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Cover of "Daddy's Girl"

Cover of Daddy's Girl

Poor Sally – “What’s Wrong With Her”?

Wow, let’s see now Betty, how about for starters you told her you would cut her fingers off?  That sounds like what they do in some other countries!!

Poor Sally, she’s so pubescent….Daddy is gone and even when he’s around, he’s screwing lots of women, and none of them are Mommy.  She is terribly jealous of him going out with these women, when now that Mommy is out of the picture, she could be “Daddy’s Girl”! Too bad Poor Sally doesn’t know it just doesn’t work that way – especially with a Daddy like Don.  She is desperately seeking some male attention and approval, so hey here’s an idea…’I’ll cut my hair while he’s out with another woman and he left me with yet another of his women. ‘  Poor Sally.  Oh boy, the fall out from that one act of misguided defiance; The babysitter gets fired – “Consider it severance” (nice Don, the kid was in the bathroom for God’s sake!!),  Poor Sally gets a strong slap across the face and like any abused child, she immediately apologizes and even makes up a lie that it was a mistake.  Don get yelled at and so he yells back, Henry tries to intervene and guess what??? It worked!!!!! Sally got everybody’s attention and again,  in true fashion of the day, rather than being recognized as a symptom/victim of the massive dysfunction going on, she must be the problem and we must fix her!! Poor Sally!

With the onset of puberty comes SO MANY new feelings and Poor Sally – as she tentatively begins to explore her own sexuality…Whamo!! In comes YET ANOTHER UNENLIGHTENED  MOTHER of the ages and Sally is sent home chastised and disgraced.

When Betty is confronted with the news that her daughter was masturbating in public, with arms tightly crossed and a pinched face, she apologizes for her daughter’s horrific behavior (funny she never challenges the neighbor’s accusation of what goes on in this house!).  Poor Sally cowers in her room waiting for the inevitable angry Mommy to appear.  Betty storms in and remonstrates her child for what?? The word cannot be spoken, the act must be denied a name and brushed aside with “We don’t do that in private and we don’t do that in public”.   When Sally protests she did nothing… the  horrid  verdict;  “I’ll cut your fingers off”.  Poor Sally….

And Betty, well it’s all about Betty… after all, she is the quintessential shallow, cold, stupid and totally self-absorbed bitch mother whose foremost concern is “I’m so embarrassed”. Don’t you just love her??

BOSTON BABE

Chiara, Finley Ray Clark, Finny, Boston, Newbury st

Just another Boston Babe

Newbury St, Finley Ray, Finny

THIS is MY TOWN - How do you like it?

READ SOMEONE THE RIOT ACT

OBSCURE ORIGINS of COMMON PHRASES

Did you ever read your kids or your husband the riot act and they didn’t understand a word you meant?  To read someone the riot act is to yell, shout, command and demand that the ruckus or misbehavior stop!!!

King George I, England, edict,

The Riot Act

This is how it came about:  In 1716, King George I of England issued a proclamation that if 12 or more people engaged in a demonstration, his officers were told to read the group this specific ACT and send those rioters home.  Only a few continued to be disruptive after the edict was read because you could be sent to prison for life for not obeying this order.  Usually once The RIOT ACT was read, people calmed down!!!

OBSCURE ORIGINS of COMMON PHRASES

I was in a meeting this week and my manager said, “I’ll bet that scared the Dickens out of you”.  This got me thinking about what possible Charles Dickens story could be so scary that this phrase was born???  NONE- because that’s not the origin of the phrase and over the years we Americans have further obscured the origin due to the capitalization of the word, Dickens.

the merry wives of windsor, what the dickens?, scare the dickens out of you, devil

What the dickens does this mean?

Dickens or rather, dickens was used by Shakespeare as a euphemism for the devil.  In his play, The Merry Wives of Windsor the question is asked, “What the dickens”? to mean “What the devil”? So when someone says scare the dickens out of you – they mean to scare the devil out of you and I guess there’s  a little devil in all of us!


I SEE RED is a series of photos taken for the most part in New York City.  I SEE RED is actually a tweak of the theme “Art is Where You Find It.”

New York city, Art is where you find it

99 Cent Dreams

photo by Murray Head

Good luck red, Chinese drums,

I See Red in Four Square

photo by Murray Head

Halloween Nurse costume, red ballons,

Red Balloons and Party Girl Nurse

photo by Murray Head

NYPD, Macy's

Office Krumpke

photo by Murray Head

Baboon and baby, red face, Central Park zoon

Monkey See Monkey Do

photo by Murray Head

TEN Movie Mistakes

I’m not one of those movie goers who can quickly spot a mistake in a movie,  although Peter is pretty good at it.  I don’t know why I don’t see when a car has changed color or a tie is on when it should have been off BECAUSE I see everything and anything that is moved from its spot in my house.  And if Peter leaves a book laying horizontally on a row of books  or 3 hangers, 2 pairs of shoes, a comb on the sink – well you get the idea!!!!

Here’s ten you may have spotted yourself!!!!

  1. Wizard of Oz: When Dorothy is still on the farm, she walks along the fence of the pig pen and then falls in.  Burt Lahr picks her up and her dress is perfectly clean.
  2. Wizard of Oz: Dorothy’s hair is long and almost straight in some shots and short and curly when the camera pans back to her.  This happens throughout the movie.
  3. Willy Wonka-The Chocolate Factory: In the scene in the chocolate factory, Violet’s mother has red, sticky, candy all over her teeth and her face when she smiles at Mr. Salt.  A few moments later, it is all gone.
  4. Willy Wonka – The Chocolate Factory: At the beginning of the movie, the Golden  Tickets are placed upside down over the chocolate bars, meaning the tickets are actually on the bottom, but later when the children find the tickets, they are now on top of the bars.
  5. Alice in Wonderland: Alice’s necklace keeps appearing and disappearing after Alice falls down the rabbit hole.
  6. Pirates of the Carribean-The Black Pearl: Just as Jack says,”On deck, you scabrous dogs”, to the very left edge of the screen just over Jack’s shoulder is a grip crew member with a tan cowboy hat, white short sleeve tee shirt and sunglasses, just standing there looking out to sea.

    Pirates of the Carribbean, The Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow, movie mistake

    Extra Crew Member

  7. Goldfinger: The T-Bird following Oddjob does not  fender skirts but does when they give up the chase and return to the farm.
  8. Titanic: Look closely at the location of Rose’s beauty-mark the first time you see her on the dock.  It’s on the opposite side of her face for the rest of the movie.
  9. Salt: When Salt returns to her apartment, near the beginning, being chased by her team members, she climbs on the ledge without her shoes.  When she climbs back on the ground, and runs away in the next scene, she is wearing boots.
  10. Gladiator: In the “Battle of Carthage” in the Colosseum, one of the chariots is turned over.  Once the dust settles you can see a gas cylinder in the back of the chariot.

TATTLE -TALE

Tattle-Tale, tattle-tale!!! And I thought this might have something to do with a rattle snake’s tail…and no clue as to why?

Actually the origin of this name-calling phrase has its roots in a combination of a Middle English word derived from Old Dutch, tatelen, which meant meaningless  prattle or stammering and was used in reference to children and an old English expression tell-tale, which was used the way we use tattle-tale.

There’s an old nursery rhyme: “Tell-tale-tit, your tongue will be slit, and all the dogs within the town shall have a little bit”.  As time went on, tatelen became tattlin which was thought of as tattling and soon morphed from meaningless prattle to idle gossip to telling tales to tattle-tale. The manner in which this phrase came into being through the morphing and blurring of words is the way many of our everyday phrases worked their way into our language.

TILL THE COWS COME HOME

I think I’ll be waiting till the cows come home for my son to call me!!  Surely your mother said this to you at one time or another in your life.  The phrase refers to the nature of cows, notoriously languid creatures who move only at their own pace.  The imagery is perfect, as you imagine the cows just ambling along slowly and taking a long time to get there.

It is believed that the phrase was in use prior to 1829 and may have originated in Scotland – it appeared in print in The Times in January of that year in reference to the Duke of Wellington and what he should do if he wished to maintain a place in Peel’s cabinet:

Till the cows come home,

The Duke of Wellington

If the Duke will but do what he unquestionably can do, and propose a Catholic Bill with securities, he may be Minister, as they say in Scotland “until the cows come home.”

In 1933, one of our great comedians known for his witty use and play on words, Groucho Marx, had this to say in the film, Duck Soup:

“I could dance with you till the cows come home. Better still, I’ll dance with the cows and you come home.”




Hey I’m back to WD-40, the all around, everybody should have some, almost miraculous household cleaner/fixer/stopper/remover/shiner – “by gum, it does it all”.

  1. Keeps rubber door weather gaskets soft and pliable
  2. Spray on bathroom mirror to keep from fogging
  3. Unclogs shower heads
  4. Lubricates wood screws for easier insertion
  5. Contractors use the bottom of can to draw perfect circles when “in the field” and cap to draw smaller circles
  6. Spray lightly over stagnant water to prevent mosquito eggs from hatching
  7. Spray on golf gloves to stop them from drying out
  8. Helps break in baseball gloves
  9. Spray on golf tees to penetrate hard ground
  10. Cleans salt impregnated ice from soles of Doc Martens

Just a little something there for everyone!!!

degreaser, cleaner, shiner, repellent, oiler, WD-40

Just Like Duct Tape in a Can

Week 12 and another installment of  the conspiracy theory about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  Many more to follow.  You can read this fascination chronology of a conspiracy theory by clicking on the category, Conspiracy Theory Wednesday.

GEORGE  DE MOHRENSCHILDT

On their arrival from the U.S.S.R., the Oswalds moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where on October 7, 1962, they were visited by a geologist named George Sergius De Mohrenschildt.  A Russian-born count whose father had been the Czarist governor of Minsk (Marina’s father had been a Czarist officer), De Mohrenschildt convinced the Oswalds to move to Dallas.  With his help, they were taken in by the Russian emigre community, many of whom were right wing “solidarists” who sided first with the Nazis and later with the CIA against the Communists.  On October 12th, the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Oswald was hired by a graphic arts company that did classified work for the Army Map Service on top secret U2 overflights of Cuba.

Kenndey assassination, CiA, Lee Harvey Oswald, Schlumberger Coporation, Russian emigre

George De Mohrenschildt

For the next six months, Lee and George were close friends, an odd couple if there ever was one.  George’s social contacts included oil men like H.L. Hunt, Clint Murchison Sr., and Jean DeMenil, a fellow Russian emigre and head of the CIA-connected Schlumberger Corporation.  His good friend, J. Walter Moore, an agent in the CIA’s Domestic Contacts Division had “encouraged” George to befriend Oswald.  A world traveler, fluent in six languages, the count’s relationship with the CIA and its forerunner, the OSS, dated back to WWll, when, according to the FBI,. he worked for both the French underground and the Nazis.  His cousin, Baron Constantine Maydell, a producer of Nazi propaganda films, was a top Abwehr agent in the U. S.

De Mohrenschildt and Oswald parted company in April 1963.  Oswald left for New Orleans, and de Mohrenschildt went to Haiti, stopping en route in Washington D.C. to meet with a CIA agent and an assistant director for Army intelligence.

Littleneck clams, small hard clams, species Me...

Image via Wikipedia

Tasty Tidbits Tuesday

Adding the ingredients in the right order is the secret to this recipe’s success; the ones that take longest go in first.  The optional layer of seaweed (available from most fishmongers) imparts a salty ocean essence and keeps the potatoes off the bottom of the pan.

2 large or 3 medium onions cut into large wedges

6 garlic cloves

1 bottle pale ale or medium-bodied beer

1 cup water

Fresh seaweed, well-rinsed, for layering (optional)

1 1/2 pounds small new potatoes (white, red or a combination)

1 pound hot dried  chorizo, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Coarse salt

3 lobsters ( 1 1/2 pounds each)

36 littleneck clams, scrubbed well

4 ears of corn, husked and halved

2 pounds of mussels, debearded and scrubbed well

1 1/2 pounds shrimp (about 30), shell on

2 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional

2 lemons, halved

Combine onions, garlic, pale ale, and water in a 16-quart stockpot. Cover with a layer of seaweed (or place a steamer basket on top of the onions).  Add potatoes, chorizo, and 1 tablespoon salt.  Bring to a boil.  Add lobsters; cook over high heat, covered, for 15 minutes.  Add  clams and corn; cook, covered, for 6 minutes.  Add mussels and shrimp; cook covered, until clams and mussels open and shrimp are cooked through, 4-8 minutes.

Remove seafood, corn, potatoes, and chorzio using tongs, and transfer to large platters or rimmed baking sheets.  Discard seaweed and and any unopened clams and mussels.  Strain liquid through a sieve into a bowl; add butter, swirling to melt.  Squeeze lemons over clambake.

You’ll need a large, sturdy pot to hold everything.