Another Sad Passing This Week - Spanish Guitarist Paco De Lucia

Another sad passing in the news to start my day - Paco De Lucia passed away in Mexico from an apparent heart attack at 66.

My first exposure to his amazing Spanish guitar was on the CD "The Guitar Trio". Then when I was searching for a good CD version of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, I came across this one with Paco, I knew it would be good, and I was not disappointed. For being a average white chick from the Mid-West, I actually like a variety of music from around the world.

Concierto de Aranjuez

The Guitar Trio

And to kind of update from Monday; I have read several articles in the last two days about Harold Ramis, and I found two passages that were thought provoking to me, both about "Groundhog Day".

The first is from Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times Film Critic. I'm paraphrasing a bit, but she states in part; "The notion of the ultimate romantic do-over, that a second or 50th chance to get it right might be possible and that the secret to keeping love alive is in the listening."

The second article quoted from an interview of Harold Ramis himself from 2005 with NPR's Terry Gross. He states, "There is no universal meaning to life that applies now and for always, for each and every person," he said. "Our job — and it's a tough job — is to figure out what it all means and to fulfill a personal destiny that we each figure out for ourselves."

Since I turned 50 I have been doing a lot more thinking about my life and this is more food for thought.

RIP Harold Ramis

Ghostbusters with Bill Murray. Danny Ackroyd & Harold Ramis

I was very sad to see the news that Harold Ramis passed away today at the age of 69. I am a huge fan of Ghostbusters which he co-wrote and Groundhog Day which he co-wrote and directed. I watch Groundhog Day every year now. Both movies have hilarious dialogue in literally every scene. He was so good as Egon in Ghostbusters - he always reminded me of the actor Edward Everett Horton. Here is my favorite scene out of Groundhog Day

Whoa! Nice Shootin' Tex!

Say Hello to My Little Squirrel Friend

I was working in the kitchen most of this afternoon and had a surprise outside the window above the sink.

The squirrels have taken to climbing up the south side of the house to get up on the roof. This has been happening a lot more frequently - why, I have no idea.

And the thing is the bottom of the window is about 6 feet of the ground so that's quite a vertical distance. Munchkin got pretty excited watching the action.

Late Winter Snow

The Daylillies covered in snow

Lilac Bush

The snow is still falling and probably will be all day and into the night. It is pretty, and probably won't do any major damage to everything that is starting to bud.

When I went to Target after work the other day, and was walking around the outside of the mall, I saw the flowering trees there were starting to show buds of the leaves.

I went out on the porch earlier to put more seed out for the squirrels and it is definitely cold. Sometimes here when it snows it doesn't feel cold enough to be, yet it is. The other thing I like about the snow when you're outside is how still the sound is.

Mini Rose Bush in the backyard

Today's Get Fuzzy

Get Fuzzy - February 20 2014

Not Quite Spring Color

My Christmas Cactus are blooming again, at least partially..... My larger plant that bears the light pink blooms has one lonely bloom as of yesterday. And the smaller one here with the red blooms just opened up two days ago. It's so funny to me that they both bloom twice a year, and never at Christmas anymore ☺

The Bar Has Just Been Raised for the Crazy Cat Lady

The Bar Has Just Been Raised for the Crazy Cat Lady

A lot of bad stuff in the news today that is such a downer I didn't want to tackle it, starting with North Korea.

So instead, I'm doing a 180 with a silly meme that illustrates that not only are there too many wacky people in this world, but just as many that will watch reality television that features them....

This 'n That

I'm catching up to the stuff that I didn't get to online during the week and started with The Daily Show segment on the infrastructure of the Sochi Russia Olympics and it's prime Jon Stewart, enjoy.

Valentines Day Message From Pope Francis

Pope's marriage recipe: 'Please, thanks, sorry' | Nation & World | The Seattle Times

Another great but simple message from Pope Francis just in time for Valentines Day ♡

Pope Francis

Happy Valentines Day

Puppy Love

Mutts - February 12, 2014

Olympian Gus Kenworthy and some lucky pups

I read two different stories tonight about people trying to save stray dogs from execution in Sochi Russia, including the U.S. Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy.

This was one of two photos from his Facebook page that were featured in a story on The Huffington Post. There was a sweet caption to this as well. "It's still love to a puppy".

The other story also on the same site was about a Russian man from Moscow, who drove all the way from there to Sochi to take in about a dozen dogs and then take them back to foster homes in Moscow.

I had first read about Putin arranging for literally thousands of dogs to be disposed of before the games began a few weeks ago and it made me sick to my stomach. You know that it will be an cruel death, and it's just one more heartless act from a brutal SOB.

Another recent story that has made me sick to my stomach is the giraffe in the Danish zoo that was killed and feed to the lions. I cannot even conceive of how they could do something like that. Zoo's are there to protect wild animals, not execute them. And to make matters worse this was all on public display. It's no wonder the staff are now getting death threats.

Is Spring Around the Corner? and other stuff

I saw my first robin of the year when I was on my way home from work Friday afternoon, and have seen them several times since then. And really healthy round ones too! So despite the continued chill and a few very, very light snowflakes this afternoon, maybe things are going to turn around sooner than we thought.

I finally finished sewing the black wool skirt yesterday, and also stitched up another infinity scarf. I've been working on the needlepoint here and there in the evenings when I'm watching the tube, which was how it all began. For sewing now I am switching to the medium blue linen/cotton blouse for spring.

Nancy & Larry

The last time I talked to Nancy on the
phone I was telling her about the needlepoint project and other things that I had completed in the past, including a crib quilt for my nephew Ian 17 years ago. Nancy did the Cat's Meow cross-stitch featured near my blog bio picture. She and her husband Larry live in my hometown of Portage, a suburb of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

I'm not going to go into a long story about my dysfunctional family, but my nephew basically doesn't know me from a hole in the ground since my sister cut me out of her life 15 years ago when he was still a toddler. When she was pregnant with Ian I made a crib quilt as a baby shower gift from my own design. It was a lot of work, but I was really into it and thought it turned out nice.
















Melissa and I have had a difficult relationship our entire lives, and when I was about 3/4 of the way done with it, it dawned on me that she would not like or appreciate it. So I was pleasantly surprised when she called to thank me for it, and she sounded sincere. But in all the baby pictures she sent, that quilt was nowhere to be seen in any of them. To this day I wonder if she gave it away - which come to think of it probably would have been a good thing so that someone else could actually use it.

I pieced both the front and the back, and then hand quilted along the seam lines. That was a bit slow going because I wanted it to be on the seam both front and back. It took some time, but I think it was worth it.

It didn't capture very well in my picture, but I embroidered my "signature" on the back; Aunt P Productions. I got the nickname "P" from my brother Matt when I was young, and when his son Jake was born, I became Aunt P.

Amazing Sand Art by Joe Mangrum

A new post on Colossal.com today featuring the incredible colored sand art of Joe Mangrum, a graduate of The Art Institute of Chicago. There are a half dozen or so pictures of his work including some on city sidewalks. Some of those look like they are chalk art, but the colors are so intense, and all of them are temporary and designed on the spot. Check it out, they are beautiful. 

Peyton Manning is lighting up the Internet; just not the way he would have wanted to

Let the meme's begin! I saw this one last night. Then this morning at our stand up meeting a co-worker had printed out one that was the same picture but with a different caption....which I have unfortunately forgotten.

The 12th Man is basking in the afterglow ☺

They Did It!! Seattle Seahawks won The Super Bowl!

Mutts - February 2, 2014

I have not become a football convert, but I am so happy for the Seattle Seahawks and all the fans today! I am a little superstitious and did not watch the game because I didn't want to jinx it. I watched Groundhog Day with Bill Murray like I always do (because I love it).

I took a shower after watching the evening news, and right after I turned off the water, I could hear fireworks, and I let out a big yowl! They did it! I was so excited I wrapped myself in a towel and went out into the living room to turn on the TV. What an amazing score - I hope all the idiots out there stop dissing Seattle because Pete Carroll & the team are obviously doing something right ☺

This 'n That

Sherman's Lagoon - February 1, 2014

If this is not a photo-shopped picture, it is bleeping amazing that this snow drifted into the shape of a rose!


I will not be watching the Super Bowl tomorrow, but I still am rooting for the Seattle Seahawks nonetheless.

 It will not be as cold here as they are predicting for New Jersey, but we are looking at a cool dry week with temperatures only hitting the mid-30's during the day and high 20's at night. Ouch!