Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Plans for Grandbaby & Ramblings on Music & Movies


Here’s one of the pictures I took of the Ocean at Ocean City. It is looking toward the southern end of the island. I miss the beach!

I’m sitting here trying to think of what it will be like when I am a grandma! My son’s fiancée is due around the 2nd week of November, which is coming up fast. I’m thrilled to death, of course, but curious about this next stage in my life. I’ve already planned to be the book grandma, as in supplying the poor kid with all of my favorite books, depending on the age. I plan to start out with The Children’s Bible, a good book of nursery rhymes, a good book of Fairy Tales, Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, and Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends. Just to start. Of course there will also be Clifford & Where the Wild Things are and Good Night Moon, etc. I will have a blast.

I also want to get my grandbaby (and the ones to follow) good kid music CDs with all the classic kid songs. And encourage my son & girlfriend to expose the baby to all sorts of music & experiences. I know my daughter will have the ballet end covered, as she loves it. (Not my cup of tea!) Lot of plans here, huh?

I just think most kids today, 30 and under, just don’t have the experiences and “common” knowledge of things that my generation had. In a way, I think, the almost out of control technology has limited what kids today experience. I know that sounds contradictory, but it rings true to me. It may be because when I was growing up in the late 50’s early 60’s, I had exposure to all kinds of music via TV, radio, my own family’s tastes, and the songs we learned in school. My aunt & uncle, who raised me, where born in 1910 & 1912. My father was born in 1905 and he was a jazz drummer. My uncle played swing. So I was exposed to that music all my life. And in the 60s, radio played everything from Nat King Cole to Peter Paul and Mary to the Rolling Stones. Today there seems to be only one form of music out there at a time that is popular for kids. It was rap for my son and I think it’s Hip Hop now. (I’m out of touch, so that could be way off)

My son, who is 27, will not watch (he says) a black & white movie. He wants color. When Sin City came out I told him that sometimes black & white movies show atmosphere better than color. I tried anyway!!! I want him to see Citizen Kane, Night of the Hunter, etc. I have no trouble with my daughter (31). She loves all kinds of music & movies. Loves the old stars…Audrey Hepburn & Elizabeth Taylor are her favorites. Admittedly, music-wise, my son has broadened his tastes. He now has some Dylan, Cash, & Led Zepplin! (SP)

Well I’ve ranted enough for now. Have to go heat up my coffee and finish the project I have going for my new grandbaby. If it comes out half way decent, I will try to remember to post a pic on here.

Monday, October 13, 2008

My Social Life



As promised here is the picture of Vito and his shark. We thought it was pretty cool, but we are weird.

I’m not a very social person, mostly due to laziness, but this past week (Sunday to Sunday) was pretty busy for me. I only go out (not counting work) once or twice a month, on average. Almost all of the things I enjoy are sit at home things: reading, working on the computer and/or surfing the net, crocheting, watching tv & movies, listening to my scanner or ham radio, etc. Sit down stuff. (Notice the fishing is also basically a sit down hobby) I’ve been out of the house this past week 3 times. Monumental for me!

Last Sunday (the 5th) our son and his fiancée took us out to a local upscale pizzeria. I’ve been hoping to find a really GOOD pizza joint for quite a bit. Mack & Manco’s in Ocean City, NJ is the best I’ve found, but it’s way too far to travel when I get the pizza munchies. The second best, so far, is where my son works. He makes awesome pizza! So, I was hoping that this place would do. Unfortunately, it fell far short. The toppings were awesomely fresh (I gave them an A), the service was good (B+), the salad was great (another A), but the crust was awful. Not done and consequently, soggy. And without a good crust no pizza can make it!!! It’s possible it was a one time slip up since the place was packed…maybe a new cook or something. We may try it again, but $18 per pizza is a bit pricey to take a second chance. And, to take away the sting of not liking the pizza…for me to notice how fresh the toppings were shows that they were fantastic, as I am not usually one to notice things like that. I can barely cook, but like some layman art critics comments, I know what I like!

This past Saturday my daughter and her fiancée took us out to IHOP and a local casino. The only time I have gambled has been at Atlantic City on our yearly trips, but I love it. I only do slots because I don’t have the math skills to intelligently bet on poker and/or blackjack. So I just shove money into slot machines and hope for a winner. It’s fun. We didn’t stay long for one major reason…we don’t gamble with a lot of money so it goes fast. The kids ran out before we did, so instead of making them hang around watching me loose, we left early.

Before we went to the casino though, we had dinner at IHOP. I had never been there before (it’s new to our town). I fell in love. Great food and reasonable prices…can’t beat that! We went back yesterday after our failed fishing attempt and I had eggs, bacon, sausage, & hash browns. (My cholesterol intake for the next month…veggies here I come)

So, pizza joint, IHOP & Casino, & fishing were my big social events of the week. Gotta go and recuperate now!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Fishing Attempts in PA and Ocean City NJ


We went fishing at Raccoon State Park today. Beautiful park & lake. We didn’t catch anything, (naturally!) but it was fun. We’ve just taken up fresh water fishing this year and haven’t caught anything. Probably because we don’t have a clue what we are doing! Vito first tried fishing at Ocean City, New Jersey 7 years ago. He tried surf fishing first…walked out onto the stone fishing jetty there and came back about 10 minutes later with his line in a HUGE tangled ball and this semi-embarrassed, semi-amused look on his face. “City boy going fishing.” was all he said.

The next day he tried fishing in the bay with better results. He caught about 4 or 5 different fish. The only one I could identify was a black sea bass, which scared the crap out of him! We’ve been back to OC every year (except 2003 for some reason) and he hadn’t caught anything til this past September when he caught a small shark (dogfish) and 4 slimy eels. This was the first year I tried to fish at OC and I caught an eel that broke my line. I started crabbing (just for the fun of it) last year and caught a couple crabs. We always (at least so far) let what we catch go. This year I caught 2 medium sized crabs, 2 tiny crabs (fell through the mesh), 1 eel, and 1 fish in my crab pot. I do better when I’m crabbing for fish!

At the end of the last day of Ocean City fishing, we tried EVERYTHING. We had chicken, mackerel, fake salt water bait, etc. We finally tired the bait & lures we had for fishing in PA. One fisherman on the dock cleared his throat and asked us if we knew we were using fresh water bait. We told him yeah, we knew, but since we aren’t catching anything with the proper stuff, we might as well try everything we had. At one point I considered tossing Vito off of the dock, but figured the fish might not like Italian food.

Off to surf the net, then head for bed. Had a “more social than usual” week for me. Will post Picture of Vito & his shark on my next post.

Gone Fishing

Still haven’t gotten back to posting yet! Will try to add something later. We are going to make another attempt at fishing. Wish us luck!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

First Post

This is newly created and done on a late night work night whim. Still new at this and experimenting. I will post more when I figure all this out. Only thing I can think of is that tonight I made a pot of chili. I am not a cook, so this is fantabulous news. Now I have enough food for lunch for 2 days, enough that my daughter could take some home, and enough to freeze for future use. Major accomplishments on my part. Signing off for tonight. Take care, behave, and hang on to your dreams. mj