Memorial Day

You may have seen this quote before. 

"A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America' for an amount of 'up to and including my life'."

On Memorial Day we honor those who paid that check in full.

Our local Boy Scout Troops place flags at the Veterans' Cemetary.

The graves of those who died for us.

While you're enjoying your holiday weekend, having a cook out or maybe heading for the pool, take a moment and give thanks. 

After the Storm

It's been a crazy weather week here in southwest Ohio, as it has for much of the country.  Thunderstorms, high winds, baseball size hail, and almost nightly tornado warnings (with luckily, only a few minor touchdowns).  And rain.  Lots and lots of rain.  But this evening, after the last storm had rolled through, we had this...

If you look closely, you can see a second fainter rainbow to the right of the brighter one.  At this point the rainbow only extended from the top of the trees up to where it fades out in the picture above.

As I watched it, the top arc formed (picture above) and began to descend on the left side (below).

 

Then offered this beautiful finale.

Have a wonderful weekend.

 

I'm Currently Enjoying: Suspense and Sensibility by Carrie Bebris

Groaner of the Day: The carnival was in town at Nottingham, so Robin Hood told the boys they could go in and have some fun.

There were lots of games and at one booth, you could win a prize by hitting a ten cent silver coin with a lance thrown from twenty paces.

As Friar Tuck was passing the booth, the guy running the game called out to him: "Hey,Brother, can you spear a dime?"

What's That Number Again?

Just a quick post this morning.  Got to get out and plant some flowers before it starts raining again.

I had one of those moments this morning.  It's my beloved spouse's birthday so I got up early to make him a special breakfast.  Now, I know how old he is today.  And I know there's a four year difference between his age and mine.  But this morning the numbers didn't work.  Somehow we were five years apart.  It seems when I had my birthday earlier this month, I'd managed not to click the magic clicker in my head.  The birthday had come and gone but my age had stayed the same.  What a shock this morning to realize I was a year older.

Do you ever forget how old you are?  For just a second?  You start to say, "Oh, she's about my age," and realize you haven't been that age for a long time.  You see an unexpected reflection of yourself and wonder who that old woman is.  Is the age you are on the inside getting further and futher from the stupid number on your driver's license?
 
I don't care.  I've had a coffee mug for years (given to me by my co-workers) that reads: "I may be getting older but I refuse to grow up."  Works for me.  How about you?

Off to my planting.

Happy Birthday, honey.

I'm Currently Enjoying: Suspense and Sensibility by Carrie Bebris

Groaner of the Day: This woman ordered an exotic snake through a mail order operation. When the package arrived, there were only feathery necklaces in the box.

Apparently, the boa cons tricked her.

Scammed by a Dog?

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while know my household is occupied by myself, my hubby of many decades, and our child (canine variety), Brandi.  Brandi is fifteen and suffers many of the usual complaints of old age.  Her vision is failing, as is her hearing, and she has arthritis. 

Because of these various ailments, she takes serveral daily medications.  Brandi is pretty good about taking her meds - if I tuck each pill into a small blob of canned dog food and feed it to her by hand.  Usually I do the meds first and then put the rest of the allotted canned food into her bowl and she takes it from there. 

Until last week.

On Friday I noticed that she wasn't eating the food in her bowl.  She was licking all around the edges but not getting any of the chunky parts.  Concerned, I knelt beside her and started scooping up small amounts of food onto my fingers and feeding her bite by bite.  She ate the whole meal and seemed happy.  I decided she must have been having trouble picking up the chunks.  We repeated this routine on Saturday and Sunday.  I put the food in her dish, she licked around the edges, and I fingerfed her the rest.

This morning, as I was hand feeding her little fingerfulls of dog goop, it occured to me that this can didn't have any chunks.  It was pretty much all goop.  Nice soft disgusting goop.  Which I had put in her bowl and she had given a couple token licks before turning to me for help.  No chunks.  Nothing to pick up.  No reason she couldn't eat it herself.  But here I was, sitting on the floor, fingerfeeding her royal highness as she graciously accepted each morsel. 

Am I being had?  Is the old girl putting one over on me...just because she can?  What do you think?



Feed Me.

I'm Currently Enjoying:  Suspense and Sensibility by Carrie Bebris

Groaner of the Day:  I had a dream the other night. I was in the old West riding in a stagecoach. Suddenly, a man riding a horse pulls up to the left side of the stagecoach, and a riderless horse pulls up on the right.

The man leans down, pulls open the door, and jumps off his horse into the stagecoach. Then he opens the other door and jumps onto the other horse.

Just before he rode off, I yelled out, "What was all that about?"

He replied, "Nothing. It's just a stage I'm going through."

Something Different for Friday Fun

TGIF!   I thought I do something a little different for this Friday.  A couple blogs I follow offer puzzles on their fun days and I've become quite addicted to them.  Well, no one likes being addicted all alone so let's see if I can drag some of you along.  Just click on the play button.

My best time (yeah, I had to try it a couple times) was 2:35.  What's yours?




The silly weather people have promised a little sunshine here for this weekend.  I've got my fingers crossed.  Sure would like to get my garden planted. What do you have planned for your weekend?

I'm currently enjoying:  Just finished Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich (a fun read)

Groaner of the Day: A college freshman on a dare stole twenty-three bottles of beer one night. He was caught but to his relief the District Attorney dropped the charges.

She said she could not make a case of it!

Cliffhangers and Sequels - Part Two

Continuing on the subject of cliffhangers (if you missed Part One, click here)... 

{SPOILER ALERT - IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THIS WEEK'S CASTLE YET, STOP READING NOW AND COME BACK AFTER YOU'VE SEEN IT.}



Since I wrote part one of this post, I've watched the season finales of three network TV shows.  All three ended in serious cliffhangers, including my favorite, Castle, which ended with the classic: Beckett shot and possibily dying in Castle's arms.

ARGH!!

But today I want to talk about books.  I love a book series. It fun to start a book already knowing the main character(s), like catching up with an old friend.  Series allow for deeper development of characters and relationships than would be possibile in a single book.  I also enjoy story arcs that run over several books or loose ends/questions that will carry over into a sequel.  But cliffhangers...when the next book won't be out for months or years or possibly (gasp!) ever!  Please don't do that to me.

So where's the line?  What's a sequel setup and what's a chiffhanger?  I tried looking up definitions and there's a lot of gray area on this one, so in lieu of a definitive answer, I'm going to give my opinion.  And ask for yours.

First, the obvious - leaving a main character in immediate danger is a cliffhanger.  Seriously injured, trapped in a burning building, in a car speeding down the hill with no brakes, held hostage, or with the bad guy sneaking in the back door while our hero/heroine waits unsuspectingly.  Definite cliffhangers.  Non-violent versions?  The main character on the verge of a life changing decision (when the choice is not a foregone conclusion for the reader).  A whodunit that ends with "I know who the killer is."

Sequel setups for me are more along the line of unanswered questions or possibilities.  Relationships that may grow or change, problems not completely resolved, a main character heading off on a new adventure, even the classic - the body of the villain that was supposed to be dead is missing. 

Sometimes it's a very fine line.  Say you're at the end of a cop drama.  Crime solved. Bad guy caught. Sadly, the cop's partner was killed in the line of duty.  Final scene, cop is talking to his Captain and hears someone come into the room behind him. Captain says "I want you to meet your new partner."  Final lines:

It was going to be hard; Joe and I were partners a long time.  But he was gone.  I turned around and extended my hand.

It was going to be hard; Joe and I were partners a long time. But he was gone. I turned around and my jaw hit the floor.

To me, the first is a sequel setup. the second is a cliffhanger.

Okay, let's hear from you.  What do you think the difference is between a cliffhanger and a sequel setup?  How do you feel about both or either? 

Special note: Congratulations to Cathy Pegau who won last Friday's Caption Contest.  Cathy selected as her prize, BOOKMARKED FOR DEATH by Lorna Barrett.  Thanks to everyone who played.  You came up with some really great captions.

I'm currently enjoying: Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich

Groaner of the Day:   A man walked into a haunted house wanting to get a picture of a ghost with his camera. After a couple hours, he finally saw one. It was a friendly ghost who actually posed for the picture.

The man took the picture, but it turned out too dark. So the ghost posed for another one, and the picture again turned out dark.

The ghost had to leave so the man did not get a picture.

Another case of - the spirit was willing but the flash was weak.

Cliffhangers and Sequels - Part One

It's May.  The end of network television's regular season.  And it seems that every scripted show is finishing the year with cliffhanger.

I'm not crazy about cliffhangers.

Many of us remember the summer of 1980 when the world held its collective breath wondering Who Shot JR, but the cliffhanger began way before someone put a bullet in JR Ewing on the TV show Dallas.  In the late 1800's, many novels were printed in serial format in newspapers and periodicals, and authors employed a variety of such devices to hold on to their readers' interest.  Early cinema included short serials that ended every episode with the hero or heroine facing some grave danger (from which they would miraculously escape in the opening minutes of the next installment).

For years, most TV cliffhangers were found in two part episodes.  You know, the ones that ended with "To be continued..." and left you screaming at the TV and tuning in the following week.  But is there truly a point to season ending cliffhangers?   I don't know about you, but I rarely spend the off season (summer for broadcast networks, winter for most cable networks) worrying about a character on a TV show.  Does anyone remember we left Jane Rizzoli bleeding out on the sidewalk in front of the police station last fall.  Okay, maybe now that I've mentioned it, but have you been counting the weeks until Rizzoli and Isles starts its new season so you can find out what happened?  Probably not.

Cliffhanger endings lose their effectiveness when too much time elapses before the next installment, between the set up and the payoff.  This is why they're less effective for feature films.  But what about films that are part of a series with a continuing story arc?  Lord of the Rings.  Star Wars.  Each movie has to include the set up for the next.  Sometimes the set up has a definite 'cliffhanger' feel to it.  (I was seriously annoyed when The Empire Strikes Back ended with Han Solo encased in carbonite and in the hands of the slimy Jabba the Hut.)

So where is the line between acceptable setup for a sequel and a true cliffhanger.  And how does this translate from TV and movies to books?  I'll take a look at those questions on Wednesday.  (When I will also announce the winner of last Friday's caption contest.)

In the meantime, what were some of your favorite or least favorite cliffhangers (TV or movie)?

I'm currently enjoying: Just finished Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger

Groaner of the Day: Two cannibals meet one day. The first cannibal says, "You know, I just can't seem to get a tender Missionary. I've baked them, I've roasted them, I've stewed them, I've barbecued them, I've tried every sort of marinade. I just cannot seem to get them tender."

The second cannibal asks, "What kind of Missionary do you use?"

The other replied, "You know, the ones that hang out at that place at the bend of the river. They have those brown cloaks with a rope around the waist and they're sort of bald on top with a funny ring of hair on their heads."

"Ah, ha!" the second cannibal replies. "No wonder ... those are friars!"

(Oh, that's so awful.  I'm almost embarrassed.  Almost.)