Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving


Billy, Deuce and I spent our early Thanksgiving afternoon on the beautiful deserted beach at Dauphin Island. Heaven, just perfect.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

A POEM WORTH READING

And sharing!

(Author unknown)

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly

For they knew whereof he spoke.

B ut we'll hear his tales no longer,
For old Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his p assing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contributio n
To the welfare of our land,
Someone who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With you r enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end?

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.< /span>

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

Saturday, November 12, 2011

November is Good

Please let me preface that with the fact that I am not one of those "Northshore Snobs", I'm a yankee who's been here since '75, bore a cajun girl and am not going back. Louisiana is my home and that's that'

It has been a crappy week at our house this week. We had to put a cat down, we adopted a cat, hubby's still out of work on medical because of a cat tripping him on the stairway, a coworker and her father died unexpectedly last week and we attended the funeral and I'm losing a special girlfriend at the spaceship factory who's transferring to DC. We definitely needed a getaway.

We found out about the fantastic 3 Rivers Art Festival in Covington. We like to attend this every other year because it takes place on one of our favorite weekends to check out the Louisiana Renaissance Festival in Hammond (a MUST attend event if you like fall fests)

With artists of every ilk from Louisiana to North Carolina, this festival's enjoyment factor was multiplied by 10,000 because of the perfect November Southeast Louisiana weather.





I apologize ahead of time for the number of pictures, but these are just the favorites of the several hundred that we took. I hope you enjoy and make the effort to attend in the coming years. Festivals in this area are fantastic.
So without further ado, here are some of what we thought were interesting pieces of art or sites found at Three Rivers Arts Festival in Covington Louisiana:


































































This was the end of our day, taken at Bayou Liberty - close to our home.

Thursday, November 03, 2011

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Mr. Toad himself

Read the story here


equity research analyst Todd J. Remis had his own taste of the fairytale life during his wedding to Milena Grzibovska on Dec. 28, 2003, at Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, N.Y.

But when Remis and H & H Photography hooked up, the result was an entrepreneur's nightmare.

Remis has filed a lawsuit against H&H Photographers as well as its original founders, who are now both in their 80s, for $4,100 for the cost of photography plus $48,000 to bring back the principal attendees and recreate the wedding so new photos can be taken. What Remis failed to disclose in his legal papers is that he got divorced in 2008 -- and he doesn't know the address of his ex-wife, who returned to her native Latvia. "Honestly, I think the whole thing is an abusive lawsuit," Dan Fried told The Huffington Post. "Having to go through this along with my dad and partner and partner's dad is a real shame. We have a lot of pride in our work, a love of photography and thousands of happy clients over 65 years. The whole thing is a shame."

According to Fried, Remis came to the office in January 2004 to pick up his wedding proofs (though in legal papers, Remis denies getting any pictures). "He complained to us right away," says Fried. "And the company made an effort to try to find a common ground with him. We said if we missed something, we would be happy to offer another type of shoot or do touchup on some images and make some changes for the prints for the wedding album. But that was not enough for him."

Remis continued to file complaints but never picked up his wedding album or paid his final balance. After years, H&H sent Remis a bill for the outstanding amount due. "He responded with a threatening letter and then shortly thereafter, he sued," says Fried. That was in 2009, six years after the wedding, a year after the couple separated and a few weeks before the statute of limitations would have expired.

Monday Morning Smile