Glasgow, Scotland

 All the world leaders are there right now wringing their hands about fossil fuels and our warming planet.  I'm wondering how many of them consumed the very fossil fuels they are wringing their hands about getting to the summit meeting?  Same for the people who are demonstrating.  

We have not figured it out.  We can't have our cake and eat it, too.  We can't enjoy our modern conveniences without harm to the planet.  That includes all the emerging green technologies as well.  Batteries and their chemicals do not magically disappear without harm to the planet.  A single blade for a wind farm is the length of a football field.  Where does that go when it goes out of commission?  The manufacturing of solar panels is not without its scars on the environment.  

The only way out of this is to return to life in balance with nature.  Nobody is willing to do it, except for those already living in tribes that have not been corrupted by our influence.  And to think....we are so arrogant as to send missionaries and the like to "save" them and to make them more like us.  

 

Choreography Time

 I will need Laura's help on this one.  It's time to start thinking about the father/daughter dance for my daughter's wedding in June.  Both husband and daughter are looking to me to help with the choreography.  I'm looking to Laura to help me with the choreography.  I'm confident that between Laura and I we will come up with a dance that will be fun and memorable.

The first step for choreographing a dance, at least in my mind, is the music.  Once, the music is selected the dance moves almost create themselves.  The selected music is Glen Miller's "In The Mood" which was my daughter's paternal grandparents' song when they were dating.  Yes, her paternal grandparents really are that old, and sadly now both deceased, as her father was born late in life.  

It took no prompting for my daughter to choose this song.  She selected it entirely on her own without any influence.  She did not even know the history of it when she selected it.  She cried when I told her the meaning of it and how it was her grandparents' song.  I'm so glad her grandparents will be there in spirit (literally) on her wedding day.  

50's Day

 It was 1950's day at Laura's Class today.  With that being said, we heard songs from The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly.  Lo and behold, all three died when their plane, headed for Moorhead Minnesota from Iowa, crashed in a corn field in Iowa not long after takeoff.  

Actually having been to Moorhead, Minnesota....my choice.  Die in a plane crash en route to Moorhead?  OR... actually go to Moorhead.  Hmmmmmmm.  I have relatives in the Moorhead area.  Let's just say that Moorhead is Fargo's little sister, who does not have the same corny fame that Fargo has.  After all, they are right across the river from each other.  LOVE YOU MOORHEAD. 

All kidding aside, it was a tragic day for American pop music.  My mother went to school with Buddy Holly's cousins.  My husband's old boss had tickets for the show that never happened.  

Where I'm going with this is so much talent died on that day.  For whatever reason, I feel the need to honor their talents and contributions to rock-n-roll.  They may be gone physically, but their music lives on.  FWIW:  I love the saxophone in Big Bopper's Chantilly Lace.  

It's RAINING?

 Here in Sonoma County we have not had any significant rainfall for how long now?  Two years?  We don't even know what rain is like anymore.  

Guess what.  It's raining and we are going to get a hefty amount over the next day or so.  Finally.  Still, this does not alleviate our drought by any means.  The good news is that any threat of fire is gone.  I think all of us hold our breath from July - November when everything is so bone dry.  Well, for the last few years we have actually had to hold our breath for said time periods as we have been choking on smoke and ash.  

The bad news?  My daughter's fiance's best friend is getting married today.  Both my daughter and her fiance are in the wedding.  It's raining.  The venue is outdoors.  Who would have thought we would actually have rain in late October?  

While I'm so happy we are getting blessed with Mother Nature's tears, I'm sad that it's raining on a wedding day.  

On another completely different note....

Our cat of 18 years died this spring.  It was horrible and sad.  Our cat had been sick and we knew that he was reaching the end of his life span.  Shortly after our cat died, another cat started coming around.  We named him/her Skade, who is a character in The Last Kingdom who was a witch.  

Well, Skade keeps coming around and we look forward to his visits and feed him.  We have asked those in the neighborhood if they recognize the cat and even posted on Nasty Door (ooops, I meant Next Door) if anybody knows where he lives.  Of course, the first thing we look for is a collar.  S/he does not have one.  He has a clipped right hear, which usually indicates that he is feral and has been treated by Forgotten Felines.  The Forgotten Felines organization takes feral cats, gives them a health examination, gives them vaccinations and sterilizes them, and then turn them loose in an area where they are likely to thrive.  The organization clips the ear to signify they have been treated.  

Bottom Line:  I think Skade has adopted us.  If Forgotten Felines thought our neighborhood would yield a bunch of suckers who would take in a stray cat, it worked ;)  

Here is a picture of Skade.  S/he is a thing of beauty.  I have a special soft spot for black cats with green eyes.  I love that black cats embrace the whole Halloween vibe - which is one of my favorite holidays. Skade is skittish, so we don't force ourselves upon him.  He needs to learn to trust us and bit by bit he's getting more and more comfortable around us.  

Underwear Model

 This came in the mail the other day.  For once an underwear model is real.  I admire the company's inclusiveness of different body types.  Hey, maybe I can be an underwear model!!!  LOL

Facebook Down

 Facebook was down the other day.  The entire world lost their minds.  I did not notice as social media is something that I do not actively participate in.  

Be careful with what you use for communication.  Nothing is free.  Your information is being tracked, bought, and sold with every comment, post, and "like" no matter what their privacy policy states.  I've been warning people about social media for years now.  Apparently, people don't care as they continue to broadcast every thought they ever had.......and then they complain that social media should stop snooping on them.  

This stupid blog is no exception. 

1980's at Laura's Class Today

 I have been jamming with Laura for the past 10-12 years or so.   Laura is this *incredible* woman who is in her 70's and still teaches fitness classes 5 times per week.  She is no plastic looking piece of you-know-what that looks like she will melt in the sun.  Rather, she is a fabulously fit woman who has a *REAL* body and she looks GREAT.  

Laura is my dance instructor.  We would have class a couple of times per week pre-COVID.  When COVID hit, we hit a wall trying to figure out how to move forward with the reality we were handed.  Dance studios are generally enclosed.  Dance classes are sweaty by nature.   COVID dashed any hopes of us gathering inside with what was familiar to us.  

Lovely Laura found an alternative.  We meet twice per week at a local park outdoors.  We don't have ballet bars and mirrors to check our form, but we have the music and the moves that have several of those who are passing by walking their dogs or whatever pause to take notice - and then ask how to join.  This is not a secret club.  Just come and dance.  On Monday we had a two-year-old boy and his mother join in.  All of us old ladies gushed over the two-year-old boy and he cried when it was over. 

Today was 80's day with the music at Laura's class.  I'm going to brag for just once in my life.  I could name every song and artist less than three bars in.  Others in the group were astonished at how I knew the songs AND the lyrics as I also sang them.  I told them I used to hang out at night clubs waaaaaaaay back in the day when I was young.  I thought of SSP and SYB, who are  Minnesota besties and fellow dance fiends.

Hey, my daughter's wedding is quickly approaching.  We need to polish up our dance moves to show 'em how it's done, right?  Nobody knew the very beginning of this song when it came on at dance class today.  The computerized voice had them all thrown off.  I named  in immediately.   Hey, I should go on Name That Tune.  I just remember when 1999 came out it was 1983ish.  I thought 1999 was sooooo far in the future.  Now it's 22 years in the past.  Holy COW I'm old.  LOL. 

 

The Wedding/Housewarming

Sick of gift and money grabs from quasi-friends and acquaintances of long ago for their weddings (or kids' weddings), housewarmings, baby showers, etc.?   Most of the time these invitations arrive via e-vite, or some other electronic, impersonal form that requires the least effort possible on behalf of the beggar, oooops, I meant sender.  

Decline the invitation.  Do not purchase something off their registry as that's exactly what they want you to do.  They really want you to just fork over gifts/money and not actually interact with you at all.  

Here's how I deal with it.  I reply to the invitation with a gushing and excited response as to how I have missed them and so glad they have reached out as it has been F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  I then tell them that the best way to get in touch with me is by my cell phone, and I give them my number.  I then tell them that I would love to get together for a walk or a lunch and get caught up on what's been happening in their lives and to please contact me....and I really mean it.

99.9 percent of the time it's crickets after that.

See, if you can't make a one-on-one attempt to have an actual relationship/friendship with me leave me off your list of people you think should financially donate to you.