Something About Mary

Mary and I, 7 Years ago on a cruise from Boston to Bermuda

She had a kind soul and would have given you the shirt off her back. She was funny and had a feisty side to her that could not be put down. She called me on that fateful morning of 9/11 and asked me to come home and be with her, she was so saddened by the horror that she witnessed that morning on the T.V. She would have been 41 this December.

Same trip, arriving in Bermuda.

Sadly, Mary had a problem with drinking which grew steadily worse, compounding her problems she was in a serious accident and had to have emergency brain surgery...After her surgery, for a short while, she returned to being the beautiful butterfly I'd first fell in love with.

They had shaved half of her hair off when they performed her brain surgery, I shaved the rest off and told her she was as cute as a button with short hair. She was, but she never believed it. She started drinking again, wouldn't eat and became a hermit. I couldn't get her out in public without a fight and she called cabs to have them deliver liquor to the apartment when I was at work.

I couldn't get her to change, Her family tried and could not help her. On September 29th. 2004 I got a call at work that she had died. She had a seizure in our living room. A friend was there with her and for that I was grateful. She wasn't alone. I don't miss Mary the Hermit but I do miss Mary the Butterfly.

My friend Allen Estes called to give me his condolences a few days later. I wasn't home and our message machine came on. Mary had recorded the message. Allen was taken aback, but what happened was that it helped him to write a song. Allen is a singer and song writer.

You can listen to his song here: Mary's Phone Machine

Mary would be happy that a song about her was on a benefit album for the victims of the Katrina hurricane. She wouldn't agree with the lyrics but then she was in denial

The CD: After The Storm Volume #1

Whenever I see a butterfly I think of her.

I'm Back......again

Paris ??



Egypt???



New York????

Who Needs them when you got Las Vegas!!

I'm back and have to say 3 days in Vegas is about all you need... It was fun and I'd love to tell you all about it but....you know!!

What happens in Vegas STAYS in Vegas....

Off to Las Vegas

We had "Johnny Mantis" on our porch the other night and we took a few pic's.

I don't know if I'll see any shows while in Vegas, but I've been told there is a bench where if you sit awhile you will see a real cross section of humanity. I hope that I'll be able to get some nice pictures and put them up for everyone to see.

If I hit the big bucks I may need some guest writers to keep the blog alive..I'll make it worth your while!!

Wish Me Luck!!

The Arts, or in Boston they say The Ahhts

It was the 2007 Ahhts Festival in Christopher Columbus Pahhhk this past weekend. I saw many of the Artists' wares and met a few along the way. Unfortunately I didn't bring a camera so I spared no expense and bought a $10 digital camera from a local convenience store. For 10 dollars you get really bad pictures but I'll share some anyway....


This was Lorie Reilly's finely crafted Mosaic Art...my camera has given it a rather impressionistic look; however the piece on the left, "Oceans At Night" really looks like looks like this...

Fusion Ethos Fashions : Recycles everyday items and transforms them into something wearable!

I want to bring this girl to Vegas for good luck,



and of course she has to wear the earrings !!



Those pictures are from her site, mine sucked!!

Todd Cahill presented Steam Machine Sculpture, an art form I never considered but found really cool...He was constantly tweaking his models to get optimum performance..

My Pics:


His website: Better Pics

Overall I found it a fun day to get out and see things..on my way home I stopped at Suffolk Downs and bet on a couple of Horse Races...Let's just say I hope to have better luck in Vegas next week...

I got more from the Ahhhtts Festival but I'm saving it for Latahhh!

Translation:

I have more from The Arts Festival but I'm saving it for Later!!

Fall, Autumn

Found on StumbleUpon-Smugmug

Fall is coming and even if it hit 90 degrees here today in sunny Massachusetts, I saw some trees with color today..Fall is on it's way and it's my favorite season. Cool nights, bright sunny days and color everywhere.

What's your favorite season??

I'm going into Boston Saturday and I'll check out "ART in the PARK 2007" ART in the PARK is an annual festival featuring over 70 visual artists and artisans.

It's free and it's better than working which is all I have done for the past 11 days..not that I'm counting or anything...I'll see if I can get any good pictures and post them.

If you are in the Boston area here's more info

Song I've been painting to when listening to WERS, commercial free radio from Emerson College in Boston... Cante E Dance by Pink Martini

That link will give you about a minute of the song..I don't have a clue what they are saying but it's a great painting song and I think of Martini's while I'm listening to it.

Well that's what's going on here..

By the way I've got a poll on the top right of this page, if you haven't already clicked on it please do....it's easy

Minnie's Not Happy

Ever have a scratch you couldn't itch? Us humans find a back scratcher or a long spoon and usually reach that itch...Try being a Dachshund with a itch you can't reach. Little legs, Hotdog Body...Minnie's been scratching with her leg but only reaching her belly and now she's scratched a sore on herself. She's going to the Vet tomorrow, her allergy pills aren't helping. So to keep her from scratching herself raw her "Mom" tied a TiShrt around her belly and it seems to have helped prevent her from harming herself any more. She hates to wear anything and normally stands like a statue whenever any kind of costume or dog wear has ever been put on her..She's not happy...But she looks funny in her T-Shirt and I just had to post it.

Hope everyone out there is doing well, I've been extremely busy lately and will be taking a short trip in the middle of September..The destination...Las Vegas...There will be pictures and much to report I'm sure.

Asshole Evidence

I was driving out of Boston today and it was slow going. Everyone was making a bee line to their vacation spots on this last summer 3 day-weekend getaway . It's Labor day here in the USA and for most kids it's back to school next week.

While sitting in midst of the traffic that is produced by this need to get away I plotted my route to avoid delays wherever possible. I felt that if I headed home , to Lynn, that no one would be headed there for the last days of their summer. That old saying Lynn, Lynn the City of Sin is better at keeping people away from here than it is drawing them in.

Little do "they" know there is far less sin in Lynn than there used to be...those Vacant buildings in the City Center are becoming condos. The Train makes Lynn a convenient 15 minute ride into Boston. Little do "they" know and few if any of "them" read this blog...So don't tell anyone that Lynn, Ma, the Home Of Marshmallow Fluff, will soon be a desirable city to live in.

Fluff

Because when "they" move here it won't ever be the same.

Who are "They" ?

They are those people who have exhibited clear evidence of being Assholes! There I said it. No better place to find this evidence than while driving out of Boston, Ma on a busy Holiday Weekend.

There are assholes everywhere!!

They are easy to spot.

They ride your bumper so close you can see their crazy eyes in your rear-view mirror

When they approach a green light they hit their breaks as if they are trying to determine the shade of green in the light. Meanwhile, they have caused a chain reaction causing others to hit their breaks and then ultimately they get through the light. I don't make the light because of, his, indecision, I am stopped at the light watching him drive away to cause further problems down the road....He clearly is an asshole.

When traveling a road that is going from 2 lanes down to one, anyone speeding by in the lane that is being cut down so they can cut in front of the line of traffic is an asshole....There are no exceptions to this rule. They let you know this, the lane merge, is happening with signs a mile before you get there!! Merge early and there would be no delays further down the road...Why can't we all just get along!!

Why are there so many Assholes.

More evidence..

Assholes don't use blinkers!!

They honk their horns with aggravating frequency.

Has anyone out there got any Asshole Evidence to share, I could go on and on but I am finally home and it's time for a Corona...

Weather Personalities...Let's Fire Them!!

It's hot here today, about 95 degrees Fahrenheit or for the rest of the world 35 Celsius. Let's not forget the 51% humidity, it feels like you could cut the air with a knife. Enough of my complaining though, the Air Conditioner is on downstairs and I'll go down there when I'm done sweating over this post. Of course, I also have help from a cold bottle of Corona Beer.....

While it's hot,

it's nothing like Florida where people are dying because of the heat. We've had our share of rain but at least we aren't being flooded like so many in Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio...heck it seems like everywhere except the North East some kind of really bad weather event happens every year. We did have some flooding in this area late last year, but nothing compared to what happens elsewhere.

Which brings me to my point..,T.V. Weather People. A recap on the weather channel of historic storms might be informative, but why the hell do we send some nitwit with a microphone down to the oceans edge to report the weather during a hurricane?? Shouldn't they be making their way to higher ground.

I saw a woman on MSNBC standing in flood waters with a microphone wearing matching pink rubber boots and a pink sweater, I was gratified to see her so well put together in the midst of this destructive flood in Ohio. She was filmed waving at people who were being evacuated from the area....they were not nearly as well dressed.

I don't see where TV can really help anyway..A good ol battery powered radio and a static ridden voice telling you "Evacuate Essex County because if you don't get out within the next 5 hours you may DIE" is a much more convincing news statement than some Pink Booted Weather Girl standing in a puddle....I think David Lettermen started his career as a weatherman...that was before we called them meteorologists.


They show up at all the storms so that they can bring the pain and misery of others to your family room, but no-one asks the real question.....

"Sir, why did you build your house so close to the river????"

Honestly between the Talking Head weather "Personality" and the guy whose house gets flooded every couple years I don't know which one gets me more irritated.

I mean we have a few around here that do this too..They build a house so close to the ocean that when a winter storm comes along it washes part of the land away from their house. Sometimes it exposes their foundation or the damn thing just gets carried away in pieces. We see them interview the unlucky slobs but really, we know that the ocean kicks it up a notch during storms. What were they thinking in the first place??

Build where there is a rock bed not on the sand!! Haven't they ever built a sand castle before. If you go to the beach the next day your sand castle is usually gone because the tide comes in, even more during a storm. DUH!!

But all this weather reporting can really sell stuff. If there is the slightest chance a hurricane is coming toward Massachusetts we are going to have Special Weather Updates and hours and hours of extra weather news.

And they smile,

The Weather People that is, having bad weather even close by makes their day. They get to tell us unendingly about what "might happen" We learn new weather terminology and see a buffed up and enlarged weather staff. They will even have commercials telling us little snippets of the bad weather to come..urging us to watch more later....if it was serious shouldn't they just tell us right then and there??

I remember a vacation several years ago when a hurricane was making its way up the east coast. I was on Cape Cod in a swanky resort. The entire week all that was on the TV was news about the STORM. The resort closed down and instead of leaving that Sunday we had to pack up and leave on Saturday. It barely rained and we had a little wind, oh and I lost a day of vacation to Weather Hype.

Yeah, not a bad job though. I mean where else can you be wrong on a regular basis and still have a job the next day. Screw Painting...I am gonna be a Weatherman and here is my forecast:

It's hot, it's gonna be hot for the rest of the day...it might rain tonight so button up your skylights before you go to bed...oh and let me read the same thing you could read on the Internet whenever you want and not have to deal with TV Weather People.........

Join with me and call for an end to TV Weather People except for the cute ones !!