I just ran across this and had to share it with you. Call it a Monday Bonus Post.
Oscar Peterson and Count Basie perform . .
Monday, April 6, 2015
CATALYST CASTLE UPDATE
Today, as all good Americans should know, is a very special day. (Even though the Chicago Cubs started their newest losing season yesterday with the St. Louis Cardinals handing them their first defeat of the year) It is Opening Day for the 2015 Major League Baseball Season!
Down at Chase Field in Phoenix groundskeepers were preparing for tonight's contest of the Mighty Arizona Diamondbacks and the (reigning World Champion) San Francisco Giants. The dadblasted Giants have won three of the last five World Series so it's about time for the Diamondbacks to have their turn.
Up here, at Catalyst's Castle, spring is continuing it's growth pattern.
The Redbud tree is becoming greener by the day as leaves replace the purple flowering buds.
The Rocketman Russian Sage is taking off like crazy after being hacked to the ground by my gardening expert, aka She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO). As I told her the other evening as we were enjoying drinks on the patio, you can practically see it growing as you look at it.
I like to sit out on the front patio to greet the various dog-walkers who pass by.
My Faithful Companion, Blackwell, would love to join me but since we know him to be an Escape Cat he is confined to the house. He has to satisfy himself by getting as close to me as he can. Whenever I go out the front door I find him patiently waiting for me just inside when I return.
Muggles caters more to SWMBO, taking an afternoon nap on her bed.
"Will you get that blasted camera out of here. I'm trying to sleep!"
The front patio is off limits to not only Blackwell but me these days too.
A pair of warblers has built a nest atop one of the pillars and I've been told to give them their privacy for the birthing season.
Perhaps building their nest right next to this smiling sun face will give them better luck then the finches who nested atop another pillar last year.
So, life goes on around here, my occasional intrusions on it notwithstanding. Mother Nature seems to be telling me to just "leaf" it alone.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
A DAY FOR BEASTS AND CHILDREN
I couldn't find any children. Guess they're all out hunting Easter eggs. But enjoy this video, thanks to my childhood friend Jimmy the B.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
NATURE'S MYSTERIES
Nature plays the strangest tricks on us. Take, for example, the Redbud tree right outside my den window. Through the winter months it is a barren skeleton.
As the weather begins to warm a little it comes alive again and a week or so ago it was ablaze with purple blossoms.
Now another stage has begun as the blossoms give way to green leaves.
The leaf on the left still has a yellowish tinge to it's greening. The one on the right is a tad further along.
In another week or so the purple will all be gone and the tree will be a sea of green leaves, providing a hiding place for finches and sparrows before they drop down to the birdbath for a sip or perhaps a plunge.
The seasons are moving fast and summer is lurking. I think Mother Nature exhibits a great sense of humor in her creation of the changes in her floral decor.
Friday, April 3, 2015
FRIDAY FUNNIES
Ready?
One .
Two . .
Three . . .
One .
Two . .
Three . . .
Are you noticing a theme here?
It's all about food and drink.
And I don't have a funny cat picture this week so . . .
I said I don't have a funny cat picture this week but I do have . . .
With that frightening thought, have a great weekend, folks. Thanks to my generous contributors. I couldn't keep doing this without you. (Well, I could but it wouldn't be near as much fun.)
Keep laughing, my friends.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
ThrowBack Thursday
SWMBO made a joke once about how I would never leave the beach until the sun went down. During our days in Mexico (1987-1991) we went to the Pacific coast as often as I could convince Judy that it was important to do so. In the early days we liked Puerto Vallarta. Later we discovered the tiny very Mexican (except for an expatriate group of gay men from the states) community of Cuyutlán, south of Manzanillo. I can remember coming over a slight rise in the road heading to the beach and seeing a car with Texas license plates. I looked at Judy and said "there goes the neighborhood." We spent many happy times in Cuyutlán over the years.
But this post is about earlier times. In Puerto Vallarta. It was and is full of American tourists but one could still enjoy a sunset, drink in hand, on the beach. Judy caught me just after the sun had gone down, in tropical costume, barefoot and ready to party.
But this post is about earlier times. In Puerto Vallarta. It was and is full of American tourists but one could still enjoy a sunset, drink in hand, on the beach. Judy caught me just after the sun had gone down, in tropical costume, barefoot and ready to party.
Those were the days! ¡Viva México!
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
APRIL FOOL'S DAY
You can relax. I can't think up any jokes to play on you today. But I will tell you about one I pulled many years ago.
It was somewhere between 1970 and 1972 and I was working as a radio newsman at WIBC radio in Indianapolis. April 1st came around and I sat down at my typewriter. (You can Google "typewriter" if you don't know what I'm talking about.)
I began to write sentences about the sudden peace settlement ending the Vietnam War. That's the only one I remember but it was a page worth of "good" though improbable news, like the school system getting a sudden influx of cash from a lottery winner or a long-running and bitter bus strike being settled. Just one sentence about each subject. I figured the giveaway would be down near the end when I wrote that long-time political enemies, the local chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties, had reconciled and formed one combined party to work for the good of the county. Then at the end of the piece I wrote something to remind people of what day it was and signed it off.
Well! Apparently very few people heard that last sentence as we heard later that telephone lines (you may have to Google that, too) were jammed all the way to Chicago. Apparently people heard what they wanted to hear. I was a bit startled but my news director ran the piece over and over throughout the day. I think he later wrote a story explaining what we had done and, if not apologizing for it, at least commenting on how people had been taken in.
As I said before, nothing new this year but here's hoping you all have a happy April Fool's Day and, as the saying went when I was a kid, "don't take any wooden nickels."
It was somewhere between 1970 and 1972 and I was working as a radio newsman at WIBC radio in Indianapolis. April 1st came around and I sat down at my typewriter. (You can Google "typewriter" if you don't know what I'm talking about.)
I began to write sentences about the sudden peace settlement ending the Vietnam War. That's the only one I remember but it was a page worth of "good" though improbable news, like the school system getting a sudden influx of cash from a lottery winner or a long-running and bitter bus strike being settled. Just one sentence about each subject. I figured the giveaway would be down near the end when I wrote that long-time political enemies, the local chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties, had reconciled and formed one combined party to work for the good of the county. Then at the end of the piece I wrote something to remind people of what day it was and signed it off.
Well! Apparently very few people heard that last sentence as we heard later that telephone lines (you may have to Google that, too) were jammed all the way to Chicago. Apparently people heard what they wanted to hear. I was a bit startled but my news director ran the piece over and over throughout the day. I think he later wrote a story explaining what we had done and, if not apologizing for it, at least commenting on how people had been taken in.
As I said before, nothing new this year but here's hoping you all have a happy April Fool's Day and, as the saying went when I was a kid, "don't take any wooden nickels."
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