17did

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 21:23:00 +0000

Thea Slatton. Some days can turn your world inside out.

17daysindecember 17more salutations

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 22:24:00 +0000

17daysindecember 17more

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Brown Bottom Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 19:21:00 +0000

Project info

Name

Brown Bottom Bag

Pattern

Malibu Fling by Kim Guzman

Craft

Crochet

Tags

Hooks & yarn

Hook

5.5 mm (I)

Gauge

Gauge is not important

Yarn

Caron Simply Soft Paints

Stash

none left in stash

Colorway

8 Sunset

Color family

Yellow-orange

Purchased at

Wal-Mart

Purchase date

June 1, 2017

Yarn

Knit Picks Gloss DK

Stash

none left in stash

Colorway

Topaz

Color family

Brown

Notes

Another stash buster (aren’t they all, really?) This time I’m using up some worsted, topaz and black. I should have enough of both to do a nice size bag. I hate making a lovely bag only to find it’s not big enough for much of anything, don’t you?

Well, I’m stuck now with nothing to top my brown bottom bag with. Everything I have is either the wrong weight or the wrong colors (Mom nixed the brown and pickle juice bag idea). I’ll hold it for a while and see what presents itself. The DK Gloss is beautiful and the pattern transformed into a bag very nicely.

The photo shows the stitching well, but the DK Gloss is quite a bit richer red than the photo indicates.

Diamond Windowpanes Shawl

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 19:17:00 +0000

Project info

Name

Diamond Windowpanes Shawl

Pattern

Diamond Windowpanes Shawl by Kathleen Van Horn

Craft

Crochet

Made for

Mom

Tags

Hooks & yarn

Hook

4.0 mm (G)

Gauge

gauge is not important

Yarn

Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable

Stash

210 yards in stash

Colorway

Stained Glass

Notes

A bit of a rough start on this one. Some days my mind just doesn’t “snap” and for some reason row 2 just didn’t look right to me. I sat it aside for the day and worked another project. The next morning, this shawl pattern didn’t look much clearer, but I’m biting the bullet anyway, realizing the pattern staggers each row to make the criss-cross pattern in the photo. We’ll see. The yarn is very fiddly, and combined with the fiddly nature of the scarf, I’m thinking this will be a slow one, but it’s not very big, so I ain’t skeerd. No, not much!

12-01-2016

Hum. Seven rows in, I can say that it’s not bad once you get the hang of the pattern. I find it easier to not reference the written pattern too much. It’s a well-written pattern, but I think I’ve done so much “free-styling” that the pattern is superfluous as far as my brain is concerned. Just one among the perils of Pauline lately. Oh, well. It’s quite pretty and would be much faster to work if it weren’t for the yarn. It’s so soft I have difficulty holding it; also I’m taking care to not have to frog too many errors as the yarn doesn’t rip well. Still the color, sheen and softness are just what this kind of pattern is written for. It’s gonna be epic. Or, at least, very pretty.

12-06-2016

Well, did the 100 rows, but I think it needs to be longer, so, I’m continuing on a bit more. After a quick blocking it is narrower than the 26” stated for the pattern, (19” more or less) but Mom and I are short, so that is fine. I’ve used almost 2.5 skeins for this project.

12-07-2016

All done! Mom loves it, says it’s just the right size, so all is good. I’m happy and would not hesitate to make the shawl again. Frankly, I’ve got it memorized now.

Eyelet Chevron Afghan

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 19:15:00 +0000

I found this wonderful pattern on YouTube via Joannesweb.com. I’m just wondering why, oh why I bought 8 skeins of Red Heart Melonberry. I’m not even certain I like it. It looked quite different on the web images. It’s an… interesting color. I’ve never seen anything made with it. I like the kind of dusky tone but the colors are just, I dunno, “off” for me. I’m going with it, though. Gotta do something with 8 skeins, after all. Might add a row or two of some leftover purple and/or yellow just for giggles. Onward.

01-11-2017

I’m working the pattern in rows of front loops or back loops only to add a little textural interest. I must admit the color is growing on me. Mom loves it. Nuff said.

01-11-2017

Noting down the pattern in case I lose it.
Ch 205 (multiple of 17 +1)
Row 1: dc in 4th ch from hook,
7 dc, (dc, ch 2, dc), 7 dc, sk 2. Repeat across.
ch 3, turn.
Row 2: dec over 2 twice, 6 dc, ch 2, 8 dc, sk 2, 8 dc. Repeat across until last group, dec over 2 twice, 6dc, ch 3, turn.
Repeat row 2 until size desired.

01-15-2017

Funny how I was ambivalent about the color and now I really like it. The subtle “pop” of the bright yellow ties in well with the more muted, dusky colors of the melonberry. It’s 140 inches across but not nearly as heavy as I would have anticipated. Winning!

Hooks & yarn

Hook

5.0 mm (H)

Yarn

Melonberry

Stash

none left in stash

Color family

Pink

Purchased at

Walmart

Yarn

Red Heart Super Saver Solids

Stash

none left in stash

Colorway

Bright Yellow

Color family

Yellow

Moss Stitch Dog Bedding

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 19:11:00 +0000

Project info

Name

Moss Stitch Dog Bedding

Craft

Crochet

Made for

vets office

Tags

Thistle Arcade Market Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 19:10:00 +0000

Project info

Name

Thistle Arcade Market Bag

Craft

Crochet

Tags

05-26-2017

OK. So, the body is three rows of dc, followed by 12 rows of thistle stitch. Top the thistle stitch section with a row of 1 dc in each st except for the top two stitches of the shell formation; use 1 hdc in each of those two stitches. This makes an even, straight edge. Top this row with a row of dc, reducing the stitches to a multiple of 6. Then do 6 rows of arcade stitches.

Will update as I progress…

05-27-2017

The arcade stitch lends itself nicely to mirroring itself into a nice handle simply by working all the way around the foundation chain, 4 rows on each side. It also makes a nice buttonhole row.

Den Curtain

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 19:07:00 +0000

Project info

Name

Den Curtain

Pattern

Diamond Stitch Baby Blanket by Olga Poltava

Craft

Crochet

Tags

2017

Hooks & yarn

Hook

3.5 mm (E)

4.0 mm (G)

Yarn

Knit Picks Brava Sport

Stash

1504 yards in stash

Colorway

Clarity

Color family

White

Purchased at

Knit Picks

Purchase date

June 12, 2017

Notes

06-18-2017

A new AC necessitates a new curtain. Mom really loves her diamond pattern projects so she’s ordered another! Sounds good to me. This will be a good take-along project for all the doctor visits we have scheduled lately.

06-23-2017

The first skein covers 16 1/2 rows, just for reference. The color has yet to grow on me, but I think it’s perfect for the room. I’m working the project slowly, with the Reddit bedspread taking priority, which is why a fairly simple and often-worked pattern seems to be taking forever.

06-25-2017

I’m finally thinking I didn’t flub it on the color choice. The yarn splits frequently but heals well; I put the splitting down to the hook size. If I’d gone with a 4mm rather than a 3.5, there’d be less splitting. I had to frog 4 rows last night because I flubbed one edge and had kept adding stitches. Sigh. But I still enjoy the pattern and it’s a nice companion piece to the bedspread, both lighter in color and weight, so that I look forward to getting to work on it, so all is well. Onward.

06-28-2017

Working skein 3.

06-30-2017

Skein 4.

07-03-2017

Skein 5 and about 9” remaining to the top of the curtain rod.

07-05-2017

Skein 6. Almost done!

07-06-2017

Finished! It took about 5 1/3 skeins. The part across the rod would look better if I had started from the top, maybe, but even that looks fine. I used double treble crochet (US terms) with a 4mm hook for the stitches needed to go around the rod.

Drop in the Pond Table Runner

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 19:05:00 +0000

Drop in the Pond Table Runner

Pattern

Drop in the Pond Lap Blanket by Elizabeth Ham

Craft

Crochet

Tags

2017

07-07-2017

Meanwhile I found this pattern had a name and an actual pattern. Well, that should make it easier! However, this being me, I found I couldn’t follow it too well, so I’m back to going off the photo again. It’s going quickly, so far, just a glorified granny! I don’t intend to include the flowers.

The Reddit Blanket

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 21:39:00 +0000

This is NOT my pattern nor my (pretty pastel) photo. I found this on Pinterest and was looking for an excuse to make it.

From a post by firejen on Reddit: “I have been doing this pattern for years so its by memory now. Start with 3 colors. Each “block” is 9 stitches so for however wide you want the blanket, count in 9 to get your foundation (and always make it an uneven number of “blocks) eg: 19 blocks(makes it about 5′ long) 19×9=171 stitches then add 4 =175 sc for the foundation row.

Row 1-2:Sc, switch to next color Row 3: sc 2 stitches,* front post double crochet(look it up), sc, until you have 5 posts, sc 9, then repeat post pattern(5 posts, 4 sc=9)(9sc), 2 sc (there is 2 sc at each end) Row 4: sc, switch to next color

Repeat row 3-4 until you have 7 rows of posts

Then switch the pattern to: Row 1: sc 11 stitches, then start pattern Row 4: sc, switch to next c

So you will have your “blocks” of (5 posts & 4sc) and (9sc) with 2 sc at each end.”

Copied from: https://www.reddit.com/r/crochet/comments/1f10he/wip_my_f...

Early on, I was thinking good yarns would be Caron Simply Soft Ocean (I have 2 skeins), Watermelon, and Sunshine… But... Mom wanted a new bedspread for her day bed and chose solid burgundy for the color scheme and Knit Picks Brava worsted for the yarn. She wanted a tight stitch so I figured this pattern will be perfect, with just the right amount of texture.

I started with a chain of 212. This is 23 squares of 9 stitches each plus 2 sc on the end of each row and 1 ch for the turning chain.

I thought 7 fpdc stitches were a bit much and I’m changing square positions after 5 fpdc.

The yarn photographs almost pink. In fact it is a deep merlot with a high shine under even dim light. Very pretty, very easy to work with. The pattern works up quite quickly. The checkerboard pattern is all on the front; the back is quite smooth against the skin with a subtle impression of the check that is on the front. I’m chuffed.

4 skeins makes about 6 full rows of squares (10 rows per set of squares). I’ve ordered more yarn before I really need it. I’m going to put an edging around the blanket. Mom wants scallops along the outer edges (the bottom edge and one long edge) as the bedspread will cover a daybed that sits in a corner.

On my 9th skein of yarn; had a couple of non-crochet days (horrors!) I tried photographing the bedspread again, with flash, without flash, yada yada, but it still turns out red or pink instead of the deep plum wine color it really is. My first afghan (the domino afghan) was a sc project and I was so bored I swore I’d never do another, but this one has just enough variation to keep my interest so it’s not boring me. It probably helps that RL has been, ah, interesting (as in the old curse “may you live in interesting times”) so that I’m grateful for a long, relatively easy, project to distract me from reality yet leave me with something useful to pass on.

Skein 13, the last of my original purchase. A fair bit over a third done including a generous overhang at the foot of the bed, so all is well. I don’t anticipate having to order more than the 15 skeins I have remaining, even with the small edging I’m planning for.

Skein 15. I’m working it at a table pretty much any time I’m working on it now. This rascal is hot work for summer! Still happy with it, though. It’s gonna be epic.

Skein 17. A bit over half done, finally. Still love it, but it is hot work! My knees got overly chilled last night, so I worked on it, which was nice since everyone else was complaining of the heat and wondering if the ac was working! Ha!

Mom still loves it. She even loves the fact that it currently lives laid across her dining room table where I work on it off and on between chores, etc. Just due to the weight, my next bedspread will be made with a 6mm minimum, and maybe jumbo yarn, but she wanted a dense, heavy fabric, so she’s happy.

Skein 19, finally. Not that I’m done, yet, but it took me forever to finish skein 18. Been busy with my so called real life. I decided to get this off the table and draped it over a high back chair to let it feel it’s own weight and stretch out a bit. Probably should have done this sooner…

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Little Monkeys Market Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 09 Apr 2017 15:34:00 +0000

Lately, unemployed and tending the parental units, I've picked up crocheting again. I originally learned from one of those little books they used to sell at the checkout lane in grocery stores for 29 cents. Wow, did I just date myself or what? I wish they would sell more craft books (of course the price would be significantly increased!) in the checkout lane. It might inspire more creativity in folks. Anywho, I've been on a kick making bags and thought I'd post a few. This first one is my first take on Little Monkey's Market Tote.

This skein was made with Bernat's Fresh Lilac and a rogue ball of silver/grey I found around the house. It's a good "yarn buster" and very handy. So handy I decided to make another. The first one holds a large bag of Dorito chips and that's about it. Momma loves her Dorito chip casserole, so that's fine. I did shorten the handles by about half the length of Little Monkey's pattern. The Dorito chips hang in the pantry without getting crushed, which is great.

I found the bag so handy, I tried a second version, making it a good bit larger than the first market bag I made by doubling the number of stitches around the bottom. I kept the handles at around 3/4 the pattern length. Mom recommended a drawstring to make it more versatile, so I made the top with a row of dc, ch, sk st for the drawstring (just continuing that around the top of the bag. I then crocheted a row of hdc (3 per each ch1 space) to strengthen the drawstring area. The photo doesn't show a drawstring because I never actually made one. It's too handy without it.

I just changed colors at random, with the bottom in black, mid-section in pink, a horizontal stripe of black, another chunk of pink, the top in black handles in black and the drawstring itself in pink hdc.

I made the bag out of a ball of orphan black yarn and a Red Heart Pretty in Pink I have no idea why I bought. I'm not generally fond of pink, but readily admit most "hot" or neon colors are real favorites whatever their hue.

God loves Geeks

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 13:19:00 +0000

God loves geeks. Think about it. He has:
Transporters (John 20:19, Luke 24:13-53, Acts 8:39)
Awesome living arrangements (Revelation 21:10-27)
Strong women (Judges 4:21-5:27, Luke 2:34-35)
Way cool spacecraft (Ezekiel 1:4)
Alien life forms (Ezekiel 1:5-25, Revelation 4:6-9)
and Christ is obviously the lord of time (John 1:1)

And that's just off the top of my head.

Health and Happiness by The Wallflowers

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:56:00 +0000

Some days this can just say it all:

Maybe it's not

That I don't care anymore
Maybe I just never did
You can't say
That I have ever lied
Because I keep the truth well hid
Tell me what's wrong
Is something wrong?
You can't be sad
When something you have never had
Suddenly feels gone

I wish you health
I wish you happiness
But absolutely nothing else

I'm not here to keep an eye on you
I think you misunderstood
I could make things easy for you
I won't
But I could
Does that make you sad?
Cause' you look sad
You should be glad
For what you've had
And don't feel bad
I could wish less for you

I wish you health
I wish you happiness
But absolutely nothing else

There is no distance here
To get across
There's nothing to grip

Or get a hold
The emptiness you feel
Is nothing at all
Now nobody broke any bones
It could be worse
Yeah it can get worse
You've got your strength
And you have got your health
You should be worried bout'
Somebody else

I wish you health
I wish you happiness
But absolutely nothing else

Stupid commercials and worse things

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 01:03:00 +0000

I hate stupid commercials. Not humorous commercials, mind, you know the ones that are intended to be funny or to make you smile. Those are cool; we need more reasons to smile and some of them are quite clever.

No, I just hate the stupid ones. The ones that are meant to be taken seriously, like all those commercials advertising products that will help you crack an egg better or help you hold the screwdriver correctly -- things the human animal have been doing for centuries, if not millennia, quite well without the help of some gadget that sells for $19.99 (but wait there's more!). The purveyors of all this crap find the most inept folks available to testify to the average person's need for these devices: the grown woman who can't use a strainer to pour the water off the pasta without dropping the entire pot in the sink, or the guy who can't use a regular butter knife to slice through a brick, cause, you know, we all must do that at some point...

Here lately one stupid commercial has gotten my teeth on edge. Its a simple commercial for a web-based service that provides postage over the internet. It sounds like a grand idea and I've no real issue with the commercial itself -- despite it being way louder than the program it accompanies, but all commercials are like that these days. That's why God created the mute button. No, the one fault I find is in the very first part of the commercial where they have some yahoo saying "There's nothing worse than going to the post office."

Sounds innocuous enough, I suppose, and honestly, who among us love the idea of going to the post office except for the very young who find pleasure in big pictures of bright-colored stamps their mothers never buy, but the commercial just grates on my nerves. I mean, seriously, the guy is 40 if he's a day and the worse thing he's ever had to endure is going to the post office? Don't get me wrong, I've been to the post office at least a half dozen times and, yes, it sucks. But what kind of charmed, righteously blessed life do you have that you can say that standing in the queue at the post office is the worst event you can imagine?

I mean, at 40-something, surely this guy's been to at least one funeral. Okay, okay, so I had a grandfather who enjoyed going to funerals and read the obits every morning just to plan his day -- if I'm lyin', I'm dyin', no exaggeration -- but I understand that's an old person thing sometimes, especially when you live in a small town like Waco and kicks are hard to come by, so we'll leave him out of this, thank you.

My point is, I can think of worse things (in no particular order):

hearing the Simpsons might be cancelled. (DOH!)
your computer crashing, and actual smoke wafting out the back vent.
being told your sister's health has deteriorated to end-stage disease and she needs to be on oxygen 24-hours-a-day. And she's barely 10 years old.
having five minutes to pack fifteen years of your life from your desk because the company you hoped to retire from just declared bankruptcy and the creditors are there to lock the doors.
finding out your fiance has a secret life and you're 36 and too tired to care anymore.
finding your dad semi-conscious on the floor with a gash bleeding from his forehead. And he has no memory of how he got there.
being there for your friend who drives to the hospital every day, hoping that this time she'll be allowed to at least touch her premature baby before they close the unit for the night.
your much younger co-worker progressively dumping more and more of her work on your desk because she has an in with the boss and she knows you're 50 and desperately need your job and will probably be too scared to say anything.
watching the towers burn. And the pentagon. And the wreckage of flight 93.
watching your parents get older. Watching your big brother get older.
the vet calling to tell you that your dog -- the one that had gotten you through the worst crap of your life so far -- didn't make it. And its your birthday.
being told your friend has cancer.
being told your mother has cancer.
standing at your baby sister's hospital bed, watching her die.
funerals.

But hey, that's just my life, YMMV and may be far, far worse, God help you. But it kinda puts going to the post office back in perspective, huh? All those tough things in your life you think you'll never get through? You know you've been through worse. And if not, you probably will some day. Just don't wimp out and, for pity's sake, don't whine about it. You don't want to be one of those annoying people you despise for being... well, whiny.

And just for kicks don't be afraid to use the mute button on your TV remote, especially during commercials. Or better yet, use the off button a little more often.

You can thank me later.

Oscar's Interpretation Services open for business

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:59:00 +0000

We’ve only had Charlie a couple of months, so although he’s settled in quite well, we still have the occasional misunderstanding. Yesterday evening Charlie began barking at me. I’d just taken them out for their early evening business, so I wasn’t sure what was up, although Charlie was more interested in playing footsie with the neighbor’s cat than getting down to business. He normally only barks when he can’t get Oscar to play with him – but he barks at Oscar about it, not me. I asked him what he wanted – another walk? play?- and never seemed to hit on it. He finally gave up and ran off to get Oscar. They had a brief conference nose to nose then they came over and sat down in front of me. Charlie barked once. I started the list again and when I said "poo" Oscar wagged his tail. Charlie looked over at him and tried to wag the same way, looking at me like “Finally. Duh!” Back out we went again, and sure enough… How sweet that Oscar agreed to be interpreter and how smart Charlie was to ask. I’m going to have to stop calling him a natural blonde…

Angles and Other Stories by Orson Scott Card

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 13:48:00 +0000

An excellent collection of short stories by the prolific and talented Mr. Card. Stories include tales detailing the following:

God becomes complicit with St Nick to make a heaven of hell
Nixon finds forgiveness
The horrific birth of a starship
Juvenile stupidity gets its just reward
A suicide who writes his final note AFTER committing the dread deed
Humanity as virus
The best of wishes (among my favorites)
Parenting aspiring authors
Life and death and death and death in the United Soviet Socialist Republic of America
The angels at the end of the world

Meet Charlie, aka His Dudeness

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:07:00 +0000

This is Charlie (formerly Charleston, formerly ???). We got him from the marvelous Homeless Pet Placement League yesterday via the Petsmart location in Webster. He's a Lhasa Apso mix (probably with some Shih Tzu). A more gentle-hearted, laid back individual you'll never meet. In fact, he spends a good bit of time almost comatose, just collapsing, all fours akimbo, in the floor with a sigh of relief and a gently wiggle of his bushy tail. I call him "His Dudeness." He doesn't like to walk very far, but just lays down when you stop and gets up again when you resume. Verrrry laid back. His Dudeness, indeed.

He loves to be brushed and we even gave him a little grooming (just a little "off the top") and a little trim around the eyes. He loves belly rubs and has already chosen one toy as his own. He's taken to all of us.

He and Oscar (our Shih Tzu) are still adjusting. He's at least three times Oscar's size, but it's mostly fur. He and Oscar had a little dust-up this morning and each grabbed a bite of hair, but no fur flew and they just as quickly stepped back to allow the Alpha pack members (us!) to clear the air. Five minutes later, they were touring the front yard together like old war buddies swapping tall tails (ah...) tales. Charlie has a lot to adjust to: three people, a new house, front and back yards, and another young male dog. Considering how well they are handling it after even one day and night, I think things are going to be just fine in no time. We have a large, very open-barred kennel, and had Charlie sleep in it last night just to ensure him some downtime while we slept. His new pal Oscar slept just outside the door, giving Charlie a little wag of his tail each time we heard him stirring. Incidentally, this photo is not of Charlie and Oscar but Charlie and a toy.

The HPPL are a great organization of caring folks. Charlie came bathed, neutered, dewormed, vaccinated, and micro-chipped. The staff told me a great deal of his history and personality and is was obvious their care for each of their fuzzy charges is genuine. If you need a new furry friend, or just want to help, please visit their website at http://www.hppl.org/. Any number of great dogs and cats will appreciate it.

Squeaky toys and gentle reminders

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:05:00 +0000

We've been blessed with a Shih Tzu named Oscar for about two years now. I was bringing him in from his walk early this morning, had gotten us into the studio and was leaning over to unhook the leash from his harness. My ear was near the door into the living room and I distinctly heard Oscar's little fuzzy donut toy squeak three times rapidly. I assumed Mom or Dad was up, had heard us at the door and was encouraging Oscar to come in.

I opened the door quickly since Oscar was jumping to play with the toy as soon as he heard it. We saw the toy lying where it had been when we left out: in front of the piano, next to his bed, about four feet from the door. The room was still and dark, with no one standing anywhere. Oscar danced in, looking for Mom or Dad, stared at the toy without touching it and ran to the hall. He was disappointed to find their door shut and no lights on.

He stepped back into the living room, eyeing the toy and then me, then the toy, warily. He's smart enough to know that the thing couldn't squeak itself! I told him it was okay. Maybe Kissie Bear was keeping it company for him while he went on his walk. Kissie is my dear little Maltese who died back in June. The toy had originally been hers, but she had graciously surrendered it to him on his first day with us and it has remained his favorite.

I think, maybe, Kissie was letting us know she's still thinking about us. Sweet baby. I think of her every day and probably always will. She taught me a lot of precious things I never want to forget.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:46:00 +0000

Seriously, I can't recall why I bought this book. Zombies, and horror generally, just aren't my thing. Everytime it came up on my To Be Read list, I shoved it back down. Maybe the fact that this is Mel Brooks' son, kept it on the list to begin with. Recently, however, I caught the premiere of The Walking Dead and was quite impressed. Lo, a few weeks later, Brooks' book popped back to the top of the TBR list and I thought, what the hey. Much to my surprise, it is an excellent read. A zombie plague may not be -- thank God! -- a probability, but this book certainly will have you acknowledging it could be a possibility. The politics, policies and plot ring true, making it as much a tale of human nature as it is a fantasy about a horrific invasion of our own dearly dead. This one stays on my To Be Re-read shelf. Recommended.

Happy Birthday, Denis Leary

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:03:00 +0000

Happy birthday to my favorite standup comedian and dramatic actor, Denis Leary, born August 18, 1957. If you haven't seen The Job or The Ref, or a dozen other great films/TV he's starred in, all I can ask is:

1. what rock have you been hiding under?

2. what are you waiting for? An engraved invitation?

Well then. Consider the invitation served.

Whoopin' hoopties big whoopy hoopty doo

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:48:00 +0000

::engaging rant mode:: What is up with the grown people (usually ::cough:: men) who drive through my neighborhood with their bass-enhanced stereos so loud my windows rattle and their lug nuts are vibrating loose? Is it possible they're just trying to fill up that empty space inside their head with the sonic boom?

Hum. Must be an X-File. Oh, Mulder!!!!!

::disengaging rant mode::

My Requiem Mass

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:41:00 +0000

The Requiem or Requiem Mass is a liturgical service of various Christian churches. It is commonly called the "mass for the departed." Generally it is a musical rendition of prayers for the souls of the departed. It is used at burial services and sometimes during memorials. Many of the more famous requiems were written to commemorate the national dead such as Berlioz' Grande Messe des Morts. Mozart's Requiem Mass in D Minor is a masterpiece, which would go without saying except when you realize that Mozart died well before it's completion. The mass was completed by Mozart's student, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, and yet it remains a breath-taking piece of music. I'd say he graduated with honors.

I'm not referring though, to such masterworks. I'm talking today about the "poor man's requiem," which is basically those songs that, as my mother says, "I love so much, they can play them at my funeral." So far, Mom's requiem includes James Blunt's "Beautiful" and Bill Doggett's "Honkey Tonk" (nope, she doesn't drink, she just really likes the song). I haven't asked Mom about any other songs. I don't want her getting any ideas about kicking off.

I've found that I've developed a rather lengthy requiem of my own through the years. It's hard to define some of my choices. Sometimes my favorite songs simply evoke a time or a place, like Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" which takes me back to high school in the late '70's when life was terrifying with hope and anticipation. That song, however, falls more in the category of a favorite rather than a requiem-worthy piece. To be requiem-worthy, the song must do more than evoke a feeling or bring a smile. It must evoke a longing. The longing may be simply a nostalgia for someone or someplace gone or missed. Better, it should be a longing for something I'm returning to: something, someplace, some One who remains in some indefinable "place" my soul recognizes as Home. When a song reminds me of that, it gets put on the requiem list.

Here then, in no particular order, and with no further explanation, is my Requiem Mass:

"God Only Knows" - The Beach Boys

"Sleepless Night" - Fernando Ortega

"The Long and Winding Road" - The Beatles

"The Swan" - Jean Sibelius

"Hamburg Song" - Keane

"God is Not Sleeping" - Mavis Staples

"I Am a Pilgrim" - Duncan Sheik

"The Whole of the Moon" - The Waterboys

"Wonderful World" - Louie Armstrong

"Shame" - Fernando Ortega

"Joshua Fit the Battle" - Elvis Presley

"The Letter" - Macy Gray

"Give Me Jesus" - Fernando Ortega

"Away Down the River" - Alison Krauss

"Isn't It Love" - Andrew Peterson

"But as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shalt stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." -Job 19:25

Dads. Real and Otherwise

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:37:00 +0000

My mom was raised by a Marine.

Bob wasn't her "real" dad, but he was as real a dad as my Mom could hope for. Her biological father had abandoned her before she was born; she would not meet him until she was grown with children of her own. As a child, she remembers a man coming to take her older brother to the movies and to the amusement park, a man her brother called their dad although this man never looked at her twice, never brought her gifts, or even spoke to her. She thought he looked a lot like "Slipper McGee" in the movies, Or maybe Jimmy Cagney. But he was as aloof a figure to her as the actors he resembled.

Mom's "step" dad arrived in her life when she was three. Three months later, he had shipped off with the Marines to Europe.

Like many during the years of WWII, my mom and her mom were movie-goers. Back then, pre-TV, radio was king and movies offered short reels of news, sports and celebrity highlights before showing their feature films. For a nickle or a dime, you could spend an entire day in air-conditioned comfort, watching the stars of Hollywood. My mom recalls once when she and her mom watched one of these newsreels. This one showed the storming of the beaches at Normandy during Operation Overlord. Her mother explained that her dad was one of those men jumping from the boats and running toward the bombs and bullets. He was a soldier. He had a helmet and a rifle and he was winning a war.

And he had his picture in her pocket.

Somewhere in my mother's young mind, her new dad became confused with the leading actor in the featured movie that followed the newsreel. She recalls being a bit amazed that her mother showed no spark of jealousy when he kissed the lead actress in the film. You can't blame her. Even today we can find ourselves confused by an on-screen reality that looms somehow larger than our own lives.

Bob returned home from the war in 1945. He was a steady provider and a constant presence in her life, unlike her "real" dad. Life wasn't perfect for Mom. There was illness and alcohol and hard work, as there so often is even in the best families. But she knew that she was loved and she knew that she mattered. And she knew her dad was proud of her.

Because on that day, far away at a beach at Normandy, my mother's dad really did have her picture in his pocket.

The image attached is my grandfather, Bob Baker, looking out over an historic Houston from a balcony of the Lamar Hotel where he worked for many years.

Murder is Easy - Agatha Christie

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:37:00 +0000

Murder is apparently so easy some people make a career of it. What DO the people in Christie's books do for a living? They're all, apparently, independently wealthy and none the better for it. I'd tried to read this one years before but had to return it to the library before finishing it. It was worth the wait. A frighteningly high body count, though, wasn't it? At least for Christie? Seems like this should have been some kind of record for an English "cozy." Caught the TV version the other night and thought they did a pretty good job of it.

Groucho Marx, Master Detective - Ron Goulart

noreply@blogger.com (Thea) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:34:00 +0000

"Let's see you be funny with THESE boys," said the Herald Examiner reporter disdainfully.

"If you want to see that, you'll have to buy a ticket," said Groucho.

This is enjoyable little tale by Ron Goulart stars Groucho as himself, most of the time, barring a few side runs as his cigar wraggling alter-ego and even a brief stint, in full regalia, as his brother Harpo. For his crime-fighting efforts solving the murder of a Hollywood starlet, Groucho enlists a radio-show hack and a cartoonist. With his determined side-kicks, Groucho takes on crooked cops and movie moguls and manages to not make it all read like some bad cliche. We get only very brief historical references, placing us in the reality of the time without reading like a travelogue. There is some name-dropping, period style, and we get little run-ins with the likes of John Garfield, but nothing is over-done and it all manages to keep the story rolling along without stretching credulity. Of course, there are smatterings of Groucho's comedic patter, although there is never enough of that to satisfy my Groucho-fixation, but what there is is very welcome and quite in character:

"Is this the face that launched a thousand ships? Not to mention three dirigibles, a tuna barge and a garbage scow?" Groucho stroked his chin. "Next time, I'll tell them to use a champagne bottle."

As an avid movie-buff, I enjoyed the book enough to give it four stars. It's the first in a very short series and I hope to stumble across the rest of the series during my book scroungings.