This 'n That...

It rained yesterday. The weather folks said it was going to. I’ve been sleeping short nights still, so when I slept until 1:00PM, I knew it had to be raining. Or extremely overcast...one or the other. At any rate, it was a nice dark grey out and I rolled out of bed later than usual. Ventured out for a coffee and the paper...a usual daily activity. (Yeah, the sky was definitely ‘miffed’, and obviously headed toward ‘angry’.) Listened to NPR in the truck. A head scientific honcho for the ‘Collider’ was being interviewed and a layman’s guide to quantum physics, proton smashing, magnetic fields, etc. was being laid out. He did a fairly good job at going over the basics, but there are still elements of it all that would just go over people’s heads because ‘simplified’ articulation would be difficult. The fact that it’s an hour show (minus break times) also figured in. I know the basic workings of the underground apparatus and that’s enough for me. I find it all very interesting, but a sleep fogged brain that hadn’t had its first dose of caffeine prevented me from wanting to listen in a more cerebral fashion. They accepted a couple of callers and, of course, one of them queried the ‘honcho’ about the rumor of possible small black holes being created by the...guess I’ll call it a ‘machine’. I know the possibility of that happening are very minuscule, but he (the honcho) started in with a lot of technical jargon without really addressing the question, and “OH LOOK...we’ve run out of time.” I’m all for the advancement of science...as long as it doesn’t create anomalies that start eating away at the planet...

Today? I haven't been to bed. Yawning, but not tired. No, it doesn't make sense, but...well...there you go. Was still pretty grey as morning dawned, but it appears to be gradually clearing. The glare of impending sun. Hope the gloom fights back to domination. It's so peaceful when its gloomy outside. Not quite sure what today will hold. It's almost 1:00PM now. There is another quiche to be made. Pork butt to be roasted. Kitchen detail. Plus, this over due blog entry. I had made a pact with myself that I would keep up with my blog. Brain chatter, although a wonderful and productive thing for me (usually), has been keeping me in a rather disjointed state. Unable to focus completely. 'Stream of consciousness' writing has always served me well, so I'm going to try and take that approach.

The holidays are here. I grew out of the whole ‘Christmas Spirit’ deal a number of years ago. I have gotten the occassional tree (really dig the smell), but in terms of big celebrations and gift giving? PFFFFTTT!!!! (I’ve got a Facebook friend in Belgium...she utilizes that as her online declaration of apathy or disgust, so I’m borrowing it.) Not to say that I am disgusted with this time of year, but exchanging ‘material objects’ just doesn’t hold the same weight that it did when I was little. Boy, when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to see the loot I would get on Christmas morning. Think I was usually the first person awake. To me, in many ways...no, in MOST ways, Christmas was designed for kids. I know a lot of adults who self admittedly ‘become kids again’ at Christmas time. However, I think it’s pretty universal that when kids age up they cease to believe in Santa Claus who is at the heart of the season for a lot of people. Yeah, there’s the whole ‘religious’ side of the season (wise men, stable, baby Jesus...that stuff), but Saint Nick is the universal face. Personally, Santa Claus always creeped me out as a kid. Santa Claus and clowns. Yeesh...I just felt a wave of the heebie jeebies. As a kid, you couldn’t get me to go near one of the mall Santas. “Lisa, d’you want to get your picture taken with Santa?” Uhhhh, that would be a big fat NO! I’d quicken my pace whenever I saw one of those guys. Would just want to breeze on past. It became a running joke with my dad. Any Christmas we were at the mall together, he would put a hand on my arm and say, “Hey look, Lisa! It’s Santa. Let’s go get a picture with him.” I, of course, would go the other way...ha ha ha...very &$%#!* funny. I bet if he and I went to a mall right now, he’d do the same thing. I’m in my forties now and I still find the whole idea repugnant. Hehehe...

2009 went by fast. Well, I take that back. Sort of. In some ways it sped by, but in others...not so much. During this past year, I had some really great things happen. On the other side of the coin, it’s been very stressful and that’s been tough. I've been making a major effort to think about the positives. Not just the positives over the last year, but the ones that exist in the current day. The current moment. Health issues? Yeah, I got some...Hyperthyroidism (Graves) and RA being the chief ones. They both suck, but I manage. Hey, it could be worse. It could always be worse. There are other things that I won't go into, but I've dealt with more than my fair share of suckage over the last bit. There is an end to all of it, but its just been the void I've been bobbing around in that hasn't been fun. Moving out of Los Angeles was huge. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of good times and some great experiences out there. I was able to do some things that I seriously doubt I would have done if I had stayed in Georgia. I worked in the entertainment industry for fourteen years. I got involved with a theater company where I became a produced playwrite, directed, produced, designed lights. Made some really great friends there, some of which I will have for the rest of my life. But the shine dimmed. It just became heavy...stressful. It was draining the life out of me for the last few years I lived there. Had decided that I wanted to move to Savannah some time ago. Then I got back in touch with Glenn after 20+ years; he lives in Savannah; things just kind of unfolded...and here I am. Still stressed, but not nearly as much as I was. Things are good. I'm happier than I've been in a loooong time. Things are about to get better, my stress will be relieved, and hopefully the severe writers block I've been experiencing will subside. I've got several projects in the works, and they're not going to write themselves.

Hmmmmm...ah! Movies. Rented a couple of movies the other day. The first one I really wanted to see. "Coraline". I have the book, and read it well before it was even announced that they were making a movie version. Was kind of relieved to hear that it would be a fully animated piece since the book is a bit abstract. I know moveis have come a long way in the effects department, but animation and clay-mation have, too. Tim Burton really brought the impressiveness of 'stop motion' film making back into vogue with 'Nightmare Before Christmas', and 'Corpse Bride'...so I was hopeful for 'Coraline'. (Another Gaiman film that is just spectacular is 'Mirror Mask'. A beautiful combination of live action/animation/stop motion...an artist Gaiman has worked with on his books directs and conceptualizes this one. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.) Glenn and I collected our provisions and started watching the 3D version on one side of the DVD. It said it was best to watch in a dark room and that it would take about five minutes for our eyes to adjust to the 3D aspect. Well, there were 3D moments that were just not viewable, so we popped the disc out and flipped it to the other non-3D version. Much better. Glenn hadn't read the book, so he didn't have any reference point for how the movie compared. I must say that the movie was pretty true to the book. Over all, I'd say it was well done. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Think Glenn thought it was cute. He seemed to enjoy it. So, do I recommend 'Coraline'? Yes. Yes, I do.

The other movie was the new 'Star Trek'...(sigh)...I had many issues with this one. Yes, alternate time line...blah, blah, woof, woof. There were just so many things that didn't jive for me. The only characterization I liked was Karl Urban as McCoy. Personally, I thought it was pretty to look at, but I wasn't really wowed by the 'interpretation'. I could go into greater detail about what I didn't care for, but I shall stay reticent. Moving right along...

Well, I've rattled on for a bit here, so I think caffeine and solid food stuffs are in order. Then...quiche creation...

Post Weekend Ramblings

Had a nice weekend. Mellow, and relatively uneventful for the most part, but...nice. It started with the last of three Friday the 13ths for the year 2009. I've always found the worries and woes associated with this day interesting. There is a name for fear of this day: paraskevidekatriaphobia. That's a mouthful, ain't it? Of course, when someone mentions 'Friday the 13th' these days, I think most peoples' minds go to that stigma of the day formed by the movie franchise. Jason Voorhees and his usual shenanigans...donning his hockey mask and running around after iditotic teens waving his machete around. (After the first couple, I thought 'enough already'. Then what do they do? Put him in space. Please...) There is actually quite a bit of conjecture on when and how a 13th day falling on a Friday has become such a negative thing. Many theories based on actual folklore and events. I didn't do an extensive amount of reading on the subject before writing this, but I did hop on Wikipedia to peruse what info they have. There are those that think it is from the Norse mythos when the Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity. They banished Frigga to a mountaintop and labeled her a witch. It is said that she held meetings with 11 other witches and the devil on Fridays, when they would plot ills for the upcoming week. Some say it's because King Philip had the Knights Templar mass arrested on Friday, October 13, 1307. Some say it's a more modern occurence. There are more tidbits of info on Wikipedia about it. If you want to read the entire entry, here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th
Anyway, I came through Friday, November 13th, unscathed. Woo hoo...

Saturday had started off pretty mellow. One word: football. Since Glenn was engaged in his current weekend activity of watching many football games, I spent a bit of time glued to the computer. The afternoon arrived and a discussion was had about how beer needed to be purchased because on Sunday Georgia has a law...no buy-ee the beer-o. For the most part, I'm the one who usually ventures out to Kroger for whatever needs to be procured from there. Glenn is less than fond of going, and I have no problem making the trip so...there you go. As I've mentioned before, I've been trying to make an effort to start walking more. This was a prime instance for me to put that effort into effect. I decided to walk to Kroger. However, I wasn't about to walk back with a weighty box of beer. Another discussion was had and it was decided that I would walk to Kroger, and call Glenn to come pick me up. So, after putting on my tennies and sunglasses, and tucking fresh batteries for the camera into my pocket (the current ones were rather low), I headed out.

I made my way to the main entrance and the asphalt bike path. Was deciding pretty rapidly that I hadn't picked the best time of day to go for a walk. It was mid-afternoon, so the sun was intensely bright and (of course) in my eyes. (Snapped a couple of pictures to illustrate the fact.) Was hoping that my corneas wouldn't be permanently damaged by the walks end. Anyway, I made my way to the bike path and hung a left this time. The sun was kind of a nuisance. It's hard to scope out possible photos when ol' Sol up there is reducing your eyeballs to raisins. I quickened my pace towards the next street, Walthour (pronounced Walt-our). The bike path made a left down this street and I was hoping that there would be fewer rays there. After dodging a few bikers and a mailman, I reached Walthour and did a left. Took a picture of the Piggly Wiggly billboard on the corner. Don't know if it was really that picture worthy, but for whatever reason I snapped a photo. It was only a couple of blocks to the next street that I'd be hanging a right on, Concord. (That's where the bike path goes.) This was a more preferable route to take than down Johnny Mercer Boulevard. I could go that way, but there isn't any type of sidewalk or roadside path. This route was more 'walker friendly'. Once I turned the corner, I encountered a number of runners. Not together, but individuals out for there afternoon run. They all said hello as they passed. I said hello, or gave an occassional "Nice day for it"...got a couple of odd looks with that one. Oh well. Guess I've seen 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' one too many times. One of the joggers had his dog with him. A Pit Bull. Very glad that they were moving at a nice little clip and that the dog was on a leash. He kind of looked at me like a piece of kibble. I will say that even with that close encounter and the sun being rather piercing, I was enjoying myself quite a bit. I love to walk, and enjoy it even more when it's down a path I haven't traveled on foot before. Very nice indeed.

Got to Concord and turned right with the path. Something I've really loved on these walks I've been taking is that there are yards here. There are trees here. I lived in Los Angeles for years which is technically a desert, and everything is so close together and covered with more concrete and asphalt than grass. (I tossed a picture in the collection up there of a couple of houses and the greenery around them.) That's what the majority of the homes around here are like. Brilliant. At the corner of Concord there was another sign I felt the need to snap a shot of. 'No Dogs Allowed Seeing Eye Dogs Only'. Guess the guy with the Pit Bull was shining the sign on, cause no way is that dog of the 'seeing eye' ilk. Oh well...moving right along. Continuing down the road I passed a school (think its a high school), a sports field, and the dump/recycling center. Looked like there was some sort of parent/teacher gathering going on at the school; the field was inactive; there were a few people dropping off or dumping stuff. To any of my Los Angeles friends who might be reading this, over here on the island this is where we have to haul our recycling. Think they have a limited pick-up service in limited areas, but at the condos here if we want to recycle we have to throw it in the back of the truck and drive it to the center. My guess? That not as many people recycle here as they did out there. It was so easy to just toss ones recyclables in the bins that West Hollywood provided. The blue truck would come around and empty them. Oh well...I will admit that I'm badder about recyling since coming here. Another thing to make an effort on.

Once I passed the recycling place, there was nothing but trees on my right for a ways. Trees and a number of chattery squirells. I got a pic of one of the more active tree rodents, but it was extremely blurry...didn't include it. He was very jumpy and had eyes the size of dinner plates. A bit of a spaz really. High up in the trees, there was conversation amoung the squirrels that sounded like...I guess the best way to describe it is if Donald Duck were speaking jibberish. Yeah...I know...think Donald speak without the words. Moving right along...There was a ditch to my left filled with water and a thick layer of algae. Made me think of Swamp Thing. Expected to see his head pop out of there at any moment. Well, didn't encounter Swamp Thing, but I did meet another critter. He popped up a little farther on.

About a block or so from the corner of the next street I'd be turning down (Kroger is right off of there) was the first of the weathered boats. Several different rather rustic abodes with boats at various stages of decay lined this last leg of Concord. The actual houses were set back a bit and had leaf covered earthen driveways. Snapped a pic of one of the houses...it sat back from the road beyond a wide dirt path through some trees. In many ways, that's the kind of house I would like. On a nice plot of land with lots of trees and greenery around it. Anyway, it was at this point that I had a visitor pop out at me. An older grey cat (at least part Siamese, I'd say) that I'll call Salty. Like an 'Old Salt of the Sea'. He had blue droopy lidded eyes, and his tongue poked slightly out of the front of his mouth. I remember thinking that if he could talk, I bet he'd sound like Sylvester. He was a little loopy (slow on the reaction), but a friendly little guy. Scratched him on the head for a minute, and then he decided it was time to take a roll in the dirt. It was at that point that I gave him a farewell and made my way down to Kroger. Got what I went there to get, called Glenn, and came home. The rest of the evening was as mellow as the rest of the day, but I did feel great after my walk. Just reminded me how much I miss walking.

Sunday was kind of a poopy day. My arms were bothering me quite a bit. I get this pain (especially in my right arm) that starts in the shoulder and radiates down through to my hand. Th best way I can describe the pain is that my arm feels like it's bruised from the inside. Like the nerves are hurting from the inside out. Don't know how much sense that makes, but it's the pain I hate the most. When my RA is hurting me, I can just hold the achey areas still, but this pain just persists until it stops. I've been up nights in tears because it hurts so bad. A high tolerance for pain is something that I've always had, so if I'm reduced to tears...well, that's some serious pain. Thankfully I'm better today. Pronouced stiffness in my hands, but that's pertty usual.

Well, I've been overly verbose as I am wont to do. I'm sure this is all very fascinating. lol Time to sign off and grab some sustenance.

OH! One last thing...Glenn fiddled with the camera and the macro setting. The last picture I added is of the actual 'Spike'. She's been hanging in there through the weather fluctuations we had for a few days. I must say that I'm glad that none of my neighbors or the grounds crew have trashed her web. I've gotten kind of accustomed to seeing her up there working on her pretty web. You can see a bit of detail on the actual spider under that spikey shell. Good pic, Glenn. :)

Sleepless in Savannah...

It's been several days since my last entry. For those of you who have seen my various status entries on Facebook, I've been experiencing a bit of the dreaded insomnia. It all started as a result of sleepless nights due to neck and shoulder pain from my arthritis and the pinched nerve in my neck. There was also the usual amount of arthritic discomfort in my hands, my right arm and hand going numb at times. Think the numb deal is mostly from the pinched nerve. At any rate, I wasn't able to sleep because of all that, and it developed an off kilter sleep pattern with not much sleeping involved. What 'sleep' I was getting was not deep, not restful, and not very lengthy. Thankfully, the last couple of days I have been getting some. Granted it has been during the evening, so I'm still up during the wee hours. I'll eventually get back on track though. Hopefully sooner than later.



Today is Veteran's Day. An important day. It is a day to remember those who served in the wars of the past, both living and dead. I think it's important that our Veterans have a day set aside for them, so that maybe...just maybe those individuals who take our freedoms for granted can be reminded that there are thousands of americans who both risked and gave their lives so we could have those freedoms. A day to puncture that veil of apathy. This day also is for acknowledging the soldiers of today who are fighting a war. They will be the veterans of tomorrow. Some of them will be counted among those who are "Gone But Not Forgotten". Remembering those from before, and supporting those who are serving now. That is what today is all about. When there is a war going on (like there is now) it's important to give props to the soldiers. But then we should do that every day.

Aside from it being Veteran's Day, I decided to change up my morning. Since I've been up in the wee hours lately, I've been venturing out pretty early to grab Glenn's newspaper. Sometimes I grab a coffee at Mickey D's. Their coffees are pretty darn good, if you can believe that. In the past I was never one for putting anything in my coffee. Felt like I would have been tainting it. Very strong, black coffee. That was it. Accept no substitutes. Living in Los Angeles for a number of years exposed me to the pretentiousness of the coffee culture. The "low-fat, half-caff, mocha-latte-chino, blah, blah, woof, woof" crowd. For the most part I stuck with a tall ("Vente") cup of black house blend, but I did start going over to the dark side. Discovered the ice blended mocha at the 'Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf'. Evil! Yet...delicious. Eventually, the hot mocha was introduced. I became so dependent that it got to be quite expensive. Had to rein myself in a bit. Then it happened. McDonalds started serving 'gourmet' coffee. Not bad at all. The iced coffees followed. The Caramel Iced Coffee replaced the higher priced CB&TL iced mocha. Now they have the McCafe's. The hot McCafe mocha with whole milk...good stuff. So when I go out for a coffee now, I don't go to Starbucks (haven't seen a CB&TL here in Savannah - don't know if they exist here), I head to McDonalds. However, today didn't take me by there. Why? Because, as I said, this morning I changed things up a bit. I went for a walk.

Hurricane Ida has been effecting our weather here. Was overcast yesterday. In the evening, we had some heavy rain come through. Weather people said to expect it and for once they were right. Call Ripley's. Today is overcast yet again, but a bit more so than yesterday. No complaints here. I've been talking about getting out for longer walks for a bit now. I haven't been getting the exercise I was getting in Los Angeles since I got out and walked everywhere there. My arthirtis has been a factor that has been postponing me getting out and hitting the pavement. But, this morning I was feeling pretty good and decided today would be the day I would start getting out there and moving. Once the sun came up and I saw how grey it was outside...well, that just sealed the deal for me. Nothing I like more than going for walks in this kind of weather. (The sun and I don't get along too well.) So, around 9:00 this morning, I threw myself together, grabbed the camera (can't go for a walk without taking some pictures) and headed out the door.

A few feet from the front door on a tree next to the stairs that lead to our upstairs neighbors, is a web. It's been there for at least a couple of weeks. There's one similar to it higher up in the trees opposite the stairs. The first web I mentioned is much lower and on an eye-level low enough to wear I can see the intricate design. The design and the designs' creator. A spineyback Orb Weaver Spider. One of the most interesting arachnids I've seen up close and personal. Like something out of a science fiction movie. The picture above of this particular type of spider wasn't taken by me...I found it on Google...but that's the same type of spider I'm talking about. Coloring, markings, everything. I did try to get a pic of "Spike" out here, but its been a little breezey and she's (it is a she) not very big so a clear picture wasn't happening. At any rate, whenever I've passed by, she's hanging up there weaving away. I'm not very squeamish when it comes to arachnids as I used to have a pet Tarantula (a mexican red-leg named "Danzig"), but I am cautious around spiders I'm not familiar with. A little research was in order, so I did some net surfing. Also known as the 'crab spider', the orb weaver is commonly found in the southern United States. They are known as a gardens friend because they like to create their webs in spots with high insect traffic. Their bite has not been known to be harmful to people (which is good since these spiders are very common in Florida fruit groves - grove workers encounter them all the time). They're only about a 1/2 inch long, so they're not a big spider, the males being plainer than the females. Their webs are quite beautiful. Anyway, Spikes' web won't be disturbed by me. The information I found also said that these spiders don't seem to be particularly bothered by close scrutiny or being touched. Well...I haven't touched her, and don't plan to. Moving on from the spider...but I do recommend that you go to Google Images and type in 'orb spider'. There are a bunch of different ones and some of them defy imagination.

Once I was headed up the sidewalk through the condos, the humidity started to really hit. It was right around 70, so there wasn't a heat issue just a moisture one. The surface of my skin in its entirety had a thin layer of moisture on it. When I would exhale, a faint steam would filter through the air. Kid you not. Was rather weird. My glasses would fog up a little if the slight breeze happened to direct my breath up that way. The mood outside was very calm. Grey and calm. Quiet, too. Was early enough that not many people were about. As I headed up the drive to the condo entrance, several cars did pass as they ferried people off to work, but that was about it. Oh, I did see one person who was also on foot behind me, but she was far enough back that I didn't feel the need to interact. Still felt like a solo adventure. It really felt good to be out walking. I miss going for walks. Passed the communal garbage dump/smasher. Passed the other smaller condo clusters. (Interestingly enough didn't see feral feline one while I was passing this particular area. I'll usually see one or two that look to be sentries. Watching out for the presence of 'man'.) Once I got to the entrance, I hung a right onto an asphalt bike path that runs along Johnny Mercer Boulevard, the main road there. I was on my way to the BP at the corner of JMB and the 80 (which leads over the bridge to Tybee Island). Not a far trek, but a leg stretcher.

The bike path is a great walking trail. I headed down the section next to JMB which turned off to the right and then behind the row of houses there. Hmmm...I paused. Looked up JMB at the BP on the corner. Looked down the bike path which went for several feet, hung a left and ran behind the homes. Kind of like an alley way with houses on the left and extremely thick flora of many types on the right. Almost a jungle of trees, moss, and vines. Guess I don't have to say which way I went. I hung a right. I stopped and snapped that first pic after the spider photo. The trail was beckoning me. The next few pics are of my side exploration down this section of bike path. Very quiet and very green. The fence on my left that ran along the back of the homes was pretty overgrown for the most part. The few houses I passed sat still and silent. Either their inhabitants had left for work, or they were sleeping within. As I mentioned previously, to my right was thick forest. Leafy and green. Unlike the area I discovered 'Stephen King trail' in, there were no signs of trail heads. The growth was much thicker here, too. I continued walking really enjoying the fact that it was so still and quiet. Then I noticed something odd in the foliage. The inanimate carcass of an old trailer. Wasn't small or particularly large, but big enough. Was placed vertically to the bike path, and some 50 or so feet back in the trees. It must have been there for quite some time because the growth was thick and pervaded it. I took a picture of it from the path, but you have to really look to see it. All of the windows were broken out, and the front door stood open at the top of some ramshackle wooden steps. Me being me, there was the urge to go in for a closer look, but who knew what I would find? What sort of critter(s)? I stood there for several minutes trying to find a good spot to snap a picture, and thinking about when I was a kid. My friends and I were big on constructing forts in the woods. This is the type of find we would have killed for. Of course we would've inspected it to see if it was a viable candidate for a fort. Who knows what we would find within? As I said, a part of me wanted to inspect further, but I knew I wasn't going to. And there was the added element of me being alone. So I forged ahead. I could see the path coming to a cross with a road/driveway. It appeared that the owners of the last house before this intersection had cleared the woods back a bit. A truck was parked there, and an above ground wood stove of some kind was sitting there, a log on oneside looking like rustic seating. Also sitting there were two big orange cats. Now I don't know if they were domesticated felines owned by the people in that last house, or were among the feral denizens of the area, but as soon as I was close enough for my presence to be know they froze with that skiddish, wide-eyed, 'who the hell are you' look that animals give strangers. I stopped briefly and said hello without moving in closer. They just continued their tense statue impressions, so I decided to snap their picture and moved on. At the intersection, I could see the entrance to the BP's parking lot. Hanging a left, I headed up and over JMB to get a paper.

In the same block as the BP, there is a liqour store called 'Chu's'. Owned by a man named Chu. Who would've guessed...lol. I'm not 100% sure if he owns the BP, as well...don't know if those are franchised. Anyway, as I rounded the corner of the building to pop my change into the newspaper machine, there the individual was who had been following me towards the condo entrance. An older woman, rather 'worn', and missing most of her front teeth. "You went the long way, huh?", she said when she saw me. "Yes, I did." I returned her big toothless smile. "Just doing some exploring." She told me to have a great day, and I told her to do the same. She entered the liqour store, and I got the paper and headed back in the direction I had come. Ya know, living in Los Angeles for almost twenty years changes a person. I'm from the south. People are nice in the south. Not saying that people in L.A. aren't nice, but...well, here strangers on the street acknowledge each other. Conversation happens at the Kroger check-out. They say 'hello' to one another here. It's just so...nice.

On my trip back, I skirted the edge of Johnny Mercer until I reached the turn in the bike path and headed back down it. Before leaving the edge of JMB, I snapped a picture of the moss covered branches that pretty much roof it all the way from the 80 to the strip mall where the Kroger is. Don't know exactly how far it is, but as they say in the south 'it's a far piece'. Snapped another photo of the bike trail into the condos. Once I was back inside the main condo entrance, I snapped the next picture to illustrate how brooding the sky is here today. (As I write this it's raining outside. The steady sound of it is reminding me of Ruby, a girl I used to work with. Said rain coming down sounded like bacon frying. When I think about it like that...it kinda does.) Passed by the cat territory without a sighting. The next picture I snapped is of a tree next to the condo sign. Took it because it's a beautiful tree. Looking at the picture I got, it's more impressive in person. Oh well...

As I started past the row of buildings leading back to home, I encountered the other person I saw on my walk. An older woman (maybe in her late 60's?) who was standing on her front deck, talking on the phone and the whole neighborhood at the same time. Know what I mean? I'm assuming that the person on the other end of the line was deaf because she was emoting at high volume. I'd seen this woman before. Done up white hair, a white tank top, tons of gold jewelry, rough voice (probably from cigarettes). She also looked like she could hold her liqour. From what I heard of her conversation, 'talks like a sailor' would definitely apply. I've only seen her a couple of times, but the first time I saw her walking to her car she reminded me of one of those older women who like to go to bars and pick up guys in their twenties. Not a 'cougar' though. She's a few years past that. Oh well...you'd have to actually experience the presence of one of these ladies to know what I mean. So I moved on, Ms. things voice fading as the distance was increased. As I neared the front door I saw a really pretty red leaf which I felt warranted a picture. (Not sure what tree it's from, but its a big one.) Came back, nuked a cup of the cold coffee in the pot. Hey, I brewed it this morning. It was nice and thick. Concentrated evil...perfect.

Halloween '09...

Well, I'm back after several days of being out of commission. The aches and pains of age can be quite debilitating at times, and I've been going through one of those times. Arthritis pain and insomnia are not good ingredients for a recipe to clear thought processes...if I had made an entry on here, there would definitely have been coherency issues.

Yesterday, as we all know, was Halloween. I love All Hallows. My favorite holiday, by far. After some last ditch holiday preparations, I was as prepared as I was prepared to get. (Say that five times really fast...) Friday was one in a line of several days where I ended up crashing for some sleep during the day (the kind where you're drifting in and out...far from restful), and then was up all night. It's an interesting sensation being exhausted and wide awake at the same time. Anyhoo, it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 4:00am when I finally decided to bite the bullet and carve the pumpkin I had purchased days before. I hadn't carved it prior because my right hand wasn't being very 'handy'...pain and stiffness from my RA. Halloween day had arrived, and I refused to let the day pass without having a carved pumpkin in the house. Bound and determined, I was. After a hot shower to pep me up a little, I spread out my newspapers and surgical implements (knife and spoon) on the kitchen table, made a hot pot o' java, tuned the nearby television to a scary movie (in this particular case, I use the term 'scary' very loosely...'Ghost Ship' starring Gabriel Burn and Juliana Margulies), and sketched my rough design on the orange flesh of the pumpkin. So...I'm righthanded. When it came time for me to cut a lid...lets just say the range of movement in my fingers was limited causing my grip to weaken, and causing the creation of my Jack O'Lantern to be a lengthy and painful process. I did get through it, and I'm happier with the outcome than I thought I'd be. The face isn't as involved as I usually do, but it's relatively clean and uniform for a gimpy hand (if I do say so myself). The sun was coming out by the time I finished, but there was a pretty thick mist hanging over the water out back. Snapped a few pictures. Perfect for a Halloween morning.

The day continued in the usual sleepless haze I had experienced for the better part of the week. I did get in one of my unrestful slumbers of a few hours. Wasn't sure what the situation was going to be for 'Trick or Treats'. Had some candy I had picked up a week or so ago, but wasn't sure if it would go very far. Had to get some stuff at Kroger, so I picked up a bag of Nestle's Crunch. Better to be prepared. Didn't want to run out of candy. Well, we didn't run out. We didn't have any Trick or Treaters...(sigh)...bummer. Had Dirty Rice and garlic bread for dinner (Glenn helped since I had my hand usage problem. The pumpkin had really done me in.) Then I pieced myself together as best I could and we headed up to the local watering hole, "The Islander", to see what festivities were going on up there. A part of me wanted to stay home, but it was good to get out. It was Halloween, dammit!


The parking lot wasn't as full as I thought it would be. There were a number of people in 'The Islander', but nothing close to what I'd predicted. We were there a couple of hours or so. Got to see some friends, so that was nice. We know the owner, Rudy, the bartenders, and others who work there. Plus there were several of the regulars there. I took quite a few pictures (the better of them above). Saturday is a regular karaoke night, so there was quite a bit of caterwauling going on. Nam, a regular and a really good pool player, fancies himself to be a fine singer. If he's in there and there's a karaoke machine about, he's going to sing. Oh, and I need to mention that Nam is from Vietnam, has quite a thick accent, and not a very fluent usage knowledge of our language. "Unchained Melody" is his main standard (nothing more special than to hear his rendition of the lyrics..."Oh, my love, my darling, I hunger for your touch, love you long long time"). He's so bad that he's great. People cat call and clap whenever he gets up there. It's a real hoot. However, last night he went with the other tune on his two song set list..."Imagine". That Nam...quite a character, and a really nice guy.

Since I've been having arthritis issues lately, I wasn't in any condition to shoot pool. Usually when Glenn and I venture forth to "The Islander", we spend the time shooting stick. I was very glad to see Nam arrive, as well as other regular pool players. The tables weren't too busy, so Glenn was able to get in a number of games. I was just enjoying being out of the house, and spent the time chatting with those I knew or watching people play pool. Jason Voorhees shot a few racks, and I must say he didn't do too badly. Was kind of surprised that he'd put his knife down though...

The ratio of civilian attire to costumes was about 50/50. Didn't have on my usual vampire attire this year. Was just glad that I was able to make myself look presentable. Jason was hanging out with a chick in a Pirate Wench's outfit; there were witches, other pirates, a viking, 'Death, and two Sham-wows running around; the Karaoke guy was dressed up in a doctor's outfit and had his face painted like Gene Simmons (took me two seconds to figure out he was supposed to be Dr. Love); Aaron, the bartender was a Pirate; "Bar" Lisa (another bartender...Glenn calls her that, so people will know which Lisa he's talking about) was a fairy; Brett (guy who works in the kitchen) was a toilet...he told me it was because "He's full of shit" (ha, ha...cough, cough); and the other girl working (who I guess is new) was wearing a Sarah Palin outfit...I kind of thought Palin was very 'last year', but then she has been in the press a lot lately... The best entrance came when Richard (another regular) showed up. I was sitting at the table watching a pool game, when I heard the sound of a chainsaw rip into the room. I turned around to see a werewolf masked guy waving a smoking chainsaw around in the open doorway, chains and severed body parts draped around his shoulders. Brilliant! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a good picture of that. Richard later told me that his son is involved in one of the local charity haunted houses, and it was he that helped Richard get ready for the night. Was really great! Glad I hadn't missed it. The karaoke guy hosted a few games, the first of which I didn't get a clear explanation of. It involved couples and a plunger. Just that info conjured disturbing images, and I didn't care enough to look further. The game after that involved couples and toilet paper. One person wrapped the other one up like a mummy in a specified amount of time. I must say that none of them seemed to have the whole 'wrapping things in toilet paper' method down. Guess they hadn't ever participated in that age old Halloween tradition of T.P.-ing someone's yard....I uhmmmmm...I plead the fifth...

So that's about the extent of my Halloween for 2009. It was kind of low-key, but fun was had. I will say that for the first time since quitting smoking, I had a slight craving, but I didn't succumb. Today marks smoke free day 22. I'm pretty happy about that. It's been easier than I anticipated.

...yawn...

Sleep. It has proven to be elusive as of late. At least for me it has. Can't really nail down a specific, singular cause...I have my suspicions though. For about a week or so, I was staying up until the wee hours because I wasn't necessarily tired. That evolved into being extremely tired, but not being sleepy. Then that turned into being physically exhausted, but being wide awake with no hope of even nodding off in front of the television. Believe me...I tried. Last night I was up all night, passing the time between the computer and TV. It doesn't take long to run out of things to do on the computer, and the television fare isn't that great during the smaller a.m.'s. I mean, just how many consecutive episodes of "The Nanny" can one person stand? I'm here to tell you, not many. I did catch most of a movie I recommended on my haunted house film entry, "The Innocents". American Movie Classics was showing it, and I was thrilled to have something decent to watch. After it ended and I was well into my third or fourth episode of "Reba", I looked out the windows in the kitchen and noticed it lightening up outside. The sun was rising and I wasn't any nearer to feeling like I was going to go to sleep...(sigh)...

Around noon-thirty today I crawled into bed to try and get a little shut-eye. A part of me wanted to try and tough it out until a decent bedtime (at least 9:00 pm), but I seriously doubt I would have made it. My porch light was on, but I wasn't really home. I was well into the toothpick stage (my eyelids were quite droopy) and was mere moments away from drooling on myself. I decided that sleep was imminent, so I decided to crawl into bed for a bit. Told Glenn to make sure I was up by 3:00 if I did nod out. Which I did. Apparently, so did Glenn. On the sofa. His M.O. is sleep after food consumption and he had eaten a slab of quiche...needless to say I didn't get up at 3:00. More like 5:00. I just didn't want to sleep for eight or nine hours cause I knew it would really screw with my sleep cycle. Screw it up more than it already is. I really hate insomnia. Years ago, I was awake for 8 days straight once. It was horrible...felt like I would never sleep again. Literally. Never want to go through that again. I don't think my current situation will come to that. This all started because of shoulder and neck pain I've had in varying degrees for several weeks now. I tell you, I know I'm only 45, but sometimes I feel like I'm 100. It's currently 3:51 am and I'm wide awake...looks like I'll be up to see the sun rise yet again.




One of the things I did while I was up last night (Sunday) was catch a considerable chunk of the live U2 concert on YouTube. They were playing to a massive crowd at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, and the whole thing was streamed on the internet. Was an impressive undertaking and pretty cool. Huge stage in the round, tons of cameras, lots of self aggrandizing shenanigans from Bono...quite the spectacle, it was. I was more a fan of U2 back in the early days of the early 80's. Back when "Gloria" hit. Their first album, 'Boy', was followed up by two great efforts, 'October' and 'War'. I'm not saying that they haven't produced good stuff beyond that point, they just started their commercial slide. Also, Bono Vox kind of began his road to "Sainthood"...in the eyes of a lot of people anyway (me, not among them). I appreciate that his heart seems to be in the right place, but...well, there is a rant that could easily take off at this point if my brain weren't so hazy. Back to the concert. During the show, I was commenting back and forth some with a friend of mine, Tracy, who lives out in Los Angeles. We were both amazed and impressed at a) how crisp the picture was, and b) how good the production quality was for a live performance. The editing on the fly that was taking place was really well done. They obviously had pros design and set up the cameras, as well as having great people in the switching booth. I've seen edited concert footage on DVD's that wasn't that good. Very cool. It would be great if this prompted other bands to do the same kind of thing. The fact that people all over the world were watching that one concert, well...it was just really neat.

Guess I'll go check out the fantastic selection of television shows airing for my viewing pleasure at...ugh...4:24 in the morning. Maybe I'll luck out and another good movie will be on. I can only hope...(yawn)...

Sunday...

GOOBER PEAS

Sitting by the roadside on a summer's day
Chatting with my mess-mates, passing time away
Lying in the shadows underneath the trees
Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas.

Chorus2x
Peas, peas, peas, peas
Eating goober peas
Goodness, how delicious,
Eating goober peas.

When a horse-man passes, the soldiers have a rule
To cry out their loudest, "Mister, here's your mule!"
But another custom, enchanting-er than these
Is wearing out your grinders, eating goober peas.

Chorus

Just before the battle, the General hears a row
He says "The Yanks are coming, I hear their rifles now."
He turns around in wonder, and what d'ya think he sees?
The Georgia Militia, eating goober peas. )

Chorus

I think my song has lasted almost long enough.
The subject's interesting, but the rhymes are rough.
I wish the war was over, so free from rags and fleas
We'd kiss our wives and sweethearts, and gobble goober peas.

Glenn boiled up some peanuts today. I picked up a couple three pounds of green peanuts at Kroger the other day, and he got around to cooking them today. I had always loved boiled peanuts as a kid. Would have them whenever we took a trip to Florida, or ventured out to an arts and crafts festival. There would always be a denizen of the more rural areas we would be traveling through who would have an oil drum of goobers boiling away by the roadside, a big hand lettered sign propped against a tree...'Boiled Peanuts $1.00'. We'd pull over and buy one or two of the little paper sacks of warm and salty goodness. I've been asked by people who have never eaten a boiled peanut, "What are they like?" The best way I can describe them is kind of like black eyed peas. I mean, they don't taste entirely like a black eyed pea, but they're kind of that consistency. They're just really "Good Eats" (to quote Alton Brown...no relation...I don't think). I copied the above song lyrics from Wikipedia. Remember my brother singing snippets from it, possibly from his scouting days. This is actually the first time I think I've seen all of the lyrics. An additional blurb from Wikipedia:

"The lyrics of "Goober Peas" are a fairly accurate description of daily life during the last few years of the Civil War for Southerners. After being cut off from the rail lines and their farm land, they had little to eat aside from boiled peanuts (or "goober peas") which often served as an emergency ration, especially in Georgia."

Thus ends our history lesson for today...

It has been a typical Sunday here. Performed a few menial tasks (i.e. laundry) interspersed with the requisite amount of vegging. I usually do my vegging in front of the computer, so that's where I spent the better part of my veg time today. On the other hand, Glenn spent his in front of the TV with a puzzle book in hand. Football and Sudoku. And peanut boiling. With spaghetti and garlic toast for dinner. So there you go.

This House Isn't Clean!!!!!!!!

Today was pretty mellow. I dig mellow. Mellow is good. Didn't do a whole lot, but that would be preferable since I'm trying to shake off the vestiges of some shoulder and neck pain. I try not to pay too much attention to the pain I experience because it's at a constant these days in varying levels. I'm just glad that I didn't get hit with rheumatoid arthritis until I was in my mid-40's. Being a creative person, it was very unsettling when I was given the news because I have always used my hands to produce my...stuff. Whether I'm writing, painting, making dolls, or working on any of the other creative ideas that come to mind, my hands are always essential. I've grown accustomed to my ailment for the most part. I just deal with it as it comes.

Today was another beautiful day. The temperature was right around 80, but the influence of Autumn was still felt. The 80 degree weather of Fall doesn't compare with the 80 degree weather of Summer. The suffocating humidity isn't present for one thing. Just beautiful.

Didn't get out on my walk yesterday or today. I'm planning on taking a longer trek than usual to the post office tomorrow. Have a couple of things to post. I'm assuming that the post office is open here on Saturday. Living in Los Angeles for 20 years got me acclimated to certain things that don't apply here. I know banks aren't open on Saturdays, so...hmmmm...guess I better prepare myself in case the post office is closed...

Since it's October and the Halloween spirit is about, my mind has been rife with thoughts of the eerie and macabre. Been thinking about things that relate to the energy of All Hallows. Things that I enjoy. Today, my thoughts turned to one of my favorite film genres. That of the haunted house.

Several titles spring to mind when I think of films about haunted houses. Some more loosely based on the spooky structures than others, but haunted house films none the less. Decided to compile a list of some of those films here. Do I recommend them for your viewing pleasure? Most definitely. I was able to find trailers for most of them posted on good ol' YouTube!. There are a couple of more contemporary pieces in my list, but most of them are from the 60's and 70's. You might very well have seen some of them. Maybe my mentioning them here will prompt you to revisit them.

#1: "The Haunting" (1963) - If you've seen the remake from a few years ago with Liam Neeson, PLEASE block it from your mind and see the original. Based on the short story "The Legend of Hill House" by the brilliant Shirley Jackson, this was Robert Wise's first film after producing the film version of "Westside Story". It is shot in black and white, and that was by choice. It's a beautifully shot and well acted film that scared me when I was a kid and still creeps me out even though I've seen it more times than I can count. I highly recommend it.


#2: "The Innocents" Stars Deborah Kerr who you might remember from the musical film "The King & I" where she played Anna. Based on the book 'The Turn of the Screw' by Henry James, this is spooky fare. Children, a governess, ghosts...also a black and white film filled effectively with darkness and shadow. There are also some sexual under-tones that add to the creepiness of this film.


#3: "House on Haunted Hill" In the past few years, there was a remake produced of this film that isn't bad, but it doesn't compare to the original. Frequently unintentionally camp and funny, this film still has its creep factor. A great performance by the always memorable, Vincent Price.


#4: "The Uninvited" starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, and Donald Crisp. Milland and Hussey play brother and sister who rent a beautiful house by the sea. Before long they discover that they're not alone. I wasn't able to get a movie trailer for this one. However, you can watch the film in its entirety on YouTube. Please note that it's in 11 parts...I gather that YouTube doesn't allow for videos longer than 10 minutes. I strongly recommend this one. Pretty sure you could find it for rent at one of your local video stores.

#5: "The Legend of Hell House" (1973) A wealthy old man buys the infamous Ballasco (msp?) house and hires a couple of psychics and a scientist to spend a weekend in the house to seek proof that there is life after death. The always great Roddy McDowall plays the only survivor from the previous expedition...all who participated in the first investigation met their death after leaving the house through one means (accident, suicide, etc.) or another. Clive Revill plays the scientist who will not be swayed in his convictions - he believes that science will disprove the paranormal. (On a side note, Clive used to shop in one of the grocery stores I frequented when I still lived in Hollywood...very nice and when I first met him, shocked that I knew who he was.)


#6: "The Changeling" George C. Scott is great in this. He plays a composer who has lost his wife and daughter in a tragic accident. He rents a historical home to get some peace and quiet to work on his latest composition. Turns out 'someone' is already living in the house...


#7: "The Sentinel" It has been years since I've seen this, but it sprang to mind when I was thinking of films of haunted abodes. Young woman rents apartment...let the screams begin! (Oh, and the only trailer I could find is in French...decided to post it anyway.)


#8: "The Others" Starring Nicole Kidman, this film actually made me jump a couple of times. That's really hard to do! The ending also hit me out of left field, and that's even harder to do. I'm a pro at being able to see where a film is headed and how it will end. (A favorite actor of mine, Christopher Eccleston, has a small part in this, too.)


#9: "Darkness" This one came out just a few years ago and stars Anna Paquin. Does it have a creepy factor? Yes! In spades!


#10: "The Ghost & Mr. Chicken" I loved this movie when I was a kid. A comedy starring the always great Don Knotts, it did give me a few chills as a youngster. But mostly laughs.


#11: "High Spirits" Castle Plunkett is not doing well. The castles drunkard owner (played by the wonderful Peter O'Toole) is in danger of losing his business ( he runs it as a hotel) to an american businessman. In a last ditch effort to save his ancestral home, he launches a new strategy: it's haunted. O'Toole heads up a cast full of notables in this one. Yes, it's pretty silly, but thoroughly enjoyable.


So there you go. Some movie recommendations for the Halloween season. I'm sure more will come to mind, but this is a fine list. Let me know if you see any of them...I'd love to know what you think. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!