One Ringy Dingy [SOCS]

Lily Tomlin said “one ringy dingy, two ringy dingy” on Laugh-In when she played a sarcastic telephone operator. Later, I saw Lily Tomlin in a one-woman show and she was funny then too, though not crazy funny like on Laugh-In. One of the skits that sticks out in my mind was when she said she always wanted to be a Howard Johnson’s waitress, riffing on the trope of waitresses who are dying to become actresses, I guess. Then again, Howard Johnson’s was pretty awesome… we went there on our driving vacations when I was a kid. I used to get Ipswich clams, and I still don’t know what they are or why they’re different from regular clams. Their blueberry pancakes with sausage links were yummy too. I also loved Lily in 9 to 5 with Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda. Super funny movie. Of course, Jane is great in her role on Grace and Frankie ~ with Lily Tomlin costarring! Not sure if Dolly makes an appearance on that show. Anyway, I had an Aunt Lily, who told risqué jokes, and my protagonist in Ghosted is named Lily. YES I AM STILL WORKING ON THAT NOVEL. In case you were wondering, which I’m sure no one is. I actually have been making good progress. This post is about rings though, so let’s get back on track. Besides telephones, fingers have rings and so do trees and also ring tailed lemurs. I’m not sure what a lemur is… some kind of monkey? Must google. But not now. Now I’m just streaming. There was a song about putting a ring on it, which I think means that if a man is interested in a woman, he should propose marriage to her. That makes sense, but then again it doesn’t really. It’s not like there’s a stigma in having multiple relationships before marriage any longer, so why can’t someone be interested for a short time and then move on without the other party turning into a psycho? On the other hand (the one without a ring, just saying), if your goal is to find a life partner, you don’t want to waste time with players. People should be honest about their intentions and goals. That said, it’s really bothering me about the clams, so I’m ending this now in order to google. Will look up lemurs too. It’ll be a whole Animal Kingdom google palooza…

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

November Share

Melanie has a new set of questions for us this week…

1. Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

Dessert!

2. Who do you admire most in the world?

My daughters ~ they’re awesome! 💖💖

3. With the obvious restrictions in place, what do you regret not doing in the last year?

I had to cancel my trip to NorCal to visit my daughter. I also had to cancel a fun trip to Las Vegas with friends. All game nights and restaurant type get-togethers have also been canceled, so I’ve just been sitting at home…

4. Feel free to share something you’re grateful for.

I did get to see my LA daughter yesterday and I made unicorn cupcakes with my little granddaughter. This also counts as my smile for the week!

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Truthful Tuesday Holidays

PCGuyIV continues his series by asking if the pandemic has altered our Thanksgiving or Christmas plans. 🎄

For the last few years, I’ve been flying up to NorCal to spend Thanksgiving with my eldest and her husband. This year, I won’t fly. I have a bunch of credit with Southwest for trips I didn’t take in the Spring, and they’ll remain unused. May end up losing them. I am planning to drive up there this year, which will be a giant pain, but worth it to see them. It’s about a six hour trip each way, fastest route, maybe more if there’s a traffic jam. I could go the scenic route, which adds at least an hour, but it’s so pretty along the coast that I might do it coming back.

Being a Jewish atheist, I don’t celebrate Christmas, though I enjoy seeing the lights and nomming up cookies, not to mention Reese’s peanut butter trees. I never had much interest in turning Chanukah into Christmas lite, so I’ll probably ignore most of the season as usual, except for giving gifts to my grandchildren.

Regarding the plague. I know some are tired of wearing masks, distancing, etc, but for me… I’m doubling down on all that. The Rose Garden fiasco says to me: be more careful, not less. I especially don’t want to pass this terrible bug to my family.

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

My Retirement Trip

I have a fantasy that after I retire (and G has passed over the rainbow bridge) I’ll see more of the U.S. I’ll do it leisurely, maybe by train, or partly by car… spend as much or as little time as I please wherever I go. I figure I can begin in the Northwest corner and see Vancouver. Then I’ll mosey on over to Montana and check out the Big Sky. Idk how long I’ll stay there before dipping south to visit Yellowstone…

Next, there will be a stop in North Dakota to visit the reptile zoo. Then I’ll make my way to the Chicago area, where hopefully I can visit some peeps and cruise around some old haunts. Then I would want to see a bit of Michigan before continuing on to Pennsylvania. Never have been to Philly, so I need to stay there a bit.

After that, I need to deal seriously with New England. Boston is a must-see, and also Providence. Burlington, VT is where some of my family lived way back, so it’s on the list. I want to go up to Maine too and see the places Stephen King writes about. Obviously, I will spend some time in New York, duh!

I’ll journey down the East Coast and check out the touristy stuff in D.C. Gotta see some of Virginia also… and absolutely for sure Nashville. Dunno if there’s anything else I need to check out before visiting Atlanta. And I will definitely see New Orleans, as I’ve been wanting to for ages…

Apparently I have to cross some vast nothingness to get to New Mexico, where I’d likely spend a bunch of time seeing Cool Things. Breaking Bad, yo! Colorado is in the plan, even though I went as a teenager. Worth a second visit, imo. And Utah! Drove through Zion National Park once on the way to Vegas and it was utterly gorgeous. This time, I’d really see it. Arizona needs a revisit as well. Beautiful place!

Nice fantasy trip, yes? 😍

~*~

Written for Fandango’s Dog Days #1.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Forever In Blue Jeans

Today’s prompt from City Sonnet is the letter J.

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©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Images from Happy Color and me.

Aye Aye!

I confess I looked up words ending in “i” and wow there are a lot! For City Sonnet’s prompt post…

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Images from Diane/Sam and me.

30 Day Film Challenge 3

I found this fun challenge at Sandmanjazz. As I did with the books (not the bingo, but the 30 days), I’m going to do these movies in blocks. So instead of a post a day for 30 days, I’ll have 6 posts total. Here’s my third set of films…

11. Every romcom makes me silently cheer with happiness when things work out. You’ve Got Mail is a great example of this.

12. The Hotel Budapest was confusing imo.

13. Under the Tuscan Sun gave me a craving to visit Italy. And whenever I see Hugh Grant on the screen, I’d like to travel to England…

14. Generally, I won’t watch sports movies, but I loved Moneyball (about baseball). It helped that Brad Pitt starred.

15. Philomena was an incredibly sad movie, but super great. Of course! Judi Dench stars in it.

See ya next round! 🙂

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 43

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

So… fireworks. I love to watch a professional display of fireworks, though I haven’t for a few years now. They’re gorgeous and dramatic, and it’s fun to hang with family/friends as they’re going off spectacularly. Unfortunately, socializing is pretty much on hold right now, or should be, so I stayed home alone this past 4th. But I got to hear fireworks, from around 7pm until past midnight… and that’s not counting all the random “test” fireworks people have been shooting off the last couple weeks. Saturday night’s craziness was unlike any 4th I’ve experienced before: an unrelenting solid block of rolling thunder punctuated by occasional huge blasts. Periodically sirens shrieked down the street and car alarms activated. Hour after hour. BECAUSE FREEDUMB!

That’s what it’s all about here in the USA: do what you want, and f*ck any consideration for neighbors and the community at large. Gotta blast off my rockets, don’t care if people have infants, don’t care if it terrifies dogs and horses. ME ME ME. That’s what matters. Me! My pleasures. My whims. My fun. That’s why some people won’t wear masks. It’s slightly unpleasant and that’s just too much to ask in aMErica. Don’t care if it helps others. Why should people care about each other anyway?

Now, I can’t stand our current WH occupant just as much as anyone, but this isn’t his fault. We’ve always been selfish and horrible. Remember the fuss people made when airlines did away with peanuts? Why should I care about someone suffocating from anaphylactic shock when I want to chomp on some salted nuts in the skies? People got angry about the installation of ramps and special doors to accommodate wheelchairs. And god forbid we print things in multiple languages to help others understand directions or whatever. That’s such an imposition on ME ME ME. I might have to unfold an extra piece of paper, omg, the agony!

Selfishness is at the root of all this. I don’t pretend to have any idea how to fix it, but we are just people here same as anywhere. Why do folks in other countries have fewer issues with being kind and considerate? Or so I read. I haven’t actually been anywhere.

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Blossom [99 words]

“Bloom where you’re planted,” they told her. And she did. She adapted and persevered, thrived and blossomed. She was a country girl with the greenest thumb, but she could sparkle with the best of them under the city lights. She grew herbs on a tiny terrace in Queens while listening to Johnny Cash. She took a tract house and made it her own, with purple paint in the bedroom and a vegetable garden in back. And there were always flowers wherever she roamed. She gave bouquets of kindness to everyone she met.

I miss you, Mommy. Rest in peace. 🌹💔🌹

~*~

Written for the Carrot Ranch.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

FPQ74: The Reopening

Fandango provocatively asks…

Which pre-pandemic activities are you ready to resume (or have you already resumed)? Which, if any, pre-virus activities are you likely to continue to avoid?

I have been going into my office a couple times per week and am totally fine with resuming a full-time schedule. There are only a few of us in a large suite and we hardly get any visitors. I will likely bring my own lunch so as not to deal with the cafe.

I’ve already been to my dentist for a normal cleaning and X-rays. I felt perfectly safe. They took my temperature as I came in and everyone was masked. I would also be okay with going to a regular doctor, if necessary.

When I grocery shop or go into other crowded public places, I wear a mask, even if it’s not required. I plan to continue doing this indefinitely. It’s uncomfortable, but I think it’s worth it. 😷

As I mentioned, I’ve visited my family in LA and have had a socially distant BYO picnic with friends. I’d probably be okay with outdoor dining at a regular restaurant. But maybe not… can’t predict how crowded it might get.

I want to get my hair cut and colored, but my daughter talked me out of it. I guess I can wait or figure out some DIY alternative.

I want to visit my older daughter in NorCal, but I’m definitely not ready to deal with either airports or flying. I could drive, but that’s a huge PITA. We shall see… 😞

While I find it enjoyable to hear the sounds of people having fun at our community pool, I’m not ready to join them. Not that I was a pool person in the first place. We also have a great gym though, but I’m not eager to go back there either. I’ll be passing up all peopley events for the foreseeable future, such as fairs or festivals or concerts or movies or even (my favorite) game nights with a bunch of people touching stuff.

Not worth the risk.

~*~

Images from Fandango and Pexels.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.