Phew! Almost done with Fall CleanUp over at SU. Coming down to the wire...win, lose or draw. October 1st tomorrow. Whoopie! 23 days and it's all over. Tra la lal la la.

Eyes wide shut.

Wish I had it within me to feel charitable but I have run plumb out of kind words for the VEEPs over at StumbleUpon. Hello Cold Press and Catagorian.

Yes, the photo up there in my Blogger Profile is as much me as is the one above, except that the one of to the left was photoshopped (definitely not by me) while the one in profile is unadulterated. My hair has always been short, it is more brown salt and pepper and not either white or silver. I don't change fast physically, genes from my father who never looked his age either. My weight never fluctuates by much more than 10 lbs up or down not because of any sort of "diet" because I've never been on one, but because I have never been in love with my fridge. Wish I could do something about being vertically challenged, but alas I am what I am. Short. Half blind and getting deafer by the year. What has never changed is that I laugh freely and easily and only rarely lose my temper but when I do, I blow sky high. Then like all sudden storms, it is over. It just takes me a very long time to get to that stage, I have to be pushed into a tight corner before I lower the boom. I was born with sun in Taurus, Pisces as my ascendent, moon in Taurus - for you astrology buffs. That is one heck of a lot of Bull. Thank the gods for Pisces, eh? Earth needs water. Water needs earth. If I think of something I may add it. Or not.

A slow, labourious process: I am releasing from StumbleUpon almost, if not all of the Stumblers whom I have been "subscribed" to within the the past year. Not to be confused with the Stumblers who have been mutual "subscribers", although majority of those will have to go given that the majority of them have never even once communicated with me over the years. Which is fine, but not too useful. ::: I can be found here on Blogger or else on Catagorian (Beauregard or The Hungry Eye). ::: To those to whom I have given permission to use my private email address, just in case it is so in your mind to, there you have the choice. ::: It has been my personal experience with Stumblers since 2006 that when given my email address almost no one has ever made use of it which has never been all that much of a revelation to me about the nature of Stumblers within the StumbleUpon framework with its Toolbar and Private Messaging and forwarding of Stumble messages in PM. ::: Personally, I rarely use email for communication as we have a quaint bit of electronic equiment aptly named "telephone". A little Canadian invention, if I recall. It still works. And of course, there is my favourite: Canada Post. Nothing can be more delightful than receiving a real letter, written by hand, on real paper, in a real envelope with a real postage stamp. Kind of warms the cockles of my heart and I save every handwritten letter and postcard I have ever received since 1900. Or thereabout. Close enough. Back to the StumbleUpon Fall CleanUp grind. The wheels of the gods grind slowly, but they do grind.

THE QUESTIONS THAT PLAGUE US ALL IN UNSTABLE, UNCERTAIN TIMES::: Is the world economy going to impact on Canada's own economy?:::The follow up question: How is the global economy playing out in your own particular situation?:::Then: What are your neighbours and friends thoughts on the matter?:::My final question: Where to now?

I think I've had enough of this nonsense. It's time to go do something mindless: a bit of tv fluff might do it. It's all fluff. G'nite.

JUST FOLKS::: It matters not whether one has "scads of wealth", or is ragged and homeless. Whether one is in a desert or on a mountain top. In a palace or in a hovel. Whether one has never known illness or is dying as the result of an illness. Whether one is in prison without windows, or in a room of one's own with walls of windows. Whether it be Spring, Summer, Autumn of Fall the only mammal on this earth that has the vocal capability of griping about every twist and turn, every hangnail, every justified, unjustified, real or imaginary sense of entitlement is Homo Sapiens. We gripe, fight, argue, go to war against each other with abandon every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every week of every month, of every year, of every decade, of every century, of every millenium for all of Eternity. None the less.

The eye does not see what the mind does not know.

THE TERRIBLE PEOPLE By Ogden Nash::: People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they really don't want it. And I wish I could afford to gather all such people into a gloomy castle on the Danube and hire half a dozen capable Draculas to haunt it. I don't mind their having a lot of money, and I don't care how they employ it, But I do think that they damn well ought to admit they enjoy it. But no, they insist on being stealthy About the pleasures of being wealthy, And the possession of a handsome annuity Makes them think that to say how hard it is to make both ends meet is their bounden duty. You cannot conceive of an occasion Which will find them without some suitable evasion. Yes indeed, with argumets they are very fecund; Their first point is that money isn't everything, and that they have no money anyhow is their second. Some people's money is merited, And other people's is inherited, But wherever it comes from, They talk about it as if it were something you got pink gums from. Perhaps indeed the possession of wealth is constantly distressing, But I should be quite willing to assume every curse of wealth if I could at the same time assume every blessing. The only incurable troubles of the rich are the troubles that money can't cure, Which is a kind of trouble that is even more troublesome if you are poor. Certainly there are lots of things in life that money won't buy, but it's very funny... Have you ever tried to buy them without money?

Very cute::: Couldn't resist capturing Google's animated "Jim Henson's 75th Birthday" tribute.::: How many generations of children have grown up watching The Muppets? The children learned their primary numbers with the gang. Relative things like "near" and "far". They learned about playing well with others. About friendship and sharing. And giving and receiving. That every child is a "special child". That having a fight with your best buddy doesn't mean being mad forever. That cookies are yummy for your tummy. But not too many. That the colour blue is okay, so is yellow and green, and all the lovely colours on earth. I liked the Cookie Monster, but most specially Oscar the Grouch. Most of all I liked Jim Henson for having such a wonderful vision and being able to remember what it was like to be a little boy and never grow up.

STUMBLE UPON::: It's not dead, not even close. ::: It reminds of the infamous OOPS! moment Obit:- "The rumour of my passing is greatly exaggerated." :::March 10, 2006 - October 24, 2011 I have nothing to say. Which is why I say it so well. - Gwen Beauregard (2011):::

LAD-A-DOG: HIS STORY::: Laddie was the personification of a true working dog: a dog with a job. The pure definition of the meaning: companion dog. He was not a “toy” nor a “pampered pet.” Laddie was first and foremost, a dog. Laddie’s incorruptable temperament, untiring patience and tolerance, loving and loved by all who dealt with him daily on a personal basis be it at home, in Seniors’ residences, Kindergartens, The Montreal Children’s and Ste. Justine’s hospitals Oncology Departments where he served from age two years to age ten when he retired from Service. Laddie loved everyone and absolutely everything, and trees! He was heard to bark only three times in his entire life. Each of the three times it was a clear and present danger. Laddie didn’t need to be “taught” anything, show him something once, twice he got it: uncanny. He was as as fearless as he was brave. He would never once start an argument, neither would he back away. He was from a working Westie background, tough, with stamina, sometimes expressing opinions of his own, without any bad habits often associated with the West Highland White. What he may have lacked in Show quality ‘pizzazz’ he more than made up for in sound health, personality and a clownish character. He was a fun dog and pleasure to own and work with. Laddie was more of a ‘teacher’ than a ‘student’ of anything. In his own way he taught life lessons better than most human beings, without ever having to utter a word. He did it without any mistaking his intent. He was an honest broker. His life was not lived in riches but his life was rich and rewarding to all. For all those reasons, Laddie is sorely missed. A much abused word, it was true: Laddie was unique in the history of Westies. Held in my arms Laddie died within seconds, peacefully and without any sign of trauma by lethal injection on Friday, September 9, 2011 at the Laurentien-Keller Animal Hospital, Montreal.

SOCIAL NETWORKS::: Implicit is the tacit understanding that, within the framework of all of these sites, there will be charlatans, shysters, miscreants, the hunter and the hunted, the disgruntled, the mad and the maddening, the rabble rousers, the confused, the extremists, the pretenders, the pretentious, the soul-catchers, the long suffering, the nihilists, the hedonists, the self-absorbed, the exhibitionists, the lonelyhearts, the diehards, the cynical, the maladroit, the fanatics in extremis at both ends of an endless spectrum, the sincere alongside with the insincere, the critics, the misunderstood, the foolish and the wise, the genius residing side-by-side in an unending parade of characters, from bathos to pathos, and just as in real life itself outside the borders of the confines of something we have come to know as "Social Networking" we come upon the eternal optimists - and we are blessed for they are the believers and the poets who write words upon the winds of change. - Gwen Beauregard ~ (2011)