Good Friends, Good Food! What a blessing!

Life is fast...
The work week is just one long day and weekends are a tease. That's why one must never take family and friends for granted. Another preventable tragedy plagues the headlines here in town. Fatal Crash Victim Engaged to be Married. Yes, you'll see the news in a few days showing the drunk who rubbed out a beautiful life. That look that he'll give the judge alone will warrant him deserving of 'drawing and quartering'. I'd consider riding the horse just to help em out. OK... I'll not get started.

On to a much happier note. I just 'visited the South' at lunchtime. No, no, no I didn't really go anywhere for real! Listen, it's so nice when tastes and smells remind you of pleasant pasts in your present life. My late Grandmother used to cook the best meals ever. I remember the cornbread alone was enough to make you do the "Snoopy Dance". I just revisited some of her flavors at lunch. E's wife, Laura made a meal that I could truly live off of for days on end. The cabbage? Oh my gosh! Bacon, pepper... oh man! When someone offers you to get as much as you want, you sometimes try and have some manners about you by leaving a little in the pan.

...I left nothing. Thanks Laura, you rock!

Pet Peeves

I'll be the first to admit that a vast majority of my pet peeves revolve around motorists. Stupidity and disrespect screeches up a deadly cocktail on our highways and roads. Take for example, I'm traveling on the interstate the other day and observe my usual mix of hypnotized drivers and cell phone users who categorize driving secondary to conversations like, "Hi, I'm driving and talking to you. What are you doing?" I mean telling the hubby that you love him is OK as long as you are aware of the 18 wheeler next to you. I mean we only have mere tons of steel traveling at 70 mph to contend with and scheduling soccer matches certainly trumps anything on the road. Where was I? Ah yes, my recent interstate encounter. I've seen it all but not until that day. Traveling approx. 45 mph in the LEFT lane (this is for passing folks) of the interstate is an old man in a Ford Taurus cutting out coupons with scissors! Does this supercede running with scissors? It was the only time I wish I could have handed a driver a cell phone.

Dyson Rules the Earth!

James Dyson is a genius...

Ok, I gave into his interesting commercials and bought one of his vacuum cleaners. This is one wicked machine! My gosh - strap your cats down! The Dyson DC-15 Animal (don't cha love the name) will pull the nails out of your hardwood floor! After vacuuming for a very short time, the canister actually looked like it had a cat in it! This is no reflection on how long I wait to vacuum nor how I treat cats. More on this beast later.

A Magical Person Passes

Without further ado. I honor a great cardician who left us last month. Alex Elmsley may have left us but he left us so much.

Alex Elmsley (March 2, 1929 – January 8, 2006)

Alex Elmsley (March 2, 1929 – January 8, 2006) was a British Magician and Computer programmer. He was notable for his invention of the Ghost Count or Elmsley Count.
He began practising magic in 1946, as a teenager. He studied physics and mathematics at Cambridge University; whilst there he was also secretary of the Pentacle Club.
His day job was as a patent agent, and later computer expert. Otherwise, he was an amateur card and close-up magician. He was awarded an AMA Creative Fellowship in 1972.
He created a number of magic tricks, including the Ghost Count, Between Your Palms, Point Of Departure and Diamond Cut Diamond.
He wrote Elmsley's 4 Card Trick (1967) and Cardwork (1975), and was the subject of The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley (vol. 1 1991, vol. 2 1994).