Ups and Downs ( #BOTB Results )

Look up, look down--see the clown?  This silly rhyme from my childhood suddenly came to mind as I sat down to write this post...

Blahs Not So Blue or Blah

        Life has those ups and those downs.  I've been riding that roller coaster over the past week, but it's all a continuation of that ride I've been on my whole life.  I'm not planning to get off any time soon either.  But what comes is what is supposed to come so it's best to have a good of a time as you can.

        Yesterday my wife and I took a day trip out to the desert town of Indio California out east of Palm Springs.  It was an ideal day with temps in the sixties and partly cloudy skies.  Somewhere it was raining, but it never touched us all day.

          We spent several hours in the Agua Caliente Casino meandering to watch the players and just absorb the atmosphere.  It's a top quality establishment with a lot of machines and other places to lose money.  I lost $27 that I really don't like to lose plus an additional $10 of free cash the casino gave me for signing up to their players club. 

         Also for signing up we got a coupon for a free appetizer with one ordered entree in one of the casino restaurants.  The restaurant was a pleasant surprise.  Since I haven't been eating all that much lately I let my wife order an entree (she got bacon-wrapped meatloaf that was simply amazing with a savory fall vegetable medley and garlic mashed potatoes--all for a very fair price of $15).  For my appetizer I got skewers of filet medallions marinated Korean style on a bed of kimchi which was about as perfect of a meal as I've had in a long time.  I ate every single bite of mine.

          On the way home we stopped at Cabazon to visit the touristy Hadley's Market and Deli where my wife and I got an assortment of date delicacies and two date shakes for a dinner in the car to help us better endure sitting in the traffic heading back to L.A.  The myriad of car lights  were a bit tedious though dazzling to look at, but still it was a nice drive home.

            Life is looking up.  That's fine with me.  One nice thing about being down is that you don't have much other place to look other than up.   And really I don't mind being down as long as I'm peaceful.  A valley is as good as a mountaintop.  It's just a matter of perspective...

Battle of the Bands Results





          This was another tough one.  I kept going back and forth listening to them until I realized that I kept deciding that my favorite was whichever one I was listening to at the moment.  Both artists are winners and the voting reflected that.

          Still, having to pick one as my own favorite I decided to go with the majority of voters.  I really dug on the cool smooth vocals and lush orchestration of Lauren White so that's where my vote goes...

Final Vote Tally 

Lauren White               11 votes

Pat Dinizio                     7 votes



Next Battle on Sunday December 1st

         Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week whatever you decide to do.  I think we're just going to be going out to dinner just my wife and I.  Probably not as good as the dinner I'd fix, but a whole lot easier.

        Do you ever go to casinos just to wander and watch?   Where is your favorite place to get in from the cold or elements and just watch other people or enjoy the indoor environment?   What are you going to do this Thanksgiving? 






 

Bob Beats Bob! (#BOTB Results)

May all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Eat well  and rest often--a recipe for a decent life.

Battle of the Bobs

         Let's just get to the point of the post:  Who won the Battle of the Bobs? 

          It's not a big surprise to me who won this match, though I do think it could have gone the other way.  I thought Bob Dylan did a credible and maybe even more convincing job of presenting the song.  He gave a wistful reflection that I could believe he had experienced.  But even though I liked Dylan's version a lot, like the rest of you I gave my vote to Bob Darin.  The orchestration was a big plus for me.  It put me in mind of records my mother used to listen to like Percy Faith with his lush strings. 

      Both versions carried me back to sweet memories and younger days.  But the song does that with its lyrics and dreamy melody.  This song has really touched me over the past week.  Once upon a time...don't we all think about that now and again?

Final Vote Tally

Bob Darin            19 votes

Bob Dylan             5 votes



Next Battle of the Bands on Saturday December 1

         My December Battles won't be Christmas songs, but I use some themes that are related to Christmas things.  Again, have a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

English: Oven roasted turkey, common fare for Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        Are you ready for the big feast tomorrow?    As I write this a week ahead of time I don't know what my Thanksgiving Day plans will be.  I know what city I'll be in, but I don't know what I'll be doing for dinner.  I guess I'm at the mercy of my hosts and whatever plans we all come up with for the day.

         Thanksgiving has always been a favorite time for me.  I love that dinner.   I am King of the Oyster Stuffing and the Lord of the Pies.   And then after a bit of a rest or maybe even a nap I'm back for another helping.  It's the best meal of the year--usually.   I wonder what I'll have this year?

 Don't Forget the Clues!

          This coming Sunday December 1st will be a Battle of the Bands Christmas special.   Be here to vote for your favorite version of a Christmas song that you undoubtedly know.  What is the song?   You'll find out for sure on Sunday, but if you want to try to guess I've sprinkled clues throughout today's post and in Monday's post.   If you think you know the song then tell us in the comments.

Cheersfest Sign-up

         Tomorrow's turkey is not the only the only bird being roasted.  On December 9th yours truly will be roasted in this year's Cheersfest.      For details visit the explanatory post at Mark Koopmans' blog.  To sign up add your name to the Linky List below:

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          Where are you celebrating your Thanksgiving this year?    Do you have the traditional dinner planned?    Did you guess my Battle of the Bands song pick from the clues I've left so far?

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Going Against the Grain

Palouse Wheat Field Sunrise (Photo credit: The Knowles Gallery)

          This week I'm taking things easy.  After all Thanksgiving is on Thursday.  A lot of you are frantically trying to finish NaNo novels.  Comments on my blogs usually drop about this time of year.  Of course comments have been dropping anyway--partly due to my own slow down of commenting on your blogs and probably partly due to some of my topics.

          One of the blog topics that has been seeing lower visits is the Battle of the Bands.  Now, I shouldn't complain because I still get a goodly number of visits for those posts--probably more than the average blogger gets.   I typically have been getting at least 20 or so voters on each contest with a few added comments by non-voters.  This is not too bad I guess, but it's not like it was back when I was getting 50 or more comments on a post.

          Okay, so I'm making a big deal out of a little bit of a drop in comments and maybe it's not really that much of a drop.  And this week I will probably be visiting very few blogs as I do whatever I will be doing. We'll see what happens this week.   Now I feel so stupid for even bringing this up.
 
           That's me.  Always going against the grain.   Slap a couple of slices of bread around me and call me a sandwich.

Battle of the Bands Clues

          Coming this Sunday December 1st I'll be doing another Battle of the Bands face-off.  It looks like the hosts at Far Away Series and Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends are going to be doing Christmas songs in December so I guess I will too.

           Since 'tis the season I guess I can handle a Christmas related song or two.   My first pairing this coming Sunday will be what is possibly the most performed Christmas song of all time.  Actually it's performed so much that it's not only during the Christmas season, but it's become mostly associated with Christmas.  What song will it be?  I've left a couple of clues in this post.  One that is very obvious but that will probably not be noticed.  Be here Sunday to find out for sure, but you can also guess in the comments.

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It's All Because of My Hangover!

English: Photo showing some of the aspects of a traditional US Thanksgiving day dinner. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

            No, I wasn't drinking over the week-end, but four days of Thanksgiving dinner and resulting leftovers can be near coma inducing.  I did imbibe in one small brandy-spiked glass of eggnog each evening, but those were nowhere near as overpowering as the turkey-centric meals in which my wife and I indulged.

         Those meals included two casserole dishes of the different types of dressing that satisfy each of our preferences.   I always fix her a dressing with sausage and fruit because she refuses to touch my preferred dressing.   Since I grew up with oyster dressing it's a tradition that makes Thanksgiving feel incomplete without it.  I love my oyster dressing and had it for breakfast and lunch on Friday and Saturday and then polished off the rest for my Sunday dinner.

           What is it about oysters anyway?  It's one of those foods people love or cringe at the mere thought of.   Have you ever tried oyster dressing?    Are you anti-oyster or pro-oyster?  Come on let's get into some real controversy!

          Seriously, though, I thought I had my Monday blog post covered.  I smugly believed that Bridget Straub's guest post was all set to go this morning.   Then when I checked this morning to make sure it had gone up, I went into a frenzy to find out why it had not. --Because it's actually scheduled for Wednesday, that's why.

          Bridget has gone along with my theme of offering topics to generate discussion with the topic of profanity.  This is a topic some of you have written about in the past and one that I will undoubtedly discuss in the future--it's been on my topic list ever since it appeared on The Alliterative Allomorph quite a while back.  It's a topic always worth discussing.  Besides, who gives a chitterling if a topic is repeated.

          Be sure to be here on Wednesday to offer your own thoughts about what Bridget Straub has to say about the subject of using profanity in ones writing.

          By the way, if you missed my post about Walmart on Friday, you might enjoy going back to read through the comments.  There was some epic discussion going on that covered both sides of the argument and the comments were outstanding.  This topic will be expanded upon in future posts.

          Hope you had as good of a Thanksgiving weekend as we did.   It's creamed turkey and biscuits for us tonight.  This is a leftover tradition from my childhood and I've been craving it.   I don't know how much my wife will like it because she doesn't like gravy or anything resembling gravy.  Still, I'm making it anyway.

          Did you have a lot of Thanksgiving leftovers?   What are some of your traditional leftover meals?   Are you revived from your Thanksgiving coma yet?

         

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What Are You Doing for Christmas?

Image via Wikipedia

           Even though the signs of Christmas seem to start showing up earlier each year, the traditional downhill sled ride to the holiday starts the day after Thanksgiving.  Still, Black Friday no longer is only the Friday after Turkey Day.  Several "Black Fridays" have popped up with internet sales and special sales in stores trying to salvage low sales figures of the previous year.  What's the point anyway?

           It wouldn't be a bad thing if we all kept up the spirit of Christmas throughout the year and the economy might experience a year long boom if everyone spent money like they do at the holidays.  Well, it might be a boom until the reality set in that credit has limits and money for most of us is limited.

           In theory Christmas is more than spending lots of money and giving and receiving gifts.  The spirit of the season should be something inside of us and a generous outpouring of love and kindness for our families and others.   Charities count on that generosity in the month of December and many businesses would be in big trouble if not for the flow of festive money spending during that time.

           These days it's not the best of times for many of us, but it's not the worst of times either--at least not yet.  Most of us are still getting by fairly decently.  We've got a place to live, clothes to keep us warm, food to eat, and so many other luxuries that we take for granted.  If you're reading this blog that's evidence that you're not totally lacking and living in squalor.

           So what are you doing for Christmas this year?  Will you be enjoying family time as I hope will be the case with me and my wife?  We miss our kids and grandkids.   Hopefully we'll be able to share some good times with them.  Some of you may be volunteering your time for worthy causes while others may be hard at work in jobs that become busier during this time.  Or maybe you'll be at home just getting by or just getting some rest.

           Whatever the choice you make in what you do for the holidays, remember your blessings and share blessings with others.  We have much for which to be thankful, even when we think we don't.  There is always something in our lives that is good and beautiful.  It's up to you to make it so, whether it be the way you contribute to positive change around you or making a positive within yourself.

             There have been good things in your life.  Look around you if you don't think so.  See the sky, the flowers, the trees.   Hear the songs of the birds and the laughter of children at play.  Life is waiting for you to savor it before you have to leave this world.  There has been good and good things are still to come.  Much of that good is for you to find or create.  Be thankful not just at Thanksgiving, but every day of your life.

           What are you most thankful for this year?   What do you hope you can say you are most thankful for this time next year?