Catalog Living

Catalog Living


FUNNY STUFF! seriously, check out the link. the stories of the people who live in the catalogues that arrive in your mailbox!

i'll be back later. OK, tomorrow. i'm going to bed now, been a very, very, very long day.

just because or i just clicked on share

long, dull, grey day UNTIL it was time to join our BFF's from one plantation over for a night on the town! sooo, the 3 of us went downtown and over the bridge to the westin hotel for a jazz concert. lots of fun and really great to see a bunch of musicians i hadn't seen in ages! the other part was seeing people who remembered the club and asked when we're were going to do it again! of course, as soon as i got home i sent the MITM a message letting him know that he was still remembered as the best sax player in our little town! his response? wow, cool, but what's the score for the NYG-SF game! (yeah, i turned the game on as soon as i got home and he knew it) i gave him the score and then, turned the tv on, blasted the sound and put my MacBook in front of the screen so he could see and hear the game! good times, good times and big hurray for technology!

see all y'all later. 

18 january 2012

 

if you tried to visit my blog today (after i corrected the html) this is what you saw. i have tried not to politicize my blog because most of the time, the politics would be local and not of interest to anyone except me and my neighbors. today was an exception. today was a day when i felt i NEEDED to express myself and show my support AGAINST a bad piece of legislation that would NOT stop online piracy, but would put my country on the same plane as china and iran in terms of government censorship and interference in the flow of information.  the issue isn't dead yet, but i do hope that copyright laws will be amended to reflect current technology and look not only to the current technology, but also to its future growth and potential. laws can be vague to allow for growth, but they must not be so vague as to allow for abuse. 

wikipedia has put together an explanation of the legislation and also lists the pros and cons of implementation. form your own opinion based on critical and informed research. don't be swayed by graphics or sound bites. 

a mind is a terrible thing to waste, so use yours!

tuesday

HELVETICA!


today it isn't going to take much to intrigue me/distract me/engage ...


what was that? yes, i was saying something and then...

not enough sleep. i'm sorry, where was i? yes, tuesday. tomorrow if all goes as planned i wont be here. or the site won't be here. we'll see.




reading update: 2 done, 2 started and a clarification of the guidelines. if a book that's been in the TBR (to be read) doesn't grab/excite/makeyouturnthepage interesting, then it can be set aside, never to grace your TBR pile again. *whew* i might write about those. i'm reading a mystery set in post world war 1 england which i suppose is my hat tip to all things downton abbey. we'll see. it's been sitting on the nightstand for 2 days now. a test of wills is the title. i have to admit, the storyline and the protagonist are intriguing...


but, really? you know what i've been doing since the saints lost to the 49er's? watching movies/tv shows/imports/documentaries all streaming to my tv. netflix is my pal and we have spent some quality couch time together! *sigh* i already miss football! BUT, next weekend, i'm going to have to watch the NYG-SF divisional NFC championship game BECAUSE i think the NYG are going to kick some serious SF butt. now, i'm guessing many of you don't know or care, but we're almost done, so don't worry. (see nfl.com for explanations)

i am seriously going to answer comments, if you leave one, i promise!

but for now...there's a chameleon on the window...have you ever looked at the unde


rside


o f 
one 


of 


those 


t


h


i.... 

and having resumed control of the helm...

first, thank you all for the responses to the MITM's entries. the coconut krewe was surprised, to say the least, that he/we were even considering going anywhere else besides the west coast this summer! but, i say, we should do it all! 

i've been reading and not blogging (as if you didn't already know that) but, thought i'd drop in and update you on my progress. i did finish one book and pretty much laughed my way through it, but i love the author and her style and also that it's regional, so i indulge my inner romantic. currently reading Death Comes To Pemberley and loving how well p. d. james is channeling jane austen! i think the next read will be  2 books at once, one to leave by the bed and the other by my chair in the living room. (i KNOW! what a lazy coot i am, right?)  also on my agenda has been watching football! my team, the new orleans saints beat some other team (detroit lions) to take the wild card and will now go out to the west coast and kick some other team's (san francisco 49'ers) butt for the division. the following games will be for the championship and then, THE SUPER BOWL. now i don't want to jinx the outcome, so we'll just leave that topic alone for now...

that's what been happening here on the plantation, sugarpies. what about with all of you? we're working on our second week of the new year...think we'll get it right this year? me? i'm just thinking about today, everything else will fall into its own place at its own speed.


(it just dawned on me that i should have posted some pics with this post, but that will have to wait for next time!)

UK ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who gave Savannah and I your suggestions for visiting and vacationing on your lovely island. We were indeed overwhelmed by the plethora of choices and your many heartfelt suggestions. We have been pouring over all of our options.


Not too long ago I drove a rented truck from Savannah to San Francisco while helping my daughter move. I was accompanied by a good friend of mine who, unfortunately is not one for driving, so I ended up driving 90% of the approx 3,000 miles. We took the southern route because I like it much better than driving through the center of the country. We left early enough so that we could eat lunch in New Orleans. You can't drive through New Orleans. You have to stop and eat - it's a rule dontcha know. We spent the first night in San Antonio, Texas because 1 - my friend had never seen the Alamo, and 2 - I knew a great steak joint on the San Antonio River Walk. We spent the second night in Tuscon, Arizona because we wanted to have real Mexican food and not Tex-Mex. The third night we arrived in San Francisco and feasted on gourmet food and great Napa Cabernets.

You get the picture? Drive, look around a bit, eat and drink. That's it! It's just that simple.

So, considering that the distance from Bath to Edinburgh is approximately 400 miles (considerably less than SAV-SF), and that we are planning to visit your island on a three week stay, we are planning the great Savannah & MITM UK ROAD TRIP 2012! Hooorayyy! We will fly to Heathrow, rent a car, drive around wherever our fancies dictate, stay in small hotels and B&Bs, and see as many of the lovely places you have collectively suggested. That's it! It's just that simple - or is it?

At any rate, plans are underway. I would like to do this, if possible, in June. Savannah has yet to weigh in on the timing - she has, however, said: "UK hell mister! How about that new porch you were going to build?" I plan to ply her with wine and gifts on my return to the states so that she'll warm-up to the idea of driving like Mr. Toad through the English countryside.

You will be kept abreast of our progress....

MITM

LONDON CALLING...........Well, Sort Of

Hello? Do I have your attention?

This is MITM. Savannah is somewhere on the plantation with her head stuck in a book.

What do these photos say to you? Do they say - how interesting? I'd like to visit Africa someday. Do they say - picturesque, honey let's plan a vacation and a safari? Do they say - how did they get all those people in a Toyota truck?

Well I hope that you do visit somewhere on the giant continent of Africa someday. It is well worth it at least once. BUT TO ME, WHO HAS TO BE HERE MORE TIMES THAN I'D LIKE, they say the following -

Languages spoken on a daily basis: Arabic, French, several tribal languages

Health Issues: Every disease known to man, $800 worth of shots to get off the plane, anti-malaria pills daily that cause hallucinations and paranoia, poor diet choices

Socio/Economic Issues: Don't ask, at least while I'm here

Soooooooooooooooo

I'm hankering for a mother tongue vacation spot this year. I'm thinking Savannah and I will take two to three weeks in the UK. Now, in the past, we've done what every dumb yank has done - stayed in London. So this year I'd like to see Oxford, parts of Scotland - anywhere outside of London. Not that we don't love it mind you, but it's like Brits coming to the states and going only to New York, or God forbid, Florida. What is the fascination with Florida, by the way? If you want to see the south, just ask us, we'll give you some really hip places to go to and you never even have to cross into Florida, even driving!

So we are open for suggestions. We're adventuresome, obviously. We can make do with anything from flop house (no thank you, i draw the line at flophouses. xoxox/savannah) to five star. We eat almost anything and wash it down with whatever we can - preference being a good wine. And we even somewhat speak the language!

So don't hold back - give us your best shot. Or tell us to stay the hell in the states and if we want adventure, go to Canada.

In anticipation........

MITM

Returning control to Savannah

The Annual Read-Whatcha-Got Challenge has begun!

mr. toad and friends

another view

The Books!

while i was reveling in fox nfl sunday wild card games, mr. moose was renaming the challenge and putting his list of books up! (go visit him, if you're interested in playing along, he has rules - i'm thinking of them as more like guidelines, but that's another story - for playing) but, as i told him, it was a very big game (with apologies to ned beatty in back to school, but it seems so appropriate to the challenge) but, back to business...

THE LIST (and in no particular order)

1. Robert Crais "The First Rule"
2. Margaret Atwood "The Penelopiad"
3. Margaret Atwood "Moral Disorder And Other Stories"
4. Margaret Atwood "Lady Oracle"
5. Michael Crichton "Pirate Latitudes"
6. Steig Larsson "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest"
7. Anthony Horowitz "The House of Silk"
8. Annie Leibovitz "Pilgrimage"
9. Steve Erickson "Our Ecstatic Days"
10. Rebecca Skloot "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"
11. Gary Shteyngart "Absurdistan"
12. Edward P. Jones "All Aunt Hagar's Children"
13. Don DeLillo "Underworld"
14. Bill Bryson "Shakespeare, The World as Stage"
15. Ian Rankin "The Complaints"
16. Charles Todd "A Test Of Wills"
17. Katherine Webb "The Legacy"
18. Dorothea Benton Frank "Lowcountry Summer"*
19. P. D. James "Death Comes to Pemberley"
20. James Lee Burke "Swan Peak"
21. Michael Connelly "Chasing The Dime"
22.Keith Richards "Life"
23. Bill Clinton "Back To Work"
24. Steig Larsson "The Girl Who Played With Fire"
25. Autobiography of Mark Twain, vol. 1
26. Alistair Horne "Seven Ages of Paris"
27. Henry Hitchings "The Secret Life of Words, How English Became English"
28. Francine Prose "Reading Like A Writer"

there are 3 books that aren't in the photo or even on the plantation that the MITM will be bringing back from deepestdarkestafrica that were purchased before he left that i didn't have time to read before he TOOK them graciously loaned him that have to be on this list. so,


29. Michael Ondaatje "The Cat's Table"
30. Huraki Murakami "IQ84"
31. Umberto Eco "The Prague Cemetery"




so there it is, MY LIST. i know, right? what was i thinking? i know what you're thinking, yes, it's true, i love a good mystery. what? that wasn't what you were thinking? well, ok, tell me. i think the challenge is twofold. one, of course, is the pleasure of reading and for me, the other is the discipline of reading with  a deadline. so as the Master Task Master aka mr. moose, has proclaimed, now go and buy no more!



ohhhhhh, the rose parade is on....


*already started and probably finished by this evening. (since the saints aren't playing..)

january 1, 2012

today starts a new year and also a new challenge for me and also, for mr. moose! we've decided that beginning today all the books that we've been meaning to read/have purchased with the idea we were going to read/have sitting in a pile or 20 around our homes will be read by april 1, 2012! tomorrow, i'll have the list up, a picture of the books and also by request, a picture of the breakfast room chandelier which has been redecorated.


all will be revealed tomorrow.

and yes, before i forget, i started reading one of my favorite regional writers, dorothea benton frank. the book is Lowcountry Summer.