See Ya at A-Z. Taking a little break.

How we wrote messages when we lived in Florida

The time has come
The walrus said to talk of many things
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and kings.



 I need a small break. See you at A-Z.
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Flamenco arm practice with a talented student.

Today is the day

 This is the 
     day
 We keep worms away


Today we all got a dose of worm medicine.
1. The box is for Cody
2.  The little white box (picture of dog but for small dogs or cats) is for Cat
3. The bottle is for me

Here is a subject of denial by most humans. Oh, perhaps they admit to their pet having parasites but do they have worms????  No... never.  HaHa  Even if you've never been near a cat or dog in your life, you need to be dewormed. Do you ever touch a door knob in a public place? Do you ever push a cart around in a store? Do you ever go barefoot in the grass? Do you ever kiss or have sex?

Are you ever sick, have a cold, or flu? Trust me bloggie friends, this is not being said in any braggadocio manner but I have not had a cold/flu in so many years, I can't remember..... 25--40 years. Honest.  The number doesn't matter but if you don't deworm yourself, think of the toxins floating around within your body. Die-off and everything poops. Yuck. The only illness I've had was my tailbone was out of whack but quickly adjusted back in place by my health provider.

We deworm at least every 6 months, sometimes more often.  I've never been to an allopathic doctor in my life. You visit them when you want drugs and I don't. My snacks are foods that parasites don't like, for instance, pumpkin seeds and figs. Also cook with a lot of garlic.

Bottom line, if you haven't been working on getting rid of parasites, you got em.

It Ain't What You Do It's The Way That You Do It

              Dancing With The Stars

                     Begins A New Season Tonight

I don't know why I watch this show. I've seen enough bad dancing to last me the rest of my life. Well, yes I do know why. I love to guess the scores and see if they match with the judges scores. I especially like to match scores with Judge Len Goodman, the old guy in the center. He's a purist and from the old school of Ballroom Dance, the same as I am.

Ballroom dance doesn't leave room for much creativity. There are standard figures and you dance them. DWTS allows more creativity within the dance as long as the steps are done in the rhythm of the dance. The professional dancer teaches the STAR ( the Celebrity)  their dance in a week. If the star has had previous training, the dance can go fairly well, as figure skater Dorothy Hamil's went tonight. If they haven't had dance training (like Wynona Judd, who just sings), well, that is the type of dancing I said I've seen enough to last the rest of my life.

Ballroom dance is difficult, difficult and ditto. I'm referring to competitive Ballroom Dance and the high standard that is expected on DWTS. Social dancing is a way to have fun but even the social dancers begin to look at dancing differently after they indulge in a few private lessons.

 After competing 25 years in Ballroom Dance, belonging to a Flamenco Troupe (and keeping up a family and marriage),  I couldn't begin to count the hours spent in practice.  As the old song says,  
"It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it."
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Ides of March

                The Ides of March


  Today Manzanita is officially 83


  And so is Betty Boop


  Who would guess Betty is 83. How does she do it?




When I was young (and so was Betty) people gave me Betty Boop dolls, pictures, books and cards.
I grew very close to her and somehow thought we were carved from the same chunk of stone but as the years went by,  I noticed I began to age but she didn't.  She always had that coy look and tiny waist.

                                            Here's to our birthday

Dear Bloggie Friends
            I've heard the words "Happy Birthday" many times but as a little gift I would love it if you told me something special "ABOUT YOU." I want all of you to know how much I look forward to my mornings and reading your blogs.  It makes my whole day.
Adios Bloggie Friends and my love to you,  Manzanita

New Walking Sticks

My daughter appeared carrying a longish box decorated with a big colorful bow.  She said she bought me a present and wanted to get it to me before I bought some. Then I knew what it was....... walking poles. 

I got into the habit of using walking sticks and mine went kaput. A few years back, when I started walking, I used some old ski poles but then graduated to a cheapie pair of sticks with 2 adjustments on each  pole and a non-carbon probe. I soon learned to dislike the 2 adjustments because they didn't stay locked and kept falling apart as I walked. I also had worn the tip to the nibs.

I guess she was tired of me grumbling about my sticks. The new ones are super nice with one adjustment, lightweight but strong with carbon probes. Very soon the mountain behind my house will be free of ice and I can shorten the poles a little for the steeper incline.

Do you remember the early Nordic Track? Walking with sticks is that kind of motion as one gets a rhythm going with the feet and arms. I must be a trend setter, as I'm noticing more and more people using the sticks in the park.

When I began walking daily, it was to exercise Cody. Now it's more for me. My body craves that walk every day, come snow, high winds, hell or floods. See ya on the trail.

Do you have a daily exercise program keeping you captive?

Rambling Thoughts

                    You never know where a thought will take you.

               I was thinking about "Dancing With the Stars"
and that brought the foxtrot to mind. That started me thinking about my favorite foxtrot music and that would be songs by Frank Sinatra. Old Blue Eyes. My thoughts then drifted to the time I saw him on stage during a matinee at the Roxy Theater in Norfolk, Virginia when I was 13.  Frank was just coming into stardom but not very well known yet or he wouldn't have been playing matinees to a bunch of screaming teeny boppers in an old run-down theater. 

I had never heard of him but my girlfriend said we absolutely had to go.  Why do teenagers always dress like little clones of one another?  A cacophony resounded by hundreds of saddle shoes stamping the floor in anticipation of Frankie. Finally the lights lowered and a skinny boy with a protruding adams apple, accentuated by an enormous bow tie, stepped onto the stage. 

I was hooked immediately. I was in love. After the performance and the screaming died down, we hurried to the stage door to get his autograph. Sadly, Frankie's signature on a program, disappeared along with the years that followed.  Our country was at war and a lot of things blurred but that Roxy matinee remains in my memory.

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Filibuster

                          The Return of American Politics
  
                      Rand Paul dominated the Senate floor
           for 13 hours in the 9th longest filibuster in history

Rand Paul wanted an answer to his question of whether drones would be killing Americans on US soil. After a month and half of indirect answers by the government, a fear ran among the American people that they could be shot from the air in peace time after having been accused (without trial) of being an enemy combatant.

The filibuster is used only in the senate and not in the house. It is a way of keeping control of the floor to delay other bills from being passed.  The rules dictate that the speaker cannot sit down or leave the floor. Senator Strom Thurman from NC holds the filibuster record for 24 hours and 18 min. 

The word filibuster comes from the Spanish word, filibustero, thus stemming from a Dutch word that means pirate. 

Filibuster always reminds me of the movie, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" starring Jimmy Stewart. The b/w 1939 flick is a favorite of mine. If you've never had the joy of sitting through that delightful movie, I highly recommend looking it up.

Below is a trailer of the flick, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. 
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Some Kids Don't Know The Rules

We love our aprons from Terry of My Journey With Candida

I read something so ridiculous that my mind can't grasp it. A 7-year old boy at school was doodling with the food on his plate (mashed potatoes or what) and the teacher said it looked like a gun. Evidently the boy is in serious trouble. Are people nuts these days?

Here is an old English nursery rhyme.... Good for jumping rope.... has a catchy rhythm.

Eeper Weeper chimney sweeper
Had a wife but couldn't keep her
Had another, didn't love her
Up the chimney he did shove her

That is a story about a guy who killed his 2nd wife and stuffed her up a chimney. Kids used to recite that and skip and jump to it. Kids didn't give it two thoughts..... just loved the rhyme and rhythm. And they didn't grow up to be Jack the Rippers...... Only Jack grew up to be Jack the Ripper. I am certainly NOT advocating teaching kids gory stories but if you examine old nursery stories they were mostly political and a little bit gory. What is next? Ban nursery rhymes?