If you are familiar with That Catholic Show you might recognize one of those pictures from Black Shoals Park, where the water episode was filmed. There was a severe drought at the time of that filming, so you probably won’t actually recognize this at all, but I assure you it’s the same place. We took these pictures from the covered bridge, and to our amazement and delight, a sailboat blew into the scene! In all the years we’ve been going to that bridge I’ve never seen the water deep enough to support a boat that wasn’t built for the shallow waters, let alone a sailboat.
fun
Family Values
Gotta love this pair–truly my favorites. Thanks to Deborah for passing it along.
a mature palate…[doesn’t that sound sophisticated?]
When I was a kid one of my favorite books was Harriet the Spy. I first read it in the fourth grade, and I think that my love of people watching was greatly influenced by Harriet and her penchant for spying on people and keeping a notebook with her observations.
A little itty bitty part of me started blogging to do just that. 😉
Another thing that I picked up from good ole Harriet is a love of tomato sandwiches. Weird, I know, but oh so tasty! When I was a kid I would lather plenty of mayonaise on a couple of slices of Wonder bread, slice a tomato over it, and mash it together into a delicious mushy mess of goodness.
I hate to say that it’s been years since I ate a tomato sandwich, and I can’t really come up with a reason for not having eaten one. I guess I found more interesting things to do with tomatoes.
Until today.
I came home from work with the hungries and stood in front of the open refrigerator door contemplating cottage cheese, yogurt, and leftover pot roast. Then I spied a red, juicy tomato. Jackpot. Only, this wasn’t Harriet’s 11 year old-style sandwich. Oh no. I used a multigrain wheat bread with a light tangy mayo, and sprinkled garlic salt and parsley over the tomatoes before carefully placing a second slice of bread on top and…mashing it together into a delicious mushy mess of goodness.
Heaven.
it’s Banned Books Week!
I am giddy with joy. After all kinds of silly weeks and months through out the year, you know what I’m talking about, Smile Day, Hug a Panda Day, Drink your Favorite Beer Day (well, I won’t take issue with that one), and every other manner of silliness, Banned Books Week is something I can sink my teeth into. Or, maybe, curl up with. Forgive the prepositions.
Banned Books Week is something that appeals to me, not just as a student and teacher of literature, but as a rebel. Ever since Sister Dawn caught me with Abby Scott’s big sister’s super secret copy of M*A*S*H in my desk and made me take it home, anticipating, I’m sure, an explosion from my parents (I was in the sixth grade and there were some morally objectionable components to that book) I embraced my right (even though it really wasn’t) to read everything I could get my hands on. Even if Sister Dawn objected.
In fact, ESPECIALLY if Sister Dawn, or any other adult, objected. I know, scandalous. In the end, though, it made me pretty well-read. Here is my top 10 list of favorite [not effectively] banned books. What’s yours?
1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain (that was censored and published posthumously!)
3. The entire Harry Potter adventure by J.K. Rowling
4. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
5. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
8. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
9. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
10. Earth’s Children series (Clan of the Cave Bear) by Jean. M. Auel
I suppose I could chime in about Captain Underpants, too. Funny books. Give ’em a try.
Avast ye!
Well, it’s another talk like a pirate day. Here’s my favorite pirate, Captain Hook:
- “Avast belay, yo ho, heave to,
- A-pirating we go
- And if we’re parted by a shot
- We’re sure to meet below!”
- “Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,
- The flag o’skull and bones
- A merry hour, a hempen rope
- And ‘hey’ for Davy Jones!”
a liberal arts education isn’t necessarily gonna make you rich, but it sure can enrich you
This afternoon I had one of those cultural literacy moments that made me smile real big, and then wonder about the tons of people who miss a great little play on words because they just don’t know. Makes me sad in a way, but then, the snarky part of me kind of relishes the “power” of knowledge and mocks the unknowing masses who trudge through life with that blank look that screams “I don’t get it.”
I admit that I am an intellectual snob. What are you gonna do about it?
So what prompted this rumination? Well, the folks across the street are gutting their house. Gladys Kravitz can probably tell you their life story, but I don’t really talk with them beyond the usual neighborly pleasantries. Basically, my job in that relationship is to keep the demon dog from eating their toddler.
Anyway, as I was saying, their house looks like it’s being gutted. There’s been a van parked in their driveway with some construction name on the side–who reads that stuff? Well, I read stuff. I can’t help it. It’s like an occupational compulsion. I got a good view of the van today because it was parked along the front of the house, and I nearly hit my own mailbox from laughing out loud (there really should be some convenient shorthand for conveying that thought).
What’s the company name and tagline? I thought you’d never ask:
PONTIFF CONSTRUCTION
Quality service you can have faith in.
Never mind that the phrase ends in a preposition Do you think they are Catholic? Do you think anybody else knows? Wouldn’t it be even funnier if they aren’t and I just have too much time on my hands?
I prefer to think the world is peopled with all kinds of clever folks.
I don’t even LIKE cats
A friend sent this, and it really made me smile. Cats are weird. They’re like aliens–could they be sentient little creatures?
Still, this one is a classic…
Mail Call! I love getting stuff
I won another contest. LOL! I really should have played the Lotto. I might just have one more lucky strike left!
Here I am holding my prized weight watchers points clicker from the lovely ladies at Of Sound Mind and Spirit. Check them out–they have some good stuff over there. Thanks Shelly and Lisa!
so, I never win ANYTHING
You can imagine how skeptical I was when I checked my twitter one morning last week and discovered a bunch of congratulations (and a few bitter, but funny insults) about having won a MacBook Pro.
Yeah, right.
The beautiful thing is that it happened quite by accident. I innocently re-tweeted a message from Pat Padley, (run, don’t walk and check out the podcast he does with his brother Nick–InBetweenSundays). I didn’t notice a tag at the end of his line, but evidently it was enough to get me a chance at winning the laptop, and … well … the rest is history.
My skepticism was so great that I actually got a direct message from the guys running the contest to tell me that, yes, indeed, I had won and it was real. LOL! Consequently, I will no longer be playing the state lottery because I’ve used up my allotment of luck for the year.
So that brings to me to a couple of things. First, my sincere thanks to guys at MPORA who ran the contest on Twitter @mpora and gave away all kinds of cool prizes, including my MacBook Pro. Of course, the prize was a nice lure, but I bounced around their website and found that it’s pretty cool, and while not the kind of thing you’d see my lazy butt doing, filled with amazing videos (the kind, I think, that my brother and sister-in-law and their friends would think is cool).
Check out Nick and Pat at InBetweenSundays. Afterall, I am enjoying creating this blogpost thanks to them.
And, MPORA, cuz you know, it’s pretty obvious they deserve a shout out, too!
another cup of coffee 