Monthly Archives: June 2012
IF IT WASN’T SO HOT TODAY, I COULD GO SHOPPING
June 28 – 108°
June 29 – 106°
June 30 – 104°?
Who knows where the mercury will stop rising today! Hopefully it will keep decreasing in daily two degree increments … which would mean that by the Fourth it should be back to normal sweltering heat. This morning Mlle. Renee woke me up at 5:30 so she could make her morning rounds. She’s not dumb. At 5:30 the skies were overcast and the potential for rain was at hand. It was also comfortably cool. If I wasn’t half asleep, I would have taken her for the walk we’ve missed for the past several days. But following her example, I ran back into the house and jumped in bed in hope of a few more cool winks. I told you she was a smart dog. A little before eight I heard the AC turn itself on meaning the internal house temp was approaching or had exceeded 85° and the gentle rains had bypassed us again.
Not willing to associate with breakfast foods that had a body temperature higher than mine, I brewed a Star Wars glass of iced-coffee to go with my cold multi-grain toast with apple jelly.
Then I went outside to face the sun and heat and fill the now empty the water bowl with cool water for all my feathered friends.
I also wondered if extremely hot weather killed ants, since their graveyards along the walks in the yard were growing increasingly large by the gazillion this week.
After I download this morning’s photo load from the camera, I noticed the honeybee in the graveyard. Don’t know if he was paying a condolence call for a friend or looking for ant honey.
For most of the week my wardrobe has consisted of plain white tees (cue iPod) and cotton shorts. I think I’m getting ready for a change of pace in my wardrobe. If it wasn’t so hot, I go shopping. Also nixing that plan was the recent announcement by the local media grabbing tele-evangelist that he would be transporting his unwashed and homeless from his tent city to the Galleria where they could enjoy the air conditioning while blocking the mall traffic in the guise of applying for jobs. You would think that instead of buying up multiple TV stations, he could use the money to find indoor shelter for his homeless. You could say he’s just caring for his flock, but his past media ploys included serving reindeer dinners at Christmas and rabbit stew at Easter … as long as TV cameras were present.
So maybe I’ll just limit my window shopping to the internet. So far, I’ve seen several interest T-shirts on-line. How’s this one for the Fourth Of July?
No, too Dick Cheney!
I thought Mlle. Renee might like this one …
But she said, “Too, cute!”
So I said, “How about this one if it cools off and I can go to the zoo?”
“Sorry, we don’t do meerkats and besides the only four-footed friends allowed are the ones behind bars.”
So, I guess we’ll just take a nap … or two.
30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY … DAY 30: WITH A SPECIAL CREATIVE STAR
Well, the 30DoC comes to a close with STAR as the theme for Day 30! And to help produce my final creative effort I’m calling on one of the greatest creative geniuses of all time … painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer … Leonardo da Vinci, the original polymath or Renaissance Man as he creates what will become the second most famous portrait in the world featuring yet another enigmatic smile.
30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY JUNE 30, 2012
CREATIVITY RULES!
HAVING HOT, HOTTER, HOTTEST HEAT WAVE!
Mlle. Renee went out this morning to make first rounds of the grounds for the day and quickly returned in panting mode. “Bobby boobie, it’s as hot as the kitchen on baking day outside,” she exclaimed in dog attitude as she heading down to the basement where she flopped down on the cool concrete floor!
Yes, the Wicket City is having itself a record heat wave!
Today the old thermometer reached 108F today which is the hottest temp ever recorded for the month of June. And it looks like it will stay there for the next week or two! The weather wizards say it will take something like a tropical storm in the gulf to break the current weather cycle. And I don’t think anyone wants that. I blame it all on the Mayans and their calendar!
I walked outside to refill the water bowl I put out for the wild critters who visit the yard, and thought I was being grilled. The water was in such high demand I had to refill the bowl three times during the day. Now, I’ve seen squirrels visit often for a drink along with a multitude of feathered friends, but today a rabbit hopped up to the bowl for a long drink. And I even had to fill Renee’s bowl twice, and she wasn’t even outside that long.
But the AC is still working and hopefully I’ll have the funds to pay the bill without having to resort to selling my votes this November to the Koch Brothers.
Tonight for dinner I made my special spicy beans and weenies. (Bush’s Original Style Beans, chopped onion, celery, green pepper, sweet and spicy mustard, catsup, Worcestershire sauce, red wine, chili powder, garlic, allspice and shredded Mexican style cheese.) Naturally the only beverage to go with a meal like this is an ice-cold bottle of beer! And I have leftovers for two more dinners … the B&W, not the beer.
With the excessive hot stuck in place for a couple of weeks and the minimum of rain for the past two months, many local communities have decided to cancel planned fireworks displays for the Fourth. I really hope individuals will have the sense to do the same around their homes. With all the drought and wildfires plaguing the country, this would be and ideal year for virtual fireworks displays.
And a few minutes ago I went outside to let Mlle. Renee make her final rounds before bed … and I noticed that the June Moon looked rather hot, too!
Say good night, Renee!
30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY … DAY 29: CREATIVITY BUILDING BLOCKS
The 30DoC inspiration calendar said the theme for the 29th day of June would be BUILDING BLOCKS! Well, my childhood building blocks actually turned to sawdust quite a few years ago. So I had to come up with a replacement … so I created my own set of blocks using the images I had created this month for the 30 Days of Creativity.
And as an extra creative touch, I also included the Renee Sock Puppet I created for one of last year’s Days Of Creativity.
30DoC — Day 29
Creativity Blocks
30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY … DAY 28: THE NOTEBOOKS REVEALED
I have been jotting things down in notebooks for years. Notebooks that ranged from the cheap class notebooks that were used to hurriedly scribble down notes from a teacher who talked too fast and knew you would be never able to decipher the scribbles you were hurriedly scribbling; to the legendary Moleskine Notebooks that you used for notes and ideas that would be later be turned into something that was truly monumental.
Now for the 28th day of creativity the daily theme is NOTEBOOKS and I finally get to use the collection of notebooks I’ve been filling with notes, sketches and ideas for more years than I want to count.
I was always told to record your thoughts and ideas in pencil so you would have to feel bad about correcting, rewriting and improving what you had written. Also pencils write faster than ball points. In addition to the notebooks I also use a binder for clippings and photos related to the notes I’ve jotted down.
30DoC — Day 28
NOTEBOOKS
30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY … DAY 27: ASPIRIN — THE PLAIN PAIN KILLER!
As the days of the month of June grow short the themes of the day are giving me a strain pain the creative lobe of the brain. Quick give me a …
A PLAIN PAIN KILLER!
In a fancy setting!
30DoC – DAY 27
Aspirin
30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY … DAY 26: BIRTHDAYS ARE REFLECTIONS OF OUR LIVES!
The 30DoC inspirational calendar said the theme for today was BIRTHDAYS … and that really was a tough challenge. So here’s my response …
BIRTHDAYS ARE REFLECTIONS OF OUR LIVES
A multitude of changing images –
And no two ever alike.
Good … bad…
Happy and sad.
Each a part of us
That make us who we are!
Oh, to be that boy of seven again!
While I had a birthday cake every year,
I never had a birthday party.
Sure we cut the cake with Grams and Gramps,
And Uncles and Aunts.
But never a party to which I could invite friends.
And now I share a self-baked cupcake with Mlle. Renee.
It’s called growing old(er).
30DoC - Day 26
BIRTHDAYS
30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY … DAY 25: A STUDY IN SAINT LOUIS BLUES
In this 30 Days Of Creativity project … one photo not only captures today’s theme of BLUE, but is also worth a million words.
Thanks, and a tip of the creative cap to W.C. himself … 
30DoC – Day 25
BLUE
30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY … DAY 24: THE WAKEUP COFFEE
The 30DoC Inspirational Calendar’s theme suggestion for Day 24 is the MORNING COFFEE.
Sunday morning is the only day of the week when I actually start my day with a cup of coffee. The rest of the week I start my day with a bowl of cold cereal with 2% milk. And the cold cereal will be either corn flakes, Rice Krispies, Grape-Nuts, Kix, Cheerios, non-denomination Puffed Rice or Shredded Wheat. But on Sunday, because I’ll be reading the Sunday Post, I just have coffee and perhaps a cookie to keep me going until I decide what to fix for Brunch. This morning I had a Gouda’s Gilde ORIGINELE STROOPWAFELS that have been made in Amsterdam since 1864. My niece picked them up for me at the Airport Schiphol where she was making a connection on a class trip from Switzerland back to the school in Lagos, Nigeria. The Stroopwafels is about a 1/4″ thick waffle filed with caramel. You let it set on top of your cup of hot coffee to melt the inner caramel. It’s like a waffle with the syrup built into it.
My coffee mug is my old standby Sherlock Holmes mug. It is filled with a Kona Blend Coffee in my Keurig Coffee maker.
I don’t know why I read the Sunday Post-Dispatch? As you can see, there’s not any news on the front page of the paper. It was once a great daily newspaper … actually the first newspaper founded by legendary publisher Joseph Pulitzer. Today, it’s about a step down from the level of a local weekly advertiser. This is what’s left of the newspaper that scooped the world with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
Also this week I had a dish of ripe Bing cherries with my coffee and cookie.
And in case you’re wondering, the all-star city to our west is Kansas City, MO.
30DoC – Day 24
Morning Coffee
30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY … DAY 23: A MIDSUMMER’S NIGHTMARE PARTY ANIMALS
OK, here’s the premise … it’s Midsummer’s Night and all the stuffed animals in the house decide to throw a PRIDE PARTY for the Rainbow Bear.
This is a fantasy pride party where LIFE IS JUST A BOWL OF CHERRIES! Hope everyone … everywhere … is able to celebrate the weekend in the lifestyle that they choose.
30DoC – Day 23
THEME – HAPPY HOUR
... a somewhat unknown or perhaps imaginary actor, writer, director, producer, photographer, friend, brother, uncle and all round good fellow that you really should get to know because he lives with that most glamorous fourpaw Mademoiselle Renee. (Mlle. Renee for short)
