30 word Thursday: politics

Am I alone here or does it seem like we have some kind of an election every three frigging weeks?
If you listen carefully apparently they're all crooks.
Now what?

Music

I love music.
I love sweet, sweet blues.
I really love the back-bone-breakin', greasy blues.
I sitting here listenin' to the best by EG Kight.
I get her.

Limping actors

Remember "Chester" from Gunsmoke?  You don't?  How old are you?
For those of you who remember him (if you don't, Google him), he had a limp.  I can't remember his "real" name but can you imagine the day he got the call for the role?  I'm sure he was thrilled but when he read his physical description I wonder if he paused and said "hmmm, a limp."
That show went on for decades and poor "Chester" was stuck limping for all those years.
I don't remember if they ever explained his limp but I don't think it was very pivotal to the story line.
Fast forward 50 years or so and Hugh Laury from House got stuck with a limp too.  It always drove me crazy that he used his cane on the wrong side.  For god's sake - he was playing a doctor.  Didn't he know better?
Unlike the ME on CSI, who is an actual double amputee, he's using crutches for real.
Now moving on to the blind thing.  There have been many actors over the years cast to play a blind person.  I don't ever remember a blind person playing a blind person, though.
Deaf?  Yes, at least real deaf people have played that part many times.  It's hard to pull off Sign Language when it's not native to you.
I guess the other challenge would be the wheelchair.  For the life of me, I don't know why they don't hire actors that live in their chairs. Just because they don't walk doesn't mean they can't act.
I might have just gotten off track a bit.  I didn't mean for this to segue into a slight rant . . . but I'm not going to backspace.
Anyway - just something on my mind lately.
I'll bet "Chester" was glad when Gunsmoke finally came to an end.  He got to take the pebble out of his shoe.
Maybe that wasn't "Chester" that did that - I think it might have been the dad on Frazier.  He said it helped him limp.
It's been 5 minutes and I haven't thought of a clever way to wrap up this thing so . . . Ciao! 
 

30 Word Thursday

Um, hello?  Is this thing on?
Ms.Nature?  Are you there?
Are you on holiday?
Have you not checked your Google calendar? 
It's JULY, not NOVEMBER.
Get with it, woman!

Death Cafe

I know . . . what the heck is a Death Cafe?  Well, here's the link and it will be explained much better there than I can here.

http://deathcafe.com/

I'm just here to tell you about my experience at my first Death Cafe.

I went to one here in town last fall - I think it was in the fall.  I'm trying to remember if I wore a light jacket to it or was bundled up from head to toe.  No biggie.

The premise is to gather, eat cake and talk about death.
They had me at cake.

As a volunteer in bereavement for our local hospice (Wings of Hope) I talk about death often.  I know, however, that a lot of people are not comfortable having a discussion about "the end."  They use words like "passed on, crossed over and lost" instead of just saying "died."

I was seated at a table with 7 other people and as the topics were introduced the discussions flowed easily. 

 I was the only person in the group who was not religious and no one blinked an eye.

There was laughter and many stories.  Different perspectives based on family history and traditions made it very interesting.

As I'm finishing up here, I'm wondering if I've written about this topic before but I'm too lazy to check it out in the "past blogs" column. hmmm.  

Well, if you've gotten this far, maybe I haven't, eh?

If you're only slightly interested, I encourage you to read about the Death Cafe.  

30 word Thursday

Starting the process of looking for a place in Florida next year.
Yes, 8 months prior to departure.
Found a place! Now the details have changed.
Frustrating.
Communicate clearly people, please!

That's wrong? Really?

Did you ever say something wrong for a really, really long time before you found out the correct phrase or word?  No?  Liar!
I'm not sure how many years I said "intensive purposes" before I actually saw it in print. hmmmm "Intents and purposes."  Did not know that.
There was a little camp fire sing in one of the dorm rooms during my one and only year at Stephens.  I was belting out a favorite that I learned at Camp Katanawa ("a camp on a lake guaranteed to see a snake") as a young girl.
At the top of my voice - "ee saw fa dilly" lalalala - can't remember the rest.  
When I finished, my fellow camp fire roomies looked at me with that "what the hell" look on their faces.
I'm like "what?"
"What was that one line you just sang?"
"Which one?"
"That 'ee saw fa dilly' line."
We dissected the little ditty and realized it was about a frog.
We dissected further - lyric by lyric - and since we were all brilliant freshman at Stephens College for Women, we finally came up with the correct phrase.
Are you ready or did you guess?
Remember, it's about a frog. hint, hint
"Leaps off a lily."
Personally, I like the way I sang it; it made me sway and smile.
The real lyrics don't do that so much.
Ah, well.
So - have you ever mispronounced something incorrectly for an embarrassingly long time?
Come on - fess up.  

Yuck!

Is there a sound, sight or smell that sends you looking for a place to hurl?
If not a full-blown vomit, maybe just a vurp (that's a combination of a burp and vomit) or a really violent gag?
When I was a kid it was the smell of baking acorn squash.  I love the stuff now but the aroma wafting from mom's kitchen back in the day made me nauseous.
I can't think of an odor or a sight that creeps me out now at age 65.
There is, however, a sound that makes me throw up a little in my mouth.
Men spitting!!!  I can deal with the "baseball player spit."  There's no audio accompanying that action.
It's the "deep from the throat/lungs clearing" just before the spit that sends me reeling.
What is it with guys?  Women never do that. 
And I'm sorry if this sounds snooty but you'd never see a banker in a 3-piece suit walking down the sidewalk in a busy metropolitan city hawkin' a loogie.
All I'm asking guys (not that many men are reading my blog . . . but they should) is that you give a little look-see before you make that repulsive noise.  If I'm within 2 miles of you - wait until you get the hell home or make it to the confines of a public bathroom before you do "you know what."
I'm feeling kinda queasy so I'll have to sign off now. 
 

30 word Thursday

Independence day eve.
Raining with hopes of sunny skies.
Fireworks, food and music on the riverfront.
Many plans have been cancelled on the east coast.
Indoor bbq for them.  Sorry