Love the Way I Feel: Blogophilia 49.6

Bonus Points:
(Hard, 2 points) Incorporate a snow blower
(Easy, 1 point) Use a quote from Lord Byron

https://www.facebook.com/notes/marvin-martian/blogophila-week-496-love-the-way-i-feel/685206821500538

I like summer.  Even though I seem to have hot flashes, and I'm not sure if I'm going through the change early, or maybe it's my blood sugars running too high, I don't know.  I am wimpy in cold weather.  The colder it is, the worse I like it.  When we had that freezing cold, where it was a high of -3F, with wind chills being -40F.  YIKES!

Even though I don't like the snow much better, at least it isn't so bitter cold.  Of course we all liked the snow better as a kid, but, I think that The David will agree with me when I say that I love the way I feel when I get to use the snow blower like the one that Nissemech uses...  I actually don't mind using my Toro snow plow, and end up helping the neighbors as well. 

As an advocate for abused children, I fully agree with Lord Byron when he says "They never fail who die in a good cause" And I think that Trevor is also a poet just the same, and that we are beacons of life...  "Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life.  The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray".  I truly think that for our children, being a beacon of awareness to change the way we care for our abused children.  My hope is that there will be harsher consequences for those who hurt our children.

To pass time, we often like to look to our hobbies.

Mecha Lizard

It is interesting to see two mecha-lizards playing chess like it's game on.  But then, maybe, it's Christopher who is saying check mate!  It's probably good that these metallic aliens don't speak as we do, because ssshh!  Quiet in the library.

Have You Ever Seen The Rain: Blogophilia 48.6

Bonus Points:
(Hard, 2 points) Use the name of two magazines
(Easy, 1 point) Incorporate rosemary and thyme

https://www.facebook.com/notes/marvin-martian/blogophilia-week-486-have-you-ever-seen-the-rain/683011548386732

Normally when there is a thunder storm, I sleep right through it, like a log.  One night, during a hot summer night, the storm was so big, thunder shook the house.  I woke up and tossed on some old clothes, to go see it.  I love thunder storms, and watching the rain come down.  I went out to watch on the porch, and even in the confines of the large awning covering the porch, even out a little to help cover the first step or two, I'm soaked sitting there.  Oh, my, what a site!  My husband gets up, and wonders what I'm doing.  I come in, dripping, excitedly asking him "Have you ever seen the rain? Not like this!"  I bet Trevor likes to watch these storms from the comforts of his couch inside.

I know other people are sometimes are not so fond of the rain, so they lock themselves in, and read magazines like Reader's Digest and Time, the way that Kismet does.  But then, maybe Barbara K will make some chicken & dumpling soup, using rosemary and thyme, making it really yummy....

Bird in the mirror

It makes me wonder, after the rain, if anyone appreciates the rainbow at the end of the storm, after such a huge rainfall and booming thunder along with the sky high light show.  Maybe Betty goes out on errands afterward, just to see the bird's eye, or maybe it's rear view mirror time, to be surprised with seeing a bird in flight or maybe just preening.

100 Songs from my playlist

1.   You Spin Me 'Round (like a record) - by Dead or Alive
2.   Come on Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
3.   I Melt With You - Modern English
4.   Our House - Madness
5.   Tainted Love - Soft Cell
6.   Always on My Mind - Pet Shop Boys
7.   Call Me - Blondie
8.   Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant
9.   I'll Save You All My Kisses - Dead or Alive
10.  Brand New Lover - Dead or Alive
11.  Lover Come Back to Me - Dead or Alive
12.  My Heart Goes Bang - Dead or Alive
13.  Something in My House - Dead or Alive
14.  Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
15.  Boom Boom Boom (lets go up to my room) - Paul Lekakis
16.  Take on Me - Aha
17.  Mony Mony - Billy Idol
18.  Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol
19.  Piano Man - Billy Joel
20.  The Entertainer - Billy Joel
21.  Angry Young Man - Billy Joel
23.  Love Song - The Cure
24.  The Reflex - Duran Duran
25.  Run, Run Away - Slade
26.  It's the End of the World As We Know It - R.E.M.
27.  Shout - Tears for Fears
28.  A Little Respect - Erasure
29.  Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
30.  Down Under - Men at Work
31.  The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
32.  99 Red Balloons - Nena
33.  Putting on the Ritz - Taco
34.  Foolin - Def Leppard
35.  Rock of Ages - Def Leppard
36.  Round and Round - Ratt
37.  I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
38.  Kiss Me Deadly - Lita Ford
39.  Paradise City - Guns n Roses
40.  We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
41.  YMCA - Village People
42.  In the Navy - Village People
43.  Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
44.  Down on the Corner - CCR
45.  Love the One You're With - Stills
46.  Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin
47.  You Can't Hurry Love - Phil Collin
48.  Hook - Blues Traveler
49.  Believe - Cher
50.  Ooh, Aah - Gina G.
51.  Basket Case - Green Day
52.  Ebenezer Goode - The Shaman
53.  Jump - The Movement
54.  Make it Mine - The Shamen
55.  Loser - Beck
56.  Sing Sing Sing - Benny Goodman
57.  Bugle Call Rag - Benny Goodman
58.  In The Mood - Glenn Miller
59.  Vogue - Madonna
60.  1812 Overture - Tchaikovsky
61.  Orpheus in the Underworld - Offenbach
62.  Forever Young - Alphaville
63.  William Tell Overture - Rossini
64.  Marriage of Figaro - Mozart
65.  Hungarian Dance #5 - Brahms
66.  Paradise by the Dashboard Light - Meatloaf
67.  It Don't Mean a Thing - Ella Fitzgerald
68.  Strike Up the Band - Ella Fitzgerald
69.  Them There Eyes - Billy Holiday
70.  Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
71.  Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
72.  Somebody to Love - Queen
73.  Fat Bottom Girls - Queen
74.  Sleeping Bag - ZZ Top
75.  Legs - ZZ Top
76.  Freebird - Lynard Skynyrd
77.  In the Groove - Madonna
78.  Don't Cry for Me, Argentina (remix) - Madonna
79.  Like a Prayer - Madonna
80.  Looking Out My Back Door - CCR
81.  Ballad of Billy the Kid - Billy Joel
82.  Scenes from an Italian Restaurant - Billy Joel
83.  Old Time Rock n Roll - Bob Seger
84.  Mad About You - Carlisle
85.  Walk This Way - Aerosmith/Beastie Boys
86.  Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkle
87.  Some Nights - Fun
88.  Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men
89.  People Are People - Depesche Mode
90.  Come Sail Away - Styx
91.  The Promise - When in Rome
92.  The Promise - Kate Ryan
93.  Run - Milk Inc.
94.  I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick
95.  Africa - Toto
96.  Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cindy Lauper
97.  Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
98.  Bust a Move - Young MC
99.  Parents Just Don't Understand - Fresh Prince
100. Got the Groove - S M Trax

Wisconsin

You might live in Wisconsin:
  If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 38 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by.

 If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Rice Lake is the coldest spot in the nation.

 If you have ever refused to buy something because it's "too pricey."

 If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March.

 If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year.

 If someone in a store offers assistance, and they don't work there.

 If you may not have actually eaten it, but you have heard of Head Cheese.

 If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time.

 If you have either a pet or a child named “Brett” or "Aaron."

 If your town has an equal number of bars and churches.

 If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number.

 If you know how to pronounce Oconomowoc, Waukesha, Waunakee, Stoughton, Menomonie, & Manitowoc.

 If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy.

 *If every time you see moonlight on a lake, you think of a dancing bear, and you sing gently, "Frommmm the land of sky-blue waters,".....you might live in Wisconsin.*

*YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE WISCONSINITE WHEN:*

  1. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on Highway Y.

 2. "Vacation" means going up north past Hwy 8 for the weekend.

 3. You measure distance in hours.

 4. You know several people who have hit deer more than once.

 5. You often switch from "Heat" to "A/C" in the same day - and back again.

 6. Your whole family wears Packer Green to church on Sunday.

 7. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard,  without flinching.

 8. You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings and funerals).

  9. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.

 10. You think of the major food groups as beer, more beer, fish and venison.

 11. You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife or girlfriend knows how to use them.

 12. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Farm & Fleet Farm at any given time.

 13. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.

 14. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

 15. You refer to the Packers as "we."

 16. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.

 17. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.

 18. You have no problem pronouncing Lac Du Flambeau.

 19. You consider Minneapolis exotic.

 20. You know how to polka.

 21. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.

 22. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.

 23. Down South to you means Illinois.

 24. A brat is something you eat.

 25. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.

 26. You go out to a fish fry every Friday night.

27. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.

 28. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.

 29. You find minus twenty degrees "a little chilly."

30. You actually understand these jokes and you forward them to all your Wisconsin friends.

Visitor's Guide to the State of Wisconsin

Catholic Gasoline

Sister Mary Ann, who worked for a home health agency, was out making her rounds visiting homebound patients when she ran out of gas. As luck would have it, a Texaco Gasoline station was just a block away.

She walked to the station to borrow a gas can and buy some gas. The attendant told her that the only gas can he owned had been loaned out, but she could wait until it was returned. Since Sister Mary Ann was on the way to see a patient, she decided not to wait and walked back to her car.  She looked for something in her car that she could fill with gas and spotted the bedpan she was taking to the patient. Always resourceful, Sister Mary Ann carried the bedpan to the station, filled it with gasoline, and carried the full bedpan back to her car.

 

As she was pouring the gas into her tank, two Mormon Missionaries watched from across the street.. One of them turned to the other and said,

'If it starts, I'm turning Catholic.'!! 

In God we trust!  
IF YOU SEE SOMEBODY WITHOUT A SMILE, GIVE THEM ONE OF YOURS.

Silky Soft & Stretchy: Blogophilia 47.6

Bonus Points:
(Hard, 2 points) Incorporate "the smell of gingerbread baking"
(Easy, 1 point) Include 2 animal character names from a Disney film.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/marvin-martian/blogophilia-week-476-silky-soft-and-stretchy/679877222033498

One night, I went to sleep, and then woke up to my bedroom door leading out to the front porch.  Walking down the steps, and rather than leading down to my street, I stepped out onto a street across town.  What is going on?  I decide to explore this new scene, but it seems that each corner becomes a new puzzle, where streets that don't connect are all of a sudden merging together.  I am unsure how to get back home, thinking that maybe I can wake up in a normal mode.  All of a sudden, it gets dark, and I try to feel my way around...  and I end up touching something silky soft and stretchy....  Oh, wait, it's Barbara K's compost dirt...  How did I end up HERE?  No one really walks from Wisconsin to California in just 45 minutes, can we?

Big Screen Movie Preview

All of a sudden, from no where, I see the billboard, inviting us to see the movie preview...  We get to see the new movie starring Angelina Jolie, and give our own opinions on it.  This is exciting!  Maybe Nissemech can come with me, to this gala of lights, camera, action!  How cool!  We actually get to go behind the scenes for a major block buster!  But as we enter the theater, rather than smelling the smell of freshly popped, buttered popcorn, I get the smell of gingerbread baking, and it's Christopher at the oven!

Is this a joke?  I'm getting a bit disoriented, since I thought I was seeing an Angelina movie with Nissemech, and instead, it's some kind of animated film that spoofs Disney that has Baloo Bear and Tinker Bell, and I'm in line with Christine W!  And then, in the background, I hear Veggie Tales?  I must be going crazy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXM2o_Hb9Ls

I yawn, stretch, and open my eyes, and I'm back in bed, where I started, and relieved that it was all a dream.  My life is back, to my normal hectic way it ought to be, with crazy jokes and homework...


p.s. to participate, write your blog, and don't forget to post it on Marvin Martian's blog!

Where did "piss poor" come from? Interesting history...

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot.

And then once it was full it was taken and sold to the tannery...

If you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor".  But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...

They "didn't have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500's

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water,
Then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.
Last of all the babies.
By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.
It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.  Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.
Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.
That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery In the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing..

As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.  Hence: a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.
Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers In the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day.
Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.
Hence the rhyme:
“Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon."
They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter.
Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.
This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status..
Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
And guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky.
The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days..
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom; “holding a wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people.
So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.
When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, “saved by the bell" or was "considered a dead ringer."

And that's the truth.

Now, whoever said history was boring!!!

So get out there and educate someone!
Share these facts with a friend.
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering,
"What the heck happened?"
We'll be friends until we are old and senile.
Then we'll be new friends.

The Cat Drug It In: Blogophilia 46.6

Bonus Points:
(Hard, 2 points) mention a person you hold on a level of Zachariah
(Easy, 1 point) include an odd useless fact (i.e. bats always exit their dwelling to the left)

https://www.facebook.com/notes/marvin-martian/blogophilia-week-466-the-cat-drug-it-in/677085472312673

We've all learned about the Garden of Eden.  I think that where ever it was, even after the Earth changing, that it would have looked like this photo that Barbara K. took and submitted -





I'm sure that C.C. aka Lori Gomez, an angel like Zachariah, would agree that this spring is fit for the Gods, even if she disagrees that she is an angel.

In this blissful spring, somewhere over the rainbow,  is a dead vulture. Great.  Figures that's what my cat drug in.  Or maybe it's Bettie being nostalgic about Palm Springs and missing her own cat.

No worries, worms aerate the dirt, and that's just basic common sense for gardeners like Barbara K.


To participate, click the link above for the rules and such.  do your own blog, and don't forget to put the link in, to get your points for it.

Health Care in America

Our fine country of the United States of America is known as the Land of Plenty or the Land of Opportunity.  People from all over the planet have been coming to this country as a refuge from what ever they may have been suffering from, whether it's extreme poverty, political asylum, slavery, oppression, caste system, etc.  We even have Lady Liberty in the harbor of the most used port, historically, in New York to accept those who are in need of some sort of a new start, what ever it is from a personal or other stand point.  On the base of the Statue of Liberty, is the welcoming poem greeting those who come here from the Old Country:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Author: Emma Lazarus

This is an inspirational poem, giving hope to immigrants and American citizens alike.  But there is an interesting thing going here.  With every nationality or ethnic group coming to this country, the new comers are usually welcomed with a cold shoulder.  Italians were called Wops, because they were stamped WOP, meaning With-Out Passport, but it became a somewhat derogatory term.  Other peoples were welcomed in similar ways, though many could go to those already acclimated to this country of their same background, to be able to become accustomed to our country.

Today, it seems as if non-European Hispanics, particularly Mexicans, are the target group.  Many of them don't speak English, and it seems to take a while to learn, and we have all sorts of services that translate into Spanish for those who need it.  The current technologies make it easier for many to come in and be able to get what ever it is, explained to them in their own languages, particularly, Spanish.  And if they don't speak English, it seems as if they are deemed illegal, which may or may not be true.  While some of this is to be expected, because the newest kids on the block are the ones who usually get picked one, some of it goes a lot further than a cold shoulder to the Mexican people.

Our conservative friends say that illegals are taking up all of the jobs that belong to Americans, creating a new type of poverty in this country, jacking up all of the cost of unemployment, welfare, and other things, and it ends up on the working tax payers' tab.  Many say that these "illegal aliens" are receiving general aid, such as food stamps, medicaid, and what not, and they're not happy about it.  Because of fraud, not just by immigrants, but by all of those who work to defraud their system that deep cuts would kick the fraudsters off of the system.

Our liberal friends say that "undocumented immigrants" do the jobs that no American wants to take, and that there is very little fraud, and that they help the economy by taking substandard wages to make it affordable for the rest of us.  Of course because fraud is at a minimum, that just tweaking the system would help minimize fraud from anyone.

Thing is, I think that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.  We all like to celebrate our multicultural roots.  In the bigger cities especially, but even in very middle America, we have ethnic restaurants and food stores, and some of that even permeates into regular grocers.  Lets face it, we love our ethnic foods, whether it's Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc...  Even sushi is catching on as the rage.  So, why would we want to discriminate against those who make some of our favorite foods?

Anyway, yes, there ARE those who work to fraud the system.  That goes for citizens as well as legal residents as well as immigrants.  Just to let people know, to get welfare, you have to have a legal ID, proof of residency, and you have to have legal to receive anything.  Yes, some of the immigrants, do work under certain documents, some are legal SSN or EIN and yes, those are documents, thus can't be said they're undocumented.  Others are actual dummies accounts, so while yes, they pay into the system, they can't collect because the account doesn't belong to them.  But, someone who is undocumented or illegal is not eligible to get food stamps or medicaid.  Those are for citizens and certain legal residents.

I've digressed...  Anyway, the Affordable Care Act is here to get more people covered under health insurance.  Right now, poor people, even Americans, don't get preventative care, and so many don't get in for anything until too late, so many don't get to get coverage until they're probably going to die or get amputated before actually getting the services, rather than before.  And yes, the rest of us are paying for it.  Your insurance premiums are higher to help pay the doctor or hospital.  Your deductible is based on it as well.  So are the prices you pay at the office.  These are being charged at rates which will include those who need to come into the ER.  The ACA is trying to reduce the prices by giving the access to help prevent disease, rather than paying more later.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Here in Wisconsin our governor decided not to accept the federal funds to expand medicaid, so, while many are currently getting kicked off of Badger Care for being above the poverty line to get onto the health care exchange, after it gets to that point, will start giving single adults as well as couples without minor children will be able to get onto the state insurance if they are below the poverty line.  Here in Wisconsin, that won't be until at least April 1, 2014.  

While I agree that we do need to take care of our people, it seems as if we are in some kind of turbulent cycle until everything gets straightened out.  I admit, because our family income is far below the poverty line for a family of 3, that yes, we are on the medicaid system.  Since the implementation of the ACA, in combination of not expand medicaid, there are certain things that are not available to me because of it.  While I am taking steps to get educated so that I can be in a better position later, it's not easy to get the medical care I need for myself and my son because the same amount of money is covering more.  Kind of like sharing the wealth and the risk.  Those of us lucky enough to be low risk won't miss anything.  Those of us with high risk end up losing out, because we are on medicaid rather than regular insurance.  Hopefully, I will still be able to afford my care when I go full time at a regular job.  This is one of the drawbacks of deep cuts, and also because of any fraud issues.

I am hopeful that it will eventually straighten its self right.  What I don't understand, though, is it seems our conservative friends agree with Governor Walker about mandating auto insurance because it saves money, yet is against the health care because it costs money to save lives.  Our liberal friends seem to look at it the opposite way.  Just remember, it takes money to make money, and same goes for saving....  You can't save w/o money.  It takes money to save.  So, while we are struggling now, I have to hang out the hope that I can get the treatment needed once I start my new position in the health care field as a patient care coordinator.  As a diabetic in the care of an endocrinologist, along with some genetic issues, it's no easy or cheep task to keep up on my health.

Before the Last Leaf Falls: Blogophilia 45.6

Bonus suggestions:
(hard, 2 points) Quote Albert Einstein
(easy, 1 point) include a guardian angel

https://www.facebook.com/notes/marvin-martian/blogophilia-week-456-before-the-last-leaf-falls/670102536344300

Over the past summer, after getting my CNA certification, but before the fall semester started with school for both my son and me, I was hoping to get a lot of activities done before the last leaf falls, and Bettie is wise for suggesting to get as much time in with our children when we can, because before we know it, we will be in our own autumn of life, and our children will be grown, with a busy family life of their own.

Of course summer went by all too fast. Time is always flowing, and it's easy to let it to let it get away from us.  It's odd, though, my son, at 13, still asks a lot of questions.  He still is very much curious like the cat.  Then, Stormy's cat Clarice quotes Einstein - "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its ownreason for existing."  Of course curiosity helps us learn.  So I think it is good that we spend time together, to be able to answer those questions in the quest to learn more about what ever it is that he is yearning to learn.

Shedding tree in the night

I lie awake, admiring the tree, mostly bare of leaves, still clinging to the life of the cool blue sky...  I often wonder if this whispering leaves in the eve is the sign, and it is a beautiful sight to see, not wanting to think too much in the future.  C.C., AKA Lori is always an art appreciator, and maybe more of us ought to culture ourselves and do the same.

St. Peter, an original guardian angel tries to ensure that we see the tender aspects of life, has Dahlia bringing lovely flowers to remember that even in the fading light of fall, there is always beauty around us.


p.s.  if you would like to participate, please click the link to go to the blog page to read up on how this blogophilia works.  Go ahead and write your own, and don't forget to pimp yourself on the blog page, to earn your points and get positive comments to your blog.

Long Lost Words Whisper Slowly: Blogophila 44.6

Bonus Suggestions:
(Hard, 2 points) - use your Zodiac sign
(Easy, 1 point) - include shaggy dogs and black sheep

https://www.facebook.com/notes/marvin-martian/blogophilia-week-446-long-lost-words-whisper-slowly/668012803219940

Gun Heeled Hooves

As an Aquarian, I always felt like I live in the middle of two elements.  Thanks to Marvin Martian I am reminded of that fact all too often.  I'm an air sign, and I bear water.  Like the rain clouds that bringing the gentle rains that get little shaggy dogs dancing at our door steps with Stormy Gail  watching over them, or the big, black clouds with the booming thunder storms, I think I really am the black sheep in my family, and I think that The David can relate with me.  Everyone else fits into one category not associated with another Zodiac sign.

As the black sheep, I wonder, if I had hooves, could I be the high gun-heeled sheep with white boots in wolf's clothing?  Or maybe Sassy Sue has these fancy shoes that she likes to show off.

Kim reminisces about Christmas of yore, whispering slowly.  And I start to think about my grandmother, who lived to almost half past 100, this very gentle woman, who encouraged me to be an explorer when I'm faced with new adventures, even if it meant trying something new in foods.  I was always afraid to try apple pie, since in Japan, we almost never cooked fruit.  I tried, and I liked.  So many more things such as banana bread, pumpkin desserts, beef stew, and so much more.  She never got angry or raised her voice.  But we knew when she got disgusted with us, and I think that made us feel more guilty than any other punishment or getting yelled at.  And also, my grandfather, who always wanted to be 100, and didn't quite make it, would always tell me, "Just keep smiling, and everything will be okay" and "Be positive!"  Funny, because my blood type is B+, so I guess I don't have a choice, do I? 


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