Where were you?

My word! The deer flies are horrendous!! I was just attacked multiple times on the short walk to the mailbox. Insects weren't my intended topic for today, though, so moving right along....

I really enjoyed Bob's most recent post. It got me to thinking about the same events and what I remembered about them. Hope you don't mind, Bob, if I use the same format. In other words, I'm basically stealing your post and putting in my own words!

JFK assassination, Nov. 22, 1963. Like Bob, I was also in kindergarten. Not only that, we were in the same class! (except I was still 5) I'm ashamed to admit my only memories are of the endless television coverage, thus knocking out any programs that would interest a five year old.

MLK and RFK assassinations, both in 1968. I have no distinct memories associated with these events. I'm sure I was aware of them, though, since my father owned and managed a radio station which included broadcast news as well as music.

Moon landing, July 16, 1969. This one I do remember! My father loved "sciency" stuff and was fascinated with the space program. I can't remember what the moon phase was or what the weather was like, but it seems like I went into the backyard and gazed that direction in awe. My father died the following year. I'm glad he lived to see man reach the moon.

Death of Elvis, August 16, 1977. I was at Hodges Gardens, attending choir camp for the college I attended when one of our campers was bitten by a spider. Several of us drove to nearby Many, LA to have the bite checked out (a camper from the previous year had a spider bite which caused problems, therefore the extra caution). While sitting in the waiting area someone came through and announced that Elvis was dead. Typical teenagers, we were thrilled to be able to carry the news back to the rest of our group.

I don't remember anything specific about the Olympic Hockey victory of 1980, but there was another event that year that I do remember. On December 8, 1980 John Lennon was shot to death outside of his apartment building in New York City. I was living in Knoxville, TN at the time having transferred from the small college in Louisiana to the University of Tennessee. I watched The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson most nights and they broke into the programming to make the announcement that Lennon was dead. I remember thinking how sad it was since his solo career was really taking off. Though not much of a Yoko fan, I still felt bad for her and their young son.

The Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, January 28, 1986. I had been married less than a year and was working in the trust department of a bank. Someone came into our office and made the announcement. I remember thinking how horrible that so many school children were watching live since there was a teacher on the flight for the first time.

September 11, 2001. My birthday. I was home doing an exercise video when my sister (the news junkie) called. After blurting out a quick "happy birthday" she told me to turn on the TV. We stood there watching as the second plane hit, having no idea at that point what was actually unfolding right before our eyes. I had to peel myself away from the TV in order to attend a Bible study which was having its first meeting that day at my church. Of course the coverage was still on when I got home. I believe life changed in many ways that day. Very sad.

Twilight ~ The Graphic Novel

My younger daughter has been a Twilight fan since the first book came out in 2005. She read each book as soon as it was released and took a Spring Break trip with some friends to Forks, Washington long before it became a popular fan destination. So, it was no surprise that she wanted Twilight the Graphic Novel, Volume 1 when it became available last month.

I read my share of comic books as a kid, but this was my first experience with a graphic novel. I must say, I was quite impressed! More than 200 pages bound in hardcover, it's filled with beautifully rendered drawings by Korean artist, Young Kim. Volume 1 covers about half of the first book in the series. *sigh* I guess that means there will be at least seven more volumes, unless they're not doing the entire series this way.

FreeVerse ~ Carmen Tafolla

Hosted by Cara at Ooh...Books!
(Click on image above)


Carmen Tafolla was the guest speaker at a ceremony I recently attended and I was amazed by the depth and passion of her performance. Her poems and stories are so heartfelt it's almost impossible not to be moved by them. The poem I've shared here is from her Sonnets and Salsa collection. My apologies for once again not getting the indentions correct thus detracting somewhat from the visual beauty of her work.

Marked

Never write with pencil,
m'ija.
It is for those
who would
erase.
Make your mark proud
and open,
Brave,
beauty folded into
its imperfection,
Like a piece of turquoise
marked.

Never write
with pencil,
m'ija.
Write with ink
or mud,
or berries grown in
gardens never owned,
or, sometimes,
if necessary,
blood.

Under the Cajun Moon

I've been a fan of Mindy Starns Clark ever since I read her Million Dollar Mystery series (which I still consider to be her best work). That series was followed up by the Smart Chick Mysteries. Her last three offerings have been stand alone books and the most recent, Under the Cajun Moon, was my favorite of the three.



The story begins with Chloe Ledet waking to a ringing phone in a strange hotel room with no idea of where she is or how she got there. Things worsen when she is accused of murdering a man whose body is found in the room with her. Soon another body is found and Chloe's memories that are beginning to surface only confuse and complicate matters. In an effort to find some answers, Chloe sets out into the swamps and bayous of south Louisiana with Travis Naquin, a man she vaguely remembers from her youth. Can she trust Travis?... circumstances leave her no other option.

Not only are Ms. Clark's books fun mysteries, they often provide some history or trivia relating to the story line. This book, which includes flashbacks to early 18th century France and the Louisiana Territory, shares many interesting facts about Cajun culture, New Orleans and the surrounding areas.


This was my second book for the Cozy Mystery Challenge.

iPod Roulette ~ April 2010

Let's play iPod Roulette! (Remember that fun game I discovered in this entry at Hal's?) Here are the rules: using the "shuffle" feature on your iPod, make note of the first 15 songs that come up and share them in a blog entry. No skipping songs that you might be embarrassed for others to know you have in your music library! The only time I hit skip is if it's another song by an artist/group I've already listed. I've often questioned just how "random" the shuffle feature really is. Despite many jazz selections in my iTunes, not a single one came up this time.

1. Car Wash (Rose Royce) - I have no explanation for this.

2. After the Love Has Gone (Earth, Wind and Fire) - I graduated from High School in 1976. This was pretty staple listening for that era.

3. Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20-5. La Czardas (Zubin Mehta) - I took piano lessons as a child which helped to foster my love of classical music.

4. Bali Ha'i (Loretta Ables Sayre) - This is my favorite song from the musical South Pacific. Our community theater put on this production two summers ago and did a great job with it.

5. Misery Business (Paramore) - Paramore provided some of the music for the Twilight soundtrack, although not this particular song. I can thank my younger daughter for this one.

6. Yesterday Once More (The Carpenters) - I can't listen to The Carpenters without thinking of Bob. I love Karen Carpenter's voice!

7. Waterfront (Simple Minds) - I am not a fan of Greenpeace, but evidently liked enough of the music on a CD they sponsored to purchase it. Obviously before I had access to iTunes.

8. The Battle/The Forest (Rick Wakeman) - This is side two of his Journey to the Centre of the Earth album. One of my favorites!

9. Lion (Rebecca St. James) - This is from an album of songs inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia featuring various Christian artists. Not to be confused with the soundtracks to the actual movies.

10. Mozart: Piano Sonata #15 in C, KV 545-2. Andante (Mitsuko Uchida) - I could actually play this on the piano at one point in my life. Amazing.

11. Hold On (Wilson Phillips) - A great song to harmonize with! Carnie Wilson used it in commercials promoting her recent reality show on GSN.

12. L-O-V-E (Natalie Cole) - She has a beautifully smooth voice, but nothing to compared to her father's.

13. I Can't Stand the Rain (Tina Turner) - I use to think it was funny that a preacher at my church some years ago loved Tina Turner. He just didn't look the type. I also remember his very first sermon included many references to The Eagles.

14. Falling Slowly (Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova) - This beautiful song is from the movie Once. Again, I can thank my younger daughter for introducing me to the movie and its wonderful soundtrack.

15. Fur Elise (Murray Perahia) - Taken from the soundtrack of Immortal Beloved. Played by many piano students, it's one I never learned.

What a waste!

I would absolutely like to KICK myself!!! This is precisely why I don't need to drink, gamble, or play video games.

Today was our older daughter's birthday so we (my husband, son and I) met her and her family for dinner. The restaurant she chose is usually crowded on Friday nights, so we made it an early supper. That means I was home at a decent hour and had the evening free to do what I wanted.

I have a fun jigsaw in process. I'm in the midst of a good book. I have several magazines to read. I need to work on my Legacy Guide project. But what did I do?

I wasted my ENTIRE EVENING playing solitaire on my computer!!! Las Vegas rules. Lost every game. I can't remember when I've done anything so stupid! All I meant to do was check the weather radar and something made me click on "games". Big mistake.

As punishment I shouldn't allow myself to turn on my computer tomorrow. (yeah, right!)

*sigh*

Favorite Five ~ TV Dramas

These days I don't follow any television dramas. That's not to say I haven't watched my share over the years, though. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Dragnet - "Just the facts, ma'am". I'm sure I watched some of the earlier episodes as re-runs, but the ones that stand out in my mind are those that aired after 1967 when Harry Morgan joined the cast as Jack Webb's partner.

2. Homicide: Life on the Street - In my opinion.... the absolute best of all television dramas! I have all seven seasons on DVD along with the wrap-up movie when the series ended.

3. St. Elsewhere - There have been several "doctor" shows I watched including ER, Medical Center, and Marcus Welby M.D., but St. Elsewhere still ranks as my favorite. I also enjoyed its "sister show", Hill Street Blues.

4. Law & Order - This show began in 1990 and, from what I can tell, is still going strong. I can't remember how many seasons I watched before I lost interest. Probably somewhere between five and ten. There are several spin-offs, but the only one I've watched is SVU. Interestingly enough, one of the actors from Homicide made the jump to SVU playing the same character.

5. Picket Fences - I guess the best way to describe this show is "quirky". It was a fun show with a great cast, but only lasted four seasons. Seems like I remember it ended without wrapping up any of the story lines.

Runners up: L.A. Law, Magnum P.I., Dallas.

FreeVerse - The Goops

Hosted by Cara at Ooh...Books!
(click on image above)



I featured this poem a few years ago on my 360 blog. It's one of my childhood favorites so I thought I'd share it again for FreeVerse this week. It's taken from my 1955 edition of The Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature.

THE GOOPS
Gelett Burgess

The Goops they lick their fingers,
And the Goops they lick their knives;
They spill their broth on the tablecloth-
Oh, they lead disgusting lives!
The Goops they talk while eating,
And loud and fast they chew;
And that is why I'm glad that I
Am not a Goop - are you?

Holly Blues

For my first book in the Cozy Mystery Challenge which began this month, I read Holly Blues by Susan Wittig Albert.

Holly Blues is the 18th book in the China Bayles Herbal Mystery series. Susan Wittig Albert does a good job in each book of introducing the main players and filling the reader in on any important back stories. This allows readers to jump right in without having to start from the beginning of the series, although I would still recommend starting with the first book.

This one has China back in Pecan Springs, TX... where most of the books take place. Her husband's ex-wife (and mother of his child) has shown up unexpectedly and manages to play on China's sympathies, getting herself invited to stay with them for the Christmas holidays. In very short order the storyline she has fed China falls apart leading to a number of unanswered questions. One disappearance, two deaths, and law enforcement from three towns keep China, her husband McQuaid, and her best friend Ruby busy until all the questions have been answered.

While certainly not Albert's best offering, I thought it was entertaining and worth the time spent reading.

Emotion and Commotion

Satellite radio in my car was an extravagance I treated myself to years ago. The past four or five months I have kept my dial on the "c-jazz" station, Watercolors, with the occasional switch to Contemporary Christian or Classic Rock. I've discovered lots of new artists (or new to me) and new releases from old favorites.

Several weeks ago a song came on that grabbed me right from the start. When I pushed the info button for the title and artist I was surprised to see the name Jeff Beck! Although I couldn't place any specific things he'd done, I knew he was a rock guitarist. I checked at iTunes and saw that the song was from an album due to be released on April 13th which allowed me to get it on my iPod before leaving town last week.

It's excellent! My favorites are 'Never Alone' (from the radio), 'Hammerhead', 'Nessun Dorma', and 'Serene', but I don't regret getting the whole album. It covers a broad range of styles and, in my opinion, doesn't have a bum track on it. I've provided the link to the album at Amazon here, but you'll have to go to iTunes or somewhere else to hear clips.

Sunday catch-up

It always amazes me how much catching up there is to do when I leave town for even a short time! I was only gone 48 hours (okay...55.5 to be exact), and I'm just now finding time to sit down and attempt a blog entry. It's nice being able to schedule entries ahead of time, but I only did two in advance so here I am in real time again.

Ten hours of driving afforded me plenty of time to do something I haven't done in years.... listen to an audio book. I normally stick to print books and leave listening for music, but I had a couple of audio books on the shelf that my daughter had left behind and it seemed like a good way to pass the time.

When I got home yesterday I barely had time to greet my husband and the pups, unload the car, and check my e-mail before setting out again to meet a friend for dinner and a concert. Remember how I told you that we rarely have big name performers come to our little town? Just two months after the Mercy Me concert, we were blessed to have Jeremy Camp here last night! It was great!

Today it was back to the grind. In addition to getting caught up from my brief time away, I finished several projects I've been putting off.

It's nice to end a fun week on a productive note.

Favorite Five - Fruit

It's only natural to follow up my Favorite Five - Vegetables entry with one on fruit. I think it might be harder to approach fruits than vegetables since fruit flavors have a wider application. For example, my favorite flavor Life Saver Candy or Tootsie-Roll Pop is orange, but the fruit itself doesn't make my list. As with vegetables, there aren't too many fruits I don't like. I'm not particularly fond of blackberries and raspberries or papaya and mango. I love cantaloupe, but don't care much for honeydew. It's only been in recent years that I've acquired a taste for watermelon. Enough rambling. Here are my favorites:

1. Avocado - Just like the tomato, this is botanically a fruit but usually treated as a vegetable when cooking. Since I didn't include it with my vegetables, it gets top billing here. Love, love, love it!!

2. Olives - I had to "google" to see if olives were considered a fruit. I like them black, green, with the pits, without them, stuffed, any way I can get them!

3. Lemons - When I was growing up I often requested a lemon icebox pie for my birthday rather than a cake. And.... in my opinion, the best lemonade is made fresh, with very little sugar. The more sour, the better.

4. Strawberries - Arkansas grows some of the best strawberries around and I always look forward to them being in season. It's almost that time of year!

5. Apples - We eat apples at our house several times a week. My favorite way to serve them is diced with a sliced banana then topped with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkling of walnuts. I usually buy Gala apples, but for eating out of hand, nothing beats a tart Granny Smith.

Meat Loaf Wellington

I clipped this recipe from Simple & Delicious and it turned out to be quite good. It was credited to "Kyana44" on the Tasteofhome.com Community. The only changes I made were to use seasoned bread crumbs instead of plain and substituting cream of onion soup for golden mushroom.


Meat Loaf Wellington

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed golden mushroom soup, undiluted, divided
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup ketchup
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 lbs. lean ground beef (90% lean)
1 tube (8 oz.) refrigerated crescent rolls
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream

In a large bowl, combine the egg, bread crumbs, 1/2 cup soup, onion, ketchup, garlic and Worcestershire sauce. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into a 9-in. x 5-in. rectangle and place in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake uncovered, at 375F for 40 minutes. Unroll crescent dough; seal seams and perforations. Drape dough over meat loaf to cover top, sides and ends; seal ends. Bake 12-15 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 160F and crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small microwave-safe bowl, combine sour cream and remaining soup. Cover and microwave on high for 30-40 seconds or until heated through. Serve with meat loaf.

FreeVerse ~ Income Tax Day

Hosted by Cara at Ooh...Books!
(Click on image above)



I shared a prayer/poem from Walter Brueggemann in an earlier post. Although not a poet in the traditional sense, his prayers read like poetry. Considering tomorrow is "tax day" in the US, I am using Brueggemann's "Income Tax Day" prayer from his book Prayers for a Privileged People as my FreeVerse entry this week. Although I can't get the indentions visually correct, the words still retain the beauty.

Income Tax Day

On this day of internal revenue
some of us are paid up,
some of us owe,
some of us await a refund,
some of us have no income to tax.

But all of us are taxed,
by war,
by violence,
by anxiety,
by deathliness.

And Caesar never gives any deep tax relief.

We render to Caesar...
to some it feels like a grab,
to some it is clearly a war tax,
to some - some few -
it is a way to contribute to the common good.

In any case we are haunted
by what we render to Caesar,
by what we might render to you,
by the way we invest our wealth and our lives,
when what you ask is an "easy yoke":
to do justice
to love mercy
to walk humbly with you.

Give us courage for your easy burden, so to live untaxed lives.

Late afternoon at the pond

Sunday afternoon was beautiful so we headed to the pond to see if the fish were biting. We both threw a few casts from the bank just to see what would happen. I caught this nice bass right away with a plastic worm!

While walking down the bank I saw a bass guarding its nest next to an old stump. Can you see it at the top of the photo?

I mentioned before that we have a nesting pair of Canada Geese that return to our pond each year. They were keeping a close eye on us as we fished our way around the pond.

Here's another bass I caught. We were keeping them as long as they were about a pound or better. I threw back several small ones, but this one was definitely a keeper!



This little guy, a muskrat, was swimming very close to us. Not very smart!

Yet another fish I caught! We ended up keeping a nice mess of them. I lost count, but I know it was in the double digits.

It was a great evening to be out on the water. The mosquitos weren't too bad.... maybe because of all the dragonflies and swifts diving around.... or maybe because I took the butane-powered bug repellant. The usual wood ducks came in as it started to laten. I love to hear their whistles. We also saw several red-headed woodpeckers. In the distance I heard a pileated woodpecker and an owl. In this last picture I think I was trying to photograph one of the woodpeckers. Instead, all I can find is a cow in the lower left of the pasture. Oh, well.

The rest of the week looks too busy for fishing, so we're off to try it one more time tonight!

Guam

I normally stay away from posts having anything to do with politics, but I couldn't resist sharing this YouTube clip. It really struck me as funny, the best part about halfway into the clip.

In brief, it concerns one of our illustrious U.S. Congressmen questioning the head of the U.S. Pacific Fleet about the stationing of 5000 additional U.S. Marines and their families on the Pacific island of Guam. To read the full article, click here.

Ballroom Dancing

I love to work Jan Van Haasteren puzzles, but they never seem to photograph well. For that matter, I have trouble taking photos of puzzles in general. I was going to blame it on my camera, but I'll just be honest and admit I'm not much of a photographer. Oh, well... you can still get the general idea here.

U.S. Geography

Give me a blank U.S. map and I can label all the states. Okay.... I'll admit I sometimes mix up New Hampshire and Vermont, but for the most part I know my geography. A friend sent me a map quiz this week and it ended up being more difficult than I expected. Land-locked states without border states for reference are tough and you have to hit them nearly dead-on to count as correct. Click on the map above to take the test. If you aren't happy with your results, try again. The states are doled out in a different order each time. My third time was the charm - a 98%. (I'm not telling how bad my first two attempts were!!)

Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter

The last three books I've read have taken a bit of a detour from my normal choices. The first two were what I would classify as "sci-fi/horror". Infected and Contagious, both by Scott Sigler are exciting page-turners that kept me on edge until the last few pages. I really enjoyed the plot in both (they go together but can be read separately), but was a little put off by the excessive use of the F-bomb.

I'm not really sure how to classify the third book, Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat. It caught my eye while browsing through the books at QPBC and I planned to get it for my daughter, more as a joke than anything else. Once it arrived, I decided to read it myself.

Not to be taken seriously, it is an entertaining story filled with blood, gore, entrails and plenty of zombies (revenants), wearwolves and demons. There are exciting battles with fancy weapons, horrifying tools of torture in the depths of the Tower, a creepy visit to Bedlam and an outrageous occurance in the House of Commons. Despite all this, it doesn't completely stray from historical accuracy. It left me wanting to do a little more research to see just what truth there was (aside from the fantasy of members of the Royal Family being demon/human half breeds!).

If you don't mind a little horror, especially with a good dose of humor mixed in... I would recommend this book for something different.

FreeVerse ~ Linda Pastan

Hosted by Cara at Ooh...Books!
(Click on image above)

I can thank Marion for introducing me to Linda Pastan's Carnival Evening . She featured the collection on her blog last summer in a post which included one of my favorite Pastan poems, The Bookstall. I followed with an entry of my own in the fall, sharing two more of her poems.

Here's another wonderful selection from Carnival Evening:

Egg

In this kingdom
the sun never sets;
under the pale oval
of the sky
there seems no way in
or out,
and though there is a sea here
there is no tide.

For the egg itself
is a moon
glowing faintly
in the galaxy of the barn,
safe but for the spoon's
ominous thunder,
the first delicate crack
of lightning.

A Cozy Challenge

Just three days ago I was moaning about an interesting reading challenge I had found but felt was too late to join. Dorte had a post yesterday about another challenge that looks just as fun.... "cozy mysteries" ....and it began on April 1st!

Although I've read several mysteries this year, I won't count them since the challenge had not yet started. I decided not to press my luck and only committed to six books and unless something better comes along, I already know which books I'll read!

If you'd like to know more about the challenge, click here or on the image in the sidebar.

Happy Easter!

"We are not citizens of this world trying to make our way to heaven; we are citizens of heaven trying to make our way through this world. That radical Christian insight can be life-changing. We are not to live so as to earn God's love, inherit heaven, and purchase our salvation. All those are given to us as gifts; gifts bought by Jesus on the cross and handed over to us. We are to live as God's redeemed, as heirs of heaven, and as citizens of another land: the Kingdom of God ... We live as those who are on a journey home; a home we know will have the lights on and the door open and our Father waiting for us when we arrive. That means in all adversity our worship of God is joyful, our life is hopeful, our future is secure. There is nothing we can lose on earth that can rob us of the treasures God has given us and will give us."

~ The Landisfarne, via The Anglican Digest

Let the fishing begin!

It's that time of year again. The weather is warmer, the world is greener... and the fish are starting to bite!

Our first attempt was on Monday evening and we set out with high hopes. My husband got a few hits on a spinner bait, but in general the fish weren't cooperating. Thursday evening was a little better. Armed with a shiny new spinner bait of my own (my first), I caught a nice bass right off the bat. I reeled in a second one with a plastic worm, then lost a third which broke my line, taking my new spinner bait with it.

The actual fishing might not have been great, but it was nice just being out on the pond. I get a real sense of peace and serenity out on the water, taking in the sights and sounds around me. Gazing out over the pasture, I could see the cows and donkeys grazing and heard the occasional moo or bray. We saw some blue-wing teal and wood ducks along with a pair of Canada Geese that have spent several summers nesting on our pond. Both evenings our yards dogs decided to join us. Mama Dog is an impressive swimmer. The first evening she and Blue swam out to the beaver hut. They climbed all over it trying to sniff out the residents whom we had seen in another part of the pond earlier. The second evening, while Blue and Jed watched from the shore, Mama Dog repeatedly tried to swim out to the boat, scaring every fish in the vicinity I'm sure. What seemed cute at first quickly became annoying. I hope she doesn't make a habit of it!

Changing the subject.... I was browsing other blogs today and discovered a book challenge I wish I had found earlier! I've already read ten books this year that qualify and the challenge only calls for twelve. I would go ahead and join, but I would need to go back and write reviews for all those books. That's a challenge I'm not up to. Maybe next year.

Esther

Esther

October 6, 1999 ~ March 31, 2010

Our second loss in just over two months. Esther would have been 10-1/2 next week and reigns as our longest-lived Rottie. It's the first time in almost twenty years we haven't had a Rottweiler living in the house with us and it seems strange. Maybe we'll get another one at some point, but for now I think Alice and Mabel (and the three outside dogs) are enough.

Esther was truly a queen and will be greatly missed!