Happy Halloween!

 

Which Question?

 Witch question, of course.

Shameless #2

There they are. The Gallaghers plus the neighbors two houses down. Of Shameless fame. I barely got through the first couple of episodes for all the gratuitious sex, nudity, foul language, drinking, smoking, and drug use. I felt like I needed a shower after viewing. But then I became attached to the various characters who dwell on the South Side of Chicago. I had something of a sketchy upbringing but anything that happened to me pales away to nothing compared to what Fiona, et al, have endured at the hands of their alcoholic, drug-addicted, mostly absent parents. In between shuddering over rape, incest, needle drugs, the system (educational, penal, etc), and all the poor choices made by every stinking one of them, I began to admire them for their ingenuity and survival instincts. I started to look forward to the genuine moments of affection and humanity between them. Now that I have watched over half the episodes, I find myself torn between continuing to rush forward through them or to possibly slow down since there really aren't that many left. And I hate how at the end of a series the writers and producers tend to muck things up. Either by hastily throwing together neatly tied up endings for multiple story lines or failing to answer pertinent questions about the fates of the characters. Anyway, I am enjoying the ride with these people and the dangerous, bizarre, hilarious, painful situations they get themselves into. All I know is, I have always adored Joan Cusack. Her turn as Sheila Jackson convinced me all over again just how brilliant and enigmatic an actress she is. I really must go, the next episode is cued up.   

Shameless #1

I have been binging. Netflix. Though Shameless was originally produced by Showtime. Which explains all the nakedness and swearing. I have just started Season 8 of eleven in all. Early on when a main character's name was uttered in its whole form, Francis rather than Frank, Gallagher, I had to pause for a moment. Why was this name so freakishly familiar? Why? Digging way back in the recesses of my brain I unearthed the answer. I'm talking going way back to high school, children. Francis Gallagher was the name of one of my girlfriend's boyfriends. Two of them, actually, JoAnn and Cindy. Though I can't remember who was the first to receive his affections. I do remember that Cindy gave birth to a baby that he sired. And that she remarked that Francis really shouldn't have bought a car with a white interior, him being a farmer and all. JoAnn's friend Mary referred to him as spic, though I'm pretty certain he was mostly Irish rather than Latino. He also spoke English, as in, his first language. I haven't thought about these people in years. Thank you, Shameless, for this trip down Memory Lane.

October Rant

Today, in the New York Times. 

It's the season of pumpkin flavor everything. But is pumpkin actually good for you?

For fuck's sake, people! When something is marketed using the words pumpkin spice, it does not contain even a shred of pumpkin. It contains the spices usually associated with pumpkin pie. Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, perhaps others. At least the article does go on to tout the pumpkin as something of a super food. Fiber and vitamin rich, it actually is good for you. You can even roast the seeds for a healthy snack as long as you don't go crazy with the salt. The article was good, but the blurb was a little misleading. You can eat a bucket of pumpkin spiced anything without consuming any pumpkin at all. Do eat the pumpkin, though, with or without the traditional spices. It's one of those things that is good for you that also tastes good. Rant over, move along.

  

I Learned Something Today

Take a closer look at the cute little jug of buttermilk. Right? Was anyone else aware of Bulgarian style buttermilk? Bulgarian? Really? Really! Bulgarian style buttermilk is made by supplementing or completely replacing the cream cultures. Then it is fermented at a higher temperature resulting in a thicker, more tart final product. All I know is, the scones were delicious.

It's In The Numbers

I've been doing this blogging thing for a while now. I do enjoy watching the stats for views and comments. Mostly I'm tickled that anyone reads my highly sophisticated drivel, or at least clicks over to it, and I truly love the comments. Not the spamments*, mind you, but genuine posted remarks concerning the content. Where was I? Oh, yes, the numbers. Last month they made no sense at all, as if the internet had gone mad with thousands of clicks to this location. Thousands of clicks in one day! Adding up to a grand total of 92,199 for the month of September. How is this even possible that after over sixteen years of blogging that just over 11% of all views over that time took place last month? I have no idea what this means, but it would be pretty cool if I got a dollar for each click on that tote board. For now, I guess I'll enjoy seeing that almost ninety three thousand number for a few more days. When midnight on Halloween causes the far less impressive total for October to take its place I will be a little sad to see it go. But keep clicking over to this blog! It makes me happy.

 *obviously, comments that are spam

Practical Advice

 

I Forgot Lucille

 

I truly hope it doesn't go to her head, what with getting her own post and all. This is Lucille. See if you can guess why I bestowed this name upon her. 

Only The Named Witches

In all their glory, tending to their cauldron, we have the McBroome-Shuttlecock sisters, Frigga, Grace, and Heidi.

Atop a living room bookcase we find Esmerelda. The people at Ty named her Scary witch which I found to be rather boring. Esmerelda it is.

In the front entryway is a collection of scary things. Angelica anchors this motley crew at the left. You want a closer view, don't you.

Isn't she lovely?

Drusilla is standing watch over a spooky landscape.

 

Gertie is perched on the guest bedroom windowsill. All the better to view any neighborhood children and pets she might like to turn into soup.

This stained glass beauty is Jezebel. She's not all grown up yet, just a little witch in training. 

The Goddess Feels Marginally Bloggish Today

Having been under the weather for a few days has made me feel less than bloggish. If bloggish hasn't been a word prior to now, I declare bloggish a word. If a person is not feeling bloggish, they won't be likely to blog. So there. I haven't felt bloggish so I have not blogged. The language continues to evolve. Please further this evolution by putting bloggish into your repertoire of often used words. Thank you.

 

Romeo & Juliet

The opening of Mark Knopfler's Romeo & Juliet is running through my head. Just the guitar in a never-ending loop. Most of the time a song stuck in your brain is seriously annoying. Not this, it's hypnotic and soulful. As far as perseveration goes, this I'll take.

Working On It

 

Point of View

 

Another Halloween Past

I believe this was 1973. In the kitchen of the horrible little trailer house located in Trailer City, one of the finer neighborhoods in Grafton, North Dakota. Note the rip in the filthy vinyl chair seat just under the edge of the table. It seems we carved pumpkins that year. Martine's socks and my hat appear to be leftovers from the 4th of July. I remember someone commenting that I didn't need a mask. The pink gingham top with denim trim I sewed all by myself! Little in this photo looks familiar to me. We had moved from Williston in the spring, first to another horrible little trailer house in Langdon, North Dakota, where our father was living. Mom dumped us off with him and left. We were more or less on our own there for about a month. That's when mom returned to move us into this trailer, she had found a job with a law firm and had rented this trailer. Soon after this image was captured we moved to a different trailer mobile home park in a better part of town. It was much nicer, and mom had scraped the funds together to buy it. When we moved to Brookings, South Dakota in 1977, that mobile home was hitched to a truck and moved along with us. Meaning that this move was different in that we were able to bring all of our possessions with us. Before things had been whittled down to what would fit in our car, maybe with a small U-Haul trailer in tow. We moved to Brookings purportedly because our parents were getting back together. But that's a different story for another time.

Halloween 2013

It's the McBroome-Shuttlecock sisters in their Halloween best ten years ago. Do you see the theme? I am the cow, Pam is the saucy milkmaid, and Martine is the barn kittycat. I was carrying tiny Milky Way candy bars in my udder and tossed them to unsuspecting people out on the street. So very much fun!

Enough Already!

The new refrigerator arrived on September 15th. Very nice, French doors, bottom freezer with icemaker. But the sliding top  bin in the freezer was stuck and would not move. Appliance people were dispatched and the problem was remedied. Then the dishwasher decided to go on the blink. It was very nice of the GE people to reset the warranty on it to the date I closed on the house since it had been purchased months before that. Again, appliance person was scheduled and the dishwasher was fixed. A few days later, the internet was out for several hours but was restored by the end of the afternoon. Okay, I thought, that's three and we're done with things failing for a while! Yesterday the garage door refused to close. So I had to reach up and pull it down myself. That's four! I really don't want to have to call the Genie people to see if it is still under warranty. Meh.

 

Shiny

The son and I are watching Firefly. If you have not seen it, get your hands on the  entire series and binge. Aside from having the most ridiculously good-looking cast    ever, this Joss Wheden created show is cleverly written and visually beautiful. Given the state of technology for television twenty years ago, it has remarkable special effects. Tomorrow night we will be taking in the bonus material and Monday we will cap things off with Serenity, the film that continues the saga of Captain Reynolds and his cohorts.

When They Were Tiny

Awwww. Baby Newton and Einstein. For the first time since 2006 my home is without a cat for Halloween month. I am so accustomed to having lived with kitties that I swear I still catch sight of feline-like movement out of the corner of my eye. Then upon realizing there is not a cat in the house, I feel a bit sad for a moment. I have promised myself that when I have been here for a year that I can start thinking about adopting a couple of kitties. Not a minute sooner! Crazy cat lady time will be here soon enough.  

Elgin, Illinois

See it? Above the fireplace! It's my Ditlef print! I have a history with this print that goes back to a time before I was born. If you want to know the story you can find it here. If not, just enjoy this photo that I swiped from a real estate listing. The house is kinda cool, the exterior looks like a castle. For the sake of any potential buyers, I do hope the plumbing and electrical have been updated from castle times.

Hair Again

When you move to a new city, it is of the utmost importance that you develop a relationship with various professionals. Plumber, HVAC guy, electrician, these are pretty basic, particularly if you are a homeowner. On a more personal note, particularly if you are a woman, maybe not now that I think about it, people of all persuasions can relate to how difficult it can be to find a hair stylist who understands your mop of curls and cowlicks and a nail salon that does a reasonably priced yet pampering pedicure. I have found neither of these as yet. I haven't seriously looked for a nail salon but definitely will sort that out in the near future. As far as the hair goes, I did get my hair cut just a couple of weeks after arriving here. It was raining and my hair was pulled back in a sloppy bun and I spied a Great Clips while waiting at a red light. So I popped in and had my shoulder-length hair lopped off so short that for the first time in perhaps decades it was not long enough for a pony tail. It has grown two to three inches since then and I find myself musing over the possibility of being that crone with a wild mane of hair cascading down my back. This idea was reinforced after watching Practical Magic last month. The aunties Frances and Jet both have admirable tresses tumbling out from under their fabulous hats. So. Letting it grow for now. 

   

A Match Made in Heaven

Or Hell. Or Purgatory. Whatever works as per your particular belief system. Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to. Where was I? Oh, yes, delightful news about a former beau. I recently learned that he got married, not sure when, but to a lovely woman who it seems is going to regularly make his dreams come true. Truth be told, he wanted me to spank him. As in, smack his bottom with my hand or some object. We all draw the line somewhere, and I did at this particular request. Just didn't interest me. I expect that she does not deign to do so, as she is employed as a prison matron. Thank you sir, or ma'am, as the case may be, may I have another. I wish them well.

The Countdown Has Begun

 

Welcome to the Witching Month

Well. Hello, it's been a while. There are numerous fleeting ideas I have had in the last few weeks that seemed to merit a blog post. But then those fleeting ideas floated right out of my head. Like how the word bonuce appears on the new shampoo bottle in the shower. I'm pretty sure they meant bounce, but you never can tell. When I attempted to google bonuce it showed the results for bounce so maybe everything is all right. And last week I was planning a number of errands and came up with a route that neatly worked in each of the stops and brought me right back home. It's really starting to feel familiar and comfortable here. Today I broke out the Halloween decorations and have been placing them here and there, seeing how they fit in this house. I love how all these old, familiar witches and black kitties and jack o'lanterns bring back memories of Octobers past. Please be amazed and impressed that I found the seasonal bric-a-brac in the still only partially organized garage. Since you asked, yes, I have been here nearly seven months. But once things are ninety percent in their proper places, the rate of organizing falls off quite abruptly. So. Thank you for coming back. I'm on this again!