Oh hai! You’re just in time, because I just got a brand new toy! My human had to take out all the worthless packing material, first. Isn’t it great? I love my new toy!
Via Imgur.
Weekend Open Thread
110 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”
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Yep, that looks right about right! 🙂
Well, I am sporting an awful black eye; was leaving work on Thursday afternoon and somehow tripped in the parking lot and hit my forehead on the cement! Woke up yesterday with a shiner. Have a bruised knee and arm, too. I guess I could use my injuries as part of a Halloween costume! Have a great weekend, everyone, and watch your step!
Owie, Amy! Why not use them for a costume?!
A little more makeup on the other side, and you’re set.
Hope the boo-boos don’t hurt too much.
Omigosh, Amyliz, that’s awful. No concussion or anything? Feel better soon.
Oh my. I still have a numb spot on my noggin from a meet up with concrete in 4th grade.
OUCH! 🙁
Oh dear. Amyliz, wishing you quick healing!
Thanks, everyone! I’m doing OK. My neck is a bit stiff but really I don’t have all that much discomfort. I feel a little self-conscious in public with this eye but it’s too beautiful a day to stay inside!
Yikes, glad to hear you’re well enough to be out and about!
You might try Arnica for the bruise and Aspercreme for the stiffness – I find both remedies to be ‘oldies but goodies’.
Thanks for the tip, Smartypants!
Go as a hockey player for Halloween! Hope you’re feeling better soon.
LOL! Be sure to black out some teeth!
😀
That is a great idea!
Oh I am so sorry to hear that and can offer commiseration! I have medical conditions that impact my balance & depth-perception and yesterday ploughed my head into the corner of a table (at a cafe, no less). Got ice on it right away, so it doesn’t look too bad today, though there is a big red bump above my right eyebrow. I’m just grateful it wasn’t any worse! I hope you mend quickly and aren’t in any pain!!
Thanks, Chase, same to you and take care!
Cat being a cat . . .what is it about boxes?
We have visitors coming to Bucks County from our old area
of North Jersey with a visitor from Japan. We flew around in
hausbutz gichterei (Pennsylvania Dutch for “housecleaning
spasms). We are now presentable. They are all nice people
we went to Israel with a few years ago, and we are going to
take them on a wee tour of this very historic and pretty area.
The weather is perfect October, sunny, dry, high just under
70 and there is still lots of color on the trees. A nice lunch
at an old inn, and it should be a good day. Hope everyone
has at least as good a Caturday, if not better. . .
Sounds lovely! I can be there in about 3 hours! Can I come along, huh, can I?
Come on over, or up, or down, or whatever!
The more the merrier, etc.
Perfect weather. Isn’t it fun to show off your home area. Enjoy.
Fred’s Mom, that sounds like a lovely time.
My brother-in-law from Maine is here helping my husband out with a race at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta today .Last night friends from Arizona were here and all of us went to dinner – nice surprise to get to go out, especially since we already have reservations for tomorrow night for my birthday dinner. Since my birthday always inconveniently comes at regatta time we usually do something afterwards. So I get a whole week of birthday – nice.
My shoulder is improving, tho’ I was told I’m a bit behind the curve at my 8 week evaluation. But I have more exercises to do now and I think I’ll catch up soon. It’s getting more and more frustrating – probably a good sign – that I can’t do more. I was told I wasn’t supposed to lift anything heavier than a bowl of cereal, f’heaven’s sake! I have a goal – getting the house decorated for Christmas and hosting our annual Twelfth Night Holiday Bash. We usually have about 130+ people of all stripes – rowers, artists, musicians. LOTS of food, drink. It’s nice because by then people are kind of sad that the holidays are over and this eases them into the New Year a little less abruptly. It is, as you might imagine, a lot of work, involving a lot of lifting (30 or so boxes of Christmas decorations ?) and a lot of cooking, tho’ it’s also a potluck. I have a feeling it’ll be a bit reduced. For one thing I’m thinking about having a couple of table top trees instead of the one big one. Our living room is on the second floor and getting the tree up there is getting to be troublesome – getting it down even moreso.
Oh, I got in the water for the first time! Yay!
Yay!
Nothing going on for Guy Fawkes Day/Night?
Our English neighbors in Jersey used to have
a bonfire (teeny, mind you) in their back yard
on the Fifth. Fun. Enjoy the weekend, Murray,
you deserve a good time.
The holiday festivities sound nice! Could you hire a couple of college kids to do the heavy lifting while you supervise? Might be worth it, so you can save your strength for the details.
Even before surgery I had broached the subject with hubby to perhaps get some help this year, so that may be the answer. I did that once just for the night of the actual event and it was a disaster, the young woman came but was really sick with a terrible cold and she did practically nothing the whole night.
A box is the best toy in the world whether you’re a kid or a cat. Tonight we are going to a party at a friend’s house. It’s not a Halloween party, it’s our annual Chilli Party. My friend makes a big pot of chilli and everybody brings something. I will be making my famous artichoke and spinach stuffed garlic bread !
Also, I finally hung the paintings I got from my employer for my retirement. Since you get to chose from an assortment of works from local artists, so I chose a subject that is close to my heart.
They’re fabulous Gigi! Your former employer certainly had some good qualities.
Love them!
Great retirement gift! Way more fun than a gold watch. Glad you are enjoying your new life of leisure.
I got the engraved gold watch after 25 years of work, it’s actually pretty nice I still wear it.
Those are very cool! That would something I’d hang on my walls. And this kitty is too funny, rather have the box than the new shiny toy.
Lovely pictures, and right in time for Halloween! And chili party — YUM!
And today is National Cat Day!
I love the paintings.
Cat in box. Yup. That scratching thing would make a goof footstool.
oooooo! I love these! Especially the eyes.
Very cool art work! Hope you have a happy retirement!
Going on a road trip today! One of the cemeteries in LA is throwing their annual Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration. Should be interesting – aztec warriors, altars to the dead, costumes, etc. But no, I won’t be going in costume, too much work to put on all the makeup. Check out the link – http://www.ladayofthedead.com. And then tomorrow, nothing but recuperating except I think I need to get some groceries in the house and start thinking about what I’m taking on the cruise in two weeks!!!
Looks like a lot of fun! It may seem a little weird but I love cemeteries. especially old ones. I visited a lot of them when we went to the UK. I was very disappointed that we couldn’t visit the one in New Orlean as it was only by appointment at that time and the tours were full when we were there.
Luv luv luv the cat in the box! So completely cat!
Very glad to hear Amyliz that your injuries weren’t worse…I cringe at the idea of concrete vs forehead standoffs.
And Gigi…wonderful stretchy liquid stylized felines! So perfect for you.
Gigi, I bet you’d love Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston if you haven’t already been: http://mountauburn.org
I love small churchyards with old barely legible gravestones. We do have a fabulous old cemetery in Philadelphia where all sorts of events take place this time of year – the Mutter Museum (with all the medical oddities on display) often sponsors them. Someone I knew was traipsing through it once and found a coffin partly out in the open with a glass porthole and he could actually see the skeleton! (cue scary music!)
There’s a biography of Thomas Dent Mütter that came out last year. I have a friend who loves that kind of stuff; we went to the museum the summer before I saw the book so I got it for her for Christmas last year.
Dr. Mütter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine
The daughter of a friend of mine is the director and she’s doing so much to freshen the identity of the museum and present programs that are fun and sort of openly ghoulish. The Mom (my friend) did a coloring book for the museum which I thought was very funny and trendy.
That’s awesome! Just posted the link to it on my friend’s facebook page.
Oh that is such a good book! I think I listened to it on Overdrive, checked out from the library. I’m glad to see someone else recommending it.
I read the introduction but I haven’t read the whole thing yet. One of these days…
I’ll have to try that, thanks for the idea, Tara.
Oh my heaven! I’m glad the bear seems to have been alright – how did they escort him away??? I feel bad for the kid but someday this will be his/her most memorable birthday ever!
With all the sugar coursing through his system he probably jumped back out the same hole he made coming in!
Words cannot express how much I love this.
MY COFFEE MAKER STOPPED WORKING!
I feel for you Mike!! Must. Have. Coffee.
I’m out of milk for hot chocolate!! 🙁
I am so sorry! My fuel of choice is tea, and I know how I get when I run out …
I like tea, too, but I usually like milk in it. I got my hair cut yesterday and I would have stopped on my way home but I was trying to minimize my time outside because it was so windy and I wanted my hair to stay nice for the wedding I was going to last night. I figured if I did it in the afternoon it would be all freshly blown out (and she even gave the brush a little twist while she was drying it so it had a little curl at the ends) and I wouldn’t have to touch it too much.
We always have a filter system or French Press pot in those cases. Mike, where are your Boy Scout skills!!!!! Oh, well, it’s a good excuse to go out and get coffee and a pretzel.?
I have a backup one-cup coffee maker, so I’m OK. And my pretzel was dee-lee-chuss, as usual.
Do you not keep a spare for emergencies?Instant is as good straight out of the jar as it is in a cup!
Murkle, are you saying you eat instant coffee right out of the jar?
Caffeine jolt!
Crunchy.
Coffee Crisp
I have heard that if you have allergies and in the case of an emergency reaction can
chew instant coffee after taking antihistamines. Obviously the full caffeine stuff to speed up your system. Don’t know if this is bunk or not!!
Sounds legit.The caffein would probably help dilate blood vessels and allow the antihistamine to reach the involved tissues better,and assist with reducing swelling.
Yes sounds physiologically accurate. I was also thinking it might speed things up as well with increased heart rate?
Oh Mike, that is absolutely tragic. You have my sympathy.
I’m watching this again and laughing just as hard as the first and second and third time.
I have coffee packets for travel and work. And would work in emergencies like this.
Have instant coffee, creamer and sweetner all in one foil pack. Just add hot water.
Hi, everybody. I hope the fall weather (or spring, if you’re in the other hemisphere) is as perfect for everyone else as it is here! It’s a beautiful day. Hubs took the dogs to the dog park, so they’re off doing their doggy thing, and I’m just relaxing.
I love the pictures, Gigi! They’re utterly charming! What a lovely retirement present!
The doctor put me on a new medication for my back problems — still very mild meds, but unfortunately it makes me have massive insomnia. As in staying up all night, and not by choice, insomnia. So right now I’m trying to persuade myself that I can at least get a nap so I’ll stay awake for the ball game this evening!
The guy who owns the realty company that we bought our house through is a sponsor of the local hockey team and gets tickets all the time, so our lovely realtor, who I had an absolute *blast* looking at houses with, has invited us to a game in just over a week. When we were looking at houses, she loved my imitations of HGTV house hunters: “This paint color is dreadful! We couldn’t possibly buy a house with this color in it!” which is about as ridiculous as some o them. And of course I had to climb into bathtubs to check them out. 😀 My husband failed to see the humor in it, but she and I had a ball! So I hope she’s got us the good seats for the game next week so he can watch the game while she and I catch up. 🙂 She’s been so busy with selling houses lately that she hasn’t had time to come see our house now that we’re settled in it. Shame on her, letting work get in the way of fun! Oh, wait, that’s what I’ve been doing, too. Oopsie. 🙂
Everybody have a great weekend, okay? And GO CUBS!
The Cubs must do what the Jays could not…come back with 4 winning games straight…but here’s hoping!!
Hope is what being a Cubs fan is all about. I feel good about our chances tonight!!
Happy Weekend all!
Beautiful day in Philadelphia. Going for a bike ride and then more work in the garden. I have dahlias to dig up and daffodils to plant. House plants have been moved indoors. My aloe vera now has a 50inch wing span! Sadly two of his arms broke while bringing him in.
Then it will be odds and ends of other things – the list is long…
Can the broken off pieces be rooted?
Bringing in plants tomorrow, should
be a tad warmer in the Philly area.
My favorite time of year. Shame it’s
so short. Fall could be six months
and I’d be happy.
Hmmm, I don’t know. I didn’t think so since there was sap dripping out of the broken end? Does anyone know if aloe vera re-roots? They went to good use though. Fabulous intern who experiments with food was the glad recipient. I’m happy because I didn’t have any immediate use for them and so feel they will be put to good use.
PS: on the re-rooting-plants-coming-in-theme – Thank you! to whoever posted about Geraniums a few weeks ago! It was very helpful information.
Hi, Tara, it was I – and I’m glad you’re having success with it. It’s pretty amazing they root so quickly.And even more amazing is that they bloom even in water.
Thanks Murray C! 🙂
Aloe vera is a great plant! When I was a kid and we’d visit my grandparents in Fort Worth, if I got any sunburn, my grandfather would go pick an aloe leaf or two and split them and have my apply the gel straight onto the sunburn. It would be gone by morning. I’m glad the rest of the world learned what he’d apparently learned from his daddy back in pioneer days!
Happy National Cat Day!
Well all but one of my chores for the day are done. I even have food at hand. So…
I’m in full drawing mode with CNN on to listen to all the hubbub. (no comments)
I’ve been working on a true drawing using graphite and color pencils. No markers. Some black ink. Flooded by memories of really drawing. Ecstatic to be doing it again.
Had a wonderful experience with a book this week. I had a breakthrough in therapy. I articulated a new realization. A week went by. I pick up a short book. And the author explains the point I had gotten to on my own and confirmed my thoughts. I love when just the right book falls into your hands at exactly the right moment. In fact, I had tried to read the book once before and didn’t understand it at the time and quit.
Hope everyone has as serendipitous day as I’m having.
Re-reading “Rebecca” and can’t wait to view that
great old black and white movie with Joan Fontaine again.
Mrs. Danvers still gives me chills.
I’ve never read it but I love the movie. I also love “Gaslight”.
There is a FANTASTIC audiobook of Rebecca out there–added depths to a book I must have read silently at least 10 times. I didn’t love the Hitchcock movie, because I’m a purist when it comes to Du Maurier. There was a BBC mini series in the 70s or 80s that I always meant to look up.
I was mentioning Rebecca the movie as we all watched the original movie The Haunting based on the Shirley Jackson book Haunting At Hill House.
My friends are in their late thirties. They have so many movies to see from the 1940s-1960s. Sigh. Youth.
The original “The Haunting” is the best.
I remember one thundery afternoon starting
Shirley Jackson’s book and could not stop.
So scary.
Mrs. Danvers. Very creepy.
Mrs. Danvers is SO wonderfully creepy!
Wonderful, Faye! That is a good feeling, to be validated in your thinking.
Thank you, Murray. I was so surprised. A memorable experience.
Crazy busy week coming up, but looking forward to it.
Found a small turkey in the freezer. Now it’s in the sink, thawing for tomorrow. Why? Because it was there! I tend to buy lots of little turkeys when they’re on sale, and then cook them when I want.
Catching up on chores today.
Only five more weeks of class and then I’m FREE! Course assignment almost done, and I have to admit, I enjoyed the class more than I expected.
Local grocery store has Halloween coloured Smarties on sale for unholy good price. I don’t care if they’re only orange and brown; at that price, I’m stocking up. Something to nibble on after surgery on the seventh.
Hope everyone has a great day.
“Found a small turkey in the freezer….” haha! emphasis on “found”! I love “finding” yummy things in the freezer! 🙂 Bon Appetit!
Last night was the wedding. The ceremony was beautiful but it was outside so it was cold and windy. Luckily it was pretty short. But it was just before dusk and the sky over the river behind the bride and groom was all deep blue and pink. The bride’s grandmother (my aunt) still had to be taken inside a few minutes after the bride came out, though, and did not make it to dinner (they packed up her and my uncle’s meals to go, though, and my mom brought some dessert home to give them).
Now I need to get my dress cleaned. My mother spilled her red wine on me and of course it got on the white stripe. My cousin (who is a bartender) ran to get club soda and I got most of it out but there are a few faint spots still. There was also another woman wearing the same dress which was funny.
OMG after all that dress hunting and someone has the nerve to wear the same one!!
I know! How dare a complete stranger wear the same dress as me!
I dressed as Cruella de Ville for our work Halloween festivities yesterday, and SOMEBODY ELSE did so too! It was a crushing blow at first. Then we decided she was the animated Disney version and I was the Glenn Close version.
One can never have too many Cruellas de Ville 😀
Oh, I know that feeling. I was at a wedding and a fellow passing the plate of beef spilled it and got gravy on my beautiful linen topper. I was gracious but really annoyed! I was able to wash it, tho’.
Sounds like it was a lovely wedding – like your description of the sky.
My ex (the father of my 4 oldest kids) will be here later today, and will be here until Tuesday or Wednesday. I will likely hang out with them (the girls and their father) a lot in the next few days. Unfortunately, my son didn’t get time off to come with him, so I won’t be seeing my Florida grandkids this year.
Yes, I do get along with the ex. When the kids were younger, and he came to visit, he slept in the spare room. When my youngest daughter was a baby, the spare room was the nursery, and he’d come downstairs carrying her every morning.
The kids were traumatized by the divorce and their father moving to Florida, they didn’t need a mother who talked bad about him and made it difficult to see them. I don’t have time to waste on hating someone for being an ex.
Good for you, Patty. It never makes sense to poison someone’s mind against another. Easier said than done, I imagine, but very ethical.
I learned from my mother. My parents were divorced when I was 11, and she never had a bad word to say about him, he was allowed to stay with us when he came to visit. Side note: when both of their spouses passed away in the same year, he came to stay for a month, to reconnect with his kids. While he was here Mom was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. He went back to DE, sold all of his belongings, and moved to Kansas to take care of her. They remarried after being divorced for 37 yrs, even though it was mostly out of convenience, and so she would be covered by his military insurance. He stayed with her for the 2 years she fought, and went back to DE after she died.
That is an amazingly touching story! Such an antidote to all the horror stories one hears about exes and their behaviors toward one another.
This was how my ex and I handled the split also.
We shared a daughter and would be in contact
here and there, off and on, for years because of
her, no point in being nasty. I never never bad-mouthed
him to her. That is poison.
I’m glad to hear so many people handling divorces sensibly. When my kids’ dad and I split up, we saw a counselor who pointed out that we might stop being husband and wife but we’d still be parents. So we opted to be nice about it. His dad started badmouthing me, and I told my ex that if he kept that up he wouldn’t see his grandchildren any more. My ex’s parents had been through one of those awful, nasty divorces, so my ex wanted no part of the same thing, fortunately, and that was the end of the badmouthing on *anybody’s* part. Then my ex passed away suddenly, a few years after we were divorced; he was only 40. Everybody was able to put the kids first and help them through it (they were 8 and 15). It was pretty awful for them. He was a really nice guy; we just didn’t get along as a married couple, you know? We all have a lot of happy memories to share about him, which is good. Kids don’t want to hear nasty stories about a parent who’s no longer alive to defend themselves!
Oh, and happy Caturday to all my Cutetropolitan hipster friends.
Love this image – I have it saved in my photos.
Me, too.
Is this cat buddies with the hipster cat in the shirt?
Probably. I suspect they’re off having some pretentious coffee concoction together as we speak.
Hipster cats & dogs are my favourite! What a cutie!
Ah. I so love reading threads here…
The picture made me laugh so hard. I’ve given up on big toys for my cats at this point, and now I just make a cave with a smaller box on its side nestled into a bigger box & fill it with crinkly paper. I have several, so I call a corner of my living room “box town” because there are several of these kitty bunglows around for my guys to chill out. So spoiled.
Where’s the local chapter of BA?? (Boxaholics Anonymous) I am such an enabler!