Weird music morning – double Prince and double Bonnie Raitt. I hope there’s not a message in that.
1) Last Innocent Year – Jonatha Brooks
2) What Alls Nice – Ani DiFranco
3) Bitter End – Dixie Chicks
4) For Once in My Life – Melissa Ferrick
5) Tangled and Dark – Bonnie Raitt
6) Darling Nikki – Prince
7) Something in the Way – Nirvana
8) Wasted Word – Kris Delmhorst
9) Not the Only One- Bonnie Raitt
10)1999 – Prince
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Well, I read Black Elk in Paris. I wish it had been Confessions of a Pagan Nun but it wasn’t. Darn.
Black Elk wasn’t a bad book, it was a little bit slow. I really didn’t care whether he got back to America or not. I didn’t care much about Madou or Philippe or any of the others. Sort of bored with the whole thing. Too bad though, I thought it had potential.
Technorati Tags: buffalobill, blackelk, paris, fiction
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I’ve been procrastinating business cards and maybe there was a reason for my procrastination, besides I’m good at procrastinating? Maybe I was somehow waiting for Scoble’s post about cards and all of the comments he’s gotten? Nah, I was just procrastinating because that’s what I do.
But I think Scoble’s post is good. The comments, thus far, are also good. I just threw away about 50 cards and need to throw away another 50 or so. I don’t even know why I have most of them, that indicates they weren’t very successful cards. The most memorable card, I hope I still have it, was a card from a bar in Angeles City, Pampanga = it had helpful Tagalog phrases on it. Helpful for "servicemen attempting to converse with the ummm staff."
I’m thinking of boycotting business cards and going with magnets (which would be appropriate for me because of my refrigerator issue). Or maybe stickers to people could give them to their kids, stick them up in public restroom stalls, stuff like that. Or maybe boycott them entirely.
I don’t know. I’m still procrastinating thinking about it.
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Uh oh.
We’ve known for a long time that tylenol can be problematic and ibuprofen can be even worse but this is really bad news. I take a lot of pain reliever.
OK maybe it isn’t bad news for “long time, daily users”. Wait, am I a long time daily user? If I take 4 a day, everyday, is that bad? Is it better to take a couple of aspirin in the morning and then a couple of tylenol in the evening and then switch it up the next day with a couple of advil in the morning and then aspirin in the evening? Rotate my pain relievers? Would that be a better idea?
Oh heck, what difference does it make? My knee hurts, I’m taking a pain reliever – liver problems or no liver problems.
Technorati Tags: health, tylenol, liver
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The little kids enjoyed our trip to St Augustine last year and asked many times to go back. Even after their fascination with the Ripley’s Believe it Or Not Museum was somehow squashed (wonder how that happened) they still asked to go back. So, I put it on my list of 101 things and when we were looking for small trips to take them on in June, I booked a room.
So about that room. I strayed from the old reliables and booked us at a Sleep Inn on A1A. I did this because the room I wanted wasn’t available and I really did want to stay on the beach side of St Augustine because the majority of things we wanted to do are on that side of the Lion’s Bridge. The room was surprisingly nice. Not huge but not the smallest room we’ve stayed in. Free wireless internet. A decent continental breakfast. TLC! A tiny little heated pool that was way too heated and a tiny little hot tub that was broken the first day but repaired on day 2. Surprisingly quiet and clean. The only problem – no bathtub, just an interesting shower. For the money, I can’t complain.
Day 1…
First stop, the lighthouse. We walked all of the way to the top. The kids enjoyed it, even Prince J. RJ wanted to talk a lot about dropping things from the top and wondering if you’d get arrested for "accidentally" dropping something from the top. E just wanted to turn around and go right back down as soon as we got to the top. She didn’t understand "enjoying the view" and "giving legs a few minutes to recover".
Second stop, the Alligator Farm! TW could not believe it when I pulled in there. She thought I had been joking when I mentioned it. heh. No joke, I thought the kids would like it and it was close to the lighthouse and a good place to SIT DOWN and get some drinks into our overheated bodies. Yea, it’s a little expensive but it was also interesting and the kids liked it. Hearing E say "look at the cutie!!!" while pointing at gators is a little weird though. Lots of birds, both she and RJ like birds. Prince J, not so interested in anything at all – except the caiman. Touching one in South America made him an expert and that’s all he was interested in – being the expert. He was less "expert like" in that annoying way he sometimes has after I reminded him that he wasn’t the only one who had experienced such things and I did know a wee bit about the species. Having a discussion with him is good, being lectured by him is not.
Next stop, a drive past the PRIDE festival with the picketing people. (Public Service Message – I don’t mind protesters at all. More power to you folks. Hold those signs, stand up for what you believe in, that’s what is right with this country. The only problem I have is when you stand your 10 year old son out there with a sign that says "AIDS – doing the job the government should do". You can’t tell me that your 10 year old son understands what he’s saying. You can’t tell me he isn’t simply spouting your rhetoric. Leave your kid at home, until he’s old enough to decide for himself what he believes in.) We found a parking place downtown and walked to St George Street in search of the Greek Landing Festival at the Greek Shrine, where we planned to have lunch. It was surprisingly difficult to find. If TW hadn’t noticed the big blue banners, I’d have walked right past it. We picked out a ton of Greek food but somehow ended up with very little vegetarian so I wandered around St George Street while the rest of them ate. People watching is better than eating anyway.
Next up, Potter’s Wax Museum. We’re full of corny old fashioned fun, aren’t we?! Air conditioning is good. Wax figures, weird and a lot less scarey when you’re 40 than when you are 10. Or maybe it’s that they aren’t at all scarey in this century but last century, they were? The little kids were not scared and only slightly interested in the wax figures. Prince J says Washington looked too tall. None of them could pick out our President. Cleopatra wasn’t very pretty. Pretty boring commentary.
We stopped for ice cream and coffee on the way back and had dinner at Cafe Eleven, which I’ve blogged about before (FYI, Prince J ordered spinach ravioli and barely touched it – he ate too much of my appetizer. If you ever find yourself at Cafe Eleven, order the spinach ravioli. It was really very good.) After dinner, a round of miniature golf at Fiesta Falls . Fun stuff, if you avoid getting hit by a golf club when RJ swings. Scary.
Day 2…
Breakfast at the Gypsy Cab Company. Very good, huge servings, interesting building and waitresses. Eggs Benedict was a hit. Baked Ziti, also a hit. Omelettes and home fries, a hit.
Next stop, Anastasia State Park. Great park. Very nice and uncrowded beach (with lifeguards!). Clean beach shop and picnic area. Clean bathrooms. Good parking. The kids had a lot of fun. I think we may give camping there a try one of these days.
Technorati Tags: staugustine, vacation, anastasiastatepark, lighthouse, alligatorfarm
Daily Dose of Travel – St Augustine Read More »
So, it has begun. The deep cleaning I promised TW we would do in July. It’s begun very very slowly but enough that it made TW nervous, (which I rather enjoyed since it is usually she who makes me nervous with her cleaning). This first box is the start of it. This box of "Denise Toys" that have been accumulating in our bedroom for years. I’m not sure what is going to happen to this box of toys. The first step is the boxing up, the next is the decision about what will happen to the contents. Stay tuned.
What weird stuff is in your house, and why is it there?
Technorati Tags: stuff, whatisthisdoinginmyhousemonday, toys
Daily Dose of Stuff – Monday Read More »
I really do like Sarah Waters and her books, except for Affinity. The Night Watch started slowly, as her books tend to start, but just as I start to wonder if she’s written a dud I realize I’ve been lured in and need to read, all the way through without stopping.
The only complaint I have about The Night Watch is that I really wish she hadn’t written it backwards. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the stories had been a progression, rather than moving backwards through time. I’m not sure why she moved backwards in this story, I don’t see the point, I don’t think anything was gained by the reader. I don’t think anything would have been lost if she had started in 1941 and moved forward. I’ve read some reviews and people either loved or hated the reverse.
Technorati Tags: thenightwatch, sarahwaters, glbt, fiction, favorites, bookerprize
July has arrived and that means it is time to review. June was a much busier month for my 101 things. That’s good because May’s inactivity made it seem like I might as well give up on this idea completely.
The biggest and most important accomplishment – I READ THE MOONSTONE! FINALLY! And I lived to tell about it! I can die tomorrow with the list unfinished and be happy!
The blogroll got another update – I’m doing ok with this once a month update thing. It’s still not a good solution, but it’s at least a solution.
I tried to call my brother…. doesn’t that count for something? OK fine, I will try again and succeed before I add a little "1" to the list. You people are tough.
Lots of new restaurants, I need to look back over the month and count them. Lots of non-fiction and some audio books, too. Again, I need to count those and update. Did we go to a museum? It seems like we might have but, ummm I should have reviewed my calendar and my blogs before starting this update, eh?
We took the kids to St Augustine and do you think the Coral Castle is an unusual roadside attraction? I’m thinking it is.
July looks like it will be another good month for the 101 list, knock on wood.
How is your list coming? Link me so I can go peek!
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It’s official. I’m back to avoiding my Summer Reading Challenge list and doing a darn good job of it. Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest was an excellent read.
I believe this was recommended to me by someone I know at work who recently moved to Florida. She was compiling a stack of books set in Florida and this was one of them. I think that’s how I discovered it. I certainly had never been to the author’s blog, I would have remembered that.
I thought this was a young adult book, for some reason. Probably the cover art, which is interesting but with the blackbird and the headless women, just feels like a kid book, ya know? Well it isn’t, though I am betting there are some teens around here who would enjoy it.
The reviews on the back suggested this was a really creepy read and it would give you goosebumps. Well, I didn’t find it that scarey. (Why do reviewers feel the need to exagerate?
So, the story, let’s see… a line of women, they “have magic on them”, voodoo or sorcery (whichever you prefer), John Gray and the St Augustine priests. A bad guy named Malachi who wasn’t so much bad as misled and a wee bit nuts. Chattanooga, Macon, St Augustine and the swamps of south Florida. Go read it.
Four and Twenty Blackbirds Read More »
I’m on a roll and I like it! I finished book five from my summer reading challenge list – The Crucible!
I’m surprised that I’ve never read it and never seen a performance (either a play or a movie). I liked it and now am considering watching a movie, though I’d prefer to see a play. I wonder if any high schools will do it this year.
I’m really not a big Arthur Miller fan but this one redeemed him for me.
Technorati Tags: thecrucible, arthurmiller, fiction, salem, summerreadingchallenge