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October 31, 2003
Pirates Meetup
Join the Pirates Meetup near you!
Meetups are a great way to meet other people in your area who share your interests. There are all sorts of Meetups, the one I am advertising is for those who want to get together and dress up and talk like Pirates. Arrr!
Meetups occur all over the world, so there may be one in your area. It's free to join!
Posted by Jessica at 09:12 AM | Comments (2)
October 29, 2003
The Bay City Rollers
Four of the members of that 70's phenomenon, the Bay City Rollers!
I was madly in love with Les McKeown and Woody Wood when I was 10 years old. They were cute and their songs were catchy, and the plaid scarves made a great fashion statement! I had almost all of their albums, which I listened to until the needle on the record player kept jumping the grooves in the records. I had their posters all over my wall, and I couldn't wait until the next issue of 16 magazine to be released so that I would have even more photos of the Rollers!
Recently, I found my favourite Roller album, Rollin', on eBay as a CD that was released in Japan, where the Rollers were even more popular than they were in the U.K. or the U.S.! I was so happy to finally hear some of my favourite songs again!
Keep On Dancin'!
(Visit www.lostinthepast.net for even more Roller photos, and photos of lots of other former teen idols. Don't be fooled by the graphic on the home page, it isn't really the CIA!)
Posted by Jessica at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2003
Kenshin
Rurouni Kenshin, the wandering samurai is another really interesting anime, one of my favorites.
Kenshin was once called Battousai the Man-Slayer, and he killed many people in order to bring about the Meiji revolution in Japan. Now he has seen that violence leads to a soul's destruction, and he has sworn to live peacefully. Can he reconcile his new peaceful life with his violent past?
Although I've only seen four episodes so far (and there are over 100!), I definitely can say this has been one of my favorite DVDs.
Thanks to Brian, I now have four more episodes to watch! I am looking forward to curling up on the couch tonight and watching a couple of them.
I'll have to wait to post any more scanned photos. My hard drive crashed and this new computer doesn't have all the nifty programs that my other one did. So for now, I'm trolling the internet for interesting photos...
Posted by Jessica at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2003
Sleepy Hollow
Ichabod Crane and young Masbath investigate a creepy supernatural incident in Sleepy Hollow.
As it gets closer to Halloween, I think about watching my favourite creepy supernatural haunting movie, "Sleepy Hollow." ("Sleepy Hollow" is about the limit of my capacity for watching horror movies!)
There are really interesting costumes, characters and sets in Sleepy Hollow, and the cinematography is wonderful.
There are also a few really interesting-looking horses in the film, which is definitely an added bonus.
Posted by Jessica at 11:00 AM | Comments (6)
October 24, 2003
Congress Winner!
Kathleen's stable sent this halter entry down to the Congress, and won a halter championship!
Congratulations to Brenda and her halter horse, a lovely Peter Stone ISH model.
(Kathleen is having way too much fun with her digital camera! Of course, these are model horses and dolls, and they didn't actually go to Congress, but it certainly is fun to think that they did!)
Posted by Jessica at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2003
Nightwalker
Shido (purple hair) is a vampire who is commited to serving humanity. His detective agency hunts down and destroys evil demons called "nightbreeds."
Oh, I do enjoy a good anime, and this one is one of my favourites. I guess I'm on a vampire theme after watching Underworld this summer!
Shido has some friends who help him in his quest to rid humanity of the evil demons that pursue them. Rihuo (also pictured) is a school girl who he adopts as his ward after her parents are killed by the nightbreeds. She has a crush on him, but he remains very fatherly towards her. (He later ends up turning her into a vampire when his enemy, Cain, mortally wounds her.)
Shido's other buddies are a human policewoman named Yayoi who is also committed to ridding the world of the evil nightbreeds, and Guni, a strange little fairy somewhat like Tinkerbell.
Since Shido is committed to serving humankind and not killing them, Yayoi allows him to drink her blood to sustain his life.
Cain is the vampire who created Shido, and he stole Shido's memory when Shido ran away from him. Cain spends his time trying to win Shido back, but he's going about it very badly, being a nasty, evil person to begin with. Their argument stemmed from Cain thinking that he was far superior to humans, and using them and killing them without remorse. Shido has a different outlook, viewing humans as just as important and worthy of life as a vampire.
A very interesting tv series. I highly recommend it. It's available on DVD.
Posted by Jessica at 10:07 AM | Comments (2)
October 22, 2003
Off to the Congress!
Kathleen's stable sent two of their riders off to the American Quarter Horse Congess in Ohio!
The Congress is running from October 6 through October 26th this year, so you have plenty of time to visit if you haven't already. Not only would you see the top Quater Horses of the United States and Canada (and probably other places, as well) but you would be able to attend the biggest horse trade show ever! If it's equine-related, it's probably at the Congress! (Unless it's a Julip horse, but we'd rather keep them our secret than share them with millions of Quarter Horse fans!)
Kathleen will hopefully send updates as to how the team is doing at the show. Good luck, Brenda and Dinah!
Posted by Jessica at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2003
Dancing Grandmother
Here is a photo of my grandmother in one of her ballroom dancing gowns.
Believe it or not, Grandmother was in her late 80's when this photograph was taken! She was quite an inspiration to us all. She remained fit and active throughout her life.
Posted by Jessica at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2003
Grandmother
This is Madeline, my grandmother. She is shown ready for her evening ride at the Saddle Ridge club.
Grandmother always knew how to look her best, and she loved to be the center of any social gathering. She led a very active life, from her horseback riding days at the club, to the dinners and parties that she enjoyed so much, and landscaping the grounds outside her home. She raised five children, just like my other grandma. And, of course, she had our grandfather, who loved her dearly. She always called him "Dad."
Grandmother loved to go shopping, and when she visited us she always brought with her a box of her old jewelry and clothes for us to play with when we were young. Once, she even brought me a Breyer horse that had been on an end table in her house for years, and which I secretly coveted.
She loved to eat, but never gained any weight! One of her favorite times of the day was dinner time. Mom used to say that in the old days Grandmother could always be counted on to be first in line at the buffet. It was joked that she had once threatened a waiter with her fork when he attempted to remove her plate before she had consumed the last morsel!
She loved to play card games like Uno, and she especially liked it if she was on the winning side!
In later years, she moved to Florida, and we didn't see her as often, but we kept up a steady correspondence and received lots of photographs of her in her ballroom dancing costumes. She won numerous trophies and awards as a dancer. Grandmother was very active in ballroom dancing, and remained so until her death in September 1996. She was over 90 years old at the time.
Posted by Jessica at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2003
Weird Prehistoric Frog
This is one of the most amazing frogs I've ever seen. Yes, it really is purple.
This frog was recently discovered in southern India, and scientists claim that it is from a previously unknown branch of a frog family that dates back to 130 million years ago. At that time, India was part of a gigantic land mass known as Gondwana, which also contained Australia. (They say that relatives of this frog are found today in the land down under.)
The frog is known as Nasikabatrachus, which means "frog with a nose" in Sanskrit. (As you can see from the photo, the frog does have an unusually small and pointed snout.)
As a big fan of frogs and dinosaurs, I was very interested to read about this prehistoric amphibian. I used to collect frogs from the pond behind our house when I was very young. I'd put them in a metal bucket inside the garage. Mom always said I couldn't keep them, though, even when I explained that I had named them all, and I could tell them all apart (I really could.)
There was a humongous bullfrog in the pond, it was so large that as children, we thought it was akin to the Loch Ness Monster. It had a head the size of soup bowl. It would float around the surface of the pond, with its two eye bumps sticking out of the water. Mom said she never would have believed it if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.
I liked frogs so much that Aunt Jane gave me a stuffed frog for my birthday one year, and I slept beside it for many years. It still has an honored place in my house (though its a bit battered with age!)
Posted by Jessica at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2003
The New Roof
Here is Brian showing off the new roof!
My friend Kathleen came to visit right after our roof was completed, and she took this photograph. Looks spiffy, doesn't it?
Posted by Jessica at 09:47 AM | Comments (2)
October 14, 2003
Grandma
This is Mary Isobel, Mom's mother and my grandma.
This is the grandma that I remember from my childhood (our other grandma was so often very far away, but Mom's mother visited us often, and took care of us kids if Mom and Daddy needed to get away for awhile.)
I never knew Grandma to have any selfish qualities, she existed to serve others. She was kind, generous, thoughtful, and loved to write volumes to various relatives and friends detailing the activities of the backyard wildlife and the visits of neighbors.
She would also include clippings from newspapers, used stamps (if you were a stamp collector) and useful coupons for the local grocery.
She loved to bake cookies and to take care of the men in her life. She seemed to think that men needed looking after! She raised five children (two girls and three boys) alone after Grandpa George died suddenly. My mother helped raise the younger kids as Grandma had her job as a nurse (Grandma loved to take care of those in need!)
After her kids were grown, Grandma found another nice fellow to take care of. I knew him as Urbie, but my cousins called him Grandpa. I always thought when I was very young that Urbie was another word for grandfather! He was a wonderful grandfather, and a loving husband to Grandma.
When Urbie passed away, Grandma found herself alone, with nobody to take care of. Eventually, she spent time living with my aunt (she was able to see lots of babies this way, as my aunt was a grandmother herself many times over) and also with my mother and I.
She passed away in her 90's, and we miss her very much.
Posted by Jessica at 11:42 AM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2003
Mom, Daddy and Golden Boy
This picture shows Mom and Daddy sharing a ride on Golden Boy, Aunt Madge's favorite horse.
The photo was taken at Daddy's parents' house on 9 Mile Road in Farmington in September, 1949, just one month after he married Mom. (Mom told me once that this picture shows almost the last time she ever got on a horse! The real last time she ever got on a horse was when our neighbor, JoAnn, talked her into taking us kids horseback riding at a local stable when I was about ten years old. Mom had told me that she couldn't sit down for days after that! For the rest of her life, she avoided horses, but would occasionally hold a lead rope for me or feed a carrot to one of my horses.)
Golden Boy was an outstanding show horse in his day. In those days, palominos were very popular, due to Roy Rogers and Trigger. Golden Boy was versatile, and not only could he jump well, but he also wore an extremely heavy silver parade set and entered western events.
Golden Boy had a large blaze on his face and one blue eye. My aunt kept him for many years, he was one of her favorites out of all the horses they had owned.
Look for more photos of Golden Boy and the other Blue Top Farm horses on my website in the future!
Posted by Jessica at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2003
Chizzam
Chizzam is a beautiful Arabian gelding that was my friend for over ten years. Here we are getting ready for a trail ride.
I am a true softie when it comes to sad cases, and Chizzam was a sad case! One of my horse-nut friends (from whom I was borrowing a Paint gelding at the time) told me about him. "You just have to see him, Jessica," she said. "He's in a barren pasture with a bunch of old broodmares, and they won't allow him near the grain or the hay! He's just skin and bones! The owners have too many animals, not enough pasture, not enough time, and not enough stalls!"
Well, I needed to own another horse like I needed a hole in my head. But I agreed to go look at him.
There he was, just as described, a scrawny thing all of 14hh. You could tell he wasn't ever going to be king of that herd of broodmares! They really wouldn't allow him near the food. The owners told me that they had spontaneously decided to stop at an auction a couple of years before. The market had fallen out of the Arabian business, and whole stables were sending their horses off to auction to recoup just a small amount of what they had been worth a short time before.
Chizzam was 14 months old when they rescued him from the knacker, who was the only other bidder. They bought him because he was the same colour as their first horse, and they couldn't stand to see him go to slaughter.
The problem was that they raised Morgans, not Arabians, and they both worked full time, they raised dogs and llamas, too. They just couldn't care for all of them, so some of them had to go.
I looked into Chizzam's kind brown eyes, and found myself saying to the man, "If I can find a stable to board him at, I'll take him!"
I did find a stable, and Chizzam lost no time in making up for his deprived foalhood. He soon gained weight, and even height, as he grew to about 15.1hh over the next few years.
The first time I ever rode him to try him out, he behaved perfectly. His owners had told me that he was "well started under saddle."
Later, my horse-nut friend called me in a panic. "You're not *riding* that horse, are you???" she said. "Of course, I ride him several times a week." I told her. It turns out that Chizzam's sellers had confessed to a friend of my friend that they had only sat on his back a few times, he wasn't really green broke.
Despite this, he never made a bad move whenever I rode him. (He did take a lot of finishing work, though!) He was very much like my first horse, Smoky.
I owned Chizzam for over ten years, and he was a perfect gentleman with a friendly disposition and an extremely sensible mind. I kept him at many stables over the years, and we even had a go at studying with a professional trainer for a year. Boy, did Chizzam get in shape! (I did all the riding, I might add. The trainer called instructions from her comfy seat on the sidelines!)
Eventually, the costs of keeping a horse combined with my hectic work schedule caused me to reluctantly put my friend up for sale in 2001. I sold him to a nice couple who wanted a nice horse for trail riding. I visited him later that summer, and he really liked his new home.
But I still miss him.
Posted by Jessica at 11:10 AM | Comments (1)
October 09, 2003
Uncle Tom
This is my uncle Tom in his football glory days!
Yes, cousin Mary gets her football talent from Uncle Tom, he is her uncle, too. Uncle Tom had a very busy and productive life, but he unfortunately left us too soon. I was only three and a half when Uncle Tom passed away, and my little brother was born a few weeks later.
I wanted to write about Uncle Tom so that my brother and sister might know some of his history. I inherited most of his photographs and mementos when Mom and Grandma passed away. All that I know about Uncle Tom, I have learned from these documents.
He was born on October 5, 1935 and he graduated from high school in 1954 as president of his senior class (as did his father before him, in 1927.) Tom was definitely an overachiever! He played football and basketball and, while still in high school, contributed sports news to the local paper.
He was destined to become a journalist. He served as sports editor of his college paper, lettered in football, and graduated in 1959.
He had a strong desire to serve his community, and was very active in local events. He worked for many different newspapers and magazines through the years. He was a Mason and also a member of the Elks Club. He served many posts in the Elks Club, and was involved in charitable functions such as Toys For Tots. He served as chairman for the annual Elks Club Memorial Day Services in his hometown.
He was an American History buff, and enjoyed golfing.
A co-worker at the time of his death described Tom as a "warm and friendly person who always carried a smile on his face and had a kind word to say about his fellow man."
He passed away on August 6, 1970.
Posted by Jessica at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)
October 08, 2003
Waiting For Raindrops?
These birds remind me of a song we used to sing in church. It's a lovely picture, so I thought I'd share it.
I didn't take the photo, it came via somebody else's website, but was originally from photo.net. (Thanks, Obi-Wan!)
The way the birds are holding open their bills reminds me of a song about raindrops, representing spiritual enlightnment from the deity.
"If you're thirsty and dry, look up to the sky, it's beginning to rain" were the words of the song. It was a hopeful song that seemed to indicate that if one was in need of spiritual guidance, one merely had to look around and it would eventually appear naturally, like raindrops falling from the sky.
Posted by Jessica at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2003
Moondance Meets Pot o' Gold
Moondance the HOTY Julip met the famous world-travelling FAS, Pot o' Gold, at Breyerfest this year.
Pot o' Gold's people called Moondance's people, and arranged for the two world-travelling model horses to meet for a photo op at the Breyerfest dinner tent. (Not pictured are Jessica, Kathleen, and Karin, who are trying to enjoy their semi-tasty dinner while the two plastic horses have a chat.)
Pot o' Gold has been many places already. He has fallen down a cliff in Ireland (it was an accident, not on purpose!) He has also been nearly trampled by a wild pony stallion in Virginia. I guess Pot o' Gold was getting a bit too frisky with that stallion's mares!
Posted by Jessica at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2003
Pirate Quiz-Which of Jack's Personalities Are You?
Pirate Jack. Obsessed with treasure? You? Of
course!
Which of Jack's (from Pirates of the Caribbean) multiple personalities are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
This was an amusing quiz, but I could think of many ways to answer each of the questions. Next time I try it, I might get a different result!!
The Pirates of the Caribbean DVD is being released in December. I can't think of a better movie to have on your holiday gift list this year!
Posted by Jessica at 10:28 AM | Comments (2)
October 03, 2003
Cute Palomino Julip Horse
This little guy was purchased by me at an online auction. I am still awaiting his arrival by post.
This perky fellow looks a bit like an Arab, but he's palomino, so he's definitely partbred. He has a very pleasant expression on his face.
I'm going to have to build more stalls, as the arrival of this Julip and his piebald stablemate below will bring the number of latex Julips at my stable to ten!
(Whisper, Noddy, Rosemund, Bumblebee, Lucky, Kelpie, and the two new appaloosas, Privateer and her foal Firefly are the current stable residents.)
Moondance begs me to mention the three HOTY horses, himself, Black Velvet and Sundance. (They live on the upstairs dresser, though, so they won't crowd the stableyard!)
Posted by Jessica at 03:10 PM | Comments (4)
Anticipated Julip
It was pointed out to me that this little guy, purchased in an online auction, needs his rug adjusted!
When he arrives at Blue Top Farm, he will have the finest care available, including regular rug adjustments as well as feed, exercise and all necessary grooming and veterinary care. (This picture was taken by his previous owner in the auction yard. I don't think the seller knew much about horses!)
He will need a name, though, so I'm going through my "Celtic Baby Name Book" to find the perfect match for him.
Posted by Jessica at 03:03 PM | Comments (2)
October 02, 2003
Severus Snape
One of those professors you hope never teaches your class...
Unless you happen to be Draco Malfoy. I, personally, think that both Draco and Snape just need a hug. They probably started out life as perfectly well-adjusted individuals, but as we see in the Potter books and movies, anyone with a father like Draco's would be hard pressed to maintain any compassionate tendencies as he matured. And poor Snape, we see in the Order of the Phoenix, had good reason to feel ill-disposed towards Sirius Black and James Potter. Apparently, no one ever befriended Severus, and he was tormented mercilessly due to his lack of social skills, so he remained a social outcast in the wizarding world.
I applaud Snape for finding the strength inside his own heart and soul to turn from the Dark Arts and funnel his energies towards more positive ends. He is currently the Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
(He is rumored to have a sister who also teaches school somewhere in the United Kingdom. It is said that she is quite as intimidating to her students as Professor Snape is to his!)
Posted by Jessica at 11:40 AM | Comments (2)
October 01, 2003
True Soulmates!
My little brother is getting married!!!
I used to tease my little brother all the time when he was younger about getting married. I would tell him, "Someday, you're going to meet a really nice woman, and want to get married." He would always reply, "Nope! I'm never getting married!"
Well, I was right! He did find a soulmate, and he asked her to marry him!
(So always listen to your older sister, Dewd!)
Amy is just perfect for Don. They have the same sense of humor, they like the same cars, they both love Star Trek, and they both have martial arts as their hobby! They both like to eat at Taco Bell, too!
You can find them tooling around in a really spiffy new Beemer or the super-fast Subaru (Dramamine required when Jessica is a passenger in this one!!) when they aren't working or at the dojo.
Sometimes they have enough time to get together with Brian and me for a delicious steak at the Outback.
Congratulations, Dewd and Dewdette!!!
Posted by Jessica at 11:49 AM | Comments (3)