No Cartoons...I Don't want to grow up...

   If growing up means you have to give away your love for cartoons, games and fun, especially CARTOONS....Well as the Sopranos would say forgetaboutit.

   I mean were in the world would we be without imagination, dreams and fun.  **shudder** I wouldn't even want to think about it. It is truly the stuff of nightmares.

    Wait... even nightmares require imagination...Don't they???

   Let's ask Steven King the 'King of nightmares'. I know his books have given me a lot of them.

   “Hey, Steven, You know about causing nightmares. How do you do it?”
   “Description begins in the writers' imagination, but finishes in the reader's“ Steven King.

   Well I guess we wouldn't even have nightmares in a world without imagination, or at least not the kind of nightmares we like to have. (Is that an oxymoron...)

   I remember as a kid that no matter what the week was like, Saturday morning cartoons could make you forget it and be happy for awhile. Saturday was the only day I liked getting up early. I would even set the alarm so I could get to the television before my brothers did, so I could pick the channel. (yeah, we lived in the stone-age when there was only ONE television in the house.)

  All 3 channels, yes that's right THREE, had cartoons from 7:30 to Noon. Cartoons not live action shows, those were for after school. Then at noon the dad's would take over with the sport shows. Of course there were cartoons during the week, but never 4 hours of them.

   There was an almost endless parade of your favorites. Bugs and Daffy, The Road Runner, Atom Ant,  Aqua Man, Yogi and BooBoo.

   And you can't forget  The Jetsons, The Flintstones,I mean where else could you go from the Stone-age to the the Space-age in one hour.



  Then in later years you had Scooby Doo, Batman, Josie and the Pussycats, Hong Kong Phooey, Dastardly and Muttley, The Smurfs and lot of others.

   I even got to see Pebbles and Bamm Bamm grow up and get their own show.



   What could be better... curled up with a blanket in your favorite spot on the sofa or floor with a cold bowl of cereal, and all the bright colors from the screen the only light to be seen. All was right with your world then.
 
   Besides how else where you going to decide what you wanted for Christmas and your birthday if you didn't get to see the commercials. Saturday morning was necessary.

   Yes, Saturday morning cartoon may have been the start of the weekend, but “The Wonderful World of Disney” was the weekends last hurrah.

   But that is another post...

Can you find your favorites?

 

   Heavens to murgatroid...That's a lot of cartoons.

Early Warning...I might be off for awhile...

  Just thought I would give you all a heads up. I am not abandoning the blog world and all my old, as well as new friends. But if I disappear for awhile, I will be back.

   With all the hospital trips (3 for him, 2 for me) in the last couple of months, we are running a little long on expenses. So if I can't convince the our internet provider to give us a little break, they will turn it off before our next payday at the first of the month.

   So if I don't see you around; just know I am missing you all and counting the days until I'm back on.

   Oh yes, does anyone out there have a spell I can cast over the bills to make them disappear, or at least shrink???

   I seem to be flooded with them lately. Thank goodness I learned to swim when I was a younger. Come to think of it a boat might be in order too.

Now where did I put those life-jackets?

Drawing by Pamela Jo

And the Winner is....

   Once again we where at our home away from home....the hospital. Since I don't have a wireless tablet or laptop or internet smart phone, I am totally cut off from all my fellow bloggers. Jack keeps saying he wants to get me one, but on a very limited income that is a luxury we can not afford. But we are back now...I hope for quite awhile...so I have written a short story for you to read. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know how it is and if I could improve on it. Thank you very much for staying with me through out our up and downs.


And the Winner is....

   They only thought they had outgrown us. That they had left us behind with all the other superstitions. But we were there; just under the surface the whole time. Love and Hate are the two sides of the coin of life. There can never be one with out the other. But we are working to flip the coin to our side once and for all.

   We are the Gods and Goddesses of War.
 
   We have had many names, some well known, some not. Who has not heard the names Ares, Athena, Mars, and Seth, just to name a few. But our names from Babylonian, Assyrian, Mayan, and Aztec times are all but forgotten. The names of Erra, Ashur, Ah Chuy Kak, and Camaxtli are little known in today's world.

   We have worked tirelessly through out history trying many ways to come on top. But there was always someone there to remind people of the good side of man.

   The God of love has many names himself and many helpers. They are always there thwarting our attempts to rule the world of man.

   We can not win the battle face to face. That lesson has been learned well. So how do we win? There has been many a gathering dedicated to this problem until Ictinike came up with the solution...

   The way to win was to not have to face of the God of love. And how do we do that? By using the cover of love and protection to our advantage. We use the fact that the one God of love is known by many names to many people.

   We make man think he is protecting others from hate and intolerance. Because it may upset and cause anguish to the others; man will then forbid one group of the God of love's helpers from speaking out if another group is present. If no one is allowed to speak of love and acceptance, then the emotions of hate, intolerance, and evil will be able to rule. The coin will flip to our side and bury the other side at last.

   Yes, that is the way we will win the battle. We will rule the world and no one will be any the wiser.

©2011 Pamela Jo

Morning Alarm Clock...

   I was looking around the web last night and I think I finally found an Alarm that I couldn't possibly sleep through.

   What do you think?

I found this guy in California.

   I think he could get me up in the mornings...me and the whole county.

Rough couple of weeks...

   Sorry I haven't been posting, but it has been a rough couple of weeks.

   My father passed away on July 5th, and his memorial service was the following Tuesday.

James W. Hampton
Miss you Daddy.

   Then on Wednesday, I had to take Jack (my fiance) to the ER. They intern transferred him to a bigger hospital an hour from our home.  Where he still is undergoing a lot of tests.

   So I have been running from hospital to home to check on things and back again. I'm pretty sure I passed myself at least a couple of times on the road.

   Hopefully. Things will settle back down soon, and I can get back on schedule. Now would be a great time to have an IPad or a Kindle. Then I could stay up on my reading and writing without losing my pen or my book every 5 minutes....

   I try to catch you all up soon. I am getting a lot of material and research done on hospitals, that's for sure.

 

Sending Out My Love...

     I was reading today about an old school friend, who is losing his brother to cancer. It reminded me that we never really know how long we will have on this earth. No matter what it is never as long as we think it is.

    In away a terrible disease maybe a blessing in disguise. It gives us the kick in the pants we need to talk and make our peace with each other. To tell the person how much we love them and reminisce about all the good times.

   When we lose them suddenly, everything we wanted to say remains unsaid. We wind up carrying around the guilt that we never really found the time for that phone call, to drop that card in the mail or even to email them.

   You know it is so easy to forget to let those you love the most know about it. We find it really easy to say I love that song...I love that book... OMG I loved him/her in that. We find it so easy to express our love for inanimate items, shows, stars, food, animals, you name it we LOVE it.

   But when it comes to those really close to us....we don't say the words. I guess we automatically assume since we know it … they know it.

   But do they?

   Think about it. Do you know for sure what is in the minds of your brother, sister, mother, father, or child? Do you know for sure without a single doubt your husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend loves you? How about the cousin, Aunt, Uncle or Grandparent you haven't seen or spoken with in over a year?

   How about your best friend of all times, the one you argued with the last time you spoke to them? You don't even remember what the argument was about now. Oh, but surely they know you didn't mean it when you said .... But do they really.

   I don't know about you but my ESP is on the fritz. I don't even know what I'm thinking half the time. I also know how easy it is to say the wrong thing and not even realize it. I may not be limber enough to kick like the Radio City Rockettes, but I can get my foot in my mouth without even trying.  

Image via Wikipedia

    So I would like to take this time to say to all my family far and wide, and all my friends.

I LOVE YOU, MORE THAN I CAN EVER SAY!!!!

   I think about you often. A lot more often than I let you know, and I am sorry for that. I will try to do better, but life has away of getting in the way. And days have a way of running together. Just remember that if I hurt your feelings or said something you didn't like, I really didn't mean it. It was just foot in mouth disease, and I am sorry. I would never intentionally say anything to hurt you.

   Now if you will excuss me I need to facebook, twitter, email and call some very important people in my life. Dang...it's too late to call now but I can at least do the rest.

   How about you?

   And before I forget to all those who are following and reading this blog....

THANK YOU. I REALLY APRECIATE ALL OF YOU.

   I just wanted you know that now.


   Oh and for those who may not know who the Radio City Rockettes are, check this out....

What a View...#fridayflash

What a View...

   What a view. I can see for miles from up here. I have never really appreciated this view, never really looked at it. I was always too busy to take the time. It's only by accident that I am enjoying it now.

   I can see the deep navigation channel from here.  The water changes from the light blue of the shallows to a deep navy. Those small islands look like bright green paint spatters.

   Over there you can see the chemical storage tanks. Hey some of them do they do have floating roofs, would you look at that.

   In this direction you can see the skyline of downtown. Boy that sure has grown since I first moved here. Just look at all that traffic. I sure am glad I don't have to drive in that.

   I always knew there were a lot of ships on these waterways, but I never realized the variety. The big cargo ships, loaded with shipping boxes that look like a child's building blocks. The flat barges with everything from machinery to piles of ore or dirt or what ever that is. Boy would my kids like to climb those hills.

   There goes a tour boat. Man they do they keep that thing clean, the sun reflecting off that white can blind you. I can barely make out all the people waving at me. Might as well wave back, Hi.

   And of course, all the tug boats are running around trying to heard everything in their way. Kinda like that new blue heeler puppy we got that herds everything with legs no matter what the size.

   There's the Coast guard cutters. The authority of the waves. I have a lot of respect for those men and women. They are out there everyday risking their lives and limbs to keep us safe.

   Ah, here comes the fire boat. Would you look at those water guns. Man I would love to get my hands on one of those. I could think of a couple of people I would like to soak. Looks like they got a big latter for rescues too.

   Yeah the view up here is great. But, since I had 4 cups of coffee this morning I sure hope they hurry and get me untangled from this damn crane.

©2011 Pamela Jo

Houston Ship Channel

One year today...

   Oh goodness.... I started this blog one year ago today. Can you believe it? I made my first anniversary.

This calls for a celebration!!!

   During the past year I have met so many interesting people on line, Mothers, Fathers, daughters and sons, city dwellers and country people, photographers, musicians, actors, directors, and of course authors. Lots and lots of authors.

   I have been able to travel and learn about the world, through the eyes of those who live there. I have seen so many wonderful places and things, through the lenses of some really amazing photographers. (India...Coffee Rings Everywhere and Australia....Publish or Parish, just to name 2 of many)

   I have been entertained daily with the humor, and the insightful stories of great story tellers. (I never realize how many people out there spent their days thinking up ways murder someone and getting paid for it, instead of arrested.) I have also discovered that Death loves peanuts and drives a Harley.

I wonder if it is this fire bike???

   I have learned I am not alone in this big old world. There are others out there just as crazy as I am. (What a relief. I will know a lot of people when they finally lock me away.)


   To all of you out there who take the time to read about little old me. (Humbly bows head) Thank You.  I don't know what I would do without you to keep me sane...ish.

   If you would like to read my very first post, you will find it here.


   (I wonder if I could knock off the IRS and call it research....)

Mermaid or Whale...

   I got an email from a friend who passed along this story. After I read it I knew I would have to pass it along. Take a moment to read this, then decide.

Would you want to be a mermaid ...




Or a whale....





        Recently, in a large city in Australia ,
        a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in 
        the window of a gym.
        It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"
        
        A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not 
        match those of the woman on the poster,
        responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.
        
                         
        To Whom It May Concern,
        Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins,
        sea lions, curious humans.)
        They have an active sex life,
        get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. 
        They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing
        themselves with shrimp.
        They play and swim in the seas,
        seeing wonderful places like Patagonia ,
        the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia .
        Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs.      
        They are incredible creatures
        and virtually have no predators
        other than humans.
        They are loved, protected and admired
        by almost everyone in the world.
        
        Mermaids don't exist.
        If they did exist,
        they would be lining up outside the offices
        of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity 
        crisis. Fish or human?
        They don't have a sex life
        because they kill men who get close to them, 
        not to mention how could they have sex?
        Just look at them ... where is IT?
        Therefore, they don't have kids either.
        Not to mention,
        who wants to get close to a girl who smells
        like a fish store?
        
        
        The choice is perfectly clear to me:

        I want to be a whale.
        
        P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads
        the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, 
        but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids,
        a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, 
        and a piece of chocolate with my friends. 
        
        With time, we gain weight
        because we accumulate so much information and wisdom
        in our heads that when there is no more room,
        it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.
        So we aren't heavy,
        we are enormously cultured,
        educated and happy.
        Beginning today,
        when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, 
        ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨

Image via Wikipedia

When was the last time you saw a mermaid leap for joy???

   She makes a good argument, but she had me at chocolate and ice cream. Let's see you get to travel, see exotic places and marine life. Have lots of friends and not have to worry about your diet....
   
    I want to be a whale. How about you?


   

What a Dad...

   I saw an article in the Houston Chronicle about the "Wave at The Bus" Dad. If you haven't seen this check it out.

   This dad gets up everyday of the school year and waves his teenager off to school on the bus. Sounds sweet doesn't it....Well... He waves every morning in a different costume. Yes, you read that right...costume. The Little Mermaid, a Pirate, a blushing BRIDE..(yes, he wore a real wedding dress.) just to name a few.

   This dad and the whole family have been written up in numerous papers. Is it embarrassing to his son... of course, that's the whole point. But the kid has a great attitude about it too.

   All I have to say is....

"Way to go Dale. I wish there was someone like you in my neighborhood. If there was I think I would become a morning person just to see you wave."


  Check out their website for the pictures. Since I didn't have permission to post one yet, I didn't.
But you have to see these costumes.  Click here for Wave at the Bus.




In honor of Dale's White Wedding Wave...

Related articles

• Most Embarrassing Dad Ever in 170 Costumes (abcnews.go.com)
• Embarrassing Dad Waves at Son's Bus in 170 Costumes (newser.com)
• Dad sends teen off on the school bus with a wave a day (timesunion.com)

Forget the back, poor me...

   You know the old joke about your back goes out more than you do....

    Well, my back decided to go out today, and hasn't gotten back yet... or at least not in a correct UN-painful position. But then it could be that it just pissed the muscles off by going out without them.
   What ever the cause, the rest of me is left to suffer the consequences. That means it is really hard to sit for long or stand or squat.

   What even worse … I know how to pick things up and bend and everything to prevent this from happening.  I was a pain therapist. I taught people how to take care of their backs. Okay I lectured most of them, but hey they wouldn't listen.... just like me.
   I told them over and over "do as I say....NOT as I do".

   Oh well I guess I will head to the bed with an ice pack and pout because once again my back went out without me.

Oh well, the upside of this is no housework...

I use to have this book... It has some great exercises in it 
for back pain as well as the correct posture to prevent it.

Gossip Lines of the Past...

   I was looking at the Lehman's site today and I saw this poem. I knew I had to share it....



 

Image via Wikipedia

A Clothesline Poem (Anonymous)


A clothesline was a news forecast, to neighbors passing by


There were no secrets you could keep when clothes were hung to dry.


It also was a friendly link, for neighbors always knew


If company had stopped on by to spend a night or two.


For then you’d see the “fancy” sheets and towels upon the line


You’d see the “company tablecloth” with intricate design.


The line announced a baby’s birth, from folks who lived inside


As brand-new infant clothes were hung, so carefully with pride!


The ages of the children could, so readily by known;


By watching how the sizes changed, you’d know how much they’d grown!


It also told when illness struck, as extra sheets were hung;


Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too haphazardly were strung.


It also said, “Gone on vacation now,” when lines hung limp and bare.


It told,  “We’re back!” when full lines sagged with not an inch to spare!


New folks in town were scorned upon, if wash was dingy and gray,


As neighbors carefully raised their brows, and looked the other way…


But clotheslines now are of the past, for dryers make work much less.


Now what goes on inside a home is anybody’s guess!


I really miss that way of life, it was a friendly sign;


When neighbors knew each other best by what hung on the line.


   So it has been a human trait since time began to peak at your neighbors, and then spread the news. Always in a most concerned way, of course.
 
   Oscar Wilde once said "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

   Just what kind of good neighbor would we be if we let that happen on our block. We are not our brother's keeper, but we are are neighbor's public relations person. It is an important job, that we must not ignore.

   Of course, today we have home owner's Associations' rules banning outdoor clothes lines. This makes the job a lot harder to do.

V is for Volcano...

   I was stumbling around on internet on day (no, I was NOT drinking...okay I had coffee) when I found this....

Eyjafuallajokull Volcano, Iceland

    This was the picture of the day at The National Geographics site.  This is the volcano erruption that played havic with the air travel last year.  Now I see why...WOW.

N is for Nest...Eagles Nest...

   There was a story in our area newspaper at the first of the month about a live cam on a Bald Eagles nest. The nest had 3 eggs that were expected to hatch any day . This is a video of the 2nd egg to hatch.




   They say the nest is 80 feet in the air. It is 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep and weights about 1000 lbs. Wow... I could fit in that nest. Though I probably weight more than the eagles do.

   If you would like to see a live shot of the nest you can go to this link and see whats happening now.
Raptor Resource Project.


  You will see the mom and dad feeding and caring for the young ones. It you squeamish I must warn you about the dead animals they bring to the nest to eat. I found it fascinating, but then I am a little weird.

Or so I have been told.

Image via Wikipedia

   There are actually Bald Eagles that live around our area. We see them flying over head every once in awhile. They are huge and their shadow covers more than half of our roof. It is an amazing thing to see.

J is for JSC....

   I was going to dedicate today to all the Js in my family... 2 Grandfathers, an Uncle, my Father, my brother all named James, there is probably a whole lot more that I can't remember. Then there are 2 Joshuas. I have an Aunt Joyce (who by the way named ME). A cousin Jaeneen (I know I spelled it wrong, sorry my mind isn't working). And way too many to remember others.

   But then I heard this...

Houston we've had a problem: 'Space City' snubbed in bid for retired space shuttle

Image via Wikipedia

...."The shuttle really is a program initiated here in Houston," said George Abbey, former director of Johnson Space Center from 1996 to 2001. "We're the ones who came up with the concept. We designed it. We tested it. We operated it. Certainly Houston ought to be number one on the list." 

  I am so spitting mad right now. (Sorry I have paper towels over on the table there)  The entire world knows that The Kennedy Space Center and the Johnson Space Center are the home of NASA. But because Texas didn't vote the way certain people think they should, we are being punished. I have read papers from all the cities in contetion for the shuttles and the commenters in all of them say they hope to get the 4th shuttle. The other 3 should go to the Smithsonian, Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center.

Image via Wikipedia

  Is it just me? 

   I remember driving to Houston as a child, just to see the Johnson Space Center. We toured all the rockets and looked at the Gemini capsule and the lunar lander. I was amazed at all the different languages I heard and people I saw. I was hoping to meet a real live Astronaut. Just check out the website here.

   Even today most of the Astronauts and their family's have homes in the Houston area. They train and work at the JSC. The honest to goodness Rocket Scientist live and work here.

  Okay I am sorry I just needed to vent. 

   

   Now if you will excuse me I think I would like to go send a couple of people to Moon myself.

“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”

 Mark Twain  1835-1910

E is for.... Excitment.

   I couldn't think of an E post. My muses must have been sleeping...Then my stepson called.  He was talking so fast on the answering machine all I got was “Hey Pop its me....”

   So what is the post you ask.... Excitement.
  
   Excitement, changes a person. You can just see and hear them morphing into an other being right in front of you.  They stand up taller. Their eyes light up. Their voice get stronger and higher. And the words literally explode out of them.

    If that person is a fast talker usually...go luck trying to listen to them. My ears are can not listen that fast. I just try to catch the major words as they fly by, and fill in the rest.

   An other thing about Enthusiasm is it is contagious and highly addictive. Luckily they haven't found a cure for it yet. But I am sure some evil person is out there as we speak trying to find one.

    I wish today is that everyone out there in the blog-a-spear catches it.

 “Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”
 

 Gloria Steinem

C is for creative cussing...

   First off I would like to give Giggle, Laugh, Cry credit for this blog. She had a B blog about ... are you ready “Butterfly butts”. Her daughter recommended it, saying its funny. She was right. Her mom said her daughter used “Butterfly Butts” like most people use “Oh, Shoot”. It got me thinking about cursing and the creative way we use it.
  When I was younger, I didn't cuss... at least not the words you hear today. Today, thanks to having to fill out multiple copies of government forms...I would make a sailor proud...but not my mom. So I am trying to clean up my act....again, and it reminded me of all the ways people cuss when they don't want to get caught cussing.

Some of my favorite examples are...

 

Yosemite Sam's  “Dag Nabit” or is that one word...

 

Ritchie Cunningham's  “H...E...double toothpicks”...

 


Marty the Zebra in Madagascar “Sugar...Honey...Ice...Tea” I had to hear this twice before I caught it.  (Okay, okay I like cartoons. Who doesn't? That and comedy are 2 more favorite C words.)

   So I have come to the conclusion that I agree with Mel Gibson's character in “Signs”. Curse words are not so much the word as how you use them. So why not use something that makes you smile and gets you out of the bad mood your in.

   I am sure you all have examples of creative cursing yourselves. Why not share them in the comments below.

Artwork by Pamela Jo

B is for Blue Bonnets...

   This time of year is a special time for Texans. It is time the bluebonnets and other wildflowers put on a spectacular show. The show is free. Everyone is invited and it can be seen on roadsides all around the state.

Image via Wikipedia

   There are pictures going back generations of Texas families and children posed in the middle of a field of blue. These road trips are still made today. Drive any highway in Texas and you will find cars on the side of the road next to the bluebonnets with cameras out.

   In honor of this annual event, I am posting the poem the Legend of the Bluebonnet. Enjoy...

The Legend of the Bluebonnet

The Texas fields are covered
With a blanket of deep blue.
But for a little Indian girl,
This would not be true.

Texas land was buried and dry.
Rains just would not come.
Indians danced and prayed for rain,
And beat upon their drums.

The Chief made a proclamation.
He appealed to one and all.
A prized possession must be sacrificed
Before the rains would fall.

The Indian camp was silent,
While each person searched his heart.
But when it came to sacrifice,
With possessions they would not part.

Suddenly a little girl stepped forth,
Holding her blue-clad doll.
She placed it in the roaring fire
and raindrops began to fall.

The rain brought forth the grass,
Among its blades, flowers of blue.
To be a sign for all the time
Of a love so pure and true.

Author Unknown

   If you would like to see more of these beautiful flowers check out the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center here.

Daylight savings time...

   I want to move to Arizona. Not only do they have great scenery like this...

 
And this...

     They don't have this...

   I really hate Daylight savings time. It is the only thing I have against Ben Franklin. But at least our founding fathers back then didn't like the idea of daylight savings time either.

   Personally I think the coffee lobbyist paid off congress to get it passed.

   Now if you will excuse me, I am going back to bed. (Yawning loudly) Maybe when I wake up I will find out it has all been a bad dream...

Just needed something wild and crazy...

   We had a rough couple of days out here in the woods.  The temps dropped to the mid twenties at night.  No big deal except we don't have central heat or any heat beside a little ceramic room heater.  So we stayed in bed under the covers and watched DVD's and drank lots of hot coffee and hot cocoa and hot whatever.  The days warmed up to the 60s so that's not bad.

Image via Wikipedia

   Then yesterday the weather warmed up a lot, but  Jack started having chest pains so off to the ER we go. Not only were we in there for 6 hours, the staff didn't look at all like they do on TV.

Image via Wikipedia

   They kept him overnight for observation, but sent me home.  They said it was because he had a roommate.  But I think they were getting annoyed because I kept asking the people in ICU to let me know when Death and Chronos show up because I want to meet them.
   Anyway they released him today with more prescriptions.  I do believe all Doctor's own of stock in the drug companies and are trying to increase their dividends.





   So after the wild and crazy week we have been having I decided I really needed this today...






   You just can't be upset with Steve Martin playing.  Wait I have got to see this again...

   Yep, all better now.  Thank you so much Steve Martin.