Tuesday, July 8, 2025

TUESDAY TUNES:GOLLY WHAT A BILL!


 TUESDAY TUNES: I apologize that Elle Cordova doesn't have this on Youtube yet ... So I'll include the social media link underlined to click on, followed by the lyrics.

Apologies other reels attached...

Golly, What a Bill   

by Elle Cordova


Representatives and Senators hanging out in Congressworking up the budget up on Capitol Hill..

Kicking Granny off her Medicaid to give the rich a tax break

Oodla lolly, oodla lolly, golly, what a bill!

Selling off public lands to billionaires with big plans rolling back protection for the oil man to drill,

2.8 is the estimate they are adding to the deficit

Oodla lolla, oodla lolly, Golly, What a bill!

Our forests  are burning and hurricanes are churning. We got heat waves scorching the air

They're terminating Noah putting Fema in a coma but I'm sure they'll offer thoughts and  prayers

Millions losing healthcare, food stamps, clean air -hopitals closing because they can not pay their bills.

No, there ain't nothing beautiful about fossil fuels and funerals

OOodla lolly oodla lolly, Golly what a bill!

MONDAY MUSINGS: ALLITERATION

 MONDAY MUSINGS is about something that is going to affect all of our lives.  Whoever named this last travesty did a good job with a catchy phrase which is definitely misnamed... because it is not a Big Beautiful Bill for most of us.

Elle Cordova, a young but powerful voice in her political stance calls it for what it is...

Kudos to this young lady for her wisdom and talent as this week I will also feature her in TUESDAY TUNES..BUT. listen to her amazing,awesome  ALLITERATION

( click on highlighted word)




Friday, July 4, 2025

FOTO FRIDAY: FIREWORKS EARLY

 


FOTO FRIDAY : I got my fireworks earlier this week after I finished my daily puzzle and what a sight as I scanned the 6am orange sky Thursday. 
Lo and behold to the southwest of my home...
From this to 

this...

                                      Happy Fourth Y'ALL!

TBT: WE ARE UNITED?

 TBT one of my favorite reminders of what people share living in the same country. Remember we are supposed to be united...



WE ARE...


Wednesday, July 2, 2025

MIDWEEK MUSINGS: TSA OVErKILL

 MIDWEEK MUSINGS: A week ago today I spent a lot of time in LAX ( Los Angeles Airport) as my kids' plane departed 3 hours earlier than mine. In fact, that's how I got my subject matter for today's musing. 

You see I went to my scheduled gate and when I realized there was a flight 2 hours earlier. I asked the American service gate agent if he could check if I could get on standby, he responded  " No problem." American has changed their rules that even if you have an economy ticket, you can go standby now for no extra fees. Great! 

The only issue was I would need to change wings to get to that flight. It was a hike and the waiting area there was packed. By looking at the monitor I saw I was #6 on the standby list. I heard the gate agent repeat that the flight was overbooked. I stayed by the monitor to see if there was any movement. Only first class travelers filled some of the few open seats. 

During the hour wait, I noticed 6/7 TSA ( Transportation Security Agents) setting up 3 computers beside the boarding lines . It was announced that the passengers should have their ids ready to show the TSA agents, as they would be randomly chosen to be stopped and searched. Now, remember, they had already gone through the TSA before arriving at the gate. OVERKILL.

 I watched in curiosity as to who would be stopped before boarding. It delayed the boarding process and only people of color were pulled.  There were a lot of people holding passports as their id's. It infuriated me as it was very obvious this wasn't random. How terribly scary for these travellers!

I didn't make it on that earlier flight and upon my return to my original gate where half those agents were already setting up. To add to the hassle, there had been a plane change and it was a smaller craft minus 5 seats.  After getting in line to board, I was informed that my assigned seat didn't exist. I was told to step over to the desk and the agent asked why I didn't get on the earlier flight. I quipped " there were no seats" and I had been standby anyhow for an oversold plane. Now, I wasn't sure if I'd be getting on my original flight. Never a dull moment.


Boarding was delayed, and after everybody was on the plane , I entered as I  had the row seat almost in the bathroom. but I had a seat.  Then we proceeded to sit on the tarmac an hour due to weather in Dallas. Drats my connecting flight was barely an hour after the original takeoff time... 

The good news was twofold as I was able to watch a movie I had missed in the theaters A Complete Unknown, (Bob Dylan),a terrific diversion since my connecting flight might depart while we were en route.  We were landing at a D wing gate and my next gate was in B wing, way on the other side of the train line. 

I did make the next flight since we had to wait for the copilot who actually had been on my LAX flight. Too funny. Turns out, all flights were running an hour late due ton their bad weather. 

The last thing we all needed on our traveling day was TSA PLUS...

TUESDAY TUNES: TASTE

Temps were too hot for June although lots of rain... and that heat extended to exercise music too Here's Coco Jones' TASTE  Remember I warned you... It's hot, way too hot!



Monday, June 30, 2025

MONDAY MUSINGS::ALMOST A FOSTER FAILURE

 This Monday finds me a bit too reflective as I returned after 2 busy weeks to an empty home. You see a family who was interested in Maggie Moo, my longest rescue dog, kept her during my 2 week absence and hasn't returned her. I think Maggie has found a new home.

I am torn as this was this foster Mom's wish for Ms Maggie to have other 4 legged friends in the same house. She has more energy to release than living my quiet home lifestyle. Yet, I will miss her sweet nature greeting me upon my return, her continuous following me room to room, romps in the backyard, 

quiet moments watching TV and her lying next to the bed at night. 


Her hair will be clogging the vacuum cleaner for a while but will serve as a good reminder of a great foster experience while she regained her confidence after her previous living situations. 

I am happy for Maggie Moo but will definitely miss her. 

May Maggie thrive in her new environs...

Friday, June 27, 2025

FOTO FRIDAY: DISNEY AND ME

 


FOTO FRIDAY: Here I thought Disney went all out making sure I enjoyed my special bday year...  

It turns out we both share the same birthday year. Imagine that!





TBT: REFLECTIONS FROM TEL AVIV

TBT: It's important to hear a voice living in a present day war zone...
Read on as a family friend shares her life.

The Past Two Weeks: A Reflection from Tel Aviv
"I’ve been wanting to write something about the last couple of weeks. Not because I have some grand insight or political angle, but because everything’s still a mess in my head, and I need to try to make some sense of it.
Also, I think people outside the region, especially in the West, don’t fully grasp what’s been happening here, or how complex and surreal it feels to actually live through it.
It started about two weeks ago, technically Friday morning, around 2am. A siren went off, but it was softer than usual. It didn’t sound like an air raid siren. At the same time, my phone buzzed with a message: earthquake alert. Which was weird, because I couldn’t feel anything.
I figured maybe this was a different kind of siren, for earthquakes? But then I started texting friends, and someone said: “We just struck Iran.”
I thought, what a wild coincidence, that we hit Iran and there’s also an earthquake alert? I still wasn’t fully getting it.
Then another notification came in: we had indeed just struck Iran. Retaliation was expected. Stay close to shelter.
As it turns out, that first “earthquake” alert only went to Samsung users; it was from the Homefront Command, and maybe they didn’t have a ready-made alert for “we just hit Iran, brace yourself.” So they used the earthquake system to get our attention. Or maybe it was just a glitch. Who knows.
An hour later, another alert: retaliation was imminent.
So at 3am, we packed up, grabbed our dog, and rushed across the street to the shelter. We were tired. We didn’t know what was coming. And even though we’ve been living through a war since October 7, this was different. This wasn’t short-range rockets from Gaza. These were ballistic missiles. From Iran.
That’s a different level of threat. A different kind of fear.
---
Something I don’t think people in the West understand is that being pro-peace and being anti-war are not the same thing.
To be anti-war is a privilege. It’s not always a choice afforded to those with enemies actively trying to annihilate them.
What’s striking is how much support there has been for this operation from Israelis despite the risk, the consequences, the very real fear. And I think that speaks to something most people outside this region don’t understand: our deep historical and emotional connection with the people of Iran.
Yes, the people. Because we’re not anti-Iranian. We’re anti-regime.
That may sound contradictory from the outside. “How can you say you support Iranians while bombing Iran?” That kind of black and white thinking doesn’t hold up here.
Iranians are oppressed by the same terror we are. Their regime, the Ayatollah, kills women for showing a strand of hair. And that same regime funds Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis… the groups that murder, fire rockets at our homes and use civilians as shields.
Iran is the center of a terror network that stretches across the region, and targets not just us, but their own people, too. In Gaza. In Lebanon. Everywhere.
We proudly stand with the Iranian people. And many of them stand with us. It’s a bond that’s real and growing, even in the darkest times.
---
Over these two weeks, we were woken up over and over by sirens. Sometimes multiple times a night. Sometimes we spent hours in the shelter.
I don’t even think the reality has sunk in yet. The sleep deprivation, the adrenaline, the grief, it blurs everything.
But this was Iran. This was real. And they actually hit things.
A single ballistic missile can flatten an entire neighborhood.
And they did. Many times.
The closest being less than two miles north of us. Places I go all the time—gone. Rubble. Buildings destroyed. People killed. Families displaced.
And yet, I haven’t fully processed it. It feels too big, too surreal, too much to hold.
Then, just as suddenly as it began, it ended.
The tent cities in the subway stations, where families without shelters had slept, were gone overnight. Restaurants reopened like nothing had happened. Streets were full of life again. Music. People. Laughter.
It felt surreal.
But this "return to normal"... is still day 628 of war.
There are still 50 hostages being held captive in Gaza.
Nothing is really normal."

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

MIDWeeK MUSING: : CHERISHING LIFE

 MIDWEEK MUSINGS has me ridden with guilt as I have purposely avoided discussing world events as the last 5 days I have spent with the grands. 

While we celebrated a first birthday with family in California our country's policies invaded this space especially re: deportation here in California and horrible news of the Middle East bombings. 

Let us not forget history and what was resolved during Obama's presidency re: immigration and nuclear weapons in Iran... It's a very scary time for many ...



TUESDAY TUNES: CYCLING THRU IT'S A SMALL WORLD

TUESDAY TUNES found its way in a 38 year cycle of remembering enjoying It's a Small World with my daughter and now her 2 children.

We only had time for once in the boat ride today but the song was with me a lot longer awaiting the afternoon parade in front of this world reknown Disney ride... 

It's A Small World 












Friday, June 20, 2025

FOtO FRIDAY: BLACK CLOUD

FOTO FRIDAY: It was quite a sightToo many to count. The Phoenix Art Museum's walls were adorned with Carlos Amorales's installation of butterflies, black paper butterflies representing the migration of monarch butterflies from the north to south of the U.S. border to Mexico.




Thursday, June 19, 2025

TBT: JUNETEENTH

"OnThisDay in 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, over 250,000 enslaved people in Texas finally received word that they were free. That day, now known as Juneteenth, marks a delayed but powerful declaration of Black liberation.

But emancipation wasn’t the finish line. It was the foundation.

In the face of uncertainty and chaos, newly freed Black people built schools, churches, businesses, and cultural traditions. They created mutual aid societies, elected officials, and established neighborhoods rooted in care and resistance. They chose community over chaos.

Juneteenth isn’t just a day of remembrance. It’s a celebration of how Black communities turned emancipation into empowerment and how that legacy continues today.


As we honor this day, may we reflect, rest, and recommit to building communities of progress where freedom is more than a word. It’s a practice."







Tuesday, June 17, 2025

TUESDAY TUNES:I WON'T LET GO

 TUESDAY TUNES : Standing by those you care about is what friends do... I WON'T LET GO by Rascal Flatts.



Friday, June 13, 2025

Thursday, June 12, 2025

TBT: CONFIRMATON

 TBT: CONFIRMATION was this past Sunday and it was a very small class just 3 in this year's class.

Look what showed up on my feed. This was me at Confimation in 1970 (10th grade) 


By alphabetical order my classmates included: Ann, Brad, Frankie, Keith, Lynn, Ron, Stan and Terri.  Did I forget somebody? I thought there were 10???





Wednesday, June 11, 2025

MIDWEEK MUSINGS MUSIC CORRECTION

MIDWEEK MUSINGS RE: MUSIC CORRECTION  I need to make a correction to last week's commentary re: my enjoyment of all types of music. 

I stand corrected since attending the first of the summer Wednesday Spins at the Arkansas Fine Arts Center. Attendance far exceeded former visits as hundreds of folks came to socialize and enjoy DJ  Nick Hud.

As soon as one entered the building one was hit by what was happening upstairs. You see there's nothing in this modern structure that absorbs sound. We quickly entered a gallery to see the amazing student art.  We do have some very talented young artists in our schools being fostered by good art programs ...



After oohing and awing, we wisely chose the elevator over the stairs. After exiting, we found folks using all the hallway seating probably to hear each other talk and save their hearing.

Have you ever been in a space where the DJ is trying to overpower the chatting of the 'attendees'. The noise was deafening and thank goodness the next gallery gave us a reprieve. The 70's exhibit was a flashback for sure... I donned a fro myself back in my senior high school year and Southern humidity gave me a good one.


Obviously, we had to eventually exit back into the crowded gathering and we wasted no time heading downstairs towards the exit with a quick stop in the gift shop where we were greeted with a " Hi, how are you?" No brainer on that answer " DEAF " I quipped. We all laughed and the young worker replied. "If I had known I would have brought my earplugs." No kidding. 

So my correction to liking all genres of music is that when a genre is just noise, I am not a happy camper.




Tuesday, June 10, 2025

TUESDAY TUNES: I JUST WANNA BREAK THE RULES

 Being a goodie two shoes, I had never even dared to not follow the rules.  How boring, but no worries my brothers made up for my good behavior.

Now, I wonder if I missed out on a lot. How many of you can relate to the lyrics of this song by Charli XCX?


BREAK THE RULES

Friday, June 6, 2025

FOTO FRIDAY: BATHROOM ART

FOTO FRIDAY:  FaceBook may have its issues but there are also the positives like  connecting us online and different ways of informing us about outside world activities. It was there  I learned about a local workshop a couple of Sundays ago.


Here's my end product to the Mannequin with Plants workshop. She now dons my Master Bath window.  I think she'll love the steam from the showers, don't ya think? 

 






Thursday, June 5, 2025

TBT: WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL DAY BLOOM 2017

 TBT: This popped open 8 years ago today in my front flower bed in the End of the Rainbow Valley. There are some things I can't get to grow here in the South. Oh well,  I have flowers here that don't need to be dug up yearly like cannas. 

BUT I have to admit missing my poppies and lupines...





Wednesday, June 4, 2025

TUESDAY TUNES & KIM SCOTT

Take your TUESDAY TUNES a day late but with Kim Scott no matter what day it is since this was from the Fresh Coast Jazz Festival's  at the Pabst Theater  in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last summer! Think of the big flute as the male and the small one as the 'pretty young' thing...

KIM SCOTT



Tuesday, June 3, 2025

MONDAY MUSINGS & MUSIC

 Summer brings back all those wonderful possibilities for music. I don't mind what genre as I love it all!

Even my weekend services was gifted with soulful, breathtakimg beautiful musical moments by Aleksandra Dubov as her 2 years as our guest cantor comes to an end...


Sunday, the River Bottom Winery's parking lot was jam-packed late afternoon due toa favorite duo, Cliff & Susan playing Western Live Music. The frozen drinks are perfect on a warm afternoon and my order always contains a charcuterie board for the table! Below you can get a taste of the quality entertainment and their future guest musicians.

Here's a sampling from Cliff and Susan. Take a  listen. So much fun...


2025 June's Schedule

June's Wednesday Spins kick off in the Cultural Living Room  weekly in the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts beginning with DJ Nick Hud 5-8 where you can also imbibe craft cocktails and take advantage of experiencing 'captivating art'  and experience a new photo booth .


🎧 Nick Hud: June 4, 18 & 25
🎧 Jordan Cox: July 2–16
🎧 DJ Afrosia: July 23–August 6
🎧 Mike Poe: August 13–27

June is off to a great musical start, don't you think?

Friday, May 30, 2025

MIDWEEK MUSINGS: PENNY WISE, POUND FOOLISH

 MIDWEEK MUSINGS   

 I hold fond memories of helping my Dad wash our cars growing up and I also afforded my own kids the same memories ... water play with the hose and buckets of sudsy water and sponges. 

Nowadays washing one's car is basically a thing of the past for many as the long lines at automatic carwashes attest. It's even difficult to find the basic self service carwashes with those long water wands and  push buttons for soap and rinse. 

It is fun going through the touchless carwashes now with colored soaps / lights and having vacuums and cloths available to finish up the cleaning job. So when a new automatic carwash Glide Xpress was built across the street from my grocery store, it was a no brainer to subscribe. And after buying Red Hot, the 2010 BMW hard top convertible, she too was added for the same treat.

You know that' pride in the ride'. Then one day after going through the carwash while drying off some undried areas, I noticed the driver's side roof top hinge cover had popped up. (It's a cosmetic plastic piece covering  the hinge). One of the carwash's felt fingers must have gotten caught at one end and as the track moved the car forward pulled it up and broke it. 

A Glide Xpress worker filled out the accident report for me and relayed that the claim would be evaluated. I decided to be proactive and go straight to the BMW dealership to see if the part was in stock. No such luck.

In fact, both sides have to be purchased as a set @$530 not including installation and it was my responsibility to find a body shop to paint the pieces. The BMW mechanic looked at Red Hot  and said a new hinge also was needed. Now Red Hot's estimate jumped to $1,743.00 w/o labor and painting.

Upon returning to Glide Xpress, the manager shared he'd speak with the boss and call me but in many cases management will not cover  damage due to the age of the car. * There was a period when workers  taped down back windshield wipers (my SUV) before you went through the wash. Obviously, an adjustment to prevent damage... 

I told the manager I was planning to shop around for the repair  regardless for lower quotes. There was a sign saying certain age cars would be exempt for damage compensation. 

Next stop for me was the dealership where Red Hot was purchased and their mechanic said the hinge was fine and to look online for the part. Lo and behold left plastic covers could be purchased separately and he could install it once it was painted. 

I did receive a voicemail while I was out of town saying Glide Xpress  had said NO to the claim. After returning home, I revisited the manager.  Since there was a meeting that day, he would reapproach management.  

As you can guess the response was a  'NO,'  
Well, the body shop of my choice would paint and install it .
Total cost including part $152 vs BMW's  quote plus paint + labor. ~2,000 
                                                                                                                 I have cancelled both my Glide X press subscriptions,  will post a less than stellar review, and am sharing this with you all on my blog. 

 Glide Xpress might be penny wise but pound foolish,  
There is what appears a new/ cleaned sign along with a lot of green cones to prevent members from just coming to vacuum their cars...
All I can say is Buyer beware ...  

Seriously, how many of us have cars less than 3 years old? 

                                                                                                              

FRIDAY FOTO: IS THIS MY GOOD SIDE?


FOTO FRIDAY: Sweet Ms. Maggie Moo is up for adoption now that she has had recuperation time with me as her Foster Mom.


 

It's so very tempting to keep her but I am on the go a lot

Which photo do you think should be used as her profile pic?  A/B?

A


B


Tuesday, May 27, 2025

MONDAY MUSINGS:DISRESPECTING THE PEOPLE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT



I was not surprised that it poured yesterday because it was from all those tears shed by the families who have fought for this country. Lives lost and families forever changed. It's beyond embarrassing when a person elected by the American people delivers a speech like the following. The following are his words...  

There is nothing OK about the following speech when yesterday was a day to remember those who gave their lives for their country and all the men who fought along with them...

From the Man in the Oval Office