BON JOUR ET BIENVENUE MARIO....

In a week or two we'll be visited by 'Mario of Montreal', as I alliteratively call him, one of my many second cousins, one who comes to California most often, and one of my favorites...we are really anxious to see him to enjoy his great attitude and California fun loving ways..

One of his favorite things to do here is to sit on the beach and watch sunsets in Laguna, eat at Fuddruckers in Lake Forest, and shop at the swap meet in Orange County...he's worked at Di Lallo Burgers in Montreal for many years making him an accomplished cook...

In between doing his favorite things he'll do his thing for us...a few years ago he put together an incredible Sheppard's pie and, of course, a few Di Lallo Burger extravaganzas with the whole family...I can already taste those hot peppers...

He's not coming to Orange County directly from Montreal but going to Las Vegas first...just about all our relatives stop there before coming here... in the past Mario's gone there first then rented a car and drove to Orange County...right now the weather in his town has been in the 50's with too much rain...he'll be more than ready to leave Canada, visit Las Vegas to gamble a little, eat at the Rio Hotel Carnival World Buffet, one of my favorites, then cruise in a Mustang convertible with the top down, no matter how cold it may be, to Orange County...

I'm looking forward to all the fun during his stay especially visiting the swap meet which I haven't been to since last time he was here...they had a great used books section that hopfully is still there, as well as some good places where we bought fruit and veggies and a lot of other stuff I didn't know I needed...I love acting like a tourist there but I'll be walking around with a hat and sunglasses in case I bump into someone who knows me!!!

Sign of the times...

Luxury car maker Bentley is recalling 820 cars worldwide over fears that its famous "Winged B" hood ornament could injure people in an accident because it might not properly retract.

Bentley Motors' European head office in Berlin said Thursday the recall affects 620 cars in the United States and Canada and 200 in Europe who added the raised hood ornament as an option on Arnage, Brooklands and Azure models made between October 2006 and March 2009.

but what about beige and mauve?

Young guys drive Camaros, soccer moms drive mini-vans and rich snobs drive Bentleys...we usually associate types of cars with certain types of people but do we really know who's behind the wheel? I associate Volvos with safety and Porsches with speed...but what about what the car color says?
According to a survey in Great Britain, certain colors indicate certain personalities but I think they're generalities although in some cases quite true when I think of some of my friends and relatives...but I ain't telling because in case you're a relative or friend who's reading this, well, you know who you are...

• Black: aggressive personality, rebel...I know a few
• Silver: cool, calm but may be a loner...could be
• Green: Reactive...my car is light green, does that count?
• Yellow: idealistic...like a Lambo?
• Blue: introspective, reflective and cautious...not for everyone
• Red: someone full of energy and pizazz...gotta be true
• White: status seeker, gregarious...I had no idea
• Cream: contained and controlled...who would have guessed

If you buy a new car and pick out the color and options you want, the color can send some serious messages...if you're buying a used car you may be stuck with whatever color based on price and options already on the car...but then again, you may just love that used car because of the color...be careful out there....

What's the point of being old if you can't bitch and gripe...

You think because you’re in the country you can speed all over the place…

Last week I was following a couple of cars on Hiway 74 driving east past Hemet going to San Jacinto about 11 miles from where I was…74 is the same road as Ortega Hiway over the hill from San Juan Capistrano…it’s a four lane highway with a dirt median and two lanes going in each direction…the speed limit was 45 mph but the cars I was following were only going…wait for it…12 miles per hour…driving side by side with neither one having ever looked in their rear view mirrors…I tailgated them for half a minute but backed off…

The world needs to set a fine for driving too slow, the cause of a lot of frustration for the drivers behind…it wasn’t just the two cars I was following but others who took their places as they came to intersections and turned off …there seemed to be a lot of retired looking people driving older cars and pickups that all looked happy as they chatted and smiled at each other…probably going to the market or local bars…I only had a chance to pass a few of them…I had a meeting to attend with about thirty minutes to get there…I got there with five minutes to spare…you figure out my average speed…driving 11 miles in 25 minutes?

Ironically, after the meeting on my way back to the office, I was able to drive at a nice speed and it was pleasant… getting there earlier wasn’t half the fun as it should have been…

BACK TO KARMA

I couldn't pass up posting this perfect cartoon ...I wish I'd have found it when I posted my Stephan King, The Stand Karma blog a few days ago...

LABOR DAY

END OF SUMMER
END OF BASEBALL SEASON
BEGINNING OF FOOTBALL SEASON
OPPOSITE OF MEMORIAL DAY
SHOULD IT BE CALLED OPPOSITE DAY?

Once upon a time we had annual pool parties for friends and relatives on Memorial Day and Labor Day…I wish we could have had one this weekend and called it Summer’s End Labor Day…if we did it again everyone would have to wear a black item of clothing because fashion dictates white is not appropriate after Labor Day…our daughters are quite fashionable and I want to stay in their good graces…and we have to wear clothes that match…
We’d use black decorations

On Memorial Day everyone would have to wear a white item…
And we’d decorate in white…

If we were to call it Opposite Day all guests would have to bring and build their own food I’d fire up the grill let them Bar B Que their own burgers, beans, corn and stuff…

But because summer doesn’t officially end calendar-wise until mid September and we if were throwing that pool party today I’d have pitchers of margaritas, and forget about Opposite Day and cook …

· Rib-eye steaks marinated overnight…

· Corn on the cob with Chile lime butter …

· German potato salad …

· Watermelon, strawberries and yogurt for refreshment…

· Emeril’s Mississippi mud cake…

· Plenty of coffee…

At noon on Labor Day Monday I didn’t have a clue what we’d have for dinner that night and it wasn’t half as good as we would have had if we had another pool party…ah! The good old days…

IT WAS KARMA

It was a little after noon on Saturday, I was watching golf, kicking back in my comfy reading chair with a cup of coffee planning to finish reading The Stand on this holiday weekend... during a commercial, like I always do, I hit my clicker to check out baseball scores when the Sci-Fi channel popped up showing four consecutive two hour TV episodes of Stephan King's The Stand!!!...from noon until eight!!!Holy Mackerel!!!

Call it chance, fate, luck, coincidence or kismet, but I was on page 375 of the 1100 plus page book and....well, I didn't click back to golf and had to watch it for a few minutes...Stephan co-produced the movie and followed the book quite closely...but Hey, I couldn't help myself...what would you have done?...the faceless characters I'd been reading came to life...I watched the whole thing, ate lunch, dinner and snacked in front of the tube FOR EIGHT HOURS IN A ROW?????...what the hell was I thinking?
It was seriously one of the funnest days I've had in a long time...I don't see myself ever doing something like that again...and I don't think I'll watch any TV today...I'm gonna do a little yard work, take a few naps and write e-mails...

Love it or never mind…

While cleaning out a bookshelf in our den the other day to make room for some newer ones I had just finished reading I came upon The Stand…it brought back so many great memories of my first reading it that I pulled it aside and decided to re-read it…I seldom read the same book twice but I thought this one might keep me busy for a week or two…it also saves me a few bucks instead of buying new books...our grand daughter Sunny, who’s become quite the reader herself, was amazed at its gigantic size and immediately looked at the last page to see how many pages were there … it looks like it’s printed in 10 point type and totals over 1100 pages…
make that a month’s worth of reading…

I brought the book along on our long-weekend trip up north a few days ago and read a few chapters but it’s the most fun reading during my lunch at the office and while semi-watching the Dodgers on TV who have no chance of going anywhere this year…

This novel, one of Stephan King’s most popular, is the story about a man-made plague wiping out 99-44/100 % of the world’s population with only a handful of survivors remaining, a good group led by Mother Abagail who leads them in dreams and the other by Randall Flagg, the dark man, who leads the bad guys…not knowing why, the survivors undertake a mission of going to Boulder, Colorado…they don’t know it’s for a meeting of Good vs. Evil….

I read this book in the early 90’s and saw the TV movie , but the book was so much better; I find that books are always better than the movie…I am re-enjoying this one because I love the way Stephan King writes…

If you love to read this is a wonderful book…if you don't ...well, never mind…