New Year's Eve the party day of the year. Hah! Kissed 2009 good-bye and was in bed at 9; even slept through the fireworks that went off in the neighborhood.
This morning, though, what's on T.V. THE ROSE BOWL PARADE. Yay! I laugh quietly to myself as I remember this parade. I watched it twice in person. Well sort of.
When I was about 16 or so the highlight of my New Year's Eve was to baby sit. Guanteed big money, because for the married couples the evening started young with dinner and went late after ringing in the new year. This particular year, I got a call from my mom to join her and my brothers and sisters, an aunt and some cousins to go to Pasadena. I said yes, I mean, why not. Doesn't it just sound like a blast????? We got down there around 3 in the morning and piled out of the car. The older kids headed out to find some empty space to sit in while the two old ladies parked and found us later. We found a spot at the curbside and hunkered down in the cold of the evening to wait for the parade to start....5 hours later. As daylight broke most everyone around us began waking from their stupors from partying into the wee hours of the morning before we arrived. One of the guys next to us apparently thought we took their spots and started yelling at us to move out. Of course we didnt budge...Before i knew what happened, he was behind me, lifting me by the shoulders of my jacket, and throwing me backwards over his shoulders. Of course the cops came to break up the rest of the party and advised all of us to share the space we had and settle down for the rest of the time. So we did. And the parade was good.
The second time I went with two good friends. We were not quite 20 years old then. We packed up sleeping bags and snacks and took off for Colorado Blvd. It was after dark when we arrived in my little Chevy Vega. Why we decided to go down the Blvd. is beyond me, but we did. Millions of peeps already lined the street, staking out their spot for the parade in the morning. What we didn't know is if they would choose our car to rock and roll ~ a scary thought indeed. We just rolled up the windows and locked the doors. The crowd was C R A Z Y! We managed to get off the Blvd. unscathed, found a parking spot and hiked back to the action. Those not already sitting in the gutter were lined up against the business fronts. Weirdos. Gobs of them! I swear to this day the guy in the black trench coat and sunglasses was Woody Allen...okay, maybe his brother. We got out our sunflower seeds and sodas (yes, we were wild!) and started our own little party. At ten til twelve the rain started. As the clock struck twelve the downpour hit. At ten after twelve, we were packed up and heading for the car ~ soggy sleeping bags in tow ~ leaving the soggy crowd behind. We wound up in a sleezy hotel (even had a red light out front) in Burbank and fell asleep. 8 am....the parade came on tv. we watched for 10 minutes and left for home. e-yep. high times for this kid.
One of these days, maybe, if I ever do go back, I am going to buy a seat in the bleachers. In the meantime, Stephanie Edwards and Bob Eubanks remain quite the hosts of a grand parade ~ on TV.
Happy New Year!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
p-jammers and goose down
i have slept most of the nights of the last 30 years nekid. bare nekid. buck naked. quite frankly i found sliding into clean sheets one of the neatest feelings in the world. i could just stretch out and shake off all the day's ick and slide right into la-la land.
but i have to tell ya...i found the ultimate way to sleep the other night as i slid into bed, wearing my new p-jammers, under my new goose down featherbed. ahhhhhhh. air fluffed all around me. i do believe i began to purrrrrr. my feet were warm, my legs were warm, my body was warm, my arms were warm, and my face was enjoying the wash of fresh rain air from the window. an air muffler. yeah. that was nice. real nice. i wasn't hot. i wasn't sweaty. i was mmm mmm mmmm warrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmm. snuggly.
i had forgotten long ago featherbeds. i can not believe i have been deprived of such luxury for so very long. it probably explains why people are so darned cranky all the time. can't sleep? get a featherbed. feel like you got up on the wrong side of the bed? get a featherbed. i am telling you........ if you don't have one, get one!
tonight...george foreman is taking me to dinner.
the new year is coming.......
but i have to tell ya...i found the ultimate way to sleep the other night as i slid into bed, wearing my new p-jammers, under my new goose down featherbed. ahhhhhhh. air fluffed all around me. i do believe i began to purrrrrr. my feet were warm, my legs were warm, my body was warm, my arms were warm, and my face was enjoying the wash of fresh rain air from the window. an air muffler. yeah. that was nice. real nice. i wasn't hot. i wasn't sweaty. i was mmm mmm mmmm warrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmm. snuggly.
i had forgotten long ago featherbeds. i can not believe i have been deprived of such luxury for so very long. it probably explains why people are so darned cranky all the time. can't sleep? get a featherbed. feel like you got up on the wrong side of the bed? get a featherbed. i am telling you........ if you don't have one, get one!
tonight...george foreman is taking me to dinner.
the new year is coming.......
Thursday, December 24, 2009
and now for .......
the bulletins are finished and posted with care,
the arm tendons are warming for the ringing at 11,
the skies are so blue you cant but help believe He is up there in heaven.
kids are coming at 3
pork is in the oven
cole slaw and tater salad await
you'd think it was summer.
presents they will be bearing,
well some anyway....
but its the gift in their hearts
that mean more than they can say.
thank you dear Jesus for coming
to earth
today we remember our dear savior's birth.
for God so loved the world.....that much
the arm tendons are warming for the ringing at 11,
the skies are so blue you cant but help believe He is up there in heaven.
kids are coming at 3
pork is in the oven
cole slaw and tater salad await
you'd think it was summer.
presents they will be bearing,
well some anyway....
but its the gift in their hearts
that mean more than they can say.
thank you dear Jesus for coming
to earth
today we remember our dear savior's birth.
for God so loved the world.....that much
Saturday, December 19, 2009
something to say
so today i went to the thought dock for a while and then hopped over to b's page because i do know her.....between the two and the attached comments...it just got my wheels turnin'. now i am debating whether i should just let it go and make my way to the bedroom for a nap or write. well, here i am. so i guess you are in for it..
i havent finished my christmas shopping. thats making me a little nervous. which really it shouldn't because i have spent plenty of money,,,,,okay how about it shouldn't because i gave each of the gifts a lot of thought,,,,,no, wait, i can do better. it really shouldn't because i am giving from the heart. i have made purchases for those near and dear to me,,,but not everyone because my wallet won't stretch that far. c'mon now, we are facing reality here! does the thought "i would get so-and-so this, if i had the money." count? i know. don't spend the money,,,make the present! don't spend the money....its the thought that counts. so for all of you that don't get a present from me this year, just think how much i think (thought) of you. i know...you buy yourself a present and put a tag on it from me... :)
two things have upset me this season. one is hearing that some stores are selling BLACK christmas trees made from plastic. they are being sold with with silver ornaments. now there IS something wrong with that. its like that is the ultimate commercialization of christmas. makes me wonder if they are making them to hang upside down....which brings me to the 2nd thing....hanging your christmas tree upside down. for those of you that have done this...too bad...i am about to offend you. there is something sacriligious about hanging a christmas tree upside-down. i know trees are not really even related to christmas(see my prior blog), it's not like the baby jesus was laid in one when he was born or that mary and joseph even actually had one....but it is just wrong. it would be better not to have a tree than to make a mockery of such a delightful element of the holiday season.
the weather...are you caught in that snow storm? i am sorry if you are, however, find a way to enjoy the quietness of the falling snow. sometimes it is just good to sit and hear ,,,,Nothing.
we had rain this past week. probably more than we have had in the last three years. except for the fog that it brings in the early morning hours, the rain is wonderful and we do need it awfully bad. prayers for more, please. today it is sun-shiny. but cold. really cold. and it makes my feet cold. which in turn makes my body cold. i can usually solve this dilema by crawling under the covers. :)) maybe later, lol, i have christmas presents to shop for....and groceries.
i havent finished my christmas shopping. thats making me a little nervous. which really it shouldn't because i have spent plenty of money,,,,,okay how about it shouldn't because i gave each of the gifts a lot of thought,,,,,no, wait, i can do better. it really shouldn't because i am giving from the heart. i have made purchases for those near and dear to me,,,but not everyone because my wallet won't stretch that far. c'mon now, we are facing reality here! does the thought "i would get so-and-so this, if i had the money." count? i know. don't spend the money,,,make the present! don't spend the money....its the thought that counts. so for all of you that don't get a present from me this year, just think how much i think (thought) of you. i know...you buy yourself a present and put a tag on it from me... :)
two things have upset me this season. one is hearing that some stores are selling BLACK christmas trees made from plastic. they are being sold with with silver ornaments. now there IS something wrong with that. its like that is the ultimate commercialization of christmas. makes me wonder if they are making them to hang upside down....which brings me to the 2nd thing....hanging your christmas tree upside down. for those of you that have done this...too bad...i am about to offend you. there is something sacriligious about hanging a christmas tree upside-down. i know trees are not really even related to christmas(see my prior blog), it's not like the baby jesus was laid in one when he was born or that mary and joseph even actually had one....but it is just wrong. it would be better not to have a tree than to make a mockery of such a delightful element of the holiday season.
the weather...are you caught in that snow storm? i am sorry if you are, however, find a way to enjoy the quietness of the falling snow. sometimes it is just good to sit and hear ,,,,Nothing.
we had rain this past week. probably more than we have had in the last three years. except for the fog that it brings in the early morning hours, the rain is wonderful and we do need it awfully bad. prayers for more, please. today it is sun-shiny. but cold. really cold. and it makes my feet cold. which in turn makes my body cold. i can usually solve this dilema by crawling under the covers. :)) maybe later, lol, i have christmas presents to shop for....and groceries.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The Special Tree
The tree is up. Thank you, W. I must say, it is about the prettiest Christmas tree I have seen in a long, long time. Especially at my house. Seems these past few years I was devoid of ........ money. I chose to use one of those "beautiful" optic lights trees to put our packages under. Yikes. What was I thinking? I didn't realize it until now what I was missing. The smell. The lights. The ornaments. The memories. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and there is also a reason for a real Christmas tree. The Christmas tree. Encroaching winter, with its growing cold and darkness, provides the seasonal context for Advent, at least in the northern hemisphere. The "dead of winter" as we say, invokes images of fallow fields, barren trees, hard ground, absent birds and lowering skies. From as far back as we have record, people in northern Europe decorated their dwellings at midwinter with evergreens such as holly, ivy, laurel and yew. "The strange survival of summer greens in the snows had always been a sacrament of the hope for new life through the winter," Explains Hill. In fact, Gregory the Great instructed missionaries to tolerate such customs and dedicate them to Christ. So, for example, holly can remind us of Christ with its prickly leaves (crown of thorns) and red berries (blood).
The decorated Christmas tree derives from this ancient tradition. The custom flourished in Germany as far back as the fifteen hundreds (Martin Luther is said to have decorated a tree indoors), although it did not spread widely in Europe until the nineteenth century. Interestingly, Christmas trees may have reached Revolutionary America by way of German settlers even before they appeared in England! But not until the early twentieth century did Christmas trees become more widely popular in the United States.
The Christmas tree, then, with its dark green branches and forest fragrance, its garlands and lights and bright adornments, comes into our homes in the dead of winter as a symbol of life and a sign of hope.
I think i am going to go turn off the lights and watch the sparkle for a while....
geo
The decorated Christmas tree derives from this ancient tradition. The custom flourished in Germany as far back as the fifteen hundreds (Martin Luther is said to have decorated a tree indoors), although it did not spread widely in Europe until the nineteenth century. Interestingly, Christmas trees may have reached Revolutionary America by way of German settlers even before they appeared in England! But not until the early twentieth century did Christmas trees become more widely popular in the United States.
The Christmas tree, then, with its dark green branches and forest fragrance, its garlands and lights and bright adornments, comes into our homes in the dead of winter as a symbol of life and a sign of hope.
I think i am going to go turn off the lights and watch the sparkle for a while....
geo
Monday, December 7, 2009
Beat It.
2009 .....won out. I am at 103 now. two so far over 2008. and no we are not talking about weight...the numbers would have had to have been reversed....but lets not go there.
so what's for dinner???? wait i don't want to talk about food either. the popcorn i am choking on is satisfying for the moment.
okay. where have you been lately? hmmmm. i have been right here. never often outside of my 10-mi radius. boring. whatever happened to those days when we just packed up the kids and took off. oh wait. that what when i was the kid. those were fun road trips. they always started with someone in the back seat yelling, "Are we there yet?????" to which the grown ups always answered, "no, lay down and take a nap, we'll be there when you wake up." Can't say that always worked, but more often than not sleeping did make the trip go faster. I guess it was the company.
how about carpet beating? anyone ever heard of that? back in "those days" when brother D was really young.....ummmm that would be the big brother cause all my brothers were D's....so was my Dad a D...get it...haha....when we lived in germany the first little place we set up house in was built into the side of a hill. the only window it had in it was a sky light. up top...it was just a green grassy hill with a clothesline. the woman that owned the place would take her carpets up there, hang them on the line and whack the crap out of them (literally) with a carpet beater. it looked like a big really stiff wicker fly swatter. she's whack those carpets till there wasn't an ounce of dust left in them. quite an art, actually. since i don't have a "real" vacuum cleaner, you know one that actually SUCKS it own weight, i think i am going to rig a carpet whacking station. i have area rugs..and probably add more as time progresses.....something to think about. if you have one, share you design!
there was a cat that lived in that same house. not ours...it belonged to the carpet-whacking land-lady. she made her cats stay out side. but this ol' cat took a likin' to my mom and every morning he/she/it would deliver a huge dead rat to the doorstep of our house, thanking mom for the food she would put out. yuck. that was rather nasty. but it is the thought that counts.
im thinkin' its time to get a dog. i just haven't made up my mind...or mr. p's. i wonder if there is some kind of rental agency where you can rent the dog durin the day,,,,,maybe provide food, maybe the deal would be that it comes with it's own food, but you can spend the day pretending like its your dog but not have any responsibility for it,,,,just to love it and/or brag about it. you know bragging right is half the fun of dog ownership. just think, you could try out a variety of dogs and find the one that is just for you. and it would give some relationship opportunities to the dogs....maybe a bunch of pound puppies...rotated though various homes. think about that one for a while
dang. it is almost 930. my eyelids are shutting down for the evening. i guess i better call it a night. besides its getting cold in here and i don't want to turn on the heater.
g'nite. sleep tight.
g
so what's for dinner???? wait i don't want to talk about food either. the popcorn i am choking on is satisfying for the moment.
okay. where have you been lately? hmmmm. i have been right here. never often outside of my 10-mi radius. boring. whatever happened to those days when we just packed up the kids and took off. oh wait. that what when i was the kid. those were fun road trips. they always started with someone in the back seat yelling, "Are we there yet?????" to which the grown ups always answered, "no, lay down and take a nap, we'll be there when you wake up." Can't say that always worked, but more often than not sleeping did make the trip go faster. I guess it was the company.
how about carpet beating? anyone ever heard of that? back in "those days" when brother D was really young.....ummmm that would be the big brother cause all my brothers were D's....so was my Dad a D...get it...haha....when we lived in germany the first little place we set up house in was built into the side of a hill. the only window it had in it was a sky light. up top...it was just a green grassy hill with a clothesline. the woman that owned the place would take her carpets up there, hang them on the line and whack the crap out of them (literally) with a carpet beater. it looked like a big really stiff wicker fly swatter. she's whack those carpets till there wasn't an ounce of dust left in them. quite an art, actually. since i don't have a "real" vacuum cleaner, you know one that actually SUCKS it own weight, i think i am going to rig a carpet whacking station. i have area rugs..and probably add more as time progresses.....something to think about. if you have one, share you design!
there was a cat that lived in that same house. not ours...it belonged to the carpet-whacking land-lady. she made her cats stay out side. but this ol' cat took a likin' to my mom and every morning he/she/it would deliver a huge dead rat to the doorstep of our house, thanking mom for the food she would put out. yuck. that was rather nasty. but it is the thought that counts.
im thinkin' its time to get a dog. i just haven't made up my mind...or mr. p's. i wonder if there is some kind of rental agency where you can rent the dog durin the day,,,,,maybe provide food, maybe the deal would be that it comes with it's own food, but you can spend the day pretending like its your dog but not have any responsibility for it,,,,just to love it and/or brag about it. you know bragging right is half the fun of dog ownership. just think, you could try out a variety of dogs and find the one that is just for you. and it would give some relationship opportunities to the dogs....maybe a bunch of pound puppies...rotated though various homes. think about that one for a while
dang. it is almost 930. my eyelids are shutting down for the evening. i guess i better call it a night. besides its getting cold in here and i don't want to turn on the heater.
g'nite. sleep tight.
g
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