When we were apartment camping without much internet or TV reception we went to the movies every weekend. We saw several movies that normally I would have passed until they were on TV. But given the situation we paid the price to get out, sit in chairs other than camping ones, see something other than DVDs and enjoy ourselves. Money Monster was one of those movies.
We didn’t see much of New Orleans before our departure. Just dinner in the French Quarter the night before our departure. We’d saved our touring for after the cruise. It was here we used Uber for the first time. One trip was great, the other – well we wound up going the wrong way on a divided highway and miles from our hotel but he corrected and all was good. The worst trip was in a cab from the hotel to go home, so I’ll Uber again. What did we do here? We did the World War II museum, a ghost tour, ate, played with a ghost app, stayed in the House of the Rising Sun that was supposedly haunted. All I can say is I didn’t like the old elevator – it felt like a coffin… was slow and cha-kunked it’s way up. That scared me the most, I closed my eyes and clung to Mike on the way up. Then we walked our way down. What take the stairs up! Pfft you gotta be kidding and miss riding in the coffin-vator? There’s a small photo of him in it looking worried for me. Oh and the photo of Mike sitting in the sidewalk cafe looking all relaxed after breakfast is my new phone’s wallpaper. Love that man, love that photo.
If you like puzzles do I have a tale for you. If you like mysteries that are taking place here and now – do I have a tale for you. To solve it you have to master many knowledge bases, travel the world or have connections around the world, and work fairly quickly because there is a time limit. What do you get if you get to the very end and solve all the puzzles? No one has said. Who is putting out these complicated puzzles? No one is telling. This is the tale of Cicada 3301 something I’ve been watching from the start…
Belle was our dog for 19 years. She was a sweet smart mutt that definitely had some golden Lab in her. Now that the Carolina Dog is becoming a recognized breed I have to say that Belle fit them very well and was from South Carolina. As you can tell from this photo she was game for anything – Even costumes. So kick off Halloween with the fun spirit of Belle!
Once I wondered if I was to meet an alien and they asked me where I was from what would be the right answer. Yeah I knew Earth but heck what’s the name of my solar system? Okay I know the alien might have different names for the same places yet I didn’t want to look like a lost kid in the police station that didn’t know their address. So I did a bit of research… (more…)
I always look forward to Bill Bryson’s next book. He’s entertaining and educational. Many of his books I’ve read multiple times and walk away each time having learned something new while laughing. Most consider his best to be A Walk In The Woods (the book not the lame movie). I however favor A Sunburnt Country, about Australia, though The Lightning Bolt Kid was awesome. Actually I can’t name one I don’t consider worth multiple reads. So I snatched up his latest the week it was released. The Road To Dribbling is him revisiting the places of his book Notes From A Small Island. I looked forward to seeing how Bryson fared moving back to Great Britain and visiting places twenty years later. Would he prove what Thomas Wolf did in Look Homeward Angel that you can’t go back, or is England timeless and 20 years didn’t make that much of a difference? (more…)
In February the week of Valentine’s Day Mike and I took a cruise. With the crazy changes that hit fast and furious after mainly related to the move I didn’t get to post about it. Instead of details there will be a series of photo posts on the trip.
This time we went on a slightly smaller and older ship the Norwegian Dawn. Our last cruise had been on Norwegian Getaway. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. We had a inner lower room with no window, last time a balcony. But given we had some rough seas going out, it was good there were no windows. It wasn’t terrible and we just slept, watched a movie, and enjoyed the morning after the storm.
In some circles on the internet the name John Titor is synonymous with Time Traveler. The tale starts as far back of 1998 from a man that claimed to be on his way to or from 1975 returning to his home time of 2036. He said his name was John Titor. Just why did he stop here for a few years 1998 – 2001? What did 2036 want from 1975? Why did he stop in those years? Wasn’t he afraid of changing the time line? Was it real or a hoax? If it’s a hoax who did it? Why? If not why did he tell his tale on radio and internet? I’ll try to do justice to a convoluted tale of time travel, cigars, lawyers, and Florida. Yes this is a tale that could start with the infamous ‘A Florida man…’ (more…)
Here Mike’s father, Len, helps him make a Jack-O-Lantern in 1969. I have to admit I love the old dial wall phone in the back. Ours was yellow in the kitchen by the basement door. Theirs was olive and next to a door way. Then there’s Jack-O-Lanterns they are looking good don’t you think?
As I said in the Monday post it’s time to rearrange the blog furniture. It’ll give it a fresh feel and keep it flowing for me. So Wednesday is going from being a wildcard to being about words. Here I’ll share answers to my questions, words I’ve found that I like, and quotations I like. What questions you ask… well things like what’s our cosmic address? what is the distribution of eye color in the world population? what do you call things that give you a creepy feeling? What did Romans call their spies? how many written characters does language need? I promise I’ll give you the answers I found for these and other things in the following Wednesday Words posts.
Mary Louise Eklund 