Saturdy 9: Alfred Hitchcock

Saturday 9: "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Theme

This week's song was chosen because this is the last Saturday 9 before Halloween. Are you unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, was born in England. Name another pop culture contribution England has made.

A. Elton John.

2) This week's song is recognized as the theme to Hitchcock's long-running TV show, but "Funeral March for a Marionnette" is a classic piece written for piano in the late 1870s by Charles Gounod. Do you often listen to classical music?

A. Sometimes at night I do before I go to sleep.

3) Janet Leigh's shower scene in  Hitchcock's Psycho is considered one of the scariest sequences ever filmed. What's the most frightening movie you've ever seen?

A. When I was young I saw Amityville Horror (the 1979 version) and that scarred me for life, I think. I also saw The Shining, Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist and similar movies. I stopped watching horror when I was about 17. Life is scary enough.

4) Hitchcock admitted that he "never trusted birds," and he took that fear and turned it into the movie, The Birds. Is there a member of the animal kingdom that just gives you "the creeps?"

A. Spiders and snakes.

5) Halloween will soon be upon us. Will you carve a jack o'lantern this year?

A. No.

6) What candy will trick or treaters get at your house?

A. I never have trick or treaters, but I usually purchase a bag of Smarties because they're not chocolate, they're (relatively) low in calories, and I will eat them.

7)  When you went trick or treating, did you prefer fantasy costumes (like a storybook character) or scary ones (like a monster)?

A. I think I usually went as a tramp.

8) Which candy was your favorite? Which one were you disappointed to find in your trick or treat bag?

A. I'm not a fan of candy corn.

9) Which do you find scarier -- cemeteries or haunted houses?

A. Haunted houses.

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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.

Four Points

Moonset 10/23/2018

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. The smell of pumpkin guts or rotting leaves?

A. Um. Neither. Although I suppose rotting leaves is really simply composting and woodsy.

2. Sweet or salty pumpkin seeds?

A. I've never had sweet pumpkin seeds. I've had plain and salted.

3. Store bought or pumpkin patch pumpkins?

A. I usually don't do pumpkins but if I do I get them at the market.

4. Wool or knit sweaters?

A. Knit sweaters. I am allergic to wool.

5. Halloween party or exploring haunted places?

A. Exploring haunted places, if I were able.

6. Candy corn or mellowcreme pumpkins?

A. Blah. Neither.

7. Apple cider donuts or pumpkin donuts?

A. Neither.

8. Apple pie or pumpkin pie?

A. Apple pie.

9. Scary costume or something silly?

A. Scary costume.

10. Still, silent nights or rainy, windblown ones?

A. Still, silent nights (preferably with a full moon). I'm too old for cold, rainy windblown Halloweens.

11. Hocus Pocus or Halloweentown?

A. Hocus Pocus.

12. Witches or ghosts?

A. Both

13. Raking leaves or climbing trees?

A. Neither. We use a leaf blower and I'm too old to climb trees.

14. Ouija boards or ghost stories around a campfire?

A. Both.

15. Frankenweenie or The Corpse Bride?

A. I've never seen either one.

16. October or November?

A. October.

17. Black cats or owls?

A. Both.

18. Fireplace or candlelight?

A. Candlelight.

19. Monster movies or their classic novels?

A. Novels.

20. Carve or paint pumpkins?

A. If I put one out at all, I simply sit it out plain with nary a mark on it, aside from whatever nature has wrought.

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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: Sweet City Woman

Saturday 9: Sweet City Woman (1971)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here. (Nice oldie but a goodie.)

1) The lyrics tell us the singer is on his way to catch a train and he really wants to be on time. When is the last time you were late for something?

A. I am rarely late. I can't remember the last time I was late for anything in recent years.

2) He sings he's on his way to meet a woman known for her macaroons. What's your favorite cookie?

A. Chocolate chip. Preferably homemade, Nestles Tollhouse recipe.

3) His girlfriend's face is so pretty she lights up the city night. How many lights are in the room you're in? How many are switched on?

A. Just the overhead light, which has four of those energy-saving bulbs in it.

4) This is the rare top 40 tune that prominently features a banjo. Sam has always been crazy about the sound of a banjo. What sound makes you smile? (It doesn't have to be a musical instrument. Think bacon sizzling, church bells, etc.)

A. I play the guitar so I love guitar music. Sam might be interested to know I have played the banjo, too, a long time ago. It has been a while since I picked up that instrument, though. I also love the sound of my husband's voice (Yes, I am a sap. Sue me.).

5) 47 years after their record was a hit, The Stampeders still tour every summer, playing festivals across the US and their native Canada. Do you enjoy live music under the stars? Or would you prefer to be seated in a theater?

A. Because of cigarette smoking, which aggravates my asthma, I would have to go with an indoor theater where smoking is not allowed. There are many live music events locally that I would like to attend but someone always has to light up their cancer stick.

6) In 1971, when this song was popular on the radio, detective shows were popular on TV. Mannix, Ironside and Cannon were all in the Top 20. Who is your favorite TV detective?

A. I am partial to Cagney & Lacey, followed by Charlie's Angels.

7) Also in 1971, the Post Office Department was disbanded as a Cabinet department and became The United States Postal Service. When did you last go to the post office? Were you mailing something? Buying stamps? Picking up a package? Renewing your passport?

A. Buying stamps.

8) Race car legend Jeff Gordon was born in 1971. Do you watch NASCAR?

A. Not only have I watched it, I have been to live races. My husband is a huge NASCAR fan so the race is on every Sunday (or Saturday night if they are racing then). We went to the May race in Charlotte, NC one year and I nearly passed out from the heat/odors/sweat/beer smell/black crap from the race cars. I decided then that while I will do a lot of things for my fellow, going to a race was no longer one of them. I did, however, take him to the Pocono track two years ago so he could ride around the race track at high speeds. That wasn't so bad - no crowd, and it was October.

9) Random question -- Do you have a vaccination scar? If so, where is it?

A. Mine is barely visible. It is on my right arm but you really have to look for it. It has faded over time. I did get my flu shot earlier this week. I don't know what counts as a reaction to the shot but my arm turned a nice scarlet red for about 24 hours and then it went away. The red place was about as big as my spread-out hand. I don't always get them but last January - April I stayed sick so I thought it might be best to try not to have that happen again.

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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.

Thursday Thirteen

NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer and Spitzer Space Telescope combined to show a pair of interacting galaxies might be experiencing the galactic equivalent of a mid-life crisis.




The many personalities of our great galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, are exposed in this new composite image from NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer and Spitzer Space Telescope.



The perfectly picturesque spiral galaxy known as Messier 81, or M81, looks sharp in this new composite from NASA Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes and NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer.

 

Most galaxies are clumped together in groups or clusters. A neighboring galaxy is never far away. But this galaxy, known as NGC 6503, has found itself in a lonely position, at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. The Local Void is a huge stretch of space that is at least 150 million light-years across. It seems completely empty of stars or galaxies. The galaxy’s odd location on the edge of this never-land led stargazer Stephen James O’Meara to dub it the “Lost-In-Space galaxy” in his 2007 book, Hidden Treasures.


Astronomers using NASA Hubble Space Telescope have found a spiral galaxy that may rotate in the opposite direction from what was expected.




NASA Spitzer, Hubble and Chandra space observatories teamed up to create this multi-wavelength, false-colored view of the M82 galaxy. The lively portrait celebrates Hubble sweet sixteen birthday.



This false-color composite image shows the Cartwheel galaxy as seen by NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer, where the first ripple appears as an ultraviolet-bright blue outer ring.



NASA image release August 5, 2010 A beautiful new image of two colliding galaxies has been released by NASA's Great Observatories. The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light-years from Earth, are shown in this composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold and brown), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red). The Antennae galaxies take their name from the long antenna-like "arms," seen in wide-angle views of the system. These features were produced by tidal forces generated in the collision. The collision, which began more than 100 million years ago and is still occurring, has triggered the formation of millions of stars in clouds of dusts and gas in the galaxies. The most massive of these young stars have already sped through their evolution in a few million years and exploded as supernovas.



This image shows two companion galaxies, NGC 4625 top and NGC 4618 bottom, and their surrounding cocoons of cool hydrogen gas purple. The huge set of spiral arms on NGC 4625 blue was discovered by the ultraviolet eyes of NASA GALEX.



Black-hole-powered galaxies called blazars are the most common sources detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. As matter falls toward the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center, some of it is accelerated outward at nearly the speed of light along jets pointed in opposite directions. When one of the jets happens to be aimed in the direction of Earth, as illustrated here, the galaxy appears especially bright and is classified as a blazar.



NASA Spitzer Space Telescope shows the supernova remnant 1E0102.2-7219 sits next to the nebula N76 in a bright, star-forming region of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy.



NASA Hubble and Spitzer telescopes combined to make these shape-shifting galaxies taking on the form of a giant mask. The icy blue eyes are actually the cores of two merging galaxies, called NGC 2207 and IC 2163, and the mask is their spiral arms.



NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes on one of the most famous objects in the sky, Messier 104, also called the Sombrero galaxy. In this striking infrared picture, Spitzer sees an exciting new view of a galaxy that in visible light has been likened to a "sombrero," but here looks more like a "bulls-eye." Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red.

Photos from NASA Image & Video Library, which is open and free to public to use.

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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 574th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

The Finished Tile

The tile installers finished up on Saturday. Well, it's no completely finished. They didn't install the quarter round against the baseboard, but we are also taking up the carpeting soon and the next installers will do that. It will not be the same people.

I am happy with the look of the tile. It lightened the kitchen and changed the feel of the room. I need new rugs for the floor - the old ones won't do - and I think I need to do something different for a trash can now, but otherwise I am pleased. Those are minor details that I can take care over time.

Here are photos:

The dining area without the table.

The kitchen area.

A close-up of the tile.

The kitchen with part of the table and chairs. We took a leaf from the table so it is much smaller than it was. I haven't decided if I'm going to add that back or keep the table tiny.

Looking into the area from the living room. Don't you think the trash can needs to be a different color?

The kitchen area with the floor mats back. The one in front of the fridge definitely doesn't match now.
 

Remodeling and updating is a pain. We don't do much of it because it is so much hassle. Besides, with just the two of us, it's not like the house gets worn out. We don't have visitors often and we're fairly neat people.

When the time comes I'll show you the new hardwood floor we are putting down to replace the carpeting. We are hoping this will help my allergies. We'll see.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Your phone rings. Who is the most likely caller?

A. My husband.

2. How long do you chat on the phone each day?

A. A good hour or so.

3. Who do you speak to the most?

A. My friend T. calls me almost every day. Otherwise, my husband.

4. Do you often not answer if a certain person comes up on your caller id?

A. I don't answer unknown numbers.

5. Do you phone friends at work?

A. I sometimes do but try not to.

6. Do you make personal calls at work?

A. I work from home.

7. Who do you always say “I love you” at the end of the call?

A. Usually my husband.

8. Do you use a landline or cell more often?

A. The landline, mostly. According to my cellphone I have used it just over 15 hours in the year I have had it.

9. Who in the blogosphere that you haven’t chatted with but would like to?

A. I'd like to chat to Gal, Kwizgiver, Bev, Zippi, Stacy . . . all the regulars on Sunday Stealing and Saturday 9.
   
Pancakes

1. Scratch or mix? Buttermilk or plain?

A. Plain with blueberries cooked in them.

2. Pure and simple, or with additions cooked in?

A. With blueberries only.

3. For breakfast or for dinner?

A. Breakfast.

4. Preferred syrup or other topping? How about the best side dish?

A. Maple syrup with bacon.

5. Favorite pancake restaurant?

A. IHOP I guess.

Bonus: Any tasty recipes out there, for pancakes or other special breakfast dishes? Bring 'em on!

I'm not much of a cook. Sorry.


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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.