What is This? – Valentine’s Special in RED

WHAT is this ?
Something RED for Valentine’s Day.

HINT: It has nothing to do with Feb 14. The pine straw at the bottom just happens to be there; this tells you that this IS outdoors (always, you will see why later.)

PRIZE?  Braggin’ rights – that’s all, folks.

After all, it’s being RIGHT that counts – isn’t it?  Ask braggers, Marty,  Possum, Sandra, and Technogran.

Valentine’s Day Movies

Grenville and Beatrice – that’s US – really love romantic movies. We’re watching several this weekend to celebrate Hearts Day.  Here’s some of our choices . . .

What’s more romantic than a classic big screen kiss?

Gone with the Wind (1939)
This film is an American classic in which a manipulative woman and a roguish man carry on a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
"You need kissing badly," Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) told Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) in this 1939 epic. "You should be kissed, and often. And by someone who knows how."

When Harry Met Sally (1989)
This romantic comedy started a debate as to whether men and women could be friends. “You realize of course that we could never be friends . . .because the sex part always gets in the way.” says Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) to Sally Albright (Meg Ryan).
Then there’s the deli scene and the pair's New Year's Eve reconciliation. As Harry told Sally: "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."
Pretty Woman (1990)
"I don't kiss on the mouth," Vivian (Julia Roberts) warns Edward (Richard Gere) at the beginning of this movie. So when she does, it's pivotal. The audience understands that she's come to regard Edward as more than a client. But that kiss can't beat the one at the ending, after Edward “rescues” Vivian on her fire escape and she promises to “rescue him” right back.

Prelude to a Kiss (1992)
Peter Hoskins (Alec Baldwin) and Rita Boyle (Meg Ryan) fall in love despite her pessimistic outlook. As they struggle to come to terms with their relationship, something supernatural happens that tests it.
The title is from the 1938 song by Duke Ellington performed by Deborah Harry during the film’s opening. There’s also a Cole Porter song, Every Time We Say Goodbye,in the film.

French Kiss (1995)
Kate (Meg Ryan), who fear flying, flies to France to confront her straying fiancé, Charlie (Timothy Hutton) but gets into trouble when a French thief Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline) seated next to her uses her for smuggling.
Luc later tutors Kate on how to get her beau back from the Parisian beauty he’s run off with.

Casablanca (1942)
This film has it all: romance, wartime adventure, and suspense and was our recent date night choice.
We never tire of hearing Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) ask Sam to play their song. Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications
.

Sleepless in Seattle (1989)
Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks), an architect, loses his wife to cancer. He and his young son Jonah start new lives in Seattle, but Sam still grieves. On Christmas Eve, Sam’s son, Jonah, calls into a talk radio, advice show. He, on the advice of the radio show host, persuades Sam to go on the air to talk about how much he misses his wife. Hundreds of women from around the country hear the program, and touched by the story, write to Sam.
Annie Reed (Meg Ryan), a Baltimore Sun reporter, is listening and though engaged to Walter, feels there is something missing. After watching the 1957 film An Affair to Remember (starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr) Annie  writes a letter suggesting that Sam meet her on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day.

The film borrows from An Affair to Remember in using both its theme song and clips from the film in critical scenes. The climactic meeting at the top of the Empire State Building is a reference to a reunion between Grant and Kerr’s characters
.
You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) is the owner of a bookstore chain; Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) owns a small bookstore that his company is trying to shut down. They meet online through email the woman he falls for online. Both are unaware that they are business rivals.
The film is a remake of the 1940 film, The Shop Around the Corner which starred James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan. Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realizing that they're falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

There was also a 1949 musical remake, In the Good Old Summertime starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson.

It's turn of the century America when Andrew Larkin (Johnson) and Veronica Fisher (Garland) meet by crashing into each other; he destroys her hat and they develop an instant and mutual dislike which intensifies. Later on, Andrew is forced to hire Veronica as a saleslady at Oberkugen's music store. What the two don't know is that while they argue and fight during the day, they are engaged in an innocent, romantic and completely anonymous relationship through the post office.

What are Your Valentine’s weekend plans?

5 Things When Leaving Home

Steve (Out on the Prairie) recently “tagged” me in a quest he was passing on to see what 5 things folks carried when leaving home.

Here’s what usually in the back seat + cargo area of my Jeep: reusable tote bags, bungee cords, assorted supplies  (windshield washer fluid, blanket, first aid kit, etc.), folding chair, backpack.
And the back seat passenger is always “Purple Bear”  according to the name on his shirt. He always usually has his seat belt strapped.
Purple Bear was a gift from Grenville from a flea market find years ago and he’s always ridden in whatever vehicle I own, and has his own cap too cause “It’s a Jeep thing.”
What 5 things can’t you be without when leaving your house?

Snow Day Visitors

Portraits of some welcome visitors who were hanging around the back yard on a snow day this week.

Some shots were taken from the usual kitchen window vantage. Others were shot from the back patio after feeder(s) re-filling.

A Chair Seat !

This challenge had just about  everyone stumped at least, except one!

Sandra aka The Mad Snapper gets the bragging rights this time!

YES, it is the seat to a metal chair.

This chair is part of matching pair that are on our back porch. Between the chairs is a table (partially visible in this photo). Grenville and I sit in these on warm days and read, talk or watch the world go by – great pastimes.

The metal on chairs are a bit weathered, so we will need to get new ones for the upcoming season.

Thanks, everyone for having some fun and Congratulations again, Sandra.

What is This? #4 of 2011

WOW it’s been over 2 weeks since I posted a photo challenge, so here goes.

Can you figure out what this is?

Hint: Yes, it is covered in some our recent weather, but that’s not the answer.

It’s nothing unusual, but may NOT be what you think.
Check back tomorrow for the (hopefully) surprise answer.

Snowed In (Not)

As Reclusive Hermit posted today, it SNOWED overnight.

How much?
Enough to close local schools in both counties and other agencies.

WHAT?  How MUCH snow did you get?
Less than 2 inches, but this is NO snow plow country. The back roads were snow covered in the early a.m. hours. (Being former New Jersey residents where schools only closed after more than several inches or after a blizzard, closings are always amusing to hear on the local radio station morning broadcasts.)

Some views from the Frog & PenguINN front yard.

The back yard before the meltdown.

Snow on trees and bushes in the a.m. before it melted.

Snow???? Again????

RH here (still). So what’s with this snow stuff????? This is supposed to be the ’Sunny South’. I mean, i could have been in Florida with my couzin instead of here spending a fortune to keep my shell warm. At 7AM we officially had 1.5 inches, which is half way up my shell.

Now Grenville’s furnace won’t kick on and it is gettin’ cold in here. I spent an hour tryin’ to climb up to the phone to call the service guy but just as i got there Grenville appeared and made the call. I hope it was to the right place. Good thing cause i don’t speak Eastern Shore :-)…

Beatrice has been out takin’ pictures of the snow and Grenville is out in the back grazin’ on what ever he can find. He was mumblin’ something about the ’Fudge Tree’, but who knows with him…..

I tried to get the John Deere going Possum, but i couldn’t find enough blocks to put on the pedals, so the snow will just have to melt on its own (which should be in about 5 minutes). You never should have showed him your new snow shoes Grammie. He left with tennis rackets duct taped to his slippers this morning. So embarrassin’. Especially with him in those overalls he claims “Shrank”. I can’t wait to get back under my rock in the wild flowers.

I’m thinking of callin’ in his parents to get him straight.

RH

Beached

Grenville is recovered from his over-blogging condition, thanks in part to the Hot Fudge treatment he received at the Island Creamery last weekend.

But there’s a new problem. Our clothes seem to have shrunk!

This week, we dusted off our South Beach Diet® recipe books and started again. And, being the helpful bloggers we are, we will be sharing many of these recipes in the coming weeks.

Speaking from our collective past experience, most of these recipes are really very good. See those yellow pieces of paper in the pile of books? Those are our recipe bookmarks from when we followed this plan, a few years ago.

For those who have never heard of this plan – are there any? The SB diet was designed by Miami cardiologist Arthur Agatston, MD, director of the Mount Sinai Cardiac Prevention Center in Fl.

Good News (yes, there is some) there's no counting calories or strict portion sizes. We’ve started Phase 1, the 14-day induction phase, also the most restrictive – no fruits, grains, starches and (sigh) NO bread baking (or eating). Dairy products are allowed but must be low-fat or non-fat milk, yogurt, or buttermilk. No crying in our beer or  wine, cause these are taboo in this phase. We get to choose from a restrictive, Foods to Enjoy and Foods to Avoid list. Too bad that some on the Avoid list are favorites.

The good news, YES there is some, is that once this phase ends, we go to Phase 2 and can add back from the Foods to Avoid list, our choices: bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, cereal, or fruit.  Then, it’s on to Phase 3, the final and least restrictive phase. The key is to re-introduce foods in moderation and to not eat them as often as before (that’s the BIG catch). According to Dr. Agatston “as long as you continue follow some basic guidelines, the diet has become your way of eating.”

So, we’re on our way to the beach.

Oh, we wish!

Grenville in Recovery

Hi Folks. Reclusive Hermit here again. All this blogging is really cutting in on my reclusivity. BUT the good news is that Grenville is on the mend. The Hot Fudge Flushes has almost restored him to his old self (if that is a good thing), but has caused him to be a little heavier in a rotund sort of way. Beatrice told me that she took him out to the beach for a walk and some kids tried to use him as a beach ball, and a pilot whale was making eyes at him. So they have put him on the Water and Lettuce diet for at least two weeks (I suggested the two week pre-colonoscopy treatment since he is always so full of it). With luck he will have the energy to soon be back here bloggin’ away (and i can go back to being a recluse).

He is hoping that his spinach will grow a little faster so he can switch off the lettuce now and then. Don’t worry about the lightness of the picture. The soil here is really moist.

But for now let me tell you of a woodland friend of mine.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

He has become known as the elbow tree for obvious reasons. Legend has it that as a young sapling he was on a major baseball teams Forrest  League, which is the minor minor leagues or slightly above High School. His father, a mighty Oak, wanted him to go to Loiusville and become a Slugger but he insisted on pitching. His father grew so angry he enlisted the aid of an evil wood sorrel named Mandrake.  It is told that he was just about to complete his first ‘no-hitter’ when Mandrake cast a spell that froze him in mid pitch AND mid scream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He has been standing like you see ever since. He does make a good neighbor though. Never any trouble, loud parties, just a few fox squirrels hanging about.

Grenville thanks all of you for your concern, and will be back here soon.