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Death became her.........

How the Victorians dressed for death - CNN.com

Two variations of the same theme from different decades.

I never feel lonely if I've got a book - they're like old friends. Even if you're not reading them over and over again, you know they are there. And they're part of your history. They sort of tell a story about your journey through life.

Emilia Fox



You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.

Ray Bradbury

Let books be your dining table,

And you shall be full of delights

Let them be your mattress

And you shall sleep restful nights.

~Author Unknown

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Chinese Proverb



I am currently reading "The Grapes of Wrath".

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DEAR ABBY: We have a neighbor who "decorates" his yard for Halloween in the worst way imaginable. Every year it becomes more macabre. He has "bodies" hanging from tree limbs, gravestones with RIP on dirt mounds and other unbelievable atrocities. He thinks it's funny. It is despicable and it scares the children who must walk past his yard.

When we ask him not to put such deplorable items in our neighborhood, he doesn't take it seriously. I'm thinking about taking up a collection and bribing him not to put his growing, vulgar display up this year. What can we do? -- SPOOKED IN TOPEKA

DEAR SPOOKED: What you're describing is a feature of Halloween that many children enjoy. However, you can't "protect" your children forever. When they're old enough to understand, explain to them that this is all done in the spirit of fun, and it's not real or dangerous.

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Haunted Houses



Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1858)



All houses wherein men have lived and died

Are haunted houses. Through the open doors

The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,

With feet that make no sound upon the floors.

We meet them at the door-way, on the stair,

Along the passages they come and go,

Impalpable impressions on the air,

A sense of something moving to and fro.

There are more guests at table than the hosts

Invited; the illuminated hall

Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,

As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The stranger at my fireside cannot see

The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;

He but perceives what is; while unto me

All that has been is visible and clear.

We have no title-deeds to house or lands;

Owners and occupants of earlier dates

From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,

And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

The spirit-world around this world of sense

Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere

Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense

A vital breath of more ethereal air.

Our little lives are kept in equipoise

By opposite attractions and desires;

The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,

And the more noble instinct that aspires.

These perturbations, this perpetual jar

Of earthly wants and aspirations high,

Come from the influence of an unseen star

An undiscovered planet in our sky.

And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud

Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,

Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd

Into the realm of mystery and night,—

So from the world of spirits there descends

A bridge of light, connecting it with this,

O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,

Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.

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Theme in Yellow



Carl Sandburg (from Chicago Poems, 1916)





I spot the hills

With yellow balls in autumn.

I light the prairie cornfields

Orange and tawny gold clusters

And I am called pumpkins.

On the last of October

When dusk is fallen

Children join hands

And circle round me

Singing ghost songs

And love to the harvest moon;

I am a jack-o’-lantern

With terrible teeth

And the children know

I am fooling.

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Little Orphan Annie

Little Orphan Annie's come to my house to stay.

To wash the cups and saucers up and brush the crumbs away.

To shoo the chickens from the porch and dust the hearth and sweep,

And make the fire and bake the bread to earn her board and keep.

While all us other children, when the supper things is done,

We sit around the kitchen fire and has the mostest fun,

A listening to the witch tales that Annie tells about

And the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!

Once there was a little boy who wouldn't say his prayers,

And when he went to bed at night away up stairs,

His mammy heard him holler and his daddy heard him bawl,

And when they turned the covers down,

He wasn't there at all!

They searched him in the attic room

And cubby hole and press

And even up the chimney flu and every wheres, I guess,

But all they ever found of him was just his pants and round-abouts

And the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!!

Once there was a little girl who always laughed and grinned

And made fun of everyone, of all her blood and kin,

And once when there was company and old folks was there,

Ahe mocked them and she shocked them and said, she didn't care.

And just as she turned on her heels and to go and run and hide,

There was two great big black things a standing by her side.

They snatched her through the ceiling fore she knew what shes about,

And the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!!

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The Raggedy Man

By James Whitcomb Riley (1890)



O the Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;

An' he's the goodest man ever you saw!

He comes to our house every day,

An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay;

An' he opens the shed—an' we all ist laugh

When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf;

An' nen—ef our hired girl says he can—

He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann.—

Ain't he a' awful good Raggedy Man?

Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!



W'y, The Raggedy Man—he's ist so good,

He splits the kindlin' an' chops the wood;

An' nen he spades in our garden, too,

An' does most things 'at boys can't do.—

He clumbed clean up in our big tree

An' shooked a' apple down fer me—

An' 'nother 'n', too, fer 'Lizabuth Ann—

An' 'nother 'n', too, fer The Raggedy Man.—

Ain't he a' awful kind Raggedy Man?

Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!



An' The Raggedy Man one time say he

Pick' roast' rambos from a' orchurd-tree,

An' et 'em—all ist roast' an' hot!—

An' it's so, too!—'cause a corn-crib got

Afire one time an' all burn' down

On "The Smoot Farm," 'bout four mile from town—

On "The Smoot Farm"! Yes—an' the hired han'

'At worked there nen 'uz The Raggedy Man!—

Ain't he the beatin'est Raggedy Man?

Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!



The Raggedy Man's so good an' kind

He'll be our "horsey," an' "haw" an' mind

Ever'thing 'at you make him do—

An' won't run off—'less you want him to!

I drived him wunst way down our lane

An' he got skeered, when it 'menced to rain,

An' ist rared up an' squealed and run

Purt' nigh away!—an' it's all in fun!

Nen he skeered ag'in at a' old tin can ...

Whoa! y' old runaway Raggedy Man!

Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!



An' The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes,

An' tells 'em, ef I be good, sometimes:

Knows 'bout Giunts, an' Griffuns, an' Elves,

An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers the'rselves:

An', wite by the pump in our pasture-lot,

He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got,

'At lives 'way deep in the ground, an' can

Turn into me, er 'Lizabuth Ann!

Er Ma, er Pa, er The Raggedy Man!

Ain't he a funny old Raggedy Man?

Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!



An' wunst, when The Raggedy Man come late,

An' pigs ist root' thue the garden-gate,

He 'tend like the pigs 'uz bears an' said,

"Old Bear-shooter'll shoot 'em dead!"

An' race' an' chase' 'em, an' they'd ist run

When he pint his hoe at 'em like it's a gun

An' go "Bang!—Bang!" nen 'tend he stan'

An' load up his gun ag'in! Raggedy Man!

He's an old Bear-shooter Raggedy Man!

Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!



An' sometimes The Raggedy Man lets on

We're little prince-children, an' old King's gone

To git more money, an' lef' us there—

And Robbers is ist thick ever'where;

An' nen—ef we all won't cry, fer shore—

The Raggedy Man he'll come and "splore

The Castul-halls," an' steal the "gold"—

An' steal us, too, an' grab an' hold

An' pack us off to his old "Cave"!—An'

Haymow's the "cave" o' The Raggedy Man!—

Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!



The Raggedy Man—one time, when he

Wuz makin' a little bow-'n'-orry fer me,

Says "When you're big like your Pa is,

Air you go' to keep a fine store like his—

An' be a rich merchunt—an' wear fine clothes?—

Er what air you go' to be, goodness knows?"

An' nen he laughed at 'Lizabuth Ann,

An' I says "'M go' to be a Raggedy Man!—

I'm ist go' to be a nice Raggedy Man!"

Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

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November Snow

by Joseph Pacheco





The first to fall is the first to go.

Earth wears its mantle damp and chill —

Patina of November snow.

Leaves raged with fire just days ago —

Now grays, ash browns, pale yellows tell

The first to fall are the first to go.

Remains of harvest in desolate row

Brace for the final winter kill

Beneath their shroud of November snow.

The rakes now dry, the plow and hoe

Await Spring’s promise to fulfill —

The first to fall are the first to go.

Lit by the sky’s anemic glow

The pines are standing stiff and still,

Defiant of November snow.

In barns of silence wait those who know

What lies beneath the fields they till —

The first to fall are the first to go,

Together with November snow.

We only had frost here in southeast Georgia.

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Today..just for laughs

34 Cars Carrying WAY Too Much Stuff! - Odometer.com

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.

Franklin D. Roosevelt



I did take the time to vote yesterday. :yh_flag

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Today, let's take a drive in Canada:

along-for-the-ride;1467398 wrote: Today, let's take a drive in Canada:




Nice road!

Crazy, unique public transportation

Veterans Day in the US today



My Dad and his brother, my Uncle Ron

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"Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.



- Mason Cooley

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DEAR ABBY: I frequently receive requests via Facebook and other social media sites asking for prayers for people who are ill or suffering a loss. I'm not a religious person, but I would like to acknowledge their pain and extend my sympathy. Any suggestions? -- CHALLENGED IN TUCSON

DEAR CHALLENGED: That you are not a religious person doesn't mean that you're not a caring and sensitive one. When you receive news that someone you know is going through a rough patch, respond by saying you are sorry for his or her pain, and that he or she is in your thoughts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/dinin ... -well&_r=0

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Winterize your car for less

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http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014 ... 22000&_r=1

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America’s best Thanksgiving Day parades

A Thanksgiving inspired by the Biltmore

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20 Things You Didn't Know About Thanksgiving

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.

Henry Van Dyke

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/weirdest-n ... .html?hp=1

Crazy places, eh?

The motor home life: Should you go down that road?

Hubby and I have enjoyed travelling and camping with a camper. We just didn't get to use them as much as we liked. (One time we had an RV, the other time we had a 5th wheeler.)

The pics below give you an example of the difference. One you drive and the other you pull behind a truck. Both were comfortable.

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21 Must-Visit Christmas Markets Around the World

(I've had the pleasure of visiting #13)

along-for-the-ride;1468516 wrote: The motor home life: Should you go down that road?

Hubby and I have enjoyed travelling and camping with a camper. We just didn't get to use them as much as we liked. (One time we had an RV, the other time we had a 5th wheeler.)

The pics below give you an example of the difference. One you drive and the other you pull behind a truck. Both were comfortable.


I recently downsized from my 32' Bluebird to a 19' class b built on a Sprinter chassis. I loved my Blrd (except filling the 160 gallon fuel tanks), but I was finding that my options were limited in some of the more out of the way National Forest and State Park campgrounds and I knew that I prefer those to rv parks. My Sprinter is a breeze to drive on the twisty mountain roads I love so much and I can fit it into just about any campsite. I can also find parking very easily in the small quirky interesting towns I encounter on my journeys.

Sweet.................

Very pretty, but what about the MPG?

FourPart;1468672 wrote: Very pretty, but what about the MPG?


The video said that that one gets mileage in the mid teens. My little rig gets 20-22mpg with the turbo diesel setup.

At last calculation my little Beasty was getting 54mpg, which isn't that good for its class, but then again, it is getting on in years - nearly 12 years old now. That's 84 in Doggy Years. Heaven know what it is in Beasty Years, and with the price of fuel as it is these days, as high an MPG as possible is essential (to say nothing of the environment).

Now get an RV that runs on Solar Energy & I'll be in love.

Thanks for your input, gentlemen.



5 Reasons Companies Should Fight To Keep Older Workers Instead Of Pushing Them Out | Ann Brenoff



(I am 64 and have worked at my company for 23 years. )

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DEAR ABBY: I was at the hairdresser yesterday, and when I went to the register to pay, the receptionist asked me if I was over 65 "so I could get the senior discount." Abby, I am only 55! I found her question insulting, and several of my friends have had this same experience. I appreciate the young woman trying to save me a couple of dollars, but I'd rather pay full price than be asked if I want the discount.

Why don't businesses that offer senior citizen discounts just post a notice near the register? That way, if a customer is entitled to it, she or he can ask for it when they check out rather than have to hear that they look older than they are. -- INSULTED IN PEORIA, ARIZ.

DEAR INSULTED: Many businesses do post notices such as the one you suggest. What happened should be discussed privately with the owner or manager of the salon. While I am certain the cashier did not intend to offend you, that's what happened, and "helpful" employees like her have been known to discourage patrons from returning. You will be doing everyone a favor if you speak up.

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I was just complaining the other day that I never get carded anymore, even for the senior discount.

Why I Think Elf on the Shelf is Creepy



;)

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Just along for the ride.......................

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Just fantasizing...................

10 Places to Go This Winter

Which place would you like to visit?

along-for-the-ride;1469305 wrote: Just fantasizing...................

10 Places to Go This Winter

Which place would you like to visit?


This winter, a beach on a Caribbean island sounds the best to me.

Have you ever thought of doing this?

50 Things I Learned From Visiting 50 States

along-for-the-ride;1469405 wrote: Have you ever thought of doing this?

50 Things I Learned From Visiting 50 States


My usual mode is to have an idea where I am going with no set path to get there. I prefer the small back roads to the highways and will often turn when I say, "Oooh that road looks interesting." I like stopping in the small towns along the way. After walking through the downtown area, I often stop for a cup of coffee at a small diner or such and ask about the town and what I should know and see. In one case I recall, the waitress told me that I should see their little museum and called someone to open it for me.

In the areas I find most interesting, it is usually easy to find a nearby National Forest or other likely place to park/camp for the night.

along-for-the-ride;1469405 wrote: Have you ever thought of doing this?

50 Things I Learned From Visiting 50 States


My usual mode is to have an idea where I am going with no set path to get there. I prefer the small back roads to the highways and will often turn when I say, "Oooh that road looks interesting." I like stopping in the small towns along the way. After walking through the downtown area, I often stop for a cup of coffee at a small diner or such and ask about the town and what I should know and see. In one case I recall, the waitress told me that I should see their little museum and called someone to open it for me.

In the areas I find most interesting, it is usually easy to find a nearby National Forest or other likely place to park/camp for the night.

It is not a mode that suits a time table or schedule, but I prefer it that way. My motto is that the journey is as important as the destination.

"the journey is as important as the destination." I agree, Wandrin.

More US Christmas lights:

Top 10 U.S. Towns With Huge Christmas Celebrations

"That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou seest the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire

Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.

This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

• William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Sonnets

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Beautiful poem, AFTR. Thank you.