Monday Morning Musings

In keeping with my theme of celebrating strong women, I want to acknowledge the birthday of Althea Gibson. An American tennis player and professional golfer, she was born in South Carolina on August 25, 1927 and was the first black athlete of either gender to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956 she became the first person of color to win a Grand Slam title. Wikipedia 

 

Courtesy of the Womenscouncil.org

WHAT I'M READING: Live Free or Die by Max Gordon for review this next Sunday. It just happens to have a strong female protagonist, and the way she's introduced in the opening scene makes her very real and memorable. 

WHAT I'M LAUGHING AT: Myself. I reached into the bathroom cabinet for the hair spray this morning and grabbed the wrong bottle. 

 

WHAT I'M DISMAYED ABOUT: The ongoing genocide in Iraq. Romeo Dallaire, who was the United Nations Force commander for the U.N. Assistance Mission to Rwanda in 1994, wrote an article that first appeared in The Washington Post and was published yesterday in The Dallas Morning News that expressed his concerns over the parallel between what happened there and what is happening now in Iraq. "Children are being used as fighters and weapons of war. And still, the world does little to stop it."

 

Children are also targets of the violence as the Islamic State forces attack markets, cafes, schools, places of worship and playgrounds. The long-range impact of what is happening to these children on both sides of the battleground is tremendous, not just measured in loss of life, but the emotional and psychological damage as well. For more on the subject, Dallaire's article is well worth the read.

I also have to add that I am dismayed about Governor Good Hair, that's Rick Perry for those of you not familiar with his nickname. My son in Austin says most people call him that. Anyway, he says he is not going to run for president in 2016, yet where was he this past Tuesday? In New Hampshire. Isn't that one of the states potential candidates visit to test the political waters?

During the demonstrations in Ferguson, MO this past Wednesday, protestors were chanting, "Time to kill a cop." How sad. More violence is not going to bring back that young man who was shot.

AND NOW JUST FOR FUN: This is from the comic strip, Shoe. Roz is serving coffee to her friend, Doreen and says, "You know, Doreen. After all these years I still have a photgraphic memory."

 

In the next panel Roz says, "Sigh! I just don't have same-day processing any more." 

And this from Zits: Mom and Dad are carrying picnic items into a clearing in the woods. Jeremy is carrying  several electronic devices under one arm, with the plugs in his other hand. He says, "What kind of stupid place is this for a picnic??"

Monday Morning Musings

I thought I would try a little different format for my Monday offerings. I've been accused of never wanting to change a thing - not even to move a sofa in my living room - so I am just showing some folks how versatile I can be.

WHAT I'M READING: Several books on tap for reviews. First up will be a humorous look at parenting, Mommy A-Z, which is scheduled for next Sunday. Good read so far. After that will come Silent Partner, a mystery that I am resisting the temptation to start reading. Need to do things in order, right? No link to that book as it will be released September 1.


WHAT I'M LAUGHING AT: The cat races that just started at my house. My cats love to chase each other from one end of the house to the other. If they would slow down, I'd try to get a picture.

WHAT I'M DISMAYED ABOUT: I may get lots of boos for this one, but I am really concerned about the doctor infected with Ebola coming to the U.S. Yes, great precautions have been taken as he was transported to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, but this is a very deadly virus, and according to experts, it is not entirely clear how Ebola is spread. Most commonly it is spread to a human by contact with an infected animal's bodily fluids. Transmission from first human infected can occur  through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids from an infected person. Others can also be infected by contact with contaminated medical equipment, particularly needles and syringes. While direct contact is the most common form of transmission, it is likely that it can also occur through oral exposure and through conjunctiva exposure. That has proven the case with non-human primates.


Dr. Mike Brantly is a 33-year-old father of two young children who works for the North Carolina-based Christian organization Samaritan's Purse. He was in Liberia responding to the worst Ebola outbreak on record when he contracted the disease. Since February, more than 700 people in West Africa have died from Ebola, a hemorrhagic virus with a death rate of up to 90 percent of those infected. The fatality rate in the current epidemic is about 60 percent.


More about Ebola from the World Health Organization. While all of us pledging to remain civil about this, what do you think?

WHAT I'M LUSTING AFTER: BTW, this might not be a regular part of my Monday blog, but I just had to share the picture of this wonderful guitar owned by singer/songwriter, BettySoo. She did a concert this past Saturday at the Winnsboro Center for the Arts, and I fell in love with her guitar. The concert was great, too, but the guitar....

Thanks to the talented Michael Alford for the wonderful picture.

BettySoo said there are only four of these guitars in existence. The possibility of me getting one are so slim, I wish my waistline looked like that. Well, maybe not. I do need some meat between my belly button and my back bone. But am I right about this being a great guitar?
 
AND NOW JUST FOR FUN: This one is from Shoe by Gary Brookins & Susie MacNelly.

Shoe walks into his favorite bar and says to the bartender, "Hi, Fred. What's new?"

"Sigh... Nothing good, Shoe... My divorce from Ethel has been finalized."

"I can sympathze with you. How did the settlement turn out?"

"It became quite the nightmare," Fred says. "Once I realized the decimal point was just a bagel poppyseed."

And this from Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley.

Mallard is on the news anchor desk and says, "As 'Back-to-School' time nears, we're joined now by our Mediocrity Correspondent, Dylan Custard..."

Custard says, "I'm seeing some really encouraging signes in the mediocrity movememnt. For instance, more school systems are ending the elitist practice of naming a valedictorian!"

Mallard responds, "Woo. You must be excited."

"Guaredely optimistic. But there are still some disturbing statistics like these." He hold up a paper.

"What do they show?"

"Who knows?! They're all fill of numbers! Math-adverse students immediately feel marginalized..."

Sadly, that is not so far removed from what really happens in so many schools across the country.

Monday Morning Musings

Today I thought we'd just have some fun here on the blog. I did not watch the news at all over the weekend, although I did buy a newspaper on Sunday, but I only read the comics. Usually I read the editorials as well, but never got past the funny papers yesterday. Several of the strips had me nodding and chuckling, so I thought I would share them.

First we have this from Shoe by Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelley:

Senator Batson D. Belfry is holding a press conference, telling Shoe and Cosmo, "I was on an important trade mission to Pango Tango in the Pacific. And of course, I needed assistance from my staff,  so naturally my executive assistant, Miss Starlight, had to accompany me. And those, um, incidences at the resort pool and Tiki bar were misreported by the press. So a clarification of the subsequent arrest by the Pango Tango police is in order."

Cosmo sighs and says, "Here he goes again burning the scandal at both ends."

Next up is this from Non Sequitur by Wiley:

A future President of the United States is sitting in an easy chair in a cave being interviewed by a reporter, and the reporter says, "Okay... so it turned out there wasn't an advanced army of alien roaches hiding inside the moon preparing to invade earth right?"

The president says, "So?
 
"So? You blew up the moon for nothing, resulting in disastrous consequences on a planetary scale."
 
The president sips a martini. "I fundamentally disagree with that."

The reporter stops writing in his notebook, "Wait... you disagree about the actual results of your actions?"

The president nods, "Facts are debatable"
 
"Blowing up the moon puts us back to living in caves and on the verge of extinction."

The president waves one hand. "Like dwelling on the past is going to change that? So let's stay focused on what we should do now."
 
"Like trying to blame all of it on the current administration for not putting the moon back together? Right?"
 
"Oh, like that's so much to ask?"

Finally one from Dustin by Steve Kelly and Jeff Parker:

Dustin's parents are at a restaurant for dinner, and the waiter steps up to the table. He says, "We have a sumptuous dessert special this evening. It's seven sheets of flourless chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, in between glazed and rich chocolate ganache dusted with cocoa powder and topped with dark chocolate shavings.

"The chef calls it 'Death by Chocolate.'"

Dustin's father says, "Actually were trying to watch our diets. Could you just bring enough to put us in critical condition?"

Did any of these make you laugh? I didn't laugh at the one from Non Sequitur. That one was too much like reality to be funny. And I do wish that waiter would come to my house and offer me that dessert.

Friday's Odds and Ends

It seems the very cold winter we've been having has frazzled the nerves of lots of people across the country. I snagged this quote from Becky Lewellen Povich's blog and just had to share it. In commiserating with a friend here in Texas about our cold weather, I told her I couldn't wait for summer, but then we'd probably complain about the heat and wish it was winter. Then I visited Becky's blog and found this.

"Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat." ~Author Unknown

We can all use a cup of hot Chocolate. Who want's brandy in theirs?

Since I have waited until practically the last minute to get ready for a book signing later today, I must keep this short, so we will skip any rants on news items and go straight for the jokes.

This one is from the comic strip Shoe:

Shoe walks into an ice cream store and two guys behind the counter say, "Welcome to Two-Guys Ice Cream Shop."

Shoe says, "Thanks, but couldn't you guys come up with a better name."

"Nope. All the good names were taken. I'm Ben Baskin and he's Jerry Robbins."

This one is from Drabble:

The kids are looking in the freezer and Norman, the oldest boy says, "Hey what happened the all the other frozen ice pops that were in here? Wwe used to have a whole bunch of them."

Little sister, Penny, says, "I wanted the blue one."

The kids walk into the living room where dad is sitting in his easy chair reading a paper. Norman asks, "Dad did you eat the rest of the ice pops?"

Dad looks up. "Of course I didn't eat them. They're right here. I needed to put ice on my lower back so I stuck him down my pants."

Dad pulls out the ice pops to hand them over and Patrick, the younger brother, says, "I think I'll have a cookie instead."

That's it for today, folks. Have a great weekend. Stay warm if you can, and if you are in a temperate climate, I am so jealous right now. 

Friendship Deep and True

Just a short blog today. I have company, so I have been away from my computer and the Internet quite a bit this week. My friend, Jan, is visiting from South Dakota, and we have not seen each other for twelve years - lots to catch up on.

We have been friends since we were 11 years old, and other than the time I found her kissing the boy I had a huge crush on, we have always been close. Friendships that long and that deep are so special, and we can pick up where we left off as if the years in between just melt away.

Jan is from farm stock, and her parents taught two young teenage girls some of the values of hard work, honesty, frugality, and how to take from nature what nature gives us to eat, and leave the rest alone. The family lived behind the house I grew up in, and it was nothing for me to hop the fence and visit, especially when Jan's mom was making mashed potato donuts.

Perhaps we ought to make some.

Of the many things that Jan and I have had in common, one is a love for cats. I thought I had one or two too many with my four, but she has 16 on her farm - good thing they are barn cats. She does have one that lives in the house, which is something that never happened up until a few years ago. Cats were out in the barn to do a job - keep it free of critters that would get into hay and feed. They did not belong in the house. At least that is what her husband said for many years until he mellowed and said perhaps one or two could come in.

Jan is enjoying my cats a lot during this visit, and Sammy especially loves the attention, as well as the fact that one lady in the house bends a few of the rules about cats near the table.

Sammy likes to come running across the room and leap up on someone. He's not supposed to do that while we are eating, but Jan did not read the rule book and Sammy figured that out right away. I think I may have to re-train my cat when Jan leaves, but that's okay. We are having such a good time, I can ignore this one little indiscretion - from my friend, not the cat. Sammy will just have to get over it when Jan leaves.

Now for some Friday Funnies. This one is from Shoe:

Shoe asks his friend, "So, what did you do yesterday, Cosmo?"

"I took Skyler to the circus."

"Oh, yeah. How was it?"

"Really weird. During their act, two clowns got into an argument. One accused the other of stealing his makeup design… and he threatened to sue. Then the ringmaster yelled, 'I will not have this circus turned into a courtroom."

Hope everyone has a great weekend. And just a reminder that my YA novel, Friends Forever, is still a free read for Kindle and Kindle apps through midnight tonight. If you know a young teen who might like a story about friendships and how they ebb and flow in those Tween years, you might let them know the book is free.

Monday Morning Musings

Even with the convenience of getting news online or on TV 24/7, I still like to read a newspaper. Maybe I have a special affinity because of all the years I worked for newspapers. Perhaps. Anyway, one of my favorite things to do on Sundays is read The Dallas Morning News.

After scanning the headlines on the front page, I turn to the editorials and the comics. Sometimes in that order. Sometimes I read the comics first. I am always amused to find that some of the same topics are touched on in the comics and by the editorial writers. Art truly does reflect life.

Yesterday, I found the strip "Shoe" particularly clever. In the first panel, Cosmo and Shoe are fussing at each other, calling each other names. Roz says, "Hold it. Hold it. Why don't you gentlemen settle this like politicians?"

Cosmo asks,"You mean have a debate?"

Shoe says, "Don't be ridiculous. Only candidates debate."

Roz says, "Right. Real politicians just ignore the problem and hope it goes away."

Sad, but true. The politicians ignore solutions to problems because they are too busy playing partisan politics.

The Argyle Sweater was pretty clever, too. The strip presented Implausible Hollywood Headlines:

Playboy Enacts No Plastic Surgery Clause - Hefner cites integrity for implementation of new policy.

New Name - To portray a more accurate description of herself, Star Jones has name legally changed to "Pseudo-Star."

Kim Kardashian Abandons the Limelight - She chooses to live in quiet obscurity somewhere in Delaware.

Thankfully, none of those extreme changes will affect me. I didn't even know who Star Jones or Kim Kardashian are, and I've never put integrity and Hefner in the same sentence before.

What about you? Do you like to read newspapers? Do you read the comic strips first?