Too tight of a grip. That's me. I keep too tight of a grip on things. Want to know how I can tell? Well, it's warming up here in mid-Michigan, so I haven't been wearing my gloves to drive. I'll get close to work, and realize my hands are gripping the wheel so tightly that I'm developing litle callous marks on my palms. Now when did THAT start???

Don't you just love the colors of these drop caps? I stole the caps AND the colors from MandarinDesign.

I really need to learn how to tilt and crop my pictures. There's a modified ability to do that in Photoshop Elements. The picture below is another one from my Monday walk from Hunky Sam's back to work.



I've worked three of the last four weekends. I'm looking forward to having a full weekend starting in about 10 hours. And what are you up to??

Car is fixed, and good to go. It was a major repair, (gasket), plus some preventative things (water pump, transmission lines), but Hunky Sam did a fine job and charged me less than the estimate. I do love that boy! (I also got his picture, but didn't ask his permission to post it. Should I?) I still have to take it to the brake/muffler place for a check-up there, and then I think the old buggy will be ready for a longer commute. I've lived three miles from work forever! When I move, the drive will be about 18 miles, so I want the car to be ready for this extra activity!

T is for trains. You've heard that expression, the "other side of the tracks"? Well, how about if we're right smack dab in the MIDDLE of the tracks!? Only, maybe 30 feet above them, so that we're out of any danger.

Typical Monday. My car had been leaving a few spots beneath it. Had the oil change guys check it last week: things checked out on their end of system, but they told me there were a couple of issues. So I took it to my mechanic, hunky Sam, and yes, there are issues. Kind of expensive issues, but what are you going to do? Besides, I have to keep hunky Sam and Matt, his cute assistant, in work, right?

Normally I take my car to Sam's, he brings me back to work, then takes the car back to the shop. Today was so gloriously beautiful, with sunshine and temperatures in the 50's, that I said no thanks, I'll walk. (And you know to give up a chance to ride with Hunky Sam means the weather was really spectacular.) I had planned for this walk, and had my camera with me. This is one of the shots I took. For those of you from the area, I'm crossing the Cedar bridge where it goes over the river and the train tracks. And too cool, a train was coming! Choo-choo!

They're coming!

well phooey. Comments aren't working right now. And y'all have made some pithy ones to which I wish to respond! Not fair!

March Movie Roundup. Let's see. There was Eight Below: If you like dogs and beautiful white scenery and gorgeous Paul Walker, this is a must see. (However, do bring tissues.) I thought of susan on the other-side-of-the-world at this one.

Failure to Launch is goofy. I mean REALLY goofy. Let's get real here. Artificial respiration on a Mockingbird? Biting dolphins? Terry Bradshaw's bare backside? Eek! However, the people are fun to watch, and if you have a couple of hours to kill, I supposed you could do worse.

Three Came Home is a 1950 movie based on Agnes Newton Keith's book about her imprisonment in several Japanese prisoner camps during World War II. Every other Friday night I stay at my mom's, and we watch old movies on the community college channel. This one starred Claudette Colbert, and was intriguing. However, the announcement prior to the movie was confusing. It said that the movie was This is the Army, and had Ronald Reagan in a featured role. We didn't see the title as this movie started, and kept thinking "how are they going to fit Ronnie in there?" Later we imdb'd Claudette Colbert to figure out what we had seen.

16 BLOCKS was typical of director Richard Donner's smart, fast-paced style. Bruce Willis as a tough aging cop and Mos Def as a prisoner are the male couple here. Mos Def was a treat and had the aged of us going "who is that guy?"

While 16 Blocks was set in New York City, Spike Lee's Inside Man was set in a bank in New York City, and the surrounding block. This is a fascinating movie, a bank heist movie where the crook starts out telling you who, what, where, then quotes Shakespeare on the how. Clive Owen, Denzel Washington (the U.S.'s finest living actor, in my opinion, feel free to disagree in the comments), Jody Foster, William Dafoe, and Christopher Plummer are all spot on in this intriguing movie where all is not as it seems.

Okay, time to go to work now. Happy Monday!

Well, I didn't wake up in the middle of the night this weekend, so my Unconscious Mutterings are at a later time.

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Glass castle::Don't throw stones
2. Preserved::Saved
3. Jealousy::The Green-eyed monster
4. Territory::Northwest
5. Coffee::Tea
6. Stephen::Stoned
7. Slut::naughty naughty (actually, I thought of a couple of names first, but I didn't think that would be nice.
8. Dynamic::Duo
9. Daybreak::Dawn
10. Dew::Mountain

Public Service Announcement: Nine Months to Christmas. (We had snow when we woke up this morning to drive that fact home.)

This quiz only requires a birthdate, but I loved the picture!

You Were a Deer

Graceful and gentle, you appreciate beauty and balance. A giving soul, you are able to sacrifice for the greater good.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?

You Should Be a Film Writer

You don't just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your story on the big screen!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

Swiped from the poetic Patti!

E is my favorite letter. It's my middle initial (Ellen) and the start of so many fine words: eager, eagle, ear, earnest, earnings, earth, earwig (ok, i threw that in to see if you were listening), ease, easel, east, Easter,easy, eat, eat, eat, ebony, ebullience, ebullient (which I didn't know how to pronouce until I heard the author Chris Bohjalian speak), eccentric, eccentricity, Ecclesiastes, echo, eclectic, eclipse, ecology, economics, ecstasy.

I have a degree in elementary education. Never used it, but notice: e e.

Eden, edge, edifice, editor, education, eerie, effect, effervesce, efficient, effort, egg, ego, egret (go see trykemom's), Egypt, eh, eight, elastic (thanks heavens for), elate, elbow, elder, elect, election, elective, electric, electricity, elegant, element, elemental, elementary, elephant, elevate, elevator, eleven.

In the early 90's I went back to school part-time, while working full-time. I was working on a degree in: electrical engineering. Notice: e e.

Elijah, Elisha, elixir, elk, elliptic, eloquent, else, elucidate, emancipate, ember, emblem, embrace, embrace, embrace, embroider, emerald, eminence, emotion, emotional, empirical, employ, emulate, enchant . . .

Okay, you get the idea. What's YOUR favorite letter!
. . .

G is for giraffe, and gimp, and genius, and goofball. Hmmmm. All good descriptions for my brother J.R.

I'm the oldest of six children. The next sibling was J.R., over there on the right. (Sheryl says we look alike. ahem. I do not have a beard.) He had cerebral palsy. He walked with crutches, played trumpet in the band in junior high and in the orchestra in senior high, loved outer space and baseball, had a BA in English and a Masters degree in psychology. He died in 1988, leaving a wife and three children. His son will be twenty-one in July and we're putting together a book of his dad's life from 0-21. In talking with friends about J.R.'s life, the subject of his crutches recurs.

To his family, his crutches were part of him. When someone is born with a condition, that is how you always know them. You think of a crutch not as a handicap, but as "what jebbie uses to get around with". It's something that not only helps him walk, but extends his reach (beware, he can smack you from farther away). It's a built-in baseball bat, miniature golf club, and croquet mallet. The curious broken cadence clank of canadian crutches becomes a signal that brother is near. And when he chased girls, he was not above using it to knock them off their feet.

Giraffes and J.R? When I saw Disney's stage production of The Lion King, it was the giraffes, stately creatures walking across the stage on stilts with crutches (aka hand stilts), that immediately caught my heart. They reminded me in step and in power of J.R., he of the tall spirit.

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

Around and about:

Claude sends us to myheritage.com, where you can do a face-imaging thing via uploaded pictures. I look like Harry Belafonte.

Taylor is my choice on Idol.

My A looks funny in the preview. Let's see how it looks in the post. (Looks okay, but I'm going to change it from pink to green.) How does my A look in your browser? I just love the new spring colors, which you can view over at MandarinDesign.

I took my sock off last night, and there was a dark stain at the base of the two toes next to the big toe. I couldn't remember getting my foot wet, which might cause bleed-thru from my socks or shoes. What the heck? Had I developed some terrible foot disease? (I'm only SLIGHTLY hypochondriacal!!) I ran my finger across it, and there was dull pain. What HAD I done??? Then I remembered. That morning I had dropped a magazine edgewise on my foot. I must be getting old and tender for that to cause such a bruise. *sigh*

I keep getting booted, so I will post this now . . . and add more later. See ya!

And now, I'm getting sleepy, so I'll say good night!

H
appy Spring! (and autumn to you folks over on the other-side-of-the-world!)

Over at flickr there is a DILO group that does Day-In-The-Life-of sets on the equinoxes and solstices. My day was way boring, but I did have camera in hand, so I decided to do a Lunch-in-the-life-of set. You can find it here.

Gail has a new poem here. While her regular blog is current events oriented, (and I've learned immensely from it), it is her poetry and personal stories that have captured my heart.

Take me home, country road, to the place, where I belong . . .

Earlier in the year I mentioned that two of my goals this year were letting go and moving on. I was speaking in both the metaphorical and literal sense. I have lived in the same apartment for 23 years. It's in a student section of time. Heck, most of my neighbors probably weren't even BORN when I moved in here. I figure I ought to live at least one more place before I move into the Old Folks' Home.

As of the week of May 15th, I will be vacating the premises. I'm moving on, to the country. I'll be taking up residence in a 98-year-old farmhouse.

From one extreme to the other.

Monday starts with some Madness:

How about some 'fill-in-the-blanks' this week? Thanks for playing, everyone! =)

1. When driving in my car, my radio station is usually tuned to _______. 99.1, WFMK
2. When I turn my television on, even if I'm not really paying close attention to it, it's usually on channel _____. Six, CBS
3. If I owned a pet, I would own a __________, because ____________. Schipperke, because they're adorable.
4. I own a _________ printer. I bought it because ____________. Epson, I liked its output.
5. You can find all kinds of books in my bookshelves, but mostly this type: ________. math and physics, history, fiction, computer, photography, cook.
6. I take about _____ pictures every month. 400
7. I blog about _____ times a month. 30
8. I've been really busy ___________ lately. working

They don't ALWAYS just stand there and pose.

Can it be? Can I actually get into blogger to make a post? Yikes!

oh good, now flickr is hiccuping. I guess I'd better just go out and enjoy the sun!

Fell asleep early, now up Unconsciously Muttering:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Sugar rush::Too much candy
2. Chemical::Reaction
3. Suspension::of belief
4. Defending::Champion
5. Conference::Big 10
6. Dance::Slow
7. Weather::is flukey
8. Fuel::Gas
9. Heartbreak::Loss
10. Insult::Injury

Blogger has been having issues all week, and just now hiccuped before I could get in. Let's see if this publishes.