Frogs' Legs Aren't Funny

The download of my daily (almost) thoughts and ruminations.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

What's In A Smell?

There are any number of smells that take you back to some great memory or are simply your favorite smells and stop you in your tracks every time you smell them. When I was young growing up in Tillamook, I used to pull the cover off the grain barrel in my Grandad's barn and tip way over into the barrel because that grain smells was one of the best ever and still is.

When you walk through the Washington Park rose garden on a sunny day, the fragrance of the hundreds of roses makes you heady. Walking through most any neighborhood on a sunny day, the smell of freshly mowed grass connects you immediately to lazy summer days.


I actually attach a number of smells with my childhood. When my sister and I accompanied my mom to the grocer store, one of our favorite aisles was where they had the coffee grinders because the grinding process smelled so good. Then there was helping my dad with one of his building projects and taking big whiffs of the wood (sawdust) after he cut it on his saw. Once in a while my mom baked bread and that smell is one of the best. That's probably what I should blame on the fact that I adore eating bread. The other smell that left me drooling was the old fashioned popping popcorn, you know how the oil-based popping process smelled, especially the old theater popcorn machines, um-hm.


While in grade school, I loved the smells of both finger paints and the freshly mimeographed worksheets we were handed by our teachers. I don't know how much I payed attention to what was on the papers but I definitely got high off the smell.

At my aunt and uncles farm, the smell of newly cut hay was great if you ignored my allergies. There were also a couple of farm smells that bring back less than pleasant memories, one being the chicken coop, the other being the distinctive smell of the cow pasture, chock-a-block full of nasty cow pies, both of which abided at my Grammie and Grandad's small farm.

One of the dishes my mom used to cook that gagged me then and gags me now is liver and onions. There is no way to cover up the foul, gaminess of that one. However, she also used to burn incense that smelled exotically great. I can't really remember, but maybe she was burning the latter to cancel out the former? The other smoky smell I have to say I remember fondly was my Grandad's "Sail" brand tobacco he smoked in his pipe. It was sweet and very pleasant, much better than the smell of my dad's constant companions, pack after pack of Lucky Strikes.


One of the smells I associate with being sick is Mentholatum, which we slathered all over my dad's heated handkerchiefs to put around our sore throats. The cat went absolutely crazy over that smell too. She would bury her face in it after I took it off and roll around and around on the floor wrapped up in it. Another smell that reminds me of my childhood is a heavily chlorinated swimming pool as we experienced ours at the YMCA where all of us girls took swim lessons (yes, even my mom).

Another smell outside of our home and my school that was very unique was that of our meat locker where we went periodically in order to retrieve various cuts of wrapped meat that either came from my dad's hunting or my Grandad's steers.

Lastly, the great outdoors, specifically the pine and juniper forest of the mountains and high desert. That fresh, clean foresty smell is unique and brings great memories to mind. Campfires were another great camping-related smell but not so much if the smoke was constantly following you around. It was a better phenomenon from afar.

I'm afraid that's it for my brief foray down my aroma avenue or fragrance footpath or odor route. Here's to nose accompanied memories!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Words That Conjure A Picture

You know what I'm saying, someone says something or you read it in a book that brings the picture to your mind, full force. Words like...
...freshly shorn, weeping willow, consummate professional, laden down, stilted speech, droopy drawers, losing ground, dripping wet, majestic oak, crystal clear, stop on a dime, hauntingly beautiful, smooth as silk, towering redwoods, filtered sunlight, high winds aloft, keep it down to a dull roar, ships passing in the night, diamond in the rough, lost in translation, takes your breath away, rolling hills, winding road, babbling brook, raging river, pounding surf, sea change, end of your rope or white water, to name a few.

That's the sum total of my thoughts on this:)

Monday, August 25, 2008

Cloud Phenomenon

I've looked at clouds from both sides now - From up and down, and still somehow - It's cloud illusions I recall - I really don't know clouds at all. (Thank you, Joni.)

And she's right, I don't really know clouds but I do know the thoughts they bring to mind when I'm driving for hours on a road trip. What follows is my thought process last week as we traveled from Portland to Eugene, where the clouds finally hid behind a curtain of darkness.

Clouds come in a myriad of shapes
They may seem to be so low you should be able to touch them

Impressive black, roiling cloud bank through which lightening bolts rip apart the sky
They remind you of big fists holding tightly to the most vicious of weather


High flying wisps of cotton against a cornflower blue sky



Thick, gray clouds laden down with tons of rain
The science of millions of drops of water evaporating from earth surface water and eventually forming clouds is a very mysterious process. How do each of these drops of moisture link up with other drops? What process or condition causes them to bind together into a cloud formation? Where's Carl Sagan when I need him?

Clouds also create windows. You may see long rays of sun shine through the window or the red hues of sunset disconnected from the brilliant orb itself
What holds clouds in the air where they are? If gravity isn't a factor, why don't they just float up into the outer atmosphere eventually? If gravity is a factor, what is it pulling, millions of drops of water?

As it rains, why don't the clouds disappear as the drops fall?

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailors delight. What does it mean?



I thought it was fitting that I start with song lyrics and end with an old saying/poem. I can't answer the question but how literary of me.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Birthdays are a Frame of Mind

In other words, it's all about the celebration, not the number. The longer the celebration, the better. The broader the celebration the better. The celebration approach, components and company should be the focus, NOT THE NUMBER! I keep hearing people say, I don't celebrate my birthday anymore or I don't even acknowledge it. How sad is that? What other day in the year exists that is truly only yours? Why wouldn't you want to celebrate all the wonderful people in your life and the amazing or rewarding things you've done or seen in your life on that very day? Maybe I'm just a party girl at heart. Well, that would not be a maybe that would be a definitely. There's nothing I like better than being with a bunch of people of my choice.

For instance, the first time I went to London, I attended "Les Miserables" on the equivalent of Broadway one evening. There I was, four rows from the front smack in the middle, truly the best seats in the house but sandwiched in between a whole lot of Brits who didn't know or care about me. I had absolutely no one to share my experience with, before, during or after. As a result, every time something happened that was absolutely amazing or moving, I had to keep my emotions and feelings to myself. It drove me crazy.

Isn't it interesting how we tend to be drawn toward people who are the opposite of us? My husband's favorite evening is to park himself in front of the boob tube with his constantly refilled drink of choice and not move until he has fallen asleep enough times to warrant getting up and paddling off to bed. So what is on that black box that entices him so? As I've mentioned before, he is very much into reality TV, which I'm not and I don't drink for the most part. (Technically, the cat sits on his lap but you get the picture.)

So, ours is a relationship of tolerance of each other's idiosyncrasies. I honestly believe that's how marriage survives. Every time I hear a woman say they think they can change the guy I go, "um-hum", and walk away. T'aint gonna happen.

This was a full blown tangent so it must be Saturday. I'm considerably tangential on Saturdays! You know how you start in one room then find yourself in the next not remembering why you're there. Welcome to my Saturday!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Man's Best Friend, Truly

I read a story in the paper today, then saw it again on the Comcast Fan tonight, of a 3 year old German Shepherd named Cash, who is the epitome of the title of this piece. She had accompanied her owner in his pickup truck out onto the prairie almost two months ago. Her 25 year old owner proceeded to kill himself, leaving the dog in the middle of nowhere, not understanding what was wrong and having to fend for herself.

So this guy not only left behind a young wife and little boy of about 2 1/2, he left this dog with absolutely nothing to keep her alive. How could someone be so selfish? First of all, what could have been so bad a 25 year old needs to end it all, he hasn't seen anything yet. But secondly, I hate selfish people; I wonder if he even thought about the dog.

The poor dog stayed with him and guarded his body for six weeks until a farmer spotted her (the dog) and followed her to the truck where he found the selfish jerk's body. I figure the dog was pulling a Lassie act getting him to follow until they got to the truck. You know I say Lassie but truth be told, she looks more like Rin Tin Tin. I love that I'm writing about these tv shows no one else has even heard of. Anyway, the reporter said they believe the dog was probably fighting off coyotes who would have otherwise disposed of the body.

They said the dog was dehydrated and seriously undernourished but she was okay. They were certain she had been surviving on mice and prairie dogs and stuff like that. I don't know where she was getting water.

So, the wife said she was glad to have closure after her husband's six week disappearance and she and her son were very glad to get their pet back. The self-centeredness of people will never cease to amaze me.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Subterranean Issues

The testament of an optimist is when the more that's wrong with them physically, the better they feel and the more cheerful they are. The minute you let aches and pains and sniffles and sneezing get you down, then your body has won and your spirit has lost. Those kinds of losses are debilitating.

So, what other definitions exist for the word "optimist"? Well, good ol' trusty Google images brings up this image first when you type in the word because, of course, it immediately searches for a noun.

Not only does it look like a happy, little sailboat, it is obviously quite flexible and seaworthy as the picture to the right demonstrates.

One of the classic movie icons who struck me as an optimist, at least in the majority of his roles was Cary Grant aka Archie Leach. In fact, if you haven't already visited http://www.archieleach.com/, please do and let me know if you think Cary Grant REALLY wrote the autobiography posted there. It sounds like him but I would like to see some verification somewhere on the site. Of course, I'm only on Chapter Two so it may be there and has simply eluded me up until now.

Just from reading the first chapter, it's clear he took the best of both parents (only child) and built on that to develop his personality or at least, that's what happened to him subliminally. OK, now I've read the second chapter and I would love to believe he actually wrote the book. I need some other opinions though. I don't truthfully know if I'll ever know so maybe I'll just "choose to believe". Hm, was Cary Grant created by Disney?

Well, the more I read, the more I'm learning about the many facets of his personality, which falls right in line with my subterranean theme. First,we have sexy Cary on the left. I wonder if he ever got skin cancer?

Next we have the debonair version of Cary. Would you trust this man to help you out of a jam or to share all your deepest, darkest secrets? Of course you would, you'd jump at the chance just to tell him all about them. Then you'd faint dead away just from being in the same room with him.

An
yway, back to my progression through the many facets of Cary. We go from the pipe-smoking version to the evening-wear version of Cary where anyone else in the room would need to be in an Oscar de la Renta or a Gucci gown worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or pounds sterling, depending on your continent of choice, to be worthy of his company. How can a tiny little thumbnail photo so completely capture the animal magnetism and pure, unadulterated yet romantic sexiness of this man? Even knowing he's long dead, he's hot!

Now we move to the mysterious Cary as found in two of the Alfred Hitchcock roles he played, both of which helped him to conquer his fear of heights (acrophobia). He reports in his autobiography that he then proceeded to fly repeatedly with Howard Hughes, landing all over the place including in Mexican fie
lds. I guess once you've hung from the faces of Mt. Rushmore and gallivanted across the rooftops of Monte Carlo you basically have no fear.

Of course, none of us can stay young forever but there are multitudes of photos capturing his gradual transition into his older years. Is he not the most handsome man to get old in all of history? What is it about a dimpled chin? With him, I think it was his persona as much as his looks. It was all about the complete package and there was nothing not to like.

In fact, here is proof
that he actually enjoyed the aging part. Or, at least, he was caught during an optimistic moment! It makes you wonder if he ever had to deal with the aches and pains I started out talking about, I don't know the answer but I'm pretty confident he would have dealt with any such adversity in a positive way. How do I know? I simply choose to believe this.

What a guy! Any suggestions for who in the current generation can take his place? Good luck.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Are We Getting What We Deserve?

We have been living high on the hog for a long, long time. I was just saying the other night that it seems like I can remember the first house of cards falling, Enron, then they slowly started to drop all over the place. The never-ending war in Iraq, this idiot president getting elected twice (that still blows me away), the credit/mortgage fiasco, the cost of oil, the scramble to find renewable sources of energy all of a sudden and a stock market that barely deserves its name anymore. Maybe they should rename it the worthless paper market and have a going out of business sale. Can the stock market declare bankruptcy? I didn't get a great grade in Economics as I recall.

Our dollar has been king worldwide for the majority of the last century meaning we were always the ones trekking to every other country in the world, insisting people speak English without much effort to learn their language. I still can't say I understand why the English pound sterling and Canadian dollar and the Euro are all worth so much more than our dollar. I mean those countries aren't big producers of anything much so how did they come to be in such a positive financial situation.

Over the years, our vehicles have gotten bigger and more powerful until it was starting to seem like practically everyone in the country was driving around big-ass SUV's or F350's or Rams or Silverados or the worst of all, the Dually. The kind of car you hate having in front of you because you can't see around them to see what's happening up ahead, you hate having park next to you because their oversized doors make mincemeat out of your car, you hate getting stuck with when you have to rent a car because it's going to cost you a fortune to fill the gas tank or you get cut off by since they ALWAYS do that because who's going to argue with them?

We've been sucking up gas aka oil like there was an endless supply just to keep these monsters eating up the miles. It was almost like we were out of control, like we couldn't be stopped. And we weren't stopped until we were forced to by dire circumstances. Have you seen a picture of the Arctic (polar) ice cap lately; it's almost gone.

How about our homes? No one is looking for the three bedroom, one bath ranch anymore, now it's 3,000-5,000 square feet regardless of the size of your family. And the materials those homes are made with are getting more and more expensive like bamboo floors, stone and handmade tile inside and out, etc. There appears to be a distinct need to keep up or surpass the Jones's or the Smith's or the Johnson's next door. We have become a very gaudy and decadent society.

But our greed didn't stop with all this, no it carried over into our daily eating habits until the majority of America isn't just overweight but is now obese. The thing I was most struck by in Denmark when I went to visit my daughter in 1997 was the lack of huge supermarkets. Instead they had small markets with possibly one of each item in them, sometimes you had to go to multiple markets to find the item at all, celery comes to mind. It was March after all and less than 20 degrees. I also have to say, I have never seen an obese person in Europe. That doesn't mean there aren't any but they certainly aren't as prevalent as they are here. But it's not just about poor eating habits and the proliferation of high calorie, high fat, low food value, fast food. A singular lack of exercise goes hand in hand with the poor diet. This of course ties directly back to the glut of cars on our roads every single day.

That is the nice thing about Portland where there are so many bikes, walkers (not the kinds with handles and wheels), scooters, skateboarders and mass transiters who leave the wheels at home, if they even own them. Maybe Portland can begin to influence the rest of the country but first we need to get alot more cars off the road here too.

Does it all truly come down to greed, laziness, boredom, over-stressed lives, what?

Monday, August 04, 2008

Happy Burpday, Rammie!

This would be the specific quote from baby boy when he first saw me yesterday. It's priceless, I know and now it's captured here for posterity. He is the icing on my cake, he's the treat in my cracker jacks box, he's the year-end bonus all year, he's just plain special.

I actually have a number of topics to discuss that are not birthday related but how could I proceed without sharing that bit of wonderfulness right up front. So, moving on... this was a story taken from somewhere by someone but I have every reason to believe it is a true story so regardless of it being from a quotable source, worth repeating.

Bertie Bowman at 13 was invited by a politician to Washington, D.C. It went like this, he heard the congressman stumping from a train, and one of the things the congressman said in that speech was, "Come to Washington, D.C., visit me and I'll find you a job." So, Bertie did (go to DC and look him up) and the congressman did (find him a job) sweeping the steps of the Capitol.

Bertie credits his success with a number of attitudinal traits he has. First, he always maintains a positive attitude. Regardless of whether someone tries to do him harm or say mean things, he never holds a grudge. Finally, he always approached every situation as an opportunity to prevail.

Today, Bertie is the Senate coordinator and has been in Washington, D. C. for 50 years. He's obviously found the secret sauce, why can't more of us see the advantages of acting the same?

Is it that they don't want to work that hard? Is it that they've been raised to hold grudges or worse yet to retaliate and can't seem to break that mold? And why do so many of us look at the cup as half empty when our success in any given situation would be rewarding and satisfying?

All I can say is, hearing stories like Bertie's keeps my little successes here and there in very important perspective. An excellent life lesson for us all.