A bit of weird

Happy Birthday, Dan!

Penguin

Mary mentions on her blog that both she and MJ love penguins, so I'm posting this oh-so-sweet pic for them.

B is for Best

The meme: A combination of the letter meme and the in-your-own-handwriting meme.

The instructions: You leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on.

I signed up on Ronnie's blog and I was assigned the Beautiful Letter B.

The Handwritten List in a Befitting Shade of Blue.



And now, The Writing.



1. Blues. By B.B. King, the Best.



2. Babies. Gotta love babies. Yes, we do!



3. Black. The deeper the better. There are so many reasons to love black: Night skies. Black light. Black cats. Little black dresses. And any color against black glows.


4. Brother. I miss my little brother.

5. Beaches. My most vivid childhood memories are of the SoCal beaches, mainly Huntington and Laguna. I suppose I’m talking about the ocean rather than the sand, though. I learned to stay afloat and move around in a pool, but I learned to swim in the ocean. I learned to appreciate sand in Florida; it’s like walking in sugar and there are so many shells. One of the main things that influenced the purchase of our Georgia home was the little beach on our river. It’s there all summer unless there’s a torrential rain.


6. Beads.

7. Butter. No matter how fat I get, I will never give up butter.

8. Beatles music. I got rather tired of the Beatles as people after Yoko made an appearance. But their music is so much a part of me it’s almost embarrassing to talk about it.

9. Books. See Steph run. To the bookstore, to the library…!

10. Ballet. As a little girl, I wanted to be a ballerina even more than I wanted to be a horse.
If you stand back and look at ballet, it’s a rather strange art form, but so lovely. Like most beautiful-to-watch things that humans do it demands so much. There’s a lot of agony and love going on inside that tutu — not to mention the pointe shoes.

Birthday Girl!

Hubby Mine

{From Ronnie's blog)

Well, I know he won't like "hubby."

1. He’s sitting in front of the TV: what is on the screen? Poker, football, or a western.

2. You’re out to eat. What kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Definitely Roquefort.

3. What is one food he doesn’t like? Lima beans.

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? Bar? We go to Trappeze. After perusing the draught list for new additions, he'll taste the most likely and if it's acceptable, he'll get one (or two).

5. Where did he go to high school? Mariner HS in Everett, WA.

6. What size shoe does he wear? 8.5.

7. If he were to collect anything, what would it be? Tools and brewing equipment, and he does.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? A cheeseburger with green chiles.

9. What would the Husband eat every day if he could? Sopaipillas.

10. What is his favorite cereal? Life.

11. What would he never wear? A sweater or penny loafers.

12. What is his favorite sports team? Carlton Blues.

13. Who is his best friend? His sister, Steph.

14. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do? Spend money.

15. How many states has he lived in? NM, WA, and GA. 1, 2, 3. So, three.

16. What is his heritage? Scottish and something else.

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind? I will make him make a German chocolate cake again. Someday. My first attempt was awful and I haven't tried since.

18. Did he play sports in high school? Track and field stuff.

19. What could he spend hours doing? Puttering in the garage, playing Zuma, Sudoku, looking for shells on the beach.

A bit of weird

The Athens Symphony Orchestra and Chorus ~ Some pre-concert pics

The 2008 Christmas Concerts were as popular as always! Tickets are free, but they're usually gone in an hour.
The orchestra (85 musicians) and chorus (93 voices) are all volunteers and most have been playing or singing with this symphony for many years.
These photos were all taken before the Sunday matinee performance.

Early arrivals.

Linda and Susan backstage. Linda is a soprano and Susan is our assistant conductor and also plays double bass.

Terry Kay and friends discuss the debut of his new story The Promise Made Whole, which he wrote for this concert. He also wrote the lyrics for the accompanying choral pieces. The music was written by JR Beckwith.

The percussionists make emergency sleigh-bell repairs.

The orchestra, waiting. The audience, waiting.

The chorus, waiting.

Mr. Ligotti, the conductor, and Chris who sings bass and plays Santa.

The house lights go down.

Santa and an undecided visitor.

If you aren't already weary of hearing the Hallelujah Chorus, here's last year's version. I'm hoping someone posts a better video of us!

ALABBD ~ December

Not much to fuss about tonight:

idiot governors
winter
job hunting

Think I'll take my blankie and go to bed.

Thursday 13

Thirteen things that can't be improved on

Skinny dipping.

A purring furball.

When your baby is finally asleep.

A best friend.

Chocolate!

Someone to play with.

Your own blanket fort (with or without pup).

A really great story.

Riding bareback in the surf.

Crispy bacon.

A good laugh.

A campfire at night.

Checkmate!

1. Snow is pretty at first, but then it starts looking like this.
2. I'm looking forward to putting up the Christmas decorations.
3. Firefly is still the best TV series ever!
4. One of my favorite old tv shows is The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
5. I'm done with winter. Already.
6. The most enjoyable thing around the holidays is the fa la la la la.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to turkey soup, tomorrow my plans include more beading, and Sunday, I want to go to rehearsal!