the Vagaries of Life

and how not to get too wound up in your own vagaries

What is he talking about ?
 We had an interesting week end involving muscle weakness and inability to stand. Followed by an expensive trip to ER and being admitted.
Not me. BUT , obviously , I was involved.

Advice  ? Don't be silly. 
I'm merely mentioning the topic

Weather is turning clement and passable
cool winds , dry and offering the possibility of good warmth

The Left Hand doesn't know

what the right is doing

National LeftHanders day

Weather turned cool and wet

Adding Contacts but

... I've added another name on FaceBook. But warned the chap that I'm not a reliable contact on FB

Weather : cloudy / partly cloudy and slightly cooler

Facing the Book

or FaceBook and me

I'm away from home. And blogging , a bit. But very little FB.
I took the precaution of using the U.S. phone # to verify the log in process , as we would be using a new server down here.
Last year FB , blocked my sign ins from a new server.
Guess , that I'm really not into FB

Ah , my flirtation w/ social media is on the wane again

Weather is ' glorious made by this ' son ' of York ' Shakespeare , Henry the V

January 25, 2017 – NATIONAL IRISH COFFEE DAY – NATIONAL OPPOSITE DAY

Irish Coffee - the origins. In 1942 at Shannon Airport , on a cold and blustery day , travellers were warmed by a new concoction , Irish Coffee. 
No offence to the Irish but their coffee must be 200 th on the list cuz I'm betting that adding liquor to coffee comes close to grinding the beans in originality.



Jan 25 Jet Strm running in a wide swathe over the Great Lakes going ENE
This data is from environment Canada. Thus the colder temps are N of the Great Lakes.


From Brett Anderson at Accuweather

JA 23 - 29 drier zone above Fla ,Fla gets a white colour which means nothing special happening

JA 30 - FE5 drier zone for Fla

The Worst Blew Through

The large weather front came and went. No tornados for us. Strong winds for three days.
High pressure in place and big blue sky

' When the rain is blowing in your face

penned Robert Zimmerman

Not yet , here. Big gusts and fro - ing trees
" Fro - ing " ?
As in  tossing to and fro

Arsenal  , my English favourite in soccer. Won , ugly.
Each coach was screaming and gesticulating
The verdict , that the missed or improper calls leveled out
did very little to calm nerves

Swansea City ............

What ????

I follow English Football. And to -day , 17 th place SC FC beat Liverpool. SC FC own the worst starting season record for goals against , this century in the Premiership.

My fishing tally took a boost , this past few days. I got a couple of pinfish called ' grunts ' , generically , and two catfish on succeeding days. The last one , last night was 2 # which is massive fishing off the dock.

the Talk of the Day

we had a robbery here , not us

Two bikes got nicked from a bicycle rack. And we always think that its safe here. 
I wonder if bike thieves are violent or workaday types ,   doing a job , earning some bucks. 
Some job.

' Whats it all about Alfie ?

..... '   from the movie ' Alfie '

Well , what Alfie didn't get til the end , was  ' its all about people '

Hope that I get it soon !

Weather :another glorious day - some humidity but sunny and patchy blue up there

In the Cookie

... such wisdom.  " Whatever you were going to do , do it , there are only so many to - morrows "

Thus , we went to the bar for lunch.
The bar is called ' the Toasted Monkey ' , we split a burger / fries and had Yeungling and Pinot Grigio . To - day is to -morrow and we may go again.

Weather : warm / sunny
and the manatees came to loll around the cut

No , bar to - day. Still had 2 beers
Actually , dinner was hotdogs and beans
Hebrew National weiners
' We answer to a higher authority '

" If You're Willing .............. "

to be lucky " New York is for you

to play the game
Its coming around again " Carly Simon

That Carly Simon quote starts

" I know nothing stays the same
But if you're willing to play the  game
Its coming around again 

Chorus :
--  I do believe   - I do believe
I believe in love "

Somehow , the lyrics seemed good for to -day
Weather : cloudy , warm and low humidity

Believe !

I have the song worm disease , couldn't shake the tune
Thus , I went Googl - ing for the lyrics

Baby sneezes
Mommy pleases
Daddy breezes in
So good on paper
So romantic
So bewildering

I know nothin' stays the same
But if you're willin' to play the game
It's comin' around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart (Broken heart)

Pay the grocer
You fix the toaster
You kiss the host goodbye
Then you break a window
Burn the soufflé
Scream the lullaby

I know nothin' stays the same
But if you're willin' to play the game
It's comin' around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart

And I believe in love
But what else can I do
So in love with you

I know nothin' stays the same
But if… 

How Do You Spell Relief

B - A -T- G - I - R - L

She has been protecting us for 50 years.
Right ! way to much Sy Fy channel watching

Neato ! the sun was just colouring the eastern sky
and the moon was out west hanging in the sky
All this happening about 7: 20 AM.

Racing , to - day we watch the horsies go at it
Dining in the Sky Terrace which is about 4 floors up but good view and clean and presentable. A pleasant day outing.

Go Big Red - from the movie Secretariat

Whats Up

Doc  ala Bugs Bunny

Big sun and warm , already

Thur is designated ' go to 7 - 11 ' morning. I run out and grab a coffee refill for $1.06.
This morning , I went w/ Fr Vanilla and Fr Vanilla creamer. This combo is not necessarily healthy. However , I tried Columbian brew on Sunday and it was bitter ( very strong , I guess ).
You see , when people ask why Florida for a winter get away vs lets say a cruise or an island    ( Mexico ???? , I don't want to climb a wall ). My stock answer is , there has to be a 7 - 11 down the street
Thus , philosophically , I feel obligated to hit the 7 - 11 about 2 X  a week.
And I've been pleasantly surprised by offers of mini tacos or 1/2 a breakfast sandwich w/ the coffee.
Often doughnut and coffee is $1.68 , all prices incl tax

Happy 10 th Anniversary

to iPhone

As Kleenex and SkiDoo have slipped into our daily lexicon , iPhone is sometimes synonymous w/ smart phone.
Not the first smart phone and sometimes charged w / outright theft or usurpation , the iPhone stands as a testament to timing and thinking.
Other cell phones had cameras BUT not like the iPhone. Designed for non business use - fun and utility seemed to be the thrust of the iPhone philosophy.
Touch screen technology was game changing and hit a chord w/ users.
Now , strongly footed on the iPhone 7 revolution , only market saturation seems to be a problem.
Our iPhone 4s s were bought new and 2 generations out of date or used from a friend. In fact , I was wondering how out of date that our phones really were.
Truth be told , I goofed. I bought the first 4s for Siri , the talking aspect of the phone. I tried incorporating Siri into my phone use.
However , we do not pay for a data plan and thus Siri was confined to home use or WiFi accessibility. Siri has faded from my radar.
And in a search of Apple sites , I found the iPhone forum and user boards. The celebrated users of iPhones that month had 100 - 200 apps from the AppleStore loaded and functioning on their respective phones.
100 ! , I use 4 apps during the week. 2 are phone and camera
Crikey , that would be my whole day , 100 ? 50 ? no way.

Weather , brilliant sun and warm is coming

" Welcome to my morning , 
Welcome to my day "  JD himself

A new feature for the blog is Recipe for the Morning.
Egg in the Hole

Not to be confused w/ Toad in the Hole

Warm a pan.
Cut a centred  2 inch hole in a slice of bread
Lightly butter the pan and crank up the heat to medium - high
Saute the bread in the pan
Add an egg to the hole
Wait 2 - 3 minutes for part cooking to occur
Use a lifter and flip the egg
Wait 2 - 3 minutes and turn the heat down
Flip the egg and bread onto a plate
Season to taste

Alternatives :
I toast the bread slice for a minute or so
then do the centre cut. And then saute. This method cuts down on the butter needed

The bread that I use , as in this AM is 40 cal per slice and 3 g of fibre ( excellent stats ) flavour , well not so.

I add cheese pieces after the flip over - wait the 2 - 3 minutes and flip onto the cheese side. This step makes the concoction , slightly messy. But w/ a non stick pan , this isn't so bad

I added a drop of hot sauce to the egg as well.

I suppose that you now see an ' Egg McMuffin ' concept forming here. Home made and easy.

No Filler to - day

just the meat as they say

The NCAA College Championship occurs to - day. The tailgate party syndrome begins at 12:30. The game actually starts at 8 P
I'm assuming the lemonade will last 8 h.
Big sun w/ condensate on the windows ushers in the morning.
There would be frost on the pumpkin if there were pumpkins.

Have yourself a lemonade and say

ROLL ! TIDE  ROLL !

Would I bet on the game , NO
But I would bet that whatever happens , Bama doesn't go belly up w/out a fight

Filler for the Blog

yep , National Calendar Day

Here goes :

January 8, 2017 – NATIONAL WINTER SKIN RELIEF DAY – NATIONAL ENGLISH TOFFEE DAY – NATIONAL BUBBLE BATH DAY – NATIONAL ARGYLE DAY – NATIONAL SUNDAY SUPPER DAY – NATIONAL ARGYLE DAY – NATIONAL JOYGERM DAY

Crikey !

National Bobby Sox Day as well.

Weather is frigid -in fact 40 degrees difference between yesterday and to - day at 7 AM

" Gray Skies Are Gonna ....

clear up "

We hope !

No sun as of yet but you know its there

JA 6

yeah , brilliant title
hey ! they all can't be stellar

Writing from our winter retreat in SPB. I'm already 2  Yeungling to the good and thats a terrif start.

Day was fog bound ( dew point and temperature met ) , cool but part way through  the swim - bingo bango SUN !
And its warming up.
I wasn't going to write about our location. Last year , I sent a picture of a sunrise in response to a FaceBook posting from a friend.
Ten comments came back.
" Oh , you're in Florida as usual "
figure this year not to do that - give away my location
the big risk of FB is everyone knowing personal stuff

Here on the blog ,  its pretty safe - 3 people will know and 1 of them is here

" Good morning sunshine " form Hair , the musical

And its .....

... dark out there , at 5:15 AM

But Good morning , y'all !

Netflix is cancelled
the last video was ' Earth to Echo ' , a Disney job
three friends and a late joiner find or are found by a visiting space construct , named ' Echo '
Cute w/ redeeming social values
worth the price of admission

On the reading front
finished my Xmas present book , ' a Song for Arbonne ' by author Guy Gavriel Kay ( Canadian ).
GGK writes historical fiction.
SfA is set in a French seeming locale. Family pride and name govern all social and political function.
the ' Song ' part of the name refers to the cultural norm of Arbonne which favours troubadours and singers. Arbonne is considered          ' woman - ified ' by surrounding countries.
Rating is VG and interesting
a high recommend 

Going the Distance

so , to speak. Someone in our extended circle of family is hitting 100 , soon
Way to go Y


Weather : still dark out there and I have , no hints
Forecasted , around 32 F but falling for at least 3 days

I watched ' Django ' ( the ' D '  is silent ) OMG , Tarentino ultra violent and disturbing
no rating , can't decide

Final day of Netflix , so sad , too bad

Watched ' DeadPool ' , so sad .

the wind is chill and never really got bright
snow flurries expected , somewhere

Listening

as in , last night

Stepped outside to check for mail
The water was running in the gutters
Thus , you can guess it was a mild night
However , we will cool down from now

The day is gray and un - promising

In case , I ran out of verbiage

January 3, 2017 – NATIONAL FRUITCAKE TOSS DAY – NATIONAL CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRY DAY – NATIONAL DRINKING STRAW DAY

I copied this from the National Calendar page. i left it small b/c .... well , ' drinking straws ???? '

NetFlix and Me

well , its free for a month

A movie blitz is happening
the Finest Hours
the Jungle Book
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Whew ! a cornucopia of  ????????????????

Weather : cold ish but sunny
We are dominated by a high pressure system
calm winds for  the most part

Chicago had 800 murders 
Thats  16 years worth in T.O. 

the YEAR IS 2017

Note that 2012 , the year of apocalypse ( according to a raft of prognosticators ) went by the books.
In the movie ' Wind and the Lion ' a paraphrased re - telling of American Imperialism in Tripoli , the Raisuli ( Sean Connery )
moans ' this year was bad and the next probably worse '
real optimists those guys
Well , here's hoping ' you will sail as golden clouds on the wind ' and ' eat lamb in Paradise ' , also in the movie

We GOT Netflix but we aren't paying - its 1 month free ( I hope )
and cancel at any time.
Our first choice was ' the Finest Hours ' , the true 1950 's story of a small boat rescue off the coast of Massachusetts by the USCG.
Very dramatic and very free
We'd rate it 3.4 out of 4

HAPPY NEW YEAR  you golden clouds