For those of us who are allergic to cats:

If you want a cat, but are allergic, just click on the picture above, print, and enjoy.

Never threaten someone who's making your lunch.

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Carole King

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm ever gonna make it home again - it's so far and out of sight. I really need someone to talk to, and nobody else knows how to comfort me tonight. Snow is cold, rain is wet - chills my soul right to the marrow. I won't be happy 'till I see you alone again, 'till I'm home again and feeling right."

One of my all-time favorite singers from the 70's was Carole King. She was such a groovy chick. I loved every song from "Tapestry" but one - Smackwater Jack (to this day I've yet to find anyone who liked that song either). I've only ever owned "Tapestry", but I like the other above albums also.
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Just hanging out in 1973.

Security Blankets

Up until about 1972, I had a security blanket. I called it my "blankie" (this is so embarrasing). Anyway, it was blue and it had a silky top edge that I liked the taste of. Whenever I had to go up to bed into the dark upstairs, my blanket was always in my arms. Whenever I was upset, my blanket calmed me down. Whenever I was sick, my blanket was right there in my bed for me to curl up with. We watched many episodes of Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers together. I was devastated when my parents threw it away. It was like losing a friend. Boy, those were the days when a simple blanket made everything seem okay.

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http://nationalgeographic.com/grimm

I have always loved fairy tales. The following 5 fairy tales are among my favorites. I tried to make them as short as possible, without missing anything important. You can read the entire stories by clicking onto the above URL.

Click on the picture for a larger view of "Little Red Cap".

The Frog King (the abridged version)

A princess was playing beside a well. Her golden ball accidentally fell into the well, and a frog offered to fetch it if she would let him live with her. She agreed, he fetched the ball from the well, then she took the ball and ran off, giving the frog the shaft. The frog showed up at the palace anyway, and although the princess wished not to comply, her father reminded her that she must keep her promises. By the end of the night she's had it with the frog, and throws it against her bedroom wall to kill it, but instead the frog turns into a prince. They got married, and probably had kids.

Mother Holle (the abridged version)

As a girl is spinning wool by a well, her shuttle falls into the well and sinks to the bottom. The girl's step-mother tells her to jump in and get it. She jumps in, sinks to the bottom and finds herself in a meadow. She travels and ends up at Mother Holle's house, where the girl becomes Holle's housemaid. She's a good, faithful worker, but gets homesick and asks to leave. Mother Holle sees her off but literally showers her with gold. The girl finds herself home, covered in gold, and her stepmother wants the same for her other daughter who is lazy and really the worst of the 2 daughters (sorry, but it's true). The bad daughter arrives at Holle's house via the well, thinking she'll eventually get showered in gold also. She gets hired by Holle, but does such lousy work she gets fired. She receives a parting gift shower also, but instead of gold she gets covered in pitch and it sticks to her forever.

Hansel And Grethel (the abridged version)

Hansel and Grethel (Gretel) get ditched by their parents in the forest. The kids get lost and end up at a witch's house. The witch promises them the world, but the next day she puts Hansel in a cage for the purpose of eating him. Gretel manages to push the witch into a blazing oven and kill her. The kids escape and find their way back to their father's house. The Stepmother has usually passed away (in some versions).

Snow White (the abridged version)

A queen gives birth to a daughter, names her Snow White, then dies. The girl grows up to be very beautiful, and her stepmother becomes envious of Snow's beauty. The queen gives orders for the girl to be killed, but Snow runs away and gets a job as a live-in housemaid for 7 dwarfs in the woods. The queen locates Snow's new house and poisons her with a laced apple. Snow White recovers after being kissed by the Prince, she becomes queen, and the wicked stepmother usually dies a brutal death, depending on whose translation you are reading.

Rapunzel (the abridged version)

A man was caught stealing vegetables from a witch's garden. In return for sparing his life, she received the man's first born child, a daughter. The witch named her Rapunzel, and then locked the girl in a tower where the girl remained a prisoner. Her hair became extremely long, and the witch would climb the tower using Rapunzel's hair. One day a prince climbed the tower and he and Rapunzel fell in love. The witch found out about the relationship, cut off Rapunzel's hair and sent Rapunzel away. The next day, the prince climbed the tower thinking Rapunzel would be there, but the witch greeted him instead and poked his eyes out. After crawling around the earth for a few years (because he was blind), he and Rapunzel found each other and they got married. Somehow he got his eyesight back, and nothing bad happened to the Witch.

THE END

Jaws (the abridged version)

In a summer resort island, a woman goes swimming at night and is taken by a shark. The fact that there's a shark in the water goes unnoticed until a boy is devoured while on his raft in front of people, during a busy beach day. The sheriff (who is afraid of water and yet lives on an island), a scientist, and a fisherman hunt the shark and finally kill it. The sheriff survives, but in the movie the fisherman dies, and in the book the scientist and the fisherman die. No one really comes out ahead in this one.

Cape Cod, my birthplace.

Wood End Lighthouse, Cape Cod

Because I was born there, I am a true Cape Codder, even though I didn't grow up there. We did spend alot of time in the Summer there, though. My cousin Stephen wasn't born on the Cape, his family moved there just after he was born. He will never be a Cape Codder. Never. Being a true Cape Codder, at one time, meant something. If you were born there, you belonged. If you weren't born there, you were considered forever to be a "Wash-Ashore". However, there are so many people living there now that come from other areas that it doesn't really matter anymore - which is just as well because it was all so stupid. I always loathed status symbols.

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As a kid, even I knew that this kind of note would never pass scrutiny.

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In 1977/78, if you turned on any radio at any given moment, it seemed that every station was playing a song by The Bee Gee's. Back then, I really wanted to look like Barry Gibb (the middle one). Back then he was just plain cool. A pastor whose church I attended a few years ago, looks just like the one on the right, but I can never remember if the guy on the right was Maurice or Robin.

A 1977 present.

Dad gave me this in early 1977. He worked at Texas Instruments (the manufacturer of this game), so I got some of the new stuff that TI produced before it hit the shelves in the stores. Like The Little Professor, it was basically a hand-held calculator game system. I really forget what 'games' were on it, but I just loved it. I always loved games and puzzles where I had to use my mind. I never cared for 'battle' games. 1977 was also the year Space Invaders came out, and EVERYONE was hooked on SI except me. It was also the year Star Wars came out. I guess '77 was the year of space things.

As soon as I started using this, The Little Professor ended up in a drawer somewhere, and I played with Dataman for about a year.

Superheroes

I never got into the 'super hero' thing, i.e. Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, etc. I could never understand why nobody knew Clark Kent was Superman just because Clark wore glasses....... just doesn't add up. It all seems so silly.

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Superheroes Part II

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