Of Presidential Candidates & Contenders: What’s The Use In Jiving?

{ Subtitled: Your Story’s So Touching, But It Sounds Like A Lie }

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Please note, I didn’t watch last night’s presidential wannabes debate tedious issues + character failings among themselves.  I get nothing from such events.  They are a waste of my time.

Next September after each political party decides who’ll be the candidate, then I’ll pay attention to her or him.

But in the meantime, I don’t want to be accused of encouraging any of these babbling, narcissistic, argumentative individuals with delusions of presidential grandeur by watching them.

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In fact, my suggestion would be that instead of televising these dog and pony shows debates, the TV stations would do better to play endless versions of the 1940s hit song, Straighten Up and Fly Right, written by Nat Cole and Irving Mills.

The lyrics of this tune summarize all that there is to be learned from the real presidential wannabe debates.  Or at least it seems that way to me, an Independent voter with limited patience for political shenanigans.

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Confessions Of A Bad Pansy Momma

Yikes!

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With plenty of water, a spot in the sunshine + a prayer to the gardening gods above, I’m thinking that these poor pansies might make it. Right?

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ON WEDNESDAY AFTER PLANTING BUNCHES of pansies underneath the monkey grass beside the stone path in the backyard, I was tired of gardening.

I put the rest of the pansies, destined to be interspersed between rose bushes along the front walk, in the garage.

Then while fiddle-farting the rest of the week away, I forgot all about the pansies, until yesterday morning when I stumbled over them.

Clearly, I’m not going to win the Most Beautiful Autumn Yard Award, Amateur Suburban Gardener Division, am I?

[Well, there really never was a possibility that I’d win an award because: a) there is no such thing in this subdivision;  & b) I’m the poster child for B+ students everywhere who get close to the prize, but never get the prize.]

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Bombdiggity!

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Monarch butterfly feasting on this little yellow milkweed plant that is almost thriving. Sort of. Fingers crossed.

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WHILE MY PANSY MOMMA SKILLS might once again be in question, I’m happy to report that 3 of the 4 potted milkweed plants, purchased at a garden nursery last spring, have lived through the summer.

One plant, encouraged to stand using a bamboo pole stuck in the dirt + cotton twine, has even flowered a few times throughout the summer.  I think he’s an amicable little plant, even though he isn’t the strongest one out there, he keeps hanging on.

Literally and figuratively.

Now the question is: are these milkweed plants perennials? Or do I have to do something like save the seeds for next year?

I’m hoping that they take care of themselves, because as my pansy momma experiences have shown, I might not be the most reliable gardener.

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Spunk, Moxie Or Gumption? You Decide.

DSCN5615Because sometimes the light that shines within me gets curious about things, I researched the following three words after I thought of them while watching a certain video.

Thinking that these three word meant the same thing, I can now tell you that I was right according to the dictionary these three words mean different things.

Sort of.  [I guess.]  In a very nuanced way.

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SPUNK = courage and determination

MOXIE = force of character or nerve

GUMPTIONshrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness

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The following video of Monkey the Cat, who just happens to look like one of my dearly departed pussy gatos, demonstrates for us the above concepts.

It shows that…

Monkey’s gumption helps him have the spunk to use moxie to get the kibble.

Or to put it another way…

Monkey’s spunk combined with his moxie gives him the gumption to play the game that gets the kibble.

Or perhaps it tells us that…

Monkey’s moxie influences his gumption so that he has the spunk to find the ball to get the kibble.

WHATEVER. 

Instead of focusing on the syntax of a perfectly crafted sentence, like I have here, I suggest that you, gentle readers, watch the video and learn, as Monkey the Cat shows us what spunk or moxie or gumption is all about.

You will be amazed.

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Hazy Summer Days & A Less Than Brilliant Idea

Over the weekend we went for a walk on the trails in a wooded, overgrown section of a city park.  It was hazy and hot outside, but it seemed like a good idea to go for a walk… at first.
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In my mind this walk was going to be a glorious opportunity to photograph the flora and fauna we saw along the way.  Yes, I was going to capture, for all time, the beauty of late summer.

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I had my camera with me, but thanks to the hazy weather conditions + lens-smudging humidity most of my photos aren’t clear enough to be of any interest to me– or anyone else.
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I share these three photos which are, trust me, the best ones of the bunch.  No pithy story to go with them, however.  Only a realization that I need to check the weather forecast before going on a walk… if my camera is coming along, too.