Category Archives: blogging

All Wet on Wednesday

Feeling yet unable to write a real post and noting that I did not indulge in a Monstrous Monday, I thought I would let a few of our creepy friends cheer me up a little.  Since I adore alliteration (see what I did there?), I declare today Watery Wednesday and I search for creatures from the deep.  Or even the shallow, to match my mind.

“Oh, THAT’S where I left my lady in a bathing suit!”

Who doesn’t love Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)?  Oh, I suppose YOU don’t (you know who you are).  Julie Adams (pictured here with the green guy) (I’m guessing he’s green; the movie was black-and-white) is one of my Likes on Facebook.  She comes across as a very gracious lady.

“Am I interrupting?”

Less gracious but still all wet is the title character from JAWS (1975). I loves me some JAWS.

The alligator is off camera asking his agent why he isn’t in this shot.

This is Lake Placid (1999), a movie I really like.  I was looking for a shot of the alligator but could not find one.

My mood is, alas, not improving, so I shall close with a darker but still wet movie.  Carnival of Souls (1962) begins with a rather horrifying scene involving a muddy river.

 

The look on her face is about how I feel.

I got this shot from a Facebook page about the movie, https://www.facebook.com/carnivalofsouls1962/.  I like to give credit whenever I use it.

So it seems I am having a Wuss-out Wednesday after all.  These things happen to a daily blogger, at least to this one.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

An Idea for a Blog Post?

I did it again.  I went a day without posting so want to make two posts today.  I considered getting up at four, so that one could argue it was still the middle of the night (even though we all know damn well it is not; thus we kid ourselves into believing what we like). However, I felt I needed the rest more than I needed to meet my own arbitrary goals.  So here I sit at 7 a.m. trying to remember what I composed in my head at four before deciding to just go back to sleep.  It probably wasn’t very good anyways.

That raises a subject I may or may not have blogged about before:  writers are often given the advice to keep a notebook and pencil by the bed, because you will wake up in the middle of the night with a truly brilliant idea that you will NOT remember.  Can any of you writers out there confirm to me that you have actually had such an idea, written it down in the night, AND (and here’s the kicker) still thought it was brilliant the next morning?  I never have.  And now I find sleep so necessary and yet so elusive, I don’t even want to wake myself up enough to write it down.

I know, I know, you will argue (you know who you are) that if I DON’T write it down, how will I know if it was or was not brilliant?  Can I really be so profligate with my ideas that I am willing to just throw away all these inspirations?  What do I think I am, some perpetual idea machine?

I must admit, that is a point.  For example, one reason I did not make my blog post when I had time yesterday is that I could not for the life of me think of anything to write.  In my defense, it was not the only reason.  I also wanted to finish knitting a prayer shawl so I can get it blessed after church this morning (the reason sleep was so necessary at four).

So tonight when I go to bed, it will be with a notebook and pen at my side (maybe this will at least inspire me to clean off my bedside table; it needs it).  Eventually perhaps I can write a blog post about the results.

 

A Side Effect of Wuss-out Wednesday

So remember last week when Wuss-out Wednesday was really a thing?  At least I posted ON Wednesday!  It is Thursday early morning (by my watch and calendar if not by the timestamp on my WordPress account), and this is Wednesday’s post.  I’m thinking my mysterious malady is nothing more than very odd migraines, manifesting more as dizziness than pain.  I don’t think there is much I can do about it, though, since the side effects of most medications (which I often experience) is dizziness.  And please don’t tell me I experience side effects because I EXPECT to; I’ve been feeling light-headed and/or falling asleep on pills since before I ever heard of side-effects.

Where was I?  Ah yes, nowhere in particular.  Just hoping to  type in a few words and pretend it is a blog post so I can still call myself a daily blogger.  Is it permissible to resort to monster pictures at 4:30 in the morning?  I think so.

He is probably drinking tea, but I feel this is an appropriate picture.

Caffeine will not solve all my problems, but at least I may stay awake to deal with them.  I am definitely enjoying my coffee this morning.

“One more thing…”

And look at me, over 200 words.  I call that respectable.  Back to coffee and hoping for a better day for myself and for my readers.  And perhaps a better blog post later, but no promises.

 

Severed Heads on Melting Monday

I promised myself a Monstrous Monday post, and I felt it would be better to get new (to this blog) monster pictures.  After quite some time of puttering around Facebook looking for them, I found not a monster, exactly, but what one might see as monstrous.

Some people just don’t like to sleep alone.

This is a shot from one of my favorite movies to watch on a Severed Head Sunday, which alas, I did not have yesterday: Straitjacket with Joan Crawford.  I sure do like movies that feature severed heads.  I looked for more pictures.

She’s giving him the side eye.

Another big favorite of mine: The Brain that Wouldn’t Die.  The sad thing about the movie is that the head wanted to die, but the obsessed boyfriend would not allow it.  These mad scientists always think they know best.  It took me a while to find a third photograph.  I tried to think of movies that featured severed heads and thought of Sleepy Hollow, or, as I like to call it, The Headless Everybody.  But all I could find was pictures of Johnny Depp looking sultry.  So I tried Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, with another of my favorites, Bette Davis.  Charlotte is more contemporary with the pictures I’ve shared thus far.

Very atmospheric, isn’t it?

I could not find a picture of the severed head, but I’m not really surprised, because in the movie the head is more often talked about than seen.

So this is my Monstrous Monday post.  Foolish, you say?  In my defense, it has been meltingly hot all day, and I have been at work for the first time in two weeks.  And if you’re going to ding me for whining, just go away.  I will too.  Perhaps we can meet again tomorrow on Tired Tuesday.

 

Non-Sequitur Theatrical Throwbacks

It often happens that I take a blogger’s sick day with a foolish post only to feel worse the next day.  Seriously, I have had a headache (sinus? migraine? tension?  who knows!) since this morning.  It was not bad enough to necessitate my leaving work, so I had that going for me.  I got home and managed to get one chore done, now I need to make my blog post before doing a couple of other things I really, really want to have done.

What a boring lead paragraph!  You would not think I was an experienced daily blogger, would you?  Then again, how do I know what anybody else thinks? I shall not pursue this train of thought, however, because I fear it would lead to half-baked philosophy, which is the purview of Lame Post Friday.  This is Non-Sequitur Thursday, no matter what the time stamp says (sometimes these things are dated a day off, and I am not technologically savvy enough to fix it).

Well, I need to post something, headache or no, so I think I will go for a Throw-back Thursday theme by posting a couple of pictures from my Media Library.

To be, or not to… Oh, wait, wrong play.

When I was looking for photos the other day, I saw the pictures from the LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company, production of The Tempest last summer.  Alas, I fear that will be no Shakespeare play this summer, but I hope for great things next year.  The above is a full cast shot from the Utica Zoo, a great venue where we had one performance.  We performed in several different places.

Another great theatre memory!

Since this is Non-Sequitur as well as Throw-back Thursday, I jump to spring of 2016 and Leading Ladies at Ilion Little Theatre.  I’m not in this picture, because I directed, but my husband, Steven, is the handsome if uptight-looking guy in the suit jacket, far left.

I just can’t believe what he’s telling me to say.

OK, one of me and Steven.  This is spring of — eeek 2012!  We were Dr. Chumley and Veda in Harvey at Ilion Little Theatre.  This was what Steven referred to as “our big scene.”  I am on the phone with Elwood P. Dowd, and Dr. Chumley just told me to tell Elwood that Harvey is in the bathtub.  I can’t believe he dared say the word “bathtub” to me after what I went through that morning!  That will may sense to anybody who knows the play, or who has seen the movie.

Well, that did not turn out to be too bad a post.  Or do I flatter myself? No matter.  I posted something, and now I can lie down and wait for my headache to go away.  Happy Thursday, everybody.

 

Now I Want Some More Wine

So I log onto WordPress and hit “Add New Post,” I confess with very little idea of what I was going to post about, and I see this:

Akismet & Privacy.

To help your site be compliant with GDPR and other laws requiring notification of tracking, Akismet can display a notice to your users on your contact form. This feature is disabled by default, however, if you or your audience is located in Europe, you need to turn it on.

Please enable or disable this feature. More information.

Dismiss this notice.

I don’t know whether to enable or disable these things, so I hit “more information.”  And it went on forever!  I don’t have time to read all this shit!  Can’t they just condense it all into a paragraph or two?  Apparently they can’t.  They say in maybe the third paragraph, “To keep things simple…”  That is when I look off to the side to see the size of the bar you can scroll up and down with.  The smaller that bar, the less likely I am to scroll.  At least this bar isn’t a teeny little rectangle. I ought to be able to read this thing.

No, I just can’t.  As I typed in the above paragraph, I kept clicking back to the tab of “Privacy Notice for Visitors,” and I just can’t do it.  In my defense, I have had a headache all day.  This sometimes happens to me on a Saturday.  Regular readers will recall that I was sipping red wine while I posted last night, and I’m sure some of you are judging me and saying I DESERVE a headache.  For heavens’ sake, I didn’t have that much wine!

Regarding today’s post:  I ran this morning and thought I could do a Saturday Running Commentary.  Unfortunately, my headache kicked in shortly after my shower.  Having a headache all day did not bode well for having adventures sufficient for a Scattered Saturday post.  I think a Slacker Saturday post might be eligible, but I just feel paralyzed by this Privacy thing.  Do I enable it or not?

I appeal to my fellow bloggers:  have any of you managed to read the entire “More Information” tab and if so, did you enable or disable?  Once I solve this problem, I feel I can go back to my regularly scheduled posting.  In the meantime, I think I’ll call this a Stymied Saturday Post.  What do you think, does that work?

 

 

George Zucco on Monstrous Monday

I had vague hopes (not high hopes, as you see) of making a real post, perhaps writing it while on break at work.  I also had what I thought were firm plans to exercise after work.  I should have known better.  Now here I am, in a monstrous mood, typing off the top of my head and hoping for a Monstrous Monday post.  I do like monsters.

“Y’see, dock, it hurts right about here…”

Here is George Zucco and… a friend (I bet you thought I was going to say his mummy) (you know who you are).  I had seen a picture of George Zucco and a gorilla in one of my movie groups earlier and thought I might download it.  I went back to Facebook and searched “Geroge Zucco.”  There it was!  At the last minute I thought, what if it belongs to somebody and I was supposed to get permission?  So I changed my search to “George Zucco public photos.”  I kind of like the mummy better anyways.  It is more monstrous.

I was introduced to George Zucco (it just feels right to use his entire name every time) in our 50 Horror Classics DVD collection.  He is described as “marvelously theatrical.”  I’m sure I’ve written blog posts about some of his movies.  I really must start doing movie write-ups again.  They are such fun.  For me, at least.

Spoiler alert: they do more than just walk in this flick.

I think this is one of the movies I wrote about.   If I was better about tagging, I could probably find it and link back to it.  And here we come to the ugly truth about me.

I still don’t know why the monster was so mad.

I actually do not remember if I saw this one or not, but I thought it would be nice to include another picture with George Zucco.  My new ambition for the week:  to watch a movie featuring George Zucco and write about it.  It is good to make a big plan on a Monday.

 

Running Away From My Health Problems

I think it is an impressive structure.

As I approached Herkimer’s Historic Four Corners on my run this afternoon, I remembered I had pictures in my Media Library I could include in today’s Running Commentary.  Lacking a really catchy lead, I decided to open with the Courthouse.

Yes, after almost two months, I returned to running today.  My tiresome health problems continue to dog me, but I figured taking it easy was not helping me, I might as well try a little exertion.  For another reason, I miss running, and I thought I saw a 10K going on somewhere nearby in April.  I can be ready to run a 10K in April.  Or I can run it anyways, if I’m not ready for it.  But I could be partially ready for it if I started running today.

It was 39 degrees according to my thermostat.  Not too warm for leggings and long sleeves.  I wore a new sports bra I bought some weeks ago.  Ooh, it was soft.  I must purchase more new sports bras.  I put a sweatshirt and bottle of water on the deck rail, ready for my cool-down walk, and got started.

Regular readers know I prefer to run on the sidewalk.  It is safer, and I find it more pleasant.  However, winter sidewalks, especially when things have been thawing and re-freezing, can be treacherous.  I chose the road, left side facing traffic, as we are supposed to do but many do not.  I regretted my choice when I turned onto German Street.  Too much traffic!  And mud puddles.  I decided to only go one block and turn down Henry, a quieter street.

Ah, much better.  I noticed the sidewalk did not look too bad and decided to try it.  Long stretches were bare and dry, some were merely wet.  I shuffled carefully over some icy patches.  There were sections of the road that looked worse than the sidewalk, but you’ll have that.  I alternated sidewalk and road, avoiding ice and icy puddles whenever possible.  I ran up Main Street, which in the downtown area had lovely stretches of bare, dry sidewalk.

I used to go to this church.

It was as I ran by Christ Episcopal Church, narrating in my head, that I remembered about the pictures.  There is nothing like pictures to pep up a blog post.  I was able to stay on the sidewalk till the 1834 Jail.

Is the picture less effective because you can see green lawn and leaves? Sorry if I have ruined the mood.

Continuing up Main Street in the road got a little scary, because traffic picked up and I had to go around parked cars.  Still, every time I looked at the sidewalk, I felt no inclination to go there.  German Street was no better, and traffic there was worse.  Yikes!  I only went one block on German then turned down Prospect.  Phew!

I had planned to run for 20 minutes, my usual goal when I have not been running in a while.  However, I made it for 26 minutes.  As I walked my cool-down, my legs felt TERRIFIC!  I kept repeating to myself, I must run or walk every day.  We’ll see how that goes tomorrow, when the temperature is supposed to drop, abruptly and considerably.  At least it will be Friday!

 

Don’t Despair: Just Write the Post!

This is the kind of nonsense in which I indulge on Facebook lately.  The first I originally typed into this space, then thought, “I can’t start a blog post with this!”  So I moved it to Facebook.  Now I put it back here, just to be that way:

I can’t do it.  I can’t write a blog post about Why I Can’t Write a Blog Post.  And, I can’t write a blog post.

Then I remembered something I had meant to post in my pun group, Punmanship: A Salute to Bennett Cerf and other inveterate punsters.  It is a true story:

I said I would throw my hands up in despair, and my husband said he would like to see that. When I did, he said it did not look like despair. I said, “It was dis pair of hands!” The fact that he laughed explains our long and happy marriage.

Well, that got me up to 15o words anyways.  My choices now are:  (1) make a really short post; (2) throw in a picture or two and get silly; (3) never mind what choice #3 is, I’m going to add pictures and get silly.

Alas, Frangelica, we never knew ya!

Never mind what this originally represented:  these are all players in the murder mystery I am writing for a fundraiser for the Herkimer County Historical Society on March 31.  I worked a little more on it today but have far to go.  I shall give further updates as events warrant.

The Suiter House, home of the Herkimer County Historical Society.

Since the plot of the murder mystery centers around an upcoming exhibit at the Historical Society, I include a picture of The Suiter House. The mystery’s title is Secrets at Suiter House.  I believe I wrote a blog post about that.

Ooh, look at that:  I am up to 300 words.  I guess I could write a blog post after all.

 

I Repeat: I’m Tired!

Oh, is it ever Tired Tuesday!  It is actually a little embarrassing that I am SO tired.  My job is not that difficult, my life is not completely stress-filled, I’m not even that old and unhealthy.  I am, however, one of the kvetchiest babies you are likely to encounter.  Well, I will attempt to make some semblance of a blog post without too much whining.  I wonder if I can find any pictures of tired monsters.  I am almost always in the mood for monsters.

A quick look at Facebook revealed that last July I made a post called Sad Monsters on Tired Tuesday.  I do repeat myself, don’t I?

Well, it is kind of sad, how this big fellow ended up.

Here is an apropos picture, because we almost watched this movie the other night.  I am really into watching old movies lately, especially monster movies.  However, Steven was not really into this one, on account of all the time Fay Wray spends screaming.  He gets a little tired of that.

“Every Who down in Whoville, liked Christmas a lot…”

You know what, I still need a little Christmas.  Since the Grinch is a kind of a monster, and Boris Karloff played a very famous monster, I am still in keeping with my monster theme.

If I continue this post, I will commence to whining in a most unbecoming fashion.  So I am going to call this my Tired Tuesday post for the week.  Well, maybe one more picture.

I am wearing these as I type.

It’s me as The Abominable Snowman.  Sometimes I embrace my inner monster.  Happy Tuesday, everyone.