Jekyll Island Beach 2012

Jekyll Island Beach 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

And a pumpkin...

The Rogue Speaks:

  Here's my Saturday Centus, finally.  Am I late?  Yeah, well, just a little!  I have a photo for you that is kind of holiday-ish in that it combines TWO holidays.  I tried to get a turkey in the photo, but couldn't find one just wandering around in my yard.  Darn!  I hate it when that happens!

Rod finally found the witch's cauldron full of Mardi Gras beads yesterday, so now we are in business for tonight.  I hope the little demons who ring our doorbell tonight don't demand candy over those beads, because they'll be out of luck.

Our first Halloween in Brunswick!  I wonder just what it will be like!  I'll let you know.

p.s. Be sure to check out the photo in my sidebar.  It's not as cute as Jenny's, but I've been dying to use it.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

WTF

The Rogue Speaks:

I know what you're thinking!  Our homework for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday is supposed to be "PG."  Would you believe me if I told you that WTF stands for What The Fudge?  Hmmm-no, I didn't think so.  In any case, I have TWO of Jenny's hand painted (No stencils!) signs.  AND I'm planning to get more to give as gifts!!  This was just a brilliant idea on her part!  I hope she sells a gazillion of them!  The other sign I have says, "It is what it is," which is another one of my favorite sayings.

I am sick, sick, sick of this contentious race for the presidency, and I'm not the only one.  Most of us will be so glad for it to be over and done with for another four years!  I am trying to just shut my mind off to politics for the next two weeks, but a couple of things in the last several days just keep popping back up on a regular basis.  One of those things is education.  I firmly believe that it isn't enough to concentrate on one skill and one skill only.  To be a well-rounded and knowledgeable individual, one must have a reasonable understanding of all the courses we learned in school, whether or not we actually use them.  Who knows?  Some day we may actually NEED that knowledge!

If anyone has ever watched Jay Leno's segment called "Jay Walking," you know what I mean.  In this segment, Jay interviews people from all walks of life about things we should have learned in school.  Most of the people are blatantly ignorant about history and geography and current events.  I don't want to cut these people some slack.  I think that as citizens, we have a responsibility, especially in today's world, to know, for example, that Syria is not Iran's path to the sea, as one presidential candidate stated.  The fact is that Iran has its OWN sea--the Persian Gulf, for Pete's sake!  And Syria? Well, Syria is on the OTHER side of Iraq from Iran, and lies on the Mediterranean.  Not knowing your geography, when running for president of the United States, is outrageously preposterous and scary!  We just can't have the leaders of other countries thinking that our president is stupid, now can we????  When I heard that statement come out of the mouth of a candidate, I briefly glanced at the sign that Jenny made and thought, "WTF!!!"

I am not particularly interested in the Military Channel on t.v.  Rod watches it, though, and I play Scrabble.  Even though I don't watch it, I know that we no longer fight battles at sea, so we have no need for all those battleships that were floating around back in 1917.  Now we have aircraft carriers and nuclear subs.  The army has no need for horses, or swords (except for ceremonies with full-dress uniforms) or those long bayonets attached to outdated rifles.  We now have "new age" weapons.  Too bad one candidate isn't aware of those changes.  Once again, I glanced at my Jenny sign.

In a couple of weeks, it will all be over, and then we can look forward to seeing Christmas decorations in all the stores--yes, before Thanksgiving!  I'm hoping that all the candidates will start removing their political signs before they become even more of a blight on the landscape.  We can sit back on election night and watch the count.  Rod will be in his chair with a dog on either side, and I will be stretched out on the sofa with a glass of wine and Violet by my side.  When the last vote is counted, I will glance up at my OTHER Jenny sign, sigh, and say to myself, "it is what it is."



Sunday, October 21, 2012

MEET THE NEIGHBORS

The Rogue Speaks:

I was out chasing "whitey" down the fairways yesterday, and by the time I got home, I was way too tired to write.  My offering for Saturday Centus is a little late, and the photo that Jenny gave us to work from is in my sidebar, but nevertheless, here's my little story:


MEET THE NEIGHBORS

“Hi!  I’m Fred!  I love your costume—very original!  I’m just meeting all my new neighbors and I thought this Halloween party would be a good idea.  I haven’t seen you around.  You must work the night shift.  You have sexy eyes, but you don’t talk much, do you!  Let me show you the upstairs.  We can be alone and get to know each other.

Well, this is it!  You could take your mask off.  It must get hot.  Here, let me help you.  Hey!  This isn’t a mask!  Wait!  What are you doing???  No!!!! My neck!!!! You’re hurting me…….!!!”

Thursday, October 18, 2012

VLAD, THE IMPALER

The Rogue Speaks:

I want to trick or treat at Blogger headquarters.  I have some rotten eggs that I would like to throw at their windows, because they won't let me upload photos to my post.  I can put them in my sidebar, however, so be sure to check them out.


VLAD, THE IMPALER
 
 
 
Vlad, the Impaler (1431-1476) is also know by his family name, DRACULA!!!  He was an excessively cruel leader of Wallachia, the present-day Romania.  Vlad fought against the Ottoman Turks, and was knows as the Impaler because he executed his enemies by impaling them on a long wooden stake, then stood it up in the ground for all to see.  The weight of the body would slowly drag the victim down, in a painful death.
 
In 1476, Vlad was brutally murdered and beheaded.  His head was sent to Constantinople, in Turkey, but the rest of his body was never found, though many people over the years searched for its final resting place.  It is thought by some that Vlad came back to life, and remains alive today, wandering the earth in search of more victims.
 
QUICK!  LOOK BEHIND YOU!  IT'S DRACULA!  MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!









Saturday, October 13, 2012

ELECTRIC LEAVES

The Rogue Speaks:



ELECTRIC LEAVES


The leaves cruched under my boots until they didn't.  I had reached the edge of the lake.  I turned and gazed up the path.  On the left was the sourwood tree, its leaves glowing neon red in the sun--electric leaves.

A young woman and her lover lay on a faded quilt beneath the tree, their bodies close, his fingers gently pushing her long brown hair back from her face.  She slipped her arms around his waist and pulled him down to her.

I turned and, opening the urn, I flung the contents into the water, saving a little to place by the sourwood tree, under our electric leaves.


An October Saturday Centus, with 109 words including the prompt, which is in bold type.  If you have not taken part in this exercise, please consider joining me and the other Centusians, led by our muse,  Jenny Matlock.  Every week is a different challenge, and it is so much fun to read the creative ideas of other writers.

Blogger is messing with my head again, and won't let me publish photos with my post, so you will find the photo for this Centus in my right sidebar.  If anyone knows what's going on with these strange and goofy error codes blogger is handing out, please let me know.  Google doesn't even know!  What do you think about that??

See you on Thursday!!



Saturday, October 6, 2012

OUR SEASON

The Rogue Speaks:

Little Pigeon River - JMcEwen
 
 
Our Season


“Remember our ‘Salad Days?’” she asked wistfully.

“You mean when we were green and tender?” he replied with a smile, taking her hand.

“Yes! When fall comes, and I see how beautifully leaves grow old, I realize that it is only a season since we were youthful and vibrant. Our lives go by so quickly the older we get.”

“Did you think we would stay young forever?  That’s no fun!  I’m glad I can rest now, and sit with you like this—like a pair of comfortable shoes that have seen better days, but fit so perfectly together.”
 
 
Jenny gave us such a wonderful Saturday Centus today, didn't she?  The prompt is in bold type, and the words, limited to 103, just fell out of my fingers and onto the page!  I'm anxious to see the offerings of the other Centusians, and I hope you will join me.



Friday, October 5, 2012

Tasteless and Tacky

The Rogue Speaks:

Now I've seen everything!  WTF!!  The maker of Chia Pets has come out with presidential chias!  So dash to your closest KMart or WalMart and vote for your candidate by purchasing one of the tacky and tasteless items!  Will it be Chia Obama or Chia Romney??? 

The makers of Chias have been around for a long, long time.  When I was a very little girl, my grandmother had one that she would occasionally sprinkle with grass seed.  I thought it was silly  then, and it is still silly to me today.  What a waste of money!!  And after the election, where do you think all those presidential Chias will eventually end up???

I wanted to show you photos of this two absurd items, but of course Blogger won't let me post any photos from the web these days, so you'll have to just imagine the two candidates with green hair.  Not a pretty sight is it?  Some people will do anything to make money, because they know that there are millions of impulsive folks who will throw away their hard-earned dollars on sheer crap.

I think I told you about Mum's blue plastic talking watch that she bought, for a "good cause," because the money was supposedly going to some charity.  The alarm was a crowing rooster, and Mum didn't know how to shut the alarm off, so when she came to visit us, we had to stick that watch under some boxes in the garage so the sound wouldn't literally drive us crazy for a month.  That plastic watch was designed for someone who couldn't see, but poor Mum couldn't HEAR, so she had no idea just how annoying that piece of plastic was.

Now here's a clever sales pitch by Pat Robertson's organization--in order to get people to open a letter from him, asking for a charitable donation, his people put a dollar in every envelope.  Of course people would open the envelope, because who is going to throw a dollar bill in the trash?  A lot of those people who opened that letter ended up donating a minimum of $5, so for an investment of $1, Robertson got back at least $4.  Not bad, eh?  The poor people who were suckered in never stopped to realize just how many letters went out all over America!  I wish I had all those dollars for my own personal "charity!"

I will close this silly post with a caption from a cartoon I once saw in the newspaper--"Satisfaction Guaranteed or No Money Back!!"  "Duh, sounds good to me!!"

Now hop on over to Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday and read the other students' homework!!



Talented Artists Who Blog!

The Rogue Speaks:

This is supposed to be posted Monday, but Blogger is being hateful, so I am publishing it Sunday night instead.  I wish they would get their issues worked out!!!  I'm tired of this "We're sorry..." stuff.

There are so many talented artists in the blogging world, and I decided to recognize a few of them today.  I have always admired collage artists.  I have never thought of myself as being very good at layout, and I love studying collage artists' work so I can hopefully learn something.  Laying out all those bits and pieces and moving them around, until suddenly one has a piece of art!  How fulfilling that is!

The first artist/blogger is my friend, Jo West.  A couple of years ago, Jo created a very special piece for me when our Precious girl crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  It hangs in my sitting room, and I see it every day.




  I gave one of Jo's collages to our daughter in New Orleans for her birthday this year.  I wish I had photographed it before I gave it to her, but I didn't!  Anyway, she loved it!!  I framed it in a shadowbox frame that can be opened from the front, so she can put some small memorabilia on the shelf inside the box.  O.k., I confess that I tried to nick a photo of the collage off Jo's blog,
 My Paper Playhouse, but blogger is being really uncooperative about that stuff, and wouldn't let me post it!!

The next collage artist is Theresa Plas.  She had a piece on her blog a couple of months ago, and I just had to have it for our new house.  You really must go to Theresa's blog, Studio 48 Tango, and then go to her Etsy shop.  This woman really has the gift for collage!  I plan to give some of her pieces as Christmas presents this year.

 
 
Teresa's piece is the one on top!  Isn't it fabulous???  Below it is my weak attempt that I did in an encaustics class a couple of years ago.   Mine looks better when it is in such good company!
 
 
You have already seen the work of Marsha Jorgensen in my right sidebar.  She is part of a group of artists who  are trying to stop art piracy.  If you are interested in collage, please go to her blog, Tumblefish Studio, because she sells supplies for creating collages similar to the ones you have seen here.
 



Well, that's it for today!  Next Monday, I may just tell you about the culinary artistry I performed with some fresh crabs that I trapped at the Jekyll Island pier.  The photo below is not a collage, but I am so proud of last week's catch, I just had to show it to you.  We had a wonderful crab feast that night!!