Gloomy Day (052/365)

“I like these cold, gray winter days.  Days like these let you savor a bad mood.” 

William B. "Bill" Watterson II (American, Cartoonist and the author of the influential and popular comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, b. 1958)

TIME:  12:28 PM
PLACE:  Mississippi River
SUBJECT:  Barges

A very wet, grey and gloomy day, with a very low cloud ceiling.  In the morning, the kids went to Sunday school.  When it was over, the family went on a Costco run.  Exciting!  I took this picture from the car on our way home, as we were crossing the Mississippi River, south of St. Louis.  I was hoping to take other pictures today, but I didn’t.  So this is the one I post.  I also took a long nap this afternoon instead of folding the laundry, I hoped it would go away so I wouldn’t have to do it.  Unfortunately, it was still there when I woke up – gosh darnnit.   

Lock-In (051/365)

 
Walter Sobchak: OVER THE LINE!
Smokey: Huh?
Walter Sobchak: I'm sorry, Smokey. You were over the line, that's a foul.
Smokey: Bullshit. Mark it 8, Dude.
Walter Sobchak: Uh, excuse me. Mark it zero. Next frame.
Smokey: Bullshit, Walter. Mark it 8, Dude.
Walter Sobchak: Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

Ethan Coen & Joel Coen. John Goodman, Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The Big Lebowski (1998).

TIME:  5:54 PM
PLACE:  Bowling alley hallway
SUBJECT:  Bowling lockers

A busy Saturday.  We had a 9am doctor’s appointment, then haircuts for HandsomeHusband and StellaDella; at noon we traveled to my father-in-law’s hometown for a Little League fundraiser (turtle soup!); then we headed back to town for a Cystic Fibrosus bowling fundraiser at 3:30pm.  Our family, my dad, a friend of MonkeyBoy’s and a friend of DramaQueen’s bowled three games.  We finished up a little before 6pm, then headed home.  I ordered and picked up pizzas for dinner.  After dinner I ran DQ’s friend back to her house where she picked up a change of clothes and pajamas so she could spend the night here at our house.  OK, I think I’m done now.

Everybody Into The Pool (050/365)

 
“Fast Eddie, let's play some pool.”

Sydney Carroll, U.S. screenwriter, and Robert Rossen. Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason), The Hustler, after 25 hours of playing pool (1961).

TIME:  10:49 PM
PLACE:  A local watering hole
SUBJECT:  Pool table

My cousin Kathleen emailed me this morning to see if I could join her and her neighbor for a few drinks tonight and to talk.  We met at a local bar where one of our high school classmates was playing in the band.  I alternated between Schmirnoff Ice and diet sodas – three of each.  After my first drink I sauntered over to the pool area and asked if I could take some pictures.  The guys playing agreed – one even told me that he liked the perfume I was wearing. Why thank you sir. *grins* I still got it…yeah, right.

Gym Ceiling (049/365)

 
“Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling?”

M.C. Escher (Dutch graphic artist, 1898–1972)

TIME:  7:07 PM
PLACE:  R--- School Gym
SUBJECT:  Ceiling

DramaQueen had a basketball game tonight.  I have found that I get really stressed out when I watch my kids play.  I have to look away from the court to calm myself down.  This was my view of most of the game…except for when I was looking at StellaDella and telling her that she needed to quit wiggling around on the bleachers, or when I was looking for the Webkinz that she dropped.  Our school lost another game, 11-0.  Two more games to go, I hope the girls win at least one this season – it would make them so happy.

Lenten Meal (048/365)

 
“I get a little behind during Lent, but it comes out even at Christmas.”

Frank Butler (1890-1967), British screenwriter, and Frank Cavett (1907-1973), U.S. screenwriter. Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald), Going My Way (1944). Explaining how he rations his bottle of brandy over the course of a year.

TIME:  6:26 PM
PLACE:  Kitchen
SUBJECT:  Cheese sandwich

Today is the first day of Lent for those of us who observe this period leading up to Easter.  I am a rather sporadically practicing Catholic myself (my father joked that he wasn’t standing anywhere near me at Aunt Dee’s funeral mass, lest the Cathedral burst into flames due to my presence), but I do abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during the Lenten season.  Tonight I fixed the kids spaghetti with leftover plain sauce and I made myself a toasted cheese sandwich.  I eat many of these during this 40 day period as they are quick, easy and rather tasty.  I used a slice of American cheese *and* a slice of provolone in my sandwich this evening – très gourmet!

Dried Cedar (047/365)

 
“One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;”

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), U.S. poet. The Snow Man (l. 1-3). . . Collected Poems [Stevie Smith]. James MacGibbon, ed. (1976) New Directions.

TIME:  4:38 PM
PLACE:  Backyard
SUBJECT:  Dried cedar bough in snow

All the kids went to school today and HandsomeHusband went to work.  And it was my day “off” work.  I ran errands in the morning, sorted the never-ending laundry pile in the basement (which is freezing cold BTW!) and washed and dried a couple of loads.  I laid down this afternoon as I’m not feeling all that great – my throat is starting to feel sore and I did not sleep well last night.  Before I knew it, it was 3 o’clock, and the troops were home.  DramaQueen has a basketball game tonight at 5pm, but I’m not going.  With me not feeling well and StellaDella still having the “mucus” as she says, I think it’s better that she and I stay home.  HH, DQ and MonkeyBoy all left and not 5 minutes after they walked out the door, of course, the dog needed to go out.  So I figured, while I was out with her, it would be nice to take a picture as we had the sun shining today.  Two seconds after I took this shot, the dog came running over and decimated the scene.

Key Chain (046/365)

 
“... a key,
a very large key,
that opens something
some useful door
somewhere
up there.”

Anne Sexton (1928-1974), U.S. poet. "Riding the Elevator into the Sky."

TIME:  7:35 PM
PLACE:  Kitchen
SUBJECT:  Brass safety pin & keys

This is my key chain, a vintage large brass safety pin.  My mom had a number of these and she gave this one to me many years ago.  She said that her family used them on horse blankets.  Mom always used hers as a key chain and so do I.  I just attach it to my purse handle.  I love it because I never have to dig in the depths of my purse for my keys - very handy!  The keys I currently keep on it are as follows:  the Jeep key, the Miata key, a key for some property we own, my office key, my house key and finally, a key to open the overhead garage door.