Labor Day

With Labor day just around the corner it's the unofficial end of Summer. Planning that last BBQ or maybe a trip to the beach.
The kids here have been back in school for a week now and starting to get a routine. Get up, dressed,breakfast,on the bus,back home,homework,back to bed. Getting them set for Adulthood.
Same rountine only summer break (vacation) is not quite as long.
The Halloween candy and decorations are already on display in the stores. The holiday season has just begun . Fall, burning leaves and putting away all the things of summer.
In some ways it is a relief in others it is sad. Be glad when the heat is turned down outside but not glad to turn it on inside. The days are longer in the summer and somehow I feel more productve. On the other hand those indoor projects need tending too as well.
Labor Day, a return to the daily labor of living life. No beach,no swimming (not in real water anyway) and as Zac Brown says no @$# in the sand.In the summer you can stand around the bbq and drink beer and that is expected,do that in the fall and the neighbors just call you a lush.
But I love the changing of the seasons. Each one has its' own special feel and for me memories.
I am from New York so I suppose at a certain age the Florida population control board sends thier agents out to get you.
Labor day,a holiday for the working man. What a concept.

Its' in the suit

I was just thinking what came first the suit or the Lawyer ?
Did it arise from,I'll bring a suit against you,meaning a lawyer ?
Lawyers always wear suits. Perry Mason wore a suit, Ironsides wore a suit. Some even wore a cowboy hat with thier suit.If he is not wearing a suit then he must not be a lawyer or at the very least not a good one. The best ones,we all know, come from New York and are Jewish. Not sure why that is but that is what I've always been told. And they all wear suits. Expensive suits.
Well it is their uniform for work. Appearing in court all the time,first impressions are important.
Then we come to the lawsuit. What came first the law or the suit ? I'm going to sue you because I need a new suit or I'm going to bring a suit against you and then buy a new suit ?
The lawyers make the laws. The laws are written to protece us citizens. The lawyers interupt the law too. What did he mean by this law ? Was she serious about this law ? Lets' get a group of lawyers together and start a firm. With a firm we can firmly state what it is we mean by these laws. I think you are wrong so I hire a law firm to represent my opinion. These lawyers will put on their suit and go to court to explain to the Judge (another lawyer,different suit) why my opinion is correct. They love to cite precedant, other lawyers said so,see its' right here !
Now I understand lawyers are very intelligent people and have to go to school for a long time. It is not easy to learn all that is nescessary to practice law ( like Drs. they are just practicing too ) BUT IT IS POSSIBLE TO FILE YOUR OWN SUIT. I don't think your suit is going to be as good as the professionals though. He or She usualy has a better suit. You can buy a new suit but its' not going to help. Criminals file lawsuits all the time. They have plenty of time on their hands to study the law and try to find a precedant for whatever case they are trying to argue. Besides they can leave prison long enough to argue their case in court.
If you are a real lawyer you can just set your own precedant.
Now while I'm talking about suits is that set of furniture in your living room a suit or a suite ?
I'm heard it both ways. A suite in the hotel is more than one room so it stands to reason a living room suite is more than just the coach. But if that is the case if you have more than one suit why aren't they called suites ? If you are being tried for several crimes at once wouldn't that be a law suite ?
It gets kinda confusing to us layman, but really its' all in the Suit !

Can't argue with a memory

You just can't argue with a memory. Is that a song title or a line from a song ? Could be and no copywright infringement intended. Ok,got the legal stuff out of the way.
Isn't it strange how we remember things? Two people in the same spot,same time and two different memories. This is especialy true with your siblings. A couple years different and you have two perspectives. That ain't the way I remember it happening. But you can't argue with a memory.
I enjoy talking about the past because of this very reason. They can tell you ,you are wrong but can't argue with a memory even when it is different. You will never change that memory. Might get a different take on it though. Like I remember talking with a young lady in school. She was listening to me and being friendly enough so I figured I was doing great. Must be I was the stud.
At least that how I remember it ! Now this young lady just might have a different memory altogether. Could be she was my cousin and just being polite. So her memory is different.
Children often remember things differently than thier parents. I always had to take out the trash and make my bed. Mom says that ain't so but ain't the way I remember it. Dad always said, this is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you,just before spanking me. Ain't the way I remember it though !
I love history. Love reading about how things were or weren't. Have to keep in mind that history is a memory and there are different points of view so be sure to read several accounts.
All great conquests are written by the victors not the defeated. Oppression is written about by the oppressed.
My sister will say I was spoiled.Got everything I wanted. Not so,ain't the way I remember it. I got hand me down clothes and used toys that my siblings no longer wanted.I didn't get a lot of things because I got told," let your brother/sister do that and we all know how that turned out ""I don't care what you want,i didn't let your brother/sister do that and you're not either"
So you see its' all in how you remember it. I choose to keep the good memories and discard the bad.
Take care and make some memories or better yet talk to old friends or your siblings and you just might get a different view of things. Can't argue with a memory.

If Only

If only other people could see and hear me as I do I'd be a star !
Now before you start on me saying how conceited I must be you know you have said the exact same thing hundreds of times.
Whenever you sing along to your favorite tunes you just know you sound as good as the orginal singer.maybe even a bit better. If you can't quite reach that note you know you bend it so if fits perfectly, C'mon you know it.
You know you are looking good,! Just look at the poor unfortunate souls around you. Some are just plain ugly. Sure you could lose a few pounds but hey who couldn't. Wear the right clothes though and man I look great ! In the bathroom after a shower you know you look good in the mirror,especialy when it has just a little haze to it. Yes sir,just a dab of makeup for the ladies and a good clean shave for the guys and you are looking good. Whats' up with these other people ? Can't they see anything ?
And how come other people are so dumb ? You know you are smarter than almost every one of your friends. Now you know you are not the "smartest" one but damn you are close. And to make it worse they won't listen when you try to tell them something. They think they are smarter than you ! Can you believe it ? Its' been that way since you were a little kid. You've always known it but trying to get others to see it is almost impossible.
Now for most of us our Mom and Grandmother would tell us how good looking and smart we were. We didn't believe them. After all, these are the same people that said spinach tasted good !
Your brothers and sisiters said the opposite. They were jealous and still are ! Your father had no comment,unless you're a girl, then you are beautiful. After all no man wants to say I fathered an ugly child.
As for all the other people they are just trying to get everyone else to notice them. Beware of anyone telling you how smart or good looking you are they are up to something. Even your teachers in school held back some on your grades and you knew it. That A should have been a A+ but it wasn't because he/she didn't want to admit you were as smart as they were.
If only other people would take a good look they would appreciate me for the good looking,intelligent,compasionate,caring,loving,generous,understanding,empathic,and down right shining star that I am.

Now be honest, Isn't that what you were thinking ! You know you were.

Its' all in the name

Names,you got your birth name,the name you use,maybe a nickname,a legal name,a surname,your first name,middle name (maybe two of those) and if your're female and get married you get a new name or at least hypenate your old name ! You might even change your name ! Wondering if your're gay and get married whats' the deal with that ? Oh well.more names.
Then we have the relationship names, depending where you live in the country you might be, Dad,Pop,Father and when you're not around the old man. Mom,Ma,or Mother. Interesting thing is you can refer to your father as my old man but your Mom is never your old lady. Thats' the one you Marry who may or may not be a mother.
Grandparents go by a variety of names too. Grandfather,Gramp,Pop-Pop.Grandpop. Grandma,Nanna,Mom-Mom.Grandmother.
All the really cool kids in school had nick names. Might just use their initials KB or JH. Others got more creative. I'm not sure where or how these nicknames get started. You can't start one for yourself someone else has to do it. Some stick for a few years others last a lifetime.
I've noticed in the last few years all the stars have been adopting nicknames or being given them.
A social trend,you bet,All the cool people have nicknames.
The marketing people have been changing peoples names for years, ie: Wayne Zimmerman (Bob Dylan)
Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe) John Wayne had a girlie name that escapes me at the moment but you get the idea.
Then you start adding titles to your name,Dr., Professor, Mr., and what I call add ons, esquire,jr.,sr.,the third,etc etc etc.
And you might even have a name that people never use to your face but everyone else knows.
Some of my personal favorites included, moonface,owl eyes,snotblossom,crater face,and wimpy.
Now before you get all excited I'm sure you all have used descriptive titles for your friends !
Really its' a form of endearment.
I never had a cool nickname and never will. I feel cheated somehow. Maybe I can sue but that is another blog altogether.
Have a wonderful day !

Doctors and Mechanics

Doctors and Mechanics They both keep us moving. When I was young the doctors would come to your house carrying his black bag, He ( almost always a he, there were shes' but you couldn't trust them unless she was a peditrician ) would take a look and reach into that majic bag of tricks and give you a shot or a few pills. He would look down on you and say, rest drink plenty of fluids and if you feel worse call me tomorrow. Bam,that was that. No large battery of tests,no draining your fluids,no see the receptionist for a follow up. Dad would pay the man and away he went.
Same thing with your car,only difference was you had to take it to the garage. Mechanic would look at it,tell you what was wrong,fix it and Bam that was that. No diagnostic testing, the mechanic would just tell you when he could fix it and that was that. Shoot they didn't have any fancy waiting rooms with tv and free wi fi they just fixed the car and didn't worry about providing you with entertainment.
Things have changed a little over the years,I'm not against change but wonder if some things aren't best left alone. The doctors now are almost all specialists. Why my Dr. was a general practiciner which meant he generaly knew about all your parts and pieces and would attempt to repair them. Not replace them,we'll get to that later. I guess as knowledge increased ( or was it lawsuits ) the Doctors started calling on specialists in the field to be safe.
Same thing with your car. Mechanics, excuse me sir but I am a Automotive Technician,will perform a series of diagnostic tests and refer you to the proper specialist. The specialist will REPLACE (told you I'd get to it ) the defective part and then you can get the financing necessary to pay the repair bill. Thats' why they have started selling automotive repair insurance. ( They took that clue from the health care industry.
So I have this theory about Drs and mechanics, Don't got to the Doctors for just a check up,he will find something wrong. Conversely don't take the car to the mechanic he will find something that needs to be replaced.
I liked it better the old way.If you got sick Mom would give you Ginger Ale and a aspirin. Got a cold a little Vicks Vapo-Rub will fix that.Iodine and something called Macurachrome took care of any possible infection. The doctor visit was the last resort.
Car got a flat,change the tire. Car making lloud and very strang noises have the mechanic take a look.

I was just thinkin'

I had a wonderful time last night sharing photographs and memories with some old friends. Thanks to the miracle of modern technology these people were all over the country but gathered somehow by chance on the social networking site Facebook. Wonderful these new terms we throw about, Social Networking Site, Upload.Download,what is the URL ? I even scanned an old picture to my drive(computer hardware not the driveway) and almost instantly got to share.
It did occur to me however that a great deal of my more recent photos are either on my drive or in a storage device ie: floppy disks,compact discs of memory card (sd) You all know what those items are. I could even back them up online for a fee.
Now my thought was this. We all have those musty old photo albums with our pictures in them.some we even got from our parents and grandparents. Will we still have our pictures to share with future generations. Will the hardware devices still be easily acessibe to read our storage devices ? I had to buy a external reader for my old floppy discs.
It would be a real shame to lose so many memories to the future generations. So I say this,

Get Prints made of all your best shots and don't forget to write who they are or what they are ! I have some very old shots with no clue as to what or who they are.

I'm just sayin'

Well its' back to school time. When I was a kid that usualy involved going to Brills' store (clothing) going to the 5&10 (supplies ) and atrip to the barber shop. You got your school clothes which you had to change out of when you got home,at least until about october,no back packs then but you got those rubber straps that you wrapped around your books ( do they still make those or are they now a dangerous weapon ) The haircut deal was mandatory. First impression mean a lot. The problem there was I had two older brothers and an older sister that had already " impressed " the teachers. " If you are anything like your brothers, yap yap yap. "
The first thing we did was to make book covers for all our books. You could buy them,the school always had some freebies or you could make your own. The brown paper grocery sacks were the best. Durable and you got to decorate it. Not environmentaly friendly though,cut down more trees I need more book covers ! The teaching methods were a little different then as well as the marking system.
The system then was, the teacher spoke,you listened,did your assignment ! Failure to do any of the above meant trouble. Trouble for you not the teacher ! Not listening could result in a number of things happening to you. Public humilation,a swift rap upside your head,chalk thrown at you,standing in the hall,and a host of other punishments.
The grading system was either you passed or you failed.
Unlike todays system were I'm never quite sure just what the report card is trying to say. Consitantly demonstrates skill,sometimes demonstrates skill,progressing toward skill,might do skill, don't worry about it we will pass them to the next grade irregardless if they do skill or not. We mustn't damage there self esteem. When I was in school they didn't teach self esteem until high school .
Now I'd like to tell you I walked to school three miles both ways uphill but that just wasn't true. I rode a bus. They haven't changed much still no seatbelts,at least not here,wonder why that is. No boaster seats either. Umm.
Still its' a wonderful time of year. Parents get a break from entertaining kids all day,every day and the kids have something to do. School got out in June and by July they have nothing to do,I don't have anything to play with. Read a book are you crazy been doing that for the last 8 months !
I look forward to the school projects and activities.

Back To School ! An exciting time for all. The system is different now but the results are the same. I'm just sayin'

Remembering the ride

I was just reading an article,do we still call it that when you read it on the internet,about the best entertainment systems in automobiles. It brought to mind when we would take a ride in the car on Sunday afternoons just to take a ride. That was entertainment enough. Of course we weren't driving at 70 miles per hour so we could actualy see things,we would try to identify other cars by just the tailights or front grill ( yes it was quite possible to do so ). Sometimes we would turn the radio on and speakers in the back was a big deal.
Shortly after I got my first car I purchased the latest in stero equipment a 8 track player ! That,let me tell you was an entertainment system ! Of course later it was replaced by cassette and now cd players. I guess the ipod will replace that too.
It all makes me wonder if we aren't missing out on something here. We would drive and look at the sceneary,mom and dad might tell you stories about when that spot was a cow pasture or walking through those woods. we became familar with our surroundings and knew how to get about using many different roads. Now just click on the GPS and follow HER instructions. She doesn't always know what she is talking about either.
I suppose everything is faster,safer and more entertaining now but I long for the good old days.

Top down,no seatbelts or boaster seat,just driving down the highway checking everything out.
Yes I remember the ride for what it was a journey and to be enjoyed. If i wanted to watch movies I'll stay at home,don't much care for these multiplex boxes for movie theaters but will talk about that another time.

Next time you take a drive slow down go the back road and look around you might be surprised what you can see in your own backyard.

How cool is that !

This is my very first blog. I had read a blog posted by someone from my hometown and thought how cool is that. A small town girl putting her thoughts on the world wide web ! Wasn't long ago if a non famous person got heard at all it was usualy not a very good thing or it was something exceptional. Us middle of the roaders never got heard.
At any rate I have always enjoyed running my mouth and now I have a bigger audience to express my thoughts and memories too. I am hoping for a readership of more than 2, figure my wife might read it,and someone else. I see where you can "monetize" your blog. That is where you allow hem to post ads on your blog and you recieve some money. My thoughts and memories are not for sale ! Well.how much will you pay?
I will start my blogging by saying a little about myself. I grew up in a small town. Most all the stores closed at five. We didn't have McDonalds or Burger King or any other fast food place within about ten miles.One movie theater,that showed one movie. You could walk or ride your bike anywhere and not have to worry about being mugged or your bike stolen. We had heard of these things happening but that was in the city. In reality it was a lot like Mayberry ! Hope you guys reading this remember the Andy Griffith show . Except for the time between Memorial day and labor day things stayed pretty peaceful. I no longer live in this nice little town. High prices and the outsiders drove me away. Where is this you say, Well it is East Hampton,New York .
Gasp ! Yes the "Hamptons" No we are not all rich. No we don't have parties every day. Yes we wish you all would just go away !
Well,that is todays installment. Not much but a start. Check back for further comments,memories and random thoughts.