Monday, August 17

New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #204

Shirley, you cut the cheese.

The above is the cartoon for New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest for week #204, along with my entry for the week. Let me know if you come up with a caption too. Click on the link above to enter. I realize my caption this week is juvenile, but I thought it was funny even though it doesn't really address why one of the businessmen in a rat. I like all their little hands.

Sunday, August 16

We've Made an Offer on a FL House

We went to Florida this weekend to look for a second home. We used to have a condo in a golf community in Fort Myers, FL, but as the prices of real estate started to plummet a couple years ago, we sold it. Now prices seem to be at rock bottom (we hope), so we thought we'd see if we could find something we liked. We did. We have made an offer on the house above. It is in Port Charlotte and is on a canal. It is an older home, but our hope is that it being waterfront makes this a good investment.

This is the view a few feet from the back of our house, looking down past our dock. Yes, it comes with a small dock. That metal contraption in the foreground is a hoist that lifts boats out and into the water.

This is the water view from the master bedroom.


It is a foreclosure. Apparently, the previous owner went broke updating the kitchen with new cabinets and granite counter tops.

The living room and family room are tiled. This is the corner of the family room with a built-in bookcase. The doorway on the left goes to the garage and the other doorway is to the laundry room.

This is Shane on the dock of the canal. This house needs some work. Some of the appliances are old, it needs new carpeting in the bedrooms and one of the hallways, it needs some major landscaping, and there are some other small problems we can see. We're just crossing our fingers and waiting now to see what the response is to our offer.

Saturday, August 15

On the Short List

Shane and I are house hunting in Florida this weekend. This house is
on our short list. We looked at about six houses yesterday and this
is the one we liked best so far. It is huge (2,000 square feet) and
in a nice area of North Port. We'd have to replace the carpeting, but
not much else. It is a foreclosure and listed for $114K. How can we
resist?

Shane Looks Over a Hole into the Attic

We may be crazy, but we're not crazy about this house.

The View from the Disaster

This is what we liked about the house on the canal--the only thing.

Crossing One Off the List

Shane and I are in Florida looking at houses this weekend. Shane had
high hopes for this abode he found on the web, but we quickly crossed
it off our list. It does have a beautiful view of a canal in the
back, but the house was a disaster. It said it needed a kitchen, but
it needed much more than that. it was completely gutted inside, had
rotted wood, broken windows (including a bullet hole through a front
window), and was a general mess inside and out. It was priced at
$95K, which is a pipe dream. The view is the only thing it had.

Wednesday, August 12

Hump Day Art - Beever Chalk Drawings




Julian Beever is an English artist who is famous for his anamorphic chalk art on the pavements around the world. Beever gives an amazing illusion to his drawings, so that the objects appear to be 3-D (at specific angles) rather than flat as they actually are. See more at his web site here. He also does nice oil paintings, such as the one below.

Monday, August 10

Back to the Grind

This is all the stuff I took and brought back from the beach. I spent the week at Bethany Beach, DE, and since Shane drove the car home Sunday (he had to go back to work), I didn't have a car. I had to depend on the kindness of strangers... well, actually, my sister. She drove me to my mom's on Friday evening and Shane came up to fetch me on Saturday.

Today was my first day back at work in more than a week. It was also my first day commuting with my new Kindle. Shane got me a Kindle for my birthday. I wasn't totally sold on whether I wanted a Kindle, but I have to say I'm loving it. And, technically, I haven't purchased anything for it yet. I did get a Washington Post subscription, but there is a 14-day free trial before I have to start paying the $9.99 a month. I've also downloaded about a dozen books, but they were all from the web site http://www.manybooks.net/. You can get various classics (and many not so classic) books with expired copyrights for free. So far, I've gotten Wuthering Heights, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, among others.

Thursday, August 6

New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #203

I haven't come up with a caption for this one yet. Since I'm posting this from my iPhone, I don't know how to include the link to the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest. There is a link to the site from my web site links in my sidebar. I'm on vacation.

Beach Drag

On Sunday, we went to Rehoboth Beach to see Eyecons, a drag show by Christopher Peterson. He is an amazing performer. He may be most famous for being one of the Lucys in the movie Rat Race. In the show, he performed as Lucy, Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Judy Garland, Liza, Eartha Kitt, and many others. This is not a lip synch show. He is doing their voice and look. He changes costume on the stage before your eyes. If you ever have the chance to see him perform, I would recommend it. He is very good.

The original plan was for Shane, my Mom, sister, and myself to see the show. But, because Shane had to go back to work early, he had to miss it. It ended up being my sister and two of my nieces and me. In the end, my Mom elected to stay home. I offered to get more tickets so we all could go, but the one niece didn't want to go and my Mom didn't want her to stay home alone. We were having bad storms and a tornado warning. Fun times!

Happy Birthday Lucy!



Lucille Ball was born August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. The clip above is just one example of her genius. It is an edited down version of the classic Vitameatavegamin Commercial episode. Though Lucy died in 1989, she will live forever.

Wednesday, August 5

The Gang at the Beach

From left to right -- Kelly (niece), Shane, Megan (niece), my Mom, my sister, and Nicole (niece) -- this was from Sunday, prior to Shane's departure later that day. It was a cloudy, windy day, and we had to leave after less than 2 hours because a storm started brewing. Poor Shane didn't get much beach time. He had to go back to DC for work.

Hump Day Art -- Beach Sculpture

This was near where we were set up on the beach at Bethany Beach, DE. I was not involved in its creation. The artist is unknown. It is about 5 feet long and the medium is sand. The model, placed on a towel in front of the sculpture, may have been purchased at a dollar store.

Old-Fashioned Wrapping Paper

My wonderful husband got me a Kindle for my birthday. He wrapped the cover, which he also gave me, in this antique paper that had clowns smoking on it. Very cool!

A Bad Influence

My mom shows her granddaughters proper smoking techniques. My niece, Kelly, on the far right, purchased the fake cigarettes. Megan, on the left, looks like a natural. It is wholesome fun here at the beach.

The Best Pizza Ever

I'm on vacation at the beach and tonight we went to Grotto Pizza for dinner and had the Baker's Choice. It consists if pepperoni, sausage, sweet peppers, mushrooms and extra cheese. OMG it was good! I love their sweet peppers.

Monday, August 3

Let Me Eat Cake

We celebrated my birthday yesterday because Shane had to go back to DC. He got me a cake and gave me my gifts.

Friday, July 31

Off to Bethany Beach

Me on the beach at Fenwick Island, DE, earlier this year.



Shane and I are off to the beach. Shane is only going for the weekend because he has limited leave. However, I am renting a house for a week and my Mom and my sister, along with my triplet nieces, are joining me for most of the week. Shane, my Mom, sister and I have tickets to see a drag show (Christopher Peterson's Eyecons) at Rehoboth Beach on Sunday evening. Shane an I saw her perform a few years ago and we never laughed harder in our lives. I can't wait to see my Mother's reaction.

Thursday, July 30

Running Music: The Beloved's "Your Love Takes Me Higher"



I know it's very 1990, but I love to run to this song.

Wednesday, July 29

Hump Day Art -- Colin Barclay

The Sea, Twillingate
oil on panel
8"x18"


Gros Morne, Newfoundland III
oil on linen
26"x26"


After the Burn
oil on panel
12"x24"

Frenchman Bay, Morning
oil on panel
12"x24"
The works above are by Colin Barclay. We saw them at the Leighton Gallery during our recent trip to Blue Hill, Maine. Once again, I apologize for the photo quality due to me using my iPhone camera. To see many more examples of Barclay's work and much better quality examples, click here. You can also visit Colin Barclay's website at http://colinbarclay.blogspot.com/. He also has much better photos of his work there.