Thursday, July 22, 2010

Seven: And One Mentions Underwear

I read a blog titled Faith, Fiction, Friends, and on Thursdays, he blogs a "Pleasantly Disturbed Thursday," which is another word for random. I totally stole that idea today.

Forgive me, Glynn?

A really, savvy blogger would add that hotlink here .... but I'll need to work on that. FFF is a good blog -- I'm sure you can look under my options and find his blog listed. He's actually a writer unlike I, who am a ......

*shrugs*

1. The Braves... I have a feeling about them this year --- that they will win the division and perhaps go to the World Series, only to lose to the stupid Yankees. (Is that redundant? Stupid and Yankees?) It's just a feeling. I'm not betting in Vegas or anything. I love me some Hey Ward, and it would be good for Chipper to limp into one last big show.

2. For the very first time, I am reading Anne of Green Gables. I have finished the first one -- I will have to read them in between other novels because, well, I just will, but -- I don't know why I never read these as a young girl. I know that both my nieces read them, and I remember that my students over the years exclaimed about them being their favorite novels as a child.

I've read the first one, and I have to say that I was transported to a different time -- not only to a simpler time, but it made me feel like a young girl, as I laughed at the scrapes Anne got into and the exasperation of her adopted parents. Montgomery, who wrote the novel, managed to capture an unforgettable character in Anne. Strong, perceptive, and full of independence, she's a timeless role model in a precious story full of humor; the lightness, the praise for simplicity and a genuine awe for the beauty of nature round out memorable characters who are effectively drawn if not too morally good, as they should be for impressionable young minds. Montgomery left a legacy with Anne and did many generations of girls a favor with such a heroine, one with a ferocious spirit and a love of her fellow man. Young girls would just read them from cover to cover to find out what happens next.

Thank you, Kat, for telling me that I needed to read them and Nora for loaning me your copies. :)

3. I went to my sister's this week -- every summer, we tackled some project at her house -- she always has projects -- she has a big house and my three nephews. Cleaning always needs to be done. We tackled a bonus room that had turned into a storage room -- you know the type of room -- where you don't know where to put something, so you put it in this room. Some people call this a basement. She has one of those too. LOL. I think I have already blogged about it.

In this room were all kinds of things -- wrapping paper, three rocking chairs, four end tables, extra lamps, sewing machine, old computer, Oriental rug, quilts, back copies of Bee Keepers, three swimming pool safety floats, the full Horatio Hornblower series, and misc other stuff. The two chests of drawers in there are stuffed with old linens, left over from my aunts' house in Virginia and my mother's.

As hard as it was, I convinced my sister that it was time to toss those linens. She had not used them in fifteen years -- what was she saving them for ---?

Sister: I dunno.
Me: Exactly.

We found -- lace doilies, dresser scarves, cotton embroiderd ladies' handkerchiefs, crochet lamp bumpers, and vintage card table cloths.

As we re-folded these items for giving-away, we felt sentimental and nostalgic for these things -- but in a practical sense -- it was time to pass them on. When we looked at the time and care that must have gone into some of these linens, it made us sad -- but do we give them away now or wait for the next generation to toss them in a dumpster?

As we came across a set of napkins, I remember how my mother's generation pressed them before our Sunday lunches and for company. My -- oh my -- what a different time.

4. The Young and the Restless -- I don't watch it everyday, but I do DVR it so that I can watch it occasionally and mock it. I used to watch General Hospital, but I gave it up when they broke up Jason and Elizabeth, and I dropped Days when Marlena was possessed by the devil. Now on Young and the Restless, they have Adam: he has made a girl go crazy, killed a man, stolen money, married his brother's ex-wife, embezzled from his father, spent time in jail, been married multiple times, has occasional blindness--really, it's a partial blindness -- inconsistent on the show, stalked a woman till she lost her baby, stolen a baby and passed if off as someone else's, and done some serious lying, all the while sporting a hair-do done by Weed Whacker. I stand by my adage: Adopt a soap opera -- and get to know these folks. I'm thinking of applying to be a writing consultant. :)

Wait. What am I blogging about? I think I forgot.

5. Speaking of TV, David and I are watching all kinds of television -- mostly cop shows for some reason [what happened to sit-coms -- I haven't watched a sitcom since All in the Family]--- it makes us wanna own "Laura's car" -- a black, decked-out Chevrolet Suburban; usually in these shows, four or five of them come whipping on the scene when the bad guys, well, do something bad. We love all the action in shows like Flashpoint, Covert Affairs, Burn Notice, and Memphis Beat. We're so pedestrian, aren't we?

6. Has this been a hot summer or what? Yesterday, I was over by Town Center Mall, a real mistake -- doesn't anyone work?, and when I got to my car, the car thermometer read 104. Where am I? Death Valley? I was shopping for underwear to walk in -- and just to let you know, that stuff was made by skinny folks with a wicked sense of humor. Enough said. At one point I was standing in a dressing room encased in spandex. I needed a shoe horn.

I finally found a line designed by Serena Williams. That should tell you something.

Blog readers: TMI

BTW: When I got home, I tried it on, and I was so tired, I took a nap in it -- it worked pretty well.

7. Keats has all of a sudden decided that she wishes to sleep on me at night. In the winter, I kind of get it -- it's about the warmth. In the summer, not so much -- she's like sleeping with a hot, fur covered 13 pound watermelon. Lawd. What's up with that?

That's all I got.

Madelyne: This blog's for you. :)

*twirls*

7 comments:

  1. You need to give credit to our friend Duane Scott -- he hosts "Pleasantly Disturbed Thursdays" at http://duane-scott.net. You can add you link there, too.

    But I don't mind the reference. :)

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  2. Who says retiree's brains go to mush without jobs? Keep thinking those deep thoughts, Harriett! Who else has time to contemplate doilies? In fact, how many young people even know what a doily is?

    You are welcome to come clean my basement whenever you like!

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  3. You are a kindred spirit... with lots of scope for the imagination... Anne of Green Gables is a favorite of mine, but I did not even know about the series until my 20s when the books were made into several fantastic (though not entirely true to the originals) film adaptations. These movies play from time-to-time during the GPB "we want your money" days, and I watch every time until the interruptions and pleas for money drive me batty. I have read all the books. I love Ann(with an e) and Gilbert and Marilla and Matthew. LMM's characterizations and descriptions really do transport you to a different time and place. *sigh*

    I don't have a basement, but I'm with Edie... you are welcome to come clean anything in my house whenever you like. Hands off the linens and doilies though 'cuz I'm still a little too nostalgic to part with them.

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  4. What could a day sitting in your classroom have been like???

    No wonder you were Luke's favorite!

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  5. Dr. Parrott, I know what a doilie is. Am I still considered a young person?

    And thanks, Mrs. Gillham! I was beginning to get worried :)

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  6. My life would be a whole lot more boring without cop shows. Let's just say Law & Order: SVU, Criminal Minds, and Prison Break rule my house. LOL ;)

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  7. I read Anne of Green Gables when I was little!

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