The Idiot Speaketh or rather he doesn’t

English: WordPress Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I received this message via FB today from our good friend and favorite Idiot Mark Pakulak from Texas.

*** Due to issues with WordPress, I will be deleting this blog in the coming days. I will continue my bike ride across Europe and will post daily updates on my Facebook page at Mark G Pakulak (Runaway Bay, Tx). See you all on FB! ***

If you are not aware of the difficulties Mark has had in the last few days you can catch up on his Face Book.

To me, Mark was WordPress so I will sorely miss his presence here but will follow him anywhere.  It is important to read what Mark has written on the rules and policies of WP because I think a lot of us really I not aware.

He brought a lot of class, laughter, and tears to us and a day with out The Idiot was like a day without..well you know what I mean.

The worst of it is that he has lost all his valuable insights.

When I began blogging I used to write my posts out on Word first and then copy them into WP.  Eventually I got comfortable enough to write directly on to the post entry and I know many of you do the same thing.  It saves time.  But not in the long run.  WP can at anytime vaporize your blog as can any similar site.  So just a cautionary word to be sure you have what you create safe somewhere in addition to your blog site.

MISS YOU HERE MARK but will see you in the funny papers..I mean on facebook.

American Thanksgiving From the Outside

I am not an American however I do have strong links which include having resided in Texas for a time, good personal friends, and of course about 60% of my blogging  commentors.  I have said more than once that I left a part of my heart in that wonderful state and it is true.  Geographically you are our nearest neighbors, but the heart of America is more than friends or readers or one state.  The whole world is going through some rough times and certainly the USA as much or even more than some.

American Thanksgiving is a pretty big holiday with the very source of it being about Thanks for all we have and all we have is not something that can be counted or displayed.  Sometimes it is enough to give thanks for just being.

I met some pretty fantastic people from the other side of the border who went out of their way to make my life richer, and some who still do today.

The heart of America resides all around the world in every country.  For all the grumblings and stereotyping and political and religious hoohaw and seeming discontent there is strength, dignity and compassion.  There are many without food, homes, or love in all our countries.  Lets remember them – and for all who whine about what they don’t have, please give thanks for what you do have no matter how small or meagre.

This is a day that Americans traditionally celebrate and give thanks.  Just to let you know there are others like myself that give special thanks today just for knowing you.

The First Thanksgiving, painted by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863–1930). The First Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth in 1621. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

FITFS Lenore’s Thoughts Exactly

My heroes all have wonderful characteristics that I hope in some way to emulate.  This last Friday of September 2012 (yes I know I am a tad early but I have been late with everything else this week so…) is all about Lenore Diane who is of course talented, and multifaceted.  When I look at her picture and the child grinning in her Babbler About page I think ‘Cheeky’.  Now cheeky is defined by the free dictionary as someone who is saucy and it just takes one look to find myself grinning from ear to ear.

This particular blog was started January 2010 so she has been inspiring us for sometime.  Now of course one blog is not enough for this lady so she can also be found at Kimberly and Lenore where she and her friend give ‘Our View from Opposites Coasts’.  It sounds pretty cool.

Lenore’s comedic wit has a number of outlets and her adoptee ‘Andy‘ whom she acquired through a White Elephant gift exchange is currently travelling the world.  Now it seems very strange to me that an armadillo of any kind came from a White Elephant exchange but he did and then k8edid had the idea to let the poor wee fellow have his desired travels hosted by bloggers.

Clearly the smile on his face is the result of his being entertained in Southwest Florida by K8edid, then Texas by Georgette Sullins (y’all remember this gracious southern belle?), then Judith in New Zealand another of my heroes I am sure you remember, then Virginia Beach, Iowa (sorta) and last in British Columbia.

If you have not yet met this Babbler who Babbles Like a Brook and at the same time spews wisdom for the ages I encourage you to drop in, say hi, and if you think you might like to entertain Andy please do let her know.

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• News of Andy (growingyoungereachday.wordpress.com)

Oh Mark, I’m So Excited! And I Just Can’t Hide It!

Oh Mark, I’m So Excited! And I Just Can’t Hide It!

Do you get the point? Er… Pointer Sisters…uh… I am sure I can be excused for ..for whatever I am trying to say and not accomplishing it well.  

Tomorrow, that is TOMORROW the Mark Pakulak, yes THE self proclaimed IDIOT at http://redriverpak.wordpress.com, the same gent who now has more than 1.4 million hits on his site is pseudo biking through the very city I am in…Hamilton!! with a capital H!  That’s Hamilton Ontario!

I knew I moved here for a reason a few weeks ago..I just knew it, even though I didn’t know it at the time but Mr. P. the Big I would never have come to the city I was in before.  It is fate, kismet, fate again!

Why do I love thee? let me count the ways…..

1) okay he is ridiculously funny, falling on the floor, releasing bodily fluids and blaming it on the dog funny

2) he was a nurse…a nurse!  like me!  Please this alone has to say something..more fate stuff

3) he lives in Texas, the same state I lived in for a couple of years! He in the north, me in the south…BUT the same state..Wow!

4) he has a long suffering family who put up with his shenanigans …JUST like me!

5) he bikes hundreds, even thousand of miles..uh I don’t but I believe I could..someday

6) he has and continues to battle medical disasters and personal challenges with grace and humor and courage….well me too if I exaggerate a lot..

7) he loves Skittles and I have never had one..so that means more for my hero!

*I wish to assure Mrs. P that I will contain my adoration and stalker like tendency until The Idiot is safely away.  Although I cannot promise I will not suddenly turn up in the neighborhood sometime.  She has my undying adoration for she must truly be the great woman behind the great man!

Tonight’s the night we’re gonna make it happen,

Tonight we’ll put all other things aside.

Give in this time and show me some affection,

We’re going for those pleasures in the night.

I want to love you, feel you,

Wrap myself around you.

I want to squeeze you, please you,

I just can’t get enough,

And if you move real slow,

I’ll let it go.

I’m so excited,

And I just can’t hide it,

I’m about to lose control

And I think I like it.

I’m so excited,

And I just can’t hide it,

And I know, I know, I know, I know

I know I want you, want you.

We shouldn’t even think about tomorrow,

Sweet memories will last a long long time.

We’ll have a good time baby don’t you worry,

And if we’re still playing around boy that’s just fine.

Let’s get excited,

And we just can’t hide it,

I’m about to lose control and I think I like it.

I’m so excited,

And I just can’t hide it,

And I know, I know, I know, I know

I know I want you, want you. 

Originally performed by The Pointer Sisters (Ruth, Anita, & June Pointer)

The group was formed in Oakland California in the late 60s

They were discovered and signed to a recording contract while performing as backup singers for Elvin Bishop in a California nightclub

There were originally four sisters in the group, but Bonnie Pointer left in 1978 to pursue a solo career

June Pointer died of cancer 4/11/06 after a two year struggle with the disease.  Her place in the touring lineup had been assumed by Ruth’s daughter Issa 

The song first hit the charts in 1982 and made it to #30 on the Top 40 charts

It was used in the 1982 movie “Summer Lovers”

Re-released in 1984 with a somewhat different mix, it went to #9 on the charts and has been a favorite ever since

The 1984 version was the 13th of their 16 Top 40 hits for the group

The song was selected as one of the “Songs of the Century” by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).  It was ranked #264 out of 365 songs

In 1993 the song was used in the movie “Hot Shots Part Deux”

How Well Would You Integrate Into a Foreign Culture?

Some folk now and then will pull up roots and head off to some foreign land. I did it in the mid nineties without realizing it was truly a foreign land when I headed off to Texas.  I know, I know. How different can Texas be for a Canadian girl?  I figured since it was the same land mass and we all spoke English it could not be too different.  But it was.

 Locals for the first few months continually corrected my pronunciations of just about every word out of my mouth. Within a few months I was fitting in pretty good and the only give away that I was Canadian, or so I was told, is that I used the phrase ‘out and about’.  I embraced all things Texan and even though I have been back on Canadian soil for a few years I left a big part of my heart there in that fabulous state.

 But what about people that settle into strange lands and languages not even remotely related to their natural backgrounds?  I guess you can do it kicking and screaming or you take hold and launch yourself forward to enjoy, embrace, laugh, screw up, and then blog about the whole thing, taking all your readers into the adventure with you.

 As you know this is day three of my handing out awards to fifteen bloggers.  There are three awards, The Stylish Blogger Award, The Irresistibly Sweet Blogger Award and the Versatile Blogger.

The previous two winners were:

Colleen Brown at bikecolleenbrown.wordpress.com

Tricia The Domestic Fringe found at http://thedomesticfringe.com/

 Even though today’s blogger has awards and FP falling out of her pores I absolutely have to recognize her great work.

She is Emily Cannell at amblerangel.Wordpress.com

She is Stylish

 My twist on giving out the awards (in addition to one day at a time) is that I will list seven things about her without trying to make stuff up!

She is Irresistible

 1)     She and her family really are in Japan.  Reasons unknown but a good thing for all of us.

2)     I first found her when the earthquakes hit and her ‘Hey from Japan – Notes on Moving’ became ‘Hey from Japan – We are being shaken and stirred’. Which gave all of us a rare inside look at what was happening.

3)     She has a section on her site called ‘Culture Lessons Learned the Hard Way’ that can’t be missed

4)     Her site has had 50.222+ hits

5)     She Hurdles down rivers

6)     She has embraced different art forms and is not shy about showing her own results

7)     Her family is depicted as The Clampitts.

 Above all she is brave, (I probably would have left if not at the first shake then at the Nuclear problems that ensued after), she is eternally funny and the girl has heart!

 

She is always Versatile!

Congratulations Emily!  I am happy to follow you anywhere…at a safe distance of course!

Watch out for the Rattlers..You must be Canadian!

Watch out for the Rattlers,…..You Must be CANADIAN

In the nineties I lived in Texas for a couple of years. The first year was in a delightful little town of about fifteen thousand known as Uvalde.

Uvalde is quaint and is the birth place of Dale Evans and Matthew McConaughey.

  Almost no one knows the former, much to my shock, …what not know the Queen of the Cowboys, the wife of Roy, friend to Pat and Trigger, Happy Trails to you and all of that?

Of course everyone recognizes the latter and sad to say he left town the year I arrived I believe, taking those wash board abs off to Hollywood.  I try not to pout very much about that as my friends scold me ….for God’s sake Chris, he was only about seventeen at the time…yada yada yada..you can imagine what they say about my Twilight obsession.  (Note to self: Calm down, breathe and get your mind back on the story!). 

Where was I? Oh yes, this story doesn’t even include Uvalde but it was a starting point.  Oops my excitement is getting the better of me.  It does include Uvalde.

Anyway as Director I lived in a lovely little house nestled between two mansions on Highway eighty-three.  Actually mine was the only small house there and I loved it.

I recruited some nurses from other states and from Canada to work for me and there was a significant group of Canucks that lived in an apartment complex in town.  Come Canada Day, they hung flags from balconies and partied.  Well truth is they partied at the drop of the hat.  They were all young and boisterous.

One night when I was visiting, a group of them had to report for work at the local hospital for the night shift at twenty-three hundred hours.  It was a pleasantly warm night so the five of them decided to walk on down the highway.  

They were about halfway there when a state trooper pulled over, got out of his car and started yelling at them.  “Y’all get in this car right now!”. You have to be Canadians!”. Not said with awe or respect, but more like..how dumb can you be?….

Seems that when the sun went down the reptiles, which by the way are huge..like to lie across the highway soaking up the heat from the road.