I almost didn't join the hop today.About an hour ago, I was interrupted by a Federal employee at the door.
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"Yes, do you write a blog named
"That's Life ... Sometimes???"
"That's Life ... Sometimes???"
"Yes, I do ... or, I try. See, I haven't technically learned how to write yet as I haven't passed any government test that states I wasn't left behind. So, in essence, writing is only a hypothetical event in my life until such certification comes through."
He didn't see the humor.
"Sir, I am under order of the Federal Government to shut down your blog."
Damn, someone was reading this stuff!
I humbly asked, "What is the reason for this stoppage of something that doesn't really happen?"
"Well, sir, whether you know it or not, the Federal Government now has complete control over the Internet and what is posted there. Your comments concerning the "herding of cattle" politically correct crowd have offended the herd ... er, politically correct crowd.
In addition, your comments concerning the inefficiencies of the Federal Government have been described as somewhat terroristic in nature. When you mention a possible revolution taking place, the White House has taken note and would like to question you as to where you derive your information. They're asking if this information is based on revolutionary meetings, NRA publications, or if you've simply figured out how stupid they are and decided to go public with it on your own."
"So, you're telling me the cattle are upset? Have you talked to a Federal vet about this?"
"No sir, all Federal vets are on furlough at this time."
"Okay, so, have you talked to the NSA about my supposed "terroristic" activities?"
"No sir, the NSA is operating with a minimal force at this time as most of them have also been furloughed."
"So, are you getting paid for coming to my house and hassling me?"
"Well ... you know, I'm not!"
"So, why are you doing it?"
"Damn it, I'm not doing it! I quit! When they start paying me again, I'll be back!"
"Wait! Before you leave ... got any smut on the Feds?"
I now have enough material to keep blogging for several years, or until the Federal Government and NSA starts back up! Whatever comes first!
Okay, so I made all of that up. Had you going though, didn't I?
This is once again Finish The Sentence Friday, and strong apologies must be made. Out of laziness in forgetfulness, I have been posting a JPEG that omitted my sister from another mother, Kristi Campbell, from the list of Hostesses. This really wasn't intentional. I'm just an old procrastinator from way back.
Well, last week, Kristi and Lizzi reminded me of this omission.
My face was red.
After they got done with me, so was my tail! (Easy with those whips, ladies!)
So, here, right below, newly produced, is the list of current hostesses and the rules of Finish the Sentence Friday!
Hope you liked it!
Now, get off my case! (Just joking.)
Today's prompt is:
"Once, in public, I saw ..."
This is a tough one!
I live in public for the most part, as I'm dealing with the public in my job and stops. Everywhere I go I'm dealing with the public. So, I guess I'm supposed to go crazy and discuss all the weird things I've seen.
Instead, I'm going to spoil your fun and go this direction:
Once, in public, I saw hundreds of families laughing, crying, and enjoying the moment.
No matter where you looked, there were smiling faces enlightening the scene. No frowns, no complaints, no one being offended ... just pure happiness being exhibited by all. A moment of moments. A happening of happenings.
The time was 1963. I was nine years old. It was August.
At the end of the kid's summer vacation time, the county fair was held. From Monday through Saturday, 4-h'ers demonstrated their skills in raising livestock, preparing various projects, and performing community service stands for onlookers galore. Every evening, starting at about 6 p.m., families loaded up their cars and kids and headed for an evening of clean fun, local rodeos, talent competitions, and other various events.
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| Photo credit: Thomas Hawk / Foter / CC BY-NC |
And, then there was the Midway! Carnival rides for all ages. The Tilt-A-Whirl, the Scrambler, the Paratrooper, the Octopus, the Roller Coaster Roaster, and even the obligatory Ferris Wheel was there awaiting the teenagers and the adults who braved them. The younger kids could enjoy riding various circular rides like Cars & Motorcycles, the Spinning Barrels, the Merry-Go-Round, and of course, spend all the time they wanted in the petting zoo.
The Midway also provided many ways for boyfriends to try to impress girlfriends by seeing how high they could use a mallet to ring the bell, shoot BB's at moving steel targets, throw plastic rings over the necks of glass bottles, or throw darts at balloons. Many dollars were spent as the barkers did their jobs well.
Even the sideshows were there to bring about a sense of excitement and adventure. Anacondas were on display as giant man-eating snakes. Make-up reigned supreme for the bearded lady and other supposed freaks on display. And, for adults (mostly men), there was always the ladies in skimpy outfits doing exotic dances.
It was a good week for all attending.
However, the Saturday afternoon event was the highlight of the week. This was the day of the county parade!
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| Photo credit: j3net / Foter / CC BY-NC |
Organizations wanting recognition or saying, "Thank You" to their customers and friends had prepared colorful floats and threw out candies and beads. Marching bands from the region came to show their talent and were dressed to the tee in their uniforms. Antique cars and buggies were driven by, again, tossing out treats for the kids. And, finally, the horses with their riders, all dressed up in their sparkle saddles and rhinestone outfits, ended the event. (Usually depositing horse defecation behind them on the street, making everyone laugh out loud at the natural occurrence.)
There were no people bitching at each other, no cell phones going off and no rude conversations being overheard, no hip hop music coming from cars in the area, and no gangs causing trouble. It was a time when being armed meant your mom had a Kleenex, band aid, and needle and thread in her purse in case you had an accident. It was a week of beauty.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could bring it back, if only for a week, so all of today's kids and families could experience the bliss it brought?
Okay, how about if it were for only a day?
You could handle it for a day, couldn't you?
Couldn't you?
I totally do remember a time like this vaguely and did live before all our modern technologies, too. But not sure I could do it to be honest. I attached more then I would care to admit, but would be a totally nice change of pace. Thanks as always Rich for linking up and I love the new graphic image you created for the linkup!! :)
ReplyDeleteJanine - Good to see you again! I think after going through a few minutes of the DT's, you'd really enjoy yourself. We get too hung up on technology these days. Taking time to breathe and laugh and enjoy family ... that's really what matters the most in this world. There are times we just need to think of ourselves and the ones we love, and give them more than just a few minutes. What I think I really enjoyed about those days were the summer television reruns. You never wanted to watch them again, so the whole family would go outside and shoot basketball, or sit around eating homemade ice cream ... you know, things we'd consider a waste of time these days. Remember, none of this stuff we do daily to sate our egos or make a buck really matters in the end. It's what the kids think of us and our relationship with them. Glad you liked the JPEG! Many Thanks!
DeleteI recently read a book with my son that had examples of "then" and "now." There were pictures of old-fashioned phones and horse-drawn vs. today's tractors and it was weird, I almost felt nostalgic for a time where I didn't even exist. Everything just seemed so much more simple. Of course, there were hardships and no laptops but I'll bet a lot of people were happier.
ReplyDeleteJoelle - God bless you! I'm serious, reading a book to your son will create a desire in him to do it himself and love the written word. My mother always read to me when I was young. I couldn't wait to go to school so I could learn how to do it myself. The worlds I discovered and the facts I learned have been treasured my whole life. There are too many that claim to be too busy to do such a thing these days. You're golden in taking the time. I give you the greatest of compliments!
DeleteI remember sitting on the front porch with my grandparents in the evening. They'd talk about growing up and chuckle about things they felt they shouldn't be saying. That just doesn't happen anymore. Everyone's too busy to take time with the family except for the obligatory holiday time, which they usually feel passes much too slowly. Every Sunday, my grandmother would fix a magnificent lunch with a couple of types of meat, so many different vegetables it would make your head spin, and at least a couple of pies and a cake. My father and his brother and sister would bring their families and we'd have a great time. It might be watching football together during the afternoon, or in the summer, riding horses and ponies, but it was a day of the week devoted to being a family ... a real family grouping. I remember sneaking around behind my grandmother and tie her apron strings to the back of her chair. She'd act like she was so mad, but couldn't hide her smile and laughter. No, we didn't have today's conveniences, but we weren't slaves to them either. Many Thanks!
This reminded me of the year my Dad took my sister and I to a parade where we were supposed to meet up with our great uncle. We looked everywhere for him, but to no avail. All of a sudden, he drove by IN the parade. :)
ReplyDeleteChris - Really is good to see you again this week! What a story! I can imagine your eyes were wide open when you saw your great uncle driving by! Those are the cool things that people used to do. Nowadays, someone would be Twittering or texting what was going on and ruining the surprise for all! I remember loving being in the parade. Whether it be walking along as a boy scout, riding a horse, or atop a float for the 4-h club I belonged to, it was always a treat. Funny, as we grew older we felt we were too old to participate in such a minor event. God, how stupid we really were. lol Many Thanks!
DeleteWhy yes, my Brothah from anothah Mothah, I do believe I could handle that for a day! What bliss. No cell phones!? Sigh.
ReplyDeleteGlad the cattle didn't shut your awesomeness down. That poor guy who came to the door. Bet he doesn't even get reimbursed for his gas money. Cant wait until you share all the dirt you learned on the bastards! Hehe!
Thanks for the new jpeg. It's lovely and for the record, I'd not have gotten on your case if Lizzi didn't so you can blame her.
Kristi - It's muh sista come ta say hi! Good of you to visit and see what I did for you! lol Actually, I did it for myself, knowing if I didn't, you'd send Luigi and Blaster Bambino my direction! Glad you liked it! You couldn't handle five waking hours without your cell phone. The men from the psycho ward would be heading your way to pick up the "nervous" lady that's shaking down every stranger in town to see if they picked it up by mistake. But, in all seriousness, it would probably do you a world of good to sit back and forget about all this stuff for a while. Keep smiling ... it looks good on you! Many Thanks!
DeleteI have no doubt I'm taking the blame here, but as the lady with the bullwhip, I'm happy to ah, attend to any issues with that.
ReplyDeleteWell done for changing your graphic to ACCURATELY reflect the current line-up of the awesome hostesses with WAY the mostess ("Whonk", anyone? ;) )
As to your beautiful ideas of the carnival, I'd love to see it happen. Sounds like the kind of thing which would happen in Our Land; a day of peace, fun, inclusion and lovely memories :)
Lizzi - The only person I know that can hit a moving target with her whip from across the big pond! lol So good of you to come by and inspect the results of your orders ... er, requests last week! Glad it meets your approval, sir ... er, ma'am ... er, oh wondrous one! :)
DeleteI think it could happen in our land, the planet Earth. It would mean everyone would have to forget about hating each other, or ripping each other off, or personal ego sating, but it could happen. And, if it did happen, for just one day, maybe people would get greedy and do it another, and another. Before you would know it, we'd be loving each other and working to improve each other's life on this Earth, instead of amassing it all for ourselves. Hand in hand, smile upon smile, no anger or bigotry, just love in our hearts for mankind. Let's see, how do we achieve this? First, we have to eliminate all the governments and politicians, and all special interest groups that bribe them. I leave the second step up to everyone else to decide. :) Many Thanks!
It would be beautiful, that's for sure and certain.
DeleteBut I propose a different way. Because if we eliminate the politicians and governments with nothing robust further down the chain, a new set of self-centred bullies will just take their place.
The thing to do FIRST is create community. Small, with people who MEAN something to one another, then growing and growing, until ALL people mean something to one another. Because I think that's what gets forgotten by those at the top - they no longer understand that they should be able to stand in front of ANY PERSON from the president to the homeless guy outside in the street, and say "You are important and you matter to me".
That is the first thing to learn - to each be able to say that, truthfully, to anyone. And that is a hard, hard lesson to learn. But we should strive, because your dream is totally worthwhile and utterly beautiful :)
I love, love, love the direction that you took in this post, b/c it IS strange to see so many people having fun in one place, and, dammit, YES, we should see it more often. Also, my grandparents lived a BLOCK away from the county fair when I was growing up. It was, indeed, the best time of the year, and I have the most wonderful memories of it, including the parade. Thank you for this post. You made my day!
ReplyDeleteRachel - My optimistic friend with the golden heart! So good to see you today! I'm still thinking of your knitting lady story and smiling.
DeleteI'm glad you liked this. I was going to go for some humor, but I thought better of it this time. (And, I tried to not make you cry again! lol) Seriously, those simple events in our childhoods are to be treasured. Today, security has to be present in mass quantity just to prevent someone from dropping a bomb or shooting the place up. What a crazy world in which we reside! If only we could take all the greedy, the dangerous, the hateful, and the politically correct and give them their own piece of the world ... say the Antarctica, and let the rest of the world thrive in love and harmony. It would indeed be a wonderful world (and I hear Louis Armstrong singing that song right now.) Many Thanks, my friend!