Category: Commentary

It’s A Wonderful Life, You Know

Christmas Eve at Doright Manor  
George Bailey found out
When prayers sent up saved him
Life is wonderful

 

A gift from our daughter!
 
Although our children
Are far away this Christmas
Their presence is felt

I’m watching my favorite Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. As usual I began crying when young George Bailey prevented the pharmacist, Mr. Gower, from poisoning a young child. Studly Doright wanted to watch the next episode of Fargo, but I argued that we could watch that any old time. 

For once I won the battle for the remote. Studly’s even resisted the urge to flip to another channel during commercial breaks. I love him, even if he did buy me a holster for the gun I received for Christmas last year and still haven’t touched. Love is funny that way.

The cats are both drunk on catnip. 

   
 And I’m just content. I just heard a bell ring, and you know what that means.

 

Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.
 
Peace, people!

John Scalzi’s Best of the Year

Check these out!

http://wp.me/p5Fv-7cW

Forgive

Dearest Readers,

Sometimes real life intrudes on my blogging world. Studly Doright becomes David and Nana (Leslie) has to speak her mind:

We had dinner a week ago with a lovely couple at David’s office Christmas party. I’d met them briefly before, but at this dinner we were seated next to them. We had a great time getting to know one another. They were both near our age, raising a blended family, some kids grown, others still at home. 

David called a few minutes ago to tell me the husband had just died. He couldn’t tell me more at the moment. 

So one week ago this man was a vital, living human being with hopes and dreams and a beautiful family. No one could have predicted he’d be gone on this date. 

Whatever petty grudges you’re clinging to. Whatever perceived slights. Get past them. Forgive. Forgive. Forgive. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed and your pride won’t keep you warm.

Not a one of us is without blame in this life. We’ve wronged others and we’ve been wronged. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” rings a bell.
Pick up that phone. Call your sister. Call your brother, your mother, your dad, your niece or nephew, your child. You don’t even have to say you’re sorry. Just say, “I love you.” 

Peace, people. 

Praying for Eyebrowz Copyright 2015 by Leslie Noyes.

Greatest Day in History (for my blog)

Thank you friends for making yesterday the best ever for Praying for Eyebrowz. I realize compared to many of you my numbers were still paltry, but for me they were a big deal. 

Prior to yesterday my greatest number of views was 119 set in January. 

  
Yesterday I hit 134 views. I might have done a happy dance. 

I did a great deal of original blogging yesterday. My thinker was fully engaged. Plus, I reblogged some great pieces written by bloggers I follow. When Studly Doright asked how I’d spent my day I told him I’d theorized and plagiarized. (I don’t think reblogging counts as plagiarism, especially since I always credit the author.)

  
Finally my favorite of the stats is this one:

  
I really enjoy seeing where my posts have been read. It’s almost as if I’ve traveled to Turkey, handed my writing to a beautiful person sitting in a cafe and said, “Friend, tell me what you think.”

Then we laugh over our boza and bask in the warmth of the Turkish sun.

 

Boza
 
May your day be the best ever.

Peace, people!

Praying for Eyebrowz Copyright 2015 by Leslie Noyes.

The Force Continues to Awaken

Studly Doright has yet to see Star Wars Episode VII. As I explained to friends it’s been a special kind of hell to be unable to discuss the film with him. I’ve come so close to accidentally providing spoilers just because I NEED to think about it out loud. The cats are, quite frankly, sick of hearing about the film, and their opinions are weak at best.
But this morning I received the following text from my Studly:

  
You can tell by my response that I’m stoked. My baby is taking off work early, on his busiest day of the week, to see this movie with me. I call that true love.

Peace, people!

Praying for Eyebrowz Copyright 2015 by Leslie Noyes.

Blogging and Originality

One of my blogging friends commented on a recent post of mine that it was un-original. Her comment didn’t offend me. I didn’t take it as a condemnation, but as her initial thought upon reading my post.

Her comment did make me think about the reasons I blog. It certainly isn’t to become rich and famous, and blogging has wreaked nine kinds of hell on my already lackadaisical housekeeping skills. After thinking and thinking…

  
…I came to the conclusion that I write merely to write.

-Sometimes I shoot for originality. How might I twist this phrase or that to say something banal in a decidedly fresh way? 

-Sometimes I just need to share the moments of my life with a few photos and captions. 

-Sometimes I feel like a kid and need to be silly. 

-Sometimes there’s scarcely a point to be found in my writing, even if I’m the one looking for it.

-Sometimes I write in poetry what I cannot say in prose.

Yes, my friend was right. My stocking post was decidedly lacking in originality. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue writing such pieces for many years to come.

Peace, people!

A Full Stocking

  
Our Christmas tree is lovely. As I sit here meditating on its beauty I can’t help but think of all of the wonderful events my family celebrates in December, all the reasons my Christmas stocking is full.
Our oldest grandson, Garrett, celebrated his 13th birthday on December 6. He’s still Nana’s little boy, though.

Then
Now

My mother’s birthday would have been the 7th. She was the undisputed Queen of Christmas and I miss her every day even though we seldom saw eye to eye. She’s probably busy filling stockings for all the angels in heaven. Stockings were her thing, now they’re my thing.

 

December 19 would have been Mom and Dad’s anniversary. This is my favorite photo of the two of them. They never had much in the way of material wealth; although, they enjoyed some comfortable years. 

 

Another happy day, December 20, 2010, the date Stephen Houzenga adopted our grandchildren. He took on a ready-made family and changed all of our lives for the better.  

 

Of course December 25 is a day of celebration. Last year Studly and I were able to enjoy it with our kids in Nashville. We rented a home there for the holiday and had one of the best Christmases in memory.

Here we are at The Escape Game. What an adventure! We almost escaped. All we needed was another hour or so….

  

Finally, our middle grandchild, McKayla, celebrates her birthday on the 26th. She’ll be 11 this year. Here she is about to perform in her first band concert. Gorgeous, smart, and talented.

  

I hope your Christmas stockings are filled with great memories and reasons to celebrate.

Peace, people!

Weather Report

It’s a bit nippy in Tallahassee this bright December morning.  
🌴 But just look at the rest of our week! 🌴

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

  
 While somewhere far, far away… 
And that’s a good thing! 

John Scalzi Gets it Right

If I were a brilliant writer I’d have written this exact review. Thank goodness the brilliant writer who is John Scalzi, my favorite Scifi author in the galaxy, wrote this review of The Force Awakens so I didn’t have to. 

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/12/18/my-non-spoilery-review-of-the-force-awakens/
And for Pete’s sake, follow this man and read his books!

The Force Awakened, But I Forgot To

If one placed Star Wars geeks on a numbered continuum with ZERO being anyone who’d never seen the films and didn’t particularly care to and TEN being someone who began spasming five years  ago when the newest sequel was announced and hasn’t had a particularly sane moment since, I’d fall somewhere around an EIGHT. 

You need proof? One portion of our bedroom is something of a shrine to Star Wars. I have action figures of Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo, a large Yoda hand puppet, and a bank featuring a beeping R2D2 and talking C3PO. I have characters from the extended universe, numerous Star Wars themed mugs, tshirts, and books. My television remote is a light saber. I’ve seen Episodes IV, V, and VI hundreds of times each and can quote the dialogue verbatim. Yes, I’m a bonafide fan.

I remember the delicious thrill I got when I first heard the news of a new Star Wars film in the making. I might have squealed. Ok, I’m sure I squealed. Studly Doright thought I was a trying to pass a kidney stone. Good thing he didn’t go into medicine.

It felt as if those five years would never pass, but thanks to the Disney machine and Facebook there were plenty of hints and tidbits to feed those of us hungry for any link to the future release, and all of a sudden the day is here!!! Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens has arrived.

I played it cool. After all there was absolutely no reason for me to see the movie at midnight. I’d set my alarm and be in line for the 9 a.m. showing on Friday. 

My excitement last night was intense. Instead of singing Christmas carols I was humming theme music from the films. The coffee maker was set to make a nice pot of caffeine to help me wake up. My clothing for the event was laid out. And I overslept. 

After my initial, “Oh Crap!” moment I showered, skipped the coffee, threw on my clothes, and rushed to the theater only to find the line snaked around the mall. Crap. So I stood in another line and purchased tickets to the 11 a.m. showing that had decent reserved seats remaining. It won’t be IMAX 3D, but hey, I didn’t see episode IV in 3D. So I guess I’m going old school on this one. When Studly’s ready to see the film in a couple of weeks I’ll insist on 3D, but for now I just need to see this film.

As I’m typing this it is 9:49 local (Central) time. In a little more than an hour I will gladly enter a galaxy far, far away. So I had a slight malfunction. Han will make it better.  “Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh… everything’s perfectly all right now. We’re fine. We’re all fine here now, thank you.” (Winces.) “Uh, how are you?”–Han Solo, Episode IV, A New Hope.

  

Peace, people!