Stupid Question # 132

Why do your shoes come untied when you are just sitting at your desk???? Or are there some gremlins in here that I can't see? WTF?

Just a Little Morning Chuckle

For those living in urban areas, The Onion has a wonderful article on a new government-sponsored program, here.

Language alert - definitely not kid- or virgin-ear-friendly....

Zopf: Fear the Falcons

By Jonathan Zopfjzopf@gainesvilletimes.com(770) 718-3412

document.write(writeModDate("May 4, 2008 9:58 p.m."));

POSTED May 4, 2008 9:58 p.m.

There’s something going on down at Flowery Branch High School, and I’m not talking about the recent coaching changes or the public run-ins with the law.

No, what’s going on down at The Branch is a lot more positive than coaches leaving for other schools in the region or students getting caught doing illegal activities. What’s happening down at The Branch is winning, and a lot of it.

In just its fifth year of existence, the athletic program at the South Hall high school is quickly becoming one of, if not the most, successful programs in the county.

Just outside the Gwinnett County border, and although they have yet to bring home a state title to Flowery Branch, the Falcons are experiencing a rate of success comparable to such elite Gwinnett programs as Parkview and Brookwood.

Combined with the boys track team’s dominating performance at the Region 7-AAA meet in West Forsyth last Tuesday and the baseball team’s dramatic 4-3 win on Friday night against Lumpkin County, the Falcons have won a total of five region titles this year.

The boys cross country, basketball and soccer teams all were region champions this year.
But even when its teams aren’t winning region titles, Flowery Branch is still finding a way to represent Class AAA in the state playoffs. Since school began in August, the football, cross country (boys and girls), volleyball, basketball (boys), soccer (boys and girls), track (boys) and baseball teams all qualified for the state playoffs.

Even in individual sports the Falcons shined. Tom Pennington (wrestling), Danny Bell (wrestling), Ashley Hillie (track) and Sam Salyers (track) also sported the Falcon red and black during state competitions this year.

To say that Flowery Branch has had a successful year in athletics would not be giving the school justice.

And the Falcons still have a chance to improve on their historic year.

The third-ranked boys soccer team has reached the semifinals of the state tournament, and with a win against No. 2-ranked Westminster on Tuesday night at The Branch, the Falcons will be one game away from the school’s first state championship in any sport.

If the Falcons don’t bring back a title on the pitch, the pitching and hitting of the top-ranked baseball team in the state could very well bring a state championship back to The Branch.
Flowery Branch’s baseball team opens the state tournament on Friday against Riverwood, and if they beat Region 5-AAA’s No. 4 seed twice in a three-game series, the Falcons could very well to be on their way to a state title.

Recently I asked Flowery Branch’s athletic director Shannon Benton about some of the goings on at the high school, specifically the training methods of the athletes. Benton said that the athletes at the school get there at 6:30 a.m. to train and lift weights, and after the training is complete they are awarded with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I’m not sure what kind of peanut butter the school is using, but whatever kind it is, they better not switch brands any time soon.

Late push lifts Flowery Branch soccer team

By STEVE SHELNUTT
For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/03/08

LaGrange stayed with host Flowery Branch for nearly 78 minutes, but it wasn't quite enough Friday night.

Kyle Ellis broke the scoreless deadlock with 2:05 left in the contest when he took a crossing pass from Alex Jovel in front of the goal, juked right and slid a shot in past Grangers goalkeeper Donnie Palmer from 10 yards out for a 1-0 win and a berth in the AAA soccer semifinals.

Jovel's pass came in from the left side to Ellis, who was positioned in front of the goal about 15 yards out. Ellis took the pass, drew Palmer out, then moved left and took the winning shot in the center of the net.

Flowery Branch coach Jeremy Purdy's halftime words to his players turned out to be prophetic.

"This is going to be a fight to the end," he told his team at halftime with the Falcons locked in a 0-0 tie with LaGrange (15-5-2). "We've got to push it in."

Flowery Branch (18-1-1) attacked the goal all night, but the Grangers proved that they were up to the task, turning the Falcons back time after time. Palmer made several diving saves and came out of the goal time and time again to thwart the Falcons.

But it was his aggressiveness that opened the door for Ellis and Flowery Branch.

"We knew from our scouting that he likes to come out of the goal," Purdy said, "and we went over a couple of things that we could to do to tweak our attack so we could get around the goalkeeper, play it softly and take it in."

LaGrange had its opportunities, getting several shots on goal, but the Grangers were unable to convert.

Flowery Branch was able to kill the clock after Ellis' goal, sealing the win and a berth in the final four.

"The forwards made it happen," Ellis said.

"We had been working the throughball all night, and Alex just made a great pass. I made a move to the side and was able to push it in."

From the Saturday, 5/3, edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The photo is mine.

A List of Books I Have Read

After the comments on Mel's post about that list of 100 Books, I decided to try to come up with my own list of books I have read. This list is in no way all-inclusive, but it does cover the majority of my reading over the last 25 years or so - the major series and my favorite authors included. Of course, I can't remember that many library books that I've borrowed. I am trying to work in more of the "classics", but as my favorite books are 1000 pages, I don't go through books in a week, and definitely not when I'm really stitching.

Anyway, here are the highlights, followed by what's left in my To Be Read basket (the new library can't open soon enough!) - not in any particular order (the order I remembered them, actually :) ):

1. The Last Kingdom and The Pale Horseman, Bernard Cornwell
2. The 6 Wives of Henry VIII, Alison Weir
3. Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen
4. The Princes of Ireland, Edward Rutherfurd
5. The Last Templar, Raymond Khoury
6. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
7. 1776, David McCullough
8. About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior, Col. David Hackworth
9. Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose
10. The Winter King, Bernard Cornwell
11. The Archer’s Tale, Bernard Cornwell
12. The Enemy of God, Bernard Cornwell
13. Stonehenge, 2000 B.C.: A Novel, Bernard Cornwell
14. Pompeii, Robert Harris
15. All 7 Harry Potter novels, J.K. Rowling
16. The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory
17. The Virgin’s Lover, Philippa Gregory
18. Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, Robin Maxwell
19. The Wild Irish: A Novel of Elizabeth I & the Pirate O’Malley, Robin Maxwell
20. The Queen’s Bastard, Robin Maxwell
21. The Tidal Poole, The Thorne Maze, The Queen’s Cure, The Twylight Tower, The Poyson Garden, Karen Harper
22. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
23. The Camulod Chronicles (7 books), Jack Whyte
24. London, Edward Rutherfurd
25. Sarum, Edward Rutherfurd
26. The 6 original books in the Dune series, Frank Herbert
27. House Atreides, Harkonnen, & Corrino, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson
28. The Guenevere Cycle (3 books), Rosalind Miles
29. The 7 Books of the Dark Tower Series, Stephen King
30. Every book Stephen King wrote from Carrie and before Storm of the Century, except The Green Mile.
31. Every book by Anne Rice in the Vampire Chronicles except the last, Blood Canticle, and the Mayfair Witches; Cry to Heaven; Exit to Eden; Belinda; and one of my favorites, The Mummy: or Ramses the Damned
32. The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkein
33. The Outlander series (6 to date), Diana Gabaldon
34. Lord John and the Private Matter, Diana Gabaldon
35. Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
36. The first 4 books of the Earth’s Children series, Jean M. Auel
37. The Ender series, Ender’s Game through Shadow of the Hegemon, Orson Scott Card
38. The Alvin Maker series (6 books), Orson Scott Card
39. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, Orson Scott Card
40. The Homecoming Saga (5 books), Orson Scott Card
41. A group of the Xanth books, Piers Anthony
42. The Belgariad series (I think I read 7 of 8), David (and Leigh) Eddings
43. The Malloreon series (5 books), David Eddings
44. The Elenium series (3 books), David Eddings
45. The Tamuli series (3 books), David Eddings
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell (quite possibly the book I hated the most, ever)
47. A Separate Peace, John Knowles
48. The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown
49. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
50. Several Patricia Corwell books – Postmortem through The Body Farm
51. Several Clive Cussler books in the Dirk Pitt group – Sahara, Shock Wave, Inca Gold
52. The Odyssey, Homer (3 times – once was enough)
53. Beowulf, unknown
54. Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
55. The Autobiography of Henry VIII, Margaret George
56. Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles, Margaret George
57. Night, Eli Wiesel
58. Shield of Three Lions, Pamela Kaufman
59. Maia, Richard Adams
60. Aztec & Aztec Autumn, Gary Jennings
61. The Journeyer, Gary Jennings
62. Raptor, Gary Jennings
63. The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank
64. Mexico and Hawaii, James Michener
65. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
66. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle – one of my all-time favorites!
67. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis. I read to the boys most of the one that precedes this one, too, though they lost interest, so I quit.
68. Lord of the Flies, William Golding
69. The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, and That Was Then, This is Now, S.E. Hinton
70. Several of those Flowers in Attic books by V.C. Andrews
71. Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath, and Cannery Row, John Steinbeck
72. From Shakespeare, I have read these completely: Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Hamlet, and I think one other. I have also read excerpts from many others, and/or seen them performed.
73. Birds of Prey, River God, and Blue Horizon, Wilbur Smith
74. Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (I hate Dickens)
75. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
76. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCort (this was a HUGE piece of self-indulgent crap)
77. I, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Jenkins
78. A Love Never Forgotten, Samir Garib (the kid from Bosnia that works with my DH)
79. The Life of Elizabeth I, Alison Weir
80. A LOT of the Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys mysteries, when they were re-released in the late 70’s, early 80’s in the hardback w/yellow spines – my sister bought the complete sets of both, and lost them when her ex caught the garage on fire, where they were stored.
81. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
82. The entire Necroscope series (13 books), Brain Lumley

In The To Be Read Basket:

1. The Queen’s Fool, Philippa Gregory
2. The Boleyn Inheritance, Philippa Gregory
3. The Rebels of Ireland, Edward Rutherfurd
4. The Forest, Edward Rutherfurd
5. Persuasion, Jane Austen
6. I, Elizabeth, Rosalind Miles
7. The Children of Henry VIII, Alison Weir
8. Innocent Traitor, Alison Weir
9. Codex, Lev Grossman
10. Lords of the North, Bernard Cornwell

First Iris of the Season!

I got home today to see one of my Dutch iris in bloom, and two other buds almost open!!! I didn't get any of the purple ones last year, though I always have a whole mess of yellow and white ones in another bed - I have about 50 now that ought to be blooming in the next week or two - assuming the freezes are over.

And, a little weed vine thing growing around the poker plant - too pretty to tear up. For now.

Picture Perfect Friday - Fragile

Well, this one was harder than I thought it should have been; the idea was easy enough, once I did the dishes, but actually executing the shot, not so easy.

Soap bubbles - what's more fragile than that? I expect even clouds might be made of tougher stuff :) This shot, and these others, made with the help of my not-so-willing 11 year old, who continued to tell me he couldn't really direct the bubbles, and it wasn't his fault I couldn't see them in the view finder! Taken with my Panasonic DMC-FZ5 in the warm April sunshine - finally!

And, since last week's earworm was so successful, here's one to go with this week's PPF - how about some Don Ho, everyone????

Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
In the wine (in the wine)
Make me happy (make me happy)
Make me feel fine (make me feel fine)

Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
Make me warm all over
With a feeling that I'm gonna
Love you till the end of time

So here's to the golden moon
And here's to the silver sea
And mostly here's a toast
To you and me

So here's to the ginger lei
I give to you today
And here's a kiss
That will not fade away

words & music by Leon Pober

And now the rules, for those who care to bother:

Picture Perfect

~ Each week a theme will be posted up on Thursday, and you are invited to put up your best picture with that theme in mind, it should be just

ONE and ORIGINAL,

i.e not off the internet,

Then come back and post a comment on this page
so that everyone can link to your blog and see your pic.

By all means mention your camera and lens used, and if the picture has been altered or enhanced in anyway! Out of the box thinking is encouraged!!

Please open your page for viewing for all for that day...and then visit as many others as you can! Try and post a decent size pic on your blog page, so much is lost if the pic is too small or too big.

The entries will close at midnight on Friday

oOo

Picture Perfect Friday ~ HOBBY

Well, I thought as soon as I saw this that it would be so easy! But then I thought some more, and realized that, unlike Claire, I just didn't have a photo that encompasses the word Hobby for me, so I would need to create one :) So, I grabbed some stuff on my way out the door this morning, and when I got some work done, I cleaned off a spot on my desk, and set up a Still Life of my Life:

I have always done crafts of some sort as long as I can remember, but in recent years, I have become utterly obsessed with needlework, specifically cross stitch, and more recently, the obsession has grown to include silk threads, glittery beads, and hand dyed fabrics! On top of the needlework, I am also involved in the current rage of beading, primarily jewelry. Yes, more glittering beads, and gemstones, too - pearls are a personal fave, which I try to incorporate as often as possible.

But my oldest hobby has to be reading; I can't remember a time when I didn't read, and growing up in a family of teachers, books were always fixtures everywhere I was as a child. My current tastes are centered on historical books, fiction and non-fiction, the majority of which, recently, dealing with the Tudor era, after having read my fill of Arthurian tales before that. And I do roam around the SciFi and Fantasy sections, as well, when I need a change of pace; the Dune books are all on my Best Of list, right below Stephen King's The Stand :)

So, I decided that I needed a picture that captured all of these things, and the fact that they are sitting on my desk at work just adds to it - I work to support my hobby habit. Now, my kids would probably be offended that they and their never-ending soccer isn't mentioned here, but that's not really my hobby; I suspect that once they aren't playing anymore, I will probably never watch another game, since I am really NOT a sports fan. But never say never...

THIS POST INTERRUPTED BY A JULIE ANDREWS MOMENT!!!!

My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

And for all of you unfamiliar with The Sound of Music, you might want to spend a minute with another of my hobbies - movies!!!

This picture taken with my Panasonic DMC-FZ5, then cropped to remove the clutter on my desk that snuck into the corner - I wasn't about to clean my WHOLE desk and thus throw off my "system" :)

And now the rules, for those who care to bother:

Picture Perfect

~ Each week a theme will be posted up on Thursday, and you are invited to put up your best picture with that theme in mind, it should be just

ONE and ORIGINAL,

i.e not off the internet,

Then come back and post a comment on this page
so that everyone can link to your blog and see your pic.

By all means mention your camera and lens used, and if the picture has been altered or enhanced in anyway! Out of the box thinking is encouraged!!

Please open your page for viewing for all for that day...and then visit as many others as you can! Try and post a decent size pic on your blog page, so much is lost if the pic is too small or too big.

The entries will close at midnight on Friday

oOo

In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man

This article from the Aspen Times Weekly, here:
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/2008198091324

Written by Gary Hubble
February 9, 2008

There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.

Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.

There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.

His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.

The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.

He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives.

The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.

The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.

His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.

He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.

Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”

He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.

He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.

Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.

He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.

There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.

He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.

Gary Hubbell is a writer, photographer, location scout for films and photo shoots, and a ranch real estate broker. He writes a monthly column for the Aspen Times Weekly. He can be reached at www.writerphotographer.biz.

100 Books

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) - not bad, but not worth the hype
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King) - (12 or more times)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) - school
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) - school
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell) - I had to read Animal Farm instead
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) - not yet, on my wish list
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) - hated, hated, hated it
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) - school; hate Dickens
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) - read Night
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) - on my To Read list
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez) - on my To Read list
73. Shogun (James Clavell) 2 times
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) - I think so, but don't recall it exactly
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen) - on the To Read list after Persuasion
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) - in hte To Be Read pile
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) - school
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Not really much for most of the bestsellers. And there are some pretty obvious holes in this list, but there you have it... I should get extra credit for being made to reas The Odyssey 3 times; Beowulf was much cooler :)

Picture Perfect - Infinity

This week's picture is from one of our beach vacations - I would say it was 4 years ago? Can't tell even by looking at the subjects :) Anyway, there were just huge sandbars wayyyyy out off the beach, so I drug the eggheads out there, made them stand out there, staring into teh Gulf of Mexico, then came back in and took the pic:

This had to be before I got my digital camera, so I'm guessing this was taken with my Minolta Maxxum 7000, and this is probably a scan of it, because I can't find a 2Mb original :) Hey, this could very well be the last roll of film I developed - not the last roll I shot, but the last roll I developed :(

....ooOoo....

And now some rules for the newbies

(not that anyone pays them the slightest bit of attention)

~ Each week a theme will be posted up on Wednesday, and you are invited to put up your best picture with that theme in mind, it should be just

ONE and ORIGINAL,

i.e not off the internet,

Then come back and post a comment on this page
so that everyone can link to your blog and see your pic.

By all means mention your camera and lens used, and if the picture has been altered or enhanced in anyway! Out of the box thinking is encouraged!!

Please open your page for viewing for all for that day...and then visit as many others as you can! Try and post a decent size pic on your blog page, so much is lost if the pic is too small or too big.

The entries will close at midnight on Friday.

Play nice....and have fun out there!

....ooOoo....

Picture Perfect theme this week is ~ Shadow~

I guess my Eclipse pictures are the epitome of shadow, wouldn't you say???

A lunar eclipse as seen in North America on February 20, 2008. This was almost full eclipse (1-2 minutes shy), but then the clouds moved in... :( Taken with my Panasonic DMC-FZ5, zoomed all the way out, using my tripod. I have the series of shots up to the complete eclipse here.

You can see more Picture Perfect themes via my Multiply account - see links to the right....

Snow, Pup, and a Wednesday Wobble!

Wow, a post on a weekend that doesn't include a stitching update! That's for Monday. First, I'd like everyone to meet the newest member of our household:
This little girl is 10 weeks old, and came home with my DH and the boys from the animal shelter last night. She is a Blue Tick COON Hound mix, hopefully mixed with something small like Jack Russel. This pup will be crate trained, unlike poor old Otto, who ended up living outside because he wouldn't be housebroken. I have 3 slightly unhappy cats right now, especially the 20-pound chicken Maine COON Cat - I see lots of conflict between the Coon Hound and The Coon Cat in the near future. Booger just wants to know what a cat's gotta do to get some damn sleep around here with all these kids running around, and Zeke could care less so long as she stays out of his food. Which she hasn't - she cleaned out the cats' bowls a little bit ago :)

Today, I got an envelope from Mel with my Anchor/DMC Wednesday Wobble prize in it - 3 gorgeous Anchor variegateds, and a card picturing a harbor - so I have a place to put the boats that go with my Anchors :) Thanks, Mel - these really are nice!

And, lastly for today, more snow in HotLanta! Sure hope no one is trying to fly anywhere in this half of the country, because everyone knows you can't get to heaven or hell without going through Atlanta, and Atlanta is closed today! I have taken a few pictures, and will take a few more when it's all over - this will likely be the biggest snowfall we've gotten since we've been here, and with the drought, any little bit helps, I guess. And it's funny to watch the locals panic. Surprisingly, there was bread and milk at the store this morning, though by the stacks of empty boxes everywhere, I guess they got slammed last night as people were buttoning down the hatches, or whatever it is they do. They did put a special display of about 15 snow shovels out - it doesn't matter how many times you tell 'em it was 70 the other day, the ground isn't cold enough for this to stay for more than a day. Us dumb Yankees - what do we know???? The kids are having fun - Pup shivers as soon as she goes out.

New Year's Eve, 2007 - A Year of Firsts

I can't believe this year is over already! Wow, time flies when you have a bazillion projects you want to get to, doesn't it? This has been quite a remarkable year for me, as far as my creative pursuits are concerned. After my bead website kind of dissolved into a pile of bad feelings last year, it was nice to have my stitching to take my mind off of it (though it still niggles at the back of my mind, especially when the person I blame 90% the failure on likes to visit me every so often, as though nothing ever happened, and we're still "friends"). Of course, last year's Christmas present frenzy might've done me in on stitching, too, but once those were done, and then I finished St. Georges on New Year's Eve, it kind of left me at peace, if that makes sense. I guess it was a sense of accomplishment that I wasn't really expecting.

I began this year full of excitement at the prospect of finally working on The Castle as part of the SAL - I'd wanted to do the Castle as long as I'd had it, but for one reason or another, I'd just never started it; and I'd also never been in a SAL before, not having any needle friends in person. And that first week on The Castle made Fantasy Triptych holler at me from its dusty bag, so I had the overwhelming urge to work on that, too. So I started a weekly rotation, which then soon included my first soldier memorial, and then Quaker a 6 Mains. And then, that wasn't quite enough, either, so I decided to kit up some more ornaments, which I had been collecting for the longest time, and had done just one, in December of '06. I got several of those stitched between soccer games and early weekend mornings when it was too early to get out the big projects for the day. And did I mention the RAKs? We created a group, thanks to Claire, specifically for RAKs, and for the first time in my life, I got a little something in the mail from someone I didn't know in person, for no reason at all! Is that the coolest thing, or what? And the whole year was filled with such wonderful surprises in my mailbox, including my first ever mail art! And I had lots of fun, too, sending out a few of my own, though this coming year, I would like to make more things, including my fist mailart.

I finished Quaker in a ridiculous 3 weeks' worth of stitching, and decided to get it framed, despite not really having the cash to do so. And then I thought that maybe I would enter it in a local fair, and thought it'd be nice to give DH an excuse to take me to the North GA Fair, instead of the Gwinnett County one we always go to - just something new, you know. So I entered it, and some jewelry that I had finally finished, after I got over a bit of the heartache I had experienced with my beads last year. And when we went to the fair that week, I found that I had won!!!! I won First Place with my Quaker, and I won 2nd place with my jewelry!!! There's some more firsts for the year - entering and winning!!! DH doesn't think I'm quite so nuts with this "knitting-thing" I do now, though I don't think I've convinced the boys, yet.

This fall, I finished my first soldier memorial, and have it almost completely framed, my first stretching and framing. I need to finish it up in the next couple of weeks and get it to his mom - I just didn't want to send it near the holidays, as I didn't know if that would cause more hurt at a time of year when it is often hard enough to deal with loss. Just gotta find my glazer's points that I know are here somewhere, or get off my butt and go get another pack. Also need to order some spacer material - have it bookmarked at work, so maybe I'll do that Wednesday.

I made great progress on all of my rotation pieces; The Castle is a bit more than half-done, I think; I finally got to the 10% mark on SQ Lady & Unicorn, I am almost done with the assissi side of Fire Flower, which is this week's piece, and just last night, I finished the entire Maiden Panel on Fantasy Triptych!!! WooHoo!!! Next time it's up, do I go back to the Knight, which is also very close to done, or do I tackle the Castle panel??? I don't know - I guess I'll make that decision the day I get it out! Yesterday, I also whipped up a little beaded set, which I made to go with a new sweater and cords outfit I got for Christmas; it's nice to be able to make my own stuff to match, in as little as 1/2 an hour. When the muse strikes, you have to go with it!

As for the coming year, I also have Bouquet for Cheryl just less than 1/2 done (give or take), and have the huge ABC Ancien Vert et Mauve started, as well. BfC should be finished sometime in the early part of this new year, and ABC will probably be a very long-term project. I was inspired by Mariann, as well as others, to pick up Chatelaine Mystery X while it was still online, so I am kitting that up, bit by bit, now. As soon as one of these TWs gets completed (I expect to finish both this year), my first Chatelaine, Knotgarden, goes in that spot. Now, does her Anniversary Castle Sampler go in the spot where the other TW now is??? Or Mystery X, which ought to be kitted by then? Can I NOT have a TW in the rotation? I have no idea, since I have never not had one of hers on the go. Time will tell. I am also the proud owner of a working sewing machine, which I have yet to play with, though did buy some fabric to back ornaments with, so expect to actually start finishing things this year, as well as a mail art or two, maybe a needlebook or needle roll, and I imagine a biscornu or two might make an appearance :) I have Gloriana thread, in Elizabethan Green, or order right now for the large monochrome from Long Dog's Foursome Reel, which will get started as soon as Fire Flower is finished, which I expect in February or March. I have a Crescent Color Belle Soie silk, Blue Lagoon, picked out for LD Paradigm Lost - no idea where that falls, especially as Tracy's Anatolia and Garden Stars are both hollering at me. As well as the 20 other things I have kitted up and waiting for me!

And here I thought that the only remarkable thing, good or bad, would be my 40th birthday, which I wasn't expecting to be as good as it was. It was hard enough to send my first son to his first day of high school this year, and then see him excel with his new team, and his love for soccer continue to grow, hopefully leading him to a bright future. My youngest will leave elementary school this year, and will be in middle school next fall; it seems just yesterday when he was a smiling, toothless, happy baby, and now he's the Incredible Jabbering Monster, irritating people as far as the eye can see (usually just me and his brother). What a year it has been! And the friendships that have been firmly cemented this year are where most of my successes this year have started; the encouragement and enabling alone are evident in the pictures here :) But mostly, you all have made my heart feel much lighter than it has in years, and for that alone, I wouldn't give back a second of our conversations this year, and hope to continue in the coming year. I look forward to the day, hopefully next year, when I can actually meet many of you in person - I think that will be quite monumental, as far as meetings go :)

I wish all of you Health, Happiness, and Peace in the coming year, and of course, much Stitching! Thank you all for a wonderful year!!!

Christmas Silliness - You Know What To Do...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? both

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial – only because we had to have one in the apartment we first lived in, and it hasn’t completely disintegrated yet…. Oh, and cats.

3. When do you put up the tree? Black Friday

4. When do you take the tree down? The day after, usually – or the weekend before New Year’s.

5. Do you like egg nog? I’ve really tried, but no – I don’t care what you put in it, I just can’t do it.

6. What is your most favorite Christmas gift ever? My Aquamarine ring, Cameron’s birthstone.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, Todd’s mom gave it to me when Cameron was a baby – I have no idea where it is, though. We used it for a nightlight for Nick when he was a baby – might be in his closet. It doesn’t go with my Santa collection, at all.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My Parents

9. Easiest person to buy for? Me

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, the every-other-year I manage to send them. Especially this year :)

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? When I was 13, I think, my aunt gave me little-kid make-up; I was utterly appalled. She meant well, but wow, out of touch. And raised a son many years before, so now in hindsight, probably not her fault.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story, of course. “F-R-A-G-I-L-E; hmmm, must be Italian. Fra-gee-lay!” Classic – and yes, I like that line better than the much-overused “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid”.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When I finally decide I can’t possibly blow if off any longer.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I recycled one of Todd’s, that he got from one of the people who worked for him, for a White Elephant party at work – the one and only I’ve ever participated in (yes, I got the biggest white elephant of them all, and I’ll be damned if I can tell you what it was – a big box of really old computer-like junk)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Ham and sugar cookies – sometimes on the same plate J What? Flour is a grain - that's a food group.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Color on tree, house has clear.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Ave Maria, though I’m not sure this is strictly a Christmas song. Or Christmas Eve in Sarajevo by TSO.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home – traveling is for soccer season L

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yeah, usually. Not without singing, which, trust me, none of you want me to do.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither – one of those German glass pointy things – I’m sure they have a name, but I have no idea what it is.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning with my kids – sometimes 1 each on Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Malls and the people that inhabit them.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Red, gold, green.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? A working sewing machine, and money for a trip to England in ’09. And about 50 colors of silk thread, in 50yd increments or more.

25. Who is most likely to respond to this? Whoever else doesn’t feel like working today?

Payback's a Bitch!

This is what I arrived at work to see this morning (excuse the poor quality of my phone pics - there are better ones floating around, if I can just get them....)

My parking spot, complete with Handicap Sign and a walker with a black balloon drawing attention to it from anywhere in the parking lot...

After I hobbled out of my car, bypassing the walker - I did later offer to bring it up to the door for everyone else to use, if they needed to :)

Of course, the obligatory forest of black balloons - this one tied to me door (the signs ont he door are all mine - I like to keep the night crew entertained, or teach English as a Second Language)

More balloons, and shiny metallic 40s hanging from my ceiling. Not shown: the REALLLLLYYYY bright work lamp that was placed over my mouse, which actually kept me pretty warm until I figured I'd better turn it off....

They had the mail girl deliver me a FedEx box, containing denture adhesive, some incontinence pads, ice gel for my aching joints, and a packet of mineral salts for bathing away my aches and pains. Since I rolled my ankle really badly the other day, and it's now all black and purple, the icy gel might actually come in handy :)

This was my desk chair, but as I was slightly disturbed by it, I begged for my chair back; this is now my visitor chair, which of course, my boss had to come use to do his impression of The Thinker.

Oh, silly people, I have a very good memory, and as one of the "decorators" has her 50 coming up in 2 years - I'll start planning now....

And Another Doolittle Raider is Gone!

Former Doolittle Raider Dies
Air Force Print News October 12, 2007

SAN ANTONIO -- Former Lt. Nolan A. Herndon, a member of the famed Doolittle Raiders, died of pneumonia Oct. 8 at the age of 88. The lieutenant was a navigator-bombardier on one of the B-25 bombers that took off from an aircraft carrier on April 18, 1942, to strike targets in Japan. Led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, that historic mission became known as the Doolittle Raid.
Lieutenant Herndon, a native of Greenville, Texas, enlisted in 1940 after attending two years of college and was commissioned as a second lieutenant about a year later. He also graduated from navigator training and completed bombardier training.

During what many consider one of the most daring air raids in American history, 16 B-25 bombers took off from an aircraft carrier and headed for Japan. The planes each had a five-man crew and were to fly 650 miles over the Pacific Ocean to bomb their targets, then continue 1,600 miles in hopes of reaching airfields in China.

Although the planes completed their bombing missions, most ditched at sea or crashed in China. Lieutenant Herndon's plane landed in Russia, where he and his crew were captured in the then-neutral country. Lieutenant Herndon was held as a prisoner of war for about a year in Russia.
His death leaves only 12 surviving members of the Raiders.

Copyright 2007 Air Force Print News. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.

This Pretty Much Sums it Up

I don't agree with Bill Basamico 100% of the time, but I think this one is pretty much spot on. Where does it end, folks? 'Nuff said.

And the Ribbon Goes To...

...Me! I won - two, to be exact! My very first time out, and my Quaker a 6 Mains won first place in its class (19ct and over), and my Turquoise and Pearl necklace and earrings won 2nd in their class! And the jewelry that won first was just awesome - a baroque pearl and crystal or moonstone necklace and earring set - it was gorgeous (and if those pearls were as nice as I think they were, pricey). I took a picture of it with my phone, but it didn't come out well - they had it displayed on a white manikin, and it was up and back - I really would have liked to have gotten a really good look at it :)






Time: about 3 weeks each
Materials: about $120 each
Total Cash Prize: $9
Eternal Glory: Priceless!

Would the Owner of This...

...please go live next door? The boys found this outside today - it's about 3 1/2 feet long, and probably a black snake. I hope it's just a black snake. Of course, every poisonous snake that doesn't live in Australia or Africa lives here, so who knows? No rattles, so that's good....


And I really like snakes - the ones that I know about, that is; have only come across a couple in our years here, even with all the woods here. Little Kid finds them all the time; can't believe he hasn't gotten bit by something yet...