The National D-Day Memorial

June 6, 1944, was the beginning of the end of World War II. This conflict involved dozens of nations allied against the autocracy of Hitler and others in an effort to overthrow democracy and institute instead rule by one man over millions.

The landing in Europe on June 6, 1944, was called operation Overlord. Overlord was the largest air, land, and sea operation ever undertaken. The landing included over 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes, and over 150,000 service men. Many of the first young men (most not yet 20 years old) entered the surf carrying eighty pounds of equipment. They faced over 200 yards of beach before reaching the first natural feature offering any protection. Blanketed by small-arms fire and bracketed by artillery, they found themselves in hell. When it was over, the Allied Forces had suffered nearly 10,000 casualties; more than 4,000 were dead. Yet somehow, due to planning and preparation, and due to the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of the Allied Forces, Europe had been breached and the Allied Forces were able to move inland and begin to liberate cities, towns, and nation-states from Hitler's horror.

Nearby Bedford, VA is the setting of The National D-Day Memorial. Like eleven other Virginia communities, Bedford provided a company of soldiers, activated on 3 February 1941. Some thirty Bedford soldiers were still in that company on D-Day; several more from Bedford were in other D-Day companies.

By day’s end, 19 of the company’s Bedford soldiers were dead. Two more Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign, as did yet another two assigned to other 116th Infantry companies. Bedford’s population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation’s severest D-Day losses. Recognizing Bedford as emblematic of all communities, large and small, whose citizen-soldiers served on D-Day, Congress warranted the establishment of the National D-Day Memorial here.

Here are photos I took when we visited with some out-of-town cousins on October 14, 2022.

From left: my husband, cousin Chris, and cousin Bonnie at the entrance.

The entrance to the memorial. This soldier is assisting another to get upon the beach.

A statue of a soldier in the water.

Statues of soldiers making their way onto the beach.

This poor soldier did not make it.

An overview of the exhibit that shows the rush onto the beach. The water splashes and pops as if there were gunfire.

Cousin Bonnie reading about something.

This statue is quite intricate and shows soldiers climbing the rocks to get up the beach.

Another view of the above statue.

A monument to the Air Force.

The soldier in the water again. Can you see the water disturbances?

A huge wall shows the medals of honors from the Allied nations.

The backside of the opening arch.

My handsome fellow.

The names of the US soldiers who died on D-Day are on this wall.

A little closer look.

The three cousins read the story about the Bedford Boys. This statue is a monument to them.

Bugs

 

This is a moth, but I don't know what kind. I can't find anything like it in my guide book. It may be a Dark Arches Moth, as the closest I can find.

True katydid

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. You are walking down the road and you look down. There is a bug. Do you step on it?

A. Not if I can help it. 

2. What is one fantasy that you want to come true more than any other?

A. A woman as president of the United States while it is still a democracy.

3. Someone knocks on your door. Do you look out the window to see who it is before you open it? Do you open it regardless of who it is?

A. I would look to see who it is. Whether or not I open it depends on who it is. If I don't know the person, I may not open the door. If it is more than one person, most likely I would not open the door.

4. Have you ever eaten Play-Doh?

A. I have no idea. I certainly haven't as an adult. I can't say what I might have done when I was five.

5. What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon as a child?

A. I liked them all, but I think Bugs Bunny was probably my favorite. There were other shows that weren't exactly cartoons that I liked: Land of the Lost, H.R. Puff n' Stuff, Isis, and Shazam were among them.

6. Are you a people watcher?

A. Sometimes.

7. I have a bowl of fruit. There are apples, oranges & pears. You help yourself to one. Which one do you choose?

A. A pear.

8. What is your biggest pet peeve in the blogging world?

A. People who go missing without a "I've stopped blogging, bye," notice. Sometimes that is unavoidable, if one becomes ill or dies suddenly. But I always wonder what happened to that person. I think they call that "ghosting" now, don't they?

9. What was the last really funny movie you watched?

A. I can't recall.

10. What word do you use far too often? 

A. F&ck. I think it's my favorite word.

11. How long do you spend in the shower?

A. About 10 minutes.

12. What is something that you've never done that you secretly are dying to do?

A. Travel to Egypt to see the pyramids.

13. Your favorite flavor of soup is . . . ?

A. Chicken

14. You are sitting on a bench in the park and a bug walks in front of your feet . . . 

A. And I watch it go on about its business. It hasn't done anything to me.

__________

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: Potential New Boyfriend

Saturday 9: Potential New Boyfriend (1983)

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

1) The lyrics tell us Dolly Parton has spotted a fella who twisted her ignition key and turned her motor on. That was in 1983. Keys are less common today, since many cars are equipped with push button ignitions and more doors now open for those who know the keypad code or have the right swipe card. What's the last thing you used a key to start or unlock?

A. A door to a house.

 

2) Her potential new boyfriend bought her a drink, and she thanked him real sweet. Have you more recently said "thank you," or been thanked yourself?

A. I thanked my husband for his assistance in making the bed.

3) This is Dolly's first music video. "Potential New Boyfriend" was a top 20 country hit and made #13 Billboard's Dance chart, yet it's not well remembered today. Share a song from one of your favorite artists that the rest of us Sat 9-ers might not know.

A. Melissa Etheridge, The Weakness in Me

4) This is not Dolly's first song about a romantic rival. Her hit "Jolene" was inspired by a bank teller who regularly flirted with Dolly's real (not potential!) husband, Carl Dean. Have you recently fallen victim to the green-eyed monster of jealousy? If yes, what were you jealous of (someone's affections, possessions, success ...)?

A. I am sometimes jealous of other writer's work. Actually, I suppose it is more their success than their writing, but sometimes I am also jealous of their writing ability.

 

5) Dolly enjoys telling interviewers she met Carl at the Wishy-Washy Laundromat in Nashville. Do you have a hamper full of dirty clothes awaiting you? Or are you all caught up with that particular household chore?

A. I have laundry awaiting me, I'm afraid.

 

6) Dolly Parton's Imagination Library makes free books available to children. It was begun in 1995, and by 2020, her charity had distributed 150,000,000 books! When you were a very young reader, what was your favorite book?

A. Miss Osborne the Mop, by Wilson Gage, when I was about 8 or so, was a favorite. I don't recall a favorite from when I was younger; I read everything I could get my hands on.

7) Andy Warhol was fascinated by Dolly. When he asked her what her perfect meal would include, she responded it would have to start with chicken and dumpling soup. How would you have answered Andy? What's your perfect dinner menu?

A. If I could eat tomato products again, honestly a good plate of spaghetti would be wonderful.

8) Thinking of chicken ... In 1983, when this song was popular, McDonald's introduced McNuggets. Today, it's one of McDonald's most popular menu items. Are you a fan?

A. I do not eat at McDonald's. Nor do I eat chicken nuggets.

 

9) Random question: Would you rather visit a desert or a jungle?

A. Who doesn't want dessert? Oh . . . desert. Not that one. Let's go to the jungle where at least I might find water and something to eat.

_______________

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

Thursday Thirteen

Kwizgiver's journal prompt for today was to list 10 things that make you happy, so I will do 13 for Thursday Thirteen.

1. A hug from my husband.

2. A phone call from my brother.

3. A visit with a friend.

4. Playing the guitar.

5. Writing something. (Even a list like this!)

6. Good food.

7. Clothes that fit.

8. A good haircut.

9. Writing a song.

10. Talking to other family members.

11. Watching the deer play in the front yard.

12. Watching a good TV show or a movie.

13. Reading a great book.

___________________

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 777th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Autumn Is Coming

 

Our Democracy Would Fall

"David Montgomery of the Washington Post has written a roundup of what 21 experts “in the presidency, political science, public administration, the military, intelligence, foreign affairs, economics and civil rights” say would happen should Trump be reelected in 2024.

They argue that upon taking office, Trump would install super loyalists to do his bidding and would ignore the Senate if it tried to stop him, as he largely did in his term. He has, after all, already outlined a plan to fire career civil servants and has explored a rigorous system for guaranteeing loyalists for those posts. Next, the experts suggest, he would deploy the military at home against his enemies while disengaging internationally and turning things over to Putin and other authoritarians. America’s global leadership would end, not least because no other nations would trust our intelligence services. Political violence would become the norm, giving Trump an excuse to declare martial law, and our democracy would fall." - From Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter, October 11, 2022

I believe this to be true. This is not because the former guy is a Republican. This is not what Republicans are. This is a new party under the guise of an old name. This is an authoritarian party. These are not my father's Republicans.

Tree Holds the Moon

 

Just Walk Away, Renae

This weekend, I made what for me was a big move. In others' worlds, it was a nothing burger.

In March 2017, I started playing a video game called Elvenar. It's a world-building game. Essentially, you're running a city and through a research tree, you move forward in the game so that the buildings grow and change.

Spacing is a big issue, forcing you to think about how you utilize resources. Trading goods with other players is a necessity. 

Being in a fellowship is also a necessity. To that end, in August 2017, I co-founded a fellowship in Elvenar. While I did not hold the "top" honor of Archmage, I was head mage.

Basically, I ran the fellowship. The archmage was the shield so I could do the behind-the-scenes work.

When I started playing this game, my husband worked at the fire station, still, and it was easy to spend the evenings he was at the firehouse on my game. I'm not a big TV watcher, so the only thing I was neglecting, really, was my reading. At that time, I was having a lot of trouble with my eyes and reading was difficult, so this was not a big deal.

After my husband retired from the fire department, he was home every night. I changed up my routine so that most of my game playing was in the morning or immediately after dinner, when he was in the shower, because I wanted to spend my time with him. 

By this time, I had four cities in this game, with three of them supporting my main city, the one in the fellowship I'd helped establish.

As the game progressed, it began to take up more of my time. Some mornings I would find that three hours had passed and I'd yet to shower and do my chores. I was in charge of keeping up with 25 people, answering their questions, keeping a spreadsheet on their game play, because we were trying to take the fellowship to the top 10.

You don't get into the top 10 by being an occasional, relaxed fellowship. We worked to keep a balance so that other players didn't feel pinched. But ultimately, I was the one who ended up feeling pinched.

I've known for a year that I needed to drop this game. Or step back. But I'd been playing it a long time. I'd spent a little money on it, not much, but I'd certainly put a lot of time in it. It's hard to walk away from something that you're that invested in.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not a little addicted to all things computer, and video games in particular. Video games are set up to lure you in and keep you there. 

This was the first time I'd ever played in a multi-player game. In my other video games, I played solo, because they were solo video games. When I played those, it didn't matter if I walked away for a week or a month and then went back to it. But Elvenar really encouraged players to be in fellowships or else forward movement slowed to a crawl.

I watched players come and go. There were 5 of us, including myself, who had stuck with the fellowship the entire time. Others have been there for several years. Some had left and returned.

The archmage and I are on a first name basis, and I consider him a friend. But he's a bit self-involved. In the past year, we've hardly communicated, and he was playing a lot less, and certainly not as hard as I was.

My reasons to stay were dwindling. And over the summer, I realized that I didn't care if made it through the next chapter in the game or built my city up anymore.

So, Saturday, I sent the archmage a personal note telling him I was leaving. His response was churlish, "More notice would have been nice," and he offered me no reason to stay, no relief from the responsibilities I'd taken on, or even "why don't you just take a month off, we'll hold your place." 

I thought I deserved at least that kind of consideration, but I didn't ask, and he didn't offer. I'm not sure I would have accepted if he had, but I am disappointed that he made no effort to be accommodating. All he could see was that he was being inconvenienced.

Then I sent the fellowship a note:

My Dear Friends:

Now, at long last, we come to the end of our fellowship. It is with sadness that I leave you today, but it is time for me to forego gaming and figure out something else to do with myself.

I depart so that another may help carry the FS into the top 10. I had been waiting for that to happen before I left, but we can't seem to get past 12th place. That's pretty good, though, for a FS that started out in 2017 with just FD and me and something like 303rd place.

May all of you have good health, much joy, and great laughter. And when you're slogging through another chapter of Elvenar, remember that patience is queen in this crazy little game.

This has been my first foray into multiplayer gaming. Thank you all for making it such a lovely time.

With kindest regards,

CountryDew

Yes, my player name was the same as the name I use on this blog.

At any rate, I sent the message, and then I left. (The fellowship dropped to 16th when I did; I have a really high score.)

It was much harder to do than I thought it would be, walking away. And of course, I didn't leave the game. I still have three other cities, though they are in relaxed fellowships, and it doesn't matter if I "make perimeters" or not there. If I don't show up for a few days, no one will say much, and it won't matter. And I can play the other city alone, if I want.

What I walked away from was the responsibility of trying to create a top 10 fellowship. I was tired and it was taking up a tremendous amount of my time.

It is time to move on, but sometimes that is incredibly difficult.

Now let's see what I'm walking toward, shall we?

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. What period of history is your favorite to read about?

A. I like to read about all eras. This year I've read about the Roman Empire, World War I, World War II, the 1930s, and 1940s.

2. What is your favorite genre of fiction?

A. Fantasy, but I read a lot of different types of books.

3. Do you choose a book by its cover?

A. Sometimes. Usually, I read the blurbs on the back and whatever information is available in the front, and maybe the first page, before a purchase. If it's from the library, I may not go by anything other than the name of the author or the title.

4. Where do you do most of your reading?

A. I have a recliner in the living room.

5. Without looking, guess how many books are in your TBR pile. Now, look. Were you right?

A. Most of my TBR books are in my Kindle now, and I'm going to guess there are over 100 in there.

6. How many movies are on your TBW list?

A. Two, I think. Elvis and The Secrets of Dumbledor.

7. What's your favorite genre of movie?

A. My favorite movies are the Lord of the Rings movies, but fantasy movies are not necessarily my favorite genre as they can be violent and misogynistic. So whatever genre movies like Steel Magnolias and Under the Tuscan Sun are classified as would be my favorite.

8. Do you still go to see movies in the theater?

A. I haven't been to the theater since Wonder Woman was released in 2017.

9. You have $10,000 and no strings or obligations for one full day. Where do you go and what do you do?

A. I would go to a computer store and purchase a really nice computer. Maybe a good Apple even though everything I've ever used is Windows based.

10. How many songs are on your favorite playlist?

A. I don't know. Alexa won't tell me, and I don't have the Amazon Music app downloaded to look. It will play for over 4 hours without repeating, so figure 4 minutes a song . . . that's 15 an hour . . . so at least 60, but I imagine it's more than that.

11. What method do you use to listen to music (Spotify, iTunes, Pandora...)?

A. I listen to Amazon Music on my Echo Dot. Otherwise, I listen to CDs. (Yes, I still listen to CDs.)

__________

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: Love Sneakin' Up on You

Saturday 9: Love Sneakin' Up on You (1994)

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

1) The song begins with Bonnie Raitt waiting anxiously for a call. If your phone were to ring right now, who would you expect to be on the other end?

A. My husband.

2) She likens trying to avoid love to trying to stop the rain. Is rain expected where you are this weekend?

A. No, but we are expecting our first frost.
 
3) Bonnie was accepted by Radcliffe College but once she got there, she decided higher education wasn't for her and she dropped out to become a performer. Tell us about something you're not sorry you walked away from.

A. I walked away from working for lawyers and I've always been glad of that.

4) Bonnie's father was Broadway star John Raitt. Because of his career, the family was based on the East Coast. Once Bonnie got out to the West Coast, she realized she felt more at home and settled in the San Francisco area. Today, do you live far from where you grew up?

A. I live about six miles from where I grew up.

5) Prince invited Bonnie to his home, Paisley Park, to discuss working together. The project never happened, but she treasures the memory of her time with a musician she greatly admired. What's your favorite Prince song?

A. The one about the hat. Raspberry Beret.

6) When she's on the road, Bonnie likes to order Thai food. What's for dinner tonight at your house?

A. Probably a slice of ham, baked beans, and cooked apples.

7) In 1994, when this song was popular, ER debuted and became a big hit for NBC. Do you enjoy doctor shows?

A. I generally do not. The last "doctor" type show I watched was Emergency! in the 1970s.

8) Also in 1994, Olympic figure skating hopeful Nancy Kerrigan was the victim of an attack. Her rival was rumored to be involved. Without looking it up, do you remember the name of that rival?

A. Tonya Harding. I did not have to look it up. I did look her up though, to see what she's been doing. Apparently in 2019 she was on Worst Cooks in America and won that competition. I guess she's still the girl America loves to hate.
 
9) Random question -- Which of these famous Tom would you rather be seated beside at dinner: Tom Cruise, Tom Jones, or Tom Brady?

A. Tom Jones. He was a good singer in his time and I'm pretty sure I saw him in concert a long time ago. Maybe we could perform together. Tom Cruise is crazy, and Tom Brady is a sports player, so I would skip those two and go for the musician.

_______________

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

Nice Doesn't Pay

I am, generally speaking, a nice person.

In my doctor's notes, her interns (who see me first) almost all start out their notes with, "a pleasant woman who comes in today about . . . . "

Nice. Pleasant.

Not mean, not ornery.

Maybe a bit contrary sometimes.

But nice kills me. Nice brings me nothing but heartache and confusion. Try to be nice and see if you don't get crapped on, because when I am nice, I get crapped on.

It doesn't make a difference what kind of nice I am, or who I am being nice to.

I am crapped on.

Like I'm some kind of catch-all beneath the bird feeder, maybe. 

Oh, that's nice. A good place to take a poop. 

Plop.

Thursday Thirteen

Things that I have been called:

1. Smart

2. Stupid

3. Sweetie Pie

4. Pumpkin

5. Sis

6. Hey you

7. Trouble

8. Friend

9. Student

10. Writer

11. Guitar player

12. Baby

13. Exasperating

 

___________________

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 776th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

A Happiness Manifesto

I'm joining up with Kwizgiver this month for some of the questions she's doing daily.

Today's prompt is to write a happiness manifesto.

Before I started on this, I looked up manifesto (a big, long statement), and happiness.

Most of the sites on happiness conclude that doing is key to happiness. Little is said about simply being. Since we are human beings, not human doings, I consider this to be a greatly overlooked area, and indicative of where we are culturally. If people aren't constantly doing something (that someone else considers important), then there is little justification for their existence.

I don't think a person has to be doing something all the time to justify living. Besides, most of the sites are touting personal accomplishments, not contributions to the general societal welfare, as the necessary requirement for happiness, although doing stuff for other people allegedly is a great contributor to happiness.

Some of the sites move on into law of attraction theory, which is something I find relatively abhorrent. I do think in some instances like begets like, but when one takes that theory to the point where an airplane crashes because everyone on board has a secret death wish, so they were all attracted to this particular flight, I consider this theory one of collections of thoughts that has gone off the rails. Sure, people who like to bowl are going to find one another in a bowling alley. But life is full of randomness, and that needs to be accounted for.

Happiness is not something I aim for, anyway. I aim for content and enough. We have enough, and I am generally content, if not a little unsettled because I haven't any specificity that I feel pushed toward by society. I have already done my time contributing to society - I worked up until I couldn't, I volunteered for multiple organizations, I have donated to charities and supported worthy causes. I have done and the time for doing is over. I'm content simply being, and if I do some things with whatever remains of my life, that's ok, too.

So how does one find this content? Let's take a look.

I have found that it not the vacations that are the big deal in our life. It's the everyday stuff that matters the most. Getting the laundry done, making meals, doing the dishes. Looking out the window. Holding hands with my husband when we are watching TV matters more to me than most anything else.

One key to contentment that I am not well versed in is self-care. Taking care of one's self, physically and mentally, is necessary and important to wellbeing. Exercising, eating well, reading and learning, and physical touch are simple yet key elements of living a good life. This is a lesson I wish I had conquered when I was much younger; it's easier to keep a body healthy than to take one that's about used up and make it stronger. It's not impossible, but it is harder. Sometimes things are hard, but with time it gets easier.

So, feeling well helps with the happiness/content quotient. If the body habitus is unhealthy, it's hard to focus. Not impossible, but it makes things more difficult, and difficult things become a slog sometimes. Slogs do not lead to contentment; that way frequently leads to frustration. 

Sometimes, though, one must slog to find the contentment at the end.

Acceptance is another key to contentment. It is easy to rage against the night, but accepting the darkness sometimes leads to much better sleep. Maybe things aren't going so well at various times; there's not enough time, not enough money, health isn't good, whatever. Sometimes we have to accept these limitations - this year, we won't take a vacation. This year, I won't write a novel. This year, I will deal with chronic pain. The key is not to become the obstacle. For example, I am not chronic pain (even though it feels like it some days). I accept that I have chronic pain and that has limited me. I am accepting those limitations and learning to live a good life within them. That's not an easy thing to do, but I think acceptance of life's myriad of circumstances is needed if one is to be content. Or happy.

Contentment and happiness are personal things, but many people think they should judge others based on their perceptions of what happiness is. If a person is happy working on a railroad, who am I to judge? If another is happy playing golf, what difference does it make to me? I mind my own business and find this is another key to happiness. Not worrying about what others think is huge when it comes to finding contentment. If others judge, that's on them.

Having said all that, I have never thought of myself as one of those marvelously happy people that one occasionally runs across. I've had too difficult a life for that.

But I am ok with being content.

Colonel William Preston Memorial

Botetourt County in July, 2022 (this year), dedicated a memorial to Colonel William Preston (1729-1783) next to the Botetourt County Administration Building at the Botetourt Center at Greenfield. (Isn't that a lot of "Botetourts" in that sentence? Whew.)

Colonel Preston once owned the property that is now the county's premiere industrial park, as well as home to its governing center.

Preston was an American Revolutionary War hero and local surveyor. He laid out the Town of Fincastle, which was named and still is the county seat, and many other properties as this part of Virginia began to be taken over by Europeans who forced out the Native Americans and took their land. (And I don't care who thinks that's "woke" because that is what happened.)

He also served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and held many enslaved persons.

He was a founding member of Augusta Hall, which is now known as Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA.

One of his sons, James Preston, served as Virginia Governor from 1816-1819.

After he left Greenfield, William Preston moved to Smithfield, which is on the National Historic Register of Places. He is buried there. Smithfield is located near Virginia Tech University and has connections with that school.

The memorial in Botetourt took about 20 years to finally come to fruition; I remember writing about in the newspaper as far back as 2002. The memorial is shaped a bit like a sundial, with concrete points that have information about Preston's life on them.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Fave fall Holiday: Halloween.

2. Best thing about fall walks: kicking at the leaves

3. Favorite fall chore: no chores are fun.

4. Least favorite fall chore: cutting back the dying flowers.

5. Best change in the home: the electricity bill drops for a little while.

6. Best tree in the fall: maple.

7. Fall ritual: I don't really have one.

8. Most frustrating thing about fall: it leads to winter.

9. Favorite fall decorations: I like anything witchy or to do with the moon.

10. Favorite clothing: sweaters.

11. Traditional fall candy: chocolate.

12. Favorite sound: the swish of deer as they walk through the fallen leaves in the forest.

13. When does fall begin for you? When the leaves begin to turn.

14. What is your favorite aspect of fall? Looking at the different colors on the Autumn leaves.

15. What is your favorite fall memories? Going back to school.

16. What do you like to drink in the fall? Hot chocolate.

17. What's your favorite fall food? It isn't pumpkin, that's for sure.

18. What color is fall? Fall is a rainbow of colors until it's very end, at which time it is mostly brown.

19. What does fall smell like? Earth.

20. If you could go anywhere in the fall, where would you go? I would go to the more northern states to see the leaves turn color.

 __________

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: Forever Your Girl

Saturday 9: Forever Your Girl (1989)

1) In this song, Paula Abdul tells her boyfriend he's got to remember, she's forever his girl. How's your memory? Do you remember things easily or do you leave yourself notes and reminders?

A. I make notes. I also leave reminders on Alexa. (I use her for a nag, too, for my husband, so I don't have to do it.)

2) Paula reassures her lover that she can't be swayed by another man, even if he gave her diamonds or pearls. Tell us about a piece of jewelry that means something to you.

A. My wedding ring means the most to me because it signifies my relationship with my husband.
 
3) Paula is best known as one of the original judges of American Idol. Without looking it up, can you recall the men who sat on either side of her?

A. I never watched American Idol, so I have no idea.

4) Paula has been dancing since age 8 and moves very well in heels. Tell us about your favorite shoes.

A. I wear sneakers almost always, so they are my favorite.
 
5) A lifelong dancer, Paula admits she's not a trained singer. For this record, she worked with producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, who won accolades for his work with singers including Madonna, Kelly Clarkson, Toni Braxton and Janet Jackson. Who is your all-time favorite female singer?

A. I don't have just one. Stevie Nicks, Melissa Etheridge, and Sheryl Crow would be my top 3. But then there's also Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Barbra Streisand, Ann Wilson, and Dolly Parton.
 
6) She advises young girls to "keep the faith and don't lose your gut instinct." How about you? Are you more logical or instinctive?

A. I hope I am more logical, but I suspect I am more instinctive.
 
7) Paula is excited that Richard Branson has chosen her song, "Straight Up" as the theme for his Virgin Galactic Spaceflight company. Would you like to orbit above the earth?

A. If I were 40 years younger, I'd go for it.

8) In 1989, when this song was a hit, the Sears Holiday Wish Book was big on bathrobes. Men and women alike were tempted with brightly colored, belted robes with hoods and patch pockets. Tell us about your bathrobe.

A. My bathrobe is white, long, and fairly heavy. I wear it year-round. It came from JC Penny.

9) Random question: What do you consider your best quality?

A. This is a hard question. I shall say my curiosity. But it could be my loyalty. I'm very loyal until someone no longer deserves my loyalty.

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

A Sunset

 

The interesting weather we've had most of the summer has given us amazing sunsets. The sunrises have been glorious, too, but we have trees in the backyard, and I get better shots of the sunsets.

Today is simply overcast with a breeze, as we await the remanants of Ian, the hurricane that devastated Ft. Myers and other parts of Florida.