And the rain , rain, rain, came down

I feel like Pooh


or perhaps it is more of an Eeyore kind of feeling that is in the air. I watched the weather reports this afternoon and all claimed that the storms would pass north and south of Madison with some small breeze to cool the air. Imagine my surprise when I heard a whoosh, a thump. When I investigated  I discovered the wind was blowing quite strongly and had ripped the porch awning up off of its mooring. As I stood watching things blowing down the street the rain came in horizontal sheets. Cars were sending up waves of water toward the students who were just leaving the high school which is across the street. Some made a dash back toward the school while others simply took it in stride and continued on to their cars.

Now rain is the last thing that we need right now but I hold this slim hope that perhaps that there will be less moisture to come during the winter months!  :-)  One can hope!!

Summer's End

Here it is, the middle of August, and the evenings are started to cool down considerably. I find myself tuning off the AC and wrapping myself in an afghan as I sit and read or watch the telly. But then morning comes and by mid-morning the heat begins once more. It is Mother Nature's way of reminding me that I live in Wisconsin and our warm seasons are short but sweet.

This summer was strange with periods of very hot weather, followed by torrential rains. My grass has  never had to be mowed as often as this summer required. And don't even get me started on the mosquito population explosion that was seen toward the end of July and continues this month. As noted in previous blog entries, the insect world and I have an ongoing feud and our worlds have collided more than normal this summer.

Bees, flies (both house and fruit) spiders, lady beetles, earwigs, ants, and mosquitoes have taken up squatters rights around my house. Right now a spider has erected a giant web across the back of my car from antenna to a bush along the drive. He persists in redoing it daily so I imagine he finds that all of my other squatters offer him excellent hunting.

In addition to the insect world, I have several gophers who have made their hole between the paving stones of my front walk and a warren of rabbits that make my yard their own. At night  I discover the presence of a somewhat unwelcome prowler, Mr Skunk, and I tend to let him go about his hunt without too much interference.  With the end of summer some of these fellow inhabitants of this property will move away but I ask myself what will take their place? 

David Cook and Carrie Underwood Duet at Walt Disney World

Little Miss Muffet

Have I mentioned that I don't like spiders? I am told by friends that most of them are quite harmless and in fact help to control the more destructive insects. I hear, "remember Charlotte!" and all the other things that are suppose to make me feel good about the abundance of spiders that are lurking about my place. And I know that they are watching me and just waiting for their chance to ensnare me in their web.

I remember as a young girl sitting at a family gathering and seeing a spider dangling from a thin strand of webbing just above my head. At the time I laughed and slid my stool over a few feet, only to see the spider finish coming down and scampering over to where I sat. I moved again, still with a laugh, getting a little less joyful, and once again the spider changed direction, at which point I leaped from the stool and raised across the room just like poor Miss Muffet!

I love this little snippet!

http://vimeo.com/7787870

Ceara A Preview of my story (rough draft only)

Ceara sat before the blazing peat fire, watching as smoke curled up and out the chimney. It was on nights like this when the west wind blew in, carrying with it storms, that her thoughts turned to family or rather her lack of family. Her mother had died at her birth and her father, not knowing what to do with a small girl child, had delivered her over to the care of his friend Merlin and had disappeared. From time to time treasures were sent back from the various times and places where he wandered but what she wanted most of all, a day to day father, was not to be.

Now it was not as if her childhood was lonely or miserable. How could it be in the household of Merlin? For a time she had even had a playmate, a young lad by the name of Arthur, but all too soon he was sent away to act as squire to a nobleman in a distant land. Ceara learned all that Merlin thought to teach her. She learned to mix potions, cast minor spells and best of all to communicate with the animals of the forest. And then in the summer of her fifteenth year everything changed.

Merlin disappeared.

Now as a wizard, he had done this many times, often going to check on young Arthur but this time he did not return. Ceara continued her chores and worked on her studies in Merlin's workshop, each day checking the glow of the great crystal ball that dominated the room. As days passed the glow of the crystal grew dimmer indicating that something was preventing Merlin’s return.

Ceara was truly alone now.

At first Ceara maintained the pretense to visitors that Merlin was only away on a short visit and was expected back at anytime. She would make up the requested potions but would advise them that she would ask Merlin to consider their request for a spell casting when next she talked with him. Later after the visitor had left Ceara would go into Merlin's Workshop and pull down his great book of spells, find the appropriate entry and cast the requested spell.

Sometimes the spells did not always work the way they were suppose to work and disgruntled villagers would show up to complain. One morning the baker's wife had wanted a spell to make her daughter more beautiful in order to catch the eye of the Mayor's son. She returned the next day, bringing along a lovely white mare. Ceara had only asked in her spell that the girl be made to resemble the son's heart's desire. Little did she know that he had been trying to convince his father to let him purchase a new horse and had his heart set on a lovely white mare that he had seen recently at a fair.

Ceara asked that the girl/horse be left in her care and she would see that the spell was reversed as soon as Merlin came home. That evening, she cast spell after spell until the girl was returned to herself and quickly fled toward home.

The next morning the Mayor and a group of the leading citizens arrived at the cottage demanding to speak to Merlin. Upon discovering that he was not there and that Ceara had been casting the spells herself the angry group demanded that she leave the village. And so packing the few possessions that she could carry with her and casting a final spell to ensure the security of Merlin's home, Ceara started on a journey that would bring with it many adventures.


So off she went, her pack slung over her back and Merlin’s cat, Marric, scampering behind. Ceara had no idea where she was going but simply placed one foot in front of the other and headed off toward the setting sun.

Ceara traveled for several hours. She finally stopped for the night beside a quiet pond.

After eating a small meal of the bread and cheese from her pack, she settled down for the night. The sounds of nature and the soft light of the moon lulled her to sleep. As she slept the word of her presence sped thru the forest.

Micmacs: trailer HD 1080

Under Seige

During the last few months I have not used my car very often and as a result it has become the home of squatters. I discovered this when I decided on a recent hot day to go out and cool down by washing the car. As I sprayed the exterior I was suddenly swarmed by wasps. Now let me explain, I am allergic to the thing and several years ago had a rather severe reaction to a sting and was told that future reactions could be even worse. With this thought in mind I scrambled inside the hot car and sat waiting for the angry mob to subside. It took several minutes for this to occur and I was able to flee into the house. As I watched from the safety of the house I notice that the wasp were disappearing into the space between the front passenger door and the front fender.

Later that evening my son went out to investigate and found that indeed they had build a nest inside the door frame. Friends have given me suggestions on how to rid myself of these squatters...go on a road trip and lose them to a new territory..smoke them out...get some Raid and hit them in the dead of night.  As of today, they still control the car.....

A great read..and that was in paper format!

Google Goes Wild

Later this summer perhaps—there will be a major new development in the evolution of e-books: the launch of Google Editions, and while I think this is a great addition to the library, as I encourage people to read. I hope that this will only be a small part of the bookseller's inventory. You can't snuggle up in bed at night with a kindle and get the same feeling that you do with that book.

(Refer back to my posting of July 6, 2010)

Mystery Shopping

Life holds so many things to do that when ever someone tells me that they are bored I have to shake my head in disbelief. When I feel that malaise start to creep into my mind I simply look about me and soon I find something to change my way of thinking about the day. For example, the long time exercise of “window shopping” has now been turned into my personal adventure as a customer service critic. I carry a little notebook with me and as I shop I take note of the overall service level of a business. Do they greet me with a smile and an offer of assistance? Do they simply wait for me to approach them? Are they overly aggressive in their approach? Is the layout of products such that it makes my shopping experience easy or is there a cluttered atmosphere such as boxes and debris to be maneuvered around?

For example, on a trip to the local Target I discovered that they were doing some remodeling and departments were no longer where I was used to seeing them. There was no directory to point me in the direction so it was up to me to wander about trying to find the items I wanted. During this search I came across a display of items that were marked as reduced and among them was a wine rack. Now having just received a “wine of the month” gift, this was an item that I could use. However, there was only the one that was on the display. I looked about the area to find a sales associate and soon came across a young man who was putting items out in the area. I asked if they had any more of the wine racks, boxed perhaps? He walked over to the display area, looked down and said “don’t know about that” and then turned and walked away. Oh, well on to items that were actually on my shopping list. Upon completing my list and going through the checkout lane, the cashier asked if I had found everything. I mentioned to her about the wine rack and she quickly said “let me check on that for you”. She made a call and soon a manger appeared and hearing the situation he went off and a few minutes later came back with a boxed version of the wine rack. Now in my little notebook this type of experience would have rated a 3-Star, down from a 5-Star because of the confusion with the remodel and the “help” from the young man, however, the service from the cashier earned an extra star giving the visit a 4-star.

Another Year Goes By

In a few short days I will be celebrating another birthday. Now I have never been big on birthday celebration which I think comes from a childhood where the family celebrated my birthday a day late so that they could combine it with a sister who was forced to celebrate hers a day early. Birthdays, therefore, were nothing special. I did celebrate my 21st but that was under pressure from friends and I must admit to not remembering too many details of that event.

When people ask me my age, I have to stop and do a quick calculation, which if the questioner is a doctor, is sure to give them pause. When forced to think of my age and I look around at many of the people I know who are around the same age I am staggered because I had not thought of them as my contemporary. With this said, I am a Boomer and this coming birthday is one which is celebrated with a song by the Beatles...and I wonder, "will you still love me?"

Since the Boomer generation started coming of age (funny how the children of the 60's are now in their 60's) I have spent some time looking at my generation,at what we have accomplished. And I must say that despite the fears of so many of our elders when we were enjoying our youth, I am proud of us, what as a generation we did. Now looking forward I can see that there is still so much to be done, wars are still being fought, the poor are still with us, racism still rears its head now and again, the environment is sorely in need of help. I can only hope that our generation does not take a back seat now, thinking that our work is done, but that we lean our full support of the younger generations and help them to shape a better world. To that I dedicate my coming years.

Toby Keith - You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This

I Am Woman

This is from my files from back when a friend that I had not seen in years asked me to tell something about myself. The posting now was prompted by my sister telling a little about who she was and that reminded me of this old piece that was actually saved on a floppy.

I am Woman, hear me roar! I am a warrior. I am a peacemaker. I am Tigger. I am Pooh. I am Wise Old Owl. I am gloomy Eyore. I am a shy violet, the bold tiger lily and the questioning daisy, loves me, loves me not. I am a romantic. I am a realist. I am a republicrat. I’m cool. I’m hot! I am the surprise in the box of Cracker Jacks, the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae. I am a fine Boudreaux. I am bubbly Champagne. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a mother and a grandmother. I am a friend. I am a lover. Anything else is still to be discovered.

Peer Power

Recently a friend posted pictures on Facebook from his 40th class reunion. He commented on how changed everyone was and that if not for the name tags he would not have known many of them. In the years since graduation, he had only kept in touch with a few and now via the wonders of the internet has reconnected with a few others.

This got me thinking back to my high school days. Days when everything about you, your clothes, your music, the people you hung out with, were all influenced by a desire to be part of that group. There were very few who made the decision at that age to simply be themselves.

I was one of those lucky enough to be able to move from one group to another but even then I was conscious of how I wanted to be seen by each of those groups. As the fifth member of my family to attend the school, I was met with a preconceived image of who I was and for the most part went along with this image. It was during one year spent away at a different school that I dared to really be me and let some of this show when I returned for my final year at the school.
It was not until I went away to college that I truly let myself free and did not weight every decision on how I thought it would be accepted or rejected by the "IN" kids.

Many of us based our opinion of who we were on the opinions of others. People who no longer matter in our lives. It made me wonder if I would have been a different person had I had the courage back then to simply be me.

Susan Boyle - Britains Got Talent 2009 Episode 1 - Saturday 11th April |...

My Name Is Barbra - Poverty Medley

Color Me Barbra - Non C'est Rien

THE DRIFTERS : THE MAGIC MOMENT

Taylor Swift - Love Story