Not wordy enough. Makes too much sense. Is insufficiently impressed with her own profundity. Other than that, no reason! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

t&l (not Maya Angelou's biggest fan, in case it was too hard reading between the lines! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />)

ok, what about Danielle Steele

Jacqueline Susann

Lucy Maude Montomery

Jean Craighead George

Mary Wollestonecraft

Ayn Rand

Neaksis wouldn't mind being Lucy Maud Montgomery. Shoot, she'd like to be Anne of Green Gables, and absolutely LOVED Prince Edward Island.

Neaksis and Hemingway--terse. Spare. Spartan.

t&l

my d reminded me very much of Anne when she was little. VERY MUCH. And she is still an individualist.

not Margaret Mitchell

or

Louisa Alcott ??????



<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Neakbro is an obsessive gold miner. Now that he has his double degrees from Berkeley in physics and computer science he wants to buy another dredge and go out and spend his time underwater in various California and Oregon rivers, hunting for gold. For this he needed a degree? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

And he would look for gold deposits in the log pond by the ride, long before he'd actually go on the ride itself. THAT dream wasn't so far off from reality!.<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

t&l

I think Neaksis wouldn't mind being compared to Louisa May Alcott, or at least to one of her heroines. She's an old-fashioned girl at heart. Anybody else here a frustrated antiquarian, born in the wrong century, pining for the beautiful "olden days"? But unwilling to relinquish one's appliances, either... <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

t&l

ah yes

when men were MEN and women were too!! lol
Well maybe also the Baroness Orczy you think .. the Scarlet Pimpernel ??

They seek him here, they seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven?
—Is he in h3ll?
That dammed, elusive Pimpernel.''
— Lord Sir Percy Blakeney (The Pimpernel)

{ oh for goodnss sakes I know I know ..lets NOT encourage him PLEASE )

no we were, are gentle creatures who flutter eyes and wave fans and admire our men while they ride of merrily to disaster in the Napoleonic wars or at the charge of the light brigade, or the Indian Mutiny, or the Zulu's or the Civil War or Little Big Horn or the Boer War or ... Mmmmmmmmm

Good God Aussie would be in his seventh Heaven ... unless of course you went back further and let him have Attila sacking the Roman Empire or Genghis Khan or Charlemaine or the Spartans at Thermopylae ..now THAT would be his paradise!!

maybe we could do without a FEW things then? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> Are you thinking he might've been one of Aussie's ancestors? A pre-immigration, 18th-century, swashbuckling performer of derring-do, sort of a Scarlet Aussienel? What a scary thought! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

It would explain a lot, though, wouldn't it? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

t&l

Isn't it frightening??


but it would explain his brother, and his nibs and ...OMG my sons !!!

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

I'm putting another knot in my tubes!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

The Scarlet Pimpernel is my hero!

I enjoyed the book, too, although I did think it was very funny how every other page she kept saying some version of "so if nothing else she could at least die in his arms" and other such romantic drivel.... <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I hate that kind of drivel.......

Watching the Super Bowl tonight - very boring game - took my knitting and knitted right through it....I saw the fake commercial for Fabio hair care products which turneed out to be a commercial for something else.

My favorite commercial was the colt pulling the Budwieser wagon which was actually being pushed by an adult Clydesdale.

Now, now. Let's not be so hard on romantic drivel. There'd be a lot less of the "arts" without it! Poets out of business. Hallmark bankrupt. Barnes and Noble, a small corner store selling pamphlets. Brittney Spears, an unemployed waitress. And Danielle Steele? Never heard of her. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

t&l

The day we came home from Hawaii, I didn't want to have anything go wrong, or have any difficulties at the airport. So we got up plenty early, ate all the leftovers in the fridge, and then the men sat around and looked decorative while I finished getting things squirreled away in the suitcases. We'd traveled over with smaller suitcases packed into larger ones, so that we'd have extra space to haul home all our loot. I can't go to Hawaii without bringing home, to the impatient and ravening hordes, sufficient Maui onion and chocolate-covered macadamia nuts (NOT the same nut! Blech. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />), li hing muis and li hing powder, Maui onion and papaya seed dressings, and who-knows-what else. I've had to buy suitcases in the Ala Moana shopping center at least twice in order to get everything home, and quite frankly I don't need any more suitcases, so this time I went prepared. I'd made piles of stuff the night before and divided up the purchases fairly equally, or so I thought, so that this time when the airline person picked them up, nobody would get a hernia. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Even so, they felt pretty doggone heavy to me by the time we hauled them out to the car and HP hoisted them inside. We got to the airport in plenty of time, picked up our 2 cases of pre-inspected pineapples we'd purchased at the Dole Pineapple Plantation a couple days before, and then I left HP and my dad by the check-in, with all the luggage, while I went and returned the car.

When I got back HP had the 4 suitcases, the carry-on luggage, and the pineapples all loaded onto a little push cart and we entered the zoo. Had trouble getting the boarding passes printed up, which took a little time, but fairly soon we were able to get into the seething line of humanity, and slowly work our way towards the check-in. Finally we arrived, and, as we were told, placed our luggage on the scale. Only then did anybody say, "You have to go through the agricultural inspection before you can check these in." <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> I protested that our pineapples were pre-inspected, only to be told that it wasn't the pineapples. Everything had to be inspected. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> So HP hauled a couple hundred pounds of luggage (give or take a ton) off the scale and hustled it back onto the cart so we could weasel our way through the crowd to stand in the long line in front of the agricultural inspectors. When we got to the inspectors, guess what? They wanted the suitcases to go on a conveyor belt, which meant HP got to take them off the cart and lift them up onto the belt, then hurry around to the other end so he could load them all back on the cart again.

Back to the check-in line again. This time when we got to the front of the line, we couldn't seem to actually get to the desk. The people kept calling (by name) people behind us in the line, who then walked around in front of us and left us standing uselessly at the head of the line. We waited through a good half hour of this, and I was starting to get worried about getting through the checkpoints in time to make the flight. Finally, I went up and asked somebody, "Is anybody ever going to pay any attention to us here before we miss our flight?" Oh, yes, sorry--somebody would be right with us! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> And they were--only 15 to 20 minutes later. So HP put the suitcases on the scale again, only to be told that they had to be moved to another scale a few feet away. I thought he was going to blow a gasket that time, and am surprised that the steam coming out of his ears didn't cause serious burns to the airline employee who told him that...but he (silently--how else would a Clam do this, anyway) put the stuff back on the cart and moved it again. The two larger suitcases turned out to be overweight. Did I want to repack them? NO, I DID NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So they decided to let one go as is, I hurriedly paid an extra $25 for the other, and then HP was told to put them back on the cart and we could take them over to the x-ray machine for the final inspection. Boy, was he cross by then, and I didn't really blame him, heavy as those suckers were.

By now, it's getting very close to boarding time, and I was really worried about not making the flight--especially since we'd moved out of our living quarters, turned in our car, and used up our money!! So I said, "Here, I'll take these over and turn them in. You take my dad and start for the departure gate. If I don't get there in time, just be sure you get on the plane and let me be responsible for getting myself home. " I figured if something went wrong,it was better off to have me stranded in my own home town, than either of them in unfamiliar territory. And off they went, while I waited in yet another line. I really hate lines!

Once I saw the suitcases make it through the x-ray machine, I started off for the departure gate, approximately 17 parsecs into the next galaxy. Since I hadn't brought a coat along, I'd dressed in several layers so I'd be warm enough once we got back to Sacramento and the rain. It worked well once we got to Sacramento, too; I was pleased with my plan. But in Honolulu, it was a layer or 2 too many, especially considering how fast and how far I had to walk. Through the checkout. One more agricultural inspection. Down walkways and halls in that lovely humid, tropic weather. By the time I arrived at the gate just minutes before the scheduled flight time, huffing and puffing like the Little Engine that Almost Couldn't, my face a red to rival the most vibrant hibiscus, I was hot enough to melt.

A-N-D. T-H-E-Y. W-E-R-E. N-O-T. T-H-E-R-E. Everybody else was already on board, so I didn't have any trouble getting fast attention at the desk (for a nice change of pace!). Nobody remembered seeing them. They called into the plane and had somebody check their seats. Empty. I knew I hadn't passed them on the way, so they must've taken the shuttle bus to make it easier for my dad, but no one knew where the shuttle was, and when it would arrive. I spent several minutes in frantic dashing back and forth between the desk and the curb before I finally went back and said, "I don't know that they're going to make it, and I can't leave without them. If we miss this flight, are there any others today that we might take?" Well, yes, we could go to Los Angeles a little later, which was better than across the ocean, but still on the wrong end of the state. We had finally settled on San Jose as our next best option, when the shuttle drove up and out strolled HP and GP. Well, they started to stroll, but the pace picked up considerably when I whipped out the cattle prod and started "encouraging" them to step up the pace. Those shrill, high-pitched cries...were they from them, or from me? Who knew? Who cared? But we scuttled onto the plane, strapped ourselves in, and almost immediately the engines started revving up. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

And THAT is why HP said he'd never go back to Hawaii again if we took more than one suitcase! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> If I'd known that there was going to be another juvenile screamer on this flight, too, I would've worried less about missing the blasted thing; but unfortunately by the time it worked itself into full and unfettered expression of its distate for the journey, we were out over open water and I couldn't escape.

Well, I see somebody new has gone on the monitor. I should go and find out if this somebody is for me. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> It's terrible to be expected to WORK just because I'm getting paid! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

t&l

how rude tl

EXPECTING YOU TO ACTUALLY WORK... DOESN'T TURNING UP COUNT !!!

some people ! lol hehehehe


when we travelled in the distant past <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> and bought lots of things we packed them in tea cheats - yes plywood chests they send tea around the world in - home as luggage to the outlaws - mum & dad haha - who picked them up and held them for us- Aussie said he wasn't a 'bloody pack horse woman' hahaha always could buy what I wanted then hehe
<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I made chicken - marinated in white wine & garlic - steaks wrapped in bacon and grilled them with some goat cheese and parsley on top ...yummy

I had 2, DD had 2, Mikey sucked on a bit of one, but DS had ... 8 and is still hungry!!!! Then had a bowl of soup a loaf of damper bread ... unbelievable <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

so, what is with this being on page 3. I, too have traveled with my stuff in a suitcase inside a larger one then returned with 2 filled suitcases.

Must keep off page two.

It was many years before I learned that matched luggage wasn't paper bags all from the same grocery store.

Did you ever stop to think that maybe we're boring people, and that's why we keep sliding off the edge of the abyss? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />




<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> That Neak! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> What am I going to do with that girl? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Will there be a family secret left by the time she gets done here? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> I fear not...<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

t&l

What you mean they aren't???? oh dear ... that would explain so much <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Not to belabor anything about poor Grandpa, but after you've told how he was a missionary there for so many years, I feel it only fair to point out that these days, for him, everywhere is unfamiliar territory. (Even my bedroom, as it turns out. "Is this the other end of the house, or am I in China?") But last week at church, one of his old students came up to chat with him, and was pleasantly surprised to find that he still recalled every moment of the good ol' days.