Best of 2014 (Visual Aids Category)

First an update on Dink, her condition continues to deteriorate, yesterday (Thursday) she reminded me of Daddy when he would lie in bed at Crystal Bluffs and fiddle with stuff, anything to keep his hands busy. No one knows if it is the lack of oxygen, her organs shutting down, or probably a combination along with Sister Morphine, but the end result is sad, there isn't much of Dink left in her body and her thoughts are........................interrupted. But the good news is that she is comfortable, very comfortable and that is a good thing and our entire family is in a good place with that. Thank God for the blessing of Crystal Coast Hospice, the entire experience has been good for all involved.  

On to happier thoughts, the Highs were in town Wednesday night and fortunately for all participants and readers of this mindless dribble there are no pictures! Well, maybe a few, but you have to go those "certain" websites to find them. We were entree-less for the first time Wednesday night, only hors d'oeuvres (yes I had to look the spelling up) and had lots of fun. Let's see, what did we have? Ready? Hang on tight:

Lukaniko                                                   

onions pickled in balsamic                                        

pepperoncinis                                          

scallops                                                    

hummus                                                                     

mozzarella                                                            

vinegar pie

chestnuts

steamed shrimp

oysters

stuffed grape leaves

candied pecans with cinnamon

baked custards         

Greek meatballs 

shrimp in butter and pepper 

fava beans (think Hannibal Lecter but with no chianti) 

orzo with pesto   

muffaletta tapenade on pita

.....................and believe it or not there was some stuff that we didn't put out on the table. I may have left something out in there somewhere, sorry if I did. Good wines, a surprise cocktail sauce from my favorite steak house in the world: St. Elmo in Indianapolis, good Greek wine, did I mention the wine? I like wine. The Highs brought a bottle of a Greek wine called Naoussa, FO opened it, everyone tasted it and then he grabbed a straw and disappeared only to resurface thirty minutes later with a sheepish grin on his face. We found the bottle the next day. And then something new appeared, I believe the young hipsters call this beverage Fireball. From that point on it was kind of a blur.................and thankfully no pictures.

Recovered yesterday and watched football, nice relaxing day, had a few of those lately and I'm ready to get back at it. My January travel includes Mississippi, Alabama (bet there are some pissed off people down there today), Florida (see previous comment), Chicago and San Diego. Going to be a busy month.

And now for the best pictures of the year contest in chronological order, please let me know your favorite, there will be prizes:

USCGC Eagle visited us

                             Someone special got married, I picked this picture all by myself

                                                    Jacksonwhacker gradumatated

                                                          We went to the Indy 500

Direct hit from category 2 hurricane Arthur, yet generator power the next morning provided us with cold milk! We were lucky. 

                                   FO caught the nicest flounder I've ever seen in my boat

                                                     And I still like looking at this woman

You know which one I'm voting for......or for whom I'm voting, whichever. Vote now and vote often, winners will be given a special hat or a bucket or maybe even a bucket hat, it will more than likely be whatever I find in the sound on my next fishing trip. 

Now, the long awaited video of the year, no reader voting allowed for this award as it is selected by me, enjoy looking at a dog who closely resembles old Jesse:

                                          

Happy New Year!

The Best of 2014

It was a very good year with lots of changes, all good ones and we are thankful.
We will finish with random thoughts:
Betsy Vann's old Chevy, found in Mineral Wells, TX. I let it stay there.

Last awful pun for 2014:

 There's no place like chrome for the Hollandaise.

A new toilet control found at a nice hotel in Durham, or was it Duke hospital? I forget, but somehow or another with this control you something or another...................maybe

Dink's health continues to ebb away, but she had some fun with all of her great grandchildren around for a very busy time at Hospice. Although Wednesday morning she was sitting up doing her crochet work, the last few days has seen her grow weaker. 

And this is our youngest angel, beautiful Christmas picture to finish. 

T Minus 6 Days

We had a great time in Savannah, still hard to believe that we've never been downtown in that old city before. We ate and drank like condemned people for a few short days and really did get away from most of it............I think we were trying to get into our Christmas fighting weight before the actual holidays.

Pictures? Yes:

Add your own caption, and yes, Santa was smiling

I sat with the pastor of this church in a plane a couple of years ago and I asked if this church was PCUSA or PCA, he said "independent." I asked for how long, he answered "since 1755" Must be a colonial thing. This is one of the scenes of the feather in Forrest Gump. Now, how did we know each other is Presbyterian? My guess is that it was meant to be......no, that's where this story goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. I was reading a book our session was assigned and he asked if I was a pastor. I know I know I know, but that story is true. 

I took this picture for Marie, good idea of how near big ships come to the river walk area.

Olympia Restaurant. One word: stop what you're doing right now and go there as quickly as you can. OK, that was more than one word.

OPA! Hope you enjoy it, I doubt if they will let us back in. Thanks for the heads up from the Highs who unfortunately will probably not be allowed in either. We shouldn't have mentioned their names.

 I haven't the foggiest, but there it is

The owner of these two fine animals told us how the short-hair pointers  discovered her wrapped Harry and David Christmas presents earlier and then "got into it" with the rest of them. I asked if I could take a picture to remind me why I don't need a dog.

We had fun, and thanks to all for covering us.

Dink is comfortable at Hospice, but is losing some short term memory. We have to always qualify that with the fact that she is still pretty sharp for a 1923 model. I talked with her one night from Texas this week and she was happy to tell me she had three desserts that night. Screw diabetes!

Prince George's parents published this picture this week

Do you think they were separated at birth?

I do. 

Pictures? No. Today I sit at Duke Hospital with my wife as she gets the "thing" on the tip of her nose taken off. Good news, it was only one mm deep and they are already patching it with skin from her ear. She joked with the doctor that she wanted to get her eyes done at the same time. They're laughing and my hands are shaking, glad everybody is having fun. She's tough and this ain't no time to lose your nerve. Sadly it reminds me of Jackson getting his tonsils out at UNC-CH years ago, not everyone in this waiting room is getting good news. 

And this weekend we will prepare our house for Christmas, I promise. I've done most of my work, getting the tree in the house and the boxes down from the attic. From here on it's pretty easy: drink Scotch and stay out of the way. I'm kidding. 

But in the mean time let's all relax and enjoy the sounds of the season, because I've been a good boy all year and I think Santa is bringing me a red one. If you're at work put on your headphones, either way turn up the volume and enjoy the symphony:

Sorry, saw that this week and I couldn't resist. Merry Christmas

And So This Is Christmas.............

That was a Lennon song I liked from the 70's, do you remember the tune? The official Lennon video for this song was a little too rough, too many brutal war images.

Last year TAR and I noticed many families who told us they just "weren't into Christmas" and this year we've joined that group. I can't put my finger on why, I have a lot of reasons and excuses but that is the way it is. The tree is in the sun room, the boxes are accessible, maybe we'll go back to old Christmas traditions and decorate on Christmas Eve. And this is the beginning of our decorations:

From the internet: old Abe could turn a phrase, but I thought Ben Franklin, Winston Churchill or Jesus Christ said this, or maybe Disraeli. My sons know that when I ask them who said "this" one of the names in this paragraph is a 95% bet.

So we ran away. Despite everything we have balancing in the air we took our 4 day weekend and went to Savannah. Got in late last night and relaxed with a great dinner at the Old Pink House. Who knows what the rest of the weekend will bring. It is hard to believe that in all of my travels I haven't managed to get into downtown Savannah!

Dink is very comfortable at Hospice. She is getting weaker but seems to enjoy the attention that not only our family but also and especially the staff gives her. After years of watching her diet due to diabetes she now enjoys coconut cake and chocolate almost daily. And good for her.

Off to Texas Monday, back home Thursday night and up to Durham late Thursday night. Seems as though TAR needs a procedure Friday, more on that later. Told you, lots of balls in the air. Oh, and so this is Christmas.........................

Getting A Little Dark

First of all on a happy note we watched Peter Pan last night, and no, I won't grow up, It was fun and live, and oh my, did Tinkerbell call Wendy a "silly ass" twice and tell the Lost Boys to "shoot the Wendy Bird" And they did! Oh my indeed, Tinkerbell was evil, didn't remember that from my childhood. Jackson commented that Christopher Walken looked like he was making it up as he went along; OK, respectable enough job, but I'm not so sure he wasn't a bit tipsy. And all of the pirates looked a bit, well a lot but I must be PC................ Now let's get dark, who can come up with a joke about Walken on a boat, here's a starter: what kind of Wood doesn't float?  

Been hearing a lot of artillery from Camp LeJeune this week, hope we still are holding it.
30 Rock had this dialog in 2009 while Jack was trying to get Tracy to come back to the show:

Before the most recent wave of sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby began to turn the tide of public opinion against the actor, "30 Rock" was on it.Crushable's Jenni Maier stumbled upon this little-known fact when she was watching the 2009 episode "The Bubble" from the show's third season. As a side plot of the episode, Tracy Jordan (played by Tracy Morgan) quits "TGS" (the fictional show on NBC that Jordan works on) and Jack Donaghy (played by Alec Baldwin) goes to great lengths to get him back. One of Donaghy's efforts includes hiring a Bill Cosby impersonator to convince Jordan to come back to the show.You can watch the clip here on Tumblr.

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and "Rick," the Cosby impersonator, sit down with Donaghy before calling Jordan in the episode.

Maier transcribed the dialogue between "Rick," the Cosby impersonator, and Jordan in the scene:

Jack Donaghy: I’ve arranged for one of Tracy’s childhood idols to reach out to him.

Tracy Jordan: Hello?

Jack Donaghy: Tracy, this is Jack, I have someone here who wants to speak with you.

Rick: Tracy, this is Bill Cosby.

Liz Lemon: [whispering] Really? This is your strategy?

Jack Donaghy: [whispering and smiling] I heard him do this at a party!

Rick: I want you to come back to the TGS for the people who like the jokes and the things.

Tracy Jordan: Bill Cosby, you got a lotta nerve gettin’ on the phone wit’ me after what you did to my Aunt Paulette!

Rick: I think you’re confusing me with someone else.

Tracy Jordan: 1971. Cincinnati. She was a cocktail waitress with the droopy eye!

Rick: I’m the guy with the pudding.

Tracy Jordan: Don’t try to tell me what to do! Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, wit’ yo’ light-ass kids! Jack! Why would you make me talk to this man?

And in 2005 SNL knew something:

Dink moved in and had a good week at Hospice. Her spirits are good, she's had a lot of company, can eat whatever she likes............we'll see what happens next. She is getting lots of attention and visitors, so far so good. Hospice is treating her well, what a great way to do things which must be done. 

Now let's get darker, remember the TV show MASH? It was a clever and funny show as Hawkeye, Trapper John, BJ, Colonel Potter, Hot Lips, Frank, Klinger, Radar etc. go through the Korean War in eleven short years having a good time and also showing some of the blood and guts that go along with it. Remember the last episode? What do you remember? The pure elation of the Korean War ending, their longing to go home yet also a farewell to friends............remember this part?

Yeah, neither did I. And I think that's OK because a lots of memories are altered through time to protect ourselves from ourselves, and that's more than likely a very good thing.

Natalie...............I know, first class seat.
Off to San Antonio tomorrow for HARDI, back Tuesday.

Happy Thanksgiving

Quick post, looks like Dink is heading to Hospice, looks to be a good deal, pull for us.
Neat look

 Been thinking about this guy a lot for some reason or another, here's a good shot

I always liked this shot of John, after he passed away I posted this, looked like he was waiting for the next bus. Who knows, maybe he was.................

 This hottie with the bottie turned 60 this week, smokinnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

In town this week, probably a good idea, we'll see what happens.

Texas

After a long boring day trying to get to Texas on Monday we settled into a week of meetings planning 2015 and beyond. Look out!

I enjoy travel, but this week was harder in that Dink went into a nursing home Tuesday, fortunately my brother, his wife and the unsinkable TAR were able to handle the task. I don't think she's coming home again, but I've been dead wrong on those predictions before. Like the adjective?

A good week in Texas, sometimes you find these little tidbits that make you smile:

No I didn't, this time anyway, maybe next time.

How about one of these, a 120 V air dryer for shoes, boots and gloves. Neat idea, let me know if you want to buy a couple of thousand, I'm your guy

TAR has a birthday next week and it's one of those that ends in a ZERO, not saying which. I've been looking for lots of thoughtful, wonderful gifts which express my love and happiness at this great event. We're planning a mini-vacation in December, finally a dinner at the Farmer and the Chef, but I keep wondering and searching for the perfect gift. Your thoughts?

Get off your high throne there dear readers, this is a legitimate product although the ad is a tad disconcerting. 

Racing congratulations to Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, and even to those stinkin' tar babies. Good game, catch you next year. 

Wheels down at 11:40 something tonight and we have a full weekend planned. Good luck to Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi Sunday, I hope you'll be a good champion.