Happy Halloween

the departed

SPOOKY. Bloody, gorey, evil, sadistic, poignant. Leonardo was fabulous, as usual. Mark Damon was weak; Jack N. was diabolical....truly one of the most horrible characters in my memory.

Kids beggin' for candy and grown men dunkin' for booze

Here are a few shots from our weekend. The parade was ok ... we saw a number of Standard Poodles which is always a treat. After the whole skunk episode we switched Atticus to the devil and Champ as the angel. HallowZooWeen was chaotic but Emma and her friend Cogan, who ended up joining us, had a great time. We went to a party after we dropped Emma and Cogan off and everyone there were in great costumes. As we were not in costume we had to think quick on our feet so I was suddenly Will and Will was me ... not to creative but it worked. Of course Will did not really stay true to my character as he was dunking for small liquor bottles but I was so proud of the fact that he was able to retrieve them better than anyone at the party.

attie got it in the face

Now it wasn't exactly like the picture here shows, but after a full walk that went into the night, Attie was off in the distance and close to the car where we saw him very close to what we thought was a rather calm and brave squirrel.

Now, I wonder why Attie isn't just jumping all over that squirrel, we each thought. The squirrel even lifted his tail.

Oh. Then we got it. Attie stepped away from the waddling squirrel, which wasn't even a squirrel. Nope. It was a skunk.

We saw and chased Deer a couple times. We came across frisbee golfers. The squirrels were harrassed into the trees and left their nuts on the ground. But then, the closest Attie got to anything of interest, was to the hind side of a Skunk.

I'll bet he wished his sniffer couldn't sniff so well after that squirt of vapor. We were a little dismayed at our own sniffers.

So, into the mixing bowl went the peroxide, baking soda, tomato juice, dish soap... everything but a bullet and a hole in the ground. Attie didn't understand why. I said, "Well now, we don't want to shoot you just cause you stink so bad. But you're going to be the devil in the parade tomorrow."

Katie is so very Carrie! Lucky girl!

Katie ... how did your meeting go? What was she like? Does she know that she gave the greatest performance ever filmed in Requiem for a Dream? (I mean ... to me)

The Canary didn't die so Will was able to mine this weekend

On Sunday morning I dropped off some breakfast for Will at CCMCO. I walked in the back where he and SuFey were recreating scenes from the Industrial Revolution. I wrote Will a little note telling him how sexy he looked doing industrial labor and stuck it on his breakfast. That is nice and all but Will did not get the note ... SuFey did. And really ... when I think about it ... he is very cute. Maybe my new crush? I am sorry if I have created any sexual harassment issues at CCMCO. Any-who ... Will comes home at the end of the day looking like this ....

weekend report

good weekend: funeral was lovely. Makes me think about mine. Slobo will write an ode to Sue, Katie will sing: "It don't matter where you bury me" by Emmylou Harris, Southern Hills caters....or Lambrusco's. Will delivers eulogy, nicely. Meggie publishes the hand-out, like you did for dad....we'll fly Amanda in to help(note that comes out of the funeral account I'm setting up).

Anyway...enough of that....you can find all of this is the funeral file....which I've hidden somewhere in the house and Jesse is responsible for finding it....hee-hee....Jesse wouldn't want to be left out of the family fun.

I went to the lake and stayed for about 15 min. b/c it was so cold and blustery....white-caps on the lake and so I came home.

Sunday was the speaking engagement and then a good nap at AMC, and then another meeting. Hung some art, grocery shopped and wrote in my journals.

I love this life.

weekend report

Marie Antoinette

Here's how I approached the viewing of this film: I went alone, on Sunday afternoon. I saw her grandmother tell her she was to be the queen of France. I saw her ride to France. I saw her marry the dauphine and go dancing with him in costume. I saw her meet the cute guy. I fell asleep and woke up at the credits. Can anyone tell me how it ends?

Can't sleep for thinking of his number three.

My brother has let me borrow his pick up truck while the Porsche is getting a face lift. Each day we drive it we are starting to talk a little slower, support Bush a little more and are becoming more and more interested in NASCAR. Will came outside over the weekend and found me trying to shoot Champ dead .... I ain't gonna have nothing french in my house!
Here is the work that our new book club is discussing this month ... it's a masterpiece. I love the questioning of self the author describes as in, "maybe? kinda?" so powerful. So .... how was everyone else's weekend? Katie ... how was Jordan?

REMEMBER DALE EARNHARDT
He walked tall and sported that grin,
For every enemy, he made a friend.
Driving that number three around the track,
It's hard to believe Dale won't be back.
A legend?Oh! Yes, it is true,
Racing is what he liked to do.
They laid him to rest in Carolina ,
Wish I could have been there?
maybe ... kinda?
His death has taken a toll on me,
Can't sleep for thinking of his number three.
Four children and a wife are left behind,
To cherish this man and his familiar sign.
He has driven his ?Chevy for the very last time,
Im left to write for him this poem and rhyme.
Goodbye my friend?you made it through,
Heaven's gates opened wide when they saw it was you.
Your master and maker gave you a call,
We long will remember when you walked tall.
Lord help us do right and not look back,
For one day, too, we will leave Earth's track.

" WILL HAS CREATED A MONSTER" or May I introduce the next Danika Patrick

So ... I was a bit "over" the whole Element thing ... a tad conventional for my taste and had been talking incessantly about the Pontiac Solstice. Will tells me to drive the Porsche for awhile to get use to lack of back seats, sports car handling etc. (for some reason he did not consider the convertible Del Sol I had when I met him a sports car even though it had no back seats, was a 5 speed and could get pretty fast (calm down Will ... I said pretty fast ... not real fast) That Porsche had me at "broooom brooom" ... hook, line and sinker I am a goner ... I am in love. Yesterday on the highway I beat a Mustang ... it was beyond fantastic! Did I have to go 100 to do it? yes .... Did I miss my exit? yes ... worth it to beat a boy in a Mustang? hell yeah .... look out Hallett Raceway ... and 100 is not going to cut it out there! Now there is a funny aspect to all of this other than my 12 year boy like love of speed? ... me, will, champ and atticus in the Porsche? PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like to look at it as family bonding time rather than a crowed car =)

The Sentinel

Terrible! Even though it had a good cast, it was poorly written with a weak plot.....what's going on? Is it me or does it seem like critics give good reviews because it's in their best interest to have the American public going to movies, regardless of the quality? Sad...sad...

Thank You for Smoking

Wow! This movie was so terrible that I'm rethinking the whole Netflix committment. Is there not a good movie anywhere? I have The Libertine for tonight....hope Johnny Depp won't disappoint.

Grey Gardens

See if I'll ever take your recommendation again, Slobbie and Mungie....this movie scared the bejesus out of me....

Christmas Break

I'm contemplating an idea for us. During the break between Christmas and New Years, when CCM is shut down, we can travel to Venice FL. and spend some time with Baga. Michelle, your dad is usually in Florida at that time, right? And, M & J, do you have N & B during that week? Maybe you could go up to Orlando while you're there? And, Katie, we love FL at that time of year...don't we? And if Jordan can get away...he can come too...it can be the 2006 CCM Brd. of Director's mtg.

Name that movie

Below are a few excerpts from movie scripts. Can you name them?

MOVIE 1 (what is it? Mom?)

FADE IN:
1 INT. CHANCE'S ROOM - DAWN
A large-screen color TV dominates a room sparsely decorated with expensive furniture of the twenties. There are no books, magazines, newspapers to be seen. A man, CHANCE, is in bed, sleeping. His eyes slowly open, and, with no change of expression, he sits up and turns on the TV with a remote control. He reaches for a pocketwatch on the bedside table, and, as he looks at it, the watch chimes. He gets out of bed, crosses to the closet, his eyes never straying from the TV. Chance puts on a bathrobe and leaves the room.

2 INT. POTTING ROOM - DAWN
The room is filled with the tools of a gardener. Chance enters and turns on a 1940's black and white TV that sits on a shelf. A wheel with colored gels spins in front of the set, giving an early form of color television. He waters a few of the plants in the potting room as he watches TV.

3 INT. GARAGE - DAWN Chance, with a dust rag and feather duster, cleans off a 1935 limousine, in perfect condition.

MOVIE 2 (What is it?)

...... highlands - night

Hand in hand through the heather they run, silhouettes along a ridge, their breath blowing silver clouds in the moonlight, the ..... wind whipping through their hair.

They stop at a grove at the edge of a precipice, overlooking a loch gleaming in the moonlight. So beautiful it’s sacred.

Marion
You’ve been here before?
William
Some nights. I have dreams. Mostly dreams I don’t want. I started riding at night to fill up my mind so that when I did sleep I’d dream only of the ride and the adventure.
Marion
Did it work?
William
No. You don’t choose your dreams. Your dreams choose you.

He looks at her. They kiss suddenly, so long and hard that they tumble into the heather, rolling, devouring each other. Through their passion...

William
I want...to marry you!
marion
I...accept your proposal!
William
I’m not just saying it!
Marion
Nor I!
William
But I won’t give you up to any nobleman.
Marion
(stopping)
You scare me.
William
I don’t want to scare you. I want to be yours, and you mine. Every night like this one.
Marion
This night is too beautiful to have again.
William
I will be with you, like this. Forever.

They kiss again...


MOVIE 3

CHRISTIAN V/O
This story is about love. The woman I loved is, she
is…she is….

Christian breaks off. A moment of anguish. Barely able to form the words, he forces himself to write.

CHRISTIAN V/O (CONT’D)
The woman I loved is dead.

CLOSE ON: Christian, staring, lost.

SUDDENLY: We see words as Christian continues typing.

CHRISTIAN V/O (CONT’D)
She was the most beautiful courtesan in all...(Where... this is me, Munga, typing)

Just got this from David ...

We just got the results of the pathology and she is fine and in the clear. They concluded she had cat scratch fever. Not exactly sure where she got that, but they would have had to do the removal anyway.
Thank you for your thoughts, words, prayers and concern.
Dave, Missy and Emma Doodle

My new career

I'm thinking of investing in luxury abodes for celebrities visiting Africa....we can find them the blackest babies and then set up a Hollywood-like commune for their pleasure. Spa features will be included, along with Wolfgang Puck's deep-dark Africa menus, Testino as their photogragher, Versace Africa-wear, what do you think? Are you-all in?

Is it me?

Is it me or is there a celebrity trend starting? I can just see it now ...rich socialites who want to keep up with the Jones (or the Pitts) following suit and making their way thru the brush in their LV for their photo op. I always woner what it must be like to be an African with these wacky people who just keep showing up. Those kids must be thinking, "who are these white people?" I agree that it is wonderful to put a spotlight on a situation like Africa that needs help but when the trend is over thank God for organizations like Doc. w/o Borders.

The smallest Frette

You may or may not know that Emma went in yesterday to have her lymph node removed b/c it is expanding. It is either an infection or cancer ... the earliest we will know something is Friday but most likely it will be next week. If it is cancer than things will move pretty quick and will include chemo. Cancer does not make any sense but kids and cancer really don't make any sense. We went to see her last night, she is at home and pretty cranky which I guess I would be too. She can't sweat for two weeks which is like asking Atticus not to chase squirrels. She loves to run and do her gymnastics so it is going to be a long two weeks for Missy and Dave. I will keep you posted ...
In other news ... Katie ... did you walk by the crash yesterday? I can't believe how close it was to your place! It is so tragic but I am happy that more people were not hurt.

Aren't we Smart?

Aren't we a smart country? The Norwegians think so. If we get the Nobel prize for literature (Cormac McCarthy or Dellilo could do it, and there's a number of others) and then the Nobel Peace Prize... we'd sweep the awards. That's bigger than Romania winning the most Olympic medals per capita! (not to mention the most Olympic Medals per pound too... all those little gymnists.)

But who's going to win the Peace Prize? What if the Norwegians give us all the awards except the Peace Prize. Is it a form of protest? Does it say, "How does a coutnry so smart mess up the Mesopotamia so badly?" Does it say, "Even though we have a lot of peaceful people here, Cheney out weighs them all."

But what if we don't win the Nobel Prize for Literature? Have you considered what this will mean? It might say, "You are really good at all those practical sciences, all those highly technical pursuits (even though your kids don't do well at them in school, and most young Americans would rather be a rapper than a Chemist, a football player than an economist, a UPS driver than a physicist), but maybe you should stop, relax a minute, read a book, take a break, get some soft science done, think about life... not how it began... you Americans proved that the big Bang took Place, we Norwegians gave you the Prize for that, and for that we commend you, but maybe you should think about why so many Americans think the world started even after the first Chinese civilization/dynasty began recording history."

655,000 dead in Iraq and Sanctions in NK

N (u) K (e)!

If anyone wants to know how I felt in Tyler, during meetings, it was well represented by the way Bush obviously felt during his press conference today.

655,000 dead in Iraq since we start "fighting them over there". Boy, I'll bet the Iraqis are going to start converting to our humble and kind version of Christianity... let's just send them the Republican Evangelical Right... and "fight them over there!"

John Hopkins has got some methods all right. 655,000 dead, mostly supported by death certificates. Let's face it, it's a civil war, and it's only civil war and not Geonocide because the Sunnis and Shiite are competing with death tolls.

Was the Foley scandal politically motivated? Was the Hopkin's report politically motivated? Was Bob Woodward's book politically motivated? How about Baker's report waiting until after the election? Is that Politically motivated? Is the Baker report going to urge a new direction (changing the damn course)? Probably. How about the new budget for the decimated U.S. Army? Is that being put to congress after the election motivated by politics?

When Sunnis and Shiite, who once lived in any neighborhood they wanted to in Baghdad, decide to move to segregated communities, for fear that they will be killed otherwise, it's Civil War. What's worse, this means that the civil war is just getting started. When the sides are drawn, when the civilians have moved to their neighborhoods (shiite on the West side of the river and Shunis on the east side) this will mark the real skurmish. This is when shelling can start. This is when they fight over the oil.

Oh boy. This is when we need one of those bumper stickers like republicans had for Clinton, the ones that said, "Don't Blame me, I didn't vote for him." And what does this mean anyway? That we're allowed to blame those who voted for Bush?

Blood is on their hands. Blood is on Kerry's hands. Blood is on Hillary's hands.

This conflict will be one of those chapters that the school children will grow up not knowing as much as their parents, because the conservative history books, the ones written be the geniuses who don't believe in science and evolution (thought we got through that era in the Snopes trial), will play it down. But this conflict is a turning point in our country's history, much more even than Vietnam. The war machine has gotten out of control. Eisenhower is rolling in his grave. He's blaming the electorate for letting a dumb draft dodger go to war.

Dear Leader ...

Why's he got to be such a hater? He is really one of the most interesting figures on the world stage. My personal favorites moves are when he kidnaps people from South Korea that he "wants" and the fact that he thinks he descended from the heavens to reign on the earth. He must have grown up with the "Free To Be You and Me" record because that is one healthy self esteem! But really ... he's no Milosevic, that's all I have to say.

Now we know

Sue ... I think we have found the reason for Will's poor sportsmanship. This letter is from yesterday's Tulsa World's Letter to the Editor and I think that we have a certain high school to blame.


Bad sportsmanship
10/08/2006, Page G2 of Opinion

Regarding "BTW 43, Jenks 37: Booker T. upsets Jenks" (Sept. 23): What some people might not know was the poor sportsmanship shown by Booker T. after the game. After a bit of well-deserved celebration, some of the players went to the center of Jenks' field and jumped and spat on the painted Trojan head.
I understand how exciting it must be to upset the No. 1 team at home, but there is no place in sports for that kind of behavior.
Lonnie Iannazzo, Tulsa

What a lovely weekend ... the weather was perfect! What did everyone do? I can't even talk about what happened to OU but my congrats to Jesse and his Hogs. The dogs had a big weekend but their highlight was on Saturday when they went to St. Dunstans to be blessed.
Here we are reading scripture about how great dogs are, you can see that Champ and Attie are really in to it ...




Here, the priest continues to tell us how great dogs are ....


Atticus gets blessed and ensures his passage in to the pearly gates ... oh how I hope there are squirrels there ...


This woman was so wonderful she just had to get a shot of her. She looked like she had walked out of a childrens book ...

The Science of Sleep (which unfortunatly happens while you are watching this movie)

So has any anyone seen Science of Sleep? Will and I saw it last Sat night. We almost never go to the movies b/c it is so pricey but we splurged on this one b/c we both wanted to see so badly. What a disappointment!! We could not even make it to the end of the movie .... has anyone else seen it? If so ... what did you think? If not ... what has everyone seen lately?

Oh, those Marines.....

Call in the Marines....especially if they come dressed like this!!!!! Thank you, Katie for sending this picture.....wow!!! No wonder Jordan wanted to join up....this uniform looks amazing....

So, you're going to Quantico on Thursday? And I'm sure the entire Clay clan will be joining you. Will he get his orders then?

Shane and Wendi had a kid last week ... here he is ... pretty darn cute I would say ...

as luck would have it, Will and I entered our DNA information in to a machine over the weekend to see what a baby we had would look like and here is the result ....

he definitely has Will's eyes and my nose ...

My apologies in advance to those cold weather fans out there but
IT'S GOING TO BE 95 DEGREES TODAY AND IN THE 90'S ALL THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WO WO WO WO WO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY, HAPPY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
thank you.
IK ... what is it like in your neck of the woods?