"B-Rats and Squeals..."

So what have I been doing on this beautiful day? Well, vacuuming for one thing. And laundry, for another. I'm washing the sheets and pillowcases in actual soap these days -- Ivory bar soap, grated on a cheese grater and agitated in very hot water until it melts. Clothes -- especially sheets -- washed in Ivory soap and hung outside on the line to dry -- absolute HEAVEN. Well worth the extra effort. I used Ivory to kill the aphids on my rose bushes, too. So far, so good with that. Ivory is a very versatile product.

I had lunch at the small cafe my dad used to take me to when I was a little girl -- I think I've said how much I love this place, the food, the people, the memories. I can look out the window and see where the old movie theater used to be, i.e., the place where Roy Rogers lived--or so I thought when I was four. I encountered a former semi-coworker on my way out (I was "health department," she was "social services"). I hardly ever eat there without seeing someone from my past. She'd just come from the library -- early voting in the May primary -- which was exactly where I was heading after lunch.

At the library, I encountered yet another former coworker. She was manning the polls. It had been a very long time since I'd see her, and we naturally hugged the stuffing out of each other. Another voter claimed to be feeling very left out -- he didn't get near the greeting I did. I was surprised by the voter turn out -- quite a few for early voting, especially in a primary election.

Then, I got a present from the dh -- cowboy postage stamps -- which included the one and only aforementioned Mr. Rogers, all young and handsome, just the way he was when I adored him.

Then, I got another present. This one, from JC Penney. Of course, it's one I gave myself, but still. An UPS package with my name on it is exciting no matter who sent it.

Then, I thought I'd bask on the patio for a time -- just because life is short and I wanted to. Which brings us to the rabbits and squirrels -- or "B-rats and Squeals" as one of the children in the family used to call them. There is a squirrel on a limb in the upper right, one eating down on the ground in the lower left, one in the crepe myrtle in the middle. And my "lolling" rabbit is there -- lolling -- between the maple tree and the birdbath. It was all very...Walt Disney.

Oh, and there was a bluebird on the swing. A perfect way to underline a very good day.

Till next time...

This and That

Or maybe it's your basic "how are you, fine I hope" post. As a reader of other people's mail (See: a past blog about that), I can tell you that most all personal correspondence -- at least the kind I read, the kind which has been recovered from flea markets and antique junkyards -- are of that ilk. Not particularly interesting, just touching base, as it were.

Even so, I'm going to carry on and jot down some random thoughts. About television programs, for instance.

The Powers That Be have cancelled AS THE WORLD TURNS.

Yes, I watch the soaps. Or I watch this soap and have from the time it debuted -- I was a mere child at the time. I never liked any of the others. Quite frankly, I couldn't understand the mindset of the West Coast ones, i.e., THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS -- or I couldn't until I saw the O.J. Simpson trail. Then, I acquired a little insight into to what constitutes the LA lifestyle, enough to conclude that, as I first suspected, these programs are not for me.

They've also cancelled another favorite: UGLY BETTY. I like UGLY BETTY because it's about family and integrity and honor and responsibility and love and loyalty and acceptance. It may not look like it is at first glance, but it is. Every episode made me feel better than I did when I sat down to watch it -- and that's a wonderful thing, especially in today's entertainment world.

Moving right along, I've found some products I really like:

Alba Papaya Mango Body Cream (an excellent moisturizer and it smells wonderful!).

Alba Pineapple Enzyme Facial Cleanser if used with Alba Aloe and Green Tea Oil-Free Moisturizer (the cleanser also smells wonderful, but it's a bit drying without the moisturizer. The moisturizer is light and soothing).

Similasan Allergy Eye Relief. The pollen count here this spring has been extremely high -- it blows around in what looks like a yellow fog -- and Similasan has helped so much. It's homeopathic, 100 percent natural according to the box, and it's made in Switzerland.

Zaxby's Road House Salad: Yum.

I've also run across a product I don't like:

Broderbund's PrintMaster Platinum 2.0. It is absolutely the worst computer program I've ever tried to use, and I mean WORST. The user manual is useless and the "technical support" non-existent. Their solution was to tell me where to get a user manual -- which I already had and couldn't decipher. I'm not helpless when it comes to working the computer machine, but this program was beyond my intuitive skills. It's terrible, I tell you, terrible.

Still moving along, I continue to listen to and enjoy the dramas on BBC Radio 4. Those 15 minute segments are the highlight of my day.

And finally, I've been thinking about actress Dixie Carter, who died this past weekend. I liked her a lot as "Julia Sugarbaker," but I think I would have liked her as herself as well. Just recently I saw an interview she had done where she talked about her life and her career. She shared a saying about relationships and marriage, one I'd never heard before and one I'm going to share with you. The gist of it was this:

"It takes a very good man to be better than no man at all."

Oh, if my young clients could have learned that. How much better off would they and their children have been?

Till next time...

She's Back!

My "lolling" rabbit. We had a really cold winter, but she has apparently endured just fine. Here she is...lolling. (There can't be TWO loll-ers, can there?) In any event, seeing this particular rabbit making herself comfortable under the maple tree makes me happy.

MORE 1940s Movie Stars?

Okay, you talked me into it. I thought I'd show you the World War II ones:

This one of Alan Ladd, which is autographed specifically to my late sister-in-law:

And this generically autographed one of Clark Gable:

I'm also including this one of John Wayne, not because he served in the military during World War II, but because my late father and the rest of the family veterans considered him to be the consummate draft-dodger. I suppose that his not having enlisted wouldn't have seemed so serious had not so many other movie stars elected to serve. In any event, I still remember how much it upset my dad to see John Wayne (and Ronald Reagan) wrapped in the flag and pressuring young men to reenlist during the Vietnam War. He was of the opinion that men who had never seen combat had no right to take that stance. "War is not a movie," he'd say, and he, unlike those two, would know.

Till next time...