Morning Folks 10 01 08

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit, y'all. I goofed and forgot. How about you? If you forgot, also, you don't have to worry about a month of less than wonderful luck. To fix it, just say Tibbar, Tibbar, Tibbar and jump backwards 3 times. Then do your rabbits and your October will be lucky.

Recent Revelations

Do you remember Perry Como? For those of you of my generation and younger, he was a cute (for an old guy) singer, very popular in the 50s; a crooner of Italian descent who never ran with the rat pack. He had a real nice guy image from my 7 year old's perspective. I remember he used to wear cardigan sweaters with his sleeves rolled up to about 3/4 length.
I had a crush on him but gave him up for Gregory Peck, whose picture came in my first wallet. (I told everyone Gregory was my boyfriend. Talk about a May and December romance.) But mostly I remember the fun songs Perry recorded because my Dad used to sing them and taught a lot of them to us. Catch a Falling Star was a real favorite and fun for my sisters and me to harmonize to. "There's No Boat, Like a Row Boat", "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive", "Chi Baba Chi Baba" and my all time favorite "Hot Diggity".

For 50 years I have sung that song with these words: Hot Diggity Dog Diggity, Boom, what you do to me". But Ed and I were listening to his favorite 50s station and there was Perry singing that old favorite. But, what a revelation when we listened carefully the words are actually Hot Diggity Dog Ziggity! Now does that make sense to you? I was shocked that I had those words wrong. I wonder if Dad taught them to us incorrectly from the beginning. Dad? Anything to say for yourself?

Other recent revelations:

The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle. (I found that fact rather titillating. Don't forget to cross your T's and tittle your I's. Actually, to tittle your I's in public sounds a little obscene.)

A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top. (Let me know what happens if you try this .)

The original name for butterfly was flutterby. (I think I will use this name from now on. Makes so much more sense!)

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb. (No comment)

By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannotsink into quicksand. (What a relief to know this. I have watched countless episodes of The Lone Ranger which left me with such a fear of quicksand. Thank goodness now I know how to save myself.)






The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska (I wonder if some of them work in Russia?)



Spades - King David

Hearts - Charlemagne

Clubs -Alexander, the Great

Diamonds - Julius Caesar



I couldn't think of 4 queens, but here are some suggestions for the jacks:




Spades-Jack Black

Hearts-Jack Sparrow-(okay that's a streatch, but Johnny Depp IS a heartthrob!)

Clubs-Jack Niclaus (you know, golf clubs?)

Diamonds-Jackie Robinson (you, know baseball diamond?)

Have a great day. Do your rabbits and keep your fingers crossed that Wall Street did theirs.



Love ,

Suz







PS 3 people voted and it looks like this old signature picture will remain. Thanks for voting! Personally, I liked me as a 7 year old, back when I was innocent and thought the words were Hot Diggity Dog Diggity.

Morning Folks 09 21 08

When I started this blog in 2005 I had intended it to be a place for me to share an inspirational quote, thought, or poem and maybe add a picture or piece of artwork that I found on the web. I was so excited to discover how to use the Web and find quotes and even insert photos and share them with you all that I just went crazy! Then to get your feedback was really wonderful. It is so nice to connect and to find out later, sometimes years later, that something I posted made an impact or just made you chuckle. But it got bigger and bigger and I couldn't decide which picture to post or which quote to include or what to tell you all about and so I started to include more and more and it got bigger and bigger and I was getting burned out!

So a month or so ago when I took this picture of the path to the beach at the Cape this summer, it reminded me of a posting from a few years ago. I went to the archive section on my website and scrolling through I found the post for November 16, 2005. Maybe you will remember it, too. (if you click on this link and then you want to get back to today's blog, use your browser's back arrow key. Also, if you click on a picture to enlarge it, use your back arrow key to get back to the original spot.)




http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/morning-folks-11-16-05.html


Looking back through some of the older posts on my way to finding this one, was kind of fun. According to the stats counter, as of this posting there have been 10,362 Page Views since I started this. Can you believe that? I am amazed at those numbers. (You can click on the stats at the very bottom of the post to get the counts if you are interested)


Anyway, won't you take a stroll down Suzies Musings Lane with me back to some of my faves? (You can copy and paste these links if they aren't live when you come to them.)

On July 27, 2005 http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/07/morning-folks-07-27-05.html I posted a poem by Addison re-wording the 23rd Psalm with a beatiful picture of a winding Crested Butte Stream. I am still inspired by that poem and the picture.




And I love Labarynths and had to share them in October of 2005.


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/10/morning-folks-10-14-10-15.html
I did quite a few theme blogs over the years. For example, the one on lemons posted August 9, 2005 was fun.


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/08/morning-folks-08-09-05.html


I got comments from some of you on that one. Curious choice for a subject, but who knows why I chose it.



In September of 2005 I did one on windows http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/09/morning-folks-09-19-05.html



and another on doors


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/09/morning-folks-09-17-05.html


And then there was a revival of my architectural period in 03 02 06 when I did one on Victorian houses.


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2006/03/morning-folks-03-02-06.html


I found something to say about hands,


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/morning-folks-11-30-05.html






and eyes,
http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/10/morning-folks-10-18-05.html


numbers and time, the color purple, and asters and hydrangeas.


I went on about things that most of you probably didn't really care about, like exotic kinds of fruit,


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/09/morning-folks-09-21-05.html


but it was interesting for a couple of you and I learned something when I was writing it.


And there were even a couple about rodents... the good (rabbits) and the bad (squirrels).



I found myself discovering new poets and rediscovering old friends, like Robert Louis Stevenson. It has been really fun and at the same time interesting , writing this blog. Connecting with you all is really my payoff, though.




So, today, I just felt like blogging about blogging. I hope you go back and look at some of the older ones. I put some of the links here, but you can go to the archive section and browse all of them. (In the archive list, click on a month and year, then scroll through and find one you like. Then, click on the bottom where the date of the posting shows to get the full screen version.)



I guess some were kind of funny, even if I do say so myself. And some topics were inspiring or thought provoking, or silly or boring or just okay. Not everybody found all of them their cups-o-tea, but if you do look at some of the old ones and find one you liked or think of one that you still remember, it would be fun to know which ones they were.



Of course, some of my lengthier ones are those where I have shared pix of family and friends, and I know those aren't universally interesting. However, for me, there is nothing that inpsires me more than you folks.


Have a wonderful Sunday.


And Happy 7th Birthday, dear Granddaughter Arabella!






Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 09 04 08

Morning Folks. It's been a while since my last post. I believe it was August 6 and here we are into the first week of September already. Since then, I continued to spend the month of August on the Cape where I was able to visit with most of my family and friends in the area. There were a lot of you to fit in and I regret that I didn't get to see everyone, but maybe next time I will be lucky enough to visit with you all.


Ed came back up from TN for the last two weeks in August so we had a great time going to the beach, researching some family geneaology and tramping through some Cape Cod cemeteries looking for ancestors. We loved seeing friends and family and even went out dancing one night. We got out to Franklin to see Kitty and Rick and then on to Sudbury to see the gang and have dinner at Melinda and George's.

Our hosts.


We missed seeing Malaryn and Denny, who are part of that group but find it tough to get off Martha's Vineyard in the summer, especially.


Frankie and Ed.








I didn't get a picture of them together, but Frank and Linda celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary that night.






Linder and me.













Congrats Anniversary Tart.


I brought my own birthday cake, but, alas, it fell out of the refrigerator before we got to serve it. Tasted good, though!

Elizabeth and Linder enjoy the wine.

Ed and Kitty cuddled alot.

Kitty, Linder and Rick raised a glass, or two.

Delicious Food.







Great conversation, wonderful weather.

Ed had a blast. Can you tell? We all had lots of fun as we always do! I have missed my peeps.

We also had a visit from our friends Terry and Debbie who stopped by the trailer, but the pictures I took of them are on the laptop. And, as some of you already know, I drowned the laptop in Diet Pepsi shortly before we left the Cape, so those pix are unavailable at this time! That also explains why I didn't do the Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit e-mail this month. But I remembered mine. Did you?

After we left the Cape last Saturday, we went to visit Ed's son, Joe, in Wilmington, NC. He lives in what's called the Cape Fear Coastal area and the beach we went to is Wrightsville Beach. The waves were wild! The beach was beautiful. We spent hours cavorting in the surf. It was pretty funny to see, I suppose, two rotund AARP-ers jumping around like kids, but it was so much fun.

We both got sunburned a little.

No pix of me in a bathing suit because I had control of the camera!

So back to reality in TN as of Tuesday night. Bags are unpacked and laundry's all done. Have to run to the computer geeks' to see if the laptop can be resurrected; groceries to shop for and dinners to plan; all my outside planters are dried up and dead so it's time to go get some mums and plant some perrenniels in the gardens for next year and of course we have to go see the grandkids asap. It's good to be home, but I had a wonderful summer and I am so grateful to Ed for letting me have all that fun while he worked. I am a lucky gal for lots of reasons. I hope you all had a great summer, too.

Have a great day.

Love,

Suz

Morning Folks

No thoughts in my head today, except "when should I head to the beach?"
The air is cooler than yesterday. Nice, yet I cherish the sun
And that warmth on the palm of my hand when I touch my hair
After sitting a while
Staring out at the sea.
Shall I bring a book or just me?

The decision is made and I choose to go now and so I head to the beach.
The air is cooler on the path through scrub pine. Sand under foot
Foreshadows what lies ahead. Up worn wooden steps

Through low-lying dunes,

And suddenly there is the sea.
Each time it surprises me.

No weight on my shoulders in this moment of peace. I head down the beach,

The only weight I bear is my beach bag and pink folding chair. Cares, left behind
Like the book I know I won't read, though I've carried it here before.
Meaningless words on the page
Disappear when I am lost at sea.
Strange, for a lover of words like me.

I look for the spot that I've chosen before. It's not far. As I head 'cross the beach
Warm sand, at first, loose, slows every step as it collapses around my foot,
As if to challenge my going there. And, just as I tire of it's teasing game,
It changes to a firm, cool way
Where sand meets sea.
It's there that it's leading me.

I settle down comfortably into my chair, now solidly set in the sand. Down the beach
Suspended in air on the wind, a gull floats above, then he's gone.

His flight interrupted by something I missed that he saw, or he felt
In his bones or his heart,
Here in His world, by His sea.

And I thank Him for sharing with me.

Staring out at the sea, sun warm on my face, there's nothing else but this beach
In this world. All worries, like graceful, dark seaweed, float there unnoticed

When the tide is in and deep, tangled and tauntingly reappearing later.

It's a comfort to know there's an ebb
And a flow to the sea.
And there is no better place to be.

__________________________________

Having a wonderful time.

Wish you were here!

Love,

Suz

Morning Folks 08 03 08

Morning Folks! My sister-in-law, Kathy, who lives down on the Cape and owns and operates the trailer park where we have our trailer sent me a blurb about a local author who was scheduled to speak at the library here in South Yarmouth. Kathy is a member of the cultural council here and they were sponsoring this talk.

Kathy and me at Daffodil Days in Nantucket a few years ago.

Neither of us had ever heard of this author, but the topic of her book sounded intriguing so I went along.

The author's name is Suzanne Strempek-Shea. She is a fabulous speaker and I totally enjoyed listening to her talk. The book she spoke about is Sundays In America.

She was born and brought up in Three Rivers, MA in a Polish Catholic family. Educated in parochial schools and living in a town whose numbers were less than 2,000 she had an interesting perspective on the world, in general, and religions in particular. She had never set foot in another church and always felt sorry for those Non-Catholics who went to those other churches because the nuns pretty much told her they were going to hell, and so would she if she ever set foot in one of them.

So, as she watched the devout mourners at the funeral of her beloved Polish Pope John Paul II in 2005 she felt that she was missing something and decided to explore those other Christian churches about which she knew nothing.

Her mission was to attend a different Christian denomination service every Sunday for the next year, starting with Easter and ending with Easter.

Her first Sunday she went to the New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Harlem, where the question "What you need, baby?" posed to her by a member of the congregation became a question she would be able to answer by the end of her journey.

In her talk she spoke of some very weird churches, like The First Spiritual Temple in Brookline where the dead are invited to come sit in the pews with you while you worship. She actually said that turned out to be a very moving service as she conjured up images of her departed loved ones filling the pews.

Her trip to the south included Jimmy and Rosalind Carter's church, where he taught a Sunday School class before worship service. If you stayed for worship, you could have your picture taken with them afterwards. Probably a reward for putting up with the frisking by the Secret Service that preceded your entering into the building.

And she went to a church in San Francisco called Saint John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church where they handed you a tambourine to play if you hadn't brought your own instrument.

She went to Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago because she thought this fellow Baraq Obama might be going somewhere in politics. That was 2005, but Reverend Wright wasn't there that Sunday. She went to a Shaker Church, where there were but 4 congregants left and to Joel Osteen's mega church where 16,000 worship at two services each Sunday at the church and 7 million throughout the world on TV and where there is a bookstore the size of Borders, financial advisors, couples counseling and various activities that make Sundays like a trip to Disneyworld.

She went to a Quaker service where nobody spoke and to a Baptist Church in Mashpee where the Wampanoag's worshipped. She went to King's Chapel and to the Christian Science Church, both in Boston and many more.

I will tell you that she gave away the ending, but I don't think it really matters with this book. She had planned to spend that final climactic Sunday, Easter Sunday, at a sunrise service at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater in Denver. Instead, due to weather, she found herself in an Interfaith chapel in the Denver Airport with one other person and some luggage. She ties it all up very nicely, and in the last paragraph answers that question posed on the first Sunday, "What you need, baby?"

She was a wonderfully engaging speaker and, of course we both bought her book. I have started to read it and it is very good, indeed.

Hope you find something interesting to do this week. Kathy and I are off to the Boston Pops Concert on the Village Green in Hyannis this afternoon. It should be good. Henry Winkler, The Fonz, is the guest conductor. Aaay.

Have a great day.

Love,

Suz