These Are the People in Your (Internet-Based) Neighborhood

“I’m meeting people nice people too
I’m meeting people nice people like you
We’re meeting people nice people too
We’re meeting people nice people like you”
-Violent Femmes, “Look Like That”
 
 
 
If you are a regular reader of blogs, do you find that you have a stable of go-to sites, and you rarely deviate from them?
Because that’s what I do.
Every [...]

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You’re a Wiener! And You Won a Contest!

Last week, I announced a giveaway.  Fifty nice people left comments, in the hopes they would win a DVD Box Set of “Fawlty Towers”.
Initially, I thought I’d use a random number generator to pick a name.  But that lacked warmth.  So I went with the most honest person I could find, who wasn’t taking a [...]

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“Who’s gonna run this town tonight.”

Once upon a time we lived in a small town.
Not my town.  My husband’s town.  It was an OK sort of place, not without its quirks.  Like the way nearly all the town’s businesses were shut on Mondays.  Or the way they printed obituaries on the front page of the newspaper.  Or the large horse [...]

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“Well, might I ask what you expected to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? The hanging gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically… “

I was leafing through the detritus that is my Twitter stream, when someone mentioned that John Cleese

(image from here)
is 70.  That’s getting up there.  That’s grandpa territory.  And really, does he strike you as the grandpa type?
I liked Monty Python well enough, but what I really dug Cleese in was Fawlty Towers.
[...]

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The Ridiculous Load (Which I Promise is SFW, and NOT the Name of a Failed Pornographic Film*)

In this frigid little corner of the earth, the seasons change pretty damn fast.
 
So fast, that we’ve nearly done away with Spring and Fall.  We’re direct, no-nonsense folks.  Fall and Spring are for ditherers and gaddabouts. 
 
If you’re  not really, really  paying attention here, you could, conceivably, miss Fall.
 
The signs are there, but they’re not always [...]

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My Nothing Was Something

Life is weird, sometimes.
 
I started my day, yesterday, with this post by A Free Man.
In case you’re too lazy to click on that link, I’ll tell that his post talked about the difficulties of getting his son to sleep in a “big boy” bed, about how he had to quell this little boy’s fears, try [...]

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99 Problems But Grover Ain’t One

Husband:  I don’t get it.  Why is Jay-Z such a big deal?
Me:  Well, he’s got 99 problems, but a bitch ain’t one.  Can you say that?  Can you?
 

 
Husband:  Yeah, whatever, seriously, why?
Me:  I’m just sayin’, on the street, he’s kind of a big deal…
Traitorous, Heretofore Silent Sister of Mine:  Ooooh, yeah [...]

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Herb *

This was originally posted in October of 2007.   What strikes me as I read it today is the way I went back and forth between tenses, as if  he was gone already.
Yesterday afternoon, he died.  In a hospital, by himself.  I hadn’t spoken to him in over 10 years.  He never met my children, never wanted [...]

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Grandma, Part Deux

I’ve had my questions about her, before.  Like, 2 years ago.
And then, yesterday…
Boy Child, Age 6:  “Hey, Grandma, did you know that when money wears out, they destroy it?”
Grandma:  “Yes, I did.  And did you know that 90% of the money in the world has traces of cocaine on it?”

(Stunned look from me)
Grandma:  (shrugs)  “What?  [...]

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Served & Protected

The kindergarten kids went on a field trip.
 
A day in the park. Bag lunches.  Sunscreen.  Frisbees.  A big yellow bus to take them there.
 
I was a helper.  Mom In Charge of Lunches.  I waved goodbye to the boy, grabbed the girl, and got into my minivan, started to drive to the park.
 
But instead of hitting [...]

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