week 19 on WW (in Bonaire)

Believe it or not I did OK sticking to "the WW program" during my stay in Bonaire.

In the airport, I stopped at dunkin donuts but got a 'legal" egg-white flat sandwich and a coffee. I stayed within my "legal points allowance". I also brought an apple and raisens onboard as well since it was going to be a long flight.

I cook all my meals down in Bonaire in the little efficiency. This way I can eat stuff I like and that is low fat. Thankfully, my husband is perfectly happy with whatever I cook.

There are certain staples I bring with me down to Bonaire and that is:

salt, pepper, curry powder, thai spice mix, 25 tea bags ( I drink alot of tea), a big bag of cashews, multiple boxes of raisens and instant oatmeal.

Since Bonaire has a lot of dutch influence, the bakery in the grocery store has an assortment of yummy dutch pastries. I have to say I was proud of myself and did not divulge in any cookies or appleflap pastries. In the past, I would go through a box of cookies a day rationalizing that I was diving alot therefore burning alot of calories.I'm not going to mention all the appleflaps and stopping at the ice cream stand either that was consumed on past trips.

Nope.

We did buy scones.

My husband and I split them as a snack. We bought a small carton of ice cream that we rationed all week. I thought this was a huge positive step in junk food reduction.

Unfortunately, the dutch do not have "fat free" ice cream so I looked on the label for the lowest

amount of fat content. I settled on caramel praline at "6g vet" (some ice cream flavors were up to "16g vet")

Vegetables are always an issue in the Bonaire grocery store. Everything is imported so the limited amount of fresh vegetables available are really aren't all that fresh and really expensive. One thing that have alot of is these giant carrots.

I mean these are really huge carrots.

I'd really hate to run into the rabbit that goes after these carrots.

You buy one carrot and it lasts the whole week. By the end of the week, my husband and I have orange cheeks like you see babies have after eatting lots of carrots.

I will share with you my "Bonaire carrot recipe:

chop carrots and boil them (they are thicker than potatoes)

stir fry with FF spray oil fresh garlic and fresh chopped ginger

stir fry the carrots along with 1/4 cup of soy sauce and heaping tablespoon of curry

add cashews and raisens

stir fry carrots until fairly soften up and browned lightly

And there you have it!

In a small oriental supermarket, close by the major grocery store downtown, we found a variety of other types of green vegetables. I think the owners of the store grow them in their back yards. They labeled them "spinach" but they didn't look like spinach nor do they taste like spinach (they were a little bitter). Regardless, they were green, fresh and edible. I'd cook them with ginger and soy sauce. Hey, if the local iguanas like it them then it must be good!

We got up at 5:30am and would go for a 3 mile morning run. We get up before the blasting sun so we don't get cooked.

We started our first dive at 7:00am.

Our dives are shallow water dives. We would do three 30 foot dives for an hour each. We definitely got our exercise but didn't realize it until we both passed out at 7:30pm in the evening. We are definitely not night owls.

Like I said before, I am so glad my husband and I are on the same page as far as diving goes. He's a great dive buddy!

What was remarkably nice about having lost weight is that my wetsuit slid right on. Also I could reduce the amount of weight on my weight belt from 18lbs to 14 lbs.

That was really nice.

Diving was easier as well.

When I stepped on the scale after our trip I remained the same weight.

So far so good!

travel bugs part 2

As I mentioned in the last post, the thing that draws me to Bonaire is the easy shore dives and the fact that I can cook my own food in an efficiency apartment without being at the mercy of crappy expensive restaurants. They don't have alot of vegetables there in their supermarkets but they do have the biggest carrots I've ever seen in my life.
Through out the years of going to Bonaire I have dived at most of their dive sites and there are a few now that I only go to on a regular basis.
My favorite spot is "windsock".
For some reason, hardly anybody dives here. It has an easy entrance, it's a fairly shallow site, you can't get lost and the reefs are the best on the island.
I've noticed divers seem to flock to the pain-in-the-ass entrance dives sites and then make a bee-line straight down to 60 feet or more. Maybe they think they are going to see "the good stuff". I can't quite figure that one out.
At "windsock," we've seen turtles, eagle rays, southern sting rays and this group of 'friendly" squids. We also like to dive "North Belnem" and "bachelor beach" which is on the same stretch as "windsock". Another spot that has an fairly easy entrance is "oil slick leap". When you decend and reach the mooring line that is the best part of the dive. As you swim northth it looks like a 'bone yard' of dead coral. I don't know if it was a result of a nasty storm or what. It's rather odd.
I also like 'the front porch' where the former Sunset House hotel was situated. There is a tug boat located there offshore in about 100 foot depth. It is an easy entrance as well. I call it the "poor man's Hilma Hooker". (The Hilma Hooker is a wreck dive up north. It is kind of a pain-in-the-ass entrance and you have to do a marathon swim out to the mooring.) I've done this dive many times before. The tug boat is home to a variety of moray eels. You really see alot of them during a night dive.
Close to the "front porch" is "bari reef" which is a pretty nice easy dive. If you keep swimming north you can end up near 'the lion's den" and eventually, "Captain Dons"(but it is a helluva swim!)
We end up at 'windsock" for most of the week. Thank God my husband has the same diving mind set as myself. He was perfectly happy diving 'windsock" most of the week.
One of my favorite sites was "the salt pier" but for some reason you are not allowed to dive there anymore.The dive master's state that it is a "matter of national security" that you are not allowed to dive there but at the same time, if you pay an additional $25.00 for a "guided dive " there then it is considered no longer a security threat (?)
I've noticed some changes in Bonaire over the years I've been there. For one thing, there is a tremendous amount of construction non-stop going on. I frankly, do not know who is buying these 'vacation homes". Some of the projects have been abandoned with building in shambles. Many of the native trees and brush have been torn down for building. A couple of years ago, the apartment I stay at had many hibiscus bushes and chibi chibi trees in the back. It was home for their endangered yellow fronted amazon parrots. I would see and hear them every morning. The trees are gone and now there are vacation homes, empty, in their place. I haven't seen those parrots in a couple of years. I've gone further inland in search of them but no luck.
The crime has also escalated as well. You are warned not to leave valuables in your car such as cameras, wallets, etc.. Now the thieves are now siphoning gas from the gas tanks from your rental cars and stealing tires leaving you stranded. The car rental companies now paint the tires of the cars to identify the tires. There are certain dive sites now the dive shops advise you not to go to anymore due to theft. If I see a vehicle pull up with tinted windows with teenage locals in it just 'hanging around" I don't dive there.
For the most part, the weather is pretty constant in Bonaire. They usually don't get hit by hurricanes. However, we did get hit with pounding rain all week. I really didn't mind since I was going to get wet anyways by diving. The only bad part was that our wetsuits never dried all week. By day two, the wetsuits were already starting to stink like the inside of a monkey house.
We got up at the crack of dawn to do our first dive of the day. It was rather interesting diving in the pouring rain at dusk. You could actually hear the thunder underwater. There was alot of fish activity. Thankfully, the lionfish had not wiped out the fish populations like they have in the Bahamas. I had thought another diver might have been around taking UW photos since I kept seeing bright flashes. It turned out to be lightning. This might not have been the best idea to go diving when it was lightning but I didn't realize this was happening until later.
After the rain, the mosquitoes and "no-see-ums" were pretty fierce. There is usually there is a leeward wind that keeps them at bay but hurricanes coming from the east and north were sucking the wind out of the area. There would be flash flooding as a result of the heavy rains on arrid soil.
This is kind of a funny story relating to the flooding rain. While my husband was using the bathroom I heard him yell for me to " Hurry! Come in here! Quickly!". The drain on the shower floor was burping and lifting up.
He was frozen on the pot.
Out came an antenae and then a brown elongated body came out from the drain.
It was a two inch long cockroach (palmento bug) pushing it's way out of the drain.
I chased it around the room till finally :"SQUISH!".
This problem with cockroaches happened only one other time before and it was because of heavy rains as well. They were finding their way through the sinks and drains. I'd find them in the cabinets happily poking their heads out of bowls and cups. This was the time my sister came along with us on our annual trip. There was one in her bedroom. The shadow at night amplified it's size so when she looked on the ceiling it appeared to be about a foot long. She woke me out of a sound sleep screaming, "there's a giant cockroach on the ceiling! Help! Quick come in here!"
I really do not know why I've been designated as "the bug buster".
Not only am I the designated bug buster but designated driver as well.
I guess it is because I can drive a standard (stick) truck.
The first couple of years when I had rented trucks I always got a nice little ford ranger truck.They were fun and easy to drive. The budget rental company had gotten rid of those little 'bang up" dive trucks and switched to these big ass F350 hilux trucks.
I mean these are gigantic monster trucks.
I can't even reach the pedals never mind see over the steering wheel.
I must look like Mike Dukakis in that infamous army tank photo.
WTF
I now have to ask for their smallest trucks which are basically F150's. I can reach the pedals but I can't see over the back seat. I have to have my husband jump out of the truck and direct me when I back up or parallel park.
On this visit to Bonaire we managed to do 13 dives. Most of the dives were over an hour long at 30 feet. I had came down with a cold on the first day causing havok with my ears so we missed one full day of diving. We spent the day driving around bird watching and iguana hunting.
In my next post I will post photos of birds and iguanas that I had photographed. (Yes, ME!)

travel bugs

I just got back from my nineth (or tenth) trip to Bonaire.
I always think when I get home that this will be the last time I go there but then I will come across a decent airfare price and off I go again.
I like scuba diving in Bonaire.
The diving there is easy and I can cook my own meals in my rented efficiency apartment.
But traveling to this island 50 miles off of Venezuela is a bloody nightmare.
I get deathly sick every single time I fly home and say to myself, "Oh my God, I'm never going to do this again!"
But six months to a year later, I am booking a flight once again.
I am guessing it like when a mother has a baby. She is excited about the arrival of the new baby but when she goes through the labor with all the pain and suffering she screams, "never again will I do this again!" But for some reason you forget how horrible the pain is and a year later that same mother has another baby.
Air travel sucks big time.
It's just awful.
New security measures make things more of a royal pain but unfortunately, it is a necessity.
It's just gross to be crammed into these tiny uncomfortable seats for hours at a time. Airlines no longer serve food so if you don't bring a sandwich onboard you are screwed.
The worst part of flying that always sets off a nasty nasty migraine is the smells.
God...
Planes are so dirty.
They stink like farts, smelly feet, stale breath, dirty hair, nasty overpowering toilet chemicals, lack of oxygen and engine exhaust fumes.
Maybe I was a dog in my other life because this plethora of stinks launches me into sensory overload.
It triggers the worst migraines everytime.
I got really sick this time.
By the time the delta flight reached Atlanta from Bonaire I was searching for an air sickness bag. The airline attendant was urging me to use the lavatories. The stench from the chem-toilets was overwhelming. Everytime I used the bathroom somebody was banging on the door yelling, "are you alright?" "are you done yet?"
Just leave me the *&^% alone.
When we arrived in Atlanta, it was a marathon run to make the next flight back to Boston. I could barely drag myself off the plane. When we finally reached the gate, there was an announcement that the plane was overbooked. The delta representatives were looking for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange of a hotel accommodations for the night, a flight the next morning and a $400.00 voucher. If I had felt normal I would've jumped at the deal but my focus was to get the *&^% home as soon as possible.
I felt like a dying raccoon looking for a porch to crawl under to die privately in peace. I wanted to get home ASAP to retch and moan in the privacy of my own bathroom. I wanted to get in my own bed with it's clean lavender scented sheets, bathe and pack my head with ice.
I kind of feel bad for the flight attendants. They are under paid and over worked. They have to deal with disgruntled passengers and the never ending possibility of a terrorist or a mental ill passenger hijacking the plane *&^%ing up the lives of hundreds of souls stuck on this(stinky) sardine-can in the sky.
I used to like to fly.
I thought it was cool to dress up on the plane, have meal and be off to a new adventure. I fondly remember the advertisements for Eastern airlines "the wings of man" to get you to sunny Florida 'where you needed it bad".
Will I fly again?
Today I say "no" but tomorrow is another day.
Another day erasing the memory of barfing into a paper bag.

A tribute

I had written a lengthy post about Cathy Myers earlier in the week but it vanished!

Sometimes my computer just does that. It is so frustrating.

Sadly, Chris informed me that our dive buddy Cathy Myers from Chicopee passed away Sept 10th surrounded by her many friends from a gallant fight with brain cancer.

I was shocked when I heard this news.

I knew she was unfairly stricken with a brain tumor but from her upbeat emails I thought her prognosis was good.

Her husband Bill, who was her high school sweetheart, was killed by a teenage driver while taking his new custom dream bike harley davidson out for a test ride in 2008.

I had last seen the both of them at a scuba club holiday party. Bill was very excited about his bike which he had been working on for years. Kathy was telling me about a trip they were planning for their 50th birthdays. Both of them were so upbeat, always looking for the new adventure.

I had wished they lived closer to Gloucester because it would've been fun to go motorcycle riding together. We both had stories about the shit-heads out on the road with near miss moments.

Cathy was a big time football fan. I would tease her about this since I felt "watching football was like being punished". She also was an animal lover, in particular, cats. Her email name was "catwoman".

This posting is to celebrate and commorate both not only Kathy and Bill's life but as well as other friends and family that have passed on.

The saddest part of death is to be forgotten.

Ted Kennedy had a brave fight with brain cancer. He had access to the best doctors in the world but still he succumbed to the disease 14 months later. He was lucky in a way because he is immortilized through books and dedications unlike the rest of us.

Ted Kennedy can not be forgotten.

So instead of feeling the pain of saddness because our departed friends and family are not here with us right now, take the time to think of the happy, fun and funny moments we have shared with them.

I think they would enjoy that!

week 17 on WW

My weight has stabilized for the most part. Last week I went up 2 LBS., and this week, back down 2 lbs. I think that is how it going to go so long as I don't "fall off the wagon".

I still haven't been in dunkin donuts for 17 weeks.

So what do I get in the mail?

A coupon for a free beverage!

AH...it's like a fishing lure just to get me to take a bait.

This will be the real test.

I've had such a craving for a chocolate butternut donut today.

Even a frosted poptart would've been good.

It's the zomig and the side effects of migraines that are talking to me.

I'm resisting.

I'll still do a light workout down in cell block #9 to at least activate my muscles when I feel shitty.

A very light workout.

I'm getting through this.

Last weekend on the boat, dive buddy Bill L, confessed he hadn't been to dunkin donuts for three weeks. He said it is tough because he's on the road all day.

I know EXACTLY what he is talking about.

You are hungry, your sugar level is dropping and you really don't have time to stop and eat a proper lunch.

So I checked out dunkin's online nutritional chart to see what was within the WW legal limits.

As I had posted before the turkey sausage eggwhite sandwich is only 5 points. It's delicious and filling. Oh BTW, I order the turkey sausage because there is never any turkey sausage in the mix but lots of spinach! Whereas the veggie eggwhite sandwich is 6 points and it's full of yucky onions!

I checked out some of their 'new" items online.

Ready?

a small 10oz watermelon coolatta is 250 calories! Wow!

a small 10oz hot apple cider is 120 calories (that's doable for a treat!)

a "reduced" fat blueberry muffin has 9grams of fat at 430 calories!(The reduced fat muffins taste really shitty. Don't bother, they are wasted calories)

a "healthy" multigrain bagel has 8 grams of fat at 390 calories (it does, however, have 9grams of fiber)

a small (new seasonal flavor) pumpkin coffee without cream is 160 calories(?) (it turns out that a heavy corn syrup flavoring is added)

Whereas, a small french vanilla coffee with cream is only 60 calories.(It is the same calories as a plain coffee)

an ice tea with skim milk is only 35 calories

So there you have it.

I'll most likely get a french vanilla coffee with cream. I'll probably have to have my husband to walk me in because I'll have my eyes closed as to not to look at the donuts!

seasons change and so do I......

I was scheduled to be on the boat this past sunday.

The weather completely did a turn around.

I have been completely wiped out all summer due to "the hottest summer since 1883" so I had welcomed the cooler temps. I brought my wetsuit instead of dry suit figuring "I'd just do one dive" since the air temp was "a bit breezy".

OMG! It was freezing out on the boat!

The wind was blasting from the east. The water was choppy, rolling AND surgy.

Thankfully we had a nice easy group of people onboard.

I was wearing a heavy sweatshirt and my trusty windbreaker.

The wind was really blowing. As I sat and chatted with Chris, the water was looking less and less appealing. Bill L was first to jump in donning his dry suit. I was now wishing I had brought my dry suit. However, Bill said the viz was about 15 feet MAX and a bit surgy.

Now I was glad I didn't get wet.

If Pete alerted me that dog fish were abound then I would've forgot about the icy wind and just jumped in. One of the divers spotted a lone lost butterfly fish in the shallows by the restaurant at Folly cove. This spot was less bumpy tucked into the cove fairly protected from the chop.

Chris and I watched for the diver's bubbles as well as bird watched.

We saw some common terns, cattle egrets (they look like snowy egrets from the distance but snowy egrets have yellow feet), one great blue heron, some laughing gulls ( I was hoping from scanning my bird book that they might have been Bonaparte's gulls), many cormorants in the mud flats and one elusive water fowl.

It was all black with a white patch on it's back. I am guessing it might be a black guillemot still in it's summer phase. I didn't have binoculors to check out it's beak or head for a proper identification

Despite not being able to log a dive sunday I still enjoyed the never ending banter and stories from my friends.

I felt grateful to be in the company of all my diver buddies.

On the lighter side....

Every once in awhile out of my usual routine of animal care some humorous incidents occur.

This weekend, I have a few 'boarders" staying with me.: two birds and a bunny.

These 'guys' are 'regular' boarders.

"Benji" the bunny is a cute little thing but he's getting kind of old and therefore, he needs a bit more care. First of all, his incisors (the front buck teeth that make bunnies famous for their buck tooth look) are crooked. One tooth is off to the side.

He looks like he needs braces.

I've been giving him medicine in a eye dropper to treat him for vertigo. I'm a bit curious to how the vet thought he might be dizzy.So far, he is doing A-OK.

"Billy Bird" is a little lovebird with a big personality. I let him fly around for exercise while supervised. However, the phone rang and I lost sight of him . After calling him, I spotted him up on the teacup shelf with his head sticking out of my large "lovebird coffee cup". I find it funny of all the cups he picked that one in particular he decided to use to play hide and seek.

Last week, I was walking, "Cuddles" and "Ruby", my cousin's two dogs. Finally, there was a day cool enough to take the dogs out on a real walk. Cuddles has had this habit of stuffing anything and everything she can in her mouth. This means paper wrappings, diapers, rabbit shit, garbage, gum, you name it.

There is one stretch of the road that has all these rotten crab apples scattered everywhere. She is always lunging for one of those wormy delights. As I hustled the dogs past "apple alley" which is a rather busy street up onto a safe side road Cuddles stopped to poop.

I proceeded to pick up after her and then looked up at her.

I had to take a double take.

She looked like she grew a pair of Hill-Billy Teeth (See photo above!)

Oh my God!

She grabbed a rotten apple and it looked like she had Hill-Billy choppers hanging out of her mouth!

Needless to say this was a "kodak moment".

As for the other photo above, and speaking of hill-billys, I used the above poster as a prop as a part of my last year's Halloween costume where my cousin and I went as the "Billy Bob cousins."

Yes, I was lookin' fer me lost dawg!

September 11th

You know, I can't remember where I put my keys but I remember what happened on September 11th 2001.

It was a perfect sunny September morning.

The sky was a brilliant blue.

I went to the gym in Burlington as I usually did every morning. Everytime I would go to the gym at the same time everyday I would see the same people working out at that same time as well.

This morning was different.

The gym was empty.

I thought that was odd thinking maybe it was a holiday or something.

The front desk people were frantically turning on all the overhead TVs. I thought it was weird that the movie "Die Hard" where buildings were being blown up was playing on every channel they put on.

Once the sound came on I realized it wasn't a movie.

It was the news.

Oh my God.

I ran home.

My long time pal called me on the phone telling me to "turn the F*&^ing TV on!"

There it was.

Four planes were hijacked from Boston-two went into the twins towers, one into the Pentagon and another in a field.

Shortly after we lost electricity.

The only sound I could hear despite living next to a busy traffic congested street was the soar of fighter jets overhead.

It was surreal.

Who did this?

A fringe group of Islamic terrorists.

Nine years later we still are at war with these extremists and their "terror cells" appear to be growing like a deadly cancer.

I pray everyday for peace.

I thank God at night for giving me a warm comfortable bed at night.

I'll complain about silly trivial things when in reality there are people in Africa and the middle east that are just barely surviving, hiding from cruel despotic regimes.

I worry things will change for the worse here in the US.

I think it is a really REALLY bad idea for that Florida minister, Terry Jones, to burn the Koran as a form of protest against islamic terrorists.

The Koran is a holy book.

Parts of the book overlap the Old Testiment. He will now piss off moderate muslims by doing something so stupid. He doesn't seem to understand the terrorists have perverted a religion to suit their goals. These terrorists have killed and tortured thousands of innocent muslims just for the sake of control.

Bad idea Rev. Terry.

This is EXACTLY what the terrorists want.

They want to make "religion" an issue.

If you are pissed off because of what happened on 9/11 then burn a photo of Osama Bin Laden instead or piss on photos of the stooges that blew up the towers.

They are the bad guys.

Yes, we have freedom of speach and expression but...use a little common sense.

This goes for building a mosque near ground zero.

A little common sense would tell you it might not be the best idea.

Still, there are some people who would blame 9/11 on muslims and feel deeply offended that they would have the balls to build a mosque near the towers. Sure, they could build the mosque and everything might be fine and dandy. But what happens if some angry Americans decide to destroy the mosque out of anger?

This would start a major shit-storm.

Yes, we have freedom of religion here.

At least for the most part, unless of course you're a Catholic and want to put an angel on a "holiday tree" (it's no longer called a "Christmas tree"). I remember in 8th grade a teacher told me I "wasn't allow to put an angel on the holiday tree because it was offensive to some of the other students".

Are you shitting me?

Needless to say, I made a bunch of angels and stuck them all over the tree (plus a few assorted paper penises I added as well) I got caught and was sent to the principle's office (again)

Sorry.

I was off in a tangent.

Where were we?

Oh yeah, having and exercising common sense about touchy subjects in a volatile world.

Pray for peace.

Pray for those lost on 9/11.

Pray that it doesn't happen again.

The wild pigeons of Salisbury Beach part 17

We were lucky last weekend that the hurricane fizzled by the time it reached the north shore.

Regardless, it made for pretty rough seas. There was no scuba diving scheduled for saturday and sunday because of the unpredictable seas.

The ocean waves were huge and the under tow was fierce. Despite the heat I didn't trust going in for a swim. Countless bathing suits were removed almost surgically as waves pummelled unwilling swimmers.

My brother and his kids came up for the weekend. By the end of the day, the kids had bruises on their faces, cuts on their arms and legs, and the youngest one got a bloody nose from being bounced around by the surf.

They didn't seem to care.

They viewed it as battle scars against "the power of nature". They said the waves "were awesome!"

My father, however, walked in the house wearing only a towel.

I didn't dare ask.

Days before the impending hurricane I could see the pigeons were getting a little edgie. They couid sense something was brewing. They came down for their usual morning meal but were cautious. I haven't seen "Brownie" for most of the summer. I did spot a brownish pigeon on the roof tops but this pigeon was more white than brown. I surmised that this pigeon could be one of "Brownies' offspring.

I was wrong.

As the pigeons feasted on ACE hardware seed (they hate KMart seed). I noticed this "new" pigeon never came down to eat. This new pigeon I named "Chocolate Milk" since he or she was more of milky color.

I got up late this morning. A marathon migraine attack was surfacing. I woke up reluctantly to at least do a walk instead of a run. As usual, I fed the pigeons. "Chocolate Milk" came down abet cautiously to investigate.

"Chocolate Milk" had a yellow leg band.

This bird was a lost racing pigeon!

I am assuming this racing pigeon was probably not handled much since he/she was very cautious. The other racing pigeon that I had tried to save last summer was very friendly.

It will be interesting to see how this bird does since he/she has incorporated himself into a wild flock.

Movie critic Part 2

I could list all the crappy movies that had I sat through (or at least partially suffered through) but at this post I will list some of my personal favorites.

It's all the matter of interpretation and taste. I remember many years ago when my sister and I were negotiating on what movie(s) to see. She wanted to see "Slingblade" and I wanted to see "Flipper". I had to seriously bribe her into seeing "Flipper" by not only paying her ticket admission but buying her popcorn AND having to sit through the movie she wanted to see: "Slingblade". Aaaaah hhhhuuuun...

I also have to bribe and negotiate my husband in this movie trade off as well. He likes (lame in my opinion) kungfu action flicks and I like cute animal movies. I had to sit through that horrendously long movie "Lord of the Rings" in exchange to see "Happy Feet".

It was torture. I never thought that frickin' movie would end.

I was worried I would have to endure "the Last Airbender" but he went to see it with his family.

Here's a list of my favorite movies. As I said before, you might think they are lame but it is all a matter of personal taste.

Here goes:

"The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill", "Polly", "Because of Winn Dixie", "Hoot" ,"Happy Feet" "March of the Penguins" , "Free Willie", "Marley" , "Hotel for Dogs", "Milo and Otis"(OMG this movie is sooooo cute!) "Winged Migration"

"Deuce Bigelow" (hilarious!)"Revenge of the Nerds", "Spaceballs" ,"Zoolander", "Sunshine Cleaners" "Titanic"(beautiful costumes!) "Wild Hogs" "Monty Pythons Meaning of Life" (classic!)

"There Something about Mary" (gross but funny) "Mad Max"(when Mel Gibson was hot)

"Speed" (when Keano Reeves was hot) "Point Break" (hunk movie) "Rambo" (when Sly Stallone was hot) "AI" (weird sci fi) "the Island" "Tomb Raider (gotta love Angelina Jolie!)"Planet of the Apes" (old version and new version) "Ace Ventura-Pet Detective" (gotta love Jim Carey!) "Dumb and Dumber" (again Jim Carey) "Castaway","Day of the Dolphin"

Old movies: "Ben Hurr", "What ever happened to Baby Jane?"

I'm sure I will think of a million more movies but this will suffice for now.

As I look at the list, it looks like I go for cute animal movies, Sci fi and childish comedies.

Feel free to add your comments!

movie critic

I got to be honest with you most of the the movies that are out (in the theater and on DVD) are just a total waste of time.

90% of the so called comedies are an insult because they cross the line to total vulgarity to get a 'laugh".

Nothing clever, just crap.

I also have to laugh when people asked me if I saw the movie "Precious".

Are you serious?

Why in God's name would anyone want to sit through a movie where some fat pathetic black girl is abused for 2.5 solid hours?

You call that entertainment? Why would I pay good money to get depressed?

Another movie people asked if I saw was "the Passion of Christ".

Right.

As if I am going to sit through an almost pornographic torture flick passing it off as an intense religious movie.

Give me a break!

Here is a small sampling of SHIT movies that I was conned into seeing passed off as 'great movies":

"the Color Purple", "Cider House rules" "The accidental Tourist" "Silence of the Lambs" "Saving Private Ryan" "The Last King of Scotland" "Requiem for a Dream"...

AWFUL...... AWFUL........ AWFUL....just f*&^%ing AWFUL....!!!!

I like movies that entertain you , NOT depress you, scare the shit out of you, or gross you out.

The last movie I saw at the theater was "Avatar" and I will admit, was excellent, entertaining and visually artistic.

One of my favorite movies was "The Wild Parrots of telegraph Hill". I actually went to San Francisco to see the parrots. I also met Mark Bittner who starred in the movie.

My husband went to the movies with his family about a month ago. He saw a preview of movie he said I would like on owls. He said it was like "March of the Penguins"; a documentary on owls.

Just yesterday there was ad on TV about an computer animated fantasy movie about warrior owls.

My husband exclaimed,"that's the documentary on owls I was telling you about!"

I turned to look at him and said, "that's not a documentary on owls. It's a computer generated animation fantasy story about owls".

Lately, he has been kind of argumentative. He will argue with me about everything just for the sake of arguing. It could because of the horrendous heat wave we've been having or having to deal with the pains in the asses at work or just merely, because he has testicles.

I looked at him again and said, ""owls don't wear helmets...

He turned to me, eyes narrowed, jaw out and whispered, "how do you know?..."

I have to admit that was pretty funny.

I wasn't going to win that argument! Ha!

Anyways, I am looking forward to seeing this movie "Legend of the Guardians".

It looks pretty good. Even if real or not real owls are wearing helmets!

Hurricane Gloria Sept 27 1985

The weathermen on the news right now are running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Three hurricanes are brewing east off the Carribean right now with hurricane Earl beating up the US Virgin Islands heading towards the Bahamas. Depending on what news channel you watch tells you weather or not it will hit us up on the Massachusetts coast.

Either way, the weather is unpredictable and you never know what the intensity it will bring especially by the coast-line.

Always keep one eye open, just in case.

It is horrendously hot and humid which means something is brewing. I've watched the birds gather in flocks as if they have signalled to each other to stick together for safety.

The last major hurricane I remember we had was hurricane Gloria in 1985.

I lived in the wooded town of Stow on a small lake. It was relatively protected from bad weather being tucked into the woods and living in a tiny one room cottage.

Either way, the winds were amazing. Trees were falling down and branches were flying all over the place.

What I particularly remember about this event was the hurricane party with my neighbors.

As you might have guessed we had lost our electricity so as a form of entertainment the neighbors had a party.

This was the first time, at the tender age of 26, I had indulged in adult beverages.

Seagrams wine coolers was my choice of poison for the evening. So very 80's.

Hamburgers were cooked on the outdoor grill. Candles were lit and card games were being played in basement porches.

After indulging in four of the sweet, but deadly 'doch-an-dorrachs' I decided to check out the hurricane's progress. It was like a scene from the Wizard of Oz with branches and barrels flying around. It was pitch black except for candle light. I promptly fell over the waist high fence landing upside down.

I seriously do not remember much after that just that I woke up the next day in a pile of leaves and covered with puke.

Ahhhh.. the stupidity of youth.

We had no water due to the electricitical pumps being out so I had to bath in the lake like a dirty hippy.

Trees were down, with no electricity but nothing was damaged.

People on the coast , however, were not so lucky.

Small ocean front cottages in the seacoast town of Rye were literally pushed across the street.

Huge boulders littered the streets.

So with this in mind, I am cautious about the weekend's forecast.

Hopefully, it will bypass us.