happy halloween

Oh, how I adore Halloween! This photo was taken at my Halloween party in 1964 during a rolicking game of Bite the Apple. That's my Dad grinning in the background -- I think he had almost as much fun as us kids.

hey there, georgy girl

My daughter, Molly, decided to dress up as a 60's girl for her high school's "Decades Day." I was more than a little enthusiastic about that, of course, and even pulled out my vintage "George for President" Beatles button and let her grace her lips with my treasured straight-from-the-60's Yardley Slicker Frosted Lip Polish. I don't know who enjoyed it more .... her or me.

not witchy women

This photograph is on a postcard that is stuck in a corner of my bedroom mirror all year long -- I love it that much. Like many, I've always assumed the elderly women were four models posing as witches. Seeing as Halloween is almost upon us, I wanted to learn a little more about the photograph and so I did some research. I couldn't have been more wrong. The photo is titled "Jacobean Tea." It was taken at The Hospital of Holy and Undivided Trinity at Castle Rising in Norfolk, England in 1929. The women reside there and are wearing Jacobean dress as they take their afternoon tea. I don't love the photo any less -- in fact, I love the fact that this is how they truly lived. And there is something so revealing in their expressions and posture - the sweetness of one, the wry sense of humor of another. It will remain stuck in a corner of my mirror for many years to come.

monster mash

My daughter Megan and her boyfriend, Hunter, went to a downtown Halloween party this past weekend as Batman's foes Two-Face and Poison Ivy. Zap! Pow! Splat!

"sleeping beauty" done kid-style 1958

As promised, I'm posting a photo of our kid-produced and kid-performed neighborhood version of "Sleeping Beauty." I'm in the pink dress and my Prince Charming is in the blue next to me (no, he didn't really kiss me when he woke me up .... yuck!). All in all, it was a pretty impressive effort on the part of a bunch of kids. Our parents got together and threw a big neighborhood barbeque post-performance and told us over and over again how wonderful we were.

what i'm playing right now

I'm almost always in the middle of playing one casual game or another. For the unindoctrinated, a casual game is a game played on the computer. Unlike a lot of other computer games, though, they're generally very simple and fit well into my lifestyle --they don't require hours of continuous complex gameplay and they're easy to start and stop. I particularly like to play at the end of the day because I find that while they're somewhat mentally stimulating, they're also quite relaxing.

Right now I'm playing Diner Dash: Hometown Hero. You can learn more about current casual games at Gamezebo, a wonderful site that always has the latest news in casual gaming.

candy is dandy

I've been dieting for almost six long abysmal months and have succeeded in losing 32 pounds. I would like to lose 12 more. Almost anyone who knows me would tell you that I can be a paragon of willpower when I want to be. But I'm only human and Halloween -- a day I love second only to Christmas -- is right around the corner. Now I could try to fight the holiday temptations and probably eventually succumb to a Reeses Cup or two pilfered from my son's treat bag and end up subjecting myself to all sorts of massive guilt. Or I could give myself permission to enjoy myself and promise to get right back on the bandwagon the next day. I've chosen the latter. Halloween night will find me curled up with a bag of Hershey's Kisses Candy Corn while enjoying the live six hour Ghost Hunters event at Waverly Hills Sanitorium. Woo hoo! More Halloween candy goodness at X-E

the sleeping beauty sheet

One of the earliest pop culture influences on my life was the Disney film "Sleeping Beauty." I first saw it when I was five years old and somehow convinced all of the other kids in my South Carolina neighborhood that it would be real nifty if we put on our own "Sleeping Beauty" play for our parents. I was going to be "Sleeping Beauty," of course -- after all, the whole thing had been my idea -- and I needed a costume. So early one morning while my parents were still slumbering, I got into the linen closet and pulled out a sheet to create my costume. My mother caught me right after I had cut the sheet up and had started coloring it with crayons. She wasn't impressed .... or amused.
We did produce the play and it was a big hit with our parents. I've got pictures somewhere and I'll post them when I come across them.

happy birthday, mom

My Mom passed away in 1990, and I will miss her every day of the rest of my life. Of all the many advantages I've had in life, I count scoring her as my mother at number one on the list. Mom, I hope I've made you half as proud of me as I have always been of you. Happy Birthday. I love you.