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QOTD and SUDDENLY SUMMER

Did you know who John Mortimer was, prior to today?  I didn’t, but these quotes were amusing.

Check-ups are, in my experience, a grave mistake; all they do is allow the quack of your choice to tell you that you have some sort of complaint that you were far happier not knowing about.

If I don’t like the way the times are moving, I shall refuse to accompany them.

I found criminal clients easy and matrimonial clients hard. Matrimonial clients hate each other so much and use their children to hurt each other in beastly ways. Murderers have usually killed the one person in the world that was bugging them and they’re usually quite peaceful and agreeable.

I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward.

I suppose that writers should, in a way, feel flattered by the censorship laws. They show a primitive fear and dread at the fearful magic of print.

No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense, and relatively clean finger nails.

We don’t know much about the human conscience, except that it is soluble in alcohol.
All from John Mortimer, 1923 – 2009

—John Clifford Mortimer was born at Hampstead, London on this day in 1923, the son of a barrister. After Harrow he entered Brasenose College, Oxford, then worked for the Crown Film Unit when he was barred from military service due to his poor eyesight, writing his first dramatic scripts. He was called to the bar in 1948, handling wills and divorces, then “took silk” in 1966, moving into criminal law but also gaining prominence as a defender of publishers and book sellers in obscenity cases. He wrote in the mornings before court, most notably of the combative curmudgeonly Horace Rumpole, which allowed him to retire from the law in 1984.

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The quotes and notes above are from Quotes of the Day, sent out by G. Van Horn, the Quotemaster.  Subscribe here.
Some days I just skim, some I open and and feel a kinship to the author. “Heh.  I could’ve written that one.  My sentiments exactly.”  This was one of the latter types of days. 🙂  Hope your day is lovely.  It’s SUDDENLY SUMMER here.   Low 60s until yesterday.  Today should be 93.  Whew.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

It’s off to the Brickyard I go.

Indianapolis, I am almost in you.

Work gig, several days worth, and while I am not a fan of the Indy 500, it will still be a little bit fun to walk the track once.  I would be way more excited if they’d let me drive.  Like a fucking maniac.  I mean, really, that would be something worth writing about. Amirite?

The animals are all freaking out from the hustle and bustle of suitcase and packing and running around.  I always have to be careful not to leave the suitcase open on the bed.  The cats think that is an open invitation for exacting revenge on me for leaving.

Did you guys see this shot today? Someone with a good camera and view of the Bay Bridge out his office window took this.  Click the link and see it bigger.

Here’s the original link with the whole story.  Awesome shot. Maybe the best lightning pic EVER.

So, cheerio, more later, have a good week, etc.

xxoo

Welcome to Panic Central

Um, we now have 37 RSVP’s in the affirmative.  Did I mention I’m not that great with crowds?

Looks more and more like it’s going to rain buckets.   If that happens we’ll have to ditch the tables and just plop everyone into rows of folding chairs crammed around the furniture.  What should I do with all the balloons?  Do people mind being crammed together like sardines at a party where they don’t all know each other and the age ranges are from 16 to 70+? With no booze?  Oh yeah.  This is hilarious.  Frankly, I think there WILL be a little booze, if only in the hostess and the hostess’ helper.  Thank jeebus for Corey, she is an industrial-strength organizer.  But she can’t make the house any bigger or control the weather.  Hey, internet, you want to come, too?  Why not?  The more the merrier.  🙂  HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Yep, losin’ it.

 

Dank morning, foggy tree

Couple of days ago.

We have a fabulous big OLD oak tree that hangs over into our yard.  It is home to innumerable animals and birds.  It vibrates with life on a sunny morning.   This tree is one of the old protected oaks in the Sacramento valley.  It’s in a fenced off area of our neighbors yard.   The phone and power companies have to work around it, none of their ugly chop jobs to make way for wires.

For perspective:  the fence in front of the tree is 6 feet high.  Click the pic for a bigger version.

Iris 2010

Iris in bloom

Click for a bigger picture, it’s hard to tell in this size.

Here’s Grandma’s purple iris.  She’s been gone a long time now, but the iris is going strong.  It finally adjusted to the climate difference and blooms with the rest of the iris now.

Grandma's Iris

I need to get after those damned snails.

Color coordination and a little vacation

I’m a poet and I don’t know it but my feet show it cuz they’re LONGFELLERS.  OMFG I have regressed back to second grade.   Onward and upward from here.  Hopefully.

We’re trying to buy a new bedspread, and are looking for one that is the same color as all of our cats because it’s spring and they’re all shedding like crazy.  And it needs to be washable. Very important to be washable, as we have at least one cat barfer. I guess gray would be the base color, with some brown and orange thrown in. Needs to be Cal-King. And inexpensive. With shams and a skirt.  As it turns out, I’m asking for a LOT here.
Any good ideas for online shopping places would be welcome.

Bedding color 1, Grumpy Gray Cheetah

Bedding Color 2, Not Quite Sharing Gray, or Could I Get Any Farther Away Gray.   The current bedspread weighs about a hundred pounds (definitely not summer weight) and has to go to the laundromat for washing in the giant machine.  Not my favorite place to regularly spend 3 hours.  Also, I should have made the bed better before taking this picture, but then the animals would never have obliged.  Amirite?

We went to Ft. Bragg for my birthday last weekend. Got to celebrate being able to take a bath again with a jacuzzi tub. That was really nice and also cemented the knowledge that I don’t like jacuzzi jets, just like the bath part.  Good to know for future renovations.

Nice view from the tub.  What this shot doesn’t show is the giant construction mudhole right under the window.  Still, this was very nice.  And it smelled like bleach, a serious plus in a hotel tub if you’re planning to plant your arse in it.

I didn’t have enough energy to do much yet but that worked out as it rained like a motherfucker the majority of the time we were there. Got some “good” rain and rainbow shots, a few of which I have shared below.  The term “good” is used loosely here, as a) I was the photographer sometimes and b)when I wasn’t Bob was shooting from the moving vehicle.

For reference: Captions are mostly below the pictures.

We’re almost home here, looks like the rainbow ends at our house.  Yes, we live in the sticks.

I think these are cool pictures because they have a rainbow, rain on one side, and blue sky on the other.  Try not to look at the truck.

Rain and also not rain across Clear Lake.   This was beautiful.  The picture doesn’t do it justice or capture the sheer drama.

Bob took lots of wave pictures which I’ll spare you from, and a lot of animals.  We saw MANY vultures hanging out, and two wild turkeys standing by the road in two different places trying to decide whether or not they should step in front of a speeding car.   These two animal sightings may be related.   Also, geese on the bluff.

Duck duck GOOSE.  This was probably a nesting pair.  Below, Bob scares them away.

Okay, ONE wave picture.  The surf was very high from the storms rolling through.  I may have to use this one as my desktop picture for a while.

Warning, scary road ahead.

Said scary road, where the road had been washed away and repaired/repaved very recently.  There were two spots like this.   The ocean is right there on the left, you can’t quite see that but trust me, it was close.  Made me a tiny bit nervous going over it with the surf so high and the clouds rolling in.

The trees were so dense over this road that they blocked the satellite radio.  I thought that was amazing, but it probably wasn’t.

Some typical coast scenery, foggy trees in the background.  Lot of cloud drama going on here.  If you want to see these pictures in a bigger, clearer format either click on them (pretty slow) or they’re on the picasa site here.

Coloma Blues Festival

Tomorrow we do our annual foray into Lotus country for the Coloma Blues Live! show. It’s fun, we do it as a birthday celebration for Bob and his sister Marcia.  This is, um, year 5? for us.  Here’s last year.

Usually we have to worry about sunburn and heat stroke.  This year we’re worried about freezing to death.  Really!  Instead of being a gnarly 95, we’ll be be lucky if it hits 70.  For those of us (me!) with a two degree temperature comfort zone, it may be a challenge.

We generally sit on the river side of the park, and cooling breezes off the river come up just in time to keep us from keeling over from the heat.  I guess this year we’ll sit on the other side.  No need for the mist tent!  And instead of beers to cool us down, we may need other higher octane fare to keep us toasty.  If I recall correctly, there may be premium tequila shots to be had for a premium price.  Hmm.  I may have to find my flask.

Coats!  In the Sacramento area, in June!  It’s just plain freaking me out!

Last year Roy Rogers played the festival.  He was as hot as I’ve ever seen him and re-affirmed my faith in humans as musical instruments of the Gods.  Lordy but that man can PLAY.  Seriously, it gets me wet when he plays.  Whew.  [If you’re someone from my work, please disregard that last sentence.]

This year, Kenny Wayne Shepherd headlines,  and Mighty Mike Schermer , Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, and Joe Louis Walker are up, too.  It’s going to be great.    Shouldn’t have to try too hard to keep the ice chipped off – I suspect there will be DANCING!!!