Party cruise observations with totally random pictures

If you're looking for a profession with plenty of job security, become a tattoo artist.


Shaved heads are way cooler than balding heads.

How to shop for cruise clothes if you're a young woman: try on clothes, determine your size, buy two sizes smaller. For young men: ditto......ditto.....buy two sizes larger.The fashionably-savvy cruiser, both male and female, allows maximum underwear visibility....for example, a good six inches of either jockey or boxer shorts, and bra straps in contrasting colors to the two-sizes-too-small outer garment with between 2 and 4 bra hooks well-displayed.

There's no better way for a real, honest-to-goodness dyed-in-the-wool party cruiser to show off his true colors than to stand on a chair in the formal dining room and scream at the top of his lungs, during the main course, "Let's party!"


Two rare sightings of a species known as the well-behaved party animal.......

.....now, sadly, on the brink of extinction.

Support system

Everyone needs a good one, don't you think?

Have a great weekend! I'll be back soon with a few stories about my trip to the zoo, I mean my 3-day party cruise.....

Breaking News: Ant walks to New Guinea!

You're probably wondering what sort of a crazy tangent I'm headed off on now, right? This will make perfect sense after I explain. There's a big world map mounted on the wall directly behind my computer. There's also an ongoing battle we're having with little black ants. The pest people have sprayed twice, but a few hearty souls have managed to survive.....and I spotted one walking across the map (walking on water, actually) headed for New Guinea. I'm pretty sure he got there OK.

So Catalina has become quite a crafty place, and you know I had to check out this shop. There was yarn in the window. I didn't end up buying any yarn......right now I'm mad at yarn.......but I did find a kit for a cute little embroidered piece.

I'll put it in the queue, and maybe I'll get to it before I'm in the nursing home.

There were lots of crafty buildings too and most of them had foliage painted on them.

I liked this one with all of the palm trees......especially those growing out of the roof.... Have you ever noticed how resort areas always have plenty of props around town for tourist photo ops?I still like this one the best....of me and Lego Man at Disneyland.So I'd better fess up. Tomorrow Mr. Gadget and I will be leaving in the late afternoon on a 3-day party cruise. It was all his idea. When he called Carnival to inquire, there was one stateroom left and he grabbed it right up. So I'd better go crank up the washing machine and check the sunscreen supply. And maybe I can find my favorite party hat.

Hamming right along

After my morning walk.......during which I was sadly without my camera and could not snap a picture of what I can only describe as a curmudgeonmobile.....I decided I had plenty of time to root around in the pig project.

You can see how I patched it up with paper towels, foil and tape to create some body contouring. If I sound like I know what I'm doing, don't be fooled. I'm flying by the seat of my pants.

Next, I prepared the paper mache mixture. The box says it's fast mache, so I figured I wouldn't have much time to dilly-dally once I got to slathering it on and attempting to make something pig-like. Lunch time came and I told Mr. G to go ahead and eat without me, since I was elbow-deep in goo.

Slowly a pig body came into focus. A whimsical pig body. The more mache I added, the heavier it got, so I mounted it on a chicken broth can to take some of the load off. Now it needs a few days to dry, and then I'll try to remove some of his warts with fine sandpaper. He is earless for now. I'm still pondering that dilemma.

So while Mr. Gadget was eating his lunch and I was covered with goo, I happened to mention how concerned I am about where our civilized society seems to be headed.

Only in America would you see large numbers of people lined up, on the same day, outside buildings all over the land to: 1) attempt to get their money out of a failed bank, or 2) purchase the newest version of the IPhone.

And only in California would you see something like this.

Mr. Gadget and I are preparing to set sail for Catalina Island tomorrow morning. We're hopeful there will be no lines and no public indecency over there. We'll take our chances with the gangsters.

Hamming it up

I've decided to embark on my paper mache pig project....now that Mr. Gadget is satisfied with his new computer and has relinquished the packing materials.

I've had to improvise during the glue-drying process, to make sure the legs don't cave in. Mr. G would have used special clamps, levers and pulleys I'm sure, but I'm just a simple gal who loves nothing more than to scout around for my own kinda gadgety tools.....which work quite well, by the way. I haven't decided exactly what the next step will be, although I don't think it'll be ready for the mache right away. It might need some kind of filler material added--to get a nice plump pig. I certainly hope it resembles a pig when I'm done, but I'm not making any promises. It's all about whimsy here on this blog.

On Monday morning, Mr. G and I will be sailing a short ways across the sea to Catalina Island for an overnight stay. We're looking forward to it......well, except for this. It was on the front page of the newspaper this morning.

I do have fond memories of pre-gangster visits to Catalina. It's where my high school senior class went for Senior Ditch Day--a whole day of wearing Bermuda shorts and forgetting Trigonometry.

In those days, it took about two hours to get to the island on the big white steamship.

There was plenty of time to dance and cavort, and maybe flirt with a cute boy.....if the seas were calm and your stomach was cooperating. Now it takes just an hour to get to Catalina on a speedier boat with airplane seats and no dance floor. The old steamship isn't quite what she used to be. She hasn't aged gracefully.

Here she sits, barely recognizable, in the harbor at Ensenada, Mexico, providing a home for seals and a little adventure for scavengers.

So Mr. G and I will be heading out to Costco in a few minutes. He seems to think we need a nice, new carry-on bag for our mini-cruise. I tried to convince him that I have two Trader Joe shopping bags with sturdy handles that would work just fine, but he won't hear of it.....

The necessities

The other day, as I was walking my usual two circles around the condo complex, it struck me that there are only a few things in life that are true necessities.

Oh, and maybe a little food.

A place to rest.

Orderliness.

American Idol

Art

Wheels.

The rest is just frills, isn't it?

A few more birds

I've been taking a little break from craftiness this week, knitting in particular. The red pest continues to harass me with it's refusal to cooperate in the joining of the button bands. Seems to me it would have been easier to just knit the whole thing in one piece, rather than two pieces in need of joining....and then right away seeming intent on a divorce. So I'm having a short cooling-off period.

In the meantime, I've been using silliness as blog filler. I've been walking each day, around the condo complex, for exercise....and it's amazing what's out there in the neighborhood that deserves reporting. As I was walking this morning, more silliness occurred to me, so if you've had enough, just skip tomorrow's post altogether.

While working on my cleaning out the clutter project here in the condo, I came across some placemats I appliqued a while ago for dear ol' dad.

This is one of four. I made them during my machine-applique phase, which was soon after I purchased a new sewing machine that is now quite elderly--but continues, fortunately, to be recognized by the folks who service it. During that particular crafty phase, I made banners, and decorated sweatshirts, aprons, placemats, and tote bags. A doll-making friend noticed my creative frenzy, I mean my sewing efforts, and invited me to share a table with her at a craft fair. Well......customers new and old clamored for her dolls, and I sold one measly sweatshirt. That's when my doll-making phase began.

Remember the birds I made a couple of weeks ago?

I really intended to put legs on them, but couldn't quite get the hang of it. It may have been my choice of wire, or my ineptness with needle-nosed pliers. But the muse must have heard my frustration because just the other day I came across this. Isn't it cute? And such nice legs. I'm going to print out the directions and make some after I've returned to my treehouse fabric stash.

Thanks for the comments on uses for the roasting pan. My friend Claudia of lurkdom emailed and suggested I use it to make spaghetti sauce. She must think I'm Italian or something. I'm strictly a sauce-outta-the-jar gal. And other Marcia says there are fiber lovers everywhere who would clamor (have I over-used clamor yet?) for a pot like that to dye wool.

Mr. Gadget agreed that we should plug it in, and sure enough, it got hot. So maybe I'll keep it afterall. If I use it for nothing else, I could probably crank it up to 150 degrees or so and enjoy a nice foot soak....

Adoptive homes sought

Look what followed me home yesterday. I guess he must have known I have a soft spot for strays.

Good thing he was nice to the mail lady. I won't be keeping him though, since Mr. Gadget says he has to go, even though no pet-sitter would be needed when we leave for months at a time. Mr. G is all about me cleaning out clutter, which is what I've been up to the last couple of days. This is at the top of his nag list:

It's an old roaster oven that belonged to my grandmother. I'm having a hard time parting with it. I don't remember what she used it for, other than the Thanksgiving turkey. Mostly I remember it sitting on a table in her kitchen. She was into dressmaking and tailoring, and cooking not so much.She was quite the fashion plate in her day. Here she is, holding my mother....a mini-vision of fashion-platedness herself.

I have no idea if the roaster still works. I've been afraid to plug it in and see. The firemen have much more important things to do than to come to my house and put out a burning roasting pan. They might ask me some embarrassing questions, like "where's the chicken?"

If I was a gardening woman, I'd have a little fun like my relatives did when they installed a new toilet and planted the old one full of nasturtiums in their front yard. (Those things are hard to get rid of too.) I'd find a nice sunny spot and plant my roaster full of petunias. Or, I'd put it in the house on top of my other grandma's old sewing machine and fill it up with colorful fabric chickens.

And remember the sunflower? The one that stood proudly in defiance of the curmudgeonly rules? Well, I must be psychic. Here it is on Sunday.

And here it isn't on Monday.

Looks like a clean break to me, most likely a knife or some garden clippers. Mr. Gadget and I debated the possibilities over lunch today, and we both agree....this was definitely not the work of a barkrat....

Road kill and other pleasantries

I have great admiration for the person who planted this sunflower. Notice how proudly it stands--as if to defy the curmudgeons in their ongoing efforts to force the rest of us to toe their line. It won't be long before there'll be a new sign prohibiting sunflowers. There's plenty of space for it on the post beneath the other two.

And don't you think one simple sign would be much more effective against illegal parkers and trespassers? Beware of Snakes.

Moving right along to another squeamish subject. Road kill. I only bring this up for educational purposes. There are differences between east and west coast varieties.

It's highly unusual to drive anywhere in Connecticut without observing something dead in the road.....squirrels, raccoons and possums mostly....and the occasional deer. Oh, and sometimes a Canadian goose--the sight of which makes golfers all over the state rejoice.

Here in SoCal, there's a different kind of creature, and it's very unique. Just today I noticed this one on the sidewalk. It probably met its untimely end when the maintenance man's golf cart ran over it.

Sometimes people just kick these poor things over to the gutter, or toss them off into the shrubs with no thought of giving them a proper burial. Mr. Gadget did observe a charitable lady who, out of the goodness of her heart, was in the process of recovering many of these sadly departed souls and tossing them up on the lawn out of more harm's way.

So by now maybe you've figured out the identity of these critters--the ones that cause me to recoil in horror on my daily walks. It's the vicious palm tree barkrat. It drops out of the sky unannounced and wreaks havoc on all who stroll the sidewalks. There oughta be a law. Or at least a few signs. Beware of snakes and barkrats. I'll speak to the curmudgeons.

Fireworks of the floral variety

Button band boredom

I brought the red pest sweater project along with me on this trip, with plans to finish it and return home with something nice and warm to wear in the chilly fall New England weather. I'd forgotten how boring it is to knit a button band. Then again, maybe I've never knitted one before. I don't remember. It seems much more sensible to make a round-neck cardigan rather than a v-neck one and knit those suckers right along with the fronts.

I did plan ahead though, which for me is not typical. I've made sure to put the button band on the proper side for a lady. Soon I'll be able to start knitting the buttonhole band and that will be more interesting--what with those little holes I'll have to put in every so often. Good thing I have an in-house math expert. Knowing right where to place six evenly-spaced buttonholes could be a real challenge without a calculator. Maybe Mr. G. can figure a way to work a spread sheet into the project.....

The art sock is coming along, although I've decided to change its name again. I'm going to call it the January sock. It's so heavy, I might be able to wear it in the snow....without boots. While I was knitting on it yesterday, I realized I'd dropped a stitch a few rows back--something I haven't done in a long time. After tinking (unknitting stitch-by-stitch) back a ways, I realized I could pick up the dropped stitch with my trusty crochet hook. It worked like a charm, and saved me several rows of tinking.

So the 4th of July decorations have started popping up all around the condo complex. Mr. Gadget and I have no big plans for the holiday, other than to carry on a tradition begun years ago by dear ol' dad and our upstairs neighbor, Ernestine. We'll carry our lawn chairs and some sweet treats up to the second floor balcony and view the city fireworks display over the roof tops with our neighbors. After a few ooohs and aaahs, we'll carry our chairs back downstairs, throw the leftover treats in the freezer, and call it a night. Do we know how to party or what!

Shrubbery love

Mr. Gadget and I have a routine in the mornings here at the condo. He makes himself a cup of tea and I make a cup of instant coffee (why perk a whole pot that just begs me to drink it?) Then one of us walks the short ways up the sidewalk to the newspaper dispenser, where we deposit a quarter. And if we wait long enough to hear the coin fall, it cooperates and coughs up a paper. We learned the hard way about that waiting part, and on a Sunday no less....when the newspaper costs five quarters.

While I'm reading my horoscope, the comics, and the daily TV offerings, Mr. G. reads....and comments out loud.....about the nasty state of the world, the country, the financial markets, and the local crime. It's usually enough to send me out for a walk.

So this morning I decided to take my camera along, in case I saw something interesting. And what do you know! There's all kinds of love and goodwill right here in the neighborhood.

Just look at this flowering plant hugging the cactus, although I'm sure things get a bit thorny between the two of them from time-to-time.Doesn't this pair look lovey-dovey? Of course, you've got to wonder if there are co-dependency issues and maybe a little enabling.

Here's an interesting couple. One looks like it thought about running off a year ago or so.....maybe with a younger, prettier little sapling.....but decided to hang in there with a little help from a supportive friend.

You know a couple is really in love when one can ignore the other's whiskers.....

"Come sit up here, little guy," said the tree. "It's safe from piddling dogs."
You've gotta have real admiration for a couple like this, standing tall and proud in spite of each having a really bad hair day.

Now for some breaking news, Big City Girl just called to inform us that her court case was dismissed. Seems the evil shopkeeper, aka the tormenting gadfly, didn't bother to show up.

So now you'll have to excuse me while I go hug a hydrangea....