Well Damn !

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=502935&GT1=28101&


RIP Dude..You were one in a million.


Your Fan,

Aunty Pol

Bruce Of The Day ~ Happy Friday ~

She's Baaaaccckkkkk !

Run...!

It's going to take a while to get all caught up...I'm making progress tho...Peggy Sue over at Space Paws got a forever home...Melly is getting along nicely with Scarlett...The adorable snorgable Anderson Erickson Tuxies are tooo f'g cute for words...I want them worse than I wanted Orson...(!)..I've been taking one blog at a time and trying to skim them..all y'all have no idea how many blogs I follow on a daily basis...I have a system...read " 9 Chickweed Lane" on Yahoo since our local rat bastard paper no longer carries it...GRRRR,.....then my blogs..then Tasty Kitchen to see what recipes I cannot live without and must torment Lady L with...and so on while pondering the daily post here.

And yes...I do this from work...don't ask...they don't mind and I am very respectful and mindful of the illusion of privacy , the innertubes and the workplace.

Anyhoo..

Life goes on.

We are both beyond tired and I have asked SU to stay home this weekend rather than go to the Crazy Cajun's nephews crawfish boil in Brenham.

Any other time I'd be saying.." Go....go...you need gas money ?...GO !" whilst I bask in the peace and quiet...but there is too much to do.

We've done zip nada since the day after Mothers Day.

Barely done laundry.

Ditto groceries, Petsmart, drycleaners, bathrooms...hoovering...sheets...it all went kaput when his mother was admitted to ICU.

Ordinarily , I'd just be me and try to do it all myself , especially with a three day weekend, but I have finally grasped that if there is this much to do and it really needs to be done that I need to allow myself to ask for help.

SU has always offered to help and does both of the bathrooms when needed so it's not like he is all Cro Magnon about it all.

When we were first married mumble years ago ( 20+) I'd do it all in almost a full day...and then because I'd ignore the polio and back issue...I'd not be able to walk the next day.

As time went on, I loosened up.

I am fierce about the kitchen and hoover at least once a week..6 cats ya know...and love the new carpet cleaner...but if the beds don't get square cornered and there are dishes drying in the rack..it's okay.

Bathrooms get scrubbed every other weekend...most of the time.

And of course...I know how to close a deal.

" Honey..if you stay home and help me...yes...you CAN go to the Ice House for however long you want too."

My veteran has more than earned it...especially this Memorial Day.

Please..have a safe weekend...

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

White Hair, Wheel Chairs And Walkers

I think the whole Church was there today.

When Gordy and I walked in for the family viewing , it was tiny..I avoided the open casket because the first and only previous experience was 29 years ago with my mother ..and Pol don't play that.


I have great peripheral vision.


They just kept coming in.


Droves of them .



We've been married 22 years and there were cousins out the wazzou.


They need name tags.


I was okay as long as he was.....yeah.

We need stock in Kimberly Clark.


Thank you Charlie ( Crazy Cajun) for being there for all of the last 10 days.


It was only 10 days.


Thank you Shellie ( Mrs. Crazy Cajun ) for getting me the hell out of the visitation after 3 hours to go get pizza and chocolate.


Thank you both for dinner and war stories.



I'll see you in the morning.


Ciao,


Aunty Pol

8 a.m.

Yup.


That's how they roll.


Ciao,


Aunty Pol

Bruce Of The Day ~ Happy Friday ~

Happy Friday y'all.

Gah...that sounds soooo weird right now , all things considered.

Gordy is at his fathers now, I guess taking care of all of the loose ends and such.

He is staying busy and helping out with what ever he can...his nature after all. I have been okay for the most part...until I saw the birthday card from his father....and I flat lost it.

I guess I needed to.

This has been such a long road for all of us.

You go from the point of maintaining things...periods of calm where there are no new issues so you plod on.

Then things happen...new cancers, heart issues and you come to grips with the fact that the roller coaster ride has begun...until the next period of calm waters.

You can't place a lot of faith in the calmness even though you are in many ways profoundly grateful for it...you can't take the risk of losing sight of the larger picture.

You try not to become angry with family members who are under the illusion that she will get better and it will all be okay. There is no better in the cancer lexicon.....and then you realize that we all have different coping skills and no one way is right or wrong...we all have the path we choose.

In the end...time is all we have.

Time to wait , pray and become our own little island in the mist of chaos.

Again, thank you all so much for the love and support..it has been an amazing blessing and I do not ever use that word lightly.

We love you all.

Ciao,

Janie and Gordy and the Grand Katz

It Is Over

Mother passed away this morning...late before noon.




She was moved out of ICU on Monday into a private room and " seemed " to be doing a little better. She had even eaten a bit which was huge for her.


Tuesday she seemed tired but we took it as it was...she was comfortable.



Yesterday, Gordon got a call before noon that she had taken a turn and to get there. He was composed as he called me to tell me but I knew it was super human focusing to get him there so I rather suspected.



She had a massive bladder and kidney infection and as the day worn on she began to shut down. While not technically in a coma, the doctors told us that there was nothing more that they could do and hospice was called in.


She was completely non responsive and my father in law spoke to me of how he knew that his beloved wife would not want to go on this way.



Sadly, today is my husbands 60'th birthday and while he is just...yeah...it is the greatest gift that his mother could give him.


She is in a better place , pain free and no longer suffering as she did.



I lost the kindest woman I have ever known and I hope she knows that I loved her very much.


I promise Mother , I will take care of your son.



Love,


Jane

Ask Dr. Baltar

Dear Dr. Baltar,

As our journey progresses towards the Gods only know what, I wonder at the lack of a sense of time and purpose that I am currently feeling.

Is there a purpose to this existence that we endure ? Is the thirteenth Colony actually a possibility or just some joint hallucination perpetuated by the Fleet and the remnants of society?

Someone has to know the truth around this fleet !

Cynical Sally

Dear Ms. Sally,

First of all , how old are you ?

Twelve ?

We will be there when we get there so stop your sniveling and get back to what ever remedial studies your poor under compensated instructors have assigned you .

Gaius Baltar, President in Absentia Of The Twelve Colonies.

Of all the places that I formerly found to be least annoying , when I had to shop used to be Petsmart.

Please not the useage of the past tense here.

" Dear Parent of the Child in the School Uniform at the Petsmart in Humble on May 17, `2010."

Did you really think that your spawn's screaming as you dragged her towards the fish in the tank was enjoyable ?

Really ?

Funny ?

Please resume your former shopping habitat.

Wal Mart misses you , they really , really do .

Harrumpf.

Aunty Pol

Thirty Years ~ Were We Ever This Young ?

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/may/18/mount-st-helens-memories-ash/

The top picture is of Mt. St. Helens taken in the mid 1950's .

Up until 30 years ago today , it looked just like that , picture postcard ( there is a phrase for all of us baby le boom booms) perfect...all that 1970's and 1980's warm fuzzy granola bullshit that we were so " in tune " with.

The middle photo is very recent..yep...she's active again. If you have lived on the Left Coast as I did , you got used to the talk of plates shifting and seismic activity. It was just the way it was, much like having to deal with hurricanes here on the Gulf Coast or the Snohomish Pass being closed for weather ...ie. ice and snow.

See Sistah..a local reference , just for you .

The bottom photo is one of the series of actual eruption photos.

I lived through this day in Pullman.

It was a quiet Sunday .

Strangely quiet.

As the sky got darker , it was if the sounds outside of my tiny apartments open windows were suddenly turned off , one by one.

No birds...no dogs ...just a silence that really was quite eerie .

Then the ash began to fall.

I remember thinking that I have finally lost my mind, it can't possibly snow in the middle of May. The semester is winding down and the entire staff at WSU are eager to see the lil twerps get the hell out of town for a bit so we can have some peace and quiet .

I seem to remember the Civil Defense horn going off , and since I worked for Campus Communications , I knew that I had to haul ass on foot up the hill to the office. Damn Dotty for drilling it in to our heads...lol.

Actually, in the late 1970's and early 1980's , there was enough strife on campus that you got used to lock down mode.

Bomb threat in dorms..okay...someone is pissed about approaching finals.

National Jehovah Nova convention /convocation on campus...run to Dizzy's I Grabs It All before they run out of beer and condoms.....again.....check .

Somehow, we knew this was different.

We didn't have time to think about anything...we were too young to really be scared.

Phones ringing off the walls...people in pure panic because a lot of students were not from the area and their folks only had spotty at best news .

Over and over again.....if people could get through..." No Sir or Ma'am , I don't know if ( insert your loved ones name here ) is hurt or not. I am sure they will call you as soon as they can.

Remember this is pre voice mail, pre cell phones, pre e mail....the friggan Dark Ages.

I can only imagine what the parents were feeling.

We did the best we could with what we had.

My own mother was panic stricken , but even in her usual haze she knew that she couldn't do a hell of a lot from California.

In the old office , it was one of those old step downs where you went down a few stairs to get into the office. Campus PD and the Fire Dept were in the same location , but the switchboard didn't have any windows save the small one in Dotty's office. We lost sense of time fairly quickly and had no idea what was going on. Eventually we would all have to wear the masks and get used being casual about standing in our underwear..pray God we wore some that day ...and hosing off the ash off of our clothes and our hair , because once it combined with water ..it was worse than quick dry cement. Heh...we were young ( and thinner - wink) and really not all that concerned...being all hip and cool and so on.

The county cops...bright lads protecting Colfax and the greater Paloose finally realized that the ash was the reason that the engines blew...no air filter created at the time could stop it..

Shazaam....panty hose to the rescue.

And of course...my personal luck was just so supper cool tons of fun in tact....

I had given my notice .

Despite the best efforts of Sistah and Double O Mullet...I was going back to Walla Walla to see if in a complete moment of shear I have lost mah mind...I wanted to make the biggest mistake on God's Green Earth and resume/continue my marriage.

We had in fact just taken the damned drapes to the cleaners...remember Sistah....and had the paint to repaint the apt so I could get my deposit back...and I was in panic mode...no savings, no job...and no chance of a do over from Dotty if I went and said.. "Oopsie....just kidding....can I retract the letter of resignation.."?

The look on her face would have been priceless.

Thirty years.

Yes Sistah...I still have the earrings..lol .

Suffice to say...two years later...I packed yet again and headed down here.

Don't think I'm leaving any time soon.

Have a great week.

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

And I have no idea why the print color changed when I posted this...oh well...no biggie

Rosemary Rolls

Prep Time: 3 Hours

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 7

Ingredients
Frozen, Unbaked Dinner Rolls
Melted Butter, Regular, Salted
Fresh Rosemary, Coarsely Chopped
Coarse Sea Salt

Preparation Instructions

Spray a small iron skillet with cooking spray (or coat with olive oil). Place frozen rolls in the skillet, leaving plenty of room for rising. Cover and allow to rise for several hours.
After rising, brush rolls with melted butter.
Sprinkle on chopped rosemary. Brush with additional butter. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Bake according to roll package directions (usually 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes), until rolls are a deep golden brown on top.

Try to get the skillet to the table to serve intact.

I can hear Lady Lisa screaming already..but...I will be forced...forced I say to try this since I have the rosemary in the garden...once I get a small cast iron skillet .

Yes honey...I know that we can't use it on the cook top unless it's enamel coated...another idea that one....but I CAN use it in the oven so calm down.

The above is from Miss Rees site and I believe can also be found on the tasty kitchen website...which is still amazing and one of my two favorite go to places ( the other being the Food Network site) where I can save recipes in mah own widdle recipe box.

edit...Yep..use Rosemary Rolls in the search field on the upper right side of the TK site and it will pop up..7'th or 8'th recipe down...or copy it from here...you all know that you can c/p any recipe I put up here...so fire up those ovens pronto !

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

If It's Monday ~ It's John Barrowman Time ~!

Ok...First of all, before I do anything else, SU ( decloaking as Gordy for a brief moment) want to thank each and every one of you that sent prayers and good thoughts our way this last week during this roller coaster ride . Mother has improved a bit and is now in a private room . More than that I just don't know at this point.

It is what it is .

Onward.

Other than the above and the loss of our usual routine, it was pretty much an uneventful weekend at the Casa.

We finally got some much needed rain but it's in the 90's again....yep...too damn hot for me . I finally got off the arse and ordered the Shasta daisy's for the area around the mail box so I am pretty stoked about that .

We avidly await Thursday and Jimmy Buffet with the crazy cajuns...SU is all happy happy since he bought a new Hawaiian shirt to wear..cause that's how we are....

Then off to Mississippi for Aunt Genies Memorial service...

Have a great week.

All Y'all are the best...yes you are !

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

The Roller Coaster Ride

Let me preface this by saying that I only want the best in this situation.

What a hell of a week.

I was speaking to the NG's tonight and NGC ( ok...Cindy) said , having been through this for a very long time with her own recently passed father that this is a roller coaster.

The highs and lows are not that graphic but this is the way it feels.

I need to get my work filters back in place.

It's harder than hell when you get the calls at the office not to freak out.

I am not the sort of person who can hide my feelings from my face.\

I can't lie worth a tinkers damn .

It's all right there.

But, I cannot function as I need to with out putting the stops in place.

No, Mother is not worse.

In fact , there has been enough improvement that they have moved her from ICU to a private room.

Will she go home ?

I can't answer that.

Will this go on ?

Indeed.

My husband is exhausted, physically and emotionally.

I am letting him do what ever he wants.

Sleep is a big issue right now for us.

This situation becomes a moment of episodes...and we are living between them.

We are trying to desperately re-establish our routines to try to hang on.

Other than here, I will have the filters in place.

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts who have said prayers, kept us in your thoughts and who have been here.

A huge hug to Lady L.

Blessed Be.

Have a great week.

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

Self Portrait

Enjoy.

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

A Memory I keep Re-Visiting

I keep remembering the very first time I met the future in-laws.


Bear in mind Gordy is the better part of crazy.



We had not told anyone that we were going to get married because of all things...he was still technically married to Marcia ..aka First Wife or FW.


Hey..it's taken me 20 years to not go off in a psycho bitch tirade about the FW so give me some credit..m'kay ?


Gordy and FW never really had a marriage...it lasted 6 months and basically was due to her thinking that marrying some hapless idgit ( sorry honey..) would make her drug dealing boyfriend in Austin come to heel.

Yeah..she was that way.


Anyhoo....they never got around to the divorce bit after more than a few years because neither expected to remarry.



Enters Moi.


Oops.


Anyhoo...He and I had been bopping around Gunspoint Mall shopping and after reentering the freeway, I suddenly needed to pee....I assume beers had been consumed somewhere along the days events.


Groom to be says no worries..he knows where to go,


Uh -Huh.

The next thing I know we are pulling up to a residential area I've never seen..followed by a driveway also unknown.

At this point , I am torn between being completely and utterly appalled and needing to hit the facilities.


And thus ...I got to meet my future sister in law.


Bear in mind I am in my beloved Black Sabbath Tee and black bluejeans...no..not goth...just uber cute in my younger and thinner days.

After a short trip down the hall...introductions were made.

I must have had a really funny look on my face over all of this stupidity..yeah honey...not the way I had envisioned meeting your sister BTW !


After mercifully brief chit chat ..Charlotte says that they are going to her Church's Oyster Fry...blah blah fishcakes.


It was decided that we would meet there....and again unknownst to me...Gordy had known that his parents were I believe at Lake Conroe fishing ..so he decided on the qt that we are going to go by there and see if they want to join in what by now is just super crazy cool tons of fun....NOT.

Off we go..me still being clueless thinking that we were on the way to the Church gig...and I am of course praying for a beer or 6 to calm my now nuclear detonated nerves.


So here we are now in BFE Lake Conroe...hey I am a city girl...so the BFE is appropriate.


By now it has finally dawned on me that Gordy is making a tactical strike and that I am about tho meet his parents for the very first time.


It has also dawned on me that the engagement might be of record brevity since I might just have to kill him dead.



He has the good sense not to introduce me as his fiancee..thank you Gaia but makes some smart ass remark to his folks that I can't pass up ..so demure lil ol me says to his father....

"I'm gonna beat the crap out of him..you want to hold his head or his feet ?"


Pop bust a gut laughing and said I was ok.


Wheeee.


Later on..


We are now living together...which his parents sincerely and strongly disapprove of due to their religious convictions.


We are in fact living next door to them in the house Gordon has been renting.


I have often wondered just how many gals the folks saw slip out of Gordy and his roommates house in the early am.


In all fairness to the folks, I am sure they thought I was just another one.

We are by now engaged but can't really tell anyone because of his status with FW and the fact that ALL of our friends would think it's too soon.


WAY to soon....like a month .


His fathers retirement party was at their church and so off we go.


As the party goes on...at the point where everyone is sitting in a big circle with the guest of honor in the middle...introductions are made.


As Pop gets to me he gets a kind of grin on his face and announces....


" And this young lady, I have just been informed by my son is my future daughter in law....and I don't even know her last name !"


Yep...that's how we roll .


Personally I think Gordy panicked at my mentioning of an engagement party ...but it all worked out.



The girl in the Black Sabbath Tee has kept their baby boy on the mostly straight and narrow for 23 years.


Memories I now treasure.



Ciao,

Aunty Pol

Deeply Ironic

I am finding it deeply ironic right now that I am the one who has it together.


We have a rule , you see.


In times of crisis, only one of us at a time may freak out.


We are waiting for the call on his mother.


Even the doctors know that she will not be leaving ICU.

She has told them all and her husband and son...enough.

She is tired.

Tired of the cancer.

Tired of congestive heart failure.

Tired of a colostomy bag.

Tired of being tired.

Tired of being tired.

In Pain.

Spent.


So like he did for me with my father, I wait with him for the call.


Letting him ramble on, about nothing and everything .


We've spent the better part of 2 years , watching the decline...realizing that indeed , it is what it is.

Swimming upstream against his family who hope against hope that Mother will bounce back...


Baptists do that.


Agnostics do not.

I am at best agnostic.

With Wicca tendencies.


I will take care of him as he has done for me.

He is a good son.


He is a better son than he will ever realize, no matter how often he has been told otherwise.


He is the most level headed, honest person I know..and far better than he will ever realize.

His mother knows his worth.

It's not payback.

It's respect for all the players in the drama we now have to deal with.

We wait for the call.


Blessed Be.

Aunty Pol

A Pause In Posts

Dearhearts,

There will be a break in posting this week.

Long story short..as many of you know my mother in law is not in good health ( heart , cancer, age) and had to go to the hospital at 6 am yesterday with breathing issues.

Medical trifecta..pneumonia, UTI and congestive heart.

We saw her last night briefly.

I just got a call that they have taken her to ICU.

Gordy is on his way there, I am at work till I know more or get the next call.

I've never imagined nor do I EVER want to hear my father in law in tears again..

Same for my husband.

I'll keep all y'all posted.

AP/J

Bruce Of The Day ~ Happy Friday ~

Happy Friday people.

I don't know about the rest of you , but today here in Aunty Pol's world, today has only been about three days long.

Enough !

Enough I say !

I want to go home and find the shorts , tee shirt and the adult beverage in the plastic patio glass and go veg on the patio for a bit,

Except it's been 90 degrees every day this week.

Sister says that they had frost up in the great Paloose this morning and a temperature of 28 degrees.

If I didn't love her so much ( Happy Mothers Day to you and your Mom) , I would shoot her.

Twenty Eight Degrees.

Kill me now.

We've already had to start the almost daily watering of the Hydrangeas in the front bed....sigh.

Mindful of the fact that the monthly water bill is insane makes me very careful. And you CAN'T

tell me that the rates did not go up after KATRINA , RITA and IKE.

Nope.

Not buying it.

Up until last year the average bill for garbage pick up and water was $48.00. Now before you all freak..we are in a MUD district and thus traditionally higher.

And I know SU is gonna read this..do not say a word dear..I'm the one paying this bill.

Anyhoo....On or about the first of April, I used to send a monthly payment of $60.00 , so that when August rolled around with the huge bills, they wouldn't seem all THAT bad.

I know that doesn't make sense to anyone but me and that's fine...you want sense..you pay the bill.

'Nuff Said.

Sometime after Katrina , I noticed the bill had gone up a but until it averaged out at about $65.00 per month.

Even in winter , when there was no yard, plants or flowers to water.

Even when we had friggan snow that killed off all of our gardens.

I am NOT using any more water..in fact we are more careful now than ever.

I guess I'm gonna have to start bumping it up $15.00 to $20.00 per month to try to reduce envelope opening trauma .

Onward.

No great plans for MOI for the weekend.

Hisself has a full dance card.

Tomorrow is the annual ART CAR parade which he loves . He always tries to get some of his newer co-workers or those who haven't been before to meet him...yeah I know ...Pied Piper Syndrome. I won't be amongst the crew as I REALLY burn easily even with sun screen . Aside from that , I really do not like crowds so he's free to frolic. Then he will be going to his Mom's for Mothers Day...and no...I didn't have to nag him...his own idea...thank you dear.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Mothers Day if that is a holiday that you celebrate. I really don't celebrate it . My mother passed in 1981 , but I did send the Step Mama a cute cactus dish with a variety in it. As I recall, she had some cactus already in the bay window in the kitchen and since she is out and about quite a bit , no maintenance is the way to go.

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

Well, I'm Miffed !

http://scifiwire.com/2010/04/11th-hour-rescue-for-lege.php

I loved this show.

I have all of Terry Goodkind's books in hard cover.

Thank Gaia the plans for a " Dragon Riders Of Pern" never came to be..

I know they would have screwed it up .

In my next life I want to live in a Wyr.

Have a great week.

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

Ask Dr. Baltar

Dear Dr. Baltar,

I recently was fortunate enough to hear one of your thought provoking speeches and after much thought , hoped that I might seek your advice on a delicate area.

One hears often of the pantheon of differing Deity's and their various paths to enlightenment.

How,Sir does one know which path to follow ?

My parents cannot be bothered to sit down and discuss this with me due to their busy schedules on the flight deck, my peers cannot be bothered with my " flights of fancy " to put it politely.

Surely , as a man of your stature and education , you with all of your lifelong experiences can offer up even the smallest gem of insight.

Forever Grateful.

A Fellow Seeker of Truth.

Dear Lookey Seekie,

Really, you young people fail to see that a person of my stature has far more important and pressing things to deal with than your hormonal meanderings, no matter how nicely you whine for the answers to life's pop quiz's.

Go find a playmate, hopefully of the opposite gender and play hide and seek with them.

Note to self: I must get a security upgrade on the locks to my personal cabin.

Happy Cinco de Mayo People !

I find it amusing that all of a sudden over he last few years that any holiday that can be remotely tied to alcohol is an excuse to throw a party.

Bastille Day ..ok....guilty .

But...come on..if you want to celebrate a holiday , before you cut loose , show some respect and at least google it to see what it's all about.

Be careful out there today kids.....not even the Margarita's at Cyclone Anaya's are worth a ticket or worse.

Ok.

Lecture Over.

Carry on.

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

May The Fourth Be With You

Today is also International Star Wars Day.

Below are some of my favorite quotes:

" The force is what gives a Jedi his power ."
Obi-Wan Kenobi



" I find your lack of faith disturbing".
Darth Vader



"If there is a bright center to the universe, then you 're on the planet it's furthest from."
Luke Skywalker'


" We seem to be made to suffer. It is our lot in life."
C-3PO


"Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is."
Yoda


" Size matters not. Look at me . Judge me by my size , do you ?"
Yoda


" The dark side crowds everything. Impossible to see the future is."
Yoda


Do you have any favorite quotes ?


Ciao,

Aunty Pol

I Was Three

Today I celebrate 28 years with the firm.

I was three when they hired me.

Crap..I really am old.

Have a great week.

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

Time

It's very hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that today is the 40'th anniversary of the Massacre at Kent State.

FORTY YEARS .

I've tried to remember where I was 40 years ago...growing up in the Navy, we moved so much that I have to use certain events and time lines to remember where I was . I have lost count of the number of schools I've attended or the areas other than state or country where they were.

Forty two years ago we were living in Winthrop , Minnesota with my mother's parents since Mom and Dad were in Europe for the better part of the school year. '

Winthrop.

Population 764.

Grandpa Engwall was a Lutheran Minister and the parsonage was right smack dab next to the First Lutheran Church.

My 13'th birthday is a vivid and complete memory. It was the Lenten season and as you can all imagine , attendance to the evening service was not an option.

I did manage to get out of it because at the time, I had just started to have my periods and they were brutal.

I had fainted in the kitchen so after much discussion, it was decided that for " just this once ", I was excused.

Grandma and Grandpa had an old console style t.v. in the living room, black and white of course and I can still remember seeing the breaking news that Dr. King had just been killed.

As much as I wanted to race next door , I knew that fire and brimstone would be easier than my Grandmothers wrath at my interrupting the service...because if I was " well" enough to do that then there was NO excuse for me missing the service.

Therefore..

I guess at the age of 15, we were living in Virginia Beach next door to Bill and Betty St. Lawrence. Bill was a class mate of Dads at Annapolis and a complete DAWG..if you get my drift...

Around the corner lived my oldest friend , the other Cathy. Kathy St. Lawrence and Cathy Long and I ..the three Sherlock Holmes Roy William Neil Basil Rathbone fanatic fans who to this day ...well...I can still quote the films at will.

Kathy St. Lawrence will be forever Holmes, the coolest chick around. She just had that aura of hippie chick Yardly of London, dark hair, Navajo blood ( she and her brother Patrick were adopted) who had the confidence to wear no makeup and gave off an appeal that males of damn near any age couldn't resist. I worshiped the ground she walked on..she was that cool. My first date and mad crush was with one of her old boyfriends, Jim Maynard..and it never occurred to me that his appeal was not for him..but because if Kathy dated him for a while he must be wonderful...yes..I was a chump. Lets just say that this BOZO thought a nice first date would be roller skating. Just about the most un-cool thing of all time in 1970 and we won't discuss the grace and talent I showed on wheels that night.

I will always answer to Watson....Dr. John H. Watson thank you very much and I don't mind that at this age, I look more like Nigel Bruce than Basil Rathbone.

And then there was Cathy Long.

Forever Inspector John Lestrade.

Cathy C and I had met in 8'th grade biology class. She was and is just about the polar opposite of Kathy St. Cathy C and I were the dorks and I am sure that Kathy St. lorded it a bit over us as she felt it was her due to have an entourage..her mother being an artist and the daughter of a semi famous sculptress in the New England region.

Oh I remember Kent State.

As an object lesson , held up as an example of the times we lived in and a war understood by a very few.

My parents were about as white bread conservative as they come, both due to nature and my fathers career.

I being me of course was all..protester hippy chick. I had one of the first POW/MIA bracelets that came out and remember arguing for hours about the USS Pueblo. The captain was my Godfather.

Oh it was glamorous to be that lil pot smoking Janis Joplin hippy chick fan....rebel chic.

And then two kids who were only cutting through a campus died...for no reason than being literally at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Did it impact me ?

No...in our little world at the age of 15, Ohio was a world away even though my father's Dad and Step mother lived there. My future husband was either on his was or already in a country that I only knew as being on the evening news with Huntley and Brinkley.

At 15 , there was no reason for it to be a major deal to most of us. As most 15 year olds are , we were too self obsessed..teenagers are that was.

Now, 40 years later, my thoughts are not of those days with the two girls.

My thoughts are of two families whose lives where shattered completely for the sake of a short cut.

Today I mark 28 years with the firm...

Time.

We never notice the passage as much as we should.

Blessed Be.

Aunty Pol

Yep...Here We Are

Yep.

I laughed so hard when I saw this and thought of the SU and I that I had to use it .

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

As stated previously, Friday was a fairly crappy day.

I had left the office at 3 pm for the hair appt which is just about the only thing that got me through the day and then to finish off the day , the unused and curiously validated gift card to SuperCuts that I received as a Christmas present gave Miss Olivia all kinds of caniption fits so I left it with her so she could try to figure it out.

My only choice left ?

Retail Therapy.

My style.

I bought a new Hydrangea to fill in the last spot in the bed in the front of the house , two Coleus for the former Verbena planter...yes ..I did kill the Verbena , 2 really cute4 little plants..Sun Eyes (?) , Sweet Basil and Pineapple Sage.

All better.

We got everything planted and errands run..well by SU ...and the NG's went all kinds of nuts in their yard with planting and so on .

And it was sooooo f'g muggy.

We kept hoping that we would get some rain since we had done all that planting..but zip.

For whatever bizarre, world is about to implode reason, I was awake and out of the bed at 7: 30 yesterday morning.

I will wait as you pick yourselves off the floor.

Better ?

Water ?

Smelling salts ?

Yeah...it was bizarre

I had cleaned the larger bit of the house the day before and had in fact gotten 90 % of the laundry done . I even got a double batch of Miss Ina's chiggin salad done.

So there I was..awake.

I could have slept in since I didn't have anything really except the sheets to do before I went to get the paws and claws done....but noooooo.

I made coffee, read the paper, had brekky, did the bacon and eggs for my take to work breakfast tacos for the week, made a chocolate chip pound cake, put away clean laundry, visited with the NG's for a few, checked the livestock ( herb garden in their pots) on the patio....watered the yard....

In other words I lost my mind.

After we got home, SU made up the baked chicken with Feta and I had a beverage on the patio while we waited for one of the gals to j oin us for dinner...

Yes, Sunday dinner with us is almost a weekly thing now.

NG and I decided all in all it wasn't a bad weekend as our personal chef prepared dinner and we had a glass of wine.

Not bad at all.

Have a great week,

Ciao,

Aunty Pol

If It's Monday ~ It's John Barrowman Time ~!

I swear all y'all could have heard me squee like a complete fangirl...Like..?

OK...OK

I am a complete fangirl of John Barrowman and all things Torchwood.

I'd consoled myself with collecting various pictures of him and his band of cohorts for Monday postings and didn't think much further..nothing new there .

I'd heard rumors that FOX was going to re-do and " Americanize" Torchwood which made me completely insane...Yes...BBC did re do Dr. Who and did an outstanding job of it..but it needs to be said that part of the success is that they remain faithful to the original premise.

I paid scant attention to the possibility that John ( yes..in my mind we are on a first name basis, thankyouverymuch) was going to be on " Desperate Housewives" since I don 't watch the show..SU does but I can't get into it which is weird since Kyle " Paul Atreides, Former Duke of Caladan and Emperor of Arrakis and the Known Universe ~ Shai Halud ) " MacLaclan was/is/was (?) on it.

Obsessed by all things " Dune "?

What pray tell was your first clue ?

Anyhoo...there I was re-entering the Casa from my room , aka the IceHouse and there he was.

Voila!

CAPTAIN JACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !

I apologize to all dogs in the area who had to suffer from the pitch of my extended squeee.

I think I scared 5 years growth off of SU ..but at his age...no big thang.

Have a great week.

Ciao,

Aunty Pol