Our allies across the pond

Roger - don't the British also say something like "knock you up" for visiting?

I don't know why you got strange looks for wearing makeup in the Castro unless it was a long time ago. I love the Castro theater. I took Tim to see Zefferelli's "La Traviata" years ago when he was maybe 10 or 11. They still had a theater organ that rose up to stage level with the organist and then sank back again. I wonder if it's still there. He was enthralled with the theater, the organ, the film, everything. I think he even fell a little in love with Violetta and the woman, Theresa Stratas, who sang the role. She's very good at portraying women dying of tuberculosis who are "not all they should be". (She's a Canadian, Gawdessness.) He's spent a lot of time at (and in) the Castro since then.

You never did tell me what you performed at the Opera House.

Note to non S. F. persons: The Castro is San Francisco's upscale, primarily gay neighborhood. Wonderful shops, nice climate, and fun.

No hurry on reply to email. I just thought I'd ask for a second opinion before I started sounding off. Even on the rare occasions when we disagree, you always give me something to think about.

If I didn't have the girls, we probably wouldn't do much with H'ween. We usually let New Year's Eve pass us by as well. I call it "amateur night" and I sure don't want to be on the road or even out of the house. They shoot guns into the air here in celebration. I cook ham hocks with beans (a New Year's holdover from Arkansas only they use split peas which I don't like especially well. They're too green and I always think of Linda Blair.) We usually have a bottle of sparkling cider to share with the girls (plastic champagne glasses from dollar store) and watch the music from Vienna on PBS. Sometimes KQED runs Die Fledermaus which is always fun even for the non-opera people here. (Or I drag out my copy). At midnight, if they're still awake, they stand at our front door and yell Happy New Year to everyone.

It isn't even H'ween yet and I'm already thinking about New Year's. What was that I said, Gawdessness, about staying in the now?

Elcie sound asleep, frick and frack are listening quietly to music. Tomorrow is their debut as bell ringers for the Sunday service. Rochelle just walked in and hugged us good night.

One of the commenters here sent me the "haiku". Even if they're aren't authentic, they describe my feelings about computers perfectly - at least much of the time. And they're funny.

The "7 meme" seems to be spreading. I see it all over the place. I still haven't finished it but I'm thinking at least.

Rebecca is sleeping in a skeleton costume from last year. I forgot to mention Rochelle's final touch to her costume this afternoon was a purple sun visor.

Gawdessness, I took your hint and signed up with bloglines. It's all working except I'm not getting alerts. Possibly no one except me is silly enough to be Posting at this hour of night. I don't have all the blogs listed yet but I'm working at it. Thanks. BTW, why wouldn't you stick with Canadian spelling and idioms? You live there. Besides, y'all are larger than we are; just not as crowded.

My last job involved correspondence with many countries (I dealt with shipwrecks) and I'm sure I absorbed a little here and there.) Probably how the "u" crept into behavior. Everyone but the French wrote in excellent business English. Very independent people, the French. I'd write in English, they would reply in French. I'd go find a translator. Finally, I answered in French (with a little help). They then wrote back in English. Okay, they won.

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/7537/catwoman1.htm

Gawdessness and anyone else who didn't have the first idea of what I was talking about with "To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar". Above is a link to a Julie Newmar web site, complete with photos. I forget sometimes how much older I am than most of you (except maybe Insomniac). Julie played Catwoman on t.v. in the 60's and some say she was the best. She could certainly stop traffic. The drag queens in the movie (that's what they called themselves so I can use it here) adored her and stole her autographed picture from a restaurant to use as a mantra on their cross country trip.

Hi Worried American - I'll go back and check the FEMA link in a couple of minutes. I do a lot of political ranting here.

Insomniac - if the computer haikus aren't legit, they should be. Either way, I love them. If you have a funny cousin-in-law and L. has a funny husband, there might be a few bored people hunched over computers in Japan thinking of new ways to say "the system crashed".

I'm trying to catch a cold or the air quality is worse here than usual. Think I'll try to get some sleep before midnight for a change.