T is for TOOTH!!!

The Rogue Speaks:

Ish ooh cant read thish, iss vecause I ust goh vack fohm cee deniss!



Ahhhh!! That's better! It's now two hours later and the novocaine has finally worn off! I was eating dinner Friday night and one of my crowns popped off! This crown was VERY old, and worn. In fact, the dentist is amazed that it lasted as long as it has. It was put in by Rod's dad (Dr. McEwen), and he has been dead for almost 23 years! Now that was some excellent dental work, don't you think?

Rod's dad was nothing like Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors.



In fact, he and another dentist friend of his gave something really spectacular to the world of dentistry back in the '50's-- they perfected the high-speed drill! They were even written up in Life Magazine! AND they added that water feature to it so the tooth wouldn't heat up and explode in your mouth!!(I just added that part for a little humor. I have never heard of an exploding tooth.)

Dr. McEwen practiced reconstructive dentistry, and people came from all over the country to see him. One of his long-time patients was Susan Hayward! That beautiful smile of hers didn't come cheap, let me tell you!

My own dentist is Dr. David Haymore. Rod and I have been going to him since we moved here, and he's really a great guy. We're very picky about dentists, and wouldn't go to just anyone!



Would you believe me if I told you this is a photo of Dr. Haymore? Nah! I didn't think so.

In two weeks, I will be getting my new crown. In the photo at the beginning of my post you can see my options. It doesn't take a math whiz to figure out just which one I opted for. Have you SEEN the price of GOLD lately? No-brainer there!!

I don't really have any dental music to go with this post, but I did manage to find a hit from the fifties! Please check out the other offerings at Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday.

A New Life

The Rogue Speaks:

I first began this story when the main character discovered a stone wall and an old gate on one side of the meadow. He was anxious to show his young wife what he had discovered, and the two opened the gate and crossed through into another part of the meadow. Several days before, he had found a letter stuck in the wall between two stones.

When we last left the young man, he found a stone sign at the corner of the field, yet another mystery he had discovered since he and his young wife had moved into the farmhouse that had once belonged to his mother and father. Now, the story continues:

As he walked toward the house, he could see that his wife was home early from work.

“Something’s happened,” he said to himself. “She’s never this early! God, I hope the company has'nt closed down! We really need that money until the farm is up and running in the spring!”

His steps quickened, and when he reached the back door, she was standing there.

“She’s so beautiful!” he thought, as he stamped the dirt from his boots. “She makes up for all the trials I have suffered in my life.”

As he crossed the threshold, she took him in her arms. “Surprise! I’m pregnant!”

Jenny really gave us a good prompt for this Saturday's Centus. I hope you will catch up with my story, then go on to read the other offerings! Have a good weekend, everyone, and for those of you on the east coast, STAY DRY!

Serendipity! What Fun!!

The Rogue Speaks:

The word serendipity is one of the 10 hardest words to translate in the English language. Horace Walpole used the word in a letter to Horace Mann in 1754. He said he made the word up from a fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. Serendip is an old name for Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka.

The best definition of serendipity is "happy accident" or "fortunate occurrence." In the life of Alexander Flemming, that fortunate occurrence happened when he accidentally contaminated a petri dish growing staph germs with mold. The mold grew and killed the staph germs. Voila! Penicillin!

If you have read my latest Whimsical Wednesday post in which I describe how I create some of my paintings, you will see just how serendipity can play a role.

The painting shown above, entitled Eye of the Storm, I consider to be a happy accident. The technique used to create the piece involves dropping acrylic inks on a piece of glass, then placing a sheet of Yupo paper on top of the glass, and transferring the ink to the paper by pressing down. Sort of like making an ink blot. This technique doesn't always produce the desired results, but in this case it did. I entered the piece in a show, and it sold before the show even opened. What a happy accident that was.

It was also serendipitous that I came across Jenny Matlock's blog, Off On My Tangent, last year, and started participating in Alphabe-Thursday. What fun we all have!! I hope you will check out ALL the offerings this week!

p.s. The music you hear is by the Serendipity Singers. Yes, I know the words have nothing to do with my post, but it is the one song they recorded that I liked.

Whimsical Wednesday-Winged Sylvilagus

The Rogue Speaks:

My offering this week for Whimsical Wednesday is a little painting from an exhibit called "The Body as Brush." In creating the paintings, only body parts could be used. This can be a very tricky process. The gallery sponsoring the exhibit actually got the idea for the show from me and my BFA (Best Friend Artist). I had to delete a portion of this post because dt haase asked that we keep our posts kid friendly and the technique we used is definitely not. Today's piece is painted with acrylic inks on Yupo paper, which has a plastic ground. It is kid-friendly, because the body parts used were my palm, and my lips (gently blowing the background around through a straw.) One must work very quickly and carefully when using this method, so the colors and forms don't run together and smear, creating a murky mess. The title of this piece is "Winged Sylvilagus" (winged forest hare) and is definitely a creation of whimsy. I hope you like it!

If you are interested in learning about our technique, let me know and I will send it to you in an email.

Lizzie's Birthday Party

The Rogue Speaks:
I don't care what you say! Our dogs are like our children, and celebrating Lizzie's first birthday was a wonderful idea! Just ask some of the guests! Oops! They can't talk! They can only bark! Well, ask our friends who brought just the kind of food they know I love! We really had a wonderful party, and Liz seemed to know it was just for her! She sat right by her daddy while he opened the gifts, and inspected each and every one! Their excitement was still going strong this morning, with a bark-off that was lasting way too long, so Rod took them for a walk. Now we are all lounging around in the den, snoozing, and watching golf. I think I'll have a party for Mulligan in January! Want to come??

WORDS, AND AN EARLY DEATH...

The Rogue Speaks:


Three sisters, Miande, Andide, and Calunta Prush, sat on the porch swing together, on a warm summer evening. The unistala vine was in full bloom, and its heady fragrance was all around them.

Miande, the eldest of the sisters, was an impholog, and her vast knowledge of adjectives and adverbs was sometimes an annoyance to the two younger girls.

"Miande, I think you make some of those words up!" Andide, the middle sister, cried, the dratoi in her voice filled with a sense of chize.

Calunta, the mulgrist in the family, sat quietly by while her two older sisters bantered back and forth in ablanic fervor. She was by far the most suctione of the three, taking in the conversation with an amused half-smile.

"If I die young, it's on you!!" said Miande with a look of unceo accusa, "I'll have my words!!"

"Girls!" their mother called, "Dinner! Nishies, with a salad of fresh sapparb!!



Right about now, you just may be heading for the dictionary, because there are some strange and unknown words in my Saturday Centus. Save your steps! For a long time now I have wanted to do something interesting with the Word Verification we have all come to know and love. I made a little collection of them and have sprinkled a few throughout my Centus! I hope you have enjoyed it!!!

R is for Robert Redford

Today, August 18, is Robert Redford's 75th birthday! Man, does that make me feel old!!! Remember how some of us female AARP members swooned over him in "The Way We Were?"

Robert was a rascal in high school. One of his pastimes was stealing hub caps! He managed to graduate, though, and went on to the University of Colorado on a basketball scholarship. Unfortunately, he was kicked out for doing way too much drinking. He studied art at the Pratt Institute, then headed to Europe to live the life of an artist. He later returned to New York, and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he met and married Lola Van Wagenen in 1958. The two had four children, but divorced in 1985.

His first big roll was the part of Sundance in "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" in 1969.

He named his famed Sundance Film Festival after his character in the film. Remember the scene where Butch and Sundance jumped off that cliff into a river??

I have seen "Jeremiah Johnson" (1972) more times than I care to admit. It is one of my favorite Redford films.

"The Sting" came out in 1973. I think it was more of a guy film, but Redford sure looked fine in that tux!


"The Great Gatsby" (1974) wasn't a box office hit, but I still loved it!


"The Natural" came out in 1984. What a sweet story that was!


The next year Redford starred with Meryl Streep in "Out of Africa," another one of my favorite films. I cried my eyes out during the memorial scene!


I didn't really mean to go on so long here, but I had a serious crush on the guy for a lot of years. Not only was he sexy, but he has done so much for the movie industry over the years, as an actor, a director, and a philanthropist. He's a good citizen, too.

Happy Birthday, Robert!! Thanks for all the great films!

p.s. I wrote this late on Thursday, and forgot to tell you all to read the other offerings for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday. I'm heading there now to catch up on MY reading!!

Whimsical Wednesday

The Rogue Speaks:

dthaase's Whimsical Wednesday is SO MUCH FUN! I hope you will check out the other entries!

My entry is a small piece--only 10 x 10--and it is an encaustic on panel. It is currently on display at a gallery in Tucson. I have entitled it "Young Santa" because I am sure Santa wasn't BORN old!

The glasses? Yep, they're mine--old ones, of course!!

Nothing left to do but.....

The Rogue Speaks:

These 50 word things that Jenny Matlock has us doing for Saturday Centus are giving me a headache! It's just too much thinking for someone my age! But since our country appears to be in such horrible shape right now, I think that there is an important lesson to be learned here. We all have to tighten our belts. Times are tough for every one but the rich people in America, but we shouldn't let that get us down. We have to hope that things will get better! So stop crying, and laugh a little! It's good for people to laugh! Laughing is a great way to relieve tension, and we sure have a lot of that these days. I even wrote a little poem about it. Here is my Saturday Centus. The prompt is in capital letters:


Your toilet’s overflowing.
Your lawn mower stopped amowing.
Your ‘fridgerator’s broken.
Your oven, it's asmokin’.
Your kitchen sink is dripping.
Your credit score is slipping.
Your puppy ate the phone cord.
A pink slip from the school board!
Think things can't get much worse?
A thief just stole your purse!!
LAUGH OUT LOUD!!!

QAT

The Rogue Speaks

Lunchtime has finally arrived after a long hard morning at work. You and your friends gather to enjoy a delicious noon-day repast. Your meal may begin with a relish made with chilies, pepper, cardamom, caraway, fresh coriander and garlic, along with some lahuh to dip and scoop up the relish.

Your main dish may be salta, a thick and spicy meat stew made with lamb or chicken with lentils, beans, chickpeas, coriander, fengreek and a few fiery spices. Ahhh! Wasn't that delicious??

Now for your beverage. How about a nice cup of qishr, made of coffee husks and ground ginger! Yum!!

Lunch is over and now it is time to go back to work. But wait! Look over there! Isn't that fellow selling qat?? Why, yes, I believe he is! We still have a few more minutes to spare, so let's go buy a few leaves!!!

Do you know where you are? You are in Yemen! And qat, a leafy narcotic, is the main agricultural crop!! Qat, when chewed, produces feelings of euphoria and stimulation. It has become a major cultural phenomenon and has created conflict over its production in Yemen and Somalia. Yemen is an extremely arid region, and water is a very scarce commodity. The Yemenis, however, prefer to use what little water they have to grow qat over food crops!!

Qat used to be a weekend recreational drug of choice, but has now become almost a daily ritual of social importance. Since the average family in Yemen makes around $700 a year, and qat chewing can cost as much as $20 a day, qat can really put a strain on the family budget.

Coffee used to be the largest crop in Yemen, but qat has replaced the coffee crops. This has been detrimental to Yemen's economy because it drains foreign investors.

It has been said that qat production has encouraged laziness and absenteeism on the job because workers go to lunch, chew some fresh-picked qat, and then take the rest of the day off. So maybe we should just skip the qat, and go back to work. No? Don't say I didn't warn you!!

When I am in my car, my radio is only tuned to one station--NPR. I get a lot of ideas from stories I hear on public radio, and even keep a little notebook handy to make a note of interesting news items. I heard the story of qat several months ago and knew I had to use it for Alphabe-Thursday. There are a lot of other interesting "Q" posts to be found at Jenny's blog, so hop on over!!!

p.s. I discovered a very interesting and artsy blog today, so if you have time, please scroll down to my Whimsical Wednesday post, and click on the link!

Whimsical Wednesday

The Rogue Speaks:

You have probably already seen one of my very first encaustic pieces from last year, because it can be found in my right-hand side-bar, but I decided to post it here today because I found a new and very creative/interesting blog, dt. haase, and thought it would be fun to participate. You really must check out this blog and see the other entries!!



In case you are like me and have to strain to read the words, they say "Time becomes meaningless in the face of creativity."

Little Sunbeams

Shrimp Boats at Latitude 31 - Good Night, Sunshine!



The Rogue Speaks:

We are home from our 4500 mile round trip to the Georgia coast and back! I am happy to report that last year's purging (The Road Home)allowed me to thoroughly enjoy this year's VACATION. We drove to Fernandina Beach one evening to meet up with The Disconnected Writer and his wife Carol for a delightful dinner at The Crab Trap. What fun to actually meet another blogger face to face. The four of us plan to get together again in the future.

Little Liz and Mulligan really enjoyed the beach, and even ventured into the surf. Rod would occasionally let them off their leashes and they would dash off to chase the seagulls. They never stayed away too long, however, and always came dashing back to us--safety!!

The blackout drapes in the motel room didn't fool them into thinking that it was still night, so every morning I was "kissed" awake by my two dog children. That fact is a perfect segue way into my Saturday Centus for this week. The prompt is in bold type:

"Blechh! Ptuy! Stop it! No more kisses! No! No! Don’t lick my eyes!”

This is what we went through every Jekyll morning. Our two little dog children were so anxious to go running on the beach, that they just would not let us stay in bed!

“Yes, my little loves! You are my sunshine!!”