Nothing funnier!

Women don't usually do physical comedy and they are not always very good at it- in fact I haven't seen a woman who was really good at physical comedy since Lucille Ball. I mean was there anything funnier than the episode with her and Vivian working in the chocolate shop??? But recently Mo discovered a British comedian who is brilliant! He first saw her on "Would I Lie to You" which led him to her sitcom "Miranda". One episode and we were ready for more ... well, actually within the introduction we were hooked! The first line, "Hello to you and thanks for joining. This is exciting, isn't it? Aye? Now, let me get you up to speed. Previously in my life, my mother tried to marry me off...." Well, just watch...
 

On Monday we'll be "driving" down the Keys so this is just a little weekend entertainment! 

Enjoy!!!

Vacationland...

Being a city employee, I find myself with plenty of lovely vacation time and none of the necessities that having a vacation requires (that being $$$) and with lots of not so fun other things going on in my life I decided to plan a blog vacation... but where to go? where to go?
Hmmmmm...

As chance would have it, I went to a local pub after work and overheard this guy in a bar talking... he was talking quite loudly as drinkers will. Said something about wanting to go to Florida... to Key West. I was not impressed. Then he mumbled something about being a writer. A writer! What's this? That's when I perked up! Then he really got dramatic and stood up talking about his terrible childhood, how he was a gearhead and how his uncle would have beaten him up if he knew he read Shakespeare. It sounded pretty terrible so I wasn't surprised that he wanted to get away. He went on "All my life I dreamed about going to Key West-- down where all the great writers were...Don't you get it? Writers write from their spinal chord not their brain. It's the electricity that counts! You gotta plug in. You gotta hot wire. You gotta go straight to the source. Ernest Hemingway walked down those very streets!" I got it! And I was sold! I wanted to jump up and ask him if he'd take me along. Alas, he'd already left the bar and I never saw him again. But I vowed to take a trip of my own--- even if only for vacation...
I began checking on the island and found beautiful blue skies and a few pretty passable beaches...

 One that is a bit more rugged but is less crowded (don't forget water shoes!)

and has the added attraction of being home to the yearly Key West "art" festival - or at least a segment of it.

(please don't ask me what this is-- it's made of flowers and is dog shaped) 

The beaches are not only wonderful to tan on and lovely warm waters to swim in...

Snorkeling is also an option even with makeshift swimming speed goggles! There is tons of sea-life to watch right out in the main swimming areas.

If you want to head out to the gulf, you can fill your days and nights with fishing, viewing dolphins and underwater sea life, canoeing, snorkeling by the coral reef and...  

a Sunset cruise that seems to carry you right to the edge of the world with a golden view and champagne at hand! 

The island itself is historically rich. Homes that were built in the early settling of the island are still about... as was this home (the second home on the island) built by the British Captain George Carey in 1834 first as a two bedroom and then later enlarged as a gift to his wife. 

This Octagon home is a uniquely North American architecturally styled home that was briefly popular in Canada and the US in the 1850s. This particular home was built by Richard Peacon but is more popularly famous because Calvin Klein bought it and owned it for one year then quickly sold it apparently having become bored with the 2x4 mile island. 

And lest we forget the reason the reason we're planning this trip in the first place...

Papa Hemingway's home! The house was built by marine architect and salvage wrecker Asa Tift in 1851. Hemingway's second wife's uncle purchased the property for the couple in a much dilapidated state in 1931whereupon Pauline set about on a major redo that is, even by today's standards, quite stunning. We'll have to have a closer look at this famous landmark, make no mistake! I think the trip will be grand! 

Are you in??? 

Monday off...

I have a Monday off and I want to get some writing done but I also have (ugh) housecleaning to do and some errands to run so writing may be a later in the day thing. I'm off but it's still Monday so here's a bouquet of spring and poem by William Dean Howell's to fit the petal's delicacy...

Earliest Spring
~William Dean Howell's 

TOSSING his mane of snows in wildest eddies and tangles, 
Lion-like March cometh in, hoarse, with tempestuous breath, 

Through all the moaning chimneys, and 'thwart all the hollows and 

angles 

Round the shuddering house, threating of winter and death. 

But in my heart I feel the life of the wood and the meadow 

Thrilling the pulses that own kindred with fibres that lift 

Bud and blade to the sunward, within the inscrutable shadow, 

Deep in the oak's chill core, under the gathering drift. 

Nay, to earth's life in mine some prescience, or dream, or desire 

(How shall I name it aright?) comes for a moment and goes-- 

Rapture of life ineffable, perfect--as if in the brier, 

Leafless there by my door, trembled a sense of the rose.

___________________________________________________

Local Politics blogging at Meanderings of a Wandering Mind. If your interested in the Denver Mayoral race stay tuned!

Treasured gifts and childhood dreams

I had a Bugs Bunny grin, frizzy wavy hair, gangling long legs and was painfully shy.We'd just moved from a small farm town in Oklahoma to a small farm town in Kansas where the other kids had known each other from the day they'd started wobbling around town at their mother's knees. Add to that the likelihood they were cousins once or twice removed, and it was a pretty tight-knit community our family had just moved into!

I was already an avid reader but the new climate only added fuel to an already burning fire. One particular month, The Weekly Reader Book of the Month Club sent 'The Black Stallion'. I fell in love! 

The horse was magic and mystery and adventure all rolled up into one. I would lie in bed and dream of clutching the mane of my great horse's mane and ride off into the distance. Children care not for the grim reality of awakening from a dream... I would be far away from the new town in the new school where I was the new girl. 

And that is what happened with each Black Stallion book I read whether it was 'The Black Stallion Returns', 'Son of the Black Stallion' or 'The Black Stallion and Satan' etc.... well, you get the picture. I went on to read other horse books 'My Friend Flicka', 'Misty' and I loved them all although my first love remained 'The Black Stallion'! Which is why, when I received a copy of 'The Black Stallion' from my darling Mo on our first Christmas together, it was and still is one of my most cherished presents ever! I was so enthralled with the idea of being on the back of a big racing horse that I dreamt of being a jockey. That is until it dawned on me that I was already, in fifth or sixth grade, quite a bit taller than the jockeys. I was CRUSHED!!!  

In the spring of that school year, my brothers and I were taken to a babysitter's home for the day. The television was on and with nothing better to do (I must have forgotten to bring a book) I plopped down to veg for the afternoon. The picture flashed onto some beautiful long legged thoroughbred's as they were led from paddock to race track and I was immediately hooked. I inquired as to what the event might be and was quickly answered  "The Kentucky Derby." I knew what the Kentucky Derby was immediately and settled in for the pre-race furor.

I don't honestly recall if I selected Secretariat to win from the beginning. He wasn't black and he wore a hood so I think I might not have chosen him just from the initial introduction I got of the horses. It would be easy to lie now and say I had...but as the race began and he came up from last, no equine lover could help but fall in love with a horse that had that much heart.  I remember the tears in my eyes and the lump in my throat as he passed one horse then another and then gained ground with great strides. And then how at last he ran up alongside the front runner! Then, as if that were not enough, not only did he pass the leader but got two and a half lengths ahead!! He broke the record for running the 1&1/4 ml long race in under 2 minutes (1 minute and 59 2/5) that day and caused everyone to sit up and take notice! And I knew that I wanted to watch him run (and win) in the Preakness and the Belmont after that. And he did! (Of course he did!)

Which is why... I am so excited about the coming week. Not that every Kentucky Derby is as exciting as the one that was raced by Big Red (or even Seattle Slew or Affirmed after him.) No, but there is the potential! And I am always excited to think that maybe this year we will see another horse that will take wing and fly under the finish line, carrying our hopes and dreams with him-- like The Black Stallion.

   

If you want to participate in some pre-Kentucky Derby fun... head over to Lisa M Pott's Blog to catch up on all the traditions and fabulous fun she will post this week. It's too late to join the Kentucky Derby Contest of Awesome (not done intentionally since I've had a link all week and you've obviously not paid proper attention!!!) but not too late to have tons of awesome fun!!!