Tuesday, July 31, 2018

C'mon, get happy

On my drive home, while still in Bellingham, I saw a doe and two fawns walking across the street. They happened to be in a crosswalk. Pedestrians in a crosswalk always have the right of way. They made me smile.

Today I was googling terms involving the word "happy." I found a twitter page called Cute Emergency, which features adorable animal videos and photos. There is also a Cute Emergency Instagram page.

Another reason for happiness is that the weather is cooling down. We had several days at about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but today the high was down to about 80—still higher than I like it, but better than 90—and it's forecast to drop down into the mid-70s as the week goes on, and maybe even some rain showers later in the week.

We could use rain. Not only is the ground dry, but we have smoke in the air from fires in British Columbia, Canada. Not as bad as last year, but just hazy. You can't see the mountains.

Another reason to be happy is that in 16 days my sister will come visit me. The day she arrives is our folks' wedding anniversary. If they were living, it would be their 66th anniversary. When my folks had been married 62 years, I told my dad that if their marriage were a person it could collect social security.

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Gifting my thoughts to the world

I saw this headline on the web: "The Queen Reportedly Gifted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle an Unbelievable New Home." I'm not interested in the content of the article. What I'm wondering is: Why did the writer say "gifted" instead of "gave"? The Queen "gifted" them a house; the Queen "gave" them a house. What is the difference except that "to give" is a verb that has been around for centuries and "to gift" a permutation that has shown up lately for no good reason.

I know, I know. Kids today and their crazy music. Get off my lawn! This country is going to hell in a handbasket. Etc.

Speaking of baskets, the other day I was singing, "A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to my love and put in my basket. My basket, my basket, my green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to my love and on the way I lost it." But I was not really sure of the words or the storyline. I tried using a search engine and discovered that Ella Fitzgerald had a jazz song called "A Tisket, a Tasket." Also, everyone who makes or sells baskets uses "A tisket, a tasket" as their tag line. In youtube videos for kiddies, a lot of them sing, "I wrote a letter to my mom" instead of "to my love." Most of them say, "I dropped it" instead of "I lost it." This is the version most like what I remember (I found it at Wikipedia):

A-tisket a-tasket
A green and yellow basket
I wrote a letter to my mom
And on the way I dropped it,
I dropped it, I dropped it,
And on the way I dropped it.
A little boy he picked it up
And put it in his pocket.

I still think it was "love" not "mom" and "lost" not "dropped."

And that's the name of that tune. Who used to say that? Columbo? Kojak? Baretta?

I searched online again, and it was Baretta.

Columbo used to say, "Oh, one more thing." My parents liked that show. Just when the criminal thought they'd made it through their conversation with Columbo without giving away their guilt, they'd be walking out the door, and then he'd say, "Oh, just one more thing," and then ask questions that would lead up to revealing their crime.

Just for the heck of it, I also looked up Kojak, and his trademark line was, "Who loves ya, baby?"

I didn't actually watch these shows much, but they were in the atmosphere in my youth. You just heard about them. Just like I know most of the laugh lines from Young Frankenstein even though I've never actually seen the movie. My peers found it so hilarious they quoted it all over my high school.

High school. What a strange world that was. I'd rather be in my late 50s earning my living than in my late teens going to high school. Good thing that's how it's worked out.