Saturday 9: Do You Want to Dance

Saturday 9: Do You Want to Dance? (1972)

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

This week, we're inspired by The Divine Miss M's plea for a definitive answer. Here are nine random "yes or no" questions. Naturally you're welcome to elaborate, but if you want to zip through with a Y or an N, that's fine, too.
 
1) Do you check your cellphone first thing in the morning? No.

2) Are there dirty dishes in your sink right now? No.

3) Have you laughed yet today? Yes.

4) Have you written a check in the last week? Yes.

5) If you met someone who shared all your strengths and weaknesses, would you like him/her? I have no idea.

6) Is a bride ever too old to have a big wedding? No.

7) Do you put potato chips in your sandwich to make it crunchy? No. Blech.

8) Have you ever taken a nude photo of someone (not a baby)? Yes.

9) On Monday, will you be playing Bud and Mimi's cool new meme, Monday Madness? (Our last shameless plug, I promise.) I doubt it.

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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. 

Lecture Notes - Something About Paths

Over the summer, I listened to several different podcasts or viewed videos on this subject or that. I came across notes I took from one of those, but unfortunately I didn't write down who did the lecture.

It may have been Martha Beck, Brene Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert, or somebody else altogether. I am leaning toward Martha Beck, but I don't know for sure.

The lecture laid out several paths of a life. We all walk different paths. Sometimes we cross paths, sometimes we walk together along parallel paths, sometimes our paths go in different directions and we never see one another again, sometimes they reconnect years from the point of departure.

As Tolkien said somewhere, people come and go in the telling of a story, and so they do in life.

My notes:

The broken path. Self-compassion, self acceptance. I am assuming this is the path of the person who is at odds with herself. In order to find firmer ground, she needs self-compassion and self acceptance.

The mended path. I took no notes about this. To me it would mean someone who has found a little self-compassion and self acceptance.

The path of fascination. This includes attention without effort, nurturing what interests you, narrowing your focus, and naming the thing you're doing. You need curiosity, compassion, connection, and courage to follow this path.

The path of mystery. This includes augmentation by interest (I'm not quite sure what that means), being sensitive to feedback, and imagining things differently.

Finally, there's the path of truth. I took no notes about this, either.

I suppose if you master the first four paths in some manner, one finds her truth.

Thursday Thirteen #675

Toys I remember from childhood:

1. Mrs. Beasley doll. 

2. Baby Tenderlove 

3. Green army men.

4. Action Jackson

5. Johnny West dolls

6. GI Joe

7. Barbi dolls (and Ken, of course)

8. Slinky

9. Play-Doh

10. Erector set (belonged to my brother, actually)

11. Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots

12. Candyland game

13. Roller skates that fastened to your shoes.

What toys do you remember?

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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 675th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

I Dreamed About a Door

Last night, I dreamed I was being imposed upon, one might say, by a door that had a stained glass inside with wood around it.

The door was alive and evil. It killed people. It ordered us to plant a garden because it wanted to see flowers, so we did, but then it killed the garden.

It was constantly wanting things, and if I did not oblige it, it beat on me until I did. For some reason, it didn't want to kill me. Perhaps it needed a willing being with legs, I don't know. Dreams have their own ways about them.

We locked the door up in boxes, in rooms, in attics, but the door always found a way out, and went on a killing spree. It did this on its own, but we would hear about it the next day, that so many people had died. We knew it was the door but had no way to prove it and who would believe us, anyway?

The door warned us not to try to break it or smash it, as its shards of glass would then all go after even more people, allowing the door to do more damage than it would do if it stayed whole. Even if we ground it down to fine sand, the door said, it's evil would live on and the sand would simply spread it that much more.

I despaired, finding no way around this mess. I could not outrun the door, I could not trap the door, I could find no way to defeat the door and make it stop its evil killing spree.

After a while, I decided my only recourse was to see if the door was lying, and grind it into fine little bits. 

Then I woke up.

I am fairly certain this door dream is an analogy for what is going on right now. The deaths would be from the coronavirus. The door would be the people who are walking straight into fascism. The strong hint with this dream is that, no matter what, even if we stop the door, evil will spread.

The evil and violence will spread.

Silent Running

Silent Running was originally performed by Mike & the Mechanics.

For reasons I don't quite understand, this was my reaction to the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, to learn this song.

My husband said it is because it feels like this is where we are. Calling out into the night, and no one is listening.

Pandemic Journal Day 185

Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Supreme Court Justice, died on Friday, September 18, 2020.

Within two hours of the official notification of her death, the leader of the Senate (I refuse to name him but I will call him turtle head), was proclaiming that he would bring up nominations to replace her. She wasn't even cold yet and this turtle head was being a turtle butthole. He could have at least waited a day.

But no.

Of course, when Justice Scalia passed away in February 2016, turtle head refused to bring Merrick Garland up for nomination. Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.

Turtle head will be remembered as one of the many reasons the United States is now a failed authoritarian third-world nation. I wonder if in 2000 years the United States' 250 years of existence will just be a footnote in the history annals. I strongly suspect that will be the case. So much for ever lasting democracy.

What a joke we are.

Our military might is the only reason the United Nations isn't intervening and trying to set our boat back aright. Instead we're all listing horribly and many of us are being flung into the deep seas, left to drown.

As far as the pandemic, I continue to physical distance. Kroger is a horrifying place to go into, and I do that infrequently. Their pickup is awful, and many times I do not receive the items I need. So I masked up and went in last week. It was panic-attack inducing. They are understaffed, and I could have died in Aisle 5 and no one would have noticed.

They have no one ensuring people follow protocol. They have no arrows on the floors for physical distancing. Just little happy reminders to "Stay six feet" from fellow shoppers. Like people can still read. Obviously they cannot, do not, or will not.

I have friends who believe that come November things will be better. I have news for them, bless their hopeful little hearts. The white supremist genie is out of the bottle and it's not going back in without a majorly bigly bottle and a very strong cork. We do not have either one. We are going to continue to decline. Things will only get worse, regardless of who wins the election. The only thing the election may do is postpone the ultimate inevitable. Or it may bring it on that much faster. I just know it's not going to help.

We are not the same country we were when the U.S. Constitution was written. Not that it matters - the current administration has simply dismissed it as the ancient piece of paper it is and gone about its merry way, wrecking havoc and sowing chaos and discord at every turn. But it's time for a new one, I'm afraid.

One that recognizes everyone who looks human IS human. One that is genderless. One that is secular and free of demons and gods. One that understands that the needs of a human being include not only "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," but also health care and a basic bottom line that is reasonable and just. And that justice as a concept applies to all, not only the monied.

I will be long dead before any of that comes to pass, though. Maybe my great-niece's children will step up, I don't know. I know the baby boomers are capable of nothing but destruction and selfishness. The Millennials are thoughtful and may come through as they age, but first the baby boomers have to step aside, and those in power will be a long time releasing it.

As a people and a society, we need to recognize that the good of the many outweigh the needs of the few. We need to understand that in order to function, we need one another. We are not little islands, set apart. Look at how much we miss one another during the lockdowns with the pandemic. We need other people, and not just those who operate within our bubbles.

We need everybody. Good, bad, ugly, conservative, liberal, screwy and straight. It takes all kinds to move a society forward.

When you become divided, so "us versus them" as we have now, then society stalls and stagnates. It takes artists and dreamers to create visions; it takes engineers sometimes to make those visions reality. We need all kinds of people to function, not only the ones a person wants to deal with, but everyone.

Every. Single. One.

To disregard lives for any reason, to throw them away simply because of stupidity - it's the biggest sin ever. And here we are, reaching 200,000 people dead from coronavirus just here in the USA. And there was no need for most of them to die.

We had no leadership when this began, no leadership now as we muddle through it, and I see no leadership in the future.

If we'd had leadership, we'd never have run out of toilet paper.

Public health should not be political. But everything now is political, and when politics enters any realm, it immediately, simply by definition, taints it. That's because the political is about power, and power lacks empathy, understanding, and compassion.

It always has.

I really hope reincarnation is a thing, because I want to come back in 2000 years and see that the USA is simply an asterisk in the annals of history. We may not even be that. We may as forgotten as Atlantis, a silly fable people tell and talk about as if it were real.

Because after all, we're not real now, are we? When reality fails and becomes what TV and talking heads make it, in spite of what your eyes see, then it is all imaginary anyway, isn't it?

In spite of the dead. In spite of the pain.

In spite of the lack of humanity.

Or maybe the world is upside down because we lack humanity.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Name a person you're glad to have in your life.

A. All of my blogging buddies. They give me a sense of community in "these unsettled times."

2. What is something you find comfort in?

A. Playing music.

Me when I was a young
 bad-ass guitar player

3. What is your favorite part of the morning?

A. When I sit down to eat breakfast and read the newspaper. (Yes, I still take a print edition of a newspaper.)

4. What is your favorite memory?

A. It is a rather bittersweet memory. I was about 11 years old, and I asked my brother, in all seriousness (a seriousness born of depression even at that young age), what he would have done if I hadn't been born or if I died. His response was, "I would cry until I died." I have never forgotten that. Sometimes when I am feeling really low I remember that he said that and it makes me feel better, because I never want to make my brother cry.

5. Name an accomplishment of which you are proud.

A. I have three college degrees. I am proud of all of them because I worked hard for them. I am also proud of my writing awards from the Virginia Press Association.

6. What is an opportunity for which you are grateful?

A. I am glad I had the opportunity to be a freelance writer and write for many local and state publications. Over my lifetime, I've written and published nearly 5,000 articles and at least 1,000 photos. It did not make me wealthy, but it made me rich in knowledge, connections, and in spirit.

7. What is your favorite song (and why)?

A. I don't have a favorite song. I know probably a 1000 songs or more and sometimes I would rather hear one song over another, depending on my moods, but I don't have a favorite song. That said, I do like to listen to Bread when I need to be calmed.

8. What is a future event that you are excited about?

A. I don't have any future events planned. We are not going on vacation because of Covid, I'm not sure we will have any holidays with anyone, and things look bleak at the moment. I am not excited about the upcoming election because I believe that regardless of outcome, things will not be good. I'm just keeping my head down and hoping that one day I will feel safe going to the bookstore. I am not holding my breath.

9. What is the favorite area in your home?

A. My office. This is where all my creative stuff is. I keep two guitars in here, cameras, my computer, loads of notebooks, coloring books, and other things that I require to keep going.

A little corner of my room of creativity.

10. Name something beautiful you saw today.

A. I saw a doe and her two fawns.

11. What is your guilty pleasure?

A. Eating chocolate, but I no longer feel guilty about it. If I am going to die, I'd just as soon have death by chocolate as death by Covid.

12. What is something you love about a family member?

A. My husband is gentle and loyal. He is a good man.

13. Write about a compliment that made you feel good.

A. I think being asked to write and edit my county's 250th anniversary magazine was a huge compliment to my work and my work ethic. It's really a nice magazine even if I do say so myself. Too bad it has mostly sat in the county administration office because all of the events celebrating my county's 250th birthday were cancelled. But we will try again next year.

14. What is the item that you treasure the most?

A. My wedding ring.

15. Write about your favorite part of nature.

A. I love all of nature - the smell of it, like compost when you kick at the leaves, the taste of salt from the ocean waves, the brilliance of the Blue Ridge Mountains where I live, which at times look like a deep blue ocean going on and on and in Autumn they shine with a million different hues of yellows, reds, oranges, and greens, the animals that move about without worrying about things like politics, and the freedom of no walls.

16. What is a book that you loved reading?

A. I enjoy reading every book I finished. I don't finish them if I don't like them. My favorite book as a child was called Miss Osborne the Mop. I like The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I enjoyed Deborah Harkness's Discovery of Witches books. I enjoyed the Annie books by L. M. Montgomery. I have fun with Jane Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. I loved Sue Grafton's ABC mystery series.

17. Name a freedom for which you are grateful.

A. I now live in an authoritarian state that has dismissed the rights of its citizens even to life, much less anything else. I am still free to think what I want, though, including the foregoing sentence, and for now, at least, free to write it. Eventually, that will be gone. Maybe I'll be to old to notice when it happens.

18. What is your favorite part of the evening?

A. When I am reading a book while my husband watches TV, unless I happen to tune in to a Melissa Etheridge online concert, in which case that particular event would be my favorite part of that evening.

19. Name one good thing that happened today.

A. I watched a Melissa Etheridge online concert (that was Saturday night).

I am envious of her guitar and her skill
in playing it. Yowza.

20. How do you show gratitude to/for your friends?

A. I help them when they need help, and check in on them. I buy them presents sometimes, if I see something that looks like something they'd be interested in.

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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: Frankie and Johnny

Saturday 9: Frankie and Johnny (1966)

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

1) When this record was initially released in 1966, it never cracked the Top 20. Critics were harsh, saying that Elvis had not kept up the times. How about you? Do you consider yourself up-to-date on today's music?

A. Not really. I am familiar with some of the adult top hits and singers like Adele, Pink, and Lady Gaga, but I tend to listen to songs from the 1970s and 1980s or by artists I have grown fond of.

2) The song is about a woman named Frankie and Johnny, the man who does her wrong. Who is the most recent person to do you wrong? (It doesn't have to be in romance; it could be the person who cut in front of you in line at the supermarket.)

A. Can I say the entire management at my local Kroger? They are understaffed. They have no one ensuring anything is wiped down. They do not enforce the mask policy even though it's a mandate from Virginia's governor. When I use the pickup I don't get half of what I ordered. I am terrified to go into that store so I go as infrequently as I possibly can.

3) Elvis sings that Johnny cheated with "a chick named Nellie Bly." The real Nellie was an estimable woman, a pioneering 19th century journalist. Can you think of another song that mentions a real person?

A. I've got the moves like Jagger. Isn't that about Mick Jagger? No? How about Uptown Funk, then? It starts out "This hit, that ice cold, Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold."

 
4) This song was recorded for a movie by the same name. Elvis played a riverboat gambler. When did you last play a game of chance?

A. The last time I went into Kroger, I risked my life. Otherwise, it was probably Christmas when someone gave me lottery scratchers for a present.

5) Actor Harry Morgan had a supporting role in the movie. He's remembered as Officer Gannon on Dragnet and Col. Potter on M*A*S*H. Gannon was a good cop but could be particular about his food and surroundings. As a career soldier, Potter didn't mind roughing it every now and again. Which character are you more like: fussy Gannon or outdoorsy Potter?

A. Fussy Gannon. I'm a little princess and I know it.

6) Elvis' leading lady was Donna Douglas. She filmed her part during her summer hiatus from TV's The Beverly Hillbillies. Have you ever had a summer job?

A. Yes, when I was a teenager, I worked summers for my father's company. I mostly filed papers and answered the phone, and I hated every minute of it.

7) Though not remembered as an actor, Elvis was a bona fide movie star. In 1966, he was listed (with Paul Newman, Sean Connery, John Wayne and Richard Burton) as one of the world's biggest box office draws. Who starred in the last movie you watched?

A. Sandra Bullock. I watched part of Ocean's 8.

8) In 1966, Lauren Bacall appeared on the cover of Time with the headline: "The Pleasures and Perils of Middle Age." She was 41 years old and starring in a hit Broadway play. In the article, she explained that in middle age, she had come to understand that "character and a sense of humor are the two things that will carry you through." Tell us about something you understand better or appreciate more today than you did when you were young.

A. I understand that life is nothing like The Brady Bunch.

9) Random question: Have you checked out Bud and Mimi's cool new meme, Monday Madness?

A. Yes.

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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.  (#355 - I've been doing this for over 6.8 years. I didn't keep track when I first started this meme.)

If I Had A Band

This is what it would look like . . .

 

 

Thursday Thirteen

I have noticed in posts where I've mentioned things I do with Amazon's Alexa device that the comments frequently indicate people are unaware of what all one can do with an Alexa.

Alexa has "skills" that may be turned on or off. Some of them are pay or have small portions you can utilize unless you pay. I do not pay anything except for Amazon Prime, and you don't even need that to use Alexa.

I have Alexa Echo Dots and an Alexa Echo. They all work the same except the Echo has a better speaker, although frankly the Echo Dots have speakers that I would have envied when was I was 14 years old.

Here are a few things you can do with Alexa:

1. Ask her to dial a number and use her as a speaker phone. She will not answer calls unless you buy a separate device that allows her to do that. You can also make Alexa-device to Alexa-device calls, or use her as an intercom system (when my husband had his ankle surgery, we set an Echo Dot at his bed, and he would "make an announcement" and she'd call for me if I was in the back part of the house.)

2. She will greet you if you say, "Alexa, good morning," and offer up a little factoid about the day. (Today is International Country Music day, she says. And then I asked her to sing a country song and she sang one made up specifically for her called "It's Raining In the Cloud.")

3. She'll tell you the time and the weather.

4. She'll add, subtract, multiply, divide and figure out percentages (thank goodness for that last one!).

5. She will tell you jokes, puns, and riddles.

6. She'll sing you songs. These are made up specifically for Alexa. Some are country, some are rap, some are about S'Mores, some are about love, some are about life in "the cloud." She will also play music stations or music by decades, genre, or artist. Some of the music is not available, but a lot of it is. She also has access to iHeart radio.

7. She will tell you a short story, or recite poetry if you ask for specifics (for example, ask her for "Casey at the Bat," and you'll hear how there is no joy in Muddville). I like to listen to parts of Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

8. She will play games, like Jeopardy!, Song Quiz, 20 Questions (she is amazingly good at guessing these), and the Magic Door, which is an adventure game that requires you to remember specific items and perform certain verbal actions.

9. She will fart. For some reason she can't burp or belch, but she farts very well. This makes my husband laugh a lot.

9. She will play meditations or music for you and turn it off whenever you tell her. For example, I like to fall asleep listening to Bread. So I might say, "Alexa, play Bread." She'll say, "Shuffling songs by Bread," and then I tell her, "Stop playing in 20 minutes," and she'll say, "OK."

10. She will recite lines from Monty Python and the Holy Grail if you ask the right questions. (Ask her, "Alexa, what is your quest." or "Alexa, what is the air speed velocity of a swallow.")

11. She will do Star Trek noises. Ask her to beam you up and see what happens. You can also tell her to man the photon torpedoes and to fire them.

12. If you say, "Alexa, let's chat," you will be taken into the Alexa Prize, which is a contest for social bots. You will then be able to talk to one of the social bots that are in the contest, and you can have conversations about various things, mostly music, movies, or books. Some of the social bots are better than others. You can leave feedback at the end so that the developers will know what you liked or didn't like about the program.

13. Lastly, Alexa has a "custom" skill. In this skill, you create the question and answer. For example, if I ask Alexa, "Who's the best husband?" she will say that my husband is the best. Or he's the best farmer out of all the farmers in the world, because I programmed her to say that. The best use I have found for this particular skill is this: I say, "Alexa, I am depressed." I have programmed her to respond with my name, an acknowledgement of how I'm feeling, a reminder that it is temporary, and then a list of activities I can do immediately instead of sitting there feeling sorry for myself. She will suggest that I journal, read a book, take a walk, call a friend, or go to the grocery store, among other things. You could program her to offer suggestions for any situation that leaves you unhinged and have her offer up reminders that would make you feel better. (Example: Alexa, my mother just called. Alexa could say: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I know she makes you feel like you're a bad person. But you are a great person! If you are feeling sad, try reading a book, playing a video game, etc. - whatever would make you feel better.)

Alexa also keeps a to-do list, a shopping list, sets timers, does reminders, offers up recipes, gives health information, acts as my alarm clock, and will attempt to answer almost any question you ask. Sometimes the answer is, "I can't answer that," but at least she tried.

If you have an Alexa tip, leave it in the comments.

_____________

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 674th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Havin' a Hay Day

My husband and helpers are hoping to get the hay up today before the rains from Storm Sally find their way here tomorrow. The hay is not quite as dry as it needs to be, so this can't be stored in the barn. It will be left outside and probably used for hay for the cattle to rest in when there is snow on the ground.

Sometimes When We Touch

This is my rendition of Sometimes When We Touch.

 

Dealing With Death

I found out Saturday that my Aunt Dot passed away on August 1.

Obviously, we were not close. Aunt Dot was the ex-wife of my mother's brother, Butch. They divorced when I was a child and I have no idea what happened to Aunt Dot in the interim.

 Butch perished in a fire at his home in February 2019.

Over the course of learning of my uncle's passing and the subsequent family interventions that required, Aunt Dot got in touch with family members, including me and my brother, via Facebook.

Until then, I'd heard nothing out of her for decades. I barely remember her.

When we became reacquainted on Facebook, we did not interact much. She remembered me as a child. I was quite young when I last remember seeing her. 

She told me in a message that she wanted to write a book, that she was glad I'd become a writer. 

I didn't offer to help her write a book. She had hinted at that in one of her messages to me. I told her I'd be glad to take a look at something she finished, but I wasn't going to write something for her. (I get asked to do that a lot - it generally goes like this: "My life is so interesting and really is a story that needs to be told, won't you write it for me and if it makes money you can have half." The latter is either stated or implied. I always say no. It's a rule I made years ago.)

She messaged me a few times and commented on a couple of my posts, particularly anything pertaining to my mother, whom she remembered fondly. I always responded and I was polite.

I had wished her happy birthday on June 24.

She had cancer - which I didn't know but apparently my brother did - and she died not long thereafter.

I don't know how I feel about this. She was not someone I knew. I mean, I knew her when I was a child, but as an adult, I did not know her except from our Facebook interactions. I had, in fact, unfollowed her because she was posting political and religious items that I simply did not care to deal with. 

Maybe I feel a little confused because I unfollowed her. I didn't "unfriend" her. I just didn't want to be preached at. I don't go to FB for that.

From the comments on her timeline, she was well-loved by her friends. I'm glad to know that.

All I remember of Dot is that she was always nice to me and I had no reason to be unkind or cause disagreement with her. So I didn't.

And now I find she has passed away.

People pass through our lives, come and go, and are in and out. She was there near the beginning of my life, and I was vaguely there at the end of hers. Isn't it odd?

Monday Madness Meme

The Hodgepodge Meme
 
1. You are at a party in a very bad mood. There is an obnoxious guest with a camera snapping pictures of everyone in sight. Do you allow the photographs or ask them to stop?

A. Everyone has a camera these days on their phone. If the guest is "in your face about it," I might ask him or her to stop, but honestly in today's world, it is a given that someone is taking pictures at any event. Actually, if I were in a bad mood I wouldn't even be at the party, or I would leave.

2. Wedding, Cufflinks, Black And White, Bow Tie, Tuxedo You are on your way to a formal affair and running late. You are the guest speaker at this event and everyone is waiting for you. A police officer pulls you over for speeding. Do you make up a wild excuse or truthfully tell him where you are going and try to talk your way out of the citation? Tell us your tall tale!

A. I would tell the truth and accept whatever decision the police officer made. I might even cry a little while I was explaining the situation because I'd already be stressed. But if I was speeding, I was speeding.

3. When you drive down memory lane for the last two years of your life and look in the rear-view mirror, do you see a happy journey or a bumpy ride?

A. I see the Dismal Swamp.

4. Who makes you laugh when no one else can?

A. My husband or a few of my friends. Also, incredibly, asking Alexa to fart makes me laugh even if I feel like I will never laugh again. Why do farts make people laugh?

5. What are your superpowers?

A. Well, I know that Alexa can fart. But my real superpower is being able to get to the end of a problem without going through all the steps. From A to Z, as it were, regardless of situation. This was a problem in Algebra, especially when my teacher insisted on seeing each step, because just "knowing" the answer was XYZ was not good enough. This has been a helpful superpower at times, especially in meetings when I could see where the outcome would be. I have also learned that, like Cassandra in mythology, no one listens when you know the answer. Even when I can see it plainly. It's like the time my car broke down on the interstate. I walked to the nearest phone (which happened to be at a truck weigh station) and called my husband. I told him the alternator was bad. What does he do? He brings a battery. So three days later the car dies on the interstate again (because that is all the charge the battery would hold). This time he brings an alternator. I can see as soon as he takes it out of the box that is the wrong alternator. What does he do? He tries to put the alternator on. I have learned to just stand there and let people figure out what I have already figured out a long time ago, because they don't listen when you tell them otherwise. It is a curse, really. I mean, I knew four years ago how 2020 was going to be (except for the pandemic, I didn't predict that), but what was the point in telling anyone? Nobody listens.

6. What is the last thing you memorized?

A. A passcode.

7. Tell us something you once took that you wish you could give back?

A. I don't know of anything I have taken that I've wanted or needed to give back, since I don't steal. I may have taken up someone's time and they grew bored and I didn't know it, and I'd like to give them their time back if that was the case, but that is not possible.

8. The iPhone just gave birth to the next generation of phones. What would you name them?  The i_____?

A. The iWorld.

9.  How much mystery should be in a relationship? Is it a good thing or not?

A. Each relationship is different. Some people like mystery, some people don't. As for whether or not it is a good thing, it depends on the mystery. Keeping a surprise party secret is one thing, keeping an adulterous affair secret is something else entirely.

10. What is your weekend blogging routine?

A. I do Saturday 9 on Fridays, I do Sunday Stealing on Saturday (usually). On Sunday night I generally don't have time to do anything for Monday, although I will write up something if it comes to me.

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Monday Madness Meme is a new meme. Join in if you like. You can link up here.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Tell us about any lawn or garden plans you have for this month.

A. Well, let's see. We're still under a lockdown with the pandemic. However, I'm sure the deer, turkey, and bear will have a blast out by the garbage cans one night soon. Should be a great party! I'll have to remember to leave a little alcohol out for them so the foxes can get sloshed.

2. "Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there."~Thomas Fuller  What does this quote mean to you?

A. Weeds.

3. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about God?

A. Universe.

4. If we were chatting in person, how would I know if you were nervous?

A. If I chew my nails, I suppose, although I have about stopped doing that thanks to the pandemic. So far it's the only good thing to come out of the pandemic - I try to keep my fingers out of my mouth.

5. Do you like the color yellow? Would I find any in your home or wardrobe?

A. You won't find much of it.

6. Daffodils, tulips, roses, sunflowers, day lily, black-eyed Susan...which yellow bloom on this list is your favorite?

A. Sunflowers. 

7. Flip flops or bare feet?

A. Sneakers.

8. Fish out of water, big fish in a small pond, living in a fishbowl, packed in like sardines, this is a fine kettle of fish, plenty of fish in the sea, fish or cut bait...which fishy phrase most recently applies to some area of your life?

A. I think most of us feel like we're living in a fishbowl or something these days.

9. Have you ever been fishing? Did you catch a fish? If so did you keep it or throw it back? If you haven't been fishing is that something you'd like to try?

A. I have been fishing and I have caught fish. I bait my own hook with live worms, too. Mostly, the fish are thrown back, but I caught trout and eaten them. My father taught me to fish. We used to go to a fishing rodeo when I was small. One year I caught a catfish and won a bag of potato chips for catching something that wasn't supposed to be in the pond.

10. What's something you're always fishing for in your purse, wallet, desk, or kitchen junk drawer?

A. That little card that you have to have at the grocery store to get the discounts.

11. Your favorite fish tale or movie?

A. Finding Nemo.

12. Are you sunrise, daylight, twilight or night? Explain why you chose your answer.

A. I am twilight, that time when the veil between darkness and light thins and things whisper softly and gently into the ears of those who will listen. Only a few hear.

13. What's the oldest piece of clothing you own and still wear?

A. I have no idea. Probably a bra. Most of my clothes are at least a year old - I generally go shopping once or twice a year and I missed last fall's shopping trip because of my husband's ankle surgery and I missed the spring shopping trip because of the pandemic. It looks like I will miss this fall's shopping trip for the same reason.

14. What's been the best and worst part of your summer so far?

A. The best part has been reading. The worst part has been not being able to simply get up and go wherever I want. We used to take day trips but haven't this summer because we don't want to use public restrooms.

15. Are you a Jimmy Buffet fan? If so, what's your favorite JB tune?

A. Margaritaville. It's really the only one I know, as I am not a fan.

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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: So Emotional

Saturday 9: So Emotional (1987)

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

1) Whitney sings that she keeps her lover's photo beside her bed. What's on your bedside table?

A. Medicine, tissues, my watch, and my glasses.

2) She's getting frustrated, waiting for the phone to ring. If your phone were to ring right now, who would you expect to be on the other end?

A. My husband or a friend.

3) The video was filmed at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, PA. It seats 6,200. As the nation reopens from Covid19, would you feel comfortable sitting knee-to-knee with a stranger in an arena like this?

A. No way.

4) This week's featured artist, Whitney Houston, appeared on the daytime drama As The World Turns. She played herself, performing with Jermaine Jackson at the Miss Cinderella contest in the fictional town of Oakdale. Have you ever been hooked on a soap opera?

A. A very long time ago, I was hooked on Dark Shadows. I also watched The Guiding Light for a while.

5) Whitney had a sweet tooth, and her favorite breakfast cereal was Fruity Pebbles. Do you often eat cereal for lunch or dinner?

A. I generally do not.

6) At Whitney's wedding to Bobby Brown, her bridesmaids all wore lavender dresses and the groomsmen had custom made alligator shoes. Have you ever "stood up" for a friend or relative? If so, do you remember what you wore?

A. I wore some kind of long pink dress in my brother's first wedding. That was a long time ago.

7) In 1987, the year this song was popular, Cher won the Oscar for Moonstruck. Her most famous line was, "Snap out of it!" When you think of Cher, do you first think of her movies, her TV show, or her music?

A. I think of her music, like Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.

8) Michael Douglas won the Oscar that year for Wall Street. His most famous line was, "Greed is good." His character goes on to say that, "Greed in all its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of all mankind." Do you agree?

A. No. I think love has marked the upward surge for all of mankind, if we are indeed surging upwards (I'm not so sure these days). Love of ideas, love of invention, love of creation, and hopefully love of one another.

9) Random question: When you woke up this morning, were you ready to get out of bed? Or do you wish you could have snoozed for a bit longer?

A. Apparently I needed to sleep an hour past the 6 a.m. alarm. Fortunately, I had no where to go.

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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. 

Remembering the 343

 

They ran in while others were fleeing.

Hot helmets clinging to sweaty heads

as each climbed flight after flight of stairs

helping, always helping, as bodies streamed downward

while they moved up,

boots so heavy they could barely lift their legs

as they reached another level.

Their breath sounding deep and heavy, hollowing their chests

as their oxygen began to grow low

from effort and time.

They felt the rumble as the buildings fell.

They could not run.

They could not flee.

They died heroes.

I shall not forget the 343.

                    -- A. Firebaugh

Thursday 13

Photos in my "unused" file.

 

Flu Shot Day

Today was flu shot day. It was also "husband is home and doesn't know what to do with himself day," which means I was a little out of sorts myself.

Tomorrow, hopefully, we will be both be back on our schedules.

I found out early this morning that my name is going to be in a book called Xena: Their Courage Changed the World, which is about the Xena fandom of the late 1990s and early 2000s. I am mentioned because of my involvement in WHOOSH.org, a website devoted to all things Xena: Warrior Princess. I wrote many show synopses for the show, a few articles for the website, and also did some editing for the website owner.

That was exciting news.

I meant to blog earlier but things were simply out of my hands today.

So here's a new song by Sheryl Crow that I really like.

Queen of Hearts

 My version of Queen of Hearts.