Sunday Stealing: Sleepy Rambles

Time for a little Sunday Stealing (hosted by Bev Sykes)  -- questions lifted from all over the blogosphere. This week's list was stolen from Sleepy Rambles.


1. What is on your mind right now?

Mostly medical stuff, unfortunately. 

2. Do you know anyone who has attended Harvard University?

Yes.

3. How many books are in the room you’re in?

I haven't counted them. We've turned a bedroom into a "study" where we keep most of our books. I've tried to keep them out of the living/dining room area (where I am right now), but we ended up putting one bookcase in here, too. Mostly art books. 

4. Do you save at least 15 percent of your income?

No idea. The Hubby is our financial officer. We save, but I don't really know what percentage.

5. When was the last time you had a rainy day spent at home?

Please don't get me started on rainy days. Parts of our area are still underwater from all the flooding we've had lately. But, to answer the question — I try not to go out when it's raining, so I spend most rainy days at home.

6. When was the last time you stayed home from school/work?

N/A — I'm retired.

7. Do you write “yes” or “no” answers to surveys or do you explain more?

Depends on the survey and the mood I'm in.

8. Is there any type of medicine you can’t take? For what reason?

Hmmmm. Strange question.

9. Do you have a favorite pair of pajamas? What do they look like?

I wear nighties. I do have a favorite. It looks just like a nightie.

10. Would you rather have potato or chicken noodle soup if you had to?

That would probably depend on who's making the soup. I like them both.

11. Do you believe that when a person appears in your dreams, that person wants to see you?

No.

12. When’s the last time you saw your mom?

My mother died over 15 years ago. I was with her when she died.

13. What is one food you could eat for a month, straight, and not get sick of?

Pasta. But not for breakfast.

14. Have you ever spray painted something about your love somewhere?

No. The only thing I've ever spray painted was a bunch of pinecones for Christmas one year. I did love the pinecones, though.

15. Do you live in a town where basically everyone knows everyone else?

No. Our community is pretty small, but not that small.

😸

Saturday 9: Alfred Hitchcock Presents

The Saturday 9  meme is hosted by Sam Winters. Nine questions posted every Saturday — sometimes random, sometimes with a theme. This week, the theme is...

Theme from
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents"

Listen to it HERE.

1. The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, was born in England. Name another pop culture contribution England has made.

First thing that comes to mind has to be the Fab Four — the Beatles! But I suppose Chaucer and Shakespeare were also the "pop culture" kings of their days.

2. This week's song is recognized as the theme to Hitchcock's long-running TV show, but "Funeral March for a Marionnette" is a classic piece written for piano in the late 1870s by Charles Gounod. Do you often listen to classical music?

Not as often as I used to. These days I mostly listen to jazz, which I think of as sort of modern classical.

3. Janet Leigh's shower scene in  Hitchcock's Psycho is considered one of the scariest sequences ever filmed. What's the most frightening movie you've ever seen?

I love scary movies (though not the really gory ones), so I've seen a lot of them. It would be hard to name just one as scariest. I think my all-time favorite is the old Ray Milland film, "The Uninvited" (from 1944). But the ones that probably scared me the most, the first time I saw them, were "The Haunting" (the 1963 original, not any of the remakes) and "The Innocents" (the 1961 film based on Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, with Deborah Kerr as the haunted governess). And one more — "The Changeling" from 1980, with George C. Scott as a composer who moves into a wonderfully scary haunted house after his wife and daughter die in an accident.

4. Hitchcock admitted that he "never trusted birds," and he took that fear and turned it into the movie, The Birds. Is there a member of the animal kingdom that just gives you "the creeps?"

Not sure about animals, but there are quite a few insects that spook me. 

5. Halloween will soon be upon us. Will you carve a jack o'lantern this year?

Not likely. Actually, I don't think I've ever carved a jack o'lantern. 

6. What candy will trick or treaters get at your house?

We don't really get trick or treaters at our house. We live in an area where there just aren't many children. I usually buy a bag of snack-size Kit-Kats or M&Ms or something, just in case. But I always end up eating them myself.... Which is one of the reasons Halloween is my favorite holiday.

7.  When you went trick or treating, did you prefer fantasy costumes (like a storybook character) or scary ones (like a monster)?

Mostly fantasy. I think I did go as a ghost one year. And as a witch, at least once. But other years, I was a clown or a gypsy or a pirate or Peter Pan or Snow White or some other fantasy figure.

8.  Which candy was your favorite? Which one were you disappointed to find in your trick or treat bag?

OK, we're talking a looong time ago, back before all trick-or-treat candy had to be store-bought and hermetically sealed. And back in those bad old days, my favorite things on Halloween were the homemade popcorn balls some people would hand out. Also always loved candy corn and Tootsie Rolls. Can't really think of any candy I would have been disappointed with.

9. Which do you find scarier — cemeteries or haunted houses?

In movies? I'd say haunted houses. In real life — at my age, cemeteries are getting scarier and scarier. 

Happy Saturday, everyone!
Have a great weekend.

For more Saturday 9 Q&A, just click on this button:

SkyWatch Friday: Dumpling Clouds

I might have mentioned this before -- I am not a fan of rainy weather. And we have had SOOOOO much rain lately. Not nearly as much as some parts of the country, but a lot more than usual for this part of the world. Feel like I've been transported from central Texas to Seattle. (Not that I have anything against Seattle. I hear it's a lovely place.) But if I hear one more person say "Well, we need the rain," I'm gonna scream really loud and for a really long time.

This September was one of the wettest months on record around the Austin area, and even though the weather has been a little better the last few days, we do have more rain predicted for this weekend. Whoopee.

But the rain has produced some really interesting clouds, like these from a week or so ago. I think these are called cirrocumulus clouds, but I always think of them as "dumpling clouds" because when I was a kid, they always reminded me of my Aunt Gussie's chicken and dumplings. Yum.

For more sky shots, click on the button above.

Unconscious Mutterings: Week 809

Wow, I haven't muttered in months. These Mutterings are for the weeks of September 23rd and 30th (I think). Unconscious Mutterings is hosted by LunaNiña. And here we go....

1. Secure :: safe, home
2. Untamed :: free, loose, dangerous
3. Private :: Benjamin (Remember the old Goldie Hawn movie?)
   
   
   
4. Blue :: -bonnet, -berry, -tooth
5. Total :: all, entire, sum
6. Scrunch :: wrinkle, crumple, compress
7. Supply :: office, school
8. Ill-fitting :: most of my wardrobe
9. Aches :: most of my body
10. Warranty :: promise