Pabst Blue Ribbon!!!

I just read a news story about Dennis Hopper being rushed to hospital.

My fave line: Witnesses said he was wearing an oxygen mask.

Er, excuse me. This is Dennis Hopper. Why do they assume he was even in distress?

Tody tody kiru

It's been a while since I mentioned how much I love the Japanese, and more specifically Japanese Toilet Culture.

I'm too backward to know how to embed a YouTube clip, so I'll just provide the link. Watch it a few times and then try to get the tune out of your head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfyCnfZG0FI

An old drunk

Reading a story about a 51-year-old woman who got hit by a car in NDG this week. It was 3:30 in the morning, and she was drunk. The driver didn’t see her.

The comments on this story are amazing. Just how old do people think 51 is? And at what age is it appropriate to stop drinking to excess? Many of my friends are 51 and older, and trust me, they have been drunk way earlier than 3:30 in the morning.

Would people be more or less judgemental if it had been 10:00 at night? I suppose if it was 3:30 in the afternoon, the comments would be even more judgemental. But, gosh, people get drunk at brunch all the time!

Among my fave comments:
“Hope the old lady is ok.”
“I still hope the woman (whom I will not call a lady) recovers”.

It's decluttering day

More specifically, it is the day to do the summer-to-winter wardrobe closet switcheroo.

My god.

I own a staggering number of clothes. Staggering is the only word I can think of. How did this happen? I blame my niece and all the hand-me-up's she has unloaded on me.

The existential angst question now is: How come I own more clothes than I ever imagined possible and yet I always feel like one of the most poorly dressed people I know? How is this possible?

Does anyone (or everyone?) else feel like they have tons of nice, clean, contemporary, decent clothes and still feel like a total sloberino?

Also, how come if a person owns, let's just say: 15 sweaters, they always wear the same 3 or 4? What is up with that? Is this some Darwinian-from-the-caveman wiring in our brains? "I've only got one pelt so I'm gonna wear til I'm eaten by the saber-tooth tiger. I can't wear that new pelt, it's too nice. I don't want to stretch it."

No Mo'

No Moammar for Newfoundland.

I'm crushed.

I have tent rental space available. Contact this blog for details. Cheap.

Grapes aplenty

Far be it from me to brag about how avant-gardiste, on-the-cusp, and uber-trendy I am, but this week both the Times of London and the Toronto Star had articles on how jam-making is the hot trend in kitchens this year.

Ahem. Old news, says I.

For the first time in 10 years, my backyard vine had an abundance of grapes. So I decided I could not, being Miss Recession Survivalist 2009, let them go to waste.

Two weeks ago, I took to jelly making. In order, here are pics of
1. the bounty on the vine,
2. the grapes as they were ready for squeezing, and
3. the final product: one jar frozen, one jar ready for eatin'.
As a first try, I was pretty pleased.

So, Times of London and Toronto Star? If you want to outdo me on trendiness, you got a long way to go, honeys.

Can't wait til Tuesday

In another life, I want to come back as a jump-suited bodyguard to an African dictator. But I digress.

On Tuesday, big Mo' Gadafi will be in Canada; Newfoundland, to be precise. I am looking forward to the news that night. He'll be the biggest thing to hit the Newfs since...um...er...

He needs a place to pitch his Bedouin tent. Does he really want to stay in a tent? Does he know how cold it gets at night in Newfoundland by late September? Perhaps we can give him a seal pelt to keep him warm.

If Newfoundland won't have him, I hereby extend my offer to let Mo pitch his tent in my backyard. He'll have to deal with a pesky black cat, and endless nattering in Polish from over the fence, but other than that, it should be pretty comfy.

I await word from his Social Secretary.

Oldster Celeb Birthday

Bruce is 60 today.

Geezer.

Time to retire.

At least he isn't dead, or wandering on people's lawns.

The last day of summer

What a drag it is getting old.

I have had a cold for 10 days now, and I'm still coughing and sniffling. I HATE THIS. Plus, I chipped a molar on Friday and the dentist can only see me tomorrow. I can't eat properly without pain. Bleh!!

And summer is over, which depresses me Big Time. But Ramadan is almost over, which is a good thing.

I found a pair of shoes I want to get rid off. That's 3 whole items in my big rama-dama clean-up. I will drop them in the good will bin tonight in celebration of Eid. What fun.

Saturday is market day

I am still in Survivalist Mode. Which means I am going to the local seasonal market each Saturday and buying veggies and freezing them, better to await the impending Apocalypse. I never shoulda read The Road.

This does, however, mean I have to keep my fridge and freezer in order. A bonus in my cluttered life.

An aside, Ramadan is almost over. Remember my Ramadan goal of decluttering? Want to know how successful I've been? Well. Um. I did manage to drop off two pairs of jeans at the good will bin. Yeah, pretty lame. Maybe I'll do A LOT of decluttering this weekend. (Slaps knee, good one, good one.)

Anyway, this morning at the market I purchased purple beans. I had never to my recollection even seen purple beans before. I googled them and they are called Royal Burgundy. Of course, in my mind they immediately became Ron Burgundy beans. I wanted to photograph them but somebody needed the space.

"Le Grand Orange with Ron Burgundy Beans". Eat your heart out, Cezanne.

Then another country was heard from, wanting to be photographed. This is the first indoor pic I get of Miss H. where she doesn't have light bulb eyes.

"Hello, inferior humans"

Celeb Deaths Continue

The NY Times has a headline today: The Summer of Celebrity Deaths.

Odd, but true. I guess.

I see that Mary Travers of Peter, Paul & Mary has died. And Henry Gibson died too. That's two for today. Where's our third?

I suppose this is the start of the long trend. All the people who were stars, big and small, in the 1960s when we were kids, are in their 70's now. So they will be kicking off like gangbusters.

And yet, and yet, Keith Richards and Shane MacGowan live on...

Freebies

Yay. Anybody who knows me knows I love two things: 1) anything free and 2) snacky treats.

So it was a thrill to get not one but 2 snacky treat samples in the mail today: one chocolate crunchy granola bar and one dark chocolate sweet & salty bar. Aren't you glad the food industry developed the sweet & salty concept? I sure am.

My only regret is that I did not check the mail earlier. If I had, I could've dashed over to the CPNs and stolen their free snacky treats before they got home from work. Then I would've had 4, and they would've had 0.

That would've been sweet.

A little story

Our last day in Maine was September 11. The flag at the hotel was at half-mast. My brother-in-law went down to the front office early (7-ish) to pick up a coffee, and the t.v. was showing some kind of September eleveny thing.

There was another guy there, having a coffee, watching the t.v. He told my b-i-l how they should've just taken out the Taliban leadership and not gone into a full war in Afghanistan. Seemed reasonable enough.

Then he said: I hate having a black President.

My b-i-l came back upstairs and was rattled. Who says something like that to a total stranger? It was time to come home. Watching all the craziness of the past summer and the "You lie" business of the past few weeks, you gotta wonder if the US is going to implode. What's the percentage of people who just can't accept a black President? And is this group mobilized enough to turn the country upside down? I dunno.

On a positive note, in 5 days we saw only one bumpersticker that said: Palin 2012.

In TV news

Three things.

1. Yesterday, when I was lounging sick at home watching tennis (by the way, great job JM Del Potro the giant-sized man-child) I flipped over to watch a bit of the premiere of Dr. Oz's new show. I don't mind Dr. Oz. Really. I think he is okay. But his show? Well, it's all about ratings, I guess. This is why the first 15 minutes were all about S E X and were far too graphic for moi. Call me an old prude ("you're an old prude") but this was way over the line for daytime t.v. I kept thinking of all the people who were not watching this in the privacy of their own home, but who for whatever reason were stuck with the show on in a public place, like a gym, or an airport, or a nursing home (tv's are always on there). I would've been mucho uncomfortable if I was stuck on an elliptical trainer while Dr. Oz discussed private dangly bits. It was too much.

2. I've seen the first three episodes of Mad Men. I'm downloading (resentfully). Oh, Peggy, you are going to get in such trouble. Of course, Peggy has already been in "trouble" and survived, so maybe she will be okay. Peggy would've needed some assistance from Dr. Oz back in Season One. She should've avoided Pete's dangly bits altogether. I hate Pete. Still hate him in Season 3.

3. The Jay Leno Show. Why?

Minor (?) Celebrity Death News

Jim Carroll died. Died.

He was not my friend. And he died.

Honestly, I thought he was already dead. Dead. What do I know?

Not quite back to work

I'm sick. I have a head cold. My throat is raw. This started on Saturday. I'm about to call my boss to tell her I won't be in today. This is rather embarrassing. I got up, got dressed and was all ready to give it a try, but then I started coughing and breaking out in a cold sweat, and I realized it was stupid to drag myself to work just because I'm getting back from vacation.

It does look bad, though, doesn't it?

I'm going back to bed in a minute. Bleh.

Back to work tomorrow (weeps, weeps)

I like Maine. I would go back. Especially in September. It was quiet, even on the beach. The Atlantic, however, is pretty darn cold. But that's okay. I went in it anyway....once. Once was enough.

To The East Coast! (and maybe the Green Monster)

I'm off to Maine in the morning. Weather forecast is decent, i.e. sunny for the entire week. On Wednesday we are going down to Boston. And with a bit of luck I will finally live my long-time dream of seeing the Red Sox at Fenway. I'm crossing my fingers. And if the rotation gods are on my side, and Josh Beckett is pitching, well, then I can just die happy.


I'll leave you with a couple of vacation pics from BC. My friend the sea otter doin' the backstroke at the Vancouver aquarium. and some lovely scenery from Butchart Gardens in Victoria.

Summer's almost over? How did that happen?

Miss H. sez Happy Lazy Labour Day!

This is how she chases butterflies. Come here you butterfly and let me take a swipe at you.

(This technique generally doesn't work.)

I'm back

How!

Here I am in Stanley Park at the famous totems. Great weather. No rain. Lots of walking, lots of site-seeing.

I'm ready to retire on the West Coast.

Note to self: Invest in lottery tickets.