Buckle Up!

The cars travel about MACH three-thousand.

It was the Car’s Land ride at Disneyland. We did it! And it only took three hours of standing in line, two breakdowns, a 45 minute re-boot of the system, a little boy who was an inch or two over the required 40 inch height requirement, and an afterward response from said three-year-old, “It freaked me out!”

But there it was Radiator Springs—the 8 ¾ wonder of the world—plunked down right in the middle of California Land, and it looks like it has always been there.

How do they do it? The red rock mountain backdrop, the cliffs that look straight from Utah, or is it Arizona—the alluvial fans, the dikes, the intrusions, the crumbled rock at the base of the cliffs, the cactus. It is awesome.

We hit the optimum time for park hours, the first week of summer that allowed the use of California annual passes, and the last week of summer late hours. Two roads converged and we took it.

Do you remember that service stations used to use glass bottles to fill car’s oil tanks? From somewhere in the recesses of my mind it came back to me—I have seen that someplace, a glass bottle with a metal spout—probably it was before your time. Long ago the service station attendants would fill their glass bottles form a large tank of oil, affix a metal spout, and add oil to your car. Now those bottles grace one of the many buildings the lines of people weave through as they wait for the car’s ride. Bottles cut in half and embedded in cement, clear ones, green ones, burgundy ones glow as the sunlight shines through. A spectacular display.

AN ULTERIOR MOTIVE:

Okay, that was last week. This week I am attempting to make a Facebook Page. I tried about 16 times to place a picture with script on the title page, but it kept going away. Guess having a title is verboten. And I have an old Jewell Davis account that keeps popping up. I want to use Jewell D, a different account, different title, different email, but somehow the two Facebook pages are connected. I canceled the first account, only to have both go away. So I reinstated both. All this was just after I wrote that no gripes would appear on my page. So I’m griping here.

You know how it is, you proclaim something one minute, the next you have to eat your words.

Okay, here is my ulterior motive. I am trying to get followers on a Facebook page. This was after an agent said one author had a following of 61,000 on Facebook, and she signed him immediately. (I wonder if his book is good.)

So, if anyone feels inclined to follow me on Facebook, I will send hugs and kisses. Facebook.comdreambelievedaredo

(Dream, Believe, Dare, Do)
P.S. Never tease a dragon, they don't like it and it isn't nice. Besides remember you are crunchy and taste good with catsup.

P.S.P.S.
Look at these gorgeous pictures added for me from Facebook follower. I love it. Thank you.

                 

The Fable

Hello, thanks for visiting this site.

First I have to show you two pictures sent to me by readers. Both are from Facebook and are so stupendous they bare copying.

Horse Hug
This makes me cry, it is so sweet, notice the horse's leg. I would make this photo larger but it loses resolution.


This photo went viral on Facebook. This man takes his arthritic dog for a soak every evening in Lake Michigan where this time of the year the water is a perfect temperature for soothing and relaxing the dog. Another tear jerker.

I gleaned the following fable from Derek Siver’s blog, Push Push, push, push, Expanding your Comfort Zone. Silver said anything on his blog sivers.org  could be recopied.

A farmer had only one horse. One day, his horse ran away.

All the neighbors came by saying, “I'm so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.” The man just said, “We'll see.”

A few days later, his horse came back with twenty wild horses. The man and his son corralled all twenty-one horses.

All the neighbors came by saying, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!” The man just said, “We'll see.”

One of the wild horses kicked the man's only son, breaking both his legs.

All the neighbors came by saying, “I'm so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.” The man just said, “We'll see.”

The country went to war, and every able-bodied young man was drafted to fight. The war was terrible and killed every young man, but the farmer's son was spared, since his broken legs prevented him from being drafted.

All the neighbors came by saying, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!” The man just said, “We'll see.”

This man knew about going with the flow, something I do not know by instinct, but am trying to incorporate. In the meantime around here we watch sunsets.

It has become our habit as the sun is about to go down to traipse in mass to the front porch. There we look across the road, beyond the fruiting grapefruit orchards to Big Rock Candy Mountain. There the great orb that is the sun slowly sinks behind the rock that is the mountain and we watch the sky transform into blues, purples, plum, pink, salmon, orange, gold.

Those of you who read my blog during our stay in Hawaii know that we didn’t see the sunsets where we lived. Being in the jungle we didn’t see the sunrise either. Fascinating how one misses such pleasures when they are not available. I do remember the mornings though. I often arose before sunrise to sit at my computer where the window before me faced the fabulous green between our house and the Tiki room. As the light of the morning slowly enlivened the green, bringing it from grayed-green to sparkling emerald, I was sure it was the Great Spirit turning up her rheostat.

I Didn't Know This...

We hear of Breast Cancer awareness all over the place, but I had not heard of this…A substance that is curing some women of breast cancer, and halting the growth of breast cancer in others.

Watch the movie Living Proof. It will inform, astound and inspire you.


                                    

Living Proof is based on the true story of Dr. Dennis Slamon’s efforts to win FDA approval for Herceptin, a drug (with no side effects) that can halt the growth of certain breast cancer cells.

Harry Connick Jr. played Dr. Slamon on screen.  Connick lost his mother to ovarian cancer when he was thirteen, so I imagine he could really relate to this role. Living Proof is the story of Dr. Slamon’s constant battle with the FDA, and the doctors who thought breast cancer research was a waste of money.

Personal stories of women are interspersed, and they come together in Clinical tests required to definitively prove that Herceptin can halt the growth of cancer cells in specific women.  About 25 to 33% of women with breast cancer have a specific genetic alternation named HER-2 which causes a particularly aggressive growth of tumors.  Dr. Slamon targeted these woman.

Without the efforts of the incredible Lilli Tartikoff Karatz, a mover and shaker American cancer activist, this drug might never have gotten FDA approval. Neither would it have reached the women who need it.

Dr. Slamon had saved Lilli’s husband’s life, and she decided, against Slamon’s objections, to find money when the research institute tabled his funding.  She coerced Ronald Perelman, CEO of Revlon, to join in fund-raising tactics, and they raised 80 million dollars.

Here are heroes—but watch the film—that’s where the story lies…

While I am on the subject of movies…I love film, but I tell you, sometimes I am aghast with what people watch, or what is created for consumption, whatever.

Husband and I went to see Total Recall, well he watched it. I left.

Total Recall, might have been an okay movie, but after watching at least six trailers of action, violence, and horror that preceded the feature film, I could not take one other person shooting or hitting another person.

I walked out, and got my money back.

Another day, another movie.

Okay, one more. I got a kick out of this one. Jeff who Lives at Home, I would have sworn when I saw it in the theater it was called “Jeff who Lives in His Mother’s Basement,” but when Daughter Darling found it on Netflix it was called Jeff who Lives at Home. Jason Segel and Susan Sarandon star. The movie was not well attended, and well, I had never heard of it.  But imagine this: it had a message.  What if we innocently and persistently followed the signs that come to us?