Memorial Day 2020

Honor and respect

This is a fascinating video about guarding The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

It is comforting to acknowledge tradition and dignity in these troubled times.

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Do Your Census Answers Count If You're Wearing a Mask??!

Today we're playing the always delightful meme Saturday 9, with your host Sam Winters. Thanks to Bud and Gal for creating and writing this weekly meme. Since we can't go to the movies right now, we'll pretend we're enjoying Gaga and Cooper's version of A Star is Born with a big bowl of popcorn. 

I will put on my usual snarky hat.

Always Remember Us This Way (2018) Unfamiliar with this week's song. Hear it here.
1) In this song, Lady Gaga sings about the Arizona sky and California gold. Have you visited many of our western states?
None of the western states. But I've seen the Bloggingham sky. Does that count?
2) She sings that she's overwhelmed and can't find the words to express herself. Do you find it easier to share your feelings verbally or in writing? 
Writing is like breathing to me....although I will say that I'm not one to hold back much of anything either way. Life's too short to suffer fools.
3) Her real name is Stefani Germanotta. She took her stage name from the Queen song, Radio Gaga. Do you have a favorite Queen song?   God Save the Queen...of course
4) Her dad is Joe Germanotta, president of GuestWifi, a company that enables hotels and restaurants to offer high-speed wifi to their customers. Do you consider yourself tech savvy?
I've been blogging for fifteen years. I think I'm on top of things. 
5) Early in her career, Lady Gaga performed songs for a children's audio book called The Portal in the Park. Tell us about the last book you finished -- did you listen to an audiobook, or read a download to an electronic device or a bound book with pages?
 I'm currently reading The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett It's not for the faint of heart.     
6) She prefers dogs to cats and tea to coffee.  Do you agree with her?

Persian Patticakes

Homer the Palace Dog

I don't have any pets in the real world (except for my precious Homer and Persian Patticakes here on the blog) and I love all pet peace bloggers. Virtual pets are very easy to care for. See how well-behaved she is? Homer is a different story.... Tea and coffee are a tie.
7) Back in 2015, she appeared at the Academy Awards, performing a medley to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music. The movie's star, Julie Andrews, graciously came onstage to thank Gaga for her showstopping performance. Whom did you most recently thank?   
The maskless Census Taker. We social distanced in the driveway. By the way, are they going to be able to tell it's really us with our masks on?? How scientific can this be? How will they know it's me without my lipstick?? Forty years from now no one will be able to trace any human beings who lived on earth. The census depends on who we are quarantined with on April 1st...which further complicates things because it's April Fool's Day.   Currently, that consists of five chickens, three exes, four ghosts, a wild raccoon and a few bushy-tailed squirrels for good measure.

Intrusive much??

8) In 2018, when this song was first released, retailer Toys R Us closed all its stores and went out of business. What's the last toy you purchased?  Toys for my grandchildren
9) Random question: How has social media made your life better?   I've formed real friendships with people on Facebook because I either knew them in "real life" or we've blogged together since the days of Noah's Ark.  We've learned to communicate in a new way. I suppose that's "better" in a neighborly internet way.  It is NOT better for my stress level. So much vitriol and political snarkiness on social media. But I think we'll come back 'round full circle to the blog door once again.  In case you haven't noticed, the world's gone a little haywire.


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Monday Mimisms ~ Coronavirus For Baby Boomers

Don't blink or you'll miss it.
We're all just trying not to die. Life in the land of corona has turned fools into deep thinkers and the cerebral into fools. Do you feel the shift? Have you heard your doors whispering? Can you hear insanity calling?  Don't tell... but I think it might be the placebo effect weighing heavily on our collective paranoia - nothing to be concerned about really. It's just that for baby boomers we reluctantly understand that this long strange trip just got a lot stranger. We all read Orwell's 1984 in high school.
I see long lines of upper middle class SUVs waiting for loaves of bread and sacks of potatoes to be tossed into lifted hatchback trunks in food pantry drive-throughs. Masked people wearing worry like a sleeve. Unmasked people worrying about the people in the masks. We see you much more clearly than you think; there's something about hiding one's face that brings out bravado and brilliance -ask any bank robber, heart surgeon, or keyboard bully. I see confused children sitting alone with laptops in living rooms with no teacher - learning lessons they are too young to understand.  And then there's us. But don't worry about the boomers...we survived polyester pantsuits and Jim Baker. We'll be all right.
I've been alone a long time by choice. 
 I love my independence and enjoy my own company - but I've never felt this lonely.  I sensed it so keenly over Easter weekend. And it has given rise to that funky little byproduct of jail time  - perspective.
I've put off writing about how this pandemic has affected me. It seems so selfish. After all, I'm not hungry or unemployed or suffering physically from this unforgiving plague. I'm so sad for those who are. So sad I can hardly stand it.  What is WRONG with me?? I asked. I'm usually the voice of reason and peace. Why can't I handle a little bit of gigantic amount of stress??   Oh.  Maybe because it's not normal to keep an ongoing global headcount of people dying by the hour on the big screen TV we call life?  It's our new normal.   A normal we all hate.
I realized that if I don't get something scribbled on blog paper soon, I'm going to explode and
 maybe take a few people with me. It's been building in a way that made me worry more about my pride and less about snapping at people I care about. That can't be healthy: so here I am writing at midnight. It's my way of getting a grip on something nobody has  control over. Unrealistic much, Mimi? Maybe. But it's my way.
  I began self-isolating the first week of March, opening pick-up grocery accounts and exploring pharmacy delivery options. I've been determined to stay put for my own safety and in consideration for others.  I haven't been sick with any COVID-19 symptoms that I'm aware of, but since I'm in the high-risk category even the slightest cough or warm-cheek feeling sends my head spinning with fear.    I'm having trouble sleeping and my dreams are prophetically urgent. Is this what happens to soldiers in foxholes? Now, I get it. We've become instant hypochondriacs. Or maybe I should just speak for myself.
When this is over, we'll have a nation and world full of PTSD.  Some of us already had enough life drama to deal with thank you very much. We didn't need forced quarantine to mess with our heads.  Eternal solitude is not good for our mental health. But I'll tell you what it IS good for -  perspective.
Is anybody home? 

I miss touch. I miss kisses. I miss hugs. I miss looking into someone's eyes knowing what they're going to say before they say it. Boomers are intuitive because psychedelic rock lyrics made us Grateful...but not Dead.   Did you catch that?  

One day soon, when all this is over and the world begins to turn again, I'm going to make sure all my face-to-face encounters mean something more than a hasty hello and goodbye.  I might wink at stray dogs and millennials for a change.
 There are people I'm waiting to embrace - I mean really embrace.  Oh, I'm making my list. And those kisses....well..... I'll keep that to myself for now. There are those I want to love on awhile and listen to their housebound war stories. I'll let them tell me all about it over cups of steaming coffee and vodka shots. Some I will never look at the same way again because when the long strange trip drops a sledgehammer of perspective on your quarantined doorstep, you suddenly have miles and miles of minutes to think about wasted time.   Ain't nobody got time for that. 
 BC (Before Coronavirus) was just stale cornbread in a souffle world.  We've just learned how alive life is supposed to be. 
We're all just trying not to die.




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Bubble Wrap Might Come in Handy

Saturday 9: Everybody's Somebody's Fool (1960)  Today we are playing a fun meme.
1) Next Wednesday is April Fool's Day. Do you have any pranks planned?  Do you expect to fall victim to any April Fool's Day mischief?
There is no mischief in the castle at this time.  I'm all alone. It's a little difficult to prank yourself. 

2) When she was a kid, Crazy Sam would fool her mom by putting bubble wrap under the bath map so there would be a POP! when her mother stepped on it. When you encounter bubble wrap, do you always indulge in a pop or two?
That crazzzzzzzy crazzzy Sam! Great question.  It might be a good idea to wrap ourselves in bubble wrap right now.

3) While we're using this song to celebrate April Fool's Day, it was written about another subject entirely: heartbreak. The lyrics tell us that at some point, we each get our hearts broken by someone who doesn't love us as much as we love them. Do you think that's true?
No, relationships are more complicated than that.  But that kind of uneven heartbreak is devastating. 

4) In 1962, this week's featured Connie Francis published a book aimed at teens called For Every Young Heart. It addressed topics like going steady and schoolwork vs. social life. Do you ever read advice columns or self-help books?
We all could use a little help right now. I love to study and learn new things.

5) Connie Francis can play the accordion. Sam has never met anyone adept at this complicated instrument -- not even in her high school band. What about you? Do you play the accordion, or do you know anyone who can?
Yes, Homer and I have the accordion band over every Friday night. 

6) In 1960, when this record was popular, Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird was published. Have you read it? In high school
7) Also in 1960, one of Life magazine's best-selling issues had Sophia Loren on the cover. At that time, she was an international film star and considered one of the world's most beautiful women. Who do you consider one of 2020's most beautiful women?
Pretty is as pretty does. Jane Goodall is 85 and still changing the world. 
8) A 1960 issue of Vogue acknowledged how expensive it had become to maintain a fashionable wardrobe and asked, "If you were to buy only one thing, what would it be?" If it's good enough for Vogue, it's good enough for Saturday 9: If you could purchase only one new article of clothing for spring 2020, what would you buy?
a pencil skirt  or a sassy polka dot dress


















9) Random question: When someone makes you really angry, are you more likely to respond with stony silence or a big noise?
Stony silence just gives you ulcers.
 

Thank you Gal for hosting this meme. I needed a diversion.

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Just Tell Me When It's Over

Sunday Stealing is on tap tonight. I'm self-quarantined for the foreseeable future (not sick, just cautious). Blogging might make a comeback with so many home and online. Prayers going up for the victims of this horrific situation and all those affected by the coronavirus.  
1. What is the wallpaper on your computer screen?

Why did you choose it? I'm ahead of my time. Facial recognition?

2. Who is the person you text the most in your life?  I plead the 5th.
3. Is there carpet or hardwood floor in your bedroom? Magic carpet


4. Do you believe in superstitious things such as breaking a mirror? Why would I want to break a mirror????
5. Do you like those ‘end of the world,’ ‘Armageddon’ movies? Since we're living out the coronavirus in real time....ummmm...who needs movies?
6. Chocolate or strawberry birthday cake? Choose one.
I haven't had a birthday cake in a long time, but my choice would be chocolate.

7. Do you eat more vegetables or fruits? What’s your favorite fruit/veggie?

It's about even. My favorite fruit is watermelon. My favorite veggie is anything but rutabaga.

8. Does the dentist calm you or does it tend to stress you out? Dentist and calm do not belong in the same sentence. I start hyperventilating before I even get in the chair. My dentist is ready with mucho nitrous oxide gas and headphones set to maximum volume to drown out the obnoxious scary noise.  It's obscene! Just tell me when it's over.

9. If you had to choose, which is the worst movie you’ve ever seen?
I'm afraid of pirates.

10. Have you ever found yourself talking to an inanimate object? I'm talking to this blog window right now.

11. Do you like movies that are originally based on children’s books? That would not be my first choice.
12. Is your hair more thick or thin? Is it more curly or straight? Thick. Curly.
13. Something on the human body that grosses you out the most: Nothing on the human body grosses me out and I just spent two minutes of my precious life thinking about the answer to that question.
14. What is your favorite color of apple? Red, green or yellow?

15. Do you hardly ever remember where you put things at? I can't even remember where I got them in the first place.

16. Do you ever lay in the grass and look up at the sky, just because?

...and I have a picture to prove it. Mimi 2005
17. Are you a controversial person? Do your views oppose others? I hope my views oppose, offend, rile up, and otherwise invite uncomfortable conversation.  I love to spar. 
18. Have you ever thrown a surprise party for someone? Who for?

Barb

Yes. My best friend, Barbara. 
19. What would you say your average word per minute time is on the keyboard?  I timed it. 90 wpm.









20. Do you like fiction or non-fiction books more? What’s your favorite? Non-fiction  I love philosophy, spiritual, self-help, quantum physics...although some people would say all of those  are fiction. See #17 for clarification. Challenge me if you dare. 

21. Do you know how to play pool? Are you any good at it?
My dad was a master pool shark.  But kids (especially girls) didn't play back in the day....

22. The most painful medical procedure you’ve ever had? Childbirth
23. Are you someone who tends to take a whole lot of naps? I missed two of them finishing this meme.


24. Have you ever been pulled over by the cops for speeding? I'll say it to you like I said it to him, "I hardly think 53 in a 35 is a crime."  I think he was dyslexic.
25. Is anyone in your family a firefighter? Who is it anyway? No, but I'm in my family and I put out fires all the time. Does that count?

Thanks Sunday Stealing. Click the link below to play along. Don't forget to check on your friends and neighbors.

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