Political incorrectness

In the spirit of the Olympics being held in Beijing, and it being a Friday afternoon in the summer and all, I share some stuff from the e-mail bag:

Left is English, right column is Chinese translation. Read them out loud:


That's not right! Sum Ting Wong

Are you harboring a fugitive? Hu Yu Hai Ding

See me ASAP Kum Hia Nao

Small Horse Tai Ni Po Ni

Did you go to the beach? Wai Yu So Tan

I bumped into a coffee table! Ai Bang Mai Ni

I think you need a face lift! Chin Tu Fat

It's very dark in here! Wai So Dim

I thought you were on a diet! Wai Yu Mun Ching

This is a tow away zone! No Pah King

Our meeting is scheduled for next week! Wai Yu Kum Nao

Staying out of sight Lei Ying Lo

He's cleaning his automobile Wa Shing Ka

Your body odor is offensive Yu Stin Ki Pu

Great Su Pa

And some culinary suggestions for the adventurous (I might try the corn, but that's it). I'm glad I'm not at the Olympics.

Another busy week

I haven't been spending as much time as I'd like to spend in the blogosphere in recent days.

I thought I might share a story I wrote that was published today. A guy who has allegedly been abusing animals for some time was taken into custody last Friday.
Some of the facts of the case about animal abuse are enough to turn one's stomach. That's a warning from me to my animal lover friends.

Animal lover haunted by guilt

By Patricia Villers
Register Staff
ANSONIA — Irene Hudobenko says she lives each day with guilt after the death of a kitten she adopted out to a former city resident who has since been charged with 10 counts of cruelty to animals.

Read the full story here.

Melanie Stengel/Register
Irene Hudobenko cuddles her kitten, Chance, while holding a photo of his brother, My Little Boy. The two kittens were adopted by an Ansonia man, Jay C. Baldwin, who has since been charged with 10 counts of animal cruelty. My Little Boy died June 2 while in Baldwin’s care, and Hudobenko says an autopsy on My Little Boy showed “hemorrhages in the face, eyes and brain.” Chance and My Little Boy were among six stray kittens Hudobenko had rescued in April, along with their mother.

Ruby Tuesday

Red light district ... hahahahaha

When you need a Ruby Tuesday photo, simply take camera in car and photograph a traffic light before it turns green. It works for me. As you can see, I'm trying my best to have some fun around here.

Notice the "bird" on the left. Or is it a bird? Maybe it's a giant dragonfly.

To see much more creative photos, visit Mary, The Teach, who hosts Ruby Tuesday. Thanks, Mary for hosting this fun activity.

A delightful visit with royalty

"My dear, did you hear? Princess Patti and her royal family doth visited Linda, Duchess of Norwich-Upon-Thames. And the Princess doth not inviteth us to the royal festivities."

"Cinderella, my sweet, I canst not believeth my ears. We weren't issued an invitation? How thoughtless of Princess Patti."

(Sorry to cause them to get their royal tail feathers in a snit, but I can't invite those two to everything I do. I have a life too!)


We talked, we ate, we had a time that was great. Duchess Linda has already beaten me to the punch, or the pasta, as it were, by posting this wonderful account of our dinner together Saturday.
Ralph also beat me to posting about our get-together with his interesting version here.


I just don't know where to begin my tale of two tiramisus that followed a filling Italian-style dinner at The O.G.
Our server, Michelle with two ls, was as friendly a waitress as I've ever met, and the company was outstanding.
We met the Duchess late, a half-hour or so after the appointed time. We thought we had allowed ourselves enough time to travel up I-95 toward her neck of the woods. Boy were we wrong. It was like a parking lot for part of the way.


She saw that the place was growing busier by the minute, so she reserved us a table. Thanks, Linda! That made things easier when us late birds arrived.

The hostess asked us about our, ahem, name tags as we walked in. "We're bloggers," Linda replied in her best Duchess voice. I guess that explained it.
I had made us each a name tag. I took a photo of mine while wearing it, but inadvertently cut off the "Boomer."




Here you see me seated to the Duchess' left (your right) as we toast to blog friendships.








Linda focuses her camera on her sample glass of wine...






As you can see, I had shrimp over pasta. It was a bit garlicky for my taste, but I cleaned my plate nonetheless.















Our daughter Allegra, a.k.a. Kid One, and her dad strike a pose as they digest their meal.



Here are some scenic shots from our ride. The sky was beautiful. I took pictures as Ralph drove.

































The clouds were gorgeous Saturday afternoon.













I snapped a photo of this sign in honor of the Duchess of Norwich.













The clouds in the evening sky begged to be photographed as we chatted in the
parking lot after dinner.













Ralph wanted to show our Duchess the modified Ford Club Wagon van in which we traveled. So he did.

She even ventured inside the van and sat for a spell on the back seat.

I daresay it doth impressed her.

That's my account of our fun day. We do hope to get together with Linda, Duchess-of-Norwich-Upon-Thames, again soon. There's nothing like getting together with fellow royals. We understand each other, you know?

~ ~ ~

Creative photography #9

This week I had more fun using effects. This is my entry into Roger's Creative Photography contest.
I enjoyed making the photo of this simple wooden clothesline pole the focus of some creative changes.
I don't really know what the judges are seeking, but I'm having fun sharing.

Here I used a purple hue:
Pink, anyone?
And the ever-popular oil painting effect:

Check out the contest and join in!
As always, I thank Roger for hosting.

Mister Moon ~ )

In a vain attempt to take a page from Duchess Linda's book, (check out her magnificent moon photos here) I photographed the crescent moon Tuesday evening. Woops. Guess I need a tripod. Kinda blurry . I used some effects and this is the result:

I like this last one. I'll call it "Homage to UFOs."

Green Thursday

For this week's Ruby Tuesday I shared our first tomatoes. Not literally, but in a cyber-photo way.
Today Patti picked a plate of peppers, and a few green tomatoes. There's some red in one of the tomatoes, but it has green stripes. I picked them to ripen inside, because some have been rotting on the plants. What are we doing wrong?

I don't really even like peppers.

Linus the nosy

My editorial assistant gets all wrapped up in his work. Or should I say my work!
Second photo is blurry, but he was in motion, traipsing across the computer desk.

A messy desk means a creative mind, right?? Hope so.

Ruby Tuesday

Hey we got us some tomatoes! First of the season.
I picked these Monday morning and realized the photos are perfect for Ruby Tuesday.


To join in the Ruby Tuesday fun, visit Mary, The Teach.

The Four Things Meme (or almost four in a few cases)

Linda, Duchess of Norwich-upon-the-Thames tagged me, my husband Ralph and two fellow bloggers for this meme. Here's what I came up with: (I cheated a tad)

Four jobs I've had

1. Store cashier for holiday season
2. Babysitter
3. Newspaper reporter
4. Mother

Four movies I can watch over and over

1. Wizard of Oz
2. Adam’s Rib
3. Paper Moon
4. Blazing Saddles

Four places I've lived

1. New Haven, Ct.
2. Orange, Ct.
3. West Haven, Ct.
4. Derby, Ct.

Four TV shows I love

1. The Simpsons
2. most anything on the History Channel

Four places I've vacationed

1. Paris
2. London
3. Steubenville, Ohio (under duress)
4. Hyannis, Mass.

Four of my favorite dishes

1. my Garfield mug
2. mug that says "chick"
3. Bunnykins bowls the cats use now

Four sites I visit daily

1. patti-latebloomerboomer.blogspot.com (I can visit myself, right?)
2. airhead55-ralph.blogspot.com
3. nhregister.com

Four places I would rather be right now

1. asleep in bed
2. on vacation
3. dining out with my family
4. at the movies

Plentiful perennials

Whoever planted this lovely flower garden in the backyard of the house my mother has been renting certainly knew what they were doing.


As soon as one kind of flower wilts and dies, another equally colorful one comes along to take its place. The timing is extraordinary.
So far it seems there is not a day during the spring or summer when there is nothing in bloom.


It started in late April, when the forsythia bushes bloomed. They were surrounded by white and yellow daffodils, patches of tulips, and later some lilac and rhododendron bushes.


Since my mother will be moving out at the end of August, I took some pictures yesterday afternoon for posterity. She said she knows she'll miss looking out the window at the beautiful backyard. And who could blame her?


Lilies, Black-eyed Susans, lavender blooms, deep blue hydrangea...





Gorgeous, and blog-worthy~

Creative Photography #8

This week I had some more fun using effects.

This series is my entry into Roger's Creative Photography contest.


Here is my garden flag blowin' in the breeze.









And below you can see what I did to amuse myself...

I inverted the colors ...oooh purple...




then I inverted the inverted photo:




























and I gave it a green hue ...


And now the "oil painting" effect, my favorite (I think) :






I don't ever expect to win. The fun is in the playing. I simply want to share my photos with like-minded bloggers.

Visit Roger at Idaho Photo and join in!

Have you heard the word?

So I made up this word, an exclamation I guess, that I'm sure my family is absolutely sick of hearing me say.
The problem is once I say it in the morning, I can't seem to stop saying it all day.

NAFROOKI !

There it is. That's it. It just popped out.

See what I mean?