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Monday, July 25, 2005


I've gotten hooked on these memes lately...just a phase... don't worry this too shall pass.

Monday Music Mambo - Week 60
Time to chase away the Monday blues with the Monday Music Mambo and by celebrating Carousel Day. In 1871 William Schneider of Davenport, Iowa, invented the Merry-Go-Round. Wow, that's 134 years ago. Sounds like the carousel has been around (heh heh) a long time. Ready? Let's dance, dance, dance!
01. What artist, group, song(s) or lyric(s) do the following words bring to mind: wheel, spin, up, down, horse

Wheel – Tina Turner – Proud Mary – Big WHEEL Keep on turning, Proud Mary keep on burning….
Spin – Eagles – Out of Control (can’t say why except to me spinning represents being out of control)
Up – Up Up and Away (in my beautiful balloon ) – Fifth Dimension
Down – Down in the Boondocks - Lord have mercy on the boy from down in the boondocks – Kenny Loggins
Horse – Run For The Roses - Dan Fogelberg – And it’s run for the roses as fast as you can….

02. You are the mastermind behind a rock-n-roll theme park. Name the park. What would your theme park's mascot be? Create a couple of rides, name them and describe them. Who would record the theme song for your theme park?

Rock Around the World

The mascot would be ….hmmmm… a big cat with a guitar

Rides – Paradise By The Dashboard Light ( this would be an adult bumper car ride )
Big Yellow Taxi Ride – yellow taxis on a rollercoaster type ride
Dead Man’s Curve – a fast paced car ride through a wacky shack
(are you noticing a theme here?)

And who would record my theme song? Jan and Dean or Meatloaf

03. Carousels traditionally play the same songs over and over. Is there a song that you could listen to endlessly?

Two out of Three Aint Bad by Meatloaf


Sunday, July 24, 2005


Wednesday Mind Hump - Week 69

Today we present for your insane consideration -- the ever popular Say What? Wednesday Mind Hump.

Say What? is a "complete this sentence" challenge. The challenge? Below is a list of common cliches and/or some lesser known sayings. Your mission should you decide to accept it is complete the sentence with your own crazy ending. Here's an example for ya!


You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him .... (sample answers) ... do the backstroke ... mop the floor.


Get the idea? Alrightee then! Start humpin'!

01. A penny earned is ... less than minimum wage for crying out loud!
02. When in doubt ... do nothing.
03. Do unto others ... before they do unto you.
04. Give them an inch ... and a man will tell you it's six inches.
05. He who hesitates ... doesn't end up volunteering.
06. The road to hell is paved ... but watch out for the pot holes!



A little late but what the heck...

Wednesday Mind Hump - Week 70

Holy Hump Day! It's Wednesday already! Today we celebrate Moon Day! YAY! Wait ... not THAT kind of moon ... the Moon moon. Can you believe it? Today marks the 36th anniversary of the first moon landing. So fasten your seat belts kids ... it's going to be a bumpy hump. *wink*

01. The humped up version of those famous words spoken on the moon would be, "One small hump for man, one giant hump for mankind." Choose a historically important quote and hump, hump, hump it up!

Ask not who your country can HUMP for you, ask who you can HUMP for your country.


02. It's story telling time! Have you ever been mooned or have your ever mooned anyone?

Yes, a group of us women (in our 50's) walk around the lake here. One day one of the women, in a group who walks faster than a few of us, challenged another to do something she had never done before. The woman jokingly said she had never mooned anyone and the other said okay, you're going to moon the ones behind us. So they went behind some trees and when we walked around the corner she jumped out and mooned us! I learned when she goes to the tanning salon she doesn't wear a bathing suit and she was very happy another group had not overtaken us or she would have really been embarrassed.

03. When the moon is bright and full, what sort of creature of the night might you transform into?

Hmmmmm.... part werewolf and part vampire.

04. Indulge in a bit of lunacy -- complete the following moon quotes:

When the moon is not full ... is it half full or half empty?

May you have a full moon on a dark night and ... but then, hey, it wouldn't really be dark if there was a full moon.

Love is like the moon, it ... comes and goes in cycles

I'd rather be a dog and bay at the moon than ... a bay dogging the moon (whatever that means)


Wednesday, July 20, 2005



Beam me up, Scotty! The Star Trek personalities were immortal. They live forever in reruns and back when Star Trek first ventured to places no man has ever gone before, young people were wearing t-shirts that read – Beam me up, Scotty – There’s no intelligent life down here.

Now, at 85, James Doohan, who will forever live on in our hearts as the often harassed engineer who under the most impossible situations could get the starship into warp speed and save the day, has died. He succumbed to pneumonia caused by complications of Alzheimer’s.

Warp Speed, Scotty! Oh..and Scotty? Beam me up! There’s no intelligent life down here.


Friday, July 15, 2005


Had a few minutes and decided to do a mindless meme to pass the time and
Update my blog.

From Friday Madness:

July 15, 2005
FOUR FOR FRIDAY

Q1: At 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning, the next installment in the Harry Potter series will be made available for purchase at bookstores all across the world. Have you ever stood in line for what could be considered an outrageous amount of time for something like concert tickets, the premier of a movie, or the release of a book?
Nope!! Never found anything worth while to stand in line for an inordinate amount of time. I figure I’ll catch it on the reprint, rerun, or when it comes out on DVD ?. Even concerts are coming out on DVD, so eventually I would get to see it.
Q2: What's size mattress do you sleep on, and how many pillows do you sleep with?
Twin and two pillows. My husband and I have twin beds pushed together…a long story ?.
Q3: Have you ever forgotten where you parked your car, say in an underground parking garage or large parking lot at a shopping mall or airport? If so, how long did it take for you to find your car, and what sorts of techniques do you now use to avoid the same thing from happening again?
More than once I’m embarrassed to admit. Now when I get out of the car I look around and find a land mark that will lead me to the row my car is parked in. Like a display outside the store, or a letter in the name of the store…I tried using the car parked next to me but when the car moved I was lost again. Just kidding!!!!
Q4: How long does it generally take you to fall asleep? Has that amount of time changed any over the last 1, 5, or 10 years? If so, what do you attribute the change to?
Some nights I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. Other nights it takes a few minutes to half an hour. Yes, it has changed. I fall asleep faster now that I am older. I think because I’m not as wired and hyper as I was when younger and am more relaxed. I also sleep longer and deeper and enjoy the sleep more. It used to be an inconvenience to have to waste time sleeping, now I feel it is more a rejuvenator than a bother.


Monday, July 11, 2005



Parents. Most of us have them. Some of us are them. Most of us have had "moments" with our parents that either marked a greater understanding in the parent-child relationship, or signified the beginning of the end of our interaction. Similarly, those of us with kids have often experienced turning points where, in a blinding flash of reality, we truly "got" what it meant to be a parent.
For this month's Blogging for Books, write about a pivotal point in your life as a parent, OR write about a pivotal point in your relationship with one of your parents.
Enter your entry as a post on your own blog, then come back here and leave a link to your entry as a comment on this post. (If you do not have a blog, you can ask Charone or Georganna to host your entry.) You have until 6am Pacific Time on Tuesday, July 12th to enter. On Friday the 15th, Kim and I will announce the top seven entries. A few days after that, guest author Ann Douglas will choose the top three posts. All three winners will receive either a signed copy of one of Ann's books on birth and parenting, or a copy of one of the following from our stockpile:

Bowling for Mother by Bonnie Johnson

When the phone rang I was expecting a call from a new boyfriend, so was surprised to hear my mother’s voice on the other end.
“We need a bowler for our Friday night league,” she said. “Would you be willing to fill in?”
Now to say my mother and I didn’t get along at that time would be an understatement, which made her request even more surprising. Of course, I was the only daughter who bowled, too, so if she needed a quick replacement I was the obvious choice.
“I know it’s a bunch of older women,” she continued, “but we need someone fast and don’t have time to post for a bowler. We’re in first place right now and without a fifth bowler we’d have to forfeit our games.”
Aha! I thought to myself. I knew there was a catch. But, hey, I had Friday nights open and I did love to bowl, so why not?
“Sure, I’ll do it,” I told her. “I’ll need a ride though.”
Living in Erie, PA and having an apartment right on the bus line was more than a convenience. The bus not only took me downtown to my job, but also to any other bus I would need to get around Erie. So, for me a car was not a necessity.
My mother sighed before answering. “Well, I have to pick Jean up so I may as well pick you up too. Just be ready to go by 6:30 PM.”
When my mom arrived to pick me up I was waiting at the door and hurried out. I knew how impatient she could get when she was in a hurry. After we picked Jean up we headed for the lanes.
Once there I was introduced to the rest of the team and then left on my own. Of course, they were old friends and had lots to talk about, so between my turns I roamed the lanes and met some of the other women and made some friends.
As we were leaving some of the women, from the other teams, talked with my mother.
“Your daughter is so funny!” one told her as my mother looked stunned.
“Don’t forget to call me,” another called out to me. “We have to get together and finish our conversation.”
“Hey, Babe,” another said to my mother, “you never mentioned you had another good bowler in the family!”
“What did you do?” Jean asked a bit sarcastically. “Did you go make friends with every other bowler on the league? Remember, they are our competition and we’re here to beat them not befriend them.”
I didn’t understand that attitude, because for me bowling was a game and just that. As far as league bowling went I enjoyed it, but wasn’t much for competition if it took the fun out of the game and it sure sounded like it was all business for this team.
Jean glared at me as a group of women, from their closest opponents, invited me to stay for drinks. I explained I had to leave because I was riding with my mother.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jen, the leader of the other team laughed. “One of us will make sure you get home.”
As I put my ball and shoes away my mother approached me. “You know,” she said. “I really envy you. I’ve been bowling with this same league for a couple years and still don’t know most of the women. You have this ability to walk into a room of strangers and leave with a room of friends.”
I looked at her in amazement. “It’s true,” she continued. “I walk into a room of strangers and leave a room of strangers. I have always wished I could be more like you.”
My beautiful, slender, well liked mother was envious of me? I couldn’t believe it.
“Thank you,” was all I could say to this revelation. Here all my life I thought my mother disliked me when all the time she wanted to be like me! “That’s funny,” I finally managed to say when the shock wore off. “All my life I’ve wanted to be like you!” I told her. “I wanted people to say how sweet and nice I was instead of how bold and forward I am. But, it’s just the way I am and I couldn’t pretend to be otherwise.”
“I guess I worry too much about whether the other person will like me or not, and that intimidates me enough to keep me from approaching a new person,” my mother stated.

We both laughed at each others statements. After that we both viewed each other differently and were able to open up and talk with each other. Since then we have been best of friends and have been able to trade the child/parent relationship for a woman to woman one. My mother is now in her eighties and no longer bowls. I have lost interest over the years as other activities have taken over my time. But, I will be forever grateful to the game for bringing my mother and I closer together.


Sunday, July 10, 2005



Power of the lawn mower: I enjoy mowing the lawn. I don't like power mowers because I don't like the noise and walking behind gas fumes. Or if electric worrying about a cord. I do enjoy listening to books on tape as I push my "person powered" lawn mower. I had to hunt high and low for this mower! They don't make them anymore...at least so I was told. I tried WalMart where I was looked at as if I were crazy. At Kmart I was told I would have to go to an antique store! Can you believe it? Finally I happened upon Lowes and lo and behold! they had not one but two models. They were no less expensive than the gas powered ones, but as I stated I hate those and get more satisfaction mowing the lawn the old fashioned way.

I just wish I could find some way to convey this to my neighbors. A couple weeks ago, one of the grandsons of my neighbor, came over and asked what that was referring to my lawn mower. A lawn mower I told him. He looked dubious and said, "I have a power mower." In fact, I had seen the grandfather (a man about my age) using a riding mower to mow their little patch of front yard. Their back yard is all dirt because they have swing sets and all sorts of stuff for the grandchildren.

Yesterday I had one come over and offer to mow for pay. And that evening as I was happily mowing the front yard, listening to a Ruth Rendell book on tape, the neighbors from across the street came home. The man (older than me!) came over and said he would come mow my lawn when he mowed his. I thanked him for the offer and told him it wasn't necessary. I was doing what I enjoyed, it was exercise for me, and gave me time to listen to my tapes. He didn't seem to believe me and said it would be no trouble. I practically begged him not to, and he looked at my mower with pity and said he used to have to mow like that when he was a kid. I said, yes, so did I and I still enjoyed this. I explained my dislike for the power mower. I'm still not sure he believed me and am not sure what to do if he ever does come over here with that noisy, smelly thing and mows my lawn. I have birds nesting in my bushes and don't want them scared. I love it that they follow me as I mow, and I am sure this would not happen with a power mower.

So, if you see me out there with my "old fashioned-person powered lawn mower" please don't feel sorry for me, don't think you have to rescue me. I am enjoying myself. And whatever you do, don't interrupt my book on tape to offer to do what I am already doing....MY WAY!


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