bought and sold
car stories are the best conversation icebreakers with a guy. i have a few tall tales to tell. seems like i have always been driving. living in the country you drive tractors, motorcycles and four wheelers from a very young age. i was fourteen when i got my first legal drivers license. took the written exam and passed easily. went to the driving portion and the large sheriff told me i looked like i could drive and issued my license. had a few good boyfriends with great muscle cars from the 70's but i was stuck with my older super conservative country gentleman of a brothers' car. a 1964 plymouth valaint with a push button transmission. it was labeled the ghetto machine as i cruised up to my high school parking lot, where everyone hung out in the mornings. this was a great improvement above my past ride. squeezing out of my dad's chevy truck with the bench seat, four brothers and me in the floor board. the quintessential johnny cash on the eight track tape player. it was a coolness deal breaker. with four brothers you can believe we went through quite a few vehicles. i am pure american with a love affair for the car. i love the olde pictures of my ancestors standing by their cars, classic americana. i briefly drove a 1968 blue ford mustang and then a 1975 monte carlo. great cars to drive. each has their own stories and bring back memories from that time. my first new car was a 1984 cavallier with a stick shift. i learned to drive a standard on that car and it took me to california with my schwinn beachcomber on top. met my husband and he cut me a deal. he paid off my car in exchange for haircuts. he had at least thirteen years of free haircuts. the hills of cali got the best of the transmission, but i still sold her for a sweet penny. married my husband with his own great car stories. he had a 1969 rolls royce silvershadow when we first met. we drove that back from florida through new orleans. what a float. right after we traded it for an orange rv with air shocks that we tooled across america. good are bad trade? the owner crashed and burned the rolls soon after. you gotta know when a cars time is up. i think he hit a freeway wall and died. we have had trucks, vans, suvs, a couple of cadillacs and an infiniti. my kids' first cars were an acura and a hummer h3. but my favorite vehicle was our 1977 rolls royce corniche convertible. this is my favorite car story. drove from memphis through the delta to vicksburg in the hot sultry southern summer. i have driven some of the greatest drives in the usa. the pch down the coast of california, route 66, cottonwood pass, great smokeys, los angeles to vegas. i have travelled the classic autobahn, amalfi coast, the french riviera. this drive was the best drive i have ever taken. the car made the drive. i have never loved a car so. sweet leather and wood. it had a special order etter narodi gold stering wheel. i like to know a car story in fact i wish all antiques could have a history to buy with them. i do know a princess owned this car and it had spent time in a garage in palm springs. she had lived in chicago also. i have one daughter that needed a personal body man but it was the other daughter with the clean driving record that took out the front end of the corniche with her hummer. i hear there are actually hummers that they put rolls royce front ends on, guess we started something. we had it on the market and if you know about the rolls royce the front end is not easily replaced. emily flying on the front, the spirit of ecstasy left my body but she survived. we had the front end repaired by a artist, then sold her. of all my cars i wish she was still in my garage. i think it is time to head to the monterey auction! happy motoring!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
a green and brown christmas
green and brown xmas 09 [aka jerry springer xmas]
the spirit of the christmas season runs deep in my soul. i love this time of the year and enjoy all of our family traditions, but next year i am spending christmas in hawaii. my family is quite large and we always get together at granny and pappaws' house. we have several new babies in the family and chaos was reigning supreme. i call this the green and brown xmas 09. green because we produced the least amount of trash ever and brown, well you will see later. my dad is the official trash collector and believe me none of it stays in the house long. as my mom says if she sits still long enough she will be found in the trash can. i do not know if it was the economy, we did have less presents as we only focused on the children this year. or the fact we used less wrapping paper, but we did not even fill one trash bag this year. i also used some led, not lead lights,too. i am not a real green freak though much more a conspicuous consumer, so it must be the money. we gathered round the table as the children had their interactions. they are usually at granny's with her undivided attention, so the competition began. there were so many vignettes unfolding it seemed as if i was in a christmas story observing from the outside. like scrooge with the ghost of christmas past. i kept catching the overveiw of each dynamic event as it began to unfold. i have a very diverse family with four brothers, i the only girl. a preist, a hippy stay at home dad, a rocking drummer blue collar man, a career computer geek all met at a bar. oh! wait that is not the joke. they all went to granny's for xmas celebration. there i was watching it all unfold. mom walks in holding the remote,or was it the phone? my oldest brother talking to my younger about how he felt doctors had messed his legs up while trying to correct his pigeon toes as a baby. my older brother totally dismissed his argument. and the testosterone took over almost escalating to fistycuffs. as this started to move around the house my father called out to one of my brothers involved not knowing about the argument but trying to get help because his great grandaughter was choking on ham. my daughter, an emt in college, went to action and cleared her throat. my dad turned white and went outside running into the arguing brothers and he tries to explain the choking and gets rebuffed by the younger thinking he was siding with the priest. my youngest brother had brought his dog which none of us really appreciate. can you imagine the house with all the pets from all five households? no! leave pets at home if possible. anyway my mom was taking pictures and in one shot she got the dog pooping on the floor. we found out later my dad had tried to pick up what he thought was candy from the floor. smelled it a realized it was poop. he thought one of the grandchildren had pooped in their pants. he got on to the child and then had to apologize because it was the dog,. later wafting from downstairs comes an odor of poop heavy as a cloud this time it was the grandchild. this is the brown in the green and brown xmas. and to all a goodnight! we all went to our homes and called to check on each other. we talked out our differences realized the pressures and the build up had gotten the better of us. dad found the remote deep in the couch next to my brother the priest's special hat. his homily still inspired and all is well till next year. i have lived all of the christmas stories this year from its a wonderful life, scrooge and the grinch, but this is my story and my green and brown christmas. aloha christmas in hawaii 2010.
the spirit of the christmas season runs deep in my soul. i love this time of the year and enjoy all of our family traditions, but next year i am spending christmas in hawaii. my family is quite large and we always get together at granny and pappaws' house. we have several new babies in the family and chaos was reigning supreme. i call this the green and brown xmas 09. green because we produced the least amount of trash ever and brown, well you will see later. my dad is the official trash collector and believe me none of it stays in the house long. as my mom says if she sits still long enough she will be found in the trash can. i do not know if it was the economy, we did have less presents as we only focused on the children this year. or the fact we used less wrapping paper, but we did not even fill one trash bag this year. i also used some led, not lead lights,too. i am not a real green freak though much more a conspicuous consumer, so it must be the money. we gathered round the table as the children had their interactions. they are usually at granny's with her undivided attention, so the competition began. there were so many vignettes unfolding it seemed as if i was in a christmas story observing from the outside. like scrooge with the ghost of christmas past. i kept catching the overveiw of each dynamic event as it began to unfold. i have a very diverse family with four brothers, i the only girl. a preist, a hippy stay at home dad, a rocking drummer blue collar man, a career computer geek all met at a bar. oh! wait that is not the joke. they all went to granny's for xmas celebration. there i was watching it all unfold. mom walks in holding the remote,or was it the phone? my oldest brother talking to my younger about how he felt doctors had messed his legs up while trying to correct his pigeon toes as a baby. my older brother totally dismissed his argument. and the testosterone took over almost escalating to fistycuffs. as this started to move around the house my father called out to one of my brothers involved not knowing about the argument but trying to get help because his great grandaughter was choking on ham. my daughter, an emt in college, went to action and cleared her throat. my dad turned white and went outside running into the arguing brothers and he tries to explain the choking and gets rebuffed by the younger thinking he was siding with the priest. my youngest brother had brought his dog which none of us really appreciate. can you imagine the house with all the pets from all five households? no! leave pets at home if possible. anyway my mom was taking pictures and in one shot she got the dog pooping on the floor. we found out later my dad had tried to pick up what he thought was candy from the floor. smelled it a realized it was poop. he thought one of the grandchildren had pooped in their pants. he got on to the child and then had to apologize because it was the dog,. later wafting from downstairs comes an odor of poop heavy as a cloud this time it was the grandchild. this is the brown in the green and brown xmas. and to all a goodnight! we all went to our homes and called to check on each other. we talked out our differences realized the pressures and the build up had gotten the better of us. dad found the remote deep in the couch next to my brother the priest's special hat. his homily still inspired and all is well till next year. i have lived all of the christmas stories this year from its a wonderful life, scrooge and the grinch, but this is my story and my green and brown christmas. aloha christmas in hawaii 2010.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
a blast from christmas past!
a blast from christmas past!
for the love of christmas! my childhood was full of wonderful christmas memories, and as an adult i wanted to repeat all of the special traditions. well, i am sure my children remember the traditions as well as many new memories we have made. i must say being and adult at christmas is a challenge for my spirit. on my daughters fifth or sixth xmas, santa brought a large outside pink playhouse, some assembly required. after midnight mass and a little christmas cheer, bourbon for him and veuve clicquot for me, we started to build. wow! several hours later and a few chinese slang words, mr. claus and i were under roof. putting the finishing touches on, he stabbed a screwdriver through his hand. there was blood everywhere, the walls, the ceiling! it looked like a murder had taken place! i was still wiping it down when the girls awoke with wonderous eyes. no claus lost his life in the making of these christmas memories.
i should have known after our first christmas together that i was seasonally challenged. we had just moved to california and a new house. ok! so i had just had my first baby who had to stay in the neonatal unit for two weeks after she was born. so, babies first christmas when she was six weeks. my mother had come and gone as had my mother in law. my sweet husband was working and taking care of all the details, except we had forgotten christmas dinner. the tree was decorated, the gifts purchased, but we had no food and he was quite the gourmand. christmas day and nothing was open not even a trader joes. we ended up eating spam from a convenience store. it is related to ham right.
the year of gasoline! i think my son was eight or so. he had moved from the christmas puppy to the christmas four wheeler. no problem coming in the front door with a dog try a four wheeler. thank god we awoke to the smell of gasoline!
we have had the regular christmas pratfalls. yeah, the griswald christmas. the fully decorated tree falling. TIMBER! the lovely smelling pound cake fresh from the oven on the floor being devoured by the dog. the kids finding all their presents. yes baby there is a santa claus. but xmas 05 was a special christmas. my daughters were now in their teens with lots of friends over all the time hanging out. well they decide to decorate with some finishing touches to our outside lighting. they drew out a design for a large lighted tree. we lived on the only hill in the area. we called it our hilltop estate, mansion on the hill, castle in the sky, alright home. well this tree took up the whole yard. it was quite impressive. we took pictures and video of the lights. the following evening my husband and i were having a christmas party. we were both busy all day preparing. when the first guest arrived they commented on the lights and i said the girls did it. they gave me a strange look and several others arrived and start talking. i said didn't the girls do a great job on the tree in the front yard. everyone looked at each other laughing and they took me outside. the tree had been rearranged. it was now a giant lighted PENIS. yes this phallic symbol was large and blinking. we live next to several fedex pilots and it was spotted from the air and was quite the attraction for landing planes. we believe some college boys had a little to much fun with our lights! just to show no hard feelings i lit up the penis one more night. ohlala! christmas penis.
for the love of christmas! my childhood was full of wonderful christmas memories, and as an adult i wanted to repeat all of the special traditions. well, i am sure my children remember the traditions as well as many new memories we have made. i must say being and adult at christmas is a challenge for my spirit. on my daughters fifth or sixth xmas, santa brought a large outside pink playhouse, some assembly required. after midnight mass and a little christmas cheer, bourbon for him and veuve clicquot for me, we started to build. wow! several hours later and a few chinese slang words, mr. claus and i were under roof. putting the finishing touches on, he stabbed a screwdriver through his hand. there was blood everywhere, the walls, the ceiling! it looked like a murder had taken place! i was still wiping it down when the girls awoke with wonderous eyes. no claus lost his life in the making of these christmas memories.
i should have known after our first christmas together that i was seasonally challenged. we had just moved to california and a new house. ok! so i had just had my first baby who had to stay in the neonatal unit for two weeks after she was born. so, babies first christmas when she was six weeks. my mother had come and gone as had my mother in law. my sweet husband was working and taking care of all the details, except we had forgotten christmas dinner. the tree was decorated, the gifts purchased, but we had no food and he was quite the gourmand. christmas day and nothing was open not even a trader joes. we ended up eating spam from a convenience store. it is related to ham right.
the year of gasoline! i think my son was eight or so. he had moved from the christmas puppy to the christmas four wheeler. no problem coming in the front door with a dog try a four wheeler. thank god we awoke to the smell of gasoline!
we have had the regular christmas pratfalls. yeah, the griswald christmas. the fully decorated tree falling. TIMBER! the lovely smelling pound cake fresh from the oven on the floor being devoured by the dog. the kids finding all their presents. yes baby there is a santa claus. but xmas 05 was a special christmas. my daughters were now in their teens with lots of friends over all the time hanging out. well they decide to decorate with some finishing touches to our outside lighting. they drew out a design for a large lighted tree. we lived on the only hill in the area. we called it our hilltop estate, mansion on the hill, castle in the sky, alright home. well this tree took up the whole yard. it was quite impressive. we took pictures and video of the lights. the following evening my husband and i were having a christmas party. we were both busy all day preparing. when the first guest arrived they commented on the lights and i said the girls did it. they gave me a strange look and several others arrived and start talking. i said didn't the girls do a great job on the tree in the front yard. everyone looked at each other laughing and they took me outside. the tree had been rearranged. it was now a giant lighted PENIS. yes this phallic symbol was large and blinking. we live next to several fedex pilots and it was spotted from the air and was quite the attraction for landing planes. we believe some college boys had a little to much fun with our lights! just to show no hard feelings i lit up the penis one more night. ohlala! christmas penis.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
for the love of it! appreciating the amateur scientist
i am riled by the pompous attitude of academia. if not for the amateur scientist, we would not have academia. most of the current information in any subject is based on the information culled from the original brilliant minds of the thinker. scholarly work is important and it must be held to standard and proven, but academia should embrace the amateur. many use technology to spread their pseudoscience and profit, but i believe the public wise enough to cull information and seek the truth. even in the physical sciences i know there needs to be controls and studies, but we are far too constricted in our degrees. in the field of medicine we are too restricted and controlled. we have lost the natural homeopathic way. we have lost touch with nature through constraints in academia. it is frustrating when your field of study is sensationalized, but the truth might not be what is written in a text. astronomers understand the importance of the amateur more than any other field of study. many of the objects we see in the night sky were discovered by the amateur. the field of archeology is currently undergoing an interesting transition. in the past sites were quite isolated and archaeologists were able to do the work as Teilhard, with a small group under their control. today archaeology is accessible to the everyday archaeologist. people are technomads that travel to many sites of interest. so much has been lost due to war, greed and ignorance. the proof may be lost in translation and time. i think academia should embrace and support the amateur for sometimes the walls of academia fall on ideas and creativity. when one has a passion for a subject, a true love for the quest for answers without reward of a profession, one finds true answers. these answers may not be what is studied. i think the amateur keeps the scholar in check. many of today's scientist are far too biased in personal opinions and religious beliefs. i will continue to enjoy shows like the quest for the lost ark. i will read historical fiction and the research cited, but i will question even the scholars. as Napoleon is believed to have said "history is a version of past events that people have decided to agree upon." the scientific theory must be followed but knowledge is fluid. archaeologist face the philosophical and the methodological issues when formulating theories. Fagan's oxford companion of archeology recommend the use of logic and reasoning and the natural sciences as scientific method. rigid narrowing methods could overlook logical answers that are culled outside of mainstream scientific data. the groves of academe are paved with many disciplines and i believe in interdisciplinarity. the changes within academia and at universities from Plato to Da Vinci to Einstein to modern times may have slowed the evolution of knowledge. could we be quantum leaps ahead if we restructure our systems? if not for amateur computer scientist, Bill Gates, you would not be receiving this enlightening information quite the way you are. as academia has splintered and become corporatist, academic freedoms are compromised. academic elitism quells personal knowledge and scientific freedoms. discursive theory has become the goal of many archaeologists and this may be the best approach. you never know if the theory of the amateur that seems so sensationalized may end up being the reality, and unfortunately you may not know until you see the face of the tetragrammaton.
Friday, August 21, 2009
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