'm sure just about everyone is familiar with "Fantasia" (of course, it's Disney).  "Fantasia 2000" is worth looking at also.  The "Rhapsody in Blue" segment is outstanding.  Much as I love these films, my personal favorite is a little gem called "Allegro Non Troppo".http://www.bozzetto.com/features/Allegro/allegronontroppo2.htm

It's an Italian parody of "Fantasia" but so much more.  If you love animation and classical music, this is a film worthy for fans of both.

 

Beautiful October

As far back as I can remember, October has always been my favorite month.  The air has a special quality to it.  The days are comfortably warm, the nights cool.  There are days when the azure shade of the sky is so vivid, it takes my breath away with its beauty.

I love the colors of autumn.  The sight of leaves turning to shades of red, yellow and orange is one of which I never tire.  When I lived in New Jersey there were plenty of maple trees that erupted into beautiful colors before they lost their leaves.  I feared I would never see such beautiful trees such as these again when I moved to California.  Happily, I discovered that liquidambars, of which there are plenty around here, more than held their own as a most satisfactory substitute.

The light in October is different from any other time of year.  It is softer and when it suffuses the vineyards, also full of fall color, and the surrounding hillsides, the visual effect is almost surreal.  Sometimes the rows of grapevines in their autumnal glory seem to glow when the late afternoon sun hits them just right. 

There is a crispness in the air that brings with it anticipatory thoughts of a crackling fire by which to sit and swirl a snifter of brandy, flannel sheets, cozy slippers and a soft blanket to nestle under while reading a good book.  October also brings back to me that hour I've been missing since we turned our clocks ahead in spring.  The older I get, the more I seem to miss that little hour.  Oh happy night when I snuggle into bed with my beloved at 9pm or so and as if by magic, suddenly it's only 8pm.  This is pure bliss.

My second favorite month is December.  I love Christmas in all its glory.  I will most definitely expand on this subject closer to the actual month.  I'm in no rush!

 

 

What Am I Doing Wrong???

Okay!  I just now posted my little comment and (I thought) link to Patrick's Place to participate in the very enjoyable Saturday Six.  My http:, etc. "address" did NOT come out as a link.  What am I doing wrong?  Would one of you very nice people out there care to educate me?  Any help would be most appreciated by this poor, bewildered woman who actually thought she was beginning to get the upper hand on her PC.  Apparently not!

The Saturday Six

1. Which of the following do you trust more:  a politician, a televangelist, a lawyer, a reporter, or a doctor?

A doctor but they're only human and can make mistakes just like everybody else

2. What's the last song you liked enough thatyou actually took the time to look up the lyrics?

"In These Shoes?" by Kirsty MacColl

3. Which deceased relative would you most like to spend one more afternoon with?

My mother

4. What is your preferred brand for:  a) toothpaste, b) soap, c) shampoo, d) laundry detergent

a) Colgate, b)Yardley's English Lavender, c) Pantene, d) PAR, cheap but effective

5. What is your favorite poem?

I'm not big on poetry but my favorite poem is "The Tale of Custard the Dragon" by Ogden Nash.  He wrote many gems.  I can't resist adding my favorite of his shorter works as well:

"The Fly"         God in his wisdom made the fly and then forgot to tell us why

                                               

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #25 from Tara:  How did your parents select your first name? Were you named after a particular friend/relative/fictional character or did they just like the name?

I believe my parents just liked the name they gave me and I've been forever grateful to them because I love my name.  It's Meredith.