A New Day ~ A New Creation

After 1,120+ posts in a little over 2 years, Just Ask Judy is changing. I am ready for something different. When I finally changed to the new Blogger, I sampled the fun of a new template and new colors. The change bug bit me hard.

Last month, Shephard, at:

http://www.shubertalleyshephard.blogspot.com/

wrote about seeing Debbie Reynold's daughter Carrie Fisher, in her one-woman show. During that show, she told a lot of "family secrets" and one thing she said was......Imagine what I'm leaving out!

I was immediately struck with the thought that it would be a heckuva good name for a blog. So, I am going to stop writing at Just Ask Judy and resume my daily discourses here:

http://imagineomit.blogspot.com/

Just Ask Judy will remain in place, and you can come and read archives or see photos whenever you want. I hope to place new photos (and perhaps the older albums too) on the new blog as well as the blogroll I so recently placed here.

Please join me there and welcome my new creation:

Before I leave here, please let me thank all of you for a wonderful, enlightening, and sometimes exciting two years here. Your comments and humor are heart-warming and I truly am grateful for your continued support.

Who Wants to Go to the Oscars?

Here's the menu for the buffet at the Oscar Ball.....

Lobster Tempura with Vanilla Bean and Pineapple Mini Prime Cheeseburgers with Remoulade and Aged Cheddar

Spicy Tuna Tartare in a Sesame Miso Cone

Dungeness Crab Cake with Marinated Tomatoes and Basil Aioli

Smoked Salmon Pizza with French Farm-raised Osetra Caviar and Dill Creme Fraiche Pizza with Italian White Truffles

Smoked Salmon 'Oscars' with French Farm-raised Osetra Caviar

Marinated Olives with Rosemary, Chile and Orange Flatbread and Grissini Assorted Bruschetta

Tapas Mini Gold-wrapped Baked Potato with French Farm-raised Osetra Caviar and Creme Fraiche

Roasted Pumpkin Squash Ravioli with Italian White Truffles

Potato Gnocchi Gratin with Gorgonzola Chinois Chicken Salad with Candied Cashews, Crispy Wontons and Honey Sesame Dressing

Caesar Salad with Parmesan Crostini and Creamy Garlic Dressing

Chopped Chino Farms Vegetable Salad with Spiny Lobster and Osetra Caviar

Stir-fried Chicken Lettuce Cup with Thai Basil and Pinenuts

Miso-glazed Black Cod with Sticky Rice and Cucumbers

Celery Root and Apple Soup with Black Truffles

Beet and Goat Cheese Napoleon with Toasted Hazelnuts and Citrus Shallot Vinaigrette

Buffet Grilled Snake River Farms 'Kobe' Beef with Bordelaise Sauce

Wasabi Potato Puree

Roasted Organic 'Smart' Chicken Breast Risotto with Black Truffles from Perigord, France

Spiny Lobster Shanghai-style with Crispy Spinach

Striped Bass en Croute with Sauce Choron

Stir-fried Chino Farms Organic Vegetables

Assorted Organic Breads

Oscar's Sweet Extravaganza Dessert
Meyer Lemon Bars
Valrhona Organic Chocolate Fudge
Hazelnut Marjolaine
McGrath Farm Strawberry Baked Alaska
Fuji Apple Strudel
Medjool Date Toffee Cake

This was printed in a magazine I get on-line.

I'm going to be super busy over the next six days. I'll be working many hours for another florist, getting ready for Valentine's Day. If you don't get a visit from me for a while - please don't take it personally. I'll get around as soon as I can.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

DID YOU KNOW?

In North Carolina, all couples staying overnight in a hotel must have a room with double beds that are at least two feet apart. Making love in the space between the beds is strictly forbidden.

(I wonder if it is against the law to push the beds together.......LOL?)

See this and many other fascinating laws at:


http://crazytopics.blogspot.com/2007/01/craziest-laws-in-america.html

and scroll down for cartoons!!

TOONS!

More Childhood Memories

Every time I read someone's post about their past memories, I recall more things I could have added to mine. I hope my trips down memory lane are not too boring for you, as they are intensely pleasurable for me.

The house we lived in when I was ages 9 to 12 had a chicken coop on the property; a holdover from the days when it was okay to keep chickens in that area, before it was taken into the city limits. My dad used it as a tool and garden shed, and my mom convinced him that he could share some of the space with me, to use as a playhouse. We scrounged up some carpet remnants and mom made curtains for the windows, and added a small table and chairs. I spent hour upon hour in there, either alone or with friends, having tea parties and playing house. In truth, it was a ramshackle building and sadly in need of repairs, but to me it was a castle. The only downside was that the remaining faint aroma of chickens drew black snakes all too often. The snakes were disappointed to find only dolls and tea party dishes!

I spent most of my time on a bike, when I wasn't in the playhouse or in the woods. I became a daredevil; riding down the hill in front of our house, standing up and not holding the handle-bars. I got away with it most of the time, but I fell once, skidding my knees on concrete and coming to rest with the kickstand penetrating my calf. My knees took almost 5 months to heal, because every time they got a good scab on them, I knocked it off again. I still remember one time when I approached the teacher's desk at school, hit the corner of it with one knee and screeched with pain and the knowledge that I had broken it open once again. If you look closely, you can still make out the scars.

In the summer, my friends and I were addicted to telling ghost stories. Most of us had been to some form of summer camp, where such stories are legendary, and we brought them home to share with each other. I remember sitting in Julie's big walk-in closet, lights out, and being scared to death by the story. Inevitably, at the point where the fear was the greatest, someone would reach out and grab me. I screamed bloody murder on more than one occasion and her mother would come running to see if we had been spirited away. When we weren't telling stories, we played paper dolls. I had boxes and boxes of them, and so did my friends. Little girls nowadays don't know what they are missing! I bought some nostalgic ones for my granddaughters, but they were not too impressed. I guess they pale by comparison to video games.

Our picnics were not too frequent, but when we had one, we did it in style. Sometimes mom would pack a lunch as we would just get in the car and drive, stopping whenever we got hungry. It might be a roadside park or a cemetery or a church yard but the location didn't matter as much as being in the open air and having a great picnic. Sometimes we went to Coal River; I don't know why it was called that. Perhaps a WV'ian will see this and be able to tell me why that is the name. There was a section that had been dammed up and it made a wide swimming area. They had formed a beach with sand brought in for that purpose. There was no place to buy foods or drinks at that time, you had to bring your own. So mom would pack a picnic the likes of which few have seen (except maybe Jen and Angie): fried chicken, ham, potato salad, devilled eggs, biscuits or cornbread, and desserts to make everyone else jealous, plus the inevitable watermelon. Cokes (the old-fashioned kind in 6 oz glass bottles) were flowing like water. I have a few photos from those days; I will post them when I learn how. When I was about 16, a group of girls and I went to the river with a huge inner tube from an airplane tire. It held all 6-7 of us, and we floated lazily downstream. We got so engrossed in our conversation, that we were about 2 miles down river before we realized it. We had to walk back, carrying the inner tube.

My first "date" took place while I was living in this house. I was all of 10 or 11, when a neighbor boy invited me to go to the movies on Saturday. My mom said I could go, but that I shouldn't let him pay for my ticket or my snacks. She sent me off with money for it; his mom drove us there and my mom was picking us up afterward. When his mom let us out of the car, I made a mad dash to the ticket counter and bought my own. I don't think he was happy about it, but then he realized he would have more money for snacks - so he happily let it go. I hope he learned to be first in line after that!

Dawn at Virginia Beach

My blog friend SRP, at:

http://melange1.blogspot.com/

posted a great photo of a gull in flight at sunset in Virginia Beach. I thought it would be nice to see an over-the-ocean sunrise there, too. I witnessed this one in 2000. The sun rises so fast that it is hard to catch it at this point; I took many photos in the series, trying to get one just at the point where the sun crested the horizon.

This is a double post. Be sure to scroll down to see some quotes that struck me as good. You can leave comments under that post.

Quotes of Note

If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.

Doug Larson, Olympic Gold Medalist (1902-1981)

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I believe I found the missing link between animal and civilized man. It is us.

Konrad Lorenz, ethologist, Nobel laureate (1903-1989)

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One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper patterns at the right moment.

Hart Crane, poet (1899-1932)

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The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.

Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)

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There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar: it keeps the mind nimble, it kills prejudice, and it fosters humor.

George Santayana, philosopher

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He that uses many words for explaining any subject, doth, like the cuttlefish, hide himself for the most part in his own ink.

John Ray, naturalist (1627-1705)

It's Gonna Get Warmer Someday

at least, I sure hope so. If this bone-chilling cold was going to be the norm around here, I might have to move. I read it was 80* in Arizona today; that sounds like a good place to go!

Maybe some pics of summer days will help you warm up. The top photo is from the early 1940's. These three boys rowed our boat across a river to a beach and picnic area. I don't remember this at all, but I was told by my mom that it happened. What I can't fathom is why she took their photos....LOL

The next photo is one I took of my children and two of their friends in 1974, in February, believe it or not. We had a mild winter that year, and the day they got in the sprinkler, it was 80*. That's not a frequent temp in this area until April or May, so having it in February was a real treat for children - and their parents. One can only hope that we can approach 80* this month!

A Question to Ponder

I heard a story at church Sunday about a man who decided to do some research into life. He gathered up as many 95+ year olds as he could find, and he asked them to write down the answers to some questions, among which was this one:

How would you have lived your life differently, if you had it to do over?

The answers were very interesting; here are some of them:

1. I would have worked less.
2. I would have been less concerned with making money.
3. I would have been less interested in rising up the ladder of success and gaining status.
4. I would have spent more time with my children.
5. I would have enjoyed nature more often.
6. I would have lived my life in such a way that I made a difference in other people's lives.

Think about that last one. What have you done to affect the life of another person in a positive manner?

Are you so frenzied with work or school or clubs or hobbies that you won't take time to enjoy being alive?

Are you focused on making money and/or making a name for yourself? Is it taking precious time away from your family and friends, from relaxation and general enjoyment of life?

I read this quote recently and it was said at church too; and I will paraphrase it:

"At the end of your life, it will not matter how much money you had in the bank or how many awards you have won. The most important thing that can be said about you is that you made a difference in the life of another."

Can you say that you already have or do you need to get to work on that as I do?

Creativity Abounds

Ooops: it has been pointed out by Scouser in the comments that these are probably fakes, given that they are all in the same exact position. Oh, well, it was a good fake out, right?

Here are some photos of trucks in Europe, which have been painted to appear as though the sides are missing and the contents are showing.

Cases of Pepsi, stacked upside down and hanging from the ceiling!

An aquarium!

A library!

And for pringles Hot & Spicy, a burned out shell!





Why don't we ever see anything this creative and fun in the US?

GOOOOOGLE-SCHMOOOOOGLE

By now, most of you may know that Google is building (maybe) a facility in western North Carolina. I haven't fully followed the stories in the paper, but I know there has been some consternation at the tactics Google used to get the "powers that be" to give them all sorts of perks.

This cartoon in our paper, by Dwane Powell, speaks to the massaging that politicoes in NC were providing the people representing Google.

In light of the recent massaging that Google + Blogger has given all of us using Blogger (and not a good, relaxing massage, I must say), I found this amusing and apropos. The words in the middle, which Powell has the Google rep saying, could be turned around on them - and I would if I was able to figure out how to contact them directly.

Talk about hassles and inconvenience! The ONLY way I have been able to access my Dashboard or to moderate comments is to first leave a comment on a blog on which I can sign in with the Google email address and password. If I do that, I can access the account for about 30 minutes. If I leave it, the next time I come back I have to go all the way through the process again. It is time-consuming and completely aggravating, especially when I have less time than usual. There is no way I can sign in the way everyone else does; when I try to, the page goes blank.

Picasa, the Google photo service is also at odds with my new Blogger status. I used to be able to post directly from Picasa, but now they pretend not to know me (although I can send email from there, and I can access my web albums, etc.

Wouldn't you think that since Google-Blogger-Picasa are now all part of the same conglomerate, they would work smoothly together? Me too.


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This caricature of me was drawn by the same man who drew the cartoon above. He was doing them as a favor to a local charity; we paid $5 each for a drawing that would have cost much more had we hired him individually. He asked me what I did for a living and I said florist. He thought for a minute and then started drawing - and I was amused at the result. Seems he is creative in several areas of his life.

(I just now realized I had already posted this caricature before. Bear with me while I try to complete this phase of "Senior Moments" I've been in lately!)

Moorefields

Moorefields, a house and grounds on the National Register of Historic Places. Moorefields was built in 1785 by Alfred Moore, a Revolutionary War soldier and eventual U.S. Supreme Court justice. Located southwest of Hillsborough, NC, the house and 84 associated acres are owned by a private foundation. Moorefields is maintained as a wildlife refuge and is open by appointment to the public.

I did flowers for a wedding at this location back in the 90's. They have a Victorian knot garden in the back yard, and the interior of the house is set up in the way that houses were in the late 1700's. I love the big front porch.

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Front porches were a great invention, especially in towns where the houses sat fairly close to the street. You could sit on your porch and keep an eye on the comings and goings of your neighbors, as well as delivery men. When it was raining, unless it was very windy, you could sit on your porch and revel in the fresh, clean air of a summer rain. My mom sat on her porch at every home they owned. It was a place to have the first cup of coffee in the mornings, dessert after dinner and a place to run to in the winter when a hot-flash began snaking it's way up her body. She did that a lot in the late 50's, fanning her house dress to let the cooler air into the nooks and crannies.

When I still lived at home, I sat on the porch a lot too. It was a great place for reading and homework, and if friends happened to drive by, they might stop if you were outside and easily accessible. The last house I lived in with my parents was close to the neighbors, so we could sit on our porches and talk to our heart's content. If you got tired of talking, you could always go inside, pretending you had something to see about.

One of the best things about the porches in those days was the location of the mailbox. We had only to step out onto the porch with one foot to retrieve the day's mail. That didn't matter in the summer, but in the winter, it meant you didn't have to put on a coat and walk outside to the curb, or the end of the driveway, as we do now. If you put your dog outside to go to the bathroom, he had the perfect shelter from the hot sun, until you opened the door again.

I was always certain that I would live in a house with a front porch. I knew just what kind of furniture I would put there, and how I would place the many plants I expected to have. There would be bamboo blinds on the sides to block the late day sun, and a welcoming sisal rug, preferably hand-painted. That was a pipe-dream, apparently. Since moving away from my parents, I have never lived in a house with a sittable [sic] front porch, and I have lived in 8 different places since I left them in 1963. At this point in my life, I know it will never happen, but I still think about it and I decorate it in my mind. Maybe in my next life.......

I Put My Money Where My Mouth Is (and I may be sorry about it!)

Some time back, I told you I was considering letting my hair grow out of the brown dye and into my natural color (whatever that was). I quit having it dyed in October. By December, it was evident that I'd be mostly gray, but there were at least a few darker hairs in the mix. I said to my family at the time that I would let my hair grow that way for 2-3 months and then get it cut really short, so I could hasten the demise of the brown. Finally, I got tired of looking like a zebra.

Last wednesday was the day. I told the hairdresser to cut all but 2" off. He said, "Let me start cutting, and then we will see.....". He stopped at 2 1/2 inches, saying that if he went further, my hair would probably stand straight up all over my head. Picturing that led me to the opinion it would be horribly unappealing, I agreed with him. Pixie haircuts are cute on five year old girls, but very few older women can handle it. The only one I know is Judi Dench. So, I'm only three-quarters-pixie now.

I was surprised by how much brown remained. I had thought if I cut it that much it would show mostly gray, but that will evidently take a few more months. I haven't had hair this short in about 15 years and it is hard to get used to. Every time I pass a mirror, I get shocked. It is easy to forget about it until you get an unexpected glimpse (or until you go outside in the cold). I will have to wear hats for the next 2 months, I think, otherwise my ears will suffer frostbite.

Don't ask for a photo - I'm not ready to debut yet.....LOL

P.S. Mr. kenju now calls me Steve.

Do not fail to see DreamGirls - it is fabulous! The music is terrific, the acting is superb, the costumes interesting and Jennifer Hudson (on the right) is magnificent!

Who knew? When Jennifer Hudson was a contestant on American Idol, she was considered very good, but not Idol material. Simon was mean to her (as he is to nearly everyone), but after seeing her performance in this movie, he apologized via video (on Oprah) and intimated that she would win the Academy Award. That remains to be seen, but she has won the Golden Globe.

The thing that makes it fabulous for me is finding out that Jennifer is such a good actress as well as a terrific singer. This girl will go far on Broadway (and they won't need microphones for her to be heard in the upper balconies!) She would be a wonderful addition to the cast of the The Color Purple!

Another Blast from the Past

Mr. Kenju ~ # 42/43 ~ "Heeerrrre I come to save the day......."**

These shots were taken when mr. kenju played for Georgetown University, between 1958-1962. The announcement of the Century Team will be next weekend, and I will let you know if he was lucky enough to make it. Thanks again to all of you who voted.

**Mighty Mouse's theme song. Mr. kenju considers it his mantra.

Marriage is a Two Way Street

I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.
David Bissonette


When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her.
Sacha Guitry


After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can't face each other, but still they stay together.
Hemant Joshi

By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates

Woman inspires us to great things, and prevents us from achieving them.
Dumas

The great question... which I have not been able to answer... is, "What does a woman want?
Sigmund Freud

I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me.
Anonymous

"Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays."
Henny Youngman

"I don't worry about terrorism. I was married for two years."
Sam Kinison

"There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage."
James Holt McGavran

"I've had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me, and the second one didn't."
Patrick Murray

Two secrets to keep your marriage brimming
1. Whenever you're wrong, admit it,
2. Whenever you're right, shut up.
Nash

The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once...
Anonymous

You know what I did before I married? Anything I wanted to.
Henny Youngman

My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.
Rodney Dangerfield

A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.
Milton Berle

Marriage is the only war where one sleeps with the enemy.
Anonymous

A man inserted an 'ad' in the classifieds: "Wife wanted". Next day he received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: "You can have mine."
Anonymous

First Guy (proudly): "My wife's an angel!"
Second Guy: "You're lucky, mine's still alive."

I mentioned in a previous post how my dog Kippy and my cat Fluffer would always lie down together and cuddle. Here they are in front of the fireplace in our house, which was decorated for Christmas at the time. I used to hang Christmas cards on the fireplace tiles. This pic was from the late 50's or early 60's.
This pic is of my old cat Snowball and my neighbor's cat Hurricane. Snowball had gone to visit Hurricane and my neighbor decided to capture the occasion in a photo. This was in the late 80's. I honestly do not know which one of them was which in this picture, because they were almost identical solid white cats.

You may remember the post about Snowball - The Cat Who Adopted Me. Hurricane got his name because the man who lives across the street found this cat in Long Island Sound during a hurricane. The kitten was clinging to a piece of wood floating in the water. Bob rescued him, and that cat was indebted to and totally devoted to Bob thereafter. He died about 4 years ago at the age of 18.