Friday, January 20, 2012

I haven't played tag since I was 10

I would like to thank BeWitchy for giving me something to Blog about.  I've been blog challenged lately trying to think of Halloween stuff in January so I appreciate her thinking of me. So I have been tagged and here is how it goes.  First I must post the rules:

1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post.
4. Create 3 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them that you have tagged them.
6. No stuff in the tagging section about ‘you are tagged if you are reading this.’ blah blah blah, you legitimately have to tag 3 people!

So now I must post eleven random things about me.  Hmmm - this could be hard.

1.  Well if you can't guess from my blog, I love horses.  I have been riding for thirty years.  However, I still take a lot of lessons and need a lot of help because I can never be too balanced, soft and light for a horse.  I love everything about them - the way they smell, the way they feel and especially the velvet on the ends of their noses.




2.   I have alway liked weird underground music.  Before there was an internet, I used to go to record stores and search the albums for imports and weird stuff.  It's interesting that the bands I listened to are major influences for new bands. I could have sworn I was the only one listening.  The internet has bought weird communities like that together, hasn't it?



3. When we were little, my sisters and brother and I, used to make little people out of our chewing gum.  Then we would set them in the middle of the street and wait for cars to come by and smash them.  We would all sit on the curb and cheer.  We also used to put pennies on the railroad tracks and wait for the train to come and smashed those.  My mother almost had a heart attack years later when I told her we played on the railroad tracks!  Those were the days!

4.  I have lived in Canada, Switzerland, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, and Texas.  I only have to move out west and I will have lived in the North, South, East and West plus the Midwest!


5.  I will eat anything - even bugs! The only food I really don't like is liver and that's just a texture thing - make it into pate' and yum! yum!

6.  I love to garden and live in a climate where it is a 12 month-a -year hobby so I am always planting,weeding, fertilizing and cultivating.  I was told once that I was the only woman in Texas with a compost pile but I know that is simply not true - Bewitchy is starting one any day!



7.  I had to sit jury duty for a murder trial a few year back - that was really a difficult thing to do.  It is  a lot a responsibility to hold someone's fate in your hands.

8.  I am useless with technology - it's all I can do to manage this blog.  Don't ask me to answer your smart phone cause it isn't happening.

9. I have the best husband in the world.  And the best daughter. And the best sisters and nieces and nephew.  In fact, most of my family is pretty kick ass.

10.  I have never been able to spell.



11. I do, however, always know what direction I am facing and what approximate time it is.


So here are the three question posed by Bewitchy when she gave me this daunting task.

1. What fictional character do you pull the most inspiration from and why?

Hmm -this is hard.  There are lots of fictional characters I love but inspiration is tricky.  But the character I would most like to mirror is Elinor Dashwood in Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility.  I just like the way she behaves herself through the most trying of circumstances.  I wish I had more self control and spent more time thinking about others.

2. If you could transform into any kind of animal for one night, what would it be and what would be on your agenda?

Well this is a no brainer.  I would absolutely be a horse.  I would love to think like a horse, see like a horse, communicate like a horse and react like a horse.  Interactions with humans would be essential - I would love to see how humans made me feel.  What actions I understand and what puzzle me.  It would be great to get inside the brain of a horse for the night.

3. What is a lesson (or saying) that has always held true to you?

This one comes from the Laura Ingalls Wilder book "These Happy Golden Years" and it goes "a body makes his/her own luck be it good or bad".  I really believe this.  I really think we have a profound influence on what we experience during our lives good or bad.  I have known people who I think have had the worst luck and yet they turn negatives to positives.  It's part having a good attitude, part hard work, and part how one treats the world. Bad decisions, however, almost alway lead to bad luck.

Now I have to think of questions.  This could take another hour.

1.  If you had one day in your life you could live again, what would it be? Would you change anything?
2.  Who are the five people you would most like to dine with - dead or alive?
3.  What is your favorite way to spend a totally free Saturday?

I am tagging the following bloggers - I apologize if you have been tagged previously.

Pam Morris from http://labyrinthcreations.blogspot.com/  because she is super nice and so talented

Dee from http://deespookyone.blogspot.com/ because she alway has interesting goth content

Merricat from http://merricatblackwood.blogspot.com/ because she has an amazing grasp of the history and culture of the macabre.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Friends that have left in 2011

Goodbye to all these lovely souls who departed this world in 2011.  They were a very sweet group of individuals who will be sadly missed by all who knew them.

Satan- Despite his name, one of the most gentle stallions I ever met.

Milo - the little dog with the waggy tail.  He never met a stranger.

Penny - The friendly little barn cat

Kelsey - A sweet young woman whose life was tragically short.  Loved by many and missed by all who knew her

Rasm - A delightful horse with a calm, generous nature

Monday, January 2, 2012

A Day at the Museum

While none of the exhibits came to life, there is plenty of interesting and creepy stuff to be found at our Museum of natural history. For example, there was a fascinating exhibition Gemstone Carvings: The Masterworks of Harold Van Pelt. Here are some interesting and somewhat disturbing pieces of his work.  These disembodied hands are rather cool.





These are his wife's hands.  I wonder where he put the rest of her?

We also happened into the butterfly exhibit which had a great display about insects of all types.  Check out these fascinating pictures my niece took.


Roaches on a skull



What a beautiful web this tarantula made
 However, I am saving the best for last.  The museum actually had a vending machine that sold edible Bugs!  Of course, Lady M had to try some.  My brave nephew gave it a shot too.  Needless to say WE LIKED THEM and ate the whole box.  I can't wait to serve "Larvets"at my next Halloween party.   What a great garnish they are going to make!


A nice selection of edible bugs in many flavors
 

My nephew chose BBQ Larvets





Sunday, January 1, 2012

Rubber

As per the traditional ritual, I had family to visit over Christmas.  They came, we ate, we exchanged gifts, we ate, we did some touristy things, we ate and we watched RUBBER.  Here is my brief synopsis of the movie.  Hopefully, it will not spoil anything for you.


Rubber was the story of a tire named Robert who, without explanation, comes to life in the Southern California desert. As he rolls through his first hours, he discovers that he really enjoys killing. He starts by just rolling over small creatures but soon learns that if he applies his mind, he can telepathically explode larger creatures.  Well, needless to say, this little guy goes on a rampage, falls in love and does all sorts of everyday things you wouldn't expect a tire to do - swim, shower, watch tv. 

This is one weird movie folks and is so unpredictable, it kept us guessing up until the end.  It is so bad, it's good.  My family will talk and laugh about this bizarre little film every Christmas to come.  So if you have an hour and a half to kill, I recommend Rubber.  You'll never see anything like it anywhere.
www.rubberthemovie.com/