Impulse Purchase

I do not often purchase on impulse or whim, but Saturday I did.

A neighbor was having a yard sale. She posted it on Facebook. Front and center was a picture of a violin.

Now I once played the violin, a very long time ago, and not very well, if I remember, but well enough for say, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or some such. She only wanted $10 for the entire thing - violin, case, etc.

I hopped in my car and went and bought it.

There was, of course, a reason it was $10. The neighbor said she never learned to play and it was taking up space. I briefly examined the instrument - it was missing a string and the bow had loads of broken hairs on it - but I paid her the $10 and brought it home.

The strings are for my guitalele, not a violin, but I think I'll put an old string on the violin when I change the strings.

The first thing I noticed was that the case smells like animal. There is a reason I seldom purchase things at yard sales; everyone has a pet. The case is not a hard shell case, so I can't wipe it off. It's Carhart-type material and I'm not sure how I could clean it to get the pet smell out. I left it out in the garage and brought the violin in the house.

I reasoned that even if it was not playable (which, it turns out, it likely isn't), I could hang it on the wall. I have a space that needs to be filled.

The violin is not old; it was made in China; the bridge is loose and that's not a good thing, and it has a fretboard. Violins - good violins - don't have fretboards.

So basically I bought something to hang on the wall, not something to play, but maybe one of these days I will find a decent violin and learn to play it. This is a full-sized violin, and I would probably prefer a smaller one (they do make them littler).

Sometimes common sense does not prevail. I have thought about sending the thing off to Goodwill (and I suppose that is where the case will end up) but why not use it as décor? It will look pretty on the wall. I already have two dulcimers hanging up.

Books and musical instruments. Two things I can't seem to say no to. Something in my genes, I guess.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

For some reason I couldn't get the Sunday Stealing page to come up, but I finally used a different browser and made it work. Weird.

WHAT WAS YOUR:

    Last beverage: Water

    Last phone call: Called my father and wished him happy Father's Day.
    Last text message: my daily check on my friend Leslie.
    Last song you listened to: Beast of Burden, by The Rolling Stones
    Last time you cried: I don't know, it's been a while. I've whimpered a lot recently.


HAVE YOU EVER:

    Been cheated on: Not that I'm aware of. 
    Kissed someone & regretted it: Yes.
    Lost someone special: Of course.
    Been depressed: Yes.
    Drunk hard liquor: Yes.
    Lost glasses/contacts: No. I wear glasses and once wore contacts, but I have dry eyes and the contacts because a problem.


RANDOM:

    Last time you saw your mother: August 23, 2000. She died that night, on August 24, but I wasn't with her when she passed away.

    Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yes.
    Most visited Webpages: The New York Times, Facebook, my blog, The Guardian (UK newspaper, if you don't know), Elvenar (video game).
    Will you be celebrating Fathers day? I called my father and I sent him a card. He is under the weather so I won't visit him today. He has some kind of upper respiratory thing.
    When did you first realize you were an adult? Wait, I'm an adult? Ha! Probably when I became engaged and then married four months later.

__________
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them

Saturday 9: I Learned From You

Saturday 9: I Learned from You (2007)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song is a duet by the father/daughter team, Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus. Is your family musically inclined?

A. Yes. My mother could sing and my father sings and plays the guitar. He still has a band that he takes around to nursing homes and churches. My brother has a good voice and played saxophone when he was in school; I rather doubt he can play now. Once upon a time I could play pretty much any instrument I picked up but I settled on guitar. I don't sing as well as my brother but I can carry a tune.

2) This song is about life lessons. Who has been a major influence on your life?

A. Nancy Drew.

3) Miley's given name is "Destiny." Her nickname as a baby was "Smiley," which is where Miley came from. What's something that can always be depended upon to make you smile?

A. A piece of chocolate.

4) Miley's father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, has 5 children in addition to Miley (6 in all). Are you the oldest, the middle or the youngest sibling? Or are you an only child?

A. I am the oldest of two children.

5) Sam's own father often traveled for business, and always remembered to bring her the little complimentary soaps, shampoos or body lotion he gotfrom the hotel. Tell us about an inexpensive but treasured souvenir from a trip you've taken.

A. I have a little bell from Toledo, Spain that I brought back for my mother.

6) Back when Sam was in high school, it was her father who gave her driving lessons. Are you patient when teaching someone something new?

A. It depends on the pupil. I thought I did a good job when I taught a few courses at the community college, but I can't teach my husband much of anything.

7) Sam's father is easy to buy for: every year he wants a new pair of loafers, so every year for Father's Day she gives him a DSW gift card. Is there anyone on your gift list that you find it easy to buy for?

A. The kids all just want gift cards or money, and they've almost all reached the age where I no longer buy them anything, actually. My aunts and uncles stopped giving me gifts when I graduated high school, with one exception. However I have given gifts until they left college.

8) For family barbecues, Sam's dad dons his "Kiss the Chef" apron and mansthe Weber. What's the last thing you cooked on the grill?

A. A few years ago a bird nested in our grill and I refused to use it and it went to the dump. We never replaced it. My stepmother fixed hot dogs on the grill over Memorial Day so I guess that was the last thing I had.

9) Sam's father satisfies his afternoon sugar craving with an almost endless stream of Butter Rum Lifesavers. When you crave a snack, do you usually reach for something sweet or salty?

A. Sweet. Then it all goes into my big fat butt.

___________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Sunset, June 1, 2019

I don't remember taking this shot; I found it on my camera the other day when I was pulling photos off the SD card. The date on it was June 1. Not a bad photo, though. I took it with a Nikon Coolpix B700.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Right now I'm feeling pretty tired 'cause the world's gone crazy. Right now, I wish I could sit still, even be lazy. Right now, I'm thinking that I'm channeling Shania Twain - am I insane?

2. But really right now, I'm fretting over politics, wondering if the world's gone nutty. And right now I'm thinking that it's all junk, we're being ruled over by suited-up jerk-punks. And right now, I'm betting that climate change is real - can't you feel it? Could we take a key back 200 years, turn a lock so some things are clear? Could we open up a space for a different door?

3. Right now I do not admire any living person in the political arena. Right now, I want a woman for president because it's about damn time the men stood aside because they've ruined everything.

4. Right now my idea of happiness is to forget the world and get lost in some other space - like a good book or a video game or even a TV show. Did anyone watch Gentleman Jack on HBO? If you didn't I highly recommend it.

5. I'm thinking I was happy when I wasn't paying attention, and I think that's why all the folks who don't read the news aren't renewing their subscriptions. The less you know the happier you'll feel - but ignorance really isn't the bliss that lack of knowledge whispers in your ear. Instead its a sickness - worldwide it is now - and the idiots are in the lead.

6. I was asked recently when I was the happiest, and I would have to say, "I think right now," because even though I have health issues and other concerns, in many ways I'm freer than I ever have been.

7. Someone said to me too that my greatest love must be my writing, but no, that's my second greatest love, for my husband is my first. He has always been first, since our second date. But writing is pretty close. Writing keeps me going even when I'm not doing it well (and I suspect this Thursday 13 falls short of being a good one) or love number one isn't around.

8. Which leads me to journeys. Not really, but that's what's next - journeys. The everyday journey I take of simply getting up and out of bed, doing my chores, working on words, taking photographs, kissing my husband (sometimes in that order if he comes home late from work), the stuff of life, the journey through my house from bedroom to garage. Sometimes there are journeys to the grocery store or the library or Walmart. Occasionally there are internal journeys in my mind where my daydreams go to strange places, or the nightmares that plague me still, even now when I'm past middle-aged and shouldn't be having them - those journeys are hard and full of sweat, and I never even leave the bed.

9. I am not an extravagant person, but Tuesday night on PBS I saw Marty Robbins and Bobbi Gentry playing a small guitar. Research revealed it was probably a Martin 5-18, a guitar they no longer make, and which I find on ebay for the small price of $3,700. I would not want a used one, though, because it would likely smell musty, so I won't get one (not that I could afford it anyway), but it is a lovely little guitar. I will instead simply caress my little Taylor, and play a singular tune that means nothing to no one but me, something I made up a very long time ago. I call it "The Meadow" and it sounds better on an electric guitar but it's not too bad on the Taylor.

10. Sometimes fear stops me dead in the middle of the driveway. I'm a little OCD so I think, halfway down the hill, that I left the curling iron on, or the water running, or I forgot to close the garage door, so I turned around and drive back up the hill, and 999 out of 1,000 times the thing I fear has not happened, the house hasn't burned down because I left the curling iron on, because I didn't leave it on in the first place, nor is there a bear wandering around in the garage because I actually did close the garage door. But you never know.

11. My great-niece is due to be born soon. I'm excited for her and my nephew. But not having a child of my own is my greatest regret so my anticipation is tinged with a bit of sadness. I regret that even more than not writing a book - because I still might write a book. I can never have a child, at least, not a child of my blood.

12. If I could pick and choose my talents, I think I would like to have had passion. I live a creative life but it's an all-over-the-place sort of creativity, one that swerves from music to photography to writing to coloring in a coloring book. I've passion for my writing but not the ability to "make it so."

13. This Thursday Thirteen has been all over the place, hasn't it? Sometimes I wander. Right now, I'm wondering why I wandered, and where I went, and if it was worth the read. Thanks for reading anyway, dear reader.


___________________
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 607th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

The Artemis Journal Launch

I don't know how other literary magazines present themselves to the world, but the Artemis journal has a "launch" at the Taubman Museum, which is in Roanoke City.

Friday night they had this launch, and several poets read their poems. They were accompanied by classical music and by ballet dancers interpreting their words.

It was rather beautiful, actually.



Here we are for our big night on the town.

This was an interpretation of a poem about baking bread.

This was an interpretation of a found poem, a memorial to the poet, who passed away.

The poet readers with their dancers.

I can't remember what this dancer was interpreting.

Unfortunately, I did not get names. I was there to enjoy, not report.

My iPhone does not serve the functions I need it for at various events. I've discovered while trying to use it at supervisors' meetings, at my niece's dance recital, and now at this event, that it simply does not replace a decent camera. I have older cameras that would have taken better photos than these. I think the iPhone camera actually tries to do too much - and you end up with less. It is okay if that is all I have on me, as I did this night, but honestly I am not impressed with the photos. I was when I first purchased the phone, but after a few software upgrades, in my opinion Apple has made the process of taking a decent photo worse.

The event was very well attended, especially for a Friday night with downpouring rain.  I saw several people I know and who I hadn't seen for a long time. I used to attend these kinds of events more regularly but I haven't been to readings for many years. Hollins offers all sorts of cultural activities free to the public but because of my health I haven't been for some time. The campus is difficult to reach and while it is doable, I have to really want to go to something to get there.

Downtown Roanoke is also not my favorite place to go. I think this was the first time I'd been downtown in several years. I was surprised at how busy it was as I can remember when downtown was a ghost town after hours, for the most part. The place is full of bars and eateries now; not my scene, really. I'd rather be home with a book.

I think, though, I probably need to try to attend more of the readings at Hollins again. That's a nice goal, to feel well enough to do that. I enjoyed this event and I am glad we went.

And I really appreciate the fact that my husband went with me.

Poem in Artemis

I have had a poem published in Artemis, which is a well-known literary journal published in Roanoke.

Artemis has been around for 42 years, although it took a hiatus in 2000 before resuming publication again in 2013. I worked as a copy editor on the magazine one year, a very long time ago - like 1989 or thereabouts. But I never submitted to the journal before.

I entered three poems and they chose the one I did not expect them to choose. The poem, Daughter by the Tomb, is a quiet villanelle, a form poem. While it is a good poem it was not the one I considered the best of my entries, but in reviewing the magazine I see that this poem fits in better with the other items in the magazine.

Artemis uses art to add to its attractiveness. This year the cover was by Sally Mann. The work of famous poets such as Nikki Giovanni is intertwined with unknown poets, such as myself. The mix of art and poetry makes this a unique magazine with great appeal.

The theme for this year was Women Hold Up Half the Sky.

The magazine can be purchased at http://www.artemisjournal.org/store/. It is $20 for a soft cover edition or $30 for a hard bound version.

My poem is on page 72, eloquently set off by the art of Judith Starchild.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Would you rather be able to detect any lie you hear or get away with any lie you tell?

A. Get away with any lie I tell.

2. Would you rather be a hopeless romantic or a hopeless unromantic?

A. Hopeless romantic.

3. Would you rather have too many friends or too few?

A. Too many.

4. Would you rather have no taste buds or be blind?

A. No taste buds.

5. Would you rather never hear music again or lose the ability to read?

A. Never hear music again, I guess. That's a hard one.

6. Would you rather find true love or be rich?

A. True love.

7. Would you rather be the richest person or the smartest?

A. Smartest.

8. Would you rather create history or delete it?

A. Create it.

9. Would you rather create a great piece of art and not get credit or get credit for a piece of art you didn’t create?

A. Create art and not get credit (I already do that anyway).

10. Would you rather age from the neck up, or from the neck down.

A. Neck down.

11. Would you rather see the world but live in poverty or stay in one place and live rich?

A. See the world and live in poverty.

12. Would you rather become famous or powerful?

A. I'm not sure the two are mutually exclusive. But powerful.

13. Would you rather be a creative person or a technical person?

A. Creative person.

14. Would you rather get a paper cut whenever you touch paper or bit your tongue whenever you eat something?

A. Paper cut.

15. Would you rather wake up in the morning looking like a giraffe or a kangaroo?

A. Giraffe.

16. Would you rather speak “whale” or read babies’ minds.

A. Whale.

17. Would you rather eat pizza every day or never eat pizza again?

A. I don't eat pizza anyway because of my ulcers.

18. Would you rather stay forever at your current age or be 10 years younger?

A. Do you age when you're 10 years younger? Incomplete question! If you never age, then 10 years younger. Otherwise, forever at my current age.

__________
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them

Saturday 9: Today is My Birthday!

They say it's my birthday! Happy Birthday to me!


Saturday 9: I'm Moving On (1965)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Chyvonne Scott sings that she's sick of her lover's "conniving." Tell us about a time you felt deceived. (It doesn't have to involve romance.)

A. November 7, 2016. Well, moving beyond that, let me think. Lots of times I wrote things and did not get paid for them even though I thought I would be. That's just being cheated, though, and not exactly deception. It happens to freelancers all the time.

2) She realizes it's time to move on to another love. What's your favorite love song? Is it about a relationship that's running smoothly? Or is it like "I'm Moving On," about an unhappy love affair?

A. You Don't Bring Me Flowers, by Neil Diamond & Barbara Streisand, which is not a happy love song. We'll follow that with Nowhere to Go, by Melissa Etheridge, which while not exactly a happy song at least isn't about breaking up.

3) Though Chyvonne Scott enjoyed only limited success as a recording artist, she was very popular in New York clubs. When did you most recently listen to music performed live?

A. It's been a while. I performed music myself the other week over at my dad's house. Does that work?

4) In 2017, this song appeared on a Samsung commercial that poked fun at rival iPhone. Is your cell phone an Apple or Android? How did you choose your phone?

A. I have an Apple. I chose it because my brother said I would like it and find it easier than an Android. I had a learning curve with it but I like it now.

5) Chyvonne is an unusual name. In 1965, when this song was first released, the most popular baby names in the US were Michael and Lisa. Do you have any Michaels or Lisas in your life?

A. Not in my close circle of friends, no. There's a Lisa at the reception desk of the physical therapy place.

6) Also in 1965, Winston Churchill died. In researching this week's Sat. 9, Sam discovered a Churchill quote that's new to her: "I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught." Share something interesting that you recently learned.

A. I learned that I have to accept a new normal and that looking backwards at what you could do and comparing it to what you can do is self-defeating behavior.

7) In 1965, one of the most successful movies ever made, The Sound of Music, was released. Have you ever seen it?

A. Many times. Here's a fun thing: When I was young, I used to think in the song "Do Re Me" where the song goes, "Te, a drink with jam and bread" that it actually said, "Te, a drink with Jane and Fred." I wondered for a long time who Jane and Fred were.

8) Lava lamps were already popular in England and Brussels, but in 1965 they were introduced in the US. Do you think lava lamps are cool?

A. Yes, I think they are cool. I used to have a strobe light but I don't think I ever owned a lava lamp. Maybe I should remedy that.

9) Random question -- You have to buy something very personal that you find embarrassing. Would you rather pay cash for it, so your identity would be unknown but you'd have to face the cashier? Or order it online, where you could avoid looking anyone in the eye, but you have to share your name and address?

A. Women have spent their entire adult lives going into pharmacies and purchasing tampons, pads, KY lubricant and condoms. There is nothing I purchase that is that embarrassing.

___________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Thursday Thirteen

I have been using this blog for 13 years now. Here are 13 June photos.

 

___________________
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 607th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

The Rowling Effect

There's a tendency among writers today to make a sudden jump at the end of their book. Maybe they take us forward 20 years or all the way to the death of the protagonist.

Unfortunately, these generally ruin the book. The book likely should end before this jump occurs.

I call it the "Rowling effect" because that is what J. K. Rowling did in the last Harry Potter book of the series. Fans will recall that she ends the book and then has a final chapter that explains how Harry and friends grew up, married, had children, etc.

Blah. It was an excruciating chapter that should have been left out of the story.

The last book I read that did this was When the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. It wasn't a bad book - until the very end.

Then it jumped ahead about 35 years to the death of the protagonist and a relatively unbelievable revelation that the reader had figured out long before.

I see this more now than I used to, and I think Rowling's the reason. She made it okay to ruin a book's ending. She made it fine for an author not to figure out where the story really should be completed.

But it is not fine. A good ending can make a bad book better, but a bad ending can not help anything. At best, it makes a great book a little less great.

The ending should do no more than wrap up a few loose ends and show the ending of that portion of the protagonist's journey. If the rest of the protagonist's life is one big bore, we don't need to know that.

Wrapping up a book - or a TV series - with a bad ending is like putting a match to a stick. It was a good stick until you lit the match. Now you have a good stick that is burned and not so good anymore.

I could argue that Game of Thrones fits this scenario, too, with it's not-so-great final episode, but it did wrap up loose ends, and it ended the journey of its protagonists. In that show, it was the Stark children who ultimately were the protagonists, but in a show with so many characters it was never clear who the protagonist was. As people died off one by one and the story continued, one had to determine that the protagonist was someone left alive, or else conventional story techniques had been waylaid and perhaps the land itself was the protagonist, in which case anything goes, I suppose. In the end, though, we are left with several protagonists, all beginning new quests. Jon goes to live with the Free Folk, Sansa becomes Queen of the North, Bran the Broken is King of the Six Realms, and Arya sails off to the edge of the map. Their journey's aren't over. So this was, by my standards, a good ending because I didn't see the protagonists years later, dying or old or whatever their ultimate destinies may be. I can still think about them, maybe consider a day when the siblings are reunited - or not.

Big Bang Theory is a TV series that ended well. It wrapped up most loose ends - but not quite all - but still gave the viewer a reason to wonder about the characters. When you have something else to think about - will Raj ever marry, for example - then you have a good ending. These folks will go on with their lives, eating pizza on specific nights and doing their jobs. They may end up destitute or homeless or they may go on to do very great things (which most them already had done anyway). This part of their journey was done, though. The audience didn't need to know more.

Maybe what I'm trying to say is that when a book ends, there shouldn't be an absolute end. If the protagonist dies at the end, there's nothing left to think about. The journey is over. I'm not sure books should end in that fashion. I like to think of more journey's ahead, more adventures, more growth of character.

Endings can mess up a book, but that's because the book isn't about the ending. The book is about the story. It's about the getting to the end, much like life is about its journey, not the final breath. If the ending messes up the story, then it's not the right place to end.

And that's the end of all I have to say about that. For now.

Daisies

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. What was you first movie-going experience without your parents?

A. I'm not sure. However, there was one summer after the Salem Valley 8 theater was built that we spent a lot of time at the theater, my young uncle, my brother and me. We could walk there, so we saw a lot of those "B" movies, and I can't remember the name of a single one of them. This would have been 1975-1977ish. And a friend took my brother and me to see Grease at the theater when it came out (that would have been 1978).

2. Do you still buy DVDs or Blu Rays (or do you just stream them)?

A. I still buy DVDs/Blu Rays. The last one I purchased was Wonder Woman.

3. What is your guilty pleasure movie? What about it works for you?

A. Dirty Dancing. I enjoy that movie because it's fun, and every time I watch it I see a little more depth. Plus part of it was filmed at Mountain Lake, a resort which is about an hour away, so I like to see if I can figure out the scenery.



4. You have compiled a list of your top 10 movies. Which movies do you like, but would not make the list?

A. I don't have a list of top 10 movies. My top movie is all 12+ hours of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as everyone who knows me knows. But let's put Under the Tuscan Sun on there, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Stars Wars (the first three original movies), Wonder Woman, The Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (bet that one took you by surprise, didn't it?), Mama Mia!, The Hobbit trilogy, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark & The Temple of Doom, The Blind Side, Practical Magic, and The Rose.



5. Which movie(s) do you compulsively watch over and over again? What makes it so great?

A. The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is great because it is a great story with well-developed characters, wonderful acting, and New Zealand scenery. What more could you ask for?


(This is the part where I always cry.)

6. Classic(s) you’re embarrassed to admit you haven’t seen yet?

A. Most of them.

7. Do you have any movie posters hanging on your wall? If yes, which ones and why?

A. I have a Lord of the Rings calendar on the wall.

For June it has Arwen, Galadriel, and Eowyn.

8. Tell us about a movie that you are passionate about.

A. I like Wonder Woman because it has a strong female lead, who grows into her "powers" as a woman and as a heroine. I think there's a little Wonder Woman inside of every woman; only she's been so squashed by the patriarchy that she's very hard to find.

9. What is a movie you vow to never watch? Why?

A. Anything with Adam Sandler in it, because he comes across as a big misogynistic jerk.

10. Tell us about a movie that literally left you speechless.

A. It takes a lot to leave me speechless. Movies have left me crying, but not speechless.

11. What’s a movie that you always recommend?

A. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, of course. Outside of that, anything in #4.

12. Who is an actor you always watch, no matter how crappy the movie?

A. Sandra Bullock, maybe.

13. Who is an actor you don’t get the appeal for? Why don’t you like them?

A. Cher. She's a great singer, but I've never seen her act in anything where I didn't forget for a minute that it was Cher playing a role. She never actually became the part, the way someone like Sally Fields might.

14. Who is an actor, living or dead, you’d love to meet? Why do they intrigue you?

A. Lucille Ball. She was beautiful, witty, and smart, and a real leader in her business.

Isn't she beautiful?

15. Sexiest actor/actress you’ve seen. (Picture requested!)

A. Viggo Mortenson as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings (he isn't so hot in other roles). Sexiest female? Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

Viggo Mortenson as Aragorn

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman

16. You are casting a movie, pick four or five actors you’d hire to be in it and why we’d love them together.

A. Mr. Ed, George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Sally Field, and Walter Cronkite, who isn't an actor but I don't care, I want him in my picture. You'd love them because I say so.

17. Which are your favorite actor pairings of all time?

A. Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.



18. Have you ever watched movies from a decade that was before you were born? If so, which decade is your favorite?

A. I used to watch Tarzan movies. I don't have a favorite decade.

19. If you were to be in a movie would you rather play the hero, villain or anti-hero? Why?

A. I want to be the dead body on the floor under the sheet.



My acting ability. My foot sticking out from a sheet.

__________
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them

Saturday 9: It's Late

Saturday 9: It's Late (1959)

Unfamiliar with this week's song. Hear it here.

1) Ricky Nelson laments that he should have been home hours ago. When is the last time you stayed up later than you should have? What were you doing?

A. I'm an old married woman. We go to bed at 10 p.m. at the latest. I can't remember when I was out late for anything other than a government meeting when I was working.

2) Compounding Ricky's problem is that he's nearly out of gas. How is your gas tank right now? When did you most recently fill 'er up?

A. Friday morning at 5:30 a.m. (The previous question asked me when I stayed out late. It didn't ask me what I was doing up early.)

3) It gets worse! He can't call home because he doesn't have a dime for the pay phone. Have you recently been in a situation where you've been glad you had your cell phone handy?

A. Not really. We had a humdinger of a severe thunderstorm the other day and my husband called me on my cell phone because he was on the other side of the farm and he could see that the lightning was popping around the house. I heard it hit close by several times.

4) The video for this song is from an episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Ozzie Nelson, Ricky's father, was in charge of the show and made the rules. One was that no one was allowed to smoke on the set ... except his wife, Harriet. Do you smoke? Have you ever lived with a smoker?

A. I think when I was quite young my father smoked, but he stopped. My grandfather smoked, though, and I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house. I do not smoke.

5) Life magazine coined the phrase "teen idol" to describe Ricky's popularity. According to Tiger Beat, today's teen idols include Johnny Orlando and Ruby Jay. Johnny was born in 2003, Ruby in 2004. Sam admits that before today, she had no idea who these young people are. How about you?

A. Not a clue. I didn't even know teen magazines were still a thing.

6) While Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan have posthumously praised Ricky Nelson's music, 1950s music critics dismissed him as a lightweight. What's the last review you read? Was it written by a professional critic, or was it contributed by a consumer to a site like Amazon or Yelp?

A. It was a movie review in the newspaper, so a professional critic.

7) At the height of his popularity, Ricky tried his hand at movies, appearing in the western Rio Bravo with John Wayne. He turned 18 during the filming, and Wayne celebrated by playfully throwing Ricky into a sack of horse manure. Do you think pranks and practical jokes are funny?

A. No, I do not.

8) In 1959, when this song was popular, the St. Lawrence Seaway was completed. It connects Canada to our Great Lakes. Without looking it up, can you name all 5 Great Lakes?

A. Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings in the rooms of her ice water mansions. Michigan sings like a young man's dreams, the islands and bays are for sportsmen. And farther below Lake Ontario takes in what Lake Eerie can send her. And the iron boats go as the mariners all know with the gales of November remembered. (That's how I remember the Great Lakes.)

9) Random question – You drive past a local motel and see the car of a very married friend right there in the lot. Would you ask her about it?

A. Only if my husband's truck was also in the parking lot.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.