Where I'm From

I am from trees growing out of concrete, from bottled milk deliveries, black and white TV and Irish stew. I am from the rail road room,three story house, noisy, neighborly, with summer breezes blowing through the screens tossing the curtains over my face, cooling the house.

I am from the tomato plants, rose bushes and swing sets in the back yard, the small patch of grass, cool under my feet.

I am from large Sunday dinners, pranksters and beer drinkers, from the Irish with their brogues and the Germans with their beer.

I am from those who don't know how to stop talking, laughing, crying and praying.

From the fear of the bogey man in the closet and Daddy's bedtime stories and brothers who made me eat worms.

I am from a variety of religions, yet, calling none of them my own. My spirit is one with nature.

I'm from the northeast, corned beef, sauerbraten and lasagna.

From the the mailman and the waitress who fell in love quickly and loved to dance and laugh, the grandmother who bought me nice clothes, the father with curly hair, the other grandmother who disliked Mom because she was Republican!

I am from the black and white wedding picture that now hangs on the wall of my mom's nursing home room, the urn of ashes on the fire place, the songs that still ring loud in my heart. The memories are what I have, some bad, but mostly good as I see their smiling faces in my mind and still feel their love in my heart. That's what keeps them alive, the memories.

Where are you from?

Peace

Spud

Spud and Tank got new bones....and since Tank, my Yorkie, is such a brat he tries really hard to steal anything that Spud has. Here's Spud (affectionately known as the Snot Dog) trying to hide his new bone.

Peace

I've Met My Fifth Blog Buddy!

I have met my blogging buddy, Rick Rockhill of the Palm Springs Savant blog!

Rick was in NYC for the National Dog Show and we met up for lunch. I've been reading Rick for a few years now and his blog is just so informative and upbeat and he has two of the most adorable dogs and one of the most unique cats you ever saw....check his blog out!!
Rick also blazed the trail for me when I went to Greece...I went thru my google reader the week before I left and noticed he was posting from a cruise thru the Greek Isles!!! So I asked him to call me when he got back to tell me about the hot spots to visit. He did and I went and it was one of the most beautiful trips I've been on.

Rick is just as I pictured him to be...he's sweet, friendly, and has a great sense of humor. Thanks for lunch Rick!!

Snow is beautiful, I've had enough now....

My sad lil snowman....
Built just for you....
My mind left me today.

A Lil Sumpin....

Peace

Never....

Things I said I'd never do and did:

Buy an Ipod.
Go on Facebook.
Get an SUV.

All these things require learning new skills...I thought I was done with that when I retired. Lol.
But I'm having fun with them. So now when I hear myself saying "I'll never do that...." I should watch out.

Peace

Gen Y

What is Generation Y?

- The Silent generation are the people born before 1946.

- The Baby Boomers are people born between 1946 and 1959.

- Generation X, are people born between 1960 and 1979.

- Generation Y, are people born between 1980 and 2000

Why do we call the last group Generation Y? (I never did know).

Recently a cartoonist explained it very eloquently below....
And I learned something new today!

Peace

Waiting for Santa......

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MERRY CHRISTMAS...

T'was the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*

*Not a Christian was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*See the PC Police had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*

* December 25th is just a ' Holiday '?*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Target's were hanging their trees upside down*

* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*

*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-is-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS,

NOT Happy Holiday!*

Please, all Christians join together and

wish everyone you meet during the

holidays A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Jesus is The Reason for the Christmas Season!

pEACE

Flash Fiction

This is an oldie but a goodie...from my days of writing Flash Fiction (telling a story in 55 words).

"WHO'S OUT THERE?"

I was asleep when it happened.....
I awoke suddenly...sitting straight up in my bed!

The noise came from the living room.

My heart pounding,
grabbed the baseball bat kept by the bed.
Looked down the hall.
The noise getting louder!
Lifting the bat, getting ready........
Slowly peaking around the doorway..

Santa was eating cookies!!!!

Peace

Vestal virgins :-)

Santorini from the cable car

The isle of Eugenia, home of pistachio trees.

A woman making rugs in Turkey..

What I loved about being in Greece and on the sea was the peacefulness and beauty of it all. Seeing the whitewashed houses tucked in on the hills of the isles we visited just invited one to romanticize about living there, eating cheese and olives and taking a swim in the Mediteranean Sea every morning. Ok, I just woke up from that dream. Oh well.

Seeing the ancient ruins like the Parthenon, built in 432 BC! Just touching the marbled stones gave me a chill to think I was standing where ancient Greeks orated and fought and honored their gods and goddesses.

One of my favorite places was Santorini, a small island in the Aegean Sea which was formed by a volcano. Its village sits on top of the small mountain. As we pulled into port and debarked, we learned that the only way to the village was by cable car of donkey! I chose the cable car because I felt bad for the lil donkeys...but that's their job and I suppose they do it well.

All in all, it's a beautiful country....the food is good...the people are nice....what more could one ask for?

Peace

Have a great Turkey Day!!! Gobble, gobble!

In spite of what life has handed me these past months, I have plenty to be thankful for and for that I am grateful, and especially to all my blog buddies!
Thank you.

PEACE

The Flu.....Be Careful!!!!

2007 - Chinese year of the Chicken- Bird Flu Pandemic devastates parts of Asia !

2008 - Chinese year of the Horse- Equine Influenza decimates Australian racing !

2009 - Chinese year of the Pig- Swine Flu Pandemic kills hundreds of pigs/humans around the globe.!

Next year......

2010 - Chinese year of the Cock - what can possibly go wrong?

Peace

I'm Backkkkkkkkkkkk.....

Santorini, where you had to take a cable car or a donkey ride up into the city on the hill.

Santorini .

The Aquamarine.

Greece was absolutely beautiful. We arrived in Greece, via London, on November 7th and after a few minor set backs (one of my bags stayed in London, but caught up with me on the next flight), we boarded the Aquamarine for 5 days of sunny sailing to Mykonos, Santorini, Turkey.
We stayed four extra days in Athens and did day trips on the one day little ships to every other island...Poros, Hydra, and Eugina.....and of course we walked the entire city of Athens and did a little (ok a lot) of shopping.

The weather was nice (in the 70's and 60's). What I loved the most was the food! The Greek salads are to die for as well as their Mousakka. Everything is soooo fresh!

(See ya in a few days.....)

Peace

I will post some more pics later and tell you more detail when I catch up with some sleep and get adjusted to the time change.

Vacation Land.............................

Off to Greece....see ya!!!

Peace

Boooooooooooo....

Be careful out there :-)


Peace

Random Things....

I'm getting excited....look at my countdown over there...8 more days until my VACATION!!!!!!! I'm also getting sad because I have to leave lil old Snotdog and his Bro, Tank the Terror, home. I'm not worried about anything else cept for that....

I just can't wait. It's been a long time since I traveled outside the country. I'm not sure if I'll blog from there. I'm not bringing my laptop to Greece but I understand there are lots of Internet Cafe's there.

I'm only bringing one suitcase. Do you know how hard that is? I'm going to do it!!

So it's a week before my vacation and I get an abscessed tooth. The dentist tried to save it but I had to get it pulled yesterday. ( I don't want any teeth problems overseas. ) Oh, last night I made escarole and beans and as I was eating the phone rang. Now with my tooth being pulled and my mouth a little numb I said I just sat down to eat my escarole and beans and the person on the other end of the phone thought I said "eskimo" and beans....lmao.

Peace

What Can I Say, I'm a Kid at Heart.....

Halloween Toys & MySpace Layouts at pYzam.com

Just saying.....

Peace

Laugh Day

One year, a husband decided to buy his mother-in-law a cemetery plot as a Christmas gift...
The next year, he didn't buy her a gift.
When she asked him why, he replied! ,
"Well, you still haven't used the gift I bought you last year!"
And that's how the fight started...

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I asked my wife,
'Where do you want to go for our anniversary?'
It warmed my heart to see her face melt in sweet appreciation.
'Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!'
she said.
So I suggested,
'How about the kitchen?'
And that's when the fight started...

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My wife and I are watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed.
I turned to her and said,
'Do you want to have sex?'
'No,'
she answered.
I then said,
'Is that your final answer?'
She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying
'Yes.'
So I said,
'Then I'd like to phone a friend.'
And that's when the fight started...


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I took my wife to a restaurant.
The waiter, for some reason, took my order first…
'I'll have the strip steak, medium rare, please.'
He said,
'Aren't you worried about the mad cow?'
'Nah, she can order for herself.'
And that's when the fight started...


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My wife sat down on the couch next to me as I was flipping the channels.
She asked,
'What's on TV?'
I said,
'Dust.'
And then the fight started...


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My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.
She said,
'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 200 in about 3 seconds.'
I bought her a scale..
And then the fight started...


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My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school reunion, and she kept staring at a drunken man swigging his drink as he sat alone at a nearby table.
I asked her,
'Do you know him?'
'Yes,'
she sighed,
‘He’s my old boyfriend... I understand he took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear he hasn't been sober since.'
'My God!'
I said,
'Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?'
And then the fight started...


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I rear-ended a car this morning.... So, there we were alongside the road and slowly the other driver got out of his car.
You know how sometimes you just get soooo stressed and little things just seem funny?
Yeah, well I couldn't believe it... he was a DWARF!!!
He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted,
'I AM NOT HAPPY!'
So, I looked down at him and said,
'Well, then which one are you?'
And then the fight started...


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THE BROKEN LAWN MOWER:
When our lawn mower broke and wouldn't run, my wife kept hinting to me that I should get it fixed.
But, somehow I always had something else to take care of first, the truck, the car, playing golf… Always something more important to me.
Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point.
When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors… I watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. I was gone only a minute, and when I came out again I handed her a toothbrush.
I said,
'When you finish cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway.'
The doctors say I will walk again, but I will always have a limp.
Peace