Not sure why this ditty didn't catch on.

"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" sung by 10 yr. old Gayla Peevey in 1953.

I got a new boot

Lovely, isn't it? I had a ganglion cyst removed from the top of my foot this morning. It's a returned problem from about 15 years ago when I had the very same thing done to the very same spot - then about a year ago it returned and has been limiting my activities (things that require a lot of walking or standing). I've got Vicodin for pain, and it's working so far. Hopefully this time the damn thing will stay gone.

This calls for a little couch time.

Winter beauty

The yard is so full of butterflies!! Mostly Monarchs Queens* but there are a few others I haven't identified by type. It has been very, very dry so there is not a lot for nourishment, so they are ganging up on the Tropical Milkweed. So beautiful.

* [correction] These butterflies pictures are Queens, which I discovered through a comment with this link.

Naughty, naughty kitty

You'll never believe what this cat gets up to.
Not your typical cammed cat... or is it?

Once upon a season dreary

The first holiday cards to arrive are from various charities, corporate organizations, political groups, or all of the above – anybody who wants to shame you into sending them some money by means of guilt – giving you a card and sometimes some address labels.* They are usually pretty unremarkable, but this one, sent from my alma mater (a lofty term to describe the place where I took a lot of night classes in order to finally obtain a BFA at the age of 40). If I were grading this design or critiquing it (perhaps as part of my art studies there) for a Holiday card for donors and alumni – something whose purpose is to get you to donate $$$ to them – it would get a solid F. Not sure what they want to do with the money. It could have gone to a graphic designer in this case...

Instead of looking warm and inviting, I want to leave the room ASAP.

It doesn’t look bad for Halloween though.

*and oh the humanity, we’ve got enough address labels to last at least 3 more lifetimes.
Just stop it.

Apparently the address label tactic still works though, so the mailbox will continue to be stuffed.
NPR: Give And Take: How The Rule Of Reciprocation Binds Us

Get on board the giggle train

Thanksgiving, then and now

Oooh! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and everybody is psyched up about the huge meal, the football, seeing family members, turkey turkey turkey pie pie, and then there are those hitting the stores for the Black Friday Shopping Stampede. I've done all the big family dinners that I ever want to do in my life, so I'm done with that. Something to be thankful for right there!! Yaay!!

Those of you participating in a big dinner prep might appreciate this absolutely classic hilarious and real letter that someone shared with the Awkward Family Photos people. I think I may have posted this before, but I always revisit it this time of year. It's traditional! My graphic is just a thumbnail - go to the site to read it and enjoy the some more real life weirdness - shit that you just can't make up. Awkward Family Photos: The Thanksgiving Letter

One of my new favorite Thanksgiving-dinner-themed things is this series of comics called "Thanksgiving as a kid VS Thanksgiving as an adult" from The Oatmeal. Again, I've provided a teeny thumbnail because you should go over and read it where it lives. Love The Oatmeal.

We do have some Thanksgiving traditions, even though none of them involve getting stuffed with food until we can't walk. We usually go to the Alamo Drafthouse and watch a movie. They have a full dinner and drink menu, always, (including a full turkey dinner and trimmings if you are so inclined - but I am going to stick with pizza), and we are going to see "Lincoln." Seems like this is going to be one of the ones to beat when the Awards are handed out, so looking forward to it. I find it to be ironic that we are going to see a movie about Lincoln on the anniversary of JFK's assassination...

Whatever you do, enjoy your day. Don't get into any fights at the dinner table if you can prevent them. Life's too short for all that bullshit and heartache.

Keep smiling.

Sad, sad people

A bad case of the "Mondays" on a Tuesday night. Have a cheery little party. Maybe the Koch Brothers will buy you a drink, even though they were not able to purchase a President.

Autumn activities here at the Oasis

Seems like I've been away from this blog for a long time. I have gone back to a lower frequency of posting, which I attribute to a burnout of sorts. By the time I've listened to radio news (NPR) for many hours, get my daily dose of Rachel Maddow, (almost daily) Stewart/Colbert, and wade through the endless stream of Facebook friends and Liked-pages news feed, commenting here and there, or not, (this election is INSANE) or issuing a status update maybe, plus scrolling through Twitter... I am too mentally wasted and worn out to put together a posting. It will be time for dinner+couch+TV with the spouse, or just getting out and being in the world in person. Anyway, here's a rundown.

Oct 20 was Tour de Fat, which we attend pretty much every year. It's a touring bike-themed, beer-themed, steampunk-flavored play day and costumed bike parade hosted by New Belgium Brewing Company in Colorado. MrB likes to ride in the parade. I sit it out but enjoy the day. I tend to have one beer too many and get too much sunshine. None of that changed this time. A few pics from the day:





On the 24th I went to the book signing of Matthew Inman, a.k.a. The Oatmeal - who creates some of the funniest comics you'll find anywhere. His new book is called "How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you," and contains How to Pet a Kitty along with a whole book-full of other cat comedy. I absolutely love The Oatmeal.

On Oct 27 we went to see 18-yr-old guitar phenom Carson Brock. He is the son of Kyle Brock, who goes way back to the 1970s playing bass with Eric Johnson, and gets better every time I see him. Good voice too. Look for him on your geetar radar. Here he is on the Jimi Hendrix song, Red House.


Halloween came and went. We had a solid hour of very cute costumed children coming to the door. The most popular costumes still seem to be Princess and Pirate, not much changed about that since I was little. I was never a Princess though, always a Hobo.

Nov 3rd we went to the Celtic Festival, where we had an enchanting day of wonderful Celtic music, climaxing with Moya Brennan (of Clannad) and band, including Cormac De Barra, two harps, drum, fiddle and guitar. It was really quite a treat. Here's one of her videos from about a year ago. Our venue was not nearly as magical as the setting in this video, but it was really nice, a stage in an intimate setting with the lake behind. It is still very warm here, still a bit warmer than I would like it to be, but the weather is still lovely and it cools down a nicely in the evening.


And there's cat news... mostly we do not go out except on weekends, and look forward to nightly visits from some neighborhood kitties. There's one in particular who has stolen our hearts. She is owned by the people 2 doors down but she is left out what must be most of the time. On Friday night, in the exact middle of the night, we heard a meowing in a place where there should be no meowing. There she was, on the second floor roof (which was very steep) crying at a high bathroom window which isn't any taller than a cat door.

Everybody was pretty freaked out and scared. I went outside and didn't really see any path down that wouldn't be painful. MrB was finally able to pry the screen off and pull her through there. We don't know why she was up there, whether she was escaping some critter or just decided to see if that might be an alternate place to be let in. We think she must have balanced on the plank fence and jumped up. We hope that she was sufficiently terrified by it to not try again. Anyway, couldn't help but think of this song.

The election is on Tuesday, and it can't get here soon enough. I think our heads might just spin right off at the neck. Will be checking in here again soon, I hope.

Together With McGovern

I am very saddened to hear that Senator George McGovern is nearing the end of his life and may be gone by the time I write this. I have always been a great admirer of his. I had lived through the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy (two of my childhood heroes) in the 1960s, and realized the height of ugliness that politics and power spawns. I opposed the VietNam war and wondered if there was any chance that reason and sanity would ever prevail in this country.

Back in 1972, when I was a young woman/girl I still had idealism and hope when it came to politics. McGovern was intelligent, was not born privileged, and had such a big heart too. He wanted to help the poor and hungry, and wanted to end the war. He was a true liberal.

I was living in southern Illinois at the time, in the college town of Carbondale, and because of the student population there, McGovern was quite popular. I volunteered to help with his campaign, which meant all manner of things, but mostly just calling lists of people on the phone to make a pitch for him and get out the vote. The part of it that was really fun was the comraderie of the group, and the fact that he made a campaign stop in a little, tiny airport in that area. We all got to meet him and get handshakes and autographs. The part of it that was not fun was when they put us on a bus and sent us 80 miles to the west, to Belleville, so that we could call people up there. I know this is hard to imagine now, but that's the only way it could be done with our landline phones to avoid long-distance charges. What a wake-up call it was for me. Belleville was a more typical small midwestern town, very unlike Carbondale. It was actually pretty conservative, and the constant flow of telephone rejection I experienced was unbelievable.

On election night, McGovern was badly defeated by President Richard Nixon, the people chose Nixon, who resigned in disgrace and scandal a couple of years later.

I was soured on politics after that experience. I seriously doubt that a liberal can be elected to President of the United States, or even be the nominee (sorry Kucinich). The Democrats don't want another ass-whupping ala 1972. Obama is not a liberal, never was, and never claimed to be (neither was Hillary, for that matter). He is a solid moderate. I am voting for him and supporting him - not because I agree with all his views or actions, some I do and some I don't - but mainly because voting for Obama is the ONLY way to prevent President Romney (and Vice President Ryan) from becoming the new leaders of the free world. Embrace that little nightmare for a moment or two. It could happen, it really could. President Romney... soak it in...

Everybody please VOTE in November. Vote your conscience, your heart, your head, your attitude... just do it... even if the Presidential candidates don't grab you, vote for your legislators, your school board, propositions, bonds, judges, the dogcatcher. I don't call people on the phone to canvass or campaign, but I put signs in the yard, stickers on my car, and I go to the polls every time there's something to be voted on.

George McGovern wikipedia

Vincent

In the spirit of the time of year, here's a delightful little short from Tim Burton, narrated by Vincent Price, on the topic of Edgar Allen Poe. Perfect.

I've seen this one before, but it's worth another view. Or two.

They are missed.

There has been a rash of missing kitties in my neighborhood... a few dogs here and there must mostly cats. It's normal to see a flyer or two, always, but I have been shocked at the number of them. This is not even all of the various flyers, there is at least one more within these few blocks that I didn't photograph, and most have cropped up in the last 2 months.

I was afraid it might be a human killer (and there is no proof that it isn't), but MrB was riding his bike the other morning and saw a healthy coyote. This is very likely what is going on. [Coyotes and cats]

I am thinking of making a flyer of my own saying "COYOTES HAVE BEEN SEEN. PLEASE KEEP SMALL PETS INDOORS."

Raaaid!!

On Sunday, when driving home from shopping I saw some cop cars with flashing lights parked on the opposite side of the road. As I got closer I saw that they were all getting out of their cars and running towards the someone's back gate with guns drawn. Then they were all there at the gate, ready to shoot if necessary. One was pointing a rifle [UPDATE: or more likely it was a shotgun, I am told]. My head was spinning at the sight of this, thinking I don't really want to be anywhere close by there for whatever happens next, so I pushed down on the gas a little more.

Now you might be picturing a city scene here, bricks, sidewalks, the most common visual we have for police raids thanks to TV and movies, but this was a nice, quiet suburban street and the alley behind the house was more of a greenspace... and neatly mowed too. The backyard was enclosed in a typical Texas cedar plank fence. It was a stark contrast to the pointed guns and it's hard to get the image of it out of my head now.

I figured this would eventually be in the news, but so far I have seen no mention of it. False call? Maybe. Probably.