So…here’s the thing…we don’t have cable, or ‘regular’ tv, we have a bunch of streaming services, like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, just to name a few, and PSM gives me grief because I also like YouTube.
There are shows we watch together on Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, and Peacock, there are things we watch separately, there are things we watch together on Plex, but for some reason, I still like to watch clips, movies, and tv shows that I can only find on YouTube, I can’t help it!
For example, just before I started talking to you, I was watching a series I like on YouTube, but now…when we finish talking, I am going to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race on Paramount+. But… there are things you just can’t find on the other streaming services, so I look to YouTube. Also…YouTube has shorts, or mini series, some of the same content you find on TikTok, it crosses over, but I don’t have to deal with TikTok.
I can also search for almost anything on YouTube and find it, or at least a snippet, you can’t do that with the other streaming services, not everything is there. Don’t forget the music, the videos, rare, out of date content, and sometimes I find some new and fun things. I created playlists to save things to for later. And admittedly, I have a lot of holiday movies saved on YouTube and I am not afraid to watch them throughout the year!
There, I’ve said it. I like YouTube and you can’t stop me!
That was a mouthful, yes indeed! Today, it was supposed to rain all day, and it rained in the morning, then let up in the afternoon and after talking to PSM, I decided to head to the Mt Gretna Arts Festival, turns out they were celebrating their 50th year of the festival, perfect!
I thought about taking the bike, but I wasn’t sure if the rain would hold off, so I dropped the top on Annie and headed out. I went to where the parking and shuttle buses were and decided to keep going to the festival itself. I got there, Mt Gretna is not a very big place and I didn’t have $10 for parking, nor did I wish to pay the $10 for parking, so…I turned around and went back to where the shuttle buses were, parked for free and hopped on the big yellow school bus with the rest of the folks, and back to Mt Gretna we went!
It felt like a very long ride, it was nice, through the woods, but seemed to take forever, especially when compared to coming back to the car, it was about a 5 or 7 minute drive back… they dropped us off and I was trying to find the crafter vendors, but I wasn’t sure where they were, those are the less expensive artists and creators, those that probably weren’t up for paying the more expensive booth fees to be in the festival, so I paid the $15 and went in.
Last year, we stayed outside and just walked around the crafter vendor section, this time I was on the inside and it was lovely. There were food tents, alcohol tastings and sales, the local shops were open, and the artists had their creations on display. The nice thing was, since it had rained all night and some of the morning, the temperature was very comfortable, as opposed to last year! It’s mid August, after all!
I strolled up and down the aisles, it wasn’t a huge arts festival, so I think I made it around in about an hour, maybe hour and a half, and that’s not stopping at every booth, I looked, but not everything is my jam, so I moved on from those. I was a bit peckish and happy to find the Oasis food truck with their terrific acai bowls! I remember them from last year and acai bowls make PSM and I homesick for Hawai’i, PSM even said when we go back, that’s all he’s having for breakfast every day!
If you don’t know what an acai bowl is, it’s like heaven in a dish. It’s healthy and you feel like you’re getting something bad, let me ‘splain! An acai bowl has frozen acai berries on the bottom, it’s more like in sorbet form. Then it’s topped with some goodness, traditionally it’s fruit like, well, what I had, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, granola, and honey. I also added some peanut butter. Let’s just say Y U M! The hard part is getting to the acai at first, and it’s frozen, so not easy to get into, but…once you get to it, after eating some of the fruit out of the way, you can start scooping the acai with the fruit… yeah, just yum. And filling!
Ok, back to the festival. I was eating my acai bowl, listening to Broadway musicals, walking in and out of some booths, being careful to not spill or bump into anything or anyone while I was eating! I really enjoyed myself, Mt Gretna is so pretty, I think I told you about it last year, but if not… it’s this cute area, in the woods, or at least a wooded area, the streets are narrow, the population is about 200, if that, and some of the houses are residences and a lot of them are rentals. It is so charming to just walk the area, the houses are decorated just so, there are statuary and installations in peoples yards, it definitely lends to the atmosphere for the arts festival.
There was also a band playing here and there, the No Last Call Street Band! They were so much fun! Have a listen!
I didn’t buy much, just a few things, can’t tell you all of them! I did buy a t-shirt from the festival, but what I did buy… we’re adding to the flower box! I bought a metal sunflower, sorry PSM, from one of the shops, and then from the artists, I bought a dragonfly made from steel with glad beaded eyes, a flower made from spoons, and a beautiful glass flower. What I love is that I’m making my garden bloom and there is no chance I’m going to kill any of these flowers… unless Mother Nature has her way and blows them down, but…I think I got them in the flower box pretty well. I hope you like what I’ve grown, I walked by in the evening and the way the sun was hitting the flowerbox, everything really…well… it makes me smile, I hope it does the same for you!
And with that…I bid you farewell, gotta pretend to go to sleep, work in the AM! The dogs are waiting to snuggle, sigh. G’night!
It’s been two weeks, why wouldn’t we go on a new adventure?! This time…open road style means…vroom vroom, motorcycle style!
This trip has been in the works for some time. Last year, while we were on the trip out west, we all started talking about next year’s trip, and we ketpt coming back to Canada. Keep talking and visualizing, and here we are!
We packed last night, yup, before we were leaving! ha ha. Since we were packed, easy to get out about 4p. PSM got home a little after 3p, I was still getting some work done, and just before 4p, took my bags out to the barn, strapped my bag to the back of my bike, Eunice, the 2022 Super Cheif Limited and we were good to go!
Paul was taking the Challenger, he calls it Challenger, sounds about right!
The big reason we wanted to leave around 4p was the weather, it rained last night, it rained this morning, and it’s going to rain this afternoon, potential, it’s going to rain this evening. It did…
We were going along, when we started out, it was 84 out, then it got up to 88. It was toasty, but…PSM routed us a great…well, route, that would take us away from a lot of highways and more importantly…away from Connecticut, which, I believe I’ve said this, it’s a lovely state, but the traffic is awful!
So…we realized he routed us for no traffic, but into the rain. If we had stuck with traffic, no rain… go figure! We got almost 100 miles and pulled into a rest stop, stretched our legs, checked the weather, and most importantly…put on our rain gear! Good thing we did, it started raining. Now, one of the guys in we ride with says…’put on the rain gear…no rain’, that didn’t quite work!
I’m just a wee bit short for this bike, I need a little bit of a heel or platform so I am flat footed when I come to a stop, unlike Charlene, my Scout, where I can wear my Converse sneakers. I found a pair at a Walmart near Sturgis, SD when we were there two years ago, I fought getting them, but I actually like them. They used to be a sandy/tan color, now…after almost 3 years of riding in them, through all sorts of weather, not so much. the real issue with these boots…rubber soles, ok, the rest…canvas. Can you guess what happened in the first few minutes of riding in the rain? Yup… I’m walking with a puddle in my shoe…fun!
We thought we would pull into a gas station, we were both at about half a tank, and get some respite from the rain. Couldn’t find a gas station and it was coming down harder, so Starbucks it is. We got some food, tried to dry off a little, as much as we could. We watched the rain come down hard, then let up, then come down hard, then let up. When it had let up enough, the sun broket hrough the clouds, really?
We decided it had cleared up enough to start riding again, but we weren’t taking off the rain gear, not taking chances, and it’s raining all over the PA/NY region. As we were riding, the sun was coming out, it was nice, but I started getting a little chilly, very glad for my rain gear, but brrr…
We ended up stopping at another rest area to check the weather one more time and take a bio break. At this point, the sky looked like it was clearning up, we were even chasing a few rainbows! I’m sorry i couldn’t take a pic whilewe were riding, they were bright and one of them had a friend, right next to it!
PSM said if we keep to a slower speed, we might be able to stay behind the rain, as well as the wetter the road, the more hazardous conditions, hydroplaning and all, which as you can imagine, would be bad!
Were we lucky? Nope, not a chance, why would we be? ha ha. I was in the lead at this point and kept it to about 55/60, if I got up to 65, I would slow it back down. When we left the rest stop it was about 8p, we had booked a hotel about an hours ride from where we were, we just needed to get there and crash for the night.
We were doing great, sky was clear, water from the road, but so far so good, and keeping that speed. Alas…the rain started again, and then it started getting dark, and darker, and darker, and now we’re riding in the rain, my windsheild, which as you may or may not know, on a motorcycle does not have wipers like a car! and why hasn’t someone figured this one out?! ha ha. I only think about this when it’s raining!
So… my windsheild is very rainy, my goggles are very rainy, and it is dark! A few times, I actually had to lean to the right to see the road! This was so much fun! lol. I’m glad I had my headphones on, that helped. Finally, I look in my mirror and see PSM has his signal on, I also saw the sign for the hotel near the exit.
We pull off the highway and ride for what seems like forever, only about a mile maybe, but…dark and rainy, great combination! We finally pull into the hotel, under the entrance, a nice guy who works for the hotel told us we could park there for the night, to avoid the on the bikes. Every little bit helps!
We got into the room and stripped everything off! Everything that was wet went on the heater, and we cranked that sucker up! We changed into shorts and sandles/slippahs, and headed down to the bar for a much needed drink! PSM had a Woodford Reserve bourbon, and I had Disorono, an amaretto, on the rocks. I have one a few times a year, when I want to pretend to be a grown-up. I have yet to finish one, but I like it because it’s a sweet liqueur.
After we closed the bar down, we headed back to the room so I could talk to you and we could crash.
Tomorrow…is the official start of our trip. That’s what PSM said, I’m good with that! So…I say bon nuit to you and sign off for the night, tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and bright and hot, I’m planning on drying off as we ride!
I was saddened, yesterday, to learn of Carl Weather’s passing on Thursday, February 1st, he was 76 years old. There also isn’t a cause of death listed yet.
There were so many more projects he was a part of, those are the ones that spoke to me more than anything else. He could be serious, funny, charming, goofy, all while probably knocking your lights out!
One thing I learned while looking up Carl Weathers to talk about him to you is that he played one year in the NFL, as a linebacker for John Madden’s 1970 Oakland Raiders!
The tributes that were pouring in online were touching and sweet, just knowing him seemed to enrich people’s lives and although I didn’t know him outside of a screen, you really felt what he was trying to share and convey, and I think I would have liked to sit down with him and be treated to that amazing smile!
A great Apollo Creed line: Apollo Creed versus the Italian Stallion. Sounds like a damn monster movie.
And another: Stay in school and use your brain. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, carry a leather briefcase. Forget about sports as a profession. Sports make ya grunt and smell. See, be a thinker, not a stinker.
Pretty good advice if you ask me. And on that note, good nigh Carl Weathers.
Sorry, I know I just blurted that out, but I couldn’t help myself! If you watch The Masked Singer and you haven’t seen the fist episode yet, sorry! I’m just still in shock!
If you don’t watch The Masked Singer [IMDB listing], then you’re good! If you don’t watch it, the premise is A singing competition guessing game based on Korean format King of Mask Singer. 12 celebrity performers wear costumes to conceal identities. One singer is eliminated each week and unmasked. Small hints are given for the viewer guess along. There are four judges, but it’s the audience, and the judges who vote, not just the judges, and at the end of the show, whoever gets the least amount of votes goes home. Now you know the way you win or lose. Let’s get to the rest of it.
There are 12 famous people who are in the costumes, and these costumes were nominated and won an emmy! These costumes really are something! Look at it this way, you can’t see the singer, so you need something to look at! Here is a list of all 5 seasons of costumes! There have been some great ones and some goofy ones, but all of them have been impressive. I want to say we tried to watch The Masked Dancer and one episode was enough for us, you won’t hear me talk about it again!
In each costume are celebreties that include singers, dancers, actors, politians, athletes. These performers include stage and screen, paid atheletes and olympians, you honestly never can tell! There are four judges, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke, and host, Nick Cannon. Niecy Nash is hosting the first few shows of the season, I looked it up, Nick Cannon had Covid at the time they started taping. She was fun, gave Ken Jeong the same crap Nick Cannon does! The winner of The Masked Singer is going for The Golden Mask trophy, the judges are going for bragging rights and now, The Golden Ear trophy. Each week, four singers go up against each other, before they go on, they give the audience and panel clues to their identity. When they first come out, the judges have to make a first guess and it goes into a vault, to be taken out at the end of the season and the judge with the most correct guesses, wins. Some of the clues are easy, some are tough. It’s funny to watch the judges try to guess, Ken Jeong is the goofiest of them all. The silliest part…they ALL say this is the best opening ever! And it’s always the toughest to watch someone go…
The thing we like about the show is you honestly don’t know who is in the costume and they really are doing for the love of doing it! Sometimes you can’t believe how long someone has lasted and you’re shocked at some of the ones who go home early! It really is a fun show and what we love…we watch it on Hulu, so if we want to just binge an entire season…there it is, even better…I paid for no commercials! I told you, I have no patience!
Ok, back to the first episode. This season, so far, there are Russian Dolls, Porcupine, or Robopine has he wanted to be called, you’ll see…Seashell, Raccoon, and Snail. I thought Racoon would go first, but Snail [this was the Snail singing the song] it was. He sang You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall and Oates, I thought he did pretty well. Actually, when he started singing, I actually, for a moment, thought it sounded like Barack Obama! Why not?! But it wasn’t. It was actually… Kermit the Frog! O M G! If I remember correctly, the tag line was a TV Legend, movie star, producer, singer, actor, entertainer. And wow, is he ever! If you know me, you know I am a HUGE Muppet fan, not just Kermit the Frog, as evident by my Muppets Monopoly [2 different versions], Muppets Chess set, Muppet Show and Muppet Movie collection, GIANT stuffed Kermit the Frog and Kermit the Frog cookie jar, and my other Muppet stuff, I’ll show you those some other time.
Kermit the Frog was the first eliminated singer, watch the reveal, also the first puppet/Muppet to participate in The Masked Singer. We were floored. If this doesn’t tell you what a big kid I am, we need to talk! Bottom line, we really enjoy The Masked Singer, not a lot of reality shows we watch together, but this one is fun and fun to guess and get shocked at!
And…sorry for the spoiler alert…I wonder who’s next! I won’t do that to you again, promise!
Today was a day in, cold and freezing rain, we took the pups for a walk, then settled in for…settling in!
I was texting with my sister for a minute, then the phone rang, what a treat! We are both so crazy busy that we don’t always get time to chat, so…when we do, as I said…what a treat! We talked, and talked, and talked. Like my blog, about everything and nothing. We talked family, spouses, kids, four legged fur babies, work, tv shows that we like, what we binge, wearing sweat pants, you know…the usual! Then dad called and I conferenced him in, that was a serious treat! When we hung up the phone about an hour and a half had passed and I don’t know about her, but it felt like no time at all!
A while after I got off the phone, PSM had some errands to run and off he went and my next catch up/treat…a text from JCT who I haven’t spoken to in a few months. Work, as you may or may not know had been crazy for the past few months so…unfortunately, some of my relationships suffered and for that, I am truly sorry. We texted or had a few moments on the phone, but never a serious chat like we used to. The holidays came and went, work, and life got in the way and one day led to the next and here we are, in January and we were able to get on the phone and catch up. And catch up we did…over THREE HOURS! O M G! It was FABULOUS! Like almost all of my friends, and one of the things I value more than anything…we pick up as if we just spoke the other day and I have to tell you, I la la la love it! Don’t you? That is true friendship, when you pick up the phone and talk as if no time has passed and I thank you!
Tomorrow, I actually have some phone dates scheduled, how excited am I! Best news…with my new adventure starting Monday…I’ll have more time at reasonable hours for catching up and even some quick chats and I cannot wait! Lookout ‘Ma Bell’ I’m comin’ for ya!
Date night! I’m home, on a date with my honey on a Saturday night!
The, first, Kingsman we loved. I haven’t read the graphic novel, but I want to, but I loved the movie. I thought it was clever and funny, inventive, and just violent enough to be ewe, ouch and yeah! And the toys! You might call them weapons…
The only issue I had with the movie, no, the unbelievability of the entire plot? I totally got into the movie. Samuel L Jackson’s speech pattern, lisp, whatever you want to call it, awful.
It’s been a while, but The Kingsman are back. This time, an equally annoying villain. To be honest, she’s just not my favorite actress. Now, in her defence, she played a fabulous nut job!
The basics were the same with some twists. There is an evil in the world that wants to wipe out the Kingsman and see their product take over the world or at least hold the world hostage for a price.
We start in England, following our favorite agent, Eggsy, doing well and we see where his training took him in the first movie. Then boom, explosions and his world, with the Kingsman is torn apart. He and Mark Strong, one of my favorite roles for him, end up traveling to America to enlist the help of The Statesman, the ‘yank’ version of The Kingsman. This time, instead of fine men’s tailor, this group is in Kentucky making fine whiskey, led by Jeff Bridges.
There was action, adventure, plot twists, violence, cool toys, ok weapons, bad guys, and gals, agents and a common enemy to rally against. While there were some great characters, there wasn’t a lot of character development. In the fittest movie it was a combination of bringing new recruits, watching one in particular, Eggsy, become the man and agent he is today. I get that this wasn’t about watching another new agent, but a little backstory on the other side would be good.
Big surprise in the middle that helped with the plot twists and action, and there was a lot of action, which I love and some of it was a bit ridiculous, but it worked for the movie.
Do the Kingsman and Statesmen save the world? You betcha. Do they do it in style? You betcha. Will there be another Kingsman movie? Part of me wants to say you betcha. Will I see it? You know it!
Tonight, after work, I went out to meet coworkers and the client for a happy hour.
I don’t know why they call it a happy hour, it lasts a lot longer than that!
Had a really good day training, after a tough training session at the gym, good questions, responses, engagement by the participants. One of the students even and me to stay after class and help her, that felt great!
Then it was off to happy hour! I got there and on my way to say hello to DLP, I was stopped to chat, then I went to get some food, with the intention of going back to the drink I ordered, I started talking to someone wasn’t very familiar with, as I’m usually in the field and he’s in the office during the week.
We talked movies, kids, tv shows, movies, Star Wars and you know what that means to true fans…quotes, sounds, memories, laughter and much more! Really great to not talk about work with co – workers!
We were joined by MS, then AK and talked about movies, kids and business travel, that was a big topic of discussion! Get a bunch of road warriors and you can’t get away from it. It’s nice to have common stories and interests. And…SG is Lifetime Diamond with Hilton, wow! That means ten years of Diamond status…ah..a girl can dream!
Then it was off to the next happy hour, we were very happy! Stayed for a while then off to the hotel. I had to pack and get ready for tomorrow!
I can’t wait to tell you what I’m doing or better yet, where I’m going! Pictures, stories, fun to come!
It’s Monday, so back to the daily grind, right? Off to Mt Vernon, IL I go.
As I mentioned yesterday, I stayed at a hotel last night in case the roads were bad to the airport, I was close.
I got there, checked my bags and went through security. There was literally no one on line! This is Logan airport in Boston, that never happens! Do you remember when I showed you JetBlu a few weeks ago? Nope, no one! There we people at the airport, but hundreds of flights had been canceled, so it was sparse.
I got some breakfast, got on my flight, which was full, by the way. That flight was at 840am, we waited for the de-icing to begin, then left. In Detroit, I had enough time to powder my nose and get to my next flight.
In Chicago, I had a two hour layover, but not as much time as you’d expect. Get luggage, catch shuttle to next terminal, check luggage back in, walk from B-gates terminal to C-gates terminal, then go in search of something to eat, it’s been a while and a time since since breakfast. Why is it so difficult to find something for a vegan, it’s 2017 airport people! I would like something more than the hummus cup with pretzels.
Get to gate, wait 20 minutes, board flight for St Louis. Short flight, collect luggage, go to car rental. Collect car, drive 1.30 to Mt Vernon.
I started at 7am eastern and ended 530pm central [630pm eastern].
Let’s just say, I decided if I was going to do anything for dinner, it would be coming to me! I’m staying put in my comfy clothes until I have to get up for work tomorrow!
The best part of the day…since you can now download from Netflix…I binge watched Stranger Things! Wow!
It started way to early…6am to be exact! Not right for a Sunday! PSM had a 9am flight so we left about 7am, got to the airport about 730am, had time to check his bags and spend some one-on-one time together. Can’t wait to see him again on Thursday.
Back to the hotel, ST and I go out to get some breakfast at a place that was recommended and shouldn’t have been. The food was ok, when we finally got it, enough said.
He headed to the airport, I headed to my next hotel and DLP headed to pick me up. She was with her friend, H. We went to The Green Door Tavern, one of the oldest pubs with a speakeasy in the basement. It was a great atmosphere and the food was good, bonus. Good food, conversation, friends.
Then it was on to Walmart to get candy for the office for Halloween, a shopping spree! Being silly and having a good time.
Back to the hotel, run some errands, hang out with DLP on the phone while we watched Monsters University and Bar Rescue, reminded me of when CKM and I used to do that with Hoarders. It was fun and a good memory.
Now, talking to you and thinking about drifting off to sleep.
Peaches Prattlings 