An Important Note to all Three of my Readers!

My email has been out since Monday evening. I have not deserted my blog! And I have not been able to read blogs. I'm posting this from the local library. Hopefully I will be back online by Monday or Tuesday.

Sumo Valentine Wishes

You'll probably have to click on the picture and make it bigger to read the "Happy Valentine's Day" on his waistband. I don't know why it blurred. Anyway, have a lovely day!!

And thanks for all the birthday greetings!

My Pal the Sumo Wrestler

I thought maybe this photo would make up for me not getting any bootie shots from Mardi Gras. My pal the Sumo Wrestler has an announcement to make: Friday was my birthday. It was a good day, as birthdays go.


(And no, that Happy Birthday message is not really on this guy's bootie! That's a Photoshop trick. He is standing outside the cheap tire store that is up the street from where I work. He is advertising "Sumo Savings" on tires. I see his bootie every day on my home from work. It just cracks me up. As I was mocking my daughter for not seeing this guy on her way to school, she tells me they had a "weird cowboy" waving at everyone last week for the rodeo. I don't know how I managed to miss him, but I did. Guess I have to quit making fun of my daughter for not being observant.)

Happy Birthday to me!

The End

Mardi Gras

Sorry, no bootie shots this Mardi Gras. I started out to at least get a couple of shots before the parade actually started. I brought my 35 mm film camera and my digital. I wanted to take a few black and whites with the film camera but Walgreen's did not have any black and white film. I went on to Books-a-Million to pick up a book I had ordered. They are located about midway through the parade route. The traffic was already horrendous and people were milling about like ants. I decided to bring myself home and take a nap. Besides it was supposed to rain and the wind was blowing something fierce and it is hot and humid today. We had to turn the air conditioner on last night. See? Just thinking about getting out in all that crowd keeps me from thinking happy, pretty, smiling thoughts!

There is a dark side to Mardi Gras, or at least, I see a dark side. Honestly? I just did not want to get out in that mess this year. I know a lot of people are having a good time and no harm is done, but I tend to see mostly the drunk people or the teenagers walking around stoned and my mind (and heart) takes all that in as a horrible loss and a waste. I've walked too close to the devastation that pills and alcohol can do to enjoy such an event. I think of parents who must be at home worrying about their teenager and wondering if this will be the night they get a phone call from the police, or worse, the hospital. Tonight I say a prayer for these folks who wander aimlessly about the parade route, and for the officers who are out in force trying to keep the worst from happening, and for the people who wait at home for them. May God bless them all and help the lost and hurting to find their way.

I did manage to find a bit of odd beauty in the day. I shot this interesting mushroom in my front yard. It's unique look makes me smile.

Smiley Thoughts

Can you believe January is gone? I sure can't! I am behind on my blog reading and commenting. There has not been much excitement around here. The weather has been crazy, warm one day and cold and wet the next.

I've been trying to think of a theme for February that would encourage me to post more regularly but so far I have not come up with one. For now I will just write about a few things that made me smile...

Tonight I saw the most clever billboard for a Cajun seasoning. There was a picture of the bottle of seasoning and the words, "As seen on Okrah" (I think there might have been a plate of fried okra on the billboard too). I just cracked up.

The last three mornings when I take the dog out, I can hear a rooster crowing somewhere in the distance. I live in the city limits. I have no idea where this rooster lives, but it makes me smile to hear him "cock-a-doodle-doo-ing"!

I remembered the little made up (boring) lullabye I used to sing to my eldest daughter while trying to get her to sleep when she was small...

Close your eyes,
just relax,
think a lot of pretty, happy, smiley thoughts,
and soon you will be dreaming
of rainbows and moonbeams.

I think for February, I will try and focus on thinking a lot of pretty, happy, smiley thoughts while I wait for brighter weather (and dream of rainbows and moonbeams!--Hey, I never said I was a good lullabye writer!).

Storms and Movies

I know I've been scarce with posting. I've had a few extra things going on in the background and I've had trouble getting adjusted to the anti-depressant I've been taking. I am starting my third month on it and I'm still not sure the benefits are worth the side effects I seem to have. Month one was okay. Month two, all I wanted to do was sleep when I came in from work. The medicine has calmed my thoughts down somewhat and has made me a bit more mellow, but the truth is, I am already pretty darn mellow. But the price for the calmness is my creativity. It just seems to run out the door when I get on this stuff. I thought the cost of coping with the depressive thoughts was too high on me physically and emotionally. It was hard work, but I was coping. Now I don't have to work at coping with depression, but it comes at the cost of expressing myself creatively. I'm not so sure that is a worthwhile investment for me.

In other news, if any of you get the chance to see an independent film called Little Chenier, go see it. The brother and sister team who wrote the screenplay and produced the movie are from here. It does a fairly good job of giving a peek into Cajun life and the story is a good one. There are a couple of places where the plot turns in directions that you just can't imagine. The ending turned out so totally unexpected that I walked out of the theater madder than an old wet hen about it all! I saw the movie again with my mother and daughter and all is now well, since I already knew what was going to happen!

Always when I see a movie like this, (or a movie about Southerners) the first thing to irritate me is the accent. Cajun accents sound different depending on what area of the state they are from. Be forewarned, the accents in the movie sounded slightly off to our ears, especially to the ears of the woman I work with, who is Cajun. I think part of the problem is that they tend to exaggerate it a bit. One of the quirks of Cajun pronunciation is that many of them can't (or don't) pronounce the "th" sound, so that "three" sounds like "tree", or "third" sounds like "turd" (which was always entertaining to us as youngsters). In the movie, I noticed it a lot with the word "think", as in "Ya tink we'll ever get rain again?" Anyway, in real life, the Cajun accent is melodic and beautiful to hear, especially from the older folks.

I've lived and worked around Cajuns all my life, but I am not Cajun. I was pretty much unaware of the lifestyle depicted in the movie before the last few years, when my son was staying with my Cajun father-in-law and crabbing with him. He was staying in Pecan Island which is up the road from Grand Chenier. Little Chenier is somewhere in there, close to Grand Chenier. The map shows the route we would take to go visit him. All the area along the coast was devastated by Hurricane Rita. They had finished filming the movie a month before Rita came through. At the end of the movie there is a before and after photo of Little Chenier Road.

This is a photo I'd taken of the post office in Grand Chenier, about a month before the storm.

Sand Hill Crane Birth

This series of photos was taken by a Florida dentist. He did not actually catch the hatching, but he took some gorgeous photos and put them in a slideshow. Even if you don't normally like nature photos, these are worth seeing. Go take a look, enjoy the sheer beauty and relax!

Sand Hill Cranes