Z - Monday Zounds

 What the heck. Monday shout out to Philly

Zounds - great Z word.  Awesome history. Nifty city. Cobblestone streets, Liberty Bell, go visit and walk where Ben Franklin trod, Betsy Ross, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton.

Seriously what's not to like?

Awesome cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, and Italian food. Need more.......go!

Book Review - An American Marriage

An  American Marriage  by Tayari Jones is absolutely an awesome read.  It’s an Oprah pick. It should be one for every book club in America. I finished this book, shut it with a whoa in my brain, and had to pause. I love a book like that. The writing is brilliant. The characters are rich. And Ms. Jones just taps into so many themes.  Awesome. Get this book from the library or buy it. Huge thumbs up.

From the cover blurb – Love makes a place in your life. It makes a place for yourself in your bed. Invisibly it makes a place in your body, rerouting all our blood vessels, throbbing alongside your heart. When it is gone, nothing is whole again.

Before I met you, I was not lonely, but now I’m so lonely I talk to the walls and sing to the ceiling.

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are heading to her parent’s home in LA when he’s arrested. Say what?  It’s a young black man, wrongly accused. Ultimately what occurs for him and her is still a part of the American nightmare. He was on the road to success. She also  has her dream coming true.  But  An American Marriage brings home the challenges for young successful blacks in real America.

Ms. Jones is a skillful author who writes the truth.  Read and be in awe of an amazing author.

This couple could be any of us – black or white, young or old. I truly loved this book, the characters, and the dilemma faced.  Sad, heartfelt, and heartrending. Read and judge yourselves,

V for Victory (or not)

 Tuesday evening was perfect baseball temperature - 80 degrees, light breeze. And The Ballpark in Arlington was a ghost town.  I liked this Eat More Fowl sign on the 3rd base line. Notice lack of fans

 The Ranger mascot waved his flag to no one, except us - we were in the 2nd deck - great seats and view.  Except when the only four people to arrive late plopped right in front of us. Seriously?  You don't have to sit in your ticketed seats when there are lots to choose from. Must we all cram together?

Even I (with bad eyes) can see the monster screen.  We were counting on Cole Hamels to pitch well, but he seems to have lost his mo-jo.

So, V for Victory (or Not)....the or NOT prevailed once again...and another decent player got injured and will be out for awhile.  Sad baseball times in Arlington Texas and it's downhill for a long hot summer.

Happy Wednesday!

Monday T - trivial pretty pics

 Went to visit my Dad last weekend in suburban Philly. He's hanging in there - hobbling about at 86 in the house where I grew up.  He's a hoot - loves his sweets, keeps up with ABC news, is appalled at the current administration, and snoozes plenty. But he kept me hopping - fetching stuff, fixing stuff, and re-arranging. I inspected the fridge and threw away a few gems from 2016!!! Yikes!

 These lovely pics are from a walk around the block. It was brisk - spring is very late arriving. On Saturday 4/14, the temp hit 80 or so.  Then boom - a big plummet to 30 or so. And on Tuesday, teensy snowflakes fell. That's just wrong for mid April

 I got to eat my favorite - Pudge's cheesesteak.  Got to hang with friends - plenty of laughs.  And time with Dad is precious - we have a grand time

I've shown this before - yes, a rotary phone in the kitchen with an added keypad. He won't get rid of it because then he'd have to re-paint the wall.  This phone has to be the most expensive phone in history - AT&T has made a bloody fortune from his monthly payment. Crazy - well, yeah...but hey, it's part of the house.

T for trivial...Happy Monday!

Rude

R = Rude

I've been just shadowing the A to Z - not doing official posts.  But here's my Friday R contribution.

In this day and age, a certain someone (sadly) has been a HUGE influence on proper decorum. Now I'll admit, maybe I'm just not in step with 2018 morals, accepted behavior, and current code of conduct.  That's fine by me. I do not participate in Twitter, and from what I read in sound bites, I'm judging it as appalling. This is strictly MY opinion. I'm not a hot demographic - I'm not in the "base"  (thank goodness - again, my opinion).  But, I personally cannot see where total rudeness wins. Why be ugly just to be ugly?

Anyway, here are some quotes that I felt applied to the topic of Rudeness:

All words are pegs to hang ideas on - Henry Ward Beecher 1887

A Deluge of Words, and a Drop of Sense - Thomas Fuller 1732

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become, the the hands of one who knows how to combine them - Nathaniel Hawthorne 1847

All our words from loose using have lost their edge - Ernest Hemingway  1932

You can stroke people with words - F. Scott Fitzgerald  1945

A word out of season may mar a whole life  - saying (Greek)

Have a super good weekend, and ponder what you say, what you read, and how you interpret words.

Take care, my friends

Pie

P is for Pie.   When you walk out of Waitress, the musical, you will want a slice of pie.  I'm not even a "pie" person, and I wanted some pie. This touring production of a Broadway show was heavenly. Good story (based on the movie starring Keri Russell). Great singing (tunes by Sara Bareilles). Good acting. And just a fun theater experience. I was lucky to see this at a matinee in Dallas.

Jenna is in a rather loveless marriage. She was too young and now feels trapped since she's pregnant. Earl is abusive. But her job at Joe's Pies allows her to create and vent. Her grouchiest customer is Joe himself and thank goodness she treats him right. Her best friends at the diner are Becky and Dawn.

The show is about grit and determination. It's about taking no crap and taking care of yourself. It's about dreams and making those dreams come true.

The soundtrack is fabulous.  Fun,  excellent show.    Sugar, Flour, Butter..........that's the key to making dreams come true.

No Words Monday

NOT competing with A to Z bloggers...........go read their good posts

Leonardo

Leonardo Da Vinci – beyond brilliant man. Artist, sculptor, architect, inventor, imagination extraordinaire. This genius is beyond adjectives and description. Yet, author Walter Isaacson, in his opus – Leonardo Da Vinci– brings the man alive in amazing detail.  This book is heavy – both physically and linguistically. This is a rich book – the publication is beautiful: lovely presentation, rich reproductions of paintings, and dense printing – nice pages. This is not a cheap book and I advise buying the official hardcover. It’s worth the investment.

Cover blurb – Leonardo’s ability to combine art and science, made iconic by his drawing of what may be himself inside a  circle and a square, remains the enduring recipe for innovation. His life should remind us of the importance of instilling, both in ourselves and our children, not just received knowledge but a willingness to question it – to be imaginative and, like talented misfits and rebels in any era, to think different.

That’s the key to this fascinating book – question. Leonardo woke up thinking outside the box. Every day was an experiment – whether art, sculpture, defense weapons, flying, and any scientific properties, he conducted experiments, kept journals, and asked questions.  Optics, math, perspectives in art, autopsies – you name it – he dug in deep to find answers.  Every page of this book is filled with extraordinary research on a man who affects life today. Isaacson’s writing keeps the reader engaged and amazed. Contemplate the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and more. Just wow…….

L is for Leonardo Da Vinci – the man, the book – explore and learn more………and just say wow.

JUMP - movie review - A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place is truly a solid, brilliant, subtle horror flick. Directed by John Krasinski,  it stars him and his real life wife, Emily Blunt and they are SO good. She can say so much with her eyes and her face reflects so many feelings.  The first part of this movie is about family – albeit under crazy circumstances. Silence rules. The world appears to have ended. Creatures who attack,  based on sound,  rule. The key is quiet – barefoot, playing monopoly with cloth tokens, using sign language, and no sound.

The first glimpse of horror is with the “baby” boy – age 4-5. On a foray to a store, he wants a toy rocket. The dad says no – too noisy. The sister (brilliant young actress who is deaf – Millicent Simpson) grabs it for him, and he nabs the removed batteries). The family is walking home when suddenly there’s sound – the kid put in the batteries and is playing – oh the joy………..until a creature leaps from nowhere and wipes that kid away. Dang freakin’ scary. This was day 73.

Fast forward to day 473. Oh so much sadness and yet living. Mom is pregnant – now how can they bring a baby into this world?  The middle son is afraid of life. He doesn’t want to go out with Dad to learn how to survive – get fish, etc. His eyes show fear. Whereas his deaf sister wants to go, she’s resilient, but there’s a deeper issue. Do the parents blame her for the death of the youngest boy? Well, no, but she’s beat herself up about it.  This film is about family dynamics, love, and survival. It’s tight and in ninety minutes, it’s relentless. The creatures are fierce and it’s all about sound and frequency.  I will not give away more.

Hold your breath and appreciate A Quiet Place for great story telling and acting. And I dare you to sit, watch, and not JUMP!

Hello, It's Me

 Hey - It's a Monday.  H is the letter.  I'm killing time.   Here I am at the Dallas Arboretum  in March. It was a gorgeous day and everyone looks good flanked by tulips.

 History - yikes - let's go to the way  past.  Here are the siblings surrounding my grandmother. Can't say what year. We are all quite young, but yes I'm am the oldest.  I beat my brother by five years, my sister by ten. Yowza

and another in the family living room. Nothing has changed.... except us. A lot older, maybe wiser, and yep - still Humble.

Fierce - Gretchen Carlson

F is for Fierce.  Oh yeah, baby.

Ray and I saw Gretchen Carlson at the final UTA Maverick, Speaker session for this school year.
She was awesome.  This woman was a former Miss America winner from Minnesota. She's a Stanford graduate. She's a successful journalist from NBC, CBS, and Fox News.  As a registered independent, she prides herself on her lack of bias. She worked hard to get where she was, and unfortunately encountered sexual harassment along the way.

Enough was enough.  Twenty months ago, she was the first very public face to call out her harasser - Roger Ailes from Fox. She brought down this mogul fair and square and opened up a whole new world in regards to the workplace. Women from all walks of life - rich and poor, black and white, old and young said "enough was enough." Time's Up.  Me Too.  You name the tag line - we could all relate. I include myself in regards to some verbal situations. Women should not have to question themselves. They should not have to worry about their jobs if they don't "submit" to something ridiculous.

Ms. Carlson gave an excellent talk and her continuing work to empower women is awesome. She was quite inspirational and her true hope is that her kids and those of the next generation do NOT have to put up with such crap. I truly hope her work is not in vain.

Wordy Wednesday - Debrief

I am having fun shadowing our A - to - Z gang.  I'm following so many - they are listed in my Blog Followings - awesome material all around

Here are just two quotes from the news this past month. Consider this a debrief and commentary.
Interpret as you wish

This can be a very mean-spirited town, but you don't have to choose to participate in that. Each of us gets to choose the person we want to be, and the way  we want to be treated, and the way we will treat others - Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson - farewell speech to the State Department.

(my personal opinion and take - classy dude who could only take so much. He was fired, but left with his head held high)


Y'all can stare at your phones all night, but I pull a book out of my purse and suddenly I'm the anti-social one - North Texas comedian Katy Evans. 

(too funny, and too true!)

Happy Wednesday

Bonus Monday - bonnets and bouquets

 I am not doing A to Z, but I know today is the Letter B.  So I'm going with some leftover Easter pics - a boondoggle of girls ready for the Easter egg hunt

 Makyla in her Easter Bonnet

 Skylar with her Bounty, and Dakota begging for candy

 Arboretum Beauty

BRAVO!!!

Good luck and have fun to all A to Z participants. I'll be making the rounds to enjoy the themes.