Random Photo Monday: Shore Leave

This week’s Random Photo Monday is posted on my other blog (Joy’s Blog). It would love to have some visitors.

Friday Fill-Ins #86

Seems like these Fridays are coming around faster and faster. It's already time for another Fill-In.

1. Dancing to the soundtrack of “A Chorus Line” while nobody watches makes me feel like a Rockette (now if only I could find something that would make me look like one).

2. The last time I saw Paris I nearly decided to settle down there and never leave. Hmmm. I know that’s lame, but I just can’t get beyond “The last time I saw Paris . . . ” Damn you, Oscar Hammerstein!

3. When I drive I always hope I won’t have to do any parallel parking.

4. “I Saw Her Standing There” is one of the two Beatles tunes that made me fall in love with the man I married.

5. Give me time, give me freedom, give me a platinum American Express Card and drop me off at Tiffany’s.

6. Next week I am looking forward to lazing around in the sand, playing in the ocean, and shopping at the outlet malls around Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to watching the Dallas/Houston pre-season game (and more Olympics, of course), tomorrow my plans include shopping and maybe getting my hair cut, and Sunday, I want to get some reading done and start packing for our beach trek!

Random Photo Monday: At the Seaside

Today's photo is a snap of my great-grandmother, Maud Beatrice Palmer (or Beatrice Maud – nobody’s really sure which name was supposed to be first or middle), circa 1903. She’s the short young woman on the right, and would have been about 19 or 20 at the time. The photo was passed on to me by my mother who didn’t really know anything about the other women in the picture. But it’s likely the woman on the left is Maud’s younger sister Annie.

The photograph was probably taken somewhere along the Texas coast – possibly Corpus Christi. The ladies seem to be having trouble keeping their hats on, don’t they? Of course, their outfits aren’t exactly what I’d think of as beach wear. All that clothing on a summer day in Texas must have been unbelievably oppressive, even in a strong breeze. Well, those old girls came from hardy stock.

Friday Fill-Ins #85

Somehow I missed last week's Fill-Ins. Here's this week's:

1. The last meal I had at a restaurant was eggplant parmigiana with spaghetti and a small house salad at the Casa Restaurant in Foxchase Center on Duke Street. Last weekend.

2. Being hurried is something I intensely dislike. Well, along with war, disease, famine, crime, rudeness, cheating, and cockroaches. Oh, and most politicians.

3. The full moon makes me want to go outdoors and dance in it.

4. __________ is one of my favorite local expressions. Hmmmm. I don't think we have any local expressions here in Alexandria. Maybe:
"The traffic on the Beltway is really brutal today"?
Or: "When the hell are they gonna finish the Wilson Bridge project?"
Or: "Don't look at me – I didn't vote for him."

5. Sometimes it's best to admit you have no will power whatsoever and grab that last éclair before somebody else gets it.

6. __________ is the best movie I've seen so far this year! OK, this is complicated. We don't really go out to movies much anymore – we watch them on DVD. So generally, we don't see a film until it's been out for a while. The only 2008 film I've seen so far is the new "X-Files" movie ("I Want to Believe"). But it was only so-so. The best films I've seen this year are all from last year or earlier. So from the 2007 films I've seen, I think my favorite was either "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (I'm a serious Nicolas Cage fan), or "American Pastime" (about baseball and the Japanese internment camps during WWII), or "My Best Friend" (a French comedy with Daniel Auteuil).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to watching more Olympics or maybe the DVD of "Ghost Rider" we just got from Netflix (did I mention I'm a serious Nicolas Cage fan?), tomorrow my plans include the usual shopping and errands and Sunday, I want to get some reading done!