Photos: [first three] white flowers fiddle-leaf morning glory [seen covering the dunes] Depends on the time of day whether the blossoms are open or non-existent. Graveyard...I posted this in a slideshow while visiting a cemetery for the history of our area...HERE
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101. When was the last time you went to the doctor? Do you like your doctor? Last year, yes I like both my cardiologist and my primary care doctors...as far as doctors go, that is.
201. My back is itching, will you scratch it for me? My arm is only so long...probably I can't reach.
301. Do you have nice handwriting? I guess. I've been told that ever since 3rd grade penmanship.
401. We are sending you to either New Zealand or Canada, which one do you choose? I'd prefer New Zealand...more tropical than Canada.
501. Do you sing in the shower? No
601. Have you ever been streaking? If so, how far did you streak and did anyone see you? Ya...from the bathroom vanity room to the bathtub!!!
701. How soon is too soon for Christmas decorations and music playing in the stores? I like having Christmas out early in the stores for crafting. It takes a lot of time to make stuff for decorations and I need them in stores early so I have them done for the holidays.
801. If you celebrated Halloween as a kid what was the costume you wore at 5? I don't think I 'did Halloween' that early...if I did, I can't remember what costume my mom put me in. I'm pretty sure I was too young to be out in the streets---so I'd be home with my parents answering the door and handing out candy.
901. How many cavities have you had in your life? Dunno. Not many.
1001. Berleen and Bud come to Arizona to visit Kimber. Who do you think will decide it's too hot here first? Berleen...women are not as tolerant of heat.
1101. Who do you think will ask TT questions next week? Pro'lly Kimber.
- - -<><><>- - - For my Tuesday post, I had forgotten to mention that three years ago yesterday, at 7:30 a.m., I was "going under" on the operating table...having a heart ablation done. Tho I don't have my annual heart check-up until November, everything has been fine and dandy thanks to modern science, the electrophysiologist/cardiologist and hospital staff!! Here is the post after my hospital release...
Most times, for me, there is nothing more creepy than seeing a snake slithering in the grassy areas along ditches or in a yard. [I remember one morning, early, in our Tucson neighborhood when I was out doing my morning walking ritual, and in the middle of the road---this is near a desert area with catcus and a large pantano- right smack dab in the middle of the road and me walking up to it [almost!] there laying on the heated blacktop surface was a huge, HUGE and fat, diamondback rattlesnake. I gave him plenty of room!!!] Anyway, coming back to two of the most creepy creatures on earth.... snakes AND SPIDERS!! This one, tho, is nothing but a brown spider tie tack I used to wear on Halloween. I haven't worn it for ages; mainly 'cause one year one of the doctors I worked with tried to 'flick it off' - he thought it was real, but I know deep down he wanted to 'cop a feel'. Needless to say, I stopped wearing it back then. Thinking now of doing so this year. It's really not that big as it shows in the macro shot either...as I say it's a tie tack ---about the size of a U.S. quarter.
To be more accurate than the lyrics to Stafford's song...for me it'd be "she said...I HATE spiders and snakes".
END MACRO MONDAY below is my Monday Morsels and a tag, if you'd like to skip over all that, please---
Speaking of Tucson...This week, finally, there is a predicted cold front moving into our area from Canada. Well, a cold front for Coastal Texas that is. It's supposed to get down in the middle sixties at night. Wooohoo!! I'm looking forward to cooler nights. And a lot more drier air. But going back to Arizona and our decade living there. We retired in January on purpose, 'cause we knew we were relocating to one of our favorite cities...Tucson. And we wanted to leave the cold, nasty winters behind us. We wanted to become acclimated to the warm dry and mild weather in the Sonoran desert before the heat of the summer came upon us. Which was a wise decision on our part. I would've hated living there from the 'get-go' if we moved from the Colorado mountains to the intense summer heat of Tucson. But, I'm getting away from my point here. Weather. We lived the first summer in Tucson and then the nights cooled down after the monsoon season....but I was still in a bit of a shock, not the shock of still a warm wonderful climate, but shocked that we had no cold snow storms... when we decorated the exterior of our desert oasis for the 1st Christmas Season [Irene, Dan and the boys were coming]----and while helping Bud string the lights for the eaves of the house.....we both sweated!! And in shorts!!! Ahhhhhhhhh, the blissful dry heat!! Now here, after a couple of temperature drops on the thermometer, it's down-right bone chilling. It's the continual high humidity year 'round here. But I'm lovin' it!!! I look forward to the winters here....actually it's more like a 'normal' Autumn in November and December in the Coastal Bend...comparing it to Colorado---our trees turn Autumn colors here...in the last two months of the year....while others are basking in the sun-drenched snowfall. Unlike Colorado where you have 5 or 6 months of snowfall and below freezing cold...or unlike the two seasons of the desert---hot and hotter, we have seasonal changes here, but no snow.
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Mama Bear at Bears in Exile tagged me with eight questions...
1. Are you a morning or evening person?I'm definitely a morning person. Funny tho, when I was a teen it was just the opposite...I used to stay up to the wee hours of the morning and stay asleep 'til 2 in the afternoon...now it's nearly reversed, and I wouldn't miss a morning sunrise if I can help it. 2. Do you routinely go to bed at the same time as your partner?It's more or less a routine. Sometimes. Well, most times. But I'm always the last one to shut my book and turn out the lights. Long after Bud's asleep. 3. Who does the driving when you and your partner go out together?Most times it's me. City driving. If we take long trips on the open highways and interstates, then Bud takes over. In large cities like Houston neither of us likes to drive, but Bud more so...so, I drive. 4. Who pays the bills at your house and why?I do! I need to control the spending...if Bud did, we'd be in the poor house. But he'd have plenty of books to read and no place to go, or anything to eat. I guess you'd say he has priorities. LOL 5. Do you still Iron?What's that; iron? 6. Do you use cloth or plastic bags?It really depends...if we shop at the neighborhood grocery super center, H E B's, I have the cloth sacks from the store, but if we go mall hopping, then it's normally the plastic or whatever they have. 7. Does your family still take a local newspaper?"Take" is the operative word here...No, it's not delivered, but we do read it faithfully. 8. Do you recycle?Yes!!! Papers, plastic, and aluminum. Most definitely. The city charges us property tax and a monthly statement for such ...so, if I have to pay for the luxury of curbside pickup on that....you're darned tootin' I'll set out all for them to pick it up. PS...I would anyway. Even if I had to take it in myself.
1. Where are you from? I really want to answer by typing "My mom and dad"!!! But like my sidebar states...born in hicksville---Nebraska.
2. If you could live any place in the world, where would you live? I think I already do...in my own little world.
3. What's your favorite blog? I'll check them out of course! I have no favorites...actually, my favorite blog pastime is reading my comments...so, comment away folks!!
4. What is your biggest blogging pet peeve? Word Verificiation/Captcha...as many times as I've read on other blogs about the 'pain in the butt' they really are, I must agree. It takes away from those who really like to comment but don't have that much time to try and read/decipher some of those!!Some are so difficult to figure out and it takes several attempts to get it right; and if that's the case, I leave without commenting.
5. What's your favorite TV show this season? I need a new show! :) I faithfully watch only two...NCIS [which the season opener left a lot to be desired.] And, Big Bang Theory...omg...it was a bit on the risque side for the season opener, but well done to not disturb anyone. At least I think.
6. What's your favorite 'down' time {nothing computer related}? Reading or Beach...depends on the day, the time and the condition of the weather.
7. Are you a parent? If so, what's your favorite thing to do with your children? HA!!! My 'children' are adults in their late 30's and early 40's....they're not living with us any longer [thank goodness!] If I'm around them, which is very seldom, I like just to talk and catch up on what's happenin'!
8. What about your blog, have you considered changing? Why? I like my blogging style...I change 'decor' but not 'style of blogging'. Yet, sometimes I could say 'Depends'...but that would read like I'm using 'em....Depends/changing? Oh never mind!!
9. What do you do for a living (if you work outside the home or if you work at home)? Retired.
10. What is your favorite song at the moment? What is your favorite song ever? There are WAY TOO MANY to have a favorite. Seriously. I love music...period!!!
11. What is your favorite niche TV channel to watch? Most likely USA when baseball is in the off season....if it's baseball season it's ESPN/or FOXSouthwestNetwork [FSN].
12. If you could have any career, what would it be and why? None....like I said, retired and lovin' it.
13. What is your favorite outfit? Blue jeans and a T-shirt.
14. If you could tell your teenage self something, what would you say? I can go back to a younger age...just have fun without harming anyone!! Keep the child in you!!!
15. What is your biggest blog pet peeve? At this very moment while filling this out...I could easily say "repetitive" meme questions!!!! That is a recycled question I believe...SEE #4
16. What is your favorite recipe? Take love, add sugar and spice, stir in some fun, and mix well!!!
17. What is the funniest joke you've ever heard? I think that's impossible to actually put here...it's not a joke per sé, but a cartoon...from Playboy many decades ago. I tore it out and still have it...but I won't scan it as it's falling apart....I'll try to explain it tho for ya'----There is a judge in his robe behind his desk...the jury box is filled, the accused is standing in front of the judge---naked and a man---the judge releases him for "LACK OF EVIDENCE". Get the picture?
18. What is your favorite vacation spot and why? I always loved going to the beach resorts in Old Mexico, from Cancun to Puerto Valarta to Mazatlan and others...but I wouldn't go there now if they paid me!!!
19. What are you most excited about with fall here? Cooler weather so we can get out, drive the countryside and enjoy the milder temps...too hot to go anywhere far in the summers.
20. Did you envision yourself to be where you are today ten years ago? If not, what did you envision? First, I don't look that far ahead...that way if nothing pans out, I'm not disappointed. Second, my life is where I want it to be.
21. If money were no object, what would your dream house look like? We've had similar questions such as this before....and my answer hasn't changed...a huge open floor-plan house with glass walls facing the Pacific Ocean on a hill...with no neighbors or obstructions for miles and miles!!!
22. What is your all-time favorite Disney movie? PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN - Black Pearl. AND!!! National Treasure.
23. What's your favorite blog to read? Or a blog you think isn't getting enough notice? Again, redundant from another question above ---Number 3. Which makes me wonder just what the meme'r was on when making up the questions we stole!!!! And it's NOT Judd....these are stolen, remember-----copied and pasted into Sunday Stealing!!!
END OF SUNDAY STEALING. IF YOU'D LIKE TO SKIP OVER my Sunday Summary... COMMENT HERE
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SUNDAY'S SUMMARY
Remember what you learned when just a little one? Y'know? Make a fist with your fingers entwined below in the palm of your hand...and your recited as you pulled your two index fingers up..."Here's a church, here's a steeple....open the door and see all the people"...as you twist your wrists up and all the remaining fingers wiggle to show 'people'? Here is a 10 second video of the little ditty---
Do you remember that?
Well, as Bud and I were doing our morning walking on a Sunday [he goes with me on Sunday's for sure...sometimes once or twice a week otherwise when we go to the beach.] Anyway, while walking along the Shoreline Drive on the Marina/Yacht Club area a couple weeks ago, I happen to look toward the city instead of the bay waters because the sound of church bells rang out to us while we were down below the bluff...and I was scanning the panorama; seeing all the church steeples. I, personally, like the more 'Gothic' architecture...the old world style; and the Southwest "mission" architecture --or even the unadorned, wooden, 1 room "prairie churches" as apposed to the modern designs of today---there ARE churches just about every city block in this city...we ARE in the Bible Belt!!
This is for you: Madi [and Mom!]--------
This is the one that had the chiming from the bell tower....notice the black arrow?---I've always wanted to stop the car and photograph the bronze statue, but the traffic sometimes - it's too dangerous to pull over and snap photos. So, while we were walking, I crossed the boulevard [from the sea's side] and took close up photos of the statue---
These photos below are ones you'd see from the shore...but they're all up on a bluff in about a three block radius. The upper bluff and street is Upper Broadway. From the entry doors of these churches you'd see the views of the bay and the bayfront. The first one, the one with the whitewashed stairway to the top of the hill is the Catholic Church---
As for today, Sunday, it's still soggy outdoors in the yard, and we still have a lot of landscaping repair to do once it dries out more. Our huge Lantana bush was literally pounded to the ground. Once it dries out some around it's roots, we'll have to tie it up and support it against the privacy fence to 'retrain' it and make it a bit more sturdy. A few landscaping timbers were washed out from the foundation flower boxes in the front yard. While I was out in the storm I happened to notice a couple 6 foot timbers floating across the yard toward the flooded street and lugged them back retrieved them placing them on the front porch. But, again, it's still a bit too wet to be out there doing the repair work....so, it'll have to wait. Bud played plumber this week....Joe the Plumber!! Showing me his butt crack once while on his knees sopping up the leak as I was supervising. rofl I did another teeny Halloween project for the entry door and finished that in no time flat. I FINALLY completed reading the book "The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"!!!! It sure was a slow read. But enjoyable. Enough for me to WANT to finish it, but just not so 'exciting' that I never wanted to put it down. It was a thick novel...and I was only reading a few pages every once in a while. It sure took me long enough to finish it. Now I started reading The Queen's Governess... which 'sounds' of great interest to me 'cause I really enjoy this chronicled era. And historical novels of such always catch my eye at the book store; this book was on my book list to buy. I was lucky enough to find it at the half price bookstore!! I've read the first few chapters and being written in 'first person' always makes it so good for me. I've not read any of Karen Harper's books before 'til this one. Usually, on this subject I'd prefer Phillipa Gregory or Alison Weir novels. So far, so good tho. She may just become another of my favorite writers. Time will tell. The novel is about Elizabeth I's governess...placed there in Henry VIII's court by Thomas Cromwell after the days of Anne Boleyn's beheading, Katherine Ashley. Altho not much has ever been written on Miss Ashley, an imaginative epic should hold relevance. Online, I found this written in a quotation from the author: "The movie rights to Queen’s Governess have been sold in the UK, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Turkey. Harper says the time is ripe for another Tudor blockbuster like the Cate Blanchett Elizabeth films or Shakespeare in Love. Or, it could be adapted for television to provide fresh look at the popular characters of Showtime’s The Tudors." I say, whoo hoo!!! As I love MOVIES of this time in history also!! Hope it comes out in America soon.
About 5 years ago, I did have long, long hair. Actually, the length of it was where I could literally sit on it. But, it got so heavy once we moved here in the high humidity that I decided to have it cut. The day I went in, I asked the gal to save my hair so I could donate it. Well, she braided it and whacked it off. My 'do' was now just above the shoulder in a page boy style. I liked it a lot. The weight was gone and my scalp and neckline felt fresh air. As days and months progressed, and I got acclimated to the wet sea air...the length wasn't short enough so I traipsed back and told her I wanted a page boy cut again without the page!! Just give me a short ....boy's style. I've kept is short now for about 4 years. But, I'm thinking back a while ago...of the days of french braids and butterfly combs and being able to style it in so many different ways....I just may let it grow again. In any case, I still have all my hair ribbons, barrettes and combs. Thought I'd show you one of my favorites. I bought this in Tucson, many many moons ago. In fact, I bought two. This one....
...and a purple one just like it. I love the sparkles...the blue glass insets and the brass form of a butterfly.
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WEEKEND FUNNIES
A cowboy walked into a barber shop, sat on the barber's chair and said, "I'll have a shave and a shoe shine." The barber began to lather his face while a woman with the biggest, firmest, most beautiful breasts that he had ever seen knelt down and began to shine his shoes. The cowboy said, "Young lady, you and I should go and spend some time in a hotel room." She replied, "I'm married and my husband wouldn't like that. The cowboy said, "Tell him your working overtime and I'll pay you the difference." She said, "You tell him. He is the one shaving you."
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A woman was cutting her husband's thinning hair, when their teenage son arrived home looking for a snack. She offered a kiwifruit and tried to tempt him with its nutritious qualities. "It has more vitamin C than an orange," she remarked. "And more hair than Dad," added their son.
Since I posted on Tuesday this week about my job of work on making my newest witch, and how I went about making her [click on Tuesday link if you'd like to see her 'beginnings] for the season, I wanted to show you now that she's completed. Bloggers? Meet Sheherezade. Sheherezade, meet bloggers....
From Names Online: The girl's name Sheherezade \ shehe-reza-de, sheher(e)-zade\ is of Arabic, Farsi and Persian origin, and the meaning of Sheherezade is "city dweller". In "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights", Sheherazade tells one tale to her royal husband each night. Having been betrayed by his first wife, the husband had resolved to marry a different virgin each day, and kill at dawn. So fascinating were Sheherazade's stories, however, that the king let her live so that he could keep hearing them. He eventually fell in love with her.
Now, really...how could a king NOT love her? LOLOLOL She's donning a red/black/orange and white gown, with a bustle in back, trimmed in a red bow and button. Around her neck is a string of pearls, and a black feather boa. Her hat is trimmed in 'lace' of the same material as her gown and orange rick-rack. She is, also, offering a red, ripe, juicy apple to each of you!!!
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FLASH 55
On a ramshackled porch sits a Redneck man and his son, chawin' t'baccy, listening closely; watching with intense interest as Monkey, their hound, chases the phantom critter 'round 'n' 'round.
Toward the Mulberry grove, out yonder, they's focused. The trap goes off.
It's time for my annual VALENTINE HAND OUT!
It's from me...
to YOU...
Just click on the Valentine
Then, right click, save....
If you can't understand my language, get my blog translated!! Click above Well wait a minute! If you don't understand English, then how would you comprehend my directions...duh!
I am
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JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME
January 4th, 2012
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THOUGHTS & PRAYERS!! My son, Erik, has sent in an application to the private, highly prestigious, Rice University... for his PhD degree....He has to be accepted!! PLEASE KEEP POSITIVE THOUGHTS and pray for him that he is honored to have his lifelong dream come ture. A PhD, and from Rice University!! He won't know the outcome for a few months...he needs all the support he can receive.
Retired, living in the coastal area of the Gulf of Mexico. -enjoying the sand and surf. I'm a daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother of two grandsons. I enjoy music, movies, beach combing, pencil sketching, crocheting, and dabble in watercolor painting. Recently, a new obsession: learning photography skills.
"The trouble with theocracy is that everyone wants to be Theo".
~ James Dunn
Please do not steal my animated book graphic; it's got my NAME on the book's binder
Unless otherwise noted, all content herein lies original work; inclusive of text, graphics, and photos. Copyright laws protect my blog and its compositions throughout. Do not steal.
MY POLITICAL SOAPBOX So many times, I've read comments posted by our own citizens under political articles about USA. And these citizens [the ones that vote for our leaders] keep referring to our country as being a Democracy!!! Let me tell you...... THE UNITED STATES IS NOT a DEMOCRACY...it's a REPUBLIC! There is a difference. You recite, and/or read "...and to the Republic, for which it stands..." In a Republic, the sovereignty or 'power' resides in the people of this country themselves, whether one or the majority of the populace. In a Republic, one may act on his own or through his representatives as he chooses to solve a problem; for instance elected politicians. Further, we, the people have no obligation to the government; instead, the government, being elected officials and paid salaries by the people, is obliged to its owner, us - the people. So, when you go vote: remember, YOU ARE THE SOVEREIGNTY or power of the dominion - The United States of America, and YOU LIVE IN A REPUBLIC ---oust those who make you believe otherwise.
~Hootin' Anni
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