Alphabet Soup – part 4

J – J is for Jabberwocky

I was pretty young when I read the Alice books. My mother had this wonderful volume that comprised of both books with illustrations. Since then, I’ve read them several times. I especially love the poetry. Jabberwocky was so different, in that it had words that were made up, but still made sense when read as a story poem. Wonderful books.

K – K is for Kaleidoscope

I’ve always loved kaleidoscopes. As a child I seemed to always have one of the cheap paper kinds where you twist the end to change the stuff inside. I was just amazed at how this wonderful thing worked. You could twist and twist, and the results were never duplicated. One year, as a Christmas present, I got one that had interchangeable shallow plastic containers that would snap onto the bottom of the tube. There were different things in each container, and there was one that was empty that you could put whatever you wanted in and see what kind of magic would happen. I tried paper clips, rubber bands, everything. I just loved that kaleidoscope. I have no idea what happened to it, and I’ve never been able to find one like that again. There are some sites online where you can have a ton of fun making kaleidoscopes. The first one is http://krazydad.com/kaleido/ That one enables you to take a pictures from anywhere online and make a kaleidoscope. I’ve spent hours playing with that one! I recently came across a couple more that are a lot of fun too: http://www.permadi.com/java/spaint/spaint.html http://www.zefrank.com/dtoy_vs_byokal/

L – L is for Leather & Lace

I AM SO JAZZED!!! This was one of my absolute favorite cassettes from the 80’s and I played it ALL THE TIME. Every once in a while I would look for a CD of it, but there wasn’t one. I stopped looking and the years went by. As I was getting ready to write this, I decided to look one more time. I FOUND IT! THE CD!! I ORDERED IT!!! I WILL LISTEN TO IT ONCE AGAIN!!!! I was surprised the playlist was so short; only 9 songs. But they are all winners. Here’s the list:

What’s love got to do with it – Tina Turner

I hate myself for loving you – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

We belong – Pat Benatar

We got the beat – the Go-Go’s

Walk like an Egyptian - Bangles

Warrior – Pat Benatar

Only the lonely – the Motels

Bette Davis eyes – Kim Carnes

Solitaire – Laura Branigan

Alphabet Soup - part 3

I know you’ve been anxiously awaiting the next installment. Well, wait no more, it’s HERE!

F – F is for Fard

This is a legitimate word. It means to paint (the face) with cosmetics, or color. From the first time I heard of this word, I adopted it for regular use, as has my daughter. After all, who doesn’t want, when asked by one’s husband/boyfriend/whatever: “What is taking you so long to get ready?!” to answer thusly: “I’m in the bathroom farding!” I know it sounds like junior high humor, but trust me, this is really erudite stuff and will impress your friends. Try it. See what happens. Then let me know…

G – G is for Grimalkin

Originally an old term for a cat or witch, usually negative in usage. I happen to love the word, the sound of it. And when I use it as a name for a cat, it is an endearment, rather than a pejorative.

H – H is for Honeycomb

When I was 5 years old, we were given some honeycomb by friends who had bees. I knew what honey was, but was not familiar with “fresh” honey, so to speak. It was a pretty big chunk in some kind of container. There were even dead bees in some of the combs. My dad broke off a small chunk and gave it to me. I was told to chew it and spit out the wax. I also knew what wax was, but had no idea it was found in honey. It was an amazing experience.

I – I is for Inkblot

I would LOVE to take the Rorschach Test. The real one. And then be analyzed. There is one online that is pretty funny. Take a gander and see what it says about you: http://www.theinkblot.com/

I remember doing art stuff in grade school where we would take a piece of construction paper, fold it in half, then take a piece of yarn dipped in paint and close the paper on it, leaving a small piece outside of it. Then you grab that little piece and YANK it out! You do this a couple of times with different colors and you have your own little Rorschach. Of course, it wasn’t called that in grade school.

Alphabet Soup - part 2

As promised last week, we will continue with the alphabet blog. This week’s letters are:

C – C is for Capybara

The capybara is the world’s largest rodent. It is also the beloved pet of The Tick. I absolutely adored that cartoon show. The Tick wasn’t the sharpest super hero, but he was the funniest. When he was hallucinating in the jungles of Mexico and came across this creature, he thought it was a dog. He also thought it was speaking to him. Thus, he named it Speak. Even when he found out Speak wasn’t a dog, The Tick insisted it was of superior intelligence and could learn tricks.

D – D is for Dandelion

Yes, I know dandelions are WEEDS, but I like them! They are so cheerful looking. You can pick a handful of them and put them in a little vase, and you have a nice cheery centerpiece for the table. And if you leave them in the ground to go to seed, then you have “fairy flowers” to blow on. Lia loves that! When I was little, we had a canary named Chirpy (I know…lame) and I can remember my grandma sometimes getting dandelion leaves and putting some in the bird cage for him. I also remember just once, Grandma got a small bunch of dandelion leaves and cooked them. Just for her.

E – E is for Étui

I came across this word a long time ago in a crossword puzzle. It’s pronounced A-TWEE with the accent on the second syllable. The definition for the puzzle was “needle case”, but it was really a small holder for different tools a woman might use. Needles, scissors, hair pins etc. They could be plain or highly decorative.

May book report and stuff

OK, I know I only got one book finished in May…but I GAVE UP Cityville on Facebook! I’m still doing Ravenwood, but I SHOULD have more time to read…maybe. Give me a break. So for this posting, I will review the book I read and add some other stuff as filler…

“Octagon Magic” by Andre Norton

Ms. Norton wrote both adult and youth sci-fi, and I’ve read and enjoyed both. This was from the youth section. Lorrie is a 6^th grader who comes from Canada to live with an aunt in the US after the deaths of her parents. There is the usual pre-teen angst of trying to fit in with a new school, new country, and new ideas. The Octagon House is supposedly inhabited by a witch, and Lorrie finds refuge there when bullied by some boys. The elderly woman who lives there is NOT a witch, but she does have a very mysterious past, and things “happen” when Lorrie is in that house. By the end of the book, Lorrie has come to understand how to better make friends and learns to let go of the old and accept the new. Very well written.

Filler Stuff:

I miss the original VH1 channel. I loved having just videos all the time. I enjoyed the VeeJays, especially Don Imus. And I REALLY miss Pop-Up Video. I loved that show! I learned some neat trivia about my favorites that way.

MST3K—I loved Mystery Science Theater 3000. That was so much fun! Joel was my favorite. I was really sorry to see him go, but Mike did an OK job. I enjoyed all the characters and the little bits they would do between movie sessions. And I loved the theme song.

When I was little, I was never into cowboy stuff that much, but I loved my cap gun! Both my brother and I had one. I mainly enjoyed making the loud pop. Taking a hammer and hitting the caps was fun too. But eventually you would run out of caps and that would be it until more could be purchased. The rolls never lasted long enough. What I REALLY loved was my paper popper/paper buster gun. That was absolutely brilliant. You didn’t need caps, just a long strip of newspaper to feed into the gun. It made a sound just as loud as caps would. And newspaper was plentiful. I have no idea what happened to that wonderful toy. You can find them on eBay, although I’ve never seen one like the one I had.

OK. I think that’s enough for a posting. Toodles!

Next week: Alphabet Soup part 2!! (Thought I’d forgotten about it, didn’t ya?)