Morning Folks March 1 2008

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit y'all!

It's March 1. The 61st day of the year, because it is a Leap Year. Usually it is the 60th day of the year. There are 305 days left in the year 2008.

Ron Howard is 54 today. Can you believe Opie is 54 years old?

And on this date in 1692 the scene was set for the Salem Witch Trials the first of the interrogations began.

And in 1445 Botticelli was born.

and the Hoover Dam was completed on March 1, 1936.

Speaking of Rabbits and March, perhaps we should say Hare, Hare, Hare this month. After all, the March Hare is a familiar Lewis G Carroll character.

In Through the Looking Glass Alice says:

"The March Hare will be much the most interesting, and perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad -- at least not so mad as it was in March."

But what is a March Hare anyway?

Huh?

I had always thought it was a specific kind of rabbit, like a jackrabbit. You know how you get these ideas when you are a kid and they just stick? Well, I looked it up and found out that "Mad as a March Hare" is an idiom from England that was supposed to have been coined by Sir Thomas More in the 1500s.

Apparently hares act particularly crazy in the month of March, when mating season starts in Britain. They jump vertically for no reason, they box each other standing on hind legs

and act generally "mad", dazed and confused and, well, hare brained!

For our New England Folks, March is coming in like a lion but should be going out like a lamb, as far as the weather goes, that is. That is what I always thought the phrase meant. But on further investigation, I find it originally referred to the constellations Leo, the Lion, and Aries, the ram or lamb.

It has to do with the positions of these constellations in the sky at the beginning and end of the month. Isn't that interesting? I thought it was.

Among other things, March is National Furniture Refinishing Month,

National Peanut Month,

National Foot Health Month,

and my favorite...

National Noodle Month.

March 1 is National Pig Day, by the way.

And you thought the only special day in March was Saint Patrick's Day!

And don't forget that other March Hare. This year the Easter Bunny makes an appearance in March.

So, enjoy National Pig Day and Happy Birthday Opie.

Have a great day!

Love,

Suz

Morning Folks 2-16-08

How was your Valentine's Day?

Ed and I had a nice Valentine's Day. He was very generous and practical and romantic, just the way I like him to be.

He gave me lovely pink roses and a new gas grill, which I had asked for. No chocolates as I gave chocolate up for Lent. (What was I thinking?)

I gave Ed a new pair of shoes that he wanted and bought us some nice filet mignon kabobs, already assembled, which he grilled on our new grill, that was not already assembled. We ate about 9 PM I think. But we had a nice dinner just the two of us.


He also gave me these Valentines Monkeys. I don't know why Monkeys. Maybe the Monkeying around thing was why they chose to use Monkeys for this. (And shouldn't it really be Monk-IES?) Anyway, take a look at the music video I posted below. I am thinking it is more of a VH-1 type video, rather than MTV. But do take a look.





Have a great Weekend.
Love,
Suz

Morning Folks Valentine's Day 2008

A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years. Rupert Brooke

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip. Jonathan Carroll

Love is a friendship set to music.
Joseph Campbell




Lisa Lorenz

Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I would rather have eyes that cannont see; ears that cannot hear; lips that cannot speak, than a heart that cannot love.

Robert Tizon

Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, love, thou art every day my Valentine! ~Thomas Hood

Love is the true means by which the world is enjoyed: our love to others, and others' love to us. ~ Thomas Trahern

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Love,

Suz

Morning Folks 02 11 08

It's Oscar time!

Not that Oscar...

This one.

Some films missed the December 31st deadline this year and will have to wait until next year to be included in the nominations. Others, usually independent films just never get the hype that the big blockbuster commercial films get. Documentaries, especially, seem to be ignored and if mentioned, are difficult to find at theaters. And that's a shame because Indie films often turn out to be my favorites.Today's blog features one of those Independent documentary films that both missed the deadline and the hype, but it deserves a look.

In an earlier blog I told you I would post the video of my Dad that I took in January when I was visiting him in Florida. You might remember his spot on the blog was bumped by his newest great granddaughter's debut.

In case some of you haven't seen him in a while, he looks pretty much the same as he always has to me. We celebrated his 80th last year and he is still as handsome as ever.

Although this is a documentary, the next time I think we might try to script it a little better, or at least discuss content. And I don't know how to edit, either. Subtitles are shown below the video, in case you miss some of the riveting dialogue.

Now playing at select theaters, here's the Internet debut of

Solitaire in Naples




(click on the right arrow to begin video)

Subtitles:

Suz- Here's Dad at his computer. Maybe he's picking jokes for the day. Maybe he's playing solitaire.

Dad-I'm playing solitaire.

Suz- Say hello.

Dad-Hello

Suz-To the camera.

Dad-Now that I am finished with this solitaire... (he turns)

Suz-Would you like to be on my blog?

Dad-Sure.

Suz-Oh. We'll see what we can do.

Dad-I'll probably have to sign autographs and everything.

Suz-I think that would be good. Alright, let's see if it works.

Have an award winning day!

L-Suz

Morning Folks 02 09 08

Morning Folks. My Aunt Marianne sent me a cute little story, which I will paraphrase here to share with you.


A young woman was going through some very difficult times in her life. Desperate and tired of the battle, she went to her mother.

Her mother took 3 pots from her cupboard and filled them with water.



In one she placed some carrots.



In the second one she placed an egg.



And in the third one, she poured in ground coffee beans.

She set them on the stove and brought them all to a boil.


She sat quietly for about 20 minutes, and didn't say a word. Then, she told her daughter to come over to the stove with her and to look in the pots and tell her what she saw. She saw that the carrots were soft. She told her daughter to break open the egg and she found that it was hard boiled. Then she went to the last pot and asked her daughter to take a sip, and she smiled as she tasted it and smelled the rich aroma.

Her mother went on to explain that like these three items in boiling water, everyone reacts differently to life's pain and adversity. The carrots, once strong and hard, became weak and soft. The egg, once fragile, its outer shell protecting its liquid center, had become hardened on the inside. But the coffee beans...they had changed the water.

So, the question for us all is which are we?

I suppose that there are times when I have been a carrot, although I am not a veggie fan as many of you know. Sometimes we do just wilt under the trials of life. But, I hope I never become hardened, like the egg. There are times when we all have to appear strong, but I hope there is always some softness at my center.


We all would like to hope we will be like the coffee, and I think we probably all are to some degree. I must add that although most would consider me "full bodied"





there are times when I have been weak decaf.





Still, it's better than a carrot.





There are some metaphors that come to mind in this coffee theme. For example, from my observations, some of us are Chock full O' Nuts, but in a good way. Some of us are bold and some of us are mild.
Some of us are original blends. And how lucky for those of you who are rich.
And all of us menopausal types are definitely roasted.


I hope none of us are Kopi Luwak, which are beans that are ingested by the civet cat, pooped out and then gathered up by the locals. I have heard the expression 'when life gives lemons, make lemonade' but 'when life gives you poop ,make coffee' is a new one.

Enough with that. I know none of you are just your average Joes. And whatever type you are, I know when times get tough and trouble's brewing, we all have what we need to change the water.

Come up with your own metaphors and share by posting a comment. Have a great day!


Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 02 06 08

"Tornadic activity in the area...seek cover if you are in a mobile home. Find the lowest spot in an interior room, away from windows if you are in a home or building. Lie face down in a ditch if you are outside."

That's what I woke up to this morning, turning on the TV at 6 AM to check out the Super Tuesday results.

'Tornadic acitivity' is not exactly a common phrase in Massachusetts where I spent most of my life. So, thank you all who called or e-mailed to check on us, but we are both safe and sound.




I found out that Ooltewah's tornadic frequency is about the same as the state of TN in general and about about 58% higher than the rest of the country. The last really big one in our area was in 1997 about 7 miles from here. I also learned today that Tornadoes rarely occur in the early hours of the day, most commonly appearing around supper time. The peak season is March, April and May. So today's early morning tornado in February might change the data a little bit.

I am probably not as afraid of tornadoes as I should be.


It might have something to do with the Wizard of Oz and making

one think that a tornado is more of an adventure or a scary but exciting wild ride.

Sort of like the roller coaster at Dollywood.


I haven't been there, and probably won't ride it when I do go there, but I thought it was interesting that the roller coaster there is called the Tennessee Tornado.


I really don't find tornadoes as scary as earthquakes. How do you escape a large crevasse that appears rioght in front of you and swallows you whole?

This has been a fear of mine ever since I was a little girl. I am sure that fear was based on some other movie that I saw. I guess the real danger in an earthquake is about things falling on you rather than you falling in things. So my fear of earthquakes might be a little irrational.

As kids we had a lot of fears of natural phenomena that still kind of make me uncomfortable when I think about them. We were very afraid of tidal waves.

I remember screaming "TIDAL WAVE!" many times as we romped in the Cape Cod surf and saw a particularly large wave headed our way. We kept our eyes on that surf at all times because at any moment one might appear.

And quicksand...how often we warned each other of that danger whenever we saw a puddle or a patch of mud when we played in the woods out back.





Not to mention locoweed...at least if the elephants got into it.

I think those fears may have originated from Lone Ranger and Tarzan episodes. But I am not sure.

So, here I am after the storm. The sun is shining and I am feeling very safe right now. A tornado? Huh! No big deal.

But if the squirrels get into the locoweed, I'm outta here!



Have a great day!

Love,


Suz