March Ends With Two More Line of Duty Deaths

I had hoped to make it through March without having to post any more line of duty deaths in the Law Enforcement community but sadly I received notification today of the deaths of two more officers, both of whom died in motor vehicle accidents.

Officer James D. Fezatte of the Millbrook Police Department in Alabama was killed late Saturday night while responding to a report of a civil disturbance when his police vehicle left the road and struck a tree. It had been raining heavily at the time of the accident and police believe that his vehicle hydroplaned and left the roadway. No other vehicles were involved in the accident.

Officer Fezatte's death is the first line of duty death in the history of the Millbrook Police Department which has been operating for 28 years and has 30 law enforcement officers. “This is the first officer that our department has lost in the line of duty since its inception, and it’s going to be hard on all of us,” said Millbrook Police Chief Kenneth Bradley in a newss release. “We will be here to support his family and lean on each other to get through this.”

Officer Fezatte, age 41, had retired from the Air Force where he served as a Security Police Officer before joining the Millbrook Police Department in September of 2007. He leaves behind a wife, two children, and a Department that has lost one of their own.

Border Patrol Agent Jarod Dittman of the United States Department of Homeland Security died at approximately 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning in rural East County, California following a motor vehicle accident en route to his patrol area in Jamul. The single vehicle wreck involving Dittman's department issued Jeep Wrangler was found by another Agent on a curving county highway between Chula Vista and Campo.

Agent Dittman, age 28, was transported to a local emergency department with multiple injuries where he was pronounced dead at about 2:00 a.m. according to Richard Smith, a supervisory agent for the U.S. Border Patrol. Smith said he had no details on the cause of the crash which is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol.

Originally from Centre County, Pennsylvania, Agent Dittman attended Penn State College before serving in the Army National Guard and being deployed to Kosovo for half a year. Moving to California, he lived in San Diego with his wife and young daughter and had been working as a Border Patrol agent for just over a year.

Once again I ask you to please remember these officers and their families in your prayers as I also ask you to pray that no more officers die in the line of duty. I know it's a tall order but wouldn't it be fantastic?

Manic Monday - Pull

When Morgen decreed that this Monday's Manic word was "pull" I really had to pull something out of my past to get 'er done! Nothing for nothing, Mo, but could you pull out a better word next week? Of course, after seeing the picture of a pulled pork sandwich that Mo has posted on his blog, I can understand why Mo decided to use "pull" this week and dedicate it to Nancy @ The Goat Rodeo; I mean, heck, if the pulled pork she makes looks anything like that I'd have used her for inspiration, too!

Anyhow, pulled pork sandwiches aside, here's some music to listen to while you're reading my post on "pull" -


As a teenager in the 1970's (anyone else remember the 70's??), as well as listening to The Who, The Moody Blues, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Carol King, Three Dog Night and the like, I oftentimes listened to other groups like Blue Suede, Stealers Wheel, The Grass Roots, and Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds - singers of the above song. It was a band with a very confusing name - were they four people? Hamilton, Joe, Frank, & Reynolds? Were they five people? Hamilton, Joe, Frank, Ann, Reynolds? Nope, the band was actually a soft rock trio from Los Angeles with the original members of the band being Dan Hamilton (guitar/lead vocal), Joe Frank Carollo (bass/vocal), and Tommy Reynolds (multi-instrumentalist/vocal).

Prior to becoming Hamilton, Joe Frank, & Reynolds and signing up with Dunhill Records in 1970, all three were part of the T-Bones, a 1960's studio group whose hit "No Matter What Shape Your Stomach's In" was based on a popular Alka Seltzer jingle. Personally, I have no knowledge of that particular song or group as the first time I ever heard these guys was when they released their 1971 Top Five hit "Don't Pull Your Love (Out)."

After none of their follow-up singles had any success, Tommy Reynolds left the group in late 1972 and was replaced by keyboardist Alan Dennison. The band continued to work the Las Vegas, college & one-night-only concert circuit until late 1974 when they signed with Playboy Records under the condition that they retain the band's name of Hamilton, Joe Frank, & Reynolds. The condition was imposed as their new record company was afraid that what little name recognition and momentum the band had would be lost should they change the name at that point in time.

Within another few months the band recorded and released their first USA Top 10 hit in 4 years; a soulful soft-rock ballad called "Fallin' In Love" which was written by Dan Hamilton and his then-wife Ann. "Fallin' In Love" proved to be the group's biggest hit as it took Billboard's coveted #1 USA singles spot in the summer of 1975, became their second RIAA-certified (Recording Industry Association of America) million-selling gold record, and was their first and only song to chart in the UK. In 1976 they reached #21 on the US charts with their last successful single, "Winners and Losers".

The band convinced Playboy Records to change the group's name to "Hamilton, Joe Frank, & Dennison" for their second album but no more hits were forthcoming and they permanently disbanded in 1980. Dan Hamilton continued to write songs until his death at the age of 48 from a rare disease known as Cushing's Syndrome, a hormonal disorder caused by prolonged exposure of the body's tissues to high levels of the hormone cortisol. Sometimes called "hypercortisolism," it is relatively rare and most commonly affects adults aged 20 to 50 with an estimated 10 to 15 of every one million people affected each year.

So there you have it! A blast from my past to pull off another Manic Monday post! I hope that you enjoyed it at least a little bit even if you have no clue about anything from the 70's, especially the sappy AM music that we all listened to! If you want to see what others pulled out of their hat for this assignment, don't forget to check out Manic Monday at It's A Blog Eat Blog World!

A Royal Time of It

The Place!

The Plan!

The Participants???

The Possibilities!

As a rule, and as a Virgo, I am generally a very punctual person. No, I take that back, I am beyond punctual, I am one of those people who arrives at least ten to fifteen minutes early as I abhor being late in any way, shape, or fashion. It appalls me to be late. I can't stand to be late. It embarrasses me to no end to be late. I will not tolerate being late.

So - for my very first meeting with royalty? I was late! Go figure!

As I left my hometown of Norwich Upon the Thames heading west towards the lovely little town of Glastonbury and my much- anticipated meeting with Mimi, Queen of Memes who was vacationing in Connecticut, I knew that I was going to be running late. Trying to get out of Norwich is sometimes next to impossible as a) traffic is generally horrible and people don't know how to drive, b) the roads are laid out very badly, and c) invariably when I need to get somewhere in a hurry I get behind the one person in the world who not only does the speed limit but drives five mph below it! All three of those things were working against me Thursday afternoon but I figured I would just do my best to get there relatively close to on-time. I knew that Patti of Late Bloomer Boomer fame had also been summoned to the Royal Summit and that she was shooting for a 4:30 arrival so I was just hoping to get there by then rather than at 4:00 p.m. as Queen Mimi and I had planned What can I say? It was a busy day at work and I got out a little later than I had wanted and I couldn't meet royalty without taking a shower before I left and ... and ...

...and as the miles ticked by I could imagine Her Majesty sitting and waiting for her subjects to arrive, probably tapping her immaculately manicured nails on the side of her iced tea glass while she debated what punishment to mete out for such impropriety. I thought about calling her on my cell phone but I'm one of those people who believes that if the State of Connecticut has made a law against talking on one's cell phone while driving that it is a law to be obeyed and not to be trifled with even if one is calling a Queen! I also wear my seatbelt but that's neither here nor there, I just thought I'd throw it out there!

At approximately 4:15 I finally pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant we were to rendezvous at and glanced over to see a red Cadillac with a vanity plate sitting just a few spaces over. Ut-oh! The Queen was most definitely there and I was most definitely late. Oh dear, oh dear ... ah well, nothing for it but to suck it up and walk in and take my lumps like an adult. I just hoped I wasn't going to be sentenced to a permanent cell next to Frank in the dungeon - my back really doesn't do well in dank and musty conditions!

Pulling up my courage by my bootstraps I walked into the empty restaurant and turned the corner to find Queen Mimi regally sitting on a high stool at a table in the bar tapping her toes in queenly displeasure. At least, I thought that was the Queen. Having only ever seen half of her face I thought she looked like the Queen but I couldn't be positive. As she turned to cast her royal gaze upon me, I squinted my left eye, turned my head slightly to the side, and looked at her again. Yes! It was most definitely the Queen! I'd recognize the left side of her face anywhere even without the crown (which she had apparently left at Bloggingham Castle and didn't bring with her on her fact-finding mission to New England).

"Your Majesty," I gushed. "It's such an incredible pleasure to at long last make your most royal acquaintance and I sincerely and most humbly apologize for keeping you waiting like this!" Well, no, maybe that isn't what I said. I think it was more like, "Mimi, right? Yeah, hi, sorry I'm late!" Ah, ever the poet with words ... not! We chit-chatted for a bit and not but a few moments later I saw a car pull in next to mine and out stepped a woman who could only be Patti (whose face I've seen several times on her husband Ralph's blog). Patti whooshed into the restaurant with the world's biggest smile and hugs all around until I reminded her that she was supposed to curtsy for the Queen at which time she performed a perfect curtsy most definitely fit for a Queen!

With all of us finally in attendance, we adjourned to a booth with Queen Mimi leading the way while Patti and I walked a respectful distance behind her. At that time the restaurant was still mercifully empty and the giggling and carrying on was not witnessed by anyone except the wait-staff who had most likely decided that we were all on an outing from one of the local group homes and that it would be best to simply serve us and keep a safe distance from the table!

Our waiter, Mark (who was kinda cute in a "hi, I'm Mark and I'll be your server this evening" kinda way!) had to come back several times before we were ready to even order beverages due to the constant giggling and talking that we were doing. Finally we explained to him that we were bloggers (oh, well, that explains it then!), that this was the first time we had met, and that Mimi was - in fact - a Queen from North Carolina. "You don't have much of an accent," said the ever-observant and really-kinda-cute Mark. I commented on the same thing, as did Patti, and we were told by Mimi that, because she teaches music, one has to have proper diction and annunciation. Ah ... yes ... that makes perfect sense!

After more giggling and talking, food was at last ordered and while we were waiting for it to arrive Patti whipped out her cellphone and called Ralph to say she had arrived safely and then passed the phone around the table so that we could all talk to him for a bit. He had made the restaurant recommendation, that area of Connecticut being his old stomping grounds, and as a final recommendation he suggested the tiramisu for dessert. Well, no one has to tell me twice that not only is there tiramisu available for dessert but that it's good tiramisu so when the time came for dessert Patti and I ordered a piece to share. Mimi, who could probably blow away in a good wind, declined dessert but did give our tiramisu a royal blessing before we consumed it.

During dinner, Patti showed us a recent article that she had written about a silver pheasant that was printed in the New Haven Register and I have to say that I was very impressed. I knew that she wrote for a newspaper as she has mentioned it several times in her blog but I didn't know that it was such a well-known newspaper that she wrote for and that she has been a journalist for thirty years. Having once hoped to be a journalist myself, I was quite in awe of both the article and her by-line. Check out Patti's article "Exotic Bird on the Loose" and I think you'll be in as much awe as I was! Talk about feeling insignificant, I was sitting not only in the company of a Queen but an honest-to-goodness newspaper journalist - wow!

Shortly after showing us her newspaper article, Patti then surprised us with another example of her fine writing when she whipped two envelopes out of her purse and presented one each to both myself and Mimi. Taped to the front of the envelope was a lovely heart-shaped purple stone and, inside, a lovely poem penned by Princess Patricia herself! It was quite the honor to receive and her sentiments were lovely! It's definitely going in my jewelry box for safe-keeping! When Patti wins her Pulitzer I can then sell the poem on eBay for big bucks and retire comfortably to a house in The Hamptons!

Obviously Patti must have known that Queen Mimi was going to bestow titles upon us as she had already signed her poem using her royal title (officially: "Princess Patti Keeper of the Royal Meme Apologies") but I had yet to be given a title myself. After giving it some thought and trying out and then discarding a title or two, the Queen dubbed me "Linda, Duchess of Norwich Upon the Thames". Now doesn't that sound quite regal? You all, of course, may still refer to me simply as Linda but it's quite nice to have a title other than "Mom-There's-Nothing -in-the-House-to-Eat" or "Hey, You!"

At that point the restaurant was becoming quite crowded so we graciously decided that we needed to move on so that others could sit down and dine. We adjourned outside to try to figure out how to go about taking some pictures of the three of us and were immediately presented with a dilemma. Obviously we weren't smart enough to have taken up the cute Mark when he offered to take a picture of the three of us while we were inside (can I get a royal DUH?) so that left us having to figure out how to do this on our own.

While Patti and I practiced being "Ladies in Waiting", the Queen descended to the parking lot where she then partially hid behind a row of potted plastic plants so as to maintain her mystery while also garnering a lot of strange looks from the people inside the restaurant! I'm sure that the looks grew even stranger as, at Princess Patricia's persuasion, the Queen decided to pull part of the plastic posies from the pot and pose prettily for pictures.

Oh dear ... was plastic posy pilfering for pretty picture posing a possible punishable crime in Connecticut? Were we all going to be pinched and placed in the pokey as punishment for pulling plastic posies from pots in public? Perhaps we were going to be put away in the penitentiary pending pre-trial preparations? And if that were the case, who was going to bail me out? Princess Patricia could call Ralph, Queen Mimi could call Prince Budwick, but who was I going to call? Certainly not my surly 15-year old who was sitting at home grumbling about the fact that I got to go out to dinner while she stayed home and ate leftovers! This was not looking good and I urged the Queen to replace the posies posthaste prior to police populating the parking lot! Phew!

Let me just say at this point that it's not easy getting pictures of a Queen who wishes to only have one side of her face photographed (and no, there is no hideous disfigurement or deformity that she's trying to hide, she just prefers her left side - must be a royal idiosyncrasy or something!) but we certainly had a good time trying even when Patti's batteries died (she reminded me that she was a journalist NOT a photojournalist hence these sorts of things happened) and then Mimi's batteries decided to follow suit. Luckily Patti had spares so the bizarre picture-taking was able to resume after only a short break while Patti and Mimi shared batteries. I seriously believe that people were beginning to think that there was something seriously wrong with us but not having any plans to ever return to Glastonbury I wasn't worried about it! Even if I did have future plans to return to Glastonbury, I get the feeling I might have been asked not to return ... ever ... please and thank you! Oh, and could you take those other two with you?

Still, a fine time was had by all and it was fantastic to have met two more blogging friends - both of whom are funny, charming, and gracious ladies. Mimi granted both myself and Patti lifetime "Get Out of the Dungeon Free" passes (sorry, Frank, I really did plead your case but Mimi mentioned something about needing someone to keep the rats company) while she also firmly stated that didn't give us free reign to not do any memes that come our way simply because there is no threat of the dungeon over our heads. As representatives of Bloggingham, we are to act as such and not tarnish the royal name.

Before parting company for the night, Patti and I promised to get together again soon, this time with Prince Ralph in attendance, and the next time Queen Mimi is visiting in Connecticut there are plans for all of us to get together again with both Prince Ralph and Prince Budwick and, if she behaves herself, Lady Amanda in tow. I'm afraid that by the end of that meeting there will be yet another town I've been banned from but I'm sure it will be worth it!

All in all, meeting a Queen is not as intimidating as I initially thought (I think she even forgave me for calling her an idiot!) Now, if I could just get used to this whole half-a-face thing ...

If you'd like to read Queen Mimi's version of this historic meeting (complete with video that doesn't want to work!) please visit her post "Who Would Keep a Queen Waiting" while Princess Patricia's can be found at "The Queen and her Ladies-in-Waiting".

I've Got a Question, You've Got an Answer

Now I know you're all just sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to hear about my meeting with Queen Mimi last evening but due to some personal obligations and other technical issues (such as waiting for royal approval from Her Majesty on which pictures I can or cannot use for my post!), it's going to take some time before I actually have that post ready to go.

In the meantime, I was inspired by a post I saw the other day over at Dottie's Place for this post and thought I would borrow from that post and ask those questions myself. She was writing about her job and asked some good questions -

Do you like your job?
If you could be anything, what would it be?

I thought that those were some great questions and they got me to wondering about how many people really do like what they get up and go out the door to do in order to make a living every day? How many would rather be doing something else and what would that something else be?

I actually do like my job - most of the time! - but there are times when I want nothing more than to run screaming from the room while tearing out my hair in great bunches. Well, maybe it's not that bad but there are days when I sure the heck don't want to get out of bed in the morning and go beat my head against a spreadsheet all day! Even though I am a 911 Emergency Medical Dispatcher, the biggest part of my job is trying to dispatch ambulances or wheelchair vans to routine transports and still have enough people left in the city to cover a call when 911 does ring. It's tricky at times - especially when the number of calls outweigh the number of crews that I have working and every hospital, nursing home, and doctor's office wants transportation and they want it now! I have to say that being a police/fire dispatcher was a heck of a lot easier because you didn't schedule calls - you took them as they came in and prioritized them and dispatched them that way. Depending on call volume sometimes people had to wait before we could get an officer out to their house for a non-emergency call but you did the best you could.

Emergencies, for all that they get your blood racing and can be stressful, are the easy part of my job. Do I like walking someone through CPR or the Heimlich maneuver on the phone? Probably not but it's easier than trying to shoe-horn yet another discharge from a hospital into an overly loaded ambulance whose crew hasn't had time for a cup of coffee - never mind lunch!

Now, as to what I would really like to do ... ah, if I could do it over again there are several other choices I might have made. I would love to have been a lawyer - particularly a criminal lawyer - and been able to argue my case in front of the court, maybe then I could afford to look at Hilton Head rentals! If not that then I probably missed my calling by not becoming a history teacher. I have always loved history and think I would have done well in a career of that sort. One other thing I really wouldn't mind doing is taking on a job as a tour guide at a national park - particularly a Civil War one. I could definitely see myself giving tours at Gettysburg or Antietam and being quite happy doing that. Of course, I'd probably be yelling at people to get their kids off the cannons and monuments but beyond that, I think I'd really enjoy it.

Now - how about you? Do you like what you do? Do you want to do something else? What's your dream job?

A Royal Dilemma

"To hug or not to hug? That is the question!
Whether tis nobler to approach thy Queen with arms flung wide
Or humbly approach on bended knee and by such groveling not offend thee? ..."

Oh dear. I am afraid that I am quite unprepared to meet with Queen Mimi tomorrow evening as I have no clue whatsoever of what is expected of me when first meeting someone of royal personage. Do I curtsy? Do I bow? Do I allemande left and allemande R, go right and left and form a star; shoot that star to the heavens whirl, go right and left to the second girl? Allemande left and allemande G – right and left and turn back three? Allemande left and the ladies star – the men run around the outside bar? Then allemande left and the men all star – girls run around but not too far? Oh my Lord I'm so confused! What do I do??

If I were my daughter, I'd no doubt run up and - forgetting all propriety, pomp and circumstance, and respect for personal space - wrap the Queen in a huge bear hug. I, however, am a lot more reserved than my pink-and-blue haired teenager who gives hugs away much like the orange-toga'd Hare Krishnas used to give away tracts in airports.

Speaking of airports, the 1980 movie Airplane!, which was a spoof on airline disaster movies, to this day remains one of my all-time favorite comedies and is one that I can watch over and over without ever getting tired of it. The first time I watched it was with my first husband at a small theater in Southern California. I remember that "It was a rough place - the seediest dive on the wharf. Populated with every reject and cutthroat from Bombay to Calcutta. It's worse than Detroit ..." But surely I digress. Yes, yes, I have digressed and need to stop calling myself Shirley. I need to get back on vector, Victor ... I was writing a post but now there's something I can't remember! My post! What is it? It's a story of sorts that can be made out of words or pictures or both and published on a blog for other people to read but that's not important right now!

Oh dear, I seem to have lost all control of this post, haven't I? Hold on while I snap myself out of this ... {{removes self from computer and takes a walk around the house}} ... Whew! Okay, that's better ... now, where was I? Oh yes, proper etiquette for meeting a Queen (even if she is merely a self-proclaimed Queen of Memes or one who became Queen when some watery tart threw a sword at her while walking past the pond on the Bloggingham grounds one day!). Ut-oh, there I go again ...

Anyway ... if anyone can help me out with the proper Meeting-of-the-Queen etiquette before 4:00 p.m. tomorrow evening I would really appreciate it! I really don't wish to embarrass myself before the first true member of royalty I've ever met though I'm sure that even if I don't embarrass myself by failing to make proper introductions, I'll no doubt manage to do so when I keep staring at her face and wondering where on earth the other half is!

Oh, and before I forget, the Queen has granted me permission to interview her during the course of our meeting tomorrow night so if there's anything you'd like me to ask her for you then please feel free to leave me that question in a comment. I promise to make sure that Queen Mimi is not merely talking out of the side of her mouth and gives me the straight answer, in spite of the fact she only has one side of her mouth to talk out of, and will publish those answers in another post either Friday or Saturday. So, anything you'd like me to ask Her Royal Majesty for you? Any complaints you'd like me to carry forth in the hopes that she sentences me to the dungeon and not you for having had the impertinence of asking? I just hope she remembers not to kill the messenger ... perhaps I picked a bad week to give up sniffing glue?

Anyway, while you think on what you'd like to ask the Queen, I'm going to go practice my do-si-dos and maybe have Amanda give me some hugging lessons! After I watch this movie trailer, that is!

Wednesday Wishes

Missy Blue Eye's wish @ Missy & KC
Now how could a cat with those gorgeous blue eyes not get her wish?

Tammy at Mom Knows Everything
When you're wishing for such big things like world peace and an end to hunger, I think it's great to wish for a little something for yourself, too!

Yertle @ Smile, Play, Dream
This is a fantastic wish!!

Asta @ Asta's World
A beautiful wish from a beautiful dog.

Asta's friend Deetz the Airedale Terrier
Peace, love, and kindness - who could wish for more?

Eric & Flynn @ Our Life By Eric and Flynn
With the power of the cat blogosphere behind them, these wishes should come true!

Pear, Bert, & Jake @ PB&J Is My Favorite
Another loving wish for other cats and dogs from three wonderful kitties.

A Royal Summons!

Oh dear, oh dear! What to do? What to do? It appears that I have been summoned for a royal meeting with the Queen this coming Thursday and frankly, I'm a bit nervous! Is it for tea or is it for a royal dressing down of some sort?

There I was, minding my own business while sipping a cup of coffee and searching out wishes in the Blogosphere this morning, when suddenly an instant message popped up my screen from Her Royal Highness Mimi, Queen of Memes. "I should like to meet with you this Thursday hence and request your presence for tea and perhaps dinner at a destination to be named later. There are matters of great importance that we must discuss and I feel this would be better met through a personal meeting rather than through the internet. I shall be in touch as to time and place."

Oh dear, have I committed some sort of violation of the Rules of Meme? Did I fail to participate in a meme that I was tagged for? Am I destined for the dreaded dungeon at Bloggingham Castle? All sorts of thoughts - both good and bad but mostly bad - began circling in my not-quite-caffeinated-enough head! What could the Queen possibly need to discuss with me? What could be so important that she would leave the protected walls of Bloggingham and wander the countryside?

I mean, seriously, as much as all of us in the Blogosphere love our beloved Queen of Memes, how many of us have actually been summoned to appear before her? None that I can think of so naturally I'm a bit apprehensive! Is she a benevolent Queen? A Queen who rules happily from Bloggingham Castle with a sweet smile and a gentle wave of her hand or is she the type of Queen that one should cower before? The type of Queen that would be scaring the bee-jeebers out of sweet innocent characters in a Disney movie? Is she going to offer me a slice of poison apple pie and or perhaps a cup of hemlock tea? Tales of her non-culinary talents do run rampant through the Blogosphere so of course I should be leery, correct? Maybe she'll have a Royal Taste-Tester present and I can merely eat only that which the Queen consumes?

How do any of us know what type of Queen she really is? The most any of us have ever seen of her is half of her face peeking out from behind trees in the Bloggingham forest or gazing out from beneath the turned-down brim of a sleuth's hat while she goes investigating in the Blogosphere. Has anyone ever seen her royal documents proclaiming her to be actual and honest-to-goodness royalty? Was she dubbed Queen like King Arthur who was dubbed King by "the Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that he, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur"*? Or did she just one day decide that she looked good in a tiara and proclaimed herself to be Queen so that she could get the royalty discount at local restaurants and shops?

How do I know that this isn't one of those oh-too-frequent internet scams where someone is proclaiming themselves to be royalty from another country who, through no fault of their own, is having difficulty in obtaining their rightful inheritance and needs me to help them recover their millions while offering me a significant chunk of the bounty as long as I make a small investment of my own hard-earned money up-front? Perhaps I should best leave my checkbook at home in case I fall victim to her smooth talk and earnest promises!

Or perhaps our beloved Queen is merely a former Beauty Queen who wishes to meet for tea to reminisce about her former glory days strutting her stuff on the boardwalks of New Jersey? I'm sure she'd have great tales to tell of the cat-fights that go on backstage while one contestant steals hairspray from another or lines another's bathing suit with pepper spray!

Well, regardless of our Queen's true identity and past, I am definitely looking forward to meeting her despite the nervousness and trepidation one must always feel at the thought of meeting a Queen. I'm going to have to work on my curtsying ...

... and Lord knows what one wears when meeting royalty! I'm pretty sure a hat is in order, especially if one is having tea as I believe it's considered quite gauche to have one's head uncovered in the presence of royalty. Of course, I'm a little rusty on The Rules of Etiquette When Meeting Royalty Whether Self-Proclaimed or Not so I could be wrong there!

So, as long as I don't find myself locked away in a dungeon for my impertinence in writing this post, I shall let you all know how it goes after Thursday's meeting as long as the Queen gives me her Royal permission to blog about it.

Gee, now that I think about it, I wonder how she manages to drink tea with only half a face??


*A big thank you to Monty Python & The Holy Grail!

Wishin' and Hopin' ...

I've been out gathering more wishes and I've just got to say that I am really pleased with the way this meme is going. There are so many lovely wishes being made and I hope that they all come true! I'll be looking for more later on so if you made one and it isn't here yet, not to worry. If you've seen a wish in your travels that you want to point out to me, I'd be grateful if you'd pass along the link to me so that I can go visit it!

Sophie @ Sophie Kitty made such a good wish that Poppy Q repeated it!

Odat @ Odat's Mumbling
A lovely wish from a lovely woman

Storyteller @ Small Reflections
A second wish from the Storyteller

Sanjee, Boni, Mini, Gree, and Pepi @ House of the (Mostly) Black Cats
Another lovely wish from five very lovely kitties!

Gill @ Gill's Jottings
I so like this wish!

Queen Snickers and Empress @ Royal Kitties
Spoken like true royalty and what a wonderful wish!

Manic Monday - "Egg"

The Manic Monday word of the day is "EGG" which is a simple word so, for once, I'm making this a simple post! Enjoy and don't forget to check out more Manic Monday Minions over at Morgen's It's A Blog Eat Blog World!

A chicken and an egg are lying in bed.
The chicken is leaning against the headboard smoking a cigarette, with a satisfied smile on its face.
The egg, clearly angry, grabs the sheet, rolls over, and says, "Well, I guess we finally answered THAT question."

Welcome Spring and Happy Easter!

Apparently in spite of the continued cold temperatures that we've been getting here in Connecticut, Spring really has sprung as evidenced by the crocuses that have popped up in my front yard. Yay! It looks like my daffodils and tulips are making a valiant effort also so hopefully before long I'll have a yard filled with some beautiful color. Come on, Spring!

Speaking of beautiful ...

Isn't that a lovely Easter basket filled with all sorts of Easter goodies? I think it is and it's mine! I can't even remember the last time I got an Easter basket, especially one that was done up in my favorite color purple, so I was really happy to get this one from my friend Amy last night. Woo-hoo! I got an Easter basket! A purple Easter basket!!

Amanda and I went over to Jason & Amy's house last night for a belated St. Patrick's Day dinner of some of the best corned beef I have ever had. Amy cooks it all day in a crockpot with Guinness and other seasonings and it's so tender that you can cut it with a fork. Yummy! I knew that she was planning on giving Amanda an Easter basket but I had no idea she was going to give one to me, too. What a lovely surprise and it's so pretty, I don't want to eat any of it! Amanda, of course, has already devoured most of hers but she'd best stay away from mine if she knows what's good for her! Of course, I'll probably have to lock it away before I go to work this afternoon ...

I hope everyone has a very Happy Easter and that Spring will be arriving on your doorstep soon!

Wishes On An Easter Sunday

Tisha @ CrAzY Working Mom
In an effort to keep herself out of the dungeon at Bloggingham, Tisha wished for something I've been wishing for myself!

Sandee @ Comedy Plus
Sandee chose to share her wish with others. Thank you, Sandee!

Misty Dawn @ Misty's Words
Misty wishes for a new camera to take some more beautiful pictures and if you've never seen any of her pictures - trust me - you are definitely missing something! She is very good!!

Storyteller @ Sacred Ruminations

An Irish Blessing is Storyteller's wish.

The Aging Felines @ Kodak, Winton and 3 Perf my 3 Aging Felines
For their first meme ever, these aging felines did a fantastic job, didn't they?

Mickey, Tilly, and Georgia @ Mickey's Musings

I wish that I was as spoiled as they are, too!

Parker @ Perfectly Parker
A perfect wish from Parker!

Grr, Midnight & Cocoa made a wish for all animals all over the world.
I love the way that the cats in the Blogosphere make wishes for each other and animals all over.

Cecil @ Cecil the Cougar
Cecil thought about wishing for more treats or more sunshine to lie in but instead decided to make his wish for others & Wally, too!