Skywatch Friday

'A Celestial Angle!'

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To see more wonderful skies from around the world or to join in, go to the Skywatch site.

Four quickies!

Well after I loaded all the pictures for the four movies we have watched this past week, I chuckled and thought 'wow, nobody can accuse of us of not being diverse'!!

You can't beat a bit of Morgan Freeman, and The Contract is a thriller that we overlooked when it came out. Co-starring John Cusack, it tells the story of a father and son heading out to bond on a camping trip, only to find themselves hotly pursued by hitmen! Why, well they have taken Freeman into custody after he escapes on his way to prison and are intent on taking him back to justice. But Freeman is a mercenary hitman and his team are determined to track them down before the FBI, and rescue him.

We really enjoyed this fast moving thriller, the acting is good, the scenery stunning and the story plausible. We would both definitely recommend this movie, it will hold your attention from the outset.

Bride Wars is an entertaining chick-flick bit of fluff. Starring Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson as life long bestfriends, with the same dream to marry at The Plaza in NYC in June. The problems start when their wedding planner, brilliantly played by Candice Bergan, screws up their dates and one has to give up the dream. Well neither of them is budging, so their weddings are planned for the same day and time, splitting friends and family down the middle. As the big day draws closer, the arch rivals resort to ever worsening desperately destructive tactics, with some laugh out loud moments as a result.

This is not a taxing movie, but it even made the hubster laugh out loud a few times. It's entertaining, has a nice angle on friendship and the things it has to overcome and both actresses are naturally funny. So if you need a fun bit of escapism, with wedding fever thrown in, then give this a try.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is not a movie to watch if your having an 'ugly' or 'fat & frumpy' week, it'll just depress you further! It is full of the creme of Hollywood beauties, with Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem for us ladies. It tells the story of two friend's summer spent in Barcelona, and their closely intertwined relationship with Javier and his crazy ex-wife Penelope. It is a stunningly beautiful movie to look at, reminding me of the classic Merchant Ivory films of the nineties which were just cinematically lush. We loved the narrated style of the story, making it easy to follow and the acting was excellent.

Neither of us are Woody Allen fans, but this is Woody at his most commercially accessible and we enjoyed it. I know I enjoyed it more than the hubster, but it is a movie all about complicated lover relationships and that's often more of a female thing. But this is not a chick flick, as it is subtler and more intelligent. I would give this a good 4 stars, I think the hubster was about 2.5!

Transformers was a loaner from a colleague at work and I have to say we were both extremely dubious, having thought it was a kids film. Well we were pleasantly surprised to find it was more of an action thriller, with a heavy military slant! It stars Shia Le Beouf (Indiana Jones 4) and Josh Duhamel (of Las Vegas and wife Fergie, fame) as they fight against an initially unknown enemy, with the help of the alien Transformers. The special effects in this movie are stunning and we were both pretty much transfixed without speaking for the whole movie. But then that might also have been because this was WITHOUT DOUBT the noisiest movie ever made in the history of the world!! It has one of those incredibly annoying soundtracks where they have the actors and the background noise/music on the same channel, a big pet peeve of ours.

But there was no denying it was entirely not what we expected it to be and very entertaining. I am glad we didn't see it in the cinema as we might have walked out due to deafness, but it's a great Friday night action movie for your sofa.

Overall none of these were bad, we enjoyed them all, but I think we would both recommend 'The Contract' as the best of the bunch.

Part 3 of my one woman campaign....

...to get Robbie Williams the recognition he deserves here in the USA. Here's the Robster at his best live at Knebworth in 2003, singing a classic ballad. And demonstrating his famous charm, charisma, wit and 'man of the people' skills, most of us Brit's adore him for! Enjoy....

I'm normal!

Well my levels of thyroid homone are normal finally after over 3 years on a constant rollercoaster up and down. I had been thinking I was going hypo the past two weeks, but blood tests have confirmed I'm normal, and so I was just 'anticipating' rather than experiencing it seems. And so now I am gonna quit worrying about that (note to self)!

This is definitely a major 'WOOHOO' moment for me, and it means that after some recent concerns it hadn't, the treatment I took seems to have worked. My last two physical exams of my thyroid have indicated that I still have a small amount of the gland remaining as planned. We are praying that this will now keep putting out just enough thyroid hormone, as it is right now.

When I was first diagnosed with the disease I was taking 22 prescribed pills a day and I was really very sick for months. Today I am taking just 1 thyroid replacement pill a day, believe me this is nothing short of a miracle to me!

It will be months before we know for sure if I am stable and more importantly, if I will stay there permanently. But today I am more hopeful than I have been in a very long time and for a change I actually feel pretty well.

Well ain't this just typical!

Out of 125 days this year, we have so far only had 12 instances of rain out here in my part of Okieland. And most of those were not all day but just showers of a few hours at most.

But this was the scene from my office door at 10am this morning, on the day of our County Elementary Track Meet, held on our school football field!!

Yep, for the last 2 days it's rained or drizzled on and off non-stop, so we had to cancel the track meet and reschedule for Monday. That's what us Brit's call sods law!

I did have a chuckle though at all the Okies complaining about just 2 days of rain in a row. I pointed out it was a good job they weren't living in England, if it was getting them down after just 2 days!!

And of course, yet again I left home without those 'precious' emigrated umbrella's I paid to bring with me!

My World

This is a big part of 'My World', my office at work where I am an Elementary School Secretary. This is my first full-time job in the USA, having only worked sporadically out of choice beforehand. But after 3 years retirement, I was ready for work again last year and am now about to complete a year in the American workforce.

Most of my working life has been spent in administration at all levels and as a result I am an organisation and tidy desk fanatic. The irony is I am not that way at home, which I swear is because I associate it with 'work', the hubster ain't impressed though! So this is not a staged photo, my work area stays this way most of the time. I am also the reception for the school and I am very aware of the first impression my desk creates.

That funny looking stool is my chair, I had one of these in England too and it really helps keep your back aligned as you work. The set of colourful drawers were something I requested and each one is assigned to a different teacher. I use them for allocating notes and things that need to go home with the students. The pictures on the wall are mine, one is a Monet like garden print and the one in front of me is a Mediterranean looking harbour.

This desktop organiser is something I requested when I started and it is the heart of my desk. As you can see I have everything I need right at my fingertips, to deal with most questions or situations. The other reason I wanted it, is the other members of the faculty know they can also easily find what they need when I am away from my desk. It holds all our rosters, sports schedules, calendars, menu, accounts and what to do in an emergency situation - I'd be lost without it.

And finally this is the view from my seat, out across the car park so I can see people coming and going. I have a piccie of the Hubster & I, my essential water bottle and one of my photographs I love on my desk. The second most important thing in my office is hanging on the wall on the right side of the door. That's my antibacterial handwash dispenser, an absolute essential working in a school and I use it many times a day!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my office, now you know where I am all day!

To join in the fun go to My World Tuesday

Brit' Word of the Day

Todays BWOTD came to mind looking out of my office window!

"It started off as just drizzle, but now it's chucking it down"

'Drizzle' = very light rain, sprinkling or misting, both of which mean entirely different things to me! Sprinkling is what you do in the garden with a sprinkler attachment and misting is what you do to plants or your face.

'Chucking it down' = raining really hard. We also use 'raining cats & dogs' or 'pis*ing down' just as much.

Anyway the good news is our drought seems to be over for now.

Who says the British are restrained!

The latest 'instant crowd' event from T-Mobile filmed on April 30 in Trafalgar Square, London. They 'thought' they were coming to dance!

Thank god it's just once a year!

So yesterday was the annual trip to the vet for shots with our 3 girls. Sukie got to ride on her own as befits her status as 'top cat', Cal-Jo and Bon-Bon got to ride together, we were hoping Bon-Bon might calm Cal-Jo down.

Well how wrong we were! Cal-Jo is more like a dog barking when you get her in a moving vehicle, for a smallish cat she can sure make some decibels and just never lets up!! You can just see Bon-Bon peeking out thinking 'what did I do to deserve this box mom'?

Poor little Bon-Bon just hunkered down beind her and never made a peep, wondering what all the fuss was about. We all had a headache by the time we had made the 30 mile journey to the vet and she was voted first up to get her shot, for being such a pain in the arse!

Here's Bon-Bon with the lady who saved her when she was so tiny and got Pneumonia, our lovely vet Belinda. As you can see she doesn't appear to be showing much gratitude, even though we just took her along so Belinda could see how big and lovely she is now.

We found out that they have recently discovered that if your cat is vaccinated on time each year, then after 3 years they have built up enough immunity to only get the rabies shot annually for 2 years. Then they have to have the full round again the following year, before being good again for 3 years. So the bill was $25 instead of $110, a very nice surprise!

We just didn't have the heart to put Bon-Bon back in the box with 'the wailing one' going home. So as she rides well, we let her travel back in my lap. Although she gets a bit worried by everything whizzing by so fast if she looks out, so she likes to keep her head down LOL!

We made it home with a clean bill of health all round and life has returned to normal. And here's our smallest cat Cal-Jo, who is always the chattiest, but hits another gear completely when put in a moving vehicle!

What is it with some cats and cars whilst others are just fine, we just thank god we only have one drama queen!! Next year she might find herself in her box in the bed of the Pickup, so the rest of us can have a peaceful ride!

Slack Sally is my other name!

I'm ashamed to admit I have been hoarding new awards and not acknowledging them here, or passing them on for too long now. So today I am going to correct my lack of blog etiquette and rectify this, but I am also only going pass on each to IMHO very deserving recipients and not just the number required.

Now I know some of you think these awards are just a bit of 'blog fluff' and switch off when you see 'award'. But let me tell you this post took me 3 hours to write and I gave alot of thought to what I wrote and who I passed them onto. I have taken this as a chance to introduce you to some of my fave bloggers and a little bit about them, in the hope you'll go visit.

The 'Light in the Soul' award recognises bloggers who let the light in their soul radiate throughout their blog, spreading warmth to their readers. It was given to me by Karen at 'Border Town Notes', her wonderful blog about life in Africa is a great escape into the wild and a life most of us will never experience. I have been amazed by her posts on giant Ant Hills, Elephants blocking highways and incredible sunsets and vistas.

I am passing on this lovely award to Braja at 'Lost and Found in India'. She and her husband recently narrowly survived a horrendous car wreck and yet the light in her soul burns brighter than ever. She writes about her fascinating life in India (soon to be a bestselling book) and her strong faith beautifully and wisely.

The second recipient is Gaelyn and her blog 'Geogypsy' which is all about her extraordinarily uncomplicated life. Gaelyn is a seasonal Park Ranger (currently at the Grand Canyon) and lives the ultimate life of freedom from her RV year round and has done so since 1997. She is one of the most independant and brave women I have ever come across and I admire her hugely. All three of these blogs will take you far away from your own life and bless you with their warmth.

The 'Sisterhood' award is given out to those blogging ladies who demonstrate and encourage sisterhood with their blog. I was honoured to receive this from Bella Foxx who has a few blogs and is a very talented and honest NY'er, jewelry maker and book reviewer overcoming lifes hurdles a tweet or post at a time. I also received this from Kat of '3 Bedroom Bungalow to let in Crazytown' who moved in the opposite direction to myself. She writes about her life as a military wife, young mum and American expat' discovering the eccentricities of England.

I am passing this on to just one lady blogger, who is my role model for encouraging sisterhood in the blog world, Daryl of 'Out & About in New York City'. Her blog is an eclectic mix of great photographs, featurettes, her hubby inspired Toon, entertaining anecdotes and great style. She never fails to reply to a comment by a personal email, she is generous to a fault and engenders much love for her amongst her regular readers.

Sherri of 'Sherri's Reading Jubilee' presented me with the 'Splash' award, which is for blogs that inspire, awe, allure, amuse, bewitch or impress you. Sherri was one of the ladies who inspired me to start my own blog, after we met on a reading message board at Weightwatchers Online. She writes about her love of books, her life and family in North Carolina, gardening, lifes trials and her at times stressful but much loved job. She has a kind hearted blog that overflows with love and warmth.

This was a tough one, but I am going to give this to the man who is my biggest inspiration amongst photography blogs, Ivar Ivrig. He inspires, awes, bewitches and impresses me constantly with his stunning landscape pictures of Norway, a country I'd now love to visit thanks to him. He is also generous with his advice, having recently helped me improve my photography blog template. I urge you to go and be awed by his photography and unfailing eye for the shot.

The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words!

Wow this is a fun award and I'd like to thank my fellow Okie and Geocacher Yogi of 'Yogi's Den'. He was our inspiration to become Geocachers, for which the Hubster will be forever grateful. He writes about his life in Tulsa, Super Pizza Boy, the best places to eat and the best things to see. He is also a fellow Skywatcher and My World'er, so we have many things in common. Mary also kindly gave me this fun award and she was one of my first inspirations (also WW's online) and readers. She has my own personal favourite book reviewing blog, we share similar tastes and she has tipped me off to many great books I might not have found otherwise. So if you are a reader then check her out.

Okay so who would I brave a pack of zombie chickens for, or my interpretation - who do I read everyday without fail. That would be my good 'real-life' friend PamOKC, who I met through my blog and then we moved into reality. She is also married to an expat' Brit' from the same area I moved from and we all get on fabulously. Her blog is a mix of her life, great photography (she is a photoshop wonder), her unmissable weekly American Idol Snark Station where the fans all trade strong opinions, and great funnies. Recently she has been under huge personal stress, with her sister Carole in ICU for weeks sedated, a house move and her very pressured job working in state government. So she has really been through a 'zombie apocolypse' but still she posts everyday without fail. She deserves a wider audience, so please go visit her.

The 'Renee' award celebrates women's smart, strong and inspirational spirit! It honors women who spread joy and love like an Acorn, a small package growing into a tall and sturdy oak tree which gives more acorns.

I was delighted to receive this firstly from fellow expat' Brit' Jo of blog a 'A Brit in Tennessee', a completely charming corner of the bloggy world. Jo has such a lovely, refined and warm blog, it's like curling up under your favourite quilt. If you are a fan of England, antiques and lifes refinements, you will enjoy Jo. I was then delighted to get this again the same day from Jill of the blog 'Jill of all Trades'. Jill is another resident of Tulsa and an Okie. I enjoy reading about her busy and interesting life as a wife and business partner, plus her sparkling social life at 'the cabin'. She shares her life generously and is a great renovator and refurbisher, often proving inspirational.

This one goes to the hilarious Sassy of 'Well okay, Sassy Britches'. We found each other purely by chance a few months ago and it was immediate and mutual blog infatuation. We are very like minded and so I love her highly entertaining and often side splittingly funny posts. She pulls no punches, tells it like it is and has a large loyal following. If you enjoy my blog, then I'll personally guarantee you'll love her blog style.

Do you reach for a cup of cocoa or tea when you’re relaxing, seeking comfort, sharing a plate of cookies with family & friends? You know that feeling you get when you drink a yummy cup of cocoa, tea ~ or a hot toddy? That is what the Heartfelt award is all about, blogs that leave you feeling warm inside. Now there ought to be a cute mouse peeking in/out of that cup, but I cannot get it to load properly! Yet again I was blessed with this cute award by the afore highlighted Sherri who I really ought to pay a retainer too!

Anyway this was an obvious choice for me and I am delighted to give my final award to a couple of lovely ladies. Kay of the fabulous blog 'Musings' is a lady with a wonderful life and attitude. She is a retired teacher who last year moved to Hawaii and now shares it's great beauty with her readers. Her husband loves to travel extensively; currently they are touring Canada with her mom, last year it was Japan, and she always takes us along for her personal tour. Kay has one of those beautiful faces that just radiates her personality and I'm delighted to have got to know her.

Last but not least is a relatively new find for me, Esther Garvi a real life inspiration living in Nigeria. Her parents started the Eden Foundation in 1985, which educates the locals to utilise the many edible plants, shrubs and trees to stave off famine. Esther leads a really fascinating life as a volunteer worker, educator, horse breeder, spokeswoman and writer. Niger is a beautiful country and Esther shows it off with her wonderful photography and entertaining posts, go check her out.

Phew I feel like I just announced the Oscars, if you're still with me feel free to pick any award and take it, just for your perseverance!

Definitely too much information!

It's Rattlesnake season here now and this caused some discussion on our local radio station this morning.

Initially they were discussing whether the potential for torrential rain and flooding here this weekend will bring them all out into the water, something I don't even want to think about.

But then things got much worse. They confirmed that if you chop the head off a Rattler, the thing can still bite you and inject the poison. EWWWW I got chills just thinking about it!!

Not that there's anyway I'll ever be able to get close enough to a Rattler to chop it up you understand. No my policy is either run like hell screaming, or if a gun happens to be at hand, do my Annie Oakley impression! And I'll leave you with those images.

These are not things I had to worry about in England!

Skywatch Friday

'Windmill viewed through Waterwheel'

Double click to get the full effect

Taken with my newly delivered Canon Powershot SD780IS, which is smaller than my cell phone! To see more wonderful skies from around the world or to join in, go to the Skywatch site.