A few more detours

Margaret helped me work around the Google stuff. I can send photos again, with just a couple more detours. Sue found something that worked for her, but I wound up with the same problem using her method. Thanks to both of you. Google just wants me to do everything their way, and keep all my photos stored in their cloud. I don’t want to do that. So, at least for a while, and with help, I found another work-around.

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Women’s basketball had a big surprise this afternoon. The Lady Vols won over Nebraska, and advances to the Elite Eight - that wasn’t much of a surprise. The huge upset was that the Louisville Lady Cardinal beat the overall #1 seed Baylor. It was something nobody expected, and was amazing!

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This is a picture of Maddy modeling the sweater that GrandMary (me) made for her.

 

Google is out to get me

Google is out to get me.

This week they updated Picasa. This usually screws up the way I send out my picture-of-the-day, and I have to find a way around it. That seemed to work okay. But then….

A couple of days later, Google decided to “improve” gmail. This was not a little tweak, but a major change - in appearance and operation. So far, I’m unable to get to my pictures in Picasa to attach one to a gmail. And I don't like anything else about it either.

Not only that, I’m no longer to get to my Picasa pictures to attach to an e-mail from our home address.

All our Picasa pictures used to show up in the desktop “My Pictures”, but they’re not there anymore. So I can’t grab them from that location.

If anybody’s figured this out, or has any suggestions, please get in touch with me. In the meantime, I’ll continue to fume and fuss.

Liberal Alert!

We have a local weekly news/talk/panel discussion program on our PBS affiliate. It follows (and tries to imitate) Washington Week on the national PBS network. One of the topics this evening was the arguments in the Supreme Court on the two cases involving same-sex marriage (not that there would be anything to be done one way or the other locally).

The four panelists include a conservative, a liberal, a reporter from the newspaper, and a TV or web reporter. The liberal seat is currently held by Clay Bennett , the Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist on the “left side” of the local paper’s editorial page. Of course, we think he’s fabulous.

At the end of each program, each panelist is given time to briefly mention a story or make a comment that hadn’t been discussed on the program, but that he/she felt was important. Bennett was last tonight.

He said that there were any number of  oxymorons in common usage - a phrase with generally contradictory components. Examples would be “jumbo shrimp”, “accurate estimate”, “calm winds”, “military intelligence”, etc. Bennett said that he had come up with a new oxymoron…


“Justice Scalia”. 

Fun with youngsters

We have a fun/interesting experience yesterday.

Our next-door neighbor came over with her grandson. He was doing a high-school history project and needed to interview some older people about their history. (Damn! I remember when this kid was born! It was just a few months ago, I’m sure.)

He mostly talked to John, but I had to put my two bits worth in occasionally.

But the questions were so interesting - and really made us think. These are not all of them by any means, but….

When were we born?
Did we remember the Great Depression?
Did our families suffer during the Depression?
What sort of games did we play when we were children?
Did we remember Pearl Harbor?
Did we remember/what did we think about dropping the atomic bomb?
Where were we and what did we think about the assassination of JFK?
What did we think about the Vietnam War?
What did we think about Nixon’s ending the Vietnam War?
What did we think about Nixon’s resignation?
What did we think about Ford’s pardon of Nixon?
What did we think about the tearing down of the Berlin Wall?
What did we think about the impeachment of Clinton?
Where were we and what did we think when the planes flew into the towers?
What did we think about Bush’s going into Iraq?
What did we think about a black man being elected President?
What did we think about the Affordable Care Act?

I’m not sure this kid had ever heard anybody say they approved of “Obamacare” or of Obama as President. John tried to get him to say what he didn’t like about the health care act - what he specifically disagreed with. He couldn’t come up with anything, but at least John got him to think about it.

I’d like to think we let him know that there really are liberals out there in the world - and that we don’t have horns or want to destroy the world. And even more, that people can disagree and still be friends and have respect for the other’s opinion.

Wednesday photo

I just had to share this fabulous photo taken by our grandson-in-law, Joe, of a Chihuly piece in Seattle.

Women and history

Here's a book about women, about history - The Girls of Atomic City.

I just heard about this on the PBS News Hour, and surely it will be featured on BookTV sometime soon.

Anyway, it's about the women who worked in Oak Ridge, TN, on the Manhattan Project - the super-secret development of the atomic bomb during WW2. If you're not from this area, you might not know about Oak Ridge, but it was an amazing situation. I've bought this book for my iPad, and am really looking forward to reading it.

Monday Miscellany (and the Sweet Sixteen)

Today was one of those weird days - the temperature stayed in the 30s and it snowed off and on all day long, interspersed with periods of sunshine (or moonshine). But none of the snow stuck.

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The Lady Vols advanced to the Sweet Sixteen by beating a good Creighton team. From seven SEC teams in the women’s field of 64, three are advancing to the Sweet Sixteen (TN, GA, and KY). LSU is still to play tomorrow. March is tough!

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Are we loving these delightfully obsolete words?  Click here.

Nothing doing

Well, I said we were planning to do nothing today, and we pretty much accomplished that.  Just the laundry, a John-nap, and basketball games.

March Madness

It was a long basketball day for us - not as hard as it was for the players, but….

Margaret came over last night so we could get an early start this morning. We left about 8:15 to head to Knoxville. The first game was at 11 - #7 Syracuse vs. #10 Creighton. It was a close game, but Creighton won. It was an exciting game.

The second game at 1:30 was #2 Tennessee Lady Vols vs. #15 Oral Roberts Univ. ORU played a good game, but the outcome was really never in doubt. TN won by 21 points.

Then we headed home, and got here a little after 5. Margaret went on to her house. We settled in, changed clothes, and heated up the leftover Chinese for supper.

Then it was time for more basketball. The #11 UTC Lady Mocs played #5 Nebraska. The score was tied at the half. After half-time, the Lady Mocs got to a 9-point lead, but Nebraska’s strength proved too much for them. So our Lady Mocs’ season is over. It was a great run and we’re very proud of them.

We’ll be heading back to Knoxville on Monday evening for the second round game between the Lady Vols and Creighton. Then our in-person basketball viewing is over.

The 2014 Women’s Final Four is in Nashville, so we’ll try to get tickets.

A is for apple???

A is for Apple???

My blogging friend, Mr. Rhymes with Plague , has outdone himself today. He’s decided the old “A is for apple” just doesn’t work any more. And he had given us a taste of a new system. Here is his introduction and his take on “A”. I highly recommend you go to his blog to read more.

Away with the horribly old-fashioned A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for cat. They’re too boring.

It makes more sense in today’s complex world to introduce our intellectually gifted, computer-literate, upwardly mobile children to the New ABCs, which have been specifically designed to prepare young sophisticates for the world of tomorrow:

A -- Avidly admiring Adelaide’s antiquated architecture, aspiring actor Alfie Armstrong, amused, ate an apple. Amanda Axelrod, Alfie’s aunt and an amateur architect, absentmindedly ate an apricot. Afterward, assorted apes and antelopes attacked Alfie, an absolutely awful alligator ate Aunt Amanda, and ants, always aggravating, ate apple-and-apricot appetizers.

Just a photo

I wish I could claim this photo - it's spectacular!  This is taken from today's photos posted on Pale Male.com in New York City.

Been around for a while, but still interesting

Good example of a Brain Study: If you can read this OUT LOUD you have a strong mind. And better than that: Alzheimer’s is a long, long, ways down the road before it ever gets anywhere near you.

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H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N
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1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG
17 WA5 H4RD BU7
N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3
Y0UR M1ND 1S
R34D1NG 17
4U70M471C4LLY
W17H 0U7 3V3N
7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,
B3 PROUD! 0NLY
C3R741N P30PL3 C4N
R3AD 7H15.
=============================
Only great minds can read the following paragraph. This is weird, but interesting!

If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid, too.

Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh, and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Panic and adrenalin

Lots of panic and adrenalin around here this morning. I was getting ready to head to the Y and the grocery stores, when I discovered I couldn't find my wallet. We tore everything apart, and I started going back over where I had last had it. I remembered three places I'd been on Saturday and Sunday where I took my purse with me, but just couldn't remember if I did anything with the wallet. It was too early to call places, but at 10, I did call.

No luck until I called Sticky Fingers, where we ate Saturday night. And there it was!!!! I had taken it out to show my driver's license to the server if she had needed it for my free birthday dessert, and obviously missed the purse opening when I put it back. Lots of sighing. John took me to the restaurant, and they gave me my wallet. The server had found it and turned it in, so I left a bonus for her - and we'll certainly ask for her the next time we go there.

I didn't need much at the store, so John took me to Aldi, and I got what I needed there. Only thing on my list now is a white or other light-colored wallet (instead of the current black) so it'll show up inside my purse or on a booth bench.

That pretty much did it for the day.

Monday Miscellany

We love obituaries. We read them even when we don’t know the people involved. This one showed up on FB, and it was too good not to share. Somebody wrote about it - I hope my family loves me enough to post something like this.  Click here for this wonderful tribute.
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There was a vicious cold front that raced through this afternoon. There was a lot of thunder and lightning, with wind and hail damage south of us in north Georgia, and maybe one tornado. Here, we got 1.1” rain this afternoon.
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The brackets were announced this evening for the Women’s NCAA Tournament. Our UTC Lady Mocs were given an #11 seed and will play Nebraska in the first round in College Station, TX. I think this is the best seeding they’ve had. We’re so proud of our Ladies - they’ve had a great season. The Lady Vols are a #2 seed and will play Oral Roberts in the first game in Knoxville. We’ll be at that game.
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A package arrived today with a birthday present for me from Sue. Here’s a photo of my new t-shirt.

Enough said.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. It was another lovely day today - and 73 degrees. Winter’s not completely over, though. It’s supposed to get cold again during the week, with rain tomorrow.

We found out that one of our neighbors had fallen and was in the nursing home/rehab, so we went to visit her after Kate left. She (the neighbor) had really banged up her face, broken her right humerus (nondisplaced), and her hip (for which she had surgery). She's doing okay, but probably has another week or two in rehab. She's mostly complaining about her shoulder/arm. Been there, done that, and certainly wouldn‘t want it for anybody else. She’s complaining about being in rehab, so she's undoubtedly on the mend. 8^)

We had a great time with Kate. She left about 10 this morning, went by Margaret's on her way home. It’s always great to get together with family as a group, but very special to get some one-on-one time.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthday was full of gorgeous weather and good stuff.

Kate and I went up a surface road, Highway 58. about 20 miles to R & M Yarns in Charleston, TN. She found some good stuff for her weaving, and I got some good stuff for socks (I know you’re surprised about that). It was such a pretty semi-spring day that we took another route home - headed west on TN 60, across a new bridge over the Tennessee River, then south on US 27 to home. Just a lovely morning.
After lunch, John and Kate went for a walk on the Riverwalk to get some more of that wonderful sunshine. Vicki came by to bring us some birthday yogurt.

After some naps (John and Kate, but not me), we went to dinner at Sticky Fingers  and had some of their fabulous dry-rub ribs. When the waitress said if someone was having a birthday, she got a free dessert, I ‘fessed up to its being my birthday. No singing, but we got to share an enormous helping of bread pudding with a big scoop of ice cream and caramel sauce. Yum!
We waddled on home, and spent a little while longer enjoying the porch, before coming back inside for some more basketball before bedtime.

Thanks for all the wonderful birthday wishes, whether in person, on FB, on Bosom Buddies, by phone calls, by e-mail and texts and cards. They’re all very special to me.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SARAH!!

Kate came in this afternoon to spend a weekend. It’s been a while since she’s been down here, and it’s great to have her here.

Lots of talking and knitting. We went out to eat at our local Vietnamese place. Yum! (Sorry, Jean. We did finally find out when they were open. We’ll take you next time.)

We’ve got a full schedule on for tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Alison!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALISON!

It wound up being a busy day today - something new and different. We started out at the Y, followed by going to the post office mail the tax stuff to the accountant and the library.

My neck and shoulders have been really stiff, so I was really looking forward to my massage. And it was wonderful. When I got home, we watched our usual two classes of the Great Courses program we’re taking. About midway through the second one, my eyes just slammed shut - I was gone!

John turned on the ballgame (TN men 69, Miss.State 53) when I crashed. He put on the earphones, I assume so he wouldn’t disturb me. HA! He told me later that he was glad he had them on or he wouldn’t have been able to hear the TV. Guess I was making a lot of noise. How unladylike!

There was a String Theory concert at the museum this evening. The violinist was great, but we didn’t find the music particularly thrilling this time. Guess we can’t win them all.

Kate’ll be coming in tomorrow - what a treat!

Old news and New news

　

Today is the 20^th anniversary of The Blizzard of 1993, when there was somewhere between 15-20” of snow here, most of that in one day. That broke a record that had been standing since 1888. With any luck, this record will stand for another 100 years.

It was not fun. We were without power for only 36 hours - others in the area were dark for over a week. Since we live in the TVA area, most houses here are all-electric, including heating. We had the only working fireplace, plus a gas range, of our immediate neighbors. The two single ladies from across the street spent the night on the floor in our living room. As the 75-year-old widow said, it’d been a long time since she’d been to a slumber party - and she hoped it would be the last one.

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The big news of the world today is the choosing of a new Pope. Because I am not a Roman Catholic, this doesn’t have an immediate bearing on my life. I would hope that this man (who is my age) would be willing and able to bring his church into the 21^st century. I have been hearing this evening, though, that he has been quite vocal in maintaining the church’s previous positions against contraception, abortion, adoption by same-sex couples, etc. So I am skeptical. Time will tell, and I do wish him the best in his new responsibilities.

Tuesday Photo

Archway, the Coliseum, Rome

 

 

Southern Conference Regular Season & Tournament Champs

UTC Lady Mocs 63, Davidson 62!!!!! SoCon champions!

John watched on the computer while I was at bridge. Our UTC Lady Mocs never got ahead in the second half, then pulled it out with a shot in the last 8.2seconds for a 63-62 win! It was a tough one for Davidson to lose, but we're very happy with the win.

And while the gals were celebrating on the court after the game, the boyfriend of one of the seniors got down on one knee and proposed. Needless to say, she said yes. What a great day for our team!

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I just heard today that Bill Dahn, one of my fellow bloggers (The Dahn Report), died last week after a sudden illness. I only knew him through the internet, but he was certainly one of the good guys. He will be missed.

Random Musings

• The high today was 70!
• The popsicle truck came through our neighborhood yesterday for the first time this season. Can Spring be far behind? But…
• Wednesday, 13 March, is the 20^th anniversary of the Blizzard of ‘93, when we had 20+ inches of snow.
• I made a seafood chowder (shrimp, oysters, scallops) Friday, and we finished it up tonight for supper. Fabulous! One of my best efforts.
• The Texas A&M women won the SEC Tournament. It’s their first year in the Conference.
• The UTC Lady Mocs play Davidson in the finals of the SoCon Tournament on Monday.

Sunday Stealing

Taken from Sunday Stealing

Be honest, who texted you last?
Judy

Do you sleep with the bedroom door open or closed?
Open. If John gets up first, he closes the door so I can sleep later.

Do you drink tea?
On occasion - iced, unsweetened. My hot drink of choice is coffee.

Do you have plans for tomorrow?
Watching or listening to women’s basketball, reading the Sunday paper

What’s worse: dry skin or chapped lips?
Depends on which one is bothering me at the time. Usually chapped lips.

Would you be surprised if Facebook started charging?
Probably not. But if it did, I’d leave. I don’t care enough to pay for it.

Would you rather go to Canada or California on vacation?
Tough question. I enjoy both, and would hate to have to make a choice.

How many social media sites are you registered with?
Facebook, SeniorLearn, Seniors and Friends

Are you wearing jeans, shorts, sweatpants or pajama pants?
Pajama pants.

So, what if you changed lives for one day with the last person you texted?
Not too much different, except I’d be a Roman Catholic for a day, and would have our first great-grandchild.

Last person you told a secret to?
I don’t do secrets - too much trouble. But if someone asked me to keep something secret, I would do so.

What are you listening to at the moment?
BookTV on C-Span2.

Where was the last place you fell asleep other than your bed?
In my La-Z-Boy chair

Is there someone that you believe you will always be attached to?
Of course - John and our girls.

Are you going to any concerts this year?
Yes, we’ll be going to several more String Theory concerts at the museum (chamber music). But the asker probably means a different type of concert - and the answer to that is no.

Do you believe in Karma? Fate? Not particularly. I think, to a large extent, we make our own fate.

International Woman's Day

The International Woman's Day was actually yesterday, but I'm late getting this written tonight.

 Click here for an interesting article from the BBC News by DeeDee Myers written specially for today.

Personally, I want to salute the special women in my life:

From this and previous generations: Pink, Goldie, Nita, Carol, and Betsy; Flo Jean, Beth, and Vicki

Our daughters: Sue, Margaret, Kate, and Jean

Our granddaughters: Alison and Sarah

 The great gals at the Y in my swim group

The Bosom Buddies on Seniors and Friends

And the bloggers I follow:  bev,    l'empress,  indigo,  poolagirl,  sian,  and others

Great women all!
Plus the men who support us (especially John)

Miscellany and a Recommendation

Still no decision in the close race for City Council here. None of the write-in votes were for either of the two candidates - why would it be? There’s some talk of saying the votes couldn’t count if they weren’t for a certified candidate. That’s obviously not going to fly - otherwise there couldn’t be a legitimate write-in campaign. I am afraid that at least some of the write-ins were for something like “Donald Duck”, “Mickey Mouse”, or some such. We used to get those when we were election officials in one of our earlier lives. They may give the writer a sense of satisfaction, but they obviously have no idea of what a pain they cause election officials. Oh, well….

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The Tennessee legislature is posturing again. They seem to have legalized all they can about guns (can carry in state parks, churches, bars, in cars in parking lots, etc.), so now they’re taking up knives. Seems that somebody is trying to make it legal to carry switchblade knives now. And one state senator is planning to introduce a bill barring non-US-citizens from polling places. This, of course, is to protect the good people of Tennessee from having UN observers watching our elections. Sigh………..

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On the good side of the news, the CEO of Costco has announced that they’re going to pay their “minimum wage” workers $10.00/hour (rather than the $9.00/hour that Obama has proposed). This certainly is a nice contrast to the owner of Papa John’s Pizza who wanted to cut his employees’ hours so he didn’t have to provide health insurance for them. (I think he’s backed off that now, though.)

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I want to put in a plug for one of my favorite blogs - a site that I check first thing every day, That's My Answer!  Indigo poses at least one simple question every day, and readers write in their answers - sometimes posting a question. The regulars get some interesting discussions going, and we love getting new “answerers” to show up to shake things up and make us think. Give it a try.

No snow to speak of

No real snow here today. Just a very light dusting on the grass and rooftops. All gone by midmorning, although there were still a few flakes flying around until about noon.

We went to the Y and coffee, post office and library, then home for the day. I had invited my art teacher to come to coffee to show us some of the jewelry she makes. I think she made quite a few sales - including a pair for me, of course. John said I should get a pair so that would count as my birthday present from him. I’ll take them happily.
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Update on the election: Local politics is always so interesting. In one of the Council racer, there were only two candidates. One got six votes more than the other, and there were seven write-in votes. Therefore, neither one of them got the required 50% + 1, so there will have to be a run-off. What a waste of money!

I hate that so many people ignore local elections - only 16% of registered voters actually voted in this election.

Election Day

I had my semiannual teeth cleaning this morning - no problems, just sparkling teeth. Then it was time for the grocery stores. I got a corned beef at Aldi, and cooked it in the oven now. I haven't fixed one of those in ages, and am always looking for something different to fix.

I grew up in the south, so corned beef is not a traditional thing in my family cooking lore. I don't think I've ever had "corned beef and cabbage". But I have cooked the meat before - just not in a long time. I baked a couple of sweet potatoes and had spinach with it. I have to go with what will "sell" around here (and it’s definitely not cabbage).

That storm line roared through here this afternoon. We had lightning and thunder, about 0.75” of rain, and then the sun came out. The forecast for tonight and tomorrow is for cold and snow showers. As they say, if you don't like the weather, wait a while - it'll change.

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Today was Election Day for our mayor and city council. We voted a couple of weeks ago in the early voting, but, as always, watched with interest for the results. The incumbent mayor was unable to run (term limits), so we knew we were getting a new mayor. The winner won with over 70% of the vote - as expected. He was our choice - a very capable young man. The council woman in our district wasn’t running for reelection, so that was an open seat. Amazingly, our choice of the three candidates actually won without a runoff. The rest of the council will be quite different. Two incumbents were defeated, and two other incumbents face run-off elections next month. Nothing is quite as much fun as local politics - especially now that we’re not directly involved, and can watch it more as a spectator sport.

Better

The cards were somewhat better this week. John was second high last week. With all my bad cards, I wasn’t even low - I’m sorry for whoever had worse cards.

We ordered online from 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and John picked up dinner. Those are the best fries. My kind of meal!

And we even had sunshine today. 

Silent Sunday

 

 

 

Constantine's Arch, Rome

Snow?

All the news around here is about a possible 1-2” of snow overnight. The MidWest and New England have had blizzards, one after another, but we obsess over one inch of snow. All in all, I think I prefer it this way. Usually our snow is lovely, lands only on the grass and trees, and Mother Nature takes it away in a few hours.

I confess I’ve never lived north of the Mason Dixon line, so I have no first-hand experience of living where “winter” really happens. I don’t think that’s likely to happen at this time of my life. And that’s okay with me.

Y’all stay safe and warm.