Life in the Slow Lane

To be honest, I'm having a bit of writer's block. I'm at somewhat of a loss as to what to write about because so many exciting things have gone on around here. Like those four loads of laundry I did Saturday, and that $20 I saved at Kroger this week with coupons and my Kroger card. AND I cleaned out one of the drawers in the bathroom vanity after I had trouble finding a barrette during a hair emergency. Between catching up on all the DVR'ed episodes of Chopped and babysitting Papa T, it's been a whirlwind of social activity, I tell ya'. The fact that my 73 year old father contemplated swimming in a hotel pool in his underwear a week and a half ago means his social life is more exciting than mine, and I have some really mixed feelings about that.


Actually, the slow pace of the last couple of weekends has been a welcome change from that hurricane called December. Other than gathering together all of the paperwork for ours and Papa T.'s tax returns, I'm fairly caught up on my list of mommy do's around the house. I edited my last batch of pictures for a customer the other day, and my chores are somewhat under control. Well, other than cleaning that closet in the spare bedroom, but let's not talk about that. Never put off today what might resolve itself during a spring tornado, I say. By Saturday evening I had finished laundry, bought and put away groceries and wrapped myself in flannel pajamas with a good book. A BOOK! Did you hear that? A real live book. A novel. A work of fiction I could read at my own leisurely pace. It's been so long that I've been able to do that I'd almost forgotten what it was like and how much I enjoyed it. And get this. On Sunday, I watched some television. New programming that wasn't just ambient noise on the Food Network or the History Channel. I watched the Grammy's which wasn't necessarily the best TV I've ever seen, but it was definitely delicious mindless entertainment. A little slice of low brow heaven. It would be at this point that I should come clean and admit that I like a little bit of celebrity drivel when I'm in the right mood, and nothing's better than an awards show for THAT.

It was tempered by the death of Whitney Houston, which makes me sad on more than one level. I'm sad for the loss of such a talent. Like a lot of folks my age who spent a lot of time wanting to dance with somebody in the 80's, I was rooting for her to get her act together in recent months. I had hoped she would get her addictions under control and give us some of that Whitney we knew and loved before she wandered into the garden and bit the Bobby Brown apple. Alas, it was not to be, and to be honest one of my initial reactions was to be mad at her for pissing away such a God given gift. Unless there's some kind of unexpected health issue that comes forward, it's pretty likely the prescription medication had something to do with her death, and if that's the case, it's a darn shame. But those of us who have lived and dealt with the addictions of a loved one, know all too well how difficult it is to save someone from the pull of that mess. Every time there's a well publicized death like Whitney's, I automatically start reliving those two years we spent trying to save Sissy from her demons. All those memories of waking up every morning wandering if today was the day she was going to die and finding her near death more than once just weighs me down like a big wool coat in the summer. I had to work not to be sad when watching the Grammy's, and thankfully, there was Nicki Manaj to help with that.

I'm all for groundbreaking entertainment, but all I could think of while she was performing was, "What the heck IS that hot mess?" Seriously. Lady Gaga's got the weird thing all sewn up, and Madonna's already done the tick off the Catholic church thing, so I'm not sure who Nicki was trying to offend, but I'm sure it was somebody. The only thing offended at our house was my ears. That was just a whole mess of confusion and noise. And please don't tell my mother I just sounded like her.

On the other hand, Adele? Divine. Just divine. I rooted for her all night, and I just find her so refreshing. She doesn't worry about dance moves or costumes or looking like a Barbie Doll rock star. She just walks out there looking polished and neat and belts out a love song like nobody's business. And she giggles and laughs and seems pretty authentic when she's on stage. I mean, anybody who owns up to a "bit o' snot on me nose" in front of an arena full of people is just awesome in my book. I really hope she tours this summer because I'd love to see her.

Other general observations on the evening? Rhianna was higher than a kite on somethin', the Beach Boys should have never sang and confirmed how damaged they are by age and drugs, Glen Campbell gets an atta boy for telling Alzheimer's to kiss his arse for the evening while he gave a flawed but admirable performance and Lady Gaga was just rude, rude, rude for leaving when she didn't get Album of the Year. Oh, and Bruce Springsteen is still awesome. It was just a delicious numbing evening of entertainment, and I got to watch the whole dadgum mess. Sigh. I don't know how long this slower weekend pace is going to last, but I'm going to ride that wave as long I can. And work at keeping daddy out of trouble 'cause I have no interest in bailing him out of jail 'cause he wants to find out how cold the water in the pool is.

Quotography-"Red"

This was shot in New York's China Town, where, believe it or not, I did not buy a fake designer purse.

For this week's other quotes, hop on over here and enjoy.  And can I just say, red is one of my favorite colors.



Word of the Day-"Nonplus"

non•plus: noun \ˌnän-ˈpləs\


Definition: a state of bafflement or perplexity : QUANDARY

Origin: Latin non plus no more

First Known Use: 1582

Used in a sentence: "Hula was nonplussed that her 73-year-old father contemplated skinny dipping in his underwear in the hotel swimming pool during the family road trip last week."

In fact, had Hula's cousin backed up that swimming proposal with a bet, she figures Zeke would have jumped in quicker than Newt Gingrich changes wives.

This One's Just for the Ladies and the gay Men

Normally I don't like it when advertisers pander to me.  And normally, I find nothing attractive about a tatted up man.  However, in the interest of keeping an open mind, I'm willing to make exceptions. 

Pander to me, H&M, pander to me.  Please.

Going for a Spin

Another one of the fun and very touristy things we did in London was the London Eye. We initially planned to do it early on the first day of our trip but kept pushing it back for higher priorities as we got behind on our itinerary. We passed by it when we first visited Big Ben and saw the Thames so we did see it in the daylight.

But we ended up actually riding it on our last evening there, and in hindsight I'm glad it worked that way. It was a beautiful way to end that leg of the trip because we arrived at sunset and watched the sun go down as we boarded and started our ride. Our timing could not have been better because everything was beautifully lit by the time we reached the top.

We had some great views, and this is one of my favorite photos from the whole trip.

It's in the running for a stretched canvas print I want to hang in our master bedroom.

We even managed a picture of the two of us at the top because it was one of the few places I felt comfortable handing over my camera to a stranger. Whose going to run off with it when we're in an enclosed glass case several hundred feet above the ground, right?

Tip...the line for this can be long, and I suspect it will be horrible during the Olympics this summer, but you can eliminate that wait by buying your tickets online in advance, and while I'm sure a ride in the daytime is swell, I'd recommend the evening. The London Eye at night....a rousing coolness score of nine on a scale of one to ten.

Photo Friday Challenge-"Tall"

The view from the Eiffel Tower...Tre magnifique.

For the other great entries, hop on over to here.

Abbey Road

Last night, I was going through some of the pictures from our trip to Europe as I'm want to do whenever I want to relive those fun filled days. Teen Angel and I are still on a bit of a London/Paris high. She bought red current jam the other night because it reminded her of our breakfasts in London, and I keep listening to Duffy and David Gray on Pandora. Sigh. Anyway, I thought I'd share one of the more fun things we did on our trip. Among all of the historical sites and museums we visited, we made time on our last afternoon in London to take the Tube over to the neighborhood where Abbey Road Studios is. It seemed a bit low brow, given all of the historical sites we'd been too, but heck, we're pretty low brow, so off we toddled to that end of town. And I'm glad we did, because it was a hoot.


I thought it might be a little hard to find because it's in a residential neighborhood nowhere near downtown London, but it wasn't difficult at all. We just followed all of the other folks on foot, trucking to the same place. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who packed Sharpies in our luggage for a visit to that little corner.

It has become tradition for visitors to sign their name on the concrete wall and gates in front of Abbey Road. And thousands do every week.



I've read that they repaint that fence every few weeks, providing a clean white pallet for the next round of tourists. There were few clean spaces in the paint when we were there, but we found room to scratch our names among all of the others.

Teen Angel also wrote the name of her cousin who died in 2000 and the name of a friend of hers who is a HUGE John Lennon fan.  And we doodled a few other messages.

It was great fun, and all around were people doing the same thing. I'm normally opposed to graffiti, but there was something about this that just seemed so appropriately Beatle-like. And it is great fun to read all of the messages and signatures by people from all over the world. Beatle fans apparently come from all parts of the globe.

And what about the iconic crosswalk? Well, we had plans to photograph ourselves in the crosswalk. In fact, I wanted a photo so I could PhotoShop our heads into a picture of the White album cover, but we realized as soon as we got there that wasn't going to happen because that intersection? Busy. Extremely busy. The traffic through there is steady and fast, and you literally have to risk life and limb to get that shot.

Some people tried.

But few really succeeded. This group came close.

They were lucky enough to catch a bit of a gap between cars, but not without making some drivers mad. The people who live and work in that area understandably get frustrated with all of the tourists plugging up the works in that intersection all day long, so they don't have much patience with picture takers. We saw cars come dangerously close to a couple of folks, so we didn't risk it. But we sure enjoyed watching others do it.

I'm glad we made the trek to Abbey Road. It may not be as historically significant as the Tower of London or Tower Bridge, but it sure is a cool piece of pop culture. And we can say we left a little piece of us in London. Including our hearts. Seriously, somebody pass the jam. I need a British fix.