FRIDAY RANDOM TEN - HALLOWE’EN EDITION

The Mistress of Sarcasm Deviltry, Hallowe’en 1987.

Yes! It is Friday once again. Not just any Friday, either: It is Hallowe’en, or as we Red Sea Pedestrians refer to it, Yom shel Noyische Garrischkeit.

The Missus is all decked out in full-bore Harlequin Mode, the better to entertain her students.



This evening, in a departure from our usual custom of handing out sweet-meats to the neighborhood youth, we’ll head off to the Ferst Center for a radio show production of War of the Worlds. I’ve always had an abiding affection for Orson Welles’s Mercury Theatre production of the story, possibly because the action was set in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey...just up the road from my Alma Mater. But the best part is avoiding having to answer the door eighty-five thousand times in order to fill the extortion-sacks of the local Urchin-Hordes. I mean, the little ones are cute enough (if clueless), but once they get old enough to shave, they probably ought to be finding something else to do. Like drinking and throwing up in the neighbor’s bushes.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Franklin, Tennessee along with our friends Gary and JoAnn, there to spend the weekend with the Mistress of Sarcasm and Gilad. It’s our annual Fall Getaway: last year Asheville, this year Nashville.

With all that exposition behind us, it’s time to take a look and see what random musical goodies are being horked out by the iPod d’Elisson. Lookee:

1. Straight Up And Down - Chick Corea
   
   From the mid-1960’s vintage “Inner Space” album - my first exposure to the Chickster.
   
   
2. Journey to the Center of the Earth - Prelude - Bernard Herrmann
   
   
3. Kolmannen lin jan Mona Lisa - Tuomari Nurmio & Alamaailman Vasarat
   
   From the “Kinaporin kalifaati” album, which for all I know means “Picking Boogers” - anyone know any Finnish?
   
   
4. Gone - Ben Folds
   
   
5. For Lydia - Michael Leviton
   
   
6. Rule Brittania - The Royal Marines
   
   I used this as part of the musical backdrop for our Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin dinner last year.
   
   
7. Tiger Rag - Django Reinhardt
   
   
8. Carey - Joni Mitchell
   
   
9. The Council of Elrond - Howard Shore, The Fellowship of the Ring
   
   
10. In Limbo - Radiohead
    
    

It’s Friday. What are you listening to?

The Ghost of Halloween Past

These photos are from Halloween TWO YEARS AGO! 2006.

Remy was a red ninja
&
Donny was Captain Jack Sparrow

I'm not really sure what I was.
A mysterious witch?

The boys picked out Texas Homeboy's costume that year.

And we slapped a sombrero on my dad.

Do you dress up with your kids?
I always do.
Do you pick out your spouse's costume for them?
Yep.
Do you visit haunted houses?
I haven't in quite a while but they're fun!

SPECTRUM

This morning, as the Missus and I were performing our respective Morning Ablutions, I released a small fart...as I am, alas, wont to do from time to time.

“Was it a stinky one?” asked She Who Must Be Obeyed.

Compared to what? But I understood her point. All farts are stinky, yet some are stinkier than others. There is a Spectrum of Fart-Stench Intensity, ranging from what SWMBO refers to as Sugar Farts on one end...and Zombie Crawled Up Your Ass and Died A Second Time Farts on the other. Everything from “mostly harmless” to “strips paint at fifty paces.”

She must have been reading my mind, because she picked up on the spectrum concept at the exact same time I did. (That’s one of the benefits of having been married over 31 years.)

“It’s like autism,” quoth the Missus, who knows about these things. “There’s a spectrum of intensity...”

“Right!” I responded. “So there are some farts that are like the kid who sits in the corner and rocks back and forth all day...

“...in which case I’d say that this one is more like the kid who lacks social skills and talks about vacuum cleaners a whole lot. An Asperger’s Fart.”

A Halloween Costume

Mum looked up from her sewing machine set at one end of the dining table. She was stitching another strip of bright polka-dotted fabric onto the gypsy skirt that was going to be Laurie's costume. . . I'll be finished with this as soon as I add the rick-rack, (she said.). (OLD WOUNDS, page 333)

Laurel's costume for that fateful Halloween was (surprise, surprise) based on the lovely gypsy outfit my beloved grandmother made for me when I was in kindergarten. As you may have guessed, I rarely throw anything away. The picture is faded but the dress itself has been kept safe in a cedar chest and is almost as bright as it was sixty years ago.

Here's wishing a happy All Hallows' Eve to everyone!

And from ghosties and ghoulies and long-leggity beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
May the good Lord protect us!

FUZZY FRIDAY

Ghosts and goblins roam the streets
Collecting Dog- and Kitty-Treats.
Are they cuddly? Or are they scary?
I cannot say. For sure, they’re hairy.

Friday Ark #215 - the Trick or Treat edition - is afloat over at the Modulator.

Sunday evening, Carnival of the Cats #242 returns to Chey’s Place. Be sure to stop by and visit while you’re working your way through the humongous pile of goodies that you (or your kids) will have collected tonight.

Update: CotC #242 is up.

Fleeting Beauty

After our freak snow, the weather is clear and sunny and heart-breakingly beautiful. There's something bitter-sweet about fall colors -- the way they come and go so quickly.

I had to be in Asheville yesterday so I wore my rose-colored glasses and delighted at the display of flamboyant tints on every side. It's a particular joy to me, having grown up more or less seasonally deprived in Florida -- oh, the dogwoods went red and there was a fine show of yellow from the hickory in my grandparents' front yard but still and all, with palm trees and live oaks on every side, it didn't look much like a real Fall --

Already, though, the leaves are dropping and conscientious home owners are raking or blowing them into huge heaps or bagging them to be taken away.

I hope there are still some kids, not too busy with Gameboys or after-school enrichment programs, who jump into these huge crackling piles of leaves and revel in the fallen glory.

A Mama Lion's Pride

I'm so PROUD of my son Donny right now.


He's 11 years old and in the 6th grade.
His first year of middle school.
And he made the Honor Roll
with all A's.

He also told me that he would like to be a younger brother.

Curious, I thought. Why?

Turns out he'd like an older sister...


so he could read her diary and torment her with the info.

Here he is shaking his middle school principal's hand as he receives an award.
An award called the Lion's Pride Award.

When we received this letter in the mail last week, we were so surprised...

and so PROUD!

This is the beginning of our second year in this north Texas town.
The first year was hard on Donny.
He had good grades and did ok, but wasn't very happy.
He missed his old school and friends in Austin.
I don't blame him.

But, I think he's finally settling in here.

Look, a bumper sticker came with this special award.

heehee
(nope, not going on my car, sorry, although it's a nice quote)

Part of me is sad he is growing up so fast, but mainly I'm enjoying the person he's becoming.
He's such a great kid.

He saved up his money to buy a gun, he's learning to play the trombone & he's playing football.

He's smart too...

despite trying to walk down a flight of stairs wearing roller skates and holding a plate of food.
It wasn't pretty, folks.




Have you ever sneaked a peak at someone's diary?
Did you keep a diary yourself?

DEATH - AND REGULARITY - BY CHOCOLATE

My friend Donnie Joe loathes what he calls “Dead Fruit” - raisins, prunes, and any other sort of desiccated fruity substances.

Raisinets - those chocolate-covered raisins beloved of moviegoers - do not get by him. That chocolate coating doesn’t fool Donnie Joe. Underneath it is the dreaded Dead Fruit.

I can only imagine how appalled he would be had he come upon Sunsweet’s latest attempt to sexify the Ambrosia of the Superannuated.

I speak, of course, of the lowly Prune.

Even people who happily consume raisins and dried currants by the barrelful will treat the Prune with utter disdain. Prunes are Old Man Food. Prunes keep you “regular.” They’re wrinkly, like little portable nutsacks.

Prunes are a joke.

When I speak of the Pomegranate Pile Driver, people wrinkle (ahh, there’s that word again!) their noses in contempt. Never mind that it tastes good. It’s made with prune juice, so it must be loathesome.

Sunsweet knows this...which is why they have gone the Rebranding Route. They have taken to calling prunes “Dried Plums” - as if that somehow will fool us.

“What’s that you’re eating? Is that a prune? Yecch!”

“What prune? This is a dried plum! See - it says so right here!”

“Ohhh...OK. Say, wanna get yer ashes hauled, you big, sexy dried plum-eating lug?”

But that’s not all. Checkit:

Chocolate Covered Prune Dried Plum Chunks!

Donnie Joe would be horrified. Say, we’re eating dinner with him and Laura Belle this evening...perhaps I oughta bring a bagful!

Update: As much as I love the ol’ Wrinkle-Fruit, this crap’ll never replace Raisinets. But still...Chocolate! Prunes!

LAP-KITTY

Fred cuddles up with the Missus.

Eric’s cat Fred has a remarkably sanguine, easygoing temperament. Here, he cuddles up to the Missus and manages to look relaxed despite the presence of some twenty-five-odd drunken bloggers pleasantly buzzed Online Journalists in the immediate vicinity.

Of course, he’s seen it all before. Fred is a veteran Blogmeet-Kitty.

The Missus thoroughly enjoyed Fred’s attentions, for Hakuna, as sweet as she is, is by no means a Lap-Kitty. She will sometimes deign to cuddle up next to one of us, but never will she climb aboard as her late sister Matata was wont to do. We miss that.


Some serious Lap Time. (Check out that Hallowe’en thumbnail!)

Early Snow

Yesterday's early morning snow was a taste of winter, sneaking in at autumn's height. We haven't even had a frost yet, so there were lots of flowers, as well as lettuce and peppers still in the garden, for the snow to settle on.

It's an beautiful, if somewhat confusing, sight -- grass and some trees still green, fall colors on the mountain side, and a feathery snow over all of it -- and it suits my own schizophrenic state of mind, when I look up from the computer, having been writing about Miss Birdie in first one season and then another, and have to remind myself just which 'now' I'm actually in.

.

As for the morning snow, Miss Susie Hutchins took a wait and see attitude.

The sun emerged soon and the snow disappeared but the day remained cold and the the dogs and cats and I remained by the fire.

Are you Up on Uptake?

Regarding yesterday's photo post, you guys are HILARIOUS!

I love some of the wonderfully creative ideas you came up with regarding that picture.

I wish I had an answer for you with what was going on in it,
but no one in my family seems to have any idea.

My mom has more old photos, so I'll see if I can get another one scanned sometime soon.


* * *


Next, let me announce the contest winner from last week.
(I know, I don't know what took me so long!)



I had planned to do a cute hat drawing video with the kids, but my printer ran out of ink, the kids wouldn't cooperate and I lost my desire to do it.

Long story short, I used that darn random number generator, adding in those of you with the extra entries. It was complicated, probably unnecessarily so!

Without further rambling, the winner of the 11" brand new fry pan and jambalaya mix is...

Scargosun!


And, as a bonus, I'm giving away a packet of jambalaya mix to:

Sassy Stephanie & Kimba!


Winners email me at rhea@tx.rr.com with your addresses.


* * *


Now, as you know, I've been job searching.
And, I've found some free-lance writing jobs and some blogging work,
but nothing full time.

I'm seriously thinking about applying to Target!!
I need something with good health insurance.


One of the places I am blogging part time for is called Uptake.
It's a travel information search engine, and I'm super excited!
I'll be posting about fun things to do and see in Texas...and possibly other places I've visited.

What I would love from you, is to click on over to Uptake and comment on posts with my name. Today...and any time you feel like it!
I don't get much comment love over there yet, and I've gotten spoiled with it over here.
You guys rock!!



I'll leave you with these photos of my pink streaks for now.

Natural lighting,
no photo editing,
no makeup,
crazy angles
weird facial expressions, and
I'm not even sure I brushed my crazy, frizzy hair.

It's Rhea Au natural con rosa!!
(I think I just mixed French & Spanish...and probably not even correctly)

and a plea for comment love at Uptake!!

Thanks!!

The Colors of Fall

Skies of cobalt, azure, cerulean . . .
Ultramarine, aquamarine, sapphire true.
Marches of mountains, amethyst, damson
Disappearing in diaphanous blue.

Trees tapestried and tesellated . . .
Kaleidoscopic and stippled
Bronze, copper, nut-brown,
Golden, gilt, gilded,
Scarlet, cardinal, vermilion,
Carmine, crimson, magenta . . .

A color riot, a tumult, a rowdy rumpus,
A Saturnalia of tints and hues
Runs wild along the mountain ridges

Splashing peaks and slopes
With all the shades of fall.

Below, in the still hollow,

A lone sourwood glows coral
And pearly blue-gray mushrooms
Complement a poplar leaf.

OCTOBER GUILD EVENT

Tonight, after a weekend of debauchery at the Straight White Compound, my liver will be subjected to a renewed assault at the October Sommelier Guild event.

It will be at Le Giverny Bistro, over at the Emory Inn. I’ve never dined there before, so I’m looking forward to adding yet another restaurant to my “Been There, Done That” list. The wines were all gold medal winners in last month’s Vino Challenge, which means (in theory, anyway) that they should all be Tasty Good. Over seven hundred wines competed for a relative handful of top slots at the Vino Challenge...which, coincidentally, was held at Le Giverny.

Denny will be there – so he tells me – and I expect Houston Steve will be joining us as well. Here’s what we’ll have to suffer though:

Speaker’s wine
Dante Robino Extra Brut NV

First Flight
Henri Bourgeois Sancerre “Etienne Henri” 2003***
Vins Auvigue Pouilly Fuissé “Les Craye” 2005***
Jarvis Chardonnay Reserve 2006 2004

Sautéed rainbow trout Grenobloise

Second Flight
Maryhill Sangiovese Rosé 2007***
Viu Manent Malbec “Secreto” 2007
Consul Chileno Carmenere Reserve 2005

Suprême de poulet aux capres

Third Flight
Maryhill Zinfandel 2005
Maryhill Cabernet Sauvignon 2005***
Jarvis Cabernet Franc 2003

Bistro steak with three-cheese sauce

Dessert
Quady Black Muscat “Elysium” 2007 2006***
Campagnola Recioto della Valpolicella 2005*** (Best of Show)

Choice of desserts

Lagniappe
Valduero Reserva Premium 2001***

Gee...maybe they’ll have candy corn by way of observing Hallowe’en. Gaah.

Update: My wine preferences indicated by asterisks. And the food was excellent - worth the trip to Le Giverny for a personal outing with the Missus and friends.

Why are there flowers in their pants?

My mother recently learned a lot about her family roots.
Someone traced them from Alabama back to Scotland in the 1600s.
How cool is that?

She also was given a lot of old, old, old family photos to scan and preserve.

We came across one that completely boggled our minds.

The man on the left is my great-great-grandfather, and I have no idea what he's doing.

So, I've decided to call on you guys to help me out.
What's going on in this photo?
I'm at a total loss.
It's so cool, but completely confusing.