iPod Roulette ~ May 2010

I decided I would finish off the month with a round of iPod Roulette.

1. In the Flesh? (Pink Floyd) - From Disc 1 of The Wall.

2. Car Wash (Rose Royce) - What's the deal?? This one came up last time I posted an iPod Roulette! What are the chances out of more than 3400 songs!?

3. Whispers in the Dark (Skillet) - I might have liked Christian music as a teenager if there had been more of this around back then.

4. I Wish it Would Rain (Nanci Griffith) - I listened to this artist some early in her career, but not much in recent years.

5. The Cinema Show (Genesis) - From Selling England by the Pound which is my favorite of their albums.

6. Back in the USSR (Beatles) - From The White Album. Not one of my favorite albums of theirs or favorite songs.

7. Wild Mountain Honey (Steve Miller Band) - From the Fly Like an Eagle album.

8. Bye Bye Love (The Everly Brothers) - I have older siblings so there are lots of songs from the 50s and 60s I enjoy.

9. God of Wonders (Mac Powell) - This is the version from the original City on a Hill album. One of the co-writers of this song is the son of a good friend of mine.

10. The Great Eatlon (James Newton Howard) - From the soundtrack of Lady in the Water.

11. Tears in Heaven (Eric Clapton) - The events that prompted this song broke my heart.

12. Tom Sawyer (Rush) - A band I didn't really take an interest in until their "progressive rock" stage.

13. Milky White Way (The Melody Boys Quartet) - This group performed at my church a couple of years ago and put on quite a good show. Not my usual type of music, but I still enjoyed it.

14. Little Light of Love (R.X.R.A.) - From the soundtrack to The Fifth Element. Great soundtrack and great movie!!

15. Land of 1000 Dances (Wilson Pickett) - From the Forrest Gump soundtrack. Another wonderful soundtrack! Hmmm...soundtracks. That could be a good "Favorite Five" topic. I'll have to think on it.

Favorite Five - Fantasy Careers

I think most kids go through phases in their lives where they aspire to heights that they most likely will never reach. With hard work and the right opportunities some might be realistic, but many are just pipe dreams. I've had a few of my own over the years.

1. Rock star - Lead singer wasn't necessarily my goal. I wanted to be either the drummer or the bass player.

2. Best-selling author - The genre might have varied depending on what I liked reading at the time, but always fiction.

3. Chef - Considering I've struggled with my weight for much of my life, this one always came with the added wish of being able to eat whatever I wanted without gaining anything.

4. Artist - Specifically one who created sculpture through welding.

5. Librarian - Okay.... this one was realistic and what I actually wanted to be "when I grew up". Life just took me a different direction instead.

Okay. Now it's your turn!

The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears

I don't remember which I read first, the Art History Mystery series by Iain Pears or his novel An Instance of the Fingerpost. I just know that I thoroughly enjoyed both. Based on that, I purchased his next novel, The Dream of Scipio, which has subsequently been sitting in my TBR pile for almost eight years! Since it met the requirements for the Typically British Reading Challenge I decided it would be a good time to pull it off the shelf.

The Dream of Scipio is nothing like the other books I've read by Iain Pears. It's more of a "thinking man's" novel and definitely not light reading. I made the mistake of checking out the reviews of it at Amazon before starting it and began to wonder if it might be too philosophical for me. I knew it had ties to Cicero's work by the same name, so I found a translation of that to skim with the hope it would enhance the novel for me. (not that it did particularly)

The story is set in Provence, France and revolves around three men during three separate periods in history: the fourth century, the fourteenth century, and the second world war. Each man is in an ill-fated relationship with a woman and each man faces a major dilemma pertinent to that period in history. Some of the philosophical questions addressed are "what is the obligation of the individual in a society under siege?", "what is the role of learning when civilization itself is threatened, whether by acts of man or nature?", and "does virtue lie more in engagement or in neutrality?".

The book is very well written as are all of Pears' books. However, it went very slowly for me and I had to push myself to keep on. I can honestly say, though, when I reached the end I was satisfied and glad that I'd persevered, not only for the resolution of the storylines, but for the critical thinking it provoked.

Ramblings

There wasn't a FreeVerse at Cara's today, so I'll save the entry I had prepared and use it next week. Instead, I'll just ramble a bit.

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When I drove into town for a haircut today I encountered one of my pet peeves on the road. It's a peeve that irritates me so much that I devoted an entire entry to it here. This time it was a pre-teen boy riding a four-wheeler down the middle of the road drinking a soda. He must have been near the bottom of the can since he was tilting his head way back and weaving all over the road in the process! He finally realized I was behind him and eased a little to the left while motioning me with his right hand to pass. I wanted to glare as I went by, but he left me so little room to pass that I had to focus on the road instead. Grrr!!

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Suzy was exploring the living room her first day in the house and made an interesting discovery in the tiny space between the 55 gallon fishtank and the wall. I had wondered what happened to those two giant danios that disappeared!

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Today was one of those fun occasions when an "imaginary friend" became real. (that's how Marion's husband use to refer to her internet pals) Anyway.... Debby and I have e-mailed some and not long ago she suggested we talk on the phone sometime. I tried calling her on her birthday, but nobody was home so I just had to leave my birthday greeting on the answering machine. She let me know when her days off work were and I was able to catch her at home this afternoon. It was a fun visit! I have a feeling we could talk for hours given the time and opportunity. She seemed quite entertained by my southern accent. What she doesn't know is that I was making a conscious effort to not sound too southern so she'd be able to understand me!!

We have a name

I guess it's official. We took her to the vet this morning to get checked out. Just as I thought, they estimated her age at about four months. Everything looked good. She got her first round of shots, got wormed, and put on the calendar to be spayed in July. She got a bath as soon as we got home. Now she's learning all the "lessons" that go with being an inside dog. Alice and Mabel love her and they've played and played all day. I hope all the activity has tired her out and will make for a good first night in her crate.

Now for the name..... I loved all your suggestions, but I have this thing about using "people" names for my dogs. (I know... you're thinking "what about Blue and Mama Dog?", but that's another story) Debby suggested "Vickie", but since Victor is a family name that's out. We ended up going with "Suzy". She just looks like a Suzy Q. Now the question will be what to do if we get a response to our ad. If it's her owner of course we'll give her back, but if it's just someone who thinks she's cute .... well, we might have to say she's already found a home.

Another dog?!

What is it about our house that attracts dogs? All you have to do is click on the dog label in my sidebar to see how many mutts (and I say that with affection) we've dealt with.... and that's just been in the two years I've kept this blog!

We had a new one show up this week. It's a little girl and she appears to be fairly young. Friendly, friendly, friendly!! Rarely is her tail still. She prefers the company of our inside girls (the outside dogs didn't give her a particularly warm welcome) and slips under the fence to join them any time they go out. Once the door opens for them to come back in, she darts right in with them.

Her behavior leads us to believe she might possibly have been inside wherever she came from, or at least around people who cared about her. I've posted her photo in the lost & found and the free dog section of the website I used last summer to find homes for Mama Dog's puppies.

In the meantime, we're thinking of a name......

Peanut Butter Pie

Our middle child is the one who loves to cook. Now that she's home again for awhile we're trying some new recipes. Here's the latest. I think it came out of the Simple & Delicious magazine, but I'm not sure and can't credit who submitted it. I can say that it was quite yummy! We ate it all before I thought about taking a photo, so you'll just have to use your imagination as to what it looked like.

Peanut Butter Pie

3/4 cup peanut butter
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 carton (8 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 graham cracker crust (9 in.)
Salted chopped peanuts

In a large bowl, beat the peanut butter, cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Fold in whipped topping; pour into prepared crust. Sprinkle with nuts. Chill until serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

We added some mini-chocolate chip morsels while folding in the whipped topping. It tasted better the second day after it had time to really chill and firm up.

Awards

Thank you to my new blogging friend Betty at Cut and Dry for passing on a couple of awards! The Sunshine Award is meant to be passed on to 12 of your favorite bloggers and the rules for "The Versatile Blogger" award are as follows:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

I'm going to handle this in the same way that Petty Witter did over at Pen and Paper when she was tagged not long ago. Rather than pass these along to anyone specific, I invite any of you that are regular readers of my blog to feel free to pick up the awards and pass them along. If you don't want to do that, then at least share 7 things about yourself in the comments!! Here are mine:

1. I got my private pilot's license when I was first married.
2. My favorite breed of dog is the rottweiler.
3. Even though I like chocolate, I usually prefer vanilla.
4. Despite being a hunter, I spent 8 years as a vegetarian.
5. I learned to water-ski when I was 5 years old.
6. I prefer hot tea to coffee.
7. My favorite cuisine is Tex-Mex or Mexican

FreeVerse ~ Paul Farley

The past weekend was spent attending our middle child's college graduation. In between packing up her apartment and other activities we found time to visit a used book store. The poetry section was small, but I did find a couple of books that looked interesting including The Ice Age by British poet Paul Farley. The following poem is taken from that collection.



Diary Moon

You are the plainest moon. Forget all others:
shivering in pools, or spoken to when drunk,
that great Romantic gaze of youth; shed all
sonatas, harvests, Junes, and think instead
of how your phases turn here in a diary:
stripped of sunlight, surface noise and seas
you move unnoticed through the months, a bare limn
achieving ink blackness, emptying again.

You who turned inside the week-to-view
my father carried round each year, past crosses
that symbolized pay days, final demands;
in girlfriends', where red novae marked the dates
they were 'due on', and I shouldn't've been looking;
who even showed in weighty Filofaxes,
peeping through the clouds of missed appointments,
arrivals and departures, names and numbers.

On nights like these, which of us needs reminding
to set an eel-trap, open up the bomb doors
or sail out of the harbour on a spring-tide?
What sway do you hold over our affairs?
Although for some you're all that's there, printed
across the white weeks until New Year;
moving towards windows that will not frame us,
into the evenings of our sons and daughters.


(FreeVerse is hosted by Cara at Ooh...Books!)

Destination Science: Arkansas, USA

In the spirit of Rodney Dangerfield, I can say that quite often my home state of Arkansas "don't get no respect". So you can imagine my surprise when I turned to the "destination science" feature of the May 2010 issue of Discover Magazine and saw Arkansas, USA! Launching the article with the words "Arkansas is rarely on anyone's bucket list", writer Leeaundra Keany then goes on to praise the state and highlights four places especially worth visiting for their geological offerings. I found a copy of the article online here if you'd like to read all of it. Otherwise, here are the locations, a few details about them, and links to more information.

1. Blanchard Springs Caverns: The largest living cave system in the US.
www.fs.fed.us/oonf/ozark/recreation/caverns.html

2. Hot Springs National Park: 47 clustered hot springs serving two historic spas.
www.nps.gov/hosp/index.htm

3. Crater of Diamonds State Park: The eighth-largest diamond reserve in the world and the only spot on the planet where you can go prospecting for the gems and keep any that you find.
www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com

4. Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources: Focuses primarily on petroleum and bromine, more of which is produced in Arkansas than anywhere else in the world.
www.arkansasstateparks.com/museumofnaturalresources

Now I have to be honest and admit that although I've lived all my life in Arkansas (with the exception of the years I spent in college), I've never visited Blanchard Springs or the Crater of Diamonds. I've been to Hot Springs a number of times, yet never visited Bathhouse Row. On the other hand, I've frequently been to the Museum of Natural Resources (orginally called the Oil & Brine Museum).