TPBM #97 - A Prime Number

here 'tis.

TPBM has something interesting to say.

//>1 karenmarie: Are you going to be in trouble with SGIV?? You know what a stickler he is and he said there has to be 400 posts and you only went to 399.... I hope this will blow over and he won't notice.//

Everything I say is interesting. Except that. And that. (ad infinitum).

TPBM will stop us yawning.

// shhhh! morningwalker. Maybe he will not realize that the last thread was 399 posts.//

I recommend the remedy of which I am currently availing myself: a hot, steaming cup of freshly-made coffee. African bean mix, I believe. I'm not sure because I put the coffee in a jar without saving the label.

TPBM would know.

//OK, who created a new thread at 399 posts??!! Tradition!

Oh! Karen. Good idea!//

Wait, know what?

The person below me has a smarts today.

yeah, has some scratches from doing yardwork yesterday. still smarts today.

TPBM is struggling with seasonal allergies.

Cured! Local honey is the secret.

TPBM knows some local honey.

Well, My Local Honey is my husband. I call him Bill Honey and have since before our daughter was born. One day at daycare when they were asked what their parents names were she proudly told them Karen and Bill Honey. When he went to pick her up that afternoon, they all said "Hi Bill Honey!" and called him that ever since.

TPBM has many nicknames for their pets.

We have no pets, but we did once have a cat named 'Puss' and a hamster named 'Hammy'

TPBM Is more imaginative

I was once in a household which had two gerbils named Volkswagen and Rambler, and two cats named Chevrolet and Toyota. The dog was named something else altogether.

TPBM knows something else altogether.

// >7 SomeGuyInVirginia: Since some of those posts aren't TPBM posts, does it really matter? {she whispered quietly} //

I do know something else altogether.

TPBM knows what it is.

I do, but your secret's safe with me.

//Thank you 400John_Vaughan. Now we won't suffer the wrath of SGIV. Even if he says it's okay, you never know....//

TPBM will come and claim the stray cat that is once again trying to work its way into my house. Thank you in advance.

I'll be right there! I can't resist any strays... cats, skunks, bachelor friends... I feed them all.

TPBM is also a softie.

I have been in the past, but right now am down to 2 kitties and am in attrition mode. Of course I say that but don't know what will actually happen when the 18-year old or 10-year old kitties go to Kitty Heaven.

TPBM has never had pets and doesn't feel like they've missed anything.

No way, I grew up with critters and love them. Parker is my kid.

//>14 Tid: >15 morningwalker: Moi?//

TPBM recently ran into an old friend.

No, that was WHL - we have always had a pet (or two). Yes I have missed the freedom of upping sticks and away at any time.

TPBM feels the same way about brats.

yep, not interested in producing small humans. They make a lot of high-pitched noises, and they leak stuff.

TPBM is more maternal/paternal.

Well, yes, I always wanted a child and had one when I was 40. They do make high-pitched noises and leak stuff, but they are also a source of fun and joy. I also have hopes that our daughter will provide for us in the comfort we aspire to in our late retirement. (just joking!)

TPBM has at least one set of twins in their extended family.

No twins! I wonder how common they are, whether identical or not?

TPBM can quote chapter and verse on this...

I have identical twin males living next door to me and they are dead common. I call them 'The Justin Biebers'.

TPBM lives next door to the actual Justin Bieber.

yeah, but if he doesn't stop calling me "baby" I'm going to have to poison his food.

TPBM likes cute endearments.

Chance would be a fine thing!

TPBM takes what comes.

Mostly, unless it's liver and onions. I don't do liver and onions.

TPBM doesn't do ___________.

.....oysters or mussels. Probably a lot of other things, too, except ignorance is bliss.

TPBM doesn't do ________.

We both love liver (bacon) and onions and I adore oysters and mussels and caviar an...
But I don't do Bieber.

TPBM abhors all so-called "celebrities".

To me, a "so-called celebrity" is a "nonebrity".

TPBM will name an exception to this rule.

Jimmy Stewart.

TPBM was a fan of Charm School on VH1, the show where they took strippers, taught them deportment, and turned them into lady strippers. God, I LOVED that show.

The only Charm School I'm familiar with is the Nelson DeMille book. It's kind of about deportment training, but not the same thing at all.

TPBM watches VH1.

I thought that went the way of MTV, but then I haven't watched regular TV for several years now so don't quote me on that. Actually, don't quote me on anything really important because I could be wrong.

TPBM has fun plans for the weekend.

Beltane!

TBPM celebrates.

Yep, Beltane here too.

//>34 PhaedraB: wishing you a bright and blessed one//

TPBM is joining us.

///>35 Darth-Heather: Thanks, and you too!///

At this stage of my life, any new cosmic belief system is anathema.

TPBM knows where 23 skiddo came from.

>37 SomeGuyInVirginia: Surely that was your old address in Seattle? Or was that one 23 Skid Row?
//Calan Mai! Druids? May Day?! Maypoles and deflowering virgins ..new belief system indeed!//

TPBM prefers the old (pagan) holidays too.

Combining >24 SomeGuyInVirginia: and >38 John_Vaughan: would give us Justin Bieber worship. I have a lifesize cardboard Justin Bieber at home, so that should count.

TPBM has a lifesize __________

Wonder Woman, except I can't find it. I think I may have given it to a friend who really wanted it. I looked for it to put in my new garage to greet me when I come home, but alas... I have a picture of a wolf cub instead.

The person below me has something in or near his or her home that brings on a smile.

My 3-tube-and tray bird feeder. It's set up about 20 feet from where I'm sitting here typing, and I enjoy watching the birds.

TPBM keeps a bird life list.

I do, but I'm a terrible bird watcher. My eyesight isn't good enough to see finer details (new glasses didn't help as much as I hoped) and I can't tell calls apart. Still, I do what I can, which generally means a lot of paging through the bird book going, no, that's not it, no, that's not it, um, maybe but I don't remember that eye color...rinse and repeat.

TPBM is friends with their field guide.

I carry the Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians with me everywhere, because I volunteer for a state reporting program that tracks populations of these creatures and so I need to be able to identify them when I see them.

I could just take a photo and look it up later, but my camera hasn't really enjoyed some of these excursions and it is tough to get mud out of the lens.

TPBM also has a favorite field guide.

Peterson's Field Guide to Wildflowers. Mine smells of all the woods flowers I've pressed in there for 4 decades. But this weekend I found the perfect primary guide on birds for me. Birds of Kentucky is organized by primary color, with page sized photos for each species. So, I was able to identify the Brown Thrasher I encountered in the brush.

TPBM had a significant encounter with another species.

My brother just had a significant encounter with a pair of skunks, right under his bedroom window. I don't think I'll be visiting his place for awhile.

TPBM had a different significant encounter.

Newp, I stayed home and read all weekend.

TPBM has a new pal.

Yup, my son's African puppy. We collected her from Customs (dreadful and expensive 8 hour ordeal) and she stayed with us until they got in from Dubai.

TPBM can imagine.

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope one day you'll join us
And the world will live as one

TPBM can imagine too.

I haven't had time to imagine, check LT, or much of anything yet today. Stupid work is sooooo overrated.

//>43 Darth-Heather: I did that several years ago. It was a nice excuse for a walk in the woods to turn over logs and stones and look for the little "herps.'" Of course they weren't too fond of having their covers overturned.

// >47 John_Vaughan: is African puppy a breed, or did it come from Africa??? We need to see a pic. of puppy//

TPBM is in area of Tornado warnings today.

Yup. Loads of rain and the metal roof keeps vibrating. No basement, no crawlspace. The single restrooms is where we'd all crowd as the safe space.

TPBM chases storms.

No, but it's the kind of reckless, somewhat dangerous and stoopid thing I'd probably love. "There's a tornado! Let's go! There's, like, a 65% chance that it won't even come toward us. OH SHI..."

I did see a dashcam video of a car 20 feet or so in front of the POV that got swallowed up by a tornado and simply disappeared. Very dramatic.

TPBM plays fair.

I do, regardless of whatever you might have heard from those who have lost to me at Risk. Sore losers...

TPBM plays foul.

No Sir (or Madam)! That would be ungentlemanly and certainly not British!

TPBM clings to their national stereotype.

Like, whatever.

TPBM is fresh as a day in May.

More like as corny as Kansas in August.

TPBM sings in the bath

Every day, in the shower. Usually to P-Bitty although he thinks singing is alarming. At least, my singing.

TPBM belts it out.

When I'm singing songs from musicals and am alone in the house or car, yes.

I recently saw a live production of My Fair Lady and have been having a blast with the songs and accents.

TPBM has been in a chorus or choir.

Surely you jest!!!!! No, sadly I have no musical ability or talent.

TPBM plays a musical instrument.

I am to the violin as Lisa Simpson is to the saxophone. No, that's wrong. I am to the violin as Mahatma Gandhi was to the AK47. But I did get piano Grade 4.

TPBM plays a musical instrument much better.

Musical instruments and I long ago parted ways. It was an amicable split and we were each well quit of the other. We kept the friends we had before the relationship.

TPBM performed for an audience.

My local choir will be performing Handel's Acis and Galatea and Vaughan Williams's Pilgrim's Journey next weekend. A slightly odd combination of works.

TPBM confesses to having a touch of the Diva

No! I most certainly do NOT! How dare you even suggest it? Now bring me my tea, my good man. Lapsang exactly as I like it. What, you need to ASK?? Now I'm losing patience.

TPBM is a performer

And a mover and a shaker.

TPBM likes to sing-a, 'bout the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a.

Nope, but this guy does

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj1FifK3bbg

TPBM is preparing for a challenge

Every day's a challenge on these mean streets.

TPBM's rays are all ablaze with ever-living glory.

I have the shades down against the heat, so I guess not.

TPBM is burning up about ____________.

Pick something. I seem to be constantly aggrieved these days.

TPBM is OK with it.

We're heading ever closer to Trump-land, and so are the French. Definitely not OK with that.

TPBM will offer some hope.

Today is not a hopeful day, what with president tweet signing some let's-break-down-the-barriers-between-church-and-state and the House passing screw-the-American-people-trumpcare.

I don't have much to offer, I'm afraid.

TPBM will offer some hope.

Yes. Here is an alternative to fake news, alternative facts and inaccurate history lessons http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/. Wallow in some good news.

TPBM wallows in ______.

//>70 morningwalker: Thank you! A good website to have. I've added it to my favorites.//

Good thoughts and lollipops.

On some sweet mornin' when this life is o'er, TPBM will fly away.

Before this life is over, I will fly away on Tuesday back to CA to empty Mom's house out, make selling decisions, split stuff up with my sister, and continue the excruciating process of being executor and successor trustee.

TPBM says "Been there, done that, and never again!"

Yes. I started dealing with my husband's estate and his copious belongings (and library) seven years ago and some stuff is still in limbo. I responded by vigorously sorting, shredding and downsizing my own things. I am all too aware of how that thing which was so important to you becomes at the moment of your death a thing that someone else who has no idea what it is will have to deal with.

TPBM is more cheerful.

About accumulated 'stuff', not at all. I have restarted some efforts of a decade ago to set down our family history. The searches on-line have improved enormously so the process seems to have become never-ending. At least all I will leave behind of this is a computer file - unfinished??

TPBM has spat in a test tube to see if they have Hottentot blood or are related to Genghis Khan or whatever.

I did the Ancestry.com genetic profile, but those results weren't as interesting as when I spat in a test tube in the bacteria lab here. You probably don't want to know how many different organisms live in a human mouth.

TPBM already knows.

Ewww...No, but I'm sure it probably depends a little on whether it's a "dirty mouth" or a clean one.

TPBM has a dirty mouth.

No. Except for an occasional rant. But my eldest who is a former Marine often apologizes for his "potty mouth".
//>75 abbottthomas: are we not ALL related to Khan? Coincidentally, just this week, I also refreshed my legacy files - not gone back online again yet though - its been a decade since I did any research!//

TBPM has a sweetness.

I do, don't I?

TPBM is all the rage.

In a rage? Of course I am, I mean with the price of gas, the political climate, climate change, social media and electronic devices controlling lives...oops, did you say All the rage? Never mind then.

TPBM is thinking of a new hair style.

No, no - not allowed. Copying his buddy's new law in NKorea we are now required to all have the same bleached comb-over.

TPBM is, at least, thinking.

Yes! Big thoughts, all the time! I have so many brains it's a wonder my head doesn't explode!

//Not-so-little Kim's hairstyle has a NK state name, and it's 'Ambitious' style. That little perv is going to get a lot of people killed, or a lot more.//

TPBM, like me, is working on a list of the greatest ear worm bands of all time (ABBA, Barry Manilow, whoever did 'Crimson and Clover'.)

///>82 SomeGuyInVirginia: Tommy James and the Shondells. I'm old enough to know that without looking it up.///

//I always admired the structure of Tommy James' songs. First album bought!//

Well I don't have a list of my own but found this one and think it's a good one. Be forewarned if you read the list and get an earworm, I will not be held responsible. http://ajournalofmusicalthings.com/20-worst-earworm-songs-warning-think-click/ ( disagree with Uptown Funk - Love Bruno and welcome that song anytime)

TPBM has had a psychic reading.

In my younger days I've had a psychic reading, my palm(s) read, Tarot cards read, and the numerology bit done. ABout the only thing they got right is that I'm still alive at age 58 even tho I have the same disease (Neurofibromatosis) that my father had and he died when he was around 30.

TPBM is ready for the weekend to arrive.

Oh dear god yes. I've found that weekends seem longer if I cram as much into each day as I can. For the past two I've sat around reading mysteries and they have freakin' flown by.

//>85 morningwalker: I read a Jonathan Carroll book where the protagonist always reads his Tarot before he makes a decision. He doesn't believe in supernatural intervention, just that having some kind of feedback helps him to provide structure to his decision making.//

TPBM gives a little, takes a little.

//>87 SomeGuyInVirginia: I've never read Jonathan Carroll. I'll have to look into him. Any suggestions for his best?//

//>88 morningwalker: The Land of Laughs is a good bet. I think Sleeping in Flame was the book with the Tarot reading protagonist.//

ETC grimmer an sich.

Whilst we do give (particularly Vets) we take quite a bit.

TPBM will define Charity

What we do to keep hell or government lawyers at bay.

TPBM will define Temptation.

Chocolate. REAL chocolate.

TPBM will define Sloth .

A lie in that lay down.

TPBM will define Individualism.

"I am not a number! I am a free man!"

(Remember that?)

...so I will change tack.

TPBM has a smile on their face.

Usually, although it's cool and rainy here today so I'm just trying to hang on.

I had to look it up. From 'The Prisoner', the Ur-text of the revolution!

TPBM turned that frown upside down.

>94 abbottthomas: >95 SomeGuyInVirginia: // " I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!" //

>96 Tid: //Good for you!//

>97 abbottthomas: // Who is Number One? //

>98 Tid: //Lost in the mists of time, I fear. I remember McGoohan banging on the desk, the Lotus 7, Portmeiron, the big white balloon but little more.//

My frown is never permanent.

// Round about the time "Prisoner" was showing I was messing around in motor sports, rallying a mini and writing reports for the specialist press. I received a note signed by Colin stating that I must cease and desist using the word "Loti" as a plural for the dearly beloved Lotus!//

TPBM often invents words for plurals (or even the singular).

I prefer "mousies" instead of "mice".

I often mix two words - sometimes my brain can't choose between them, so it comes out as a blend of both. I think that is where I got the word "squirky", meaning both strange and quirky. Often used in reference to cats.

TPBM has their own word for feline behaviors.

Tiny brain. I've only ever known one cat that I didn't consider to be clearly insane. And Parker isn't the one.

TPBM lives in a tiny house, or is in the tiny house movement.

Oh heavens no. I have an entire extra bedroom for my books. And they are still spilling over in various other areas of my apartment.

I have watched some of those tiny house shows and always think they are cute and wouldn't it be fun to be so mobile, but always get stuck on the book problem.

TPBM has solved the book problem

Nope. I've sold about 1000 of them, but I still have a storage locker for the overflow.

TPBM says, "What problem?"

Yes and no. I still read paper books in bed each night - that's the only time I do, and then there's the problem of where to keep them all. Otherwise it's all audiobooks on my computer - no problem!

TPBM has solved "the problem".

We've delayed the problem by deciding 2 years ago to live in this house for 10 more years and then deciding again what to do. So for the next 8 years my books all have a home with me.

TPBM still has some books from their childhood.

I sure do - Danny, The Champion of the World, A Wrinkle In Time, and The Black Pearl get rereads occasionally. The 12-book Junior Classics set has it's own shelf in my library, and I plan to reread a few of them this year.

TPBM has some too.

A few Nancy Drews. I also have several Shel Silverstein books on hand for when young nieces and nephews used to visit. Sigh...they've all grown up now, but I'm still hanging on to Shel.

TPBM has let things go and is ready to move on.

I heartily regret most of the books I've given away, and vow to hoard better.

TPBM's library is a fortress.

Yes, every man's home is his castle. But mine leaks books.

TPBM has had a hard day's knight in the castle.

Oooooooh, doesn't that sound nice!

I have book-buying regret, and a yuge book sale to go to in June. It's not going to be pretty.

TPBM was hit by the WannaCry ransomware attack.

No. My computer at work is usually kept updated and protected by back office. THEY know and see all....

TPBM is prepared if/when the internet implodes.

TPBM wanna cry.

Ugh. The North Koreans may have just got too crazy to tolerate. Someone is egging The Haircut on, someone who hopes to take his place when he's eventually neutralized.

Did you pay?

TPBM turns their face to the sun.

Call me Girasole.

Plant wise, TPBM is more of a ...........

brown thumb, for sure. If my houseplants would meow, I would recognize that they need something, but nooooo they just silently suffer until it's too late.

TPBM sees the needs.

Not with Seeds. I wouldn't have a plant in the house, too much like taking care of a pet in a coma.

TPBM loving and gentle and good.

Is that Sunday's child?

TPBM is Thursday's Child

God yes.

//It's Cosette to Valjene, a line in the song 'In My Life' from Les Miserables.//

TPBM puts on a happy face.

Of course, the gloomy mask of tragedy is not my style.

TPBM is always whistling tunes from the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals.

Yes, when I'm somewhere Over the Rainbow and I Put on a Happy Face I start Singing in the Rain then I get One for my Baby, and one for the Road.

TPBM is a crooner.

There's no love song finer, but how strange the change from major to minor...

TPBM wiill continue the theme.

It's the wrong time, and the wrong place.

TPBM is all right with that.

It's alright, baby's coming back

TPBM Don't really cares where he's been.

Well, as time goes by, nope I don't care.

TPBM likes to make em laugh.

Yes! I say send in the clowns. //But enough about congress.//

TPBM traveled each and every highway.

I've traveled many roads
And not all of them where good
The foolish ones taught more to me
Than the wise ones ever could.

TPBM Knows which path leads to freedom

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose
And nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free

TPBM knows how many miles from LA (please be there)

No, but I know the way to San Jose.

TPBM hears a warning voice that comes in the night and repeats, repeats in their ear.

Is that what is repeating? Something is giving me acid re-flux.

TPBM can repeat the warning.

You never can win. Use your mentality, wake up to reality.

TPBM has been polishing the sun

No, just walking on sunshine.

TPBM writes_______.

Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book

TPBM wrote________.

The book of love.

TPBM may be right, they may be wrong, but they're perfectly willing to swear __________.

There are angels dancing in the Ritz and a nightingale sang...

TPBM knows where the nightingale sang.

Berkeley before she sailed away on the sea.

The person below me wore ______________.

An Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

TPBM Sticks around well and tells us more ___________.

more more, how do you like it, how do you like it?

TPBM is not that chained up little person still in love with you.

Oh no not I, I will survive!

TPBM tied a yellow ribbon 'round that old oak tree.

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum

TPBM experienced that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?

Yes, but too few to mention.

TPBM did what they had to do.

and I did it My Way.

TPBM has met a stranger in the night.

Are those sweet, gentle pleasures gone for good?

TPBM found beauty in the bellow of the blast.

Volcanoes have a splendour that is grim

TPBM is never alone, never disconnected!
is home with her/his own

May you always have plenty
The glass never empty

TPBM sees a red door and knows what colour they want it painted

As black as night

TPBM leaves no stone unturned

yes but I'm lazy so I prefer the rolling ones that turn themselves.

TPBM has sailed into the mystic

Well, I've been on a magic carpet ride.

TPBM has a girl crush.

never, never, never

TPBM knows that the pills that mother gave you don't do anything at all

Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane didn't do anything at all about playing White Rabbit at a concert I saw them in at the Hollywood Bowl in September 1972. The audience was Not Pleased.

TPBM has been to a concert where the band didn't perform a song the audience wanted.

Twice.

Once was at a Donovan concert in Chicago in the early '70s. He was playing a lot of new stuff, and some guy in the audience kept shouting, "Play Jennifer Juniper." After several outbreaks (as in, it was shouted after every song) some other gentleman in the audience shouted, "Play whatever you want!" As it turned out, JJ was his encore song.

The other time was same city, same time frame (and the same theater, I recall). George Carlin was just transitioning from his predictable standup to more radical stream-of-thought routines like The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television (which I think was still a year away). (I was at his performance at Milwaukee Wisconsin's Summerfest when he did that routine and was arrested as he stepped offstage. People were literally walking their children out with their hands over the children's ears. But I digress.) At the Chicago show, someone kept repeatedly yelling, "Do the Hippie-Dippy Weatherman!" Neither the performer nor the audience was amused.

TPBM was amused at __________.

Not George Carlin. I saw one of his last shows at the Stardust in Las Vegas. He was one pissed off angry old dude. Seriously, he should have kept on drinking. At one point in his routine he was so appalling that the audience was completely quiet and still, like we were in a sound vacuum. Later, one of the pit bosses asked me what I thought of the show, and all I could say was 'Well, I always wanted to see him...' I think he they let his contract lapse not long after that, and then he was dead.

//Tid, at and John, thought and prayers.//

TPBM was amused at _________.

// Thank you SGIV - yet another grim day. The first time I've ever agreed with Trump's use of the word 'losers'. Thoughts and prayers welcome. //

When I think about it, a lot.

TPBM recently saw something noteworthy.

Noteworthy? Hmmm...Yes, there is a local cemetery that has 1,500 rhododendrons and they are now at their peak performance. It's a beautiful and serene place and I sometimes walk there during my lunch break.

TPBM recently saw something disturbing.

A man with a tape recorder up his nose.

Now for something completely different from TPBM.

I was strolling through the Inner and Middle Temple in London on Sunday when the peace was disturbed by a large and noisy drone hovering over the rooftops. A minder from the group of people controlling the thing detached himself and came over to deter us from poking our noses in. He admitted to working for Disney Corp. and then was unaccountably impressed by my suggestion that they were getting footage for Mary Poppins Returns. Seemed a pretty easy guess to me!

TPBM is much more blasé about watching location shots.

//>152 SomeGuyInVirginia: - Thanks, SomeGuy. After that atrocity I expect the Temple area will be full of armed troops today.//

leaped

>157 abbottthomas: I just saw the pictures of the soldiers on the street! With all those people walking around with assault rifles, it looked like the homecoming parade in the little Southern town I grew up in. Good times, good times.

I hope you, and everyone in the UK, stay safe.

I don't have much experience with location shots where I live (nowhere special). Although a small bit from the Cormac McCarthy movie 'The Road' was filmed at a desolate area near me.

TPBM is _______.

I am. Thanks for noticing.

TPBM is wearing buckles and bows.

Yes, I'm wearing, buckling, and cannot bow or even curtsey.

TPBM is made of slugs and snails and puppy dog tails.

As are all little boys.

TPBM knows what Tid is made of.

Pages and spines and pastedowns and endpapers? Really pretty endpapers?

TPBM knows.

I know nothing! You can't make me talk.

TPBM knows someone who knows someone who has colluded with the Russians.

Nyet! At this stage, I feel that all governments will only frustrate and disappoint, so why should I bother?

TPBM bounces back.

Nope, time for bed said...

TPBM knows which bouncer said that.

I know a song about "five little monkeys jumping on the bed", does that count?

TPBM counts.

Only when I'm keeping score.

TPBM is seeking ________.

The hours, minutes and days until I win the lottery and can do what I want all the time. I'm sure it's in the mix somewhere.

TPBM had Def Leppard play at their wedding.

No, they were not yet born. Our Sons sung and played "Hey Jude" at our vow-renewal 25th. My wife (SWMBO) sung at our recent 50th. But Def Leppard, no.

TPBM also has a lotto win in the mix. (As do we).

I sure hope so. Y'all will know, because I'll throw a Thingamabrarians International Bash with my loot.

TPBM has equally fun lotto plans.

A big house with two master suites so my son can take early retirement and move in with me. Then when I get too decrepit, he can take care of me. And when I'm gone, he can sell the house and do whatever he wants.

TPBM follows through and buys a ticket.

Yepper. I plan on retiring to the countryside, the quaint riparian idyll of Dogs-Snogging-on-the-Ooze.

TPBM would make a beeline for London or Manhattan.

I wouldn't move from my home village but I would get a pied-a-terre in London, for sure, and avoid the late train travel after the opera. Marylebone, possibly, or the South Bank of the Thames.

TPBM would enjoy giving away millions.

I would - oh I would.
Mind. after the tax man, most of it is 'spoken for' by sons and granddaughters.

TPBM is somewhat nervous abut riches.

I'll let you know if I am when I get some.

TPBM considers their riches based on the amount of books they own.

Yes, and I've carefully distributed them in my will. My brother gets all the good ones :)

TPBM has something interesting in their will.

Yes - I will have another piece of chocolate :-)

TPBM thinks money isn't everything, but

I'd sure rather have it than not.

TPBM has searched for buried treasure.

In the storage locker. Everything gets buried in there.

TPBM finds treasures elsewhere.

Do you mean like 'in a child's smile and the sunshine on a summer's day'? Because, no.

TPBM wants to be shown the money.

I don't just want it shown to me, I WANT it given to me.

TPBM plants a garden.

I usually do, but this spring we got the 4' x 16' raised bed, fenced garden prepped, then I immediately left for CA, where I'm settling my Mom's estate. I didn't even think of not having planted the garden for a week.

TPBM is already seeing beautiful future produce on their tomato, cucumber, zucchini, pepper, or etc. plants.

Yes! I was trying not get my hopes up, because I started seeds late, everything got either over- or under-watered, not enough sun until I dragged the containers out into the back portion of the yard, etc. Basically everything is suffering from newgardeneritis. But the tomatoes all have green tomatoes on them, half the jalepenos are flowering (and two have actual jalepenos growing!), the peas are going wild, and the cucumbers are trying to produce!

TPBM is a seasoned gardener, and having even better results.

I used to be but the long legged rats (aka deer) took over since I'm the last gardener in the area and the rats have no natural enemies. Hunting is not an option. TPBM has a remedy that does not require a zoning variance!!

//ha, ulmannc! That's why my raised bed is fenced. Of course the long legged rats eat anything that grows outside the chicken wire, drat them. And what they don't get, the ground hog does.//

//>187 karenmarie: Chicken wire doesn't stop the rats. Anything over 4 feet requires a zoning variance around here. Don't ask me why. I guess they consider this to be too civilized for fences. Don't ask what it took to build a greenhouse.//

Plant wild bloom. It is an invasive species on the islands near me and deer won't eat it. Of course, if it is not native to where you live you could get in trouble for introducing an invasive species. Do deer eat kudzu? My dad tried to bring some kudzu from Georgia where he was from to Canada because he thought it would be a great ground cover and he hated mowing the lawn. Luckily it didn't take.

TPBM has a better suggestion to deal with the deer

NOT invasive plants. See Bringing Nature Home for why. To keep deer out, hmmm. Are tall shrubs a violation of zoning? There's a saying in the country, "deer high and pig thick" as a guide for choosing your hedges.

TPBM knows other options.

yes but I'm not sure how it works in other states. Here we can get a Farm Tag and shoot them out of season as a "nuisance animal". We still have venison in the freezer from fall hunting season though.

TPBM has a different nuisance animal.

//>190 AngelaB86: how thick is "pig thick"?//

I just had my "garden" delivered yesterday (4 large pots planted with begonias, petunias, snapdragons and geraniums, with smaller pots containing ornamental grasses), so I'm trying not to think about nuisance animals...

TPBM has pots outside.

//>192 Darth-Heather: I'm not sure of actual dimensions, but it means hedges that grow low enough to the ground and thick enough that pigs can't wriggle under it. Holly bushes are a good example, but I'm not sure how tall they get.//

Window boxes. When I lived on the ground floor (in the middle of town, mind you) deer would just stroll up and eat the flowers. They would ignore the box with herbs, though. Now I'm on the third floor with a balcony so I feel secure about the pansies. They're growing like crazy!

TPBM container gardens.

All my gardens come in containers. Usually a bowl. I'm not a plant person.

TPBM grows silver bells and cockle shells.

My deck is partially shady, so begonias and impatiens all in a row. Hmm. according to the wise sage Google, silver bells and cockle shells may have been references to Bloody Mary's torture devices. I think I prefer flowers.

TPBM has a pocket full of posies.

So now we are referencing plague?

TPBM will move to greener pastures

Greener? No Paris accord.
//Heart ache for London. Read "London Bridge will never fall down"//

TPBM feels shattered.

Maybe one day I'll have time to feel shattered and mourn. Right now I'm very angry.

//Very angry, depressed, and worried. But also determined that "the bastards won't grind us down"//

Yes, shattered by what humans are capable of. >201 Tid: and all Londoners - hang tight!

TPBM has a random thought.

Is it possible to admire Thomas Jefferson's accomplishments without ignoring or apologizing for the fact that it was his position in a white supremacist society that allowed him the wealth and time to pursue his interests?

TPBM had another thought first thing this morning.

That I was right after all. I had a flat tire this am, after getting the tire repaired yesterday. I knew I should have gotten a new tire instead of a patch.

TPBM is never caught short.

I'm always caught short. Gravity works and I've lost an inch in height in the last several years.

TPBM had a growth spurt in their 20s.

I can't remember that far back!

TPBM remembers everything.

Nyet! I don't know if it's just life or a foreshadowing of the alzheimer's I'll most likely get, but I forget lots of stuff.

TPBM writes it down.

And then loses the notebook.

TPBM has it all under control.

nope, i tried those Spanx but they hurt.
I give up.

TPBM has it covered.

I try to keep it covered. Don't want to scare the neighbours or get arrested or anything.

TPBM likes it hot.

Oh yes, sometimes there's nothing like a nice cuppa and your feet on the radiator.

TPBM keeps it weird.

I think that's the title of my memoir.

TPBM remembers all too well.

Remembers what?

TPBM looks on the bright side.

Yes, because
Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best

TPBM can whistle.

Of course! You just put your lips together, and blow.

TPBM can sing like a bird.

yep, like a crow with colic.

TPBM is more of a stool pigeon.

Never. Like my sainted grandmother was fond of saying, 'No cops'.

TPBM heads south in the winter.

Nope we're already here.
//welcome back Jenni//

Tpbm also has no internet this morning.

About 80% of my job requires the internet, so if it goes down I would have to go home....hmmm (idea forming)

TPBM also relies heavily on the internet for their job.

No, and everything I do during work (hopefully it ends there) and from somewhere across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded my every move. Wave to your Big Brother!

TPBM didn't wave.

I'm trying to avoid Big Brother! Not easy, but every little thing makes me happy.

TPBM realizes that resistance is futile.

At this point in history, I suspect that the lengths to which one would have to go to hide from Big Brother would draw more attention than just going with the flow.

TPBM flows.

Particular at 01:00, 03:00, and often more times.

TPBM sinks.

"We all leave this place on our own
Throw me in the river I sink like a stone".

TPBM is a strong swimmer

Not me! I use John Mortimer as a guide, as in Clinging to the Wreckage.

TPBM keeps their head above water - just.

Injun style, by being underwater and breathing through a reed.

TPBM freezes.

Blueberries, raspberries and strawberries every summer. And then I enjoy the berries through the long, dark winter.

TPBM cans

Should that be TPBM could?
No, only a factory could do that. We use Jars.

//>225 abbottthomas: too true Dear Abbott - from my days at sea and offshore racing I taught my boys the same message - stay with the boat, cling to the wreckage.//

TPBM carries their own reed.

No, but daughter did when she was experimenting with the saxophone. She's a brass player at heart, but we do have a saxophone still upstairs.

TPBM is enjoying the weekend.

So far, so good. I've got a rooftop BBQ to go to (city living!) and with the temps almost 100 today I'm thinking that a movie might be a better idea. Wish I had a hammock!

TPBM plays it cool.

It's 50 degrees here, which is nuts. It's usually 80-100 in June. Also rained all day yesterday, which isn't supposed to happen in the dry season. But there's nothing wrong with the weather...

TPBM changes climate.

Nope, we just live through it. It's 91F today and supposed to be 94F tomorrow and 95F on Tuesday. We're in SE PA and the humidity is close to the temps!

TPBM just got out of a heat wave as defined by NOAA!

I don't believe there was ever such a person as NOAA. Nor was there an ark. Mind you, we have had a lot of rain recently...

TPBM will come out with another unknown acronym.

TIMA,IHYLI. (This is my acronym, I hope you like it.)

TPBM spells it out.

I T - yep. I spelled IT out.

TPBM just noticed some spider webs in the corner.

I wouldn't know how to live if my pets were not here.

TPBM has lots of dust around as well but the gardens outside don't have a weed!

My place is really dusty but there's not a weed in the garden. It's also 180 feet straight down from my balcony.

TPBM waxeth.

Nope.

TPBM has a favorite bit of advice.

Take the stairs.

TPBM has wings.

Extra spicy for lunch today!

TPBM walks the line.

With the neuropathy in my feet, not no more. I could be cold sober and not pass a roadside drunk test. Maybe with my cane.

TPBM accepts help when they need to.

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

TPBM met their hero.

Yes. And I married her,

TPBM thinks that because they are virtuous, there will be no more cakes and ale.

That presupposes virtue. I seem to do OK for cakes and ale, metaphorically speaking, so perhaps I'm not! Cakes are not my thing, really, but I have my share of ale.

TPBM is a master baker

No, I'm more of a jack of all trades and master of none. I do like to cook though (if you want to see how well just take a look at my entry in the LT Edible book contest in my picture gallery. For some reason I didn't win :( ).

//>243 John_Vaughan: awww, so sweet.//

TPBM is a hopeless romantic.

Aak! Leaped!

No, midway on the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered from the straight path. It would be nice to fall in love again but I no longer expect it.

TPBM found their Virgil.

//>246 SomeGuyInVirginia: Do NOT change your response. It is classic SG.//

//Oh snap! Sorry, I'm running behind this am! I don't remember how the original ran.//

Nope, I'm definitely more into Doc Holliday.



TPBM loves a good cry.

The last trio in Der Rosenkavalier reliably has me blubbing, Garbo in Camille, must be others, even ones that would embarrass me to admit.

TPBM cries when Bambi's mother dies {not me! She's only a dumb animal after all ;-)}

I've never seen Bambi! No particular wish to either. After The Jungle Book, what else is there?

TPBM's favourite Disney is....

Mary Poppins. Nothing makes me happier than dancing chimney sweeps.

TPBM dances. Or sweeps. Or both at the same time.

I really like to clean and tidy things up, and always play Car Wash by Rose Royce sometime during. Of course I dance, try to listen to the song and not dance!

TPBM has a tidy up mix tape.

wellll, a mix, but not on tape. I have an MP3 mix of my favorite funky stuff to get my groove on with wool socks and wood floors.

TPBM gets into the groove.

Only when I'm desperately seeking Susan.

TPBM is still hip.

If loving Desperately Seeking Susan is hip, then I am definitely hip.

TPBM is hip with more current movies/culture.

Nope. Not even music. Ella, Nat and Dave (of "Take 5") are my speed but then I'm the "electronic Luddite" so what would you expect. I do not listen to music on wax cylinders!!

TPBM is hip with current movies/culture.

When I went to the movies the other day (Wonder Woman!) the ticket seller tried to sign me up for their rewards card. She said, "You get a point for each dollar you spend, and you can start getting rewards at 50 points!" I told her it would take me about 5 years, then, to get a reward.

TPBM always gets popcorn.

I don't get popcorn. What is it with exploded bits of corn covered with sweet stickiness? Nope, I don't "get" that at all.

TPBM does get popcorn.

Freshly popped corn with REAL butter and salt, yes. I don't like sweet with my popcorn, unless it's officially Caramel Corn - that's another matter entirely.

TPBM loves Real Popcorn, but Movie Popcorn will do in a pinch.

Yes, Real popcorn, not that microwave stuff...yummy. I don't go to too many movies but yeah I always get popcorn when I do go.

TPBM is going to a movie tonight.

I didn't. I went out to rehearse some Purcell with my local choral society.

My nearest cinema was refurbished a year or two ago and now you sit on sofas with side tables on which are served burgers, tea, booze rather than popcorn. There is even a weekly show for the mildly demented.

TBPM will suggest a good movie for the very forgetful.

(You will) Miss Congeniality (especially if you get the date, place, or time wrong...)

TPBM has a better movie for the forgetful.

Momento or Total Recall perhaps?

TPBM has a movie suggestion for the careless.

Baby Mama.

TPBM had a movie suggestion for the sleepy.

Any work for me. Especially on 'planes.

TPBM is insomniac-ly inclined.

Recently, yes. Still settling back in from a month in a 3-hour-different time zone. A glass of red wine helped last night.

TPBM wakes up bright-eyed and bush-tailed.

In my dreams. You won't get anything coherent out of me before two hours and two cups of coffee. On first cup now.

TPBM has another recipe for coherence.

Reading usually snaps me into it or out of it, whichever I want.

TPBM has a recipe for disaster (but enough about Congress.)

well, it was supposed to be a recipe for Bananas Foster, but some things went wrong.

TPBM also can't be trusted with fire.

I don't know about me, but the Borough of Kensington & Chelsea certainly can't. 😥😡

TPBM thinks all tower blocks SHOULD have sprinklers, but NOT foam cladding.

Eh. If you have sprinklers you are almost certainly going to have flooding. You just have to jostle those things and they can go off, each putting out 70 gallons of water a minute. You can't clean that up with paper towels. Not even super absorbent Bounty (TM). //Shameless product placement in hopes of securing lucrative ad contracts.//

TPBM is half sick of shadows.

//Other super absorbent products are available ;-)//

//We Could tell politicians that water is money and the place would be dry as a bone.//

I am, the world seems determined to misbehave.

TPBM lets the sun shine in.

I try. Today is overcast, humid as hell, and I am an air conditioning prisoner. Thank goodness for the air conditioning.

TPBM has seen a stage production of Hair.

No, but I remember the Cowsills singing it.

TPBM recently did something on a whim.

Went to the opening of the London stage production of Hair with SWMBO. We were just passing ...

TPBM always plans ahead.

I have an anxiety attack when someone asks me to schedule something six months out or more. How do I know what I might be doing that far in the future?

///I've seen Hair three times, in the '60s, '80s & '90s. Some of the racial references were still relevant, which made me terribly sad.///

TPBM gets anxious about __________.

people who won't plan ahead.

This fear will be fully realized on Saturday, at my in-laws barbecue. They like to leave plans "loose and informal" which would be ok if they were ok with the result of doing this, but if history is any indicator, they will be all upset when everyone brings potato salad and nobody got burger rolls.

TPBM likes to plan menus.

No, I just order whatever's available.

TPBM eats a la carte.

No, I find they're printed on inedible cardboard and much prefer food. 😄
Actually, I go for the lunchtime specials, which are the same quality as a la carte, just smaller portions.

TPBM has a favourite cuisine.

I am in walking distance of a good Indian restaurant, many Japanese restaurants, a great Thai place, a couple of nice Greek restaurants, various Chinese restaurants from different regions of China, an Italian restaurant or two and a Korean restaurant. Not to mention all the burger and pizza places and brunch places and pubs and at least two Starbucks. Oh, and the seafood places. I like to try a new place every time I eat out. I have a couple of favourite fast and cheap places, but generally enjoy just about anything.

TPBM has to go much farther afield to find something tasty to eat.

I do. I'm so jealous of you >282 carod:. I have to drive 45 minutes to eat Indian or Japanese. I don't know how far I would have to go to find Korean. I live in a bubble.

TPBM lives where there is great diversity.

I live in the melding area of the city and the 'burbs. The population is diverse, but the prevailing cultural amenities tend to be WASP and Hispanic, and I need a car to get to them. There are some delicioso South American restaurants nearby. I think I would die without a Starbucks for instant karma.

>282 carod: >283 morningwalker: That really does sound lovely.

TPBM puts their money where there mouth is.

As far as eating out goes, I put my mouth where my money is...

TPBM has a great tip for eating out on a budget.

I don't personally have one, But: borrowed
from Jack Kerouac: The best, nutritionally, is
to eat apple pie a la mode all the time (I think he said
with vanilla ice cream), if you are on a tight budget.

Ah, no TPBM prompt, so I'll go with the last one: go to fancy restaurants for lunch. The food is similar, just smaller portions and better prices. We used to go out to New Years Eve lunch every year.

TPBM knows something else abut Kerouac.

From Jack I learned that carpeing the hell out of that diem wasn't enough, you have to be smart about it.

For TPBM the beat goes on.

Only in the sense of the reassuringly regular succession of systole following diastole. Long may it continue! As to the rock-a-billy stuff, never really been my scene.

TPBM can think of a scent that transports them back in time.

Wind Song perfume when I was a teenager. Other, less legal smells in my mid-20s.

TPBM has never done anything illegal in their entire life.

I got a speeding ticket once.

TPBM has never told a lie.

Never! And if you believe that, I have a bridge I want to sell.

TPBM is gullible.

I am, and it's led to much misery and a life of woe. In fact it was so bad I wrote a book about it, 'Gullible's Travails'. Signed copies available, space for rent.

TPBM still remembers ad jingles by heart.

ETC grimmer and spallin'.

"You wonder where the yellow went when you go steady with Pepsodent."
"Esso sign means happy motoring." (to the Toreadors' Song from Carmen)
"Just one Cornetto, give it to me." (to O sole mio)
"Omo washes not only clean, not only white, but bright. Omo adds bright, bright, brightness."

Sad, innit?

TPBM knows why certain ladies were reputed to display packets of Omo in their kitchen windows during WW2 .... or, if not, has more jingles to share/

NOTHING ACTS FASTER THAN ANADIN! (So take nothing - it acts faster...)
Ring the bells for Christmas Timex, tick-a-tick-a-Timex, tra la la (to Deck The Halls)
Wrigleys - made to make your mouth water!
Shake and Vac and put the freshness back...
A finger of fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat, a finger of fudge is just enough until it's time to eat, it's full of peppery ( later I learned this word was actually "Cadburys" ) goodness, it's very small and neat, a finger of fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat.

TPBM will amuse us with more adverts

Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener, that is what I'd truly like to be, cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener everyone would be in love with me.

TPBM has another from across the sea or here in the USA

see here
= Licking jummy jummy bell sounding fresh drinking voices lubricating raging flashing fast-vibrating cool cool cool sizzling PEPSI
( for example an international well known product)

TPBM can't get enough of this and will continue

of course, my all time favorite is the Meow Mix jingle:

meow meow meow meow
meow meow meow meow
meow meow meow meow!
meow meow meow meow.

TPBM has a favorite jingle too.

Plop, plop, fizz, fizz,
Oh, what a relief it is!

Brylcream, a little dab will do ya
Brylcream, you'll look so debonaire
Brylcream, the gals will all pursue ya
They'll love to get their fingers in your hair

TPBM has more ...

I don't want to grow up,
I'm a Toys 'R Us kid.

TPBM has others.

Thursday is Prince Spaghetti Day. Heard that on WOR every Thursday back in the 60's. I'm going to have to dig out a package I have with lots of this stuff on it.

TPBM has a good beer one!

Gimme a lite. Bud Lite.

TPBM will continue or change the topic.

Gimme a break,
Gimme a break,
break me off a piece of that
KIT KAT BAR

TPBM has further proof that we are steeped in commercialism

A Double Diamond works wonders, works wonders, works wonders
A Double Diamond works wonders, so drink one today
A Double Diamond works wonders, so drink one today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRklsYZaxeQ

TPBM will keep going...

>298 Darth-Heather: //Have you seen the home made song using a real cat, on YouTube? It's hilarious! I also remember about 10 years ago in Second Life, there was an audio 'gesture' which took the first 16 meows of the original advert, then a gunshot, then someone yelling "SHUT THE F*** UP!!". Needless to say, as a Brit who'd never seen or heard of Meow Mix, the double meaning went over my head somewhat. //

>305 Tid:// hee hee! That Meow Mix commercial was not popular with my mom either, as my brother and I would sing it repetitively on long car rides... I'm sure she would commiserate with the Second Life viewpoint :D//

Guinness is good for you! (Last words before some really spectacular hangovers.)

//>305 Tid: HA!//

TPBM sells it this way...

There's a certain pleasure...
in slowly...
putting away...
the black.

(Guinness commercial intercutting drinking a pint, with a snooker player potting the black).

TPBM remembers an advert...

Where's the beef!

TPBM sings Christmas songs all year long.

No, but I do stretch my Christmas music enjoyment to the very 12th day of Christmas on the Epiphany. I rather object to the Christmas decorations and music appearing in the stores shortly after Hallowe'en.

TPBM celebrates with style.

Well, yesterday on TV they were showing Nile Rodgers and Chic at Glastonbury playing extended versions of their greatest songs. What's greater style than that!

TPBM has been enjoying Glastonbury 2017, either there or on TV.

I have not, and didn't even know it was on.

TPBM is up on things.

Threads. I finally officially caught up on threads yesterday and will try to keep caught up.

TPBM is anxiously waiting for Wimbledon.

No. I don't follow any sports and I don't watch regular TV so I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot of stuff.

TPBM turns the news off these days.

And have for the past 15 years.

TPBM envisages a voyage.

I'd love to do one of those European river tours. Of course, I'd also love to win the lottery, which would have to happen first.

TPBM has an extravagance.

Opera.

Not a cheap hobby. We are going to a brand new theatre built in the grounds of a Surrey country house to see die Walkure in a couple of days, the new venue for Grange Park Opera. I really want to visit the Met but that may be a step too far.

TPBM would rather visit Nashville.

I would LOVE to visit Nashville. Between the blues clubs and the bbq, I could spend weeks there.

TPBM would rather visit South America.

Well, I'm going to Argentina but most of the rest of SA, nope.

TPBM is going to the moon.

Nope, just to the library.

TPBM would visit ___________if they could.

New York, New Orleans, San Francisco - each for different reasons.

TPBM has been, seen, done that, got the T shirt.

I have - both News and the San - but would dearly love to spend some more time in New York. I've also got a yen to go to DC, but not while the orange hairball is there.

TPBM's favorite place is barely on the map.

Venice is definitely on the map, but it's slowly sliding into the ocean, so who knows how long that will last.

TPBM is scuba certified for that eventuality.

I'm not, but my son is, so I guess he'd be the one to rescue me.

TPBM counts on a different rescuer.

Yes. My government...hahahahahahhahaha. Thought we could all use a good laugh.

TPBM has big 4th of July plans.

I'm going to be traveling. On the road. Pray for us sinners now and in the hour of what may well be our death.

TPBM has more sense.

yeah, we're not doing anything as risky as that. We are just having a yard full of drunk friends and fireworks. What could go wrong?

TPBM is on vacation.

>325 morningwalker: //That would be true either side of the Pond! Wish I could laugh...//

Permanent vacation. I used to quote disability but have now officially reached pension age!

TPBM is planning a holiday.

Everyday's a holiday in the Workers' Paradise!

TPBM remains unindoctrinated.

Two plus two equals five, right?

TPBM has a Plan B.

//YAY! WHL is back!!! Welcome back, dude!//

I'm living Plan B.

TPBM mapped it all out.

Yes, but somewhere along the way I seemed to have taken a wrong turn, or two. Where was GPS when I needed it?

//>330 WholeHouseLibrary: welcome back!//

TPBM thinks Plan B was better than Plan A.

It usually is. Plan B is what happens when you realize that Plan A wasn't really feasible.

TPBM is moving on to Plan C.

I've given up on plans. I just take what comes.

TPBM is planning something.

// Welcome back, WHL! //

I'm planning to get out of the way, but I keep getting the message "you are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike" or something similar.

TPBM has Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Only in that I walk around in a shambling stupor like the resurrected Inspector Clay and wear too much makeup like Vampire Girl. If by that you mean 'have', then totally.

TPBM has The Sound of Music.

No, but I have one of the UFOs, er, I mean hub caps!

I once sang the songs on a bus through Austria where the locals have never heard (of) them!

TPBM has A Night To Remember.

Well, some bright and shiny things sunk, that's for sure.

TPBM, phone home.

I got rid of my land line over 15 years ago. If I called the number on my cell/smart/highly-overrated mobile phone, I be able to leave myself a message, but what's the point of that?

TPBM talks out loud when no one else is around to hear.

I talk out loud to myself in public where people look at me strangely. I swear at inanimate objects when no one else is around.

TPBM swears at misbehaving appliances.

Swear, rage, thump, spit, kick, swear again, and finally weep. Then go for a long lie down.

TPBM is more philosophical (or phlegmatic).

Newp. I am a firm believer in the malice of inanimate objects. Wire hangers are total jerks.

//May the Fourth be with you!//

TPBM delights in Roman candles.

Funny, I was just thinking this morning that blaming Roman religion for what happened to the Druids is kinda like blaming Muslims for, you know, just about anything. Alas, I have no candles before Roman shrines at the moment.

TPBM blames Canada.

It's all their fault! All that mind-numbing politeness. Bah humbug! It's a plot I tell you and once they've lulled you into a false sense of security, BAM!!! NO MORE MR/MS NICE GUY. Before you know what's happening, the entire nation will be jaywalking. And chewing gum! At the same time!!!

oops, got carried away there.
sorry, eh!

TPBM has a guilty pleasure and will tell us about it.

All my pleasures are guilty of something.

TPBM is good and noble and pure.

not exactly... but my cat thinks I am, and that's what really matters.

TPBM has a heart of gold

If I did, I'd be taking it to the jewelers to sell it.

I've been systematically going through all my jewelry and that of my late husband. So far, I've found four wedding bands. He was married five times and I've been married four times, so that's a lot of precious metal. If I don't recognize them from our years together, off to the melting pot they go! Then I call one of my friends and we go out to lunch.

TPBM is not sentimental about ___________.

....much, really. There's a line in This Side of Paradise where Amory Blaine is asked if he is sentimental. He denies it and says he is romantic—"a sentimental person thinks things will last—a romantic person hopes against hope that they won't. Sentiment is emotional."

So, no FaceBook pictures of kittens for me!

TPBM has got a better quotation.

yes, from the book I'm currently reading (which has made me laugh quite a lot so far)...

when asked if he could improve his handwriting, the character replied "the fingers are willing but the thumbs oppose".

The Leaky Establishment by David Langford

TPBM will share their favorite quotation.

“I love cooking grandma and pets.”
Don't be a psycho—use commas. (unknown)

Not necessarily my favorite, but readily available ...

TPBM may have another?

Not exactly a quote, but something I keep in the front of each year's desk calendar:

On This Day

Mend a quarrel.
Search out a forgotten friend.
Dismiss a suspicion and replace it with trust.
Write a letter to someone who misses you.
Encourage a youth who has lost faith.
Keep a promise.
Forget an old grudge.
Examine your demands on others and vow to reduce them.
Fight for a principle.
Express your gratitude.
Overcome an old fear.
Take two minutes to appreciate the beauty of nature.
Tell someone you love them.
Tell them again,
And again,
And again.

TPBM has another.

Wherever you go, there you are.
Confucius or Buckaroo Banzai (I can't confirm either one but, I first heard it from Buckaroo)

TPBM has another.

When you stare into the abyss, the abyss will tell you that it's rude to stare because the abyss is just like that.

TPBM cast their bread upon the water.

I did, but the geese were so aggressively greedy that the ducks couldn't gat any of it, so I stopped doing that. Geese don't need any encouragement.

TPBM has an encouraging word.

Just Do It, unless you really can't, in which case find something you can do and do that.

TPBM encourages _____________.

Discouragement. Really, more people should be talked out of done all sorts of things.

TPBM advises __________.

Yes. Go to heaven for the climate. Go to hell for the company.

TPBM knows where they're going.

To the grocery store to buy food for Sunday night's book club meeting at my house. I have a long list and an ambitious menu.

TPBM is in a RL book club.

Newp, I always seem to lose all interest in a book when I have to read it. I blame school.

TPBM is a RL author.

In my dreams! I stopped writing when the pressure of life and running a writing group (including critiquing parts of six or more stories each week) got to be more than I could handle. Eventually, I'll get back to it, but it's going to be a long time before I decompress.

TPBM wonders why they call that nonsense Reality TV.

No, never watched an episode all the way
through; so never had much to wonder about.

TPBM wonders if his "reality" origins helped or hurt*
DJT at the polls.

*He did after all, lose the popular vote.

So much wrong with that! As a British woman, I had no say in the vote whatever. However, I'm having to endure the pain of incipient Brexit, but enjoying the utterly chaotic farcical mess that Theresa May is making of it...

TPBM gains solace from _____ by _____.

Going to the movies; Divine grace

TPBM knows the kings of England, and can quote the fights historical.

Not sure about that, but I answer hard acrostics and I've a pretty taste for paradox.

TPBM has a general sense that they haven't been sleeping in clover.

Well, I wouldn't say that but there's no wonder I snore.

TPBM is Fortune, which I am not.

Nope. Wish I had one though.

The person below me just is.

Just no. I don't get zen at all.

TPBM ran away to the circus.

Missed my chance, I'm afraid.

TPBM runs amok.

Alas, I last ran in 1998, but if you guys had paid me enough I would have run in 2016!

TPBM knows that where there's muck there's brass.

If by brass you mean politicians, then OH YEAH!

TPBM will write something to inspire the rest of us and get us through our day.

Arise Egypt, go forth and conquer.

TPBM was recently a celebrity.

Having my 15 minutes of fame? Not likely! I was once, outside a pub on Northumberland Avenue, mistaken for Georgie Fame and another time, in a supermarket in Sidcup, for Alan Bennett. Neither misapprehension lasted more than seconds.

TPBM has been mistaken for .........

My sister. We get that a lot.

TPBM has a good story about meeting a celebrity.

Hmmm. I don't think I've ever met a celebrity. Sad, sad life I live.

TPBM has been mistaken for someone else.

All my life complete strangers have come up to me to ask me if I'm their second cousin or wife's nephew, or to tell me I look exactly like someone they know. This started when I was around 10 and it's still happening. I did meet one of the people once at a wedding and we really did look a lot alike.

TPBM had a nose job.

Yes, conducted anonymously in a scrum with Sheppey Rugby Football Club one Saturday morning.

TPBM had to pay for theirs.

Why, I've never had a thing done!

TPBM threw in the towel.

Not yet. I'm gonna give it one more try!

TPBM has plans for tonight.

Not really. MrsHouseLibrary gets off from work at 7, and when she gets home, it's a shower and zone-out time for her. I could do some nighttime geocaching, but with the heat and humidity being as high as they are, I wouldn't even consider starting until 9. Doubtful.

TPBM enjoys a challenge.

Not as much as I used to. I'm older now and just want things to be easy.

TPBM is older now too.

I am NOT! I am NOT! I am NOT! You take that back or I'll hold my breath until I turn smurfy blue!
Quick, someone get my cane and shawl ...

TPBM eats well. (Not me tonight. I'm about to leave here to join a bunch of geocachers and stuff my face with barbecued brisket until I get the meat sweats.)

I guess I do - I am the family cook and I think I am doing a reasonable job. I have some concerns about acrylamide but don't fret about much.

TPBM looks after their microbiome.

More in the summer than the winter, but I'm basically undisciplined when it comes to food.

TPBM has never been afraid of a little dirt.

I wasn't.... until I started doing contamination testing in soil. There's some scary stuff out there.

TPBM makes it rain.

Does the shower count?

TPBM brings the noise.

I prefer to bring the quiet.

TPBM is an extrovert.

Not at all. I recently took one of those online quizzes to see if I was an introvert and, I guess I am!! Who knew???

TPBM is wild about _______.

Saffron. And she's just mad about me.

TPBM is mellow and yellow.

The Pinot Noir keeps me mellow and, if I sink enough, will caramelise my liver and make me yellow.

TPBM sups on, regardless.

I don't imbibe. There are other reasons for my odd behaviors.

TPBM knows, but won't tell.

I would if people asked the right question(s).

TPBM is over the line.

I don't know, did someone draw one in the sand?

TPBM will cross that bridge when they get to it.

Sure, but not before I count my chicks.

TPBM will take the high road.

Doesn't leave much choice for the

TPBM

>395 John_Vaughan: you left me hanging. Where do I go from here?

TPBM goes _____.

wink, wink, nudge nudge, say no more!

TPBM never expects the Spanish Inquisition.

NObody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

TPBM was tortured by being made to sit in a comfy chair.

I _am_ actually sitting in the comfy chair, and reading a Stephen King novel.

TPBM has reached End of Watch.

End of thread, rather.