My mother had a stack of 45 rpm records that were several years older than me. Of course, when I was a kid that was really old old, antique, ancient, not like we, as adults think of songs from the previous decade. I was fascinated with these records. I liked the idea of listening to [...]

There is no reason on God’s brownish-of-late earth that the words “HEAT DOME” have to be displayed in letters a state and a half high. — here And I like feed sack fabric. (I also just like the IDEA of feed sack fabric; that flour and grain and chicken meal were once sold in a [...]

I bet you want to go for a ride in this. Come on… you know you do.

Tuesday I finally saw someone in the local Walmart worthy of PeopleOfWalmart.com. This woman was wearing a long black evening gown (at ten o’clock in the morning) that had spaghetti straps that meet in the center back of the dress with standard bra and slip straps showing. So of course I took a picture but [...]

I like these questions. They are broad, general, and open to interpretation, so I can interpret them as I wish. Q: If something is forbidden, do you want it less or more? A: It depends on what you mean by “forbidden”. If it’s actually immoral or illegal, no, I don’t want it. But if it’s [...]

This might be the scariest thing I’ve ever read. It almost makes me want to not go outside, ever. Now I know that vegetarians, if there are any reading this, will be rolling their eyes. I don’t eat a lot of meat but to have to give it up entirely is unimaginable and unacceptable. Zoopraxiscope [...]

Number One Son has posted his annual blog post. It’s Seven Things You Should Really Have When Raising a Child and this is a list that really should go viral. I must say though, that my reasons for #1, A washer and dryer, are different from his. For a large part of my childhood my [...]

Well, summer is here. Officially. I’ve been feeling like it’s summer for weeks now but it looks like next week we’re going to get a reminder of what summer really means: 100°F. I’ve been good lately. I’ve been walking for 40 minutes three times a week and not eating too much of the good bad [...]

Part of me wishes that I had the legs for this. Another part of me does not want to rattle and jingle as I walk. see more Crazy Shoes and Cool Accessories

Someday our cameras’ resolution might be measured in gigapixels but the first gigapixel camera is a bit too bulky to carry around in your pocket – 29.5 by 29.5 by 19.6 inches. Actually, I’m reasonably satisfied with current pocket digital camera resolutions. What I would really like to have is a camera that needs no [...]

Top 10 States Most at Risk Of Disaster – Oklahoma is on the list. I suppose that’s no surprise considering the tornadoes and winter storms but I’ve never thought of Oklahoma as unusually disaster-prone. I expected California to be on the list (earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires) but it’s not.

Oooo shiny!. I love nail polish but I rarely bother with it anymore. Avoiding touching anything for 30 minutes or more while I wait for my nails to dry completely just seems like too much of a sacrifice. I know there are supposed to be quick dry polishes that dry in only 60 seconds. I’ve [...]

I was at the post office a little while ago and a neatly dressed and coiffed old woman came over to me and told me, “Be careful when you leave here. Don’t speed. There’s a cop sitting right over there.” And it wasn’t like we just happened to cross paths. She obviously spotted me from [...]

Since I mentioned Andras Schiff and Beethoven yesterday…

Last Monday my Sony bookshelf stereo stopped working or rather, to be specific, the CD player in it stopped working. It wasn’t entirely a bad thing because I have hated that stereo since the first day I had it, mostly because the CD changer was excessively noisy and extremely slow. But I really hated having [...]

Another advantage of CFLs is the ease of protecting them from thieves. see more There I Fixed It

Scientific research suggests that horizontal stripes do not make us look fat. I find that conclusion questionable. First of all, very few of us are shaped anything like the lovely little figure used in this research. Then there’s the psychological factor. Maybe stripes really don’t make a difference but if we look at a, shall [...]

Kitchens of a different color. Those actually all look very nice. The most unusual kitchen color scheme I’ve ever seen was pink and navy. I liked it and we might have bought that house if all the other rooms hadn’t been so tiny. (Also the location wasn’t great.) While I’m on this topic I might [...]

This was never one of my favorite Beatles tunes but this slow, blues version makes more sense to me. (As always, “your mileage may vary”.)

Oddity Central – Great, fascinating site. All sorts of interesting things, like strange food, art, weird people, beautiful places, and more. Best of all they don’t make fun of things like a certain other oddity site I can think of; they just report. MaDan’s Quilting – A really nice quilting blog. I like this. Acid [...]

I went back to my Andre Norton stash and read The Magic Books, three juvenile books in one volume. Fur Magic is based on Native American legends and was sort of interesting. Steel Magic, in which three kids are transported to the world of King Arthur, was the one I liked least. The last of [...]

Why should a ‘jobs report’ have any effect on anything? I’m pretty sure people know whether they have jobs. — here (via) I find something of greater substance in Queen Elizabeth than I find in many of the women that are set up on our shores as “celebrities.” — there I think they are all [...]

These are my two most recently completed sewing projects. I used the timer on my camera so not the best quality photography. I posed in the kitchen this time because it’s our only bright, cheerful room. First, the subtle and reasonable pink: I despise taupe by itself but it’s the perfect background color for this [...]

Ray Bradbury has died. I can think of no better memorial than his own words, my favorite essay ever – Coda.

It’s about 2 inches long. There are several more but this is the first and largest. This plant is growing in one of those upside down planters. We have two tomato plants also but no little tomatoes on them yet.