Category Archives: humor

I Get By With A Little Help From My Monsters

Today is another Blogger’s Sick Day, and half a sick day from work as well.  The pain of my migraine subsided, but the nausea remained.  Just to whine and cry a little (or a lot).  However, I think I can manage a Monstrous Monday Post.  I do hate to miss a day.

Who says you can’t get a head?

Last night Vincent Price would have been more than welcome to take off my head, as he has apparently done here with Peter Lorre.  I guess these two are not technically monsters, but I think we can stretch a point.

A self portrait? 

Here is an authentic monster as well as a graphic depiction of how I feel.  Oops, a little more whining creeps in.  Then again, that is like the Blob too.  Remember the theme song:  “It creeps, and leaps, and crawls and sprawls…”

He’s nice!

I add a little cuteness with one of my own Halloween decorations.  It is almost time to decorate for Halloween again (yes, I rush the season; judge me if you are so inclined).  If I am up for it.  It is no secret my mood has been sad lately.  But I shall not burden my readers with more complaints.  Maybe one more picture…

Who could be un-cheered by Nosferatu?

Whatever my trials and tribulations,  monsters often help.

 

Late Post, But Library!

This past Friday I drove to Little Falls for a fundraiser for Little Falls Public Library at Rock Valley Brewing.  I thought I had written a blog post about it, but I see I have not.  I took a picture.

Nice lady.

I chatted with some people I knew as well as the library lady, although I did not get her name.  I took a pen and a book Mark from the library table.  There were colored pencils so you could personalize your bookmark, but I did not feel talented.

I petted a very nice dog and chatted with his dog-sitters (they were watching him for their daughter).  I drank some Chardonnay from Thousand Islands Winery, but not too much since I had to drive home.  I sat at a tall table and started a letter to a friend.

I guess this post isn’t such a much, and I apologize for that.  In my defense, I am just getting over a very bad migraine I had for most of the afternoon yesterday and all night last night.  Yesterday (Sunday) was a Blogger’s Sick Day for sure.  For Saturday I have no excuse.

However, I have given a shout-out to the library and Rock Valley Brewing.  I shall have some more coffee and try to face my day.  Once again, thank you for tuning in.

 

Bully for Bully Hill

A great way for me to start my weekend is with a tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer, NY.  I went there last Friday and sampled wines from Bully Hill Vineyards of Hammondsport, NY. I have known about Bully Hill Wines almost since I first began drinking wine, so long ago the drinking age was 18. I love their fun labels, and the price is nice, too.

Nice pourer nice wines, nice price.

All the wines I tasted were sweet, which is not my favorite.  However, you never know when you might find that one exception.  Additionally, I like chatting with the pourer.   I like hearing about the different wines and the people who make them.  Caitlin was very friendly and knowledgeable.

The Riesling is billed as semi-sweet, but to me it tasted sweet.  The Ravat 51 was more of a citrusy blend.  I felt there was a lot going on there, so I enjoyed that one.  The Sweet Walter Peach was peachy and very sweet.  The Sweet Walter Loganberry was also tasty.

The last one I tasted was the Sweet Walter Midnight Mission Dessert Wine.  It was indeed very desserty.  I thought it would pair well with a rich chocolate dessert, like the Spoon Cake at Salvatore’s Pizzeria and Restaurant in Herkimer.  I am of course no expert at pairings, but it sounded good to me.

I ended up buying a bottle of the Loganberry for my sister Cheryl, because I seemed to remember she liked loganberry wine.  I later thought that maybe it was the Loganberry from a different vineyard she liked, but perhaps she will like this one just as well.

Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer has tastings most weekends.  You can go to their website at shopvalleywine.com for a schedule.

 

Is a Redundancy as Bad as a Tautology?

So after a weekend of missed blog posts, I have had a week of late blog posts.  At least it is Friday, early morning as I sit, lounged on my couch pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus on my Tablet (most of that clause helpfully supplied by the predictive text thingy), and gratefully sipping coffee.

I was about to tell you of a weird, unexplained thing, but as soon as I started to, the explanation dawned on me.  The weird thing was this:  I did not put on coffee last night (no, that’s not the weird thing, keep reading).  I thought, I am not going to put on coffee and I am going to leave the kitchen light on all night.  I have a thing for leaving lights on lately, although I try to be conscientious about saving electricity.  When I got up this morning, the kitchen light was off!  I know I left it on! I remember deciding to!  Weird!

As soon as I started to tell the story,  I remembered.  After going upstairs I realized I had not taken my pills.  I had brought my old lady pill holder (the kind with a.m. and p.m. Monday through Friday) downstairs, because I have been being very bad about taking my a.m. pills.  I had it upstairs because my p.m. pills are more important and I was afraid if I forgot to take them I would be too lazy to walk downstairs and correct the omission.

So I proved myself not too lazy to walk down the stairs and no doubt automatically turned off the light, not even thinking about it (was that a redundancy to say “automatically ” and “not even thinking about it”?  I suppose so, but I do so for emphasis).

I am sorry I do not have a ghost story to share.  It would have been a nice follow-up to my Mid-Week Monsters Post.  However, I see I am over 300 words.  I guess I’ll slap on a headline and bill it as a Non-Sequitur Thursday Post.

 

In My Defense, Nosferatu!

Wuss-out Wednesday follows Tired Tuesday once again.  On the brighter side, I think I found what I must have inadvertently clicked to cause the technical difficulties I lamented these past two posts.  Let me add a picture (yes, predictive text thingy,  I usually do add “to pep things up”) and see how that goes.

“Just peeking in to see how it’s going.”

Score! I am back to the view I am used to!  As usual, all my problems are caused by Operator Error. I put a picture of Nosferatu, because I thought Mid-Week Monsters might be fun and easy.  I am all about making things easy these days, although it seems I rarely succeed.

A scary thought, indeed!

I have no idea where this one came from, but it was in my Media Library and I know I have not used it as many times as I have, for example, the one of Nosferatu.  In my defense, Nosferatu!

I wonder who does his nails.

I am not sure which Wolfman this is, but he looks scary enough.  I, personally, am fond of Lon Chaney,  Jr. in the part, although I always feel so sad for him.  I feel he is a tragic character.  I could write a whole essay on werewolves as tragic figures.  Perhaps I will, but not today.

I see this nonsense has brought me over 200 words.  Score!  Let’s see if I can make my Thursday blog post on Thursday.  No promises.

 

Technical Difficulties on Tired Tuesday

Yestersay was a common or garden Tired Tuesday (still the tiny letters on my Tablet and no predictive text or autocorrect; what’s that about?). I pulled a muscle at work, but it was not one of my blogposting muscles. Well, peripherally I guess it was, but really I have no good excuse.

So, what, is this post going to be entirely me whining about not making a post yesterday? SAY IT AIN’T SO! Now my predictive text would have given me the whole phrase after I had typed in “SA”, a great savings in time. Additionally, I just noticed that in the previous parahraph, “autocorrect” came out “autocortec.” Autocorrect would have caught that and fixed it. Ironic, yes? Or do I set the bar too low?

OK, so I guess it’s a post of me whining about technical difficulties. Quick, throw in a picture (once again, my predictive text thingy would have helpfully chimed in with “to pep things up”).

Once again, I am unable to add a caption, but this is the magnificent cast of Fabulous and Fatal, a murder mystery we presented in 2019 to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society, a wonderful memory.

Come to think about it, I have to get moving on another murder mystery for them. So I begin with a whine and end with a preview of coming attractions. It will have to do for a late Tired Tuesday post.

Missing Steve, Missing Posts

Grief is not linear. You do not go through the steps in an orderly fashion, magically feeling a little bit better each day until one day you realize you have finally found you could live with it.

I just imagine this is not a startlingly original insight. I feel sure every grief stricken person has found it to be true, and a number of people who have yet to be bereaved have suspected such a thing. I suppose I suspected it myself. Now I know it to be true.

All this by way of apologizing for missing both my Saturday and Sunday posts. I was just too sad.

I share one of my favorite pictures of Steve. For anybody just tuning in, Steven is my much loved husband, who passed away Feb. 3 of this year. So I recently passed the six month mark. I am trying to concentrate on remembering the good times, being thankful that I had my husband for as long as I did, and learning how to live alone. Some days it works better than others.

Here is a picture of me and Steve together. I will just interject at this point that my Tablet and/or WordPress is really screwing with me today. It only shows a bunch of letters and symbols for the pictures I share, it won’t let me edit said pictures to add a caption, and my predictive text thingy (sometimes annoying but sometimes helpful) is gone. And the letters on my screen are way smaller than usual. What the hell? (Ooh, at least it is not autocorrecting “hell” into “he’ll”!)

So this my Monday post. An apology for no Saturday or Sunday post, and a grief update. Thank you for tuning in.

This Old Lame

I am attempting to make my Lame Post Friday post on Friday, but no promises as to whether I will hit Publish before Saturday morning.  I am tired, and my eyes are acting funny.  I can’t seem to focus up close or even in the middle distance.  Usually when this happens, I find I have put on the wrong glasses.  Operator Error is kind of a theme in my life.  However, I checked my glasses at least three times; they are a reading pair.

I seem to be asking my body, “What the Hell?” a lot these days.  Earlier today, as I creaked out of my chair after sitting for less than a half hour for lunch, I preceded that question with, “I am 59, not 112!”

This is how old I feel, only not as well dressed.

I interrupt my whining with a picture.  This is me and my friend Jim in a scene from Morning’s at Seven, a play we did at Ilion Little Theatre a few years ago.  I was the oldest sister.

Aging like fine wine?

A friend gave me a plaque that said, “I’m not old, I’m vintage!”  I confess I do not pay too much attention to the vintage of the wine I drink, but I love vintage automobiles.   Although I usually call them classic cars.  Yeah, that’s me:  classic.

I suppose I am not that sleek, but one does what one can.

This car was in the Ilion Days Doodah Parade last year.   I just thought it would be apropos to include a picture of a vintage car.

My foolishness has gotten me over 250 words.  Phew!  We shall see what sort of a post I can come up with for Saturday.  Scattered? Slacker?  A little suspense adds interest to my weekend.

 

Still Making with the Memories

I make this post in haste. Posthaste.  It’s a word, although I daresay you do not hear it very often.  I indulged in Monday Memories,  but perhaps a Throwback Thursday Post would not come amiss.

Maybe I was a little over the top.

I just can’t help sharing another picture from The Tempest performed by LiFT,  Little Falls Theatre Company in August 2017.  Look how silly I am, in my yellow tights and purple cape, gesturing dramatically.  I had a lot of fun with that role.

My favorite co-star.

Here are my late, beloved husband, Steve, and I in the final vignette of Splitting Issues presented by Ilion Little Theatreplay (ILT) in 2016.  Those same chairs will be part of the set for The Man in the Bowler Hat,  the play I am rehearsing now at ILT.

Another favorite scene.

I am also pleased to share this shot of Steve and I in Harvey in 2012.  It was our big scene.

So three pictures of me, two with Steve.  I treasure the memories.

As a side note, the reason I am posting in haste is that I inadvisedly agreed to go into work at five tomorrow morning, so I need to get to bed soon.  I need my beauty rest!

 

 

Friends at Fratello’s

I feel sure regular readers expected me to go to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, NY for music and food as I often do on a Wednesday.  Indeed I did and I had a wonderful time.

They were still setting up when I made my obligatory Facebook post inviting others to join us.

Perhaps not as good a picture as I had hoped, but one must make do.

My work friend Kathy joined me.  We sat at the bar and ordered food and drinks.  These things are always more fun with a friend.  I introduced her to my nephew-in-law, Matt, who was there with some of his family.

Speaking of friends, musician Justin Smithson, who I have heard and enjoyed before, was joined by two friends, Dave Hawthorn and Steve Webb.  They were excellent.

They were great!

The first picture was taken with my phone.  Later I took a couple with my Tablet.

A different angle.

I bumped into another patron while taking the second picture.  She was very nice about it.

Fratello’s Pizzeria is located at 158 E. Main St., Frankfort, NY, phone number 315-894-8484.  They have music other days as well.  I may have to eat out more often.  For one reason, it makes a good blog post.  Or do I flatter myself?