I got tagged with the "Six Weird Things"

Eugene J. McCarthy, unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for Presidency in 1968, bumper sticker.

 

 

The Fabulous Sally Z.A. Tagged Me.   Sally, I'll do this for you, because you're so special!

 

6 Weird Things About Me  (Maybe not so weird, but perhaps unexpected...)

1.  My favorite comfort food is Campbell's Tomato Soup with saltine crackers and peanut butter.  Heat the soup, put the peanut buttter on the crackers, add texas pete, or other hot sauce to the soup, and then crunch the peanut butter crackers up in the soup.  Serve with cheese sandwiches with heavy mayo and chocolate milk.

 

2.  I drove for Yellow Cab in downtown Atlanta for 4 years in the last 70's.  I loved that job.  I figured if it was a good enough job for Bella Abzug, it would be a good enough job for me to make a little money to get me through the college years.  I actually learned more driving a cab than I did in the last three years of high school and the time I spent in college. 

 

3.  I've been active in Democratic politics since I was a child...my first encounter with a Presidential Candidate was in Raleigh I believe, and the candidate was Eugene McCarthy.  (does anyone else remember the "Flowers for McCarthy" stickers?)

 

4.  I worked for the Carter Presidential campaign headquarters in Atlanta when I first got there to go to college.  It was a natural, since it was just across the corner from the High Museum at Colony Square. 

 

5.  I think I was the first  female lane man in the metro Atlanta area bowling area.  There were several 300 games bowled on my lanes, and while the bowlers were happy, not so much could be said about the sanctioning groups.  (Who me?  Block a lane?)

 

6.  I ran for County Commissioner here in my County.  I lost by the most marginal of losses, and many think it was due to the "loss" off my name from the paste-up of our weekly paper in route to the printers the week before the election.  As I look back, I am thinking that it was a good thing, many people in my community don't really deserve my representation.  This is probably the reason we don't have the best representation in government on all levels.   Makes you wanna say, "Hmmmm....."

 

Ann Richards 1933-2006

Photo from theTexas State Library & Archives Commission

Prints and Photographs Collection

 

I've lost another hero... Ann Richards

My Favorite TV Character, Captain Kangaroo

Wednesday...I hear that it's "Favorite TV Character Day".  Who could be  better to represent TV and character than Captain Kangaroo?

 

When I was little, this was the tv program I watched every weekday morning.  This was before childcare, pre-k, kindergarten, preschool.  This was the time when Grandma would come and sit with you when Mom had to go shopping or to the doctor. 

 

Captain Kangaroo was the way I started the day, with toast, cereal maybe, strawberry Quik.  Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan),  Mr. Green Jeans (Hugh Brannum), and Mr. Moose, Mr. Bunny Rabbit, Grandfather Clock,  Dancing Bear, and Tom Terrific and Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, I remember them all.  I remember Phoebe the sheepdog, and the pingpong balls, the magic drawing board.

 

I remember the commercials...appropriate ones for kids my age, for Schwinn bicycles, Playdoh, and Crayola Crayons.

 

And he read to me.  Curious George, Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal, the books I hold in my hands today that make me remember Captain Kangaroo. 

 

There's no doubt in my mind that the Captain helped develop my love of books, pingpong balls, nice bikes and fuzzy animals.  I can't imagine what kind of person I would have been  without him.

Art Sunday The Story of Picasso and a Dachshund - New York Times

Lump,  in a Picasso version of "Las Meninas" by Velazquez. 

(Museu Picasso, Barcelona)

 

 

Since I really need to rest, I turn you over to the capable Arts section of the New York Times.

 

The Story of Picasso and a Dachshund - New York Times 

written by Alan Riding, Published August 26, 2006

 

 

Art Sunday "Do It Yourself"

I've had a rough week, a sinus infection, way too much drama at work sometimes (I hate drama...unlesss it's on TNT), and I'm just tired.

 

So, to rejuvenate, let me take you to a site I enjoy. 

 

 S C R I B B L E R

 

Draw away, and then start the program...make a masterpiece.  Above?  Just a little doodle I did this morning. 

 

Book Tuesday

This morning, I wrote this comment for The Witch's entry "On Choices, Museums and Books."

 

So many great books, so little time. I work in the tech services department of a public library, doing processing on all new books and repairs on damaged books. I am afforded the luxury of having a few minutes to browse everything that comes in.

 

There is a lot of crap out there, for sure. Danielle Steel comes to mind. We're getting a deluge of requests for the genre of "Christian Fiction." The "Left Behind" series is just about the biggest pile of pulpwood poop I've ever witnessed.

 

My favorite is definitely the genre I call Southern Disfunctional...Alice Walker, Flannery O'Conner, Toni Morrison's "Beloved" was one of the best horror stories I've ever read,  Rick Bragg's "All Over but the Shouting", Willie Morris and his "My Dog Skip".

 

I usually keep at least two novels, and at least one audio book going at one time, not to mention the knitting and textile books that I keep open for reference. Right now I'm listening to "The Attack" by Yasmina Khadra and reading "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton: A Novel", by Jane Smiley, and "Sapphire's Grave" by Hilda Gurley-Highgate.

 

There is an unbelievable amount of Young Adult and Children's Fiction out there too, many that I wind up taking home, if I can't finish them at my desk. I wait with enthusiasm for "Walter the Farting Dog Goes on a Cruise" by William Kotzwinkle...the previous books in the series have been real page turners!

 

I have to keep a notebook at my desk to list the books I want to read, there is just no way to get them all home to read, but all of us in my department have agreed, that we wish that every week, we could read a book like "Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog"  by John Grogan.

 

  

I know, I'm a dog lover (LMAO!  Can't you tell I love dogs?) and I identified with the humor, the destruction, the unconditional love.  Marley was NOT the world's worst dog.  Marley was a Lab.  As a past and present owner of labs and retrievers, I just think that I've got the world's worst dog when I have to replace a sofa, or rehang drapes or suck up the remnants of the destruction of a waterbed.  Those of us at work that read the book loved it, and I listened to it while I was at work, and laughed.  I also cried at the inevitable conclusion, bringing back all of the pain that I felt this past January when I had to let go of my dear Golden Smiley (who did as much if not more to destroy this home than Marley did to his.)

 

Reading this book now, has helped remind me that no matter what happens now, the puppyhood phase won't last forever, sheetrock can be replaced, and unconditional love and devotion is priceless.    This is one of the rare popular hits that resonated with me, and if you are a dog lover, it probably will with you too.

So, What Was Your Big Moment on a Motorcycle?

This motorcycle looks exactly like the one I had.  And I am getting the hots for another one, I must admit.  It's a  Kawasaki KZ1000 Police Edition.

 

Speaking of hots/or maybe trots?...check out  Bill's Droppings - The Ballad of the Queasy Riders.  Bill suggested in a comment on my "Back when I let my Good Times Roll" entry that I ought to issue a challenge, and I see he's gone ahead, and started without me!  

 

So, give it up, let your hair down, spill your guts like Bill did, or let it all hang out, like I did, but tell it!  The kickstand is down!  The Leather Jacket is hung up, but it's time to share.  What's YOUR motorcycle story?