Nothing to do and all day to do it…

"Too much free time on my hands"

It’s hard for me to believe such a thing but it’s OK to take a break from real work…our country’s economic times has reduced our work to ‘slow’ even tho our President claims we are not in a recession but an ‘economic downturn’…
Blogging is the best medicine for me…I can’t play golf every day…

So to pass time there's a few things I’d like to know:

How come the Canadian dollar is now worth more than ours? Not long ago their money was worth 65 cents to our dollar and one had to exchange $1,000 Canadian to get $750 American…now it’s worth more than ours and will likely mean more of my relatives will be visiting us soon…if their dollar has more purchasing power, there’s eleven feet on snow on the ground and they’re freezing their butts of, let ‘em come…it should help our economy…

How come I can’t find the spark plugs under my hood anymore…there’s so much stuff attached to the engine these days…years ago when we had VW’s we could change the plugs, points and oil in twenty minutes…now you have to have the cars serviced…

I’d like to know how not to gain ten pounds when the relatives come down for a week…

What do you think about Cal Poly graduates in Landscape Architecture, experts on almost all computer programs, especially on AutoCAD, the program on which we draw all our plans, but they can not spell or write? We’re talking about pressing ‘spell-check’ but they don’t, and I’m talking about simple ordinary every day words and a few botanical names and the jargon we use…these people can not design on paper and when they see how our hand drawn designs they’re blown away…they can hardly write in freehand and can’t print legibly… drives me nuts, we try to teach them but they think if it can’t be done on a computer it ain’t worth doing…these people were the first to go during this ‘economic downturn…

What time is it anyhow? Four o'clock? Man I have to get out of here...

Time is on my side…response to Julie’s tag for a blog list…

Never rush the hands of time…


Where was I ten years ago?
Working in the same place, same profession and living in the same house…
Had four less grandchildren…I now have eight and wouldn’t mind more… (Easy for me to say)

The next ten years?

Working less and playing golf every day except when asked and have to go shopping at Target with Donas…

If I became a billionaire? (Maybe a millionaire?)
A Mercedes coupe for Gina
New cars for the ‘driving’ grandkids
A 911 for Julie and me
New homes and new cars for all daughters,
A different color Louis Vuitton bag for Allison (Do they make ‘em in different colors?)
A new van for Donas…she wants nothing but a van…I’ll be sure she has the best rims…
Give money away…Church... and relatives (even before they call for donations)... and many friends… (Especially the ones who comment on my blogs regularly)…irregular commenters, forget about it...

Who needs that much money?…not rushing the hands of time…
But I could be talked into a house with an ocean view, adjacent to a golf course…
I would not quit working but tell a few clients to take a flying leap…

Five jobs I’ve had?
Time is on my side…I’ve only had four…
First job after marriage was at Rossmoor Corp., Leisure World in Laguna Hills, as a landscape draftsman…I remember my fellow drafters (we worked on third floor of the Taj Mahal building) laughing when emergency vehicles rolled by…God’s gonna get me!
I was laid off after three years and spent the next four years freelancing…working for other landscape architects, civil engineers, building architects and a famous golf course architect who gave me my passion for golf…
I passed the California State Board of Landscape Architects in 1969, kept on freelancing, then started a partnership in 1971…Cardoza-Di Lallo & Associates…the business grew to two offices with forty employees and after twenty five years I left and started a small group…Di Lallo Landscape Architecture, Inc. in 1996…I am still here and still love coming to work…

Bad habits?
Only one really bad one…really bad! I love watching people wherever I go and try to not laugh at them…very unsuccessfully…I’m so ashamed and always looking for that lightning bolt from up above…pray for me...

A few more things you may not know…
Born and raised in Montreal…mother and siblings too…dad born in Italy…he and his family worked as goat herders…yup! (would I make this up?)
I’m an American by choice…sworn in in 1962…never got drafted…might have escaped to Canada if I had to go to Viet Nam…
Will have been married 46 years this June…we paid for our own wedding…went to Palm Springs for our honeymoon but forgot to make reservations…Love is strange…
When asked by friends how I feel about marriage after all these years I respond that it seems like only 15 years…true story...

More of Julie’s “Let’s give ‘em something to blog about’…

Are magazines going to be obsolete?

There will likely be some decline in magazines, but maybe not that many…

BECAUSE READING IS GOOD!

There seems be too many magazines that report or publish the same thing…how many movie starlets and divas can we read about? Not that I read this stuff…honest I don’t…I don’t hardly know or recognize actors and actresses anymore and don’t go to too many movies…I don’t read People magazine and other similar ones except at my dentist and doctor’s offices…I’ve started bringing a book with me when I expect to wait, for business meetings too…it’s handy to have a magazine on you, but I can look up most of these on my computer if I care to… I spend hours a day on a computer and I don’t want to be near one at home…

But there are times there’s nothing BETTER than having a magazine in hand…with maybe a bit of cheese and wine...
It’s tough to beat reading a magazine at the park, beach, the back yard or Starbucks…
I like reading golf mags or a book in a fast food parking lot when I’m on the road or at the office eating lunch…
I hardly buy magazines at the market, but occasionally I’ll pick up a NEW CARS or a Golf mag…
I LOVE National Geographic every month… it can be read in small increments with time to savor outstanding photos of countries, peoples, animals...I wouldn’t even think of looking up these topics on a computer…yet they magically appear in every issue...
Time and Sports Illustrated are a good way to get briefs on newsworthy articles like politics and baseball…and I like quick reads…and what would we do without professional and business magazines?
TV has much to offer with travel, history and cooking shows…shows with information you can get in magazines…but sometimes it's so nice to simply watch the tube with the cheese and wine...
We need good magazines, books and computers to stay up with the times…
I love to read the LA Times even tho it has political views I don’t agree with but it has the best sports and comics…if you don’t believe me, ask Julie…

because reading is fun...

Give it up for...

Lent

For Roman Catholics, fasting is the reduction of one’s intake of food for one full meal a day, on Fridays and means no meat. The Church requires performance of some form of penance at certain times of the year, especially during Lent. Catholic law allows up to two small meals or snacks, but these can not be greater than a full meal. Fasting relates to solid food, not to drink, so any amount of water or other beverage may be consumed. Do you think wine drinking priests added this clause to Pope Pius VI’s Apostolic Constitution in 1966? A clause making it appropriate to substitute prayer and works of charity for fasting was also included if a person’s job was strenuous, if one was ill or if one was invited to a banquet when fasting may be embarrassing. They thought of everything.

Lent is a full forty days of fasting and abstinence beginning on Ash Wednesday and continuing until noon of Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Children under fourteen and adults over sixty are exempt.
Being over age sixty I’m not required to participate but being a recovering Catholic, guilt demands giving up something.
I give up old John Wayne movies on Fridays, but only during Lent.

I WISH I....

As a kid my parents made me take 'classical' piano lessons… for seven years! My Dad played guitar and sang Italian songs… (Saturday in the park?) I always wished I could have studied ‘fun piano’ instead, because as soon as I came back from lessons on Saturday morning they made me sit down and play them a tune…I’d gripe a little about wanting to get outside to play hockey in the street with my freezing little Canadian buddies, but eventually started cranking out a Brahms, Bach or Beethoven little ditty or at least a good attempt at it...I’d be into it for about 30 seconds and then I’d glance around at my parents’ waiting for approval or applause as they were quietly leaving the room…a minute or two later they’d call me for lunch…leftover macaroni and meatballs AGAIN?

I soon learned, upon returning from lessons and without being asked, to begin practicing ‘scales’, pretty freaking simple and easy to play…the parents would say “sounds good, love to hear you practice” as they left the room…

Favorite love songs of my favorites...

Happy Valentine's Day...

You are so beautiful…Joe Cocker
Wonderful tonight…Eric Clapton
Layla…Eric
I can’t stop loving you…Ray Charles
Georgia on my mind…Ray
Please send me someone to love…B.B. King
I can’t make you love me…Bonnie Raitt
I got you Babe…Sonny and Cher…(Maybe stretching it with this one)
Your song…Elton John
You are the sunshine of my life…Stevie Wonder
She’s got a way…Billy Joel
Baby I love your way…Peter Frampton…(Reminds me of Julie)
Just for a thrill…Aretha Franklin

Things I wouldn’t eat if my life depended on it…thanks to Julie for this bright blog idea...

Squid flavored ice cream
Purple honey flavored sausages
Musk flavored life savors
Chocolate coated cockroaches
Preserved ant eggs
Crispy roasted larvlets…baby larva…
Giant water bugs in Thai red curry sauce

Sorry I couldn’t Google the photos too…

Bon appétit… NOT

WHAT MY FRIENDS LIKE ABOUT ME…

A good golf partner is one who’s always slightly worse than you are…
I get so many calls from my friends inviting me to play …

BETTING AND THANKING GOD (Revised)

Revised title: BETTING ON DAUGHTERS AND THANKING GOD...

After being blessed with three daughters and a fourth child on the way about ten or twelve of my golf buddies made a bet with me…if the next child was a girl they would each give me a bottle of Stoli…if it was a boy I would have to give them each a bottle…You all know the outcome…I don’t think the girls ever knew about this but two dozen bottles of Stoli came in handy later on…

P.S................ The title above is misleading...not having received a single comment after 24 hours is a miserable feeling...the ladies in my life must be ticked off ...I apologize...

just so you know, I was not thankful for the Stoli but for having been blessed for a fourth and fifth time with daughters...boy children never crossed my mind except thinking once in a while how awful it would be if I had sons working on their cars on my front lawn...I thank God (almost) every day for the girls...

When I close my eyes...get in the car...

'71 VW Van..the all time favorite family ride...

A hybrid from way back...

Thankful for what I have...

'97 Volvo plain and simple...drove it until the wheels came off...

'63 Pontiac Tempest LeMans...got it on! A car that sped!

'88... one of our best family friends

'90 Family style Dodge Caravan...had it for a long time...this sucker wouldn't die...

'55 Ford...If only I'd kept this one...

'03 One of my favorites...

05 Honda...Momma's car

'63 Buick Opel wagon...when we were poor...

'88 ...Everyone should drive a Caddy at least once but wouldn't want to drive this one today...

'86-911 THE 'RIDE'

'67- 911 S ...My first true love...six carbs, five speed...HIGHWAY STAR

'65 Chevy Bel Air wagon...room for all the girls...we lived in Norwalk and this car fit in well...

'51 Ford...had it for a short time...another one I wish I still had...ours was red...was a nine passenger, three in front, three in middle and three in rear seats.

'49 De Soto...my first car, $50 total, replaced convertable top for $150...such a deal...

I'm still wondering where this one is...'50 Buick

Hydro-matic, lowered in front, WHIPLASH! ...priceless!

Julie...one of my best meals

As a kid our family traveled (and ate a lot)...when I was around 14 or 15 while vacationing near Washington D.C. I ate this most outrageous meal at a restaurant in Chesapeak Bay...not IN the bay but you know?...it took hours to crack, pick and dip into melted butter, this huge lobster that must have weighed five pounds or more...besides the giant tail I ate the legs and giant claws...(Gina would just love to suck the meat out those legs)

I had to share bites with my sister and mother while my dad ate around five or six dozen fresh oysters...I've had a hankering for them ever since, with a tasty sauce, lemon and a dab of horse radish...as I got older I added a glass of vodka...it's the best!

At today's prices that entire lobster probably costs $100...I'm not sure because I can't afford it these day...

Well, I just made myself starve to death...and this evening we're dining at the SoupPlantation in Foothill Ranch...I'm going to have fish...

For Julie

I couldn't wait to post the worst song ever..."The Secret Life of Chickens"...

SPARE TIME?

What do you do in your spare time…?
On a regular basis or occasional free time?
Something healthy and good for you?
To make extra money?
A new hobby? Do you have one now?

Some thoughts…

Travel…rent or buy a motor home and visit Calif sites on long weekends…park at Doheny Beach on Friday night, bring wine, a salad and bread, stay overnight…or O’Neal Park but don’t forget your gun…bring a friend?
Take a class…be an artist…travel… sketch your motor home, your bike, your guitar and the mountains and the prairies when you get there…
Post purposeful blogs...Concentrating on certain topics…
Learn how to play a musical instrument…piano, guitar,
Read and collect books…
Write that book…start off with little kid’s short and scary stories…about your travels to O’Neal Park?
Take a culinary class…
Record your family’s genealogy…
Regularly go to swap meets where they sell old stuff and buy something you never knew you wanted and begin collecting or selling…
Study a foreign language, maybe more than one…earn money being a translator…good for travel…also excellent when ordering food in fancy O.C. eateries and impressing the servers…
Bicycling…many trails in O.C. from mountains to the ocean…
Attend your City Council or Planning Commission meetings…get on a committee to save or build something…
I’ve heard of shops called Spare Time Shops selling hobbies, games, books and stuff… you can visit and be inspired to do heaven knows what…
Collect, make wine…
Learn to play softball, golf or tennis …
Don’t forget to take a nap once in a while and watch baseball on TV…

If you have young children you may have to disregard some of these…

Cut down trees and... ‘Put up a parking lot’?

Southwest Trees and Turf newspaper reported...

There’s a 61 year old man in Las Vegas who was upset that trees were blocking his backyard view of the Las Vegas strip…the trees were planted by the project developer… so he decided to insure his view by cutting down more than 500 trees in the upscale community where he lived…I don’t know if all the trees were on his property…a neighbor caught him red-handed with a tree saw in his hand...
He was sentenced to up to five years in prison for killing the trees. The long sentence was partially due to a letter he wrote promising to unleash ‘chemical, biological and nuclear mass destruction’ because of tree plantings…
The man said he was not a bad person as he was a retired construction worker with hip, back, heart and prostate problems! Did his illnesses make a difference? He and his wife had asked the homeowner association if they could swap out the trees for shrubs, but were told NO. At his sentencing the neighbor was quoted as saying: “If he was cutting trees, was he going to cut people next?”