still not the elf you are looking for

Today has been quite the Tina Tuesday!

I had a whopping total of four Kevins - and not a single one was anyone famous, like Kevin Bacon or Kevin Hart or Kevin Kline.

In "Jingle All The Way", Kevin Deon played a 'crazed shopper', yet another Dad who had waited too long to shop for the only toy his son wanted fro Christmas.

Hint: Do it before Christmas Eve, y'all!

Hahahaha! Hahaha!

That movie was followed up by the non-seasonal "A Million Ways To Die In The West", which had the other three hombres del martes de Tina.

Pictured here is Kevin Wester, portraying a bartender in a saloon where someone always gets killed.

During the barn dance, one of the men cavorting was Kevin Gallacher, a revered Scottish footballer.

And the third, Kevin Wiggins, was one of the cowpokes pokin' the workin' gal (wink wink) at the saloon.

Pretty sweet start... and I haven't hit the evening yet!

(smile!)

when mav1s just won't do

Admittedly, MAV1S of "Love And Monsters" looked to be quite nice company, especially for watching sky jellies lighting the night.

However, I'll gladly take my first niece's companionship over hers, even if it's via texts on a cell phone.

That tether through the waves of ether is rather enjoyable.

And just what were we texting and watching this time?

What else?

"Weakest Link"!

That seems to be 'our' show.

(smile!)

Tonight's episode was the tenth.

Two of the contestants proved to be especially interesting, and quite intelligent, too.

And one guy, who just wanted to win the money to gamble away in Las Vegas, was particularly boo-worthy.

So, shall we go to the tape - um, the record - of the texts?

(smile!)

Bear in mind that she'd been working on a term paper for class.

me: Before you stop, read over what you have. Then leave it be until tomorrow.
her: I reread. I added 30-ish words. And now time for The Weakest link first.
me: Yeah!  :-)
me: Oh, he definitely needed to go! Bad mouthing the Muppets. Bad John.
her: That was horrible.
me: Sigh. Hate that we have another month of political ads. Damn.
me: Wow. They gotta learn to bank!
her: Agreed
me: Lol!
her: I would love to see Jane back in her track suit.
me: I am sure Glee is out there, somewhere. That sounds like a song! :-)
her: They would have sang it if it were. LOL
me: It's from the movie about the little mouse that got lost from his family when they came to America.
her: Fievel
me: Yes! That's his name!
her: I am glad the plant based philosopher is gone.
me: Heavy flirting there!
her: I love Jane... this is not...
me: Never saw that on the show before.
her: ...Love Connection
me: Lol
her: That would be cool. I think Brian is going to make it.
me: I hope it comes down to Matt and the tall chick. That would be cool.
her: I didn't know either of her questions either.
me: I knew about the instrument [balalaika]. Have heard and seen it at the Sav Music Festival.
her: Nice
me: Daniel is gone.
her: Crap shoot! LOL
me: Oh wow. Matt left.
her: Yep
me: If the guys are smart, they will vote off the tall chick.
her: Awww
me: Oh, yeah. She is going to be voted off.
her: Aww. Now she can hang out with man bun.
me: Hooray! They can get together!
her: Yes they will.
me: Now. How many questions will those two answer correctly? Lol
her: I wanted her to kick Brian's butt.
me: I would have liked to see that.
me: Now, will they miss the first question? I think they both will.
her: I agree.
me: Wow these are tough.
her: I bet you know the answer to that 1.
me: I did. [Chemistry question.]
me: Wow. That was surreal.
her: Ha ha Brian lost! Yay. All is right with the world.
me: :-) and i shared that with you. Yeah!
her: Love hanging out with you.
me: Agreed. Now, off to bed you go! love you!

As Carol Burnett says, "I'm so glad we had this time, together."

(smile!)

Yes, I am aware there is an extra comma in there.

That was on purpose, sprinkled in like glitter...

as an inside joke with my first niece.

(smile!)

waiting for december 14

Why that particular date?

Is that when I hope to have all my cards posted to near and far?

Well, no.

As I changed it up to sending Thanksgiving greetings, that is all done, except for the one going up to Canada.

Is that the last date for mailing off Christmas packages?

No, those dates would be December 15th for ground service, the 18th for first-class, and the 19th for priority.

Are you having the family gathering, perchance?

Um, no.

The pandemic is still a-foot and will no doubt linger through much of next year, if the people of the world don't get themselves into the proper mindset.

I've just done my analysis of the COVID data and I can't say I'm happy about it.

Of my ten states, two of them (California and Texas) have surpassed the million mark for people infected by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

One more - Florida - should attain that dubious 'honor' by week's end.

Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma have had their numbers skyrocket.

Why has that happened?

Well, as I said at the start of this month, early voting for this latest round of elections was quite detrimental to the health of American citizens.

Election Day, and the brouhaha that has followed and continues, hurt even more.

That's why December 14 is so important.

That's when the Electoral College finalizes all results, certifying who the 'winner' is for the presidency.

Sadly, for Georgia the madness continues into the new year for run-off elections for lesser seats, meaning the vitriolic political ads will be marring our holiday specials on television.

Doesn't it seem like the parties would call a truce?

Ack.

So, back to the effect of politics on infection rates, and what better way to do that than with graphs?

The good news is this: the numbers have started dropping, now that we are four weeks past Election Day.

Here, the seven-day sums of new COVID infections 

is graphed versus time, from November 3 to today, for my ten states.

The numbers are lowest on Election Day, gradually rising (due to early voting lines and people close together), then taking off at that magical two-week mark, then starting to taper off and decrease during this past week.

To truly appreciate the madness that was evinced by folks insisting on standing cheek to jowl in line to vote, keep in mind that the above is the cropped view of this one, which has a two-month time span.

EVERY STATE EXPERIENCED AN INCREASE IN NUMBER OF COVID CASES.

All of that could have been avoided if folks would have used absentee ballots.

All of it.

This graph has the weekly sums of new infection for the month of September.

All of the states I follow were showing a month-long decline in those values, except for Texas, which eventually fell into line by month's end.

That's where things stood in the beginning on that middle graph, for the first two weeks of October.

Then early voting began and the peaks attained were higher than those in the summer.

What about the rates of infection?

How about normalizing the data for COVID cases per 100,000 people in each state?

Sure, I have that right here, covering the two months' worth of data for October and November.

Appalling, isn't it?

Louisiana has had the highest rate since I started tracking this data in May.

Now, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Alabama have surpassed it - surpassed it, not just caught up.

Michigan's rate has tripled and Pennsylvania's has doubled.

Let's hope that the quelling of the political turmoil will settle things back down.

Our lives depend on it... literally.

For those who may have forgotten the legend I use to distinguish the data sets, here it is.

Georgia is dark blue with squares.

Florida is dark orange with diamonds.

California is sunny yellow with upside-down triangles.

Michigan is dark green with triangles.

Texas is dark purple-brown with forward arrowheads.

Pennsylvania is light blue with reverse arrowheads.

Alabama is light green with squares.

Tennessee is purple with circles.

Louisiana is black with little bow ties.

Oklahoma is orange-yellow with hash marks.

Okay, I'm going to go do something positive: I'm watching the first-ever "Disney Holiday Sing-Along".

And I'm sharing the experience 'with' my first niece and my nephew Michael and my friend Sandy....

and I just may be singing loudly enough that they'll hear me, too.

(smile)

Please, folks, keep wearing masks.

Please keep an alligator between you and folks who don't live with you.

Please wash your hands after you touch anything others might have handled.

Let's try to make the world better, starting here, starting now.

late bloomer

I don't know if she was a late bloomer or not.

Perhaps I'll look around and see if there is a biography about her.

But here's what I do know: she did not act in films and on television programs until she was seventy-two years old.

No, that's not a misprint; that's why I spelled out the number.

Seventy-two.

And in that milieu she remained for twenty-eight years.

Wow.

She was already 38 years old when she wed for the first, and only, time.

She and her husband were married 53 years (until his death).

They never had children, so she must have been a favorite aunt, and great-aunt, to her sibling's children.

I think of her being much like the aunt that is sung of with such love in "La La Land"; the aunt who had fallen into the Seine while dancing, when "the water was freezing / she spent the month sneezing / but said she would do it again".

After all, Ellen Albertini Dow grew up as a mime.

I have to believe she was quite entertaining for the children of all ages in her family.

Then she and her husband taught acting.

Surely they were active on the stage?

But that information is not listed on movie pages.

Yes, I do believe I would enjoy a biography about her, so I'll check the library.

This weekend, I've seen her in two movies and that is what has sparked this conversation about the woman.

Last night, wanting a bit more of Vince Vaughn than I had in "Freaky", I pulled up "Wedding Crashers", free on TBS On Demand.

(Admittedly, I also wanted to see Christopher Walken and Jane Seymour again, as I'd planned to attend "The War With Grandpa", but never left the house.)

So, there I was, hopping down that bunny trail, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head...

wait, that's my nephew Damon's inside joke with Mama...

back on track here, please, thank you kindly.

(smile!)

So, there I was, enjoying the movie, when they get to the dining room scene with Grandma spouting whatever she wanted...

and I recognized her. 

I mean I truly did, as someone who I had seen in several places, including the "Dr. Ruth" episode of "Quantum Leap".

Ellen had been 92 years old for the 2005 movie.

Today, I'd intended to go see "The Blues Brothers" at the cinema, but I got the time wrong and missed it.

Instead, I watched a different musical, one from my youth: "The Wizard Of Oz".

Good choice, as I knew all the words, to the dialogue as well as the songs!

Later, the little old lady from the Vaughn movie popped into my mind.

Hadn't I seen "The Wedding Singer" listed On Demand?

Yes, I had!

So I pulled up that Drew Barrymore-Adam Sandler love story...

which was practically a modern musical, though with limited dancing...

and star-studded comedic cameos from Sandler's buddies: Steve Buscemi, Will Ferrell, and Jon Lovitz...

plus a double dosing of Billy Idol in a music video on tv and live on the plane to Las Vegas...

and there Ellen was as Rosie, a sweetiepie who was trading meatballs for singing lessons to surprise her husband on their golden anniversary.

That sounds like something the real person did for her hubby.

And how old was she in this 1998 comedy romance?

She was 85 years old and had already appeared in numerous television shows, including "The Golden Girls" repeatedly as their friend Lilian.

Wow.

She was 101 when she died in 2015.

Yes, I think I'll check out the library when I go for my optician appointment this coming Wednesday.

Quite appropriate, eh?

To go seek a book to read after getting checked for new glasses?

Sure sounds like a right time, right place thing to me!

(smile!)

fare thee well, Ron, via ZOOM

Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to attend any more Celebrations of Life via the ZOOM program.

However, I've made an exception for Ron Cole.

He was special.

I made him laugh.

I remember with fondness that joie dans le moment.

(smile!)

The photo is of the One Voice Children's Choir. I don't know if they are art of the Unitarian Universalist Church that Ron and Susan belong to here in Savannah. The song, "The Memories Bring Back You", was very appropriate, though.

There were more than eighty people in attendance and many shared their memories of Ron as a father, a husband, a childhood friend, a choir member, a carpenter, a cook, a work colleague, a chess player, and a man who was a goofy genius.

How marvelous!

Ron's daughter, Veronica,  and his son, Tyler, were there to speak, as was Ron's younger brother Warren.

Another Warren (Tayloe) was from his childhood days in Texas, as was Dean McKay, and they had stories of Ron the bassoon player, Ron the dogwalker, Ron the newspaper boy, who once tied a rope around his foot and hung it out the window so his boss could wake him... and nearly drag him from the second-story window!

Hahahaha! Hahaha!

Oh, yes, that made me laugh, as did many of the stories!

I swear I could hear Ron laughing, too, at those shared memories.

(smile!)

He and Susan shared fifteen years together, many of them in their little house with the red door, near Daffin Park.

She will one day return to that house, once her new job is completed.

I wish her happy memories to mix with her tears...

and offer a hand and a hug, as do many others.

He was a blessing shared with all of us.

i thank You, God.

another day of giving thanks!

I was invited to help out with a 21-pound turkey, so of course I came running to Hinesville!

The girls had been sleeping, but as soon as they saw me, their hair just had to be put in ponytails, too!

Christian felt no such compunction.

He was happy that I'd dropped some science on him and his classmates.

See those fifty water activity books on the sofa?

Yep, goodies from the NCW event I'd orchestrated for SERMACS2019!

Have you seen Junior's grades?

Well, no, Van Halen, but I have seen Junior's dad!

There Chris is, sitting with his son at the 'grown-ups' table!

Christina and I sat there, too, though she honestly didn't get in much sitting for the meal - not with two toddlers in the house!

She had to get them situated with their plates, get them to sit, get them their drinks, get them to leave each other's plates alone - whew!

See those two tow-headed little ones at their very own table?

Miyah was sure to make me sit as close to her as possible, as she has dubbed calls me "my Tina".

She was so excited about me being there that she fussed and fidgeted the entire meal, waiting on me to finish eating so we could play.

I made sure to have seconds so I'd have enough energy to keep up!

Christina was finally able to sit after the Thanksgiving meal was done.

No dishes to wash, as all was disposable this time - good for her!

Even the cooking was done mostly in aluminum foil pans to make clean up a breeze.

Now she was free to bask in a sunshower as she rocked gently in the swing!

What about the children?

Did I not already say that littlest girl  Miyah had taken over custody of me for the duration of my stay?

So my first niece was able to relax and enjoy the sounds of her daughters playing with her Tina all afternoon.
We played "fall down, go BOOM" in the safety of the trampoline, with me gently pushing them backward while laughing and saying the phrase!

We played on the swingset, with me showing Miss Chlo how to swing herself on her tummy.

They played on the slide while I cheered and we all - including Junior and the neighbor kids - played with Layla, the visiting dog of Christina's friend, Amanda.

How wonderful to have a warm day for our frivolity!

Then we all went back inside and had pumpkin pie.

The girls brought books for me to read to them, but wouldn't listen to more than a few pages before they were off to fetch another book.

We also half-watched the fifth "Fast and Furious" movie as they tussled on the couch, trying to sit right up next to me.

(smile!)

I had intended to leave after pie and before dark... 

but that didn't happen.

So, I waited until it was time for the two little blondes to go to bed...

and waited a little longer until they were settled for the night...

then I gave my hugs and took my plate of leftovers home.

(smile)

What a magnificent second day of giving thanks for each other!

i thank You, God.

prehistoric romp!

Little blonde heads in the cinema with me!

What a fabulous ending for my Thanksgiving Day!

I am so glad the twins - and their dad, too! - were able to join me for a post-feast movie!

This time, it was a brand-new shiny one!

"The Croods: A New Age" may have been aimed at its previous audience, who would have all aged seven years since the first one came out.

The girls just turned six.

 

Remember that birthday party at this month's start?

The one that Alyssa missed after she broke her arm?

Yes, that pink cast she now sports on her left makes it much easier to distinguish her from her minutes-younger sister, Leila.

No giggles from them during the film, but Michael certainly did guffaw a few times -

that was good to hear!

Yes, a very nice finish for my day!

(smile!)