Keep Smiling

73

Oh, dear; emoticorn.

I have to fess up and say that I'm one of those annoying people that loves emoticons.  In these days of instant messaging (and instant everything else), they relieve stress and make me laugh. I found Mr. P's history interesting. My father was a teletype operator in the Navy in the 1950's.  He once told me that they used different combinations of punctuation to communicate little jokes between ships, but who knew it went back to 1857? And 73 for "love and kisses"?  I always that that was "XXOO".  ;-)

I recently read what I thought was a rather heated diatribe against the overuse of emoticons. The argument against them (and I say this as an English teacher, who actually has to teach correct grammar) is that they should not be used because one's textual information should convey everything one needs to know about one's emotional state and meaning in any textual situation.

The problem with this perspective is that it equates published literature with the email, in its attempt to negate the reality of our complex online interactions, which exist as a substitute for face-to-face interactions, not as polished literary offerings. To hold internet interactions up to that standard is an act of folly (but that sounds very harsh, doesn't it? it makes me want to ameliorate its harshness with the expression on my face you can't see, which would look something like this: ;-/ ).

The tiny comma has the power to hold back an incalculable number of words of all sizes until they can be fully absorbed, understood and appreciated and then release you to move on to the next group of words.

Remarkable, that little comma.

Why, we all know that all of us came here to the Village because it is just full of smiley faces.

Have you ever seen a person in a comma....oh,wait, that, should be,coma

Alison - I admire your efforts in these times where children seem to only communicate via texting shorthand.  LOL, OMG and BFFN.  It boggles the mind (at least, it does mine).

Paul Winchell, Jerry Mahoney,and Knucklehead Smiff....doodle doodoo doodle doodoo (that is the sound of that fuzzy screen flashback to an earlier time; a Saturday morning cartoon show from my yoot.....Jerry said "here comes a Morse code message,Knuck, what'd it say?" and of course, Knuck said "did dah didit didit dah dah dit dit dit dah"....

and then came Carole Burnett (prolly all of 19 years old) sliding down that shoot into Paul Winchell's fun house, singing(all,in unison) "Scotty Wotty Do DoDo"     (at least, that is how I rememer it) 73's

Well done, dear people, on dragging the tally well over 100 yesterday. There were times when I had my doubts.
Give me real puncuation every time. Emoticoms generate a school-marmish bile inside my insides.
A semi colon is better than a colostomy bag.
TXT SPK? It's all Greek to me, with the apostrophe in the right place.
Happy Fryday ~ get the wok out.
 

Good morning all...is there an emoticon to demonstrate how one feels holding vigil at another's bedside while the second person is laboring with their last breaths.

As much as I come here and make feeble attempts at humor I'm sad to report that we are doing just that...holding a death watch.

Dad really took a turn late last night and we've been informed by the hospice nurse that he is now in the 'active' death phase. I had no idea there were different phases of death.

This entry is not meant to be a mood kill just an update for those of you who have been gracious to care and send your prayers and thoughts.

Of course when the hour transpires I will inform the village. Until then...

I must be off.

KC~ you surely know how much love is sent to you from this village.

Way off topic, I'm proud to say that Lonely Planet (the tavellers handbook) has voted the coast of Wales as top spot for 2012. Lucky, lucky me, I live there.

KC,  words  don't  properly  express  what  we  want  to  share  with  you.....comraderie,  sympathy,  and  a  call  for  courage.   We  will  all  experience  death,  only  a  privileged  few  will  be  blessed  with  a  contingent  of  vigil  keepers  like  yourself,  to  ease  the  transition  to  the  other  side.....

Hazel, Maybe that's why.

KYC ~ There are angels at your father's side and prayers for you, your mother and family fill the heavens.

Thanks, paolos, for reading through my typo!
 

The isn't going; its gone.  And spelling is on the next plane.  Articles are on their way out,  

Lotlot, Speaking of emoticons...what a game last night!  what a series! Both teams are playing like the champions we have come to know and love. 

Texting is the demise of correct grammar.   These days high school courses are devoted to classes that teach American born and raised children how to write a sentence where they spell out the pronoun you as y-o-u, 
 
I'm sure that college business courses spend time advising students not to use smiley faces and text frowns in business memos and legal briefs. 

I don't know if it qualifies as an emoticon, but from that classic Mama Mia there is this...

KC- I do alot of hospice work and work with the terminally ill, so  I understand what you mean.  I have found art theraphy to be useful.  Sometimes the client  speaks volumes in squiggly lines and the colors he chooses.   Its easy to understand the emotions, even though there are no words to articulate the rollercoaster of fear,peace and apathy they appear to express.

...and then in the old days the cantankerous, if not vile  
@#%$! I could never understand exactly what it meant.

KYC- You and your family are in my prayers.  Paolos is right, there are angles around guiding your father home. 

Tommy ~ I once stayed at the Atlanta Indigo on a New Year's Eve with the
family. Didn't like it. Haven't tried another.  Are they all about the same or
is there variety amongst 'em?   On a more personal note, you have gotta be
grinning ear to ear. Four days running.  Must be the shine on dem shoes.
I
hope you are well rested for the trip home.


I'll be out on the links today for a charity event so I wanted to get my
licks in early.  If you venture outside today, wear a
helmet...\o....I have a wicked slice.
        

Julia ~ a ticket fixing scandal in the city.  Isn't it a constitutional, if
not God given right to have a friend or family cop willing and able to fix a
ticket?  It should not be reserved only for lawyers, judges, council members and
mayors @#%$!

O dear Julia~ I will worry when somebody brings me fingerpaints in a hospital bed.

Oh KC, I suppose you would be :'( at the moment; here's a hug for you >:D<

I think emoticons, those keyboard strokes expressing emotions are mostly replaced by smileys and similar. Yahoo, google and some smart phones have variations. I use combinations of smileys, clipart and pictures extensively in my office correspondence with colleagues in the network and even with some clients I know well. They are awesome for expressions - it may be a bouquet of flowers to say thanks, a stick figure sticking its head over a wall and waving a hello, a sad little dog to say sorry, a squirrel flat on its tummy to say TGIF etc....I especially like the .gif icons as they are animated. It's great fun for the receiver and I often get a happy response as it is so unexpected

Everyone just smile and have a nice day.  Happy Friday!

KC ~ My thoughts and prayers are with you; how hard this time is for you.  If he can hear you, and he may be able to, just let him know that you love him.

KC I bow my head and wish Godspeed and Fair Winds and much love to you and your family.

KC---How fortunate you are to be able to be there as your father finds the wings for his soul.  And when it is soaring and far far away from his trouble may you find consolation  in understanding the peace that will follow.  Even as you will miss him, peace will come.  Prayers to you all.

Even as we seem to speak in run-on sentences these days, barely stopping for a breath let alone a punctuation mark, we write in a run-on and haphazard style.  For the most part punctuation developed along with the use of writing to share and explore in either legal documents or treatises.  It came late to the party (relativity) in it's role as a rhetorical reflector--i.e. showing speech patterns, rather than it's traditional role as grammarian and sometimes arbiter of meaning.  We've all heard of and even mentioned here on the Eye the book "Eats Shoots And Leaves." When pointed out to us we can see the difference that is made by the correct punctuation, but as most of tend to "write by ear" (conversationally) punctuation, like language, is an ever evolving plastic thing.

It put a smiley face on me to learn how to sing psalms in plainsong with the chuch chior. The psalter has punctuation marks in abundance to show the singers when the breathe and how to deliver the meaning of the words. Carol's remark about people even talking in run-on sentences is true. Even BBC newsreaders, who were once the epitome of correct speech take a breath at the end of an autocue line instead of at a comma and mangle the meaning of the information they are delivering.

Oh, %*£# that up there says church.

Speaking of smiles, I was looking for some pointers
before I headed out.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIR3oCQMQBE
 
I am waiting with bated (or is it baited?) breath for
a Guest Speaker.  We have been teased now for a very long
time.  I am not trying to start an Occupy the Village movement, I am just
saying.  With friends like these I'm certain our host could find a guest that is
witty, erudite and even urbane, if so inclined. 

If and when I begin to make faces out of punctuation marks and/or use emoticons, in order to italicize my written words, my family and friends have been ordered to shoot me. that said, xoxox

RoadYacht and Bert ~
I had this comment left over from yesterday and
thought I'd save it for today as we struggle to number 100.
I owe you and Bert a debt of gratitude. Because of your set up yesterday at
10:24, Hazel says I'm 10.47 brilliant...on a scale of 1 to 10, I am 0.47 beyond
BRILLIANT...I'm so happy and brilliant and I owe it all to you and Bert.  The
straight men never gets the credit they deserve.  I am trying to right that
wrong.  You are the brilliant one and so is Bert, far more brillianter than I
could ever hope to be.  But then you already knew that, the village knew
that and now the rest of the world knows it. 
 
I'm done.  The links await.
 
 \o          @#%$!    

The button above looks to have the expression of someone having just been told that a sixty foot streamer of bathroom tissue is trailing out the back of his pants.

There is a man in town known to have said: "I would rather have lived in and lost our house than own yours."
His son is prouder to have been tossed out of Princeton than he would have been to have graduated from Lawrence… an experience that might have carried more cachet had he managed to hang on long enough to get full value out of his first meal card.
Both found guilty of taking money from an old woman in their family dodged prison but were sentenced to work, the older of the two, photographed stocking (and I don't mean to start anything here) Huggies on a grocery shelf while wearing the traditional smiley badge.

KYC ~
You know...

paolos~ haha golfballs. Everybody who posts on this page is a guest speaker. They are guests in my home, sharing their opinions and I, for one, would be out of here if they were not well spoken and mannerly. I have looked at other sites where people are really horrible to one another.

see "Eats Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss. A good way to find humor in punctuation of all kinds....;-)

TOMMY trying to reach 50 for you by Noon EDT! Looking forward to your lunch report..

OT Bulletin: Speaking of TOMMY, who amongst us will wear costumes for Halloween? Perhaps I'll put on Nylons & Stilettos for my costume, but seriously, I am guessing Tommy, perhaps PAOLOS, certain teachers of young folk. Guess or confess!!

MISS BLUE--been missing your soundtrack...

KC~ - May flights of angels send him to his rest - and may you find comfort in being there to send him lovingly on his way.Many,many hugs. ChefDeb~ It is my intention to wear a costume to my rather pedestrian job as a legal assistant. I have not yet decided whether to scandalize or amuse my office. My dear husband says I still have nice gams, so a short skirted something may be in order. As I normally wear jeans and a pullover top, it would be quite a change. As to the emoticon, I was a reluctant Cassiepants-come-lately to that party. I still refuse to text in anything less than a complete sentence. Many of my sentences do find themselves punctuated by a period either before or after :) .

KYC  -  Peace and Love to you and your family

PAOLOS:  Unless one is eating Sardines, the word is, "BATED" or more formally, Abated ... and all the Definitions apply ...
 
Too Bad Spike Jones is gone .......

ChefDeb--thought you said the other day you didn't like nylons??   I don't costume....I'm a real Halloween curmudgeon and have never enjoyed costumes.  I think it goes back to a very real fright I had as a young kid out trick or treating.  And also to the fact that years ago masks didn't work very well with eyeglasses, so I couldn't see properly--either the mask was askew--and that ding-dang rubber band supposed to hold it on would snap--or I'd try to go sans spec. and that didn't work.   We have no kids on our neighborhood so we keep the lights off and go about our normal business.  I tolerated with a smile Halloween celebrations as a teacher, but oh! was I ever glad when the first of November finally came.

ROADYACHT:   Still got my Royce 23 Channel Tunable, with 102 inchi Whips, and a Thousand Watt Linear ....... And one single QSL Card, left over from 1960 ... The QSL I laminated to preserve it, and it is in the Glove Compartment of Miss Blue (Not to be confused with our MISS BLUE from here in the Village) My Original '53 Ford Coupe, whose Heart appears in my EYEdentity ....... A lot of the Jargon common to CBer's came out of Telegraphy, and still serves us well ... There is only one Club left in Town, and most of them are Truckers or Retired Truckers ... We used to meet in a vacant Lot on Friday nites and share a Round or ten ... The Lot was on the West Side  of Town, and there were Gas Stations and Guidunks within walking distance, so's we could re-Supply as the Ice Melted and the Fare dwindled ... and of course, we policed the place completely when we left, which is probably why the old Doctor who own'd the Lot never cared that we were squatting on his place every week ... 
 
73's to you Roadyacht ... The Blue Ribbon Express will be on the side  .......

Paolos  -  Trust all is going well on the links.
 
Last night's game had me on edge  -  great ball playing!!  As an Orioles fan of long standing - go ahead and howl - we gave up our season tickets when Chicago beat the Orioles 30-3 which was the first game of a double header.  They did better in the 2nd game but enough is enough - beyond embarrassment!! 

Ivan, I love the sardines bit.

KC, I've heard that being with someone as they pass on is a unique experience, with every emotion possible surfacing. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this time. 73, my friend.

As far as emoticons go, I'm one that uses them and have since I was a chat host years ago. In my training, we were encouraged to do so in order to make our intentions fully known. It's too difficult to convey the weight or levity of your words on a typed page unless you are being absolutely straight, which, let's face it, rarely happens in forums such as this, chat rooms, or IM boxes. Personalities come out in our blurbs, but aren't completely understood unless we know the emotions behind them, especially with regard to sarcasm (I know I tend to be pretty sarcastic at times!). Hence, the smilies of our time.

"anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so many floating bells down"  e.e. cummings.  Lack of punctuation certainly worked for him.  But would he have been an adept texter?

rapidgirl~That absolutely makes sense. One of the things that worries me in the 'younger' generation is the notion of having arguments by text.  I have a youngish friend who had an entire argument by text message on the phone. I don't believe there are enough variations of :/   :-?  :*) or >:( to accurately portray emotion within a relationship over a digital device. At the very least sarcasm and its variations should be expressed with great care by text. It becomes more and more fascinating to watch how interpersonal communication evolves as our technology does.

Hmmm, I believe you have all seen my thought that genius existed before the spoken language;and in fact, language developed to express the ideas to another that had not as yet thought the same.   So, imagine if you will, the genesis of language, a universal expression,and one that has lasted(with reginal variations)and behold:we are witnessing one being borned anew!!!   <\8-)

RY~Does that mean the Rosetta Stone for the 21st Century will be rflmao lol ?  TTFN

CAROL that was me being a Weisenheimer about my Halloween costume, it being so farfetched for me to wear such things! CASSIEPANTS I'll bet your husband has the right idea for your costume!

My late husband loved Halloween. It was the only holiday he would really acknowledge and didn't dismiss as a "Hallmark Holiday". Every year he would put on a clown's nose and scare the sh*t out of everyone. Just the nose. Everything else he had on was par usual. On oaccsional years he would add white clown's make-up and then people would practically dial 911. Its funny how people are about clowns.

Cassie, I understand, and it's not just confined to the younger set either. At the tender age of 40 I was dumped via text message. I was shocked initially, then took it as the favor it was and moved on to something better.

I still believe that those who read for pleasure are the ones who are most likely to spell well, use punctuation correctly, and understand when textspeak would be inappropriate. I can hear some of you now saying that it's always inappropriate, but I disagree. It comes back to knowing your audience. We all speak in different ways to different people. This is the same thing.

RY, that's teriffic! I think it could have more than one use though: A party hat for some, a dunce cap for others.

we could try and © it    hahaha

KC~ Thoughts and prayers to you and your family.  Know what you are going thru....my sister-in-law (best friend) is in Hospice care.  Those nurses are fantastic...don't know how they can do it.  So many thanks to all in the Nursing profession......Living Angels.

   Paolos, since the word is "abated,' in which the first 'A' is ignored, it is 'bated' breath, not 'baited,' which has a different meaning.
 
   KC, flights of angels -- or what in your mind means the most.
 
    I can say little about our topic because I'm biased at the start: Loving language, loving and collecting and respecting words, I'm befuddled when others don't.
Not fair, yes, and unreasonable perhaps, but emoticons and their ilk frighten me: I see civilization in the proverbial handbasket.  To each his own, I suppose
 
    Well, there you have it.
 
     Stoney, your description of lunch makes me hungry; always you have strong images and swell stories to underscore your words. Cremed tuna on toast hmmmm
 
      Folks, the current New Yorker magazine has an interesting article about a chef in CHarleston -- but it's far more than that. Called "True Grits," but don't be deceived by the title.  Saw the subject on tv recently.  WHat he espouses makes sense.
 
      Of emoticons etc., who am I to complain? You might any day complain about my TYPOS!! But you put up with me....

   Oh, dear, you know I mean 'creamed' tuna.... No emoticon would help me

I think emoticons are often a crutch to folks who are afraid of what they have to say or afraid of what effect it might have on the recipient.  How about a dinner tonight?  or....How about a dinner tonight :)  To me....and it's just me......The question mark evinces a strength and forthrightness, whereas the smiley face seems weaker and less sure of itself.   But again, that's just me.....I guess you have to know your audience.   I guess that's also why face to face communication is preferable to me in most cases--when at all possible.

   n.b. on another topic altogether -- TT, looks like we mayn't make it to 100 today. We'll always have yesterday....
 
    Magic matters, and JP has created it here: When I leave you, then return, the upper left corner says "Welcome, Georgia," as if I'd never left.  Warm feeling, that -- and on a could-be cold page. 

Georgia~ Your love of language is reflected by many of the people here - and I share your confusion over the lack of respect words seem to receive. That said love of words and facile application of the English language are not necessarily the same thing. Case in point, my beloved husband, a screenwriter (nothing you've ever seen, but he's made a lovely living just the same - such is the way of Hollywood) with a truly profound gift for 'real' dialogue but an inability to spell his way out of a box. Seriously. If he had to spell 'befuddled' to get out of a box, he'd be stuck there until we relented and served him a spectacular slice of banana cream pie with whipped cream decoration... And yet, I've read the words he placed on the page and wept from the beauty of them. (After I corrected his misplaced comma, of course.)   Civilization will survive as long as some of us are passionate about sharing our ideas. That is one of the reasons I'm so elated to have met all of you. 73

Wow! What an experience for my first visit here. KC - I too am a nurse and send you my thoughts and prayers for you and your family. just remember that the sense of hearing and touch is the last to go, so don't forget to send them off with all of your love and give them permission to travel on and prepare for you in the future!As for the emoticons - Well I am a parent of a teen so have by force learned the language of texting and emoticon, yet my precious child does speak in the true English language and even write in her (heaven forbid her friends see this!!) longhand journal in real words, at least what she allows me to share in reading, known and accitendally left laying around. Press on ADULTS! The emoticons cannot rule the world, yet the do help protray things we cannot get across at times in type to those less educated. Best wishes for a Blessed Day to All!!!

Wow! What an experience for my first visit here. KC - I too am a nurse and send you my thoughts and prayers for you and your family. just remember that the sense of hearing and touch is the last to go, so don't forget to send them off with all of your love and give them permission to travel on and prepare for you in the future!As for the emoticons - Well I am a parent of a teen so have by force learned the language of texting and emoticon, yet my precious child does speak in the true English language and even write in her (heaven forbid her friends see this!!) longhand journal in real words, at least what she allows me to share in reading, known and accitendally left laying around. Press on ADULTS! The emoticons cannot rule the world, yet the do help protray things we cannot get across at times in type to those less educated. Best wishes for a Blessed Day to All!!!

Wow! What an experience for my first visit here. KC - I too am a nurse and send you my thoughts and prayers for you and your family. just remember that the sense of hearing and touch is the last to go, so don't forget to send them off with all of your love and give them permission to travel on and prepare for you in the future!As for the emoticons - Well I am a parent of a teen so have by force learned the language of texting and emoticon, yet my precious child does speak in the true English language and even write in her (heaven forbid her friends see this!!) longhand journal in real words, at least what she allows me to share in reading, known and accitendally left laying around. Press on ADULTS! The emoticons cannot rule the world, yet the do help protray things we cannot get across at times in type to those less educated. Best wishes for a Blessed Day to All!!!

Wow! What an experience for my first visit here. KC - I too am a nurse and send you my thoughts and prayers for you and your family. just remember that the sense of hearing and touch is the last to go, so don't forget to send them off with all of your love and give them permission to travel on and prepare for you in the future!As for the emoticons - Well I am a parent of a teen so have by force learned the language of texting and emoticon, yet my precious child does speak in the true English language and even write in her (heaven forbid her friends see this!!) longhand journal in real words, at least what she allows me to share in reading, known and accitendally left laying around. Press on ADULTS! The emoticons cannot rule the world, yet the do help protray things we cannot get across at times in type to those less educated. Best wishes for a Blessed Day to All!!!

Wow! What an experience for my first visit here. KC - I too am a nurse and send you my thoughts and prayers for you and your family. just remember that the sense of hearing and touch is the last to go, so don't forget to send them off with all of your love and give them permission to travel on and prepare for you in the future!As for the emoticons - Well I am a parent of a teen so have by force learned the language of texting and emoticon, yet my precious child does speak in the true English language and even write in her (heaven forbid her friends see this!!) longhand journal in real words, at least what she allows me to share in reading, known and accitendally left laying around. Press on ADULTS! The emoticons cannot rule the world, yet the do help protray things we cannot get across at times in type to those less educated. Best wishes for a Blessed Day to All!!!

Wow! What an experience for my first visit here. KC - I too am a nurse and send you my thoughts and prayers for you and your family. just remember that the sense of hearing and touch is the last to go, so don't forget to send them off with all of your love and give them permission to travel on and prepare for you in the future!As for the emoticons - Well I am a parent of a teen so have by force learned the language of texting and emoticon, yet my precious child does speak in the true English language and even write in her (heaven forbid her friends see this!!) longhand journal in real words, at least what she allows me to share in reading, known and accitendally left laying around. Press on ADULTS! The emoticons cannot rule the world, yet the do help protray things we cannot get across at times in type to those less educated. Best wishes for a Blessed Day to All!!!

Looks as though our newcomer does BERT better than BERT.

To all ~ Dad is resting comfortably here in the hospice center. It was little trouble to get him here this morning. He is surrounded by two sisters two sons and wife with a parade of gracious friends and one rube passing through.

Mom and Dad have lived full lives with a loving hand and it shows in the quantity and quality of the visitors. Except of course the one rube...

The nurse has told us that his stomach/bowel noise is quiet which she says indicates his body is shutting down.

We now stand by and wait...when the time comes I will report.

Shalom to those who are
and
Thanks to those who aren't

Yours always...

CindiBMom~ Welcome, welcome, welcome. The phenomena of posts repeating are known as Bert Burps, don't be embarrassed, you are not alone. At least you made a good contribution to the 100 comments target.

This Halloween I will do the comeback tour of Mark Twain does Maui. I really don't do cyber emotion much. Mainly due to laziness except for the every now & then !!! I generally wear my "heart" on my sleeve. 100? Piece of torte.

Hazel - I was thinking the same thing - CindiBMom took one for the team!

Costuming for Holloween - I have this sweet little head band that has a witches hat incorprated on it... and my regular work clothes (don't know where I'd park my VROOM-BROOM... and the pointy toed boots would make it a long day).

On Topic - I don't  make it a regular habit to use emot-icons in my day to day writing, I have to agree, it depends upon your audience, specifically when you are joking.  As far as texting... I do not see the fascination with looking at a little box, thumbs flying (because you CAN'T use fingers), chatting with the person standing right next to them.

KYC - my heart goes out to you, peace be with you and yours.

In my work, almost all communication is done via email now. Like it or not, it's the way it is: no one wants to picks up the phone anymore. And it seems the younger the person, the more reluctant they are to talk face to face, or even phone to phone.  I can remember my parents and their generation talking about the importance of seeing and getting to know someone before they would do business together.  Now, we all communicate via email, do all sorts of business on line without ever meeting.  Even this group of "virtual" friends...
Anyway, what I was going to say is I like using the smiley face in my emails.  It's hard to communicate the tone of voice in the printed word, unless you're an excellent writer.  So, if I have to say something that may be construed as harsh or mean, I just add a smiley face, and all is well.  :-)

On a packed SWA flight. I will pretend I am on a PanAm Flight to the South Pacific and a friendly stewardess is serving me a Mai Tai and Martin Denny exotica music is playing in my head. My white silk jacket is not out of season nor my white bucks.

l majorie~ welcome. Interesting comment ... hang around, I think we do have a bunch of excellent writers in this village, but if it makes you feel more welcome, :-) !

I am off to prepare for my Weekly Rest and to Console a Fellow suffering ArachiBuTyrophobia ... I Wish Every Person in This Village ... a Marvelous, Safe, Enjoyable, Happy Weekend !!! May it be filled with Every Good Thing that You Like, and Let there be NO Repurcussions from your enjoyment !!!  Good Food, Good Wine, Good Friends and Family ... Whatever Make Y'all Happy !!! No Dark Clouds, No Inclement Weather, either end of the Thermometer !!!
 
To Those of You Who Do:   A GOOD  SHABBOS !!!!!!!
 
A Sabbath of Peace, a Sabbath of Joy, and a Sabbath of REST !!!!!!!
 
How Lovely Are Your Tentsd O' Ya'acov ... Your Dwelling Places O' Israel ...
In The Greatness of Your Love, You Let Me Enter Your House ... Humbly, Will I Worship in Your Holy Temple ..."
 
Blessings Upon You All,
 
 
IVAN

l marjorie~I do have hope that face to face communication isn't entirely dead yet. The parking attendant in my building is graciously teaching me Spanish - reviving my two years of high school language one conversation at a time. And the checkers/baggers at my grocery store have all taken to saying hello! I believe that the economic weirdness we are currently living in has resulted in the recent resuscitation of personal interaction as a benchmark of customer service.  That being said, it's lovely meeting you via petermanseye!

Thanks for the welcome. I've been reading all of your comments for quite some time now, I figured it was finally time to join. I have a great brussel sprout recipe that I should have shared earlier this week. I have a ghastly hand shake story too, but didn't sign up that day either.  Better late than never.

Halloween~ Years ago, the older kids in my village told the younger kids that I was a witch, because I lived alone in a cottage in the woods and kept a lot of cats. I promoted this rumour by keeping a besom by by front door and when I heard giggling in the shrubbery as little children had been dared to come down to my place, I'd wave my witches broom and screech threats to turn them into frogs. The legend persists.

Oh HAZEL I love it!

I MARJORIE Welcome and don't worry as you know if you've been reading us the topic of food will come up soon and we would love your Brussel Sprout recipe.

CINDIBMOM Welcome to you too. As a parent I do appreciate text messaging-there are times when my tone of voice (or theirs) would simply complicate matters, and texting opens communication (but I use my fingers as well as my thumbs).

IVAN Blessing to you and yours as well....

TOMMY We may have our goal by the time you land.....

BEBE--welome to the weekend!

well you know I meant welcome but as its for the Cause I'll state the obvious...

Hazel----you are much much too kind and loving to scare away the little kiddies.......your cackling surely ended in a much kinder laugh and an open door with at least a treat--if not a listening ear and a co-conspirator in getting back at the kids who'd sent the poor frightened ones to your door for the scare of their lives!  Come on--put your besome back or use it on your hearth, but don't try and sell yourself to us as a "witch."

Nah, Carol~ it was just a game. Toffee apples (home made) for all.

Hazel~ I barely know you, and yet I already love you. Anyone who knows how to make a homemade toffee apple is aces in my book. 

Ivan~ thanks for your weekend blessing.
 

Ivan- Egads Man! I needed that blessing!

Haze- you are the cat's pj's of a welcome wagon!

ChefD- I can taste it, Chef!

Welcome to CindiBMom and IMarjorie! (Although, I have only been here since January 2011, and some have been keeping the Village hopping since it began, at or around 2008.) Spring Fragrance has a cure for the repeating posts, and I think it is to use another IS besides Internet Explorer, or be careful not to hold the Send button more than a nano second. I use GoogleChrome. Bert can tell us the cure, I think, as his posts once repeated regularly, but do that no longer.

Hazel - Your teasing the kids with fulfilling their witch legends is a great way to keep them out of the flowers, away from the cats, and out of your pond. Another bonus is not to have to buy pounds of candy to give away or be annoyed all evening by the Trick or Treat rapping on the door. Funny!

I live in such a woodsy area, the homes are so far apart, and the hills so challenging that we never have had even one Trick or Treater! (I realize they say never say, "Never," but I will be greatly surprised if one ever knocks!) That is fine with me, as I doled out huge bowls of candies in the 26 yrs. I lived in a subdivision in the city. We could see the vans and station wagons drop off dozens of kids at the entrance to our development, and tell them they'd be back in an hour to get them, and then turn them all loose on us! They were not even kids who lived in our neighborhood. Sorry, but that is just plain foul play.

Cassiepants - Thanks for your positive take on the current economic situation in our land! The revival of more personal communication would be a boon.

TT - ON your way to the Pacific? Are you really doing the Hawaii time zone, or are you using your imagination to pretend to be there just to transcend the mundane of another kind of obligatory trip? Guess I am not good at reading between the lines in the TT posts.....If you are there, have a mai tai for me! Or even better, a nice cold G&T with a twist of lime!

Relating to KC's vigil - I sat with my mother til death in 1990, and my husband in 1995, and can sympathize with your letting go. I like to think of it -- as was discussed with my late husband who knew he was dying of lung cancer with over 2 yrs' notice -- as the next "adventure" in which each of us goes alone, but accompanied up to the jumping off place, and when we will finally know what is on the other side, the answer to the biggest question most of us ask during life. "For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face, " somehow seems comforting to many of us.

KentuckyC --You know your dad had a good life, and has all of his family around him, so that is about as fine as that particular experience gets. Hugs and sympathy to you and yours. :- ) Smiling gently....:-)...she said.

Cassiepants~ Easy if you are brave. You just need a panfull of scarily hot toffee syrup, butter, sugar, cinnamon, water. A bunch of greensticks from the woodland. Spear apples with sticks and wearing gardening gloves, dunk the apples into the cauldron. I have an old drain cover that is ideal for slotting them into vertical to cool off. The leftover syrup, add oats and bung into a baking tray. 20 mins in the oven and you have munchy bars.

 THank you, dear Ivan, and welcome welcome Cindibmom and IMarjorie.  (Look, all: even here we truncate our names. I see the point several make, of the value of emoticons, and appreciate it, You realize I mostly don't know how to MAKE them! And there is room for all of us.)
 
  Hazel, you remind me of my sole visit to Wales.  I stayed in a B&B on the coast; it had been the home of an Arch-Druid; the food was excellent, the owners pleasant.  My only disappointment was not finding even a rehearsal, let alone a performance of one of your fine male choruses. Turns out it was the wrong time of year. But a pleasant memory, and I walked your shore -- quite different from southeastern shores, and lovely in its own way. I never met a beach I didn't like, so was thrilled the B&B was where it was.  I hadn't 'met' you then....  I'm embarrassed not to remember the town's name, but you know how complex are Welsh words; I took the train from Cambridge (ENgland), and it was the second town we came to.  People are wonderful: Those train stations make one get off, then drag her bags up stairs, then over and back down another flight of stairs to catch the other train. I was dragging (too many bags, I know. Unlike Jp's niece who travels with one bag...) my luggage, leaving part of it, going back for the rest -- but no one ever let me: Always a gentleman insisted on doing it. From elderly to no more than twenty (with beautiful eyelashes). Never did I have an unpleasant moment in the uk, in any case; people flew to the rescue.  I loved them. And would return to Wales, the UK anytime. 

Moose- the latter but I am accumulating the miles. Having said that Tootsies Orchid Lounge at NashVegas (BNA) is a great music venue for up and comers. I am here now waiting for my car and hearing some Nashville Kats. My Digital collection of old Pan Am Posters is awe inspiring! My mind is a Gauguin painting. I don't know why we insist on bombing beautiful brown people.

Cpants- Kraft caramel apples and candied apples remind me of Halloween and Homecoming Queens.

IMarj-Mahalo!

Hazel~ Sadly it is not a question of bravery, as I am often willing to blindly dive in where a wiser woman would at least test the waters first. My issue is a combination of dear Husband's protective streak and my clutziness.  As I have managed to lacerate my hand (requiring 11 stitches to repair) while washing dishes and given myself a rather nasty rugburn on my hand simply by falling from a mid-level height in a hotel room to answer the door, I don't believe any recipe which requires a panful of even lukewarm toffee syrup will make it past the kitchen police...  I shall have to find someone else to brave making them for me. What a lovely recipe! Georgia, your story about Wales reinforces how much I'd like to visit. Sadly, my travels have been pedestrian - almost entirely confined to the North American continent with a brief sojourn to Hawaii which is still the U.S. so can't count as 'foreign'. I spent my teenage years near the border of South Carolina and Georgia - and the accents there, on occasion, could only have benefitted from a 'text and e-mail only' method of communication.   On the plus side, once I could translate backwoods Southern enough to take an order for fast food (my college job), I could translate any botched up mismash of English/Spanish, English/French and even English/English.
 

Georgia~ "We'll keep a welcome in the hillsides" - Google the song and you will get a selection of Welsh male voice chiors. Enjoy!

O, Georgia~ I forgot to say. Young men with beautiful eyelashes. Phhheeww! Gimme a bag of frozen peas to cool my hot flushes.

almost there TOMMY....quite a few gentlemen are missing ..perhaps they'll chime in and help reach that goal.....

 Paolos is probably still at that "19th Hole"......

OK, Cassie~ stay away from pans of boiling sugar, I beseech you.
The train is late tonight. Where are the boys?

Well, we got past the 100, Tommy! I'm off to duvet land, nos da dear people.

 Par for the course, of course, they're late and most likely full of excuses......sandtraps, lost balls, water hazards, etc......

Don't worry Hazel the fingerpaints wash out of the sheets and nightgowns.  But if the oil paints spill then you've got turn into a masterpiece.

Carol - I don't think Hazel could scare the kids. Kids these days have a high tolerance for fear.

Welcome CindiBMon!

Ha! All showered and toothbrushed. Kids have always enjoyed scary stuff. It's nothing new. The big bad wolf is coming to get you ...........

Julia~ It's nice to have you around.

What a beautiful day we were blessed to have here in Middle Georgia.  A
little rain toward the end, but I am not one to ever complain about rain. I
would be happy to share a portion with our friends in Texas if it could be
arranged without messing up the rainmaker's plan.  The team shot par.  We played
best ball and should have done better, but I doubt that any other team had as
much fun as the four of us.  I will dress up on Halloween.  I am going out as a
commoner, generally I dress in my robes as Arch Druid, but it might be a little
risky this year.  I'm kidding. Georgia, you stayed with an arch-druid in
Wales? That's a story I would love to hear more of.  Did he invoke the
winds and the thunder of the heavens?  Those dudes can be scary.  A lot scarier than
Hazel or even Stoney.  Although Stoney lives in that part of the world where
even the druids are lutheran, I think. Why does that joke work for Garrison
Keeler and not for me?  Baseball tonight folks.  I may not make it back.

  Paulos, nothing that exciting (in Wales):  The B&B HAD BEEN the home of an arch-druid, owned now by the B&B folk.  Fascinating house with narrow curving staircases. Before I went I learned more about Arch-druids. Quite a compliment: They're superb in the arts (to achieve that title), poets, writers, musicians.
 
  You're in Middle Georgia?  Macon?  Somewhere near there? I'm in Augusta, where the Savannah splits our city, on the border of South Carolina.  Beautiful day here, too, with rain and cold promised.  News says NE has more snow in October than since Civil War.  Amazing.  Here, we laughingly say, "It's the Savannah River Site" (plutonium) when unusual things happen, and one can always blame climate warming.
 
   Cassiepants, I'm not well-traveled -- just a few trips.  Wish it had been more.  I'm sorry you encountered weird accents hereabouts.  I identify five very different accents in Georgia alone, depending on what part of the state the speaker is from. And South Carolina's are as different. What Hollywood calls "Southern" is by no means so, and sadly, many people believe it.  I gnash my teeth and cringe, wondering why, with all they spend, they didn't find a proper diction coach!
 
   TTypical, travel safely...see y'all tomorrow.  'Night. O, I love Peterlake's "Peace Out"

As Mr.P said at the beginning of all this today, Keep Smiling!

Paolos ~ Smiled out loud at your brilliant self

Yep. Smiles. Real/metaphorical. Food. Ivan's Blessings. Peter's Peace outs. Mr. P's Profferings. We are residing in a new paradigm, a place where the "good" life is the standard faire. Tasty. And on the portico a host of lovely ladies indulging in the art of conversation while the Gents partake in a nice robusto and place bets on the strangest of events. Carpe Weekendum.

Something there is that saddens me a bit when language is thought to need a crutch or a walker to span gaps created by expediency and a loss for words.

Halloween was more enjoyable before it became known more for rapacious gangs of swooping teens with pillowcases than for tots.
Did I mention pillowcases? Good Grief.

Probably just as well that I failed the other day to mention that it was the terrific Italian tuna.

Are repeats and oopsies to be counted in a century?

S- I suppose it was never the # but perhaps a perfect spot...a symbol...a not real but perfectly real place like Capra's Bedford Falls where a bell rings and somewhere an angel gets his/her wings. Something kinda sorta like that in a tired man boy's week. Buffalo gals want you come out tonight?