I think I am in a rut!

Life is boring and I can't think of a single thing of interest to write about. I go to work and I come home. I watch TV, read a little and even knitting doesn't seem to interest me lately. This is serious! I think I need a holiday I am tired all the time. My get up and go has gone up and went.

Books, Books, Books

My apologies for being gone so long. Sheesh where is the time going? On that note.....

My daughter's recent blog brought back some pleasant memories. When the children were small I used to read to them. It started with story books that could be completed in one reading and then we progressed to longer books. I started to read at the dinner table while they were eating dessert. "The Indian In The Cupboard" was the first one I can remember. I like to think that that exercise not only developed in my children a love of reading but in a great measure developed their imagination. I fear we live in a society where the TV and now the computer does everything for children. they don't have to spell...we have spell check, they don't have to know math..we have calculators, they don't even have to imagine....the images are in in wide screen.
I read with satisfaction that Corinne and the girls had a trip to the book store where they were introduced to "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. One of the things we can give to our children in a love of books. Thanks to the library, everyone regardless of your income bracket can access books.
Now I am going to tell you how I came to love reading. This may be hard for some people to believe but yes there was life before television. We didn't have one when I was growing up! Firstly they were too expensive and secondly my mother was convinced we would all grow up illiterate! Friday night the library was open until 9pm. After supper we would pile into the car and drive down to the library on Bertie Street in Fort Erie. Miss Duckworth was the librarian, God rest her soul. Four foot nothing and as old as God she ruled that edifice like a lion. No one was exempt from her rule. There was no talking, no dripping umbrella's and you had better remove your snow boots at the door! Winter trips to the library meant taking your slippers the hardwood floor was cold! The room wasn't large ,there was a central aisle dividing the room. The right side was for children the left side was for adults. No child would even consider crossing the imaginary line. By the time I was in Grade 7 I had read all the children's books and my father went to Miss Duckworth to request permission for me to "cross the aisle".
He had been checking out books for me written by such authors as Thomas Costain and Frank Yerby. She had to "think about it" as she was concerned about "setting a precedence." Secretly I think she was pleased in the development of my mind and used to ask me question about the books I read. We came to this agreement, if there was no one in the library I could browse the adults shelves but if someone came in I had to back to the children's section. Can you even imagine such an arrangement today? In this society of "No One Is Going To Tell My Child What To Do"..shaking my head. Well, I want you to know I wasn't scared for life..lololol By the time I was in Grade 9 I was reading War and Peace.
Hmmm maybe it is time to revisit some of those titles again. I remember "The Black Rose" and "Below The Salt" as timeless stories of knights and ladies, mystery and adventure.
One day I will introduce my grand daughters to them. Miss Duckworth would approve.

Crack of Thunder snap of Lightening

Well. here I am on my zero gravity chair..sitting on the patio with the Sunday evening breeze wafting past me.
How so you ask?...... Well, there comes a time when you just have to bite the bullet and face the reality of the dreaded "power surge"...Yes I had a surge protector but obviously it had been fried in a previous life...sigh
Skip the tedious details, ...fried power supply, processor, mother board....shudder......

Now I am the owner of a new Toshiba laptop. With wireless remote....hence my relaxed pose on the patio....surrounded by the sound of the evening song birds and let me tell you if that little boy Cardinal doesn't find himself a girl friend soon I shall "do him an injury!" *BG...my glass of wine and my book.."on tape".

so far I have won exactly 2 games of spider solitaire.

Zero Gravity Chairs

O.K. this is the greatest patio chair I have ever sat it. My daughter got one (thank you wonderful son in law, Chris) and once I sat in it I wanted one! Carl was at a loss what to buy me for my birthday. He sent me a beautiful European plant garden for my office in a "copper" planter ( which he called a spitton .........sigh and shaking my head). I have it on my desk. so I told him about these chairs and we drove all over London till we got one for me....he was so taken with it he got one for himself too!!. You put your feet against the bar and push and it reclines... Oh joy Oh bliss...... Carl just flops himself right out and snoozes. ("Peasant") I recline in a Ladylike manner and read my book, glass of wine in hand. I am going to get a lot of mileage out of this chair this summer!!! Defintely to be put on your list of what to get the hard to buy for person. I rate this chair + + + + + + out of 6

The Sultan's Elephant

I just found out about this free street theatre, The Royal DeLuxe. They were in London England in May 2006.
I wish I had seen this for real.
Watch the videos The Sultan's Little Girl and The Sultan's Elephant . The Giant's Little Girl reminds me of my Grand daughter Ryleigh..*BG
This is so magical I would loved to have seen it for real with my grand daughters.

Ok This IS It.

to me. Happy Birthday to me.....gag...oops sorry

According to my mother, who just turned 82, sixty is the new forty. Really? I had no trouble with 30 and whats the fuss about 40 and 50 well I was just glad to leave the 40's behind, lots of no fun stuff happened then. Damn then 60 caught up to me and smacked me "right upside my head." Sigh..... My daughter says," If you don't like the number then change it."

I just opened a card from my girl friend that says,"Growing older is inevitable...Growing up is optional."...lolol

So I am off to work and I will probably have to fire the book keeper today (long story). I am feeling better already.

Advertising 1947

After my self imposed ban on advertising, I got to thinking and decided to exercise my prerogative and change my mind. Welcome to 1947. My how times have changed.

.;'

Where were you?

As a momentous birthday looms on the horizon I began to think of all the things that have happened in my life time.

The construction of the Berlin Wall.....Mr Robertson, my grade 8 teacher and principal at Mather School in Fort Erie, drew a map of Berlin on the slate board and tried to explain to us the thinking behind that stupidity.

First manned rocket launch....I was in Grade 9 math class. The teacher brought in a TV set.

When Kennedy was shot.........changing into "purple bloomer jumpsuit" (shudder) for gym class, we were listening to a forbidden transistor radio. The rich girl in the class was showing off.

The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday night....watching TV with my family in the living room.

Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby.....walking into my Auntie Kate's house.

Bobby Kennedy being shot...I was watching TV while I babysat.

Martin Luther King died.....riding in the car to Fort Erie, my brother was car sick.




Viet Nam War.. all through high school.

Watergate: the movie... I was expecting Julia...Time magazine covered the movie the week she was born. (Dustin Hoffman was a baby face)

First man on the moon......gathered around the TV with my family, in the living room, eating birthday cake, it was my brother David's 14th birthday.

Massacre at the Berlin Olympics.....folding laundry and ironing in front of the TV

September 11, 2001...Ironing a shirt in front of the TV, (see a pattern here?)

Did you notice:

We had black slate boards, with white chalk in our classroom in Grade 8
We HAD to wear gym suits...no argument
The class room did not have a TV
Transistor Radios were a luxury (what's a transistor radio you ask?)
We lived in our "living" room..family rooms were called "rumpus
rooms" and were in the gloomy basement
What's a computer?
We actually did ironing......

Oh shit I am getting old!

This Is As Close As I Will Get!

Get a load of this will you? I offered to come along and hold the door of the Limo but no way. Oh well this is as close as I will get.
Rod Stewart came with a list of rules:
No food smells...No smoking smells....No smoking.....No pictures....No autographs.....Only 2 brands of bottled water are to be provided......at room temperature.....and...proper english must be spoken.
The limo driver still got to stand backstage and watch all the excitement.
The week before it was Billy Joel. He was a lot more down to earth.

First Impressions are Best

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I think this is a better reflection of me than my previous posting. These are all the "first impression choices" I made before I thought about and then changed them. See the differences?