Golden days of my youth

This is exciting for an old hippie. Some undiscovered and never aired Rolling Stones movie made in 1965 is going to be released someday. Love the trailer.



[via Greg Mitchell, once editor of Crawdaddy magazine]

The beach shack

Trying to keep up with posting my beach pictures. This was the inside of the "shack" which was actually a lovely and rather huge cottage.

View from the corner of the living room:

A dining room with a view and the sound of the pounding surf as dinner music:

Also had great wifi. Six of us using the same router at once almost the whole time and not sluggish at all. Such a great place. Still missing it and wishing I was there.

Best nature photo ever

Or at least the best photo I've ever seen of a pair of praying mantis.

One of the few bugs in the world that I actually like, though I admit they do scare me a little. They look so fierce.

Final Frontier corner

No idea if this is real or just a clever photoshop, but as a long time Star Trek fan, I loved it.

I like to think if it's real, some developer called this the Spock Block.

A little night magic

I don't know what a night blooming osiris is, but I want one. Right now.

[Original photo via]

Cross-cultural love

Found this cute graphic on facebook yesterday.

And this morning I found this heartwarming story about a dog who adopted a kittten:

Pat Weber says the kitten was days old when her grandson found it in the family's barn in early September in Jordan, about 40 miles southwest of Minneapolis.

She says the 2-inch-long kitten was "ice cold." But she felt it move, so she wrapped the kitten in a warm towel. Then it began meowing — and her 4-year-old Pekingese perked up.

The tawny pooch named Mittens began licking the kitten, who nuzzled in and began suckling. Mittens hadn't had puppies in two years, yet she eventually began producing milk. She's been nursing the kitten ever since.

Photo of the dog nursing the kitty at the link.

Still on the bucket list

I may never get to check off a ride on the Goodyear blimp off my bucket list, but I do follow the pilots on the Facebook. They just posted possibly the best photo I've ever seen of the blimp. Wish I was in this shot.

Taken in L.A. at the Emmy awards. [Kevin Takumi of KTTV photo]

Baby clams are cute

All the years I've been going to beaches, I've never seen live baby clams. I've collected their open shells that look like butterflies in various shades of purple and pink but I've never seen them move while they were closed. I saw it for the first time a few days ago.

It's was at once beautiful, miraculous and weird. I was standing there when a wide mass of them washed in on the surf. The water receded from around my ankles and suddenly they disappeared into the sand at my feet. A little way down the beach, I could see hundreds of them pop back out again.

I watched for a long time. I tried to get some video of it happening. Sadly my cheap camera wasn't up to the task. They moved too quickly to catch, even on video. I ended up deleting all the footage I took. But I doubt that I'll ever forget how it looked to see them erupting from the sand, glittering in the sun.

I can't wait

Don't generally look forward to the winter months but I really can hardly wait for the new Hobbit movie in December. First trailer is finally out:

Long way home

Today was a travel day. I'm back from a few glorious days at the beach. Weather was perfect until this morning. We woke up to gale force winds. Much flying of chairs off the deck. Half the shells the kids collected blew away. It was high tide. The roiling surf was vicious, slapping at the bottom of the stairs to the beach.

I was a mile away from the causeway when the car beeped at me, wailing about low tire pressure. The first two air machines I stopped at didn't have gauges on them. So I guessed which tire. I was wrong. After about 40 miles, I finally found a tire place. The guy was very nice. He was really busy but he stopped and checked the air for me and made the sad message go away. He wouldn't take any money for it.

A few miles down the road came the torrential rain. Blinding torrents on windshield that no wiper speed can clear. Glad it was daylight and I could see the white line on the side of the road. Then I started hitting the big puddles. No way to see them in the downpour. Very exciting. Not fun.

Drove through bands of rain all the way home. Gratefully the deluges ended and turned to lighter rain about half way. Just in time for the slow road, heavy traffic part of the trip. An exhausting five hours in exchange for five glorious days by the sea. Well worth the price.

The photo was on the day the net fisherman parked in front of our cottage. I didn't take this one. Too tired tonight to do it, but hope to upload a few photos of my own tomorrow.

Otters are cute

Sorry light posting. I'm at the beach with the family and it's hard to focus on blogging. Anyway, as I've said before, there's a lot of animals, particularly rodents, that I don't think are particularly cute but I've always loved otters.

Think it goes back to a book I read when I was about 9 or 10 years old. The name of it may have been Tarka the Otter. Something like that. It was about the adventures of a little guy who got lost from his family.

They're good critters. They stick together. They take care of each other. And they say when they sleep, they hold hands so they won't float away from each other. Not sure that's true. I seem to recall they live in lodges and sleep out of the water, but still, otters are cool. And cute.

Meanwhile, the surf is calling me just outside the window. Only two more days here so forgive me if I disappear again. Sorry, no photos till I get home. Forgot the cord to upload from the camera to the 'puter.

Why I miss New England

When the fall rolls around, I really miss living in the northeast. It's not that we don't get colors here. It's just that they never look as brilliant as this:

Taken from 36 reasons fall is the best. The other 35 photos are at the link.

No one passes the squee test

From an internet test featuring adorable photos. If you follow the rules you'll never make it to this video at the end.



Adding, I'm very sorry to have to tell you folks this, but dammit, hedgehogs are not cute. They just aren't. And neither are sloths, though they're not on the test.

Never forget

Of course, no one who lived through it will ever forget that horrifying day. I was a mess for three days after and I wasn't even in New York. But I remember the shock. I remember the fear for the safety of friends who live in the city. I remember the sinking feeling that the world changed that day forever, and not for the better.

No. We will never forget. And for myself, I will probably never forgive George W. Bush for failing to heed the warnings and for using the chaos of the aftermath to push through an agenda that still works to the detriment of our society today in many ways.

That being said, may those lost on that tragic day rest easy in the Summerlands and may their family and friends find peace.

And as always on this day, I remember my friend, Harry H. McColgan, who spent the night with me because I didn't want to be alone. I used to call him every year but then I found out he had a serious stroke. I don't think he can talk on the phone anymore, but I hope he feels my thoughts and enduring gratitude across the miles for helping me feel safe and comforting me in my inexplicable grief on that sleepless night. [photo via Holly Bailey]

Comet Lovejoy rising

It will never stop amazing me that we have men who live in outer space like this guy. You can see video of the comet rise in the first few seconds of the video.

Soylent Green is people

This cartoon made me laugh. And the comments on facebook were just as funny. I especially liked, "Ah, but think of the cholesterol...

Yeah team

Oh hello. Didn't realize my scheduled posts had run out. Been a bit busy for the last few days with real life stuff. And it's prime time election season so need to keep up with the buzz for my political blogs.

I usually keep my politics off this blog now, but I'm going to say this once. I'm voting for President Obama because I'm certainly better off than I was four years ago. I think he deserves another term to finish what he started. Also, in general, as a working class woman of a certain age, I've been through a lot of administrations. All of them have pissed me off in some way. But I've always done better financially when Democrats were in office.

So Yeah Team Obama!

Sleepless nights

So tired. Stayed up way too late to watch an old episode of Combat because, Robert Altman directed. Bonus cameo by a very young Bruce Dern. Don't even like that show, but watched that and 12 O'Clock High because they were Dad's favorites and I'm missing him a lot this week. I remember sitting through them as a kid just to be hanging out with my Pop.

On a happier note, this may be the cutest kitten ever. I've never heard of sand cats before. Amazing little critters. They can do all kinds of stuff with those big ears and they can go without water for months at a time.

Once in a blue moon

With the ragged shards of Isaac blowing through the little city, I didn't get to see much of the blue moon this time. The clouds only parted once for a few minutes so it could shine on me. But it was shining on New York City. View from Central Park:

Photo by the incomparable Inga Sarda-Sorensen.

Sunday Zen

Facebook find of the day. Wish I could teleport myself to this spot right now. Looks so peaceful. A Weeping Willow Bridge, Yunnan, China.

And then I would like to go here and hang out by this waterfall in the Isle of Wight for a while.

Sadly, I don't know how to teleport and they haven't invented my flying car yet, so I guess I won't be going farther than the newspaper box downtown in the little city this afternoon.

Saturday funnies

This is probably an old joke that's been around forever, but I've never seen it before and it made me laugh: