Valentine's Tea...Monster Trucks..Mall-Ratting and More

LOL!  Yes...it has been a long month this week!

Started Monday and Tuesday with the Fall Out from our Tweeter-In-Insanity: Babyhands McBigot.

Who, after losing to one judge in Boston and then 3 more in  the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, defiantly tweeted (...unleashing the Awesome RAGE of CAPS   LOCK...)

"SEE YOU IN COURT"

Er....really...where do you think you've been all this time, Mr. Caps-Monster???

Just askin'.

While the rest of us just stopped for a moment to laugh, quite literally, until we cried.

Gee, this Leader of the Free World business is tougher than it looks...

I stand by my prediction of 6 months...on the outside.

Impeached, Resigned, Assassinated, Jailed (or maybe just an MI or a Stroke)..in six months time.

We'll see.

Oh...and to the 9th Circuit Court Judges that showed this Orange Monstrosity that we do have checks and balances and don't live in some third world dictatorship...Huge Kudos!!!

The BEST meme I have seen for His Blunderness yet...

Wednesday, the only rational thing to do was escape with friends!  Mall-Ratting in Bloomington. Never get too old to Mall Rat.  Judy, Diane Y., Loretta, Janelle, Gail and myself. Starting the day with Starbucks Cappuccino and Pain au Chocolat

 (the perfect beginning to the day)

Loretta, Diane and I decided this year may just be The Year of The Hats and we spent an inordinate amount of time in shops trying on Newsboy Caps, Cloches, Big Floppy Summer Hats in an array of colors and materials, Pork Pie Hats, Tiny Pillbox Hats (...yes dearie...you look like the Queen Mum...) Bling Encrusted Baseball caps,
                                I think Diane even tried on a straw cowboy hat.

Look for us this summer...we will be a sea of shades and hats!

We did the Yankee Candle Thing. Spring Scents. Think Cafe al Fresco...Honey Lavender Gelato and Sicilian Lemon.

The First and Last are wonderful.

The Lavender...well..not so much so...

We plundered the sales at Macy's 
 (...and Loretta found table linens at 50% off...so she is throwing a dinner party for all of us, soon...)

We checked out the newest scents at Bath and Body, as well.

Warm Mango Sunset

Fresh Melon Margarita

Passion Fruit Punch 

Sweet Sunrise Mimosa

White Lily and Lime

Pink Peonies & Pears

Spring Poppies & Picnics

Cool Coconut Colada

(...with the exception of the Peony scented one...this Spring's selections were kind of...well awful, actually...) 

We used the cards to scent test this time. No one actually wanting to SMELL like a lot of these scents for the entire day.

I decided against all of them, and went with a familiar standby

Japanese Cherry Blossom

Which I now have in EVERYTHING.
Candle...lotion...foaming hand soap...
hand bac...bath gel...and fragrance spray.
The bathroom smells amazing!

Earrings from Claire's. A new Spring scarf or three (okay...three)...and finished the day up at Applebee's with Bourbon Street Steak! 

By the end of the day I was stress-free and could say

"What Blovinating Orange Baby Man?"

Which was the point of the entire foray to begin with...

Market and Preparation at the end of the week, and yesterday had My Annual Valentine's Tea with Kaylee, Hannah and Jazzie...Pizza &Pop. Stuffed Monkeys,Board Games and Chocolate, and even a visit by Uncle Chris!

And James, Nicole, Emma, Brenden and Aiden off for the Monster Truck Jam Adventure in Indianapolis.

A very first for Aiden, who absolutely LOVES Monster Trucks!

But before last night had NEVER seen them before in person!

Dad helping offer ear protection from the LOUD trucks! They had a wonderful time!

I caught a couple of movies this week as well.

20th Century Women
With Annette Benning

Very nice Coming of Age for her teen son...and look at Aging and Parenting Roles Post Menopause. As well as a nice glimpse backward in the 20th Century. Definitely more of a chick flick...but well worth the time.

Also caught

Split

This film is incredible.  James McAvoy is brilliant as a Multiple (MPD) with 24 distinct personalities. From 9 year old Hedwig to Darryl, Kevin, Barry, Miss Patricia,through The Beast he flows seamlessly from one personality to the next. Extremely realistic and convincing. A journey into a mind that has shattered to protect itself. It is a very dark film (and subject matter) but well worth your time.

Books this week included

Pillip Levine's: My Lost Poets

and Indiana (Purdue) Author
Roxane Gay's:  Difficult Women

The former being a dry difficult and for the most part uninteresting read. To be completely honest...I didn't finish it.

Life is too short for bad chocolate or books.

The latter being as good, as the former was bad.

I love Indiana Authors...and follow several.
Now I have Roxane's work to discover as well.

Difficult Women is a collection of short stories about women. Mothers and Those Who Can Never Be. Good Women. Bad Women. Damaged Women. Straight and Gay women. Too Fat and Too Thin Women. Women Who Can Love, and Those Who Cannot. Women Who Are Betrayed and Women Who Are Betrayers. Abused Women and Abusive Women.

This is hands down the BEST book I have read this year, thusfar.

The first story in the collection will reduce you to tears.

Her other works include An Untamed State and Bad Feminist.

She is currently working on a Memoir entitled Hunger.

Can't say enough good things about this author, and hope she lectures at Depauw University sometime as I would love to meet her!

Taking a very quiet Zen Sunday...and back to it tomorrow. 

More Anon...

A Strange Thing Happened on the Way to the Superbowl...

What the HELL?

No...I am not talking about the Patriot Win.

The evening got bizarre about the time of the Pre-Game show.  Fox Sports offered a free stream for the entire ordeal. Well...almost. You could get it on TV, Android, Tablet, PC...the caveat?

You HAD to be running Windows.

Yeah.

As a dyed-in-the-wool follower of TUX.  And running LINUX...well...this posed a problem. 

James having already encountered (and overcome) his own transmission reception problems laughing and countering with the Red Green Admonishment

"If the women don't find you handsome...they should at least find you handy!"

And as he explained how he did it, I was envisioning Vin Diesel in the opening of The Return of Xander Cage...or Mcgyver.

But anyway...no...no video feed for me.

Then I found a random audio of The Game...a glimmer of hope.

It seemed odd because although it was definitely Superbowl LI and the teams were right...the timing was off...already into the 2nd quarter.

Still I listened. Followed every play. Excited with what appeared to be a Falcon win.

When the game ended (still early) the Falcons were proclaimed the winning team
with a broad lead in score.

wait...wait...there is more....don't roll your eyes just yet...

Ecstatic, I phoned James and proclaimed

"OMG...We did it!!! We WON!!!"

To which he answered (in that voice...the one that infers that he may be helping pick out your retirement home soon)

"Mom....are you okay???"

and then preceded to tell me that it was only half-time.

WTF?

When at last, we sorted the issue, my Superbowl Audio was a Maddie Sim. 

Yeah...Alternative Facts.

No...he wasn't laughing with me...it was certainly at me.

Fell back, regrouped, found a crawler that gave play by play and stats...and finished watching the game chatting with him (and my friend, John) through IM.

Where I was able to watch (horrified) as The Patriots pulled the score up from 20-0 to 20-23...and then tie at 28-28 to throw the entire game into overtime.

Overtime...something that has never happened before in Superbowl History!

Brady, who had thrown 8 incompletes during the evening, managed to complete the only pass that really mattered...

Winning them the game and his 5th Superbowl Ring.

(now he has the whole set)

So yeah..I got to see both teams win the same game in the same night.

(...for the record...I liked the sim version better...lol)


I went back this morning to catch Luke Bryan's rendition of the National Anthem...very nice...and the Thunderbirds flyover.

Also Lady Gaga's Halftime Show.
 
As a rule, I don't care for her music, but the whole thing had a very Bowie-esque feel to it. Very theatrical. The drones in the night sky were a nice touch. As were all the pyrotechnics. Nice entrance on the cables. Loved the lyrical nod to the GLBT community, as well..

My favorite commercial had to be the Breathing Fire: Budweiser Commercial.
 Literally laughed out loud.

So that is it for another year...may have to partition the HD and install Windows on part for moments like Sunday, though.

And I will NEVER live the Maddie Sim down...pretty sure of that. 

More anon...

Pre-Game Prattle and a Bunch of Other Stuff!

So much this week, one hardly knows where to start!

How about Groundhog's Day...

Where...after much pulling and tugging and probably a bit of rodent cursing on the part of Puxatawny Phil... he saw his shadow...sentencing us to 6 more weeks of WINTER.

"Dammit Jim, I'm a woodchuck...not a meteorologist" 

Groundhog...it's what's for supper.


And a Day Care found is necessary to remind today's parents of this

What a sad commentary on the state of parenting these days, that someone has to post a reminder like this, anyway...

But then there has been a lot of reminders this week it seems.

Donnie Tinyhands, for example,who had to be reminded by a Federal Judge that this is not some little tin-horn dictatorship...and that CONSTITUTIONAL RULES apply to Everyone...including the POTUS.

To be fair, I don't think The Donald has actually ever spent a great deal of time reading the US Constitution.

(no pictures)

So it is up to all of us to be vigilant.

And speaking of vigilant-

This woman

Ms. Kinda-looks-a-lot-like-a-Crackwhore Conway was so vigilant this week she presented us with some "Alternative Alternative Facts"

Yes. I am talking about the Gone Unreported by The Obama Administration: The Traumatic Bowling Green Massacre.

https://www.bowlinggreenmassacrefund.com/

A FUND has been set up to help the few brave survivors.

Okay...okay...except the massacre never happened.

And following the DONATE button in the above link will take you to the ACLU webpage where they promise to spend your money wisely in the fight against journalism (like the out and out LIES this woman has been spreading).

That was Brilliant, by-the-way.

Actually, we've needed the comic relief after Cheeto Jesus has spent the week issuing EO's like Mussolini on Steroids, okay?

Ms. Conway's non-existent massacre gave rise to some pretty damned funny stuff actually.

Prompting others to give us a historical (hysterical) marker.

and the $13.00 investment I made because, face it, one day THIS tee shirt is going to be a collectible.

Alternative Facts, indeed.

Excuse me...we used to call those damned lies.

Trust me, though,  Sir Donald of Orange has been a busy boy in his first two weeks in office. And NOT in a GOOD way...

Trying to dismantle the ACA without offering an alternative.

EO the Keystone Pipeline continue screwing the Sioux Nation

Trying to dismantle the EPA  (...Flint, anybody...)

Voting to let mines and businesses use our waterways for their sewage and tailings again.

Trying to EO a travel ban...even for people with legal green cards  and legal visas. 

and a bunch of other neat stuff. All of which he immediately TWEETED...

WTF?

We've got to watch this Tweeter-in-Chief closely.

And all those Republicans who were screaming DICTATOR every time President Obama used an EO.

Quiet as the dead, now.
 Cricket chirping.

So, we've got your number- Mr. Long Tie Bad-hair, don't think we aren't watching you and prepared to block anything that even whiffs of uncostitutional...m'kay?  Maybe if we are lucky, enough wrong turns, and we will just Impeach Your Ass. 

Yeah...Yeah...I know...

"Tell us how you REALLY feel, Carla"

Trust me...you don't want to know.

No honeymoon period for His Orangeness, though ...who has a 53% disapproval rating his second week in his Presidency  

(which must be some kind of a record, right there).

It wasn't all doom and gloom this week.

I have the Palm Tree Trunks nearly finished, am starting fronds tonight and tomorrow and detailing on my Cuban Beach Painting. So it will be completely done by Monday!

Right now they are just a sad beheaded bunch that appear to have weathered a hurricane.

And here they are...with the very beginning of fronds...

Now only detailing and shadows left to finish.

 If I can't HAVE a BEACH...I'll paint one instead!

Friday we enjoyed our monthly Brunch (Loretta, Janelle, Diane Y., Judy and I) and Chat at Monicals with Italian Roast Beef with Peppers, a Coke, and a Salad.

I weigh in tomorrow, but am pretty sure the 8 pounds from Nov-Dec are now gone!!!

Go me!

And next week (if they are) will resume the 6:1 religiously from now on...lol
One day of a hard fast is worth it if you can eat whatever you want the rest of the week.

Distributed the Girl Scout Cookies and mailing the last boxes to "Idgy" and Lennon next week.

Tried this year's new S'more cookie

And OMFG!!!!

May contain Crack. 

Just sayin'


Ordered another box before they are gone for the year!

"Yeah, I can quit any time I WANT to...er...I just don't want to..."

A box that will be delivered by 3 of my Grands next Saturday because we are going forward with The Valentine's Tea, anyway.

Aiden and Brenden and Emma will have an Evening of Monster Trucks...and Kayee, Hannah and Jazzie will come here and have this year's Valentine's Tea!

 Everybody's Happy!

Even the Tucker-Cat...who must feel Spring slowly arriving, as he has been playing a lot and has the kitty rips from one room to the next.

This afternoon I was sitting in the living room with a handful of the left over peacock feathers from Christmas and he was standing up batting at them...so I let the entire handful drift down around him in the middle of his hunting frenzy. He lost his little kitty mind!!!

                                                                        
                                                           
          "So seriously...when is lunch? Not a lot of meat on this peacock business""

This week's book is: Upstream

A collection of short nature essays by Mary Oliver. Nicely done and meditative.
A nice way to begin and end the day. Think bob bons for your brain to be savored one by one slowly.

Very nice. Want to explore more of Ms. Oliver's poetry and essays!

There is a pile of gardening magazines that arrived this week, as well.

Whispering softly that Spring is, indeed, on the way...and now we must GROW!

Last but certainly not least
the game...


You know...The Game.

Superbowl LI  

Falcons vs Patriots

The odd makers predicting another Patriot win...but just barely.

The largest spread I have seen so far is 3 points. So we may be in for one helluva ride.
It would be nice to see a close one again.

Lady Gaga is doing half-time and the Hamilton Crew will be singing Our National Anthem.

For The Patriots...who have been to the SB 9 times, a chance for a 5th Superbowl Ring for Brady.

For The Falcons...their second EVER chance to win this thing...and to BEAT one of the top teams in the NFL.

Come on Atlanta...let's pull one off for your Number One Fan (post-humously)
Loran...

                                                          Loran


Missing you, guy...but somehow I bet you will be right there, tomorrow. So, if you are...trip that Brady fellow...okay? 
When it really counts.

And I'll have a shot of Tarantula in your honor.


See Everyone Post Game!

February

Celebrating, via long distance, Shirley's 71st Birthday this morning. A huge surprise as she had been told they were headed to Epcot for the day and when they passed the Orlando exit it was like

"Hon, I really think you missed the exit"

And then was completely (happily) surprised as she ended up with Julie and Matt and both her grand daughters (Caitlin and Chloe) for the day!

Life is Full of Little Happy Surprises!

Mine came wrapped in Pink, with a bag of boxes last night!

Two of my three (Hannah and Jazzie) Girl Scout Grand Daughters arrived with this year's GSC delivery!

Needless to say breakfast was coffee and a plateful of Girl Scout Cookies. 

A box of Tagalongs and S'mores (this year's NEW cookie) sent to Tina and Chris.

A box of Tagalongs to mail to Lennon.

A box of Trefoils to share with Rita.

Another one to share with Loretta.

Thin Mints for Angie.

And a box of each for me, here. 

They are a tiny cartel, you know.

The GSC Connection!

 Excited about Superbowl Sunday this weekend!

The Atlanta Falcons ~vs~ The New England Patriots

Pre-Game Prattle on Saturday.

The Falcons were always Loran's Team (...and I always kinda like to see Brady get his come-uppance anyway) so I am hoping for an Atlanta win!

This year's Valentine Tea pre-empted by The Monster Truck Jam.  Aiden will be going as well. He absolutely adores Monster Trucks. Can't wait to see his face when he sees them FOR REAL!!!

Brenden is looking more and more like Preston every day....and they are all growing up so fast!!!

 Hannah and I already discussing plans for her 10th (two hands, Grandma) birthday in March.

Time flies.

Only 42 days until Spring!

Gardening plans, here, include miniature water lilies (and tadpoles) in the trough, a David Austin for the trellis, hostas (which Michelle has given the go-ahead for in my borders), herbs (of course), a sprouted coconut-palm to bring inside when the winter comes, a Meyers Lemon (potted), my Morning Glories, the existing roses (3 now) and Irises...and the existing Boxwoods. I also want to "grow" butterflies this Spring (Monarchs)  and have been following my friend Wendy's progress as she grows then herself (now) in warmer climes. Amazing Stuff!

Gardening with Nicole includes the huge vegetable garden again...flowers and several types of peppers for Salsa.  James has put in a request for Carolina Reapers as well as the Ghost Peppers this year.

Last year he took all the remaining peppers at the end of the season and ground them into the hottest bottle of hot sauce I have ever seen.

 Hoping by this weekend (or next...more realistically) to be back between 135-140 so I can get back to maintenance on The 5:2. For now still on the ADF though. Drop 1.5 to 2 lbs a week...while eating whatever I want on the NF Days.

Even a plate of Girl Scout Cookies!

Finished Virtual Cuba today and hoping to complete my Beach Painting by Monday! Working more on the Palms tonight.

Oh...and Chris...who has been working on voices...sound-proofing part of his studio and recording, did an audio-reading of Sam Meets a Dinosaur for me this week!

And it is AWESOME!!!

Sam (and the Dinosaur) now have voices...

Thanks, son!

http://www.blurb.com/b/3206157-sam-meets-a-dinosaur

Getting ready for tomorrow...

and will catch you Saturday for Pre-Game...and Monday for Post-Game.

Cuban National Parks III and Finishing Cuba

The fifth National Park on our virtual tour of Cuba is

Sierra Cristal NP

Located in the Cristal Mountains...the highest peak in the park is Pico Cristal which rises to 4,300 feet.  The mountains are covered with pine. Here one can find the Cuban Pine which towers an impressive 98 feet, bearing huge pinecones.

The Southern Park covers a mostly mountainous 71 square miles and is used as an ecological preserve.

Tour

https://youtu.be/_0yyw_X5GH0

The next stop on our virtual park adventure is

Turquino National Park

The Sierra Maestra Mountains have been called the Pathway to The Revolution.

It is from here that Fidel, Raul, Che and their band of Guerillas led and accomplished the overthrow of the barbaric Batista regime.

The park itself is names after Pico Turquino, the highest point in Cuba at 6,480 feet. It covers 88 Square miles. The higher points are basically a pine forest. The middle and lower are a tropical habitat.

 

Turquino Pico

But the Real Story behind these mountains is how they sheltered Fidel and his Freedom Fighters who brought about the Liberation of Cuba.

https://youtu.be/DT04DugUkRM

and the signs are everywhere.

A hike up the (now named) Revolutionary Trail leads to the former Guerilla camp.

Video



https://youtu.be/9q8H_6JBVsA 


And the Last stop on our Virtual Tour of Cuba is

Vinales Valley

The valley covers only 51 square miles and the flat bottom-land is best suited for tobacco and other agriculture.

Caves dot the surrounding hillsides.

The limestone cliffs rising from the bottoms are called mogotes and can be up to 300 meters tall. This offers tourism in area with hiking and (most recently) rock climbing.

An explanation of how Morgotes formed:

One of the unusual formations in Cuba is the Mogotes. The mountains have hills that are covered with foliage, flat tops and vertical sides that form a 90 degree angle with the ground. A huge limestone outcrop lies under the dense foliage which actually use to be underwater. During the Jurassic Age, the mogotes were the first formations to emerge from the Atlantic Ocean while Cuba was being formed. In a book by Don J. Easterbrook, he suggests that the exact reason for the development of the mogotes is not well understood. It has been suggested that "differential solutions of limestone, the collapse of caves, and stream erosion"  may have been some causes (Easterbrook, 1999). One other reason that has surfaced was the fact that 70 percent of the island is limestone and due to the location to the equator it has formed Tower Karsts, which is another name for the mogotes. It is said that the high amount of solution resulted in karstified limestone.  In the town of Vinales, the mogotes hide a "labyrinths of caves and tunnels carved out by underground rivers"(Cramer, 2000). One of those caves is the Cueva del Indio which allows for people to walk through the cave for 300 yards and then for the next 350 yards they can ride a boat on an underground river which concludes with a waterfall. Most of these caves though remained unexplored due to the fact that inside them live mosquito-eating bats.  Another interesting fact that is seen in Cuba is the artistic abilities of the people. The flat single sides of the mogotes allows for artist to paint large murals that sometimes displays the prehistory of the area.


An example of the Murals painted on the flat side of one of the Morgotes.

 Tour of the Valley.

https://youtu.be/zAtDKfv9pso

Finished the Beach Painting

(...although shadows sill elude me...must study and learn this...until then it is noon, okay?)

And received the last of my souvenirs.

A Lottery ticket issued in 1954 when Batista was still in power (before the overthrow), which I thought was really neat...and a much newer 3 Peso Bill with Che on it.

 Because how could I go to Cuba (even virtually) an not bring back an image of Che. 

Really.


And now it is time to say Adios (Ah-Dee-Ohs) to Cuba!


 More anon...