Month: June 2018

Walking Farts

This is an oldie. Hope you enjoy!

nananoyz's avatarPraying for Eyebrowz

Please excuse the title, but I’m all about truth in advertising. Most of the time, anyway.

About 15 years ago Studly and I took a big motorcycle trip with our good friends Guy and Janice. When I say big, I mean we rode from Great Bend, Kansas, to points in South Dakota and Wyoming including Sturgis, Mt. Rushmore, and Devils Tower of “Close Encounters” fame. it was my first major ride on my own bike, a 650 Yamaha V-Star. The V-Star was an absolutely beautiful cruiser with next to no horsepower. Keeping it at 65 mph took constant effort. I was fairly miserable for much of the trip–a combination of first ride nerves and no oomph.

The ride, though, was incredible after we escaped from the wind tunnels commonly known as Kansas and Nebraska. Once in South Dakota we rode through a cluster of wild burros in Custer State Park…

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A Metaphor?

Monday is laundry day. Now that there are just two of us in the Doright household the chore isn’t nearly as tedious as it once was. I still don’t love doing laundry, but I don’t mind it nearly as much.

Once the final load was in the dryer I drove into Tallahassee for a few necessities. Normally I avoid the big retailer (aka Walmart), but it was the nearest store that was sure to have everything I needed.

When I entered the store I was looking for just three items, so I didn’t grab a shopping cart. Can you believe how naive I still am at the ripe old age of 61.5? One doesn’t simply shop at Walmart without a cart.

As my arms became overburdened with just discovered “must haves” I began looking for an abandoned cart. As luck would have it, I found one just around the corner from the Preparation H aisle. Don’t ask, but yes, that was one of my necessities. Damned diverticulitis.

It didn’t take me long to realize why the cart had been abandoned:

That annoying intermittent sound (much louder in real life than in the above video) was my cart. The darned thing handled like a two ton tank that every few feet emitted an awful buzz causing fellow shoppers to wince and/or laugh out loud. A small child began crying as I approached.

I guess I could have abandoned the cart as its previous operator had done, but I decided to embrace it instead, quirky sound effects and all. As I wrestled my noisy cart around the store, adding milk and cat treats and plain yogurt and bananas and yes, Preparation H, among other things, I began to think of the cart as a metaphor for life:

“The road we travel isn’t always peaceful or smooth, but if you keep pushing, eventually you’ll get to lay down your load.”

Okay, that’s a crummy metaphor, but what are you going to do? Sue me?

Peace, people.

WordPress Support?

I have an issue and I don’t know how to contact WordPress support.

This morning as I checked my stats I noticed some odd activity in the posts viewed. Note the items I’ve circled in blue. These aren’t items I’ve posted, nor are they reblogs of other bloggers’ posts. I’m concerned that perhaps I’ve been hacked. Any thoughts? How do I get WordPress to look into this?

Notorious RBG at All Saints

Those of my readers who’ve been following me for awhile know how much I delight in finding unique places to patronize. Today I found a real gem in Tallahassee, All Saints Cinema just on the edge of Railroad Square Art Park.

Okay, the exterior isn’t that impressive, but trust me, it’s a cool venue.

Located in one end of the old Amtrak station, All Saints Cinema primarily shows indie and art films on an old school screen. The interior of the theater pays homage to its train depot heritage, with exposed brick walls and chalkboard train schedules.

There are no reclining seats in this theater, but the old style seating was comfortable and added to the ambiance.

A vintage cartoon preceded the feature film. I think it was titled, Frisky Frolics, and the sound didn’t quite match up with the picture. I found that immensely charming.

But I wasn’t there for the funnies, after all. A member of one of the Meetup groups I’ve joined suggested that we see RBG, a documentary about Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, also known as “Notorious RBG.”

The film follows the diminutive 80-something Ms. Ginsberg from her very early years in Brooklyn through her time at Harvard and then Cornell where she was one of just a handful of women studying law. The documentary details her dedication to fighting for gender equality early in her career and her nomination and subsequent appointment to the highest court in the land.

To say she is an inspiration would be an understatement. All Americans owe a debt of gratitude to Ms Ginsberg’s tireless dedication to gender equality. Even in her eighth decade she continues the fight. I just pray she can outlast the current administration. Progressives count on her common sense and fighting spirit.

Now that I’ve discovered All Saints Cinema I’m thinking about becoming a member, so I would be eligible for perks like reduced ticket prices and first dibs on tickets. Since the theater seats only about 60 people, that would be great.

Below is a shot of the track side of the depot.

And I must’ve accidentally shot this photo of the railing. It was kind of artsy looking, so I thought I’d share it. Notice the little lizard posing on the horizontal brace.

Here’s a link to All Saints Cinema’s website. If you live in the Tallahassee area check it out. (By the way, I received no compensation for promoting this business. I thought it was cool, and believe others would, as well.)

https://www.tallahasseefilms.com

Peace, people!

“Kathy and the Cats” or The Power of Praise

Here’s one of my very first blog posts. It makes me smile.

nananoyz's avatarPraying for Eyebrowz

I remember when I first wanted to be a writer. I was a second grader in Mrs. Gregory’s class at R.C. Andrews Elementary in Floydada, Texas. The class was assigned the task of writing a story based on a series of pictures. Those pictures remain imprinted on my mind:

Frame 1: a little blonde girl stands on her porch looking at a kitten
Frame 2: the little girl gives the kitten a bowl of milk
Frame 3: more kittens come to the porch
Frame 4: the little girl gets more milk
Frame 5: more kittens are on the porch
Frame 6: the girl’s hands are in the air and she looks distressed

Mom saved the story and every so often I find it tucked away in the pages of an old scrapbook. I must have just become familiar with the idea of using a period because they are everywhere, especially…

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Timberrr

Studly Doright is making progress with his recovery from surgery on his sciatic nerve. He still isn’t sleeping well due to intense nerve pain, but he manages to push through somehow. He’s tough.

Saturday he joined his golf group for lunch where they regaled him with tales from their morning round. He misses golf almost as much as he misses his sleep.

Studly returned home at one, just as a thunderstorm rolled in. He and I both took a much needed nap while the storm raged outside. When he awakened Studly surprised me by asking if I wanted to go to a movie. Well, duh. I ALWAYS want to go to see a movie.

I’d already seen Solo, but Studly hadn’t, so we spent the afternoon in that galaxy far, far away. I enjoyed it more the second time than I did the first, and Studly gave it his seal of approval. Afterwards we enjoyed dinner at a Japanese steak house to round out the evening.

Before the film started, though, our neighbor texted me a picture of a tree that had fallen in our neighborhood. When we returned home we drove passed our home to take a look.

It’s hard to tell from this angle, but the tree fell on top of a trailer loaded with sod, narrowly missing the pickup truck that had been pulling the trailer. We aren’t sure if it was felled by lightning or if our oversaturated ground gave way. Such is life in the forest. Hopefully no one was injured.

Studly went to bed early, hoping to get some sleep. Fingers crossed.

Peace, people.

Today’s Activities Thus Far

Shower

Yogurt with bananas and honey for breakfast

Brush teeth

Commiserate over Studly Doright’s lack of sleep

Law and Order mini-marathon

Load dishwasher

Organize Studly’s pharmaceuticals

Remember that I forgot to get dressed, apply immediate remedy in the form of denim capris and white T-shirt

Scowl at reflection in mirror

Apply makeup

Smile at reflection in mirror

Locate favorite flip flops and place them on feet

Compile a list of items to buy at CVS

Locate purse and phone

Remember that I didn’t write a blog post for today

Take a few minutes to write something to assuage my conscience

Frown at the results

Find a picture to distract from the lackluster post

Realize that wasn’t the one you wanted

Stick with that one

Peace, people

Publish

Roller Skates and Sexual Innuendo

An oldie. I was reminded of this post when my 16-year-old great niece told me how shocked she was to learn that The Banana Song she loved so much was probably full of sexual innuendo.

nananoyz's avatarPraying for Eyebrowz

Melanie Safka recorded “I’ve Got a Brand New Pair of Roller Skates” back in 1971. As a teenager I loved the song and sang it often. This past week something triggered memories of the tune and it got stuck in my head. I found myself singing it all the time. What a fun, happy song!

Or is it? An acquaintance of roughly my age heard me singing it and commented, “I always liked that song, but my mom wouldn’t let me sing it.”

“Really?” I asked, intrigued. “Why?”

“Well, she thought it was too sexual.”

Ok. This came as a complete surprise to yours truly. What could possibly be sexual about a young girl celebrating her love of roller skating? I turned to Wikipedia, the defacto source of information for everything in the universe.

According to Wikipedia, “Many listeners detect sexual innuendo in the lyrics, with the key in its…

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Rivertown Mercantile

On Thursday afternoon I drove the 45 minutes to the small town of Blountstown to get my hair cut and colored. My stylist, Genia Burke at Head 2 Toe, worked her magic and I look human again.

My trips to Blountstown are never complete, though, without a stop at Rivertown Mercantile. I’m in search of a bedside table for one of our guest bedrooms, and thought I might find one here. I didn’t find one that met my needs, but I enjoyed looking all the same.

I got a kick out of their sidewalk advertisement:

I love the displays of antiques and vintage items for sale.

On past visits I’ve bought some vintage botanical prints as well as some fun knick knacks and old books. Alas, I am still a bit puny and didn’t have the stamina to shop until I dropped. Actually I was a little worried that dropping might’ve been an unintended outcome, and I still had to drive home. I’ll be back in a month or so, and indulge myself further then.

By the way, I don’t receive any type of compensation for mentioning these businesses. I just like spreading the word.

Peace, people.

Honest, it was the Wine

I did something kind of dumb this morning and it reminded me of this old post.

nananoyz's avatarPraying for Eyebrowz

Before I tell you this story I need for you to know that I am not a stupid person; however, if after reading my tale of missteps you are led to the conclusion that I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree, I won’t argue with you.

On Wednesday night Studly had to be in Crestview, Florida, for a company Christmas party. Since I had an errand to take care of a bit further west we decided to rendezvous in Crestview for the night. I’d get up early Thursday and head to my destination while he’d go north to one of his locations.

We had a quiet, perhaps even a slightly romantic evening at the Holiday Inn Express in Crestview. I might have enjoyed a bit too much of a locally produced wine, but I remember distinctly reminding Studly to get his reading glasses before leaving for work the next…

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